Chapter 23
[Author's note: To help understand the layout and scale of Chloe's estate, an artist's rendition is available at following location:
h t t p : / / w e b p a g e s . c h a r t e r . n e t / d u a n e a a k r e / c h l o e s _ v i l l a . h t m
Well, there must be some secret to uploading links to this site. Until someone can clue me in, you will have to strip the spaces out of the address above. Now, on with the story.]
As Chloe started leading the way along the front of complex she pointed to the first couple of structures on the left. "Those two entrances are to the public areas of the estate. The first is to the Latin library and the second is to the Greek library. We have one of the largest collections of books in Rome, over 75,000 scrolls in modern terms. We keep the libraries open to the public for general research and have recently added a staff of scribes doing a booming little business producing copies. Nothing fancy like the illustrated books of the late Middle Ages, just relatively inexpensive copies of the classics or anything else you want copied."
"So why don't you introduce the printing press?" asked Lex.
"I would like to, but the Romans are very reactionary when it comes to developing new mechanical labor saving devices. Just like the Luddites in England who resisted the adoption of labor saving devices in the textile industry at the beginning of the industrial revolution, the Romans are afraid of upsetting their whole economic system. They don't have our 20/20 hindsight that says the people displaced by labor saving devices generally move up the economic ladder not down. So we end up with 20 scribes working here putting out perhaps 500 documents a month instead of a printing press and a smaller staff putting out 50,000 documents a month. Of course, if we got production up to 50,000 per month we would probably end up expanding the operation to where we would employ more than we do now. But this is one of those areas where you have to bend to the local customs regardless of your personal wishes."
"I would love to check out the library," said Clark.
"Perhaps tomorrow," stated Chloe as she turned back and looked over her shoulder at Cyrus, who was trailing along a few yards behind.
"Cyrus, do you think Clark and Lana would benefit from learning to write Latin in addition to learning to speak it?" asked Chloe in Latin.
"Yes, learning the written language frequently accelerates learning the spoken language. Perhaps tomorrow we could hold our study session in the library."
A faint warning bell started to ring in Chloe's head. When she had first recruited Cyrus back in Genua he had stated he had never been to Rome. In the twenty years since he had migrated from Greece as a young man, he had always lived and worked up north. So why was he talking about the library? Had he merely heard of its reputation up there, or was his English good enough to follow the conversation? And if his English was that good, what had he made of their conversations about nanotech, living forever, and time travel? Perhaps she needed to come up with a simple test of his English abilities, if he wasn't forthright with her soon.
However they were approaching the main entrance to the villa and the question of Cyrus' English abilities could wait until later.
The main entrance was a majestic, three story tall structure. Two guards with ceremonial spears were stationed on either side of the twelve-foot tall double doors. The spears looked decorative, but were still fully functional. With a glance Lex could tell these guys were not 'Barney Fifes' of the security world. No, these looked tough enough to hold their own against any of the security operatives Lex had employed in the past.
Just as they were approaching the guards and Lex was wondering if they would know Chloe and let them pass, a middle aged man briskly walked out of the entrance and marched straight up to Chloe.
"Welcome back, Coelia," began the man with a small nod of the head. "Your suite will be ready in ten minutes and Analisa is waiting at the baths."
"Efficient as ever, Rogerus. It is good to see you again. It feels like it has been almost forever."
Here Chloe paused and motioned the others forward. "This is Lex, Lana, and Clark." As she mentioned his name she gave Clark's hand an obvious squeeze. Then gesturing back towards Cyrus. "This is Cyrus, a scholar who is traveling with us at the moment to help teach Clark and Lana Latin."
Finally Chloe turned back to Rogerus. "Guys, this is Rogerus, he runs things here in Rome for my family."
As each of them had been introduced, Rogerus had given them a penetrating stare. When his gaze was on Lex, the feeling of power and intellect this man projected amazed Lex.
Lex asked softly in English. "I get the feeling he knew you were coming. How is that possible?"
Chloe responded in Latin. "Lex, there is no need to be so secretive. Rogerus is about the most capable organizer I have ever known and I don't remember ever seeing him caught off guard. You would do well to find someone like him to run things for you back home. Rogerus, perhaps this once you could explain how you knew I was coming?"
"Certainly, Coelia. First, let us move inside. A light repast is awaiting you in the solar room to tide you over until dinner."
