We walked slowly, circling the pond. Across the water Bast the cat was stalking dragonflies, her black fur gleaming in the sunlight.

'Very well, how do I know what I know about Marcus Tullius Cicero? I said he comes from a proud family. That much is obvious, from his name. Not the family name Tullius, which

I've heard before, but the third name, Cicero. Now the third name of a Roman citizen generally identifies the family branch - in this case the Cicero branch of the Tullius family. Or, if no branch name exists, it may be unique to the individual himself, usually describing a physical feature. Naso for a man with a large nose, or Sulla, the name of our esteemed and worthy dictator, so-called for his florid complexion. In either case, Cicero is a most peculiar-sounding name. The word refers to die common chick-pea and can hardly be flattering. What exactly is the case with your master?'

'Cicero is an old family name. They say it comes from an ancestor who had an ugly bump on the tip of his nose, defied down the middle, something like a chick-pea. You're right, it does sound odd, though I'm so used to it I hardly think of it. Some of my master's friends say he should drop the name if he means to go into politics or law, but he won't hear of it. Cicero says that if his family saw fit to adopt such a peculiar name, then the man who first bore that name must have been quite extraordinary, even if no one remembers why. He says he intends to make all Rome know the name of Cicero and respect it.'

'Proud, as I said. But of course that would apply to virtually any Roman family and certainly to any Roman lawyer. That he lives in Rome I took for granted. That his family roots are to the south I assumed from the name Tullius. I remember having encountered it more than once on the road to Pompeii - perhaps in Aquinum, Interamna, Arpinum—'