‘Macro!’ Sejanus raised his hand in salute. ‘I heard you had come from Capri. I was growing impatient. The Emperor has sent messages?’

Macro took a scroll from beneath his toga and beamed.

‘Aelius Sejanus, Prefect of the city!’ he proclaimed. ‘I have brought fresh honours from your Emperor. You are to be given tribunician powers. The Emperor is eager you use your authority to root out sedition and treason in the city.’

Sejanus seemed to swell in relief. Macro came down the steps, and they clasped hands and embraced. Sejanus grabbed the scroll from Macro and pushed by him, smiling triumphantly at me as he swept into the temple. Macro watched him go and coolly re-took his seat. The news, of course, had soon spread through the wealthy quarters, and other senators now came hurrying up, eager to learn the news. They ignored Macro as they poured through the huge doorway. Once this was closed, a sign that the session was about to begin, Macro turned to his officers.

‘Bring the lads up!’ he ordered.

The men hurried off. I heard the blowing of whistles and then Macro’s marines, followed by the Emperor’s bodyguard, came up the steps and deployed in the great courtyard before the temple of Apollo. The Praetorian officer in charge of Sejanus’s guard became nervous. His anxiety deepened as more armed men appeared led by Laco, Prefect of the Night Watch.

‘Don’t be anxious!’ Macro called and got up.

The Praetorian Guard now broke rank, some re-sheathed their swords. Macro handed their commander a letter.

‘Fresh orders from your Emperor!’ he proclaimed. ‘You are to be praised and rewarded. Your first duty is to return to camp.’

Their commander quickly read the letter, shrugged, rolled it up and stuck it in his belt. Then, without a by your leave, he ordered his men to fall in and marched them quickly away.

Their position on the steps was now taken by Macro’s men. He plucked me by the arm.

‘Let’s join our worthy senators,’ he grinned. ‘Sejanus is about to learn his future.’

We entered the temple by a side door, and a worried-looking priest led us along the marble corridor into the huge assembly chamber. It was arranged like that of an amphitheatre with tiers of marble seats which flanked a soaring statue of Apollo the Hunter. The senior Consul, Regulus, was already on the rostrum. Sejanus was seated to his right on the lowest tier, surrounded by his coterie, smiling like a triumphant general. Mennius had already begun to read out Augustus’s letter, which was full of praise for Sejanus. Macro and I stood within the doorway, watching as the Senate sat in silence, nodding in agreement at the praise being heaped on the Emperor’s favourite. Mennius droned on, but imperceptibly both the tone and tenor of the letter had changed: now trivial complaints surfaced about Sejanus. The smile faded from the favourite’s face, as the other senators sat puzzled. A few began to withdraw from Sejanus, just a slight shift. Mennius paused and then resumed reading the letter, in which Tiberius confessed to fears about his own safety, stating that he was an old man and needed fresh troops on Capri to guard him.

Mennius thundered on, warming to his task, slowly quoting Tiberius’s words. ‘“Much as I would wish to come to Rome, I find myself unable to do so due to fears for my safety. It would be too dangerous for me to be within reach of the man who has betrayed me.”’ Mennius paused. ‘“Aelius Sejanus! I demand his arrest for high treason!”’

Chaos and consternation broke out. The doors at the back of the hall opened, and tribunes and centurions poured in. Macro laughed quietly as some of the senators scampered away like puppies. Sejanus stared in shock.

‘You have heard your Emperor’s wishes?’ Mennius called. ‘Sejanus is to be arrested!’

When a man like Sejanus falls, it is as sudden and as quick as a star dropping out of the heavens. The very people who’d applauded and greeted, fawned and flattered him when he first entered the Senate that morning, now turned on him. Blows rained down, he was kicked and shoved whilst his close adherents tried to flee. As Macro pushed his way through, I seized the opportunity to slip away.

Agrippina was in her quarters, sitting by a window and pretending to read. She greeted me as if I had only been away a few hours. By now the news of Sejanus’s downfall had spread and, from the yard below, came the sound of running feet, shouts and cries. Agrippina put down the scroll she had been reading, a copy of Horace’s Odes. She smiled and, standing on tiptoe, kissed me on the cheek. She was paler and thinner, those dark eyes more rounded.

‘What’s happening?’

‘Sejanus has fallen,’ I replied. ‘He’s been arrested. Macro, I suspect, will become Prefect of the Praetorian Guard. Tiberius has begun the attack.’

Agrippina put her hands together, closed her eyes and smiled. She lowered her head and glanced at a group of serving girls in the far corner of the room.

‘Do you hear that?’ she yelled. ‘Sejanus has fallen. It’s prison for him and all his followers.’ She walked forward. ‘Now’s your opportunity to confess! Which of you are his spies?’

The girls huddled together. Agrippina advanced threateningly. ‘Come on, now’s your chance to confess. If I find out later, it will be the strangler’s noose.’

Three girls stepped forward.

‘I thought as much.’ Agrippina pointed towards the door. ‘Get out!’

The maids fled. The upset and chaos had reached the gallery outside, and there were shouts of despair, the sound of doors being kicked open and closed. I looked out through the window: already people were fleeing the Palatine with bundles on their backs. The reign of terror had begun. Agrippina walked back, eyes glittering. She caught at my arm and made me sit on the couch beside her.

‘Are you safe, Domina?’

‘For the time being, yes.’ She smiled coldly. ‘Sejanus hated my family so we can hardly be regarded as his friends. And how is our August Emperor?’

‘Rotting,’ I replied. ‘Though his brain is still sharp and his reach is long.’

Agrippina played a tattoo on her knee with her fingers.

‘He will die soon enough. And what of my sweet brother Gaius?’

‘A dog,’ I replied. ‘The Emperor’s faithful shadow.’

Agrippina breathed in noisily. ‘So, he still plays the part?’ she murmured.

‘Domina, your brother is insane. Anyone who stays in Capri for long. .!’

‘He can be managed, he will be managed,’ she replied.

‘Well, what’s this?’ A man, his hair and beard the colour of copper, lurched through the door. He was dressed in a tunic and toga which were purple stained, and, despite the early hour, he carried a deep-bowled cup. One of his sandals was loose and it slapped on the floor as he staggered across to Agrippina. He stopped to paw at one of the serving girl’s breasts.

‘Domitius,’ Agrippina cooed, her voice and smile full of false sweetness. ‘Domitius, you’ve been partying again, haven’t you?’

She went across to him. He glared over her shoulder at me.

‘Who’s that?’ he slurred. ‘He’s too ugly to be a lover. And what’s happening outside? There are soldiers everywhere with drawn swords and there’s a corpse in the yard. Someone stabbed him in the back.’

‘Sejanus has fallen.’

Agrippina ordered me with her eyes to leave the couch, as she steered her drunken husband towards it. ‘You are too tired,’ she soothed, ‘for all this excitement.’

She loosened the cup from his hand, put it on the floor and persuaded him to lie down on the couch. For a while she stared contemptuously down at his drunken face.

‘Drunken sot!’ she declared. ‘He’ll sleep for hours and wake with a headache.’ She came over and grasped my hand. ‘Parmenon, the blood-letting has begun. You must keep a still tongue in your head, and say nothing about Capri, the Emperor or my brother Gaius. And you must keep your distance from Macro!’