As Rogerus led them into the entrance hall, the others were once again overwhelmed with the grandeur of Chloe's estate. The entrance hall was dominated by a giant fresco on the left wall of a tremendous sea battle during the Second Punic war. Hundreds of trireme locked in a battle to the death. After having seen the six trireme cruising the Rhone back in Arelate and again another handful in the port at Ostia, they had a better grasp of the magnitude and realities of the battle represented in that painting than almost any other modern Americans.
Other than a few small groupings of artworks and a secretarial desk near the entrance, this large thirty by sixty-foot room was mostly bare. The purpose of this room was not to entertain, but to merely impressive the first time or infrequent visitor of the family's wealth and power before proceeding on to the less public areas. And on first time visitors Clark, Lex, and Lana, it was achieving the intended effect.
Rogerus was explaining how he kept a runner down at the Flavian shipping office in the Ostian port since most family members returning to Rome from other lands stopped there first, but Lex was barely listening. He felt drawn to the giant fresco and paused to stare at it while the others were proceeding towards the rear exit to the main part of the villa. He had seen Michelangelo's Sistine chapel ceiling, but this was easily its equal. The level of detail was what impressed him the most. Looking closely at two ships locked together in battle he could easily make out the individual crewmembers. The little he remembered about the fresco technique of painting in wet plaster said this should be impossible. It must be one more art method that had been lost down through time.
As the others approached the exit, Chloe called out, breaking Lex's reverie. "Come on, Lex. You can come back here later. That fresco is best seen at mid-morning when it is directly hit by sunlight."
Lex nodded and turned to follow them, wondering what else there was to see if this was only the first of many rooms.
When he caught up the others were waiting in a large courtyard behind the entrance hall. Chloe quickly launched into a discussion of the various exits from this courtyard. The estate was almost like a giant maze of courtyards and buildings where it was easy to get lost until you had been there a while.
"Okay, off to the left on the same side of this courtyard are the back entrances to the Greek and Latin libraries we came past when we arrived. Down at the far left on the opposite side is the entrance to the old original portion of the villa and past there is located the Golden Court used for much of the formal entertaining. The Golden Court is also accessible from the dock without passing through this portion of the villa. The Golden Court has a very nice terrace with pleasant views across the river to the hills beyond.
"The exit straight ahead leads to another courtyard where many of the guest quarters are located. The furthest exit straight ahead but on the right leads to the family baths.
"And this first door on the right leads into my private apartment. Well, that's most of the destinations at this end of the villa. A lot more of the estate extends off to the right, but let's wait for a tour after the baths for the rest of description.
"Perhaps before we proceed I should explain a little about the setup here. For appearances, there are two primary branches to the Flavian family. The Roman branch is currently headed by Sextus Antonius Flavius, while my father, Henricus Arcus Flavius, heads my branch based in Asia Minor. The branches split several hundred years ago with the Roman branch obtaining all of the fame and glory. However, known only with the family is that most of the wealth is derived from my side of the family. Mostly the family here in Rome pretends the country 'hick' branch doesn't exist accept when they need extra cash to maintain their extravagant lifestyle. This suite of rooms is reserved for the use of my branch of the family, although only I have ever been here from my branch of the family in the past twenty years. Since Rogerus here runs everything in Rome for me he is in on this little family secret."
At this point Chloe turned to Rogerus. "These friends are almost like family to me. Please have a guest room made ready in my suite, they will be staying with me."
Rogerus smiled. "It is already being done. If you will follow me to where the lunch is waiting." Then he headed to the exit from the courtyard that Chloe had said led to the family baths.
After passing through several chambers they ultimately arrived at the solar room. This large room had a moderate sized pool and several tables on which servants were busily setting out a dazzling array of food.
However the most striking features were the large stain glass windows filling the east, south and west walls of the room. Chloe explained that the ability to create large flat sheets of glass wouldn't exist for many centuries, but the art of glassblowing had been around for a long time and many glass objects like goblets were available. When she had this portion of the villa built she had introduced the concept of large stain glass windows claiming to have seen it before during travels in the Far East. After seeing this room several other of the grand palaces of Rome had added their own solar rooms.
The three large panels were done mostly in light colored glass to let in the most light with just enough darker highlights to create interesting patterns across the interior of the room. The three panels depicted a lion hunt along a tropical river. From the Sphinx in the foreground of the western panel, the river could only be the Nile.
"Wow," exclaimed Lana. "These windows are incredible. And that face on the Sphinx looks more like you than the face I remember from photos."
