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diff --git a/15694.txt b/15694.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dbb11b2 --- /dev/null +++ b/15694.txt @@ -0,0 +1,17179 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Friend of Caesar, by William Stearns Davis + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Friend of Caesar + A Tale of the Fall of the Roman Republic. Time, 50-47 B.C. + +Author: William Stearns Davis + +Release Date: April 24, 2005 [EBook #15694] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A FRIEND OF CAESAR *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Stefan Cramme and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +A Friend of Caesar + +A Tale of the Fall of the Roman Republic + +Time, 50-47 B.C. + +By William Stearns Davis + + + + + + "Others better may mould the life-breathing brass of the image, + And living features, I ween, draw from the marble, and better + Argue their cause in the court; may mete out the span of the heavens, + Mark out the bounds of the poles, and name all the stars in their turnings. + _Thine_ 'tis the peoples to rule with dominion--this, Roman, remember!-- + These for thee are the arts, to hand down the laws of the treaty, + The weak in mercy to spare, to fling from their high seats the haughty." + +--VERGIL, _AEn._ vi. 847-858. + + +New York +Grosset & Dunlap Publishers +1900 + + + + +To My Father + +William Vail Wilson Davis + +Who Has Taught Me More +Than All My Books + + + + +Preface + + +If this book serves to show that Classical Life presented many phases +akin to our own, it will not have been written in vain. + +After the book was planned and in part written, it was discovered that +Archdeacon Farrar had in his story of "Darkness and Dawn" a scene, +"Onesimus and the Vestal," which corresponds very closely to the scene, +"Agias and the Vestal," in this book; but the latter incident was too +characteristically Roman not to risk repetition. If it is asked why such +a book as this is desirable after those noble fictions, "Darkness and +Dawn" and "Quo Vadis," the reply must be that these books necessarily +take and interpret the Christian point of view. And they do well; but +the Pagan point of view still needs its interpretation, at least as a +help to an easy apprehension of the life and literature of the great age +of the Fall of the Roman Republic. This is the aim of "A Friend of +Caesar." The Age of Caesar prepared the way for the Age of Nero, when +Christianity could find a world in a state of such culture, unity, and +social stability that it could win an adequate and abiding triumph. + +Great care has been taken to keep to strict historical probability; but +in one scene, the "Expulsion of the Tribunes," there is such a confusion +of accounts in the authorities themselves that I have taken some slight +liberties. + +W. S. D. + +Harvard University, +January 16,1900. + + + + +Contents + + +Chapter Page + + I. Praeneste 1 + + II. The Upper Walks of Society 21 + + III. The Privilege of a Vestal 37 + + IV. Lucius Ahenobarbus Airs His Grievance 50 + + V. A Very Old Problem 73 + + VI. Pompeius Magnus 102 + + VII. Agias's Adventure 117 + + VIII. "When Greek Meets Greek" 146 + + IX. How Gabinius Met with a Rebuff 159 + + X. Mamercus Guards the Door 172 + + XI. The Great Proconsul 198 + + XII. Pratinas Meets Ill-Fortune 217 + + XIII. What Befell at Baiae 241 + + XIV. The New Consuls 262 + + XV. The Seventh of January 277 + + XVI. The Rubicon 302 + + XVII. The Profitable Career of Gabinius 329 + +XVIII. How Pompeius Stamped with His Feet 334 + + XIX. The Hospitality of Demetrius 364 + + XX. Cleopatra 387 + + XXI. How Ulamhala's Words Came True 409 + + XXII. The End of the Magnus 433 + +XXIII. Bitterness and Joy 448 + + XXIV. Battling for Life 464 + + XXV. Calm after Storm 496 + + + + +Chapter I + +Praeneste + + +I + +It was the Roman month of September, seven hundred and four years after +Romulus--so tradition ran--founded the little village by the Tiber which +was to become "Mother of Nations," "Centre of the World," "Imperial +Rome." To state the time according to modern standards it was July, +fifty years before the beginning of the Christian Era. The fierce +Italian sun was pouring down over the tilled fields and stretches of +woodland and grazing country that made up the landscape, and the +atmosphere was almost aglow with the heat. The dust lay thick on the +pavement of the highway, and rose in dense, stifling clouds, as a mule, +laden with farm produce and driven by a burly countryman, trudged +reluctantly along. + +Yet, though the scene suggested the heat of midsummer, it was far from +being unrefreshing, especially to the eyes of one newly come. For this +spot was near "cool Praeneste," one of the favourite resorts of Latium to +the wealthy, invalid, or indolent of Rome, who shunned the excessive +heat of the capital. And they were wise in their choice; for Praeneste, +with its citadel, which rose twelve hundred feet over the adjoining +country, commanded in its ample sweep both the views and the breezes of +the whole wide-spreading Campagna. Here, clustering round the hill on +which stood the far-famed "Temple of Fortune," lay the old Latin town of +the Praenestians; a little farther westward was the settlement founded +some thirty odd years before by Sulla as a colony. Farther out, and +stretching off into the open country, lay the farmhouses and villas, +gardens and orchards, where splendid nuts and roses, and also wine, grew +in abundant measure. + +A little stream ran close to the highway, and here an irrigating +machine[1] was raising water for the fields. Two men stood on the +treadmill beside the large-bucketed wheel, and as they continued their +endless walk the water dashed up into the trough and went splashing down +the ditches into the thirsty gardens. The workers were tall, +bronze-skinned Libyans, who were stripped to the waist, showing their +splendid chests and rippling muscles. Beside the trough had just come +two women, by their coarse and unpretentious dress evidently slaves, +bearing large earthen water-pots which they were about to fill. One of +the women was old, and bore on her face all the marks which a life of +hard manual toil usually leaves behind it; the other young, with a +clear, smooth complexion and a rather delicate Greek profile. The +Libyans stopped their monotonous trudge, evidently glad to have some +excuse for a respite from their exertions. + + [1] Water columbarium. + +"Ah, ha! Chloe," cried one of them, "how would you like it, with your +pretty little feet, to be plodding at this mill all the day? Thank the +Gods, the sun will set before a great while. The day has been hot as +the lap of an image of Moloch!"[2] + + [2] The Phoenician god, also worshipped in North Africa, in whose idol + was built a fire to consume human sacrifices. + +"Well, Hasdrubal," said Chloe, the younger woman, with a pert toss of +her head, "if my feet were as large as yours, and my skin as black and +thick, I should not care to complain if I had to work a little now and +then." + +"Oh! of course," retorted Hasdrubal, a little nettled. "Your ladyship +is too refined, too handsome, to reflect that people with black skins +as well as white may get heated and weary. Wait five and twenty years, +till your cheeks are a bit withered, and see if Master Drusus doesn't +give you enough to make you tired from morning till night." + +"You rude fellow," cried Chloe, pouting with vexation, "I will not +speak to you again. If Master Drusus were here, I would complain of +you to him. I have heard that he is not the kind of a master to let a +poor maid of his be insulted." + +"Oh, be still, you hussy!" said the elder woman, who felt that a life +of labour had spoiled what might have been quite the equal of Chloe's +good looks. "What do you know of Master Drusus? He has been in Athens +ever since you were bought. I'll make Mamercus, the steward, believe +you ought to be whipped." + +What tart answer Chloe might have had on the end of her tongue will +never be known; for at this moment Mago, the other Libyan, glanced up +the road, and cried:-- + +"Well, mistress, perhaps you will see our master very soon. He was due +this afternoon or next day from Puteoli, and what is that great cloud +of dust I see off there in the distance? Can't you make out carriages +and horsemen in the midst of it, Hasdrubal?" + +Certainly there was a little cavalcade coming up the highway. Now it +was a mere blotch moving in the sun and dust; then clearer; and then +out of the cloud of light, flying sand came the clatter of hoofs on +the pavement, the whir of wheels, and ahead of the rest of the party +two dark Numidian outriders in bright red mantles appeared, pricking +along their white African steeds. Chloe clapped her little hands, +steadied her water-pot, and sprang up on the staging of the treadmill +beside Mago. + +"It is he!" she cried. "It must be Master Drusus coming back from +Athens!" She was a bit excited, for an event like the arrival of a new +master was a great occurrence in the monotonous life of a country +slave. + +The cortege was still a good way off. + +"What is Master Drusus like?" asked Chloe "Will he be kind, or will he +be always whipping like Mamercus?" + +"He was not in charge of the estate," replied Lais, the older woman, +"when he went away to study at Athens[3] a few years ago. But he was +always kind as a lad. Cappadox, his old body-servant, worshipped him. +I hope he will take the charge of the farm out of the steward's hands." + + [3] A few years at the philosophy schools of that famous city were + almost as common to Roman students and men of culture as "studying + in Germany" to their American successors. + +"Here he comes!" cried Hasdrubal. "I can see him in the nearest +carriage." And then all four broke out with their salutation, "_Salve! +Salve, Domine!_"[4] "Good health to your lordship!" + + [4] Master, "Lord" of slaves and freedmen. + +A little way behind the outriders rolled a comfortable, four-wheeled, +covered carriage,[5] ornamented with handsome embossed plate-work of +bronze. Two sleek, jet-black steeds were whirling it swiftly onward. +Behind, a couple of equally speedy grey mules were drawing an open +wagon loaded with baggage, and containing two smart-looking +slave-boys. But all four persons at the treadmill had fixed their eyes +on the other conveyance. Besides a sturdy driver, whose ponderous +hands seemed too powerful to handle the fine leather reins, there were +sitting within an elderly, decently dressed man, and at his side +another much younger. The former personage was Pausanias, the freedman +and travelling companion[6] of his friend and patron, Quintus Livius +Drusus, the "Master Drusus" of whom the slaves had been speaking. +Chloe's sharp eyes scanned her strange owner very keenly, and the +impression he created was not in the least unfavourable. Drusus was +apparently of about two and twenty. As he was sitting, he appeared a +trifle short in stature, with a thick frame, solid shoulders, long +arms, and large hands. His face was distinctively Roman. The features +were a little irregular, though not to an unpleasant extent. The +profile was aquiline. His eyes were brown and piercing, turning +perpetually this way and that, to grasp every detail of the scene +around. His dark, reddish hair was clipped close, and his chin was +smooth shaven and decidedly firm--stern, even, the face might have +been called, except for the relief afforded by a delicately curved +mouth--not weak, but affable and ingenuous. Drusus wore a dark +travelling cloak,[7] and from underneath it peeped his tunic, with its +stripe of narrow purple--the badge of the Roman equestrian order.[8] +On his finger was another emblem of nobility--a large, plain, gold +ring, conspicuous among several other rings with costly settings. + + [5] _Rheda_. + + [6] Most wealthy Romans had such a _major domo_, whose position was + often one of honour and trust. + + [7] _Paenula_. + + [8] The second order of the Roman nobility. + +"_Salve! Salve, Domine!_" cried the slaves a second time, as the +carriage drew near. The young master pushed back the blue woollen +curtains in order to gain a better view, then motioned to the driver +to stop. + +"Are you slaves of mine?" was his question. The tone was interested +and kindly, and Mago saluted profoundly, and replied:-- + +"We are the slaves of the most noble Quintus Livius Drusus, who owns +this estate." + +"I am he," replied the young man, smiling. "The day is hot. It grows +late. You have toiled enough. Go you all and rest. Here, Pausanias, +give them each a philippus,[9] with which to remember my home-coming!" + + [9] A Greek gold piece worth about $3.60 at the time of the story. + At this time Rome coined little gold. + +"_Eu! Eu! Io!_[10] _Domine!_" cried the slaves, giving vent to their +delight. And Chloe whispered to Lais: "You were right. The new master +will be kind. There will not be so many whippings." + + [10] Good! Good! Hurrah! + +But while Pausanias was fumbling in the money-bags, a new instance of +the generosity of Drusus was presented. Down a by-path in the field +filed a sorrowful company; a long row of slaves in fetters, bound +together by a band and chain round the waist of each. They were a +disreputable enough gang of unkempt, unshaven, half-clothed wretches: +Gauls and Germans with fair hair and giant physiques; dark-haired +Syrians; black-skinned Africans,--all panting and groaning, clanking +their chains, and cursing softly at the two sullen overseers, who, +with heavy-loaded whips, were literally driving them down into the +road. + +Again Drusus spoke. + +"Whose slaves are these? Mine?" + +"They are your lordship's," said the foremost overseer, who had just +recognized his newly come employer. + +"Why are they in chains?" asked Drusus. + +"Mamercus found them refractory," replied the guard, "and ordered them +to be kept in the underground prison,[11] and to work in the chain +gang." + + [11] _Ergastulum_. + +The young man made a motion of disgust. + +"Bah!" he remarked, "the whole _familia_[12] will be in fetters if +Mamercus has his way much longer. Knock off those chains. Tell the +wretches they are to remain unshackled only so long as they behave. +Give them three skins to-night from which to drink their master's +health. Drive on, Cappadox!" + + [12] Slave household. + +And before the fettered slaves could comprehend their release from +confinement, and break out into a chorus of barbarous and uncouth +thanksgivings and blessings, the carriage had vanished from sight down +the turn of the road. + + +II + +Who was Quintus Livius Drusus? Doubtless he would have felt highly +insulted if his family history had not been fairly well known to every +respectable person around Praeneste and to a very large and select +circle at Rome. When a man could take Livius[13] for his gentile name, +and Drusus for his cognomen, he had a right to hold his head high, and +regard himself as one of the noblest and best of the imperial city. +But of course the Drusian house had a number of branches, and the +history of Quintus's direct family was this. He was the grandson of +that Marcus Livius Drusus[14] who, though an aristocrat of the +aristocrats, had dared to believe that the oligarchs were too strong, +the Roman Commons without character, and that the Italian freemen were +suffering from wrongs inflicted by both of the parties at the capital. +For his efforts to right the abuses, he had met with a reward very +common to statesmen of his day, a dagger-thrust from the hand of an +undiscovered assassin. He had left a son, Sextus, a man of culture and +talent, who remembered his father's fate, and walked for a time warily +in politics. Sextus had married twice. Once to a very noble lady of +the Fabian gens, the mother of his son Quintus. Then some years after +her death he took in marriage a reigning beauty, a certain Valeria, +who soon developed such extravagance and frivolity, that, soon after +she bore him a daughter, he was forced "to send her a messenger"; in +other words, to divorce her. The daughter had been put under the +guardianship of Sextus's sister-in-law Fabia, one of the Vestal +virgins at Rome. Sextus himself had accepted an appointment to a +tribuneship in a legion of Caesar in Gaul. When he departed for the +wars he took with him as fellow officer a life-long friend, Caius +Cornelius Lentulus; and ere leaving for the campaign the two had +formed a compact quite in keeping with the stern Roman spirit that +made the child the slave of the father: Young Quintus Drusus should +marry Cornelia, Lentulus's only child, as soon as the two came to a +proper age. And so the friends went away to win glory in Gaul; to +perish side by side, when Sabinus's ill-fated legion was cut off by +the Eburones.[15] + + [13] Every Roman had a _praenomen_, or "Christian name"; also a gentile + name of the gens or clan to which he belonged; and commonly in addition + a cognomen, usually an epithet descriptive of some personal peculiarity + of an ancestor, which had fastened itself upon the immediate descendants + of that ancestor. The _Livii Drusi_ were among the noblest of the Roman + houses. + + [14] Died in 91 B.C. + + [15] In 54 B.C. + +The son and the daughter remained. Quintus Drusus had had kindly +guardians; he had been sent for four years to the "University" at +Athens; had studied rhetoric and philosophy; and now he was back with +his career before him,--master of himself, of a goodly fortune, of a +noble inheritance of high-born ancestry. And he was to marry Cornelia. +No thought of thwarting his father's mandate crossed his mind; he was +bound by the decree of the dead. He had not seen his betrothed for +four years. He remembered her as a bright-eyed, merry little girl, who +had an arch way of making all to mind her. But he remembered too, that +her mother was a vapid lady of fashion, that her uncle and guardian +was Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Crus, Consul-elect,[16] a man of little +refinement or character. And four years were long enough to mar a +young girl's life. What would she be like? What had time made of her? +The curiosity--we will not call it passion--was overpowering. Pure +"love" was seldom recognized as such by the age. When the carriage +reached a spot where two roads forked, leading to adjacent estates, +Drusus alighted. + + [16] The two Roman consuls were magistrates of the highest rank, and + were chosen each year by the people. + +"Is her ladyship Cornelia at the villa of the Lentuli?" was his demand +of a gardener who was trimming a hedge along the way. + +"Ah! Master Drusus," cried the fellow, dropping his sickle in delight. +"Joy to see you! Yes, she is in the grove by the villa; by the great +cypress you know so well. But how you have changed, sir--" + +But Drusus was off. The path was familiar. Through the trees he caught +glimpses of the stately mazes of colonnades of the Lentulan villa, +surrounded by its artificially arranged gardens, and its wide +stretches of lawn and orchard. The grove had been his playground. Here +was the oak under which Cornelia and he had gathered acorns. The +remnants of the little brush house they had built still survived. His +step quickened. He heard the rush of the little stream that wound +through the grove. Then he saw ahead of him a fern thicket, and the +brook flashing its water beyond. In his recollection a bridge had here +crossed the streamlet. It had been removed. Just across, swayed the +huge cypress. Drusus stepped forward. At last! He pushed carefully +through the thicket, making only a little noise, and glanced across +the brook. + +There were ferns all around the cypress. Ivies twined about its trunk. +On the bank the green turf looked dry, but cool. Just under the tree +the brook broke into a miniature cascade, and went rippling down in a +score of pygmy, sparkling waterfalls. On a tiny promontory a marble +nymph, a fine bit of Greek sculpture, was pouring, without respite, +from a water-urn into the gurgling flood. But Drusus did not gaze at +the nymph. Close beside the image, half lying, half sitting, in an +abandon only to be produced by a belief that she was quite alone, +rested a young woman. It was Cornelia. + +Drusus had made no disturbance, and the object on which he fastened +his eyes had not been in the least stirred out of a rather deep +reverie. He stood for a while half bashful, half contemplative. +Cornelia had taken off her shoes and let her little white feet trail +down into the water. She wore only her white tunic, and had pushed it +back so that her arms were almost bare. At the moment she was resting +lazily on one elbow, and gazing abstractedly up at the moving ocean of +green overhead. She was only sixteen; but in the warm Italian clime +that age had brought her to maturity. No one would have said that she +was beautiful, from the point of view of mere softly sensuous Greek +beauty. Rather, she was handsome, as became the daughter of Cornelii +and Claudii. She was tall; her hair, which was bound in a plain knot +on the back of her head, was dark--almost black; her eyes were large, +grey, lustrous, and on occasion could be proud and angry. Yet with it +all she was pretty--pretty, said Drusus to himself, as any girl he had +seen in Athens. For there were coy dimples in her delicate little +chin, her finely chiselled features were not angular, while her cheeks +were aglow with a healthy colour that needed no rouge to heighten. In +short, Cornelia, like Drusus, was a Roman; and Drusus saw that she was +a Roman, and was glad. + +Presently something broke the reverie. Cornelia's eyes dropped from +the treetops, and lighted up with attention. One glance across the +brook into the fern thicket; then one irrepressible feminine scream; +and then:-- + +"Cornelia!" "Quintus!" + +Drusus sprang forward, but almost fell into the brooklet. The bridge +was gone. Cornelia had started up, and tried to cover her arms and +shake her tunic over her feet. Her cheeks were all smiles and blushes. +But Drusus's situation was both pathetic and ludicrous. He had his +fiancee almost in his arms, and yet the stream stopped him. Instantly +Cornelia was in laughter. + +"Oh! My second Leander," she cried, "will you be brave, and swim again +from Abydos to Sestos to meet your Hero?" + +"Better!" replied Drusus, now nettled; "see!" And though the leap was +a long one he cleared it, and landed close by the marble nymph. + +Drusus had not exactly mapped out for himself the method of +approaching the young woman who had been his child playmate. Cornelia, +however, solved all his perplexity. Changing suddenly from laughter +into what were almost tears, she flung her arms around his neck, and +kissed him again and again. + +"Oh, Quintus! Quintus!" she cried, nearly sobbing, "_I am_ so glad you +have come!" + +"And I am glad," said the young man, perhaps with a tremor in his +voice. + +"I never knew how I wanted you, until you are here," she continued; "I +didn't look for you to-day. I supposed you would come from Puteoli +to-morrow. Oh! Quintus, you must be very kind to me. Perhaps I am very +stupid. But I am tired, tired." + +Drusus looked at her in a bit of astonishment. + +"Tired! I can't see that you look fatigued." + +"Not in body," went on Cornelia, still holding on to him. "But here, +sit down on the grass. Let me hold your hands. You do not mind. I want +to talk with you. No, don't interrupt. I must tell you. I have been +here in Praeneste only a week. I wanted to get away from Baiae.[17] I +was afraid to stay there with my mother." + + [17] The famous watering-place on the Bay of Naples. + +"Afraid to stay at that lovely seashore house with your mother!" +exclaimed Drusus, by no means unwilling to sit as entreated, but +rather bewildered in mind. + +"I was afraid of Lucius Ahenobarbus, the consular[18] Domitius's +second son. _I don't like him! there!_" and Cornelia's grey eyes lit +up with menacing fire. + + [18] An ex-consul was known by this title. + +"Afraid of Lucius Ahenobarbus!" laughed Drusus. "Well, I don't think I +call him a very dear friend. But why should he trouble you?" + +"It was ever since last spring, when I was in the new theatre[19] +seeing the play, that he came around, thrust himself upon me, and +tried to pay attentions. Then he has kept them up ever since; he +followed us to Baiae; and the worst of it is, my mother and uncle +rather favour him. So I had Stephanus, my friend the physician, say +that sea air was not good for me, and I was sent here. My mother and +uncle will come in a few days, but not that fellow Lucius, I hope. I +was so tired trying to keep him off." + + [19] Built by Pompeius the Great, in 55-54 B.C. + +"I will take care of the knave," said Drusus, smiling. "So this is the +trouble? I wonder that your mother should have anything to do with +such a fellow. I hear in letters that he goes with a disreputable +gang. He is a boon companion with Marcus Laeca, the old Catilinian,[20] +who is a smooth-headed villain, and to use a phrase of my father's +good friend Cicero--'has his head and eyebrows always shaved, that he +may not be said to have one hair of an honest man about him.' But he +will have to reckon with me now. Now it is my turn to talk. Your long +story has been very short. Nor is mine long. My old uncle Publius +Vibulanus is dead. I never knew him well enough to be able to mourn +him bitterly. Enough, he died at ninety; and just as I arrive at +Puteoli comes a message that I am his sole heir. His freedmen knew I +was coming, embalmed the body, and wait for me to go to Rome to-morrow +to give the funeral oration and light the pyre. He has left a fortune +fit to compare with that of Crassus[21]--real estate, investments, a +lovely villa at Tusculum. And now I--no, _we_--are wealthy beyond +avarice. Shall we not thank the Gods?" + + [20] A member of the band who with Catiline conspired in 63 B.C. to + overthrow the Roman government. + + [21] The Roman millionaire who had just been slain in Parthia. + +"I thank them for nothing," was her answer; then more shyly, "except +for your own coming; for, Quintus, you--you--will marry me before very +long?" + +"What hinders?" cried the other, in the best of spirits. "To-morrow I +go to Rome; then back again! And then all Praeneste will flock to our +marriage train. No, pout no more over Lucius Ahenobarbus. He shan't +pay disagreeable attentions. And now over to the old villa; for +Mamercus is eating his heart out to see me!" + +And away they went arm in arm. + +Drusus's head was in the air. He had resolved to marry Cornelia, cost +what it might to his desires. He knew now that he was affianced to the +one maiden in the world quite after his own heart. + + +III + +The paternal villa of Drusus lay on the lower part of the slope of the +Praeneste citadel, facing the east. It was a genuine country and +farming estate--not a mere refuge from the city heat and hubbub. The +Drusi had dwelt on it for generations, and Quintus had spent his +boyhood upon it. The whole mass of farm land was in the very pink of +cultivation. There were lines of stately old elms enclosing the +estate; and within, in regular sequence, lay vineyards producing the +rather poor Praeneste wine, olive orchards, groves of walnut trees, and +many other fruits. Returning to the point where he had left the +carriage, Drusus led Cornelia up a broad avenue flanked by noble +planes and cypresses. Before them soon stood, or rather stretched, the +country house. It was a large grey stone building, added to, from time +to time, by successive owners. Only in front did it show signs of +modern taste and elegance. Here ran a colonnade of twelve red porphyry +pillars, with Corinthian capitals. The part of the house reserved for +the master lay behind this entrance way. Back of it rambled the +structure used by the farm steward, and the slaves and cattle. The +whole house was low--in fact practically one-storied; and the effect +produced was perhaps substantial, but hardly imposing. + +Up the broad avenue went the two young people; too busy with their own +gay chatter to notice at a distance how figures were running in and +out amid the colonnade, and how the pillars were festooned with +flowers. But as they drew nearer a throng was evident. The whole farm +establishment--men, women, and children--had assembled, garlanded and +gayly dressed, to greet the young master. Perhaps five hundred +persons--nearly all slaves--had been employed on the huge estate, and +they were all at hand. As Drusus came up the avenue, a general shout +of welcome greeted him. + +"_Ave! Ave! Domine!_" and there were some shouts as Cornelia was seen +of, "_Ave! Domina!_" + +"_Domina_[22] here very soon," said Drusus, smiling to the young lady; +and disengaging himself from her, he advanced to greet personally a +tall, ponderous figure, with white, flowing hair, a huge white beard, +and a left arm that had been severed at the wrist, who came forward +with a swinging military stride that seemed to belie his evident years. + + [22] _Domina_, mistress. + +"All hail, dearest Mamercus!" exclaimed the young man, running up to +the burly object. "Here is the little boy you used to scold, fondle, +and tell stories to, back safe and sound to hear the old tales and to +listen to some more admonitions." + +The veteran made a hurried motion with his remaining hand, as if to +brush something away from his eyes, and his deep voice seemed a trifle +husky when he replied, speaking slowly:-- + +"_Mehercle!_[23] All the Gods be praised! The noble Sextus living +again in the form of his son! Ah! This makes my old heart glad;" and +he held out his hand to Drusus. But the young man dashed it away, and +flinging his arms around Mamercus's neck, kissed him on both cheeks. +Then when this warm greeting was over, Drusus had to salute Titus +Mamercus, a solid, stocky, honest-faced country lad of eighteen, the +son of the veteran; and after Titus--since the Mamerci and Drusi were +remotely related and the _jus oscului_[24]--less legally, the "right +of kissing"--existed between them, he felt called upon to press the +cheek of AEmilia, Mamercus's pretty daughter, of about her brother's +age. Cornelia seemed a little discomposed at this, and perhaps so gave +her lover a trifling delight. But next he had to shake all the +freedmen by the hand, also the older and better known slaves; and to +say something in reply to their congratulations. The mass of the +slaves he could not know personally; but to the assembled company he +spoke a few words, with that quiet dignity which belongs to those who +are the heirs of generations of lordly ancestors. + + [23] By Hercules. + + [24] The right of kissing kinsfolk within the sixth degree. + +"This day I assume control of my estate. All past offences are +forgiven. I remit any punishments, however justly imposed. To those +who are my faithful servants and clients I will prove a kind and +reasonable master. Let none in the future be mischievous or idle; for +them I cannot spare. But since the season is hot, in honour of my +home-coming, for the next ten days I order that no work, beyond that +barely needed, be done in the fields. Let the familia enjoy rest, and +let them receive as much wine as they may take without being unduly +drunken. Geta, Antiochus, and Kebes, who have been in this house many +years, shall go with me before the praetor, to be set free." + +And then, while the slaves still shouted their _aves_ and _salves_, +Mamercus led Drusus and Cornelia through the old villa, through the +atrium where the fountain tinkled, and the smoky, waxen death-masks of +Quintus's noble ancestors grinned from the presses on the wall; +through the handsomely furnished rooms for the master of the house; +out to the barns and storehouses, that stretched away in the rear of +the great farm building. Much pride had the veteran when he showed the +sleek cattle, the cackling poultry-yard, and the tall stacks of hay; +only he growled bitterly over what he termed the ill-timed leniency of +his young patron in releasing the slaves in the chain-gang. + +"Oh, such times!" he muttered in his beard; "here's this young upstart +coming home, and teaches me that such dogs as I put in fetters are +better set at large! There'll be a slave revolt next, and some night +all our throats will be cut. But it's none of my doing." + +"Well," said Drusus, smiling, "I've been interested at Athens in +learning from philosophy that one owes some kindness even to a slave. +But it's always your way, Mamercus, to tell how much better the old +times were than the new." + +"And I am right," growled the other. "Hasn't a man who fought with +Marius, and helped to beat those northern giants, the Cimbri and +Teutones, a right to his opinion? The times are evil--evil! No justice +in the courts. No patriotism in the Senate. Rascality in every consul +and praetor. And the 'Roman People' orators declaim about are only a +mob! _Vah!_ We need an end to this game of fauns and satyrs!" + +"Come," said Drusus, "we are not at such a direful strait yet. There +is one man at least whom I am convinced is not altogether a knave; and +I have determined to throw in my lot with him. Do you guess, +Mamercus?" + +"Caesar?" + +Drusus nodded. Mamercus broke out into a shout of approval. + +"_Euge!_ Unless my son Decimus, who is centurion with him, writes me +false, _he_ is a man!" + +But Cornelia was distressed of face. + +"Quintus," she said very gravely, "do you know that I have often heard +that Caesar is a wicked libertine, who wishes to make himself tyrant? +What have you done?" + +"Nothing rashly," said Drusus, also quite grave; "but I have counted +the matter on both sides--the side of Pompeius and the Senate, and the +side of Caesar--and I have written to Balbus, Caesar's manager at Rome, +that I shall use my tiny influence for the proconsul of the Gauls." + +Cornelia seemed greatly affected; she clasped and unclasped her hands, +pressed them to her brows; then when she let them fall, she was again +smiling. + +"Quintus," she said, putting her arm around him, "Quintus, I am only a +silly little girl. I do not know anything about politics. You are +wiser than I, and I can trust you. But please don't quarrel with my +uncle Lentulus about your decision. He would be terribly angry." + +Quintus smiled in turn, and kissing her, said: "Can you trust me? I +hope so. And be assured I will do all I may, not to quarrel with your +uncle. And now away with all this silly serious talk! What a pity for +Mamercus to have been so gloomy as to introduce it! What a pity I must +go to Rome to-morrow, and leave this dear old place! But then, I have +to see my aunt Fabia, and little Livia, the sister I haven't met since +she was a baby. And while I am in Rome I will do something else--can +you guess?" Cornelia shook her head. "Carpenters, painters, masons! I +will send them out to make this old villa fresh and pretty for some +one who, I hope, will come here to live in about a month. No, don't +run away," for Cornelia was trying to hide her flushed face by flight; +"I have something else to get--a present for your own dear self. What +shall it be? I am rich; cost does not matter." + +Cornelia pursed her lips in thought. + +"Well," she remarked, "if you could bring me out a pretty boy, not too +old or too young, one that was honest and quick-witted, he would be +very convenient to carry messages to you, and to do any little +business for me." + +Cornelia asked for a slave-boy just as she might have asked for a new +pony, with that indifference to the question of humanity which +indicated that the demarcation between a slave and an animal was very +slight in her mind. + +"Oh! that is nothing," said Drusus; "you shall have the handsomest and +cleverest in all Rome. And if Mamercus complains that I am extravagant +in remodelling the house, let him remember that his wonderful Caesar, +when a young man, head over ears in debt, built an expensive villa at +Aricia, and then pulled it down to the foundations and rebuilt on an +improved plan. Farewell, Sir Veteran, I will take Cornelia home, and +then come back for that dinner which I know the cook has made ready +with his best art." + +Arm in arm the young people went away down the avenue of shade trees, +dim in the gathering twilight. Mamercus stood gazing after them. + +"What a pity! What a pity!" he repeated to himself, "that Sextus and +Caius are not alive; how they would have rejoiced in their children! +Why do the fates order things as they do? Only let them be kind enough +to let me live until I hold another little Drusus on my knee, and tell +him of the great battles! But the Gods forbid, Lentulus should find +out speedily that his lordship has gone over to Caesar; or there will +be trouble enough for both his lordship and my lady. The consul-elect +is a stubborn, bitter man. He would be terribly offended to give his +niece in marriage to a political enemy. But it may all turn out well. +Who knows?" And he went into the house. + + + + +Chapter II + +The Upper Walks of Society + + +I + +It was very early in the morning. From the streets, far below, a dull +rumbling was drifting in at the small, dim windows. On the couch, +behind some faded curtains, a man turned and yawned, grunted and +rubbed his eyes. The noise of the heavy timber, stone, and merchandise +wagons hastening out of the city before daybreak,[25] jarred the room, +and made sleep almost impossible. The person awakened swore quietly to +himself in Greek. + + [25] No teaming was allowed in Rome by day. + +"_Heracles!_ Was ever one in such a city! What malevolent spirit +brought me here? Throat-cutting on the streets at night; highwaymen in +every foul alley; unsafe to stir at evening without an armed band! No +police worth mentioning; freshets every now and then; fires every day +or else a building tumbles down. And then they must wake me up at an +unearthly hour in the morning. Curses on me for ever coming near the +place!" And the speaker rolled over on the bed, and shook himself, +preparatory to getting up. + +"Bah! Can these Roman dogs never learn that power is to be used, not +abused? Why don't they spend some of their revenues to level these +seven hills that shut off the light, and straighten and widen their +abominable, ill-paved streets, and keep houses from piling up as if to +storm Olympus? Pshaw, I had better stop croaking, and be up and +about." + +The speaker sat up in bed, and clapped his hands. Into the ill-lighted +and unpretentiously furnished room came a tall, bony, ebon-skinned old +Ethiopian, very scantily attired, who awaited the wishes of his +master. + +"Come, Sesostris," said the latter, "get out my best +_himation_[26]--the one with the azure tint. Give me a clean +_chiton_,[27] and help me dress." + + [26] Greek outer mantle. + + [27] Greek under garment. + +And while the servant bustled briskly about his work, Pratinas, for +such was his lord's name, continued his monologue, ignoring the +presence of his attendant. "Not so bad with me after all. Six years +ago to-day it was I came to Rome, with barely an obol of ready money, +to make my fortune by my wits. Zeus! But I can't but say I've +succeeded. A thousand sesterces here and five hundred there, and now +and then a better stroke of fortune--politics, intrigues, gambling; +all to the same end. And now?--oh, yes, my 'friends' would say I am +very respectable, but quite poor--but they don't know how I have +economized, and how my account stands with Sosthenes the banker at +Alexandria. My old acquaintance with Lucius Domitius was of some use. +A few more months of this life and I am away from this beastly Rome, +to enjoy myself among civilized people." + +Pratinas went over to a large wooden chest with iron clasps, unlocked +it, and gazed for a moment inside with evident satisfaction. "There +are six good talents in there," he remarked to himself, "and then +there is Artemisia." + +He had barely concluded this last, hardly intelligible assertion, when +the curtain of the room was pushed aside, and in came a short, plump, +rosy-faced little maiden of twelve, with a clearly chiselled Greek +profile and lips as red as a cherry. Her white chiton was mussed and a +trifle soiled; and her thick black hair was tied back in a low knot, +so as to cover what were two very shapely little ears. All in all, she +presented a very pretty picture, as the sunlight streamed over her, +when she drew back the hangings at the window. + +"Good morning, Uncle Pratinas," she said sweetly. + +"Good morning, Artemisia, my dear," replied the other, giving her +round neck a kiss, and a playful pinch. "You will practise on your +lyre, and let Sesostris teach you to sing. You know we shall go back +to Alexandria very soon; and it is pleasant there to have some +accomplishments." + +"And must you go out so early, uncle?" said the girl. "Can't you stay +with me any part of the day? Sometimes I get very lonely." + +"Ah! my dear," said Pratinas, smoothly, "if I could do what I wished, +I would never leave you. But business cannot wait. I must go and see +the noble Lucius Calatinus on some very important political matters, +which you could not understand. Now run away like a good girl, and +don't become doleful." + +Artemisia left the room, and Pratinas busied himself about the fine +touches of his toilet. When he held the silver mirror up to his face, +he remarked to himself that he was not an unhandsome man. "If I did +not have to play the philosopher, and wear this thick, hot beard,[28] +I would not be ashamed to show my head anywhere." Then while he +perfumed himself with oil of saffron out of a little onyx bottle, he +went on:-- + + [28] At an age when respectable men were almost invariably smooth + shaven, the philosophers wore flowing beards, as a sort of professional + badge. + +"What dogs and gluttons these Romans are! They have no real taste for +art, for beauty. They cannot even conduct a murder, save in a bungling +way. They have to call in us Hellenes to help them. Ha! ha! this is +the vengeance for Hellas, for the sack and razing of Corinth and all +the other atrocities! Rome can conquer with the sword; but we Greeks, +though conquered, can, unarmed, conquer Rome. How these Italians can +waste their money! Villas, statues, pretty slaves, costly vases, and +tables of mottled cypress,[29] oysters worth their weight in gold, and +I know not what else! And I, poor Pratinas, the Greek, who lives in an +upper floor of a Subura house at only two thousand sesterces rental, +find in these noble Roman lords only so much plunder. Ha! ha! Hellas, +thou art avenged!" + + [29] A "fad" of this time. Such tables often cost $20,000. + +And gathering his mantle about him, he went down the several flights +of very rickety stairs, and found himself in the buzzing street. + + +II + +The Romans hugged a fond belief that houses shut out from sunlight and +air were extremely healthy. If such were the fact, there should have +been no sickness in a great part of the capital. The street in which +Pratinas found himself was so dark, that he was fain to wait till his +eyes accommodated themselves to the change. The street was no wider +than an alley, yet packed with booths and hucksters,--sellers of +boiled peas and hot sausage, and fifty other wares. On the worthy +Hellene pressed, while rough German slaves or swarthy Africans jostled +against him; the din of scholars declaiming in an adjoining school +deafened him; a hundred unhappy odors made him wince. Then, as he +fought his way, the streets grew a trifle wider; as he approached the +Forum the shops became more pretentious; at last he reached his +destination in the aristocratic quarter of the Palatine, and paused +before a new and ostentatious mansion, in whose vestibule was swarming +a great bevy of clients, all come in the official calling costume--a +ponderous toga--to pay their respects to the great man. But as the +inner door was pushed aside by the vigilant keeper, all the rest of +the crowd were kept out till Pratinas could pass within. + +The atrium of the house was a splendid sight, with its veined marble +pillars, mosaic floor, bubbling fountain, choice frescoes, and +expensive furniture upholstered in Tyrian purple. A little in the rear +of this gorgeous room was seated in a high armchair the individual who +boasted himself the lord of this establishment, Lucius Atilius +Calatinus. He was a large, coarse man, with a rough, bull-dog face and +straight red hair. He had been drinking heavily the night before, and +his small bluish eyes had wide dark circles beneath them, and his +breath showed strongly the garlic with which he had seasoned the bread +and grapes of his early lunch. He was evidently very glad to see his +Greek visitor, and drove the six large, heavily gemmed rings which he +wore on one of his fat fingers, almost into the other's hand when he +shook it. + +"Well met, Pratinas!" was his salutation. "Tell me, is that little +affair of yours settled? Have you stopped the mouth of that beastly +fellow, Postumus Pyrgensis, who said that I was a base upstart, with +no claim to my gentile name, and a bad record as a tax farmer in +Spain, and therefore should not be elected tribune[30]?" + + [30] The ten tribunes had power to convene the people and Senate, + propose laws and "veto" the actions of other magistrates. + +"I have stopped him," said Pratinas, with a little cough. "But it was +expensive. He stuck out for ten thousand sesterces." + +"Oh, cheaply off," said Calatinus, laughing. "I will give you my +cheque on Flaccus the banker. But I want to know about the other +matter. Can you make sure of the votes of the Suburana tribe? Have you +seen Autronius?" + +"I have seen him," said Pratinas, dryly. + +"And he said?" + +"Twenty thousand sesterces for him to deposit with trustees[31] until +the election is over. Then he as go-between[32] will make sure of a +majority of the tribesmen, and distribute to them the money if all +goes well at the _comitia_.[33] It was the best bargain I could make; +for Autronius really controls the tribe, and some one might outbid us." + + [31] _Sequestres_. + + [32] _Interpres_. + + [33] Assembly of the Roman tribes for election. + +"All right," broke out Calatinus with a laugh, "another cheque on +Flaccus." + +"One thing else," said Pratinas; "I must have a little money to shut +up any complaints that those ridiculous anti-bribery Licinian and +Pompeian Laws are being broken. Then there is my fee." + +"Oh, yes," replied the other, not to be daunted in his good humour, +"I'll give you fifty thousand in all. Now I must see this rabble." + +And the mob of clients swept up to the armchair, grasping after the +great man's hand, and raining on him their _aves_, while some daring +mortals tried to thrust in a kiss. + +Pratinas drew back and watched the crowd with a smile half cynical, +half amused. Some of the visitors were regular hangers-on, who perhaps +expected an invitation to dine; some were seekers of patronage; some +had an eye to political preferment, a few were real acquaintances of +Calatinus or came on some legitimate business. Pratinas observed three +friends waiting to speak with Calatinus, and was soon in conversation. + +The first of the trio was known as Publius Gabinius, who was by far +the oldest. Coarse-featured, with broken complexion, it needed but a +glance to proclaim him as gifted with no other distinctions than those +of a hard drinker, fast liver, and the owner of an attenuated +conscience. Servius Flaccus, the second, was of a different type. He +was languid; spirited only when he railed at a slave who brushed +against his immaculate toga. The frills on his robes made him almost +feminine; and he spoke, even in invective, in a soft, lisping voice. +Around him floated the aroma of countless rare unguents, that made his +coming known afar off. His only aim in life was evidently to get +through it with as little exertion of brain or muscle as was possible. +The third friend was unlike the others. Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus +clearly amounted to more than either of his companions. A constant +worship of three very popular gods of the day--Women, Wine, and +Gaming--with the other excitements of a dissipated life, had ruined a +fine fair complexion. As it was, he had the profile of a handsome, +affable man; only the mouth was hard and sensual, and his skin was +faded and broken. He wore a little brown beard carefully trimmed +around his well-oiled chin after the manner of Roman men of fashion; +and his dark hair was crimped in regular steps or gradations, parting +in the middle and arranged on both sides like a girl's.[34] + + [34] Suet., "Nero," 51. + +"Good morning, Pratinas!" said Lucius, warmly, taking the Greek's +hand. "How glad we are to find you here. I wanted to ask you around to +Marcus Laeca's to-night; we think he will give something of a feast, +and you must see my latest sweetheart--Clyte! She is a little pearl. I +have had her head cut in intaglio on this onyx; is she not pretty?" + +"Very pretty," said Pratinas, looking at the engraving on the ring. +"But perhaps it is not right for me, a grave philosopher, to go to +your banquet." + +"How (h)absurd! (H)of c(h)ourse you c(h)an!" lisped Flaccus, who +affected Greek so far as to aspirate every word beginning with a +vowel, and to change every _c_ into a _ch_. + +"Well," said Pratinas, laughing, for he was a dearly loved favourite +of all these gilded youth, "I will see! And now Gabinius is inviting +Calatinus also, and we are dispersing for the morning." + +"Alas," groaned Ahenobarbus, "I must go to the Forum to plead with +that wretch Phormio, the broker, to arrange a new loan." + +"And I to the Forum, also," added Calatinus, coming up, "to continue +this pest of a canvass for votes." + +The clients fell into line behind Calatinus like a file of soldiers, +but before Pratinas could start away with the other friends, a +slave-boy came running out from the inner house, to say that "the Lady +Valeria would be glad of his company in her boudoir." The Greek bowed +his farewells, then followed the boy back through the court of the +peristylium.[35] + + [35] An inner private court back of the atrium. + + +III + +The dressing room occupied by Valeria--once wife of Sextus Drusus and +now living with Calatinus as her third husband in about four +years--was fitted up with every luxury which money, and a taste which +carried refinement to an extreme point, could accomplish. The walls +were bright with splendid mythological scenes by really good artists; +the furniture itself was plated with silver; the rugs were +magnificent. The mistress of this palatial abode was sitting in a low +easy-chair, holding before her a fairly large silver mirror. She wore +a loose gown of silken texture, edged to an ostentatious extent with +purple. Around her hovered Arsinoe and Semiramis, two handsome Greek +slave-girls, who were far better looking than their owner, inasmuch as +their complexions had never been ruined by paints and ointments. They +were expert hairdressers, and Valeria had paid twenty-five thousand +sesterces for each of them, on the strength of their proficiency in +that art, and because they were said to speak with a pure Attic Greek +accent. At the moment they were busy stripping off from the lady's +face a thick layer of dried enamel that had been put on the night +before. + +Had Valeria been willing, she might have feared no comparison with her +maids; for from a merely sensuous standpoint, she would have been +reckoned very beautiful. She had by nature large brown eyes, luxuriant +brown hair, and what had been a clear brunette skin, and well-rounded +and regular features. But her lips were curled in hard, haughty lines, +her long eyelashes drooped as though she took little interest in life; +and, worse than all, to satisfy the demands of fashion, she had +bleached her hair to a German blonde, by a process ineffective and +injurious. The lady was just fuming to herself over a gray hair +Arsinoe had discovered, and Arsinoe went around in evident fear lest +Valeria should vent her vexation on her innocent ministers. + +Over in one corner of the room, on a low divan, was sitting a +strange-looking personage. A gaunt, elderly man clothed in a very +dingy Greek himation, with shaggy grey hair, and an enormous beard +that tumbled far down his breast. This personage was Pisander, +Valeria's "house-philosopher," who was expected to be always at her +elbow pouring into her ears a rain of learned lore. For this worthy +lady (and two thousand years later would she not be attending lectures +on Dante or Browning?) was devoted to philosophy, and loved to hear +the Stoics[36] and Epicureans expound their varying systems of the +cosmos. At this moment she was feasting her soul on Plato. Pisander +was reading from the "Phaidros," "They might have seen beauty shining +in brightness, when the happy band, following in the train of Zeus (as +we philosophers did; or with the other gods, as others did), saw a +vision, and were initiated into most blessed mysteries, which we +celebrated in our state of innocence; and having no feeling of evils +yet to come; beholding apparitions, innocent and simple and calm and +happy as in a mystery; shining in pure light; pure ourselves, and not +yet enchained in that living tomb which we carry about, now that we +are imprisoned in the body ..." + + [36] The opponents of the Epicureans; they nobly antagonized the mere + pursuit of pleasure held out as the one end of life by the Epicurean, + and glorified duty. + +"Pratinas, to see her ladyship!" bawled a servant-boy[37] at the +doorway, very unceremoniously interrupting the good man and his +learnedly sublime lore. And Pratinas, with the softest and sweetest of +his Greek smiles, entered the room. + + [37] _Cubicularius_. + +"Your ladyship does me the honour," he began, with an extremely +deferential salutation. + +"Oh, my dear Pratinas," cried Valeria, in a language she called Greek, +seizing his hand and almost embracing him, "how delighted I am to see +you! We haven't met since--since yesterday morning. I did so want to +have a good talk with you about Plato's theory of the separate +existence of ideas. But first I must ask you, have you heard whether +the report is true that Terentia, Caius Glabrio's wife, has run off +with a gladiator?" + +"So Gabinius, I believe," replied Pratinas, "just told me. And I heard +something else. A great secret. You must not tell." + +"Oh! I am dying to know," smirked Valeria. + +"Well," said the Greek, confidentially, "Publius Silanus has divorced +his wife, Crispia. 'She went too much,' he says, 'with young +Purpureo.'" + +"You do not say so!" exclaimed the lady. "I always knew that would +happen! Now tell me, don't you think this perfume of iris is delicate? +It's in that little glass scent bottle; break the neck.[38] I shall +use it in a minute. I have just had some bottles sent up from Capua. +Roman perfumes are so vulgar!" + + [38] To let out the ointment. Capua was a famed emporium for perfumes + and like wares. + +"I fear," said Pratinas, doing as bidden, and testing the essence with +evident satisfaction, "that I have interrupted your philosophical +studies." And he glanced at Pisander, who was sitting lonesome and +offended in his corner. + +"Oh! not in the least," ran on Valeria; "but though I know you are +Epicurean, surely you enjoy Plato?" + +"Certainly," said Pratinas, with dramatic dignity, "I suck the sweets +from the flowers left us by all the wise and good. Epicurean though I +am, your ladyship must permit me to lend you a copy of an essay I have +with me, by that great philosopher, the Stoic Chrysippos,[39] although +I cannot agree with all his teachings; and this copy of Panaitios, the +Eclectic's great _Treatise on Duty_, which cannot fail to edify your +ladyship." And he held out the two rolls. + + [39] Born 180 B.C. + +"A thousand thanks," said Valeria, languidly, "hand them to Pisander. +I will have him read them. A little more white lead, Arsinoe, I am too +tanned; make me paler. Just run over the veins of my temples with a +touch of blue paint. Now a tint of antimony on my eyelids." + +"Your ladyship seems in wonderfully good spirits this morning," +insinuated Pratinas. + +"Yes," said Valeria, with a sigh, "I endure the woes of life as should +one who is consoled by philosophy." + +"Shall I continue the Plato?" edged in poor Pisander, who was raging +inwardly to think that Pratinas should dare to assume the name of a +"lover of learning." + +"When you are needed, I can tell you," snapped Valeria, sharply, at +the feeble remonstrance. "Now, Semiramis, you may arrange my hair." + +The girl looked puzzled. To tell the truth, Valeria was speaking in a +tongue that was a babel of Greek and Latin, although she fondly +imagined it to be the former, and Semiramis could hardly understand +her. + +"If your ladyship will speak in Latin," faltered the maid. + +"Speak in Latin! Speak in Latin!" flared up Valeria. "Am I deceived? +Are you not Greeks? Are you some ignorant Italian wenches who can't +speak anything but their native jargon? Bah! You've misplaced a curl. +Take that!" And she struck the girl across the palms, with the flat of +her silver mirror. Semiramis shivered and flushed, but said nothing. + +"Do I not have a perfect Greek pronunciation?" said the lady, turning +to Pratinas. "It is impossible to carry on a polite conversation in +Latin." + +"I can assure your ladyship," said the Hellene, with still another +bland smile, "that your pronunciation is something exceedingly +remarkable." + +Valeria was pacified, and lay back submitting to her hairdressers[40], +while Pratinas, who knew what kind of "philosophy" appealed most to +his fair patroness, read with a delicate yet altogether admirable +voice, a number of scraps of erotic verse that he said friends had +just sent on from Alexandria. + + [40] _Ornatrices_. + +"Oh! the shame to call himself a philosopher," groaned the neglected +Pisander to himself. "If I believed in the old gods, I would invoke +the Furies upon him." + +But Valeria was now in the best of spirits. "By the two +Goddesses,"[41] she swore, "what charming sentiments you Greeks can +express. Now I think I look presentable, and can go around and see +Papiria, and learn about that dreadful Silanus affair. Tell Agias to +bring in the cinnamon ointment. I will try that for a change. It is in +the murrhine[42] vase in the other room." + + [41] Demeter and Persephone, a Greek woman's oath. + + [42] A costly substance, probably porcelain agate. + +Iasus the serving-boy stepped into the next apartment, and gave the +order to one of his fellow slaves. A minute later there was a crash. +Arsinoe, who was without, screamed, and Semiramis, who thrust her head +out the door, drew it back with a look of dismay. + +"What has happened?" cried Valeria, startled and angry. + +Into the room came Arsinoe, Iasus, and a second slave-boy, a +well-favoured, intelligent looking young Greek of about seventeen. His +ruddy cheeks had turned very pale, as had those of Iasus. + +"What has happened?" thundered Valeria, in a tone that showed that a +sorry scene was impending. + +The slaves fell on their knees; cowered, in fact, on the rugs at the +lady's feet. + +"_A! A! A!_ Lady! Mercy!" they all began in a breath. "The murrhina +vase! It is broken!" + +"Who broke it?" cried their mistress, casting lightning glances from +one to another. + +Now the truth had been, that while Agias was coming through a door +covered with a curtain, carrying the vase, Iasus had carelessly +blundered against him and caused the catastrophe. But there had been +no other witnesses to the accident; and when Iasus saw that his +mistress's anger would promptly descend on somebody, he had not the +moral courage to take the consequences of his carelessness. What +amounted to a frightful crime was committed in an instant. + +"Agias stumbled and dropped the vase," said Iasus, telling the truth, +but not the whole truth. + +"Send for Alfidius the _lorarius_,"[43] raged Valeria, who, with the +promptness that characterizes a certain class of women, jumped at a +conclusion and remained henceforth obstinate. "This shall not happen +again! Oh! my vase! my vase! I shall never get another one like it! It +was one of the spoils of Mithridates, and"--here her eye fell on +Agias, cringing and protesting his innocence in a fearful agony. + + [43] Whipper; many Roman houses had such a functionary, and he does + not seem to have lacked employment. + +"Stand up, boy! Stop whining! Of course you broke the vase. Who else +had it? I will make you a lesson to all the slaves in my house. They +need one badly. I will get another serving-boy who will be more +careful." + +Agias was deathly pale; the beads of sweat stood out on his forehead; +he grasped convulsively at the hem of his mistress's robe, and +murmured wildly of "mercy! mercy!" Pratinas stood back with his +imperturbable smile on his face; and if he felt the least pity for his +fellow-countryman, he did not show it. + +"Alfidius awaits the mistress," announced Semiramis, with trembling +lips. + +Into the room came a brutish, hard-featured, shock-headed man, with a +large scar, caused by branding, on his forehead. He carried a short +rope and scourge,[44]--a whip with a short handle to which were +attached three long lashes, set at intervals with heavy bits of +bronze. He cast one glance over the little group in the room, and his +dull piglike eyes seemed to light up with a fierce glee, as he +comprehended the situation. + + [44] _Flagellum_. + +"What does your ladyship wish?" he growled. + +"Take this wretched boy," cried Valeria, spurning Agias with her foot; +"take him away. Make an example of him. Take him out beyond the Porta +Esquilina and whip him to death. Let me never see him again." + +Pisander sprang up in his corner, quivering with righteous wrath. + +"What is this?" he cried. "The lad is not guilty of any real crime. It +would be absurd to punish a horse for an action like his, and a slave +is as good as a horse. What philosopher could endure to see such an +outrage?" + +Valeria was too excited to hear him. Pratinas coolly took the +perturbed philosopher round the waist, and by sheer force seated him +in a chair. + +"My friend," he said calmly, "you can only lose your place by +interfering; the boy is food for the crows already. Philosophy should +teach you to regard little affairs like this unmoved." + +Before Pisander could remonstrate further Alfidius had caught up Agias +as if he had been an infant, and carried him, while moaning and +pleading, out of the room. Iasus was still trembling. He was not a +knave--simply unheroic, and he knew that he had committed the basest +of actions. Semiramis and Arsinoe were both very pale, but spoke never +a word. Arsinoe looked pityingly after the poor boy, for she had grown +very fond of his bright words and obliging manners. For some minutes +there was, in fact, perfect silence in the boudoir. + +Alfidius carried his victim out into the slaves' quarters in the rear +of the house; there he bound his hands and called in the aid of an +assistant to help him execute his mistress's stern mandate. + +Agias had been born for far better things than to be a slave. His +father had been a cultured Alexandrine Greek, a banker, and had given +his young son the beginnings of a good education. But the rascality of +a business partner had sent the father to the grave bankrupt, the son +to the slave-market to satisfy the creditors. And now Alfidius and his +myrmidon bound their captive to a furca, a wooden yoke passing down +the back of the neck and down each arm. The rude thongs cut the flesh +cruelly, and the wretches laughed to see how the delicate boy writhed +and faltered under the pain and the load. + +"Ah, ha! my fine _Furcifer_,"[45] cried Alfidius, when this work was +completed. "How do you find yourself?" + + [45] Furca-bearer, a coarse epithet. + +"Do you mock at me, you '_three letter man_'?" retorted Agias in grim +despair, referring cuttingly to FVR[46] branded on Alfidius's +forehead. + + [46] Thief. Branding was a common punishment for slaves. + +"So you sing, my pretty bird," laughed the executioner. "I think you +will croak sorrowfully enough before long. Call me '_man of letters_' +if you will; to-night the dogs tear that soft skin of yours, while my +hide is sound. Now off for the Porta Esquilina! Trot along with you!" +and he swung his lash over the wretched boy's shoulders. + +Agias was led out into the street. He was too pained and numbed to +groan, resist, or even think and fear. The thongs might well have been +said to press his mind as much as his skin. + + + + +Chapter III + +The Privilege of a Vestal + + +I + +Drusus started long before daybreak on his journey to Rome; with him +went Cappadox, his ever faithful body-servant, and Pausanias, the +amiable and cultivated freedman who had been at his elbow ever since +he had visited Athens. For a while the young master dozed in his +carriage; but, as they whirled over mile after mile of the Campagna, +the sun arose; then, when sleep left him, the Roman was all alive to +the patriotic reminiscences each scene suggested. Yonder to the far +south lay Alba, the old home of the Latins, and a little southward too +was the Lake of Regillus, where tradition had it the free Romans won +their first victory, and founded the greatness of the Republic. Along +the line of the Anio, a few miles north, had marched Hannibal on his +mad dash against Rome to save the doomed Capua. And these pictures of +brave days, and many another vision like them, welled up in Drusus's +mind, and the remembrance of the marble temples of the Greek cities +faded from his memory; for, as he told himself, Rome was built of +nobler stuff than marble;--she was built of the deeds of men strong +and brave, and masters of every hostile fate. And he rejoiced that he +could be a Roman, and share in his country's deathless fame, perhaps +could win for her new honour,--could be consul, triumphator, and lead +his applauding legions up to the temple of Capitoline Jove--another +national glory added to so many. + +So the vision of the great city of tall ugly tenement houses, basking +on her "Seven Hills," which only on their summits showed the nobler +temples or the dwellings of the great patricians, broke upon him. And +it was with eyes a-sparkle with enthusiasm, and a light heart, that he +reached the Porta Esquilina, left the carriage for a litter borne by +four stout Syrians sent out from the house of his late uncle, and was +carried soon into the hubbub of the city streets. + +Everywhere was the same crowd; shopping parties were pressing in and +out the stores, outrunners and foot-boys were continually colliding. +Drusus's escort could barely win a slow progress for their master. +Once on the Sacred Way the advance was more rapid; although even this +famous street was barely twenty-two feet wide from house wall to house +wall. Here was the "Lombard" or "Wall Street" of antiquity. Here were +the offices of the great banking houses and syndicates that held the +world in fee. Here centred those busy equites, the capitalists, whose +transactions ran out even beyond the lands covered by the eagles, so +that while Gaul was yet unconquered, Cicero could boast, "not a +sesterce in Gaul changes hands without being entered in a Roman +ledger." And here were brokers whose clients were kings, and who by +their "influence" almost made peace or war, like modern Rothschilds. + +Thither Drusus's litter carried him, for he knew that his first act on +coming to Rome to take possession of his uncle's property should be to +consult without delay his agent and financial and legal adviser, lest +any loophole be left for a disappointed fortune-hunter to contest the +will. The bearers put him down before the important firm of Flaccus +and Sophus. Out from the open, windowless office ran the senior +partner, Sextus Fulvius Flaccus, a stout, comfortable, rosy-faced old +eques, who had half Rome as his financial clients, the other half in +his debt. Many were his congratulations upon Drusus's manly growth, +and many more upon the windfall of Vibulanus's fortune, which, as he +declared, was too securely conveyed to the young man to be open to any +legal attack. + +But when Drusus intimated that he expected soon to invite the good man +to his marriage feast, Flaccus shook his head. + +"You will never get a sesterce of Cornelia's dowry," he declared. "Her +uncle Lentulus Crus is head over ears in debt. Nothing can save him, +unless--" + +"I don't understand you," said the other. + +"Well," continued Flaccus, "to be frank; unless there is nothing short +of a revolution." + +"Will it come to that?" demanded Drusus. + +"Can't say," replied Flaccus, as if himself perplexed. "Everybody +declares Caesar and Pompeius are dreadfully alienated. Pompeius is +joining the Senate. Half the great men of Rome are in debt, as I have +cause to know, and unless we have an overturn, with 'clean accounts' +as a result, more than one noble lord is ruined. I am calling in all +my loans, turning everything into cash. Credit is bad--bad. Caesar paid +Curio's debts--sixty millions of sesterces.[47] That's why Curio is a +Caesarian now. Oh! money is the cause of all these vile political +changes! Trouble is coming! Sulla's old throat cuttings will be +nothing to it! But don't marry Lentulus's niece!" + + [47] I.e. $2,400,000; a sesterce was about 4 cents. + +"Well," said Drusus, when the business was done, and he turned to go, +"I want Cornelia, not her dowry." + +"Strange fellow," muttered Flaccus, while Drusus started off in his +litter. "I always consider the dowry the principal part of a +marriage." + + +II + +Drusus regained his litter, and ordered his bearers to take him to the +house of the Vestals,--back of the Temple of Vesta,--where he wished +to see his aunt Fabia and Livia, his little half-sister. The Temple +itself--a small, round structure, with columns, a conical roof which +was fringed about with dragons and surmounted by a statue--still +showed signs of the fire, which, in 210 B.C., would have destroyed it +but for thirteen slaves, who won their liberty by checking the blaze. +Tradition had it that here the holy Numa had built the hut which +contained the hearth-fire of Rome,--the divine spark which now shed +its radiance over the nations. Back of the Temple was the House of the +Vestals, a structure with a plain exterior, differing little from the +ordinary private dwellings. Here Drusus had his litter set down for a +second time, and notified the porter that he would be glad to see his +aunt and sister. The young man was ushered into a spacious, handsomely +furnished and decorated atrium, where were arranged lines of statues +of the various _maximae_[48] of the little religious order. A shy young +girl with a white dress and fillet, who was reading in the apartment, +slipped noiselessly out, as the young man entered; for the novices +were kept under strict control, with few liberties, until their elder +sisters could trust them in male society. Then there was a rustle of +robes and ribbons, and in came a tall, stately lady, also in pure +white, and a little girl of about five, who shrank coyly back when +Drusus called her his "Liviola"[49] and tried to catch her in his +arms. But the lady embraced him, and kissed him, and asked a thousand +things about him, as tenderly as if she had been his mother. + + [48] Senior Vestals. + + [49] A diminutive of endearment. + +Fabia the Vestal was now about thirty-seven years of age. One and +thirty years before had the Pontifex Maximus chosen her out--a little +girl--to become the priestess of Vesta, the hearth-goddess, the +home-goddess of Pagan Rome. Fabia had dwelt almost all her life in the +house of the Vestals. Her very existence had become identified with +the little sisterhood, which she and her five associates composed. It +was a rather isolated yet singularly pure and peaceful life which she +had led. Revolutions might rock the city and Empire; Marians and +Sullians contend; Catilina plot ruin and destruction; Clodius and his +ruffians terrorize the streets; but the fire of the great +hearth-goddess was never scattered, nor were its gentle ministers +molested. Fabia had thus grown to mature womanhood. Ten years she had +spent in learning the Temple ritual, ten years in performing the +actual duties of the sacred fire and its cultus, ten years in teaching +the young novices. And now she was free, if she chose, to leave the +Temple service, and even to marry. But Fabia had no intention of +taking a step which would tear her from the circle in which she was +dearly loved, and which, though permitted by law, would be publicly +deplored as an evil omen. + +The Vestal's pure simple life had left its impress on her features. +Peace and innocent delight in innocent things shone through her dark +eyes and soft, well-rounded face. Her light brown hair was covered and +confined by a fillet of white wool.[50] She wore a stola and outer +garment of stainless white linen--the perfectly plain badge of her +chaste and holy office; while on her small feet were dainty sandals, +bound on by thongs of whitened leather. Everything about her dress and +features betokened the priestess of a gentle religion. + + [50] _Infula_. + +When questions and repeated salutations were over, and Livia had +ceased to be too afraid of her quite strange brother, Fabia asked what +she could do for her nephew. As one of the senior Vestals, her time +was quite her own. "Would he like to have her go out with him to visit +friends, or go shopping? Or could she do anything to aid him about +ordering frescoers and carpenters for the old Praeneste villa?" + +This last was precisely what Drusus had had in mind. And so forth aunt +and nephew sallied. Some of the streets they visited were so narrow +that they had to send back even their litters; but everywhere the +crowds bowed such deference and respect to the Vestal's white robes +that their progress was easy. Drusus soon had given his orders to +cabinet-makers and selected the frescoer's designs. It remained to +purchase Cornelia's slave-boy. He wanted not merely an attractive +serving-lad, but one whose intelligence and probity could be relied +upon; and in the dealers' stalls not one of the dark orientals, +although all had around their necks tablets with long lists of +encomiums, promised conscience or character. Drusus visited, several +very choice boys that were exhibited in separate rooms, at fancy +prices, but none of these pretty Greeks or Asiatics seemed promising. + +Deeply disgusted, he led Fabia away from the slave-market. + +"I will try to-morrow," he said, vexed at his defeat. "I need a new +toga. Let us go to the shop on the Clivus Suburanus; there used to be +a good woollen merchant, Lucius Marius, on the way to the Porta +Esquilina." + +Accordingly the two went on in the direction indicated; but at the +spot where the Clivus Suburanus was cut by the Vicus Longus, there was +so dense a crowd and so loud a hubbub, that their attendants could not +clear a way. For a time it was impossible to see what was the matter. +Street gamins were howling, and idle slaves and hucksters were pouring +forth volleys of taunts and derision at some luckless wight. + +"Away with them! the whip-scoundrel! _Verbero!_"[51] yelled a lusty +produce-vender. "Lash him again! Tan his hide for him! Don't you enjoy +it? Not accustomed to such rough handling, eh! my pretty sparrow?" + + [51] A coarse epithet. + +Fabia without the least hesitation thrust herself into the +dirty-robed, foul-mouthed crowd. At sight of the Vestal's white dress +and fillets the pack gave way before her, as a swarm of gnats at the +wave of a hand. Drusus strode at her heels. + +It was a sorry enough sight that met them--though not uncommon in the +age and place. Some wretched slave-boy, a slight, delicate fellow, had +been bound to the bars of a furca, and was being driven by two brutal +executioners to the place of doom outside the gates. At the +street-crossing he had sunk down, and all the blows of the driver's +scourge could not compel him to arise. He lay in the dust, writhing +and moaning, with the great welts showing on his bare back, where the +brass knots of the lash had stripped away the cloth. + +"Release this boy! Cease to beat him!" cried Fabia, with a commanding +mien, that made the crowd shrink further back; while the two +executioners looked stupid and sheepish, but did nothing. + +"Release this boy!" commanded the Vestal. "Dare you hesitate? Do you +wish to undo yourselves by defying me?" + +"Mercy, august lady," cried Alfidius,--for the chief executioner was +he,--with a supplicatory gesture. "If our mistress knows that her +commands are unexecuted, it is we, who are but slaves, that must +suffer!" + +"Who is your mistress?" demanded Fabia. + +"Valeria, wife of Lucius Calatinus." + +"Livia's precious mother!" whispered Drusus. "I can imagine her doing +a thing like this." Then aloud, "What has the boy done?" + +"He dropped a murrhine vase," was the answer. + +"And so he must be beaten to death!" exclaimed the young man, who, +despite the general theory that most slaves were on a par with cattle, +had much of the milk of human kindness in his nature. "_Phui!_ What +brutality! You must insist on your rights, aunt. Make them let him +go." + +Sulkily enough the executioners unbound the heavy furca. Agias +staggered to his feet, too dazed really to know what deliverance had +befallen him. + +"Why don't you thank the Vestal?" said Alfidius. "She has made us +release you--you ungrateful dog!" + +"Released? Saved?" gasped Agias, and he reeled as though his head were +in a whirl. Then, as if recollecting his faculties, he fell down at +Fabia's feet, and kissed the hem of her robe. + +"The gods save us all now," muttered Alfidius. "Valeria will swear +that we schemed to have the boy released. We shall never dare to face +her again!" + +"Oh! do not send me back to that cruel woman!" moaned Agias. "Better +die now, than go back to her and incur her anger again! Kill me, but +do not send me back!" + +And he broke down again in inward agony. + +Drusus had been surveying the boy, and saw that though he was now in a +pitiable enough state, he had been good-looking; and that though his +back had been cruelly marred, his face had not been cut with the +lashes. Perhaps the very fact that Agias had been the victim of +Valeria, and the high contempt in which the young Drusian held his +divorced stepmother, made him instinctively take the outraged boy's +part. + +"See here," began Drusus, "were you to be whipped by orders of +Calatinus?" + +"No," moaned Agias; "Valeria gave the orders. My master was out." + +"Ha!" remarked Drusus to his aunt, "won't the good man be pleased to +know how his wife has killed a valuable slave in one of her tantrums?" +Then aloud. "If I can buy you of Calatinus, and give you to the Lady +Cornelia, niece of Lentulus, the consul-elect, will you serve her +faithfully, will you make her wish the law of your life?" + +"I will die for her!" cried Agias, his despair mingled with a ray of +hope. + +"Where is your master?" + +"At the Forum, I think, soliciting votes," replied the boy. + +"Well then, follow me," said Drusus, "our road leads back to the +Forum. We may meet him. If I can arrange with him, your executioners +have nothing to fear from Valeria. Come along." + +Agias followed, with his head again in a whirl. + + +III + +The little company worked its way back to the Forum, not, as now, a +half-excavated ruin, the gazing-stock for excursionists, a commonplace +whereby to sum up departed greatness: the splendid buildings of the +Empire had not yet arisen, but the structures of the age were not +unimposing. Here, in plain view, was the Capitoline Hill, crowned by +the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus and the Arx. Here was the site of +the Senate House, the Curia (then burned), in which the men who had +made Rome mistress of the world had taken counsel. Every stone, every +basilica, had its history for Drusus--though, be it said, at the +moment the noble past was little in his mind. And the historic +enclosure was all swarming, beyond other places, with the dirty, +bustling crowd, shoppers, hucksters, idlers. Drusus and his company +searched for Calatinus along the upper side of the Forum, past the +Rostra, the Comitium,[52] and the Temple of Saturn. Then they were +almost caught in the dense throng that was pouring into the plaza from +the busy commercial thoroughfares of the Vicus Jugarius, or the Vicus +Tuscus. But just as the party had almost completed their circuit of +the square, and Drusus was beginning to believe that his benevolent +intentions were leading him on a bootless errand, a man in a +conspicuously white toga rushed out upon him from the steps of the +Temple of Castor, embraced him violently, and imprinted a firm, +garlic-flavoured kiss on both cheeks; crying at the same time +heartily:-- + + [52] _Comitium_, assembly-place round the Rostra. + +"Oh, my dear Publius Dorso, I am so glad to meet you! How are all your +affairs up in Fidenae?" + +Drusus recoiled in some disgust, and began rubbing his outraged +cheeks. + +"Dorso? Dorso? There is surely some mistake, my good man. I am known +as Quintus Drusus of Praeneste." + +Before he had gotten further, his assailant was pounding and shaking a +frightened-looking slave-lad who had stood at his elbow. + +"The gods blast you, you worthless _nomenclator_![53] You have +forgotten the worthy gentleman's name, and have made me play the fool! +You may have lost me votes! All Rome will hear of this! I shall be a +common laughing-stock! _Hei! vah!_ But I'll teach you to behave!" And +he shook the wretched boy until the latter's teeth rattled. + + [53] Great men, and candidates for office who wished to "know" + everybody, kept smart slaves at their elbow to whisper strangers' + names in their ears. Sometimes the slaves themselves were at fault. + +At this instant a young man of faultless toilet, whom we have already +recognized as Lucius Ahenobarbus, pushed into the little knot as a +peacemaker. + +"Most excellent Calatinus," said he, half suppressing his laughter at +the candidate's fury, the nomenclator's anguish, and Drusus's vexed +confusion, "allow me to introduce to you a son of Sextus Drusus, who +was an old friend of my father's. This is Quintus Drusus, if in a few +years I have not forgotten his face; and this, my dear Quintus, is my +good friend Lucius Calatinus, who would be glad of your vote and +influence to help on his candidacy as tribune." + +The atmosphere was cleared instantly. Calatinus forgot his anger, in +order to apologize in the most obsequious manner for his headlong +salutation. Drusus, pleased to find the man he had been seeking, +forgave the vile scent of the garlic, and graciously accepted the +explanation. Then the way was open to ask Calatinus whether he was +willing to dispose of Agias. The crestfallen candidate was only too +happy to do something to put himself right with the person he had +offended. Loudly he cursed his wife's temper, that would have wasted a +slave worth a "hundred thousand sesterces" to gratify a mere burst of +passion. + +"Yes, he was willing to sell the boy to accommodate his excellency, +Quintus Drusus," said Calatinus, "although he was a valuable slave. +Still, in honesty he had to admit that Agias had some mischievous +points. Calatinus had boxed his ears only the day before for licking +the pastry. But, since his wife disliked the fellow, he would be +constrained to sell him, if a purchaser would take him." + +The result of the conference was that Drusus, who had inherited that +keen eye for business which went with most of his race, purchased +Agias for thirty thousand sesterces, considerably less than the boy +would have brought in the market. + +While Drusus was handing over a money order payable with Flaccus, +Lucius Ahenobarbus again came forward, with all seeming friendliness. + +"My dear Quintus," said he, "Marcus Laeca has commissioned me to find a +ninth guest to fill his _triclinium_[54] this evening. We should be +delighted if you would join us. I don't know what the good Marcus will +offer us to-night, but you can be sure of a slice of peacock[55] and a +few other nice bits." + + [54] Dining room with couch seats for nine, the regular size. + + [55] The _ne plus ultra_ of Roman gastronomy at the time. + +"I am very grateful," replied Drusus, who felt all the while that +Lucius Ahenobarbus was the last man in the world with whom he cared to +spend an evening's carousing; "but," and here he concocted a white +lie, "an old friend I met in Athens has already invited me to spend +the night, and I cannot well refuse him. I thank you for your +invitation." + +Lucius muttered some polite and conventional terms of regret, and fell +back to join Servius Flaccus and Gabinius, who were near him. + +"I invited him and he refused," he said half scornfully, half +bitterly. "That little minx, Cornelia, has been complaining of me to +him, I am sure. The gods ruin him! If he wishes to become my enemy, +he'll have good cause to fear my bite." + +"You say he's from Praeneste," said Gabinius, "and yet can he speak +decent Latin? Doesn't he say '_conia_' for '_ciconia_,' and +'_tammodo_' for '_tantummodo_'_?_ I wonder you invite such a boor." + +"Oh! he can speak good enough Latin," said Lucius. "But I invited him +because he is rich; and it might be worth our while to make him +gamble." + +"Rich!" lisped Servius Flaccus. "Rich (h)as my (h)uncle the broker? +That silly straightlac(h)ed fellow, who's (h)a C(h)ato, (h)or worse? +For shame!" + +"Well," said Lucius, "old Crassus used to say that no one who couldn't +pay out of his own purse for an army was rich. But though Drusus +cannot do quite that, he has enough sesterces to make happy men of +most of us, if his fortune were mine or yours." + +"(H)its (h)an (h)outrage for him to have (h)it," cried Servius +Flaccus. + +"It's worse than an outrage," replied Ahenobarbus; "it's a sheer +blunder of the Fates. Remind me to tell you about Drusus and his +fortune, before I have drunk too much to-night." + + * * * * * + +Agias went away rejoicing with his new master. Drusus owned an +apartment house on the Vicus Longus, and there had a furnished suite +of rooms. He gave Agias into the charge of the porter[56] and ordered +him to dress the boy's wounds. Cappadox waited on his master when he +lunched. + + [56] Porter--_Insularius._ + +"Master Quintus," said he, with the familiar air of a privileged +servant, "did you see that knavish-looking Gabinius following Madame +Fabia all the way back to the Temple of Vesta?" + +"No," said Drusus; "what do you mean, you silly fellow?" + +"Oh, nothing," said Cappadox, humbly. "I only thought it a little +queer." + +"Perhaps so," said his master, carelessly. + + + + +Chapter IV + +Lucius Ahenobarbus Airs His Grievance + + +I + +The pomp and gluttony of Roman banquets have been too often described +to need repetition here; neither would we be edified by learning all +the orgies that Marcus Laeca (an old Catilinian conspirator) and his +eight guests indulged in that night: only after the dinner had been +cleared, and before the Gadesian[57] dancing girls were called in, the +dice began to rattle, and speedily all were engrossed in drink and +play. + + [57] From Cadiz, Spain. + +Lucius Ahenobarbus soon lost so heavily that he was cursing every god +that presided over the noble game. + +"I am ruined next Ides," he groaned. "Phormio the broker has only +continued my loan at four per cent a month. All my villas and +furniture are mortgaged, and will be sold at auction. _Mehercle_, +destruction stares me in the face!" + +"Well, well, my dear fellow," said Pratinas, who, having won the +stakes, was in a mood to be sympathetic, "we must really see what can +be done to remedy matters." + +"I can see nothing!" was his answer. + +"Won't your father come to the rescue?" put in Gabinius, between deep +pulls on a beaker. + +"My father!" snapped Ahenobarbus. "Never a sesterce will I get out of +him! He's as good as turned me adrift, and Cato my uncle is always +giving him bad reports of me, like the hypocritical Stoic that Cato +is." + +"By the bye," began Gabinius again, putting down the wine-cup, "you +hinted to-day that you had been cheated out of a fortune, after a +manner. Something about that Drusus of Praeneste, if I recollect. +What's the story?" + +Lucius settled down on his elbow, readjusted the cushions on the +banqueting couch, and then began, interrupted by many a hiccough +because of his potations. + +"It is quite a story, but I won't bore you with details. It has quite +as much to do with Cornelia, Lentulus Crus's pretty niece, as with +Drusus himself. Here it is in short. Sextus Drusus and Caius Lentulus +were such good friends that, as you know, they betrothed their son and +daughter when the latter were mere children. To make the compact +doubly strong, Sextus Drusus inserted in his will a clause like this: +'Let my son Quintus enjoy the use of my estate and its income, until +he become twenty-five and cease to be under the care of Flaccus his +_tutor_.[58] If he die before that time, let his property go to +Cornelia, the daughter of Caius Lentulus, except;' and here Sextus +left a small legacy for his own young daughter, Livia. You see Drusus +can make no will until he is five-and-twenty. But then comes another +provision. 'If Cornelia shall marry any person save my son, my son +shall at once be free to dispose of my estates.' So Cornelia is laid +under a sort of obligation also to marry Quintus. The whole aim of the +will is to make it very hard for the young people to fail to wed as +their fathers wished." + + [58] Commercial adviser required for young men under five-and-twenty. + +"True," said Gabinius; "but how such an arrangement can affect you and +your affairs, I really cannot understand." + +"That is so," continued Ahenobarbus, "but here is the other side of +the matter. Caius Lentulus was a firm friend of Sextus Drusus; he also +was very close and dear to my father. Caius desired that Cornelia wed +young Drusus, and so enjoined her in his will; but out of compliment +to my father, put in a clause which was something like this: 'If +Quintus Drusus die before he marry Cornelia, or refuse to marry +Cornelia at the proper time, then let Cornelia and all her property be +given to Lucius, the second son of my dearly loved friend, Lucius +Domitius Ahenobarbus,' Now I think you will begin to see why Quintus +Drusus's affairs interest me a little. If he refuse to marry Cornelia +before he be five-and-twenty, she falls to me. But I understand that +Lentulus, her uncle, is badly in debt, and her dowry won't be much. +But if Drusus is not married to her, and die before he is twenty-five, +_his property is hers and she is mine._ Do you understand why I have a +little grudge against him?" + +"For what?" cried Laeca, with breathless interest. + +"For living!" sighed Ahenobarbus, hopelessly. + +The handsome face of Pratinas was a study. His nostrils dilated; his +lips quivered; his eyes were bright and keen with what evidently +passed in his mind for a great discovery. + +"Eureka!" cried the Greek, clapping his hands. "My dear Lucius, let me +congratulate you! You are saved!" + +"What?" exclaimed the young man, starting up. + +"You are saved!" repeated Pratinas, all animation. "Drusus's sesterces +shall be yours! Every one of them!" + +Lucius Ahenobarbus was a debauchee, a mere creature of pleasure, +without principle or character; but even he had a revulsion of spirit +at the hardly masked proposal of the enthusiastic Greek. He flushed in +spite of the wine, then turned pale, then stammered, "Don't mention +such a thing, Pratinas. I was never Drusus's enemy. I dare not dream +of such a move. The Gods forefend!" + +"The Gods?" repeated Pratinas, with a cynical intonation. "Do you +believe there are any?" + +"Do you?" retorted Lucius, feeling all the time that a deadly +temptation had hold of him, which he could by no means resist. + +"Why?" said the Greek. "Your Latin Ennius states my view, in some of +your rather rough and blundering native tetrameters. He says:-- + + "'There's a race of gods in heaven; so I've said and still will say. + But I deem that we poor mortals do not come beneath their sway. + Otherwise the good would triumph, whereas evil reigns to-day.'" + +"And you advise?" said Ahenobarbus, leaning forward with pent-up +excitement. + +"I advise?" replied Pratinas; "I am only a poor ignorant Hellene, and +who am I, to give advice to Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, a most noble +member of the most noble of nations!" + +If Pratinas had said: "My dear Lucius, you are a thick-headed, +old-fashioned, superstitious Roman, whom I, in my superior wisdom, +utterly despise," he would have produced about the same effect upon +young Ahenobarbus. + +But Lucius still fluttered vainly,--a very weak conscience whispering +that Drusus had never done him any harm; that murder was a dangerous +game, and that although his past life had been bad enough, he had +never made any one--unless it were a luckless slave or two--the victim +of bloodthirsty passion or rascality. + +"Don't propose it," he groaned. "I don't dare to think of such a +thing! What disgrace and trouble, if it should all come out!" + +"Come, come, Ahenobarbus," thrust in Marcus Laeca, who had been +educated in Catilina's school for polite villains and cut-throats. +"Pratinas is only proposing what, if you were a man of spirit, would +have been done long ago. You can't complain of Fortune, when she's put +a handsome estate in your hands for the asking." + +"My admirable fellow," said Pratinas, benevolently, "I highly applaud +your scruples. But, permit me to say it, I must ask you to defer to me +as being a philosopher. Let us look at the matter in a rational way. +We have gotten over any bogies which our ancestors had about Hades, or +the punishments of the wicked. In fact, what we know--as good +Epicureans--is that, as Democritus of Abdera[59] early taught, this +world of ours is composed of a vast number of infinitely small and +indivisible atoms, which have by some strange hap come to take the +forms we see in the world of life and matter. Now the soul of man is +also of atoms, only they are finer and more subtile. At death these +atoms are dissolved, and so far as that man is concerned, all is over +with him. The atoms may recombine, or join with others, but never form +anew that same man. Hence we may fairly conclude that this life is +everything and death ends all. Do you follow, and see to what I am +leading?" + + [59] Born about 470 B.C. + +"I think so," said the wretched Lucius, feeling himself like a bird +caught in a snare, yet not exactly grasping the direct bearing of all +this learned exposition. + +"My application is this," went on Pratinas, glibly. "Life is all--all +either for pleasure or pain. Therefore every man has a right to +extract all the sweetness he can out of it. But suppose a man +deliberately makes himself gloomy, extracts no joy from life; lets +himself be overborne by care and sorrow,--is not such a man better +dead than living? Is not a dreamless sleep preferable to misery or +even cold asceticism? And how much more does this all apply when we +see a man who makes himself unhappy, preventing by his very act of +existence the happiness of another more equably tempered mortal! Now I +believe this is the present case. Drusus, I understand, is leading a +spare, joyless, workaday sort of existence, which is, or by every +human law should be, to him a burden. So long as he lives, he prevents +you from enjoying the means of acquiring pleasure. Now I have Socrates +of imperishable memory on my side, when I assert that death under any +circumstances is either no loss or a very great gain. Considering then +the facts of the case in its philosophic and rational bearings, I may +say this: Not merely would it be no wrong to remove Drusus from a +world in which he is evidently out of place, but I even conceive such +an act to rise to the rank of a truly meritorious deed." + +Lucius Ahenobarbus was conquered. He could not resist the inexorable +logic of this train of reasoning, all the premises of which he fully +accepted. Perhaps, we should add, he was not very unwilling to have +his wine-befuddled intellect satisfied, and his conscience stilled. He +turned down a huge beaker of liquor, and coughed forth:-- + +"Right as usual, Pratinas! By all the gods, but I believe you can save +me!" + +"Yes; as soon as Drusus is dead," insinuated the Greek who was already +computing his bill for brokerage in this little affair, "you can raise +plenty of loans, on the strength of your coming marriage with +Cornelia." + +"But how will you manage it?" put in the alert Gabinius. "There +mustn't be any clumsy bungling." + +"Rest assured," said Pratinas, with a grave dignity, perhaps the +result of his drinking, "that in my affairs I leave no room for +bungling." + +"And your plan is--" asked Lucius. + +"Till to-morrow, friend," said the Greek; "meet me at the Temple of +Saturn, just before dusk. Then I'll be ready." + + +II + +Lucius Ahenobarbus's servants escorted their tipsy master home to his +lodgings in a fashionable apartment house on the Esquiline. When he +awoke, it was late the next day, and head and wits were both sadly the +worse for the recent entertainment. Finally a bath and a luncheon +cleared his brain, and he realized his position. He was on the brink +of concocting a deliberate murder. Drusus had never wronged him; the +crime would be unprovoked; avarice would be its only justification. +Ahenobarbus had done many things which a far laxer code of ethics than +that of to-day would frown upon; but, as said, he had never committed +murder--at least had only had crucified those luckless slaves, who did +not count. He roused with a start, as from a dream. What if Pratinas +were wrong? What if there were really gods, and furies, and +punishments for the wicked after death? And then came the other side +of the shield: a great fortune his; all his debts paid off; unlimited +chances for self-enjoyment; last, but not least, Cornelia his. She had +slighted him, and turned her back upon all his advances; and now what +perfect revenge! Lucius was more in love with Cornelia than he +admitted even to himself. He would even give up Clyte, if he could +possess her. And so the mental battle went on all day; and the prick +of conscience, the fears of superstition, and the lingerings of +religion ever grew fainter. Near nightfall he was at his post, at the +Temple of Saturn. Pratinas was awaiting him. The Greek had only a few +words of greeting, and the curt injunction:--"Draw your cloak up to +shield your face, and follow me." Then they passed out from the Forum, +forced their way through the crowded streets, and soon were through +the _Porta Ratumena,_ outside the walls, and struck out across the +Campus Martius, upon the Via Flaminia. It was rapidly darkening. The +houses grew fewer and fewer. At a little distance the dim structures +of the Portico and Theatre of Pompeius could be seen, looming up to an +exaggerated size in the evening haze. A grey fog was drifting up from +the Tiber, and out of a rift in a heavy cloud-bank a beam of the +imprisoned moon was struggling. Along the road were peasants with +their carts and asses hastening home. Over on the Pincian Mount the +dark green masses of the splendid gardens of Pompeius and of Lucullus +were just visible. The air was filled with the croak of frogs and the +chirp of crickets, and from the river came the creak of the sculls and +paddles of a cumbrous barge that was working its way down the Tiber. + +Ahenobarbus felt awed and uncomfortable. Pratinas, with his mantle +wrapped tightly around his head, continued at a rapid pace. Lucius had +left his attendants at home, and now began to recall gruesome tales of +highwaymen and bandits frequenting this region after dark. His fears +were not allayed by noticing that underneath his himation Pratinas +occasionally let the hilt of a short sword peep forth. Still the Greek +kept on, never turning to glance at a filthy, half-clad beggar, who +whined after them for an alms, and who did not so much as throw a kiss +after the young Roman when the latter tossed forth a denarius,[60] but +snatched up the coin, muttered at its being no more, and vanished into +the gathering gloom. + + [60] Four sesterces, 16 cents. + +"Where are you leading me?" asked Ahenobarbus, a second time, after +all his efforts to communicate with the usually fluent Greek met with +only monosyllables. + +"To the _lanista_[61] Dumnorix," replied Pratinas, quickening an +already rapid pace. + + [61] Keeper of a school of gladiators. + +"And his barracks are--?" + +"By the river, near the Mulvian bridge." + +At length a pile of low square buildings was barely visible in the +haze. It was close to the Tiber, and the rush of the water against the +piling of the bridge was distinctly audible. As the two drew near to a +closed gateway, a number of mongrel dogs began to snap and bark around +them. From within the building came the roar of coarse hilarity and +coarser jests. As Pratinas approached the solidly barred doorway, a +grating was pushed aside and a rude voice demanded:-- + +"Your business? What are you doing here?" + +"Is Dumnorix sober?" replied Pratinas, nothing daunted. "If so, tell +him to come and speak with me. I have something for his advantage." + +Either Pratinas was well known at the gladiators' school, or something +in his speech procured favour. There was a rattling of chains and +bolts, and the door swung open. A man of unusual height and ponderous +proportions appeared in the opening. That was all which could be seen +in the semi-darkness. + +"You are Pratinas?" he asked, speaking Latin with a northern accent. +The Hellene nodded, and replied softly: "Yes. No noise. Tell Dumnorix +to come quietly." + +The two stepped in on to the flags of a courtyard, and the doorkeeper, +after rebolting, vanished into the building. Ahenobarbus could only +see that he was standing in a large stone-paved court, perhaps one +hundred and forty feet wide and considerably longer. A colonnade of +low whitewashed pillars ran all about: and behind them stretched rows +of small rooms and a few larger apartments. There were _tyros_ +practising with wooden swords in one of the rooms, whence a light +streamed, and a knot of older gladiators was urging them on, mocking, +praising, and criticising their efforts. Now and then a burly +gladiator would stroll across the court; but the young noble and his +escort remained hidden in shadow. + +Presently a door opened at the other end of the courtyard, and some +one with a lantern began to come toward the entrance. Long before the +stranger was near, Ahenobarbus thought he was rising like a giant out +of the darkness; and when at last Dumnorix--for it was he--was close +at hand, both Roman and Greek seemed veritable dwarfs beside him. + +Dumnorix--so far as he could be seen in the lantern light--was a +splendid specimen of a northern giant. He was at least six feet five +inches in height, and broad proportionately. His fair straight hair +tumbled in disorder over his shoulders, and his prodigiously long +mustaches seemed, to the awed Ahenobarbus, almost to curl down to his +neck. His breath came in hot pants like a winded horse, and when he +spoke, it was in short Latin monosyllables, interlarded with +outlandish Gallic oaths. He wore cloth trousers with bright stripes of +red and orange; a short-sleeved cloak of dark stuff, falling down to +the thigh; and over the cloak, covering back and shoulders, another +sleeveless mantle, clasped under the chin with a huge golden buckle. +At his right thigh hung, from a silver set girdle, by weighty bronze +chains, a heavy sabre, of which the steel scabbard banged noisily as +its owner advanced. + +"Holla! Pratinas," cried the Gaul, as he came close. "By the holy oak! +but I'm glad to see you! Come to my room. Have a flagon of our good +northern mead." + +"Hist," said the Greek, cautiously. "Not so boisterous. Better stay +here in the dark. I can't tell who of your men may hear us." + +"As you say," said Dumnorix, setting down the light at a little +distance and coming closer. + +"You remember that little affair of last year," said Pratinas, +continuing;--"how you helped me get rid of a witness in a very +troublesome law case?" + +"Ha! ha!" chuckled the giant, "I wish I had the sesterces I won then, +in my coffer now." + +"Well," replied Pratinas, "I don't need to tell you what I and my +noble friend here--Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus--have come for. A +little more business along the same line. Are you our man?" + +"I should say so," answered Dumnorix, with a grin worthy of a baboon. +"Only make it worth my while." + +"Now," said Pratinas, sinking his voice still lower, "this affair of +ours will pay you well; but it is more delicate than the other. A +blunder will spoil it all. You must do your best; and we will do the +fair thing by you." + +"Go on," said the Gaul, folding his huge paws on his breast. + +"Have you ever been in Praeneste?" questioned Pratinas. + +"I matched two _mirmillones_[62] of mine there against two +_threces_[63] of another lanista, and my dogs won the prize; but I +can't say that I am acquainted with the place," answered the other. + + [62] Gladiators equipped as Gaulish warriors. + + [63] Buckler men. + +"You should find out, then," said Pratinas, "for here lies your work." +And then he proceeded, with occasional prompting from the +better-informed Ahenobarbus, to point out the location of Drusus's +estate, and the character and habits of the man whom Dumnorix was +cheerfully proposing to put out of the way. Dumnorix assented and bade +him go on, with hoarse grunts; and when the Greek had concluded, +growled out in his barbarous Latin:-- + +"But why all this pother? Why not let me send a knave or two and knock +the fellow some dark night in the head? It will save us both time and +trouble." + +"My excellent master of the gladiators," said Pratinas, as smoothly as +ever, "you must not take it ill, if I tell you that to have a taking +off such as you propose would be a very bad thing both for you and the +most noble Ahenobarbus. This Drusus is not a helpless wight, without +friends, waiting to become the fair prey of any dagger man.[64] He has +friends, I have learned, who, if he were to be disposed of in such a +rude and bungling manner, would not fail to probe deeply into the +whole thing. Flaccus the great banker, notably, would spare no pains +to bring the responsibility of the matter home, not merely to the poor +wretch who struck the blow, but the persons who placed the weapon in +his hands. All of which would be very awkward for Ahenobarbus. No, +your rough-and-ready plan won't in the least work." + + [64] _Sicarius_. + +"Well," replied Dumnorix, testily, "I'm a man of shallow wits and hard +blows. If I had been of keener mind, the gods know, I would have been +a free chief among the Nervii, instead of making sport for these +straw-limbed Romans. If what I propose won't answer, what can be +done?" + +"A great deal," said Pratinas, who knew perfectly how to cringe low, +yet preserve his ascendency; "first of all, it is very necessary that +the murderers of the amiable Drusus should receive a meet reward for +their crime--that justice should be speedy and severe." + +"Man!" cried Dumnorix, griping the Greek's arm in his tremendous +clutch. "What are you asking?" + +"By Zeus!" burst out Pratinas, rubbing his crushed member. "What a +grip is yours! Don't be alarmed. Surely you would be as willing to +have one or two of your newest _tiros_ hung on a cross, as stabbed on +the arena--especially when it will pay a great deal better?" + +"I don't follow you," said the Gaul, though a little reassured. + +"Simply this," said Pratinas, who evidently felt that he was coming to +the revealing of an especially brilliant piece of _finesse_. "My +general proposal is this. Let you and your company march through +Praeneste,--of course carefully timing your march so as to find the +innocent and unfortunate Drusus at his farm. You will have a very +disorderly band of gladiators, and they begin to attack Drusus's +orchard, and maltreat his slaves. You try to stop them,--without +avail. Finally, in a most unfortunate and outrageous outbreak they +slay the master of the house. The tumult is quelled. The heirs proceed +against you. You can only hand over the murderers for crucifixion, and +offer to pay any money damages that may be imposed. A heavy fine is +laid upon you, as being responsible for the killing of Drusus by your +slaves. You pay the damages. Ahenobarbus marries Cornelia and enters +upon the estate. The world says that all that can be done to atone for +Drusus's murder has been done. All of the guilty are punished. The +dead cannot be recalled. The matter is at an end. Ahenobarbus has what +he wished for; you have all the money you paid in damages quietly +refunded; also the cost of the poor rascals crucified, and a fair sum +over and above for your trouble." + +"By the god Belew!"