It's March the 17th in A.D. 73. We're visiting ancient Rome to watch the Liberalia, an annual festival that celebrates the liberty of Rome's citizens. We're looking in at a 17-year-old named Lucius Popidius Secundus. He's not from a poor family, but he lives in the region known as the Subura, a poorer neighborhood in Rome, yet close to the center of the city. (Gong) The tenants of these apartments are crammed in, (Grunting) which poses considerable risk. Fires are frequent and the smell of ash and smoke in the morning is not uncommon. Lucius, who awoke at dawn, has family duties to perform today. (Cheering) His 15-year-old brother is coming of age. Half the children in ancient Rome die before they reach adulthood, so this is a particularly important milestone. Lucius watches his brother stand in his new toga before the household shrine with its protective deities, as he places his bulla, a protective amulet, in the shrine with a prayer of thanks. The bulla had worked. It had protected him. Unlike many others, he had survived to become an adult. At 17, Lucius has almost completed his education. He has learned to speak well, make public speeches, and how to read and write both Latin and Greek. His father has taught him the types of things you can't learn in the classroom: how to run, how to swim, and how to fight. Lucius could choose, at 17, to become a military tribune and command soldiers on the edge of the Empire. But in other ways, Lucius is still a child. He's not trusted to arrange business deals. His father will take care of that until he is 25. And Dad will arrange Lucius' marriage to a girl 10 years younger. His dad has his eye on a family with a 7-year-old daughter. Back to the Liberalia. As Lucius leaves with his family, the shops are open as the population goes about its business. The streets are full of itinerant traders selling trinkets and people bustling from place to place. Large wagons are not allowed in the city until after the ninth hour but the streets are still crowded. Fathers and uncles take the kids to the Forum Augustus to see statues of Rome's famous warriors like Aeneas, who led Rome's ancestors, the Trojans, to Italy. And Romulus, Rome's founder. And all the great generals of the Republic from more than 100 years earlier. Lovingly, we can imagine fathers and guardians with their now adult children remembering stories of Rome's glory and re-telling the good deeds and sayings of the great men of the past: lessons on how to live well, and to overcome the follies of youth. There is a sense of history in this place, relevant to their present. Romans made an empire without end in time and space. (Thump) Rome was destined to be eternal through warfare. Wars were a fact of life, even in A.D. 73. There are campaigns in the north of England and into Scotland, to the north of the River Danube into Romania, and on the frontier between Syria and Iraq to the east. It's now the eighth hour -- time to head for the baths. Lucius and his family head up the Via Lata, the wide street, to the Campus Martius, and the enormous Baths of Agrippa. The family members leave the clients and freedmen outside, and enter the baths with their peer group. Baths would change from dark, steamy rooms to light ones. The Romans had perfected window glass. Everyone moves from the cold room to the tepid room and to the very hot room. (Man) Oops! More than an hour later, the bathers leave massaged, oiled, (Whistling) and have been scraped down with a strigil to remove the remaining dirt. At the ninth hour, seven hours after they left home, the men return for a celebratory dinner. Dinner is an intimate affair, with nine people reclining around the low table. Slaves attend to their every need if the diners, through gestures, demand more food and wine. As the day closes, we can hear the rumble of wagons outside. The clients and freedmen, with a meal of robust -- if inferior -- food inside them, shuffle off to the now tepid baths before returning to their apartment blocks. Back at Lucius' house, the drinking continues into the night. Lucius and his stepbrother don't look too well. A slave stands by in case either of them needs to vomit. With hindsight, we know Lucius' future. In 20 years' time, the Emperor Vespasian's youngest son, Domitian, as emperor, will enact a reign of terror. Will Lucius survive? (Drums)
