Episode 8.2.a
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"My price for the signum is a small one," says Sinistrus, "though you will work for it, Recentii. (A signum is a mark set into the skin. Only the marked may enter the praetorium.)
"You must pass an examination. Each of you will answer, and by that I mean the Recentii"—here he glances up at the ceiling and waves his hand back and forth at someone beyond it, beaming at his own joke—"I mean the Recentii, not the miserable students sitting in front of their calculators. Each will answer this question:
"'Can learning Roman culture save civilization?'
"Whether your—what does big-D call it? Ah, yes, your 'team'—chooses ita vero or minime, you will answer at a length of ten minutes. So I don't want any namby-pamby"—here Sinistrus makes the strangest pouting face you have ever seen—"minime, because Latin sux nonsense. If you answer minime, you prove that Roman culture cannot save you. Because the Romans wrecked their civilization, rather like you are wrecking yours. Oh, wait. I think I just argued the opposite of what I meant.
"Anyway. You have until whenever..."
He takes a strange black stone from a pouch. He presses something on it, then draws a finger across its face. The stone lights up, crowded with tiny pictures. He holds it the way a boy holds a treasure.
"...your Agent says this prompt is due. So you must decide what your answer is going to be."
Prompt: Decide what your Recentius's answer to the question will be: ita vero or minime. Discuss this only in your team forum.
