"Stephen Lawhead - Patrick, Son of Ireland" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lawhead Stephen)

we bred horses for the ala, the mounted auxiliary of the legions.
Harvests were bountiful; the land prospered; our labor was
rewarded a hundredfold.

Wine from Aquitania, woven cloth from Thracia, Neapolitan
glass, Macedonian olives, pepper, oil -all these things and very
much more were ours. We lived well. No senator born in sight of
the Palatine Hill lived better. It is but one of the many follies of
luxury which lead men to believe that plenty now is abundance
always and fortune is everlasting. Pure folly.
 My grandfather was still alive when I was born. I remember
white-haired Potitus, tall and straight, towering in his dark
robes, striding with a face like thunder down the oak-lined
avenue leading from our gate. He was a presbyter, a priest of the
church-not well liked, it must be said, for his stern demeanor
frightened far more than it comforted, and he was not above
smiting obstinate members of his flock with his silver-topped
staff.

That aside, he was not overstrict in his observances, and no
one ever complained about the length of his services. Unlike the
tedious priests of Mithras and Minerva-so careful, so exact, so
smug in the enactment of their obscure rituals -old Potitus saw
no need to weary heaven with ceaseless ceremony or meaningless
repetition. тАЬGod knows the cry of our hearts,тАЭ he would say,
тАЬbefore it ever reaches our lips. So speak it out and have done
with it. Then get about your business.тАЭ

My father, Calpurnius, did just that. He got on with business.
In this he displayed the remarkable good sense of his British
mother and refused to follow his father into the priesthood.
Industrious, ambitious, aggressive, and determined-a man of
little tolerance and less patience -hard-charging Calpurnius
would have made a miserable cleric. Instead he married a
high-born woman named Concessa Lavinia and enlarged our
holdings exceedingly. Owing to his diligence and tireless labor,
the increase in our family fortunes year by year was little short of
miraculous. With wealth came responsibility, as he never ceased
reminding me. He became a decurion, one of the chief
councilmen for our little town-a position which only served to
increase his fortunes all the more, and this despite the taxes
which rose higher and ever higher.

Invariably, after depositing his taxes in the town treasury, he
would come home complaining. тАЬDo we need so many servants?тАЭ
he would say. тАЬThey eat more than cattle. What do they do all
day?тАЭ

тАЬCertainly we need them, you silly man,тАЭ my mother would
chide. тАЬSince you insist on spending dawn to dusk with your