12 An Ancient Legislation

Changying woke slowly from a deep sleep taking in the unfamiliar surroundings of Wang Wei's bedroom and a consistent beeping. 'Oh shit,' she thought, 'What have I done?' Sliding from the bed she wrapped the sheet around her and went in search of the beeping. She found her clothes neatly folded on a chair in the bedroom with her purse and phone lying on top.

She picked up her beeping phone, and turned the alarm off having not remembered setting it. She checked her messages, several from Chunhua which she ignored for now, and one from Wang.

The apartment was eerily quiet as she padded to the bathroom while reading the message. He had left for an early meeting and would be back to collect her by nine. Changying quickly showered and redressed, discarding her ripped pantyhose and rinsing out her filthy panties hoping the flimsy fabric would dry enough in an hour to be wearable again.

The apartment, far from the palatial palace she had imagined he would live in, was compact and serviceable. 'He obviously did not spend much time here,' she thought. She poked around in the kitchen coming up with a breakfast bar and a glass of juice and went into the living to wait. Picking up a large book from the coffee table she thumbed through it looking at pictures and titles not looking too closely at the actual text. Changying realised it was a family history of sorts. It was out of sequence and appeared incomplete and she turned back to the cover, curiously.

The beautiful leather cover was bare of both author or title so she turned to the first page of print and read the page that had clearly been edited more than once, confirming her thoughts that this was a manuscript in progress.

The Law of the Twelve Tables was the ancient legislation that stood at the foundation of Roman law. The Law of the Twelve Tables formed the centerpiece of the constitution of the Roman Republic and the core of the mos maiorum (custom of the ancestors).

The Twelve Tables came about as a result of the long social struggle between patricians and plebeians. After the expulsion of the last king of Rome, Tarquinius Suberbus, the Republic was governed by a hierarchy of magistrates. Initially only patricians were eligible to become magistrates and this, among other plebeian complaints was a source of discontent for plebeians. In the context of this unequal status, plebeians would take action to secure concessions for themselves using the threat of secession. They would threaten to leave the city with the consequence that it would grind to a halt, as the plebeians were Rome's labour force. One of the most important concessions won in this class struggle was the establishment of the Twelve Tables, establishing basic procedural rights for all Roman citizens as against one another.

Changying stood up to take her glass back to the kitchen and check her panties, bringing them back with her. They were still damp and she lay them on the arm of the couch as she picked up the manuscript again. Absolutely engrossed Changying continued to read not watching the time.

During the early 1800's twelve rich and powerful men from across Italy travelled to Rome. They had participated in the defeated revolts against the despotic rulers of Modena, Naples, Venice, Milan, Bologna, Rome and other cities. Drawn together by dealings in business and pleasure, they discovered within each other likeminded patrician sentiment and a reverence for the customs of their ancestors. Each had established the power of the pater familias within the community of his own extended familia. He held legal privilege over the property of the familia, and varying levels of authority over his dependents: these included his wife and children, certain other relatives through blood or adoptions, clients, freedmen and slaves.

Each of the twelve men bore the name Esposito or a variant of it. In ancient times the surname was given to children who were abandoned or given up for adoption and handed over to an orphanage and each man had traced his origins back to a noble and distinguished family and a slave girl. The text went on to list the families and regions their estates lay in and Changying felt her eyebrows raise at some of the names listed.

Each family had agreed to send a younger son, his wife and a body of slaves to the new British Colony to set up a new seat of power for the table of twelve they had created. The Sons would regain their lost family names for their travel documents leaving behind the tainted label of Esposito and the legacy of a bastard ancestor. In 1883, with the successful migration of the families younger sons to the new America's fifty years before, the treaty between Italy and the British Isles allowing citizens of both countries to travel an work freely within each other's states set the wheels in motion for immigration of the fore runners of the families to the new colony, Australia.

A new generation of younger sons could forge their way as pater familias and bring success to the Twelve tables from yet another land. This would safe guard the families against the near extinction they had suffered during the revolts against the Austrian French and swiss usurpers of their lands. In the not so distant past.