But the lover's courage was now sorely tried.

Every mounted courier hastening to Rome on the south road bore a letter from the young man to her he loved.

He met a legion of infantry going north, and envied every soldier, sweating under a set pace of four miles to the hour and a burden of sixty pounds--shield, helmet, breast-plate, pilum, swords, intrenching tools, stakes for a palisade, and corn for seventeen days.
A trireme was waiting for them on the Adriatic Sea, and Vergilius, Manius, and their escort sailed to northwestern Macedonia, mounted horses again, galloping over the great highway to Athens; crossed by trireme to Ephesus, thence to Antioch by the long sea-road, and, agreeably with orders, they began to leave their men at forts along the frontier.
Events on the way filled him with contempt for his country and for himself.

Here and there he met people travelling under imperial passes that gave them the use of the road and a right of free levy for subsistence, often much abused.

These travellers were people of leisure from the large cities, wont to stretch their power to the point of robbery.