Slowly, a small dot in the east of the sky turned a deeper and deeper red. As Aurelia opened her eyes at his request, at the same moment the sun burst from between the hills and the first ray of the new day enveloped them both in warm yellow light. Aurelia's hair, simply tied back, flashed like polished gold in the firelight. Her eyes widened in wonder and her mouth opened slightly as their city awoke beneath them.
"Prima luce," she whispered rapturously, smiling pensively. Dreamily she murmured more to herself that she now understood this saying. For in Rome, life literally awoke with the first ray of sunlight. But Gaius had not brought her up at this early hour to demonstrate a common saying.
"On my sixth birthday, my father woke me up in the middle of the night and we sneaked around the city together with my older brothers," Gaius explained and Aurelia returned his gaze with a smile. Interested, she slipped her free hand under her chin and propped her elbow on her knee. "My father could make an adventure out of any situation and we children adored him. When he had time, he would play the funniest games with us. When dusk fell that morning, we sat down on this very step. My father ordered us to close our eyes and when he noticed that I kept peeping at them through a small crack, he sat me laughing on his lap and covered my eyes with his big, rough hands from the war. From then on it was impossible for me to cheat. After what seemed like an eternity, he finally removed his hands from my eyes again and allowed my brothers and me to look. The sun rose on the horizon and what I saw surpassed everything else. When we arrived, I had caught a first, brief glimpse of Rome, but I had been so struck by her size that I had failed to appreciate her beauty. My father said to us that from today we had two choices: to serve Rome or to be devoured by Rome. My brothers have already been devoured by this city and before you appeared on the beach of Capri, I knew that Rome would soon destroy me too. In all my life I have never seen as much beauty as depravity in any other place - except perhaps Capri, which at that time, however, was for me a detached part of Rome. Without you, sooner or later I would have suffered the same fate as my father and my brothers. But together we can simply achieve anything and overcome everything."
Full of love, she looked up at him, bent down and kissed him gently. At some point they broke away from each other and looked at the beautiful sunrise. Excitedly, Aurelia kept pointing to some buildings and districts, which Gaius patiently explained to her. He was deeply moved by her enthusiasm. His fiancée had fallen in love with his city and Gaius intended to turn it into hers. For even if they had to gradually break down the old barriers together, one day they would rule side by side.

After half an hour, he gently nudged Aurelia and wanted to know if she was ready for the next adventure. Her eyes sparkled with joy as she nodded. Smiling, he pulled her to her feet with him and pointed to the entrance of the temple behind him.
"Then let us first thank the gods for bringing us together," he said merrily and, smiling, pulled her with him into the sublime silence of the temple. As Gaius tried to pull a fold of his toga over his head out of habit, he reached into the void and almost had to laugh at his own carelessness. At the same moment as he was already about to joke about his deep pietas, a small jerk backwards went through his right arm. Immediately he stopped and concentrated again on his beautiful companion.
On the threshold, Aurelia had stopped as if thunderstruck and was now staring open-mouthed at the statues of the three gods. Gaius had not had to think long at all about what he would start their little sightseeing tour with. The Capitoline Temple was dedicated to the divine Triad - Jupiter, Juno and Minerva - and in his life Gaius had hardly ever entered a more sacred and fascinating temple. When you entered, you looked directly into the painted face of the supreme of all the gods. In the twilight of the temple, he seemed to look down on mortals and demand absolute worship. In front of him was his elegant altar. On it stood a charcoal basin, its lazily glowing embers seemingly waiting for the next sacrifice. On the left was the statue of his wife Juno, who, like Minerva, occupied her own area to Jupiter's right. Of course, colour made them more human too. Their altars seemed less massive, but not tiny.
Aurelia laboriously folded her mouth shut and approached the images of the gods. Gaius, still holding her hand tightly, matched his steps to hers and tried to see this place through her eyes. In front of Jupiter's altar, she stopped and put her head back to look at the huge statue. Silently, Gaius pulled a bundle of sage and incense from his pocket and handed it to Aurelia. She seemed to wake up from a dream. She looked at him with wide eyes.
