The Assassins of Rome Scroll 0ne :: The Roman Mysteries

The Assassins of Rome
Scroll 1

One hot morning in the Roman port of Ostia, two days after the Ides of September, a dark-eyed boy stared gloomily at four presents.

The boy and his three friends sat on cushions around a low octagonal table in a small triclinium. It was a pleasant room, with cinnabar red walls, a black and white mosaic floor and a view through columns into a green inner garden. A faint sea breeze rustled the leaves of the fig tree and they could hear the fountain splashing.

'I'm telling you,' said the boy. 'Something bad always happens on my birthday.'

'Jonathan,' sighed his friend Flavia Gemina. 'In the past month you've survived a volcanic eruption, a coma and capture by pirates. But now you're safe at home and it's a beautiful day. What could possibly happen? Don't be such a pessimist.'

'What is sessimisp?' asked a dark-skinned girl in a yellow tunic, taking a sip of pomegranate juice. Nubia was Flavia's former slave-girl. She had only been in Italia for a few months. Although Nubia was a quick learner, she was not yet fluent in Latin.

Flavia drank some of her own pomegranate juice. Then she held out the ceramic cup.

'Nubia,' she said. 'Would you say this cup was half empty or half full?'

Nubia studied the ruby red liquid and said, 'Half full.'

'Then you're an optimist. An optimist always looks on the bright side of things. What do you think, Jonathan? Is it half full or half empty?'

Jonathan glanced into Flavia's cup. 'Half empty. And it's not even very good pomegranate juice. It's too sour.'

Flavia grinned at Nubia. 'See? Jonathan's a pessimist. Someone who always expects the worst.'

'I'm not a pessimist,' said Jonathan. 'I'm a realist.'

Flavia laughed and handed the cup to the youngest of them, a boy in a sea-green tunic the same colour as his eyes.

'How about you, Lupus?' she asked. 'Would you say the cup is half full or half empty?'

'He can't say anything,' said Jonathan. 'He's got no tongue.'

'Shhh!' said Flavia. 'Well, Lupus? Half full or half empty?'

Lupus tipped the contents of the cup down his throat.

'Hey!' Flavia protested. But they all laughed when Lupus wrote on his wax tablet:
COMPLETELY EMPTY

Lupus grinned but did not look up. He was writing something else on his tablet, using a brass stylus to push back the yellow beeswax and expose the wood beneath. He showed it to Jonathan:
OPEN PRESENTS!

'All right, all right,' said Jonathan. 'I'll open yours first.'

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