As soon as Titus and the boys and Eucleides entered the city through the Porta Capena , Sextus shouted, "What will we do first? Where will we go? Will we visit...?"
"Where will you lead us, uncle?" Marcus interrupted. "Will we see the Curia and the Forum? Sextus has read and heard many things about Rome and now, uncle, he wants to see everything."
Now they had arrived at the Circus Maximus, which was not far off. Sextus was astounded when he saw the mass of the Circus Maximus. Marcus also was astounded although he had seen the Circus before. Titus was astounded, astonished not by the mass but by the silence of the Circus.
"Alas! Alas!" said Titus. "Today the Circus is closed. In three days, however, the emperor himself, Titus Flavius Vespasianus will put on magnificent games.
"Surely you will lead us there?" asked Marcus.
"Alas! I will not be able to take you," said Titus. “Perhaps Eucleides will take you.”
"No!" Sextus replied. "Eucleides loves books, not games."
"Come on, boys!" interrupted Titus.
"Now we will go around the Palatine Hill and we will enter the Forum at the Arch of Tiberius. Perhaps we shall meet your father there, Marcus. The senators will soon be coming out of the Senate house."
And so they left the Circus and went around the Palatine. On the way, Titus showed the boys the wonderful buildings that the emperors had built on the Palatine.
At last they arrived at the Arch of Tiberius, now tired from the heat and work. "Here is the Arch," said Titus, "which..."
"Tomorrow you will be able to see everything," interrupted Cornelius, who at that very moment had arrived at the Arch from the Senate house.
"When you will have returned to the Forum tomorrow, Eucleides will explain everything to you. Now it is late. Come on! Now we will go home."
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