I put out his fire

Within a few days after returning from the temple, the emperor drew up an order to pardon the criminals in the name of mercy.

The amnesty decree not only exempts thieves and thieves from punishment, but even involves the dead. In the name of "paying for their sins with their lives," the bones of death-row criminals are placed.

In addition to these, this amnesty reorganized the rules of company and company, and released those who were degraded into slavery because of crimes committed by their spouses or relatives other than their parents.

After the prisoners were executed, most of the corpses were hastily burned, and some were even put into straw mats halfway through burning, and thrown into mass graves in the countryside.Therefore, few can be identified.

All death row prisoners whose identities can still be determined are listed on a list.The government announced that a pardon ceremony would be held in the amphitheatre, which would also be a collective funeral for the prisoners.

At the event, all the prisoners on the list will be put into separate coffins, and amidst the wrestling and carnival, they will be dragged away by a carriage wrapped in black gauze, and buried in different tombs in the suburbs.

The remaining unnamed bones will also be buried in a large public tomb.

In Rome, where there were far more slaves than citizens, this amnesty shook the bottom.

……

On a calm sea, a sailor wearing a turban brought up a basket of fish and shrimp, and a refurbished white boat sailed on the sea.Under the warm sun, the white boat with yellow sails looks like an fried egg on the sea.

Welba took a bowl of boiled sea prawns sprinkled with minced garlic, opened the straw curtain, and peered inside like slit eyes.

Rhodes turned his back to him, standing in front of the porthole, facing the blue and white watercolor seascape.The shoulder-length black hair flew wildly and fell back to the straight shoulders.The black silhouette is embedded in the blue and white vista in some artistic form.

Welba couldn't help watching for a while, brought the shrimp to him, and followed him to look out the window.

"Your bones are all healed?" Welba asked him with a slanted glance. "The way you stand reminds me of the bas-reliefs of the gods on the pillars of the square."

Rhodes turned his face, and Welba quickly looked away.

"How far are we from the shore?" Rhodes sat on the edge of the bed, picked up a shrimp, and broke off the head.

"Less than two miles," said Welba, "but we only set out this morning. The oars and sails of the new ship are like a gladiator's shield, and she is rowing with incredible speed." Blow on the ass of the boat!"

Rhodes peeled off the shrimp shell and asked in a cold tone, "How much did we earn from that batch of porcelain?"

"About one hundred thousand sesterces. But I spent thirty to forty thousand to renovate our boat." Welba looked at him, and followed his movements to peel the shrimp.

"To become a knight in the noble class, you need a property of 40 sesterces. In other words, I only need to go back and forth four or five times, and I can become a nobleman with a gold ring."

Welba skillfully peeled off the shrimp shell, pulled out the shrimp meat and handed it to Rhodes, "But... all of these need your help."

Rhodes glanced at the shrimp handed over to him, but didn't take it, "It's not necessarily true."

He squeezed the tail of the shrimp, looked out the window, and said, "Based on my understanding of the royal family, they will soon monopolize the sale of silk and porcelain. Even if Nero doesn't want to do this, the advisors around him will let him do it. "

Welba ate the shrimp meat in his hand, "I'll just say... It's impossible for you to forget the palace and the master so quickly, mention him every chance you have..."

He shook his head covered in braids, "Your master has been talked about by commoners recently, especially those slaves who have been humiliated for a long time. Of course, it is a compliment."

Rhodes put down the shrimp meat that he handed to his mouth, "What's wrong?"

"He issued an amnesty, not only to free the slaves who were imprisoned and naturalized, but also to allow the corpses of the prisoners to be buried," said Werba. People, no one takes care of slaves and the dead like him. Most of the sailors under my command are shared slaves who escaped, and they are trying to go back to the city these two days."

Rhodes smiled coldly: "No wonder the lights on the nearest deck are on all night. It turns out that they are discussing the eligibility to go back and receive an amnesty."

Welba said with a smile: "They don't just want to get the qualifications. On the day of the amnesty, it is said that there will be an unprecedented carnival."

He smacked his finger with the sauce, "It can also be understood as a mass funeral for condemned prisoners. It is said that there will be drama, beast fighting and horse racing, but these are old projects that are tired of watching, and the most anticipated is the newly invented one. Naval battle show."

"Sea battle performance?" Rhodes turned his face.

"That's right. The stage of the theater is filled with water to form an artificial lake, and the gladiators on several ships pretend to be pirates and perform fighting performances with tridents and chains." Verba said, "It sounds interesting, you Want to go?"

