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diff --git a/24789.txt b/24789.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..64a9999 --- /dev/null +++ b/24789.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12962 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of "Unto Caesar", by Baroness Emmuska Orczy + +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: "Unto Caesar" + +Author: Baroness Emmuska Orczy + +Release Date: March 10, 2008 [EBook #24789] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "UNTO CAESAR" *** + + + + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +"UNTO CAESAR" + +BARONESS ORCZY + + + + +By BARONESS ORCZY + +"UNTO CAESAR" +EL DORADO +MEADOWSWEET +THE NOBLE ROGUE +THE HEART OF A WOMAN +PETTICOAT RULE + +GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY +NEW YORK + + + + +[Illustration: "LOOK INTO MY EYES NOW!... DO THEY LOOK AS IF THEY MEANT +TO RELENT?"] + + + + +UNTO CAESAR + +BY BARONESS ORCZY + +AUTHOR OF 'THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL', 'ELDORADO' + + +[Illustration: Coin inscribed C CAESAR AVG GERMANICVS PON M TR POT] + +"RENDER THEREFORE UNTO +CAESAR THE THINGS WHICH +ARE CAESAR'S; AND UNTO +GOD THE THINGS THAT +ARE GOD'S" + +ST. MATTHEW XX. 21. + + + + +NEW YORK +GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY + +Copyright, 1914, +BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY + + + + +TO ALL THOSE WHO BELIEVE + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + +CHAPTER I. 1 +CHAPTER II. 9 +CHAPTER III. 19 +CHAPTER IV. 30 +CHAPTER V. 39 +CHAPTER VI. 54 +CHAPTER VII. 72 +CHAPTER VIII. 83 +CHAPTER IX. 107 +CHAPTER X. 119 +CHAPTER XI. 128 +CHAPTER XII. 146 +CHAPTER XIII. 155 +CHAPTER XIV. 161 +CHAPTER XV. 183 +CHAPTER XVI. 193 +CHAPTER XVII. 199 +CHAPTER XVIII. 204 +CHAPTER XIX. 209 +CHAPTER XX. 212 +CHAPTER XXI. 220 +CHAPTER XXII. 226 +CHAPTER XXIII. 233 +CHAPTER XXIV. 239 +CHAPTER XXV. 247 +CHAPTER XXVI. 257 +CHAPTER XXVII. 267 +CHAPTER XXVIII. 277 +CHAPTER XXIX. 286 +CHAPTER XXX. 296 +CHAPTER XXXI. 321 +CHAPTER XXXII. 329 +CHAPTER XXXIII. 343 +CHAPTER XXXIV. 355 +CHAPTER XXXV. 370 +CHAPTER XXXVI. 376 + + + + +"UNTO CAESAR" + +CHAPTER I + +"Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount +Zion...."--PSALM XLVIII. 2. + + +And it came to pass in Rome after the kalends of September, and when +Caius Julius Caesar Caligula ruled over Imperial Rome. + +Arminius Quirinius, the censor, was dead. He had died by his own hand, +and thus was a life of extortion and of fraud brought to an ignominious +end through the force of public opinion, and by the decree of that same +Caesar who himself had largely benefited by the mal-practices of his +minion. + +Arminius Quirinius had committed every crime, sunk to every kind of +degradation which an inordinate love of luxury and the insatiable +desires of jaded senses had suggested as a means to satisfaction, until +the treachery of his own accomplices had thrown the glaring light of +publicity on a career of turpitude such as even these decadent times had +seldom witnessed ere this. + +Enough that the end had come at last. A denunciation from the rostrum, a +discontented accomplice thirsting for revenge, an angry crowd eager to +listen, and within an hour the mighty, much-feared censor was forced to +flee from Rome to escape the fury of a populace which would have torn +him to pieces, and was ready even to massacre his family and his +womenfolk, his clients and his slaves. + +He escaped to his villa at Ostia. But the Emperor Caligula, having duly +enjoyed the profits derived from his favourite's extortions, hurled +anathema and the full weight of his displeasure on the man who had been +not only fool enough to be found out, but who had compromised the +popularity of the Caesar in the eyes of the people and of the army. +Twenty-four hours later the imperial decree went forth that the +disgraced censor must end his days in any manner which he thought +best--seeing that a patrician and member of the Senate could not be +handed over to common justice--and also that the goods of Arminius +Quirinius should be publicly sold for the benefit of the State and the +profit of those whom the extortioner had wronged. + +The latter phrase, though somewhat vague, pleased the people and soothed +public irritation, and the ephemeral popularity of a half-crazy tyrant +was momentarily restored. Be it said however, that less than a month +later the Caesar decided that he himself had been the person most wronged +by Arminius, and that the bulk of the profits derived from the sale of +the late censor's goods must therefore find its way into the imperial +coffers. + +The furniture of Arminius' house within the city and that of his villa +at Ostia had fetched vast sums at a public auction which had lasted +three days. Everything had been sold, from the bed with the gilt legs on +which the body of the censor had been laid after his death, to the last +vase of murra that adorned his walls and the cups of crystal from which +his guests had drunk. His pet monkeys were sold and his tame magpies, +the pots of flowers out of the hothouses and the bunches of melons and +winter grapes ripening under glass. + +After that it was the turn of the slaves. There were, so I understand, +over seven thousand of these: scribes and carpenters, litter-bearers and +sculptors, cooks and musicians; there were a quantity of young children, +and some half-witted dolts and misshapen dwarfs, kept for the amusement +of guests during the intervals of supper. + +The bulk of them had been sent to the markets of Delos and Phaselis, but +the imperator had had the most valuable items amongst the human goods +set aside for himself, and not a few choice pieces had found their way +into the households of the aediles in charge of the sales: the State too +had appropriated some hundreds of useful scribes, sculptors and +mechanics, but there were still a thousand or so who--in compliance with +the original imperial edict--would have to be sold by public auction in +Rome for the benefit of the late censor's defrauded victims. + +And thus, on this ninth day of September, a human load panting under the +heat of this late summer's sun, huddled one against the other, pushed +and jostled by the crowd, was exposed to the public gaze in the Forum +over against the rostrum Augustini, so that all who had a mind, and a +purse withal, might suit their fancy and buy. + +A bundle of humanity--not over-wretched, for the condition of the slaves +in the household of Arminius Quirinius had not been an unhappy one--they +all seemed astonished, some even highly pleased, at thus finding +themselves the centre of attraction in the Forum, they who had spent +their lives in getting humbly out of other people's way. + +Fair and dark, ivory skin and ebony, male and female, or almost sexless +in the excess of deformity, there were some to suit all tastes. Each +wore a tablet hung round the neck by a green cord: on this were writ the +chief merits of the wearer, and also a list of his or her defects, so +that intending purchasers might know what to expect. + +There were the Phrygians with fair curly hair and delicate hands skilled +in the limner's art; the Numidians with skins of ebony and keen black +eyes that shone like dusky rubies; they were agile at the chase, could +capture a lion or trap the wild beasts that are so useful in +gladiatorial games. There were Greeks here, pale of face and gentle of +manner who could strike the chords of a lyre and sing to its +accompaniment, and there were swarthy Spaniards who fashioned +breast-plates of steel and fine chain mail to resist the assassin's +dagger: there were Gauls with long lithe limbs and brown hair tied in a +knot high above the forehead, and Allemanni from the Rhine with +two-coloured hair heavy and crisp like a lion's mane. There was a +musician from Memphis whose touch upon the sistrum would call a dying +spirit back to the land of the living, and a cook from Judaea who could +stew a peacock's tongue so that it melted like nectar in the mouth: +there was a white-skinned Iceni from Britain, versed in the art of +healing, and a negress from Numidia who had killed a raging lion by one +hit on the jaw from her powerful fist. + +Then there were those freshly brought to Rome from overseas, whose +merits or demerits had not yet been appraised--they wore no tablet round +the neck, but their feet were whitened all over with chalk; and there +were those whose heads were surmounted by an ugly felt hat in token that +the State treasury tendered no guarantee for them. Their period of +servitude had been so short that nothing was known about them, about +their health, their skill, or their condition. + + +Above them towered the gigantic rostrum with tier upon tier of massive +blocks of marble, and in the centre, up aloft, the bronze figure of the +wolf--the foster-mother of the great city--with metal jaws distended and +polished teeth that gleamed like emeralds in the sun. + +And all around the stately temples of the Forum, with their rich +carvings and colonnades and walls in tones of delicate creamy white, +scarce less brilliant than the clouds which a gentle morning breeze was +chasing westwards to the sea. And under the arcades of the temples cool +shadows, dense and blue, trenchant against the white marble like an +irregular mosaic of lapis lazuli, with figures gliding along between the +tall columns, priests in white robes, furtive of gait, slaves of the +pontificate, shoeless and silent and as if detached from the noise and +bustle of the Forum, like ghosts that haunt the precincts of graves. + +Throughout all this the gorgeous colouring that a summer's mid-morning +throws over imperial Rome. Above, that canopy of translucent blue, +iridescent and scintillating with a thousand colours, flicks of emerald +and crimson, of rose and of mauve that merge and dance together, divide +and reunite before the retina, until the gaze loses consciousness of all +colour save one all-pervading sense of gold. + +In the distance the Capitol, temple-crowned, rearing its deified summit +upwards to the dome of heaven above, holding on its triple shoulders a +throng of metal gods, with Jupiter Victor right in the centre, a +thunderbolt in his hand which throws back ten thousand reflections of +dazzling light--another sun engendered by the sun. And to the west the +Aventine wrapped in its mantle of dull brown, its smooth incline barren +and scorched, and with tiny mud-huts dotted about like sleepy eyes that +close beneath the glare. + +And far away beyond the Aventine, beyond the temples and palaces, the +blue ribbon of the Tiber flowing lazily to the sea: there where a +rose-coloured haze hung in mid-air, hiding with filmy, transparent veil +the vast Campania beyond, its fever-haunted marshes and its reed-covered +fastnesses. + +The whole, a magnificent medley of cream and gold and azure, and deep +impenetrable shadows trenchant as a thunder cloud upon an horizon of +gold, and the moving crowd below, ivory and bronze and black, with here +and there the brilliant note of a snow-white robe or of crimson +head-band gleaming through dark locks. + + +Up and around the rostrum, noise that was almost deafening had prevailed +from an early hour. On one of the gradients some ten or a dozen scribes +were squatting on mats of twisted straw, making notes of the sales and +entries of the proceeds on rolls of parchment which they had for the +purpose, whilst a swarthy slave, belonging to the treasury, acted as +auctioneer under direct orders from the praefect of Rome. He was perched +high up aloft, immediately beneath the shadow of the yawning bronze +wolf; he stood bare-headed under the glare of the sun, but a linen tunic +covered his shoulders, and his black hair was held close to his head by +a vivid crimson band. + +He shouted almost incessantly in fluent Latin, but with the lisp +peculiar to the African races. + +A sun-tanned giant whose massive frame and fair hair, that gleamed ruddy +in the sun, proclaimed some foreign ancestry was the praefectus in +command of this tangled bundle of humanity. + +He had arrived quite early in the day and his litter stood not far from +the rostrum; its curtains of crimson silk, like vivid stains of blood +upon the walls of cream and gold, fluttered restlessly in the breeze. +Around the litter a crowd of his own slaves and attendants remained +congregated, but he himself stood isolated on the lowest gradient of the +central rostrum, leaning his powerful frame against the marble, with +arms folded across his mighty chest; his deep-set eyes were overshadowed +by heavy brows and his square forehead cut across by the furrow of a +perpetual frown which gave the whole face a strange expression of +untamed will and of savage pride, in no way softened by the firm lines +of the tightly closed lips or the contour of the massive jaws. + +His lictors, at some little distance from him, kept his person well +guarded, but it was he who, with word or nod, directed the progress of +the sale, giving occasional directions to the lictors who--wielding +heavy flails--had much ado to keep the herd of human cattle within the +bounds of its pens. His voice was harsh and peremptory and he pronounced +the Latin words with but the faintest semblance of foreign intonation. + +Now and then at a word from a likely purchaser he would with a sign +order a lictor to pick out one of his wares, to drag him forward out of +a compact group and set him up on the catasta. A small crowd would then +collect round the slave thus exposed, the tablet on his neck would be +carefully perused and the chattel made to turn round and round, to walk +backwards and forwards, to show his teeth and his muscle, whilst the +African up on the rostrum would with loud voice and profuse gesture +point out every line of beauty on a lithe body and expatiate on the full +play of every powerful muscle. + +The slave thus singled out for show seemed neither resentful nor +distressed, ready enough most times to exhibit his merits, anxious only +for the chance of a good master and the momentary avoidance of the +lictor's flail. At the praefect's bidding he cracked his knuckles or +showed his teeth, strained the muscles of his arm to make them stand up +like cords, turned a somersault, jumped, danced or stood on his head if +ordered so to do. + +The women were more timid and very frightened of blows, especially the +older ones; the younger shoulders escaped a chastisement which would +have marred their beauty, and the pretty maids from Corinth or +Carthage, conscious of their own charms, displayed them with +good-natured _naivete_, deeming obedience the surest way to comfort. + +Nor did the praefect perform his duty with any show of inhumanity or +conscious cruelty. Himself a wealthy member of the patriciate, second +only to the Caesar, with a seat in the Senate and a household full of +slaves, he had neither horror nor contempt for the state of slavery--a +necessary one in the administration of the mightiest Empire in the +world. + +Many there were who averred that the praefect of Rome was himself the +descendant of a freedman--a prisoner of war brought over by Caesar from +the North--who had amassed wealth and purchased his own freedom. Indeed +his name proclaimed his foreign origin, for he was called Taurus Antinor +Anglicanus, and surnamed Niger because of his dark eyes and sun-tanned +skin. Certain it is that when the sale of Arminius' goods was ordered by +imperial edict for the benefit of the State, no one complained that the +praefect decided to preside over the sale himself. + +He had discharged such duties before and none had occasion to complain +of the manner in which he did it. In these days of unbridled excesses +and merciless outbursts of rage, he remained throughout--on these +occasions--temperate and even impassive. + +He only ordered his lictor to use the flail when necessary, when the +bundle of human goods was so huddled up that it ceased to look +attractive, and likely purchasers seemed to fall away. Then, at his +command, the heavy thongs would descend indiscriminately on the bronze +shoulder of an Ethiopian or the fair skin of a barbarian from the North; +but he gave the order without any show of cruelty or passion, just as he +heard the responsive cry of pain without any outward sign of pity. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +"To be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than +vanity."--PSALM LXII. 9. + + +As the day wore on, trade became more brisk and the work of the lictors +more arduous, for the crowd was dense and the bargain-hunters eager to +push to the front. + +Now a bronze-skinned artisan with slender limbs and narrow tapering +hands was attracting attention. He was standing on the platform, passive +and indifferent, apparently unconscious alike of the scorching sun which +bit into his bare flesh, as of the murmurs of the dealers round him and +the eloquence of the African up on the rostrum, who was shouting himself +hoarse in praise of his wares. + +"A leather worker from Hispania," he thundered with persuasive rhetoric, +"his age but two dozen years, his skill unequalled on either bank of the +Tiber ... A tunic worked by him is softer than the fleeciest wool, and +the sheath of a dagger becomes in his hands as hard as steel.... Good +health and strength, two thousand sesterces were a poor price to pay for +the use of these skilled hands.... Two thousand sesterces.... His +lordship's grace, the censor Arminius Quirinius paid four thousand for +him...." + +He paused a moment whilst a couple of Jews from Galilee, in long dark +robes and black caps covering their shaggy hair, turned critically round +this paragon from Hispania, lifted his hands and gazed on each +finger-tip as if trying to find traces on these of that much-vaunted +skill. + +"Two thousand sesterces, kind sirs, and you will have at your disposal +the talent of a master in the noble art of leather working; pouches and +coverings for your chairs, caskets and sword-hilts, nothing comes amiss +to him.... Come! shall we say two thousand sesterces?" + +The Jews were hesitating. With a rapid glance of their keen, deep-set +eyes they consulted one with the other, whilst their long bony fingers +wandered hesitatingly to the wallets at their belts. + +"Two thousand sesterces!" urged the auctioneer, as he looked with marked +severity on the waverers. + +He himself received a percentage on the proceeds of the sale, a few +sesterces mayhap that would go to swell the little hoard which +ultimately would purchase freedom. The scribes stilet in hand waited in +patient silence. The praefect, indifferent to the whole transaction, was +staring straight in front of him, like one whose thoughts are strangers +to his will. + +"One thousand we'll give," said one of the Jews timidly. + +"Nay! an you'll not give more, kind sirs," quoth the auctioneer airily, +"this paragon among leather workers will bring fortune to your rival +dealers...." + +"One thousand," repeated one of the intending purchasers, "and no more." + +The African tried persuasion, contempt, even lofty scorn; he threatened +to withdraw the paragon from the sale altogether, for he knew of a +dealer in leather goods over in Corinth who would give two fingers of +his own hand for the exclusive use of those belonging to this Hispanian +treasure. + +But the Jews were obstinate. With the timid obstinacy peculiar to their +race, they stuck to their point and refused to be enticed into +purposeless extravagance. + +In the end the wonderful worker in leather was sold to the Jew traders +from Galilee for the sum of one thousand sesterces; his dark face had +expressed nothing but stolid indifference whilst the colloquy between +the purchasers and the auctioneer had been going on. + +The next piece of goods however was in more pressing demand; a solid +German, with massive thorax half-hidden beneath a shaggy goatskin held +in at the waist by a belt; his hairy arms bare to the shoulder, his +gigantic fists clenched as if ready to fell an ox. + +A useful man with plough or harrow, he was said to be skilled in smith's +work too. After a preliminary and minute examination of the man's +muscles, of his teeth, of the calves of his legs, bidding became very +brisk between an agriculturist from Sicilia and a freedman from the +Campania, until the praefect himself intervened, desiring the slave for +his own use on a farm which he had near Ostia. + +Some waiting-maids from Judaea fetched goodly money; an innkeeper of +Etruria bought them, for they were well-looking and knew how to handle +and carry wine jars without shaking up the costly liquor; and the +negroes were sought after by the lanistae for training to gladiatorial +combats. + +Scribes were also in great demand for copying purposes. The +disseminators of the news of the day were willing to pay high prices for +quick shorthand writers who had learned their business in the house of +Arminius the censor. + +In the meanwhile the throng in the Forum had become more and more dense. +Already one or two gorgeously draped litters had been seen winding their +way in from the Sacra Via or the precincts of the temples, their silken +draperies making positive notes of brilliant colour against the +iridescent whiteness of Phrygian marble walls. + +The lictors now had at times to use their flails against the crowd. +Room had to be made for the masters of Rome, the wealthy and the idle, +who threw sesterces about for the gratification of their smallest whim, +as a common man would shake the dust from his shoes. + +Young Hortensius Martius, the rich patrician owner of five thousand +slaves, had stepped out of his litter, and a way being made for him in +the crowd by his men, he had strolled up to the rostrum, and mounting +its first gradient he leaned with studied grace against the block of +white marble, giving to the common herd below the pleasing spectacle of +a young exquisite, rich and well-favoured--his handsome person carefully +perfumed and bedecked after the morning bath, his crisp fair hair +daintily curled, his body clad in a tunic of soft white wool splendidly +worked in purple stripes, the insignia of his high patrician state. + +He passed a languid eye over the bundle of humanity spread out for sale +at his feet and gave courteous greeting to the praefect. + +"Thou art early abroad, Hortensius Martius," quoth Taurus Antinor in +response; "'tis not often thou dost grace the Forum with thy presence at +this hour." + +"They told me it would be amusing," replied young Hortensius lazily, +"but methinks that they lied." + +He yawned, and with a tiny golden tool he began picking his teeth. + +"What did they tell thee?" queried the other, "and who were they that +told?" + +"There was Caius Nepos and young Escanes, and several others at the +bath. They were all talking about the sale." + +"Are they coming hither?" + +"They will be here anon; but some declared that much rubbish would have +to be sold ere the choice bargains be put up. Escanes wants a cook who +can fry a capon in a special way they wot of in Gaul. Stuffed with +ortolans and covered with the juice of three melons--Escanes says it is +mightily pleasing to the palate." + +"There is no cook from Gaul on the list," interposed the praefect +curtly. + +"And Caius Nepos wants some well-favoured girls to wait on his guests at +supper to-morrow. He gives a banquet, as thou knowest. Wilt be there, +Taurus Antinor?" + +He had spoken these last words in a curious manner which suggested that +some significance other than mere conviviality would be attached to the +banquet given by Caius Nepos on the morrow. And now he drew nearer to +the praefect and cast a quick glance around him as if to assure himself +that the business of the sale was engrossing everyone's attention. + +"Caius Nepos," he said, trying to speak with outward indifference, +"asked me to tell thee that if thou wilt come to his banquet to-morrow +thou wilt find it to thine advantage. Many of us are of one mind with +regard to certain matters and could talk these over undisturbed. Wilt +join us, Taurus Antinor?" he added eagerly. + +"Join you," retorted the other with a grim smile, "join you in what? in +this senseless folly of talking in whispers in public places? The Forum +this day is swarming with spies, Hortensius Martius. Hast a wish to make +a spectacle for the plebs on the morrow by being thrown to a pack of +tigers for their midday meal?" + +And with a nod of his head he pointed up to the rostrum where the dusky +auctioneer had momentarily left off shouting and had thrown himself flat +down upon the matting, ostensibly in order to speak with one of the +scribes on the tier below, but who was in reality casting furtive +glances in the direction where Hortensius Martius stood talking with the +praefectus. + +"These slaves," said Taurus Antinor curtly, "all belong to the imperial +treasury; their peculium is entirely made up of money gained through +giving information--both false and true. Have a care, O Hortensius +Martius!" + +But the other shrugged his shoulders with well-studied indifference. It +was not the mode at this epoch to seem anything but bored at all the +circumstances of public and private life in Rome, at the simple +occurrences of daily routine or at the dangers which threatened every +man through the crazy whims of a demented despot. + +It had even become the fashion to accept outwardly and without the +slightest show of interest the wild extravagances and insane +debaucheries of the ferocious tyrant who for the nonce wielded the +sceptre of the Caesars. The young patricians of the day looked on with +apparent detachment at his excesses and the savage displays of unbridled +power of which he was so inordinately fond, and they affected a lofty +disregard for the horrible acts of injustice and of cruelty which this +half-crazy Emperor had rendered familiar to the citizens of Rome. + +Nothing in the daily routine of life amused these votaries of +fashion--nothing roused them from their attitude of somnolent placidity, +except perhaps some peculiarly bloody combat in the arena--one of those +unfettered orgies of lust of blood which they loved to witness and which +have for ever disgraced the glorious pages of Roman history. + +Then horror would rouse them for a brief moment from their apathy, for +they were not cruel, only satiated with every sight, every excitement +and luxury which their voluptuous city and the insane caprice of the +imperator perpetually offered them; and they thirsted for horrors as a +sane man thirsts for beauty, that it might cause a diversion in the even +tenor of their lives, and mayhap raise a thrill in their dormant brains. + +Therefore even now, when apparently he was toying with his life, +Hortensius Martius did not depart outwardly from the attitude of +supercilious indifference which fashion demanded. They were all actors, +these men, always before an audience, and even among themselves they +never really left off acting the part which they had made so completely +their own. + +But that the indifference was only on the surface was evidenced in this +instance by the young exquisite's scarce perceptible change of position. +He drew away slightly from the praefect and anon said in a loud tone of +voice so that all around him might hear: + +"Aye! as thou sayest, Taurus Antinor, I might find a dwarf or some kind +of fool to suit me. Mine are getting old and dull. Ye gods, how they +bore me at times!" + +And it was in a whisper that he added: + +"Caius Nepos specially desired thy presence at supper to-morrow, O +Taurus Antinor! He feared that he might not get speech with thee anon, +so hath asked me to make sure of thy presence. Thou'lt not fail us? +There are over forty of us now, all prepared to give our lives for the +good of the Empire." + +The praefect made no reply this time; his attention was evidently +engrossed by some close bidding over a useful slave, but as Hortensius +now finally turned away from him, his dark eyes under the shadow of that +perpetual frown swept over the figure of the young exquisite, from the +crown of the curled and perfumed head to the soles of the daintily shod +feet, and a smile of contempt not altogether unkind played round the +corners of his firm lips. + +"For the good of the Empire?" he murmured under his breath as he +shrugged his broad shoulders and once more turned his attention to his +duties. + +Hortensius in the meanwhile had spied some of his friends. Gorgeously +embroidered tunics could now be seen all the time pushing their way +through the more common crowd, and soon a compact group of rich +patricians had congregated around the rostra. + +They had come one by one--from the baths mostly--refreshed and perfumed, +ready to gaze with fashionable lack of interest on the spectacle of this +public auction. They had exchanged greetings with the praefect and with +Hortensius Martius. They all knew one another, were all members of the +same caste, the ruling caste of Rome. Young Escanes was now there, he +who wanted a cook, and Caius Nepos--the praetorian praefect who was in +search of pretty waiting-maids. + +"Hast had speech with Anglicanus?" asked the latter in a whisper to +Hortensius. + +"Aye! a few words," replied the other, "but he warned me of spies." + +"Will he join us, thinkest thou?" + +"I think that he will sup with thee, O Caius Nepos, but as to joining us +in----" + +"Hush!" admonished the praetorian praefect, "Taurus Antinor is right. +There are spies all around here to-day. But if he comes to supper we'll +persuade him, never fear." + +And with a final significant nod the two men parted and once more mixed +with the crowd. + +More than one high-born lady now had ordered her bearers to set her +litter down close to the rostrum whence she could watch the sale, and +mayhap make a bid for a purchase on her own account; the rich Roman +matrons with large private fortunes and households of their own, +imperious and independent, were the object of grave deference and of +obsequious courtesy--not altogether unmixed with irony, on the part of +the young men around them. + +They did not mix with the crowd but remained in their litters, reclining +on silken cushions, their dark tunics and richly coloured stoles +standing out in sombre notes against the more gaily-decked-out gilded +youth of Rome, whilst their serious and oft-times stern manner, their +measured and sober speech, seemed almost set in studied opposition to +the idle chattering, the flippant tone, the bored affectation of the +outwardly more robust sex. + +And among them all Taurus Antinor, praefect of Rome, with his ruddy hair +and bronzed skin, his massive frame clad in gorgeously embroidered +tunic, his whole appearance heavy and almost rough, in strange contrast +alike to the young decadents of the day as to the rigid primness of the +patrician matrons, just as his harsh, even voice seemed to dominate the +lazy and mellow trebles of the votaries of fashion. + + +The auctioneer had in the meanwhile cast a quick comprehensive glance +over his wares, throwing an admonition here, a command there. + +"That yellow hair--let it hang, woman! do not touch it I say.... Slip +that goatskin off thy loins, man ... By Jupiter 'tis the best of thee +thou hidest.... Hold thy chin up girl, we'll have no doleful faces +to-day." + +Sometimes his admonition required more vigorous argument. The praefect +was appealed to against the recalcitrant. Then the harsh unimpassioned +voice with its curious intonation in the pronouncing of the Latin +words, would give a brief order and the lictor's flail would whizz in +the air and descend with a short sharp whistling sound on obstinately +bowed shoulder or unwilling hand, and the auctioneer would continue his +perorations. + +"What will it please my lord's grace to buy this day? A skilled horseman +from Dacia?... I have one.... A pearl.... He can mount an untamed steed +and drive a chariot in treble harness through the narrowest streets of +Rome.... He can ... What--no?--not a horseman to-day?... then mayhap a +hunchback acrobat from Pannonia, bronzed as the tanned hide of an ox, +with arms so long that his finger-nails will scrape the ground as he +runs; he can turn a back somersault, walk the tight-rope, or ... Here, +Pipus the hunchback, show thine ugly face to my lord's grace, maybe +thou'lt help to dissipate the frown between my Lord's eyes, maybe my +lord's grace will e'en smile at thine antics.... Turn then, show thy +hump, 'tis worth five hundred sesterces, my lord ... turn again ... see +my lord, is he not like an ape?" + +My lord was smiling, so the auctioneer prattled on, and the deformed +creature upon the catasta wound his ill-shapen body into every kind of +contortion, grinning from ear to ear, displaying the malformation of his +spine, and the hideousness of his long hairy arms, whilst he uttered +weird cries that were supposed to imitate those of wild animals in the +forest. + +These antics caused my lord to smile outright. He was willing to expend +two thousand sesterces in order to have such a creature about his house, +to have him ready to call when his guests seemed dull between the +courses of a sumptuous meal. The deal was soon concluded and the +hunchback transferred from the platform to the keeping of my lord's +slaves, and thence to my lord's household. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +"Fairer than the children of men."--PSALM XLV. 2. + + +"Hun Rhavas, dost mind thy promise made to Menecreta?" whispered a timid +voice in the African's ear. + +"Aye, aye!" he replied curtly, "I had not forgotten." + +There was a lull in the trade whilst the scribes were making entries on +their tablets. + +The auctioneer had descended from the rostrum. Panting after his +exertions, perspiring profusely under the heat of the noonday sun, he +was wiping the moisture from his dripping forehead and incidentally +refreshing his parched throat with copious drafts from out a leather +bottle. + +His swarthy skin streaming with perspiration shone in the glare of the +noonday sun like the bronze statue of mother-wolf up aloft. + +An elderly woman in rough linen tunic, her hair hidden beneath a simple +cloth, had succeeded in engaging his attention. + +"It had been better to put the child up for sale an hour ago, whilst +these rich folk were still at the bath," she said with a tone of +reproach in her gentle voice. + +"It was not my fault," rejoined the African curtly, "she comes one of +the last on the list. The praefect made out the lists. Thou shouldst +have spoken to him." + +"Oh I should never dare," she replied, her voice trembling at the mere +suggestion of such boldness, "but I did promise thee five aurei if I +succeeded in purchasing the child." + +"I know that," quoth the African with a nod of satisfaction. + +"My own child, Hun Rhavas," continued the pleading voice; "think on it, +for thou too hast children of thine own." + +"I purchased my son's freedom only last year," acquiesced the slave with +a touch of pride. "Next year, an the gods will, it shall be my +daughter's and after that mine own. In three years from now we shall all +be free." + +"Thou art a man; 'tis more easy for thee to make money. It took me six +years to save up twenty-five aurei which should purchase my child: +twenty for her price, five for thy reward, for thou alone canst help me, +an thou wilt." + +"Well, I've done all I could for thee, Menecreta," retorted Hun Rhavas +somewhat impatiently. "I've taken the titulus from off her neck and set +the hat over her head, and that was difficult enough for the praefect's +eyes are very sharp. Ten aurei should be the highest bid for a maid +without guarantees as to skill, health or condition. And as she is not +over well-favoured----" + +But this the mother would not admit. In weary and querulous tones she +began expatiating on the merits of her daughter: her fair hair, her +graceful neck--until the African, bored and impatient, turned on her +roughly. + +"Nay! an thy daughter hath so many perfections, thou'lt not purchase her +for twenty aurei. Fifty and sixty will be bid for her, and what can I do +then to help thee?" + +"Hun Rhavas," said Menecreta in a sudden spirit of conciliation, "thou +must not heed a mother's fancies. To me the child is beautiful beyond +compare. Are not thine own in thy sight beautiful as a midsummer's +day?" she added with subtle hypocrisy, thinking of the ugly little +Africans of whom Hun Rhavas was so proud. + +Her motherly heart was prepared for every sacrifice, every humiliation, +so long as she obtained what she wanted--possession of her child. +Arminius Quirinius had given her her freedom some three years ago, but +this seeming act of grace had been a cruel one since it had parted the +mother from her child. The late censor had deemed Menecreta old, feeble, +and therefore useless: she was but a worthless mouth to feed; but he +kept the girl not because she was well-favoured or very useful in his +house, but because he knew that Menecreta would work her fingers to the +bone until she saved enough money to purchase her daughter's freedom. + +Arminius Quirinius, ever grasping for money, ever ready for any act of +cupidity or oppression, knew that from the mother he could extract a far +higher sum than the girl could possibly fetch in the open market. He had +fixed her price as fifty aurei, and Menecreta had saved just one half +that amount when fate and the vengeance of the populace overtook the +extortioner. All his slaves--save the most valuable--were thrown on the +market, and the patient, hard-working mother saw the fulfilment of her +hopes well within sight. + +It was but a question of gaining Hun Rhavas' ear and of tempting his +greed. The girl, publicly offered under unfavourable conditions, and +unbacked by the auctioneer's laudatory harangues, could easily be +knocked down for twenty aurei or even less. + +But Menecreta's heart was torn with anxiety the while she watched the +progress of the sale. Every one of these indifferent spectators might +become an enemy through taking a passing fancy to her child. These +young patricians, these stern matrons, they had neither remorse nor pity +where the gratification of a whim was at stake. + +And was not the timid, fair-haired girl more beautiful in the mother's +eyes than any other woman put up on the platform for the purpose of +rousing a momentary caprice. + +She gazed with jealous eyes on the young idlers and the high-born +ladies, the possible foes who yet might part her from the child. And +there was the praefect too, all-powerful in the matter. + +If he saw through the machinations of Hun Rhavas nothing would save the +girl from being put up like all the others as the law directed, with the +proper tablet attached to her neck, describing her many charms. Taurus +Antinor was not cruel but he was pitiless. The slaves of his household +knew that, as did the criminals brought to his tribunal. He never +inflicted unnecessary punishment but when it was deserved he was +relentless in its execution. + +What hope could a poor mother have against the weight of his authority. + +Fortunately the morning was rapidly wearing on. The hour for the midday +rest was close at hand. Menecreta could watch, with a glad thrill in her +heart, one likely purchaser after another being borne in gorgeously +draped litter away from this scene of a mother's cruel anxiety. Already +the ladies had withdrawn. Now there was only a group of men left around +the rostrum; Hortensius Martius still lounging aimlessly, young Escanes +who had not yet found the paragon amongst cooks, and a few others who +eyed the final proceedings with the fashionable expression of boredom. + +"I wonder we have not seen Dea Flavia this day," remarked Escanes to +the praefect. "Dost think she'll come, Taurus Antinor?" + +"Nay, I know not," he replied; "truly she cannot be in need of slaves. +She has more than she can know what to do with." + +"Oh!" rejoined the other, "of a truth she has slaves enough. But 'tis +this new craze of hers! She seems to be in need of innumerable models +for the works of art she hath on hand." + +"Nay, 'tis no new craze," interposed Hortensius Martius, whose fresh +young face had flushed very suddenly as if in anger. "Dea Flavia, as +thou knowest full well, Escanes, hath fashioned exquisite figures both +in marble and in clay even whilst thou didst waste thy boyhood in +drunken revelries. She----" + +"A truce on thine ill-temper," broke in Escanes with a good-humoured +laugh. "I had no thought of disparagement for Dea Flavia's genius. The +gods forbid!" he added with mock fervour. + +"Then dost deserve that I force thee down to thy knees," retorted +Hortensius, not yet mollified, "to make public acknowledgment of Dea +Flavia's beauty, her talents and her virtues, and public confession of +thine own unworthiness in allowing her hallowed name to pass thy +wine-sodden lips." + +Escanes uttered a cry of rage; in a moment these two--friends and boon +companions--appeared as bitter enemies. Hortensius Martius, the perfumed +exquisite, was now like an angry cockbird on the defence, whilst +Escanes, taller and stronger than he, was clenching his fists, trying to +keep up that outward semblance of patrician decorum which the dignity of +his caste demanded in the presence of the plebs. + +Who knows how long this same semblance would have been kept up on this +occasion? for Hortensius Martius, obviously a slave to Dea Flavia's +beauty, was ready to do battle for the glorification of his idol, whilst +Escanes, smarting under the clumsy insult, had much ado to keep his rage +within bounds. + +"If you cut one another's throats now," interposed the praefect curtly, +"'twill be in the presence of Dea Flavia herself." + +Even whilst he spoke a litter gorgeously carved and gilded, draped in +rose pink and gold, was seen slowly winding its way from the rear of the +basilica and along the Vicus Tuscus, towards the Forum. In a moment all +eyes were turned in its direction; the two young men either forgot their +quarrel or were ashamed to prolong it in the presence of its cause. + +Now the litter turned into the open. It was borne by eight gigantic +Ethiopians whose mighty shoulders were bare to the sun, and all round +and behind it a crowd of slaves, of clients, of sycophants followed in +its trail, men running beside the litter, women shouting, children +waving sprays of flowers and fans of feathers and palm leaves, whilst +the air was filled with cries from innumerable throats: + +"Augusta! Augusta! Room for Dea Flavia Augusta." + +The retinue of Dea Flavia of the imperial house of the Caesars was the +most numerous in Rome. + +At word of command no doubt the bearers put the litter down quite close +to the rostrum even whilst four young girls stepped forward and drew the +silken curtains aside. + +Dea Flavia was resting against the cushions; her tiny feet in shoes of +gilded leather were stretched out on a coverlet of purple silk richly +wrought with gold and silver threads. Her elbow was buried in the fleecy +down of the cushions; her head rested against her hand. + +Dea Flavia, imperial daughter of Rome, what tongue of poet could +describe thy beauty? what hand of artist paint its elusiveness? + +Have not the writers of the time told us all there was to tell? and +exhausted language in their panegyrics: the fair hair like rippling +gold, the eyes now blue, now green, always grey and mysterious, the +delicate hands, the voluptuous throat, those tiny ears ever filled with +flattery? + +But methinks that the carping critic was right when he deemed that the +beauty of her face was marred by the scornful glance of the eyes and the +ever rigid lines of the mouth. There was those who had dared aver that +Dea Flavia's snow-white neck had been more beautiful if it had known how +to bend, and that the glory of her eyes would be enhanced a thousandfold +when once they learned how to weep. + +This, however, was only the opinion of very few, of those in fact who +never had received the slightest favour from Dea Flavia; those on whom +she smiled--with that proud, cold smile of hers--fell an over-ready +victim to her charm. And she had smiled more than once on Hortensius +Martius, and he, poor fool! had quickly lost his head. + +Now that she was present he soon forgot his quarrel; neither Escanes nor +the rest of the world existed since Dea Flavia was nigh. He pushed his +way through her crowd of courtiers and was the first to reach her litter +even as she put her dainty feet to the ground. + +Escanes too and Caius Nepos, and Philippus Decius and the other young +men there, forgot the excitement of the aborted quarrel and pressed +forward to pay their respects to Dea Flavia. + +The aspect of her court was changed in a moment. Her lictors chased the +importunate crowd away, making room for the masters of Rome who desired +speech with their mistress. The rough and sombre garments of the slaves +showed in the background now, and all round the litter tunics and +mantles of fleecy wool gorgeously embroidered in crimson and gold, or +stripes of purple, crowded in eager medley. + +All at once too the immediate neighbourhood of the rostrum was deserted, +the human chattels forgotten in the anxious desire to catch sight of the +great lady whom the Caesar himself had styled Augusta--thus exalting her +above all women in Rome. Her boundless wealth and lavish expenditure, as +well as her beauty and acknowledged virtue, had been the talk of the +city ever since the death of her father, Octavius Claudius of the House +of Augusta Caesar, had placed her under the immediate tutelage of the +Caesar and left her--young and beautiful as she was--in possession of one +of the largest fortunes in the Empire. No wonder then that whenever her +rose-draped litter was perceived in the streets of Rome a crowd of +idlers and of sycophants pressed around it, curious to see the queen of +society and anxious to catch her ear. + +This same instant of momentary excitement became that of renewed hope +for an anxious mother's heart. Menecreta, with the keenness of her +ardent desire, had at once grasped her opportunity. Hun Rhavas +fortunately glanced down in her direction. He too no doubt saw the +possibilities of this moment of general confusion. The five aurei +promised him by Menecreta sharpened his resourceful wits. He signalled +to one of the lictors below--an accomplice too, I imagine, in this +transaction--and whilst a chorus of obsequious greetings round Dea +Flavia's litter filled the noonday air like the hum of bees, a +pale-faced, delicate-looking girl was quickly pushed up on to the +platform. + +Hun Rhavas very perfunctorily declaimed her age and status. + +"Of no known skill," he said, mumbling his words and talking very +rapidly, "since my lord's grace the late censor had made no use of her. +Shall we say ten aurei for the girl? she might be made to learn a +trade." + +As the auctioneer started on his peroration those among the crowd who +were here for business, and not for idle gaping, turned back towards the +catasta. But the little maid who stood there so still, her hair entirely +hidden by the ungainly hat, her head bent and her eyes downcast, did not +seem very attractive; the lack of guarantee as to her skill and merits +represented by the hat and the absence of the tablet round her neck +caused the buyers to stand aloof. + +As if conscious of this, a deep blush suffused the girl's cheeks. Not +that she was ashamed of her position or of her exposure before the +public gaze, for to this ordeal her whole upbringing had tended. Born in +slavery, she had always envisaged this possibility, and her present +position caused her in itself neither pain nor humiliation. + +She knew that her mother was there in the crowd, ready for this +opportunity; that the present state of discomfort, the past life of +wretchedness would now inevitably be followed by a brighter future: +reunion with her mother, a life of freedom, mayhap of happiness, +marriage right out of the state of bondage, children born free! + +No! it was not the gaping crowd that mattered, the exposure on the +public platform, the many pairs of indifferent eyes fixed none too +kindly upon her: it was that hat upon her head which brought forth in +her such a sense of shame that the hot blood rushed to her cheeks; that, +and the absence of the tablet round her neck, and Hun Rhavas' +disparaging words about her person. + +Others there had been earlier in the day--her former companions in +Arminius' household--on whom the auctioneer had lavished torrents of +eloquent praise, whom for the first bidding he had appraised at forty or +even fifty aurei, the public being over willing to pay higher sums than +those. + +Whilst here she stood shamed before them all, with no guarantee as to +her skill and talents, though she knew something about the art of +healing by rubbing unguents into the skin, could ply her needle and +dress a lady's hair. Nor was a word said about her beauty, though her +eyes were blue and her neck slender and white; and her hair, which was +of a pretty shade of gold, could not even be seen under that hideous, +unbecoming hat. + +"Ten aurei shall we say?" said Hun Rhavas with remarkable want of +enthusiasm; "kind sirs, is there no one ready to say fifteen? The girl +might be taught to sew or to trim a lady's nails. She may be unskilled +now but she might learn--providing that her health be good," he added +with studied indifference. + +The latter phrase proved a cunning one. The few likely buyers who had +been attracted to the catasta by the youthful appearance of the +girl--hoping to find willingness, even if skill were wanting--now +quickly drew away. + +Of a truth there was no guarantee as to her health and a sick slave was +a burden and a nuisance. + +"Ten aurei then," said Hun Rhavas raising the hammer, whilst with hungry +eyes the mother watched his every movement. + +A few more seconds of this agonising suspense! Oh! ye gods, how this +waiting hurts! She pressed her hands against her side where a terrible +pain turned her nearly giddy. + +Only a second or two whilst the hammer was poised in mid air and Hun +Rhavas' furtive glance darted on the praefect to see if he were still +indifferent! Menecreta prayed with all her humble might to the proud +gods enthroned upon the hill! she prayed that this cycle of agony might +end at last for she could not endure it longer. She prayed that that +cruel hammer might descend and her child be delivered over to her at +last. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +"Hope deferred maketh the heart sick."--PROVERBS XIII. 12. + + +Alas, the Roman gods are the gods of the patricians! They take so little +heed of the sorrows and the trials of poor freedmen and slaves! + +"Who ordered the hat to be put on this girl's head?" suddenly interposed +the harsh voice of the praefect. + +He had not moved away from the rostrum all the while that the throng of +obsequious sycophants and idle lovesick youths had crowded round Dea +Flavia. Now he spoke over his shoulder at Hun Rhavas, who had no +thought, whilst his comfortable little plot was succeeding so well, that +the praefect was paying heed. + +"She hath no guarantee, as my lord's grace himself hath knowledge," said +the African with anxious humility. + +"Nay! thou liest as to my knowledge of it," said Taurus Antinor. "Where +is the list of goods compiled by the censor?" + +Three pairs of willing hands were ready with the parchment rolls which +the praefect had commanded; one was lucky enough to place them in his +hands. + +"What is the girl's name?" he asked as his deep-set eyes, under their +perpetual frown, ran down the minute writing on the parchment roll. + +"Nola, the daughter of Menecreta, my lord," said one of the scribes. + +"I do not see the name of Nola, daughter of Menecreta, amongst those +whom the State doth not guarantee for skill, health or condition," +rejoined the praefect quietly, and his rough voice, scarcely raised +above its ordinary pitch, seemed to ring a death-knell in poor +Menecreta's heart. + +"Nola, the daughter of Menecreta," he continued, once more referring to +the parchment in his hand, "is here described as sixteen years of age, +of sound health and robust constitution, despite the spareness of her +body. The censor who compiled this list states that she has a fair +knowledge of the use of unguents and of herbs, that she can use a needle +and plait a lady's hair. Thou didst know all this, Hun Rhavas, for the +duplicate list is before thee even now." + +"My lord's grace," murmured Hun Rhavas, his voice quivering now, his +limbs shaking with the fear in him, "I did not know--I----" + +"Thou didst endeavour to defraud the State for purposes of thine own," +interposed the praefect calmly. "Here! thou!" he added, beckoning to one +of his lictors, "take this man to the Regia and hand him over to the +chief warder." + +"My lord's grace----" cried Hun Rhavas. + +"Silence! To-morrow thou'lt appear before me in the basilica. Bring thy +witnesses then if thou hast any to speak in thy defence. To-morrow thou +canst plead before me any circumstance which might mitigate thy fault +and stay my lips from condemning thee to that severe chastisement which +crimes against the State deserve. In the meanwhile hold thy peace. I'll +not hear another word." + +But it was not in the negro's blood to submit to immediate punishment +now and certain chastisement in the future without vigorous +protestations and the generous use of his powerful lungs. The praefect's +sentences in the tribunal where he administered justice were not +characterised by leniency; the galleys, the stone-quarries, aye! even +the cross were all within the bounds of possibility, whilst the scourge +was an absolute certainty. + +Hun Rhavas set up a succession of howls which echoed from temple to +temple, from one end of the Forum to the other. + +The frown on the praefect's forehead became even more marked than +before. He had seen the young idlers--who, but a moment ago, were +fawning round Dea Flavia's litter--turning eagerly back towards the +rostrum, where Hun Rhavas' cries and moans had suggested the likelihood +of one of those spectacles of wanton and purposeless cruelty in which +their perverted senses found such constant delight. + +But this spectacle Taurus Antinor was not like to give them. All he +wanted was the quick restoration of peace and order. The fraudulent +auctioneer was naught in his sight but a breaker of the law. As such he +was deserving of such punishment as the law decreed and no more. But his +howls just now were the means of rousing in the hearts of the crowd that +most despicable of all passions to which the Roman--the master of +civilisation--was a prey--the love of seeing some creature, man or +beast, in pain, a passion which brought the Roman citizen down to the +level of the brute: therefore Taurus Antinor wished above all to silence +Hun Rhavas. + +"One more sound from thy throat and I'll have thee scourged now and +branded ere thy trial," he said. + +The threat was sufficient. The negro, feeling that in submission lay his +chief hope of mercy on the morrow, allowed himself to be led away +quietly whilst the young patricians--cheated of an anticipated +pleasure--protested audibly. + +"And thou, Cheiron," continued the praefect, addressing a fair-skinned +slave up on the rostrum who had been assistant hitherto in the auction, +"do thou take the place vacated by Hun Rhavas." + +He gave a few quick words of command to the lictors. + +"Take the hat from off that girl's head," he said, "and put the +inscribed tablet round her neck. Then she can be set up for sale as the +State hath decreed." + +As if moved by clockwork one of the lictors approached the girl and +removed the unbecoming hat from her head, releasing a living stream of +gold which, as it rippled over the girl's shoulders, roused a quick cry +of admiration in the crowd. + +In a moment Menecreta realised that her last hope must yield to the +inevitable now. Even whilst her accomplice, Hun Rhavas, received the +full brunt of the praefect's wrath she had scarcely dared to breathe, +scarcely felt that she lived in this agony of fear. Her child still +stood there on the platform, disfigured by the ugly headgear, obviously +most unattractive to the crowd; nor did the awful possibility at first +present itself to her mind that all her schemes for obtaining possession +of her daughter could come to naught. It was so awful, so impossible of +conception that the child should here, to-day, pass out of the mother's +life for ever and without hope of redemption; that she should become the +property of a total stranger who might for ever refuse to part from her +again--an agriculturist, mayhap, who lived far off in Ethuria or +Macedon--and that she, the mother, could never, never, hope to see her +daughter again--that was a thought which was so horrible that its very +horror seemed to render its realisation impossible. + +But now the praefect, with that harsh, pitiless voice of his, was +actually ordering the girl to be sold in the usual way, with all her +merits exhibited to the likely purchaser: her golden hair--a perfect +glory--to tempt the artistic eye, her skill recounted in fulsomeness, +her cleverness with the needle, her knowledge of healing herbs. + +The mother suddenly felt that every one in that cruel gaping crowd must +be pining to possess such a treasure, that the combined wealth of every +citizen of Rome would be lavished in this endeavour to obtain the great +prize. The praefect himself, mayhap, would bid for her, or the +imperator's agents!--alas! everything seemed possible to the anxious, +the ridiculous, the sublime heart of the doting mother, and when that +living mass of golden ripples glimmered in the noonday sun, +Menecreta--forgetting her timidity, her fears, her weakness--pushed her +way through the crowd with all the strength of her despair, and with a +cry of agonised entreaty, threw herself at the feet of the praefect of +Rome. + +"My lord's grace, have mercy! have pity! I entreat thee! In the name of +the gods, of thy mother, of thy child if thou hast one, have pity on me! +have pity! have pity!" + +The lictors had sprung forward in a moment and tried to seize the woman +who had dared to push her way to the praefect's closely guarded +presence, and was crouching there, her arms encircling his thighs, her +face pressed close against his knees. One of the men raised his flail +and brought it down with cruel strength on her thinly covered shoulders, +but she did not heed the blow, mayhap she never felt it. + +"Who ordered thee to strike?" said Taurus Antinor sternly to the lictor +who already had the flail raised for the second time. + +"The woman doth molest my lord's grace," protested the man. + +"Have I said so?" + +"No, my lord--but I thought to do my duty----" + +"That thought will cost thee ten such lashes with the rods as thou didst +deal this woman. By Jupiter!" he added roughly, whilst for the first +time a look of ferocity as that of an angry beast lit up the +impassiveness of his deep-set eyes, "if this turmoil continues I'll +have every slave here flogged till he bleed. Is the business of the +State to be hindered by the howlings of this miserable rabble? Get thee +gone, woman," he cried finally, looking down on prostrate Menecreta, +"get thee gone ere my lictors do thee further harm." + +But she, with the obstinacy of a great sorrow, clung to his knees and +would not move. + +"My lord's grace, have pity--'tis my child; an thou takest her from me +thou'lt part those whom the gods themselves have united--'tis my child, +my lord! hast no children of thine own?" + +"What dost prate about?" he asked, still speaking roughly for he was +wroth with her and hated to see the gaping crowd of young, empty-headed +fools congregating round him and this persistent suppliant hanging round +his shins. "Thy child? who's thy child? And what hath thy child to do +with me?" + +"She is but a babe, my lord," said Menecreta with timid, tender voice; +"her age only sixteen. A hand-maiden she was to Arminius Quirinius, who +gave the miserable mother her freedom but kept the daughter so that he +might win good money by and by through the selling of the child. My +lord's grace, I have toiled for six years that in the end I might buy my +daughter's freedom. Fifty aurei did Arminius Quirinius demand as her +price and I worked my fingers to the bone so that in time I might save +that money. But Arminius Quirinius is dead and I have only twenty aurei. +With the hat of disgrace on her head the child could have been knocked +down to me--but now! now! look at her, my lord, how beautiful she is! +and I have only twenty aurei!" + +Taurus Antinor had listened quite patiently to Menecreta's tale. His +sun-tanned face clearly showed how hard he was trying to gather up the +tangled threads of her scrappy narrative. Nor did the lictors this time +try to interfere with the woman. The praefect apparently was in no easy +temper to-day, and when ill-humour seized him rods and flails were kept +busy. + +"And why didst not petition me before?" he asked, after a while, when +Menecreta paused in order to draw breath. + +And his face looked so fierce, his voice sounded so rough, no wonder the +poor woman trembled as she whispered through her tears: + +"I did not dare, my lord--I did not dare." + +"Yet thou didst dare openly to outrage the law!" + +"I wanted my child." + +"And how many aurei didst promise to Hun Rhavas for helping thee to +defraud the State?" + +"Only five, my lord," she murmured. + +"Then," he said sternly, "not only didst thou conspire to cheat the +State for whose benefit the sale of the late censor's goods was ordered +by imperial decree, but thou didst bribe another--a slave of the +treasury--to aid and abet thee in this fraud." + +Menecreta's grasp round the praefect's knees did not relax and he made +no movement to free himself, but her head fell sideways against her +shoulder whilst her lips murmured in tones of utter despair: + +"I wanted my child." + +"For thy delinquencies," resumed the praefect, seemingly not heeding the +pathetic appeal, "thou shalt appear before my tribunal on the morrow +like unto Hun Rhavas thine accomplice, and thou shalt then be punished +no less than thou deservest. But this is no place for the delivery of my +judgment upon thee, and the sale must proceed as the law directs; thy +daughter must stand upon the catasta, thou canst renew thy bid of +twenty aurei for her, and," he added with unmistakable significance, as +throwing his head back his imperious glance swept over the assembled +crowd, "as there will be no higher bid for Nola, daughter of Menecreta, +she will become thy property as by law decreed." + +The true meaning of this last sentence was quite unmistakable. The crowd +who had gathered round the rostrum to watch, gaping, the moving +incident, looked on the praefect and understood no one was to bid for +Nola, the daughter of Menecreta. Taurus Antinor, surnamed Anglicanus, +had spoken and it would not be to anyone's advantage to quarrel with his +arbitrary pronouncement for the sake of any slave girl, however +desirable she might be. It was not pleasant to encounter the wrath of +the praefect of Rome nor safe to rouse his enmity. + +So the crowd acquiesced silently, not only because it feared the +praefect, but also because Menecreta's sorrow, the call of the +despairing mother, the sad tragedy of this little domestic episode had +not left untouched the hearts of these Roman citizens. In matters of +sentiment they were not cruel and they held family ties in great esteem; +both these factors went far towards causing any would-be purchaser to +obey Taurus Antinor's commands and to retire at once from the bidding. + +As for Menecreta, it seemed to her as if the heavens had opened before +her delighted gaze. From the depths of despair she had suddenly been +dragged forth into the blinding daylight of hope. She could scarcely +believe that her ears had heard rightly the words of the praefect. + +Still clinging to his knees she raised her head to him; her eyes still +dimmed with tears looked strangely wondering up at his face whilst her +lips murmured faintly: + +"Art thou a god, that thou shouldst act like this?" + +But obviously the small stock of patience possessed by the praefect was +now exhausted, for he pushed the woman roughly away from him. + +"A truce on thy ravings now, woman. The midday hour is almost on us. I +have no further time to waste on thine affairs. Put the girl up on the +catasta," he added, speaking in his usual harsh, curt way, "and take +this woman's arms from round my shins." + +And it was characteristic of him that this time he did not interfere +with his lictors when they handled the woman with their accustomed +roughness. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +"Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after +many days."--ECCLESIASTES XI. 1. + + +The fair-skinned Cheiron up on the rostrum now took over the duties of +the disgraced Hun Rhavas. + +The interlude had caused the crowd to linger on despite the approach of +noonday, an hour always devoted, almost sacred, to rest. But now that +decorum was once more restored and the work of the sale could be +proceeded with in the methodical manner approved by the praefect, +interest began to flag. + +The crowd seemed inclined to wait just a brief while longer in order to +see Nola put up on the catasta and to hear the bid of twenty aurei made +for her by her mother--a bid which, at the praefect's commands, was to +be final and undisputed. Just to see the hammer come clashing down as an +epilogue to the palpitating drama was perhaps worth waiting for. The +human goods still left for sale after that would have to be held over +for a more favourable opportunity. + +The praefect was preparing to leave. + +Up on the platform Nola, the daughter of Menecreta, smiled at the world +through a few lingering tears. She was very happy now that her golden +hair was allowed to stream down her shoulders, and that it was only +because the praefect had so ordered it that the low price of twenty +aurei would be accepted for her. + +"Nola, daughter of Menecreta," shouted Cheiron, the new auctioneer, +"aged sixteen years, skilled in the art of healing, and the knowledge of +unguents and herbs. Her health is good, her teeth perfect, and her eyes +keen for threading the finest needle. Shall we say fifteen aurei for the +girl?" + +He recited his peroration quickly and perfunctorily, like one repeating +a lesson, learned from the praefect. + +"I'll give twenty," rang out Menecreta's voice, clearly and loudly. She, +too, had learned her lesson, and learned it well, whilst gratitude and +an infinity of joy gave her strength to overcome her natural timidity. + +"Twenty aurei! twenty aurei! will no one bid more for Nola, the daughter +of Menecreta," shouted the auctioneer, hammer in hand, ready to bring it +down since no more bidding would be allowed for this piece of goods. +"Twenty aurei! no one bids more--no one--no----" + +"I'll give thirty aurei!" + +It was a pure, young voice that spoke, the voice of a young girl, mellow +and soft-toned as those of a pigeon when it cooes to its mate; but firm +withal, direct and clear, the voice of one accustomed to command and +even more accustomed to be obeyed. + +The sound rang from temple to temple right across the Forum, and was +followed by silence--the dead silence which falls upon a multitude when +every heart stops beating and every breath is indrawn. + +Cheiron paused, hammer in hand, his lips parted for the very words which +he was about to utter, his round open eyes wandering irresolutely from +the praefect's face to that of the speaker with the melodious voice. + +And on the hot noonday air there trembled a long sigh of pain, like the +breaking of a human heart. + +But the same voice, soft and low, was heard again: + +"The girl pleases me! What say you, my lord Escanes, is not that hair +worthy to be immortalised by a painter's hand?" + +And preceded by her lictors, who made a way for her through the crowd, +Dea Flavia advanced even to the foot of the catasta. And as she +advanced, those who were near retreated to a respectful distance, making +a circle round her and leaving her isolated, with her tall Ethiopian +slaves behind her holding broad leaves of palm above her head to shield +her from the sun. Thus was the gold of her hair left in shadow, and the +white skin of her face appeared soft and cool, but the sun played with +the shimmering folds of her white silk tunic and glinted against the +gems on her fingers. + +Tall, imperious and majestic, Dea Flavia--unconscious alike of the +deference of the crowd and the timorous astonishment of the +slaves--looked up at Cheiron, the auctioneer, and resumed with a touch +of impatience in her rich young voice: + +"I said that I would bid thirty aurei for this girl!" + +Less than a minute had elapsed since Dea Flavia's sudden appearance on +the scene. Taurus Antinor had as yet made no movement or given any sign +to Cheiron as to what he should do; but those who watched him with +anxious interest could see the dark frown on his brow grow darker still +and darker, until his whole face seemed almost distorted with an +expression of passionate wrath. + +Menecreta, paralysed by this sudden and final shattering of her every +hope, uttered moan after moan of pain, and as the pitiful sounds reached +the praefect's ears, a smothered oath escaped his tightly clenched +teeth. Like some gigantic beast roused from noonday sleep, he +straightened his massive frame and seemed suddenly to shake himself +free from that state of torpor into which Dea Flavia's unexpected +appearance had at first thrown him. He too, advanced to the foot of the +catasta and there faced the imperious beauty, whom the whole city had, +for the past two years, tacitly agreed to obey in all things. + +"The State," he said, speaking at least as haughtily as Dea Flavia +herself, "hath agreed to accept the sum of twenty aurei for this slave. +'Tis too late now to make further bids for her." + +But a pair of large blue eyes, cold as the waters of the Tiber and like +unto them mysterious and elusive, were turned fully on the speaker. + +"Too late didst thou say, oh Taurus Antinor?" said Dea Flavia raising +her pencilled eyebrows with a slight expression of scorn, "nay! I had +not seen the hammer descend! The girl until then is not sold, and open +to the highest bidder. Or am I wrong, O praefect, in thus interpreting +the laws of Rome?" + +"This is an exceptional case, Augusta," he retorted curtly. + +"Then wilt thou expound to me that law which deals with such exceptional +cases?" she rejoined with the same ill-concealed tone of gentle irony. +"I had never heard of it; so I pray thee enlighten mine ignorance. Of a +truth thou must know the law, since thou didst swear before the altar of +the gods to uphold it with all thy might." + +"'Tis not a case of law, Augusta, but one of pity." + +The praefect, feeling no doubt the weakness of any argument which aimed +at coercing this daughter of the Caesars, prompted too by his innate +respect of the law which he administered, thought it best to retreat +from his position of haughty arrogance and to make an appeal, since +obviously he could not command. Dea Flavia was quick to note this +change of attitude, and her delicate lips parted in a contemptuous +smile. + +"Dost administer pity as well as law, O Taurus Antinor?" she asked +coldly. + +Then, as if further argument from him were of no interest to her, she +once more turned to the auctioneer, and said with marked impatience: + +"I have bid thirty aurei for this girl; art set there slave, to gape at +the praefect, or to do thy duty to the State that employs thee? Is there +a higher bid for the maid? She pleaseth me, and I'll give sixty or an +hundred for her. This is a public auction as by law directed. I appeal +to thee, oh Taurus Antinor, to give orders to thy slaves, ere I appeal +to my kinsman, the Emperor, for the restoration of a due administration +of the law." + +Those who had cause to know and to fear the praefect's varying moods, +were ready to shrink away now from the threatening darkness of his +glance. He seemed indeed like some tawny wild beast, chained and +scorned, whom a child was teasing from a point of vantage just beyond +the reach of his powerful jaws. + +She was so well within her rights and he so absolutely in the wrong as +far as the law was concerned, that he knew at once that he must +inevitably give way. If Dea Flavia chose to desire a slave she could +satisfy the caprice, since no man's fortune could hold out against her +own. This too did the praefect know. He himself was passing rich and +would gladly have paid a large sum now, that he might prove the victor +in this unequal contest but Dea Flavia had the law and boundless wealth +on her side. Taurus Antinor had only his personal authority which had +coerced the crowd, but was of no avail against this beautiful woman who +defied him openly before the plebs and before his slaves. + +"Have no fear, O Dea Flavia," he said, trying to speak calmly, but his +voice trembling with the mighty effort at control, "justice hath never +yet suffered at my hands. I told thee that 'tis not a case of law here +but one of mercy. This girl's mother has toiled for years to save enough +money with which to buy the freedom of her child. She hath twenty aurei +to command, and the girl is not worth much more than that. The State +would have been satisfied, for my own purse would have made up the +deficiency. I had bought the girl myself and given her to the mother, +but the poor wretch was so proud and happy to buy her child's freedom +herself, that I allowed her to make the bid. That is this slave-girl's +story, Augusta! Thou seest that the law will not suffer, neither shall +the State be defrauded. What thou art prepared to give for the girl that +will I make good in the coffers of the State. Art satisfied, I hope! +Thou art a woman, and canst mayhap better understand than I did at first +when Menecreta threw herself at my knees." + +His rugged voice softened considerably whilst he spoke, and those who +were watching him so anxiously saw the ugly dark frown gradually lighten +on his brow. No wonder! since he was just a man face to face with an +exceptionally beautiful woman, to whose pity he was endeavouring to make +appeal. At all times an easy and a pleasant task, it must have been +doubly so now when the object of mercy was so deserving. Taurus Antinor +looked straight into the lovely face before him, marvelling when those +exquisite blue eyes would soften with their first look of pity. But they +remained serene and mysterious, neither avoiding his gaze nor responding +to its appeal. The delicately chiselled lips retained their slight curve +of scorn. + +He gave a sign to Menecreta, and she approached, tottering like one who +is drunken with wine, or who has received a heavy blow on the head. She +stood before Dea Flavia, with head trembling like poplar leaves and +great hollow eyes fixed in meaningless vacancy upon the great patrician +lady. + +"This is Menecreta, O Dea Flavia," concluded the praefect; "wilt allow +her to plead her own cause?" + +Without replying directly to him, Dea Flavia turned for the first time +to the slave-girl on the platform. + +"Is this thy mother?" she asked. + +"Yes!" murmured the girl. + +"Hast a wish that she should buy thy freedom?" + +"Yes." + +"That thou shouldst go with her to the hovel which is her home, the only +home that thou wouldst ever know? Hast a wish to become the slave of +that old woman, whose mind hath already gone wandering among the +shadows, and whose body will very shortly go in search of her mind? Hast +a wish to spend the rest of thy days scrubbing floors and stewing onions +in an iron pot? Or is thy wish to dwell in the marble halls of Dea +Flavia's house, where the air is filled with the perfume of roses and +violets and tame songbirds make their nests in the oleander bushes? +Wouldst like to recline on soft downy cushions, allowing thy golden hair +to fall over thy shoulders the while I, mallet or chisel in hand, would +make thy face immortal by carving it in marble? The praefect saith thine +is a case for pity, then do I have pity upon thee, and give thee the +choice of what thy life shall be. Squalor and misery as thy mother's +slave, or joy, music, and flowers as mine." + +Her voice, ever low and musical, had taken on notes of tenderness and of +languor. The tears of pity which the praefect had vainly tried to +conjure up gathered now in her eyes as her whole mood seemed to melt in +the fire of her own eloquence. + +Nola hung her head, overwhelmed with shame. She was very young and the +great lady very kind and gentle. Her own simple heart, still filled with +the selfish desires of extreme youth, cried out for that same life of +ease and luxury which the beautiful lady depicted in such tempting +colours before her, whilst it shrank instinctively from the poverty, the +hard floors, the stewing-pots which awaited her in that squalid hut on +the Aventine where