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)
Danas je 17. ožujka 73. godine naše ere. Idemo u antički Rim kako bismo posjetili Liberalije, godišnji festival koji slavi slobodu rimskih građana. Pogledajmo sedamnaestogodišnjaka koji se zove Lucije Popidije Secundus. On nije iz siromašne obitelji, ali živi u regiji poznatoj kao Subura, siromašnije susjedstvo u Rimu, ali ipak blizu centru grada. (Gong) Ovi stanovi su gusto naseljeni, (Groktanje) što predstavlja značajan rizik. Požari su česti pa miris pepela i dima ujutro nije neobičan. Lucije, koji se probudio u zoru, danas ima obiteljske obaveze. (Ovacije) Njegov petnaestogodišnji brat postaje punoljetan. Polovica djece u antičkom Rimu umre prije nego postanu punoljetni pa je ovo posebno važan događaj. Lucije gleda svojeg brata, koji stoji u novoj togi ispred kućnog oltara s bogovima zaštitnicima, dok on stavlja svoju bulu, zaštitnu amajliju, na oltar, usput govoreći molitvu zahvale. Bula je obavila zadatak. Zaštitila ga je. Za razliku od mnogih drugih, on je preživio i postao punoljetan. Sa 17 godina, Lucije je skoro završio svoje obrazovanje. Naučio je lijepo se izražavati, držati javne govore i kako čitati i pisati na latinskom i grčkom. Njegov otac ga je naučio stvari koje se ne mogu naučiti u školi: kako trčati, kako plivati i kako se boriti. Lucije bi mogao izabrati da, sa 17 godina, postane vojni tribun i zapovijeda vojnicima na granicama Carstva. S druge strane, Lucije je još dijete. Ne povjerava mu se ugovaranje poslova. Njegov otac će se brinuti za to dok on ne navrši 25 godina. Otac će mu dogovoriti brak za 10 godina mlađu djevojku. Njegov otac je bacio oko na obitelj koja ima sedmogodišnju kćer. Vratimo se natrag na Liberalije. Dok Lucije odlazi sa svojom obitelji, dućani su otvoreni dok se stanovništvo bavi svojim poslom. Ulice su pune putujućih trgovaca koji prodaju nakit i ljudi koji užurbano hodaju posvuda. Velikim kolima nije dozvoljen ulazak u grad do popodne, ali ulice su svejedno prometne. Očevi i ujaci vode djecu na Augustov forum kako bi pogledali kipove slavnih rimskih ratnika kao što je Eneja, koji je doveo pretke Rimljana, Trojance, u Italiju, i Romul, osnivač Rima. I svi veliki generali Republike od prije 100 godina. S ljubavlju, možemo zamisliti očeve i tutore s njihovom, sada odraslom, djecom kako se prisjećaju priča o slavi Rima i prepričavaju velika djela i izreke velikih ljudi prošlosti: lekcije o tome kako ispravno živjeti i kako prevladati mladenačke gluposti. Postoji osjećaj povijesnog značaja ovog mjesta važan za njihovu sadašnjost. Rimljani su stvorili carstvo bez kraja u vremenu i prostoru. (Bubnjevi) Rimu je bilo suđeno da bude vječan kroz rat. Ratovi su bili neizbježni, čak i 73. godine naše ere. Vode se ratni pohodi na sjeveru Engleske i u Škotskoj, sjeverno od rijeke Dunav u Rumunjskoj i na granici između Sirije i Iraka na istoku. Sada je 14 sati - vrijeme za odlazak u terme. Lucije i njegova obitelj idu širokom ulicom "Via Lata" do Polja Marsa "Campus Martius" i ogromnih Agripinih termi. Članovi obitelji ostavljaju svoje klijente i oslobođene robove vani i ulaze u terme sa svojim vršnjacima. Kupališta bi se promijenila od tamnih soba punih pare do svijetlih. Rimljani su usavršili proizvodnju prozorskih stakala. Svi se kreću od prostorije s hladnom vodom do prostorije s mlakom vodom, sve do prostorije s jako vrućom vodom. (Čovjek) Ups! Više od sat vremena kasnije, gosti odlaze izmasirani, nauljeni (Zviždanje) i ostrugani metalnim alatom strigilom koji je skidao ostatak prljavštine. U 15 sati, sedam sati nakon što su otišli od kuće, muškarci se vraćaju kući na svečanu večeru. Večera je intiman događaj s devet ljudi koji leže oko niskog stola. Robovi ispunjavaju sve njihove želje, a gosti gestom zahtijevaju još hrane i vina. Kako se dan primiče kraju, vani možemo čuti tutnjavu kočija. Klijenti i oslobođeni robovi, koji su pojeli velik, ali ipak skromniji, obrok, odlaze do sada mlakih termi prije nego se vrate svojim domovima. Kod Lucijeve kuće, pijenje se nastavlja kasno u noć. Lucije i njegov polubrat ne izgledaju najbolje. Rob stoji uz njih ako jedan od njih treba povraćati. S našim znanjem povijesti, mi znamo Lucijevu budućnost. Za 20 godina će Domicijan, najmlađi sin cara Vespazijana, pokrenuti vladavinu terora. Hoće li Lucije preživjeti?