Attila by Ross Laidlaw

to make her take this step I cannot say, but the palace is a hotbed of intrigue, swarming with scheming eunuchs and courtiers whose only concern is to advance their own careers. I know only that there exists a faction, jealous of your success and power, which drips poison into the Augusta’s ear, turning her against you. You, who of all her subjects have served her the most loyally. Such injustice! My friend, I urge you in the strongest terms I know: do not obey the summons when it comes. For if you do these creatures will encompass your destruction. Remember Stilicho, who, after his fall from favour presented himself at Ravenna without armed supporters and was summarily executed. Rome can ill afford the loss of the foremost of her servants. Meanwhile, I shall plead your cause with the Augusta; be sure these lies will be exposed in time. Farewell.
    Sent by the hand of my trusted agent T. Valerius Rufinus.
    Boniface reread the letter in growing incredulity. How could the Empress believe such perfidy? Placidia of all people, whom he had stood up for through thick and thin. Well, at least he was forewarned, thanks to Aetius. There were still, it would seem, some honest Romans left. What to do? If he returned to Ravenna, assuming the summons came, that would be equivalent to signinghis own death-warrant, as Aetius’ warning had made clear. But if he refused, that would be construed as revolt, in which case an armed force would almost certainly be sent to arrest him.
    However, if his enemies imagined he would give in meekly, they were in for a surprise. He would put his troops in a state of readiness, and prepare to resist. Of their loyalty he had no doubt, but of their ability to repel an expedition in force he was less certain. His Roman troops supplemented by Berber auxiliaries were adequate for occasional campaigns against insurgents. But faced with the might of an Imperial army . . . ? Well, the Gods (sorry, God, he amended to himself with a touch of gallows humour) would decide.
    As soon as he spotted the distant but rapidly approaching dust-cloud, Boniface sensed that it spelled trouble. The cluster of dots at the cloud’s centre swiftly resolved itself into a knot of hard-riding soldiers. They pulled up at the camp’s perimeter; two decurions in full armour dismounted and marched purposefully towards him.
    They saluted, then one handed Boniface a scroll. He did not need to unroll it to know what it contained: a summons, written in purple ink, to return to Ravenna.
    â€˜You are to come with us, sir,’ said the officer respectfully but firmly.
    For a moment Boniface hesitated, weighing up the enormous repercussions of ignoring an imperial summons.
    â€˜That won’t be possible,’ he said, gravely courteous. ‘I regret, gentlemen, that your journey has been wasted.’
    Â 
    1 The Rhine.
    2 Aquitaine.
    3 Trier.
    4 Arles, Provence.
    5 Sbeitla, in central Tunisia.
    6 River Dee.
    7 Marseille.
    8 The incident is recounted in Chapter 33 of Gibbon’s
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
.
    9 Present-day Tozeur in Tunisia; then a Roman outpost marking the south-west extremity of the empire.
    10 Present-day Testour.
    11 Now Sbiba.
    12 25 June 427.

FIVE
    And absolutely, with a master’s right, Christ claims our hearts, our lips, our time
    Paulinus, Bishop of Nola,
Letter to Ausonius
,
c
. 395
    Pacing nervously in the palace of his friend the Bishop of Carthage, Aurelius Augustinus – Bishop of Hippo in the diocese of Africa, famed author of
Confessions
and
City of God
, universally revered for his piety and spiritual example – was apprehensive. For today was the first of January, the day of the naming of the consuls, and of the most popular and eagerly anticipated festival of the year, which from time immemorial had been celebrated throughout the Roman world, the Feast of the Kalends. And he, Augustine, was about to go into the forum of Carthage and denounce it.
    It had not been