Free Athene's Prophecy (Gaius Claudius Scaevola Trilogy) by Ian Miller

punished if caught. All they gave up was their identity, their pride. Yes, it was true some were made slaves. Slaves, on the whole, were well treated. It did no good to beat a slave, and it certainly did not impress anyone, usually including the slave. Suppose he was a slave, what would he do? That situation, he snorted, was inconceivable. But then, he had been ordered to learn, and he had to acknowledge that dismissing a problem as irrelevant was not part of the process of learning.
    So, suppose he was? Yes, he would hate it. Even if the master were benevolent he would hate bowing. And if the master came home in a bad mood and lashed out at him, he would . . . What would he do? Fight back, and be crucified? That would be easy for him to say now, he of senatorial class who would never suffer the indignity, but if he was a Greek? Escape? Where to? Rome controlled if not the world, at least the useful world. He would have to swallow his Claudian pride and endure. Not that a Claudian could ever become a slave. The proposition was . . . No! That might be true, but it was not the answer. If he could not find a correct answer from Timothy's viewpoint, he was learning nothing.
    So, what did he tell Timothy? That he could do nothing about slavery? That was rather pathetic. That when he got to be a governor, he would abolish slavery? That would be a clear lie. That he would be very interested to hear what Timothy could suggest what he could do, practically, to solve the problem. That might be a little better, if for no other reason than it would force Timothy into dialogue. Very reluctantly, he had to acknowledge that this was a situation for which there was no correct answer.
    * * *
    "So?" Timothy asked when Gaius appeared early the following morning. Gaius noted that he seemed rather agitated, as if he were not really in control of the situation.
    "I will grant you that slavery is inherently wrong," Gaius said slowly, "but I cannot see how I can do much about it. If I were enslaved, I would hope I could plan some way out of it, but I can see that this does require courage that I might not have. If you ever have any ideas about how to end slavery, I'll listen, but frankly, I can't see it happening."
    "A typically clever Roman answer," Timothy scowled. "Why you wish to learn from me when you've already mastered duplicity beats me."
    "Timothy," Gaius said coldly, "it's not my fault Tiberius sent me on what is increasingly becoming a ridiculous task. If the Princeps thinks I can learn something from you, I'm going to obey the Princeps . All I'm asking is that either you teach me, or if you don't wish to earn some money, then just let me follow you around."
    "Earn money?" asked a now perplexed Timothy.
    "I never assumed you'd do this for nothing, but I was leaving it to you to name your price."
    "Why do you feel you have to pay?"
    "To get you to do something, not that I feel I owe you much so far," Gaius responded in a caustic tone.
    "What do you know about me?" Timothy asked, a touch of concern now on his face.
    "Nothing," Gaius replied, "except the Princeps seems to think you're worth learning from."
    "Oh."
    "And what, exactly, does 'Oh' mean?" Gaius paused, noted Timothy's discomfort, and pointed a finger at him. "Believe me, I shall find out."
    "Tiberius owned me," Timothy replied in a flat tone.
    "Oh," Gaius replied, then he gave a little laugh and added, "I see what 'Oh' means now."
    "I'm not that sure you do," Timothy replied.
    "Look, I can see that you don't feel all that wonderful about being a slave, particularly since it seems your master left you to your own devices for years and now I turn up, but I assure you, there's absolutely nothing I can do about this. I must follow Tiberius' instructions. And, as an aside, it makes no difference to the fact that I'll pay for your services. Of course you should hand the money over to your master when he turns up, but for what it's worth, I doubt he'll ever leave Capreae again."
    "You