Chapter 22

In 449 BC, the death of Verginiia.

Appius Claudius, the consul of the Roman Republic, was attracted by the beauty of a girl. But he could not marry the girl because she was already engaged to another man, and he despised her status and disdained to marry an ordinary person as his wife, and such a marriage was made illegal by the law he engraved on the Twelve Tables (nobles were prohibited from marrying commoners).

Since the law stipulated that they could not marry, if he wanted to take the commoner girl for himself, he could only make her his lover or slave. Because he was worried that the girl would refuse to be his lover, Claudius instructed one of his subordinates to announce to the public that the girl was the child of his own slave girl. Because the children of slaves are still slaves, slaves are the private property of slave owners, and their children also belong to slave owners. In this way, Appius can occupy the girl he likes. During this period, the girl’s father was fighting bravely on the battlefield.

Virginia’s fiancé Icilius did not allow anyone to take her away.

“Cut off my head, Claudius, and then take the girl you want, as well as all other girls and women, so that the Romans will understand that they are no longer free people, but slaves..., but remember that my death will be the beginning of Rome’s great misfortune, or the beginning of great fortune!”

The father hurried back from the battlefield and saw Claudius was about to take Virginia away by force.

In pain, Virginius made a very painful decision for a father. He asked for permission to hug his daughter for the last time and talk to her alone before she was taken away. Claudius allowed him to do so.

Verginius held her, hugged her tightly, called her name, kissed her, and wiped away her tears.

At the same time, he gradually moved away from others. He suddenly took out a knife and pierced his daughter’s heart, saying: “My child, I give you, free and pure, to your ancestors in the underworld, because when you were alive, the tyrants allowed you neither freedom nor chastity!”

This incident not only made the civilians who stayed in Rome indignant, but even the civilians on the battlefield also expressed their anger. They all gathered to protest against the tyranny of the noble Claudius. The nobles also realized the seriousness of the situation. They arrested Claudius, who attempted to lead his subordinates to confront the civilians, and chose a day for trial. On the night before the verdict, Claudius, a stubborn conservative with a strong self-esteem, could not accept the shame of being tried and chose to commit suicide.

From then on, Verginia became synonymous with virgins.

The Latin word “equites” is literally translated as “knight class”, and they are obliged to provide cavalry to the Roman army.

In order to distinguish them from the aristocracy and even the Senate class who are in charge of state affairs, they are called the knight class. Since none of their ancestors have served as consuls, it is difficult for them to engage in politics compared to the aristocracy, so most of them choose to do business. According to the law, people from the Senate class are prohibited from doing business, which allows knights to show their talents in this field, and the continuous strength of Rome has continued to expand their market.

To enter the threshold of the knight class, the assets require at least 2,500 gold coins. If you prove to the Roman government that you have more than 10 talents of wealth, you can become a knight. If the wealth is less than 10 talents, the aristocracy and the knight class will fall into the civilian class, so the class in Rome can be mobile, and the standard is wealth.

Mania asked the steward of the Aquilius family to take over the two warships. Money was meaningless to her, so it was better to do a favor.

The nobles were worried about how to marry Mania.

There were four classes in Rome: nobles, knights, freemen, and freed slaves. Vitius was a freed slave at the lowest level. Roman law prohibited marriage across two classes. In terms of status, even the daughter of a knight could not marry Vitius, and in terms of strength, the daughter of the knight class was not worthy of Vitius.

Mania received letters from several noble families, asking her how much property she had. They were willing to give the missing part as a dowry and lift Vitius into the knight class in one fell swoop, so that they could marry. But she refused.

In the two warships that Vitius robbed, there were pirates who robbed gold and silver from other cities, so their family’s money now has reached 40 talents, far exceeding the 10 talent threshold to enter the knight class.

The reason she refused was mainly because she didn’t want to have a noble daughter-in-law who would scheme against her every day. Nobles are born political animals. It’s enough to have a noble woman like her in the family. Wouldn’t it be troublesome to marry another one?

Not registering as a knight is also to avoid the trouble of being targeted by other nobles.

Apprentice Aquilia also wrote to Mania, asking her not to marry Vicissus, and to take over as Vicissus’s woman after she retires.

Roman City.

The population of Rome can reach up to one million. No matter how many people pour in, the population will fall below one million next year. If someone does a careful statistics, they will find that Rome is a huge cannibalistic machine. To maintain its population, it has to constantly absorb immigrants. This is a paradise for bacteria, viruses and parasites.

The Mediterranean climate is dry in summer and rainy in winter. If there is no important work, Roman nobles will leave Rome in November and go to the countryside or other cities to spend the winter, and then return to Rome in spring.

The Forum of Mars was originally a swamp, the lowest point in Rome, and also the slums of Rome. Every winter rainy season, the water of the Tiber River will overflow the embankment and flood the Forum of Mars. Yesterday’s rain was particularly heavy, and the shops on the first floor of the slums were flooded. Apartments and other buildings seemed to grow out of the muddy river water.

The river water poured in from the drainage outlet leading to the Tiber River, and the place where the public toilet was originally was gushing out feces. Garbage, corpses of chickens, dogs, cats, and humans floated on the water with feces, and were slowly carried downstream by the current.

If you count at the estuary of the Tiber River, thousands of corpses can float by in a day. Most of them died of diarrhea, or were thrown into the river after dying alone, or their families were unable to cremate the bodies and had to abandon them.

When the rain stopped temporarily, the 14-year-old Vestal Virgin Aquileia stood on the stone steps of the Via Filaminia, looking at the already flooded Forum de Mars and the slums.

In this rainy winter, dry firewood is a luxury, and some restaurants and bakeries will not be able to operate due to lack of firewood. At this time, the capable temples will begin to give wheat porridge to believers, and the porridge of the Temple of Vesta is the best and most sacred.

Aquileia’s brother is a co-consilium with Marius. In order to help the head of the Aquilius family continue to win the upcoming winter election, the retainers naturally spared no effort.

“Thank you, virgin! Thank you, virgin!”

Aquilia smiled and nodded to accept the greetings of the believers. The team of retainers continued to give porridge to the people, and distributed Vesta water filter pitchers with the words “Gift from Archon Aquilius” printed on them, and the ashes of the holy wood burned by the eternal flame.

Winter is the peak season for death, and the biggest cause of death is diarrhea caused by drinking contaminated water and unclean food.

Master Mania sent her a lot of Vesta water filter pitchers. She ordered the craftsmen to produce a lot of them, but she didn’t take them out until now, just to overwhelm the other virgins in one fell swoop.

Winter is the election season. All the Vestal Virgins come from noble families. Of course, they will build momentum for their family’s election. The virgins have been engaged in power struggles without tearing each other apart since they were young. They cooperate and compete, and their relationship is very complicated. This year, only she can get the Vesta water filter pitcher, and the difference is obvious. My brother will definitely praise her.

“Let’s go.” The old slave of Aquilius poured two spoonfuls of oatmeal porridge into the mouth of a short-haired mixed-race slave girl, who opened her mouth to the sky, and asked the little slave girl to go. The little slave girl swallowed the oatmeal porridge, ran to the back of the line with a smile and queued up again.

On the side, several free Jewish children stood together, watching children of other races eating porridge with envy. It was not that they were not allowed to eat, but their Jewish doctrine did not allow them to accept charity from priests who they regarded as false gods. It seemed that an invisible yoke locked them there, making them unable to satisfy their desires.