[65] cried the enthusiastic Dumnorix. "What a +clever plan! How the world will be cheated! Ha! ha! How sharp you +little Greeks must be. Only I must have fair return for my work, and +an oath that the business shall never be coming to the point of giving +my eyes to the crows. I can't risk my life in anything but a square +fight." + + [65] The Gallic sun-god. + +"Well," said Pratinas, after a few words with his companion, "how will +this proposition suit you? All expenses, before and after the affair +itself, of course refunded; one hundred thousand sesterces clear gain +for doing the deed, twenty-five thousand sesterces for every poor +fellow we have to nail up to satisfy the law, and you to be guaranteed +against any evil consequence. Is this sufficient?" + +"I think so," growled Dumnorix, in his mustaches, "but I must have the +oath." + +"The oath?" said Pratinas, "oh, certainly!" and the Greek raised his +hands toward heaven, and muttered some words to the effect that "if he +and his friend did not fulfil their oath, let Zeus, the regarder of +oaths, destroy them," etc., etc.--an imprecation which certainly, so +far as words went, was strong enough to bind the most graceless. Then +he proceeded to arrange with Dumnorix how the latter should wait until +it was known Drusus had gone back to Praeneste, and was likely to stay +there for some time; as to how many gladiators the lanista was to have +ready. Dumnorix complained that the rather recent law against keeping +gladiators at Rome prevented him from assembling in his school any +considerable number. But out of his heterogeneous collection of Gauls, +Germans, Spaniards, Greeks, and Asiatics he would find enough who +could be used for the purpose without letting them know the full +intent with which they were launched against Drusus. At all events, if +their testimony was taken, it would have to be as slaves on the rack; +and if they accused their master of instigating them to riot, it was +what any person would expect of such degraded and lying wretches. So, +after promising to come again with final word and some bags of +earnest-money, Pratinas parted with the lanista, and he and Lucius +Ahenobarbus found themselves again in the now entirely darkened Campus +Martius. Lucius again feared brigands, but they fell in with no +unpleasant nocturnal wayfarers, and reached the city without incident. +Ahenobarbus seemed to himself to be treading on air--Cornelia, villas, +Drusus's money--these were dancing in his head in a delightful +confusion. He had abandoned himself completely to the sway of +Pratinas; the Greek was omniscient, was invincible, was a greater than +Odysseus. Ahenobarbus hardly dared to think for himself as to the plan +which his friend had arranged for him. One observation, however, he +made before they parted. + +"You swore that Dumnorix should get into no trouble. May it not prove +expensive to keep him out of difficulty?" + +"My dear Lucius," replied Pratinas, "in cases of that kind there is a +line from the Hippolytus of the immortal tragedian Euripides, which +indicates the correct attitude for a philosopher and a man of +discretion to assume. It runs thus,-- + + "'My tongue an oath took, but my mind's unsworn.' + +Not an inelegant sentiment, as you must see." + + +III + +We left the excellent man of learning, Pisander, in no happy frame of +mind, after Agias had been dragged away, presumably to speedy doom. +And indeed for many days the shadow of Valeria's crime, for it was +nothing else, plunged him in deep melancholy. Pisander was not a fool, +only amongst his many good qualities he did not possess that of being +able to make a success in life. He had been tutor to a young Asiatic +prince, and had lost his position by a local revolution; then he had +drifted to Alexandria, and finally Rome, where he had struggled first +to teach philosophy, and found no pupils to listen to his lectures; +then to conduct an elementary school, but his scholars' parents were +backward in paying even the modest fees he charged. Finally, in sheer +despair, to keep from starving, he accepted the position as Valeria's +"house-philosopher." + +His condition was infinitely unsatisfactory for a variety of reasons. +The good lady wished him to be at her elbow, ready to read from the +philosophers or have on hand a talk on ethics or metaphysics to +deliver extempore. Besides, though not a slave or freedman, he fared +in the household much worse sometimes than they. A slave stole the +dainties, and drained a beaker of costly wine on the sly. Pisander, +like Thales, who was so intent looking at the stars that he fell into +a well, "was so eager to know what was going on in heaven that he +could not see what was before his feet."[66] And consequently the poor +pedant dined on the remnants left after his employer and her husband +had cleared the board; and had rancid oil and sour wine given him, +when they enjoyed the best. The slaves had snubbed him and made fun of +him; the freedmen regarded him with absolute disdain; Valeria's +regular visitors treated him as a nonentity. Besides, all his +standards of ethical righteousness were outraged by the round of life +which he was compelled daily to witness. The worthy man would long +before have ceased from a vassalage so disgraceful, had he possessed +any other means of support. Once he meditated suicide, but was scared +out of it by the thought that his bones would moulder in those huge +pits on the Esquiline--far from friend or native land--where artisans, +slaves, and cattle, creatures alike without means of decent burial, +were left under circumstances unspeakably revolting to moulder away to +dust. + + [66] See Plato's "Theaetetus," 174. + +The day of Agias's misfortune, Pisander sat in his corner of the +boudoir, after Valeria had left it, in a very unphilosophical rage, +gnawing his beard and cursing inwardly his mistress, Pratinas, and the +world in general. + +Arsinoe with a pale, strained face was moving about, replacing the +bottles of cosmetics and perfumery in cabinets and caskets. Pisander +had been kind to Arsinoe, and had taught her to read; and there was a +fairly firm friendship between the slave and the luckless man, who +felt himself degraded by an equal bondage. + +"Poor Agias," muttered Pisander. + +"Poor Agias," repeated Arsinoe, mournfully; then in some scorn, "Come, +Master Pisander, now is the time to console yourself with your +philosophy. Call out everything,--your Zeno, or Parmenides, or +Heraclitus, or others of the thousand nobodies I've heard you praise +to Valeria,--and make thereby my heart a jot the less sore, or Agias's +death the less bitter! Don't sit there and snap at your beard, if your +philosophy is good for anything! People used to pray to the gods in +trouble, but you philosophers turn the gods into mists or thin air. +You are a man! You are free! Do something! Say something!" + +"But what can I do?" groaned Pisander, bursting into tears, and +wishing for the instant Epicureans, Stoics, Eclectics, Peripatetics, +and every other school of learning in the nethermost Hades. + +"_Phui!_ Fudge!" cried Arsinoe. "What is life made for then, if a man +who has spent all his days studying it is as good as helpless! Look at +me! Have I not hands, feet, a head, and wits? Am I not as well +informed and naturally capable as three fine ladies out of every four? +Would I not look as handsome as they, if I had a chance to wear their +dresses and jewels? Have I any blemish, any defect, that makes me +cease to be a woman, and become a thing? Bah, master _Pisander!_ I am +only a slave, but I will talk. Why does my blood boil at the fate of +Agias, if it was not meant that it should heat up for some end? And +yet I am as much a piece of property of that woman whom I hate, as +this chair or casket. I have a right to no hope, no ambition, no +desire, no reward. I can only aspire to live without brutal treatment. +That would be a sort of Elysium. If I was brave enough, I would kill +myself, and go to sleep and forget it all. But I am weak and cowardly, +and so--here I am." + +Pisander only groaned and went away to his room to turn over his +Aristotle, and wonder why nothing in the "Nicomachean Ethics" or any +other learned treatise contained the least word that made him +contented over the fate of Agias or his own unhappy situation. Arsinoe +and Semiramis, when he went from them, cried, and cried again, in pity +and helpless grief at their whole situation. And so a considerable +number of days passed. Calatinus could have given joy to the hearts of +several in his household if he had simply remembered that Agias had +not been scourged to death, but sold. But Calatinus feared, now that +he was well out of the matter, to stir up an angry scene with his +wife, by hinting that Agias had not been punished according to her +orders. Alfidius, too, and the other slaves with him, imagined that +his mistress would blame them if they admitted that Agias was alive. +So the household gathered, by the silence of all concerned, that the +bright Greek boy had long since passed beyond power of human torment. +Pisander recovered part of his equanimity, and Arsinoe and Semiramis +began to see life a shade less darkened. + +Pratinas occasionally repeated his morning calls upon Valeria. He +seemed much engrossed with business, but was always the same suave, +elegant, accomplished personage that had endeared him to that lady's +heart. One morning he came in, in unusually good spirits. +"Congratulate me," he exclaimed, after saluting Valeria; "I have +disposed of a very delicate piece of work, and my mind can take a +little rest. At least I have roughly chiselled out the matter, as a +sculptor would say, and can now wait a bit before finishing. Ah! what +elegant study is this which is engrossing your ladyship this morning?" + +"Pisander is reading from the works of Gorgias of Leontini," said +Valeria, languidly. + +"To be sure," went on Pratinas; "I have always had the greatest +respect for the three nihilistic propositions of that philosopher. To +read him one is half convinced of the affirmation that nothing exists; +that if anything existed, the fact could not be known, and that if the +fact were known, it could not be communicated; although of course, my +dear madam, there are very grave objections to accepting such views in +their fulness." + +"Of course," echoed Valeria. "Pisander, read Pratinas that little poem +of Archilochus, whose sentiment I so much admired, when I happened on +it yesterday." + +Pisander fumbled among his rolls, then read, perhaps throwing a bit of +sarcasm into his tone:-- + + "Gyges'[67] wealth and honours great + Come not nigh to me! + Heavenly pow'r, or tyrant's state, + I'll not envy thee. + Swift let any sordid prize + Fade and vanish from my eyes!" + + [67] A Lydian king whose wealth was placed on a par with that of the + better known Croesus. + +"Your ladyship," said Pratinas, appearing entranced by the lines, "is +ever in search of the pearls of refined expression!" + +"I wish," said Valeria, whose mind ran from Gorgias to Archilochus, +and then back to quite foreign matters, with lightning rapidity, "you +would tell Kallias, the sculptor, that the head-dress on my statue in +the atrium must be changed. I don't arrange my hair that way any +longer. He must put on a new head-dress without delay."[68] + + [68] Such alterations were actually made in Rome. + +"Certainly," assented the Greek. + +"And now," said the lady, half entreating, half insinuating, "_you +must_ tell me what has made you so abstracted lately; that business +you mentioned, which compelled you to restrict your calls." + +"My dear Valeria," said Pratinas, casting a glance over at Pisander in +his corner, "I dislike mysteries; but perhaps there are some things +which I had better not reveal to any one. Don't be offended, but--" + +"I am offended," exclaimed the lady, striking her lap with her hands, +"and I accept no '_buts_.' I will be as silent about all your affairs +as about the mysteries of the _Bona Dea_.[69]" + + [69] To whose mysteries only women were admitted. + +"I believe I can be confident you will not betray me," said Pratinas, +who in fact considered precautions that were necessary to take among +so blundering and thick-witted people as the Latins, almost +superfluous. He muttered to himself, "I wouldn't dare to do this in +Alexandria,--prate of a murder,--" and then glanced again toward +Pisander. + +"Pisander," said Valeria, sharply, noting Pratinas's disquietude, "go +out of the room. I don't need you at present." + +Pisander, unlike many contemporaries, was affected by a sensitive +conscience. But if there was one man whom he despised to the bottom of +his soul, it was Pratinas. Pratinas had lorded it over him and +patronized him, in a way which drove the mild-tempered man of learning +to desperation. The spirit of evil entered into the heart of Pisander +as he left the room. The average chatter of Pratinas and Valeria had +been gall and wormwood to him, and he had been glad enough to evade +it; but here was Pratinas with a secret which he clearly did not wish +Pisander to know. And Pisander, prompted by most unphilosophical +motives, resolved within himself to play the eavesdropper. The boudoir +was approached by three doors, one from the peristylium, one from +Valeria's private sleeping chamber, one from the servants' quarters. +Pisander went out through the first, and going through other rooms to +the third, took his station by that entrance. He met Arsinoe, and took +the friendly maid into his plot, by stationing her on guard to prevent +the other servants from interfering with him. Then applying his ear to +the large keyhole of the door, he could understand all that was +passing in the boudoir. What Pratinas was saying it is hardly +necessary to repeat. The Greek was relating with infinite zest, and to +Valeria's intense delight and amusement, the story of the two wills +which placed Drusus's estate and the hand of Cornelia within reach of +Lucius Ahenobarbus; of the manner in which this last young man had +been induced to take steps to make way with an unfortunate rival. +Finally, in a low, half-audible tone, he told of the provisional +arrangements with Dumnorix, and how very soon the plan was to be put +in execution. + +"And you must be sure and tell me," cried Valeria, clapping her hands +when Pratinas concluded, "what the details of the affair all are, and +when and how you succeed. Poor Quintus Drusus! I am really sorry for +him. But when one doesn't make use of what Fortune has given him, +there is nothing else to do!" + +"Yes," said Pratinas, sententiously. "He who fails to realize what is +for him the highest good, forfeits, thereby, the right to life +itself." + +Pisander slipped away from the keyhole, with a white face, and panting +for breath. Briefly, he repeated what he had gathered to Arsinoe, then +blurted out:-- + +"I will go in and meet that well-oiled villain face to face. By Zeus! +I will make him feel the depths of an honest man's scorn and +indignation!" + +"You will be a fool," replied Arsinoe, quietly, "if you do. Valeria +would instantly dismiss you from her service." + +"I will go at once to Drusus," asserted Pisander. + +"Drusus may or may not be convinced that what you say is true," +answered the girl; "but he, I gather from what you repeat, has just +gone back to Praeneste. Before you could reach Praeneste, you are a dead +man." + +"How so?" demanded the excited philosopher, brandishing his fists. "I +am as strong as Pratinas." + +"How little wisdom," commented Arsinoe, "you do gather from your +books! Can't you see Pratinas is a reckless scoundrel--with every +gladiator in Dumnorix's school at his call if needs be--who would stop +at nothing to silence promptly the mouth of a dangerous witness? This +isn't worse than many another case. Don't share the ruin of a man who +is an utter stranger! We have troubles enough of our own." + +And with this consolation Arsinoe left him, again consumed with +impotent rage. + +"Villain," fumed Pisander to himself, "if I could only place my +fingers round your neck! But what can I do? What can I do? I am +helpless, friendless, penniless! And I can only tear out my heart, and +pretend to play the philosopher. I, a philosopher! If I were a true +one, I would have had the courage to kill myself before this." + +And in this mental state he continued, till he learned that Pratinas +had taken his farewell, and that Calatinus wished him--since all the +slaves seemed busy, and the poor house philosopher was often sent on +menial errands--to go to the _Forum Boarium_,[70] and bring back some +ribs of beef for a dinner that evening. Pisander went as bidden, +tugging a large basket, and trying to muster up courage to continue +his walk to the Fabrician Bridge, and plunge into the Tiber. In +classic days suicide was a commendable act under a great many +circumstances, and Pisander was perfectly serious and sincere in his +belief that he and the world had been companions too long for the good +of either. But the jar and din of the streets certainly served to make +connected philosophical meditation upon the futility and unimportance +of human existence decidedly unfruitful. By the time he reached the +cattle-market the noise of this strange place drove all suicidal +intentions from him. Butchers were slaughtering kine; drovers were +driving oxen off of barges that had come down the Tiber; sheep and +goats were bleating--everywhere around the stalls, booths, shops, and +pens was the bustle of an enormous traffic. Pisander picked his way +through the crowd, searching for the butcher to whom he had been +especially sent. He had gone as far as the ancient shrine of Mater +Matuta, which found place in these seemingly unhallowed precincts, +when, as he gazed into the throng before him, his hair stood as it +were on end, his voice choked in his throat, and cold sweat broke out +over him. The next moment his hand was seized by another, young and +hearty, and he was gasping forth the name of Agias. + + [70] Cattle-market. + + + + +Chapter V + +A Very Old Problem + + +I + +Drusus had at last finished the business which centred around the +death of his uncle, old Publius Vibulanus. He had walked behind the +bier, in company with the other relatives of the deceased--all very +distant, saving himself. On the day, too, of the funeral, he had been +obliged to make his first public oration--a eulogy delivered in the +Forum from the Rostra--in which Drusus tried to pay a graceful but not +fulsome tribute to the old eques, who had never distinguished himself +in any way, except the making of money. The many clients of Vibulanus, +who now looked upon the young man as their patron, had raised a +prodigious din of applause during the oration, and Quintus was +flattered to feel that he had not studied rhetoric in vain. Finally, +as next of kin, he had to apply the torch to the funeral pyre, and +preside over the funeral feast, held by custom nine days after the +actual burning, and over the contests of gladiators which took place +at this festivity. Meanwhile Sextus Flaccus had been attending to the +legal business connected with the transfer of the dead man's estate to +his heir. All this took time--time which Drusus longed to be spending +with Cornelia in shady and breezy Praeneste, miles from unhealthy, +half-parched Rome. + +Drusus had sent Agias ahead to Cornelia, as soon as the poor boy had +recovered in the least from his brutal scourging. The lad had parted +from his deliverer with the most extravagant demonstrations of +gratitude, which Quintus had said he could fully repay by implicit +devotion to Cornelia. How that young lady had been pleased with her +present, Drusus could not tell; although he had sent along a letter +explaining the circumstances of the case. But Quintus had other things +on his mind than Agias and his fortunes, on the morning when at last +he turned his face away from the sultry capital, and found his +carriage whirling him once more over the Campagna. + +Drusus had by personal experience learned the bitterness of the +political struggle in which he had elected to take part. The Caesarians +at Rome (Balbus, Antonius, and Curio) had welcomed him to their +number, for young as he was, his wealth and the prestige of the Livian +name were not to be despised. And Drusus saw how, as in his younger +days he had not realized, the whole fabric of the state was in an evil +way, and rapidly approaching its mending or ending. The Roman Republic +had exported legions; she had imported slaves, who heaped up vast +riches for their masters, while their competition reduced the free +peasantry to starvation. And now a splendid aristocracy claimed to +rule a subject world, while the "Roman people" that had conquered that +world were a degenerate mob, whose suffrages in the elections were +purchasable--almost openly--by the highest bidder. The way was not +clear before Drusus; he only saw, with his blind, Pagan vision, that +no real liberty existed under present conditions; that Pompeius and +his allies, the Senate party, were trying to perpetuate the +aristocracy in power, and that Caesar, the absent proconsul of the +Gauls, stood, at least, for a sweeping reform. And so the young man +made his decision and waited the march of events. + +But once at Praeneste all these forebodings were thrust into the +background. The builders and frescoers had done their work well in his +villa. A new colonnade was being erected. Coloured mosaic floors were +being laid. The walls of the rooms were all a-dance with bright Cupids +and Bacchantes--cheerful apartments for their prospective mistress. +But it was over to the country-house of the Lentuli that Drusus made +small delay to hasten, there to be in bliss in company with Cornelia, + +"And how," he asked, after the young lady had talked of a dozen +innocent nothings, "do you like Agias, the boy I sent you?" + +"I can never thank you enough--at least if he is always as clever and +witty as he has been since I have had him," was the reply. "I was +vexed at first to have a servant with such dreadful scars all over +him; but he is more presentable now. And he has a very droll way of +saying bright things. What fun he has made of Livia's dear mother, his +former mistress! I shall have to give up reading any wise authors, if +it will make me grow like Valeria. Then, too, Agias has won my favour, +if in no other way, by getting a thick grass stem out of the throat of +my dear little pet sparrow, that was almost choking to death. I am so +grateful to you for him!" + +"I am very glad you are fond of him," said Drusus. "Has your uncle +come back from Rome yet? I did not meet him while there. I was busy; +and besides, to speak honestly, I have a little hesitation in seeing +him, since the political situation is so tense." + +"He returns to-night, I believe," replied Cornelia. Then as if a bit +apprehensive, "Tell me about the world, Drusus; I don't care to be one +of those fine ladies of the sort of Clodia,[71] who are all in the +whirl of politics, and do everything a man does except to speak in the +Senate; but I like to know what is going on. There isn't going to be a +riot, I hope, as there was two years ago, when no consuls were +elected, and Pompeius had to become sole magistrate?" + + [71] She was a sister of Clodius, a famous demagogue, and was a + brilliant though abandoned woman. + +"There have been no tumults so far," said Drusus, who did not care to +unfold all his fears and expectations. + +"Yet things are in a very bad way, I hear," said Cornelia "Can't Caesar +and my uncle's party agree?" + +"I'm afraid not," replied Drusus, shaking his head. "Caesar wishes to +be consul a second time. Pompeius and he were friends when at Lucca +six years ago this was agreed on. Caesar was then promised that he +should have his Gallic proconsulship up to the hour when he should be +consul, and besides Pompeius promised to have permission granted Caesar +to be elected consul, without appearing as a candidate in Rome; so at +no moment was Caesar to be without office,[72] and consequently he was +not to be liable to prosecution from his enemies. All this was secured +to Caesar by the laws,--laws which Pompeius aided to have enacted. But +now Crassus the third triumvir is dead; Julia, Caesar's daughter and +Pompeius's wife, whom both dearly loved, is dead. And Pompeius has +been persuaded by your uncle and his friends to break with Caesar and +repudiate his promise. Caesar and Pompeius have long been so powerful +together that none could shake their authority; but if one falls away +and combines with the common enemy, what but trouble is to be +expected?" + + [72] Without the _imperium_--so long as a Roman official held this + he was above prosecution. + +"The enemy! the enemy!" repeated Cornelia, looking down, and sighing. +"Quintus, these feuds are a dreadful thing. Can't you," and here she +threw a bit of pathetic entreaty into her voice, "join with my uncle's +party, and be his friend? I hate to think of having my husband at +variance with the man who stands in place of my father." + +Drusus took her face between his hands, and looked straight at her. +They were standing within the colonnade of the villa of the Lentuli, +and the sunlight streaming between the pillars fell directly upon +Cornelia's troubled face, and made a sort of halo around her. + +"My dearest, delectissima," said Quintus, earnestly, "I could not +honourably take your hand in marriage, if I had not done that which my +conscience, if not my reason, tells me is the only right thing to do. +It grieves me to hurt you; but we are not fickle Greeks, nor servile +Easterns; but Romans born to rule, and because born to rule, born to +count nothing dear that will tend to advance the strength and +prosperity not of self, but of the state. You would not love me if I +said I cared more for keeping a pang from your dear heart, than for +the performance of that which our ancestors counted the one end of +life--duty to the commonwealth." + +Cornelia threw her arms around him. + +"You are the noblest man on the whole earth!" she cried with bright +enthusiasm. "Of course I would not love you if you did what you +believed to be wrong! My uncle may scold, may storm. I shan't care for +all his anger, for you _must be_ right." + +"Ah! delectissima," cried Drusus, feeling at the moment as if he were +capable of refuting senates and confounding kings, "we will not look +at too gloomy a side of the picture. Pompeius and Caesar will be +reconciled. Your uncle's party will see that it is best to allow the +proconsul an election as promised. We will have wise laws and moderate +reforms. All will come out aright. And we--we two--will go along +through life as softly and as merrily as now we stroll up and down in +the cool shade of these columns; and I will turn philosopher and +evolve a new system that will forever send Plato and Zeno, Epicurus +and Timon, to the most remote and spider-spun cupboard of the most +old-fashioned library, and you shall be a poetess, a Sappho, an +Erinna, who shall tinkle in Latin metres sweeter than they ever sing +in Aiolic. And so we will fleet the time as though we were Zeus and +Hera on Olympus." + +"Zeus and Hera!" repeated Cornelia, laughing. "You silly Graecule.[73] +You may talk about that misbehaved pair, who were anything but +harmonious and loving, if Homer tells truly. I prefer our own Juppiter +and our Juno of the Aventine. _They_ are a staid and home-keeping +couple, worth imitating, if we are to imitate any celestials. But +nothing Greek for me." + + [73] Contemptuous diminutive for Greek. + +"Intolerant, intolerant," retorted Drusus, "we are all Greek, we +Romans of to-day--what is left of old Latium but her half-discarded +language, her laws worse than discarded, perverted, her good pilum[74] +which has not quite lost its cunning, and her--" + + [74] The heavy short javelin carried by the Roman legionary, only + about six feet long. In practised hands it was a terrible weapon, + and won many a Roman victory. + +"Men," interrupted Cornelia, "such as you!" + +"And women," continued Drusus, "such as you! Ah! There is something +left of Rome after all. We are not altogether fallen, unworthy of our +ancestors. Why shall we not be merry? A Greek would say that it was +always darkest before Eos leaves the couch of Tithonus,[75] and who +knows that our Helios is not soon to dawn and be a long, long time ere +his setting? I feel like throwing formality to the winds, crying +'Iacchos evoe,' and dancing like a bacchanal, and singing in tipsy +delight,-- + + [75] The "rosy-fingered Dawn" of Homer; Tithonos was her consort. + + "'Oh, when through the long night, + With fleet foot glancing white, + Shall I go dancing in my revelry, + My neck cast back, and bare + Unto the dewy air, + Like sportive faun in the green meadow's glee?'[76] + + [76] Milman, translator. + +as old Euripides sings in his 'Bacchae.' Yes, the Hellenes were right +when they put nymphs in the forest and in the deep. Only our blind +practical Latin eyes will not see them. We will forget that we are +Romans; we will build for ourselves some cosey little Phaeacia up in +the Sabine hills beside some lake; and there my Sappho shall also be +my Nausicaa to shine fair as a goddess upon her distressed and +shipwrecked Odysseus." + +"Yes," said Cornelia, smiling, "a delightful idyl; but Odysseus would +not stay with Nausicaa." + +"I was wrong," replied Drusus, as they walked arm in arm out from the +portico, and down the broad avenue of stately shade trees. "You shall +be the faithful Penelope, who receives back her lord in happiness +after many trials. Your clever Agias can act as Telemachus for us." + +"But the suitors whom Odysseus must slay?" asked Cornelia, entering +into the fun. + +"Oh, for them," said Drusus, lightly, "we need not search far. Who +other than Ahenobarbus?" + + +II + +Rather late in the afternoon, a few days subsequently, the most noble +Lucius Cornelius Lentulus Crus, consul-designate, and one of the most +prominent politicians of his time and nation, arrived at Praeneste; +having hurried away from Rome to escape for a little while the summer +heats which made the capital anything but a pleasant place for +residence. Drusus's travelling cortege would have seemed small enough +compared with the hedge of outriders, footmen, and body-servants that +surrounded the great man. But notwithstanding his prospective +dignities, and his present importance, Lentulus Crus was hardly an +imposing personality. He was a bald-pated, florid individual, with +rough features, a low, flat forehead, and coarse lips. He was dressed +very fashionably, and was perfumed and beringed to an extent that +would have been derided anywhere save in the most select circles of +Rome. He was stout, and when he alighted from his carriage, he moved +away with a somewhat waddling gait, and lifted up a rasping, +high-pitched voice in unsonorous complaint against a slave who let +fall a parcel of baggage. + +Clearly the master of the house had returned, and all the familia and +freedmen bustled about their various tasks with the unusual +promptitude and diligence which is the outcome of a healthy fear of +retribution for slackness. Lentulus went into the atrium, and there +had an angry conference with the local land-steward, over some +accounts which the latter presented. In fact, so ill was the humour of +the noble lord, that Cornelia avoided going out from her room to meet +him, and pretended to be so engrossed in her Ennius that she did not +hear he had come. + +This pretence, however, could not last long. Lentulus called out in a +surly tone to know where his niece was, and the latter was fain to +present herself. It could not be said that the meeting between +Cornelia and her uncle was extremely affectionate. The interchange of +kisses was painfully formal, and then Lentulus demanded somewhat +abruptly:-- + +"How have you been spending your time? With that young ne'er-do-weel +son of Sextus Drusus?" + +"Quintus was here this morning," said Cornelia, feeling a little +reproachful at the manner in which her uncle had spoken of her lover. + +"Just back from Rome, I presume?" said Lentulus, icily, "and he must +fly over to the cote of his little dove and see that she hasn't +flitted away? He'd better have a care in his doings. He'll have +something more serious on hand than lovemaking before long." + +"I don't understand you, uncle," said Cornelia, turning rather red; +"Quintus has never done anything for which he has cause to fear." + +"Oh, he hasn't, eh?" retorted Lentulus. "_Mehercle!_ what donkeys you +women are! You may go, I want to see your mother." + +"She is in her own room," said Cornelia, turning her back; "I wish you +would not speak to me in that way again." + +Lentulus wandered through the mazes of courts, colonnades, and the +magnificently decorated and finished rooms of the villa, until he came +to the chamber of Claudia, his sister-in-law. Claudia was a woman of +the same fashionable type as Valeria, good-looking, ostentatious, +proud, selfish, devoid of any aim in life save the securing of the +most vapid pleasure. At the moment, she was stretched out on a thickly +cushioned couch. She had thrown on a loose dress of silken texture. A +negress was waving over her head a huge fan of long white feathers. A +second negress was busy mixing in an _Authepsa_,--a sort of silver +urn, heated by charcoal,--a quantity of spices, herbs, and water, +which the lady was to take as soon as it was sufficiently steeped. +Claudia had been enjoying an unusually gay round of excitement while +at Baiae, and she had but just come up to Praeneste, to recover herself +after the exertions of a score of fashionable suppers, excursions on +the Lucrine Lake, and the attendant exhausting amusements. When her +brother-in-law entered the room, she raised her carefully tinted +eyebrows, and observed with great languor:-- + +"So you have gotten away from Rome, at last, my Lucius?" + +"For a few days," replied Lentulus, in no very affable tone; "the heat +and din of the city will drive me mad! And I have had no end of +troublesome business. The senators are all fools or slaves of Caesar. +That treacherous rascal, Curio, is blocking all our efforts. Even +Pompeius is half-hearted in the cause. It wouldn't take much to make +him go back to Caesar, and then where would we be?" + +"Where would we be?" said Claudia, half conscious of what she said, +turning over wearily. "Don't talk politics, my dear brother. They are +distressingly dull. My head aches at the very word." And she held out +her hand and took the golden cup of hot drink which the negress +offered her. + +"Aye," replied Lentulus, not in the least subdued, "where _will_ we +be, if Pompeius and Caesar become friends? If there is no war, no +proscription, no chance to make a sesterce in a hurry!" + +"My dear brother," said Claudia, still more languidly, and yawning at +length, as she handed back the cup, "have I not said that the mere +mention of politics makes my head ache?" + +"Then let it," said the other, brutally; "I must have some plain words +with you." And he pointed toward the door. The two serving-maids took +the hint, and retired. + +Claudia settled her head back on the pillows, and folded her hands as +if to resign herself to a very dull tete-a-tete. + +"Have you any new debts?" demanded Lentulus. + +"What a tiresome question," murmured the lady. "No--no--yes; I owe +Pomponius the fancier--I don't quite know how much--for my last +Maltese lap dog." + +"Thank the gods that is all," went on her brother-in-law. "Now listen +to me. I have been living beyond my means. Last year the canvass to +get on the board of guardians of the Sibylline Books--in which that +graceless son-in-law of Cicero's, Publius Dolabella, defeated me--cost +a deal of money. This year I have the consulship. But it has taken +every denarius I own, and more too. All my estates are involved, so +that it will require years to redeem them, in the ordinary way." + +"How extremely unfortunate!" sighed Claudia, looking dreadfully bored. + +"If that was all I had to tell you," snapped back Lentulus, "I would +not have disturbed your ladyship's repose. But you must be so +indulgent as to listen." + +"Well?" said Claudia, yawning again and settling herself. + +"Your late husband left some little property," began the other. + +"Yes, to be sure; oh! my poor Caius!" and Claudia began to sob and +wipe away the tears. + +"And this property I have involved," continued Lentulus, driving +straight ahead and never heeding the widow's display of emotions. "It +will be impossible for me to clear away the encumbrances for some +little time." + +Claudia was excited now. She sprang up from her cushions and cried, or +rather screamed:-- + +"Brute! Robber of orphans and widows! Heartless wretch! Have you +pledged the slender fortune Caius left me, and the dowry of my poor +dear Cornelia?" And her voice sank into hoarseness, and she began to +sob once more. + +Lentulus regarded her with vexation and contempt. "_Mehercle!_ what a +fuss you are making! The deed is done, and there's no helping it. I +came here, not to offer excuses, but to state the facts. You may call +me what you please; I _had to do it_, or lose the consulship. Now look +the matter in the face. You must contract no more debts; I can't +discharge the old ones. Live as reasonably as you can." + +"And no more nice dinners? No more visits to Baiae?" groaned the lady, +rocking to and fro. + +"Yes, yes," broke in her brother-in-law, sharply, "I can still raise +enough to meet all ordinary expenses. If I let down in my household, +my creditors would see I was pinched, and begin to pluck me. I can +weather the storm. But look here: Cornelia must have an end with that +young Drusus. I can never pay her dowry, and would not have him for a +nephew-in-law if I could." + +"Cornelia break off with Drusus?" and Claudia stopped whimpering, and +sat staring at Lentulus with astonished eyes. To tell the truth she +had always liked the young Livian, and thought her daughter was +destined for a most advantageous match. + +"Certainly, my dear Claudia," said the consul-elect, half relieved to +change what had been a very awkward subject; "I can assure you that +Quintus is far from being a proper and worthy man for a husband for +your daughter. I have heard very evil reports of him while in the +city. He has cast in his lot with that gang of knavish Caesarians +centring around Marcus Antonius, Caelius, and that Caius Sallustius[77] +whom our excellent censors have just ejected from the Senate, because +of his evil living and Caesarian tendencies. Do I need to say more of +him? A worthless, abandoned, shameless profligate!" + + [77] Sallust, the well-known historian. + +Claudia had a little sense of humour; and when Lentulus was working +himself up into a righteous rage over the alleged misdoings of Drusus, +she interrupted:-- + +"You do well to say so, my dear Lucius; for all men know that your +life is as morally severe as your good friend Cato's." + +Lentulus was silent for a moment, and bit his lip; then recommenced:-- + +"What I meant to say was this. Quintus Drusus and I are enemies; and I +will not give him my niece in marriage. If we were friends, I would +not be able to pay the dowry. You can complain if you please; but you +can't alter my inclinations or my inability to carry out the marriage +agreement." + +Though Claudia in many respects was an empty woman of the world, she +had in a way a desire to promote her daughter's happiness, and, as has +been said, she had been extremely fond of Drusus. So she replied +diplomatically that Quintus was probably willing to wait a reasonable +time for the dowry; and that even if he had held communication with +the Caesarians, he was little more than a boy and could be shaken out +of any unfortunate political opinions. + +"I will be reasonable," said Lentulus, after pacing up and down for a +few minutes. "I was told of his folly by Caius Calvus.[78] Calvus is +as a rule accurate in his information. He said he met Drusus in +company with Balbus and Curio. But there may have been some mistake. +And the lad, as you declare, may be willing to cut loose from a bad +course. If he really cares for Cornelia, he will be moderate in his +demands for the dowry. Your suggestion is worth taking, Claudia. Let +us send for him, and let him know the only terms on which he can have +my niece." + + [78] A distinguished poet and orator--a friend of Catullus. + +Lentulus clapped his hands, and a serving-boy came in for orders. + +"Go to the villa of Quintus Drusus," commanded the master, "and tell +him that I would see him at once on business of weight." + +Claudia arose, and let her maids throw over her a long white +_stola_,[79] with deep flounces and an elaborate embroidery of +sea-nymphs and marine monsters. Lentulus went out into the atrium and +walked up and down, biting his nails, and trying to think out the +arguments by which he would confute the political heresies of Drusus. +Lentulus was too good a politician not to know that the young man +would be a valuable catch for the party that secured him; and the +consul-elect was determined, not so much to spare breaking the heart +of his niece, but to rob the enemy of a valuable adherent. Cornelia +had gone back to her book; but when she saw the boy go down the path, +evidently on an errand to the villa of the Drusi, she rolled up the +volume, and went into the atrium. + + [79] A long tunic worn by Roman ladies. + +"You have sent after Quintus, uncle?" she asked. + +"I have," was the reply; "I expect him shortly." + +"What is the matter?" continued Cornelia, growing apprehensive. + +"I wish to make the arrangements for your wedding," replied Lentulus, +continuing his pacing to and fro. + +"Oh, I am so glad!" cried Cornelia, cheerily. "I am so pleased you +wish to make everything agreeable for Quintus and for me!" + +"I hope so," was the rather gloomy response. + +Presently Drusus was seen coming up the shaded path at a very brisk +stride. He had been playing at fencing with old Mamercus, and his face +was all aglow with a healthy colour; there was a bright light in his +eye. When he saw Cornelia in the doorway he gave a laugh and broke +into a run, which brought him up to her panting and merry. + +Then as he saw Lentulus he paused, half ashamed of his display of +boyish ardour, and yet, with a smile and a gracious salutation, asked +the older man if he was enjoying good health, and congratulated him on +his election. + +The consul-designate was a little disarmed by this straightforward +mode of procedure. He dropped unuttered the elaborate exordium he had +been preparing on the tendency of young men to be led astray by +speciously pleading schemers, and found himself replying mildly to +questions about himself and various old friends of his, whom Drusus +had known as a boy before he went to Athens. But finally the young man +interrupted this pacific discourse with the query:-- + +"And, most noble Lentulus, what is the business on which you sent for +me? So far as I am able, the uncle of Cornelia has but to command." + +Lentulus glanced at Claudia, as if expecting her to open a delicate +subject; but that excellent lady only fingered her _palla_,[80] and +gave vent to a slight cough. Cornelia, whose fears had all passed +away, stood beside Drusus, with one arm resting on his shoulder, +glancing pertly from one man to the other. Lentulus began:-- + + [80] A shawl worn over the stola. + +"I am very sorry to tell you, Quintus, that I fear your wedding with +Cornelia cannot be celebrated as soon as you hoped." + +"Must be postponed!" exclaimed the young man, in alarm; and Cornelia +dropped her arm, and stared at her uncle in dismay. + +"I fear so," said Lentulus, dryly. "I have done my best to husband the +fortune Caius left his daughter; but, as perhaps you know, I invested +a very large part of it in the tax farming syndicate for farther +Spain. The speculation seemed safe, but local wars have so reduced the +profits that they amount to nothing, and it will be some time before +the principal is set free. Of course, in ordinary times I would make +up the sum from my own means, but I have had very heavy expenses +lately; consequently, I fear you cannot marry Cornelia until I am in a +position to pay over her dowry." + +Drusus burst out into a hearty, boyish laugh. + +"My dear uncle," cried he, "for do let me call you so, I would have +you know that when I take Cornelia I have dowry sufficient. Thanks to +old Vibulanus's will, I may call myself passing wealthy. As far as I +am concerned, you may pay over the marriage portion to my heirs, if so +you wish." + +Lentulus seemed considerably relieved. Claudia broke out with loud +ejaculations to the effect that Drusus, she always knew, was a +generous, affectionate fellow, and she loved him dearly. Cornelia, +however, looked disturbed, and presently exclaimed:-- + +"It isn't right, Quintus, that I should come into your house with not +a sesterce in my own name, as if you had married some low farmer's +daughter." + +"_Phy!_ pish!" replied Drusus. "You always scold the Greeks, my good +mistress, and yet, like them, you hold that a marriage between people +of unequal means is unhappy. A penny for your scruples! I have more +money to-day than I know what to do with. Besides, if it will make you +happier, your uncle can doubtless pay over the dowry before a great +while." + +"It's certainly very kind of you, Quintus," said Lentulus (who had +quite made up his mind that if the young man could wait for what was a +very tidy fortune, through sheer affection for Cornelia, he would be +pliable enough in the political matter), "not to press me in this +affair. Rest assured, neither you nor my niece will be the losers in +the end. But there's one other thing I would like to ask you about. +From what Calvus told me in Rome, Curio and certain other still worse +_Populares_[81] were trying to induce you to join their abominable +faction. I trust you gave those men no encouragement?" + + [81] The party in opposition, since the time of Tiberius Gracchus, + to the Senate party--Optimates; at this time the _Populares_ were + practically all Caesarians. + +Drusus was evidently confused. He was wishing strongly that Cornelia +was away, and he could talk to her uncle with less constraint. He felt +that he was treading on very dangerous ground. + +"It is true," said he, trying painfully to answer as if the words cost +him no thought. "Antonius had met many of my father's old comrades in +Gaul, and they had sent a number of kind messages to me. Then, too, +Balbus invited me to a dinner-party and there I met Curio, and a very +pleasant time we had. I cannot recall that they made any special +efforts to enlist me as a partisan." + +In this last, Drusus spoke truly; for he had already thrown in his lot +with the Caesarian cause. But Lentulus knew enough of the case to +realize that he was receiving not the whole truth but only a half; and +being a man of a sharp temper that was under very imperfect control, +threw diplomacy to the winds, and replied vehemently: "Don't attempt +to cover up your folly! I know how you have put yourself in the power +of those conspirators. Are you planning to turn out another Catilina?" + +"My dear sir," expostulated Drusus, doing his best to retain his +outward calm, "I cannot understand of what fault I have become guilty. +Is it wrong in Rome to accept a kindly invitation from an old family +friend to a dinner? Am I responsible for the persons the host summoned +to meet me there?" + +Drusus had been simply sparring to ward off the real point at issue; +like many persons he would not assert his convictions and motives till +fairly brought to bay. But that moment came almost instantly. + +"Don't equivocate! _Mehercle!_" cried Lentulus, getting thoroughly +angry. "Can't you speak, except to lie and quibble before my face? +Have you joined the gang Curio is rallying for Caesar?" + +Drusus was losing his own patience now. + +"Yes! And we shall shortly see whether the Republic is to be longer +ruined by incompetence and corruption!" + +"Uncle! Quintus!" implored Cornelia, forcing herself between them, and +casting out of her wide-open eyes on each a look full of distress. +"Don't contend! For my sake be friends!" + +"For your sake!" raged Lentulus, his florid face growing redder and +redder. "I will take care to keep you out of the clutches of a man who +deliberately chooses to associate with all that is base and villanous. +Until your handsome lover throws over connections with Caesar and his +fellow-conspirators, let him never ask for your hand!" + +"Sir," burst in Drusus, flushing with passion, "do you dare to set at +naught the will of your brother and its express commands? Dare you +withhold from me what is legally my own?" + +"Legally?" replied Lentulus, with sharp scorn. "Don't use that word to +a consul-elect, who has the whole Senate and Pompeius behind him. Laws +are very dangerous tools for a young man to meddle with in a case like +this. You will be wise not to resort to the courts." + +"You defy the law!" thundered Drusus, all the blood of his fighting +ancestors tingling in his veins. "Do you say that to a Livian; to the +heir of eight consuls, two censors, a master of the horse, a dictator, +and three triumphators? Shall not _he_ obtain justice?" + +"And perhaps," said Lentulus, sinking into an attitude of irritating +coldness, "you will further press your claim on the ground that your +mother was a Fabian, and the Fabii claim the sole right to sacrifice +to Hercules on the Great Altar[82] in the Cattle-market by the +Flaminian Circus, because they are descended from Hercules and +Evander. I think the Cornelian gens can show quite as many death-masks +in its atria, and your mock heroics will only stamp you as a very bad +tragedian." + + [82] _Ara Maxima_. + +"Uncle! Quintus!" implored Cornelia again, the tears beginning to +start from her eyes. "Cease this dreadful quarrel. Go away until you +can talk calmly." + +"Quintus Livius," shouted Lentulus, dropping the "Drusus," a part of +the name which was omitted in formal address, "you can choose here and +now. Forswear your Caesarian connections, or consider my niece's +betrothal at an end!" + +Drusus stood looking in blank dismay from one to the other of the +little company. Claudia had started to speak, but closed, her lips +without uttering a word. Lentulus faced him, hot, flushed, and with a +cynical smile of delight, at the infliction of mental torture, playing +over his face. Cornelia had dropped down upon a chair, buried her +pretty face in her hands, and was sobbing as if her heart would break. +It was a moment Drusus would not soon forget. The whole scene in the +atrium was stamped upon his memory; the drops of the fountain seemed +frozen in mid-air; the rioting satyr on the fresco appeared to be +struggling against the limitations of paint and plaster to complete +his bound; he saw Cornelia lift her head and begin to address him, but +what she said was drowned by the buzzing and swirl which unsteadied +the young man's entire faculties. Drusus felt himself turning hot and +cold, and in semi-faintness he caught at a pillar, and leaned upon it. +He felt numbed mentally and physically. Then, by a mental reaction, +his strong, well-balanced nature reasserted itself. His head cleared, +his muscles relaxed their feverish tension, he straightened himself +and met the cool leer of Lentulus with a glance stern and high; such a +glance as many a Livian before him had darted on foe in Senate or +field of battle. + +"Lucius Cornelius," said he, his voice perfectly under command, "do +you propose to defy law and right and refuse me the hand of your +niece, unless I do your will?" + +Lentulus thought that in this unimpassioned speech he detected the +premonitions of a capitulation on the part of Drusus, and with a voice +of ill-timed persuasion, replied, "Be reasonable, Drusus; you have +everything to gain and nothing to lose by not thwarting my wishes." + +"Your wishes!" retorted Drusus, with a menacing step forward. "Your +wishes! You are consul-designate. You have the Senate, you have your +tool, Pompeius, you have the gangs of gladiators and street ruffians +and all the machinery of your political clubs to invoke to defy the +law! I grant it; but though you deny me Cornelia, though by your +machinations you bring me any other loss or shame, the grandson of the +murdered Marcus Drusus will do that which is right in his own eyes, +and accept no mandate from you or any man, against his will!" + +"Cornelia," cried Claudia, infinitely distressed, "speak to Quintus, +reason with him, implore him, pray him not to resist the requests of +your uncle." + +"Yes, girl!" said Lentulus, savagely, turning livid with sheer rage, +"use all your arts on that graceless would-be conspirator now, or see +his face no more!" + +But Cornelia interposed in a most summary and unexpected manner. Her +face was very white; her nails pressed into her smooth arms, her +breath came thick and spasmodically, and her eyes flamed with the +intense passion of a strong spirit thoroughly aroused. + +"Go, Quintus," she cried, with a strained, loud voice, "go, and never +see my face again, until my uncle repents of his cruel madness! He is +master here; only woe will come from defying him. Do not anger him +further; depart." + +"Depart?" burst from Drusus. + +"Depart!" replied Cornelia, desperately; "if you stay I shall go mad. +I shall beg you to yield,--which would be base of me; and if you heard +my prayers, it would be more base in you." + +"Fool," shouted Lentulus, "don't you know you will be the first I'll +mark for slaughter in the next proscription? You, mistress, go to your +room, if you cannot keep a civil tongue! And you, sir, get you gone, +unless you wish the slaves to cast you out." + +"Farewell, Cornelia!" gasped the young man; and he turned his back, +and started out into the colonnade. + +"Oh, Quintus, return!" shrieked Claudia, wringing her hands. "All the +gods blast you!" muttered Lentulus, quivering with fury; then he +shouted at the top of his shrill, harsh voice: "My enemies are my +enemies. You are warned. Take care!" + +"And do you take warning! A Livian never forgets! _Mars regat!_ Let +War rule!" cried Drusus, turning at the vestibule, and brandishing a +knotted fist. Lentulus stared after him, half furious, half +intimidated. But Claudia glanced back into the room from the just +emptied doorway, and gave a scream. + +"The servants! Help! Water! Cornelia has fainted!" + + +III + +Drusus strode down the long avenue of shade trees. The gardener stared +after him, as the young man went by, his face knitted with a scowl of +combined pain and fury, with never a word in reply to the rustic's +kindly salutation. + +"_Papae!_"[83] muttered the man, "what has befallen Master Quintus? Has +he fallen out with her ladyship?" + + [83] "Strange! Marvellous!" + +Drusus kept on, looking neither to the right hand nor to the left, +until he found himself past the boundary stone between his own estate +and that of the Lentuli. Then he stopped and passed his hand over his +forehead. It was damp with an unhealthy sweat. His hands and frame +were quivering as if in an ague. He seated himself on a stone bench by +the roadway, and tried to collect his faculties. + +"Bear up, Drusus; be a Livian, as you boast yourself," he declaimed +frantically to himself. "Cornelia shall still be yours! All things are +possible to one who is young and strong, with a clear conscience!" + +If this self-debate did not actually stimulate cheerfulness, it at +least revived the embers of hope; and Drusus found himself trying to +look the situation fairly in the face. + +"You have thrown away your right to marry the dearest, loveliest, and +noblest girl in the world," he reflected bitterly. "You have made an +implacable enemy of one of the most powerful men of the state. In +short, your happiness is gone, and perhaps your life is in danger--and +for what? A dream of reform which can never be realized? A mad +conspiracy to overthrow the commonwealth? Is Caesar to be saviour or +despot? For what have you sacrificed yourself?" + +Lentulus, he knew perfectly well, was really above law. No jury would +ever convict the leader of the Senate party. Drusus could never +contract lawful marriage with Cornelia, so long as her guardian +withheld consent. And for one moment he regretted of his +determination, of his defiance. Then came reaction. Drusus called up +all his innate pride, all the strength of his nobler inspirations. + +"I have set my face toward that which is honourable and right," cried +Drusus to his own soul; "I will not doubt. Whether there be gods, I +cannot tell. But this I know, the wise and good have counted naught +dear but virtues; and toward this end I will strive." + +And by a strong effort at self-command, he forced himself to arise +from the bench and walk back to his own estate, and soon he was +pouring the whole story into the sympathetic ears of Mamercus, +Pausanias, and other worthy retainers. + +The scene that had taken place at the villa of the Lentuli, soon was +reported through all the adjacent farms; for several slaves had been +the mute witnesses of the angry colloquy, and had not been slow to +publish the report. The familia of Drusus was in a tumult of +indignation. All the brawny Germans and Africans whom the young master +had released from the slave-prison, and had since treated with +kindness, listened with no unfavourable ear to the proposal which +Titus Mamercus--more valorous than discreet--was laying before them: +to arm and attack Lentulus in his own villa, and so avenge their lord +in a summary fashion. + +But the elder Mamercus dashed the martial ambitions of his son. + +"Fool," cried the veteran, emphatically, when the project came to his +ears, "do you wish to undo yourself and Quintus too? No power short of +Jove could protect you and him, if aught were to befall Lentulus, in +the way you propose." + +"But what can we do, father?" replied Titus, sorry to see his scheme +for vengeance blocked; "shall that despicable tyrant defy law and +justice, and refuse to give Mistress Cornelia to Quintus?" + +"Silence your folly!" thundered the other, who was himself quite +nonplussed over the situation, and felt Titus's bold chatter would +goad him into something desperate. + +The truth was, neither Pausanias nor any other of Quintus's friends +could see any means of coercing the consul-elect into receding from +his position. He was practically above law, and could not with safety +be attacked in any way. Pausanias could only counsel moderation and +patience; perhaps some fortunate chance would alter matters. Drusus +spent the evening in a pathetically forced attempt to read his +Callimachus. He was weary physically, and intended to retire early. +AEmilia, who felt sorry enough for the plight of her rather distant +cousin, had tried to console him and divert him with guitar[84] music, +and had called in an itinerant piper,[85] but these well-meant efforts +at amusement had been dreary failures. Drusus had just bidden his +body-servants undress him, when he was informed that Agias had come +from the Lentulan villa, and wished to see him. + + [84] _Cithara_. + + [85] Itinerant pipers have existed in Italy from earliest times; + they still survive, albeit in alien lands and with less tuneful + instruments. + +Agias was full of protestations of delight at beholding his +intercessor and ransomer. Drusus could hardly recognize in the +supple-limbed, fair-complexioned, vivacious lad before him, the +wretched creature whom Alfidius had driven through the streets. +Agias's message was short, but quite long enough to make Drusus's pale +cheeks flush with new life, his sunken eyes rekindle, and his languor +vanish into energy. Cornelia would be waiting for him by the great +cypress in the gardens of the Lentulan villa, as soon as the moon +rose. + +Drusus prepared himself hurriedly, and refused all the entreaties of +Titus to take him along as a body-guard. Time coursed on winged feet, +as the young man hastened out into the night, and half ran down the +familiar pathway. The day had been only moderately warm for the +season, and the night was cool, though not cold. A soft east wind was +blowing down from the distant Apennines, and all the trees were +rustling gently. Up to the giant arm of a gnarled oak, fluttered an +owl, which hooted noisily as the young man hurried beneath. The +crickets were chirping. A little way off was a small stream plunging +over a dam; from it came a liquid roar; and the little wall of white +spray was just visible in the darkness. Out from the orchards drifted +the fragrant scent of apple, pear, plum, and quince. Still more sweet +was the breeze, as it swept over the wide-stretching rose-beds. +Overhead Orion and Arcturus were glittering in that hazy splendour +which belongs to the heavens on a summer's night. + +Drusus kept on, only half noting the beauty of the darkness. When he +entered the groves of the Lentulan villa, almost all light failed him, +and but for his intimate knowledge--from boyhood--of the whole +locality, he could never have kept the path. Then the moonlight began +to stream up in the east, and between the trees and thickets lay the +long, yellow bars of brightness, while all else was still in gloom. +Drusus pushed on with confidence, and soon the gurgle of the tiny +cataract told him that he was near the old cypress. A few steps more, +and a figure rose from out the fern thicket. It was Cornelia. Her hair +was tumbling loosely over her shoulders; she wore a soft, light-blue +dress that covered her arms and her feet. In the moonlight her face +and hands appeared as bloodless as white marble. + +"I knew you would come, Quintus," she cried. "I couldn't say farewell +to you, in the presence of my uncle!" + +"My beautiful!" cried Drusus; and he caught her in his arms. + +The moments that followed were as bitter-sweet as may be conceivable. +Each knew that they had small hope of an honourable realization of +their love one for another; that the moment of parting would soon +come. But for the instant they were in Elysium, caught out of mortal +care and mortal sorrow, and knowing nothing but the pure delight of +the other's presence. Then, at last, their talk became less +enraptured; the vision of Olympus faded little by little; the stern +reality confronted them in all its seriousness. + +"Cornelia," said Quintus, at length, "you are still a very young +woman. This day's heart-breakings may, perhaps, be long painful to +you; but the pangs will grow faint in time. You and I may still +cherish fondness in our hearts for each other, but how dare we +reasonably hope for more? Evil times are at hand. If your uncle's +party prevail in the struggle, my ruin is assured. But not yours. +There are many worthy men who would be proud to take in marriage the +niece of the next consul; and with one of these you can live happily. +Do not try to forget me. I don't ask that. But do not let my +misfortune cast a shadow over your dear life. Marry some honourable +man. Only think kindly of me sometimes." + +They had been sitting beside the brooklet, on the soft green-sward. +Cornelia had been resting both her hands in Drusus's, but now she drew +them back, and sprang to her feet, as if swept away by a gust of +anger. + +"How dare you!" she cried, "how dare you bid me throw away all that my +heart has turned on, and my hopes depended on, and my imagination +dreamed of, since our fathers were slain side by side; and more +especially since you came back from Athens? Why might not I bid you +renounce your adherence to Caesar's cause, and say, 'There is no need +of blasting your career by such a sacrifice; remember Caesar and his +party kindly, wish them well, but do not dwell too much thereon; +submit cheerfully to what is inevitable'? Shall I argue thus? Have I +argued thus? If you will, abandon me, and wed some other maiden, and +many there are, fair, wealthy, noble, who will be glad to be given in +marriage to a Livius Drusus. But till you thus repudiate your father's +will, no power of gods or of men shall drive me to violate that of +mine." + +"Cornelia," said Drusus, in a husky voice, "do you know what you are +saying? What resistance to threats and unkind treatment your resolve +will mean?" + +"I both know the future and accept it," answered the maiden firmly, +looking fairly into his face. + +"Then by all the powers of earth, sky, and Hades!" cried the young +man, lifting one arm toward heaven, and throwing the other about his +sweetheart, "I will defy Lentulus, defy Pompeius, defy Senate, army, +mob, or any other human might. Hitherto I have thought to play the +patriot in espousing Caesar's cause. Now let love and fury fire my +ardour. When the party of violence and tyranny falls, then too will +fall the power of Lentulus to outrage your right and mine! Ours shall +be a triumph of Venus as well as of Mars, and until that time, may you +and I endure faithful unto our fathers, ourselves, and one another!" + +Hardly had he spoken ere loud voices were heard calling through the +grove. Torches were glaring among the trees, and the harsh tones of +Lentulus burst out:-- + +"Take the wretched girl into the house when you find her; but as for +her lover, let him not escape!" + +"My uncle!" groaned Cornelia, quivering with terror; "one of my maids +has betrayed me! Flee! run! He has called out all his slaves; they +will kill you!" + +"Kill me?" gasped Drusus, incredulously; "commit deliberate murder?" + +"Yes," moaned Cornelia; "he dares anything. He is all fury and +violence. Escape! Do not throw yourself away in vain!" + +The lights flashed nearer; the slaves were shouting and blundering +through the bushes. + +"Two philippi to the man who strikes Drusus down!" bawled Lentulus. + +It was no time for delay and affectionate leave-taking. The young man +threw his arms around Cornelia, kissed her once, twice, and then +bounded into the thicket. A moment later several of the servants came +splashing over the little stream, and found Cornelia alone beside the +great cypress, pale and trembling and sobbing. Drusus caught one last +sight of her, surrounded by the torches of the pursuers. Then he +struck off into the grove, and thanks to his perfect local knowledge +easily avoided meeting Lentulus or his slaves. Lentulus he would +gladly have confronted alone. What would have followed, the athletic +young man could only surmise grimly; but he was unarmed, and for +Cornelia's sake he must take no risks. + +Close to the confines of his own land he met the Mamerci, father and +son, and several slaves and freedmen, all armed and anxious to know +whether the din that had been raised over at the Lentulan villa +betokened any danger to their young master. + +Drusus satisfied them that he had suffered no injury. The personal +peril through which he had passed brought a reaction of excitement +which raised his spirits, and he went to bed in a mood at least +tolerably cheerful. If he could not enjoy his love, he had at least +something else to live for--vengeance; and he told himself that he had +a whole mature lifetime left in which to make Lentulus repent of his +folly and tyrannical cruelty. He awoke late the next morn in a calm +frame of mind, and was able to receive with outward equanimity the +news that early in the morning Lentulus had taken his sister-in-law +and niece, and a large part of his household, back to Rome. This was +only to have been expected, and Drusus listened to the information +without useless comment. + + + + +Chapter VI + +Pompeius Magnus + + +If we had been painting an ideal heroine, gifted with all the virtues +which Christian traditions of female perfection throw around such +characters, Cornelia would have resigned herself quietly to the +inevitable, and exhibited a seraphic serenity amid tribulation. But +she was only a grieved, embittered, disappointed, sorely wronged, +Pagan maiden, who had received few enough lessons in forbearance and +meekness. And now that her natural sweetness of character had received +so severe a shock, she vented too often the rage she felt against her +uncle upon her helpless servants. Her maid Cassandra--who was the one +that had told Lentulus of her mistress's nocturnal meeting with +Drusus--soon felt the weight of Cornelia's wrath. The young lady, as +soon as Lentulus was out of the way, caused the tell-tale to receive a +cruel whipping, which kept the poor slave-girl groaning in her cell +for ten days, and did not relieve Cornelia's own distress in the +slightest degree. As a matter of fact, Cornelia was perpetually goaded +into fresh outbursts of desperation by the tyrannical attitude of her +uncle. Lentulus boasted in her presence that he would accomplish +Drusus's undoing. "I'll imitate Sulla," he would announce, in mean +pleasure at giving his niece pain; "I'll see how many heads I can have +set up as he did at the Lacus Servilius. You can go _there_, if you +wish to kiss your lover." + +But Cornelia's life at Rome was rendered unhappy by many other things +besides these occasional brutal stabs from her uncle. Her mother, as +has been hinted, was a woman of the world, and had an intense desire +to draw her daughter into her own circle of society. Claudia cared for +Cornelia in a manner, and believed it was a real kindness to tear the +poor girl away from her solitary broodings and plunge her into the +whirl of the world of Roman fashion. Claudia had become an intimate of +Clodia, the widow of Quintus Metellus, a woman of remarkable gifts and +a notoriously profligate character. "The Medea of the Palatine Hill," +Cicero had bitingly styled her. Nearly all the youth of parts and +social distinction enjoyed the wild pleasures of Clodia's garden by +the Tiber. Catullus the poet, Caelius the brilliant young politician, +and many another had figured as lovers of this soulless and enchanting +woman. And into Clodia's gilded circle Claudia tried desperately to +drag her daughter. The Lentuli had a handsome palace on the Carinae, +one of the most fashionable quarters of the capital; and here there +were many gay gatherings and dinner parties. Cornelia was well born +enough, by reputation wealthy enough, and in feature handsome enough, +to have a goodly proportion of the young men of this coterie her +devoted admirers and slaves. Claudia observed her daughter's social +triumphs with glee, and did all she could to give Cornelia plenty of +this kind of company. Cornelia would not have been a mortal woman if +she had not taken a certain amount of pleasure in noticing and +exercising her power. The first occasion when she appeared at a formal +banquet in the splendid Apollo dinner hall of the Luculli, where the +outlay on the feast was fixed by a regular scale at two hundred +thousand sesterces, she gathered no little satisfaction by the +consciousness that all the young men were admiring her, and all the +women were fuming with jealousy. But this life was unspeakably +wearisome, after the first novelty had worn away. Cornelia lived in an +age when many of the common proprieties and decencies of our present +society would have been counted prudish, but she could not close her +eyes to the looseness and license that pervaded her mother's world. +Woman had become almost entirely independent of man in social and +economic matters, though the law still kept its fictions of tutelage. +Honourable marriages were growing fewer and fewer. Divorces were +multiplying. The morality of the time can be judged from the fact that +the "immaculate" Marcus Cato separated from his wife that a friend +might marry her; and when the friend died, married her himself again. +Scandals and love intrigues were common in the highest circles; noble +ladies, and not ballet-dancers[86] merely, thought it of little +account to have their names besmirched. Everything in society was +splendid, polished, decorous, cultivated without; but within, hollow +and rotten. + + [86] _Mimae_. + +Cornelia grew weary and sick of the excitement, the fashionable +chatter, the mongering of low gossips. She loathed the sight of the +effeminate young fops who tried to win her smiles by presenting +themselves for a polite call each morning, polished and furbelowed, +and rubbed sleek and smooth with Catanian pumice. Her mother disgusted +her so utterly that she began to entertain the most unfilial feeling +toward the worthy woman. Cornelia would not or could not understand +that in such hot weather it was proper to wear lighter rings than in +winter, and that each ring must be set carefully on a different finger +joint to prevent touching. Cornelia watched her servants, and reached +the astonishing conclusion that these humble creatures were really +extracting more pleasure out of life than herself. Cassandra had +recovered from her whipping, and was bustling about her tasks as if +nothing had happened. Agias seemed to have a never failing fund of +good spirits. He was always ready to tell the funniest stories or +retail the latest news. Once or twice he brought his mistress +unspeakable delight, by smuggling into the house letters from Drusus, +which contained words of love and hope, if no really substantial +promises for the future. But this was poor enough comfort. Drusus +wrote that he could not for the time see that any good end would be +served by coming to Rome, and he would remain for the present in +Praeneste. He and she must try to wait in patience, until politics took +such a turn as would drive Lentulus into a more tractable attitude. +Cornelia found the days monotonous and dreary. Her uncle's freedman +kept her under constant espionage to prevent a chance meeting with +Drusus, and but for Agias she would have been little better than a +prisoner, ever in charge of his keepers. + +In a way, however, Cornelia found that there was enough stirring in +the outside world to lend zest and often venom to the average +emptiness of polite conversation. Politics were penetrating deeper and +deeper into fashionable society. Cornelia heard how Paulus, the +consul, had taken a large present from Caesar to preserve neutrality; +and how Curio, the tribune, had checked Clodius Marcellus, the other +consul, when he wished to take steps in the Senate against Caesar. All +that Cornelia heard of that absent statesman was from hostile lips; +consequently she had him painted to her as blood-thirsty, treacherous, +of flagrant immorality, with his one object to gather a band of +kindred spirits to his cause, and become despot. And to hear such +reports and yet to keep confident that Drusus was not sacrificing both +himself and her in a worse than unworthy cause--this tested her to the +uttermost. + +To add to her troubles, Lucius Ahenobarbus was ever thrusting in his +attentions at every party and at the theatre; and her uncle openly +favoured his suit. + +"I wish you would be more friendly to him," remarked Lentulus on one +occasion. "I should be glad to have a closer tie between his family +and ours." + +"Uncle," said Cornelia, much distressed, "I do not think I understand +what you mean." + +"Well," chuckled Lentulus, moving away, "think it over until you do +understand." + +Cornelia had been reading in the library when this conversation took +place. There was to be another party that evening at the house of +Marcus Favonius, a prominent anti-Caesarian, and since it was growing +late in the afternoon, it was time to dress. Cornelia went into her +own room, and was summoning her maids, when a young lady of about her +own age, who affected to be on terms of considerable intimacy, was +announced--Herennia, a daughter of a certain rich old eques, Caius +Pontius, who had kept out of politics and hoarded money, which his +daughter was doing her best to spend. + +Herennia was already dressed for the party. Her brown hair had been +piled up in an enormous mass on her head, eked out by false tresses +and puffings, and the whole plentifully powdered with gold dust. She +wore a prodigious number of gaudily set rings; her neck and ears and +girdle were ablaze with gold and jewels. So far from aiming, as do +modern ladies, to reduce the waist to the slenderest possible +proportions, Herennia, who was actually quite thin, had carefully +padded out her form to proper dimensions, and showed this fact by her +constrained motions. She was rouged and painted, and around her +floated an incense of a thousand and one rare perfumes. Her +amethystine tunic and palla were of pure silk--then literally worth +its weight in gold--and embroidered with an elaborate pattern in which +pearls and other gems played a conspicuous part. For all this display +of extravagance, Herennia was of only very mediocre beauty; and it was +on this account that she was always glad to make uncomfortable flings +at her "dear friend" Cornelia, whenever possible. + +Herennia seated herself on a divan, and proceeded to plunge into all +the flying gossip of the day. Incidentally she managed to hint that +Servius Maccus, her devoted admirer, had told her that the night +before Lucius Ahenobarbus and some of his friends had attacked and +insulted a lady on her way back from a late dinner.[87] + + [87] A common diversion for "young men of spirit." + +"The outrageous scapegrace!" cried Cornelia, while her maids hurried +along a toilet which, if not as elaborate as Herennia's, took some +little time. "I imagined he might do such things! I always detested +him!" + +"Then you are not so very fond of Lucius Ahenobarbus," said Herennia, +raising her carefully painted eyebrows, as if in astonishment. "I am +really a little surprised." + +"Surprised?" reëchoed Cornelia. "What have I done or said that makes +Lucius Ahenobarbus anything more than a very distant, a _very_ distant +acquaintance?" + +"My dear girl," exclaimed Herennia, throwing up her hands, "either you +are the best actress, or the most innocent little wight, in Rome! +Don't you know all that they say about you?" + +"Who--say--what--about--me?" stammered Cornelia, rising in her chair +so suddenly, as to disarrange all the work Cassandra had been doing on +her hair. + +"Why, everybody," said Herennia, smiling with an exasperating +deliberation. "And then it has all come out in the daily gazette."[88] + + [88] _Acta Diurna_, prepared officially. + +"Where is it? Read! Let me see," pleaded Cornelia, agitated and +trembling. + +"Why, how troubled you are," giggled Herennia. "Yes, I have my +freedman copy down the whole bulletin every day, as soon as it is +posted by the censor's officers; now let me see," and she produced +from under her robe a number of wooden, wax-covered tablets, strung +together: "the last praetor's edict; the will of old Publius Blaesus;" +and she ran over the headings with maddening slowness: "the speech in +the Senate of Curio--what an impudent rascal; the money paid yesterday +into the treasury,--how dull to copy all that down!--the meteor which +fell over in Tibur, and was such a prodigy; oh, yes, here it is at +last; you may as well hear what all Rome knows now, it's at the end, +among the private affairs. 'Lucius Ahenobarbus, son of Lucius +Domitius, the Consular, and Cornelia, daughter of the late tribune, +Caius Lentulus, are in love. They will be married soon.'" + +These two brief sentences, which the mechanical difficulties under +which journalistic enterprise laboured at that day made it impossible +to expand into a modern "article," were quite sufficient to tell a +whole story to Rome. Cornelia realized instantly that she had been +made the victim of some vile trick, which she doubted not her would-be +lover and her uncle had executed in collusion. She took the tablets +from Herennia's hand, without a word, read the falsehoods once, twice, +thrice. The meaning of the day attached to the terms used intimated +the existence of a low intrigue, quite as much as any honourable +"engagement." If Cornelia did not soon become the lawful wife of +Lucius Ahenobarbus, the world would feel justified in piling scandal +upon her name. The blow was numbing in its brutality. Instead of +crying and execrating the liars, as Herennia fully expected her to do, +Cornelia merely handed back the tablets, and said with cold dignity, +"I think some very unfortunate mistake has been made. Lucius +Ahenobarbus is no friend of mine. Will you be so kind as to leave me +with my maids?" + +Herennia was overborne by the calm, commanding attitude of the rival +she had meant to annoy. When Cornelia became not the radiant +_debutante_, but the haughty patrician lady, there was that about her +which made her wish a mandate. Herennia, in some confusion, withdrew. +When she was gone, Cornelia ordered her maids out of the room, +stripped off the golden tiara they had been plaiting into her hair, +tore away the rings, bracelets, necklaces, and flung herself upon the +pillows of the divan, quivering with sobs. She did not know of a +single friend who could help her. All the knowledge that she had +imbibed taught her that there was no God either to hear prayer, or +succour the wronged. Her name would become a laughing-stock and a +hissing, to be put on a par with Clodia's or that of any other +frivolous woman, unless she not merely gave up the man she loved, but +also threw herself into the arms of the man she utterly hated. The +craving for any respite was intense. She was young; but for the +moment, at least, life had lost every glamour. If death was an endless +sleep, why not welcome it as a blessed release? The idea of suicide +had a grasp on the ancient world which it is hard at first to +estimate. A healthy reaction might have stirred Cornelia out of her +despair, but at that instant the impulse needed to make her commit an +irrevocable deed must have been very slight. But while she lay on the +pillows, wretched and heart-sick, the voice of Agias was heard +without, bidding the maids admit him to their mistress. + +"Stay outside. I can't see you now," moaned poor Cornelia, feeling +that for once the sight of the good-humoured, vivacious slave-boy +would be maddening. But Agias thrust back the curtains and boldly +entered. What he said will be told in its due time and place; but the +moment he had gone Cornelia was calling in Cassandra, and ordering the +maids to dress her with all possible speed for the dinner-party. + +"I must be all smiles, all enchantments," she was saying to herself. +"I must dissemble. I must win confidences. I must do everything, and +anything. I have no right to indulge in grief any longer. Quintus's +dear life is at stake!" + + +II + +Lentulus did not go to the banquet of Favonius, to see the unwonted +graciousness with which his niece received the advances of Lucius +Ahenobarbus, Neither was Favonius himself present at his own +entertainment. They, and several others of the high magnates of their +party, had been called away by an urgent summons, and spent the +evening in secluded conference with no less a personage than Pompeius, +or as he dearly loved to be called, "the Magnus," in his splendid +palace outside the walls on the Campus Martius. And here the conqueror +of Mithridates--a stout, soldierly man of six-and-fifty, whose best +quality was a certain sense of financial honesty, and whose worst an +extreme susceptibility to the grossest adulation--told them that he +had received letters from Labienus, Caesar's most trusted lieutenant in +Gaul, declaring that the proconsul's troops would never fight for him, +that Caesar would never be able to stir hand or foot against the +decrees of the Senate, and that he, Labienus, would desert him at the +first opportunity. + +Cheerful news this to the noble lords, who had for years scented in +Caesar's existence and prosperity destruction to their own oligarchic +rule of almost the known world. But when Cato, the most violent +anti-Caesarian of them all, a sharp, wiry man with angular features, +and keen black eyes, demanded:-- + +"And now, Magnus, you will not hesitate to annihilate the enemies of +the Republic?" a look of pained indecision flitted across Pompeius's +face. + +"_Perpol_, gentlemen," he exclaimed, "I would that I were well out of +this. Sometimes I think that you are leading me into breaking with +Caesar for some ends of your own. He was my friend before you had a +word of praise for me. He loved Julia; so did I." And the Magnus +paused a moment, overcome by the thought of his dead wife. "Perhaps +the Republic demands his sacrifice, perhaps--" and he cast a glance +half of menace upon Lentulus Crus and Cato, "you are the guilty, not +he. But I am in grievous doubt." + +"Perhaps, Magnus," said Favonius, with half a sneer, "you think your +forces inadequate. The two legions at Luceria are just detached from +Caesar. Perhaps you question their fidelity." + +"Man," retorted the general, fiercely, bringing his foot down upon the +soft rug on the floor, "I have but to stamp upon the ground to call up +legions out of Italy; it is not that which I fear!" + +The members of the conference looked uneasy; there was still a bare +chance that Pompeius would go back to his old friendship with Caesar. + +"Gentlemen," went on the Magnus, "I have called you here to reach a +final decision--peace or war. Let us consult a higher power than +human." And he touched a little silver bell that was upon the table +close at hand. + +Forthwith there was a rustle of curtains, and out of the gloom of the +doorway--for the hour was now very late--advanced a tall, gaunt +figure, dressed in a plain, sleeveless robe that fell to the feet. The +skin was dry, hard, wrinkled by a hundred furrows; the bones of the +face were thrust out prominently; on the head was a plain white +turban, and a beard quite as white fell down upon the breast. Only +from under the turban shone the eyes, which were bright and piercing +as coals of fire. + +The stranger advanced without a word, till he stood before Pompeius, +then knelt and made an elaborate Oriental prostration. The noble +Romans, twelve or more of the magnates of the greatest power on the +earth, held their breath in uneasy anticipation. Not one of them +perhaps really believed in a personal god; but though atheists, they +could not forswear their superstition. Piso, the censor, who +notoriously feared neither divine nor human law in his reckless life, +spat thrice to ward off the effects of the evil eye, if the stranger +were a magician. + +"Ulamhala," said Pompeius, addressing the newcomer, "arise. Since I +have been in the East,[89] I have consulted you and your science of +the stars, in every intended step, and your warnings have never +failed." + + [89] "Chaldean" astrologers played an almost incredibly important + part among even the highest-class Romans of the period. + +"My lord doth overcommend the wisdom of his slave," replied Ulamhala +(for such was his name) in Syriac Greek, with a second deep obeisance. + +"Now, therefore," went on Pompeius--and his voice was unsteady with +evident excitement and anxiety,--"I have called you hither to declare +the warnings of the stars upon the most important step of my life. +What lies now at stake, you know full well. Three days ago I bade you +consult the heavens, that this night you might be able to declare +their message, not merely to me, but to these my friends, who will +shape their actions by mine. Have you a response from the planets?" + +"I have, lord," and again Ulamhala salaamed. + +"Then declare, be it good or ill;" commanded Pompeius, and he gripped +the arms of his chair to conceal his anxiety. + +The scene was in a way weird enough. The visitors exchanged uneasy +glances, and Cato, who broke out in some silly remark to Favonius, in +a bold attempt to interrupt the oppressive silence, suddenly found his +words growing thick and broken, and he abruptly became silent. Each +man present tried to tell himself that Pompeius was a victim of +superstition, but every individual felt an inward monition that +something portentous was about to be uttered. + +The conference had lasted long. The lamps were flickering low. Dark +shadows were loitering in every corner of the room. The aroma of +flowers from the adjacent gardens floated in at the open windows, and +made the hot air drugged and heavy. Ulamhala slowly and noiseless as a +cat stepped to the window, and, leaning out over the marble railing, +looked up into the violet-black heavens. There was no moon, but a +trembling flame on one of the candelabras threw a dull, ruddy glow +over his white dress and snowy turban. His face was hid in the gloom, +but the others knew, though they could hardly see, that he was +pointing upward with his right hand. + +"Behold," began the astrologer, "three thousand seven hundred and +fifty years since the days of the great Sargon of Agade have we of the +race of the Chaldeans studied the stars. One generation of watchers +succeeded another, scanning the heavens nightly from our +_ziggurats_,[90] and we have learned the laws of the constellations; +the laws of Sin the moon, the laws of Samas the sun, the laws of the +planets, the laws of the fixed stars. Their motions and their +influence on the affairs of men our fathers discovered, and have +handed their wisdom down to us." + + [90] Babylonian temple towers. + +"But the word of the stars to _us_?" broke in Pompeius, in extreme +disquietude, and trying to shake off the spell that held him in +mastery. + +"Know, lord, that thy slave has not been disobedient unto thy +commandment. Look, yonder burneth a bright red planet, called by us +Nergal, which ye Westerns call by the name of Mars. Who denieth that +when Mars shines in the heavens, war will break forth among men? Know +that I have carefully compared the settings, risings, and movements of +the planets at this season with their settings, risings, and movements +at the time when my lord was born; and also at the time of the birth +of his great enemy. I have made use of the tables which my wise +predecessors among the Chaldees have prepared; and which I myself, thy +slave, copied from those at the Temple of Bel, in Babylon." + +"And they say?" breathlessly interrupted Lentulus. + +"This is the message from the planets," and Ulamhala's form grew +higher, his voice firmer; he raised his long bony arms above his head, +and stood in the dull light like a skeleton arisen in all its white +grave clothes to convey a warning to the living. "To the Lord +Pompeius, this is the warning, and to his enemy, + + "'_He that is highest shall rise yet higher; + He that is second shall utterly fall!_' + +I have said." + +And before the noble Romans could command the free play of their +senses, the vision at the window had vanished, either out of doors, or +behind some doorway or curtain. The company sat gazing uneasily at +each other for several minutes. The Magnus was breathing heavily, as +though he had passed through a terrible mental ordeal. Cato, the Stoic +and ascetic, had his eyes riveted on the carpet, and his face was as +stony as an Egyptian Colossus. + +Then a coarse forced laugh from Piso broke the spell. + +"Capital, Pompeius! You _are_ a favourite of the gods!" + +"I?" ventured the Magnus, moving his lips slowly. + +"Of course," cried several voices at once, catching the cue from Piso. +"You are the first in the world, Caesar the second! You are to rise to +new glories, and Caesar is to utterly fall!" + +"The stars have said it, gentlemen," said Pompeius, solemnly; "Caesar +shall meet his fate. Let there be war." + + * * * * * + +Lentulus Crus rode away from the conference, his litter side by side +with that of Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, the consular, whom we will +know as Domitius to distinguish from his son and namesake. Domitius, a +handsome, highly polished, vigorous, but none the less unprincipled +man, who was just reaching the turn of years, was in high spirits. No +oligarch hated Caesar more violently than he, and the decision of +Pompeius was a great personal triumph, the crowning of many years of +political intrigue. What Pompeius had said, he had said; and Caesar, +the great foe of the Senate party, was a doomed man. + +Lentulus had a question to ask his companion. + +"Would you care to consider a marriage alliance between the Lentuli +and the Domitii?" was his proposition. + +"I should be rejoiced and honoured to have the opportunity," was the +reply; and then in another tone Domitius added, "Lentulus, do you +believe in astrologers?" + +"I do not really know," answered the other, uneasily. + +"Neither do I," continued Domitius. "But suppose the stars speak +truly; and suppose," and here his voice fell, "it is Caesar who is +highest in power, in ability, in good fortune;--what then for +Pompeius? for us?" + +"Be silent, O prophet of evil!" retorted Lentulus, laughing, but not +very naturally. + + + + +Chapter VII + +Agias's Adventure + + +I + +Pisander's view of life became a score of shades more rosy when he +seized the hand of the handsome slave-boy, then embraced him, and +began praising the gods for preserving his favourite's life. Then the +worthy philosopher recollected that his wisdom taught him there were +no gods, and he plunged into a rambling explanation of his position, +which would have lasted forever, unless Agias had cut him short with a +merry gibe, and told him that he must positively come to a tavern and +enjoy at least one beaker of good Massic in memory of old friendship. +And Pisander, whose spareness of living arose more from a lack of +means than from a philosophic aversion to food and good cheer, was +soon seated on a bench in one of the cheap restaurants[91] that +abounded in the city, balancing a very large goblet, and receiving a +volley of questions which Agias was discharging about Valeria's +eccentricities, Calatinus's canvass, Arsinoe, Semiramis, and the rest +of the household of which he had been a member. + + [91] _Popinae_. + +"But you haven't told me, Agias," finally interrupted the poor +philosopher, who had been struggling in turn to satisfy his curiosity, +"how you are here, and not--ugh! I hate to think of it--feeding the +dogs and the crows." + +Agias's face grew grave while he gave the story of his release by the +Vestal, and subsequent transfer of ownership. + +"What was the name of the young man who purchased you, eh?" +interpolated Pisander. "I didn't get it." + +"Quintus Livius Drusus," replied Agias. + +"Who?" cried the philosopher, starting up. + +"Quintus Drusus, of Praeneste," repeated the other. + +"_Ai! Ai!_ In the name of Zeus!" cried Pisander, dropping the beaker, +and spilling the wine all over his threadbare himation. "Oh, such a +plot! Such a crime! Was ever anything so villanous ever heard of +before!" + +"My dear Pisander," exclaimed Agias, all amazement, "what _is_ the +matter? Your speech is as obscure as Cinna's[92] poem called 'Zmyrna,' +which I've heard was ten years in being written, and must be very +fine, because no one can understand it. No more can I fathom you." + + [92] A poet at that time of some little reputation. + +"What a stroke of fortune!" raved the philosopher. "How we will be +revenged on that rascal, Pratinas! O Destiny, thy decrees are just!" + +Again Agias expostulated, and at last brought out of Pisander a +tolerably coherent account of the conversation which he had heard +between Valeria and Pratinas. Then, indeed, the merry slave-boy was +troubled. Accustomed to a rather limited ambition in life, he had +attached himself with implicit devotion to Cornelia; first because his +preserver, Drusus, had so enjoined him, and second because each day he +grew more drawn to her personally. The peril which yawned before the +unfortunate Drusus menaced at the same time the happiness of his +mistress and his own welfare,--for if Lucius Ahenobarbus had his way, +Agias himself would become the slave of that not very gentle +patrician. Cornelia and Drusus had had troubles enough before; but in +the present crisis, actual destruction stared Agias's saviour in the +face. The situation was maddening, was sickening. Agias wrung his +hands in anguish. Then came the healthy reaction. Drusus was still +alive and well. He could be warned. The plot could be thwarted. +Pratinas and Ahenobarbus were not yet beyond the reach of retribution. +He--Agias--was no longer to be a mere foot-boy and lackey; he was to +match his keen Greek wits in subtle intrigue against foemen worthy of +his steel. He would save Drusus's life, would save Cornelia's +happiness. If he succeeded, who knew but that his owner would reward +him--would give him freedom. And with a natural rebound of spirits, +Agias's eyes glittered with expectation and excitement, his cheeks +flushed, his form expanded to a manly height. + +"_Euge!_ Well done, old friend!" he cried, with the merriment of +intense excitement. "No matter if you say you were only able to hear a +small part of what our dear fellow-Hellene, Pratinas, told Valeria. I +have gathered enough to defeat the plotters. Leave all to me. If you +learn anything new, send word to the house of Lentulus Crus, and ask +to see me. And now I must forsake this pleasant wine untasted, and +hurry away. My mistress will bless you, and perhaps there will be some +reward." + +And leaving the bewildered Pisander to wipe the wine from his dress, +Agias had darted out of the tavern, and was lost in the hurly-burly of +the cattle-market. + +How Agias had forced his way into Cornelia's presence we have related. +The young Greek had stated his unpleasant intelligence as +diplomatically and guardedly as possible; but Cornelia had borne this +shock--following so soon upon one sufficiently cruel--grievously +enough. After all, she was only a girl--perhaps more mature for her +years than the average maiden of her age of to-day, but almost +friendless, hopeless, and beset with many trials. And this new one was +almost more than she could bear. We have said that to her suicide had +but just before appeared a refuge to be desired; but to have Quintus +die, to have him taken out of that life that ought to be so fair for +him, no matter how darksome it was for her; to have him never realize +her ambition that he become a statesman, warrior, philosopher, in +short her ideal hero--this was unbearable! This phase of the question +was so overpowering that she forgot to feel rage against Ahenobarbus +and his wily ally. Cornelia threw herself down upon the floor, and +cried to Agias to slay her quickly. She did not care to live; she +could endure no more. + +Agias here manifested exquisite tact. Instead of attempting any +ordinary means of expostulation, he pleaded with her not to give way +to despair; that Drusus was not yet at the mercy of his enemies; that +she, if she would, could do an infinite deal to assist him. + +"I save Quintus?" questioned Cornelia, with white, quivering lips. + +"You can do much, my lady," replied Agias, kindly taking her by the +hand, and with gentle pressure forcing her to sit on the divan. "You +can do what neither I, nor Pisander, nor any one else can accomplish. +You can make Lucius Ahenobarbus betray his own plot. You, and you +only, can penetrate the final plans of the conspirators. Therefore be +strong, and do not despair." + +"I? What can _I_ do?" cried Cornelia, staring at him with sad, +tearless eyes. + +"Lady Cornelia," said Agias, delicately, "Drusus would never receive +back his life if it were to be purchased by any sacrifice of honour on +your part. But this is not needed. Lucius Ahenobarbus--forgive my +plain speech--worships the ground whereon you tread. A smile from you +raises him to Olympus; a compliment from you makes him feel himself a +god; a soft word from you creates him the peer of Zeus. Lady, I know +you hate that man; but for Master Drusus's sake make Ahenobarbus +believe that you are not indifferent to his advances. Slander Drusus +before him. Complain of the provisions of your father's will that, +despite your uncle's intention, will make it difficult to avoid a +hateful marriage. If in the past you have been cold to Ahenobarbus, +grow gracious; but not too rapidly. Finally, at the proper time, do +not hesitate to urge him to commit the act we know he is meditating. +Then he will make you a full partner of his plot, and Pratinas and he +can be permanently thwarted." + +"You say that Drusus can be saved by this?" asked Cornelia, steadying +herself as she rose from the divan; + +"I will warn him at once," replied Agias. "Any premature attempt on +his life will certainly fail. But it is not Ahenobarbus that I fear; +it is Pratinas. Pratinas, if baffled once, will only be spurred on to +use all his cunning in a second trial. We must enmesh the conspirators +so completely that when their stab is parried, not merely will their +power to repeat it be gone, but they themselves will be in danger of +retribution. And for this, some one must be confederate to their final +plan." + +"Agias," said Cornelia, quietly, "Quintus said that you would be a +faithful servant to him and to myself. I believe he was right. You +have asked a great thing of me, Agias. I would not do it unless I +believed that you were unlike other slaves. I might imagine that +Lucius Ahenobarbus had bribed you to tell me this story, in order that +I should put myself in his power. But I trust you. I will do anything +you say. For you Hellenes have wits as keen as sharp steel, and I know +that you will do all you may to repay your debt to Quintus." + +Agias knelt down and kissed the robe of his mistress. "My lady," he +said gently, "it is no grievous thing to be a slave of such as you. +Believe me; I will not betray my trust. And now if you can let me +leave you, I will hurry to Praeneste, and for the present our minds may +be at rest. For old Mamercus will, I am sure, be able to take good +care of Master Drusus for yet awhile." + +"Go, and the gods--if there be gods--go with you!" replied Cornelia. +Agias kissed her robe a second time, and was gone. His mistress stood +in the middle of the empty room. On the wall facing her was a painting +of "Aphrodite rising from the Foam," which Drusus had given her. The +sensuous smiles on the face of the goddess sickened Cornelia, as she +looked upon it. To her, at the moment, laughter was more hideous than +any sobbing. Outside the door she heard the gay, witless chatter of +the maids and the valets. They were happy--they--slaves, "speaking +tools,"--and she with the blood of the Claudii and Cornelii in her +veins, a patrician among patricians, the niece of a consul-elect, a +woman who was the heiress of statesmen and overturners of +kingdoms,--_she_ was miserable beyond endurance. Cornelia paced up and +down the room, wishing she might order the giggling maids to be +flogged and their laughter turned into howling. Then she summoned +Cassandra. + + * * * * * + +Cornelia had never before tried to play the actress, but that night +she flung herself into the game for life and death with all the +earnestness of an energetic, intelligent, and spontaneous woman. She +had been barely civil to Lucius Ahenobarbus before; to-night the young +man began to persuade himself that the object of his affections was +really a most adorable coquette, who used a certain brusqueness of +speech to add to her witchery. He had heard that there had been some +very disagreeable scenes at Praeneste, when Lentulus had told his niece +that Drusus, on account of his dangerous politics, was unfit to be her +husband. But Ahenobarbus was sure that either these accounts were +exaggerated, or more likely, Cornelia, like most women, was quick to +fall in love and quick to leave an old sweetheart for a new one. Be +that as it may, Lucius felt that night on good terms with himself and +all the world. Phormio had consented to continue his loans--until his +debtor could realize on "certain property." Pratinas had said that +Dumnorix would shortly start with a band of gladiators for some local +festival at Anagnia, a little beyond Praeneste; and on the way back, if +nothing went amiss, the prearranged programme could be carried out. +Some pretext must be found for keeping Drusus on his estate at the +time when Dumnorix would march past it, and that task could be +confided to Phaon, Lucius's freedman, a sly fox entirely after his +patron's own heart. + +Cornelia, to whom the dinner-party at Favonius's house began as a +dreary enough tragedy, before long discovered that it was by no means +more easy to suck undiluted sorrow than unmixed gladness out of life. +It gratified her to imagine the rage and dismay of the young exquisite +whose couch was beside her chair,[93] when he should learn how +completely he had been duped. Then, too, Lucius Ahenobarbus had a +voluble flow of polite small talk, and he knew how to display his +accomplishments to full advantage. He had a fair share of wit and +humour; and when he fancied that Cornelia was not impervious to his +advances, he became more agreeable and more ardent. Once or twice +Cornelia frightened herself by laughing without conscious forcing. Yet +it was an immense relief to her when the banquet was over, and the +guests--for Favonius had ordered that none should be given enough wine +to be absolutely drunken--called for their sandals and litters and +went their ways. + + [93] Women sat at Roman banquets, unless the company was of a + questionable character. + +"And you, O Adorable, Calypso, Circe, Nausicaa, Medea,--what shall I +call you?--you will not be angry if I call to see you to-morrow?" said +Ahenobarbus, smiling as he parted from Cornelia. + +"If you come," was her response, "I shall not perhaps order the slaves +to pitch you out heels over head." + +"Ah! That is a guarded assent, indeed," laughed Lucius, "but farewell, +_pulcherrima!