WEBVTT

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

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We're visiting ancient Rome
to watch the Liberalia,

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

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

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

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

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(Gong)

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The tenants of these
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
and smoke in the morning is not uncommon.

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Lucius, who awoke at dawn,
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
die before they reach adulthood,

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so this is a particularly
important milestone.

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Lucius watches his brother
stand in his new toga

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before the household shrine
with its protective deities,

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as he places his bulla,
a protective amulet,

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in the shrine with a prayer of thanks.

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The bulla had worked.
It had protected him.

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

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At 17, Lucius has almost
completed his education.

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He has learned to speak well,
make public speeches,

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and how to read and write
both Latin and Greek.

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His father has taught him
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,
to become a military tribune

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and command soldiers
on the edge of the Empire.

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But in other ways,
Lucius is still a child.

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He's not trusted
to arrange business deals.

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

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

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His dad has his eye on a family
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
goes about its business.

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The streets are full
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
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
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,
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
from more than 100 years earlier.

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Lovingly, we can imagine
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
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,
relevant to their present.

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Romans made an empire
without end in time and space.

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(Thump)

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Rome was destined to be
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
of England and into Scotland,

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to the north of the River
Danube into Romania,

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and on the frontier
between Syria and Iraq to the east.

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

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

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to the Campus Martius,
and the enormous Baths of Agrippa.

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The family members leave
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,
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
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
reclining around the low table.

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Slaves attend to their every need

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

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

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The clients and freedmen,

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

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shuffle off to the now tepid baths

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before returning
to their apartment blocks.

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

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Lucius and his stepbrother
don't look too well.

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A slave stands by in case
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
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)