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Part forty-three: Romans' Nightmare

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Earth -1847I. dies Iovis a.d. XI kal. Aug. MCLXXIII a.u.c.

(23rd of July of the year 420 B.C.)

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Western Roman Empire – Rome

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- Why should we make a difference between two perfectly similar Human Beings?

Jane as usual didn't let her light displeasure heard in her words but Maureen who did know her perfectly could feel the seething anger under her sister's words.

- They both can worship the same Gods. And why would a God -or a Goddess- be more pleased by a Roman Matron giving her one of her twelve thousand and sixty-seven gold denarii when a slave brings her half of what she possesses? Who do you believe shows a greater devotion to the God?

Maureen couldn't help but smile at the allusion of the Matron's hidden stash of money. Not sure the sum was genuine, but it was the amount said Matron believed to possess… And the grey skin color she currently was wearing under her thick plaster of make-up, was proof enough.

- So, my dear, I will indeed treat the infant of the mother who has offered me half of her possessions first. It doesn't mean that I won't treat your grandson who doesn't deserve to suffer as he does but for us who know what you really believe and value, the monetary value proposed is of no real importance.

She took the slave's little girl in her arms and began to blow on her crying face.

The result was immediate and spectacular. The girl stopped crying and began to smile the happy toothless smile that Jane loved above everything.

She turned towards the mother and sighed.

- Your daughter is no longer ill, but she will soon fall ill again if you don't have more to eat. Your milk is what will give your daughter the protection she needs against the illness that is currently scourging the Lateranus household.

She stopped the slave's answer and turned towards the overweight Matron of the Lateranus Domus they were currently visiting.

- Domina, the real illness in this House is your thriftiness. Your real God is Mammon and you sacrifice everything to him. And since you don't feed correctly your slaves, they are a lot less apt to fight against illnesses. And once illnesses have entered your Household they showed their real divine nature, they don't separate rich from poor and didn't stop at your grandson's door.

She asked for the little fever-ridden boy and looked him in the eyes.

Within seconds the boy's sweating brow began to dry and his greenish colors began to fade to become pinkish and healthy.

- Your grandson had the same illness your slave's daughter had and I'm quite sure that more than a score of your household members is as ill as those little ones were.

The boy had also suffered from the typical lead poisoning she had more than once witnessed. It had already taken a great toll from his future years.

- I will cure all the members of your household.

She took the gold denarius the Matron had offered to heal her grandson and put it on the table facing her.

- This is what you deemed your grandson's life was worth. I suppose that it will, even in your mind, be enough to grant me the possession of this little slave.

Domina Laterana who had, meanwhile, got her grandson back nodded without daring to say a word.

Jane pointed at the little girl's mother.

- My new slave will need a source of milk; how much would you estimate this woman's worth before selling her to me?

The Matron was greedy and thrifty, but she wasn't a fool. She would have had the arrogant slave beaten to death afterwards, so she had already given up on her.

- She's yours… I'll have the documents handed to you this very day.

- Thank you, Domina! That's very generous of you.

Even a blind deaf idiot would have heard the sarcastic inflexion in Jane's voice who was handing the daughter back to her mother.

- You have shown to be willing to sacrifice everything you had - including your life since you knew that Domina Laterana would order you to be beaten to death because of your impudence- to save your daughter. That's how real mothers react and that makes you worthy of my attention. I appreciate your willingness to do everything to save your little one and for that I'll grand you a membership in my household.

A last time Jane turned around to look at the woman whose despotic and thrifty rule had been at the origin of everything that had happened within her household for the last years.

- This house needs to be repaired, your people need to be fed correctly, your family needs to be given some slack or the Lateranus Gens will disappear forever within the two next years.

Jane's eyes became as hard as flint.