_"[94] + + [94] Most beautiful. + +Cornelia that night lay down and sobbed herself to sleep. Her mother +had congratulated her on her brilliant social success at the +dinner-party, and had praised her for treating Lucius Ahenobarbus as +she had. + +"You know, my dear," the worthy woman had concluded, "that since it +has seemed necessary to break off with Drusus, a marriage with Lucius +would be at once recommended by your father's will, and in many ways +highly desirable." + + +II + +Only a very few days later Lucius Ahenobarbus received a message +bidding him come to see his father at the family palace on the +Palatine. Lucius had almost cut himself clear from his relations. He +had his own bachelor apartments, and Domitius had been glad to have +him out of the way. A sort of fiction existed that he was legally +under _the patria potestas_,[95] and could only have debts and assets +on his father's responsibility, but as a matter of fact his parent +seldom paid him any attention; and only called on him to report at +home when there was a public or family festival, or something very +important. Consequently he knew that matters serious were on foot, +when he read in his father's note a request to visit Domitius's palace +as soon as convenient. Lucius was just starting, in his most spotless +toga,--after a prolonged season with his hairdresser,--to pay a +morning call on Cornelia, and so he was the more vexed and perturbed. + + [95] Sons remained under the legal control of a father until the + latter's death, unless the tie was dissolved by elaborate ceremonies. + +"Curses on Cato,[96] my old uncle," he muttered, while he waited in +the splendid atrium of the house of the Ahenobarbi. "He has been +rating my father about my pranks with Gabinius and Laeca, and something +unpleasant is in store for me." + + [96] Cato Minor's sister Portia was the wife of Lucius Domitius. + Cato was also connected with the Drusi through Marcus Livius Drusus, + the murdered reformer, who was the maternal uncle of Cato and Portia. + Lucius Ahenobarbus and Quintus Drusus were thus third cousins. + +Domitius presently appeared, and his son soon noticed by the affable +yet diplomatic manner of his father, and the gentle warmth of his +greeting, that although there was something in the background, it was +not necessarily very disagreeable. + +"My dear Lucius," began Domitius, after the first civilities were +over, and the father and son had strolled into a handsomely appointed +library and taken seats on a deeply upholstered couch, "I have, I +think, been an indulgent parent. But I must tell you, I have heard +some very bad stories of late about your manner of life." + +"Oh!" replied Lucius, smiling. "As your worthy friend Cicero remarked +when defending young Caelius, 'those sorts of reproaches are regularly +heaped on every one whose person or appearance in youth is at all +gentlemanly.'" + +"I will thank you if you will not quote Cicero to me," replied the +elder man, a little tartly. "He will soon be back from Cilicia, and +will be prodding and wearying us in the Senate quite enough, with his +rhetoric and sophistries. But I must be more precise. I have found out +how much you owe Phormio. I thought your dead uncle had left you a +moderately large estate for a young man. Where has it gone to? Don't +try to conceal it! It's been eaten up and drunk up--spent away for +unguents, washed away in your baths, the fish-dealer and the caterer +have made way with it, yes, and butchers and cooks, and greengrocers +and perfume sellers, and poulterers--not to mention people more +scandalous--have made off with it." + +Lucius stretched himself out on the divan, caught at a thick, richly +embroidered pillow, tossed it over his head on to the floor, yawned, +raised himself again upright, and said drawlingly:-- + +"Y-e-s, it's as you say. I find I spend every sesterce I have, and all +I can borrow. But so long as Phormio is accommodating, I don't trouble +myself very much about the debts." + +"Lucius," said Domitius, sternly, "you are a graceless spendthrift. Of +course you must have the sport which all young blood needs. But your +extravagance goes beyond all bounds. I call myself a rich man, but to +leave you half my fortune, dividing with your older brother Cnaeus, who +is a far steadier and saner man than you, would be to assure myself +that Greek parasites and low women would riot through that part of my +estate in a twelvemonth. You must reform, Lucius; you must reform." + +This was getting extremely disagreeable in spite of his expectations, +and the young man yawned a second time, then answered:-- + +"Well, I presume Uncle Cato has told you all kinds of stories; but +they aren't at all true. I really never had a great deal of money." + +"Lucius," went on his father, "you are grown to manhood. It is time +that you steadied in life. I have let you live by yourself too long. +You are even too indolent to engage in politics, or to go into the +army. I have come to a determination. You must marry the woman I have +selected for you." + +Ahenobarbus pricked up his ears. As a matter of fact, he had surmised +what was coming, but he had no intention of admitting anything +prematurely. + +"Really, father," he said, "I hope you won't use your legal right and +force a wife on me. I have no desire to tie myself up to a decent +married life." + +"I hardly think," said Domitius, smiling, "that you will resist my +wishes long. I have seen Lentulus Crus the consul-elect, and he and I +agree that since your mother's distant kinsman Quintus Drusus of +Praeneste is an unsuitable husband for Cornelia, Lentulus's niece, on +account of his very dangerous political tendencies, no happier +alliance could bind our families together than a marriage between +Cornelia and yourself." + +Lucius yawned a third time and fell back on the couch. + +"It's true," he ventured, "I have cared a good deal for Cornelia; and +I've thrown over that little Greek Clyte and all the others for her; +but then, to make a girl your sweetheart and to make her your wife are +two very different things. _Vina Opimia_ is best; but because one +drinks a _cyathus_[97] of that, why should he forego a good nil of +Thasian or Caecuban? If I could have but one choice, give me plenty of +the good, and I'll give up my few drops of the best." + + [97] About one-twelfth pint. + +"Come, come," said Domitius, a little impatiently, "you must +positively reform. Besides, while appearances must be kept up, there +is no need for leading the life of a Stoic. You won't find Cornelia a +hard companion. You have your pleasures and she hers, and you will +live harmoniously enough and not the least scandal." + +And with this remark Domitius closed the matter, and Lucius was +actually delighted at the situation. What his father had said had been +true enough; half, nay, nearly all, Rome lived in the manner Domitius +had guardedly proposed for his son and intended daughter-in-law. +Marriage was becoming more and more a mere formality, something that +was kept up as the ancient state Pagan worship was kept up by the +remnants of old-time superstition, and as a cloak to hide a multitude +of sins. Fifty-nine years before, the consul Metellus Numidicus had +declaimed, "Quirites, we would fain be free from all this annoyance +(of marriage); but since nature has so brought it about that it is +neither possible to live pleasantly with our wives nor by any means to +live (as a race) without them, we ought to consider the welfare of the +future rather than the mere passing pleasure of the present." And ever +since that day Romans had been striving desperately to make the +married state as endurable as possible; usually by reducing the +importance of lawful wedlock to a minimum. + +Of course the announcement of the informal betrothal was soon spread +over Rome. The contracting parties were in the very highest life, and +everybody declared that the whole affair was a political deal between +Lentulus Crus and Domitius. It was commonly reported, too, how +Cornelia had broken with Drusus, and every one remarked that if the +young man had cared to enforce her father's will in the courts, his +claim to her hand and fortune would be valid unless--and here most +people exchanged sly winks, for they knew the power of Domitius and +Lentulus Crus over a jury. + +And how had Cornelia borne it--she at whom Herennia had stared in +amazement, when that "dear friend" discovered the friendship the other +was displaying to Lucius Ahenobarbus? Cornelia had received the +announcement very quietly, one might almost say resignedly. She had +one great hope and consolation to support her. They would not force +her to marry Lucius Ahenobarbus until Drusus was dead or had reached +the age of five-and-twenty. The marriage formula with Ahenobarbus once +uttered, while Quintus lived, and by no possibility, save by an open +spoliation that would have stirred even calloused Rome, could Lucius +touch a sesterce of his intended victim's property. Cornelia's hope +now, strangely enough, was in the man she regarded as the most +consummate villain in the world, Pratinas. Ahenobarbus might have his +debts paid by his father, and forego risk and crime if he did not +absolutely need Drusus's fortune; but Pratinas, she knew, must have +planned to secure rich pickings of his own, and if Ahenobarbus married +permanently, all these were lost; and the Greeks never turned back or +let another turn back, when there was a fortune before them. It was a +fearful sort of confidence. Drusus had been warned promptly by Agias. +Old Mamercus had straightway taken every precaution, and forced his +foster son to put himself in a sort of custody, which was sufficiently +galling, in addition to the ever present sense of personal danger. The +villa at Praeneste was guarded quietly by several armed slaves and +peasants; not a morsel or drop passed Drusus's lips that had not been +tested and tasted by a trusty dependent. The young man was not to go +to Rome, despite his infinite yearning to see Cornelia, for every +opportunity would be given in the dark city streets for an assassin. +In fact, Drusus was virtually a prisoner in his own estates, for only +there could he feel reasonably safe from attack. + +All these precautions Cornelia knew, for Agias was a master at +smuggling letters in and out. She had told Drusus frankly all that had +passed, and how that she was acting as she did only for his sake. She +asked him to trust her, and he wrote back that no doubt of her +fidelity to him had crossed his mind; he was not worthy of such love +as she had for him; it did not matter very much if Ahenobarbus did +kill him, except that it would give her new grief and pain, and the +thought of that he could not bear. Cornelia had replied that if Drusus +was murdered, she was woman enough and Roman enough to stab Lucius +Ahenobarbus on their marriage night, and then plunge the dagger into +her own breast. And there the fearful matter had rested; Cornelia +smiled by day, and dazzled all she met by her vivacity, and her +aggressive queenliness; and by night cried with tearless sobs, which +came out of the depths of her heart. And all the time she waited for +Agias to foil the plot, and assure Drusus of his life. Let Quintus +once be safe, and then--how could she resist the irresistible pressure +that would be brought to bear to force her into a hated marriage, +which Ahenobarbus--balked though he might be of a fortune--would no +longer care to defer? And when Cornelia thought of this, and when she +was alone, she would open a little casket, of which no other had the +key, and touch the ivory-carved hilt of a small damascened knife. The +blade was very sharp; and there was a sticky gum all along the +edge,--deadly poison; only a very slight scratch put one beyond aid of +physician. + +The bitterest cup of all was the attitude she felt forced to assume +toward Lucius Ahenobarbus. There were limits of familiarity and +simulated affection beyond which she could not drive herself to go. +Lucius was with her at all hours and in all places. The more she saw +of him the more she abhorred his effeminate sensuality and lack of +almost every quality that made life worth the living. But she +must--she must learn the plot against Drusus, and precisely how and +when the trap was to be sprung. And in a measure, at least so far as +Lucius was concerned, she succeeded. By continually and openly +reviling Quintus, by professing to doubt the legality of a marriage +contracted against the terms of her father's will, by all but +expressing the wish that her late lover were out of harm's way, she +won her point. In a fit of half-drunken confidence Ahenobarbus assured +her that she would not be troubled by Drusus for long; that he would +soon be unable to annoy her. And then came a great disappointment. +When Cornelia asked--and how much the request cost her, only she +herself knew--to be let into the plot, Lucius owned that he had left +the details in the hands of Pratinas, and did not himself know just +how or when the blow was to fall. In Pratinas--whom Cornelia met very +seldom--she met with a sphinx, ever smiling, ever gracious, but who, +as if regretting the burst of confidence he had allowed Valeria, kept +himself closed to the insinuations and half-questions of every one +else. The truth was, the lanista Dumnorix was unwilling to do his part +of the business until the festival at Anagnia brought him and his band +through Praeneste, and this festival had been postponed. Consequently, +the projected murder had been postponed a few days also. Agias had +tried to penetrate into the secrets of Pratinas, but found that +judicious intriguer had, as a rule, carefully covered his tracks. He +spent a good deal of time and money, which Cornelia gave him, trying +to corrupt some of the gladiators of Dumnorix's band and get at the +intentions of their master; but he was not able to find that any of +these wretches, who took his gold greedily enough, really knew in the +least what were the appointments and engagements of the Gallic giant. +As a matter of fact, the boy began to feel decidedly discouraged. +Pisander had nothing more to tell; and, moreover, the worthy +philosopher often gave such contradictory accounts of what he had +overheard in Valeria's boudoir, that Agias was at his wit's end when +and where to begin. + +So passed the rest of the month since Cornelia had been brought from +Praeneste to Rome. + + +III + +Cornelia began to grow sick at heart. The conviction was stealing over +her that she was the victim of a cruel destiny, and it was useless to +fight against fate. She had made sacrifices for Drusus's sake that had +cost her infinitely. All Rome said that Cornelia returned the love of +Lucius Ahenobarbus. And with it all, she knew that she had not +succeeded in discovering the real plot of Pratinas, and could not +thwart it. She knew that nearly every one placed her, if actually not +as vicious as the rest, at least in the same coterie with Clodia, and +the wife of Lentulus Spinther the younger Metella, and only a grade +better than such a woman as Arbuscula, the reigning actress of the +day. There was no defence to offer to the world. Did she not go with +her mother to the gay gathering, in the gardens by the Tiber? Was she +not waited on by half the fashionable young aristocrats of Rome? Was +she not affianced to a man who was notoriously a leader of what might +to-day be called the "fast set" of the capital? And from Drusus, poor +fellow, she gained not the least consolation. That he loved her as she +loved him, she had never cause to doubt. But in his self-renunciation +he gave her advice that sprang out of his own sorrow and pessimism. It +was no use, ran his letters, for a woman like her to try and battle +against the evident decrees of Fortune. He was a man, and must fight +his battle or die his death bravely; but she was not called on for +this. There was no reason why she should not really enjoy herself, in +the way most of the world thought she was enjoying herself. She had +better wed Lucius Ahenobarbus, and stoop to the inevitable. Her +husband could go his way and she go hers, and none would complain. +Perhaps the Epicureans were right,--this life was all, and it was best +to suck from it all the sweets one might, and not be disturbed by +pricks of conscience. Drusus and Cornelia were not lovers of a modern +romance, to entertain fantastic ideas of love and duty, to throw +themselves away for a fancy, or tie themselves with vows which +militated against almost every worldly advantage. They were both +Romans, and by that we mean eminently practical persons, faithful to +one another, pure and noble in their affections, but habituated to +look a situation in the face and accept the plain consequences. In +this spirit Drusus had advised as he did, and Cornelia became +discouraged accordingly. Her reason told her to submit to the +inevitable. Her heart cried out against it. And so she continued to +finger the hilt of the little dagger, and look at its keen +poison-smeared edge. + +But one day at the end of this dreary period Agias appeared before his +mistress with a smiling face. + +"Don't raise high hopes, my lady, but trust me. I have struck a path +that I'm sure Pratinas will wish I'd never travelled." And that was +all he would say, but laid his finger on his lips as though it was a +great secret. When he was gone, for Cornelia the sun shone brighter, +and the tinkling of the water in the fountain in the peristylium +sounded sweeter than before. After all, there had come a gleam of +hope. + +Cornelia needed the encouragement. That same day when Herennia called +to see her, that excellent young lady--for not the least reason in the +world--had been full of stories of poisoning and murders, how some +years ago a certain Balbutius of Larinum was taken off, it was said, +at a wedding feast of a friend for whom the poison had been intended; +and then again she had to tell how, at another time, poison had been +put in a bit of bread of which the victim partook. The stories were +old ones and perhaps nothing more than second-hand scandal, but they +were enough to make poor Cornelia miserable; so she was doubly +rejoiced when Agias that evening pressed his lips again and smiled and +said briefly: "All is going well. We shall have the root of the matter +in a few days." + +Agias had actually come upon what he was right in considering a great +piece of good fortune. He had easily found the tenement in the Subura +where Pratinas lodged, but to learn anything there that would be +useful was a far more difficult affair. He had hung around the place, +however, as much as he dared, making his headquarters at a tavern +conveniently near, and tried to learn Pratinas's habits, and whether +he ever took any visitors home with him. All this came to little +purpose till one morning he observed an old Ethiop, who was tugging a +heavy provision basket, stagger up the street, through the nondescript +crowd. The old slave was being assailed by a mob of street gamins and +low pedlers who saw in the contents of the hamper so much fair +plunder. These vagabonds had just thrown the Ethiop down into the mud, +and were about to divide their booty, when Agias, acting on a generous +impulse, rushed out from the tavern to the rescue. Nimble, for his age +powerful, and armed with a stout staff which he had caught up in the +wine-shop to aid him, the young Greek won an easy victory over +cowardly antagonists, put all the plunderers to flight, and lifted the +old slave out of the mire. The Ethiop was profuse in his thanks. + +"And whose slave are you?" demanded Agias, well pleased to be out of +the adventure. + +"I'm Sesostris, servant of Pratinas the Greek." + +Agias pricked up his ears. "And you live--" + +"In the top story of this tenement;" and Sesostris tried to pick up +the hamper. + +"Oh!" laughed his rescuer, "you must let me save you that trouble. I +will carry up the basket. Your master is a brute to pile on such +loads." + +Sesostris again fawned his gratitude, and Agias, with quickened wits +and eyes alert, toiled up the dark stairway, and found himself at the +top of the building. He had "entered the enemy's country." The Ethiop +might not have been open to bribes, but he might be unlocked through +friendship, and Agias never needed all his senses more than now. They +had reached the topmost flight of stairs, and Sesostris had stopped as +if embarrassed whether to invite his deliverer in to enjoy some +hospitality, or say him farewell. Then of a sudden from behind the +closed door came a clear, sweet, girlish voice, singing, in Greek:-- + + "O Aitne, mother mine: A grotto fair + Scooped in the rocks have I, and there I keep + All that in dreams man pictures! Treasured there + Are multitudes of she-goats and of sheep, + Swathed in whose wool from top to toe I sleep." + +It was an idyl of Theocritus, very well known by Agias, and without +the least hesitation he took up the strain, and continued:-- + + "The fire boils my pot; with oak or beech + Is piled,--dry beech logs when the snow lies deep. + And storm and sunshine, I disdain them each + As toothless sires a nut, when broth is in their reach."[98] + + [98] Calverly's translation. + +Agias paused. There was a silence, then a giggle behind the door, and +it half opened, and out peered the plump and rosy face of the young +girl we have heard Pratinas salute as his niece, Artemisia. The moment +she caught sight of the rather manly form of Agias, the door started +to close with a slam, but the latter thrust out his foot, blocked the +door, and forced an entrance. + +"_Eleleu!_" cried Agias, pushing into a small but neatly furnished +room. "What have we here? Do the muses sing in Subura? Has Sappho +brought hither her college of poetesses from Lesbos?" + +"_Ai!_" exclaimed Artemisia, drawing back, "who are you? You're +dreadfully rude. I never saw you before." + +"Nor I you;" replied Agias, in capital good humour, "but that is no +reason why I should take my eyes away from your pretty little face. +No, you needn't point your middle finger at me so, to ward off the +evil eye. I'm neither Chaldean astrologer, nor Etruscan soothsayer. +Come, tell me who you are, and whom you belong to?" + +Artemisia did not have the least idea what to say. Agias, partly +through youthful love of adventure, partly because he felt that he was +playing now for very high stakes and must risk a good deal, had thrown +himself on the divan, and was holding Artemisia captive under his +keen, genial eyes. She grew redder in face than before, began to +speak, then broke off with more confused blushes. + +"She means to say," finally ventured Sesostris, "that she is +Artemisia, the niece of Pratinas." + +"The niece of Pratinas!" exclaimed Agias, settling himself upon the +cushions in a manner that indicated his intention to make a prolonged +stay; "and does Pratinas keep his pretty niece shut up in a gloomy +tenement, when she has the voice of one of the Graces, and more than +their share of beauty! Shame on him; I thought he had better sense +than that!" + +"Sir," ventured Artemisia, trying desperately to stand on her dignity, +"I do not know you. My uncle will be greatly vexed to find you here. +Will you go away at once?" + +"That I will not," replied Agias, firmly; and he drew from the hamper +a baker's bun, and began to munch it, as though laying in provision +for a lengthy stay. + +Artemisia and Sesostris exchanged glances of dismay. + +"What _shall_ I do?" said the girl to the Ethiop in a very audible +whisper. + +"Sing," interrupted Agias. "Let me hear the rest of the Theocritus." + +"I don't like to sing those songs," objected Artemisia. "Pratinas +makes me, I don't know why." + +"Well," said Agias, smiling, "I wouldn't for the-world make you sing +against your will. Suppose you tell me about yourself. Tell me when +your uncle is away, and when I may come and see you again." + +"He's away nearly all the time," said Artemisia, very incautiously. +"But _who are_ you? Why do you want to come and see me?" + +"Why do I want to look at a flower? Why do I want to hear the +nightingale sing? Why do I like a cup of good wine?" laughed Agias. +"Then, fair mistress, you may look for my answer when _you_ have +answered all of these questions of mine." + +"I don't see what you mean," said poor Artemisia, looking dreadfully +puzzled. + +"I mean," exclaimed the other, "what Sappho meant of the bride,-- + + 'She like an apple turned red; which reddens far up on the tree-top:-- + Upon the topmost of boughs,--the gatherers they have quite missed it. + Yes, they saw it indeed; but too high to dare try to pluck it.' + +Only I, if you don't greatly mind, will be the bold tree-climber and +pluck the apple." + +"But I do mind," cried Artemisia, all blushes, and springing a little +back. Old Sesostris looked alarmed. + +"You--you mean the girl no ill?" he faltered. + +Agias looked from the innocent little thing over to the Ethiop, +snapped his finger, and replied:-- + +"Ill? I am not a human wolf, making pretty objects like this my prey!" +Then, choosing his moment carefully, by a quick turn he confronted +Sesostris sternly, and almost thundered: "_You_ speak of my doing ill +to this maiden? You speak--the slave of Pratinas, who is the leader in +every vice and wild prank in Rome! Has the slave as well as the master +learned to play the hypocrite? Do you want to be tortured into +confessing your part in all your master's crimes when the hour of +reckoning comes and he is brought to justice. _A! A!_" he went on, +seeing that Sesostris was rolling the whites of his eyes, and was +trembling in every limb, "you know for a certainty how and when +Pratinas is to have Quintus Drusus killed! Don't deny it. You will +soon be in the meshes. Don't hope to escape. If murder comes to Drusus +he may perish, but he has friends who will fearfully avenge his +death." + +"Mercy! Mercy!" howled the Ethiop, falling on his knees and clutching +at the young Greek's robe, "I know very little of the plot. I only +know--" + +"Don't equivocate," thundered Agias. "If I had known the kind of man +you were, I would hardly have saved you from those street ruffians. +You don't deserve to live. Well, the crows will soon have you! You +Egyptians believe in a judgment of the dead; what defence can you make +before the court of Osiris[99] for being privy to a foul murder? +You'll come back to earth as a fly, or a toad, or a dung-beetle, to +pay the penalty for your sins." + + [99] The Egyptian judge of the dead. + +"Mercy," whined Sesostris, who was in a paroxysm of fright. "Indeed I +am innocent! I am only a poor slave! I can't help knowing what +Pratinas is doing; but how can I prevent him? Don't look at me so! I +am innocent--innocent!" + +"I can scarce believe you," said Agias, affecting great reluctance to +show any leniency. "Doubtless you are steeped in blood. Still, you may +save yourself this once. Remember, you are known, and the plans of +Pratinas against Drusus are partly known. We know about Dumnorix, and +Lucius Ahenobarbus, and--" + +"Oh!" cried Sesostris, as though a hot iron had touched him, "I will +find out everything, and tell you. Indeed I will. Only do not send me +to the rack or crucify me if my master's plans go astray!" + +"Well," said Agias, still simulating hesitancy, "I will report to my +superiors. Perhaps you are not a willing accomplice of your master. In +that case, if he is apprehended, your life will doubtless be spared. +But we must thwart his plot before it can be carried out. This you +must aid us to do. When will Dumnorix start for Praeneste?" + +Again Sesostris quailed. "I don't know," he faltered, "there has been +a postponement. There was a plan that if Drusus came to the city he +was to be lured outside the Esquiline gate, as if going to some villa, +and murdered in the sand-pits, as have been many people." + +"But this plan has been given up? Speak the truth!" sharply demanded +Agias. + +"Yes; for Drusus will not stir from Praeneste. So there the scheme must +be executed, as originally arranged." + +"And Dumnorix will go soon?" + +"I think in a few days. I will find out." + +"As you love your own life do so! I will call on each day at this +hour. If Pratinas is at home, leave some bright garment outside near +the door, that I may not stumble on him. Deceive or betray me, and my +masters will take a terrible revenge on you; for you haven't the least +idea what is the power of the men Pratinas has for enemies." + +Agias turned to depart. Then to Artemisia:-- + +"And you, my pretty,--when I come again, I will try to stay longer, +and make you feel as glad to see Agias, as Agias will be to see +Artemisia." + +Agias was descending the stairs, when Sesostris called him back with a +whisper. + +"You are a dreadful youth; but since I am so utterly in your power, +hear something that may prove that I am not a knave at heart. You have +a fancy to the girl?" + +"Certainly I have eyes for her face, and ears for her sweet little +voice," said Agias, smiling. + +"Then listen," went on the Ethiop; "I care for the dear more than +anything else in the world. She said she was Pratinas's niece. It +isn't true. She is a slave-girl he picked up when very little at +Delos,[100] as he told me, though I doubt it. He took a fancy to her, +and really thought of adopting her. Then his soul became so set on +money, that he saw she would fetch a great price when grown; and sell +her he will. He still pretends to call her his niece; but that won't +be for long. He is teaching her to sing, to add to her value. _A!_ But +my old heart is almost breaking for her sake. _Mu, mu!_" and Sesostris +puffed his groans through his nostrils. "Think of it! He has an idea +to sell her to that rich Roman, Lucius Calatinus--and then I don't +dare hint what will be her fate." + + [100] At this period the great slave emporium of the world. + +"Calatinus!" hissed Agias, concentrating volumes of scorn into a word. + +"You know him! You hate him!" cried Sesostris. "Then by Ammon-Ra, by +Isis, by every god in whom you believe, save my darling from worse +than death! Do that, and I will die for you!" + +Sesostris's emotion was too genuine to be a mere trap for ensnaring +his visitor; and Agias in turn was stirred. + +"Old man," he exclaimed, seizing the other's hand, "you and I have +suffered much from evil masters. Thank the gods, I am now serving one +I love--albeit unfortunate enough! But we have a common right to +punish the wrongdoers, and earn a little bit of happiness for +ourselves. Come, now! If Artemisia is a slave, she is in no wise above +me. Let me save Drusus from Pratinas, and I pledge my word that I will +save Artemisia from him and his nefarious schemes,--yes, and you, too. +If Artemisia likes me, why then there will be perhaps more to add to +the story. Come--I am your friend, and you, mine." + +Sesostris wrung the other's hand. The honest servant was moved too +much to speak. His heart and soul had been bound up in Artemisia. + +"May your _Ka_[101] stand before Osiris justified!" he choked. "I have +been privy to many a dark action, until I used to try to forget the +day when I must answer to the Judge of the Dead for every deed done +and word spoken. But I could not stifle my fear for the only dear +thing in the world." + + [101] The spiritual double which belonged to every man according to + the Egyptian ideas. + +Agias went away in a happy frame of mind. He had every confidence that +Sesostris would worm out of Pratinas the exact details of the plot, +and put the conspirators at the mercy of Drusus and Mamercus. + + * * * * * + +And Agias had felt there was good reason to rejoice in his discovery +in more ways than one. Especially was he conscious that there were no +lips as red and as merry, no cheeks as rosy, no eyes as dancing, no +chatter as sweet, as those of Artemisia. And what is more, he rejoiced +to believe that that young lady was not half so shy of him as at +first, and was as anxious to see him as he to see her. Thanks to due +warnings and precautions, Agias never stumbled on Pratinas, when the +latter was at his lodgings. The time he dared to stay was all too +short for Artemisia. She was always telling how lonesome she was with +only old Sesostris for company, before she knew Agias. Once when the +latter was late in his daily visit, he was delighted to find scribbled +on the wall, "Artemisia to her Agias: you are real mean." Agias hated +to make her erase it lest it fall under Pratinas's eagle eye. + +But still Sesostris had nothing to tell about the plot against Drusus. +Some days passed. Agias began to grow uneasy. Sesostris had +represented that he was conversant with everything his master had on +foot; but Pratinas might have been more discreet than to unfold all +his affairs, even before his servant; and then, too, there was always +the possibility that Sesostris was playing fast and loose, and about +to betray Agias to his master. So the latter grew disquieted, and +found it a little hard to preserve the character of cheerful mystery +which he simulated to Cornelia. The long-sought information came at a +time when he was really off his guard. Agias had been visiting +Artemisia. Sesostris as well as Pratinas had been out; the two young +people were amusing themselves trying to teach a pet magpie to speak, +when the Ethiop rushed into the room, all in a tremble with anxious +excitement. + +"_A! A!_" he was ejaculating. "Up, speed, don't delay! There's murder +afoot!" + +Agias let the bird slip from his hands, and never noticed that it +fluttered on its clipped wings around the room, to Artemisia's +infinite dismay. + +"What? Is the plot hatched?" + +"Yes, yes," puffed Sesostris, great beads of perspiration on his +honest face. "I was attending Pratinas when he met Lucius Ahenobarbus +in the Forum. They veiled their talk, but I readily caught its drift. +Dumnorix went yesterday with the pick of his band to Anagnia for some +games. To-morrow he will return through Praeneste, and the deed will be +done. Phaon, Ahenobarbus's freedman, has started already for Praeneste +to spy out the ground and be ready to direct Dumnorix where, when, and +how to find Drusus. Phaon has been spying at Praeneste, and is the +dangerous man!" + +"He has gone?" demanded Agias. + +"Gone, early this morning!" + +"Then,--the gods reward you for your news,--I am gone too!" + +And without another word to Artemisia or the old slave, Agias had +rushed out into the street. He had a double game to play--to prevent +Phaon from ever reaching Praeneste, and then get such help to Drusus as +would enable him to beat off Dumnorix and his gang. For Agias felt +certain that the hard-hitting Gaul would execute his part of the +bargain, whether he met Phaon or not, and afterward look into the +consequences of what--unmitigated by the freedman's _finesse_--would +take the form of an open clumsy murder. But Phaon had started that +morning; and it was now well into the afternoon. Time was dangerously +scanty. Cornelia he felt he should inform; but she could do nothing +really to help him. He turned his steps toward the Forum and the +Atrium Vestae. He had some difficulty in inducing the porter to summon +Fabia, to meet in personal interview a mere slave, but a gratuity won +the point; and a minute later he was relating the whole story and the +present situation of Drusus to Fabia, with a sincere directness that +carried conviction with it. She had known that Drusus had enemies; but +now her whole strong nature was stirred at the sense of her nephew's +imminent peril. + +"If you were a freeman, Agias," were her words, "and could give +witness as such, Pratinas and Ahenobarbus--high as the latter +is--should know that my influence at the law outweighs theirs. But +they shall be thwarted. I will go to Marcellus the consul, and demand +that troops be started to Praeneste to-night. But you must go after +Phaon." + +"You will send word to Cornelia?" requested Agias. + +"Yes," said Fabia, "but not now; it is useless. Here is an order on +Gallus, who keeps a livery-stable[102] by the Porta Esquilina. He will +give you my new white Numidian, that I keep with him. Ride as you have +never ridden before. And here is money. Twenty gold philippi in this +bag. Bribe, do anything. Only save Drusus! Now go!" + + [102] Such establishments were common near the gates, and the Vestals + often had their horses at such places. + +"Farewell, lady," cried Agias, "may I redeem the debt of gratitude I +owe you!" + +Fabia stood looking after him, as he hastened out from the quiet +atrium into the busy street. Little Livia had cuddled up beside her +aunt. + +"Oh, Livia," said Fabia, "I feel as though it were of no use to live +good and pure in this world! Who knows what trouble may come to me +from this day's doings? And why should they plot against your +brother's dear life? But I mustn't talk so." And she called for her +attendants to escort her abroad. + + + + +Chapter VIII + +"When Greek Meets Greek" + + +I + +Cornelia had surmised correctly that Pratinas, not Lucius Ahenobarbus, +would be the one to bring the plot against Drusus to an issue. Lucius +had tried in vain to escape from the snares the wily intriguer had +cast about him. His father had told him that if he would settle down +and lead a moderately respectable life, Phormio should be paid off. +And with this burden off his mind, for reformation was very easily +promised, Lucius had time to consider whether it was worth his while +to mix in a deed that none of Pratinas's casuistry could quite +convince him was not a foul, unprovoked murder, of an innocent man. +The truth was, Ahenobarbus was desperately in love with Cornelia, and +had neither time nor desire to mingle in any business not connected +with the pursuit of his "tender passion." None of his former +sweethearts--and he had had almost as many as he was years old--were +comparable in his eyes to her. She belonged to a different world from +that of the Spanish dancers, the saucy maidens of Greece, or even the +many noble-born Roman women that seemed caught in the eddy of Clodia's +fashionable whirlpool. Lucius frankly told himself that he would want +to be divorced from Cornelia in five years--it would be tedious to +keep company longer with a goddess. But for the present her vivacity, +her wit, her bright intelligence, no less than her beauty, charmed +him. And he was rejoiced to believe that she was quite as much +ensnared by his own attractions. He did not want any unhappy accident +to mar the smooth course which was to lead up to the marriage in no +distant future. He did not need Drusus's money any longer to save him +from bankruptcy. The legacy would be highly desirable, but life would +be very pleasant without it. Lucius was almost induced by his inward +qualms to tell Pratinas to throw over the whole matter, and inform +Dumnorix that his services were not needed. + +It was at this juncture that Cornelia committed an error, the full +consequences of which were, to her, happily veiled. In her anxiety to +discover the plot, she had made Lucius believe that she was really +pining for the news of the murder of Drusus. Cornelia had actually +learned nothing by a sacrifice that tore her very heart out; but her +words and actions did almost irreparable harm to the cause she was +trying to aid. + +"And you have never given me a kiss," Lucius had said one morning, +when he was taking leave of Cornelia in the atrium of the Lentuli. +"Will you ever play the siren, and lure me to you? and then devour, as +it were, your victim, not with your lips, but with your eyes?" + +"_Eho!_ Not so bold!" replied Cornelia, drawing back. "How can I give +you what you wish, unless I am safe from that awful Polyphemus up in +Praeneste?" + +When Ahenobarbus went away, his thoughts were to the following effect: +"I had always thought Cornelia different from most women; but now I +can see that, like them all, she hates and hates. To say to her, +'Drusus is dead,' will be a more grateful present than the largest +diamond Lucullus brought from the East, from the treasure of King +Tigranes." + +And it was in such a frame of mind that he met Pratinas by appointment +at a low tavern on the Vicus Tuscus. The Greek was, as ever, smiling +and plausible. + +"Congratulations!" was his greeting. "Dumnorix has already started. He +has my orders; and now I must borrow your excellent freedman, Phaon, +to go to Praeneste and spy out, for the last time, the land, and +general our army. Let him start early to-morrow morning. The time is +ample, and unless some malevolent demon hinder us, there will be no +failure. I have had a watch kept over the Drusus estate. An old sentry +of a steward, Mamercus,--so I learn,--has been afraid, evidently, of +some foul play on the part of the consul-designate, and has stationed +a few armed freedmen on guard. Drusus himself keeps very carefully on +his own premises. This is all the better for us. Dumnorix will dispose +of the freedmen in a hurry, and our man will be in waiting there just +for the gladiators. Phaon will visit him--cook up some errand, and +inveigle him, if possible, well out in the colonnade in front of the +house, before Dumnorix and his band pass by. Then there will be that +very deplorable scuffle, and its sad, sad results. Alas, poor Drusus! +Another noble Livian gathered to his fathers!" + +"I don't feel very merry about it," ventured Lucius. "I don't need +Drusus's money as much as I did. If it wasn't for Cornelia, I would +drop it all, even now. Sometimes I feel there are avenging +Furies--_Dirae_, we Latins call them--haunting me." + +Pratinas laughed incredulously. "Surely, my dear fellow," he began, +"you don't need to have the old superstitions explained away again, do +you?" + +"No, no," was his answer; Lucius capitulating another time. + +So it came to pass that Pratinas had an interview with Phaon, Lucius's +freedman, a sleek, well-oiled Sicilian Greek, who wore his hair very +long to cover the holes bored in his ears--the mark of old-time +servitude. He was the darling of waiting-maids; the collector of all +current scandal; the master spirit in arranging dinners, able to tell +a Tuscan from a Lucanian boar by mere taste. He used also to help his +patron compose _billets-doux,_ and had, by his twistings and +scrapings, repeatedly staved off Phormio, Lucius's importunate +creditor. As for Phaon's heart, it was so soft and tender that the +pricks of conscience, if he ever had any, went straight through, +without leaving a trace behind. And when Pratinas now informed him as +to his final duties at Praeneste, Phaon rubbed his beringed hands and +smoothed his carefully scraped chin with ill-concealed satisfaction. + +"And a word more in closing," said Pratinas, as he parted with Phaon +in the tavern--while Lucius, who had been drinking very heavily, +nodded stupidly over his goblet of amber Falernian, in a vain attempt +to gulp down eight _cyathi_ at once, one measure to each letter in the +name of Cornelia--"a word more. Dumnorix is a thick-skulled knave, who +is, after all, good for little but blows. I have made an arrangement +which will ensure having a careful man at his elbow in time of need. +You, of course, will have to do your best to save the unfortunate +Quintus from inevitable fate. But I have asked Publius Gabinius to +leave for Praeneste very early on the morning when Dumnorix passes +through that place. Gabinius has a small villa a little beyond the +town, and there will be nothing suspicious in a journey to visit one's +country house. He will meet Dumnorix, and be at his side when the +pinch comes. You see? He is an adventurous fellow, and will help us +just for the sake of the mischief. Besides, I believe he has a grudge +against the Drusian family as a whole, for he lately tried to pass +some familiarities with Fabia the Vestal, Drusus's aunt, and she +proved disgustingly prudish." + +"And how much will you and I," said Phaon, with a sly smirk, "gain +out of this little business, if all goes well? Of course one should +help one's patron, but--" + +"It is folly to divide the spoils of Troy before Troy is taken," +laughed Pratinas. "Don't be alarmed, my good fellow. Your excellent +patron will reward us, no doubt, amply." And he muttered to himself: +"If I don't bleed that Lucius Ahenobarbus, that Roman donkey, out of +two-thirds of his new fortune; if I don't levy blackmail on him +without mercy when he's committed himself, and becomes a partner in +crime, I'm no fox of a Hellene. I wonder that he is the son of a man +like Domitius, who was so shrewd in that old affair with me at +Antioch." + + * * * * * + +So it came to pass that the next morning, long before Pratinas and +Ahenobarbus met in the Forum and reviewed the steps taken in the words +that gave Sesostris the key to the situation, Phaon was driving toward +Praeneste. Of course a mere freedman, on a journey preferably kept +quiet, travelled in not the least state. He rode alone, but had +borrowed from his patron two of those small but speedy Gallic horses +called mammi, that whirled his gig over the Campagna at a rapid trot. +Still there was no great call for haste. He wished to get to Praeneste +about dark, and there make a few inquiries as to the whereabouts and +recent doings of Drusus. Pratinas had had considerable espionage kept +up over his intended victim, and the last results of this detective +work were to be reported to Phaon by the slaves of Ahenobarbus +performing it. Perhaps there would be no real harm in driving straight +through to Praeneste in the open daylight, but it was better not to +show himself until the right time. So it was that, halfway on the +road, Phaon turned in to the tavern of the decaying little town of +Gabii, gave his team to the hostler, and rested himself by fuming over +the squalor and poor cooking of the inn. + + +II + +Agias secured the fast Numidian from the stables of Gallus, and was +soon away. His frequent journeys between Rome and Praeneste, in service +of Cornelia and Drusus, made him a fairly expert rider, and his noble +mount went pounding past the mile-stones at a steady, untiring gallop. +The young Hellene was all tingling with excitement and expectation; he +would save Drusus; he would send the roses back into his beloved +mistress's cheeks; and they would reward him, give him freedom; and +then the future would be bright indeed. + +But it grew late, fast as the horse bore him. He felt it his duty to +press on with all speed to Praeneste. He had still a very vague notion +of the final form of the conspiracy, especially of the role assigned +to Phaon. Of one thing he was certain: to intercept Phaon was to +deprive Dumnorix of an essential ally; but how to intercept the wily +freedman was nothing easy. + +As the Numidian swept into Gabii, Agias drew rein, telling himself +that the horse would make better speed for a little rest and baiting. +The tavern court into which he rode was exceedingly filthy; the whole +building was in a state of decay; the odours were indescribable. In +the great public-room a carter was trolling a coarse ditty, while +through the doorway ran a screaming serving-maid to escape some low +familiarity. + +A shock-headed boy with a lantern took Agias's bridle, and the Greek +alighted; almost under his eyes the dim light fell on a handsome, +two-horse gig, standing beside the entrance to the court. Agias gave +the vehicle close attention. + +"It belongs to a gentleman from Rome, now inside," explained the boy, +"one horse went lame, and the veterinary[103] is coming." Agias's eye +caught a very peculiar bend in the hollow in the neck-yoke. He had +seen that carriage before, on the fashionable boulevards--along the +Tiber, in the Campus Martius--the carriage of Lucius Ahenobarbus. +Phaon was waiting in the tavern! + + [103] _Equarius_. + +"Care for my horse at once," remarked Agias, a little abruptly. "Time +presses." And he turned on his heel, and leaving the boy gaping after +him, went into the squalid public-room of the tavern. + +The landlord of the establishment, a small, red-faced, bustling man, +was fussing over some lean thrushes roasting on a spit before the open +fire that was roaring on the hearth. The landlady, lazy, muscular, +corpulent, and high-voiced, was expostulating with a pedler who was +trying to slip out without settling. Four other persons, slaves and +peasants, were sitting on two low benches beside a small, circular +table, and were busy pouring down the liquor which a young serving-boy +brought them in tumbler-shaped cups, or eating greedily at loaves of +coarse bread which they snatched from the table. It was so late that +little light came into the room from the door and windows. The great +fire tossed its red, flickering glow out into the apartment and cast a +rosy halo over the hard brown marble pavement of the floor. Upon the +dingy walls and rafters hung from pegs flitches of bacon, sausages, +and nets of vegetables. Agias stopped in the doorway and waited till +his eyes were fairly accustomed to the fire-light. Over in a remote +corner he saw a lamp gleaming, and there, sprawling on a bench, beside +a table of his own, well piled with food and drink, he distinguished +in solitary majesty Phaon--too exquisite to mingle with the other +guests of the tavern. + +The landlord quickly noticed his new customer, and sprang up from the +fire. Agias had on a coarse grey woollen cloak over his light tunic, +and he drew his hood up so as partly to cover his face as he stepped +into the room. + +"_Salve!_" was the landlord's salutation. "What hospitality can the +Elephant[104] afford you?" + + [104] Inns were known by such signs. + +The good host did not think Agias anything more by his dress than a +common slave, and saw no need of excessive politeness. + +Agias noticed that he was expected to join the other drinkers around +the centre table. + +"_Eho_, mine host!" cried he, letting the fire give one glint on a +gold piece. "Can't you give me a seat at the other end of the room? I +don't know these good people, and they won't thank me for thrusting +myself on them." + +"Certainly, certainly," exclaimed the landlord, all condescension. +"There is a gentleman from Rome drinking by himself at that table over +there. Perhaps he will not object." + +Now was the crisis. Agias had seen Phaon many times with Lucius +Ahenobarbus; but he was reasonably certain that the freedman had never +degraded himself by taking any notice of the numerous slaves of +Lentulus's household. Without waiting for the host to continue, he +hastened over to the farther table, and exclaimed with all the +effrontery at his command:-- + +"_Hem!_ Phaon; don't you remember an old friend?" + +The freedman for once was completely off his guard. He started up, +stared at Agias, and began to mutter excuses for a very short memory. + +"Well, well," cried Agias. "You _have_ a poor recollection of faces! +Don't you remember how Pratinas took you to the Big Eagle restaurant, +down on the Vicus Jugarius, on the last Calends, and how you met me +there, and what good Lesbian and Chian wine there was? None of your +weak, sickening Italian stuff! Surely you remember Cleombrotus, from +whom you won four hundred sesterces." + +Phaon, who remembered the tavern, a visit, and winning four hundred +sesterces at one time or another, tried to make himself believe that +he won them from a young man, like the one before him, and that his +name was Cleombrotus. + +"Um! Yes, of course," he faltered. "I'm very glad to see you. What +brings you here?" + +"Business, business," complained Agias; "my master's a grain merchant +with dealings at Puteoli, and he has sent me thither, to make some +payments." Phaon pricked up his ears. "The Via Appia is more direct, +but there is less chance of robbers by the Via Praenestina." + +"I hope your master can trust you not to lighten his pouch on the +way," remarked Phaon. + +"Well," chuckled Agias, "he'll have to take his risk. If it's lost on +the road, why, highwaymen stripped me. It is one of the fortunes of +trade." Phaon was fully convinced that here was a fine chance to do +some picking on his own account. + +"Doubtless," he began, "you are not in such haste that you cannot +enjoy one of those thrushes that sheep of a landlord is roasting for +me. _Phui!_ What a nasty place to have one's horse give out in. You +will give me at least a little company to pass the time?" + +Agias affected reluctance; then as the host brought up the birds, +savory and hot, on an earthen platter, he gracefully accepted the +invitation. The thrushes and the rest of the bill of fare, bacon, +sweet nut-flavoured oil, bread, and the cheap wine of the Campagna +were not unwelcome, though Phaon cursed the coarse food roundly. Then, +when hunger had begun to yield, Phaon suggested that Cleombrotus "try +to secure revenge for his losses on the Calends"; and Agias, nothing +loth, replied that he did not wish to risk a great sum; but if a +denarius were worth playing for, there was no objection to venturing a +few casts, and "he would ask the host to bring them the gaming +implements." + +So the landlord brought dice and dice boxes, and Phaon--who had come +to the conclusion that he had to deal with a light-headed bumpkin, who +represented merely so much fair plunder--began to play with a careless +heart. The landlord brought more and more flagons of wine, wine that +was mixed with little water and was consequently very heady. But the +game--with some veering of fortune--went the freedman's way. He won a +denarius; then another; then a third; lost a fourth time; won back +everything and five denarii more; and finally his opponent, heated +with play, consented to stake two gold pieces. + +"What did you say a minute ago to the landlord?" muttered Phaon, +feeling that the undiluted liquor was getting the best of him. "This +wine is very strong. It makes my head ache." + +"_Phy!_" retorted Agias. "Who complains of good liquor? I only told +the host to set another lamp near us. Shall we play again?" + +"By Zeus!" exclaimed the delighted freedman. "Here I have cast four +'sixes' once more." And again he drained the beaker. + +"_Vah!_" sniffed Agias. "Luck will turn at last. Let us play for real +stakes. More wine, mine host! I will put down ten philippi. This will +be worth winning or losing." + +"As you say," gleefully chuckled Phaon, tossing the gold on the table. +"Yes, more wine, I say too. One always enjoys play when his temples +are all athrob." + +Agias quietly reached over, took up his opponent's dice box, and +rattled it, and appeared inspecting and fingering the _tali_.[105] +"You have won your throws fairly," he said, handing it back. "Now let +us invoke the decision of Fortune once more. A libation to the Genius +of Good Luck!" And instead of spilling out a few drops only, he canted +the flagon too far and spattered the wine on to the floor. + + [105] Four-sided dice. + +"Heracles!" growled Phaon, "what a poor hazard! I have thrown four +'ones'!" + +"And I have all 'fours' and 'sixes,'" cried Agias, in delight, +sweeping the money toward him. + +"The gods blast my luck," muttered the freedman, "I shall be ruined at +this rate." And he poured down more liquor. "I have hardly five +philippi left." + +"Come," shouted Agias, jumping up; "I make a fair offer. Your five +philippi against all my winnings." + +Phaon had a dim consciousness that he was getting very drunk, that he +ought to start at once for Praeneste, and that it was absolutely +needful for him to have some money for bribes and gratuities if he was +not to jeopardize seriously the success of his undertaking. But Agias +stood before him exultant and provoking. The freedman could not be +induced to confess to himself that he had been badly fleeced by a +fellow he expected to plunder. In drunken desperation he pulled out +his last gold and threw it on the table. + +"Play for that, and all the Furies curse me if I lose," he stormed. + +Agias cast two "threes," two "fours." + +"I must better that," thundered the freedman, slapping the tali out on +to the table. + +"'Ones' again," roared Agias; "all four! you have lost!" + +Phaon sprang up in a storm of anger, and struck over the dice. "Three +of them are 'sixes,'" he raged. "I have won! You got loaded dice from +the landlord, just now, when he brought the wine!" + +"Not at all, you cheating scoundrel," retorted Agias, who had already +scooped in the money, "I have you fairly enough." + +"Fair?" shouted Phaon, dashing down the dice again, "they are loaded! +Lack-shame! Villain! Whipping-post! Tomb-robber! Gallows-bird! You +changed them when you pretended to inspect them! Give me my money, +thief, or--" and he took a menacing but unsteady step toward Agias. + +The young Greek was ready for the emergency. He knew that Phaon was +almost overcome with his wine, and had no dread of the issue. A stroke +of his fist sent the freedman reeling back against the wall, all the +wind pounded from his chest. "You born blackguard," coughed Phaon, "I +won it." Agias was renewing the attack, when the landlord interfered. +Seizing both of the gamesters by their cloaks, he pushed them out a +side door into the court-yard. "Out with you!" cried the host. +"Quarrel without, if you must! This is no place for brawls." + +Phaon staggered a step or two out into the dark, then reeled and fell +heavily upon the dirty pavement. Agias prodded him with his foot, but +he was quite insensible. For the present he was harmless enough. + +"My good host," said Agias, to the disquieted landlord, "I did not ask +you to give us an unmixed wine and those dice for no purpose. This +excellent gentleman here seems sadly in need of a bed, where he must +stay for some time. But since I have won every sesterce he owns I must +needs pay for his board. Take good care of him, and here are six +philippi which are yours on condition that you keep him quiet until +to-morrow at this time, and suffer no one coming from Rome to see him, +or send him a message. To-morrow evening a messenger from Praeneste +will come here, and if your guest is still safe in your custody, you +shall have six more gold pieces. At that time, doubtless, you can let +him go; but don't violate my orders, or--" + +"Your excellency pays like a senator," said the landlord, bowing, as +he fingered the gold. "Trust me that your wishes shall be obeyed." + +"They had better be," hinted Agias. "I am not what I seem by my dress. +If you disobey, fear the wrath of a man before whom the world +trembles!" + +"He must be an agent of Caesar, or Pompeius," muttered the landlord to +himself. And Agias, having seen two serving-boys tugging Phaon's prone +weight away to a secluded hay-mow, called for his refreshed Numidian, +clattered out of the filthy court, and rode away into the night, with +the stars burning above him. + + + + +Chapter IX + +How Gabinius Met with a Rebuff + + +I + +Publius Gabinius, the boon comrade of Lucius Ahenobarbus, differed +little from many another man of his age in mode of life, or variety of +aspirations. He had run through all the fashionable excitements of the +day; was tired of horse-racing, peacock dinners, Oriental sweethearts; +tired even of dice. And of late he had begun to grow morose, and his +friends commenced to think him rather dull company. + +But for some days he had found a new object of interest. With Lucius +Ahenobarbus he had been at the Circus Flaminius, waiting for the races +to begin, when he startled his friend by a clutch on the arm. + +"Look!" was Gabinius's exclamation. "Is she not beautiful?" + +He pointed to where Fabia, the Vestal, was taking her seat upon a +cushion placed for her by a maid, and all the people around were +standing, very respectfully, until she was seated The priestess was +clothed in perfect white,--dress, ribbons, fillet--a notable contrast +to the brave show of purple, and scarlet, and blue mantles all about +her. + +"Beautiful? Yes," repeated Lucius, rather carelessly. "But such birds +are not for our net." + +"Are not?" repeated Gabinius, a little sharply. "What makes you so +sure of that?" + +"I hardly think that you will find my dear friend Quintus Drusus's +aunt, for so I understand she is," said Ahenobarbus, "very likely to +reciprocate your devotion." + +"And why not?" reiterated Gabinius, in a vexed tone. + +"My dear fellow," answered Lucius, "I won't argue with you. There are +plenty of women in Rome quite as handsome as Fabia, and much younger, +who will smile on you. Don't meddle in a business that is too +dangerous to be profitable." + +But Gabinius had been wrought up to a pitch of amorous excitement, +from which Ahenobarbus was the last one to move him. For days he had +haunted the footsteps of the Vestal; had contrived to thrust himself +as near to her in the theatre and circus as possible; had bribed one +of the Temple servants to steal for him a small panel painting of +Fabia; had, in fact, poured over his last romance all the ardour and +passion of an intense, violent, uncontrolled nature. Gabinius was not +the kind of a man either to analyze his motives, or express himself in +the sobbing lyrics of a Catullus. He was thrilled with a fierce +passion, and knew it, and it only. Therefore he merely replied to +Lucius Ahenobarbus:-- + +"I can't help myself. What does Terence say about a like case? 'This +indeed can, to some degree, be endured; night, passion, liquor, young +blood, urged him on; it's only human nature.'"[106] + + [106] Terence, "Adelphoe," 467 and 471. + +And all the afternoon, while the chariots ran, and wager on wager +marked the excitement of the cloud of spectators, Gabinius had only +eyes for one object, Fabia, who, perfectly unconscious of his state of +fascination, sat with flushed cheeks and bright, eager eyes, watching +the fortunes of the races, or turned now and then to speak a few words +to little Livia, who was at her side. When the games were over, +Gabinius struggled through the crowd after the Vestal, and kept near +to her until she had reached her litter and the eight red-liveried +Cappadocian porters bore her away. Gabinius continued to gaze after +her until Fabia drew the leather curtains of her conveyance and was +hid from sight. + +"_Perpol!"_ reflected Gabinius. "How utterly enslaved I am!" + + * * * * * + +The following morning Fabia received a letter in a strange hand, +asking her to come to a villa outside the Porta Capena, and receive a +will from one Titus Denter, who lay dying. The receiving and +safe-keeping of wills was a regular duty of Vestals, and Fabia at once +summoned her litter, and started out of the city, along the Via Appia, +until, far out in the suburbs where the houses were wide apart, she +was set down before the country-house indicated. A stupid-appearing +slave-boy received her at the gateway. The villa was old, small, and +in very indifferent repair. The slave could not seem to explain +whether it had been occupied of late, but hastened to declare that his +master lay nigh to death. There was no porter in the outer +vestibule.[107] The heavy inner door turned slowly on its pivot, by +some inside force, and disclosed a small, darkened atrium, only +lighted by a clear sunbeam from the opening above, that passed through +and illumined a playing fountain. A single attendant stood in the +doorway. He was a tall, gaunt man in servile dress, with a rather +sickly smile on his sharp yellow face. Fabia alighted from her litter. +There was a certain secluded uncanniness about the house, which made +her dislike for an instant to enter. The slave in the door silently +beckoned for her to come in. The Vestal informed her bearers that she +was likely to be absent some little time, and they must wait quietly +without, and not annoy a dying man with unseemly laughter or loud +conversation. Then, without hesitancy, Fabia gathered her priestess's +cloak about her, and boldly entered the strange atrium. As she did so, +the attendant noiselessly closed the door, and what was further, shot +home a bolt. + + [107] _Ostium_. + +"There is no need for that," remarked the Vestal, who never before in +her life had experienced such an unaccountable sense of disquietude. + +"It is my habit always to push the bolt," said the slave, bowing, and +leading the way toward the peristylium. + +"You are Titus Denter's slave?" asked Fabia. The other nodded. "And +your master is a very sick man?" + +"Your most noble ladyship shall judge for herself." + +"Take me to him at once, if he can see me." + +"He is waiting." + +The two went through the narrow passageway which led from the outer +court of the atrium into the inner court of the peristylium. Fabia was +surprised to see that here all the marble work had been carefully +washed clean, the little enclosed garden was in beautiful order, and +in various corners and behind some of the pillars were bronze and +sculptured statues of really choice art. The slave stopped and pointed +to a couch upholstered in crimson, beside the fish tank, where tame +lampreys were rising for a bit of food. + +"Take me to your master!" repeated Fabia, puzzled by the gesture. "I +am not weary. You say he waits me?" + +"He will be here," replied the servant, with another bow. + +"Here?" exclaimed the Vestal, now really alarmed. "Here? He, a man +sick unto death?" + +"Certainly; here!" broke in a strange voice; and forth from behind a +pillar stepped Publius Gabinius, all pomaded and rouged, dressed only +in a gauzy, many-folded scarlet _synthesis_.[108] + + [108] The "dinner coat" of the Romans. + +Fabia gave a scream and sprang back in instinctive alarm. In the +twinkling of an eye it flashed over her that for some purpose or other +she had been trapped. Gabinius she knew barely by sight; but his +reputation had come to her ears, and fame spoke nothing good of him. +Yet even at the moment when she felt herself in the most imminent +personal peril, the inbred dignity and composed hauteur of the Vestal +did not desert her. At the selfsame instant that she said to herself, +"Can I escape through the atrium before they can stop me?" recovering +from her first surprise, and with never a quiver of eyelash or a +paling of cheek, she was saying aloud, in a tone cold as ice, "And +indeed, most excellent Gabinius, you must pardon me for being +startled; for all that I know of you tells me that you are likely to +find a sombre Vestal sorry enough company." + +Gabinius had been counting coolly on a very noisy scene, one of a kind +he was fairly familiar with--an abundance of screaming, expostulation, +tearing of hair, and other manifestations of feminine agony--to be +followed, of course, by ultimate submission to the will of +all-dominant man. He was not accustomed to have a woman look him +fairly in the eye and speak in tones, not of bootless fury, but of +superior scorn. And his answer was painfully lacking in the ascendant +volubility which would have befitted the occasion. + +"Forgive me; pardon; it was of course necessary to resort to some +subterfuge in order--in order to prevent your attendants from becoming +suspicious." + +Fabia cast a glance behind her, and saw that before the two doors +leading to the atrium her conductor and another tall slave had placed +themselves; but she replied in a tone a little more lofty, if +possible, than before:-- + +"I cannot well, sir, understand you. Are you a friend of Titus Denter, +who is sick? I do not see that any subterfuge is necessary when I am +to receive the deposit of a will from a dying man. It is a recognized +duty of my office." + +Gabinius was still more at a loss. + +"You should certainly understand, lady," he began, cursing himself for +having to resort to circumlocutions, "that this is my own villa, and I +have not the pleasure of knowing Titus Denter. I sent the letter +because--" + +"Because, my worthy sir," interrupted Fabia, not however raising her +voice in the least, "you are weary of Greek flute-players for +sweethearts or such Roman young ladies as admire either the ointments +or the pimples of your face, and consequently seek a little diversion +by laying snares for a sacred Vestal." + +Gabinius at last found free use for his tongue. + +"Oh, lady; Lady Fabia," he cried, stretching out his arms and taking a +step nearer, "don't misjudge me so cruelly! I will forsake anything, +everything, for you! I have nothing to dream of day or night but your +face. You have served your thirty years in the Temple, and can quit +its service. Why entertain any superstitious scruple against doing +what the law allows? Come with me to Egypt; to Spain; to Parthia; +anywhere! Only do not reject me and my entreaties! I will do anything +for your sake!" + +Critical as was her situation, Fabia could not refrain from a sense of +humour, when she saw and heard this creature--the last intimate she +would select in the world--pressing his suit with such genuine +passion. When she answered, an exasperating smile was on her lips. + +"By Castor!" she replied, "the noble Gabinius is not a bad tragedian. +If he has nothing further to inform me than that I am favoured by his +good graces, I can only decline his proposals with humble firmness, +and depart." + +"By the immortal gods!" cried Gabinius, feeling that he and not his +would-be victim were like to go into a frenzy, "you shan't go! I have +you here. And here you shall remain until I have your word that you +will quit the Temple service and fly with me to Egypt. If you won't +have me as your slave, I'll have you as your master!" And again he +advanced. + +"What restrains me here?" queried Fabia, sternly, the blood sinking +from her cheeks, but by step or by glance quailing not in the least. +"Who dare restrain or offer harm to a Vestal of the Roman Republic?" + +"I!" shouted Gabinius in mad defiance, with a menacing gesture. + +Fabia took a step toward him, and instinctively he fell back. + +"You?" she repeated, her black eyes, ablaze with the fire of a holy +indignation, searching Gabinius's impure heart through and through. +"You, little man? Are you fond of death, and yet lack courage to drink +the poison yourself?" + +"I dare anything!" cried Gabinius, getting more and more uncontrolled. +"This is my house. These are my slaves. The high walls will cut off +any screams you may utter in this court. I have you in my power. You +have placed yourself in my hands by coming here. Refuse to do as I +say, and a charge will be laid against you before the _pontifices_,[109] +that you have broken the vow which binds every Vestal. All the +appearances will be against you, and you know what will follow then!" + + [109] College of chief priests. + +Fabia grew a shade paler, if it were possible, than before. + +"I know," she replied, still very gently, "that an unfaithful Vestal +is buried alive in the Campus Sceleratus; but I know, too, that her +seducer is beaten to death with rods. Accuse me, or attack me, and +whatever be _my_ fate, I can say that which will send your black soul +down to Tartarus with guilt enough for Minos to punish. Your +delicately anointed skin would be sadly bruised by the stripes falling +upon it. And now, if these creatures will stand one side, I will leave +you." + +And Fabia drew her mantle about her, and walked straight past the +awestruck slaves into the atrium, where she unbolted the door and +passed out. Gabinius stood gazing after her, half-fascinated, +half-dazed. Only when the door closed did he burst out to one of the +slaves:-- + +"Timid dog, why did you let her escape?" + +"Dominus," whimpered the menial, "why did _you_ let her escape?" + +"Insolence!" cried Gabinius, seizing a staff, and beating first one, +then the other, of his servants indiscriminately; and so he continued +to vent his vexation, until Fabia's litter was well inside the Porta +Capena. + + +II + +Fabia had thus escaped from the clutches of Gabinius, and the latter +was sullen and foiled. But none the less the Vestal was in a tremor of +fear for the consequences of her meeting with the libertine. She knew +that Gabinius was determined, dexterous, and indefatigable; that he +was baffled, but not necessarily driven to throw over his illicit +quest. And Fabia realized keenly that going as she had unattended into +a strange house, and remaining there some time with no friendly eye to +bear witness to her actions, would count terribly against her, if +Gabinius was driven to bay. She dared not, as she would gladly have +done, appear before the pontifices and demand of them that they mete +out due punishment on Gabinius for grossly insulting the sanctity of a +Vestal. Her hope was that Gabinius would realize that he could not +incriminate her without ruining himself, and that he had been so +thoroughly terrified on reflection as to what might be the +consequences to himself, if he tried to follow the intrigue, that he +would prudently drop it. These considerations hardly served to lighten +the gloom which had fallen across Fabia's life. It was not so much the +personal peril that saddened her. All her life she had heard the ugly +din of the world's wickedness pass harmlessly over her head, like a +storm dashing at the doors of some secluded dwelling that shielded its +inhabitants from the tempest. But now she had come personally face to +face with the demon of impurity; she had felt the fetid touch almost +upon herself; and it hurt, it sickened her. Therefore it was that the +other Vestals marvelled, asking what change had come over their +companion, to quench the mild sunshine of her life; and Fabia held +little Livia very long and very closely in her arms, as if it were a +solace to feel near her an innocent little thing "unspotted of the +world." + +All this had happened a very few days before the breathless Agias came +to inform Fabia of the plot against her nephew. Perhaps, as with +Cornelia, the fact that one near and dear was in peril aided to make +the consciousness of her own unhappiness less keen. None could +question Fabia's resolute energy. She sent Agias on his way, then +hurried off in her litter in quest of Caius Marcellus, the consul. +AEmilius Paulus, the other consul, was a nonentity, not worth appealing +to, since he had virtually abdicated office upon selling his +neutrality to Caesar. But Marcellus gave her little comfort. She broke +in upon the noble lord, while he was participating in a drunken +garden-party in the Gardens of Lucullus. The consul--hardly sober +enough to talk coherently--had declared that it was impossible to +start any troops that day to Praeneste. "To-morrow, when he had time, +he would consider the matter." And Fabia realized that the engine of +government would be very slow to set in motion in favour of a marked +Caesarian. + +But she had another recourse, and hastened her litter down one of the +quieter streets of the Subura, where was the modest house occupied by +Julius Caesar before he became Pontifex Maximus. This building was now +used by the Caesarian leaders as a sort of party headquarters. Fabia +boldly ordered the porter to summon before her Curio--whom she was +sure was in the house. Much marvelling at the visit of a Vestal, the +slave obeyed, and in a few moments that tribune was in her presence. + +Caius Scribonius Curio was probably a very typical man of his age. He +was personally of voluptuous habits, fearfully extravagant, endowed +with very few scruples and a very weak sense of right and wrong. But +he was clear-headed, energetic, a good orator, a clever reasoner, an +astute handler of men, courageous, versatile, full of recourse, and on +the whole above the commission of any really glaring moral infraction. +He was now in his early prime, and he came before Fabia as a man tall, +athletic, deep-chested, deep-voiced, with a regular profile, a clear, +dark complexion, curly hair carefully dressed, freshly shaven, and in +perfect toilet. It was a pleasure, in short, to come in contact with +such a vigorous, aggressive personality, be the dark corners of his +life what they might. + +Curio yielded to no man in his love of Lucrine oysters and good +Caecuban wine. But he had been spending little time on the dining couch +that evening. In fact he had at that moment in his hand a set of +tablets on which he had been writing. + +"_Salve! Domina!_" was his greeting, "what unusual honour is this +which brings the most noble Vestal to the trysting spot of us poor +Populares." + +And, with the courtesy of a gentleman of the world, he offered Fabia +an armchair. + +"Caius Curio," said the Vestal, wasting very few words, "do you know +my nephew, Quintus Drusus of Praeneste?" + +"It is an honour to acknowledge friendship with such an excellent +young man," said Curio, bowing. + +"I am glad to hear so. I understand that he has already suffered no +slight calamity for adhering to your party." + +"_Vah!_" and the tribune shrugged his shoulders. "Doubtless he has had +a disagreeable time with the consul-elect, but from all that I can +hear, the girl he lost was hardly one to make his life a happy one. +It's notorious the way she has displayed her passion for young Lucius +Ahenobarbus, and we all know what kind of a man _he_ is. But I may +presume to remark that your ladyship would hardly come here simply to +remind me of this." + +"No," replied Fabia, directly, "I have come here to appeal to you to +do something for me which Marcellus the consul was too drunk to try to +accomplish if he would." + +Fabia had struck the right note. Only a few days before Appius +Claudius, the censor, had tried to strike Curio's name from the rolls +of the Senate. Piso, the other censor, had resisted. There had been an +angry debate in the Senate, and Marcellus had inveighed against the +Caesarian tribune, and had joined in a furious war of words. The Senate +had voted to allow Curio to keep his seat; and the anti-Caesarians had +paraded in mourning as if the vote were a great calamity. + +Curio's eyes lit up with an angry fire. + +"Lump of filth! Who was he, to disoblige you!" + +"You will understand," said Fabia, still quietly; and then briefly she +told of the conspiracy against the life of Drusus, so far as she had +gathered it. + +"Where did you learn all this," queried Curio, "if I may venture to +ask?" + +"From Agias, the slave of Cornelia, niece of Lentulus." + +"But what is Drusus to her?" demanded the marvelling tribune. + +"He is everything to her. She has been trying to win her way into +Ahenobarbus's confidence, and learn all of the plot." + +A sudden light seemed to break over the face of the politician. He +actually smiled with relieved pleasure, and cried, "_Papae!_ Wonderful! +I may be the farthest of all the world from Diogenes the Cynic; but a +man cannot go through life, unless he has his eyes shut, and not know +that there are different kinds of women. I was sorry enough to have to +feel that a girl like Cornelia was becoming one of Clodia's coterie. +After all, the world isn't so bad as we make it out to be, if it is +Curio the profligate who says it." + +"But Drusus, my nephew?" exclaimed Fabia. "He is in frightful danger. +You know Dumnorix will have a great band of gladiators, and there is +no force in Praeneste that can be counted on to restrain him." + +"My dear lady," said Curio, laughing, "I am praising the happy Genius +that brought you here. We Caesarians are taught by our leaders never to +desert a friend in need; and Drusus has been a very good friend to us, +especially by using all his influence, very successfully, for our +cause among the Praenestians and the people of those parts. When did +you say that Dumnorix would pass through the town?" + +"Early to-morrow, possibly," replied the Vestal. + +"_Phui!_ Dismiss all care. I'll find out at once how many gladiators +he took with him to Anagnia. Some of his gang will be killed in the +games there, and more will be wounded and weak or disabled. I am +tribune, and I imagine I ought not to be out of the city over +night,[110] but before daybreak to-morrow I will take Antonius and +Sallustius and Quintus Cassius; and perhaps I can get Balbus and our +other associates to go. We will arm a few slaves and freedmen; and it +will be strange indeed if we cannot scatter to the four winds +Dumnorix's gladiators, before they have accomplished any mischief." + + [110] This was the law, that the tribunes might always be ready to + render help (_auxilium_) to the distressed. + +"The gods reward you!" said Fabia, simply. "I will go back to the +Temple, and pray that my nephew be kept from harm; and you also, and +your friends who will defend him." + +Curio stood in the atrium a long time after the Vestal had left. + +"The gods reward you!" he repeated. "So _she_ believes in the gods, +that there are gods, and that they care for us struggling men. Ah! +Caius, Caius Curio; if the mob had murdered you that day you protected +Caesar after he spoke in the Senate in favour of the Catilinarians, +where would you be to-day? Whence have you come? Whither do you go? +What assurance have you that you can depend on anything, but your own +hand and keen wits? What is to become of you, if you are knocked on +the head in that adventure to-morrow? And yet that woman believes +there are gods! What educated man is there that does? Perhaps we +would, if we led the simple lives our fathers did, and that woman +lives. Enough of this! I must be over letters to Caesar at Ravenna till +midnight: and then at morn off to gallop till our horses are +foundered." + + + + +Chapter X + +Mamercus Guards the Door + + +I + +Agias left Phaon in the clutches of the landlord and his subordinates +and was reasonably certain that since the freedman had not a farthing +left with which to bribe his keepers, he was out of harm's way for the +time being. The moon was risen, and guided by its light the young +slave flew on toward Praeneste without incident. Whatever part of the +conspirator's plans depended on Phaon was sure to collapse. For the +rest, Agias could only warn Drusus, and have the latter arm his +clients and slaves, and call in his friends from the town. With such +precautions Dumnorix could hardly venture to risk himself and his men, +whatever might be the plot. + +Thus satisfied in mind, Agias arrived at the estate of the Drusi, +close to Praeneste, and demanded admittance, about two hours before +midnight. He had some difficulty in stirring up the porter, and when +that worthy at last condescended to unbar the front door, the young +Greek was surprised and dismayed to hear that the master of the house +had gone to visit a farm at Lanuvium, a town some fifteen miles to the +south. Agias was thunderstruck; he had not counted on Drusus being +absent temporarily. But perhaps his very absence would cause the plot +to fail. + +"And what time will he return?" asked Agias. + +"What time?" replied the porter, with a sudden gleam of intelligence +darting up in his lack-lustre eyes. "We expect he will return early +to-morrow morning. But the road from Lanuvium is across country and +you have to skirt the Alban Mount. He may be rather late in arriving, +drives he ever so hard." + +"Hercules!" cried the agitated messenger. "My horse is blown, and I +don't know the road in the dark. Send, I pray you--by all the gods--to +Lanuvium this instant." + +"Aye," drawled the porter, "And wherefore at such an hour?" + +"It's for life and death!" expostulated Agias. + +The porter, who was a thick-set, powerful man, with a bristly black +beard, and a low forehead crowned by a heavy shock of dark hair, at +this instant thrust out a capacious paw, and seized Agias roughly by +the wrist. + +"Ha, ha, ha, young cut-throat! I wondered how long this would last on +your part! Well, now I must take you to Falto, to get the beginning of +your deserts." + +"Are you mad, fellow?" bawled Agias, while the porter, grasping him by +the one hand, and the dim lamp by the other, dragged him into the +house. "Do you know who I am? or what my business is? Do you want to +have your master murdered?" + +"_Perpol!_ Not in the least. That's why I do as I do. Tell your story +to Falto. _Eho!_ What's that you've got under your cloak?" And he +pounced upon a small dagger poor Agias had carried as a precaution +against eventualities. "I imagine you are accustomed to use a little +knife like this." And the fellow gave a gleeful chuckle. + +It was in vain that Agias expostulated and tried to explain. The +porter kept him fast as a prisoner, and in a few moments by his shouts +had aroused the whole sleeping household, and stewards, freedmen, and +slaves came rushing into the atrium. Candelabra blazed forth. Torches +tossed. Maids screamed. Many tongues were raised in discordant shout +and question. At last order was in some measure restored. Agias found +himself before a tribunal composed of Falto, the subordinate +_villicus_,[111] as chief judge, and two or three freedmen to act in +capacity of assessors. All of this bench were hard, grey-headed, +weazened agriculturists, who looked with no very lenient eye upon the +delicate and handsome young prisoner before them. Agias had to answer +a series of savagely propounded questions which led he knew not +whither, and which he was almost too bewildered to answer +intelligently. The true state of the case only came over him by +degrees. These were the facts. Drusus had known that there was a +conspiracy against his life, and had taken precautions against +poisoning or being waylaid by a small band of cut-throats such as he +imagined Ahenobarbus might have sent to despatch him. He had not +expected an attack on the scale of Dumnorix's whole band; and he had +seen no reason why, accompanied by the trusty Mamerci and Cappadox, he +should not visit his Lanuvian farm. The whole care of guarding against +conspirators had been left to Marcus Mamercus, and that worthy +ex-warrior had believed he had taken all needed precautions. He had +warned the porter and the other slaves and freedmen to be on the +lookout for suspicious characters, and had let just enough of the +plot--as it was known to him--leak out, to put all the household on +the _qui vive_ to apprehend any would-be assassin of their beloved +young master. But with that fatuity which often ruins the plans of +"mice and men," he had failed to inform even his subordinate Falto of +the likelihood of Agias arriving from Rome. It had obviously been +desirable that it should not be bruited among the servants that +Cornelia and Drusus were still communicating, and when Agias was haled +into the atrium, his only identification was by some over-zealous +slave, who declared that the prisoner belonged to the familia of +Lentulus Crus, the bitter foe of their master. + + [111] Farm steward. + +With senses unduly alert the porter, as soon as he was aroused from +his slumbers, had noticed that evening that Agias had come on some +unusual business, and that he was obviously confused when he learned +that Drusus was not at home. With his suspicions thus quickened, every +word the luckless Greek uttered went to incriminate him in the mind of +the porter. Agias was certainly an accomplice in the plot against +Drusus, sent to the house at an unseasonable hour, on some dark +errand. The porter had freely protested this belief to Falto and his +court, and to support his indictment produced the captured dagger, the +sure sign of a would-be murderer. Besides, a large sum of gold was +found on Agias's person; his fast Numidian horse was still steaming +before the door--and what honest slave could travel thus, with such a +quantity of money? + +Agias tried to tell his story, but to no effect; Falto and his +fellow-judges dryly remarked to one another that the prisoner was +trying to clear himself, by plausibly admitting the existence of the +conspiracy, but of course suppressing the real details. Agias +reasoned. He was met with obstinate incredulity. He entreated, prayed, +implored. The prejudiced rustics mocked at him, and hinted that they +cared too much for their patron to believe any tale that such a +manifest impostor might tell them. Pausanias, the Mamerci, and +Cappadox, the only persons, besides Drusus, who could readily identify +him, were away at Lanuvium. + +The verdict of guilty was so unanimous that it needed little or no +discussion; and Falto pronounced sentence. + +"Mago," to the huge African, "take this wretched boy to the +slave-prison; fetter him heavily. On your life do not let him escape. +Give him bread and water at sunrise. When Master Drusus returns he +will doubtless bid us crucify the villain, and in the morning Natta +the carpenter shall prepare two beams for the purpose." + +Agias comforted himself by reflecting that things would hardly go to +that terrible extremity; but it was not reassuring to hear Ligus, the +crabbed old cellarer, urge that he be made to confess then and there +under the cat. Falto overruled the proposition. "It was late, and +Mamercus was the man to extort confession." So Agias found himself +thrust into a filthy cell, lighted only by a small chink, near the top +of the low stone wall, into which strayed a bit of moonlight. The +night he passed wretchedly enough, on a truss of fetid straw; while +the tight irons that confined him chafed his wrists and ankles. +Needless to add, he cursed roundly all things human and heavenly, +before he fell into a brief, troubled sleep. In the morning Mago, who +acted as jailer, brought him a pot of water and a saucer of uncooked +wheat porridge;[112] and informed him, with a grin, that Natta was +making the beams ready. Agias contented himself by asking Mago to tell +Drusus about him, as soon as the master returned. "You are very young +to wish to die," said the Libyan, grimly. Agias did not argue. Mago +left him. By climbing up a rude stool, Agias could peer through the +loophole, which by great luck commanded a fairly ample view of the +highway. Drusus he naturally expected would come from the south, +toward Praeneste. And thence every moment he trembled lest Dumnorix's +gang should appear in sight. But every distant dust-cloud for a long +time resolved itself sooner or later into a shepherd with a flock of +unruly sheep, or a wagon tugged by a pair of mules and containing a +single huge wine-skin. Drusus came not; Dumnorix came not. Agias grew +weary of watching, and climbed painfully down from the stool to eat +his raw porridge. Hardly had he done so than a loud clatter of hoofs +sounded without. With a bound that twisted his confined ankles and +wrists sadly, Agias was back at his post. A single rider on a handsome +bay horse was coming up from the direction of Rome. As he drew near to +the villa, he pulled at his reins, and brought his steed down to a +walk. The horseman passed close to the loophole, and there was no +mistaking his identity. Agias had often seen that pale, pimpled face, +and those long effeminate curls in company with Lucius Ahenobarbus. +The rider was Publius Gabinius, and the young Greek did not need to be +told that his coming boded no good to Drusus. Gabinius looked +carefully at the villa, into the groves surrounding it, and then up +and down the highway. Then he touched the spur to his mount, and was +gone. + + [112] _Puls_, the primitive Italian food. + +Agias wrung his manacled hands. Drusus would be murdered, Cornelia's +happiness undone, and he himself would become the slave of Lucius +Ahenobarbus, who, when he had heard Phaon's story, would show little +enough of mercy. He cursed the suspicious porter, cursed Falto, cursed +every slave and freedman on the estate, cursed Mamercus for not +leaving some word about the possibility of his coming from Rome. +Agias's imprecations spent themselves in air; and he was none the +happier. Would Drusus never come? The time was drifting on. The sun +had been up three or more hours. At any instant the gladiators might +arrive. + +Then again there was a clatter of hoofs, at the very moment when Agias +had again remounted to the loophole. There were voices raised in +questions and greetings; slave-boys were scampering to and fro to take +the horses; Drusus with Pausanias and the Mamerci had returned from +Lanuvium. Agias pressed his head out the loophole and screamed to +attract attention. His voice could not penetrate the domestic hubbub. +Drusus was standing shaking hands with a couple of clients and +evidently in a very good humour over some blunt rustic compliment. +Mago was nowhere to be seen. Agias glanced up the road toward +Praeneste. The highway was straight and fairly level, but as it went +over a hill-slope some little way off, what was that he saw upon +it?--the sun flashing on bright arms, which glinted out from the +dust-cloud raised by a considerable number of men marching! + +"Drusus! Master Drusus!" Agias threw all his soul into the cry. As if +to blast his last hope, Drusus hastily bowed away the salves and aves +of the two clients, turned, and went into the villa. Agias groaned in +agony. A very few moments would bring Dumnorix to the villa, and the +young slave did not doubt that Gabinius was with the lanista to direct +the attack. Agias tore at his chains, and cursed again, calling on all +the Furies of Tartarus to confound the porter and Falto. Suddenly +before the loophole passed a slave damsel of winning face and +blithesome manner, humming to herself a rude little ditty, while she +balanced a large earthen water-pot on her head. It was Chloe, whom the +reader has met in the opening scene of this book, though Agias did not +know her name. + +"By all the gods, girl!" he cried frantically, "do you want to have +your master slaughtered before your very eyes?" + +Chloe stopped, a little startled at this voice, almost from under her +feet. + +"Oh, you, Master Assassin!" she sneered. "Do you want to repeat those +pretty stories of yours, such as I heard you tell last night?" + +"Woman," cried Agias, with all the earnestness which agony and fear +could throw into face and voice, "go this instant! Tell Master Drusus +that Dumnorix and his gang are not a furlong[113] away. They mean to +murder him. Say that I, Agias, say so, and he, at least, will believe +me. You yourself can see the sun gleaming on their steel as they march +down the hill." + + [113] About 606-3/4 English feet. + +Perhaps it was the sight which Agias indicated, perhaps it was his +earnest words, perhaps it was his handsome face--Chloe was very +susceptible to good looks--but for some cause she put down the pot and +was off, as fast as her light heels could carry her, toward the house. + + +II + +Drusus had ridden hard to get back early from Lanuvium and write some +letters to Cornelia, for he had expected that Agias would come on that +very afternoon, on one of his regular, though private, visits; and he +wished to be able to tell Cornelia that, so long a time had elapsed +since he had been warned against Ahenobarbus and Pratinas, and as no +attempt at all had been made on his life, her fears for him were +probably groundless and the plot had been for some cause abandoned. +Drusus himself was weary, and was glad to shake off the little knot of +clients and retire to his chamber, preparatory for a bath and a change +of clothes. He had seen Falto, but the latter deemed it best not to +trouble his patron at the time by mentioning the prisoner. Mago, too, +concluded that it was best to defer executing his promise. Drusus was +just letting Cappadox take off his cloak, when the shrill voice of +Chloe was heard outside the door, expostulating with the boy on guard. + +"I must see the dominus at once. It's very important." + +"Don't you see, you idiot, that you can't while he's dressing?" + +"I _must!_" screamed Chloe. And, violating every law of subordination +and decorum, she threw open the door. + +Cappadox flew to eject her, but Chloe's quick tongue did its work. + +"A lad who calls himself Agias is chained in the ergastulum. He says +some gladiators are going to attack the house, and will be here in a +moment! Oh, I am so frightened!" and the poor girl threw her mantle +over her head, and began to whimper and sob. + +"Agias!" shouted Drusus, at the top of his voice. "In the ergastulum? +_Per deos immortales!_ What's this? Mamercus! Falto!" + +And the young master rushed out of the room, Cappadox, who like +lightning had caught up a sword, following him. + +Falto came running from the stables; Mamercus from the garden. Drusus +faced his two subordinates, and in an eye's twinkling had taken in the +situation. Mamercus, who felt within himself that he, by his +oversight, had been the chief blunderer, to vent his vexation smote +Falto so sound a cuff that the under villicus sprawled his full +length. + +"Go to the ergastulum and fetch Agias this instant," cried Drusus, in +thundering accents, to the trembling Mago, who had appeared on the +scene. + +Mago disappeared like magic, but in an instant a din was rising from +the front of the house,--cries, blows, clash of steel. Into the +peristylium, where the angry young master was standing, rushed the old +slave woman, Lais. + +"_Hei! hei!_" she screamed, "they are breaking in! Monsters! a hundred +of them! They will kill us all!" + +Drusus grew calm in an instant. + +"Barricade the doors to the atrium!" he commanded, "while I can put on +my armour. You, Mamercus, are too old for this kind of work; run and +call in the field-hands, the clients, and the neighbours. Cappadox, +Falto, and I can hold the doors till aid comes." + +"I run?" cried the veteran, in hot incredulity, while with his single +hand he tore from its stout leather wall-fastenings a shield that had +been beaten with Punic swords at the Metaurus.[114] "I run?" he +repeated, while a mighty crash told that the front door had given way, +and the attackers were pouring into the atrium. And the veteran had +thrust a venerable helmet over his grizzled locks, and was wielding +his shield with his handless left arm, while a good Spanish +short-sword gleamed in his right hand. + + [114] The great battle won in 207 B.C. over Hasdrubal. + +The others had not been idle. Cappadox had barred both doors leading +into the front part of the house. Drusus had armed, and Falto,--a more +loyal soul than whom lived not,--burning to retrieve his blunder, had +sprung to his patron's side, also in shield and helm. + +"They will soon force these doors," said Drusus, quietly, growing more +composed as closer and closer came the actual danger. "Falto and I +will guard the right. Cappadox and you, Mamercus, if you will stay, +must guard the left. Some aid must come before a great while." + +But again the veteran whipped out an angry oath, and thundered, "You +stay, you soft-fingered Quintus! You stay and face those German +giants! Why, you are the very man they are after! Leave fighting to an +old soldier! Take him away, Cappadox, if you love him!" + +"I will never leave!" blazed forth Drusus. "My place is here. A Livian +always faces his foes. Here, if needs be, I will die." But before he +could protest further, Cappadox had caught him in his powerful arms, +and despite his struggles was running with him through the rear of the +house. + +Pandemonium reigned in the atrium. The gladiators were shivering fine +sculptures, ripping up upholstery, swearing in their uncouth Celtic or +German dialects, searching everywhere for their victim in the rooms +that led off the atrium. A voice in Latin was raising loud +remonstrance. + +"_AEdepol!_ Dumnorix, call off your men! Phaon hasn't led our bird into +the net. We shall be ruined if this keeps on! Drusus isn't here!" + +"By the Holy Oak, Gabinius," replied another voice, in barbarous +Latin, "what I've begun I'll end! I'll find Drusus yet; and we won't +leave a soul living to testify against us! You men, break down that +door and let us into the rest of the house!" + +Mamercus heard a rush down one of the passages leading to the +peristylium. The house was almost entirely deserted, except by the +shrieking maids. The clients and freedmen and male slaves were almost +all in the fields. The veteran, Falto, and Pausanias, who had come in, +and who was brave enough, but nothing of a warrior, were the only +defenders of the peristylium. + +"You two," shouted Mamercus, "guard the other door! Move that heavy +chest against it. Pile the couch and cabinet on top. This door I will +hold." + +There was the blow of a heavy mace on the portal, and the wood sprang +out, and the pivots started. + +"Leave this alone," roared Mamercus, when his two helpers paused, as +if to join him. "Guard your own doorway!" + +"Down with it!" bellowed the voice of the leaders without. "Don't let +the game escape! Strike again!" + +Crash! And the door, beaten from its fastenings by a mighty stroke, +tumbled inward on to the mosaic pavement of the peristylium. The light +was streaming bright and free into that court, but the passageway from +the atrium was shrouded in darkness. Mamercus, sword drawn, stood +across the entrance. + +"By the god Tarann!"[115] shouted Dumnorix, who from the rear of his +followers was directing the attack. "Here is a stout old game-cock! +Out of the way, greybeard! We'll spare you for your spirit. Take him, +some of you, alive!" + + [115] The Gallic thunder-god. + +Two gigantic, blond Germans thrust their prodigious bodies through the +doorway. Mamercus was no small man, but slight he seemed before these +mighty Northerners. + +The Germans had intended to seize him in their naked hands, but +something made them swing their ponderous long swords and then, two +flashes from the short blade in the hand of the veteran, and both the +giants were weltering across the threshold, their breasts pierced and +torn by the Roman's murderous thrusts. + +"_Habet!_" cried Mamercus. "A fair hit! Come on, you scum of the +earth; come on, you German and Gallic dogs; do you think I haven't +faced the like of you before? Do you think your great bulks and fierce +mustaches will make a soldier of Marius quiver? Do you want to taste +Roman steel again?" + +And then there was a strange sight. A phantasm seemed to have come +before every member of that mad, murderous band; for they saw, as it +were, in the single champion before them, a long, swaying line of men +of slight stature like him; of men who dashed through their phalanxes +and spear hedges; who beat down their chieftains; whom no arrow fire, +no sword-play, no stress of numbers, might stop; but who charged home +with pilum and short-sword, and defeated the most valorous enemy. + +"Ha! Dogs!" taunted Mamercus, "you have seen Romans fight before, else +you were not all here, to make sport for our holiday!" + +"He is Tyr,[116] the 'one-armed,' who put his left hand in the jaws of +Fenris-wolf!" cried a German, shrinking back in dread. "A god is +fighting us!" + + [116] A Germanic war-god. + +"Fools!" shouted Gabinius from a distance. "At him, and cut him down!" + +"Cut him down!" roared Dumnorix, who had wits enough to realize that +every instant's delay gave Drusus time to escape, or collect help. + +There was another rush down the passage; but at the narrow doorway the +press stopped. Mamercus fought as ten. His shield and sword were +everywhere. The Roman was as one inspired; his eyes shone bright and +clear; his lips were parted in a grim, fierce smile; he belched forth +rude soldier oaths that had been current in the army of fifty years +before. Thrusting and parrying, he yielded no step, he sustained no +wound. And once, twice, thrice his terrible short-sword found its +sheath in the breast of a victim. In impotent rage the gladiators +recoiled a second time. + +"Storm the other door!" commanded Dumnorix. + +The two defenders there had undertaken to pile up furniture against +it; but a few blows beat down the entire barrier. Falto and Pausanias +stood to their posts stoutly enough; but there was no master-swordsman +to guard this entrance. The first gladiator indeed went down with a +pierced neck, but the next instant Falto was beside him, atoning for +his stupid folly, the whole side of his head cleft away by a stroke +from a Gallic long-sword. + +"One rush and we have the old man surrounded," exhorted Dumnorix, when +only Pausanias barred the way. + +There was a growl and a bound, and straight at the foremost attacker +flew Argos, Mamercus's great British mastiff, who had silently slipped +on to the scene. The assailant fell with the dog's fangs in his +throat. Again the gladiators recoiled, and before they could return to +the charge, back into the peristylium rushed Drusus, escaped from +Cappadox, with that worthy and Mago and Agias, just released, at his +heels. + +"Here's your man!" cried Gabinius, who still kept discreetly in the +rear. + +"Freedom and ten _sestertia_[117] to the one who strikes Drusus down," +called Dumnorix, feeling that at last the game was in his hands. + + [117] About $400. + +But Mamercus had made of his young patron an apt pupil. All the +fighting blood of the great Livian house, of the consulars and +triumphators, was mantling in Drusus's veins, and he threw himself +into the struggle with the deliberate courage of an experienced +warrior. His short-sword, too, found its victims; and across Falto's +body soon were piled more. And now Drusus was not alone. For in from +the barns and fields came running first the servants from the stables, +armed with mattocks and muck-forks, and then the farm-hands with their +scythes and reaping hooks. + +"We shall never force these doors," exclaimed Gabinius, in despair, as +he saw the defenders augmenting. + +Dumnorix turned to his men. + +"Go, some of you. Enter from behind! Take this rabble from the rear. +In fair fight we can soon master it." + +A part of the gladiators started to leave the atrium, Gabinius with +them. An instant later he had rushed back in blank dismay. + +"Horsemen! They are dismounting before the house. There are more than +a score of them. We shall be cut to pieces." + +"We have more than fifty," retorted Dumnorix, viciously. "I will +sacrifice them all, rather than have the attack fail!--" But before he +could speak further, to the din of the fighting at the doors of the +peristylium was added a second clamour without. And into the atrium, +sword in hand, burst Caius Curio, and another young, handsome, +aquiline-featured man, dressed in a low-girt tunic, with a loose, +coarse mantle above it,--a man known to history as Marcus Antonius, or +"Marc Antony "; and at their backs were twenty men in full armour. + +The courage of the lanista had failed him. Already Drusus's +reinforcements in the peristylium had become so numerous and so well +armed that the young chieftain was pushing back the gladiators and +rapidly assuming the offensive. Gabinius was the first to take flight. +He plunged into one of the rooms off the atrium, and through a side +door gained the open. The demoralized and beaten gladiators followed +him, like a flock of sheep. Only Dumnorix and two or three of his best +men stood at the exit long enough to cover, in some measure, the +retreat. + +Once outside, the late assailants gained a temporary respite, owing to +the fact that the defenders had been disorganized by their very +victory. + +"We have lost," groaned Gabinius, as the lanista drew his men together +in a compact body, before commencing his retreat. + +"We are alive," growled Dumnorix. + +"We cannot go back to Rome," moaned the other. "We are all identified. +No bribe or favour can save us now." + +"A robber's life is still left," retorted Dumnorix, "and we must make +of it what we can. Some of my men know these parts, where they have +been slaves, before coming to my hands. We must strike off for the +mountains, if we live to get there." + +All that day the country was in a turmoil. The Praenestean senate had +met in hasty session, and the _decurions_[118] ordered the entire +community under arms to hunt down the disturbers of the peace. Not +until nightfall did Dumnorix and a mere remnant of his band find +themselves able, under the shadow of the darkness, to shake off the +pursuit. Gabinius was still with him. Curio and Antonius had chased +them down with their horsemen; many of the gladiators had been slain, +many more taken. For the survivors only the life of outlaws remained. +The fastnesses of the Apennines were their sole safety; and +thither--scarce daring to stop to pillage for victuals--they hurried +their weary steps. + + [118] Local municipal magistrates. + + +III + +Lucius Ahenobarbus spent that day in frightful anxiety. One moment he +was fingering Drusus's money bags; the next haunted by the murdered +man's ghost. When he called on Cornelia, her slaves said she had a +headache and would receive no one. Pratinas held aloof. No news all +day--the suspense became unendurable. He lived through the following +night harassed by waking visions of every conceivable calamity; but +toward morning fell asleep, and as was his wont, awoke late. The first +friend he met on the street was Calvus, the young poet and orator. + +"Have you heard the news from Praeneste?" began Calvus. + +"News? What news?" + +"Why, how Dumnorix's gang of gladiators attacked the villa of your +distant relative, Quintus Drusus, and were beaten off, while they +tried to murder him. A most daring attempt! But you will hear all +about it. I have a case at the courts and cannot linger." + +And Calvus was gone, leaving Ahenobarbus as though he had been +cudgelled into numbness. With a great effort he collected himself. +After all, Dumnorix's gladiators were nothing to him. And when later +he found that neither Dumnorix, nor Gabinius, nor Phaon had been taken +or slain at Praeneste, he breathed the easier. No one else except +Pratinas, he was certain, knew _why_ the lanista had made his attack; +and there was no danger of being charged with complicity in the +conspiracy. And so he was able to bear the stroke of ill-fortune with +some equanimity, and at last rejoice that his dreams would no longer +be haunted by the shade of Drusus. He was in no mood to meet Pratinas, +and the smooth Greek evidently did not care to meet him. He went +around to visit Cornelia again--she was still quite indisposed. So he +spent that morning with Servius Flaccus playing draughts, a game at +which his opponent was so excessively stupid that Ahenobarbus won at +pleasure, and consequently found himself after lunch[119] in a +moderately equable humour. Then it was he was agreeably surprised to +receive the following note from Cornelia. + + [119] _Prandium_. + +"Cornelia to her dearest Lucius, greeting. + +I have been very miserable these past two days, but this afternoon +will be better. Come and visit me and my uncle, for there are several +things I would be glad to say before you both. Farewell." + +"I think," remarked Lucius to himself, "that the girl wants to have +the wedding-day hastened. I know of nothing else to make her desire +both Lentulus and myself at once. I want to see her alone. Well, I +cannot complain. I'll have Drusus's bride, even if I can't have his +money or his life." + +And so deliberating, he put on his finest saffron-tinted synthesis, +his most elegant set of rings, his newest pair of black shoes,[120] +and spent half an hour with his hairdresser; and thus habited he +repaired to the house of the Lentuli. + + [120] Black shoes were worn as a sort of badge by _equites_. + +"The Lady Cornelia is in the Corinthian hall," announced the slave who +carried in the news of his coming, "and there she awaits you." + +Lucius, nothing loth, followed the servant. A moment and he was in the +large room. It was empty. The great marble pillars rose cold and +magnificent in four stately rows, on all sides of the high-vaulted +apartment. On the walls Cupids and blithesome nymphs were careering in +fresco. The floor was soft with carpets. A dull scent of burning +incense from a little brazier, smoking before a bronze Minerva, in one +corner of the room, hung heavy on the air. The sun was shining warm +and bright without, but the windows of the hall were small and high +and the shutters also were drawn. Everything was cool, still, and +dark. Only through a single aperture shot a clear ray of sunlight, and +stretched in a radiant bar across the gaudy carpets. + +Lucius stumbled, half groping, into a chair, and seated himself. +Cornelia had never received him thus before. What was she preparing? +Another moment and Lentulus Crus entered the darkened hall. + +"_Perpol!