To contrast yesterday's shorter entries, today we have a rather long entry.
Condemnation
Titus regained consciousness to see the blurry outline of Aulus standing over him; the glint of the sun on his cuirass made him look fiery and fearsome to the dazed old man. Titus gradually regained his senses as Aulus helped him into a sitting position. Titus looked around him to see more slaves gathering at the veranda to witness the spectacle. A few feet away, Appius and Licinia held Agrippina between them as his wife wept openly; Licinia’s stone faced expression belied her own sadness as she cradled her mothers’ head against her own. Titus began to push himself up to join them, but a glance to the disheveled figure kneeling in front of him stopped him cold.
“Why would you do this?” he asked out of breath.
“Titus, I’m sorry, I…”, she was interrupted abruptly as one of the guardsman kicked her in the back and pushed her onto her face. “Show your master respect, slave!”, he growled. Livia winced with pain and slowly pushed herself back to kneeling. Her eyes swelled with tears, and the cut on her lip had reopened.
“Dominus, I’m sorry. Marcus tried to force himself on me and I fought back... It was an accident... He fell... and I tried to save him.”, she stammered as she sniffled and stared into his eyes. Titus tried to process what had just been said. Could his own son really do that? How could he believe her, yet how could he not? ” Please have mercy on me.”, she faltered after a brief pause.
“You lying whore!”, Agrippina shrieked. Titus turned as his wife wrestle herself away from her daughters’ embrace and charge the helpless slave. Agrippina seemed to pounce on Livia and the impact sent both women tumbling in the dirt in front of the veranda. Livia tried to move her bound hands to cover her face from the clumsy blows but was utterly helpless as Agrippina unleashed upon her. Neither Aulus or his guards intervened as the women rolled and grunted in the dirt; some seemed amused as the beating continued unabated. Stunned, Titus pushed himself up and stumbled as he tried to catch Agrippina in his arms and pull her away. The frenzied movements had undone the right clasp of Agrippina’s tunic, and her breast hung exposed as Titus pulled her away. He frantically tried to reclasp the tunic, but was forced to hide his wife’s nakedness with his own short tunic as he brought her back into the arms of Licinia. Agrippina stared vacantly ahead as she returned to Licinia’s arms; Licinia gently reset her mother’s red wig and wiped the dirt and sweat off her face. Livia laid on her back, wheezing loudly as the air came back into her lungs.
Titus began to walk towards Livia but Aulus intercepted his path; Aulus leaned close to Titus and whispered, “We brought Marcus back too”. Aulus motioned to his guardsman, and two abruptly ran to the side of the villa. They returned a short time later with the body wrapped in a white cloth. They set Marcus gently on the veranda. Titus sat down next to his son and ran his hands along the folds and creases of the cloth covered face. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he pulled back the sheet to reveal the pale white face of his son. The lips were purple and slightly open; someone had tried to close his eyelids but they remained half open. Titus tried to close them but they doggedly remained ajar. Dried blood was matted on the back of his son’s head and indicated where a rock had split the skull. A shadow acrost the corpse, and Titus looked up to see Aulus towering over him. “We can crucify her in the morning if you wish.”, he said coldly, “there are two others were going to be executed so the carnifex is in town.”, he added casually.
Livia overheard and wailed frantically, “No dominus please don’t crucify me! Anything but that! Please have mercy on me! I loved Marcus too!”. She tried to stand up but one of the guardsman pushed her back down. “Please don’t crucify me”, Livia pleaded desperately as her voice trailed off. Titus looked back into the cold eyes of his son; his mind raced but he found no words.
Suddenly, he heard Servilla’s thick accent rise wickedly above the commotion, “The murderous slave should be crucified. Nail her to the wood and let her rot!”. She slid amidst the slaves to position herself at the front of the slaves gathered around the scene. An old cook behind her joined in, “Yeah crucify her.”. More and more slave voices rose to condemn Livia; Servina smiled slightly as the slaves championed her cruelty. Titus remained silent and watched as Licinia and Appius continued to cradle his wife between them. He looked at the expressionless face of his son again before he looked up at Aulus and said, “So be it”. Titus dismissed Aulus with a wave of his hand, and two guardsman reached under each of Livia’s arms and began to drag down the path out of the property. Agrippina joined Titus by the corpse of their son. She gently ran her manicured fingers through the blood stained curls. Titus placed a hand on her back and closed his eyes as he tried to drown out Livia’s pleas as she was dragged away.