Chloe shrugged. "When I worked with the artist to design these panels forty years ago, he just thought it was the vanity of the super rich. But this whole sequence of panels is based on an actual lion hunt that occurred about eight thousand years ago. Within the limitations of working with chips of stained glass, this is how the Sphinx actually looked back then. Of course, since I arrived here in Rome six years ago everyone in the household just comments on how much I resemble my grandmother whom they assume it is based on."
"Anyway," concluded Chloe. "Who's up for a quick dip before we eat?"
The others nodded, but Clark and Lana looked around a little uncomfortably at all of the servants and others in the room.
Chloe turned to Rogerus. "I think my friends would prefer a little privacy after days on the road. We will serve ourselves. Could you have someone show Cyrus to the scholar quarters down by the Academy? I think he would be more comfortable staying down here. Oh, and arrange for him to join us for dinner. Clark and Lana will probably appreciate a familiar face. Then if you could rejoin us in about half an hour, I have several tasks I could use your help with."
Rogerus nodded. After clapping his hands and directing the servants to depart, he personally escorted Cyrus out a door on the far side of the room.
As soon as Cyrus and Rogerus had left, Chloe quickly stripped off her robe and waded down into the pool. Clark didn't need much more of a hint to strip and join her. He was still a little uncomfortable getting naked in front of the others, particularly here. Even the time they had all ended up naked in the baths back in Genua, it had been late in the evening, in a mostly dark room lit by only a few candles. But with the bright sunlight streaming in through the large stained glass windows, they might as well be out in the broad daylight. Clark was just thankful it was just the four of them and not a room filled with servants.
Chloe floated in the silken water enjoying the relaxing effect of a bath for the first time in days. As she watched, Clark stripped off his tunic exposing his powerful physique. God, his body was hot. He waded down into the water and then dove under. He finally surfaced right in front of Chloe, pulling her into his arms. She could feel his excitement as her breasts were pressed against his chest and he brought his hands down onto her ass.
Looking into her eyes, Clark asked, "A sestertius for your thoughts, Chloe."
Chloe smiled. Clark would never imagine some of the thoughts rattling around in her seventeen thousand year old head. Instead of saying anything she just pulled his mouth down for a long, slow kiss.
End of Chapter 23
[Author's note: To help understand the layout and scale of Chloe's estate, an artist's rendition is available at following location:
h t t p : / / w e b p a g e s . c h a r t e r . n e t / d u a n e a a k r e / c h l o e s _ v i l l a . h t m
Well, there must be some secret to uploading links to this site. Until someone can clue me in, you will have to strip the spaces out of the address above. Now, on with the story.]
As Chloe started leading the way along the front of complex she pointed to the first couple of structures on the left. "Those two entrances are to the public areas of the estate. The first is to the Latin library and the second is to the Greek library. We have one of the largest collections of books in Rome, over 75,000 scrolls in modern terms. We keep the libraries open to the public for general research and have recently added a staff of scribes doing a booming little business producing copies. Nothing fancy like the illustrated books of the late Middle Ages, just relatively inexpensive copies of the classics or anything else you want copied."
"So why don't you introduce the printing press?" asked Lex.
"I would like to, but the Romans are very reactionary when it comes to developing new mechanical labor saving devices. Just like the Luddites in England who resisted the adoption of labor saving devices in the textile industry at the beginning of the industrial revolution, the Romans are afraid of upsetting their whole economic system. They don't have our 20/20 hindsight that says the people displaced by labor saving devices generally move up the economic ladder not down. So we end up with 20 scribes working here putting out perhaps 500 documents a month instead of a printing press and a smaller staff putting out 50,000 documents a month. Of course, if we got production up to 50,000 per month we would probably end up expanding the operation to where we would employ more than we do now. But this is one of those areas where you have to bend to the local customs regardless of your personal wishes."
"I would love to check out the library," said Clark.
"Perhaps tomorrow," stated Chloe as she turned back and looked over her shoulder at Cyrus, who was trailing along a few yards behind.
"Cyrus, do you think Clark and Lana would benefit from learning to write Latin in addition to learning to speak it?" asked Chloe in Latin.
"Yes, learning the written language frequently accelerates learning the spoken language. Perhaps tomorrow we could hold our study session in the library."
