Chapter 1 - A new lifestyle

»Quintus. It is very good to see you!«
Quintus turned and faced his old friend, staring blankly at him for a moment. »Appius. One could say, the city has grown on you.«
A broad grin spread over Appius fuller face. »One could definitely say that. But you should probably not be premature in your judgment and now come into my arms, old friend.«
A little while later, both of them sat on the terrace of Appius townhouse with an early glass of wine, olives and little meat-filled pastries.
»You really think, they will accept me among their ranks?« Quintus shook his head doubtfully.
»They love a man from the military every now and then and, what is more important, your time all over the world left you rich as Croesus. They will probably be a bit difficult in the beginning, but with my help, we will convince them in no time.« Appius smiled convincingly.
»What exactly is your angle here, old friend?«
»Quintus, your mistrust hurts me. I want to see your prosper in your political career as much as in your previous one.«
Quintus raised his eyebrows questioningly.
»And you will be one more person in senate to owe me. Though I really stress that the first reason is more important to me.«
They toasted towards each other. Quintus stared at the little garden beneath the terrace. »So, how do we proceed?«
Appius pushed another overripe fig in his mouth. »First, we will introduce you to the important families. Prepare yourself for a lot of partying over the next few weeks starting tonight.«

Quintus watched his vis-a-vis attentively. Grecian, a former senator had an amazing talent for eating and talking at the same time. Though in this case, the term eating should probably be replaced with stuffing his face. Appius voice sounded in his mind: Try to keep up with eating, it could be perceived rudely otherwise. Though Quintus had had more food today alone than in the three days before, he took another sweet dumpling and started to chew.
After the third sweet dumpling his belly felt uncomfortably stretched. He tried to shift to a more comfortable position, but there was none. Grecian offered him a big cup of sweet cream, tasting slightly like vanilla. Quintus tried to swallow as much of it as possible before he would start to gulp. After half of it, he tried to place the cup on a nearby table, missing it and finding himself in the situation, where he couldn’t even get to his feet to pick it up, so overfed was he. »My apologies.«
Grecian waved away his worries with a gesture of his hand. »There is no proper orgy without some damage. It really was a pleasure to meet you, Quintus. We will see us at Gropians festivity the day after tomorrow?«
»Of course. And again, thank you for having me at such short notice.« With that he guessed, he was dismissed. How he should get up from the divan, he rested on, he had no idea.
Luckily, Appius seemed to notice his predicament and hurried over, as fast as a man his weight could. »Told you. There is a reason for the term political heavyweight. I see you put on a good fight.« His friend grinned at him in a spiteful manner, but then supported him nonetheless, almost rolling him to his feet.
Quintus couldn’t hold in a belch and leaned heavily on Appius who dragged him to the door. »This is humiliating.« He sighed, followed by another belch.
»You will get used to it. And sooner than you think, you will feel quite at home in the snake nest of Rome.«