his friend’s eyes. “Read it.”
Suetonius unrolled the scroll, studied the page for a moment, and cleared his throat. I am delighted, my dear Pliny, to hear of your safe arrival in the province. You must be diligent in examining the financial accounts of the cities, for it is clear that much is amiss. Still, in every province trustworthy allies can be found if you carefully seek them out. I needn’t tell you what great confidence I place in your judgment. Please do not hesitate to consult me when questions arise. Trajan.
Post scriptum: The empress sends her fondest greetings to your lovely wife who, we both feel, will be a support to you in the difficult days ahead.
Suetonius went out, closing the door softly behind him.
***
“She still doesn’t speak?”
“A god has taken away her wits.”
“Broken her shoulder and one leg too. Scratched up her face pretty badly.”
“All that, I can mend,” the healing woman said. “Was it you who found her?”
“My son. He and his brother were out looking for our scattered livestock.”
“Here, dearie, sip this.” She held out a cup of boiled herbs to the figure that lay on a bed of rushes in the little hut
“So many of our own are injured, why bother with her?”
“Money in it maybe? Look at her fine clothes.”
“If we knew who her people were.” The headman got off his haunches and went out.
“Now, dearie,” the healing woman leaned close and whispered, “just who are you?”
FINIS
Appendices
I. The Roman Calendar
In the Roman calendar, each month contained three ‘signpost’ days: the Kalends (the first day of the month), the Nones (either the fifth or the seventh), and the Ides (the thirteenth or fifteenth). After the Kalends was past, the days were counted as so-and-so many days before the Nones, then before the Ides, and then before the Kalends of the following month.
The story takes place from the second half of September to the beginning of December. The signpost days with their English equivalents are as follows:
The Kalends of October
October 1
The Nones of October
October 7
The Ides of October
October 15
The Kalends of November
November 1
The Nones of November
November 5
The Ides of November
November 13
The Kalends of December
December 1
The Nones of December
December 7
II. Roman Time-Keeping
Romans divided the day, from sunup to sundown, and the night from sundown to dawn into twelve horae. As the length of the day and night varied throughout the year, one of these ‘hours’ could be as short as forty-five minutes or as long as seventy-five. In September, when the days and nights are of about equal length, the hora came closest to our standard sixty minute hour. The first hour of the day in September was about 6 am. The sixth hour was noon; the twelfth hour, sundown. And similarly, the first hour of the night was about 6 pm, the sixth hour was midnight, and the twelfth hour was the hour just before dawn. By December, the daylight hours were several minutes shorter and the nighttime hours correspondingly longer.
III. Greek and Roman Money
The smallest unit of Greek coinage was the obol. Six obols = one silver drachma. 100 drachmas = one mina. Sixty minas = one talent. A Roman silver denarius was roughly equivalent in value to a drachma. Four bronze sesterces = one denarius. Large amounts of money were generally expressed in sesterces.
Glossary
Agora: marketplace in a Greek city
Archon: a senior magistrate of a Greek city
Capsa: a cylindrical tube for holding scrolls
Chlamys: a Greek man’s cloak
Cursus publicus: the public post
Eques: a member of the equestrian order, the lower rung of the Roman aristocracy
Fasces: the bundle of rods enclosing an ax carried by lictors
Fides: faith, loyalty
Garum: a condiment made of fermented fish parts
Gynekeion: the women’s quarters in a Greek house
Hetaera: a paid female companion/entertainer
Insula: a tenement building
Janitor: a door slave
Krater: a large bowl for mixing wine and water
Latrunculi: Literally ‘brigands’, a board game something like checkers
Lictor: a Roman magistrate’s bodyguard
Ludus Magnus: the imperial gladiator school in Rome
Mathematicus: astrologer
Matrona: a married woman
Megaron: the central hall in a Greek house
Mehercule: by Hercules!
Mentula: penis (vulgar)
Mare Nostrum: Our Sea (the Roman name for the Mediterranean)
Mystes (plural mystae) : an initiate in a mystery religion
Nymphios: bridegroom
Optio: a Roman army rank second to a centurion
Palaestra: exercise ground
Palla: a Roman woman’s mantle
Paterfamilias: the oldest male in a Roman family
Secutor: a heavy-armed gladiator
Stade: Greek unit of distance,approximately an eighth of a mile
Synposion: a drinking party
Tabellae: a pair of wooden leaves coated with wax and joined together with string
Tablinum: the office or study in a Roman house
Theriac: a compound believed to be a universal antidote