The Amphitheatre of Caligula was unfinished and yet here it was being used. In the First Citizen's box sat Claudius, cousin to Romulus and uncle to Caligula, with his third wife and his first cousin once removed Valeria Messalina, who should not have been confused with Romulus' wife Messalina who was completely unrelated, King Herod Agrippa of Batanaea and Galilee and, of course, Romulus' family consisting of his wife Messalina, their firstborn son Conn and their second son Julius.
Claudius and Herod were friends, they had been so since their boyhood. Herod had been sent to Rome for an education and so had grown up alongside Claudius, Drusus Julius Caesar, Germanicus and Agrippa Postumus. Romulus had never been friends with Herod, anymore than Romulus had ever been friends with his maternal half-brother and adoptive uncle Agrippa Postumus, son of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, whom Herod Agrippa had been named after. There was uncertainty of who had influenced who but Agrippa was his father's son. Romulus had never known Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. The only one of his mother's three husbands he had known had been her third and last: Tiberius, who considered his marriage to Julia Major a disaster and his first wife Vipsania Agrippina, daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, to be his only real wife out of the two that he had. That his mother had been a harlot, Romulus knew very well and would often agree with Tiberius, during the time their relationship as family members had improved, on how his mother had been only for Tiberius to say: "Romulus, you knew your materfamilias not. You have no opinion of her, only the word of mouth of those who did know her."
To this Romulus would respond: "But I am the boy of an intrepid Hibernian trader my materfamilias took as one of her many swains, Tiberius. This we all know to be so and thus of my mother's nature I am in agreement with." And then after that, Romulus would ask: "Did Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa poison my mother's first husband Marcus Claudius Marcellus?"
Of this, Romulus never got an agreed upon answer. Tiberius would grow enraged at this accusation of a Roman military man such as himself and say: "This conversation is at an end!"
Livia, Romulus' step-grandmother who would later be known as "Julia Augusta", spoke thusly: "I do not know if Agrippa poison Marcellus. It does not seem likely but given his eagerness to divorce Claudia Marcella Major and marry your mother I dare say it is possible, Romulus."
Augustus would say to Romulus: "I always noticed who Agrippa would stare at your mother, Romulus. The concupiscence in his eyes… Had I not wanted to see my line continued I would have looked elsewhere for a second husband for your mother my daughter. Agrippa was my friend… In hindsight though I wonder how much of a friend he truly was."
Romulus had never known Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa but his maternal half-brother and adoptive uncle Agrippa Postumus he had known well. Scornful for the sake of being scornful, Agrippa had been tormented his maternal half-brother and adoptive nephew, someone a decade younger than him, since as soon as he could. Augustus had adopted Agrippa when Romulus was six twelvemonths old, so they were not adoptive uncle and nephew and maternal half-brothers at the same time when Romulus was born. When Agrippa learned he would be heir to Augustus' bloodline but not to the position of First Citizen, rather that would be Tiberius, he hoped he would be his stepfather's heir as First Citizen. When Augustus revealed that Germanicus was to be Tiberius' heir, Agrippa's scorn towards his maternal half-brother and now adoptive nephew increased. Agrippa's treatment of Romulus was so terrible that Tiberius, who at the time did not have the best relationship with Romulus, would come to the boy's defense. It all ended when Romulus was eight twelvemonths old. Armed with a great tree branch, Agrippa intended to kill Romulus. Tiberius responded by beating Agrippa within an inch of his life with is bare hands. Augustus abdicated Agrippa from the family and with that he was no longer Romulus' adoptive uncle. Romulus had never known the reason for Agrippa becoming even more scornful. To him, Agrippa had merely become worse with every passing twelvemonth.
