Dreaming the Bull
“His Imperial Majesty was fully aware of the extreme risk of an ocean crossing, having experienced the wrath of the autumn storms in his single sea voyage during the conquest of Britannia. To minimize this risk, the two ships sailed three days apart, at times considered auspicious by both augurs and seamen. They took the long sea route round the south coast of the island and down the western side of Gaul to pass east again between the Iberian peninsula and the northern coast of Mauretania on a course straight for Italy. They docked at night and in secrecy at the Roman port of Ostia, recently re-engineered and made safe by the actions of the same emperor.
Each ship was met at the docks by a half-century of the first cohort, the Batavian horse-guards, hand-picked for their unswerving loyalty to their emperor and, importantly, their well-tested ability to keep their counsel while blind drunk. The escort brought a covered grain cart in which the human cargo was transported the eighteen mil...es to Rome and thence, under cover of darkness, to a secure annexe of the servants’ quarters at the imperial palace on the Palatine hill.MoreLess
Each ship was met at the docks by a half-century of the first cohort, the Batavian horse-guards, hand-picked for their unswerving loyalty to their emperor and, importantly, their well-tested ability to keep their counsel while blind drunk. The escort brought a covered grain cart in which the human cargo was transported the eighteen mil...es to Rome and thence, under cover of darkness, to a secure annexe of the servants’ quarters at the imperial palace on the Palatine hill.MoreLess
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