How it opens
Rome in that year was two cities, one of marble and one of knives, and the games were held in the wreck of the first.
The bull-hunt had filled the Forum, and every wall of it, from the Claudian arch to the half-eaten temple, carried its freight of Romans.
Your sleeve is torn, madam, and mine appears to be the price of the day.
IreneKeep the sleeve, sir. In Rome a torn sleeve is a certificate, and I have known men earn worse ones for less cause.
Choose
See her out through the press with your own hands.
Send a servant and stay to watch the factions gathering.
Ask her name before the crowd takes her, and lose it in the roar.