The day after the disaster with Claudia at the parade, the senator met with his brother Marcus Verus Antonius, his freedman Helenus Verus, and his friend Lucius Corinthius Sequor. He met his friends at the baths for a day of relaxation coupled with a discussion on how the family might handle the incident with the emperor. Corinthius Sequor arrived last. He explained he had been forced to come very slowly so as not to damage his brand new tunic. Once he had brought the subject up, he spent as much time as he could bragging about his new clothes; the tunic was made of delicate blue silk and was trimmed with elaborate gold braid. His friends just smiled at him and nodded their head politely.

 

 
Soon the friends headed into the changing room to get undressed for the bath. The room was small and lined with cupboards in which bathers could store their clothes for a small fee. For a extra amount, a slave could be paid to guard the clothes from thieves that might wander in. While the senator, his brother, and his freedman carefully paid the price, Corinthius Sequor could not be bothered with the extra cost. 

"Rubbish," he said. "I don't need to pay an inflated sum for some lazy slave to keep an eye on my clothes. No one would dare steal the tunic of Lucius Corinthius Sequor!" His friends just smiled and nodded their heads.

 

 
The men entered the first room of the baths, which was the tepidarium. The pool in this room was pleasantly warm, but not too hot. Before entering the water, the friends scraped the dirt off of each others backs with strigils greased with olive oil. Then they entered the water to wash off the oil and left over grime.

 

 

 

 
Then it was on to the caldarium, or hot room. The walls and floors of this room were heated by a system of terra cotta duct work built into the room. In the caldarium, the pools were very hot indeed and the room itself full of steam. Corinthius Sequor tip-toed across the hot floor like an ostrich because he had forgotten the sandals that the others were wearing to protect their feet from the hot floor. Though they didn't manage to come any closer to solving their problem, they did find time for an interesting discussion on the tactics of Hannibal and how he had crossed those mountains.

 

 

 
After the men had been in the hot room as long as they could stand, they rushed into the frigidarium, or cold room, to cool off and have a swim. Their swim was cut short when the senator realized that he was hungry. They all climbed from the pool and headed off to get a snack.

 

 

 

 

Corinthius Sequor was tardy in getting out of the pool, so by the time he got back to the changing room, they had already dressed and gone to get something to eat. The room was empty except for a young man in a strangely familiar tunic. Corinthius Sequor looked in the cupboard he had rented to store his clothes. His tunic was gone! Turning around, he saw the young man slowly edging from the room.

"Stop! Thief!" he cried and made a desperate grab at the escaping man. But he was slow and clumsy and the thief strong and agile, so the scoundrel easily escaped his grasp and ran from the room. Corinthius Sequor desperately giving chase.

 

 
Meanwhile, the other friends were enjoying a delicious garlic and lamb wrap in the bath's attached caupona. As they ate, they talked about their problem. Pausing between a bite of lamb, Marcus Antonius Verus said thoughtfully:

"I wonder what ever happened to Lucius? Oh well, I suppose he is fine." The others grinned and shook their heads and the subject was forgotten.

 

 

 

 
After they finished eating, the comrades sat down in the private library which the bath had built for its patrons. After a heated debate, they settled on the best way to solve their problems. The Verus family would generously pay for the construction of a statue in the forum, dedicated to the emperor. Knowing how vain Caesar was, they were certain this act would lessen his anger. After making further plans, they all got up to leave.

 

 

 
Everyone agreed that they had had a wonderful time and talked about how they must meet again soon. They admired the fine statues in the bath's courtyard and watched some of the young men who were wrestling and engaging in other sports. Then they parted ways and departed for home. As he was leaving the senator mused,

"I wonder what ever happened to Corinthius Sequor? . . ."

 

 

 

 
"Stop! (pant,pant) Thief! Come back here with my tunic, rogue!" (gasp,pant)

 

 

 

 

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The marble hot tub

Lucius Corinthius Sequor's missing tunic