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Sophia Wildwood
Ludi and Theater
As they walked from the Gaming
House to the Forum Boarium, Arsinoe, full from food and conversation, reflected
on the many words of Gaius.
“Look!”
Gaius interrupted her thoughts. Arsinoe turned her had and saw that there were
performers and mimes outside of the Temple of Fortuna.
“Some
Ludi put on my some senator.” Arsinoe muttered. She gazed at the undulating
ropedancers and women stripping in the mime. Children gathered in a close
semicircle around the temple, crouched down so as not to block the view of the
many onlookers and participants. Gaius pulled a somewhat resistant Arsinoe to
the center of the throng and the mime moved into view, depicting a scene where
an old master, distracted by his beautiful and naked neighbor, attempts to
chase around a slave who needs to be punished. The slave portraying the master
was comical in appearance – fat, with a big round belly, little hair and an
expressive face. Arsinoe liked him the best. The slave portraying the slave
was, like most young mimes, beautiful and fit with a somewhat cruel expression
twisting his mouth.
Arsinoe
looked at Gaius smiling and enjoying the mime. He really seems to like this, she thought. I wonder why – it is just
another slave being beaten. To Arsinoe,
Gaius looked like one of the children, completely enthralled by the game.
“You
like Ludi, don’t you?” She asked.
“Oh,
I love it – it is what sets Rome apart, what makes us great and what makes us
strong!” Arsinoe shrugged at him
and refocused on the mime, now a skit of a husband with the misfortune to catch
his wife with the same slave from before (whom Arsinoe thought looked much more
involved than before). Her thoughts turned back to Gaius. That’s not why he
likes Ludi. Must these senators always justify everything with political
propaganda? Its so repetitive.
“But
the real reason why I enjoy Ludi is because they make me smile.” Gaius caught
her eye. “And I rarely smile.”
Oddly,
as they continued to watch the mime, Arsinoe could not help but feel warned.