Herminus: Roman Citizen and Administrator
Herminus grew up with a father who was a Roman government official traveling to several provinces. He, himself, became a government official in Rome itself.
Herminus had been born in Assyria in 116. His father was a minor Roman administrator. His mother had been born to an itinerant Roman peddler, who wandered around the Roman Empire, more of an adventurer than a salesman until he had met her mother. His parents had just moved to Assyria just before he was born, and, of course, had to leave in 118 when Emperor Hadrian evacuated Armenia, Assyria, and Mesopotamia. Hadrian had thought the empire was getting to be overextended, with the problems of Santruces organizing armed revolts in these provinces. Yet Hadrian, himself, was pushing into northern England, even into Scotland.
Herminus' father was transferred, first to Colchester, the capital of Roman Britannia, and then in a few months to Londinium. A year after being transferred to Londinium, the father was again transferred. Transferred to Hadrian's Wall, at least that is what those stationed there called it. Bouncing around so much at such a young age had affected Herminus personality. He was withdrawn. He could have become psychotic with the childhood he had, but, except for being very reserved, he was normal. He never did get over being as laid back as he was.
Several years later, the father was considered to be moved to the Antoine wall, built as a frontier in Scotland, but they never moved there, since he was getting too old, and was sent back to Londinium, which had become the capital or Roman Britannia since the destruction of Colchester. They were there only for a short time when he retired, going back to Rome. Herminus made many friends at that time in Londinium, and ran with a gang of boys of his own age. This was the only part of his childhood that he was truly happy.
Herminus was still a teenager when they returned to Rome. He would often go to the coliseum, watching the exotic animals; occasionally whey would just parade the animals in front of the crowd. Sometimes the animals would fight each other. More often, they would be pitted against a human. Then there were the human-to-human fights. Sometimes there were reenactments of famous battles, even sea battles were reenacted, with water filling half the coliseum. As time went on, Christians were involved in some way, usually in disadvantaged situations.
Herminus, being the son of an official, could apply to become an entry-level official to the empire. He could also apply to be a novice at many of the temples of Rome, with a chance to become a priest someday. He could also join the legion, becoming a military man. Much of the rest of society was closed off to him.
He did not feel bad about that however; he simply did not consider much of society as worthy of him.
On the other hand, if he were convicted of any number of crimes, they could make him a slave. He thought about the times in Londinium, running with the sons of other officials though the market places, sometimes stealing things from booths. If he had been caught there, he probably would have been put into the army right away; here in Rome, he probably would be put into slavery right away, unless he had a top-level government official as a father, which he did not.
Herminus made some inquiries at various temples. He found out that most of the temples would not take novices unless they were under ten years old. Some would not take novices that had not retired from the legion with wounds. Most of the ones that were left would only take someone who would allow themselves to be humiliated in substantial ways, not normally in public, for that would distract from their deity, but in private, and for many years totally out of sight. After touring a number of temples, he decided against being a priest or anything else to do with them.
Herminus started to frequent places that members of the legion congregated. He would talk and drink wine until he could barely make it back home. He always had one of his father's slaves drive him wherever he went, and wait for him until he was ready to come back home. One day when he got home, the whole household was mourning. His father had died that day.
"He had just come back from the baths," his mother told him, "He seemed in good enough spirits, yet he did not even have time to sup when he just slumped over."
Now he was the man of the estate. He had to do something. Government workers got certain tax breaks, so he got a job with an acquaintance of his father before he filed the estate papers.
"You should have done this long ago," said Vinicius, the father's acquaintance, "I'm not even sure if it is legal, but it should be easy enough to cover it up, being your father was not that high in rank. If he were a higher rank, it would be harder to cover up but there would be more ways to get around it. We'll see what we can do."
He had an office near the senate building. It had no windows, but it was large. He had a very large table for a desk, and closet with shelves for storing papers, normally in the form of scrolls. He also had access to a scribe, shared between several others, to do any official writing task he might have. He soon settled down into a routine that may have seemed boring to some, but it suited him just fine. His main duties included keeping records of Macedonia, after Quintus Metellus defeated Andriscuc of Macedon, the last king of Macedon, putting together Macedon, Epirus, Thessaly, and some parts of other countries such as Thrace into one province.
After work, he would usually go to the baths with some of his colleagues and then go on home. He was there for five years when his mother passed away. When his mother died, he took a long leave of absence, taking a trip up to the south side of what would become France. He had to go over the Alps, and actually took the same path that Hannibal had taken with his elephants to attack Rome many centuries before, though Herminus went over, and back, with much better weather. He sat along the seashore on sandy beaches thinking of when he was little back in Britannia. He did not remember Colchester at all, he knew he was there, but just could not remember anything about it, not even the house he lived in. He did have many fond memories of Londinium.
