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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 19:06:16 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-14 19:06:16 -0700 |
| commit | e44492b5c22eb2a3b24bfc4de46052f1885f8a21 (patch) | |
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diff --git a/47822-tei/47822-tei.tei b/47822-tei/47822-tei.tei new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7737d8 --- /dev/null +++ b/47822-tei/47822-tei.tei @@ -0,0 +1,25012 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?> +<!DOCTYPE TEI.2 SYSTEM "http://www.gutenberg.org/tei/marcello/0.4/dtd/pgtei.dtd"> +<TEI.2 lang="en"> + <teiHeader> + <fileDesc> + <titleStmt> + <title>The Gladiators. A Tale of Rome and Judæa</title> + <author><name reg="Whyte-Melville, G. J.">G. J. Whyte-Melville</name></author> + </titleStmt> + <publicationStmt> + <publisher>Project Gutenberg</publisher> + <date value="2014-12-30">December 30, 2014</date> + <idno type='etext-no'>47822</idno> + <availability> + <p>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 online at + www.gutenberg.org/license</p> + </availability> + </publicationStmt> + <sourceDesc> + <bibl> +<title>The Gladiators. A Tale of Rome and Judæa</title> +<author><name reg="Whyte-Melville, G. J.">G. J. Whyte-Melville</name></author> +<imprint><pubPlace>London</pubPlace> +<publisher>Thacker</publisher></imprint> +</bibl> + </sourceDesc> + </fileDesc> + <encodingDesc> + </encodingDesc> + <profileDesc> + <langUsage> + <language id="it" /> + <language id="fr" /> + <language id="en" /> + <language id="de" /> + <language id="la" /> + <language id="grc" /> + <language id="es" /> + </langUsage> + </profileDesc> + <revisionDesc> + <change> + <date value="2014-12-30">December 30, 2014</date> + <respStmt> + <resp>Produced by <name>Shaun Pinder</name>, <name>Stefan Cramme</name> + and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net +(This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</resp> + </respStmt> + <item>Project Gutenberg TEI edition 1</item> + </change> + </revisionDesc> + </teiHeader> + + <pgExtensions> + <pgStyleSheet> + .center { text-align: center } + .ill { margin-left: 2 } + .italic { font-style: italic } + .small { font-size: 75% } + .smallcaps { font-variant: small-caps } + .smaller { font-size: 100% } + figure { text-align: center } + head { text-align: center } + lg { margin-left: 2 } + .w40 { } + .w80 { } + @media pdf { + .w40 { width: 40%; page-float: 'htp' } + .w80 { width: 80%; page-float: 'htp' } + } + </pgStyleSheet> +<pgCharMap formats="txt"> + <char id="U0x2009"> + <charName>thinsp</charName> + <desc>THIN SPACE</desc> + <mapping></mapping> + </char> + </pgCharMap> + </pgExtensions> + +<text lang="en"> +<front> +<div> +<divGen type="pgheader" /> +</div> +<div> +<divGen type="encodingDesc" /> +</div> +<div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb/> + +<p rend="margin-left: 4; margin-right: 4"> +<hi rend='italic'>Of this Edition of Whyte-Melville’s +Works One Thousand and Fifty +Copies only have been printed by +Morrison and Gibb Limited, Edinburgh, +who have distributed the type</hi> +</p> + +</div><div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb/> + +<p rend="center"> +<hi rend="font-size: large">THE WORKS OF</hi><lb/><lb/> +<hi rend="font-size: x-large">G. J. WHYTE-MELVILLE</hi> +<lb/><lb/><lb/> +<hi rend="font-size: small">EDITED BY</hi><lb/> +<hi rend='smallcaps'>Sir HERBERT MAXWELL, Bart.</hi> +<lb/><lb/> +VOLUME XXII. +</p> + +<pb/> + +</div><div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb/> + +<p> +THE GLADIATORS +</p> + +<figure url="images/i_004.png" rend="w40"><figDesc>Illustration: Monogram</figDesc></figure> + +<pb/> + +<pb/> + +</div><div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb/> +<anchor id="frontispiece"/> +<pgIf output='txt'><then> + <p rend="ill">[Illustration: ‘The Briton watching his opportunity +seized the bit in his powerful grasp.’]</p> +</then><else> + <p><figure rend="w80" url="images/i_007.jpg"><head>‘The Briton watching his opportunity +seized the bit in his powerful grasp.’</head><figDesc>Illustration: ‘The Briton watching his opportunity +seized the bit in his powerful grasp.’</figDesc></figure></p> +</else></pgIf> + +<pgIf output="html"> +<then><p><figure url="images/cover.jpg" rend="w80"><figDesc>Illustration: Title page</figDesc></figure></p></then> +<else></else> +</pgIf> + +</div><titlePage rend="page-break-before: always; center"> +<pb/> + +<docTitle> + <titlePart type="main" rend="font-size: xx-large">THE GLADIATORS</titlePart> +<lb/><lb/> +<titlePart type="sub" rend="font-size: x-large">A TALE OF ROME AND JUDÆA</titlePart> +</docTitle> +<lb/><lb/><lb/> +<byline><hi rend="font-size: small">BY</hi><lb/><lb/> +<docAuthor rend="font-size: large">G. J. WHYTE-MELVILLE</docAuthor></byline> +<lb/><lb/> +<titlePart><hi rend="font-size: small">WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY HARRINGTON BIRD</hi></titlePart> +<lb/><lb/><lb/> +<docImprint><pubPlace>LONDON</pubPlace><lb/> +<publisher>W. THACKER & CO., 2 CREED LANE, E.C.</publisher><lb/> +<pubPlace>CALCUTTA: THACKER, SPINK & CO.</pubPlace><lb/> +<date>1901</date></docImprint> +<lb/><lb/> +<titlePart rend="font-size: small"><hi rend='italic'>All rights reserved</hi></titlePart> + +<pb/> + +</titlePage><div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='ix'/><anchor id='Pgix'/> +<index index="toc" level1="Contents"/><index index="pdf" level1="Contents"/> + +<head>CONTENTS</head> + +<table rend="tblcolumns: 'r lw(32m) r'; latexcolumns: 'rp{4.5cm}r'"> +<row> +<cell></cell> +<cell rend="text-align: center"><hi rend="font-size: large">EROS</hi></cell> +<cell></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><hi rend="small">CHAP.</hi></cell> +<cell></cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><hi rend="small">PAGE</hi></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">I.</cell> +<cell>THE IVORY GATE</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg001">1</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">II.</cell> +<cell>THE MARBLE PORCH</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg006">6</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">III.</cell> +<cell>HERMES</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg015">15</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">IV.</cell> +<cell>APHRODITÉ</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg020">20</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">V.</cell> +<cell>ROME</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg028">28</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">VI.</cell> +<cell>THE WORSHIP OF ISIS</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg036">36</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">VII.</cell> +<cell>TRUTH</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg046">46</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">VIII.</cell> +<cell>THE JEW</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg055">55</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">IX.</cell> +<cell>THE ROMAN</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg061">61</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">X.</cell> +<cell>A TRIBUNE OF THE LEGIONS</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg071">71</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XI.</cell> +<cell>STOLEN WATERS</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg081">81</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XII.</cell> +<cell>MYRRHINA</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg086">86</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XIII.</cell> +<cell>NOLENS—VOLENS</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg095">95</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XIV.</cell> +<cell>CÆSAR</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg100">100</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XV.</cell> +<cell>RED FALERNIAN</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg108">108</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XVI.</cell> +<cell>THE TRAINING-SCHOOL</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg117">117</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XVII.</cell> +<cell>A VEILED HEART</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg125">125</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XVIII.</cell> +<cell>WINGED WORDS</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg135">135</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XIX.</cell> +<cell>THE ARENA</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg144">144</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XX.</cell> +<cell>THE TRIDENT AND THE NET</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg155">155</ref></cell> +</row> +</table> + +<pb n='x'/><anchor id='Pgx'/> + +<table rend="tblcolumns: 'r lw(32m) r'; latexcolumns: 'rp{4.5cm}r'"> +<row> +<cell rend="text-align: right"></cell> +<cell rend="text-align: center"><hi rend="font-size: large">ANTEROS</hi></cell> +<cell></cell> +</row> +<row> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><hi rend="small">CHAP.</hi></cell> +<cell></cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><hi rend="small">PAGE</hi></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">I.</cell> +<cell>THE LISTENING SLAVE</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg163">163</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">II.</cell> +<cell>ATTACK AND DEFENCE</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg172">172</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">III.</cell> +<cell><q>FURENS QUID FŒMINA</q></cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg179">179</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">IV.</cell> +<cell>THE LOVING CUP</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg186">186</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">V.</cell> +<cell>SURGIT AMARI</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg194">194</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">VI.</cell> +<cell>DEAD LEAVES</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg200">200</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">VII.</cell> +<cell><q>HABET!</q></cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg209">209</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">VIII.</cell> +<cell>TOO LATE</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg214">214</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">IX.</cell> +<cell>THE LURE</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg221">221</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">X.</cell> +<cell>FROM SCYLLA TO CHARYBDIS</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg229">229</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XI.</cell> +<cell>THE RULES OF THE FAMILY</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg238">238</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XII.</cell> +<cell>A MASTER OF FENCE</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg245">245</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XIII.</cell> +<cell>THE ESQUILINE</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg252">252</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XIV.</cell> +<cell>THE CHURCH</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg260">260</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XV.</cell> +<cell>REDIVIVUS</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg269">269</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XVI.</cell> +<cell><q>MORITURI</q></cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg280">280</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XVII.</cell> +<cell>THE GERMAN GUARD</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg286">286</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XVIII.</cell> +<cell>THE BUSINESS OF CÆSAR</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg293">293</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XIX.</cell> +<cell>AT BAY</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg300">300</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XX.</cell> +<cell>THE FAIR HAVEN</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg307">307</ref></cell> +</row> +</table> + +<pb n='xi'/><anchor id='Pgxi'/> + +<table rend="tblcolumns: 'r lw(32m) r'; latexcolumns: 'rp{4.5cm}r'"> +<row> +<cell rend="text-align: right"></cell> +<cell rend="text-align: center"><hi rend="font-size: large">MOIRA</hi></cell> +<cell></cell> +</row> +<row> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><hi rend="small">CHAP.</hi></cell> +<cell></cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><hi rend="small">PAGE</hi></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">I.</cell> +<cell>A HOUSE DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg311">311</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">II.</cell> +<cell>THE LION OF JUDAH</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg321">321</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">III.</cell> +<cell>THE WISDOM OF THE SERPENT</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg330">330</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">IV.</cell> +<cell>THE MASTERS OF THE WORLD</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg338">338</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">V.</cell> +<cell>GLAD TIDINGS</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg345">345</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">VI.</cell> +<cell>WINE ON THE LEES</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg352">352</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">VII.</cell> +<cell>THE ATTAINDER</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg360">360</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">VIII.</cell> +<cell>THE SANHEDRIM</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg368">368</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">IX.</cell> +<cell>THE PAVED HALL</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg376">376</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">X.</cell> +<cell>A ZEALOT OF THE ZEALOTS</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg384">384</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XI.</cell> +<cell>THE DOOMED CITY</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg392">392</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XII.</cell> +<cell>DESOLATION</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg398">398</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XIII.</cell> +<cell>THE LEGION OF THE LOST</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg406">406</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XIV.</cell> +<cell>FAITH</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg416">416</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XV.</cell> +<cell>FANATICISM</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg423">423</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XVI.</cell> +<cell>DAWN</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg427">427</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XVII.</cell> +<cell>THE FIRST STONE</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg435">435</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XVIII.</cell> +<cell>THE COST OF CONQUEST</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg440">440</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XIX.</cell> +<cell>THE GATHERING OF THE EAGLES</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg446">446</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell rend="text-align: right">XX.</cell> +<cell>THE VICTORY</cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="Pg453">453</ref></cell> +</row> +</table> + +<pb/><anchor id='Pgxii'/> + +</div><div rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='xiii'/><anchor id='Pgxiii'/> +<index index="toc" level1="List of Illustrations"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="List of Illustrations"/> +<head>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</head> + +<table rend="tblcolumns: 'lw(56m) rw(12m)'; latexcolumns: 'p{5cm}r'"> + <row> +<cell></cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><hi rend="small">PAGE</hi></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell><q>THE BRITON, WATCHING HIS OPPORTUNITY, SEIZED THE BIT IN HIS POWERFUL GRASP</q></cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="frontispiece"><hi rend='italic'>Coloured Frontispiece</hi></ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell><q><q>HAVE AT HIM! GOOD DOGS!</q></q></cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="i_020">2</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell><q>LICINIUS HOLDS THE BRITISH MAIDEN TO HIS BREAST</q></cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="i_082">63</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell><q>WITH A SHORT LABOURING TROT HE MOVES ACROSS THE ARENA</q></cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="i_172">150</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell><q><q>YOU ARE SAFE,</q> SHE SAID</q></cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="i_220">197</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell><q>SHE WAS ACCOSTED BY A DARK SALLOW OLD WOMAN</q></cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="i_246">221</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell><q>HER EYES GREW DIM, HER SENSES SEEMED FAILING</q></cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="i_282">255</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell><q><q>THEIR POINTS ARE POISONED,</q> HE SHOUTED</q></cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="i_334">304</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell><q>SHE WALKED BOLDLY UP TO HIM</q></cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="i_438">407</ref></cell> +</row> + <row> +<cell><q>SANK DOWN HELPLESS ON THE PAVEMENT AT HIS FEET</q></cell> +<cell rend="text-align: right"><ref target="i_472">439</ref></cell> +</row> +</table> + +<pb/><anchor id='Pgxiv'/> + +</div> +</front> +<body rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb/><anchor id='Pgxv'/> + +<p rend="center; font-size: xx-large">THE GLADIATORS</p> +<pb/><anchor id='Pgxvi'/> + +<pb n='1'/><anchor id='Pg001'/> + +<p rend="center; font-size: xx-large; page-break-before: right">THE GLADIATORS</p> + +<div type="book"> +<index index="toc" level1="Eros"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="Eros"/> + +<head><hi rend="font-weight: bold">Eros</hi></head> + +<div n="1.1" type="chapter"> +<index index="toc" level1="I. The ivory gate"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="I. The ivory gate"/> + +<head>CHAPTER I<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE IVORY GATE</hi></head> + +<figure url="images/i_018.png" rend="w40"><figDesc>Initial D</figDesc></figure> + +<p> +Dark and stern, in their weird beauty, +lower the sad brows of the Queen of +Hell. Dear to her are the pomp +and power, the shadowy vastness, +and the terrible splendour of the +nether world. Dear to her the +pride of her unbending consort; +and doubly dear the wide imperial +sway, that rules the immortal +destinies of souls. But dearer far +than these—dearer than flashing +crown and fiery sceptre, and throne +of blazing gold—are the memories that glimmer bright as +sunbeams athwart those vistas of gloomy grandeur, and seem +to fan her weary spirit like a fresh breeze from the realms of +upper earth. She has not forgotten, she never can forget, +the dewy flowers, the blooming fragrance of lavish Sicily, +nor the sparkling sea, and the summer haze, and the golden +harvests that wave and whisper in the garden and granary +of the world. Then a sad smile steals over the haughty face; +the stern beauty softens in the gleam, and, for a while, the +daughter of Ceres is a laughing girl once more. +</p> + +<p> +So the Ivory Gate swings back, and gentle doves come +forth on snowy wings, flying upwards through the gloom, to +bear balm and consolation to the weary and the wounded +and the lost. Now this was the dream the birds of Peace +brought with them, to soothe the broken spirit of a sleeping +slave. +</p> + +<pb n='2'/><anchor id='Pg002'/> + +<p> +The old boar has turned to bay at last. Long and severe +has been the chase; through many an echoing woodland, +down many a sunny glade, by copse and dingle, rock and +cave, through splashing stream, and deep, dank, quivering +morass, the large rough hounds have tracked him, unerring +and pitiless, till they have set him up here, against the trunk +of the old oak-tree, and he has turned—a true British denizen +of the waste—to sell his life dearly, and fight unconquered to +the last. His small eye glows like a burning coal; the stiff +bristles are up along his huge black body, flecked with white +froth that he churns and throws about him, as he offers those +curved and ripping tusks, now to one, now to another of his +crowding, baying, leaping foes. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Have at him! Good dogs!</q> shouts the hunter, running +in with a short, broad-bladed boar-spear in his hand. Breathless +is he, and wearied with the long miles of tangled forests +he has traversed; but his heart is glad within him, and his +blood tingles with a strange wild thrill of triumph known +only to the votaries of the chase. +</p><anchor id="i_020"/> +<pgIf output='txt'><then> + <p rend="ill">[Illustration: <q>Have at him good dogs</q>]</p> +</then><else> + <p><figure rend="w80" url="images/i_020.png"><head><q>Have at him good dogs</q></head><figDesc>Illustration: <q>Have at him good dogs</q></figDesc></figure></p> +</else></pgIf> +<p> +Gelert is down, torn and mangled from flank to dewlap; +Luath has the wild swine by the throat; and a foot of gleaming +steel, driven home by a young, powerful arm, has entered +behind the neck and pierces downwards to the very brisket. +The shaft of the spear snaps short across, as the thick unwieldy +body turns slowly over, and the boar shivers out his +life on the smooth sward, soft and green as velvet, that exists +nowhere but in Britain. +</p> + +<p> +The dream changes. The boar has disappeared, and the +woodland gives place to a fair and smiling plain. Vast herds +of shaggy red cattle are browsing contentedly, with their wide-horned +heads to the breeze; flocks of sheep dot the green +undulating pastures, that stretch away towards the sea. A +gull turns its white wing against the clear blue sky; there is +a hum of insects in the air, mingled with the barking of dogs, +the lowing of kine, the laughter of women, and other sounds +of peace, abundance, and content. A child is playing round +its mother’s knee—a child with frank bold brow and golden +curls, and large blue fearless eyes, sturdy of limb, quick of +gesture, fond, imperious, and wilful. The mother, a tall +woman, with a beautiful but mournful face, is gazing steadfastly +at the sea, and seems unconscious of her boy’s caresses, +who is fondling and kissing the white hand he holds in both +his own. Her large shapely figure is draped in snowy robes +that trail upon the ground, and massive ornaments of gold +encircle arms and ankles. At intervals she looks fondly down +<pb n='3'/><anchor id='Pg003'/>upon the child; but ever her face resumes its wistful expression, +as she fixes her eyes again upon the sea. There is +nothing of actual sorrow in that steadfast gaze—still less +of impatience, or anger, or discontent. Memory is the prevailing +sentiment portrayed—memory, tender, absorbing, +irresistible, without a ray of hope, but without a shadow +of self-reproach. There is a statue of Mnemosyne at one +of the entrances to the Forum that carries on its marble +brow the same crushing weight of thought; that wears on +its delicate features, graven into the saddest of beauty by +the Athenian’s chisel, just such a weary and despondent look. +Where can the British child have seen those tasteful spoils of +Greece that deck her imperial mistress? And yet he thinks +of that statue as he looks up in his mother’s face. But the +fair tall woman shivers and draws her robe closer about her, +and taking the child in her arms, nestles his head against +her bosom and covers him over with her draperies, for the +wind blows moist and chill, the summer air is white with +driving mist, huge shapeless forms loom through the haze, +and the busy sounds of life and laughter have subsided into +the stillness of a vast and dreary plain. +</p> + +<p> +The child and its mother have disappeared, but a tall, +strong youth, just entering upon manhood, with the same +blue eyes and fearless brow, is present in their stead. He is +armed for the first time with the weapons of a warrior. He +has seen blows struck in anger now, and fronted the legions +as they advanced, and waged his fearless unskilful valour +against the courage, and the tactics, and the discipline of +Rome. So he is invested with sword, and helm, and target, +and takes his place, not without boyish pride, amongst the +young warriors who encircle the hallowed spot where the +Druids celebrate their solemn and mysterious rites. +</p> + +<p> +The mist comes thicker still, driving over the plain in +waves of vapour, that impart a ghostly air of motion to the +stones that tower erect around the mystic circle. Grey, +moss-grown, and unhewn, hand of man seems never to have +desecrated those mighty blocks of granite, standing there, +changeless and awful, like types of eternity. Dim and +indistinct are they as the worship they guard. Hard and +stern as the pitiless faith of sacrifice, vengeance, and oblation, +inculcated at their base. A wild low chant comes wailing +on the breeze, and through the gathering mist a long line +of white-robed priests winds slowly into the circle. Stern +and gloomy are they of aspect, lofty of stature, and large of +limb, with long grey beards and tresses waving in the wind. +<pb n='4'/><anchor id='Pg004'/>Each wears a crown of oak-leaves round his head; each +grasps a wand covered with ivy in his hand. The youth +cannot resist an exclamation of surprise. There is desecration +in his thought, there is profanity in his words. Louder +and louder swells the chant. Closer and closer still contracts +the circle. The white-robed priests are hemming him in to +the very centre of the mystic ring, and see! the sacrificial +knife is already bared and whetted, and flourished in the air +by a long brawny arm. The young warrior strives to fly. +Horror! his feet refuse to stir, his hands cleave powerless +to his sides. He seems turning to stone. A vague fear +paralyses him that he too will become one of those granite +masses to stand there motionless during eternity. His heart +stops beating within him, and the transformation seems about +to be completed, when lo! a warlike peal of trumpets breaks +the spell, and he shakes his spear aloft and leaps gladly from +the earth, exulting in the sense of life and motion once more. +</p> + +<p> +Again the dream changes. Frenzied priest and Druidical +stone have vanished like the mist that encircled them. It is +a beautiful balmy night in June. The woods are black and +silver in the moonlight. Not a breath of air stirs the topmost +twigs of the lofty elm cut clear and distinct against the sky. +Not a ripple blurs the surface of the lake, spread out and +gleaming like a sheet of polished steel. The bittern calls at +intervals from the adjacent marsh, and the nightingale carols +in the copse. All is peaceful and beautiful, and suggestive +of enjoyment or repose. Yet here, lying close amongst the +foxglove and the fern, long lines of white-robed warriors are +waiting but the signal for assault. And yonder, where the +earthwork rises dark and level against the sky, paces to and +fro a high-crested sentinel, watching over the safety of the +eagles, with the calm and ceaseless vigilance of that discipline +which has made the legionaries masters of the world. +</p> + +<p> +Once more the trumpets peal; the only sound to be heard +in that array of tents, drawn up with such order and precision, +behind the works, except the footfall of the Roman guard, +firm and regular, as it relieves the previous watch. In a short +space that duty will be performed; and then, if ever, must the +attack be made with any probability of success. Youth is +impatient of delay—the young warrior’s pulse beats audibly, +and he feels the edge of his blade and the point of his short-handled +javelin, with an intensity of longing that is absolutely +painful. At length the word is passed from rank to rank. +Like the crest of a sea-wave breaking into foam, rises that +wavering line of white, rolling its length out in the moonlight, +<pb n='5'/><anchor id='Pg005'/>as man after man springs erect at the touch of his comrade; +and then a roar of voices, a rush of feet, and the wave dashes +up and breaks against the steady solid resistance of the +embankment. But discipline is not to be caught thus +napping. Ere the echo of their trumpets has died out +among the distant hills, the legionaries stand to their arms +throughout the camp. Already the rampart gleams and +bristles with shield and helmet, javelin, sword, and spear. +Already the eagle is awake and defiant; unruffled, indeed, +in plumage, but with beak and talons bare and whetted for +defence. The tall centurions marshal their men in line even +and regular, as though about to defile by the throne of Cæsar, +rather than to repel the attack of a wild barbarian foe. The +tribunes, with their golden crests, take up their appointed +posts in the four corners of the camp; while the prætor himself +gives his orders calm and unmoved from the centre. +</p> + +<p> +Over the roar of the swarming Britons sounds the clear +trumpet-note pealing out its directions, concise and intelligible +as a living voice, and heard by the combatants far and +wide, inspiring courage and confidence, and order in the +confusion. Brandishing their long swords, the white-clad +warriors of Britain rush tumultuously to the attack. Already, +they have filled the ditch and scaled the earthwork; but once +and again they recoil from the steady front and rigid discipline +of the invader, while the short stabbing sword of the +Roman soldier, covered as he is by his ample shield, does +fearful execution at close quarters. But still fresh assailants +pour in, and the camp is carried and overrun. The young +warrior rushes exulting to and fro, and the enemy falls in +heaps before him. Such moments are worth whole years of +peaceful life. He has reached the prætorium. He is close +beneath the eagles, and he leaps wildly at them to bring +them off in triumph as trophies of his victory. But a grim +centurion strikes him to the earth. Wounded, faint, and +bleeding, he is carried away by his comrades, the shaft of the +Roman standard in his hand. They bear him to a war-chariot, +they lash the wild galloping steeds, the roll of the +wheels thunders in his ears as they dash tumultuously across +the plain, and then ... the gentle mission is fulfilled, the +doves fly down again to Proserpine, and the young, joyous, +triumphant warrior of Britain wakes up a Roman slave. +</p> + +</div><div n="1.2" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='6'/><anchor id='Pg006'/> +<index index="toc" level1="II. The marble porch"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="II. The marble porch"/> +<head>CHAPTER II<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE MARBLE PORCH</hi></head> + +<p> +It was the sound of a chariot, truly enough, that roused +the dreamer from his slumbers; but how different the +scene on which his drowsy eyes unclosed, from that which +fancy had conjured up in the shadowy realms of sleep! +</p> + +<p> +A beautiful portico, supported on slender columns of +smooth white marble, protected him from the rays of the +morning sun, already pouring down with the intensity of +Italian heat. Garlands of leaves and flowers, cool and fresh +in their contrast with the snowy surface of these dainty pillars, +were wreathed around their stems, and twined amongst the +delicate carving of their Corinthian capitals. Large stone +vases, urn-shaped and massive, stood in long array at stated +intervals, bearing the orange-tree, the myrtle, and other dark-green +flowering shrubs, which formed a fair perspective of +retirement and repose. Shapely statues filled the niches in +the wall, or stood out more prominently in the vacant spaces +of the colonnade. Here cowered a marble Venus, in the +shamefaced consciousness of unequalled beauty; there stood +forth a bright Apollo, exulting in the perfection of godlike +symmetry and grace. Rome could not finger the chisel like +her instructress Greece, the mother of the Arts, but the hand +that firmly grasps the sword need never want for anything +skill produces, or genius creates, or gold can buy; so it is no +marvel that the masterpieces and treasures of the nations she +subdued found their way to the Imperial City, mistress of the +world. Even where the sleeper lay reclined upon a couch of +curiously-carved wood from the forests that clothe Mount +Hymettus, an owl so beautifully chiseled that its very breast-plumage +seemed to ruffle in the breeze, looked down upon +him from a niche where it had been placed at a cost that +might have bought a dozen such human chattels as himself; +for it had been brought from Athens as the most successful +effort of a sculptor, who had devoted it to the honour of +Minerva in his zeal. Refinement, luxury, nay, profusion, +<pb n='7'/><anchor id='Pg007'/>reigned paramount even here outside the sumptuous dwelling +of a Roman lady: and the very ground in her porch over +which she was borne, for she seldom touched it with her feet, +was fresh swept and sanded as often as it had been disturbed +by the tread of her litter-bearers, or the wheels of +her chariot. +</p> + +<p> +Many a time was this ceremony performed in the twenty-four +hours; for Valeria was a woman of noble rank, great +possessions, and the highest fashion. Not a vanity of her +sex, not a folly was there of her class, in which she scrupled +to indulge; and then, as now, ladies were prone to rush into +extremes, and frivolity, when it took the garb of a female, +assumed preposterous dimensions, and a thirst for amusement, +incompatible with reason or self-control. +</p> + +<p> +There is always a certain hush, and, as it were, a pompous +stillness, about the houses of the great, even long after inferior +mortals are astir in pursuit of their pleasure or their business. +To-day was Valeria’s birthday, and as such was duly observed +by the hanging of garlands on the pillars of her porch; but +after the completion of this graceful ceremony, silence seemed +to have sunk once more upon the household, and the slave +whose dream we have recorded, coming into her gates with +an offering from his lord, and finding no domestics in the +way, had sat him down to wait in the grateful shade, and, +overcome with heat, might have slept on till noon had he not +been roused by the grinding chariot-wheels, which mingled +so confusedly with his dream. +</p> + +<p> +It was no plebeian vehicle that now rolled into the +colonnade, driven at a furious pace, and stopping so abruptly +as to create considerable confusion and insubordination +amongst the noble animals that drew it. The car, mounted +on two wheels, was constructed of a highly-polished wood, +cut from the wild fig-tree, elaborately inlaid with ivory and +gold; the very spokes and felloes of the wheels were carved +in patterns of vine-leaves and flowers, whilst the extremities +of the pole, the axle, and the yoke, were wrought into exquisite +representations of the wolf’s head, an animal, from +historical reasons, ever dear to the fancy of the Roman. +There was but one person besides the driver in the carriage, +and so light a draught might indeed command any rate of +speed, when whirled along by four such horses as now +plunged and reared and bit each other’s crests in the portico +of Valeria’s mansion. These were of a milky white, with +dark muzzles, and a bluish tinge under the coat, denoting its +soft texture, and the Eastern origin of the animals. +Some<pb n='8'/><anchor id='Pg008'/>what thick of neck and shoulders, with semicircular jowl, it +was the broad and tapering head, the small quivering ear, the +wide red nostril, that demonstrated the purity of their blood, +and argued extraordinary powers of speed and endurance; +while their short, round backs, prominent muscles, flat legs, +and dainty feet, promised an amount of strength and activity +only to be attained by the production of perfect symmetry. +These beautiful animals were harnessed four abreast—the +inner pair, somewhat in the fashion of our modern curricle, +being yoked to the pole, of which the very fastening-pins +were steel overlaid with gold, whilst the outer horses, drawing +only from a trace attached respectively on the inner side +of each to the axle of the chariot, were free to wheel their +quarters outwards in every direction, and kick to their heart’s +content—a liberty of which, in the present instance, they +seemed well disposed to avail themselves. +</p> + +<p> +The slave started to his feet as the nearest horse winced +and swerved aside from his unexpected figure, snorting the +while in mingled wantonness and fear. The axle grazed his +tunic while it passed, and the driver, irritated at his horses’ +unsteadiness, or perhaps in the mere insolence of a great +man’s favourite, struck at him heavily with his whip as he +went by. The Briton’s blood boiled at the indignity; but +his sinewy arm was up like lightning to parry the blow, +and as the lash curled round his wrist he drew the weapon +quickly from the driver’s hand, and would have returned +the insult with interest, had he not been deterred from +his purpose by the youthful, effeminate appearance of the +aggressor. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I cannot strike a girl!</q> exclaimed the slave contemptuously, +throwing the whip at the same time into the floor of +the chariot, where it lit at the feet of the other occupant, +a sumptuously-dressed nobleman, who enjoyed the discomfiture +of his charioteer, with the loud frank glee of a master +jeering a dependant. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well said, my hero!</q> laughed the patrician, adding in +good-humoured, though haughty tones, <q>Not that I would +give much for the chance of man or woman in a grasp like +yours. By Jupiter! you’ve got the arms and shoulders of +Antæus! Who owns you, my good fellow? and what do +you here?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Nay, I would strike him again to some purpose if I were +on the ground with him,</q> interrupted the charioteer, a handsome, +petulant youth of some sixteen summers, whose long +flowing curls and rich scarlet mantle denoted a pampered +<pb n='9'/><anchor id='Pg009'/>and favourite slave. <q>Gently, Scipio! So-ho, +<anchor id="corr009"/><corr sic="Jugurtha">Jugurtha!</corr> +The horses will fret for an hour now they have been scared +by his ugly face.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Better let him alone, Automedon!</q> observed his master, +again shaking his sides at the obvious discomfiture portrayed +on the flushed face of his favourite. <q>Through your life keep +clear of a man when he shuts his mouth like that, as you +would of an ox with a wisp of hay on his horn. You silly +boy! why he would swallow such a slender frame as yours +at a gulp: and nobody but a fool ever strikes at a man unless +he knows he can reach him, ay, and punish him too, without +hurting his own knuckles in return! But what do you here, +good fellow?</q> he repeated, addressing himself once more to +the slave, who stood erect, scanning his questioner with a +fearless, though respectful eye. +</p> + +<p> +<q>My master is your friend,</q> was the outspoken answer. +<q>You supped with him only the night before last. But a +man need not be in the household of Licinius, not have spent +his best years at Rome, to know the face of Julius Placidus, +the tribune.</q> +</p> + +<p> +A smile of gratified vanity stole over the patrician’s +countenance while he listened; a smile that had the effect +of imparting to its lineaments an expression at once mocking, +crafty, and malicious. In repose, and such was its usual +condition, the face was almost handsome, perfect in its +regularity, and of a fixed, sedate composure which bordered +on vacuity, but when disturbed, as it sometimes, though +rarely, was, by a passing emotion, the smile that passed over +it like a lurid gleam, became truly diabolical. +</p> + +<p> +The slave was right. Amongst all the notorious personages +who crowded and jostled each other in the streets of +Rome at that stormy period, none was better known, none +more courted, flattered, honoured, hated, and mistrusted, than +the occupant of the gilded chariot. It was no time for men +to wear their hearts in their hands—it was no time to make +an additional enemy, or to lose a possible friend. Since +the death of Tiberius, emperor had succeeded emperor with +alarming rapidity. Nero had indeed died by his own hand, +to avoid the just retribution of unexampled vices and crimes; +but the poisoned mushroom had carried off his predecessor, +and the old man who succeeded him fell by the weapons +of the very guards he had enlisted to protect his grey +head from violence. Since then another suicide had indued +Vitellius with the purple; but the throne of the Cæsars was +fast becoming synonymous with a scaffold, and the sword of +<pb n='10'/><anchor id='Pg010'/>Damocles quivered more menacingly, and on a slenderer hair +than ever, over the diadem. +</p> + +<p> +When great political convulsions agitate a State, already +seething with general vice and luxury, the moral scum seems, +by a law of nature, to float invariably to the surface—the +characters most destitute of principle, the readiest to obey +the instincts of self-aggrandisement and expediency, achieve +a kind of spurious fame, a doubtful and temporary success. +Under the rule of Nero, perhaps, there was but one path to +Court favour, and that lay in the disgraceful attempt to vie +with this emperor’s brutalities and crimes. The palace of +Cæsar was then indeed a sink of foul iniquity and utter +degradation. The sycophant who could most readily reduce +himself to the level of a beast in gross sensuality, while he +boasted a demon’s refinement of cruelty, and morbid depravity +of heart, became the first favourite for the time with +his imperial master. To be fat, slothful, weak, gluttonous, +and effeminate, while the brow was crowned with roses, and +the brain was drenched with wine, and the hands were +steeped in blood—this it was to be a friend and counsellor +of Cæsar. Men waited and wondered in stupefied awe when +they marked the monster reeling from a debauch to some +fresh feast of horrors, some ingenious exhibition of the complicated +tortures that may be inflicted on a human being, +some devilish experiment of all the body can bear, ere the +soul takes wing from its ghastly, mutilated tenement, and +this not on one, but a thousand victims. They waited and +wondered what the gods were about, that divine vengeance +should slumber through such provocations as these. +</p> + +<p> +But retribution overtook him at last. The heart which a +slaughtered mother’s spectre could not soften, which remorse +for a pregnant wife’s fate, kicked to death by a brutal lord, +failed to wring, quailed at the approach of a few exasperated +soldiers; and the tyrant who had so often smiled to see +blood flow like water in the amphitheatre, died by his own +hand—died as he had lived, a coward and a murderer to +the last. +</p> + +<p> +Since then, the Court was a sphere in which any bold +unscrupulous man might be pretty sure of attaining success. +The present emperor was a good-humoured glutton, one +whose faculties, originally vigorous, had been warped and +deadened by excess, just as his body had become bloated, +his eye dimmed, his strength palsied, and his courage destroyed +by the same course. The scheming statesman, the +pliant courtier, the successful soldier had but one passion +<pb n='11'/><anchor id='Pg011'/>now, one only object for the exercise of his energies, both +of mind and body—to eat enormously, to drink to excess, +to study every art by which fresh appetite could be stimulated +when gorged to repletion—and then—to eat and +drink again. +</p> + +<p> +With such a patron, any man who united to a tendency +for the pleasures of the table, a strong brain, a cool head, +and an aptitude for business, might be sure of considerable +influence. The Emperor thoroughly appreciated one who +would take trouble off his hands, while at the same time +he encouraged his master, by precept and example, in his +swinish propensities. It was no slight service to Vitellius, +to rise from a debauch and give those necessary orders in +an unforeseen emergency which Cæsar’s sodden brain was +powerless to originate or to understand. +</p> + +<p> +Ere Placidus had been a month about the Court, he had +insinuated himself thoroughly into the good graces of the +Emperor. This man’s had been a strange and stirring +history. Born of patrician rank, he had used his family +influence to advance him in the military service, and already, +whilst still in the flower of youth, had attained the grade of +tribune in Vespasian’s army, then occupying Judæa under +that distinguished general. Although no man yielded so +willingly, or gave himself up so entirely to the indolent +enjoyments of Asiatic life, Placidus possessed many of the +qualities which are esteemed essential to the character of +a soldier. Personal bravery, or we should rather say, insensibility +to danger, was one of his peculiar advantages. +Perhaps this is a quality inseparable from such an organisation +as his, in which, while the system seems to contain a +wealth of energy and vitality, the nerves are extremely +callous to irritation, and completely under control. The +tribune never came out in more favourable colours than when +everyone about him was in a state of alarm and confusion. +On one occasion, at the siege of Jotapata, where the Jews +were defending themselves with the desperate energy of +their race, Placidus won golden opinions from Vespasian by +the cool dexterity with which he saved from destruction a +whole company of soldiers and their centurion, under the +very eye of his general. +</p> + +<p> +A maniple, or, in the military language of to-day, a wing +of the cohort led by Placidus was advancing to the attack, +and the first centurion, with the company under his command, +was already beneath the wall, bristling as it was +with defenders, who hurled down on their assailants darts, +<pb n='12'/><anchor id='Pg012'/>javelins, huge stones, every description of weapon or missile, +including molten lead and boiling oil. Under cover of a +movable pent-house, which protected them, the head of +the column had advanced their battering-ram to the very +wall, and were swinging the huge engine back, by the ropes +and pulleys which governed it, for an increased impulse of +destruction, when the Jews, who had been watching their +opportunity, succeeded in balancing an enormous mass of +granite immediately above the pent-house and the materials +of offence, animate and inanimate, which it contained. A +Jewish warrior clad in shining armour had taken a lever in +his hand, and was in the act of applying that instrument to +the impending tottering mass; in another instant it must +have crashed down upon their heads, and buried the whole +band beneath its weight. At his appointed station by the +eagle, the tribune was watching the movements of his men +with his usual air of sleepy, indolent approval. And even +in this critical moment his eye never brightened, his colour +never deepened a shade. The voice was calm, low, and +perfectly modulated in which he bade the trumpeter at his +right hand sound the recall; nor, though its business-like +rapidity could scarce have been exceeded by the most +practised archer, was the movement the least hurried with +which he snatched the bow from a dead Parthian auxiliary +at his feet and fitted an arrow to its string. In the twinkling +of an eye, while the granite vibrated on the very parapet, +that arrow was quivering between the joints of the warrior’s +harness who held the lever, and he had fallen with his head +over the wall in the throes of death. Before another of the +defenders could take his place the assaulting party had +retired, bringing along with them, in their cool and rigid +discipline, the battering-ram and wooden covering which +protected it, while the tribune quietly observed, as he replaced +the bow into the fallen Parthian’s hand, <q>A company +saved is a hundred men gained. A dead barbarian is exactly +worth my tallest centurion, and the smartest troop I have in +the maniple!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Vespasian was not the man to forget such an instance +of cool promptitude, and Julius Placidus was marked out +for promotion from that day forth. But with its courage, +the tribune possessed the cunning of the tiger, not without +something also of that fierce animal’s outward beauty, and +much of its watchful, pitiless, and untiring nature. A brave +soldier should have considered it a degradation, under any +circumstances, to play a double part; but with Placidus +<pb n='13'/><anchor id='Pg013'/>every step was esteemed honourable so long as it was on +the ascent. The successful winner had no scruple in deceiving +all about him at Rome, by the eagerness with which +he assumed the character of a mere man of pleasure, while +he lost no opportunity the while of ingratiating himself +with the many desperate spirits who were to be found in +the Imperial City, ready and willing to assist in any enterprise +which should tend to anarchy and confusion. While +he rushed into every extravagance and pleasure of that +luxurious Court—while he vied with Cæsar himself in his +profusion, and surpassed him in his orgies—he suffered no +symptoms to escape him of a higher ambition than that of +excellence in trifling—of deeper projects than those which +affected the winecup, the pageant, and the passing follies +of the hour. Yet all the while, within that dainty reveller’s +brain, schemes were forming and thoughts burning that +should have withered the very roses on his brow. It might +have been the strain of Greek blood which filtered through +his veins, that tempered his Roman courage and endurance +with the pliancy essential to conspiracy and intrigue—a +strain that was apparent in his sculptured regularity of +features, and general symmetry of form. His character has +already been compared to the tiger’s, and his movements +had all the pliant ease and stealthy freedom of that graceful +animal. His stature was little above the average of his +countrymen, but his frame was cast in that mould of exact +proportion which promises the extreme of strength combined +with agility and endurance. Had he been caught like Milo, +he would have writhed himself out of the trap, with the +sinuous persistency of a snake. There was something snake-like, +too, in his small glittering eye, and the clear smoothness +of his skin. With all its brightness no woman worthy of +the name but would have winced with womanly instincts +of aversion and repugnance from his glance. With all its +beauty no child would have looked up frankly and confidingly +in his face. Men turned, indeed, to scan him +approvingly as he passed; but the brave owned no sympathy +with that smooth set brow, that crafty and malicious smile, +while the timid or the superstitious shuddered and shrank +away, averting their own gaze from what they felt to be the +influence of the evil eye. Yet, in his snowy tunic bleached +to dazzling white, in his collar of linked gold, his jewelled +belt, his embroidered sandals, and the ample folds of his +deep violet mantle, nearly approaching purple, Julius +Placidus was no unworthy representative of his time and +<pb n='14'/><anchor id='Pg014'/>his order, no mean specimen of the wealth, and foppery, and +extravagance of Rome. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the man who now stood up in his gilded chariot +at Valeria’s door, masking with his usual expression of careless +indolence, the real impatience he felt for tidings of its +mistress. +</p> + +</div><div n="1.3" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='15'/><anchor id='Pg015'/> +<index index="toc" level1="III. Hermes"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="III. Hermes"/> +<head>CHAPTER III<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">HERMES</hi></head> + +<p> +It was customary with the more refined aristocracy of +Rome, during the first century of the Empire, to pay +great respect to Mercury, the god of invention and intrigue. +Not that the qualities generally attributed to that power +were calculated to inspire admiration or esteem, but simply +because he had acquired a fortuitous popularity at a period +when the graceful Pantheism of the nation was regulated by +general opinion, and when a deity went in and out of fashion +like a dress. At Valeria’s porch, in common with many +other great houses, stood an exquisite statue of the god, +representing him as a youth, of athletic and symmetrical +proportions, poised on a winged foot in the act of running, +with the broad-leaf hat on his head, and the snake-turned +rod in his hand. The countenance of the statue was +expressive of intellect and vivacity, while the form was +wrought into the highest ideal of activity and strength. It +was placed on a square pedestal of marble immediately +opposite the door; and behind this pedestal, the slave retired +in some confusion when a train of maidens appeared from +within, to answer the summons of Julius Placidus in his chariot. +</p> + +<p> +The tribune did not think it necessary to alight, but +producing from the bosom of his tunic a jewelled casket, +leaned one hand on the shoulder of Automedon, while with +the other he proffered his gift to a damsel who seemed the +chief among her fellows, and whose manners partook largely +of the flippancy of the waiting-maid. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Commend me to your mistress,</q> said Placidus, at the +same time throwing a gold chain round her neck on her own +account, and bending carelessly down to take a receipt for +the same, in the shape of a caress; <q>bid her every good omen +from the most faithful of her servants, and ask her at what +hour I may hope to be received on this her birthday, which +the trifle you carry to her from me will prove I have not +forgotten.