Bona Dea: A Man Where No Man May Be

December 62 BC: a man at a festival open only to women. A floor plan of Caesar’s house.

Transcript

December sixty-two BC. Caesar’s house. The men have gone out. The women celebrate the secret festival of the Good Goddess.

A veiled lute girl slips among them. Beneath the veil is Clodius, a young aristocrat, still beardless.

Aurelia’s maid addresses the stranger. He answers. His voice betrays him.

Aurelia halts the rite, covers the sacred objects and hunts the intruder with a torch. Clodius flees. By morning all Rome is talking of sacrilege.