Rome - 5. Chapter 5

Returning to the Villa, Lucinius went to Celia and showed her the salt he produced with the help of Niciu. Celia smiled and tasted the salt. “I can taste the sea.”

Lucinius had to record his experiment. While he was writing, his grandfather approached him, thanking him for the salt. “I am sorry, Grandfather, the salt has the taste of the sea.”

“That isn’t important, Lucinius. You proved that there is salt in the sea and it can be recovered. The salt isn’t like what we buy at the market, it’s different, and I’m sure it will change the taste of our food. Tonight, I’ll have the cooks use your salt, and we shall see.” Lucinius smiled at his grandfather.

Supper that night, Lucinius could taste his salt. It gave the food a different taste, and he thought it was better. Appias remarked that the food must have been old. The taste was different. Celia offered him her salt to try. It was the salt Lucinius gave to her.

He put some on his food, tasted it, made a face, “This is what makes the food taste old. Where did this come from?”

Before Celia or Lucinius could say anything, Lucius said it was salt Lucinius made from the sea. Neptune had given him the salt. Now Appias had a problem. Neptune was the god of the sea. If he insulted Neptune, he might have bad luck. He did that which he only could. He kept quiet and finished his meal, washing it down with wine. Lucinius smiled. His grandfather gave the only answer that would cause his father to stay silent.

Lucinius wasn’t finished with his salt-producing project. He took some cloth and decided he would filter the ocean water before making salt. The next morning, he looked for Niciu and told him what he wanted to do. Niciu told him he would help him to build a pit to use. Now he had a friend to help him. For the next eight hours, they concentrated the filtered seawater, collecting the salt. Not seeing him for the midday meal, Celia suspected what her son was doing. She had Calliope take cheese, bread, fruit, and wine to him. Before Calliope arrived with the food, it was as if someone spoke into his ear, ‘you haven’t had anything to eat today.’ He and Niciu saw Calliope with the food. Lucinius smiled. They continued to concentrate the sea water while they ate. At first, Niciu didn’t want to eat what Lucinius offered. It took Calliope to convince him that it would be an insult to Lucinius if he didn’t accept what he offered.

Now Niciu was afraid that he might have offended Lucinius. Lucinius looked at Niciu, raising one of his eyebrows with a questioning look on his face. He offered the food to Niciu. When Niciu accepted, Lucinius rewarded him with a smile.

Calliope watched what Lucinius and Niciu were doing. Before long, she carried water to the filter while the men carried the filtered water to the hot pan. Celia missing Calliope and thinking something must be wrong, walked toward the sea. When she got to the top of a small hill, looking at the beach area, she saw the three of them. Smiling, she returned to the house.

“What did you see?” She was amused to know that the question came from Appias.

“I saw some people making salt.” She noted the expression of Appias’s face and the smile on his father’s face. At that evening meal, the new salt was used. Again, Appias made the comment that the salt had a funny taste. Lucinius thought that filtering the water gave a better tasting salt. Lucinius recorded his method and results. He was using quite a few sheets of papyrus.

The next morning he awoke to a rainstorm. His grandfather said that the gods were unhappy about something. Lucinius thought he might have been the cause, taking the salt from the ocean and not getting Neptune’s approval. His grandfather smiling put his mind at ease, “We get these storms quite often. The gods know when we need to water the trees and send the rains. We could not have the fruit trees that we have if we had to carry water to them.”

Appias said something about why they always cause rain during the day. They can rain just as well at night. He no sooner said that when a lightning bolt struck the orchard. Appias was scared. He believed he offended the gods. He retired to his room and prayed to Mars to intercede for him. He promised to make atonement by making an offering to him.

It was unknown if Mars interceded for him or not, but soon the storm let up. A soft, gentle rain continued for several hours.

Early the next morning, Lucinius was up. He walked to the olive trees. They were the largest trees in the grove. There appeared to be no problems with these trees. As he wandered through the grove, he saw the cherry trees had broken limbs. Remembering how the physician treated a broken arm, he gathered up some twigs, and tearing his toga, began to wrap the broken limb. One of the men assigned to the grove saw him doing that. When Lucinius looked and noticed him looking at him, “The limb is partially broken. By doing this, I am connecting the limb to the main branch. It will grow back and continue to bear fruit. Come and help me.” The man knew who he was, and soon all of the men who worked in the grove were wrapping broken limbs.

That evening his grandfather asked him about the broken limbs being wrapped in cloth. Lucinius thought he might have done something wrong. His father didn’t like him to show any initiative. He remembered his comments on his salt. Looking at his grandfather, “I saw a physician do that to a boy who broke his arm. He said that if he set the arm as soon as it was broken, the bones would grow together. I thought if I did that with the broken limbs that they too will grow together.” His grandfather was amazed at what the boy had shown him in the few days he was here. He wondered what the boy would do if he were here longer. On the pretext of teaching Lucinius about how to farm and take care of the animals, he asked that the boy stay with him for a few weeks. He would bring him with him on his next visit to Rome. Celia wasn’t sure that would be best for Lucinius, but his father thought that was a great idea. The boy would be out of his life for a while.

So to the delight of Lucinius, he would stay with his grandfather after his family left. He had to promise his mother he would write. It may not have been true what his grandfather said to keep him, but for Lucinius, this would be a great opportunity. So doing the day, he spent his time on the farm. In the evening, he read the scrolls from his grandfather’s library.