The House Of Florentius Essay

The sun was setting on the Eternal City.

But life never truly ended in the city of Rome. The home to a million people, crowded on the banks of the Tiber, it was always lively somewhere in its endless maze of streets. Plebeians going to and fro on their daily business, groups of slaves carrying out chores for their masters, while pampered equestrians and patricians rode in style in curtained litters. At night, the clog of the streets changed from a dense mass of humanity from all four corners of the Empire to the endless trudge of wagons and carts, forbidden from entering Rome during the day due to their sheer amount. The traffic clogged the streets either way.

That at least was how it was in the southern, poorer districts or near to the Forum. Here on the Quirinal Hills, the House of Gaius Memmius Florentius was the destination spot for many a highly respected family. That evening, a grand symposium was to be held at
Dark haired, firm of face and jaw, with eyes that immediately could detect your most sensitive insecurity and draw it out with a torchlight brighter than the Lighthouse of Alexandria, she was no woman to muck about with. Alongside her came the two beauties of the Valerii clan. The eldest, thrice married and twice divorced, and still beautiful at thirty-three years of age, was Valeria Drusillia. She mimicked her mother in both appearance, a straight back, an upright posture, a face that held utter contempt for those around, and in mood. It was also mirrored in the second daughter of the Valerii, aged twenty-nine, Valeria Fabia. Like her mother, sister, and brother, she had their rich sable hair and piercing green eyes. She had been married once, but was lucky to find herself widowed fairly early. She had not chosen to wed again, much to their mother’s dismay, leading to some vicious rows back at their own familial