Ashes to Ashes

AD 79 - Herculaneum (a seaside town west of Pompeii), the evening before The Eruption of Mt. Vesuvius

~*~

Bella Principessa,

May this letter find you peaceful, perhaps at rest in your abundant perfume garden. I know it has only been a day since I last held you, but I must write you once more. My thoughts fly too wildly before my eyes and I cannot sleep. I long for the tender embrace of your arms around mine and the warmth of you beside me.

I pray you will allow your most devoted one to describe yet again how I imagine you in our last memory together. Clear as the reflection of a water nymph bathing in the Sarnus river, I see your plump form draped over a feather down filled lecti cubicidares, your upturned face more beautiful to me than the stars on a cloudless evening.

Your soul is purer than newly grown wheat and your voice gentler than the whisper of a summer breeze from the mountain blowing between the grape vines. I remember the tremble in your voice the day you confessed to me your heart's desires.

Know that like the crops planted on the rich soil of the slopes of Mount Vesuvius, my body belongs within the fertile soil of yours. I die each night in my sleep dreaming of the curve of your thighs through your tunic, your glimmering white teeth in the candlelight and the softness of your neck against my lips.

I recall how your eyes shone with tender amore whenever they looked into mine. Your gaze is more luminous than the moon herself, more richly sage green than a thousand emeralds.

Age could never diminish you.

Venus is but a pallid imitation of your perfection.

Even should you turn your back to me, which I hope against hope never happens, know that in rapt attention I shall weep in ecstasy at the fleeting glimpse of your lustrous brown hair cascading down your graceful shoulders.

I beg you to wait for me only once more, and cast your spell of luck in my favor. Concluding the fight in the arena tomorrow afternoon, we may leave this place and make a life together. I will be a free man under the laws of Rome, and yet I know I will never truly be free — nor do I desire it.

For you my Livia, I will enslave myself forever as your truest warrior; and I will surrender my soul to your keeping to do with as you please, whether it be to torture me with your endless charms or embolden me to chase the victories of the Gods.

My limbs ache with eagerness to undertake the fray, to sense the hot blood in my veins flow with the approaching spirit of my freedom as my sword lets flow the blood of those I shall vanquish. The thrumming crowd will cheer my name tomorrow, but my ears would prefer it be you calling my name as you die your small death underneath me.

With a pained mind I must end my letter here as the candle is all but spent and curfew is upon me. But do not fear, for I will meet you in the realm of Somnus. It is not enough to dream of you and yet it must be for now.

Soon I will catch you in my arms and never let you out of my sight again for all eternity. Soon we will witness the births' of our children and take sustenance from our farm.

Soon.

Pray for your gladiator. Pray for your Decimus. He prays for you.

~*~

Amore Mio,

Your letter arrived this morning via messenger. I do not know how you managed to pass it on to my servant at my villa, but I am grateful for the fortune with which I received it. She is a most good woman.

Please know that my heart is a vessel overflowing with boundless love for you Decimus, my gladiator. Your Livia wept reading your words until I had to put the letter away lest it melt under my tears of joy. I have tucked it into my enclave by my dressing area for safekeeping.

I must warn you, however, against writing so passionately to me again and urge you in desperation for the preservation of our happiness to visit the temple of Venus and repent as soon as you are set free.

For although I cherished every morsel of your letter, you must not tempt fate by comparing me to such wonders of nature. I fear you will bring upon us the curse of the evil eye or worse — the wrath of Venus herself.

You forget that we live on the foothills of Vesuvius and she is its patron God. I know you do not understand all of my ancestors' customs, being a Gaul, but I implore you to hold some of your words of praise for me back lest the Gods take us both from this world forever. My heart freezes with worry that should she wish it be so, not even in the afterlife shall we be reunited. Her spite might be too great.

I am certain Venus has been slighted by your comparison as today I have seen so much smoke from the mountain. The earth trembled early this morning as it sometimes does but it seemed more ominous this time. It is as though she was reading your letter over my shoulder and was no longer pleased at her efforts to bring us together.

You must pray for her forgiveness before the battle. You must reassure her that she is the most beautiful and precious of all. For my part I shall do what I can to appease her.

I have already opened several bottles of my best wine to take to her temple, gathered my most valuable gold jewelry and clipped all my budding roses in their prime to lay at the feet of her statue.

I hope it will be enough.

I wish to depart shortly, so I will have enough time to reach your arena, but I am delayed waiting for my escort.

Ever your loving Livia

Post Script.

The escort is still not arrived.

And oh! Oh! The rumbling comes again. I am so afraid, Decimus. Where shall I go if the worst comes to pass? Perhaps the northern coast? Under the shelter of the caves? I will send this letter back to you as soon as I can and pray Mercury hastens the feet of our messenger. You must meet me there.

You must!

In our secret -------

*

Epilogue:

This story is based on a truth. The first of the charred Herculaneum scrolls was found in the late 18th C. While it is unlikely any such love letters were present, the fact that those in the Villa of Papyri survived suggests that maybe, just maybe, such correspondence could have also been preserved somewhere yet to be found.

Physical attempts to read the scrolls were unsuccessful for many decades and it was not until October of 2023 that 3D x-ray technology examination undertaken by 21 year old Luke Farritor allowed the first words written on a scroll to be deciphered.

Who knows what might be read in the coming decades!

Could it be Livia and Decimus' letters? I'd like to think so. I'd like to think too that they escaped and were reunited.

*

Historical Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herculaneum_papyri

Note: epilogue not included in word count. Letter portion 1100 words.

~*~

First Published by Call Me Les on Vocal Media February 2025. All rights reserved.