The Slave (Journal)

The dark clouds opened up and revealed a clear blue sky as the captured slaves with heads down and tied hands were walking up to the wooden podium. The slave seller came up and shouted, “Who wants this fine man, he’s 25!” Several people glanced at one another until one man raised his hand. “I’ll buy him”. The boy was pushed along by a soldier. “This way” commanded the soldier. “Over here.” The old man sneered and said in stern voice, “We’re going to have some chores when we get home”. The boy gave one last glance to his mom who was thrashing out to him like a bull, but the guards held her back. Dear Journal, You’re not much of a masterpiece with stains and ripped edges, but you’re the best I could find for the job. As you probably guessed, I’m not the richest man in the world.Actually I’m broke. I got nothing, zilch, zero. It’s not that I’m Jobless. No it’s definitely not that, I have plenty of those. I’m not homeless either. No it’s not that. The truth is, I’m a slave. A slave of war. Yep, that’s the sad truth of my life. I’m a nobody, a guy with no life , what a Greek man would call his servant and what a peasant would call an expensive treat. Sorry, but I got to stop now! My stink’ in owner (who obviously needs a makeover) needs help and guess what, I need to help him! The sad life of a Greek slave starts out like our poor little fictional person here where they are forced into slavery as wartime slaves .it was either slavery or death so the option of slavery was a bit more appealing than the other alternative for a captured soldier. If you thought a Greek slave had it hard, just put a Greek slave’s life next to a slave in Rome. Surely lives for the woman and children slaves were just as hard for Greek slaves, but the Men had a different situation. The men were put in the Coliseum in Rome and would spend their time as a gladiator. This was the most horrific and bloodiest job in the world. Being a gladiator was a tough job, and required a lot of physical strength. You would be put up against lions and other dangerous animals .you would be forced to kill your cellmates or be killed by them. If you surrendered, the crowd would decide to let you live or DIE! Dear Journal, Ever since I was sold at the market my meals have been plain and basic. Rice and beans are common and sometimes I can even get lentil soup. I can’t call myself unlucky because all that the Greeks eat are just as plain as my meals. There’s no meat around here! Or at least there isn’t any meat for me. Meat around here is rare unless you are counting fish as meat. Meat is the best part of the meal. It’s the cream of the crop the king of food! And without it my meals seem pointless, bland, and boring. Despite the tasteless food, there is one little snack I am obviously never going to share; honey. As you can imagine meat was expensive due to its rarity. But there were some meat available that weren’t REALLY expensive for one example, chicken. The chicken wasn’t in the form of chicken tenders or your chicken fillet, but never the less there was chicken. Dear Journal, The houses here are strange. All the rooms surround a courtyard that has a fountain at its center. It’s kind of weird, but there are separate rooms for the children, the men, the woman, and me. For some reason the women are kept further back and private in the compound. But the weirdest thing about the houses is that people just go in and out of it as they please. They don’t even ask! They just walk on in and fit their old plum bottoms down and think that they’re welcome! It’s outrageous! Anyway last night the weirdest thing happened. I saw this cloaked figure try to jump into our window but smacked his head on the edge and fell down. I’m not sure who it was but by his dark black cloak he didn’t look friendly. Good thing for me we have high windows or else the mysterious person would make it in! High windows back then helped keep out the people that wore cloaks at night and jumped into windows (AKA crooks) and the dust of the streets. Earlier in the journal entry he said, “The houses here are strange”. He sort of said in the sense of that all Greek houses were like the one he lived in. Of course he was wrong! What about the EXTREMELY rich emperors I suppose they live in the exact same homes?! And what about the peasants and the poor I guess they live in a high class house that costs a lot of money?! Dear Journal, By now you’re probably wondering what I do all day. Work, work, and more work. If I could choose to swap anyone’s schedule it would probably be my owners. He just walks around all day talking to people and watching comedies, dramas, and plays at theatre. Man that old man has it easy! Not all men lived in Greece the way that man did. Some young men had to do labor in the army or if you were at home you would most likely be writing poems, enrolling yourself in the art of philosophy, or studying science. The old man has probably retired and is just enjoying the last 20 or so of his life. Dear journal, Today when I had a little free time on my hands I saw this arena from the top of a building. And then and there I got my first taste of sports in this place. It’s the weirdest thing! These macho men run around in circles, what’s the fun of that?! Then there are these guys doing the same thing the previous guy did but on horses. But then is wackiest thing of all! This wide muscle man throws this disk thingy and the crowd actually loves it! They chant and scream for the guy and he just flashes a smile and throws the disk thing again and again until he starts sweating like a pig then he just sits down for a while awaiting his gift for first place. I heard a little bit more about it at home when he announced that the so-called “Olympic games” was the best it had ever been. He’s all “The Olympics was fantastic this year”, “I haven’t seen anyone so fit in such a long time”, “my favorite sport had to be the discus this year” and “This year the people ran 4800 yards in full armor, amazing!”. He’s really getting on everybody’s nerves, I even saw his wife roll her eyes! I hope his babbling stops soon because I really want to catch some sleep. Have you ever thought how we got the Olympics? The answer is in Ancient Greek history. Like the Greeks, us Americans have discus, running, and javelin. But some of the sports in our modern day Olympics have came out of the more recent sports like basketball and swimming. No one participated for fame or prizes they simply competed in order to honor Zeus. Dear Journal, I find it hard to believe that my owner’s children are so nice. I mean their father is a man who buys people to do his work yet his children are something different. They tell me stories about their friends in Sparta and how they never got caught stealing. They talk to me like I’m someone! They tell me all the awful things that their dad had done and how they hated him. But I still can’t believe how they have his boiling blood yet they are so different! I wonder if they get it from their mom. I would never know because she’s never talking to people socially and she never invites friends over. She seems to be trying to be private in some way… Most of the time boys would be in school for the whole day sunrise to sunset. No break! Some certain schools trained students in war and took pride in it. Surprisingly girls didn’t go to school, but instead learned from their mother what to do at the house. The Greeks had no pride in their girls and as crazy as it seems women were considered “less important” than boys. Shouts rang through the streets like “I think I saw him” or “this is useless!” Dozens of signs were being nailed on the stone walls. A small little cloaked boy walked up to the sign. He read it. It said $50 will be given for the finding of a young slave about 4 feet and 9 inches an extra $30 dollars will be given if he is alive. He is supposing holding a small book probably a journal. Please contact an official if you see or catch the little slave. Thank you. The boy gave a groan. “He’s onto me”. He looked up at the sky. It was getting dark out. He pulled out his book and wrote. Dear Journal, I’m afraid this might be my last journal entry. My owner seems to be very infuriated at my escape. He has a ransom for whoever gets me. He included that I had you at my side so there is no way I’m risking having you along with me. I can’t tell you where I’m going seeing that sooner or later they’re going to retrieve you and spill out all my secrets to the police force. I guess I’m gonna go now. I hope you make it into the right hands. BYE