"No." Rhodes said decisively.

Welba took out the leather pouch tied around his waist, loosened the straw tie, and took out a piece of flat parchment from it.

"This is a publicity letter for the grand event. Small officials distribute it on street corners every day. It lists the identified prisoners. They are luckier than the unnamed corpses that can only be squeezed into one grave."

Welba unfolded the paper and presented it to Rhodes.

"An illiterate sailor gave me this, and asked me to help him see if his father's name was on it. His father was executed for burying a man who was struck by lightning. You know, the lightning came from Jupiter. No one can steal Jupiter's sacrifice." He raised his eyebrows helplessly, "It's a pity...I can't read."

Rhodes took the parchment, "What's his father's name?"

While asking, he quickly scanned the lines of names, his round nails streaking across the paper like a streamer.

"Thales Fine Dani Fine"

His fingernails stopped under the two juxtaposed names, and his beautiful eyes with double lids suddenly widened.

This surname, which pointed directly at his flesh and blood and brought him infinite suffering, was like a turning arrow that was out of control but returned quietly, piercing his heart all at once.

Although no one had ever told him who his mother was, with some mysterious intuition endowed by his natural blood, he was sure that it was his mother's name almost instantly.

Rhodes, who had always sneered at his parents, had an uncontrollable sense of belonging when he actually faced his mother's name.The nature of human beings is infinite love and beauty, just like the ocean where countless lives are born. The so-called resentment is just a fragile aquatic plant that grows because of being neglected by the sun.

"His father's name seems to be... Fred Horace." Welba scratched his head and recalled with difficulty.

Rhodes stood up suddenly, bringing out a cool breeze, which startled Welba.

"I'm going back to town." He quickly folded the parchment. "I'm going to my mother's funeral. At least I need to know where she's buried."

Welba was stunned, still scratching his ears and scratching his head in a funny manner, and asked continuously: "...what...what? You still have a mother? Is she a death row prisoner?"

Rhodes put away the papers folded into squares, and walked out of the cabin, "I'll ask the helmsman to turn back and return to the city immediately."

……

The amnesty event was as dazzling as the government advertised.

Each tier of the amphitheater is surrounded by torches, overlooking a disc candlestick filled with candles.

At the funeral in Rome, people would wear masks imitated from the face of the deceased, wear the clothes worn by the deceased, and paint their hands and feet with white paint, enjoying the bloody fights and performances.

Rhodes and Welba wearing masks stood on the open-air balcony on the top floor, behind them was a circle of carved marble arches.This floor is furthest from the stage and is reserved for slaves and commoner women.

Welba was overwhelmed by the screaming slaves and almost fell off the balcony.

He moved the pirate mask to the top of his head and kicked the slave behind him: "Oh! Don't squeeze! I am a citizen, a citizen of Rome! If a slave cripples a citizen, he will be hanged by the gallows." !"

With his back against the carvings of the arch, wearing a wax mask, he stood on tiptoe to watch what was going on in the theater.

The stage is turning on a play that ends in comedy.He was too far from the ground, and the figures of the actors could not be seen clearly, let alone hear the lines clearly.

The amphitheater is divided into five floors.The lowest front row, facing the stage, is for the royal family, and is equipped with awnings and dining tables; one floor up, there are senators and nobles, and then male citizens.The higher you go, the worse the view becomes.

Welba pushed the slave away like a fly in the smelly atmosphere, and pulled Rhodes to the front.

"If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be crowded on the same floor with a bunch of slaves!" He grabbed Rhodes' sleeve tightly, "This distance and position, unless he has eyes like dragonflies, he will definitely find out without you..."

He turned towards the awning on the opposite side of the stage and teased, "He's probably in there. The two of you are about the same distance as when the float was touring the city before, both are far enough..."

"Shut up!" Rhodes said to him, holding back in the mask.

Welba pulled the mask back again, looked down with difficulty, smiled, and pointed with his finger, "There is a large piece of urn on the ground, round and round, like roasted hazelnuts. You Your mother is one of them."

Rhodes crossed the shaking human wall, and through a wave of arms, he vaguely saw rows of neat urns.

Welba touched his arm with his elbow. "Tell me the truth, what crime did your mother commit to be executed?"

Rhodes looked at each urn carefully and ignored his questions.

"Women who have been sentenced to death are rare." Welba said to himself. "Generally speaking, compared with men who are aggressive and brave, delicate women are not good at crimes..."

"I should have kicked you off the balcony, Welba," Rhodes said through the mask. "You're as loud as a mosquito you can't kill."

