The Secret of the Kingdom

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MARCUS MEZENTIUS TO TULLIA: Greeting.

In my earlier letter, Tullia, I wrote of my journeys along the river of Egypt. I stayed in Alexandria for the winter, after waiting for you in vain until the autumn gales set in. I was childish in my lovesickness, for not the richest merchant nor the most inquisitive citizen could have visited the harbor more diligently than I to meet the ships from Ostia and Brundisium. I hovered about the harbor all day until the end of the sailing season, so that at last I became a nuisance to guards, customs officers and port officials with my inquiries.

It is true that my knowledge was hereby increased, and I learned many and varied things from distant countries; but when one has gazed out to sea in vain one’s eyes begin to water, and after the last of the ships arrived I was forced to acknowledge to myself that you had failed me. It is now a year since we met, Tullia, and you persuaded me, with what I now see to have been false vows and promises, to leave Rome.

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