He read the Metellus document. I outlined the family. I stuck to the facts. Aelianus described the lucrative position of Paccius. Fungibles listened. His face was expressionless. He did not take notes. When we had finished speaking, he read the will a second time. Even then, he remained calm.

`You may be aware of legal actions involving this family,' I said. `They have featured sensationally in the Daily Gazette.'

He looked shy. `I don't keep up with the Forum news. My business is domestic. If I do my job properly, people don't need any recourse to the Basilica.'

`How do you absorb new case law?' Aelianus asked. He was being himself – a lithe, athletic, rather untidy youth, who would suddenly demand answers to rather rude questions. Trust him to imply that we doubted the expert's competence.

Fungibles did not care. We had paid him, cash in advance. He would tell us what he thought; we could believe it or not. He was proud of the service he offered; he did not beg for our approval. `A contact tips me off if something changes.'

Aelianus subsided. I nodded. Fungibles checked that the interruption was over, then he began.

`The form is correct. In Latin. Formal language. Properly names an heir first. It is, as it stands, a valid testament. There are three interesting aspects to this will. First, who it institutes as heir. Second, the bequests to the heirs of right – that's the children here, who have a claim in law. Third, the size and allocation of other gifts.'

`What about the wife?' I asked. 'Calpurnia Cara.'

`She has no claim, strictly. However, most men like to see their widows left in the style they have previously enjoyed. By custom she might expect to be provided for. I see that this lady has a maintenance allowance – though the amount is small.'

`Insultingly?'

Fungibles smiled. `In a senatorial family, I would have thought this was – pointed!'

‘Be frank.'

Unless she holds a great deal of property in her own name, I would imagine from this will that Calpurnia Cara had violently upset her husband.'

`Fine.' Calpurnia at odds with Metellus? We only knew that he annoyed her with his reluctance to commit suicide. This was a new angle.

`First intriguing point: Paccius. Tell us about appointing him as the heir,' Aelianus demanded. He had really taken to this legal stuff – an unexpected surprise.

Fungibles was restrained. `It is a principle which lawyers robustly uphold, that a man has the right to make his will just as he wishes.'

‘He can name an outsider?'

‘He can. It is frequently done. There is usually a reason – infant children can't be made the heirs, for instance. Or it can be a device when there are many debts.'

`There are debts,' I confirmed. `According to one story. On the other hand, there may be money salted away, possibly in large quantities. We have difficulty sorting out the truth.'

`Intriguing! A problem when you name an extraneous heir, as Metellus has done, is that the nominee has the right of refusal. The heirs of right would be stuck with the duties and responsibilities – including paying off creditors – without any escape. This man Paccius could say no. Has he done so?'

`He is eager to accept.'

`Then he thinks there is money, depend on it,' said Fungibles. He pursed his lips. `Tell me why you think he was the choice?'

`Family lawyer. He defended the deceased in a lengthy corruption case. Mind you – he lost!'

Fungibles glanced down at the will. `Was this two years ago?'

I cocked my head. `Last autumn. Why?'

`The will was made two years before that case occurred.'

I had not noticed that. It meant Paccius was very close to Metellus senior long before we had assumed he was taken on for the trial. And Negrinus, who was supposed to be on close terms with his father during his term as aedile, had already been disinherited when he took up office. Of course, he may not have known that. Was this what his sister Carina had meant when she complained about `all he has to live with' and `all we have suffered'?

`Scorpus, tell us about disinheriting sons.'

He screwed his mouth even more. `A bad idea. I never allow my clients to do it. You said the son was not freed from parental control?'

`No. Both parents seem to have been strict, bossy types. It is why Negrinus is reckoned to have escaped corruption charges; he owned nothing. He wasn't worth pursuing.'

`And he owns nothing still,' commented Aelianus, perhaps anxiously considering his own position as a senator's son.

`But he could! He was entitled to inherit,' said Fungibles. `He and his sisters would normally share equally. The only way to remove him was, as Metellus senior did, to disinherit him formally by name. It is sensible,' he went on slowly, `to add a remark indicating why. I would advise it. Almost always it will be because the son lives a sordid lifestyle. Does he?'

`Birdy?' He drank thirstily at my home, but that was nothing. He was distressed that night. `No one would call him debauched. Not in Rome. He's corrupt in business but respectable – unless he hides it well.'

`He would have to be a byword for immorality for this will to be upheld,' said Fungibles. `Someone who pimps, or fights as a gladiator. Why is he called Birdy?'

`No idea.'

`Well, if he is an upright character, he should challenge the will.'

`So he can do that?'

Fungibles looked surprised. `I am startled that he has not already entered his plea. It works like this,' he explained. `The omitted heir slaps in a claim to the praetor that he is the victim of an "unduteous will". The basis is a legal device: it's saying that the testator must be deemed to have been insane to have ruled out a child so unfairly. An insane person cannot make a will. Thus – if the praetor allows the claim – and from what you tell me, this son has everything on his side – the will becomes void. Then the rules of intestacy are brought in to distribute the estate.'

`And what happens under intestacy?' Aelianus asked, taking rapid notes.

'Negrinus and his sisters would each get a third. For each woman the sum would be calculated minus her dowry. So the situation becomes very different.'

'Paccius would play no part?'

`Ruled right out. Paccius, and this female, Saffia Donata.' Fungibles looked up, almost smiling. `So who is the woman? This lucky Saffia? A mistress of the deceased?'

`Daughter-in-law – divorced from Negrinus, however,' I stated. `One child from the marriage, plus a heavy pregnancy. She has a child from a previous marriage, so if she carries the latest safely, she gets rights as a mother of three.'

Fungibles nodded. `She will be hoping the baby survives. As for this curious will, her father-in-law must have taken quite a shine to her.'

`Why not make her the heir directly then? Aelianus asked. `Why this fideicommissum, dragging in Paccius?’

'That's a regular device,' exclaimed Fungibles. `I imagine we are talking about people in the top census bracket? At that level, large bequests to a woman are illegal. It is to keep important estates in male hands – and perhaps save potentially rich heiresses from predators.' I laughed. I was glad that Helena was not present; she would have been outraged. Fungibles smiled slightly and pressed on: `Your Metellus wished to favour Saffia Donata – for reasons we can only speculate – so he has instituted Paccius as his heir instead, to avoid the law. Paccius will have undertaken to pass on the money.'

`Instead of an illegal bequest, a perfectly legal gift?'

Fungibles was enjoying himself now. `Intriguingly, the fideicommissum makes no attempt to pass on Saffia's portion to the Negrinus children after her. I find that very odd.' Fungibles clearly disapproved. `Normally an arrangement would be made that if Saffia dies, the money then passes to her children; in fact, I would expect a deed of trust to be devised specifically with that intention. This wording here could leave the children in trouble. Saffia may make provision for them if she cares for them – but she may choose not to.'