SPQR Chapter 6
The next few months for Martellus passed by joyously as the city of Rome itself was guided by the twin lights of republicanism and civic virtue. With Emperor Titus at the helm, the city itself became a paradise. But like all visions of paradise, this dream would soon be shattered violently. Midway through his first year, Titus though still relatively young fell to a mysterious fever which only seemed too get worse even though the doctors had exhausted all the remedies. By the end of his second year, the leopard could scarcely leave his chambers for the illness yet continued to bravely lead his empire, out of fear that his brother Domitian, filled with evil intentions should do something horrid in his name. This took great amounts of energy to complete and soon, he was completely drained of all his health. (Unbeknownst to all, Domitian had bribed the doctors to fill his medicine and meals with poison to guarantee his eventual death.)
And so, having only worn the Imperial purple for little more than two years, Titus died a slow and painful death, compounded by the fact that his brother, in all of his arrogance and impudence was now the leader of the world's largest kingdom. His last dreams were not at all pleasant and he saw the reign of terror which would engulf his land but there was nothing the leopard could do to stop his maniacal brother's plans. Domitian might have been evil but like the venom of a snake, he worked gradually to destroy the entire body. He was always plotting about which new lands to usurp, which political opponent needed to be killed, which of the advisors did he need to throw into prison on false claims.
For the lupine senator Martellus, Domitian first appeared friendly but the wolf knew to keep his distance from this conniver as other senators had been seduced by his silver tongue only to be destroyed later. The Senate, which under Vespasian and Titus had become a center for debates and dialogue now became the unloading point for vicious tirades and shouting matches. Senators who disagreed with the new Emperor completely disappeared, the circumstances for their disappearance never investigated, although Martellus feared the worst for them. An entire decade of work to make the people of Rome confident in the abilities of the Senate was being undone in a matter of a scant few months and the dictatorship of a decade ago began anew, as the Senate once again became a "rubber stamp" for the Emperor‘s desires.
But the worst of these offenses was the reinstatement of the Imperial cult that the other members of the Flavian dynasty worked to end. The Emperor once again assumed no wrongdoing as he was, as Nero and Caligula assumed, a god amongst mortals. Everywhere, new marble statues in Domitian's likeness appeared, many featuring the arrogant leopard in warrior's clothing, even though he had no battle experience whatsoever. All were made to address him as a god and the priests had received a mandate to praise him as "the only god of Rome." And the wolf, a former soldier who had served under and alongside men of greater character and bravery than this coward was made to worship Domitian, with his own life and the lives of his family at stake. Every self-serving decree, every new statue to praise, every new feast in his honor Martellus played an unwilling part in and it hurt the wolf more than any sword could have ever done. For a full decade, this pattern continued until Martellus at war with himself as much as with the Emperor decided that he was not going to suffer this indignity any longer.
"Cecilia, you must leave the city and take our son. Things have grown so dangerous that I, a former soldier, would want to leave but I have an obligation which I made to the people decades ago as a soldier to protect the Empire from evil men. And now I must fulfill that obligation." She was given the secret passage to the tunnels, which would lead her out of the city and beggar's clothes so she could disguise herself for years if need be. And when she kissed her husband's muzzle for the last time, Cecilia and her now teenage son knew they would never see that wolf alive again. But the Emperor's rage knew no bounds and he would probably go after the families of innocent men with the same ferocity as those whome he perceived to be threats.
The city that Martellus had known since he was a cub now had a dark, almost nightmarish tint, with people hobbled by fear, wise men being killed and the prisons now filled with the innocent. Fear and paranoia were everywhere even as the government loyal to Domitian covered up the abuses of power by Domitian himself. The power of the fasces, the symbolic axe with bundles of wood, representing the state authority of the Emperor was now the fear of the common man. Anyone who the Emperor saw as a threat was eliminated in the most horrifying ways imaginable and with no hope of investigation- Rome had become in modern terms, an authoritarian police state, a tinhorn dictatorship. But with the resolve of a Legionnaire, Martellus walked confidently to the Senate, carrying in his cloak the sword he once used as a soldier, ever mindful of the strong-arms the leopard had hired to dispose of his opponents. If this madness were to stop, it would be on Martellus' own head.