Things seemed to move so fast. Julius told me that he had spoken to Felix and intended to sail with the tide at sunrise the next day, so he wanted me to be on board as soon as possible. He sent a messenger to his ship to bring a sea chest to the house so that I could pack all my clothes and other belongings. Before we left I saw Attica and told her what was happening. She was shocked to hear that Julius had married me and gave me a hug and her best wishes

“Julius is concerned that the next tremor may destroy the house, maybe even the town.. Would you like me to ask him if you can come with us?” I asked.

Attica smiled. “What would I do in Sardinia? No, I think I will take my chances here. Everyone tells me that after a big tremor there are no more for many years.”

I also bade farewell to Felix and thanked him for all he had done for me. He wished me well and said he hoped I would have a happy life. Then Julius and I walked down to the port and the wharf where the 'Golden Eagle' was tied up. Julius helped me onto the deck of his ship. It was the first time I had ever been on a ship, and I looked around me with interest and told Julius that his ship was beautiful. He seemed to swell with pride. Then he called the crew from their labours for a moment and told them that I was his new wife and he expected them to treat me with great respect. They all touched their foreheads in acknowledgment of me.

As captain, Julius had a small cabin with a single bunk bed, a small table and a chair. That night we made love in the bed and then Julius left me to sleep in the bunk, while he slept in his chair. I was not really happy with that since I thought he would be uncomfortable, but there was no alternative. Even tied to the wharf, the ship rocked slightly and I was soon lulled to sleep.

When I awoke, it still seemed dark, but there was little light below decks. Julius was no longer in his chair and I could feel from the motion of the ship that we were at sea. I dressed in a tunic and woolen stola and walked up on deck. Looking over the stern I could see the sky was lightening over Vesuvius and we already seemed some leagues out to sea. There was a wisp of smoke over the volcano but all was calm. Julius had been standing next to the man holding the tiller and seeing me he came up and said quietly: “Good morning my love, did you sleep well?”

“Very well indeed, my lord,” I said, and Julius smiled. It was time for 'ientaculum' (breakfast) and we had wheaten pancakes with dates and honey, washed down with water. The sun rose and I watched the sailors with great interest as they trimmed the sails to maximize the speed of the ship. The wind was coming from the north-west, which maximized our speed as we sailed for Sardinia. Time passed and I had grown used to the gentle rocking of the ship. Later, Julius told me that he wondered if I would suffer from seasickness but I was fine.

It was about the hour of noon that everything changed. An explosion like thunder came rolling over the water and everyone turned to look over the stern. A giant mushroom-shaped cloud was rising from the crater of Vesuvius high into the sky with fire and flashes of lightning. I have never seen anything more frightening in my life.

“By the gods, I was not wrong to leave,” exclaimed Julius, while I stared at the eruption in horror. Julius gave orders to the crew and helmsman to turn the ship around, saying that we must see if we could help rescue any citizens. I could not take my eyes off the spectacle which appeared before me. As we drew closer the cloud of smoke rose higher and higher into the air. We started to smell sulphurous fumes and I wondered if we were sailing into danger as some of us started to cough, and then the rocks began.

At first, the rocks falling out of the sky were small, and a few bounced off the deck, but then they increased in size, and finally one that appeared the size of a chariot fell into the sea so close to the ship that we were all covered with the spray.

Julius shouted orders to the crew to turn the ship around, and they didn't hesitate to obey him. With the wind once more behind us, we quickly picked up speed.

“No man will ever call me a coward, but neither am I a fool,” said Julius. “What will it profit the citizens of Pompeii if our ship is sunk and all of us lost?”

Once we were out of danger, Julius ordered the ship to head north to the town of Neapolis. He explained to me that the ship had to 'tack', a zigzag progress as we sailed into the wind.

“They will have seen the smoke of the eruption but may not realise how bad it is,” said Julius. I wondered about the fate of Attica, Felix and the rest of the girls. Had they escaped?

As we crossed the bay we saw a few ships heading south towards Pompeii. At the bow of one was an elderly man with white hair and Julius pointed him out to me. “That is Gaius Plinius Secundus, called Pliny the Elder. I met him once, a man of great learning, but why is he sailing to Pompeii at his age?”

Much later we discovered that he was actually sailing to the port of Stabiae, some miles south of Pompeii, in an attempt to rescue some friends, and he died there. Whether he died from the sulphur fumes or a weak heart is not known. Meanwhile, we arrived at Neopolis and notified the authorities of the extent of the disaster, and more ships were sent to attempt rescues despite Julius telling them of the dangers. It was not just Pompeii, but Herculaneum, Oplontis, and Stabiae which were partially or fully destroyed by the eruption. Sometime later, Julius sailed past the shore near Pompeii and told me that there was nothing to be seen of the town but a great pile of ash.