"I wonder whatever became of the other boys," he wondered, "I suppose they all stayed there, getting the jobs their fathers had."
When he got back, he could look up records from Londinium, and see if any were there, the only problem was that he had a hard time remembering what their names were.
He finally was ready to go back, he was getting low on gold, and even the slaves were ready to get back. They would not say anything to him directly, but he could hear them sometimes when they did not think he would hear.
One day he said, "Get packed up, we are leaving in the morning."
The slaves had everything ready to go before sundown.
Going back over the Alps was not quite as easy as going there. They lost a mule going over one pass. They would have lost more had it not been for the quick thinking of one of the slaves, who cut the rope between that mule and the rest of the pack.
When he got back, someone had taken over his office, moved his desk around, losing many of his papers. After a month or so, he got almost everything back to normal. He did not have all of his Macedonian papers, or many of the records he had from before Macedonia. No one every inquired about any of those records. Every day he was glad they had not asked, but worried for a long time about someone asking the next day.
After many years, he started to think of retirement. He had a small fortune built up, and had wanted to be out of Rome. He contacted an agent that dealt with real estate as well as a number of other activities.
"I have a small estate on top of a mountain, just up from a very large estate. I don't think you would be interested in the large estate, but the small one seems to me would be just the right size for you."
The agent took Herminus out to the mountaintop. Herminus loved it. It reminded him of a hill that he used to climb near Hadrian's Wall when he was a boy, even though this was much higher. Herminus soon moved. He had two slaves with him, Vergilius and Tullia. They were married; he got them at a reduced price because their previous owner did not want them split up. He did not mind that since they should not be too much of a problem if they had someone they knew way out in that relative wilderness. His previous slaves were either too old, or did not want to move out that far, and he respected their wishes. Besides, he did not really like some of his younger, newer, slaves. They were just a little too disrespectful, besides he could get very good prices for all of them.
He had never had such a serene time as he had on his estate. The days went by, sometimes too slowly, other times too quickly, but always peacefully. Vergilius and Tullia worked together in the garden, and split up the housework. They also were happier than they had ever been.
After a few years, Herminus got arthritis so bad that he could no longer get out of bed for any length of time. He had Vergilius moved his bed so he could look out toward the sea, and had a view of the smoke spewing out of the mountain to the south.
Herminus died looking at the smoke rising from Mount Vesuvius.
Herminus' father was transferred, first to Colchester, the capital of Roman Britannia, and then in a few months to Londinium. A year after being transferred to Londinium, the father was again transferred. Transferred to Hadrian's Wall, at least that is what those stationed there called it. Bouncing around so much at such a young age had affected Herminus personality. He was withdrawn. He could have become psychotic with the childhood he had, but, except for being very reserved, he was normal. He never did get over being as laid back as he was.
Several years later, the father was considered to be moved to the Antoine wall, built as a frontier in Scotland, but they never moved there, since he was getting too old, and was sent back to Londinium, which had become the capital or Roman Britannia since the destruction of Colchester. They were there only for a short time when he retired, going back to Rome. Herminus made many friends at that time in Londinium, and ran with a gang of boys of his own age. This was the only part of his childhood that he was truly happy.
Herminus was still a teenager when they returned to Rome. He would often go to the coliseum, watching the exotic animals; occasionally whey would just parade the animals in front of the crowd. Sometimes the animals would fight each other. More often, they would be pitted against a human. Then there were the human-to-human fights. Sometimes there were reenactments of famous battles, even sea battles were reenacted, with water filling half the coliseum. As time went on, Christians were involved in some way, usually in disadvantaged situations.
Herminus, being the son of an official, could apply to become an entry-level official to the empire. He could also apply to be a novice at many of the temples of Rome, with a chance to become a priest someday. He could also join the legion, becoming a military man. Much of the rest of society was closed off to him.
He did not feel bad about that however; he simply did not consider much of society as worthy of him.
On the other hand, if he were convicted of any number of crimes, they could make him a slave. He thought about the times in Londinium, running with the sons of other officials though the market places, sometimes stealing things from booths. If he had been caught there, he probably would have been put into the army right away; here in Rome, he probably would be put into slavery right away, unless he had a top-level government official as a father, which he did not.
