My favorite homage to the ancient Romans, however, is the small contingent of men (and at least 2 women) who dress as centurions, emperors, and gladiators and stand outside the Colosseum harassing tourists for money. I've never been exactly clear on how approaching women with a wooden sword and yelling 'I killah your husband!' is a sound career choice, but something about them is unusually charming. The men themselves are often brusque and look absolutely nothing like someone who fights for a living, but each person who passes them finds something to like. For me, it is the strange pleasure of watching these men in full ancient costume do things the ancient Romans never would have done, like smoke cigarettes or talk on cell phones. This is fairly regular behavior for the gladiators, but every once in a while they make my day by going above and beyond atypical ancient behavior. Today, it was this:
Yes, the centurions take the bus! I guess this is what happens when your chariot is in the shop... This man hopped on the bus as I was hopping off it, and struck up a conversation with the other man in the picture, thus accomplishing two of my favorite things to observe at once: gladiators doing modern things, and people having absolutely absurd conversations on the bus/in public without acknowledging how bizarre they look or sound.
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