From Night On: Magdalene

Chapters 7-8

"I don't know," she continued in the language as if it had taken over her tongue. "Please, I don't want to talk about it."

"Hmm," the commander's mischievous look came back over him. "Then what would you like to talk about?" he asked in Latin. "I've heard that the General enjoyed philosophical debates with you. Would you care for some sparring?"

"What did you have in mind?" she responded in Latin without noticing as she stared out over the rocky terrain.

"I've always wondered if languages effected how we think," he answered while peering at her out of the corner of his eye. "Latin is very methodical. Each declension of a word explains its use within a sentence. Really, there's no room to be confused over a statement in Latin, so I can't help wondering if that is why Romans are so organized. What do you think?"

"I've never thought of it," she responded. "That makes some sense on the surface, but there are other societies that are just as organized as Rome, aren't there? I mean, it's not just Rome as the pinnacle of society and the rest of the world is nothing but rogues and bandits. Doesn't Rome have it's own crime and vagabonds?"

"It does," he nodded thoughtfully. "What about Rome's expansion? We couldn't have done that without being organized."

"True," Meira agreed, "but so did Greece, so did the Hans, so did the Egyptians, so did Mesopotamia. Do they all speak the same language? I think that, when men want something, it is ambition that drives them,but that ambition can also close their ears and blind their eyes."

"Are you calling the Roman conquest blind and deaf?" he gawked, looking at her in surprise.

"In many ways, yes," she answered. "What was the purpose? What did Rome gain from it? More wealth than needed? Merchants will make money regardless of what country they're in. What does it matter what Rome controls? What Rome is blind and deaf to are the wars it wages and the people caught in the chaos."

"What makes you say that?" he asked her. "Why would you say that Rome isn't aware of the costs of war? What about other kingdoms that have fought for expansion? Are you saying the same of them?"

"Of course I am," she answered, relaxing more in her seat as her mind was taken from her immediate troubles. "You see war, but Rome does not. You see the pain in the people, but Rome does not. The people sending you to war may never see a battlefield. They are too far removed from what is happening to understand the cost of their decisions."

"Oh," he smiled, "I understand now. You're speaking of the politicians and Caesars, not the people, but what if we don't expand? What is our purpose then?" This brought deep contemplation equally between them. As the words left his lips, he inspired himself to think about what he would do if he were not a soldier. "Tell me, Meiri, if you could do anything, what would you do?"

"I want to change how the world works," she groaned without a second thought."Maybe that is my purpose. I feel it in my bones that things are not right. I hate slavery. I can understand working off a debt, but slavery is cruel and unjust: people forced into servitude while losing time to build their own lives and women are lifelong slaves in this world. There is no way for a woman to build her own life."

"That's not entirely true," the commander thought aloud. "There are women business owners in Greece, but I do see how it is much more difficult for them."

"And what businesses do these women own?" Meira looked at him suspiciously.

"Brothels, bathhouses," he went through his incredibly short list and didn't think of the implications behind those woman dominated professions.

"You're asking me to hit you," she glared at him. He looked at her in confusion. To him and the other Greek and Roman soldiers, this was normal. "Are you really telling me that the only thing that women have to offer is their bodies?!?" She had turned to look at him directly with her intense stare as she gripped the wooden bar behind them in frustration. With the sound of the rolling wheels, they couldn't hear the grinding sound her hand was making as it turned over the wood.