"Is this the home of your ancestors?" Zeno asked, looking around. Like most things in Rome, it looked and smelled new.
"There was little left but the foundations when we returned, but I have restored it exactly as it was. Most of us were able to locate our old homes. Our ancestors kept careful records of everything. Most especially of our lands and houses. This one has been in my family since Rome had kings."
They passed into a courtyard surrounding a pool in which a modest fountain played. The sides and bottom of the pool were lined with blue tiles lacking any design or ornament. The surrounding colonnade shaded the entrances to a number of rooms, but it held no sculptures. Instead, climbing plants were placed at intervals in large, earthenware pots. The vines had only begun to ascend the columns.
"We could use the triclinium," Gabinius said, "but the weather is so fine I suggest we eat out here. Does that suit you?"
"Admirably," Zeno assured him. "I can think of no lovelier setting."
"It is in excellent taste," Izates said grudgingly.
Gabinius smiled. "You mean it lacks any ornament? I know that you Greeks are fond of restraint. Actually, this place is just new, or rather newly restored. We could cart away little with us on the exile, and Hannibal's men took everything else. We Romans are rather fond of display and gaudy decoration. Come back in a few years and see whether you approve then."
Slaves brought out a table and chairs. "We recline only at banquets," Gabinius explained. "For ordinary meals we prefer to sit."
"Better for the digestion anyway," Izates said. "People shouldn't lie around like beached fish at a meal. Food was not meant to pass through the body horizontally."
They took chairs, and slaves brought ewers and basins to wash their hands. Cups were filled, and each splashed a bit onto the courtyard before drinking. The first course was hard-boiled eggs, and Gabinius explained that nearly every Roman meal began with eggs. They spoke of inconsequential matters through the simple dinner. The eggs were followed by grilled fish, then stewed lamb and, finally, fresh apples and pears. Throughput, platters of bread and cheese and bowls of oil and of a pungent fish sauce stood filled for the diner's use. When the plates were cleared away and the wine cups refilled, serious talk began.
"Why do you find Rome a fit subject for study?" Gabinius asked.
"Because the state seemed poised to take an important place on the world's stage when Hannibal eliminated it so abruptly. From obscure origins, Rome had thrust forth into importance in an incredibly short time. Its inhabitants and constitution showed every sign of destiny. Then all was cut short by Carthage. That much would rate a historical footnote.
"But over the years we received cryptic word of a new Rome in the North, busily subduing the barbarians. This was more interesting yet. Nations that have been crushed usually disappear. Now you have returned, seemingly stronger and more warlike than ever. This is most remarkable of all, an unprecedented thing. I want to know how it happened and, more importantly, I want to chronicle what happens next."
Gabinius nodded. "A laudable project. In my library are several histories of Rome, both pre-and post-exile. Please feel free to use them in your researches."
"You are more than generous," Zeno said.
"I wish to enlighten you about Rome. At the same time, I and other Romans have much to learn about this world we have reentered. Perhaps you can help me there."
"Gladly."
Zeno had no compunctions about supplying the Roman with information that might well be put to military use. Greece was a tributary of Macedonia and he regarded the Macedonians as no better than barbarians. Rome was the implacable enemy of Carthage, and Carthage had resisted the spread of Greek interests in the western Mediterranean. The Romans were brutal, but Carthage had become a byword for cruelty.
Gabinius told them of the great northward march; when the Romans took their household gods and sacred objects, their arms and whatever tools they could carry and sought a new home beyond the Alps. He told them of the hungry early years, of the resistance by native peoples, and of the Romans' ultimate victory. He told of Roman expansion year by year, and of how certain native nobles saw in the newcomers an opportunity for themselves.
"Since that time," Gabinius said, "we have spoken of the old families and the new families. Old families like my own date from the exile. New families are of northern origin."
"And they are full citizens?" Zeno asked, intrigued as always by this unique concept of citizenship.
"Certainly. Our Consul Norbanus, whom you saw leaving the Curia today, belongs to the most prestigious of the new families. They have been consulars for more than fifty years. His father and grandfather were consuls and a greatgrandfather was praetor shortly after the exile. He was a chieftain who understood that supporting Rome would make him far more than lord over a few hundred obstreperous savages."
It sounded too cozy and friendly for Zeno. No Greek could truly believe in political harmony on any profound level, and he remembered the shouting from inside the Curia. He sensed that there must be tension, jealousy and resentment between these new and old families.
In response to the Roman's questions, Zeno spoke of the situation in Greece, of the great coastal cities of Antioch, Sidon and Tyre, of the islands Cyprus and Rhodes. Gabinius asked Izates about Judea and its capital, Jerusalem. Zeno noticed that his friend was not asked about his native city, Alexandria, even though the capital of Egypt was perhaps the most important city on the sea.
He remembered reports he had heard that a Roman delegation had already visited that city. They've been sending reports to the Senate, he thought. This Roman already knows all he needs to know about Alexandria. The scope of Roman preparations was something far beyond his experience. They have just retaken Italy and already they are laying plans for world conquest. They will know exactly what they are doing and whom they will face when they start. Even Alexander made no such plans. He just bulled his way through with luck, charisma and a confidence in his enemy's weakness.
"Perhaps you can answer something for me," Zeno said hesitantly.
"You have but to ask," Gabinius told him.
"The world knows that you Romans are in the process of taking Sicily."
"We are taking it back," Gabinius corrected. "It was ours after the first war with Carthage, when we fought Hannibal's father there."
"To be sure. Yet, travelers hear many things and there is a story on the ships and in the taverns all around the sea that a Roman force, a rather large one, accompanied the Shofet Hamilcar's expedition to Egypt. Yet now you are at war with Carthage. What has happened to that Roman army, last heard.of some distance down the Nile from Alexandria?"
Gabinius leaned back in his chair and seemed to considerthis for a while. He gestured with his cup and a slave refilled it, then the others.
"Ah. This very question is getting to be something of a sore point in the Senate lately. You see, our two consuls for the year are Titus Norbanus and Quintus Scipio; one old family, one new. Each has a son. If you would understand the new Rome that has arisen here, then I must tell you about these two remarkable young men."
And so he began to speak to them of the younger Marcus Scipio, and of the younger Titus Norbanus.
CHAPTER THREE
The place was called Sinai. it might as well have been the realm of Dis or Pluto. To the Romans, accustomed to the verdant North, to beautiful Italy, it seemed like a place cursed by the gods. Their march from Carthage to Egypt, then down the Nile, had taken them only through cultivated land. The Nile Valley had been bordered by desert, but few of them had ridden out to see it. Now they had to cross this.