Herod had always seemed like he was egging Agrippa on, manipulating the Roman to torment his half-brother. He was, of course and when Herod had lost his violent companion, he quickly found himself unable to find anyone to egg on to torment Romulus. Why did he dislike Romulus? Why did he wish to see the son of Julia Major tormented? Because Romulus' father was a Hibernian. Believing one's culture was not a strictly Roman trait, Jews were capable of it as well. In Herod was a belief that the peoples of Western Europe were inferior, something to be made sport of and with Romulus there, he had his opportunity to make sport of an inferior person but he had to be discrete and so he manipulated Agrippa, who already tormented his maternal half-brother, whenever he wished to make sport of Romulus. The event that lead to Agrippa's banishment was not a result of Herod's manipulations, he drew the line at outright trying to kill the boy.
Agrippa had been named after his posthumous patriarch and Herod had been named in honor of that Roman general. Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa had also been the namesake for two of his daughters: Vipsania Agrippina by Pomponia Caecilia Attica, first wife of Tiberius, and Agrippina Major by Julia Major. Vipsania was someone Romulus had never known. Although Tiberius had considered her his only real wife, he never remarried her following his divorce from Julia. Not long after their divorce for the arranged marriage between Tiberius and Julia, Vipsania married Gaius Asinius Gallus Saloninus and remained married with him until the day she died. When Romulus had asked Tiberius if he would have tried to have him exposed had he been Vipsania's son, Tiberius answered: "If you were Vipsania's son I would have raised you as my own."
Agrippina Major was a different sort. Romulus' elder maternal-half-sister by twelve twelvemonths and Agrippa's elder sister by two, Agrippina had been cousin and wife to Germanicus and was thus mother to Caligula. To Romulus, Agrippina too had been cruel. Why? As young as twelve, Agrippina was already dreaming to be the wife of the First Citizen and that she was to marry Germanicus she was well aware. In both was a desire for the positions they believed to be theirs but in Romulus, Agrippina saw a potential rival to Germanicus just as she had seen potential rivals in her brothers Lucius and Gaius. Augustus and Livia had not allowed Tiberius to expose Romulus and that caused deep fear in Agrippina for her future as wife to the future First Citizen. The fear was for naught as Augustus never had any intention to name Romulus his heir, nor did Tiberius and Romulus never dreamt of or desired becoming First Citizen. When Germanicus expired, Romulus offered Agrippina sympathy. Alas, she did not take it and only continued to see Romulus as a threat, this time to her children. In her first two sons Nero and Drusus, Agrippina failed to instil any hostility towards Romulus. In Caligula alone did she succeed. Likewise, her success with instilling hostility was met with failure in all but one daughter. In the eldest, Agrippina Minor, she succeeded in instilling a hostility towards Romulus, while Julia Drusilla was actually quite close with her uncle and Julia Livilla was indifferent towards him.
So, in the arena stood Caligula, son of Agrippina Major, daughter of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa before this Thracian, the first gladiator to walk out. Stopping five feet away from him, the Thracian dropped both sword and shield and removed his helmet. Caligula looked half-surprised he had not been expecting his maternal uncle but at the same time it had not been shocking to him, he had always wondered what had ever happened Romulus and now he knew. Dropping his sword, Caligula clapped his hands and walked towards his uncle with open arms.
"Let Rome bear witness! I, Neos Helios, have brought before my worshippers my uncle!" Caligula's voice was deep and gravelly and his tone warm. He lacked the sanity to see Romulus as a threat to his wellbeing and was not in a mood to turn violent. As Caligula wrapped his arms around Romulus in an embrace, he then uttered: "Come, Uncle, come back to the palace! Bask in my divine presence! Let us fight another day! Let us eat together, gamble together, let me show you my daughter! Uncle Romulus, you are a great-uncle!"
"Let my brother gladiators come too." Romulus said. "And let me see my family."
Smiling, Caligula said: "I shall do so, Uncle! You will be happy to hear that your wife Messalina gave birth to a son those twelve twelvemonths ago, Julius is his name. First, let us go back up to my box. I'll introduce you to my guests, some of whom you already know I do believe." And that was how Romulus came face-to-face with Herod that day. Bringing him up to the box, Caligula gestured to Herod and said: "I believe you know Herod Agrippa, uncle."
