I woke with the sun rays beaming from the open door of our small mud brick home. I stand from the uncomfortable straw bed, and go to join my wife, and our two daughters for breakfast. As all of us glance at our neighbors' house, we see their two slaves washing a tunic with hot water. We sigh as we watch the poor woman scrubbing the tunic with her injured, red hands, her dirty black hair hovering in the wind. Of course we feel sorrow for her, but we would give anything to have someone helping us in the house. Of course, the house is not our family's. As foreigners, we cannot own any property in Athens, so we are staying at one of the wealthy land owner's houses. Every month I go to his lavishly decorated home at the bottom of the Acropolis, to pay him with olive oil and grapes, for letting us stay at his house for a while. He ought to kick us out soon though, as he keeps complaining that what we are giving him is not enough.
For breakfast, we eat a grape each, and drink some water. It is all we can afford right now, as the business is not going as well as we expected. Once we finish eating, everybody goes to their daily chores. My wife immediately starts weaving, hoping that we will be able to sell some of her colorful designs at the agora. My younger daughter takes her clay and starts trying to be helpful, by making a strange, curved pot. All of us laugh, as she is only six, and is not very skilled yet. However, my older daughter is great at making jewelry out of rocks, plants and many other things she finds around Athens. Today I am going to the agora to sell her necklaces, and we are all hoping that it goes well. I take all the trading items, and silently step out of the house into the fresh morning. People are hurrying around everywhere, mothers waving to their sons who are running to school. Men are headed to the agora, some to trade, some to chat, and some to exercise. No one notices me, a poor, scruffy merchant, with his hands full of merchandise.
As I get closer to the agora, many more people start entering the huge open space. I quickly grab my usual place before any other trader does, and display all of the goods that I have brought. Then, the usual routine starts. I start shouting at the people who pass by "Necklaces! Jewelry! Very cheap!". Some people stop and look at them, others just hurry by quickly, without even noticing me. The first person to buy a necklace is a small, old man, probably buying gifts for his daughter. He picks out a necklace made out of pink thread, and bright orange rocks. In return, I ask for a pint of olive oil, and a few grapes, so that I could pay the land owner once I head back home. The day starts getting extremely hot and unbearable, and the customers stop coming as men go into to the gymnasium for the afternoon. So I decide to end the day, and go see a play in the theatre. Metics are not always allowed to attend plays, but today I am hopeful that I will be let in.
I take a seat at the very far back, where you can see the whole performance well. It turns out that today a tragedy is being played. Actors take the center stage, and with their depressed, sad-looking masks start saying the lines of their dialogue. After some time, the play finally ends, and the actors bow down, with everyone cheering. I leave the theatre, and head straight home, knowing that I am already quite late. When I get home, I see that my wife has already prepared dinner, a few loaves of bread with olive oil. My daughters devour the loaves ravenously, and my wife and I start talking about how much we miss Thebes, and the life we used to have there. We were citizens, and had many rights. But, now we are in Athens, and we need to focus on getting as wealthy as we possibly can before we go back home.
After we are finished I say good night to my family, and go to sleep, knowing that tomorrow will be another day of hard work.
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