'And a year later here you are, with that very dream realized.'

'Yes, thanks to Lucius.'

'And yet I find you brooding up here on the hilltop, like Jupiter looking down on burning Troy.'

'Blame the behaviour of certain of my neighbours,' I said ruefully.

'Granted, but there is something else that troubles you.'

I shrugged. 'This morning Aratus and I almost came to blows. He thinks I'm an impossible, pompous-ass from the city who knows nothing about farming and only wants to get in his way. I suppose I must look rather ridiculous to him, fussing about details I only half understand and quoting to him from Cato.'

'And how does he look to you?'

'I know that Lucius thought highly of him, but it seems to me that the farm is not run nearly as efficiently as it could be. There's too much waste.'

'Oh, how I hate waste!' said Claudia. 'I never allow my slaves to throw anything away if I can possibly make use of it.'

'Well, between Aratus and myself it's been one battle after another ever since I arrived last autumn. Perhaps I am a pompous ass from the city who knows nothing about farming, but I do know waste when I see it, and I can read Cato. And beneath that, there's something about Aratus I don't trust Perhaps I'm simply not used to owning so many slaves and having to manage them all, especially not a slave as strong-willed and sure of himself as Aratus. I gather that Lucius generally gave him the run of the farm, so that my arrival was a great inconvenience to him. He looks on me as a thorn in his side. I look on him the way you might look on a horse you don't trust; you must have the beast to get where you're going, but secretly you suspect he'll throw you. I find myself sniping at him constantly. He reacts by acting surly and impertinent.'