"Would you like to say the prayer?" he asked softly, and she murmured that she didn't know how it would work. Reassuringly, Gaius explained that with this kind of prayer she could simply speak from the heart and hesitantly she reached for the herbs. Thoughtfully she turned them in her hand and her gaze flitted back up to Jupiter. Then she nodded.
"Oh gods," she began in a quiet voice. "Whichever of you brought us two together - we thank you. Because of you we have been given the chance of a life together that I hope will be long and happy. I promise that I will do everything I can to make the most of my chance."
Without hesitation she threw the herbs into the fire, which instantly lit up in a large blue flame and immediately a pleasant smell filled the air. Gaius thought he felt a salty breeze on his face for a moment, then the flame diminished the next moment and he was sure he had only imagined the smell. He did not notice the figure of a tall woman in the shadow of a column behind them. He smiled proudly down at his betrothed and silently vowed before all the gods to take his chance with Aurelia. He vowed that his plans for their life together would not remain just pipe dreams. Together they would change this state for the better and fix the mistakes of his predecessors.
His gaze fell on Juno's sublime face. With a small smile on her lips, she seemed to be waiting for him and suddenly a thought popped into his head that thrilled him. This day belonged to them alone. Why shouldn't they make the most of it?
Hastily, he reached into his pocket and, relieved, felt for another bundle of herbs, though he was sure he had only pocketed one.
"Aurelia?" he murmured softly and immediately their eyes met. "Marry me."
Puzzled, she frowned and replied that he himself had set the date of their wedding for the calends of October, six days from now. Flustered, Gaius shook his head.
"No, you misunderstand me," he said. "Marry me now. Here. Just the two of us with the gods as our witnesses. I want to marry you because I love you and if we have to stage a big feast for the people out of our wedding, our feelings may fall by the wayside. Therefore marry me now"
Instead of answering, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him passionately. For a moment he forgot where they were and lost himself in her. When they broke away from each other, smiling, they hurriedly strode over to Juno's altar and stood facing each other. Quietly, Gaius began to explain to her the simple ritual that was at the heart of every Roman wedding. Nervously, he bent down and pulled the simple ribbon from Aurelia's hair, which immediately spilled over her shoulders like a bridal veil, gently framing her beautiful face.
Gently he took her hand and joined their entwined hands with Aurelia's hair ribbon. Full of love, Aurelia looked up at him.
"Where you are Gaius, I am Gaia," Aurelia announced tenderly and briefly they both twisted their lips into an ironic smile at the same time. What a coincidence that his first name of all things had been chosen for this ritual at that time. He quickly threw the bundle into the flames, then grabbed his wife and kissed her like never before. He put all his feelings into this kiss, and he felt their souls irrevocably join together. She was his second self. Intoxicated by their pure love and happiness, they separated and left the temple hand in hand for their next adventure. Amphitrite looked after them with a happy smile and wiped a tear of emotion from the corner of her eye. She was only too happy to fulfil the prayers of her two darlings and give them her blessing.

For two hours they had been wandering through the increasingly crowded streets of his city and by now he had been able to show her almost every one of his favourite places. Aurelia was completely enthralled. She looked around wide-eyed, enjoying the beauty and sometimes even jumping up and down on the spot with little dignity to see better.
What had really given Gaius a headache was the design of the climax of their first date. Ovid recommended taking his sweetheart to the amphitheatre because they could sit next to each other there, but Gaius knew Aurelia's attitude to gladiatorial combat only too well by now and he had unfortunately not organised a re-enactment of a naval battle on the Tiber for today. Aurelia could certainly have enjoyed a comedy or tragedy in Rome's many theatres, but there the seating arrangements were stricter than in the amphitheatre. True, their disguise gave them the appearance of accompanying a very low social rank, so they would have to sit very high up. But even the poor were segregated by gender. Women had to sit alone in a separate area. Only in his imperial box in the front row was such an exception tolerated. However, they could not use these today. After much deliberation, Gaius had decided on the chariot races at the Circus Maximus.