A faint warning bell started to ring in Chloe's head. When she had first recruited Cyrus back in Genua he had stated he had never been to Rome. In the twenty years since he had migrated from Greece as a young man, he had always lived and worked up north. So why was he talking about the library? Had he merely heard of its reputation up there, or was his English good enough to follow the conversation? And if his English was that good, what had he made of their conversations about nanotech, living forever, and time travel? Perhaps she needed to come up with a simple test of his English abilities, if he wasn't forthright with her soon.
However they were approaching the main entrance to the villa and the question of Cyrus' English abilities could wait until later.
The main entrance was a majestic, three story tall structure. Two guards with ceremonial spears were stationed on either side of the twelve-foot tall double doors. The spears looked decorative, but were still fully functional. With a glance Lex could tell these guys were not 'Barney Fifes' of the security world. No, these looked tough enough to hold their own against any of the security operatives Lex had employed in the past.
Just as they were approaching the guards and Lex was wondering if they would know Chloe and let them pass, a middle aged man briskly walked out of the entrance and marched straight up to Chloe.
"Welcome back, Coelia," began the man with a small nod of the head. "Your suite will be ready in ten minutes and Analisa is waiting at the baths."
"Efficient as ever, Rogerus. It is good to see you again. It feels like it has been almost forever."
Here Chloe paused and motioned the others forward. "This is Lex, Lana, and Clark." As she mentioned his name she gave Clark's hand an obvious squeeze. Then gesturing back towards Cyrus. "This is Cyrus, a scholar who is traveling with us at the moment to help teach Clark and Lana Latin."
Finally Chloe turned back to Rogerus. "Guys, this is Rogerus, he runs things here in Rome for my family."
As each of them had been introduced, Rogerus had given them a penetrating stare. When his gaze was on Lex, the feeling of power and intellect this man projected amazed Lex.
Lex asked softly in English. "I get the feeling he knew you were coming. How is that possible?"
Chloe responded in Latin. "Lex, there is no need to be so secretive. Rogerus is about the most capable organizer I have ever known and I don't remember ever seeing him caught off guard. You would do well to find someone like him to run things for you back home. Rogerus, perhaps this once you could explain how you knew I was coming?"
"Certainly, Coelia. First, let us move inside. A light repast is awaiting you in the solar room to tide you over until dinner."
As Rogerus led them into the entrance hall, the others were once again overwhelmed with the grandeur of Chloe's estate. The entrance hall was dominated by a giant fresco on the left wall of a tremendous sea battle during the Second Punic war. Hundreds of trireme locked in a battle to the death. After having seen the six trireme cruising the Rhone back in Arelate and again another handful in the port at Ostia, they had a better grasp of the magnitude and realities of the battle represented in that painting than almost any other modern Americans.
Other than a few small groupings of artworks and a secretarial desk near the entrance, this large thirty by sixty-foot room was mostly bare. The purpose of this room was not to entertain, but to merely impressive the first time or infrequent visitor of the family's wealth and power before proceeding on to the less public areas. And on first time visitors Clark, Lex, and Lana, it was achieving the intended effect.
Rogerus was explaining how he kept a runner down at the Flavian shipping office in the Ostian port since most family members returning to Rome from other lands stopped there first, but Lex was barely listening. He felt drawn to the giant fresco and paused to stare at it while the others were proceeding towards the rear exit to the main part of the villa. He had seen Michelangelo's Sistine chapel ceiling, but this was easily its equal. The level of detail was what impressed him the most. Looking closely at two ships locked together in battle he could easily make out the individual crewmembers. The little he remembered about the fresco technique of painting in wet plaster said this should be impossible. It must be one more art method that had been lost down through time.
As the others approached the exit, Chloe called out, breaking Lex's reverie. "Come on, Lex. You can come back here later. That fresco is best seen at mid-morning when it is directly hit by sunlight."
Lex nodded and turned to follow them, wondering what else there was to see if this was only the first of many rooms.
When he caught up the others were waiting in a large courtyard behind the entrance hall. Chloe quickly launched into a discussion of the various exits from this courtyard. The estate was almost like a giant maze of courtyards and buildings where it was easy to get lost until you had been there a while.
"Okay, off to the left on the same side of this courtyard are the back entrances to the Greek and Latin libraries we came past when we arrived. Down at the far left on the opposite side is the entrance to the old original portion of the villa and past there is located the Golden Court used for much of the formal entertaining. The Golden Court is also accessible from the dock without passing through this portion of the villa. The Golden Court has a very nice terrace with pleasant views across the river to the hills beyond.