Night was falling and nothing more could be done that day. Meanwhile, the rumbling thunder of the eruption rolled across the bay, and looking south we could see flashes of lightning and flames in the clouds which now obscured the mountain.

“At dawn, I will sail south and see if we can rescue any survivors, but meanwhile we must eat and then rest,” said Julius to the crew. Later, in his cabin, I tried to make him rest on his bunk in preparation for the following day. It took some persuading but eventually, he agreed to sleep for a few hours provided that I awoke him and we changed places. Almost as soon as he lay down he fell asleep. I had no intention of waking him as he needed sleep more than me, but his chair was very comfortable and I fell asleep too.

The next thing I knew, Julius was gently shaking my shoulder to wake me.

“The dawn is breaking,” he said. “I have been on deck and I think the eruption is easing. We will break our fast and then set sail south.”

Before we left, Julius addressed the crew about our voyage. “There may be some danger although I will not willingly lose lives. If anyone wishes to go ashore before we wail, I will not try to prevent him.”

It says much for the crew's confidence in Julius that not one man stirred. As for me, I had total confidence in him. We set sail keeping as close to the shore as was safe and after a couple of hours, Julius said that we were approaching Herculaneum. The cloud of volcanic ash lowered above us and I notice some strange things that looked like rocks floating in the sea about us. When I pointed to them and asked Julius what they were he told me that they were volcanic rock called 'pumice', which had so many air pockets that it floated in the sea. He managed to scoop up some for me to examine closely.

“I have heard that some women use the rock to smooth rough skin,” he said, so I kept the samples he had secured for me.

Soon we were close to the site of Herculaneum which Julius knew well and the crew scanned the shore looking for survivors. Just when we were going to give up one of the seamen shouted and pointed to the shore when about ten people were waving to us. We approached as close as was safe, We were towing a small boat behind the ship which could be rowed to the shore by two seamen and pick up about five people at a time. When they were brought aboard the ship we were shocked by their injuries; most were suffering from burns and in great pain. I assisted by helping to bathe their wounds in wine and also some ointments which I had brought with me as a beauty treatment but put to far better use to help treat their wounds.

We asked where all the people were but they did not know, thinking that some had fled north and escaped and others might be dead. We sailed on but saw no other survivors and the air was becoming filled with sulphurous vapours, so finally, Julius ordered the coxswain to put the ship about and we returned to Neapolis. When we unloaded the injured, they were taken away to be treated and we heard no more of them, but I hope our efforts had helped them to survive.

The news in Neapolis was that Herculaneum and Pompeii were completely destroyed. There seemed to be nothing more that we could do, so the following day we set sail once more, this time for Sardinia. It will never be known how many people died on that terrible day and night, but some say it was as many as twenty thousand.

We sailed into the port of Olbia on the north-east coast of Sardinia. I had spent the days at sea asking Julius every question I could think of about the island of Sardinia and his winery there. He told me that he employed a supervisor called Cassius who looked after the property while he was away. I realized that it was important for me to get on well with him. As Julius's wife, I would be normally in charge of his property while he was away, but Cassius would be the one who knew all about the running of it and knowing men as I did, I felt sure that he would feel jealous of a newcomer and a woman, arriving and being put in charge. I judged that deferring to him and some flattery would not go amiss.

As the ship arrived at the dock, I saw a tall thin figure wearing a toga standing at the dock.

“There he is, there's Cassius,” said Julius waving to him. The figure acknowledged the greeting with a more stately wave of the hand and a bow. It occurred to me that Cassius was going to get quite a surprise seeing me. When the ship docked and the gangplank was lowered, he was the first to come aboard.

“Cassius,” said Julius, “Let me introduce you to my wife Calpurnia Valeria.”

I saw a flash of anger in his eyes, instantly suppressed. Then he bowed low and said: “Welcome to Sardinia, my lady.”

I had to keep a straight face. In less than a week I had fallen in love with a wonderful man and changed from a male harlot to 'my lady'. Nevertheless, Cassius would need careful handling.

“Thank you Cassius for your kind greeting. I am looking forward to furthering our acqaintance. My lord has told me so much to recommend you.”

He produced a tight smile at this bit of flattery, but I think he was not immune to it. I determined that I would defer to him as much as possible, while still making my position as lady of the estate clear to him.