Hand in hand, they strolled past the market stalls of the circus. Again and again, Gaius made sure that they did not accidentally stop at one of the magicians selling escape tablets. Even though magic was forbidden by law, superstition was still deeply rooted among his people. Gaius himself abhorred this tradition of chariot races. No matter how passionate one was about one of the four racing teams, how could one wish so much ill, even death, on the drivers of other teams? Soon enough, Aurelia would see the bad side of her contemporaries, but her day was not to be marred by those shadows.
At one of the stalls, they bought a surprisingly good tasting dish, despite its questionable appearance, which soothingly filled their now growling stomachs. No matter how long they puzzled and joked about what their food might have consisted of, Gaius did not want to know the answer so precisely.
Gaius was examining the range of oil lamps with a feigned professional expression when someone tugged tentatively at the hem of his tunic. Surprised, he turned to his left, but there was no one there. Shrugging his shoulders, he was about to turn back to the goods when the tugging returned. Confused, he turned his gaze downwards and met that of a little boy staring at him with wide eyes.
"What can I do for you?" asked Gaius gently, and the little boy looked around nervously. Aurelia stepped unobtrusively beside Gaius and smiled kindly at the boy. The little one held up a freshly minted denarius so that his own image flashed at Gaius and the boy peeped in his high but loud voice, "Are you the princeps?"
Suddenly Gaius felt nauseous. Panic rose in him. How on earth had he been recognised and then by a child? Who else knew about them? The merchant? The gawkers who immediately formed around them? All of them? They all stared at her and whispered, but he could not understand their words. He had to get out of here. Immediately. But Aurelia's melodic laughter chased away his fear. She squeezed his hand briefly, then released it and crouched down to the boy, who looked up at her in disgruntlement. Quietly she inquired his name and reluctantly he replied, Lucius.
"Lucius, I'm sorry if my reaction offended you," she said soothingly, and the little boy looked at her as if mesmerised. "But the idea that of all men, Marcus should reach such high office is just ridiculous. You know, he's a dreamer and sometimes buries himself in his books for days because he's trying to escape reality. Just look at him, would the princeps deign to come here in such an outfit without his Praetorians?"
The crowd around them scattered with laughter. The boy shook his head in shame, muttered an apology for this intrusion in Gaius' direction and turned to leave. Aurelia grasped his small shoulder comfortingly and pointed to the tiny coin in his hand.
"The effigy is really very small and I suppose you've never been able to see the Princeps up close," she commented and the little one nodded sheepishly. "Then you should not be ashamed of your mistake, Lucius. To err is human and between you and me, it would have been really exciting if you had been right."
The little boy nodded with a smile and Aurelia straightened back up with a smile.
"Keep your curiosity, one day it will guide you to the truth" Gaius interjected, mimicking Aurelia's accent flawlessly. Little Lucius beamed at them both, then dipped into the crowd.
"Let's get out of here quickly, before someone else recognises you who isn't so easily convinced," Aurelia murmured in his ear, and with a smile he grasped her hand.
"Thank you," he whispered and kissed her cheek. Aurelia winked at him, then they disappeared towards the entrances for the less rich and distinguished visitors to the circus, whose seats were on the circus' wooden grandstand.
The circus was a sea of people in red, blue, white and green. Never in his life had Gaius sat in such a bad seat and could care less. Aurelia at his side listened attentively to his explanations about the most important facts of the chariot race and kept asking him questions. He was glad that they did not hold this conversation in his box, for her ignorance only unnecessarily emphasised her Germanic past. Just as he was explaining to her the cult of the four different racing teams sorted by colour, Aurelia interjected: "It's just like a football match, only that not two, but four teams are competing against each other. No wonder some fans mutate into real hooligans!"
"Even though I didn't quite understand what this football or a hooligan was supposed to be - you're probably right, my heart", he replied confused.
