Altogether, not such a desolate place after all, I soon decided. Although that was not my impression when I first laid eyes on the place, as my horse crested the top of a gentle hill. Spring had not yet come to Gaul and the landscape was stark, the trees bare. There were little signs of life in the still, cold air, and smoke rose from some of the huts. The prospect before me seemed rather bleak, and my first view of the place caused me to I wonder if I’d made a terrible mistake.

By the time spring came that year, I had settled in nicely. Bernesium became green and rather pleasant, the air caressed with soft breezes, and the budding fruit trees promising an early, warm summer. My men were a rough and rather dull lot-hardly the Praetorian Guard, but on the whole no better or no worse than any other company of common soldiers. Fortunately, my sergeant was a competent enough fellow who pretty much ran things, leaving me with considerable leisure time. Somehow, Sergeant Metellus managed to take care of things, seeing to the daily affairs of the company, assuring that the men were reasonably satisfied, fed adequately, and paid on time. Bernesium is a small town, and small towns abound in rumors. I soon heard the rumors concerning the good sergeant: that he had a lucrative side-business, offering extra protection to the local tradesmen, whose caravans were constantly coming and going through the wild countryside. I never troubled myself about these matters. After all, we had quickly come to a sort of understanding, one that seemed to work for both of us.

And so, with time on my hands, I set out to explore the pleasures of Bernesium, and these-for an officer of the legion, at least-were to be found in only one place: the house of Gratius. It goes without saying that wherever there are soldiers there will be women and wine; some enterprising entrepreneur will always see to that As you might expect, there were several taverns in our town clustered around the fort, and even a surprisingly large inn; but the pleasures of the flesh were provided almost exclusively by one man: Asinus Gratius.