CRISPUS LONGINUS sat stiffly in his citrus-wood armchair watching the races from the Emperor’s loge. Here in Rome, and here too in the Circus Maximus, everyday citizens were celebrating the Ludi Romani. And a day at the racetrack was all they cared to do. Free bread and circuses was the outcry nowadays, and they could’ve cared less if Emperor Nerva was late in coming; his grand, gilded curule had been noticeably vacant during the opening ceremonies. And as a matter of fact, he was often absent from the games. Typically a man of more sophisticated tastes, Nerva cared not for the plebeian entertainments of the common people. He preferred the theater and wrote poetry and read the Greek philosophers. He’d been a respected lawyer back in his more …show more content…
Trajan will serve them well, methinks.” “So it’s official then?” Longinus inquired. “It is, Longinus.” Nerva smiled. “I will step down come the new year, then retire to my villa in Antium. Write my memoirs and such.” “You have officially adopted General Trajan, Caesar?” “I have. And the Senate has approved it, Longinus.” “Indeed, Caesar,” the Chamberlain concurred, pouring a goblet of wine for the Emperor. “A unanimous decision, it was.” “And a popular motion with the Eagles, I’ll wager,” Longinus added. “Trajan is a soldier’s soldier, a man of the Legions. He’ll have the full support of the Army behind him.” “Yes... unlike me.” Nerva took the goblet of wine from the Chamberlain. He drank a little swallow and sighed. “Alas and alack, I do not care anymore. I am glad to be done with it all. Come winter I shall be comfortably ensconced in my lavish seaside villa, harvesting my memoirs, tilling my garden, writing my poetry.” “A well-deserved retirement, I should think,” the Chamberlain commented. “An auspicious end to an auspicious career.” “Aye, Caesar. You’ll be sorely missed in the Imperial Court.” “Perhaps. But I’ll not miss the Imperial Court. Of that, I am