Together forever

We lived in troublesome times, my spouse and I. He came to Rome, my city, to negociate about peace between our cities. All over Etruria and Latium to the south, city states had begun to shrug off the reign of one family and one king, like the Greeks seemed to have done before. My spouse to be came from the city of Caere, which was still hanging onto the traditional form of government and his father, as he would be too, he hoped, was still king. As Rome and Caere were allies, he was sent down to persuade the Romans not to let go of the reign of kings. But it seemed too late already, king Tarquinius had already fled the city.

That's where we both met, in the house of my family, Aulus Velianas and I, Junia, daughter of Decimus Junius Brutus, who had been one of the first year kings. How young he was, only twenty two summers he counted and yet, he was a spokesman for his city, which I could not know to get acquainted to so soon. He was strong, athletic, with good looks and an open face. He was eloquent and persuasive. Compared to him, all the young Romans I knew, who visited our house to meet with my father, looked like peasants. I guess that is just what they were, peasants. This young man looked, walked and talked like a man of the world, yes…almost like a god!

Was I losing my mind? Did my mother and sister actually tell me that I was?

At first, my father wouldn't listen to him. At last, the sweet voice of the young prince from Caere sounded quite serious: Rome was free of tyranny, but it was alone, apart from a few little villages in Latium, who couldn't be strong enough to help it through the attacks of the banned king Tarquinius, which were sure to come….If it wanted the mighty city of Caere as an ally, it would have to maintain some kind of traditional form of government, or else it would be doomed..Finally, the other year king, Sextus Tarquinius Collatinus, Brutus' colleague and best friend, tried to intervene and setup some kind of an arrangement: after seemingly countless hours of talking and negociating, the men agreed that Rome would maintain some kind of traditional government, which would be acceptable enough for Caere as an ally, at least for the time that Rome needed one. And Caere would have a strategic point in the south to maintain strong and powerful, as long as times would be rough.

I was fifteen years old and of course, I didn't take part in all the talking. My part of this political story became clear to me only many years after, when I was told that I could never return to the city of my birth.

After the men had come to an agreement, Aulus Velianas went home, but he soon came back with his father, Thefarie Velianas and a group of priests, augures, who had to assist at the ceremony in which the alliance between our two cities would be sealed. The proof of the bargain would be a marriage and the day before all this would take place, my father and mother took me aside and told me that I was betrothed. That's the way things go in Rome when you are a little girl. Someday, your parents take you aside and tell you that you are going to be married soon. You won't be a girl anymore. That night, in a familial ceremony, I took all my dolls and play things and offered them to the Lares and Penates on our house altar. That night, I couldn't sleep. My mother told me all I had to know about the first night as a married woman and married life. We slept for two hours and got up at dawn. Mother took a white gown from her own dresser and told me to put it on. She crowned my head with a wreath of white flowers and a white veil. After that, I was brought before my father. He told me I was going to be the wife of an Etruscan prince, Aulus Velianas. I was going to spend my last day at the house where I was born and after the wedding, I was going to live in Caere for the rest of my life.

I couldn't believe my ears! I was happy to remember the young, strong and good looking, soft speaking and well mannered Aulus Velianas and I knew that he would be a good husband, although he had never spoken a word with me. At the same time I was sad, because I knew that I was going to miss my family a lot…I was a woman enough to get married, but I was still so young..

I lived through my wedding day as if I was drifting in a bubble. I still can't remember much of it. The wedding ceremony was partially in Etruscan, of which I couldn't understand a word then, and partially in Latin. There was a wedding party; I slept during the biggest part of it, because I was so tired of all those emotions which a young girl can have on her wedding day. There is only one thing I still remember of my wedding day, which was the night. I was told that a woman sacrifices her maidenhood during her wedding night and that it is the holy duty of her husband to perform this act. Actually, Aulus spoke sweetly and softly to me and told me to get some sleep, because the journey on the next day would be a long one. He let me sleep while he had to do all kinds of things with me that I'd rather not think of at the time. Much later he told me: "I just couldn't, dear. Not then, not there." He just let me sleep, the sweetheart, and performed his duty on a much later occasion.

That's how I got to come to Caere. That was a city, that was a house! Compared to that, Rome was a tiny village, tucked away between some hills….but Rome was still home and this new city was so…new and strange to me. The people all looked so worldly and forward and I couldn't understand a word they spoke to me. I felt small and I was afraid, but my newly wedded husband took my fate in his hands. In the beginning, the members of his family looked at me as if I were some kind of a caught animal, unseen before in their lives, some kind of a pet, I felt. Everytime they started laughing at me, Aulus took charge of my defense. I was his wife and he was king Thefarie's oldest son. I was to become the queen of the city state one day; at least, I was Aulus' wife and not to be joked with.

Slowly, very slowly I learned the ways of the Court of Caere. In fact, as soon as I learned to understand the language of my inlaws and the people of the city, I discovered how nice they were. In my childhood years, I was always taught that the Etruscans were savages and selfish beasts, who could only wield power and destroy everything good, but I discovered that who had told me that were wrong. What became my new city was a center of art, science and religion. I was shocked to discover that the masters who had built our Roman temples and statues had come from cities like Caere. The vases I had once seen in the house of the noble Roman king Tarquinius, who had been of Etruscan descent, had been made in the city of Caere. I saw craftsmen in their workshops making those ceramics and often wondered about their skills.

The years flew by as time went on. I became the proud mother of four strong children, two boys and two girls. My husband and I lived a good life, although he had to leave me on occasions of war, which threw a temporary shadow on our happiness. Before he left for war, Aulus always used to say: "Don't be afraid, my sweet Uniza, I hold you too dear to stay away forever." He always came back.