her mother dwelt. + +She hung her head and made no reply, whilst from the group of the young +and idle sycophants who had hung on Dea Flavia's honeyed words just as +they had done round her litter a while ago, came murmurs of extravagant +adulation and well-chosen words in praise of her exquisite diction, her +marvellous pity, her every talent and virtue thus freely displayed. + +Even the crowd stared open-mouthed and agape at this wonderful spectacle +of so great a lady stooping to parley with a slave. + +The praefect alone remained seemingly unmoved; but the expression of +hidden wrath had once more crept into his eyes, making them look dark +and fierce and glowing with savage impotence; and his gaze had remained +fixed on the radiantly beautiful woman who stood there before him in all +the glory of her high descent, her patrician bearing, the exquisite +charm of her personality, seductive in its haughty aloofness, voluptuous +even in its disdainful calm. + +Neither did Menecreta fall a victim to Dea Flavia's melodious voice. She +had listened from a respectful distance, and with the humble deference +born of years of bondage, to the honeyed words with which the great +lady deigned to cajole a girl-slave: but when Dea Flavia had finished +speaking and the chorus of admiration had died down around her, the +freedwoman, with steps which she vainly tried to render firm, approached +to the foot of the catasta and stood between the great lady and her own +child. + +She placed one trembling, toil-worn hand on Nola's shoulder and said +gently: + +"Nola, thou hast heard what my lady's grace hath deigned to speak. A +humble life but yet a free one awaits thee in thy mother's home on the +Aventine; a life of luxurious slavery doth my lady's grace offer thee. +She deigns to say that thou alone shalt choose thy way in life. Thou +wast born a slave, Nola, and shouldst know how to obey. Obey my lady +then. Choose thy future, Nola. The humble and free one which I, thy +mother, have earned for thee, or the golden cage in which this proud +lady would deign to keep her latest whim in bondage!" + +Her voice, which at first had been almost steady, died down at the end +in a pitiful quiver. It was the last agony of her hopes, the real +parting from her child, for even whilst Menecreta's throat was choked +with sobs, Nola hung her head and great heavy tears dropped from her +eyes upon her clasped hands. The child was crying and the mother +understood. + +She no longer moaned with pain now. The pain was gone; only dull despair +remained. Her heart had hungered for the one glad cry of joy: "Mother, +I'll come to thee!" It was left starving even through her daughter's +tears. + +But those who watched this unwonted scene could not guess what Dea +Flavia felt, for her eyes were veiled by her long lashes, and the mouth +expressed neither triumph nor pity. Menecreta now once more tried to +steady her quivering voice; she straightened her weary back and said +quite calmly: + +"My lady's grace has spoken, and the great lords here assembled have +uttered words of praise for an exquisite act of pity. My lady's grace +hath spoken and hath told the poor slave, Nola, to choose her own life. +But I, the humble freedwoman, will speak in my turn to thee, O Dea +Flavia of the imperial house of immortal Caesar, and looking into thine +eyes I tell thee that thy pity is but falsehood and thine eloquence +naught but cruelty. By thy words thou didst take my child from me as +effectually as if thou already hadst bought and paid for her. Look at +the child now! She hangs her head and dares not look on me, her mother. +Oh! thou didst well choose thy words, oh daughter of imperial Caesar, for +thy honeyed words were like the nectar which hid the poison that hath +filtrated into my daughter's heart. Thou hast said it right--her life +with me had been one of toil and mayhap of misery, but she would have +been content, for she had never dreamed of another life. But now she has +heard thee speak of marble halls, of music and of flowers, of a life of +ease and of vanity, and never again would that child be happy in her +mother's arms. Be content, O Augusta! the girl is thine since thy +caprice hath willed it so. Even though she chose her mother now, I would +not have her, for I know that she would be unhappy in that lonely hut on +the Aventine; and though I have seen much sorrow and endured much +misery, there is none greater to bear than the sight of a child's +sorrow. Take her, Dea Flavia! thine eloquence has triumphed over a +mother's broken heart." + +Strangely enough, and to the astonishment of all those present, Dea +Flavia had listened patiently and silently whilst the woman spoke, and +now she said quite gently: + +"Nay! thou dost wrong thine own child, Menecreta; see how lovingly she +turns to thee!" + +"Only because in her shallow little heart there has come the first +twinge of remorse," replied the woman sadly. "Soon, in the lap of that +luxury which thou dost offer her, she will have forgotten the mother's +arms in which she weeps to-day." + +"That's enough," suddenly interposed the praefect harshly. "Menecreta, +take thy child; take her, I say. Dea Flavia hath relinquished her to +thee. Be not a fool and take the child away!" + +But with a gesture of savage pride the freedwoman tore herself away from +Nola. + +"No!" she said firmly, "I'll not take her. That proud lady here hath +stolen the soul of my child; her body, inert and sad, I'll not have the +while her heart longs to be away from me. I'll not have her, I say! let +the daughter of Caesar account to the gods above for her tempting words, +her honeyed speech and her lies." + +"Silence, woman!" ordered Dea Flavia sternly. + +"Lies, I tell thee, lies," continued the woman who had lost all sense of +fear in the depth of her misery; "the life of luxury thou dost promise +this child--how long will it last? thy caprice for her--when will it +tire? Silence? nay! I'll not be silent," she continued wildly in defiant +answer to angry murmurs from the crowd. "Thou daughter of a house of +tyrants, tyrant thyself! a slave to thy paltry whims, crushing beneath +thy sandalled feet the hearts of the poor and the cries of the +oppressed! Shame on thee! shame on thee, I say!" + +"By the great Mother," said Dea Flavia coldly, "will no one here rid me +of this screaming vixen?" + +But even before she had spoken, the angry murmurs around had swollen to +loud protestations. Before the praefect's lictors could intervene the +crowd had pushed forward; the men rushed and surrounded the impious +creature who had dared to raise her voice against one of the divinities +of Rome: Augusta the goddess. + +One of Dea Flavia's gigantic Ethiopians had seized Menecreta by the +shoulder, another pulled her head back by the hair and struck her +roughly on the mouth, but she, with the strength of the vanquished, +brought down to her knees, frenzied with despair, continued her agonised +cry: + +"A curse upon thee, Dea Flavia, a curse spoken by the dying lips of the +mother whom thou hast scorned!" + +How she contrived momentarily to free herself from the angry crowd of +lictors and of slaves it were impossible to say; perhaps at this moment +something in Menecreta's wild ravings had awed their spirit and +paralysed their hands. Certain it is that for one moment the freedwoman +managed to struggle to her feet and to drag herself along on her knees +until her hands clutched convulsively the embroidered tunic of Dea +Flavia. + +"And this is the curse which I pronounce on thee," she murmured in a +hoarse whisper, which, rising and rising to higher tones, finally ended +in shrieks which reached to the outermost precincts of the Forum. "Dea +Flavia, daughter of Octavius Claudius thou art accursed. May thine every +deed of mercy be turned to sorrow and to humiliation, thine every act of +pity prove a curse to him who receives it, until thou on thy knees, art +left to sue for pity to a heart that knoweth it not and findest a deaf +ear turned to thy cry. Hear me, ye gods--hear me!... Magna Mater, hear +me!... Mother of the stars--hear me!" + +Superstition, deeply rooted in every Roman heart, held the crowd +enthralled even whilst Menecreta's trembling voice echoed against the +marble walls of the temples of the gods whom she invoked. No one +attempted to stop her. Dea Flavia's slaves dared not lay a hand on her. +It seemed as if Magna Mater herself, the great Mother, had thrown an +invisible mantle over the humble freedwoman, shielding her with god-like +power. + +"Menecreta, raise thyself and come away," said a harsh voice in tones of +command. The praefect had at last with the vigorous help of his lictors +managed to push his way through the crowd. It was he now who attempted +to raise the woman from her knees. He sharply bade his own men to +silence the woman and to take her away. + +Dea Flavia had remained silent and still. She had not attempted to +interrupt the frenzied woman who called this awful curse upon her; only +once, when Menecreta invoked the gods, did a shudder pass through the +delicate body, and her heavy lids fell over her blue eyes, as if they +were trying to shut out some awful vision which the woman's ravings had +conjured up. + +Then in a sudden her mood seemed to change, her serenity returned, and +when the praefect interposed she put out a restraining hand, warning the +lictors not to approach. + +She bent to Menecreta and called her by name, her mellow voice vibrating +with tender tones like the chords of the harp that are touched by a +master hand, and her blue eyes, veiled with tears, looked down with +infinite tenderness on the prostrate figure at her feet. + +"Menecreta," she said gently, "thy sorrow hath made thee harsh. The +gods, believe me, still hold much happiness in store for thee and for +thy daughter. See how they refuse to register thy curse which had been +impious were it not the dictate of thy poor frenzied mind. See, +Menecreta, how thou didst misjudge me; what I did, I did because I +wished to test thy love for thy child. I wished to test its true +selflessness. But now I am satisfied and Nola need no longer choose, for +she shall have the luxury for which her young heart doth pine, but she +shall never by me be deprived of her mother's love." + +Even while she spoke, Menecreta struggled to her knees. Her wide-open +eyes, over which a mysterious veil seemed to be slowly descending, were +fixed on the radiant vision above her. But comprehension had not yet +reached her mind. Her spirit had not yet been dragged from the hell of +despair to this glorious sight of heaven. + +"Menecreta," continued the gentle voice, "thou shalt come to my house. A +free woman, thou shalt be my friend and thy daughter shall be thy happy +bondswoman. I'll give thee a little home in which thou shalt dwell with +her and draw thy last breath in her arms; there shall be a garden there +which she will plant with roses. Thy days and hers will be one +continuous joy. Come to me now, Menecreta! Take thy daughter by the hand +and come and dwell with her in the little house which my slaves shall +prepare for thee." + +Her face now was almost on a level with that of Menecreta, whose hollow +eyes gazed upwards with a look of ecstatic wonder. + +"Who art thou?" murmured the freedwoman; "there is a film over my +eyes--I cannot see--art thou a goddess?" + +"Nay!" replied Dea Flavia gently, "only a lonely maiden who has no +friends e'en in the midst of all her riches. A lonely maid whom thou +didst try to curse, asking the gods that her every act of mercy be +turned to bitter sorrow. See, she takes thee to her heart and gives +thee back thy daughter, a home and happiness." + +"My daughter?" murmured Menecreta. + +"She shall dwell with thee in the house which shall be thine." + +"A home?" and the trembling voice grew weaker, the hollow eyes more dim. + +"Aye! in the midst of a garden, with roses and violets all around." + +"And happiness?" sighed Menecreta. + +And her head fell back against Dea Flavia's arm; her eyes, now veiled by +the film of death gazed, sightless, up at the dome of blue. + +"Menecreta!" cried Dea Flavia, horror-stricken as she felt the feeble +body stiffening against her with the approaching rigidity of death. + +"Mother!" echoed Nola, striving to smother her terror as she threw +herself on her knees. + +"The woman is dead," said the praefect quietly. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and +the last."--REVELATIONS XXII. 13. + + +And after that silence and peace. + +Silence save for the moanings of the child Nola, who in a passionate +outburst of grief had thrown herself on the body of her mother. + +Dea Flavia stood there still and calm, her young face scarce less white +than the clinging folds of her tunic, her unfathomable eyes fixed upon +the pathetic group at her feet: the weeping girl and the dead woman. + +She seemed almost dazed--like one who does not understand and a quaint +puzzled frown appeared upon the whiteness of her brow. + +Once she raised her eyes to the praefect and encountered his +gaze--strangely contemptuous and wrathful--fixed upon her own, and anon +she shuddered when a pitiable moan from Nola echoed from end to end +along the marble walls around. + +And the crowd of idlers began slowly to disperse. In groups of twos and +threes they went, their sandalled feet making a soft rustling noise +against the flagstones of the Forum, and their cloaks of thin woollen +stuff floating out behind them as they walked. + +The young patricians were the first to go. The scene had ceased to be +amusing and Dea Flavia was not like to bestow another smile. They +thought it best to retire to their luxurious homes, for they vaguely +resented the majesty of death which clung round the dead freedwoman and +the young living slave. They hoped to forget in the course of the +noonday sleep, and the subsequent delights of the table, the painful +events which had so unpleasantly stirred their shallow hearts. + +Dea Flavia paid no heed to them as they murmured words of leave-taking +in her ear. 'Tis doubtful if she saw one of them or cared if they went +or stayed. + +At an order from the praefect the auction sale was abruptly suspended. +The lictors drove the herds of human cattle together preparatory to +taking them to their quarters on the slopes of the Aventine where they +would remain until the morrow; whilst the scribes and auctioneers made +haste to scramble down from the heights of the rostrum, the heat of the +day having rendered that elevated position well-nigh unbearable. Only +Dea Flavia's retinue lingered in the Forum. Standing at a respectful +distance they surrounded the gorgeously draped litter, waiting, silently +and timorous, the further pleasure of their mistress; and behind Dea +Flavia her two Ethiopian slaves, stolidly holding the palm leaves to +shield her head against the blazing sun which so mercilessly seared +their own naked shoulders. + +"Grant me leave to escort thee to thy litter, Augusta!" murmured a timid +voice. + +It was young Hortensius Martius who spoke. He had approached the catasta +and now stood timid, and a suppliant, beside Dea Flavia, with his curly +head bare to the scorching sun and his back bent in slave-like +deference. But the young girl seemed not to hear him and even after he +had twice repeated his request she turned to him with uncomprehending +eyes. + +"I would not leave thee, Dea," he said, "until I saw thee safely among +thy slaves and thy clients." + +Then at last did she speak. But her voice sounded toneless and dull, as +of one who speaks in a dream. + +"I thank thee, good Hortensius," she said, "but my slaves are close at +hand and I would prefer to be left alone." + +To insist further would have been churlish. Hortensius Martius, well +versed in every phase of decorum, bowed his head in obedience and +retired to his litter. But he told his slaves not to bear him away from +the Forum altogether but to place the litter down under the arcades of +the tabernae, and then to stand round it so that it could not be seen, +whilst he himself could still keep watch over the movements of Dea +Flavia. + +But she in the meanwhile remained in the same inert position, standing +listlessly beside the body of Menecreta, her face expressing puzzlement +rather than horror, as if within her soul she was trying to reconcile +the events of the last few moments with her previous conceptions of what +the tenor of her life should be. + +The curse of Menecreta had found sudden and awful fulfilment, and Dea +Flavia remained vaguely wondering whether the gods had been asleep on +this hot late summer's day and forgotten to shield their favoured +daughter against the buffetings of fate. A freedwoman had roused +superstitious fear in the heart of a daughter of the Caesars! Surely +there must be something very wrong in the administration of the affairs +of this world. Nay, more! for the freedwoman, unconscious of her own +impiety, had triumphed in the end; her death--majestic and sublime in +its suddenness--had set the seal upon her malediction. + +And Dea Flavia marvelled that the dead woman remained so calm, her eyes +so still, when--if indeed Jupiter had been aroused by the monstrous +sacrilege--she must now be facing the terrors of his judgments. + +And Taurus Antinor watched her in silence whilst she stood thus, +unconscious of his gaze, a perfect picture of exquisite womanhood set in +a frame of marble temples and colonnades, a dome of turquoise above her +head, the palm leaves above her throwing a dense blue shadow on her +golden hair and the white tunic on her shoulders. + +He had heard much of Dea Flavia--the daughter of Claudius Octavius and +now the ward of the Emperor Caligula--since his return from Syria a year +ago, and he had oft seen her gilded and rose-draped litter gliding along +the Sacra Via or the Via Appia, surrounded with its numberless retinue: +but he had never seen her so close as this, nor had he heard her speak. + +She was a mere child and still under the tutelage of her despotic father +when he--Taurus Antinor--tired of the enervating influences of decadent +Rome, had obtained leave from the Emperor Tiberius to go to Syria as its +governor. The imperator was glad enough to let him go. Taurus Antinor, +named Anglicanus, was more popular with the army and the plebs than any +autocratic ruler could wish. + +He went to Syria and remained there half a dozen years. The jealousy of +one emperor had sent him thither and 'twas the jealousy of another that +called him back to Rome. Syria had liked its governor over well, and +Caius Julius Caesar Caligula would not brook rivalry in the allegiance +owed to himself alone by his subjects--even by those who dwelt in the +remotest provinces of the Empire. + +But on his return to Rome the powerful personality of Taurus Antinor +soon imposed itself upon the fierce and maniacal despot. +Caligula--though he must in reality have hated the Anglicanus as much +and more than he hated all men--gave grudging admiration to his +independence of spirit and to his fearless tongue. In the midst of an +entourage composed of lying sycophants and of treacherous minions, the +Caesar seemed to feel in the presence of the stranger a sense of security +and of trust. Some writers have averred that Caligula looked on Taurus +Antinor as a kind of personal fetish who kept the wrath of the gods +averted from his imperial head. Be that as it may, there is no doubt +that tyrant exerted his utmost power to keep Taurus near his person, +showering upon him those honours and titles of which he would have been +equally ready to deprive him had the stranger at any time run counter to +his will. Anon, when the Caesar thought it incumbent upon his dignity to +start on a military expedition, he forced Antinor to accept the +praefecture of the city in order to keep him permanently settled in +Rome. + +The Anglicanus accepted the power--which was almost supreme in the +absence of the Caesar. He even gave the oath demanded of him by the +Emperor that he would remain at his post until the termination of the +proposed military expedition, but it was easy to see that the dignities +for which others would have fought and striven to their uttermost were +not really to the liking of Taurus Antinor. + +Avowedly wilful of temper, he had since his return from Syria become +even more silent, more self-centred than before. Many called him morose +and voted him either treacherous or secretly ambitious; others averred +that he was either very arrogant or frankly dull. Certain it is that he +held himself very much aloof from the society of his kind and +persistently refused to mix with the young elegants of the day either in +their circles or their baths, their private parties or public +entertainments. + +Thus it was that the praefect found himself to-day for the first time +in the near presence of Dea Flavia, the acknowledged queen of that same +society which he declined to frequent, and as he grudgingly admitted to +himself that she was beautiful beyond what men had said of her, he +remembered all the tales which he had heard of her callous pride, her +cold dignity, and of that cruel disdain with which she rejected all +homage and broke the hearts of those whom her beauty had brought to her +feet. + +For the moment, however, she struck him as more pathetic than fearsome; +she looked lonely just now like a stately lily blooming alone in a +deserted garden. He was wroth with her for what she had done to +Menecreta and for her childish caprice and opposition to his will, but +at the same time he who so seldom felt pity for those whom a just +punishment had overtaken, was sorry for this young girl, for in her case +retribution had been severe and out of all proportion to her fault. + +Therefore he approached her almost with deference and forced his rough +voice to gentleness, as he said to her: + +"The hour is late, O Dea Flavia. I myself must leave the Forum now. I +would wish to see thee safe amongst thy women." + +She turned her blue eyes upon him. His voice had roused her from her +meditations and recalled her to that sense of proud dignity with which +she loved to surround herself as with invisible walls. She must have +seen the pity in his eyes for he did not try to hide it, but it seemed +to anger her as coming from this man who--to her mind--was the primary +cause of her present trouble. She looked for a moment or two on him as +if trying to recollect his very existence, and no importunate slave +could ever encounter such complete disdain as fell on the praefect at +this moment from Dea Flavia's glance. + +"I will return to my palace at the hour which pleaseth me most, O +praefectus," she said coldly, "and when the child Nola, being more +composed, is ready to accompany me." + +"Nay!" he rejoined in his accustomed rough way, "the slave Nola is +naught to thee now. She will be looked after as the State directs." + +"The slave is mine," she retorted curtly. "She shall come with me." + +And even as she spoke she drew herself up to her full height, more like, +he thought, than ever to a stately lily now. The crown of gold upon her +head caught a glint from the noonday sun, and the folds of her white +tunic fell straight and rigid from her shoulders down to her feet. + +It seemed strange to him that one so young, so exquisitely pure, should +thus be left all alone to face the hard moments of life; her very +disdain for him, her wilfulness, seemed to him pathetic, for they showed +her simple ignorance of the many cruelties which life must of necessity +have in store for her. + +As for yielding to her present mood, he had no thought of it. It was +caprice originally which had caused her to defy his will and to break +old Menecreta's heart. She had invoked strict adherence to the law for +the sole purpose of indulging this caprice. Now he was tempted also to +stand upon the law and to defy her tyrannical will, even at the cost of +his own inclinations in the matter. + +He would not trust her with the child Nola now. He had other plans for +the orphan girl, rendered lonely and desolate through a great lady's +whim, and he would have felt degradation in the thought that Dea Flavia +should impose her will on him in this. + +He knew her power of course. She was a near kinswoman of the Emperor, +and the child of his adoption; she was all-powerful with the Caesar as +with all men through the might of his personality as much as through +that of her wealth. + +But he had no thought of yielding nor any thought of fear. It seemed as +if in the heat-laden atmosphere two mighty wills had suddenly clashed +one against the other, brandishing ghostly steels. His will against +hers! The might of manhood and of strength against the word of a +beautiful woman. Nor was the contest unequal. If he could crush her with +a touch of his hand, she could destroy him with one word in the Caesar's +ear. She had as her ally the full unbridled might of the House of Caesar, +while against her there was only this stranger, a descendant of a +freedwoman from a strange land. For the nonce his influence was great +over the mind of the quasi-madman who sat on the Empire's throne, but +any moment, any event, the whisper of an enemy, the word of a woman, +might put an end to his power. + +All this Dea Flavia knew, and knowing it found pleasure in toying with +his wrath. Armed with the triple weapon of her beauty, her purity and +her power, she taunted him with his impotence and smiled with scornful +pity upon the weakness of his manhood. + +Even now she turned to Nola and said with gentle firmness: + +"Get up, girl, and come with me." + +But at her words the last vestige of deference fled from the praefect's +manner; pity now would have been weak folly. Had he yielded he would +have despised himself even as this proud girl now affected to scorn him. + +He interposed his massive figure between Dea Flavia and the slave and +said loudly: + +"By thy leave, Nola, the daughter of Menecreta, is the property of the +State and 'tis I will decide whither she goeth now." + +"Until to-morrow only, Taurus Antinor," she rejoined coldly, "for +to-morrow she must be in the slave market again, when my agents will bid +for and buy her according to my will." + +"Nay! she shall not be put up for sale to-morrow." + +"By whose authority, O praefectus?" + +"By mine. The State hath given me leave to purchase privately a number +of slaves from the late censor's household. 'Tis my intention to +purchase Nola thus." + +"Thou hast no right," she said, still speaking with outward calm, though +her whole soul rebelled against the arrogance of this man who dared to +thwart her will, to gainsay her word, and set up his dictates against +hers, "thou hast no right thus to take the law in thine own hands." + +"Nay! as to that," he replied with equal calm, "I'll answer for mine own +actions. But the slave Nola shall not pass into thy hands, Augusta! Thou +hast wrought quite enough mischief as it is; be content and go thy way. +Leave the child in peace." + +In these days of unbridled passions and unfettered tyranny, a man who +spoke thus to a daughter of the Caesars spoke at peril of his life. Both +Dea Flavia and Taurus Antinor knew this when they faced one another eye +to eye, their very souls in rebellion one against the other--his own +turbulent and fierce, with the hot blood from a remote land coursing in +his veins, blinding him to his own advantage, to his own future, to +everything save to his feeling of independence at all cost from the +oppression of this family of tyrants; her own almost serene in its +consciousness of limitless power. + +For the moment her sense of dignity prevailed. Whatever she might do in +the future, she was comparatively helpless now. The praefect in the +discharge of his functions--second only to the Caesar--was all-powerful +where he stood. + +Taurus Antinor was still the praefect of Rome, still a member of the +Senate and favourite of Caligula. He had her at a disadvantage now, just +as she had held him a while ago when she forced on the public sale of +the girl Nola. Therefore, though with a look she would have crushed the +insolent, and her delicate hands were clenched into fists that would +have chastised him then and there if they had the strength, she returned +his look of fierce defiance with her usual one of calm. + +"Thou hast spoken, Taurus Antinor," she said coldly, "and in deference +to the law which thou dost represent I bow to thy commands. Art thou +content?" she added, seeing that he made no reply. + +"Content?" he asked, puzzled at her meaning. + +"Aye!" she said; "I asked thee if thou wert content. Thou hast +humiliated a daughter of Caesar, a humiliation which she is not like to +forget." + +"I crave thy pardon if I have transgressed beyond the limits of my +duty." + +"Thy duty? Nay, Taurus Antinor, a man's duties are as varied as a +woman's moods, and he is wisest who knows how to adapt the one to the +other. 'Tis not good, remember, to run counter to Dea Flavia's will. +'Tis much that thou must have forgotten, O praefect, ere thou didst set +thy so-called duty above the fulfilment of my wish." + +"Nay, gracious lady," he said simply, "I had forgotten nothing. Not even +that Archelaus Menas, the sculptor, died for having angered thee; nor +that Julius Campanius perished in exile and young Decretas in fetters, +because of thine enmity. Thou seest that--though somewhat of a stranger +in Rome--I know much of its secret history, and though mine eyes had +until now never beheld thy loveliness, yet had mine ears heard much of +thy power." + +"Yet at its first encounter thou didst defy it." + +"I have no mother to mourn o'er my death like young Decretas," he said +curtly, "nor yet a wife to make into a sorrowing widow like the sculptor +Menas." + +If it was his desire to break through the barrier of well-nigh insolent +calm which she seemed to have set round her dainty person, then he +succeeded over well, for she winced at his words like one who has +received a blow and her eyes, dark with anger, narrowed until they +became mere slits fringed by her golden lashes. + +"But thou hast a life, Taurus Antinor," she said, "and life is a +precious possession." + +He shrugged his massive shoulders, and a curious smile played round his +lips. + +"And thou canst order that precious possession to be taken from me," he +said lightly. "Is that what thou wouldst say?" + +"That and more, for thou hast other precious treasures more precious, +mayhap, than life; so guard them well, O Taurus Antinor!" + +"Nay, gracious lady," he rejoined, still smiling, "I have but one soul +as I have one life, and that too is in the hands of God." + +"Of which god?" she asked quaintly. + +He did not reply but pointed upwards at the vivid dome of blue against +which the white of Phrygian marbles glittered in the sun. + +"Of Him Whose Empire is mightier than that of Rome." + +She looked on him in astonishment. Apparently she did not understand +him, nor did he try to explain, but it seemed to her as if his whole +appearance had changed suddenly, and her thoughts flew back to that +which she had witnessed a year ago when she was in Ostia and she had +seen a raging tempest become suddenly stilled. "There is no mightier +empire than that of Rome," she said proudly, "and methinks thou art a +traitor, oh Taurus Antinor, else thou wouldst not speak of any emperor +save of Caesar, my kinsman." + +"I spoke not of an emperor, gracious lady," he said simply. + +"But thy thoughts were of one whose empire was mightier than that of +Rome." + +"My thoughts," he said, "were of a Man Whom I saw whilst travelling +through Judaea a few years ago. He was poor and dwelt among the fishermen +of Galilee. They stood around Him and listened whilst He talked; when He +walked they followed Him, for a halo of glory was upon Him and the words +which He spoke were such that once heard they could never be forgotten." + +"Didst thou too hear those marvellous words, O Taurus Antinor?" she +asked. + +"Only twice," he replied, "did I hear the words which He spoke. I +mingled with the crowd, and once when His eyes fell upon me, it seemed +to me as if all the secrets of life and death were suddenly revealed to +me. His eyes fell upon me.... I was one of a multitude ... but from that +moment I knew that life on this earth would never be precious to me +again--since the most precious gift man hath is his immortality." + +"Thou speakest of strange matters, O praefect," she rejoined, "and +meseems there's treason in what thou sayest. Who is this man, whose +very look hath made a slave of thee?" + +"A slave to His will thou sayest truly, O daughter of Caesar! Could I +hear His command I would follow Him through life and to death. At times +even now meseems that I can hear His voice and see His eyes ... thou +hast never seen such eyes, Augusta--fixed upon my very soul. I saw them +just now, right across the Forum, when the wretched freedwoman clung +shrieking round my shins. They looked at me and _asked_ me to be +merciful; they did not command, they begged ... _asking_ for the pity +that lay dormant in my soul. And now I know that if those same eyes +looked at me again and asked for every drop of my blood, if they asked +me to bear death, torture, or even shame, I would become as thou truly +sayest--a slave." + +Once or twice whilst he spoke she had tried to interrupt him, but every +time the words she would have spoken had died upon her lips. He looked +so strange--this praefect of Rome--whose judgments everyone feared, +whose strict adherence to duty the young elegants of the day were ever +fond of deriding. He looked very strange now and spoke such strange +words--words that she resented bitterly, for they sounded like treason +to the House of Caesar of which she was so coldly proud. + +To her Caesar was as a god, and she as his kinswoman had been brought up +to worship in him not the man--that might be vile--but the supreme power +in the Empire which he represented. She did not pause to think if he +were base, tyrannical, a half-crazy despot without mind or heart or +sensibilities. She knew what was said about him, she had even seen at +times things from which she recoiled in unspeakable horror; but her +soul, still pure and still proud, was able to dissociate the abstract +idea of the holy and mighty Caesar from its present hideous embodiment. +And this same holy reverence for Caesar she looked for in all those who +she deemed were worthy to stand--not as his equals, for only the gods +were that--but nigh to his holy person--his own kinsmen first, then his +Senate, his magistrates, and his patricians, and above all this +man--almost a stranger--whom the Caesar had deigned to honour with his +confidence. + +And yet this same stranger spoke calmly of another, of a man whom he +would obey as a slave in all things, whom he would follow even to death; +a man whose might he proclaimed above that of Caesar himself. + +"But who is this man?" she exclaimed at last, almost involuntarily. + +"A poor Man from Galilee," he replied. + +"What is he called?" + +"Out there they called Him Jesus of Nazareth." + +"And where is he now?" + +"He died upon the cross, in Jerusalem, seven years ago." + +"Upon the cross?" she exclaimed; "what had he done?" + +"He had dwelt among the poor and brought them contentment and peace; He +had lived amongst men and taught them love and charity. So the Roman +proconsul ordered Him to be crucified, and those whom He had rendered +happy rejoiced over His death." + +"Methinks that I did hear something of this. I was a child then but +already I took much interest in the affairs of State, and my father +spoke oft freely in my presence. I remember his talking of a demagogue +over in Judaea who claimed to be the King of the Jews and who was +punished for treason and sedition. But I also heard that he did but +little mischief, since only a troop of ignorant fisher-folk followed and +listened to him." + +"Ignorant fisher-folk thou saidst it truly, O Dea Flavia, yet I have it +in my mind that anon the knee of every patrician--aye! of every +Caesar--shall bend before the mighty throne of that Man from Galilee." + +"And thus didst learn thy lesson of treason, O praefect," she retorted; +"demagogues and traitors from Judaea have sown the seeds of treachery in +thy mind, and whilst thou dost receive with both hands the gifts of the +Caesar my kinsman, thou dost set up another above him and dost homage to +him in thy heart." + +"Aye! in my heart, gracious lady; for I am even more ignorant than those +fishermen from Galilee who heard every word spoken by Jesus of Nazareth. +I heard Him but twice in my life and once only did His eyes rest upon +me, and they enchained my heart to His service, though I know but little +yet of what He would have me do." + +"No doubt he would have thee turn traitor to thine Emperor and to +acclaim him--the demagogue--as imperator before the Senate and the army. +He----" + +"I told thee that He was dead," he interposed simply. + +"And that his words had made thee rebellious to Caesar and insolent to +me." + +"Thine humble servant, O Augusta," he rejoined, smiling in spite of +himself, for now she was just like an angry child. "Wilt but command and +see how I will obey." + +"The girl Nola!" she said haughtily. + +"In that alone I must deny thee." + +"Then tie my shoe, it hath come undone." + +The tone with which she said this was so arrogant and so harsh that even +her slaves behind her turned frightened eyes on the praefect who was +known to be so proud, and on whom the curt command must have had the +effect of a sudden whip-lash on the face. + +She had spoken as if to the humblest of her menials, finding pleasure in +putting this insult on the man who had dared to thwart and irritate her; +but she had not spoken deliberately; it had been an impulse, an +irresistible desire to see him down on his knees, in a position only fit +for slaves. + +Directly the words had left her mouth, she already regretted them, for +his refusal now would have been doubly humiliating for herself, and her +good sense had told her already that no patrician--least of all Taurus +Antinor--would submit quietly to public insult and ridicule even from +her. + +The quick, more gentle word was already on her lips, the look of mute +apology was struggling to her eyes, when to her astonishment the +praefect, without a word, was down on his knees before her. + +"Nay!" she said, "I did but jest." + +"The honour," he said quietly, "is too great, O daughter of Caesar, that +I should forego it now." + +His powerful shoulders were bent almost to the level of the ground, and +she looked down on him, more puzzled than ever at this stranger whose +every action seemed different from those of his fellow-men. She put her +little foot slightly forward, and as he tied the string of her shoe she +saw how slender was his hand, firm yet tapering down to the elegant +finger-tips; the hand of a patrician even though he hailed from the +barbaric North. + +Suddenly she smiled. But this he did not see for he was still intent +upon the shoe, but she felt that those slender hands of his were +singularly clumsy. And she smiled because she had recollected how like +his fellowmen he really was, how he evidently forgot his wrath and sank +his pride for the pleasure of kneeling at her feet. + +To this homage she was well accustomed. Many there were in Rome who at +this moment would gladly have changed places with the praefect. More +than one great patrician had craved the honour of tying her shoe, more +than one patrician hand had trembled whilst performing this service. + +And Dea Flavia smiled because already she guessed--or thought that she +guessed--what would follow the tying of her shoe--a humble kiss upon her +foot, the natural homage of a man to her beauty and to her power. + +The daughter of Caesar smiled because the spirit of child-like +waywardness was in her, and she thought that she would like the +slave-like homage from this man whom her wrath and threats had left +impassive but whom her beauty had at last brought down to his knees; and +thus smiling she waited patiently, content that he should be clumsy, +glad that in the distance, under the arcade of the tabernae, she had +spied Hortensius Martius watching with wrathful eyes every movement of +the praefect. She wondered if the young exquisite had heard the wordy +warfare between herself and the proud man who now knelt quite awkwardly +at her feet, and she guessed that what Hortensius had seen and heard, +that he would retail at full length to his friends in the course of the +banquet given by Caius Nepos to-morrow night. + +For the moment she felt almost sorry for the giant brought down to his +knees; the kiss which she so confidently anticipated would of a truth +complete his surrender, since she had resolved to make him kiss the dust +by suddenly withdrawing her foot from under his lips, and then to laugh +at him, and to allow her slaves to laugh and jeer at him as he lay +sprawling in the dust, his huge arms lying crosswise on the flagstones +before her. + +The spirit of mischief was in her, the love to tease a helpless giant; +so for the nonce anger almost died out within her and her eyes looked +clear and blue as triumph and joy danced within their depths. + +But now Taurus Antinor had finished tying her shoe. He did not stoop +further nor did he embrace the dust; but he straightened his broad +shoulders and raised himself from his knees without rendering that +homage which was expected of him. + +"Hast further commands for thy servant, O daughter of Caesar?" he asked +calmly. + +"None," she replied curtly. + +And calling her slaves to her she entered her litter, and drew its +curtains closely round her so that she should no longer be offended by +his sight. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."--PSALM XIV. 1. + + +And late that day when Dea Flavia was preparing for rest she dismissed +her tire-women, keeping only her young slaves around her, and then +ordered Licinia to attend on her this night. + +Licinia was highly privileged in the house of Dea Flavia. She had nursed +the daughter of proud Claudius Octavius at her breast, and between the +wizened old woman and the fresh young girl there existed perfect +friendship and the confidence born of years. Dea's first tooth was in +Licinia's keeping and so was the first lock of hair cut from Dea's head. +Licinia had been the confidante of Dea's first childish sorrow and was +the first to hear the tales of the young girl's social triumphs. + +No one but Licinia was allowed to handle Dea's hair. It was her +shrivelled fingers that plaited every night the living stream of gold +into innumerable little plaits, so that the ripple in it might continue +to live again on the morrow. It was Licinia who rubbed Dea's exquisite +limbs with unguents after the bath, and she who trimmed the rose-tinted +nails into their perfect, pointed shape. + +To-night Dea Flavia was lying on a couch covered with crimson silk. Her +elbows were buried in a cushion stuffed with eiderdown, her chin rested +in her two hands and her eyes were fixed on a mirror of polished bronze +held up by one of her younger slaves. + +Licinia, stooping over the reclining body of her mistress, was gently +rubbing the white shoulders and spine with sweet-scented oil. + +"And didst see it all, Licinia?" asked Dea Flavia, as with a lazy +stretch of her graceful arms she suddenly swung herself round on to her +back and looked straight up at the wrinkled old face bending tenderly +over her. + +"Aye, my precious," replied Licinia eagerly, "everything did I see; for +thou didst draw the curtains of thy litter together so quickly, I had no +time to take my place by thy side. I meant to follow immediately, and +was only waiting there for a moment or two until the crowd of thy +retinue had dispersed along the various streets. Then it was that I +spied my lord Hortensius, and something in the expression of his face +made me pause then and there to see if there was aught amiss." + +"And was aught amiss with my lord Hortensius?" asked Dea Flavia with +studied indifference. + +"He looked wrathful as a tiger in the arena when the guards come and +snatch his prey from him. There was a frown on his face darker than that +which usually sits on Taurus Antinor's brow." + +"He was angered?" + +"Aye! at the praefect," rejoined Licinia. "He strode forward from under +the arcades directly after the crowd of thy slaves had disappeared, and +the Forum was all deserted save for Taurus Antinor standing there as if +he had been carved in marble and in bronze and rooted there to the spot. +My lord Hortensius came close up to the praefect and greeted him curtly. +I dared no longer move away lest I should be seen, so I hid in the deep +shadow behind the rostrum, and I heard Taurus Antinor's response to my +lord Hortensius." + +"Yes! yes!" said Dea Flavia impatiently, "of course they greeted one +another ere they came to blows. But 'tis of the blows I would like to +hear, and what my lord Hortensius said to the praefect." + +"He spoke to him of thee, my child, and taunted him with having angered +thee," said Licinia. "The praefect is so proud and so impatient, I +marvelled then he did not hit my lord Hortensius in the face at once. He +looked so huge, I bethought me of a giant, and his head looked dark like +the bronze head of Jupiter, for his face had flushed a deep and angry +crimson, whilst his mighty fists were clenched as if ready to strike." + +"What caused him to strike, then?" + +"My lord Hortensius called him a stranger, and this the praefect did not +seem to resent. 'There are other lands than Rome,' he said, 'and one of +these gave my ancestors birth. Proud am I of my distant land, and proud +now to be a patrician of Rome.' Then did my lord Hortensius break into +loud laughter, which to mine ears sounded mirthless and forced. He +raised his hand and pointed a finger at the praefect and shouted, still +laughing: 'Thou a patrician of Rome? thou a tyrant's minion! slave and +son of slave! Nay! if the patriciate of Rome had its will with thee, it +would have thee publicly whipped and branded like the arrogant menial +that thou art!' This and more did my lord Hortensius say," continued +Licinia, whose voice now had sunk to an awed whisper at the recollection +of the sacrilege; "I hardly dared to breathe for I could see the +praefect's face, and could think of naught save the wrath of Jupiter, +when on a sultry evening the thunder clouds are gathering in the wake of +the setting sun." + +But Dea Flavia's interest in the narrative seemed suddenly to have +flagged. She stretched her arms, yawned ostentatiously, and with the +movement of a fretful child she threw herself once more flat upon the +couch, with her elbows in the cushions and her face buried in her hands. + +With some impatience she snatched the mirror from the young slave's +hand, and then she put it on the pillow and looked straight down into +it, whilst her hair fell like golden curtains down each side of her +face. + +"Go on, Licinia," she said with curt indifference. + +"There is but little more to tell," said the old woman, who with stolid +placidness had resumed her former occupation, and once more rubbed the +white shoulders with the sweet-smelling unguent; "nor could I tell thee +how it all happened. A sort of tempestuous whirlwind seemed to sweep +before my eyes, and the next thing that I saw clearly was an enormous +figure clad in a gorgeous tunic, and standing high, high above me on the +very top of the marble rostrum beside the bronze figure of the god. It +was the praefect. From where I stood, palsied with fear, I could see his +face, dark now as the very thunders of Jupiter, his hair around his head +gleamed like copper in the sun; but what caused my very blood to freeze +and the marrow to stiffen in my bones, was to see his two mighty arms +high above his head holding the body of my lord Hortensius. He looked up +there like some god-like giant about to hurl an enemy down from the +mountains of Olympus. The rostrum stands a terrific height above the +pavement of the Forum; the marble balustrades, the outstanding +gradients, the carvings along its sides, all stood between that inert +body held up aloft by those gigantic arms and the flagstones below where +Death, hideous and yawning, seemed to be waiting for its prey. And still +the praefect did not move, and I could see the muscles of his arms +swollen like cords and the sinews of his hands almost cracking beneath +the weight of my lord Hortensius' body." + +Licinia paused and passed a wrinkled hand over her moist forehead. She +was trembling even now at the recollection of what she had seen. The +beautiful figure lying stretched out upon the couch had not moved in a +single one of its graceful lines. The tiny head beneath its crown of +gold was bent down upon the mirror. + +"Couldst see my lord Hortensius' face?" came in the same cold tones of +indifference from behind the veil of wavy hair. + +"No!" said Licinia. "I thank the gods that I could not. One cry for +mercy did he utter, one cry of horror when first he felt himself +uplifted and looked down into the awful face of Death which awaited him +below. Then mayhap he lost consciousness for I heard not a sound, and +the whole city lay still in the hush of the noonday sleep. Less than one +minute had intervened since first I saw that avenging figure outlined +against the blue curtain of the sky: less than one minute even whilst my +heart had ceased to beat. And then did a cry of horror escape my lips, +and the praefect looked down into my face. Nor did he move as yet, but +slowly meseemed as if the ruddy glow died from out his cheeks and brow, +and after a while the tension on the mighty arms relaxed, and slowly +were they lowered from above his head. He no longer was looking at me +now, for his eyes were fixed upon the distant sky, as if they saw there +something that called with irresistible power. And upon the heat-laden +air there trembled a long sigh as of infinite longing. Then the praefect +gathered my lord Hortensius' inanimate body in his arms as a mother +would her own child, and with slow and steady steps he descended the +gradients of the rostrum. At its foot he caught sight of me, and called +me to him: 'My lord hath only fainted,' he said to me; 'do thou chafe +his hands and soothe his forehead, whilst I send his slaves to him.' He +laid the precious burden down in the cool shadow, taking off his own +cloak and making of it a pillow for my lord Hortensius' head. Then he +went from me, and as he went I could hear him murmur: 'In Thy service, +oh Man of Galilee.'" + +Even as these last words still trembled on Licinia's lips there came a +sharp cry of rage, followed by one of terror, as with quick and almost +savage movement Dea Flavia picked up the heavy mirror of bronze and +hurled it across the chamber. It fell with a loud crash against the +delicate mosaic of the floor, but as it swung through the air its sharp +metal edge hit a young slave girl on the shoulder; a few drops of blood +trickled down her breast and she began to whimper in her fright. + +It had all happened so suddenly that no one--least of all Licinia--could +guess what it was that had so angered my lady. Dea Flavia had raised +herself to a sitting posture, and thrown her hair back, away from her +face which looked flushed and wrathful, whilst two sharp furrows +appeared between her brows. + +The women were silent, feeling awed and not a little frightened; the +girl, whose shoulder was now bleeding profusely, continued her +whimpering. + +"Get up, girl," said Licinia roughly, "and staunch thy scratch +elsewhere, away from my lady's sight. Hark at the baggage! One would +think she is really hurt. Get thee gone, I say, ere I give thee better +cause for whining." + +But in a moment Dea Flavia was on her feet. With a quick cry of pity she +ran to her slave, kneeled beside her and with a fine white cloth +herself tried to staunch the wound. + +"Art hurt?" she said gently, "art hurt, child? I did not wish to hurt +thee. Stop thy weeping--and I'll give thee that amber locket which thou +dost covet so. Stop thy weeping, I say! Is it my white rabbit thou dost +hanker after--thou shalt have it for thine own--or--or--the woollen +tunic with the embroidered bands--or--or--Stop whining, girl," she added +impatiently, seeing that the girl, more frightened than hurt, was +sobbing louder than before. "Licinia, make her stop--she angers me with +all this whining--stop, I tell thee. Oh, Licinia, where is thy whip? I +vow I'll have the girl whipped if she do not stop." + +But Licinia, accustomed to her mistress's quick changing moods, had in +her turn knelt beside the girl and was busy now with deft hands in +staunching the blood and tying up the wound. This done she dragged the +child up roughly, though not unkindly, from the ground. + +"Get thee gone and lie down on thy bed," she said; "shame on thee for +making such a to-do. My lady had no wish to hurt thee, and thou hast +upset her with all this senseless weeping. Get thee gone now ere I do +give thee that whipping which thou dost well deserve." + +She contrived to push the girl out of the chamber and ordered two others +to follow and look after her; then once more she turned to her mistress, +ready to tender fond apologies since what she had said had so angered +her beloved. + +Dea Flavia had thrown herself on the couch on her back; her arms were +folded behind her head, her fair hair lay in heavy masses on the +embroidered coverlet. She was staring straight up at the ceiling, her +blue eyes wide open, and a puzzled frown across her brow. + +"My precious one," murmured Licinia. + +But Dea Flavia apparently did not hear. It seemed as if she were +grappling in her mind with some worrying puzzle, the solution of which +lay hidden up there behind that brilliant bit of blue sky which +glimmered through the square opening in the roof. + +"My precious one," reiterated the old woman appealingly, "tell me, +Dea--was it aught that I said which angered thee?" + +Dea Flavia turned large wondering eyes to her old nurse. + +"Licinia," she said slowly. + +"Yes, my goddess." + +"If a man saith that there is one greater, mightier than Caesar ... he is +a traitor, is he not?" + +"A black and villainous traitor, Augusta," said Licinia, whose voice at +the mere suggestion had become hoarse with awe. + +"And what in Rome is the punishment for such traitors, Licinia?" asked +the young girl, still speaking slowly and measuredly. + +"Death, my child," replied the old woman. + +"Only death?" insisted Dea, whilst the puzzled look in her eyes became +more marked, and the frown between her brows more deep. + +"I do not understand thee, my precious one," said Licinia whose turn it +was now to be deeply puzzled; "what greater punishment could there be +for a traitor than that of death?" + +"They torture slaves for lesser offences than that." + +"Aye! and for sedition there is always the cross." + +"The cross!" she murmured. + +"Yes! Dost remember seven years ago in Judaea? There was a man who raised +sedition among the Jews, and called himself their king--setting himself +above Caesar and above the might of Caesar.... They crucified him. Dost +remember?" + +"I have heard of him," she said curtly. "What was his name?" + +"Nay! I have forgot. Methinks that he came from Galilee. They did +crucify him because of sedition, and because he set himself to be above +Caesar." + +"And above the House of Caesar?" + +"Aye! above the House of Caesar too." + +"And they crucified him?" + +"Aye! like a common thief. 'Twas right and just since he rebelled +against Caesar." + +"And yet, Licinia, there are those in Rome who do him service even now." + +"The gods forbid!" exclaimed Licinia in horror. "And how could that be?" +she added with a shrug of the shoulders, "seeing that he died such a +shameful death." + +"I marvel on that also," said the young girl, whose wide-open blue eyes +once more assumed their strangely puzzled expression. + +"Nay! I'll not believe it," rejoined the old woman hotly. "Do that man +service? A common traitor who died upon the cross. Who did stuff thine +ears, my goddess, with such foolish tales?" + +"No one told me foolish tales, Licinia. But this I do know, that there +are some in Rome who set that Galilean above the majesty of Caesar, and +in his name do defy Caesar's might." + +"They are madmen then," said the slave curtly. + +"Or traitors," added Dea Flavia. + +"Thou sayest it; they are traitors and rebels, and never fear, they'll +be punished ... sooner or later, they will be punished.... Defy the +might of Caesar?... Great gods above! the impious wretches! thou wert +right, my princess! Death alone were too merciful for them.... The +scourge first ... and then the cross ... that will teach them the might +of thy house, oh daughter of Caesar.... I would have no mercy with +them.... Throw them to the beasts, say I!... brand them ... scourge them +... wring their heart's blood until they cry for death...!" + +The old pagan looked evil and cruel in her fury of loyalty to that house +which begat her beloved Dea. Her eyes glistened as those of a cat +waiting to fall upon its prey; her wrinkled hands looked like claws that +were ready to tear the very flesh and sinew from the traitor's breast. +Her voice, always hoarse and trembling, had risen to a savage shriek +which died away as in a passionate outburst of love she threw herself +down on the floor beside the couch, and taking Dea's tiny feet between +her hands, she covered them with kisses and with tears. + +But Dea Flavia once more lay back on the coverlet of crimson silk and +her blue eyes once more were fixed upwards to the sky. Above her the +glint of blue was now suffused with tones of pink merging into mauve; +somewhere out west the sun was slowly sinking into rest. Tiny golden +clouds flitted swiftly across that patch of sky on which Dea Flavia +gazed so intently. + +"Come kiss me, Licinia," she said slowly after a while. "I'll to rest +now. To-morrow I shall see my kinsman the Caesar again, after a year's +absence from him. I desire to be very beautiful to-morrow, Licinia, for +mayhap I'll to the games with him. That new tunic worked with purple and +gold. I'll wear that and my new shoes of antelope skin. In my hair the +circlet of turquoise and pearls ... dost think it'll become me, +Licinia?" + +"Thou wilt be more beautiful, my precious one, than man's eyes can +conveniently endure," said Licinia, whose whole face became radiant with +the joy of her perfect love for the girl. + +"Ah! thou hast soothed my heart and mind, Licinia. I feel that I shall +sleep well to-night." + +She allowed the old woman to lead her gently to her bedchamber, where +within the narrow alcove she lay all that night tossing upon the silken +mattress that was stuffed with eiderdown. Sleep would not come to her, +and hour after hour she lay there, her eyes fixed into the darkness on +which, at times, her fevered fancy traced a glowing cross. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +"The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is +of the Lord."--PROVERBS XVI. 33. + + +And even thus did the mighty Empire hurry headlong to its fall; with +shouts of joy and cries of exultation, with triumphal processions, with +music, with games and with flowers. + +The Caesar had returned from Germany and Gaul having played his part of +mountebank upon the arena of the world. Eaten up with senseless and +cynical vanity, Caius Julius Caesar Caligula desired to be the Caesar of +his army as he was princeps and imperator, high pontiff and supreme +dictator of the Empire. But as there was no war to conduct, no rebellion +to subdue, he had invented a war and harassed some barbarians who had no +thought save that of peace. + +He stage-managed conspiracies and midnight attacks, drilling his own +soldiers into acting the parts of malcontents, of escaped prisoners, of +bloodthirsty barbarians, the while he himself--as chief actor in the +play--vanquished the mock foes and took from them mock spoils of war. + +Then he upbraided Rome for her inertia whilst he, the Emperor, +confronted dangers and endured hardships for her sake. His letters, full +of glowing accounts of his supposed prowess, of the ferocity of the +enemy, of the fruits of victory snatched at the cost of innumerable +sacrifices were solemnly read to the assembled senators in the temple of +Mars, and to a vast concourse of people gathered in the Forum. + +They listened to these letters with awe and reverence proud of the +valour of their Caesar, rejoicing in the continued glory of the mightiest +Empire of the world--their own Empire which they, the masters of the +earth and of the sea, had made under the guidance of rulers such as he +who even now was returning laurel-laden and victory-crowned from +Germany. + +And the triumphal procession was begun. First came the galley in which +Caligula was said to have crossed the ocean for the purpose of subduing +some rebel British princes, but in which he in verity had spent some +pleasant days fishing in the bay. It was brought back to Rome in solemn +state by land, right across the country of the Allemanni and carried the +whole of the way by sixteen stalwart barbarians--supposed prisoners of +war. + +The galley was received with imperial honours as if it had been a human +creature--the very person of the Caesar. In the presence of a huge and +enthusiastic crowd it was taken to the temple of Mars, where the +pontiffs, attired in their festal robes, dedicated it with solemn ritual +to the god of war and finally deposited it in a specially constructed +cradle fashioned of citrus wood with elaborate carvings and touches of +gilding thereon; the whole resting upon a pedestal of African marble. + +Upon the next day a procession of Gauls entered the city carrying +helmets which were filled with sea-shells. The men wore their hair long +and unkempt, they were naked save for a goatskin tied across the torso +with a hempen rope and their shins were encircled with leather bands. +The helmets were said to have belonged to those of Caesar's soldiers who +had lost their lives in the expedition against the Germans, and the +sea-shells were a special tribute from the ocean to the gods of the +Capitol. By the Caesar's orders the helmets were to be the objects of +semi-divine honours in memory of the illustrious dead. + +Thus the tragi-comedy went on day after day. The plebs enjoying the +pageants because they did not know that they were being fooled, and the +patricians looking on because they did not care. + + +And now the imperial mountebank was coming home himself, having ordered +his triumph as he had stage-managed his deeds of valour. Triumphal +arches and street decorations, flowers and processions, he had ordained +everything just as he wished it to be. From the statue of every god in +the temples of the Capitol and of the Forum the bronze head had been +knocked off by his orders, and a likeness of his own head placed in +substitution. His intention was to receive divine homage, and this the +plebs--who had been promised a succession of holidays, with races, +games, and combats--was over-ready to grant him. + +The vestibule connecting his palace with the temple of Castor had been +completed in his absence, and he wished to pass surreptitiously from his +own apartments to the very niche of the idol which was in full view of +the Forum and there to show himself to the people, even whilst a +sacrifice was offered to him as to a god. + +To all this senseless display of egregious vanity the obsequiousness of +the senators and the careless frivolity of the plebs easily lent itself; +nor did anyone demur at the decree which came from the absent hero, that +he should in future be styled: "The Father of the Armies! the Greatest +and best of Caesars." + +All thought of dignity was dead in these descendants of the great people +who had made the Empire; they had long ago sold their birthright of +valour and of honour for the pottage of luxury and the favours of a +tyrannical madman. What cared they if after they had feasted and shouted +themselves hoarse in praise of a deified brute, the ruins of Rome came +crashing down over their graves? What cared they if in far-off barbaric +lands the Goths and Huns were already whetting their steel. + +Only a few among the more dignified senators, a few among the more sober +praetorian tribunes, revolted in their heart at this insane exhibition +of egoism, these perpetual outrages on common sense and dignity; but +they were few and their influence small, and they were really too +indolent, too comfortable in their luxurious homes to do aught but +accept what they deemed inevitable. + +The only men in Rome who cared were the ambitious and the self-seekers, +and they cared not because of Rome, not because of the glory of the +Empire, or the welfare of the land, but because they saw in the very +excess of the tyrant's misrule the best chance for their own supremacy +and power. + +Foremost amongst these was Caius Nepos, the praetorian praefect, +all-powerful in the absence of the Caesar, well liked by the army, so +'twas said. Some influential friends clung around him and also some +malcontents, those who are ever on the spot when destruction is to be +accomplished, ever ready to overthrow any government which does not +happen to further their ambitions. + +Most of these men were assembled this night beneath the gilded roof of +Caius Nepos' house. He had gathered all his friends round him, had +feasted them with good viands and costly wines, with roasted peacocks +from Gaul and mullets come straight from the sea; he had amused them +with oriental dancers and Egyptian acrobats, and when they had eaten and +drunk their fill he bade them good night and sent them home, laden with +gifts. But his intimates remained behind; pretending to leave with the +others, they lingered on in the atrium, chatting of indifferent topics +amongst themselves, until all had gone whose presence would not be +wanted in the conclave that was to take place. + +There were now some forty of them in number, rich patricians all of +them, their ages ranging from that of young Escanes who was just twenty +years old to that of Marcus Ancyrus, the elder, who had turned sixty. +Their combined wealth mayhap would have purchased every inhabited house +in the entire civilised world or every slave who was ever put up in the +market. Marcus Ancyrus, they say, could have pulled down every temple in +the Forum and rebuilt it at his own cost, and Philippus Decius who was +there had recently spent the sum of fifty million sesterces upon the +building and equipment of his new villa at Herculaneum. + +Young Hortensius Martius was there, too, he who was said to own more +slaves than anyone else in Rome, and Augustus Philario of the household +of Caesar, who had once declared that he would give one hundred thousand +aurei for a secret poison that would defy detection. + +"Why is not Taurus Antinor here this evening?" asked Marcus Ancyrus when +this little group of privileged guests once more turned back toward the +triclinium. + +"I think that he will be here anon," replied the host. "I have sent him +word that I desired speech with him on business of the State and that I +craved the honour of his company." + +They all assembled at the head of the now deserted tables. The few +slaves who had remained at the bidding of their master had re-draped +the couches and re-set the crystal goblets of wine and the gold dishes +with fresh fruit. The long narrow hall looked strangely mournful now +that the noisy guests had departed, and the sweet-scented oil in the +lamps had begun to burn low. + +The table, laden with empty jars, with broken goblets, and remnants of +fruits and cakes, looked uninviting and even weird in its aspect of +departed cheer. The couches beneath their tumbled draperies of richly +dyed silk looked bedraggled and forlorn, whilst the stains of wine upon +the fine white cloths looked like widening streams of blood. Under the +shadows of elaborate carvings in the marble of the walls ghost-like +shadows flickered and danced as the smoke from the oil lamp wound its +spiral curves upwards to the gilded ceiling above. And in the great +vases of priceless murra roses and lilies and white tuberoses, the +spoils of costly glasshouses, were slowly drooping in the heavy +atmosphere. The whole room, despite its rich hangings and gilded +pillars, wore a curious air of desolation and of gloom; mayhap Caius +Nepos himself was conscious of this, for as he followed his guests from +out the atrium he gave three loud claps with his hands, and a troupe of +young girls came in carrying bunches of fresh flowers and some newly +filled lamps. + +These they placed at the head of the table, there, where the couches +surrounding it were draped with crimson silk, and soft downy cushions, +well shaken up, once more called to rest and good cheer. + +"I pray you all take your places," said the host pleasantly, "and let us +resume our supper." + +He gave a sign to a swarthy-looking slave, who, clad all in white, was +presiding at a gorgeous buffet carved of solid citrus-wood +which--despite the fact that supper had just been served to two hundred +guests--was once more groaning under the weight of mammoth dishes filled +with the most complicated products of culinary art. + +The slave, at his master's sign, touched a silver gong, and half a dozen +henchmen in linen tunics brought in the steaming dishes fresh from the +kitchens. The carver set to and attacked with long sharp knife the +gigantic capons which one of the bearers had placed before him. He +carved with quickness and dexterity, placing well-chosen morsels on the +plates of massive gold which young waiting-maids then carried to the +guests. + +"Wilt dismiss thy slaves before we talk?" asked Marcus Ancyrus, the +veteran in this small crowd. He himself had been silent for the past ten +minutes, doing full justice to this second relay of Caius Nepos' +hospitality. + +The waiting-maids were going the round now with gilt basins and cloths +of fine white linen for the cleansing and drying of fingers between the +courses; others, in the meanwhile, filled the crystal goblets with red +or white wine as the guests desired. + +"We can talk now," said the host; "these slaves will not heed us. They," +he added, nodding in the direction of the carver and his half-dozen +henchmen, "are all deaf as well as mute, so we need have no fear of +them." + +"What treasures," ejaculated young Escanes with wondering eyes fixed +upon his lucky host; "where didst get them, Caius Nepos? By the gods, I +would I could get an army of deaf-mute slaves." + +"They are not easy to get," rejoined the other, "but I was mightily +lucky in my find. I was at Cirta in Numidia at a time when the dusky +chief there--one named Hazim Rhan--had made a haul of six malcontents +who I understood had conspired against his authority. It seems that +these rebels had a leader who had succeeded in escaping to his desert +fastness, and whom Hazim Rhan greatly desired to capture. To gain this +object he commanded the six prisoners to betray their leader; this they +refused to do, whereupon the dusky prince ordered their ears to be cut +off and threatened them that unless they spoke on the morrow, their +tongues would be cut off the next day. And if after that they still +remained obdurate, their heads would go the way of their tongues and +ears." + +Exclamations of horror greeted this gruesome tale, the relevancy of +which no one had as yet perceived. But Caius Nepos, having pledged his +friends in a draught of Sicilian wine, resumed: + +"I, as an idle traveller from Rome had been received by the dusky +chieftain with marked deference, and I was greatly interested in the +fate of the six men who proved so loyal to their leader. So I waited +three days, and when their tongues and ears had been cut off and their +heads were finally threatened, I offered to buy them for a sum +sufficiently large to tempt the cupidity of Hazim Rhan. And thus I had +in my possession six men whose sense of loyalty had been splendidly +proved and whose discretion henceforth would necessarily be absolute." + +This time a chorus of praise greeted the conclusion of the tale. The +cynical calm with which it had been told and the ferocious selfishness +which it revealed seemed in no way repellent to Caius Nepos' guests. A +few pairs of indifferent eyes were levelled at the slaves and that was +all. And then Philippus Decius remarked coolly: + +"So much for thy carvers and henchmen, O Caius Nepos, but thy +waiting-maids?--are they deaf and dumb too?" + +"No," replied the host, "but they come from foreign lands and do not +understand our tongue." + +"Then you all think that the next few days will be propitious for our +schemes?" here broke in young Escanes who seemed the most eager amongst +them all. + +"Aye!" said Caius Nepos, "with a little good luck even to-morrow might +prove the best day. The Caesar is half frenzied now, gorged with his +triumph, the mockery of which he does not seem to understand. He is more +like a raving madman than ever, much more feeble in mind and body than +before this insensate expedition to Germany." + +"I suppose that there is no doubt as to the truth of the tales which are +current about the expedition," quoth Marcus Ancyrus, whose years +rendered him more cautious than the others. + +"No doubt whatever," rejoined the host, "and some of the tales fall far +short of the truth. There never was a real blow struck during the whole +time that madman was away. He travelled from place to place in his +litter borne by eight men, and sent his soldiers ahead of him with +sprays and buckets of water that they should lay the dust along the road +on which he would travel. At Trevirorum on the banks of the Rhine, he +caused two hundred of his picked guard to dress up as barbarians and to +make feint to attack the camp at midnight. This they did with necessary +shoutings and clashings of steel against steel. Then did the greatest +and best of Caesars sally forth in full battle array followed by a few of +his most trusted men, and in the darkness there was heard more shouting +and more clashings of steel until Caligula returned in triumph at +sunrise to his camp. He had passed hempen ropes round the necks of the +mock barbarians, and ever after had them dragged in the wake of his +litter, even as if they were prisoners of war. No doubt he had paid them +well for acting such a farce." + +"But was the army blind to all this folly?" + +"The Caesar only kept some five hundred picked men round him in his camp. +These he bribed into acquiescence of all his mad pranks. The rest of the +legions were some distance away all the time. They believed all that +they were told; mayhap they thought it wisest to believe." + +"I know that in Belgica, on the shores of the ocean----" began Augustus +Philario after a while. + +But he was not allowed to proceed. Shouts of derision broke in upon the +tale, followed by expressions of rage. + +"What is the good of retailing further follies," said Caius Nepos at +last; "we all know that a madman, a vain, besotted fool wields now the +sceptre of Julius Caesar and of great Augustus. The numbers of his +misdeeds are like the grains of sand on the seashore, his orgies have +shamed our generation, his debauches are a disgrace upon the fame of +Rome. Patricians awake! The day hath come, the hour is close at hand. +To-morrow, mayhap, at the public games ... a tumult amongst the people +... it should be easy to rouse that ... then a well-edged dagger ... and +the Empire is rid of the most hideous and loathsome tyrant that ever +brutalised a nation and shamed an empire." + +Even as he spoke, and despite the deaf-mute slaves and the foreign +girls, he lowered his voice until it sank to the merest whisper. +Reclining upon the couches with elbows buried in silken cushions the +others all stretched forward now, until two score of heads met in one +continued circle, forehead to forehead and ear to ear, whilst in the +midst of them an oil lamp flickered low and lit up at fitful intervals +the sober, callous faces with the hard mouths and cruel, steely eyes. + +The slaves--those who had lost ears and tongue and those who spoke no +language save their own foreign one--had retreated to the far corners of +the room, up against the columns of Phrygian marble or the hangings of +Tyrian tapestries; their great uncomprehending eyes were fixed on that +compact group at the head of the table, where round the bowls of roses +and of lilies and the goblets of wine, the future of the Empire of Rome +was even now being discussed. + +"The tumult can be easily provoked," said one of the guests presently--a +young man whose black hair and dark eyes bespoke his Oriental blood. +"The Caesar is certain to provoke it himself by some insane act of +tyrannical folly. Ye must all remember how, two years ago, during the +Megalesian games he ordered the women of his retinue to descend into the +arena and to engage the gladiators in combat. At this outrage the +discontent among the people nearly broke out into open revolt. It was +thou, Caius Nepos, who checked the tumult then." + +"The hour was not ripe," said the latter, "and we were not allied. It +will be different to-morrow." + +"How will it be to-morrow?" + +"When the tumult is at its highest, he who has the surest hand shall +strike the Caesar down. I, in the meanwhile----" + +"Then thou, Caius Nepos, art not certain of the sureness of thy hand?" +interposed Hortensius Martius who hitherto had taken no active part in +the discussion. + +He lay on a couch at some distance from his host and had declined every +morsel offered to him by the waiting-maids; but he had drunk over +freely, and his good-looking young face looked flushed and dark beneath +its wealth of curls. Unlike his usual self he was ill-humoured and +almost morose to-night, and there was a dark, glowering look in his eyes +as from time to time he cast furtive glances towards the door. + +"Nay, good Hortensius," said the host loftily, "mine will be the greater +part. The praetorian guard know and trust me. It will be my duty when +the Caesar is attacked to keep them from rushing to his aid. The army is +apt to forget a tyrant's crime, and to think of him only as a leader to +be obeyed. But when the guard hear my voice, they will understand and +will be true to me." + +"'Tis I will strike," now broke in young Escanes, with all the +enthusiasm of his years. The ardour of leadership glowed upon his face, +and he seemed to challenge this small assembly to dispute his right to +the foremost place in the great event of the morrow. + +But his challenge was not taken up; no one else seemed eager to dispute +his wish. Somewhat sobered, he resumed more calmly: + +"The Caesar hath much affection for me. I oft sat beside him in the +Circus or at the games last year. The Augustas too like to have me +beside them, to talk pleasing gossip in their ears. 