Austin Casey
Assignment
6
Atticus lay in his
bedspread watching the sunrise out of his window; he was excited as well as
anxious because he knew it was going to be a very special day. The calendar
marked February 15th the day of Lupercalia. After what seemed like
forever for Atticus, his wife Julia finally awoke. They washed themselves down,
got dressed and meet in the eating area for a prayer before their morning meal.
Atticus today prayed to the fertility goddess Diana to wish them luck today
during the race of Lupercalia. Then he prayed to Vesta and all the other gods
like they did every morning over their meal.
Atticus
and Julia had been struggling for quite some time now to conceive their first
child. Julia approaching her mid twenties was well over due, and Atticus longed
for a son. This is why they were so
anxious for the festival, Julia planned on getting wiped by one of the men in
the races goatskin hide to win the grace of the god of fertility. Unknown to
Julia, Atticus had spoken the day before to his old friend and general Marc
Antony who would be participating in the race this year much to the publics
excitement. He had asked Marc to keep a lookout for his beautiful wife around
the backbend of palatine hill and to give her a sincere whipping. Marc having
much respect for Atticus agreed in his fullest.
After
leaving there house and walking with friends for some while they could start to
hear the loud noise of the masses starting to crowd around the Lupercal cave at
the front of Palatine hill. Atticus and Julia went separate ways, her heading
towards the back of the mountain and Atticus to the front to watch the race
start. Once he arrived in the foreground of Palatine hill he started to relax.
This of course was because of the steady flow of wine and the marry attitudes
of his friends and the many citizens around him. They drank and cheered in
excitement waiting for the race to begin.
