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wonders.”
    â€œHail Caesar!”
    â€œLong live Caesar!”
    â€œYou, the citizens of this great Empire,” he continued, smiling at the adulation, “may well ask how shall we accomplish these undertakings. How, because we are a generous people, shall we spread this great culture—our knowledge, our wisdom, our art, and our perfect government—from land to land? Well, one way is to conquer anyone who might oppose us and claim the land in the name of ROME!”
    The crowd went wild.
    â€œFor, as I have shown, no one may defeat our armies!”
    Again, the crowd cheered madly. Caesar smiled and held out his hands, signaling for quiet. Then he gave another signal and a second young man was escorted onto the dais.
    â€œBut then, we must keep it,” he said. “And to that end, I have created …”
    As if he were a conjurer, Caesar held his hand up high, his fingers closed tight around something small.
    â€œâ€¦ this!”
    With amazing dexterity, he tossed a shiny object into the air and caught it with only his thumb and forefinger. It was a single gold coin.
    â€œI give you … the aureus. This will be the coin of the realm and will from this day forth always bear the likeness of your ruler. Since the gods above have seen fit to bestow that title upon this humble servant, let us hope it is my profile which graces this simple golden disc for many years to come.”
    â€œHail Caesar!”
    All of a sudden, Pandy saw Lucius Valerius’s head stretch a little longer on his neck. He craned his head over the crown, his eyes focused like a hawk’s on the coin. He was much,
much
more than merely interested. In that moment, something buried deep within her—something she hadn’t experienced or even thought of in many days—began to bubble.
    Her curiosity.
    Her insatiable curiosity was boiling up and telling her that something was happening. Something she’d seen for a while but had been too distracted to pay any attention to: Lucius Valerius was obsessively concerned with this gold coin. Could it be the source of Greed?Perhaps even Greed itself? Caesar had been discussing the size, weight, and purity of the aureus for days with his most private counselors in the Senate; Lucius had been one of them, until he violently disagreed on some point or other and had been excused from further conversations in the “inner circle.” She’d been there when, having been dismissed, he’d sat down in disgrace and ordered her to fetch more water. But, her curiosity questioned, why was he the only one possessed? She couldn’t remember anyone else being affected to such an extent. Did it have something, anything to do with the Theatre of Pompey? His seat, perhaps? No, no that was silly.
    â€œI wish to acknowledge the artist who has so deftly engraved my Roman nose for all to see,” Caesar said loudly, motioning for the new youth on the dais to step to his side. “His very name means creativity. I give you Varius!”
    Varius, a pale young man with hunched shoulders who was obviously unused to such attention, looked like he was going to wither on the spot. Caesar gently moved him away and Varius was returned to the crowd.
    â€œOkay, now
he’s
cute!” Alcie whispered.
    â€œWhat are you talking about?” asked Pandy. “He looked like he was going to faint. He’s white as a sheet. Besides, you have Homer!”
    â€œFirst of all,” Alcie said, turning up her nose, “he’s anartist! And you have to be very … artsy to be an artist, and that includes staying inside a lot. Ergo, no sun. But he’s so intense and brooding, I love it! And second, I will never give up Homer. But just because I’m not buying doesn’t mean I can’t look in the market stalls.”
    â€œI think that’s what my mother used to say to my father,” Pandy said.
    â€œThe first minting of this coin will happen