_ Ahenobarbus," he cried, as he came across his prospective +nephew-in-law, "what can Cornelia be wanting of us both? And in this +place? I can't imagine. Ah! Those were strange doings yesterday up in +Praeneste. I would hardly have put on mourning if Drusus had been +ferried over the Styx; but it was a bold way to attack him. I don't +know that he has an enemy in the world except myself, and I can bide +my time and pay off old scores at leisure. Who could have been back of +Dumnorix when he blundered so evidently?" + +Ahenobarbus felt that it was hardly possible Lentulus would condemn +his plot very severely; but he replied diplomatically:-- + +"One has always plenty of enemies." + +"_Mehercle!_ of course," laughed the consul-elect, "what would life be +without the pleasure of revenge! But why does my niece keep us +waiting? Jupiter, what can she want of us?" + +"Uncle, Lucius, I am here." And before them, standing illumined in the +panel of sunlight, stood Cornelia. Ahenobarbus had never seen her so +beautiful before. She wore a flowing violet-tinted stola, that tumbled +in soft, silky flounces down to her ankles, and from beneath it peered +the tint of her shapely feet bound to thin sandals by bright red +ribbons. Her bare rounded arms were clasped above and below the elbow +and at the wrists by circlets shaped as coiled serpents, whose eyes +were gleaming rubies. At her white throat was fastened a necklace of +interlinked jewel-set gold pendants that shimmered on her half-bare +shoulders and breast. In each ear was the lustre of a great pearl. Her +thick black hair fell unconfined down her back; across her brow was a +frontlet blazing with great diamonds, with one huge sapphire in their +midst. As she stood in the sunlight she was as a goddess, an Aphrodite +descended from Olympus, to drive men to sweet madness by the ravishing +puissance of her charms. + +"Cornelia!" cried Lucius, with all the fierce impure admiration of his +nature welling up in his black heart, "you are an immortal! Let me +throw my arms about you! Let me kiss you! Kiss your neck but once!" +And he took a step forward. + +"Be quiet, Lucius," said Cornelia, speaking slowly and with as little +passion as a sculptured marble endued with the powers of speech. "We +have other things to talk of now. That is why I have called you here; +you and my uncle." + +"Cornelia!" exclaimed the young man, shrinking back as though a sight +of some awful mystery had stricken him with trembling reverence, "why +do you look at me so? Why do your eyes fasten on me that way? What are +you going to do?" + +It was as if he had never spoken. Cornelia continued steadily, looking +straight before her. + +"Uncle, is it your wish that I become the wife of Lucius Ahenobarbus?" + +"You know it is," replied Lentulus, a little uneasily. He could not +see where this bit of affection on the part of his niece would end. He +had never heard her speak in such a tone before. + +"I think, uncle," went on Cornelia, "that before we say anything +further it will be well to read this letter. It was sent to me, but +both you and Lucius will find it of some interest." And she held out +two or three wax tablets. + +Lentulus took them, eager to have done with the by-play. But when he +saw on the binding-cords the seal--which, though broken, still showed +its impression--he gave a start and exclamation. + +"_Perpol!_ The seal of Sextus Flaccus, the great capitalist." + +"Certainly, why should it not be from him?" + +Lentulus stepped nearer to the light, and read: Lucius standing by and +hanging on every word, Cornelia remaining at her previous station +rigid as the bronze faun on the pedestal at her elbow. Lentulus +read:-- + +"Sextus Fulvius Flaccus, to the most noble lady Cornelia:-- + +If you are well it is well with me. + +Perhaps you have heard how the plots of the conspirators against my +dear friend and financial client Quintus Drusus have been frustrated, +thanks, next to the god, to the wit and dexterity of Agias, who has +been of late your slave. Drusus as soon as he had fairly beaten off +the gladiators sent at once for me, to aid him and certain other of +his friends in taking the confession of one Phaon, the freedman of +Lucius Ahenobarbus, whom Agias had contrived to entrap in Gabii, and +hold prisoner until the danger was over. Phaon's confession puts us in +complete possession of all the schemes of the plotters; and it will be +well for you to inform that worthy young gentleman, Lucius +Ahenobarbus, that I only forbear to prosecute him, and Pratinas, who +really made him his supple tool, because I am a peaceable man who +would not bring scandal upon an old and noble family. If, however, +anything should befall Drusus which should indicate that fresh plots +against his life were on foot, let Ahenobarbus be assured that I can +no more regard him so leniently. I may add that since it was through a +marriage with you that Ahenobarbus expected to profit by the murder, I +have already advised Drusus that, according to the decisions of +several of the most eminent _jurisconsulti_,[121] a property provision +such as his father inserted in his will would not be binding, +especially in view of the present facts of the case. Drusus has +accordingly prepared a new will which, if questioned, I shall defend +in the courts with all my power. Farewell." + + [121] Expounders of the Roman law. + +Lentulus turned and glared with sullen amazement at his niece. That +Ahenobarbus should conspire against Drusus seemed the most natural +thing in the world. That the news that the conspiracy had failed +should come from such a quarter, and through the hands of his own +niece, at once terrified and angered him. Lucius was standing gaping, +in half horror, half fascination, at Cornelia. Had she not urged him +on? Had she not almost expressed her wish for Drusus's blood? The name +of Flaccus fell on his heart like a stone; for the great banker never +went back when he had taken a stand, and was rich enough to corrupt +the most lax and merciful jury. Ahenobarbus felt a trap snap upon him, +and yet he had no hope of revenge. + +"Cornelia," cried Lentulus, regaining at last the powers of speech, +"why was this letter sent to you? What to you is that wretched youth, +Quintus Drusus, who escaped a fate he richly deserved? Why do you not +condole with your lover on his misfortune? What do you mean by your +stony stare, your--" + +"I mean," retorted Cornelia, every word coming as a deep pant from her +heaving chest, while her fingers clasped and unclasped nervously, and +the blood surged to her pallid cheeks, "I mean that I need no longer +profess to love what I hate; to cherish what I despise; to fondle what +I loathe; to cast soft looks on that which I would pierce with +daggers!" And she in turn took a step, quick and menacing, toward her +wretched lover, who cowered and shrank back into the shadow of a +pillar. + +"But you yourself said you hoped I would soon rid you of Drusus," +howled Lucius. + +"Fool!" hissed the woman, through her clenched teeth. "Didn't you know +that all that I said, all that I did, all that I thought, was for this +end--how might I save Quintus by learning the plans of the wretch who +thirsted for his blood? Do you feel paid, now, for all your labours to +secure the wealth of a man whose name should not be uttered beside +that of yours?" + +"And you do not love me!" screamed Ahenobarbus, springing at her, as +if to force his arms around her neck. + +"Dog!" and Cornelia smote him so fairly in the face that he shrank +back, and pressed his hand to a swelling cheek. "I said I hated and +despised you. What I despise, though, is beneath my hate. I would +tread on you as on a viper or a desert asp, as a noxious creature that +is not fit to live. I have played my game; and though it was not I who +won, but Agias who won for me, I am well content. Drusus lives! Lives +to see you miserably dead! Lives to grow to glory and honour, to +happiness and a noble old age, when the worms have long since finished +their work on you!" + +"Girl," thundered Lentulus, fiercely, "you are raving! Ahenobarbus is +your affianced husband. Rome knows it. I will compel you to marry him. +Otherwise you may well blush to think of the stories that vulgar +report will fasten around your name." + +But Cornelia faced him in turn, and threw her white arms aloft as +though calling down some mightier power than human to her aid; and her +words came fast:-- + +"What Rome says is not what my heart says! My heart tells me that I am +pure where others are vile; that I keep truth where others are false; +that I love honourably where others love dishonourably. I knew the +cost of what I would do for Drusus's sake; and, though the vilest +slave gibber and point at me, I would hold my head as proudly as did +ever a Cornelian or Claudian maiden; for I have done that which my own +heart tells me was right; and more than that or less than that, can no +true woman do!" + +Ahenobarbus felt the room spinning round him. He saw himself ruined in +everything that he had held dear. He would be the laughing-stock of +Rome; he, the hero of a score of amorous escapades, the darling of as +many patrician maidens, jilted by the one woman to whom he had become +the abject slave. Courage came from despair. + +"Be silent!" he gasped, his face black with fury. "If every word you +say were true, yet with all the more reason would I drag you in my +marriage procession, and force you to avow yourself my wife. Never +have I been balked of woman; and you, too, with all your tragic +bathos, shall learn that, if you won't have me for a slave, I'll bow +your neck to my yoke." + +"I think the very noble Lucius Ahenobarbus," replied Cornelia, in that +high pitch of excitement which produces a calm more terrible than any +open fury, "will in person be the protagonist in a tragedy very sorry +for himself. For I can assure him that if he tries to make good his +threat, I shall show myself one of the Danaides, and he will need his +funeral feast full soon after the wedding banquet." + +"Woman!" and Lentulus, thoroughly exasperated, broke in furiously. +"Say another word, and I with my own hands will flog you like a common +slave." + +Cornelia laughed hysterically. + +"Touch me!" she shouted; and in her grasp shone a small bright dagger. + +Lentulus fell back. There was something about his niece that warned +him to be careful. + +"Wretched girl!" he commanded, "put down that dagger." + +"I will not," and Cornelia stood resolutely, confronting her two +persecutors; her head thrown back, and the light making her throat and +face shine white as driven snow. + +There was very little chivalry among the ancients. Lentulus +deliberately clapped his hands, and two serving-men appeared. + +"Take that dagger from the Lady Cornelia!" commanded the master. The +men exchanged sly glances, and advanced to accomplish the disarming. + +But before they could catch Cornelia's slender wrists in their coarse, +rough hands, and tear the little weapon from her, there were cuts and +gashes on their own arms; for the struggle if brief was vicious. +Cornelia stood disarmed. + +"You see what these mock heroics will lead to," commented Lentulus, +with sarcastic smile, as he observed his order had been obeyed. + +"_You_ will see!" was her quick retort. + +"_Hei! hei!_" screamed one of the slaves an instant later, sinking to +the floor. "Poison! It's running through my veins! I shall die!" + +"You will die," repeated Cornelia, in ineffable scorn, spurning the +wretch with her foot. "Lie there and die! Cease breathing; sleep! And +that creature, Ahenobarbus, yonder, shall sleep his sleep too, ere he +work his will on me! Ha! ha! Look at my handiwork; the other slave is +down!" + +"Girl! Murderess!" raged Lentulus. "What is this? You have slain these +men." + +"I have slain your slaves," said Cornelia, resolutely folding her +arms; "the poison on the dagger was very swift. You did excellently +well, Lucius, not to come near me." And she picked up the dagger, +which the slave, writhing in agony, had dropped. + +"Do you wish to attack me again? _Phy!_ I have more resources than +this. This venom works too quickly. See, Syrax is already out of his +misery; and his fellow will soon be beyond reach of woe. When I strike +_you_, Lucius Ahenobarbus, you shall die slowly, that I may enjoy your +pain. What need have I of this weapon?" And she flung the dagger +across the carpet so that it struck on the farther wall. "Pick it up, +and come and kill me if you wish! Drusus lives, and in him I live, for +him I live, and by him I live. And you--and you are but as evil dreams +in the first watch of a night which shall be forgotten either in sweet +unending slumbers, or the brightness of the morning. And now I have +spoken. Do with me as it lies in your power to do; but remember what +power is mine. _Vale!_" + +And Cornelia vanished from the darkened hall. The two men heard the +click of the door, and turned and gazed blankly into one another's +faces. + +"The gods defend me, but I shall be yoked to one of the Dirae!" +stammered Ahenobarbus. + + + + +Chapter XI + +The Great Proconsul + + +I + +The plot was foiled. Drusus was unquestionably safe. So long as +Flaccus had the affidavits of Phaon's confession and the depositions +of the captured gladiators stored away in his strong-box, neither +Lucius Ahenobarbus nor the ever versatile Pratinas would be likely to +risk a new conspiracy--especially as their intended victim had +carefully drawn up a will leaving the bulk of his property to Titus +Mamercus and AEmilia. Drusus had no near relatives, except Fabia and +Livia; unless the Ahenobarbi were to be counted such; and it pleased +him to think that if aught befell him the worthy children of his aged +defender would acquire opulence. + +But after the excitement was over, after Phaon had been brought up +from the inn at Gabii to Praeneste, and there had the truth wormed out +of him by the merciless cross-examination of Curio and Flaccus; after +the freedman had been suffered to depart with a warning and threat to +his prompters, after the captured gladiators had been crucified along +the roadway leading toward Rome, and the wreck left in the atrium of +the villa caused by the attack had been cleared away,--after all this, +then the reaction came. Drusus, indeed, found that though the sun +shone bright, its brightness was not for him. He had friends in +plenty; but not such friends as he needed--as his heart craved. Truth +to tell, he was one of those more delicate natures to whom the average +pity and the ordinary demonstrations of sympathy come with an +offending jar, and open, not heal, long-festering wounds. Curio was +kind, but could only hold out the vaguest hopes that, for the present +at least, anything would compel the consul-elect to consent to his +niece's marriage with a mortal enemy. Flaccus took the same position. +The hard-headed man of money thought that Drusus was a visionary, to +be so distraught over the loss of a wife--as if the possession of a +fortune of thirty odd millions did not make up for every possible +calamity. Antonius was still less happy in his efforts at consolation. +This dashing young politician, who had been equally at home basking in +the eyes of the young Egyptian princess, Cleopatra, eight years +before, when he was in the East with Aulus Gabinius, or when fighting +the Gauls as he had until recently under his uncle, the great +proconsul,--had now been elected Tribune of the Plebs for the coming +year; and was looking forward to a prosperous and glorious career in +statecraft. He had had many a love intrigue, and made such matters a +sort of recreation to the real business of life. Why Drusus--who +certainly had very fair worldly prospects before him--should not +console himself for one unsuccessful passage of arms with Cupid, by +straightway engaging in another, he could not see. He plainly +intimated to his friend that there were a great many women, almost if +not quite as good looking as Cornelia, who would survey him with +friendly eyes if he made but a few advances. And Drusus, wounded and +stung, was thrown back on himself; and within himself he found very +little comfort. + +Although he believed himself safe at last from the wiles of +Ahenobarbus and his Greek coadjutors, there was still a great dread +which would steal over Drusus lest at any moment a stroke might fall. +Those were days when children murdered parents, wives husbands, for +whim or passion, and very little came to punish their guilt. The +scramble for money was universal. Drusus looked forth into the world, +and saw little in it that was good. He had tried to cherish an ideal, +and found fidelity to it more than difficult. His philosophy did not +assure him that a real deity existed. Death ended all. Was it not +better to be done with the sham of life; to drink the Lethe water, and +sink into eternal, dreamless slumber? He longed unspeakably to see +Cornelia face to face; to kiss her; to press her in his arms; and the +desire grew and grew. + +She was no longer in the capital. Her uncle had sent her away--guarded +by trusty freedmen--to the villa of the Lentuli at Baiae. The +fashionable circles of the great city had made of her name a three +days' scandal, of which the echo all too often came to Drusus's +outraged ears. His only comfort was that Ahenobarbus had become the +butt and laughing-stock of every one who knew of his repulse by his +last inamorata. Then at last Drusus left Praeneste for Rome. +Ahenobarbus and Pratinas were as well checked as it was possible they +could be, and there was no real ground to dread assassination while in +the city, if moderate precautions were taken. Then too the time was +coming when the young man felt that he could accomplish something +definite for the party for which he had already sacrificed so much. + +The events clustering around Dumnorix's unsuccessful attack had made +Drusus a sort of hero in the eyes of the Praenesteans. They had years +before elected his father as their patron, their legal representative +at Rome, and now they pitched upon the son, proud to have this highly +honourable function continued in the same family. This election gave +Drusus some little prestige at the capital, and some standing in the +courts and politics. When he went to Rome it was not as a mere +individual who had to carve out his own career, but as a man of honour +in his own country, a representative of a considerable local interest, +and the possessor of both a noble pedigree and an ample fortune. + +Curio found him plenty to do; wire-pulling, speech-making, private +bargaining,--all these were rife, for everybody knew that with the +first of January, when Lentulus became consul, the fortunes of Caesar +were to be made or marred irretrievably. There were rumours, always +rumours, now of Caesar, now of Pompeius. The proconsul was going to +march on Rome at once, and put all his enemies to the sword. Pompeius +was to be proclaimed dictator and exterminate all who adhered to the +anti-senatorial party. And into this _melee_ of factions Drusus threw +himself, and found relief and inspiration in the conflict. His innate +common-sense, a very considerable talent for oratory which had +received a moderate training, his energy, his enthusiasm, his +incorruptibility, his straightforwardness, all made him valuable to +the Caesarians, and he soon found himself deep in the counsels of his +party, although he was too young to be advanced as a candidate for any +public office. + +Agias continued with him. He had never formally deeded the boy to +Cornelia, and now it was not safe for the lad to be sent to dwell at +Baiae, possibly to fall into the revengeful clutches of Phaon, or +Pratinas, or Ahenobarbus. Drusus had rewarded Agias by giving him his +freedom; but the boy had nowhere to go, and did not desire to leave +Quintus's service; so he continued as a general assistant and +understrapper, to carry important letters and verbal messages, and to +aid his patron in every case where quick wits or nimble feet were +useful. He went once to Baiae, and came back with a letter from +Cornelia, in which she said that she was kept actually as a prisoner +in her uncle's villa, and that Lentulus still threatened to force +Ahenobarbus upon her; but that she had prepared herself for that final +emergency. + +The letter came at a moment when Drusus was feeling the exhilaration +of a soldier in battle, and the missive was depressing and maddening. +What did it profit if the crowd roared its plaudits, when he piled +execration on the oligarchs from the Rostra, if all his eloquence +could not save Cornelia one pang? Close on top of this letter came +another disquieting piece of information, although it was only what he +had expected. He learned that Lentulus Crus had marked him out +personally for confiscation of property and death as a dangerous +agitator, as soon as the Senate could decree martial law. To have even +a conditional sentence of death hanging over one is hard to bear with +equanimity. But it was too late for Drusus to turn back. He had chosen +his path; he had determined on the sacrifice; he would follow it to +the end. And from one source great comfort came to him. His aunt, +Fabia, had always seen in him her hero. With no children of her own, +with very little knowledge of the world, she had centred all her hopes +and ambitions on her sister's son; and he was not disappointing her. +She dreamed of him as consul, triumphator, and dictator. She told him +her hopes. She applauded his sacrifice. She told him of the worthies +of old, of Camillus, of the Scipios, of Marcellus, the "Sword of +Rome," of Lucius AEmilius Paulus, and a host of others, good men and +true, whose names were graven on the fabric of the great Republic, and +bade him emulate them, and be her perfect Fabian and Livian. And from +his aunt Drusus gained infinite courage. If she was not Cornelia, yet +it was a boon ineffable to be able to hear a pure, loving woman tell +him face to face that her heart suffered when he suffered, and that +all his hopes and fears were hers. + +Finally an interlude came to Quintus's political activity. Curio was +becoming uneasy, lest his distant superior should fail to realize the +full venom of the Senate party and the determination of his enemies to +work his ruin. + +"I must go to Ravenna," said the politician to his young associate. +"My tribuneship is nearly run out. Antonius and Cassius will take my +place in the office. And you, who have done so much for Caesar, must go +also, for he loves to meet and to know all who are his friends." + +"To Caesar I will go," answered Drusus; and of himself he asked, "What +manner of man will this prove, whom I am serving? A selfish grasper of +power? Or will he be what I seek--a man with an ideal?" + + +II + +Night was falling on the dark masses of the huge Praetorium, the +government-house and army barracks of the provincial capital of +Ravenna. Outside, sentinels were changing guard; Roman civil officials +and provincials were strolling in the cool of the porticos. Laughter, +the shout of loungers at play, broke the evening silence. But far in +the interior, where there was a secluded suite of rooms, nothing but +the tinkle of a water-duct emptying into a cistern broke the +stillness, save as some soft-footed attendant stole in and out across +the rich, thick carpet. + +The room was small; the ceiling low; the frescos not elaborate, but of +admirable simplicity and delicacy. The furniture comprised merely a +few divans, chairs, and tripods, but all of the choicest wood or +brass, and the most excellent upholstery. One or two carved wooden +cupboards for books completed the furnishings. + +There were only two persons in the room. One of them,--a handsome +young Hellene, evidently a freedman, was sitting on a low chair with +an open roll before him. His companion half sat and half lay on a +divan near by. This second person was a man of height unusual to +Italians of his day; his cheeks were pale and a little sunken; his +dark eyes were warm, penetrating; his mouth and chin mobile and even +affable, but not a line suggested weakness. The forehead was high, +massive, and was exaggerated by a semi-baldness which was only +partially concealed by combing the dark, grey-streaked hair forward. +He was reclining; if he had arisen he would have displayed a frame at +once to be called soldierly, though spare and hardly powerful. To +complete the figure it should be added that on one finger he wore a +large ring set with a very beautiful seal of an armed Venus; and over +his loose but carefully arranged tunic was thrown a short, red mantle, +caught together on the left shoulder--the paludamentum, a garment only +worn by Roman military officers of the very highest rank. + +The general--for so his dress proclaimed him--was playing with a +stylus and a waxen tablet, while the young Greek read. Now and then he +would bid the latter pause while he made a few notes. The book was +Euripides's "Troades." + +"Read those lines again," interrupted the general. The voice was +marvellously flexile, powerful, and melodious. + +And the freedman repeated:-- + + "Sow far and wide, plague, famine, and distress; + Make women widows, children fatherless; + Break down the altars of the gods, and tread + On quiet graves, the temples of the dead; + Play to life's end this wicked witless game + And you will win what knaves and fools call Fame!"[122] + + [122] Translated in the collection "Sales Attici." + +The freedman waited for his superior to ask him to continue, but the +request did not come. The general seemed lost in a reverie; his +expressive dark eyes were wandering off in a kind of quiet melancholy, +gazing at the glass water-clock at the end of the room, but evidently +not in the least seeing it. + +"I have heard enough Euripides to-day," at length he remarked. "I must +attend to more important matters. You may leave me." + +The Greek rolled up the volume, placed it in the cupboard, and left +the room with noiseless step. The general had arisen, and was standing +beside the open window that looked out into a quiet little court. It +was dark. The lamps of the room threw the court-yard into a sombre +relief. Overhead, in the dimming, violet arch of the sky, one or two +faint stars were beginning to twinkle. + + "Play to life's end this wicked witless game + And you will win what knaves and fools call Fame!" + +repeated the general, leaning out from the stone work of the +window-casing in order to catch the cool air of the court. "Yes, fame, +the fame of a Xerxes; perhaps the fame of a Hannibal--no, I wrong the +Carthaginian, for he at least struck for his country. And what is it +all worth, after all? Does Agamemnon feel that his glory makes the +realm of Hades more tolerable? Does not Homer set forth Achilles as a +warrior with renown imperishable? And yet, 'Mock me not,' he makes the +shade of Achilles say; 'Better to be the hireling of a stranger and +serve a man of mean estate, whose living is but small, than be the +monarch over all those dead and gone.'" + +The general leaned yet farther out, and looked upward. "These were the +stars that twinkled over the Troy of Priam; these were the stars that +shone on Carthage when she sent forth her armies and her fleets, and +nigh drove the Greeks from Sicily; and these are the stars which will +shine when Rome is as Troy and Carthage. And I--I am an atom, a +creature of chance, thrown out of the infinite to flash like a +shooting star for a moment across a blackened firmament and then in +the infinite to expire. _Cui bono?_ Why should I care how I live my +life, since in a twinkling it will all be as if it had never been? And +if Cato and Domitius and Lentulus Crus have their way with me, what +matter? What matter if a stab in the dark, or open violence, or the +sham forms of justice end this poor comedy? I and all others play. All +comedy is tragedy, and at its merriest is but dolorous stuff. While +the curtain stays down[123] we are sorry actors with the whole world +for our audience, and the hoots mingle full often with the applause. +And when the curtain rises, that which is good, the painstaking +effort, the labour, is quickly forgotten; the blunders, the false +quantities in our lives, are treasured up to be flung against our +names. We play, but we do not know our parts; we are Oedipus, who has +committed unwitting sin, and yet must reap his reward; we are +Prometheus who is to be chained to the rock forever, for offending the +gods; we are Orestes whom the Eumenides pursue, chasing him down for +his guilt. And all the time we vainly imagine that we are some +victorious hero, some Perseus, especially favoured by the gods to fare +scatheless over land and sea, and bear away the Medusa's head, and +live renowned and happy forever." The reverie was becoming deeper and +deeper; the Roman was beginning no longer to whisper merely to +himself, he was half declaiming; then of a sudden, by a quick +revolution of mind, he broke short the thread of his monologue. +"_Phui!_ Caius, you are ranting as if you were still a youth at +Rhodes, and Apollonius Molo were just teaching you rhetoric! Why has +no letter come from Curio to-day? I am anxious for him. There may have +been a riot. I hadn't expected that those excellent 'Optimates' would +begin to murder tribunes quite so soon. The carrier is late!" and the +general moved away from the window, and took from a cupboard a package +of tablets, which he ran over hastily. "Here are the despatches of +yesterday. None to-day. I fear the worst." The brow of the solitary +speaker grew darker. "Poor Curio, poor Antonius; if they've dared to +murder them, let them tremble. I could forgive a mortal enemy to +myself, but not one who had slaughtered a friend." + + [123] The ancient curtain (_aulaeum_) had its roller at the bottom. + +There were steps in the court below, and voices were raised. In an +instant the general's eyes were kindled, his frame on a poise. He +sprang to the window, and shouted down the dark court. + +"Curio! Do I hear you speaking?" + +"_Salve!_ Caesar. It is I!" + +"Venus be praised!" and the proconsul, with almost undignified haste, +was running out upon the stairs to meet his friend. "Has the city +broken out? Has Antonius been murdered? Is the truce at an end? Are +you alone?" + +And Curio, who did not quite possess his leader's ability to "do all +things at the same time," answered in a breath: "The city so far keeps +tolerable order. Antonius is safe. The consuls and Senate still keep +the peace; but so poorly that I thought it my duty to come to you and +say things that cannot go in a letter." + +"And who is this young man with you?" + +"My friend," said Curio, turning to his companion, "is Quintus Livius +Drusus, of whom I have had occasion to write no little." + +The proconsul sprang forward and seized Drusus by both hands, and +looked him fairly in the eye. + +"_Papae!_ I see Sextus Drusus once more, the best tribune in his +legion, and my dear friend. Your face should be cause for your +welcome, if nothing else. Ah! how much we shall have to say! But you +are travel-stained and weary. Words will keep while you bathe, and our +dinner is prepared; for I myself have not dined, waiting, as I +thought, for your despatches." + +"Your excellency shows me too much courtesy," said Drusus, bowing in +what was, to tell truth, some little embarrassment; "it is not fit +that a young man like myself should dine at the same table with an +imperator before whom nations have trembled." + +And then it was that Drusus caught his first glimpse of that noble and +sententious egotism which was a characteristic of the great proconsul. + +"To be a friend of Caesar is to be the peer of kings." + +Drusus bowed again, and then, with Curio, followed the attendants who +were leading them to comfortably, though not sumptuously, furnished +apartments. + + * * * * * + +Quintus Drusus in years to come sat at the boards of many great men, +enjoyed their conversation, entered into their hopes and fears, but he +never forgot the first dinner with the proconsul of the Gauls. Caesar +kept a double table. His hospitality was always ready for the people +of note of the district where he happened to be staying, and for his +own regular army officers. But he dined personally with such high-rank +Romans and very noble Provincials as chanced to be with him from day +to day. To this last select company Drusus found himself that evening +admitted; and in fact he and Curio were the proconsul's only personal +guests. The dinner itself was more remarkable for the refinement of +the whole service, the exquisite chasteness of the decorations of the +dining room, the excellent cooking of the dishes, and the choiceness +of the wines than for any lavish display either of a great bill of +fare, or of an ostentatious amount of splendour. The company of +officers and gentlemen of the Ravenna district dined together in a +spacious hall, where Drusus imagined they had a rather more bounteous +repast than did the immediate guests of their entertainer. At one end +of this large hall was a broad alcove, raised a single step, and here +was laid the dinner for the proconsul. Caesar passed through the large +company of his humbler guests, followed by Curio and Drusus,--now +speaking a familiar word to a favourite centurion; now congratulating +a country visitor on his election to his local Senate; now introducing +the new-comers to this or that friend. And so presently Drusus found +himself resting on his elbow on the same couch with Caesar, while Curio +occupied the other end. For a time the latter held by far the larger +part of the conversation in his hands. There were a myriad tales to +tell of politics at the capital, a myriad warnings to give. Caesar +listened to them all; and only rarely interrupted, and then with words +so terse and penetrating that Drusus marvelled. The proconsul seemed +to know the innermost life history and life motives of everything and +everybody. He described a character with an epithet; he fathomed a +political problem with an expletive. Only now and then did his words +or motions betray any deep personal concern or anxiety, and once only +did Drusus see him flush with passion. + +"That affair of the magistrate of Coma, to whom you gave the +franchise," said Curio, "was extremely unfortunate. You of course +heard long ago how Marcellus, the consul, had him beaten with rods and +sent home, to show[124]--as he said--to you, Caesar, the print of his +stripes." + + [124] Caesar had given the magistrates of towns of the north of Italy + the Roman franchise: no Roman citizens could be lawfully flogged. + By his action Marcellus denied Caesar's right to confer the franchise. + +The face of the proconsul reddened, then grew black with hardly reined +fury. + +"Yes, most unfortunate for Marcellus." It was all that Caesar said, but +Drusus would not have exchanged his life then, for that of Marcellus, +for a thousand talents of gold. + +"And our dear friend, Cato," went on Curio, who was perhaps not +unwilling to stir the vials of his superior's wrath, "has just sworn +with an oath in public, that as soon as your army is disbanded he will +press an impeachment against you; and I've heard it reported that you +will be compelled to plead, like Milo when he was tried for the +Clodius affair, before judges overawed by armed men." + +"I anticipate no such proceeding," said Caesar, dryly, in an accent of +infinite contempt. Then turning to Drusus, he entirely changed his +intonation. + +"So long," he said, with a shrug of his rather slight shoulders, "we +have talked of comitias and senates! Praise to the gods, all life is +not passed in the Forum or Curia! And now, my dear Quintus, let us put +aside those tedious matters whereof we all three have talked and +thought quite enough, and tell me of yourself; for, believe me, our +friendship would be one-sided indeed, if all your trouble and exertion +went for me, and you received no solicitude in return." + +And Drusus, who had at first found his words coming awkwardly enough, +presently grew fluent as he conversed with the proconsul. He told of +his student days at Athens, of his studies of rhetoric and philosophy, +of his journey back to Praeneste, and the incidents of the sea voyage, +and land travel; of his welcome at Praeneste by the old retainers and +the familia of the Drusi, and then of his recent political work at +Rome. + +"These have been the chief events of my life, Caesar," he concluded, +"and since you have condescended to hear, I have ventured to tell; but +why need I ask if such a commonplace tale of a young man who has yet +his life to live, should interest you?" + +Caesar smiled, and laying down the beaker from which he was sipping +very slowly, replied:-- + +"_Mehercle!_ And do you wish to have all your exploits crowded into a +few short years of youth, that mature age will have nothing to +surpass? Listen,--I believe that when the historians, by whom our dear +Cicero is so anxious to be remembered favourably, write their books, +they will say something of my name,--good or bad, the Genius +knows,--but fame at least will not be denied me. Twelve years ago when +I was in Spain I was reading in some book of the exploits of Alexander +the Great. Suddenly it seemed as though I could not control myself. I +began to weep; and this was the explanation I gave to my friends, 'I +have just cause to weep, when I consider that Alexander at my age had +conquered so many nations, and I have all this time done nothing that +is memorable.'" + +"But even when your excellency went into Spain," remarked Drusus, "you +had done that which should have given renown. Consider, you had won +the praetorship, the office of Pontifex Maximus--" + +"_St_," interrupted the proconsul, "a list of titles is not a pledge +from Fortune that she will grant fame. Besides, I was about to +add--what folly it was for me to weep! Do I imagine now, that +Alexander was happy and contented in the midst of his conquests? +Rather, unless he were, indeed, of more than mortal stuff, for every +morsel of fame, he paid a talent of care and anxiety. Rush not too +quickly after fame; only with age comes the strength to pay the price +thereof." + +Drusus was half wondering at, half admiring, the unconscious +comparison the proconsul was drawing between himself and Alexander. +But Caesar went on:-- + +"But you, O Drusus, have not dealt honestly with me, in that you have +failed to tell that which lies nearest your heart, and which you +consider the pivot of all your present life." + +Drusus flushed. "Doubtless, your excellency will pardon a young man +for speaking with diffidence on a subject, to recollect which is to +cause pain." + +Caesar put off the half-careless air of the good-natured wit, which he +had been affecting. + +"Quintus Livius Drusus," and as he spoke, his auditor turned as if +magnetized by his eye and voice, and hung on every word, "be not +ashamed to own to me, of all men, that you claim a good woman's love, +and for that love are ready to make sacrifice." + +And as if to meet a flitting thought in the other's mind, Caesar +continued:-- + +"No, blush not before me, although the fashionable world of Rome will +have its stories. I care not enough for such gossip to take pains to +say it lies. But this would I have declared, when at your age, and let +all the world hear, that I, Caius Caesar, loved honourably, purely, and +worthily; and for the sake of that love would and did defy death +itself." + +The proconsul's pale face flushed with something very akin to passion; +his bright eyes were more lustrous than ever. + +"I was eighteen years old when I married Cornelia, the daughter of +Cinna, the great leader of the 'Populares.' Sulla, then dictator, +ordered me to put her away. Cornelia had not been the wife of my +father's choice. He had wished to force upon me Cossutia, an heiress, +but with little save riches to commend her. I gained neither riches, +political influence, nor family good-will by the marriage. Sulla was +in the fulness of his strength. I had seen nearly all my friends +proscribed, exiled, or murdered. Sulla bade me put away my wife, and +take such a one as he should appoint. He was graciously pleased to +spare my life, in order that I might become his tool. Why did I +refuse?" + +Caesar was sitting upon the couch and speaking nervously, in a manner +that betokened great and unusual excitement. + +"I knew the dictator meant to favour me if I would only humour him in +this matter. A word from him and all ambition of mine had probably +been at an end, I take no praise to myself for this. I refused him. I +defied his threats. He seized my property, deprived me of my +priesthood,[125] finally let loose his pack of assassins upon me. I +almost became their victim. But my uncle, Aurelius Cotta, and some +good friends of mine among the Vestal Virgins pleaded my cause. I +escaped. Sulla said he was over-persuaded in sparing me; 'In me were +many Mariuses.' But did I regret the loss, the danger, the check for +the time being to my career? Quintus Drusus, I counted them as of +little importance, not to be weighed beside the pure love that +mastered me. And as the faithful husband of my Cornelia I remained, +until cruel death closed her dear eyes forever. One can love once, and +honourably, with his whole being, but not truly and honourably love a +second time, at least not in a manner like unto the first. Therefore, +my Quintus, blush not to confess that which I know is yours,--a thing +which too many of us Romans do not know in these declining +days,--something that would almost convince me there were indeed +celestial gods, who care for us and guide our darkened destinies. For +when we reason of the gods, our reason tells us they are not. But when +pure passion possesses our hearts, then we see tangible visions, then +our dreams become no dreams but realities; we mount up on wings, we +fly, we soar to Olympus, to Atlantis, to the Elysian fields; we no +longer wish to know, we feel; we no longer wish to prove, we see; and +what our reason bids us to reject, a surer monitor bids us to receive: +the dangers and perils of this life of shades upon the earth are of no +account, for we are transformed into immortals in whose veins courses +the divine ichor, and whose food is ambrosial. Therefore while we love +we do indeed dwell in the Islands of the Blessed: and when the vision +fades away, its sweet memory remains to cheer us in our life below, +and teach us that where the cold intellect may not go, there is indeed +some way, on through the mists of the future, which leads we know not +whither; but which leads to things purer and fairer than those which +in our most ambitious moments we crave." + + [125] Marius had made young Caesar, Flamen Dialis: priest of Jupiter. + +The voice of the conqueror of Gaul and German sank with a half tremor; +his eye was moist, his lips continued moving after his words had +ceased to flow. Drusus felt himself searched through and through by +glance and speech. Was the proconsul a diviner to find all that was +deepest in his soul and give it an utterance which Drusus had never +expressed even to himself? The young man was thrilled, fascinated. And +Caesar, in quite another tone, recovered himself and spoke. + +"Wherefore, O Drusus! be ashamed to tell how the Lady Cornelia loves +you and you love her? What if the grim old consul-elect, like the +jealous elder in the comedy, will stand in your way! _Phui!_ What are +the complaints, threats, and prohibitions of such as he? At present, +the wind blows from his quarter, but it will not be ever so. Either +Lentulus will be in no place to hinder you before long, or we all +shall be beyond caring for his triumph or failure." + +"Your excellency bids me hope!" cried Drusus. + +"I bid you love," replied Caesar, smiling. "I bid you go to Baiae, for +there I have heard your dear lady waits her long-absent Odysseus, and +tell her that all will be well in time; for Caesar will make it so." + +"For Caesar will make it so," repeated the young man, half-unconscious +that he was speaking aloud. + +"For Caesar will make it so," reiterated the proconsul, as though Zeus +on Olympus were nodding his head in awful and irrevocable promise. + +And the proconsul took both of his guest's hands in his own, and said, +with seriousness:-- + +"Quintus Drusus, why did you abandon your bride to support my cause?" + +"Because," replied the other, with perfect frankness, "I should not be +worthy to look Cornelia in the face, if I did not sacrifice all to aid +the one Roman who can save the state." + +"Young man," replied the proconsul, "many follow me for selfish gain, +many follow me to pay off a grudge, but few follow me because they +believe that because Caesar is ambitious, he is ambitious as a god +should be ambitious--to bestow the greatest benefits possible upon the +men entrusted to his charge. I know not what thread for me the Fates +have spun; but this I know, that Caesar will never prove false to those +who trust him to bring righteousness to Rome, and peace to the world." + + * * * * * + +That night, as Drusus was retiring, Curio spoke to him:-- + +And what manner of man do you think is the proconsul?" + +"I think," replied Drusus, "that I have discovered the one man in the +world whom I craved to find." + +"And who is that?" + +"The man with an ideal." + + + + +Chapter XII + +Pratinas Meets Ill-Fortune + + +I + +Probably of the various personages mentioned in the course of our +story none was more thoroughly enjoying life about this time than +Agias. Drusus had left him in the city when he started for Ravenna, +with general instructions to keep an eye on Lucius Ahenobarbus and +Pratinas, and also to gather all he could of the political drift among +the lower classes. Agias was free now. He let his hair grow long in +token of his newly gained liberty; paraded a many-folded toga; and +used part of the donatives which Drusus and Fabia had lavished upon +him, in buying one or two slave-boys of his own, whom, so far from +treating gently on account of his own lately servile position, he +cuffed and abused with grim satisfaction at being able to do what had +so often been done to him. + +Agias had been given lodgings by Drusus in a tenement house, owned by +the latter, in the Subura. + +The rooms were over a bakery, and at the sides were a doctor's and +surgeon's office and a barber's shop--a rendezvous which gave the +young Greek an admirable chance to pick up the current gossip. Every +street-pedler, every forum-idler, had his political convictions and +pet theories. The partisans who arrogated to themselves the modest +epithet of "The Company of All Good Men," clamoured noisily that +"Liberty and Ancient Freedom" were in danger, if Caesar set foot in +Rome save as an impeached traitor. And the Populares--the supporters +of the proconsul--raged equally fiercely against the greed of the +Senate party that wished to perpetuate itself forever in office. Agias +could only see that neither faction really understood the causes for +and against which they fought; and observed in silence, trusting that +his patron knew more of the issues than he. + +But the newly manumitted freedman was thoroughly enjoying himself. The +windy speeches in the Senate, the crowded and excited meetings in the +Forum, the action and reaction of the tides of popular prejudice and +fancy, the eloquence of Antonius, and the threatenings and ravings of +Marcellus the consul--all these were interesting but not disturbing. +Agias was catching glimpses of a little Olympus of his own--an Olympus +in which he was at once Zeus, Poseidon, and Apollo; Sesostris--so he +declared--the lame cup-bearer Hephaestus; and in place of Hera, Athena, +and Aphrodite, were the smiles and laughter of Artemisia. Agias was +head over ears in love with this pretty little cage-bird shut up in +Pratinas's gloomy suite of rooms. Her "uncle" took her out now and +then to the theatre or to the circus; but she had had little enough +companionship save such as Sesostris could give; and to her, Agias was +a wonderful hero, the master of every art, the victor over a hundred +monsters. He had told her of his adventure with Phaon--not calling +names, lest disagreeable consequences ensue--and Artemisia dreamed of +him as the cleverest creature on the earth, able to outwit Hermes in +subtlety. Agias had found out when Pratinas was likely to be away from +home--and that worthy Hellene, be it said, never declined an +invitation to dine with a friend--and Agias timed his visits +accordingly. He taught Artemisia to play the cithera and to sing, and +she made such rapid progress under his tutoring that the unconscious +Pratinas commended her efforts to acquire the accomplishments he +wished. And Agias was never so happy as when those bright eyes were +hanging on his lips or that merry tongue was chattering a thousand +pointless remarks or jests. + +Yes, Agias found himself in a condition when he could well ask to have +no change. The possibility that Pratinas would come home, and put an +end to the romance once and for all, was just great enough to give the +affair the zest of a dangerous adventure. Despite Sesostris's warnings +that Artemisia might at any time be sold away by her pseudo-uncle, +Agias could not discover that that danger was imminent enough to need +frustration. He was content to live himself and to let Artemisia live, +basking in the stolen sunshine of the hour, and to let the thought of +the approaching shadows fade out of his mind. + +Another person who saw the sunshine rather brighter than before was +Pisander. That excellent philosopher had received his share of the +gratitude Drusus had bestowed on his deliverers. But he was still in +the service of Valeria, for Drusus saw that he had admirable +opportunities for catching the stray bits of political gossip that +inevitably intermixed themselves with the conversation of Valeria and +her circle. Pisander had continued to read Plato to his mistress, and +to groan silently at her frivolity; albeit, he did not groan so +hopelessly as before, because he had good money in his pouch and knew +where to procure more when he needed it. + +So Agias enjoyed himself. He was a youth; a Pagan youth; and in his +short life he had seen many a scene of wickedness and shame. Yet there +was nothing unholy in the affection which he found was daily growing +stronger and stronger for Artemisia. She was a pure, innocent flower, +that by the very whiteness of her simple sweet presence drove away +anything that "defiled or made a lie." Agias did not worship her; she +was too winning; too cunning and pretty to attract the least +reverence; but in her company the young Greek was insensibly raised +pinnacles above the murky moral atmosphere in which most men and +youths of his station walked. + +It was all like an Idyl of Theocritus; with the tenement of Pratinas +for a shepherd's hut; and Sesostris for a black-backed sheep to whom +the herdsmen and the nymph of his love could play on "oaten reed." At +first, Agias had never dreamed of telling a word of his affection to +Artemisia. In truth, it was very hard to tell, for she, with an +absolute innocence, took all his advances for far more than they were +worth; told him that next to her "uncle and dear Sesostris" he was +quite the best friend she had; that she loved him, and was glad to +hear him say that he loved her. + +All this was delightful in the ears of her admirer, but very +disconcerting. Agias thought of the hollow civilities of Valeria's +life, as he had seen it; of the outward decorum of language, of the +delicately veiled compliments, of the interchange of words that summed +up, in a few polished commonplaces, a whole network of low intrigue +and passion. Was this the same world! Could Valeria and Artemisia both +be women! The one--a beauty, whose guilty heart was not ignorant of a +single form of fashionable sin; the other--as it were, a blossom, that +was pure sweetness, in whose opening petals the clear diamond of the +morning dew still remained! Agias did not compare Artemisia with +Cornelia; for Cornelia, in his eyes, was a goddess, and in beauty and +passions was above the hope or regard of mortal men. + +But what was one to do in an emergency like the following? Agias had +been singing the "Love Song" from the "Cyclops," and trying to throw +into the lines all the depth of tender affection which voice and look +rendered possible. + + "One with eyes the fairest + Cometh from his dwelling, + Some one loves thee, rarest, + Bright beyond my telling. + In thy grace thou shinest + Like some nymph divinest, + In her caverns dewy;-- + All delights pursue thee, + Soon pied flowers, sweet-breathing, + Shall thy head be wreathing."[126] + + [126] Translated by Shelley. + +And at the conclusion of the song Artemisia threw her arms around +Agias's neck and kissed him; and then with astounding impartiality +sprang into Sesostris's lap, and patted the old Ethiop's black cheeks, +and bestowed on him all manner of endearing epithets. What was poor +Agias to do in such a case? He blankly concluded that it had proved +easier to blast the plot of Pratinas and Ahenobarbus, than to win the +love--as he meant "love"--of this provokingly affectionate girl. It +was growing late. Pratinas might at any time return. And Agias +constrained himself to depart. + +"By Zeus!" was the exclamation he addressed to himself as he fought +his way through the crowds toward his own quarters; "where will this +all end? How much longer are you going to lie in the toils of that +most innocent of Circes? Will she never open her eyes? If I could only +make her cry, 'I hate you!' there would be some hope; for when one +hates, as I want her to, love is but a step away. Confound that +Sesostris! For me to have to sit there, and see that baboon kissed and +fondled!" + +And so reflecting, he reached his rooms. One of the luckless +slave-boys who now addressed him as "Dominus," was waiting to tell him +that a very gaunt, strange-looking man, with an enormous beard, had +called to see him while he was out, and would return--so the visitor +said--in the evening, for his business was important. "Pisander," +remarked Agias; and he stayed in that evening to meet the philosopher, +although he had arranged to share a dinner with one or two other +freedmen, who were his friends. + +The man of learning appeared at a very late hour. In fact, the +water-clock showed that it wanted little of midnight before he came. +His explanation was that Valeria had called him in to read verses to a +company of friends who were supping with her, and he could not get +away sooner. Besides, the dark streets were full of bandits, and he +had therefore taken a circuitous route to avoid attack. Agias had to +let him ramble through all the details, although he knew very well +that Pisander would never have taken so much trouble to come if he had +not had information of the first importance to impart. + +"And now, my dear Pisander," ventured the young Greek, at length, "I +will ask Dromo to set something to drink before us; and I hope you +will tell me why you have come." + +Pisander glanced timidly over his shoulder, pulled at his beard with +suppressed excitement, then bent down, and in a very low voice burst +out:-- + +"Pratinas and"--he hesitated--"Valeria!" + +"_Ai"_ cried Agias, "I have suspected it for a very long time. You are +sure the fox has snapped up his goose?" + +"By Hercules, very sure! They are planning to go to Egypt. Pratinas +has just had a wonderful stroke of luck. He received six hundred +thousand sesterces[127] with which to corrupt a jury for some poor +wretch who expected to enlist Pratinas's cunning to get him out of the +toils of the law. Pratinas calmly put the money in his strong-box, and +let the unhappy wight be cast. He is not at all poor--he has amassed a +large fortune while he has been in Rome. Shade of Plato! how this +knave has prospered! And now he is arranging with Valeria to strip +poor Calatinus of nearly all his valuables, before they fly the +country." + + [127] $24,000. + +"Ah, luckless Calatinus!" laughed Agias. "That will be the end of his +marrying the handsomest woman in Rome. And so this is what you came +here to tell me? It really was a good secret to keep." + +"_St!_" interrupted Pisander, "Pratinas has something else to attend +to. Calatinus will get consolation for losing his dear spouse. I +suppose Pratinas wishes to indemnify him, but he himself will make a +good bit at the same time." + +In a twinkling a thought had flashed through Agias's mind, that made a +cold sweat break out all over him, and a hot surge of blood mount to +his head. + +"Man, man!" he cried, grasping Pisander's wrists with all his +strength, "speak! Don't look at me this way! Don't say that you mean +Artemisia?" + +"_Ai!_ You know the girl, then?" said the other, with the most +excruciating inquisitiveness. + +"Know her?" raged Agias, "I love the sunbeam on which her eyes rest. +Speak! Tell me all, everything, all about it I Quick! I must know!" + +Pisander drew himself together, and with a deliberation that was +nearly maddening to his auditor, began:-- + +"Well, you see, I had occasion this morning to be in Calatinus's +library. Yes, I remember, I was just putting the new copy of Theognis +back into the cupboard, when I noticed that the Mimnermus was not +neatly rolled, and so I happened to stay in the room, and--" + +"By Zeus, speak faster and to the point!" cried Agias. + +"Oh, there wasn't very much to it all! Why, how excited you are! +Pratinas came into the atrium, and Calatinus was already there. I +heard the latter say, 'So I am to give you forty thousand sesterces +for the little girl you had with you at the circus yesterday?' And +Pratinas replied, 'Yes, if she pleases you. I told you her name was +Artemisia, and that I always taught her to believe that she was my +niece.'" + +"_Hei! Hei!_" groaned Agias, rushing up and down the room, half +frantic. "Don't tell any more, I've heard enough! Fool, fool I have +been, to sit in the sunshine, and never think of preparing to carry +out my promise to Sesostris. No, you must tell me--you must tell me if +you have learned any more. Did Calatinus fix on any time at which he +was to take possession of the poor girl?" + +"No," replied the still amazed Pisander. "I did not hear the whole +conversation. There was something about 'a very few days,' and then +Pratinas began to condole with Calatinus over being beaten for the +tribunate after having spent so much money for the canvass. But why +are you so stirred up? As Plato very admirably observes in his +'Philebus'--" + +"The Furies seize upon your 'Philebus'!" thundered Agias. "Keep quiet, +if you've nothing good to tell! Oh, Agias, Agias! where are your wits, +where is your cunning? What in the world can I do?" + +And so he poured out his distress and anger. But, after all, there was +nothing to be done that night. Pisander, who at last began to realize +the dilemma of his friend, ventured on a sort of sympathy which was +worse than no sympathy at all, for philosophical platitudes are ever +the worst of consolations. Agias invited the good man to spend the +night with him, and not risk a second time the robbers of the streets. +The young Greek himself finally went to bed, with no definite purpose +in his mind except to rescue Artemisia, at any and every hazard, from +falling into the clutches of Calatinus, who was perhaps the one man in +the world Agias detested the most heartily. + + +II + +Early in the morning Agias was awake. He had slept very little. The +face of Artemisia was ever before him, and he saw it bathed in tears, +and clouded with anguish and terror. But, early as he arose, it was +none too early. Dromo, one of his slaves, came to announce to his +dread lord that an aged Ethiop was waiting to see him, and Agias did +not need to be told that this was Sesostris. + +That faithful servant of an unworthy master was indeed in a pitiable +condition. His ordinarily neat and clean dress was crumpled and +disarranged, as though he had not changed it during the night, but had +rather been tossing and wakeful. His eyes were swollen, and tears were +trickling down his cheeks. His voice had sunk to a husky choking, and +when he stood before Agias he was unable to get out a word, but, after +a few vain attempts which ended in prolonged sniffles, thrust into his +young friend's hand a tablet. + +It was in Greek, in the childish, awkward hand of Artemisia, and ran +as follows:-- + +"Artemisia to her dear, dear Agias. I never wrote a letter before, and +you must excuse the blunders in this. I don't know how to begin to +tell you the dreadful thing that may happen to me. I will try and stop +crying, and write it out just as it all happened. The day before +yesterday Pratinas took me to the circus, where I enjoyed the racing +very much. While we were sitting there, a very fine gentleman--at +least he had purple stripes on his tunic and ever so many rings--came +and sat down beside us. Pratinas told me that this gentleman was +Lucius Calatinus, who was a great lord, but a friend of his. I tried +to say something polite to Calatinus, but I didn't like him. He seemed +coarse, and looked as though he might be cruel at times. He talked to +me something the way you have talked--said I was pretty and my voice +sounded very sweet. But I didn't enjoy these things from him, I can +hardly tell why--though I'm delighted to hear you say them. Well, +after quite a while he went away, and I didn't think anything more +about him for a time, and yesterday you know how happy I was when you +visited me. Only a little while after you left, Pratinas came back. I +could see that he had something on his mind, although he said nothing. +He seemed uneasy, and kept casting sidelong glances at me, which made +me feel uncomfortable. I went up to him, and put my arms around his +neck. 'Dear uncle,' I said, 'what is troubling you to-night?' +'Nothing,' he answered, and he half tried to take my arms away. Then +he said, 'I was thinking how soon I was to go back to Alexandria.' 'To +Alexandria!' I cried, and I was just going to clap my hands when I +thought that, although Alexandria was a far nicer place than Rome, you +could not go with us, and so I felt very sorry. Then Pratinas spoke +again in a hard, cold voice he has never used to me before. +'Artemisia, I must tell you now the truth about yourself. I have let +you call me uncle, and have tried to be kind to you. But you cannot +come back to Alexandria with me. The day after to-morrow Calatinus, +the gentleman you met at the circus yesterday, will come and take you +away. He is a very rich man, and if you please him will give you +everything you desire.' I couldn't understand at all what he meant, +and cried out, 'But, uncle, I don't like Calatinus, and you--you don't +really mean to leave me behind?' 'You little donkey,' said Pratinas, +laughing, oh! so heartlessly, 'I'm not your uncle. You've been my +slave, and I've sold you to Calatinus; so don't quarrel with him, but +learn to like him quickly.' I don't remember what he said or I said +next. I was so frightened and grieved that I don't know what I did. I +know Pratinas finally whipped me, something he never did before. I +went to bed feeling so sore, that I could not get really to sleep, but +dreadful visions of Calatinus kept frightening me. I don't know which +grieves me most, to know I am a slave, to know that Pratinas is not my +uncle and does not love me, or to be about to be sold to Calatinus. +Dear Sesostris has done all he can to console me, but that's very +little; and so, very early this morning, I've written to you, Agias, +just as soon as Pratinas left the house, for I am sure that you, who +are so clever and wise, can see some way to get me out of my dreadful +trouble." + +It would be hardly necessary to say that, after reading this appeal, +Agias hurried away to do all that lay in his power to console +Artemisia, and deliver her from her danger. When he reached Pratinas's +tenement, Artemisia ran to meet him, and kissed him again and again, +and cuddled down in his strong, young arms, quite content to believe +that she had found a protector on whom she could cast all her burdens. +And Agias? He laughed and bade her wipe away her tears, and swore a +great oath that, so long as he breathed, Calatinus should not lay a +finger upon her. + +Artemisia had practically told all her story in her letter. It was +clear that Calatinus had caught sight of her several times,--though +she had remained in blissful ignorance,--and Pratinas had deliberately +planned to waylay him as a customer who would pay a good price for the +girl, whom it would be manifestly inconvenient for him to take with +Valeria on his premeditated flight to Egypt. But this enlightenment +did not make Agias's task any the easier. He knew perfectly well that +he could never raise a tithe of the forty thousand sesterces that +Pratinas was to receive from Calatinus, and so redeem Artemisia. He +had no right to expect the gift of such a sum from Drusus. If Pratinas +really owned the poor girl as a slave, he could do anything he listed +with her, and no law could be invoked to say him nay. There was only +one recourse left to Agias, and that was fairly desperate--to carry +off Artemisia and keep her in hiding until Pratinas should give up the +quest and depart for Egypt. That there was peril in such a step he was +well aware. Not merely could Artemisia, if recaptured, receive any +form whatsoever of brutal punishment, but he, as the abettor of her +flight, would be liable to a heavy penalty. Slave property was +necessarily very precarious property, and to aid a slave to escape was +an extremely heinous crime. "So many slaves, so many enemies," ran the +harsh maxim; and it was almost treason to society for a freedman to +aid a servant to run away. + +But Agias had no time to count the cost, no time to evolve a plan of +escape that admitted no form of disaster. Artemisia besought him not +to leave her for a moment, and accordingly he remained by her, +laughing, poking fun, and making reckless gibes at her fears. +Sesostris went about his simple household duties with a long face, and +now and then a tear trickled down his cheek. Whatever came of the +matter, Artemisia would have to be separated from him. He might never +see her again, and the old Ethiopian loved her more than he did life +itself. + +"You will not wrong the girl when she is with you?" he whispered +dolefully to Agias. + +"I swear by Zeus she shall be treated as if she were my own dear +sister," was his reply. + +"It is well. I can trust you; but _mu! mu!_ it is hard, it is hard! I +love her like my own eyes! Isis preserve her dear life!" + +And so at last Artemisia, having cried out all her first burst of +grief, was beginning to smile once more. + +"And now, oh! makaira,"[128] said Agias, "I must go away for just a +little while. I have ever so many things to attend to; and you must be +a good, brave girl, and wait until I come back." + + [128] Blessed dear. + +"_St!"_ broke in Sesostris, "there's a step on the stairs. Pratinas is +coming!" + +"Hide me!" cried Agias, as the approaching feet grew nearer. There was +no time to take refuge in one of the farther rooms. + +"Here;" and Sesostris threw open the same iron clamped chest in which +some time ago we saw Pratinas inspecting his treasure. "The money was +taken out yesterday." + +Agias bounded into the box, and Sesostris pushed down the cover. The +luckless occupant had only a chance to push out a corner of his tunic +through the slit to admit a little air, when Pratinas entered the +room. Agias longed to spring forth and throttle him, but such an act +would have been folly. + +The young Greek's prison was sufficiently cramped and stuffy; but for +a moment Agias tried to persuade himself that he had only to wait with +patience until Pratinas should be gone, and no one would be the worse. +An exclamation from the room without dispelled this comforting +illusion. + +"By Zeus!" cried Pratinas, "what is this? Whence came this new toga?" + +Agias writhed in his confinement. In the plentitude of the glory of +his newly acquired freedom, he had come abroad in an elegant new toga; +but he had laid it on a chair when he entered the room. + +There was an awkward pause outside; then Pratinas burst out, "You +worthless Ethiopian, you, where did this toga come from? It hasn't +wings or feet! How came it here? Who's been here? Speak, speak, you +fool, or I will teach you a lesson!" + +Agias gathered himself for a spring; for he expected to hear Sesostris +whimper out a confession, and see Pratinas's wickedly handsome face +peering into the chest. "He shan't cut my throat without a struggle!" +was his vow. + +But, to his surprise, Sesostris answered with a tone of unlooked-for +firmness, "Master, I cannot tell you where the toga came from." + +The tone of Pratinas, in reply, indicated his passion. "Sheep! Dog! +Have I had you all these years that you should need a thrashing for +impertinence! What rascal has been here to ogle at this wretched +girl?" He might have thundered his commands to Artemisia, who was +sobbing in evident distress; but his anger was concentrated on +Sesostris. "Will you not speak?" + +"Master," came the same firm reply, "I will not tell you, though you +take my life for refusing." + +What followed was, as Agias heard it, a volley of curses, blows, +groans, and scuffling; then a heavy fall; an extremely fierce +execration from Pratinas, and a loud shrill scream from Artemisia, "O +Sesostris; dear Sesostris! He doesn't speak! He doesn't move! You've +killed him!" + +"And I will kill you too if you won't tell the truth!" thundered +Pratinas, in an ungovernable passion. Agias heard a blow as of a +clinched fist, and a low moan. It was enough. One spring, and the +ponderous cover flew back. The toga, the innocent cause of the +catastrophe, lay on the chair close at hand. Agias grasped the whole +picture in a twinkling: Sesostris lying beside a heavy wooden bench, +with blood flowing from a great wound in his head which had struck in +falling on a sharp corner; Artemisia crying in unspeakable dread on a +divan; Pratinas, his face black as night, with uplifted hand prepared +to strike a second time. Agias saw; and while he saw acted. Down over +Pratinas's head dashed the broad linen folds of the toga, and two +muscular arms drew it tight around the neck. Then began the struggle. +Pratinas was of powerful physique, and resisted like a madman. The +carpet was torn to shreds, the chairs shivered. But Agias, too, +battled for grim life. He kept the hood over his opponent's eyes and +never gave Pratinas a glimpse of the identity of his assailant. And at +last a life of debauches and late dinners and unhealthy excitement +began to tell against even so powerful a constitution as that of +Pratinas. Tighter and tighter grew the pressure around his neck. And +now Artemisia sprang up, and flew like a tiny tigress to her lover's +assistance, and caught at her tormentor's hands, tearing them with her +white little teeth, and pulling the enveloping mantle closer and +closer. The contest could only have one end. Ere long, Pratinas was +lying on the floor, bound hand and foot with strings of torn clothing, +and his head still muffled in the toga. Agias, victorious, but with +not a whole rag on his back, rose from his contest. + +"Sesostris! help him!" cried Artemisia, trying in vain to get some +response from the motionless form by the bench. Agias looked at the +Ethiop. The hard wood had struck the top of his skull, and death must +have been instantaneous. + +"He does not feel any pain," explained the young Greek, who realized +that this was no moment to indulge in emotions of any sort. "Now, +Artemisia, you must hurry and put on a clean dress yourself; and give +me at least a new tunic, for I cannot show this on the streets. Put +into a basket all the bread you have, and some oil, and some olives, +and some slices of salt fish." + +Artemisia disappeared in the next room. Agias returned to his +prisoner. Pratinas was coughing and twisting, and trying to ejaculate +oaths. + +"My good sir," said Agias, "I am not a bloodthirsty man, otherwise I +would cut your throat, and so let you forget a predicament which +doubtless embarrasses you not a little. But, since that is not to be, +do not blame me if I arrange so that it will be unlikely that two such +cold friends as you and myself will ever meet again. First of all, +that purse which is at your side, and which, by its weight, shows that +it contains a fair night's winnings, must go with me to speed me on my +way. I have never stolen very much before. But I believe you, sir, are +an Epicurean, who teach that pleasure is the highest good, and that +all things are the result of chance. Now," and here he detached the +purse, and counted over a very considerable sum, "you will observe +that Fortune has thrown this money in my way, and it is my pleasure to +take it. Therefore I am fulfilling the highest good. And you, as a +philosopher, should be quite reconciled." + +Artemisia came back into the room, having completed the few simple +preparations. + +"Now, my excellent sir," continued Agias, suiting his actions to his +words, "I will stand you on your feet--so. I will push you, still +bound, into this closet--so. I will pile furniture against the door, +so that, when you have worked clear of your bonds, as I imagine you +will in a few hours, even then you will not get out too quickly. And +now, as your dear Roman friends say, _Vale!_ We are off!" + +Artemisia flung herself on the form of Sesostris, and covered the +black, ugly face with kisses. + +"He's growing cold," she lamented. "What is the matter? I can't leave +him this way!" + +But Agias did not dare to admit the least delaying. + +"Dear Artemisia," he said, "we can't do anything for Sesostris. I will +explain to you by and by about him. He is not feeling cold now at all. +You must come at once with me. I will take you where Pratinas will +never touch you." + + +III + +If Agias had been a trifle more reckless he would have cut short +Pratinas's thread of life then and there, and greatly diminished the +chance of unpleasant consequences. But he had not sunk so low as that. +Besides, he had already worked out in his versatile head a plan that +seemed practicable, albeit utterly audacious. Cornelia was at Baiae. +Cornelia owed him a great debt of gratitude for saving Drusus. +Cornelia might harbour Artemisia as a new maid, if he could contrive +to get his charge over the hundred long miles that lay between Rome +and Baiae. + +In the street he made Artemisia draw her mantle over her pretty face, +and pressed through the crowds as fast as he could drag her onward. +Quickly as he might he left the noisy Subura behind, and led on toward +the Palatine. At length he turned in toward a large house, and by a +narrow alley reached a garden gate, and gained admission to the rear. +By his confident movements he showed himself familiar with the spot. +The dwelling, as a matter of fact, was that of Calatinus. + +As Agias pushed open the gate, and led Artemisia into a little garden +enclosed with a high stone wall, he surprised a dapper-appearing young +slave-lad of about his age, who was lying idly on the tiny grass plot, +and indulging in a solitary game of backgammon.[129] + + [129] _Duodecim scripta_. + +"_Hem!_ Iasus," was Agias's salutation, "can you do an old friend a +favour?" + +Iasus sprang to his feet, with eyes, nose, and mouth wide open. He +turned red, turned white, turned red once more. + +"_Phy!_" cried the other; "you aren't so silly as to take me for a +shade from Hades? I've as much strength and muscle as you." + +"Agias!" blurted out Iasus, "are you alive? Really alive? They didn't +beat you to death! I am so glad! You know--" + +"_St!_" interrupted Agias. "You did, indeed, serve me an awkward trick +some time since; but who can blame you for wanting to save your own +skin. Pisander and Arsinoe and Semiramis have kept the secret that I'm +alive very well, for in some ways it shouldn't come to Valeria's ears. +My story later. Where's her most noble ladyship?" + +"The domina," replied Iasus, with a sniff, "has just gone out on a +visit to a friend who has a country-house near Fidenae, up the Tiber." + +"Praise the gods! Far enough to be abroad for the day, and perhaps +over night! This suits my purpose wonderfully. Is Pisander at home, +and Arsinoe?" + +"I will fetch them," replied Iasus; and in a minute the philosopher +and the waiting-maid were in the garden. + +A very few words explained to these two sympathetic souls the whole +situation. + +Artemisia shrank back at sight of Pisander. + +"I am afraid of that man. He wears a great beard like Pratinas, and I +don't love Pratinas any longer." + +"Oh, don't say that, my little swallow," said the worthy man of books, +looking very sheepish. "I should be sorry to think that your bright +eyes were vexed to see me." + +"_Phui!_ Pisander," laughed Arsinoe, "what have Zeno and Diogenes to +do with 'bright eyes'?" + +But for once Pisander's heart was wiser than his head, and he only +tossed Artemisia an enormous Persian peach, at which, when she sampled +the gift, she made peace at once, and forever after held Pisander in +her toils as a devoted servant. + +But Agias was soon gone; and Artemisia spent the rest of the morning +and the whole of the afternoon in that very satisfactory Elysium of +Syrian pears and honey-apples which Semiramis and Arsinoe supplied in +full measure, with Pisander to sit by, and stare, boylike, at her +clear, fair profile, and cast jealous glances at Iasus when that young +man ventured to utilize his opportunity for a like advantage. Many of +the servants had gone with Valeria, and the others readily agreed to +preserve secrecy in a matter in which their former fellow-slave and +favourite had so much at stake. So the day passed, and no one came to +disturb her; and just as the shadows were falling Agias knocked at the +garden gate. + +"_St!_" were his words, "I have hired a gig which will carry us both. +Pratinas is loose and has been raising heaven and earth to get at us. +There is a crier going the rounds of the Forum offering a thousand +sesterces for the return of Artemisia. Pratinas has gone before the +_triumviri capitales_[130] and obtained from them an order on the +_apparitores_[131] to track down the runaway and her abettor." + + [130] One of their functions made these officers practically chiefs + of police. + + [131] A part of these public officers performed police duty. + +"_Eho!_" cried Pisander, "then you'd better leave your treasure here +awhile, for us to take care of." + +"Not at all," replied Agias; "I could have taken her out of the city +at once, but in the daytime we should have been certainly noticed and +subsequently tracked. No one will imagine Artemisia is here--at least +for a while. But this is a large familia; all may be my friends, but +all may not have prudent tongues in their heads. The reward is large, +and perhaps some will be tempted;" he glanced at Iasus, who, to do him +justice, had never thought of a second deed of baseness. "I cannot +risk that. No, Artemisia goes out of the city to-night, and she must +get ready without the least delay." + +Artemisia, who was charmed with her present surroundings and +adulation, demurred at leaving her entertainers; but Agias was +imperative, and the others realized well enough that there was not +much time to be lost. Agias, however, waited until it had become +tolerably dark before starting. Meantime, he proceeded to make certain +changes of his own and Artemisia's costume that indicated the rather +serious character of the risk he was preparing to run. For himself he +put on a very full and flowing crimson evening dress, as if he were +proceeding to a dinner-party; he piled a dozen odd rings upon his +fingers, and laughingly asked Semiramis to arrange his hair for him in +the most fashionable style, and anoint it heavily with Valeria's most +pungent perfumes. At the same time, Arsinoe was quite transforming +Artemisia. Valeria's cosmetic vials were for once put into play for a +purpose, and when Artemisia reappeared from the dressing-room after +her treatment, Agias saw before him no longer a fair-skinned little +Greek, but a small, slender, but certainly very handsome Egyptian +serving-lad, with bronzed skin, conspicuous carmine lips, and features +that Arsinoe's paint and pencils had coarsened and exaggerated. +Fortunately, the classic costume both for men and women was so +essentially alike, that Artemisia did not have to undergo that +mortification from a change of clothes which might have befallen one +at the present day in a like predicament. Her not very long black hair +was loose, and shaken over her shoulders. Agias had brought for her a +short, variegated _lacerna_[132] which answered well enough as the +habit of a boy-valet who was on good terms with his master. + + [132] A sort of mantle held on the shoulders by a clasp. + +"_Eho!_" cried Agias, when he had witnessed the transformation, "we +must hasten or Valeria will be anxious to keep you as her serving-boy! +Ah, I forgot she is going with her dear Pratinas to Egypt. Now, +Arsinoe, and you, Semiramis, I shall not forget the good turn you have +done me; don't let Valeria miss her unguents and ask questions that +might prove disagreeable. Farewell, Iasus and Pisander; we shall soon +meet again, the gods willing." + +The friends took leave of Artemisia; the slave-women kissed her; +Pisander, presuming on his age, kissed her, albeit very sheepishly, as +though he feared the ghosts of all the Stoics would see him. Iasus +cast an angry jealous glance at the philosopher; he contented himself +with a mere shake of the hand. + +Agias swung Artemisia into the gig and touched the lash to the swift +mules. + +"Good-by, dear friends!" she cried, her merry Greek smile shining out +through her bronze disguise. + +The gig rolled down the street, Agias glancing to right and left to +see that no inquisitive eye followed them. + +"Oh! Agias," cried the girl, "am I at last going away with you? Going +away all alone, with only you to take care of me? I feel--I feel +queerly!" + +Agias only touched the mules again, and laughed and squeezed +Artemisia's hand, then more gravely said:-- + +"Now, makaira, you must do everything as I say, or we shall never get +away from Pratinas. Remember, if I tell you to do anything you must do +it instantly; and, above everything else, no matter what happens, +speak not a word; don't scream or cry or utter a sound. If anybody +questions us I shall say that I am a gentleman driving out to the +suburbs to enjoy a late party at a friend's villa, and you are my +valet, who is a mute, whom it is useless to question because he cannot +answer. Do you understand?" + +Artemisia nodded her little head, and bit her pretty lips very hard to +keep from speaking. The fear of Pratinas made her all obedience. + +It was after sundown, and driving was permitted in the city, though +nearly all the teams that blocked Agias's way, as he drove down the +crowded streets to turn on to the Via Appia, were heavy wagons loaded +with timber and builders' stone. + +So far, all was safe enough; but Agias knew perfectly well that +Pratinas was an awkward man to have for an enemy. The critical moment, +however, was close at hand, and Agias called up all his wits to meet +it. Under the damp arch of the ancient Porta Capena were pacing +several men, whose lanterns and clinking sword-scabbards proclaimed +them to be members of the city constabulary. There was no possibility +of evading their scrutiny. No doubt any other gate was equally well +watched. Agias drove straight ahead, as though he had seen nothing. + +"Hold!" and one of the constables was at the heads of the mules, and +another was waving a lantern up into the face of the occupants of the +gig. + +"Rascals," roared Agias, menacing with his whip, "are you highwaymen +grown so impudent!" + +"We have an order from the triumviri," began one officer. + +"_Eho!_" replied Agias, settling back, as though relieved not to have +to fight for his purse, "I can't see what for; I owe nothing. I have +no suit pending." + +"We are to search all carriages and pedestrians," recommenced the +constable, "to find if we may a certain Artemisia, a runaway +slave-girl of the most noble Greek gentleman, Pratinas." + +"My good sirs," interrupted Agias, "I am already like to be very late +at my dear friend Cimber's dinner party"--he mentioned the name of +the owner of a very large villa not far down the road; "I have with me +only Midas, my mute valet. If you detain me any longer I shall +complain--" + +And here a denarius slipped into the hands of the officer with the +lantern. + +"I think it's all right, Macer," was his report to his comrade. The +latter left the heads of the mules. + +"_Mehercle!_ how handsome some of those Egyptians grow!" commented the +first constable. + +But the rest of his remarks were lost on Agias. He was whizzing down +the "Queen of Roads," with a good team before him, Artemisia at his +side, and a happy consciousness that two excellent officials had +missed a chance to earn one thousand sesterces. + +Hardly were they beyond earshot, when Artemisia burst out into an +uncontrollable fit of giggling, which lasted a long time, only to be +renewed and renewed, as often as a desperate effort seemed to have +suppressed it. Then she drew the robes of the carriage round her, laid +her head on Agias's shoulder, and with a confidence in her protector +that would have inspired him to go through fire and water for her +sake, shook out her dark locks and fell fast asleep, despite the fact +that the mules were running their fastest. Agias grasped the reins +with one hand, and with the other pressed tight the sleeping girl. He +would not have exchanged his present position for all the wealth of +Sardanapalus. + + * * * * * + +Five days later Agias was back in Rome. He had succeeded in reaching +Baiae, and introducing Artemisia into the familia of the villa of the +Lentuli, as a new waiting-maid from Rome sent by Claudia to her +daughter. For the present at least there was practically no chance of +Pratinas recovering his lost property. And indeed, when Agias reached +Rome once more, all fears in that direction were completely set at +rest. The fashionable circle in which Claudia and Herennia were +enmeshed was in a flutter and a chatter over no ordinary scandal. +Valeria, wife of Calatinus, and Pratinas, the "charming" Epicurean +philosopher, had both fled Rome two days before, and rumour had it +that they had embarked together at Ostia on a ship leaving direct for +Egypt. Of course Calatinus was receiving all the sympathy, and was a +much abused man; and so the tongues ran on. + +To Agias this great event brought a considerable gain in peace of +mind, and some little loss. Valeria had taken with her her two maids, +Agias's good friends, and also Iasus. Pisander ignominiously had been +left behind. Calatinus had no use for the man of learning, and Agias +was fain to take him before Drusus, who had returned from Ravenna, and +induce his patron to give Pisander sufficient capital to start afresh +a public school of philosophy, although the chances of acquiring +opulence in that profession were sufficiently meagre. + + + + +Chapter XIII + +What Befell at Baiae + + +I + +Cornelia was at Baiae, the famous watering-place, upon the classic +Neapolitan bay,--which was the Brighton or Newport of the Roman. Here +was the haunt of the sybarites, whose gay barks skimmed the shallow +waters of the Lucrine lake; and not far off slumbered in its volcanic +hollow that other lake, Avernus, renowned in legend and poetry, +through whose caverns, fable had it, lay the entrance to the world of +the dead. The whole country about was one city of stately villas, of +cool groves, of bright gardens; a huge pleasure world, where freedom +too often became license; where the dregs of the nectar cup too often +meant physical ruin and moral death. + +Cornelia had lost all desire to die now. She no longer thought of +suicide. Lentulus's freedmen held her in close surveillance, but she +was very happy. Drusus lived, was safe, would do great things, would +win a name and a fame in the world of politics and arms. For herself +she had but one ambition--to hear men say, "This woman is the wife of +the great Quintus Drusus." That would have been Elysium indeed. +Cornelia, in fact, was building around her a world of sweet fantasy, +that grew so real, so tangible, that the stern realities of life, +realities that had hitherto worn out her very soul, became less +galling. The reaction following the collapse of the plot against +Drusus had thrown her into an unnatural cheerfulness. For the time the +one thought when she arose in the morning, the one thought when she +fell asleep at night, was, "One day," or "One night more is gone, of +the time that severs me from Quintus." It was a strained, an unhealthy +cheerfulness; but while it lasted it made all the world fair for +Cornelia. Indeed, she had no right--from one way of thinking--not to +enjoy herself, unless it be that she had no congenial companions. The +villa of the Lentuli was one of the newest and finest at Baiae. It +rested on a sort of breakwater built out into the sea, so that the +waves actually beat against the embankment at the foot of Cornelia's +chamber. The building rose in several stories, each smaller than the +one below it, an ornamental cupola highest of all. On the successive +terraces were formally plotted, but luxuriant, gardens. Cornelia, from +her room in the second story, could command a broad vista of the bay. +Puteoli was only two miles distant. Vesuvius was ten times as far; but +the eye swept clear down the verdant coast toward Surrentum to the +southward. At her feet was the sea,--the Italian, Neapolitan +sea,--dancing, sparkling, dimpling from the first flush of morning to +the last glint of the fading western clouds at eve. The azure above +glowed with living brightness, and by night the stars and planets +burned and twinkled down from a crystalline void, through which the +unfettered soul might soar and soar, swimming onward through the sweet +darkness of the infinite. + +And there were pleasures enough for Cornelia if she would join +therein. Lentulus had ordered his freedmen not to deny her amusements; +anything, in fact, that would divert her from her morbid infatuation +for Drusus. The consul-designate had indeed reached the conclusion +that his niece was suffering some serious mental derangement, or she +would not thus continue to pursue a profitless passion, obviously +impossible of fulfilment. So Cornelia had every chance to make herself +a centre to those gay pleasure-seekers who were still at Baiae; for the +summer season was a little past, and all but confirmed or fashionable +invalids and professional vacationers were drifting back to Rome. For +a time all went merrily enough. Just sufficient of the Lucius +Ahenobarbus affair had come to the Baiaeans to make Cornelia the object +of a great amount of curiosity. When she invited a select number of +the pleasure-seekers to her dinner parties, she had the adulation and +plaudits of every guest, and plenty of return favours. Lucius +Ahenobarbus soon had a score of hot rivals; and Cornelia's pretty face +was chipped on more than one admirer's seal ring. But presently it +began to be said that the niece of the consul-designate was an +extremely stoical and peculiar woman; she did not enjoy freedom which +the very air of Baiae seemed to render inevitable. She never lacked wit +and vivacity, but there was around her an air of restraint and cold +modesty that was admirable in every way--only it would never do in +Baiae. And so Cornelia, without ceasing to be admired, became less +courted; and presently, quite tiring of the butterfly life, was thrown +back more and more on herself and on her books. This did not disturb +her. A levee or a banquet had never given her perfect pleasure; and it +was no delight to know that half the women of Baiae hated her with a +perfect jealousy. Cornelia read and studied, now Greek, now Latin; and +sometimes caught herself half wishing to be a man and able to expound +a cosmogony, or to decide the fate of empires by words flung down from +the rostrum. Then finally Agias came bringing Artemisia, who, as has +been related, was introduced--by means of some little contriving--into +the familia as a new serving-maid. Such Artemisia was in name; but +Cornelia, whose gratitude to Agias had known no bounds, took the +little thing into her heart, and determined to devote herself to +instructing an innocence that must not continue too long, despite its +charming naivete. + +Thus the days had passed for Cornelia. But only a little while after +Agias left for Rome,--with a very large packet of letters for +Drusus,--the pleasant, self-created world of fantasy, that had given +Cornelia some portion of happiness, vanished. Like a clap of thunder +from a cloudless sky Lucius Ahenobarbus suddenly arrived in Baiae. He +was tired of Rome, which was still very hot and uncomfortable. He +loathed politics, they were stupid. He had lost a boon companion when +Publius Gabinius was driven into outlawry. Marcus Laeca was too deeply +in debt to give any more dinners. Pratinas was fled to Egypt. And so +he had come to Baiae, to harass Cornelia by his presence; to gibe at +her; and assure her that her uncle was more determined than ever that +she should marry him--say and do what she might. + +Ahenobarbus quartered himself in the Lentulan villa as the prospective +nephew-in-law of its owner. He brought with him his customary train of +underlings, and had travelled in appropriate state, in a litter with +eight picked bearers, lolling on a cushion stuffed with rose-leaves, +and covered with Maltese gauze, one garland on his head, another round +his neck, and holding to his nose a smelling-bag of small-meshed linen +filled with roses. + +With all his effeminacy, he was beyond the least doubt desperately +determined to possess himself of Cornelia. His passion was purely +animal and unrefined, but none could doubt it. Cornelia feared to have +him near her, and knew peace neither day nor night. He assumed all a +master's rights over the slaves and freedmen, sending them hither and +yon to do his bidding. He had recovered from the fear Cornelia had +struck into him, in her first defiance, and met her threats and +hauteur with open scorn. + +"You are a most adorable actress!" was his constant sneer. And his +every action told that he did not intend to let Cornelia play with him +a second time. With all his profligacy and moral worthlessness, he had +a tenacity of purpose and an energy in this matter that showed that +either Cornelia must in the end bow to his will, or their contest +would end in something very like a tragedy. + +And if a tragedy, so be it, was the desperate resolve of Cornelia; +whose eyes were too stern for tears when she saw that Lucius was still +the former creature of appetite; full of intrigue, sweethearts, +seashore revels, carouses, singing, and music parties and water +excursions with creatures of his choice from morning until midnight. +She could not altogether shun him, though she successfully resisted +his half blandishments, half coercion, to make her join in his wild +frivolities. One revenge she found she could take on him--a revenge +that she enjoyed because it proclaimed her own intellectual +superiority, and made Ahenobarbus writhe with impotent vexation--she +had him at her mercy when they played at checkers;[133] and at last +Lucius lost so much money and temper at this game of wit, not chance, +that he would sulkily decline a challenge. But this was poor +consolation to Cornelia. The time was drifting on. Before many days +Lentulus Crus and Caius Clodius Marcellus would be consuls, and the +anti-Caesarians would be ready to work their great opponent's undoing, +or be themselves forever undone. Where was Drusus? What was he doing? +What part would he play in the struggle, perhaps of arms, about to +begin? O for one sight of him, for one word! And the hunger in +Cornelia's breast grew and grew. + + [133] _Latrunculi_. + +Many are our wishes. Some flit through our hearts like birds darting +under the foliage of trees, then out again, lost in the sunshine; +others linger awhile and we nestle them in our bosoms until we forget +that they are there, and the noble desire, the craving for something +dear, for something that bears for us as it were a divine image, is +gone--we are the poorer that we no longer wish to wish it. But some +things there are--some things too high or too deep for speech, too +secret for really conscious thought, too holy to call from the +innermost shrines of the heart; and there they linger and hover, +demanding to be satisfied, and until they are satisfied there is void +and dreariness within, be the sunshine never so bright without. And so +Cornelia was a-hungered. She could fight against herself to save +Drusus's life no longer; she could build around herself her dream +castles no more; she must see him face to face, must hold his hand in +hers, must feel his breath on her cheek. + +Is it but a tale that is told, that soul can communicate to distant +soul? That through two sundered hearts without visible communication +can spring up, unforewarned, a single desire, a single purpose? Is +there no magnetism subtle beyond all thought, that bounds from spirit +to spirit, defying every bond, every space? We may not say; but if +Cornelia longed, she longed not utterly in vain. One morning, as she +was dressing, Cassandra, who was moving around the room aiding her +mistress, let fall a very tiny slip of papyrus into Cornelia's lap, +and with it a whisper, "Don't look; but keep it carefully." The +injunction was needed, for several other serving-women were in the +room, and Cornelia more than suspected that they were ready to spy on +her to prevent unauthorized correspondence with Drusus. When she was +dressed, and could walk alone on the terrace overlooking the sea, she +unrolled the papyrus and read:-- + +"Delectissima, I have come from Rome to Puteoli. I cannot live longer +without seeing you. Great things are stirring, and it may well be that +ere long, if your uncle and his friends have their way, I may be a +proscribed fugitive from Italy, or a dead man. But I must talk with +your dear self first. Agias was known by the familia, and had no +difficulty in seeing you quietly; but I have no such facility. I +cannot remain long. Plan how we may meet and not be interrupted. I +have taken Cassandra into my pay, and believe that she can be trusted. +_Vale_." + +There was no name of the sender; but Cornelia did not need to +question. Cassandra, who evidently knew that her mistress would +require her services, came carelessly strolling out on to the terrace. + +"Cassandra," said Cornelia, "the last time I saw Quintus, you betrayed +us to my uncle; will you be more faithful now?" + +The woman hung down her head. + +"_A!_ domina, your uncle threatened me terribly. I did not +intentionally betray you! Did I not receive my beating? And then +Master Drusus is such a handsome and generous young gentleman." + +"I can rely on you alone," replied Cornelia. "You must arrange +everything. If you are untrue, be sure that it is not I who will in +the end punish, but Master Drusus, whose memory is long. You have more +schemes than I, now that Agias is not here to devise for me. You must +make up any stories that are necessary to save us from interruption, +and see that no one discovers anything or grows suspicious. My hands +are tied. I cannot see to plan. I will go to the library, and leave +everything to you." + +And with this stoical resolve to bear with equanimity whatever the +Fates flung in her way for good or ill, Cornelia tried to bury herself +in her Lucretius. Vain resolution! What care for the atomic theory +when in a day, an hour, a moment, she might be straining to her heart +another heart that was reaching out toward hers, as hers did toward +it. It was useless to read; useless to try to admire the varying +shades of blue on the sea, tones of green, and tones of deep cerulean, +deepening and deepening, as her eye drifted off toward the horizon, +like the blendings of a chromatic series. And so Cornelia passed the +morning in a mood of joyful discontent. Lucius Ahenobarbus, who came +to have his usual passage of arms with her, found her so extremely +affable, yet half-preoccupied, that he was puzzled, yet on the whole +delighted. "She must be yielding," he mentally commented; and when +they played at draughts, Cornelia actually allowed herself to be +beaten. Ahenobarbus started off for Puteoli in an excellent humour. +His litter had barely swung down the road from the villa before +Cassandra was knocking at her mistress's chamber door. + +"_Io!_ domina," was her joyful exclamation, "I think I have got every +eavesdropper out of the way. Ahenobarbus is off for Puteoli. I have +cooked up a story to keep the freedmen and other busybodies off. You +have a desperate headache, and cannot leave the room, nor see any one. +But remember the terrace over the water, where the colonnade shuts it +in on all sides but toward the sea. This afternoon, if a boat with two +strange-looking fishermen passes under the embankment, don't be +surprised." + +And having imparted this precious bit of information, the woman was +off. Drusus's gold pieces had made her the most successful of +schemers. + + +II + +Cornelia feigned her headache, and succeeded in making herself so +thoroughly petulant and exacting to all her maids, that when she +ordered them out of the room, and told them on no account to disturb +her in any respect for the rest of the day, they "rejoiced with +trembling," and had no anxiety to thrust their attentions upon so +unreasonable a mistress. And a little while later a visit of a +strolling juggler--whose call had perhaps been prompted by +Cassandra--made their respite from duty doubly welcome. + +Cornelia was left to herself, and spent the next hour in a division of +labour before her silver wall-mirror, dressing--something which was +sufficiently troublesome for her, accustomed to the services of a bevy +of maids--and at the window, gazing toward Puteoli for the +fishing-boat that seemed never in sight. At last the toilet was +completed to her satisfaction. Cornelia surveyed herself in her best +silken purple flounced stola, thrust the last pin into her hair, and +confined it all in a net of golden thread. Roman maidens were not as a +rule taught to be modest about their charms, and Cornelia, with +perfect frankness, said aloud to herself, "You are so beautiful that +Drusus can't help loving you;" and with this candid confession, she +was again on the terrace, straining her eyes toward Puteoli. Boats +came, boats went, but there was none that approached the villa; and +Cornelia began to harbour dark thoughts against Cassandra. + +"If the wretched woman had played false to her mistress again--" but +the threat was never formulated. There was a chink and click of a pair +of oars moving on their thole-pins. For an instant a skiff was visible +at the foot of the embankment; two occupants were in it. The boat +disappeared under the friendly cover of the protecting sea-wall of the +lower terrace. There was a little landing-place here, with a few steps +leading upward, where now and then a yacht was moored. The embankment +shut off this tiny wharf from view on either side. Cornelia dared not +leave the upper terrace. Her heart beat faster and faster. Below she +heard the slap, slap, of the waves on the sea-wall, and a rattle of +rings and ropes as some skiff was being made fast. An instant more and +Drusus was coming, with quick, athletic bounds, up the stairway to the +second terrace. It was he! she saw him! In her eyes he was everything +in physique and virile beauty that a maiden of the Republic could +desire! The bitterness and waiting of months were worth the +blessedness of the instant. Cornelia never knew what Drusus said to +her, or what she said to him. She only knew that he was holding her in +his strong arms and gazing into her eyes; while the hearts of both +talked to one another so fast that they had neither time nor need for +words. They were happy, happy! Long it was before their utterance +passed beyond the merest words of endearment; longer still before they +were composed enough for Cornelia to listen to Drusus while he gave +his own account of Mamercus's heroic resistance to Dumnorix's gang at +Praeneste; and told of his own visit to Ravenna, of his intense +admiration for the proconsul of the two Gauls; and of how he had come +to Puteoli and opened communications with Cassandra, through Cappadox, +the trusty body-servant who in the guise of a fisherman was waiting in +the boat below. + +"And as Homer puts it, so with us," cried Cornelia, at length: "'And +so the pair had joy in happy love, and joyed in talking too, and each +relating; she, the royal lady, what she had endured at home, watching +the wasteful throng of suitors; and he, high-born Odysseus, what +miseries he brought on other men, and bore himself in anguish;--all he +told, and she was glad to hear.'" + +So laughed Cornelia when all their stories were finished, likening +their reunion to that of the son of Laertes and the long-faithful +Penelope. + +"How long were Penelope and Odysseus asunder?" quoth Drusus. + +"Twenty years." + +"_Vah!