Chapter 1

Olympic Chronicle: 168th (104 BC).

Roman Republic, Sicily Province, Agrigento, Greek Farm.

There is a two-story villa in the farm. The front yard occupies half of the building area. It is the slaves’ residence, kitchen, reservoir, mill and warehouse. In the middle of the courtyard is the garden and colonnade. The colonnade surrounds the masters’ bedrooms, dining room and study. The backyard is the masters’ kitchen and family cemetery.

Sophia (Sophia is a Greek name, meaning wisdom) is sitting at a wooden table under the colonnade in the atrium. She is copying books at her desk. Her mother Cleo and her maid Sarah are weaving.

Topilos’ family is just a medium-sized farm owner, with 980 acres of olive groves, 15 male slaves, 8 female slaves, 7 child slaves, 2 cows, 4 donkeys, 10 pigs, 80 sheep, and 200 chickens. Although they have a small amount of assets, it is not enough for the masters to completely get rid of labor.

【Among all rational creatures, we women are the most unfortunate. First of all, we have to spend a lot of money to buy a husband, and he will become our master; however, if we don’t buy a husband, it will be even more tragic. And the most important consequence depends on whether we get a good husband or a bad guy. 】Sophia copied this passage on papyrus. This is her favorite book “Medea”.

Now she is copying books as a job to accumulate her dowry. Dowry is too important for a woman. It directly determines the quality of married life. Dowry is a woman’s private property. If the husband uses his wife’s dowry, he must return it when he divorces. In order to prevent bankruptcy due to returning the dowry during divorce, many husbands have to make some concessions to their wives.

And the words of the barbarian princess Medea, who said that marrying with a dowry was buying a husband with a dowry, made Sophia very appreciative. This is a wild woman. It is obvious that they are living together, but the woman has to spend a lot of money to buy the husband’s kindness after marriage. Medea is right. It is really unfortunate to be a woman.

Sophia did not go to school like her brother. Her literacy was taught by her mother, which was the most precious gift her mother gave her. She has not learned rhetoric and cannot write beautiful and rhyming sentences in novels, but it does not prevent her from reading excellent works. If she has a daughter in the future, she will pass on this gift.

“You should know that betraying your father and brother will not end well after copying “Medea” so many times.” The voice of her brother Kilian suddenly came from behind, which scared Sophia.

The book “Medea” tells the story of Medea, a princess of a barbaric country, who fell madly in love with Jason who came to her country to steal the Golden Fleece. In order to be with Jason, she helped Jason steal the Golden Fleece, and killed her brother who came to obstruct him and threw his body into the sea. In order to collect his son’s body parts as soon as possible, Medea’s father had to give up chasing Medea.

In order to be with Jason, she cut off all her retreats and betrayed her father and her country. After giving birth to two sons for Jason, Jason actually wanted to marry the princess of Corinth and expel them. Even if a woman gave birth to a child at the risk of her life and raised it with great difficulty, the child did not belong to the mother, but to the father’s property. In order to avenge her husband, Medea killed the princess of Corinth and her husband’s property - her son.

In this book, men see what will happen to women who resist their fathers and brothers, while women see the oppression of women by patriarchy and husband’s power, so this book is loved by both men and women. Sophia likes Medea’s courage to love and hate, but she is not Medea after all. She will get married in another month. Her fiancé is a 30-year-old olive oil merchant. She is quite satisfied with the upcoming marriage.

Except for the slave girl Senna, her father will not give her any additional dowry. Being able to write and calculate is her biggest dowry. In Sicily, where the literacy rate is less than 1/20, a wife who can write and count is the dream of businessmen. Although her fiancé’s appearance is not satisfactory, she does not reject this marriage, because her husband’s reliance will ensure that she will not be treated harshly. The Epicurean school teaches people to avoid pain before pursuing happiness. Although the fiancé is not the best choice, it is definitely not a bad choice.

