Chapter 3

It didn’t seem to take any longer to go 2000 years than it did to go a month. It was early morning and they were just outside of town. Tom could feel the draft as he looked down at his pants that were no longer there. He was wearing a cloak that wrapped around to his body and over his shoulder. His pack looked more rustic. Mary was just as pretty but had on a white dress and leather sandals. She looked around and saw the water off to their right.

“Tom it looks like we came in on the North end of Rome. I see a small port; we should try to get a ride to the main port. Travelers arriving for the first time. We should probably make some money smaller size gold and some coppers and silvers for walking around money.”

They did make some change and had a pouch instead of a wallet or purse. They hiked down to the dock and a man was just about to leave. He spoke and they understood him perfectly. So far Phillip had been spot on with his explanation. Tom said, “Hello. We are trying to get a ride down to Rome.”

“I am going out fishing.” He looked to the north and pointed. “That is a merchant ship. It should be here in half an hour and will stop if you are on the dock. You should be able to get a ride for a few coppers.”

They thanked the fisherman as he pushed out to sea. They were waiting when a merchant pulled up in a horse drawn cart.

“Good morning. I see you are waiting on Captain Sid. He has a good eye for interesting things. I’m Simon. You don’t look like you are from here.”

“Good Morning. I am Tom and this is Mary. We are from the far North but are moving here to set up a new life.”

“I have a store in Rome but get up early and travel the extra distance to beat the rest of them to the things that the ships may have.”

“We are just hoping for a ride, so we don’t have to walk.”

“I’m sure he will give you a ride to the main docks.”

Simon introduced them to Sid before they did some trading and Simon left with a cart full of merchandise. When the sails went up and they were underway, Sid asked, “So what will you do in Rome?”

Tom replied, “Buy and sell things just like you. I may get a ship or two to send out and find the most exotic things for my stores.”

“If you do, I have two sons that would do well for you. I have trained them, but they don’t have the money for their own boats or the bankroll to buy and sell.”

“How would I find them or you if I wanted to do that?”

“There is a restaurant by the wharf. I will point it out to you. My wife cooks there and we live upstairs. They will know when I will be back in town. I am normally gone for 25 days then home for 5.”

When they got to Rome, Sid pointed to the restaurant and Tom promised to look him up when he was ready and for Sid to keep his eye out for some large ships for exploring and trading. Rome was both bigger and smaller than was expected. They walked towards the Coliseum. It was the center of tourism at that time and there were inns and restaurants to cater to the travelers. The sights, sounds and smells were all new and different to them both. They stopped and asked a few of the people that looked well off where the best place to stay was. They all mentioned a street that seemed to be a little more upscale. A gold coin would cover two weeks of lodging as well as morning and evening meals.

Mary had done her research and said that the local form of currency was Denarii. An average worker earned about 25 Denarii or 25d per day. Currently, a gold coin was worth about 1200d. Prices for food were the most. A single chicken would cost 30d and most people survived on grains such as wheat. They got to their room and looked at each other. Mary laughed, “What do you want to do now?”

“Mary, we can always touch bracelets and walk away so let’s just jump in and see if we can get a new life started. That would be a place to live, something for work, new friends. I don’t know about security, so I want to take the backpack off the frame and keep it with us.”

“Tom, if we are going to be here, let’s live like royalty. Do we have a backstory?”

“We are from a place west of Greenland. We are royalty but I am the third son. My brother would inherit the throne, so I decided to start a new life in the greatest country in the world. Currently of course. The land is called America. We will have a house in town and a shop or shops for the wealthy. It will help us to fit in and people always want the best things they can afford.”

“I love it. Let’s go out and walk around to see if we can find a place to live.”

Just walking around, the signs for the different shops were interesting as were the people. They were also getting many looks with their blonde hair, blue eyes and straight white teeth. They looked a little out of place in cloaks when most of the people in this part of town wore togas. There was a tailor shop they stepped inside to look. The man looked at their clothes. They were in good shape.

“Good morning. How may I help you?”

“We are new to this part of the world and want to fit in. We will probably need some new clothes. Can you tell us about the fashion?”