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='16'/><anchor id='Pg016'/> + +<p> +The waiting-maid tried hard to raise a blush, but with all +her efforts the rich Southern colour would not deepen on her +cheek; so she thought better of it, and looked him full in the +face with her bold black eyes, while she replied: <q>You have +forgotten surely, my lord, that this is the feast of Isis, and no +lady that <hi rend='italic'>is</hi> a lady, at least here in Rome, can have leisure +to-day for anything but the sacred mysteries of the goddess.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Placidus laughed outright; and it was strange how his +laugh scared those who watched it. Automedon fairly turned +pale, and even the waiting-maid seemed disconcerted for a +moment. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I have heard of these mysteries,</q> said he, <q>my pretty +Myrrhina, and who has not? The Roman ladies keep them +somewhat jealously to themselves; and by all accounts it is +well for our sex that they do so. Nevertheless there are yet +some hours of sunlight to pass before the chaste rites of +Egypt can possibly begin. Will not Valeria see me in the +interval?</q> +</p> + +<p> +A very quick ear might have detected the least possible +tremor in the tribune’s voice as he spoke the last sentence; +it was not lost upon Myrrhina, for she showed all the white +teeth in her large well-formed mouth, while she enumerated +with immense volubility those different pursuits which filled +up the day of a fashionable Roman lady. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Impossible!</q> burst out the damsel. <q>She has not a +moment to spare from now till sunset. There’s her dinner,<note place="foot">The dinner or <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">prandium</foreign> of Rome was the first meal in the day.</note> +and her fencing-lesson, and her bath, and her dressing, and +the sculptor coming for her hand, and the painter for her face, +and the new Greek sandals to be fitted to her feet. Then she +has sent for Philogemon, the augur, to cast her horoscope, and +for Galanthis, who is cleverer than ever Locusta was, and has +twice the practice, to prepare a philtre. Maybe it is for <hi rend='italic'>you</hi>, +my lord,</q> added the girl roguishly. <q>I hear the ladies are all +using them just now.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The evil smile crossed the tribune’s face once more; +perhaps he too had been indebted to the potions of Galanthis, +for purposes of love or hate, and he did not care to be +reminded of them. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Nay,</q> said he meaningly, <q>there is no need for that. +Valeria can do more with one glance of her bright eyes, than +all the potions and poisons of Galanthis put together. Say, +Myrrhina—you are in my interest—does she look more +favourably of late?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>How can I tell, my lord?</q> answered the girl, with an +<pb n='17'/><anchor id='Pg017'/>arch expression of amusement and defiance in her face. +<q>My mistress is but a woman after all, and they say women +are more easily mastered by the strong hand, than lured by +the honey lip. She is not to be won by a smooth tongue +and a beardless face, I know, for I heard her say so to Paris +myself, in the very spot where we are now standing. Juno! +but the player slunk away somewhat crestfallen, I can tell +you, when she called him <q>a mere girl in her brother’s +clothes</q> at the best. No; the man who wins my mistress +will be a man all over, I’ll answer for it! So far, she is like +the rest of us for that matter.</q></p> + +<p> +And Myrrhina sighed, thinking, it may be, of some +sunburnt youth the while, whose rough but not unwelcome +wooing had assailed her in her early girlhood, ere she came +to Rome; far away yonder amongst the blushing vines, in +the bright Campanian hills. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Say you so?</q> observed the tribune, obviously flattered +by the implied compliment; for he was proud in his secret +heart of his bodily strength. <q>Nay, there was a fellow +standing here when I drove up, who would make an easy +conquest of you, Myrrhina, if, like your Sabine grandams, +you must be borne off to be wed, on your lover’s shoulders. +By the body of Hercules! he would tuck you up under his +arm as easily as you carry that casket, which you seem so +afraid to let out of your hand. Ay, there he is! lurking +behind Hermes. Stand forth, my good fellow! What! you +are not afraid of Automedon, are you, and the crack of that +young reprobate’s whip?</q> +</p> + +<p> +While he spoke, the slave stepped forward from his +lurking-place behind the statue, where the quick eye of +Placidus had detected him, and presented to Myrrhina with +a respectful gesture the offering of his lord to her mistress—a +filigree basket of frosted silver, filled with a few choice fruits +and flowers— +</p> + +<p> +<q>From Caius Licinius, greeting,</q> said he, <q>in honour of +Valeria’s natal day. The flowers are scarce yet dry from the +spray that brawling Anio flings upon its banks; the fruits +were glowing in yesterday’s sun, on the brightest slopes of +Tibur. My master offers the freshest and fairest of his fruits +and flowers to his kinswoman, who is fresher and fairer than +them all.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He delivered his message, which he had obviously learned +by rote, in sufficiently pure and fluent Latin, scarcely tinged +with the accent of a barbarian, and bowing low as he placed +the basket in Myrrhina’s hand, drew himself up to his +<pb n='18'/><anchor id='Pg018'/>noble height, and looked proudly, almost defiantly, at the +tribune. +</p> + +<p> +The girl started and turned pale—it seemed as if the +statue of Hermes had descended from its pedestal to do her +homage. He stood there, that glorious specimen of manhood, +in his majestic strength and symmetry, in the glow of his +youth, and health, and beauty, like an impersonation of the +god. Myrrhina, in common with many of her sex, was easily +fascinated by external advantages, and she laughed nervously, +while she accepted with shaking hands the handsome slave’s +offering to his master’s kinswoman. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Will you not enter?</q> said she, the colour mantling once +more, and this time without an effort, in her burning cheeks. +<q>It is not the custom to depart from Valeria’s house without +breaking bread and drinking wine.</q> +</p> + +<p> +But the slave excused himself, abruptly, almost rudely, +losing, be sure, by his refusal, none of the ground he had +already gained in Myrrhina’s good graces. It chafed him +to remain even at the porch. The atmosphere of luxury that +pervaded it, seemed to weigh upon his senses, and oppress his +breath. Moreover, the insult he had sustained from Automedon, +yet rankled in his heart. How he wished the boy-charioteer +was nearer his match in size and strength! He +would have hurled him from the chariot where he stood, +turning his curls so insolently round his dainty fingers—hurled +him to earth beyond his horses’ heads, and taught him +the strength of a Briton’s arm and the squeeze of a Briton’s +gripe. <q>Ay! and his master after him!</q> thought the slave, +for already he experienced towards Placidus that unaccountable +instinct of aversion which seems to warn men of a +future foe, and which, to give him his due, the tribune was +not unused to awaken in a brave and honest breast. +</p> + +<p> +Placidus, however, scanned him once more, as he strode +away, with the critical gaze of a judge of human animals. It +was this man’s peculiarity to look on all he met as possible +tools, that might come into use for various purposes at a +future and indefinite time. If he observed more than usual +courage in a soldier, superior acuteness in a freedman, nay, +even uncommon beauty in a woman, he bethought himself +that although he might have no immediate use for these +qualities, occasions often arose on which he could turn them +to his profit, and he noted, and made sure of, their amount +accordingly. In the present instance, although somewhat +surprised that he had never before remarked the slave’s +stalwart proportions in the household of Licinius, whose +<pb n='19'/><anchor id='Pg019'/>affection for the Briton had excused him from all menial +offices, and consequent contact with visitors, he determined +not to lose sight of one so formed by nature to excel in the +gymnasium or the amphitheatre, while there crept into his +heart a cruel cold-blooded feeling of satisfaction at the +possibility of witnessing so muscular and shapely a figure +in the contortions of a mortal struggle, or the throes of +a painful death. +</p> + +<p> +Besides, there was envy, too, at the bottom—envy in the +proud patrician’s breast, leaning so negligently on the +cushions of his gilded chariot, with all his advantages of +rank, reputation, wealth, and influence—envy of the noble +bearing, the personal comeliness, and the free manly step of +the slave. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Had he struck thee, Automedon,</q> said his master, unable +to resist taunting the petted youth who held the reins; <q>had +he but laid a finger on thee, thou hadst never spoken again, +and I had been rid of the noisiest and most useless of my +household. Gently with that outside horse; dost see how he +chafes upon the rein? Gently, boy, I say! and drive me +back into the Forum.</q> +</p> + +<p> +As he settled himself among the cushions and rolled +swiftly away, Myrrhina came forth into the porch once more. +She seemed, however, scarcely to notice the departing +chariot, but looked dreamily about her, and then re-entered +the house with a shake of the head, a smile, and something +that was almost a sigh. +</p> + +</div><div n="1.4" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='20'/><anchor id='Pg020'/> +<index index="toc" level1="IV. Aphrodité"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="IV. Aphrodite"/> +<head>CHAPTER IV<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">APHRODITÉ</hi></head> + +<p> +A negro boy, the ugliest of his kind, and probably all +the more prized for that reason, was shifting uneasily +from knee to knee, in an attitude of constraint that showed +how long and tiresome he felt his office, and how wearied he +was of Valeria’s own apartment. Such a child, for the urchin +seemed of the tenderest age, might be initiated without +impropriety into the mysteries of a lady’s toilet; and, indeed, +the office it was his duty to undertake, formed the most +indispensable part of the whole performance. With a skill +and steadiness beyond his years, though with a rueful face, +he was propping up an enormous mirror, in which his +mistress might contemplate the whole galaxy of her charms—a +mirror formed of one broad plate of silver, burnished +to the brightness and lucidity of glass, set in an oval frame +of richly chased gold, wrought into fantastic patterns and +studded with emeralds, rubies, and other precious stones. +Not a speck was to be discerned on the polish of its dazzling +surface; and, indeed, the time of one maiden was devoted to +the task alone of preserving it from the lightest breath that +might dim its brightness, and cloud the reflection of the +stately form that now sat before it, undergoing, at the hands +of her attendants, the pleasing tortures of an elaborate toilet. +</p> + +<p> +The reflection was that of a large handsome woman in +the very prime and noontide of her beauty—a woman whose +every movement and gesture bespoke physical organisation +of a vigorous nature and perfect health. While the strong +white neck gave grace and dignity to her carriage—while the +deep bosom and somewhat massive shoulders partook more +of Juno’s majestic frame than Hebe’s pliant youth—while the +full sweep and outline of her figure denoted maturity and +completeness in every part—the long round limbs, the shapely +hands and feet, might have belonged to Diana, so perfect +was their symmetry; the warm flush that tinted them, the +voluptuous ease of her attitude, the gentle languor of her +<pb n='21'/><anchor id='Pg021'/>whole bearing, would have done no discredit to the goddess, +hanging over the mountain-tops in the golden summer nights +to look down upon Endymion, and bathe her sleeping +favourite in floods of light and love. +</p> + +<p> +Too fastidious a critic might have objected to Valeria’s +form that it expressed more of physical strength than is +compatible with perfect womanly beauty, that the muscles +were developed overmuch, and the whole frame, despite its +flowing outlines, partook somewhat of a man’s organisation, +and a man’s redundant strength. The same fault might +have been found in a less degree with her countenance. +There was a little too much resolution in the small aquiline +nose, something of manly audacity and energy in the large +well-formed mouth, with its broad white teeth that the fullest +and reddest of lips could not conceal—a shade of masculine +sternness on the low wide brow, smooth and white, but +somewhat prominent, and scarcely softened by the arch of +the marked eyebrows, or the dark sweep of the lashes that +fringed the long laughing eyes. +</p> + +<p> +And yet it was a face that a man, and still more a boy, +could hardly have looked on without misgivings that he +might too soon learn to long for its glances, its smiles, its +approval, and its love. There was such a glow of health on +the soft transparent skin, such a freshness and vitality in the +colour of those blooming cheeks, such a sparkle in the grey +eyes, that flashed so meaningly when she smiled, that +gleamed so clear and bright and cold when the features +resumed their natural expression, grave, scornful, almost +stern in their repose; and then such womanly softness in +the masses of rich nut-brown hair that showered down neck +and shoulders, to form a framework for this lovely, dangerous, +and too alluring picture. Even the little negro, wearied as +he was, peeped at intervals from the back of the mirror he +upheld, fawning like a dog for some sign of approval from +his haughty, careless mistress. At length she bade him keep +still, with a half-scornful smile at his antics; and the sharp +white teeth gleamed from ear to ear of the dusky little face, +as it grinned with pleasure, while the boy settled himself +once more in an attitude of patience and steady submission. +</p> + +<p> +Nor was Valeria’s apartment unworthy of the noble +beauty who devoted it to the mysterious rites of dress and +decoration. Everything that luxury could imagine for bodily +ease, everything that science had as yet discovered for the +preservation or the production of feminine attractions, was +there to be found in its handsomest and costliest form. In +<pb n='22'/><anchor id='Pg022'/>one recess, shrouded by transparent curtains of the softest +pink, was the bath that could be heated at will to any +temperature, and the marble steps of which that shapely +form was accustomed to descend twice and thrice a day. In +another stood the ivory couch with its quilted crimson silks +and ornamental pillars of solid gold, in which Valeria slept, +and dreamed such dreams as hover round the rest of those +whose life is luxury, and whose business is a ceaseless career +of pleasure. On a table of cedar-wood, fashioned like a palm-leaf +opening out from a pedestal that terminated in a single +claw of grotesque shape, stood her silver night-lamp, exhaling +odours of perfumed oil, and near it lay the waxen tablets, on +which she made her memorandums, or composed her love-letters, +and from which, as from an unfinished task, the sharp-pointed +steel pencil had rolled away upon the shining floor. +Through the whole court—for court it might be called, with +its many entrances and recesses, its cool and shady nooks, +its lofty ceiling and its tesselated pavement—choice vases, +jewelled cups, burnished chalices, and exquisite little statues, +were scattered in systematic irregularity and graceful profusion. +Even the very water in the bath flowed through the +mouth of a marble Cupid; and two more winged urchins +wrought in bronze, supported a stand on which was set a +formidable array of perfumes, essences, cosmetics, and such +material for offensive and defensive warfare. +</p> + +<p> +The walls, too, of this seductive arsenal, were delicately +tinted of a light rose-colour, that should throw the most +becoming shade over its inmates, relieved at intervals by oval +wreaths wrought out in bas-relief, enclosing diverse mythological +subjects, in which the figure of Venus, goddess of love +and laughter, predominated. Round the cornices stretched +a frieze representing, also in relief, the fabulous contests of +the Amazons with every description of monster, amongst +which the most conspicuous foe was the well-known gryphon, +or griffin, an abnormal quadruped, with the head and neck of +a bird of prey. It was curious to trace in the female warriors +thus delineated, something of the imperious beauty, the +vigorous symmetry, and the dauntless bearing that distinguished +Valeria herself, though their energetic and spirited +attitudes afforded, at the same time, a marked contrast to the +pleasing languor that seemed to pervade every movement of +that luxurious lady reclining before her mirror, and submitting +indolently to the attentions of her maid-servants. +</p> + +<p> +These were five in number, and constituted the principal +slaves of her household; the most important among them +<pb n='23'/><anchor id='Pg023'/>seemed to be a tall matronly woman, considerably older than +her comrades, who filled the responsible office of housekeeper +in the establishment—a dignity which did not, however, +exempt her from insult, and even blows, when she failed to +satisfy the caprices of a somewhat exacting mistress; the +others, comely laughing girls, with the sparkling eyes and +white teeth of their countrywomen, seemed principally +occupied with the various matters that constituted their +lady’s toilet—a daily penance, in which, notwithstanding the +rigour of its discipline, and the severities that were sure to +follow the most trifling act of negligence, they took an inexplicable +and essentially feminine delight. +</p> + +<p> +Of these it was obvious that Myrrhina was the first in +place as in favour. She it was who brought her mistress the +warm towels for her bath; who was ready with her slippers +when she emerged; who handed every article of clothing as +it was required; whose taste was invariably consulted, and +whose decision was considered final, on such important points +as the position of a jewel, the studied negligence of a curl, or +the exact adjustment of a fold. +</p> + +<p> +This girl possessed, with an Italian exterior, the pliant +cunning and plausible fluency of the Greek. Born a slave +on one of Valeria’s estates in the country, she had been +reared a mere peasant, on a simple country diet, and amidst +healthful country occupations, till a freak of her mistress +brought her to Rome. With a woman’s versatility—with a +woman’s quickness in adapting herself to a strange phase of +life and a total change of circumstances—the country girl +had not been a year in her new situation, ere she became the +acutest and cleverest waiting-maid in the capital, with what +benefit to her own morals and character, it is needless to +inquire. Who so quick as Myrrhina to prepare the unguents, +the perfumes, or the cosmetics that repaired the injuries of +climate, and effaced the marks of dissipation? Who so +delicate a sempstress; who had such taste in colours; who +could convey a note or a message with half such precision, +simplicity, and tact? In short, who was ever so ready, in an +emergency, with brush, crisping-iron, needle, hand, eye, or +tongue? Intrigue was her native element. To lie on her +mistress’s behalf, seemed as natural as on her own. He who +would advance in Valeria’s goodwill, must begin by bribing +her maid; and many a Roman gallant had ere this discovered +that even that royal road to success was as tedious as it was +costly, and might lead eventually to discomfiture and disgrace. +</p> + +<pb n='24'/><anchor id='Pg024'/> + +<p> +As she took the pouncet-box from one of the girls, and +proceeded to sprinkle gold-dust in Valeria’s hair, Myrrhina’s +eye was caught by the gift of Placidus, lying neglected at +her feet, the casket open, the jewels scattered on the floor. +Such as it was, the waiting-maid owned a conscience. It +warned her that she had not as yet worked out the value of +the costly chain thrown round her neck by the tribune. +Showering the gold-dust liberally about her lady’s head, +Myrrhina felt her way cautiously to the delicate theme. +</p> + +<p> +<q>There’s a new fashion coming in for headgear when the +weather gets cooler,</q> said she. <q>It’s truth I tell you, madam, +for I heard it direct from Selina, who was told by the +Empress’s first tirewoman, though even Cæsar himself cannot +think Galeria looks well, with that yellow mop stuck all over +her head. But it’s to be the fashion, nevertheless, and right +sorry I am to hear it; nor am I the only one for that +matter.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Why so?</q> asked Valeria languidly; <q>is it more +troublesome than the present?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Myrrhina had done with the gold-dust now, and, holding +the comb in her mouth, was throwing a rich brown curl +across her wrist, while she laid a plat carefully beneath it. +Notwithstanding the impediment between her lips, however, +she was able to reply with great volubility. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The trouble counts for nothing, madam, when a lady +has got such hair as yours. It’s a pleasure to run your hands +through it, let alone dressing and crisping it, and plaiting it +up into a crown that’s fit for a queen. But this new fashion +will make us all alike, whether we’re as bald as old Lyce, or +wear our curls down to our ankles, like Neæra. Still, to hide +such hair as <hi rend='italic'>yours</hi>;—as my lord said, only this morning</q>— +</p> + +<p> +<q>What lord? this morning!</q> interrupted Valeria, a dawn +of interest waking on her handsome features; <q>not Licinius, +my noble kinsman? His approval is indeed worth having.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Better worth than his gifts,</q> answered Myrrhina pertly; +pointing to the filigree basket which occupied a place of +honour on the toilet-table. <q>Such a birthday present I never +saw! A few late roses and a bunch or two of figs to the +richest lady in Rome! To be sure, he sent a messenger +with them, who might have come direct from Jove, and the +properest man I ever set eyes on.</q> +</p> + +<p> +And Myrrhina moved to one side, that her lady might +not observe the blush that rose, even to her shameless brow, +as she recalled the impression made on her by the handsome +slave. Valeria liked to hear of proper men; she woke up a +<pb n='25'/><anchor id='Pg025'/>little out of her languor, and flung the hair back from her +face. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Go on,</q> said she, as Myrrhina hesitated, half eager and +half loth to pursue the pleasing topic. +</p> + +<p> +But the waiting-maid felt the chain round her neck, and +acknowledged in her heart the equivalent it demanded. +</p> + +<p> +<q>It was the tribune, madam,</q> said she, <q>who spoke about +your hair—Julius Placidus, who values every curl you wear, +more than a whole mine of gold. Ah! there’s not a lord in +Rome has such a taste in dress. Only to see him this +morning, with his violet mantle and his jewels sparkling in +the sun, with the handsomest chariot and the four whitest +horses in the town. Well! if I was a lady, and wooed by +such a man as that</q>— +</p> + +<p> +<q><hi rend='italic'>Man</hi> call you him?</q> interrupted her mistress, with a +scornful smile. <q>Nay, when these curled, perfumed, close-shaven +things are called men, ’tis time for us women to bestir +ourselves, lest strength and courage die out in Rome altogether. +And you, too, Myrrhina, who know Licinius and +Hippias, and saw with your own eyes two hundred gladiators +in the circus only yesterday, you ought to be a better judge. +Man, forsooth! Why, you will be calling smooth-faced Paris +a man next!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Here maid and mistress burst out laughing, for thereby +hung a tale of which Valeria was not a little proud. This +Paris, a young Egyptian, of beautiful but effeminate appearance, +had lately come to Italy to figure with no small success +on the Roman stage. His delicate features, his symmetrical +shape, and the girlish graces of his pantomimic gestures, had +made sad havoc in the hearts of the Roman ladies, at all +times too susceptible to histrionic charms. He lost nothing, +either, of public attention, by bearing the name of Nero’s ill-fated +favourite, and embarked at once, unhesitatingly, on the +same brilliant and dangerous career. But although it was +the fashion to be in love with Paris, Valeria alone never +yielded to the mode, but treated him with all the placid +indifference she felt for attractions that found no favour in +her sight. Stung by such neglect, the petted actor paid +devoted court to the woman who despised him, and succeeded, +after much importunity, in prevailing on her to accord him +an interview in her own house. Of this he had the bad taste +to make no small boast in anticipation; and Myrrhina, who +found out most things, lost no time in informing her mistress +that her condescension was already as much misrepresented +as it was misplaced. The two laid their plans accordingly; +<pb n='26'/><anchor id='Pg026'/>and when Paris, attired in the utmost splendour, arrived +panting to the promised interview, he found himself seized +by some half-dozen hideous old negresses, who smothered +him with caresses, stripped him from head to foot, forced him +into the bath, and persisted in treating him as if he were a +delicate young lady, but with a quiet violence the while, that +it was useless to resist. The same swarthy tirewomen then +dressed him in female garments; and despite of threats, +struggles, outcries, and entreaties, placed him in Valeria’s +litter, and so carried him home to his own door. The ready +wit of the play-actor put upon his metamorphosis the construction +least favourable to the character of its originator; +but he vowed a summary vengeance, we may be sure, +nevertheless. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I think Paris knows what you think of him only too +well,</q> resumed Myrrhina; <q>not but that he has a fair face +of his own, and a lovely shape for dancing, though, to be +sure, Placidus is a finer figure of a man. Oh! if you could +have seen him this morning, madam, when he lay back so +graceful in his chariot, and chid that pert lad of his for +striking with his whip at the tall slave, who to be sure +vanished like a flash of lightning, you would have said there +wasn’t such another patrician in the whole city of Rome!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Enough of Placidus!</q> interrupted her mistress impatiently; +<q>the subject wearies me. What of this tall slave, +Myrrhina, who seems to have attracted your attention? +Did he look like one of the barbarians my kinsman Licinius +cries up so mightily? Is he handsome enough to step with +my Liburnians, think you, under the day-litter?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The waiting-maid’s eyes sparkled as she thought how +pleasant it would be to have him in the same household as +herself; and any little restraint she might have experienced +in running over the personal advantages that had captivated +her fancy disappeared before this agreeable prospect. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Handsome enough, madam!</q> she exclaimed, removing +the comb from her mouth, dropping her lady’s hair, and +flourishing her hands with true Italian emphasis and rapidity,—<q>handsome +enough! why he would make the Liburnians +look like bald-headed vultures beside a golden eagle! +Barbarian, like enough, he may be, Cimbrian, Frisian, Ansibarian, +or what not, for I caught the foreign accent tripping +on his tongue, and we have few men in Rome of stature equal +to his. A neck like a tower of marble; arms and shoulders +like the statue of Hercules yonder in the vestibule; a face, +ay, twice as beautiful as Pericles on your medallion, with the +<pb n='27'/><anchor id='Pg027'/>golden curls clustering round a forehead as white as milk +and eyes</q>— +</p> + +<p> +Here Myrrhina stopped, a little at a loss for a simile, and +a good deal out of breath besides. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Go on,</q> said Valeria, who had been listening in an +attitude of languid attention, her eyes half closed, her lips +parted, and the colour deepening on her cheek. <q>What were +his eyes like, Myrrhina?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well, they were like the blue sky of Campania in the +vintage; they were like the stones round the boss of your +state-mantle; they were like the sea at noonday from the +long walls of Ostia. And yet they flashed into sparks of +fire when he looked at poor little Automedon. I wonder the +boy wasn’t frightened! I am sure I should have been; only +nothing frightens those impudent young charioteers.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Was he my kinsman’s slave; are you sure, Myrrhina?</q> +said her mistress, in an accent of studied unconcern, and +never moving a finger from her listless and comfortable +attitude. +</p> + +<p> +<q>No doubt of it, madam,</q> replied the waiting-maid; and +would probably have continued to enlarge on the congenial +subject, had she not been interrupted by the entrance of one +of the damsels who had been summoned from the apartment, +and returned to announce that Hippias, the retired gladiator, +was in waiting—<q>Would Valeria take her fencing-lesson?</q> +</p> + +<p> +But Valeria declined at once, and sat on before her mirror, +without even raising her eyes to the tempting picture it +displayed. Whatever was the subject of her thoughts, it must +have been very engrossing, she seemed so loth to be disturbed. +</p> + +</div><div n="1.5" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='28'/><anchor id='Pg028'/> +<index index="toc" level1="V. Rome"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="V. Rome"/> +<head>CHAPTER V<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">ROME</hi></head> + +<figure url="images/i_047.png" rend="w40"><figDesc>Initial M</figDesc></figure> + +<p> +Meanwhile the British slave, +unconscious that he was already +the object of Valeria’s interest and +Myrrhina’s admiration, was threading +his way through the crowded +streets that adjoined the Forum, +enjoying that vague sense of +amusement with which a man +surveys a scene of bustle and +confusion that does not affect his +immediate concerns. Thanks to +the favour of his master, his time +was nearly at his own disposal, +and he had ample leisure to observe the busiest scene +in the known world, and to compare it, perhaps, with +the peace and simplicity of those early days, which seemed +now like the memories of a dream, so completely had they +passed away. The business of the Forum was over: the +markets were disgorging their mingled stream of purveyors, +purchasers, and idle lookers-on. The whole population of +Rome was hurrying home to dinner, and a motley crowd it +was. The citizens themselves, the Plebeians, properly so +called, scarcely formed one half of the swarming assemblage. +Slaves innumerable hurried to and fro, to speed the business +or the pleasure of their lords; slaves of every colour and of +every nation, from the Scandinavian giant, with blue eyes +and waving yellow locks, to the sturdy Ethiopian, thick-lipped, +and woolly-haired, the swarthy child of Africa, whose +inheritance has been servitude from the earliest ages until +now. Many a Roman born was there, too, amongst the +servile crowd, aping the appearance and manner of a citizen, +but who shrank from a master’s frown at home, and who, +despite the acquirement of wealth, and even the attainment +of power, must die a bondsman as he had lived. +</p> + +<p> +Not the least characteristic feature of the state of society +<pb n='29'/><anchor id='Pg029'/>under the Empire was the troop of freedmen that everywhere +accompanied the person, and swelled the retinue of each +powerful patrician. These manumitted slaves were usually +bound by the ties of interest as much as gratitude to the +former master, who had now become their patron. Dependent +on him in many cases for their daily food, doled +out to them in rations at his door, they were necessarily little +emancipated from his authority by their lately acquired +freedom. While the relation of patron and client was productive +of crying evils in the Imperial City, while the former +threw the shield of his powerful protection over the crimes +of the latter, and the client in return became the willing +pander to his patron’s vices, it was the freedman who, more +than all others, rendered himself a willing tool to his patrician +employer, who yielded unhesitatingly time, affections, probity, +and honour itself, to the caprices of his lord. They swarmed +about the Forum now, running hither and thither with the +obsequious haste of the parasite, bent on errands which in too +many cases would scarce have borne the light of day. +</p> + +<p> +Besides these, a vast number of foreigners, wearing the +costumes of their different countries, hindered the course of +traffic as they stood gaping, stupefied by the confusing scene +on which they gazed. The Gaul, with his short, close-fitting +garment; the Parthian, with his conical sheepskin cap; the +Mede, with his loose silken trousers; the Jew, barefoot and +robed in black; the stately Spaniard, the fawning Egyptian, +and amongst them all, winding his way wherever the crowd +was closest, with perfect ease and self-possession, the smooth +and supple Greek. When some great man passed through +the midst, borne aloft in his litter, or leaning on the shoulder +of a favourite slave, and freedmen and clients made a passage +for him with threat, and push, and blow, the latter would +invariably miss the Greek to light on the pate of a humble +mechanic, or the shoulders of a sturdy barbarian, while the +descendant of Leonidas or Alcibiades would reply in whining +sing-song tones to the verbal abuse, with some biting retort, +which was sure to turn the laughter of the crowd on the +aggressor. +</p> + +<p> +If Rome had once overrun and conquered the dominions +of her elder sister in civilisation, the invasion seemed now to +be all the other way. With the turn of the tide had come +such an overflow of Greek manners, Greek customs, Greek +morals, and Greek artifice, that the Imperial City was already +losing its natural characteristics; and the very language was +so interlarded with the vocabulary of the conquered, that it +<pb n='30'/><anchor id='Pg030'/>was fast becoming less Latin than Greek. The Roman ladies, +especially, delighted in those euphonious syllables, which +clothed Athenian eloquence in such melodious rhythm; and +their choicest terms of endearment in the language of love, +were invariably whispered in Greek. +</p> + +<p> +That supple nation, too, adapting itself to the degradation +of slavery and the indulgence of ease, as it had risen in nobler +times to the exigencies of liberty and the efforts demanded +by war, had usurped the greater portion of art, science, and +even power, in Rome. The most talented painters and +sculptors were Greeks. The most enterprising contractors +and engineers were Greeks. Rhetoric and elocution could +only be learned in a Greek school, and mathematics, unless +studied with Greek letters, must be esteemed confused and +useless; the fashionable invalid who objected to consult a +Greek physician deserved to die; and there was but one +astrologer in Rome who could cast a patrician horoscope. +Of course he was a Greek. In the lower walks of criminal +industry; in the many iniquitous professions called into +existence by the luxury of a great city, the Greeks drove a +thriving and almost an exclusive trade. Whoever was in +most repute, as an evil counsellor, a low buffoon, a money-lender, +pimp, pander, or parasite, whatever might be his other +qualifications, was sure to be a Greek. And many a scrutinising +glance was cast by professors of this successful nation +at the Briton’s manly form as he strode through the crowd, +making his way quietly but surely from sheer weight and +strength. They followed him with covetous eyes, as they +speculated on the various purposes to which so much good +manhood might be applied. They appraised him, so to +speak, and took an inventory of his thews and sinews, his +limbs, his stature, and his good looks; but they refrained +from accosting him with importunate questions or insolent +proposals, for there was a bold confident air about him, that +bespoke the stout heart and the ready hand. The stamp of +freedom had not yet faded from his brow, and he looked like +one who was accustomed to take his own part in a crowd. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly a stoppage in the traffic arrested the moving +stream, which swelled in continually to a struggling, eager, +vociferating mass. A dray, containing huge blocks of marble, +and drawn by several files of oxen, had become entangled +with the chariot of a passing patrician, and another great +man’s litter being checked by the obstruction, much confusion +and bad language was the result. Amused with the turmoil, +and in no hurry to get home, the British slave stood looking +<pb n='31'/><anchor id='Pg031'/>over the heads of the populace at the irritated and gesticulating +antagonists, when a smart blow on the shoulder caused +him to wheel suddenly round, prepared to return the injury +with interest. At the same instant a powerful hand dragged +him back by the tunic, and a grasp was laid on him, from +which he could not shake himself free, while a rough good-humoured +voice whispered in his ear— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Softly, lad, softly! Keep hands off Cæsar’s lictors an’ +thou be’st not mad in good earnest. These gentry give more +than they take, I can promise thee!</q> +</p> + +<p> +The speaker was a broad powerful man of middle size, +with the chest of a Hercules; he held the Briton firmly +pinioned in his arms while he spoke, and it was well that he +did so, for the lictors were indeed forcing a passage for the +Emperor himself, who was proceeding on foot, and as far as +was practicable <foreign rend='italic'>incog.</foreign>, to inspect the fish-market. +</p> + +<p> +Vitellius shuffled along with the lagging step of an infirm +and bloated old man. His face was pale and flabby, his eye +dim, though sparkling at intervals with some little remnant +of the ready wit and pliant humour that had made him the +favourite of three emperors ere he himself attained the purple. +Supported by two freedmen, preceded and followed only by +a file of lictors, and attended by three or four slaves, Cæsar +was taking his short walk in hopes of acquiring some little +appetite for dinner: what locality so favourable for the furtherance +of this object as the fish-market, where the imperial +glutton could feast his eyes, if nothing else, on the choicest +dainties of the deep? He was so seldom seen abroad in +Rome, that the Briton could not forbear following him with +his glance, while his new friend, relaxing his hold with great +caution, whispered once more in his ear— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ay, look well at him, man, and give Jove thanks thou +art not an emperor. There’s a shape for the purple! There’s +a head to carry a diadem! Well, well, for all he’s so white +and flabby now, like a Lucrine turbot, he could drive a +chariot once, and hold his own at sword and buckler with +the best of them. They say he can drink as well as ever still. +Not that he was a match for Nero in his best days, even at +that game. Ay, ay, they may talk as they will: we’ve never +had an emperor like <hi rend='italic'>him</hi> before nor since. Wine, women, +shows, sacrifices, wild-beast fights;—a legion of men all engaged +in the circus at once! Such a friend as he was to <hi rend='italic'>our</hi> trade.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And that trade?</q> inquired the Briton good-humouredly +enough, now his hands were free: <q>I think I can guess it +without asking too many questions.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='32'/><anchor id='Pg032'/> + +<p> +<q>No need to guess,</q> replied the other. <q>I’m not ashamed +of my trade, nor of my name neither. Maybe you have +heard of Hirpinus, the gladiator? Tuscan born, free Roman +citizen, and willing to match himself with any man of +his weight, on foot or on horseback, blindfold or half-armed, +in or out of a war-chariot, with two swords, sword +and buckler, or sword or spear. Any weapon, and every +weapon, always excepting the net and the noose. Those I +can’t bear talking about—to my mind they are not fair +fighting. But what need I tell <hi rend='italic'>you</hi> all about it?</q> he added, +running his eye over the slave’s powerful frame. <q>I must +surely have seen you before. You look as if you belonged +to the Family<note place="foot">A technical term for a school of gladiators trained by the same master.</note> yourself!</q> +</p> + +<p> +The slave smiled, not insensible to the compliment. +</p> + +<p> +<q>’Tis a manlier way of getting bread than most of the +employments I see practised in Rome,</q> was his reply, though +he spoke more to himself than his companion. <q>A man +might die a worse death than in the amphitheatre,</q> he added +meditatively. +</p> + +<p> +<q>A worse death!</q> echoed Hirpinus. <q>He could scarce +die a better! Think of the rows of heads one upon another +piled up like apples to the very awnings. Think of the +patricians and senators wagering their collars and bracelets, +and their sesterces in millions, on the strength of your arm, +and the point of your blade. Think of your own vigour and +manhood, trained till you feel as strong as an elephant, and +as lithe as a panther, with an honest wooden buckler on +your arm, and two feet of pliant steel in your hand, as you +defile by Cæsar and bid him <q>Good-morrow, from those who +have come here to die!</q> Think of the tough bout with your +antagonist, foot to foot, hand to hand, eye to eye, feeling +his blade with your own (why a swordsman, lad, can fence +as well in the dark as the daylight!), foiling his passes, +drawing his attack, learning his feints, watching your +opportunity; when you catch it at last, in you dash like a +wild-cat, and the guard of your sword rings sharp and true +against his breastbone, as he goes over backwards on the +sand!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And if <hi rend='italic'>he</hi> gets the opportunity first?</q> asked the slave, +interested in spite of himself at the enthusiasm which carried +him irresistibly along with it. <q>If your guard is an inch +too high, your return a thought too slow? If you go backwards +on the sand, with the hilt at your breastbone, and +the two feet of steel in your bosom? How does it feel then?</q> +</p> + +<pb n='33'/><anchor id='Pg033'/> + +<p> +<q>Faith, lad, you must cross the Styx to have that question +fairly answered,</q> replied the other. <q>I have had no such +experience yet. When it comes I shall know how to meet +it. But this talking makes a man thirsty, and the sun is hot +enough to bake a negro here. Come with me, lad! I know +a shady nook, where we can pierce a skin of wine, and afterwards +play a game at quoits, or have a bout of wrestling, to +while away the afternoon.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The slave was nothing loth. Besides the debt of gratitude +he owed for preservation from a serious danger, there was +something in his new friend’s rough, good-humoured, and +athletic manhood that won on the Briton’s favour. Hirpinus, +with even more than their fierce courage, had less than the +usual brutality of his class, and possessed besides a sort of +quaint and careless good-humour, by no means rare among +the athletes of every time, which found its way at once +to the natural sympathies of the slave. They started off +accordingly, on the most amicable terms, in search of that +refreshment which a few hours’ exposure to an Italian sun +rendered very desirable; but the crowd had not yet cleared +off, and their progress was necessarily somewhat slow, notwithstanding +that the throng of passengers gave way readily +enough before two such stalwart and athletic forms. +</p> + +<p> +Hirpinus thought it incumbent on him to take the Briton, +as it were, under his protection, and to point out to him the +different objects of interest, and the important personages, to +be seen at that hour in the streets of the capital, totally +irrespective of the fact that his pupil was as well instructed +on these points as himself. But the gladiator dearly loved +a listener, and, truth to tell, was extremely diffuse in his +narratives when he had got one to his mind. These generally +turned on his own physical prowess, and his deadly exploits +in the amphitheatre, which he was by no means disposed to +underrate. There are some really brave men who are also +boasters, and Hirpinus was one of them. +</p> + +<p> +He was in the midst of a long dissertation on the beauties +of an encounter fought out between naked combatants, armed +only with the sword, and was explaining at great length a +certain fatal thrust outside his antagonist’s guard, and over +his elbow, which he affirmed to be his own invention, and +irresistible by any party yet discovered, when the slave felt +his gown plucked by a female hand, and turning sharply +round was somewhat disconcerted to find himself face to face +with Valeria’s waiting-maid. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You are wanted,</q> said she unceremoniously, and with an +<pb n='34'/><anchor id='Pg034'/>imperious gesture. <q>You are to come to my lady this +instant. Make haste, man; she cannot brook waiting.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Myrrhina pointed while she spoke to where a closed +litter borne aloft by four tall Liburnian slaves, had stopped +the traffic, and already become the nucleus of a crowd. A +white hand peeped through its curtains, as the slave approached, +surprised and somewhat abashed at this unexpected appeal. +Hirpinus looked on with grave approval the while. Arriving +close beneath the litter, of which the curtain was now open, +the slave paused and made a graceful obeisance; then, +drawing himself up proudly, stood erect before it, looking +unconsciously his best, in the pride of his youth and beauty. +Valeria’s cheek was paler than usual, and her attitude more +languid, but her grey eyes sparkled, and a smile played round +her mouth as she addressed him. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Myrrhina tells me that you are the man who brought +a basket of flowers to my house this morning from Licinius. +Why did you not wait to carry back my salutations to my +kinsman?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The colour mounted to the slave’s brow as he thought +of Automedon’s insolence, but he only replied humbly, <q>Had +I known it was your wish, lady, I had been standing in your +porch till now.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She marked his rising colour, and attributed it to the +effect of her own dazzling beauty. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Myrrhina knew you at once in the crowd,</q> said she +graciously; <q>and indeed yours is a face and figure not easily +mistaken in Rome. I should recognise you myself anywhere +now.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She paused, expecting a suitable reply, but the slave, +albeit not insensible to the compliment, only blushed again +and was silent. Valeria, meanwhile, whose motives in +summoning him to her litter had been in the first instance +of simple curiosity to see the stalwart barbarian who had so +excited Myrrhina’s admiration, and whom that sharp-sighted +damsel had recognised in an instant amongst the populace, +now found herself pleased and interested by the quiet +demeanour and noble bearing of this foreign slave. She had +always been susceptible to manly beauty, and here she beheld +it in its noblest type. She was rapacious of admiration in +all quarters; and here she could not but flatter herself she +gathered an undoubted tribute to the power of her charms. +She owned all a woman’s interest in anything that had a +spice of mystery or romance, and a woman’s unfailing instinct +in discovering high birth and gentle breeding under every +<pb n='35'/><anchor id='Pg035'/>disguise; and here she found a delightful puzzle in the +manner and appearance of her kinsman’s messenger, whose +position seemed so at variance with his looks. She had +never in her life laid the slightest restraint on her thoughts, +and but little on her actions—she had never left a purpose +unfulfilled, nor a wish ungratified—but a strange and new +feeling, at which even her courageous nature quailed, seemed +springing up in her heart while she gazed with half-closed +eyes at the Briton, and hesitated to confess, even to herself, +that she had never seen such a man as this in her life before. +It was in a softened tone that she again addressed him, +moving on her couch to show an ivory shoulder and a +rounded arm to the best advantage. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You are a confidential servant of my kinsman’s? You +are attached to his person, and always to be found in his +household?</q> she asked, more with a view of detaining him +than for any fixed purpose. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I would give my life for Licinius!</q> was the prompt +and spirited reply. +</p> + +<p> +<q>But you are gentle born,</q> she resumed, with increasing +interest; <q>how came you in your present dress, your present +station? Licinius has never mentioned you to me. I do +not even know your name. What is it?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Esca,</q> answered the slave proudly, and looking the while +anything but a slave. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Esca!</q> she repeated, dwelling on the syllables, with a +slow soft cadence; <q>Esca! ’Tis none of our Latin names; +but that I might have known already. Who and what are you?</q> +</p> + +<p> +There was something of defiance in the melancholy tone +with which he answered— +</p> + +<p> +<q>A prince in my own country, and a chief of ten thousand. +A barbarian and a slave in Rome.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She gave him her hand to kiss, with a gesture of pity that +was almost a caress, and then, as though ashamed of her own +condescension, bade the Liburnians angrily to <q>go on.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Esca looked long and wistfully after the litter as it disappeared; +but Hirpinus, clapping him on the back with his +heavy hand, burst into a hearty laugh while he declared— +</p> + +<p> +<q>’Tis a clear case, comrade. <q>Came, saw, and conquered,</q> +as the great soldier said. I have known it a hundred times, +but always to men of muscle like thee and me. By Castor +and Pollux! lad, thou art in luck. Ay, ay, ’tis always so. +She takes thee for a gladiator, and they’ll look at nothing but +a gladiator now. Come on, brother; we’ll drink a cup to +every letter of her name!</q> +</p> + +</div><div n="1.6" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='36'/><anchor id='Pg036'/> +<index index="toc" level1="VI. The worship of Isis"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="VI. The worship of Isis"/> +<head>CHAPTER VI<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE WORSHIP OF ISIS</hi></head> + +<p> +It was the cool and calming hour of sunset. Esca was +strolling quietly homewards after the pursuits of the +day. He had emptied a wineskin with Hirpinus; and, resisting +that worthy’s entreaties to mark so auspicious a +meeting by a debauch, had accompanied him to the gymnasium, +where the Briton’s magnificent strength and prowess +raised him higher than ever in the opinion of the experienced +athlete. Untiring as were the trained muscles of the professional, +he found himself unable to cope with the barbarian +in such exercises as demanded chiefly untaught physical +power and length of limb. In running, leaping, and wrestling, +Esca was more than a match for the gladiator. In hurling +the quoit, and fencing with wooden foils, the latter’s constant +practice gave him the advantage, and when he fastened round +his wrists and hands the leathern thong or <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">cestus</foreign>, used for the +same purpose as our modern boxing-glove, and proposed a +round or two of that manly exercise to conclude with, he +little doubted that his own science and experience would +afford him an easy victory. The result, however, was far +different from his expectations. His antagonist’s powers were +especially adapted to this particular kind of contest; his +length of limb, his quickness of eye, hand, and foot, his +youthful elasticity of muscle, and his unfailing wind, rendered +him an invincible combatant, and it was with something like +pique that Hirpinus was compelled to confess as much to +himself. +</p> + +<p> +At the end of the first round he was satisfied of his mistake +in underrating so formidable an opponent. Ere the second +was half through, he had exhausted all the resources of his +own skill without gaining the slightest advantage over his +antagonist; and with the conclusion of a third, he flung +away the <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">cestus</foreign> in well-feigned disgust at the heat of the +weather, and proposed one more skin of wine before parting, +to drink success to the profession, and speedy +employ<pb n='37'/><anchor id='Pg037'/>ment for the gladiators at the approaching games in the +amphitheatre. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Join us, man!