Dowry is never too much. If Medea had a dowry, she would not have ended up in such a miserable and desperate situation. Senna is her mother’s dowry-Sala’s daughter for her father. Such a female slave who has been trained to serve the master is worth at least 500 silver coins. Sophia has accumulated an additional dowry of 73 silver coins by copying books.

Men believe that women are impulsive by nature and lack rationality and self-control. Just like Pandora, who was warned by Zeus not to open the magic box, but could not suppress her curiosity and released disaster from the magic box. They say that women are destined to be ruled by stronger, more rational men because of their impulse and sentimentality. Sophia doesn’t like this, but it’s hard to argue that she can earn much more by copying storybooks and selling them to women than by copying Cato’s “Agriculture” and selling them to men.

There are two ways for a father to marry off his daughter.

One is called “CUM MANU”, which is equivalent to the daughter becoming the property of her husband, and the father has no right to “control” her from then on.

The other is “SINE MANU”, which means that the daughter still belongs to the father’s property. For example, if the father wants his daughter to divorce, no matter how the husband tries to stop him, he is not qualified to continue the marriage. If the woman makes a mistake, the husband has no right to deal with her directly, and must leave it to her father to decide.

But considering that her father is old, Sophia doesn’t want the ownership to fall into the hands of her brother after her father’s death. She is worried that her brother will make a decision against her wishes after he takes power, so she would rather take a risk and give the guardianship to her future husband.

“You should go to inspect the estate instead of disturbing me to earn my own dowry,” said Sophia.

“I want to check if you have drunk alcohol secretly.” Killian hooked Sophia’s chin and said.

According to Roman law: In order to prevent women from drinking alcohol secretly and then engaging in promiscuous, dissolute and wasteful behavior, adult men in the family have the right to kiss women in the family at any time to check if they have drunk alcohol secretly. In Sophia’s opinion, it must be the old men in the Senate who coveted their daughters and daughters-in-law, so they issued this ridiculous decree that was implemented nationwide.

“Killian, don’t bother your sister. She will soon be someone else’s wife. If you need a kiss, come to me.” The mother rescued Sophia.

Killian walked over, and the mother stood up from the loom, and was hugged by him and kissed.

“You are erect, child, you shouldn’t do things at night during the day, go to inspect the manor, as your sister suggested.” The mother pushed her brother away and said.

“I will do as you say, mother.” Brother Killian poured a glass of wine, made a face at Sophia, and turned to walk out.

Slave girl Sarah gave birth to a boy and two girls for her father. Because the identity of the child follows the mother, her children are born slaves. The youngest son born by Sarah has died, and the eldest daughter was conceived by Killian and died of dystocia last year. There are a few slave girls in the front yard, but he doesn’t like them. He likes Senna again.

Sophia and Senna are destined to share a husband and children, just like their mothers. They are in a symbiotic relationship. Senna can help Sophia stabilize her family and husband, and also enjoy a family that a slave girl can’t match.

Sexual desire is a kind of pain that is difficult to suppress. According to the philosophy of the Epicurean school, appetite and sexual desire, which are innate desires of life, should be satisfied, because if they are not satisfied, the pain will continue to exist and even threaten survival. However, many people who indulged in lust used Epicurus’ philosophy as a shield for their debauchery, thus ruining Epicurus’ reputation.

After the death of his own maid, driven by desire, he wanted to snatch Senna to be his maid, which was also the fuse for the current conflict between the brother and sister. He snatched Senna just to satisfy his desire, and Sophia would be like losing an arm if she lost her.

In the end, it was the sacrifice of his mother and Sarah that calmed the increasingly fierce struggle between the brother and sister.

The pride of the Greeks: The Ptolemaic dynasty, which had ruled Egypt for 200 years, had long been engaged in intra-family marriages in order to maintain the purity of blood. Influenced by this trend, the Greeks are not very disgusted with incest now, and there are even many scholars who have written books to prove the many benefits of incest and intra-family marriages.

