Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb Nowhere Rome Winter series part 10 of 13
Oh the war is common cry, pick up you swords and fly.
“- Whoa there Johnny.”
“Sure Gus.”
“This ain’t a tell-the-children kind of story.”
“No.”
“So the father, Virginius, kills his daughter, Virginia.”
“Yes.”
“And the bad guy …”
“Appius Claudius.”
“… Who was he?”
“Judge, patrician.”
“What’s a patrician?”
“Someone from the few.”
“So Virginius and Virginia were from the many.”
“They were.”
Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb Nowhere Roming
“What happened?”
“Virginius is a centurion in the Roman -”
“Centurion? Is that like a general?”
“First Sergeant.”
“Okay Reb.”
“While Virginius is with the army outside of the city, Appius desires Virginia.”
“She single?”
“Betrothed.”
“So the judge does something?”
“Yes, which brings Virginius back to Rome.”
“Oh-oh.”
“Virginius loses the legal battle through treachery.”
“Cheaters.”
“In order to keep Virginia from becoming a slave, that’s when …”
Gus Kotka and Johnny Reb Nowhere Romed “That’s when he kills her Johnny?”
“… Yeah Gus.”
“Quite a story.”
“Many angles.”
“There’s more too I figure,” Gus continued, “something still between Appius and Virginius.”
“The few and the many.”
“And maybe an Aesopic teaching point?”
“There’s a Sacred Mountain …”
*Next Up: The Union 2016 winter series continues Friday 11 March with part 11, To the Sacred Mountain.
Posted by Bryan W. Brickner
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