the Atrium from Brinnaria's point of view. That drawback
was Meffia. Meffia was never ill but never well. Everything
tired her. It tired her to walk upstairs, to stand for any length
of time, to do anything. She was forever sitting down to rest
or lying down to rest. Excitement exhausted her totally. She
was a perpetual worry to the other Vestals.

Otherwise Brinnaria was very happy. Through Flexinna
she had frequent news of Almo. Ancient Rome had no institution,
public or private, in any way corresponding to our post office.
But routes of trade and travel by land and sea were well defined
and traffic along them fairly regular, on the most used routes
almost continual. There were private organizations, vaguely
resembling our modern express companies, which forwarded
merchandise along the main-travelled routes and even into
remote regions. Their messengers took charge of bales, boxes
and packages of all sizes and also of letters. The service on
the roads of Africa, from Bescera, Nepte and Putea along
the frontier of the desert, through Lambese, Capsa and
Thysdrus, to Carthage, by well-built vehicles with frequent
relays of horses on the excellent highroads was fairly good.
The ships from Sicily plied with almost the regularity of our
ocean-liners. Roads and road-service in Sicily were of a high
quality of excellence. The transit to Italy at Messina was a
sort of ferry. Italy was served by a network of roads always
busy. Almo's letters to Flexinna were fairly regular and Vocco
heard frequently from his friends among Almo's brother
officers and sometimes from his military superiors.

Almo was an immediate and brilliant success as a leader of