The Topilus family believes in the Epicurean school, a philosophy that pursues a happy life with good health and a peaceful soul. Emotion is the criterion for judging all good things, and happiness is the highest good, because happiness is the embodiment of happiness. The Epicurean school distinguished two kinds of happiness: one is the happiness of movement, that is, the happiness felt by the body; the other is the happiness of stillness, that is, spiritual happiness. Spiritual happiness is much nobler than physical happiness, and spiritual pain is worse than physical pain.

Sophia experienced spiritual happiness in the job of copying books. Who would not like stories? She can enjoy spiritual happiness and make money without going out. Even if she gets married in the future, she will continue to do this job. I hope my brother can also find spiritual happiness and not be like a goat in heat every day.

“Mistress, the chickens are ready.” A female slave carried a basket into the door of the middle courtyard and came to Sophia. There were three plucked and washed chickens, a few eggs, a piece of cheese and a few snails.

“Okay.” Sophia put down her pen, took the basket and walked to the backyard. Her maid Senna was baking bread and stewing soup.

Sophia mixed honey, olive oil, fish sauce, cumin and salt, then smeared them on the skin and belly of the chicken, and then pierced the chicken with a copper fork and put it into the stove to bake. She sprinkled the snails with seasoning and put them into the stove with their shells facing down to grill.

“Goddess Vesta, the family of Topilus offers you chickens and snails, asking for your blessing.” Sophia said.

Whether it is the Greeks or the Latins, they all agree that the gods will enjoy the smoke that rises when grilling animal meat. The Epicurean school believes that everything in this world is made up of tiny invisible atoms, so there are no gods or ghosts. People’s happy life must be pursued and realized by themselves, and cannot be placed on non-existent gods and ghosts.

But Sophia has neither seen gods and ghosts nor the so-called smallest particles: atoms, so she doubts whether there are gods. But offering Vesta, the goddess of the hearth, is just saying one more word when grilling, just in case it is useful.

“I want to check if you have eaten honey.” Sophia said to the maid Senna. Senna squatted and put a few pieces of wood into the stove, raised her head and opened her mouth, and Sophia lowered her head and kissed her wetly.

After preparing dinner, let the food keep warm in the stove. The women began to shower and bathe. Dinner is the most important meal of the day, and people’s enjoyment of life is reflected in dinner. So people are used to taking a bath after work and before dinner.

The four women took off their clothes and jumped into the pool in the front hall to take a bath.

The villa is generally a courtyard with two or three entrances, and the roofs on all four sides are tilted inward, which is called a patio. When it rains, rainwater flows along the roof into the pool in the center of the courtyard, and this water is used for living.

There are pools in the front yard where the slaves live and the middle yard where the masters live, but the masters take a bath in the pool in the front yard. That is, let the slaves drink the bath water.

“Watch your step when you walk. If you drop the oil jar, I will sell you to the Karas family.” The mother scolded a slave who was carrying a long-necked amphorae and staring at them. The Karas family treated slaves very cruelly and often used them to threaten slaves who might make mistakes.

The Greeks generally regarded slaves as furniture that could walk or livestock that could talk. People two thousand and one hundred years later would not be ashamed of being naked in front of rice cookers, vacuum cleaners, electric bicycles or pets, and the masters at this time would not be ashamed of being naked in front of slaves. After washing and drying, they put on light clothes and waited in the cool under the colonnade in the middle courtyard.

After the father and brother came back and took a bath, everyone lay on the three sofa beds arranged in a triangular shape in the dining room. Bread, grapes, olives, roasted chicken, and roasted snails were all placed on the table in the middle of the three sofa beds.

The father sat on the sofa bed in the middle, the mother sat on the sofa bed on the right, and Sophia and the brother sat on the sofa bed on the left.

30 years ago, the slaves in Sicily province revolted, and most of the masters were killed by the slaves, making most of the land in Sicily ownerless. After the slave revolt, the new farm owners bought new slaves, but the treatment of the slaves did not improve. Instead, they were more strictly guarded. The masters sold the slaves who had a little resistance to the arena, and kept those who did not resist strongly and slowly exploited them.

Grandfather brought my father to Sicily and bought this piece of land at a low price. They bought slaves, cultivated the land, and settled down here.

