Rome - 24. Chapter 24

We arrived in the morning. The sun had started to travel across the sky. Felix was cleaning up the kitchen from breakfast when one of the boys told him we were arriving. It was nice to see the boys welcoming us home and Felix with dishes of freshly prepared eggs, fresh-baked bread, and fruit.

“Felix, this bread tastes different. What did you do?”

“Sir, since we added herbs to the cheese, I added herbs to the bread.”

“It’s delicious, and maybe we should sell bread in the city.”

We laughed, and as expected, the boys took a piece of the bread. It was good to be home.

“Sir, we have something to show you.”

“Okay, Cruz, lead the way.’

“Sir, we were afraid the oil from the first pressing was going to go bad unless we could keep it cool. So we dug a well.”

I looked at the well, it wasn’t deep, but I noticed one of the jars sitting on the floor of the well. “Is it cold down there?”

“Yes, Sir. Not as cold as the meat well, but it is cold enough for the oil.”

“How many jars can you store there.”

I looked carefully as two of the boys jumped in and moved the jar to the side of the well. “Sir, We calculated that we could store eight jars here.”

“That’s a great idea. Can we store any jars of the third press? Felix wants to use the oil in the kitchen.”

“We can check and we can make this well larger if necessary.”

I looked at my boys, what my father is missing.

At the midday meal, I gave each boy two denarii. “This is for the oil we sold to our friend the baker and for the well to store our oil.”

The boys smiled as they went and put their denarii away. I knew Dante realized his error and how much money he would have if he stayed.

As I looked at the boys, I knew someday they would leave me. They are approaching manhood, and they will want their own place and maybe marry. The boys that went hunting with Duccius may wish to join the Roman Army.

“What are you thinking about? You seem far away?”

“I was thinking about the boys. How many do you think will leave us when they reach eighteen or nineteen? Do you think any will want to join the Roman Army?”

“They are not Roman citizens, and I doubt the Army will take them. You need to ask your grandfather Gaius that question."

“Maybe not as a soldier but maybe as a paid servant.”

“I seriously doubt it. They will know they were once slaves. They won’t trust them.”

I knew that if they wanted to stay on the Villa and share in our riches, I would be very happy. That evening I gave thanks to Apollo.

I watched as the boys enlarged the wine well to handle the jars of wine. “Aumen, we need to make sure the plugs for the jars are tight. The plugs we got with the jars we bought in Rome aren’t tight. If air gets in, the taste of the oil might be affected.”

“I noticed that some of the tops of the jars we bought were not smooth. They had a rough finish. I think they sold us cheap jars but at a price for the best.”

I kept thinking about how I could seal those jars. The oil was too good to allow it to get a bitter taste. As I was sitting there thinking, I saw one of the boys wrapping a cloth around his leg.

“Adom, what is wrong with your leg?”

“I scratched it when I went into the woods looking for trees to build a shed.”

“What did you put on it?”

“Felix gave me some herbs he mixed with oil.”

Looking at his leg, “Adom, you may not know it, but you just earned a denarii. Aumen, I know how to seal the jars.”

I took a jar plug, tore some cloth into a strip, wrapped the plug, and tried to seal the jar. I had to wrap the plug twice before I had a seal.

“Aumen, look. By wrapping the plug, I can fit it in the jar.” I took an empty jar, placed water in it, wrapped a plug in cloth, turned the jar upside down, no leak.

“How do you know the plug would’ve worked without the cloth being wrapped around it?”

He had a good question. I took the plug, removed the cloth, placed the plug in the jar, turned it upside down. We watched the water slowly drip from the jar. He smiled. We had our answer.

In a few days, we had all of the plugs wrapped. The jars were placed in the cold well, and now the boys called it the olive well. They were happy, and I was happy.

About three weeks after we harvested the olives at midday, I noticed that some boys needed new tunics. They would wear them until the cheeks of their butts showed and not say anything.

“I think we need to make a trip to Rome.” Looking at Aumen, “Some of our boys need new tunics. Maybe some of the other boys can wear theirs.”

“We’ll need to take the boys who need new tunics with us to the city. When do you want to go?”

“Let’s see how many boys need new tunics, and then we’ll know how many to take with us.”

When we were ready to go, out of the ten boys, six needed new tunics. Looking at the other four, I knew with the available tunics from the six, they would be okay for at least a year. Nathan’s tunic was in fine shape. “Aumen, how many need new sandals?”

