“In the Year of the Four Emperors,” Helena began, “my family—father, Uncle Gaius, me—supported Vespasian. Uncle Gaius had known him for years. We all admired the man. My husband had no strong views. He was a trader—Arabian spices, ivory, Indian porphyry, pearls. One day, some people at our house were talking about Vespasian’s second son, Domitian. It was when he tried to involve himself in the German revolt, just before Vespasian came home. They convinced themselves this callow youth would make an ideal Emperor—attractive enough to be popular, yet easy for them to manipulate. I was furious! When they left, I tackled my husband—” She hesitated. I squinted at her sideways, deciding it was best not to interrupt. In the twilight her eyes had become the colour of old honey—the last dark scrape that lurks just out of reach of your finger in the bottom corners of the pot so you cannot bear to throw it away.

“Oh, Didius Falco, what can I say? This quarrel was not the end of our marriage, but it made me see the distance between us. He would not admit me to his confidence; I could not support him as I should. Worst of all, he would never even listen to my point of view.” A wild Cretan bull would not have made me declare the man feared she was right.

“On spices and porphyry he must have been well set up,” I suggested. “You could have led a quiet life, no interference—”

“So I could!” she agreed angrily. Some women would have thought themselves fortunate, taken a lover, taken several, complained to their mothers while they spent their husbands’ cash. Reluctantly, I admired her single-mindedness.

“Why did he marry you?”

“Public life—a wife was compulsory. And choosing me tied him to Uncle Publius.”

“Did your father approve of him?”

“You know families. The undertow of pressure, built up over years. My father has a habit of doing what his brother wants. Anyway, my husband looked a perfectly normal man: overdeveloped sense of self-interest, undernourished sense of fun—”

Not a lot a man could say! To calm her I asked a practical question: “I thought senators were not allowed to engage in trade?”

“That was why he went into partnership with Uncle Publius. He provided the investment, all the documents were in my uncle’s name.”

“So your man was rich?”

“His father was. Though they suffered in the Year of the Four Emperors—”

“What happened then?”