The young and middle-aged slaves of the Topilus family are all the second generation of the slaves bought at that time, that is, house-born slaves. Born and raised in this family, seeing how the slaves next door were treated, as long as they could make a living, the house-born slaves had no intention of escaping. The slaves in their family were not shackled, which invisibly highlighted the cruelty of their neighbors, so they had a bad relationship with their neighbors and were often excluded.

Although the Epicurean school can guide people on how to live happily, it cannot guide how to make a fortune. The school believes that among the various means provided by wisdom to ensure lifelong happiness, the most important one is to gain friendship. In our limited living conditions, nothing can enhance our safety like friendship. Instead of using various means to strictly restrict slaves and live in fear of being harmed by slaves, it is better to treat slaves well so that they have no idea of harming their masters, and even protect their masters in return.

Of course, this kind treatment is not without cost, which directly led to the inability of the Topilos family to accumulate a lot of wealth, and the wealth gap with their neighbors became larger and larger. Their 28 slaves had to eat the rations of 50 slaves from other families. This was not only the reason why their family was not rich, but also the reason why they did not need to use violence to drive slaves. As long as they threatened to sell the lazy people to their neighbors, they could scare them to death.

Because Agrigento is close to Africa and Egypt, my grandfather bought relatively cheap slaves from these two places when he started his business.

After my grandfather passed away, my father took charge of the family. Among the second generation of family slaves, Alcan was the strongest and most agile, so my father sent him to the gladiator school for combat training. In order for the guards to really protect the masters, the masters must maintain a certain emotional connection with the guards, which is why Alcan can dine with the masters.

Dinner is the most important enjoyment of everyone’s day. People like to enjoy food, wine, laughter and love together on the sofa bed at dinner.

The men could drink as much as they wanted, but the women only got one cup each. Each person got one piece of bread, except Alkan, who had a big appetite, who got two.

Three roasted chickens were distributed to each sofa, and the brother first broke off a chicken leg and started eating. Senna skillfully tore the chicken into three parts, giving the best part to the brother, the chicken head, chicken neck, chicken feet, and chicken buttocks to herself, and the rest to Sofia. On the sofa bed of the mother, Alkan broke off a chicken leg for the mother, and he directly took the chicken body and started to eat it.

When the masters did not need to take care of it, Senna cut the bread with a knife, piled cheese, fish sauce, olive oil, and cabbage leaves on the bread, and then carefully picked the chicken skin and chicken meat and put them on the cabbage leaves. She liked this way of eating dishes with bread. Sofia picked up a piece of chicken breast and put it on her bread. She smiled at Sofia, sandwiched them with another piece of bread and stuffed them into her mouth to chew.

Sophia took a piece of chicken breast with skin, turned over and lay on the sofa bed to eat slowly. Dinner started at the 11th hour of the day (17:00) and went to bed at the 2nd hour of the night (20:00). There were 3 hours to enjoy.

Whether it was the rich people in Greece or Rome, they all liked to enjoy food, wine and sex together. The restaurant was a very suitable place, and the small, cramped and dark bedroom was used for sleeping.

As they ate, they threw the leftovers such as chicken bones, snail shells, fruit peels, and bread crumbs on the ground.

It was not that they were wasteful or untidy, but that everyone ate dinner like this, because there was almost no land without people who had died. If the dead souls crawled out of the ground at night and saw the leftovers on the ground, they would start eating and would not harm the living people living here. When I came to clean the restaurant the next day, the leftovers on the ground were much less than when they were thrown away last night, or even disappeared completely, which made people believe that the rumors were true.

People died too easily at this time. A rain, a cold wind, an unexpected fall, eating the wrong food, or being cursed could all take one more life. So no matter how careful you are about safety, it is not too much.

Everyone ate and drank, chatting about today’s harvest on the farm. Life on the farm was slow and boring, and their buzzing conversations reached Sophia’s ears. What tools need to be repaired, it would be best if it rained, blah blah. But suddenly a sentence aroused her interest. Her father said, “The son of the Calas family took the slaves of the allied countries in the community to Syracuse today.”

