Rob Cain of Ancient Rome Refocused challenged those of who love ancient Rome to write a short story about the arguably emotional pre-Raphaelite painting, “The Romans Leaving Britain,” by Sir John Everett Millais (mid19th-century).
And what a scene it is! The Roman soldier’s body-language is one of despair and pain, and the woman’s appears shocked but stoic. What was the story between these two? The obvious presumption is that they were lovers. But what it if that wasn’t what was going on?
Here’s an early sketch of the painting:
For all the Roman’s clear devotion, he is STILL leaving as we can see by the way he is dressed and his ship in the distance waiting. Why? And what does it mean for her?
That’s the fun thing about prompts–you never know where they are going to lead you. There was something about the woman’s expression that spoke of something besides romantic attachment to me. She did not appear as wrecked by the situation as the poor soldier. Instead, she seemed…determined, perhaps even angry. And the story took off from there.
I also found it interesting that in the early sketch, the shoreline is ambiguous but in the painting it is clearly set in the white cliffs of Dover. That prompted me to wonder about which Celtic tribe had that land before the Romans arrived. And the story took off from there.
You can read it here:
It was a bit of risk to write from this perspective, but also fun. Because what if one moment of insight leads to wrong action? What if you misread a situation and bring the very end that you are trying to avoid into existence?
Those are the questions I grappled with in this story and I’m so glad it won the contest.
Hopefully, I will have the chance to talk with Rob further about it on his Ancient Rome Refocused Podcast.
Thank you, Rob Cain, for hosting this contest and inspiring me to go for it!
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