'Twill be easiest +for me, at a signal given, to strike with my dagger in the Caesar's +throat." + +"Thine shall be that glory, O Escanes, since thou dost will it so," said +Caius Nepos, not without a touch of irony. "Directly the deed is done, +the praetorian guard shall raise the cry: 'The Caesar is dead!'" + +"And it should at once be followed by another," said Marcus Ancyrus, the +elder, "by 'Hail to thee, O mighty Caesar!'" + +"'Tis thou shouldst raise that cry, O Caius Nepos," said Hortensius with +a sarcastic curl of his lip. + +"Oh! as to that----" began the other with some hesitation. + +"Aye! as to that," said Escanes hotly, "if I slay the tyrant to-morrow +with mine own hand, then must I know at least for whom I do the deed." + +There was silence after that. Everyone seemed absorbed in his own +thoughts. Dreamy eyes gazed abstractedly in crystal goblets, as if +vainly trying to trace in its crimson depths the outline of an imperial +sceptre. At last Caius Nepos spoke: + +"Let us be rid of the tyrant first. The army then will soon elect its +new chief." + +"And is it on the support of the army, O praefect! that thou dost base +thine own hopes of supreme power?" asked Hortensius, whose ill-humour +seemed to grow on him more and more. + +"Nay!" retorted Caius Nepos, "I did not know that by so doing I was +dashing thine!" + +"Silence," admonished Marcus Ancyrus, the elder. "Are we children or +slaves that we should wrangle thus? Have we met here in order to rid the +Empire of an abominable and bloodthirsty tyrant, or are we mere vulgar +conspirators pursuing our own ends? There was no thought in our host's +mind of supreme power, O Hortensius! nor in thine, I'll vow. As for me, +I care nought for the imperium," he added naively, "it is difficult to +content everyone, and a permanent consulship under our chosen Caesar were +more to my liking. Bring forth thy tablets, O Caius Nepos, and we'll put +the matter to the vote. There are not many of the House of Caesar fit to +succeed the present madman, and our choice there will be limited." + +"There is but Claudius, the brother of Germanicus," interposed the host +curtly. + +"Germanicus' brother to succeed Germanicus' son," said another with a +contemptuous shrug of the shoulders. + +"And he is as crazy as his nephew," added Caius Nepos. + +He had not assembled his friends here to-night, he had not feasted them +and loaded them with gifts with a view to passing the imperium merely +from one head to another. He was fairly sure of the support of the +praetorian guard, whose praefect he was, and had counted on the +adherence of these malcontents, who he hoped would look to him for +future favours whilst raising him to supreme dignity. + +He liked not this talk of the family of Caesar which took the attention +of his closest adherents away from his own claim. + +"The entire House of Caesar," he said, "is rotten to the core. There is +not one member of it fit to rule." + +"But of a truth," said prudent Ancyrus, "they have the foremost claim." + +"Then if that be the case," broke in young Hortensius Martius suddenly, +"let us turn to the one member of the House of Caesar who is noble and +pure, exalted above all." + +"There is none such," said Caius Nepos hotly. + +"Aye! there is one," retorted the younger man. + +"His name?" came loudly from every side. + +"I spoke of a woman." + +"A woman!" + +And shouts of derisive laughter broke from every lip. Only Marcus +Ancyrus remained grave and thoughtful, and now he said: + +"Dost perchance speak of Dea Flavia Augusta?" + +"Even of her," replied Hortensius. + +Involuntarily at the name, the voice of the older man had assumed a +respectful tone, and all around the vulgar sneers and bitter mockery had +died away as if by magic contact with something hallowed and pure. + +Even Caius Nepos thought it wise to subdue his tone of contempt, and +merely said curtly: + +"A goddess of a truth, but a woman cannot lead an army or rule an +empire." + +"No," rejoined Hortensius Martius, "but a wise and virtuous woman can +rule wisely and virtuously over the man whom she will choose for mate." + +There was silence for a moment or two, whilst young Hortensius' glowing +eyes swept questioningly over the assembly. Everyone there knew of his +passion for the Augusta, a passion, in truth, shared by many of those +who had the privilege of knowing her intimately, and strangely enough +though the proposal had so much daring in it, it met with but little +opposition. + +"Wouldst thou then suggest, O Hortensius Martius," quoth Marcus Ancyrus, +the elder, after a slight pause, "that the Augusta's husband be made +Emperor of Rome?" + +"Why not?" retorted the other simply. + +"It is not a bad notion," mused young Escanes, who thought himself high +in the favour of Dea Flavia. + +"An admirable one," assented Ancyrus, "for we must remember that Dea +Flavia Augusta is of the true blood of the Caesars--the blood of the +great Augustus--and there is none better. Since she, as a woman, cannot +rule men or lead an army, what more fitting than that her lord, whoever +he might be, should receive the imperium through her hands?" + +"He might prove to be a more miserable creature than the Caligula +himself," suggested Philario, who was too ill-favoured to have hopes of +winning the proud and imperious beauty for himself. + +"Nay! that were impossible," asserted Hortensius hotly; "the man whom +Dea Flavia will favour will be a brave man else he would not dare to woo +her; he will be honourable and noble else he could never win her." + +"Methinks that thou art right, O Hortensius," added Ancyrus, who had +taken upon himself the role of a wise and prudent counsellor, "and +moreover he will be rich by virtue of the wealth which the Augusta will +have as her marriage portion; her money, merged with the State funds, +would be of vast benefit to the land." + +"And on his death his son and hers--a direct descendant of great +Augustus--would be the only fitting heir," concluded another. + +"Meseems," now said Ancyrus decisively, "that we would solve a grave +difficulty by accepting the suggestion made by Hortensius Martius. The +imperium--as is only just--would remain in the family of the great +Augustus. We should have a brave, noble and rich Caesar whose virtuous +and beautiful wife would wield beneficial influence over him, and for +the present we should all be working for unselfish ends; not one of us +here present can say for a certainty whom the Augusta will choose for +mate. Directly the tyrant is swept out of the way, we, who have brought +about the great end, will ask her to make her choice. Thus our aims will +have been pure and selfless; each one of us here will have risked all +for the sake of an unknown. What say you friends? Shall we pledge our +loyalty to the man whom not one of us here can name this day--a man +mayhap still unknown to us: the future lord of Dea Flavia Augusta of the +House of Caesar?" + +The peroration seemed greatly to the liking of the assembled company: +the thought that they would all be working with pure and selfless +motives flattered these men's egregious vanity; vaguely every one of +them hoped that all the others would believe in his unselfish aims, even +whilst everyone meant to work solely for his own ends. Hortensius +Martius' proposal pleased because it opened out such magnificent +possibilities: the imperium itself, which had seemed infinitely remote +from so many, now appeared within reach of all. + +Anyone who was young, well-favoured, and of patrician birth might aspire +to the hand of the Augusta, and not one of those who possessed at least +two of those qualifications doubted his own ability to win. + +Raising himself to a more upright position, Marcus Ancyrus the elder, +goblet in hand, looked round for approval on all the guests. + +The murmur of acquiescence was well-nigh general, and many there were +who held their goblets to the waiting-maids in order to have them filled +and then drained them to the last dregs. But there were a few +dissentient voices, chiefly among the less-favoured who, like Philario, +could hardly dare approach a beautiful woman with thoughts of wooing +her. + +Caius Nepos had not taken up the pledge, nor had he taken any part in +the discussion since Dea Flavia's name first passed the lips of young +Hortensius. Indeed, as the latter seemed to lose his ill-humour and +become flushed and excited with the approval of his friends, so did the +host gradually become more and more morose and silent. + +Clearly the proposal to leave the matter of the choice of a Caesar in the +hands of a woman was not to his liking. Though good-looking and still in +the prime of life he had never found favour with women, and Dea Flavia +had often shown open contempt for him, and for the selfish ambition +which moved his every action, and which he was at no pains to conceal. + +It was easy to see, by the glowering look on his face, that the meeting +this night had not turned out as he had wished. + +"We cannot decide this matter otherwise than by vote," said one of the +guests when the murmurs of approval and those of dissent had equally +died down. + +"Thou art right, O friend," assented Ancyrus, "and I pray thee, Caius +Nepos, order thy slaves to bring us the tablets, and let each man record +his vote according to his will." + +Caius Nepos could find no objection to this, even though the question of +voting was in no way to his liking. He had a vague hope, mayhap, that by +gaining time he might succeed in sowing seeds of discord amongst those +who had been so ready to accede to the new proposal; any moment even +now--a chance word spoken, a trifling incident, an incipient quarrel +might sway these men and bring them back to their allegiance to himself. +He had been so sure of their support; the banquet this night had been +destined to set the seal to their fealty and to cement their friendship: +it was more than exasperating that the suggestion of a young fool should +have caused them to swerve from their promised adherence. + +For the moment however, he could not help but acquiesce outwardly in the +wish of the majority. After an imperceptible moment of hesitation, he +called to one of his deaf-mute slaves and made him understand by signs +that he wanted forty wax tablets prepared and brought hither with forty +stylets wherewith to write. Then he cheerily bade his guests once more +to eat and drink and to make merry. + +And it was characteristic of these strange products of a decadent age, +that in the midst of grave discussions wherein their own lives and their +future aggrandisement were at stake, these men were quite ready to +respond to their host's invitation and momentarily to forget their own +ambitious schemes in the enjoyment of epicurean delights. + +Wine and fruit were once more handed round; both were excellent, and +during a brief interval mighty issues were set aside and conversation +became more general and more free. The pageant of games and combats +which was to last for over thirty days in honour of the deification of +Caligula and his safe return from Germany became the subject of eager +talk. There had been rumours of a remarkable load of African lions +arrived in the Tiber a day or two ago, which were to make a gorgeous +spectacle in the arena pitted against some tigers from Numidia. There +was also talk of a novelty in the shape of crocodiles who were said to +fight with great cunning and power against a pack of hyenas from the +desert. + +Then there would be the chariot races and gladiatorial combats; heavy +betting on these events had been in progress for some time all over the +city among the wealthy patricians as well as among the impoverished +plebs; the respective merits of the blues, the greens, the reds, and the +yellows were the subject of heated discussions, and Caius Nepos was glad +to note that more than a suspicion of antagonism was aroused between his +guests in the defence of their respective choice. + +He only took a very cursory part in the discussion, putting in a word +here and there where contradiction or approval might further inflame +overheated tempers. + +And he ordered his slaves to pour the wine with a free hand, and himself +was ready to pledge every one of his guests over and over again for as +long as they were ready to drink. + +Inside the room the heat had become excessive, the evening air only +entered through narrow windows, and the gentle breeze did no more than +fan the flames of the oil lamps or make the petals of dying roses +tremble and fall. The noise grew louder and louder as the fumes of heady +wines obscured the brains of these makers of future empires. Slaves were +called for loudly to undo the tunics and to help cast off all but the +necessary garments. + +Every face round the table now was flushed and moist; every forehead +streaming with perspiration. Escanes, goblet in hand, was singing a +ribald song, the chorus of which was taken up by the group of young men +nearest to him. The older ones were making insane bets and driving +preposterous bargains over horses and slaves. + +By the time that the slaves had returned with the tablets the praetorian +praefect had cause to be satisfied with the temper of his guests. Coarse +jests and drunken oaths were heard more often than whispered serious +talk, the names of popular gladiators seemed of more account than those +of future Caesars. Arguments were loud and violent; every mouth +slobbered, every lip trembled and every eye glowed with unnatural +brightness: curls were dishevelled and laurel crowns awry; the silken +draperies on the couches had become tattered rags and the cushions were +scattered all about the floor; debris of crystal vases littered the +table and bunches of dying flowers were tossed about by unsteady hands. + +Given a little more time, a few more draughts of Sicilian wine, and all +thoughts of voting for a future Caesar would be beyond the mental power +of these degenerates, and drunken quarrels would turn to violent enmity. +This Caius Nepos had in mind when he took the tablets from the slaves, +and threw them down with affected carelessness on the table before him. + +"We cannot vote," he said loudly, "whilst Taurus Antinor is not here." + +His words were even more potent than he had hoped; all that he had +wanted was further delay, and most of his guests nodded approval with +drunken solemnity and then called for more wine. But Hortensius Martius +who, though he had drunk as heavily as the others, had not joined in the +ribald songs or the senseless orgy of shouts and of laughter, now jumped +up with a violent oath. + +"What hath Taurus Antinor to do with us?" he shouted at the top of his +voice, "or we with Taurus Antinor? Ye do not intend, I trust, to raise a +freedman to the imperium and place the sceptre of Caesar in the hands of +a descendant of slaves!" + +He was trembling with such unbridled fury, his eyes glowed with the lust +of such deadly hate that instinctively the ribald songs and immoderate +laughter were hushed, and eyes, veiled with the film of intoxication +were turned wonderingly upon him. + +But Caius Nepos was smiling blandly: the ire of Hortensius pleased him +even though he did not understand its cause. + +"Nay, as to that," he said, "are we not all descended from slaves? +Taurus Antinor hath the ear of the plebs. Doth suggest, O Hortensius, +that he also hath the ear of Dea Flavia Augusta?" + +He had shot this arrow into the air, little guessing how hard and truly +it would hit. + +Hortensius was making vigorous efforts to curb his temper, biting his +lips until tiny drops of blood slowly trickled down his chin. But he +felt that the mocking eyes of his host were upon him, and had just a +sufficiency of reason left in him to see through the machinations of +Caius Nepos. He would not hold himself up to ridicule now before those +who should prove his strong supporters in the future; his proposal had +not yet been put to the vote, and he did not mean to alienate his +adherents by an insane show of maniacal rage. + +"Of that," he said in response to his host's taunt, and in a voice +quivering with the mighty effort of control, "of that there is but +little fear. The Augusta is too proud to look with favour on a stranger; +as for me, I would sooner ask Escanes to plunge his dagger in my throat +than I would serve the Empire under the Caesarship of Taurus Antinor." + +"Thou canst record thy vote as thou thinkest best," said Caius Nepos +with calm urbanity. And those who were sufficiently sober nodded +approval with solemn gravity. + +"Nay," here interposed Marcus Ancyrus with stern reproof, "before we +begin to vote let us be agreed on one point: let us be prepared to swear +by the gods that we will adhere truly and loyally to the choice of the +majority--and if, as meseems is likely, we agree that the unknown future +husband of Dea Flavia Augusta become the ruler of us all, then must we +swear to proclaim him the Caesar with one accord, else doth our voting +become a mere farce. Friends, before ye vote, are you ready to take this +oath?" + +"Aye! aye!" came from almost every mouth round the table. But they +nodded like automatons, with heavy heads that rolled on bowed shoulders +and blurred eyes half-hidden behind closing lids. + +"I'll not swear allegiance to Taurus Antinor," persisted Hortensius +obstinately. + +"Dost think it likely that the Augusta favours him?" asked the host +ironically. + +"No--but----" + +"Then what hast thou to fear?" + +"As for me," interposed young Escanes in a thick voice broken by +hiccoughs, "I am ready to swear as Marcus Ancyrus directs. If we are not +satisfied with the new Caesar, whoever he may be, my dagger will not rust +in the meanwhile; I can easily whet it again." + +Even as these last cynical words left the young man's lips there came +from outside the noise of much shouting and shuffling of naked feet, and +anon the sound of a voice, loud and harsh, asking for leave to speak +with the praetorian praefect. Caius Nepos paused, tablets in hand. +Strangely enough the voice, though well-known, seemed to have a sobering +effect on all these ebullient tempers. Marcus Ancyrus, who was the most +calm among them all, threw a quick glance of inquiry on his host, one or +two furtive glances were exchanged, a look that was half-ashamed crept +into some of the faces, and there were hurried, whispered calls to the +slaves to bring the bags of ice. + +Quickly the tunics were re-adjusted and an attempt made at +re-establishing some semblance of decorum round the table. Caius Nepos +was giving hastily whispered directions to the waiting-maids. + +"Pull that coverlet straight, quick!" he ordered, "and those cushions, +pick them off the ground ... that broken vase, set it aside.... There! +try and hide that wine stain with a fresh cloth." + +And all the while rapid, eager questions flew from mouth to mouth. + +"Wilt tell him at once, O Caius Nepos?" + +"Or wilt ply him with wine first?" + +"'Twere safer." + +"Nay! nay!" said Escanes, whose wrists and ankles were being bathed, +"that would take too long. Taurus Antinor hath a strong head, and I, for +one, could not keep sober another half-hour." + +"Dost know if he is at one with us?" was the query that came from every +side. + +Hortensius Martius alone had remained silent. He did not call either for +water or for ice. It was his hatred that had sobered him, making the +lines of his face set and hard, causing the flush to die from his cheeks +and leaving them ashy pale. + +"Dost know if he is at one with us?" reiterated Augustus Philario +impatiently. + +He had ordered a slave to hold lumps of ice to his forehead, whilst +Philippus Decius--lying next to him--was having perfume rubbed into the +back of his neck. + +"We must look stern and deliberate," said Ancyrus. "Dost know, O Caius +Nepos, if he is at one with us?" + +"We must enlist him," rejoined the latter hurriedly; "he holds the +plebs, and without his help our position might become difficult. A word +from him to the crowd and the new Caesar is assured of peace within the +city." + +"Then do thou tell him what has been decided," said one of the others +who was busy smoothing his tangled hair. + +"No, no!" whispered cautious Ancyrus, the elder, "have a care ... thou, +Caius Nepos, must probe him ere thou speakest." + +"Tell him naught of Escanes' dagger," added another hurriedly. + +"Speak of abdication," said the older man, "of anything that comes in +thy mind. Some men there are who----" + +But he had no time to explain his meaning further, for the next moment +Taurus Antinor stepped into the room. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +"There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets."--PROVERBS +XXVI. 13. + + +He had exchanged his embroidered tunic for a gorgeous synthesis of +crimson embroidered with gold, which set off to perfection the somewhat +barbaric splendour of his personality, and as he stood there massive and +erect, beneath the gilded beams of Caius Nepos' dining-hall, with the +slaves at his feet undoing the strings of his shoes, he looked every +inch the ruler for whom all these men here were blindly and senselessly +seeking. + +His deep-set eyes beneath that stern frown had swept quickly over the +assembly as he entered, and though now comparative order had been +restored and a semblance of calm reigned around the table, Taurus +Antinor did not fail to note the flushed faces and glowing eyes, the +broken goblets, and stained and tattered cloths which gave ugly evidence +of the riotous orgy that had gone before. + +But though forty pairs of eyes were fixed upon his face, none could +boast that they had perceived any change in its somewhat severe +impassiveness as he now advanced towards his host. + +"Greeting to thee, O Caius Nepos!" he said. "I crave thy pardon for my +late coming, but I had other duties to which to attend." + +"Duties?" said Caius Nepos lightly; "nay, Taurus Antinor, there are just +now duties so high and sacred that others must of necessity stand aside +for these! But of this more anon. Wilt rest now and partake of wine?" + +"I thank thee, good Caius," replied the praefect, "but I have supped, +and only came at thy bidding, because thou didst say that affairs of +State would claim our attention this night." + +To all those present he gave courteous if not very hearty greeting. Then +did his glance encounter that of Hortensius Martius who alone had said +no word or made a movement to welcome him. + +There was a vacant place beside young Hortensius, and Taurus Antinor +took it, but he did not lie along the cushions as the others did but +half sat, half leaned on the couch, and turning to the young man said +simply: + +"I give thee greeting, O Hortensius! I had no thought of meeting thee +here." + +"I told thee yesterday that I would be present," said the other curtly. + +"I remember now and am proud and honoured to sit by thy side; wilt +pledge me in a goblet of wine?" + +He had forced his rough voice to tones of gentleness. Hortensius Martius +raised his glowering eyes with some curiosity on his face. + +But a day and a night had elapsed since his life had lain wholly at the +mercy of this powerful giant whom he had insulted, and who had been on +the point of punishing that insult with death. + +Young Hortensius, held aloft in the mighty grip of the praefect twenty +feet above the flagstones of the Forum, seeing a hideous death waiting +for him below, did not even now realise how it came to pass that--when +he recovered from the swoon into which horror and fear had thrown +him--he found himself being tended by an old woman, and anon delivered +safe and sound into the keeping of his slaves; he had entered his litter +and been borne to his home still marvelling, but of the praefect of +Rome he had not since then seen a trace. + +He had questioned his slaves who swore that from the arcades of the +tabernae, where they had been waiting, they had seen nothing of what +went on around the rostra. Hortensius knew that they lied, they must +have seen something of the quarrel; they must have seen him being +carried like a recalcitrant child up to the top of the highest rostrum, +and threatened with awful punishment by the very man whom he had +affected to despise. They must also have seen the praefect relenting, +carrying him down again, content apparently with the fright which he had +given him. + +His slaves must have been witnesses to his humiliation, and now were +afraid to tell him what they had seen; and for the first time in his +life Hortensius Martius felt a wave of cruelty pass over him, in an +insensate desire to make the slaves speak under pressure of torture. + +At the time he was ashamed to seem too eager and had forborne to +question further. But he allowed his humiliation to breed the +quick-growing weed of hate. When first the name of Taurus Antinor was +mentioned he realised how that weed had grown apace, and now that he sat +beside him, and felt the inquisitive eyes of his host fixed with +ill-concealed mockery upon him, he knew in his innermost heart that +after this day there would no longer be room in the city of Rome for +himself as well as for this man who had vanquished and humiliated him. + +For the moment, however, he did not care to proclaim before all these +men the hatred which he felt for Taurus Antinor. Thoughts of supreme +grandeur were coursing through his brain. He knew that no one stood so +high in Dea Flavia's graces as he himself had done this year past, and +that no one was so like to win her for wife, since she had in her own +proud and aloof way already accepted his respectful wooing. + +Therefore, putting a rein upon his jealousy and upon his unruly tongue, +he took up a goblet and responded to the pledge of the man whom he +hated. But whilst Antinor drained the crystal cup to the dregs young +Hortensius scarcely wetted his lips, and pretending to drink deeply, he +kept his eyes fixed upon the praefect of Rome. + +It seemed to him as if he had never really seen him before, so sharp are +the eyes of hate that they see much that is usually hidden to those of +indifference. Young Hortensius, over the edge of his goblet, embraced +with a steady glance the whole person of his enemy--the massive frame, +the strong limbs, the hands and feet slender and strong. He looked +straight into those deep-set eyes over which a perpetual frown always +cast a shadow, and saw that they were of an intense shade of blue and +with a strange look in them of kindliness and of peace, which belied the +stern fierceness of the face and the wilful obstinacy of the massive +jaw. + +But now Caius Nepos began to speak. Taking the advice of Marcus Ancyrus +the elder, he spoke vaguely, trying to probe the thoughts that lay +hidden behind the Anglicanus' furrowed brow. He had received advice, he +said that the Caesar was tired of government and wished to spend some +quiet days in the Palace of Tiberius, on the island of Capraea; all this +cleverly interwoven with sighs of hope as to what a happier future might +bring if the Empire were rid--quite peaceably, of course--of the tyranny +of a semi-brutish despot. + +Then, as Taurus Antinor made no comment on his peroration, he recalled +in impassioned language all that Rome had witnessed in the past three +years of depravity, of turpitude, of senseless and maniacal orgies and +of bestial cruelty, all perpetrated by the one man to whom blind Fate +had given supreme power. + +"And to whom, alas!" said Taurus Antinor in calm response to the glowing +speech, "we have all of us here sworn loyalty and obedience." + +There was silence after this. Despite the lingering fumes of wine that +obscured the brain, everyone felt that with these few words the praefect +of Rome had already given an answer, and that nothing that could be said +after this would have the power of making him alter his decision. But +Marcus Ancyrus, conscious of his own powers of diplomacy, took up the +thread of his host's peroration. + +"Aye! but we should be obeying him," he said simply, "if we accept his +abdication." + +"There is no disloyalty," asserted Escanes, "in rejoicing at such an +issue, if the Caesar himself doth will it so." + +"None," admitted the praefect; "but there would be grave difficulty in +choosing a successor." + +"To this," said the host, "we have given grave consideration." + +"Indeed!" + +"And have come to a decision which we all think would best serve the +welfare of the State." + +"May I hear this decision?" + +"It means just this, O praefect! that since the sceptre of Caesar must, +if possible, remain in the House of Caesar, and since no man of that +House is worthy to wield it, we would ask the Augusta Dea Flavia to take +to herself a lord and husband, on whom, by virtue of his marriage, the +imperium would rest for his life, and after his death fall on the direct +descendant of great Augustus himself." + +Taurus Antinor had not made a sign whilst Caius Nepos thus briefly put +before him the main outline of the daring project, and Hortensius +Martius, who was watching him closely, could not detect the slightest +change in the earnest face even when Dea Flavia's name was spoken. Now, +when Nepos paused as if waiting for comment, Antinor said gravely: + +"Ye must pardon me, but I am a stranger to the social life in Rome. Will +you tell me who this man is whom the Augusta will so highly favour?" + +"Nay, as to that," said Caius Nepos, "we none of us know it as yet! Dea +Flavia has smiled on many, but up to now hath made no choice." + +"Then 'tis to an unknown man ye would all pledge your loyalty?" + +"Unknown, yet vaguely guessed at, O praefect," here broke in Escanes, +with his usual breezy cheerfulness; "we all feel that Dea Flavia's +choice can but fall on an honourable man." + +"Thou speakest truly," rejoined Taurus Antinor earnestly; "but I fear me +that for the present your schemes are too vague. The Augusta hath made +no choice of a husband as yet, and the Caesar is still your chosen lord." + +"A brutish madman, who----" + +"You chose him----" + +"Since then he hath become a besotted despot." + +"Still your Emperor--to whom you owe your dignities, your power, your +rank----" + +"Thou dost defend him warmly, O praefect of Rome," suddenly interposed +Hortensius Martius who had followed every phase of the discussion with +heated brow and eyes alert and glowing. "Thou art ready to continue this +life of submission to a maniacal tyrant, to a semi-bestial +mountebank----" + +"The life which I lead is of mine own making," rejoined Taurus Antinor +proudly; "the life ye lead is the one ye have chosen." + +And with significant glance his dark eyes took in every detail of the +disordered room--the littered table, the luxurious couches, the +numberless empty dishes and broken goblets as well as the flushed faces +and the trembling hands, and involuntarily, perhaps, a look of harsh +contempt spread over his face. + +Hortensius caught the look and winced under it; the words that had +accompanied it had struck him as with a lash, and further whipped up his +already violent rage. + +"And," he retorted with an evil sneer, "to the Caesar thou wilt render +homage even in his most degraded orgies, and wilt lick the dust from off +his shoes when he hath kicked thee in the mouth." + +Slowly Taurus Antinor turned to him, and Hortensius Martius appeared +just then so like a naughty child, that the look of harshness died out +of the praefect's eyes, and a smile almost of amusement, certainly of +indulgence, lit up for a moment the habitual sternness of his face. + +"Loyalty to Caesar," he said simply, "doth not mean obsequiousness, as +all Roman patricians should know, oh Hortensius!" + +"Aye! but meseems," rejoined the young man, whose voice had become +harsher and more loud as that of Taurus Antinor became more subdued and +low, "meseems that at the cost of thy manhood thou at least art prepared +to render unto Caesar----" + +But even as these words escaped his lips the praefect, with a quick +peremptory gesture, placed one slim, strong hand on Hortensius' wrist. + +It seemed as if in a moment--and because of those words--a strange +power had gone forth from the soul within right down to the tips of the +slender fingers that closed on those of the younger man with a grip of +steel. + +He had raised himself wholly upright on the couch, his massive figure, +in the gorgeous crimson tunic, standing out clear and trenchant against +the shadowy whiteness of the marble walls behind him. His head, with the +ruddy mass of hair on which the flickering lamps threw brilliant, golden +lights, was thrown back, and the eyes, deep, intent, and glowing with +unrevealed ardour, looked straight out before him into the shadows. + +"Render unto Caesar," he said slowly, "the things which are Caesar's, and +unto God the things that are God's." + +His voice was low and unmodulated, as of one who repeats something that +he has heard before, whilst the eyes suddenly shone as if with a +fleeting memory of an exquisite vision. + +The action, the words, were but momentary, but for that brief moment the +angry retort was checked on Hortensius' lips, even as were the sneers +and the bibulous scowls on the faces of those around. Taurus Antinor, +towering above them all, and imbued with a strange dignity, seemed to be +gazing into a space beyond the walls of the gorgeous dining-hall; into a +space hidden from their understanding but peopled with the sweet memory +of a sacred past. And even as he gazed a strange spell fell over these +voluptuaries; a spell which they were unable to withstand. Whilst it +lasted every ribald word was stilled and every drunken oath lulled to +silence. The very air seemed hushed and only from a bunch of dying roses +the withered petals were heard to fall one by one. + +Then the grasp on Hortensius' wrist relaxed, the dark head was lowered, +the falling lids once more hid the mysterious radiance of the eyes. The +spell was broken as Taurus Antinor resumed quietly: + +"The Caesar," he said, "hath not yet abdicated; he is still our chosen +ruler and Emperor. To speak of his successor now savours of treachery +and----" + +"And what thou sayest stinks of treachery," broke in Hortensius Martius +with redoubled wrath, and shaking himself free from the brief spell of +superstitious awe which Antinor's words and Antinor's grip on his arm +had momentarily cast over him. "Hast come here, O praefect, but to spy +on us, to probe our souls and use them for thine own selfish ends?" + +"Silence, Hortensius!" admonished Ancyrus, the elder. + +"Nay, I'll not be silent!" retorted the young man, who seemed at last to +have lost all control over his jealous passion. His eyes, in which +gleamed the fire of intense hate, swept from the face of his enemy to +that of his friends whom they challenged. His voice had become raucous +and hoarse and his tongue refused him service, making his words sound +inarticulate. + +"Do ye not see," he shouted, turning his flushed face toward the others, +"do you not see how you are being fooled? The praefect stands high in +the Caesar's favour, he has the Caesar's ear----" + +"Silence!" broke in in peremptory accents the voice of Caius Nepos, the +host. + +"Silence!" cried some of the younger men. + +"No! No! I'll shout! I'll shout!" persisted Hortensius with the crazy +obstinacy of one whose mind is obscured with liquor and with passion, +"I'll shout until you understand. Fools, I tell ye! Fools are ye all! +You tell this man of your schemes, of your plans! He listens blandly to +you!... You fools! you fools! Not to have suspected ere this that his +so-called loyalty to Caesar masks his treachery to us!" + +He was kneeling now upon his couch, and with clenched hands was pounding +against the cushions like an angry child. The tumult became general; +everyone was shouting. Those who were nearest to this raving young +maniac were trying to seize him, but he waved his arms about like the +wings of a night bird, and anon he seized a goblet of heavy solid metal +and struck out with it to the right and left of him, so that none dared +come nigh. + +But the praefect stood quietly beside him, with arms held very tightly +across his mighty chest, his dark eyes fixed upon the raving figure on +the couch. No one had ventured to approach him, for the feeling of +superstitious awe which he had aroused in them a while ago had not +wholly died down, and now there was such a look of contempt and of wrath +in his face that instinctively the most sober drew away from him, and +those whose minds were obscured with wine looked upon him in ever +growing terror. + +Suddenly Hortensius, brandishing the heavy goblet, raised it high above +his head, and with a drunken and desperate gesture he flung it in the +direction of the praefect, but his hand had trembled and his arm was +unsteady. The goblet missed the head of Taurus Antinor and fell crashing +along the marble-topped table, bringing a quantity of crystal down with +it in its fall. + +A few drops of the wine from the goblet had fallen on Taurus Antinor's +tunic, and from the parched throat of young Hortensius there rose a +hoarse and immoderate laugh and a string of violent oaths. But even +before these had fully escaped his lips he saw the praefect's dark face +quite close to his own, and felt a grip as of a double vice of steel +fastening on both his shoulders. + +He knew the grip and had felt it before; no claw of desert beast was +firmer or more unrelenting. Young Hortensius felt his whole body give +way, his very bones crack beneath that mighty grip. His head, overheated +with wine, fell back against the cushions of his couch, and he felt as +if the last breath in him was leaving his enfeebled body. + +"Thou art a fool indeed, Hortensius," murmured a harsh voice close to +his ear; "a fool to provoke a man beyond the power of his control." + +Then as at a word from the host, the other men--those who were steady on +their feet--tried to interpose, Taurus Antinor turned his face to them. + +"Have no fear," he said quite calmly, "for this man. He shall come to no +harm. Twice hath he insulted me and twice have I held his life in my +hands." + +Then, as Hortensius uttered an involuntary cry of rage or of pain, +Taurus Antinor spoke once more to him: + +"Thy life is in my hands yet will I not kill thee, even though I could +do it with just the tightening of my fingers round thy throat. But +provoke me not a third time, O Hortensius, for I have in my possession a +heavy-thonged whip, and this would I use on thee even as I order it to +be used on the miscreant thieves that are brought to my tribunal. So +cross not my path again, dost understand? I am but a man and have not an +inexhaustible stock of patience." + +Whilst he spoke he still held young Hortensius down pinioned amongst the +cushions. No one interfered, for it had dawned on every blurred mind +there that here lay a deeper cause for quarrel than mere political +conflict. Hortensius, though vanquished now, had been like a madman; his +unprovoked insults had come from a heart overburdened with jealousy and +with hate. Now when the praefect relaxed his grip upon him, he lay for +a while quite still, and anon Caius Nepos beckoned to his slaves, and +they it was who ministered to him, bathing his forehead with water and +holding lumps of ice to the palms of his hands. + +Taurus Antinor had straightened out his tall figure. For a moment he +looked down with bitter scorn on the prostrate figure of his vanquished +foe. The awed silence which his strange words of a while ago had imposed +upon the others, still hung upon them all. They stood about in groups, +whispering below their breath, and the slaves were huddled up one +against the other in the distant corners of the room. An air of mystery +still hung over the magnificent triclinium, its convivial board, its +abandoned couches, over the vases of murra and crystal and the fast +dying roses. It seemed as if some personality--great, majestic, +divine--had passed through the marble hall and that the sound of sacred +feet still echoed softly along its walls. + +It almost seemed as if there clung a radiance in that shadowy corner +where the eyes of an enthusiast had sought and found the memory of the +Divine Teacher; and that in the fume-laden air there lingered the odour +of the sacrifice offered by a rough, untutored heart to the Man Who had +spoken unforgettable words seven years ago in Galilee. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +"That the world through Him might be saved."--ST. JOHN III. 17. + + +Taurus Antinor had bidden farewell to his host, and to the other guests +and then departed. + +Not another word had been spoken on the subject of the Caesar or of his +probable successor. The conspirators, somewhat sobered, had allowed the +praefect to go without attempting further effort to gain him to their +cause. They had had their answer. Though many of them did not quite +understand the full depth of its meaning, yet were they satisfied that +it was final. They bade him farewell quietly and without enmity; somehow +the thought of their murderous plan had momentarily fled from their +mind, and the quarrel between Hortensius Martius and the praefect of +Rome seemed to have been the most important event of the day. + +Taurus Antinor emerged alone from the peristyle of Caius Nepos' house. +An army of slaves belonging to the various guests were hanging about the +vestibule, talking and laughing amongst themselves and feasting on the +debris from the patricians' table, brought out to them by servitors from +within; some forty litters encumbered the floor, but Antinor, paying no +heed to these, passed through the crowd of jabbering men and women and +made his way across to the steps which led upwards to the street. + +The day was done, had been done long ago; already the canopy of the +stars was stretched over the sleeping city, and far away to the east, +beyond the gilded roof of Augustus' palace, the waning moon, radiant and +serene, outlined the carvings on every temple with a thin band of gold +and put patches of luminous sapphires and emeralds on the bronze figures +that crowned the Capitol. + +Taurus Antinor paused awhile, enjoying the restfulness of the night; +from his broad chest came a long-drawn breath of voluptuous delight at +the exquisite sweetness of the air. How far away now seemed that long, +luxurious room, with its stained cloths and crumpled cushions, with the +low tables groaning under the debris of past repasts and the rows of +couches luring to sensuous repose. For the moment even the wranglings of +Caius Nepos' guests seemed remote, their selfish aims and their lying +tongues. Here, beneath the stars, there was stillness and peace. + +A gentle breeze from over the distant hills blew on the dreamer's +forehead and eased the wild throbbings of his temples; from somewhere +near tiny petals of heliotrope, chased by the breeze, brought +sweet-scented powder to his nostrils. + +He looked around him, gazing with wondering eyes on the mighty city +sleeping upon her seven hills, on the gorgeous palaces of Tiberius and +Caligula and the squalid huts far away on the Aventine Hill, on the +mighty temples with their roofs of gold and the yawning arena down +below, desolate and silent now, but where on the morrow men and beasts +would tear one another to pieces to make holiday for the masters of the +world. + +And even as his restless eyes swept over the surrounding landscape, they +turned to where, in the shadow of the stately palaces of Tiberius and of +Augustus, lay the house of Dea Flavia. Its gilded portals threw back +with brilliant intensity the weird and elusive light of the waning +moon, and high above, upon the balustrade of the roof, gigantic bronze +groups of quaint and misshapen beasts looked ghoul-like against the +canopy of the sky. + +All within the massive walls was dark and still; near to the vestibule a +couple of ancient cypresses made a natural arch overhead, and in the +tender branches of a group of acacias close by, the evening breeze +sighed with gentle, melancholy murmurings amongst the leaves. + +Instinctively Taurus Antinor turned to walk a few steps toward the +house, and soon reached a spot from whence his gaze could command the +colonnaded vestibule, with its mosaic pavement sunk a few steps below +the level of the street. Somewhere near him, though he could not see it, +a bosquet of heliotrope and white lilies sent an intoxicating fragrance +into the air. + +From far away--where the marshes stretched their limitless expanse +toward the sea--came the melancholy cry of a bittern, calling to his +absent mate. + +A vague longing surged in the strong man's heart; he stretched out his +arms up to the dark, starlit canopy above, and a sigh, half impatient, +wholly melancholy, escaped his half-closed lips. + +His eyes tried to pierce the marble walls behind which there +bloomed--stately and proud--a beautiful white lily. + +Wholly against his will, the man's thoughts flew back to that midday +hour in the Forum, when Dea Flavia had stood before him in all the +exquisite glory of her youth and her loveliness, with that wilful curl +round her chiselled lips and the delicate brows drawn together in a +frown of child-like obstinacy. How beautiful she was and how strangely +pathetic had been her isolation in the midst of so much grandeur. + +Even now he thought of her--asleep possibly somewhere in this gorgeous +palace--all alone, despite the thousands of slaves around her; +friendless, despite the might of the House of Caesar of which she was so +proud. + +Through one of the tiny windows there peeped a flickering light. Taurus +Antinor marvelled if that were her sleeping-room and, closing his eyes, +pictured her there, resting on embroidered coverlets and cushions, her +fair hair falling in waves around her face at rest; and he wondered +whether in sleep a dewy tear had perchance put a priceless diamond on +her golden lashes. + +Bitter thoughts of the men whom he had just quitted surged back in his +heart; they wished to make of this young girl a tool for the fashioning +of their own ambitious schemes. + +"The Augusta shall choose one of us for mate, and him we shall ask to +hold the sceptre of Caesar." + +One of them for mate! One of those sensuous self-seekers who would use +her as a stepping-stone, and, having obtained supreme power through her +dainty hands, would cast her aside as a useless tool and break her heart +ere she realised even that she had one. + +And from the thoughts of the beautiful girl his mind flew back as if +instinctively to that strange phase of his life--those unforgettable +days in Judaea which had seemed like unto the turning point of his whole +existence. He recalled every moment of that memorable day when he had +stood among a multitude on the barren wastes of Galilee and, wrapped in +a dark cloak, had listened in solitary silence to words and teachings +such as he had never dreamed of before. + +"If only I could have understood Thee better then," he murmured; "if +more of Thy precious words had fallen on mine ear.... I might have told +her then something of what Thou didst say ... I could have found the +words to make her understand.... But now I am ignorant and forlorn.... +Oh, Man of Galilee! Thou didst die so soon ... and left so many of us +groping in the darkness.... Thou Son of God, come back to me, if only in +a dream ... show me the way, the truth, the light; show me the star +which they say guided the shepherds to Thy cradle ... give me Thy cross, +and let me walk once more on Golgotha to Thee." + +And even as these words of passionate longing escaped half audibly from +his lips his eyes wandered round the seven hills of Rome, and suddenly +the highest peak beyond the Forum appeared to him transfigured in the +night. Memory with a swift hand drew aside the veil of the present and +in a vision showed him a picture of the past. The marble temples of +pagan gods disappeared, the hill became bleak and precipitous and dark; +great stillness reigned around, save where from afar there came at times +the distant roll of thunder. The sky was overcast, great banks of cloud, +the colour of lead, with blood-red lights within their massive bosoms, +swept storm-tossed across the firmament. + +Then from the valley below there came, vaguely remote at first, then +rising louder and louder, a sound as when a mighty torrent rushes +onwards in its course; and as Taurus Antinor gazed now on that +dream-hill, memory showed him, surging like a tempestuous sea, thousands +upon thousands of human heads, all tending upwards to the summit of the +hill. + +They came--the great multitude--they came, and still they came; and like +gigantic breakers on a smooth shore, waves of human beings scattered +themselves and dispersed upon that hill. + +And amongst them all, isolated, walking with bent back and thorn-crowned +head well-nigh bowed to the dust, came a Man bearing a Cross. + +Taurus Antinor saw Him even now as he had seen Him then, with blood and +sweat dripping from His brow, the pale, patient face serene and set, the +eyes half closed in agony still glowing with unutterable love and with +the perfect peace of complete sacrifice. + +And among the sea of faces that gazed on that solitary figure Taurus +Antinor had recognised himself. + +He saw himself as he was then, a rough voluptuary, a thoughtless, +sentient beast who up to that time had lived a life of emptiness and of +mockery, eating and drinking and sleeping and waking again day after +day, year after year. And he saw himself as he was on that day, he one +of thousands and thousands of lookers-on gazing on the three hours' +agony of a just Man upon the Cross. + +He remembered every minute of those three hours, which the hill of +imperial Rome now pictured back to him as in a dream. He had stood there +a mere unit amongst the crowd, wrapped in a dark cloak, unrecognised and +unknown, but with every nerve strained to catch the words that fell from +those dying lips. He had heard the cry of bitterness: "Lord! Lord! why +hast Thou forsaken Me?" and that of infinite love and of supreme pardon: +"Oh God, forgive them, for they know not what they do." + +And above and around the sky grew darker and the air more still, and +round that dying figure alone there shone a radiance unseen by most; for +had they seen it as Taurus Antinor saw it then, then surely would they +have known, would they have understood. + +And at the foot of that Cross women and men stood weeping, and +thoughtless soldiers hurled insults on their dying Lord. The lips that +had only uttered words of perfect charity thirsted for a drop of water, +and a sponge filled with gall was pressed mockingly to them. + +But the arms were still extended wider and wider, so it seemed, as if in +their almighty love they would embrace all that surging humanity; all +those that suffered, those that hoped as well as those that doubted, +those who mocked Him and those who adored. + +Taurus Antinor's very manhood had cried out to him then to fight the +multitude single-handed, to shake the power of Rome and defy the will of +the people, and to rush up to that one Cross, towering above the others, +to pick out with firm fingers every cruel nail, to wrap the sacred body +in soft, soothing cloths, and to kiss every wound until it closed in +health. + +Even now, after all these years, the rough soldier's cheeks were burning +with the shame of impotence. + +To look on that sacrifice and be unable to stop it. To look on such a +death and to continue to live on, still blind, still ununderstanding, +even though the Teacher Who had come to explain had sighed ere he died: +"It is finished!" And yet Taurus Antinor, now looking back upon his own +past self, knew that at the time, despite the horror, the pity and the +sorrow, there was also in his heart a sense of happiness and even a +vague feeling of triumph. + +What he saw there--with eyes that comprehended not--_that_ he knew _was_ +because _it must be_; because it had been preordained and done by One +Whose will was mightier than death. Though with aching heart and seared +eyes he had watched every minute of the supreme agony, yet something +within him, even then, had told him that every minute of that agony was +a sacrifice that would not be in vain. And whilst in weakness he groaned +with the pathos of it all, yet did his heart thrill with strange +exultation, and from that Cross--even when all was silent--there rang in +his ear the last words of perfect fulfilment of a perfect sacrifice: + +"It is finished!" + +And even as the words rang once again in Taurus Antinor's ears, the +awful darkness of that momentous hour fell upon the dream-hill far away. +Golgotha, with its three towering crosses vanished from before the +visionary's gaze. Once more there rose before him the marble temples of +pagan Rome that crowned the Capitol--the gorgeous idols covered in gold, +these gods of mockery before whom the mightiest Empire in the world was +satisfied to bow the knee. + +And that same sweet, sad longing rose in the dreamer's heart. + +"Could I but have heard Thee speak more often!... Could I but have +touched Thy hands, methinks that I would have understood.... But now ... +now all is still dark before me ... and the way is so difficult." + +And even as the sigh died upon his lips there came from behind him the +sound of prolonged and hoarse laughter, followed by snatches of a +drinking song and loud calls for slaves and litters. + +Caius Nepos' guests were leaving the hospitable house at last. Drunk +with wine, smothered in flowers, replete with every epicurean delight +they were going home now, having, mayhap, forgotten that they had +plotted to murder Caesar and to raise themselves to power at all costs, +even if that cost was to be a sea of blood or the ruins of Rome. + +The song and laughter soon died away in the distance. Taurus Antinor had +distinguished the voice of Hortensius Martius and that of Ancyrus, the +elder. The sigh of sadness turned to one of bitterness, his arms dropped +by his side, and a cry of harsh contempt escaped his parched? throat. + +"Oh, Man of Galilee," he murmured, "didst die for such as these?" + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +"Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will +give you rest."--ST. MATTHEW XI. 28. + + +A timid voice roused Taurus Antinor from his dream: + +"My gracious lord, thy litter is here!" + +He started as a man suddenly wakened from sleep, and once or twice his +eyes closed and opened again ere they rested finally on the broad back +bent in a curve before him. + +"Methought my gracious lord was waiting," continued the speaker in the +same timid voice, "and mayhap did not see the litter among the shadows." + +"I fear me I was dreaming, my good Folces," said the praefect with a +sigh, "for truly I did know that thou wast here. Is the girl Nola with +thee?" + +"Aye, gracious lord. She waits on thy pleasure, and thy bearers----" + +"Nay, did I not tell thee that I would have no bearers?" + +"The way is long, gracious lord----" + +"I told thee that I would walk." + +"But my lord----" + +"Silence now," he said with some of his habitual impatience; "send my +litter and bearers home; bring me the mantle I required, and do thou and +Nola follow me." + +Reluctantly the old man obeyed. + +"My gracious lord will be footsore--the way is long and ill-paved----" +he muttered, half audibly, even as he made his way to the rear of the +bosquet of lilies where a group of slaves stood waiting desultorily. + +Anon he returned carrying a mantle of dark woollen stuff, and Taurus +Antinor, having wrapped himself in this, slowly turned to walk down the +hill. + +Leaving the imperial palaces behind him, he went rapidly along the +silent and deserted street. It wound its tortuous way at first on the +crest of the hill, skirting the majestic temple of Magna Mater with its +elevated portico and noble steps that lost themselves in the shadows of +labyrinthine colonnades. + +The street itself--narrow and unpaved--was in places rendered almost +impassable by the piles of constructor's materials and rubbish that +encumbered it at every step--debris or future requisites of the gigantic +and numberless building operations which the mad Emperor pursued with +that feverish energy and maniacal restlessness that characterised his +every action. Palaces here and temples there, a bridge over the Forum, a +new circus, new baths, the constant pulling down of one edifice to make +room for the construction of another: all this work--commenced and still +unfinished--had changed the whole aspect of the great city, turning it +into a wilderness of enormous beams and huge blocks of uncut marble and +stone that littered its every way. + +But Taurus Antinor paid no heed to the roughness and inaccessibility of +the road. Unlike the rich patricians of the time he hated the drowsy +indolence of progress in a litter, and after the fatigues of a +nerve-racking day, the difficulties of ill-paved roads were in harmony +with his present mood. + +Assuring himself that old Folces and the girl Nola were close at his +heels, he stepped briskly along the now precipitous incline of the hill. +The rapid movement did him good. The air came to him from across the +gardens of the palaces, sweetly scented by late lilies and clumps of +dying roses. + +Soon he had left the great circus behind him too, and now he started +climbing again, for his way led him upwards on the slope of the Aventine +Hill. The silence here seemed more absolute than among the dwellings of +the rich, for there, at times, a night watchman would emerge from a +cross-road and give challenge to the belated passer-by, whilst a certain +bustle of suspended animation always reigned around the palace of the +Emperor even during the hours of sleep; some of his slaves and guard +were always kept awake, ready to minister to any fancy or caprice that +might seize the mad Caesar in the middle of the night. + +But here where there were no palaces to guard, no insane ruler to +protect, no one came to question the purpose of the benighted wanderers, +nor did sudden outbursts of laughter or good cheer pierce the mud walls +of the humble abodes that lay scattered on the slope of the hill. + +The waning moon had hidden her light behind a heavy bank of clouds, a +dull greyness pervaded the whole landscape, causing it to look weird and +forlorn in the gloom. The few trees dotted about here and there looked +starved and gaunt on the barren hill-side, with great skeleton-like arms +that waved mournfully in the breeze; the ground uneven and +parched--after the summer's drought--rose and sank in fantastic mounds +and shapes like tiny fortresses of ghosts or ghouls; the street itself +soon became merged in the general surroundings, only a tiny footway, +scarcely discernible in the gathering darkness, wound upwards to the +summit of the hill. + +From time to time a solid block of what appeared only as impenetrable +blackness loomed up from out the shadows, with all the grandeur of +exaggerated size which the darkness of the night so generously lends. +Soon it would reveal itself as a small mud-covered box, with four bare +walls and a narrow doorway facing toward the south. Herein lived and +suffered a family of human beings--freedmen and women without the stigma +of slavery, but with all the misery of destitution and often of complete +starvation. + +Here and there the little house would be surrounded by a vestibule--a +mere projection from the roof supported on a few rough beams--but never +a garden, scarcely a tree to cast a cooling shade on hot summer +afternoons, or clump of lilies or mimosa to sweeten the air that came +dank and fetid from over the marshes beyond the hill. + +Not a sound now disturbed the stillness of the night save when a bat +fluttered overhead, or when furtive footsteps--on unavowable errand +bent--glided softly off the beaten track and quickly died away among the +shadows. + +The praefect walked on, heedless of his surroundings. The mood that had +been on him ever since he left Caius Nepos' house still caused his mind +to wander restlessly in the illimitable regions of perplexity and doubt. +He scarcely looked where he was going, for he kept his eyes fixed upon +the starlit canopy above him and upon the crest of the hill which lost +itself in the darkness overhead. + +Suddenly, out of the gloom, two pairs of hands emerged, and without +warning fastened themselves on the praefect's throat: thin, claw-like +hands they were, and above them gaunt arms, mere bones covered with +wrinkled flesh that proclaimed starvation and misery. + +The old slave from the rear uttered a cry of terror; Nola clung to him +paralysed with fear. The slopes of the Aventine were noted for the gangs +of malefactors that infested them, and defying the power of the +aediles, rendered them unsafe for wayfarers even in the light of day. + +Taurus Antinor, instantly brought back from the land of dreams, had no +great difficulty in freeing himself from the claw-like grasp. With a +quick gesture of his own powerful hands, he had in a moment succeeded in +dragging the gaunt fingers from off his throat, and, holding the thin +wrists with a firm grip, he gave them a sudden sharp twist, which +elicited two cries of pain and brought two pairs of knees in hard +contact with the ground. + +It had all occurred in the space of a few seconds, and now a bundle of +soiled rags seemed to be lying huddled up under the praefect's foot, and +he looked like some powerful desert beast that has placed a massive paw +on a pair of puny rats. + +The thin arms wriggled like worms in his mighty grasp. + +"Pity, my lord! Pity!" came in hoarse murmurs from the bundle of rags +under his foot. + +"Pity? Of that have I in plenty," he replied gruffly. "But methinks +'twas not pity ye sought by trying to strangle me." + +"Pity, my lord, my children are starving...." + +"Pity, my lord, I have not tasted food to-day----" + +"Pity, my lord!" retorted the praefect with a grim laugh, and mimicking +the wretched man's words, "I would have murdered you had I had the +power." + +Then he relaxed his grip, and with his foot pushed the bundle of dirt +further away from him. He groped in his wallet and drew out some silver +coins. These he threw, one by one, into the midst of the shapeless rags, +and he stooped forward, striving in the darkness to see something of the +faces that were wilfully hidden from him, something of the mouths that +had uttered the pitiable groans. + +Vaguely he discerned the outline of cadaverous cheeks, of sunken +temples, of furtive eyes veiled by thin lids; he saw the glances half of +fear, wholly of doubt, that were thrown on the silver coins, heard the +muttered oaths, the incipient quarrel over the distribution of the +unexpected hoard. + +Then did the strange perplexities which had assailed him throughout this +night find expression in bitter words. He threw down a few more coins +and said slowly: + +"These are for pity's sake, and in the name of One Whom mayhap ye will +know one day. He died that ye should live! Bear that in mind and ponder +on it. Mayhap ye will find the solution to that riddle. That such as you +should live in eternity, therefore did He die.... When ye have +understood this and can explain the value of your lives as compared with +His, come and tell it to the praefect of Rome and he will shower on you +wealth beyond your dreams." + +Then, without waiting to hear protestations, or heeding the ironical +laughter that came from the bewildered night-prowlers, he turned on his +heels and resumed his interrupted walk along the slope of the hill. + + +The footpath--scarce more than a beaten track--soon disappeared +altogether. Presently Taurus Antinor paused and called to Folces to come +up to him. + +"Methinks we must be near the house," he said. + +"Aye, gracious lord," replied the man, "just on thy right, some two +hundred steps from here. The way is very dark, wilt permit me to walk by +thy side?" + +"Walk by my side an thou wilt. Thou canst direct me more easily; but as +to the darkness I can see through it well." + +"But my gracious lord did not see those evil malefactors that set upon +him." + +"No, Folces, I was dreaming as I walked. They came upon me unawares." + +"And my gracious lord allowed them to go. They were notorious +miscreants." + +"They were the embodiment of a strange riddle, good Folces. They helped +to puzzle me--and Heaven knows that I was puzzled enough ere I saw those +miserable wretches. Mayhap some day I'll understand the riddle which +their abject persons did represent. But now tell me, is this the house?" + +The wanderers had struck to their right and walked on some two hundred +paces. Now they paused beside one of those square mud-walled boxes, of +which they could only discern the narrow door made of unplaned wood, and +through the chinks of which a faint light glimmered weirdly. Two or +three steps fashioned in the earth itself led down toward the threshold. +Taurus Antinor descended these and knocked boldly on the door. + +It was opened from within, and under the rough lintel there appeared the +figure of a man of short stature, clad in a long grey tunic. His head, +which he held forward in an attempt to peer through the darkness, looked +almost unnaturally large, owing to the mass of loose greyish hair that +fell away from his forehead like a mane, and the long beard that +straggled down upon his breast. + +"May we enter, friend?" asked Taurus Antinor. + +At the sound of the voice the man drew aside, and through the narrow +doorway was now revealed the interior of the house--a straight, square +room, with a few wooden seats disposed about, and at the top end an +oblong table covered with a snow-white cloth. An aperture in the wall +appeared to lead to an inner chamber, which must indeed have been of +diminutive size, for the central room seemed to occupy almost the whole +of the interior of the house. Suspended by an iron chain from the +ceiling above there hung a small lamp in which flickered a tiny flame +fed by some sweet-smelling oil. It threw but little light around and +left deep and curious shadows in the angles of the room. + +From out these, as the praefect entered, there emerged the figure of an +old woman, with smooth grey hair half-hidden beneath a kerchief of +strange oriental design, and straight dark robe, foreign in cut and +appearance to those usually seen in the streets of Rome. + +The massive figure of Taurus Antinor seemed almost to fill the entire +room, but he stood to one side now disclosing the old slave and the girl +Nola. + +"This," he said, addressing the woman, "is the child of whom I spoke to +thee. She is friendless and motherless, but she is free, and I have +brought her so that thou mayest teach her all thou knowest." + +In the meanwhile the man with the leonine head had closed the door on +the little party. He came forward eagerly, and raising himself on the +tips of his toes, he put his hands on Antinor's shoulder, and with +gentle pressure forced him to stoop. Then he kissed him on either cheek. + +"Greeting to thee, dear friend," he said cheerily. "Thou hast done well +to bring the girl. My mother and I will take great care of her." + +"And ye will teach her your religion," said Taurus Antinor earnestly; +"because of that did I bring her. She is young and will be teachable. +She'll understand as a child will, that which hardened hearts are unable +to grasp." + +"Nay, friend," said the man simply, "there is not a great deal to +teach, nor a great deal to understand. Love and faith, that is +sufficient ... and, as our dear Lord did tell us, love is the greatest +of all." + +For the moment the praefect made no reply. The man had helped him to +cast off his heavy mantle, and he stood now in all the splendour of +barbaric pomp, a strangely incongruous figure in this tiny bare room, +both to his surroundings and to his gentle host and hostess with their +humble garb and simple, timid ways. + +She--the woman--had drawn Nola with kindly gesture to her. The child was +crying softly, for she was half-frightened at the strangeness of the +place, and also she was tired after her long walk up and down the rough +road. The woman, with subtle feminine comprehension, soon realised this, +and also understood that the girl, reared in slavery, felt awed in the +presence of so great a lord. So, putting a kindly arm round the slender +form of the child, she led her gently out of the main room to the tiny +cubicle beyond, where she could rest. + +The three men were now left alone. Folces, squatting in a dark corner, +kept his eyes fixed upon his master. He took no interest in what went on +around him; he cared nothing about the strangeness of the surroundings, +his master was lord and praefect of Rome, and could visit those whom he +list. But Folces, like a true watch-dog, remained on the alert, silent +and ever suspicious, keeping an eye on his master, remaining obedient +and silent until told to speak. + +The man, in the meanwhile, had asked the praefect to sit. + +"Wilt rest a while, O friend," he said, "whilst I make ready for +supper." + +But Antinor would not sit down. In his habitual way he leaned against +the wall, watching with those earnest eyes of his every movement of his +host, as the latter first passed a loving hand over the white cloth on +the table and then smoothed out every crease on its satiny surface. Anon +he disappeared for a moment in the dark angle of the room, where a rough +wooden chest stood propped against the wall. From this he now took out a +loaf of fine wheaten bread, also a jar containing wine and some plain +earthenware goblets. These things he set upon the table, his big leonine +head bent to his simple task, his small grey eyes wandering across from +time to time in kindliness on his friend. + +Intuition--born of intense sympathy--had already told him that something +was amiss with the praefect. He knew every line of the rugged face which +many deemed so fierce and callous, but in which he had so often seen the +light of an all-embracing charity. + +When Taurus Antinor used to visit his friend in the olden days he was +wont to shed from him that mantle of rebellious pride with which, during +the exercise of his duties in Rome, he always hid his real personality. +People said of the praefect that he was sullen and morose, merciless in +his judgments in the tribunal where he presided. They said that he was +ambitious and intriguing, and that he had gained and held the Caesar's +ear for purposes of his own advancement. But the man and woman who had +come recently on the Aventine and who called the praefect of Rome their +friend, knew that his rough exterior hid a heart brimming over with +pity, and that his aloofness came from a mind absorbed in thoughts of +God. + +But to-day the praefect seemed different. The look of joy with which he +had greeted his friends had quickly faded away, leaving the face +darkened with some hidden care; and as the man watched him across the +narrow room, he seemed to see in the strong face something that almost +looked like remorse. + +Therefore, whilst accomplishing the task which he loved so well, he +quietly watched his friend and resolved that he should not recross the +threshold of this house without having unburdened his soul. + +"Friend," he now said abruptly, "I have a curious whim to-night. Wilt +indulge it?" + +"If it be in my power," responded the praefect, rousing himself from his +reverie. + +A look of deep affection softened for the moment the hard look on his +face, as his deep-set eyes rested on the quaint figure of the man with +the leonine head. + +"What is thy whim?" he asked. + +"Over in Judaea we were so little alone," rejoined the latter, "and then +we had such earnest things to talk about, that I have never heard from +thy lips how it came to pass that thou didst hear our dear Lord preach +in Galilee." + +"Yet I did tell thee," said the praefect, "when first thou didst ask my +confidence." + +"Then 'tis my whim to hear thee tell me again," rejoined the man simply. +"All that pertains to our dear Lord doth lie so close to my heart, and +'tis long now since I have spoken of Him to one who hath seen and heard +Him. 'Tis great joy to me to hear of every impression which He made on +the heart of those whose life was gladdened by a sight of His face." + +"Whose life was gladdened by a sight of His face!" repeated Taurus +Antinor gently. "Aye! there dost speak the truth, O friend! for my life +too was gladdened by a sight of His face. I was travelling through +Judaea, on my way to Syria, and the Caesar had desired me to visit the +proconsul. Thus did I halt in Jerusalem one day. Having done the +Emperor's bidding, I had time to kill ere I started further on my +journey. So I bethought me that I would like to see something of the Man +from Nazareth of Whom I had heard speak." + +"And God prompted thee, friend, to go and hear Him." + +"God, sayest thou?" rejoined the praefect slowly. "Aye! mayhap thou'rt +right. 'Twas God then that sent me. Disguised in humble raiment I went +forth one day and made my way to the desert lands of Galilee." + +"And didst see Him there?" + +"I saw Him sitting on a low mound of earth with the canopy of blue above +His head, and all around Him a multitude that hung entranced upon His +lips. He spoke to them of the Kingdom of Heaven--a Kingdom of whose +existence, alas! I had never dreamed. But His words did wring my heart, +and the majesty of His presence has ever since been before mine eyes. +To-day it all came back to me, the gentle face, the perfect mouth +framing exquisite words. Above Him a curtain of azure, and far away, the +illimitable stretch of horizon merging into the water beyond. The very +air was still and listening to His words; from under jagged boulders +tiny lizards peeped out, and on the branches of starved, gaunt trees the +birds had stopped to rest. Then it was that panther-like, sleek +sleuth-hounds hovered round Him, trying to entangle Him in His talk. +They made their way close to Him, and with honeyed words and deft +insinuations, spoke of allegiance and of the tribute due to Caesar. I +stood not far off and could hear what they said. My very heart seemed to +still its beating, for did not their questions embrace the whole riddle +of mine own life. God and Caesar! I, the servant of Caesar--the recipient +of rich gifts from his hands--should I forswear the Caesar and follow +Jesus of Nazareth?" + +"And didst hear what He answered, friend?" + +"Aye! I heard it. And to-day when traitors spoke, it seemed as if the +Divine Presence stood close to me amongst the shadows. Once more I saw +the bleak and arid land, the skeleton arms of the trees, the blue +firmament above my head, I saw the multitude of simple folk around Him +and the leer in the eyes of the tempters. And above the din of drunken +revelries to-night I heard again the voice that bade me then to render +unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the things that +are God's." + +The other sighed, a sigh of glad content. + +"I thank thee, friend, for telling me this. 