Sophia turned over and sat up on the sofa bed, and began to listen carefully to her father.

【Rome went to war with Jugurtha in the south and Germanic in the north at the same time. Starting two wars at the same time exhausted Rome’s manpower. When the Senate requested support from all over the country, the allied countries replied that in order to satisfy the extortion of Roman tax farmers, all the able-bodied men in their territories were sold as slaves. The Senate had no choice but to order the governors of each province to examine the slaves and their families, and all the slaves from the allied countries should be handed over. 】

The slaves of Topilus’s family were all from Africa and Egypt, and they were all family slaves. But the neighbors have been expanding, often purchasing new slaves to replace the over-exploited slaves, and some of them were slaves from the allied countries.

It is said that these slaves can be free after completing their military service, but a decree took away the slaves that the slave owners bought with real money, which will inevitably cause their anger.

“Why don’t they hand over the slaves directly to the mayor of our city, but send them all the way to Syracuse (now Syracuse)?” asked the mother, which was also Sophia’s doubt.

“Carras asked the neighbors to pay a sum of money, and he took the money and a small number of slaves to Syracuse, hoping to gather other large estate owners to bribe the governor to cancel the implementation of this decree, or at least stop chasing the slaves that have not been handed over.” said the father.

“Then the slaves who have not been handed in will be in trouble.” Brother Kilian said with a smile.

Indeed, when one slave is freed, the other slaves who meet the conditions for release will inevitably be resentful. In order to prevent them from causing trouble, the master will inevitably respond in advance and suppress them. If they cannot be released, they will be in trouble.

There is nothing wrong with the masters discussing the liberation of slaves in front of Sarah, Senna and other slaves. Sarah and her mother, Senna and Sophia have a symbiotic relationship. Whether they are slaves or not makes little difference to them. As a slave who is treated well, Alkan lives no worse than ordinary civilians. After all, people are pursuing a realistic quality of life.

Rome is a society with a strong sense of hierarchy, and people must distinguish between superiors and inferiors. The Topilus family is not financially well-off, and is often ridiculed by neighbors. Whenever there are festivals and celebrations, my father always sits in the worst position on the edge. Now that he has the opportunity to see his neighbors in trouble, he can’t help but gloat over their misfortunes.

“Haha, let’s have some fun.” After satisfying his appetite, his father announced that it was time to satisfy his sexual desires.

Sara walked from the sofa bed to the door and closed it. People believed that the gods were watching the world from heaven, so the arena and theater had no roof, because they were not only performing for people, but also for the gods. If you want to do something that the gods can’t see, the door must be closed.

Of course, ordinary couples are not afraid of being seen by the gods, and they can even have sex in front of the statues to pray for conception. But the sexual intercourse that Topilo’s family is about to have cannot be seen by the gods, because it is about to reverse the moral order: the master is willing to be conquered by the slave.

My mother is 35 years old this year, 15 years younger than my father. Old men and young wives are a common phenomenon at this time, because fathers don’t want to have a poor son-in-law, and men with considerable financial resources are often not young. Men also like to marry their friends’ daughters as wives, so that their relationship is closer. In fact, there are many couples with an age difference of more than 30 years. (Pompey was six years older than Caesar, but he was his son-in-law. Caesar’s daughter Julia died in childbirth, announcing the breakdown of their father-in-law and son-in-law relationship and alliance. No one believed in an alliance without in-laws.)

A common problem of old men and young wives is that the husband is no longer able to do it when the wife is still lusting after him. Three years ago, my father’s penis had become flaccid and it was difficult to complete sexual intercourse. But just like a person with all his teeth still has an appetite. My father still has sexual desire, but he needs stronger stimulation to make him erect.

My father gave my mother’s mating rights to his son Kilian. While he was enjoying his son’s rape of his mother, he asked Sala to give him a blowjob on his erect penis.

My mother was not happy at first, even though Kilian, who was born from her, looked very much in line with the Greek aesthetic. Although the Epicurean school advocated that couples should get along equally, it is obvious that the husband’s happiness is higher than that of his wife. And the head of the family under patriarchy has the right to ask his wife to submit to his son.

