Titus Marius Glaber rose from his seat to welcome his visitor.

Enron bowed slightly. "Thank you for seeing me without a prior introduction."

"Your request to visit with me was highly persuasive." Glaber smiled broadly at the thought of the goldenly compelling petition he had received. He refrained from patting the leather pouch tied to his belt and gestured for his guest to be seated. "Would you care for some wine? Chian perhaps?"

"Indeed. That would be pleasant."

Glaber gestured to the man who leaned with elaborate unconcern in the doorway. "Hanno. Call Maria." The man, presumably Hanno, disappeared. "So, how shall I call you?" Glaber's tone implied that the question was not actually intended to be insulting.

"Enron is sufficient I think."

"Ah, good. Very good. Just call me Glaber." He settled back in his chair and smiled. "So tell me. How's Rome treating you?"

Enron considered his host's question. Clearly this was some sort of quaintly barbaric opening gambit to business negotiations and called for a vaguely positive reply. "Your city is a very interesting place. Of course I have only been here such a short while."

He was spared the necessity of further commentary by the arrival of a plainly dressed young woman who bore none of the indications of a slave. Probably a daughter of the house, he concluded. She carried a tray laden with a pitcher, cups and a plate of appetizing snacks in the Roman manner.

"Enron, this is my daughter, Maria," Glaber said.

The Greek bowed in acknowledgment, gratified at his own perspicuity. "You Romans are an admirable people in many ways," Enron replied, carefully selecting a piece of bread and dipping it in the accompanying small bowl of olive oil. "I have a great respect for your allowance of women and their counsel into business discussions. It is a benefit often lacking in the east, I fear."

"Different places, different customs." Glaber smiled indulgently at the outlandish notions of foreigners in general and Greeks in particular.

The young woman murmured an inane comment about how nice it always was to welcome visitors and prepared to depart. Her father detained her with an invitation to join them, however. She looked as though she wanted to argue but she obeyed without comment. Enron noted that she betrayed no inclination to partake of the wine or the food and wondered if this was some sort of Roman etiquette or whether she was neither hungry nor thirsty.

"As you say, different places make for different customs." Enron took a slow sip of the wine and was surprised at its quality.

"Have you found any of our customs to be particularly onerous?" Maria asked in a gentle tone.

"Oh, I would not say that anything is burdensome." Enron took another sip of wine. "But, in some quarters my welcome has not been as generous as it has in this honorable household."

"I'm so sorry to hear your experiences have not been uniformly pleasant," Maria commented sadly. "Matters might be improved though. Is there any way in which my father could help you?"

"It is very possible," Enron nodded judiciously. "In other cities, I have in the past had a warm collegial working relationship with tradesmen in my line of work. It is my great hope that you can assist me in solving a problem that is causing me much heartache."

"Heartache, eh?" Glaber shook his head. "That's bad. What would help you to end this heartache?"

"The best location in this marvelous city for performing my line of work is in the Forum Boarium. But, as one might imagine, space is very tight there. Even to obtain a mere table is impossible unless somebody wishes to sell their lease. I was hoping, since you specialize in assisting people to move things, that you might assist me in moving one of the present table-lease holders out of the forum."

"Bankers cluster in the Via Tuscus. Not really in the Forum Boarium. More like between the Forum Boarium and the Forum Romanum. Not much room for a newcomer there." Glaber poured himself more wine and leaned back in his chair. "Hard to convince anybody it's in his best interest to move out. Specially if he has a really good relationship with the Censors. I'd sure hate to annoy the Censors. Or the Urban Praetor."

"Father, could you convince somebody? Given the right type of argument, I mean." Maria smiled hopefully. "It would be sad to disappoint a newcomer to Rome . Particularly one like Enron the Banker who has the good sense to consult you personally."

Glaber rubbed his face thoughtfully. "Might be possible. Depends on circumstances. I'd hate to do anything that could seem anti-Roman. That would do violence to my feelings."

Enron wondered how much extra it would cost to purchase anti-Roman activities. "Ah, friend Glaber, I can see you are a highly patriotic man." He smiled as Maria refilled his wine cup and properly watered it for him. "I can assure you that the individual I have in mind is of an expatriate Greek family from Smyrna. Like myself in many ways, but lacking in the depth of resources I can bring to the market. The Smyrniots have always been a degraded people. They actually deified your city just so they could suck away your wealth. They give little back." He sipped his wine and added, "It could be viewed as highly patriotic were you to assist me in my endeavor to provide your fellow citizens with a broad range of financial services."

Maria unclasped her folded hands and rose. "Tata, let me see whether there are any honey cakes to sweeten your negotiations."

Her father grinned then turned to the banker. "Tell me, Enron. What exactly would you like me to do to help you?"

"I have made the gentleman what I feel was a generous offer to purchase his business, both the table and the clients. His refusal was, dare I say, quite rude. I would very much like it if he were to accept my second offer. Perhaps he can be convinced that he has a poor future here and that it would be better for his business, or at least his health, if he were to relocate to a different city. One some distance away."

"Well now. I can see real advantages to helping you out here." Glaber slapped the table with his hand. "The cives not only get your valuable banking services, we rid the City of an unsavory and suspect element."

"Indeed," Enron agreed. "In essence, you'll be a public benefactor."

"We, my friend. We'll both be public benefactors." Glaber raised his wine cup in a toast. "I'll drink to that."