_ We have not been sundered twenty months or one-third as many. +How shall we make the time fly more rapidly?" + +"I know not," said Cornelia, for the first time looking down and +sighing, "a lifetime seems very long; but lifetimes will pass. I shall +be an old woman in a few years; and my hair will be all grey, and you +won't love me." + +"_Eho_," cried Drusus, "do you think I love you for your hair?" + +"I don't know," replied Cornelia, shaking her head, "I am afraid so. +What is there in me more than any other woman that you should love; +except--" and here she raised her face half-seriously, half in +play--"I am very beautiful? Ah! if I were a man, I would have +something else to be loved for; I would have eloquence, or strength, +or power of command, or wisdom in philosophy. But no, I can be loved +for only two things; an ignoble or a poor man would take me if I were +hideous as Atropos, for I am noble, and, if my uncle were an honest +guardian, rich. But you need not regard these at all, so--" and she +brushed her face across Drusus's cheek, touching it with her hair. + +"O Cornelia," cried the young man, out of the fulness of his heart, +"we must not waste this precious time asking why we love each other. +Love each other we do as long as we view the sun. O carissima! we +cannot trust ourselves to look too deeply into the whys and wherefores +of things. We men and women are so ignorant! We know nothing. What is +all our philosophy--words! What is all our state religion--empty form! +What is all our life--a dream, mostly evil, that comes out of the +eternal unconscious sleep and into that unconscious sleep will return! +And yet not all a dream; for when I feel your hands in mine I know +that I am not dreaming--for dreamers feel nothing so delicious as +this! Not long ago I recalled what old Artabanus said to King Xerxes +when the millions of Persia passed in review before their lord at +Abydos, 'Short as our time is, death, through the wretchedness of our +life, is the most sweet refuge of our race; and God, who gives us +tastes that we enjoy of pleasant times, is seen, in His very gift, to +be envious.' And I thought, 'How wise was the Persian!' And then I +thought, 'No, though to live were to drag one's days in torture and in +woe, if only love come once into life, an eternity of misery is +endurable; yes, to be chained forever, as Prometheus, on drearest +mountain crag, if only the fire which is stolen be that which kindles +soul by soul.'" + +"Ah!" cried Cornelia, "if only these were to be real souls! But what +can we say? See my Lucretius here; read: 'I have shown the soul to be +formed fine and to be of minute bodies and made up of much smaller +first-beginnings than the liquid air, or mist, or smoke. As you see +water, when the vessels are shattered, flow away on every side, and as +mist and smoke vanish away into the air, believe that the soul, too, +is shed abroad, and perishes much more quickly and dissolves sooner +into its first bodies, when once it has been taken out of the limbs of +a man and has withdrawn.' O Quintus, is the thing within me that loves +you lighter, more fragile, than smoke? Shall I blow away, and vanish +into nothingness? It is that which affrights me!" + +And Drusus tried as best he might to comfort her, telling her there +was no danger that she or he would be dissipated speedily, and that +she must not fret her dear head with things that set the sagest +greybeards a-wrangling. Then he told her about the political world, +and how in a month at most either every cloud would have cleared away, +and Lentulus be in no position to resist the legal claims which Drusus +had on the hand of his niece; or, if war came, if fortune but favoured +Caesar, Cornelia's waiting for deliverance would not be for long. +Drusus did not dwell on the alternative presented if civic strife came +to arms; he only knew that, come what might, Cornelia could never be +driven to become the bride of Lucius Ahenobarbus; and he had no need +to exact a new pledge of her faithful devotion. + +So at last, like everything terrestrial that is sweet and lovely, the +slowly advancing afternoon warned Drusus that for this day, at least, +they must separate. + +"I will come again to-morrow, or the next day, if Cassandra can so +arrange," said he, tearing himself away. "But part to-night we must, +nor will it make amends to imitate Carbo, who, when he was being led +to execution, was suddenly seized with a pain in the stomach, and +begged not to be beheaded until he should feel a little better." + +He kissed her, strained her to his breast, and stepped toward the +landing-place. Cappadox had taken the boat out from the moorings to +minimize a chance of discovery by some one in the house. Drusus was +just turning for a last embrace, when many voices and the plash of +oars sounded below. Cornelia staggered with dread. + +"It's Ahenobarbus," she gasped, in a deathly whisper; "he sometimes +comes back from Puteoli by boat. He will murder you when he finds you +here!" + +"Can't I escape through the house?" + +The words, however, were no sooner out of Drusus's mouth, than Lucius +Ahenobarbus, dressed in the most fashionably cut scarlet lacerna, +perfumed and coiffured to a nicety, appeared on the terrace. Some evil +genius had led him straight up without the least delay. + +It was the first time that the two enemies had met face to face since +Drusus had declined the invitation to Marcus Laeca's supper. Be it said +to Lucius's credit that he sensed the situation with only the minimum +of confusion, and instantly realized all of Cornelia's worst fears. +Drusus had drawn back from the steps to the lower terrace, and stood +with stern brow and knotted fist, trapped by a blunder that could +hardly have been guarded against, no submissive victim to what fate +had in store. Cornelia, for once quite distraught with terror, cowered +on a bench, unable to scream through sheer fright. + +"_Salve!_ amice," was the satirical salutation of Ahenobarbus. "How +excellently well met. _Heus!_ Phaon, bring your boatmen, quick! Not an +instant to lose!" + +"Pity! mercy!" gasped Cornelia, "I will do anything for you, but spare +him;" and she made as if to fall on her knees before Ahenobarbus. + +"Girl!" Drusus had never spoken in that way to her before; his tones +were cold as ice. "Go into the house! Your place is not here. If +Lucius Ahenobarbus intends to murder me--" + +The boatmen and two or three other slaves that were always at +Ahenobarbus's heels were crowding up on to the terrace ready to do +their master's bidding. + +"Throw me that fellow over the balcony," ordered Lucius, his sense of +triumph and opportunity mastering every fear that Flaccus would +execute his threat of prosecution. "See that he does not float!" + +Cornelia found her voice. She screamed, screamed shrilly, and ran into +the house. Already the familia was alarmed. Two or three freedmen of +Lentulus were rushing toward the terrace. They were murdering Quintus! +He was resisting, resisting with all the powers of a wild animal +driven to its last lair. Outside, on the terrace, where but an instant +before she and her lover were cooing in delicious ecstasy, there were +oaths, blows, and the sharp pants and howls of mortal struggle. And +she could do nothing--nothing! And it was through his love for her +that Drusus was to go down to his untimely grave! The seconds of +struggle and anguish moved on leaden feet. Every breath was agony, +every sound maddening. And she could do nothing--nothing. Still they +were fighting. Phaon--she knew his voice--was crying out as if in +grievous pain. And now the voice of Lucius Ahenobarbus sounded again: +"One thousand denarii if you fling him into the sea!" and she could do +nothing--nothing! She tore down the purple tapestries around her bed, +and dashed from its tripod a costly bowl of opal Alexandrian +glass--all in the mere rage of impotence. And still they were +fighting. What was that ornament hanging on the wall, half hid behind +the torn tapestry? A scabbard--a sword, some relic of ancient wars! +And all the combatants were unarmed! The antique weapon was held by +stout thongs to the wall; she plucked it from its fastenings with the +strength of a Titaness. The rusty blade resisted an instant; she +dragged it forth. Then out on to the terrace. Really only a moment had +elapsed since she left it. One of the slaves was lying dead, or +stunned, prone on the turf. Phaon was writhing and howling beside him, +nursing a broken jaw. The other assailants had sunk back in temporary +repulse and were preparing for a second rush. Drusus was still +standing. He half leaned upon the stone pedestal of an heroic-sized +Athena, who seemed to be spreading her protecting aegis above him. His +garments were rent to the veriest shreds. His features were hidden +behind streaming blood, his arms and neck were bruised and bleeding; +but clearly his adversaries could not yet congratulate themselves that +the lion's strength was too sapped to be no longer dreaded. + +"Come, you," was his hot challenge to Lucius Ahenobarbus, who stood, +half delighted, half afraid, shivering and laughing spasmodically, as +he surveyed the struggle from a safe distance. "Come, you, and have +your share in the villany!" + +And again, for it was all the affair of the veriest moment, the slaves +rushed once more on their indocile victim. "Freedom to the man who +pulls him down!" was the incentive of Ahenobarbus. + +But again Drusus, who, to tell the truth, had to contend with only the +flabby, soft-handed, unskilful underlings of Lucius, struck out so +furiously that another of his attackers fell backward with a groan and +a gasp. All this Cornelia saw while, sword in hand, she flew toward +the knot of writhing men. She pushed aside the slaves by sheer force. +She asked no civilities, received none. + +"Pull her away!" shouted Lucius, and started himself to accomplish his +purpose. A rude hand smote her in the face; she staggered, fell; but +as she fell a hand snatched the sword out of her grasp. She released +her hold gladly, for did she not know that hand? When she rose to her +feet there were shrieks of fear and pain on every side. The slaves +were cringing in dread before him. Drusus was standing under the +Athena, with the keen steel in his hand--its blade dyed crimson; and +at his feet lay Ahenobarbus's favourite valet--the wretch literally +disembowelled by one deadly stroke. + +"Fly, fly!" she implored; "they will bring arms! They will never let +you escape." + +"I'll pay you for letting him kill Croesus," howled Lucius, facing +himself resolutely toward his enemy. "How can he fly when the house is +full of servants, and his boat is away from the landing? You give +yourself trouble for no purpose, my lady! Lentulus's people will be +here with swords in a moment!" + +But as he spoke a blow of some unseen giant dashed him prostrate, and +upon the terrace from below came Cappadox, foaming with anxious rage, +his brow blacker than night, his brawny arms swinging a heavy paddle +with which he clubbed the cowering slaves right and left. + +"Have they killed him! Have the gods spared him!" These two demands +came bounding in a breath from the honest servant's lips. And when he +saw Drusus, bleeding, but still standing, he rushed forward to fling +his arms about his master's neck. + +"Fly! fly!" urged Cornelia, and out of the building, armed now with +swords and staves, came flocking the freedmen of the house and as many +slaves as they could muster. + +"_Salve!_ carissima," and Drusus, who never at the instant gave +thought to the blood all over him, pressed her in one last kiss. He +gained the terrace steps by a single bound ahead of his armed +attackers. Cappadox smote down the foremost freedman with a buffet of +the oar. Ahenobarbus staggered to his feet as Drusus sprang over him, +and the latter tore a packet of tablets from his hand, never stopping +in his own flight. + +Then down on to the little landing-place pursuers and pursued tumbled. +The large six-oared boat of Ahenobarbus was moored close beside +Cappadox's skiff. + +Drusus was into the skiff and casting loose before Lucius could +descend from the upper terrace. The young Domitian was in a terrible +distress. + +"The letters! The letters! Freedom to you all if you save them! Cast +off! Chase! Sink the skiff!" + +But before any of the unskilful assailants could execute the order, +Cappadox had driven the butt of his paddle clean through the bottom +planking of the larger boat, and she was filling rapidly. The paddle +shivered, but it was madness to embark on the stoven craft. + +The skiff shot away from the landing as though an intelligent soul, +rising equal to the needs of the crisis. The blue dancing water lapped +between her gunwale and the shore. Drusus stood erect in the boat, +brushed back the blood that was still streaming over his eyes, and +looked landward. The slaves and freedmen were still on the landing, +gazing blankly after their escaped prey. Ahenobarbus was pouring out +upon their inefficiency a torrent of wrathful malediction, that +promised employment for the "whipper" for some time to come. But +Drusus gave heed to none of these things. Standing on the upper +terrace, her hair now dishevelled and blowing in tresses upon the +wind, was Cornelia, and on her all her lover's gaze was fixed. + +"Safe?" and the melodious shout drifted out over the widening stretch +of water. + +"Safe! to live and to love!" And Drusus thought, with his keen lover's +eye, he could see the dimming face brighten, and the hands go up in a +gesture of thanksgiving. + +It was all that was said. Another boat might be procured at any time +by Lucius Ahenobarbus; and with only one paddle Cappadox could make +but slow headway. Stiff and bruised, the young man flung himself on +the bottom of the skiff, and panted and nursed himself after his +mortal struggle. Now that the combat was over he felt weak and sore +enough, and was quite content to let Cappadox adjust such improvised +bandages as were available, and scull him toward Puteoli. Fortunately +none of the bruises was caused by any harder weapons than fists, and, +though his body was black and blue, he had sustained no serious hurt. +And so he rested his head on a wrap, and closed his eyes, and called +up before his mind the vision of Cornelia. How beautiful she had been +when he met her! How much more beautiful when she thrust her way +through the fighting slaves and put the sword in his hand, at that +moment of mortal combat, which he expected to be his last! Did he only +love her because her face was sweet, her voice was sweet, and the +touch of her hair was sweet? Happy was he, her lover;--he could say +"no," and have never a fear that his sincerity would be tested. And +Lucius Ahenobarbus? He hated him with a perfect hatred. A Roman who +was no Roman! A womanish man whom every true woman must despise! A +serpent who had not even the bright scales of a serpent! What would he +do to Cornelia? Drusus's face grew hard. Had he, Drusus, yet done any +injury worth mentioning to his enemy? Why had he not used the moment +when Lucius lay prostrate, and run the sword through his body? +Ill-timed, thoughtless mercy! But the letters, the packet he had +wrenched from Ahenobarbus's hand? Why was it so precious? Drusus had +flung it into the boat. He took up the packet. Doubtless some +_billet-doux_. Why should he degrade his mind by giving an instant's +thought to any of his enemy's foul intrigues? He could only open his +eyes with difficulty, but a curiosity that did not add to his +self-esteem overmastered him. The seal! Could he believe his +senses--the imprint of three trophies of victory? It was the seal of +Pompeius! The instinct of the partisan and politician conquered every +infirmity. He broke the wax, untied the thread, and opened. The +letters were in cipher, and at first sight illegible. But this did not +present any insuperable difficulty. Most classic ciphers were +sufficiently simple to be solved without very much trouble. Drusus +knew that in all Caesar's correspondence a cipher had been used which +consisted merely of substituting for each letter the fourth letter +beyond it, as D for A; and a little examination showed that the +present cryptogram was made on the same rude method. After a few +guesses he struck the proper substitutions, and was able to read. + +"Pompeius Magnus, Imperator, to the most excellent Lucius Domitius +Ahenobarbus, Rome, tenth day before the Calends of January. If it is +well with you, it is well; I am well.[134] I write to warn you that we +are told that Quintus Drusus, your personal enemy and the friend of +our own foes, is in Campania. We need not add more, for we trust to +you to see to it that he stirs up no faction in favour of his master +in those parts. Be assured that you will not be long troubled by this +enemy. He is marked out as one of the earliest of those to pay with +their lives for their conspiracy against the Republic. If possible see +that Drusus is seized for some alleged offence, and lodged in prison +until the new consuls come into office. After that time he can work +little or no mischief. Use the uttermost endeavours in this matter; +check him and his schemes at all hazards. I trust your energy and +prudence, which your father and Lentulus Crus assure me will not fail. +_Vale!_" + + [134] _Si vales bene est ego valeo_, written commonly simply + S. V. B. E. E. V. + +Drusus lay back in the bottom of the boat, and looked up into the blue +dome. It was the same azure as ever, but a strange feeling of +disenchantment seemed to have come over him. For the first time he +realized the deadly stakes for which he and his party were playing +their game. What fate had been treasured up for him in the impending +chaos of civil war? If he perished in battle or by the executioner's +axe, what awaited Cornelia? But he had chosen his road; he would +follow it to the end. The battle spirit mounted in him. + +The sky was darkening when the boat drew up to one of the busy quays +of Puteoli. Stars had begun to twinkle. Cappadox aided his bruised and +stiffened master to disembark. + +"To-night rest," cried Drusus, forgetting all his wounds. "To-morrow +away to Rome. And at Rome--the war of the Gods and the Giants!" + + + + +Chapter XIV + +The New Consuls + + +I + +It had come--the great crisis that by crooked ways or straight was to +set right all the follies and crimes of many a generation. On the +Calends of January Lentulus Crus and Caius Clodius Marcellus were +inaugurated consuls. In solemn procession with Senate, priesthoods, +and people, they had gone up to the Capitol and sacrificed chosen +white steers to Jupiter, "Best and Greatest,"[135] and invoked his +blessing upon the Roman State. And so began the last consulship of the +Free Republic. + + [135] _Optimus maximus_. + +Rome was in a ferment. All knew the intention of the consuls to move +the recall of Caesar from his government. All knew that Curio had +brought a letter from Ravenna, the contents whereof he carefully +guarded. That same afternoon the consuls convened the Senate in the +Temple of Capitoline Jove, and every man knew to what purpose. All +Rome swept in the direction of the Capitol. Drusus accompanied his +friend, the tribune Antonius, as the latter's viator, for there was +need of a trusty guard. + +The excitement in the streets ran even higher than when Catilina's +great plot was exposed. The streets were jammed with crowds,--not of +the idle and base born, but of equites and noble ladies, and young +patricians not old enough to step into their fathers' places. They +were howling and cheering for Pompeius and Lentulus, and cursing the +absent proconsul. As Drusus passed along at the side of Antonius, he +could not fail to hear the execrations and vile epithets flung from +every side at him and his friend. He had always supposed the masses +were on Caesar's side, but now every man's hand seemed turned against +the conqueror of the Gauls. Was there to be but a repetition of the +same old tragedy of the Gracchi and of Marcus Drusus? A brave man +standing out for the people, and the people deserting him in his hour +of need? + +They reached the Temple. The Senate was already nearly ready for +business; every toothless consular who had been in public service for +perquisites only, and who for years had been wasting his life enjoying +the pickings of an unfortunate province--all such were in their seats +on the front row of benches. Behind them were the _praetorii_ and the +_aedilicii,_[136] a full session of that great body which had matched +its tireless wisdom and tenacity against Pyrrhus, Hannibal, and +Antiochus the Great, and been victorious. Drusus ran his eye over the +seats. There they sat, even in the midst of the general excitement, a +body of calm, dignified elders, severe and immaculate in their long +white togas and purple-edged tunics. The multitudes without were +howling and jeering; within the temple, reigned silence--the silence +that gathered about the most august and powerful assembly the world +has ever seen. + + [136] Ex-praetors and ex-aediles. + +The Temple was built of cool, grey stone; the assembly hall was quite +apart from the shrine. The Senate had convened in a spacious +semicircular vaulted chamber, cut off from the vulgar world by a row +of close, low Doric columns. From the shade of these pillars one could +command a sweeping view of the Forum, packed with a turbulent +multitude. Drusus stood on the Temple steps and looked out and in. +Without, confusion; within, order; without, a leaderless mob; within, +an assembly almost every member of which had been invested with some +high command. For a moment the young man revived courage; after all, +the Roman Senate was left as a bulwark against passion and popular +wrath; and for the time being, as he looked on those motionless, +venerable faces, his confidence in this court of final appeal was +restored. Then he began to scan the features of the consulars, and his +heart sank. There was Lucius Calpurnius Piso, with the visage of a +philosopher, but within mere moral turpitude. There was Favonius; +there were the two sanguinary Marcelli, consuls respectively for the +two preceding years; there was Domitius; there was Cato, his hard face +illumined doubtless by the near realization of unholy hopes; there was +Faustus Sulla, another bitter oligarch. Drusus saw them all, and knew +that the Caesarian cause had been doomed without a hearing. Caius +Marcellus, the new consul, sat in his separate seat, in all the +splendid dignity of his embroidered toga. Around him stood his twelve +lictors. But Lentulus, at whose behest the Senate had been convened, +and who was to act as its president, had not come. Drusus followed +Antonius over to the farther side of the house, where on a long, low +bench[137] the other tribunes of the plebs were seated. Quintus +Cassius was already there. The other tribunes darted angry glances at +their newly arrived colleague. Drusus remained standing behind +Antonius, ready to act as a body-guard, as much as to serve in mere +official capacity. Even as they entered he had noticed a buzz and +rustle pass along the tiers of seats, and whisper pass on whisper, +"There come the Caesarians!" "What treason is in that letter!" "We must +have an end of their impudence!" And Drusus ran his eye over the whole +company, and sought for one friendly look; but he met with only stony +glances or dark frowns. There was justice neither in the people nor in +the Senate. Their hearts were drunk with a sense of revenge and +self-willed passion; and Justice literally weighed out her bounty with +blinded eyes. + + [137] _Subsellium_. + +There was another hum and rustle. And into the hall swept Lentulus +Crus, in robes of office, with Scipio, the father-in-law of Pompeius, +at his side. Before him strode his twelve lictors bearing their fasces +erect. Not a word was spoken while Lentulus Crus seated himself in the +ivory curule chair of office. No sign marked the extreme gravity of +the occasion. + +"Let the sacred chickens be brought," said Lentulus. + +Never a lip twitched or curled in all that august multitude while +several public attendants brought in a wooden cage containing three or +four rather skinny specimens of poultry. Not even Drusus saw anything +really ridiculous when Lentulus arose, took grain from an attendant, +and scattered a quantity of it before the coop. Close at his elbow +stood the augur, to interpret the omen,--a weazened, bald-headed old +senator, who wore a purple-striped tunic,[138] and carried in his hand +a long stick,[139] curved at its head into a spiral. Drusus knew +perfectly well that the fowls had been kept without food all that day; +but it would have seemed treason to all the traditions of his native +land to cry out against this pompous farce. The hungry chickens pecked +up the grain. The augur muttered formula after formula, and Lentulus +took pains to repeat the meaningless jargon after him. Presently the +augur ceased his chatter and nodded to the consul. Lentulus turned +toward the Senate. + + [138] _Trabea_. + + [139] _Lituus_. + +"There is no evil sight or sound!"[140] was his announcement, meaning +that business could be transacted. + + [140] _Silentium esse videtur_. + +Whereupon up from his seat sprang Marcus Antonius, flourishing in his +hand a packet. Loudly Lentulus bade him hold his peace; loudly the +tribunes who sided with the Senate party forbade him to read. But a +rustle and stir of eager curiosity ran along all the benches, and +first one voice, then many, cried out that the letter must be made +public. With very ill grace the consul declared that Antonius should +be allowed to read the communication from Caesar. + +Antonius read, and all were astonished at the moderation of the +much-maligned proconsul. Caesar made it clear that he would stand on +his rights as to the second consulship; but to withdraw possibilities +of seeming to issue a threat, he would disband his entire army if +Pompeius would only do the same, or, if preferred, he would retain +simply Cisalpine Gaul and Illyria with two legions, until the consular +elections were over. In either event it would be out of his power to +menace the constitution, and the public tranquillity would remain +quite undisturbed. + +But before the murmur of approbation at this unexpected docility wore +away, Lentulus burst forth into a fiery invective. All knew why the +Senate had been convened, nor would he allow a few smooth promises to +bring the state into danger. The law provided that a proconsul should +leave his province at a certain time; and if Caesar thought that a +special law exempted him from this requirement, it were well he were +disabused of the notion. The Senate had been convened because the +presiding consul felt that the continuance of Caesar in his +governorship was a menace to the safety of the Republic. Let the +Conscript Fathers express themselves boldly, and he, Lentulus, would +not desert them; let them waver and try to court the favour of Caesar +as in former times, and the consul would have to look to his own +safety--and he could make his own terms with Caesar. + +Lentulus had started out with studied moderation. His harangue ended +with a stinging menace. A low mutter, difficult to interpret, ran +through the Senate. Again Antonius leaped to his feet. + +"Conscript Fathers, will you not consider the mild offers of Caesar? Do +not reject them without debate." + +"I ask the opinion of the Senate on my own proposition," broke in +Lentulus. "Metellus Scipio, declare what is your judgment." + +"I protest at this unseemly haste," cried Antonius; "let us consider +the letter first!" + +"And I protest against this boisterous and unlawful interruption," +retorted the consul, fiercely. "Rise, Metellus Scipio!" + +Antonius flushed with rage, but sank into his seat. Drusus leaned over +his friend's shoulder and whispered "Veto." Antonius shook his head. + +"They must speak. We should be foolish to shoot away our best arrow +before the battle had really begun." + +Scipio arose. He was not the "chief senator,"[141] usually entitled to +speak first; but everybody knew that his words were the mere +expressions of his son-in-law, the mighty Pompeius. His oratory and +physical presence were wretched, but all the Senate hung upon his +words. + + [141] _Princeps senatus_. + +"Pompeius did not intend to abandon the Republic, if the Senate would +support him; but let them act with energy, for otherwise in the future +they might need his aid never so much, and yet implore it in vain." + +"You want to destroy the Republic!" cried Quintus Cassius, half +leaping from his seat. + +"We want to destroy _you_!" retorted Domitius, savagely. + +But all men were not so blinded by fury, hate, and greed of power and +revenge. To the dismay of his party Caius Marcellus, the second +consul, counselled a certain kind of moderation. There was no love +lost by the noble "Optimates" upon Pompeius, and Marcellus hinted this +plainly when he said that all Italy must be put under arms, and with +such an army at the disposal of the Senate, it could act as it saw +fit,--to get rid of a troublesome protector, he implied, no less than +an open enemy. And close after him followed Marcus Calidius and Marcus +Rufus, two senators, who had at least the sagacity to perceive that it +would not free the Commonwealth to crush Caesar, by flinging themselves +into the arms of Pompeius. "Let Pompeius go off to his Spanish +province, to which he was accredited proconsul; it was but natural +Caesar should think himself ill treated, seeing that two legions had +been taken from him for Eastern service, and Pompeius was keeping +these very troops close to Rome." + +For one moment it seemed to Drusus that wisdom and justice had not +deserted the Senate of his native state. The consuls were divided; two +influential men were counselling moderation. Surely the Senate would +not push to extremities. But he had not reckoned on the spell which +the malevolent spirit of Lentulus had cast over the assembly. In +bitter words the presiding consul refused to put Calidius's proposal +to a vote, and then, turning directly upon his colleague before the +face of the whole multitude, he poured out reproof and vituperation. +Marcellus turned red and then black in the face with rage. Drusus's +heart was beating rapidly with hope. So long as the consuls were at +enmity, little would be done! Suddenly Scipio started as if to leave +the assembly. "He's going to call in Pompeius's cohorts!" belched +Lentulus. Marcellus turned pale. Drusus saw Calidius's friends +whispering with him, evidently warning and remonstrating. Senators +cast uneasy glances toward the doorways, as if expecting to see a +century of legionaries march in to enforce the decrees of Pompeius's +spokesmen. Marcellus staggered to his feet. He was cowed, and +evidently felt himself in personal danger. + +"Conscript Fathers," he stammered, "I--I withdraw my motion to delay +action for considering the recall of Caesar." + +"You have done well!" shouted Lentulus, triumphing savagely. Scipio +ostentatiously settled back on his seat, while Cato called with +warning, yet exultation:-- + +"Take care what you do. Caesar is the only sober man among all those +engaged in the plot to overturn the government. Remember with whom you +must deal, and act!" + +Then Scipio arose once more. Every one knew that his fiat was law. +"Conscript Fathers," he began, "Marcus Cato speaks well. Consider the +power of Caesar. He has trained up bands of gladiators whom his +friends, both senators and knights, are drilling for him. He is +doubling his soldiers' pay, giving them extra corn, slaves, +attendants, and land grants. A great part of the Senate,--yes, Cicero +even, they say,--owes him money, at low and favourable rates of +interest; he has actually made presents to freedmen and influential +slaves. All young prodigals in debt are in his pay. He has made +presents to win the favour of cities and princes, or been lending them +troops without vote of the Senate. In Italy, Gaul, and Spain,--yes, in +Greece, too, and Asia, he is winning the good-will of communities by +erecting splendid public buildings. So great is his present power! +What he will do in a second consulship I dare not say. I dare not +assign bounds to his ambition. Conscript Fathers, shall we vote +ourselves freemen or slaves? What more can I add to the words of the +consul? I vote to ratify the proposition of Lucius Lentulus, that +Caesar either disband his army on a fixed day, or be declared a public +enemy!" + +"And what is your opinion, Lucius Domitius?" demanded Lentulus, while +never a voice was raised to oppose Scipio. + +"Let the Senate remember," replied Domitius, "that Caesar will justify +the meaning of his name--the 'hard-hitter,' and let us strike the +first and telling blow." + +A ripple of applause swept down the Senate. The anti-Caesarians had +completely recovered from their first discomfiture, and were carrying +all sentiment before them. Already there were cries of "A vote! a +vote! Divide the Senate! A vote!" + +"Conscript Fathers," said Lentulus, "in days of great emergency like +this, when your minds seem so happily united in favour of doing that +which is for the manifest safety of the Republic, I will not ask for +the opinions of each senator in turn. Let the Senate divide; let all +who favour the recall of the proconsul of the Gauls pass to the right, +those against to the left. And so may it be well and prosperous for +the Commonwealth." + +But Antonius was again on his feet; and at his side stood Quintus +Cassius. + +"Lucius Lentulus," he thundered, "I forbid the division. _Veto!_" + +"_Veto!_" shouted Cassius. + +Domitius, too, had risen. "Conscript Fathers, let the consuls +remonstrate with the tribunes to withdraw their prohibition. And, if +they do not succeed, let them lay before the Senate that order which +is the safeguard of the Republic." + +Everybody knew what Domitius meant. If Antonius would not give way, +martial law was to be declared. Hot and furious raged the debate. More +and more passionate the expressions of party hatred. More and more +menacing the gestures directed upon the two Caesarian tribunes. But +even the impetuous fierceness of Lentulus, Cato, Scipio, and Domitius +combined could not drive the browbeaten Senate to cast loose from its +last mooring that night. Domitius's measure went over. It was +late--the stars were shining outside. Lamps had been brought in, and +threw their ruddy glare over the long tiers of seats and their august +occupants. Finally the angry debate ended, because it was a physical +impossibility to continue longer. Senators went away with dark frowns +or care-knit foreheads. Out in the Forum bands of young "Optimates" +were shouting for Pompeius, and cursing Caesar and his followers. +Drusus, following Antonius, felt that he was the adherent of a lost +cause, the member of a routed army that was defending its last +stronghold, which overwhelming numbers must take, be the defence never +so valiant. And when very late he lay down on his bed that night, the +howls of the fashionable mob were still ringing in his ears. + + +II + +That night the most old-fashioned and sober Roman went to bed at an +advanced hour. Men were gathered in little knots along the streets, in +the forums, in the porticos and basilicas, arguing, gesticulating, +wrangling. Military tribunes and centurions in armour of Pompeius's +legions were parading on the _comitium_.[142] Veterans of that leader +were jostling about in the crowd, clanking their newly furbished +armour and shouting for their old general. If a man spoke for Caesar, a +crowd of bystanders was ready to hoot him down. Staid householders +locked up their dwellings and stationed trusty slaves at the doors to +see that the crowds did not take to riot and pillage. The sailors from +the wharves had been drinking heavily in all the taverns, and now +roved up and down the crowded streets, seeking opportunity for brawls. +Thieves and cutpurses were plying their most successful work; but no +officials had time to direct the efforts of the harassed and slender +police corps. To Pompeius's palace, without the gates, every man whose +voice or vote seemed worth the winning had been summoned. All the +senators had streamed out thither; and there the Magnus had brought +them under the spell of his martial authority and made them as wax in +his hand. And all "that majesty that doth hedge about a king," or +about a victorious general, exerted its full influence. The senators +came into the palace of Pompeius as into the palace of their despot. +He stood before them in his largest hall, wearing the embroidered robe +of a triumphator, with the laurel crown of his victories upon his +head. At his right hand, as first vizir of his state, stood Lentulus +Crus; at his left Lucius Domitius. The senators came to him and bowed +low, and said their "_Aves_" and "_Salves_" as though cringing before +a Mithridates or Tigranes of the East; and Pompeius, by the cordiality +or coolness of his response, indicated which of his vassals had or had +not fallen under his disfavour. + + [142] Assembly-place in the _Forum Romanum_. + +Yes, despotism had come at last for Rome. The oligarchy had by its +corrupt incapacity made a tyranny inevitable. They could make choice +of masters, but a master they must have. Many were the proud Fabii, +Claudii, and Valerii present that night--men whose lines of curule +ancestors were as long as the duration of the Republic--who ground +their teeth with shame and inward rage the very moment they cried, +"_Salve, Magne!_" Yet the recipient of all this adulation was in no +enviable frame of mind. He looked harassed and weary, despite the +splendour of his dress and crown. And many were the whispered +conversations that passed between him and his ministers, or rather +custodians, Lentulus and Domitius. + +"Ah! poor Julia," sighed Pompeius, whose mind ever reverted to his +dead wife, "what misery would have been yours if you had seen this +day. Poor Julia; how I loved her; and Caesar, her father, loved her +too; and now--" + +"Be yourself, Magnus," expostulated the consul at his side; "remember +that for the good of the Republic every personal affection is to be +put away. Recall Brutus, who put his own sons to death because they +committed treason. Remember what Scipio AEmilianus said when he learned +that Tiberius Gracchus, his dear brother-in-law, had been put to death +for sedition. He quoted Homer's line:-- + + "'So perish all who do the like again!'" + +"And must I trample down every tie, every affection?" complained +wretched Pompeius, who never ceased hoping against hope that something +would avert the catastrophe. + +"There is no tie, no affection, Magnus," said Domitius, sternly, "that +binds you to Caesar. Cast his friendship from your breast as you would +a viper. Think only of being justly hailed with Romulus, Camillus, and +Marius as the fourth founder of Rome. Strike, and win immortal glory." + +And so to the last hour these confederates wrought upon their supple +instrument, and bent him to their will; and their tool in turn had all +else at his mercy. Pompeius addressed the senators, and, well trained +by his guardians, spoke with brutal frankness to those who had dared +to advise moderation. + +"You, Rufus," he said, pointing a menacing finger, before which that +senator cowered in dread, "have been advising the Republic to tolerate +the chief of its enemies. You bid me to disarm or withdraw from Italy, +as though the lives and property of any good men would be safe the +moment Caesar was left unopposed to pour his cohorts of barbarous Gauls +and Germans into the country. You, Calidius, have given the same +untimely advice. Beware lest you repent the hour when you counselled +that I should disarm or quit the neighbourhood of Rome." The two-edged +suggestion contained in this last warning was too marked for the +reproved men not to turn pale with dread, and slink away trembling +behind their associates. + +"But," continued Pompeius, "I have praise as well as blame; Marcus +Cato has not deserted the Republic. He has advised, and advised well, +that the proconsul of the Gauls be stripped of his legions." It was +Cato's turn now to bite his lips with mortification, for in times past +he had foretold that through Pompeius great miseries would come to the +state, and in his praetorship had declared that Pompeius ought to go to +his province, and not stay at home to stir up tumults and anarchy from +which he could emerge as monarch. And such praise from the Magnus's +lips, under the present circumstances, was gall and wormwood to his +haughty soul. + +"And," continued Pompeius, "I shall not forget to applaud the +energetic counsels of Domitius and Lentulus Crus. Let those who wish +to preserve life and property," he added, with a menacing +significance, "see to it that they do as these gentlemen advise." + +And thereupon there was a great shout of applause from all the more +rabid senators, in which the rest thought it safer to join, with +simulated heartiness. But Pompeius did not stop here. He brought +before the senators tribunes from the two legions taken from Caesar, +and these tribunes loudly declaimed--having learned their lesson +well--that their troops were ill-affected toward their former +commander, and would follow Pompeius to the last. And the Magnus +produced veteran officers of his old campaigns, whom hope of reward +and promotion had induced to come and declare for their former +commander. Late, very late, the informal session of the Senate broke +up. The "Fathers of the Republic" went each man to his own dwelling; +but there was no longer any doubt as to what was to come of the doings +of the day. + +Flaccus, the banker, had of course no access to the conference; but he +had waited outside the gate of the palace, to learn the issue from an +acquaintance in the Senate. His patience was at last rewarded. + +"Tell me, friend," was his question, "what will be the outcome of +this; shall I risk any loans to-morrow?" + +The friendly senator seemed doubtful. + +"Caesar is a ruined man. Who imagines his legions will fight? We know +Labienus is with Pompeius." + +"You are wrong," said Flaccus. + +"Wrong? I?" replied the senator. "I know whereof I speak." + +"_Phy!"_ cried the banker, "not Caesar, but you are ruined. The legions +will fight." + +"Don't prophesy," sneered the acquaintance, "seeing that you brokers +always keep out of politics." + +"You politicians are blind," retorted Flaccus. + + * * * * * + +The debate raged on. But by law the Senate could not convene on the +third and fourth of the month, and the question of setting aside the +tribunician veto went over until the fifth. It was the last lull +before the outbreak of the great tempest. The little group of +Caesarians put forth their final efforts. Drusus went in person to call +on Cicero, the great orator, and plead with him to come out from his +residence in the suburbs and argue for peace. The destroyer of +Catilina had declared that he would not forfeit his rights to a +triumph for his Cilician victories by appearing prematurely in the +Senate. Besides, he could never antagonize Pompeius. Curio smiled +grimly when his colleague reported his fruitless embassy. + +"I think, my friends," said the politician, "we shall soon prove the +old saying, 'Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.'" + + + + +Chapter XV + +The Seventh of January + + +I + +The rapid march of events that week had taken Drusus out of himself, +and made him forgetful of personal consequences; but it sobered him +when he heard Curio and Caelius, his associates, telling Balbus where +their wills would be found deposited if anything calamitous were to +befall them. After all, life was very sweet to the young Livian. He +could not at heart desire to drift off into nothingness--to stop +breathing, thinking, feeling. And for the last time he reviewed his +position; told himself that it was not an unworthy cause for which he +was contending; that it was not treason, but patriotism, to wish to +overthrow the great oligarchy of noble families, who by their +federated influence had pulled the wires to every electoral assembly, +so that hardly a man not of their own coterie had been elected to high +office for many a long year; while the officials themselves had grown +full and wanton on the revenues wrung from the score of unfortunate +provinces. + +The feeling against the Caesarians was very bitter in the city. Caesar +had always been the friend and darling of the populace; but, now that +his star seemed setting, hardly a voice was raised, save to cry up the +patriotism and determination of the consuls and Pompeius Magnus. +Soldiers of the latter's legions were everywhere. The Senate was to +convene the afternoon of the seventh, in the Curia of Pompeius, in the +Campus Martius. Lentulus Crus was dragging forth every obscure +senator, every retired politician, whose feet almost touched the +grave, to swell his majority. All knew that the tribunes' vetoes were +to be set aside, and arbitrary power decreed to the consuls. Drusus +began to realize that the personal peril was pressing. + +"Won't his head look pretty for the crows to pick at?" commented +Marcus Laeca to a friend, as the two swept past Drusus on the street. +The Livian heard the loudly muttered words and trembled. It was easy +to laud the Decii who calmly sacrificed their lives for the Republic, +and many another martyr to patriotism; it was quite another thing to +feel the mortal fear of death coursing in one's veins, to reflect that +soon perhaps the dogs might be tearing this body which guarded that +strange thing one calls self; to reflect that all which soon will be +left of one is a bleaching skull, fixed high in some public place, at +which the heartless mob would point and gibber, saying, "That is the +head of Quintus Livius Drusus, the rebel!" + +Drusus wandered on--on to the only place in Rome where he could gain +the moral courage to carry him undaunted through that which was before +him--to the Atrium of Vesta. He entered the house of the Vestals and +sent for his aunt. Fabia came quickly enough, for her heart had been +with her nephew all these days that tried men's souls. The noble woman +put her arms around the youth--for he was still hardly more--and +pressed him to her breast. + +"Aunt Fabia," said Drusus, growing very weak and pale, now that he +felt her warm, loving caress, "do you know that in two or three days +you will have as nephew a proscribed insurgent, perhaps with a price +on his head, who perhaps is speedily to die by the executioner, like +the most ignoble felon?" + +"Yes," said Fabia, also very pale, yet smiling with a sweet, grave +smile--the smile of a goddess who grieves at the miseries of mortal +men, yet with divine omniscience glances beyond, and sees the +happiness evolved from pain. "Yes, I have heard of all that is passing +in the Senate. And I know, too, that my Quintus will prove himself a +Fabian and a Livian, to whom the right cause and the good of the +Republic are all--and the fear of shame and death is nothing." And +then she sat down with him upon a couch, and took his head in her lap, +and stroked him as if she were his mother. "Ah! my Quintus," she said, +"you are still very young, and it is easy for one like you to enlist +with all your ardour in a cause that seems righteous; yes, and in the +heat of the moment to make any sacrifice for it; but it is not so easy +for you or any other man calmly to face shame and annihilation, when +the actual shadow of danger can be seen creeping up hour by hour. I +know that neither you nor many another man wise and good believes that +there are any gods. And I--I am only a silly old woman, with little or +no wisdom and wit--" + +"Not silly and not old, carissima!" interrupted Drusus, smiling at her +self-depreciation. + +"We won't argue," said Fabia, in a bit lighter vein. "But--as I would +say--I believe in gods, and that they order all things well." + +"Why, then," protested the young man, "do we suffer wrong or grief? If +gods there are, they are indifferent; or, far worse, malevolent, who +love to work us woe." + +Again Fabia shook her head. + +"If we were gods," said she, "we would all be wise, and could see the +good to come out of every seeming evil. There! I am, as I said, silly +and old, and little enough comfort can words of mine bring a bright +young man whose head is crammed with all the learned lore of the +schools of Athens. But know this, Quintus, so long as I live, you +shall live in my heart--living or dead though you be. And believe me, +the pleasure of life is but a very little thing; it is sweet, but how +quickly it passes! And the curses or praises of men--these, too, only +a few mouldy rolls of books keep for decay! What profits it to +Miltiades this hour, that a few marks on a papyrus sheet ascribe to +him renown; or how much is the joy of Sextus Tarquinius darkened +because a group of other marks cast reproach upon his name? If so be +death is a sleep, how much better to feel at the end, 'I die, but I +die self-approved, and justified by self!' And if death is not all a +sleep; if, as Socrates tells us, there are hopes that we but pass from +a base life to another with less of dross, then how do pleasures and +glories, griefs and dishonours, of this present life touch upon a man +whose happiness or woe will be found all within?" + +And so the good woman talked, giving to Drusus her own pure faith and +hope and courage; and when the intellectual philosopher within him +revolted at some of her simple premises and guileless sophistries, +against his will he was persuaded by them, and was fain to own to +himself that the heart of a good woman is past finding out; that its +impulses are more genuine, its intuitions truer, its promptings surer, +than all the fine-spun intellectuality of the most subtle +metaphysician. When at last Drusus rose to leave his aunt, his face +was glowing with a healthy colour, his step was elastic, his voice +resonant with a noble courage. Fabia embraced him again and again. +"Remember, whatever befalls," were her parting words, "I shall still +love you." And when Drusus went out of the house he saw the dignified +figure of the Vestal gazing after him. A few minutes later he passed +no less a personage than the consular Lucius Domitius on his way to +some political conference. He did not know what that dignitary +muttered as he swept past in spotless toga, but the gloomy ferocity of +his brow needed no interpreter. Drusus, however, never for a moment +gave himself disquietude. He was fortified for the best and the worst, +not by any dumb resignation, not by any cant of philosophy, but by an +inward monitor which told him that some power in some way would lead +him forth out of all dangers in a manner whereof man could neither ask +nor think. + + * * * * * + +On the sixth of January the debate, as already said, drew toward its +end. All measures of conciliation had been voted down; the crisis was +close at hand. On the seventh, after his interview with Fabia, Drusus +went back to his own lodgings, made a few revisions in his will, and +in the presence of two or three friends declared Cappadox +manumitted,[143] lest he, by some chance, fall into the clutches of a +brutal master. The young man next wrote a long letter to Cornelia for +Agias to forward to Baiae, and put in it such hope as he could glean +from the dark words of the philosophers; that even if destruction now +overtook him, death perhaps did not end all; that perhaps they would +meet beyond the grave. Then he took leave of his weeping freedmen and +slaves, and strolled out into the city, and wandered about the Forum +and the Sacred Way, to enjoy, perchance, a last view of the sites that +were to the Roman so dear. Then finally he turned toward the Campus +Martius, and was strolling down under the long marble-paved colonnade +of the Portico of Pompeius. Lost in a deep reverie, he was forgetful +of all present events, until he was roused by a quick twitch at the +elbow; he looked around and found Agias before him. + + [143] _Manumissio inter amicos_ was less formal than the regular + ceremony before the praetor. + +"_A!_ domine," cried the young Greek, "I have friends in the house of +Lentulus. I have just been told by them that the consul has sworn that +he will begin to play Sulla this very day. Neither you, nor Antonius, +Cassius, Curio, nor the other supporters of Caesar will be alive +to-night. Do not go into the Curia. Get away, quickly! Warn your +friends, and leave Rome, or to-night you will all be strangled in the +Tullianum!" + +The Tullianum! Drusus knew no other term to conjure up a like abode of +horrors--the ancient prison of the city, a mere chamber sunk in the +ground, and beneath that a dungeon, accessible only by an opening in +the floor above--where the luckless Jugurtha had perished of cold and +starvation, and where Lentulus Sura, Cethegus, and the other +lieutenants of Catilina had been garroted, in defiance of all their +legal rights, by the arbitrary decree of a rancorous Senate! So at +last the danger had come! Drusus felt himself quiver at every fibre. +He endured a sensation the like of which he had never felt before--one +of utter moral faintness. But he steadied himself quickly. Shame at +his own recurring cowardice overmastered him. "I am an unworthy +Livian, indeed," he muttered, not perhaps realizing that it is far +more heroic consciously to confront and receive the full terrors of a +peril, and put them by, than to have them harmlessly roll off on some +self-acting mental armour. + +"Escape! There is yet time!" urged Agias, pulling his toga. Drusus +shook his head. + +"Not until the Senate has set aside the veto of the tribunes," he +replied quietly. + +"But the danger will then be imminent!" + +"A good soldier does not leave his post, my excellent Agias," said the +Roman, "until duty orders him away. Our duty is in the Senate until we +can by our presence and voice do no more. When that task is over, we +go to Caesar as fast as horse may bear us; but not until then." + +"Then I have warned you all in vain!" cried Agias. + +"Not at all. You may still be of the greatest service. Arrange so that +we can leave Rome the instant we quit the Curia." + +"But if the lictors seize you before you get out of the building?" + +"We can only take our chance. I think we shall be permitted to go out. +I had intended to ride out of the city this evening if nothing +hindered and the final vote had been passed. But now I see that cannot +be done. You have wit and cunning, Agias. Scheme, provide. We must +escape from Rome at the earliest moment consistent with our duty and +honour." + +"I have it," said Agias, his face lighting up. "Come at once after +leaving the Curia, to the rear of the Temple of Mars.[144] I know one +or two of the temple servants, and they will give me the use of their +rooms. There I will have ready some slave dresses for a disguise, and +just across the AEmilian bridge I will have some fast horses +waiting--that is, if you can give me an order on your stables." + + [144] The AEdes Martis of the Campus Martius. + +Drusus took off his signet ring. + +"Show that to Pausanias. He will honour every request you make, be it +for a million sesterces." + +Agias bowed and was off. For the last time Drusus was tempted to call +him back and say that the flight would begin at once. But the nimble +Greek was already out of sight, and heroism became a necessity. Drusus +resolutely turned his steps toward the senate-house. Not having been +able to forecast the immediate moves of the enemy, he had not arranged +for hurried flight; it was to be regretted, although he had known that +on that day the end of the crisis would come. He soon met Antonius, +and imparted to him what he had just learned from Agias, and the +precautions taken. + +Antonius shook his head, and remarked:-- + +"You ought not to go with me. Little enough can we who are tribunes +do; you have neither voice nor vote, and Lentulus is your personal +foe. So back, before it is too late. Let us shift for ourselves." + +Drusus replied never a word, but simply took the tribune's arm and +walked the faster toward the Curia. + +"I am a very young soldier," he said presently; "do not be angry if I +wish to show that I am not afraid of the whizzing arrows." + +"Then, my friend, whatever befalls, so long as life is in my body, +remember you have a brother in Marcus Antonius." + +The two friends pressed one another's hands, and entered the Curia +Pompeii. There in one of the foremost seats sat the Magnus,[145] the +centre of a great flock of adulators, who were basking in the sunshine +of his favour. Yet Drusus, as he glanced over at the Imperator, +thought that the great man looked harassed and worried--forced to be +partner in a scheme when he would cheerfully be absent. Fluttering in +their broad togas about the senate-house were Domitius, Cato, the +Marcelli, and Scipio, busy whipping into line the few remaining +waverers. As Cato passed the tribune's bench, and saw the handful of +Caesarians gathered there, he cast a glance of indescribable malignity +upon them, a glance that made Drusus shudder, and think again of the +horrors of the Tullianum. + + [145] Pompeius was not allowed by law to attend sessions of the Senate + (so long as he was proconsul of Spain) when held inside the old city + limits; but the Curia which he himself built was outside the walls in + the Campus Martius. This meeting seems to have been convened there + especially that he might attend it. + +"I know now how Cato looked," said he to Antonius, "when he denounced +the Catilinarians and urged that they should be put to death without +trial." + +Antonius shrugged his shoulders, and replied:-- + +"Cato cannot forgive Caesar. When Caesar was consul, Cato interrupted +his speech, and Caesar had him haled off to prison. Marcus Cato never +forgives or forgets." + +Curio, Caelius, and Quintus Cassius had entered the senate-house--the +only Caesarians present besides Antonius and his viator. The first two +went and took their seats in the body of the building, and Drusus +noticed how their colleagues shrank away from them, refusing to sit +near the supporters of the Gallic proconsul. + +"_Eho!_" remarked Antonius, his spirits rising as the crisis drew on. +"This is much like Catilina's days, to be sure! No one would sit with +him when he went into the Senate. However, I imagine that these +excellent gentlemen will hardly find Caesar as easy to handle as +Catilina." + +Again Lentulus was in his curule chair, and again the solemn farce of +taking the auspices, preparatory to commencing the session, was gone +through. + +Then for the last time in that memorable series of debates Lentulus +arose and addressed the Senate, storming, browbeating, threatening, +and finally ending with these words, that brought everything to a +head:-- + +"Seeing then, Conscript Fathers, that Quintus Cassius and Marcus +Antonius are using their tribunician office to aid Caius Caesar to +perpetuate his tyranny, the consuls ask you to clothe the magistrates +with dictatorial power in order that the liberties of the Republic may +not be subverted!" + +The liberties of the Republic! Liberty to plunder provinces! To bribe! +To rob the treasury! To defraud! To violate the law of man and God! To +rule the whole world so that a corrupt oligarchy might be aggrandized! +Far, far had the nation of the older Claudii, Fabii, and Cornelii +fallen from that proud eminence when, a hundred years before, +Polybius, contrasting the Romans with the degenerate Greeks, had +exclaimed, "A statesman of Hellas, with ten checking clerks and ten +seals, ... cannot keep faith with a single talent; Romans, in their +magistracies and embassies, handle great sums of money, and yet from +pure respect of oath keep their faith intact." + +But the words of selfish virulence and cant had been uttered, and up +from the body of the house swelled a shout of approval, growing louder +and louder every instant. + +Then up rose Domitius, on his face the leer of a brutal triumph. + +"Conscript Fathers," he said, "I call for a vote on the question of +martial law. Have the Senate divide on the motion. 'Let the consuls, +praetors, tribunes of the plebs, and men of consular rank see to it +that the Republic suffers no harm.'" + +Another shout of applause rolled along the seats, fiercer and fiercer, +and through it all a shower of curses and abusive epithets upon the +Caesarians. All around Drusus seemed to be tossing and bellowing the +breakers of some vast ocean, an ocean of human forms and faces, that +was about to dash upon him and overwhelm him, in mad fury +irresistible. The din was louder and louder. The bronze casings on the +walls rattled, the pediments and pavements seemed to vibrate; outside, +the vast mob swarming around the Curia reëchoed the shout. "Down with +Caesar!" "Down with the tribunes!" "_Io!_ Pompeius!" + +It was all as some wild distorted dream passing before Drusus's eyes. +He could not bring himself to conceive the scene as otherwise. In a +sort of stupor he saw the senators swarming to the right of the +building, hastening to cast their votes in favour of Domitius's +motion. Only two men--under a storm of abuse and hootings, passed to +the left and went on record against the measure. These were Curio and +Caelius; and they stood for some moments alone on the deserted side of +the house, defiantly glaring at the raging Senate. Antonius and +Cassius contemptuously remained in their seats--for no magistrate +could vote in the Senate. + +It was done; it could not be undone. Not Caesar, but the Senate, had +decreed the end of the glorious Republic. Already, with hasty +ostentation, some senators were stepping outside the Curia, and +returning clad no longer in the toga of peace, but in a military +cloak[146] which a slave had been keeping close at hand in readiness. +Already Cato was on his feet glaring at the Caesarian tribunes, and +demanding that first of all they be subjected to punishment for +persisting in their veto. The Senate was getting more boisterous each +minute. A tumult was like to break out, in which some deed of violence +would be committed, which would give the key-note to the whole +sanguinary struggle impending. Yet in the face of the raging tempest +Marcus Antonius arose and confronted the assembly. It raged, hooted, +howled, cursed. He still remained standing. Cato tried to continue his +invective. The tempest that he had done so much to raise drowned his +own voice, and he relapsed into his seat. But still Antonius stood his +ground, quietly, with no attempt to shout down the raging Senate, as +steadfastly as though a thousand threats were not buzzing around his +ears. Drusus's heart went with his friend that instant. He had never +been in a battle, yet he realized that it was vastly more heroic to +stand undaunted before this audience, than to walk into the bloodiest +melee without a tremor. + + [146] _Sagum_. + +Then of a sudden, like the interval between the recession of one wave +and the advance of a second billow, came a moment of silence; and into +that silence Antonius broke, with a voice so strong, so piercing, so +resonant, that the most envenomed oligarch checked his clamour to give +ear. + +"Hearken, ye senators of the Republic, ye false _patres_, ye fathers +of the people who are no fathers! So far have we waited; we wait no +more! So much have we seen; we'll see no further! So much have we +endured,--reproaches, repulses, deceits, insult, outrage, yes, for I +see it in the consul's eye, next do we suffer violence itself; but +that we will not tamely suffer. Ay! drive us from our seats, as Marcus +Cato bids you! Ay! strike our names from the Senate list, as Domitius +will propose! Ay! hound your lictors, sir consul, after us, to lay +their rods across our backs! Ay! enforce your decree proclaiming +martial law! So have you acted before to give legal fiction to your +tyranny! But tell me this, senators, praetorii, consulars, and consuls, +where will this mad violence of yours find end? Tiberius Gracchus you +have murdered. Caius Gracchus you have murdered. Marcus Drusus you +have murdered. Ten thousand good men has your creature Sulla murdered. +Without trial, without defence, were the friends of Catilina murdered. +And now will ye add one more deed of blood to those going before? Will +ye strike down an inviolate tribune, in Rome,--in the shadow of the +very Curia? Ah! days of the Decemvirs, when an evil Ten ruled over the +state--would that those days might return! Not ten tyrants but a +thousand oppress us now! Then despotism wore no cloak of patriotism or +legal right, but walked unmasked in all its blackness! + +"Hearken, ye senators, and in the evil days to come, remember all I +say. Out of the seed which ye sow this hour come wars, civil wars; +Roman against Roman, kinsman against kinsman, brother against brother! +There comes impiety, violence, cruelty, bloodshed, anarchy! There +comes the destruction of the old; there comes the birth, amid pain and +anguish, of the new! Ye who grasp at money, at power, at high office; +who trample on truth and right to serve your selfish ends; false, +degenerate Romans,--one thing can wipe away your crimes--" + +"What?" shouted Cato, across the senate-house; while Pompeius, who was +shifting uncomfortably in his seat, had turned very red. + +"Blood!" cried back Antonius, carried away by the frenzy of his own +invective; then, shooting a lightning glance over the awe-struck +Senate, he spoke as though gifted with some terrible prophetic +omniscience. "Pompeius Magnus, the day of your prosperity is +past--prepare ingloriously to die! Lentulus Crus, you, too, shall pay +the forfeit of your crimes! Metellus Scipio, Marcus Cato, Lucius +Domitius, within five years shall you all be dead--dead and with +infamy upon your names! Your blood, your blood shall wipe away your +folly and your lust for power. Ye stay, we go. Ye stay to pass once +more unvetoed the decree declaring Caesar and his friends enemies of +the Republic; we go--go to endure our outlaw state. But we go to +appeal from the unjust scales of your false Justice to the juster +sword of an impartial Mars, and may the Furies that haunt the lives of +tyrants and shedders of innocent blood attend you--attend your persons +so long as ye are doomed to live, and your memory so long as men shall +have power to heap on your names reproach!" + +Drusus hardly knew that Antonius had so much as stopped, when he found +his friend leading him out of the Curia. + +Behind, all was still as they walked away toward the Temple of Mars. +Then, as they proceeded a little distance, a great roar as of a +distant storm-wind drifted out from the senate-house--so long had +Antonius held his audience spellbound. + +"_Finitum est!_" said Curio, his eyes cast on the ground. "We have +seen, my friends, the last day of the Republic." + + +II + +Behind the Temple of Mars the faithful Agias was ready with the +slaves' dresses which were to serve as a simple disguise. Antonius and +his companions tossed off their cumbrous togas and put on the dark, +coarse cloaks and slippers which were worn by slaves and people of the +lower classes. These changes were quickly made, but valuable time was +wasted while Antonius--who, as a bit of a dandy, wore his hair rather +long[147]--underwent a few touches with the shears. It was now +necessary to get across the Tiber without being recognized, and once +fairly out of Rome the chances of a successful pursuit were not many. +On leaving the friendly shelter of the Temple buildings, nothing +untoward was to be seen. The crowds rushing to and fro, from the Curia +and back, were too busy and excited to pay attention to a little group +of slaves, who carefully kept from intruding themselves into notice. +Occasionally the roar and echo of applause and shouting came from the +now distant Curia, indicating that the Senate was still at its unholy +work of voting wars and destructions. A short walk would bring them +across the Pons AEmilius, and there, in the shelter of one of the +groves of the new public gardens which Caesar had just been laying out +on Janiculum, were waiting several of the fastest mounts which the +activity of Agias and the lavish expenditures of Pausanias had been +able to procure. + + [147] Slaves were always close clipped. + +The friends breathed more easily. + +"I hardly think," said Quintus Cassius, "we shall be molested. The +consuls cannot carry their mad hate so far." + +They were close to the bridge. The way was lined with tall warehouses +and grain storehouses,[148] the precursors of the modern "elevators." +They could see the tawny Tiber water flashing between the stone arches +of the bridge. The swarms of peasants and countrymen driving herds of +lowing kine and bleating sheep toward the adjacent Forum Boarium +seemed unsuspicious and inoffensive. A moment more and all Drusus's +tremors and anxieties would have passed as harmless fantasy. + + [148] _Horreae_. + +Their feet were on the bridge. They could notice the wind sweeping +through the tall cypresses in the gardens where waited the steeds that +were to take them to safety. The friends quickened their pace. A cloud +had drifted across the sun; there was a moment's gloom. When the light +danced back, Drusus caught Curio's arm with a start. + +"Look!" The new sunbeams had glanced on the polished helmet of a +soldier standing guard at the farther end of the bridge. + +There was only an instant for hesitation. + +"Lentulus has foreseen that we must try to escape by this way," said +Curio, seriously, but without panic. "We must go back at once, and try +to cross by the wooden bridge below or by some other means." + +But a great herd of dirty silver-grey Etruscan cattle came over the +causeway, and to get ahead of them would have been impracticable +without attracting the most unusual attention. It was now evident +enough that there was a considerable guard at the head of the bridge, +and to make a rush and overpower it was impossible. The heavy-uddered +cows and snorting, bellowing bulls dragged by with a slow plodding +that almost drove Drusus frantic. They were over at last, and the +friends hastened after them, far more anxious to leave the bridge than +they had been an instant before to set foot upon it. On they pressed, +until as if by magic there stood across their path the twelve lictors +of one of the consuls, with upraised fasces. Behind the lictors was a +half-century of soldiers in full armour led by their _optio_.[149] + + [149] Adjutant, subordinate to a centurion. + +"Sirs," announced the head lictor, "I am commanded by the consul, +Lucius Lentulus Crus, to put you all under arrest for treason against +the Republic. Spare yourselves the indignity of personal violence, by +offering no resistance." + +To resist would indeed have been suicide. The friends had worn their +short swords under their cloaks, but counting Agias they were only +six, and the lictors were twelve, to say nothing of the soldiers, of +whom there were thirty or more. + +The ground seemed swaying before Drusus's eyes; in his ears was a +buzzing; his thoughts came to him, thick, confused, yet through them +all ran the vision of Cornelia, and the conviction that he was never +to see her again. He looked back. The soldiers at the head of the +bridge had taken alarm and were marching down to complete the arrest. +He looked before. The lictors, the troops, the stupid cattle and their +stolid drivers, and the great black-sided warehouses, casting their +gloomy shadow over the rippling river. Down stream; not a skiff seemed +stirring. The water was plashing, dancing, glancing in the sunshine. +Below the wooden bridge the spars of a huge merchantman were just +covering with canvas, as she stood away from her quay. Up stream (the +views were all compressed into the veriest moment)--with the current +came working, or rather drifting, a heavy barge loaded with timber. +Only two men, handling rude paddles, stood upon her deck. The barge +was about to pass under the very arch upon which stood the handful of +entrapped Caesarians. A word, a motion, and the last hope of escape +would have been comprehended by the enemy, and all would have been +lost. But in moments of extreme peril it is easy to make a glance full +of pregnancy. Antonius saw the face of his friend--saw and understood; +and the other seemingly doomed men understood likewise. In an instant +the barge would pass under the bridge! + +"Fellow," replied Antonius (the whole inspection of the situation, +formation of the plot, and visual dialogue had really been so rapid as +to make no long break after the lictor ceased speaking), "do you dare +thus to do what even the most profane and impious have never dared +before? Will you lay hands on two inviolate tribunes of the plebs, and +those under their personal protection; and by your very act become a +_sacer_--an outlaw devoted to the gods, whom it is a pious thing for +any man to slay?" + +"I have my orders, sir," replied the head lictor, menacingly. "And I +would have you know that neither you nor Quintus Cassius are reckoned +tribunes longer by the Senate; so by no such plea can you escape +arrest." + +"Tribunes no longer!" cried Antonius; "has tyranny progressed so far +that no magistrate can hold office after he ceases to humour the +consuls?" + +"We waste time, sir," said the lictor, sternly. "Forward, men; seize +and bind them!" + +But Antonius's brief parley had done its work. As the bow of the barge +shot under the bridge, Curio, with a single bound over the parapet, +sprang on to its deck; after him leaped Quintus Cassius, and after him +Caelius. Before Drusus could follow, however, the stern of the barge +had vanished under the archway. The lictors and soldiers had sprung +forward, but a second had been lost by rushing to the eastern side of +the bridge, where the barge had just disappeared from sight. Agias, +Antonius, and Drusus were already standing on the western parapet. The +lictors and soldiers were on them in an instant. The blow of one of +the fasces smote down Antonius, but he fell directly into the vessel +beneath--stunned but safe. A soldier caught Agias by the leg to drag +him down. Drusus smote the man under the ear so that he fell without a +groan; but Agias himself had been thrown from the parapet on to the +bridge; the soldiers were thronging around. Drusus saw the naked steel +of their swords flashing before his eyes; he knew that the barge was +slipping away in the current. It was a time of seconds, but of seconds +expanded for him into eternities. With one arm he dashed back a +lictor, with the other cast Agias--he never knew whence came that +strength which enabled him to do the feat--over the stonework, and +into the arms of Curio in the receding boat. Then he himself leaped. A +rude hand caught his cloak. It was torn from his back. A sword whisked +past his head--he never learned how closely. He was in the air, saw +that the barge was getting away, and next he was chilled by a sudden +dash of water and Caelius was dragging him aboard; he had landed under +the very stern of the barge. Struggling in the water, weighed down by +their armour, were several soldiers who had leaped after him and had +missed their distance completely. + +The young man clambered on to the rude vessel. Its crew (two simple, +harmless peasants) were cowering among the lumber. Curio had seized +one of the paddles and was guiding the craft out into the middle of +the current; for the soldiers were already running along the wharves +and preparing to fling their darts. The other men, who had just been +plucked out of the jaws of destruction, were all engaged in collecting +their more or less scattered wits and trying to discover the next turn +of calamity in store. Antonius--who, despite his fall, had come down +upon a coil of rope and so escaped broken bones and serious +bruises--was the first to sense the great peril of even their present +situation. + +"In a few moments," he remarked, casting a glance down the river, "we +shall be under the Pons Sublicius, and we shall either be easily +stopped and taken, or crushed with darts as we pass by. You see they +are already signalling from the upper bridge to their guard at the +lower. We shall drift down into their hands, and gain nothing by our +first escape." + +"Anchor," suggested Cassius, who was an impulsive and rather +inconsiderate man. And he prepared to pitch overboard the heavy +mooring-stone. + +"_Phui!_ You sheep," cried Curio, contemptuously, mincing no words at +that dread moment. "How long will it be before there will be ten +boatloads of soldiers alongside? Can we beat off all Pompeius's +legions?" + +Antonius caught up another paddle and passed it through a rower's +thong. + +"Friends," he said, with that ready command which his military life +had given him, "these soldiers are in armour and can run none too +swiftly. Once show them the back, and they must throw away their arms +or give over the chase. It is madness to drift down upon the lower +bridge. We must turn across the river, risk the darts, and try to land +on the farther bank. Take oars!" + +There was but one remaining paddle. Drusus seized it and pushed +against the water with so much force that the tough wood bent and +creaked, but did not snap. The unwieldy barge sluggishly answered this +powerful pressure, and under the stroke of the three oars began to +head diagonally across the current and move slowly toward the farther +shore. The soldiers did not at once perceive the intent of this move. +By their actions they showed that they had expected the barge to try +to slip through the Pons Sublicius, and so escape down the river. They +had run some little way along the south bank of the Tiber, to +reenforce their comrades at the lower bridge, when they saw the new +course taken by their expected prey. Much valuable time had thus been +gained by the pursued, time which they needed sadly enough, for, +despite their frantic rowing, their unwieldy craft would barely crawl +across the current. + +Long before the barge was within landing distance of the northern +bank, the soldiers who had been on guard at the head of the Pons +AEmilius had regained their former station, and were running along the +shore to cut off any attempt there to escape. Soon a whizzing javelin +dug into the plank at Drusus's feet, and a second rushed over Caelius's +head, and plashed into the water beyond the barge. Other soldiers on +the now receding southern bank were piling into a light skiff to +second their comrades' efforts by a direct attack on the fugitives. + +A third dart grazed Antonius's hair and buried its head in the pile of +lumber. The tribune handed his oar to Caelius, and, deliberately +wresting the weapon from the timber, flung it back with so deadly an +aim that one pursuing legionary went down, pierced through the +breastplate. The others recoiled for an instant, and no more javelins +were thrown, which was some slight gain for the pursued. + +It seemed, however, that the contest could have only a single ending. +The soldiers were running parallel and apace with the barge, which was +now as close to the northern bank as was safe in view of the missiles. +The Pons Sublicius was getting minute by minute nearer, and upon it +could be seen a considerable body of troops ready with darts and +grapnels to cut off the last hope of escape. + +But Antonius never withdrew his eye from the line of dark +weatherbeaten warehouses that stretched down to the river's edge on +the north bank just above the Pons Sublicius. + +"Row," he exhorted his companions, "row! as life is dear! Row as never +before!" + +And under the combined impulse of the three desperate men, even the +heavy barge leaped forward and a little eddy of foaming waves began to +trail behind her stern. Drusus had no time to ask of himself or +Antonius the special object of this last burst of speed. He only knew +that he was flinging every pound of strength into the heavy handle of +his oar, and that his life depended on making the broad blade push +back the water as rapidly as possible. Antonius, however, had had good +cause for his command. A searching scrutiny had revealed to him that a +single very long warehouse ran clear down to the river's edge, and so +made it impossible to continue running along the bank. A pursuer must +double around the whole length of the building before continuing the +chase of the barge. And for a small quay just beyond this warehouse +Antonius headed his clumsy vessel. The soldiers continued their chase +up to the very walls of the warehouse, where they, of a sudden, found +themselves stopped by an impenetrable barrier. They lost an instant of +valuable time in trying to wade along the bank, where the channel +shelved off rapidly, and, finding the attempt useless, dashed a volley +of their missiles after the barge. But the range was very long. Few +reached the vessel; none did damage. The soldiers disappeared behind +the warehouse, still running at a headlong pace. Before they +reappeared on the other side, Antonius had brought his craft to the +quay. There was no time for mooring, and the instant the barge lost +way the hard-pressed Caesarians were on shore. Another instant, and the +clumsy vessel had been caught by the current, and swung out into the +stream. + +She had done her work. The pursued men broke into a dash for the +nearest highway. The soldiers were close after them. But they had +flung away their javelins, and what with their heavy armour and the +fatigue of running were quite as exhausted as the Caesarians, three of +whom had been thoroughly winded by their desperate rowing. On the Pons +Sublicius, where a great crowd had gathered to watch the exciting +chase, there was shouting and tumult. No doubt voices few enough would +have been raised for the Caesarians if they had been captured; but now +that they bade fair to escape, the air was thick with gibes at the +soldiers, and cries of encouragement to the pursued. On the two +parties ran. Soon they were plunged in the tortuous, dirty lanes of +the "Trans-Tiber" district, rushing at frantic speed past the shops of +dirty Jews and the taverns of noisy fishermen and sailors. Already +news of the chase had gone before them, and, as Drusus followed his +friends under the half-arching shadows of the tall tenement houses, +drunken pedlers and ribald women howled out their wishes of success, +precisely as though they were in a race-course. Now the dirty streets +were left behind and the fatigued runners panted up the slopes of the +Janiculum, toward the gardens of Caesar. They passed the little grove +sacred to the Furies, and, even as for life he ran, Drusus recalled +with shame how over this very road to this very grove, had fled Caius +Gracchus, the great tribune of the people, whom Drusus's own great +grandfather, Marcus Livius Drusus, had hounded to his death; that day +when all men encouraged him as he ran, but none would raise a hand to +aid. + +But now up from the bridge came the thunder of horses' +hoofs,--cavalry, tearing at a furious gallop. Pompeius had evidently +ordered out a _turma_[150] of mounted men to chase down the runaways. +More and more frantic the race--Drusus's tongue hung from his mouth +like a dog's. He flew past a running fountain, and was just desperate +enough to wonder if it was safe to stop one instant and touch--he +would not ask to drink--one drop of the cool water. Fortunately the +Caesarians were all active young men, of about equal physical powers, +and they kept well together and encouraged one another, not by +word--they had no breath for that--but by interchange of courage and +sympathy from eye to eye. The heavy legionaries had given up the +chase; it was the cavalry, now flying almost at their very heels, that +urged them to their final burst of speed. + + [150] Squadron of 30 horse. + +At last! Here were the gardens of Caesar, and close by the roadway +under a spreading oak, their grooms holding them in readiness for +instant service, were six of the best specimens of horseflesh money +could command. + +None of the little party had breath left to speak a word. To fling +themselves into the saddles, to snatch the reins from the attendants' +hands, to plunge the heels of their sandals, in lieu of spurs, into +the flanks of their already restless steeds,--these things were done +in an instant, but none too soon. For, almost as the six riders turned +out upon the road to give head to their horses, the cavalry were upon +them. The foremost rider sent his lance over Curio's shoulder, grazing +the skin and starting blood; a second struck with his short sword at +Caelius's steed, but the horse shied, and before the blow could be +repeated the frightened beast had taken a great bound ahead and out of +danger. This exciting phase of the pursuit, however, was of only +momentary duration. The horses of the Caesarians were so incomparably +superior to the common army hacks of the soldiers, that, as soon as +the noble blooded animals began to stretch their long limbs on the +hard Roman road, the troopers dropped back to a harmless distance in +the rear. The cavalrymen's horses, furthermore, had been thoroughly +winded by the fierce gallop over the bridge, and now it was out of the +question for them to pursue. Before the flight had continued a mile, +the Caesarians had the satisfaction of seeing their enemies draw rein, +then turn back to the city. The friends, however, did not check their +pace until, safe beyond chance of overtaking, they reined in at an +hospitable tavern in the old Etruscan town of Veii. + +Here Drusus took leave of Agias. + +"You are quite too unimportant an enemy," said he to the young Greek, +"to be worth arrest by the consuls, if indeed they know what part you +have had in our escape. I know not what perils are before me, and I +have no right to ask you to share them. You have long ago paid off any +debt of gratitude that you owed me and mine when Fabia saved your +life. I am your patron no longer; go, and live honourably, and you +will find deposited with Flaccus a sum that will provide for all your +needs. If ever I return to Rome, my party victorious, myself in +favour, then let us renew our friendship; but till then you and I meet +no more." + +Agias knelt and kissed Drusus's robe in a semi-Oriental obeisance. + +"And is there nothing," he asked half wistfully at the parting, "that +I can yet do for you?" + +"Nothing," said Drusus, "except to see that no harm come to my Aunt +Fabia, and if it be possible deliver Cornelia from the clutches of her +bloody uncle." + +"Ah!" said Agias, smiling, "that is indeed _something_! But be not +troubled, domine,"--he spoke as if Drusus was still his master,--"I +will find a way." + +That evening, under the canopy of night, the five Caesarians sped, +swift as their horses could bear them, on their way to Ravenna. + + + + +Chapter XVI + +The Rubicon + + +I + +It was growing late, but the proconsul apparently was manifesting no +impatience. All the afternoon he had been transacting the routine +business of a provincial governor--listening to appeals to his +judgment seat, signing requisitions for tax imposts, making out +commissions, and giving undivided attention to a multitude of seeming +trifles. Only Decimus Mamercus, the young centurion,--elder son of the +veteran of Praeneste,--who stood guard at the doorway of the public +office of the praetorium, thought he could observe a hidden nervousness +and a still more concealed petulance in his superior's manner that +betokened anxiety and a desire to be done with the routine of the day. +Finally the last litigant departed, the governor descended from the +curule chair, the guard saluted as he passed out to his own private +rooms, and soon, as the autumn darkness began to steal over the +cantonment, nothing but the call of the sentries broke the calm of the +advancing night. + +Caesar was submitting to the attentions of his slaves, who were +exchanging his robes of state for the comfortable evening _synthesis_. +But the proconsul was in no mood for the publicity of the evening +banquet. When his chief freedman announced that the invited guests had +assembled, the master bade him go to the company and inform them that +their host was indisposed, and wished them to make merry without him. +The evening advanced. Twice Caesar touched to his lips a cup of spiced +wine, but partook of nothing else. Sending his servants from his +chamber, he alternately read, and wrote nervously on his tablets, then +erased all that he had inscribed, and paced up and down the room. +Presently the anxious head-freedman thrust his head into the +apartment. + +"My lord, it is past midnight. The guests have long departed. There +will be serious injury done your health, if you take no food and +rest." + +"My good Antiochus," replied the proconsul, "you are a faithful +friend." + +The freedman--an elderly, half-Hellenized Asiatic--knelt and kissed +the Roman's robe. + +"My lord knows that I would die for him." + +"I believe you, Antiochus. The gods know I never needed a friend more +than now! Do not leave the room." + +The general's eyes were glittering, his cheeks flushed with an +unhealthy colour. The freedman was startled. + +"Domine, domine!" he began, "you are not well--let me send for +Calchas, the physician; a mild sleeping powder--" + +For the first time in his long service of Caesar, Antiochus met with a +burst of wrath from his master. + +"Vagabond! Do you think a sleeping potion will give peace to _me_? +Speak again of Calchas, and I'll have you crucified!" + +"Domine, domine!" cried the trembling freedman; but Caesar swept on:-- + +"Don't go from the room! I am desperate to-night. I may lay violent +hands on myself. Why should I not ask you for a poisoned dagger?" + +Antiochus cowered at his master's feet. + +"Yes, why not? What have I to gain by living? I have won some little +fame. I have conquered all Gaul. I have invaded Britain. I have made +the Germans tremble. Life is an evil dream, a nightmare, a frightful +delusion. Death is real. Sleep--sleep--forever sleep! No care, no +ambition, no vexation, no anger, no sorrow. Cornelia, the wife of my +love, is asleep. Julia is asleep. All that I loved sleep. Why not I +also?" + +"Domine, speak not so!" and Antiochus clasped the proconsul's knees. + +Caesar bent down and lifted him up by the hand. When he spoke again, +the tone was entirely changed. + +"Old friend, you have known me; have loved me. You were my +_pedagogue_[151] when I went to school at Rome. You taught me to ride +and fence and wrestle. You aided me to escape the myrmidons of Sulla. +You were with me in Greece. You shared my joy in my political +successes, my triumphs in the field. And now what am I to do? You know +the last advices from Rome; you know the determination of the consuls +to work my ruin. To-day no news has come at all, and for us no news is +the worst of news." + + [151] Slave who looked after the welfare and conduct of a schoolboy. + +"Domine," said Antiochus, wiping his eyes, "I cannot dream that the +Senate and Pompeius will deny you your right to the second +consulship." + +"But if they do? You know what Curio reports. What then?" + +Antiochus shook his head. + +"It would mean war, bloody war, the upturning of the whole world!" + +"War, or--" and Caesar paused. + +"What, my lord?" said the freedman. + +"I cease either to be a care to myself or my enemies." + +"I do not understand you, domine," ventured Antiochus, turning pale. + +"I mean, good friend," said the proconsul, calmly, "that when I +consider how little life often seems worth, and how much disaster the +continuance of my act of living means to my fellow-men, I feel often +that I have no right to live." + +Antiochus staggered with dread. Caesar was no longer talking wildly; +and the freedman knew that when in a calm mood the proconsul was +always perfectly serious. + +"Domine, you have not rashly determined this?" he hinted. + +"I have determined nothing. I never rashly determine anything. Hark! +Some one is at the door." + +There was a loud military knock, and the clang of armour. + +"Enter," commanded Caesar. + +Decimus Mamercus hastened into the room. So great was his excitement +that his Roman discipline had forsaken him. He neglected to salute. + +"News! news! Imperator! from Rome! News which will set all Italy +afire!" + +Whereupon the man who had but just before been talking of suicide, +with the greatest possible deliberation seated himself on a +comfortable chair, arranged his dress, and remarked with perfect +coldness:-- + +"No tidings can justify a soldier in neglecting to salute his +general." + +Decimus turned red with mortification, and saluted. + +"Now," said Caesar, icily, "what have you to report?" + +"Imperator," replied Decimus, trying to speak with unimpassioned +preciseness, "a messenger has just arrived from Rome. He reports that +the Senate and consuls have declared the Republic in peril, that the +veto of your tribunes has been over-ridden, and they themselves forced +to flee for their lives." + +Caesar had carelessly dropped a writing tablet that he was holding, and +now he stooped slowly and picked it up again. + +"The messenger is here?" he inquired, after a pause. + +"He is," replied the centurion. + +"Has he been duly refreshed after a hard ride?" was the next question. + +"He has just come." + +"Then let him have the best food and drink my butler and cellarer can +set before him." + +"But his news is of extreme importance," gasped Decimus, only half +believing his ears. + +"I have spoken," said the general, sternly. "What is his name?" + +"He is called Quintus Drusus, Imperator." + +"Ah!" was his deliberate response, "send him to me when he will eat +and drink no more." + +Decimus saluted again, and withdrew, while his superior opened the +roll in his hands, and with all apparent fixity and interest studied +at the precepts and definitions of the grammar of Dionysius Thrax, the +noted philologist. + +At the end of some minutes Quintus Drusus stood before him. + +The young Praenestian was covered with dust, was unkempt, ragged; his +step was heavy, his arms hung wearily at his side, his head almost +drooped on his breast with exhaustion. But when he came into the +Imperator's presence, he straightened himself and tried to make a +gesture of salutation. Caesar had risen from his chair. + +"Fools!" he cried, to the little group of slaves and soldiers, who +were crowding into the room, "do you bring me this worn-out man, who +needs rest? Who dared this? Has he been refreshed as I commanded?" + +"He would take nothing but some wine--" began Decimus. + +"I would have waited until morning, if necessary, before seeing him. +Here!" and while Caesar spoke he half led, half thrust, the messenger +into his own chair, and, anticipating the nimblest slave, unclasped +the travel-soiled paenula from Drusus's shoulders. The young man tried +to rise and shake off these ministrations, but the proconsul gently +restrained him. A single look sufficed to send all the curious retinue +from the room. Only Antiochus remained, sitting on a stool in a +distant corner. + +"And now, my friend," said Caesar, smiling, and drawing a chair close +up to that of Drusus, "tell me when it was that you left Rome." + +"Two days ago," gasped the wearied messenger. + +"_Mehercle!_" cried the general, "a hundred and sixty miles in two +days! This is incredible! And you come alone?" + +"I had Andraemon, the fastest horse in Rome. Antonius, Caelius, Cassius, +Curio, and myself kept together as far as Clusium. There was no longer +any danger of pursuit, no need for more than one to hasten." Drusus's +sentences were coming in hot pants. "I rode ahead. Rode my horse dead. +Took another at Arretium. And so I kept changing. And now--I am here." +And with this last utterance he stopped, gasping. + +Caesar, instead of demanding the tidings from Rome, turned to +Antiochus, and bade him bring a basin and perfumed water to wash +Drusus's feet. Meantime the young man had recovered his breath. + +"You have heard of the violence of the new consuls and how Antonius +and Cassius withstood them. On the seventh the end came. The vetoes +were set aside. Our protests were disregarded. The Senate has clothed +the consuls and other magistrates with dictatorial power; they are +about to make Lucius Domitius proconsul of Gaul." + +"And I?" asked Caesar, for the first time displaying any personal +interest. + +"You, Imperator, must disband your army and return to Rome speedily, +or be declared an outlaw, as Sertorius or Catilina was." + +"Ah!" and for a minute the proconsul sat motionless, while Drusus +again kept silence. + +"But you--my friends--the tribunes?" demanded the general, "you spoke +of danger; why was it that you fled?" + +"We fled in slaves' dresses, O Caesar, because otherwise we should long +ago have been strangled like bandits in the Tullianum. Lentulus Crus +drove us with threats from the Senate. On the bridge, but for the +favour of the gods, his lictors would have taken us. We were chased by +Pompeius's foot soldiers as far as Janiculum. We ran away from his +cavalry. If they hate us, your humble friends, so bitterly, how much +the more must they hate you!" + +"And the tribunes, and Curio, and Caelius are on their way hither?" +asked Caesar. + +"They will be here very soon." + +"That is well," replied the proconsul; then, with a totally unexpected +turn, "Quintus Drusus, what do you advise me to do?" + +"I--I advise, Imperator?" stammered the young man. + +"And who should advise, if not he who has ridden so hard and fast in +my service? Tell me, is there any hope of peace, of reconciliation +with Pompeius?" + +"None." + +"Any chance that the senators will recover their senses, and propose a +reasonable compromise?" + +"None." + +"Will not Cicero use his eloquence in the cause of peace and common +justice?" + +"I have seen him. He dare not open his mouth." + +"Ah!" and again Caesar was silent, this time with a smile, perhaps of +scorn, playing around his mouth. + +"Are the people, the equites, given body and soul over to the war +party?" + +Drusus nodded sadly. "So long as the consuls are in the ascendant, +they need fear no revolution at home. The people are not at heart your +enemies, Imperator; but they will wait to be led by the winning side." + +"And you advise?"--pressed Caesar, returning to the charge. + +"War!" replied Drusus, with all the rash emphasis of youth. + +"Young man," said Caesar, gravely, half sadly, "what you have said is +easy to utter. Do you know what war will mean?" + +Drusus was silent. + +"Let us grant that our cause is most just. Even then, if we fight, we +destroy the Republic. If I conquer, it must be over the wreck of the +Commonwealth. If Pompeius--on the same terms. I dare not harbour any +illusions. The state cannot endure the farce of another Sullian +restoration and reformation. A permanent government by one strong man +will be the only one practicable to save the world from anarchy. Have +you realized that?" + +"I only know, Imperator," said Drusus, gloomily, "that no future state +can be worse than ours to-day, when the magistrates of the Republic +are the most grievous despots." + +Caesar shook his head. + +"You magnify your own wrongs and mine. If mere revenge prompts us, we +are worse than Xerxes, or Sulla. The gods alone can tell us what is +right." + +"The gods!" cried Drusus, half sunken though he was in a weary +lethargy, "do you believe there are any gods?" + +Caesar threw back his head. "Not always; but at moments I do not +_believe_ in them, I _know_! And now I _know_ that gods are guiding +us!" + +"Whither?" exclaimed the young man, starting from his weary +drowsiness. + +"I know not whither; neither do I care. Enough to be conscious that +they guide us!" + +And then, as though there was no pressing problem involving the peace +of the civilized world weighing upon him, the proconsul stood by in +kind attention while Antiochus and an attendant bathed the wearied +messenger's feet before taking him away to rest. + +After Drusus had been carried to his room, Caesar collected the +manuscripts and tablets scattered about the apartment, methodically +placed them in the proper cases and presses, suffered himself to be +undressed, and slept late into the following morning, as sweetly and +soundly as a little child. + + +II + +On the next day Caesar called before him the thirteenth legion,--the +only force he had at Ravenna,--and from a pulpit in front of the +praetorium he told them the story of what had happened at Rome; of how +the Senate had outraged the tribunes of the plebs, whom even the +violent Sulla had respected; of how the mighty oligarchy had outraged +every soldier in insulting their commander. Then Curio, just arrived, +declaimed with indignant fervour of the violence and fury of the +consuls and Pompeius; and when he concluded, the veterans could +restrain their ardour and devotion no more, five thousand martial +throats roared forth an oath of fealty, and as many swords were waved +on high in mad defiance to the Senate and the Magnus. Then cohort +after cohort cried out that on this campaign they would accept no pay; +and the military tribunes and centurions pledged themselves, this +officer for the support of two recruits, and that for three. + +It was a great personal triumph for Caesar. He stood receiving the +pledges and plaudits, and repaying each protestation of loyalty with a +few gracious words, or smiles, that were worth fifty talents to each +acclaiming maniple. Drusus, who was standing back of the proconsul, +beside Curio, realized that never before had he seen such outgoing of +magnetism and personal energy from man to man, one mind holding in +vassalage five thousand. Yet it was all very quickly over. Almost +while the plaudits of the centuries were rending the air, Caesar turned +to the senior tribune of the legion. + +"Are your men ready for the march, officer?" + +The soldier instantly fell into rigid military pose. "Ready this +instant, Imperator. We have expected the order." + +"March to Ariminum, and take possession of the town. March rapidly." + +The tribune saluted, and stepped back among his cohort. And as if some +conjurer had flourished a wand of magic, in the twinkling of an eye +the first century had formed in marching order; every legionary had +flung over his shoulder his shield and pack, and at the harsh blare of +the military trumpet the whole legion fell into line; the aquilifer +with the bronze eagle, that had tossed on high in a score of +hard-fought fights, swung off at the head of the van; and away went +the legion, a thing not of thinking flesh and blood, but of brass and +iron--a machine that marched as readily and carelessly against the +consuls of the Roman Republic as against the wretched Gallic +insurgents. The body of troops--cohort after cohort--was vanishing +down the road in a cloud of dust, the pack train following after, +almost before Drusus could realize that the order to advance had been +given. + +Caesar was still standing on the little pulpit before the praetorium. +Except for Curio and Drusus, almost all the vast company that had but +just now been pressing about him with adulation and homage were +disappearing from sight. For an instant the Imperator seemed alone, +stripped of all the panoply of his high estate. He stood watching the +legion until its dust-cloud settled behind some low-lying hills. Then +he stepped down from the pulpit. Beyond a few menials and Drusus and +that young man's late comrade in danger, no one else was visible. The +transaction had been so sudden as to have something of the +phantasmagoric about it. + +Caesar took his two friends, one by each hand, and led them back to his +private study in the praetorium. + +"The army is yours, Imperator," said Curio, breaking a rather +oppressive silence. "The newest recruit is yours to the death." + +"Yes, to the death," replied the general, abstractedly; and his keen +eyes wandered down upon the mosaic, seemingly penetrating the stone +and seeking something hidden beneath. "The thirteenth legion," he +continued, "will do as a test of the loyalty of the others. They will +not fail me. The eighth and the twelfth will soon be over the Alps. +Fabius is at Narbo with three. They will check Pompeius's Spaniards. I +must send to Trebonius for his four among the Belgae; he is sending +Fabius one." And then, as if wearied by this recapitulation, Caesar's +eyes wandered off again to the pavement. + +Drusus had an uneasy sensation. What was this strange mingling of +energy and listlessness? Why this soliloquy and internal debate, when +the moment called for the most intense activity? The general being +still silent, his friends did not venture to disturb him. But +Antiochus passed in and out of the study, gathering up writing +materials, tablets, and books; and presently Drusus heard the freedman +bidding an underling have ready and packed the marble slabs used for +the tessellated floor of the Imperator's tent--a bit of luxury that +Caesar never denied himself while in the field. Presently the proconsul +raised his eyes. He was smiling; there was not the least cloud on his +brow. + +"There will be some public games here this afternoon," he remarked, as +though the sole end in view was to make their stay pleasant to his +guests: "I have promised the good people of the town to act as +_editor_,[152] and must not fail to honour them. Perhaps the sport +will amuse you, although the provincials cannot of course get such +good lanista-trained men as you see at Rome. I have a new fencing +school in which perhaps we may find a few _threces_[153] and +_retiarii_,[154] who will give some tolerable sword and net play." + + [152] President of the games. + + [153] Buckler and cutlass men. + + [154] Net and trident men. + +"_Hei!