Eusebius Abelardus

**Eusebius Discordius Abelardus** was the victim in Who Holds The Whip (Case #26 of Graecita).

## Profile

Eusebius was a slave trader who had black hair, gray eyes and brown skin. At the time of his death he wore a white toga with edges sewed with different shades of green and a laurel wreath on his head.

## Murder details

The team followed the directions the jewel trader had given them and they entered the forum, only to find that the traders were packing their slaves and were ready to leave. This disappointed the group, but they still haven’t lost hope on freeing Shirley and they began looking for **Eusebius Abelardus**. Marionette and Norah entered one of the rooms at the forum and they found a naked man tied to a pillory with flogging marks all over his back. The girls assumed he was a slave and felt pity for him, so they came to untie him only to realize that the man is dead. Even though they wanted to bring justice to the murder, Marionette and Norah were aware that because the victim was a slave the killer will not receive any charges so solving the murder would be a waste of time. This was until a man entered the atrium and through him they discovered that the victim was no slave and that he was in fact the slave trader they had been looking for, Eusebius Abelardus.

## Killer and motives

After collecting enough evidence, Marionette and Norah found out that Honoria Davinia was Eusebius’ killer. Honoria acted confused by the accusations, pointing out that she’s supposed to set a good example to her courtesans and wouldn’t want them to think murder is okay, but when shown the evidence she cracked up eventually and admitted to killing the victim to save her own reputation. Honoria revealed that she isn’t a “full” Roman woman and while her mom was a noblewoman, her father was a Chinese slave. This caused problems with her mother’s side of the family, and even though they kept her, she was considered illegitimate and they hid the truth of her ancestry from everyone in Rome. Despite the prejudice she faces from her mother’s family, Honoria worked hard, managing to reach a high social status with the nobles and she found the scholae which made her money enough to be considered Roman aristocracy. After telling her story, Honoria began talking about how much of a creep Eusebius was and how he often flirted with her and tried to get her into sleeping with her. Honoria kept rejecting his advances until, one day, he learned the truth about who her father was and threatened to expose her if she doesn’t go in bed with him. This terrified Honoria as she didn’t want to sleep with Eusebius, but she also didn’t want anyone to know she was Half-Chinese. So Honoria decided to see him at the Forum and told him that she agrees to have sex with him but would like to get drunk first. Eusebius agreed to her terms and he began drinking with Honoria, but what he didn’t realize is that she wasn’t actually going to sleep with him and she actually had something else in mind for him. After Eusebius got drunk, Honoria stripped him off his clothes and dragged him to the pillory where she had his hands tied up and she began whipping him until he died. Norah and Marionette decided to take Honoria to the Roman guards where her punishment will be decided by the crown prince.

## Case appearances

* Who Holds The Whip (Case #26 of Graecita).

## Trivia

* Eusebius was modeled after New Zealand actor, Cliff Curtis.

## Gallery

Discordia, Eusebius’ daughter.Honoria Davinia, Eusebius’ killer.