Spitting at Romulus, Herod snarled: "Barbarian filth!" Herod was two and fifty twelvemonths old, his graying hair was mostly in his beard and mustache, which were long. His eyes were dark, just as his expression was. His clothing was in the Roman style, making him different from other Jews. He was Romanized.
In response, Romulus said with a cold tone: "Always a pleasure, Herod."
"Claudius you already know, that woman with him is his wife." Caligula said, not even gesturing towards Claudius and Valeria Messalina. Romulus merely nodded at Claudius and his wife, the former nodding in return. "And here, Uncle, is your family!"
When his eyes fell upon Messalina, a smile came to Romulus' countenance. She stared back with her reddish-brown eyes and smiled in return. Then the redheaded couple embraced. The embrace did not last long as their sons Conn and Julius soon approached and Romulus could not help but feel that things were already returning to normal, the sun was beginning to rise and the long night was ending. There were no words that needed be said between Romulus and Messalina, they knew what the other was thinking. To the younger of his two sons, Romulus said: "I saw your face long ago when I looked into a pond. Come here, my boy! Know your father's embrace!" For the first time did patriarch and boy embrace and then to his firstborn, seventeen-twelvemonth old Conn, did Romulus look to and say: "You are a man now, Conn. The very ghost of myself at your age."
Conn, resembling his father with his mother's reddish-brown eyes, nodded. He was indeed a man now and he was ready to fight alongside his father as a man. He opened his mouth to speak, only for Claudius to cut in.
"G-G-Go-Good cousin, Romulus, might I speak with you for a second?" Claudius inquired, his voice as always belonging to know land animal but himself.
"Of course, Claudius." Romulus said, exiting the box with Claudius so they could speak in the privacy of the amphitheatre's hallway.
Once in the hallway, Claudius whispered: "What was that? Drop your sword and shield right there and remove your helmet before Caligula? You might as well have just fallen upon your sword! You cannot cheat Cassius and his fellow conspirators out of killing Caligula now!"
"I still can, there is more than one way to kill a man, Claudius. Poison him at dinner, drown him in his bath, suffocate him with a pillow, bludgeon him and then make it look like the ceiling of his bedchamber caved in on him, the little monster will be killed and you will succeed him as First Citizen."
Claudius, thin and sickly man of fifty that he was, could only stare in incredulousness. "What was that last one?"
"Forget about it, Caligula will die."
"I know he will." Claudius commented with a deadpan expression. "I'd just rather those conspirators not be the ones to kill him."
"Had your brother my cousin and my half-sister your sister had the sense to stop after Drusus and then waited seven twelvemonths, all that is Rome would not be in this mess." Romulus said.
"Yes, well, they didn't and now here we are." Claudius snarled. "And back to my question of what all that was in the arena! Dropping the sword and shield, removing your helmet, what was that?"
"I wanted him to know who I was."
"You are lucky he is mad. A saner villain would have killed you."
"Well then, let us be thankful he isn't one otherwise you wouldn't be here either, Claudius."
"Oh, please. I've been successfully fooling people for decades now. Were Caligula still sane I'd still be able to play him like a lyre."
"I'm sure." Romulus commented, his face completely blank. "How long are these games to last?"
Claudius shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. A week at least but the assassination will be happening any day now."
"In that case, I say let Praetorian Guard kill him." Romulus said. "While they focus on him, we escape Rome. Us and our families, Caligula's daughter, his wife, let Caligula be the only one who dies!"
"Nay!" objected Claudius. "Caligula's wife and daughter must be victims alongside him. Without the deaths of innocents, I won't have the proper motive for Cassius' execution."
"The fact that he would have killed you is motive enough, Claudius." Romulus said, his tone cold. "I do not want to sacrifice an innocent woman and child."
Claudius gave a small chuckle. "Oh, Romulus, my dear cousin, how naïve you are. Innocents will die regardless. Do you really think that saving Caligula's wife and daughter will change anything? The continuity of our family is our ultimate goal but, alas, sacrifices must be made."