_" groaned Curio, with a lugubrious whisper, "to think of it, I +have never a sesterce left that I can call my own, to stake on the +struggle!" + +"At least," laughed Drusus, "I am a companion of your grief; already +Lentulus and Ahenobarbus have been sharing my forfeited estate." + +But the proconsul looked serious and sad. + +"_Vah_, my friends! Would that I could say that your loyalty to my +cause would cost you nothing! It is easy to promise to win back for +you everything you have abandoned, but as the poets say, 'All that +lies in the lap of the gods.' But you shall not be any longer the mere +recipients of my bounty. Stern work is before us. I need not ask you +if you will play your part. You, Curio, shall have a proper place on +my staff of legates as soon as I have enough troops concentrated; but +you, my dear Drusus, what post would best reward you for your loyalty? +Will you be a military tribune, and succeed your father?" + +"Your kindness outruns your judgment, Imperator," replied Drusus. +"Save repelling Dumnorix and Ahenobarbus, I never struck a blow in +anger. Small service would I be to you, and little glory would I win +as an officer, when the meanest legionary knows much that I may +learn." + +"Then, amice," said Caesar, smiling, perhaps with the satisfaction of a +man who knows when it is safe to make a gracious offer which he is +aware will not be accepted, though none the less flattering, "if you +will thus misappraise yourself, you shall act as centurion for the +present, on my corps of _praetoriani_,[155] where you will be among +friends and comrades of your father, and be near my person if I have +any special need of you." + + [155] General's body-guard of picked veterans. + +Drusus proffered the best thanks he could; it was a great honour--one +almost as great as a tribuneship, though hardly as responsible; and he +felt repaid for all the weariness of his desperate ride to Ravenna. + +And then, with another of those strange alternations of behaviour, +Caesar led him and Curio off to inspect the fencing-school; then showed +them his favourite horse, pointed out its peculiar toelike hoofs, and +related merrily how when it was a young colt, a soothsayer had +predicted that its owner would be master of the world, and how +he--Caesar,--had broken its fiery spirit, and made it perfectly docile, +although no other man could ride the beast. + +The afternoon wore on. Caesar took his friends to the games, and +watched with all apparent interest the rather sanguinary contests +between the gladiators. Drusus noticed the effusive loyalty of the +Ravenna citizens, who shouted a tumultuous welcome to the illustrious +_editor_, but Caesar acted precisely as though the presidency of the +sports were his most important office. Only his young admirer observed +that as often as a gladiator brought his opponent down and appealed to +the _editor_ for a decision on the life or death of the vanquished, +Caesar invariably waved his handkerchief, a sign of mercy, rather than +brutally turned down his thumb, the sentence of death. After the +games, the proconsul interchanged personal greetings with the more +prominent townspeople. Drusus began to wonder whether the whole day +and evening were to pass in this manner; and indeed so it seemed, for +that night the Imperator dispensed his usual open-handed hospitality. +His great banqueting hall contained indeed no army officers, but there +were an abundance of the provincial gentry. Caesar dined apart with his +two friends. The courses went in and out. The proconsul continued an +unceasing flow of light conversation: witty comments on Roman society +and fashion, scraps of literary lore, now and then a bit of personal +reminiscence of Gaul. Drusus forgot all else in the agreeable pleasure +of the moment. Presently Caesar arose and mingled with his less exalted +guests; when he returned to the upper table the attendants were +bringing on the beakers, and the Cisalpine provincials were pledging +one another in draughts of many _cyathi_, "prosperity to the +proconsul, and confusion to his enemies." Caesar took a shallow glass +of embossed blue and white bas-relief work,--a triumph of Alexandrian +art,--poured into it a few drops of undiluted Caecuban liquor, dashed +down the potion, then dropped the priceless beaker on to the floor. + +"An offering to Fortuna!" he cried, springing from his couch. "My +friends, let us go!" And quietly leaving the table on the dais, the +three found themselves outside the banqueting hall, while the +provincials, unconscious that their host had departed, continued their +noisy revelry. + +Drusus at once saw that everything was ready for departure. Antiochus +was at hand with travelling cloaks, and assured the young man that due +care had been taken to send in advance for him a complete wardrobe and +outfit. The proconsul evidently intended to waste no time in starting. +Drusus realized by the tone of his voice that Caesar the host had +vanished, and Caesar the imperator was present. His words were terse +and to the point. + +"Curio, you will find a fast horse awaiting you. Take it. Bide at full +speed after the legion. Take command of the rear cohorts and of the +others as you come up with them. Lead rapidly to Ariminum." + +And Curio, who was a man of few words, when few were needed, saluted +and disappeared in the darkness. Drusus followed the general out after +him. But no saddle-horses were prepared for Caesar. Antiochus and one +or two slaves were ready with lanterns, and led the general and Drusus +out of the gloomy cantonment, along a short stretch of road, to a mill +building, where in the dim light of the last flickers of day could be +seen a carriage with mules. + +"I have hired this as you wished," said the freedman, briefly. + +"It is well," responded his patron. + +Antiochus clambered upon the front seat; a stout German serving-man +was at the reins. Caesar motioned to Drusus to sit beside him behind. +There were a few necessaries in the carriage, but no other attendants, +no luggage cart. The German shook the reins over the backs of the two +mules, and admonished them in his barbarous native dialect. The dim +shadow of the mill faded from sight; the lights of the praetorium grew +dimmer and dimmer: soon nothing was to be seen outside the narrow +circle of pale light shed on the ground ahead by the lantern. + +The autumn season was well advanced. The day however had been warm. +The night was sultry. There were no stars above, no moon, no wind. A +sickening miasmic odour rose from the low flat country sloping off +toward the Adriatic--the smell of overripe fruit, of decaying +vegetation, of the harvest grown old. There had been a drought, and +now the dust rose thick and heavy, making the mules and travellers +cough, and the latter cover their faces. Out of the darkness came not +the least sound: save the creaking of the dead boughs on trees, whose +dim tracery could just be distinguished against the sombre background +of the sky. + +No one spoke, unless the incoherent shouts of the German to the mules +be termed speech. Antiochus and Caesar were sunk in stupor or reverie. +Drusus settled back on the cushions, closed his eyes, and bade himself +believe that it was all a dream. Six months ago he had been a student +at Athens, wandering with his friends along the trickling Cephissus, +or climbing, in holiday sport, the marble cone of Hymettus. And +now--he was a proscribed rebel! Enemies thirsted for his blood! He was +riding beside a man who made no disclaimer of his intention to subvert +the constitution! If Caesar failed, he, Drusus, would share in "that +bad eminence" awarded by fame to the execrated Catilinarians. Was +it--was it not all a dream? Connected thought became impossible. Now +he was in the dear old orchard at Praeneste playing _micare_[156] with +Cornelia and AEmilia; now back in Athens, now in Rome. Poetry, prose, +scraps of oratory, philosophy, and rules of rhetoric,--Latin and Greek +inextricably intermixed,--ideas without the least possible connection, +raced through his head. How long he thus drifted on in his reverie he +might not say. Perhaps he fell asleep, for the fatigue of his +extraordinary riding still wore on him. A cry from Antiochus, a curse +from the German, startled him out of his stupor. He stared about. It +was pitch dark. "The gods blast it!" Antiochus was bawling. "The +lantern has jolted out!" + + [156] A finger-guessing game. + +To relight it under existing circumstances, in an age when friction +matches were unknown, was practically impossible. + +"Fellow," said the proconsul's steady voice, "do you know the road to +Ariminum?" + +The driver answered in his broken Latin that he was the slave of the +stable keeper who had let the carriage, and had been often over the +road, but to go safely in the dark was more than he could vouch for. +The only thing the German saw to be done was to wait in the road until +the morning, or until the moon broke out through the clouds. + +"Drusus," remarked the proconsul, "you are the youngest. Can your eyes +make out anything to tell us where we are?" + +The young man yawned, shook off his drowsiness, and stared out into +the gloomy void. + +"I can just make out that to our left are tall trees, and I imagine a +thicket." + +"Very good. If you can see as much as that here, it is safe to +proceed. Let us change places. I will take the reins. Do you, Drusus, +come and direct me." + +"Oh! domine!" entreated Antiochus, "don't imperil yourself to-night! +I'm sure some calamity impends before dawn. I consulted a soothsayer +before setting out, and the dove which he examined had no heart--a +certain sign of evil." + +"Rascal!" retorted his patron, "the omens will be more favourable when +I please. A beast wants a heart--no very great prodigy! men lose +theirs very often, and think it slight disgrace. Change your seat, +sirrah!" + +Caesar took the reins, smote the mules, and went off at so furious a +pace that the worthy Antiochus was soon busy invoking first one, then +another, member of the pantheon, to avert disaster. Drusus speedily +found that the general's vision was far more keen than his own. +Indeed, although the road, he knew, was rough and crooked, they met +with no mishaps. Presently a light could be seen twinkling in the +distance. + +"We must get a guide," remarked the Imperator decisively, and he +struck the mules again. + +They at last approached what the owl-like discernment of Caesar +pronounced to be a small farmhouse with a few out-buildings. But it +was no easy matter to arouse the drowsy countrymen, and a still more +difficult task to convince the good man of the house that his +nocturnal visitors were not brigands. At last it was explained that +two gentlemen from Ravenna were bound for Ariminum, on urgent +business, and he must furnish a guide for which he would be amply +paid. As a result, the German driver at last resumed the reins, and +sped away with a fresh lantern, and at his side a stupid peasant boy, +who was almost too shy to make himself useful. + +But more misfortune was in store. Barely a mile had they traversed, +before an ominous crack proclaimed the splitting of an axletree. The +cheap hired vehicle could go no farther. + +"'Tis a sure sign the gods are against our proceeding this night," +expostulated Antiochus; "let us walk back to the farmhouse, my lord." + +Caesar did not deign to give him an answer. He deliberately descended, +clasped his paenula over his shoulders, and bade the German make the +best of his way back to Ravenna. The peasant boy, he declared, could +lead them on foot until dawn. + +The freedman groaned, but he was helpless. The guide, bearing the +lantern, convoyed them out of the highroad, to strike what he assured +them was a less circuitous route; and soon had his travellers, now +plunged in quagmires that in daylight would have seemed impassable, +now clambering over stocks and stones, now leaping broad ditches. At +last, after thoroughly exhausting the patience of his companions, the +wretched fellow confessed that he had missed the by-path, and indeed +did not know the way back. + +Antiochus was now too frightened to declare his warnings confirmed. +Drusus liked the prospect of a halt on these swampy, miasmic fields +little enough, But again the proconsul was all resources. With almost +omniscience he led his companions through blind mazes of fallow land +and stubble fields: came upon a brook at the only point where there +appeared to be any stepping-stones; and at length, just as the murky +clouds seemed about to lift, and the first beams of the moon struggled +out into the black chaos, the wanderers saw a multitude of fires +twinkling before them, and knew that they had come upon the rear +cohort of the thirteenth legion, on its way to Ariminum. + +The challenge of the sentry was met by a quick return of the +watchword, but the effusively loyal soldier was bidden to hold his +peace and not disturb his comrades. + +"What time is it?" inquired his general. The fellow replied it lacked +one hour of morn. Caesar skirted the sleeping camp, and soon came out +again on the highroad. There was a faint paleness in the east; a +single lark sang from out the mist of grey ether overhead; an ox of +the baggage train rattled his tethering chain and bellowed. A soft, +damp river fog touched on Drusus's face. Suddenly an early horseman, +coming at a moderate gallop, was heard down the road. In the +stillness, the pounding of his steed crept slowly nearer and nearer; +then, as he was almost on them, came the hollow clatter of the hoofs +upon the planks of a bridge. _Caesar stopped._ Drusus felt himself +clutched by the arm so tightly that the grasp almost meant pain. + +"Do you hear? Do you see?" muttered the Imperator's voice in his ear. +"The bridge, the river--we have reached it!" + +"Your excellency--" began Drusus, sorely at a loss. + +"No compliments, this is the Rubicon; the boundaries of Cisalpine Gaul +and Italy. On this side I am still the Proconsul--not as yet rightly +deposed. On the other--Caesar, the Outlaw, the Insurgent, the Enemy of +his Country, whose hand is against every man, every man's hand against +him. What say you? Speak! speak quickly! Shall I cross? Shall I turn +back?" + +"Imperator," said the young man, struggling to collect his wits and +realize the gravity of his own words, "if you did not intend to cross, +why send the legion over to commence the invasion? Why harangue them, +if you had no test to place upon their loyalty?" + +"Because," was his answer, "I would not through my own indecision +throw away my chance to strike. But the troops can be recalled. It is +not too late. No blood has been shed. I am merely in a position to +strike if so I decide. No,--nothing is settled." + +Drusus had never felt greater embarrassment. Before he could make +reply, Caesar had bidden Antiochus and the peasant boy remain in the +roadway, and had led the young man down the embankment that ran +sloping toward the river. The light was growing stronger every moment, +though the mist still hung heavy and dank. Below their feet the +slender stream--it was the end of the season--ran with a monotonous +gurgle, now and then casting up a little fleck of foam, as it rolled +by a small boulder in its bed. + +"Imperator," said Drusus, while Caesar pressed his hand tighter and +tighter, "why advise with an inexperienced young man like myself? Why +did you send Curio away? I have no wisdom to offer; nor dare proffer +it, if such I had." + +"Quintus Drusus," replied Caesar, sinking rather wearily down upon the +dry, dying grass, "if I had needed the counsel of a soldier, I should +have waited until Marcus Antonius arrived; if I had needed that of a +politician, I was a fool to send away Curio; if I desire the counsel +of one who is, as yet, neither a man of the camp, nor a man of the +Forum, but who can see things with clear eyes, can tell what may be +neither glorious nor expedient, but what will be the will,"--and here +the Imperator hesitated,--"the will of the gods, tell me to whom I +shall go." + +Drusus was silent; the other continued;-- + +"Listen, Quintus Drusus. I do not believe in blind fate. We were not +given wills only to have them broken. The function of a limb is not to +be maimed, nor severed from the body. A limb is to serve a man; just +so a man and his actions are to serve the ends of a power higher and +nobler than he. If he refuse to serve that power, he is like the +mortifying limb,--a thing of evil to be cut off. And this is true of +all of us; we all have some end to serve, we are not created for no +purpose." Caesar paused. When he began again it was in a different tone +of voice. "I have brought you with me, because I know you are +intelligent, are humane, love your country, and can make sacrifices +for her; because you are my friend and to a certain extent share my +destiny; because you are too young to have become overprejudiced, and +calloused to pet foibles and transgressions. Therefore I took you with +me, having put off the final decision to the last possible instant. +And now I desire your counsel." + +"How can I counsel peace!" replied Drusus, warming to a sense of the +situation. "Is not Italy in the hand of tyrants? Is not Pompeius the +tool of coarse schemers? Do they not pray for proscriptions and +confiscations and abolition of debt? Will there be any peace, any +happiness in life, so long as we call ourselves freemen, yet endure +the chains of a despotism worse than that of the Parthians?" + +"Ah! amice!" said Caesar, twisting the long limp grass, "every enemy is +a tyrant, if he has the upper hand. Consider, what will the war be? +Blood, the blood of the noblest Romans! The overturning of +time-honoured institutions! A shock that will make the world to +tremble, kings be laid low, cities annihilated! East, west, north, +south--all involved--so great has our Roman world become!" + +"And are there not wrongs, abuses, Imperator, which cry for vengeance +and for righting?" replied Drusus, vehemently. "Since the fall of +Carthage, have not the fears of Scipio AEmilianus almost come true: +Troy has fallen, Carthage has fallen; has not Rome almost fallen, +fallen not by the might of her enemies, but by the decay of her +morals, the degeneracy of her statesmen? What is the name of liberty, +without the semblance! Is it liberty for a few mighty families to +enrich themselves, while the Republic groans? Is it liberty for the +law courts to have their price, for the provinces to be the farms of a +handful of nobles?" + +Caesar shook his head. + +"You do not know what you say. This is no moment for declamation. +Every man has his own life to live, his own death to die. Our +intellects cannot assure us of any consciousness the instant that +breath has left our bodies. It is then as if we had never hoped, had +never feared; it is rest, peace. Quintus Drusus, I have dared many +things in my life. I defied Sulla; it was boyish impetuosity. I took +the unpopular and perilous side when Catilina's confederates were sent +to their deaths; it was the ardour of a young politician. I defied the +rage of the Senate, while I was praetor; still more hot madness. I +faced death a thousand times in Gaul, against the Nervii, in the +campaign with Vercingetorix; all this was the mere courage of the +common soldier. But it is not of death I am afraid; be it death on the +field of battle, or death at the hands of the executioner, should I +fall into the power of my enemies, I fear myself. + +"You ask me to explain?" went on the general, without pausing for a +question. "Hearken! I am a man, you are a man, our enemies are men. I +have slain a hundred thousand men in Gaul. Cruel? No, for had they +lived the great designs which the deity wills to accomplish in that +country could not be executed! But then my mind was at rest. I said, +'Let these men die,' and no Nemesis has required their blood at my +hands. What profit these considerations? The Republic is nothing but a +name, without substance or reality. It is doomed to fall. Sulla was a +fool to abdicate the dictatorship. Why did he not establish a +despotism, and save us all this turmoil of politics? But Lentulus +Crus, Pompeius, Cato, Scipio--they are men with as much ambition, as +much love of life, as myself. The Republic will fall into their hands. +Why will it be worse off than in mine? Why shed rivers of blood? After +death one knows no regrets. If I were dead, what would it matter to me +if obloquy was imputed to my name, if my enemies triumphed, if the +world went to chaos over my grave. It would not mean so much as a +single evil dream in my perpetual slumber." + +Caesar was no longer resting on the bank. He was pacing to and fro, +with rapid, nervous steps, crushing the dry twigs under his shoes, +pressing his hands together behind his back, knitting and unknitting +his fingers. + +Drusus knew enough to be aware that he was present as a spectator of +that most terrible of all conflicts--a strong man's wrestle with his +own misgivings. To say something, to say anything, that would ease the +shock of the contest--that was the young man's compelling desire; but +he felt as helpless as though he, single handed, confronted ten +legions. + +"But your friends, Imperator," he faltered, "think of them! They have +made sacrifices for you. They trust in you. Do not abandon them to +their enemies!" + +Caesar stopped in his impetuous pacings. + +"Look here," he exclaimed, almost fiercely, "you wish to be happy. You +are still very young; life is sweet. You have just forsaken wealth, +friends, love, because you have a fantastic attachment for my cause. +You will live to repent of your boyish decision. You will wish to win +back all you have lost. Well, I will give you the chance; do what I +tell you, and you shall ride into Rome the hero of Senate and people! +The consuls will be to you all smiles. Pompeius will canvass for you +if you desire to become a candidate for curule office before you reach +the legal age limit. Cicero will extol your name in an immortal +oration, in which he will laud your deed above the slaying of the +dangerous demagogue Maelius by Servilius Ahala. Will you do as I shall +bid you?" + +Drusus's eyes had been riveted on those of the general. He saw that at +Caesar's side was girded a long slender dagger in an embossed silver +sheath. He saw the Imperator draw out the blade halfway, then point +off into the river where the water ran sluggishly through a single +deep mist-shaded pool. + +"Do you understand?" went on Caesar, as calmly as though he had been +expounding a problem of metaphysics. "You can take this ring of mine, +and by its aid go through the whole legion, and obtain the best horses +for flight, before anything is discovered. Your conscience need not +trouble you. You will only have done as I earnestly requested." + +The cold sweat started to Drusus's forehead, his head swam; he knew +that it was more than the mist of the river-fog that drifted before +his eyes. Then, filled with a sudden impulse, he sprang on the general +and wrenched the dagger from its sheath. + +"Here!" cried Caesar, tearing back the mantle from his breast. + +"There!" cried Drusus, and the bright blade glinted once in the air, +and splashed down into the dark ripple. He caught the Imperator about +the arms, and flung his head on the other's neck. + +"Oh! Imperator," he cried, "do not desert us. Do not desert the +Commonwealth! Do not hand us back to new ruin, new tyrants, new wars! +Strike, strike, and so be merciful! Surely the gods have not led you +thus far, and no farther! But yesterday you said they were leading us. +To-day they still must guide! To you it has been given to pull down +and to build up. Fail not! If there be gods, trust in them! If there +be none slay me first, then do whatever you will!" + +Caesar shook himself. His voice was harsh with command. + +"Unhand me! I must accomplish my own fate!" and then, in a totally +different tone, "Quintus Drusus, I have been a coward for the first +time in my life. Are you ashamed of your general?" + +"I never admired you more, Imperator." + +"Thank you. And will you go aside a little, please? I will need a few +moments for meditation." + +Drusus hesitated. His eyes wandered off to the river. In one spot it +was quite deep. + +"_Phui!_" said the proconsul, carelessly, "I am too brave for such a +venture now. Leave me on my embankment, like Diogenes and his tub." + +Drusus clambered part way up the slope, and seated himself under a +stunted oak tree. The light was growing stronger. The east was +overshot with ripples of crimson and orange, here blending into lines +each more gorgeous than a moment before. The wind was chasing in from +the bosom of Adria, and driving the fleeting mists up the little +valley. The hills were springing out of the gloom, the thrushes were +swinging in the boughs overhead, and pouring out their morning song. +Out from the camp the bugles were calling the soldiers for the march; +the baggage trains were rumbling over the bridge. But still below on +the marge lingered the solitary figure; now walking, now motionless, +now silent, now speaking in indistinct monologue. Drusus overheard +only an occasional word, "Pompeius, poor tool of knaves! I pity him! I +must show mercy to Cato if I can! Sulla is not to be imitated! The +Republic is fallen; what I put in its place must not fall." Then, +after a long pause, "So this was to be my end in life--to destroy the +Commonwealth; what is destined, is destined!" And a moment later +Drusus saw the general coming up the embankment. + +"We shall find horses, I think, a little way over the bridge," said +Caesar; "the sun is nearly risen. It is nine miles to Ariminum; there +we can find refreshment." + +The Imperator's brow was clear, his step elastic, the fatigues of the +night seemed to have only added to his vigorous good humour. Antiochus +met them. The good man evidently was relieved of a load of anxiety. +The three approached the bridge; as they did so, a little knot of +officers of the rear cohort, Asinius Pollio and others, rode up and +saluted. The golden rim of the sun was just glittering above the +eastern lowlands. Caesar put foot upon the bridge. Drusus saw the blood +recede from his face, his muscles contract, his frame quiver. The +general turned to his officers. + +"Gentlemen," he said quietly, "we may still retreat; but if we once +pass this little bridge, nothing is left for us but to fight it out in +arms." + +The group was silent, each waiting for the other to speak. At this +instant a mountebank piper sitting by the roadway struck up his ditty, +and a few idle soldiers and wayfaring shepherds ran up to him to catch +the music. The man flung down his pipe, snatched a trumpet from a +bugler, and, springing up, blew a shrill blast. It was the "advance." +Caesar turned again to his officers. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "let us go where the omens of the gods and the +iniquity of our enemies call us! _The die is now cast!"_ + +And he strode over the bridge, looking neither to the right hand nor +to the left. As his feet touched the dust of the road beyond, the full +sun touched the horizon, the landscape was bathed with living, +quivering gold, and the brightness shed itself over the steadfast +countenance, not of Caesar the Proconsul, but of Caesar the Insurgent. + +The Rubicon was crossed! + + + + +Chapter XVII + +The Profitable Career of Gabinius + + +Very wretched had been the remnants of Dumnorix's band of gladiators, +when nightfall had covered them from pursuit by the enraged +Praenestians. And for some days the defeated assassins led a desperate +struggle for existence on the uplands above the Latin plain. Then, +when the hue and cry aroused by their mad exploit had died away, +Dumnorix was able to reorganize his men into a regular horde of +banditti. In the sheltered valleys of the upper Apennines they found +moderately safe and comfortable fastnesses, and soon around them +gathered a number of unattached highwaymen, who sought protection and +profit in allying themselves with the band led by the redoubtable +lanista. But if Dumnorix was the right arm of this noble company, +Publius Gabinius was its head. The Roman had sorely missed the loss of +the thousand and one luxuries that made his former life worth living. +But, as has been said, he had become sated with almost every current +amusement and vice; and when the freshness of the physical hardships +of his new career was over, he discovered that he had just begun to +taste joys of which he would not soon grow weary. + +And so for a while the bandits ranged over the mountains, infested the +roads, stopped travellers to ease them of their purses, or even dashed +down on outlying country houses, which they plundered, and left +burning as beacons of their handiwork. Even this occupation after a +time, however, grew monotonous to Gabinius. To be sure, a goodly pile +of money was accumulating in the hut where he and Dumnorix, his +fellow-leader, made their headquarters; and the bandits carried away +with them to their stronghold a number of slave and peasant girls, who +aided to make the camp the scene of enough riot and orgy to satisfy +the most graceless; but Gabinius had higher ambitions than these. He +could not spend the gold on dinner parties, or bronze statuettes; and +the maidens picked up in the country made a poor contrast to his city +sweethearts. Gabinius was planning a great piece of _finesse_. He had +not forgotten Fabia; least of all had he forgotten how he had had her +as it were in his very arms, and let her vanish from him as though she +had been a "shade" of thin air. If he must be a bandit, he would be an +original one. A Vestal taken captive by robbers! A Vestal imprisoned +in the hold of banditti, forced to become the consort, lawful or +unlawful, of the brigands' chief! The very thought grew and grew in +Gabinius's imagination, until he could think of little else. Dumnorix +and his comrades trusted him almost implicitly; he had been successful +as their schemer and leader in several dark enterprises, that proved +his craft if not his valour. He would not fail in this. + +An overmastering influence was drawing him to Rome. He took one or two +fellow-spirits in his company, and ventured over hill and valley to +the suburbs of the city on a reconnoissance, while by night he +ventured inside the walls. + +The capital he found in the ferment that preceded the expulsion of the +tribunes, on the fateful seventh of January. Along with many another +evil-doer, he and his followers filched more than one wallet during +the commotions and tumults. He dared not show himself very openly. His +crime had been too notorious to be passed over, even if committed +against a doomed Caesarian like Drusus; besides, he was utterly without +any political influence that would stand him in good stead. But around +the Atrium Vestae he lurked in the dark, spying out the land and +waiting for a glimpse of Fabia. Once only his eye caught a white-robed +stately figure appearing in the doorway toward evening, a figure which +instinct told him was the object of his passion. He had to restrain +himself, or he would have thrown off all concealment then and there, +and snatched her away in his arms. He saved himself that folly, but +his quest seemed hopeless. However weak the patrol in other parts of +the city, there was always an ample watch around the Atrium Vestae. + +Gabinius saw that his stay around Rome was only likely to bring him +into the clutches of the law, and reluctantly he started back, by a +night journey in a stolen wagon, for the safer hill country beyond the +Anio. But he was not utterly cast down. He had overheard the street +talk of two equites, whom in more happy days he had known as rising +politicians. + +"I hope the consuls are right," the first had said, "that Caesar's army +will desert him." + +"_Perpol_," responded the other, "your wish is mine! If the proconsul +really _does_ advance, nothing will stand between him and the city!" + +Gabinius kept his own counsel. "In times of war and confusion, the +extremity of the many is the opportunity of the few," was the maxim he +repeated to himself. + +When he was well out of the city and moving up the Via Salaria, the +trot and rattle of an approaching carriage drifted up upon him. + +"Shall we stop and strip them?" asked Dromo, one of the accompanying +brigands, in a matter-of-fact tone. + +"Ay," responded Gabinius, reining in his own plodding draught-horse, +and pulling out a short sword. "Let us take what the Fates send!" + +A moment later and Servius Flaccus was being tumbled out of his +comfortable travelling carriage, while one brigand stood guard over +him with drawn sabre, a second held at bay his trembling driver and +whimpering valet, and a third rifled his own person and his +conveyance. There was a bright moon, and the luckless traveller's gaze +fastened itself on the third bandit. + +"By all the gods, Gabinius!" cried Servius, forgetting to lisp his +Greekisms, "don't you know me? Let me go, for old friendship's sake!" + +Gabinius turned from his task, and held to his nose a glass +scent-bottle he had found in the vehicle. + +"Ah! amice," he responded deliberately, "I really did not anticipate +the pleasure of meeting you thus! You are returning very late to Rome +from your Fidenae villa. But this is very excellent oil of rose!" + +"Enough of this, man!" expostulated the other. "The jest has gone +quite far enough. Make this horrible fellow lower that sword." + +"Not until I have finished making up my package of little articles," +replied Gabinius, "and," suiting the action to the word, "relieved +your fingers of the weight of those very heavy rings." + +"Gabinius," roared Servius, in impotent fury, "what are you doing? Are +you a common bandit?" + +"A bandit, my excellent friend," was his answer, "but not a common +one; no ordinary footpad could strip the noble Servius Flaccus without +a harder struggle." + +Servius burst into lamentations. + +"My box of unguents! My precious rings! My money-bag! You are not +leaving me one valuable! Have you sunk as low as this?" + +"Really," returned the robber, "I have no time to convince you that +the brigand's life is the only one worth living. You do not care to +join our illustrious brotherhood? No? Well, I must put these trinkets +and fat little wallet in my own wagon. I leave you your cloak out of +old friendship's sake. Really you must not blame me. Remember +Euripides's line:-- + + "'Money can warp the judgment of a God.' + +Thus I err in good company. And with this, _vale!_" + +Flaccus was left with his menials to clamber back into his plundered +carriage. Gabinius drove his horse at topmost speed, and before +morning was saluted by the remainder of the banditti, near their +mountain stronghold. Dumnorix met him with news. + +"It is rumoured in the country towns that Caesar is driving all before +him in the north, and will be down on Rome in less days than I have +fingers." + +Gabinius clapped his hands. + +"And we will be down on Rome, and away from it, before a legionary +shows himself at the gates!" + + + + +Chapter XVIII + +How Pompeius Stamped with His Feet + + +I + +A messenger to the consuls! He had ridden fast and furious, his horse +was flecked with foam and straining on his last burst of speed. On +over the Mulvian Bridge he thundered; on across the Campus Martius; on +to the Porta Ratumena--with all the hucksters and street rabble +howling and chasing at his heels. + +"News! News for the consuls!" + +"What news?" howled old Laeca, who was never backward in a street +press. + +"Terrible!" shouted the messenger, drawing rein, "Caesar is sweeping +all before him! All Thermus's troops have deserted him at Iguvium. +Attius Varus has evacuated Auximum, and his troops too have dispersed, +or joined Caesar. All the towns are declaring for the enemy. _Vah!_ He +will be here in a few days at most! I am the last of the relay with +the news. I have hardly breathed from Eretum!" + +And the courier plunged the spur into his hard-driven mount, and +forced his way into the city, through the mob. "Caesar advancing on +Rome!" The Jewish pedlers took up the tale, and carried it to the +remotest tenement houses of Janiculum. The lazy street-idlers shouted +it shrilly. Laeca, catching sight of Lucius Ahenobarbus, just back from +Baiae, and a little knot of kindred spirits about him, was in an +instant pouring it all in their ears. The news spread, flew, grew. The +bankers on the Via Sacra closed their credit books, raised their +shutters, and sent trusted clerks off to suburban villas, with due +orders how to bury and hide weighty money-bags. The news came to that +very noble lady Claudia, sister-in-law of the consul, just at the +moment when she was discussing the latest style of hairdressing with +the most excellent Herennia; and the cheeks of those patrician ladies +grew pale, and they forgot whether or not it was proper to wear ivory +pins or a jewel-set head-band, at the dinner-party of Lucius Piso that +evening. The news came to Lentulus Crus while he was wrangling with +Domitius as to who should be Caesar's successor as Pontifex +Maximus--and those distinguished statesmen found other things to think +of. + +The news flew and grew. The noble senators overheard their slaves +whispering,--how it was rumoured on the street or in the Forum that +Caesar was in full advance on the city, that his cavalry were close to +the gates. Caesar at the gates! Why had they not remembered how rapidly +he could advance? Why had they trusted the assurance of the traitor +Labienus that the legions would desert their Imperator? Resist? By +what means? The walls were walls only in name; the city had long +outgrown them, spreading through a thousand breaches. There was not a +trained soldier this side of Capua, whither Pompeius had departed only +the day before to take command of the Apulian legions. Caesar was +coming! Caesar--whose tribunes the oligarchs had chased from the +Senate! Caesar--whom they had proclaimed a rebel and public enemy! He +was coming like a second Marius, who thirty-eight years before had +swept down on Rome, and taken a terrible vengeance on enemies less +bitter to him than they to the great Julian. "_Moriendum est_,"[157] +had been the only reply to every plea for mercy. And would Caesar now +be more lenient to those who had aimed to blast his honour and shed +his blood? + + [157] He has got to die. + +Evening drew on, but the calamity was only delayed. There was not a +soldier to confront the invader. Few men that night could sleep. Rich +and poor alike, all trembled. To their imaginations their foe was an +ogre, implacable, unsparing. "Remember how it was in Sulla's day," +croaked Laeca to Ahenobarbus. "Remember how he proscribed forty +senators and sixteen hundred equites with one stroke. A fine example +for Caesar! And Drusus, who is with the rebels, is little likely to say +a good word in your behalf, eh?" + +"The gods blast your tongue!" cried the young man, wringing his hands +in terror; for that Drusus would ruin him, if he gained the chance, +Lucius had not the least doubt in the world. + +So passed the night, in fear and panic. When morning came everything +save flight seemed suicide. There was a great government treasure in +the Temple of Saturn. The Senate had voted that the money be delivered +to Pompeius. But the consuls were too demoralized to take away a +denarius. They left the great hoard under mere lock and key--a present +to their bitterest enemy. Then began the great exodus. Hardly a man +had done more than gather a few valuables together: property, +children, wives--all these were left to the avenger. Down the Via +Appia, toward Campania, where was their only safety, poured the +panic-stricken company. Every carriage, every horse, was in service. +The hard-driven chariots of the consuls were the tokens merely of the +swiftest flight. Lentulus Crus fled; Caius Marcellus, his colleague, +was close behind; Domitius fled, with his sons; Cato fled, ironically +exclaiming that they would have to leave everything to Pompeius now, +"for those who can raise up great evils can best allay them." Favonius +fled, whose first words, when he met the Magnus, were to command him +to "stamp on the ground for the legions so sorely needed." Piso, +Scipio, and many another fled--their guilty hearts adding wings to +their goings. Cicero fled--gazing in cynical disgust at the panic and +incompetence, yet with a sword of Damocles, as he believed, hanging +over his head also. "I fear that Caesar will be a very Phalaris, and +that we may expect the very worst," he wrote to his intimate friend +Atticus, who, safe from harm and turmoil, was dwelling under the calm +Athenian sky. A great fraction of the Senate departed; only those +stayed who felt that their loyalty to the advancing Imperator was +beyond dispute, or who deemed themselves too insignificant to fall +beneath his displeasure. In the hour of crisis the old ties of +religion and superstition reasserted themselves. Senators and +magistrates, who had deemed it a polite avocation to mock at the gods +and deny the existence of any absolute ethical standards, now, before +they climbed into their carriages for flight, went, with due ritual, +into the temples of the gods of their fathers, and swore hecatombs of +milk-white Umbrian steers to Capitoline Jove, if the awful deity would +restore them to the native land they then were quitting. And as they +went down from the temples and hastened toward the gates, friends and +clients who could not join their flight crowded after them, sighing, +lamenting, and moaning. Out over the Campagna they streamed, this +company of senators, praetors, consuls--men who had voted thrones to +kings, and decreed the deposition of monarchs; whose personal wealth +was princely, whose lineage the noblest in the world, whose ancestors +had beaten down Etruscan, Gaul, Samnite, and Carthaginian, that their +posterity might enjoy the glory of unequalled empire. And these +descendants fled, fled not before any foe, but before their own guilty +consciences; abandoning the city of their fathers when not a sword had +flashed against her gates! The war had been of their making; to send +Caesar into outlawry the aristocracy had laboured ten long years. And +now the noble lords were exiles, wanderers among the nations. To Capua +they went, to find small comfort there, and thence to join Pompeius in +further flight beyond the seas to Greece. But we anticipate. Enough +that neither Lentulus Crus, nor Domitius, nor Cato, nor the great +Magnus himself, ever saw Rome again. + + +II + +Agias stood in a shop by the Sacred Way watching the stream of +fugitives pouring down toward the Porta Capena. At his side was a +person whom a glance proclaimed to be a fellow-Greek. The stranger was +perhaps fifty, his frame presented a faultless picture of symmetry and +manly vigour, great of stature, the limbs large but not ungainly. His +features were regular, but possessed just enough prominence to make +them free from the least tinge of weakness. The Greek's long, thick, +dark but grey-streaked beard streamed down upon his breast; his hair, +of similar hue, was long, and tossed back over his shoulders in loose +curls. His dress was rich, yet rude, his chiton and cloak short, but +of choice Milesian wool and dyed scarlet and purple; around his neck +dangled a very heavy gold chain set with conspicuously blazing jewels. +The ankles, however, were bare, and the sandals of the slightest and +meanest description. The stranger must once have been of a light, not +to say fair, complexion; but cheeks, throat, arms, and feet were all +deeply bronzed, evidently by prolonged exposure to wind and weather. +Agias and his companion watched the throng of panic-struck exiles. The +younger Greek was pointing out, with the complacency of familiar +knowledge, the names and dignities of the illustrious fugitives. + +"Yonder goes Cato," he was saying; "mark his bitter scowl! There goes +Marcus Marcellus, the consular. There drives the chariot of Lucius +Domitius, Caesar's great enemy." And Agias stopped, for his friend had +seized his arm with a sudden grasp, crushing as iron. "Why, by all +the gods, Demetrius, why are you staring at him that way?" + +"By Zeus!" muttered the other, "if I had only my sword! It would be +easy to stab him, and then escape in this crowd!" + +"Stab him!" cried Agias. "Demetrius, good cousin, control yourself. +You are not on the deck of your trireme, with all your men about you. +Why should you be thus sanguinary, when you see Lucius Domitius? Why +hate him more than any other Roman?" + +The consular, unaware of the threat against him, but with a compelling +fear of Caesar's Gallic cavalry lending strength to the arm with which +he plied the whip--for the law against driving inside the city no man +respected that day--whirled out of sight. + +Demetrius still strained at his cousin's arm. + +"Listen, Agias," he said, still hoarsely. "Only yesterday I ran upon +you by chance in the crowd. We have many things to tell one another, +chiefly I to tell you. Why do I hate Lucius Domitius? Why should you +hate him? Who made you a slave and me an outlaw? Your father died +bankrupt; you know it was said that Philias, his partner, ruined him. +That was truth, but not the whole truth. Philias was under deep +obligations to a certain Roman then in the East, who knew of several +crimes Philias had committed, crimes that would bring him to the cross +if discovered. Do you understand?" + +"Hardly," said Agias, still bewildered. "I was very young then." + +"I will go on. It was shortly before Pompeius returned to Rome from +the East. Your father had charge of the banking firm in Alexandria, +Philias of the branch at Antioch. I was a clerk in the Antioch +banking-house. I knew that Philias was misusing his partner's name and +credit. The Roman whom I have mentioned knew it too, and had a supple +Greek confidant who shared his spoils and gave the touches to his +schemes. He had good cause to know: he was levying blackmail on +Philias. At last a crisis came; the defalcation could be concealed no +longer. Philias was duly punished; he was less guilty than he seemed. +But the Roman--who had forced from him the money--he was high on the +staff of the proconsul--let his confederate and tool suffer for his +own fault. He kept his peace. I would not have kept mine; I would not +have let the real ruiner of my uncle escape. But the Roman had me +seized, with the aid of his Greek ally; he charged me with treasonable +correspondence with the Parthians. He, through his influence with the +proconsul, had me bound to the oar as a galley slave for life. I would +have been executed but for another Roman, of the governor's suite, who +was my friend. He pleaded for my life; he believed me innocent. He +saved my life--on what terms! But that is not all he did. He bribed my +guards; I escaped and turned outlaw. I joined the last remnants of the +Cilician pirates, the few free mariners who have survived Pompeius's +raid. And here I am in Rome with one of my ships, disguised as a +trader, riding at the river wharf." + +"And the name of the Roman who ruined you and my father?" said Agias. + +"Was Lucius Domitius. The friend who saved me was Sextus Drusus, son +of Marcus Drusus, the reformer. And if I do not recompense them both +as they deserve, I am not Demetrius the pirate, captain of seven +ships!" + +"You will never recompense Sextus Drusus," remarked Agias, quietly. +"He has been dead, slain in Gaul, these five years." + +"Such is the will of the gods," said Demetrius, looking down. + +"But he has left a son." + +"Ah! What sort of a man?" + +"The noblest of all noble Romans. He is the Quintus Drusus who saved +my life, as last night I told you." + +"Mithras be praised! The name is so common among these Latins that I +did not imagine any connection when you mentioned it. What can I do to +serve him?" + +"Immediately, nothing. He is with Caesar, and, as you see, the enemies +of the Imperator are not likely, at present, to work his friends much +mischief. Yet it is singular that his chief enemy and yours are so +near akin. Lucius Ahenobarbus, son of Domitius, is thirsting for +Drusus's blood." + +"If I had my sword!" muttered Demetrius, clapping his hand to his +thigh. "It is not too late to run after the fugitives!" + +"Come, come," remonstrated Agias, feeling that his newly found cousin +was indeed a fearful and wonderful man after twelve years of lawless +and godless freebooter's life. "At my lodgings we will talk it all +over; and there will be time enough to scheme the undoing of Domitius +and all his family." + +And with these words he led the sanguinary sea-king away. + + * * * * * + +Agias indeed found in Demetrius a perfect mine of bloody romance and +adventure. It had been the banking clerk's misfortune, not his fault, +that every man's hand had been against him and his against every man. +Demetrius had been declared an outlaw to Roman authority; and Roman +authority at that time stretched over very nearly every quarter of the +civilized world. Demetrius had been to India, to intercept the Red Sea +traders. He had been beyond the Pillars of Hercules and set foot on +those then half-mythical islands of the Canaries. He had plundered a +hundred merchantmen; he had fought a score of Roman government +galleys; he had been principal or accessory to the taking of ten +thousand lives. All this had been forced upon him, because there was +no tolerable spot on the planet where he might settle down and be free +from the grasp of punishment for a crime he had never committed. + +Demetrius had boldly come up to Rome on a light undecked yacht.[158] +The harbor masters had been given to understand that the captain of +the craft was an Asiatic princeling, who was visiting the capital of +the world out of a quite legitimate curiosity. If they had had any +doubts, they accepted extremely large fees and said nothing. The real +object of the venture was to dispose of a large collection of rare +gems and other valuables that Demetrius had collected in the course of +his wanderings. Despite the perturbed state of the city, the worthy +pirate had had little difficulty in arranging with certain wealthy +jewellers, who asked no questions, when they bought, at a very large +discount, bargains of a most satisfactory character. And so it came to +pass, by the merest luck, that the two cousins were thrown together in +a crowd, and partly Agias, through his dim childish recollections of +his unfortunate relative, and partly Demetrius, through memories of +his uncle's boy and the close resemblance of the lad to his father, +had been prompted first to conversation, then to mutual inquiries, +then to recognition. + + [158] A _celox_ of one bank of oars, a small ship much used by + the pirates. + +Demetrius had no intention of leaving Rome for a few days. Under +existing circumstances the chances of his arrest were not worth +considering. His cousin was eager to show him all the sights; and the +freebooter was glad of a little relaxation from his roving life, glad +to forget for an instant that his country was his squadron, his rights +at law were his cutlass. Moreover, he had taken a vast liking to +Agias; deeply dipped in blood himself, he dared not desire his cousin +to join him in his career of violence--yet he could not part with the +bright, genial lad so hastily. Agias needed no entreaties, therefore, +to induce his cousin to enjoy his hospitality. + + +III + +Fabia the Vestal was in direful perplexity. Her heart had gone with +Drusus in his flight to Ravenna; she had wished herself beside him, to +be a man, able to fight a man's battles and win a man's glory. For the +first time in her life the quiet routine of the Temple service brought +her no contentment; for the first time she felt herself bound to a +career that could not satisfy. She was restless and moody. The younger +Vestals, whose attendance on the sacred fire and care of the Temple +she oversaw, wondered at her exacting petulance. Little Livia brought +her aunt to her senses, by asking why she, Fabia, did not love her any +more. The lady summoned all her strength of character, and resumed her +outward placidity. She knew that Drusus was safe with Caesar, and +exposed only to the ordinary chances of war. She became more at ease +as each successive messenger came into the city, bearing the tidings +of the Gallic proconsul's advance. Too innocent herself of the +political turmoils of the day to decide upon the merits of the +parties, her hopes and wishes had gone with those of her nephew; so +pure and unquestioning was her belief that he would espouse only the +right. And when the great panic came; when trembling consulars and +pallid magistrates rushed to the Temple of Vesta to proffer their last +hurried vows, before speeding away to Capua, their refuge; Fabia stood +all day beside the altar, stately, gracious, yet awe-inspiring, the +fitting personification of the benignant Hearth Goddess, who was above +the petty passions of mortals and granted to each an impartial favour. + +Yet Fabia was sorely distressed, and that too on the very day of the +great exodus of the Senate. She had heard for some time past rumours +of the depredations of a certain band of robbers upon the Sabine and +AEquian country. It was said that a gang of bandits, headed by a +gigantic Gaul, had plundered some farms near Carsioli and infested the +mountain regions round about. Fabia had connected this gang and its +chieftain with Dumnorix and the remnant of his gladiators, who escaped +after their disastrous affray at Praeneste. As for Publius Gabinius, +who had on one occasion given her such distress, nothing had been +heard or seen of him since the Praeneste affair. It was generally +believed, however, that he was still with Dumnorix. And a few days +before the panic in the city, Fabia had received a letter. A strange +slave had left it at the Atrium Vestae, and had gone away without +explanations. It ran thus:-- + +"To the very noble Vestal, the Lady Fabia, greeting:-- + +Though I am now so unfortunate as to be barred from the doors of all +law-abiding men, do not imagine this will forever continue. In the +confusion and readjustments of war, and the calamities of many, the +affairs of some, one time enemies of Fortune, come to a happy issue. +Do not say that Mars may not lead Amor and Hymen in his train. All +things come to them who wait. I wait. Remember the life you spend in +the Temple is no longer obligatory. Be no cage bird who will not fly +out into the sunlight when the door is opened freely. Be surprised and +angry at nothing. _Vale_." + +There was no date, no signature. The hand was distorted, evidently for +disguise. Fabia was in a dilemma. She did not need to be told that in +all probability--though she had no proof--the writer was Gabinius. She +was extremely reluctant to tell any one of her escape from his +clutches in the villa by the Appian Way. However, some confidant +seemed necessary. She knew that Fonteia, the senior Vestal, the +Maxima, would never treat her other than as a sister, and to her she +read the letter and imparted her story and fears. Fonteia did not +regard the matter in a very serious light. She was herself an old +woman, grown grey in the service of Vesta. She said that Fabia had +been most fortunate to remain in the Temple service so long as she had +and not be harassed by more than one impious and overbold suitor. The +only thing to do was to be careful and avoid anything that would give +false appearances. As for Fabia's fears that Gabinius would attempt to +carry her away perforce, as he had perhaps treated earlier +sweethearts, Fonteia scoffed at the suggestion. The Atrium Vestae was +in the heart of the city; there was a constant patrol on duty. For a +man to enter the Building at night meant the death penalty. Whosoever +did violence to a Vestal fell under a religious curse; he was a _homo +sacer_, a "sacred man," a victim devoted to the gods, whom it was a +pious deed to slay. And thus comforted, with the assurance that the +whole power of the Republic would rise for her personal defence, Fabia +was fain to put the disquieting letter from her heart. + +Then followed the night of panic, and the succeeding day. There were +no longer any magistrates in Rome. The great palaces of the patricians +stood deserted, exposed to the unfaithful guardianship of freedmen and +slaves. The bankers' booths were closed, the shops did not raise their +shutters. On the streets swarmed the irresponsible and the vicious. +Men of property who had not fled barred their doors and stood guard +with their servants to beat back would-be plunderers. There were no +watchmen at the gates, no courts sitting in the basilicas. After the +great flight of the early morning, Rome was a city without warders, +police, or government. + +Fabia did not realize this fact until late in the afternoon, when she +started forth, on foot and unattended, to visit a friend on the +Caelian. The half-deserted streets and barricaded houses filled her +with uneasy tremors. The low, brutish creatures that she met gave her +little heed; but the sight of them, alone and not offset by any more +respectable fellow-strollers, made her turn back to the Atrium Vestae. +As she hastened on her way homeward an uneasy sensation haunted her +that she was being followed. She halted, faced about. The street was +narrow, the light was beginning to fade. The figure of a man was +vanishing in the booth of some bold vintner, who had ventured to risk +plunder for the sake of sales. She proceeded. A moment later a half +glance over the shoulder and a straining of the eyes told her that the +stranger was continuing his pursuit. He kept very close to the side of +the buildings. His face and form were quite lost in shadow. Fabia +quickened her pace; the stranger increased his also, yet made no +effort to cut down the distance between them. The Vestal began to feel +the blood mantling to her cheeks and leaving them again. She was so +near to the Forum and the Atrium Vestae now that she could not be +overtaken. But why did the stranger follow? + +There was a gap in the houses ahead. Through a narrow alley the dying +light was streaming. Fabia passed it, timed herself, glanced back. For +an instant, and only an instant (for the stranger walked rapidly), the +light glared full upon his face. But Fabia needed to see no more. It +was the face of Publius Gabinius. By a mighty effort she prevented +herself from breaking into a run. She passed into the doorway of the +Atrium Vestae, and sank upon a divan, shivering with fright. +Recollecting herself, she went to Fonteia and told her the discovery. +The Maxima, however, by that singular fatuity which sometimes takes +possession of the wisest of people,--especially when the possible +danger is one which never in all their long experience has come to a +head,--received her warnings with blank incredulity. + +"You should not go out of the house and Temple," she said, "until +there is some proper policing of the city. No doubt Gabinius has come +back for the sake of riot and plunder, and having met with you by +chance could not resist the temptation to try to have an interview; +but you are in no possible danger here." + +"But, Fonteia," urged the younger Vestal, "I know him to be a bold, +desperate man, who fears not the gods, and who from the law can expect +no mercy. And we in this house are but weak women folk. Our only +defence is our purity and the reverence of the people. But only the +evil wander the streets to-night; and our virtuous lives make us only +the more attractive prey to such men as Gabinius." + +"Fabia," said the other Vestal, severely, "I am older than you. I have +beheld sights you have never seen. I saw the riots when Saturninus and +Glaucia came to their ends; when Marius was chased from Rome and +Sulpicius put to death; when Marius returned with Cinna; and all the +massacres and strife attending the taking of the city by Sulla. But +never has the name of Vesta been insufficient to protect us from the +violence of the basest or the most godless. Nor will it now. I will +trust in the goddess, and the fear of her, which protects her maidens +against all men. We will sleep to-night as usual. I will not send +anywhere to have guards stationed around the house and Temple." + +Fabia bowed her head. The word of the aged Maxima was law in the +little community. Fabia told herself that Fonteia was right--not even +Gabinius would dare to set unhallowed foot inside the Atrium Vestae. +But the vision of the coarse, sensual face of her unloved lover was +ever before her. In ordinary times she would have been tempted to go +to one of the consuls and demand that Fonteia be overruled; but in +ordinary times there would not have been the least need of adding to +the already sufficient city watch. It lacked four hours of midnight +before she brought herself to take her tablets and write the following +brief note:-- + +"Fabia the Vestal to Agias her good friend, greeting. I am in some +anxiety to-night. Gabinius, Lucius Ahenobarbus's friend, is in the +city. He means, I fear, to work me some mischief, though the cause +whereby I have good reason to dread him is too long here to write. The +Atrium Vestae has nothing to protect it to-night--as you well may +understand--from impious, violent men. Can you not guard me overnight? +I do not know how. Gabinius may have all Dumnorix's band with him. But +you alone are equal to an host. I trust you, as Drusus and Cornelia +have trusted you. _Vale_." + +Fabia called one of the young slave-girls who waited on the Vestals. +The relation between servant and mistress, in the Temple company, was +almost ideal in its gentle loyalty. The slaves were happy in their +bondage. + +"Erigone," she said, putting the tablets in the girl's hand, "I am +about to ask of you a very brave thing. Do you dare to take this +letter through the city?" and she told her how to find Agias's +lodgings. "Come back in the morning if you dread a double journey. But +do not tell Fonteia; she would be angry if she knew I sent you, though +there is nothing but what is right in the letter." + +"I will carry the tablets to Scythia for you, domina," replied the +girl, kissing the hem of her mistress's robe. "I know all the streets. +If I live, the letter shall be delivered." + +"Go by the alleys," enjoined Fabia; "they are safer, for you will not +be seen. Speak to no one. Let none stop you." + +Erigone was gone in the night, and Fabia went to her chamber. She was +reproaching herself for having sent the letter. Rome by darkness was +an evil place for a young maid to traverse, and never worse than that +night. Fabia repeated to herself that she had committed an act of +selfish folly, possibly sacrificing an implicitly loyal servant to the +mere gratification of a perfectly ungrounded panic. She was undressed +by her other women, and lay down with Livia fast asleep in her arms; +and she kissed the little one again and again before slumber stole +over her. + + +IV + +Demetrius had been astonishing his cousin that evening by the quantity +of strong wine he could imbibe without becoming in the least tipsy. +Agias marvelled at the worthy pirate's capacity and hardness of head, +and, fortunately for his own wits, did not attempt to emulate the +other's potations. Consequently, as the evening advanced, Demetrius +simply became more and more good-natured and talkative, and Agias more +entranced with his cousin's narration of the Indian voyage. + +The younger Greek was about to order his yawning servants to fill up +another _krater_,[159] when the conversation and drinking were +interrupted by the arrival of Erigone. She, poor girl, had set out +bravely enough; but once outside of the Atrium Vestae every shadow had +been a refuge of cutthroats, every noise the oncoming of goblins. +Fortunately for her, she did not know the contents of the tablets she +carried pressed to her breast, or she would have been all the more +timorous. Once a few half-sober topers screamed ribald words after +her, as she stole past a low tavern. She had lost her way, in the +darkness and fright, among the alleys; she had dodged into a doorway +more than once to hide from approaching night rovers. But at last she +had reached her destination, and, pale and weary, placed the letter in +Agias's hands. The young Greek read and grew grave. Even better than +Fabia he understood how reckless a profligate Publius Gabinius might +be, and how opportune was the night for carrying out any deed of +darkness. + + [159] Wine-mixing bowl. + +"Brave girl!" he said, commending Erigone for persevering on her +errand. "But how long ago did you leave your mistress?" + +"It was the second hour of the night[160] when I started," she +replied. + + [160] The Romans divided the night into 12 hours (from sunrise to + sunset); thus the length of the hour varied with the seasons: but + at the time here mentioned the "second hour" was about 8 P.M. The + water-clocks could show only regular, not solar, time. + +Agias glanced at the water-clock. + +"By Zeus!" he cried, "it is now the fourth hour! You have been two +hours on the way! Immortal gods! What's to be done? Look here, +Demetrius!" + +And he thrust the letter before his cousin, and explained its meaning +as rapidly as he could. + +Demetrius puffed hard through his nostrils. + +"_Mu! mu!_ This is bad business. If there were time I could have +twenty as stout men as ever swung sword up from the yacht and on guard +to die for any relative or friend of Sextus Drusus. But there's not a +moment to lose. Have you any arms?" + +Agias dragged two short swords out of a chest. Demetrius was already +throwing on his cloak. + +"Those are poor, light weapons," commented the pirate. "I want my +heavy cutlass. But take what the gods send;" and he girded one about +him. "At least, they will cut a throat. Do you know how to wield +them?" + +"After a fashion," replied Agias, modestly, making haste to clasp his +paenula. + +Leaving Erigone to be cared for by the slaves and sent home the next +morning, the two Greeks hastened from the house. Agias could hardly +keep pace with his cousin's tremendous stride. Demetrius was like a +war-horse, which snuffs the battle from afar and tugs at the rein to +join in the fray. They plunged through the dark streets. Once a man +sprang out from a doorway before them with a cudgel. He may have been +a footpad; but Demetrius, without pausing in his haste, smote the +fellow between the eyes with a terrible fist, and the wretched +creature dropped without a groan. Demetrius seemed guided to the Forum +and Via Sacra as if by an inborn instinct. Agias almost ran at his +heels. + +"How many may this Dumnorix have with him?" shouted the pirate over +his shoulder. + +"Perhaps ten, perhaps twenty!" gasped Agias. + +"A very pretty number! Some little credit to throttle them," was his +answer; and Demetrius plunged on. + +The night was cloudy, there was no moonlight. The cold, chill wind +swept down the Tiber valley, and howled mournfully among the tall, +silent basilicas and temples of the Forum. The feet of the two Greeks +echoed and reëchoed as they crossed the pavement of the enclosure. +None addressed them, none met them. It was as if they walked in a city +of the dead. In the darkness, like weird phantoms, rose the tall +columns and pediments of the deserted buildings. From nowhere twinkled +the ray of lamp. Dim against the sky-line the outlines of the +Capitoline and its shrines were now and then visible, when the night +seemed for an instant to grow less dark. + +They were close to the Atrium Vestae. All was quiet. No light within, +no sound but that of the wind and their own breathing without. + +"We are not too late," whispered Agias. + +The two groped their way in among the pillars of the portico of the +_Regia,_[161] and crouched down under cover of the masonry, half +sheltered from the chilly blasts. They could from their post command a +tolerably good view of one side of the Atrium Vestae. Still the +darkness was very great, and they dared not divide their force by one +of them standing watch on the other side. The moments passed. It was +extremely cold. Agias shivered and wound himself in his mantle. The +wine was making him drowsy, and he felt himself sinking into +semiconsciousness, when a touch on his arm aroused him. + + [161] The official residence of the Pontifex Maximus. + +"_St!"_ whispered Demetrius. "I saw a light moving." + +Agias stared into the darkness. + +"There," continued the pirate, "see, it is a lantern carefully +covered! Only a little glint on the ground now and then. Some one is +creeping along the wall to enter the house of the Vestals!" + +"I see nothing," confessed Agias, rubbing his eyes. + +"You are no sailor; look harder. I can count four men in the gloom. +They are stealing up to the gate of the building. Is your sword ready? +Now--" + +But at this instant Demetrius was cut short by a scream--scream of +mortal terror--from within the Atrium Vestae. There were shouts, howls, +commands, moans, entreaties, shrieks. Light after light blazed up in +the building; women rushed panic-struck to the doorway to burst forth +into the night; and at the open portal Agias saw a gigantic figure +with upraised long sword, a Titan, malevolent, destroying, +terrible,--at the sight whereof the women shrank back, screaming yet +the more. + +"Dumnorix!" shouted Agias; but before he spoke Demetrius had leaped +forward. + +Right past the sword-wielding monster sprang the pirate, and Agias, +all reckless, was at his heels. The twain were in the atrium of the +house. A torch was spluttering and blazing on the pavement, shedding +all around a bright, flickering, red glare. Young Vestals and +maid-servants were cowering on their knees, or prone on cushions, +writhing and screaming with fear unspeakable. A swart Spanish brigand, +with his sabre gripped in his teeth, was tearing a gold-thread and +silk covering from a pillow; a second plunderer was wrenching from its +chain a silver lamp. Demetrius rushed past these also, before any +could inquire whether he was not a comrade in infamy. But there were +other shouts from the peristylium, other cries and meanings. As the +pirate sprang to the head of the passage leading to the inner house, a +swarm of desperadoes poured through it, Gauls, Germans, Africans, +Italian renegadoes,--perhaps ten in all,--and in their midst--half +borne, half dragged--something white! + +"_Io triumphe!_" called a voice from the throng, "my bird will leave +her cage!" + +"The lady! Gabinius!" cried Agias, and, without waiting for his +cousin, the young Greek flung himself forward. One stroke of his short +sword sent a leering negro prone upon the pavement; one snatch of his +hand seized the white mantle, and held it--held it though half a dozen +blades were flashing in his face in an eye's twinkling. But the +prowess of twenty men was in the arm of Demetrius; his sword was at +once attacker and shield; with a single sweeping blow he smote down +the guard and cleft the skull of a towering Teuton; with a lightning +dart he caught up the ponderous long sword of the falling brigand, +passed his own shorter weapon to his left hand, and so fought,--doubly +armed,--parrying with his left and striking with his right. And how he +struck! The whole agile, supple nature of the Greek entered into every +fence. He struck and foiled with his entire body. Now a bound to one +side; now a dart at an opponent's head; fighting with feet, head, +frame, and not with hands only. And Agias--he fought too, and knew not +how he fought! When a blow was aimed at him, Demetrius always parried +it before he could raise his sword; if he struck, Demetrius had felled +the man first; but he never let go of the white dress, nor quitted the +side of the lady. And presently, he did not know after how long--for +hours make minutes, and minutes hours, in such a melee--there was a +moment's silence, and he saw Publius Gabinius sinking down upon the +pavement, the blood streaming over his cloak; and the brigands, such +as were left of them, scurrying out of the atrium cowed and +panic-struck at the fall of their leader. Then, as he threw his arms +about Fabia, and tried to raise her to her feet, he saw the giant +Dumnorix, with his flail-like sword, rushing back to the rescue. + +Four brigands lay dead in the atrium and none of the others dared look +the redoubtable Greek swordsman in the eyes; but Dumnorix came on--the +incarnation of brute fury. Then again Demetrius fought,--fought as the +angler fights the fish that he doubts not to land, yet only after due +play; and the Gaul, like some awkward Polyphemus, rushed upon him, +flinging at him barbarous curses in his own tongue, and snorting and +raging like a bull. Thrice the Greek sprang back before the monster; +thrice the giant swung his mighty sword to cleave his foeman down, and +cut the empty air; but at the fourth onset the Hellene smote the +ex-lanista once across the neck, and the great eyes rolled, and the +panting stopped, and the mighty Gaul lay silent in a spreading pool of +blood. + +Already there were shouts and cries in the Forum. Torches were dancing +hither and thither. The slave-maids of the Vestals ran down the Via +Sacra shrieking and calling for aid. Out from the dark tenements +rushed the people. The thieves ran from their lairs; the late drinkers +sprang from their wine. And when the wretched remnants of Dumnorix's +band of ex-gladiators and brigands strove to flee from the holy house +they had polluted, a hundred hands were put forth against each one, +and they were torn to pieces by the frenzied mob. Into the Atrium +Vestae swarmed the people, howling, shouting, praising the goddess, +fighting one another--every man imagining his neighbour a cutthroat +and abductor. + +Agias stood bearing up Fabia in his arms; she was pale as the driven +snow. Her lips moved, but no sound passed from them. Fonteia, the old +Maxima, with her white hair tumbling over her shoulders, was still +huddled in one corner, groaning and moaning in a paroxysm of +unreasoning terror, without dignity or self-control. A frightened maid +had touched the torch to the tall candelabra, and the room blazed with +a score of lights; while in at the doorway pressed the multitude--the +mob of low tapsters, brutal butchers, coarse pedlers, and drunkards +just staggering from their cups. The scene was one of pandemonium. +Dumnorix lay prone on a costly rug, whose graceful patterns were being +dyed to a hideous crimson; over one divan lay a brigand--struggling in +the last agony of a mortal wound. Three comrades lay stretched stiff +and motionless on the floor. Gory swords and daggers were strewn all +over the atrium; the presses of costly wood had been torn open, their +contents scattered across the room. There was blood on the frescoes, +blood on the marble feet of the magnificent Diomedes, which stood +rigid in cold majesty on its pedestal, dominating the wreck below. + +Agias with Fabia stood at the end of the atrium near the exit to the +peristylium. Demetrius, seemingly hardly breathed by his exertions, +leaned on his captured long sword at his cousin's side. The multitude, +for an instant, as they saw the ruin and slaughter, drew back with a +hush. Men turned away their faces as from a sight of evil omen. Who +were they to set foot in the mansion of the servants of the awful +Vesta? But others from behind, who saw and heard nothing, pressed +their fellows forward. The mob swept on. As with one consent all eyes +were riveted on Fabia. What had happened? Who was guilty? Why had +these men of violence done this wrong to the home of the hearth +goddess? And then out of a farther corner, while yet the people +hesitated from reverence, staggered a figure, its face streaming with +blood, its hands pressing its side. + +"_Quirites_," cried a voice, the voice of one speaking with but one +remaining breath, "ye have rewarded me as the law demands; see that +_she_" and a bloody forefinger pointed at Fabia, "who led me to this +deed, is not unpunished. _She_ is the more guilty!" + +And with a groan the figure fell like a statue of wood to the +pavement; fell heavily, and lay stirring not, neither giving any +sound. In his last moment Publius Gabinius had sought a terrible +revenge. + +And then madness seized on the people. + +"She is his sweetheart! She is his paramour!" cried a score of filthy +voices. "She has brought down this insult to the goddess! There is no +pontifex here to try her! Tear her in pieces! Strike! Slay!" + +But Demetrius had turned to his cousin. + +"Agias," he said, making himself heard despite the clamour, "do you +believe the charge of that man?" + +"No villain ever would avenge himself more basely." + +"Then at all costs we must save the lady." + +It was time. A fat butcher, flourishing a heavy cleaver, had leaped +forward; Fabia saw him with glassy, frightened eyes, but neither +shrieked nor drew back. But Demetrius smote the man with his long +sword through the body, and the brute dropped the cleaver as he fell. + +"Now," and Demetrius seized the Vestal around the waist, as lightly as +a girl would raise a kitten, and flung her across his shoulders. One +stride and he was in the passage leading to the peristylium; and +before the mob could follow Agias had dashed the door in their faces, +and shot the bolt. + +"It will hold them back a moment," muttered Demetrius, "but we must +hasten." + +They ran across the peristylium, the pirate chief with his burden no +less swift than Agias. The door to the rear street was flung open, and +they were out in a narrow alleyway. Just as they did so, a howl of +many voices proclaimed that the peristylium door had yielded. + +"Guide me by the straightest way," commanded the sea rover. + +"Where?" was Agias's question. + +"To the wharves. The yacht is the only safe place for the lady. There +I will teach her how I can honour a friend of Sextus Drusus." + +Agias felt that it was no time for expostulation. A Vestal Virgin take +refuge on a pirate ship! But it was a matter of life and death now, +and there was no time for forming another plan. Once let the mob +overtake them, and the lives of all three were not worth a sesterce. +Agias found it necessary to keep himself collected while he ran, or he +would lose the way in the maze of streets. The yacht was moored far +below the Pons Sublicius, and the whole way was full of peril. It was +no use to turn off into alleys and by-paths; to do so at night meant +to be involved in a labyrinth as deadly for them as that of the Cretan +Minos. The mob was on their heels, howling, raging. The people were +beginning to wake in their houses along the streets. Men bawled "Stop +thief!" from the windows, imagining there had been a robbery. Once two +or three figures actually swung out into the way before them, but at a +stray glint of lantern light falling on Demetrius's naked long sword, +they vanished in the gloom. But still the mob pressed on, ever gaining +accessions, ever howling the more fiercely. Agias realized that the +weight of his burden was beginning to tell on even the iron frame of +his cousin. The pursuers and pursued were drawing closer together. The +mob was ever reenforced by relays; the handicap on Demetrius was too +great. They had passed down the Vicus Tuscus, flown past the dark +shadow of the lower end of the Circus Maximus. At the Porta Trigemina +the unguarded portal had stood open; there was none to stop them. They +passed by the Pons Sublicius, and skirted the Aventine. Stones and +billets of wood began to whistle past their ears,--the missiles of the +on-rushing multitude. At last the wharves! Out in the darkness stood +the huge bulk of a Spanish lumberman; but there was no refuge there. +The grain wharves and the oil wharves were passed; the sniff of the +mackerel fisher, the faint odour from the great Alexandrian +merchantman loaded with the spices of India, were come and gone. A +stone struck Agias in the shoulder, he felt numb in one arm, to drag +his feet was a burden; the flight with the Caesarians to the Janiculum +had not been like to this,--death at the naked sword had been at least +in store then, and now to be plucked in pieces by a mob! Another stone +brushed forward his hair and dashed, not against Demetrius ahead, but +against his burden. There was--Agias could hear--a low moan; but at +the same instant the fleeing pirate uttered a whistle so loud, so +piercing, that the foremost pursuers came to a momentary stand, in +half-defined fright, In an instant there came an answering whistle +from the wharf just ahead. In a twinkling half a dozen torches had +flashed out all over a small vessel, now barely visible in the night, +at one of the mooring rings. There was a strange jargon of voices +calling in some Oriental tongue; and Demetrius, as he ran, answered +them in a like language. Then over Agias's head and into the thick +press of the mob behind, something--arrows no doubt--flew whistling; +and there were groans and cries of pain. And Agias found uncouth, +bearded men helping or rather casting him over the side of the vessel. +The yacht was alive with men: some were bounding ashore to loose the +hawsers, others were lifting ponderous oars, still more were shooting +fast and cruelly in the direction of the mob, while its luckless +leaders struggled to turn in flight, and the multitude behind, +ignorant of the slaughter, was forcing them on to death. Above the +clamour, the howls of the mob, the shouts of the sailors, the grating +of oars, and the creaking of cables, rang the voice of Demetrius; and +at his word a dozen ready hands put each command into action. The +narrow, easy-moving yacht caught the current; a long tier of white +oars glinted in the torchlight, smote the water, and the yacht bounded +away, while a parting flight of arrows left misery and death upon the +quay. + +Agias, sorely bewildered, clambered on to the little poop. His cousin +stood grasping one of the steering paddles; the ruddy lantern light +gleamed on the pirate's frame and face, and made him the perfect +personification of a sea-king; he was some grandly stern Poseidon, the +"Storm-gatherer" and the "Earth-shaker." When he spoke to Agias, it +was in the tone of a despot to a subject. + +"The lady is below. Go to her. You are to care for her until I rejoin +my fleet. Tell her my sister shall not be more honoured than she, nor +otherwise treated. When I am aboard my flag-ship, she shall have +proper maids and attendance. Go!" + +Agias obeyed, saying nothing. He found Fabia lying on a rude pallet, +with a small bale of purple silk thrust under her head for a pillow. +She stared at him with wild, frightened eyes, then round the little +cabin, which, while bereft of all but the most necessary comforts, was +decorated with bejeweled armour, golden lamps, costly Indian +tapestries and ivory--the trophies of half a score of voyages. + +"Agias," she faintly whispered, "tell me what has happened since I +awoke from my sleep and found Gabinius's ruffians about me. By +whatsoever god you reverence most, speak truly!" + +Agias fell on his knees, kissed the hem of her robe, kissed her hands. +Then he told her all,--as well as his own sorely confused wits would +admit. Fabia heard him through to the end, then laid her face between +her hands. + +"Would that--would that they had murdered me as they wished! It would +be all over now," she agonized. "I have no wish again to see the +light. Whether they believe me innocent or guilty of the charge is +little; I can never be happy again." + +"And why not, dear lady?" cried Agias. + +"Don't ask me! I do not know. I do not know anything! Leave me! It is +not fit that you should see me crying like a child. Leave me! Leave +me!" + +And thus conjured, Agias went up to the poop once more. + +The yacht was flying down the current under her powerful oarage. +Demetrius was still standing with his hands fixed on the steering +paddle; his gaze was drifting along in the plashing water. The shadowy +outlines of the great city had vanished; the yacht was well on her way +down the river to Ostia. Save for the need to avoid a belated +merchantman anchored in midstream for the night, there was little +requiring the master's skill. Agias told his cousin how Fabia had sent +him away. + +"_A!_ Poor lady!" replied the pirate, "perhaps she was the Vestal I +saw a few days since, and envied her, to see the consuls' lictors +lowering their rods to her, and all the people making way before her; +she, protected by the whole might of this terrible Roman people, and +honoured by them all; and I, a poor outlaw, massing gold whereof I +have no need, slaying men when I would be their friend, with only an +open sea and a few planks for native land. And now, see how the Fates +bring her down so low, that at my hands she receives hospitality, nay, +life!" + +"You did not seem so very loath to shed blood to-night," commented +Agias, dryly. + +"No, by Zeus!" was his frank answer. "It is easy to send men over the +Styx after having been Charon's substitute for so many years. But the +trade was not pleasant to learn, and, bless the gods, you may not have +to be apprenticed to it." + +"Then you will not take me with you in your rover's life?" asked +Agias, half-disappointedly. + +"Apollo forbid! I will take you and the lady to some place where she +can be safe until she may return vindicated, and where you can earn an +honest livelihood, marry a wife of station, in accordance with the +means which I shall give you, dwell peaceably, and be happy." + +"But I cannot accept your present," protested the younger Greek. + +"_Phui!_ What use have I of money? To paraphrase AEschylus: 'For more +of money than I would is mine.' I can't eat it, or beat swords out of +gold, or repair my ships therewith." + +"Then why amass it at all?" + +"Why drink when you know it is better to keep sober? I can no more +stop plundering than a toper leave a wine-jar. Besides, perhaps some +day I may see a road to amnesty open,--and, then, what will not money +do for a man or woman?" + +"Quintus Drusus, my patron, the Lady Cornelia, and the Lady Fabia all +are rich. But I would not take up their sorrows for all their wealth." + +"True," and Demetrius stared down into the inky water. "It will not +give back those who are gone forever. Achilles could ask Hephaestus for +his armour, but he could not put breath into the body of Patroclus. +_Plutus_ and _Cratus_[162] are, after all, but weaklings. _A!_ This is +an unequal world!" + + [162] Riches and strength. + +When Agias fell asleep that night, or rather that morning, on a hard +seaman's pallet, two names were stirring in his heart, names +inextricably connected: Cornelia, whom he had promised Quintus Drusus +to save from Ahenobarbus's clutches, and Artemisia. In the morning the +yacht, having run her sixteen miles to Ostia, stood out to sea, naught +hindering. + + * * * * * + +It was two months later when Quintus Drusus reentered Rome, no more a +fugitive, but a trusted staff officer of the lawfully appointed +dictator Julius Caesar. He had taken part in a desperate struggle +around Corfinium, where his general had cut off and captured the army +with which Domitius had aimed to check his advance. Drusus had been +severely wounded, and had not recovered in time to participate in the +futile siege of Brundusium, when Caesar vainly strove to prevent +Pompeius's flight across the sea to Greece. Soon as he was +convalescent, the young officer had hurried away to Rome; and there he +was met by a story concerning his aunt, whereof no rational +explanation seemed possible. And when, upon this mystery, was added a +tale he received from Baiae, he marvelled, yet dreaded, the more. + + + + +Chapter XIX + +The Hospitality of Demetrius + + +I + +While grave senators were contending, tribunes haranguing, imperators +girding on the sword, legions marching, cohorts clashing,--while all +this history was being made in the outside world, Cornelia, very +desolate, very lonely, was enduring her imprisonment at Baiae. + +If she had had manacles on her wrists and fetters on her feet, she +would not have been the more a prisoner. Lentulus Crus had determined, +with the same grim tenacity of purpose which led him to plunge a world +into war, that his niece should comply with his will and marry Lucius +Ahenobarbus. He sent down to Baiae, Phaon,--the evil-eyed freedman of +Ahenobarbus,--and gave to that worthy full power to do anything he +wished to break the will of his prospective patroness. Cassandra had +been taken away from Cornelia--she could not learn so much as whether +the woman had been scourged to death for arranging the interview with +Drusus, or no. Two ill-favoured slatternly Gallic maids, the scourings +of the Puteoli slave-market, had been forced upon Cornelia as her +attendants--creatures who stood in abject fear of the whip of Phaon, +and who obeyed his mandates to the letter. Cornelia was never out of +sight of some person whom she knew was devoted to Lentulus, or rather +to Phaon and his patron. She received no letters save those from her +mother, uncle, or Ahenobarbus; she saw no visitors; she was not +allowed to go outside of the walls of the villa, nor indeed upon any +of its terraces where she would be exposed to sight from without, +whether by land or sea. At every step, at every motion, she was +confronted with the barriers built around her, and by the +consciousness that, so long as she persisted in her present attitude, +her durance was likely to continue unrelaxed. + +Cornelia was thirsty for the news from the world without. Her keepers +were dumb to the most harmless inquiry. Her mother wrote more of the +latest fashions than of the progress of events in the Senate and in +the field; besides, Claudia--as Cornelia knew very well--never took +her political notions from any one except her brother-in-law, and +Cornelia noted her mother's rambling observations accordingly. +Lentulus studiously refrained from adverting to politics in letters to +his niece. Ahenobarbus wrote of wars and rumours of wars, but in a +tone of such partisan venom and overreaching sarcasm touching all +things Caesarian, that Cornelia did not need her prejudices to tell her +that Lucius was simply abusing her credulity. + +Then at last all the letters stopped. Phaon had no explanation to +give. He would not suffer his evil, smiling lips to tell the story of +the flight of the oligarchs from Rome, and confess that Lentulus and +Claudia were no farther off than Capua. The consul had ordered that +his niece should not know of their proximity and its cause,--lest she +pluck up hope, and all his coercion be wasted. So there was silence, +and that was all. Even her mother did not write to her. Cornelia grew +very, very lonely and desolate--more than words may tell. She had one +consolation--Drusus was not dead, or she would have been informed of +it! Proof that her lover was dead would have been a most delightful +weapon in Lentulus's hands, too delightful to fail to use instantly. +And so Cornelia hoped on. + +She tried again to build a world of fantasy, of unreal delight, around +her; to close her eyes, and wander abroad with her imagination. She +roamed in reverie over land and sea, from Atlantis to Serica; and +dwelt in the dull country of the Hyperboreans and saw the gold-sanded +plains of the Ethiops. She took her Homer and fared with Odysseus into +Polyphemus's cave, and out to the land of Circe; and heard the Sirens +sing, and abode on Calypso's fairy isle; and saw the maiden Nausicaa +and her maids at the ball-play on the marge of the stream. But it was +sorry work; for ever and again the dream-woven mist would break, and +the present--stern, unchanging, joyless--she would see, and that only. + +Cornelia was thrown more and more back on her books. In fact, had she +been deprived of that diversion, she must have succumbed in sheer +wretchedness; but Phaon, for all his crafty guile, did not realize +that a roll of AEschylus did almost as much to undo his jailer's work +as a traitor among his underlings. + +The library was a capacious, well-lighted room, prettily frescoed, and +provided with comfortably upholstered couches. In the niches were a +few choice busts: a Sophocles, a Xenophon, an Ennius, and one or two +others. Around the room in wooden presses were the rolled volumes on +Egyptian papyrus, each labelled with author and title in bright red +marked on the tablet attached to the cylinder of the roll. Here were +the poets and historians of Hellas; the works of Plato, Aristotle, +Callimachus, Apollonius Rhodius and the later Greek philosophers. +Here, too, were books which the Greek-hating young lady loved best of +all--the rough metres of Livius Andronicus and Cnaeus Naevius, whose +uncouth lines of the old Saturnian verse breathed of the hale, hearty, +uncultured, uncorrupted life of the period of the First Punic War. +Beside them were the other great Latinists: Ennius, Plautus, Terence, +and furthermore, Pacuvius and Cato Major, Lucilius, the memoirs of +Sulla, the orations of Antonius "the orator" and Gracchus, and the +histories of Claudius Quadrigarius and Valerius Antias. + +The library became virtually Cornelia's prison. She read tragedy, +comedy, history, philosophy,--anything to drive from her breast her +arch enemy, thought. But if, for example, she turned to Apollonius +Rhodius and read-- + + "Amidst them all, the son of AEson chief + Shone forth divinely in his comeliness, + And graces of his form. On him the maid + Looked still askance, and gazed him o'er;"[163] + + [163] Elton, translator. + +straightway she herself became Medea, Jason took on the form of +Drusus, and she would read no more; "while," as the next line of the +learned poet had it, "grief consumed her heart." + +Only one other recreation was left her. Artemisia had not been taken +away by Phaon, who decided that the girl was quite impotent to thwart +his ends. Cornelia devoted much of her time to teaching the bright +little Greek. The latter picked up the scraps of knowledge with a +surprising readiness, and would set Cornelia a-laughing by her +_naivete_, when she soberly intermixed her speech with bits of grave +poetical and philosophical lore, uttered more for sake of sound than +sense. + +As a matter of fact, however, Cornelia was fast approaching a point +where her position would have been intolerable. She did not even have +the stimulus that comes from an active aggressive persecution. Drusus +was in the world of action, not forgetful of his sweetheart, yet not +pent up to solitary broodings on his ill-fated passion. Cornelia was +thrust back upon herself, and found herself a very discontented, +wretched, love-lorn, and withal--despite her polite learning--ignorant +young woman, who took pleasure neither in sunlight nor starlight; who +saw a mocking defiance in every dimple of the sapphire bay; who saw in +each new day merely a new period for impotent discontent. Something +had to determine her situation, or perhaps she would not indeed have +bowed her head to her uncle's will; but she certainly would have been +driven to resolutions of the most desperate nature. + +Cornelia had practically lost reckoning of time and seasons. She had +ceased hoping for a letter from her mother; even a taunting missive +from Ahenobarbus would have been a diversion. She was so closely +guarded that she found herself praying that Drusus would not try to +steal a second interview, for the attempt might end in his murder. +Only one stray crumb of comfort at last did she obtain, and it was +Artemisia who brought it to her. The girl had been allowed by Phaon to +walk outside the grounds of the villa for a little way, and her pretty +face had won the good graces of one or two slave-boys in an adjoining +seaside house. Artemisia came back full of news which they had +imparted: the consuls had fled from Rome; Pompeius was retreating +before Caesar; the latest rumour had it that Domitius was shut up in +Corfinium and likely to come off hardly. + +The words were precious as rubies to Cornelia. She went all that day +and the next with her head in the air. Perhaps with a lover's subtle +omniscience she imagined that it was Drusus who had some part in +bringing Domitius to bay. She pictured the hour when he--with a legion +no doubt at his back--would come to Baiae, not a stealthy, forbidden +lover, but a conqueror, splendid in the triumph of his arms; would +enter the villa with a strong hand, and lead her forth in the eyes of +all the world--his wife! and then back to Praeneste, to Rome--happy as +the Immortals on Olympus; and what came after, Cornelia neither +thought nor cared. + +On those days the sea was lovely, the sunlight fair, and all the +circling sea-gulls as they hovered over the waves cried shrilly one to +the other; "How good is all the world!" And then, just as Cornelia was +beginning to count the hours,--to wonder whether it would be one day +or ten before Drusus would be sufficiently at liberty to ride over +hill and dale to Baiae,--Phaon thrust himself upon her. + +"Your ladyship," was his curt statement, "will have all things +prepared in readiness to take ship for Greece, to-morrow morning." + +"For Greece!" was the agonized exclamation. + +"Certainly; it is useless to conceal matters from your ladyship now. +Caesar has swept all Italy. Corfinium may fall at any time. His +excellency the consul Lentulus is now at Brundusium. He orders me to +put you on board a vessel that has just finished her lading for the +Piraeus." + +This then was the end of all those glittering day-dreams! Caesar's +victories only would transfer Cornelia to a more secure bondage. She +had enough pride left not to moan aloud and plead with an animal like +Phaon not to crush her utterly. In fact she was benumbed, and did not +fully sense the changed situation. She went through a mechanical +process of collecting her wardrobe, of putting her jewellery in cases +and boxes, of laying aside for carriage a few necessaries for +Artemisia. Phaon, who had expected a terrible scene when he made his +announcement, observed to himself that, "The domina is more sensible +than I supposed. I think her uncle will have his way now soon enough, +if Master Lucius does not get his throat cut at Corfinium." And having +thus concluded to himself,--satisfactorily, if erroneously,--he, too, +made arrangements for the voyage impending. + + +II + +Cornelia's sleeping room was large and airy. It had windows +overlooking the sea--windows closed by the then extravagant luxury of +panes of glass. When these were swung back the full sweep of the +southwest wind poured its mild freshness into the room. The apartment +was decorated and furnished with every taste and luxury. In one corner +was the occupant's couch,--the frame inlaid with ivory and +tortoise-shell, the mattress soft with the very choicest feathers of +white German geese. Heaped on the cushion were gorgeous coverlets, of +purple wool or even silk, and embroidered with elaborate figures, or +covered with rare feather tapestry. Around the room were silver +mirrors, chairs, divans, cabinets, dressers, and elegant tripods. + +On one of the divans slept Artemisia, and just outside of the door one +of the Gallic maids, whom Cornelia detested so heartily. + +When Artemisia's curly head touched her pillow, its owner was fast +asleep in an instant. When her patroness sank back on the cushions +worth a king's ransom, Somnus, Hypnus, or whatever name the drowsy god +may be called by, was far from present. Cornelia tossed on the +pillows, tossed and cried softly to herself. The battle was too hard! +She had tried: tried to be true to Drusus and her own higher +aspirations. But there was some limit to her strength, and Cornelia +felt that limit very near at hand. Earlier in the conflict with her +uncle she had exulted in the idea that suicide was always in her +power; now she trembled at the thought of death, at the thought of +everything contained in the unlovely future. She did not want to die, +to flicker out in nothingness, never to smile and never to laugh +again. Why should she not be happy--rightly happy? Was she not a +Cornelian, a Claudian, born to a position that a princess might enjoy? +Was not wealth hers, and a fair degree of wit and a handsome face? Why +then should she, the patrician maiden, eat her heart out, while close +at hand Artemisia, poor little foundling Greek, was sleeping as +sweetly as though people never grieved nor sorrows tore the soul? + +Cornelia was almost angry with Artemisia for being thus oblivious to +and shielded from calamity. So hot in fact did her indignation become +against the innocent girl, that Cornelia herself began to smile at her +own passion. And there was one thought very comforting to her pride. + +"Artemisia is only an uneducated slave, or little better than a slave; +if she were in my station she would be just as unhappy. I am wretched +just in proportion to the greatness of my rank;" then she added to +herself, "_Hei!_ but how wretched then the gods must be!" And then +again she smiled at admitting for an instant that there were any gods +at all; had not her philosophy taught her much better? + +So at last Cornelia turned over the pillows for the last time, and +finally slept, in heavy, dreamless slumber. + + * * * * * + +Cornelia did not know at what watch of the night she awoke; awoke, not +suddenly, but slowly, as consciousness stole over her that _something_ +was happening. It was a dark, cloudy night, yet a strange red light +was glinting faintly through the windows and making very dim panels on +the rugs of the floor. There was a bare gleam of fire from the +charcoal in the portable metal stove that stood in a remote corner of +the room to dispel the chill of night. Artemisia was stirring in her +sleep, and saying something--probably in a one-sided dream-dialogue. +Cornelia opened her eyes, shut them again; peeped forth a second time, +and sat up in bed. There was a confused din without, many voices +speaking at once, all quite unintelligible, though now and then she +caught a few syllables of Greek. The din grew louder and louder. At +the same time, as if directly connected with the babel, the strange +light flamed up more brightly--as if from many advancing torches. +Cornelia shook the sleep from her eyes, and flung back the coverlets. +What was it? She had not yet reached the stage of feeling any terror. + +Suddenly, drowning all lesser noise, came the blows of a heavy timber +beating on the main door of the villa. + +Crash! and with the stroke, a torrent of wild shouts, oaths, and +imprecations burst forth from many score throats. + +Crash! The slaves sleeping near the front door began to howl and +shout. The great Molossian hound that stood watch was barking and +snapping. The Gallic maid sprang from her pallet by Cornelia's door, +and gave a shrill, piercing scream. Artemisia was sitting up on her +bed, rubbing her eyes, blinking at the strange light, and about to +begin to cry. Cornelia ran over the floor to her. + +"_A! A!_ what is going to happen!" whimpered the girl. + +"I do not know, _philotata_"[164] said Cornelia in Greek, putting her +hand on Artemisia's cheek; "but don't cry, and I'll soon find out." + + [164] Dearest one. + +Crash! and at this the door could be heard to fall inward. Then, with +yells of triumph and passion, there was a great sweep of feet over the +threshold, and the clang of weapons and armour. Cornelia found herself +beginning to tremble. As she stepped across the room, she passed +before her largest mirror, whereon the outside light was shining +directly. She saw herself for an instant; her hair streaming down her +back, her only dress her loose white tunic, her arms bare, and nothing +on her throat except a string of yellow amber beads. "And my feet are +bare," she added to herself, diverted from her panic by her womanly +embarrassment. She advanced toward the door, but had not long to wait. +Down below the invaders had burst loose in wild pillage, then up into +the sleeping room came flying a man--Phaon, his teeth chattering, his +face ghastly with fright. + +"Domina! domina!" and he knelt and seized Cornelia's robe. "Save, _A!_ +save! We are undone! Pirates! They will kill us all! _Mu! mu!_ don't +let them murder me!" + +A moment longer and Cornelia, in her rising contempt, would have +spurned him with her foot. There were more feet on the stairway. +Glaring torches were tossing over gold inlaid armour. A man of unusual +height and physique strode at the head of the oncomers, clutching and +dragging by the wrist a quivering slave-boy. + +"Your mistress, boy! where is she? Point quickly, if you would not +die!" cried the invader, whom we shall at once recognize as Demetrius. + +Cornelia advanced to the doorway, and stood in her maidenly dignity, +confronting the pirates, who fell back a step, as though before an +apparition. + +"I am the Lady Cornelia, mistress of the villa," she said slowly, +speaking in tones of high command. "On what errand do you come thus +unseasonably, and with violence?" + +Whereat, out from the little group of armed men sprang one clad in +costly, jewel-set armour, like the rest, but shorter than the others, +and with fair hair flowing down from his helmet on to his shoulders. + +"Domina, do you not know me? Do not be afraid." + +"Agias!" cried Cornelia, in turn giving back a step. + +"Assuredly," quoth the young Hellene, nothing dismayed; "and with your +leave, this great man is Demetrius, my cousin, whose trade, perchance, +is a little irregular, but who has come hither not so much to plunder +as to save you from the clutches of his arch-enemy's son, Lucius +Ahenobarbus." + +Cornelia staggered, and caught the curtain in the doorway to keep from +falling. + +"Has Master Drusus sent him to me?" she asked, very pale around the +lips. + +"Master Drusus is at Corfinium. No one knows what will be the issue of +the war, for Pompeius is making off. It is I who counselled my cousin +to come to Baiae." + +"Then what will you do with me? How may I dare to trust you? Deliver +myself into the hands of pirates! Ah! Agias, I did not think that +_you_ would turn to such a trade!" + +The youth flushed visibly, even under the ruddy torchlight. + +"Oh, lady," he cried, "have I not always been true to you? I am no +pirate, and you will not blame my cousin, when you have heard his +story. But do not fear us. Come down to the ship--Fabia is there, +waiting for you." + +"Fabia!" and again Cornelia was startled. Then, fixing her deep gaze +full on Agias, "I believe you speak the truth. If not you--whom? +Take--take me!" + +And she fell forward in a swoon, and Demetrius caught her in his +powerful arms. + +"This is the affianced wife of Quintus Drusus?" he cried to Agias. + +"None other." + +"She is worthy of Sextus's son. A right brave lady!" cried the pirate. +"But this is no place for her, poor thing. Here, Eurybiades," and he +addressed a lieutenant,--an athletic, handsome Hellene like +himself,--"carry the lady down to the landing, put her on the trireme, +and give her to Madam Fabia. Mind you lift her gently." + +"Never fear," replied the other, picking up his burden carefully. "Who +would not delight to bear Aphrodite to the arms of Artemis!" + +And so for a while sight, sound, and feeling were at an end for +Cornelia, but for Agias the adventures of the evening were but just +begun. The pirates had broken loose in the villa, and Demetrius made +not the slightest effort to restrain them. On into the deserted +bedroom, ahead of the others, for reasons of his own, rushed Agias. As +he came in, some one cried out his name, and a second vision in white +confronted him. + +"_Ai! ai!_ Agias, I knew you would come!" and then and there, with the +sword-blades glinting, and the armed men all around, Artemisia tossed +her plump arms around his neck. + +"The nymph, attendant on Aphrodite!" cried Demetrius, laughing. And +then, when Artemisia saw the strange throng and the torches, and heard +the din over the villa, she hung down her head in mingled fear and +mortification. But Agias whispered something in her ear, that made her +lift her face, laughing, and then he in turn caught her up in his arms +to hasten down to the landing--for the scene was becoming one of +little profit for a maid. Groans and entreaties checked him. Two +powerful Phoenician seamen were dragging forward Phaon, half clothed, +trembling at every joint. "Mercy! Mercy! Oh! Master Agias, oh! Your +excellency, _clarissime_,[165] _despotes!_[166]" whined the wretched +man, now in Latin, now in Greek, "ask them to spare me; don't let them +murder me in cold blood!" + + [165] Very distinguished sir. + + [166] Master. + +"_Ai!_" cried Demetrius. "What fool have we here? Do you know him, +Agias?" + +"He is the freedman of Lucius Ahenobarbus. I can vouch for his +character, after its way." + +"_O-op!_"[167] thundered the chief, "drag him down to the boats! I'll +speak with him later!" + + [167] _O-op_--avast there. + +And Agias carried his precious burden down to the landing-place, while +the seamen followed with their captive. + +Once Artemisia safe on her way to the trireme, which was a little off +shore, Agias ran back to the villa; the pirates were ransacking it +thoroughly. Everything that could be of the slightest value was +ruthlessly seized upon, everything else recklessly destroyed. The +pirates had not confined their attack to the Lentulan residence alone. +Rushing down upon the no less elaborate neighbouring villas, they +forced in the gates, overcame what slight opposition the trembling +slaves might make, and gave full sway to their passion for plunder and +rapine. The noble ladies and fine gentlemen who had dared the +political situation and lingered late in the season to enjoy the +pleasures of Baiae, now found themselves roughly dragged away into +captivity to enrich the freebooters by their ransoms. From pillage the +pirates turned to arson, Demetrius in fact making no effort to control +his men. First a fragile wooden summer-house caught the blaze of a +torch and flared up; then a villa itself, and another and another. The +flames shot higher and higher, great glowing, wavering pyramids of +heat, roaring and crackling, flinging a red circle of glowing light in +toward the mainland by Cumae, and shimmering out over the bay toward +Prochyta. Overhead was the inky dome of the heavens, and below fire; +fire, and men with passions unreined. + +Demetrius stood on the terrace of the burning villa of the Lentuli, +barely himself out of range of the raging heat. As Agias came near to +him, the gilded Medusa head emblazoned on his breastplate glared out; +the loose scarlet mantle he wore under his armour was red as if dipped +in hot blood; he seemed the personification of Ares, the destroyer, +the waster of cities. The pirate was gazing fixedly on the blazing +wreck and ruin. His firm lips were set with an expression grave and +hard. He took no part in the annihilating frenzy of his men. + +"This is terrible destruction!" cried Agias in his ear, for the roar +of the flames was deafening, he himself beginning to turn sick at the +sight of the ruin. + +"It is frightful," replied Demetrius, gloomily; "why did the gods ever +drive me to this? My men are but children to exult as they do; as boys +love to tear the thatch from the roof of a useless hovel, in sheer +wantonness. I cannot restrain them." + +At this instant a seaman rushed up in breathless haste. + +"_Eleleu!