him to be here before her, he had once told her he liked to sleep late in the mornings. She had wrapped up a loaf of bread with some cheese and olives and a flask of wine. She was hungry and couldn’t wait. She took a bite, a sip. Another. He would bring more food. What a love feast they would have!
She waited.
The sun crept across the sky.
Where was he? Why didn’t he come? Her nerves were stretched as tight as harp strings.
Ah, gods, had he lied to her? Was he so cruel? Wait—there was a sound, the cracking of a twig. She ran to it. Nothing. Some animal. She shivered again: this time with cold, with fear. With anger. She had humbled herself, a Roman governor’s wife, and he didn’t care! It was over then. A wail rose in her throat. Stop it! She beat hers sides with her fists. Stop it. Fate has saved you from yourself. What were you thinking? But, not to see him! Where is he? Who is he with? Is he with a girl, some whore? Are they laughing? Is he telling her about me, the governor’s wife, his slave? The vulgar, lying little seducer! I’ll tell Gaius, confess everything to him, and he’ll crush this wicked boy, torture him, make him wish his mother had never borne him. “No! No!, she cried aloud, “What am I saying? I love him. Juno help me, I love him!”
Weeping, she began to gather her things.
Another sound—the snorting of a horse—and then there he was! She ran to him, threw herself against him. “Where have you been?”
“Sorry, couldn’t get away sooner. Had to tour the farm, listen to a lot of boring talk.” He unwound her arms from around his neck. “Anyway, I’m here now. Famished actually, let’s eat.”
“No, make love to me.”
“On an empty stomach? I couldn’t really. Here, I’ve brought some venison. Killed it myself, much to everyone’s surprise.”
They ate. And they made love, rolling and laughing in the crackling leaves. And again he made her feel things that she had never felt with her husband. And she thought she had never been so happy in all her life. Afterwards they lay on their backs under a blanket and Agathon said, “Are you a good climber? I’ll take you up to the top of that hill.
“I’m a country girl,” she laughed, and jumped up, and started to run. And when they reached the top, panting, their cheeks flushed red, they looked back and they could see the white walls and red roofs of the city, and, tiny as toys, the palace and the temples and beyond them the grey sea.
“What a sight,” she said. “I wish I had my charcoal and parchment.”
“There are caves all over here,” Agathon said. “One just up there. When I was a kid I used to go exploring.”
“Let’s find one and make love in it,” she said, “like Dido and Aeneas.”
“Friends of yours?”
“You ignorant boy,” she laughed.
But her laughter was cut short by a man’s shout. An optio and two soldiers were scrambling up the rocky path behind them. They had spent weeks combing these hills, searching for the cave of Mithras. They had spotted the red rag tied to the tree branch and thought it might lead to something.
“They’ve seen us!” Calpurnia cried.
“Quick!” He pulled her after him around a thorn bush that tore at her clothing and into the dark mouth of a cave, stooping under its overhanging eave.
“Stop there, you!” the officer called.
“Agathon, we’re trapped!”
“Follow me.” He plunged deeper into the cave, dragging her behind him.
“I can’t see anything!”
“Follow the wall.”
The floor of the cave sloped downward. Calpurnia slid on loose stones, fell to her knees, tearing them, struggled up again, reached out and felt for the cold stone, slid again. The soldiers had lit a torch. Its light and their echoing shouts pursued them.
“Agathon, where does it lead?”
“I don’t know!”
The passage bent to the left, like the leg of a dog, then turned again, and grew lower and narrower until Calpurnia could stretch out her arms and touch both sides. And then suddenly it ended in a wall made of dressed stone blocks. She and Agathon shrank against it, their chests heaving. In another moment the soldiers caught up with them. The officer held out his sputtering pine branch and peered at them. “Lady Calpurnia?” he said.
Authority was her only weapon. “What d’you mean by chasing us? I’ll see that you’re disciplined for this. My friend