Our Eternal Curse I Read Online Free Page B

fantastic rate but Julia was always particularly interested in
the account of Alexander the Great’s conquest of the Persian Empire which
caused the death of its ruler, King Darius.  Julia was fascinated by accounts
of the great man’s trusted General, Ptolemy, who was known as a conniving man
who manipulated Alexander and his wife Roxane.  Homer told her that the
descendants of Ptolemy still ruled Egypt from the city of Alexandria and Julia
longed to see the wonderful library that her teacher had visited many years
before.
    Of all the books Julia read her
favorite was Homer’s Iliad , which told the 1200-year-old story of the
conquest of an ancient city at the edge of the Aegean Sea by the name of Troy. 
It was a war that lasted ten years, cost thousands of lives, and destroyed the
Trojan civilization.  Her tutor explained that many Romans still believed that
they are the descendants of the fleeing survivors of Troy and Julia was
captivated by the heroic characters who had wonderful names like Agamemnon,
Hector, Paris, Ajax and Achilles.
    There were so many extraordinary
individuals in the story which ended with a wooden horse full of Greek soldiers
who opened the gates of the city from within, but the character who intrigued
her most was Helen, whose beautiful face was said to have launched a thousand
ships.  She was the wife of Menelaus who sailed away with Paris, Prince of
Troy, and caused the Greeks to fight for lost honor.
    Of all the passages in the old
book Julia felt compelled to read and re-read the lament which Homer had chosen
to finish his work.  In his final sentence he explains how Helen stood beside
the great warrior Hector's slain body and compared their misfortunes with the
words, “These tears of sorrow that I shed are both for you and for my miserable
self.  No one else is left.” It was the loneliness of Helen’s words, they
seemed to echo Julia’s fragile existence perfectly.

Joseph
     
    Leaving the house had taken a
year, simply because Julia believed herself too plain for sophisticated Roman
society.  The ornate polished brass mirrors should have exposed the obvious lie
because Cecilia’s grooming had converted her appearance to that of a beautiful
Roman woman, but she could only interpret the image staring back at her in
accordance with the belief she held of herself.  Julia’s mother and father had
installed their negative messages so deeply, that even her dazzling reflection
in the highly polished metal could not dispel their myth.
    Driven by curiosity and the
encouragement of Cecilia, Julia slowly found the courage to exit the front
door.  Infrequently at first, she gradually roamed further each day and her
confidence grew with every trip.  With each week that passed Julia learned to
tolerate the crowds while shopping with the housemaids and it was during these
excursions that she learned the idiosyncrasies of Rome and Romans.  In order to
get to the markets, Julia had to join the throng as it passed along the Forum
Romanum with its spectacular architecture which positively exuded power.  Homer
had explained that this short length of road, which stretched between the
Senate House and the Great Temple of Venus and Roma, was the very center of all
Roman authority.  He spoke of dignified Senators convening great meetings in
the white marble structure, which was also known as the Curia, to discuss and
agree actions which held consequences for the whole of the known world.
    Outside the main building near
the beautiful marble steps where the golden milestone was set, Julia often let
the masses meander around her as she pondered the old distance marker which
signified the beginning of all roads out of Rome.  Legend had it that the
remains of Romulus the mythical founder of Rome, who was suckled by a she wolf,
lay under this stone, but Julia found it hard to imagine any of the wolves
which had passed near her family hut doing anything other than eating the child. 
She also found it