Character
Description
Fiction Character
Marcus, “Marc”: Marc is almost twenty-one years old
and is a handsome man. He is the son of a senator and presents himself as a
respectable adult with groomed hair and a steady build. The calceus senatorius
on his sandals are worn from making usual trips to the Forum Boarium. Marc
enjoys helping his family and takes pride in his family name. However, he is
stubborn and refuses to marry another senator’s prized daughter, Cornelia
Africana because he is in love with a slave. Marc is easily swayed by his love
for enslaved Julia and decides to leave his family behind to escape the
matrimonial laws of Roman society. When Marc finds out Julia is sold at the
slave market he writes to Cicero asking him to write to Caesar in hopes to
reconstruct the constitution of Rome to put an end to slavery and reunite him
with Julia.
Julia: Julia is 15 years old and is the slave of
Lucius Claudius Maximus. Her long black hair is tied in a bun at the back of
her head. She does not wear a stola or adorn herself with jewelry like other
Roman matrons. The clothes she wears are of the cheapest fibers and worn at the
knees. Julia has a passionate heart and is in love with Marc whom she plans to
escape with to find freedom and pursue their love affair. However, as a woman
and slave she is under the legal authority of her master. He will not free her
so she planned to run away with Marc but before they set out on their way her
master sells her at the slave market and she is forbidden to see Marc ever
again.
Non-fiction Character
Marcus Tullius Cicero: Cicero is a profound orator
and comes from a wealthy family of the equestrian order. He wears a tunic and
one ring of iron that was worn by male citizens after he reached manhood.
Cicero is well respected and considered well versed by Roman society, which is
the reason that Marcus contacted him. Marcus asked him to write to Caesar in
efforts to reconstruct the constitution of Rome in aims to legalize matrimony
of a senator and slave. Cicero projected this treatise but did not carry it out
according to his letters.
