Galeo and Dulcitius remained in
captivity ever since their legion was ambushed, and they were the only people
taken as prisoners of war. The only thing they could do was reminisce about the
more leisurely experiences they had before they joined Caesar’s legion.
Galeo thought back to a specific
time when he would attend plays with his father and brothers at the nearby
theatre. Little did he know that when
his slaves were left alone in the house, they would sneak out to enjoy the same
plays or even perform. Galeo would always sit near the front of the semicircle
theater amidst the boisterous crowd, laughing at the slapstick play being
performed by the slave actors. His personal favorite play chronicled a young
boy in love with a high-class girl who was kidnapped. However, instead of going
after the girl himself, he sent his slave to retrieve her on his behalf. The
audience loved the physical humor displayed by the slave’s misadventures in an
attempt to save the love interest of his young master. Ironically, whenever
Galeo returned home, he always found it easy to talk with his slaves about the
play; it was as if they wore masks and performed on the stage themselves.
Ducitius thought farther back to
when he was about Galeo’s age. In his prime, Ducitius was a skilled chariot
racer, whose speed on a horse was said to be reminiscent of Mercury, the winged
messenger of the gods. He remembered his carriage attached to the stallion
galloping around the oval amphitheater. Every time he passed the starting
point, a team of slaves would move a marker to indicate which lap he was on.
There was literally no racer who could compete with him in his prime, and after
every race, from the senators in the front to the slaves in the back, the crowd
cheered him on.
