One Virgin Too Many

AD 74, late May. Falco has just arrived home from Lepcis Magna in Tripoli with dire news to deliver to his sister. Vespasian and his Great Census interrupt. Next day, Falco crosses his bridge of the unknown and delivers the news. A little 6 year old girl, strong candidate for election as a Vestal Virgin, approaches Falco with her suspicions that someone is trying to kill her. Falco (recently raised to equestrian status by Vespasian, and appointed Procurator of the Sacred Geese and Poultry) has had enough for one day. He declines to take the girl as a client and sends her home. An act which was to cause him quite some work.

Aelianus, the elder Camillus son, is trying to kick start his senate career and seeks admission into the Arval Brothers, and extraordinarily powerful and influential group belonging to an obscure and somewhat reclusive priesthood. During his quest for admission, Aelianus is turned down, stumbles upon a deceased Arval brother, and flees home.

Well, perhaps it was all divinely ordained that Falco's plans went awry on that first day; every eligible girl under the age of 7 in Rome who wanted to be a Vestal Virgin was at the Palatine being introduced to Queen Berenice, the living flame of Titus Caesar, and placing their name forward for the lottery. Among them, Falco's sister Maia and his niece, Cloelia.

Falco ends up with many clients (and perhaps no paying clients either)

• Maia Favonia, his sister, who wants her daughter kept at home;
• Titus Caesar (who wishes to save the reputation of Berenice);
• Gaia Laelia, a winsome candidate for Vestal Virgin;
• The Flamen Pomonalis, who wishes to protect the family secrets;
• The Flamen Dialis, who wants his grand-daughter found;
• Rutilius Gallicus, who has energy and goodwill;

As Falco backs his hunches and digs deeper into the mysteries of the missing candidate, and the deceased Arval Brother, one Ventidius Silanus, Falco encounters strange lives—lives that a prescripted, proscribed, protected and ritualised. Falco's little client and her family would never have had an ordinary life with the ups and downs of humanity in ordinary. Theirs were lives spent in service for the life of Rome, domestic harmony and peace notwithstanding. An example shows how Falco himself was proscribed by these traditions:

Falco shares his hunches with Rutilius Gallicus that the girl is at home, and he must needs search and question all present. Falco asks for assistance from the Vigiles in the form of his ex-partner Petro. Rutilius Gallicus replies:

'I thought you would say that too,' Rutilius confessed. 'Sorry; it is impossible. The Emperor decided that we should not involve the vigiles in direct contact with the family. The troops are to be ordered to search the city for the child, but the old Flamen is adamant he does not want the big boys invading hsi home. Remember, Falco, for most of his life, Numentinus was bound never to look on armed men or to witness fetters. Even his ring had to be made from a broken band of metal. He cannot change. The paraphernalia of law and oder still affronts him. This is the situation: he refuses to let in the vigiles; you have been put forward as the acceptable alternative.'

Much of this book has been given over to descriptions of varia priesthoods, Deified Emperors, and the rites of the Arval Brothers and Vestal Virgins. What was their purpose and function within the state? Why have they been included as illustrations of the life of the state on the Palatine with Vespasian taking direct intervention, as described by Rutilius Gallicus, above? We'll take a look at this on another page.