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- 02/10/2021
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
Rome - 26. Chapter 26
This scroll is a few years ahead where Scroll 3 left off
What are you thinking?”
“Tomorrow we’ll celebrate our birthdays. I’ll be twenty-three. It seems so long ago when we first arrived at the Villa. So much has happened.”
“We have a lot to be thankful for. I’ll be twenty-five. You know it’s nice that we all celebrate our birthdays on the same day. The boys, I mean men, I’m so used to calling them boys that I forgot they have grown since that first day we brought them to the Villa.”
“Yes, they are men; we have prospered with their help.”
Looking over the fields, the sheds, and the grove from the front of the house, “There is a lot of work here. With the new land, we’ll need more help.”
“If we bring on more boys, then we’ll need more rooms.”
“I was thinking of building rooms on the other side of the courtyard. They would be facing the courtyard.”
“You need to see the architect.”
“I’ll do it tomorrow when I’m in Rome.”
Two years ago, I bought the property to the north, east, and west of the Villa. The land was cheap, and since I was living here, it satisfied the condition that the buyer must live on the land. It gave us a border around the Villa. The land wasn’t fenced, but the men were working on building posts, when time permitted, they would build a wall. The property in the back of the house is where I wanted to build the rooms for the men.
The following day, I took half of the men and went to Rome. Each of the men had their horse, but we still needed someone to drive the mules with the cart. We arrived midday the day after we left. We had left late after the midday meal the day before our arrival.. The men went shopping, and I went to the architect. We agreed to meet at the Temple.
At the architects, he was glad to see me. “I own the land north of the Villa, and I’d like to build rooms there.”
“I think I have the original plans here. Let’s look at them.”
How he found the right scroll, I’ll never know. He had shelves of scrolls. “Yes, here are the house plans. So you have bought this land here?”
“Yes, and this land here and here. I wanted free space around the Villa. Here is where I want to build the rooms.”
“One store or two-story?”
“Two story, I think, I’ll need at least ten, five to a story.”
“Do you want the same size as the rooms in the front, or smaller, larger?”
“Let’s make them a little smaller. The rooms in the front are for two men. With these, I want each man to have their own room.”
“I’ll be out with some men in three days and check the site, get some measurements and let you know the cost.”
I agreed and left the architect to meet the men. After the Temple, I needed to stop to see Grandfather and Duccius.
With the men, we went to the Temple, buying a pig as we went. The priest who I use to call grandfather had passed. The priestess who told me said the gods welcomed him into their presence. I was sorry not to see him there. He was a kind man, and I learned a lot from him. I hadn’t met the new priest, but I probably will on one of my trips. We sacrificed the pig to Apollo, thanking him for looking after us and giving us his blessings. Before we headed to Grandfather's, the men wanted to visit the Baths, so we did. A young boy was handing out cloth for drying. He didn’t look well, or maybe he was just hungry.
“Lucinius, the boy doesn’t look well.”
The men started to call me by my name, “Aeneas, maybe you should talk to him when he hands you the cloth.”
Aeneas always had a pleasant face, and when he smiled, his eyes sparkled. I watched as he spoke to the boy. The boy’s head dropped, and he wouldn’t look at Aeneas.
When Aeneas came back to me, “We need to see the boy’s father. He comes from a poor family. He’s the youngest of four. The other three work with their father, but he is too young. He doesn’t get paid and is treated like a slave. When he told his father he didn’t want to work here because of how he was treated, his father told him he either worked here, or he was going to sell him at the slave market.”
“We’ll buy him. Contact his father and offer fifty denarii for the boy. Don’t go over a hundred without coming back to me.”
I knew Aeneas would buy the boy for less than a hundred. As we were lounging in the hot water, I saw Aeneas coming into the Baths. He nodded to me. I noticed he had a tunic and sandals with him. I watched as he spoke to the boy. The boy started to cry. Aeneas led him to the hot water, helped him in, and proceeded to wash him. As I watched, the other men went and rinsed off in the cold water. I waited for Aeneas, and the boy then followed them. I would wait, Aeneas would tell me what occurred on the way home. We stopped at Grandfather’s, and as expected, we had to have something to eat and drink.
“Grandfather, how are you feeling? In your last letter, you said you weren’t feeling well. I hope Deacon is taking good care of you?”
“Yes, he is. It’s just old age. I’m thinking of retiring from the Senate. Would you like to take my place?”
“No, Grandfather, I live too far.” “
You could live here.”
“I have a better idea, come and live with me. Let Deacon manage this house.”
I knew what he was going to say, “He’s a slave. A freedman must handle the affairs of this house.”
“Grandfather, he handles them now. Make him a freedman.”
Now would Grandfather do that or not. He has visited me enough times to see how the men work, he knows they are freedmen, yet they work harder than any slave would.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Well, at least come and visit me.”
“When the Senate takes a break, I will.”
I didn’t pursue the issue. I knew Grandfather would find it difficult to free his slaves. Not that he wouldn’t, he would be afraid of them leaving him alone. Saying goodbye, we went to see Duccius.
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19
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14
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
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