Walking down the Palatine Hill, Terentia, Cicero’s ex-wife,
gazes over the Forum and the far off Tiber River. Allowing her palla to drape
over her shoulder, flowing near her feet, she looks down at her calceus
senatorius’, which were wrapped perfectly around her feet, looking eloquent as
usual. Terentia rolled up the sleeve of her tunica interior, which was snug
against her figure underneath her stola, and admired her gold jewelry. Of all
of her jewelry her favorite was the golden bracelet that took a form of a
snake. It looked as if it were curled around her arm. It had a warm place in
her heart because it was a gift she had received from her father years ago
before he had passed away. Terentia was in a solemn state, Cicero had just
divorced her a year ago, and prior to that, lost her only daughter due to
mishaps while she was giving birth. In such a sensitive state, she could no
longer live alone. Moving in with her friend Clodia made life easier, with the
help of two slaves available.
As Clodia walked her daughter Spuria down to the Forum for
her daily tutoring session, the sleeves of her stola flowed in the wind. The
sun was at its peek, glistening among Clodia’s golden hair along with the
broaches, which fastened her stola on her shoulders. Spuria began to skip down
the hill, and as she did so, the sun caught the buttons that loosely clasped
onto the sleeves of her stola. As Clodia began to skip, she realized that she
had forgotten to change out of her soleae’s and into her calceus’. In which
case they had to stop, for the soleae’s are not made for the outdoors. As
Spuria slowed down, she bent down to retie the laces of her new calceus’, which
she could not wait to show off to the other girls in her tutoring session. When
she stood back up, so began to run down the hill in order to catch up with her
mother. While doing so, the cresent moon pendant that her father, Spurius, had
given her as a baby sparkled in the sunlight. He had given her this amulet to
protect her while he was away at war. Spuria never took it off, always dreaming
of the day her father would come home from the civil war.
Clodia is a warm-hearted woman, always open to help her
friends in need, and is always there for her loving daughter, Spuria. When she
heard that her friend Terentia had gotten divorced shortly after her daughter
had passed away, she undoubtedly invited her to stay at her home, where she
tried to keep the spirits high. She put others feelings before hers, even
though she was scared for the life of her husband, for he is gone, fighting in
the civil war. She put her feelings aside, giving her daughter the happy life
that she deserves, and trying to brighten Terentia’s life, attempting to keep
her mind off of the horrid past couple of years.
