The Wine Boy

Rome, AD 31. Emperor Tiberius has withdrawn to Capri, leaving the Praetorian prefect Sejanus with extraordinary influence over the capital. The palace wine boy Epaphroditus admires the prefect as proof that talent and hard work can overcome humble origins. To a servant with few prospects, Sejanus appears more capable than the imperial family he nominally serves.

The secretary Caenis shows Epaphroditus the treachery behind that rise and recruits him into an attempt to bring the prefect down. Carrying information through the palace places the wine boy between powerful figures who can destroy him without explanation. The short story reconstructs the conspiracy against Sejanus from the perspective of servants and administrators and acts as an early introduction to Epaphroditus, who later becomes central to the Four Emperors novels.