“What you are wearing is common for those that work in the city. Those that work on farms would be a little heavier. Those professionals wear linen and the wealthy wear silk.”

“Does everyone wear white?”

“It is most common. Greys and browns for working men. Royalty wears purple and some other colors can be found.”

“If I had some red or blue material could you make us garments and would we look out of place?”

“You would have to be careful with the blue. If it is seen as purple, you could be put to death. I have seen some women in colors and some men wear red or green but that is very expensive, like silk.”

“Thank you for your time. Do you know who we could talk to about finding a house to live in?”

“There is an advocate, (lawyer), down on the corner. Look for the sign for Franco Ferrucci.”

They found the office and he was in. They explained that they were new to the city and wanted a place to live. They were looking for a nice place in the nicer and safer part of town.

Franco asked, “Do you have the means for a house of this size? They can cost many thousand Denarii.”

“We are more concerned about the location, safety, quality and architecture and less concerned about the price of a home. Can you help us find the top few that may be available so that we can look at them?”

“I know of two. One is free today and the other I have just heard about. He is moving down to Pompeii to be closer to his children. I think he may keep it but that was just because he didn’t have a buyer. I will stop and talk to him. It is a magnificent home over on Palatine Hill. The other is a villa outside of the city with a lot of land.”

He asked them to come back the next day. As they walked, they found out that most of the business was done in the morning between 6am and noon. The afternoon was for leisure and spending time with family. The day had been productive. As they entered the inn the keeper mentioned to Tom that there was a public bath across the street. When asked about Mary, he said, “Women can’t go to the bath when men are there. Some have days or times for women. There are a couple for only women but not many. I can have some water sent to your room if she wants to wash up.”

As they entered the room Mary said, “That was interesting. I’ll have to remember that women have no rights at this point in history. I think as the husband you can even sell me into slavery or kill me if you want.”

“I would never kill you and it would have to be a pretty good offer to sell you off,” he laughed.

The innkeeper showed up with water for Mary. Tom said, “You know, we had on jeans and t-shirts when hiked out of Vegas and when we arrived, I had on a cloak. I wonder what would happen if you had on your little black dress or the clothes I was wearing when we went to dinner at Del Frisco’s?”

“Sounds like time for the second half to all of our experiments.”

Tom did go across to see the baths and when he walked in, he stood out. The average Roman was a few inches shy of 6’ and he was three inches over. A man walked up to him and said, “Good afternoon.”

“Good afternoon. I am new to Rome; this is my first day and the innkeeper across the street sent me over.”

“Ah, that is one of the nicest inns in the city. There are areas to exercise, a hot room for sweating out the stress of the day and cool rooms for feeling refreshed. The baths for cleansing and we have some women upstairs if you would like some company.”

“Is this common for most public baths?”

“Some are large almost like gardens and some are small with just a bath. This is in a nice neighborhood and is not too grand or too rundown. There are over 800 baths across the city so there is normally one nearby.”

Tom hadn’t done a lot of working out since his ten-mile hike to the campsite a few weeks earlier. He watched different men do stretching and calisthenics. He decided to workout. When in Rome as they say. He did 50 burpees followed by 100 pushups. He was going to do some mountain climbers but changed his mind when he didn’t have the support of a jockstrap or underwear. He did 100 air squats and some lunges to finish his workout. When he finished, there were others watching him. Some were trying what he did, but others just laughed at them. Some smiled and nodded hello.

The hot room didn’t interest him, but he did get in the bath and then went into the cool room while he dried off before getting dressed in some clean clothes. He paid the small price to use the bath before going back across the street. Mary was in the room wearing a yellow toga. She looked up and said, “How do you like my yellow sundress? I’m glad you didn’t get me a purple one, so I don’t have to be killed.”

“You look great. I just did my work out for the day. The public bath is more like a gym than a bath. There was a sauna-like room and place to work out. There is even a brothel at the one across the street. I didn’t partake but thought it sounded interesting.”

“Too bad they don’t let women in. We could have both enjoyed one.”

They knew they would be moving at some point, so they didn’t want to replicate anything that wasn’t needed. They had an early dinner at the inn and then went for a walk. They walked about a quarter mile down to the river, not too far from where they had been dropped off earlier in the day. There was still activity going on as they were moving merchandise around to get ready for the following day. Tom said, “If we got a building down here, we could import and export goods.”