</q> said Hirpinus, dropping something of the +patronising air he had before affected. <q>Thou wert born to +be a swordsman. Hippias would teach thee in a week to +hold thine own against the best fencers in Rome. I myself +will look to thy food, thy training, and thy private practice. +Thou wouldst gain thy liberty easily, after a few victories. +Think it over, man! and when thou hast decided, come to +the fencing-school yonder, and ask for old Hirpinus. The +steel may have a speck of rust on it, but it’s tough and true +still; so fare thee well, lad. I count to hear from thee again +before long!</q> +</p> + +<p> +The gladiator accordingly rolled off with more than his +usual assumption of manly independence, attributable to the +measure of rough Sabine wine of which he had drunk his full +share, whilst the Briton walked quietly away in the direction +of his home, enjoying the cool breeze that fanned his brow, +and following out a train of vague and complicated reflections, +originating in the advice of his late companion. +</p> + +<p> +The crimson glow of a summer evening had faded into +the serene beauty of a summer night. Stars were flashing +out, one by one, with mellow lustre, not glimmering faintly, +as in our northern climate, but hanging like silver lamps, in +the infinity of the sky. The busy turmoil of the streets had +subsided to a low and drowsy hum; the few chance passengers +who still paced them, went softly and at leisure, as +though enjoying the soothing influence of the hour. Even +here, in the great city, everything seemed to breathe of peace, +and contentment, and repose. Esca walked slowly on, lost +in meditation. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly, the clash of cymbals and the sound of voices +struck upon his ear. A wild and fitful melody, rising and +falling with strange thrilling cadence, was borne upon the +breeze. Even while he stopped to listen, it swelled into a full +harmonious chorus, and he recognised the chant of the worshippers +of Isis, returning from the unholy celebration of her +rites. Soon the glare of torches heralded its approach, and +the tumultuous procession wound round the corner of the +street with all the strange grotesque ceremonies of their order. +Clashing their cymbals, dashing their torches together till the +sparks flew up in showers, tossing their bare arms aloft with +frantic gestures, the smooth-faced priests, having girt their +linen garments tightly round their loins, were dancing to and +fro before the image of the goddess with bacchanalian energy. +<pb n='38'/><anchor id='Pg038'/>Some were bareheaded, some crowned with garlands of the +lotus-leaf, and some wore masks representing the heads of +dogs and other animals; but all, though leaping wildly here +and there, danced in the same step, all used the same +mysterious gestures of which the meaning was only known +to the initiated. The figure of the goddess herself was borne +aloft on the shoulders of two sturdy priests, fat, oily, smooth, +and sensual, with the odious look of their kind. It represented +a stately woman crowned with the lotus, holding a +four-barred lyre in her hand. Gold and silver tinsel was +freely scattered over her flowing garments, and jewels of +considerable value, the gifts of unusually fervent devotees, +might be observed upon her bosom and around her neck and +arms. Behind her were carried the different symbols by +which her qualities were supposed to be typified; amongst +these an image of the sacred cow, wrought in frosted silver +with horns and hoofs of gold, showed the most conspicuous, +borne aloft as it was by an acolyte in the wildest stage of +inebriety, and wavering, with the uncertain movements of its +bearer, over the heads of the throng. In the van moved the +priests, bloated eunuchs clad in white; behind these came the +sacred images carried by younger votaries, who, aspiring to +the sacerdotal office, and already prepared for its functions, +devoted themselves assiduously in the meantime to the orgies +with which it was their custom to celebrate the worship of +their deity. Maddened with wine, bare-limbed and with dishevelled +locks, they danced frantically to and fro, darting at +intervals from their ranks, and compelling the passengers +whom they met to turn behind them, and help to swell the +rear of the procession. This was formed of a motley crew. +Rich and poor, old and young, the proud patrician and the +squalid slave, were mingled together in turbulent confusion; +it was difficult to distinguish those who formed a part of the +original pageant from the idlers who had attached themselves +to it, and, having caught the contagious excitement, vociferated +as loudly, and leaped about as wildly, as the initiated +themselves. Amongst these might be seen some of the +fairest and proudest faces in Rome. Noble matrons reared +in luxury, under the very busts of those illustrious ancestors +who had been counsellors of kings, defenders of the commonwealth, +senators of the empire, thought it no shame to be seen +reeling about the public streets, unveiled and flushed with +wine, in the company of the most notorious and profligate +of their sex. A multitude of torches shed their glare on +the upturned faces of the throng, and on one that looked, +<pb n='39'/><anchor id='Pg039'/>with its scornful lips and defiant brow, to have no business +there. +</p> + +<p> +Amongst the wildest of these revellers, Valeria’s haughty +head moved on, towering above the companions, with whom +she seemed to have nothing in common, save a fierce determination +to set modesty and propriety at defiance. Esca +caught her glance as she swept by. She blushed crimson, he +observed even in the torchlight, and seemed for an instant to +shrink behind the portly form of a priest who marched at her +side; but, immediately recovering herself, moved on with a +gradually paling cheek, and a haughtier step than before. +</p> + +<p> +He had little leisure, however, to observe the scornful +beauty, whose charms, to tell the truth, had made no slight +impression on his imagination; for a disturbance at its head, +which had now passed him some distance, had stopped the +progress of the whole procession, and no small confusion was +the result. The torch-bearers were hurrying to the front. +The silver cow had fallen and been replaced in an upright +position more than once. The goddess herself had nearly +shared the same fate. The sacred chant had ceased, and +instead a hundred tongues were vociferating at once, some in +anger, some in expostulation, some in maudlin ribaldry and +mirth. <q>Let her go!</q> cried one. <q>Hold her fast!</q> shouted +another. <q>Bring her along with you!</q> reasoned a drunken +acolyte. <q>If she be worthy she will conform to the worship +of the goddess. If she be unworthy she shall experience the +divine wrath of Isis!</q> <q>Mind what you are about,</q> interposed +a more cautious votary. <q>She is a Roman maiden,</q> +said one. <q>She’s a barbarian!</q> shrieked another. <q>A +Mede!</q> <q>A Spaniard!</q> <q>A Persian!</q> <q>A Jewess! A +Jewess!</q> +</p> + +<p> +In the meantime the unfortunate cause of all this turmoil, +a young girl closely veiled and dressed in black, was struggling +in the arms of a large unwieldy eunuch, who had seized her +as a hawk pounces on a pigeon, and despite her agonised +entreaties, for the poor thing was in mortal fear, held her +ruthlessly in his grasp. She had been surrounded by the +lawless band, ere she was aware, as she glided quietly round +the street corner, on her homeward way, had shrunk up +against the wall in the desperate hope that she might remain +unobserved or unmolested, and found herself, as was to be +expected, an immediate object of insult to the dissolute and +licentious crew. Though her dress was torn and her arms +bruised from the unmanly violence to which she was subjected, +with true feminine modesty she kept her veil closely +<pb n='40'/><anchor id='Pg040'/>drawn round her face, and resisted every effort for its removal, +with a firm strength of which those slender wrists seemed +hardly capable. As the eunuch grasped her with drunken +violence, bending his huge body and bloated face over the +shrinking figure of the girl, she could not suppress one +piercing shriek for help, though, even while it left her lips, +she felt how futile it must be, and how utterly hopeless was +her situation. It was echoed by a hundred voices in tones of +mockery and derision. +</p> + +<p> +Little did Spado, for such was the eunuch’s name, little +did Spado think how near was the aid for which his victim +called; how sudden would be the reprisals that should +astonish himself with their prompt and complete redress, +reminding him of what he had long forgotten, the strength +of a man’s blow, and the weight of a man’s arm. At the +first sound of the girl’s voice, Esca had forced his way +through the crowd to her assistance. In three strides he had +come up with her assailant, and laid his heavy grasp on +Spado’s fat shoulder, while he bade him in low determined +accents to release his prey. The eunuch smiled insolently, +and replied with a brutal jest. +</p> + +<p> +Valeria, interested in spite of herself, could not resist an +impulse to press forward and see what was going on. Long +afterwards she delighted to recall the scene she now beheld +with far more of exultation and excitement than alarm. It +had, indeed, especial attraction for an imagination like hers. +Standing out in the red glare of the torches, like the bronze +statue of some demigod starting into life, towered the tall +figure of Esca, defiance in his attitude, anger on his brow, +and resistless strength in the quivering outline of each +sculptured limb. Within arm’s length of him, the obese, +ungraceful shape of Spado, with his broad fat face, expressive +chiefly of gluttony and sensual enjoyment, but wearing now +an ugly look of malice and apprehension. Starting back +from his odious embrace to the utmost length of her outstretched +arms, the veiled form of the frightened girl, her +head turned from the eunuch, her hands pressed against his +chest, every line of her figure denoting the extreme of horror, +and aversion, and disgust. Round the three, a shifting mass +of grinning faces, and tossing arms, and wild bacchanalian +gestures; the whole rendered more grotesque and unnatural +by the lurid, flickering light. With an unaccountable fascination +Valeria watched for the result. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Let her go!</q> repeated Esca, in the distinct accents with +which a man speaks who is about to strike, tightening at the +<pb n='41'/><anchor id='Pg041'/>same time a gripe which went into the eunuch’s soft flesh +like iron. +</p> + +<p> +Spado howled in mingled rage and fear, but released the +girl nevertheless, who cowered instinctively close to her +protector. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Help!</q> shouted the eunuch, looking round for assistance +from his comrades. <q>Help! I say. Will ye see the priest +mishandled and the goddess reviled? Down with him! +down with him, comrades, and keep him down!</q> +</p> + +<p> +There is little doubt that had Esca’s head once touched +the ground it had never risen again, for the priests were +crowding about him with wild yells and savage eyes, and the +fierce revelry of a while ago was fast warming into a thirst +for blood. Valeria thrust her way into the circle, though she +never feared for the Briton—not for an instant. +</p> + +<p> +It was getting dangerous, though, to remain any longer +amongst this frantic crew. Esca wound one arm round the +girl’s waist and opposed the other shoulder to the throng. +Spado, encouraged by his comrades, struck wildly at the +Briton, and made a furious effort to recover his prey. Esca +drew himself together like a panther about to spring, then +his long sinewy arm flew out with the force and impulse of a +catapult, and the eunuch, reeling backwards, fell heavily to +the ground, with a gash upon his cheek like the wound +inflicted by a sword. +</p> + +<p> +<q><foreign rend='italic' lang="grc">Euge!</foreign></q> exclaimed Valeria, in a thrill of admiration and +delight. <q>Well struck, by Hercules! Ah! these barbarians +have at least the free use of their limbs. Why, the priest +went down like a white ox at the Mucian Gate. Is he much +hurt, think ye? Will he rise again?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The last sentence was addressed to the throng who now +crowded round the prostrate Spado, and was but the result +of that pity which is never quite dormant in a woman’s +breast. The fallen eunuch seemed indeed in no hurry to get +upon his legs again. He rolled about in hideous discomfiture, +and gave vent to his feelings in loud and pitiful moans and +lamentations. +</p> + +<p> +After such an example of the Briton’s prowess, none of +her other votaries seemed to think it incumbent on them to +vindicate the majesty of the goddess by further interference +with the maiden and her protector. Supporting and almost +carrying her drooping form, Esca hurried her away with swift +firm strides, pausing and looking back at intervals, as though +loth to leave his work half finished, and by no means unwilling +to renew the contest. The last Valeria saw of him +<pb n='42'/><anchor id='Pg042'/>was the turn of his noble head bending down with a courteous +and protecting gesture, to console and reassure his frightened +charge. All her womanly instincts revolted at that moment +from the odious throng with whom she was involved. She +could have found it in her heart to envy that obscure and +unknown girl hurrying away yonder through the darkening +streets on the arm of her powerful protector—could have +wished herself a peasant or a slave, with some one being in +the world to look up to, and to love. +</p> + +<p> +Valeria’s life had been that of a spoiled child from the +day she left her cradle—that gilded cradle over which the +nurses had repeated their customary Roman blessing with an +emphasis that in her case seemed to be prophetic— +</p> + +<lg> +<l>“May monarchs woo thee, darling! to their bed,</l> +<l>And roses blossom where thy footsteps tread!”</l> +</lg> + +<p> +The metaphorical flowers of wealth, prosperity, and +admiration, did indeed seem to spring up beneath her feet, +and her stately beauty would have done no discredit to an +imperial bride; but it must have been something more than +outward pomp and show—something nobler than the purple +and the diadem—that could have won its way to Valeria’s +heart. +</p> + +<p> +She was habituated to the beautiful, the costly, the refined, +till she had learned to consider such qualities as the mere +essentials of life. It seemed to her a simple matter of course +that houses should be noble, and chariots luxurious, and +horses swift, and men brave. The <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">nil admirari</foreign> was the +maxim of the class in which she lived; and whilst their +standard was thus placed at the superlative, that which came +up to it received no credit for excellence, that which fell short +was treated with disapproval and contempt. Valeria’s life +had been one constant round of pleasure and amusement; +yet she was not happy, not even contented. Day by day she +felt the want of some fresh interest, some fresh excitement; +and it was this craving probably, more than innate depravity, +which drove her, in common with many of her companions, +into such disgraceful scenes as were enacted at the worship of +Juno, Isis, and the other gods and goddesses of mythology. +</p> + +<p> +Lovers, it is needless to say, Valeria had won in plenty. +Each new face possessed for her but the attraction of its +novelty. The favourite of the hour had small cause to plume +himself on his position. For the first week he interested her +curiosity, for the second he pleased her fancy, after which, if +he was wise, he took his leave gracefully, ere he was bidden +<pb n='43'/><anchor id='Pg043'/>to do so with a frankness that admitted of no misconception. +Perhaps the only person in the world whom she respected +was her kinsman Licinius; and this, none the less, that she +possessed no kind of influence over his feelings or his opinions; +that she well knew he viewed her proceedings often with +disapprobation, and entertained for her character a kindly +pity not far removed from contempt. Even Julius Placidus, +who was the most persevering, as he was the craftiest, of her +adorers, had made no impression on her heart. She appreciated +his intellect, she was amused with his conversation, she +approved of his deep schemes, his lavish extravagance, his +unprincipled recklessness; but she never thought of him for +an instant after he was out of her sight, and there was something +in the cold-blooded ferocity of his character from which, +even in his presence, she unconsciously recoiled. Perhaps +she admired the person of Hippias, her fencing-master, a +retired gladiator, who combined handsome regularity of +features with a certain worn and warlike air, not without its +charm, more than that of any man whom she had yet seen, +and with all her pride and her cold exterior, Valeria was a +woman to be captivated by the eye; but Hippias, from his +professional reputation, was the darling of half the matrons +in Rome, and it may be that she only followed the example +of her friends, with whom, at this period of the Empire, it +was considered a proof of the highest fashion, and the best +taste, to be in love with a gladiator. +</p> + +<p> +Strong in her passions, as in her physical organisation, the +former were only bridled by an unbending pride, and an +intensity of will more than masculine in its resolution. As +under that smooth skin the muscles of the round white arm +were firm and hard like marble, so beneath that fair and +tranquil bosom there beat a heart that for good or evil could +dare, endure, and defy the worst. Valeria was a woman +whom none but a very bold or very ignorant suitor would +have taken to his breast; yet it may be that the right man +could have tamed, and made her gentle and patient as the +dove. And now something seemed to tell her that the void +in her heart was filled at last. Esca’s manly beauty had +made a strong impression on her senses; the anomaly of his +position had captivated her imagination; there was something +very attractive in the mystery that surrounded him; +there was even a wild thrill of pleasure in the shame of loving +a slave. Then, when he stood forth, the champion of that +poor helpless girl, brave, handsome, and victorious, the charm +was complete; and Valeria’s eyes followed him as he +dis<pb n='44'/><anchor id='Pg044'/>appeared with a longing loving look, that had never glistened +in them in her life before. +</p> + +<p> +The Briton hurried away with his arm round the drooping +figure of his companion, and for a time forbore to speak a +word even of encouragement or consolation. At first the +reaction of her feelings turned her sick and faint, then a +burst of weeping came to her relief; ere long the tears were +flowing silently; and the girl, who indeed showed no lack +of courage, had recovered herself sufficiently to look up in +her protector’s face, and pour out her thanks with a quiet +earnestness that showed they came direct from the heart. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I can trust you,</q> she said, in a voice of peculiar sweetness, +though her Latin, like his own, was touched with a slightly +foreign accent. <q>I can read a brave man’s face—none better. +We have not far to go now. You will take me safe home?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I will guard you to your very door,</q> said he, in tones of +the deepest respect. <q>But you need fear nothing now; the +drunken priests and their mysterious deity are far enough off +by this time. ’Tis a noble worship, truly, for such a city as +this—the mistress of the world!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>False gods! false gods!</q> replied the girl, very earnestly. +<q>Oh! how can men be so blind, so degraded?</q> Here she +stopped suddenly, and clung closer to her companion’s arm, +drawing her veil tighter round her face the while. Her quick +ear had caught the sound of hurrying footsteps, and she +dreaded pursuit. +</p> + +<p> +<q>’Tis nothing,</q> said Esca, encouraging her; <q>the most we +have to dread now is some drunken freedman or client reeling +home from his patron’s supper-table. They are a weakly +race, these Roman citizens,</q> he added good-humouredly; <q>I +think I can promise to stave them off if they come not more +than a dozen at a time.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The cheerful tone reassured her no less than the strong +arm to which she clung. It was delightful to feel so safe +after the fright she had undergone. The footsteps were +indeed those of a few dissolute idlers loitering home after a +debauch. They had hastened forward on espying a female +figure; but there was something in the air of her protector +that forbade a near approach, and they shrank to the other +side of the way rather than come in contact with so powerful +an opponent. The girl felt proud of her escort, and safer +every minute. By this time she had guided him into a +dark and narrow street, at the end of which the Tiber might +be seen gleaming under the starlit sky. She stopped at a +mean-looking door, let into a dead-wall, and applying her +<pb n='45'/><anchor id='Pg045'/>hand to a secret spring, it opened noiselessly to her touch. +Then she turned to face her companion, and said frankly, +<q>I have not thanked you half enough. Will you not enter +our poor dwelling, and share with us a morsel of food and +a cup of wine, ere you depart upon your way?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Esca was neither hungry nor thirsty, yet he bowed his +head, and followed her into the house. +</p> + +</div><div n="1.7" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='46'/><anchor id='Pg046'/> +<index index="toc" level1="VII. Truth"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="VII. Truth"/> +<head>CHAPTER VII<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">TRUTH</hi></head> + +<p> +The dwelling in which the Briton now found himself +presented a strange contrast of simplicity and splendour, +of wealth and frugality, of obscure poverty and costly +refinement. The wall was bare and weather-stained; but a +silver lamp, burning perfumed oil, was fixed against its surface +on a bracket of common deal. Though the stone floor +was damp and broken, it was partially covered by a soft +thick carpet of brilliant colours, while shawls from the richest +looms of Asia hung over the mutilated wooden seats and the +crazy couch, which appeared to be the congenial furniture of +the apartment. Esca could not but remark on the same inconsistency +throughout all the minor details of the household. +A measure of rich wine from the Lebanon was cooling in +a pitcher of coarse earthenware, a draught of fair water +sparkled in a cup of gold. A bundle of Eastern javelins, +inlaid with ivory and of beautiful finish and workmanship, +kept guard, as it were, over a plain two-edged sword devoid +of ornament, and with a handle frayed and worn as though +from constant use, that looked like a weapon born for work +not show, some rough soldier’s rude but trusty friend. The +room of which Esca thus caught a hasty glance as he passed +through, opened on an inner apartment, which seemed to +have been originally equally bare and dilapidated, but of +which the furniture was even more rich and incongruous. It +was flooded by a soft warm light, shed from a lamp burning +some rare Syrian oil, that was scarcely to be procured for +money in Rome. It dazzled Esca’s eyes as he followed the +girl through the outer apartment into this retreat, and it +was a few seconds ere he recovered his sight sufficiently to +take note of the objects that surrounded him. +</p> + +<p> +A venerable man with bald head and long silvery beard +was sitting at the table when they entered, reading from a +roll of parchment filled to the very margin with characters +in the Syriac language, then generally spoken over the +<pb n='47'/><anchor id='Pg047'/>whole of Asia Minor, and sufficiently familiar at Rome. So +immersed was he in his studies, that he did not seem to +notice her arrival, till the girl rushed up to him, and, without +unveiling, threw herself into his arms with many expressions +of endearment and delight at her own return. The language +in which she spoke was unknown to the Briton; but he +gathered from her gestures, and the agitation which again +overcame her for an instant, that she was relating her own +troubles, and the part he had himself borne in the adventures +of the night. Presently she turned, and drew him forward, +while she said in Latin, with a little sob of agitation between +every sentence— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Behold my preserver—the youth who came in like a lion +to save me from those wicked men! Thank him in my +father’s name, and yours, and all my kindred and all my +tribe. Bid him welcome to the best our house affords. It +is not every day a daughter of Judah meets with an arm and +a heart like his, when she falls into the grasp of the heathen +and the oppressor!</q> +</p> + +<p> +The old man stretched his hand to Esca with cordiality +and goodwill; as he did so, the Briton could not but +observe how kindly was the smile that mantled over his +serene and gentle face. +</p> + +<p> +<q>My brother will be home ere long,</q> said he, <q>and will +himself thank you for preserving his daughter from insult +and worse. Meantime Calchas bids you heartily welcome +to Eleazar’s house. Mariamne,</q> he added, turning to the +girl, <q>prepare us a morsel of food that we may eat. It is +not the custom of our nation to send a stranger fasting from +the door.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The girl departed on her hospitable mission, and Esca, +making light of his prowess, and of the danger incurred, +gave his own version of the night’s occurrence, to which +Calchas listened with grave interest and approval. When +he had concluded, the old man pointed to the scroll he had +been reading, which now lay rolled up on the table at his +hand. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The time will come,</q> said he, <q>when the words that are +written here shall be in the mouths of all men on the surface +of the known earth. Then shall there be no more strife, nor +oppression, nor suffering, nor sorrow. Then shall men love +each other like brothers, and live only in kindliness and +goodwill. The day may seem far distant, and the means +may seem poor and inadequate now, yet so it is written here, +and so will it be at last.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='48'/><anchor id='Pg048'/> + +<p> +<q>You think that Rome will extend her dominions farther +and farther? That she will conquer all known nations, as +she has conquered us? That she means to be in fact what +she proudly styles herself, the Mistress of the World? In +truth, the eagle’s wings are wide and strong. His beak is +very sharp, and where his talons have once fastened themselves, +they never again let go their hold!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Calchas smiled and shook his head. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The dove will prevail against the eagle, as love is a +stronger power than hate. But it is not of Rome I speak +as the future influence that shall establish the great good on +earth. The legions are indeed well trained, and brave even +to the death; but I know of soldiers in a better service than +Cæsar’s, whose warfare is harder, whose watches are longer, +whose adversaries are more numerous, but whose triumph +is more certain, and more glorious at the last.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Esca looked as if he understood him not. The Briton’s +thoughts were wandering back to the tramp of columns and +the clash of steel, and the gallant stand made against the +invader by the white-robed warriors with their long swords, +amongst whom he had been one of the boldest and the +best. +</p> + +<p> +<q>It is hard to strive against Rome,</q> said he, with a +glowing cheek and sparkling eye. <q>Yet I cannot but think, +if we had never been provoked to an attack, if we had kept +steadily on the defensive, if we had moved inland as he +approached, harassing and cutting him off whenever we +saw an opportunity, but never suffering him to make one +for himself—trusting more to our woods and rivers, and less +to our own right hands—we might have tamed the eagle +and clipped his wings, and beat him back across the sea at +last. But what have I to do with such matters now?</q> he +added, while his whole countenance fell in bitter humiliation. +<q>I, a poor barbarian captive, and a slave here in Rome!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Calchas studied his face with a keen scrutinising glance, +then he laid his hand on the young man’s shoulder, and said +inquiringly— +</p> + +<p> +<q>There is not a grey hair in your clustering locks, nor a +wrinkle on your brow, yet you have known sorrow?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Who has not?</q> replied the other cheerfully; <q>and yet +I never thought to have come to this.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You are a slave, and you would be free?</q> asked Calchas, +slowly and impressively. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am a slave,</q> repeated the Briton, <q>and I shall be free. +But not till death.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='49'/><anchor id='Pg049'/> + +<p> +<q>And after death?</q> proceeded the old man, in the same +gentle inquiring tone. +</p> + +<p> +<q>After death,</q> answered the other, <q>I shall be free as the +elements I have been taught to worship, and into which they +tell me I shall be resolved. What need I know or care more +than that in death there will be neither pleasure nor pain?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And is not life with all its changes too sweet to lose +on such terms as these?</q> asked the older man. <q>Are you +content to believe that, like one walking through a quicksand, +the footsteps you leave are filled up and obliterated +behind you as you pass on? Can you bear to think that +yesterday is indeed banished and gone for ever? That a +to-morrow must come of black and endless night? Death +should be really terrible if this is your conviction and your +creed!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Death is never terrible to a brave man,</q> answered Esca. +<q>A Briton need not be taught how to die sword in hand.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You think you are brave,</q> said Calchas, looking wistfully +on the other’s rising colour and kindling eyes. <q>Ah! you +have not seen my comrades die, or you would know that +something better than courage is required for the service to +which we belong. What think ye of weak women, tender +shrinking maidens, worn with fatigue, emaciated with hunger, +fainting with heat and thirst, brought out to be devoured by +beasts, or to suffer long and agonising tortures, yet smiling +the while in quiet calm contentment, as seeing the home to +which they are hastening, the triumph but a few short hours +off? What think ye of the captains under whom I served, +who here at Rome, in the face of Cæsar and his power, +vindicated the honour of their Lord and died without a +murmur for His cause? I was with Peter, I tell you, Peter +the Galilean, of whom men talk to this day, of whom men +shall never cease to talk in after ages, when he opposed to +Simon’s magic arts his simple faith in the Master whom he +served, and I saw the magician hurled like a stricken vulture +to the ground. I was present when the fiercest and the +wickedest of the Cæsars, returning from the expedition to +Greece, wherein his buffooneries had earned the contempt +even of that subtle nation of flatterers, sentenced him to +death upon the cross for that he had dared to oppose Nero’s +vices, and to tell Nero the truth. I heard him petition that +he might be crucified with his head downward, as not worthy +to suffer in the same posture as his Lord—and I can see him +now, the pale face, the noble head, the dark keen eye, the +slender sinewy form, and, above all, the self-sustaining +con<pb n='50'/><anchor id='Pg050'/>fidence, the triumphant daring of the man as he walked fearlessly +to death. I was with Paul, the noble Pharisee, the +naturalised Roman citizen, when he, alone amongst a crowd +of passengers and a century of soldiers, quailed not to look +on the black waves raging round our broken ship, and bade +us all be of good cheer, for that every soul, to the number +of two hundred and seventy-five, should come safe to shore. +I remember how trustfully we looked on that low spare form, +that grave and gracious face with its kindly eyes, its bushy +brows and thick beard sprinkled here and there with grey. +It was the soul, we knew, that sustained and strengthened +the weakly body of the man. The very barbarians where +we landed acknowledged its influence, and would fain have +worshipped him for a god. Nero might well fear that quiet, +humble, trusting, yet energetic nature; and where the imperial +monster feared, as where he admired, loved, hated, envied, or +despised, the sentiment must be quenched in blood.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And did he too fall a victim?</q> inquired Esca, whose +interest, notwithstanding occasional glances at the door +through which Mariamne had gone out, seemed thoroughly +awakened by the old man’s narrative. +</p> + +<p> +<q>They might not crucify him,</q> answered Calchas, <q>for he +was of noble lineage and a Roman citizen born; but they +took him from amongst us, and they let him languish in a +prison, till they released him at last and brought him out to +be beheaded. Ay, Rome was a fearful sight that day; the +foot was scorched as it trod the ashes of the devastated city, +the eye smarted in the lurid smoke that hung like a pall upon +the heavy air and would not pass away. Palaces were +crumbling in ruins, the shrivelled spoils of an empire were +blackening around, the dead were lying in the choked-up +highways half-festering, half-consumed—orphan children +were wandering about starved and shivering, with sallow +faces and large shining eyes, or, worse still, playing thoughtlessly, +unconscious of their doom. They said the Christians +had set fire to the city, and many an innocent victim suffered +for this foul and groundless slander. The Christians, forsooth! +oppressed, persecuted, reviled; whose only desire was +to live in brotherhood with all men, whose very creed is peace +and goodwill on earth. I counted twenty of them, men, +women, and children, neighbours with whom I had held +kindly fellowship, friends with whom I had broken bread, +lying stiff and cold in the Flaminian Way on the morning +Paul was led out to die. But there was peace on the dead +faces, and the rigid hands were clasped in prayer; and +<pb n='51'/><anchor id='Pg051'/>though the lacerated emaciated body, the mere shell, was +grovelling there in the dust, the spirit had gone home to God +who made it, to the other world of which you have not so +much as heard, yet which you too must some day visit, to +remain for ever. Do you understand me? not for ages, but +<hi rend='italic'>for ever</hi>—without end!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Where is it?</q> asked Esca, on whom the idea of a +spiritual existence, innate from its very organisation in every +intelligent being, did not now dawn for the first time. <q>Is it +here, or there? below, or above? in the stars, or the elements? +I know the world in which I live; I can see it, can hear it, +can feel it; but that other world, where is it?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Where is it?</q> repeated Calchas. <q>Where are the +dearest wishes of your heart, the noblest thoughts of your +mind? Where are your loves, your hopes, your affections, +above all, your memories? Where is the whole better part +of your nature? your remorse for evil, your aspirations after +good, your speculations on the future, your convictions of the +reality of the past? Where these are, there is that other +world. You cannot see it, you cannot hear it, yet you <hi rend='italic'>know</hi> +that it must be. Is any man’s happiness complete? is any +man’s misery when it reaches him so overwhelming as it +seemed at a distance? And why is it not? Because something +tells him that the present life is but a small segment +in the complete circle of a soul’s existence. And the circle, +you have not lived in Rome without learning, is the symbol +of infinity.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Esca pondered and was silent. There are convictions +which men hold unconsciously, and to which they are so +accustomed that their attention can only be directed to them +from without, just as they wear their skins and scarcely know +it, till the familiar covering has been lacerated by injury or +disease. At last he looked up with a brightening countenance, +and exclaimed, <q>In that world, surely, all men will be free!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>All men will be equal,</q> replied Calchas, <q>but no mortal +or immortal ever can be free. Suppose a being totally +divested of all necessity for effort, all responsibility to his +fellows or himself, all participation in the great scheme of +which government is the essential condition in its every part, +and you suppose one whose own feelings would be an intolerable +burden, whose own wishes would be an unendurable +torture. Man is made to bear a yoke; but the Captain whom +I serve has told me that His yoke is easy and His burden is +light. How easy and how light, I experience every moment +of my life.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='52'/><anchor id='Pg052'/> + +<p> +<q>And yet you said but now that death and degradation +were the lot of those who bore arms by your side in the +ranks,</q> observed the Briton, still intently regarding his +companion. +</p> + +<p> +A ray of triumphant courage and exultation flashed up +into the old man’s face. For an instant Esca recognised the +fierce daring of a nature essentially bold, reckless, and defiant; +but it faded as it came, and was succeeded by an expression +of meek, chastened humility, whilst he replied— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Death welcome and long looked-for! Degradation that +confers the highest honours in this world and the next!—at +least to those who are held worthy of the great glory of +martyrdom. Oh! that I might be esteemed one of that +noble band! But my work will be laid to my hand, and it +is enough for me to be the lowest of the low in the service of +my Master.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And that master? Tell me of that master,</q> exclaimed +Esca, whose interest was excited, as his feelings were roused, +by converse with one who seemed so thoroughly impressed +with the truth of what he spoke, who was at once so earnest, +so gentle, and so brave. The old man bowed his head with +unspeakable reverence, but in his face shone the deep and +fervent joy of one who looks back with intense love and +gratitude to the great epoch of his existence. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I saw Him once,</q> said he, <q>on the shore of the Sea of +Galilee—I that speak to you now saw Him with my own eyes—there +were little children at His feet. But we will talk of +this again, for you are weary and exhausted. Meat and +drink are even now prepared for you. It is good to refresh +the body if the mind is to be vigorous and discerning. You +have done for us to-night the act of a true friend. You will +henceforth be always welcome in Eleazar’s house.</q> +</p> + +<p> +While he spoke, the girl whom Esca had rescued so +opportunely entered the apartment, bearing in some food +on a coarse and common trencher, with a wineskin, of which +she poured the contents into a jewelled cup, and presented +it to her preserver with an embarrassed but very graceful +gesture, and a soft shy smile. +</p> + +<p> +Mariamne had unveiled; and, if Esca’s expectations +during their homeward walk had been raised by her gentle +feminine manners, and the sweet tones of her voice, they +were not now disappointed with what he saw. The dark +eyes that looked up so timidly into his own, were full and +lustrous as those of a deer. They had, moreover, the +mournful pleading expression peculiar to that animal, and, +<pb n='53'/><anchor id='Pg053'/>through all their softness and intelligence, betrayed the +watchful anxiety of one whose life is passed in constant +vicissitudes and occasional danger. The girl’s face was +habitually pale, though the warm blood mantled in her +cheek as she drooped beneath Esca’s gaze of honest admiration, +and her regular features were sharpened, a little more +than was natural to them, by daily care and apprehension. +This was especially apparent in the delicate aquiline of the +nose, and a slight prominency of the cheek-bones. It was +a face that in prosperity would have been rich and sparkling +as a jewel, that in adversity preserved its charms from the +rare and chastened beauty in which it was modelled. Her +dress betrayed the same incongruity that was so remarkable +in the furniture of her home. Like her veil it was black, +and of a coarse and common material, but where it was +looped up, the folds were fastened by one single gem of +considerable value; and two or three links of a heavy gold +chain were visible round her white and well-turned neck. +</p> + +<p> +Moving through the room, busied with the arrangements +of the meal which she must herself have prepared, Esca could +not but observe the pliant grace of her form, enhanced by +a certain modest dignity, very different from the vivacious +gestures of the Roman maidens to whom he was accustomed, +and especially pleasing to the eye of the Briton. +</p> + +<p> +Calchas seemed to love the girl as a daughter; and his +kind face grew kinder and gentler still, while he followed her +about in her different movements, with eyes of the deepest +and fondest affection. +</p> + +<p> +Esca could not but observe that the board was laid for +three persons, and that by one of the wooden platters stood +a drinking-cup of great beauty and value. Mariamne’s glance +followed his as it rested on the spare place. <q>For my father,</q> +said she gently, in answer to the inquiry she read on his face. +<q>He is later than usual to-night, and, I fear—I fear; my +father is so bold, so prompt to draw steel when he is angered. +To-night he has left his sword at home; and I know not +whether to be most frightened or reassured at his being alone +in this wicked town, unarmed.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>He is in God’s hand, my child,</q> said Calchas reverently. +<q>But I should not fear for Eleazar,</q> he added, with a proud +and martial air, <q>were he surrounded by a score of such as +we see prowling nightly in the streets of Rome, though they +were armed to the teeth, and he with only a shepherd’s staff +to keep his head.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Is he, then, so redoubtable a warrior?</q> asked Esca, on +<pb n='54'/><anchor id='Pg054'/>whom good manhood seldom failed to produce a favourable +impression. While he spoke he looked from one to the other +with increasing curiosity and interest. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You shall judge for yourself,</q> answered Calchas, <q>for +it cannot now be long ere he return. Nevertheless, the man +who could leap down from the walls of a beleaguered city, +as my brother did, naked and unarmed; who could break +the head off a Roman battering-ram by main force, and +render that engine useless; who could reach the wall again +with his prize, covered with wounds, having fought his way +through a whole maniple of Roman soldiers, and could ask +but for a draught of water, ere he donned his armour, and +took his place once more upon the rampart, is not likely to +fear aught that can befall him from a few idlers in a common +street-broil. Nevertheless, as I said before, you shall judge +for yourself.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And here he is!</q> exclaimed Mariamne, while the outer +door shut to, and a man’s step was heard advancing through +the adjoining apartment, with a firm and measured footfall. +</p> + +<p> +She had been pale enough all night in the eyes of Esca, +who was watching her intently; but he thought now she +seemed to turn a shade paler than before. +</p> + +</div><div n="1.8" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='55'/><anchor id='Pg055'/> +<index index="toc" level1="VIII. The Jew"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="VIII. The Jew"/> +<head>CHAPTER VIII<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE JEW</hi></head> + +<p> +The man who entered the apartment with the air of one +to whom every nook and corner was familiar, must have +been fully three-score years of age, yet his dark eye still +glittered with the fire of youth, his thick curling beard and +hair were but slightly sprinkled with grey, and the muscles +of his square powerful frame seemed but to have acquired +solidity and consistency with age. His appearance was that +of a warrior, toughened, and, as it were, forged into iron, by +years of strife, hardship, and unremitting toil. +</p> + +<p> +If something in the line of his aquiline features resembled +Calchas, no two faces could have been more different in +their character and expression than those of Eleazar and +his brother. The latter was all gentleness, kindliness, and +peace; on the former, fiery passions, deep schemes, continual +peril, and contention, had set their indelible marks. The +one was that of the spectator, who is seated securely on the +cliff, and marks the seething waters below with interest, +indeed, and sympathy, but with feelings neither of agitation +nor alarm; the other was the strong swimmer, breasting the +waves fiercely, and battling with their might, striving for his +life inch by inch, and stroke by stroke, conscious of his peril, +confident in his strength, and never despairing for an instant +of the result. At times, indeed, the influence of opposite +feelings, softening the one and kindling the other, would +bring out the family likeness clear and apparent upon each; +but in repose no two faces could be more dissimilar, no two +types of character more utterly at variance, than those of +the Christian and the Jew. +</p> + +<p> +As Eleazar’s warlike figure came into the light, Esca +could not but remark with what a glance of mistrust his +quick eye took in the presence of a stranger, how the strong +fingers closed instinctively round the staff he was in the act +of laying down, and the whole form seemed to gather itself +in an instant as though ready for the promptest measures +<pb n='56'/><anchor id='Pg056'/>of resistance or attack. Such trifling gestures spoke volumes +of the character and habits of the man. +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless Calchas rapidly explained to his brother +the cause of this addition to their supper-party; and +Mariamne, who seemed in considerable awe of her father, +busied herself in placing food and wine before him, with +even more alacrity than she had shown when serving their +guest. +</p> + +<p> +The Jew thanked his new friend for the kindness he had +rendered his daughter, with a few brief cordial words, as one +brave man expresses his gratitude to another, then fell to on +the meat and drink provided, with a voracity that argued +well for his physical powers, and denoted a strong constitution +and a long fast. As he took breath after a deep draught +of wine in which, though he pledged him not, he challenged +his guest to join, Calchas asked his brother how he had sped +in the affairs that kept him from home all day. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ill,</q> answered the other, shooting from under his thick +eyebrows a penetrating glance at the Briton. <q>Ill and +slowly, yet not so ill but that something has been gained, +another step taken in the direction at which I aim. Yet I +have been to-day in high places, have seen those bloated +gluttons and drunkards who are the ministers of Cæsar’s +will, have spoken with that spotted panther, Vespasian’s +scheming agent forsooth! who thinks he hath the cunning, +as he can doubtless boast of the treachery and the gaudy +colours, of the beast of prey. Let him take care! Weaker +hands than mine have ere this strangled a fiercer animal for +the worth of his shining skin. Let him beware! Eleazar-Ben-Manahem +is a match, and more than a match, for Julius +Placidus the tribune!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Esca glanced quickly at the speaker, as his ear caught +the familiar name. The look was not lost upon his host. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You know him?</q> said he, with a fierce smile that +showed the strong white teeth gleaming through his bushy +beard. <q>Then you know as cool and well-taught a soldier +as ever buckled on a sword. I wish I had a few like him to +officer the Sicarii<note place="foot"><q><foreign rend='italic' lang="la">Sicarii</foreign>,</q> or homicides—bands of assassins, regularly organised in Judæa, +who made a trade of murder.</note> at home. But you know, also, a man who +would not scruple to slay his own father for the worth of the +clasp that fastens his gown. I have seen him in the field, and +I have seen him in the council. He is bold, skilful, and he +can be treacherous in both! Where met you him last?</q> he +added, with a searching glance at Esca, while at the same +<pb n='57'/><anchor id='Pg057'/>time he desired Mariamne to fill the stranger’s cup and his +own. +</p> + +<p> +The latter proceeding engrossed the Briton’s whole +attention. It was with the utmost carelessness that he +replied to the question, by relating his interview, that very +morning, with the tribune at Valeria’s door. He scarcely +marked how precisely the father noted down the name in +his tablets, for the daughter’s white arm was reaching over +his shoulder, so close that it almost touched his cheek. +</p> + +<p> +It was indeed well worth Eleazar’s while to obtain +information, from whatever source, of any influence that +might affect those in authority with whom he was in daily +contact at Rome. His position was one which called for +courage, tact, skill, and even cunning, to a great extent. +Charged by the Supreme Council at Jerusalem, then in the +last stage of perplexity and sorely beset by Vespasian and +his legions, with a private mission to Vitellius, who much +mistrusted the successful general, he represented the hopes +and fears, the temporal and political prosperity, nay, the +very existence of the Chosen People. Nor to all appearance +could a better instrument have been selected for the purpose. +Eleazar, though a bigoted and fanatical Jew of the strictest +sect, was a man of keen and powerful intellect, whose +obstinacy was open to no conviction, whose perseverance was +to be deterred by no obstacle. A distinguished and fearless +soldier, he possessed the confidence of the large and fighting +portion of the nation, who looked on Roman supremacy +with abhorrence, and who clung dearly to the notion of +earthly dominion, wrested from the heathen with the sword. +His rigid observance of its fasts, its duties, and its ceremonials, +had gained him the affections of the priesthood, +and the more enthusiastic followers of that religion in which +outward forms were so strictly enjoined and so faithfully +observed; while a certain fierce, defiant, and unbending +demeanour towards all classes of men, had won for him a +character of frankness which did him good service in the +schemes of intrigue and dissimulation with which he was +continually engaged. +</p> + +<p> +Yet perhaps the man was honest too, as far as his own +convictions went. He esteemed all means lawful for the +furtherance of a lawful object. He was one of those who +deem it the most contemptible of weakness to shrink from +doing evil that good may come. Like Jephthah he would +have sacrificed his daughter unflinchingly in performance of +a vow; nay, had Mariamne stood between him and the +<pb n='58'/><anchor id='Pg058'/>attainment of his ambition, or even the accomplishment of +his revenge, he would have walked ruthlessly over the body +of his child. Versed in the traditions of his family and the +history of his nation, he was steeped to the lips in that pride +of pedigree which was so essential a feature of the Jewish +character: he was convinced that the eventual destiny of his +people was to lord it over the whole earth. He possessed +more than his share of that haughty self-sufficiency which +bade the Pharisee hold aloof from those of lower pretensions +and humbler demeanour than himself; while he had all the +fierce courage and energy of the Lion of Judah, so terrible +when roused, so difficult to be appeased when victorious. +In his secret heart he anticipated the time when Jerusalem +should again become a sovereign city, when the Roman eagles +should be scared away from Syria, and a hierarchy established +once more as the government of the people chosen by Heaven. +That he should be a second Judas Maccabæus, a chief +commander of the armies of the faithful in the new order of +things, was an ambition naturally enough entertained by the +bold and skilful soldier; but, to do Eleazar justice, individual +aggrandisement had but little share in his schemes, and +personal interest never crossed those visions for the future, on +which his dark and dangerous enthusiasm so loved to dwell. +</p> + +<p> +It was a delicate matter to intrigue with Vitellius in Rome +against the very general who held supreme authority, at least +ostensibly, from the Emperor. It was playing a hazardous +game, to receive power and instructions from the Council at +Jerusalem, and to use or suppress them according to the +bearer’s own political views and future intentions. +</p> + +<p> +It was no easy task to hold his own against such men as +Placidus, in the contest of <foreign rend='italic' lang="fr">finesse</foreign>, subtlety, and double-dealing; +yet the Jew entered upon his perilous career with a strenuous +energy, a cool calculating audacity, that was engraved in the +very character of the man. +</p> + +<p> +Another draught of the rich Lebanon wine served to +improve their acquaintance, and Eleazar, with considerable +tact, drew from the Briton all the information he could obtain +as to the habits and movements of his antagonist the tribune, +while he seemed but to be carrying on the courteous conversation +of a host with his guest. Esca’s answers, notwithstanding +that thoughts and eyes wandered frequently towards +Mariamne, were frank and open like his disposition. He, too, +entertained no very cordial liking for Placidus, and experienced +towards the tribune that unconscious antipathy +which the honest man so often feels for the knave. +</p> + +<pb n='59'/><anchor id='Pg059'/> + +<p> +Calchas, meanwhile, had returned to the perusal of his +scroll, on which his brother cast occasional glances of unfeigned +contempt, notwithstanding that the reader was the person +whom he most loved and respected on earth. Mariamne, +moving about the apartment, looked covertly on the fair face +and stately form of her preserver, approving much of what +she saw; once their eyes met, and the Jewess blushed to her +temples for very shame. So the time passed quickly; the +night stole on, the Lebanon was nearly finished, and Esca +rose to bid his entertainers farewell. