Extra #6 - Rema's Past

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        Rema, named for a feminine form of Remus, King Romulus' deceased brother, was born into a wealthy family in Rome. Her father, Lucretius Priscus, was a member of King Romulus' Senate and a prominent of the Roman community. Her mother, Julia, was of course a stay at home mother, but she interacted with her children more than most Roman mothers. Speaking of children, Rema was the youngest of her siblings. She had an older brother named Germanicus and two older sisters named Priscilla and Drusilla. Their parents loved them all equally, but Germanicus would inherit the family's wealth due to being the eldest and male.

This, however, did not bother the young Rema. She was happy to just be able to have the life she did. Though, she didn't particularly like he idea of being married off at some point. He parents had her dowery set aside for her when they found the right man for her to marry. Her sisters and brother didn't even have husbands or a wife yet, but her parents seemed to want to marry her off right away. At age thirteen, she was an eligible bachelorette. Her sisters teased her, saying that men in Rome liked their women young and beautiful.

"Then why aren't the two of you married yet?" the young girl inquired.

Drusilla and Priscilla looked at Rema owlishly. "We aren't as young as you are anymore. Our husbands will likely be in their sixties by the time we find someone to marry," Priscilla answered.

"Why does it matter how old you get? You'll always be beautiful to the person you marry if they truly love you."

"You're too wise for your own good," Drusilla said as she wiped a tear from her eye. "How can a girl so young be so smart and not have an extensive education?"

"She listens to politics, sister. She is more aware of the happenings of the Senate than our own brother, and he says he wants to be a senator one day. If one woman knows a hundred ways to solve issues within her home, Rema knows a thousand," Priscilla spoke.

        Drusilla nodded in agreement. Rema was blushing slightly from the praise she received from her sisters. The girls laughed and went about their day as usual. A year had then passed since Rema turned thirteen and she still didn't have a husband, not that she minded. As a wife, she'd be giving up some of the rights she had as a dependent of her father, not that she had many to begin with anyway. She'd be expected to have children almost right away, and as a fourteen year old, she was not ready for such a big step in life. She did have suitors though. Many of the unmarried and single senators wished to court her and marry, but her father thankfully declined their offers after seeing how they treated his daughter when they interacted. Romulus, however, was one of the very few single senators that showed no interest in her whatsoever. Then again, he had no idea that she even existed.

        The rest of that year had passed by and Rema turned fifteen. She was still unmarried, but more suitors began to plague her. She disliked everyone of them. No, it wasn't because of their age, seeing as though most of them were much older than her, and it wasn't because of their looks because many of them were handsome. It was because of their attitudes and personalities. They seemed lustful and hungry for wealth and power. They didn't want love. They wanted a pretty little conquest. She had plans to not be one though. She wasn't going to be someone's play toy. She was going to be their equal. They were going to treat her as an equal, or there would be no marriage.

The Roman girl knew that the likelihood of this was very slim. Her father would ultimately choose her husband, not her. She had little say in this matter, and she hated it, but she lived with it. It was her duty as a lady of the elite to marry and produce the next generation of future senators or elite upper class members. Her education didn't matter. Her opinion didn't matter. Her feelings just barely mattered. She had to grin and bear that fact for her entire life. Her daughters, if she were to have any, would face the same fate as her, so she prayed to the gods that she wouldn't have any girls of her own. A son would be much better because they would have more opportunities to do something worth noting. Maybe in later years in her marriage, if conditions for girls improved, she'd want one, but until that happened she didn't.

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