“Is that the Forum?” asked Delaney, pointing.
“That’s it,” Andell said. “The Forum Romano, the most famouscity square in all of history. That black stone building over there is the tombof Romulus. And there’s the Sanctuary of Venus the Purifier. Across from theBasilica over there is the Temple of Castor and Pollux, the twin gods. And overthere, the Temple of Saturn. You can’t see it from here, but right next to itis the Golden Milestone, from which all miles on roads leading to Rome are measured.And there’s the Rostra, where they conduct trials and, on occasion, the Senatemeets there, as well, when it’s warm enough. Otherwise, until they build thepermanent Senate House, the Curia Julia, they usually meet in the Temple ofJupiter, which is just to the east of here. On a nice day. you can stand in theForum and hear someone like Cicero speak. lithe wind is right, you can alsosmell the fish market. So much for historical glamour.”
They passed the Forum and entered a residential area.
“A lot of the buildings are more run-down than I expected,”Andre said. “It’s a bit like towns and cities in medieval times.”
“Yeah. there’s a similarity.” said Andell. “Few Romansexcept wealthy aristocrats and merchants can afford to live in a townhouse or avilla. The majority of the city’s population lives in blocks of tenements likethis, no more than three or four stories high.”
“The streets are narrower than I expected, too,” said Andre.
“They won’t be widened until Nero’s time,” Andell replied. “Moststreets in the city, neighbors across the street from one another can reach outfrom their balconies and shake hands. When Augustus comes in, he’ll put aheight limit of seventy feet on houses because of the poor construction.Sometimes the tenements just collapse all of a sudden, so be careful when youwalk the streets. The average apartments are made up of small rooms overstreet-level shops, with shuttered windows looking out over the street or outinto an interior courtyard. Tenants can buy a room outright, so you’ve got youroriginal condos, but most people can’t afford it. so they rent. You can make agood income as a landlord. The rents in Rome are about four times higher thanin the country, anywhere from two thousand to thirty thousand sesterces. Forthat kind of money, you can buy a small house within sixty miles of Rome. Water’savailable from lead pipes coming from the aqueducts, but it’s a luxury only thewealthy can afford. They pay for it according to the size of their pipes. Mosttenants have no water pipes and they have to bring water from a public fountainor a bath. They also have to go to commercial bake and cook shops for theirfood, because most apartments don’t have kitchen facilities. So Romans tend toeat out a lot.”
“I don’t see many carts or wagons,” Lucas said.
“Just coaches and light carriages during the day.” Andellsaid. “That’s something new. By Caesar’s order, the heavy wheeled traffic isonly allowed in the city at night so nights in the city can get noisy, especiallyin the business districts. It’s like trying to get a good night’s sleep in NewYork, with sirens and shit going off all the time. Same thing. Carts and wagonsgoing by all night. drivers shouting, cracking whips, oxen bellowing … notthe best idea in the world. if you ask me, but it does cut down on trafficduring the day.”
The buildings look like a real fire hazard,” Andre said.
“That they are. Fires are real common, especially this timeof year. when people leave open braziers burning all night to keep warm. Theydon’t have anything like an organized fire department. at least they won’tuntil Augustus’ time, when he’ll form a sort of combination police and firebrigade called the Cohortes Vigilum. recruited from freedmen who’ll get fullcitizenship after six years’ service. But right now, a lot of people die infires. They usually just let the damn things burn, then knock down what’s leftand start all over. You get maps of the city in your programming?”
“Yes,” said Lucas.
“Good. You’ll need ’em. You’ll notice that there aren’t anystreet signs and the houses aren’t numbered. It can be hard to find your wayaround.”
They swung down another street. heading back toward the Tiber.”Travershas himself a villa by the river,” Andell said, “so you won’t be staying in oneof those rattraps. Being buddies with the imperator has its perks. It’sstill early, but in a few hours, things’ll really start picking up. They’reholding chariot races in the Circus today. Maybe some gladiator combat, too.Eventually, that’ll all move to the Colisseum, but it won’t be built for yearsyet. If you want to get a good feel for what’s going on, the place to go is thebaths. You can meet everyone from senators down to the tinker, the baker, andthe candlestick maker. One quadrans gets you in for the whole day, butdon’t look for soap. And most of the baths are for men only. I’m afraid,” hesaid, glancing at Andre.
“So I’ll stink,” she said.
“I don’t think you’ll have to do that,” Andell said with agrin. “Travers has a small bath at his villa. That’s a big-time status symbolthese days. Just make sure you don’t bathe yourself. Have the slaves do it,even if you don’t like the idea. It’s expected.”
“Male slaves or female slaves?” asked Andre.
Andell shrugged. “That’s up to you. I guess.”
She grinned. “This mission might not be so bad, after all.”
“How long have you been on this tour, Andell?” asked Delaney.
“About seven years now,” Andell replied.
“All in Rome?”
“First four in Rome, last three in Alexandria. We’re notliable to run into anyone who knows me or any of the others, if that’s what you’reconcerned about. Nobody pays much attention to slaves, for one thing, and we’veall kept a pretty low profile. Except for Travers, of course, but his case isdifferent. He moves in more interesting circles and he gets to live in a nicevilla, instead of the rattraps we’ve been living in.”
“But then you didn’t have to go to the Gallic Wars, either,”Andre said.
“I wouldn’t have minded that one bit. I reenlisted to be asoldier, not a damn Observer. I’m due for a transfer in another year and I’mlooking forward to it. I’m hoping I can pull a combat assignment. And I misswearing pants.”
“Watch they transfer you to Scotland,” said Delaney.
“If you spent three years in Alexandria, you know about Cleopatra,”Lucas said.
“We didn’t exactly do dinner and dancing, you know,” Andellsaid.
“L.T.O.’s are the ones who get to rub elbows with the richand famous. But I
know about her, yeah.”
“What do you think of Travers theory?”
“I don’t know. I think it’s possible. The S.O.G. might’vepulled a switch while she was in exile. And she didn’t have a great deal ofcontact with her brother. Ptolemy, after she came back. If there was any changein her, her becoming a queen could easily explain it. People in Egypt aren’texactly in the habit of questioning their monarchs. In any case. she’s in Romenow, where nobody knew her from before. If it was me and I was going to pull asubstitution. I would’ve done it while she was in exile, just before she met upwith Caesar. There’s only one thing about it I can’t understand.”
“What’s that?” asked Lucas.
“Caesar’s Egyptian guard. I mean, like that’s a real obviousanomaly. It’s a documental fact that Caesar made a point of refusing to have abodyguard around him at this time. It stands to reason that the S.O.G. wouldfigure we’d have Observers back here and that’s like running up a flag. Again.if it was me. I wouldn’t give my play away like that. That thought’s occurredto Travers, too. It really bothers him. He just can’t figure it.”