Marc woke to the beautiful sunrise that brought vitality and
life to the dwellings on Palatine Hill. His room was small and the walls were
thin so he could hear the scrambling of his family members trying to fulfill
their daily tasks to keep the household running. Shortly thereafter and to no
surprise, his mother asked him to take a usual trip to the market to get some
goods that would be necessary for her to prepare dinner later that night.
Rather than dread this meaningless journey to pick up basic necessities for his
common life on the hill, Marc was delighted to leave the hillside and see the
appealing landscape that he enjoyed so much.
He
started down Palatine Hill in the direction of the Forum Boarium in effort to
complete his shopping. He moved at a slow pace as he was taking in the beauty
of the emerging city of Rome and observing the architecture as he passed the
Temple of Vesta. He approached the busy market where people swarmed the streets
to purchase goods from the merchants. As a child, Marc came to the Forum
Boarium with his mother quite often but did not remember it to be this crowded.
He figured that it was because it was located near the port of the Tiber River,
which stimulated the flow of trade traffic. After standing in line for a while
he finally was in possession of what he had come for. As he was leaving the
commercial center, he stopped at the porch of the Temple of Portuna to thank
God for his success in retrieving what his mother had asked of him and then
continued home. Marc was tired from all of the commotion when he reached his
house, but knew that the day had only just begun, for the market was not very
far away from his house and there were still many things to do before dusk.
By: Taylor De Leo
