Letterbox Stories

I don't hold with letterboxes, said Pliny. In my day, we had slaves to deliver our letters personally.

Were they called postmen? I asked.

They were called tabellarii, said Pliny. And their services were available at a price. We also had the Cursus Publicus, which was used to deliver official mail.

How did that work?

Well, the mail was either carried in a horse-drawn vehicle called a cisium, with a box...

A letterbox! I interjected, gratuitously.

If you say so, said Pliny. Alternatively, it was carried by relays of men on horseback, which was a lot faster.

How fast? I asked.

They could travel 500 miles in 24 hours.

Remarkable! I said. You were very organised, you Romans.

We were, said Pliny. We were. But, he added, it was a dangerous business too. The mail carriers were always being set upon by robbers.

It's a dangerous business today as well, I said thoughtfully.

What? I fail to see how.......

Oh yes. Just a few weeks ago we got a letter from Australia Post asking us to remove the spring from our spring-tensioned letterbox.

Oh? Why was that?

It was because a postman had recently been injured while putting mail into a letterbox with that sort of spring.

Surely that wouldn't have resulted in much of an injury?

On the contrary. Unfortunately the injury resulted in the top of the postie's finger being amputated.

Great Jupiter! And I suppose you removed the spring straight away?

No, we didn't.

Oh, I see. Dangerous indeed.