Herminus made some inquiries at various temples. He found out that most of the temples would not take novices unless they were under ten years old. Some would not take novices that had not retired from the legion with wounds. Most of the ones that were left would only take someone who would allow themselves to be humiliated in substantial ways, not normally in public, for that would distract from their deity, but in private, and for many years totally out of sight. After touring a number of temples, he decided against being a priest or anything else to do with them.
Herminus started to frequent places that members of the legion congregated. He would talk and drink wine until he could barely make it back home. He always had one of his father's slaves drive him wherever he went, and wait for him until he was ready to come back home. One day when he got home, the whole household was mourning. His father had died that day.
"He had just come back from the baths," his mother told him, "He seemed in good enough spirits, yet he did not even have time to sup when he just slumped over."
Now he was the man of the estate. He had to do something. Government workers got certain tax breaks, so he got a job with an acquaintance of his father before he filed the estate papers.
"You should have done this long ago," said Vinicius, the father's acquaintance, "I'm not even sure if it is legal, but it should be easy enough to cover it up, being your father was not that high in rank. If he were a higher rank, it would be harder to cover up but there would be more ways to get around it. We'll see what we can do."
He had an office near the senate building. It had no windows, but it was large. He had a very large table for a desk, and closet with shelves for storing papers, normally in the form of scrolls. He also had access to a scribe, shared between several others, to do any official writing task he might have. He soon settled down into a routine that may have seemed boring to some, but it suited him just fine. His main duties included keeping records of Macedonia, after Quintus Metellus defeated Andriscuc of Macedon, the last king of Macedon, putting together Macedon, Epirus, Thessaly, and some parts of other countries such as Thrace into one province.
After work, he would usually go to the baths with some of his colleagues and then go on home. He was there for five years when his mother passed away. When his mother died, he took a long leave of absence, taking a trip up to the south side of what would become France. He had to go over the Alps, and actually took the same path that Hannibal had taken with his elephants to attack Rome many centuries before, though Herminus went over, and back, with much better weather. He sat along the seashore on sandy beaches thinking of when he was little back in Britannia. He did not remember Colchester at all, he knew he was there, but just could not remember anything about it, not even the house he lived in. He did have many fond memories of Londinium.
"I wonder whatever became of the other boys," he wondered, "I suppose they all stayed there, getting the jobs their fathers had."
When he got back, he could look up records from Londinium, and see if any were there, the only problem was that he had a hard time remembering what their names were.
He finally was ready to go back, he was getting low on gold, and even the slaves were ready to get back. They would not say anything to him directly, but he could hear them sometimes when they did not think he would hear.
One day he said, "Get packed up, we are leaving in the morning."
The slaves had everything ready to go before sundown.
Going back over the Alps was not quite as easy as going there. They lost a mule going over one pass. They would have lost more had it not been for the quick thinking of one of the slaves, who cut the rope between that mule and the rest of the pack.
When he got back, someone had taken over his office, moved his desk around, losing many of his papers. After a month or so, he got almost everything back to normal. He did not have all of his Macedonian papers, or many of the records he had from before Macedonia. No one every inquired about any of those records. Every day he was glad they had not asked, but worried for a long time about someone asking the next day.
After many years, he started to think of retirement. He had a small fortune built up, and had wanted to be out of Rome. He contacted an agent that dealt with real estate as well as a number of other activities.
"I have a small estate on top of a mountain, just up from a very large estate. I don't think you would be interested in the large estate, but the small one seems to me would be just the right size for you."
The agent took Herminus out to the mountaintop. Herminus loved it. It reminded him of a hill that he used to climb near Hadrian's Wall when he was a boy, even though this was much higher. Herminus soon moved. He had two slaves with him, Vergilius and Tullia. They were married; he got them at a reduced price because their previous owner did not want them split up. He did not mind that since they should not be too much of a problem if they had someone they knew way out in that relative wilderness. His previous slaves were either too old, or did not want to move out that far, and he respected their wishes. Besides, he did not really like some of his younger, newer, slaves. They were just a little too disrespectful, besides he could get very good prices for all of them.
He had never had such a serene time as he had on his estate. The days went by, sometimes too slowly, other times too quickly, but always peacefully. Vergilius and Tullia worked together in the garden, and split up the housework. They also were happier than they had ever been.
After a few years, Herminus got arthritis so bad that he could no longer get out of bed for any length of time. He had Vergilius moved his bed so he could look out toward the sea, and had a view of the smoke spewing out of the mountain to the south.
Herminus died looking at the smoke rising from Mount Vesuvius.
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