'Tis a joy to hear thee +speak of Him. It is so long since we talked of this matter. And--tell me +yet again--thou wast in Jerusalem when He died?" + +"I stood on Golgotha," said the praefect slowly, "on that day before the +Jewish Passover, seven years ago. Once again wrapped in a dark cloak, +one among a multitude, I gazed with eyes that I felt could never look on +anything else again. I saw the patient face smeared with blood, the +God-like head crowned with thorns, the eyes--still brimming over with +love--slowly closing in agony. Overhead the heavens murmured, vivid +flashes of lightning rent the canopy of the sky, and men around me +mocked and jeered, whilst the Divine Soul fled upwards back to God. At +that moment, O friend! I seemed to lose mine own identity. I--even I +alone--became the whole multitude. I was no longer just mine own self, +but I was all of us who looked, who heard and saw and did not yet +understand.... A multitude was looking through my eyes ... a multitude +heard through mine ears ... I was the crowd of poor, of helpless +slaves, and I was the whole of the patriciate of Rome. I was barbarian +and Italian, I was British and Roman, all in one ... and my voice was +the voice of the entire world, as suddenly I cried out to Him: 'Do not +die now and leave us desolate!'" + +His harsh voice broke down in a great sob that came from out the depths +of an overburdened heart. He took a few steps forward and slowly dropped +on his knees right against the table, his clasped hands resting on the +cloth, his forehead buried in his hands. + +The man had listened to him silently and patiently with, in his heart, +that subtle understanding for another's sorrow, which his own mission +had instilled into him. And thus understanding he went up to that end of +the table where knelt the rich and mighty praefect of Rome, the friend +of Caesar, all-powerful in the land, with burning head buried in his +hands, and eyes from which despite his will hot tears gushed up that +would not be suppressed. + +He placed a kindly hand on the bowed shoulder of his friend. + +"Wilt tell me what troubles thee?" he said gently. + +Taurus Antinor passed his hand across his forehead as if to chase away +the brain-searing thoughts. He raised himself from his knees and +gratefully pressed the hand that had recalled him to himself. + +"Nay, friend," he said, "I'll not do that. Thy friendship is too +precious a guerdon that I should jeopardise it by showing thee the +blackness of my soul." + +"Dost talk at random," said the other firmly; "my friendship doth not +come and go like fleeting sunshine on a winter's day. I gave it thee on +that self-same unforgettable day when I saw thee standing alone upon the +hill after the crowd had departed and we who loved Him were lifting Him +down from His Cross." + +"Thou didst take pity then on my loneliness." + +"I saw in thee one who had faith," said the man simply. "I grasped thy +hand in friendship then, not knowing who thou wast. When I knew, then +did I follow thee to Rome, for I needed thy help. My Master sent me +here. I do His work that He did enjoin on all His disciples. Thy +protection and friendship, O mighty praefect of Rome, hath been an +infinite help to me. Thy kindness and charity hath saved from want the +many humble followers of Christ who have been forced to give up all for +His sake. Therefore whatever doth burden thy soul now, I pray thee share +it with me, so that I might bear it with thee and mayhap ease thy load." + +"May God bless thee for these words." + +"And thy burden, friend?" + +"Ask not to share it--'tis one of treachery." + +"Of treachery?... Whose treachery?..." + +"Mine." + +"Thine?... I'll not believe it.... Thou a traitor ... against Caesar?" + +"No." + +"Against whom, then?" + +"Against Him Whose death I witnessed seven years ago." + +"Then I'll not believe it. And 'tis sacrilege thus to jest." + +"Jest?" said Taurus Antinor, with a laugh that rang unnatural and +hoarse. "Jest! when for a day and a night my soul hath been on the rack +and mocking demons have jeered at my torments? Jest! When----?" + +He broke off abruptly and looked down with an earnest gaze on the +upturned face of his friend. + +"If thou wouldst tell me more it would ease thy heart," said the man +simply. + +For a moment or two the praefect was silent. His hand rested on his +friend's shoulder, and his eyes, with their deep furrow between the +brows, were fixed on the kind face that invited confidence. + +"For seven years," he said abruptly, but speaking very slowly, "whilst I +served the Caesar, every one of my waking thoughts and many of my dreams +tended to that day in Jerusalem and the three hours' agony which I had +witnessed on Golgotha. Yesterday did a woman cross my path--and now I +have thoughts only of her." + +"Who is this woman?" asked the other. + +"She is of the House of Caesar, pure and chaste as the lilies in my +garden at Ostia, proud and unapproachable as the stars ... her heart is +a closed book wherein man hath never read ... but since her eyes have +mocked me with their smile, my heart is enchained to her service and I +see naught but her loveliness." + +"Look upwards, man; a glowing Cross will blind thine eyes to all save to +itself." + +"Have I not looked," said the praefect, with a sharp, quick sigh, "until +mine eyes have ached with trying to see that which once was so clear. +But now, between me and that sacred memory that methought had been +branded into my very soul, there always rises the vision of a girl, tall +and slender as the lilies, clad all in white as they. She stands between +me and memory, and mine eyes grow weary and dim trying to see beyond +that vision, recalling to my mind the picture of that Cross, the +thorn-crowned head, the pierced hands and feet. She stands between me +and memory, and with laughing eyes defies me not to see her, and I look +and look, and the vision of the Cross grows more faint, and she stands +there serene and white and silent, with blue eyes smiling on my +treachery and scornful voice upraised, denying God and Christ. She is of +the House of Caesar and she is ignorant, and she laughs at my belief and +scorns all thought of God, and I do find it in my treacherous heart to +pity her and pitying her to kneel at her feet. And all the while a +thousand demons shout mockingly unto mine ear: 'Thou art a traitor--a +traitor to thy God--for were she to beckon, 'tis to her that thou +wouldst go, forgetting all--thine immortal soul, thy crucified God...?' +And thus do devils mock me, and my soul grows darker and darker and +greater and greater grows the mystery, for my heart, broken, miserably +doubting and weak, cries out not with resignation, not in patience, but +in a spirit of angry rebellion: 'God, my God! why hast thou forsaken +me?'" + +He raised his arms up to heaven as if in a last desperate appeal; but +now he did not kneel--he stood beside his friend shamed and yet proud, +and the look in his eyes was that of one who sees a vision that is +exquisitely beautiful and dear. The other saw the look, and with the +kind indulgence taught by a sublime teacher, he found it in his heart to +pity and to love. Once more he placed his thin, wrinkled hand on the +praefect's shoulder, and his small eyes beamed with perfect faith and +trust as he said gently: + +"Do not try and probe any mystery just now, O friend, the day has been +long and thou art weary and sad. Come and sit beside me here at table; +my mother will join us and the girl Nola too, and the man who is thy +slave, if thou wilt so allow it. Together we'll think of that day in +Judaea seven years ago, and we'll break bread and drink wine, +and--without trying to understand anything--we'll do it all together in +memory of Him!" + +For a moment Taurus Antinor was silent. In the strong face every line +told of the great storm within the innermost heart. + +And slowly the man beside him repeated the most exquisite words that +have ever been spoken to a troubled soul. + +"Come unto Me all ye that travail and are heavy laden and I will refresh +you." + +Taurus Antinor's head fell upon his breast. He closed his eyes, for not +even his friend should see that they were wet with tears. But even +whilst the heartstrings were torn by the ruthless hand of passion, it +seemed as if--when the man had finished speaking--the magic words had +already left upon the soul their impress of infinite peace. + +And without another word, he went slowly forward and took his place at +the table. + +At a call from the man, the old woman entered softly, her woollen shoes +making no sound upon the wooden floor. She had Nola by the hand who +seemed comforted and rested. The praefect beckoned to Folces, who +silently obeyed and came forward to the table. + +Then the five of them sat down and quietly partook of supper, sitting +side by side, the disciple from Judaea and his mother, the two slaves and +the praefect of Rome. The Christians sat beside the pagans, the mighty +lord beside his slave, and they broke bread and drank wine, all in +memory of Him. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +"Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy +coming."--ISAIAH XIV. 9. + + +I pray you follow me now to an inner chamber in the palace of the mighty +Caesar. A square room with walls of marble inlaid with precious stones, +and with hangings of crimson silk to exclude the searching light of day. +The air heavy with the fumes of burning incense that wound in spiral +curves upwards to the domed roof, and escaped--ethereal and +elusive--through the tiny openings practised therein, the seats of +gilded wood with downy cushions that seemed to melt at a touch, and in a +recess a monumental bed of solid and priceless citrus, carved by the +hand of a Greek sculptor, with curtains of purple silk wrought all over +with stars. + +In vases of delicate murra huge bunches of blood-red roses hung their +drooping heads, and beneath the feet carpets of heavy silk hid the +exquisite beauty of mosaics of lapis-lazuli and chrysoprase. + +And in the midst of all this stately gorgeousness a creature--hardly +human--raging round like a thwarted beast. + +Caius Julius Caesar Caligula was in one of his maddest moods; his hollow +eyes glowed with unnatural fire, his scanty, light-coloured hair stood +up around his head like the bristly mane of a hyena. Up and down the +room he stamped with heavy feet; his robe, weighted with precious +stones, striking out around him as he trod the smooth surface of silken +carpets or the slippery mosaic of the floor. His thin arms and ankles +were covered with numerous bracelets and on his feet were shoes studded +with diamonds. + +At first sight it would indeed have been difficult to say if it was a +man or a woman who was thus pacing this magnificent cage, with wild +gestures of the arms and hoarse cries that seemed to proceed from no +human throat. The face, white and puffy, might have been of either sex, +and the flowing garment and wealth of jewellery suggested a woman rather +than a man. + +The Caesar was crazy with rage, and all round the room slaves and +attendants cowered, terrified. In his hand he had a short whip with five +thongs of solid, knotted leather, at the end of each of which was an +iron hook. From these five hooks a few drops of blood were trickling +down his white silk tunic. At intervals, at the slightest noise or sound +from the cowering slaves, he struck out savagely with the whip, and the +thongs with their sharp hooks would descend whizzing on some naked +shoulder and tear out a piece of flesh and start the flow of a fresh +stream of blood. + +Then the madman would break out into a diabolical fit of laughter, and +strike out with his whip again and again all around him, wildly and +indiscriminately, until his garments and his face were spattered all +over with blood, and to right and left of him shrieking figures fell +fainting to the ground. + +The Caesar was crazy with rage, and he who had thus angered him reclined +on a couch, out of the reach of the shrieking demon, and his thin lips +were curled in a smile of satisfaction. It was Caius Nepos who was here +that he might betray those of his accomplices who had swerved from their +allegiance to himself, and behind him--well hidden by the draperies of +the couch--cowered Hun Rhavas, the dusky slave of the treasury, he who +yesterday had appeared before the tribunal of the praefect of Rome for +conspiracy to defraud the State in connection with the sale of the +slave-girl Nola. + +The law in such matters was severe. It demanded that a delinquent +against the State--if he be a slave--shall lose his right hand, or his +tongue, or his ears; that he should moreover forfeit his entire +hard-saved belongings to the treasury and lose all chance of ever +obtaining his freedom. But the praefect had been lenient, and though he +could not dismiss the offender, he mitigated his punishment. + +Hun Rhavas was publicly scourged and branded, but he lost neither ears, +tongue, nor hand, nor was he deprived of the peculium with which +ultimately he hoped to purchase his own freedom and that of his +children. Yet such was the African's nature, such the result of the +training which slavery in the imperial entourage had drilled into him, +that Hun Rhavas forgot the clemency and only remembered the punishment. + +With bleeding back and mind saturated with hate, he sought audience of +the Emperor, and obtained it half an hour after Caius Nepos, the +praetorian praefect, had himself been introduced in the presence of +Caligula. The story which Hun Rhavas--the paid spy--brought to the ear +of Caesar, was but a confirmation of what Caius Nepos had to tell. + +A conspiracy was on foot to murder the father of the armies, the +greatest and best of Caesars. The flower of the Roman patriciate was +wallowing in this monstrous treachery. Hortensius Martius was in it up +to the neck, so was Marcus Ancyrus, the elder, and Philippus Decius and +Philario, of the imperial household. + +Hun Rhavas had seen them consorting together and whispering among +themselves the day of the sale of the late censor's slaves. He was able +to state positively that the praefect of Rome was at one with the band +of traitors. + +This last fact had brought the frenzied Caesar to the verge of death. He +nearly choked with the violence of his rage. He had believed in the +honesty of Taurus Antinor: had even looked on him as a lucky fetish. +This man's treachery was more infuriating than that of a thousand +others. In the madness of his wrath he would have killed Hun Rhavas with +his own hands had not the latter succeeded in hiding himself out of the +raving maniac's reach. + +Had he dared, Caligula would have tortured Caius Nepos until he too gave +him evidence against Taurus Antinor; but on this point the praetorian +praefect was guarded. He had not yet made up his mind whether friendship +or enmity with the praefect of Rome would be to his own advantage. All +that he wanted at this moment was to be rid of those who had opposed him +last night for the sake of their own schemes. Therefore in measured +words he only spoke of the whisperings which he had overheard in the +vestibule of his own house, between a certain band headed by Hortensius +Martius and Marcus Ancyrus, the elder. + +"During the Circensian games, O Caesar," he explained, "they hope to +raise a tumult amongst the people ... and whilst the attention of thy +faithful guard is drawn away from thy sacred person, one of the +miscreants is to plunge a dagger in thy throat----" + +Here he was forced to silence by a cry like that of a slaughtered ox, +which shook the marble pillars of the hall. Caligula had thrown himself +upon the bed and was writhing there like a mad beast, biting the +coverlets, beating with clenched fists against the woodwork, while foam +dripped from the corners of his mouth. + +"Tell me more--tell me----" he bellowed at last, during an interval +between two of these maniacal spasms. + +The slaves all round the room were trembling with fear; Hun Rhavas, +huddled under the couch, was shaking like a leaf. + +But Caius Nepos, calm and dignified, waited in silence until the +paroxysm had abated, then he quietly went on with his tale. + +"There is but little else to tell, O Caesar. I came to warn thee ... for +'tis easy for thee to wear a shirt of mail to cover thy throat and +breast against the dagger of assassins. But the conspirators hushed +their talk in my presence. I tried to hear more and played the spy in +thy service, but my heart was burdened with loyalty for thee, so I came +thus early to put thee on thy guard." + +The Caesar had once more resumed his restless walk up and down the room. +He was biting his fists, trying to restrain himself from striking the +noble informer as brutally as he did his slaves, for he loathed the +bearer of evil tidings almost as much as the secret traitors. He +suffered from an overwhelming fury of hatred and from an unquenchable +thirst for blood. + +But three years ago the people and patricians had acclaimed him with +shouts and rejoicings; they had feasted in his honour, proclaimed his +godhead and his power, and now they were plotting to murder him! The +madman threw out his arms in a passionate longing for revenge. + +"They would kill me," he cried hoarsely, "kill me!" ... And a demoniacal +laugh broke from his swollen throat. He tore the garments from off his +chest and buried his nails in his own flesh, whilst roar upon roar of +his mad laughter woke the echoes of his stately palace. + +Then suddenly the paroxysm died completely down. An unnatural calm +succeeded the violent outbursts of rage. Caligula, with a corner of his +silken robe, wiped the perspiration from his streaming face. He threw +himself on a seat, and resting both elbows on his knees and his chin in +his hands, he stared contemplatively before him. + +Of a truth this calm seemed even more awe-inspiring than the snarls and +cries of a while ago. Caius Nepos' sallow cheeks became still more ashen +in colour as he cast a quick glance round the room, feeling perhaps for +the first time to-day how completely he was at the mercy of a raving +lunatic if the latter should turn against him. But the Caesar sat there +for some time, ruminating, with great hollow eyes fixed on one spot on +the ground and gusts of stertorous breathing escaped from his chest. + +After a while he spoke: + +"Thou didst not tell me yet, O kind friend!" he said dully, "what the +traitors mean to do once they have murdered their Caesar. Whom would they +set up as his successor? They cannot all be emperors of Rome. For whose +sake then do they intend to commit this damnable treachery?" + +"Nay, great Caesar!" replied Caius Nepos drily, "methinks they all have a +desire to become Emperor of Rome, and this being impossible, there was a +vast deal of wrangling in my vestibule last night. I caught the purport +of several words, and----" + +"And of several names?" asked Caligula in the same even voice. + +"I heard one name spoken in particular, O Caesar." + +"Tell me." + +"That of the Augusta, thy kinswoman," said Caius Nepos, after a slight +moment of hesitation. + +"Of Dea Flavia?" + +"Even hers." + +"But she is a woman, and cannot lead an army," said the Emperor, whose +voice sounded hollow and distant, as if it came from out the depths of a +grave. + +"Nor was that suggested, O Caesar." + +"What then?" + +"The conspirators, methinks, have agreed amongst themselves that the +future husband of Dea Flavia Augusta--whoever he might be--should be the +successor of the murdered Caesar." + +"Whoever he might be," repeated the Emperor, mechanically echoing the +other's words. + +"Aye! The Augusta, I understand, favours no one as yet." + +"She hath made no choice ... to thy knowledge?" + +"No, no ... her choice was to be made after ... afterwards." + +"Her choice to be made by her--or by them?" + +"That I know not, great Caesar. The Augusta, I feel sure, was not a +consenting party to the treachery. The traitors would use her for their +own ends." + +After this there was silence for a while. Caligula still sat staring +with wide-open eyes before him, whilst the slaves held their breath, +staring fascinated on that terrible whip, lying momentarily forgotten. + +Caius Nepos, pale as a withered maple leaf, was from time to time +moistening his dry lips with his tongue. + +The minutes sped on. Who shall say what fiendish thoughts were coursing +through the mad tyrant's brain? + +At last he rose, and resumed his walk up and down the room. But no +longer did he rave now, no longer did he strike about him like one +bereft of reason. His face, though flushed and streaming with +perspiration, was set and calm; his footsteps across the carpets were +measured and firm. He had cast his whip aside and his hands were +clenched behind his back, and on his brow there had appeared a deep +furrow, the sign of concentrated thought. + +Then at last he paused in his walk and stood in the centre of the room +facing the informer. + +"I thank thee, good Caius Nepos," he said, "for thy loyalty to me. +To-morrow, mayhap, I shall think of a reward in accordance with thy +service, but for the nonce I would wish to be alone. I have much to +think of. The present crisis demands of me those qualities of courage +and of statesmanship for which the citizens of Rome already know me. +To-morrow I go to the opening of the games in the Circus. Mayhap there +will be a tumult amongst the people, and mayhap a damnable traitor will +make an attempt against the sacred life of one who is god and Caesar and +emperor all in one. If all this occurs, and I find that thou didst not +lie, then will I give thee such reward as even thou dost not at present +dream of. But if between now and to-morrow I find that thou didst lie, +that thou didst try to gain my favour and didst rouse my wrath only for +the gaining of thine own ends, that thou didst slander Roman patricians +with a view to removing thine own personal enemies, then will I devise +for thee such punishment that on thy knees wilt beg of death to release +thee from torment. And thou didst know, O Caius Nepos, that in the +inventing of torture thy Caesar has the genius of a god." + +His voice had become perfectly steady and natural in its tones; all his +restless, jerky movements had ceased. Outwardly he seemed to be +completely master of himself. But of a truth the aspect of the madman +now was more terrible than before. His sallow cheeks were the colour of +lead, his pale eyes had narrowed down till they were mere slits through +which gleams of deadly hate shot mercilessly on the informer. + +Caius Nepos had great difficulty in keeping up an appearance of dignity. +It was obviously in his interest to show neither confusion nor fear just +now. Nothing but calm demeanour and a proud show of loyalty would ensure +his personal safety at this moment. The praetorian praefect knew enough +of the imperial despot to appreciate the danger of this outwardly quiet +mood, which hid the utter callousness of demoniacal cruelty. + +Therefore, in response to the horrible threat, Caius Nepos merely bent +his head as if in humble submission to the will of one who was as a god. +He felt his teeth chattering against one another, his limbs trembling, +his blood frozen within him, and with it all he had the additional +horror of knowing that the brutish tyrant was looking him through and +through, that he saw the fear in him and was gloating on it with +delight. + +It was with a feeling of inexpressible relief that he at last understood +that he was being dismissed. Steadying his limbs as best he could, he +rose from his couch and made obeisance before the Caesar. Then almost +mechanically and like one in a dream, but holding himself erect and +composed, he walked backwards out of the room. + +The silken curtains weighted with gold fell together with a swishing +sound behind him. And even as they did so a loud and prolonged roar of +laughter, like that of a hundred demons let loose, echoed throughout the +length and breadth of marble halls. Caius Nepos took to his heels and +fled like one possessed, with hands pressed to his ears, trying to shut +out the awful sounds that pursued him all down the corridors: the +shrieks of pain, the whizzing of whipcord through the air, and, rising +above all these, that awful laugh which must have found its origin in +hell. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +"Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?"--ST. JOHN I. 46. + + +Dea Flavia was standing beside a tall stool, on the top of which--on a +level with her hands--was a shapeless mass of clay. Her fingers buried +themselves in the soft substance or ran along the surface, as the +exigencies of her task demanded. + +Now and then she paused in her work, drew back a step or two from the +stool, and with head bent on one side surveyed her work with an anxious +frown. + +Some few paces from her, at the further end of the room, a young girl +sat on an elevated platform, with shoulders bare and head straight and +rigid, the model for the proposed statue. Dea Flavia, in a simple +garment of soft white stuff falling straight from her shoulders, looked +peculiarly young and girlish at this moment, when she was free from all +the pomp and paraphernalia of attendants that usually surrounded her +wherever she went. + +The room in which she indulged her artistic fancy was large and bare, +with stuccoed walls on which she herself had thrown quaint and fantastic +pictures of goddesses and of beasts, and groups of charioteers and +gladiators, drawn with a skilful hand. The room derived its light solely +from above, where, through a wide opening in the ceiling, came a peep of +cloud-covered sky. There was little or no furniture about, and the floor +of iridescent mosaic was innocent of carpet. Only in the corners +against the wall stood tall pots of earthenware filled with flowers, +with a profusion of late summer lilies and roses and with great branches +of leaves on which the coming autumn had already planted its first kiss +that turns green to gold. + +"Hold thy head up, girl, a little higher," said Dea Flavia impatiently; +"thou sittest there like a hideous misshapen bunch of nothing-at-all. +Dost think I've paid a high price for thee that thou shouldst go to +sleep all day upon that trestle?" + +And the girl, roused from semi-somnolence, would pull herself together +with a little jerk, would straighten her shoulders and lift her chin, +whilst a quickly smothered sigh of weariness would escape her lips. + +The air was heavy both within and without, with the presage of a coming +storm. It had been terribly hot the last few days. The weather-wise--for +there were many such at this time in Rome--had prophesied that Jupiter +would send his thunders roaring before very long, and the feeling of +thunder in the air caused the model to feel very sleepy, and on the +forehead of Dea Flavia beads of perspiration would appear at the roots +of tiny fair curls. + +She was working with a will but with strange, fretful movements, like +one whose mind seems absent from the present task. Short sighs of +impatience escaped her parted lips at intervals and a frown appeared and +disappeared fitfully between her brows. + +"Chin up, girl ... shoulders straight!" came in curt admonitions once or +twice to the drowsy model. + +Whereupon from the furthest corner of the room Licinia would emerge, rod +in hand, to emphasise the necessity of keeping awake when a beloved +mistress so desired it. + +"Let her be, Licinia," said Dea Flavia with angry impatience when for +the fifth time now the model fell in a huddled heap, with nose almost +touching her knees, and heavy lids falling over sleepy eyes. "It's no +use ... there is something in the air to-day. I cannot work.... Phew!... +methinks I feel the approach of thunder." + +She threw down her modelling tools with a fretful gesture and then +nervily began to destroy her morning's work, patting the clay aimlessly +here and there until once more it became a shapeless mass. + +"That lazy baggage hath spoilt thy pleasure," said Licinia gruffly; "but +I'll teach her----" + +"No, no, good Licinia!" interposed the young girl with a weary smile. +"Teach her nothing to-day.... The air is too heavy for serious lessons. +Send her away and bring me water for my hands." + +Then as Licinia--muttering various dark threats--drove the frightened +girl before her, Dea Flavia breathed a sigh of relief. Her hands were +covered with clay, so she stood quite still waiting for the reappearance +of Licinia with the water; and all the while the frown on her face grew +darker and the look of trouble in her eyes more pronounced. + +Soon the old woman returned with a basin full of water in her hands and +a white cloth over her arm. With her wonted loving care she washed Dea's +hands between her own and dried them on the towel. Dea allowed her to +perform this kindly office for her, standing quite still and gazing +absently out into vacancy. + +"What can I do now for thee, my precious?" asked Licinia anxiously. + +"Nothing, Licinia, nothing," replied Dea with a sigh. "Just leave me in +peace.... I have a desire for solitude and silence." + +It was the old woman's turn to sigh now, for she did not like this +unwonted mood of her beloved. Dea Flavia, when in the privacy of her own +house, was always gay and cheerful as a bird, prattling of all sorts of +things, telling amusing anecdotes to her old nurse and playing +light-heartedly with her young slaves, whenever she was not occupied +with her artistic work. This frown upon the smooth, white brow was very +unusual, and the fretful, impatient gestures were as unwonted as was +that dreamy, absent gaze which spoke of anxious, troubled thoughts. + +Dea Flavia herself could not understand her own mood. She could not have +confided in the faithful old woman, even had she been so minded, for +truly she would not have known what to confide. + +Her thoughts worried her. They were so insistent, dwelling obstinately +on one moment which had flitted by yesterday--the moment when she stood +facing the praefect of Rome, and looking into his deep, dark eyes, which +then and there had reminded her of a stormy sea suddenly lulled to rest. +It seemed as if nothing now or ever hereafter would chase from her mind +the memory of his look and of his rugged voice, softened to infinite +gentleness as he said: "I told thee that He died upon the Cross." + +She could hear that voice now, even as at this moment from afar a +muffled sound of thunder went echoing over the hills, and, strive as she +might, wherever she looked her eyes were haunted by the vision which he +had conjured up of a man with arms outstretched upon a cross, whose +might was yet greater than that of Rome. + +At the time she had been greatly angered. The praefect had spoken +traitorous words, and she had hated him--she hated him still--for that +allegiance which he seemed to have given to another. Then, with a quick, +elusive trick, memory showed her the massive shoulders bent humbly at +her feet, tying the strings of her shoe--a simple homage due to the +daughter of Caesar--and the sharp pang of wrath once more shot through +her heart with the remembrance that he had not deigned to press his lips +against her foot. + +The man's face and figure haunted her for it was the face and the figure +of one whom she had learnt to hate. Yes! She hated him for his treason +to Caesar, for his allegiance to that rebel from Galilee; she hated every +word which he had spoken in that arrogant, masterful way of his, when he +smiled upon her threats and calmly spoke of immortality. She hated the +voice which perpetually rang in her ear, the voice with which he spoke +of his own soul being in the keeping of God--of One Whose Empire is +mightier than that of Rome. + +Yet vaguely still--for she was but a girl--the woman in her was stirred; +the power and desire which exists in every woman's soul to conquer that +which seems furthest from her reach. She hated the man, and yet within +her inmost heart there had sprung the desire to curb and possess his; to +disturb the perfect serenity that dwelt in his deep-set eyes, to kindle +in them a passion which would make of that proud spirit a mere slave to +her will. + +There was in her just now nothing but the pagan desire to rule, and to +break a heart if need be, if she could not otherwise subdue it. + +Memory had fanned her wrath. She saw him now as she had seen him +yesterday, arrogantly thwarting her will, his bitter tongue lashing her +with irony; and now, as yesterday, the blush of humiliation burned her +cheeks, and her pride and dignity rose up in passionate revolt against +the one man who had ever defied her and who had proudly proclaimed his +allegiance to a man who was not the Caesar. + +That allegiance belonged to Caesar and to his might alone; beyond that +there was the House of Caesar, and failing that, nothing but rebellious +treachery. And the troubled look grew deeper in Dea Flavia's face, and +now she buried her hot cheeks in her hands, for the humiliation which +she had endured yesterday from one man seemed to shame her even now. + +"I'll break thy will," she murmured, whilst angry tears rose, burning, +to her eyes. "I'll shame thy manhood and never rest until I see thee +crawling--an abject slave--at the feet of Caesar, who shall kick thee in +the face. Caesar and the House of Caesar brook no rivalry in the heart of +a Roman patrician." + +Her hands dropped from before her face. She threw back her head, and +looked straight before her into the darkest corner of the room. + +"Jesus of Nazareth, he called thee!" she said slowly and as if speaking +to an invisible presence. "And he said at thy call he would give up the +world, and suffer death and torture and shame for thee!... Then so be +it! And I do defy thee, O man of Galilee! even I, Dea Flavia Augusta, of +the imperial House of Caesar! For that man whom I hate and despise, for +that man who has defied and shamed me, for that man whose heart and +allegiance thou hast filched from Caesar, for him will I do thee battle +... and that heart will I conquer; and it shall be Caesar's and +mine--mine--for I will break it and crush it first and then wrest it +from thee!" + +And even as she spoke, from far away over the hills and beyond the +Campania the thunder rolled dully in response. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +"Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice +like him."--JOB XL. 9. + + +A few moments later Licinia came running back into the room. + +"Augusta!" she exclaimed excitedly even before she had crossed the +threshold. "Augusta! quick! the Caesar!" + +Dea Flavia started, for she had indeed been suddenly awakened from a +dream. Slowly, and with eyes still vague and thoughtful, she turned to +her slave. + +"The Caesar?" she repeated, whilst a puzzled frown appeared between her +brows and the young blood faded from her cheeks. "The Caesar?" + +"Aye," said the old woman hurriedly. "He is in the atrium even now, +having just arrived, and his slaves fill the vestibule. He desires +speech with thee." + +"He does not often come at this hour," said Dea Flavia, whose face had +become very white and set at mention of a name which indeed had the +power of rousing terror in every heart just now. "Doth he seem angered?" +she asked under her breath. + +"No, no," said Licinia reassuringly, "how could he be angered against +thee, my pet lamb? But come quickly, dear, to thy robing room; what +dress wilt put on to greet the Caesar in?" + +"Nay, nay," she said with a tremulous little laugh, "we'll not keep my +kinsman waiting. That indeed might anger him. He has been in this room +before and hath liked to watch me at my work. Let him come now, an he +wills." + +Licinia would have protested for she loved to deck her darling out in +all the finery that, to her mind, rendered the Augusta more beautiful +than a goddess, but there was no time to say anything for even now the +Caesar's voice was heard at the further end of the atrium. + +"Do not disturb your mistress. I'll to her myself. Nay! I'll not be +announced. 'Tis an informal cousinly visit I am paying her this +morning." + +"He seemeth in good humour," whispered Dea Flavia, whose little hands +were trembling as they made pretence once more of taking up the +modelling tools. Licinia hurriedly tried to smooth down the golden hair +which had become unruly during the course of the morning, but in her +haste only succeeded in completely disarranging it and it fell in wavy +masses down the young girl's shoulders, all but one plait which remained +fixed over her brow like a wide band of gold. + +Dea uttered an exclamation of horror and made a quick gesture, trying to +capture the recalcitrant curls, even at the very moment that the Emperor +Caligula entered the room. + +He paused on the threshold and her arms dropped down to her side. Her +golden hair fell all round her as she bent her knees making obeisance to +the Caesar. There was nothing regal about her now, nothing imperious or +proud; she looked just like a child caught unawares at play. + +Blushing with confusion she advanced toward her kinsman, and with head +bent received his kiss upon her pure forehead. Nor did she shrink at +this loathsome contact which would have filled almost any other woman's +heart with horror. To her this man was not really human--he was the +Caesar--a supernatural being blessed by the gods, and endowed by them +with supreme majesty and power. + +"Dismiss thy slaves," he said curtly, "I would have speech with thee." + +He had well schooled his turbulent temper to calmness. After Caius +Nepos' departure and a final outburst of unbridled violence, he had +plunged into a cold bath and given himself over for half an hour to the +ministrations of his slaves. Then, cool and refreshed--at any rate +outwardly--he had dressed himself in simple robes, and passing right +through the halls of the Palace of Tiberius which adjoined his own, he +had reached the precincts of Dea Flavia's house, which in its turn +abutted on that built by Germanicus. + +At any other time but the present one--when his frenzied mind was wholly +given over to thoughts of the terrible treachery against his own +person--he would have been conscious of Dea Flavia's exquisite beauty, +as she stood before him, humble with the proud humility of one who has +everything to give and nothing to receive; chaste with that pure +ignorance which refuses to know what it cannot condone, and withal a +perfect woman, imbued with a fascination which no man had ever been able +to resist, for it was the fascination of youthful loveliness combined +with the stately aloofness of conscious power. + +At any other time but this, the unscrupulous voluptuary would have gazed +on his beautiful kinswoman with eyes that would have shamed her with +their undisguised admiration, and mayhap his look and actions would have +placed a severe test on her loyalty and on her respect for him. + +But to-day Caligula only saw in her the tool whom conspirators meant to +use for their treacherous ends, her loveliness paled in his eyes before +the awful suspicion which he had of her guilt, and whilst she stood +quietly awaiting his pleasure, he marvelled how much she knew of the +traitors' plans and whether her white fingers would effectually thrust +the dagger into an assassin's hand. + +She had dismissed her slaves at his bidding--all unconscious as she was +of any danger that might threaten her through him. He waited for a while +in silence, then he said abruptly: + +"Dea Flavia, what is thine age?" + +She looked up at him, smiling and puzzled. + +"Some twenty years, great Caesar," she replied, "but of a truth I had not +kept count." + +"Twenty years?" he retorted, "then 'tis high time that I chose a husband +for thee." + +This time she looked up at him boldly, and although in her glance there +was all the respect due to the immortal Caesar, yet was there no show of +humility in her attitude as she threw back the heavy masses of her hair +and drew up her slender figure to its full stately height. + +"Was it to tell me this," she asked simply, "that the greatest of Caesars +sought his servant's house to-day?" + +"In part," he rejoined curtly, "and I would hear thine answer." + +"My lord has not deigned to ask a question?" + +"Art prepared to accept the husband whom I, thine Emperor will choose +for thee?" + +"In all things do I give thee honour and reverence, O Caesar," she +replied, "but----" + +"But what?" + +"But I had no thought of marriage." + +"No thought of marriage!" he retorted roughly as, unable to sit still, +harassed by rage and doubt, he once more started on that restless walk +of his up and down the room. + +She watched him with great wondering eyes. That something serious lay +behind his questionings was of course obvious. He had not paid her this +matutinal visit for the sole purpose of passing the time of day; and she +did not like this strange mood of his nor his reference to a topic over +which he had not worried her hitherto. + +In truth the thought of marriage had never entered her head, even though +Licinia--with constant garrulousness--had oft made covert allusions to +that coming time. She knew--for it had been instilled into her from +every side ever since her father had left her under the tutelage of the +Caesar--that she must eventually obey him, if one day he desired that she +should marry. + +A young patrician girl would never dream of rebellion against the power +of a father or a guardian, and when that guardian was the Caesar himself +and the girl was of the imperial house, the very thought of disobedience +savoured of sacrilege. + +But hitherto that question had loomed ahead in Dea Flavia's dreams of +the future only as very shadowy and vague. She had never given a single +thought to any of the young men who paid her homage, and their efforts +at winning her favours had only caused her to smile. + +She had felt herself to be unconquerable, even unattainable, and +Caligula, before this mad frenzy had fully seized hold of him, had--in +his own brutish way--indulged her in this, allowing her to lead her own +life and secretly laughing at the machinations that went on around him +to obtain the most coveted matrimonial prize in Rome. + +Now suddenly this happy state of things was to come to an end; her +freedom, on which she looked as her most precious possession, was to be +taken roughly from her. One of the men whom she had despised, one of +that set of libertines, of idle voluptuaries who had dangled round her +skirts whilst casting covetous eyes upon her fortune, was to become her +master, her supreme lord, and she--a slave to his desires and to his +passions. + +Strangely enough the thought of it just now was peculiarly horrible to +her--the thought of what the Caesar's wish might mean--the inevitableness +of it all nauseated her until she felt sick and faint, and the walls of +the room began to swing round her so that she had to steady herself on +her feet with a mighty effort of will, lest she should fall. + +She knew the Caesar well enough to realise that if he had absolutely set +his mind on her marriage nothing would make him swerve from the thought. +If he once desired a thing he would never rest night or day until his +wish had been fulfilled. + +Men and women of Rome knew that. Patricians and plebs, senators and +slaves, had died horrible deaths because the Caesar had demanded and they +had merely thought to disobey. + +Therefore it was with wide-open, terror-filled eyes that she watched +that tyrannical master in his restless walk up and down the room. + +Outside greater darkness had gathered, heavy clouds obscured the light, +and the gorgeous figure of the Caesar now and then vanished into the dark +angles of the room, reappearing a moment later like some threatening +ghoul that comes and goes, blown by the wind which foretells the coming +storm. + +After a while Caligula paused in his walk and stood close beside her, +looking as straight as he could into her pale face. + +"No thought of marriage?" he repeated, with one of his mirthless laughs, +"no thought, mayhap, of the husband whom I would choose for thee? No +doubt there is even now lurking somewhere in this palace a young gallant +who alone has the right to aspire to Dea Flavia's grace." + +"My lord is pleased to jest," she said coolly, "and knows as well as I +do that no patrician can boast of a single favour obtained from me." + +"Then 'tis on a slave thou hast chosen to smile," he said roughly. + +Then as she did not deign to make reply to this insult, he continued: + +"Come! Art mute that thou dost not speak when Caesar commands?" + +"What does my lord wish me to say?" + +"Hast a lover, girl?" + +"No, my lord." + +"Thou liest." + +"Did I deceive my lord in this, then had I not the courage to look +boldly in the Caesar's face." + +"Bah!" he said with a snarl, "I mistrust that maidenly reserve which men +call pride, and I, clever coquetry. The women of Rome have realised, +fortunately by now, that they are the slaves of their masters, to be +bought and sold as he directs. The wife must learn that she is the slave +of her husband, the daughter that she belongs to the father; the women +of the House of Caesar that they belong to me." + +"It is a hard lesson my lord would teach to one half of his subjects." + +"It is," he said with brutal cynicism, "but I like teaching it. I hope +to live long enough--nay! I mean to live long enough--to establish a +marriage market in Rome, where the lords of the earth can buy what women +they want openly, for so many sesterces, as they can their cattle and +their pigs." + +She recoiled from the man a little at these words and a blush of shame +slowly rose to her cheek. But she retorted calmly: + +"The gods do speak through Caesar's mouth and he frames the laws even as +they wish." + +Her words flattered his egregious vanity which had even as great, if not +a greater, hold upon him than his tyrannical temper. He knew that to +this proud girl he was as a god, and that her respect for his Caesarship +made her blind to every one of his faults, but this additional simple +testimony from her pure lips caused him to relent towards her, and quite +instinctively made him curb the violent grossness of his tongue. + +"Thou speakest truly, O Dea Flavia," he said complacently. "The gods +will, when the time comes, speak through my mouth and make known their +will through my dictates even as they have done hitherto--even as they +do at this moment when I tell thee that I desire to see thee married." + +"My lord hath spoken," she said calmly. + +"Do not think, O Dea Flavia," he continued, carried away by his own +eloquence, "that I desire aught but thy happiness. If I decide to give +thee for wife to a man, it shall only be to one who is worthy of thee in +every respect. Thou shalt help me to choose him ... for I have not yet +made my choice ... he shall testify before thee as to his nobility and +his bravery.... An thou dost assure me that thou hast not yet bestowed +thy regard on any man----" + +He paused midway in his phrase with indrawn breath, waiting for her +reply. She gave it firmly and without hesitation. + +"I have cast my eyes on no man, my lord, and have no desire to marry." + +"Wouldst consecrate thy virginity to Vesta then?" he asked with a sneer. + +"Rather that," she replied, "if my lord would so deign to command." + +"Tush!" he broke in impatiently. "Herein thou dost offend the gods and +me! 'Tis impious to waste thy beauty in barren singleness; the gods hate +the solitary maid unless she be ill-favoured and unpleasing to every +man. Thou of the House of Caesar hast a mission to fulfil and canst not +fulfil it thus in isolation, fashioning clay figures that have no life +which they can consecrate to Caesar. But have no fear, for I, thy lord, +do watch over thy future--the man whom I will choose for thee will be +worthy of thy smiles." + +He drew up his misshapen figure to its full height and beamed at the +young girl with an expression of paternal benignness. He was delighted +with himself, delighted with his own oratory. He was such a born +mountebank that he could even act the part of kindness and benevolence, +and he acted it at this moment so realistically that the ignorant, +confiding girl was taken in by his tricks. + +She saw the gracious smile and was too inexperienced, too devoted, to +see the hideous leer that he was at pains to conceal. + +"The choice will be difficult, gracious lord," she said, feeling +somewhat reassured, "and will take some time to make." + +"Therefore will I trust to inspiration," he rejoined blandly. + +"The gods no doubt will speak when the time comes." + +"Aye! They will thunder forth their decree at midday to-morrow," said +Caligula, with well-assumed majesty. + +"To-morrow, O my lord?" + +"Thou hast said it. I have a fancy to make known my decree in this +matter during the games at the Circus to-morrow. So put on thy richest +gown, O Dea Flavia Augusta," he added with a sneer, "so as to appear +pleasing in thy future husband's sight." + +"My gracious lord is pleased to jest," she said, all her fears returning +to her in a moment with an overwhelming rush that made her sick with +horror. + +"Jest!" he retorted with a snarl, showing his yellow teeth like a hyena +on the prowl, "nay! I never was so earnest in my life. Is not the future +of my beloved ward of supreme importance to me?" + +"Nay, then, good my lord," she pleaded earnestly, her young voice +trembling, her blue eyes fixed appealingly on the callous wretch, "I do +beg of thy mightiness to give me time ... to think ... to ..." + +"I have done all the thinking," he broke in roughly, "thou hast but to +obey." + +"Indeed, indeed," she entreated, "I have no wish to disobey ... but my +gracious lord ... do I pray thee deign to consider ..." + +"Silence, wench!" he shouted, with a violent oath, for what he deemed +her resistance was exasperating his fury and reawakened all his former +suspicions of her guilt. "Cease thy senseless whining.... I, thine +Emperor, have spoken. Let that suffice. Who art thou that I should +parley with thee? To-morrow thou'lt go to the Circus. Dost hear? And +until then remain on thy knees praying to the gods to pardon thy +rebellion against Caesar." + +And with an air which he strove to render majestic he turned on his heel +and prepared to go. But in a moment she was down on her knees, her hands +clutching his robe. She would not let him go, not now, not yet, whilst +she had not exhausted every prayer, every argument, that would soften +his heart towards her. + +"My gracious lord," she pleaded, whilst her trembling voice was almost +choked with sobs, "for pity's sake do hear me! I am not rebellious, nor +disobedient to thy will! I am only a humble maid who holds all her +happiness from thee! My gracious lord thou art great, and thou art +mighty, thou art kind and just. Have mercy on me, for my whole heart is +brimming over with loyalty for thee! I am free, and am happy in my +freedom; the men who fawn round me, coveting my fortune, fill me with +disgust. I could not honour one of them, my lord! I could not give one +of them my love. Thou who art so great, must know how I feel. I implore +thee leave me my freedom, the most precious boon which I possess, and my +lips will sing a paean of praise to thee for as long as I live." + +But Caligula was not the man whom a woman's entreaties would turn from +his purpose, more especially when that purpose was his own +self-interest. This wretch had no heart within him, no sensibility, not +one single feeling of pity or of loyalty. + +His instinct must have told him that Dea Flavia was loyal to the core, +loyal to the Caesar and to his House, but so blinded was he by rage and +humiliation and by the terror of assassination, that he saw in the +earnest, simple pleadings of a young girl and devoted partisan nothing +but the obstinate resistance of a would-be traitor. + +The more did Dea plead, the more did he become convinced that already +her choice of a husband was made, and that that husband was destined to +wrench the sceptre of Caesar from him and to mount Caesar's throne over +his murdered body. With a brutal gesture he pushed the young girl from +him. + +"Silence!" he shouted, as soon as choking rage enabled him to speak. +"Silence, I say! ere I strike thee into eternal dumbness. What I have +said, I've said. Dost hear me? To-morrow, at the Circus, I will name thy +husband, and then and there thou shalt accept him, whoever he may be. I +have a reason for wishing this--a reason of State far beyond the +comprehension of a mere fool. To-morrow thou shalt accept the man of my +choice as thy future lord. That is my will. Look to it, O daughter of +Caesar, that thou dost obey. Caesar hath spoken." + +"Caesar hath spoken," she pleaded, "but my gracious lord will relent." + +"Dost know me, girl?" he retorted, as, bending down to her, he seized +her wrists in his and brought his flushed face all distorted by fury, +close to her own. "Dost know me? For if so hast ever seen me relent once +I have set my will? Look into my eyes now! Look, I say!" he shouted +hoarsely, giving her wrists and arms a brutal wrench. "Do they look as +if they meant to relent? Is there anything in my face to lead thee to +hope that thou wouldst have thy treacherous way with me?" + +He held her wrists so cruelly that she could have screamed with the +pain, but she bit her lip to still the cry. + +Daylight now was yielding to the oncoming storm. Dense shadows hung all +round the room, making the objects in it seem weird and ghost-like in +the gloom. Sudden gusts of wind swept angrily round, causing the +withered leaves and dying flowers in the vases to murmur with unearthly +sounds, as of the sighing of disembodied souls. Only through the +aperture above a streak of greyish light struck full upon the Caesar, as, +with glowing eyes and cruel grasp, he compelled her to look on him. + +For a moment she closed her eyes after she had looked, for never before +had she seen anything so hideous and so evil. His misshapen head looked +unnaturally large as it seemed to loom out at her from out the gathering +darkness, his hair stood up sparse and harsh all round his forehead. His +eyes were protruding and shot through with blood; his lips were dry and +cracked, his cheeks of a dull crimson and heavy sweat was pouring down +his face. + +When she turned away from him in horror, he broke into that wild laugh +of his which had in it the very sounds of hell. + +"Well!" he said with a leer, "hast seen my face? Art still prepared to +disobey?" + +"No, my lord," she said slowly, and fixing her eyes fully upon his now, +"but I am prepared to die." + +"To die? What senseless talk is this?" + +"Not senseless, my good lord. Even the gods do allow us poor mortals to +find refuge from sorrow in death." + +"So!" he said slowly, still gripping her wrists and peering into her +face till his scorching breath made her feel sick and faint. "That is +the way thou wouldst defy the will of Caesar? Death, sayest thou?... +Death and disobedience--rather than submission to the wish of him who +has god-like power on earth. Death!" and he laughed loudly even whilst +from afar there came, faint and threatening, the nearer presage of the +coming storm. "What death? A pleasing, dreamless sleep brought on by +drugs? A soothing draught that lulls even as it kills--or hadst +perchance thought of the arena?... of the tiger that roars?... or the +lictor's flail that drives?... hadst thought ... hadst thought ..." + +He was foaming at the mouth, his rage was choking him; he had only just +enough strength left in him to tear at the neck of his tunic, for the +next moment he would have fallen, felled like an ox by the power of his +own fury. But as soon as he had released Dea Flavia's wrists and she +felt herself free to move, she rose from her knees, and with quick, +almost mechanical gesture, she rearranged her disordered robe and shook +back the heavy masses of her hair. Then she stood quite still, with arms +hanging by her side, her head quite erect and her eyes fixed upon that +raving monster. When she saw that he had at last regained some semblance +of reason she said quite calmly: + +"My gracious lord will work his way with his slave, and deal her what +death he desires." + +"What!" he murmured incoherently, "what didst thou say?" + +"'Tis death I choose, my lord," she said simply, "rather than a husband +who was not of mine own seeking." + +For a moment then she did look death straight and calmly in the face, +for it was death that looked on her through those blood-shot eyes. He +had thrust his lower jaw forward, his teeth, large and yellow, looked +like the fangs of a wolf; stertorous breathing escaped his nostrils, and +his distorted fingers were working convulsively, like the claws of a +beast when it sees its prey. + +Caligula would have strangled her then and there without compunction and +without remorse. She had defied him and thwarted him even more +completely than she knew herself; and there was no death so cruel that +he would not gladly have inflicted upon her then. + +"Dost dare to defy me...!" he murmured hoarsely, "hast heard what I +threatened ..." + +She put out her hand, quietly interrupting him. + +"I heard the threat, my lord ... and have no fear," she said. + +"No fear of death?" + +"None, gracious lord. There is no yoke so heavy as a bond unhallowed. +No death so cruel as the breaking of a heart." + +There was dead silence in the room now; only from a far distant rolls of +ceaseless thunder sent their angry echo through the oppressive air. +Caligula was staring at the girl as he would on some unearthly shape. +Gasping he had fallen back a few steps, the convulsive twitching of his +fingers ceased, his mouth closed with a snap, and great yellow patches +appeared upon his purple cheeks. + +Then he slowly passed his hand across his streaming forehead, his +breathing became slower and more quiet, the heavy lids fell over the +protruding eyes. + +Caius Julius Caesar Caligula was no fool. His perceptions, in fact, +became remarkably acute where his own interests were at stake, and he +had the power of curbing that demoniacal temper of his, even in its +maddest moment, if self-advantage suddenly demanded it. + +He had formed a plan in his head for the trapping of the unknown man who +was to mount the throne of Caesar over the murdered body of his Emperor. +Before dealing with the whole band of traitors he wished to know who it +was that meant to reap the greatest benefit by the dastardly conspiracy. +There was one man alive in Rome at the present moment who thought to +become the successor of Caligula; that one man would be bold enough to +woo and win Dea Flavia for wife. + +Caligula's one coherent thought ever since Caius Nepos had betrayed the +conspiracy to him, was the desire to know who that man was likely to be. +That was the man he most hated--the unknown man. Him he desired to +punish in a manner that would make all the others endure agonies of +horror ere they in turn met their doom. But his identity was still a +mystery. To discover it, the Caesar had need of the help of this girl +who stood there so calmly before him, defying his power and his threats. +He looked on her and understanding slowly came to him ... understanding +of the woman with whom he had to deal. It dawned upon him in the midst +of his tumultuous frenzy that here he had encountered a will that he +could never bend to his own--an irresistible force had come in contact +with an unbending one. One of the two must yield, and Caligula, staring +at the young girl who seemed so fragile that a touch of the hand must +break her, knew that it was not she who would ever give in. + +His well-matured plan he would not give up. He had thought it all out +whilst he refreshed himself in his bath after Caius Nepos' visit, and it +was not likely that any woman could, by her obstinate action, move +Caligula from his resolve. But obviously he must alter his tactics if he +desired Dea Flavia's help. He could gain nothing by her death save +momentary satisfaction, and the matter was too important to allow +momentary satisfaction to interfere with the delights of future complete +revenge. + +Therefore he forced himself to some semblance of calm. He was a perfect +mountebank, a consummate actor, and now he called to his aid his full +powers of deception. Cunning should win the day since rage and coercion +had failed. + +Slowly his face lost every vestige of anger and sorrowful serenity crept +into his eyes. Tottering like one who feels unmanned, he sought the +support of a chair and fell sitting into it, with his elbows on his +knees and his head buried in his hands. + +"Woe is me!" he moaned, "woe to the House of Caesar when its fairest +daughter turns traitor against her kin!" + +"I! a traitor, good my lord!" she rejoined quietly. "There is no +treachery in my desire to serve Caesar in single maidenhood, or to offer +thee my life rather than my freedom." + +"There is black treachery," he said with tremulous voice like one in +deep sorrow, "in refusing to obey the Caesar." + +"In this alone----" + +But it was his turn now to interrupt her with a quick raising of the +hand. + +"Aye! That is what the waverer says: 'Good my lord, I'll obey in all +save in what doth not please me!' Dea Flavia Augusta, I had thought thee +above such monstrous selfishness." + +"Selfishness, my lord?" + +"Aye! Art thou not of the House of Caesar? Art thou not my kinswoman? +Dost thou not receive at my hands honour, position, everything that +places thee above the common herd of humanity? Were I not the Caesar, +where wouldst thou be? Not in this palace surely, not the virtual queen +of Rome, but, mayhap, a handmaid to another Caesar's wife, an attendant +on his daughter.... Thou dost seem to have forgot all this, Augusta." + +"Nay, gracious lord, I have forgot nothing! Your goodness to me----" + +"And yet wouldst deliver me over into the hands of mine enemies," he +said with increased dolefulness, "and not raise a finger to save me." + +"I would give my life for the Caesar," she interposed firmly, "and this +the Caesar knows." + +"Wouldst not even take a husband, when by so doing thou wouldst save the +Caesar from death." + +"My gracious lord speaks in riddles ... I do not understand." + +"Didst not understand, girl, that I but wished to test thy loyalty to +me? Thou--like so many alas!--dost so oft prate of unbounded attachment +to Caesar. To-day, for the first time, did I put that attachment to the +test, and lo! it hath failed me." + +"Try me, my lord," she said, "and I'll not fail thee. But give me thy +trust as well as thy commands." + +She advanced close to where he sat, apparently a broken-down, sorrowful +man, stricken with grief. The mighty Caesar now was far more powerful +than he had been a while ago when he raged and stormed and threatened, +for he had appealed to the strongest feeling within her--he had appealed +to her loyalty. + +Slowly she sank once more on her knees, not in entreaty now, not with +thoughts of self, but in the humble subjection of herself to the needs +of him whom the gods had anointed. She sank upon her knees, and with +that simple action she offered her happiness on the altar of her loyalty +to him and to her house. + +Gone was the look of defiance from her eyes, the pride had vanished and +all the joy of life; no thought was left in the young mind now save an +overwhelming sense of loyalty, no feeling lingered in the heart save the +desire for self-sacrifice. + +The Caesar had commanded and since she could not disobey she was ready to +die; memory had in a swift flash called up before her the vision of a +man who, rather than yield to her caprice, had smiled at the thought of +death. And she, too, had almost smiled, for suddenly she had understood +how small a thing was life when slavery became its price. + +But now all that had changed. The Caesar pleaded and made appeal to her +loyalty. Her refusal to obey him was no longer pride, it was +disloyalty--almost sacrilege. The Caesar called to her! It was as if the +gods had spoken, and she fell on her knees, ready to obey. + +The consummate actor was clever enough to hide the triumph that lit up +his eyes when he saw her thus kneeling, and understood that she was +prepared to yield. + +He stretched out a paternal hand, and with weary sadness stroked her +golden hair. + +"Trust me, gracious lord," she reiterated, "my life is thine, do with it +what thou wilt." + +"Traitors are at work, Dea Flavia, to murder the Caesar," he said gently. + +"Ye gods!" she murmured, horrified. + +"Aye! wouldst think mayhap that the gods will interfere? They will? I +tell thee that they will! but they have need of thee, Augusta! I, thy +Caesar, thy god do have need of thee!" + +With both hands now he took her own in his, not roughly, but with +infinite tenderness, and cunningly contrived that two hot tears should +fall upon her fingers. + +"My gracious lord!" she whispered, "my life is at thy service." + +"Accept the husband whom I propose for thee ... and my life will be +safe.... Refuse to obey me in this and to-morrow the blood of Caesar will +be upon thy head...." + +"My lord...." + +"Wilt obey me, Augusta?" + +"My gracious lord ... I do not understand," she pleaded; "have pity on +my ignorance ... trust me but a little further...." + +"I cannot tell thee more," he said with a sigh of patient weariness, +"but this I do tell thee, that my life and with it the future of our +House--of the Empire--now lie in thy hands. The abominable traitors +would make a tool even of thee. 'The husband of Dea Flavia Augusta,' +they say, 'shall succeed the murdered Caesar!'" + +She uttered a cry of horror. + +"Their names," she murmured, "tell me their names." + +"I know but a few." + +"Which are they?" + +"They speak of Hortensius Martius." + +"Oh!" + +"And of young Escanes ... also of Philario, my servant." + +"Ye gods," she exclaimed, "let your judgments fall upon them." + +"And of Taurus Antinor--the praefect of Rome," added the Caesar, and a +savage snarl escaped his lips even when he spoke the name. + +"Taurus Antinor!" she exclaimed. + +Then half-audibly she murmured to herself, repeating the Caesar's words: + +"They would make a tool of thee!" + +She had fallen back, squatting on her heels, her hands clasped before +her and her head sunk upon her bosom, bowed with shame and with horror. +Her name had been bandied about by traitors, her person been bought and +sold as the price of the blackest sacrilege that had ever disgraced the +patriciate of Rome. + +"And thou, Taurus Antinor," she whispered inaudibly, "art the blackest +traitor amongst them all." + +There was no need now for the Caesar to make further appeal to her +loyalty. She was loyal to him--body and soul--loyal to him and to her +House, ready to sacrifice her pride, her freedom if need be at a word +from the Caesar, since he had said that by her action on the morrow she +could help him fight the treacherous infamy. + +Caligula could well be satisfied with his success; nor did he try to +press his advantage further. All that he had wanted was the assurance +that she would not thwart him when he put into execution the plan which +he had conceived. The man-trap which he had set would not now fail +through Dea's obstinacy. + +He thought that the time had come for ending the interview. He desired +that her receptive mind should retain a solemn impression of his majesty +and of his power. A charlatan to the last, he now rose to his feet and +with outstretched arm pointed upwards to the small glimpse of +leaden-covered sky. + +"Jove's thunders still speak from afar," he said with slow emphasis, +"but to-morrow they will crash over Rome and over the traitors within +her walls. The air will be filled with moanings and with gnashing of +teeth; the Tiber will run red with blood, for the murdered Caesar will +mayhap be crying vengeance upon the assassins. Wilt save the Caesar, O +Dea Flavia? Wilt save Rome and the Empire from a deadly crime and the +devastating vengeance of the outraged gods?" + +He towered above her like some inspired prophet, with arms stretched out +towards the fast approaching storm, and eyes uplifted to the +thunderbolts of Jove. + +"I await thine answer," he said, "O daughter of the Caesars." + +"My answer has been given, gracious lord," she murmured, "have I not +said that my life was at thy service?" + +"Thou'lt obey?" + +"Command, O Caesar!" + +"To-morrow at the Circus ... dost understand?... I have a plan ... and +thou must obey ... blindly ... dost understand?" he reiterated +hoarsely. + +"I understand, my lord." + +"I'll name thy future husband to the public ... to the plebs ... to all +... and thou'lt accept him--before them all--without demur...." + +"As my lord commands." + +"This thou dost swear?" + +"This do I swear." + +"Then," said the mountebank with mock reverence as he placed his +hand--blood-stained with the blood of countless innocent victims of his +tyranny--upon the bowed head of the loyal girl, "receive the blessing of +Jupiter the victorious, of Juno the holy goddess, and of Magna Mater the +great Mother, for thou art worthy to be of the House of Caesar." + +But even as the last of these impious words had left his lips, the long +awaited storm broke out in sudden fury; a vivid flash of lightning rent +the sky from end to end and lit up momentarily every corner of the room, +the kneeling figure of Dea Flavia, the misshapen figure of the imperial +monster, the fading flowers in the vases. Then a mighty clap of thunder +shook the very foundations of Dea Flavia's palace. + +Caligula uttered a wild shriek of terror, and, calling loudly for his +slaves, he fled incontinently from the room. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +"As he that bindeth a stone in a sling, so is he that giveth +honour to a fool."