- I could force you but I won't because I'm not sure if, int the grand scheme of things, the Lateranus' survival is a thing to hope for. So, I'll give you the choice: you go on like you did these last years and your Gens dies out. Or you change and by changing you provide survival to your Gens. It's all up to you but let it be known that your little stack of gold is so well hidden that nobody will find it for a very long time. It will take two thousand years to be finally rediscovered when this part of the City will be razed to build new housing opportunities. Nobody will find any clue that it ever belonged to you. What you deem worth more than your life, and more than your Gens survival is just a small amount of gold. Use it to save your Gens or it will disappear for hundreds of years and nobody will remember that your Gens even existed.

She snapped her finger once.

- Let the ill and injured be brought in my presence. I will honor my word and cure them.

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- We are collecting them, as I said…

Jane looked at Maureen and sighed.

- I couldn't let her in that awful house. You've seen how the slaves were treated. That fat monster would have had her beaten to death the second we would have finished.

- I could have killed that fat monster there and then and I'm quite sure nobody would have protested more than out of principle.

- We are not the vengeful Gods they believe we are…

- You are not but I'm very ready to become just that! I've seen members of the protestant aristocracy in Ireland who were just like that fat spider. You'd just have to ask; I would have done the cleansing with pleasure and efficiency.

- I thought bloodthirsty Maureen dead for quite a few decades.

- Bloodthirsty Maureen never died, she let her sweet and loving sister lull her into sleep… But sleep can be interrupted by encountering some fat monsters. I wouldn't have thought it possible, but Domina Laterana was clearly enough to wake her up.

Jane shook her head and stopped to embrace her sister.

- I prefer loving and caring Maureen…

- So, do I, said Maureen. But should the other one be needed, know that she's not very far away!

Jane sighed and let her sister go.

- I'm glad that you prefer the loving and caring one, it seems that I did have a little influence on your character.

Maureen nodded and pointed her chin at the mother and daughter who stood silently a few paces away awaiting their orders.

- And I'm still right you are collecting them!

- I'm quite sure we will find a safe place for them here in Rome. Arcania's slaves seem quite happy.

- They still are slaves, Jane. Property their owner can sell or destroy as they wish…

- Killing a slave isn't in accordance with Roman law. I've looked it up with the Priestesses.

- But should a master kill a slave, or more probably order a slave killed, nobody in the Roman society investigates it for the crime it has been. It's considered a household accident and the body is quickly and discreetly dispatched.

- You remember the problems we got at home to abolish slavery? And there it was only a fringe phenomenon that could only be found in the oversea colonies. Without the turmoil Geoffrey's invasion brought to England we would have needed decades to get it done. We were lucky to have been able to convince a majority in the Houses to go for it… Here…

She sighed.

- Here I'm quite sure that the whole pack of Senators has never even thought about abolition. Even the good ones will be shocked.

She killed the incoming comment with a frown.

- And no, we won't force the question. This is Lionel's project and from what I've see, Alana, if not yet an abolitionist, is no great defender of slavery, they should be able to make the Roman society evolve in the right direction.

- Alana is a bookworm of Yasminian proportions, Jane. I'm not sure she really cares about who does what in her household as long as there is something to eat ready in front of her when she remembers that the last time she's eaten the sun was shining in the east. You cannot count on her to fight for the abolition of slavery. That sort of fight needs veterans and experienced fighters.

She pointed at herself and soon included Jane.

- We've already fought that very same battle and we've won it. Who better than us to enter the fray?

- As I said, it is Lionel's project, I'm not sure he will accept our interference with an appreciative smile.

- You know him better than that, Jane. You know that, if the question comes from Aunt Jane, he will not even consider saying no.

- You want me to manipulate him?

- I want you to do what's necessary to help these poor people, answered Maureen while pointing at the slave and her daughter. That one's out of the grinder but there are probably hundreds of thousands more in Rome and Italy who are still suffering under some old fat monster's whip!

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Delilah had been quite sure that the Goddesses were speaking about her and her daughter but when the red-haired one pointed her finger at her she knew that it was exactly what was happening.

She had no idea what language they were speaking. It was a soft and singing one, but she had been unable to even recognize a word out of all what they had said.

