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legitimacy.’
    As a lawyer Valerius could have argued that this was semantics. Otho had been hailed Emperor by the Senate and people of Rome, but since Vespasian had been in the same position as Vitellius when his own legions marched on Italia it didn’t seem politic to make the point.
    ‘Even individual cohorts of the same legion were split over who to support,’ the Emperor continued. ‘With no guidance from Rome, and little more from Tarraco, individual unit commanders were forced to act on their own authority, with varying degrees of success. In the north, around Asturica Augusta, local tribespeople, who had long been thought to be fully Romanized, sensed this weakness and attacked our convoys and supply depots. The supply of gold dropped to a trickle, most of it from the mines around Carthago Nova in the south.’
    ‘Naturally, the treasury officials were concerned,’ Titus said. ‘But they assumed the mines were operating as normal and storing the gold untilit could be safely dispatched. They have been proved wrong. Although the supply has increased, it is still much less than it was before Galba left Spain, and much of the backlog is unaccounted for. We have had various excuses about lower yields, labour problems and continuing trouble from bandits.’
    ‘With respect, sir,’ Valerius addressed Vespasian. ‘You have been Emperor for two years. Surely the legions are no longer divided? A proconsul with five thousand legionaries at his back should be able to get the mines working again and teach the natives a lesson.’
    ‘That may well be true, young man, but there are no five thousand legionaries. At the end of the civil war the Batavian revolt was at its height and threatening to ignite the entire Empire. I was forced to assign the First Adiutrix and most of the Tenth and Sixth legions to join Petilius Cerialis on the Rhenus. I cannot release them until we are certain the entire area is pacified and the threat from east of the river extinguished. Our entire presence in Hispania consists of a few auxiliary units, a vexillation of the Sixth based at Legio in the north and another from the Tenth at Carthago Nova, and they are scattered across the country providing security.’
    ‘My father replaced the proconsul with a man he trusts: Gaius Plinius Secundus.’
    ‘Pliny?’ Valerius frowned at the mention of the familiar name. Pliny was an old friend and fellow lawyer who had spoken for him at his trial for treason.
    ‘Plinius Secundus must deal with his own problems in the south before he can venture to the northern goldfields,’ Titus continued. ‘In the meantime he has asked us to send him a special agent he can dispatch to Asturica Augusta. A man with a nose for trouble, subtle and versed in the ways of the law, but capable of wielding a sword at need. A lawyer and a soldier. In short, Valerius, you.’
    ‘The Empire cannot function without gold,’ the Emperor continued relentlessly, ‘and our most prolific source is the goldfields of Hispania. I am appointing you
legatus iuridicus metallorum
, with a warrant giving you full powers to inspect all aspects of metalworking in northernHispania. The decision will be yours, in discussion with the proconsul, of course, whether you use these powers overtly or covertly. Is something troubling you, Verrens?’
    ‘My apologies, Caesar,’ Valerius bowed; he’d barely been listening. ‘I’ve just recalled that I have an old friend who had connections with Asturica.’
    Titus laughed. ‘Your Spanish wolf. The man I told you about, Father, the one who rescued me from the Judaean skinning knives.’
    Vespasian gave him the look of a commander who believed generals should never allow themselves to end up within range of skinning knives, Judaean or otherwise.
    ‘We left Serpentius with the
medicus
of the Twelfth,’ Valerius said. ‘When he recovered from his wounds he intended to take ship direct to Hispania. The generous bounty you provided would have