Disclaimer - Ecce Romani isn't mine. If it were, it would be less about the Cornelii and more about Davus, of course!


I tried to keep this as historically accurate as possible, but I did have to take liberties in some places. Historical notes are at the end, to provide some explanations and whatnot. Enjoy!


...

Eucleides gave Davus a little thump on the back. "See you," he said, and left.

Davus found himself alone with the chickens in front of the villa. He stood there for a little while before curiosity got the better of him. He quietly opened the door into the villa, where he began looking through doorways into the family's main living areas and shocking some of the slave-girls there with his lack of clothes. After a few minutes, he wandered past a wall into a little garden-like space. He peered into the pool at the center of it, wondering what its purpose was. It seemed to be purely decorative.

Davus had just begun to inspect a statue nearby when he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder. "What are you doing?" hissed Acacius. "You could get into big trouble for walking around like that. Just who do you think you are? I'll let you off this time since you're new, but don't let me ever catch you lazing around again!" He pulled Davus away from the statue. "Right, since you're still here, I imagine you've got a message for me from Master Titus. Tell me what he told you." As Davus repeated Titus's words, Acacius frowned. "You're not what I had in mind at all. I told Titus I wanted a Greek lad for the job."

Davus felt insulted. "I'm as good as any Greek. Try me," he said.

The old man and the young man stood in silence for a moment, as if defying each other. Then Acacius smiled and shook his head. "Well, you're a tough one. Alright, why not?"

Davus spent the next hour getting acquainted with the inside of the villa. He was first shown to the slaves' quarters, which consisted of five rooms, each intended to house a large number of slaves. Here, Acacius handed Davus a worn-looking tunic. As soon as Davus was dressed, Acacius led him to the other parts of the villa. "The family lives in this area here," said Acacius, pointing to the group of beautiful rooms to one side of the complex. "It contains their bedrooms, their dining room, and Master Titus's study. The kitchen is the large corner room there." He pointed to the room where Davus had come across the slave girls before leading him towards the back of the villa. "Over here are the pressing rooms and the yard where we make olive oil and wine. The barn and the threshing floor are that way as well. Can you remember where everything is?"

"Yes," answered Davus, although he wasn't sure he could.

"Good," said Acacius. "Now, follow me and do as I say. Tomorrow, you will work in the garden, since you seem to like it so much there."

Davus spent the rest of the day running errands for Acacius and working with the slaves in the olive-press. "If you're going to learn my job, you have to be able to do every job on the farm and in the villa first," Acacius told him. Davus nodded and tried to get to work, but he found that Acacius was impossible to satisfy. Every time Davus stopped working to wipe his forehead or massage his aching arms, Acacius would treat him to a wallop with a big sick and a cry of "Get back to work!" Davus was amazed at how the even the weak-looking slaves could work on the press for hours at a time, and chat to each other about the weather while they did it. He had never been so tired in his life.

After a few hours, Acacius sent him off with a message for Titus. Thankful to get out of the olive-press, Davus rushed off to find his master. He peered into several of the family's rooms looking for him. In one room, he found Eucleides sitting with two boys in identical purple-striped tunics. Eucleides waved at him cheerily. Davus lifted a hand in reply before quickly moving on.


NOTES:

I think in real life, a slave probably wouldn't be marked as a future overseer as openly as Davus is in my story. If he were a good, obedient worker whom the master approved of, he would probably be appointed as overseer when the previous one found himself incapable of doing his work any longer. Still, I needed to mark Davus out as different somehow.


Read on for Part 3 of Chapter 1! Please let me know how you think things are going so far! Concrit is love.

Also, if you review this for me, I'll gladly review anything of yours in return. Because I love my readers more than Cornelia loves Flavia. Which is a lot, in my not-so-humble opinion. *giggle*