His suggestion was sensible, but I had had enough of war with Dorieus. The very thought of war made me feel ill.
I could not explain my feeling but it was so strong that I replied, “Tertius Valerius, don’t be angry with me but I don’t feel that I am yet ready for Roman citizenship. Perhaps later, but I cannot promise anything.”
Tertius Valerius and Arsinoe exchanged glances. To my surprise they did not attempt to persuade me.
Instead, Tertius Valerius asked carefully, “Then what do you intend to do, my son? If I can advise you in any way, speak.”
The thought had surely matured in me although it burst forth only in response to his question. “There are other lands besides Rome,” I said. “To increase my knowledge I intend to travel to the Etruscan cities. A great war is brewing in the East. Of that I have certain knowledge, and it may be that its repercussions will even extend to Italy. Before such an avalanche even Rome would be but a city among cities. Knowledge of other countries is always needed, and my knowledge and political astuteness may some day benefit Rome.”
Tertius Valerius nodded enthusiastically. “Perhaps you are right. Political advisers on distant lands are always needed, and Roman citizenship would be only a hindrance to you in obtaining this experience since it would obligate you to military service. I can give you letters of introduction to influential persons in both Veii and Caere, the nearest of the large Etruscan cities. It would also be wise for you to become acquainted with the Etruscan coastal cities of Populonia and Vetulonia, on which we are completely dependent for iron. In fact, the armed strength of Rome is founded on the free import of iron from the Etruscan cities.”
When Arsinoe stooped to wipe his dripping mouth I took advantage of the moment and said with a smile, “I have enjoyed your hospitality far too long, Tertius Valerius. I cannot impose upon you still more by requesting letters of recommendation. I shall probably wander alone and freely and I don’t know whether the recommendation of a Roman senator would benefit me in trying to befriend respected Etruscans. It is better for me not to tie myself to Rome even with your recommendations, as much as I value your friendship.”
He placed his hands cordially on my shoulders and said that I should not hasten my departure. As his friend I would always have a place by his hearth, whenever and for as long a time as I wished it. But despite the warmth of his voice I was certain that this was farewell. For one reason or another he and Arsinoe wanted me to leave Rome. My suggestion pleased them both.
Their behavior wounded my vanity to the extent that I was determined to get along on my own assets and if possible to augment my resources along the way. Thus Arsinoe bound me to the earth and to everyday life even more tightly than if I had remained with her. She sent me forth among the ordinary people to gauge the possibility of profit and if necessary to work with my hands, which I had never before done. For that reason my journey was to constitute a period of learning in which I would discover the needs of a simple person in a civilized world.
I exchanged my delicate footwear for heavy-soled Roman travel shoes and donned a simple shirt and gray woolen mantle. My hair had grown again and without anointing it I braided it into a knot at my neck.
Arsinoe laughed at my appearance until the tears came, thus easing the pangs of parting.
Tertius Valerius said, “You are right, Turnus, from the ground one sometimes sees more than from the ridge of a temple. At your age my palms were calloused and these hands of mine were as broad as shovels. When I see you like that I respect you more than before.”
I should have realized from that that I was setting forth on a new blind path. Naturally I still was accompanied by Hecate’s luck since she provides aid in small as well as large matters. So when I paused on the bridge to look at the flooding yellow waters of the Tiber, a skittish herd of cattle pushed past me and would have crushed me against the railing if I had not leaped over it in time. The angry cries of the guards added to the confusion, and finally the drover called for help and his half-grown daughter burst into tears. I jumped back onto the bridge and seized the lead bull by the nostrils, squeezing them as hard as I could. The bull tossed his head in vain and finally quieted down as though realizing that he had met his master. Then the entire herd grew calm and obediently followed the bull until we left the bridge and I guided the herd to the side of the road near the slope of Janiculum.
There I released the bull and wiped the mucus from my hand. The drover approached me limpingly and holding his back, for at the end of the bridge the guard had struck him with the shaft of a spear. He blessed me in the name of Saturn, from which I deduced that he belonged to the simple country people of Rome, while his daughter wiped her tears and hugged her cows.
The drover seated himself on a hummock and rubbed his back. “Now what, master? I can see from your face that you are not our kind. We are living in bad times and at our master’s command we are taking our cattle to the market at Veii before the Volscians arrive and steal them. They have never been so wild and I do not know how my daughter and I will be able to control them now that my back is hurt.”
His helplessness touched me and his daughter was a pretty girl although barefooted. “I don’t know much about cattle,” I said readily, “but I am on my way to Veii and in no hurry. I will gladly help you herd your cattle although I don’t know how to milk them.”
He was greatly cheered by my words. “That new god Mercury must be of some use, after all. As I was about to leave I made a hasty bow at the door of his temple, and look how soon that young and kind god has sent you to my aid.”
We joined forces and, paced by the slow herd, set off for Veii along the worn road. I picked up a switch but we soon noticed that we made the best progress if I walked ahead with my hand on the lead bull’s neck while the drover and his daughter followed behind, chasing the cows that paused at the roadside. Soon the journey progressed so well that the girl began to sing an old shepherd’s song. The sun shone between the clouds and my mind brightened after the sadness of parting. At dusk I was grateful for the slowness of our journey, for the new shoes were rubbing blisters in my heels. I took off the shoes and flung them over my shoulder. For the first time I felt how gloriously the earth’s dust responds to the steps of a bare foot.
When darkness fell we found a deserted cattle enclosure whose fence assured us a restful sleep, for otherwise we would have had to guard the cattle alternately. We made a fire to warm us in the biting dampness of the early spring. Father and daughter began to milk the cows, and when I noticed how painfully the man stooped because of his injured back I offered to help them. Laughingly the girl showed me how to use my hands, and the touch of her tanned fingers thrilled me, not with desire, but merely with the nearness of a young person. I was surprised at the smoothness of her palms and she explained, laughing at my stupidity, that it was caused by milking and milk fat. She said that noble Etruscan women even bathed in milk, but that in her opinion it was a crime against the gods because milk, butter and cheese were intended for human nourishment.
I said that to me it was as great a crime to let warm milk flow onto the ground.
The girl became serious and explained, “Necessity knows no law. We could not take any vessels with us and the cows must be milked. Otherwise they will suffer and their udders will become inflamed and we will not get the price that our master demands for them.”
She glanced at her father and confessed ruefully, “We will hardly get it anyway, for I see by the innumerable hoofprints on the road that all the patricians have had the same idea at the same time. I am afraid that the cattle merchants of Veii will pay whatever they wish for Roman cattle. No matter what price my father obtains for them our master will be dissatisfied and will beat him.”