‘Crowded enough here already without sightseers turning up.’ Longinus was a former consul, had governed Moesia Superior under Domitian and Pannonia under Nerva and was not about to be impressed by a distant relation of the princeps. He had a high, heavily creased forehead, slightly milky eyes and the thin face of a scholar, all of which appeared to inspire him to be gruff and aggressive in speech, as if worried that no one would take him seriously as a commander.

‘The king is always happy to give rooms to distinguished visitors in one of his halls,’ the tribune suggested.

‘Sod that,’ Longinus barked. ‘Not eating meat for days and having the pious little bastards sniffing as their slaves pour you wine. You can go if you like,’ he added, gesturing at Hadrian. There was not a lot of room in the praetorium in the fort.

‘I should like to stay with my men,’ Hadrian replied mildly. ‘That is why I am here, so that I can inspect every detachment of my legion and make sure that they are ready to do their duty.’

‘Their duty is to remind Decebalus that he had better keep his word or ten thousand more just like them will turn up and drag his royal arse over the coals until he squeals – that’s their job, and they do that simply by being here, no matter whether you come to gawp at them or not. And thanks be to Jupiter, Juno and all the rest he is a smart enough barbarian to understand threats and won’t make any trouble. Oh, he will stamp his foot and have little tantrums, but in the end knows we have the bigger club and can pound him into the dust.’ Longinus sniffed. ‘Still, while you are here you may as well come along to the audience tomorrow so that we can use the language of diplomacy to lie to each other while making clear the power that lies behind us. No harm in saying that you are Trajan’s cousin either – family is important to them.’

The audience did not happen the next morning as planned, nor the one after that, for on each day a message arrived soon after dawn to say that the king was indisposed by illness. On the third morning the messenger informed them that the royal diviner had observed the stars and concluded that this was a day for fasting and prayer rather than business.

‘Impudent rogue,’ Longinus declared, after sending a formal message saying that he quite understood and would look forward to meeting the king tomorrow. ‘Mucking us about just to show that he can. Pity the princeps is not keen on a new war at the moment otherwise I could soon teach the king a lesson.’

As the days passed Hadrian began to feel the true claustrophobia of the place, but there was nothing to do but wait, now that he was here. An attempt to raise his concerns with Longinus prompted amused scorn.