_ Captain, the soldiers are on us. There must have been a +cohort in Cumae." + +Whereat the voice of Demetrius rang above the shouts of the plunderers +and the crash and roar of the conflagration, like a trumpet:-- + +"Arms, men! Gather the spoil and back to the ships! Back for your +lives!" + +Already the cohort of Pompeian troops, that had not yet evacuated +Cumae, was coming up on the double-quick, easily guided by the burning +buildings which made the vicinity bright as day. The pirates ran like +cats out of the blazing villas, bounded over terraces and walls, and +gathered near the landing-place by the Lentulan villa. The soldiers +were already on them. For a moment it seemed as though the cohort was +about to drive the whole swarm of the marauders over the sea-wall, and +make them pay dear for their night's diversion. But the masterly +energy of Demetrius turned the scale. With barely a score of men +behind him, he charged the nearest century so impetuously that it +broke like water before him; and when sheer numbers had swept his +little group back, the other pirates had rallied on the very brink of +tie sea-wall, and returned to the charge. + +Never was battle waged more desperately. The pirates knew that to be +driven back meant to fall over a high embankment into water so shallow +as to give little safety in a dive; capture implied crucifixion. Their +only hope was to hold their own while their boats took them off to the +ships in small detachments. The conflagration made the narrow +battle-field as bright as day. The soldiers were brave, and for new +recruits moderately disciplined. The pirates could hardly bear up +under the crushing discharge of darts, and the steady onset of the +maniples. Up and down the contest raged, swaying to and fro like the +waves of the sea. Again and again the pirates were driven so near to +the brink of the seawall that one or two would fall, dashed to instant +death on the submerged rocks below. Demetrius was everywhere at once, +as it were, precisely when he was most needed, always exposing +himself, always aggressive. Even while he himself fought for dear +life, Agias admired as never before the intelligently ordered +puissance of his cousin. + +The boats to and from the landing were pulled with frantic energy. The +ships had run in as close as possible, but they could not use their +_balistae_,[168] for fear of striking down friend as well as foe. As +relays of pirates were carried away, the position of the remainder +became the more desperate with their lessening numbers. The boats came +back for the last relay. Demetrius drew the remnant of his men +together, and charged so furiously that the whole cohort gave way, +leaving the ground strewn with its own slain. The pirates rushed madly +aboard the boats, they sunk them to the gunwales; other fugitives +clung to the oars. At perilous risk of upsetting they thrust off, just +as the rallied soldiers ran down to the landing-place. Demetrius and +Agias were the only ones standing on the embankment. They had been the +last to retire, and therefore the boats had filled without them. + + [168] Missile-throwing engines. + +A great cry went up from the pirates. + +"Save the captain!" and some boats began to back water, loaded as +they were; but Demetrius motioned them back with his hand. + +"Can you swim, boy!" he shouted to Agias, while both tore off their +body-armour. Their shields had already dropped. Agias shook his head +doubtfully. + +"My arm is hurt," he muttered. + +"No matter!" and Demetrius seized his cousin under one armpit, and +stepped down from the little landing-platform into the water just +below. A single powerful stroke sent the two out of reach of the swing +of the sword of the nearest soldier. The front files of the cohort had +pressed down on to the landing in a dense mass, loath to let go its +prey. + +"Let fly, men!" cried Demetrius, as he swam, and javelins spat into +the water about him. + +It was a cruel thing to do. The three pirate vessels, two large +triremes and the yacht, discharged all their enginery. Heavy stones +crashed down upon the soldiers, crushing several men together. Huge +arrows tore through shield and armour, impaling more than one body. It +was impossible to miss working havoc in so close a throng. The troops, +impotent to make effective reply, turned in panic and fled toward the +upper terraces to get beyond the decimating artillery. The pirates +raised a great shout of triumph that shook the smoke-veiled skies. A +fresh boat, pulling out from one of the vessels, rescued the captain +and Agias; and soon the two cousins were safe on board the trireme +Demetrius used as his flagship. + +The pirates swarmed on the decks and rigging and cheered the escape of +their commander. On shore the burning buildings were still sending up +their pillars of flame. The water and sky far out to sea were red, and +beyond, blackness. Again the pirates shouted, then at the order of +their commander the cables creaked, the anchors rose, hundreds of long +oars flashed in the lurid glare, and the three vessels slipped over +the dark waves. + +Demetrius remained on the poop of his ship; Agias was below in the +cabin, bending over Artemisia, who was already smiling in her sleep. + + +III + +When Cornelia awoke, it was with Fabia bending over her at the +bedside. The portholes of the cabin were open; the warm, fresh +southern wind was pouring in its balmy sweetness. Cornelia pressed her +hands to her eyes, then looked forth. The cabin ceiling was low, but +studded with rare ornamental bronze work; the furniture glittered with +gilding and the smooth sheen of polished ivory; the tapestry of the +curtains and on the walls was of the choicest scarlet wool, and Coan +silk, semi-transparent and striped with gold. Gold plating shone on +the section of the mast enclosed within the cabin. An odour of the +rarest Arabian frankincense was wafted from the pastils burning on a +curiously wrought tripod of Corinthian brass. The upholsteries and +rugs were more splendid than any that Cornelia had seen gracing the +palace of Roman patrician. + +Thus it came to pass that Fabia repeated over and over again to +Cornelia the tale of recent happenings, until the latter's sorely +perturbed brain might comprehend. And then, when Cornelia understood +it all: how that she was not to go to Greece with Phaon; how that she +was under the protection of a man who owed his life to Sextus Drusus, +and hated the Ahenobarbi with a perfect hatred; how that Demetrius had +sworn to carry her to Alexandria, where, safe out of the way of war +and commotion, she might await the hour when Drusus should be free to +come for her--when, we repeat, she understood all this, and how it +came to pass that the Vestal herself was on the vessel,--then Cornelia +strained Fabia to her breast, and laid her head on the elder woman's +shoulder, and cried and cried for very relief of soul. Then she arose +and let the maids Demetrius had sent to serve her--dark-skinned +Hindoos, whose words were few, but whose fingers quick and dexterous +--dress her from the very complete wardrobe that the sea prince had +placed at her disposal. + +Never before had the sunlight shone so fair; never before had the +sniff of the sea-breeze been so sweet. The galleys were still in the +bay, close by Prochyta, scarce a mile and a half from the nearest +mainland. The pirates were landing to procure water from the desolate, +unsettled isle. The bay was dancing and sparkling with ten million +golden ripples; the sun had risen high enough above the green hills of +the coast-land to spread a broad pathway of shimmering fire across the +waters. Not a cloud flecked the light-bathed azure. Up from the +forward part of the ships sounded the notes of tinkling cithera and +the low-breathing double flutes[169] in softest Lydian mood. In and +out of the cabin passed bronzed-faced Ethiopian mutes with silver cups +of the precious Mareotic white wine of Egypt for the lady, and plates +of African pomegranates, Armenian apricots, and strange sweetmeats +flavoured with a marvellous powder, an Oriental product worth its +weight in gold as a medicine, which later generations were to +designate under the name of sugar. + + [169] _Tibiae_. + +And so Cornelia was refreshed and dressed; and when the maids held the +mirror before her and she saw that the gold trinkets were shining in +her hair, and the jewels which Demetrius had sent her were sparkling +brightly at her throat, and realized that she was very fair to +see,--then she laughed, the first real, unforced laugh for many a +weary day, whereupon she laughed again and again, and grew the more +pleased with her own face when she beheld a smile upon it. Then Fabia +kissed her, and told her that no woman was ever more beautiful; and +the dark Indian maids drew back, saying nothing, but admiring with +their eyes. So Cornelia went up upon the deck, where Demetrius came to +meet her. If she had been a Semiramis rewarding a deserving general, +she could not have been more queenly. For she thanked him and his +lieutenants with a warm gratitude which made every rough seaman feel +himself more than repaid, and yet throughout it all bore herself as +though the mere privilege on their part of rescuing her ought to be +sufficient reward and honour. Then Demetrius knelt down before all his +men, and kissed the hem of her robe, and swore that he would devote +himself and all that was his to her service, until she and Quintus +Drusus should meet, with no foe to come between; so swore all the +pirates after their captain, and thus it was Cornelia entered into her +life on the ship of the freebooters. + +Other work, however, was before Demetrius that day, than casting +glances of dutiful admiration at the stately lady that had deigned to +accept his hospitality. Out from the various other cabins, less +luxurious assuredly than the one in which Cornelia had awakened, the +pirates led their several captives to stand before the chief. +Demetrius, indeed, had accomplished what he euphemistically described +as "a fair night's work." Half a dozen once very fashionable and now +very disordered and dejected noble ladies and about as many more sadly +bedraggled fine gentlemen were haled before his tribunal for judgment. +The pirate prince stood on the raised roof of a cabin, a step higher +than the rest of the poop. He was again in his splendid armour, his +naked sword was in his hand, at his side was stationed Eurybiades and +half a score more stalwart seamen, all swinging their bare cutlasses. +Demetrius nevertheless conducted his interrogations with perhaps +superfluous demonstrations of courtesy, and a general distribution of +polite "domini" "dominae," "clarissimi," and "illustres." He spoke in +perfectly good Latin, with only the slightest foreign accent; and +Cornelia, who--unregenerate pagan that she was--was taking thorough +delight in the dilemma of persons whom she knew had made her the butt +of their scandalous gibes, could only admire the skilful manner in +which he brought home to the several captives the necessity of finding +a very large sum of money at their bankers' in a very short time, or +enduring an indefinite captivity. After more or less of surly threats +and resistance on the part of the men, and screaming on the part of +the women, the prisoners one and all capitulated, and put their names +to the papyri they were commanded to sign; and away went a boat +dancing over the waves to Puteoli to cash the money orders, after +which the captives would be set ashore at Baiae. + +Last of the wretches brought before Demetrius came Phaon. The freedman +had been roughly handled; across his brow a great welt had risen where +a pirate had struck him with a rope's end. His arms were pinioned +behind his back. He was perfectly pale, and his eyes wandered from one +person to another as if vainly seeking some intercessor. + +"_Euge! Kyrios_[170]" cried the pirate chief, "you indeed seem to +enjoy our hospitality but ill." + + [170] Your Highness. + +Phaon fell on his knees. + +"I am a poor man," he began to whimper. "I have no means of paying a +ransom. My patron is not here to protect or rescue me. I have nothing +to plunder. _Mu! mu!_ set me free, most noble pirate! Oh! most +excellent prince, what have I done, that you should bear a grudge +against me?" + +"Get up, fellow," snapped Demetrius; "I'm not one of those +crocodile-headed Egyptian gods that they grovel before in the Nile +country. My cousin Agias here says he knows you. Now answer--are you a +Greek?" + +"I am an Athenian born." + +"Don't you think I can smell your Doric accent by that broad alpha? +You are a Sicilian, I'll be bound!" + +Phaon made a motion of sorrowful assent. + +"_Phui!_" continued Demetrius, "tell me, Agias, is this the creature +that tried to murder Quintus Drusus?" + +Agias nodded. + +"A fit minister for such a man as I imagine the son of Lucius Domitius +to be. Eurybiades, take off that fellow's bands; he is not worth one +stroke of the sword." + +"The captain will not spare the knave!" remonstrated the sanguinary +lieutenant. + +"What I have said, I have said," retorted the other; then, when +Phaon's arms hung free, "See, on the strength of our fellowship in our +both being Greeks, I have set you at large!" + +Phaon again sank to his knees to proffer thanks. + +"Hold!" cried Demetrius, with a menacing gesture. "Don't waste your +gratitude. Greek you pretend to be, more the shame! Such as you it is +that have brought Hellas under the heel of the oppressor; such as you +have made the word of a Hellene almost valueless in the Roman courts, +so that juries have to be warned to consider us all liars; such as you +have dragged down into the pit many an honest man; ay, myself too!" + +Phaon left off his thanks and began again to supplicate. + +"Stop whining, hound!" roared Demetrius; "haven't I said you are free? +Free, but on one condition!" + +"Anything, anything, my lord," professed the freedman, "money, +service--" + +"On this condition," and a broad, wicked smile over-spread the face of +the pirate, "that you quit this ship instantly!" + +"Gladly, gladly, merciful sir!" commenced Phaon again; "where is the +boat?" + +"Wretch!" shouted the other, "what did I say about a boat? +Depart--depart into the sea! Swim ashore, if the load on your legs be +not too heavy. Seize him and see that he sinks,"--this last to +Eurybiades and the seamen. + +Phaon's terror choked his utterance; he turned livid with mortal +fright. He pleaded for life; life on the terms most degrading, most +painful, most joyless--life, life and that only. He cried out to +Cornelia to save him, he confessed his villanies, and vowed repentance +a score of times all in one breath. But Cornelia lived in an age when +the wisest and best--whatever the philosophers might theorize--thought +it no shame to reward evil for evil, not less than good for good. When +Demetrius asked her, "Shall I spare this man, lady?" she replied: "As +he has made my life bitter for many days, why should I spare him a +brief moment's pain? Death ends all woe!" + +There was a dull splash over the side, a circle spreading out in the +water, wider and wider, until it could be seen no more among the +waves. + +"There were heavy stones to his feet, Captain," reported Eurybiades, +"and the cords will hold." + +"It is well," answered Demetrius, very grave.... + +Later in the day the boat returned from Puteoli, and with it sundry +small round-bellied bags, which the pirate prince duly stowed away in +his strong chest. The ransomed captives were put on board a small +unarmed yacht that had come out to receive them. Demetrius himself +handed the ladies over the side, and salaamed to them as the craft +shot off from the flagship. Then the pirates again weighed anchor, the +great purple[171] square sail of each of the ships was cast to the +piping breeze, the triple tiers of silver-plated oars[171] began to +rise and fall in unison to the soft notes of the piper. The land grew +fainter and more faint, and the three ships sprang away, speeding over +the broad breast of the sea. + + [171] These were real affectations of the Cilician pirates. + +That night Cornelia and Fabia held each other in their arms for a long +time. They were leaving Rome, leaving Italy, their closest friend at +hand was only the quondam slave-boy Agias, yet Cornelia, at least, was +happy--almost as happy as the girl Artemisia; and when she lay down to +sleep, it was to enjoy the first sound slumber, unhaunted by dread of +trouble, for nigh unto half a year. + + + + +Chapter XX + +Cleopatra + + +I + +A "clear singing zephyr" out of the west sped the ships on their way. +Down they fared along the coast, past the isle of Capreae, then, +leaving the Campanian main behind, cut the blue billows of the +Tyrrhenian Sea; all that day and night, and more sail and oar swept +them on. They flew past the beaches of Magna Graecia, then, betwixt +Scylla and Charybdis, and Sicilia and its smoke-beclouded cone of AEtna +faded out of view, and the long, dark swells of the Ionian Sea caught +them. No feeble merchantman, hugging coasts and headlands, was +Demetrius. He pushed his three barques boldly forward toward the +watery sky-line; the rising and setting sun by day and the slowly +circling stars by night were all-sufficient pilots; and so the ships +flew onward, and, late though the season was, no tempest racked them, +no swollen billow tossed them. + +Cornelia sat for hours on the poop, beneath a crimson awning, watching +the foam scudding out from under the swift-moving keel, and feeling +the soft, balmy Notos, the kind wind of the south, now and then puff +against her face, when the west wind veered away, and so brought up a +whiff of the spices and tropic bloom of the great southern continent, +over the parching deserts and the treacherous quicksands of the Syrtes +and the broad "unharvested sea." + +Cornelia had seen the cone of AEtna sinking away in the west, and then +she looked westward no more. For eastward and ever eastward fared the +ships, and on beyond them on pinions of mind flew Cornelia. To Africa, +to the Orient! And she dreamed of the half-fabulous kingdoms of +Assyria and Babylonia; of the splendours of Memphis and Nineveh and +Susa and Ecbatana; of Eastern kings and Eastern gold, and Eastern pomp +and circumstance of war; of Ninus, and Cyrus the Great, and Alexander; +of Cheops and Sesostris and Amasis; of the hanging gardens; of the +treasures of Sardanapalus; of the labyrinth of Lake Moeris; of a +thousand and one things rare and wonderful. Half was she persuaded +that in the East the heart might not ache nor the soul grow cold with +pain. And all life was fair to Cornelia. She was sure of meeting +Drusus soon or late now, if so be the gods--she could not help using +the expression despite her atheism--spared him in war. She could wait; +she could be very patient. She was still very young. And when she +counted her remaining years to threescore, they seemed an eternity. +The pall which had rested on her life since her uncle and her lover +parted after their stormy interview was lifted; she could smile, could +laugh, could breathe in the fresh air, and cry, "How good it all is!" + +Demetrius held his men under control with an iron hand. If ever the +pirate ship was filled with sights and sounds unseemly for a lady's +eyes and ears, there were none of them now. Cornelia was a princess, +abjectly waited on by her subjects. Demetrius's attention outran all +her least desires. He wearied her with presents of jewellery and +costly dresses, though, as he quietly remarked to Agias, the gifts +meant no more of sacrifice to him than an obol to a rich spendthrift. +He filled her ears with music all day long; he entertained her with +inimitable narrations of his own adventurous voyages and battles. And +only dimly could Cornelia realize that the gems she wore in her hair, +her silken dress, nay, almost everything she touched, had come from +earlier owners with scant process of law. + +Demetrius was no common rover. He had been a young man of rare culture +before misfortune struck him. He knew his Homer and his Plato as well +as how to swing a sword. "Yet," as he remarked with half jest, half +sigh, "all his philosophy did not make him one whit more an honest +man." + +And in his crew of Greeks, Orientals, and Spaniards were many more +whom calamity, not innate wickedness, so Cornelia discovered, had +driven to a life of violence and rapine. + +Demetrius, too, gave no little heed to Artemisia. That pretty creature +had been basking in the sunshine of Agias's presence ever since coming +on shipboard. It was tacitly understood that Cornelia would care for +the welfare and education of Pratinas's runaway, until she reached a +maturity at which Agias could assert his claims. The young Hellene +himself had been not a little anxious lest his cousin cast obstacles +in the way of an alliance with a masterless slavegirl; for of late +Demetrius had been boasting to his kinsman that their family, before +business misfortunes, had been wealthy and honourable among the +merchant princes of Alexandria. But the worthy pirate had not an +objection to make; on the contrary, he would sit for hours staring at +Artemisia, and when Agias demanded if he was about to turn rival, +shook his head and replied, rather brusquely:-- + +"I was only thinking that Daphne might be about her age, and look +perhaps like her." + +"Then you do not think your little daughter is dead?" asked Agias, +sympathetic, yet personally relieved. + +"I know nothing, nothing," replied his cousin, a look of ineffable +pain passing over his fine features; "she was a mere infant when I was +arrested. When I broke loose, I had to flee for my life. When I could +set searchers after her, she had vanished. Poor motherless thing; I +imagine she is the slave of some gay lady at Antioch or Ephesus or +Rome now." + +"And you do not know who stole her?" asked Agias. + +"Don't tear open old wounds," was the retort. "I know nothing. I +think--but it matters little what I think. There was that sly-eyed, +smooth-tongued Greek, like that Phaon who met his deserts, who was no +stranger to Domitius's blackmailings. I _feel_ that he did it. Never +mind his name. If ever I get the snake into my power--" and +Demetrius's fingers tightened around the thick, hard cable he was +clutching, and crushed the solid hemp into soft, loose strands; then +he broke out again, "Never mention this another time, Agias, or I +shall go mad, and plunge down, down into the waves, to go to sleep and +forget it all!" + +Agias was faithful to the injunction; but he observed that Demetrius +showed Artemisia the same attention as Cornelia, albeit mingled with a +little gracious and unoffending familiarity. + + +II + +After a voyage in which one pleasant day succeeded another, Cornelia +awoke one morning to hear the creak of blocks and tackle as the +sailors were lowering sail. The full banks of oars were plashing in +the waves, and on deck many feet were rushing to and fro, while +officers shouted their orders. Coming out of her cabin, the young lady +saw that the end of her seafaring was close at hand. Even to one fresh +from the azure atmosphere of the Campanian Bay, the sky was +marvellously clear. The water was of a soft green tint, that shaded +off here and there into dark cerulean. The wind was blowing in cool +puffs out of the north. A long, slow swell made the stately triremes +rock gracefully. Before them, in clear view, rose the tall tower of +the Pharos,--the lighthouse of Alexandria,--and beyond it, on the +low-lying mainland, rose in splendid relief against the cloudless sky +the glittering piles and fanes of the city of the Ptolemies. It was a +magnificent picture,--a "picture" because the colours everywhere were +as bright as though laid on freshly by a painter's brush. The +stonework of the buildings, painted to gaudy hues, brought out all the +details of column, cornice, and pediment. Here Demetrius pointed out +the Royal Palace, here the Theatre; here, farther inland, the Museum, +where was the great University; in the distance the whole looked like +a painting in miniature. Only there was more movement in this picture: +a splendid yacht, with the gold and ivory glittering on its prow and +poop, was shooting out from the royal dockyards in front of the +palace; a ponderous corn-ship was spreading her dirty sails to try to +beat out against the adverse breeze, and venture on a voyage to Rome, +at a season when the Italian traffic was usually suspended. The +harbour and quays were one forest of masts. Boats and small craft were +gliding everywhere. Behind the pirate's triremes several large +merchantmen were bearing into the harbour under a full press of sail. + +"And this, your ladyship," said Demetrius, smiling, "is Egypt. Does +the first sight please you?" + +"Does it not!" exclaimed Cornelia, drinking in the matchless +spectacle. "But you, kind sir, do you not run personal peril by +putting into this haven for my sake?" + +Demetrius laughed. + +"It speaks ill for the law-abiding qualities of my countrymen, lady," +said he, "that I have nothing now to fear. I have too many great +friends both in the court and in the city to fear arrest or annoyance. +Here I may not stay long, for if it were to be noised in Rome that a +pirate were harboured habitually at Alexandria, a demand for my arrest +would come to the king quickly enough, and he must needs comply. But +for a few days, especially while all Rome is in chaos, I am safe; and, +come what may, I would be first warned if any one intended to lay +hands on me." + +Indeed, Demetrius's boast as to his own importance in Alexandria was +soon verified. The customs officials were all obsequiousness when they +went through the form of levying on the cargo of the ship. The master +of the port was soon in Demetrius's own cabin over a crater of +excellent wine, and no sooner had the vessels touched the quay than +their crews were fraternizing with the hosts of stevedores and +flower-girls who swarmed to meet the new arrivals. + + * * * * * + +A few days later Cornelia and Fabia found themselves received as +members of the household of no less a person than Cleomenes, a distant +kinsman of Demetrius and Agias, and himself one of the great merchant +princes of the Egyptian capital. The Roman ladies found a certain +amount of shyness to overcome on their own part and on that of their +hosts. Cleomenes himself was a widower, and his ample house was +presided over by two dark-skinned, dark-eyed daughters, Berenice and +Monime--girls who blended with the handsome Greek features of their +father the soft, sensuous charm of his dead Egyptian wife. Bashful +indeed had been these maidens in contact with the strangers who came +bearing with them the haughty pride of all-conquering Rome. But after +a day or two, when Cornelia had cast off the hauteur begotten of +diffidence, and Fabia had opened the depths of her pure womanly +character, the barriers were thrown down rapidly enough; and Cornelia +and Fabia gained, not merely an access to a new world of life and +ideas, but two friends that they could regard almost as sisters. + +It was a new thing for these Roman ladies to meet a foreigner on terms +approaching equality. A non-Roman had been for them a servant, an +intelligent underling, nothing more; even Agias and Demetrius they had +regarded as friends, very close and agreeable, but whom it was a +distinct condescension not to treat with ostentatious superiority. But +to sustain this feeling long with Berenice and Monime was impossible. +The young Egyptians were every whit as cultured, as intelligent, as +themselves, every whit as accustomed to deference from others, and +implicitly assumed the right to demand it. The result was that +Cornelia found herself thinking less and less about being a Roman, and +more and more regarded her gracious hosts as persons in every way +equal to herself. + +And less and less of a Roman, Cornelia, the Hellene-hater, became. +Greek was the only tongue now that sounded in her ear, unless she +talked privately with Fabia or was beguiled into trying to learn a +little Egyptian--a language Berenice and Monime spoke fluently. The +clothes she wore were no longer stola and palla, but chiton and +himation. The whole atmosphere about her was foreign, down to the +cries on the streets. And Italy was very far away, and the last +memories thereof none the most pleasant. + +It chanced that one morning Cleomenes, Monime, and Cornelia were +driving down the great central street, under the shadow of seemingly +endless colonnades. + +"_A!_ dearest one," cried Monime, "why must you think of leaving our +lovely Alexandria, of going back to cold, cheerless Rome? What good +thing does Rome send out but stern men and sharp iron?" + +Cornelia shook her head and made answer-- + +"You Alexandrians are not one nation, but all the world; therefore you +think all who are less cosmopolitan poor. See, I count in the crowds +not only the dark Egyptians and fair Greeks, but a Persian in his +splendid long kaftan, and a very venerable Jew, and a wiry little +Arab, and Syrians, and negroes, and, I think, a Hindoo." + +"And yourself, my lady, a Roman," concluded Cleomenes. "Truly all the +earth has met in our city." + +They whirled down the splendid highway that ran straight as an arrow +the whole length of the city, lined on either side by a forest of the +infinite number of columns of the great stretches of porticos. +Handsomely dressed cavalrymen of the palace guard were dashing to and +fro over the clean, hard pavement; elegant carriages containing the +noble and wealthy were whirling in every direction. At each glance, +the eye lit on some pleasing bit of sculpture, some delicate curve of +architecture. Statues were everywhere, everywhere colour, everywhere +crowds of gayly dressed citizens and foreigners. Cornelia contrasted +the symmetrical streets, all broad, swept, and at right angles--the +triumph of the wise architectural planning of Dinocrates--with the +dirty, unsightly, and crooked lanes of the City of the Seven Hills, +and told herself, as she had told herself often in recent days, that +Romans had much yet to learn. + +They drove on past the Amphitheatre toward the Egyptian quarter of the +Rhacotis; and here, at the intersection of the Great Street with the +other broad way leading from the "Gate of the Moon" on the harbour to +the "Gate of the Sun" on Lake Mareotis, a moving hedge of outriders, +cavalrymen, and foot-guards met them. + +"The queen coming from the Serapeum," said Cleomenes, drawing rein. + +Cornelia saw half-naked Numidian footmen thrusting back the crowd that +bustled in the Omphalos--the great square where the two highroads met. +Behind them pushed a squadron of light cavalry in silvered armour and +splendid purple and scarlet uniforms. Then, in the midst of all, moved +a chariot drawn by four horses white as snow, the harness resplendent +with gold and jewels; at either side ran fan-bearers, waving great +masses of bright ostrich plumes; a gaudy parasol swept over the +carriage itself. There were three occupants, whereof two stood: an +Egyptian, gaunt and of great height, clad in plain white linen, who +was driving, and a handsome, gaudily dressed Greek youth, who was +holding the parasol. Cornelia could just catch the profile of a young +woman seated between them. The face was not quite regular, but +marvellously intelligent and sensitive; the skin not pale, yet far +from dark, and perfectly healthy and clear; the eyes restive and +piercing. The queen was dressed plainly in Greek fashion; her himation +was white, her only ornament a great diamond that was blazing like a +star on her breast. Upon the coils of her heavy, dark hair sat a +golden circlet faced in front with the likeness of the head of the +venomous uraeus snake--the emblem of Egyptian royalty. This was all +Cornelia could observe in the brief time the queen was in view. Some +of the people--Egyptians mostly--cried out to her in their own +tongue:-- + +"Hail to the ever glorious Daughter of Ra!" + +But the queen paid them little heed. Once her restless eyes lit on the +carriage of Cleomenes, and she made a slight inclination of the head +in return to that gentleman's salute, for Cleomenes had standing at +court as one of the "friends of the king."[172] + + [172] A high order of Egyptian nobility. + +The cortege rolled away toward the palace. + +"This Cleopatra is a rather remarkable woman," observed Cornelia, for +the sake of saying something. + +"Indeed, that is true," replied Cleomenes, as he turned to drive +homeward. "She is worthy to have lived in the days of the first +Ptolemies, of Ptolemaeus Soter and Philadelphus and Euergetes. She is +still very young, only twenty, and yet five years ago she was so +fascinating that when Antonius, of whom I have heard you speak, came +here with Gabinius's expeditions he quite lost his heart to her. She +has a marvellous talent for statecraft and intrigue and diplomacy. You +know that, nominally at least, she has to share her crown with young +Ptolemaeus, her younger brother. He is a worthless rascal, but his +tutor, the eunuch Pothinus, really wields him. Pothinus, as the custom +is, was brought up with him as his playmate, and now Pothinus wants to +drive out the queen, and rule Egypt through his power over the king. +His ambition is notorious, but the queen has not been able to lay +hands on him for treason." + +Cleopatra and her fortunes and perils played a slight part in +Cornelia's mind, however, that day. To know Alexandria in its sunlight +and shadows was indeed to know a miniature world. First of all to +notice, besides the heterogeneous nature of the crowds on the streets, +was the fact that every person, high as well as low, was engaged in +some trade. Very far was the typical Alexandrian from the quiet +"leisure" which the average Greek or Latin believed requisite for a +refined life--a life in which slaves did all the necessary work, and +amassed an income for the master to expend in polite recreations. In +Rome, for a free citizen to have been a handicraftsman would have been +a disgrace; he could be farmer, banker, soldier,--nothing more. In +Alexandria the glass-workers, paper-makers, and linen weavers were +those who were proudest and most jealous of their title of "Men of +Macedonia."[173] Money, Cornelia soon discovered, was even a greater +god here than in Rome. Cleomenes himself was not ashamed to spend a +large part of the day inspecting his factories, and did not hesitate +to declare that during a period when he and his family had been in +great distress, following the failure of the banking house of Agias's +father, he had toiled with his own hands to win bread for his +daughters. + + [173] The official title of Alexandrian Greek citizens. + +The conception that any honest labour, except a certain genteel +agriculture, might not make a man the less of a gentleman, or a woman +the less of a lady, was as new to Cornelia as the idea that some +non-Romans could claim equality with herself. Neither proposition did +she accept consciously. The prejudice wore quietly away. But other +things about the city she gathered quickly enough from the caustic +explanations of Cleomenes. + +"Here in Alexandria," he asserted on one occasion, "we are always ripe +for a riot. Never a chariot race without stone-throwing and +throat-cutting after it. An unpopular official is torn in pieces by a +mob. If you chance to kill a cat, the Egyptians are after you for your +life. The Greeks hate the Jews, and are always ready to plunder their +quarter; the Egyptians are on bad terms with both. We talk about being +free citizens of the capital of the Ptolemies, and pretend to go to +the Gymnasium for discussion, and claim a right to consult with the +king; but our precious Senate, and all our tribes and wards, are only +fictions. We are as much slaves as the poor creatures down in the +royal quarries; only we demand the right to riot and give nicknames. +We called the last Ptolemaeus, Auletes "the Piper," because in that way +we have punished him in all history for the way he oppressed us. +_Euge!_ Have we not a wonderful city!" + +It was on the very next day that Cleopatra was recalled to Cornelia's +mind in a quite marked fashion. It was rather early, and she was upon +the roof-garden, on the third story of the house, where there was a +commanding view of the city. Berenice was busy reading from a papyrus +the Egyptian legend of the "Adventures of Sinuhit," translating into +Greek as she read. + +Cleomenes broke in upon the reading. His face wore a mysterious smile. + +"I have a rather strange piece of news for you, my lady," he said. "A +chamberlain of the court has just been here, and brings a royal +command." + +"I am not accustomed to being commanded," interrupted Cornelia, all +her Roman haughtiness rising. + +"I do not think you will be found disobedient. The queen, it seems, +noticed you in my carriage yesterday, and at once divined, with that +wonderfully quick wit of hers, that you must be a Roman lady of rank. +She immediately made inquiries, and now sends her chamberlain to ask +you and the Lady Fabia, as well as myself, to dine with her at the +palace to-night. You may be sure nothing will be lacking to do you +honour." + +Cornelia meekly acquiesced in this royal mandate. Fabia, however, +could not stir from the house. The shock to her finely strung nature +when she was taken from Rome had, indeed, produced a physical +reaction. She was not seriously ill, but could endure no excitement. +So it was with only Cleomenes for an escort that Cornelia mounted into +one of the splendid royal chariots sent from the palace about dusk, +and drove away surrounded by a cloud of guardsmen sent to do honour to +the guests of the queen. + +Cornelia herself felt highly strung and slightly nervous. She wished, +for the first time since she reached Alexandria, that she could go +dressed in the native costume of a Roman lady, She was going to enjoy +the hospitality of a princess who was the successor of thirty odd +dynasties of Pharaohs; who was worshipped herself as a goddess by +millions of Egyptians; who was hailed as "Daughter of the Sun," and +with fifty other fulsome titles; a princess, furthermore, who was +supposed to dispose of the lives of her subjects as seemed right in +her own eyes, without law of man or god to hinder. Cornelia was not +afraid, nay rather, anticipatory; only she had never before been so +thoroughly conscious that she was Roman down to her finger-tips--Roman, +and hence could look upon the faces of princes unabashed. + +The people saw the royal chariot, and some shouted salutations to the +guests whom the queen delighted to honour. The company swept up under +the magnificent archway leading to the palace; above them rose tall +Ionic columns of red granite of Syene, building rising above building, +labyrinths of pillars, myriads of statues. Torches were blazing from +every direction. The palace grounds were as bright as day. The light +breeze was sweeping through rare Indian ferns and tropical palms. The +air was heavy with the breath of innumerable roses. Huge fountains +were tossing up showers of spray, which fell tinkling onto broad +basins wherein the cups of the blue and white lotus were floating. It +was indeed as if one had been led on to enchanted ground. + +Cornelia and her friend dismounted from their chariot, and were led +through an endless colonnade, past a second, lower gateway, and then +into a hall, not very high or large, but admirable in its proportions, +with a whole gallery of choice mythological paintings on its walls. +Small heed did Cornelia give to them. For at the end of the hall rose +a low dais, whereon sat, in a gilded chair, the same person who had +been pointed out to Cornelia the day before as the mistress of Upper +and Lower Egypt. + +The light was too dim to discover in the distance anything new in the +face of the queen. She wore a loose, long gown of some light blue +silken stuff; and her belt, shoes, neck, breast, and ears were all +glittering with gems. At the foot of the dais was a group of half a +dozen showily dressed chamberlains and courtiers, who made a slight +motion of greeting when the two guests darkened the doorway. One of +these functionaries advanced to Cornelia. + +"Your ladyship," he began, in a smooth, colourless voice, "I have the +honour to be the Royal Introducing Chamberlain. In approaching the +queen, do as I shall direct. First, before advancing to the dais bow +slightly; then at the foot of the dais it is proper--" + +"Sir," interrupted Cornelia, drawing herself up to her full height, "I +am not accustomed to your prostrations and genuflections, and of them +my countrymen make sorry work; pray excuse me." And without waiting +for reply or expostulation she advanced straight toward the dais. The +hall was small, the steps from the door to the queen's chair few; but +never did Cornelia fare on more tedious journey. She knew that a +half-horrified titter was passing through the group of courtiers She +knew that Cleopatra herself had stirred in her seat, as if to rise. +But one word sounded in Cornelia's ears, and that word was "Rome." +Were not Roman citizens nobles among nobles, and Roman senators peers +of kings! And she, daughter of the Cornelii and Claudii, whose +ancestors had broken the might of Antiochus the Great and +Mithridates--should she not look in the face the heiress of the +Lagidae? Had not one hundred years before Popilius, the Roman +commissioner, come unarmed into the presence of Antiochus Epiphanes, +while he was advancing to the gates of defenceless Alexandria, drawn a +circle in the dust about the king, and bidden him answer, before he +stepped over, whether he would court destruction or obey the mandate +of the Republic and leave Egypt in peace? And had not the great king +obeyed--humbly? Why, then, should not a Roman patrician maiden look +down on a mere monarch, who was a pawn in the hands of her kinsfolk +and countrymen? + +To repeat these things is long. The mind moves faster than the +sunlight. Cornelia came to the dais, and there gave the slightest +inclination of her head--the greeting of a mistress to slaves--to the +group of courtiers. She advanced straight toward the royal chair and +stretched forth her hand. + +"I am your debtor, O queen, for a kindness that I may not soon, I +fear, repay--unless you come to Rome." + +She spoke as a superior addressing an inferior who had rendered some +slight service. The queen rose from her seat and took the proffered +hand without the least hesitation. + +"And I will ask for none other reward than that you do honour to my +entertainment." + +The voice was wonderfully soft, modulated, and ringing; like an +instrument of many strings. Every syllable blended into the next in +perfect harmony; to hear a few words was like listening unto music. + +Cornelia knew later, when she was older and had thought more, that the +queen had instantly caught the defiant mood of her guest, and +thereupon left nothing unspared to conciliate it. At that moment, +however, she attempted no such analysis of motive. She was conscious +of only one thing: the luminous personality of Cleopatra. The queen +was all that Cornelia had noticed her to be when they met at the Great +Square; but she was more than a beautiful woman. In fact, in mere +bodily perfection Monime or Berenice might well have stood beside her. +The glance of the queen went through and through her guests like +arrows of softly burning light. It was impossible to withdraw one's +eyes from her; impossible to shake off the spell of an enjoyable +magnetism. If she moved her long, shapely fingers, it was speech; if +she raised her hand, eloquence. As shade after shade of varying +emotion seemed to pass across Cleopatra's face, it was as if one saw +the workings of a masterful spirit as in a mirror; and now could cry, +"This is one of the Graces," and now "This is one of the Fates," as +half-girlish candour and sweetness was followed by a lightning flash +from the eyes, disclosing the deep, far-recessed subtleties of the +soul within. Cornelia had entered the hall haughty, defiant; a word +and a look--she was the most obedient vassal. + +Cornelia had seen many a splendid banquet and dinner party in Rome. +Even Oriental kings had not a great deal to teach the "masters of the +toga" in ostentatious luxury. Perhaps the queen had realized this. The +present occasion called, indeed for very little formality, for, +besides Cornelia, Cleomenes was the only guest; and when that +gentleman inquired politely if his Majesty, the King Ptolemaeus, was to +honour them with his presence, Cleopatra replied, with an eloquent +raising of the eyebrows:-- + +"The king will be to-night, as he always is, with his +tutor--Pothinus." + +There was indescribable scorn in the last word. + +The doors of the reception hall had been flung back on noiseless +pivots by unseen hands. The banqueting room disclosed within was not +so much a room as a garden. Flowers, flowers were everywhere, roses, +violets, narcissuses, and a score of others breathing forth a heavy +fragrance. Overhead, the goldstudded ceiling was converted into a vast +arbour of blending flowery tints. The room was large, very large for +only three banqueters; on the walls, from out between the potted +tropical plants, shone marvellous marble reliefs, one hundred in all; +and in betwixt them were matchless paintings. Framing, after a +fashion, the pictures, were equally perfect embroideries, portraying +in silk and fine linen the stories of Thebes, the kingly house of +Argos, and many another myth of fame. The pillars of the room +represented palm trees and Bacchic thyrsi; skins of wild beasts were +fastened high up to the walls; and everywhere was the sheen of silver +and gold, the splendour of scarlet and purple tapestries. + +"The decorations of this room," said the queen, as her two guests +entered, "are nearly all preserved from the great banqueting pavilion +of Ptolemaeus Philadelphus, which he erected for the grand festival +that ushered in his reign." + +Cornelia drew back as her foot crossed the threshold. Her sandals trod +on the fair white cup of a blooming lily. The queen laughed as merrily +as a little girl at her confusion. + +"In Rome, I doubt not," she said, smiling, "there are not flowers +enough at this time of year to have them for a carpet. But this is +Alexandria. Flowers are never out of bloom." + +So Cornelia advanced, but perhaps it grieved her more to tread on the +innocent flowers, than any small thing had since she left Baiae. + +And then the banquet, if such it may be termed when there are but +three to enjoy it, began. Cleopatra knew well that she could not +overwhelm her Roman guest with show of plate and gems, nor did she +try. But Cornelia forgot about such things long before they rose. For +the queen displayed to her a myriad dainty perfections and refinements +that never had endeared themselves to the grosser Italian gourmands. +Cleomenes had whispered to his companion, before they reached the +palace, "Plato tells of four sorts of flattery; but I can promise you +a thousand sorts from Cleopatra if she but cares to win your +friendship." And surely the queen did thus desire. For Cornelia was +surfeited with strange dishes, and rare sherbets, flowers, and music; +surfeited with everything save the words that fell from the lips of +Cleopatra. + +The more the queen spoke, the more complete became the vassalage of +her guest. Cornelia discovered that this woman, who was but little +older than she, could speak fluently seven languages, and carried +about with her an exceedingly accurate knowledge, not merely of the +administration of Egypt, but of the politics of Rome, and the details +of the great contest racking the Republic. When Cleopatra asked +questions concerning Roman affairs, Cornelia was fain to confess +ignorance and be put to shame. And as the evening advanced, Cornelia +found herself talking with more and more confidence to this woman that +she had never addressed until an hour before. Cleopatra of course +knew, as all Alexandria knew, that Cornelia and Fabia were Roman +ladies of the highest rank, who had been forced to take refuge abroad +until the political crisis was over. But now Cornelia told the queen +the true reasons that had led her to be willing to submit to +Demetrius's friendly kidnapping; and when, in a burst of +frankness,--which in a saner moment Cornelia would have deemed +unwise,--she told of her betrothal to Drusus and willingness to wait +long for him, if they might only come together in the end, the queen +seemed unable to speak with her usual bright vivacity. Presently she +said:-- + +"So you love this young man as none other? You are willing to be all +your life his handmaid, his slave?" + +"I love him, assuredly," said Cornelia, with a little heat. "And so +far as being all my life his slave, I've given that never so much as a +thought. Where love is, there slavery cannot be." + +"And where love is not, there slavery must be, doubtless you wish to +add?" broke in the queen. + +"I should be very miserable if I had nothing to love, which I might +love purely, and feel myself the nobler and happier thereby." + +"Then pity us poor mortals who cannot climb up to your Olympus! Eh, my +very noble Cleomenes," went on the queen, addressing the Greek, "do I +not deserve compassion, that I have not been able to find some +Tigranes of Armenia, or Parthian prince, who will be all in all to me, +and make me forget everything in worshipping him?" + +These were the first words that evening that had grated on Cornelia. A +little ruffled, she replied:-- + +"I fear, O queen, that if you are awaiting a Tigranes or an Artavasdes +to sue for your hand, you will indeed never find a lord to worship. +Quintus Drusus is indeed wealthy at Rome, his family noble, he may +rise to great things; but I would not lay down my life for him because +of his wealth, his lineage, or his fair prospects. It is not these +things which make a common woman love a man." + +"But I am not a common woman," responded Cleopatra, with emphasis. "I +am ambitious, not to be led, but to lead. I must rule or I must die. I +cannot love a master, only fear him. Why, because I was born a woman, +must I give up all my royal aspirations to rise to a great place among +princes, to build up a great empire in the East, to make Alexandria a +capital with the power of Rome, the culture of Athens, the splendour +of Babylon, all in one? It is because I have these hopes stirring in +me that I may love no man, can love no man! Nothing shall stand in my +way; nothing shall oppose me. Whoever thwarts my ambitions, the worse +for him; let him die--all things must die, but not I, until I have won +my power and glory!" + +For once, at least, the queen's emotions had run away with her; she +spoke hotly, passionately, as though tearing her words from the +recesses of her throbbing heart. Her wonderful voice was keyed in +half-bitter defiance. For the moment Cornelia was mistress, and not +the queen. + +"O queen," broke in the young Roman, "would you know how I feel toward +you?" + +Cleopatra looked at her with dilated eyes. + +"I feel for you a very great sorrow. I know not whether you will or +will not do as you wish--set your empire over the far East, a rival, +friendly, I hope, to our Rome; but this I know, that with your glory, +and with your renown among men for all time, you will go down to your +grave with an empty heart. And I know not what may compensate for +that." + +Cleomenes was clearly a little disturbed at this turn to the +conversation; but Cleopatra bowed her head on her hands. It was only +for an instant. When she looked up once more there were tears in her +eyes, which she made no effort to conceal. The look of high defiance +had faded from her face. + +"Think kindly of me, Lady Cornelia," she said; "I am but a wilful girl +with many things to learn. Perhaps you yourself know that purple robes +do not make a light heart." + +"That I know well and sadly." + +"Therefore," went on the queen, "if I forget myself, and half envy a +cup of happiness that seems dashed from my lips, do not be over +blameful." + +"Never," responded the young Roman. + +"Time advances," said the queen; "let us forget that any barriers shut +us out from perfect bliss. Let us call in the Egyptian musicians; and +cry out upon me if my looks grow sad!" + +Whereat a whole section in the side of the room turned on a pivot, and +there entered three native harpers and eight pretty Egyptian girls, in +gauzy dresses, who danced in intricate figures, and juggled with +balls; now with two, now with three, catching them with their hands +crossed. Boys ran in and out and sprinkled _kyphi_[174] on the heads +of the three feasters, and flung huge wreaths of flowers round their +necks, and thrust lotus flowers in their hair. And all the time the +girls sang sweetly. + + [174] A mixture of myrrh, frankincense, and other aromatic materials. + +The queen kept her guests very late. + +"We of Alexandria," said she, "make little difference between night +and day. Our city is a new Sybaris." + +And all through the evening Cleopatra kept close to Cornelia, often +with her hand upon her, as though extremely loath to let her go. At +last the moon crept up into the heavens, and as the queen and her +guests roved out of the heated banqueting hall into the cool gardens, +the pale yellow light gently bathed the sweep of the city, which lay +in full view of the palace terrace. + +"All sleep," said Cleopatra, "all but ourselves. Let there be one more +song, and then farewell!--but soon to meet again." + +The chorus of maidens, which followed them, sang, in Greek, the hymn +of Onomacritus:[175]-- + + [175] Elton, translator. + + "Heavenly Selene! goddess queen! that shed'st abroad the light! + Bull-horned moon! air-habiting! thou wanderer through the night! + Moon bearer of mighty torch! thou star-encircled maid! + Woman thou, yet male the same, still fresh and undecayed! + Thou that in thy steeds delightest, as they travel through the sky, + Clothed in brightness! mighty mother of the rapid years that fly; + Fruit dispenser! amber-visaged! melancholy, yet serene! + All beholding! sleep-enamour'd! still with trooping planets seen! + Quiet loving; who in pleasance and in plenty tak'st delight; + Joy diffusing! Fruit maturing! Sparkling ornament of night! + Swiftly pacing! ample-vested! star-bright! all divining maid! + Come benignant! come spontaneous! with starry sheen arrayed! + Sweetly shining! save us virgin, give thy holy suppliants aid!" + +"Yes," said Cleopatra, passing her hand over her brow, "give us aid, +either thou, O moon, or some other power, for we are full weak +ourselves." + +When the queen parted with her guests she put her arms around +Cornelia's waist and kissed her on the forehead. + +"I sent for you," said Cleopatra, "half intending to amuse myself with +the boorishness and clumsy insolence which I conceived a noble Roman +lady to possess. I have been punished. Promise to come to see me +often, very often, or I shall call my body-guards and keep you +prisoner. For I have very few friends." + +While the chariot was bearing the two guests away, Cleomenes asked +Cornelia what she thought of the queen. + +"She is the most wonderful woman I have ever met," was her answer, +enthusiastic and characteristically feminine. "I admire her. I am +almost her slave." + +The frequency of Cornelia's visits to the palace on following days +seemed to prove that the admiration was not unreciprocated. Indeed, +Monime and Berenice grew jealous of the queen for stealing their new +friend from them. + + + + +Chapter XXI + +How Ulamhala's Words Came True + + +I + +The sentries were going their rounds; the camp-fires were burning low. +Over on the western hills bounding the Thessalian plain-land lingered +the last bars of light. It was oppressively warm, and man and beast +were utterly fatigued. Quintus Drusus stripped off his armour, and +flung himself on the turf inside his tattered leather tent. Vast had +been the changes eighteen months of campaigning had made in him. He +had fought in Italy, in Spain, in the long blockade of the Pompeians +at Dyrrachium. He had learned the art of war in no gentle school. He +had ceased even so much as to grumble inwardly at the hardships +endured by the hard-pressed Caesarian army. The campaign was not going +well. Pompeius had broken through the blockade; and now the two armies +had been executing tedious manoeuvres, fencing for a vantage-ground +before joining pitched battle. + +Drusus was exceedingly weary. The events of the past two +years,--loves, hates, pleasures, perils, battles,--all coursed through +his mind; the fairest and most hideous of things were blended into +buzzing confusion; and out of that confusion came a dull consciousness +that he, Quintus Drusus, was thoroughly weary of everything and +anything--was heavy of heart, was consumed with hatred, was chafing +against a hundred barriers of time, space, and circumstance, and was +utterly impotent to contend against them. + +The Imperator--how he loved and adored him! Through all the +campaigning nothing could seem to break the strength of that nervous, +agile, finely strung physique. Sleeping in carriages or litters; ever +moving; dictating continually books and letters to a secretary if for +an hour there was a halt; dictating even while on horseback, in fact, +and composing two letters at the same time; riding the most +ungovernable horses fearlessly and without a fall; galloping at full +speed with his hands clasped behind his back,--these were the mere +external traits that made him wonderful among men. Worthy of all +praise was the discipline by which the Imperator had held his troops +to him by bonds firmer than iron; neither noticing all petty +transgressions, nor punishing according to a rigid rule; swift and +sure to apprehend mutineers and deserters; certain to relax the tight +bands of discipline after a hard-fought battle with the genial remark +that "his soldiers fought none the worse for being well oiled "; ever +treating the troops as comrades, and addressing them as +"fellow-soldiers," as if they were but sharers with him in the honour +of struggling for a single great end. Drusus had known him to ride one +hundred miles a day in a light chariot without baggage, march +continually at the head of his legions on foot, sharing their fatigues +in the most malignant weather, swim a swollen river on a float of +inflated skins, always travelling faster than the news of his coming +might fly before him. Tireless, unsleeping, all providing, all +accomplishing, omniscient,--this was what made Drusus look upon his +general as a being raised up by the Fates, to go up and down the +world, destroying here and building there. The immediate future might +be sombre enough, with all the military advantages falling, one after +another, into Pompeius's lap; but doubt the ultimate triumph of Caesar? +The young Livian would have as readily questioned his own existence. + +Some one thrust back the flaps of the tent, and called inside into the +darkness:-- + +"Are you here, Drusus?" + +"I am," was the wearied answer. "Is that Antonius?" + +"Yes. Come out. We may as well dispose of our cold _puls_ before the +moon rises, and while we can imagine it peacocks, Lucrine oysters, or +what not." + +"If sight were the only sense!" grumbled Drusus, as he pulled himself +together by a considerable effort, and staggered to his feet. + +Outside the tent Antonius was waiting with a helmet half full of the +delectable viand, which the two friends proceeded to share together as +equally as they might in the increasing darkness. + +"You are over sober to-night," said Antonius, when this scarcely +elaborate meal was nearly finished. + +"_Perpol!_" replied Drusus, "have I been as a rule drunken of late? My +throat hardly knows the feeling of good Falernian, it is so long since +I have tasted any." + +"I doubt if there is so much as a draught of _posca_[176] in the +army," said Antonius, yawning. "I imagine that among our friends, the +Pompeians, there is plenty, and more to spare. _Mehercle_, I feel that +we must storm their camp just to get something worth drinking. But I +would stake my best villa that you have not been so gloomy for mere +lack of victuals, unless you have just joined the Pythagoreans, and +have taken a vow not to eat fish or beans." + + [176] A drink of vinegar and water very common among the soldiers. + +"I do not know that I am especially gloomy to-night," replied Drusus, +a bit testily. "I know little whereon to make merry." + +"The arrows of Amor," hinted Antonius, "sink deep in the soul, and the +god is unfair; he shoots venomed darts; the poison ever makes the pain +greater." + +"I would you could endure your own troubles," retorted the other, "and +let me care for mine!" + +"_Perpol,_ friend," replied Antonius, "don't be vexed! I see it is a +case of your wanting little said on a sore point. Well, keep silent, I +won't tease you. Doesn't Theognis declare:-- + + "'Caress me not with words, while far away + Thy heart is absent and thy feelings stray'?[177] + + [177] Elton, translator. + +And doubtless you would reverse the saying and put 'my heart' for 'thy +heart.' Forgive me." + +But Drusus, now that the ice was broken, was glad to talk. + +"Now, amice, I won't harbour any ill feeling. I know that you don't +look at women the way I do. If you had ever fallen in love with one +like Cornelia, it would have been different. As it is, you can only +stare at me, and say to yourself, 'How strange a sensible fellow like +Drusus should care for a girl from whom he has been parted for nearly +two years!' That's why I doubt if your sympathy can be of any great +solace to me." + +"Well," said Antonius, washing down his _puls_ with a draught of water +from a second helmet at hand, "I can't say that I would be full of +grief two years from the day my beloved Fulvia was taken from me. But +there are women of many a sort. Some are vipers to sting your breast, +some are playthings, some are--what shall I call them--goddesses? no, +one may not kiss Juno; flowers? they fade too early; silver and gold? +that is rubbish. I have no name for them. But believe me, Quintus, I +have met this Cornelia of yours once or twice, and I believe that she +is one of those women for whom my words grow weak." + +"Then you can sympathize, can feel, for me," said Drusus, as he lay +back with his head on the dark green sward. + +"Yes, as a poor man who has always possessed nothing can feel for a +rich merchant whose whole fortune is about to founder at sea. Do not +spurn my feeble sort of pity. But do you know nothing of her, not a +word, a sign? Is she alive or dead? Much less, does she still care for +you?" + +"Nothing!" answered Drusus, and the sense of vexation and helplessness +choked his utterance. "She vanished out of sight at Baiae, as a flash +of lightning passes away in the sky. I cannot imagine the cause of her +disappearance. The pirates, indeed, might have wished to take her for +ransom; but no, they bore her off with never a demand for money from +any friend or relative. I have tried to trace them--the Pompeian ships +on every sea make it impossible. I have questioned many prisoners and +spies; she is not at the Pompeian camp with her uncle. Neither can I +discover that her kinsmen among the enemy themselves know where she +is. And to this is added that other mystery: whither has my Aunt Fabia +vanished? How much of the account of those who followed her to the +river dock is to be believed--that pirates saved her from Gabinius, +and then abducted her? Upon all, my clever freedman Agias is +gone--gone without ever a word, though I counted him faithful as my +own soul!" + +"And what then do you expect?" asked Antonius, not without friendly +interest. + +"What can a man, who dares to look the situation in the face, expect, +except something too horrible to utter?" and Drusus groaned in his +agony. + +"You mean--" began his friend. + +"That the pirates have kept Cornelia and perhaps Fabia in their vile +clutches until this hour; unless, indeed, the Fates have been merciful +and they are dead! Do you wonder at my pain?" + +"_Phui!_ we will not imagine any such disagreeable thing!" said +Antonius, in a sickly effort to make banter at the other's fears. + +"Don't speak again unless you want me your enemy," threatened Drusus, +springing up in fury. Antonius knew his own interests enough to keep +quiet; besides, his friend's pain cut him to the heart, and he knew +himself that Drusus's dread was justified under the circumstances. + +"Do you think there will be a battle to-morrow?" demanded Drusus, +after some interval of gloomy silence. + +"I would to the gods it might be so," was his answer; "are you +thirsting for blood?" + +Drusus half drew his short sword, which even in camp never left the +side of officer or private during that campaign. + +"Thirst for blood?" he growled. "Yes, for the lives of Lucius +Lentulus, and Domitius and his accursed younger son. I am hot as an +old gladiator for a chance to spill their blood! If Cornelia suffers +woe unutterable, it will be they--they who brought the evil upon her! +It may not be a philosophic mood, but all the animal has risen within +me, and rises more and more the longer I think upon them and on +_her_." + +"Come," said Antonius, lifting his friend by the arm, "and let us lie +down in the tent. There will be toil enough to-morrow; and we must +take what rest we may." + + +II + +On that same night, in a very sumptuous tent, fresh from an ample +dinner and a season over choice wines, the high and the mighty of +Caesar's enemies were taking counsel together. No longer were they +despairing, panic-stricken fugitives, driven from their native land +which they had abandoned a prey to the invader. The strength of the +East had gathered about them. Jews, Armenians, and Arabians were among +their auxiliary forces; Asia Minor, Greece, the Archipelago, had +poured out for them levies and subsidies. In the encampment were the +vassal kings, Deiotarus of Galatia and Ariarathes of Cappadocia, +allies who would share the triumph of the victorious Pompeius. + +For none could doubt that the Magnus had proved his right to be called +the favoured child of Fortune. Had not Caesar been utterly defeated at +Dyrrachium? Was he not now almost a fugitive in the interior of +Greece,--liable at any moment to have his forces cut to pieces, and he +himself to be slain, in battle like a second Catilina, or to die by +the executioner's axe like another Carbo? Had not several delighted +Pompeians just hastened away to Lesbos, to convey to Cornelia, the +wife of the Magnus, the joyful tidings that Caesar's power was broken +and the war was over? + +Throughout the Pompeian camps there was feasting and revelry, soldiers +trolled low songs deriding their opponents, and drank themselves +stupid, celebrating in advance the return of the victorious army to +Italy. Their officers were looking forward even more eagerly to their +reinstatement in their old haunts and pleasures at Rome. Lucius +Ahenobarbus, who was outside the tent of the Magnus, while his father +was taking part in the conference, was busy recounting to a crony the +arrangements he was making. + +"I have sent a freedman back to Rome to see that my rooms are +furnished and put in order. But I have told him that I need a suite +near the Forum, if possible, so as to be convenient for the canvass +when I sue for quaestor at the next election, for it is time I began on +my 'round of offices.'" (A "round of offices" being, according to this +worthy young gentleman, an inalienable right to every male scion of +his family.) + +Within the debate was waxing hot. Not that any one had the least +doubts that the Caesarians were at their last gasp; rather it was so +extremely difficult to decide how the spoils of victory were to be +equitably shared, and what was almost equally important, how the +hostile and the neutral were to be punished. The noble lords were busy +settling amongst themselves who should be consuls for several years to +come, and how the confiscated villas of the proscribed Caesarians +should be divided. As to the military situation, they were all +complaisance. + +"There is no need for a real battle," Pompeius was saying. "Our +superior cavalry will rout their whole army before the infantry join +the attack." + +And Labienus, the only officer who had deserted Caesar, protested that +the opposing legions had long since been thinned of their Gallic +veterans, that only raw recruits composed them now. + +Loudly the councillors wrangled over the successor to Caesar's +pontificate; Scipio, Domitius, and another great noble, Lentulus +Spinther, all had their claims. Domitius was clamouring against delay +in disposing of Caesar, and in returning to Italy, to begin a general +distribution of spoils, and sanguinary requital of enemies and +neutrals. The contest over the pontificate grew more and more +acrimonious each minute. + +"Gentlemen," broke in Pompeius, "I would that you could agree amongst +yourselves. It is a grievous thing that we must thus quarrel with +bitterness, when victory is within our grasp." + +But the war of words went on hotter and hotter. Lentulus Crus noticed +that Pompeius looked pale and worried. + +"You look careworn, Magnus," he whispered; "it will be a relief for +the burdens of war to be off your shoulders!" + +"I know not how this all will come out," said the general. "All the +chances are in our favour. We have numbers, the best position, +cavalry, the prestige of victory. Labienus cannot be mistaken in his +estimate of Caesar's men; yet I am afraid, I am almost timorous." + +"It is but the natural fear lest some slight event dim your +excellency's great glory. Our position is too secure for reverse," +remarked Lentulus, soothingly. + +"Great glory--" repeated Pompeius, "yes, that makes me afraid. +Remember Ulamhala's words,--they haunt me:-- + + "'He that is highest shall rise yet higher, + He that is second shall utterly fall.' + +Lentulus, I _know_ Caesar is greater than I!" + +Before he could continue, Labienus had risen to his feet in the +council. + +"An oath! an oath, gentlemen!" cried the renegade legate. "Swear all +after me! 'By Jupiter Capitolinus, Optimus, Maximus, I swear not to +return from the battle until victorious over Caesar!'" + +All the council rose. + +"We swear!" cried a score of tongues, as though their oath was the +lightest thing imaginable. + +"Bravely done!" shouted Labienus, while the two Lentuli and Domitius +and Scipio and many another scion of the great noble houses joined in +the oath. "_Hem!_ Most excellent Magnus, you do not have confidence +enough in your own cause to join us. Do you doubt our loyalty or +soldierly qualities!" + +"_Perpol!_" replied Pompeius, with a rather ill-concealed effort to +speak gayly, "do you think, good Labienus, that I am as distrustful of +you as Caesar ought to be of his men?" + +And the Magnus also took the oath. + +Outside the tent the sentries were exchanging their challenges. It was +the end of the second watch of the night.[178] + + [178] Midnight. + +"It is late, gentlemen," said Pompeius. "I believe that I have given +my orders. Remember our watch word for to-morrow." + +"Hercules Invictus!" shouted one and all. + +"Unconquerable' we shall be, I trust," continued the +commander-in-chief. "Good-night, gentlemen; we meet to-morrow." + +The council broke up, and filed out of the tent. Lentulus Spinther +paused to cast a look of savage anger at Scipio, who lingered behind. +The contest over the pontificate still rankled in his breast. That +four and twenty hours hence both of these aristocratic gentlemen might +have more pressing things to think of seemingly entered the head of +neither. Lentulus Crus, Domitius, and Scipio waited after the others +were gone. + +"I have been wondering all day," said the genial Domitius, when the +tent had emptied, "how Caesar will comport himself if he is taken +prisoner and not slain in battle. I give him credit for not being +likely to flee away." + +"I trust he will die a soldier's death," replied Pompeius, gloomily. +"It would be a grievous thing to have him fall into my hands. He has +been my friend, my father-in-law. I could not treat him harshly." + +"Doubtless," said the ever suave Lentulus Crus, "it would be most +disagreeable for you, Magnus, to have to reward such an enemy of the +Republic as he deserves. But your excellency will, of course, bow to +the decrees of the Senate, and--I fear it will be very hard to +persuade the conscript fathers that Caesar has earned any mercy." + +"_Vah!_ gentlemen," retorted Pompeius, pressing his hands together, +and walking up and down: "I have been your tool a long while! I never +at heart desired this war! A hundred times I would draw back, but you +in some way prevented. I have been made to say things that I would +fain have left unsaid. I am perhaps less educated and more +superstitious than you. I believe that there are gods, and they punish +the shedders of innocent blood. And much good Roman blood has been +shed since you had your way, and drove Caesar into open enmity!" + +"Of course," interposed Domitius, his face a little flushed with +suppressed anger, "it is a painful thing to take the lives of +fellow-countrymen; but consider the price that patriots must pay for +liberty." + +"Price paid for liberty," snorted Pompeius, in rising disgust, +"_phui!_ Let us at least be honest, gentlemen! It is very easy to cry +out on tyrants when our ambition has been disappointed. But I am +wasting words. Only this let me say. When, to-morrow, we have slain or +captured our enemy, it will be _I_ that determine the future policy of +the state, and not _you_! I will prove myself indeed the Magnus! I +will be a tool no longer." + +The three consulars stared at each other, at loss for words. + +"Time wastes, gentlemen," said Pompeius. "To your several commands! +You have your orders." + +The Magnus spoke in a tone that admonished the three oligarchs to bow +in silence and go out without a word. + +"His excellency is a bit tempted to play the high tragedian to-night," +sneered Domitius, recovering from his first consternation. "He will +think differently to-morrow. But of all things, my good Lentulus (if +it comes your way), see that Caesar is quietly killed--no matter what +fashion; it will save us endless trouble." + +"_Mehercle!_" quoth the other, "do I need that advice? And again +remind me to-morrow of this. We must arrange the dividing of the +estate of that young reprobate, Quintus Drusus, who gave us some +anxiety two years ago. But I imagine that must be deferred until after +the battle." + +And so they separated, and the two armies--scarce five miles +apart--slept; and the stars watched over them. + + +III + +The sun was climbing out of the dark bank of clouds that pressed down +upon the eastern horizon. The green plain of Pharsalus lay spread out +far and wide under the strengthening light; the distant hills were +peering dimly out from the mist; the acropolis of Pharsalus +itself,--perhaps the Homeric Phthia, dwelling of Achilles,--with its +two peaked crags, five hundred feet in height, frowned down upon the +Caesarian camp. The Enipeus and one or two minor streams were threading +their way in silver ribbons down toward the distant Peneus. The +fertile plain was green and verdant with the bursting summer. The +scent of clover hung in the air, and with it the fragrance of thyme. +Wild flowers were scattered under the feet. The early honeybee was +hovering over the dew-laden petals. Wakeful thrushes were carolling +out of the thickets. A thin grey fog was drifting off of the valley, +soon to vanish in the blue of a perfect day. Clear and sweet the notes +of the trumpets called the soldiers from their camp. The weary men +shook the sleep from their eyes. There was a hurried pounding of grain +in the stone mortars, breakfasts even more hurried. Then again the +trumpets called out their signal. Busy hands tore up the tent pegs, +other hands were folding the coverings, gathering up the poles and +impedimenta, and loading them on the baggage animals. + +The soldiers were grumbling as soldiers will. Drusus, who emerged from +his own tent just as it was about to be pulled down about his ears, +heard one private growl to another: "Look at the sun rising! What a +hot day we shall have! _AEdepol!_ will there never be an end to this +marching and countermarching, skirmishing and intrenching,--water to +drink, _puls_ to eat,--I didn't take the oath[179] for that. No +plunder here, and the sack of Gomphi, the last town stormed, amounted +to nothing." + + [179] The military oath of obedience. + +Drusus would have rebuked the man for breeding discontent in the army, +but at that moment he and every other around him for once relaxed that +stringent discipline that held them in bands of iron. A third trumpet +call cut the air, quick, shrill, penetrating. + +"To arms!" Every centurion was shouting it to his men. The baggage +animals were left unladen. A cohort that was about to leave the camp +in marching order halted, and began to throw away its impedimenta, +when Caesar himself rode up to them. + +"Fellow-soldiers," said the Imperator, smiling as though he had to +reveal a great piece of good fortune, "we can postpone the march. Let +us put our hearts into the battle for which we have longed, and meet +the foe with resolute souls, for now or never is our opportunity!" + +"_Io! Io!_" cried a thousand hoarse throats. + +Out of confusion came the most perfect order. Drusus ran to the horse +that he had yielded for a pack animal on the march, saddled, mounted, +flew away to Caesar's side, his heart pounding in his breast. + +"Pompeius is leading out his men!" soldier was shouting to soldier. +Legion after legion filed forth from the camp. Caesar, sitting with +easy grace on his own favourite charger which he himself had bred, +gave in calm, deliberate voice the last orders to his legates. Drusus +drew rein at the general's side, ready to go anywhere or do anything +that was needed, his position being one of general aide-de-camp. + +Caesar was facing east; Pompeius, west. Five miles of mainly level +country had extended between the camps, but Pompeius had pitched on a +hill site, with a river and hills to flank him. There he might safely +have defied attack. But he had come down from the eminence. He had led +his army out into the plain, and the camp was a full mile behind. The +long ranks of the Pompeians were splendid with all the bravery of war. +On the right wing by the river lay his Cilician and Spanish cohorts, +led by Lentulus Crus,--the flower of the Pompeian infantry. Scipio +held the centre with two Syrian legions. On the left, Domitius was in +command and Pompeius accompanied him. Seven cohorts were behind in the +fortified camp. A great mass of auxiliaries and volunteers, as well as +two thousand reenlisted veterans, gave strength to the lines of fully +recruited cohorts. Out on the left wing, reaching up on to the +foothills, lay the pride of the oligarchs, seven thousand splendid +cavalry, the pick and flower of the exiled youth and nobility of Rome, +reenforced by the best squadrons of the East. Here Labienus led. The +Pompeian ranks were in three lines, drawn up ten deep. Forty-five +thousand heavy infantry were they; and the horse and light troops were +half as many--Spaniards, Africans, Italian exiles, Greeks, +Asiatics--the glory of every warlike, classic race. + +Slowly, slowly, the Caesarian legionaries advanced over the plain. +Drusus knew that one of the most crucial hours of his life was before +him, yet he was very calm. He saw some wild roses growing on a bush by +the way, and thought how pretty they would look in a wreath on +Cornelia's hair. He exchanged jokes with his fellow-officers; scolded +a soldier who had come away without his sword in his sheath; asked +Antonius, when he came across him, if he did not envy Achilles for his +country-seat. It was as if he were going on the same tedious march of +days and days gone by. Yet, with it all he felt himself far more +intensely excited than ever before. He knew that his calm was so +unnatural that he wished to cry aloud, to run, weep, to do anything to +break it. This was to be the end of the great drama that had begun the +day Lentulus and Marcellus first sat down as consuls! + +Slowly, slowly, that long snake, the marching army, dragged out of the +camp. The sun was high in the sky; the last cloud had vanished; the +blue above was as clear and translucent as it is conceivable anything +may be and yet retain its colour--not become clear light. The head of +the column was six hundred paces from the silent Pompeian lines which +awaited them. Then cohort after cohort filed off to the right and +left, and the line of battle was ready. On the right was the tenth +legion, on the left the weak ninth, reenforced by the eighth. There +were eighty cohorts in all, to oppose one hundred and ten. But the +ranks of Caesar's cohorts were thin. The numbers were scarce half as +many as in those of the foe. And to confront Labienus and his cavalry +Caesar had but one thousand horse. His army stood in three lines, +facing the enemy's infantry; but, though it weakened his own legions +dangerously, there was but one thing to do, unless Labienus was to +force around the flank, and sweep all before him. Six cohorts Caesar +stationed at the rear of his right wing, a defence against the hostile +cavalry. The third line of the legions the Imperator commanded to hold +back until he ordered them otherwise, for on them lay the turning of +the battle. + +Antonius commanded the left, Publius Sulla the right, Calvinus the +centre. Caesar himself took post on his own right wing opposite +Pompeius. Then, when the lines were formed, he rode down before his +men, and addressed them; not in gaudy eloquence, as if to stir a +flagging courage, but a manly request that they quit themselves as +became his soldiers. Ever had he sought reconciliation, he said, ever +peace; unwillingly had he exposed his own soldiers, and unwillingly +attacked his enemies. And to the six chosen cohorts in the fourth line +he gave a special word, for he bade them remember that doubtless on +their firmness would depend the fate of the battle. + +"Yes," he said in closing, while every scarred and tattered veteran +laughed at the jest, "only thrust your pila in the faces of those +brave cavaliers. They will turn and flee if their handsome faces are +likely to be bruised." And a grim chuckle went down the line, +relieving the tension that was making the oldest warriors nervous. + +Caesar galloped back to his position on his own right wing. The legions +were growing restive, and there was no longer cause for delay. The +officers were shouting the battle-cry down the lines. The Imperator +nodded to his trumpeter, and a single sharp, long peal cut the air. +The note was drowned in the rush of twenty thousand feet, the howl of +myriads of voices. + +"_Venus victrix!_" The battle-cry was tossed from mouth to mouth, +louder and louder, as the mighty mass of men in iron swept on. + +"Venus victrix!" And the shout itself was dimmed in the crash of +mortal battle, when the foremost Caesarians sent their pila dashing in +upon the enemy, and closed with the short sword, while their comrades +piled in upon them. Crash after crash, as cohort struck cohort; and so +the battle joined. + + * * * * * + +Why was the battle of Pharsalus more to the world than fifty other +stricken fields where armies of strength equal to those engaged there +joined in conflict? Why can these other battles be passed over as +dates and names to the historian, while he assigns to this a position +beside Marathon and Arbela and Tours and the Defeat of the Armada and +Waterloo and Gettysburg? What was at stake--that Caesar or Pompeius and +his satellites should rule the world? Infinitely more--the struggle +was for the very existence of civilization, to determine whether or +not the fabric of ordered society was to be flung back into chaos. The +Roman Republic had conquered the civilized world; it had thrown down +kings; it had destroyed the political existence of nations. What but +feebleness, corruption, decay, anarchy, disintegration, disruption, +recurring barbarism, had the oligarchs, for whom Pompeius was fighting +his battle, to put in the place of what the Republic had destroyed? +Could a Senate where almost every man had his price, where almost +every member looked on the provinces as a mere feeding ground for +personal enrichment--could such a body govern the world? Were not +German and Gaul ready to pluck this unsound organism called the +Republic limb from limb, and where was the reviving, regenerating +force that was to hold them back with an iron hand until a force +greater than that of the sword was ready to carry its evangel unto all +nations, Jew, Greek, Roman, barbarian,--bond and free? These were the +questions asked and answered on that ninth day of August, forty-nine +years, before the birth of a mightier than Pompeius Magnus or Julius +Caesar. And because men fought and agonized and died on those plains by +Pharsalus, the edict could go from Rome that all the world should be +taxed, and a naturalized Roman citizen could scorn the howls of the +provincial mobs, could mock at Sanhedrins seeking his blood, and cry: +_"Civis Romanus sum. Caesarem appello!"_ + +How long did the battle last? Drusus did not know. No one knew. He +flew at the heels of his general's charger, for where Caesar went there +the fight was thickest. He saw the Pompeian heavy infantry standing +stolidly in their ranks to receive the charge--a fatal blunder, that +lost them all the enthusiasm aggression engenders. The Caesarian +veterans would halt before closing in battle, draw breath, and dash +over the remaining interval with redoubled vigour. The Pompeians +received them manfully, sending back javelin for javelin; then the +short swords flashed from their scabbards, and man pressed against +man--staring into one another's face--seeking one another's blood; +striking, striking with one thought, hope, instinct--to stride across +his enemy's dead body. + +The Pompeian reserves ran up to aid their comrades in the line. The +odds against the Caesarian cohorts were tremendous. The pressure of +shield against shield never abated. Woe to the man who lost footing +and fell; his life was trampled out in a twinkling! The battle-cries +grew fewer and fewer; shouting requires breath; breath, energy; and +every scruple of energy was needed in pushing on those shields. There +were few pila left now. The short swords dashed upon the armour, but +in the press even to swing a blade was difficult. More and more +intense grew the strain; Caesarians gave ground here and then regained +it. Pompeians did the like yonder. The long reach of the line swayed +to and fro, rippling like a dark ribbon in the wind. Now and then a +combatant would receive a mortal wound, and go down out of sight in +the throng, which closed over him almost ere he could utter one sharp +cry. + +Caesar was everywhere. His voice rang like a clarion down the lines; he +knew, as it were, each soldier by name--and when a stout blow was to +be struck, or a stand was needed to bear up against the weight of +hostile numbers, Caesar's praise or admonition to stand firm was as a +fresh cohort flung into the scale. Drusus rode with him, both mounted, +hence unable to mingle in the press, but exposed to the showers of +arrows and sling-stones which the Pompeian auxiliaries rained upon +them. Caesar's red paludamentum marked him out a conspicuous figure for +the aim of the missiles, but he bore a charmed life. + +Drusus himself did what he could to steady the men. The contest in the +line of battle could not continue long, flesh and blood might not +endure the strain. + +"Imperator," cried Drusus, riding up to his chief, "you see that this +can last no longer. Our men are overmatched. Shall I order up the +third line? The centurion Crastinus, who swore that he would win your +gratitude living or dead, is slain after performing deeds worthy of +his boast. Many others have gone down. What shall I do?" + +Caesar drew rein, and cast his eyes down the swaying lines. + +"I dare not order up the third line so early," he began; then, with a +glance to the extreme right, "Ah, _Mehercle!_ we are at the crisis +now! Our cavalry have given way before the enemy's horse. They are +outflanking us!" + +"The six cohorts!" cried Drusus. + +"The six cohorts--ride! Make them stop those horse, or all is lost! On +your life, go!" + +And away went Drusus. The supreme moment of his life had come. The +whole act of being, he felt, he knew, had been only that he might live +at that instant. What the next hour had in store--life, death--he +cared not at all. The Caesarian horse, outnumbered seven to one, had +fought valiantly, but been borne back by sheer weight of numbers. With +not a man in sight to oppose them, the whole mass of the splendid +Pompeian cavalry was sweeping around to crush the unprotected flank of +the tenth legion. The sight of the on-rushing squadrons was beyond +words magnificent. The tossing mass of their panoplies was a sea of +scarlet, purple, brass, and flashing steel; the roar of the hoof-beats +of seven thousand blooded coursers swept on like the approaching of +the wind leading the clouds in whose breast are thunder and lightning +unfettered. Behind them rose the dun vapour of the dust, drifting up +toward heaven,--the whirling vortex of the storm. It was indeed the +crisis. + +The six cohorts were standing, resting on their shields, in the rear +of the extreme right flank of the third line. They were in an oblique +formation. The most distant cohort extended far back, and far beyond +the Caesarian line of battle. The hearts of the soldiers were in the +deathly press ahead, but they were veterans; discipline held them +quiet, albeit restive in soul. + +On swept the roar of the advancing Pompeians. What must be done must +be done quickly. Drusus drove the spurs into his horse, and approached +the cohorts on a headlong gallop. + +"Forward! I will lead you against the enemy!" + +No need of second command. The maniples rushed onward as though the +men were runners in a race, not soldiers clothed in armour. Drusus +flew down the ranks and swung the farthest cohorts into alignment with +the others. There was not a moment to lose. + +"Now, men, if ye be indeed soldiers of Caesar, at them!" + +Drusus was astounded at the resonance of his own voice; a thousand +others caught up the shout. + +"_Venus victrix!_" And straight into the teeth of the galloping hosts +charged the thin line of infantry. + +The line was weak, its members strong. They were rural Italians, +uncorrupted by city life, hardy, god-fearing peasants and sons of +peasants, worthy descendants of the men who died in the legions at +Cannae, or triumphed at the Metaurus. Steady as on a review the six +cohorts bore down into action. And when they struck the great mass of +horsemen they thrust their pila into the riders' eyes and prodded the +steeds. The foremost cavalrymen drew rein; the horses reared. The +squadrons were colliding and plunging. In an eye's twinkling their +momentum had been checked. + +"Charge! Charge!" Drusus sent the word tossing down along the cohorts, +and the legionaries pressed forward. It was done. The whole splendid +array of horsemen broke in rout; they went streaming back in +disordered squadrons over the plain, each trooper striving to outride +his fellow in the flight. Pompeius had launched his most deadly bolt, +and it had failed. + +Now was Drusus's chance. No further order had been given him; to +pursue cavalry with infantry were folly; he needed no new commands. +The six cohorts followed his lead like machinery. The crash of battle +dimmed his voice; the sight of his example led the legionaries on. +They fell on the Pompeian archers and slingers and dispersed them like +smoke. They wheeled about as on a pivot and struck the enemy's left +wing; struck the Pompeian fighting line from the rear, and crushed it +betwixt the upper and nether millstone of themselves and the tenth +legion. Drusus drove into the very foremost of the fight; it was no +longer a press, it was flight, pursuit, slaughter, and he forced his +horse over one enemy after another--transformed, transfigured as he +was into a demon of destruction, while the delirium of battle gained +upon him. + +Drusus saw the figure of a horseman clothed, like Caesar, in a red +general's cloak spurring away to the enemy's camp. He called to his +men that Pompeius had taken panic and fled away; that the battle was +won. He saw the third line of the Caesarians drive through the Pompeian +centre and right as a plough cuts through the sandy field, and then +spread terror, panic, rout--the battle became a massacre. + +So the Caesarians hunted their foes over the plain to the camp. And, +though the sun on high rained down a pitiless heat, none faltered when +the Imperator bade them use their favour with Fortune, and lose not a +moment in storming the encampment. They assailed the ramparts. The +Pompeian reserve cohorts stood against them like men; the Thracian and +other auxiliary light troops sent down clouds of missiles--of what +avail? There are times when mortal might can pass seas of fire and +mountains of steel; and this was one of those moments. The Pompeians +were swept from the ramparts by a pitiless shower of javelins. The +panic still was upon them; standards of cohorts, eagles of legions, +they threw them all away. They fled--fled casting behind shields, +helmets, swords, anything that hindered their running. The hills, the +mountain tops, were their only safety. Their centurions and tribunes +were foremost among the fugitives. And from these mountain crests they +were to come down the next morning and surrender themselves prisoners +to the conquerors--petitioners for their lives. + +Not all were thus fated. For in the flight from the camp Domitius fell +down from fatigue, and Marcus Antonius, whose hand knew no weariness, +neither his heart remorse or mercy, slew him as a man would slay a +snake. And so perished one of the evil spirits that hounded Pompeius +to his death, the Roman oligarchy to its downfall. + +Drusus sought far and wide for Lentulus and Lucius Ahenobarbus. The +consular had fought on the most distant wing, and in the flight he and +his mortal enemy did not meet. Neither did Drusus come upon the +younger son of the slain Domitius. Fortune kept the two asunder. But +slaying enough for one day the young Livian had wrought. He rode with +Caesar through the splendid camp just captured. The flowers had been +twined over the arbours under which the victory was to be celebrated; +the plate was on the tables; choice viands and wines were ready; the +floors of the tents were covered with fresh sods; over the pavilion of +Lentulus Crus was a great shade of ivy. The victors rode out from the +arbours toward the newly taken ramparts. There lay the dead, heaps +upon heaps, the patrician dress proclaiming the proud lineage of the +fallen; Claudii, Fabii, AEmilii, Furii, Cornelii, Sempronii, and a +dozen more great _gentes_ were represented--scions of the most +magnificent oligarchy the world has ever seen. And this was their end! +Caesar passed his hand over his forehead and pressed his fingers upon +his eyes. + +"They would have it so," he said, in quiet sadness, to the little knot +of officers around him. "After all that I had done for my country, I, +Caius Caesar, would have been condemned by them like a criminal, if I +had not appealed to my army." + +And so ended that day and that battle. On the field and in the camp +lay dead two hundred Caesarians and fifteen thousand Pompeians. +Twenty-four thousand prisoners had been taken, one hundred and eighty +standards, nine eagles. As for the Magnus, he had stripped off his +general's cloak and was riding with might and main for the seacoast, +accompanied by thirty horsemen. + + + + +Chapter XXII + +The End of the Magnus + + +I + +The months had come and gone for Cornelia as well as for Quintus +Drusus, albeit in a very different manner. The war was raging upon +land and sea. The Pompeian fleet controlled all the water avenues; the +Italian peninsula was held by the Caesarians. Cornelia wrote several +times to old Mamercus at Praeneste, enclosing a letter which she begged +him to forward to her lover wherever he might be. But no answer came. +Once she learned definitely that the ship had been captured. For the +other times she could imagine the same catastrophe. Still she had her +comfort. Rumours of battles, of sieges, and arduous campaigning +drifted over the Mediterranean. Now it was that a few days more would +see Caesar an outlaw without a man around him, and then Cornelia would +believe none of it. Now it was that Pompeius was in sore straits, and +then she was all credulity. Yet beside these tidings there were other +stray bits of news very dear to her heart. Caesar, so it was said, +possessed a young aide-de-camp of great valour and ability, one +Quintus Drusus, and the Imperator was already entrusting him with +posts of danger and of responsibility. He had behaved gallantly at +Ilerda; he had won more laurels at the siege of Massilia. At +Dyrrachium he had gained yet more credit. And on account of these +tidings, it may easily be imagined that Cornelia was prepared to be +very patient and to be willing to take the trying vicissitudes of her +own life more lightly. + +As a matter of fact, her own position at Alexandria had begun to grow +complicated. First of all, Agias had made one day a discovery in the +city which it was exceeding well for Artemisia was not postponed for a +later occasion. Pratinas was in Alexandria. The young Greek had not +been recognized when, as chance meetings will occur, he came across +his one-time antagonist face to face on the street. He had no fears +for himself. But Artemisia was no longer safe in the city. Cleomenes +arranged that the girl should be sent to a villa, owned by the +relatives of his late wife, some distance up the Nile. Artemisia would +thus be parted from Agias, but she would be quite safe; and to secure +that, any sacrifice of stolen looks and pretty coquetry was cheerfully +accepted. + +Soon after this unpleasant little discovery, a far more serious event +occurred. Pothinus the eunuch, Achillas, the Egyptian commander of the +army, and Theodotus, a "rhetoric teacher," whose real business was to +spin, not words, but court intrigues, had plotted together to place +the young King Ptolemaeus in sole power. The conspiracy ran its course. +There was a rising of the "Macedonian"[180] guard at the palace, a +gathering of citizens in the squares of the capital, culminating in +bloody riots and proclamations declaring the king vested with the only +supreme power. Hot on the heels of this announcement it was bruited +around the city that Cleopatra had escaped safely to Palestine, where, +in due time, she would doubtless be collecting an army at the courts +of Hyrcanus, the Jewish prince, and other Syrian potentates, to return +and retake the crown. + + [180] Macedonian it is needless to say was a mere name. The + Graeco-Egyptian soldiery and citizen body of Alexandria probably + had hardly a drop of Macedonian blood in their veins. + +Alexandria was accustomed to such dynastic disruptions. The rioting +over, the people were ready to go back to the paper and linen +factories, and willing to call Ptolemaeus the "Son of Ra," or "King," +until his sister should defeat him in battle. Cornelia grieved that +Cleopatra should thus be forced into exile. She had grown more and +more intimate with the queen. The first glamour of Cleopatra's +presence had worn away. Cornelia saw her as a woman very beautiful, +very wilful, gifted with every talent, yet utterly lacking that moral +stability which would have been the crown of a perfect human organism. +The two women had grown more and more in friendship and intimacy; and +when Cornelia studied in detail the dark, and often hideous, coils and +twistings of the history of the Hellenistic royal families, the more +vividly she realized that Cleopatra was the heiress of generations of +legalized license,[181] of cultured sensuality, of veneered cruelty, +and sheer blood-thirstiness. Therefore Cornelia had pitied, not +blamed, the queen, and, now that misfortune had fallen upon her, was +distressed for the plight of Cleopatra. + + [181] As, for instance, the repeated wedlock of brothers and sisters + among the Ptolemies. + +That Cornelia had been an intimate of the queen was perfectly well +known in Alexandria. In fact, Cleomenes himself was of sufficiently +high rank to make any guest he might long entertain more or less of a +public personage. Cornelia was a familiar sight to the crowds, as she +drove daily on the streets and attended the theatre. Cleomenes began +to entertain suspicions that the new government was not quite pleased +to leave such a friend of Cleopatra's at liberty; and Agias took pains +to discover that Pratinas was deep in the counsels of the virtual +regent--Pothinus. But Cornelia scoffed at any suggestions that it +might be safer to leave the city and join Artemisia in the retreat up +the Nile. She had taken no part whatsoever in Egyptian politics, and +she was incapable of assisting to restore Cleopatra. As for the +possible influence of Pratinas in court, it seemed to her incredible +that a man of his caliber could work her any injury, save by the +dagger and poison cup. That an ignoble intriguer of his type could +influence the policy of state she refused to believe. + +Thus it came to pass that Cornelia had only herself to thank, when the +blow, such as it was, fell. The eunuch prime minister knew how to +cover his actions with a velvet glove. One evening a splendidly +uniformed division of Macedonian guard, led by one of the royal +_somatophylakes_,[182] came with an empty chariot to the house of +Cleomenes. The request they bore was signed with the royal seal, and +was politeness itself. It overflowed with semi-Oriental compliment and +laudation; but the purport was clear. On account of the great danger +in the city to foreigners from riots--ran the gist of the letter--and +the extremely disturbed condition of the times, the king was +constrained to request Cornelia and Fabia to take up their residence +in the palace, where they could receive proper protection and be +provided for in a princely manner, as became their rank. + + [182] Commanders of the body-guard. + +Cornelia had enough wisdom to see that only by taking the letter for +the intentions written on its face could she submit to the implied +command without loss of dignity. She had much difficulty in persuading +Fabia to yield; for the Vestal was for standing on her Roman +prerogatives and giving way to nothing except sheer force. But +Cleomenes added his word, that only harm would come from resistance; +and the two Roman ladies accompanied the escort back to the palace. It +was not pleasant to pass into the power of a creature like Pothinus, +even though the smooth-faced eunuch received his unwilling guests with +Oriental salaams and profuse requests to be allowed to humour their +least desires. But the restraint, if such it can be called, could +hardly take a less objectionable form. Monime and Berenice, as ladies +whose father was known as a merchant prince of colourless politics, +were allowed free access to their friends at the palace. Young +Ptolemaeus, who was a dark-eyed and, at bottom, dark-hearted youth, +completely under the thumb of Pothinus, exerted himself, after a +fashion, to be agreeable to his visitors; but he was too unfavourable +a contrast to his gifted sister to win much grace in Cornelia's eyes. +Agias, who was living with Cleomenes, nominally for the purpose of +learning the latter's business, preparatory to becoming a partner on +capital to come from his predatory cousin, as a matter of fact spent a +great part of his time at the palace also, dancing attendance upon his +Roman friends. Pratinas, indeed, was on hand, not really to distress +them, but to vex by the mere knowledge of his presence. Cornelia met +the Greek with a stony haughtiness that chilled all his professions of +desire to serve her and to renew the acquaintance formed at Rome. +Agias had discovered that Pratinas had advised Pothinus to keep his +hands on the ladies, especially on Cornelia, because whichever side of +the Roman factions won, there were those who would reward suitably any +who could deliver her over to them. From this Cornelia had to infer +that the defeat of the Caesarians meant her own enthralment to her +uncle and Lucius Ahenobarbus. Such a contingency she would not admit +as possible. She was simply rendered far more anxious. Pratinas had +given up seeking Drusus's life, it was clear; his interest in the +matter had ended the very instant the chance to levy blackmail on +Ahenobarbus had disappeared. Pratinas, in fact, Agias learned for her, +was never weary ridiculing the Roman oligarchs, and professing his +disgust with them; so Cornelia no longer had immediate cause to fear +him, though she hated him none the less. + +After all, Pratinas thrust himself little upon her. He had his own +life to live, and it ran far apart from hers. Perhaps it was as well +for Cornelia that she was forced to spend the winter and ensuing +months in the ample purlieus of the palace. If living were but the +gratification of sensuous indolence, if existence were but luxurious +dozing and half-waking, then the palace of the Ptolemies were indeed +an Elysium, with its soft-footed, silent, swift, intelligent Oriental +servants; rooms where the eye grew weary of rare sculpture or fresco; +books drawn from the greatest library in the world--the Museum close +at hand; a broad view of the blue Mediterranean, ever changing and +ever the same, and of the swarming harbour and the bustling city; and +gardens upon gardens shut off from the outside by lofty walls--some +great enclosures containing besides forests of rare trees a vast +menagerie of wild beasts, whose roarings from their cages made one +think the groves a tropical jungle; some gardens, dainty, secluded +spots laid out in Egyptian fashion, under the shade of a few fine old +sycamores, with a vineyard and a stone trellis-work in the midst, with +arbours and little parks of exotic plants, a palm or two, and a tank +where the half-tame water-fowl would plash among the lotus and papyrus +plants. In such a nook as this Cornelia would sit and read all the day +long, and put lotus flowers in her hair, look down into the water, +and, Narcissus-like, fall in love with her own face, and tell herself +that Drusus would be delighted that she had not grown ugly since he +parted with her. + +So passed the winter and the spring and early summer months; and, +however hot and parched might be the city under the burning sun, there +was coolness and refreshment in the gardens of the palace. + +With it all, however, Cornelia began to wax restive. It is no light +thing to command one's self to remain quiet in Sybaritic ease. More +and more she began to wish that this butterfly existence, this passive +basking in the sun of indolent luxury, would come to an end. She +commenced again to wish that she were a man, with the tongue of an +orator, the sword of a soldier, able to sway senates and to lead +legions. Pothinus finally discovered that he was having some +difficulty in keeping his cage-bird contented. The eunuch had +entertained great expectations of being able to win credit and favour +with the conquerors among the Romans by delivering over Cornelia safe +and sound either to Lentulus Crus or Quintus Drusus. Now he began to +fear that Pratinas had advised him ill; that Cornelia and Fabia were +incapable of intriguing in Cleopatra's favour, and by his "protection +at the palace" he was only earning the enmity of his noble guests. But +it was too late to retrace his steps, and he accordingly plied +Cornelia with so many additional attentions, presents, and obsequious +flatteries, that she grew heartily disgusted and repined even more +over her present situation. + +Bad news came, which added to her discomfort. Caesar had been driven +from his lines at Dyrrachium. He had lost a great many men. If the +Pompeian sources of information were to be believed, he was now really +a negligible military factor, and the war was practically over. The +tidings fell on Cornelia's soul like lead. She knew perfectly well +that the defeat of the Caesarians would mean the death of Quintus +Drusus. Her uncle and the Domitii, father and son, would be all +powerful, and they never forgave an enmity. As for herself--but she +did not think much thereon; if Drusus was slain or executed, she +really had very little to live for, and there were many ways of +getting out of the world. For the first time since the memorable night +of the raid on Baiae, she went about with an aching heart. Fabia, too, +suffered, but, older and wiser, comforted Cornelia not so much by what +she might say, by way of extending hopes, as by the warm, silent +contact of her pure, noble nature. Monime and Berenice were grieved +that their friends were so sad, and used a thousand gentle arts to +comfort them. Cornelia bore up more bravely because of the +sympathy--she did not have to endure her burden alone, as at Rome and +Baiae; but, nevertheless, for her the days crept slowly. + +And then out of the gloom came the dazzling brightness. A Rhodian +merchantman came speeding into the haven with news. "Is Caesar taken?" +cried the inquisitive crowd on the quay, as the vessel swung up to her +mooring. "Is Pompeius not already here?" came back from the deck. And +in a twinkling it was all over the city: in the Serapeium, in the +Museum, under the colonnades, in the factories, in the palace. +"Pompeius's army has been destroyed. The Magnus barely escaped with +his life. Lucius Domitius is slain. Caesar is master of the world!" + +Never did the notes of the great water-organ of the palace sound so +sweet in any ears as these words in those of the Roman ladies. They +bore with complacency a piece of petty tyranny on the part of +Pothinus, which at another time they would have found galling indeed. +Report had it that Cleopatra had gathered an army in Syria, and the +eunuch, with his royal puppet, was going forth to the frontier town of +Pelusium, to head the forces that should resist the invasion. Cornelia +and Fabia were informed that they would accompany the royal party on +its progress to the frontier. Pothinus clearly was beginning to fear +the results of his "honourable entertainment," and did not care to +have his guests out of his sight. It was vexatious to be thus at his +mercy; but Cornelia was too joyous in soul, at that time, to bear the +indignity heavily. They had to part with Monime and Berenice, but +Agias went with them; and Cornelia sent off another letter to Italy, +in renewed hope that the seas would be clear and it would find its way +safely to Drusus. + +Very luxurious was the progress of the royal party to Pelusium. The +king, his escort, and his unwilling guests travelled slowly by water, +in magnificent river barges that were fitted with every requisite or +ornament that mind of man might ask or think. They crossed the Lake +Mareotis, glided along one of the minor outlets of the delta until +they reached the Bolbitinic branch of the Nile, then, by canals and +natural water-courses, worked their way across to Bubastis, and thence +straight down the Pelusiac Nile to Pelusium. And thus it was Cornelia +caught glimpses of that strange, un-Hellenized country that stretched +away to the southward, tens and hundreds of miles, to Memphis and its +pyramids, and Thebes and its temples--ancient, weird, wonderful; a +civilization whereof everything was older than human thought might +trace; a civilization that was almost like the stars, the same +yesterday, to-day, and forever. Almost would Cornelia have been glad +if the prows of the barges had been turned up the river, and she been +enabled to behold with her own eyes the mighty piles of Cheops, +Chephren, Mycerinus, Sesostris, Rhampsinitus, and a score of other +Pharaohs whose deeds are recorded in stone imperishable. But the +barges glided again northward, and Cornelia only occasionally caught +some glimpse of a massive temple, under whose huge propylons the +priests had chanted their litanies to Pakht or Ptah for two thousand +years, or passed some boat gliding with its mourners to the +necropolis, there to leave the mummy that was to await the judgment of +Osiris. And down the long valley swept the hot winds from the realm of +the Pygmies, and from those strange lakes and mountains whence issued +the boundless river, which was the life-giver and mother of all the +fertile country of Egypt. + +Thus with a glimpse, all too short, of the "Black Land,"[183] as its +native denizens called it, the royal party reached the half-Hellenized +town of Pelusium, where the army was in waiting and a most splendid +camp was ready for Ptolemaeus and his train. Cleopatra had not yet +advanced. The journey was over, and the novelty of the luxurious +quarters provided in the frontier fortress soon died away. Cornelia +could only possess her soul in patience, and wonder how long it would +be before a letter could reach Italy, and the answer return. Where was +Drusus? Had aught befallen him in the great battle? Did he think of +her? And so, hour by hour, she repeated her questions--and waited. + + [183] "Black" because of the black fertile mud deposited by the + inundation. + + +II + +Cleopatra's forces had not reached proportions sufficient for her to +risk an engagement, when a little squadron appeared before Pelusium +bearing no less a person than Pompeius himself, who sent ashore to +demand, on the strength of former services to the late King Ptolemaeus +Auletes, a safe asylum, and assistance to make fresh head against the +Caesarians. There was a hurried convening of the council of Pothinus--a +select company of eunuchs, amateur generals, intriguing rhetoricians. +The conference was long; access to its debates closely guarded. The +issue could not be evaded; on the decision depended the +reestablishment of the Pompeians in a new and firm stronghold, or +their abandonment to further wanderings over the ocean. All Pelusium +realized what was at stake, and the excitement ran high. + +Cornelia beyond others was agitated by the report of the arrival of +the Magnus. Rumour had it that Lucius Lentulus was close behind him. +If the council of Pothinus voted to receive the fugitives, her own +position would be unhappy indeed. For a time at least she would fall +into the power of her uncle and of Lucius Ahenobarbus. She was fully +determined, if it was decided to harbour the Pompeians, to try to +escape from the luxurious semi-captivity in which she was restrained. +She could escape across the frontier to the camp of Cleopatra, where +she knew a friendly welcome was in waiting. Agias, ever resourceful, +ever anxious to anticipate the slightest wish on the part of the Roman +ladies, actually began to bethink himself of the ways and means for a +flight. When finally it was announced in the camp and city that +Pompeius was to be received as a guest of the king, Cornelia was on +the point of demanding of Agias immediate action toward escape. + +"In a few days," were her words, "my uncle will be here; and I am +undone, if not you also. There is not an hour to lose." + +But Agias reasoned otherwise. If Pothinus and Achillas had really +consented to receive the Magnus, flight was indeed necessary. Agias, +however, had grounds, he thought, for hesitancy. He knew that +Achillas, the head of the army, bitterly opposed the idea of letting +Pompeius land; he knew, what was almost as much to the point, that +Pratinas did not care to renew certain acquaintanceships contracted at +Rome. Therefore the young Hellene calmed Cornelia's fears, and waited +as best he might. + +The council had convened early in the day; the herald went through the +squares of Pelusium announcing that Ptolemaeus, "Son of Ra," would +receive as his guest the Roman suppliant. The shore fronting the +anchorage was covered with the files of the royal army in full array. +Several Egyptian men-of-war had been drawn down into the water and +their crews were hastening on board. Out in the haven rode the little +fleet of the Pompeians. Agias had heard the proclamation, and hurried +down to the mole to bear the earliest definite information to his +mistress. Presently, out of the throng of officers and court magnates +on the quay, stepped Achillas in a splendid panoply of gilded armour, +with a purple chiton flowing down from beneath. Beside him, with the +firm swinging step of the Roman legionary, strode two other officers +in magnificent armour, whom Agias at once recognized as Lucius +Septimius, a Roman tribune now in Egyptian service, and a certain +Salvius, who had once been a centurion of the Republic. The three +advanced on to the quay and stood for a moment at a loss. Agias, who +was quite near, could hear their conversation. + +"The yacht is not ready for us." + +"We cannot delay a moment." + +There was a large open boat moored to the quay, a fisher man's craft. +In a moment a few subalterns had taken possession of it and there was +a call for rowers. Agias, who, like all his race, never declined a +chance "to see or hear some new thing," took his seat on one of the +benches, and soon the craft shot away from the mole with the three +officers in its stern. + +It was a short pull to the Pompeian ships; Agias, as he glanced over +his shoulder thought he could see a motion on board the vessels as if +to sheer away from the boat; but in a moment the little craft was +alongside, under the lee of the flagship. + +"Where is Pompeius Magnus?" cried Achillas, rising from his seat; "we +are sent to carry him to the king." + +A martial, commanding figure was seen peering over the side,--a figure +that every inhabitant of Rome knew right well. + +"I am he; but why do you come thus meanly with only a fisher's boat? +Is this honourable, is this worthy of a great king's guest?" + +"Assuredly, kyrios," began Achillas, "we are forced to come in this +small craft, because the water is too shallow for larger ships to +approach the shore." + +Agias knew that this was a lie; he was very certain that he was about +to be witness to a deed of the darkest treachery. A vague feeling of +shrinking and horror froze his limbs, and made his tongue swell in his +mouth. Yet he was perfectly powerless to warn; a sign or a word would +have meant his instant death. + +"_Salve_, Imperator!" shouted Septimius in Latin, rising in turn. +"Don't you remember the campaign I had with you against the pirates?" + +The fugitive general's care-worn face lighted up at the recognition of +an old officer. + +"_Eu!