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Contents ( 111)
  1. BY ADRIAN GOLDSWORTHY
  2. CONTENTS
  3. MAP
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. I
  6. In the hill country
  7. Nearer the Euphrates
  8. The same night
  9. II
  10. The temporary camp of Legio VIIII Hispana, Fifty-five miles east of Cyrrhus
  11. Fifteen days before the Kalends of March
  12. III
  13. On the training grounds outside Zeugma
  14. Fifth day before the Nones of March
  15. In the house of Simon the merchant, Nicopolis
  16. The next day
  17. IV
  18. The temporary camp of Legio VIIII Hispana
  19. V
  20. Outside Nicopolis
  21. Eleventh day before the Kalends of April
  22. Nicopolis
  23. The same day
  24. VI
  25. On the road to the crossing at Zeugma
  26. Tenth day before the Kalends of April
  27. VII
  28. Zeugma
  29. Seventh day before the Kalends of April
  30. VIII
  31. The camp of VIIII Hispana
  32. One day before the Nones of April
  33. Nicopolis
  34. The same day, late afternoon
  35. IX
  36. Outside Nicopolis
  37. Eighth Day before the Ides of April
  38. X
  39. Near Nicopolis
  40. A little later
  41. XI
  42. In the plain in front of Nicopolis
  43. The Ides of April
  44. Nicopolis
  45. The same night
  46. XII
  47. In front of Nicopolis
  48. Eighteenth day before the Kalends of May First day of the siege
  49. XIII
  50. Outside Nicopolis
  51. Seventeenth day before the Kalends of May Second day of the siege
  52. XIV
  53. Outside Nicopolis
  54. Fifteenth day before the Kalends of May The fourth day of the siege
  55. Nicopolis
  56. The sixth day of the siege
  57. XV
  58. Up country
  59. Thirteenth day before the Kalends of May The eighth day of the siege
  60. XVI
  61. Zeugma
  62. That same night
  63. XVII
  64. The siege lines outside Nicopolis
  65. Eleventh day before the Kalends of May The tenth day of the siege
  66. XVIII
  67. The large camp to the east of Nicopolis
  68. Tenth day before the Kalends of May The eleventh day of the siege
  69. Nicopolis
  70. Late on the fourteenth night of the siege
  71. XIX
  72. Before Nicopolis
  73. Fifth day before the Kalends of April Sixteenth day of the siege
  74. XX
  75. Outside Nicopolis
  76. The Kalends of May The twenty-first day of the siege
  77. XXI
  78. Before Nicopolis
  79. The day before the Nones of May The twenty-sixth day of the siege
  80. Nicopolis
  81. The next day The twenty-seventh day of the siege
  82. XXII
  83. North west of Nicopolis, some miles from the road
  84. Fifth day before the Ides of May The thirty-second day of the siege
  85. XXIII
  86. In front of Nicopolis
  87. The day before the Ides of May The thirty-fifth day of the siege
  88. XXIV
  89. Outside Nicopolis
  90. The Ides of May
  91. The thirty-sixth day of the siege
  92. XXV
  93. The breach in the western wall
  94. XXVI
  95. Outside Nicopolis
  96. Seventeenth day before the Kalends of June The thirty-seventh day of the siege
  97. The prison at Nicopolis
  98. Three days later
  99. The forty-first day of the siege
  100. XXVII
  101. The citadel at Nicopolis
  102. The last hours of the fourteenth day before the Kalends of June
  103. The forty-first day of the siege
  104. XXVIII
  105. Nicopolis
  106. The same night
  107. EPILOGUE
  108. The next morning
  109. HISTORICAL NOTE
  110. GLOSSARY
  111. CAST OF CHARACTERS

Ferox did not think that he even mouthed the words, let alone whispered them, so perhaps Crispinus knew him better than he thought.

‘Omnes ad stercus,’ the legatus said. ‘Quite.’

III

On the training grounds outside Zeugma

Fifth day before the Nones of March

HADRIAN WATCHED AS the horseman pat his steed’s neck and then turned as the trooper came forward to offer him his shield. The rider grinned at the man and said something that Hadrian could not catch, although it was easy enough to guess. After a moment’s hesitation, the cavalry trooper leaned his oval shield against his legs and used both hands to unfasten his helmet. It was bronze, with broad cheek pieces which extended back to cover the ears, and a shallow neck guard like all cavalry helmets, because wide ones like the infantry used were dangerous if a man took a tumble. The trooper made sure to lift off the hat he wore underneath with the helmet and then passed it to his emperor. Trajan grinned again, running his fingers over the tinned detail moulded to look like locks of hair, then put it on his own head and tied it fast, before reaching down to take the proffered shield. Hadrian heard the soldier laugh at something the emperor said to him. Trust Trajan to joke with his soldiers whenever there was an opportunity, and trust Trajan to wear a combat helmet – albeit one polished to a high sheen for the inspection – rather than one of the highly decorated ceremonial ones with their face masks.

‘They love him, don’t they,’ Lusius Quietus said admiringly. ‘And so they should. That’s a man all right, and no mistake.’ Hadrian had to agree. Trajan had a knack for talking directly to the soldiers and had done so time and again during a long day of exercises and manoeuvres. Today it was the turn of the cavalry, so that there was more colour and movement than the day before, when a legion had gone through its drills. Tomorrow it would be the turn of the auxiliary infantry, always the last in the pecking order, although Hadrian sometimes wondered if they were more useful. There was attention, sometimes even fuss, when a legion was moved from one province to another, but no one bothered too much when auxiliary cohorts went to a new station – or for that matter when new units were raised or old ones disbanded. By the spring, nine legions would be ready to take the field at the emperor’s command, with substantial vexillations from as many more, so that almost half the legionaries in the entire empire were concentrated on the Asian frontier. Trajan spoke of sorting out Armenia, where a king had been appointed without his approval, and worse still by the Parthians. Other than that, the emperor remained tight lipped with all but a handful of friends and confidants, and so far these had not included Hadrian. Day after day they saw preparations for a war not yet declared or explained.