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You have done me a rare service,</q> said Eleazar, feeling +in his breast while he spoke, and producing, from under his +coarse garment, a jewel of considerable value, <q>a service +neither thanks nor guerdon can requite; yet, I pray you, +keep this trinket in remembrance of the Jew and the Jew’s +daughter, who come of a people that forgive not an injury, +and forget not a benefit.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The colour mounted to Esca’s forehead, and an expression +of pain, almost of anger, came into his face, while he replied— +</p> + +<p> +<q>I have done nothing to merit either thanks or reward. +It is no such matter to put a fat eunuch on his back, or to +defend an unprotected woman in a town like this. Take +back your jewel, I pray you. Any other man would have +done as much.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>It is not every man who could have interposed so effectually,</q> +replied Eleazar, with a glance of hearty approval at the +thews and sinews of his friend, replacing the jewel meanwhile +in his vestment, without the least sign of displeasure +at its being declined. He would have bestowed it freely, no +doubt, but if Esca did not want it, it would serve some other +purpose: precious stones and gold would always fetch their +value at Rome. <q>At least you will let me give you a safe-conduct +home,</q> he added; <q>the night is far advanced, and +I should be loth that you should suffer wrong for your +interposition in our behalf.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Esca burst out laughing now. In the pride of his strength, +it seemed so impossible that he should require protection +or assistance from anyone. He squared his large shoulders +and drew himself to his full height. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I should wish no better pastime,</q> said he, <q>than a bout +with a dozen of them! I, too, was brought up a warrior, +in a land you have never heard of, many a long mile from +Rome; a land fairer far than this, of green valleys and +wooded hills, and noble rivers winding calmly towards the +sea; a land where the oaks are lofty and the flowers are +<pb n='60'/><anchor id='Pg060'/>sweet, where the men are strong and the women fair. I +have followed the chase afoot from sunrise to sunset through +many a summer’s day. I have fronted the invader, sword in +hand, ever since my arm was long enough to draw blade +from sheath, or I had not been here now. You too are a +soldier, I see it in your eye—you can believe that my limbs +grow stiff, my spirits droop for lack of martial exercise. In +faith, it seems to me that even a vulgar broil in the street +makes my blood dance in my veins once more!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Mariamne was listening with parted lips and shining +eyes. She drank in all he said of his distant home with its +woodland scenery, its forest trees, its fragrant flowers, and, +above all, its lovely women. She felt so kindly towards +this bold young stranger, exiled from kin and country, she +attributed her interest to pity and gratitude, nor could she +help wondering to find these sentiments so strong. +</p> + +<p> +Calchas looked up from his studies. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Fare thee well!</q> said he. <q>Take an old man’s warning, +and strike not unless it be in self-defence. Mark well the +turning from the main street to the Tiber, so shalt thou find +thy way to our poor home again.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Esca promised faithfully to return, and fully intended to +redeem his promise. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Another cup of wine,</q> said Eleazar, emptying the leathern +bottle into a golden vessel; <q>the sun of Italy cannot ripen +such a vintage as this.</q> +</p> + +<p> +But the rich produce of the Lebanon was all too cloying +for the healthy palate and the thirst of youth. Esca prayed +for a draught of fair water, and Mariamne brought him the +pitcher and gave him to drink with her own hand. For the +second time to-night their eyes met, and although they were +instantly averted, the Briton felt that he was drinking from +a cup more intoxicating than all the wine-presses of Syria +could produce—a cup that made him unconscious of the past +as of the future, and only too keenly sensible of the present +by its joy. He forgot that he was a barbarian, he forgot +that he was a slave. +</p> + +<p> +He forgot everything but Mariamne and her dark +imploring trustful eyes. +</p> + +</div><div n="1.9" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='61'/><anchor id='Pg061'/> +<index index="toc" level1="IX. The Roman"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="IX. The Roman"/> +<head>CHAPTER IX<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE ROMAN</hi></head> + +<figure url="images/i_080.png" rend="w40"><figDesc>Initial I</figDesc></figure> + +<p> +It is time to give some account of Esca’s +anomalous position in the capital of the +world—to explain how the young British +noble (for that was indeed the rank he +held in his own country) found himself +a slave in the streets of Rome. In order +to do so it is necessary to take a glimpse +at the interior of a patrician’s house +about the hour of supper; perhaps also +to intrude upon the reflections of its +owner, as he paces up and down the +colonnade in the cool air of sunset, absorbed in his own +thoughts, and deep in the memories of the past. +</p> + +<p> +His mansion is of stately proportion, and large size, but +all its ornaments and accessories are chastened by a severe +simplicity of taste. An observer might identify the man by +the very nature of the objects that surround him. In his +vestibule the columns are of the Ionic order, and their +elaborate capitals have been wrought into the utmost degree +of finish which that style will allow. In the smaller entrance-hall +or lobby, which leads to the principal apartments, and +which is guarded by an image of a dog, let into the pavement +in mosaic, there are no florid sculptures nor carvings, nor +any attempt at decoration beyond the actual beauty of the +stonework and the scrupulous care with which it is kept +clean. The doors themselves are of bronze, so well burnished +as to need no mixture of gold or silver inlaid to enhance its +brightness; whilst in the principal hall itself, the room in +which friends are welcomed, clients received, and business +transacted, the walls, instead of frescoes and such gaudy +ornaments, are simply overlaid with entablatures of white +and polished marble. The dome is very lofty, rising majestically +towards the circular opening at the top, through which +<pb n='62'/><anchor id='Pg062'/>the sky is visible; and round the fountain or cistern immediately +below this are ranged four colossal statues, representing +the elements. These, with the busts of a long line of illustrious +ancestors, are the only efforts of the sculptor’s art throughout +the apartment. A large banqueting-hall, somewhat more +luxuriously furnished, opens from one side of the central +room, and as much as can be seen of it displays considerable +attention to convenience and personal comfort. Frescoes, +representing scenes of military life, adorn the walls, and at +one end stands a trophy, composed of deadly weapons and +defensive armour, arranged so as to form a glittering and +conspicuous ornament. Large flagons and chalices of +burnished gold, some of them adorned with valuable jewels, +are ranged upon a sideboard; but it is evident that no guests +are expected to-night, for near the couch against the wall +has been drawn a small table, laid for one person only, with +a clean napkin, and a cup and platter of plain silver thereon. +That person is none other than the master of the house, +bodily pacing up and down his own colonnade in Rome, +mentally gazing on a fair expanse of wood and vale and +shining river, drinking in the cool breezes, the fragrant odours, +and the wild luxuriant beauty of distant Britain. +</p> + +<p> +Five-and-twenty years! and yet it seems but yesterday. +The brow wrinkles, the hair turns grey, strength wastes, +energy fails, the brain gets torpid, and the senses dull, but +the heart never grows old. Business, ambition, pleasure, +dangers, duties, difficulties, and successes have filled that +quarter of a century, and passed away like a dream; but the +touch of a hand, the memory of a face, have outlived them +all. Caius Lucius Licinius, Roman patrician, general, prætor, +consul, and procurator of the Empire, is the young commander +of a legion once more, with the world before him, and +the woman he loves by his side. This is what he sees now, +as he has seen it so often in his dreams by night, and his +waking visions by day. +</p> + +<p> +An old oak-tree, a mossy sward soft and level as velvet, +delicate fern bending and whispering in the summer breeze, +fleecy clouds drifting across the blue sky, and a graceful form, +in its white robes, coming shyly up the glade, with faltering +step, and sidelong glance, and timid gesture, to keep her +tryst with her Roman lover. She is in his arms now. The +rich brown curls are scattered over his breastplate, and the +blue eyes are looking up into his own, liquid with the love-light +that thrills to a man’s heart but from one pair of eyes in +a lifetime. She is, indeed, no contemptible prize, in the glory +<pb n='63'/><anchor id='Pg063'/>of her beauty and the pride of her blooming womanhood. +With the rounded form, the noble features, and the dazzling +colour of her nation, she possesses the courage and constancy +of a highborn race, and a witchery half imperious, half +playful, peculiarly her own. There are women who find their +way to the core of a man’s heart, who pervade it all, and +saturate it, so to speak, with their influence. +</p> + +<lg> +<l>“Quo semel est imbuta recens, servabit odorem<note place="foot"><lg> +<l>“You may break, you may ruin, the vase if you will;</l> +<l>But the scent of the roses will hang round it still.”</l> +</lg></note></l> +<l>Testa diu”——</l> +</lg> + +<p> +The vessel that has once held this rich and rare liquid is ever +after impregnated with its fragrance, and even when it has +been spilt every drop, and a fresh infusion poured in, the new +wine smacks strangely and wildly of the old. She is one of +them; he knows it too well. +</p> + +<p> +They should have nothing in common, these two, the +British chieftain’s daughter and the Roman conqueror. But +there is a truce between the nations; a truce in which the +elements of discord are nevertheless smouldering, ready to +blaze out afresh at the first opportunity, and they have seen +each other accidentally, and been thrown together by circumstances, +till curiosity has become interest, and interest +grown into liking, and liking ripened into love. The British +maiden might not be won lightly, and many a tear she wept +in secret, and sore she strove against her own heart; but +when it conquered her at last she gave it, as such women will, +wholly and unreservedly. She would have lived for him, +died for him, followed him to the end of the world. And +Licinius worshipped her as a man worships the one woman +who is the destiny of his life. Most men have at some time +or other experienced this folly, infatuation, madness, call it +what you will. They are not likely to forget it. Possibly—alas! +probably—the bud they then watched opening has +never expanded into bloom, at least for <hi rend='italic'>them</hi>. The worm +may have destroyed it, or the cold wind cut it to the earth, +or another’s hand may have borne it away in triumph to +gladden another’s breast; but there is something in the May +mornings that reminds them of the sweet flower still, and +they wander round the fairest gardens of earth rather drearily +to-day, because of the memory that has never faded, and the +blank where <hi rend='italic'>she</hi> is not. +</p><anchor id="i_082"/> +<pgIf output='txt'><then> + <p rend="ill">[Illustration: ‘Licinius holds the British maiden to his breast’]</p> +</then><else> + <p><figure rend="w80" url="images/i_082.png"><head>‘Licinius holds the British maiden to his breast’</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: ‘Licinius holds the British maiden to his breast’</figDesc></figure></p> +</else></pgIf> +<p> +Licinius holds the British maiden to his breast, and they +discourse of their own happiness and revel in the sunny hour, +<pb n='64'/><anchor id='Pg064'/>and plan schemes for the future—schemes in which each is to +the other all in all, and dream not that when to-day is past +for them there will be no to-morrow. The woman, indeed, +heaves a gentle sigh at intervals, as though in the midst of +her happiness some foreboding warned her of the brooding +tempest; but the man is hopeful, buoyant, and impetuous, +playful in his tenderness, and joyous in his own triumphant +love. They parted that evening more reluctantly than usual. +They lingered round the oak, they found excuse after excuse +for another loving word, another fond caress. When at last +they went their several ways, how often Licinius turned to +look after the receding form that carried with it all his hope +and all his happiness! Little did he think how, and when, +and where, he would see Guenebra again. +</p> + +<p> +Ten years went heavily by. The commander of a legion +was the chief of an army now. Licinius had served Rome in +Gaul, in Spain, in Syria. Men said he bore a charmed life; +and, indeed, while his counsels showed the forethought, the +caution, and the patience of a skilful officer, his personal +conduct was remarkable for a reckless disregard of danger, +which would have been esteemed foolhardy in the meanest +soldier. It was observed, too, that a deep and abiding +melancholy had taken possession of the once light-hearted +patrician. He only seemed to brighten up into his former +self under the pressure of imminent danger, in the confusion +of a repulse, or the excitement of a charge. At other times +he was silent, depressed, preoccupied; never morose, for his +kindly heart was open to the griefs of others, and the legionaries +knew that their daring general was the friend of all who +were in sorrow or distress. But the men talked him over, +too, by their watch-fires; they marvelled, those honest old +campaigners, how one who was so ready in the field could be +so sparing of the winecup; how the leader who could stoop +to fill his helmet from the running stream under a storm of +javelins, and drink composedly with a jest and a smile, should +be so backward in the revel, should show such a disinclination +to those material pleasures which they esteemed the keenest +joys of life. +</p> + +<p> +One old centurion, who had followed his fortunes from the +Thames to the Euphrates, from the confines of Pannonia to +the Pillars of Hercules, averred that he had never seen his +chief discomfited but once, and that was on the day when he +had been accorded a triumph for his services in the streets of +Rome. The veteran used to swear he never could forget the +dejected look upon those brows, encircled with their laurel +<pb n='65'/><anchor id='Pg065'/>garland, nor the weary listlessness of that figure, to which all +eyes were directed in its gilded chariot; the object of +admiration to the whole city, and, for that day, scarcely +second even to Cæsar himself. It was a goodly triumph, no +doubt; the spoils were rich, the car was lofty, the people +shouted, and the victims fell. But what was glory without +Guenebra? and the hero’s eye could not rest in peace on one +of all those gazing thousands, for lack of the loving face +framed in its rich brown hair. +</p> + +<p> +On the very night Licinius and Guenebra parted, a long-meditated +rising had broken out among the islanders—conquered, +but not subdued. Nothing but the cool courage +of its young commander, and the immovable discipline of the +legionaries, saved the Roman camp. Ere morning, Guenebra +had been forced away by her tribe many miles from the scene +of action; the Britons, too, retired into their strongholds, +those natural fastnesses impregnable by regular troops. The +whole country was once more in a state of open warfare. +Prompt and decisive measures were taken; Publius Ostorius, +the Roman general, in execution of a manœuvre by which +he preserved his line of operation, despatched Licinius and +his legion to a different part of the island, and with all his +exertions and all his influence, the young officer could never +obtain tidings of Guenebra again. It was after this event +that the change came over Licinius which was so commented +on by the soldiers under his command. +</p> + +<p> +Ten years of brilliant and successful services had elapsed +when he returned to Britain. Nero had but lately succeeded +to the purple, nor had he then degenerated into the monster +of iniquity which he afterwards became. Until sapped by +his ungovernable passions, the Emperor’s administrative +abilities were of no mean order; and he selected Licinius for +the important post assigned to him, as being a consummate +soldier, and experienced in the country with which he had to +deal. The latter accepted the appointment with alacrity; +through all change of time and fortune, he had never forgotten +his British love. Under the burning skies of Syria, by the +frozen shores of the Danube, at home or abroad, in peace or +war, Guenebra’s face was ever present to him, fond and +trustful as when they last parted under the old oak-tree. +He longed but to see it once more. And so he did. Thus— +</p> + +<p> +A partial insurrection had been quelled beyond the Trent. +The Roman vanguard had surprised the Britons, and forced +them to fly in great confusion, leaving their baggage, their +valuables, in some cases even their arms, behind. When +<pb n='66'/><anchor id='Pg066'/>Licinius came up with the main body of his forces, he found, +indeed, no prisoners taken, for everything animate had fled, +but a goodly amount of spoil, over which Roman discipline +had placed a strong guard. One of his tribunes approached +him with a list of the captured articles; and when his general +had perused it, the officer hesitated as though there was still +some further report to make. At last he spoke out— +</p> + +<p> +<q>There is a hut left standing within the lines of the enemy. +I would not order it to be destroyed till I had provided for +the burial of a dead body that lies beneath its shelter.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Licinius was counting the arms taken. +</p> + +<p> +<q>A dead body!</q> said he carelessly; <q>is it an officer of +rank?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>’Tis a woman’s corpse,</q> answered the tribune; <q>a fair +and stately woman, apparently the wife of some prince or +chieftain at the least.</q> +</p> + +<p> +For Guenebra’s sake, every woman, much more every +British woman, was an object of respect and interest to +Licinius. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Lead on,</q> said he. <q>I will give directions when I have +seen it;</q> and the general followed his officer to the place +already indicated. +</p> + +<p> +It was but a rude hut made of a few planks and branches +hastily thrown together. It seemed to have been erected at +a moment’s notice, probably to shelter an inmate in the last +stage of dissolution. Through a wide rent in the roof the +summer sun streamed in brilliantly, throwing a sheet of light +on the dead face below. The prostrate form was swathed in +its white robe, the bridal garment of the destroyer. A band +of white encircled the head and chin, and the brown hair was +parted modestly on the smooth forehead calm and womanly +as of old. It was Guenebra’s face that lay there so strangely +still. Guenebra’s face, how like and yet how changed! As +he stooped over it, and looked on the closed eyes beneath +their arching brows, the fair and noble features chiseled by +the hand of death—the sweet lips wreathed even now with a +chastened loving smile—he could not but mark that there +were lines of thought upon the forehead, streaks of silver in +the hair, the result it might be of regrets, and memories, and +sorrows, and care for <hi rend='italic'>him</hi>. +</p> + +<p> +Then the warm tears gushed up into the soldier’s eyes, +the pressure on his heart and brain seemed to be relieved. +As when the spear is drawn out of a wound and the red +stream spouts freely forth, the previous agony was succeeded +by a dull hopeless resignation, that in comparison seemed +<pb n='67'/><anchor id='Pg067'/>almost akin to peace. He pressed his lips hard upon the cold +dead forehead, and turned away—a man for whom from henceforth +there was neither good to covet, nor evil to be feared. +</p> + +<p> +And thus it was that here, on earth, Licinius looked once +more upon his love. +</p> + +<p> +Fresh victories crowned his arms in Britain—a fresh +triumph awaited his return to Rome; but still as of old with +Licinius, the glory seemed to count for nothing, the service +seemed to be all-in-all. Only, now, the restless, eager look +had left his face. He was always calm and unmoved, even +in the uncertainty of conflict or the triumph of success. Still +kindly in his actions, his outward demeanour was very stern +and cold. He kept aloof from the intrigues, as from the +pleasures, of the Court; but was ever ready to serve Rome +with his sword, and on many occasions by his coolness and +conduct redeemed the errors and incapacity of his colleagues +or predecessors. Fortune smiled upon the man who was +insensible to her frowns. Honours poured in on the soldier +who seemed so careless of their attainment; and Caius Lucius +Licinius was perhaps the object of more respect and less envy +than any other person of his rank in Rome. +</p> + +<p> +It fell out that shortly before the death of Nero, the +general, in traversing the slave-market on the way from the +Forum, felt his sleeve plucked by a notorious dealer in human +wares, named Gargilianus, who begged him earnestly to come +and examine a fresh importation of captives lately arrived +from Britain. To mention their country was at once to +excite the interest of Licinius, who readily acceded to the +request, and spoke a few kind words in their native language +to the unhappy barbarians as he passed through their ranks. +His attention was, however, especially arrested by the appearance +of one of the conquered, a fine young man of great +strength and stature, who seemed to feel painfully the indignity +of his position, placed as he was on a huge stone +block, whereon his own towering height rendered him a +conspicuous object in the throng. He had been severely +wounded, too, in several places, as was apparent from the +scars scarce yet healed over. Indeed, had it not been so, he +would never probably have been here. There was something +in his face, and the expression of his large blue eyes, that +roused a painful thrill in the Roman general’s breast. He +felt a strange and undefinable attraction towards the captive, +for which he could not account, and, pausing in his walk, +scanned him with a wistful searching gaze, which was not +lost on the practised perceptions of the dealer. +</p> + +<pb n='68'/><anchor id='Pg068'/> + +<p> +<q>He should have been shown in private,</q> whispered +Gargilianus, with an important and mysterious air. <q>Indeed, +my man was just taking him away, when I saw you coming, +my honoured patron, and I called to him to stop. Ay! you +may examine him all over—tall, young, and healthy. Sound, +wind and limb, and stronger than any gladiator in the amphitheatre. +They are men of iron, these barbarians, that’s the +truth, and he has only just come over. There! look for +yourself, noble general; you will see the chalk-marks<note place="foot">According to Pliny, the distinguishing sign of newly-arrived slaves.</note> on +his feet.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>But he is badly wounded,</q> observed Licinius, beginning +to scan him, as the other instinctively felt, with the eye of a +purchaser. +</p> + +<p> +<q>That is nothing!</q> exclaimed Gargilianus. <q>Mere +scratches, skin deep, and healed over now. You will not be +able to run your nail against them in a week. Eyesores, I +grant you, to-day, otherwise I would ask two thousand +sesterces at least for him. These islanders are cheap at any +price.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I will give you a thousand,</q> said Licinius quietly. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Impossible!</q> burst out the dealer, with a quiver of his +fingers, that expressed a most emphatic negative. <q>I should +lose money by him, generous patron! What! A man must +live. Cæsar would give more for him to die in the circus. +Look at his muscles! He would stand up for a good five +minutes against the tiger!</q> +</p> + +<p> +This last consideration was probably not without its influence. +After a little more haggling, the British captive +became the property of Licinius at the cost of fifteen hundred +sesterces;<note place="foot">About twelve pounds sterling.</note> and Esca found the most indulgent and the +kindest-hearted master in Rome. +</p> + +<p> +We must return to that master, pacing thoughtfully up +and down the colonnade, in the cool and pleasant evening +air. +</p> + +<p> +It is, perhaps, one of the most consoling and merciful +dispensations of Providence that the human mind is so constituted +as to dwell on past pleasures, rather than past pain. +The sorrow that is done with, returns indeed at intervals +vividly and bitterly enough; but every fresh recurrence is +less cruel than the last, and we can look back to our sufferings +at length with a calm and chastened humility which is the +first step towards resignation and eventual peace. But the +memory of a great happiness seems so interwoven with the +<pb n='69'/><anchor id='Pg069'/>imperishable part of our being, that it loses none of its reality +by the lapse of time, none of its brightness from the effect of +distance. Anger, sorrow, hatred, contentions, fleet away like +a dream; but the smile that gladdened us long ago, has +passed into the very sunlight of noonday; the whisper that +softened our sternest moods, steals with the breeze of evening +to our heart, gently and tenderly as of yore, and we know, +we feel, that while crime, and misery, and remorse, are the +temporary afflictions of humanity, pardon, and hope, and love +are its inheritance for evermore. +</p> + +<p> +Licinius, pacing his long shadowy colonnade, dwells not +on the anxieties, and the separation, and the sorrows of years; +on the loss of his dearest treasure and its possession by +another; not even on the calm dead face bound with its linen +band. No; he is back in Britain once more with his living +love, in the green glade where the bending ferns are whispering +under the old oak-tree. +</p> + +<p> +A step in the hall rouses him from his meditations, and +a kind grave smile steals over the general’s face at the +approach of his favourite slave. +</p> + +<p> +The Roman patrician looks what he is—a war-worn +veteran, bronzed and hardened by the influence of many +campaigns in many climates. He is not yet past the prime +of his bodily vigour, and there is a severe beauty about his +noble features, and beard and hair already touched with grey, +that possesses considerable attraction still. Valeria, no mean +judge, asserts that he is, and always will be, a handsome man, +but that he does not know it. She respects him much, likes +him a good deal, and he is the only person on earth for +whose good opinion she has the slightest value. In truth, +though she would not confess it even to herself, she is a little +afraid of her good-hearted, brave, and thoughtful kinsman. +</p> + +<p> +A man who has reached mature age without forming +family ties is always to a certain extent in a false position. +No amount of public interest will stop up the little chinks +and corners, so to speak, which are intended by Nature to +contain the petty cares and pleasures and vexations of +domestic life. Without the constant association—the daily +friction—of wife and children, a cynical disposition becomes +selfish and morose; a kind one, melancholy and forlorn. +Licinius feels a blank in his existence, which nothing he has +yet found serves to fill; and he often wonders in himself why +the barbarian slave should be almost the only creature in +Rome for whom he entertains a feeling of interest and regard. +</p> + +<p> +As he takes his place on the couch by the supper-table, +<pb n='70'/><anchor id='Pg070'/>Esca gives him to drink; and the patrician cannot help +thinking the while, how he would like to have such a son, +tall and handsome, with so warlike an air; a son whom he +could instruct in all the intricacies of his glorious profession, +whose mind he could educate, whose genius he could foster, +and whose happiness he could watch over and ensure. They +converse freely enough during the general’s temperate meal—an +egg, a morsel of kid, a few grapes, and a flask of common +Sabine wine. Esca tells his master the encounter of +the previous evening, and the friendship he had made in +consequence, after nightfall. Licinius laughs at his account +of the skirmish, and the eunuch’s discomfiture. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Nevertheless,</q> says he, <q>I trust he did not recognise +you. It can have been none other than Spado, whom you +treated so unceremoniously; and Spado is just now a prime +favourite with Cæsar. I might find it difficult to protect +you if he knew where to find you, for charms and philtres +are deadlier weapons in such hands as his, than sword and +spear in yours and mine. Did he take note of your person, +think you, Esca, ere he went down?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I can hardly believe it,</q> answered Esca. <q>The evening +was dark, and the confusion great. Moreover, I fled with +the poor girl they had surrounded, the very instant I could +snatch her out of the throng.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And you saw these Jews in their home, you say?</q> +pursued Licinius gravely. <q>I have heard much of that +people, and, indeed, served against them in Syria. Are +they not morose, cruel, bloodthirsty? Slayers of men, +devourers of children? Have they not fearful orgies in +which they feast upon human flesh? And one day in the +week that they devote to solitude and silence, and schemes +of hatred against all mankind? Are you sure that your +entertainers belonged to this detestable nation?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Christians and Jews,</q> replied Esca, who had caught +the sound of the former title in the course of his conversation +with Calchas. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Are they not the same?</q> returned Licinius, and to this +question the barbarian was unable to furnish a reply. +</p> + +</div><div n="1.10" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='71'/><anchor id='Pg071'/> +<index index="toc" level1="X. A tribune of the legions"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="X. A tribune of the legions"/> +<head>CHAPTER X<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">A TRIBUNE OF THE LEGIONS</hi></head> + +<p> +Under the porch of one of the most luxurious houses +in Rome, two men jostled in the dubious light of +early morning. Exclamations of impatience were succeeded +by a mutual recognition, and a hearty laugh, as Damasippus +and Oarses, freedmen and staunch clients of Julius Placidus, +recognised each other’s eagerness to pay court to their joint +patron. They had risen from their beds while it was yet +dark, and hurried hither in order to be the first to salute the +tribune at his morning levée. Yet they found the great hall +filling already with a bustling crowd of friends, retainers, +clients, and dependants. Damasippus was a short, square, +beetle-browed man, with a villainous leer; Oarses, a pale, +sedate, and somewhat precise personage. But with this +marked difference of exterior, an expression of unscrupulous +and thorough-paced knavery was common to both. Said +Damasippus to Oarses, with a shrug of affected disgust— +</p> + +<p> +<q>It may be hours yet ere he will see us! Look at this +wretched crowd of parasites and flatterers! They will follow +the patron to his bath! They will besiege him in his very +bed! Oh, my friend! Rome is no longer the place for an +honest man.</q> +</p> + +<p> +To which Oarses replied, in subdued and humble tones— +</p> + +<p> +<q>The flies gather round the honey, though it is only for +what they can get. But the sincerest gratitude and affection +draw you and me, my dear companion, to the side of the +illustrious tribune.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You speak truth,</q> returned Damasippus. <q>It is sad to +see how few clients are uninfluenced by mean and sordid +thoughts. An honest man is becoming as rare at Rome as +at Athens. It was not so in the days of the republic—in the +golden age—in the good old times!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Oh for the good old times!</q> exclaimed Oarses, still in +the same low and unmoved voice. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Oh for the good old times!</q> echoed Damasippus; and +<pb n='72'/><anchor id='Pg072'/>the two knaves, with their arms on each other’s shoulders, +fell to pacing the extremity of the hall, and exchanging +spiteful remarks on the concourse with which it was +filled. +</p> + +<p> +The tribune’s house was the most perfect of its kind in +the whole city. Standing apart and surrounded by a wall +and garden of its own, it combined the luxurious splendour +of a palace with the comfort and seclusion of a private +residence. Everything of ornament that was most costly +and gorgeous, had been procured by Placidus to decorate +his mansion. Everything of art that was most conspicuous +and effective hung on his walls, stood in picturesque groups +about his apartments, or lay scattered in rich profusion on +his floor. The hangings that veiled his own sleeping-room +from the public eye, were of embroidered crimson silk, +woven in the looms of Asia, and probably taken by the +strong hand of the successful soldier as spoils of war. The +very pavement of the hall was of the richest mosaic, traced +in fanciful patterns and inlaid with gold. As the morning +drew on, it was trodden by a multitude of feet. No one of +his rank held so numerous a levée as Julius Placidus. In +the concourse that thronged it now, might be seen men of +all countries, classes, characters, professions, and denominations. +Unlike Licinius, who, indeed, owed his influence +solely to the firm consistency and unbending rectitude of +his character, the tribune let no opportunity pass of binding +an additional partisan to his cause by the ties of self-interest +and expectation. They were crowding in now through the +wide open doors; and while the spacious hall was nearly +filled, the approach to it, and the street itself outside, were +choked with applicants, who had one and all, directly or +indirectly, something to get, or ask, or hope for, from the +tribune. Here, an artist brought his picture carefully draped +in the remains of an old garment; yet not so entirely concealed +but that a varnished corner might be visible, and +the painter, nothing loth, might be prevailed on by earnest +solicitations to reveal, bit by bit, all the beauties of his production. +There, a sculptor was diligently preserving the +outlines of his model, wrapped in its wet cloth, from collision +with the bystanders, and assuming credit for the mysterious +beauties of a work, which, perhaps, if uncovered, would have +grievously disappointed the eyes that scanned it so curiously. +In one corner stood a jeweller, holding in his hand a gorgeous +collar of pearls and rubies, prepared by the patrician’s orders, +and testifying at once to the ingenuity of the tradesman, +<pb n='73'/><anchor id='Pg073'/>and the munificence of his employer. In another, waited a +common-looking slave, with a downcast eye and a bloated +unwholesome face; who, nevertheless, assumed an important +air that seemed to say he was sure of an early audience, +as, indeed, was more than probable in consideration of his +tidings, a message from venal beauty to the admirer who +paid his welcome tribute in gold. Parasites and flatterers +elbowed their way insolently in the midst, as though they +had a right to be there, whilst honest men, brown with +toil, and sighing wistfully for the fresh breezes of Tibur or +Præneste, kept aloof, abashed and shrinking, though they +had but come to ask for their due. Nearest the hangings +that concealed the bedroom, stood a dirty slave, bespattered +with the filth of the fish-market, and exhaling an odour of +garlic that cleared for him an ample breathing-space even +in a Roman crowd; but the knave knew the value of his +intelligence, and how it would obtain him favour in the +tribune’s eyes. No less important a communication than +this, that a mullet had been taken the night before of nearly +six pounds weight, and that so lavish a patron as Placidus +should have the first offer to purchase at a thousand sesterces<note place="foot">The <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">sestercius</foreign> was at this period about 1¾d., or rather more. +The <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">sestercium</foreign>, +or thousand sesterces, about £7, 16s.</note> +a pound. He waited with his eyes intently fastened on +the curtains, and took no notice of the jabber and confusion +that pervaded the hall. +</p> + +<p> +Presently the crowd gave way a little, ebbing backward +on either side, and forming a lane as it were for three men, +who were regarded as they passed with glances of great awe +and admiration. There was no mistaking the deep chest +and broad shoulders of one of these, even apart from the +loud frank voice in which Hirpinus the gladiator was wont +to convey his observations, without much respect for persons. +He was accompanied, on the present occasion, by two individuals, +obviously of the same profession as himself—Hippias +the fencing-master, and Euchenor the boxer. All +three conversed and laughed boisterously. It was obvious +that even at that early hour they had not broken their fast +without a generous draught of wine. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Talk not to me,</q> said Hirpinus, rolling his strong +shoulders, and observing with great complacency the attention +he excited—<q>talk not to me: I have seen them all—Dacians, +Gauls, Cimbrians, Ethiopians, every barbarian that +ever put on a breastplate. By Hercules, they were fools to +this lad. Why, the big yellow-haired German, whom Cæsar +<pb n='74'/><anchor id='Pg074'/>gave us for the lion last summer, would not have stood up +to him for a quarter of an hour. He was taller, maybe, a +little, but he hadn’t the shape, man—he hadn’t the shape! +You’ll hardly call <hi rend='italic'>me</hi> a kid that hasn’t put his horns out, +will ye? Well, he gave me so much to do with the <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">cestus</foreign>, +that I wouldn’t have taken it off for a flagon of cheap wine, +I tell ye. What think ye of <hi rend='italic'>that</hi>, my little Greek? You +don’t call it so bad for a beginner, I hope?</q> +</p> + +<p> +He turned to Euchenor as he spoke, a beautifully-made +young man, of extraordinary strength and symmetry, with +the regular chiseled features of his country, and as evil an +expression as ever lowered on a fair face. The Greek +pondered awhile before he answered. Then he made the +apposite inquiry— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Were you sober, Hirpinus, when you stood up to him? +or had you sucked down a skinful of wine, before you took +your bellyful of boxing?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The other burst into a loud laugh. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Drunk or sober,</q> said he, <q>you know the stuff I am +made of, just as well as I know your weight to an ounce, and +your reach to an inch. Ay, and your mettle too, my lad! +though it don’t take a six-foot rod to get to the bottom of +<hi rend='italic'>that</hi>. Harkye, this Briton of mine would <hi rend='italic'>eat</hi> such a man as +you, body and bones and all, just as I would eat a thrush, and +be ready for another directly, without so much as washing +his mouth out.</q> +</p> + +<p> +A very sinister scowl passed across Euchenor’s face, who +did not quite relish this low valuation of his prowess, and, +above all, his courage; but he was a professional boxer, and, +as such, necessarily possessed thorough command of temper, +so he only glanced a little scornfully over the other’s frame, +which was getting somewhat into flesh, and observed— +</p> + +<p> +<q>There will be money to be made out of him then in the +arena, if he falls into good hands, and is properly trained.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Hitherto, the fencing-master had joined but carelessly in +the conversation, and, indeed, scarcely seemed aware of its +purport; but the concluding sentence arrested his attention, +and turning upon Hirpinus rather angrily, and with the air of +one accustomed to command, he said abruptly— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Why did you not bring him to me at once? If you have +let him slip through those great fingers of yours, it will be the +worst job you have been concerned in for many a day. Have +a care, Hirpinus! Better men than you have been under the +net ere now, and the great games are not so far off. It needs +but a word from me to send you into the arena to-morrow, a +<pb n='75'/><anchor id='Pg075'/>fair prey for a clumsy trident and a fathom or two of twine. +You know that as well as I do.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Hippias spoke truth. A retired gladiator, celebrated for +his deadly swordsmanship and the number of his victories, he +had been long ago invested by Nero with the wooden foil, +which represented a free discharge and immunity from future +services in the amphitheatre. Habituated, however, to the +excitement of the fatal sport, and rejoicing in that spurious +fame which so distinguished men of his class at Rome, he had +set up a school for the express purpose of training swordsmen +for the arena; and had won such favour, under two successive +emperors, by the proficiency to which he brought his pupils, +and his talent for arranging the deadly pageants in which +they figured, that he had gradually become an incontrovertible +authority on such matters, and the principal manager +of the games in the amphitheatre. Of his reputation for +gallantry, and the strange fascination such men possessed for +the Roman ladies, we have already spoken; but if his smiles +were courted amongst the fair spectators of their contests, his +word was law with the gladiators themselves. He it was who +paired the combatants, supplied them with weapons, adjusted +their disputes, and, in most cases, held the balance on which +their very lives depended. A threat from Hippias was more +dreaded by these ruffians than the home-thrust of spear and +sword. +</p> + +<p> +Now, Hirpinus, although a fearless and skilful fighter, had +his assailable point. On one occasion, when he had entered +the circus as a <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">secutor</foreign>, that is to say, a combatant armed with +sword and helmet, against the <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">retiarius</foreign>, who bore nothing +but a trident and net, he had the misfortune to find himself +involved in the meshes of the latter, and at the mercy of +his antagonistic. The Roman crowd, though fickle in its +approval, and uncertain in its antipathies, spared him in consideration +of the gallant fight he had made; but Hirpinus +never forgot his sensations at that moment. Bold and fierce +as he was, it completely <hi rend='italic'>cowed</hi> him; and the boisterous, +boastful prize-fighter would turn pale at the mention of a +trident and a net. There was something ludicrous in the +manner in which he now quailed before Hippias, eyeing him +with the same sort of imploring glance that a dog casts at his +master, and obviously persuaded of the speedy fulfilment of +his threat. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Patience, patron!</q> he growled apologetically. <q>I know +where the lad is to be found. I can lay my hand on him at +any time. I can bring him with me to the school. Why I +<pb n='76'/><anchor id='Pg076'/>talked myself well-nigh hoarse, and stayed out the drinking +of two flagons of sour Sabine to boot, while I canvassed him +to become one of <hi rend='italic'>us</hi> and join the Family forthwith. Why, +you don’t think, patron, I would be so thick-witted as to let +him go without finding out where he lives? He is either a +freedman, or a slave of</q>— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Hush, fool!</q> interrupted Hippias angrily, observing that +Damasippus and Oarses were hovering near, and listening +intently for a piece of intelligence which he had resolved +should be conveyed by himself, and none other, to the +tribune’s ear. <q>There is no occasion to publish it by the +crier. Hadst thou but brains, man, in any sort of proportion +to those great muscles of thine, I could tell thee why, with +some hope of being understood. Enough! lose not sight +of the lad; and, above all, keep thy tongue within thy +teeth!</q> +</p> + +<p> +The big gladiator nodded a sulky affirmative, puzzled, but +obedient; and the two freedmen, with many courteous bows +and gestures, accosted the champions with all the humility +and deference to which such public characters were entitled. +</p> + +<p> +<q>They say there will be two hundred pairs of swordsmen, +matched at the same moment,</q> observed Damasippus, in +allusion to the coming games; <q>and not a plate of steel +allowed in the circus, save sword and helmet. But of course, +my Hippias, you know best if this is true.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And three new lions from Libya, loose at once,</q> added +Oarses, <q>with a scene representing shepherds surprised over +their watch-fires; real rocks, I have been told, and a stream +of running water in the amphitheatre, with a thicket of live +shrubs, from which the beasts are to emerge. Your taste, +illustrious Hippias, the people say, is perfect. It has obviously +been consulted here.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Hippias smiled mysteriously, and a little scornfully. +</p> + +<p> +<q>There <hi rend='italic'>is</hi> a lion from Libya,</q> said he; <q>I can tell you +thus much. I, myself, saw him fed only yesterday at sunset.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Is he large? is he strong? is he fierce?</q> questioned the +two almost in a breath. <q>When did he come? is he quite +full-grown? will they keep him without flesh? Of course the +shepherds are not to be armed? Will they be condemned +criminals, or only paid gladiators? Not that it matters much, +if the lion is a pretty good one. We had a tiger, you know, +last year, that killed five Ethiopian slaves, though they all set +on him at once.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>But they were unarmed,</q> interrupted Euchenor, whose +cheek had turned a shade paler during the discussion. <q>Give +<pb n='77'/><anchor id='Pg077'/>me the proper weapons, and I fear no beast that walks the +earth.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Unarmed, of course!</q> repeated Damasippus, <q>and so +was the tiger. A more beautiful creature was never seen. +Do you not remember, Oarses, how he waved his long tail +and stroked his face with his paws, like a kitten before it +begins to play? And then, when he made his spring, the +first black was rolled up like a ball? I was in the fifth row, +my friends, yet I heard his bones crack, distinctly, even +there.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>He was a great loss, that tiger,</q> observed Oarses, more +sadly than usual; <q>they should never have pitted him against +a tusked elephant. The moment I saw the ivory, I knew +how the fight must end, and I wagered against the smaller +animal directly. I would have lost my sesterces, I think, +willingly, for it to have won; but the beautiful beast never +had a chance.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>It was the weight that did it, patrons—the weight,</q> +observed Hirpinus. <q>Man or beast, I will explain to you +that weight must always</q>— +</p> + +<p> +But here the gladiator’s dissertation was broken off by the +movement of the crimson hangings, and the appearance of +Placidus emerging on his levée of expectants, bright and +handsome, ready dressed for the day. +</p> + +<p> +The tribune owned one advantage at least, which is of no +small service to a man who embarks on a career demanding +constant energy and watchfulness; he possessed that good +digestion which is proverbially held to accompany an elastic +conscience and a hard heart. Though supper the previous +evening had been a luxurious and protracted meal—though +the winecup had passed round very often, and the guests +with singing brains had shown themselves in their own +characters to their cool-headed and designing host—the +latter, refreshed by a night’s rest, now appeared with the +glow of health on his cheek, and its lustre in his eye. As he +looked about him on the throng of clients and dependants, +his snow-white gown fastened and looped up with gold, his +mantle adorned with a broad violet hem, his hair and beard +carefully perfumed and arranged, a murmur of applause went +round the circle which, perhaps, for once was really sincere, +and even the rough gladiators could not withhold their +approbation from a figure that was at once so richly attired, +so manly, and so refined. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Hail, my friends!</q> said the tribune, pausing in the +entrance, and looking graciously around him on the crowd. +</p> + +<pb n='78'/><anchor id='Pg078'/> + +<p> +<q>Hail, patron!</q> answered a multitude of voices, in every +key, from the subdued and polished treble of Oarses to the +deep hoarse voice of the gladiators. +</p> + +<p> +Placidus moved from one to the other, with an easy +though dignified cordiality of manner which he well knew +how to assume when disposed to cultivate the favour of his +inferiors. Clear-headed and discerning, in a wonderfully +short space of time he had despatched the various matters +which constituted the business of his morning levée. He had +admired the model, declined the painting, ordered the statue, +bought the jewels, answered the fair suppliant’s message, and +secured the mullet by sending to the market for it at once. +The honest countrymen, too, he dismissed sufficiently well +pleased, considering they had received nothing more substantial +than smiles; and he now turned leisurely to Hippias, +as if life had no duty so engrossing as the pursuit of pleasure, +and asked him eagerly after the training of his gladiators, and +the prospects of the amphitheatre. +</p> + +<p> +Hippias knew his own value; he conversed with the +patrician as an equal; but Hirpinus and Euchenor, appreciating +the worth of a rich patron, gazed on Placidus with +intense respect and admiration. The latter, especially, +watched the tribune with his bright cunning eye, as if prepared +to plant a blow on the first unguarded place. +</p> + +<p> +<q>But your swordsmen are all too well known,</q> urged the +patrician on the fencing-master. <q>Here is old Hirpinus +covers his whole body with two feet of steel as if it were a +complete suit of armour, and never takes his point off his +adversary’s heart the while. The others are nearly as wary; +if they encounter ordinary fencers they are sure to conquer; +if we match them against each other and the people would +see blood drawn, they must fight blindfolded,<note place="foot">This inhuman practice was actually in vogue.</note> and it becomes +a matter of mere chance. No, what we want is a new man—one +whom we can train without his being discovered, and +bring out as an unknown competitor to try for the Emperor’s +prize. What say you, Hippias? ’Tis the only chance for a +winning game now.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I have heard of such a one,</q> answered Hippias. <q>I +think I can lay my hand on an untried blade, that a few +weeks’ training will polish up into the keenest weapon we +have sharpened yet; at least, so Hirpinus informs me. +What say’st thou, old Trojan? Tell the patron how thou +camest to light on thy match at last.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Thus adjured, the veteran gladiator related at considerable +<pb n='79'/><anchor id='Pg079'/>length, interrupted by many exclamations of wonder from +Damasippus and Oarses, his chance meeting with Esca in the +Forum, and subsequent trial of strength and skill at the +gymnasium. Somewhat verbose, as we have seen, when he +could secure an audience, Hirpinus waxed eloquent on so +congenial a theme as the beauty and stature of his new +friend. <q>As strong as an ox, patron,</q> said he, <q>and as lithe +as a panther! Hand, and foot, and eye, all keeping time +together like a dancing girl’s. The spring of a wild-cat, and +the light footfall of a deer. Then he would look so well in +the arena, with his fair young face, set on his towering neck, +like that of the son of Peleus. Indeed, if he should be +vanquished, the women would save him every time. Why, +one of the fairest and the noblest ladies in Rome stopped her +litter in the crowded street while we walked together, and +bade him come and speak to her from sheer goodwill. In +faith, he was as tall, and twice as handsome, as the very +Liburnians who carried her on their shoulders.