_" he answered, "I shall not want for good friends, I see! How +glad I shall be to grasp your hands! But is not this a very small +boat? I see men going on board the galleys by the shore." + +"You shall be satisfied in a moment, kyrios," repeated Achillas, with +suave assurance, "that the quicksands by the mole are very dangerous +to large vessels. Will you do us the honour to come aboard?" + +Agias felt as though he must howl, scream, spring into the sea--do +anything to break the horrible suspense that oppressed him. + +A woman was taking leave of Pompeius on the deck, a tall, stately, +patrician lady, with a sweet, trouble-worn face; Agias knew that she +was Cornelia Scipionis. She was adjuring her husband not to go ashore, +and he was replying that it was impossible to refuse; that if the +Egyptians meant evil, they could easily master all the fugitives with +their armament. Several of the Magnus's servants came down into the +boat--couple of trusted centurions, a valued freedman called Philip, a +slave named Scythes. Finally Pompeius tore himself from his wife's +arms. + +"Do not grieve, all will be well!" were his words, while the boat's +crew put out their hands to receive him; and he added, "We must make +the best choice of evils. I am no longer my own master. Remember +Sophocles's iambics, + + "He that once enters at a tyrant's door + Becomes a slave, though he were free before.'" + +The general seated himself on the stern seat between the Egyptian +officers. Agias bent to his oar in sheer relief at finding some way in +which to vent his feelings; and tugged at the heavy paddle until its +tough blade bent almost to cracking. The silence on the part of the +officers was ominous. Not a word, not a hint of recognition, came from +Achillas or his Italian associates, from the instant that Pompeius set +foot in the boat. The stillness became awkward. The Magnus, flushed +and embarrassed, turned to Septimius. "I was not mistaken in +understanding that you were my fellow-soldier in years past?" His +answer was a surly nod. Pompeius, however, reined his rising feelings, +and took up and began to re-read some tablets on which he had written +an address in Greek, to be delivered before the king. Agias rowed on +with the energy of helpless desperation. They were very close to the +quay. A company of the royal body-guard in gala armour stood as if +awaiting the distinguished visitor. For a moment the young Hellene +believed that Achillas was sincere in his errand. + +The boat drew up to the landing; one or two of the rowers sprang to +the dock and made her fast. Agias was unshipping his oar. His thought +was that he must now contrive the escape of Cornelia. Pompeius half +rose from his seat; the boat was pitching in the choppy harbour swell; +the general steadied himself by grasping the hands of Philip the +freedman. Suddenly, like the swoop of a hawk on its prey, Agias saw +the right hand of Septimius tear his short sword from its sheath. A +scream broke from the Hellene's lips; before the Magnus could turn his +head, the blow was struck. Pompeius received the blade full in the +back, and staggered, while Salvius and Achillas likewise drew and +thrust at him. Agias gazed on, paralyzed with horror. The general +seized his red paludamentum, threw it over his face, groaned once, and +fell. Even as he did so Septimius struck him across the neck, +decapitating the corpse. The brutal boatmen tore the blood-soaked +clothes off of the body, and flung it overboard, to drift ashore with +the current. And so it ended with Pompeius Magnus, Imperator, the +Fortunate, the favourite general of Sulla, the chieftain of "godlike +and incredible virtue," the conquerer of the kingdoms of the East, +thrice consul, thrice triumphator, joint ruler with Caesar of the +civilized world! + +Agias hastened back to Cornelia to tell her that the danger was past, +that there was no need of a flight to Cleopatra; but he was sick at +heart when he thought of the treachery in which he had shared, albeit +so unwillingly. + + + + +Chapter XXIII + +Bitterness and Joy + + +I + +Cornelia knew not whether to be merry or to weep when the report of +the fate of Pompeius reached her. That she would be delivered up to +her uncle was no longer to be dreaded; but into the hands of what +manner of men had she herself fallen? Her own life and that of Fabia, +she realized, would be snuffed out in a twinkling, by Pothinus and his +confederates, the instant they saw in such a deed the least advantage. +The splendid life of the court at the garrison city went on; there was +an unending round of fetes, contests in the gymnasium and stadium; +chariot races; contests of poets and actors for prizes in dramatic +art. To the outward eye nothing could be more decorous and magnificent +than the pleasures of the Egyptian king. And so some days passed while +Cornelia crushed her fears, and waited for the news that she was sure +would come--that Caesar was pressing on the tracks of his rival. + +Late one afternoon, as the king and his suite were just returned from +a visit by boat up the river to inspect a temple under restoration at +Sethroe, Agias sought the private apartment of his patroness. His face +was extremely grave, and Cornelia at once realized that he brought +serious news. + +"Domina," he said, speaking in Latin to evade the curiosity of the +maids present, "when you are at leisure, I have a curious story to +tell you." + +Cornelia presently found pretexts to get rid of all her women. Agias +reconnoitred, made certain that there was no eavesdropper, and began +afresh. + +"What I have to say is so different from that which we feared a few +days since, that I scarce know how you will receive it. I have just +learned that your uncle Lucius Lentulus and Lucius Ahenobarbus made a +landing on the coast the day after Pompeius was murdered; they have +been quietly arrested and the matter hushed up. I believe that +Pothinus intends to execute them without your knowledge. Only by a +friendship with some of the officers of the guard did I get at this." + +Cornelia's lips twitched; her hands pressed on her cheeks till the +pale skin flushed red. In her heart a hundred conflicting emotions +held sway. She said nothing for a long time, and then it was only to +ask where the prisoners were confined. + +"They are in the dungeon of the fortress," said Agias. "That is all +that I can discover." + +"I must see them at once," declared the lady. + +"I do not know how Pothinus will take this," replied the young +freedman; "the discovery of his secret will be rightly attributed to +me, and your ladyship would not care to imperil my life unless +something very great is to be gained thereby." + +"I shall miss you very much," said Cornelia, soberly. "But though +Lucius Lentulus has done me grievous ill, he is my uncle. You must +leave Pelusium this very night, and keep out of danger until +Pothinus's vexation can abate. In the morning I shall demand to see +the prisoners and to learn the eunuch's intentions touching them." + +Agias accordingly fared away, much to Cornelia's regret; but not quite +so much to his own, because his enforced journeying would take him to +the Nile villa, where was the pretty Artemisia. Early on the following +day Cornelia boldly went to Pothinus, and, without any explanations, +demanded to see her uncle. The regent, who had tried to keep the +matter profoundly secret, first was irate, then equivocated, and tried +to deny that he had any Roman prisoners; then, driven to bay by +Cornelia's persistency and quiet inflexibility before his denials and +protests, gave her permission to be taken to the prison and see the +captives. + +To pass from the palace of Pelusium to the fortress-prison was to +pass, by a few steps, from the Oriental life, in all its sensuous +splendour, to Orientalism in its most degraded savagery. The prison +was a half-underground kennel of stone and brick, on which the +parching sun beat pitilessly, and made the galleries and cells like so +many furnaces in heat. The fetid odour of human beings confined in the +most limited space in which life can be maintained; the rattle of +fetters; the grating of ponderous doors on slow-turning pivots; the +coarse oaths and brutish aspect of both jailers and prisoners; the +indescribable squalor, filth, misery,--these may not be enlarged upon. +The attendants led Cornelia to the cell, hardly better than the rest, +wherein Lentulus and Ahenobarbus were confined. + +But another had been before Cornelia to visit the unfortunates. As the +lady drew toward the open door she saw the graceful, easy form of +Pratinas on the threshold, one hand carelessly thrust in the folds of +his himation, the other gesturing animatedly, while he leaned against +the stone casing. + +Lucius Lentulus, his purple-lined tunic dirty and torn, his hair +disordered, his face knitted into a bitter frown, crouched on a stool +in the little low-ceiled room, confronting the Hellene. Cowering on a +mass of filthy straw, his head bowed, his body quaking in a paroxysm +of fear, was another whose name Cornelia knew full well. + +Pratinas was evidently just concluding a series of remarks. + +"And so, my friends, amici, as we say at Rome," he was jauntily +vapouring, "I regret indeed that the atomic theory,--which my good +Ahenobarbus, I am sure, holds in common with myself,--can leave us no +hope of meeting in a future world, where I can expect to win any more +of his good sesterces with loaded dice. But let him console himself! +He will shortly cease from any pangs of consciousness that our good +friend Quintus Drusus will, in all probability, enjoy the fortune that +he has inherited from his father, and marry the lady for whose hand +the very noble Ahenobarbus for some time disputed. Therefore let me +wish you both a safe voyage to the kingdom of Hades; and if you need +money for the ferryman, accept now, as always, the use of my poor +credit." + +"May all the infernal gods requite you!" broke forth Lentulus, half +rising, and uplifting his fettered hands to call down a solemn curse. + +"It has been often observed by philosophers," said Pratinas, with a +smile, "that even among the most sceptical, in times of great +extremity, there exists a certain belief in the existence of gods. +Your excellency sees how the observation is confirmed." + +"The gods blast you!" howled Lentulus, in impotent fury. Before +further words could pass, Cornelia put Pratinas aside, and entered the +cell. + +"Your presence, sir," she said haughtily, to the Hellene, "is needed +no longer." And she pointed down the gallery. + +Pratinas flushed, hesitated as if for once at a loss, and nimbly +vanished. Lentulus sat in speechless astonishment "Uncle," continued +Cornelia, "what may I do for you? I did not know till last evening +that you were here." + +But ere the other could reply the figure in the corner had sprung up, +and flung itself at the lady's feet. + +"Save me! save me! By all that you hold dear, save my life! I have +loved you. I thought once that you loved me. Plead for me! Pray for +me! Anything that I may but live!" + +"_Vah_, wretch!" cried the consular; and he spurned Ahenobarbus with +his foot. "It is indeed well that you have not married into family of +mine! If you can do naught else, you can at least die with dignity as +becomes a Roman patrician--and not beg intercession from this woman +who has cut herself off from all her kin by disobedience." + +"Uncle," cried Cornelia in distress, "must we be foes to the end? Must +our last words be of bitterness?" + +"Girl," thundered the unbending Lentulus, "when a Roman maiden +disobeys, there is no expiation. You are no niece of mine. I care not +how you came here. I accept nothing at your hands. I will not hear +your story. If I must die, it is to die cursing your name. Go! I have +no more words for you!" + +But Ahenobarbus caught the skirt of Cornelia's robe, and pleaded and +moaned. "Let them imprison him in the lowest dungeons, load him with +the heaviest fetters; place upon him the most toilsome labour--only +let him still see the light and breathe the air!" + +"Uncle," said Cornelia, "I will plead for you despite your +wrath---though little may my effort avail. You are my father's +brother, and neither act of yours nor of mine can make you otherwise. +But as for you, Lucius Ahenobarbus,"--and her words came hot and +thick, as she hissed out her contempt,--"though I beg for your life, +know this, that if I despised you less I would not so do. I despise +you too much to hate; and if I ask to have you live, it is because I +know the pains of a base and ignoble life are a myriad fold more than +those of a swift and honourable death. Were I your judge--I would doom +you; doom you _to live_ and know the sting of your ignominy!" + +She left them; and hatred and pity, triumph and anguish, mingled +within her. She went to the young King Ptolemaeus and besought him to +spare the prisoners; the lad professed his inability to take a step +without the initiative of Pothinus. She went to Pothinus; the eunuch +listened to her courteously, then as courteously told her that grave +reasons of state made it impossible to comply with the request--much, +as he blandly added, it would delight him personally to gratify her. +Cornelia could do no more. Pratinas she would not appeal to, though he +had great influence with Pothinus. She went back to her rooms to spend +the day with Fabia, very heavy of heart. The world, as a whole, she +beheld as a thing very evil; treachery, guile, wrath, hatred, were +everywhere. The sight of Ahenobarbus had filled her with loathsome +memories of past days. The sunlight fell in bright warm panels over +the rich rugs on the floor of her room. The sea-breeze sweeping in +from the north blew fresh and sweet; out against the azure light, into +which she could gaze, a swarm of swallows was in silhouette--black +dots crawling along across the dome of light. Out in one of the public +squares of the city great crowds of people were gathering. Cornelia +knew the reason of the concourse--the heads of two noble Romans, just +decapitated, were being exposed to the gibes and howls of the coarse +Greek and Egyptian mob. And Cornelia wished that she were herself a +swallow, and might fly up into the face of the sun, until the earth +beneath her had vanished. + +But while she leaned from the parapet by the window of the room, +footsteps sounded on the mosaic pavement without; the drapery in the +doorway was flung aside; Agias entered, and after him--another. + + +II + +Drusus ran to Cornelia and caught her in his arms; and she--neither +fainted nor turned pale, but gave a little laugh, and cried softly:-- + +"I always knew you were coming!" + +What more followed Agias did not know; his little affair with +Artemisia had taught him that his Hellenic inquisitiveness sometimes +would do more harm than good. + +Very different from the good-humoured, careless, half-boyish student +youth who had driven down the Praeneste road two years before, was the +soldierly figure that Cornelia pressed to her heart. The campaigning +life had left its mark upon Drusus. Half of a little finger the stroke +of a Spanish sword had cleft away at Ilerda; across his forehead was +the broad scar left by the fight at Pharsalus, from a blow that he had +never felt in the heat of the battle. During the forced marchings and +voyages no razor had touched his cheeks, and he was thickly bearded. +But what cared Cornelia? Had not her ideal, her idol, gone forth into +the great world and stood its storm and stress, and fought in its +battles, and won due glory? Was he not alive, and safe, and in health +of mind and body after ten thousand had fallen around him? Were not +the clouds sped away, the lightnings ceased? And she? She was happy. + +So Drusus told her of all that had befallen him since the day he +escaped out of Lucius Ahenobarbus's hands at Baiae. And Cornelia told +of her imprisonment at the villa, and how Demetrius had saved her, and +how it came to pass that she was here at the Egyptian court. In turn +Drusus related how Caesar had pursued Pompeius into Asia, and then, +hearing that the Magnus had fled to Egypt, placed two legions on +shipboard and sailed straight for Alexandria. + +"And when he landed," continued the young officer, "the magistrates of +the city came to Caesar, and gave him first Pompeius's seal-ring of a +lion holding a sword in his paw, and then another black-faced and +black-hearted Egyptian, without noticing the distress the Imperator +was in, came up and uncovered something he had wrapped in a mantle. I +was beside the general when the bundle was unwrapped. I am sickened +when I speak of it. It was the head of Pompeius Magnus. The fools +thought to give Caesar a great delight." + +"And what did the Imperator do or say?" asked Cornelia. + +"He shrank back from the horror as though the Egyptian had been a +murderer, as indeed all of his race are. Caesar said nothing. Yet all +saw how great was his grief and anger. Soon or late he will requite +the men who slew thus foully the husband of his daughter Julia." + +"You must take me away from them," said Cornelia, shuddering; "I am +afraid every hour." + +"And I, till you are safe among our troops at Alexandria," replied +Drusus. "I doubt if they would have let me see you, but for Agias. He +met us on the road from Alexandria and told me about you. I had +received a special despatch from Caesar to bear with all haste to the +king. So across the Delta I started, hardly waiting for the troops to +disembark, for there was need for speed. Agias I took back with me, +and my first demand when I came here was to see the king and deliver +my letter, which was easily done an hour ago; and my next to see you. +Whereat that nasty sheep Pothinus declared that you had been sent some +days before up the river on a trip to the Memphis palace to see the +pyramids. But Agias was close at hand, and I gave the eunuch the lie +without difficulty. The rascal blandly said, 'that he had not seen you +of late; had only spoken by hearsay about you, and he might have been +misinformed;' and so--What do I look like?" + +"You look like Quintus Livius Drusus, the Roman soldier," said +Cornelia, "and I would not have you otherwise than what you are." + +"_Eho!_" replied Drusus, passing his hand over her hair. "Do you want +me to tell you something?" + +"What is it?" said Cornelia, pressing closer. + +"I can never write a cosmology. I shall never be able to evolve a new +system of ethics. I cannot improve on Plato's ideal state. I know I am +a very ignorant man, with only a few ideas worth uttering, with a hand +that is very heavy, with a mind that works to little purpose save when +it deals with politics and war. In short"--and Drusus's voice grew +really pathetic--"all my learning carries me no farther than did the +wisdom of Socrates, 'I know that I know nothing;' and I have no time +to spend in advancing beyond that stage." + +"But Socrates," said Cornelia, laughing, "was the wisest man in +Greece, and for that very reason." + +"Well," said Drusus, ignoring the compliment, as a certain type of men +will when the mood is on them, "what do you wish me to make of +myself?" + +"I wish you to make nothing different," was her reply, "for you are +precisely what I have always wanted you to be. When you have read as +much as I have," this with an air of utter weariness, "you will +realize the futility of philosophic study." + +"_Eho!_" remarked Drusus again. "So you would have me feel that I am +turning my back on nothing very great, after all?" + +"And so I mean." + +"Seriously?" + +"I am serious, Quintus." And indeed Cornelia was. "I can read +Aristotle and Plato, and Zeno and Cleanthes, and Pyrrho, and a score +of others. I can spin out of my own brain a hundred theories of the +universe as good as theirs, but my heart will not be the happier, if +things outside make me sad. I am sick of the learning that is no +learning, that answers our questions by other questions that are more +riddling." + +"Ah, scoffer at the wise," laughed Drusus, "what do you wish, then?" +He spoke in Greek. + +"Speak in Latin, in Latin, Quintus," was her retort. "I am weary of +this fine, sweet language that tinkles so delicately, every word of +which hides a hundred meanings, every sentence attuned like the notes +for a harp. Let us have our own language, blunt and to the point; the +language, not of men who wonder what they ought to do, but who _do_. +We are Romans, not Greeks. We have to rule the world, not growl as to +how Jupiter made it. When you came back from Athens I said, 'I love +Quintus Drusus, but I would love him more if he were less a Hellene.' +And, now I see you wholly Roman, I love you wholly. And for myself, I +wish neither to be a Sappho, nor an Aspasia, nor a Semiramis, but +Cornelia the Roman matron, who obeys her husband, Quintus Drusus, who +cares for his house, and whom, in turn, her household fears and +obeys." + +"_O tempora! O mores!_" cried the young soldier, in delight. "When had +ever a woman such ambition in these degenerate days? _Eu!_ Then I will +burn my books, if you can get no profit out of them." + +"I do not think books are bad," said Cornelia, still soberly, "but I +know that they can never make me happy." + +"What can?" demanded her tormenter. + +"_You!_" + + * * * * * + +So the hours of the afternoon ran on, and the lovers gave them little +heed. But they were not too selfish to refuse to Fabia's sharing in +their joy; and Drusus knew that he was dear no less, though +differently, in the eyes of his aunt than of his betrothed. And there +were duties to perform that not even the long-deferred delights of the +afternoon could postpone. Chief of these were the arrangements for the +immediate departure of the Roman ladies for Alexandria. Agias, who was +called into the council, was invaluable in information and suggestion. +He said that Pothinus had acted at Pratinas's advice, when he took +Fabia and Cornelia to the palace. The eunuch had expected to use them +half as hostages, half as captives to be put to ransom. If Caesar had +delayed a few days, Pothinus would not have lied when he made excuse +that the ladies had been sent up the river. But now Agias believed +that the regent was afraid, having overreached himself, and it was +best to make a prompt demand for conveyance to Alexandria. This, +indeed, proved advantageous policy. The eunuch made difficulties and +suggested obstacles, but Drusus made his native Italian haughtiness +stand him in good stead. It would largely depend, he said +insinuatingly, on the way in which his demand was complied with, what +sort of a report he made to Caesar touching the execution of Lucius +Lentulus and Ahenobarbus. During his interview with Pothinus, the +Roman came face to face with Pratinas. No words were exchanged, but +Drusus noticed that the elegant Hellene flushed, and then turned pale, +when he fastened upon him a gaze steady and half menacing. Pothinus +ended by yielding everything--the use of the royal chariots and +horses, the use of the Nile boats needed for swift transit across the +Delta, and orders on the local garrisons and governors to provide +entertainment and assistance. + +As a result Cornelia speedily found herself again journeying, not this +time in a slow barge following the main branches of the Nile, but by +more rapid, if less luxurious, conveyance, now by land, now by water, +hurrying westward. They passed through Sethroe and Tanis, Mendes and +Sebennytus, Xais and Sais, where were the tomb of Osiris and the great +Egyptian university in this the capital of the mighty Pharaohs who had +wrested the nation from the clutches of Assyria. Then they fared up +the Nile to the old Milesian trading factory of Naucratis,--now +dropping into decline beside the thriving Alexandria,--and then by +boat they pressed on to the capital itself. Never more delightful +journey for Cornelia or for Drusus; they saw the strange land through +one another's eyes; they expressed their own thoughts through one +another's lips; they were happy together, as if children at play; and +Fabia was their never exacting, ever beneficent, guardian goddess. + +Drusus and Cornelia were neither of them the same young persons who +had met in the gardens of the villa of the Lentuli two short years +before. They saw life with a soberer gaze; they had both the wisdom +that experience teaches. Yet for the time not a cloud was drifting +across their sky. Their passions and hates had been too fierce, too +pagan, to feel the death of even Cornelia's uncle very keenly. Lucius +Ahenobarbus was dead--they had no more thought for him than for a dead +viper. Lucius Domitius was dead. Gabinius and Dumnorix were dead. +Pompeius, the tool of guiltier men than himself, was dead. Pratinas +alone of all those who had crossed their path remained; but the wily +Greek was a mere creature of self-interest--what had he to gain by +pressing his animosity, if he had any, against them? Caesar was +triumphant. His enemies were barely lifting their heads in Africa. +Doubtless there was stern work awaiting the Imperator there, but what +of it? Was he not invincible? Was he not about to commence a new order +of things in the world, to tear down the old and decaying, to raise up +a steadfast fabric? Therefore the little party took its pleasure, and +enjoyed every ancient temple of the Amenhoteps, Thothmeses, and +Ramesides that they hurriedly visited; won the favour of the wrinkled +old priests by their plentiful votives of bright philippi; heard a +hundred time-honoured tales that they knew not whether to believe or +laugh at; speculated among themselves as to the sources of the Nile, +the cause of the vocal Memnon, and fifty more darkened wonders, and +resolved to solve every mystery during a second and more prolonged +visit. + +So they came to Alexandria, but on the way called at the Nile villa +where was Artemisia, and, to the great satisfaction of that young lady +and of Agias, carried her along with them to the house of Cleomenes, +where that affable host and Berenice and Monime received them with +open arms. + +Their pleasure at this reunion, however, began to abate when they +realized the disturbed state of the city. + +"I can't say I like the situation," admitted Cleomenes, as soon as he +had been introduced to Drusus, and the first greetings were over; "you +know when Caesar landed he took his consular insignia with him, and the +mob made this mean that he was intending to overthrow the government +and make Egypt a Roman province. If you had not left for Pelusium so +hastily, you would have been present at a very serious riot, that was +with great difficulty put down. The soldiers of the royal garrison are +in an ugly mood, and so are the people. I suspect the king, or rather +Pothinus, is doing nothing to quiet them. There have been slight riots +for several days past, and a good many Roman soldiers who have +straggled away from the palace into the lower quarters of the city +have been murdered." + +"I am glad," replied Drusus, "that I can leave Cornelia and my aunt +under your protection, for my duty may keep me continuously with the +Imperator." + +The young officer at once hastened to the palace and reported for +service. Caesar questioned him as to the situation at Pelusium, and +Drusus described the unpromising attitude of Pothinus, and also +mentioned how he had found Cornelia and his aunt. + +The general, engrossed as he was with his business of state and +threatening war, put all his duties aside and at once went to the +house of Cleomenes. It was the first time Cornelia had ever met the +man whose career had exerted such an influence upon her own life. She +had at first known of him only through the filthy, slanderous verses +of such oligarchs as Catullus and Calvus; then through her lover she +had come to look upon Caesar as an incarnation as it were of +omniscience, omnipotence, and benevolence--the man for whom everything +was worth sacrificing, from whom every noble thing was to be expected. + +She met the conquerer of Ariovistus, Vercingetorix, and Pompeius like +the frank-hearted, patrician maiden that she was, without shyness, +without servility. + +"My father died in your army," she said on meeting; "my affianced +husband has taught me to admire you, as he himself does. Let us be +friends!" + +And Caesar bowed as became the polished gentleman, who had been the +centre of the most brilliant salons of Rome, and took the hand she +offered, and replied:-- + +"Ah! Lady Cornelia, we have been friends long, though never we met +before! But I am doubly the friend of whosoever is the friend of +Quintus Livius Drusus." + +Whereupon Cornelia was more completely the vassal of the Imperator +than ever, and words flew fast between them. In short, just as in the +case with Cleopatra, she opened her heart before she knew that she had +said anything, and told of all her life, with its shadows and +brightness; and Caesar listened and sympathized as might a father; and +Drusus perfectly realized, if Cornelia could not--how many-sided was +the man who could thus turn from weighing the fate of empires to +entering unfeignedly into a sharing of the hopes and fears of a very +young, and still quite unsophisticated, woman. + +When the Imperator departed Drusus accompanied him to the palace. +Neither of the two, general nor subaltern, spoke for a long while; at +last Caesar remarked:-- + +"Do you know what is uppermost in my mind, after meeting women like +Fabia or Cornelia?" + +Drusus shook his head. + +"I believe that there are gods, who bring such creatures into the +world. They are not chance accretions of atoms." And then Caesar added, +half dreamily: "You ought to be a very happy man. I was once--it was +many years ago. Her name was Cornelia also." + + * * * * * + +Serious and more serious, grew the situation at Alexandria. King +Ptolemaeus and Pothinus came to the city from Pelusium. Caesar had +announced that he intended to examine the title of the young monarch +to the undivided crown, and make him show cause why he had expelled +Cleopatra. This the will of Ptolemaeus Auletes had enjoined the Roman +government to do; for in it he had commissioned his allies to see that +his oldest children shared the inheritance equally. + +But Pothinus came to Alexandria, and trouble came with him. He threw +every possible obstacle in Caesar's way when the latter tried to +collect a heavy loan due the Romans by the late king. The etesian +winds made it impossible to bring up reenforcements, and Caesar's force +was very small. Pothinus grew more insolent each day. For the first +time, Drusus observed that his general was nervous, and suspicious +lest he be assassinated. Finally the Imperator determined to force a +crisis. To leave Egypt without humbling Pothinus meant a great +lowering of prestige. He sent off a private message to Palestine that +Cleopatra should come to Alexandria. + +Cleopatra came, not in royal procession, for she knew too well the +finesse of the regent's underlings; but entered the harbour in +disguise in a small boat; and Apollodorus, her Sicilian confidant, +carried her into Caesar's presence wrapped in a bale of bedding which +he had slung across his back. + +The queen's suit was won. Cleopatra and the Imperator met, and the two +strong personalities recognized each other's affinity instantly. Her +coming was as a thunder-clap to Pothinus and his puppet Ptolemaeus. +They could only cringe and acquiesce when Caesar ordered them to be +reconciled with the queen, and seal her restoration by a splendid +court banquet. + +The palace servants made ready for the feast. The rich and noble of +Alexandria were invited. The stores of gold and silver vessels +treasured in the vaults of the Lagidae were brought forth. The arches +and columns of the palace were festooned with flowers. The best pipers +and harpers of the great city were summoned to delight with their +music. Precious wine of Tanis was ready to flow like water. + +Drusus saw the preparations with a glad heart. Cornelia would be +present in all her radiancy; and who there would be more radiant than +she? + + + + +Chapter XXIV + +Battling for Life + + +And then it was,--with the chariots bearing the guests almost driving +in at the gates of the palace,--that Cerrinius, Caesar's barber, came +before his master with an alarming tale. The worthy man declared that +he had lighted on nothing less than a plot to murder the Romans, one +and all, by admitting Achillas's soldiery to the palace enclosure, +while all the banqueters were helpless with drugged wine. Pratinas, +who had been supposed to be at Pelusium, Cerrinius had caught in +retired conference with Pothinus, planning the arrangement of the +feast. Achillas's mercenary army was advancing by stealthy marches to +enter the city in the course of the evening. The mob had been aroused +by agitators, until it was in a mood to rise en masse against the +Romans, and join in destroying them. Such, in short, was the barber's +story. + +There was no time to delay. Caesar was a stranger in a strange and +probably hostile land, and to fail to take warning were suicide. He +sent for Pothinus, and demanded the whereabouts of Achillas's army. +The regent stammered that it was at Pelusium. Caesar followed up the +charge by inquiring about Pratinas. Pothinus swore that he was at +Pelusium also. But Caesar cut his network of lies short, by commanding +that a malefactor should be forced to swallow a beaker of the wine +prepared for the banquet. In a few moments the man was in a helpless +stupor. + +The case was proved and Caesar became all action. A squad of +legionaries haled Pothinus away to an execution not long delayed. +Other legionaries disarmed and replaced the detachment of the royal +guard that controlled the palace gates and walls. And barely had these +steps been taken, when a courier thundered into the palace, hardly +escaped through the raging mob that was gaining control of the city. +Achillas, he reported, had wantonly murdered Dioscorides and Serapion, +whom Caesar had sent as envoys to Pelusium, and was marching on the +city with his whole army of Italian renegades, Syrian banditti, +convicts, and runaway slaves, twenty thousand strong. + +There was nothing to do but to prepare to weather the storm in the +palace enclosure, which, with its high walls, was practically a +fortress in itself. There were only four thousand Romans, and yet +there was a long circuit of defences to man. But Drusus never saw his +general putting forth greater energy. That night, instead of feasting, +the soldiers laboured, piling up the ramparts by the light of torches. +The city was surging and thundering without the palace gates. Caesar +had placed the king under guard, but Arsinoe--his younger sister--had +slipped out of the palace to join herself to the advancing host of +Achillas, and speedily that general would be at hand. Caesar as usual +was everywhere, with new schemes for the defences, new enthusiasm for +his officers, new inspiration for his men. No one slept nor cared to +sleep inside the palace walls. They toiled for dear life, for with +morning, at most, Achillas would be upon them; and by morning, if +Pothinus's plans had not failed, they would have been drugged and +helpless to a man, none able to draw sword from scabbard. It was a new +experience to one and all, for these Romans to stand on the defensive. +For once Caesar had made a false step--he ought to have taken on his +voyage more men. He stood with his handful, with the sea on one side +of him and a great city and a nation in arms against him on the other. +The struggle was not to be for empire, but for life. But the Romans +were too busy that night to realize anything save the need of untiring +exertion. If they had counted the odds against them, four thousand +against a nation, they might well have despaired, though their +chieftain were Caesar. + +Two years earlier Drusus, as he hurried to and fro transmitting orders +for his general, might have been fain to draw aside and muse on the +strangeness of the night scene. The sky was clear, as almost always in +a land where a thunder-storm is often as rare as an eclipse; the stars +twinkled out of heavens of soft blackness; the crescent of a new moon +hung like a silvered bow out over the harbour, and made a thin pathway +of lustre across the moving, shimmering waters. Dimly the sky-line was +visible; by the Pharos and its mole loomed the vague tracery of masts. +On the west and the south lay the white and dark masses of the city, +now and then brought into clearer relief as the moonbeams swept across +some stately pile, and touched on its Corinthian columns and nobly +wrought pediments. But Drusus was a soldier; and the best of poets +doubtless work poorly when their lives are hanging in the balance. +Over the flower-strewn walks, under the festooned colonnades, ran the +busy legionaries, bestirring themselves as never before; while +Diomedes, and Hector, and Patroclus, and fifty other heroic worthies +waged perpetual battle on their marble heights above the soldiers' +heads. On occasion Drusus was called to one of the upper terraces and +pinnacles of the palace buildings, and then he could catch a glimpse +of the whole sweep of the mighty city. Over to the southeast, where +was the Jewish quarter, the sky was beginning to redden. The mob had +begun to vent its passions on the innocent Israelites, and the +incendiary was at his work. A deep, low, growling hum, as of ten +thousand angry voices, drifted upon the night air. The beast called +the Alexandrian rabble was loose, and it was a terrible animal. + +It was midnight. Drusus had toiled since noon. He had hardly tasted +food or drink since morning, but there were three feet more of brick, +stone, and rubbish to be added still to this and that rampart before +it would be secure, and a whole wing of the overgrown palace must be +pulled down to furnish the material. He had climbed out upon the roof +to aid in tearing up the tiles and to encourage the men by his +example, when some one plucked him from behind on the cloak--it was +Caesar. + +"You are not needed here," said the general, in a voice that seemed a +bit strained to keep calm. "Read this--take all the men you want." + +And the Imperator himself held up the torch, while Drusus took the +tablet thrust into his hands and read the hastily scribbled lines:-- + +"Cleomenes to Drusus. The ladies are in danger. I will resist the mob +as long as I can. Send help." + +Drusus threw down the tablet; forgot to so much as salute his +commander. He had laid off his armour during the work on the ramparts; +he ran for it, put it on with feverish haste. A moment more and he was +running among the soldiers, calling this and that legionary by name. +The troops all knew him, and would have followed him to the death. +When he asked for thirty volunteers for dangerous service, none +demanded of him the occasion; he simply selected his men as fast as he +might. He secured four chariots and placed in them the fastest horses +in the royal stables and trusted men for drivers. He mounted the rest +of his thirty on other steeds, and the preparations were over. The +gate was thrown open; Decimus Mamercus, who was his subaltern, led out +the little company. Drusus rode out last, in one of the chariots. The +troops on the walls cheered them as they departed. + +In the immediate neighbourhood of the palace there prevailed an +ominous silence. Earlier in the night a few cohorts had charged out +and scattered the street rabble; and the mob had kept at a distance. +There was no light save that of the moon and the distant glow of the +burning buildings. Drusus felt his breath coming thick and fast, the +drops of sweat were hanging on his forehead, something within was +driving his heart into his throat. "If--" he never went further; +unless he brought Cornelia and Fabia back to the palace unscathed, he +knew the Alexandrian rabble would howl over his unconscious body. + +"Ride!" he commanded, as if the rush of the chariots and horses would +drown the fears that nearly drove him frantic. "Ride!" + +The drivers lashed the teams, the horsemen pricked with the spur. +Drusus caught the reins from his chariot companion, and swung the lash +himself over the four steeds. Faster and faster they flew down the +splendidly paved and built highways. Temples and majestic public +buildings rose in sombre grandeur above their heads; above them winged +"Victories" seemed springing up into dark void, their sculptured +symmetries just visible in the moonlight. On and on, swift and more +swift--persons began shouting from the buildings which they passed, +now a few voices, now many, now a hundred. A volley of stones was +dashed down from the safe recesses of the pillars at the head of the +long flight of steps leading up to a temple. Presently an arrow +whirred over Drusus's head and smote on the masonry across the street. +There were lights ahead--scores of torches waving--a small building +was on fire; the glare grew redder and brighter every instant; and a +din, a din lifted by ten thousand men when their brute instincts are +enkindled, grew and grew. Drusus dashed the cold sweat from his brow, +his hand was trembling. He had a quiver and bow in the chariot,--a +powerful Parthian bow, and the arrows were abundant. Mamercus had +taught him to be a good archer, as a boy. Could he turn his old skill +to account? Not unless his hand became more steady. + +Women screamed out at him and his band from the house roofs; a tile +struck one of the chariot horses and made it plunge wildly; Drusus +flung his strength into the reins, and curbed in the raging beast; he +tossed the lines back to his driver and tore the bow from its casings. +His car had rushed on ahead of Decimus Mamercus and the rest; two +furlongs more would bring him to the house of Cleomenes on one of the +squares of the city. The chariot swung around a street corner for the +final stretch, the way was broad, the buildings on either side (the +residences of the Alexandrian gentry) high; but the whole street from +wall to wall was a seething mass of human forms. The fire was +spreading; the brightening flames shone down on the tossing, howling +multitude--excited Egyptians from the quarter of Rhacotis, frenzied +Asiatics in their turbans, mad sailors from the Eunostian port and the +Pharos island. At the head of the street the flames were pressing in +upon a stately mansion around which the raging mob was packed thickly. +On the roof of the threatened house figures could be seen in the lurid +light, running to and fro, flinging down bricks and stones, and trying +to beat back the fire. It was the house of Cleomenes. Insensibly the +veteran who had been driving reined in the horses, who themselves drew +back, loath to plunge into the living barriers ahead. But Drusus was +past fear or prudence; with his own hands he sent the lash stinging +over all the four, and the team, that had won more than a single +trophy in the games, shot forward. The chariot struck the multitude +and went, not through it, but over it. The on-rush was too rapid, too +unexpected, for resistance. To right and left, as the water gives way +before the bows of an on-rushing ship, the crowd surged back, the +instinct of panic reigning in every breast. Thick and fast, as quickly +as he might set shaft to string, flew Drusus's arrows--not a shaft +that failed a mark, as it cut into the living masses. The chariot +reeled again and again, as this wheel or that passed over something +animate and struggling. The horses caught the fire of conflict; they +raced, they ran--and the others sped after them. The mob left off +howling: it screamed with a single voice of mortal dread. And before +Drusus or any one else realized, the deed was done, the long lane was +cleared, and the drivers were drawing rein before the house of +Cleomenes. + +The heavily barred carriage-way was thrown open, the valiant merchant +and his faithful employees and slaves greeted their rescuers as the +little cavalcade drove in. There was not a moment to lose. Cleomenes +and his household might indeed have long made good the house against +the mere attacks of the mob; but the rioters had set the torch to some +adjacent buildings, and all efforts to beat back the flames were +proving futile. There was no time to condole with the merchant over +the loss of his house. The mob had surged again into the streets and +was pressing back, this time more or less prepared to resist the +Romans. The colonnades and the house roofs were swarming, the din was +indescribable, and the crackling and roar of the advancing flames grew +ever louder. + +The only alternative was a return to the palace. Cleomenes's employees +and slaves were to scatter into the crowd, where they would easily +escape notice; he himself, with his daughters, Artemisia, and the +Roman ladies, must go in the chariots to the palace. Cornelia came +down from her chamber, her face more flushed with excitement than +alarm. Troubles enough she had had, but never before personal danger; +and she could not easily grasp the peril. + +"Are you afraid, carissima," said Drusus, lifting her into his +chariot, "to ride back with me to the palace, through that wolf pack?" + +"With you?" she said, admiring the ease with which he sprang about in +full armour; "I would laugh at Medusa or the Hydra of Lerna with you +beside me." + +Cleomenes had been again upon the housetop to watch the progress of +the fire. He came down, and Drusus instantly saw that there was dismay +written on his face. The merchant, who was himself armed with sword +and target, drew the officer aside and whispered:-- + +"Pray, Roman, to all your native gods! I can see a _lochos_[184] of +regular troops filing into the square before the house. Achillas is +entering the city with his men. We shall have to fight our way through +his thousands." + + [184] A company of about one hundred men. + +Drusus uttered a deep and silent curse on himself for the mad bravado +that led him to leave the palace with but thirty men; why had he not +waited to assemble more? He could ride over the mob; to master +Achillas's disciplined forces was otherwise. + +A freedman came running down from the roof, crying out that it was +already on fire. It was a time for action, not thought, yet even at +the moment Drusus's schoolboy Polybius was running through his +mind--the description of the great riot when Agathocles, the wicked +regent of Ptolemaeus Philopator, and his sister Agathocleia, and his +mother Oenanthe, had been seized by the multitude and torn in pieces, +bit by bit, while yet they lived. Cornelia seemed to have caught some +new cause for fear; she was trembling and shivering when Drusus took +her in his arms and swung her into the chariot. He lifted in Fabia +likewise, but the Vestal only bowed her head in calm silence. She had +overheard Cleomenes's tidings, but, by stress of all the force of her +strong nature, remained composed. Decimus Mamercus took Artemisia, +frightened and crying, into his own chariot. Monime, Berenice, and +their father were to go in the other cars. The fire was gaining on the +roof, smoke was pouring down into the court-yard, and now and then a +gleam came from a firebrand. The horses were growing restive and +frightened. + +"Throw open the gate!" commanded Drusus; his anxieties and despair +were driving him almost to frenzy, but the gods, if gods there were, +knew that it was not for himself that he was fearful. His voice +sounded hollow in his throat; he would have given a talent of gold for +a draught of water. One of his men flung back the gateway, and in at +the entrance came the glare of great bonfires lighted in the streets, +of hundreds of tossing torches. The yelling of the multitude was +louder than ever. There it was, packed thick on all sides: in its +midst Drusus could see bright lines of tossing steel--the armour of +Achillas's soldiery! As the portal opened, a mighty howl of triumph +burst from the people; the fire had driven forth to the mob its prey. +Cornelia heard the howl--the voice of a wild and raging beast--and +trembled more. + +"Cornelia," said Drusus, lowering his head so as to make himself +heard, "do not look above the framework of the chariot. Cling to it +tightly, for we may have to pass over obstacles. Above all, do not +spring out, however much we may be swayed and shaken." + +"I will not, Quintus," and that was all she could be heard to say in +the din. + +And so the little cavalcade drove forth. Cornelia cowered in the +chariot and saw nothing and heard everything, which was the same as +nothing. Was she frightened? She did not know. The peril was awful. Of +course she realized that; but how could calamity come to pass, when it +was Drusus whose powerful form towered above her, when it was Drusus +whose voice rang like a trumpet out into the press swaying around? + +It was very dark crouching in the body of the chariot. She could just +see the face of Fabia opposite, very white, but, she knew, very calm. +She reached out and caught the Vestal's hand, and discovered that her +own was trembling, while the other's was perfectly steady. But the +contest, the fighting all about! Now the horses were dashing forward, +making the chariot spring as though it were a thing of life; now +reined in sharply, and the heavily loaded car swayed this way and +that, almost to overturning. The uproar above her head passed the +telling by words; but there was one shout, now in Greek, now in +Egyptian, that drowned all others: "Death to the Romans! tear them in +pieces!" Missiles smote against the chariot; an arrow went cutting +into the wood, driving its keen point home, and Cornelia experienced a +thrill of pain in her shoulder. She felt for the smart, found the mere +tip of the point only had penetrated the wood; but her fingers were +wet when she took them away. Drusus was shooting; his bow-string +snapped and snapped. Once a soldier in armour sprang behind the +chariot when it came to a stop, and his javelin was poised to +discharge; but an arrow tore through his throat, and he went down to +the pavement with a crash. The car rocked more and more; once the +wheels slipped without revolving, as though sliding over some smooth +liquid--not water. Cornelia felt powers of discriminating sensation +becoming fainter and fainter; a great force seemed pressing out from +within her; the clamour and shocks were maddening. She felt driven to +raise her head, to look out into the raging chaos, though the first +glance were death. Peering back out of the body of the chariot now and +then, she saw a little. The Romans were charging this way and that, +forcing their passage down the street, barred no longer by a mere mob, +but by Achillas's infantrymen, who were hastening into action. The +chariot horses were wounded, some seriously; she was sure of that. +They could not be driven through the spearmen, and the little handful +of cavalry was trying to break through the enemy and make space for a +rush. It was thirty against thousands; yet even in the mortal peril, +which Cornelia realized now if she had never before, she had a strange +sort of pride. Her countrymen were showing these Orientals how one +Roman could slay his tens, could put in terror his hundreds. Drusus +was giving orders with the same mechanical exactitude of the drill, +albeit his voice was high-pitched and strained--not entirely, perhaps, +because of the need of calling above the din. + +"Form in line by fours!" + +Cornelia raised her head above the chariot frame. The Romans had +worked their way down into a square formed by the intersection of +streets. Behind them and on every building were swarming the people; +right across the eastern avenue, where their escape lay, stood the +bristling files of one of Achillas's companies. Stones and roof-tiles +were being tossed in a perfect hail from the houses, and now and then +an arrow or a dart. The four chariots--one had only three horses +left--were standing in the little plaza, and the troopers were forming +before them. The arrows of the chariot warriors made the mob behind +keep a respectful distance. It was the triumph of discipline over +man's animal sense of fear. Even the mob felt this, when it saw the +little squadron fall into line with as much precision as on the parade +ground. A tile smote one soldier upon the head, and he tumbled from +his horse like a stone. His comrades never paused in their evolution. +Then, for the first time, Cornelia screamed with horror and fright. +Drusus, who was setting a new arrow to his bow, looked down upon her; +he had never seemed so handsome before, with the fierce light of the +battle in his eyes, with his whole form swelling with the exertions of +conflict. + +"Down, Cornelia!" commanded the officer; and Cornelia did so +implicitly--to disobey him at that moment was inconceivable. + +"At them, men!" + +And then came a new bound from the horses, and then a mighty crash and +clash of bodies, blades, and shields, the snort of dying beasts, the +splintering of spear-shafts, the groans and cries of men in battle for +their lives. The car rose on one wheel higher and higher; Cornelia was +thrown against Fabia, and the two women clung to each other, too +terrified and crushed to scream; then on a sudden it righted, and as +it did so the soldier who had acted as charioteer reeled, his face +bathed in blood, the death-rattle in his throat. Back he fell, pierced +in face and breast, and tumbled from the car; and, as if answering to +this lightening of their burden, the hoofs of the hard-pressed horses +bit on the pavement, and the team bounded onward. + +"_Io triumphe!_" It was Drusus who called; and in answer to his shout +came the deep Caesarian battle-cry from hundreds of throats, "_Venus +Victrix!_" + +The chariot was advancing, but less rapidly. Cornelia rose and looked +forth again, not this time to be rebuked. Down the moon-lighted street +were moving several infantry cohorts from the palace; the avenue was +clear, the mob and hostile soldiery had melted away like a mist; a +mounted officer came flying down the street ahead of the legionaries. + +"The ladies are safe, Imperator!" Drusus was reporting with military +exactitude. "I have lost twelve men." + +Caesar galloped along beside the chariot. He had his horse under +absolute control, and he extended his hand, first to Fabia, then to +Cornelia. + +"Fortune has been kind to us," said he, smiling. + +"Vesta has protected us," said Fabia, bowing her head. + +Caesar cast a single inquiring, keen glance at the Vestal. + +"Your excellency doubts the omnipotence of the goddess," continued +she, looking him steadily in the face. + +"That a power has protected you," was his answer, "I am the last to +deny." + +But the Imperator and Drusus were exchanging glances; that a woman of +the intelligence of Fabia could believe in the regular, personal +intervention of the Deity in human affairs was to them, not an +absurdity, but a mystery unfathomable. + +And so, safe-guarded by the troops, they rode back to the palace, +where the preparations for defence were ready, and all were awaiting +the onset of Achillas. The weary men on the walls cheered as the +carriages with their precious burdens rolled in at the gate; and +cheered again for Drusus and his eighteen who had taught the +Alexandrian rabble how Roman steel could bite. But Drusus himself was +sad when he thought of the twelve good men that he had left +behind--who need not have been sacrificed but for his headlong +rashness. + +And how had the mob come to attack the house of Cleomenes? It was a +long story, but in a few words probably this. Pratinas had come and +demanded of Cleomenes that he surrender the ladies (doubtless because +they would be useful hostages) to go with him to Achillas. Cleomenes +had refused, the more especially as Cornelia adjured him not to +deliver them over to the clutches of such a creature; and Pratinas +went away full of anger and threatenings. How he came to be in +Alexandria, and had returned so soon from Achillas's forces, if he had +indeed gone to Achillas, was neither clear nor important. But that he +had excited the mob to assail Cleomenes's mansion needed no great +proof. Cleomenes himself had seen his artful fellow-countryman +surveying the riot from a housetop, though doubtless he had kept at a +prudent distance during the fighting. + +So ended that exciting day, or rather that night. It was Cleopatra who +with her own hands laid the bandages on Cornelia's wounded shoulder, +but the hurt was not serious; only, as Drusus laughingly assured her, +it was an honourable scar, as became the descendant of so many +fighting Claudii and Cornelii. + +"Ah! delectissime," replied she, "it isn't the hurt that gives me +pain; it is that I was frightened--frightened when you were acting +like one of the Heroes!" + +"_Mehercle!_" laughed Drusus, before he left her to snatch a few hours +of well-earned rest and see to the dressing of his own bruises, "I +would not blame a veteran for being panic-struck in that melee, if he +didn't have a chance to swing a weapon and so keep his heart from +standing still." + + +II + +On the next day Achillas moved up his thousands and attacked the +palace fortifications. There was a desperate struggle in the streets +outside the royal residence; the assailants were five to the +defenders' one, and the mob was arming to aid in the assault; but the +Egyptians soon realized that it was no light thing to carry barricades +held by men who had fought in Gaul, Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy, +and Greece, and never tasted overthrow. Fiercest of all was the fight +at the harbour, where the navy of the king lay, and which, if seized, +would have put Caesar at his enemies' mercy. But here, also, Roman +valour prevailed over Oriental temerity. All the ships that Caesar +could not use were burned. With the rest he sailed over to the Pharos +island, and landed men to make good the tower on that point of +vantage. So ended the first round of battle; and the initial danger of +being overwhelmed by sheer force was over. + +But day after day of conflict followed. Princess Arsinoe and Achillas +quarrelled in the camp of the besiegers, and this occasioned some +respite to the Romans. Still there was no end to the fighting. Caesar +sent off to Asia Minor, Syria, and Crete for reenforcements; but +these, all knew, could not come at once. A sharp struggle cleared the +houses nearest to the palace, and the general caused them to be razed +and the positions thoroughly fortified. He seized the low-lying ground +which ran as an insignificant valley down between the halves of the +city and tried to cut his enemies' position in twain. So the struggle +dragged on. Achillas had been murdered by Arsinoe, and she had placed +in command her governor, the eunuch Ganymed, who was more dangerous by +his sly craft than fifty common generals. One day a frightened +centurion reported to Caesar that all the cisterns used by the troops +were becoming flooded with sea-water. It was a contrivance of Ganymed. +The soldiers were in a panic, and it was all that their leader could +do to pacify them. And then one of those strokes of fortune which will +always come to a favoured few was vouchsafed; as the terrified Romans +delved in the earth where rain had seldom fallen, lo! on the very +first night of their toil fresh water bubbled up, and all the danger +was at an end. + +But it is needless to tell how the contest was waged; how the +thirty-seventh legion arrived as help, how the wind kept them off port +exposed to the enemy, and how Caesar sailed out and succoured them, and +worsted the Alexandrian ships. Then, again, Ganymed stirred the +disheartened citizens to build another fleet, and, by tremendous +exertions, a new flotilla arose to threaten to cut Caesar off; and +there was a second battle for dear life--this time on sea close by the +city; while Roman and Alexandrian stood staring on the housetops, with +their hearts beating quickly, for defeat meant ruin to the Romans. +And, again, the gods of the waters fought for Caesar, and the beaten +Alexandrian fleet drifted back to the shelter of its mole in the +harbour of Eunostus. + +Next came a great struggle for the possession of the Pharos. The +fighting was severe, the footing on the island hard to win, up steep +crags and rocks swept by volleys of missiles; but Italian courage +seemed inexhaustible. The legionaries, without ladders or fascines, +stormed towers and battlements. The town on the island was taken and +the fort by it; then came the contest along the mole, driving the +Alexandrians to the fort at the lower end. On the next day the second +fort, too, was taken. There was a bridge at the lower end of the mole, +and the Alexandrians had tried to sail under to attack the Caesarians +in the western harbour. The legionaries toiled to fill up the passage. +All seemed going well, but of a sudden befell calamity. + + * * * * * + +Panic will seize the most hardened veterans, and so it was that day. A +flank attack from the Alexandrian ships, and of other foes by land, a +sudden giving way on the part of some sailors who were defending the +working party, and then terror spread among the three veteran cohorts +at the lower fort. Caesar had been among his men directing the work, +with him had gone Drusus, as aide-de-camp, and Agias, who had long +been chafing under the restraints of the beleaguered palace and +imagined the position safe and unassailable. The panic came more +quickly than words may tell: a few hostile shouts from behind, cries +of fear and alarm, a volley of darts, and the men who had hunted the +Magnus to his death fled like raw recruits at their first arrow. + +The Caesarian ships beside the mole began to thrust back, lest the +enemy seize them. The terrified legionaries rushed from their ranks, +cast away shield and cuirass, sword and dart. Every man cared but to +save himself, the spirit of mere fear uppermost. Caesar and Drusus +rushed into the press, and commanded and exhorted; they might have +better striven to turn the flight of a herd of frightened cattle; +their words fell on deaf ears; the panic-struck soldiers swept them +aside in a mad dash to get on board the receding shipping. The danger +was terrible. On either side the enemy were rushing down the mole, and +over the defences just forsaken by the Romans. Caesar had been caught +in the swirl of his men and carried along despite his resistance. He +fell, and Drusus, who struggled to be near him, ran to his side. + +"We must escape, Imperator!" cried he, in his commander's ear. He saw +that there was blood on the general's face, and for an instant that +thought overpowered all others. + +"Save yourselves," gasped Caesar, striving to struggle to his feet." +You cannot aid me." + +A burly Egyptian soldier was running toward them, far ahead of the +other enemies, flourishing a battle-axe. Did he realize the prize that +lay almost in his power? Drusus had not been fighting, but his sword +was now out. One blow of the terrible weapon of the legionary sent the +oncomer sprawling in his own gore. A trifling respite had been gained. +Caesar steadied himself and looked about him. They were alone with +Agias facing the foe; the legionaries were struggling one over another +at the edge of the causeway, battling for dear life to force their way +into the only galley that had not thrust off. + +"Come," said Caesar, turning; and the three joined in the flight. To +linger were madness. + +It was only a trifling distance across the mole, but a frightful +tragedy was enacted before their eyes as they ran. The galley by the +mole was none too large; as the frightened men piled into her, the +shifting and increasing weight threw her on an uneven keel; and then +came the horror. A cry of mortal agony burst from hundreds of throats +as the ship capsized. Drusus, as he ran, saw, but for a twinkling, her +deck black with writhing men, then her curving sides and keel, ere all +vanished behind the embankment of the mole. The three fugitives ran to +the edge of the causeway: below them, the water full of men battling +for life; behind, the foe, now fully aware of their advantage and +pressing on with exultant shouts. Never had the Imperator been in +greater peril. Drusus glanced at his chief and saw that he was very +pale, evidently hurt in the scuffle. There was not a ship within hail, +not a ship within two arrow-flights; and all seemed pulling back as if +to escape from the danger. + +"Leap, swim!" cried Caesar, casting off his breastplate.[185] + + [185] _Lorica_. + +"There is no ship within reach, Imperator," replied the young man, +gravely. + +"You are young and strong," was his answer, "and will come away safe." +Caesar was preparing to spring over the edge. + +"And you?" cried Drusus, catching him by the wrist. He knew that Caesar +could never swim the distance to the nearest ship. + +"In the hands of the Fates." + +But Agias, whose eyes had been straining out into the western harbour, +cried, "Help! A galley is coming!" + +"Imperator," said Drusus, "you must wait for this galley." + +The foe were almost on them. + +"Are you mad?" was the exclamation of the general. + +"I can hold them off until it is safe to swim," and Drusus had covered +himself behind a coping in the masonry. + +Caesar measured the distance with his eye. + +"We play at dice with Fortuna, whatever we do," was his comment. +"Come, then." And the three steadied themselves on the narrow footing +behind the parapet, one thrust being enough to send them headlong. +Fortunately weapons were ready--thrown away by the luckless fugitives. +When the Alexandrians rushed up, three pila crashed in upon them, and, +caught unawares by the little volley, they held back an instant. The +three desperate men were counting their hearts' beats, while the +distance from the friendly galley lessened. Then the rush came, but it +was met, and, narrow as was the ledge, the attempt to carry it failed. +The victors were stripping the dead, and, thus engaged, few joined in +the attack. Caesar had laid down his paludamentum, and the attackers +thought they had to deal simply with three ordinary Romans, who meant +to sell their lives dearly. Another rush; the Imperator was forced +hard, so that another push would have sent him plunging into the sea; +but his companions sent the attackers reeling back, and there was more +breathing time. The Alexandrians had received a taste of these Roman +blades, and they did not enjoy it. Stripping the dead and picking up +lost arms was more profitable than bearding the three lions. The +galley was drawing nearer. Drusus began to think of something else +besides thrusting at men before him. + +"They will give us time to escape, Imperator." + +"I think so;" but as Caesar spoke all three started in dismay. There +was a new face among the little band immediately opposed to +them--Pratinas. + +The Greek had never looked so handsome as in armour. His beautifully +polished mail sat on him with perfect grace; he was a model for an +artist's Ares, the beautiful genius of battle. _He_, at least, knew +whose were those three stern, set faces defiantly peering over the low +parapet that ran waist-high along the edge of the mole. + +"At them!" cried the Hellene. "A thousand drachmas to the man who +brings the middle Roman down!" + +The "middle Roman" was Caesar. The enemy came on again, this time some +springing over the parapet to run along the narrow outer platform and +attack from either side. But the galley was still nearer. + +"Throw off your armour and leap!" It was Drusus who commanded now, and +Caesar who obeyed. The Imperator tore off his greaves and helmet, +caught his general's cloak in his teeth, that it might not fall as a +trophy to the foe, and sprang down into the waves; it was all done in +a twinkling. But, quick as the leap had been, it was but just in time. +A rush of irresistible numbers carried Drusus off of his feet, and he +fell also--but fell in all his armour. It was an instant too crowded +for sensations. He just realized that his helmet tumbled from his head +as he fell backward. The weight of his greaves righted him while he +was in the air. He struck the water with his feet. There was a +chilling shock; and then, as he went down, the shield on his left arm +caught the water in its hollow and bore him upward. Nature reasserted +itself; by a mighty tug at the straps he wrenched away his +breastplate, and could make shift to float. The short harbour waves +lifted him, and he saw Caesar striking out boldly toward the now +rapidly approaching galley. Even as the general swam, Drusus observed +that he held up a package of papyri in his left hand to keep it out of +the wet; in uttermost perils Caesar could not forget his books. But +while the young man gazed seaward, shook the water from his eyes, and +struck out to reach the friendly galley, groans and shouts arose from +the waters near beside him. A voice--Agias's voice--was calling out +for help. The sound of his freedman's cries drove the Roman to action. +Twice the waves lifted him, and he saw nothing; but at the third time +he lit on two forms clinging to a bit of wreckage, and yet struggling +together. A few powerful strokes sent him beside them, and, to his +unutterable astonishment, he beheld in the person who was battling +with Agias for possession of the float none other than Pratinas. There +are times when nothing has opportunity to appear wonderful. This +moment was one of these. Actions, not words, were wanted. The elder +Greek had made shift to draw a dagger, and was making a vicious effort +to stab the other, who had gripped him round the neck with a tenacity +that would end only with life. One stroke of Drusus's fist as he +surged alongside the wreckage sent the dagger flying; and in a +twinkling he had borne Pratinas down and had him pinioned fast on the +planking of the rude raft. There was a great shout rising from the +enemy on the mole. A few darts spat in the water beside the fugitives; +but at the sight of the approaching galley the Alexandrians gave way, +for on her decks were swarming archers and slingers, and her powerful +ballistae were already working havoc. The pulsations of her banks of +oars grew slower as she swept up to the fugitives, the great column of +white spray curling around her prow sank, and while she drifted past +them a boat shot forth. In a minute Drusus was standing on her deck, +and the sailors were passing up Pratinas, still feebly resisting, and +Agias, who was weak and helpless with his wounds. On the poop Caesar +was conversing with a seaman of magnificent presence, who was in the +act of assuring the Imperator that his vessel and crew were at the +general's service. + + +III + +The boats of the rescuer were pulling about, taking up such few Romans +as had been able to keep afloat; but Drusus was too exhausted to give +them further heed. He realized that the vessel he was aboard was no +member of the Roman squadron, that its crew were neither Caesarians nor +Alexandrians. Deft hands aided him off with his water-soaked clothing, +and placed bandages on his bruises and cuts. A beaker of spiced wine, +the like of which he had never drunk before, sent a thrill of +reinvigorated life through his veins. When he came back upon the deck +he found Caesar--pale, yet, as ever, active and untiring--still +conversing with the captain of the vessel. The Imperator had a bandage +drawn across his forehead, but otherwise he seemed none the worse for +his recent danger. The galley, under a swinging oar, was pulling back +across the "Great Harbour" to the palace quay. The battle was over; +four hundred good Roman lives had been lost, but the disaster had not +entailed any serious compromise of Caesar's position. There was no need +of continuing at the Pharos, and it was well to assure the anxious +garrison at the palace-fortress that their general was safe and sound. + +Drusus, as the one thing natural under the circumstances, went to the +captain of his rescuers to express his obligation and gratitude. + +"This is Quintus Livius Drusus," said Caesar, good-naturedly, already +at his ease, to the strange commander, "who serves on my staff. In +saving him I owe you a debt, O Demetrius, in addition to my own +rescue." + +The stranger caught Drusus by both hands. + +"Are you indeed the son of Sextus Drusus of Praeneste?" he questioned +with eagerness. + +"Assuredly, my good sir," replied the young Roman, a bit confused at +the other's impetuosity. + +"And did your father never tell you of a certain Demetrius, a Greek, +who was his friend?" + +"He did; this Demetrius was cast into prison and condemned by +Pompeius; my father secured his escape;" and Drusus hesitated. His +mind had worked rapidly, and he could jump at a conclusion. + +"Say it out, your excellency," pressed the seaman. + +"He became a pirate, though my father did not blame him overmuch." + +"_Eu!_" interrupted Caesar, as if to prevent a moment of awkwardness. +"Before King Minos's days nothing was more honourable. I have known +some excellent men who were pirates." + +But Demetrius had, in true Eastern fashion, fallen on his knees and +kissed the feet of Drusus. + +"The son of my preserver! I have saved him! Praises to Mithras!" + +After this, there was no longer any constraint on the part of rescuers +or rescued. And that evening, when all were safe behind the palace +walls, Caesar called the pirate chief into the hall where he had been +banqueting with Cleopatra, Fabia, and Cornelia, and his favourite +officers, and asked for an account of his life. A strange enough story +it was Demetrius had to tell, though Cornelia had heard it before; of +two voyages to wealthy Taprobane,[186] one as far as the Golden +Chersonesos,[187] almost to the Silk Land, Serica, of voyages out +beyond the Pillars of Hercules into the Sea of Darkness,--everywhere +that keel of ship had ploughed within the memory of man. + + [186] Ceylon. + + [187] Malay Peninsula. + +"And the men that drove you to freebooting?" asked Caesar, when the +company had ceased applauding this recital, which the sailor set forth +with a spontaneous elegance that made it charming. + +"I have said that they were Lucius Domitius, whom the gods have +rewarded, and a certain Greek." + +"The Greek's name was--" + +"Kyrios," said Demetrius, his fine features contracting with pain and +disgust, "I do not willingly mention his name. He has done me so great +a wrong, that I only breathe his name with a curse. Must you know who +it was that took my child, my Daphne,--though proof I have not against +him, but only the warnings of an angry heart?" + +"But he was--" pressed Caesar. + +"Menon." And as he spoke he hissed the words between his teeth. "He is +one knave among ten thousand. Why burden your excellency with +remembering him?" + +So the conversation went on, and Caesar told how he had been taken +prisoner, when a young man, by pirates near Rhodes, and how he had +been kept captive by them on a little isle while his ransom was +coming. + +"Ah!" interrupted Demetrius, "I have heard the whole tale from one of +my men who was there. You, kyrios, behaved like a prince. You bade +your captors take fifty talents instead of twenty, as they asked, and +wrote verses and declaimed to your guards all the time you were +awaiting the money, and joined in all their sports; howbeit, you kept +telling them that you would crucify them all for the matter." + +"_Hem!_" laughed Caesar. "Didn't I make good the threat?" + +"You did with all save this man, who got away," was his unflinching +answer. "Although in mercy you strangled all your captors before you +had them put on the crosses." + +"_Hei!_" quoth the Imperator. "I should have spared them to give me +criticism of those verses now." + +"Kyrios," rejoined Demetrius, "the man who survived assures me that +the verses at least were wretched, though your excellency was a very +good wrestler." + +"_Euge!_ Bravo!" cried Caesar, and all the company joined in. "I must +take a few of your men back to Rome, for we need critics for our rough +Latin versifiers." + +Drusus, as soon as the laugh passed away, arose, and addressed his +chief:-- + +"Imperator," he said, "Agias this morning dragged from off the mole +with him into the water one of the most dangerous men in the councils +of our enemies. I mean, as you know, Pratinas the Greek. He is now in +the palace prison, but every one is aware that, so long as he so much +as lives, we are hardly safe. What shall be done?" + +Caesar frowned. + +"This is hardly a basilica for a trial," he replied, "but '_inter arma +silent leges_.' Tell the centurions on guard to bring him here. I +imagine we must grant him the form of an examination." + +Drusus went out to give the necessary orders. + +"You did not see Agias's prisoner?" asked Cornelia of Demetrius, who +was now an old friend. + +"I did not," answered the pirate prince, pouring down the contents of +a prodigious beaker at a single draught. "A very desperate man, I +imagine. But it is hard for me to blame any one so long as he fights +openly. Still," he added, with a laugh, "I mustn't express such +sentiments, now that his excellency has given me this." And he tossed +over to Cornelia a little roll, tiny but precious, for it was a +general pardon, in the name of the Republic, for all past offences, by +land or sea, against the peace. "_Babai!_" continued Demetrius, +lolling back his great length on the couch, "who would have imagined +that I, just returning from a mere voyage to Delos to get rid of some +slaves, should save the lives of my cousin, my benefactor's son, and +Caesar himself, and become once more an honest man. Gods! gods! avert +the misfortunes that come from too much good fortune!" + +"Was Agias badly wounded?" asked Cornelia, with some concern. + +"Oh," replied his cousin, "he will do well. If his precious captive +had thrust his dagger a bit deeper, we might have a sorry time +explaining it all to that pretty little girl--Artemisia he calls +her--whom he dotes upon. By the bye," continued Demetrius, as entirely +at his ease in the company as though he had been one of the world's +high-born and mighty, "can your ladyship tell me where Artemisia is +just now? She was a very attractive child." + +"Assuredly," said Cornelia. "She is here in the palace, very anxious, +I doubt not, about Agias. Come, I will send for her. You shall tell +her all about his escape." + +Demetrius appeared pleased, and Cornelia whispered to a serving-lad, +who immediately went out. + +The tramp of heavy feet sounded on the mosaics outside the banqueting +room; the tapestry over the doorway was thrust aside, and in the dim +lamplight--for it had long been dark--two rigid soldiers in armour +could be seen, standing at attention. Drusus stepped past them, and +saluted. + +"The prisoner is here, Imperator," he said. + +"Bring him in," replied Caesar, laying down his wine-cup. + +The curtain swayed again, and the rest of a decuria of troops entered. +In their centre was a figure whose manacles were clinking ominously. +In the uncertain light it was only possible to see that the prisoner +was bent and shivering with fright. The general shrugged his shoulders +in disgust. + +"This is the sort of creature, Drusus," quoth he, derisively, "that is +so dangerous that we must despatch him at once? _Phui!_ Let him stand +forth. I suppose he can still speak?" + +Pratinas made a pitiable picture. The scuffle and wetting had done +little benefit to his clothes; his armour the pirates had long since +appropriated; his hair, rather long through affectation, hung in +disorder around his neck. He had shaved off his "philosopher's" beard, +and his smooth cheeks showed ugly scratches. He was as pale as white +linen, and quaking like a blade of grass in the wind, the very +antithesis of the splendid Ares of the fight on the mole. + +"Your name is Pratinas?" began Caesar, with the snappish energy of a +man who discharges a disagreeable formality. + +"Yes, despotes," began the other, meekly; but as he did so he raised +his head, and the rays of one of the great candelabra fell full on his +face. In a twinkling a shout, or rather a scream, had broken from +Demetrius. The pirate had leaped from his couch, and, with straining +frame and dilated eyes, sprang between the prisoner and his judge. + +"Menon!" The word smote on the captive like the missile of a catapult. +He reeled back, almost to falling; his eyes closed involuntarily. His +face had been pale before, now it was swollen, as with the sight of a +horror. + +"Demetrius!" and at this counter exclamation, the cornered man burst +into a howl of animal fear. And well he might, for Demetrius had +sprung upon him as a tiger upon an antelope. One of the guards +indiscreetly interposed, and a stroke of the pirate's fist sent the +soldier sprawling. Demetrius caught his victim around the body, and +crushed the wretched man in beneath his grasp. The pseudo-Pratinas did +not cry out twice. He had no breath. Demetrius tore him off of his +feet and shook him in mid-air. + +"Daphne! Daphne!" thundered the awful pirate; "speak--or by the +infernal gods--" + +"Put him down!" shouted Caesar and Drusus. They were almost appealing +to an unchained lion roaring over his prey, Drusus caught one of +Demetrius's arms, and with all his strength tore it from its grasp. + +"The man cannot say a word! you are choking him," he cried in the +pirate's ear. + +Demetrius relaxed his mighty grip. Pratinas, for so we still call him, +leaned back against one of the soldiers, panting and gasping. Drusus +took his assailant by the arm, and led him back to a seat. Caesar sat +waiting until the prisoner could speak. + +"Pratinas," said the Imperator, sternly, "as you hope for an easy +death or a hard one, tell this man the truth about his daughter." + +Pratinas drew himself together by a mighty effort. For an instant he +was the former easy, elegant, versatile Hellene. When he answered it +was with the ring of triumph and defiance. + +"Imperator, it would be easy to tell a lie, for there is no means of +proof at hand. This man," with a derisive glance at his enemy, "says +that I know something about his daughter. Doubtless, though, since he +has pursued for recent years so noble an avocation, it were more +grateful if he thanked me for caring for the deserted girl. Well, I +kept her until she was sufficiently old, and then--for I was at the +time quite poor--disposed of her to a dealer at Antioch, who was +planning to take a slave caravan to Seleucia. My good friend probably +will find his daughter in some Parthian harem, unless--" + +Cornelia had arisen and was whispering to Drusus; the latter turned +and held the raging pirate in his seat. Pratinas had made of every +word a venomed arrow, and each and all struck home. The workings of +Demetrius's face were frightful, the beads of agony stood on his +brows,--doubtless he had always feared nothing less,--the certainty +was awful. Cornelia looked upon him half-anxious, yet serene and +smiling. Drusus, too, seemed composed and expectant. The Imperator +gazed straight before him, his eyes searching the prisoner through and +through, and under the glance the Greek again showed signs of fear and +nervousness. + +The curtain at the opposite end of the hall rustled, Cornelia rose and +walked to the doorway, and returned, leading Artemisia by the hand. +The girl was dressed in a pure white chiton; her thick hair was bound +back with a white fillet, but in the midst of its mass shone a single +golden crescent studded with little gems. She came with shy steps and +downcast eyes--abashed before so many strangers; and, as she came, all +gazed at her in admiration, not as upon the bright beauty of a rose, +but the perfect sweetness of a modest lily. Cornelia led her on, until +they stood before the prisoner. + +"Artemisia," said Cornelia, in a low voice, "have you ever seen this +man before?" + +Artemisia raised her eyes, and, as they lit on Pratinas, there was in +them a gleam of wonder, then of fear, and she shrank back in dread, so +that Cornelia threw her arm about her to comfort her. + +"_A! A!_" and the girl began to cry. "Has he found me? Will he take +me? Pity! mercy! Pratinas!" + +But no one had paid her any more attention. It was Caesar who had +sprung from his seat. + +"Wretch!" and his terrible eyes burned into Pratinas's guilty breast, +so that he writhed, and held down his head, and began to mutter words +inaudible. "Can you tell the truth to save yourself the most horrible +tortures human wit can devise?" + +But Pratinas had nothing to say. + +Again Demetrius leaped upon him. The pirate was a frantic animal. His +fingers moved as though they were claws to pluck the truth from the +offender's heart. He hissed his question between teeth that ground +together in frenzy. + +"How did you get her? Where from? When?" + +Pratinas choked for utterance. + +"Artemisia! Daphne! Yours! I lost her! Ran away at Rome!" + +The words shook out of him like water from a well-filled flask. +Demetrius relaxed his hold. A whole flood of conflicting emotions was +displayed upon his manly face. He turned to Artemisia. + +"_Makaira!_ dearest! don't you know me?" he cried, holding +outstretched his mighty arms. + +"I am afraid!" sobbed poor Artemisia in dismay. + +"Come!" It was Cornelia who spoke; and, with the daughter crying +softly on one arm, and the father dragged along in a confused state of +ecstasy on the other, she led them both out of the room. + +Pratinas was on his knees before Caesar. The Hellene was again +eloquent--eloquent as never before. In the hour of extremity his +sophistry and his rhetoric did not leave him. His antitheses, +epigrams, well-rounded maxims, figures of speech, never were at a +better command. For a time, charmed by the flow of his own language, +he gathered strength and confidence, and launched out into bolder +flights of subtly wrought rhetoric. He excused, explained away each +fault, vivified and magnified a hundred non-existent virtues, reared a +splendid word-fabric in praise of clemency. To what end? Before him +sat Caesar, and Drusus, and a dozen Romans more, who, with cold, +unmoved Italian faces, listened to his artificial eloquence, and gave +no sign of pity. And as he went on, the sense of his hopeless position +overcame the wretched man, and his skill began to leave him. He became +thick and confused of speech; his periods tripped; his thought moved +backward. Then his supple tongue failed him utterly, and, in cries and +incoherent groans, he pleaded for the right to exist. + +"Man," said the Imperator, when the storm of prayers and moans was +over, "you conspired against Quintus Drusus, my friend. You +failed--that is forgiven. You conspired, I have cause to believe, +against Pompeius, my enemy, but a Roman--that is unproved, and +therefore forgiven. You conspired with Pothinus against me--that was +an offence touching me alone, and so that, too, may be forgiven. But +to the prayers of a father you had wronged, you answered so that you +might gloat over his pain. Therefore you shall die and not live. Take +him away, guards, and strike off his head, for his body is too vile to +nail to any cross." + +The face of the Greek was livid. He raised his manacled hands, and +strained at the irons in sheer despair. The soldiers caught him +roughly to hale him away. + +"Mercy! kyrios! kyrios!" he shrieked. "Spare me the torments of Hades! +The Furies will pursue me forever! Pity! Mercy!" + +Cornelia had reentered the room, and saw this last scene. + +"When my uncle and Ahenobarbus were nigh their deaths," she said +stingingly, "this man observed that often, in times of mortal peril, +skeptics call on the gods." + +"The rule is proved," said Caesar, casting a cynical smile after the +soldiers with their victim. "All men need gods, either to worship when +they live, or to dread when they die." + + + + +Chapter XXV + +Calm after Storm + + +I + +Like all human things, the war ended. The Alexandrians might rage and +dash their numbers against the palace walls. Ganymed and young +Ptolemaeus, who had gone out to him, pressed the siege, but all in +vain. And help came to the hard-pressed Romans at last. Mithridates, a +faithful vassal king, advanced his army over Syria, and came down into +the Delta, sweeping all before him. Then Caesar effected a junction +with the forces of his ally, and there was one pitched battle on the +banks of the Nile, where Ptolemaeus was defeated, and drowned in his +flight. Less than a month later Alexandria capitulated, and saw the +hated consular insignia again within her gates. There was work to do +in Egypt, and Caesar--just named dictator at Rome and consul for five +years--devoted himself to the task of reform and reorganization. +Cleopatra was to be set back upon her throne, and her younger brother, +another Ptolemaeus, was to be her colleague. So out of war came peace, +and the great Imperator gave laws to yet another kingdom. + +But before Caesar sailed away to chastise Pharnaces of Pontus, and +close up his work in the East, ere returning to break down the stand +of the desperate Pompeians in Africa, there was joy and high festival +in the palace of Alexandria; and all the noble and great of the +capital were at the feast,--the wedding feast of Cornelia and the +favourite staff officer of the Imperator. The soft warm air of the +Egyptian springtime blew over the festoons of flowers and over the +carpets of blossoms; never before was the music more sweet and joyous. +And overhead hung the great light-laden dome of the glowing azure, +where the storks were drifting northward with the northward march of +the sun. + +And they sang the bridal hymns, both Greek and Latin, and cried +"Hymen" and "Talasio"; and when evening came, + + "The torches tossed their tresses of flame," + +as said the marriage song of Catullus; and underneath the yellow veil +of the bride gleamed forth the great diamond necklace, the gift of +Cleopatra, which once had been the joy of some Persian princess before +the Greeks took the hoard at Persepolis. + +Agias was there; and Cleomenes and his daughters; and Demetrius, with +Artemisia, the most beautiful of girls,--as Cornelia was the fairest +of women,--clinging fondly to her father's side. So there was joy that +day and night at the Alexandrian palace. And on the next morning the +fleet trireme was ready which Demetrius had provided to bear Drusus +and Cornelia and Fabia back to Italy. Many were the partings at the +royal quay, and Agias wept when he said farewell to his late patron +and patroness; but he had some comfort, for his cousin (who had +arranged with Cleomenes that, since his freebooting days were happily +over, the two should join in a partnership for the India trade) had +made him a promise to be fulfilled in due course of time--for +Artemisia was still very young. + +"You are no Ichomachus, Xenophon's perfect wife-educator," the +ex-pirate had said to his importunate cousin; "wait a few years." + +And Agias was fain to be content, with this hope before him. + +There were other partings than his; but at last the adieus were over, +and all save Caesar went back upon the quay. The Imperator alone +tarried on the poop of the vessel for an instant. His features were +half wistful as he held Drusus by the hand, but his eyes were kindly +as ever to the young man. + +"Ah, amice!" he said, "we who play at philosophy may not know all the +time that there are gods, but at all times we know that there is the +most godlike of divine attributes--love undefiled. Therefore let us +hope, for we see little, and the cosmos is past finding out." + +He sprang back on to the quay. The musicians on the bow struck up with +pipe and lyre; the friends on the pier flung aboard the last garlands +of rose and lily and scented thyme; the rowers bent to their task; the +one hundred and seventy blades--pumiced white--smote the yellow waves +of the harbour, and the ship sped away. Cornelia, Fabia, and Drusus +stood on the poop gazing toward the receding quay. Long after they had +ceased to recognize forms and faces they stared backward, until the +pier itself was a speck, and the great buildings of the city grew dim. +Then they passed the Pharos, and the land dwindled more and more into +a narrow, dark ribbon betwixt blue water and bluer sky. The long +swells of the open sea caught the trireme, and she rode gallantly over +them--while the music still played, and her hardy crew, pirates no +longer, but pardoned men,--seamen, employees of the honest merchant +Demetrius,--sent the good ship bounding faster and faster, as they +pressed their strength against the springing oars. Higher and higher +rose the column of foam around the cutwater; louder and louder sang +the foam under the stern, as they swept it past. The distant land +faded to a thread, to a line, was gone; and to north and south and +east and west were but the water and the cloudless ether. Fabia, +Cornelia, and Drusus said little for a long time. Their eyes wandered, +sometimes, over the track of the foam, and in their minds they saw +again the water-birds plashing among lotus plants, and heard the +ancient Egyptian litanies softly chanted behind the propylons of a +temple built by some king two thousand years departed. But oftener +their eyes ran ahead over the prow, and they walked again across the +Forum of the city of their fathers, and drove across the Latin +plain-land, and spoke their own dear, sonorous, yet half-polished +native tongue. + +At last came evening; the sun sank lower and lower; now his broad red +disk hung over the crest of the western waves; now it touched them; +now it was gone, and only the lines of dying fire streamed behind +him--the last runners in his chariot train. Up from the cabin below +came the voice of the ship's steward, "Would their excellencies take +any refreshment?" But they did not go at once. They watched the fire +grow dimmer and dimmer, the pure light change to red gold, the red +gold to crimson, and the crimson sink away. + +"Ah, carissima!" cried Drusus, "would that when the orbs of our lives +go down to their setting, they might go down like the sunlight, more +beautiful in each act of the very dying, as they approach the final +goal!" + +"Yes, surely," replied Cornelia, touching her hands upon his head; +"but who knows but that Catullus the poet is wrong when he says the +sun of life will never rise save once; who knows but that, if our sun +set in beauty, it will rise again in grandeur even more?" + +"My children," said Fabia, gently, "the future lies in the knowledge +of the gods; but out of the present we must shape our own future." + +"No, delectissima," replied her nephew, "to do that we are all too +weak; except it be true, as Aratus the poet has said, 'that we men are +also the offspring of gods,' in which case Heaven itself must stoop to +give us aid." + +But Cornelia's eyes had wandered down into the foam, still gleaming as +snow in the failing light. + +"Ah!" she said, "the ages are long; if there be gods, their days are +our lifetimes, and we but see a little and know not what to think. But +to live a noble life will always be the fairest thing, whether death +be an unending sleep or the threshold to Pindar's Elysium." + +And what more of grave wisdom might have dropped from her lips none +may relate, for her husband had shaken off the spell, and laughed +aloud in the joy of his strong life and buoyant hopes. Then they all +three laughed, and thought no more of sober things. They went down +into the cabin just as the last bars of light flickered out in the +west, and only the starlight broke the darkness that spread out over +the face of the sea. + + +II + +Drusus, as he himself had predicted, never wrote a great treatise on +philosophy, and never drew up a cosmology that set at rest all the +problems of the universe; nor did Cornelia become a Latin Sappho or +Corinna, and her wise lore never went further than to make her friends +afraid to affect a shammed learning in her presence. But they both did +the tasks that fell to them better because they had "tasted the well +of Parnassus" and "walked in the grove with the sages." And Drusus, +through an active life, played an honourable part as a soldier and a +statesman: with his beloved Imperator in the battles of Thapsus and +Munda, when the last of the oligarchs were beaten down; then, after +the great crime of murder, with his friend Marcus Antonius; and then, +when Cleopatra's evil star lured both her and Antonius to their ruin, +he turned to the only man whose wisdom and firmness promised safety to +the state--and he joined himself to the rising fortunes of Octavius, +the great Augustus, and fought with him to the end, until there was no +longer a foreign or civil enemy, and the "Pax Romana" gave quiet to a +subject world. + +So Drusus had share with Maecenas and Agrippa and the other imperial +statesmen in shaping the fabric of the mighty Roman Empire. Not in his +day did he or Cornelia know that it was wrong to buy slaves like +cattle, or to harbour an implacable hate. They were but pagans. To +them the truth was but seen in a glass darkly; enough if they lived up +to such truth as was vouchsafed. But in their children's day the +brightness arose in the East, and spread westward, and ever westward, +until the Capitoline Jupiter was nigh forgotten, the glories of the +Roman eagles became a tradition, the splendour of the imperial city a +dream. For there came to the world a better Deity, a diviner glory, a +more heavenly city. The greater grew out of the less. Out of the +world-fabric prepared by Julius Caesar grew the fabric of the Christian +Church, and out of the Christian Church shall rise a yet nobler +spiritual edifice when the stars have all grown cold. + +THE END + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Friend of Caesar, by William Stearns Davis + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A FRIEND OF CAESAR *** + +***** This file should be named 15694.txt or 15694.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/6/9/15694/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Stefan Cramme and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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