'Truly, it's a beautiful place,' said Claudia, gazing down at the red tiled roof and the cultivated earth. 'When I was a girl, it was quite rundown; Cousin Lucius took no interest at all in the place, and let it run to ruin. Then, oh, about fifteen years ago — just after he met you and you had your first adventure together — he took a sudden interest in the place and began to come here quite often. He purchased Aratus and installed him as foreman, planted new vineyards and olive orchards, brought in new slaves, refurbished the house. He turned the farm into quite a lucrative enterprise, as well as a retreat from the city. We were all amazed at his success. And distressed at his sudden demise last year, alas,' she sighed.

'And disappointed in his choice of an heir,' I added quietly.

'Now, Gordianus, you must not bear a grudge. You can't blame my Cousin Gnaeus for bringing that suit against you; Lucius was his cousin, and we all expected Gnaeus to inherit, since his own property is good only for hunting, not for fanning, and the silver mine was long ago exhausted. Alas, Cicero put your case quite brilliantly, as usual — you're very lucky to have had access to the great man, and we all envy you. Swayed by Cicero's arguments, the court in Rome ruled that Lucius's will was valid, and that was that Lucius's fortune was not small; he had many other wonderful possessions, which he settled among his blood relations. I myself inherited his mother's jewellery and his town house on the Palatine Hill in the city. To you he gave his Etruscan farm. We have all reconciled ourselves to the fact'

'I know that you have, Claudia, but I'm not so sure about your cousins.'

'Why? Have they been harassing you somehow?'

'Not exactly. I haven't seen either Gnaeus or Manius since our day in court, but each of them sent a messenger to tell my foreman to be sure to keep my slaves off their property — that is, unless I cared to have a slave returned to me with a limb missing.'

Claudia frowned and shook her head. 'Regrettable. How about Publius? He's the oldest and has always had a level head.'

'Actually, Publius and I may be going to court soon.'

'No! But why?'

'There seems to be some disagreement about the stream that marks the boundary of our two farms. The deed I inherited from Lucius clearly indicates that I have the right to use the stream and anything in the stream as I wish, but Publius recently sent me a letter in which he claims that such rights belong to him exclusively.'

'Oh, dear!'

'The lawyers will sort it out eventually. Meanwhile, yesterday some of my slaves were washing some clothes downstream from some of Publius's slaves, who deliberately stirred up the water so that it was full of mud, which prompted the women, on my side to hurl insults at the women on the opposite bank, until more than insults were hurled. The two foremen finally arrived to stop the altercation, but not until one of my women had been struck on the head by a flying rock’ 'Was she seriously hurt?’

'No, but there was plenty of blood, and the wound will leave a scar. If I had a litigious nature I'd demand that Publius buy me a replacement,'

Claudia slapped her hands on her knees. 'Intolerable! I had no idea that such provocations were being imposed on you, Gordianus. Really, I will have a word with my dear relatives and see if I can't intervene on behalf of good neighbourly relations, not to mention common sense and law and order!'

She was so dramatically outraged that I laughed. 'Your intervention on my behalf would be most appreciated, Claudia.'

'It's the least I can do. Really, constant litigation and neighbourly ill will may be the rule in the city, but here in the country such unpleasantness has no place. Here, all should be tranquillity, fertility, and domesticity, as Lucius himself used to say.'

'Yes, I remember him using those very words once, when he was making ready to leave the city for the farm.' I glanced down at the stream and then above the treetops to the roof of Publius's house, felt a vague uneasiness, then looked away and resolved to think of something else. ‘You saw Lucius often when he visited the farm?'

'Oh, I never missed seeing him whenever he came. Such a sweet man — but you know that. We would come and sit on this very ridgetop, on these very stumps, and gaze down on the farm, and make plans for the future. He was going to build a little mill house down by the stream. Did you know that?'

'No.'

'Yes, with a great waterwheel, and one set of gears for grinding meal and another set for grinding stones dug out of Gnaeus's mine. It all sounded very ambitious and complex, but Lucius thought he could design the workings himself A pity he died as he did, so suddenly.'

'Suddenly is best, I think. I've known many men who were less fortunate.'

'Yes, I suppose it would be worse to die slowly, or alone…' 'Instead, Lucius died very swiftly, with hundreds of people around — crossing the Forum, where he was known and liked by just about everyone. Laughing and joking 'with his entourage — so I was later told — when he suddenly gripped his chest and collapsed. He died almost at once; he suffered only a little. The funeral was quite an affair — so many loving friends, from all walks of life.' I smiled, remembering. 'He had put his will into the keeping of the Vestal Virgins, as many rich men do. I had no idea, until I was called to see it for myself, that he had left anything to me at all. And there it was, the deed to his Etruscan farm, together with a worn copy of Cato's On Farming. I suppose he must have heard me daydreaming from time to time about retiring to the countryside, escaping all the madness in Rome. Of course, those were only idle dreams — what man of my means could ever afford to buy a decent farm, with all the slaves necessary to run it?'

'And a year later here you are, with that very dream realized.'

'Yes, thanks to Lucius.'

'And yet I find you brooding up here on the hilltop, like Jupiter looking down on burning Troy.'

'Blame the behaviour of certain of my neighbours,' I said ruefully.

'Granted, but there is something else that troubles you.'

I shrugged. 'This morning Aratus and I almost came to blows. He thinks I'm an impossible, pompous-ass from the city who knows nothing about farming and only wants to get in his way. I suppose I must look rather ridiculous to him, fussing about details I only half understand and quoting to him from Cato.'

'And how does he look to you?'

'I know that Lucius thought highly of him, but it seems to me that the farm is not run nearly as efficiently as it could be. There's too much waste.'

'Oh, how I hate waste!' said Claudia. 'I never allow my slaves to throw anything away if I can possibly make use of it.'

'Well, between Aratus and myself it's been one battle after another ever since I arrived last autumn. Perhaps I am a pompous ass from the city who knows nothing about farming, but I do know waste when I see it, and I can read Cato. And beneath that, there's something about Aratus I don't trust Perhaps I'm simply not used to owning so many slaves and having to manage them all, especially not a slave as strong-willed and sure of himself as Aratus. I gather that Lucius generally gave him the run of the farm, so that my arrival was a great inconvenience to him. He looks on me as a thorn in his side. I look on him the way you might look on a horse you don't trust; you must have the beast to get where you're going, but secretly you suspect he'll throw you. I find myself sniping at him constantly. He reacts by acting surly and impertinent.'

Claudia nodded sympathetically. 'Ah, a good foreman is always hard to find But the joys of farm life far outweigh the travails, or so I've always found. I think more than Aratus is bothering you, Gordianus.'