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The tribune was laughing heartily at the athlete’s +eloquence; but Damasippus, who never took his eyes off his +patron’s face, thought the evil laugh was more malicious than +usual at the mention of the Liburnians, and there was a false +ring in the mirthful tones with which he asked for more +information as to this young Apollo, and the dame on whom +his appearance seemed to have made such an impression. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I know most of the great ladies pretty well by sight,</q> +answered the honest swordsman. <q>Faith, a man does not +easily forget the faces he sees turned on him in the arena, +when he has his point at his adversary’s throat, and they bid +him drive it merrily home, and never spare. But of all the +faces I see under the awning, there’s not one looks down so +calm and beautiful on a death-struggle as that of the noble +Valeria.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Like the moon on the torrent of Anio,</q> observed Damasippus. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Like the stars on the stormy Egean,</q> echoed Oarses. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Like nothing but herself,</q> continued Hirpinus, who +esteemed his own judgment incontrovertible on all matters +relating to physical beauty, whether male or female. <q>The +handsomest face and the finest form in Rome. It was not +likely I could be mistaken, though I only caught a glimpse +of her neck and arm for a moment, as she drew back the +curtains of her litter, like</q>—and here Hirpinus paused for +a simile, concluding with infinite relish,—<q>like a blade half +drawn, and returned with a clash into the sheath.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='80'/><anchor id='Pg080'/> + +<p> +Again Damasippus thought he perceived a quiver on his +patron’s face. Again there was something jarring in the +tribune’s voice, as he said to Hippias— +</p> + +<p> +<q>We must not let this new Achilles escape us! See to it, +Hippias. Who knows? He may make a worthy successor, +even for thee, thou artist in slaughter, when he has worked +his way up, step by step, and victory by victory, to the +topmost branch of the tree.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Hippias laughed good-humouredly, turning at the same +time his right thumb outward, and pointing with it to the +roof. It was the gesture with which the Roman crowd in the +amphitheatre refused quarter to the combatant who was +down. +</p> + +</div><div n="1.11" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='81'/><anchor id='Pg081'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XI. Stolen waters"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XI. Stolen waters"/> +<head>CHAPTER XI<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">STOLEN WATERS</hi></head> + +<p> +The broken column of one of the buildings destroyed in +the great fire of Rome, and not yet restored, was +glowing crimson in the setting sun. Beneath its base, the +Tiber was gliding gently on towards the sea. There was a +subdued hum even in the streets of the Imperial City that +denoted how the burden and heat of the day were now past; +and the languor of the hour seemed to pervade even those +who were compelled to toil on in the struggle for bread, and +who could only in imagination abandon themselves to repose. +On a fragment of the ruin sat Esca, gazing intently on the +water as it stole by. To all appearance his listless and +dreamy mood was unconscious of surrounding objects, yet +his attitude was that of one prepared to start into action at a +moment’s notice; and though his arms were folded and his +head bent down, his ear was watching eagerly to catch the +faintest sound. +</p> + +<p> +It is a patience-wearing process, that same waiting for +a woman; and under the most favourable circumstances is +productive of much irritation, disappointment, and disgust. +In the first place a man is invariably too soon, and this +knowingly and as it were with <foreign rend='italic' lang="fr">malice prepense</foreign>. Taking time +thus by the forelock, delays his flight considerably, and +indeed reduces his pace to the slowest possible crawl; so that +when the appointed moment does arrive, it seems to the +watcher that it has been past a considerable period, and that +his vigil should be already over, when in reality it is only +just begun. Then, as the minutes steal on, come the different +misgivings and suspicions which only arise on such occasions, +and which in his right senses the self-torturer would be +incapable of harbouring. Circumstances which, when the +appointment was made, seemed expressly adapted to further +his designs, now change to insurmountable difficulties, or +take their place as links in a chain of deception which he +persuades himself has been forged with unheard-of duplicity, +<pb n='82'/><anchor id='Pg082'/>expressly for his discomfiture. He thinks badly of everyone, +worst of all of her, whose unpardonable fault is that she is +now some fifty seconds late. Then comes a revulsion of +feeling, and his heart leaps to his mouth, for yonder, emerging +on the long perspective, is a female figure obviously advancing +this way. The expected object is tall, slim, pliant, and walks +with the firm free step of a deer on the heather. The +advancing shape is short, fat, awkward, and waddles in its +gait; nevertheless, it is not till it has reached within arm’s +length that he will allow himself to be convinced of his +disappointment. If its ears are pretty quick, the unoffending +figure may well be shocked at the deep and startling execration +which its presence calls forth. Then begins another +phase of despondency, humiliation, and bitter self-contempt, +through all which pleasant changes of feeling the old feverish +longing remains as strong as ever. At last she comes round +the corner in good earnest, with the well-known smile in her +eyes, the well-known greeting on her lips, and he forgets in +an instant, as if they had never been, his anxiety, his anger, +his reproaches, all but the presence that brings light to his +life and gladness to his heart once more. +</p> + +<p> +Esca rose impatiently at intervals, walked a few paces to +and fro, sat down again, and threw small fragments of the +ruin into the water. Presently a figure, draped in black and +closely veiled, moved down to the river’s side near where the +Briton sat, and began filling a pitcher from the stream. It +could hardly have passed the column without seeing him, yet +did it seem unconscious of his presence; and who could tell +how the heart might be beating within the bosom, or the +cheek blushing behind the veil? That veil was lifted, however, +with an exclamation of surprise, when Esca stooped +over her to take the pitcher from her hand, and Mariamne’s +cheek turned paler now than it had been even on the +memorable night when he rescued her from the grasp of +Spado and his fellow-bacchanals. He, too, murmured some +vague words of astonishment at finding her here. If they +were honest, for whom could he have been waiting so +impatiently? and it is possible, besides, Mariamne might +have been a little disappointed had she been allowed to fill +her pitcher from the Tiber for herself. +</p> + +<p> +The Jewess had been thinking about him a good deal +more than she intended, a good deal more than she knew, +for the last two days. It is strange how very insensibly such +thoughts gain growth and strength without care or culture. +There are plants we prune and water every day which never +<pb n='83'/><anchor id='Pg083'/>reach more than a sickly and stunted vitality after all, and +there are others that we trample down, cut over, tear up by +the very roots, which nevertheless attain such vigour and +luxuriance that our walls are covered by their tendrils, and +our dwellings pervaded by their fragrance. +</p> + +<p> +Mariamne was no bigoted daughter of Judah, for whom +the stranger was an outcast because a heathen. Her constant +intercourse with Calchas had taught her nobler truths than +she had derived from the traditions of her fathers. And with +all her pride of race and national predilections, she had +imbibed those principles of charity and toleration which +formed the groundwork of a new religion, destined to shed +its light upon all the nations of the earth. +</p> + +<p> +It was not precisely as a brother, though, that Mariamne +had yet brought herself to regard the handsome British slave. +They were soon conversing happily together. The embarrassment +of meeting had disappeared with the first affectation +of surprise. It was not long before he told her how tired +he had been of watching by the broken column at the riverside. +</p> + +<p> +<q>How could you know I should come here?</q> asked the +girl with a look of infinite simplicity and candour, though +she must have remembered all the time, that she had not +scrupled to hint at the daily practice in course of conversation +with Calchas, on the night when Esca brought her safely +home. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I hoped it,</q> he replied, with a smile. <q>I have been a +hunter, you know, and have learned that the shyest and +wildest of animals seek the waterside at sunset. I was here +yesterday, and waited two long hours in vain.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She glanced quickly at him, but withdrew her eyes immediately, +while the blood mounted to her pale face. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Did you expect to see me?</q> she asked in a trembling +voice; <q>and I never left the house the whole of yesterday! +Oh, how I wish I had known it!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Then she stopped in painful embarrassment, as having +said too much. He appeared not to notice her confusion. +He seemed to have some confession to make on his own part—something +he hardly dared to tell her, yet which his honest +nature could not consent should be withheld. At last he said +with an effort— +</p> + +<p> +<q>You know what I am! My time is not my own, my +very limbs belong to another. It matters not that the +master is kind, good, and considerate. Mariamne, I am a +slave!</q> +</p> + +<pb n='84'/><anchor id='Pg084'/> + +<p> +<q>I know it,</q> she answered, very gently, with a loving +pity beaming in her dark eyes. <q>My kinsman Calchas told +me as much after you went away.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He drew a long breath as if relieved. +</p> + +<p> +<q>And yet you wished to see me again?</q> he asked, while +a gleam of happiness brightened his face. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Why not?</q> she replied, with a kind smile. <q>Though +that hand is a slave’s, it struck my enemy down with the +force of a hundred warriors; though that arm is a slave’s, it +bore me home with the care and tenderness of a woman. +Ah! tell me not of slavery when the limbs are strong, and +the heart is brave and pure. Though the body be chained +with iron fetters, what matter so long as the spirit is free? +Esca, you do not believe I think the worse of you because +you are a heathen and a slave?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Her voice was very soft and low while she spoke his +name. No voice had ever sounded so sweetly in his ears +before. A new, strange sense of happiness seemed to pervade +his whole being, yet he had never felt his situation so galling +and unendurable as now. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I would not have you think the worse of me,</q> he +answered eagerly, <q>upon any account. Listen, Mariamne. +I was taken captive in war and brought here with a hundred +others to Rome. We were set up like cattle in the slave-market. +Like cattle also we were purchased, one by one, by +those who esteemed themselves practised judges of such human +wares. I was bought by Caius Lucius Licinius at the price +of a yoke of oxen, or a couple of chariot-horses. Bought and +sold like a beast of the field, and driven home to my new +master!</q> +</p> + +<p> +He spoke with a scorn all the more bitter from having +been repressed so long. Yet he kept back and smothered +the indignation rising within him. This was the first ear that +had ever been open to his wrongs, and the temptation was +strong to pour them freely forth to so interested and partial +a listener. To do him justice, he refrained from the indulgence. +He had been taught from childhood that it was weak +and womanish to complain; and the man had not forgotten +the lessons of the boy. +</p> + +<p> +Her gentle voice again interposed in soothing and consoling +accents. +</p> + +<p> +<q>But he is kind,</q> she said, <q>kind and considerate—you +told me so yourself. I could not bear to think him otherwise. +Indeed, Esca, it would make me very unhappy to know that +you</q>— +</p> + +<pb n='85'/><anchor id='Pg085'/> + +<p> +Here she broke off suddenly, and snatched up the pitcher +he had been filling for her with such haste as to spill half its +contents over his dress and her own. +</p> + +<p> +<q>There is someone watching us! Farewell!</q> she +whispered in a breathless, frightened voice, and hurried away, +turning her head once, however, to cast a glance over her +shoulder, and then hastened home faster than before. Esca +looked after her while she continued in sight, either unconscious +of their vicinity, or at all events not noticing a pair of +bold black eyes that were fixed upon him with an expression +of arch and ludicrous surprise. He turned angrily, however, +upon the intruder, when the black eyes had gazed their fill, +and their owner burst out into a loud, merry, and mocking +laugh. +</p> + +</div><div n="1.12" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='86'/><anchor id='Pg086'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XII. Myrrhina"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XII. Myrrhina"/> +<head>CHAPTER XII<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">MYRRHINA</hi></head> + +<p> +Myrrhina’s voice was at all times pitched in a high +key; her accents were very distinct and shrill, +admirably adapted for the expression of derision or the +conveyance of sarcastic remarks. +</p> + +<p> +<q>So I have run you into a corner at last,</q> she said, <q>and +a pretty hunt you have given me. ’Tis to draw water, of +course, that you come down to the Tiber-side, just at sunset; +and you met her quite by accident, I daresay, that slip of a +girl in her wisp of black clothes, who flitted away just now like +a ghost going back again to Proserpine. Ah! you gape like a +calf when they put the garland on him for sacrifice, and the +poor thing munches the very flower-buds that deck him for +destruction. Well, you at least are reserved for a nobler +altar, and a worthier fate than to give your last gasp to a +sorceress in the suburbs. Jupiter! how you stare, and how +handsome you look, you great, strong barbarian, when you +are thoroughly surprised!</q> +</p> + +<p> +She put her face so close up to his, to laugh at him, that +the gesture almost amounted to a caress. Myrrhina had no +slight inclination to make love to the stalwart Briton on her +own account, pending the conclusion of certain negotiations +she felt bound to carry out on her mistress’s. These were +the result of a conversation held that morning while the +maid was as usual combing out her lady’s long and beautiful +hair. +</p> + +<p> +Valeria’s sleep had been broken and restless. She tossed +and turned upon her pillow, and put back the hair from her +fevered cheeks and throbbing temples in vain. It was weary +work to lie gazing with eyes wide open at the flickering +shadows cast by the night-lamp on the opposite wall. It was +still less productive of sleep to shut them tight and abandon +herself to the vision thus created, which stood out in life-like +colours and refused to be dispelled. Do what she would to +forget him, and conjure up some other object, there was the +<pb n='87'/><anchor id='Pg087'/>young barbarian, towering like a demigod over the mean +effeminate throng; there were the waving linen garments, +and the reeling symbols, and the tossing hands, and the +scowling faces of the priests of Isis; there was the dark-clad +girl with her graceful pliant form; and there, yes, always +there, in his maddening beauty, was the tall brave figure, +gathering itself in act to strike. She could not analyse her +feelings; she believed herself bewitched. Valeria had not +reached the prime of her womanhood, without having +sounded, as she thought, every chord of feeling, tasted of +every cup that promised gratification or excitement. She +had been flattered by brave, courted by handsome, and +admired by clever men. Some she fancied, some she liked, +some she laughed at, and some she told herself she loved. +But this was a new sensation altogether. This intense and +passionate longing she had never felt before. But for its +novelty it would have been absolutely painful. A timid girl +might have been frightened at it; but Valeria was no timid +girl. She was a woman, on the contrary, who, with all the +eagerness and impetuosity of her sex, possessed the tenacity +of purpose and the resolution of a man. Obviously, as she +could not conquer the sentiment, it was her nature to +indulge it. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I have a message to Licinius,</q> said she, turning at the +same time from the mirror, and suffering her long brown hair +to fall over her face like a veil; <q>a message that I do not +care to write, lest it should be seen by other eyes. Tell me, +Myrrhina, how can I best convey it to my kinsman?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The waiting-maid was far too astute to suggest the +obvious arrangement of a private interview, than which +nothing could have been easier, or to offer her own services, +as an emissary who had already proved herself trustworthy +in many a well-conducted intrigue; for Myrrhina knew her +business too well to hesitate in playing into the hands of her +mistress. So she assumed a look of perplexity and deep +reflection while, finger on forehead, as the result of profound +thought, she made the following reply— +</p> + +<p> +<q>It would be safest, madam, would it not, to trust the +matter to some confidential slave?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Valeria’s heart was beating fast, and the fair cheek was pale +again now, while she answered, with studied carelessness— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Perhaps it would, if I could think of one. You know +his household, Myrrhina. Can I safely confide in any of them?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Those barbarians are generally faithful,</q> observed the +maid, with the most unconscious air. <q>I know Licinius has +<pb n='88'/><anchor id='Pg088'/>a British slave in whom he places considerable trust. You +have seen him yourself, madam.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Have I?</q> answered Valeria, moving restlessly into a +more comfortable attitude. <q>Should I know him again? +What is he like?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The blood had once more mounted to her forehead, +beneath the long hair. Myrrhina, who was behind her, saw +the crimson mantling even on her neck. She was a slave, +and a waiting-maid, but she was also a woman, and she +could not resist the temptation; so she answered maliciously— +</p> + +<p> +<q>He is a big awkward-looking youth, of lofty stature, +madam, and with light curly hair. Stupid doubtless, and as +trusty, probably, as he is thick-witted.</q> +</p> + +<p> +It is not safe to jest with a tigress unless you are outside +the bars of her cage. Valeria made a quick impatient movement +that warned the speaker she had gone too far. The +latter was not wanting in readiness of resource. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I could bring him here, madam,</q> she added demurely, +<q>within six hours.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Her lady smiled pleasantly enough. +</p> + +<p> +<q>This evening, Myrrhina,</q> she said; <q>I shall scarcely be +ready before. By the way, I am tired of those plain gold +bracelets. Take them away, and don’t let me see them +again. This evening, you said. I suppose I had better +leave it entirely to you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Both maid and mistress knew what this meant well. It +implied full powers and handsome remuneration on one side, +successful manœuvring and judicious blindness on the other. +Valeria disposed herself for a long day’s dreaming: stretched +indeed in bodily repose, but agitating her mind with all the +harassing alternations of anticipation, and hope, and doubt, +and fear—not without a considerable leavening of triumph, +and a slight tinge of shame: while Myrrhina set herself +energetically to work on the task she had undertaken; which, +indeed, appeared to possess its difficulties, when she had +ascertained at the first place she sought, namely, the house +of Licinius, that Esca was abroad, and no one knew in what +direction he was likely to be found. +</p> + +<p> +A woman’s wit, however, usually derives fresh stimulus +from opposition. Myrrhina was not without a large circle +of acquaintances; and amongst others owned a staunch friend, +and occasional admirer, in the person of Hirpinus, the gladiator. +That worthy took a sufficient interest in the athletic Briton +to observe his movements, and was aware that Esca had +spent some two or three hours by the Tiber-side on the +<pb n='89'/><anchor id='Pg089'/>previous evening—a fact which he imparted to Myrrhina, on +cross-examination by the latter, readily enough, professing +at the same time his own inability to account for it, inasmuch +as there was neither wineshop nor quoit-ground in the +vicinity. Not so his intriguing little questioner. <q>A man +does not wait two or three hours in one spot,</q> thought +Myrrhina, <q>for anything but a woman. Also, the woman, +if she comes at all, is never so far behind her time. The +probability then is, that she disappointed him; and the +conclusion, that he will be there again about sunset the +following day.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Thus arguing, she resolved to attend at the trysting-place, +and make a third in the interview, whether welcome or not; +killing the intervening time, which might otherwise have +hung heavily on her hands, by a series of experiments +on the susceptibility of Hirpinus—an amusing pastime, but +wanting in excitement from its harmlessness; for the gladiator +had arrived at that period of life when outward charms, at +least, are esteemed at their real value, and a woman must +possess something more than a merry eye and a saucy lip +if she would hope to rival the attraction of an easy couch and +a flagon of old wine. Nevertheless, she laughed, and jested, +and ogled, keeping her hand in, as it were, for practice against +worthier occasions, till it was time to depart on her errand, +when she made her escape from her sluggish admirer, with +an excuse as false and as plausible as the smile on her lip. +</p> + +<p> +Hirpinus looked after her as she flitted away, laughed, +shook his head, and strode heavily off to the wineshop, with +an arch expression of amusement on his brave, good-humoured, +and somewhat stupid face. Myrrhina, drawing a veil about +her head and shoulders so as effectually to conceal her +features, proceeded to thread her way through the labyrinth +of impoverished streets that led to the riverside, as if familiar +with their intricacies. When she reached her destination at +last, she easily hid herself in a convenient lurking-place, from +which she took care not to emerge till she had learned all +she wished to know about Esca and his companion. +</p> + +<p> +<q>What do you want with me?</q> asked the Briton, a +little disturbed by this saucy apparition, and not much +pleased with the waiting-maid’s familiar and malicious air. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am unwelcome, doubtless,</q> answered the girl, with +another peal of laughter; <q>nevertheless you must come with +me whether you will or no. We Roman maidens take no +denial, young man; we are not like your tall, pale, frozen +women of the north.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='90'/><anchor id='Pg090'/> + +<p> +Subscribing readily to this opinion, Esca felt indignant +at the same time to be so completely taken possession of. +<q>I have no leisure,</q> said he, <q>to attend upon your fancies. +I must homeward; it is already nearly supper time.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And you are a slave, I know,</q> retorted Myrrhina with +a gesture of supreme and provoking contempt. <q><hi rend='italic'>A slave!</hi> +You, with your strength, and stature, and courage, cannot +call an hour of this fine cool evening your own.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I know it,</q> said he, bowing his head to conceal the flush +of indignation that had risen to his brow. <q>I know it. A +slave must clean his master’s platter, and fill his cup to +drink.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She could see that her thrust had pierced home; but +with all her predilections for his handsome person, she cared +not how she wounded the manly heart within. +</p> + +<p> +<q>And being a slave,</q> she resumed, <q>you may be loaded +and goaded like a mule! You may be kicked and beaten +like a dog! You cannot even resent it with hoofs and fangs +as the dumb animal does when his treatment is harsher than +he deserves! You are a <hi rend='italic'>man</hi>, you know, though a barbarian! +You must cringe, and whine, and bite your lips, and be +patient!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Every syllable from that sharp tongue seemed to sting +him like a wasp: his whole frame quivered with anger at +her taunts; but he scorned to show it, and putting a strong +constraint upon his feelings, he only asked quietly— +</p> + +<p> +<q>What would you with me? It was not to tell me this +that you watched and tracked me here.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Myrrhina thought she had now brought the metal to a +sufficiently high temperature for fusion. She proceeded to +mould it accordingly. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I tracked you here,</q> she said, <q>because I wanted you. +I wanted you, because it is in my power to render you a +great service. Listen, Esca; you must come with me. It +is not every man in Rome would require so much persuasion +to follow the steps of a pretty girl.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She looked very arch and tempting while she spoke, but +her attractions were sadly wasted on the preoccupied Briton; +and if she expected to win from him any overt act of +admiration or encouragement, she was wofully disappointed. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I cannot follow yours,</q> said he; <q>my way lies in another +direction. You have yourself reminded me that I am not +my own master.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>That is the very reason,</q> she exclaimed, clapping her +hands exultingly. <q>I can show you the way to freedom. +<pb n='91'/><anchor id='Pg091'/>No one else can help you but Myrrhina; and if you attend +to her directions you can obtain your liberty without delay.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And why should <hi rend='italic'>you</hi> be disposed to confer on me such +a benefit?</q> he asked, with instinctive caution, for the impulsive +nature that jumps so hastily to conclusions, and walks open-eyed +into a trap, is rarely born north of the Alps. <q>I am +a barbarian, a stranger, almost an enemy. What have you +and I in common?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Perhaps I have fallen in love with you myself,</q> she laughed +out; <q>perhaps you may be able to serve me in return. Come, +you are as cold as the icy climate in which you were bred. +You shall take your choice of the two reasons; only waste +no more time, but gird yourself and follow me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Though it had never been dormant, the desire for liberty +had, within the last two days, acquired a painful intensity +in Esca’s breast. He had not indeed yet confessed to +himself that he cherished an ardent attachment for Mariamne; +but he was conscious that her society possessed for him an +undefinable attraction, and that without her neither liberty +nor anything else would be worth having. This new sensation +made his position more galling than it had ever been before. +He could not ignore the fact, that it was absurd for one +whose existence was not his own, to devote that existence +to another; and the degradation of slavery, which his lord’s +kindness had veiled from him as much as possible while +in his household, now appeared in all its naked deformity. +He felt that no effort would be too desperate, no sacrifice too +costly, to make for liberty; and that he would readily risk +life itself, and lose it, to be free, if only for a week. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You have seen my mistress,</q> resumed Myrrhina, as they +hurried on through the now darkening streets; <q>the fairest +lady and the most powerful in Rome; a near kinswoman, +too, of your master. It needs but a word from her to make +of you what she pleases. But she is wilful, you must know, +and imperious, and cannot bear to be contradicted. Few +women can.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Esca had yet to learn this peculiarity of the sex; but he +heard Myrrhina mention her mistress with vague misgivings, +and forebodings of evil far different from the unmixed +feelings of interest such a communication would have called +forth a while ago. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Did she send for me expressly?</q> he asked, with some +anxiety of tone. <q>And how did you know where to find me +in such a town as this?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I know a great many things,</q> replied the laughing +<pb n='92'/><anchor id='Pg092'/>damsel; <q>but I do not choose everyone to be as wise as +myself. I will answer both your questions, though, if you +will answer one of mine in return. Valeria did not mention +you by name, and yet I think there is no other man in Rome +would serve her turn but yourself; and I knew that I should +find you by Tiber-side, because you cannot keep a goose +from the water, nor a fool from his fate. Will you answer +my question as frankly? Do you love the dark pale girl +that fled away so hastily when I discovered you together?</q> +</p> + +<p> +This was exactly what he had been asking himself the +whole evening, with no very conclusive result; it was not +likely, therefore, that Myrrhina should elicit a satisfactory +reply. The Briton coloured a little, hesitated, and gave an +evasive answer. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Like tends to like,</q> said he. <q>What is there in common +between two strangers, from the two farthest extremities +of the empire?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Myrrhina clapped her hands in triumph. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Like tends to like, say you?</q> she exclaimed exultingly. +<q>You will tell another tale ere an hour be past. Hush! be +silent now, and step softly; but follow close behind me. It +is very dark in here, under the trees.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Thus cautioning him, she led Esca through a narrow +door out of the by-street, into which they had diverged, +and stepped briskly on, with a confidence born of local +knowledge that he imitated with difficulty. They were now +in a thickly planted shrubbery which effectually excluded +the rays of a rising moon, and in which it was scarce possible +to distinguish even Myrrhina’s white dress. Presently they +emerged upon a smooth and level lawn, shut in by a black +group of cedars, through the lower branches of which peeped +the crescent moon that had not long left the horizon, and +turning the corner of a colonnade, under a ghostly-looking +statue, traversed another door, which opened softly to +Myrrhina’s touch, and admitted them into a long carpeted +passage, with a lamp at the farther end. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Stay here while I fetch a light,</q> whispered the damsel; +and, gliding away for that purpose, returned presently to +conduct Esca through a large dark hall into another passage; +where she stopped abruptly, and lifting some silken hangings, +that served for the door of an apartment, simply observed, +<q>You will find food and wine there,</q> and pushed him in. +</p> + +<p> +Floods of soft and mellow light dazzled his eyes at first; +but he soon realised the luxurious beauty of the retreat into +which he had been forced. It was obvious that all the +<pb n='93'/><anchor id='Pg093'/>resources of wealth had been applied to its decoration with +a lavish hand, guided by a woman’s sensibility and a woman’s +taste. The walls were painted in frescoes of the richest +colouring, and represented the most alluring scenes. Here +the three jealous goddesses flashed upon bewildered Paris, +in all the lustre of their immortal charms. A living envy +sat on Juno’s brow; a living scorn was stamped on Minerva’s +pale, proud face; and the living smile that won her the +golden apple, shone in Aphrodité’s winning eyes. There +glowed imperial Circé in her magic splendour; and the very +victims of her spell seemed yet to crave, with fiery glances +and with thirsty lips, for one more draught from the tempting, +luscious, and degrading cup. A shapely Endymion lay +stretched in dreams of love. A frightened Leda shrank +while she caressed. Here fair Adonis bled to death, ripped +by the monster in the forest glade; there, where the broad-leaved +lilies lay sleeping on the shady pool, bent fond +Narcissus, to look and long his life away; an infant Bacchus +rolled amongst the grapes, in bronze; a little Cupid mourned +his broken bow, in marble. Around the cornices a circle of +nymphs and satyrs, in bas-relief, danced hand-in-hand—wild +woodland creatures, exulting in all the luxuriance of beauty, +all the redundancy of strength; and yonder, just where the +lamp cast its softest light on her attractions, stood the likeness +of Valeria herself, depicted by the cunning painter in a +loose flowing robe that enhanced, without concealing, the +stately proportions of her figure, and in an attitude essentially +her own—an attitude expressive of dormant passion, lulled +by the languid insolence of power, and tinged with an +imperious coquetry that she had found to be the most +alluring of her charms. +</p> + +<p> +It was bad enough to sit in that voluptuous room, under +that mellow light, drinking the daintiest produce of Falernian +vineyards, and gazing on such an image as Valeria’s—an +image of one who, beyond all women, was calculated to +madden a heated brain, whose beauty could scarcely fail to +captivate the outward senses, and take the heart by storm. +It was bad enough to press the very couch of which the +cushions still retained the print of her form—to see the shawl +thrown across it, and trailing on the floor as though but now +flung off—to touch the open bracelet hastily unclasped, yet +warm from its contact with her arm. All this was bad +enough, but worse was still to come. +</p> + +<p> +Esca was in the act of setting down the goblet he had +drained, and his eye was resting with an expression of +<pb n='94'/><anchor id='Pg094'/>admiration, not to be mistaken, on the picture opposite, when +the rustling of the hangings caused him to turn his head. +There was no more attraction now in bounding nymph or +brilliant enchantress; haughty Juno, wise Minerva, and +laughing Venus with her sparkling girdle, had passed into +the shade. Valeria’s likeness was no longer the masterpiece +of the apartment, for there in the doorway appeared the +figure of Valeria herself. Esca sprang to his feet, and thus +they stood, that noble pair, confronting each other in the +radiant light. The hostess and her guest—the lady and the +slave—the assailant and the assailed. +</p> + +</div><div n="1.13" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='95'/><anchor id='Pg095'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XIII. Nolens–volens"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XIII. Nolens--volens"/> +<head>CHAPTER XIII<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">NOLENS—VOLENS</hi></head> + +<figure url="images/i_116.png" rend="w40"><figDesc>Initial V</figDesc></figure> + +<p> +Valeria trembled in every limb; +yet should she have remained the +calmer of the two, inasmuch as +hers could scarcely have been the +agitation of surprise. Such a step, +indeed, as that on which she now +ventured, had not been taken +without much hesitation and many +changes of mind. +</p> + +<p> +No woman, we believe, ever becomes +utterly unsexed; and the +process by which even the boldest +lose their instinctive modesty, is gradual in the extreme. +The power, too, of self-persuasion, which is so finely developed +in the whole human race, loses none of its efficacy in the +reasonings of the less logical and more impulsive half. +People do not usually plunge headlong into vice. The +shades are almost imperceptible by which the love of +admiration deepens into vanity, and vanity into imprudence, +and imprudence, especially if thwarted by advice and encouraged +by opportunity, into crime. Nevertheless, the +stone that has once been set in motion, is pretty sure to reach +the bottom of the hill at last; and <q>I might</q> grows to <q>I +will,</q> and <q>I will,</q> ere long, becomes <q>I must.</q> Valeria’s +first thought had only been to look again upon an exterior +that pleased her eye; then she argued that having sent for +her kinsman’s slave, there could be no harm in speaking to +him—indeed, it would seem strange if she did not; and +under any circumstances, of course there was no occasion +that her colloquy should be overheard by all the maidens +of her establishment, or even by Myrrhina, who, trusty as +she might be, had a tongue of surpassing activity, and a love +of gossip not to be controlled. +</p> + +<p> +She ignored, naturally enough, that any unusual interest +<pb n='96'/><anchor id='Pg096'/>in the Briton should have caused her thus to summon him +into her own private and peculiar retreat; thus to surround +him with all that was dazzling to the eye, and alluring to the +senses; thus to appear before him in the full glow of her +personal beauty, set off by all the accessories of dress, jewels, +lights, flowers, and perfumes, that she could command. If +she sent for him, it was but natural that he should find her +encircled by the usual advantages of her station. It was +no fault of hers, that these were gorgeous, picturesque, and +overpowering. He might as well blame the old Falernian +for its seduction of the palate, and its confusion of the brain. +Let him take care of himself! she would see him, speak to +him, smile on him, perhaps, and be <hi rend='italic'>guided by circumstances</hi>. A +wise resolution this last in all cases, and by no means difficult +to keep when the circumstances are under our own control. +</p> + +<p> +Valeria, womanlike, was the first to speak, though she +scarcely knew what to say. With a very becoming air of +hesitation she kept clasping and unclasping a bracelet, the +fellow of the one on the couch. She was doubtless conscious +that her round white arm looked rounder and whiter in the +process. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I have sent for you,</q> she began, <q>because I am informed +I can rely implicitly on your truth and secrecy. You are +one, they tell me, who is incapable of betraying a trust. Is +it not so?</q> +</p> + +<p> +It is needless to say that Esca was already somewhat +bewildered with the events of the evening, and in a mood +not to be surprised at anything. Nevertheless, he could only +bow his head in acknowledgment of this tribute to his honesty, +and murmur a few indistinct syllables of assent. She seemed +to gain confidence now the ice was broken, and went on more +fluently. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I have a secret to confide—a secret that none but +yourself must know. Honour, reputation, the fame of a +noble family, depend on its never being divulged. And yet +I am going to impart this secret to you. Am I not rash, +foolish, and impulsive, thus to place myself in the power of +one whom I know so little? What must you think of me? +What <hi rend='italic'>do</hi> you think of me?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The latter question, propounded with a deepening colour +and a glance that conveyed volumes, was somewhat difficult +to answer. He might have said, <q>Think of you? Why, that +you are the most alluring mermaiden who ever tempted a +mariner to shipwreck on the rocks!</q> But what he did say +was this— +</p> + +<pb n='97'/><anchor id='Pg097'/> + +<p> +<q>I have never feared man, nor deceived woman yet. I +am not going to begin now.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She was a little disappointed at the coldness of his +answer; yet her critical eye could not but approve the proud +attitude he assumed, the stern look that came over his face, +while he spoke. She edged a little nearer him and went on +in a softened tone. +</p> + +<p> +<q>A woman is always somewhat lonely and helpless, whatever +may be her station, and oh! how liable we are to be +deceived, and how we weep and wring our hands in vain +when it is so! But I knew <hi rend='italic'>you</hi> from the first. I can read +characters at a glance. Do you remember when I called +you to my litter in the street while you were walking with +Hirpinus, the gladiator?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Again that warm crimson in the cheek—again that +speaking flash from those dangerous eyes. Esca’s head +was beginning to turn, and his heart to beat with a strange +sensation of excitement and surprise. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am not likely to forget it,</q> said he, with a sort of +proud humility. <q>It was such an honour as is seldom paid +to one in my station.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She smiled on him more kindly than ever. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I looked for you again,</q> she murmured, <q>and saw you +not. I wanted one in whom I could confide. I have no +counsellor, no champion, no friend. I said what has +become of him? who else will do my bidding, and keep +my secret? Then Myrrhina told me that you would be +here to-night.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She seemed to have something more to say that would +not out. She looked at the Briton with expectant, almost +imploring eyes; but Esca was young and frank and simple, +so he waited for her to go on, and Valeria, discouraged and +intimidated for the first time, proceeded in a colder and more +becoming tone. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The packet with which I intrust you must be delivered +by yourself into the hands of Licinius. Not another creature +must set eyes on it. No one must know that you have +received it from me, nor, indeed, that you have been here +to-night. If necessary you must guard it with your life! +Can I depend upon you?</q> +</p> + +<p> +He was beginning to feel that he could not depend upon +himself much longer. The lights, the perfumes, the locality, +the seductive beauty near him, so lovely and so kind, were +making wild work with his senses and his reason. Nevertheless, +the whole position seemed so strange, so impossible, +<pb n='98'/><anchor id='Pg098'/>that he could hardly believe he was awake. There was +plenty of pride in his character, but no leavening of vanity; +and, like many another gentle and inexperienced nature, he +shrank from offending a woman’s delicacy, with a repugnance +that in some cases is exceedingly puzzling and provoking to +the woman herself. So he put a strong constraint upon his +feelings, and undertook the delivery of the missive with +incredible simplicity and composure. The statue of Hermes +at the door could not have looked colder and more impenetrable. +She was a little at a loss. She must detain him at +all hazards, for she felt that when once gone he would be gone +for ever. She determined to lead him into conversation; +and she chose the topic which, originating, perhaps, in the +instinctive jealousy of a woman, was of all others the most +subversive of her <anchor id="corr098"/><corr sic='plans."'>plans.</corr> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I saw you once again,</q> she said, <q>but it was in the hurry +and confusion of that sudden broil. It was no fault of mine +that the priests committed so gross an outrage on the poor +thing you rescued. I would have helped you myself had you +required assistance, but you carried her off as an eagle takes +a kid. What became of the girl?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The question was accompanied by a sharp inquisitive +glance, and a forced smile of very perceptible annoyance +wreathed her lip when she perceived Esca’s embarrassed +manner and reddening brow; but she had unwittingly called +up the Briton’s good genius, and for all women on earth, save +one, he was a man of marble once more. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I placed her in safety with her father,</q> he replied; +adding, with an assumption of deep humility, <q>Will you +please to give me your commands and let me depart?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Valeria was so totally unused to opposition in any of her +whims or caprices that she could scarcely believe this obvious +indifference was real. She persuaded herself that the Briton +was so overpowered by her condescension, as to be only +afraid of trespassing too far on such unexpected kindness, +and she resolved that it should be no fault of hers if he were +not quickly undeceived. She sank upon the couch in her +most bewitching attitude, and, looking fondly up in his face, +bade him fetch her tablets from the writing-stand. <q>For,</q> +said she, <q>I have not yet even prepared my communication +to Licinius. Shall you be very weary of me, if I keep you +my prisoner so long?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Was it accident or design that entangled those rosy +fingers with Esca’s, as she took the tablets from his hand? +Was it accident or design that shook the hair off her face, +<pb n='99'/><anchor id='Pg099'/>and loosed the rich brown clusters to fall across her glowing +neck and bosom? It was surely strange that when she bent +over the tablets her cheek turned pale, and her hand shook +so that she could not form a letter on the yielding wax. She +beckoned him nearer and bent her head towards him till the +drooping curls trailed across his arm. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I cannot write,</q> said she, in trembling accents. <q>Something +seems to oppress me—I am faint—I can scarcely +breathe—Myrrhina shall give you the missive to-morrow. +In the meantime, we are alone. Esca, you will not betray +me. I can depend upon you. You are my slave, is it not +so? This shall be your manacle!</q> +</p> + +<p> +While she yet spoke, she took the bracelet from her arm +and tried to clasp it round his wrist; but the glittering fetter +was too narrow for the large-boned Briton, and she could not +make it meet. Pressing it hard with both hands, she looked +up in his face and laughed. +</p> + +<p> +One responsive glance, the faintest shadow of yielding on +those impassible features, and she would have told him all. +But it came not. He shook the bracelet from his arm; and +while he did so, she recovered herself, with the instantaneous +self-command women seem to gather from an emergency. +</p> + +<p> +<q>It was but to try your honesty!</q> she said, very haughtily, +and rising to her feet. <q>A man who is not to be tempted, +even by gold, can be safely trusted in such an affair as mine. +You may go now,</q> she added, with the slightest bend of her +head. <q>To-morrow, if I require you, I shall take care that +you hear from me through Myrrhina.