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It's March the 17th in A.D. 73.

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We're visiting ancient Rome[br]to watch the Liberalia,

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an annual festival that celebrates[br]the liberty of Rome's citizens.

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We're looking in at a 17-year-old[br]named Lucius Popidius Secundus.

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He's not from a poor family, but he lives[br]in the region known as the Subura,

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a poorer neighborhood in Rome,[br]yet close to the center of the city.

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(Gong)

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The tenants of these[br]apartments are crammed in,

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(Grunting)

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which poses considerable risk.

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Fires are frequent and the smell of ash[br]and smoke in the morning is not uncommon.

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Lucius, who awoke at dawn,[br]has family duties to perform today.

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(Cheering)

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His 15-year-old brother is coming of age.

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Half the children in ancient Rome[br]die before they reach adulthood,

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so this is a particularly[br]important milestone.

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Lucius watches his brother[br]stand in his new toga

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before the household shrine[br]with its protective deities,

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as he places his bulla,[br]a protective amulet,

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in the shrine with a prayer of thanks.

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The bulla had worked.[br]It had protected him.

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Unlike many others,[br]he had survived to become an adult.

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At 17, Lucius has almost[br]completed his education.

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He has learned to speak well,[br]make public speeches,

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and how to read and write[br]both Latin and Greek.

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His father has taught him[br]the types of things

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you can't learn in the classroom:

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how to run,

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how to swim,

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and how to fight.

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Lucius could choose, at 17,[br]to become a military tribune

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and command soldiers[br]on the edge of the Empire.

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But in other ways,[br]Lucius is still a child.

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He's not trusted[br]to arrange business deals.

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His father will take care[br]of that until he is 25.

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And Dad will arrange Lucius' marriage[br]to a girl 10 years younger.

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His dad has his eye on a family[br]with a 7-year-old daughter.

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Back to the Liberalia.

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As Lucius leaves with his family,

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the shops are open as the population[br]goes about its business.

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The streets are full[br]of itinerant traders selling trinkets

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and people bustling from place to place.

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Large wagons are not allowed[br]in the city until after the ninth hour

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but the streets are still crowded.

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Fathers and uncles[br]take the kids to the Forum Augustus

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to see statues of Rome's famous warriors

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like Aeneas, who led Rome's ancestors,[br]the Trojans, to Italy.

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And Romulus, Rome's founder.

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And all the great generals of the Republic[br]from more than 100 years earlier.

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Lovingly, we can imagine[br]fathers and guardians

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with their now adult children

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remembering stories of Rome's glory

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and re-telling the good deeds and sayings[br]of the great men of the past:

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lessons on how to live well,

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and to overcome the follies of youth.

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There is a sense of history in this place,[br]relevant to their present.

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Romans made an empire[br]without end in time and space.

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(Thump)

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Rome was destined to be[br]eternal through warfare.

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Wars were a fact of life, even in A.D. 73.

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There are campaigns in the north[br]of England and into Scotland,

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to the north of the River[br]Danube into Romania,

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and on the frontier[br]between Syria and Iraq to the east.

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It's now the eighth hour --[br]time to head for the baths.

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Lucius and his family head up[br]the Via Lata, the wide street,

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to the Campus Martius,[br]and the enormous Baths of Agrippa.

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The family members leave[br]the clients and freedmen outside,

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and enter the baths with their peer group.

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Baths would change from dark,[br]steamy rooms to light ones.

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The Romans had perfected window glass.

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Everyone moves from the cold room

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to the tepid room

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and to the very hot room.

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(Man) Oops!

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More than an hour later, the bathers leave

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massaged, oiled,

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(Whistling)

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and have been scraped down with a strigil

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to remove the remaining dirt.

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At the ninth hour, seven hours[br]after they left home,

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the men return for a celebratory dinner.

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Dinner is an intimate affair,

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with nine people[br]reclining around the low table.

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Slaves attend to their every need

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if the diners, through gestures,[br]demand more food and wine.

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As the day closes, we can hear[br]the rumble of wagons outside.

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The clients and freedmen,

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with a meal of robust[br]-- if inferior -- food inside them,

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shuffle off to the now tepid baths

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before returning[br]to their apartment blocks.

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Back at Lucius' house,[br]the drinking continues into the night.

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Lucius and his stepbrother[br]don't look too well.

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A slave stands by in case[br]either of them needs to vomit.

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With hindsight, we know Lucius' future.

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In 20 years' time, the Emperor Vespasian's[br]youngest son, Domitian, as emperor,

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will enact a reign of terror.

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Will Lucius survive?

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(Drums)