--PROVERBS XXVI. 8. + + +From the hour of midnight the streets and ways leading to the great +Amphitheatre were alive with people, all tending toward the same goal: +men and women in holiday clothes and little children running beside +them. The men were heavily loaded with baskets of rush or bags of rough +linen containing provisions, for many hours would be spent up there +waiting for amusement, whilst the body would grow faint if food were not +forthcoming. + +So the men carried the provisions which the women had prepared the day +before--eggs and cooked fish and such fruit as was cheap this season. +And everybody was running, for though the Amphitheatre was vast and +could hold--so 'twas said--over two hundred thousand people, yet +considerably more than two hundred thousand people desired to be present +at the opening of the games. + +They were to last thirty-one days and spectacles would be varied and +exciting. But the great day would be the opening day, the one on which +everybody desired to be inside the Amphitheatre if possible and not +outside. + +Therefore an early start had to be made. But this nobody minded, as what +is the want of a little sleep compared with the likelihood of missing +the finest sight that had been witnessed in the city for years? + +The Caesar, of course, would be present. He would solemnly declare the +games to be open. There were free gifts from him to the people: a +thank-offering to the gods for his safe return from that arduous +expedition in Germany; and he would show himself to his people, receive +their acclamations and give them as much show and gaiety, music and +combats, as they cared to see. + +So they went in their thousands and their tens of thousands, starting in +the middle of the night so as to be there when the great gates were +opened, and they would be allowed to pour into the vast enclosure, and +find as good seats for themselves and their families as they could. + +And when at dawn, the great copper gates did slowly swing open, creaking +upon their massive hinges, it was as if the flood-gates of a mighty sea +had been suddenly let loose. In they poured, thousands upon thousands of +them, scrambling, pushing and jumping, scurrying and hurrying, falling +and tumbling, as they pressed onwards through the wide doors and then +dispersed in the vastness of the gigantic arena, like ants that scamper +away to their heaps. + +Like so many pygmies they looked now, fussy and excited, perspiring +profusely despite the cool breeze of this early dawn. + +Give them half an hour and they'll all settle down, sitting row upon +row, tier upon tier of panting, expectant humanity. After much +bousculading the strong ones have got to the front rows, the weaker ones +up aloft in the rear. But all can see well into the arena, and there are +those who think that you get a better view if you sit more aloft; +certain it is that you get purer air and something of the shadow of the +encircling walls. + +There is no sign of cloud or storm to-day. Jove's thunders spent +themselves during the morning hours of yesterday when clap upon clap, +awe-inspiring and deafening, made every superstitious heart quake with +terror at this possible augury of some coming disaster. To-day the sky +is clear and--soon after dawn--of that iridescent crystalline blue that +lures the eye into myriads and myriads of atoms, the creations of the +heat-laden ether that stretches away--far away to the infinite distance +beyond. + +The beauty of the late summer's day was accepted as a matter of course: +as part and parcel of the holidays and festivals ordered by the Caesar. +These too were the people's just dues: emperors had to justify their +existence by entertaining their people. Grumblings at their luxury and +extravagances were only withheld because of other luxuries and +extravagances perpetrated for the amusement of the people. + +And from early dawn there was plenty to see. Even though you did not +watch the citron-coloured sky overhead as it slowly changed its +diaphanous draperies for others that were rose, then crimson, and then +gold, finally casting off these two, and showing its blue magnificence +unadorned. There were the soldiers on guard at the doors, their yellow +helmets shining in the sun, their naked legs bronzed below their tunics. +There were the late-comers to watch, those who had not cared for a +midnight vigil and were arriving late, like lazy ants creeping to their +heaps, finding all places occupied, running hither and thither in search +of an empty place. + +Then, on the north side there were the tribunals of the senators, the +patricians, and the knights, with--in the centre--gorgeous with purple +draperies and standards--that which the Caesar would occupy. Rich stuffs +covered with gold embroideries fell over the edge of these tribunes and +fluttered lazily in the morning breeze; chairs and cushions were +disposed there, and it was interesting to make vague guesses as to who +would occupy them. + +The Emperor's tribune was decorated with flowers: huge bunches of lilies +in pots of earthenware and crimson roses trailed in festoons overhead. +There was no doubt that the Augusta Dea Flavia would be present then, +lilies were her favourite flowers, they were always to be seen wherever +she appeared. + +The tribunes of the rich were so disposed that the sun would never shed +an unpleasant glare into them, and over that part of the Amphitheatre an +awning of white and purple striped stuff threw a pleasing and restful +shadow. + +Soon after the second hour the spectacle began. Processions of men and +beasts who would take part in the combats and the shows. The Numidian +lions--in heavy iron cages, drawn by eight pack horses--were snarling as +they were dragged along, lean and hungry-looking, with bloodshot eyes +that threatened, and dribbling jaws waiting to devour. The pack of +hyenas from the desert, a novelty not yet witnessed at the games, the +crocodiles from the Nile and the wolves from the Thracian forests. + +It was amusing to hear the snarl of the lions and to think of them as +they would appear anon pitted one against the other, or engaged in +deadly combat against the crocodiles. But still more exciting would it +be when the prisoners of war, lately captured in Germany, would have to +try their heavy fists against the masters of the desert. + +The procession of the beasts had lasted close upon an hour. The public +waxed impatient. Beasts were well enough, but their prey was what the +people desired to see. Women clamoured as loudly as the men. Children +stood up upon the benches to catch sight of the prisoners, the +malefactors, the rebellious slaves who would furnish the sport later on. + +Presently they began to arrive and were greeted with loud +acclamations--trembling, miserable bundles of humanity with hideous +death staring at them all round, the pungent odour of wild beasts +stinking of death, the glowering eyes of an excited populace testifying +that no mercy would be shown. + +The slaves mostly looked the prey of abject terror, backboneless, and +with the cold sweat already pouring from their huddled-up bodies; they +were men caught in the act of murder or of theft, confirmed malefactors +most of them, now condemned to the arena to expiate their crimes and +afford a holiday for the people. + +Some of the most hardened criminals had been dressed up to look like the +German rebels whom the Emperor was supposed lately to have vanquished, +with tow-coloured wigs and coverings of goatskin around their torso: +they were marched round the gigantic arena, with clanging chains on +their wrists and ankles. + +The public was delighted at their appearance. It confirmed the prowess +of the Caesar, for the men had been selected for this special exhibition +because of their height or the breadth of their shoulders. Everyone was +curious to see them, and howls of execration greeted them as they +passed. It was felt that they deserved far more severe punishment than +was meted to ordinary criminals. They had rebelled against the might of +Caesar, and in a manner had made attempt against his sacred life. + +But the most interesting part of this early morning show was undoubtedly +the black panther whom the native prince of Numidia had sent as a +tribute to the imperator. Wild rumours as to its cunning and its +ferocity had been in circulation for some time, but no one had ever seen +it; it had been kept closely guarded and heavily chained in the gardens +of the Caesar's palace, and since its arrival from the desert was said to +have grown to fabulous size and strength. + +Its inclusion in the spectacle of to-day had come as an exciting +surprise, for it was known that the Caesar thought a great deal of the +beast, going out daily to watch it through its iron bars, and delighting +in its ferocity and cruel rapaciousness. He had caused a special house +to be built for it in a secluded portion of his garden, with a +swimming-bath carved out of a solid block of African marble. Its feeding +trough was made of gold, and capons and pea-hens were specially fattened +for its delectation. + +Many were the tales current about the Caesar's fondness for the creature +and his pleasure in seeing it fed with live animals, which he would +himself throw into the cage. It was even said he had fed the brute with +human flesh, the flesh of slaves who had disobeyed or merely offended +him: one of his chief amusements being to force one of these unfortunate +wretches to thrust an arm into the cage, and then to watch the panther +as it scrunched the human bones, and licked the human blood whilst cries +of unspeakable horror and agony rent the air with their hideous sounds. + +And now--in order to delight his people--the greatest and best of Caesars +would grant them the spectacle of his most precious pet. Loud clapping +of hands and thunderous shouts of applause greeted the entrance of the +magnificent cage which was drawn out into the arena by sixteen negro +slaves. The bars of the cage were gilded, and it was surmounted by the +imperial standard and the insignia of imperial rank. Its pedestal was of +carved wood and mounted on massive wheels of steel. In the front were +four heavy chains of steel, and to these the sixteen negroes were +harnessed. They were naked save for a loin-cloth of scarlet cloth, and +on their heads were fillets of shining metal, each adorned with five +long ostrich feathers which had been dipped in brilliant scarlet dye. + +The weight of the cage, with its solid pedestal and heavy iron bars, +must have been terrific, for the sixteen powerful Africans strained on +the chains as they walked, burying their feet in the sand of the arena, +their backs bent, the muscles of their shoulders and arms standing out +like living cords. In a corner of the cage cowered the powerful +creature, its broad, snake-like head thrust forward, its tiny golden +eyes fixed before it, a curious snarl--like a grin--now and then +contorted the immobility of its powerful jaws. The sinewy tail beat a +restless tattoo on the floor of the cage. + +Now and then when a jerk on the uneven ground disturbed it from its +ominous quietude, the brute would jump up suddenly--quick as the +lightning flash--and bound right across the cage, striking out with its +huge black paw to where one of the rearmost negro's back appeared +temptingly near. + +The cunning precision with which that paw hit out exactly between two +iron bars highly pleased the public, and once when the mighty claws did +reach a back and tore it open from the shoulder to the waist, a wild +shout of delight, echoed and re-echoed by thousands upon thousands of +throats, shook the very walls of the gigantic Amphitheatre. Children +screamed with pleasure, the women applauded rapturously, the men shouted +"Habet! habet!" He has it! The unfortunate slave, who, giddy with the +loss of blood, rolled inanimate beneath the wheels of the cage. + +It was at this moment, when the excited populace went nearly wild with +delight, that a loud fanfare of brass trumpets announced the approach of +the Caesar. + +He entered his tribune preceded by an escort of his praetorian guard +with flying standards. At sight of him the huge audience rose to its +feet like one man and cheered him to the echoes, cheered him with just +the same shouts as those with which, a few moments ago, it had +acclaimed the ferocious prowess of the panther, cheered him with the +same shouts with which it would have hailed his death, his +assassination, the proclamation of his successor. + +He was clad in a tunic of purple silk, wrought with the sun, moon and +stars in threads of gold and silver, and on his chest was the +breastplate of Augustus, which he had had dug up out of the vault where +the great Emperor lay buried. On his head was a diadem of jewels in +shape like the rays of the sun standing out all round his misshapen +head, and in his hands he carried a gold thunderbolt, emblem of Jove, +and a trident emblem of Neptune. + +He was surrounded by his own guard, by a company of knights and a group +of senators and patricians, and immediately behind him walked his wife, +Caesonia, and his uncle, Claudius, the brother of Germanicus. + +He came to the front of the tribune, allowing the populace a full view +of his grotesque person, and listening with obvious satisfaction to the +applause and the cheers that still rose in ceaseless echoes upwards to +the sky. + +He did not hear the ironical laughter, nor yet the mocking comments on +his appearance, which was more that of a caricature than of a sentient +man. He was satisfied that all eyes were turned on himself and on the +majestic pomp which surrounded him. The standard-bearers were ordered to +wave the flags so that a cloud of purple and gold seemed to be wafted +all round his head, and he ordered the Augustas to group themselves +around him. + +The people watched this pageant as they had done the earlier spectacles. +It was all a part of the show stage-managed for their amusement. They +were interested to see the Augustas, and those who knew mentioned the +various names to their less fortunate neighbours. + +"Caesonia standeth next her lord. She gave him a love potion once, so +'tis said, because his passion for her was quickly on the wane. And 'tis +that love potion which hath made him crazy." + +"And there are the Caesar's sisters, Drusilla and Livilla. Drusilla is +very beautiful." + +"And there is Julia, the daughter of Drusus. She had been willing to +step into Caesonia's shoes." + +"But Dea Flavia, daughter of Claudius Octavius, is the most beautiful +amongst them all!" + +"Hail to Dea Flavia Augusta!" came from more than one enthusiastic +throat. + +She was clad all in white, with strings of pearls round her neck and a +fillet of diamonds in her golden hair. Her face was very pale and her +lips never smiled. In her hands she held three tall sprays of lilies +scarce whiter than the smooth surface of her brow. + +Everyone noticed that the Caesar specially commanded her to sit on his +left, Caesonia being on his right, and that the Augustas all frowned with +dissatisfaction at this signal honour paid to Dea Flavia. + +Anon Caius Nepos, the praetorian praefect, came to the front of the +tribune, and in stentorian voice commanded everyone to kneel. All those +in the tribune did kneel immediately, the guard holding the standards, +the senators and the knights. The Augustas all knelt too, and the +patricians in the tribunes to right and left. Some of the people knelt, +but not by any means all, and Caius Nepos had to repeat his command +three or four times, and to threaten the immediate dispersal of the +audience and the clearing of the Amphitheatre before everyone at last +obeyed. + +Caligula alone remained standing, and not far from him the praefect of +Rome leaning against the partition wall. + +The Caesar then blessed his people, and at the word of Caius Nepos--the +praetorian praefect--cries of "Hail Caesar! Hail, O God! Hail the Father +of the Armies! the greatest and best of Caesars!" broke out on every +side. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +"Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit +of the beast that goeth downward to the earth."--ECCLESIASTES +III. 21. + + +Caius Julius Caesar Caligula was in excellent spirits, smiling and +nodding to those around him and to his people all the time. His face +certainly looked sallow and his eyes were bloodshot, but this may have +been due to ill-health, for without doubt his temper was of the best. +Only once had he frowned, when, looking behind him, he saw that the +praefect of Rome had remained standing when everyone knelt to acclaim +the Caesar. + +But even then the frown was quickly dissipated and he spoke quite +pleasantly to the praefect later on. The Augustas grouped around him +were continually laughing as he turned to them from time to time with a +witty sally, or probably with what was more in keeping with his +character--a coarse jest. And he watched the spectacle attentively from +end to end. Firstly the play in verse on the subject of the judgment of +Paris, a perversion of the legend favoured by the Greeks--a travesty +wherein Paris--renamed Parisia--was a woman, and three gods were in +rivalry for the golden apple, the emblem of her favours. Then the naval +spectacle over the flooded arena, with ships and galleys executing +complex manoeuvres on waters rendered turbulent by cleverly contrived +artificial means; then the wrestling and scenes of hunting with wolves +and boars specially brought from the Thracian forests for the occasion. + +He watched the Numidian lions tearing one another to pieces, he exulted +with the audience over the fight between a pack of hyenas and some +crocodiles from the Nile. He encouraged the gladiators in their fights, +and joined in the excitement that grew and grew with every item of a +programme which had been skilfully arranged so that it began with simple +and peaceful shows, and gradually became more bloodthirsty and more +fierce. + +It seemed as if a cunning mind, alert to the temper of the people, had +contrived the entertainment so that with every stage of the proceedings +something of the lustful love of cruelty, inherent in every Roman +citizen, would be gradually aroused. The hunting scenes were a prelude +to the combat between the lions, and these again were the forerunners of +a more bloody bout between the hyenas and the crocodiles. + +At last blood had begun to flow. The audience sniffed its sickening +odour with a thrill of nostril and brain, and tongues and lips became +parched with the fever of desire for more. + +The other items--the play, the naval pageant, the scenes of hunting and +combat of beasts amongst themselves--these were only the prologue. The +real spectacle was at last to commence. For this the Romans +thirsted--patricians and plebs alike, rich and poor, man, woman and +child. These shows were their very life; they constituted the essence of +their entire being; for these they rose at midnight and stood waiting, +hour upon hour, that they might be near enough to smell the blood when +it reddened the sand of the arena, and to see the last throe of agony on +the face of those who fell in combat. + +"Habet! Habet! Habet!" + +The cry became more insistent and more hoarse. See the men and women +leaning over the edge of the tribunes, their eyes wide open, their hands +outstretched with thumb pointing relentlessly the way of death. + +"Habet! Habet!" shrieked the women when a prostrate figure lay writhing +on the ground, and the victor with head erect demanded the final +verdict. + +And up in the imperial tribune the Caesar jested and laughed, the +standards waved above his head, the striped awning threw a cool blue +shadow over his gorgeous robes and the jewel-crowned heads of the +Augustas. + +The rest of the gigantic arena was a blaze of riotous colour now, with +the mid-morning's sun darting its rays almost perpendicularly on the +south side of the huge oval place. A sea of heads gold and brown, ruddy +and black oscillating in unison to right or left like waters driven by +the tide, as the combatants down below shifted their ground across the +floor of the arena--fans of coloured feathers swinging, mantles caught +by a passing breeze, every grain of sand on the floor of the arena a +minute mirror radiating the light, everything glowed with an intensity +of colour rendered all the more vivid by contrast with the dense shadows +thrown against the marble walls. + +On the south side every shade of russet and brown and green showed in +the mantles and the tunics of the plebs, and seemed flecked with vivid +gold under the light of the sun, whilst in the tribunes of the rich on +the opposite side cool tones of amethyst and chrysoprase were veiled in +tender azure by the shadow from the awning above. And at either end, to +east and west the massive copper portals, like gigantic ruddy mirrors +threw back these tones of gold and blue as if through a veil of +sunset-kissed clouds. + +Above, the sky of a vivid blue, translucent and iridescent with a myriad +flecks of turquoise and rose and emerald that found their reflections +in the marble walls of the arena or the shining helmets of the +legionaries guarding the imperial tribune; and over the whole scene an +impalpable veil of gold, made of tiny, unseen atoms that danced in the +heat, and merged into an exquisite glowing harmony the russets and the +purples, the emeralds and rubies and the trenchant notes of sardonyx and +indigo that cut across the orgy of colour like a deep, gaping wound. + +And through it all that sense of thrilling expectancy, so keen that it +almost seemed palpable. + +It vibrated in the air making every cheek glow with a crimson fire and +kindling a light in every eye. It seemed to set every golden atom +dancing, it was felt through every breath drawn by two hundred thousand +throats. + +Over the Emperor's head the striped awning flapped weirdly in the +breeze, with strange insistent sound like the knocking of a ghostly hand +upon the doors of hell. + +Not a few miserable wretches whom the summary justice of the Caesar's own +tribunal had condemned to death were exposed to a band of +swordsmen--executioners really, since the fight was quite unequal. Huge +African giants with short naked swords pursuing a few emaciated wretches +who ran howling round the arena, jumping improvised hurdles, rounding +obstacles or crawling under cover, running, running with that +unreasoning instinct of self-preservation which drives even before the +certainty of death. + +A hunting scene this, of novel diversion. + +No one cared whether the victims were really guilty of crime, no one +cared if they had been equitably tried and been justly condemned, all +that the public cared about was that the spectacle was new and amusing. +The African giants were well-trained for their part, playing with the +miserable victims like a feline doth with its prey, allowing them to +escape, now and then, to see safety close at hand, to make a wild dash +for what looked like freedom, and then suddenly bounding on them with +that short wide sword that cried death as it descended. + +Rapturous applause greeted this show, and loud immoderate laughter +hailed the fruitless efforts of the hunted, their falls over the +obstacles, their look of horror, and the contortions of their meagre +bodies when they were caught at last. + +"Habet! Habet! Habet!" everyone shouted when one of the unfortunate +wretches brought to bay tried to turn on his pursuer, and to pit two +feeble arms against the relentless grip of well-trained giants, and +against the death-dealing sword. + +"Habet! Habet! Habet!" + +"He has it!" they screamed. He has the hideous death, the gaping wound +in the still panting chest. He has the final agony which helps to make a +holiday for the great citizens of the world. + +Now at last the sand of the arena has turned red with blood, the sickly +odour mounts to every nostril; shrieks become more wild, like those of +thousands of demons let loose. Anticipation and desire has been brought +to its wildest pitch, and Caligula has every cause to be satisfied. + +Cries of "The lions! the lions! Slaves to the lions!" resounded from +every side. Thousands of feet beat a tattoo on the floor, and from +behind the great copper gates a mighty roar filled the heat-laden air +with its awesome echo. + + +In his gilded cage supported by carved pillars and drawn by eight +Ethiopian slaves, the favourite of Caligula was slowly wheeled into the +arena. + +A huge sigh rose from every breast. The tumult was hushed; dead silence +fell upon the vast concourse of people suddenly turned to stone, alive +only by two hundred thousand pairs of eyes fixed upon the cage and its +occupant. + +The black panther--with its sleek black coat on which the midday sun +threw tiny blotches of tawny lights--was cowering in a corner of its +cage; its snake-like head, with the broad flat brow and wide curved +jaws, was drawn back between its shoulders, its small golden eyes, +gleaming like yellow topaz, were half closed in wary somnolence. + +Slowly the cage was wheeled round by the panting negro slaves, and then +it was brought to a standstill against the copper gates at the eastern +end of the arena. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +"Be thou faithful unto death."--REVELATIONS II. 10. + + +Up in the gorgeously draped tribune, beneath the striped awning, the +Emperor Caligula watched the arrival of his pet panther with a grin of +delight upon his face. He rubbed his hands together in obvious glee, and +anon pointed out the beauty of the ferocious creature to the Augusta Dea +Flavia, who coldly nodded in response. + +She had sat beside the Caesar all through the long, weary morning, giving +but few signs of life. Many there were who thought that, overcome with +drowsiness owing to the heat, she had fallen asleep with her head buried +in the fragrant depths of the lilies which she held. + +Certain it is that throughout the spectacle she had kept her eyes +closed, and when death-cries filled the air with their terrible echo, +she had once or twice put her small hands to her ears. + +Whenever she had done that the Caesar had laughed, and apparently made +jest of her with the other Augustas who, in their turn, appeared greatly +amused. + +The spectacle indeed had been somewhat tame, and but for the human chase +of a while ago, would have been intolerably dull. There was surely +nothing in the death of a few miserable slaves to upset the nerves of a +Roman princess. As for the gladiators! well! they were trained and well +paid to die. + +Not far from the Caesar's person, and leaning against the wall of the +tribune in his wonted attitude, the praefect of Rome had also stood +silently by. The Emperor had ordered his presence, nor could the +praefect of the city be absent when the sacred person of the Caesar was +abroad amongst his people. + +But no one could say whether the Anglicanus had seen or heard anything +of what went on around him. His eyes of a truth were wide open, but they +did not gaze down upon the arena; they were hidden by that dark frown +upon his brow, and no one could guess whereon was his ardent gaze so +resolutely fixed, no one could guess that from where he stood Taurus +Antinor could perceive the outline of a delicate profile, with the +softly rounded cheek, and a tiny shell-like ear half hidden by the filmy +veil of curls. + +He could see the lids with their fringe of golden lashes fall wearily +over the eyes, he could trace the shudder of horror which shook the +slender figure from time to time. + +Once the lilies dropped from Dea Flavia's hand, and the soft swishing +sound which they made in falling caused her to wake as from a reverie. +She looked all round her with wide-open eyes, and her glance suddenly +encountered those of the praefect of Rome. It seemed to him that her +very soul was in her eyes then, a soul which at that moment appeared +full of horror at all that she had seen. + +But as quickly as she had thus involuntarily revealed her soul, so did +she conceal it again beneath her favoured veil of unbendable pride. She +frowned on him as if angered that he should have surprised a secret, and +almost it seemed then that she flashed on him a look of hatred and +contempt. + +After that she turned away, and with her foot kicked away the fallen +lilies. She sat now leaning forward, motionless and still, with her +elbows buried in an embroidered cushion before her and her chin resting +on her hands. + +Oh! if he only could, how gladly would he have seized her even now and +carried her away from this nauseating scene of bloodshed and cruelty. He +crossed his arms over his powerful chest till every muscle seemed to +crack with the effort of self-control. His very soul longed to take her +away, his sinews ached with the desire to seize her and to bear her in +his arms away, away beyond the cruel encircling walls of Rome, away from +her marble palaces and temple-crowned hills, away over the marshes of +the Campania and the belt of the blue sea beyond to that far-off land of +Galilee where he himself had found happiness and peace. + +The Caesar had commanded his presence here to-day, and he had come +because the Caesar had commanded. To the last he would render unto Caesar +that which was Caesar's. But he had stood by with eyes that only saw a +golden head crowned with diamonds, a delicate oval cheek coloured like a +peach and tiny fleecy curls that fluttered softly in the breeze. + +There was no longer any sorrow in his heart, no longer any remorse or +thought of treachery. The man in the little hut on the Aventine had +shown him the way how to lay down his burden of weakness and of sin. + +He knew that he loved Dea Flavia with all the ardour of an untamed heart +that has never before tasted the sweetness of love. He knew that he +loved her with all the passion of a soul that at last hath found a mate. +But now he knew also that in this love there was no thought of treachery +to Him in Whose service he was prepared to lay down his life. He knew +that never again would the exquisite vision of this fair young pagan +stand between him and the Cross, but rather that she would point to +him--ignorantly and unconsciously--the way up to Golgotha. + +For renunciation awaited him--that also did he know. A few more days in +the service of the Caesar, and his promise to remain in Rome would no +longer bind him, since Caligula had returned from abroad. + +The rest of his life was at the bidding of Him Who mutely from the Cross +had demanded his allegiance: a lonely hut somewhere on the Campania, or +further if God demanded it, a life of strenuous effort to win souls for +Christ, and the renunciation of all that had made life easy and pleasant +hitherto. God alone knew how easy that would have been to him +forty-eight hours ago. Taurus Antinor hated and despised the life of +Rome, the tyranny of a demented Caesar, the indolence of the daily +routine, the ever-recurrent spectacles of hideous, inhuman cruelty. +Until that midday hour in the Forum four days ago, he had viewed his new +prospective life with a sense of infinite relief. + +But now renunciation meant something more. Detachment from Rome and all +its pomps, its glories, and its cruelties meant also detachment from the +presence of Dea Flavia. It meant the tearing out of his very +heartstrings which had found root at a woman's feet. It meant the +drawing of an impenetrable veil between life itself and all that +henceforth could alone make life dear. + +He had dreamed a dream, the exquisite beauty of which had wrought havoc +in his innermost soul, but the awakening had come before the glorious +dream had found its complete birth. Jesus of Nazareth had called to him +from the Cross, but even as He called, the pierced, sacred hand had +pointed to the broad path strewn with gold and roses, filled with the +fragrance of lilies and thrilled with the song of mating birds: and the +dying voice had gently murmured: "Choose!" + +The soldier had chosen and was ready to go. But renunciation was not to +be the easy turning away from a road that was none too dear--it was to +be a sacrifice!--the taking up of the cross and the slow, weary mounting +up, up to Calvary, with aching back and sweating brow and the dreary +tragedy of utter loneliness. + +It meant the giving up of every delight of manhood, of happiness in a +woman's smile, of rapture in a woman's kiss. It meant the giving up of +every joy in seeing her pass before him, of hearing the swish of her +skirts on the pavement of the city; it meant the giving up of all hope +ever to win her, of all thought of a future home, the patter of +children's feet, the rocking of a tiny cradle. It meant the sacrifice of +every thought of happiness and of every desire of body and of soul. + +It meant the nailing of a heart to the foot of a cross. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +"So I gave them up unto their own heart's lust: and they walked +in their own counsels."--PSALMS LXXXI. 12. + + +In the meanwhile the stage-hands, the smiths and carpenters had been +busily at work, setting the scene for the coming drama. + +Huge gnarled tree-trunks were dragged into the arena, and so disposed as +to afford shelter either for man or beast. By a mechanical device a +stream of water some six foot wide was made to wind its course along the +sands, and groups of tall reeds and other aquatic plants were skilfully +arranged beside the banks of this improvised stream. + +Soon the whole aspect of the arena was thus transformed into an open +piece of country with trees here and there, and tufts of grass, mounds +and monticules, with a stream and a reed-covered shore. The whole +beautifully arranged and with due regard for realism. + +The people watched, highly pleased; now that the Emperor's pet panther +had appeared they were satisfied that a spectacle such as they loved was +about to be unfolded before them. + +But soon the workmen were engaged on other work, the purport of which +could not at first be guessed. To understand it at all a vivid picture +of the huge arena must appear before the mind. + +Down below there was the artificial landscape, the trees, the stream, +the sand and grass, and all around the massive marble walls rose to a +height of some twelve feet to the lowest tier of the tribunes, beyond +which sat row upon row in precipitous gradients two hundred thousand +spectators. + +At about four feet from the ground a narrow ledge--formed by the +elaborate carving in the solid marble--ran right along the walls, and +between this ledge and the top of the wall there was a low colonnaded +arcade with deep niches set between the fluted columns. + +From these niches the workmen now suspended short ladders of twisted +crimson silk, of sufficient strength to bear the weight of a man. They +affixed these to heavy steel rings imbedded in the bases of the columns, +and when the ladders were in position, they hung down low enough, that a +man--standing on the ledge below--could just contrive to seize the ends +and to swing himself aloft, up into the niche. + +The public watched these preparations with breathless interest, for soon +their objects became evident. It was clear that those who were to be +exposed to an encounter with the panther would be given a fair chance of +escape. It was to be an even fight between man and beast. + +A man hotly pursued by the brute could--if he were sufficiently +agile--leap upon the narrow ledge, seize the rope-ladder and climb up it +until he reached the safe haven of the niche, and could draw the ladder +in after him. And fear of death doth lend a man wondrous agility. + +It looked in fact as if the coming struggle were all to be in favour of +the man and not of the beast, for the smooth surface of the walls and +the narrow ledge above the carvings could not afford foothold to an +enraged four-footed creature with sharp claws that would glance off the +polished marble. + +The public--realising this--waxed impatient. The novel spectacle did +not, after all, promise to be to its liking. The panther would make but +a sorry show if it was not given a helpless victim or two to devour. + +Murmurs of dissatisfaction rose from every side as the work proceeded, +and anon when all round the walls of the arena, the twelve ladders of +safety were firmly fixed, seeming mutely to deride the excitement of the +people, the murmur broke into angry cries. + +But Caligula did not seem to heed either the murmur or those loud +expressions of discontent which, at other times, would probably have +maddened him with rage. He had watched the preparations with eager +interest and had himself once or twice shouted directions to the +workmen. + +Now, when everything appeared complete, he turned to the tribune which +was next to his own, and his small bloodshot eyes wandered over the +assembly of patricians, of knights and of senators who were seated +there. + +He called my lord Hortensius Martius to him and appeared to be pointing +out to him the advantages of the rope-ladders with obvious pride in the +ingenuity of the device. Young Escanes too was bidden to admire the +contrivance, which--it soon became evident--was the invention of the +Caesar himself. + +The public--still feeling dissatisfied--watched desultorily for a while +the doings in the imperial tribune. Then general interest was once more +aroused, when the workmen--slaves and legionaries--having finished their +preparations, hurried helter-skelter out of the arena. + +The sliding doors of the panther's cage were being slowly drawn away. + +For a few seconds the powerful brute remained wary, silent and cowering, +then with one mighty, savage snarl it bounded into the arena. + +Supple, graceful and splendid it walked round in solemn majesty, its +flat head kept low to the ground, its sinuous body curving and winding +as it walked, like that of a snake. + +The public watched it, fascinated by the perfect grace of its movements +and by the cruel ferocity of its tiny eyes. + +Now at the eastern end of the Amphitheatre a small iron gate slowly +swung upon its hinges, and in the dark recess beyond it a couple of men +appeared. For a moment they stood there immovable, a closely huddled +mass, shoulder to shoulder, with round open eyes dilated with fear and a +cry of nameless terror still hovering unuttered on their lips. + +They were hugely built men, with massive torso and legs bare, and +tow-coloured hair brought straight up to the crown of the head and +knotted there with a black band. + +There was much shouting from the recess whence they had emerged, and +anon some vigorous prodding and pushing from behind. But they dug their +bare feet into the sand, refusing to move; arm against arm they made of +themselves a wall which fear of death kept rigid and horror made +unbreakable. + +The public greeted them with mock applause. In them they had quickly +recognised the German barbarians whom the Caesar had brought back from +his last expedition as prisoners of war; in truth they were hardened +malefactors who had been offered a chance of life in exchange for the +pitiable masquerade. But this the public did not know. To the two +hundred thousand holiday-makers, craning their necks to see the +miserable wretches, they were but the living proofs of the Caesar's +prowess in the field. With ironical cheers they were bidden to advance, +even whilst at no great distance from them the black panther sitting on +its haunches was surveying them with lazy curiosity, licking its mighty +jaws. + +Then the public grew impatient, and from the recess behind the two men +persuasion became more vigorous. Through the darkness behind the gates +there appeared the red glow of a brazier, there was a quick hissing +sound, an awful double howl of pain and the smell of burnt flesh filled +the air. The next moment the two men fell scrambling forward into the +arena, and the iron gate closed behind them with a thud. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +"Thou art become guilty in the blood that thou hast +shed."--EZEKIEL XXII. 4. + + +The hunter and the hunted! the lithe supple sinewy creature crawling +with belly almost touching the ground and stealthy steps that made no +sound on the sand of the arena. + +Wary and silent the black beast crawled, now hiding amidst the scrubby +grass, now bounding over trees and stream as if playing with herself, +with her own desire for a taste of human blood. + +At first terror had kept the two men rooted to the spot, paralysed, and +with feet deeply imbedded in the sand. Only their eyes seemed alive, +roaming along the wall, all round to where on either side the silken +ladders made vivid crimson streaks on the white smoothness of the +marble. + +The panther waiting, watched them till they moved. The public, +entranced, scarcely dared to draw breath. + +Then came a sudden cry from thousands of throats; the two men, as if +driven by a sudden sense of approaching death, had made a quick +desperate rush, one to the right the other to the left, towards the +crimson silk which meant safety to them. + +But the panther was on guard and quicker twice than they. It seemed as +if the brute had divined exactly where lay escape for its prey. It was +guarding both sides of the arena at once, bounding from left to right, +and back from right to left with giant leaps, soundless and swift. + +The men paused again, because it seemed that when they were still, the +panther too lay still and watched. + +There was another lull, and from the imperial tribune above Dea Flavia +watched the horrible spectacle, and Taurus Antinor drank into his soul +the beauty of her eyes as they watched--fascinated--every movement of +the sleek black panther, and of those fair-skinned giants trying to +escape from death; she watched the stealthy approach of the beast toward +its prey; she watched, motionless and still, the while great beads of +perspiration matted the fair curls on her brow. + +And to the man who loved her, and who saw her thus watching the horrible +spectacle which must have made her feel sick and faint, to him it seemed +as if in her mind the hideous sight meant something more than just the +brutal display of cruelty which was a familiar one enough in Rome. + +It seemed as if to her some hidden meaning lay in this teasing of a +ferocious brute, and in this apparent clemency in allowing the victims a +chance of escape, for every now and then she turned as if involuntarily +toward the Caesar, and a quick glance of understanding seemed to pass +between her and that inhuman monster. + +Taurus Antinor, with his gaze fixed upon her every movement, wondered +what all that could mean. + +After a quarter of an hour of tense excitement, of alternate cries of +horror and screams of delight, the two men had, by dint of cunning and +agility, succeeded in evading the panther. They were safe within the +protecting niches; the panther down below was roaring with baffled rage, +and the public clapped and cheered vociferously. + +Two more men were thrust into the arena, dressed in the same way as the +others, pushed forward like the others to the accompaniment of a +brazier's glow and the smell of burnt flesh. + +The panther, more wary this time, did not allow both men to escape. Yet +they had made a clever dash for safety; one of them was already swinging +himself aloft, but the other had missed his footing once, when he jumped +upon the ledge; he regained it and seized the swinging end of the +ladder, but the panther, with a bound, had reached him and caught his +foot in its jaws. + +That hideous noise--the scrunching of a human bone--was drowned in +tumultuous applause as the miserable wretch with the maimed and bleeding +leg, but with that almighty instinct for life at any cost, toiled +mangled and bleeding up that ladder less crimson than the trail which he +left in his wake. + +Dea Flavia's head fell forward on the cushion. But she fought against +the swoon. The ironical laughter of the Augustas round her quickly +brought her to herself. + +"The heat is overpowering," she said calmly in reply to a coarse comment +from the Caesar. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +"His blood shall be on our head, if any hand be upon +him."--JOSHUA II. 19. + + +The heat was intense! The glare from the tribunes opposite seemed to +sear the eyes, and from below there rose to the nostrils that awful +sickening stench of human blood. + +The public, frantic with excitement, was clapping and cheering; +thousands of necks were craned to get a better view into the floor of +the arena, thousands of fans were fluttering, children were laughing and +women chattered incessantly, like a pack of monkeys. + +And down below the baffled panther sent roar upon roar of rage into the +seething cauldron of a thousand sounds. + +The creature had been cheated to the last; a score of victims had been +pushed into his lair to tempt him. He had stalked them in play at first, +then more earnestly, finally with a mad desire for blood. But always his +prey escaped him, invisible hands showed the means of escape; the +crimson ladders seemed to multiply their numbers until all round the +walls they showed innumerable paths to safety. + +The panther seemed to know that those streaks of crimson were his mute +enemies. He made several ineffectual dashes for them, but always his +claws slid against the marble, and he fell back into the sand, snarling +with rage. + +Once or twice his prey was more attainable. He caught a foot, a leg, a +hand; thrice he brought a huge, panting body to the ground, but even +then he was cheated of his victory. Long iron grapnels, wielded by +unseen hands, dragged the mangled limbs and torn bodies roughly from his +clutch, leaving behind them trails of torn flesh and streams of blood, +which only helped to exasperate the beast by their insufficiency. + +And now the panther was like a black, snake-like fury, blind with rage +and unsatisfied lust, with tail lashing like a whipcord and yellow eyes +that gleamed like tiny suns. His jaws were red and dripping, his claws +had been torn by the same grapnels that had snatched his prey from him. + +He had ceased to roar, but snarl upon snarl escaped his panting throat. +The public delighted in him. They loved to see the ferocious brute +maddened by these tortures, beside which the agony of Tantalus was but +the misery of a child. + +Then Caligula rose to his feet and his heralds blew loud blasts upon +their trumpets. In a moment silence fell on the entire arena; the +pandemonium of shouts and laughter and shrieks of agony was hushed as if +by the magic of an almighty power. + +The Emperor was standing and desired speech, and all at once silence +descended upon this vast concourse of people. Everyone rose, since the +Caesar was standing; all heads were turned towards the tribune, all eyes +fixed upon the misshapen figure with its halo of gold round the +grotesque head, and the metal thunderbolts held aloft in the hand. + +The only sound that was not stilled at the Caesar's bidding was--down +below--the snarl of the angry panther. + +"Citizens of Rome," began Caligula, as soon as he could make himself +heard, "patricians of Rome! soldiers! senators! all my people! I--even +I--your Caesar, your Emperor, your god, do give you greeting! I have +sought to please you and to make you happy on this my first day amongst +you all." + +Here he was interrupted by vociferous cheering. Next to shows and +spectacles, to games and theatres, there was nothing that the people of +Rome loved better than to hear impassioned speeches thundered at them +either from the rostra in the Forum, or from any convenient spot whence +the voice of a good speaker would rouse a sense of excitement or elation +in their hearts. Demagogues and agitators, rhetoricians and poets were +all sure of a hearing, if only they were sufficiently inspired and +sufficiently eloquent. But it was not often that the Caesar himself would +pour forth imperial oratory into the delighted ears of his people, and a +fervent speech from the Emperor at this moment, when excitement and +exhilaration were at fever-pitch, was a pleasure which no one had +foreseen but which filled everyone with delight. + +"Glad am I," continued Caligula, when the excitement had calmed down +momentarily, "that my efforts to please you have met with success." + +"They have! They have!" yelled the enthusiastic crowd. + +"The gods have indeed rewarded me--not beyond my deserts, for that were +impossible--but in a just measure, by giving me the love of my people." + +"Hail Caesar! Hail the greatest and best of Caesars!" came in deafening +echoes from every side of the immense Amphitheatre. + +"I thank you all! Your loyalty to-day has greatly cheered me. I--as your +supreme lord and god--will shower my blessings upon you. As a god I am +immortal; always I will watch over you, sitting at the right hand of +Jupiter Victor, my father, from all times. But in my earthly shape I +may not be with you always. There may come a time when god-like duties +call me to Olympus. Then must a wise and just ruler take my place at the +head of this great Empire." + +"No! no! Hail to thee Caesar! Immortal Caesar!" cried the people, and +Caligula, stricken with vanity as if with plague, was deaf to the +ironical cheers that accompanied these cries. + +"Immortal am I," he said, whilst his bloodshot eyes travelled restlessly +over the sea of faces spread out before him. "Immortal, yet destined to +leave you one day. When that day comes, there will be weeping in the +city and moanings throughout the Empire, but the wise and just ruler who +will follow in my wake will--while not able to console you for my +loss--continue the good works which I have commenced. Citizens of Rome, +patricians, soldiers, all listen to what I say." + +His face now looked purple with excitement, his hoarse voice shook as it +escaped his throat, and his hair, thin and lanky, seemed to stand upon +end all round his large, bulging forehead. + +A gentle breeze had caught the folds of his purple tunic, and it +fluttered all round him with a curious swishing noise, like the sighing +of creatures in pain. + +The hand that held Jove's thunderbolt trembled visibly, and the +perspiration was streaming down his face. There was not a man or woman +present there at this moment who did not look upon him as an abject and +hideous monster, there was no one there who did not loathe and despise +him! And yet everyone listened, and not one voice was raised in derision +at his senseless oratory. + +Only the panther snarled, and its tail beat against the ground with a +dull, monotonous sound. + +And Dea Flavia, standing beside the monster, white as the lilies which +now lay withered at her feet, listened to every word that he said, +whilst Taurus Antinor gazed on her and saw again in her eyes that look +of anticipation and of understanding, as of one who knows what is to +come. + +"Citizens of Rome," resumed the imperial mountebank after an impressive +pause, "I have spent days and nights in communion with the gods, +thinking of your welfare--of your welfare when I no longer will be +amongst you all. And this is what I and the gods have decided. Listen to +me, for the gods speak to you through my mouth--I, even I, your Caesar +and your god, do speak. + +"There dwells amongst us all one whose divinity is almost equal to mine +own--one who by her beauty and her grace hath found favour with the gods +and with me. She is of the House of Caesar, and hath name Dea Flavia; and +I, the Caesar, have called her Augusta, and set her up above all other +women in Rome. She comes from the House of great Augustus himself, and +it is a descendant of the great Augustus who alone will be worthy to +wield the sceptre of Caesar when it hath fallen from my grasp. Therefore +this have I decided. The son of Dea Flavia shall in time to come follow +in my footsteps, and make you happy and prosperous even as I have done; +and because of this my decision must I give Dea Flavia as wife unto a +man who is worthy of her. Many there are who have aspired to her hand, +but all of them have I hitherto rejected, because not one of them had +given proof of his courage or of his strength. Citizens of Rome, +patricians, and soldiers all! What we must look for in your future ruler +is valour in the face of death, coolness and intrepidity in the sight of +danger. These qualities, which grace your present Caesar, must be +transmitted to his successor through Dea Flavia, the divine, and by a +father who has given signal proof of his virtues. I have enjoined the +Augusta Dea Flavia to bestow her hand on him who above all is worthy to +be her lord. To this has she consented and to-day will she make her +choice, and herewith do I call on you patricians who aspire to her hand +to enter the lists in her honour. Give a proof of your valour, of your +intrepidity, of your courage! Show that you are as valiant as the lion, +as wary as the snake. Descend into the arena now, unarmed save for the +hands which the gods have given you, and thus engage that unconquered +monster in single combat! An even chance of life is given you! And +I--even I your Caesar--will give unto the victor the hand of the Augusta +Dea Flavia in marriage!" + +Even before his last words had echoed along the marble walls, deafening +cries and cheers rent the air. Men shouted, women screamed and waved +their fans, mantles were torn from every shoulder and swung overhead +like flags. + +"Hail to Caesar! Hail to the best and greatest of Caesars! Hail to the +Augusta! Dea Flavia, hail!" + +The shouts were incessant, even whilst Caligula, delighted with his +oratory, exultant over the success of his plan, stood there trembling in +every limb, with moist, purple face turned from right to left to receive +the acclamations of his people. His tiny eyes blinked with the glare +that struck fully at them from opposite, his throat was parched with +screaming, his tongue seemed to cleave to the roof of his mouth. + +Excitement was overmastering him; the effort to appear outwardly sane +and calm was too severe a tax upon his raging temper. The heat, too, no +doubt turned him giddy, for suddenly, even whilst the cries of "Hail!" +buzzed in his ears, he threw up his arms and tottered backwards, rigid +as a log, whilst drops of foam gathered at the corners of his mouth. + +It was Taurus Antinor who received the swooning Caesar in his strong +arms. Everyone else around was too excited to move. The Augustas, +inwardly consumed with jealousy, were striving to keep up an appearance +of dignity in the face of the insult which they deemed had been put upon +them by this semi-deification of their kinswoman. + +Dea Flavia, pale and silent, stood facing the people, with eyes that +seemed to look on something unearthly far away. Her white robes, +shimmering with precious stones, fell round her like a shroud, her lips +were parted as with a cry that had died even before it had found birth +in her throat. The public thought that she looked proud, and acclaimed +her because of this strange aloofness which seemed to envelop her whole +person. She did not look of this world at all. Even the eyes appeared +sightless and dead. + +When the Caesar fell back, half fainting, she seemed to wake from her +dream, a shudder went right through her as her eyes slowly turned from +their vacant gaze to the prostrate figure of this inhuman monster, lying +stricken like a felled brute, in the arms of the praefect of Rome. + +Once again, and for the third time to-day, her eyes met those of Taurus +Antinor, but this time it seemed to him that within their still +mysterious depths he read something akin to an appeal. + +As on that day in the Forum, intense pity--which had given birth to +love--filled his heart for this beautiful young girl who seemed so +lonely in the midst of all this pomp. + +The purity of her soul appeared to him undimmed, even though he knew now +that she had expected this awful thing all along, and that she was no +stranger to this monstrous barter of her person for the attainment of a +crazy Emperor's whim, or to make holiday for the rabble of Rome. In his +sight her pride remained unshaken; only her loyalty and allegiance had +been given to the Caesar in the same way as his own had been. She, in her +simple, womanly way, was rendering unto Caesar that which was Caesar's, +and Taurus Antinor, whilst tenderly pitying her, felt that he had never +loved her as fondly as he did now. + +The curse of the dying freedwoman was indeed bearing fruit. Dea's +favours, her loyalty, were turning to bitter malediction for the +recipients. More than one man to-day, mayhap, would die an horrible +death in the hope of winning her grace. And Taurus Antinor, in the +silent depths of his soul, prayed unto God that the woman he loved +should never--as Menecreta had foretold--be driven to beg for mercy from +a heart that knew it not and find a pitiless ear turned to her prayers. + + +Caligula had quickly shaken himself free from the arms that held him. +The fainting fit which had threatened him passed away as swiftly as it +had come. His lust of hate and revenge was so keen at this moment that +it conquered all his physical weakness. When he realised that it was +Taurus Antinor who was supporting him, he contrived to smile benignly +and placidly upon him. + +"I am well! I am well!" he reiterated cheerfully. "Did my voice carry +all over the Amphitheatre? Did everyone hear what I said?" + +"Everyone heard thy voice, O Caesar!" said Taurus Antinor slowly, "and +see the aspirant for the Augusta's hand has prepared to do battle for +her sake!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +"But truly as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is +but a step between me and death."--I SAMUEL XX. 3. + + +When the Caesar had finished speaking, and he fell swooning back in the +arms of the praefect of Rome, the conspirators remained quite still, +staring at one another, dumbfounded. + +Could any man at that moment have divined the secrets of the heart and +looked into the thoughts of all these men, what a medley of terror and +of lust, of rage and of jealousy, would have been unfolded before his +eyes. + +The plotters were like men who, falling to with axe and pick to demolish +a building, had seen that same building collapse beneath their feet. +They had sat quietly by all the day watching the events, content that +these would shape themselves in accordance with their will. Young +Escanes from time to time fingered the poniard which he had hidden under +his tunic, Hortensius Martius gave free rein to his ardent admiration of +Dea Flavia, Ancyrus, the elder, kept watch over every phase of the +temper of the audience--its apathy, its excitement, its murmurs of +dissatisfaction and cries of enthusiasm. + +Only Caius Nepos, white to the lips, sat in terror lest the courage of +the conspirators whom he had betrayed should fail them at the eleventh +hour, and he--branded as a false informer--be left to encounter the fury +of an almighty Caesar, who had never been known to relent. + +The speech of Caligula had of a truth struck strangely upon his +hearers. The men who had been willing to wait upon chance for the +success of their plot, now found that Chance had waited upon them. The +thought of treachery did not at first enter their minds. The freaks of +the crazy Emperor were as numerous and as varied as the grains of sand +in the arena. That he should offer the hand of his kinswoman as a prize +to a victor in the arena, was not inconsistent with his perpetual desire +for new sensations, his lust of tyrannical power and his open contempt +for all his fellow-men. + +His allusions to his probable successor had seemed futile and of no +account, and they all felt that they had wallowed so deeply in the mire +of conspiracy together, that it could not have served the purpose of any +one of them to betray the others. + +The first moment of stupefaction had quickly passed away, and even +before the Caesar had recovered consciousness Hortensius Martius had +risen to his feet. There had been no hesitation in him from the first. +Whilst the others pondered--vaguely frightened at this turn given by +Chance to her wheel--he was ready to stake his life for the possession +of Dea Flavia and of the imperium. His passion for the beautiful woman +would have led him into far wilder extravagances and into far graver +dangers than an encounter in a public arena with a wild beast, and the +momentary degradation of offering his patrician person as a spectacle +for the plebs. + +And because of this sudden decision, taken boldly whilst others wavered, +he became tacitly the leader of the gang of plotters. When he jumped to +his feet, ready to descend into the arena, he seemed to challenge them +to keep their oath of allegiance to him, who would succeed in winning +Dea Flavia for wife. + +Hortensius Martius had proved himself to be a true opportunist, for he +had seized his opportunity just at the right moment when the others +hesitated. Thus are leaders made--one bold movement whilst others sit +still, one step forward whilst the others wait. + +"Thy chance, O Hortensius Martius," whispered Marcus Ancyrus, the elder, +close to the young man's ear. "Escanes and the rest of us will be ready +when the time comes, mayhap before thou dost return to us from below." + +Escanes' hand beneath his tunic closed upon the dagger. Stronger and +taller than Hortensius, he had not the sudden initiative of the brain. +He was one of those men who would always be second to a bolder, a more +resourceful leader. + +Forty pairs of eyes encouraged Hortensius Martius as he rose. In their +minds they had already crowned him with laurels. For the moment they had +accepted him as their future Emperor and were prepared to acclaim him as +Caesar when Escanes had done his work. + +It was at this moment that Caligula recovered from his swoon. His lust +of revenge and of hate brought him back to reality. He had planned to +make the arch-traitor betray himself, and now, when he caught sight of +Hortensius Martius preparing to descend into the arena, a cry as of some +prowling, savage beast rose and died in his throat. + +He was sufficiently cunning to control himself, sufficiently of an actor +to play his part without betraying his thoughts. Though he would gladly +have strangled Hortensius then and there with his own hands, he called +the young man to him with kindly benevolence and placed a fatherly hand +upon his shoulder. + +"Thou, O Hortensius Martius?" he said, in well-feigned astonishment. + +"Even I, O Caesar!" replied Hortensius calmly. + +"For love of the Augusta thou wouldst risk thy life?" + +"To prove my valour, gracious lord, since thou didst desire it." + +"On thy knees then, O my son!" rejoined the mountebank solemnly, "and +receive the blessing of the gods." + +The public watched this little scene with palpitating interest. The +Caesar looked magnificent in his fantastic robes, and beside him Dea +Flavia--like a goddess in her white tunic--was beautiful to behold. + +The Caesar laid three fingers on the young man's head, and turned his +bloodshot eyes up to the vault of heaven. Then Hortensius Martius rose +from his knees and went up to the Augusta Dea Flavia, and knelt down +before her. She took no heed of him whatever. She did not look upon his +bowed head as he stooped very low and kissed the hem of her gown; some +who watched the scene very closely declared afterwards that she snatched +her robe away from his hands. + +And from the arena down below was heard again the snarl of the thwarted +beast. + + +From the Emperor's tribune, to right and left, wide marble steps led +down to the floor of the arena. At the bottom of these steps huge iron +gates, wrought with gold and studded with nails, guarded them against +access from below. Two legionaries were stationed at these gates. + +When Hortensius Martius appeared at the top of the steps the audience +screamed with delight and cheered him to the echoes. + +He was indeed a figure like to please the most hardened spectator. Not +over tall, and slight of build, he looked elegant and graceful in his +short white tunic, with the deep purple bands that proclaimed his +patrician rank. + +A young exquisite, with well-groomed hands and hair delicately perfumed +and curled, the tense expression of his face gave him nevertheless an +air of determination and of strength. He had taken off his cloak and was +winding it round his left arm, otherwise, of course, he was unarmed as +the Emperor had directed. + +The women blew him kisses across the width of the arena, and some of the +more enthusiastic--or the younger--ones pelted him with roses as he came +down the steps. + +And down below the panther, as if scenting this new prey, sent a roar of +expectation into the vibrating air. + +Caligula smiled with hideous complacency as he looked down on the +descending figure of the young man, and when the people cheered, and the +shower of roses fell in a blood-red mass at Hortensius' feet, the Caesar +snarled even as the panther had done, showing a row of yellow teeth, +like fangs. + +At last Hortensius Martius had reached the foot of the steps. The +massive iron gates stood alone between him and the black panther, which +cowered some twenty feet away behind a low monticule covered with tufts +of grass, its tiny eyes of topaz fixed upon the oncoming prey. + +Hortensius gave the order for the opening of the gates. They swung upon +their hinges and he passed out through them. And they fell to behind him +with a mighty clang. + +Thunderous applause greeted him when he set his foot upon the sands of +the arena. The panther did not move. It had even ceased to snarl, but +its sinewy tail beat a dull tattoo upon the ground. + +Then over the whole arena there rose a curious sound, like the sighing +of two hundred thousand souls, an indrawing of the breath in two hundred +thousand throats. Hortensius Martius looked up, for the sigh had +sounded very strangely in his ear, and it had been followed by a still +stranger silence, as if two hundred thousand hearts had momentarily +ceased to beat. + +And as he looked he understood the sigh, and also the death-like silence +that followed. + +He saw that from the niches all round the arena the safety ladders of +crimson silk had all been taken away. + +And up in the imperial tribune the mighty Caesar laughed loudly and +long. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life +for his friends."--ST. JOHN XV. 13. + + +No doubt that for that first tense moment all thought of treachery, of +the conspiracy, of the imperium and even of Dea Flavia, was absent from +the young man's mind. + +It must have come upon him suddenly then and there that his life was now +in almost hopeless jeopardy. He was unarmed, and all around him the +smooth marble walls of the arena rose, polished and straight, to a +height of at least twelve feet, to the row of niches which alone might +afford him shelter. From the bases of the fluted columns the iron rings +to which the silken ladders had previously been attached, now hung at an +unattainable height: the narrow ledge--four feet from the ground--had +ceased to be a stepping-stone to safety. + +All this, of course, came to him in a flash, as does to a dying man, +they say, the varied pictures of his life. Hortensius Martius, in that +one flash, realised that he was a doomed man, that he had been trapped +into this death-trap, and that nothing now but a miracle stood between +him and a hideous death. + +Men up above in the tribunes held their breath; some women began to +whimper with excitement. But the man and the panther stood for a moment +eye to eye. No longer the hunted and the hunter, but the hungry beast of +the desert and his certain prey. The baffled creature, tantalised with +the blood of his other victims, was ready to satiate its lust at last. + +There was a moment of absolute silence, while two tiny golden eyes, +measured the distance for a leap. + +The young man now, with the cunning born of a mad instinct for life, was +waiting with bent knees, body slightly leaning forward and eyes fixed +upon the brute. He had unwound the cloak from round his arm and held it +in front of him like a shield. The man and the beast watched one another +thus for a few seconds, and to many those few seconds seemed like an +eternity. + +Then with a snarl the panther bounded forward. The man held his ground +for the space of one second, and as the brute landed within an arm's +length of him, quick as lightning he threw his cloak right in its face. +Then he began to run. The panther, entangled in the folds of the cloak, +savage and snarling, was tearing it to pieces, but Hortensius ran and +ran, driven by the blind sense of self-preservation. He ran and ran the +whole length of the arena, skirted the oval at the eastern end, and +still continued to run, with elbows firmly held to his hips and with +swift winged steps that made no sound in the sand. + +But already the creature, realising that again it was being cheated, +started in pursuit. With leaps and bounds that seemed erratic and +purposeless, it gradually diminished the distance between itself and the +running man. Once it alighted on the outstanding branch of a gnarled +tree, then from thence it took shelter in a clump of shrubs, then across +the stream, swimming to the opposite shore; for the running man had +rounded the oval and was now swiftly coming this way. Here in the tall +grass it paused--cowering--once more on the watch. + +And Hortensius, while he ran so blindly along, had failed to notice +where his enemy lay hiding. + +"In the grass!" shouted a dozen voices. + +"There!" + +"On ahead!" + +"Further on!" + +"No! no! Not there! Not there!" + +There was little exquisiteness left in the young man now. It was but a +few moments since he had stepped smiling into the arena, kicking aside +the rose-leaves which enthusiastic hands had thrown in his path. It was +but some minutes since he had begun to run, and now the perspiration was +pouring from his body, his face was as grey as the sand of the arena, +the fear of death had raised the death-sweat on his brow. + +His breath came and went hot and panting through his nostrils, his eyes, +dilated with terror, were vainly searching for the cowering enemy. + +Once more he turned to run. The panther seemed to be playing with him. A +dozen times it could have reached him, a dozen times it bounded to one +side, giving his prey another chance to run, another short respite for +the agony of despair. + +Men, women and children screamed with excitement. No longer did they +cheer the handsome young patrician, no longer did they throw roses at +his feet. They shouted to him to run because they knew that running was +no use. They urged the panther to leap because they fanned its rage with +their screams. + +"Habet! Habet!" they shouted with every bound of the ferocious creature. + +"Habet! Habet!" now that Hortensius at last paused in his run. + +He stood quite still for a veil had descended over his eyes. The whole +arena began to spin and to dance before him, the marble columns were +twisted awry, thousands upon thousands of distorted faces grinned +hideously upon him. Over the trees and the grass and the stream there +was a film of red, the colour of blood, and through this film--which +grew thicker and thicker as he gazed--he saw nothing but just opposite +to him, across the width of the arena, towering high above everything +around, the tall figure of Dea Flavia with her white dress falling +straight from the shoulders, her fair hair crowned with diamonds, her +face white as her gown and her lips parted as if uttering a cry of +horror. + +The next moment that cry--it was a woman's cry--did rend the air from, +end to end of the gigantic enclosure, and the cry was echoed and +re-echoed by thousands and thousands of throats, as the panther, taking +steady aim, leaped straight for the man. + +The noise became deafening: men, women, children, everyone screamed, and +right through this whirling orgy of sound a voice was shouting, strong +and mighty as that of Jupiter when he sends his decrees thundering forth +into the air. + +"By his throat, Hortensius! By his throat, and I'll at him whilst he +pants!" + +Hortensius put out his hands with a last instinctive sense of +self-preservation. The mighty voice rang in his ear, it reverberated +through the hot noonday air, and clanged against the copper gates as if +a powerful arm had smitten them with the axe of Jove. + +The man saw the beast's leap, felt the hot breath in his face, felt the +two yellow eyes gleaming on him like burning suns, and his ears buzzed +with the din of thousands of shrieks; then he suddenly felt himself +uplifted, whilst an agonised roar from the throat of a wounded beast +overfilled the seething cauldron of sound. + +The praefect of Rome was standing in the arena now, and in his strong +arms lifted high above his head he held the swooning man, whilst some +few paces away the panther was lying prone, with blood streaming from +its quivering jaws. + + +It had all happened so suddenly that no one afterwards could say how it +occurred. But there were those who retained a vision of the whole thing +and afterwards shared their impressions with others. + +Everyone recollected when my lord Hortensius first entered the arena and +the iron gates closed in behind him, that a general feeling of horror +fell upon the entire public when it realised that all means of safety, +all chance of escape had been removed with those silken ladders, and +that the young patrician had in truth been left at the mercy of a +powerful brute, goaded to madness through baffled desire for blood. + +At that same moment the praefect of Rome disappeared from the imperial +tribune, and the terrible scene between the hunting beast and the hunted +man had begun. + +Time for the man to run round the arena! Time for the brute to stalk and +play with its prey! Time, it seems, for the praefect of Rome to make his +way from the imperial tribune to the east end of the arena, where was +stationed the city guard of which he had full control! + +A few precious seconds in making the soldiers understand what he wanted, +a few more seconds to command them to obey for they stood as a phalanx +against the gate, thinking the praefect mad in desiring to enter the +arena--a few more seconds and Taurus Antinor was at last in the arena, +shouting to the hunted man to have at the brute with his hands. + +But Hortensius was weak from exhaustion brought on by a life of luxury +and idleness and by the excitement of the last two days. He put out two +feeble hands, and the panther was already on the leap. + +And by that time Taurus Antinor was between him and the brute. With a +blow of his hard fists--fashioned in far off Northern lands--and with +the strength that is given to the barbarians of that sea-washed shore, +he had drawn blood from the creature's jaw and sent it rolling back on +its haunches, momentarily dazed. + +Only momentarily, however, whilst two hundred thousand throats yelled in +unison: + +"Habet! Habet! Habet!" + +A precious moment that! With a maddened beast, a swooning man and no +arms save a pair of fists, hard as iron, made with a hand slender and +supple like the finest tempered steel. + +And while the panther fell back roaring, and before it could prepare for +a new spring, Taurus Antinor had seized the swooning man. It was his +turn to run now, for he had but a few seconds in which to save the life +of his bitterest foe. + +Straight to the walls of the arena did he run, and his voice was heard +speaking loudly and commandingly: + +"The arcade, man! Rouse thyself! The arcade! The rings in the columns! +Quick!" + +It needed the strength of a bullock to accomplish the deed: that, or the +strength which comes from unbendable human will. The man, only +half-conscious, returned to his senses by the force of that same will. +The instinct of life was strongest in the end, and when Taurus Antinor +leapt upon the ledge and hoisted Hortensius' body high up above his +head, the young man, with the final effort borne of hope and built upon +despair, reached up and caught one of the massive rings imbedded in the +bases of the fluted columns. + +For a few seconds he remained suspended, his body swinging against the +marble wall, whilst the public cheered with an enthusiasm that knew no +bounds. From below the praefect helped to push the feeble body up, then +another jerk, a pull upwards, a push, and Hortensius Martius had found +safety in one of the niches of the arcade. + +"Hail to the praefect of Rome! Hail!" came in a continuous, thunderous +roar from every corner of the arena, even as with a sudden bound the +black panther had sprung upon Taurus Antinor, and, catching him +unawares, had felled him to the ground. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +"Well done, thou good and faithful servant."--ST. MATTHEW XXV. 21. + + +A tumult amongst the people? + +Aye! it was here now fully aroused. The praefect of Rome was popular +with the plebs. His action in the arena had called forth unbounded +enthusiasm. When he fell rolling into the sand, with the black panther +snarling above him, his steel-like grip warding for the moment the +brute's jaws from off his throat, the people broke out into regular +frenzy. + +"The praefect! the praefect!" they shouted. + +Men climbed down along the gradients leaping over other men, determined +to jump down twelve feet into the arena in order to rescue the praefect +from the jaws of the ferocious beast. + +But above in the imperial tribune the Caesar sat snarling like the +panther and rubbing his hands with glee. His trap had been +over-successful, one by one the arch-traitors fell headlong into it. +First Hortensius Martius, that young fool! What mattered if he had +escaped from a ravenous panther? The claws of a vengeful Caesar were +sharper far than those of any beast of the desert. + +And now Taurus Antinor! the praefect of Rome! the man of silence and of +integrity! the idol of the people, the scorner of Caesar's godhead. Vague +rumour had reached Caligula of the praefect's strange sayings, his +refusal to enter the temples and to sacrifice to the gods. People said +that the Anglicanus worshipped one who claimed to be greater than Caesar +and all the deities of Rome. + +Well, so be it! There he lay now in the dust, a huddled mass of man and +beast, the sand of the arena reddened with his blood. Caligula screamed +like the rest of his people, but his cry was: + +"Habet! Habet! Habet!" And in a frenzy of rage and hate his thumb +pointed downwards, downwards, as if it were a dagger which he could +plunge into the Anglicanus' throat. + +But the city guard were the first to break their bounds. Even whilst the +imperial madman exulted and shrieked forth his murderous "Habet!" they +had rushed to the rescue of their praefect. + +The powerful grasp on the panther's throat was on the point of relaxing; +the brute was digging its claws in the shoulders of the fallen man, and +he, feeling faint with loss of blood, looked upon death as it stared +down at him from the beast's golden eyes, and all that he was conscious +of was the feeling that death was good. + +When the city guard rushed to his rescue, and by dint of numbers and +strength of steel tore the ferocious creature from the body of its prey, +Taurus Antinor lay a while half conscious. He heard the cry of the +people round him, he felt a shower of sweet-scented petals fall upon him +from above, he heard the last dying roar of the panther and a scream of +rage from the imperial tribune. + +Then the din became deafening: the trampling of feet, the rushing hither +and thither, the cries, the imprecations, and from beneath the tribunes +in their distant prisons, the roar of caged beasts like the far-off +rumbling of thunder. + + +Taurus Antinor raised himself on his knees. Both his shoulders had been +lacerated by the panther; he was bleeding from several wounds about the +legs and arms, and his whole body felt bruised and stiff. + +But he struggled to his feet, and now, leaning against a large tree +trunk which had formed part of the setting of the scene, he tried to +take in every detail of what was going on around him. There was, of +course, a great deal of shouting and a general stampede in the tribunes +of the plebs. In the midst of this shouting, which buzzed incessantly +like the war of a great cataract, two cries resounded very distinctly +above all the others. + +Thousands of people were shouting: + +"Hail to the praefect! Hail to the god of valour and of strength! Hail! +Taurus Antinor, hail!" + +Whilst others cried more dully, yet equally distinctly: + +"Death to the tyrant! Death to the madman! Death to Caesar! Death!" + +That he himself was for the moment the object of enthusiasm of this +irresponsible crowd, he could not doubt for an instant. That this same +irresponsible enthusiasm was leading the crowd to treachery and +rebellion was equally certain. + +The city guard egged on by the people had forced open the heavy iron +gates through which Hortensius Martius had passed a while ago, and which +led up the marble steps straight to the imperial tribune. + +Taurus Antinor looking up now saw the Caesar standing pale and trembling, +surrounded by his standard bearers, whose attitude seemed strangely +irresolute. The Augustas were clinging together in obvious terror, their +heads were pressed close to one another, and the jewels in their hair +formed a curious shimmering mass of diamonds and rubies which caught the +rays of the sun and threw back blinding sparks of prismatic colours. +Dea Flavia was not near them. She was standing alone up against the +dividing wall of the tribune, and leaning back against it, with eyes +closed, and hand pressed against her heart. + +All this did Taurus Antinor see, and also that Hortensius Martius, still +deathly pale and trembling in every limb, had succeeded in making his +way from the arcade where he had found safety, back to the patricians' +tribune amongst his friends. + +He was standing now in the midst of a compact group composed of those +men who had been present two days ago at the banquet in Caius Nepos' +house. They stood close to one another whispering eagerly amongst +themselves. Hortensius Martius was obviously their chief centre of +interest, and young Escanes held his hand concealed within the folds of +his tunic. + +And Taurus Antinor no longer paused to think. He had forgotten his +lacerated shoulder and his bleeding limbs; even the horrors of the past +quarter of an hour had faded from his mind. All that he saw was that +murder and treachery were walking hand in hand, and that the murder of +the insane Caesar now would mean the death of thousands of innocent +victims later on, that it would mean civil strife, and uncountable +misery. And all that he heard was the voice of Him Who had bidden him to +render unto Caesar that which was Caesar's, namely his allegiance, his +fealty, his life. + +The city guard loved him and knew his voice. He had no trouble in +inducing the men to let him pass through their ranks and to mount the +steps before them which led to the imperial tribune. They let him pass +perhaps because they thought that their praefect would wish to take his +revenge with his own hands. The gods themselves would have placed a +poisoned dagger in the hand of him who had been so ruthlessly exposed to +a most horrible death. + +And as Taurus Antinor's massive figure was seen to mount the steps, the +audience broke into cheers. + +"Hail Taurus Antinor! the god of valour and of strength!" + +Whilst more ominous than before came that other cry: "Death to the +tyrant! Death to the Caesar! Death!" + +And whilst the city guard followed closely on the footsteps of their +praefect, and men among the crowd prepared for the inevitable fight +which they foresaw, the women and those who were feeble and pacific +waved fans and cloaks about and threw dead roses across the arena, till +the whole place seemed like a great pageant of many-coloured flags, over +which the midday sun had thrown its veil of gold. + +When Taurus Antinor reached the topmost step Caligula caught sight of +him, and the intensity of his rage was such that his cheeks turned livid +and blotchy and hoarse inarticulate sounds escaped his panting throat. + +Even at this same moment the group composed of Escanes and the others +seemed to sway in a mass toward the tribune of the Caesar. They appeared +to be consulting Hortensius Martius who had nodded encouragingly. Young +Escanes was in the very centre of the group now, his hand was still +hidden in the folds of his tunic and the look in his face told Taurus +Antinor all that there was to fear. + +At his feet as he stepped into the tribune lay his own cloak which he +had discarded when first his instinct had prompted him to run to +Hortensius' aid. Now he picked it up. It was of dark-coloured stuff, +unadorned with the usual insignia of dignity and rank. With it in his +hand he ran quickly toward the Caesar. + +Caligula saw him coming towards him, his yellow teeth were chattering in +his mouth, he stood there palsied with fear, a prey to a deadly feeling +of hate and to one of abject terror. + +Even as Taurus Antinor, with a quick gesture, threw his own cloak round +the shoulders of the Caesar and whispered hurriedly: + +"Let your praetorian guard escort you quickly to your palace, gracious +lord--your life is in danger from the people, and...." + +"In danger at thy hands, thou infamous traitor," broke in Caligula with +a maniacal yell of rage; "take this then, in remembrance of the Caesar +whom thou hast betrayed!" + +And quick as lightning the madman drew a short poniard from beneath his +robe, and, uttering a final snarl of satisfied hate and revenge, he +plunged the dagger in Taurus Antinor's breast. + +Then he snatched the cloak from him, and, wrapping it quickly over his +head and shoulders, he called wildly to his guard and fled incontinently +from the spot. