The Lost Cheese

For Aurelius, it had been one of those days.

On the way to the forum, not so much a funny, as an annoying thing had happened. He'd been happily wending his way along, admittedly weighed down by the ten cheeses he had for sale when he had bumped into Markus. This as usual meant bad news. This time it was all about his family's new mosaic. It needed cleaning. Most sane people had slaves for this sort of thing, but not the Maximus’. Their slaves were already busy with other chores and they couldn't possibly go out and buy another one. That would, of course, cost many a Sestertii and they were already in economy mode, saving up to invest in their new country villa.

So, guess what? Markus had invited (imposed would be more accurately said) on Aurelius to come and help. Aurelius, being a servant-hearted sort of chap, couldn't help but agree, even though dies saturni was usually his day of rest. Somebody always wants something, but rarely does anybody want to give, thought Aurelius to himself.

That was everything by all means on this fateful day. Hardly, had Aurelius got away from Markus when who should come across his path other than Sophia. She was a statuesque girl, not so young as it happens, but nevertheless a black beauty. From what he heard and the little he had observed a very diligent person as well. A good wife option it would seem, but for Aurelius she wouldn't even give him the time of day, even though her family had one of the best sundials around!

When he spied her, he thought about trying to bump into her as it were and start a conversation, but this was easy said than done as Aurelius was a nervous, hesitant chap and anyway, as soon as Sophia saw him, she altered course. Oh well, maybe another day, but probably not!

Finally, Aurelius had arrived at his intended destination, the Forum in the centre of his town. To top off the other annoyances of the day it had begun to rain, and umbrellas hadn’t been invented yet, so he was just going to have to get jolly wet. It was all in a good cause he thought though, as he laid out the cheeses he had for sale. But alas, there was still one more misfortunate to be had on this horrid day, quidem he was supposed to have ten cheeses, but there were only nine in his leather loculus!

What to do? Should he stick it out in the rain and try and sell what he had, or would this prove to be a fruitless endeavour and maybe he would be better off to go and search for the lost cheese?

He mused for a little while, but soon it was clear that due to the inclement weather there weren’t be many buyers for his dairy fare. So, reluctantly he packed up to return home thinking that he would check on the way in case he had dropped the cheese. He thought this unlikely, but you never know.

He was apprehensive about returning home, partly because of not wanting to get in trouble about losing the cheese, but there was also another reason. Lately, his parents had been acting kind of strange. They’d got involved in a new group of friends. Nothing wrong with that, except Aurelius had heard rumours that they were members of a new religious cult that had recently been spreading. Sounded a bit worrying to Aurelius, especially as from what he knew, the Roman empire didn’t take kindly to such things as new religions that could threaten the Pax Romana. By Jupiter, this could all mean trouble!

As Aurelius wound his way back home, he checked the streets for any signs of his lost cheese. It was a hard, well preserved one, Parmesanium he was thinking of naming it after one his favourite towns (they just serve the best ham around!) but his parents seem to prefer the more mundane caseus firmus, which was at least an accurate description.

No sign of the cheese, but plenty of time for reflection. In the past, his parents would have been very angry about such oversights, but recently, since they met their new friends actually, things had changed somewhat. They seemed calmer and to have a much more relaxed perspective about the stresses and strains of daily life. What could the cause be? Maybe this new religion of these new friends wasn’t such a bad thing after all? I’m not sure Caesar will see it that way though, thought Aurelius, unless of course, his parents have gotten some new friends as well.

Finally, after a fruitless journey home, there it was before him, his family’s condominium (the neighbours were a bit of a wrench, but maybe Aurelius could introduce them to these new friends of his parents and then there wouldn’t be any more bards after midnight or barneys before).

Aurelius had a quick check around the outer court to see if there was any cheese sitting around, but alas none was to be found. He approached the doorway (he’d be thinking about latching something out of wood over the space to flip back and forth but hadn’t quite gotten around to it). Maybe, it was just as well that the doorway was open, as sounds easy emanated forthwith. Aurelius became conscientious that there were guests in the house. Once again, taking advantage of the open doorway, he peered inside. There were his parents reclining surrounded by their new friends of whom there was a considerable number plus there was a new figure. A small, middle-aged, not impressively looking man standing before everyone in the room. He seemed to be waxing lyrical about something. Indeed, he was becoming very animated so as to say that it must something of great consequence.

Aurelius’ initial reaction was to pull away. After all, he didn’t want to get too involved. He was young and had everything before him. He wouldn’t like to get mixed up in some new religious cult, especially not one that the authorities might not approve of. However, as he tried to move away, he strangely caught an ear full of some of the things that were being said. They intrigued him and he felt drawn, rather than to distance himself, to actually move closer to hear better…….

An Encounter of the Fortuitous Kind