É o 17 de marzo do ano 73 da nosa era. Estamos de visita na antiga Roma para ver as Liberalia, unha festa anual que celebra a liberdade dos cidadáns romanos. Estamos mirando a un mozo de 17 anos, chamado Lucius Popidius Secundus. Non é dunha familia pobre, pero vive no barrio coñecido coma a Subura, un barrio pobre de Roma, pero cercano ao centro da cidade. (Gong) Nestes pisos hai moreas de inquilinos, (Gruñido) o que presenta un risco considerable. Os incendios son frecuentes, e non é raro o cheiro a cinzas e fume pola mañá. Lucius, que espertou ao amencer, ten hoxe deberes familiares que cumprir. (Aclamacións) O seu irmán de 15 anos chegou á idade adulta. A metade dos nenos da antiga Roma morren antes de chegar a adultos, polo que este é un fito moi importante. Lucius observa ao seu irmán, de pé, coa súa toga nova, ante o santuario doméstico cos seus deuses protectores, mentres coloca a súa bulla, un amuleto protector, no santuario, cunha oración de agradecemento. A bulla funcionara, protexérao. Non coma moitos outros, el sobrevivira e chegara a adulto. Aos 17 anos, Lucius case completou a súa educación. Aprendeu a falar ben, a dar discursos públicos, e a ler e escribir tanto en latín coma en grego. O seu pai ensinoulle o tipo de cousas que non se poden aprender na clase: a correr, a nadar, e a pelexar. Lucius podería elixir, aos 17, converterse nun tribuno militar e comandar soldados na beira do Imperio. Pero noutros xeitos, Lucius é aínda un neno. Non se confía en el para arranxar asuntos de negocios. O seu pai encargarase diso ata que cumpra os 25. E papá vai arranxar o matrimonio de Lucius cunha rapaza 10 anos máis nova. O seu pai ten o ollo posto nunha familia cunha filla de 7 anos. Volta ás Liberalia. Cando Lucius marcha coa súa familia, as tendas están abertas mentres a poboación vai ao seu. As rúas, cheas de comerciantes ambulantes vendendo bagatelas e a xente movéndose dun lugar a outro. Os carros grandes están prohibidos na cidade ata despois da novena hora pero as rúas seguen ateigadas. Os pais e os tíos levan os nenos ao Foro Augusto a ver estatuas dos famosos guerreiros de Roma coma Eneas, que levou aos antepasados de Roma, os troianos, a Italia. E Rómulo, o fundador de Roma. E todos os grandes xenerais da República de máis de 100 anos antes. Con cariño, podemos imaxinar a pais e titores cos seus nenos agora adultos lembrando historias da gloria de Roma e contando as boas accións e os ditos dos grandes homes do pasado: leccións de como vivir ben, e vencer as loucuras da mocidade. Hai un sentido da historia neste lugar, pertinente para o seu presente. Os romanos construíron un Imperio sen fin no tempo e no espazo. (Golpe) Roma estaba destinada a ser eterna a través da guerra. As guerras eran un feito da vida, mesmo no ano 73. Hai campañas no norte de Inglaterra e en Escocia, ao norte do río Danubio ata Romanía, e na fronteira entre Siria e Iraq ao leste. Agora é a oitava hora: hora de ir aos baños. Lucius e a súa familia van pola Vía Lata, a rúa ampla, ata o Campo de Marte, e as enormes Termas de Agripa. Os membros da familia deixan fóra aos clientes e libertos, e entran aos baños co seu grupo de iguais. As termas cambiarían de habitacións escuras e con vapor, a lugares luminosos. Os romanos tiñan perfeccionado o vidro das fiestras. Todo o mundo pasa da sala fría á sala temperada e á sala moi quente. (Home) Vaia! Máis dunha hora despois, saen os bañistas masaxeados, aceitados, (Asubío) e ben raspados cun estrixilo para eliminar a suciedade restante. Á novena hora, 7 horas despois de ter saído da casa, os homes regresan para unha cea festiva. A cea é unha cousa íntima, con 9 persoas recostadas arredor da mesa baixa. Os escravos atenden a todas as súas necesidades se os comensais, con xestos, piden máis comida e viño. Ao rematar o día, podemos escoitar o rebumbio de carros fóra. Os clientes e os libertos, cunha comida forte (de inferior calidade) dentro deles, diríxense cara aos baños agora tépedos antes de regresar aos seus bloques de apartamentos. De volta na casa de Lucius, seguen a beber entrada a noite. Lucius e o seu medio irmán non teñen bo aspecto. Un escravo está ao seu carón por se un deles ten que vomitar. Mirando cara atrás, coñecemos o futuro de Lucius. En 20 anos, o fillo menor do emperador Vespasiano, Domiciano, coma emperador, instaurará un reino de terror. Sobrevivirá Lucius? (Tambores)