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She looked after him as he disappeared under the silken +hangings of the portal, her face quivered, her bosom heaved, +and she clenched both hands till the round white arms grew +hard as marble. Then she bit her lip once, savagely, and so +seemed to regain her accustomed composure, and the usual +dignity of her bearing. Nevertheless, when the despised +bracelet caught her eye, lying neglected on the couch, she +dashed it fiercely down, and stamped upon it, and crushed +and ground the jewel beneath her heel against the floor. +</p> + +</div><div n="1.14" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='100'/><anchor id='Pg100'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XIV. Cæsar"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XIV. Caesar"/> +<head>CHAPTER XIV<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">CÆSAR</hi></head> + +<p> +When a woman feels herself scorned, her first impulse +seems to be revenge at any price. Some morbid +sentiment, which the other sex can hardly fathom, usually +prompts her in such cases to select for her instrument the +man whom in her heart she loathes and despises, whose +society is an insult, and whose attentions are a disgrace. +Thus lowering herself in her own esteem, she knows that she +inflicts a poisoned wound on the offender. +</p> + +<p> +With all Valeria’s self-command, her feelings had nearly +got the better of her before Esca left the house. Had it +been so, she would never have forgiven herself. But she +managed to restrain them, and preserved an outward composure +even while Myrrhina prepared her for repose. That +damsel was much puzzled by the upshot of her manœuvres. +From a method of her own, which long practice rendered +familiar, she had made herself acquainted with all that +occurred between her mistress and the handsome slave. +Why their interview should have had no more definite result, +she was at a loss to conceive. Altogether, Myrrhina was +inclined to think that Esca had been so captivated by her +own charms, as to be insensible to those of Valeria. This +flattering supposition opened up a perspective of hazard, +intrigue, and cross-purposes, that it was delicious to contemplate. +The maid retired to her couch exulting. The +mistress writhed in an agony of wounded pride and shame. +</p> + +<p> +Morning, however, brought its unfailing accession of +clear-sightedness and practical resolve. There are hours +of the night in which we can abandon ourselves to love, +hatred, despair, or sorrow with a helplessness that possesses +in it some of the elements of repose; but with dawn reality +resumes her sway, and the sufferer is indeed to be pitied, who +can turn away from daylight without an impulse to be up +and doing, who wishes only, in the lethargy of utter desolation, +that it was evening once more. +</p> + +<pb n='101'/><anchor id='Pg101'/> + +<p> +Valeria was not a woman to pass over the slight she had +sustained. Few of them but will forgive an injury more +readily than an insult. Long before she rose she had made +up her mind where, and when, and how to strike; nothing +remained but to select the weapon, and put a keener edge +upon the steel. Now Valeria had long been aware, that, as +far as was compatible with his disposition, Julius Placidus +was devoted to her service. Indeed, he had told her so +many a time, with an assumption of off-hand gallantry +which, perhaps, she estimated at less than its proper value. +Nevertheless, the compliments she received from the tribune +were scarcely so well turned as might be expected from a +man of his outward polish, refined manners, and general bad +character. The woman’s ear could detect the ring of truth, +amidst all the jingle that accompanied it; and Valeria felt +that the tribune loved her as much as it was possible for him +to love anything but himself. To do her justice, she liked +him none the better on that account. He was a man whom +she must have hated under any circumstances, but perhaps +she despised him a little less for this one redeeming quality +of good taste. Here was a weapon, however, keen, and +strong, and pliant, placed moreover, so to speak, within reach +of her hand. She rose and dressed, languid, haughty, and +composed as usual; but Myrrhina, who knew her, remarked a +red spot burning on either cheek, and once a shudder, as of +intense cold, passed over her, though it was a sunny morning +in Rome. +</p> + +<p> +Julius Placidus received a letter ere noon that seemed to +afford him infinite satisfaction. The gilded chariot flashed +brighter than ever in the sun, the white horses whirled it like +lightning through the streets. Automedon’s curls floated on +the breeze, and the boy was even more insolent than usual +without rebuke. Lolling on his velvet cushions the tribune’s +smile seemed to have lost something of its malice; and though +the tiger-look was on him still, it was that of the sleek and +satisfied tiger who has been fed. That look never left him +all day, while he transacted business in the Forum, while he +showed his grace and agility at ball in the Fives’ Court, while +he reposed after his exertions at the bath; but it was more +apparent still when the hour of supper arrived, and he took +his place in the banqueting-hall of Cæsar, with some of the +bravest soldiers, the noblest senators, the greatest statesmen, +wits, gluttons, and profligates in the empire. +</p> + +<p> +A banquet with Vitellius was no light and simple repast. +Leagues of sea and miles of forest had been swept to furnish +<pb n='102'/><anchor id='Pg102'/>the mere groundwork of the entertainment. Hardy fishermen +had spent their nights on the heaving wave, that the giant +turbot might flap its snowy flakes on the Emperor’s table +broader than its broad dish of gold. Many a swelling hill, +clad in the dark oak coppice, had echoed to ringing shout of +hunter, and deep-mouthed bay of hound, ere the wild boar +yielded his grim life by the morass, and the dark grisly +carcass was drawn off to provide a standing-dish that was +only meant to gratify the eye. Even the peacock roasted in +its feathers was too gross a dainty for epicures who studied +the art of gastronomy under Cæsar; and that taste would +have been considered rustic in the extreme, which could +partake of more than the mere fumes and savour of so substantial +a dish. A thousand nightingales had been trapped +and killed, indeed, for this one supper, but brains and tongues +were all they contributed to the banquet, while even the wing +of a roasted hare would have been considered far too coarse +and common food for the imperial board. +</p> + +<p> +There were a dozen of guests reaching round the ivory +table, and so disposed that the head of each was turned +towards the giver of the feast. Cæsar was, indeed, in his +glory. A garland of white roses crowned his pale and bloated +face, enhancing the unhealthiness of its aspect. His features +had originally been well-formed and delicate, expressive of +wit, energy, and great versatility of character. Now the eyes +were sunken, and the vessels beneath them so puffed and +swollen as to discolour the skin; the jowl, too, had become +large and heavy, imparting an air of sensual stupidity to the +whole countenance, which brightened up, however, at the +appearance of a favourite dish, or the smack of some rich +luscious wine. He was busy at present with the eager, +guzzling avidity of a pig; and he propped his unwieldy body, +clad in its loose white gown, on one flabby arm, while with +the other he fed himself on sharp-biting salads, salted herrings, +pickled anchovies, and such stimulants as were served in the +first course of a Roman entertainment, to provoke the hunger +that the rest of the meal should satisfy. Now and then his +eye wandered for an instant through the long shining vistas +of the hall, amongst its marble pillars, its crimson hangings, +its vases crowned with blushing fruit and flowers, its sideboards +blazing with chalices, and flagons, and plates of +burnished gold, as though he expected and winced from a +blow; but the restless glance was sure to return to the table, +and quench itself once more in the satisfaction of his favourite +employment. +</p> + +<pb n='103'/><anchor id='Pg103'/> + +<p> +Next to the Emperor was placed Paris, the graceful pantomimist, +whose girlish face was already flushed with wine, and +who turned his dark laughing eyes from one to another of the +guests with the good-humoured insolence of incipient intoxication. +The young actor’s dress was extravagant in the +extreme, and he wore a collar of pearls, the gift of an empress, +that would have purchased a province. He was talking +volubly to a fat, coarse-featured man, his neighbour, who +answered him at intervals with a grunt of acquiescence, but +in whose twinkling eye lurked a world of wit and sarcasm, +and from whose thick sensual lips, engrossed as they were +with the business of the moment, would drop ever and anon +some pungent jest, that was sure to be repeated to-morrow +at every supper-table in Rome. Montanus was a crafty +statesman and a practised diplomatist, whose society was +sought for at the Court, whose opinions carried weight in the +Senate; but the old voluptuary had long discovered that +there was no safety under the Empire for those who took a +leading part in the council, but that certain distinction awaited +proficiency at the banquet—so he devoted his powerful +intellect to the study of gastronomy and the fabrication of +witty sayings; nor did he ever permit the outward expression +of his countenance to betray a consciousness of the good +things that went into and came out of his mouth. +</p> + +<p> +Beyond him again reclined Licinius; his manly face and +noble bearing presenting a vivid contrast to those who surrounded +him, and who treated him, one and all, including +Cæsar himself, with marked deference and respect. The old +soldier, however, appeared somewhat weary, and out of his +element. He loathed these long entertainments, so opposed +to his own simple habits; and regarded the company in his +secret heart with a good-humoured, yet very decided, contempt. +So he sat through the banquet as he would have +kept watch on an outpost. It was tedious, it was disagreeable. +There was nothing to be gained by it; but it was duty, +and it must be done. +</p> + +<p> +Far different, in the frank joyous expression he knew so +well how to put on, was the mien of Julius Placidus, as he +replied to a brief, indistinct question from the Emperor +(murmured with his mouth full), by a sally that set everyone +near him laughing, and even raised a smile on the pale face +of Vitellius himself. It was the tribune’s cue to make his +society universally popular—to be all things to all men, +especially to win the confidence of his imperial host. There +is an art in social success, no less than in any other triumph +<pb n='104'/><anchor id='Pg104'/>of natural ability. The rein must never be completely loosed, +the bow never stretched to its full compass. Latent power +ready to be called forth, is the secret of all grace; and while +the observed does well, it must be apparent to the observer +that he could do better if he chose. Also, to be really +popular, a man, though a good deal liked, should be a little +feared. Julius Placidus excelled in the retort courteous, which +he could deliver without the slightest hesitation or change of +countenance; and a nickname or a sarcasm once inflicted +by the ready-witted tribune clung afterwards to its object like +a burr. Then he possessed besides the invaluable qualification +of a discriminating taste in seasonings, the result of a +healthy palate, refined, but not destroyed by the culture +bestowed on it; and could drink every man of them, except +Montanus, under the table, without his stomach or his brain +being affected by the debauch. +</p> + +<p> +Our acquaintance Spado was also of the party. Generally +a buffoon of no mean calibre, and one whose special talent +lay in such coarse and practical jests as served to amuse +Vitellius when his intellects had become too torpid to +appreciate the nicer delicacies of wit, the eunuch was to-night +peculiarly dull and silent. He reclined, with his head resting +on his hand, and seemed to conceal as much as he could of +his face, one side of which was swollen and discoloured as +from a blow. His fat unwieldy form looked more disgusting +than usual in its sumptuous dress, fastened and looped up at +every fold with clasps of emeralds and pearls; and though +he ate slowly and with difficulty, he seemed determined to +lose none of the gratifications of the meal. +</p> + +<p> +There were a few more guests—one or two senators—who, +with the caution, but not the genius of Montanus, were conspicuous +for nothing but their fulsome adulation of the +Emperor. A tall sullen-looking man, commander of the +Prætorian Guard, who never laid aside the golden breastplate +in which he was encased, and who seemed only anxious +for the conclusion of the entertainment. Three or four unknown +and undistinguished persons, called in Roman society +by the expressive term <q>Shades,</q> whose social position, and, +indeed, whose very existence, depended on the patrons they +followed. Amongst these were two freedmen of the Emperor, +pale anxious-looking beings, with haggard eyes and careworn +faces. It was their especial duty to guard against poison, by +tasting of every dish served to their employer. It might be +supposed that, as in previous reigns, one such functionary +would have been enough; but the great variety of dainties in +<pb n='105'/><anchor id='Pg105'/>which the enormous appetite of Vitellius enabled him to +indulge, rendered it impossible for any one stomach to keep +pace with him throughout the whole of a meal, and these +devoted champions took it by turns to guard their master +with their lives. Keen appetites and jovial looks were not +to be expected from men engaged on such a duty. +</p> + +<p> +The first course, though long protracted, came to an end +at last. Its greatest delicacy, consisting of dormice sprinkled +with poppy-seed and honey, had completely disappeared. +The tables were cleared by a band of Asiatic youths, richly +habited, who entered to the sounds of wild Eastern music, +and bore off the fragments that remained. As they emerged +at one door, a troop of handsome fair-haired maidens—barbarian +captives—simply clad in white muslin, and garlanded +with flowers, entered at another, carrying the golden +dishes and vessels that contained the second course. In the +meantime, hanging curtains parted slowly from before a recess +in the middle of the hall, and disclosed three Syrian dancing-girls, +grouped like a picture, in different attitudes of voluptuous +grace. Shaded lamps were so disposed as to throw a rosy +light upon their limbs and faces; while soft thin vapours +curled about them, rising from braziers burning perfumed +incense at their feet. Simultaneously they clashed their +cymbals, and bounded wildly out upon the floor. Then began +a measure of alternate languor and activity, now swelling +into frantic bacchanalian gestures, now sinking into tender +lassitude or picturesque repose. The warm blood glowed in +the dark faces of these daughters of the sun, the black eyes +flashed under their long eyelashes, and their white teeth +showed like pearls between the rich red lips; while the +beautifully turned limbs, and the flexible, undulating forms, +writhed themselves into attitudes suggestive of imperious +conquest, coy reluctance, or yielding love. +</p> + +<p> +The dance was soon over; wilder and faster flitted the +glancing feet, and tossed the shapely hands, encircled with +bracelets and anklets of tiny silver bells. When the measure +was whirling at its speediest, the three stopped short, and at +once, as if struck into stone, formed a group of rare fantastic +beauty at the very feet of Cæsar’s guests; who one and all +broke into a murmur of unfeigned applause. As, touching +their mouths and foreheads with their hands in Eastern +obeisance, they retired, Placidus flung after them a collar of +pearls, to be picked up by her who was apparently the leader +of the three. One of the Emperor’s freedmen seemed about +to follow his example, for he buried his hand in his bosom, +<pb n='106'/><anchor id='Pg106'/>but either changed his mind or else found nothing there, +since he drew it forth again empty; while Vitellius himself, +plucking a bracelet from his arm, threw it after the retreating +dancers, remarking that it was intended as a bribe to go +away, for they only distracted attention from matters of real +importance, now that the second course had come in; to +which Montanus gave his cordial approval, fixing his eyes at +the same time on the breast of a flamingo in which the skilful +carver had just inserted the point of his long knife. +</p> + +<p> +It would be endless to go into the details of such a +banquet as that which was placed before the guests of Cæsar. +Wild boar, pasties, goats, every kind of shellfish, thrushes, +beccaficoes, vegetables of all descriptions, and poultry, were +removed to make way for the pheasant, the guinea-hen, the +turkey, the capon, venison, ducks, woodcocks, and turtledoves. +Everything that could creep, or fly, or swim, and +could boast a delicate flavour when cooked, was pressed +into the service of the Emperor; and when appetite was +appeased and could do no more, the strongest condiments +and other remedies were used to stimulate fresh hunger and +consume a fresh supply of superfluous dainties. But the +great business of the evening was not yet half finished. +Excess of eating was indeed the object; but it was to excess +of drinking that the gluttons of that period looked as the +especial relief of every entertainment, since the hope of each +seemed to be, that when thoroughly flooded, and, so to speak, +washed out with wine, he might begin eating again. The +Roman was no drunkard like the barbarian, for the sake of +that wild excitement of the brain which is purchased by +intoxication. No, he ate to repletion that he might drink +with gratification. He drank to excess that he might eat +again. +</p> + +<p> +Another train of slaves now cleared the table. These +were Nubian eunuchs, clad in white turbans and scarlet +tunics, embroidered with seed pearls and gold. They brought +in the dessert—choice fruits heaped upon vases of the rarest +porcelain, sweetmeats in baskets of silver filigree, Syrian dates +borne by miniature golden camels of exquisite workmanship—masses +of flowers in the centre, and perfumes burning at +the corners of the table. Behind each couch containing its +three guests stood a sable cup-bearer, deaf and dumb, whose +only business it was to fill for his especial charge. These +mutes were procured at vast expense from every corner of +the empire; but Cæsar especially prided himself on their +similarity in face and figure. To-day he would be served by +<pb n='107'/><anchor id='Pg107'/>Germans, to-morrow by Gauls, the next by Ethiopians, and +so on; nor, though deprived of the organs of speech and +hearing, were these ministers of Bacchus unobservant of what +took place amongst the votaries on whom they waited; and +it was said that the mutes in the palace heard more confidences, +and told more secrets, than all the old women in +Rome put together. +</p> + +<p> +And now, taking his cue from the Emperor, each man +loosened the belt of his tunic, shifted the garland of flowers +off his brows, disposed himself in an easier attitude on his +couch, and proffered his cup to be filled by the attendant. +The great business of eating was for the present concluded, +and deep drinking about to commence. When marvelling, +however, at the quantity of wine consumed by the Romans +in their entertainments, we must remember that it was the +pure and unadulterated juice of the grape, that it was in +general freely mixed with water, and that they thus imbibed +but a very small portion of alcohol, which is in reality the +destructive quality of all stimulants, to the welfare of the +stomach and the brain. +</p> + +</div><div n="1.15" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='108'/><anchor id='Pg108'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XV. Red Falernian"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XV. Red Falernian"/> +<head>CHAPTER XV<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">RED FALERNIAN</hi></head> + +<p> +Cæsar’s eye, though dim and sunken, flashed up for a +moment with a spark of enthusiasm. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The beccaficoes,</q> said he, <q>were a thought over-seasoned, +but the capon’s liver stewed in milk was perfection. Varus, +see that it is served again at the imperial table within the +week.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The freedman took out his tablets and made a note of +the royal commands with a somewhat unsteady hand, while +Vitellius, draining his cup to the dregs, smacked his lips, and +let his great chin sink on his breast once more. +</p> + +<p> +The other guests conversed freely. Licinius and one of +the senators were involved in an argument on military +matters, with which the man of peace seemed almost as conversant +as the man of war, and on which he laid down the +law with far more confidence. Placidus was describing +certain incidents of the campaign in Judæa, with an air of +unassuming modesty and a deference to the opinions of +others, which won him no little favour from those who sat +near and listened, throwing in, every now and then, a chance +expression or trifling anecdote, derogatory, by implication, to +Vespasian’s military skill, and eulogistic of Vitellius; for this +reason doubly sweet in the ears of him at whose board the +tribune sat. Montanus, whose cup was filled and emptied +with startling rapidity, looked about him for a subject on +which to vent some of the sarcasm with which he was charged, +and found it in the woebegone appearance of Spado, who, +despite the influence of food and wine, seemed unusually +depressed and ill at ease. The eunuch on ordinary occasions +was a prince of boon-companions, skilled in all the niceties of +gastronomy, versed in the laws of drinking, overflowing with +mirth and jollity, an adroit flatterer where flattery was +acceptable, and a joyous buffoon who could give and take +with equal readiness and good-humour, when banter was the +order of the day. Now, less thirsty than usual, the feast +<pb n='109'/><anchor id='Pg109'/>seemed to have no enlivening effect on his disposition. He +was silent, preoccupied, and, to all appearance, intent only on +concealing his bruised cheek from the observation of those +about him. He had never been struck in anger, never even +stood face to face with a man before, and it had cowed him. +The soft self-indulgent voluptuary could neither forget nor +overcome his feelings of combined wrath, dismay, and shame. +Montanus turned round and emptied a brimming goblet to +his health. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You are cheerless to-night, man!</q> quoth the senator; +<q>you drink not, neither do you speak. What, has the red +Falernian lost its flavour? or has some Canidia bewitched +you with her evil eye? You used to be a prince of boon-companions, +Spado, thirsty as a camel in the Libyan desert, +insatiate as the sand on which he travels, and now your eye +is dull, your face dejected, and your cup stands untasted, +unnoticed, though bubbling to the brim. By the spear of +Bacchus, ’tis not the fault of the liquor!</q> and Montanus +emptied his own goblet with the air of a man who thoroughly +appreciated the vintage he extolled. +</p> + +<p> +Vitellius looked up for an instant, roused by the congenial +theme. +</p> + +<p> +<q>There is nothing the matter with the wine,</q> said Cæsar. +<q>Fill round.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The imperial hint was not to be disregarded, and Spado, +with a forced smile, put his goblet to his lips and drained it +to the last drop. In doing so the discoloration of his face +was very apparent; and the guests, who had now arrived at +that stage of conviviality where candour takes the place +of politeness, proceeded to make their remarks without +reserve. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You have painted too thick,</q> said one of the freedmen, +alluding to an effeminacy of the times which the male sex +were not ashamed to practise. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You have taken off the paste and the skin with it,</q> +continued the other, whose own mistress was in the daily +habit of spreading a kind of poultice over her whole countenance, +and who might therefore be a good judge of the process +and its results. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You have been in the wars!</q> sneered one guest. <q>Or +the amphitheatre!</q> echoed another. <q>’Tis a love-token from +Chloe!</q> laughed a third. <q>Or a remembrance from Lydia!</q> +added a fourth. <q>Nay,</q> interposed Montanus, <q>our friend is +too experienced a campaigner to come off second-best with +a foe of that description. There must have been a warm +<pb n='110'/><anchor id='Pg110'/>encounter to leave such traces as those. She must have been +a very Amazon, Spado, that could maul thee thus.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The eunuch looked from one to another of his tormentors +with rather an evil smile. He well knew, however, that any +appearance of annoyance would add tenfold to the ridicule +which he must make up his mind to undergo, and that the +best way for a man to turn a jest, even when to his own disadvantage, +is to join in it himself; so he glanced at the +Emperor, took a long draught of red Falernian, and assumed a +face of quaint and good-humoured self-commiseration. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Talk not to me of Amazons,</q> said he, whereat there was +a general laugh. <q>Tell me not of Chloes, and Lydias, and +Lalages, and the rest. What’s a Helen of Troy compared to +a flask of this red Falernian? Why good wine gets better +the longer you keep it, while woman loses her flavour year +by year. ’Faith, if you only wait till she is old enough, she +becomes very sour vinegar indeed. Even in the first flush of +her beauty, I doubt whether any of you in your hearts think +she is worth the trouble of catching. Still, you know, a man +likes to look at a pretty face. Mine had not otherwise been +so disfigured now. I had an adventure on that score but two +nights ago. Would Cæsar like to hear it?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Cæsar gave a nod and a grunt that signified acquiescence. +Thus encouraged, Spado went on— +</p> + +<p> +<q>It was the feast of Isis. I was coming from the worship +of the goddess, and the celebration of those sacred rites, +which may not be disclosed to the vulgar and the profane—mysteries +too holy to be mentioned, save to pure and +virgin ears.</q> Here the countenance of Montanus assumed +an expression that made even Cæsar smile, and caused the +rest to laugh outright. <q>The procession was returning filled +with inspiration from the goddess. The acolytes leaping +and dancing in the van, the priests marching majestically +under her symbols, and some of the noblest matrons in +Rome bringing up the rear. The noblest and the fairest,</q> +repeated Spado, glancing round him complacently. <q>I name +no names; but you all know that ours is not a vulgar worship, +nor an illiberal creed.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Here Placidus stirred somewhat uneasily on his couch, +and buried his face in his cup. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The Roman people have ever paid the highest honours +to our Egyptian goddess,</q> proceeded the eunuch; <q>we lack +the support of the plebeian no more than the worship of the +patrician. Thus we flourish and drain draughts of plenty +from the silver udders of our sacred cow. Well, they made +<pb n='111'/><anchor id='Pg111'/>way for us in the streets, both men and women—all but one +slender girl dressed in black, who, coming quickly round a +corner, found herself in the midst of us, and seemed too +frightened to move. In another minute she would have +been trampled to death by the crowd, when I seized hold of +her in order to draw her into a place of safety while they +passed.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Or to see what sort of a face she hid under her black +hood?</q> interrupted Montanus. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Not so,</q> replied the narrator, though obviously gratified +by the impeachment. <q>Such follies I leave to senators, and +statesmen, and soldiers. My object was simply to afford +her my protection. I had better have plucked a nettle with +my naked hand. The girl screamed and struggled as if she +had never looked in a man’s face before.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>She was frightened at your beard,</q> said one of the freedmen, +looking at Spado’s smooth fat face. The latter winced, +but affected not to hear. <q>Coax a frightened woman,</q> said +he, <q>and frighten an angry one. I flatter myself I know +how to deal with them all. The girl would have been quiet +enough had I been let alone; when just as she began to +look kindly in my face, up comes an enormous barbarian, +a hideous giant with waving yellow hair, and tries to snatch +the maiden by main force from my grasp. I am a strong +man, as you may perhaps have observed, my friends, and a +fierce one when my blood is up. I showed fight. I struck +him to the earth. He rose again with redoubled fury, and +taking me at a disadvantage while I was protecting the girl, +inflicted this injury on my face. I was stunned for an instant, +and he seized that opportunity to make his escape. +Well for him that he did so. Let him keep out of the way +if he be wise. Should he cross my path again, he had better +be in Euchenor’s hands than mine; I will show him no +mercy;</q> and Spado quaffed off his wine and squared his +fat shoulders with the air of a gladiator. +</p> + +<p> +<q>And what became of the girl?</q> asked Paris, who had +hitherto listened to the recital with utter indifference. +</p> + +<p> +<q>She was carried off by the barbarian,</q> replied Spado. +<q>Poor thing! I believe sorely against her will. Nevertheless, +she was borne off by the Briton.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>A Briton!</q> exclaimed Licinius, whose intense contempt +for Spado had hitherto kept him silent, and who had already +heard the truth of the story from his slave. +</p> + +<p> +<q>A Briton,</q> repeated the eunuch. <q>It was impossible +he could be otherwise from his size and ferocity. The Gaul, +<pb n='112'/><anchor id='Pg112'/>you see, is bigger than the Roman. The German than the +Gaul. The Briton, by the same argument, must be bigger +than the German; and this hideous giant must consequently +have been one of those savage islanders. I take my logic +from the Greeks.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>But not your boxing, it seems,</q> observed Montanus, +<q>We must have Euchenor to give you some lessons, if you +run your head into these street brawls whenever you come +across a woman with a veil.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Nay,</q> answered the eunuch, <q>he took me at a disadvantage; +nevertheless he was a large and powerful athlete—there +is no denying it.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>They are the finest men we have in the empire,</q> said +Licinius, thinking in his heart that the women were the +fairest too. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Their oysters are better than ours,</q> observed Cæsar, +with an air of profound and impartial judgment. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I grant the oysters, but I deny the men,</q> said Placidus, +reflecting that his patriotism would be acceptable to his +audience. <q>The Roman is the natural conqueror of the +world. They cannot stand against our countrymen in the +arena.</q> The guests all joined in a cordial assent. Had it +not been so, perhaps Licinius would have scarce thought +it worth while to continue the argument. Now, though +half ashamed of his warmth, he took up the matter with +energy. +</p> + +<p> +<q>There is a Briton in my house at this moment,</q> said he, +<q>who is a stronger and finer man than you will produce in +Rome.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You mean that long-legged lad with the mop of light +hair?</q> said Placidus contemptuously. <q>I have seen him. +I call him a boy, not a man.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Licinius felt somewhat irritated. He did not particularly +like his company; and between two such opposite natures +as his own and the tribune’s there existed a certain hidden +repugnance, which was sure sooner or later to break forth. +He answered angrily— +</p> + +<p> +<q>I will match him against any one you can produce to +run, leap, wrestle, throw the quoit, and swim.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Those are a boy’s accomplishments,</q> retorted the other +coolly. <q>What I maintain is this, that, whether from want +of courage or skill or both, these islanders are of no use with +the steel. I would wish no better sport than to fight him +myself in the arena, with the permission of Cæsar</q>—and the +tribune bowed gracefully to his imperial host, who looked +<pb n='113'/><anchor id='Pg113'/>from one to the other of the disputants, without the slightest +apparent interest in their discussion. +</p> + +<p> +At this period of the Empire, when, although manners had +become utterly dissolute, something was still left of the old +audacity that had made the Roman a conqueror wherever he +planted his foot, it was by no means unusual for men of +patrician rank to appear in their own proper persons, a +spectacle for the vulgar, in the amphitheatre. It was, perhaps, +not unnatural that a desire for imitation should at +last be aroused by the excessive fondness for these games +of bloodshed, which pervaded all classes of the community. +We have nothing in modern times that can at all convey to +us the passion of the Roman citizen for the amusements of +his circus. They were as necessary to his existence as daily +bread. <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">Panem et Circenses</foreign> had passed into a familiar proverb. +He would leave his home, neglect his business, forfeit +his bath, to sit for hours on the benches of the amphitheatre, +exposed to heat and crowding, and every sort of inconvenience, +and would bring his food with him rather than run +the risk of losing his place. And all this to see trained +gladiators shedding each other’s blood, wild beasts tearing +foreign captives limb from limb, and imitation battles which +differed in no respect from real, save that the wounded were +not spared, and the slaughter consequently far greater in +proportion to the number of combatants engaged. If a +statesman wished to court popularity, if an emperor desired +to blot out a whole page of enormities and crimes, he had +but to give the people one of these free entertainments of +blood—the more victims the better—and they were ready +to approve of any measure, and to pardon any atrocity. +</p> + +<p> +Ere long some fierce spirits panted to take part in the +sports they so loved to contemplate; and the disgraceful +exhibition ceased to be confined to hireling gladiators or +condemned slaves. Knights and patricians entered the +arena, to contend for the praises of the vulgar; and the +noblest blood in Rome was shed for the gratification of +plebeian spectators, who, sitting at ease munching cakes and +sausages, could contemplate with placid interest the death-agonies +of the Cornelii or the Gracchi. +</p> + +<p> +Julius Placidus, like many other fashionable youths of +the period, prided himself on his skill in the deadly exercises +of the circus. He had appeared before the Roman public +at different times, armed with all the various weapons of the +gladiator; but the exercise in which he considered himself +most perfect was that of the trident and the net. The +<pb n='114'/><anchor id='Pg114'/>contest between the <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">retiarius</foreign> and the +<foreign rend='italic' lang="la">secutor</foreign> was always a +favourite spectacle with the public. The former carried an +ample casting-net upon his shoulders, a three-pronged spear +in his hand; beyond this he was totally unarmed either for +attack or defence. The latter with a short sword, vizored +helmet, and oblong shield, would at first sight appear to have +fought at great advantage over his opponent. Nevertheless +the arts of the <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">retiarius</foreign> in entangling his adversary had +arrived at such perfection that he was constantly the conqueror. +Once down, and involved in the fatal meshes, there +was no escape for the swordsman; and from some whimsical +reason the populace seldom granted him quarter when +vanquished. Great activity and speed of foot were the +principal qualities required by the <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">retiarius</foreign>, for if he failed +in his cast he was compelled to fly from his adversary while +preparing his net for a fresh attempt, and if overtaken his +fate was sealed. Placidus possessed extraordinary personal +activity. His eye was very correct, and his throw generally +deadly. It may be, too, that there was something pleasing +to the natural cruelty of his disposition in the contemplation +of an antagonist writhing and helpless on the sand. It was +his delight to figure in the arena with the deadly net laid +in careful festoons upon his shoulder, and the long barbed +trident quivering in his grasp, Licinius fell into the snare, if +snare it was, readily enough. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I would wager a province on Esca,</q> said he, <q>against +anyone but a trained gladiator; and I think he could hold +his own with the best of <hi rend='italic'>them</hi>, after a month’s practice.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Then you accept my challenge?</q> exclaimed Placidus, +with a studied carelessness of manner that dissembled an +eagerness he could scarcely control. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Let us hear the terms over a fresh flask of Falernian,</q> +observed the Emperor, glad of such a stimulant with his +wine. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I ask for no weapons but the trident and the net,</q> said +Placidus, looking fixedly at Licinius. <q>Esca, if you so call +him, may be armed as usual with sword and helmet.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And shield,</q> interrupted the other; too old a soldier, +even in the excitement of the moment, to throw a chance +away. +</p> + +<p> +Placidus affected to demur. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well,</q> said he, <anchor id="corr114"/><corr sic="“after">after</corr> a few moments’ hesitation, <q>’tis +but a young swordsman, and a barbarian; I give you the +shield in.</q> +</p> + +<p> +A vision crossed the brain of Licinius, that already made +<pb n='115'/><anchor id='Pg115'/>him repent of his rashness. He saw the fine form writhing +in those pitiless meshes, like a beast taken in the toils. He +saw the frank blue eyes, looking upward, brave and kindly +even in their despair. He saw the unsparing arm raised to +strike, and the bright curling locks dabbled all in blood. But +then he remembered the Briton’s extraordinary strength and +activity, his natural courage and warlike education—he was +irritated, too, by the insolent malice that gleamed in the +tribune’s eyes; and he persuaded himself that nothing but +renown and triumph could accrue to his favourite from such +a contest. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Be it so,</q> said he; <q><foreign rend='italic' lang="la">retiarius</foreign> and +<foreign rend='italic' lang="la">secutor</foreign>. You will +have no child’s play, I can tell you; and now for the terms of +the wager. I stake no man’s life against a morsel of tinsel or +a few polished pebbles, I warn you at once.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He glanced while he spoke, somewhat contemptuously, +over the costly ornaments that decorated the tribune’s dress. +The latter laughed good-humouredly. +</p> + +<p> +<q>A dozen slaves would scarce fetch the value of my +sleeve-clasps. At least, a dozen of these islanders, whom +you may capture by scores every time a legion moves its +camp. Listen, I will wager two of my white horses against +your picture of Daphne, or the bust of Euphrosyne that +stands in your bath-room. Nay, I will give you more +advantage still. I will stake the whole team, and the chariot +into the bargain, against the British slave himself!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Again had the other been watching him narrowly; he +must have perceived a strange suppressed eagerness on the +tribune’s face, but he was preoccupied and annoyed; he had +gone too far to retract, and a murmur from the listening +guests denoted their opinion of the generosity displayed in +this last proposal. When a man has placed himself in a false +position, his efforts at extrication generally plunge him +deeper than before. Quick as lightning, Licinius bethought +him that the present bargain might probably save Esca’s life, +in the unlikely event of his being conquered, so he closed +with it unhesitatingly, though he regretted doing so a +moment afterwards. +</p> + +<p> +The match was accordingly made upon the following +terms: That Esca should enter the amphitheatre during the +approaching games of Ceres, armed with sword, shield, and +helmet, to oppose Placidus, whose only weapons were to be +the trident and the net. That in the event of the latter being +worsted, his four white horses and gilded chariot should +become the property of Licinius; but that if he obtained +<pb n='116'/><anchor id='Pg116'/>the victory, and the populace permitted him to spare the +vanquished, then his late antagonist should become his slave; +and how enviable would be that position could only be known +to the tribune himself and one other person from whom he +had that day received kinder looks and smiles than she had +ever before granted to an unwelcome suitor. +</p> + +<p> +The business of drinking, which had been somewhat +interrupted by these complicated discussions, was now +resumed with greater energy than before; Placidus emptying +his goblet with the triumphant air of one who has successfully +accomplished a difficult task; Licinius like a man who seeks +to drown anxiety and self-reproach in wine. The Emperor +quaffed and quaffed again with his habitual greediness; and +the remainder of the guests acted studiously in imitation of +the Emperor. +</p> + +</div><div n="1.16" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='117'/><anchor id='Pg117'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XVI. The training-school"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XVI. The training-school"/> +<head>CHAPTER XVI<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE TRAINING-SCHOOL</hi></head> + +<p> +But Licinius had an ordeal to go through on the following +day, which was especially painful to the kind heart of +the Roman general. When the terms of the combat were +explained to the person chiefly interested, that young warrior +eagerly accepted the challenge as affording an opportunity +for indulgence in those feats of arms which early education +had rendered so pleasing to his martial disposition. He +could vanquish two such men as the tribune, he thought, at +any exercise and with any weapons; but his face sank when +he learned the penalty of failure, and a shudder passed +through his whole frame at the bare possibility of becoming +a slave to anyone but his present master. It nerved him, +however, all the more in his resolution to conquer; and when +Licinius, reproaching himself bitterly the while, promised him +his liberty in the event of victory, Esca’s heart beat fast with +joy and hope and exultation once more. +</p> + +<p> +A thousand vague possibilities danced through his brain; +a thousand wild and visionary schemes, of which Mariamne +formed the centre figure. Life that had seemed so dull but +one short week ago, now shone again in the rosy light with +which youth—and youth alone—can tinge the long perspective +of the future. Alas for Licinius! he marked the +glowing cheek and the kindling eye with a sensation of +despondency weighing at his heart. Nevertheless the lot +was cast, the offer was accepted. It was too late for looking +back. Nothing remained but to strain every nerve to win. +</p> + +<p> +In all bodily contests, in all mental labours, in everything +which human nature attempts, systematic and continuous +training is the essential element of success. The palm, as +Horace says, can only flourish where the dust is plentiful; +and he who would attain a triumph either as an athlete or a +scholar, must cultivate his natural abilities with the utmost +attention, and the most rigid self-denial, ere he enters for the +prize. It is curious, too, how the mind, like the body, +<pb n='118'/><anchor id='Pg118'/>acquires vigour and elasticity by graduated exertion. The +task that was an impossibility yesterday, is but a penance +to-day, and will become a pleasure to-morrow. Let us follow +Esca into the training-school, where his muscles are to be +toughened, and his skill perfected for the deadly exercises of +the arena. +</p> + +<p> +It is a large square building, something like a modern +riding-house, lighted and ventilated at the top, and is laid +down three inches deep in sand, an arrangement which +increases, indeed, the labour of all pedestrian exertion, but +renders a fall comparatively harmless, and accustoms the +pupil, moreover, to the yielding surface on which hereafter +he will have to struggle for his life. Quoits, dumb-bells, +ponderous weights, and massive clubs are scattered in the +corners, or propped against the walls of the edifice, and a +horizontal leaping-bar, placed at the height of a man’s breast, +denotes that activity is not neglected in the acquisition of +strength. Beside these insignia of peaceful gymnastics, the +<foreign rend='italic' lang="la">cestus</foreign> hangs conspicuous, and racks are placed at intervals +supporting the deadly weapons and defensive armour with +which the gladiator plies his formidable trade. There are +also pointless spears, and blunted swords for practice, and a +wooden figure, hacked and hewed out of all similitude to an +enemy, on which the cuts and thrusts most in request have +been dealt over and over again with increasing skill and +severity. +</p> + +<p> +At one end of the building paces the master to and fro; +now glancing with wary eye at the movements of his pupils; +now pausing to adjust some implement of instruction; now +encouraging or chiding with a gesture; and anon catching +up, as though in sheer absence of mind, one of the idle +weapons, and whirling it round his head with a flourish that +displays all the power and skill of the practised professional. +Hippias, the retired gladiator, is a man of middle age, and of +somewhat lofty stature, rendered more commanding by its +lengthy proportions, and the peculiar setting on of the head. +Constant exercise, pushed, indeed, to the verge of toil, and +continued for many years, has toughened each shapely limb +into the hardness and consistency of wire, and has rendered +his large frame lean and sinewy, like a greyhound’s. All his +gestures have the graceful pliant ease which results from +muscular strength, and his very walk—light, smooth, and +noiseless—is like that of a panther traversing the floor of its +cage. His swarthy complexion has been deeply tanned by +exposure to heat and toil, but the blood courses healthfully +<pb n='119'/><anchor id='Pg119'/>beneath, and imparts a warm mellow tint to the skin. The +fleshless face, in spite of a worn eager look, and a dash of +grey in the hair and beard, is not without a wild defiant +beauty of its own; and though its expression is somewhat +dissolute and reckless, there is a bold keen flash in the eye, +and the man is obviously enterprising, courageous, and steel +to the backbone. +</p> + +<p> +The Roman ladies, with that depravity of taste which +marks a general deterioration of manners and morality, +delighted at this period to choose their favourites from the +ranks of the amphitheatre. There was a rage for warlike +exercises, Amazonian dresses, imitations of the deadly sports, +played out with considerable skill and ferocity, nay, for the +very persons of the gladiators themselves. It was no wonder +then, that the handsome fencing-master, with his reputation +for strength and courage, should have been a marked man +with the proud capricious matrons of the Imperial City. The +favour of each, too, was doubtless his best recommendation to +the good graces of the rest; and Hippias might have sunned +himself in the smiles of the noblest ladies in Rome. +</p> + +<p> +He made but little account, however, of his good fortune. +The peaches fallen on the ground are doubtless the ripest, yet +they never seem so tempting as those which sun themselves +against the wall, a hand’s-breadth above our reach. Nor can +a man pay implicit obedience to more than one dominion +(at a time); and unless the yoke be <hi rend='italic'>very</hi> heavy, it is scarce +worth while to carry it at all. Hippias was neither dazzled +nor flattered by the bright eyes that looked so kindly into his +war-worn face. He loved a flask of wine nearly as well as +a woman’s beauty—two feet of pliant steel and a leathern +buckler far better than either; nevertheless, amongst all the +dainty dames of his acquaintance, he was least disposed to +undervalue Valeria’s notice, the more so, that she rarely +condescended to bestow it on him; and he took more pains +with her fencing lessons, than those of any other female pupil, +and stayed longer in her house than in that of any lady in +Rome. He approved of her strength, her resolution, her +quickness, above all her cold manner and her pride, besides +admiring her personal charms exceedingly, in his own +practical way. There is a gleam of interest, almost of +tenderness in his eyes, as he pauses every now and then in +his walk, and reads a line or two from a scroll he carries +in his hand, which Myrrhina brought him not an hour +ago. +</p> + +<p> +The scroll is from Valeria. She has heard of Esca’s +peril<pb n='120'/><anchor id='Pg120'/>—nay, she has herself brought it on his head; and who knows +the price it cost her haughty wilful heart? Yet in all her +bitter anger, vexation, shame, she cannot bear to think of the +noble Briton down on the sand, writhing and helpless at the +mercy of his enemy. It is the weapon now she hates, and +not the victim. It would give her intense pleasure, she feels, +to see Placidus humbled, defeated, slain. Such is the sense +of justice in a woman’s breast; such are the advantages +gained by submission at any sacrifice to do her bidding. We +need not pity the tribune, however, in his dealings with either +sex; he is well able to take care of himself. +</p> + +<p> +Valeria accordingly sat her down and wrote a few friendly +lines to the fencing-master, who had always stood high in her +favour, and whose frank bold nature she felt she could trust. +Womanlike, she thought it necessary to fabricate an excuse +for her interest in the Briton, by affirming that she had staked +heavily on his success in the coming contest. She adjured +Hippias to spare no pains in counsel or instruction, and bade +him come to see her without delay, and report the progress +of his pupil. He raised his eyes from the scroll, and watched +the said pupil holding his own gallantly at sword and buckler +with Lutorius. +</p> + +<p> +<q>One, two—Disengage the blade! A feint at the head, a +cut at the legs, and come in over the shield with a lunge! +Good! but scarce quick enough. Try that again—the elbow +turned outwards, the wrist a little higher. So—once more. +Now, look at me. Thus.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The combatants paused for breath, Hippias seized a +wooden foil, and, beckoning to Hirpinus, engaged him in the +required position, for Esca’s especial benefit. Trained and +wary, the old gladiator knew every feint and parry in the +game. Yet had those blades been steel, Hirpinus would have +been gasping his life out, at the master’s feet, ere the close of +their second encounter. Hippias never shifted his ground, +never seemed to exert himself much, yet the quickest eye in +Rome was puzzled to follow the movements of his point, the +readiest hand to intercept it where it fell. Again he pitted +Esca and Lutorius in the mimic strife, and stood with well-pleased +countenance to watch the result. The Briton had, +indeed, lost no time in beginning a course of instruction which +he hoped was to ensure him victory and its reward—his much +desired freedom. That morning Hirpinus had brought him +to the school; and the veteran gladiator watched, with an +interest that was almost touching, the preparations which +were to fit his young friend for a career that at best must end +<pb n='121'/><anchor id='Pg121'/>ere long in a violent death. Hippias was delighted with the +stature and strength of his new pupil. He had matched him +at once with Lutorius, a wiry Gaul, who was supposed to be +the most scientific swordsman of <q>the Family,</q> and smiled to +observe how completely, with an occasional hint from himself, +the Briton was a match for his antagonist, who had expected +an easy victory, and was even more disgusted than surprised. +As the encounter was prolonged, and the combatants, +warming to their work, advanced, retreated, struck, lunged +and parried; now traversing warily at full distance—now +dashing boldly in to close, the other gladiators gathered +round, excited to unusual interest by the excellence of the +play, and the dexterity of the barbarian. +</p> + +<p> +<q>He is the best we’ve seen here for a lustre at least,</q> +exclaimed Rufus, a gigantic champion from Northern Italy, +proud of his stature, proud of his swordsmanship, but above +all, proud that he was a Roman citizen, though a gladiator; +<q>those thrusts come home like lightning, and when he misses +his parry, see, he jumps away like a wild-cat. Faith, Manlius, +if they match him against thee at the games, thou wilt have +a handful. I would stake my rights as a Roman citizen on +him, toga and all, barbarian though he be. What, man! +he would have thee down and disarmed in a couple of +passes!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Manlius seemed to think so too, though he was loth to +confess it. He turned the subject by vowing that Lutorius +must be masking his play, and not fighting his best, or he +never could be thus worsted by a novice. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Masking his play!</q> exclaimed Hirpinus indignantly, +<q>let him unmask, then, as soon as he will! I tell thee this +lad of mine hath not his match in the empire. I shall see +him champion of the amphitheatre, and first swordsman in +Rome, ere they give me the wooden foil with the silver guard,<note place="foot">The form by which a gladiator, who had repeatedly distinguished himself, +received his dismissal and immunity from the arena for life.</note> +and lay old Hirpinus on the shelf. I shall be satisfied to +retire then, for I shall leave some good manhood to take my +place.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well crowed!</q> replied Manlius, not quite pleased at the +value placed on his own prowess in comparison. <q>To hear +thee, a man would say there never was but one gladiator in +Rome, and that this young mastiff must pull us all down by +the throat, because he fences like thyself, wild and wide, and +by main strength.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>It is no swordsmanship to run in like a bull and take +<pb n='122'/><anchor id='Pg122'/>more than you give,</q> observed Euchenor, listening with his +arms folded, and an expression of supreme contempt on his +handsome features. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Nevertheless his blows fall thick and fast, like a hailstorm, +and Lutorius shifts his ground every time the young +one makes the attack,</q> argued honest Rufus, who had not a +grain of either fear or jealousy in his disposition; and who +considered his profession as a mere trade by which he could +obtain a livelihood for wife and children in the meantime, +and a remote chance of independence with a vineyard of his +own beyond the Apennines, should he escape a violent death +in the amphitheatre at last. +</p> + +<p> +<q>He thrusts too often overhand,</q> observed Manlius, <q>and +his guard is always open for the wrist.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>He is a strong fencer, but he has no style,</q> added +Euchenor; and the boxer looked around him with the air +of a man who closes a controversy by an unanswerable +argument. +</p> + +<p> +Hirpinus was boiling over with indignation; but his +eloquence was by no means in proportion to his corporeal +gifts, and he could not readily find words to express his +dissent and his disdain. Banter, too, and a coarse, good-humoured +sort of wrangling, was the usual form by which +difference of opinion found expression in the training-school. +Quarrelling, amongst men whose very trade it was to fight +to the death, seemed simply absurd; and to come to blows +except in public and for money, a mere childish waste of +time. Indeed, with all their contempt for death, and their +extraordinary courage when pitted against each other to +amuse the populace, these gladiators, perhaps from the very +nature of their profession, seem to have been unsuited for any +sustained efforts of energy and endurance. When banded +together under the eagles, they were often so undisciplined +in camp, as by no means to be relied on before an enemy. +Perhaps there was something of bravado in the flourish with +which they entered the circus, and hailed Cæsar with their +greetings from <hi rend='italic'>those about to die</hi>!<note place="foot">The well-known <q>Morituri te salutant!</q></note> Moreover, they had +to fight in a corner, and with the impossibility of escape. +Courage is of many different kinds. Men are brave from +various motives—from ambition, from emulation, from the +habit of confronting danger; some from a naturally chivalrous +disposition, backed by strong physical nerves. The last alone +are to be trusted in an emergency; and a really courageous +man faces an unexpected and unaccustomed peril, if not with +<pb n='123'/><anchor id='Pg123'/>confidence, at least with an unflinching determination to do +his best. +</p> + +<p> +Hirpinus turned upon Euchenor, for whom he had no +great liking at any time. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You talk of your science,</q> said he, <q>and your Greek +skill, against which even our Roman thews and sinews are of +no avail. Dare you stand up to this barbarian with the <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">cestus</foreign> +on? Only to exchange half a dozen friendly buffets, you +know, in sheer sport.</q> +</p> + +<p> +But Euchenor excused himself with great disdain. Like +many another successful professor, he owed no inconsiderable +share of his fame to his own assumption of superiority, +and the judgment with which, when practicable, he matched +himself against inferior performers. Champions who exist on +their reputation, such as it is, are not to peril it lightly against +the first tyro that comes, who has everything to gain and +nothing to lose by an encounter with the celebrity; whereas +the celebrity derives no additional laurels from a triumph, and +a defeat tends to take the very bread out of his mouth. +Euchenor said as much; but Hirpinus was not satisfied, till +the subtle Greek, who had learned the terms of the match in +which Esca was engaged, observed carelessly, that all the +time the Briton had to spare should be devoted to practice +in the part he was about to play before the Emperor. The +suggestion took effect upon Hirpinus at once. He sprang +across the school to where the master had resumed his walk. +The old gladiator positively turned pale while he entreated +Hippias to instruct his pupil in all the scientific devices by +which those deadly meshes could be foiled. