Rome - 27. Chapter 27

Father and mother moved to his father’s villa in the south two years ago. Father isn’t doing well, but letters from Mother said he was doing better. She wrote, ‘I’m not sure if it’s being away from his friends in the Senate or the clean air, but he has improved since we moved here.’ As much as my father and I had our disagreements, he still was my father, and I didn’t like to see him ill.

Arriving at Duccius’s house, Father left the house to him when they moved, and I didn’t see anyone. Then I heard laughter in the grove. Seeing a little boy running from Duccius, I laughed. Duccius married a Senator’s daughter a little over two years ago. They had a son who is approaching two years. He is just like his father, which pleased my father. He saw another candidate for the Roman Army. I reached down and grabbed the boy, he yelled. Duccius looked up, came, and hugged me.

“I didn’t expect to see you.”

“I had some business with the architect that built my house. So I took advantage of seeing you and Grandfather.”

“Who did you bring with you?”

“They are standing there waiting for you to give them some refreshment.”

Laughing, he tossed his son to me and went to greet the men. I placed the boy on my shoulders, telling him I was his horse. I snorted, ran to his father and the men. I laughed; Duccius saw Curzio and started to talk about hunting. Then his wife came out to meet us, “I heard all of the noise, stay and have a glass of wine with us.”

We did, and there were some sweet cakes as well.

Aleta, Duccius’s wife, was a pretty woman. She reminded me of Mother in a way. I played with Junius while the men and Duccius talked about hunting. I looked at Aleta, she smiled. “I bet he talks about hunting every chance he gets.”

“Yes, I think he thinks he’s in the Army fighting in some campaign when he goes hunting. My father encourages him. He likes the meat he brings home.”

“Lucinius, you ready for some visitors. I got a hunting party lined up.”

I laughed, “If you come, bring Grandfather with you. He isn’t feeling well.”

As we were leaving, Duccius walked us to the gate, “Lucinius, the boy. Didn’t he worked in the Baths?”

“Yes, but he’ll join us at the Villa.” He looked at me, puzzled. “When you are at the Villa, over a cup of my wine, I’ll tell you.” I hugged my brother, and the boys were ready to go. It would be a long night, and it already was a long day.

On the way home, Adom, who was driving the mules, asked the boy his name. He said his father just called him boy. “Lucinius, what shall we name this young man."

“Marius”

Then I heard Adom, telling the boy he shall be known as Marius. I could hear some of their chatterings. I picked up a few words like chickens, horses, so I knew someone was making a pitch for help at the animal sheds.

We arrived home in the early morning. I told Nathan to see to the boy. I was going to sleep. I knew Felix would fix some food for him. What I didn’t expect was for Felix to claim him to help in the kitchen. I was okay with that. I knew as soon as we started the new rooms, the men would be looking for more boys. I’m not sure if they wanted to have what Nathan and Felix had or just wanted to mentor some boys.

I slept through the morning and woke a little after midday. Felix had cleared the court of the midday meal when I walked into the kitchen. He gave me a plate of food with meat leftover from midday, cheese, and fresh-baked bread. I asked for a glass of our wine. I drink no other now that we have our own.

“How was the boy?”

“He’ll be fine. He’s upset that his father sold him. He thinks he’s a slave. Father took him to lie down.”

That evening I told the men about the architect coming and what I wanted him to build.

“Apollo has blessed us, the fields are fertile, the animals are breeding like crazy, the trees are full of fruit, and the grapevines are doing well. There’s a lot more work since we started. We’ve expanded the gardens, grove, and vineyard into the new property. The animal sheds have grown as well. We need more help. The new rooms are for you to move into, and I’ll use your old rooms for the new help.”

“Lucinius, I think we should look for boys. We could teach them what you taught us.”

“I agree, so I think we’ll post one of you at the entrance, and when you see a slaver, we’ll check out what he has.”

So it was decided. On the pretext of building a gate at the entrance, one of the men took a station there.

Marius began to relax. He enjoyed working with Felix. He started to call him father and Nathan grandfather. I assumed this was a natural reaction for the boy. Felix and Nathan acted and filled the role of a family for him.

Two weeks after our discussion about bringing more help to the Villa, one of the men spotted a man with what appeared to be slaves in the far distance. It was after midday when we confirmed that he had slaves moving toward Rome. Aumen, Aeneas, and Cruz went to meet the man. While Cruz talked to the slaver, he handed him a bottle of our wine and a piece of bread. Aumen and Aeneas looked over the slaves he had. There were two young boys, and one was very dark, the other had tan skin. They both looked like they needed medical help. Aumen approached the slaver, asked him how much he wanted for the two boys. The slaver asked for a hundred denarii for each boy. Cruz kept filling his cup with wine, Aumen bought both boys for one hundred denarii. Amen took their papers from the slaver, and brought the boys to the Villa. Cruz took them to the Baths, Aumen went and got a clean tunic and sandals for them, Felix and Marius prepared food for them.

When Cruz brought them back, they looked a lot better, but they were confused, and there was a language barrier. But not with the food; at first, they weren’t sure and hesitated. Felix handled that. He prepared two plates, set them in front of them. Then he got a pitcher of water, two cups, and put that in front of them. The boys looked at each other. Felix lifted a cup to one of the boys’ lips, he either had to open his mouth, or he would’ve gotten wet. He took a small drink, and then he recognized it was water. He took the cup and emptied it. The other boy watched. He didn’t need any coaxing. He took his cup and emptied it. Felix filled both cups, set the pitcher down on the table. Then he took some food and offered it to the boy. They quickly understood the food was for them. They ate like starved men, and they probably were. When they couldn’t eat or drink anymore, Cruz and Aeneas took them on tour. Then boys saw men working the fields, the grove, the vineyard, and the animals. The dark-skinned boy took to the animals. He stroked the goats, smiling. Cruz would see that this boy worked with the animals. Next, he showed them the gardens, the wheat, and oats. They were interested in the fruit trees. When they went to the vineyard, Cruz picked a few grapes for them.

The language was going to be a problem. Nathan took the responsibility to teach them.

“I think we’ll see more of these type of boys. They are probably from the North Coast or Egypt.”

Over the next three months, the men had collected nine new boys. Some spoke Greek, a few Aumen understood. He said they were from the north. I was not satisfied. I wanted more boys. The thought that these young men would not have the advantage of growing up as a freedman bothered me. Was I afraid of them running away? No, if they did, I knew they would end up as a slave. The color of their skin would stand out. The boys from the north, Aumen, told them they could leave, and Dante told them what happened to him. Even if they did run away, they had no papers. They would be captured and sold as a slave. I was waiting to see which one would try and run away. One did, I never saw him again. I did hear stories. I don’t know if they were true or not.