Karus grinned. ‘Then I’d be in trouble. I’m not my grandfather - I couldn’t make myself a pair of shoes! But it’s not going to end, is it? Severa’s Prophecy ensures us of that.’

‘Karus, this business of Severa and the stone wall - she is a gambler, you know, just as Lepidina says.’

‘I know. But in the game to come the Prophecy is her loaded die, I think.’

They emerged from the incomplete building and walked on past a large semicircular theatre, and came to a broad square paved with stone. And here rose up the grandest building of all. Clad in shining marble it was a temple built in the Roman fashion, with a double colonnade and a terracotta roof. A flight of steps led up to an open interior where Brigonius glimpsed a mighty statue of bronze, many times life-size.

He stood and stared, astounded by the temple’s scale. Even its base, a mighty slab of concrete poured into the sandy earth, was stupendous, surely unmatched by anything that had existed in Britain before the Romans.

‘This is the Temple of Claudius, built to honour the deified Emperor.’ Karus shook his head. ‘Astonishing, isn’t it? I’ve grown up with it, but even now it astounds me. In fact it’s talked of even in Rome, where they’ve seen everything.’

Brigonius thought of the wealth and labour this huge structure must have sucked up. ‘I’m surprised this could be afforded.’

‘Well, perhaps it couldn’t,’ Karus murmured. ‘The Romans don’t make you any richer, after all; they just tax you. The Temple always caused great resentment. Boudicca came here and burned it to the ground - along with the veterans and their families who had sheltered inside. When she was put down they built the walls around the town, and the Temple was reconstructed, bigger and better and more expensive than ever. But it was built on ash, and charred pots and burned bones. Makes you think.’

Lepidina came running up. She showed off a new necklace and a comb for her mother’s hair, and both men made appreciative noises. ‘So what do you think of Camulodunum, Brigonius?’

Brigonius peered up at the Temple’s cold, beautiful lines. How could this be a holy place? His ancestors had lived close to the earth, and the divine had been an integral part of an ancient way of life. To them wood was alive, stone was dead. The stone town that was rising here was like a vast tomb.

He looked into Lepidina’s excited, sparkling eyes, his feelings deep and confused, regretting that he couldn’t share her joy. He merely said, ‘It’ll look good when it’s finished.’

The lawyer turned away. Perhaps Karus detected his true mood.