They didn't seem to quarrel but there was an argument and the red-haired Goddess looked like if the subject was very important for her.

She really didn't know how to address Goddesses but, as her plea this very day had shown, there was always something to win if you appeared decisive.

- Domine, I hate it to interfere with your discussion, but it seems that you speak about me and my daughter… Do I have to be worried that I'm the reason of your argument?

The Goddesses both looked at her and even if their feelings weren't the same there was no anger in either of their eyes.

- You are indeed, but only indirectly, said the kind blonde one. The disagreement we have is about slavery, not you… My sister hates slavery and would like to do some harsh things to get rid of it as soon as possible. I'm a little more sedate about the right path to follow to get rid of that institution even if I'm in total agreement with her that it must be ended. I'm just not sure how it would negatively impact the normal citizens' lives.

- Everybody who can pay for them has slaves, said Delilah. Even freed slaves buy slaves. As long as you can find them on the market and you have the means to do it, you buy them. Slaves are great help in any household.

- Servants could do the same, protested the red-haired Goddess. And still they would have the possibility to quit if their employer is acting in a mean or perverted way… It is all about individual choices. Some will stay despite being badly treated, but they will do it because of their own reasons. A slave has no such choice, he or she knows that fleeing is, more often than not, the same as dying. And we don't see any rightful reason to enslave another Human Being. God has created all Human Beings equal.

Delilah was clearly not so easily convinced.

- Women are not men's equals, protested she. And children are not the grown-ups' equals. This world is full of inequalities and if your people are more successful than the other people surrounding you, battles will be fought and won, and you will have access to slaves. That's how the world works.

The red-hair's frown was neither kind nor understanding.

- That's perhaps so but that's not how I'd like it to be… I will admit that slavery is only the most visible facet of the problem. The proper place of man and woman within a society is a difficult problem to solve but even if there are physical differences and even if the fact that the women must bear the burden of being dependent of someone else's protection while carrying a child, it does not imply that the protectors -in our case the men- are better than women and that they can decide for them. To make women second-class citizens is a social answer that differs from society to society.

She pointed at her and with a hand gesture included her blonde sister.

- We have the same rights as our men even if they are stronger and, most of the time, taller. We fought for those rights, and we will do what's in our power to ensure that the inequality between men and women does shrink as much as possible. And abolishing slavery is a necessary step on that road since the mere existence of slaves enforces the idea that some Human Beings are better than others, have more worth. That they have, by predestination, more rights than others.

She visibly took the time to breath and to let her anger abide.

- And children are not the same at all. Because some day they will be grown-ups and at that moment they will no longer be under their parents' authority. As long as they are little, need protection and still need to learn what the real risks are, it is normal that they must listen to their parents. But listening to is in no way the same thing as being under their parents' yoke. Slavery shows a bad example and people who are confronted with that blight tend to consider that those under their supervision can be treated in the same way. Women and children are no slaves and once slavery is abolished there will no longer be a bad example to inspire bad husbands and bad parents.

- Still, added the blonde, abolishing slavery will have an economic and societal price we need to consider. The Roman Empire's economy stands highly on slavery to last. We can't let a major economic crisis destroy what we are, as we speak, rebuilding. It is too early to change everything.

- I would agree, Jane, if I hadn't heard those very arguments coming out of the mouths of every contestant who wanted the status quo that profited them to go on. This society is injured, I will agree to that point, but great changes are coming up and I believe that we would be very foolish not to use that wave to get necessary things done! What will ten or twenty more years change? The impacts will be the same and our mere presence could make things easier.

She switched to English.

- And dear you know as well as I, that reforms ordered by people who have the power to retaliate mightily should there be too much resistance, have a better chance to be successful. I believe it's now or never…

Jane sighed and nodded.

- We'll have to talk about it with the others, admitted she. But even with the backing of what must be called threats it still won't be easy.

She looked at the mother with her child.

- Since, while slavery still exists here, you are my property now, what's your name and the little one's?

