Asia Minor (2)

After settling into my duties, I started receiving some letters
from my family. Being so far away, moving around, it was a
wonder I received any correspondence at all. Of course my
writing letters to them did help my receiving in kind. Alas,
after a year in Asia Minor, I received a sad letter from my
cousin Marc.

His sister Sybil had died of complications of yet a third
pregnancy. I felt dull over this news. I can't say that I was
shocked, not even surprised. Women in this world risk their
lives each time they get pregnant and move into childbirth.
Many women--especially older women--do die! My own
mother died bringing me into this world. Now Sybil was dead,
leaving behind two little boys motherless.

It was only a year later that the dam broke, so to speak. While
attending an evening party at the Governor's Palace, I was
listening to some quiet lilting music. Suddenly tears flooded
my eyes and I was near choking. Quickly I escaped into the
night, walking through the palace's parkland, weeping, nearly
convulsing over the loss of Sybil. I literally wept the whole
night through, finally escaping to my rooms at dawn. It was a
wonder I wasn't caught by the palace guard. Totally spent,
I felt frightful. I can't imagine how I might have looked to others.
But--at last--I had come to terms with the loss of my beloved
Sybil.

A few months later I was notified that I was being promoted to
senior officer of our Speculatore unit. The present senior officer
would be returning to Rome within the next four or five months.
So there would be time for an orderly turnover as well as time
for me to take some furlough, if I so desired. I surely did desire
some time away. But any time away would have to be spent
near. Returning to Rome was precluded, because of the distance.

Since that night in the palace gardens, weeping over the loss of
Sybil, I decided that the health resort up at nearby Pergamum
would suit me. Called the "Asclepeion," named after the god of
healing, this resort provided the best of rest and relaxation. It was
a sanctuary consisting of hot and cold baths, with masseurs, and
gardens. And the town of Pergamum, itself, was a beauty to behold.
It had a lovely Acropolis fashioned after the larger one in Athens,
as well as spectacular theatre built into a steep hillside. There was
also a large library, where one could rest and read.

Interesting, as well, was the dream-center. A part of the Asclepeion,
one could spend a night in a special room designed to help a
person sleep well and perhaps to have a luminous dream. I tried
it out, and I did have a different sort of dream. Reporting it to the
dream-guide, it went like this...

I was standing or sitting in a lecture hall, or schola, dressed in my
toga, talking with and teaching a group of people. The scene shifted
and I was attending a joyful picnic on a gentle lush green hillside
overlooking an unknown bay and city in the distance. My hair was
white. I was older, but my companions were all young people. We
laughed and laughed as we conversed with one another.

The Asclepeion's dream-guide laughed too! He said that my special
dream was about my "future." It was utterly obvious that one day I
would become a teacher. A teacher! A teacher of what? Here I was,
a Speculator in the Praetorian Guard, leading at least a quasi-military
life. If I had anything to teach, it would be about our duties. The dream
seemed more sedate than that of a soldier. I was dressed in a toga,
which I rarely wear. Whatever could I be teaching? Besides, a serious
teacher had to be a "Man of Learning." Hardly me! So I left the dream-
center, laughing off the experience, but feeling good nonetheless.
My overall furlough time had been well spent in Pergamum.