TIberius walked along the line of slaves, questioning each as to their skills and finding out what had landed them in the role of a slave.  A man followed along behind him with thin metal collars, which he placed around the neck of each new slave.  The evening air blew cold and some of the slaves were not well dressed.  TIberius ordered that each be properly outfitted before being sent to their new tasks.<br/><br/>Some would be immediately shipped back to the Empire to serve in the great house, or in the fields.  Others were assigned jobs in the army itself as pages and cooks.  One man, a blacksmith, was actually set up with his own forge and told he could easily earn his freedom working for the army, in only a few years.<br/><br/>Lastly he came to a pathetic figure of a woman laying on the ground, chained up like an animal.  She scowled at him as he approached and actually asked what more he could possibly want with her.  She, out of all the slaves, did not seem to appreciate the predicament she was in.  She could be stripped, whipped and then hung, at his pleasure, simply for talking back at him.  Still, he did not, unlike some of the other officers he knew, derive pleasure from abusing his slaves.<br/><br/>The truth was he abhorred slavery, but it was part of the system.  It was as much a part of the world as the sun during the day or the moon at night.  One might as well as the rain not to fall.  He considered her for a moment and then spoke.<br/><br/>"What is your name and what skills have you, that would make you of any use?"