"I told you, my Bull, that I buy only wounded persons; one of my fellows bought the lot of children, and also some other little ones, for they picked up some alive from the other chariots. But what does it matter to you whether or not there are children to sell?"
"Because I had a son and a daughter in that chariot," I answered, my heart bursting.
"And how old were they?"
"The girl was eight, the boy nine."
"And your wife?"
"If none of those eleven women found in the chariot were living, my wife is dead."
"Isn't that too bad—too bad! Your wife had already borne you two children; you four would have made a fine deal. Ah, what a lost treasure!"
I repressed a gesture of impotent anger at the scoundrel, and answered:
"Yes, they would have billed us as the Bull and the Heifer!"
"Surely! And since Caesar is going to distribute much of your depopulated country among his veterans, those who have no reserve prisoners will be under the necessity of buying slaves to cultivate and re-people their parcels of land. You are of that strong rustic race, and consequently I have hopes of getting a good price for you from some new colonist."