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Nothing but art can save him,</q> said he, in imploring +accents, which seemed almost ludicrous from one of his +Herculean exterior. <q>Courage and strength, ay, and the +activity of a wild-cat, are all paralysed when that accursed +twine is round your limbs. I know it! I have felt it! I +was down under the net myself once. If a man is to die, he +should die <hi rend='italic'>like</hi> a man, not like a thrush caught in a springe. +He must learn, Hippias, he must practise day by day, and +hour by hour; he must study every movement of the caster. +Pit him against Manlius, he is the best netsman in the +Family. If he learns to foil <hi rend='italic'>him</hi>, he will take the conceit +out of Placidus readily enough. I tell you I shall not be +easy till I see him with his foot on the gay tribune’s breast!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Patience, man,</q> replied Hippias, <q>thou fearest but one +thing in the world, and that is a fathom of twine. Thinkest +thou all others are scared at the same bugbear? Mind thine +<pb n='124'/><anchor id='Pg124'/>own training,—thou art yet too lusty by half to go into the +circus,—and leave this young barbarian to me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The master kept up his influence amongst these lawless +pupils, partly by a reserved demeanour and a silent tongue, +partly by never suffering his authority to be disputed for a +moment. To have said as much as he now did was tantamount +to a confession of interest in the Briton’s success; and +Hirpinus resumed his own labours with a lightened heart, +whilst Esca, in all the delightful flush of youth and health, +and muscular strength developing itself by scientific practice, +plied his antagonist with redoubled vigour, and enjoyed his +pastime to the utmost. +</p> + +<p> +It was like taking an old friend by the hand to grasp a +sword once more. +</p> + +</div><div n="1.17" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='125'/><anchor id='Pg125'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XVII. A veiled heart"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XVII. A veiled heart"/> +<head>CHAPTER XVII<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">A VEILED HEART</hi></head> + +<figure url="images/i_146.png" rend="w40"><figDesc>Initial F</figDesc></figure> + +<p> +For three whole days Mariamne had not +set eyes on the Briton, so she felt +listless and dispirited. Not that she +acknowledged, even to herself, the +necessity of Esca’s presence, nor that +she was indeed aware how much it +had influenced her thoughts and actions +ever since she had known him—a period +that seemed now of indefinite length. +She found herself perpetually recalling +the origin and growth of their acquaintance; +she dwelt with a strange pleasure on the gross insult +offered her by Spado, which scarce seemed an agreeable subject +of contemplation; nor, be sure, did she forget its prompt +and satisfactory redress. She remembered every step of her +subsequent walk home, and every syllable of their conversation +in that hasty and agitated progress; nay, every look and +gesture of her companion’s and of her own. It pleased her +to think of the favourable impression made on her father and +his brother by their guest; and the earthen pitcher, from +which she gave the latter to drink, assumed a new and unaccountable +value in her eyes. Also she strolled to Tiber-side, +whenever she had a spare half-hour, and sat her down +under the shadow of a broken column, with a strange +persistency, and a vague expectation of something, she knew +not what. For the first day this dreamy imaginative existence +was delightful. Then came a feeling of want; a +consciousness that there was a void, which it would be a great +happiness to fill. Soon this grew to a thirst—a craving for a +repetition of those hours which had glided by so sweetly and +so fast. At rare intervals arose the startling thought, +<q>suppose she should never see him again,</q> and her heart +stopped beating, and her cheek paled with the bare possibility; +<pb n='126'/><anchor id='Pg126'/>yet was there something not wholly painful in a consciousness +of the sorrow such a privation would create. +</p> + +<p> +Though young, Mariamne was no foolish and inexperienced +girl. Her life had been calculated to elicit and bring to +perfection some of woman’s loftiest qualities. She had early +learned the nobility of self-sacrifice, the necessity of self-reliance +and self-denial. Like the generality of her nation +she possessed considerable pride of race; suppressed, indeed, +and kept down by the exigencies in which the Jews had +so often found themselves, but none the weaker nor the +less cherished on that account. Notwithstanding his many +chastisements and reverses,—from his pilgrimage through the +wilderness to his different captivities by the great Oriental +powers, and final subjection under Rome,—the Jew never +forgot that he sprang from a stem more especially planted by +the hand of the Almighty; that he could trace his lineage +back, unbroken and unstained, to those who held converse +with Moses under the shadow of Mount Sinai; nay, to the +Patriarch himself, who held his authority direct from Heaven, +and who was thought worthy to entertain angels at his tent +door on the plains of Mamre. Such a conviction imparted a +secret pride to every one of his descendants. Man, woman, +and child, were persuaded that to them belonged of right the +dominion of the earth. +</p> + +<p> +It may be supposed that one of Eleazar’s disposition was +not likely to bring up his family in any humble notions of +their privileges and their importance. Mariamne had been +early taught to consider her nationality as the first and dearest +of her advantages; and, womanlike, she clung to it all the +closer that her people had been forced to submit to the +Roman yoke. Habits of patience, of reflection and endurance, +had been engendered by the everyday life of the Jewish +maiden, witnessing her father’s continued impatience of the +existing state of things, and his energetic, though secret, +efforts to change the destinies of his countrymen; whilst all +that such an education might have created of hard, cunning, +and unfeminine in his daughter’s mind, the society and +counsels of Calchas were eminently qualified to counteract. +Losing no opportunity of sowing the good seed; of teaching, +both by precept and example, the lessons he had learned from +those who had them direct from the Fountain-head; it was +impossible to remain long uninfluenced by the constant +kindliness and gentle bearing of one who understood +Christianity to signify, not only faith, and purity, and +devotion even to the death, but also that peace and goodwill +<pb n='127'/><anchor id='Pg127'/>amongst men, which its first teachers inculcated as its fundamental +principle and essential element. Calchas, indeed, +lacked not the fiery energy and the tameless instincts of his +race. His nature, perhaps, was originally fierce and warlike +as his brother’s, but it had been subdued, softened, exalted +by his religion; and, while his heart was pitiful and kindly, +nothing remained of the warrior but his loyalty, his courage, +and his zeal. +</p> + +<p> +Cherishing a true attachment for that brother, it was +doubtless a cause of daily sorrow to observe how totally +Eleazar’s principles and conduct were opposed to the meek +and holy precepts of the new faith. It seemed to human +reasoning impossible to convert the Jew from his grand and +simple creed, to modify or to explain it, to add to it, or to +take away from it, in the slightest degree to alter his belief +in that direct thearchy, to which he was bound by the ties of +gratitude, of tradition, of national isolation and characteristic +pride of race. A religion which accepts the first great +principles of truth, the omnipotence and eternity of the Deity, +the immortality of souls, and the rewards and punishments +of a life to come, stands already upon a solid basis from which +it has little inclination to be removed; and in all ages, the +Jew, as in a somewhat less degree the Mahometan, has been +most unwilling to add to his own stern tenets the mild and +loving doctrines of our revealed religion. Eleazar’s was a +character to which the outward and tangible ceremonials of +his worship were essentially acceptable. To him the law, in +its severest and most literal sense, was the only true guide +for political measures as for private conduct; and where +its burdens were multiplied or its severities enhanced by +tradition, he upheld the latter gladly and inflexibly. To +offer the sacrifices ordained by Divine command; to exact +and rigidly fulfil the minutest points of observance which the +priests enjoined; to keep the Sabbath inviolate by word and +deed; also, when opportunity offered, to smite the heathen +hip-and-thigh with the edge of the sword; these were the +points of faith and practice on which Eleazar took his stand, +and from which no consideration of affection, no temptation +of ambition, no exigency of the times, would have induced +him to waver one hair’s-breadth. The fiercest soldier, the +wildest barbarian, the most frivolous and dissolute patrician +of the Imperial Court, would have been a more promising +convert than such a man as this. Yet did not Calchas +despair: well he knew that there is a season of seed-time and a +season of harvest, that the soil once choked with weeds, or sown +<pb n='128'/><anchor id='Pg128'/>with tares, may thereafter produce a good crop; that waters +have been known to flow freely from the bare rock, and that +nothing is impossible under heaven. So he loved his brother +and prayed for him, and took that brother’s daughter to his +heart as though she had been his own child. +</p> + +<p> +It must have required no small patience, no small amount +of self-control and humility, to engraft in Mariamne the good +fruit, which her father held in such hatred and disdain. +These, too, were difficulties with which the early Christians +had to contend, and of which we now make small account. +We read of their privations, their persecutions, their imprisonments, +and their martyrdoms, with a thrill of mingled horror +and indignation—we pity and admire, we even glorify them +as the heroic leaders of that forlorn hope which was destined +to head the armies of the only true conqueror, but we never +consider the daily and harassing warfare in which they must +have been engaged, the domestic dissensions, the insults of +equals, the alienation of friends; above all, the cold looks and +estranged affections of those whom they loved best on earth; +whom they must give up here, and whom, with the new light +that had broken in on them, they could scarce hope to see +hereafter. So-called heroic deeds are not always deserving +of that superiority which they claim over mortal weakness, +when emblazoned on the glowing page of history. Many a +man is capable, so to speak, of winding himself up for one +great effort, even though it be to perish on the scaffold or the +breach; but day after day, and year after year, to wage +unceasing war against our nearest and dearest, our own +comforts, our own prosperity, nay, our own weaknesses and +inclinations, requires the aid of a sustaining power that is +neither without nor within, nor anywhere below on earth, +but must reach the suppliant directly and continuously from +above. +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless the example of a true Christian, in the real +acceptation of the word, is never without its effect on those +who live under its constant influence. Even Eleazar loved +and respected his brother more than anything on earth, save +his ambition and his creed; while Mariamne, whose trusting +and gentle disposition rendered her a willing recipient of +those truths which Calchas lost no opportunity of imparting, +gradually, and almost insensibly, imbibed the opinions and +the belief of one whose everyday practice was so pure, so +elevated, and so kindly; to whom, moreover, she was +accustomed to look as her counsellor in difficulty, and her +refuge in distress. +</p> + +<pb n='129'/><anchor id='Pg129'/> + +<p> +It was Calchas, then, whose studies she interrupted as he +sat with the scroll before him, that was seldom out of his +hand, perusing those Syriac characters again and again, as a +mariner consults his chart, never weary of storing information +for his future course, and verifying the progress he has +already made. It was to Calchas she had determined to +apply for comfort because Esca came not, and for assistance +to see him again—not that she admitted, even to herself, +that this was her intention or her wish. Nevertheless, she +hovered about the old man’s seat, more caressingly than +usual, and finding his attention still riveted on his employment, +she laid one hand lightly on his shoulder, and with +the other parted the thin grey hair that strayed across his +forehead. He looked up with a pleasant smile. +</p> + +<p> +<q>What is it, little one?</q> said he, with the endearing +diminutive he had used in addressing her from her childhood. +<q>You seem unusually busy with your household affairs +to-day. Is this room to be decorated for a guest? My +brother makes no acquaintances here in Rome; and we have +given no stranger so much as a mouthful of food since we +arrived, save that goodly barbarian you brought home with +you the other evening. Is he coming again to-night?</q> +</p> + +<p> +A bright blush swept over her face, yet when it faded, +Calchas could not but remark that she was paler than her +wont; and her manner, usually so gentle and composed, was +now restless, anxious, and ill at ease. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Nay,</q> she replied, <q>what should I know of the barbarian’s +movements? It was but a chance meeting that led him to +our quiet dwelling in the first instance; and save by the +merest accident we are never likely to see him more.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She turned away while she spoke, trying to steady her +voice and give it a tone of cold indifference, but failing +utterly in the attempt. +</p> + +<p> +<q>There is no such power as chance,</q> said Calchas, +looking her keenly in the face. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I know it,</q> replied Mariamne, smiling sadly; <q>and I +know, too, that whatever befalls us is for the best. Yet some +things are hard to bear, nevertheless. Not that I have aught +to complain of,</q> she added, shrinking instinctively from the +very topic she wanted to bring on, <q>save my constant anxiety +for my father in these tumultuous times.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>He is in God’s hand,</q> said Calchas, <q>who will bring him +safe through all his perils, though they seem now to environ +him as the breakers boil round a stranded galley, when the +wild Adriatic is leaping and dashing for its prey. Take +<pb n='130'/><anchor id='Pg130'/>comfort, little one; I cannot bear to see your step so listless +and your cheek so pale.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>How can they be otherwise?</q> returned the girl, not +very candidly. <q>It is a weary lot to be a soldier’s daughter. +I could even find it in my heart to wish we had never left +Judæa; never come to Rome.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He tried his best to soothe and comfort her—his best +such as it was, for the good old man knew but little of a +woman’s heart—its wild hopes, its indefinite aims, its wayward +feelings, and its inexplicable tendency to self-torture. +He thought in his simplicity the real grievance was that +which she avowed, and he strove to remove it in his own +kind hopeful way. +</p> + +<p> +<q>My child,</q> said he, <q>the evils that are raging in Italy, +the horrors that we hear of every day, cannot but make +Eleazar’s position more important and less hazardous, as +they increase the difficulties of the imperial councils. It is, +indeed, no child’s play to bridle such a nation as ours with +one hand, and to grasp at the imperial diadem with the other. +It takes a bold heart to draw the sword against Judah, and +a long arm to buffet Cæsar across the seas. Vespasian will +have little leisure to persecute our race; and the Emperor, +sore beset as he is, will surely lend a favourable ear to my +brother’s proposals for peace. Even now the legions are +declaring, far and wide, against Vitellius; and civil war, the +most dreadful of all scourges, is desolating the provinces and +entering Italy herself. It was but yesterday that news reached +Rome of the revolt of the whole fleet at Ravenna—and ere +this Cremona has perhaps fallen into the power of Antonius, +that soldier-orator, with the iron arm and the silver tongue. +Well we know, for we have been told by One whose words +shall never be forgotten, that a house divided against itself +cannot stand; and is this a time, think you, my child, for the +worn-out sensualist who wears the purple here, to make +conditions with such a man as your father? It is all in God’s +hand, as I never cease to insist; yet I cannot but feel that a +better day must at last be dawning upon Judæa, that her +enemies will be confounded, her armies victorious, and her +chiefs—but what have we to do with the sword?</q> he broke +off abruptly, while his kindling eye and animated gestures +bore witness to the ardent spirit that would flash out here +and there even now. <q>Our weapon is the Cross, our warfare +is not of this world, our triumph is in our humility, and when +most we are brought low, then are we most exalted. Oh, +that the time were come, as come it surely will, when Cæsar +<pb n='131'/><anchor id='Pg131'/>shall be content to take only that which is Cæsar’s, and men +shall be gathered under one banner, and in one brotherhood, +from all corners of the world!</q> +</p> + +<p> +It was no exaggerated account Calchas thus gave of the +dilemma in which the empire was placed at this juncture. +Vespasian, with great political talents, with coolness, patience, +and audacity, was playing a game against which the besotted +brains of Vitellius were powerless to compete. The former, +adored by the army, who saw in him a successful general, an +intrepid soldier, and a man of simple virtuous habits, contrasting +nobly with the luxurious gluttony and sensuality +of his rival, lost none of his influence by the moderation he +displayed, and the modesty, real or affected, with which he +declined the purple. Not afraid to wait till advantage +ripened into opportunity, he could seize it when the time +came with a bold and tenacious grasp, could turn it deftly +to his own profit and guide those circumstances of which he +seemed to be the mere puppet, with a master-hand. Though +at a distance from the scene of warfare, and to all appearance +little more than an unwilling observer of the disturbances +carried on in his name, he directed as it were from behind a +curtain the operations of his generals, and pulled the strings +that set in motion his numerous partisans with a clear head, +a delicate touch, and that tenacity of purpose which is the +essential element of success. Vitellius, on the other hand, +whose natural abilities had been weakened, nay destroyed, +by an unceasing course of sensual gratification, wavered in +council and hesitated in action; now determined to abdicate +the diadem and retire into obscurity; anon persuaded to +fight for dominion to the death; and ever paralysing the +energies of his warmest partisans by the distrust he entertained +for honest advisers, and the reliance he placed on the +counsels of those traitors who surrounded him. +</p> + +<p> +The empire was, perhaps, at this period in a more disheartening +position than even under the ferocious sway of +Nero. Monster as the latter was, he at least held the reins +with a firm hand; and tyranny, however oppressive, is +doubtless one degree better than anarchy and confusion. +Now, the mighty fabric, of which Romulus laid the first stone +and Augustus completed the pinnacle—the work of seven +centuries, to which every generation had added its labours +and its enterprise, till it embraced the confines of the known +world—was beginning perceptibly to sink and crumble from +its own enormous size and weight. The legions (and it must +never be forgotten that the dominion of Rome was essentially +<pb n='132'/><anchor id='Pg132'/>that of the sword) were now recruited from natives of her +distant colonies. The Syrian and the Ethiop guarded the +eagles as well as the tall turbulent sons of Germany, and the +ever-changing, ever-faithless Gaul. Armies thus gathered +under one standard from such various climates could have +but little in common save a certain professional ferocity, and +an ardent liking for plunder, no less than pay. Mercenaries +have in all ages been easily bought by the one and seduced +by the other. Each legion gradually came to consider itself +a separate and independent power, to be sold to the highest +bidder. Perhaps the fairest vision of all was a march upon +Rome, and a ten hours’ sack of the city they were sworn to +defend. A great and good man, backed by the glory of +name, race, and illustrious actions, could alone have ruled +such discordant elements, and united these conflicting +interests for the common good; but fate ordained that the +weak, worn-out, besotted Vitellius should be seated on the +throne of the Cæsars, and that the cool, unflinching, and +far-seeing Vespasian should be watching with sleepless eye +and ready hand to snatch the diadem from his bewildered +predecessor, and place it firmly on his own head. +</p> + +<p> +While the destinies of the world were thus trembling in +the balance, while her own nation was fighting for its very +existence, and the storm gathering all around, obviously to +burst in its greatest fury on the Imperial City, the care that +weighed heaviest at Mariamne’s heart was that she had that +day noticed a barbarian slave walk into the training-school +of a Roman gladiator. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Is it true, then,</q> asked the girl, <q>that civil war is indeed +raging here, as we have seen it at home? That we shall +have an enemy ere long at the very gates of the city?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Too true, my child,</q> replied Calchas; <q>and the Roman +people seem, as usual, to make light of the emergency, to eat, +drink, buy, sell, and feast their eyes on bloodshed in the +circus, as though their idolatrous temple, where Janus overlooks +the usurers and money-changers of the city, were shut +up once for all, never to be opened again.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She turned pale and shuddered at the mention of the +circus. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Are they making no preparations?</q> she asked timidly. +<q>Did I not hear my father say they were collecting the +gladiators, and—and—some of the nobles had enrolled their +German and British slaves, and were arming them against an +attack?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>It may be so,</q> answered Calchas; <q>but a slave can +<pb n='133'/><anchor id='Pg133'/>scarcely be expected to fight very stoutly for a cause which +only serves to rivet his chains. As for the gladiators, those +tigers in human form, it were surely better for them to perish +in open warfare, than to tear one another to pieces in the +arena, like the very beasts against which I have seen them +pitted. Yet these, too, have souls to be saved.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Surely have they,</q> exclaimed Mariamne, with kindling +eyes, <q>and none to help them; none to show them so much +as a glimpse of the true light. These men go out to die +as the citizen goes to his business or his bath; and who is +answerable to man for their blood? who is answerable to God +for their souls?</q> +</p> + +<p> +His eye brightened while she spoke, and he raised his +head like a soldier who hears the trumpet summoning him to +the front. +</p> + +<p> +<q>If I have a well in my court,</q> said he, <q>and a man fall +down and die of thirst at my gate, who is answerable? +Surely I am guilty of my brother’s blood, that I never so +much as reached him the pitcher to drink. Shall these men +go down daily to death, and shall I not stretch out a finger +lest they perish everlastingly? Mariamne, it seems there is a +task set to my hand, and I must accomplish it.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She was far from wishing to hinder him. Actuated as +human nature too often is by mixed motives, she could yet +respond, in her womanly generosity of heart, to that noble +self-sacrifice which was so distinguishing a characteristic +of the new religion; and could appreciate the devotion of +Calchas, while she hoped through his intervention to obtain +some alleviation of her anxiety on Esca’s behalf. She had +caught a glimpse of the slave’s figure that very day as it +entered the portals of the training-school; and this rapid +glance had not served to quiet her misgivings on his +account. +</p> + +<p> +If Calchas should now think it right to interest himself +about a class of men the most reckless and desperate of the +whole Roman population, it was probable that he would at +the same time learn something of Esca’s movements; perhaps +be able to dissuade him from joining the fierce band in which +she now feared he was about to be enrolled. <q>It may be that +he has some wild hope of thus obtaining his liberty,</q> thought +the girl; and her heart throbbed while she reflected that it +was for her sake liberty had now become so dear to the +barbarian. <q>It may be that he has extorted some vague +promise from his lord, and, in his pride of strength and +courage, he never dreams of danger or defeat; but oh! if he +<pb n='134'/><anchor id='Pg134'/>should come to harm for my sake, what will become of me? +I would rather die a thousand times than that his white skin +should be disfigured with a scratch!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>They are practising for their deadly pastime in the next +street,</q> said she; <q>I can hear the blows as I go down to draw +water. Blows dealt, as it were, in sport; what must they be +in earnest?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>There is no time to be lost,</q> said Calchas. <q>The games +of Ceres are to be soon celebrated, and the Roman crowd will +think it but a poor show if some hundreds of gladiators are +not slaughtered at the least. Child, I will visit these men +to-morrow; they will revile me, but after a time they will +listen. If I can even gain over one, be he the lowest and +most degraded of the band, it will be a triumph greater than +a thousand victories; a gain infinitely more precious than all +the treasures of Rome.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>To-morrow may be too late,</q> she returned, moving +across the room at the same time so as to hide her face. +<q>The school is full to-day. I—I think I saw that barbarian +who was here lately go into it an hour or two ago.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The Briton!</q> exclaimed Calchas, starting from his seat. +<q>Why did you not tell me so before? Quick, girl, fetch me +my gown and sandals. I will go there without delay.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She helped him, nothing loth. In a few minutes Calchas +was ready to go forth, and as she watched him from the door, +and saw him turn the corner of the street, Mariamne clasped +her hands and muttered a thanksgiving for the success of her +well-meant artifice; while the old man strode boldly to his +destination, confident in the integrity of his purpose, and +rejoicing in the breastplate of proof which covers a good +heart bound on a pious mission. <q>It is no business of mine,</q> +was a maxim unknown to the early Christian. Fresh in his +memory was the parable of the Good Samaritan; and it never +occurred to him that, like the Pharisee, he might pass by on +the other side. The world is some centuries older, yet is that +tale of the friendless wounded wayfarer less suggestive now +than it was then? +</p> + +</div><div n="1.18" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='135'/><anchor id='Pg135'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XVIII. Winged words"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XVIII. Winged words"/> +<head>CHAPTER XVIII<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">WINGED WORDS</hi></head> + +<p> +The gladiators were pausing from their toil. Brawny +chests heaved and panted, deep voices laughed and +swore with returning breath; strong arms looked heavier and +stronger as the athlete rested his wide hands upon his hips, +and not unconsciously brought his huge muscles into full +relief in the attitude. Esca and his late antagonist were +wiping the sweat from their brows, and looking at one another +with wistful eyes, as if by no means loth to renew the contest, +so equally had the last bout been waged. Hirpinus laid +down the weighty clubs he had been wielding, with a grunt of +relief. No unpractised arm could have lifted those cumbrous +instruments from the ground, yet they were but as reeds in +the hands of the gladiator; nevertheless, he lamented piteously +the tendency of his mighty frame to increasing bulk, +which rendered such heavy and uninteresting work necessary +to fit him for the arena. +</p> + +<p> +<q>By the body of Hercules!</q> complained the giant, <q>I +would I were but such a half-starved ape as thou, my Lutorius! +See what the master calls training for a man of some solidity, +and thank the gods that an hour’s girls’-play with sword and +buckler is enough to keep that slender waist of thine within +the compass of a knight’s finger-ring.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Girls’-play, call you it?</q> answered Lutorius. <q>In faith +’tis a game that would put thy fat carcass on the sand, from +sheer want of breath, in a quarter of the time. No more +girls’-play for us, my lads, till after the feast of Ceres. The +school will be thinner then, or I am mistaken. How many +pairs are promised by the Consul for this coming bout? I +heard the crier tell us in the street, but I have forgotten.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>One hundred at least, for sword and buckler alone. And +twenty of them out of the Family!</q> answered Euchenor +readily, and with a malicious smile. His profession as a +boxer freed him from any fatal apprehensions; but he took +none the less pleasure in recalling to his comrades the more +<pb n='136'/><anchor id='Pg136'/>deadly nature of their encounters. Rufus alone looked grave; +perhaps he was thinking of his wife and children while he +listened; perhaps that humble cottage in the Apennines +seemed farther off than ever, and the more desirable on that +account. The others smiled grimly, and a wolfish expression +gleamed for an instant from their eyes—all but Esca, whose +glowing young face displayed only courage, excitement, and +hope. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Bird of ill-omen!</q> said Hippias sternly. <q>What do you +know of the clash of steel? Keep to your own boys’-play, +and do not meddle with the game that draws blood at every +stroke. I think I am master here!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Euchenor would have answered sullenly, but a knock at +the door arrested his attention. As it swung open, to the +surprise of all, and of none more than Esca, Calchas stood +before them. +</p> + +<p> +<q><foreign rend='italic' lang="la">Salve!</foreign></q> said the old man kindly, as he looked around, +his venerable head and calm dignified bearing contrasting +nobly with the brute strength and coarser faces of the +gladiators. <q><foreign rend='italic' lang="la">Salve!</foreign></q> he repeated, smiling at the astonishment +his appearance seemed to call forth. +</p> + +<p> +Hippias was not lacking in a certain rough courtesy of the +camp. He advanced to the new-comer, bade him welcome +as a stranger, and inquired the cause of his visit; <q>for,</q> said +he, <q>judging by your looks, O my father! it can scarcely be +a mission connected either with me or my disciples here, +whose trade, you may observe, is war.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I too am a soldier,</q> answered Calchas quietly, looking +the astonished fencing-master full in the face. The gladiators +had by this time gathered round; like schoolboys at play +they were ripe for mischief, and, like schoolboys, it needed +but the merest trifle to urge them into any extreme, either of +good or evil. +</p> + +<p> +<q>A soldier!</q> exclaimed Euchenor, <q>then you fear not +steel!</q>—at the same moment he snatched a short two-edged +sword from the wall, and delivered a thrust with it full at +the old man’s breast. Calchas moved not a muscle; his +colour neither rose nor fell; his eyelash never quivered as he +looked steadily at the Greek, who probably only intended a +brutal jest, and cared but little how dangerous might be its +result. The point had reached the folds of the visitor’s gown, +when Rufus dashed it aside with his hand, while Hippias +dealt the offender a buffet, which sent him reeling to the +opposite wall. +</p> + +<p> +<q>What now?</q> exclaimed the professor, in a tone with +<pb n='137'/><anchor id='Pg137'/>which a man rates a disobedient hound. <q>What now? Am +I not master here?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The others looked on approvingly. The jest was <anchor id="corr137"/><corr sic="wel">well</corr> +suited to their habits. They were amused at the discomfiture +of the Greek, and pleased with the coolness shown by +an old man of such unwarlike exterior. Esca, however, +strode up to his friend’s side, and glared about him in a +manner that boded no good to the originator of any more +such aggressions, either in sport or earnest. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Thou hast hurt the youth,</q> remarked Calchas, in as +unmoved a tone as would have become the fiercest gladiator +of the school. <q>Thou hast hurt him, and he was but in jest +after all. In truth, Hippias, I have not seen so goodly a +buffet dealt since I came to Rome. That arm of thine can +strike to some purpose, and thy pupils are, like their master, +brave, and strong, and skilful. I have heard of the legion +called Invincible, surely I have found it here. My sons, are +you not the Invincibles?</q> +</p> + +<p> +He spoke so quietly they knew not whether he was +jesting with them; but the flattering title tickled their ears +pleasantly enough, and the gladiators crowded round him, +with shouts of encouragement and mirth. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Invincibles!</q> they laughed. <q>Invincibles! Well said, +old man! yes, we are the Invincibles. Who can stand +against the Family? Hast come to join us? We shall have +plenty of space in the ranks ere another moon be old.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Give him a sword, one of you!</q> exclaimed Rufus; <q>let +us see what he can do with Lutorius. The Gaul has had +a bellyful already; press him, old man, and he must go +down!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Nay, let him have a bout with the wooden foils,</q> laughed +Hirpinus. <q>He is but young and tender. He would sicken +at the sight of blood.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Or a cast with the net and trident,</q> continued Manlius. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Or a round with the <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">cestus</foreign>,</q> observed Euchenor; adding +with a sneer, <q>I myself am ready to exchange a buffet or two +with him, for sheer goodwill.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Hold! my new comrades,</q> interposed Esca, with rising +colour. <q>In my country we are taught to venerate grey +hairs. If ye are so keen for <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">cestus</foreign>, lance, and sword-play, +here am I, untried and inexperienced, willing to stand against +the best of you, from now till sundown.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The gladiators gathered round the last speaker somewhat +angrily; the challenge was indeed a bold one in such +company, and a contest begun in play amongst those +<pb n='138'/><anchor id='Pg138'/>turbulent spirits, might end, not improbably, in too fatal +earnest; but Hippias cut the matter short by commanding +silence, in loud imperious tones, and, turning to the new-comer, +bade him state at once the business that had brought +him there and have done with it. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I came here,</q> said the old man, looking round with a +glance of mingled pity and admiration; <q>I came here to see, +with my own eyes, the band of Invincibles. I have already +told you that I too am a soldier, whose duty it is to go down, +if need be, daily unto death.</q> +</p> + +<p> +There was something so quiet and earnest in the speaker’s +manner, such an absence of self-consciousness or apprehension, +a sincerity and goodwill so frank and evident, that the rude +fierce men whom he addressed could not but give him their +attention. There was all the interest of novelty in beholding +one whose appearance and habits were so at variance with +their own, thus throwing himself fearlessly on their forbearance, +and trusting, as it were, to that higher nature, which, +dormant though it might be, each man felt to exist within +himself. Even Hippias acknowledged the influence of his +visitor’s confidence, and answered graciously enough— +</p> + +<p> +<q>If you are a soldier, I need not tell you that we are but +on the drill-ground here. You will see my band to better +advantage when they defile by Cæsar at the games of +Ceres.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Calchas looked inquiringly round. +</p> + +<p> +<q>And the chorus,</q> said he, <q>that I have heard ring out +in such a warlike tone, as your ranks marched past the +imperial chair; are you perfect in it, my friends? Do you +practise the chant as you do your sword-play and your +wrestling?</q> +</p> + +<p> +He had fixed their attention now. Half-interested, half-amused +at his strange persistency, they looked laughingly at +each other, and their deep voices burst out into the wild and +thrilling cadence of their fatal dirge— +</p> + +<p> +<foreign rend='italic' lang="la">Ave, Cæsar! Morituri te salutant!</foreign> +</p> + +<p> +As the last notes died away, silence pervaded the school; +to the rudest and most reckless, there was something suggestive +in the sounds they knew too well would be the last music +they should hear on earth. Calchas turned suddenly upon +Hippias. +</p> + +<p> +<q>And the wages Cæsar gives your men?</q> said he; <q>since +he buys them body and bones, they must be very costly. +How many thousand sesterces doth he pay for each?</q> +</p> + +<p> +A brutal laugh echoed round him at the question. +</p> + +<pb n='139'/><anchor id='Pg139'/> + +<p> +<q>Sesterces!</q> answered Hippias. <q>Nay; Cæsar’s generosity +provides handsomely for the training and nourishment +of his swordsmen.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>True enough!</q> added Rufus, at which there was +another laugh. <q>He finds us in meat, and drink, and +burial!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>No more?</q> said Calchas. <q>Yet I have been told that +in Rome everything fetches its price; but little did I think +such men as these could be bought for less money than a +Syrian dancing-girl, or a senator’s white horses. So you are +willing to toil day after day, harder than the peasant on the +hillside, or the oarsman in the galley, to live simply, temperately, +ay, virtuously, for months together, and then to face +certain death, often in its ghastliest form, for the wages a +Roman citizen gives his meanest slave—a morsel of meat +and a draught of wine! If you conquer in the struggle, a +branch of palm may be added to a handful of silver, and you +deem your reward is more than enough. Truly, I am old +and feeble, these hands are little worth to strike or parry, +yet would I grudge to sell this worn-out body of mine at so +mean a price.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You told us you were a soldier,</q> observed Rufus, on +whom the argument of relative value seemed to make no +slight impression. +</p> + +<p> +<q>So I am,</q> replied Calchas; <q>but not at such a low rate +of pay as yours. My duties are not heavy. I am not forced +to toil all day, nor to watch all night. My head aches with +no weighty helmet; breastplate and greaves of steel do not +gall my body nor cumber my limbs. I have neither trench +to dig, nor mound to raise, nor eagles to guard. I need not +stand, like you, against my comrade and my friend, with my +point at his throat, and slay the man who has been to me +even as a brother, lest he slay me. Yet, though my labours +be so easy, and my service be so deficient and inadequate, all +the gold and jewels you have seen glistening in a triumph, all +the treasures of Cæsar and of Rome, would not equal the +reward I hope to earn.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The gladiators looked from one to the other with glances +of astonishment and curiosity. This was a subject that +spoke to their personal interest, and roused their feelings +accordingly. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Are there vacancies in your ranks, comrade?</q> asked +Hirpinus, using the military form of speech habitually +affected by his profession. <q>Will you enrol a man of +muscle like myself, who has been looking all his life for a +<pb n='140'/><anchor id='Pg140'/>service in which there is little to do and plenty to get? +Take my word for it, you will not long want for recruits.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>There is room for all, and to spare,</q> answered Calchas, +raising his voice till it rung through every corner of the +building. <q>My Captain will enlist you freely, and without +reserve. Only you come to Him and range yourselves under +His banner, and stand by Him for a few short watches, a +week, a month, a decade or two of years at the most, and +He will stand by you when Cæsar and his legions are +scattered to the four winds of heaven; ay, and long after +that, for ages and ages rolling on in a circle that has no +end! Will you come, brave hearts? I have authority to +receive you, man by man.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Where is your Captain?</q> asked Hirpinus. <q>He must +needs have a large following. Is he here in Rome? Can +we see him ere we take the oaths and raise the standard? +Comrades!</q> he added, looking round, <q>this old man speaks +as though he were in earnest. Nay, he would scarcely dare +to laugh in our very beards!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You might have seen Him,</q> answered Calchas, <q>not forty +years ago, as I myself did, on the sunny plains of Syria. You +will not see Him now, till a pinch of dust has been sprinkled +on your brow, and the death-penny put into your mouth. +Then, when you have crossed the dark river, He will be +waiting for you on the other side.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The gladiators looked at one another. <q>What means +he?</q> said they. <q>Is he mad?</q> <q>Is he an augur?</q> +<q>Doth he deal in magic?</q> Rufus reared his tall head +above the throng. <q>Would you have us believe in what +we cannot see?</q> was the apposite question of that practical +swordsman. The old man drew his mantle round his +shoulders with the air of one who prepares for argument. +All he wanted was a fair hearing. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Which is the nobler gift,</q> he asked, <q>a strong body, or +a gallant heart? Ye have fought many times, most of you, +in the arena. Answer me truly—which is the conqueror, +courage or strength?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Courage,</q> they exclaimed, with one voice; all except +Euchenor, who muttered something about skill and good +fortune being preferable to either. +</p> + +<p> +<q>And yet you cannot see it,</q> resumed Calchas. <q>Will +you therefore argue that it cannot exist? Is there one of +you here that doth not feel a something wanting to complete +his daily existence? Why do you long for the smiles of +women, and the bubble of the winecup? Why can you +<pb n='141'/><anchor id='Pg141'/>not rest when the training of to-day is over, for thinking +of the labours of to-morrow? Why are you always anxious, +always anticipating, always dissatisfied? Because a man +consists of two parts, the body and the spirit; because his +life is made up of two phases, the present and the future. +Your bodies belong to Cæsar, let him have them to do with +them what he likes, to-day, to-morrow, at the games of +Ceres, at the feast of Neptune, what matter? But the +spirit, the man within you, is your own. He it is who doth +not wince when the javelin pierces to the quick, or the wild +beast rends to the marrow. He it is who quails not when +the level sweep of sand seems to rock beneath him, and +heave up against his face; when the white garments and +eager faces of the crowd spin round him faster and faster as +they fade upon his darkening eye. He is the better man of +the two, and he will live for ever. Shall you not provide +for <hi rend='italic'>him</hi>? What is your present? Much trouble, many +hours of toil. A foot or two of steel in the hand, and a +dash at a comrade’s throat, then a back-fall below the +equestrian benches, and so the future begins. Do you +think there is nothing better there than old Charon’s ferry-boat, +and the pale misty banks of the uncertain river? I +know the way to a golden land far brighter and fairer than +the fabled islands of the West. There is a high wall round +it, and the gate is low and narrow; but the key stands +in the lock, and you need no death-penny to purchase +entrance for the poorest of you. Go to the door in rags, +with no other possession but the hope and trust that you +may crawl in upon your knees, and it opens ere you have +knocked.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Something in each man’s heart told him, as he listened, +that if he could but believe this, the conviction was worth +more than all the treasures of the empire put together. +Liable as were these gladiators to stand in the jaws of death +at a day’s notice, there was something inexpressibly elevating +in the idea that the supreme moment which the most careless +of them could not but sometimes picture to himself, was the +mere passage to a nobler state of existence. The words of +a man who is telling what he himself implicitly believes to +be the truth, carry with them no small amount of persuasion; +and when Calchas paused, the swordsmen looked doubtingly +at him with eyes in which incredulity and admiration were +strangely mingled; not without a certain wistful gleam of +hope. Hippias, indeed, whose tastes inclined him to +materialism, and his reflections to utter disbelief in +every<pb n='142'/><anchor id='Pg142'/>thing save the temper of a blade, seemed disposed to cut +the matter short, as being a waste of valuable time; but the +anxiety of his pupils, and especially of Esca, to hear more +of the glowing promises held out, induced him to fold his +arms and listen, with a smile of conscious superiority, not +devoid of contempt. +</p> + +<p> +<q>And the Captain who leads us?</q> asked the Gaul, after +a whisper and a push from Hirpinus. <q>What of him? +Your promises are fair enough, I grant you, but I would +fain know with whom I serve.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Not one of them but noted the gleam on the old man’s +face, as he replied— +</p> + +<p> +<q>The Captain went up to death with a patient, calm, and +kindly face, for you, and you, and you, and me—for those +who had never seen Him; for those who mistrusted Him; +for those who failed Him, and turned back from Him at His +need. Nay, for those who tortured and slew Him, and +whom He forgave with the free full forgiveness of a God!—ay, +of a God! Which of your gods has done as much for +you? When did one of them leave their Mount Olympus, +save for some human need, or some human mission of bloodshed +and crime? Where is the king who would give up +an earthly throne, and go voluntarily to a shameful death +for the sake of his people? You are men, my friends—brave, +resolute, hearty men; what would you have in him +whom you serve? courage, patience, mercy, goodwill to all? +What think ye of Him who left the rulership of the whole +universe, and went so willingly to die, that He might buy +you to be His own here and hereafter? Come and range +yourselves under His standard. I will tell you of Him day +by day. There is no jealousy amongst His soldiers. The +service is easy; He has told us so Himself; and neither mine +nor any mortal tongue can calculate the reward.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Enough of this!</q> interrupted Hippias, noting the eager +looks and excited gestures of the swordsmen; interpreting, +as he did, the words of Calchas in their literal sense, and +fearing lest he might, indeed, lose the services of the daring +band, on whose blood it was his trade to live. <q>Enough of +this, old man! We have heard you patiently, and now +begone! My gladiators have enlisted under Cæsar, and +they will not desert their standard for any inducement you +can offer. I know not why I have listened to you so long; +but trespass not further on my forbearance. This building +is no Athenian school of rhetoric; and the only arguments +acknowledged by Hippias, are those which may be parried +<pb n='143'/><anchor id='Pg143'/>with two foot of steel. Nevertheless, go in peace, old man, +and fare you well.</q> +</p> + +<p> +So Calchas went out from amongst these fierce and +turbulent spirits, unharmed and well satisfied. He had sown +a handful of the good seed, and knew that somewhere it +would take root. More than one of the gladiators was +already pondering on his words; and the young Briton, +with his ardent nature, his kind heart, and his predisposition +in favour of Mariamne’s kinsman, had resolved that he +would hear more of these new doctrines, which seemed to +dawn upon him like light from another world. +</p> + +</div><div n="1.19" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='144'/><anchor id='Pg144'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XIX. The arena"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XIX. The arena"/> +<head>CHAPTER XIX<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE ARENA</hi></head> + +<p> +A hundred thousand tongues, whispering and murmuring +with Italian volubility, send up a busy hum +like that of an enormous beehive into the sunny air. The +Flavian amphitheatre, Vespasian’s gigantic concession to +the odious tastes of his people, has not yet been constructed; +and Rome must crowd and jostle in the great circus, if she +would behold that slaughter of beasts, and those mortal +combats of men, in which she now takes far more delight +than in the innocent trials of speed and skill for which the +enclosure was originally designed. That her luxurious +citizens are dissatisfied even with this roomy edifice, is +sufficiently obvious from the many complaints that accompany +the struggling and pushing of those who are anxious +to obtain a good place. To-day’s bill-of-fare is indeed +tempting to the morbid appetites of high and low. A +rhinoceros and tiger are to be pitted against each other; +and it is hoped that, notwithstanding many recent failures +in such combats, these two beasts may be savage enough +to afford the desired sport. Several pairs of gladiators, at +least, are to fight to the death, besides those on whom the +populace may show mercy, or from whom they may withhold +it at will. In addition to all this, it has been whispered +that one well-known patrician intends to exhibit his prowess +on the deadly stage. Much curiosity is expressed, and many +a wager has been already laid, on his name, his skill, the +nature of his conflict, and the chances of his success. +Though the circus be large enough to contain the population +of a thriving city, no wonder that it is to-day full to +the very brim. As usual in such assemblages, the hours of +waiting are lightened by eating and drinking, by jests, +practical and otherwise, by remarks, complimentary, sarcastic, +or derisive, on the several notabilities who enter at +short intervals, and take their places with no small stir and +assumption of importance. The nobility and distinguished +<pb n='145'/><anchor id='Pg145'/>characters of this dissolute age are better known than +respected by their plebeian fellow-citizens. +</p> + +<p> +There is, however, one exception. Though Valeria’s +Liburnians lay themselves open to no small amount of +insolence, by the emphatic manner in which they make +way for their mistress, as she proceeds with her usual +haughty bearing to her place near the patrician benches—an +insolence of which some of the more pointed missiles +do not spare the scornful beauty herself—it is no sooner +observed that she is accompanied by her kinsman, Licinius, +than a change comes over the demeanour even of those +who feel themselves most aggrieved, by being elbowed out +of their places, and pushed violently against their neighbours, +while admiring glances and a respectful silence denote +the esteem in which the Roman general is held by high +and low. +</p> + +<p> +It wants a few minutes yet of noon. The southern sun, +though his intensity is modified by canvas awnings stretched +over the spectators wherever it is possible to afford them +shade, lights and warms up every nook and cranny of the +amphitheatre; gleams in the raven hair of the Campanian +matron, and the black eyes of the astonished urchin in her +arms; flashes off the golden bosses that stud the white +garments on the equestrian benches; bleaches the level +sweep of sand so soon to bear the prints of mortal struggle, +and flooding the lofty throne where Cæsar sits in state, +deepens the broad crimson hem that skirts his imperial +garment, and sheds a deathlike hue over the pale bloated +face, which betrays even now no sign of interest, or animation, +or delight. Vitellius attends these brutal exhibitions with +the same immobility that characterises his demeanour in +almost all the avocations of life. The same listlessness, the +same weary vacancy of expression, pervades his countenance +here, as in the senate or the council. His eye never glistens +but at the appearance of a favourite dish; and the emperor +of the world can only be said to <hi rend='italic'>live</hi> once in the twenty-four +hours, when seated at the banquet. +</p> + +<p> +Insensibility seems, however, in all ages to be an affectation +of the higher classes; and here, while the plebeians +wrangle, and laugh, and chatter, and gesticulate, the patricians +are apparently bent on proving that amusement is for them +a simple impossibility, and suffering or slaughter matters of +the most profound indifference. And on common occasions +who so impassible, so cold, so unmoved by all that takes +place around her, as the haughty Valeria? but to-day there +<pb n='146'/><anchor id='Pg146'/>is an unusual gleam in the grey eyes, a quiver of the lip, a +fixed red spot on either cheek; adding new charms to her +beauty, not lost upon the observers who surround her. +</p> + +<p> +Quoth Damasippus to Oarses (for the congenial rogues +stand, as usual, shoulder to shoulder)— +</p> + +<p> +<q>I would not that the patron saw her now. I never knew +her look so fair as this. Locusta must have left her the +secret of her love philtres.