“We heard of the Vesuvius eruption and were quite concerned for your safety, my lord,” said Cassius.

“We were fortunate to leave Pompeii only six hours before it happened, replied Julius. “But we returned to rescue some survivors at Herculaneum. I fear the death toll was very high.”

There was a wagon waiting for us to take us to the vineyard some forty minutes away. Cassius stayed behind to supervise the unloading of the ship and transport some goods to the vineyard. As we traveled through the fertile countryside I admired the scenery. We reached the start of some large fields with vines growing in rows and Julius told me that this was part of his property. I looked for his villa but there was no sign of it yet and it was another twenty minutes before we reached the brow of a low hill and Julius pointed out the villa to me.

I was surprised how large it was, in fact, everything about this man surprised me. When I had first met him I was impressed with his physique but thought him to be an ordinary sailor like the many others who visited the bordello. Then I discovered that he was captain of his ship, and later still that he owned the ship and a vineyard on Sardinia, but I'd had no idea just how big it was.

The household had seen us coming from afar and apart from the slaves who were at work in the fields., were all lined up to greet us. I was pleased to see that they all seemed genuinely pleased to see Julius. When he announced me as his new wife, they all clapped their hands. It seemed that they has wanted him to marry for some time. I wondered what they would think if they knew the truth about me, and since he informed me that I would be having some female attendants, they would inevitably know the truth. I did feel a bit concerned but what could I do?

Julius held out his hand to help me down from the wagon and we walked into the villa together. It was designed in the usual Roman manner with the entrance leading into an atrium with a central fountain, and a magnificent mosaic floor depicting Neptunus, the god of the sea, holding his trident. Bedrooms surrounded the atrium; there was a private bathroom with a pool, a dining hall with another beautiful mosaic, this time of Salacia, Neptune's wife, driving a chariot drawn by dolphins. Other parts of the villa included a kitchen, storerooms, servants quarters, a library and study, and a wine cellar. The furnishings of the principal rooms were magnificent and I was open-mouthed in awe.

“You like it then?” said Julius with a smile.

“Like it? It's magnificent,” I gasped.

“It was built by my father. Like me, he loved the sea,” said Julius.

There was a kitchen garden at the rear of the house where fruit, herbs and vegetables were grown. While the dwelling was not big compared to some villas, especially those in Rome, it was very comfortable and certainly the largest house I had ever lived in.

I was introduced to my personal slaves, Flavia and Sabina, both of whom bowed low and said “Welcome to Sardinia, my lady.”. They showed me into my room which was adjacent to Julius's room. The sea chest with all my clothes and belongings had been placed there and they asked if they could unpack it. I agreed, although I felt having people do everything for me would take some getting used to.

They unpacked my clothes and commented on how beautiful they were, and placed my cosmetics on a table. I suspected that from now on I would not be applying them myself.

“Would you like to take a bath after your long journey, your ladyship?” said Sabina. I thought that I might as well get it over with, so I agreed. Before they helped me to get undressed, I said to them both: ”There is something you must know about me. I am my lord's wife but I am a little different to most women and this is something which only you will see and which must not be told to anyone else or my lord will be very angry.”

I'm sure they had no idea what I was talking about until they helped me to remove my garments prior to taking my bath. To give them due credit, they did not gasp or say anything when they saw my mixture of female and male attributes. Perhaps they thought I was a goddess. I am sure that nobody else who saw me had any idea that I was anything other than a young woman and even if they had it would have been in their interests to stay quiet. Julius was a good master, far better than some, but the slaves were his property and he had total command over them and could administer any punishment he wished without any retribution.

That night it was wonderful to give myself body and soul to Julius once more and for many nights to come. I was, however, determined that I would not be just a good bed companion. Julius was quite unlike many of the owners of the adjoining plantations, most of whom left the running of their estates to supervisors while they indulged themselves in over-eating and drinking, and so were often corpulent beyond belief. Julius could easily have employed a captain to sail his ship and take his amphoras of fine wine to Neapolis for sale but he preferred to do it himself. On one occasion he sailed south along to coast to see for himself the destruction of Herculaneum and Pompeii.

“I could scarcely believe what I was seeing,” he said. “I knew that coastline so well, but now it is like a grey desert, not a single building or tree to be seen. Only Vesuvius, the cause of all that destruction remains. I made inquiries about your friends in Pompeii but there was no word of them. I can only assume that they lie buried beneath the ash.”

“I owe my life to you,” I said. “If it were not for you, I would be lying buried with them.”

Julius took me in his arms and kissed me: “I'm so glad that I took you away from the horror.”

To be continued