“They all needed new sandals.”

Early the next morning, we were ready to go. Aumen stayed at the Villa with the four boys and Nathan. Aeneas rode Aumen’s horse, and the rest rode in the cart. It was late when we arrived in Rome. I went to Gaius’s home, and he was in bed. Deacon was up and helped the boys get a place in the barracks while Aeneas slept in my room. In the morning, Gaius was surprised to see us at his table. I explained we came to get new tunics for the boys and sandals for everyone. One of the boys had some fruit, “Grandfather, this is for you.” I watched Gaius as the boy said that. He smiled, took the fruit, and hugged the boy. I thought how much that hug meant to the boy. When Gaius looked at me, I smiled. “We need to stop at the baker’s. He has a few of my jars. Then the Temple since Apollo has blessed with a good harvest this year. We’ll stop back before we leave.”

“You need to stop and see your mother. Your father isn’t doing well.”

“We will, but we can’t stay long.”

Saying goodbye to Grandfather and getting a promise to visit soon, we went to buy new tunics and sandals. With the new clothes, we went to the Baths. I watched the boys. This will be the first time at the Baths for some of them. Now clean, dressed in their new tunics and sandals, we went to the Temple. I bought a pig and sacrificed it to Apollo. For some of the boys, this was the first time they were in the Temple. The priest, who I call grandfather, was there. I introduced the boys to him. He blessed each of them.

Leaving, I had to make one more stop, Father’s. When I approached, I noticed it was very quiet. I let the cart at the gate. I wasn’t sure how Father would react when he saw the boys. As I approached the house, I saw Duccius in the grove. I went up and grabbed him. Bad mistake, he spun and grabbed me. “Hey, it’s me.”

“I’m sorry, Lucinius. Purely reflex. It’s nice to see you. What brought you to Rome.”

He’s sounding like a Senator. “I came to buy new tunics and sandals for the boys. Is Mother here?”

“Yes, check the kitchen, and to answer your other question, he’s here also.”

I felt something isn’t right. Duccius was very diplomatic. The comfort of a brother wasn’t there. I found Mother in the kitchen with Calliope. “Lucinius, it’s nice to see you.” Giving me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “I didn’t know you were coming to Rome.”

I came to buy new tunics and sandals for the boys. I arrived late last night and stayed with Grandfather.”

“Are you alone?”

“No, I came with some of the boys. They are with the cart at the gate. How is Father?”

“He’s not good. Duccius and your father aren’t talking. They have been arguing over some discussions in the Senate. Until your father resigns, Duccius has been attending the Sessions as a spectator. He has agreed with one of your father’s enemy.”

“I wondered what was bothering him. He was very formal with me. That wasn’t the Duccius I knew.”

“Give him time, your father. Is talking about buying a Villa in the south.” “Why would he do that. He’ll inherit Grandfather’s Villa since he’s the only son.”

“I think someone in the Senate told him his father was going to leave it to you.”

“That’s ridiculous, I have my own Villa which I love very much. I don’t need Grandfather’s. Is that the Senator Duccius agreed with?”

“Yes”

“Well, you can tell Father what I said when you told me what that Senator said. If it were true, I’d give it to Father.”

I sat and had a cup of wine, and she gave me some sweets for the boys. “I need to leave before the baker closes. He has some empty oil jars of mine, which I need. Mother, tell Father what I said about Grandfather’s Villa. If he wants a document declaring that he would get the Villa in case Grandfather died, I’ll give it to him.” Kissing my mother, I left.

“Here are some sweets from my mother. Now we need to go to the baker and get our empty jars.”

Arriving at the baker, he met us at the door. “What are you selling now?”

We came and hoped you had our jars of oil empty.”

“Yes, I’ll get them.” He came back with the. Empty jars, “Do you have any more oil to sell?”

“I don’t have anymore the quality you bought. I may have some second press, but that would be more expensive.”

“Is it more expensive than that vendor who is selling first press oil.”

I laughed, “Until we pressed our olives, I thought his was the first press. He’s selling second press at the first press price. I’ll bring some first press and second press, you’ll see the difference. I was ready to leave when the boys wanted to buy some bread. So I bought three loaves of his bread. He wanted to give them to us, but I insisted on paying for them. Passing a cheese vendor, we bought a small wheel of cheese. The boys laughed as they tasted the cheese.

“This tastes like the whey we feed to animals.”

I smiled as I listened to their comments. They are beginning to appreciate good food.