"Caesar, that fellow, is a woman for all men, and a man for all women." -- Caesar's political enemy

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The other party trembled violently, as if he had been sentenced to death, and said, "Did he call you?" Is he dead or not, it's okay if he's dead, the family has not been paid back for two years, the slaves are dead, there is a child to raise, I am a wet nurse a day and a half Seths, Van Lunjuna is a helper in the laundry, there can only be one Cesses a day - do these things, you can understand how I am forced to do this, you don't understand - tell him or not, it is your own volition, but you have to know, if he knows, he will kill me, he will. The more she spoke, the more excited she became, and the louder she wept, and then she sat down on the ground and cried out to Calabis, "Why don't you put me to death now, and use the sword of your legion, as you did to kill a slave girl of an alien race." ”

Before Karabis could answer anything, there was a loud cry, and the man was about to rush out of the door, "zhanzhu! As he drew his sword, he scolded, and the man's feet softened and were welded in place, and he walked up slowly, and then grabbed the man by the collar and said, "Pay the money." ”

The man nodded repeatedly, took out a handful of small silver coins and coppers, threw them on the floor, and ran away in a hurry.

"Actually, I'm just a former military slave who has just been released." Calabis took the money on the ground and piled it on the table in the room, and then everyone fell silent, not knowing what to say, Zuihou Calabis put the remaining forty-four dinars in the money bag on the table, thought about it, and took out the twenty drachmas he had brought, "These owls (the silver drachmas of Athens, Greece has a statue of Athena on the obverse and an owl on the back) are now more beautiful than the dinars. ”

When he went downstairs, Van Lunjuna carried the lamp and walked in front of Calabis, the cabinet on the ground floor was already blurred in the night, and from time to time there were a few baby cries inside, a cry of fear of hunger and darkness, which made Calabis feel a little furious when he heard it, and he couldn't help but think of the "little pigeon" Paruma, who lived in corpses and rats for most of the year - if these beings were born lowly, why should they be reincarnated in this world? Now Calabis understands a little bit, and there will be people like Jesus and Shakyamuni, people who really think about the pain and meaning of life.

"You gave our family almost three months' rent and food, and you're going to do that? Is it because my father saved your life on the battlefields of Asia Minor, Calabis? My father saved the lives of many of his comrades. When Fan Lunjuna said goodbye, she asked curiously.

Calabis shook his head and said, "Your father didn't save my life, and I did this just to make your father owe me a favor." ”

"The Romans never liked to owe favors." Fan Lun Lingna said in a tone imitating an adult.

After hearing Van Lun Lingna's words, Calabiston for a moment, then stared earnestly into the girl's eyes and said, "Listen, don't look down on your mother, she raised you and your sister, instead of throwing your sister in the dung heap and making her a natural slave. You have to love her and respect her. ”

Back at their apartment, Porti and Paluma were packing their belongings and preparing to quietly leave with the money as her man had instructed them before leaving. Seeing Calabis returning, Porti hugged him with tears of joy, "Don't cry, woman. You should go to the stove now and get me something to eat, and I'll be going to the Municipal Department tomorrow to participate in the selection of Publici. ”

The next morning, Potty dressed Calabis in a clean manner, and then he again crossed the Captopil Hill and the Grand Square to the Roman Governor, opposite the temple complex, a spacious and austere edifice in which men with the nameplates of slaves and freedmen came and went with their dukes, and they were all Publici, a kind of low-ranking clerk or state slave, who was responsible for the affairs of the municipal magistrates.

"The Liberation Pact is here." The little bureaucrat in charge of dealing with the affairs of Calabis, buried in the pile of papers, without raising his head, handed over the contract with the bronze pipe that Kelly gave him that day, the fellow looked at the deed first, rolled his eyes at Calabis and said, "It turned out to be a freed military slave, and now you have two jobs suitable for you, the jailer, or the executioner." ”

Calabis was displeased, and said, "I can read and write Latin and Greek, and I can do such work as a note-taker and a transcriber." ”

The guy's nose snorted cold air, "Do you think that in prison or on the execution ground, you don't need your proud skills?" Well, until I decide to send you to Sicily as a farm steward, you'd better accept a job in the city! Then, unscrewing the bronze tube again, he pulled out a letter of introduction written on papyrus, which must have been written in Lucuras' handwriting, and he immediately stood up straight, as if popping out of the ground, and squeezed out a pleasing smile at Calabis, "Haha, so you are a tuna, so you can say, you can say it." Then he lowered his head again, and worked hard for a long time in the pile of documents, a pile of wooden boards full of engraved words, Zuihou said excitedly and proudly: "It just so happens that the Stove Temple still lacks a wardly, go to report after a leap month, you go and do it, you will definitely be competent." Then he took Calabis's hand tightly, and whispered as if he were telling an earth-shattering secret, "This temple is in the possession of the virgins, who are the keys to the private wills and savings of the city of Rome, and the treatment in it is not to say, hehe-hee-that is, to clean the altar, to prepare sacrifices, to pay twelve ceths a day, to rest for one market day, except for the feast of the hearth, you can enjoy the rest of the holidays, and as for the virgins at the public meal, you can also enjoy the corresponding allowance, and maybe you also have the right to purchase sacrifices, Didn't say, didn't say! By the way, a foreign freeman like you, who is proficient in Greek, may work in the temple for less than two consulships (the Romans used to call one consul a year, because consuls can only serve for one year), and they will build a large estate for Lucuras, a rich manor, or handle a big business, and at once they can gather between five and a million Cestrith's money, and your next generation will become citizens immediately. The nouveau riche knights, alas, are much better than us, and are easy to sail on the river. The guy chattered, and Calabis kept a listening smile, then took his hand and politely asked him about his name, and the other party looked flattered and hurriedly said, "Despicable Kaimais".

At this time, there was a commotion in the hall, and a slightly balding man wearing a laurel leaf crown hurriedly walked in, and in the posture of a sports race walk, his arms mechanically swinging back and forth, hurried through the crowd, while shouting to the snobbish eye who was handling the affairs of Calabis: "Open Mess, Open Mess!" I'm going to the backroom now, and if a knight the size of half a hundred comes to me, I'll say I'm Julius. Caesar was not here, but went to the Senate for a hearing! ”