(Changing
Claudia to Clodia and Remus to Marcus)
Clodia was the fifth child born
to her parents but only had two older siblings. All were girls but the first
two died in infancy. Her mother never got over the fact that she had lost her
first two daughters and was extremely emotional around the times of their birth.
Clodia’s father, although he didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve, also felt
deeply for the losses of his two first born children. As a result both of
Clodia’s parents left sisters and her in the care of the slaves. As the
paterfamilias, Clodia’s father, Quintus Clodius Pulcher, he handled his duties
but kept his distance from the girls. Clodia never doubted that he loved their
family, but she couldn’t help feeling as though he had built up personal walls
to protect himself from any more personal harm.
One thing that always brought a
smile to Clodia’s face was that her father would tell all the women in the
family that they were beautiful daily. And Clodia was indeed a very beautiful
girl. She had long, luscious locks of honey brown hair that fell midway down
her back. Her skin was the loveliest golden shade of brown; it was as though
the gods had hand painted her. She had delicate features and was herself a
delicate little woman. Her most remarkable features were of course her eyes
which were a piercing blue that reminded one of the cool creeks and the endless
skies. But beyond their color, they had an inquisitive, intelligence to them
that could not be found in the eyes of any of the other girls on Palatine Hill.
It was these eyes that first
captivated Marcus that one fateful day. He was drawn to the life in them and
astuteness in them. Marcus also caught Clodia’s eye that day as well. He was a
tall, well-built young man, whose body had the tell-tale signs of hard work. He
too was a golden shade of brown because his skin had been kissed by the rays of
sunshine everyday as he lived his life as a plebe. And just as Marcus had been
drawn by Clodia’s piercing blues eyes, Clodia was attracted to the seductive
green eyes of Marcus’s. She swore that there wasn’t a jewel in all the land
that could match the beauty of his eyes.
