This fan represents the sorrowful story of Lucius and Tarquinius, two friends from vastly different backgrounds and upbringings. The setting is 78 AD in the great Roman Empire. Lucius is a slave and works for the family of Tarquinius, a young and adventurous Roman citizen of noble birth. Despite the fact that Lucius is a slave, Tarquinius always saw him as an equal. They developed a great relationship with each other as Tarquinius grew from a child to a young adult. Their relationship was mutualistic. Lucius would give wise advice to Tarquinius, and Tarquinius would pay him back with admiration and appreciation.
However, Tarquinius soon grew bored of his normal way of life in his hometown of Pompeii, Italy. Once Tarquinius turned 26, his desire to explore the rest of the world and do something significant with his life had become so uncontrollable that he declared to his family that he wanted to leave Pompeii. His family, while disappointed that they would not see him for a long time, had no objections. Within a matter of weeks, Tarquinius had a ship ready and set to sail to Rome, his first destination. As he was bidding farewell to his family, Lucius approached him.
They both exchanged to heartfelt goodbyes, and promised that they would see each other again. However, before Tarquinius left, Lucius presented a strange object to him. “What is this? ” Tarquinius asked. “It’s a decorative fan that I bought in the forum for you a couple of days ago. Think of it as a parting gift. ” Lucius replied. “Thank you. Now whenever I lonely or feel far from home, I can look at it and be reminded of both you and my family. ” Tarquinius responded. And with one last goodbye, Tarquinius was off to the dock to board the ship which would first take him to the far away land of Britannia.
As they set off from the port of Pompeii, the sun shined bright and the water was as calm as it could be. The day seemed to be a perfect day to sail. While the seas became violent as the days passed, no weather bad enough to affect the course of the ship ever spawned. The 40 days and nights it took to reach the port of Londinium remained mostly peaceful and steady. Although Tarquinius felt dejected to leave Lucius and his family behind, he was also filled with excitement of the adventure to come.
Tarquinius’s time in Britannia, while somewhat brief, was full of many new and eclectic experiences, ranging from meeting Britons from various tribes to visiting the legion stationed at Hadrian’s wall; however, an empty feeling of heartache persisted within him. Even though the fan that Lucius had given to him was meant to keep him from feeling this loneliness, he still felt it stirring deep within him. Nevertheless, Tarquinius had an idea. He decided that he would write a letter to Lucius so that he could stay in touch with him.
Although, since he was currently residing in an inn scarce with writing supplies, there was no paper in sight on which he could write a letter. It was then that another idea struck him. He could write a letter on the fan given to him by Lucius. Swiftly, he began to write a sincere letter to Lucius, describing both his experiences in Britannia so far and how much he missed him, his family, and his home. As soon as he was finished with the letter, he folded the fan up and took it the next morning to a state-run mailing facility to be delivered to his home in Pompeii.
He also made sure to include instructions for Lucius to mail his response letter to Alexandria, Tarquinius’s next destination. As Tarquinius set sail once again, this time for Alexandria, the sun once again was shining brightly above the calm and shimmering water. The journey was once again uneventful and long, but eventually he arrived in Alexandria. Immediately he rushed to the state-run mailing facility of Alexandria to see if he had received a response letter from Lucius yet. Happily for Tarquinius, Lucius had sent a response letter–on the other side of the fan.
As Tarquinius read through the letter on the fan, the dark feeling of loneliness that once resided within him slowly faded away. The letter described the current affairs of Tarquinius’s family and the changes within the family in the absence of him. In the letter Lucius also described how he had been feeling the same emptiness that Tarquinius had described in his letter to Lucius. Lucius wrote of how he wished to see him again and how he wished that Tarquinius would return soon. As Tarquinius finished reading the letter and stared at the lone “L” (for “Lucius), the empty feeling of loneliness crept back into him.
At that moment Tarquinius knew he had to see his friend Lucius again, as well as his family. He began to write a new letter on the fan, explaining how he could not bare the feeling of being away from Lucius, his family, and his home. He described how he was prematurely ending his attempt at an adventure and returning home and how he could not wait to see Lucius again. After finishing the letter, he closed the fan and brought it back to the state-run mailing facility and addressed it to his home in Pompeii.
Despite Tarquinius’s overwhelming desire to visit the magnificent and expansive Alexandrian library, his desire to return home was putting such an emotional strain on him that it was unbearable to be away from home any longer. He immediately ran to the port of Alexandria in search of a boat that would take him back to Pompeii. He found a captain that was going to Rome, but would stop at Pompeii for 1500 denarii. Tarquinius paid the fee with no thought and boarded the ship. Off they went on the blue and shimmering Mediterranean Sea, sailing onward at a brisk pace. “Okay!
We’re approaching Pompeii now! ” the captain blared. “Finally. ” Quintus thought as he emerged from below the deck. As the ship crept around the stretch of land that shielded the bay of Pompeii, all eyes turned onto the small town. Horror and anxiety could be seen in all the sailors’ eyes, especially Tarquinius. What they were looking at was not a small town, but instead a lack of a town. Hordes of ash covered what used to be Pompeii. Nothing was left to be seen. Only silence remained. The year was now 79 AD, the year in which Vesuvius erupted and effectively wiped Pompeii completely off the map.
As the ship stopped in front of what used to be the port of Pompeii, Tarquinius jumped off the boat and ran up to where the town once was. Knowing that his family and friend Lucius were dead, he collapsed onto his knees and wept. There was nothing left for him, no family and no friends. He had nowhere to go now. His house and fortune was gone, and his only path forward seemed to be one of poverty and eternal misery. “I only wish that I stayed so that I could have died with them. ” he muttered under his breath.
