“Why would we do that? Your suggestion is an act of kindness she will not soon forget.”
“First, the act is yours, not mine. Second, she is my friend; I want no debts between us. Lastly, Sabina is proud almost beyond measure. This would sit better coming from the master of the house.”
Crassus rose from his seat. “Stay here. I must fetch my wife.” He walked back toward the atrium and I heard him call for Tertulla. In a moment, the two returned, followed by Sabina, who led a wobbly, grinning Publius by the hand.
“ Columba, a word. Sabina, if you wouldn’t mind, take Publius for some air.”
“Yes, dominus.” Sabina left, looking back over her shoulder to fling a nervous ‘what’s-going-on?’ face at me. I replied with a look of feigned innocence and hoped that it appeared genuine. I was never much good at dissembling.
“Alexander! What have you gone and done now?” Tertulla took both my hands in hers and held them while she spoke. Her smile was so broad and genuine I felt my face redden. “He’s so good with Marcus, husband. How's the leg, Alexander?”
"It heals," Crassus answered for me, sounding slightly irritated. He bade Tertulla sit in his chair and began to recount the details of my proposal. He stood next to me, so close I could smell his perfume. I hoped that my own scent did not offend. If only I could step further away unnoticed. I am most comfortable on the outskirts; being at the center of anything unnerves me, the center of attention in particular. To endure, I composed my features into one I hoped gave the impression of self-abasing, modestly proud interest. No mirror presented itself, so I attempted to breathe normally and instead let the vision of my mistress consume me.
Tertulla’s hair was long in those days, and as black as any Nubian’s. She wore it piled at the back of her head, held with gold butterfly pins. Two long tresses escaped this binding and fell down either side of her neck. It was a style that made her look regal, yet utterly feminine. Her sleeveless peplos, pinned at the shoulders with more gold butterflies, was pale blue, a foil to the darker seas of her eyes. She left one shoulder bare by draping her palla as a long, diagonal sash. Her toenails were painted to match her peplos and her long-laced sandals were gold. She was nineteen, five years younger than I; precisely the sort of girl who wouldn’t give me a second look or a first chance back in Athens. She was as beautiful as Phaedra, my youthful infatuation at the Academy, but where Phaedra was a siren, Tertulla was Venus.
Chapter X
81 BCE — Spring, Rome Year of the consulship of Marcus Tulius Decula and Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella
“Why didn’t Sabina come to me?” Tertulla asked when Crassus had finished. “That child is a delight. I would have purchased Livia in a hummingbird’s heartbeat had I known.”
“Of course you would, columba, because little doves don’t know the value of money.”
“Don’t patronize me!” she said with playful indignation. The irony, however, was lost neither on me nor on Crassus, who glanced sideways at me with a weak smile.
“Never again,” he proclaimed dramatically, dropping to one knee. Tertulla laughed and slapped his hand away. “But Alexander’s plan,” he said conspiratorially, “has more financial merit. With your permission, of course.” Their playfulness with each other was embarrassing, yet wondrous to witness. Irony was everywhere this day.
“I have only one suggestion,” Tertulla said, standing and pulling her husband up with her. None present, especially the lady herself, believed that she would ever limit her opinions to just one. “Pay Boaz Livia’s full worth, love. I know that Jew; he’s as soft-hearted as a lamb. How he ever chose that trade is a wonder. How he survives in it is a miracle.”
“You needn’t worry about him,” Crassus said. “His family’s been in the business for generations. He may choose to keep a modest house in the Subura, but his accounts are overflowing. He has an eye for talent, and a keener lookout for profit. I suppose that gives him the latitude to make exceptions when he chooses.”
“So you will pay him the 16,000 sesterces? Sabina is sure to be a success and your purse will yet be made whole. When you think of it, a little more time, not money, is all that will be required.”
“And we forbid women the practice of law! If I refuse her," Crassus said to the air above, "though the cost could not be counted in gold, its sum would be far greater.”
“Isn’t it wonderful to have a husband who comes complete with both ears and heart?” she asked, also to no one in particular. I felt completely useless.
Crassus answered her nonetheless. “Much depends on where you find them. They’re not much use in the senate.”
“Oh, one more thing. Let Sabina keep her coins. It is a trifle to us, but a treasure to her.”
“Let us wait a moment, Alexander," he said, finally addressing me directly. "There may yet be more.”
“No, I assure you I am quite finished.” Crassus nodded and turned back to his scrolls. “Oh.”
“Yes, dove?”
“Of course, Sabina should only be required to repay 2,300 of the total. If we choose to offer more to Boaz, that is not to be counted against her.”
“Agreed.” Now Crassus waited.
“No, no, I am quite finished. The good commander knows when to leave the field. I retreat and leave you to carry on.” She whispered, “I shan’t say a thing. Let’s tell her when we put the children to bed, shall we?” Without waiting for an answer she kissed her husband lightly on the cheek and turned toward the peristyle. “Sabina! To me, please.”
Tertulla had not gone ten steps when she stopped and called back, “Husband — interest free!” Crassus waved her off.
“I wasn’t going to charge the woman interest,” he muttered.
“Um,” I ventured after making sure that Tertulla was completely out of sight, “I have something more, if I may. It concerns my tutoring duties?”
“Why, are you tiring of them?”
“On the contrary, I think I may have found my calling. Teaching suits me. Which is what gave me this thought: Running about the house translating Pio’s instructions seems inefficient for both myself and the staff. I am constantly repeating myself and being interrupted by someone looking for a word here or a phrase there. I should like, with permission, to make the process more formal.”
“How?”
“A school. Imagine an entire bilingual staff — their value would increase two-fold at least, if I understand the market. Communication and work would flow smoother throughout the domus. And we needn’t limit instruction to language: any skill required by the familia could be taught. Gardeners could teach gardening, cook could teach, well, cooking, so that more than one of us would have the same skill. Should one become sick, others could fill in. And if dominus feels the need to sell one of us, we are bound to fetch a higher price.”
"And where would you organize this school?”
“The apartment has two large rooms. Plus two smaller closets.”
“You’ve been headed here all along, haven’t you?”
“When I thought of Sabina’s plight, I went to look at the apartment — the idea dawned on me then.”
“Why so timid, grammaticus? As you learn to know me, you will find that I am quick to appreciate logic, especially when logic leads to profit. Now I must find my wife and contradict her, gods protect me. News of this importance cannot wait for nightfall. Sabina should not have to wait an extra minute to be reunited with her daughter. Go straight to Pio and have him see to the girl’s return personally.”
“ Dominus, what if Livia has been sent to work at another house?”
“Tell Pio to find her and remove her. He can take Betto and Malchus with him. The three of them should be persuasion enough. And if Boaz requires more convincing, remind him his asking price was two; we are paying four. If that should still prove insufficient, I will buy out any open contracts. But I shall want to see them first. Send Pio to me if any of this is unclear to him.”