Mary nodded and thought about what that might look like or what she would want to see there. She was distracted when she heard someone mention a slave auction. She stopped to see who said it. There was an area set up for auctions and areas or pens set up to keep the people that would be sold the next time they had one. Mary started walking and Tom followed.

As Mary stopped to look in the pen, Tom took her hand. “This is a way of life here. Some of the slaves that you see are also teachers, doctors or other professions in the community. Some were sold, some were captured during war. This is a different world. We can’t change the practice and it isn’t as bad as other times in history. There are so many here that are poor and homeless, I think the slaves are more in line with America’s middle class. With food and shelter provided to them.”

They walked along looking in the pens. The people running the place seemed to have segregated them and the women were in a different pen than the men. Mary said, “Look at the difference between the girls in that pen from somewhere in Asia and those men that look to be from a European country.”

The men were speaking a different language than the Roman citizens, but Tom could still understand them. One of the men saw Tom and spoke to him. “Do you understand what we are saying?”

“I do. How did you get in this position?”

“We were the royal guard for the king of Judea. When the king made a bad judgment call his troops were killed and we were outnumbered. As part of the surrender, his troops and people would be spared but the king had to give up his life and his guard would be sold into slavery. There are twenty of us here. I think we will be sold tomorrow but we don’t speak the language except one of us.”

“Why did the king have to die?”

“My men had killed many that tried to get to the king, but it was only a matter of time before they overwhelmed us with numbers and the king didn’t want to see any more kill than had to. He ordered us to put down our weapons and surrender.”

“If I bought you, would you protect me, my home and my family?”

“If we could stay together that would be great and we would work for you. All military men know that there is the risk of death, injury or capture.”

“I was in the military back home for a while. I understand very well.”

While Tom was talking to the men, Mary was down talking to the women. There were three women from China that were sold into slavery. They were a mother and two daughters. When the father or husband died, his brother took over his house. The women had no rights. The man who passed away was a tailor for the emperor of China and his family. The wife and two daughters did a lot of the work. Mary wanted them to help around the house. Tom smiled knowing Mary and the fact that all three of them looked young. The mom was probably early 30s and the girls were in their late teens if he had to guess. Tom heard Mary say, “Don’t speak anything but Chinese or your price will go up and others will try to split you up.”

Tom walked down and said to the men. “I know one of you speaks the local language but don’t let anyone know. If they can’t communicate it makes you less appealing to them. I will try to buy you and keep you together as a group. Do you have families back home and would they want to come to Rome to be with you?”

The men all perked up and got interested with that comment. One of them said, “We all have families back at home but haven’t spoken to them in a while.”

“We will have to see about finding them and bringing them here if they want to come.”

The men smiled and were hoping that this might come true. They found out that the auction was the following afternoon. When they were talking to the person from the auction company Tom asked, “I know it is an auction, but we are new to Rome. What should we expect to pay for a slave here?”

He rubbed his chin and said, “The women you were looking at are young and pretty but don’t speak the language so maybe 600d - 800d each unless a guy just wants one for his bed and doesn’t need to talk to her then it could go higher. The men are all fighters and are big and strong so could work well on a farm. They also don’t speak the language so maybe 1000d-1200d would be my guess.”

After thanking the man, Tom said to Mary, “Now we just have to find a place to live and a place to keep them.”

They were up early for a meal and were at the advocate’s office shortly thereafter. They had both dressed up some for the meeting. Franco was smiling and said, “I have good news. Both places are for sale and both owners are motivated to make a good deal. Do you have a horse to go see the villa out of town?”

“No, we just arrived by boat yesterday and haven’t bought anything except a few meals.”

We can walk to the place in town. It is a whole block of land but the house only sits on half so you could sell it, add on or make an outside garden area.”

They walked together and paid attention to different homes and the architecture as they went. The house they stopped in front of was the nicest one they saw. The owner, Dario, came to the door and showed them around. It was perfect in size and had a carriage house and many rooms for servants. At the end of the tour, the man asked, “What do you think?”