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She didn't hear a sound, but she knew it was Geoffrey who just entered the room.

Something in the air that always changed when he was near.

His whispering voice came from behind her while his arms embraced her from behind.

- How are you, love?

He, like always, when saying 'love' to her had his Irish accent imitation that always made her smile. He wasn't very good at it, but he was sincere and she could feel it today like the first time he had used it…

She let herself be caught by him by leaning backwards into him.

- Now that you are back, I'm better, whispered she.

- It was just a little routine mission and with Fluffy and Speedy at my side, I really risked nothing. Even an army facing me wouldn't have had a chance…

- There is that man who says that all that's needed to put an end to an Empire is a man with a knife…

- Since I don't have an Empire, that saying does not concern me…

- Arrogance is a dangerous personality trait…

- I agree, but it was also said arrogance who pulled me to enter a certain Irish Prison, you remember? Without it I would never have met the fieriest red-hair Ireland had ever produced…

Jane's voice who, like her sister, had felt Geoffrey's arrival, couldn't help but add her own comment.

- You could have died… There were hundreds of Jailers…

Geoffrey didn't let Maureen go but still glided towards Jane and kissed her on the top of her head.

- Poor Scottish sods with no morale and even less training. The only ones who could have been dangerous for me died before they knew that I was there.

Jane too leaned backwards, and his lips soon joined hers.

Geoffrey immersed himself in the kiss and afterwards he wasn't really surprised to see a babe sitting on his wife's lap.

He winked at the two interested eyes.

- Hullo, dear. And who would you be?

- Claudia, answered Maureen. She's Delilah's daughter and the latest addendum to our household.

She took the babe in her arms and switched places in Jane's lap.

They all loved it to be together in a tight embrace.

The babe didn't react but with a small frown.

- As I said we will soon need a greater Palace just to house the herd of strays Jane is gathering. With each senatorial household we visit we end up with at least two slaves more entering our Domus.

- We took no slaves from Senator Gaiso's household, protested Jane.

- And it was the only place where that happened, added Maureen. I'm not sure it is because Gaiso is the Saint amongst the Senators or because he is Patroclus' friend, but he treats his slaves humanly. They are still slaves but those slaves of those other senatorial households had been treated with a lot less consideration.

She looked at Delilah and smiled to help her to relax.

- Say, what do you know about the way other Senators treat their slaves. Is there some communication between slaves of different households?

Delilah who had seen the newcomer's arrival -and who had viscerally known that he wasn't just a normal dude visiting women he loved- made a great effort to come out of her stunned surprise.

No Romans would have shown affection in the way those three did it. And the love she was discovering was something she had never witnessed anywhere during her twenty-three years of captivity.

Romans were all cold fish who tended to never show their emotions even if there were emotions.

Even He, who had the eyes of a dangerous predator, hadn't hesitate to show his feelings.

- Don't be impressed, added the redhead, we are just curious to know if, amongst the households of the Senators there is what could be called a scuttlebutt…

Delilah began by nodding frantically.

Of course, there was…

The slaves, especially those in upper households, had to create a way to protect themselves.

Being a Senatorial slave was, at the same time, a small blessing and a huge risk. A blessing since, most of the times, a senatorial household never looked too strongly after the costs of living. There was money present and supplies were never scarce. Most of senatorial slaves never knew hunger and it was amongst them that you could even find the rare fat ones.

The risk was great too, since it wasn't unheard-of that slaves disappeared because something they've done had displeased a member of the family.

But most of the time a master's displeasure ended with a trashing and, in some very rare cases, with a discreet business exchange between two households.

Delilah forced herself to focus back on the question.

This was no normal household. This was her chance to become more than a slave.

