The Eternal Empire Read Online Free Page B

academically, whereas the youngest barely passed his
exams into the Military Academy - although that was not so much due to a lack
of intelligence as to his indifferent attitude to life. Cornelius had had a
highly successful career in the army rising to being the chief of staff of a
legion in Asia Minor. How Titus would cope with the rigours of life in the
legions of Rome was the question that currently concerned most of the Petronius
family.
    "Anyway, congratulations on
surviving Military Academy and on becoming a junior tribune. Has your posting
come through yet?"
    Cornelius took a glass from the tray
offered by one of the servants and Titus also took the opportunity to obtain a
fresh drink. They both took a sip of the red wine, a good vintage thought
Cornelius appreciatively; father is being generous, before Titus answered his
brothers’ enquiry.
    "Actually, the orders came through
yesterday; I've been posted to the II Augusta at Isca in Britannia."
    Cornelius gave his brother a sad look
and patted him on the shoulder. "Oh my poor brother, what did you do to
get sent to Britannia? It never stops raining there, and when it does its
overcast and cloudy - you won't see the sun for the two years that you're
there. You will come back looking as white as your toga."
    Titus was as vain as most young men of
noble birth and was very proud of his carefully cultivated golden brown tan.
Uncle Tiberius decided to rescue Titus from Cornelius's taunting. "Come
now Cornelius, it's not as bad as all that. You came back after 18 months in
charge of that auxiliary cohort up on ‘the wall’ looking healthy enough, and
you were stationed much further north than Titus will be."
    "You're right Uncle Tiberius, but
I couldn't resist the temptation to tease my little brother once more,
especially when it touches upon his vaunted good looks. By the way how many
girls did you leave behind in Ravenna?"
    Titus gave Cornelius what could only be
described as a totally depraved grin. "Nowhere near enough, but speaking
of girls, here's somebody you haven't seen in a while."
    Cornelius turned back towards the
entrance hall to see a stunningly attractive raven haired woman standing at the
door to the reception room watching the group of men chatting in the centre.
Cornelius pressed his wine glass onto his brother who now found himself with
two drinks, and strode briskly toward the new arrival. He embraced her warmly
and they exchanged a friendly kiss.
    "Fulvia, when did you get back to
Milan?"
    "A few days ago. Your mother found
out from my mother that I was back. Then I received an invitation to Titus's
celebration dinner. My mother persuaded me to attend, so here I am. "
    "Your mother didn't mention that I
was back in Milan as well did she?"
    "Oh no, that would've been too
obvious."
    They both laughed. Their mothers had
quietly been trying to get Cornelius and Fulvia to fall in love and marry each
other for years, and it was testimony to their persistence that despite their
children showing no romantic inclination whatsoever towards each other they had
not forsaken their dream of a marriage between the Antoninus and Petronius
families. Every opportunity that came along would be seized upon by one or
other of their mothers to 'bring' them together in the hope that the two young
people would see sense and make their mothers very happy. Cornelius and Fulvia
had worked this out very early on, and the strange thing, especially to their
mothers, was that they were very close friends. In fact they were too close to
fall in love. They had grown up together, played together as young children and
went to school together. They viewed each other as brother and sister, a
relationship strengthened by the fact that Fulvia was an only child and Titus
was some ten years younger than Cornelius. They had tried to explain this to
their mothers, who indignantly denied any form of matchmaking, but to no avail.
    "How much do you bet,"
whispered Fulvia, "that your mother has us