Looking for the author and title of a short story about time travel and an old Roman road. I read the story in 11th grade in 1994. The narrator has a friend who, I believe, is a professor of history.
The professor tells the narrator about a story he heard: each year on a certain night, ancient Roman soldiers (ghost figures) can be seen walking down the road (to or from a battle?) dressed in battle garb. The professor wonders if someone who was dressed to look like them spoke to the soldiers in that ancient dialect, if he might be able to pass through and join them in their time.
The story ends with the professor disappearing on the same night that the soldier’s ghosts were always seen, with the implication that he indeed had learned their dialect, dressed like an ancient Roman soldier and had gone to the spot and successfully spoken with them and passed over to their time in history.
I have been looking for this story for almost 30 years.