Part 13: Aelius
Aelius, the Senator, did not in fact move into Calphurnus’ old house with his new bride. He already had a perfectly comfortable villa, and Calphurnus’ relatively modest place was of no interest to him. His new wife was a delight to him, however, perfect in every way – a perfect hostess, a perfect manager of the house and slaves, a perfect ‘trophy’ wife to show off at the endless social events which he had to attend, and (best of all) she drove him wild with passion in bed. Aelius was truly the happiest man in the empire.
She quickly bore him a strong, healthy son, also named Aelius. Then Aelius the elder, now that he had an heir, was pleased to be able to industriously engage in the process of producing a spare.
Nine months later, he became the proud father, not of another son, but of a beautiful baby daughter.
“She is lovely!” he declared, the proudest of fathers. “Oh, look! She has your eyes! I’m sure she will grow up to be as beautiful as you are! Have you thought of a name for her?”
“I have, my dear,” replied Cassia. “I would like to call her ‘Jasmine.’”
He thought about it. “Yes, I like it. Good choice. Any particular reason you’d like that name?”
And so she sat there with baby Jasmine on her breast, and told him the whole story. Despite the years that had passed since Jasmine’s crucifixion, the tears she wept were bitter. Aelius himself had no love for the Proconsul, he remembered how the Proconsul had tried to palm off his ugly daughter onto him using some poxy villa as dowry, how he’d been rescued in the nick of time by the lovely Cassia, an heiress in her own right, who had swept him off his feet.
The Proconsul was clearly utterly corrupt, and his fate was sealed.
No-one knew how it came to be there, but his naked body was found on the midden heap barely a week after Jasmine was born. There was evidence of torture, including nail wounds in his wrists and heels.
Equally unaccountably, at exactly that time, the Carnifex and his two assistants found themselves with the wherewithal to be able to retire in some comfort to the popular and well-known coastal town of Herculaneum. They were pleased to have performed their last crucifixion.
And at least the Carnifex didn’t end up on a midden heap.
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THE END