On the stage, actors with painted faces took their curtain call.The gladiators in leather armor carried shields, raised tridents and swords and daggers, and walked from the arched passage to the sandy ground. Each of them was muscular and strong, with a red feather standing on the iron helmet.

From the lowly senators to the slaves on the balconies, the people on the stage yelled like crazy, the rich threw expensive silk robes and broken gold on the battlefield, and the poorer civilians poured cheap wine.

"It's time for the fight," said Welba. "I bet the gladiator with the chains will win. His arms are as thick as colonnades."

A few slaves serving the government carried wooden wine barrels on their heads, rang bells in their hands, stepped on the steps steadily step by step, and squeezed into the open-air balcony.

According to the theater's custom, whenever the competition starts, the government will give out cheap drinks for free.The audience had to drink some wine to cheer more hysterically and the atmosphere was more enthusiastic.

The slave rang the bell, held the barrel on his head and said, "The gladiators need your cheers to cheer them up."

Welba turned around with difficulty in the crowded crowd, hot and thirsty, he wanted to ask for a drink.

The people around were all lying down, holding the wine flowing from the barrel with both hands, and then buried their faces in their hands.

"God!" He was pushed and shoved by the moving crowd, "there is no one on this level equipped with cups, let us drink with our hands like beggars! I just said, don't get too close to the unfortunate, Otherwise, I will be unlucky..."

Welba babbled and grumbled, pushing his way to get the drink with difficulty.

Rhodes didn't intend to drink. He held his head up and continued to look at the urn, but was patted from behind by the slave holding the barrel.

"Everyone needs a drink," said the slave politely. "Everyone here today is no exception."

Rhodes caught a glimpse of his extremely serious eyes and raised his hands to receive the wine.

The wide cuffs were pulled back, revealing a pair of hands with distinct joints in the dark, and a gold ring on the ring finger.He took a symbolic point, slightly removed the wax mask, revealing only the sharp lips, and drank the wine in his hand.

"Okay." He put on his mask again, and wiped his clothes casually with his hands full of alcohol, his tone impatient.

The slave stared blankly at the ring on his finger, reacted for a while, and then said: "Thank you for your understanding, my lord."

He raised his hands, embraced the wooden wine barrel above his head, took it off and held it in his arms, and said with a serious smile, "Your golden ring tells me that this floor is not where you should stand."

After saying this, he was rushed by the surging crowd and quickly disappeared.

All the passages of the theater were opened, and water was poured in, slowly forming an artificial lake, reflecting another exactly the same theater.

Suddenly there were crowds of people around, and the flow of people back and forth bumped their shoulders.

Through the stuffy wax mask, Rhodes looked at the stage where the fight had already begun, absent-mindedly, recalling the weird smile of the drunk slave just now.

A bucket of fuel was poured into the elevated brazier on the sand, and the bright yellow flame suddenly expanded, like an open bloody mouth.

"No..." Rhode spoke extremely fast, "I fell for it."

The surrounding crowd moved around at high speed, like a pot of vigorously stirring water.

He gently sniffed the hand that held the wine, thought for a while, and suddenly realized something.

"This is not cheap fruit wine, Werba." He realized belatedly, his back tensed like a bowstring, and a chill appeared in his eyes, "This is the wine with rosemary and mint that only the royal family can drink."

The surrounding area suddenly became empty, and no one responded to him.

"Weir..." Rhodes subconsciously turned around.

A pair of gem-encrusted lace-up boots immediately catches the eye.

Rhodes seemed to be locked up, and his breathing was almost stagnant.Out of horror, the pitch-black pupils suddenly expanded, quickly devouring the dark brown irises.

Silk robes with purple stripes on a red background, embroidered patterns stained with gold powder, and tiger skin shawls that reflect light under the fireworks.Rhode's gaze moved upwards stiffly, and finally, through a sultry wax mask, he looked at Nero, who had lived and died twice.

"My..." Nero's lips trembled, and he couldn't say a word. His curly silver hair was like a translucent silk thread under the dual illumination of moonlight and firelight.

Behind the emperor was a row of guards in gray-black armor standing straight, and Welba was separated from the unidentified audience by this row of soldiers.There were two knives and daggers on his thick and short neck, he didn't dare to make a sound, he was startled and frightened.

Rhodes felt the rapid and fiery breath trapped in the mask.

Nero's lips parted slightly, then tremblingly compressed, then opened and closed again.Opening and closing like this many times, he seemed to have finally understood a certain philosophy, and said two words suddenly: "... Rhodes."