Before she could explain this football to him, she noticed something in his marble box. Frowning, she eyed the small figures. One of them stepped to the edge and addressed some words to the waiting spectators, which they did not understand in their seats. They were also too far away to see the speaker's trembling. The heralds who relayed his speech aloud refrained from imitating the stutter.
"Your uncle represents you?" asked Aurelia, aghast, her voice sounding so shrill that Gaius looked around suspiciously, but her surroundings were entirely focused on the lottery that was about to begin.
"It seemed the simplest and most sensible solution. Should I have asked Gemellus to represent me?" he asked pointedly, and Aurelia avoided his gaze. By now the lottery was in full swing. Slaves were throwing balls into the crowd and whoever caught one let out loud cheers while those next to him sighed. Aurelia watched this without any interest, nor did she ask him any further questions. Instead, she seemed to be lost in her own thoughts and a shadow settled over her face. Why had he also mentioned Gemellus? As a child, Gaius had never understood why everyone picked on his uncle so much. Sure, Claudius was different and not as perfect as his brother Germanicus, but behind his shy façade was an equally intelligent mind and as the only one of his nephews, Gaius had also enjoyed listening to him despite his stutter. His stay in Capri had estranged them, but Claudius had immediately agreed, without question, to represent his nephew in today's chariot races.
After the last bullet was caught, Gaius put his arm around Aurelia; she immediately rested her head against his shoulder.
"How strange it would have been if we had won something that I actually wanted to give away," he joked, and she quietly agreed with him.
Then the first cars of the race site pulled in: first the whites, then the reds, the blues and finally the greens. For the first time that day, the disguises got on his nerves. The horses, the chariots and especially the charioteers were too tiny.
"Next time we can sit in your box and let your people stare at us," Aurelia whispered to him and Gaius laughed softly. As long as she was with him, his people were welcome to stare at him. Just as the teams were announced for the first run, the first slaves came through the ranks to receive the bets. The man next to Gaius had the various odds told to him and Gaius nudged his wife unobtrusively.
"Would you like to bet on one of the teams?" he wanted to know, and Aurelia looked at him as if he had lost his mind.
"I don't bet on things I can't influence," she replied irritably, and Gaius signalled the slaves to move on.
"I couldn't agree more," he returned, smiling at her. A strand had come loose from her plait, which she had retied before eating. She frowned thoughtfully and when he guessed her thoughts, he had to laugh again.
"What, as princeps I can't afford not to take part in the betting. But since I am just an ordinary man with an ordinary woman today, I don't have to lose a bunch of money against my will just to make others happy," he explained seriously, and she eyed him sadly. Then she pressed a kiss on his shoulder and murmured: "You will never be normal"
The way she said it made it clear to Gaius that her words were meant as a compliment and he remembered a conversation in Capri where she said how boring normal was. With her, everything was so easy and exciting at the same time - even being normal. When the race began, he prayed to every deity to protect the charioteers from accidents.
The twelve charioteers waited patiently in their starting boxes until Claudius gave the starting signal and they simultaneously dashed out of their boxes onto the arena track. As soon as the race began, Aurelia sat up straighter and watched the proceedings with fascination. The crowd shouted - sometimes they cheered their favourites, sometimes they insulted their opponents. Gaius enjoyed the fact that all eyes were not on him and that he did not have to completely lose his temper for the people by cheering the charioteers excessively. He could just sit back and watch the various strategies of the drivers, which more or less worked out. He could just gaze at the beauty and power of the horses, even if he could only admire them from a distance.
Shortly before his father had died, he had taught him to drive a chariot. Germanicus had had a miniature chariot built especially for his youngest son. In retrospect, Gaius had often wondered to what extent this had served as just another component to edify his father's troop morale. At the time, it had already seemed difficult to him to tame two ponies. He didn't trust himself to steer four of these wild beauties like the charioteers down in the arena. At least not at this speed.
As the seventh and final dolphin lowered itself and the last chariot also crossed the finish line, Gaius exhaled in relief. Despite the high speed and the reckless driving of the charioteers, not one of the cars had had an accident - he had only experienced something like this once before and at that time he had been ten years old. Next to him, Aurelia clapped her hands enthusiastically.
