Meeting with Ancient Rome

 

  Patiently waiting, in the crowd full of people who spoke German and Japanese, I listened to the professor who explained in Italian that we were students of the Faculty of Law from Belgrade and that this was a professional excursion that wanted to see the Forum Romanum, the heart of legal science and its practice. From the newly built building I left to a small house with 70 of my colleagues, impatiently waiting to see all those buildings that I had heard about before and encountered only in books. We climbed the high hill to the imperial forum, there were many vast ruins under the dark green grass, the sun was announcing its rise through the white clouds, trying to show us the ancient splendor for which people came from different parts of the world for centuries, waiting for days in front of the forum just to enter and feel that glow.

  I didn't understand what the professor was saying, he was so excited that he was telling 2, 3 different stories at the same time, trying to seduce us with a story in the same way as he magically did it during lectures in the famous amphitheater of prof.Radomir Lukić, more popular " the famous five". In a quick movement, which we all made after the professor, the sun suddenly appeared and began to illuminate the remains of Ancient Rome like a spotlight in a theater, announcing the beginning of the first act.

  Although I have a fear of heights, I made my way through the crowd of people to reach the balcony from which I had a view of the entire Roman Forum as well as the houses, temples and buildings that surrounded it. The sun made small circles of sweat drip from my face, wiping them with my bare hand, I fought for my place, so that I could see what many people tried to portray in their writings centuries before me. As the sun left a mark on my neck and neck in the form of redness, the same one that the famous Romans would deliberately put on when there were great festivities, and whose custom they took from the Etruscans, the temperature in my body was rising. I was hot, the extra nervousness made me see only a space with ruins over the fence, as proof that there was a great civilization there.

  I followed the professor with a quick step, trying to keep up with him in order to absorb every word he said. Descending down the steep and tall stairs I felt the cold and damp air hitting my body, the summer clothes I was wearing trying to soften the sudden drop in temperature. I felt relief. When I raised my head, there were dark black bricks around me, they were ruins that spread both to the left and to the right, making some kind of walls. I turned left after the professor, still running after him like a small child after a grown man, playing on the tips of my feet on the stone blocks, I tried to avoid damage and holes. It was the famous Via Appia, where famous patricians and military leaders walked two thousand years ago. Passing through the arch, I looked at the Latin name that gave it the name Porta triumphalis - the Western gate.

  I entered another world. Standing in the shade, I watched the city come alive again. The gray collor was killed by the sun's rays, which gave it color and tone. There was silence, I only heard the professor's voice, which was my map so I wouldn't get lost. Wrapping the jacket around my neck like a Roman toga, my mind was reminded of Gaius Julius Caesar and the glorious triumph of 45 BC. which was arranged for him. I stepped into Ancient Rome, it was a powerful feeling. Walking straight towards the Palatine Hill, I noticed the lavishly decorated streets and along the Via Sacra I moved towards the forum where there was a mass of people gathered to greet the triumphant. In the column in front of me were the spoils of war, distinguished prisoners who were moving in shackles, then the military leader who was followed by the magistrates and soldiers shouting Io TRIUMPHE! behind them walked the lictors who, only on this occasion, were allowed to put the axes in fresh reeds, and finally the libertinus – freed Romans who were slaves in a foreign country. The procession went to the Capitol where the temple of Jupiter was located and where sacrifices were made. It was amazing how my mind worked, passing by the grass where a shallow rectangular pool was visible, I would instantly create an image of the original edition of the Vestal girls' house, and right next to it an image of their temple, which was less than 20 meters away. On my right was the Roman Senate, before the Basilica of Julius, and in front, after I passed the Arch of Titus, was the Aera Saturni Temple of Saturn - the state treasury. It's surprising how all those messy ruins took shape and form. People in togas passed me by without looking at me, I turned several times in the forum for the ghosts of the past that came to life, following ladies dressed in silk as they were dressed in carriages, I also noticed a large man who spoke loudly about the prices of his slaves and animals for the spectacle in the arena, the voices of people speaking in a dead language rang in my ears, it was strange, I could smell the birds carried by the ausps and harusps - priests who interpreted the signs of birds and the internal organs of animals in order to approve favorable and unfavorable days for making deals, wearing a purple toga, which spoke of the highest status in Roman society. All this reminded me of an ancient wisdom that says: "a historian who reads about the past is sometimes privileged by the gods to see their shadows in the future."

  The sun was getting weaker, I felt that a light April night was approaching, at that moment someone touched me with a big hand, gently placing it on my shoulder I heard "Mary", at the same moment the buildings disappeared, golden dust rose and the spell ended , I turned around, there was a giant with blond hair standing behind me, he was two heads taller than me, he said again in a deep voice: "Maria, we need to go, hurry up!", I looked around and saw people busily taking pictures and filming the ruins , flailing their arms in an attempt to show the shapes and sizes of the monuments.

   Still hypnotized, eyes wide open, I got on the bus looking out the big window and thinking about where I had spent the whole day. That's when the blond giant came up to me and worriedly asked if everything was okay with me, since I seemed absent-minded to him as we walked around the ruins. I smiled in confusion and started telling him the story from the beginning.

Rome, Italy 2008.