Thursday, February 23, 2012


Andrea Alvares
Professor Hahn
Classics 80B
February 24, 2012
Daily Life in Ancient Rome
            Julia woke up this morning with a great feeling. She looked out her window and saw that the slaves her parents owned were already working in the fields. These slaves had been up since five in the morning working hard plowing the fields. Julia did not like seeing these slaves work so hard and not getting paid. She could not do anything about it as to why she walked away and bathed herself to go out to Palentine Hill. Even if she disliked the slaves being treated like they were, she needed their help to be taken around the city in a little carrier. She bathed herself and got ready to go out to the city. She was going to meet with some of her friends and explore the temples. Julia was very religious as to why she was going to attend some of the religious rites. Her other friends wanted to go to the baths but since Julia came from a wealthy family, she already had one of her own and did not need to go with them there.
            While her friends were at the very luxurious baths, Julia went to the Forum. There was a lot to do at the Forum. There, she stood around to hear the political men give their speeches. Julia was there for hours listening to their debates. After she got bored of just listening to nonsense she instead went to see a performance. She was very much entertained by this and caused some happiness in her. She had been sad for days because she had not been able to see her lover, the slave, Aulus. Since last week she had done the same routine, get up, bath, and go out with her friends to distract herself. This was already part of her everyday life but now that she was doing it more to keep her mind away from Aulus, it had become an ordinary thing to do. The day passed by quick as to why she had to return home because she was still too young to be out late at night. She had to get home before her mother would leave with her father to a fancy dinner.