"I always thought chariot races were boring because the drivers always drive in circles, but that was just incredible," she shouted against the noise of the raging crowd celebrating the victorious charioteer. Gaius winked mischievously at her as slaves hurriedly made their way through the crowd to pay out the winnings.
The winner of the race, one of the blues, climbed the few stone steps to the imperial box and gracefully accepted his tribute from Claudius. As if his uncle had sensed Gaius' gaze, he looked up at him as soon as the blue winner turned his back. A fine smile played around his uncle's lips and Gaius was sure he would have winked at him.
With a smile, Gaius turned to Aurelia and pointed to the obelisk in the middle of the spina, the turning point of the racecourse.
"Augustus brought the obelisk from Egypt and erected it on a wooden spina," he shouted against the noise and Aurelia shouted back laughing that she already knew that. Like a maniac he began to grin.
"But did you also know that only three weeks ago I inaugurated the stone spina down there?" he continued shouting and she shook her head grinning. Before she could retort anything, the charioteers were already pulling into the starting pits for the next race and another wave of slaves were scurrying through the aisles of the spectator stands taking bets. Excited, Aurelia squeezed his hand and smiled happily at him.
They did not watch all twenty-four races that were held that day at the Circus Maximus. After ten races, in which minor accidents occurred but neither animal nor human was seriously harmed, Aurelia became restless, and they left the grandstand. Hand in hand, they strolled through the busy streets of Rome, chatting animatedly. Gaius could not remember the last time he had been so happy. He would have loved to take Aurelia to his palace. But he didn't want to spoil her day with his sister's annoying questions and Macro's lecture. None of the four would be pleased because he had disappeared from the scene for a day - as Aurelia had put it. Since he himself had to be back before nightfall, he led Aurelia back to Vespasius' house an hour before dawn. Hopefully she would not get into trouble for being lost all day without a word, as he had been. But when he saw Aurelia's happy smile, his fears vanished. This day had been worth breaking all the rules.
For a long time, they continued to kiss in the shadow of the small alley in the slave entrance they had used unnoticed this morning. Reluctantly they broke away from each other.
"Thank you for this day with you," Aurelia whispered happily. "That was the best date I've ever had".
Gaius smiled wryly and replied, "I've never had a better date either"
Aurelia laughed and gently boxed him against the upper arm. Enamoured, she returned his gaze.
"You've never had a date before either" she mocked and kissed him softly. Forgetting any glib reply, he pulled her closer to him. Suddenly the door was flung open and they fell into the kitchen, snorting with laughter. A bewildered young slave looked at the couple in irritation and finally recognised his master's daughter. Confused, he offered her his hand, which she gratefully took with a smile, and pulled her to her feet. With embarrassment, the blood rushed to Aurelia's cheeks, looking very lovely. In a good mood, Gaius stood up and stepped onto the doorstep.
"Your father will be overjoyed to know you are home again, milady," the young slave said nervously, his gaze darting back and forth between Aurelia and Gaius. After Aurelia's prompting, he left the kitchen relieved. He was to inform Vespasius of Aurelia's return.
"I should go," Gaius said, disappointment at the end of their indescribably beautiful day flooding through him. Aurelia beamed at him and his sorrow vanished.
"See you tomorrow," she said and pressed a quick kiss to his lips, then closed the door and disappeared into the house.
Smiling, Gaius strolled out of the narrow alley and made his way home. Only now did Clemens disengage himself from shadows and step up to him.
"Do you think she noticed you accompanying us all this time, my friend?" asked Gaius with a grin, and the Praetorian quickly shook his head.
"If I may say so," he put in and Gaius nodded briefly in confirmation. "It seemed quite as if you were too busy with each other to notice anything else"
In the best of moods, they entered Gaius' palace unnoticed just before nightfall, both happy with how the day had gone. For now, Clemens knew for certain that his relative was in the best of hands with Gaius and was looking forward to their wedding in a few days. He had never seen a couple better suited to each other.