It was a hot, sunny day in Rome. The coliseum had been filled up with spectators. Today there were two fairly weak looking men going up against a lion. The two men ran up to attack the lion but were knocked away. Then they became scared and started running away. Eventually the lion backed them up into a corner. The man in the back pushed the man in front into the lion’s path. The lion slashed the man across the chest with its claws and the man fell to the ground as the blood started to flow.

 

            Minervina had been asked to come to the coliseum today as an act of good will by the church. However, she could not handle the spectacle and passed out. She woke up later in a room with a doctor.

 

            “How do you feel?” asked the doctor.

 

            “Fine” answered Minervina.  “But how did I get here?” 

 

            “The new senator, Appius, saw you pass out and took you here.”

 

            “A new senator? I’ll have to go thank him sometime. Where’s his house at?”

 

            “He lives about a mile from here on the Via Aurelia.”

 

            “Okay. Thank you.”

 

Minervina walked on her way to the road. She got there fairly quickly and the street in that area wasn’t very busy. She knocked on the door. Appius came out.

 

            “Oh, you’re that girl from the coliseum” he said.

 

            “Yes, I just came to thank you” she replied.

 

            “You’re welcome. I’m sorry, but I’m busy right now, so I can’t speak any longer.”

 

            “Okay” she replied.

 

            Minervina then went back to her dwelling. She found it rather odd. Senators usually weren’t very busy on their off days. She digressed and stopped thinking about it.

 

            The next day she went back to her church. Not long after she got there, she was taken aside by her superior. Her superior told her that she was disappointed by her fainting the day earlier, because she had been sent to represent the church at the coliseum, and fainting could make the coliseum battles look bad in the eyes of pious people. She listened intently and then went back to work.

 

            When she got back to her house that night, she was surprised to see Appius waiting for her. She asked him, “What are you doing here?”

            He replied, “I came to talk to you because I was unable to yesterday. So why do you feel you fainted when you saw the spectacle at the coliseum?”

 

            “I guess I just couldn’t stand the sight of all that blood” she replied.

           

            “I must say I dislike it as well” he replied. “It seems that the point of the coliseum battles is to keep the population in a warlike mood, hungry for more conquest. I am one of the people who feels that expansion isn’t always necessary.”

 

            Minervina replied, “I don’t know very much about such political matters. I just know that I disliked it.”

 

            Appius replied, “Sometimes it is difficult to know why we like or dislike things” in an odd tone.

 

            They talked for a little while longer and then Appius excused himself and left. Minervina still found the way he acted a little odd. No, she thought, it was more than a little odd. Although it wasn’t too surprising for a new senator to occasionally talk with higher-class people such as nuns, it was highly unlikely that one would show up at someone’s house. She decided to stop worrying about it for the time and go to bed.

 

            The next day she got up and prepared to go back to the church. As she left, she noticed a small glimmer near the wall of her house. She realized that Appius had dropped some kind of trinket. She decided to attempt to take it back to his house after her work was done.

 

            Work went fine for her. She could tell her superior was still a little upset over the coliseum incident, but she didn’t mention it again. After her work was done, she walked to the Senator’s house. As she got closer, she felt both apprehensive and excited. A servant answered the door.

 

            “What is it?” she inquired.

 

            “Appius dropped this at my house yesterday, so I came to give it back” she said.

 

            “Fine”, she said, although she looked disapproving.

 

            She directed Minervina to his room. She entered the room.  “I came to give this back” she said, holding the trinket out.

 

            “I don’t want it back”, Appius replied.

 

            “Why?” she asked.

 

            “I’m only interested in you” Appius said. Minervina gasped. “Why do you think I was so apprehensive about talking to you the first time? After that, I realized that all of the other politicians in this country take what they want, so I might as well try it too.”