The Ancient Roman Scrubber
The two, aristocratic Roman ladies – Madam Delphina and her cousin, Madam Florentina – were relaxing on their loungers in the courtyard of the former’s luxurious villa on the outskirts of Ancient Rome. It was a stifling hot summer’s day, but, being respectable Roman matriarchs in their mid forties, the two ladies were, in spite of the heat, modestly attired in their long, white, flowing togas – only their brown-leather-sandalled feet exposed to the strong sunlight. Madam Florentina, it has to be said, had slightly chubbier ankles than her cousin and hostess, Madam Delphina, but both ladies were still considered to be great beauties for their age. They each had many male admirers in addition to their wealthy husbands. The courtyard was silent, but for the sound of three things: the chirping of birds in the surrounding trees; the cascading water from an ornamental fountain in the centre of Madam Delphina’s secluded courtyard; and the scrubbing-brush of one of her male slaves who was on h