- The slaves in charge of supplying the families meet all at the same places, said she finally. Almost all of them buy at the same shops at Traian's Upper Market. It is a question of prestige. Some, like our old mistress, buy most of their supplies at other cheaper places but even she would feel obligated to use the same providers for at least a part of her provisions. And while waiting to be served, the buyers talk… And if they always talk about the current rumors and gossip, they also tend to describe how they are treated by their masters. And when back home, they, of course, tell the rest of the Slaves. So, yes, we do know what happens in the other senators' houses. Not everything since there is, even amongst the slaves, a layer of loyalty but there are Households that are better known than others. Because hatred doesn't enhance loyalty…

- So, slaves know everything that happened within their own household, insisted Jane.

- Not all the slaves. A lot of slaves are just beasts of burden. They have a job and they do it as discreetly as possible. But some are very interested by what happens in the Domus. The supervisors do, of course, said Delilah, since it's often their lives that depends on what they know in advance. So, they do tend to appropriate a complete knowledge of what has happened and is happening within their Master's Domus and once they know, they act accordingly. Be it in Rome or elsewhere. And if a normal slave wants to know what happens within the Masters' households, it is not very difficult to gather the needed information. Even discreetly just by listening to what is said during the meals. It is always safer to have a good idea of what is about to happen! Depending on your Master's mood changes is always dangerous. It is always better to have an idea about your Master's current desires and of how he's about to express them. Surprise is a slave's worst enemy…

- You did what was necessary, didn't you?

- I had no choice. To protect my daughter, I needed to know what the Domina was about to do.

- Did she know that your daughter was also her granddaughter?

- Knowing is probably too strong a word. She's perhaps not the kindest woman around, but she's not dumb. Considering that the male slaves were forbidden to sleep with us females, the probability that my daughter was also her son's daughter was almost evident. But rich and powerful people are in many ways totally insane. They just forget about those things because they refuse to consider the implications. It is not the same in middle class or poor households where the family owns at best two slaves but in most of the rich Romans' households the little ones are scions of the family's male members. But since they have slaves as mothers, the owners tend not to consider them as normal offspring. In some Households, especially those who had lost an heir, the boys are taken from their mothers and fostered out somewhere outside the Urbs. Having another heir somewhere, just in case, is always a good plan for a Gens who thrives at surviving the bad odds of Rome's bad air.

- Rome's bad air?

- Seems the easiest explanation for everybody in Rome, said Delilah. As you've probably smelled, Rome reeks a lot around the River. It's becoming better thanks to your garrison soldiers' efforts with the sewers but it still is almost unbearable in the suburb. Lots of important families have ended up losing their heirs or end up without a viable one. Without your intervention with Domina Laterana's grandson, he would have died too within a month or two. Like Claudia's father who died six months ago from the green spittle like so many other Patricians. And it was a bad day for the Gens since it gave the responsibility of the Gens to his mother. Who's a heartless monster like no other…

Jane frowned in Delilah's direction.

- Should I have punished her?

Delilah shook her head and Maureen couldn't help but laugh out aloud.

- You don't even know how to do that, dear! I could have done it but you would have stopped me.

She looked at Delilah.

- Would you have preferred us to punish her?

Delilah shook her head.

- You came to help and only morons will forget that you came to give us a hand. The Mistress will probably soon die like the rest of the household but she will remember that you came ans that you weren't pleased. The Domus has been plagued by the green spittle for decades now and death has been our constant companion for years. That's why I wasn't afraid to be beaten to death. Death has been my companion for as long as I've been bought by the late master. When he died my survival was no longer guaranteed.

- What do you suspect? Why, in your opinion, is the Laterano household under such a death spell?

- It is the Urbs that is under that death spell. I suspect water poisoning since those who aren't ill are those who are excluded from the domus' in-house springs. I tried to avoid the water taps but the Houses who have access to springs tend to restrict their slaves to within their walls and don't send slaves to the public fountains to get clearer water. Some households do seem to have a better understanding about the dangers of spring water but having your own spring is a symbol of high status very few agree to stop using.

- I do think you are right, said Jane. The whole Laterano household reeks of Saturnism, that's what you probably call the Green spittle. The only way to stop it would be to stop drinking the water than comes out of both their springs. The pipes are pure unadulterated lead. And since the Mistress insists to have the pipes cured once a week the poisoning is endemic and cannot be covered by oxydation. For once there is clearly danger in too much cleaning.

