XVI
SNAKE!
It was a beautiful summer day in Rome. The sun dawned in lovely pink hues, and proceeded to make its leisurely way across a sky of purest blue absent of any clouds. In the tops of cypress trees in the gardens of Rome, larks sang to the early morning, pleasing to the Gods’ ears, and mourning doves accompanied them from the pediments of temples, arches and arcades throughout the city.
Aedile Sextus Annius Sabinus awoke feeling a great deal of hope for the day to come. He could not help it, for as the sun arose and laid a blanket of brilliant rays upon him and his wife where they lay abed, the world seemed about to change. He felt that Fortuna had favoured him for all his hard work.
The Ludi Apollinares had been going well since their start only a few days before, and he was co