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +"The sorrows of death compassed me."--PSALM XVIII. 4. + + +Dea Flavia lay upon her bed, with wide-open eyes fixed into vacancy +above her. + +Afternoon and evening had gone by since that awful moment when the whole +fell purpose of the Caesar's plan was revealed to her, and she saw +Hortensius Martius standing unarmed and doomed in the arena, face to +face with a raging, wild beast. Afternoon and evening had vanished into +the past since she saw Taurus Antinor, with Hortensius' body held high +over his head, saving one life whilst offering up his own, since she +heard that deafening cry of horror uttered by two hundred thousand +throats when the panther sprung upon him unawares and felled him to the +ground, whilst his blood reddened the sand of the arena. + +Afternoon and evening had swooned in the arms of eternity since she saw +the terror-stricken Caesar treacherously stab the man who had rushed +forward to save him. + +After that last agonising moment she remembered nothing more until she +found herself in her own house, lying on her bed, with Licinia's +anxious, wrinkled face bending over her. + +"What hath happened, Licinia?" she had asked feebly as soon as +consciousness had returned. + +"We brought thee home safely, my precious treasure," replied the old +woman fervently, "all praise be unto the gods who watched over their +beloved." + +"But how did it happen?" queried Dea with some impatience. "Tell me all +that happened, Licinia," she reiterated with earnest insistence, as she +raised herself on her elbow and fixed her large blue eyes, in which +burned a feverish light, upon the face of her slave. + +"Yes! yes! I'll tell thee all I know," rejoined the woman soothingly. +"Thy slaves were close at hand in the vestibule of the imperial tribune, +and thy litter was down below with the bearers, in case thou shouldst +require it. But I had stood on the threshold of the tribune for some +time watching thee, for thy sweet face had been pale as death all the +morning, and I feared that the heat would be too much for thee. Thus I +saw much of what went on. I saw the traitor advance toward the Caesar, +trying to smother him with a cloak. I saw the Caesar--whom may the gods +protect--stab the traitor in the breast, and then leave the Amphitheatre +hurriedly, followed by a few among his faithful guard. But my thoughts +then were only of thee. I could see thy lovely face white as the maple +leaf, and thou wast leaning against the wall as if ready to swoon. The +traitor whom the Caesar had justly punished lay bleeding from many wounds +close to thy foot. The next moment I had thee in my arms, having caught +thee when thy dear body swayed forward and would have fallen even upon +the breast of the dead traitor." + +"The traitor?" murmured Dea Flavia then. + +"Aye! the praefect of Rome," said Licinia, with a vicious oath. "He had +incited the rabble against the Caesar, and--may his dead body be defiled +for the sacrilege!--he was causing the populace to acclaim him as their +Emperor, even whilst he raised his murderous hand against him who is the +equal of the gods!" + +"He was striving to save Caesar, Licinia, and not to murder him," said +Dea Flavia earnestly. + +"To save the Caesar? Nay! nay! my precious, the praefect of Rome tried to +murder Caesar by smothering him with a cloak." + +"It is false I tell thee!" + +"False? Nay, dear heart, I saw it all, and thou wast beside thyself and +knew not rightly what happened. Even a minute later thou laidst in my +arms like a dead white swan, and I pushed my way through the soldiers, +and past the other Augustas who cowered in the tribune, screaming and +wringing their hands. Two of thy slaves were luckily close at hand. +Together we carried thee down to thy litter and bore thee safely home +for which to-morrow I will offer special sacrifice to Minerva who +protected thee." + +"And what happened after we were gone?" + +"Alas! I know not. They say that the populace became more and more +unruly: there were shouts for the praefect of Rome, who fortunately lay +dead on the floor of the tribune, and there were even some sacrilegious +miscreants who called for death upon the Caesar." + +"Do they say," queried Dea Flavia, speaking slowly and low, "that the +praefect of Rome is dead?" + +"If he be not dead now," retorted Licinia viciously, for her loyalty to +the Caesar was bound up with her love for Dea Flavia, and treachery to +Caesar meant treachery to her beloved, "If he be not dead now, he shall +still suffer for his treason: and if he be dead his body shall be +defiled." + +"Oh!" + +"Aye! a traitor must suffer even in death. His body shall be given to +the dogs, his blood to the carrion...." + +"Silence, Licinia!" broke in Dea Flavia sternly, "fill not mine ears +with thy hideous talk. Every word thou dost utter is impiety and +sacrilege, and I would smite thee for them had I but the strength. + +"But I am so tired," she added after a slight pause, with a weary little +sigh, even whilst Licinia, subdued and frightened, stood silently by: "I +would like to sleep." + +"Then sleep, my goddess," said the old woman, "I'll watch over thee." + +"No! no! I could not sleep if I were watched," rejoined Dea Flavia with +the fretfulness of a tired child. "I would rather be alone." + +"But thou'lt have bad dreams." + +"Order Blanca to lie across the threshold. I can then send her to fetch +thee, if I have need of thee." + +"I would rather lie across thy threshold myself," muttered the old +woman. + +"Good Licinia, do as I tell thee," said Dea, now with marked impatience. +"And--stay--" she added as Licinia still grumbling prepared reluctantly +to obey--"I pray thee find out for me all that is going on in the city. +Mayhap Tertius will know what has happened--or Piso.... Go seek them, +Licinia, and find out all that there is to know, so that thou canst tell +me everything anon, when I wake." + +She lay back on her bed with closed eyes whilst Licinia kissed her hands +and feet, re-arranged the embroidered coverlet and the downy cushions, +and after a while shuffled out of the room. + +There was nothing that the old woman loved better than a gossip with +Tertius, who was the comptroller of the Augusta's household, or with +Piso, who was the overseer of her slaves: and even her fond desire to +watch beside her mistress yielded to the delight of holding long and +interesting parley with these worthies. + +So it was with considerable alacrity that--having deputed the young +girl, Blanca, to watch over her mistress--she made her way through the +atrium, and thence across the vast peristyle to the quarters of the +slaves. + +Tertius--the comptroller--had, it appears, sallied forth into the +streets, despite the lateness of the hour, in the hope of gleaning some +information as to what was going on in the city. Even in this secluded +portion of the Palatine, where stood the house of Dea Flavia under the +shelter of the surrounding palaces, weird sounds of human cries and of +the clashing of steel was penetrating with ominous persistency. + +Piso--the overseer--who had remained at home, as he did not feel +sufficiently valiant to face once again the disturbance outside, told +Licinia all that he had witnessed before he finally found safe haven at +home. + +It seemed that the tumult in the Amphitheatre had not ceased with the +flight of the Emperor, rather that it had grown in intensity when the +populace saw the praefect of Rome fall backwards, stabbed by the Caesar, +and the latter disappear hurriedly, followed by a few from among the +praetorian guard. + +There was no doubt that the temper of the populace had been over-excited +by the cruel scenes of a while ago; lust of blood and of tyranny had +been fanned to fever-pitch through those very spectacles which the Caesar +himself had provided for the people, with a view to satisfying his own +ferocious desires of hate and of revenge. + +Now that same fever-heated temper was turning against him, who had +fanned it for his own ends. + +Caligula had made good his escape, satisfied that his dagger had done +its work upon the arch-traitor. He had fled through the private entrance +of his tribune, and his guard had rallied round him. But a company of +legionaries--some five or six hundred strong--was still in the place, +as well as his knights and all his friends, and against these did the +wrath of the rabble turn. + +The lawless and the rough soon had it all their own way, and the +peaceable citizen who would have liked to get wife and children safely +out of the crowd found it well-nigh impossible to make his way through +the throng. + +After a few moments the disturbance became general; there was a great +deal of shouting and presently missiles began to fly about. The rabble +attacked the legionaries and a sanguinary conflict ensued. The former +was in overwhelming number and succeeded in breaking the rank of the +soldiers, and in putting them momentarily to rout. + +After this there was a general stampede down and along the gradients of +the Amphitheatre, during which hundreds of persons--including women and +children--were crushed to death. The scene of confusion seems to have +baffled description. Piso, who had succeeded in making his way home in +the midst of it all, had even now to wipe his brow, which was streaming +with perspiration at the recollection of the horrors which he had +witnessed. + +Whilst he proceeded with his narrative, Tertius had returned with +further news. And these, of a truth, were very alarming. The lower +slopes of the Palatine, as well as the Forum and the surrounding +streets, were now in the hands of the mob. The few legions who were in +the city had been cut off from the Palatine, and though they were making +vigorous efforts to break through the close ranks of the crowd, they +had, up to this hour, been wholly unsuccessful, owing no doubt to the +paucity of their numbers, since the bulk of the army was not yet home +from that insensate and mock expedition into Germany. + +The whole of the troops in and around the city, including the town and +praetorian guard, was on this day computed at less than one thousand, +and the mob--so Tertius averred--was over one hundred thousand strong. + +The law-abiding citizens had locked themselves up in the fastnesses of +their homes, and the Caesar--so it was believed--was inside his palace +with a small detachment of his guard around him, one hundred strong, who +already had had to repel numerous attacks delivered by the more forward +amongst the rabble. + +Tertius had not been able to get far beyond the precincts of the house, +for fear had driven him back. The shouts which came from the streets +below and from the Forum were ominous and threatening. + +"Death to the Caesar! Death to the tyrant!" could be distinctly heard +above the din of stampeding feet, and a low and constant murmur that +sounded like distant thunder. + +There was no doubt that the Caesar's life was in grave danger, seeing +that only a handful of men stood between him and the fury of an excited +populace; and these men were without a leader, for the praetorian +praefect had been cut off from them, even as he tried to push his way +through the crowd earlier in the day. + +Thus, therefore, did this harbinger of evil news resume the situation. +Caligula was in his palace, surrounded by the slaves of his household +and guarded by a few soldiers against a raging mob--an hundred thousand +or more strong--who had formed a ring around the Palatine, and was +clamouring for the Caesar's death. The legionaries, under the command of +faithful Centurions, were cut off from the Palatine and from their Caesar +by the mob whose solid ranks they had hitherto been unable to break. The +Augustas and their slaves were also safe within their palaces. + +But what Tertius did not know, and was therefore unable to impart to his +eager listeners was that the party of conspirators, with Hortensius +Martius as their acknowledged leader, were taking advantage of the +disturbance to place themselves at the head of the mob, hoping that the +cry of "Death to Caligula!" would soon be followed by one of "Hail to +the Caesar! the new Caesar, Hortensius Martius! Hail!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +"Watchman, what of the night?"--ISAIAH XXI. 11. + + +And far away beyond the noise and tumult which ranged around the foot of +the Palatine, the honey-coloured moon illumined with her weird and +ghostly light the vast arena of the gigantic Amphitheatre, where a +company of the town guard, under the command of an aedile, were busy +collecting the dead. + +A narrow streak of those same ghostly rays found its way through the +folds of the curtains which spanned the window of Dea Flavia's room. It +peeped in boldly, stirring up myriads of impalpable atoms and whipping +them into a living line of silver. It wandered further, and finding a +golden head that tossed restlessly upon a silk-covered pillow, it +alighted on it, making the white face appear ghostlier still, and the +wide eyes to shine like stars. + +A timid step shuffled across the floor. + +"Blanca, is it thou?" whispered Dea Flavia, as quickly she raised +herself up, squatting now upon the bed, with one hand pressed against +the pillow and the other to her breast. + +"Aye, mistress, it is I!" came in whispered response. + +"Well? Have they returned?" + +"Aye! gracious lady. Half an hour ago." + +"Did they find him?" + +"Yes." + +"Is he...?" + +There was a pause, whilst from afar came that strange low sound of +thousands of men murmuring, which is so akin to the booming of the waves +upon a rocky shore. + +"The praefect of Rome was in a swoon when they found him in the imperial +tribune," said the young slave-girl, still speaking under her breath. +"Nolus and Dion carried him to the litter, and once or twice he groaned +whilst they carried him." + +A gentle breeze wafted the curtains into the room; the rays of the +waning moon fell full upon the huddled figure on the bed, with the +stream of gold falling each side of the set, pale face, and the large +blue eyes now strangely veiled with tears. + +"Where is ... where is the praefect now?" asked Dea Flavia. + +"In the room out of thy studio, gracious mistress, as thou didst direct. +Dion did prepare a couch for him there, and hath laid him down." + +"And the physician?" + +"The physician hath seen him. He saith that the praefect is weak with +loss of blood. His shoulders, arms and legs have been torn by the +panther's claws, but these wounds are not deep." + +"And ... and the dagger thrust?" + +"The physician saith that the dagger must have glanced off the bone. I +did not quite understand what he said, and Dion explained it badly." + +"He did not say that there was poison in the dagger?" + +"I think not, gracious lady; for the physician said that the praefect +would soon be well if he were carefully tended. He is very weak with +loss of blood." + +"Did Nolus and Dion find it difficult to approach the praefect's body?" + +"They had to parley with the aedile who was in command, and to give him +all the money which my gracious mistress did entrust to them for that +purpose." + +"After which the aedile made no demur ... and asked no questions?" + +"The aedile took the money, gracious lady, and Dion said that he asked +no further questions, but allowed the praefect to be borne away." + +"That is well," said Dea Flavia, after a brief moment of silence, whilst +the girl stood awaiting her further pleasure. "Thou, Blanca, hath served +me faithfully, so have Nolus and Dion, my slaves. Ye have earned your +reward, and though I am grieved to part from good servants like you, yet +will I fulfil my promise, even as I have given it to you. From this +hour, thou, Blanca, art a freewoman, and Nolus thy brother, and Dion, +thy future husband, are freemen, and the sum of six hundred aurei shall +be given unto you to-morrow--two hundred unto each--and may you live +long and prosper and be happy, for you have served me well." + +Blanca fell upon her knees and kissed the coverlet on which reposed her +mistress; but Dea Flavia did not seem to see her. She was squatting on +her heels, with body and head erect, and slowly now, like the rosy kiss +of dawn upon the snow-clad hills of Etruria, a faint crimson glow spread +over her pale cheeks. + +Blanca waited irresolute, not liking to leave her mistress before she +could be assured that sleep had descended at last on those weary lids. +The hour was very late, close upon midnight, and yet the city was not +asleep. That constant murmur--like unto the breaking of angry +waves--still sent its sinister echo through the still night air, and +even in the house of Dea Flavia it seemed that hundreds of eyes were +still open, fear having chased sleep away. There was a sound--like the +buzzing of bees--that came from the slaves' quarters beyond the +peristyle, and from the studio, which lay the other side of the atrium, +came the sound of muffled footsteps gliding over the mosaic of the +floor. + +"Go to bed now, child," said Dea Flavia at last, "thou hast earned thy +rest ... and ... stay! Tell Dion and Nolus to remain in the studio, and +there to spend the night. They must be ready to go to the praefect if he +calls.... Go!" + +Then as the girl made ready to obey, the Augusta put out her hand to +detain her. + +"Wait! Hast seen Licinia?" + +"No, gracious lady." + +"She is not hovering somewhere near my room?... or in the atrium?" + +"No, gracious lady." + +"And the night-watchers?" + +"They are in the vestibule, gracious lady." + +"And all my women?" + +"They are all in bed and asleep." + +"That is well. Thou canst go." + +Blanca's naked little feet made no sound as she crossed the room, and +went out by the door which led to the sleeping-chamber of the Augusta's +women. + +Dea Flavia waited for a while, straining her ears to catch every sound +which came from this portion of her palace. + +Her sleeping-chamber, together with all those on this floor gave +directly on the atrium, which formed a large irregular square in the +centre of this portion of the house. The north side of it was taken up +with the Augusta's apartments and those of her women, the south side +with the reception rooms and with the studio and its attendant +vestibules, whilst the main vestibule of the house and the first +peristyle gave on either end. + +From the main vestibule came the subdued hum of voices, and throughout +the house there was that feeling of wakefulness so different to the +usual placid hush of night. + +Dea Flavia held her breath whilst she listened attentively. In the +vestibule it was the night watchmen who were talking, discussing, no +doubt, the many events of the day: and that sound--like the buzzing of +bees--showed that the women were awake and gossiping, and that up in the +slaves' quarters tongues were still wagging, despite Blanca's assurance +and the overseer's sharp discipline. But on the other side of the +atrium, where were the reception halls and the studio, everything was +still. + +The young girl threw herself back upon her bed. Sleep refused to visit +her this night; the thin streak of silvery moon, which persistently +peeped in through the curtain, flicked the tiny atoms in the air until +they assumed quaint, minute shapes of their own, like unto crawling +panthers and grotesque creatures crowned with a golden halo, and +brandishing a mock thunderbolt in one hand and a dagger in the other. +Then suddenly all these shapes would vanish, smothered beneath a cloak, +and Dea Flavia, still wide awake, would feel drops of moisture at the +roots of her hair, and her whole body, as if sinking into a black abyss, +where monsters yelled and wild beasts roared and huge, black, snake-like +creatures tore the flesh off human bones. + +The hours of the night sped on, borne on the weighted feet of anguish +and of horror. Gradually, one by one, the sounds in and about the house +died away; the slaves in their quarters must have turned over on their +rough pallets and gone to sleep, the women close by had done gossiping, +only from the vestibule came the slow measured tread of the watchmen +guarding the Augusta's house, and from far away that ceaseless, rumbling +noise which meant that discontent was awake and astir. + +Once more Dea Flavia sat up, unable to lie still. Her golden hair was +matted against her temples and in her breast her heart was beating +furiously. The waning moon had long since now sunk behind the western +clouds, a gentle breeze stirred the curtains with a soft, sighing noise +as of some human creature in pain. In the far corner of the room, in a +tiny lamp of gold, a tiny wick threw a feeble light around. + +Dea Flavia put her feet to the ground. The heat in the room was +oppressive; no doubt it was that which had caused her restlessness, and +the dampness of her brow. She shuddered now when her bare feet touched +the smooth coldness of the mosaic floor, but she stood up resolutely, +and anon crossed over to the door which gave on the atrium. + +For a few seconds she listened. Everything was still. Then very gently +she pushed open the door. + +On the marble table, in the centre of the atrium, another light +glimmered in a jewelled lamp; but the atrium was vast and the diminutive +light did not reach its far corners. The gentle trickle of water along +the gutters in the floor made queer, ghost-like sounds, and in the great +pots of lilies all round currents of air sent weird moanings in the +night. + +Dea Flavia, like an ethereal figure clad all in white, and with waves of +golden hair shimmering over the whiteness of her gown, glided softly +across the atrium. + +A tiny vestibule led into the studio, she crossed it, guided by her +knowledge of the place, for the light in the atrium did not penetrate to +this recess. Her bare feet made no noise as she glided along the floor, +her hand pushed the door open without raising a sound. + +Now she was in the studio. The place in which she did the work that she +loved, the place in which day after day she loved to sit and to idle +away the hours. In an angle of the room, stretched out upon the bare +floor, Dion and Nolus were lying, their even breathing showing that they +slept. On the right was another door, which led to an inner chamber, +where she oft used to retire for rest from her work. It was a private +sanctum which none dared enter save with special permission from +herself. Blanca kept it swept and free from dust, and Licinia tidied it +only when she was so allowed. + +Dea Flavia went across the studio and pushed open the door. It was +masked by a curtain, and this too she pulled aside, slowly and nervously +like some small animal that is timid and yet venturesome. She knew every +corner of the place of course, and the very creaking of the hinges and +gentle swish of the curtain was a familiar sound to her ear. + +Nevertheless she was almost frightened to advance, for the big dark +shadow right across the stuccoed wall awed her by its mysterious +blackness. It was caused by a large object in the centre of the room, a +couch covered with coverlets of soft, white woollen stuffs, on which the +night-light burning fitfully threw patches of ruddy lights. + +Dea Flavia had paused on the threshold, with one hand behind her still +clinging to the curtain, the other pressed hard on her bosom, trying to +still the wild beatings which went on hammering inside her just below +her breasts. She thought that she either must be dreaming now, or being +awake, must have been dreaming before. + +Once or twice she closed and then reopened her eyes, thinking that +perhaps the flickering night-light was playing her drowsy senses some +elusive trick. For surely Blanca had told her that Dion and Nolus had +laid the praefect of Rome on an improvised couch in the chamber beside +the studio, and that the praefect was helpless and weak with pain and +loss of blood. + +The improvised couch was certainly in its place, the light of the lamp +danced upon pillow and coverlet, but no one was lying there, even though +the pillow still bore the impress of the head which had rested on it. + +The silence was oppressive, for through the thick walls and heavy +curtains of the Augusta's favourite room there penetrated no sound from +without, and she herself stood so still, so still by the door, that she +was sure the beatings of her heart must be heard through that awful +stillness. + +Suddenly she started, and her fingers closed more convulsively than +before on the curtain behind her. Imperceptible as the sound of a +swallow on the wing, there came a long-drawn sigh to her ear. Her brow +contracted, her eyes narrowed in a great effort to peer past the light +into the darkness. + +On the further side of the couch now and masked by its shadow, she saw +something that was immovable and yet seemed pulsating with life. +Gradually as she peered, that something detached itself from the +surrounding gloom. She saw a bowed head with wealth of tawny hair which +gleamed like copper against the white coverlet, two hands white as the +pillow beside which they rested, whiter still by contrast with the +copper of the hair against them; she saw a pair of broad shoulders, and +a powerful body and limbs that lost themselves in the darkness beyond +the couch. + +The face was hidden and the body was quite still. It would have seemed +like that of the dead but for that long sigh, which, intangible though +it was, had broken the silence of the night. + +Dea Flavia could not now have moved, even if she would. Her small bare +feet seemed glued to the cold mosaic of the floor, her hand seemed +fastened with clamps of steel to the curtain which it clutched. + +She had never seen a man thus kneeling alone in the stillness and in the +gloom. Why should a man kneel thus? and to whom? + +Yet she would not have disturbed him, not for all the world. She never +dreamed that he would be awake; she had thought of him lying--as Blanca +said--exhausted from loss of blood. + +She had only meant to look on him for a moment, to look into his face as +he slept, to try and read in its wonted harsh lines the secrets of his +soul. + +He had rushed to the Caesar trying to protect him, when thousands on +thousands of throats were acclaiming his name as future lord of Rome. +Why? + +He had rushed into the arena and risked his life to save a man who two +days ago had insulted him, who--at best--was nothing to him. Why? + +These questions she had meant to ask him when he was sleeping: now she +could not ask them from that bowed head, nor yet from those clasped +hands. And yet, somehow, it seemed that something of the man's soul was +revealed to her at this moment, though she could not as yet fathom the +meaning of this strange answer to her questions. + +Her eyes had become quite accustomed to the darkness beyond the light. +She could see clearly the powerful figure on bended knees, the wide +shoulders with the bandages disposed over them by the physician for the +healing of those horrible wounds, and the fingers linked together in a +manner which she had never seen before. And now the hands stirred ever +so slightly, the light caught the fingers more directly, and Dea Flavia +saw that--clasped between them--there was a small wooden cross. + +And she knew now--all in a moment--that the answer to her questions lay +there before her, not in the man's face, for that she could not see, but +in his clasped hands and in the cross which they held. She knew that it +was because of it--or rather because of that which had gone before, and +of which that little cross was the tangible memory--that he had been +ready to give his life for an enemy, and to give up all ambition and all +pride for the sake of his allegiance to Caesar! + +A sigh must have escaped her lips, or merely just the indrawing of her +breath; certain it is that something caused the kneeling man to stir. He +raised his head very slowly, and then looked up straight across the +light--to her. + +For one second he remained quite still, on his knees and with that white +vision before him, ghost-like and silent, against the crimson background +of the curtain. Then softly, as a sigh, one word escaped his lips: + +"Dea!" + +He rose to his feet but already she had fled, noiselessly as she had +come, but swiftly across the studio and the atrium and back to her room, +but even while she fled it seemed to her that on the silent night air +there still trembled the sound of a voice, vibrating with longing and +with passion, mournful as a sigh, appealing as the call of a bird to its +mate: + +"Dea!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +"There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked."--ISAIAH +XLVIII. 22. + + +When after a few hours of light and troubled sleep Dea Flavia woke to +partial consciousness, it seemed to her as if Phoebus Apollo had been +driving his chariot through a sea of blood; for through the folds of the +curtains over the windows she caught a glimpse of the sky, and it was of +vivid crimson. + +The heat was oppressive, and as the young girl tossed with ever +increasing restlessness on the pillows, beads of moisture rose on her +forehead and matted the fair curls against her temples. + +She felt too tired to get up, even though she vaguely marvelled how +wonderful must be the dawn, since its reflection was of such lurid +colour. She lay back drowsy and with nerves tingling; she closed her +eyes for they ached and burned intolerably. + +Gradually to her half-aroused consciousness sounds too began to +penetrate. It seemed to her that the usual stately quietude of her house +was gravely disturbed this morning, shuffling footsteps could be heard +moving across the atrium, voices--scarce subdued--were whispering +audibly, and the shouts of the overseers echoed from across the +peristyle, and through it all a dull, monotonous sound, distant as yet +and faint, came at long intervals, the sound of Jove's thunder over the +Campania far away. + +Dea Flavia listened more intently, and one by one through the veil which +kindly sleep had drawn over her memory, the events of the past day and +night knocked at the portals of her brain. + +She remembered everything now, and with this sudden onrush of memory of +the past, came fuller consciousness of the present. + +Through the hum of varied noises which filled her own house, she +distinguished presently more strange, more ominous sounds that came from +afar, like the thunders of Jove, and like them sounded weird and +threatening in her ear; hoarse cries and shouts which seemed like +peremptory commands, and groans that rose above the muffled din with +calls of terror and of pain. + +In a moment Dea Flavia had put her feet to the ground. She ran to the +window, drew back the curtains and peered into the narrow street which, +at this point, separated her house from the rear of the Palace of +Tiberius. + +A dull grey light enveloped the city in its mantle of gloom, and it was +not the torch of Phoebus which had spread the rosy gleam of dawn over +the sky! As Dea Flavia looked, she saw a canopy of dull crimson over her +head, and from beyond the Palace of Tiberius there rose at intervals +heavy banks of purple smoke. + +Dea Flavia stood there for one moment at the window, paralysed with the +dread of what she saw and of what she guessed, and even as a cry of +horror died within her throat, Licinia, with grey hair flying loosely +round her pale face, and hands held out before her with an agonised +gesture of fear, came running into the room. + +"The miscreants! the miscreants!" she shouted as she threw herself down +on to the floor before her young mistress and squatted there on her +heels, wringing her hands and uttering moans of terror. "They have set +fire to the palace! They are on us, my beloved! Save thyself! Save thy +house! Oh ye gods! protect us all!" + +The awesome news which Licinia thus blurted out was but a confirmation +of what Dea had already feared. Every drop of blood within her seemed to +turn to ice, horror gripped her heart, the oncoming catastrophe appeared +suddenly before her, vivid, swift and inevitable. But she contrived to +steady her voice and to appear outwardly calm as she said: + +"I do not understand thee, Licinia, speak more clearly. What is it that +hath happened?" + +"The rabble are invading the Palatine," said Licinia, to the +accompaniment of many groans. "They are on us I tell thee." + +"On us!" retorted Dea Flavia scornfully. "Tush, woman! they'll not heed +us.... But the Caesar ... Hast news of the Caesar?" + +"No! no! my beloved, I have no news. I only know what the watchmen say." + +"What do they say?" + +"That the rabble is invading the hill. The miscreants have forced their +way into the Forum. They have surrounded the palace of the Caesar and set +fire within its precincts." + +"Ye gods!..." exclaimed Dea Flavia. + +"Dost hear their shouts? the villains! the villains! Dost hear Jove's +thunder, my beloved? His vengeance is nigh! May his curse descend on the +villains and on their children." + +"Silence, woman!" commanded the Augusta peremptorily. "Get me a +robe--quickly--no, no! not that one," she added, as Licinia, with +trembling hands had snatched up the gorgeous jewel-studded gown which +Dea Flavia had worn the day before, "a dark robe--haste, I tell thee! go +thou fetch it and send Blanca quickly to me." + +Moaning and trembling, the woman endeavoured to obey and to make as +much speed as her limbs, paralysed with terror, would allow her. She +called to Blanca, who together with the Augusta's tire-women had her +quarters close at hand, and the young girl hastened to her mistress's +room whilst Licinia went in search of a dark-coloured robe. + +"The praefect?" whispered Dea Flavia quickly, as soon as she felt +assured that she was quite alone with her slave. "Hast seen Dion or +Nolus?" + +"My brother spoke to me in the atrium just now, gracious mistress," +replied Blanca, who seemed scarce less excited than her mistress, "he +and Dion heard a thud in the night, which roused them from a brief sleep +which they had snatched, for they were very tired ... their long hunt in +the Amphitheatre...." + +"Yes! yes! go on! I know that they slept ... and they heard a thud ... +what was it?" + +"They ran to the resting-chamber, gracious lady, and found the praefect +of Rome lying senseless on the floor." + +"Great Mother!... and what did they do?" + +"They lifted him as best they could; for the praefect is over tall and +mightily powerful. But they succeeded in laying him back on to the +couch, and Dion ran to rouse the physician." + +"And now?" + +"The physician hath given the praefect a drug to make him sleep, for it +seems that fever was upon him with the pain of his wounds and he talked +incoherently like one bereft of reason." + +"Hush!..." interrupted Dea Flavia hurriedly, "not before Licinia." + +Even as she spoke the old woman returned, carrying a robe of dove grey +cloth, the darkest one that she could find. She had collected the +tire-women round her, and they flocked in her wake like frightened sheep +that have been driven into a pen. Licinia herself was evidently the prey +of abject terror, for her teeth were chattering, and all the while that +she helped her mistress to make a hasty toilet, she uttered low moans as +if she were in pain. + +"The traitors! the miscreants!" she murmured at intervals. + +But Dea Flavia paid no heed to her. Her women had brought her fresh +water, perfumes and fine cloths, and she was hastily bathing her face +and hands. Then, she slipped on the dull-coloured robe and Licinia's +trembling fingers fastened a girdle round her waist. + +And all the while, from far away, came the dull sound of Jove's thunders +hurled by his wrath, and above it as a constant din, like the roaring of +a tempestuous sea, the hoarse cries which--borne upon the wings of the +oncoming storm--seemed to gain distinctness as their echo reached this +distant house. + +"Dost hear the cries, Blanca?" asked Dea Flavia, as the young slave, +leaning out of the narrow window tried to peer out into the street. + +"I hear them, gracious lady," replied the girl in an awed whisper. + +"And canst distinguish any words?" + +"Aye, one word, gracious lady ... Hark!" + +And that word sent its dismal echo even to Dea Flavia's ear. + +"Death!" + +Then Blanca uttered a terrified scream and quickly drew away from the +window; from beyond the Palace of Tiberius, there where the new Palace +of Caligula reared its gigantic marble pillars above the temples below, +a huge column of flames had shot upwards to the sky. And a cry, louder +than before and more distinct, came clearly from afar. + +"Death to the Caesar! Death!" + +"Ye gods protect him," murmured Dea Flavia fervently. + +"They'll murder him! they'll murder him!" shouted Licinia at the top of +her trembling voice. + +She had fallen on her knees and the other women squatted round her like +a huddled-up mass of terror-stricken humanity, with hair undone and +pale, quivering lips and staring eyes dilated with fear. + +But Dea Flavia, now that she was dressed, took no further notice of +them; she left them there on the floor, moaning and whimpering, and +hurried out into the atrium. Here too the sense of terror filled the +air. Beyond the colonnaded arcade in the corridors and the peristyle +could be seen groups of slaves--men and women--squatting together with +head meeting head in eager gossip, or clinging to one another in a state +of abject cowardice. + +Here too, through the open vestibule, the sounds from the streets came +louder and more clear. That awful cry of "Death" echoed with appalling +distinctness, and to Dea Flavia's strained senses it seemed as if they +were mingled with others, more awesome mayhap, but equally ominous of +"The praefect of Rome! Where is the praefect of Rome! Hail! Taurus +Antinor! Hail." + +The noise grew louder and louder, and from where she stood now--it +seemed to her that she could trace in her mind the progress of the +rebels, as they spread themselves from the foot of the Palatine and from +the Forum, upwards to the heights until they had the palace of the Caesar +completely surrounded. + +It was from there that weird cries of terror came incessantly, and in +imagination Dea saw an army of cowardly, panic-stricken slaves, huddled +together as her own women had been, with palsied limbs and chattering +teeth, whilst a handful of faithful men of the praetorian guard were +alone left to protect the sacred person of the Caesar. + +Above her, through the apertures in the tiled roof, she could see the +sky aglow with lurid crimson, and the smell of burning wood and of +charred stuffs filled her nostrils with their pungent odour. + +"Death to the Caesar! Death!" The cry seemed almost at her door. Only the +Palace of Tiberius, with its great empty halls and basilicas stood +between her and the rallying-point of the rebels. + +She called loudly for Tertius--her comptroller--and he came running +along from the slaves' quarters with an army of howling men and women at +his heels. + +"What news, Tertius?" she demanded. "Hast heard?" + +"They have surrounded the Caesar's palace," said Tertius excitedly, "and +demand his presence." + +"Oh! the sacrilege!..." she exclaimed, "and what doth the Caesar?" + +"He will not appear, and his guards charge the mob as they advance +upwards from the Forum. They have invaded the temple of Castor, and +already some are swarming in the vestibules of the palace. The guard are +behind the colonnades and were holding the crowd at bay with fair +success until...." + +"Until?" she asked. + +"Until some of the rebels skirting the palace, set fire to the slaves' +quarters in the rear. The flames are spreading. The Caesar will be forced +to face the people, an he doth not mean to be buried beneath the +crumbling walls of his palace!" + +"The miscreants have set fire to the palace of the Caesars?" she +exclaimed. + +"Alas!" replied the man, "they will force the Caesar to show himself to +them. And they loudly demand the praefect of Rome." + +"The praefect of Rome?" + +"Aye, gracious lady. The people had thought that the Caesar killed him; +some strove, it seems, to recover his body in the imperial tribune, +where he was seen to fall. But the body had disappeared, and the rumour +hath gained ground that the Caesar had it thrown to his dogs." + +"It's not true," she cried out involuntarily. + +"No, gracious lady. Men of sense do know that it is not true. But an +infuriated mob hath no sense. It is like an overgrown child, with +thousands of irresponsible limbs. It is tossed hither and thither, +swayed by the wind of a chance word. But it were as well, mayhap, if it +were true." + +"Silence, Tertius, how canst say such a thing." + +"I think of the Caesar, gracious lady," rejoined the man simply, "and of +thee. If the mob found the praefect of Rome now alive or dead, then +surely would they murder the Caesar and make of the praefect their +Emperor if he lived, their god if he were dead." + +And as if to confirm the man's words, the morning breeze wafted through +the air the prolonged and insistent cry: + +"Taurus Antinor! Hail!" + +With a curt word, Dea dismissed her comptroller, and he went, followed +by his train of shrieking men and women. + +She remained a while silent and alone in the atrium, while the moanings +of the slaves and Tertius' rough admonitions to them died away in the +distance. + +"If the mob found the praefect of Rome now alive or dead," she murmured, +"then surely would they murder the Caesar and make of the praefect their +Emperor if he lived, their god if he were dead!" + +Dea Flavia cast a quick glance all round her. The atrium itself was +deserted, even though from every side beyond its colonnaded arcade came +the sound of many voices and those persistent, cowardly groanings which +set the young girl's nerves tingling and caused her heart to sink within +her, with the presage of impending doom. + +Only in the vestibule the watchmen sat alert and prepared to guard the +Augusta's house; they were gossiping among themselves and seemed the +only men in the place who were not wholly panic-stricken. + +The hum of their voices sounded quite reassuring in the midst of the +senseless groans of terror which came from the women's quarters near the +Augusta's rooms, as well as from the men in the more remote parts of the +house. + +After that brief moment of hesitation Dea went resolutely toward the +studio. She crossed its small vestibule and pushed open the door. + +Dion was sitting there on guard as the Augusta had commanded. He rose +when she entered. + +"The praefect?" she asked hurriedly. + +"He sleeps," replied the man. + +"Art sure?" + +"I peeped in but a few moments ago. His eyes are closed. I think that he +sleeps." + +"I would wish to make sure," she said curtly. + +Too well-trained, or mayhap too indifferent to show surprise at so +strange a desire on the part of the great and gracious Augusta, Dion +stood aside respectfully to allow her to pass, then he followed her to +the door of the inner room and held aside the heavy curtain, whilst she +put her hand upon the latch. + +"Dion," she said, turning back to him, "yesterday I gave thee thy +freedom, since thou didst serve me well." + +"Aye, gracious lady," replied the man as he bent the knee in submissive +respect, "and I would kiss thy feet for this, thy graciousness." + +"When the city is once more at peace, we'll before the quaestor, and +thou and Nolus and Blanca shall all be declared free. But to-day thou +art still my slave and must obey me in all things." + +"As thou dost command, gracious lady." + +"Then, 'tis silence that I do enjoin on thee, Dion," she said earnestly, +"silence as to the praefect's presence in my house, until I bid thee +speak: on pain of death, Dion, for thou art still my slave." + +"I understand, gracious lady." + +"Then wait for me now and on peril of thy life allow no one to enter." + +But scarce had these words crossed her lips than there rose from the +atrium behind her a series of weird sounds, cries, and imprecations, +calls for the Augusta and curses on her slaves, as from one who is +bereft of reason and screams in his madness. + +"The Caesar!" she murmured, as white to the lips now, she stood rigid by +the door whilst her hand fell from the latch. + +"Augusta! Augusta!" came the hoarse cries from the atrium, and the +hideous, familiar sound of leather thongs whistling through the air +reached her straining senses. + +She put a finger to her lips, with a quick peremptory gesture to Dion, +then she recrossed the studio with a firm step and the curtains of the +inner door fell back behind her with a swish. + +The next moment she was standing in the atrium facing Caligula, the +Caesar. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the +morning!"--ISAIAH XIV. 12. + + +He had a score or so of his guard with him and they remained at some +little distance, in a compact group, with their short, bronze-hilted +swords naked in their hands. + +Caligula was livid. He had donned a dark woollen robe and his head was +uncovered. His knees, arms and hands were shaking and his mouth opened +and closed as if he were gasping for breath. His eyes were bloodshot and +staring out of his head like those of a man who is being strangled. + +"Gracious Caesar!" exclaimed Dea Flavia as soon as she was before him, +and with the instinct born of long usage, she bent the knee before him. + +"They have trapped me," he murmured inarticulately whilst weird choking +sounds escaped his throat. "They have trapped me, hast heard?" + +"Alas!" + +"The miscreants! the sacrilegious miscreants! the hideous monsters! the +villainous reptiles! Aye! punishment will overtake them; they shall rue +this day! All Rome shall rue this day: her streets shall flow with blood +and I'll invent such tortures for every man as will turn the firmament +red with horror ... I'll...." + +His mouth was twitching convulsively and his hands clutched +spasmodically at his throat. Dea Flavia had risen to her feet, she stood +before this raging madman erect and calm, with eyes downcast, for the +sight of him filled her with loathing. + +Suddenly he ceased in his ravings; a loud crash as of crumbling walls +had rent the air, followed by shrieks and loud hissing sounds and that +perpetual cry, awesome in its weird monotony: + +"Death to the Caesar! Death!" + +Caligula's face was contorted with terror, his cheeks were grey like +those of the dead. He made a quick movement forward and suddenly +clutched Dea's wrist. + +"Dost hear them?" he said in a hoarse whisper. + +And she nodded in response. + +"They want to kill me ... they have set fire to my house ... I escaped +through the crypta.... But they were hard on my heels...." + +And as if to confirm his words, the cries of "Death!" again rose in the +air; the tramping of feet, the angry murmurs became more loud and +appeared to be filling the street close by and tending toward the very +door of Dea Flavia's house. + +"Ah, monsters! miserable monsters!" shouted the Caesar, crazy with fear, +"to-morrow will come the awful reprisals ... to-morrow ..." + +"To-day," broke in Dea Flavia coldly, "the Caesar is in danger of his +life." + +"They'll kill me," he cried, whilst once more trembling--akin to +palsy--seized his limbs. "They'll kill me, Augusta ... hide me, hide me +ere they come." + +And he fell on his knees, grovelling on the floor like a fawning beast, +with quivering hands clutching the young girl's robe, his forehead +beating the ground at her feet. + +"Hide me, Augusta," he murmured through his groans, "hide me!... Do not +let them kill me." + +She drew back in horror and disgust, closing her eyes lest she should +see this degradation of the Caesarship, this breaking down of her highest +ideals. + +But two days ago this same abject creature had stood beside her, +demanding from her obedience and loyalty which she was fully prepared to +accord to him. He had called on her fealty in the very name of that +Caesarship which she worshipped and which he was now degrading and +lowering to the dust. + +Then as now Jove's thunders from afar had proclaimed the wrath of the +gods. Then as now Jove thundered his warnings to that man not to defile +the majesty of the Caesars. But two days ago she had still believed in +and acknowledged that majesty, she had bent her will, curbed her +inclinations, smothered her every girlish inspiration, her every womanly +instinct to the dictates of that power which came straight from the +hands of the gods; now she felt actual physical nausea at the sight of +this pitiable coward, who--wallowing in his own cruelty--had not even +the unreasoning pluck of a brute defending its life. + +Involuntarily her thoughts flew back to the man who was lying helpless +in her house. She saw him in her mind as she had seen him yesterday, +bounding into the arena to save another's life: strong and +determined--measuring and accepting every risk, looking neither to right +nor left whilst he carried his self-imposed burden to safety, and then +falling without a groan, felled to the ground by the claws of the +panther. + +And outside the cries had become quite distinct. + +"Death to the Caesar! Hail Taurus Antinor! Hail!" + +The people, in their fury and their exultation, had condemned one man +and exalted another. Truly the gods themselves had guided them in their +choice. And now it seemed as if the final choice rested with her: as if +in some distant shrine, mysterious oracles had spoken and told her that +the future of Rome lay in her hands. + +And involuntarily she looked down on her hands and saw that they were +tiny and weak, and yet one of them would within the next few seconds +point the way to Destiny, show her whither she should go, carrying on +her giant shoulders the whole empire of the world. + +At her feet a cowardly and inhuman creature grovelled, abjectly praying +for a life which by its continuance could only bring more sorrow, more +horrors and more misery to thousands upon thousands of human beings +dependent on this half-crazy monster. + +Behind her, beyond two walls there lay a man amongst men, for whom the +people clamoured, whose very presence betokened strength and whose every +glance diffused peace. A man born to rule a people and to guide the +destinies of an empire, and whose life of simple integrity had yesterday +been crowned by an act of sublime sacrifice. + +And the choice rested with her. + +Her ears were buzzing with the hoarse cries from without: the cry of +"Death!" mingling with that of "Hail!"--the name of Caesar blended with +that of the praefect of Rome; and through it all, drowning them by their +hideous sound, the groans and shrieks of a bloodthirsty tyrant, brought +down to the dust by his own cruelties, and even now thirsting for more. + +The choice did rest with her. + +She had but to run a few steps to the vestibule and there to call loudly +to the populace that even now was invading the slope of the hill toward +her house. She had but to rush to her door and to shout boldly: + +"The Caesar is here, and the praefect of Rome is nigh!" + +And the twenty men who were waiting with naked swords would be as naught +before the onslaught of the people. + +She looked round her helpless and dazed whilst the fawning creature on +the ground embraced her ankles and kissed her feet, and repeated with +frantic persistence: + +"Save me, Augusta ... save me ... do not let them kill me.... I have +been good to thee.... I am thy guardian--thy Caesar ... save me...." + +"Save thee?" she repeated mechanically, "how can I?" + +"Hide me somewhere--where they cannot find me"--he murmured, half +raising himself from the ground. "Thou wouldst not give up thy Caesar to +the fury of the populace ... thou wouldst not soil thy hands with the +blood of thy kinsman..." + +Now he was embracing her knees and his hideous, distorted face was +looking up appealingly at her. + +"Thou wouldst not soil thy hands with the blood of thy kinsman...." + +Even as these words escaped his flaccid lips a roll of thunder louder +than any previous one came echoing from behind the Aventine Hill. Dea +Flavia shuddered. Was it Jove's warning, or already Jove's curse, the +curse of the gods on her for the treachery of her thoughts? + +"Thou wouldst not soil thy hands with the blood of thy kinsman...." he +repeated pitiably. + +"No! no!" she said hurriedly. "Not that.... I'll help thee!... What can +I do?" + +"Let me hide in thy house...." + +"Where?" + +He pointed to the studio. + +"There!" he said. + +"No! no!" she exclaimed, and instinctively her arms were held out, as if +she would protect a sacred shrine. + +"Thy workroom is private," he urged in tones of abject entreaty; "no one +would venture there ... only thy women slaves ever cross its +threshold.... I should be quite safe in the inner room ... thy women +would not betray me ... thou hast some that are mute ... they could +attend on me there, and no one would know of my presence until this +outrage hath subsided.... In a few hours mayhap the praetorian guard +will succeed in forcing a passage through the raging mob ... my legions +too are on their way from Germany ... they will be here soon ... they +were only four days' march behind me and my convoy ... they are but a +couple of days' march now from the city gates ... I could stay in there +... in thy private room ... with a few men to protect me ... and thy +women to attend on me ... no one else would know...." + +He talked volubly, at times incoherently, with hoarse voice and quaking +lips. She tried with all her might to free herself from his convulsive +clutch--but he clung to her like a dying man would cling to the last +breath of life--like a drowning man would cling to the raft on which he +might find safety. + +"In there----" he entreated. + +"No--no----" + +"I should be safe and nobody would know." + +And now he raised himself to his feet, and swaying like a drunken man he +turned toward the studio, calling to his guard to follow him. But she +was still between him and that door, between this raving, bloodthirsty +maniac and a helpless man who was lying wounded and in a drugged sleep +on a bed of sickness. + +The oracle had not yet finished speaking. The last word still hung in +the air. Her choice had not yet been made: but at this moment when +Caligula and his guard turned toward the studio door, she knew that it +would not be long in the making. Never should that demented tyrant cross +the threshold of her studio and wreak his hatred and revenge upon the +fallen hero. Rather than that should happen she would call to the +people, and hand over the Caesar--her kinsman--to an infuriated mob. +Better that than to deliver a wounded man into the claws of a raging +brute. + +Then mayhap the blood of her kinsman would stain her hands for ever; +then, too, no doubt would come horror, remorse and the malediction of +the gods. Then so be it. That would she take upon herself. What must be +suffered, that she would suffer: the torments of remorse would be +infinitesimal compared with the awful sacrilege which the Caesar's hand +would perpetrate, were he allowed access to the praefect of Rome. + +And even as the resolve became firmly implanted in her heart, she found +herself murmuring softly words which she had heard in the Forum a very +few days ago. + +"I have but one soul and that is in the hand of God!" + +Something of the serenity which had then shone from the man's face now +entered into her heart. Horror and excitement fell away from her like a +useless mantle. She felt herself absolutely calm and unswerving in her +determination. + +Therefore she did not make a rush for the studio door, she did not with +dramatic gesture interpose her body between it and the Caesar: she merely +put her hand out and let it rest upon his arm. + +"I should be safe in there--and nobody would know...." he murmured. + +"My slaves would know," she said coldly, "and would betray thee." + +"I only fear the men and they need not know," he said eagerly, even +though at her words he had paused and turned back towards her. + +"Many of them have seen and heard thee." + +"Tell them I have escaped to the Palace of Augustus, through the +crypta." + +"They would not believe it--they would know it was not true." + +"Canst thou not trust thy slaves?" he snarled. + +"Couldst thou trust thine?" she retorted. + +"I can change robes with one of my guard," he urged, "and he could then +pretend to be the Caesar escaping through the crypta to the House of +Augustus." + +"'Twere safest not to make pretence," she rejoined coolly; "rather let +the Caesar do what he suggests." + +"What is that?" + +"The Palace of Augustus would be the safest stronghold for the Caesar +until the arrival of the legions. It would be safer than the house of +his servant, for prying eyes may have seen him enter it, and +ears--sharpened by hate--may have heard his cries." + +"Then am I lost!" he exclaimed. + +"Not if my gracious lord will take counsel of his servant. The +underground way is clear and safe. The Palace of Augustus would afford +ample shelter. Twenty men well armed will watch over the Caesar and the +house of Dea Flavia will furnish the necessary food." + +Caligula hesitated a moment, his shifty eyes wandered restlessly over +the face of the young girl. + +"Thou'lt not betray me?" he murmured. + +"I could betray thee now an I would," she said simply. "The mob is at my +gate. One call from me and the Caesar is in the hands of those who desire +his death." + +"Hush! hush!" he said, once more clutching her wrist and gazing +fearfully around him, "speak not of this, Dea! The very words might call +down the decree of the gods.... I'll trust thee," he added, bringing his +livid face close to her own and speaking with a fever of maddened fury, +"but if thou shouldst fail me...." + +"No need of threats, great Caesar," she said, calmly disengaging her +wrist from his grasp and stepping back from him, "if I failed thee +to-day neither I nor thou would be alive on the morrow." + +The truth of what she said must have struck his dulled mind, for the +look of savage ferocity quickly died from his face, leaving it once more +pale with abject fear. He must have realised that his own unreasoning +cowardice had placed him entirely in this girl's hands, and that having +feared to meet his people a few hours ago, he had cut off from beneath +his own feet the bulwark of dignity and of unapproachable sanctity on +which he should have stood. + +"I'll to the House of Augustus," he said more quietly, "while the rabble +vent their rage upon my palace and search for their Caesar that they +might murder him, I'll remain there in peace. Do thou send thy most +trusted slave into the streets, and let him endeavour to reach the +praetorian guard who are holding their ground behind the crowd of +rebels. They might effect a flank movement, which, if unexpected, might +put the miscreants to rout sooner than we anticipate. Hast a slave whom +thou canst trust thus far?" + +"I have two freedmen," she replied, "free since yesternight, who would +give their life for me." + +"Let them do it then," he retorted cynically. "And do thou lead the way +to the triclinium. I am anhungered, and a halt at thy table will throw +dust in the eyes of thy slaves. I can reach the crypta from there +without being seen again." + +"As the Caesar commands," she said calmly, "but there is little time to +be lost." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +"Nothing is secret, which shall not be made manifest."--ST. LUKE +VIII. 17. + + +Caligula himself led the way to the triclinium and Dea Flavia followed +him. + +He threw himself upon a couch and she, with her own hands, served him +with wine and fruit. He refused to eat but drank freely of the wine, +whilst she stood beside him calmly waiting until he should be ready to +go. + +Seeing Blanca cross the atrium, she had called to her and ordered her to +serve the soldiers. The men were grateful for they were exhausted. They +had not tasted food since the day before, and had been on the watch +round the Caesar's person all night. + +The underground passage which runs beneath the declivity between the two +points of the Palatine, and by tortuous ways under the temple of Jupiter +Victor on its highest summit, did connect the house which Dea Flavia now +occupied with the Palace of Augusta. The latter, since the death of the +great imperator, had been used entirely as a hall of justice: a few +scribes alone inhabited the rearmost portion of the huge edifice. + +The passage itself abutted in Dea Flavia's house on one of the small +rooms that lay round the triclinium. There were several such passages +connecting the various palaces on the Palatine, but their existence was +not revealed to the army of slaves, only a few responsible ones knew +that they were there. In this instance the Caesar could, from the +triclinium, reach this road to safety without again crossing the atrium +and encountering the prying eyes of hundreds of cowardly slaves. + +He had no thought of thanking Dea Flavia for what she did for him, but +having drunk his fill, he rose from the couch and made ready to go. + +She escorted him to the door of the passage and gave brief instructions +to the men how to proceed. She had lighted a small lamp which would +guide the Caesar and his escort on their way. From the door, a flight of +precipitous steps led down into the darkness. Caligula was the first to +descend and his soldiers followed him; the one who held the lamp keeping +close to the Caesar's person. + +Dea Flavia stood at the door until the footsteps of the men ceased to +send their echo back to her along the vaulted passage. Then, with a sigh +of relief, she closed the door on them and hastily fled from the room. + +Her one desire now was to shut out, as completely as possible from her +mental vision the picture of her shattered ideal, the degradation of +that majesty which she had honoured all her life. So imbued was she with +that sense of honour and of reverence for the Caesarship, that she would +not dwell in thought on that awful sight of the Caesar grovelling in +abject terror at her feet. She wished to forget it--to forget him--the +man who, in her eyes, was already no longer the Caesar, for the Caesar was +a god, and like unto a god in glory and in dignity--whilst Caligula, her +kinsman, had sunk lower than the beasts. + +Almost involuntarily she had turned back toward the studio. A while ago +she had wished to look on the praefect of Rome as he lay in a drugged +sleep, desiring to assure herself that all was well with him; then the +advent of the Caesar had interrupted her. Over an hour had gone by since +then and the whole aspect of the world had changed. + +The Caesar was a fugitive and a coward, and the people who had the upper +hand were prepared to acclaim the hero of their choice. + +The atrium now was gloomy and deserted. The slaves--gathered together in +their remote quarters--shunned the vastness and the enforced silence of +the reception halls; they preferred to huddle together in close groups +in corners, distant from the noise of the street. + +Dea Flavia stood quietly listening. Still from afar came the insistent +cries of "Death!" and of "Vengeance!" Still overhead that lurid light +and smoke-laden atmosphere. But now those same cries seemed almost +drowned by a sound more persistent if less ominous: the sound of heavy +pattering rain on leaden roofs and into the marble basin of the +impluvium, whilst the roll of Jove's thunders appeared to be more nigh. + +It was obvious that the storm which had been threatening all the morning +from over the Campania, had burst over the great city at last. It was +Jove's turn now to make a noise with his thunder, to utter cries and +howls of vengeance and of death through the medium of his storm, and to +drown the fury of men in the whirl of his own. + +Now a vivid flash of lightning rent the leaden sky overhead and searched +the dark corners of the atrium. Dea Flavia uttered an involuntary little +cry of terror, and hid her face in her hands. + +A high wind howled among the trees outside the house; Dea could hear the +tiny branches cracking under the whip-lash of the blast, breaking away +from the parent stem and sending an eddy of dry dead leaves whirling +wildly along the narrow streets and into the open portals of the +vestibule. She could hear the fall of the torrential rain, and the +flames, which sacrilegious hands had kindled, dying away with +long-drawn-out hissing moans of pain. She could hear the wind in its +rage lashing those flames back into life again, and could see through +the opening overhead the huge volumes of black smoke chased across the +sky. + +Smoke and flames were fighting an uneven battle against the persistent, +heavy rain. The wind was their ally, but he was gusty and fitful: now +and then helping them with all his might, fanning their activity and +renewing their strength, but after a violent outburst he would lie down +and rest, gathering strength mayhap, but giving the falling rain its +opportunity. + +The rain had no need of rest; it fell, and fell, and fell, steadily and +torrentially, searching the weaker flames, killing them out one by one. + +To Dea Flavia's straining senses it seemed clear that in this storm the +number of rebels had greatly diminished; none, no doubt, but the most +enthusiastic remained to face the discomforts of drenched skin and bone +chilled to the marrow. No doubt too the gale blowing the flames and +smoke hither and thither on the exposed slopes of the Palatine, had +rendered a stand in the open unmaintainable. + +All this of course was mere conjecture, but the young girl, worn out +mentally and physically with the nerve strain of the past +four-and-twenty hours was grateful for the momentary sense of peace. The +steady fall of the rain acted soothingly upon her senses; her wearied +thoughts flew aimlessly hither and thither on the wings of her +imagination. + +Only the storm frightened her because she was not sure if it were an +expression of Jove's wrath, or whether his mighty hand had only +scattered the infuriated populace so that she--Dea Flavia--could weigh +the destinies of Rome in peace. + +She thought of going quietly back to her room, to think a while in the +solitude; the danger being less imminent gave her leisure to ponder and +to weigh in the balance her allegiance to Caesar, and that other nameless +sense within her which she did not yet understand, but which invariably +drew her wandering thoughts back, and then back again to the man who lay +in a drugged sleep under her roof. + +He slept, and throughout the great city the people called on him: "Hail +Taurus Antinor! Hail!" + +She sighed and involuntary tears gathered in her eyes: but the sigh was +not one of sadness, rather was it one of longing for something +intangible and exquisite, and this longing was so sweet and withal so +mysterious, that instinctively she turned away from the magnificent +reception hall toward her own room, with a wild desire to be alone and +nurse that longing into an all-compelling desire. + +It was at this moment that five or six men--all wrapped in dark woollen +cloaks--entered the atrium from the vestibule, and catching sight of the +Augusta, called to her loudly with greetings of respectful homage. + +She paused, angered at the intrusion; peace and solitude seemed indeed +denied to her to-day; but recognising the praetorian praefect as the +foremost of her visitors, she could not--owing to his high rank--dismiss +him from her presence. + +Caius Nepos had already bent the knee before her. He looked flushed and +agitated as did most of the others, only my lord Hortensius Martius who +was in the background, looked pale and wan from the terrible exposure of +yesterday. + +She did not think to wonder how these men had entered her house, how +they had found their way to her presence, past her janitors, and without +the usual formalities and ceremonies of introduction which her high rank +demanded. She knew that her slaves were demoralised, that men who had +been friends of the Caesar were now fugitives, and vaguely thought that +the praetorian praefect and his friends had found their way into her +house as into a likely haven of refuge, and would, the next moment, be +kneeling at her feet begging for protection and shelter, just as their +lord and Caesar had done on this selfsame spot half an hour ago. + +"Your pleasure, my lords?" she asked. + +"To speak with thee privately, O Augusta!" said Caius Nepos, sinking his +voice to a whisper. "My friends and I have tried all the morning to +forge our way through the mob and to reach thine ear. But the praetorian +guard, faithful to me, was unable to make headway. Then did we think of +covering ourselves with dark cloaks and of following the crowd, as if we +were one with it, until it led us to the precincts of thy house. The +storm as it broke overhead was our faithful ally; the crowd has sought +refuge against it under the arcades of the Forum, and the slopes of the +Palatine are comparatively free." + +"Yet, do ye want shelter and protection from me?" asked Dea Flavia. + +She had no liking for these men, all of whom she knew. Caius Nepos, +selfish and callous; Ancyrus, the elder, avaricious and self-seeking; +young Escanes whom she knew to be unscrupulous; Philippus Decius whose +ostentation and lavishness she despised. She vaguely wondered why my +lord Hortensius Martius was among them. + +"Nay, gracious lady!" said Caius Nepos suavely, "'tis not thy protection +which we crave, save for a few moments whilst we lay at thy feet our +desires for the welfare of Rome." + +"The welfare of Rome?" she queried vaguely. "I do not understand ye! +What hath your coming hither to do with the welfare of Rome?" + +"Allow us to make the meaning clear to thee, O Augusta. But not here, +where prying eyes might be on the watch or unwelcome ears be prepared to +listen. Grant us but a brief audience in strict privacy ... the +destinies of Rome are in thy hands." + +She made no immediate reply, but, as was habitual with her, she tried to +read with searching eyes all that went on behind the obsequious masks +wherewith these men sought to hide their innermost thoughts from her. + +And as she peered into their smooth, humble faces, all at once she knew +why they had come. She knew it even before they put their proposals into +words; she knew why the praetorian praefect was so servile, and why my +lord Hortensius Martius, despite his obvious weakness, wore an air of +triumph. + +They had come to betray the Caesar and to place the destinies of Rome in +her hands. It was strange indeed that this mealy-mouthed sycophant +should be using those very words which had stood before her eyes like +letters of fire, searing her brain ever since she had stood here--half +an hour ago--with the grovelling Caesar at her feet. + +The whirl of thoughts which rushed to her brain now made her giddy. +Instinctively now, as she had done then, she looked down on her +hands--those hands which were to guide the destinies of Rome--and her +heart had a curious twinge of pain, almost of fear, for she realised +more fully than before how small and delicate they were. + +"Time walks closely on the heels of destiny, O Augusta!" urged Marcus +Ancyrus, the elder, in his gently insinuating voice; "for the nonce Jove +has damped the wrath of the people of Rome, but that wrath is only +dormant, it will break out afresh. The storm in the heavens will pass +by, but the tempest caused by a raging mob will reawaken with double +fury. In thy hands, Augusta, in thy hands!..." + +She knew that all these men wanted was to use her as a tool--a puppet to +dance to their piping. She knew that anon they would be as ready to +betray her as they were betraying their Caesar now. Yesternight had they +come to her with their proposals she would have rejected them with +unqualified scorn; but since yesternight she had seen the Caesar abject, +cowardly, degraded, dragging his bespattered majesty across the floor of +this house; she had measured him--not by what he represented, but by +what he was, and she had taken his measure ... and that of another ... +and the Caesar was lower than the brutes--and that other was greater than +men. + +A silent voice, a whisper which mayhap was an inspiration, caused her to +look toward the studio. + +"In there, my lords," she said, pointing to the door, "we shall be safe +from watchful eyes and ears, and I will listen to what you have to say." + +She chose not to see the look of triumph which flashed from six pairs of +eyes, but calmly led the way toward the studio. + +Caius Nepos and the others followed her without a word. Dion and Nolus +rose as she entered, and she dismissed them, whilst ordering them to +wait her pleasure outside the door. The two men--brought up in the +school of slavery, were too well drilled to marvel at the gracious +lady's many moods; they did not even cast one look in the direction of +the inner room where they knew that the praefect of Rome still lay in a +drugged sleep. + +As soon as they were gone Dea Flavia turned again to Caius Nepos and to +his friends. + +"I pray you sit," she said simply. + +She herself sat on a high chair with circular back carved of citrus +wood, but Caius Nepos and the others preferred to stand. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +"For the children of this world are in their generation wiser +than the children of light."--ST. LUKE XVI. 8. + + +Caius Nepos was the spokesman of the party. His high rank and great +influence with the guard under his command gave him certain privileges +which his friends were always willing to give him. They did not know of +his treachery to them; nothing, indeed, had occurred to make them guess +that the man who, in a sense, had been the leader and organiser of their +party, had betrayed them all to the Caesar in the hopes of greater gains, +once he knew that his adherents had no thought of offering him the +imperium. + +The events of yesterday had changed the whole trend of Caius Nepos' +ambitions. The people in its present temper was not like to accept him +as the Caesar, even if he could persuade the praetorian guard to acclaim +him as such. + +His one desire being his own advancement and his own interests, he had +already realised that these were best served by adherence to Dea +Flavia's fortunes, since the Caesar himself, whilst still in the fulness +of his power had named her and her descendants as his successors for all +times. Caius Nepos, quick to seize his chance, and seeing the party of +patrician malcontents aimless without a leader, had grasped his +opportunity and constituted himself once more their organiser. + +Now whilst the others grouped themselves at a respectful distance round +the Augusta, he stood quite close to her, with back bent and his face in +shadow. + +"Augusta," he began, "meseems that in thy heart thou hast already +guessed the purpose of our coming. The hour is rife and we do but wait +thy command. We are at one in this: the praetorian guard will follow my +dictates, the patriciate of Rome will bow the knee to thee. Augusta, the +hour is rife! a raging madman, a cruel mountebank and abject coward has +this day forfeited all rights to sit on the throne of Augustus, thine +immortal kinsman. Augusta, art prepared to deliver Rome finally from +under the heel of a tyrant, and thyself to place the sceptre of Augustus +in the hands of one who were worthy of the prize?" + +"I, my lord?" she asked coldly, for Caius Nepos had paused in his +oratory, "I? How can I--a woman--decide on this great point? 