Turtledove
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Tertullus
Fictional Character
"Merchants of Discord"
by Laura Frankos

Set in OTL
Type of Appearance: Direct
Nationality: African citizen of the Roman Empire
Date of Birth: 3rd century
Occupation: Merchant

Titus Minthonius Tertullus was an African merchant, dealing mainly in wine, oils and spices. He was one of the four merchants who traveled to Brocolitia under armed guard to trade at the market. He was not friendly with any of the other merchants. He disdained Secundinius as the Gaul had taken some business from Tertullus on a previous stop. Moreover, the merchant Brocco, a Briton, claimed that Tertullus had cheated at gambling.[1]

All four stayed in the inn of Gaius Julius Decuminus, which was uncomfortable. Brocolitia's decurion, Quintus Vestinus Corvus, took a hand in forcing peace on the four.[2] On one evening, Brocco's rivalry with Secundinius led to one physical altercation with the Gaul.[3]

At the first market, Tertullus bad-mouthed Secundinius to Corvus, lamenting the fact that Secundinius had stolen a customer from him. Tertullus even intimated that Secundinius might have committed murder to get that deal.[4] The next day, when Corvus visited the inn before the market opened, he found that Secundinius had been in a verbal altercation with Tertullus and then a physical one with Brocco. Decuminus received a lump on his head when he intervened.[5]

Tertullus hatred for Secundinius was such that he decided to ask a god to curse him. He spent the first night in Brocolitia at the brothel with a prostitute named Pluma, who told him about the local god Belatucadrus. Believing that praying to a more obscure god would increase the potency of the curse, Tertullus purchased enough lead to create a curse tablet, and then went to Belactucadrus' shrine. However, Secundinius caught him there, and tried to get rid of the curse tablet. Angry, Tertullus stabbed Secundinius in the belly, killing him. He then attempted to frame the Greek merchant Flavius Antigonus Papias, by placing the bloody knife in his wagon.

However, Tertullus was generally careless, counting on the laziness of the authorities. He didn't realize that Secundinius' corpse still held a piece of the curse tablet. Moreover, he told the merchant he bought the lead from that he was using it to patch wholes in his pots, but it was plain that his pots didn't need repairs. Finally, he left his bloody cloak at the brothel with Pluma, thinking no one would ever talk to her.[6]

However, Corvus was dogged, and confronted Tertullus. Defeated, Tertullus admitted his guilt, and even begged Papias for forgiveness. Papias, a Christian freely gave it as Tertullus was led away.[7]

References[]

  1. Crime through Time III, pgs. 29-32, mmp.
  2. Ibid., pg. 31-32.
  3. Ibid., pgs. 36-37.
  4. Ibid.
  5. Ibid., pgs. 36-37.
  6. Ibid., pg. 43.
  7. Ibid., pg. 44.
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