Free Spira Mirabilis by Aidan Harte

– they lack competence for the job.’
    Hear-hears told the consul that the majority agreed with him, and he ended with stentorian resolve, ‘Bernoulli built a state devoted to Reason and the rigour of Natural Philosophy, not the spurious claims of pedigree. Let us stay true to that vision.’
    ‘You will, I trust, allow that the First Apprentice knows the mind of Bernoulli better than you?’ Torbidda started, his voice suspiously calm. ‘He believed in
expedience
. He excluded thenobility from government in Forty-Seven because it was expedient – but circumstances change. I am privileged and burdened with knowledge you are not, a little of it esoteric and wonderful, but most wearingly dull. And amongst the latter is the true state of our finances. Brothers, they are grim. I see your doubtful faces and I hear you asking: how could we, who have Nature on a leash, have empty vaults? How did we arrive at this pass? Who is to blame? Some of you have heard me defame Bernoulli’s name to the fanciulli and doubtless thought it a clever ruse. I tell you: I meant every word. I tell you the Guild has made of Bernoulli a false idol. We call him the Supreme Architect, but he built his empire on weak foundations. With our native talent and skill, we could have let the world come to Concord and attained a lasting hegemony, built peacefully and gradually. But Bernoulli was a man in a hurry, and plunder and violent confrontation were his methods. For a time, they worked, and the appropriated fortune of the Curia funded our legions. As long as the empire was expanding, the fact that the tumult of Re-formation destroyed Concord’s tax-base did not matter, for we acquired vassals aplenty and whenever we needed to pay for new projects, more legions, bigger war machines, we simply squeezed them.’
    The consuls listened silently to this blasphemy with a mixture of indignation and confusion, appalled to hear the First Apprentice, of all people, insulting Bernoulli so casually.
    He appeared not to notice. ‘Since Rasenna destroyed the Twelfth Legion, all of Etruria had been in a state of rebellion. This has wounded our pride, and broken our finances. We need capital – so where shall we find it? There’s no one to tax – no one with money, anyway. Most of the nobility are impoverished. The smarter families renounced their names and joined the Guild – families such as yours, Consul Fuscus. What are we to do, then? Fleece ourselves? And when we are all sheared, what then?’
    Numitor Fuscus touched his neck nervously.
    ‘Therefore I move again that we open the rolls. If you’re worried that every wretch will be allowed in, don’t be; only those with something to offer will be welcomed. Not every noble took the route yours did, Consul. A few went into trade and not only maintained their fortunes but acquired greater ones – Malapert Omodeo is one such—’
    Torbidda’s spell wavered as the rows began to mutter. Malapert Omodeo: a notorious name, a name regarded with special hostility by nobles and engineers alike. The Guild might exclude nobles from all important positions, but it respected expertise and ability. Omodeo had run one of the most productive mines in the Rhine Lands and had used his direct access to the mint and his foreknowledge of Concordian plans to invade the Dalmatian Pass to speculate on grain prices – the fortune he made off the back of the ensuing disaster was enough to buy sanctuary in Byzant.
    Consul Fuscus gave voice to the common feeling when he spat, ‘That traitor!’
    Torbidda moved to silence the mutters of agreement. ‘Consul Fuscus, you know very well that Omodeo fled only because he feared the Guild would appropriate his fortune – surely that is prudence, not treachery – surely we would each have done the same. We have need of prudent men. I wish to invite him back into the fold. Does anyone object?’
    The consuls took the prudent course – silence – and once they passed the motion,