'Tis for +the legions to proclaim their Caesar...." + +"The legions," he broke in quietly, "will follow in the wake of the +praetorian guard, and the praetorian guard will listen to my voice. They +believe that the Caesar is dead; they will soon believe that the will of +Rome lies in this, that the final choice of his successor shall rest +with thee." + +Then as she made no reply but sat quite still and thoughtful, her small +hand shielding her face so that it was in shadow, her elbow resting on +the delicately carved wood of the chair, Caius Nepos drew a step or two +nearer: he bent his long back nearly double and sank his voice to an +insinuating whisper. + +"It was the Caesar himself, O Augusta," he whispered, "who yesterday, +before all the people, made an oath and declared that thy future lord +and master should succeed to the imperium, so that the descendants of +immortal Augustus should in time become the rulers of Rome." + +"But the Caesar is not dead," she said simply. + +"He is dead to the people, dead to his guard, dead to Rome!" asserted +the praefect solemnly. "Yesterday the dagger of Escanes was ready to do +the supreme act of retributory justice, and to rid the world of a +maniacal tyrant and Rome of a cruel oppressor; to-day the act was +virtually done by the madman himself when he fled in abject terror from +before the face of his people." + +And--as if in direct confirmation of Caius Nepos' solemn words, there +came from far away, rising momentarily above the roar of the tempest, +that ever-persistent monotonous cry: + +"Death to the Caesar! Death!" even whilst Jove's thunder overhead gave +forth its majestic echo. + +Dea Flavia no longer hid her face in her hand. She sat serene and +dignified, upright and pure as a lily, allowing her thoughts to be +expressed in her blue eyes, letting these ambitious self-seekers see +that she was not deceived by their pretence at loyalty and patriotism. +They gathered closer round her, and she looked now truly a queen, +dignified and serene, her head crowned by the glory of her golden +hair--towering above their stooping forms. + +There was a look of contempt in her eyes which they did not choose to +see. They were having their will with her; they had fired her ambition +and roused her enthusiasm, and that was all that these intriguers asked +of this girl, of whom they but desired to make a tool for the carving of +their own selfish ends. + +Vaguely the older men wondered on whom the Augusta's choice had fallen, +whilst my lord Hortensius Martius felt the hot blood rush to his cheeks +at the hopes that had once more risen in his heart. + +But now Ancyrus, the elder, began to speak and his voice was mellow and +gentle. + +"The people have spoken plainly, O Augusta," he said; "wilt set thy +will against the might of the people of Rome? Hath not Jove spoken +clearly too? Think on the events of the past two days! The Caesar's +pronouncement in the Circus, the tumult amongst the people when my lord +Hortensius Martius courted certain death in order to win thy favours, +the rage of the populace against the Caesar!... think on it all! Did not +Jove direct all this?" + +"Aye! but meseems that he did!" she murmured, as her eyes fastened +themselves on the heavy door that led to the inner room, "but since then +hath he not directed the people to acclaim the Caesar of their choice?" + +Caius Nepos shrugged his shoulders and Hortensius Martius broke in +hotly. + +"The rabble clamours for the praefect of Rome! but the praefect is +dead...." + +"Aye! I remember, my lord," she said quietly, "there is a rumour that he +died soon after he had saved thy life." + +Then as Hortensius Martius, feeling the sting of the rebuke, bit his +under lip to check an angry retort, Ancyrus, the elder, rejoined +suavely, trying to pour the oil of his honeyed words on the troubled +water of the younger man's wrath. + +"The praefect is dead, O Augusta, and the people will soon forget him. +Rome deifies thee because of thy great kinsman. Having forgotten the +hero of their choice they will readily turn to thee whom they love. They +will accept from thy hands the Caesar whom thou wilt choose." + +My lord Hortensius after that first feeling of anger had soon recovered +his serenity. He tried to put an expression of sad reproach into the +glance which he fixed on the Augusta. Perhaps she had not meant to +rebuke him and was already sorry that she had wounded him. He would have +liked to put into his glance all that he felt in his heart for her; deep +down within him, below the overlaying crust of his ambition, there was +real love for the beautiful girl who had it in her power to bestow on +him all the gifts for which he craved. + +He firmly believed that the Augusta reciprocated his love. She had +always received his admiration more patiently than that of others, she +had more than once listened quietly to the protestations of his love. +Yesterday he had risked his life to win her hand: she, a proud Roman +lady, was not like to forget his valour. When from the arena he had +caught sight of her face, it was terror-stricken and deathly pale; she +had feared for him then, of that he was quite sure. + +The horrible death which he had faced had given him the first claim to +her favours in the sight of his friends. They had rallied willingly +round him and had tacitly recognised him as their leader. Now it seemed +as if Jove himself, with the help of his thunders, had ranged himself on +his side. + +He saw the glow of enthusiasm rise to Dea Flavia's face, suffusing her +eyes, her lips, her throat. He believed that that glow had been partly +kindled by his glance, and was too much blinded by his own ambition and +his own desires to note that the young girl's averted gaze was +persistently fixed upon the door of the inner room. + +Dea Flavia, of a truth, had little thought of my lord Hortensius +Martius, of his ambition or of his love; she could not tear her eyes +away from the spot beyond the stuccoed walls where lay a man--helpless +now--but a man whose every deed proclaimed him the born ruler of men. + +Then, as those around her were silent, hanging expectant upon her lips, +she forced her thoughts back to them and to all that they had said. + +"What would ye have me do, my lords?" she murmured. + +"Make thy choice, O Augusta!" urged Caius Nepos eagerly. "Choose thy +lord and master from among those who are ready to acclaim thy choice as +final. The praetorian guard is prepared I tell thee. The mad Caesar +yesterday paved the way for our success. Choose thy husband, Augusta, +and the praetorian guard will forthwith proclaim him as the greatest and +best of Caesars, princeps, imperator, the father of his armies. The +people will go wild with joy and will deify thee and thy lord." + +"But the Caesar ... my kinsman...?" + +"He will end his days in contentment and in peace," said Ancyrus, the +elder, dryly, "in a villa on the island of Capraea. No harm shall come to +him. We here present do pledge thee our oath." + +"But I must have time to think," she said earnestly; "'tis no small +matter ye ask of me, my lords. I am but a woman and still young in +years, and ye ask me to weigh the destinies of this mighty Empire in the +balance of mine own desires." + +"We would not ask it of thee, O Augusta! were thou an ordinary mortal," +said Hortensius Martius, speaking with passionate warmth, "but thou art +a goddess; the blood of great Augustus doth deify thee." + +"A goddess? I?" she retorted coldly; "nay! I am but a lonely woman who +hath need of counsel to guide her in this supreme moment of her life." + +"Are we not here to guide thee?" came in dulcet tones from Ancyrus, the +elder; "we, thy faithful servants, thy obedient slaves? Have we not +spoken and counselled thee?" + +"Aye! you have spoken, my lords, and I have read the thoughts that lie +behind your words. 'Tis not loyalty to dead Augustus that alone led your +footsteps to my door." + +"Our love for thee," interposed Hortensius Martius softly. + +"And your own aims that you would follow, your own ambitions that you +would feed." + +Then as hot words of protest rose to the lips of most, she put up her +hand and added with quiet dignity: + +"Nay, my lords, 'tis but human to be ambitious, and Rome herself is +great because she is ambitious. But I, for myself alone, have no +ambition. The proud title which ye would offer me holds no allurement to +my tastes. But if the gods will so guide my choice that a just and brave +man shall bear the sceptre of imperial Augustus, then will I thank them +on my knees that I was made a medium for their will." + +Hortensius Martius, convinced that her eyes had rested on him while she +spoke, made an effort to disguise the look of triumph that shone from +out his glance. But young Escanes, in whom all hope had not yet died, +was under the same impression, as also was my lord Philippus Decius; +for, in truth, Dea Flavia had looked round on them all marvelling how +any of them could compare with the man who already, in her heart, was +the chosen lord of Rome. + +"And now, my lords," she said, paying no further heed to the sighs of +restless desires that rose up round her as she spoke, "I pray you ask no +more of me. I must think and I must pray. I entreat you not to urge a +decision on me until I have thought and prayed." + +"Time is precious, Augusta," urged Caius Nepos feebly, "and the people +will not wait." + +"The people have fled from before the storm," she rejoined, "and their +will, remember, my lords, may not be in accordance with yours." + +"They call for the praefect of Rome and the praefect is dead. We must +be ready to acclaim a Caesar who will be equally to their choice." + +"Then," she said, "when to-morrow the third hour of the day is called, I +pray you, my lords, come back to me for mine answer. But I must have +until to-morrow to ponder and to pray. An you must press me now," she +added decisively, seeing that protestations were again hanging on their +lips, "then must my answer be 'No!' to all your demands." + +Though in her heart she had already weighed all that she meant to do, +yet she would not give her decision without speaking first to the man +who already was the elect of her choice. He was sick now, lying in the +arms of sleep. In a few hours probably he would be refreshed, and it +would indeed be a mighty Caesar whom she would proclaim on the morrow +before the people of Rome. + +"The people will not wait till to-morrow, Augusta," urged Ancyrus, the +elder, "canst tell a raging tempest to pause or a thunderstorm to bide +thy time? They are quiet for the nonce but in an hour they will again +invade the imperial hill. Thy house will not be safe." + +"Then must ye put a check upon the people as best ye can, my lords; I +cannot make my choice at this hour," she said determinedly, "if ye +cannot wait and if ye fear the people, then must you make your plans +without my help." + +They consulted with one another in whispers. The Augusta was obdurate +and without her they did not care to act. Her personality was alone +powerful enough at this crisis to satisfy the people, and she alone +could stand for the success of their intrigues against the people's loud +demands for the praefect of Rome. + +Betwixt two dangers the plotters chose the lesser one. If the populace +got once more out of hand they would, whilst invading the palaces, find +the Caesar and no doubt murder him. That act of vengeance once +accomplished they would probably calm down for a while. They would +expend their strength in clamouring for the praefect of Rome, but the +praefect of Rome was certainly dead, else he would have appeared ere +this. The darkness of the night would perforce put a stop to all +street-rioting; under its cover the praetorian praefect could easily +rejoin the guard, and by the third hour of to-morrow, everything would +be prepared for the proclamation of the newly chosen Caesar. + +Not one of these conspirators had any doubt as to who that Caesar would +be. Chosen from among their ranks, he would be compelled to reward +richly those who had placed him on the throne. + +Dea Flavia waited quietly while these hurried consultations were going +on. Now that she saw that her wishes had prevailed, she once more became +gracious and kind. + +With a sign of the head and a smile that contained a promise she +intimated to them that they were dismissed. + +"I beg of you, my lords," she said, "to look upon my house as your own +until the morrow. My slaves will offer you food and drink, and prepare +you baths to refresh you, and sleeping-chambers for the night. To-morrow +you will have mine answer. May the gods protect ye until then, my +lords." + +She touched a small gong summoning Dion and Nolus back into her +presence. To them she entrusted the task of seeing to the needs of these +great lords and of watching over their comforts. + +It would have been churlish and inexpedient after this to insist on +further conversation. Moreover the presence of the slaves put a check on +privacy. It was better on the whole to obey. These sybarites too were +not averse to the thought of a rich table and of merry-making in the +Augusta's house until the morrow. Her cooks were noted for their skill +and hers were the richest cellars in Rome. + +Caius Nepos, Ancyrus, the elder, and the others all walked out of Dea +Flavia's presence backwards and with spine bent at an obsequious angle. + +Hortensius Martius was the last to leave. He knelt on the floor, and +taking the edge of her tunic between his fingers he touched it +reverently with his lips. She looked down on him, not unkindly. Had he +but known that his greatest claim on her graciousness was that his life +had been saved by another, he would not have worn that look of triumph +as he finally followed the others out of the room. + +"She hath made her choice, my lord," said Caius Nepos amiably, taking +the younger man by the arm, "a woman was not like to reject such +brilliant proposals." + +"I will ask for the praefecture of Rome," murmured Ancyrus, the elder, +complacently. + +My lord Hortensius Martius said nothing, but he disengaged his arm from +his too familiar friend and walked ahead of all the others, squaring his +shoulders and holding his head erect, as one already marked out to rule +over the rest of mankind. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +"Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way...."--ST. MATTHEW VII. 14. + + +In the studio, upon the throne-like chair of carved citrus wood and +heavy crimson silk, Dea Flavia sat silent and alone. + +The footsteps of the men quickly died away on the marble floors of the +atrium, their harsh voices and loud laughter only reached this secluded +spot as a faint, intangible echo. + +The patter of the rain from above into the impluvium was soothing in its +insistent monotony, only from time to time Jove, still angered, sent his +thunders rolling through the heavy clouds and his lightnings rending the +lurid sky. + +The people of Rome, wrathful against the Caesar, vaguely demanding +vengeance for wrongs unstated, had not gone to rest. Like the gale a +while ago they had merely drawn back in their fury, quiescent for a +while, but losing neither strength nor temerity. Dull cries still +resounded from afar. "Death to the Caesar!" was still the rallying cry, +though it came now subdued by distance, and the majestic screens of +stately temples interposed between it and the towering heights of +imperial Palatine. + +Dea Flavia at first--her musings one wild tangle of hopes, fears and +joys--did only vaguely listen for each recurrent cry as it came; and +thus, listening and watching, her ears became doubly sensitive and +acute, and caught the words more distinctly as they rolled on the +currents of the wind that blew them upwards from the arcades of the +Forum. + +"Death to the Caesar!" That cry was always clear, and with it came, like +a complement or a corollary, the name of the praefect of Rome. + +"Hail Taurus Antinor Caesar! Hail!" + +The cry filled Dea Flavia's veins as with living fire. She longed to run +out into the streets now, at this moment, with the rain beating about +her and the storm raging overhead, and to call to the people to come +into her house, in their thousands and tens of thousands, and here to +fall down and worship the mighty hero who would rule over them all. + +The people clamoured for him, and because of these clamours an almighty +love for the people of Rome filled the heart of the Augusta. She saw now +just what the imperium should be, just how supreme power should sit upon +a man. And she loved the people because the people saw it too. They +clamoured for the one man who would fulfil every ideal of Caesarship and +of might. + +Valour yesterday, the sublimity of self-sacrifice, had appealed to them +with irresistible force, even though they did not understand the force +that had set these great virtues in motion. The hero of yesterday should +be the chosen of to-day, the god of to-morrow; let the brutish Caesar be +swept from before his path. + +The people clamoured, and did they see the praefect of Rome standing +virile and powerful before them, they would fall on their knees and +acclaim him princeps, imperator, greater than great Augustus himself. + +And in this very house, but a few steps from where Dea sat musing, were +the men, the patricians who were ready to accept the decision of the +people, who were all-powerful to make the legions acknowledge the new +Caesar, and ready to set the seal of official acceptance to the wild +desires of the plebs. + +The patriciate of Rome had combined with the people to place its +destinies in Dea Flavia's hands. The Caesar's insane pronouncement in the +Circus yesterday had confirmed the wishes of the conspirators. All +envies and jealousies would best be set at rest if the kinswoman of +great Augustus chose the future Caesar, and secured the inheritance of +the great Emperor for his descendants later on. + +And now there was but her choice to be made, and the imperium would +descend on the noblest head that had ever worn a crown. Dea Flavia felt +the hot blood rush to her cheeks at thought that the choice did rest +with her, that the man who was so proud, so self-absorbed, so +self-willed but a few days ago in the Forum, would receive supreme gifts +through her; that he would be the recipient and she, like the goddess +holding riches, power, honour in her hands; that she would shower them +on him while he knelt--a suppliant first, then a grateful worshipper--at +her feet. + +Ambitious? He must be ambitious! Ambition was the supreme virtue of the +Roman patrician! And she had it in her power to satisfy the wildest +cravings of ambition in the one man above all men whom she felt was +worthy of the gifts. + +Those were the first thoughts that merged themselves into a coherent +whole in Dea Flavia's head after Caius Nepos and the others had bowed +themselves from out her presence, and there was her sense of the power +of giving, that sense so dear to a woman's heart. As to the thought of +love--of the marriage which this same choice of hers would entail--of +that greatest gift of all--herself--which by her choice she would +promise him--that thought did not even begin to enter her head. She was +so much a girl still--hardly yet a woman--she had thought so little +hitherto, felt so little, lived so little; a semi-deified Augusta, +surrounded by obsequious slaves and sycophantic hangers-on, she had +existed in her proud way, aloof from the bent backs that surrounded +her--loyal to the Caesar, loyal to herself and to her House--but she had +not lived. + +There had never been a desire within her that had not been gratified or +that had grown delicious and intense through being thwarted; she had +never suffered, never hoped, never feared. The world was there as a +plaything; she had seen masks but never faces, she had never looked into +a human heart or witnessed human sorrow or joy. + +Looking back upon her life, Dea Flavia saw how senseless, how soulless +it had been. Her soul awakened that day in the Forum when first a real, +living man was revealed to her; not a puppet, not a mealy-mouthed +sycophant, not a tortuous self-seeker, just a man with a heart, a will, +a temperament and strange memories of things seen of which he had told +her, though he saw that he angered her. + +Since then she had begun to live, to realise that men lived, thought and +felt, that they had other desires but those of pleasing the Caesar or +winning his good graces. She had seen a man offering his life to save +another's, she had seen him clinging to a strange symbol which seemed to +bring peace to his heart. + +That man she honoured and on him would rest her choice, and he would be +exalted above everyone on earth because she believed him to be loyal and +just, and knew him to be brave. Her own heart--still in its infancy--had +not realised that her choice would rest on that man, not because of his +virtues, not because of his courage and his power, but for the simple, +sublime, womanly reason that he was the man whom she loved. + +And as she sat there, musing and still, with her eyes almost +involuntarily drawn toward the oaken door of the inner room, she saw it +slowly swinging out upon its hinges, she heard the swishing of the heavy +curtain behind it, and the next moment she saw the praefect of Rome +standing on the threshold. + +He looked sick and wan, but strangely tall and splendid in the barbaric +pomp of the gorgeous robe which he had worn yesterday. Dion had cleaned +it of blood and dust, and it still looked crumpled and stained, but as +he came forward the purple and gold gleamed against the stuccoed walls +of the studio, and his tawny hair and sun-tanned face looked dark in the +subdued light. + +She could see plainly through the robe the line of bandages which bound +his lacerated shoulders, and her heart was filled with pity for all that +he had suffered, and with pride at thought of all the joys that would +come to him through her. + +As he came nearer to her, he bent the knee. + +"I crave leave to kiss thy feet," he said, "for thy graciousness to me." + +"Thou art well, O Taurus Antinor?" she asked timidly; "thy wounds...." + +"Are healed, O gracious lady," he broke in gently, whilst a smile lit up +his dark face, "since thy lips did deign to ask after them." + +"It was presumptuous of me to bring thee here," she said after a while. +"I feared that thou wast dead, and the Caesar...." + +"Would have defiled my body. Then would I kiss the ground where the hem +of thy gown did touch it, for thy graciousness hath made it sacred." + +"I pray thee rise," she said, "thou art weak." + +"May I not kneel?" + +"Not to me." + +"Not to thee, but before thee, Augusta; before thy beauty and thy +purity, the exquisite creations of God." + +"Of thy God, O Taurus Antinor," she said with a little sigh. "He hath +naught to do with me." + +"He made thee for man's delight, to gladden the heart of those on whom +thy glance doth rest." + +She had ordered him to sit on a pile of cushions which lay not far from +her chair. Thus was he almost at her feet, and she could look down upon +his massive shoulders and on his head bent slightly forward as he spoke. + +She thought then how like unto a ruler of men he was, how much strength +and power did his whole person express. She wondered, with a happy +little feeling of anticipation, how he would take the news which she +would impart to him, what he would say, how he would look when he knew +that she was prepared to crown him with the diadem of Augustus, and to +bestow on him the full gifts of her love. + +Time was precious, and the next few moments would satisfy her +wonderment. She longed to see the fire of ambition light up his earnest +face: the glow of love smouldering in his eyes would render their glance +exquisitely sweet. + +But for the moment she would have liked to put the more serious issues +off for a while, she would have liked to sit here for many hours to +come, with him close by at her feet, her ears pleasantly tickled by his +gentle words of bold admiration yet profound respect. Had he not said +that she was made to gladden the heart of those on whom her glance did +rest? And a sense of sadness had crept into her heart as he thus spoke, +for memory had conjured up before her mind the miseries which had +followed in her wake these few days past. + +"I have brought naught but misery," she said with a sigh, "to those whom +I would bless." + +"Joy to me, Augusta," he rejoined earnestly, "since the day I first +beheld thee." + +"Menecreta is dead," she whispered; "dost remember?" + +"I remember." + +She paused a while, then said abruptly: + +"And the Caesar is a fugitive." + +"Heavens above!" he exclaimed, and the whole expression of his face +changed suddenly; "a fugitive?... when?... where...?" + +"The people are wrathful against him," she said; "they surrounded his +palace, and even...." + +The words died on her lips. The shout of "Death to the Caesar! Death!" +had come distinctly from afar. He jumped to his feet, and she saw that +his face now looked careworn and anxious. + +"Where is the Caesar?" he asked hurriedly. + +"He is a fugitive, I tell thee. The rabble fired his palace to force him +to come out of it and face them. But he ran away through the secret +passage which leads through the house of Germanicus to mine." + +"He is here then?" + +"No! He grovelled at my feet and begged me to hide him ... here ... in +my private chamber where he thought he would be safe ... but I would not +let him come for I thought thee helpless in thy bed, and feared that he +would kill thee." + +"Great God!" + +"Nay! why shouldst thou call to thy god on behalf of a tyrant and a +coward," she said excitedly; "thou shouldst have seen that man cowering +at my feet like a beaten dog. I could have spurned him with my foot, as +I would a cur." + +"The Caesar, Augusta, the Caesar!" + +"Aye!" she rejoined firmly, "the Caesar, my kinsman! Were he not that, I +would have rushed to my door and called to the people, and would have +handed over unto them that miserable bundle of rags which stood for the +majesty of Caesar!" + +"And I lay a helpless log," he rejoined bitterly, "while the destinies +of Rome lay in thy hands." + +"Aye! The destinies of Rome," she said proudly, whilst a glow of intense +excitement filled her whole personality, "but not in my hands, O +praefect, but in thine!" + +"In mine?" + +She rose and went up to him and placed her white fingers upon his arm. + +"Listen!" she said. + +She held up her other hand and thus stood beside him with slender neck +stretched slightly forward, her lips parted, a look of intentness +expressed in the whole of her exquisite face. + +"Dost hear?" she whispered. + +Obedient to her will he listened too. The cry of "Death to the Caesar!" +monotonous and weird, seemed to strike him with horror, for his wan +cheeks assumed a yet paler hue and his lips murmured words which, +however, she could not understand. Then suddenly the cry was followed by +another--indistinct at first, yet gaining in clearness as it rose on the +waves of the storm from the Forum below. + +"The praefect of Rome! Where is the praefect of Rome? Hail Taurus +Antinor Caesar! Hail!" + +"Hark!" she said triumphantly, "dost hear? The people call to thee! +They are ready to deify thee. They call for thee, dost hear them, O +praefect?" + +But though she turned her eager, questioning gaze on him, though +excitement and enthusiasm seemed to emanate from her from every pore, +the look of horror only deepened on his face and the whispered prayer +did not cease to tremble on his lips. + +"Dost hear them?" she reiterated once more. + +He was looking on her now, and gradually horror faded from his eyes and +pallor from his cheeks. A wave of tenderness seemed to pass right over +his face, making the harsh lines seem marvellously soft. + +"I hear thy voice," he murmured, "soft as the breath of spring among the +leaves of roses." + +"The people call for thee." + +"And thy hand is on my arm and I feel the magic of thy touch." + +She stood there quite close to him, tall and slender like those lilies +which--ever since he first beheld her--had so sweetly reminded him of +her. Her simple grey tunic fell in straight folds from her shoulders, +not a single jewel adorned her hands or neck, only her hair, in heavy +plaits, made a crown of gold above her brow. + +Never had she seemed to him so beautiful as now, for never had she +seemed so womanly and yet so young. Her soul--rising triumphant from its +trammels of high rank and artificial living--emerged god-like, opening +out to the advent of love, welcoming it as it came, enfolding it in its +own ardour and in its purity. With this man's presence near her, with +her hand upon his arm, she had suddenly understood. Ambition, power, +dominion of the world had vanished from her thoughts. + +She had found love, knew love, felt its empire and its yoke, and the +vista which that knowledge opened up before her was more wonderful than +she could ever have dreamed of before. + +Her cheeks were glowing with enthusiasm, her lips were parted and her +eyes were of a vivid, translucent blue, with the pupils like brilliant +sardonyx, full of dark and mysterious lights. She was ready to meet love +with a surfeit of the rich gifts which she had at her command. + +"The people call to thee, Taurus Antinor," she reiterated eagerly; "they +want a man to lead them. They are tired of tyranny, of bloodshed and of +idleness. They want to live! Therefore they call to thee. Two hundred +thousand hearts were opened to thee yesterday in the Amphitheatre! Two +hundred thousand tongues acclaimed thee even as in thine arms thou didst +hold my lord Hortensius Martius and didst bear him into safety. The +people have need of thee, and are ready to follow thee whithersoever +thou wouldst lead them. They are miserable and oppressed, they want +justice! They are starving and want bread. Their fate is in thy keeping +for thou wouldst give them justice, and thou wouldst feed the poor and +clothe the needy. All this morning did I hear the moans of the +down-trodden, the wretched and the weak, and felt that Rome could only +find happiness now through thee." + +"And the Caesar?" he said. "Where is the Caesar?" + +"He hath fled like a coward. Let him be forgotten even whilst the people +proclaim thee the Caesar and a new era of happiness doth rise over Rome." + +Then as he made no reply she continued more hurriedly, more insistently: + +"There are those here in my house now who would be the first to acclaim +thee as the Caesar. The praetorian guard, fired by thy valour yesterday, +sickened by the cowardice of Caligula, is ready to follow in their wake, +whilst mine will be the joy of calling unto the whole city of Rome: +'Citizens, behold your Caesar! He is here!'" + +She would not tell him that the imperium should come to him only through +her hands; a strange reticence seemed to choke these words in her +throat. Anon he would know. Caius Nepos and the others would tell him, +but it was so sweet to give so much and--as the giver--to remain +unknown. + +She made a quick movement now, half withdrawing her hand from his arm, +but his firm grasp closed swiftly over it. + +"No, no," he said, "take not thy touch from off my soul lest I sink into +an abyss of degradation." + +He kept her slender fingers rivetted against his arm, and she looked up +at him a little frightened, for his words sounded strange and there was +a wild look in his eyes. She remembered suddenly that he was sick and +that a brief while ago fever had fired his brain. All her womanly +tenderness surged up at sight of his drawn face. + +"Thou art ill!" she said gently. + +He fell on his knees, and still holding her hand he rested his forehead +against the cool white fingers. + +"I am dying," he said softly, "for love of thee." + +There was silence in the room now whilst she stood quite still, like a +grey bird in its nest. She was looking down on him and his head was +bowed upon her hands. + +A weird, ruddy light penetrated into the studio from above and the sound +of the pattering rain awoke a soft, murmuring echo on the white walls. +The noise of strife and rebellion, though distant, still filled the air +around, but here, in this room, there was infinite quietude and peace. + +Dea Flavia felt supremely happy. Love had come to her in its most +exquisite plenitude; the man whom she honoured, loved her and she loved +him. It seemed as if she had slept for thousands and thousands of years +and had just woke up to see how beautiful was the world. + +"Love is not death," she murmured gently. "It is life." + +"Death to me," he whispered, "for I have seen thy beauty and felt thee +near unto my soul. And when I no longer may look upon thee mine eyes +will become blind with the infinity of their longing, and when I no +longer can feel thy touch, my heart will become as a stone." + +A quick blush rose to her cheeks. + +"That time shall never come, Taurus Antinor," she said so softly that +her words hardly reached his ears. "Have I not told thee that there are +those in my house who are ready to acclaim thee as the Caesar?... acting +upon my kinsman's own pronouncement yesterday ... they have come to me +... to beg me to make the choice which will place the imperium in the +hands of the man most worthy to wield it.... My choice is made, O +praefect!... Look into mine eyes, my dear lord, and read what they +express." + +He looked up just as she bade him, and as he did so there fell on him +from her blue eyes such a look of love, that with a wild cry of +passionate joy he stretched out his arms and closed them around her. + +"Love is not death, dear lord," she murmured, even as the tears gathered +in her eyes and made them shine like stars. + +The moment was too supreme for words. Even the whisper, "I love thee!" +died upon their lips. He held her close to him, her dear head resting on +his shoulder, his hand upon her cheek, the perfume of her loveliness +mounting to his nostrils and making his senses reel with its exquisite +fragrance. + +This one great moment was love's, and it was love's alone. Each had +forgotten strife, rebellion, ambition, the fugitive Caesar and the +murmuring people. Each only remembered the other and the perfect flavour +of that first lingering kiss. + +Whatever life held for them hereafter, glory or shame, joy or regret, +this moment remained unspoiled, perfect in its esctasy, the world but a +dream, love the only reality. + +Overhead the thunder rolled at intervals, dull and distant now, with +occasional flashes of vivid lightning which lit up Dea's golden hair and +the round, bare shoulder which emerged above the tunic. Her face was in +shadow; she lay against his heart like a young bird that has found its +nest. + +Then he awoke from this ecstasy. + +"The Caesar?" he said wildly, "where is the Caesar?" + +"Near me now, dear Lord," she murmured looking up at him with a smile; +"my head is on his shoulder and I can hear the beating of his heart." + +"The Caesar, Augusta," he said more insistently, and now he held her away +from him, her two hands still in his and held against his breast, but +she at an arm's length from him. + +"Augusta," he reiterated, "I implore thee! Where is the Caesar?" + +"Hid in the Palace of Augustus, whining like a coward for his vanished +power.... Forget him, my dear lord ... he is not worthy of thy +thoughts.... Whither art going?" she added suddenly, for with gentle +force he had disengaged his hands from hers and had turned toward the +door. + +"To the Caesar, dear heart," he said simply; "an he is a fugitive he hath +need of friends: an he is afraid, he hath need of courage." + +"Thou'lt not go to him, dear lord," she exclaimed indignantly, and her +hands, strong and firm, fastened themselves on his arm. "A coward, I +tell thee ... a madman ... a tyrant ..." + +"The Caesar, Augusta," he retorted; "deign to let me go to him." + +"Thou'rt mad, Taurus Antinor! Fever is in thy veins and doth cloud the +clearness of thy brain.... Hast not heard the people? They vow vengeance +on him.... 'Tis on thee they call ... thou art their chosen, their +anointed; the people call to thee. It is thou whom they acclaim." + +"To-morrow," he said more gently, "they will have forgotten their +disloyalty. To-morrow they will have forgotten me ... they will think me +dead ... dead will I be to them to-morrow." + +"Nay! but to-day," she urged, "to-day is thine and mine.... The +praetorian praefect is here and the others ... the choice rests with me +and my choice is made.... Rome even now rings from end to end with thy +name: 'Hail Taurus Antinor Caesar! Hail!' ... Hast no ambition?" she +cried, for at her words he had remained cold and still. + +"None," he replied gently, "but so to help the Caesar, that he may gain +the love of his people by acts of grace and mercy, and to see the wings +of peace once more spread over the seven hills of Rome." + +With a firm yet exquisitely tender touch he took her clinging hands in +his, forcing her to release her grip on his arm. On her trembling +fingers then he pressed a burning, lingering kiss. + +"Thou art not going!" she cried. + +"To the Caesar, O my soul! He hath need of me! He has mine oath; my +loyalty is his." + +"A madman and a tyrant. If thou goest to him he will kill thee!... his +guard is with him ... he will kill thee!" + +"That is as God wills...!" + +"Thy god!" she retorted vehemently, "thy god! Doth he wish to part us? +Is my love naught that he should wish thee to spurn it...?" + +"The value of thy love is infinite," he said earnestly and tenderly as, +in perfect humility, he bent the knee for one moment before her and +stooping to the very ground he kissed the tip of her sandal. "'Tis only +on bended knees that such as I can render sufficient thanks to God and +to thee for that holy, precious gift." + +She bent down to him and said with earnest solemnity: + +"Then I entreat thee, good my lord, in the name of that love go not to +the Caesar now.... An he doth not kill thee ... an thou dost help to +bring him back to power, he will use that power to part thee from me.... +Do not go from me now, dear lord--for if thou goest I know that it will +be for ever.... The Caesar hates thee now as much as he loved thee before +... his hatred is as insensate as his love.... He will kill thee or take +thee from me.... In either case 'tis death, my good lord...." + +"'Twere death to betray the Caesar, O my soul!" he replied, still on his +knees, his forehead bent low to the ground, "Death, a thousand times +worse than a dagger's thrust ... a thousand times worse than parting." + +His voice was low and vibrant, and as his solemn words died away, they +struck the murmuring echo that slumbered on the studio walls. And Dea +Flavia was silent now: silent as he rose to his feet and stood before +her with head slightly bent, silent, because borne on the subtle wing of +that same dying echo there came to her the awful sense of unavoidable +fate. She shuddered as if with cold, that sense of fatality seemed +ready to spread over her soul like a pall. + +It was only the Roman blood in her, the blood of victorious Augustus +which would not allow her to yield to the spectre ... not just yet ... +not until the last battle had been fought--the last unconquerable weapon +drawn. + +She waited in silence for a while, nor did she detain him by the +slightest gesture although he once more made a movement as if to go, +only her eyes rooted him to the spot even as she said very softly, her +voice sounding full and mellow like the cooing of a dove. + +"My lord, I entreat thee but to grant me one moment longer, for of a +truth there is much that my mind cannot grasp. Of thy god we will not +speak. Whoever he be, as thou dost worship him, I will be content to +worship by thy side. But that will come in the fullness of time. Dost +love me, my dear lord?" + +"With every aspiration of my soul, with every beating of my heart, with +every fibre of my body do I love thee," he said, and there was such +intensity of passion in his voice, such a glowing ardour in the glance +which seemed to envelop and embrace her whole person, that even she--the +proud Augusta, the woman--exacting through the very magnitude of her +love--was satisfied. + +"Then, dear lord, I entreat thee," she said, "for one brief moment only +think of naught but of our love. Let me rest in thine arms but that one +moment longer, and remember the while that with my love, the world +conquered will lie at thy feet." + +She drew closer to him and once more lay against his breast. She was +tender and clinging now, no longer the Augusta, the unapproachable +princess but just a woman, loving and submissive, proud to give and +proud to abdicate. + +To him this was the torturing moment. He knew what she desired and what +weapons she could wield wherewith to subdue his will. The battle he +fought with himself just then was but a precursor of the fiercer one +which anon he would have to fight against her. The rending of his soul +was expressed in every line of his face, which once more now looked +haggard and harsh; Dea Flavia saw it all. She saw how he suffered, +whilst with every passing second the inward struggle became more +difficult and fierce; his breath came and went with feverish rapidity, +the frown across his brow deepened visibly, and for a while his arms +were rigid and his fists clenched, even though she clung to him, her +frail body against his, her head upon his breast. + +"Wouldst lose the world and lose me?" she murmured. "The world is at thy +feet, and I love thee." + +A moan escaped him as that of a wounded creature in pain; the rigidity +of his arms relaxed and wildly now he was pressing her closer to him. + +"I love thee," he murmured, "I love thee. The world is well lost to me +now that I have held thee in mine arms." + +"The world, dear lord," she whispered, "is not lost, rather is it won. +My hand in thine, we'll make that world a happier and brighter one. +Power is thine ... thou art the Caesar...." + +"Hush--sh--sh, idol of my soul! Do not speak of that ... not now ... +when my arms are round thee and the whole world has vanished from my +ken. Let me live in my dream just a brief moment longer; let me forget +all save my love for thee. It hath burned my soul for an eternity +meseems, for I have only lived since that hour when first I heard thy +voice ... in the Forum ... dost remember?... when I knelt at thy feet +and tied the strings of thy shoe." + +"I remember!" + +"And I loved thee from that hour. I loved thee for thy purity and +because thou art exquisitely beautiful and I am a man thirsting for +happiness. But God, who hath need of my soul, hath willed to break my +heart so that I might remain pure and true to His service. It was so +filled with thine image that even the glorious vision of His Passion +became faint and dim. But with infinite pity He hath given thee to me +just for this one brief, glorious hour that it might feed on the memory +of thee, even whilst my feet trod the way that leads to the foot of His +Cross." + +"There is but one way, dear lord," she exclaimed, "for thy footsteps to +tread! Tis the way that leads to mine arms first and thence upwards to +the temple of Jupiter Victor where stands the throne and rests the +sceptre of Augustus." + +"The way of which I speak, dear heart," he rejoined earnestly, "also +leads upwards, upwards to Calvary, on the uttermost summit of which +stands a lonely, broken Cross. The wind and rains and snows of the past +seven years have worked their will with it.... They tell me that one of +its branches lies broken on the ground, that its stem is split from end +to end. But it is there--there still, abandoned now and alone, but to +eyes that can see, still bearing the imprint of the heavenly body that +hung thereon for three hours in unspeakable agony so that men might know +how to live--and might learn how to die." + +She said nothing for the moment. Her excitement had not left her, but +her lips were mute because that which was in her heart was too great, +too strange for words. She did not understand what he meant; she still +thought that fever had clouded his brain; anon, she felt sure, sane +reason would return and with it ambition, which became every man. But +she did not understand that his love for her transcended all human love +she ever wot of; it was great and noble and sublime as all that emanated +from him, and, womanlike, she was content to let other matters shape +themselves in accordance with the will of the gods. + +She looked into the face which in this brief period of time she had +learnt to love, and tried to read that which to her was still hidden +behind the earnest brow and the deep-set eyes. In them, indeed, did she +read exultation, an ardour at least equal to her own, but an ardour for +an object which she--the proud, exquisite pagan, the daughter of +Augustus--wholly failed to comprehend. She had shown him the way to the +imperium, to the diadem of Augustus, the sceptre of the Caesars, yet in +his eyes, which were unfathomable and blue as the ocean that girt his +own ancestral home of far away, there glowed neither the fire of +ambition, nor the desire for supreme power. Only the fire of love for +her and the serenity of infinite peace. + +"Dear lord," she said, "when the sceptre of Augustus is in thine hands +thou canst wield it at thy pleasure. I know not the way of which thou +speakest; the mountain of Calvary is unknown to me and thou speakest of +things that are strange to mine ear.... But the gods have placed it +within my power to make thee great above all men, the ruler of the +mightiest Empire in the world, and on my knees do I thank them that they +have shown me the way whereby I can guide thy footsteps even to the +throne of Augustus." + +"And on my knees do I thank God, O my soul, that thou didst show me the +way to the foot of His Cross. God himself, dear heart!--oh! thou'lt +understand some day for thy soul is beautiful and prepared to receive +just that one breath from Heaven which will show it the way to eternal +life--God Himself, dear heart, who lived amongst us all a lowly, humble +life of patience and of toil! God--think on it!--who might have come +down to us in the fullness of His Majesty, Who might, had He so chosen, +have wielded the sceptre of the world and worn every crown of every +empire throughout the ages, but Whom I saw--aye, I, dear heart--saw with +mine own eyes as He toiled, weary, footsore, anhungered, and athirst, +that He might comfort the poor and bring radiance into the dwellings of +the humble. And I who saw Him thus, I who heard His voice of gentleness +and of peace, I to desire a crown and sceptre, to betray the Caesar and +to mount a throne!!! Dear heart! dear heart! dost not understand that +the sceptre would weigh like lead in my hands and the crown bow my head +down with shame?" + +"Then would my whispered words lift the weight from thy brow and my kiss +dissipate the blush of shame from thy cheeks. Day and night would go by +in infinite happiness, thy head upon my breast, mine arms encircling thy +neck. I am ignorant still, yet would I teach thee what love means and +the sweet lesson learnt from me thou wouldst teach me in return." + +"And in mine ear the still, small voice would murmur: 'Thou hast seen +the living face of thy God, didst break thine oath to Caesar! thou didst +betray him in his need, even as the Iscariot betrayed his Lord with a +kiss.'" + +"The voice of thy god," she retorted, "is no louder than that of the +people of Rome, and the people proclaim thee the Caesar and have released +thee of thine oath." + +"The voice of God," he said slowly, "spoke to me across the sandy wastes +of Galilee and said unto me: 'Render unto Caesar the things that are +Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's.'" + +His softly murmured words died away in the vastness around him. Dea +Flavia made no response; a terrible ache was in her heart as if a cold, +dead hand gripped its every string, whilst mocking laughter sounded in +her ear. + +That cruel monster Finality grinned at her from across the room. Love +was lying bleeding and fettered at the feet of some intangible, +superhuman spectre which Dea Flavia dreaded because it was the Unknown. + +Taurus Antinor's eyes were fixed into vacancy, and she trembled because +she could not see that which he saw. Was he looking on that very vision +which he had conjured up, a cross, broken and tempest-tossed, a symbol +of that power which to him was mightier than the Empire of Rome, +mightier than the kingdom of her love? + +She remembered how, a few days ago, in this self-same room she had in +thought accosted and defied that Galilean rebel who had died the +ignominious death; she had defied him, even she, Dea Flavia Augusta of +the imperial House of Caesar. She had offered him battle for this very +man whose soul she now would fill with her own. + +She had defied the Galilean, vowed that she would conquer this heart and +filch it from the allegiance it had sworn, vowed that she would make it +Caesar's first and then her own, that she would break it and crush it +first and then wrest it from its unknown God. + +And now it seemed as if that obscure Galilean rebel had conquered in the +end. She had brought forth the whole armoury of her love, her beauty, +her nearness, the ardour of youth and passion which emanated from her +entire being, and the intangible Unknown had remained the victor, and +she was left with that awful ache in her heart which was more bitter +than death. + +"Have I thy leave to go, Augusta?" he asked gently at last, "the +moments are precious. The Caesar hath need of me...." + +She woke as from a hideous dream. With a wild gesture of the arms she +seemed to sweep away from before her those awful spectres that assailed +her. Then she clung to him with the strength of oncoming despair. + +"No--no," she cried, "do not go ... he will kill thee, I say ... do not +go...." + +"I must," he said firmly. "Dear heart, I entreat thee let me go." + +"No--no ... think but a moment ... think!... My love?... is it naught to +thee?... Has my kiss left thee cold?... Do not leave me, dear lord ... +do not leave me yet ... not just yet ... now that I know what happiness +can mean. I have been so lonely all my life.... Love hath come to me at +last ... love and happiness.... I am young--I want both.... Dear lord, +if thou lovest me canst leave me desolate?..." + +"_If_ I love thee!" + +There was so much longing in the one brief phrase, such passion and such +tenderness, that all her hopes revived. One more effort and she felt +sure that she would conquer. Fever was in her veins now, the walls of +the studio swam before her eyes; she fell on her knees for she could no +longer stand, but her arms encircled him, clinging to him with all her +might. Her face, lifted up to his, was swimming in tears, her golden +hair escaping from its trammels fell in a glowing mass down her +shoulders. + +"I love thee," she murmured, "canst leave me now, dear lord.... If thou +goest now 'tis for ever ... think, oh think! just for one moment ... the +Caesar restored to power will part me from thee ... even if anon in his +madness he doth not kill thee. If thou goest 'tis for ever.... Think +on it ... think on it ere thou goest.... My love ... my love, go not +from me, and leave me desolate.... Dear lord, but think on it--of the +kisses thou wilt taste from my lips--the ecstasies thou wilt find in my +arms!... Thine am I--thine my heart that loves thee--my body that +worships thee--my every thought is thine.... Go not from me ... not just +now till thou hast felt once more the full savour of my love." + +Her arms round his knees, and she was exquisitely beautiful, exquisite +in her whole-hearted love, her whole-hearted abnegation--she, a proud +Roman lady kneeling at his feet, her full red lips asking for a kiss. + +He stood with his face buried in his hands. + +"Oh God! my God!" he murmured, "do not forsake me now!" + +The thunder crashed overhead while a human soul fought its desperate +fight for truth and eternal life. A vivid flash of lightning lit up the +white-washed walls of the studio, and to the poor fighting soul, +tortured with temptation, with longing and with passion, there came in +that swift bright flash a vision of long ago. + +The sky lurid and dark, the soil trembling beneath the feet of thousands +of men and women, and there, far away, outlined against that sky, a +figure stretched out upon a Cross. The head was bent in agony, the eyes +half-closed, the lips livid and parted, the body broken with torments +had the rigidity of death. But the arms were stretched out, straight and +wide, as if with one last gesture of appeal and of longing, and in this +storm-laden air there floated tender words, intangible and soft as a +memory. + +"Come unto me, all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and I will +refresh you." + +It was but a vision, swift as the lightning flash that conjured it and +the words had already died on the stillness of the air. + +But the tortured soul had found its anchorage. Taurus Antinor's hands +fell from before his face. + +"In Thy service, O Jesus of Galilee!" he said, and the mighty effort of +subjection brought the perspiration to his brow and caused his limbs to +tremble. "I saw Thine agony, Thy sacrifice; it should be so easy to do +this for Thy sake. Give me the strength to render unto Caesar that which +is Caesar's, and do Thou take from me all that is Thine." + +She heard his words, she saw the look and knew that she had failed. + +Back on the cruel wings of remembrance came the words of Menecreta the +slave. + +"May thine every deed of mercy be turned to sorrow and to humiliation, +thine every act of pity prove a curse to him who receives it, until thou +on thy knees art left to sue for pity to a heart that knoweth it not, +and findest a deaf ear turned unto thy cry!" + +And the curse of the broken-hearted mother seemed like the tangible +response to the defiance which she, in her arrogance and her pride, had +hurled against him who was called Jesus of Nazareth. She would have +blessed Menecreta and Menecreta was dead; she would have given her life +for the Caesar and the Caesar was a cowardly fugitive, and now on her +knees she had sued for pity, and the heart which she had fought for to +possess had turned from her as if it knew neither mercy nor love, and +whilst her very soul had cried with longing she had found a deaf ear +turned to her cry. + +That unknown Galilean who died upon the cross had been stronger than her +love. It was he who was filching it from its allegiance, he who was +brushing and crushing this heart ere he wrested it finally from her--Dea +Flavia Augusta of the imperial House of Caesar! + +The Galilean had accepted her challenge and he had conquered, and she +was naught in the heart of the one man she would have given her whole +life to call her own. + +She gave a cry like a wounded bird, she jumped to her feet, and for one +moment stood up, splendid, wrathful, pagan to the heart. + +"Curse thy god," she cried wildly, "curse him, I say, for a jealous, +cruel god.... Go thy ways, O follower of the Galilean! go thy ways! and +when lonely and wretched thy footsteps lead thee along that way which +thou hast deified, then call on him, I say--thou'lt find him silent to +thy prayer and deaf unto thy woe!" + +Her body swayed, an ashen pallor spread over her cheeks, she would have +fallen backwards like a log had he not caught her in his arms. + +Reverently he carried her to the couch and there he laid her down, +wrapping her grey shroud-like tunic closely round her feet. + +He bent over her and kissed her golden hair, each blue-veined lid closed +in unconsciousness, the perfect lips pallid now and still. + +"In the name of Him Who died before mine eyes, take her in Thy keeping, +O God!" he murmured fervently. + +Then without another glance on her, he fled precipitately from the +room. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI + +"Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be +able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to +stand."--EPHESIANS VI. 13. + + +Without looking to right or left he strode across the atrium. + +"A cloak quickly," he commanded as Dion and Nolus, obedient and +expectant of orders, rushed forward at his approach. + +From the triclinium on the right came the sound of loud laughter and the +strains of a bibulous song, voices raised in gaiety and pleasure: Taurus +Antinor recognised that of Caius Nepos, fluent and mellow, and that of +my lord Hortensius Martius resonant and clear. + +To what their revelries meant he did not give a thought. Dea had told +him why these men had come to her house. The intrigues hatched two days +ago over a supper-table were finding their culmination now. The Caesar +was a fugitive and the people rebellious: the golden opportunity lay +ready to the hand of these treacherous self-seekers: and Dea Flavia was +to be their tool, their puppet, until such time as they betrayed her in +her turn into other hands that paid them higher wage. + +Taurus Antinor wrapped the dark cloak which Dion had brought him closely +around his person. He gave the slaves a mute, peremptory sign of silence +and then quickly walked past the janitors, through the vestibule and out +into the open street. + +The midday light had yielded to early afternoon. It still was grey and +lurid, with a leaden mist hanging over the distance and moisture rising +up from the rain-sodden ground. The worst of the storm had passed from +over the city, but the thunder still rolled dully at intervals above the +Campania and great gusts of wind drove the heavy rain into Taurus +Antinor's face. + +It seemed to him, as he walked rapidly down the narrow street in front +of the Augusta's palace, that the noise from the Forum below had gained +in volume and in strength. When the raging tempest of rebellion was at +its height earlier in the day, he had lain in a drugged sleep, +unconscious of the shouts, the threats, the groans which had resounded +from palace to palace on the very summit of the Palatine. When he awoke +these terrifying sounds were already more subdued. The people had been +driven by the storm-fanned conflagration which they themselves had +kindled, to seek shelter under the arcades of the tabernae in the Forum +below. But now, after a couple of hours of enforced inactivity, they +were ready once more for mischief: in compact groups of a dozen or so +they were slowly emerging from beneath the shelters, and it only needed +the amalgamation of these isolated groups for the fire of open +insurrection to be ablaze again. + +Time, therefore, was obviously precious. At any moment now, if the rain +ceased altogether, the populace--in no way cooled by the +drenching--would once more storm the hill and would discover the +fugitive Caesar in his retreat. Already from afar there came to the +lonely pedestrian's ear the roar of a mighty wave composed of many +sounds, which, gathering force and fury, was ready to dash itself anew +upon the imperial hill. + +But up here on the summit there still reigned comparative quietude. +True that as he walked rapidly along Taurus Antinor spied from time to +time groups of excited, chattering men congregated at street corners or +under the shelter of a jutting portico; whilst now and then from behind +the huge piles of builders' materials, which littered this portion of +the Palatine, darkly swathed figures would emerge at sound of the +praefect's footsteps on the flagstones, and as quickly vanish again. But +to these Taurus Antinor paid no heed; they were but the remote echoes of +the angry storm below. + +Soon the majestic pile of Augustus' palace loomed before him on the +left, with its unending vistas of marble and porphyry colonnades. On the +right was the temple of Jupiter Victor on the very summit of the hill. + +An undefinable instinct led the man's footsteps to that lonely height. +He skirted the temple and anon stood looking down on the panorama of +Rome stretched out at his feet: the Palatine sloping downwards in a +gentle gradient--covered with the dwellings of the rich patricians which +formed here a network of intricate and narrow streets; below these the +great Circus redolent of the memories of the past four-and-twenty hours; +beyond it the Aventine and the winding ribbon of the Tiber now lost in a +leaden-coloured haze. + +The streets from the valley upwards all round the hill were swarming +with men, who from this distance looked like pygmies, fussy and +irresponsible, spectral too in the rain-laden mist as they appeared to +be running hither and thither in compact groups, but with seeming +aimlessness, whilst shouting, always shouting, that perpetual call for +vengeance and for death. + +The watcher looked down in silence, for that crowd of Pygmies was the +people of Rome, who at a word from him would proclaim him Caesar and +master of the world. The immensity of the sky was above him, the far +horizon partly hidden in gloom, but down there were the people whose +voice was raised to deify their chosen hero in the intervals of +demanding the death of a tyrant. + +And the people were the lords of Rome just now. Entrenched in the narrow +streets a crowd--one hundred thousand or more strong--held the imperial +hill in a solid blockade. Down below, in and around the Circus, steel +and bronze glittered in the distant vapours. One thousand men of the +praetorian guard, cut off from the Caesar, had been unable to forge a way +through the serried ranks of the populace. + +Dark masses--that lay immovable and stark in the open space around the +Circus--spoke mutely of combats that had been fierce and bloody: but the +people had remained victorious; the people held their ground. One +hundred thousand fists and staves, a few agricultural and building +implements had asserted their mastery over one thousand swords and +shields. + +The people were the masters of Rome, and they had chosen their Caesar in +the hero whom they had already deified. + +Taurus Antinor's gaze swept over the vista that lay stretched out before +him: it pictured the entire political situation of the world-city. With +treachery lurking on the hill and a determined mob in the valley, the +murder of the Caesar was but a question of hours. + +And after that? + +After that the Empire of Rome and the dominion of the world for this man +who stood here on the watch. He had but to say the word and that Empire +would be his. He had but to go back now, to find his way with softly +treading footsteps to the couch where Dea Flavia's exquisite body lay +stretched out in semi-unconsciousness. He had but to take her once more +in his arms, to murmur the words of love that--unspoken--seared his lips +even now; he had but to close his ears to the still small voice that was +God's, and Rome, the mistress of the world, and Dea Flavia, the peerless +woman, would be his at the word. + +Rome and Dea Flavia! the two priceless guerdons of the earth! They +called to him now on the wings of the distant storm, from over the hills +and from across the grey, dull mist that obscured the sky. + +The man stretched out his arms with a gesture of passionate longing. How +easy it were to take all! How impossible it seemed to give up everything +that made life glorious and sweet. + +A voice low and insinuating trembled in the air. + +"Take all!" it said, "it is thine for the taking. Thine by the will of +thousands, thine by the call of one pair of perfect lips ... Rome, the +unconquered queen ... Dea Flavia holding in her white hands a cup +brimming over with happiness ... all are thine at the word." + +The silent watcher cried out in his loneliness and his agony; he held +his hands to his ears, for the voice grew more insidious and more real: + +"The Empire of the world and Dea Flavia ... and in the balance what?... +an oath rendered to a tyrannical madman, the scourge and terror of +mankind ... an oath which reason itself doth repudiate with scorn ... +even thy God would not exact obedience from thee at such a price...." + +His head fell upon his breast and his knees bent to the earth. It was +all so difficult ... it seemed well-nigh impossible now.... + +No words escaped his lips; he knelt here silent and alone before the +face of Rome that but waited to be conquered--before the face of God +veiled to his gaze, and around him the distant roll of thunder and the +confused shouts of the people from below. + +Christian! this is thine hour! In silence and in tears thou must make +thy last stand against temptation greater mayhap than suffering manhood +hath ever had to withstand alone. + +Everything in the man cried out to him to yield; his love for Dea and +his love for Rome, and that pride of manhood in him that calls for power +over other men. Born and bred in luxury-loving paganism, in the worship +of might and the deification of the imperium, the Christian had to +choose between the world and the Master. The battle was fierce and +cruel. Gone now was the consciousness of strength, the dignity of the +patrician! Here was but a lonely wretched human creature fighting the +tempter for his own soul. + +He cowered on the ground, the while driving rain beat against the tawny +masses of his hair, and lashed the proud stiff neck that found it so +difficult to bend. The tearing wind searched the loosened folds of his +mantle and the purple silk of his tunic, the emblem of patrician rank. +His face was buried in his hands, heavy sobs shook his broad shoulders. +The face of Dea Flavia, exquisitely fair, smiled at him through his +closed lids, the warm, mellow masses of her hair entwined themselves +around his tear-stained fingers, her cooing voice called to him with the +ineffable sweetness of love. + +Christian, it is thine hour! and the battle must be fought out in +anguish and in loneliness, with no one nigh thee to comfort and to +succour, with no one to see the rending of thy soul or the slow breaking +of thy love-filled heart. + +"When thou art lonely and wretched," Dea Flavia had cried in the agony +of her wounded love, "call on thy god then and thou wilt find him silent +unto thy prayer and deaf unto thy woe." + +And the cry was wrung out from the depths of the tortured heart: "Oh, +God, my God, if Thou be willing take this cup from me!" whilst the man +prayed to his God to take his soul into His keeping ere it became +perjured and accursed. + +But God was silent, because the soul, though racked and tempted, was too +great for the tasting of an easy victory. God was silent, but He saw the +tears that fell heavy and hot upon the ground. He was silent, but He +heard the cries of anguish, the bitter moans of pain. + +Christian, this is thine hour! for when thy soul and heart have suffered +enough, when they have been weighed in the crucible of divine love and +not been found wanting, then will the peace of God which passeth all +understanding descend in exquisite comfort upon thee. + +Gradually the tears ceased to fall, the sobs to shake the massive frame +of the kneeling man. His hands dropped from his face and his gaze went +up to the storm-tossed firmament, there where land and sky merged in the +grey mists of approaching evening. + +And on the horizon, as he gazed, beyond the valley, beyond the Aventine +and the murmuring Tiber, already wrapped in gloom, a ray of golden light +had rent the lowering clouds. + +It shone serene and bright, illumined from behind limitless depths by +the slanting rays of a slowly sinking sun. Taurus Antinor rose to his +feet; he looked and looked upon that light until it tore a wider and +ever wider gap in the angry clouds, and its golden radiance spread +right across the horizon far away. + +The very mist now seemed aglow; the waters of the Tiber, tossed by the +gale, throw back brilliant sparks of reflected lights. + +From the low-lying marshes among the reeds two birds rose in rapid +flight and disappeared in that golden haze. + +"My God, not mine but Thy will be done!" murmured the lonely man; and +anguish folded its sable wings and the tortured heart was at peace. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII + +"For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son +whom He receiveth."