"Somtow Sucharitkul - Aquila" - читать интересную книгу автора (Sucharitkul Somtom)

the prow of the motor-car with his white mane and his senator's
toga trailing in the evening breeze.
"Titus, old boy," he growled gruffly, dropping pointedly into
Latin instead of using the Greek of casual conversations,
"remember that you're a Roman. As a citizen you'll never be
crucified, of course; but even so, a lesson well learnt and all that.
The old ways are the best—I don't mean to espouse the Republic
or anything foolish like that, Jove forbid, only to make sure you
grow up straight and true and my son, eh, what! We should never
have let those slimy Greeks come over and transform us into
culture vultures... in the old days men were hard, fighting hard,
playing hard, not like your mincing tutor over here." (Nikias and I
were giggling in the back over some childish matter.)
"Listen, young man, when I talk to you! After all, the Divine
Emperor Lucius Domitius (or Nero as he likes to be called) may
do all this acting and singing, but he chose me, a sober and
staunch man of courage and integrity, to receive the gift of this
magical horseless chariot, of whose locomotive secrets only the
gods Vulcan and Jove know."
 "But Sire," said curly-haired, beardless Nikias of the gaudy
tunic and scented hair, "it is said that this device was invented by
a Greek scientist, Epaminondas of Alexandria, by enlarging on
the theses of the ancients Aristotle and Archimedes; that this
same Greek now holds an important, but secret, position in the
Temple of Jove; that this mysterious engine, over which rites
must be said and sacrificial blood spilt before it will run, is a
simple mechanical device, the basis also of the equally
mysterious ships which even now have returned from Terra Nova
laden with curiosities—"
"Impudent scum! You can't buy a decent slave for a thousand
gold pieces," my father said. "I suppose I'll have to beat you for
impertinence." He pulled a little flail from a fold in his toga.
"Damn these horseless monstrosities anyway! Nothing to whip,
the thing just chugs along without any feel to it—" At that he
began to lay into my poor tutor; but it was more of a gesture than
anything, and he missed more often than not.
"Tell me about Terra Nova, Nikias!" I cried. It was the first
interesting thing to happen that day. "Is it true they've found
barbarians?"
"Yes, and giant chickens, too, that go gobble-gobble-gobble,
and vast herds of aurochs, and the fiercest barbarians
imaginable—thousands in number! Why, they decimated the
Tenth Legion before General Gaius Pomponius Piso—"
"Insufferable!" my father said. "Everyone knows that the
Roman army, in its discipline, its order, and its bravery, has not
been beaten in a thousand years."
“Tell that to the Parthians," said Nikias, deftly dodging a
blow.
"They must be really fierce, these Terra Novans," I said. I
know I had stars in my eyes, because even then I knew I was