Geoffrey who was not uninterested but whose real interests weren't in City planning looked at his wife.

- We envision to do something about that?

- We do not but Charles has, as usual, a complete renovation plan in his files, said Jane with a smile. He and IT do have a real working knowledge of how Rome's underbelly should be functioning. He loves aqueducts and he will do whatever's necessary to maintain and repair those still standing but he is also very aware that underground ceramic pipes are a lot safer and easier to maintain. Luckily for him IT and the nanos are there to provide an easy path towards safe water supply and the protection of old derelict monuments.

Geoffrey who had been the main witness of Charles' total loss of perspective when he had visited 420 Rome for the first time, could only approve with his wife's judgment. Charles was a good friend, a brilliant engineer and an even better financial advisor, but he was also a man who could easily been lost within his passions. And the way he was planning Rome's reconstruction would have bankrupted them twice had they not have access at unlimited and free energy to have it done.

- Happily, for us, Galla is not, in the least interested in building the perfect museum city… Neither is Varus…

Maureen couldn't help but laugh out aloud.

- Don't underestimate Charles' love for old Roman monuments. The fact that he is provenly the richest man of at least four different Universes gives him a lot of clout here in Rome where money is a very important part of life and success. And never forget that his fortune has been amassed honestly. That will count with Galla who, out of necessity, does admire honesty. His arguments are sane, and he knows what he is speaking about when he shows rewrapped city perspectives. What you call a Museum City, he calls the Empire's architectural calling-card. And, like every Irishman I have ever met, his passions can be convincing.

She pointed at the City map IT has provided to give them a real idea of Rome's current situation.

Around a quarter of the old city had been abandoned and was, currently used by shepherds to feed their goats. Their current owners were unknown but there was no doubt that soon that real estate would be in the Company's hands.

- Rome, as he sees it, is not only a city, it is his dreams come true. He wants it to be the heart and the soul of the Empire and the way he sees and envisions it makes it the Crown Jewel of the whole known world. And don't forget that his fresh and childish approach speaks to the kids in the family. Theodosius is enraptured by Charles' visions and the latest city 3D map Charles asked IT to build for the Emperor is a looker. What kid would be able to resist to a one hundred yards wide 3D model to play with?

- That's Charles' problem: his dream is about recreating and preserving. Theodosius' dreams are a lot more innovative and ground-breaking. A lot of what Charles wants to preserve won't resist to Theo's willingness to change the city and give it a new façade.

- Don't imagine that Charles isn't ready to fight for his vision of Rome. There will be new monuments, no doubt there since Theodosius will want to show off with his own creations, but the buildings Charles really believes are Rome's main architectural wonders will survive.

- The only reason Rome is so packed with layers after layers of architectural strata is because Rome has been ruined for at least one and a half century, said Jane. There were no longer funds to build new monuments and most of the old prestigious ones had been abandoned to a slow decay…

Here she couldn't help but point at the Palatine and its half-ruined palace.

- Luckily for everybody, those old architects were worth the invested money and what they have built is still if not in good shape then in working order. Still, we've reached Rome at a point when there's a lot of money that needs to be invested everywhere… I have visited the different bathhouses, they are still breathtakingly beautiful but if you look at the details, a lot of places are in real need of restoration.

- Charles is already looking around to find the necessary sponsors, said Geoffrey. There are quite a lot of Senators and Equestrians who believe that supporting Charles' endeavors will be a good idea.

- And it will be just that, said Jane while smiling at Maureen. Charles has always known how to make money and I'm quite sure that rebuilding Rome will earn him enough local funds to maintain the city and improve her… And with IT's supervising power, I don't see how they could waste money… And whatever else one can say about dear Charles, he's a man who's loyal to those who stand up to support him. Spending a few hundred aurei to rebuild one or two monuments looks like a vey good investment for those who could, soon, be in need of a powerful supporter.

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