She was bored, and Caius was certain that only her boredom prevented her from being utterly boring. He had several times before resolved to seduce his sisters friend, and always the resolution had broken down before her listless disinterest, a disinterest not specific in terms of himself, but general. Her body was full and attractive, but Caius found her rather stupid and wondered what his sister saw in her-a problem he was determined to solve on this trip. She was better looking than Claudia who was blond but listless, pale skin and pale eyes and an air of fatigue which she nurtured.

As a matter of fact, the girls were quite excited by the descriptions they had heard, and as for Caius, he always had a pleasant and somewhat sensuous reaction to such things, and he was also proud of his stomach and of the fact that such sights did not inordinately disturb him. They knew before they started that the road was tokened with punishment, but they didn’t think it would be enough to disturb them. They planned to spend five days on the road, putting up each evening at the country villa of a friend or relative, and this way, by easy and pleasant stages, to come to Capua.

Each Utter was carried by four slaves who were road-broken and who could do ten miles at a smooth run without resting. Caius Crassus, a young man of twenty-five, whose dark hair fell in abundant and soft ringlets and whose regular features had given him a reputation for good looks as well as good birth, rode a beautiful white Arabian horse, a birthday present from his father the year before, and the two girls travelled in open litters. They left Rome on the morning of a bright, clear and cool day, a perfect day for travel, all of them young and bright-eyed and full of delight in the trip and in the adventures which would certainly befall them. The road was opened in March, and two months later, in the middle of May, Caius Crassus and his sister, Helena, and her friend, Claudia Marius, set off to spend a week with relatives in Capua.

Spartacus fast novel