As a result, the stigma of infidelity and debauchery was borne by the wife.

At first it was a rape. But just like the barbaric Rome conquered the civilized Greece, the mother was eventually conquered by her own son’s strong body and huge penis, and later fell in love with her conqueror.

Sophia witnessed this conquest, and she knew that if it were her turn, she would also be conquered by her brother.

“Master, let me help you apply olive oil.” The mother said to Killian, and when the door of the restaurant closed, the relationship began to reverse. The mother pulled Killian off the sofa bed, and she moved the two oil lamps to the ground so that everyone could see their bodies clearly. She poured some olive oil on her hands and smeared it from top to bottom.

Killian’s skin was a healthy wheat color, still shining in the dark. After the oil was applied to his body, it reflected the firelight, and his body became three-dimensional. When the mother applied oil to his penis and scrotum, his penis stood up hard.

It’s so big! Sophia thought.

As if she had the same idea as her, her mother took Killian’s penis into her mouth and began to suck it.

“Woo~ Woo~ Woo~, ah~”, the mother seemed to be eating some delicious food, sucking it very hard and moaning.

Is it so delicious? Sophia was a little skeptical, but her mother’s expression didn’t seem fake. She thought: I must taste my husband’s penis after marriage.

“Ah~” The mother spit out the penis and began to lick Killian’s scrotum. His penis was against the mother’s face, long and big.

After oral sex for a while, Killian took off the mother’s dress, tied her hands behind her back with her belt, pushed her onto the sofa bed, inserted his penis into her vagina from behind, grabbed her shoulders, and began to mate. The restaurant was filled with the sound of slapping.

The moral code of mother-son sexual intercourse is that the older mother must play the role of conqueror. Mother-son intercourse should be done with the woman on top, with the mother leading the intercourse, and the mother should not give her son oral sex. Sophia thought this was too difficult. The physical difference between men and women was so great that women were obviously in the role of being conquered, so they could enjoy the pleasure of sex better.

“Pa ~” Killian slapped his mother’s butt hard. Obviously, their intercourse had completely broken through the moral standards.

Sophia was aroused by this intense intercourse.

“Cleo, your vagina feels so good, I love you.” Killian began to call his mother’s name directly. Obviously, lust made him bolder.

“I love you too, Killian, kiss me.” His mother responded.

Killian pulled out his penis, and his mother stood up, with her arms tied by a belt behind his neck, and kissed him. While kissing, he lifted her left leg and rubbed his penis on her labia.

“Ah~, who can help us, help us complete the union of love.” The mother asked for help uncomfortably.

The father, who was enjoying Sala’s blowjob, stood up, walked behind the mother, and helped Killian’s penis into her vagina.

“May Aphrodite (Venus) grant us pleasure.” The father said.

“Thank you, my father, thank you for giving me my mother. I will always respect you.”

The fierce slapping sound rang again, Killian and his mother kissed fiercely above, and had fierce intercourse below, repeatedly trying to integrate themselves into each other’s body. And the father stood by and watched, and Sala squatted and gave him a blowjob again.

After a fierce sprint for a while, Killian roared: “Mother, ah~, I’m going to ejaculate.”

“Ejaculate on the grapes.” The mother said.

Sala got up and brought the grapes on the table. When Killian took out his penis, he grabbed his penis and let the semen spray on the grapes.

After Killian ejaculated, he seemed to have lost all his strength, and he fell on the bed with his mother to rest.

Hippocrates said that semen contains the power of life, and it is the rapid friction and heating during sexual intercourse that turns blood into foam. The fact that the strong Killian collapsed on the bed powerlessly after ejaculation proves that this is true. Therefore, the semen of the strong is sought after, while the semen of the weak is discarded.

The mother put the grapes with the most semen into her mouth and ate them. Sofia also got off the sofa bed and went to eat the grapes with semen. Semen tasted strange, but it was not unpalatable when eaten with food.