Read Online The Testimonium by Lewis Ben Smith - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Lewis Ben Smith
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ancient teakwood table was positioned on a low workbench, and they both breathed a sigh of relief.
The sound of a helicopter began to grow in the distance. Guioccini smiled. “It looks like our final team member will be here just in time to help you get the real work started,” he said. “Let’s cover that entrance back up and go greet him, shall we?”
* * *
Josh knew he should be exhausted, but the events of the last twenty-four hours had him on such an adrenaline rush his body was feeling no fatigue. As soon as he got the call out on Lake Hugo, his father had headed for the boat ramp. Once the Bass Tracker was loaded up, Josh had dialed the number for Dr. Guioccini and gotten through. The Italian antiquarian sounded sleepy but responded to Josh’s name very positively. He thanked Josh for calling back so quickly and then filled him in on the nature of the discovery and the need for a Latin historian and archeologist to assist in translating the document that had been found—and any more that might still be hidden in the chamber. As the reality of the discovery sunk in, Josh could hardly contain his excitement. At his father’s house near Texarkana, he had thrown some clothes into his satchel, grabbed a handful of reference books for his carry-on, and been back out the door by the time his dad had gotten the boat unhooked and hosed out.
“Are you really going to fly to Italy smelling like dead shrimp?” his father asked him, and Josh looked down at his stained fishing pants and gave a laugh. He ducked back in the house, grabbed a clean change of clothes, and then showered and washed his hair in record time. The drive to D/FW International Airport had taken just over three hours, and Josh had used his phone to go online and find last-minute seats on a flight to London Heathrow, with a forty-five-minute layover before picking up the connecting flight to Naples. If all went as planned, Josh would arrive in Italy less than twenty-four hours after pulling his dad’s boat out of the water in Oklahoma.
Josh had tried to immerse himself in the works of Cassius Dio during the trans-Atlantic flight, but not even the lively Latin narrative by the gossipy Roman consul who had served under the Emperor Commodus could keep him from speculating about what had been found on the island of Capri. He finally put the book down and tried to remember what he had learned about the reclusive emperor who had made the island famous. Tiberius was one of the least popular Roman emperors, mainly because he was portrayed as a sour, bitter old man who hated the city that was the capital of the Empire he governed from 14 to 37 AD. Following in the footsteps of his legendary stepfather, Augustus, he had always been jealous of the enormous popularity of his nephew and adopted son, Germanicus. Not long after Tiberius succeeded to the imperial throne, Germanicus had died under mysterious circumstances—many said he had been poisoned by order of the jealous emperor, a suspicion that was enhanced when the accused poisoner died before his trial. In an effort to dispel these suspicions, Tiberius had adopted Germanicus’ young son Gaius as his own heir. Gaius was already known to the soldiers of his father’s legions as “Caligula,” or “Little Boots,” because of the miniature general’s uniform his father had loved to dress him up in. It was Caligula, grown into a deeply psychotic and perverted young adult, who had reportedly ordered Tiberius to be smothered with his own pillows when the old man’s illness proved to be less fatal than Gaius had hoped. Caligula had reigned for four brief years before the Roman army had enough of his paranoia and rapidly accelerating lunacy, and he was murdered, along with his wife and infant daughter, by two generals who had been companions of his father.
Josh loved historical novels, and thought often about how Tiberius had been portrayed in popular works—a giggling, cruel, and paranoid old fool in the
The sound of a helicopter began to grow in the distance. Guioccini smiled. “It looks like our final team member will be here just in time to help you get the real work started,” he said. “Let’s cover that entrance back up and go greet him, shall we?”
* * *
Josh knew he should be exhausted, but the events of the last twenty-four hours had him on such an adrenaline rush his body was feeling no fatigue. As soon as he got the call out on Lake Hugo, his father had headed for the boat ramp. Once the Bass Tracker was loaded up, Josh had dialed the number for Dr. Guioccini and gotten through. The Italian antiquarian sounded sleepy but responded to Josh’s name very positively. He thanked Josh for calling back so quickly and then filled him in on the nature of the discovery and the need for a Latin historian and archeologist to assist in translating the document that had been found—and any more that might still be hidden in the chamber. As the reality of the discovery sunk in, Josh could hardly contain his excitement. At his father’s house near Texarkana, he had thrown some clothes into his satchel, grabbed a handful of reference books for his carry-on, and been back out the door by the time his dad had gotten the boat unhooked and hosed out.
“Are you really going to fly to Italy smelling like dead shrimp?” his father asked him, and Josh looked down at his stained fishing pants and gave a laugh. He ducked back in the house, grabbed a clean change of clothes, and then showered and washed his hair in record time. The drive to D/FW International Airport had taken just over three hours, and Josh had used his phone to go online and find last-minute seats on a flight to London Heathrow, with a forty-five-minute layover before picking up the connecting flight to Naples. If all went as planned, Josh would arrive in Italy less than twenty-four hours after pulling his dad’s boat out of the water in Oklahoma.
Josh had tried to immerse himself in the works of Cassius Dio during the trans-Atlantic flight, but not even the lively Latin narrative by the gossipy Roman consul who had served under the Emperor Commodus could keep him from speculating about what had been found on the island of Capri. He finally put the book down and tried to remember what he had learned about the reclusive emperor who had made the island famous. Tiberius was one of the least popular Roman emperors, mainly because he was portrayed as a sour, bitter old man who hated the city that was the capital of the Empire he governed from 14 to 37 AD. Following in the footsteps of his legendary stepfather, Augustus, he had always been jealous of the enormous popularity of his nephew and adopted son, Germanicus. Not long after Tiberius succeeded to the imperial throne, Germanicus had died under mysterious circumstances—many said he had been poisoned by order of the jealous emperor, a suspicion that was enhanced when the accused poisoner died before his trial. In an effort to dispel these suspicions, Tiberius had adopted Germanicus’ young son Gaius as his own heir. Gaius was already known to the soldiers of his father’s legions as “Caligula,” or “Little Boots,” because of the miniature general’s uniform his father had loved to dress him up in. It was Caligula, grown into a deeply psychotic and perverted young adult, who had reportedly ordered Tiberius to be smothered with his own pillows when the old man’s illness proved to be less fatal than Gaius had hoped. Caligula had reigned for four brief years before the Roman army had enough of his paranoia and rapidly accelerating lunacy, and he was murdered, along with his wife and infant daughter, by two generals who had been companions of his father.
Josh loved historical novels, and thought often about how Tiberius had been portrayed in popular works—a giggling, cruel, and paranoid old fool in the
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