No worries Fenton! My entry is so feeble that I'm almost embarrassed. I can only plead illness and exhaustion and hope we're judged on a curve. ;-).

- With a furtive look to left and right, Gisele drops her entry into the box and scurries away before anyone can see her.

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My Dearest Livia,

I write now to see how you have fared these past days with the coming of the barbarians to our gates. The messenger who carries this is trustworthy and will wait for your reply.

My daughters and I are well and under the protection of Gaiseric, the Vandal king. While we suffer from their uncouth manner and coarse ways, we remain whole of body and have not yet been dishonored by the raiders, for which we may be thankful. Food is still plentiful, although we have not the stomach to eat it. That I must abide one evil to rid us of another is bitter gall indeed! I watched from my window the Holy Father’s plea for the safety of all Romans in exchange for the wealth of Rome. I stood mute as the temples, my home, yes, even my person, were stripped of all that was holy, beautiful, or of worth. I gazed upon the city’s treasures and relics, those precious things heaped upon the tiles like they were less than the meanest horn cup. I am saddened beyond measure by all that I have seen since the coming of the Vandals. But I am free, once and for all, of that faithless schemer, Petronius; I am alive, and my daughters likewise, as are the people. What is the wealth of Rome in comparison to that?

You may hear it said in the streets that it was I who summoned the barbarians, that it was I who brought this humiliation upon our great city. I need not tell you of the destruction that can be wrought by one gossip’s words whispered into another’s willing ear. In less unsettled times, I know that you would seek to defend my name and drive the scandal mongers into the street with insults and stones, but do not do so now, my dear one. Let the people talk. Indeed, let them cry the news from the highest window of the highest house. Yes, I called for aid from the Vandal king and his son. I would rather see Rome stripped of her finest treasures by the invaders than in the hands of the filthy coward who murdered my husband. Even as I grieve for Valentinian, I rejoice in the knowledge that the people of Rome have punished Petronius as he so richly deserved, the traitorous son of a misbegotten pig. I wonder, did he cry out as the first stones hit him? I was daughter to one emperor and wife to another! How dare he take me for his own! Did he truly believe that I would quietly submit to his whims, the whims of a treacherous murderer? What hubris to think that I would not seek his downfall simply because he forced me into marriage. Men! Their ambition makes them witless and they see nothing but what they will, to their detriment. Perhaps Petronius will finally know the truth of it when he reaches hell.

I know that a few have been cruelly used or killed by the raiders, their promises to the Pope notwithstanding. Many more have been taken as slaves and will undoubtedly suffer no small amount at the hands of the Vandal king and his people. My daughters and I are to be taken as hostages of the king and will board their ship tomorrow, but do not despair at this news, my dearest friend. The king’s son, Huneric, has looked upon Eudocia and declared that he will marry her as planned. The king approves and I expect that we will be treated as kin and will suffer the least of any Roman carried to the shores of the barbarian lands.

I do not know when, or even if, I may return to our beloved city and it may be that we will not meet again in this lifetime. Care for yourself, as I do, and know that you remain in my thoughts always.

Lucinia Eudoxia