"The exit straight ahead leads to another courtyard where many of the guest quarters are located. The furthest exit straight ahead but on the right leads to the family baths.
"And this first door on the right leads into my private apartment. Well, that's most of the destinations at this end of the villa. A lot more of the estate extends off to the right, but let's wait for a tour after the baths for the rest of description.
"Perhaps before we proceed I should explain a little about the setup here. For appearances, there are two primary branches to the Flavian family. The Roman branch is currently headed by Sextus Antonius Flavius, while my father, Henricus Arcus Flavius, heads my branch based in Asia Minor. The branches split several hundred years ago with the Roman branch obtaining all of the fame and glory. However, known only with the family is that most of the wealth is derived from my side of the family. Mostly the family here in Rome pretends the country 'hick' branch doesn't exist accept when they need extra cash to maintain their extravagant lifestyle. This suite of rooms is reserved for the use of my branch of the family, although only I have ever been here from my branch of the family in the past twenty years. Since Rogerus here runs everything in Rome for me he is in on this little family secret."
At this point Chloe turned to Rogerus. "These friends are almost like family to me. Please have a guest room made ready in my suite, they will be staying with me."
Rogerus smiled. "It is already being done. If you will follow me to where the lunch is waiting." Then he headed to the exit from the courtyard that Chloe had said led to the family baths.
After passing through several chambers they ultimately arrived at the solar room. This large room had a moderate sized pool and several tables on which servants were busily setting out a dazzling array of food.
However the most striking features were the large stain glass windows filling the east, south and west walls of the room. Chloe explained that the ability to create large flat sheets of glass wouldn't exist for many centuries, but the art of glassblowing had been around for a long time and many glass objects like goblets were available. When she had this portion of the villa built she had introduced the concept of large stain glass windows claiming to have seen it before during travels in the Far East. After seeing this room several other of the grand palaces of Rome had added their own solar rooms.
The three large panels were done mostly in light colored glass to let in the most light with just enough darker highlights to create interesting patterns across the interior of the room. The three panels depicted a lion hunt along a tropical river. From the Sphinx in the foreground of the western panel, the river could only be the Nile.
"Wow," exclaimed Lana. "These windows are incredible. And that face on the Sphinx looks more like you than the face I remember from photos."
Chloe shrugged. "When I worked with the artist to design these panels forty years ago, he just thought it was the vanity of the super rich. But this whole sequence of panels is based on an actual lion hunt that occurred about eight thousand years ago. Within the limitations of working with chips of stained glass, this is how the Sphinx actually looked back then. Of course, since I arrived here in Rome six years ago everyone in the household just comments on how much I resemble my grandmother whom they assume it is based on."
"Anyway," concluded Chloe. "Who's up for a quick dip before we eat?"
The others nodded, but Clark and Lana looked around a little uncomfortably at all of the servants and others in the room.
Chloe turned to Rogerus. "I think my friends would prefer a little privacy after days on the road. We will serve ourselves. Could you have someone show Cyrus to the scholar quarters down by the Academy? I think he would be more comfortable staying down here. Oh, and arrange for him to join us for dinner. Clark and Lana will probably appreciate a familiar face. Then if you could rejoin us in about half an hour, I have several tasks I could use your help with."
Rogerus nodded. After clapping his hands and directing the servants to depart, he personally escorted Cyrus out a door on the far side of the room.
As soon as Cyrus and Rogerus had left, Chloe quickly stripped off her robe and waded down into the pool. Clark didn't need much more of a hint to strip and join her. He was still a little uncomfortable getting naked in front of the others, particularly here. Even the time they had all ended up naked in the baths back in Genua, it had been late in the evening, in a mostly dark room lit by only a few candles. But with the bright sunlight streaming in through the large stained glass windows, they might as well be out in the broad daylight. Clark was just thankful it was just the four of them and not a room filled with servants.
Chloe floated in the silken water enjoying the relaxing effect of a bath for the first time in days. As she watched, Clark stripped off his tunic exposing his powerful physique. God, his body was hot. He waded down into the water and then dove under. He finally surfaced right in front of Chloe, pulling her into his arms. She could feel his excitement as her breasts were pressed against his chest and he brought his hands down onto her ass.
Looking into her eyes, Clark asked, "A sestertius for your thoughts, Chloe."
Chloe smiled. Clark would never imagine some of the thoughts rattling around in her seventeen thousand year old head. Instead of saying anything she just pulled his mouth down for a long, slow kiss.
End of Chapter 23