--HEBREWS XII. 6. + + +The gorgeous palace of Augustus appeared quite deserted when the +praefect of Rome finally made his way to the vestibule. He crossed the +magnificent inner peristylium, the tall, uncut pillars of which, sharply +defined against the sky, enhanced its majestic grandeur and its air of +mysterious solemnity. + +As a rule these vast halls were peopled with scribes, and though shorn +of its original imperial splendours the palace of the great Emperor +presented at times a certain air of animation and of official bustle. +But now these scribes, no doubt awed by the sound of terror and of +strife which must have reached even this hallowed spot, had fled into +the more remote portions of the palace, or mayhap had even joined the +throngs in the Forum, on the principle that 'tis better to form an unit +in an angry crowd, rather than to be its butt. + +The peristylium itself, despite its mute and lonely magnificence, bore +traces of the turmoil that reigned throughout the city; there were +obvious signs that men had lived and worked here but a very little while +ago, that they had been afraid and then had run away. + +The marble floors were stained with mud. The sedate chairs that usually +lined the walls were pushed aside and left to stand crooked and awry, +the very mockery of their former dignity. Here and there a roll of +parchment, an ink-stained pen, a cast-off cloak littered the hall and +looked curiously provocative and out of place--an insult to the majesty +of the dead and mighty Caesar, who had caused the stately columns to be +reared, and the massive walls to raise their pure lines upwards to the +sky. + +But on all this Taurus Antinor did not pause to think. On his right he +heard sounds which proclaimed the presence of men, and thither did he +immediately turn his footsteps. + +Peering through the long vista of numberless columns, the further ones +of which were merged together in the dim light, he saw that the score or +so of the praetorian guard who had escorted the Caesar in his flight were +assembled at the end of the gigantic hall, some lolling against the +marble pillars, others lying or squatting on the hard floor, as much at +their ease as circumstances would allow. + +They had not discarded their accoutrements and each man had his sword by +his side. Not realising that the fury of the mob had been momentarily +damped by the storm, they remained prepared to defend the Caesar's life +at any moment with their own. + +More than one of them had apparently been wounded in one or other of the +hand-to-hand combats which they had sustained against the mob earlier in +the day, for more than one head was wrapped in a rough piece of bandage +and more than one tunic was stained with blood. All the men looked +fagged and dirty and for the most part worn out with sleeplessness and +want of food. + +As the praefect's firm tread resounded from end to end of the colonnaded +hall and woke the slumbering echoes of the deserted palace, weary, +lack-lustre eyes were turned in his direction, and now when his tall +figure appeared between two pillars the men recognised him, for his +head was uncovered. + +One or two of them gave a cry of terror since all of them had thought +that the praefect was dead, and this tall, dark presence, wrapped in a +long cloak and with tawny hair still dripping from the rain, looked very +like an apparition from another world. + +"The Caesar?" queried the praefect curtly. + +Some of the men struggled to their feet. The voice they knew well; it +was as of old, loud and peremptory and not like to be coming from a +grave. All did their best to assume a respectful bearing, and one who +was in command made ready to show the praefect into the Caesar's +presence. + +"I want no escort," said Taurus Antinor in that same commanding voice +which no one in Rome had ever tried to resist. "Tell me only where I can +find the Caesar." + +"In the lararium, O praefect," replied the soldier without hesitation. +"He ordered us to remain here." + +Without looking to right or left Taurus Antinor walked past the soldiers +into the gorgeous tablinium beyond, where great Augustus had been wont +to administer justice. This vast hall was deserted, but from an inner +room on the left there came to the praefect's ear a curious sound like +the snarl of an angry feline creature, a sound which he knew could only +come from one human throat. Without hesitation he turned to whence that +sound had come. On the right of the huge semi-circular apse, which +contained the now vacant throne of Augustus, a narrow door led to the +small temple-like room which had once contained the great Emperor's +household gods. + +A heavy curtain of embroidered silk masked this entrance. Taurus Antinor +pushed it back and walked in. + +The temple derived its light solely from a small opening in the vaulted +ceiling; that light which came down in a narrow shaft was grey and dull +and failed to penetrate the dark and mysterious corners of the room. + +Taurus Antinor's eyes were narrowed beneath his frowning brows as he +tried to pierce the gloom that lay beyond that shaft of light. He could +hear heavy breathing proceeding from there and the muttering of curses, +and anon he was able to spy a bundle of stained silken clothes that lay +in a heap and which seemed to shrink and to shrivel, to tremble and to +cower on the altar steps: a bundle of rags and a gleam of flaccid flesh +which stood for the majesty of Caesar. + +All at once there was a raucous cry and a growl as of an animal enraged, +and the next second something hot and heavy threw itself with violent +force against the praefect, even whilst the sharp blade of a dagger +caught a gleam of reflected light. + +But Taurus Antinor--well knowing the man whom he had come to help--was +fully prepared for the treacherous attack. With a rapid movement he had +made a shield of his mantle by winding it closely round his arm, and +holding it before his face. The dagger glanced against the woollen +material, rendered heavy and sodden with the rain, and Caligula, +unnerved by the futile effort, staggered back against the altar steps +while the dagger fell with a sharp sound upon the marble floor. + +"Traitor!" came in hoarse gasps from the Caesar's throat. "Hast come to +murder me!" + +"Ho! there! My guard! My guard!" + +He was trying to shout, but terror was evidently choking him. He +struggled to his feet, and still trembling from head to foot, made +pitiable attempts to work his way round to a place of safety behind the +altar, whilst keeping his bloodshot eyes fixed upon the praefect. + +"Hast come to murder me?" he gasped. + +"I came to place my body at thy service, O Caesar," replied Taurus +Antinor quietly. "I have been sick for nigh on twenty-four hours, else I +had come to thee before. They told me that thou wast cut off from those +whose duty it is to guard thy person. An thou wilt grant me leave I'll +conduct thee to them." + +"Aye! thou'rt ready enough to conduct me to my death, thou treacherous +son of slaves," snarled the Caesar from behind the safe bastion of the +stone altar. "I have learnt thy treachery, I, even I, who trusted thee. +Thou didst lie to me and plan my death even whilst I heaped uncounted +favours upon thee." + +"On my soul, O Caesar, thou dost me infinite wrong," rejoined the +praefect calmly. "But, an it please thee, I am not here to justify +myself before thee, though God knows I would wish thee to believe me +true; rather am I here to serve thee, an thou wilt deign to accept my +help in thy need." + +"To accept thy help. Nay! By Jupiter, I would as soon trust myself to +the snakes that creep under the grasses of the Campania, as I would +place my life in the keeping of a traitor." + +"Had I thought to betray thee, O Caesar," said Taurus Antinor simply, "I +had not come unarmed and alone. Even the dagger wherewith thou didst +threaten my life lies at my foot now, ready to my hand for the mere +picking up of it." + +As he spoke he gave the dagger a slight kick with his foot, so that it +slid clinking and rattling along the smooth floor, until its progress +was stopped by the corner of the altar steps against which the Caesar +cowered in abject fear. "My guard is in the next room," said Caligula +with an evil sneer, "an I call but once and they will kill thee at my +word." + +"That is as thou commandest and as God wills," said Taurus Antinor, "but +remember ere thou strikest, O Caesar, that with my death thou wilt lose +the one man who can save thee now." + +He spoke quite calmly nor did the tone of deference ever depart from his +speech. He stood in the dim light which came in a straight shaft down +through the opening above, his splendid person in full view of the Caesar +who still crouched in the shadow. The power of his individuality imposed +itself upon the miserable coward who threatened him. Caligula--tyrant +and half crazy though he was--had sufficient shrewdness in his tortuous +brain to recognise the truth of what the praefect had told him. Had this +man come with evil intent he would not have come alone and unarmed: had +he wished to gain his own ends, he would have had but to say a word and +the mob had been ready to wreak its desired vengeance upon the Caesar. + +"The people of Rome," resumed Taurus Antinor after a while, seeing that +Caligula was silent and more inclined to listen to him, "are angered +against thee. Thou knowest, O Caesar! what the anger of the people +portends. For the moment a violent storm has driven the malcontents away +from the vicinity of thy palace. They are congregated under the arcades +of the Forum and nurse there their thoughts of rancour and of revenge." + +"Until such time as my wrath overtakes them," broke in Caligula with one +of his most evil oaths. "I am not dead yet, and whilst I live I'll not +forget. Rome shall rue this day in blood and in tears. Vengeance and +rancour, sayest thou?" and he drew in his breath with a moist, hissing +sound like the snakes of the Campania of which he spoke just now. +"Vengeance and rancour will overtake the rebels! _My_ vengeance and _my_ +rancour, beside which all others shall pale! Rome can wait, I say: the +Caesar is not yet dead." + +The words fell choked and thick from his quivering lips, nor did Taurus +Antinor attempt to interrupt him; but as the Caesar finished speaking, +exhausted and breathing heavily, there was a moment's silence in the +room, and through that silence could be heard quite distinctly the call +of the people from the distance below. + +"Death to the Caesar! Death!" + +Caligula uttered a loud cry of rage and of fear and struggled to his +feet. He staggered forward out of the darkness and into the light, his +trembling arms outstretched, his sparse hair plastered against his moist +forehead, his eyes, protruding and bloodshot, fixed upon the praefect. + +"They'll murder me," he cried, as he almost fell on his knees and only +saved himself by clinging desperately with both hands to Taurus +Antinor's outstretched arm. "They'll murder me! Save me, O praefect; +save me! and I'll heap wealth upon thee--money, honours, power, all that +thou dost desire! Save me! Do not let them murder me! I will not die.... +I will not! I will not!... Cowards! cowards! I am a defenceless man!... +I will not die ... I cannot die.... Cowards!" + +Taurus Antinor had to brace himself up against the sickening sense of +almost physical nausea that came over him at sight of this pitiful +creature, more abject than any cur. + +Among the many moments of terrible doubt and still more terrible +temptation through which he had fought to-day, this was perhaps the most +intolerable because the worldly man in him cried out against the +futility of his own sacrifice. + +To give up every hope of happiness, every aspiration for the welfare of +an entire nation for the sake of this miserable coward, whose thoughts +of self-preservation only alternated with those of maniacal tyranny, +seemed indeed insensate mockery. Duty could not possibly lie in this. +This base creature's worthless life surely could not be weighed in the +balance against the countless others which--despite any promises that +might be wrung from him now--he would inevitably sacrifice to his own +lust for blood and for revenge. + +The worldly man, the thinking philosopher, the pagan in fact, faced +these propositions and placed them before the Christian. But the time +had gone by for mental conflict. The Christian had fought until his +numbed soul had almost lost the power of suffering; all he knew now was +that he must not reason, he must neither think nor philosophise. The +Master whom he had seen with limbs stretched upon a Cross in unspeakable +agony and humiliation, might also have overturned a Caesar and ruled the +world from the heights of a throne. He chose to rule it from a place of +infamy, and when His dying lips proclaimed to that same world the +supreme finality of its salvation: "It is accomplished!" it was not to +the sound of triumphal music, with banners flying and the spoils of +conquest around, it was to the accompaniment of taunts and of derision +and with body stripped naked before a jeering world. + +"I have offered thee my service, O Caesar," said Taurus Antinor with a +mighty effort at deference and calm. "An thou wilt follow mine advice I +can shield thee from the wrath of the people until such time as that +which has occurred to-day, lies buried in the bosom of the past." + +"What must I do?... What must I do?" muttered Caligula between his +chattering teeth. He was clinging to the praefect with both hands, for +his knees were shaking under him and he would have fallen had he +attempted to stand up alone. "Save me, praefect.... Save me.... Do not +let them kill me.... I cannot die.... I will not ... and those cowards +would murder me...." + +"Wilt trust thyself to me, O Caesar?" + +"Yes, yes, what must I do?" + +"Come forth with me into the streets. Wrapped in dark cloaks the people +will not recognise us. They would never expect the Caesar to leave his +palace while his life is in danger, and well disguised thou couldst come +with me through devious ways to a house I know of on the Aventine where +thou wouldst be safe." + +But at this suggestion that he should leave the security of this lonely +palace for the open dangers of the streets, Caligula's terrors increased +tenfold. His teeth chattered more loudly in his head, and his hands on +the praefect's arm became convulsive in their grasp. + +"I dare not go, praefect," he stammered, and it had been pitiable were +it not abject to see the look of insane terror which he cast around him. +"I dare not go.... They would kill me if they saw me ... and I don't +want to die...." + +"No one would recognise thee," said Taurus Antinor with ill-restrained +patience, "dressed as scribes we can mingle with the fringe of the +crowd. The shades of evening will be on us in an hour and our dark +mantles will excite no attention. Have no fear, Caesar! no one would +suspect thee of running in the teeth of danger." + +The tone of bitter irony was lost on the dulled perceptions of this +miserable coward. + +"I would not dare," he murmured intermittently, "I would not dare." + +"Then do I take my leave of thee, O Caesar," retorted Taurus Antinor +coldly. "For here alone, with but twenty men to guard thee, I can do +naught to save thy person from outrage." + +"If I were quite sure that I could trust thee...." + +"That is for thee to decide. I have offered thee my services ... an +thou'lt not accept them I crave thy leave to go." + +"No, no, do not leave me, praefect," cried Caligula with despair, +clinging now with all his might to this arm, which every instinct in him +told him was staunch in his defence. "Do not leave me ... I'll do as +thou dost advise.... I'll don a slave's garb ... and slip out into the +street in thy wake ... and ... after that...?" + +"Thou'lt find temporary shelter in an humble house on the Aventine. +There thou canst rest for a few days even while thy legions, distant +from here but three days' march, I believe, do approach the city." + +"Yes, yes! my legions," cried the Caesar in a hoarse whisper. "I had +nigh forgotten them. They are not far ... if I could but reach +them...." + +A sudden fire of malicious hatred once more lit up the dull misery of +his face. + +"At the head of my legions I can soon show this miserable rabble who is +the master of Rome." + +"At the head of thy legions, O Caesar," retorted Taurus Antinor firmly, +"and preceded by a proclamation of universal pardon for all the events +of the past few days, thou wilt make thine entry into Rome amidst the +rejoicings of thy people." + +"Pardon!" hissed Caligula through set teeth. "Never!" + +"Yet is a proclamation of universal pardon necessary for thy safety," +said Taurus Antinor with solemn earnestness. "As soon as I have placed +thee under the protection of that sheltering roof on the Aventine, I +would return to Rome with thy proclamation, and with the news that in +three days' time thou wouldst enter the city at the head of thy people. +The people, frightened at first, would imagine that divine interference +had led thee triumphantly out of danger, thy clemency would allay their +fears and fire their enthusiasm; they would soon make ready to welcome +thee with rejoicings. But without thy promise of pardon fear would gain +the mastery over those who led this rebellion, and fear quickly would +beget despair. In their terror of thy coming vengeance they might oppose +thy coming, and such is the temper of the people just now that all the +strength of thy legions--half-spent in this last expedition--might be +powerless against it; thy chosen soldiers even might turn against thee." + +The Caesar was silent, and even in this dim light it was easy to read on +his ghastly face the inner workings of his tortuous mind--rage, malice, +a raging thirst for revenge fought against his own cowardice and the +steady influence which the praefect's calm and firm attitude was +exercising over him, much against his will. + +"Time is precious, O Caesar," continued Taurus Antinor earnestly; "the +people will not wait. The shadows of evening will soon be drawing in and +the storm has not yet wholly passed away. The hour is propitious now, an +thou wilt accept my service, we can slip away and mingle with the few +straggling groups of malcontents before the crowd has again rushed the +hill. An thou wilt not tarry and canst brace thyself up to indifferent +demeanour in the streets, I swear to thee that thou wilt be under safe +shelter in an hour." + +"If I but dared to trust myself so entirely in thy keeping...." + +Taurus Antinor shrugged his broad shoulders with marked contempt for his +forbearance was threatening to give way. + +"Is there anyone else," he asked, "whom thou wouldst rather trust? Name +him then, O Caesar, and, alive or dead, I'll bring him to thy presence +within the hour." + +But to this the Caesar made no reply. He knew better than anyone could +tell him that the man whom he had called a traitor, whom he had twice +tried basely to kill, was the one man in the entire patriciate of Rome +who would be true to him. Even madmen have such instincts at times. +Caligula knew that he was doomed, the cries from below could leave no +doubt in his mind that, isolated as he was, cut off not only from his +legions but even from his guard, nothing could save him from the fury of +vengeance which threatened him from his entire people. + +A wave of fatality swept over his maniacal sense of terror. He knew and +felt that if this man was a traitor then indeed could nothing save him; +and he knew and felt at the same time that while he was under this man's +protection no great harm could come to him. + +Gradually this sense of fatality got the mastery over his cowardice, and +as Taurus Antinor watched the twitchings of that distorted face, he +could note that insensibly a resolution to follow his advice had found +its way in this madman's brain. + +"I'll come with thee," said Caligula at last, and now his voice sounded +more firm, even whilst his hands released their grip on the praefect's +arm and his short body straightened itself out upon his trembling limbs. +"I'll come with thee, but may thy flesh wither on thy bones, thy hands +be palsied and thine eyes become sightless if thou hast a thought of +betraying thy Caesar." + +To this senseless speech Taurus Antinor vouchsafed no reply. + +"Then I pray thee," he said quietly, "wait here a while till I find the +necessary garments for thy disguise and mine, and also pen, ink and +parchment." + +"Pen and ink? For what?" + +"Thy proclamation of pardon, Caesar, signed by thy hand...." + +"When I am in safety I will see to it," said Caligula with sudden +blandness, "thou saidst it thyself there is no time to lose." + +"There is time to fulfil a promise and time to take what is the most +important measure for thy safety," rejoined Taurus Antinor. + +"Thou dost not trust thy Caesar," said Caligula with a vicious snarl. + +"No," was the praefect's curt reply. + +It was characteristic of this tyrannical despot that at the praefect's +rough answer he laughed with obvious satisfaction. At the back of his +shrewd sense of self-preservation there had come the thought that the +man who had spoken that unequivocal "No!" had learnt to its fullest the +lesson of truth. He said nothing for a while, and when his laughter died +away in a kind of hysterical gasp, he made a gesture expressive of +indifference and also of submission to the other's wish. + +Taurus Antinor turned away from the loathsome presence without another +word and with a firm step. And Caligula, standing motionless in the +middle of the room waited quietly for his return. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII + +"Come, take up the cross, and follow me."--ST. MARK X. 21. + + +Taurus Antinor had some difficulty in finding the clothes that he +wanted, which would serve as a disguise for the Caesar and himself, and +he had to explore the huge deserted palace from end to end before he +came on the block of the slaves' quarters; here in one of the cubicles +he ultimately discovered a few bundles of garments, which had apparently +been hastily collected and then forgotten by one of the runaway scribes. + +These he found on inspection would suit his purpose admirably. Writing +tools and desk he had already collected; there were plenty of these +littering the building in every corner. + +Armed with all these necessaries, he made his way back to the lararium +without again crossing the peristylium where the soldiers were +assembled. + +Sitting on the altar steps, with the desk between his knees and the +light from the narrow shaft above falling full upon the parchment, he +wrote out carefully and laboriously the proclamation of pardon which was +destined on the morrow to assure the people of Rome that all their +delinquencies against the majesty and the person of their Caesar would by +him be forgotten. + +It was necessary so to word it that not a single loophole should remain +through which Caligula could ultimately slip and break his word. More +than one beginning was made and whole lines erased and rewritten before +the praefect of Rome was satisfied with his work. + +The Caesar in the meanwhile was tramping up and down the tiny room like +his own favourite black panther when it was in a rage. Throwing his +thick, short body about in a kind of rolling gait, he only paused at +times for a moment or two in order to hurl a vicious snarl at the +praefect. + +His fingers were twitching convulsively the whole time, with longing no +doubt to grasp the leather-thonged whip which they were so fond of +wielding. At intervals he would gnaw his nails down to the quick while +snorts of bridled fury escaped through his pallid lips. + +But Taurus Antinor went on with his work, absolutely heedless of the +Caesar's rage. When the wording of the proclamation satisfied him, he +held out the pen for Caligula to sign. He knelt on the floor with one +knee, holding up against his forehead, as custom demanded on a solemn +occasion, the desk on which rested the imperial decree. He rendered this +act of homage simply and loyally, as the outward sign of that sacrifice +which the Divine Master had demanded of him. + +Faithful to his instincts of petty tyranny, the Caesar kept the praefect +of Rome kneeling before him for close on half an hour; all this while +volleys of vituperations poured from his mouth against all traitors in +general, and more especially against the praefect whom he accused of +selling his services only in order to gain his own ends. + +It was only when Taurus Antinor had reminded him for the third time that +he was placing his life in grave jeopardy with all this delay that he +ultimately snatched up the pen and put his name to the decree. + +After that both the men donned the dark garments of the fugitive scribe. +With the proclamation of pardon rolled up tightly and hidden within the +folds of his tunic, Taurus Antinor led the way out of the lararium. + +The afternoon light was slowly sinking into the embrace of evening. The +vast deserted palace, with its rows of monumental columns and statues of +stone gods looked spectral and mysterious in the fast gathering gloom. + +When exploring the building in search of disguises Taurus Antinor had +taken note of the minor exits which gave on the more isolated portions +of the imperial gardens; to one of these did he now conduct the Caesar +and suddenly the outer air struck on the faces of the two men and they +found themselves in the open, in the waning light of day. + +Unbroken now by the solid marble walls which had shut out most of the +noise from the streets, the shouts that came from the slopes of the hill +struck more clearly upon the ear. The sound travelling through the +mist-laden air seemed to come more especially from the northwestern +front of the palace of Augustus, which here faces that of the late +Emperor Tiberius, with the new gigantic wing built recently thereunto by +Caligula. + +Here a vast multitude appeared to have congregated. The cries of +"Death!" seemed ominously loud and near, and through them there was a +dull murmur as of an angry mob foiled in its lust. + +The Caesar uttered a cry of terror and his knees gave under him. He +cowered on the ground, clutching at the praefect's robe and hiding his +face in the folds of his mantle. + +"They will kill me!" he stammered thickly. "I dare not go, praefect!... +take me back ... I dare not go!" + +Taurus Antinor, none too patient a man at any time, had to clench his +fists and drive his finger-nails into the palms of his hands, else he +could have struck this abject, miserable coward. He wrenched his cloak +out of the Caesar's grasp and with a firm grip pulled him roughly up +from the ground. + +"An thou canst not control thy cowardly fears," he said harshly, "I'll +leave thee to perish at their hands." + +And holding the wretched man tightly by the wrist, he quickly sought +shelter behind a pile of building material which lay some distance away. +He hoped that this cringing dastard would not hear that other clamour of +the people which invariably followed the call for vengeance: "Hail +Taurus Antinor! Hail!" + +Did these words perchance reach Caligula's ears he would no doubt even +at this eleventh hour have refused to trust himself to the praefect; he +would rush back into the palace, like a tracked beast that seeks its +burrow, and all the sorrow and the renunciation of the past twenty-four +hours would turn to the bitter fruit of uselessness. + +Fortunately Caligula's senses were dulled by his own terrors. He heard +the shouts and the ceaseless din of rebellious strife but the only word +that he could distinguish was the ominous one of "Death," and whenever +this word struck upon his confused mind a violent fit of trembling would +seize him and he would stumble and stagger along like a drunken man. + +Taurus Antinor, however, held him tightly by the wrist and thus he half +led, half dragged him in his wake. The towering masses of building +materials, huge blocks of stone and of marble, scaffoldings and ladders +piled up on the open ground which encircled the rear of Caligula's +palace, afforded him the protection which he had counted on and +foreseen. + +Keeping well within the shadows, he thus gradually worked his way on +from pile to pile until he reached the brow of the hill. The crowd which +was swarming up the slopes was just beginning to appear in isolated +detachments in the roads and streets that led upwards from the Forum. +Apparently the mob had not forgotten its former purpose to entrap the +fugitive Caesar and to force him to come out and to face his people. + +The dull evening light creeping up from below, the thin drizzle which +had succeeded the heavy rain and which mingled with the rising vapours +from the sodden ground, the aimlessness of the onrushing crowd as it +spread itself in confused masses all round the foremost palaces on the +hill, all favoured Taurus Antinor's plans. Emerging from behind a +monumental block of granite, looking in their dark clothes for all the +world like the scribes who had been seen running about here all the day, +the two men attracted little or no attention. + +Their faces in the gloom could not easily be distinguished, nor did +anyone in that excited throng imagine for a moment that the Caesar would +leave the safe shelter of his palace and, dressed in slave's garb, +affront the multitude who clamoured for his death. + +The audacity of this flight carried success along with it. Dragging the +quaking Caesar after him, Taurus Antinor soon plunged into the very thick +of the crowd. + +The tumult here and the confusion were intense. Men running and +shouting, women shrieking and children crying, all in a tangled mass of +noisy humanity. Some of the men brandished sticks, shovels or rakes, any +instrument they had happened to possess; they shouted loudly for the +Caesar, demanding his death, urging the more pusillanimous to rush the +palace and drag the hiding princeps out into the open. Others carried +tall poles on which they had improvised rude banners made of bits of +purple-coloured rags: they were proclaiming the new Caesar of their +choice in voices rendered hoarse with lustiness. + +The women clung to their men-folk, their shrill accents mingling with +the rougher ones. Some of them clutched small children to their breasts, +others dragged older ones at their skirts, and it was terrible to hear +the cries of frightened children through the shouts of vengeance and of +death. + +Now as the gloom gathered in a few lighted torches appeared here and +there, held high above the sea of surrounding heads; they flickered +feebly in the damp air, throwing fitful lurid lights on the faces close +by: dark faces, flushed and excited, with sullen eyes and dishevelled +hair, above which the black smoke from the sizzling resin formed weird +and shifting haloes. + +The crowd carried the fugitives along with it, pressed shoulder to +shoulder in a living, breathing, panting vice. Damp rising from +thousands of rain-sodden garments mingled with the mist and with the +rain and formed a grey, wet, clinging veil over this restless mass, +kneading it all together into a dark, swaying entity from which rose the +cries of the children and the hoarse shouts of the men. + +Drifting with the throng, Taurus Antinor, still holding his trembling +companion by the wrist, soon found himself being carried down the long +flight of steps which leads from the heights crowned by Caligula's +palace to the Forum below. Without attempting to work against the crowd, +he presently crossed the Nova Via, and turning sharply on his left he +found himself behind the basilica whose every arcade and precinct was +densely packed with men and women and whose marble walls echoed and +re-echoed with a multitude of sounds. + +The crowd!--always the crowd! Always these shouting men, these +screaming women, these puny crying children! It seemed as if their +numbers were being fed by invisible masses that came from out the +darkness which was closing in around. On ahead the height of the +Aventine hid the horizon line from view, and on its slopes tiny lights +began to appear that seemed to mock the weary fugitives by their +distance and their elusiveness. + +Taurus Antinor had all along intended to reach the Aventine by a devious +way. Now the crowd had brought him and his companion to the river bank, +there where the Tiber winds its sudden curve at the foot of the three +hills. That curve of the river would have to be followed its whole way +along the bank, and the slope of the Aventine looked so immeasurably +far. + +But progress had become more easy at last. Taurus Antinor pushed his way +along now as quickly as he dared. More than one angry glance followed +the tall, powerful figure as it forged a path for its burden, regardless +of obstruction; more than one oath was uttered in the wake of those +broad shoulders that towered above the rest of the crowd. + +With a man who was shivering as with ague dragging upon his arm, with +his body racked with fever and his temples throbbing with pain, the man +set out with renewed energy upon this final stage of his journey. + +In the constant pushing through the crowd the bandages on his shoulder +had shifted, and he could again feel the claws of the panther tearing at +his flesh, and the hot breath of the beast scorching his face. The +sodden garments clung cold and dank to his skin, he felt chilled down to +the marrow, and yet he felt as if the fire of his body would burn his +skin on to his bones. + +Perhaps the physical misery which he endured numbed the more unendurable +agony of the soul; certain it is that a kind of torpor gradually +invaded his brain, leaving within it only the sensation of a terrible +longing to drop down on the wet ground and to yield to the unconquerable +desire to stretch out his aching limbs and to lay down his head in the +last long sleep which would bring eternal rest. + +But now the ground had begun to rise, the Aventine stretched out its +slopes into the arms of darkness and its summit was lost in the gloom +above. The weary ascent had begun. + +Then it was that through the torpor of the man's brain a vision had +suddenly found its way, searching those memory cells of the mind that +contained the sacred picture of long ago. A mountain rugged and steep, a +surging crowd, a Man, weary and with body tormented by ceaseless pain, +toiling upwards with a heavy burden. + +His naked feet made no noise upon the earth, the burden which He bore +was a heavy Cross. + +Above on the summit death awaited Him, ignominy and shame, but He walked +up in silence and in patience, so that men in long after years, who had +burdens of sorrow or of misery, should know how to bear them till they +too reached the summit of their Golgotha, there to find ... not death, +not humiliation or pain, but eternal life and the serenity of exquisite +peace. + +The Caesar hung like a dead weight on Antinor's left arm, and the right +one, lacerated by the panther's claws, burned and ached well-nigh +intolerably. But the glorious memory of long ago now preceded him, the +Divine Martyr walking on ahead with sacred shoulders bent to the +sacrifice, and he seemed to hear again the swishing of the tunic, +stained with blood and the mud of the road; he seemed to hear the shouts +of the jeering crowd, the rough words of the soldiery, the sobs of +faithful disciples and women. + +And he too plodded on with his burden. The crowd, now far away, seemed +to mock him for the uselessness of his sacrifice; Dea Flavia's sobs of +sorely wounded love called to him to turn back. + +But memory now would be held back no longer. The picture which it +conjured up became more distinct and more real, and its gold-lined +wings, as they fluttered around his head, made a murmur gentle and +intangible as the flitting of the clouds across the skies of Italia. + +The murmur was soft and low, and it reached the aching senses of the +weary pilgrim like the cooling breath of multitudes of angels in the +parched wilderness of his sorrow: + +"If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his +cross and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and +whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." + +"For Thy sake, oh Jesus of Galilee!" said the man as he toiled up his +endless Calvary and left behind him with every step, far away in the +valley below, all that had made the world fair to him and all the +promises of happiness. + +On ahead the Divine Leader had fallen on his knees: the burden of His +Cross seemed greater than He could bear. Rough hands helped to drag him +up from the ground and set Him once more on His tedious way. His cheeks +were wan and pale, blood trickled from the thorn-crowned brow, but there +was no wavering in the lines of the face though they were distorted with +pain, no giving in, no drawing back, not though one word from those +livid lips could have called even now unto God, and ten thousand legions +of angels would have come down at that word to avenge the outrage and to +proclaim His godhead. + +And in the wake of his Master the Christian plodded on, dragging his +burden on his arm, the cross which he had to bear. Gradually behind him +the noise became more and more subdued, then it died down +altogether--all but a confused and far-away murmur which mingled with +the sighing of the Tiber. + +And the Christian was alone once more--alone with memory. + +Taurus Antinor's breath came in short, stertorous gasps, his throat was +parched and his tongue clove to the roof of his mouth. The slope of the +hill is precipitous here, and the house--nigh to the summit--seemed to +recede farther and farther with devilish malignity. + +And the sense of silence and of solitude became more absolute, a fitting +attendant on memory. On and on the two men walked, the Christian and his +burden; their sandalled feet felt like lead as they sank ankle-deep in +the mud of the unpaved road. + +"Come, take up thy cross and follow me!" and the Christian plodded on in +the wake of the Divine Presence that beckoned to him upwards from above. + +From time to time Caligula's hoarse and querulous voice would break the +death-like silence. + +"Are we not there yet?" + +"Not yet. Very soon," the praefect would reply. + +"I am a fool to have trusted myself to thee, for of a truth thou leadest +me to my death." + +"Patience, Caesar, yet a little while longer." + +"May the gods fell thee to the earth. I would I had a poisoned dagger by +me to kill thee ere thou dost work thy treacherous will with me. Thou +son of slaves, may death overtake thee now ..." + +"God in heaven grant that it may, O Caesar," said the praefect fervently. + +Now at last the houses became more sparse. Only here and there up the +side of the hill a tiny light glittered feebly. Taurus Antinor's senses +were only just sufficiently alert to keep in the right direction. The +house which he wished to reach was not more now than six hundred steps +away. + +The darkness had become almost thick in its intensity, even the houses +were undistinguishable in the gloom. The two men stumbled as they +walked, loose stones detached themselves under their feet and their +heelless sandals slid in the mud. Once the Caesar lost his foothold +altogether; but for his convulsive hold on the praefect's arm he would +have measured his length in the mud. + +Taurus Antinor felt after the wrench as if this must be the end, as if +body and brain and soul could not endure a moment longer and live. + +A mist akin to the one that enveloped the hill seemed to fall over his +brain. He no longer walked now, he just tumbled along, blindly stumbling +at almost every step with that dead, dead weight upon his arm which an +invisible force compelled him to carry up the precipitous height to the +place of safety which was so far away. + +"What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" asked that heavenly +murmur on the wings of memory. "For the Son of Man shall come in the +glory of the Father with His angels; and then He shall reward every man +according to his work." + +With his burden lying like an insentient log on his arm, Taurus Antinor +fell up at last against the door of the house; his foot had stumbled +against its corner-stone. + +A moment or two later the door was opened from within and the feeble +light of a tiny lamp was held above him whilst a kindly voice murmured: + +"Who goes there?" + +"The Caesar is in danger, and a fugitive. He asks shelter and protection +from thee," murmured Taurus Antinor feebly, "and I would lay down my +burden in thy house for I am weary and I would find rest." + +"Enter friend," said the man simply. + +The Caesar, trembling and nerveless, fell forward into the room. + +The praefect of Rome lay unconscious upon its threshold but the +Christian had laid down his cross at the foot of the throne of God. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV + +"Finally my brethren be strong."--EPHESIANS VI. 10. + + +The younger men were still inclined to rebel. They felt that they were +in great numbers and that they were strong: they believed--with that +optimism of excited youth--that their will must prevail in the end. In +their opinion the Caesar had done nothing to atone for his crime against +the praefect of Rome, or for his dastardly cringing before the power of +his people. + +But the older men, those who had mayhap more than once witnessed street +rioting and the bloody reprisals that invariably followed open +rebellion--they counselled prudence, an acceptance of what had come +about, since the imperial decree had been fixed to the rostrum of the +great Augustus, promising pardon for all delinquencies. + +And--what would you?--but was not the praefect of Rome dead? The +consul-major had stated it positively to all those who asked the +question of him, and he had it on the positive authority of Folces, the +praefect's most trusted slave. It was the consul-major who, preceded by +his lictors, had caused the imperial decree to be read out aloud to the +people of Rome from the topmost steps of the Temple of Mars, and it was +he who had then ordered the decree to be affixed to the wall of the +rostrum. The consul-major had received the precious parchment at the +hands of the special messenger sent by the Caesar himself: that messenger +was none other than Folces, and he had stated positively that the +praefect of Rome was dead. + +It was useless to demand that a man be proclaimed to the principate if +that man be dead. True that some of the malcontents--those young men who +were hot-headed and whose raging tempers were not easily curbed--refused +to accept the news and loudly demanded the body of the hero so that +divine honours might be accorded to it, to the lifelong shame of the +Caesar who had so basely murdered him. + +But the praetor urbanus had declared that the body of the praefect could +not be found, and the rumour had gained ground that it had been defiled +and thrown to the dogs. A sullen discontent reigned amongst the people +for this, and it could not be allayed by all the promises of pardon and +of rejoicings which the imperial proclamation decreed. + +There had been some calls too for Dea Flavia. The Caesar had nominated +his successor to the imperium in the Circus the other day. If the +Augusta would but make her choice, the people would perhaps be ready to +accept her lord now as Consort Imperii, with the ultimate hope that a +just and brave man would succeed to the principate in due course. + +But no sound had as yet come from the house of Dea Flavia, and the +people hung about the Forum in desultory groups, discussing the +situation. That the gods had intervened in the Caesar's favour no one +could reasonably doubt. Even whilst the anger of the populace was at its +height and dense masses had surrounded his palace to which he had been +known to flee, he had been spirited away out of the city. His +proclamation had come from Etruria, showing that he was already far from +his city and on his way to join his legions. + +How did he succeed in making a way for himself through the dense masses +that had thronged the streets for nigh on forty-eight hours, since +first the tumult broke out in the Circus when the praefect of Rome was +stabbed? + +Had Jupiter sent down his thunders yesterday, his lowering clouds and +heavy showers of rain, only in order to aid the Caesar in his progress? +What hand had guided him down the declivities of the Palatine? What arm +shielded him from the anger of the people? + + +Dea Flavia had heard the news even as soon as the first hour of the day +had been called. Yesterday, bruised in mind and heart and body, she had +lain for close on an hour in a dreamless, semi-conscious state. It was +only when she awoke from that that the knowledge of her misery returned +to her in full. + +She had found love, happiness, pride, all that makes life exquisite and +fair, only to lose all these treasures even before she had had time to +grasp them. + +Love had been called to life by the look, the touch of one man, +happiness had come when she saw the love-light in his eyes, born in +response to hers: pride came with all the rich gifts which she could +lavish upon him. Now everything was gone, he had taken everything from +her, even as he gave it; and he took everything in order to offer it as +a sacrifice to his God. + +Now her heart was numbed and her brain tried in vain to conjure up the +images of yesterday: the happy moments when she had lain against the +noblest heart in Rome. But the only vision that her dulled senses could +perceive was that of dying Menecreta speaking that awful curse, or of +herself--Dea Flavia--gazing with eyes of anger and of pride into vacancy +wherein her imagination had traced a glowing cross, and uttering words +of defiance that seemed so futile, so sacrilegious now. + +The storm then had obscured the sky, drove the rain in heavy patter +overhead, the air was dismal and dark: now a brilliant sunshine flooded +the imperial city with its radiance, the wet marble glistened in the +dawn and a roseate hue tipped the seven hills of Rome with glory. But in +Dea Flavia's heart there was sorrow darker than the blackest night, +sleep forsook her eyelids, and all night long she tossed about +restlessly on her couch listening to the sounds that came from the city +in rebellion, counting them out as they died away one by one. + +She had gone to her room quite early in the day; her guests she knew +were being well looked after, and she could not bear to remain in the +studio whose every corner reminded her of that powerful personality +which had lately filled it, and whose very walls still echoed with the +sound of that rough voice, rendered at times so exquisitely tender. + +Blanca attended on her and put her to bed for she could not bear to have +Licinia near her. The old woman's gossip jarred upon her nerves and she +was physically afraid to hear indifferent lips utter the name of the +praefect of Rome. + +Only the call, "Hail Taurus Antinor Caesar! Hail!" which still came half +the night through from afar dulled her agony of mind for a few seconds +when it struck upon her ear. It set her wondering, thus allowing her +momentarily to forget her misery. Then she would lie, wide-eyed, looking +upwards and pondering. + +Who was this god whom Taurus Antinor worshipped? + +Who was he and what had he done? All she knew was that he had died upon +a cross, the most ignominious death mortal man could suffer, and the +praefect of Rome, the proud Roman patrician, had been content to obey +him as a slave. + +Who was he and what had he done? On this she pondered half the night +through, while fever coursed through her veins and her brows were moist +and aching, her heart palpitating with pain. + +The dawn found her wearied and sick. But she rose when Blanca came to +her in the first hour. She summoned Licinia and all her women and +ordered them to dress her in one of her richest robes. She looked very +girlish and very pale when she stood decked out in the embroidered tunic +which she had chosen; it was of a soft material, clinging to her +graceful figure in long straight folds, there was some elaborate +embroidery round the hem, below which her feet peeped out clothed in +sandals of gilt leather. + +When she was dressed she went out into the atrium and then sent word to +the praetorian praefect and his friends that she was ready to receive +them. + +Some of the news from the busy world outside had already reached her +ears. Licinia was not like to be chary in imparting to her mistress the +scraps of gossip which she had collected. + +The Caesar was outside the city, he would in due time return to Rome at +the head of his legions, and in the meanwhile he had by a comprehensive +and gracious act of clemency pardoned all those who had offended against +his majesty. + +The noble patricians who yesterday had already deposed him, and had +called on her to name his successor, had been foiled in their ambitious +schemes by the very man whom she--Dea Flavia--would have set upon the +throne. + +And once more that one all-absorbing puzzle confronted her: who and what +was this god who had exacted this all-embracing sacrifice? + +She wandered somewhat aimlessly through the halls, for the great lords +were not yet ready to appear before her, and as she crossed the atrium +and went into the peristylium, looking with somewhat wistful longing +toward the open portals of the vestibule and the vista of open air and +sky from whence a breath of pure fresh air struck pleasingly on her +nostrils, she saw that in spite of the early hour a large number of the +poorer clients, suppliants at the door of the great Augusta, had already +assembled there. + +Foremost amongst them was an elderly man dressed in the plain garb of a +slave, and wearing, embroidered on his tunic, the badge that proclaimed +him in the service of the praefect of Rome. + +The man appeared to be very insistent, and to be receiving in +consequence, somewhat rough treatment from the janitors. Dea Flavia +turned to one of her own slaves and ordered the man to be brought to her +presence in her studio where she would receive him. + +The man told the janitors that his name was Folces, that he belonged to +the praefect of Rome and desired speech with the Augusta. He walked in +very humbly, with back bent nearly double, and when he was shown into +the studio where the Augusta sat alone he fell on both knees before her. + +"Thy name is Folces, I am told," she began graciously, "and thou art of +the household of the praefect of Rome?" + +"I attend upon his person, gracious lady," replied the man. + +"And thou hast brought me a message from him?" she asked, even as with +this hope her heart began to beat violently in her breast. + +"Not from him, gracious lady," said Folces humbly, "for the praefect of +Rome is dead." + +"Who told thee that he was dead?" she asked. + +"Taurus Antinor named Anglicanus," replied the man simply; "he sent me +my freedom this night and a message to lay at the feet of Dea Flavia +Augusta." + +"Give me the message," she said. + +Still on his knees, Folces fumbled in the folds of his mantle and from +his breast he drew a roll of parchment which he offered to the Augusta. + +"Rise, Folces, and go while I read," she said; "wait outside the door +till I do summon thee." + +She waited until the man had closed the heavy door behind him: she +wanted to be alone with these last words which he had penned for her. +Now she untied the string that held the roll together, then she unfolded +the parchment and read: + + "Idol of my soul, beloved of my heart. Aroused from dreams of + thee, my wakening soul takes its last flight to thy feet. This is + farewell, my dear, dear heart, even as my hand pens the word the + dawn around me turns to the likeness of the night, and it is + peopled with all the sorrows that wear out the heartstrings + slowly, one by one. The Caesar is safe. Even as I write he starts + forth on his way to join his legions. Having left him in charge + of those who do not know how to betray, I succeeded in the night + in reaching the detachment of the praetorian guard encamped + around the Circus: a small company of them returned with me to + the lonely house on the Aventine, and from thence at break of day + they started with the Caesar toward Etruria, where the legions + home from the expedition against the Allemanni were still known to + abide. In three or four days, or mayhap five, the Caesar will + re-enter his city. His proclamation of pardon is so worded that + his keeping of his word is closely bound up both with his honour + and with his personal safety. The people therefore have naught to + fear from his vengeance: those who have more actively conspired + against him, and who would have drawn thee in their selfish + schemes, have time before them to put themselves and their + belongings out of the immediate reach of the Caesar. Tell them to + live in retirement as far from Rome as they can until such time + as the events of the past few days have been erased from the + tablets of memory. + + "The Caesar is safe, and I, dear heart, do bid thee a last + farewell. When I parted from thee yesterday we both knew then + that the parting would be for ever; even though thine exquisite + hands clung to me and twined themselves round the very fibres of + my soul, and thy voice called me back with the ineffable + sweetness of thy love, I knew that it would be for ever. The + Caesar will never forgive me that I witnessed his abject + humiliation. Even at dawn, when he stood surrounded by his + praetorian guard, as secure from danger as human agency could + make him, a gleam of hatred shone in his eyes whenever he looked + on me. He never would give thee to me, dear heart, and would vent + his wrath also upon thy dear head. 'Tis better that he too should + think me dead, for dead will I be to Rome and to the people among + whom my name might yet give cause for strife and for discontent. + + "The Caesar is safe, and I can go my ways in peace. He hath no + longer need of me but my Lord hath called and I His servant must + take up my cross and follow Him. The priceless gifts which thy + pure hands did hold out to me are registered in His book of + Heaven, and He never forgets. As for me I were less or more than + a man were I to ask thee to forget. I would have thee remember, + yet would I think of thee as happy and radiant as the stars + wherewith He hath gladdened the darkness of our nights. But think + not of me as unhappy. My Lord has called, and I the servant am + bound to follow. He laid a burden on me and this burden must I + bear even though I may bear with it all the pain that is greater + than the pain of the earth, greater than the ceaseless travail of + the sea, even though I may bear with it that bitterest of all + bitter fruits the labour that is nothing worth. That I know not! + Who knoweth, oh God? Truly not I. There was grief in the world, + dear heart, even before the stars were made or the sky stretched + its blue dome above; and as hour follows hour, day succeeds day + and the cycles of years come and go, even so do fresh griefs and + greener sorrows spring around us; like each recurrent season they + too come and go. Only one thing abideth, dear heart, and that is + the will of God, who made happiness and woe, love and pain, sleep + and death. And 'tis the will of God that I should lose thee and + yet continue to live, even though life to me henceforth will be + one long dream of death. + + "Idol of my soul, beloved of my heart, farewell. I go to find + comfort from that bitter word on the summit of Golgotha, at the + foot of an abandoned, broken Cross. When my soul hath found peace + then will it be ready for the service of God. + + "Farewell, my beloved! May God have thee in His keeping, even as + thy soul hath already been touched with His grace. Farewell! Mine + eyes are dim, my hand trembles, hot tears blur the writing on + this parchment. And as I look up through the open doorway to + where the limitless horizon lies beyond Rome's seven hills, I see + stretched out before me the long vista of years throughout which + my heart will be for ever weaving with threads of longing and of + sorrow the tether which binds undying memory to thee." + +Her hands, which held the roll of parchment, dropped down upon her lap. +Her eyes too were dim and the hot tears fell from them one by one. A +sadness that was in no way bitter and yet was immeasurable as death had +filled her entire being as she read. + +Slowly she laid the parchment in the bosom of her tunic, then, like one +who walks in sleep, she rose and crossed the studio, her hand--white and +slightly quivering--pushed back the heavy door that masked the inner +room. Silently it swung upon its hinges, disclosing the sanctum where +yesterday the stricken hero had lain helpless and sick. + +The couch had not been touched since he had lain on it. It still bore +the imprint of the massive figure as it lay inert in the embrace of +drugged sleep. The pillow only had been smoothed out as if by a loving +hand, and as Dea Flavia came nearer to it she saw that a small object +had been laid there, as if reverently, right in the centre. + +The tears in her eyes obscured her vision momentarily, but when they +fell one by one down her cheeks, she saw a little more clearly, and +having approached the couch she took up the small object that lay there +upon the pillow. + +It was the wooden cross which she had last seen held between the clasped +hands of the man whom she loved. + +She gazed on the small symbol, and gazed, even though the tears gathered +thick and fast in her eyes and the image that she saw was scarce +discernible as it rested in her hand. + +How puzzled she had been two nights ago when she stole softly into this +room and saw him kneeling here beside the couch, clasping this wooden +symbol between his fingers--intertwined in a gesture of passionate +prayer. She had been puzzled because his actions of the day before had +seemed incomprehensible to her: his attitude to my lord Hortensius +Martius, an enemy whose life he saved at risk of his own, his loyalty +to the Caesar whom everyone abhorred! + +All this had puzzled her then, but how infinitely more profound was that +puzzle now. A riddle more mysterious than any sage could propound lay +hidden in the words of the letter which she had just read. The man who +had penned that letter had poured out his heart in it, and it was not a +heart that was void of pity or of love. It brimmed over with pity, it +was bruised with the intensity of love: but, crushed and broken though +it was, it did not murmur, it only endured. + +Dea Flavia looked down upon the small object which to Taurus Antinor had +been an emblem of that god whom he worshipped and who had been man and +had died a shameful death. + +Who was this god whom Taurus Antinor worshipped? for whose sake and at +whose bidding he was content to give up all the superheights of ambition +to which a Roman patrician could aspire? Who was this god? and what had +he done that a man like Taurus Antinor--a man filled with all a man's +strength and all a man's heroism, a man worshipped of the people and +glorified by an entire nation--should thus give up the lordship of Rome +in order to do him service? that he should give it up, too, without a +murmur, content to offer this final and absolute sacrifice. + +"Think not of me as unhappy. My Lord has called me and I, His servant am +bound to follow." + +Thus had the man written in loneliness and in peace after the sacrifice +had been accomplished, even after she--the Augusta--had, with +love-filled heart and generous hands, offered him everything that man +could desire on this earth. He had written it in loneliness and in +peace, having given up the world to follow his God. + +Who was this god? and what had he done that his power over Taurus +Antinor's heart was greater than her own? + +Yesterday she had cursed him loudly and called him cruel and unjust, +four days ago she had defied him and now he had conquered. Taurus +Antinor had obeyed him and she who loved him and whom he loved was left +desolate. + +For this she never doubted: he loved her, that she knew. She was no +child now! The last four days had made a woman of her: in the past four +days she had tasted of and witnessed every passion that rends a human +heart, love, ambition, cruelty, hatred! She had seen them all! seen +through passion men brought down to a level lower than the beasts, and +through passion a man become equal to a god. No! she was no longer a +child, she was a woman now, and there was much that if she did not +understand she at least could not doubt. The man whom she loved, loved +her with an intensity at least equal to that which even now made her +heart throb at the memory of his kiss. He loved her, longed for her, +would have laid down his life for her even at the moment when he tore +himself away from her arms. He loved her and longed for her even whilst +his trembling fingers penned this last impassioned farewell. + +He loved her and he loved Rome! But his god called to him and he, the +proud Roman patrician, the accepted lord of the Augusta and of Rome, +followed as would a slave. + +Slowly she dropped down on her knees just where he too had knelt two +nights ago, and like unto him she clasped her hands together, scarce +conscious that the tiny wooden cross still lay between her fingers. + +"Thou hast conquered, oh Galilean!" she murmured, whilst great sobs that +would not be suppressed rose to her throat. "At thy call he left +everything that makes life beautiful and happy: at thy call he left me +to mourn, he left the people of Rome who acclaimed him, he left the +throne of Augustus and the Empire of the world! Everything he left at +thy call! What hast thou in thy nail-pierced hands to give him in +return?" + +For a while now she was able to give way to her immeasurable sorrow. Her +head buried in the pillow whereon his head had rested, she sobbed out +her loving, aching heart in a passionate fit of weeping. + +Just like the Christian yesterday up on the heights, so was she--the +pagan--alone now with her grief. More lonely than he--she had no +anchorage, and in her ear had never sounded those all-compelling words, +sublime in their perfect gentleness: + +"Come unto Me!" + +But who shall tell what divine hand soothed her burning forehead? what +divine words of comfort were whispered in her ear? + +Gradually her tears ceased to flow, the heavy sobs were stilled, her +aching and bruised body felt numb with the pain in her heart. But +outwardly she was more calm. She rose from her knees, and hiding the +small cross in the bosom of her gown, she drew forth the letter and read +it through once more. + +"If only I knew!" she murmured. "If only I could understand!" + +After a while she bethought her of the slave Folces, the one human link +left now between herself and the man whom she loved and who was gone +from her. + +With reverent hands she smoothed out the couch, the pillow which had +supported his head, the coverlet which had lain over him. She was loth +to go from this room whose every corner seemed still to hold something +of his personality and whose every wall seemed to hold an echo of his +voice. + +She would have stayed here for hours longer, talking to that absent +personality, powerful and mysterious more than ever now, listening to +the rugged voice which she would never hear again. But there was +something that she must do ere she gave herself over finally to her +dreams; there was a duty to accomplish which she knew he would ask of +her. + +Therefore--after a last, long, all-embracing look on the place which +would for ever be as a sanctuary in her sight--she went back to the +studio at last, and herself going to the door she called Folces back to +her. + +"The praefect of Rome, good Folces?" she asked as soon as the man had +entered, "wilt see him again?" + +"Taurus Antinor named Anglicanus hath left Rome to-day on his way to +Syria, O Augusta!" said the man, humbly insisting on the name of his +master. + +"Dost not go with him?" + +"He hath commanded me to stay here and to look after his household until +such time as he doth direct." + +"His household?" she said. "I had not thought of that. What is to become +of his house in Rome, his villa at Ostia and his slaves?" + +"The praefect of Rome," said Folces, "made ere he died a testament +wherein he did command the freedom of all his slaves, and ordered a +certain sum of money to be set aside which will enable even the humblest +amongst us all to live decently like freedmen. The house in Rome and the +villa at Ostia are to be sold, whilst the remainder of Taurus Antinor's +private fortune is to be administered by his general agents. He said +that he would see to it later on. I am still his slave; he did not +confide in me." + +"Yet he asked thee to look after his household." + +"It will take a little time until the manumissio testamento can take +effect. In the meanwhile we all are Taurus Antinor's slaves and must +look after his houses until they have been sold." + +"Wilt be happy as a freedman, Folces?" + +"Yes, Augusta," replied the man simply, "for then I shall be at liberty +to follow Taurus Antinor as his servant." + +She sat quite silently after this, her tear-stained eyes fixed into +vacancy. Folces was on his knees waiting to be dismissed. It was some +little while before she remembered his presence, then in a gentle voice +she bade him go. + +"Shall I take a message back to my master?" he asked humbly. "I could +find him, I think, if I had a message." + +"I have no message," she said; "go, good Folces." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV + +"We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our +duty to do."--ST. LUKE XVII. 10. + + +Half an hour later Dea Flavia Augusta was in the tablinium. She had +received Caius Nepos, the praetorian praefect, Marcus Ancyrus, the +elder, my lords Hortensius Martius, Philippus Decius and the others, and +they, who had heard so many conflicting rumours throughout the morning +and were beginning to quake with fear, for none of the rumours were +reassuring, were grouped trembling and expectant around her. + +"My lords," she began as soon as she had received their obsequious +greetings, "I know not if you have heard the news. The Caesar hath +succeeded in quitting Rome; he is on his way to rejoin his legions and +nothing can stand in the way of his progress. In a few days from now he +will make his State re-entry into the city, and the city will resound +from end to end with rejoicings in his honour." + +"We had all heard the news, Augusta," said Caius Nepos who was vainly +trying to steady his voice and to appear calm and dignified, "and also +that a proclamation of pardon hath preceded the entry of the Caesar into +Rome and hath been affixed to the rostrum of the great Augustus by the +consul-major himself this morning." + +"And what do you make of all this, my lords?" she asked. + +"That some gods of evil have been at work," muttered young Escanes +between set teeth, "and spirited the tyrannical madman out of the way +for the further scourging of his people." + +"The spirit, my lords," she interposed quietly, "that led my kinsman to +safety last night was one which actuated the noblest patrician in Rome +to do his duty loyally by the Caesar." + +"Then curse him for a traitor," muttered Caius Nepos, whose cheeks had +become white with terror. + +"He was no traitor to you, my lords," she retorted hotly, "for he was +not one of you. He was true to the oath which he had rendered to the +Caesar; aye, even to the Caesar whom we, my lords, all of us here present +had been ready to betray." + +Then as she saw nothing but sullen faces around her and not a word broke +the silence that ensued, she continued more calmly: + +"Yesterday you came to me, my lords, with proposals of treachery to +which I, alas, did listen because in my heart I had already chosen one +man who I felt was worthy to rule over this great Empire. I had made my +choice and myself offered him the imperium, the throne of Augustus and +the sceptre of the Caesars.... But he refused it all, my lords, and went +forth in the night to place himself body and heart at the Caesar's +service." + +"And his name, O Augusta?" queried Ancyrus, the elder. + +"He hath name Taurus Antinor and was once praefect of Rome." + +"He is dead!" broke in Hortensius Martius hotly. + +"He lived long enough, my lord," she retorted, "to show us all our +duty." + +There was silence after that, for many a heart was beating +spasmodically with fear or with hope. My lord Hortensius Martius sat on +a low stool, with his elbow on his knee, his chin buried in his hand. +His eyes, glowing with dull and sullen hatred, searched the face of Dea +Flavia, trying to read what went on behind the pure, straight brow and +those liquid blue eyes, deep as the fathomless sea. + +"What is to be done?" said Ancyrus, the elder, with a pitiable look of +perplexity directed at the Augusta. + +"To make our submission to the Caesar," she said simply, "those of us at +least who are not afraid of his wrath. For the others there is still +time to seek a safe retreat far away from Rome." + +"But this is monstrous!" cried Hortensius Martius, suddenly jumping to +his feet and beginning to pace up and down the room in an outburst of +impotent wrath. "This is miserable, cowardly, abject! What? Would ye +allow that stranger, that son of slaves, to thwart your plans by his +treachery? Are we naughty children that can thus be sent, well-whipped +and whining to bed? Up, my lords, this is not the end! Caesar is not yet +in Rome! The people are still dissatisfied. Hark to the noise in the +Forum below! Does it sound as if the populace was accepting the news +with rejoicing? Up now, my lords! It is not too late! Acclaim your new +Caesar; it is not too late, I say. When the legions return with that +mountebank at their head let them find Dea Flavia Augusta and her lord +the acknowledged masters of Rome." + +He looked flushed, excited and proud, feeling that even at this eleventh +hour he could carry these men along with him if Dea Flavia put the +weight of her power on his side. Now he paused in his peroration, +standing above his fellow-conspirators as if already he were their +ruler, and looking from one face to the other with eager restless eyes +that expressed all his enthusiasm and all his hopes. + +But the two older men had evidently no stomach for the situation as it +now was. It had been easy matter enough to murder the Caesar +treacherously and while his legions were three days' march away. But now +everything was very different, the issues very doubtful; no doubt that a +safe retreat away from the city would be by far the wiser course. + +Caius Nepos, with vivid recollections of his last interview with the +Caesar, shook his head with slow determination. Ancyrus, the elder, was +silent and only the three younger men had followed Hortensius Martius in +his heated argument. + +"What sayest thou, Augusta?" asked Philippus Decius at last, looking +doubtfully upon the young girl. + +"That ye must make your plans without me, my lords," she said coldly. +"Since, as you say, the praefect of Rome is dead, I can make no choice +worthy of him who is gone. I choose to return to mine allegiance, my +loyalty to the Caesar and to my House." + +"If the Caesar returns," urged Hortensius Martius, "he will vent some of +his wrath on thee." + +"Then will I suffer for my treachery, my lords," she rejoined proudly, +"in accordance with my deserts." + +"But Augusta ..." + +"I pray you, my lord," she interposed haughtily, "do not prolong your +arguments. My mind is made up. An you value your own safety in the +future, 'twere wiser to make preparations for a lengthy stay away from +Rome." + +"Hadst thou listened to us yesterday ..." sighed Ancyrus, the elder. + +"A heavy crime had lain against us all," she said. "Be thankful, my +lords, that in the history of Rome when it comes to be written, your +deed will not have sullied the page that marks to-day. And now, my +lords, I bid you farewell! You are in no danger if you leave the city +forthwith. The rejoicings at the entry of the Caesar and the homecoming +of his legions will last many days, during that time your names will be +erased from the tablets of my kinsman's memory." + +"The gods grant it!" murmured Caius Nepos. "But thou, Augusta, what of +thee?" + +"I, my lords," she said with a gentle smile, the irony of which was lost +on their self-centred intellects, "I pray you have no thoughts of me. I +have been placed in the keeping of one who, I am told, is mightier than +Caesar. There must I be safe; so farewell, my lords; we meet again, I +hope, in happier and more peaceful times." + +She stood up and one by one--for was she not still the Augusta and the +favourite kinswoman of the Caesar?--they bent the knee before her and +kissed the hem of her gown. After which act of homage they retired with +backs bent and walking backwards out of the room. + +My lord Hortensius Martius was the last to take his leave. He went down +on both knees and would have encircled the Augusta with his arms, only +she drew back quickly a step or two. + +"Dea ... in the name of my love for thee ..." he began. + +But she interrupted him gently, yet firmly. + +"Speak not to me of love, my lord," she said. "'Tis but love's ghost +that moves to and fro when you speak." + +Then as he would have protested, she put up her hand with a gesture of +finality. + +"It is no use, my lord. What love there is in me, that you could never +have aroused--not even in the past. I entreat you not to insist. Love +cannot be compelled. It is or is not. Whence it comes we know not; +mayhap the gods do know ... mayhap there is only one who knows ... and +he seems to give much, but also to take all.... Therefore mayhap love +comes from him, and when we are not prepared to give up all for love's +sake, then doth he withhold the supreme gift and leave our hearts +barren.... Mayhap! mayhap!" she sighed, "alas! I know not! and you, good +my lord, do not look so puzzled and so scared. I bid you farewell now. +I'll not forget you; to remember is so much easier than to love." + +He had perforce to accept his dismissal. He felt rebellious against fate +and would have liked to have forced her will. But as she stood there +before him, clad all in white, so young and so chaste and yet a woman +who knew what love was, an awed reverence for her crept into his heart +and he felt that indeed he would never dare to speak again to her of +love. + +He too kissed the hem of her tunic now, just as the others had done, and +just as they had done he walked out of her presence backwards with back +bent and an overwhelming disappointment in his heart. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI + +"The peace of God, which passeth all understanding."--PHILIPPIANS +IV. 7. + + +Three months had gone by since then. Rome had acclaimed the Caesar and +rejoiced over his homecoming. There were holidays and spectacles, +chariot races and gladiatorial combats, and the people of Rome forgot +that it had ever shouted: "Hail Taurus Antinor Caesar! Hail!" + +Now the calls were for Caius Julius Caesar Caligula, and those who had +most loudly shouted for his death, cringed most obsequiously at his +feet. The very name of the ex-praefect of Rome was already forgotten. + +His testament, made, it appears, just before his death, had been +copiously commented on at first. All his slaves had received their +freedom together with a sufficient sum to enable one and all to live in +comfort in the new state of freedom. The rest of the vast property owned +by the late praefect was being somewhat mysteriously administered, and +up to this hour no one had been able to gain any definite information +with regard to its ultimate destination. There were those who averred +that a great deal of ready money--including the proceeds of the sale of +the late praefect's house in Rome and of his villa at Ostia--had found +its way to a section of very poor freedmen who lived on the Aventine and +who formed a somewhat isolated little colony not viewed altogether +kindly by the official magistracy of the city. + +But all that was mere gossip and did not withstand the test of time. +After three months people had plenty of other matters to think of and to +talk about. + +There were the festivals and games which had accompanied the re-entry of +the Caesar into Rome. The city had been beflagged and adorned with +banners and with garlands. For thirty days did the rejoicings last, and +brilliant sunshine shone over the golden glories of autumn and kissed +the foliage of oleanders until they blushed a brilliant crimson, and +tinged the marble of palaces and temples every morning with rose. + +The games in the great Circus went on without intermission for thirty +days; there were military and naval pageants, combats between the lions +from Numidia and the new hyenas and crocodiles; there were gladiatorial +contests and chariot races. Much human blood was shed for the +delectation of the masters of the world, much skill displayed, much +prowess vanquished by prowess greater, much valour laid to dust. + +But the Caesar's pet black panther did not appear again in the Circus. +The mighty fist of the dead praefect had mayhap laid the creature low; +in any case it were not safe to re-awaken dormant memories. + +And Caius Julius Caesar Caligula, the father of his armies, the best and +greatest of Caesars, showed himself at all these pageants more crazed +than ever; he hardly ever spoke now to the people. 'Twas averred that +Caesonia, his wife, had given him a potion to cure him of his infatuation +for Dea Flavia, his kinswoman, whom he had exalted above all the other +Augustas, and whose absence from Rome and from all festivities had +rendered him half distracted with wrath. + +He would have liked to vent that wrath on Dea, but he could not lay +hands on her. She had left her palace even before his re-entry into +Rome, taking none but two of her most trusted slaves with her; the +others did not know whither she had gone. Some thought that she had gone +on a journey to a villa which she possessed in Sicilia, others thought +that she was living a life of retirement in a lonely dwelling on the +Sabine Hills, preparatory to devoting her virginity to the glory of +Vesta. + +Caius Julius Caesar Caligula prepared to have her sought for throughout +the length and breadth of his Empire, and would no doubt have succeeded +in time in this search had not a few months later Chaerea, the +praetorian tribune, done the work with his hands which the dagger of +young Escanes had failed to do. + + +The winter had been slow in coming, but it had come at last. An icy wind +blew from across the sea. Overhead the sky was the colour of lead and +great banks of clouds chased one another wantonly above the hills that +tower over Jerusalem. + +There was hardly a path up the rugged incline, the rains and winds and +snows of the past seven years had obliterated the marks which a surging +crowd had once made in the wake of the sacred feet. + +It was close on the ninth hour and the shadows of evening were already +drawing in very fast. A tall figure dressed in sombre garments walked +slowly up the hill which is called Calvary. + +His head was uncovered and he had no wand wherewith to ease his +footsteps; the blustering gusts of wind blew the tawny hair over his +brow. + +He held his head erect and his eyes did not watch the places where trod +his feet. They were fixed on ahead, up toward the summit of the hill, +there where a Cross stood broken and lonely with wooden arms +outstretched and the birds of heaven circling all round it. + +Every day for seven days now had the pilgrim wandered up the steep +desolate hill. Every day for seven days he had reached the summit ere +the ninth hour was called from the city walls. He lived at a small inn +just inside the third wall, and every day at noon he set out upon his +pilgrimage and only came home when the darkness of the night lay dense +upon the valley. + +To-day he was more weary than he had ever been before. His feet felt +like leaden weights that seemed to be dragging him down and ever +downwards, and the loneliness of the place had its image within his +heart. + +On the summit he fell on his knees and knelt at the foot of the Cross, +leaning his aching forehead against the cold, dank wood. + +"How long, oh my God, how long?" he murmured. "The misery is more than I +can bear. I am ready to do Thy work, oh God, to speak Thy Word where +Thou dost bid me go, but take her image, dear Lord, from before mine +eyes, it stands for ever 'twixt Thy Cross and me. Break my heart, oh +God, since her image fills it and its every beat is not in Thy name. +Take the cup from me, dear Lord! It is too bitter and I cannot drink!" + +The night drew in around him; the lights in the city below were +extinguished one by one. The croaking birds on the lonely Cross had +found a home far away in the gloom. + +The pilgrim knelt against the Cross, he could hardly see the objects +nearest to him, the small prickly shrubs, the rough grass, the loose +stones that looked so white and spectral in the waning light. He could +hardly see, for his eyes ached with the dull misery of tears that would +not fall; but suddenly a sound softer than that made by a night-bird in +its flight struck upon his ear. + +It was like the drawing of a garment upon the rugged ground. One or two +small stones detached themselves from their bed of wet earth and rolled +away from under the tread of feet that walked upwards toward the summit. + +The pilgrim did not move, and yet he heard the sound. It came nearer to +him, and nearer, and suddenly he was not alone; something living and +warm knelt on the stony ground beside him, and gentle fingers that had +the softness and the coolness of snow were laid upon his burning hands. + +"I came as quickly as I could," said a tender voice close to his ear. +"But it has taken me some time to find thee. Had it not been for Folces +and his devotion I might mayhap never have found thee. We came to +Jerusalem yesterday. To-day at noon I saw thee starting forth from out +the city. I followed thee, but the way was rough.... I feared I should +never reach the summit ... and yet 'twas here I wished to speak to +thee." + +All this while he had remained numb and silent. He knew even when first +her hand touched his that God had ended his sorrow and taken his aching +soul into His keeping at last. But for the moment he thought that sweet +death had kissed his eyelids and that this was the first taste of +paradise. Darkness was closing in around them both; he could scarcely +distinguish her features, but it seemed to him as if glory shone out of +her eyes, glory so radiant that it illumined the darkness and pierced +the walls of the night. + +"Is it thou?" he murmured. "Oh God! have pity on me! Her image, her +sweet image, allow it to fade from my mind ere my brain becomes a +traitor to Thee!" + +"'Tis not a vision, dear heart," she whispered softly, "'tis not a +dream. It is I, Dea Flavia, whom thou didst call the beloved of thy +heart. I came because I loved thee and because here on this spot I would +learn from thee the mysteries of thy God." + +"Is it thou? And hast thou come to me from heaven?" + +"No, dear heart, only from far-off Rome. And I have come to thee, to be +with thee and to follow thee wherever thou wilt lead me." + +"Yet will my wanderings lead me far," he said, "my Lord has called and I +must go." + +"Then will I go with thee," she said. + +"To far-off lands, dear heart, to speak the Word of God to those who +heard it not." + +"I will go with thee," she reiterated simply. + +"To far-off lands whence I came, a sea-girt land which once was mine +own. My fathers lived there. I would go back and tell my people of all +that I saw here on Calvary seven years ago." + +"Then thither will I go with thee," she replied, "thy home will be my +home, thy people my people and thy God shall be my God, for thine am I +now and always. I am ignorant yet but this I do know, that thy God must +be the great, the true and only God. None other God but He could have +put in thy heart the strength of sacrifice which hath brought thee--who +had Rome at thy feet--a lonely wanderer to the foot of this Cross." + +She knelt beside him and he no longer cowered, limitless joy was in his +heart and immeasurable gratitude. + +"For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of the Father with His +angels, and then He shall reward every man according to his works." + +The wings of the wind brought the sacred words to his ears. He kissed +the rough wooden Cross there where the Divine feet had rested, and Dea +Flavia pressed her lips on it too, and the peace that passeth all +understanding descended upon them both. + +Overhead the clouds had parted, their silver lining showed clearly +against the dull blue sky, and in the midst of that rent in the +firmament, far away in the limitless beyond, a star shone out bright and +clear. + +Then they both rose, and hand in hand they walked slowly down the hill. + + + + +THE END + + + + +[Transcriber's Note: The following typographical errors in the original +edition have been corrected. + +In Chapter VIII, a missing comma was added to "'Silence' admonished +Marcus Ancyrus"; and "unnatural brighteness" was changed to "unnatural +brightness". + +Chapter XXIV was misnumbered as Chapter XXVI. + +In Chapter XXIV, "weary little sight" was changed to "weary little +sigh". + +In Chapter XXX, "plit from end to end" was changed to "split from end to +end"; and "bow my hear down with shame" was changed to "bow my head down +with shame". + +Also, the table of contents has been created for this electronic +edition. It was not present in the original work.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of "Unto Caesar", by Baroness Emmuska Orczy + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK "UNTO CAESAR" *** + +***** This file should be named 24789.txt or 24789.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/7/8/24789/ + +Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +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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