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Oh, innocent!</q> replies the other. <q>Knowest thou not +that the patron fights to-day? Seest thou her restless hands, +and that fixed smile, like the mask of an old Greek player? +She loves him; trust me, therefore, she has lost her power, +were she subtle as Arachne. Dost not know the patron? +To do him justice, he never prizes the stakes when he has +won the game.</q> +</p> + +<p> +And the two fall to discussing the dinner they have +brought with them, and think they are perfectly familiar with +the intricacies of a woman’s feelings. Meantime Valeria +seems to cling to Licinius as though there were some spell +in her kinsman’s presence to calm that beating heart of which +she is but now beginning to learn the wayward and indomitable +nature. For the twentieth time she asks: <q>Is he prepared +at all points? Does he know every feint of the deadly +game? Are his health and strength as perfect as training +can make them? And oh, my kinsman! is he confident in +himself? Does he feel sure that he will win?</q> +</p> + +<p> +To which questions, Licinius, though wondering at the +interest she betrays in such a matter, answers as before— +</p> + +<p> +<q>All that skill, and science, and Hippias can do, has been +done. He has the advantage in strength, speed, and height. +Above all, he has the courage of his nation. As they get +fiercer they get cooler, and they are never so formidable as +when you deem them vanquished. I could not sit here if I +thought he would be worsted.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Then Valeria took comfort for a while, but soon she +moved restlessly on her cushions. +</p> + +<p> +<q>How I wish they would begin!</q> said she; yet every +moment of delay seemed at the same time to be a respite of +priceless value, even while it added to the torture of suspense. +</p> + +<p> +Many hearts were beating in that crowd with love, hope, +fear, and anxiety; but perhaps none so wildly as those of +two women, separated but by a few paces, and whose eyes +some indefinable attraction seemed to draw irresistibly +towards each other. While Valeria, in common with many +ladies of distinction, had encroached upon the space originally +<pb n='147'/><anchor id='Pg147'/>allotted to the vestal virgins, and established, by constant +attendance in the amphitheatre, a prescriptive right to a +cushioned seat for herself and her friends, women of lower +rank were compelled to station themselves in an upper gallery +allotted to them, or to mingle on sufferance with the crowd +in the lower tier of places, where the presence of a male +companion was indispensable for protection from annoyance, +and even insult. Nevertheless, within speaking distance of +the haughty Roman lady stood Mariamne, accompanied by +Calchas, trembling with fear and excitement in every limb, +yet turning her large dark eyes upon Valeria, with an expression +of curiosity and interest that could only have been +aroused by an instinctive consciousness of feelings common +to both. The latter, too, seemed fascinated by the gaze of +the Jewish maiden, now bending on her a haughty and +inquiring glance, anon turning away with a gesture of affected +disdain; but never unobservant, for many seconds together, +of the dark pale beauty and her venerable companion. +</p> + +<p> +When she was at last fairly wedged in amongst the crowd, +Mariamne could hardly explain to herself how she came +there. It had been with great difficulty that she persuaded +Calchas to accompany her; and, indeed, nothing but his +interest in Esca, and the hope that he might, even here, find +some means of doing good, would have tempted the old man +into such a scene. It was with many a burning blush and +painful thrill that she confessed to herself, she must go mad +with anxiety were she absent from the death-struggle to be +waged by the man whom she now knew she loved so dearly; +and it was with a wild defiant recklessness that she resolved +if aught of evil should befall him to give herself up thenceforth +to despair. She felt as if she was in a dream; the sea +of faces, the jabber of tongues, the strange novelty of the +spectacle, confused and wearied her; yet through it all +Valeria’s eye seemed to look down on her with an ominous +boding of ill; and when, with an effort, she forced her senses +back into self-consciousness, she felt so lonely, so frightened, +and so unhappy, that she wished she had never come. +</p> + +<p> +And now, with peal of trumpets and clash of cymbals, a +burst of wild martial music rises above the hum and murmur +of the seething crowd. Under a spacious archway, supported +by marble pillars, wide folding-doors are flung open, and two +by two, with stately step and slow, march in the gladiators, +armed with the different weapons of their deadly trade. +Four hundred men are they, in all the pride of perfect strength +and symmetry, and high training, and practised skill. With +<pb n='148'/><anchor id='Pg148'/>head erect and haughty bearing, they defile once round the +arena, as though to give the spectators an opportunity of +closely scanning their appearance, and halt with military +precision to range themselves in line under Cæsar’s throne. +For a moment there is a pause and hush of expectation over +the multitude, while the devoted champions stand motionless +as statues in the full glow of noon; then bursting suddenly +into action, they brandish their gleaming weapons over their +heads, and higher, fuller, fiercer, rises the terrible chant that +seems to combine the shout of triumph with the wail of +suffering, and to bid a long and hopeless farewell to upper +earth, even in the very recklessness and defiance of its +despair— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ave, Cæsar! Morituri te salutant!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Then they wheel out once more, and range themselves on +either side of the arena; all but a chosen band who occupy +the central place of honour, and of whom every second man +at least is doomed to die. These are the picked pupils of +Hippias; the quickest eyes and the readiest hands in the +Family; therefore it is that they have been selected to fight +by pairs to the death, and that it is understood no clemency +will be extended to them from the populace. +</p> + +<p> +With quickened breath and eager looks, Valeria and +Mariamne scan their ranks in search of a well-known figure: +both feel it to be a questionable relief that he is not there; +but the Roman lady tears the edge of her mantle to the seam, +and the Jewish girl offers an incoherent prayer in her heart, +for she knows not what. +</p> + +<p> +Esca’s part is not yet to be performed, and he is still in +the background, preparing himself carefully for the struggle. +The rest of the Family, however, muster in force. Tall Rufus +stalks to his appointed station with a calm business-like air +that bodes no good to his adversary, whoever he may be. +He has fought too often not to feel confident in, his own +invincible prowess; and when compelled to despatch a fallen +foe, he will do it with sincere regret, but none the less dexterously +and effectually for that. Hirpinus, too, assumes his +usual air of jovial hilarity. There is a smile on his broad +good-humoured face; and though, notwithstanding the severity +of his preparation, his huge muscles are still a trifle too full +and lusty, he will be a formidable antagonist for any fighter +whose proportions are less than those of a Hercules. As the +crowd pass the different combatants in review, none, with the +exception perhaps of Rufus, have more backers than their +old favourite. Lutorius, too, notwithstanding his Gallic origin, +<pb n='149'/><anchor id='Pg149'/>which places him but one remove, as it were, from a barbarian, +finds no slight favour with those who pride themselves on +their experience in such matters. His great activity and +endurance, combined with thorough knowledge of his weapon, +have made him the victor in many a public contest. As +Damasippus observes to his friend, <q>Lutorius can always +tire out an adversary and despatch him at leisure;</q> to which +Oarses replies, <q>If he be pitted to-day against Manlius, I will +wager thee a thousand sesterces blood is not drawn in the +first three assaults.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The pairs had already been decided by lot; but amongst +the score of combatants who were to fight to the death, these +formidable champions were the most celebrated, and as such +the especial favourites of the populace. Certain individuals +in the crowd, who were sufficiently familiar with the gladiators +to exchange a word of greeting, and to call them by their +names, derived, in consequence, no small increase of importance +amongst the bystanders. The swordsmen, although +now ranged in order round the arena, are destined, for a time +at least, to remain inactive. The sports are to commence +with a combat between a lately imported rhinoceros, and +a Libyan tiger, already familiarly known to the public, as +having destroyed two or three Christian victims and a negro +slave. It is only in the event of these animals being unwilling +to fight, or becoming dangerous to the spectators, that Hippias +will call in the assistance of his pupils for their destruction. +In the meantime, they have an excellent view of the conflict, +though perhaps it might be seen in greater comfort from the +farther and safer side of the barrier. +</p> + +<p> +Vitellius, with a feeble inclination of his head, signs to +begin, and a portable wooden building which has been +wheeled into the lists, creating no little curiosity, is now +taken to pieces by a few strokes of the hammer. As the +slaves carry away the dismembered boards, with the rapidity +of men in terror of their lives, a huge, unwieldy beast stands +disclosed, and the rhinoceros of which they have been talking +for the last week bursts on the delighted eyes of the Roman +public. These are perhaps a little disappointed at first, for +the animal seems peaceably, not to say indolently, disposed. +Taking no notice of the shouts which greet his appearance, +he digs his horned muzzle into the sand in search of food, as +though secure in the overlapping plates of armour that sway +loosely on his enormous body, with every movement of his +huge ungainly limbs. So intent are the spectators on this +rare monster, that their attention is only directed to the +<pb n='150'/><anchor id='Pg150'/>farther end of the arena by the restlessness which the +rhinoceros at length exhibits. He stamps angrily with his +broad flat feet, his short pointed tail is furiously agitated, and +the gladiators who are near him observe that his little eye is +glowing like a coal. A long, low, dark object lies coiled up +under the barrier as though seeking shelter, nor is it till the +second glance that Valeria, whose interest, in common with +that of the multitude, is fearfully excited, can make out the +fawning, cruel head, the glaring eyes, and the striped sinewy +form of the Libyan tiger. +</p> + +<p> +In vain the people wait for him to commence the attack. +Although he is sufficiently hungry, having been kept for more +than a day without food, it is not his nature to carry on an +open warfare. Damasippus and Oarses jeer him loudly as +he skulks under the barrier; and Calchas cannot forbear +whispering to Mariamne, that <q>a curse has been on the +monster since he tore the brethren limb from limb, in that +very place, for the glory of the true faith.</q> The rhinoceros, +however, seems disposed to take the initiative; with a short +labouring trot he moves across the arena, leaving such deep +footprints behind him, as sufficiently attest his enormous bulk +and weight. There is a flash like real fire from the tiger’s +eyes, hitherto only sullen and watchful—his waving tail +describes a semicircle in the sand—and he coils himself more +closely together, with a deep low growl; even now he is not +disposed to fight save at an advantage. +</p><anchor id="i_172"/> +<pgIf output='txt'><then> + <p rend="ill">[Illustration: ‘with a short labouring trot he moves across the arena.’]</p> +</then><else> + <p><figure rend="w80" url="images/i_172.png"><head>‘with a short labouring trot he moves across the arena.’</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: ‘with a short labouring trot he moves across the arena.’</figDesc></figure></p> +</else></pgIf> +<p> +A hundred thousand pairs of eyes, straining eagerly on +the combatants, could scarce detect the exact moment at +which that spring was made. All they can now discern is +the broad mailed back of the rhinoceros swaying to and fro, +as he kneels upon his enemy, and the grating of the tiger’s +claws against the huge beast’s impenetrable armour can be +heard in the farthest corner of the gallery that surrounds the +amphitheatre. The leap was made as the rhinoceros turned +his side for an instant towards his adversary; but with a +quickness marvellous in a beast of such prodigious size, he +moved his head round in time to receive it on the massive +horn that armed his nose, driving the blunt instrument, from +sheer muscular strength, right through the body of the tiger, +and finishing his work by falling on him with his knees, and +pressing his life out under that enormous weight. Then he +rose unhurt, and blew the sand out of his nostrils, and left, as +it seemed, unwillingly, the flattened, crushed, and mangled +carcass, turning back to it once and again, with a horrible, +yet ludicrous, pertinacity, ere he suffered the Ethiopians who +<pb n='151'/><anchor id='Pg151'/>attended him to lure him out of the amphitheatre with a +bundle or two of green vegetable food. +</p> + +<p> +The people shouted and applauded loudly. Blood had +been drawn, and their appetite was sharpened for slaughter. +It was with open undisguised satisfaction that they counted +the pairs of gladiators, and looked forward to the next act of +the entertainment. +</p> + +<p> +Again the trumpets sound, and the swordsmen range +themselves in opposite bodies, all armed alike with a deep +concave buckler, and a short, stabbing, two-edged blade; but +distinguished by the colour of their scarves. Wagers are +rapidly made on the green and the red; so skilfully has the +experienced Hippias selected and matched the combatants, +that the oldest patrons of the sport confess themselves at a +loss which to choose. +</p> + +<p> +The bands advance against each other, three deep, in +imitation of the real soldiers of the empire. At the first +crash of collision, when steel begins to clink, as thrust and +blow and parry are exchanged by these practised warriors, +the approbation of the spectators rises to enthusiasm; but +men’s voices are hushed, and they hold their breath when the +strife begins to waver to and fro, and the ranks open out and +disengage themselves, and blood is to be seen in patches on +those athletic frames, and a few are already down, lying +motionless where they fell. The green is giving way, but +their third rank has been economised, and its combatants are +as yet fresh and untouched; these now advance to fill the +gaps made among their comrades, and the fortunes of the +day seem equalised once more. +</p> + +<p> +And now the arena becomes a ghastly and forbidding +sight; they die hard, these men, whose very trade is +slaughter; but mortal agony cannot always suppress a groan, +and it is pitiful to see some prostrate giant, supporting +himself painfully on his hands, with drooping head and fast-closing +eye fixed on the ground, while the life-stream is +pouring from his chest into the thirsty sand. It is real sad +earnest, this representation of war, and resembles the battle-field +in all save that no prisoners are taken and quarter is +but rarely given. Occasionally, indeed, some vanquished +champion, of more than common beauty, or who has displayed +more than common address and courage, so wins on +the favour of the spectators, that they sign for his life to be +spared. Hands are turned outwards, with the thumb pointing +to the earth, and the victor sheathes his sword, and retires +with his worsted antagonist from the contest; but more +<pb n='152'/><anchor id='Pg152'/>generally the fallen man’s signal for mercy is neglected; ere +the shout <q>A hit!</q> has died upon his ears, his despairing +eye marks the thumbs of his judges pointing upwards, and +he disposes himself to welcome the steel with a calm courage, +worthy of a better cause. +</p> + +<p> +The reserve, consisting of ten pairs of picked gladiators, +has not yet been engaged. The green and the red have +fought with nearly equal success; but when the trumpet has +sounded a halt, and the dead have been dragged away by +grappling-hooks, leaving long tracks of crimson in their wake, +a careful enumeration of the survivors gives the victory by +one to the latter colour. Hippias, coming forward in a suit +of burnished armour, declares as much, and is greeted with a +round of applause. In all her preoccupation, Valeria cannot +refrain from a glance of approval at the handsome fencing-master; +and Mariamne, who feels that Esca’s life hangs on +the man’s skill and honesty, gazes at him with mingled awe +and horror, as on some being of another world. But the +populace have little inclination to waste the precious moments +in cheering Hippias, or in calculating loss and gain. Fresh +wagers are, indeed, made on the matches about to take +place; but the prevailing feeling over that numerous +assemblage is one of morbid excitement and anticipation. +The ten pairs of men now marching so proudly into the +centre of the lists, are pledged to fight to the death. +</p> + +<p> +It would be a disgusting task to detail the scene of +bloodshed; to dwell on the fierce courage wasted, and the +brutal useless slaughter perpetrated in those Roman shambles; +yet, sickening as was the sight, so inured were the people to +such exhibitions, so completely imbued with a taste for the +horrible, and so careless of human life, that scarcely an eye +was turned away, scarcely a cheek grew paler, when a disabling +gash was received, or a mortal blow driven home; and +mothers with babies in their arms would bid the child turn +its head to watch the death-pang on the pale stern face of +some prostrate gladiator. +</p> + +<p> +Licinius had looked upon carnage in many forms, yet a +sad, grave disapproval sat on the general’s noble features. +Once, after a glance at his kinswoman’s eager face, he turned +from her with a gesture of anger and disgust; but Valeria +was too intent upon the scene enacted within a few short +paces to spare attention for anything besides, except, perhaps, +the vague foreboding of evil that was gnawing at her heart, +and to which such a moment of suspense as the present +afforded a temporary relief. +</p> + +<pb n='153'/><anchor id='Pg153'/> + +<p> +Rufus and Manlius had been pitted against each other by +lot. The taller frame and greater strength of the former +were supposed to be balanced by the latter’s exquisite skill. +Collars and bracelets were freely offered at even value +amongst the senators and equestrians on each. While the +other pairs were waging their strife with varying success in +different parts of the amphitheatre, these had found themselves +struggling near the barrier close under the seat +occupied by Valeria. She could hear distinctly their hard-drawn +breath; could read on each man’s face the stern set +expression of one who has no hope save in victory; for +whom defeat is inevitable and instant death. No wonder +she sat, so still and spell-bound, with her pale lips parted and +her cold hands clenched. +</p> + +<p> +The blood was pouring from more than one gash on the +giant’s naked body, yet Rufus seemed to have lost neither +coolness nor strength. He continued to ply his adversary +with blow on blow, pressing him, and following him up, till +he drove him nearly against the barrier. It was obvious that +Manlius, though still unwounded, was overmatched and +overpowered. At length Valeria drew in her breath with a +gasp, as if in pain. It seemed as if she, the spectator, winced +from that fatal thrust, which was accepted so calmly by the +gladiator whom it pierced. Rufus could scarcely believe he +had succeeded in foiling his adversary’s defence, and driving +it deftly home, so unmoved was the familiar face looking over +its shield into his own—so steady and skilful was the return +which instantaneously succeeded his attack. But that face +was growing paler and paler with every pulsation. Valeria, +gazing with wild fixed eyes, saw it wreathed in a strange sad +smile, and Manlius reeled and fell where he stood, breaking +his sword as he went down, and burying it beneath his body +in the sand. The other strode over him in act to strike. A +natural impulse of habit or self-preservation bade the fallen +man half raise his arm, with the gesture by which a gladiator +was accustomed to implore the clemency of the populace, +but he recollected himself, and let it drop proudly by his side. +Then he looked kindly up in his victor’s face. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Through the heart, comrade,</q> said he quietly, <q>for old +friendship’s sake;</q> and he never winced nor quailed when +the giant drove the blow home with all the strength that he +could muster. +</p> + +<p> +They had fed at the same board, and drunk from the +same winecup for years; and this was all he had it in his +power to bestow upon his friend. The people applauded +<pb n='154'/><anchor id='Pg154'/>loudly, but Valeria, who had heard the dead man’s last +appeal, felt her eyes fill with tears; and Mariamne, who had +raised her head to look, at this unlucky moment, buried it +once more in her kinsman’s cloak, sick and trembling, ready +to faint with pity, and dismay, and fear. +</p> + +</div><div n="1.20" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='155'/><anchor id='Pg155'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XX. The trident and the net"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XX. The trident and the net"/> +<head>CHAPTER XX<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE TRIDENT AND THE NET</hi></head> + +<p> +But a shout was ringing through the amphitheatre that +roused the Jewish maiden effectually to the business of +the day. It had begun in some far-off corner, with a mere +whispered muttering, and had been taken up by spectator +after spectator, till it swelled into a wild and deafening roar. +<q>A Patrician! a Patrician!</q> vociferated the crowd, thirsting +fiercely for fresh excitement, and palled with the vulgar +carnage, yearning to see the red blood flow from some scion +of an illustrious house. The tumult soon reached such a +height as to compel the attention of Vitellius, who summoned +Hippias to his chair, and whispered a few sentences in his ear. +This somewhat calmed the excitement; and while the +fencing-master’s exertions cleared the arena of the dead and +wounded, with whom it was encumbered, a general stir +might have been observed throughout the assemblage, while +each individual changed his position, and disposed himself +more comfortably for sight-seeing, as is the custom of a +crowd when anything of especial interest is about to take +place. Ere long Damasippus and Oarses were observed to +applaud loudly; and their example being followed by +thousands of imitators, the clapping of hands, the stamping +of feet, the cheers, and other vociferations rose with redoubled +vigour, while Julius Placidus stepped gracefully +into the centre of the arena, and made his obeisance to +the crowd with his usual easy and somewhat insolent +bearing. +</p> + +<p> +The tribune’s appearance was well calculated to excite the +admiration of the spectators, no mean judges of the human +form, accustomed as they were to scan and criticise it in its +highest state of perfection. His graceful figure was naked +and unarmed, save for a white linen tunic reaching to the +knee, and although he wore rings of gold round his ankles, +his feet were bare to ensure the necessary speed and activity +demanded by his mode of attack. His long dark locks, +<pb n='156'/><anchor id='Pg156'/>carefully curled and perfumed for the occasion, and bound by +a single golden fillet, floated carelessly over his neck, while +his left shoulder was tastefully draped, as it were, by the folds +of the dangling net, sprinkled and weighted with small leaden +beads, and so disposed as to be whirled away at once +without entanglement or delay upon its deadly errand. His +right hand grasped the trident, a three-pronged lance, some +seven feet in length, capable of inflicting a fatal wound; and +the flourish with which he made it quiver round his head +displayed a practised arm and a perfect knowledge of the +offensive weapon. +</p> + +<p> +To the shouts which greeted him—<q>Placidus! +Placidus!</q> <q>Hail to the tribune!</q> <q>Well done the +patrician order!</q> and other such demonstrations of welcome—he +replied by bowing repeatedly, especially directing his +courtesies to that portion of the amphitheatre in which +Valeria was placed. With all his acuteness, little did the +tribune guess how hateful he was at this moment to the very +woman on whose behalf he was pledged to engage in mortal +strife—little did he dream how earnest were her vows for his +speedy humiliation and defeat. Valeria, sitting there with +the red spots burning a deeper crimson in her cheeks, and +her noble features set in a mask of stone, would have asked +nothing better than to have leapt down from her seat, +snatched up sword and buckler, of which she well knew the +use, and done battle with him, then and there to the death. +</p> + +<p> +The tribune now walked proudly round the arena, nodding +familiarly to his friends, a proceeding which called forth +raptures of applause from Damasippus, Oarses, and other +of his clients and freedmen. He halted under the chair of +Cæsar, and saluted the Emperor with marked deference; +then, taking up a conspicuous position in the centre, and +leaning on his trident, seemed to await the arrival of his +antagonist. He was not kept long in suspense. With his +eyes riveted on Valeria, he observed the fixed colour of her +cheeks gradually suffusing face, neck, and bosom, to leave +her as pale as marble when it faded, and turning round he +beheld his enemy, marshalled into the lists by Hippias and +Hirpinus—the latter, who had slain his man, thus finding +himself at liberty to afford counsel and countenance to his +young friend. The shouts which greeted the new-comer were +neither so long nor so lasting as those that did honour to the +tribune; nevertheless, if the interest excited by each were to +be calculated by intensity rather than amount, the slave’s +suffrages would have far exceeded those of his adversary. +</p> + +<pb n='157'/><anchor id='Pg157'/> + +<p> +Mariamne’s whole heart was in her eyes as she welcomed +the glance of recognition he directed exclusively to her; and +Valeria, turning from one to the other, felt a bitter pang shoot +to her very marrow, as she instinctively acknowledged the +existence of a rival. Even at that moment of hideous +suspense, a host of maddening feelings rushed through the +Roman lady’s brain. Many a sunburnt peasant woman, +jostled and bewildered in the crowd, envied that sumptuous +dame with her place apart, her stately beauty, her rich +apparel, and her blazing jewels; but the peasant woman +would have rued the exchange had she been forced to take, +with these advantages, the passions that were laying waste +Valeria’s heart. Wounded pride, slighted love, doubt, fear, +vacillation, and remorse, are none the more endurable for +being clothed in costly raiment, and trapped out with gems +and gold. While Mariamne, in her singleness of heart, had +but one great and deadly fear—that he should fail—Valeria +found room for a thousand anxieties and misgivings, of conflicting +tendencies, and chafed under a distressing consciousness +that she could not satisfy herself what it was she most +dreaded or desired. +</p> + +<p> +Unprejudiced and uninterested spectators, however, had +but one opinion as to the chances of the Briton’s success. +If anything could have added to the enthusiasm called forth +by the appearance of Placidus, it was the patrician’s selection +of so formidable an antagonist. Esca, making his obeisance +to Cæsar, in the pride of his powerful form, and the bloom of +his youth and beauty, armed, moreover, with helmet, shield, +and sword, which he carried with the ease of one habituated +to their use, appeared as invincible a champion as could have +been chosen from the whole Roman Empire. Even Hirpinus, +albeit a man experienced in the uncertainties of such contests, +and cautious, if not in giving, at least in backing his opinion, +whispered to Hippias that the patrician looked like a mere +child by the side of their pupil, and offered to wager a flagon +of the best Falernian <q>that he was carried out of the arena +feet foremost within five minutes after the first attack, if he +missed his throw!</q> To which the fencing-master, true to +his habits of reticence and assumed superiority, vouchsafed +no reply save a contemptuous smile. +</p> + +<p> +The adversaries took up their ground with exceeding +caution. No advantage of sun or wind was allowed to either, +and having been placed by Hippias at a distance of ten yards +apart in the middle of the arena, neither moved a limb for +several seconds, as they stood intently watching each other, +<pb n='158'/><anchor id='Pg158'/>themselves the centre on which all eyes were fixed. It was +remarked that while Esca’s open brow bore only a look of +calm resolute attention, there was an evil smile of malice +stamped, as it were, upon the tribune’s face—the one seemed +an apt representation of Courage and Strength—the other of +Hatred and Skill. +</p> + +<p> +<q>He carries the front of a conqueror,</q> whispered Licinius +to his kinswoman, regarding his slave with looks of anxious +approval. <q>Trust me, Valeria, we shall win the day. Esca +will gain his freedom; the gilded chariot and the white horses +shall bring him and me to your door to-morrow morning, and +that gaudy tribune will have had a lesson, that I for one shall +not be sorry to have been the means of bestowing on him.</q> +</p> + +<p> +A bright smile lighted up Valeria’s face, but she looked +from the speaker to a dark-haired girl in the crowd below, +and the expression of her countenance changed till it grew as +forbidding as the tribune’s, while she replied with a careless +laugh—— +</p> + +<p> +<q>I care not who wins now, Licinius, since they are both in +the lists. To tell the truth, I did but fear the courage of this +Titan of yours might fail him at the last moment, and the +match would not be fought out after all. Hippias tells me +the tribune is the best netsman he ever trained.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He looked at her with a vague surprise; but following +the direction of his kinswoman’s eyes, he could not but +remark the obvious distress and agitation of the cloaked +figure on which they were bent. Mariamne, when she saw +the Briton fairly placed, front to front with his adversary, had +neither strength nor courage for more. Leaning against +Calchas, the poor girl hid her face in her hands and wept +as if her heart would break. +</p> + +<p> +Myrrhina, who no more than her mistress could have +borne to be absent from such a spectacle, had forced her +way into the crowd, accompanied by a few of Valeria’s +favourite slaves. Standing within three paces of the Jewess, +that voluble damsel expatiated loudly on the appearance of +the combatants, and her careless jests and sarcasms cut +Mariamne to the quick. It was painful to hear her lover’s +personal qualities canvassed as though he were some handsome +beast of prey, and his chance of life and death balanced +with heartless nicety by the flippant tongue of a waiting-maid; +but there was yet a deeper sting in store for her even +than this. Myrrhina, having got an audience, was nothing +loth to profit by their attention. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I’m sure,</q> said she, <q>whichever way the match goes I +<pb n='159'/><anchor id='Pg159'/>don’t know what my mistress will do. As for the tribune, +he would get out of his chariot any day on the bare stones +to kiss the very ground she walks on; and yet, if he dare so +much as to leave a scratch upon that handsome youth’s skin, +he need never come to our doors again. Why, time after +time have I hunted that boy all over the city to bring him +home with me. And it’s no light matter for a slave and a +barbarian to have won the favour of the proudest lady in +Rome. See how he looks up at her now, before they +begin!</q> +</p> + +<p> +The light words wounded very sore; and Mariamne +raised her head for one glance at the Briton, half in fond +appeal, half to protest, as it were, against the slander she +had heard. What she saw, however, left no room in her +loving heart for any feeling save intense horror and suspense. +</p> + +<p> +With his eye fixed on his adversary, Esca was advancing, +inch by inch, like a tiger about to spring. Covering the +lower part of his face and most of his body with his buckler, +and holding his short two-edged sword with bended arm and +threatening point, he crouched to at least a foot lower than +his natural stature, and seemed to have every muscle and +sinew braced, to dash in like lightning when the opportunity +offered. A false movement, he well knew, would be fatal, +and the difficulty was to come to close quarters, as, directly +he was within a certain distance, the deadly cast was sure +to be made. Placidus, on the other hand, stood perfectly +motionless. His eye was unusually accurate, and he could +trust his practised arm to whirl the net abroad at the exact +moment when its sweep would be irresistible. So he remained +in the same collected attitude, his trident shifted into the +left hand, his right foot advanced, his right arm wrapped in +the gathered folds of the net which hung across his body, and +covered the whole of his left side and shoulder. Once he +tried a scornful gibe and smile to draw his enemy from his +guard, but in vain; and though Esca, in return, made a feint +with the same object, the former’s attitude remained immovable, +and the latter’s snake-like advance continued with +increasing caution and vigilance. +</p> + +<p> +An inch beyond the fatal distance, Esca halted once more. +For several seconds the combatants thus stood at bay, and +the hundred thousand spectators crowded into that spacious +amphitheatre held their breath, and watched them like one +man. +</p> + +<p> +At length the Briton made a false attack, prepared to +spring back immediately and foil the netsman’s throw, but +<pb n='160'/><anchor id='Pg160'/>the wily tribune was not to be deceived, and the only result +was that, without appearing to shift his ground, he moved +an arm’s length nearer his adversary. Then the Briton dashed +in, and this time in fierce earnest. Foot, hand, and eye, all +together, and so rapidly, that the tribune’s throw flew harmless +over his assailant’s head, Placidus only avoiding his deadly +thrust by the cat-like activity with which he leaped aside; +then, turning round, he scoured across the arena for life, +gathering his net for a fresh cast as he flew. <q>Coward!</q> +hissed Valeria, between her set teeth; while Mariamne +breathed once more—nay, her bosom panted, and her eye +sparkled with something like triumph at the approaching +climax. +</p> + +<p> +She was premature, however, in her satisfaction, and +Valeria’s disdain was also undeserved. Though apparently +flying for his life, Placidus was as cool and brave at that +moment as when he entered the arena. Ear and eye were +alike on the watch for the slightest false movement on the +part of his pursuer; and ere he had half crossed the lists, +his net was gathered up, and folded with deadly precision +once more. +</p> + +<p> +The tribune especially prided himself on his speed of foot. +It was on this quality that he chiefly depended for safety in +a contest which at first sight appeared so unequal. He argued +from the great strength of his adversary, that the latter +would not be so pre-eminent in activity as himself; but he +omitted to calculate the effects of a youth spent in the daily +labours of the chase amongst the woods and mountains of +Britain. Those following feet had many a time run down +the wild goat over its native rocks. Faster and faster fly the +combatants, to the intense delight of the crowd, who specially +affect this kind of combat for the pastime it thus affords. +Speedy as is the tribune, his foe draws nearer and nearer, +and now, close to where Mariamne stands with Calchas, he +is within a stride of his antagonist. His arm is up to strike! +when a woman’s shriek rings through the amphitheatre, +startling Vitellius on his throne, and the sword flies aimlessly +from the Briton’s grasp as he falls forward on his face, and +the impetus rolls him over and over in the sand. +</p> + +<p> +There is no chance for him now. He is scarcely down +ere the net whirls round him, and he is fatally and helplessly +entangled in its folds. Mariamne gazes stupefied on the +prostrate form, with stony face and a fixed unmeaning stare. +Valeria springs to her feet in a sudden impulse, forgetting +for the moment where she is. +</p> + +<pb n='161'/><anchor id='Pg161'/> + +<p> +Placidus, striding over his fallen enemy with his trident +raised, and the old sneering smile deepening and hardening +on his face, observed the cause of his downfall, and inwardly +congratulated himself on the lucky chance which had alone +prevented their positions being reversed. The blood was +streaming from a wound in Esca’s foot. It will be remembered +that where Manlius fell, his sword was buried under +him in the sand. On removing his dead body the weapon +escaped observation, and the Briton, treading in hot haste +on the very spot where it lay concealed, had not only been +severely lacerated, but tripped up and brought to the ground +by the snare. +</p> + +<p> +All this flashed through the conqueror’s mind, as he +stood erect, prepared to deal a blow that should close all +accounts, and looked up to Valeria for the fatal sign. +</p> + +<p> +Maddened with rage and jealousy; sick, bewildered, and +scarcely conscious of her actions, the Roman lady was about +to give it, when Licinius seized her arms and held them +down by force. Then, with a numerous party of friends +and clients, he made a strong demonstration in favour of +mercy. The speed of foot, too, displayed by the vanquished, +and the obvious cause of his discomfiture, acted favourably +on the majority of spectators. Such an array of hands +turned outwards and pointing to the earth met the tribune’s +eye, that he could not but forbear his cruel purpose, so he +gave his weapon to one of the attendants who had now +entered the arena, took his cloak from the hands of another, +and, with a graceful bow to the spectators, turned scornfully +away from his fallen foe. +</p> + +<p> +Esca, expecting nothing less than immediate death, had +his eyes fixed on the drooping figure of Mariamne; but the +poor girl had seen nothing since his fall. Her last moment +of consciousness showed her a cloud of dust, a confused +mass of twine, and an ominous figure with arm raised in +act to strike; then barriers and arena, and eager faces and +white garments, and the whole amphitheatre, pillars, sand, +and sky, reeled ere they faded into darkness; sense and +sight failed her at the same moment, and she fainted helplessly +in her kinsman’s arms. +</p> + +<pb n='162'/><anchor id='Pg162'/> +</div></div> +<pb n='163'/><anchor id='Pg163'/> +<div type="book" rend="page-break-before: right"> +<index index="toc" level1="Anteros"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="Anteros"/> +<head><hi rend="font-weight: bold">Anteros</hi></head> + +<div n="2.1" type="chapter"> +<index index="toc" level1="I. The listening slave"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="I. The listening slave"/> + +<head>CHAPTER I<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE LISTENING SLAVE</hi></head> + +<figure url="images/i_186.png" rend="w40"><figDesc>Initial W</figDesc></figure> + +<p> +Wounded, vanquished, transferred +from his kind master, +and farther from liberty than +ever, Esca’s was now indeed a +pitiable lot. The tribune, entitled +by the very terms of his +wager to the life and person of +his antagonist, was not the man +to forego this advantage by any +act of uncalled-for generosity. +In the Briton he believed he +now possessed a tool to use with +effect, in furtherance of a work +which the seductive image of +Valeria rendered every day more engrossing; an auxiliary +by whose aid he might eventually stand first in the good +graces of the only woman who had ever obtained a mastery +over his unyielding disposition and selfish heart. None +the more on this account did he cherish the captive, nor +alleviate his condition as a slave. From the effects of his +injury, Esca could not be put to any harder kinds of labour, +but in all menial offices, however degrading, he was compelled +to take his share. Different, indeed, was his condition here +from what it had been in the service of the high-minded +Licinius, and bitterly did he feel the exchange. +</p> + +<p> +Submitting to sarcasm, insult, continued ill-treatment, and +annoyance, the noble barbarian would have failed under the +trial, had it not been for a few well-remembered words, on +the truth of which Calchas had so often insisted, and in +which (for when were human thoughts without an earthly +leavening?) Mariamne seemed to cherish an implicit belief. +<pb n='164'/><anchor id='Pg164'/>Those words breathed hope and consolation under the very +worst misfortunes that life could offer; and Esca suffered on, +very silent, and tolerably patient, although, perhaps, there was +a fiercer fire smouldering in his breast than would have been +approved by his venerable monitor—a fire that only waited +occasion to blaze out all the more dangerously for being thus +forcibly suppressed. +</p> + +<p> +With a malicious pleasure, natural to his disposition, +Placidus compelled the <anchor id="corr164"/><corr sic="Brition">Briton</corr> to perform several domestic +offices which brought him about his person. It flattered the +tribune’s vanity to have continually before his eyes the +athletic frame he was so proud to have overcome; and it +pleased him that his friends, guests, and clients should be thus +led to converse upon his late encounter, which had created no +small gossip in the fashionable world of Rome. It happened, +then, that Esca, while preparing his master’s bath, was startled +to hear the name that was never long out of his own thoughts +spoken in accents of caution and secrecy by the tribune himself, +who was in the adjoining apartment, holding close consultation +with Hippias the fencing-master and the two +freedmen, Damasippus and Oarses. All were obviously +interested in the subject under discussion, and, believing +themselves safe from eaves-droppers, spoke energetically, +though in tones somewhat lower than their wont. +</p> + +<p> +He started, and the blood ebbed painfully from his heart. +<q>Mariamne!</q> yes, the word was again repeated, and while +Oarses said something in a whisper, he could clearly distinguish +the tribune’s low mocking laugh. It was plain they +were unaware of his presence; and, indeed, it was at an +earlier hour than usual that he had made ready the unguents, +perfumes, strigil, and other appliances indispensable to the +luxurious ablutions of a Roman patrician. The bathroom +was inside the favourite apartment of Placidus, where he was +now holding counsel, and could only be entered through the +latter, from which it was separated by a heavy velvet curtain. +Esca, surrounded by the materials of the toilet, had been +sitting for a longer time than he knew, lost in thought, until +aroused by the mention of Mariamne’s name. Thus it was +that the four others believed the bathroom empty, and their +conversation unheard. +</p> + +<p> +Anxious and excited, the Briton scarcely dared to draw +his breath, but crept cautiously behind the folds of the heavy +curtain, and listened attentively. The tribune was walking +to and fro with the restless motions and stealthy gait of a +tiger in its cage. Hippias, seated at his ease upon a couch, +<pb n='165'/><anchor id='Pg165'/>was examining the device of a breastplate, with his usual air +of good-humoured superiority; and Damasippus, appealing +with admiring looks to Oarses, who responded in kind, +seemed to endorse, as it were, with a dependant’s mute +approval, the opinions and observations of his patron. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Two-thirds of the legions have already come over,</q> said +Placidus, rapidly enumerating the forces on which Vespasian’s +party could count. <q>In Spain, in Gaul, in Britain, the +soldiers have declared openly against Vitellius. The +surrender of Cremona can no longer be concealed from the +meanest populace. Alexandria, the granary of the empire, +has fallen into the hands of Vespasian. Those dusky knaves, +thy countrymen, Oarses, will see us starve, ere they send us +supplies under the present dynasty; and think ye our greasy +plebeians here will endure the girdle of famine, thus drawn +tighter, day by day, round their luxurious paunches? The +fleet at Misenum was secured long ago, but the news that +Cæsar could not count upon a single galley in blue water +only reached the capital to-day. Then the old Prætorians +are ripe for mischief; you may trust them never to forget nor +to forgive the disgrace of last year, when the chosen band +was broke, dismissed, and, worst of all, deprived of rations +and pay; I tell thee, Hippias, those angry veterans are ready +to take the town without assistance, and put old and young +to the sword. Fail! it is impossible we can fail; the new +party outnumbers the old by ten to one!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You have told off a formidable list,</q> replied Hippias +quietly; <q>I cannot see that you are in need of any further +help from me or mine.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Placidus shot a sharp questioning glance at the fencing-master, +and resumed— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Half the numbers that have given in their adhesion to +Vespasian would serve to put my chariot-boy on the throne; +Automedon’s long curls might be bound by a diadem to-morrow, +were he the favourite of the hour, so far as Rome is +concerned. You know what the masses are, my Hippias, for +it is your trade to pander to their tastes, and rouse their +enthusiasm. It is true that the great general is, at this +moment, virtually ruler of the empire, but a pebble might +turn the tide in the capital. I would not trust Vespasian’s +own son, young and dissipated as he is, could he but make a +snatch at the reins with any hope of holding them firmly +when once within his grasp. Titus Flavius Domitian might +be emperor to-morrow, if he would be satisfied to wear the +purple but for a week, and then make room for someone +<pb n='166'/><anchor id='Pg166'/>else. Nay, the people are fickle enough to be capable of +turning round at any moment, and retaining our present +admirable ruler on the throne. Rome must be coerced, my +Hippias; the barbers, and cobblers, and water-carriers must +be kept down and intimidated; if need be, we must cut a few +garlic-breathing throats. It may be necessary to remove +Cæsar himself, lest the reactionary feeling should burst out +again, and we should find ourselves left with nothing for our +pains, but the choice of a cup of poison, a gasp in a halter, or +three inches of steel. We <hi rend='italic'>must</hi> succeed this time, for not a +man need hope for pardon if Cæsar is thoroughly frightened. +Hippias, there must be no half-measures now!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well said!</q> exclaimed the freedmen in a breath, with +very pale faces, nevertheless, and an enthusiasm obviously +somewhat against the grain. +</p> + +<p> +Hippias looked quietly up from the breastplate resting +on his lap. +</p> + +<p> +<q>There will be shows,</q> said he, <q>and blood flowing like +water in the circus, whoever wears the purple. While Rome +stands, the gladiator need never want for bread.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Now you speak like a man of sense,</q> replied the tribune, +in the same tone; <q>for after all, the whole matter resolves +itself into a mere question of money. The shows are tolerably +lucrative, at least to their contriver, but it takes many a +festival ere the sesterces count by tens of thousands; and +Hippias loves luxury and wine, and women too—nay, deny +it not, my comely hero; and if the Family and their trainer +could be hired at a fair price, for an hour’s work or so, why +they need never enter the arena again, save as spectators; +nay, poorer men than their chief might be have sat in the +equestrian rows, ere now.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You want to hire my chickens and myself for a forlorn +hope,</q> retorted Hippias impatiently. <q>Better say so at once, +and be plain with me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>It is even so,</q> resumed Placidus, with an assumption of +extreme candour. <q>For real work I have few I can depend +upon but the old Prætorians; and though they stick at +nothing, there are hardly enough of them for my purpose. +With a chosen two hundred of thine, my dealer in heroes, I +could command Rome for twenty-four hours; and when +Placidus soars into the sky, he carries Hippias on his wings. +Speak out; thy terms are high, but such a game as ours is +not played for a handful of pebbles or a few brass farthings. +What is the price, man by man?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You would require two hundred of them,</q> observed +<pb n='167'/><anchor id='Pg167'/>the other reflectively. <q>Five thousand sesterces<note place="foot">About forty pounds sterling.</note> a man, +and his freedom, which would come to nearly as much +more.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The killed not to count, of course,</q> bargained the tribune. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Of course not,</q> repeated Hippias. <q>Listen, most illustrious; +I will take all chances, and supply the best men I +have, for eight thousand a-head. Two hundred swordsmen +who would take Pluto by the beard without a scruple, if I +only lifted my hand. Lads who can hold their own against +thrice their number of any legion that was ever drilled. They +are ready at two hours’ notice.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He was speaking truth, for Hippias was honest enough +in his own particular line. Amongst the thousands who +owed their professional standing, and the very bread they +ate, to the celebrated fencing-master, it was no hard task +to select a company of dare-devils, such as he described, +who would desire no better sport than to see their native +city in flames, with the streets knee-deep in blood and wine, +while they put men, women, and children indiscriminately to +the sword. The tribune’s eye brightened, as he thought of +the fierce work he could accomplish with such tools as these +ready to his hand. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Keep them for me, from to-day,</q> he answered, looking +round the apartment, as though to assure himself that he +was only heard by those in his confidence. <q>My plan +cannot but succeed if we only observe common secrecy and +caution. Ten picked men, and thyself, my Hippias, I bid +to sup with me here, the rest of the band shall be distributed +by twenties amongst the different streets opening on the +palace, preserving their communication thus: one man at +a time must continually pass from each post to the next, +until every twenty has been changed. This secures us from +treachery, and will keep our cut-throats on the alert. At a +given signal, all are to converge on the middle garden-gate, +which will be found open. Then they may lead the old +Prætorians to the attack, and take the palace itself by +assault, in defiance of any resistance, however desperate, that +can be made. The German guard are stubborn dogs, and +must be put to the sword directly the outer hall is gained. I +would not have them burn down the palace if they can help +it; but when they have done <hi rend='italic'>my</hi> work, they are welcome to +all they can carry out of it on their backs, and you may tell +them so.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Hippias noted in his own mind this additional incentive +<pb n='168'/><anchor id='Pg168'/>with considerable satisfaction. After a moment’s pause, he +looked fixedly in the tribune’s face, and inquired— +</p> + +<p> +<q>How would you wish your guests armed for the supper-party? +Shall we bring our knives with us, kind host?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Placidus flushed a dark red, and then grew pale. He +averted his eyes from Hippias, while he answered— +</p> + +<p> +<q>There are few weapons so true as the short two-edged +sword. There will be work for our brave little party inside +the palace, of which we must make no bungling. Is it such +a grave matter, my Hippias, to slay a fat old man?</q> he +added inquiringly. +</p> + +<p> +The other’s face assumed an expression of intense +disgust. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Nay,</q> said he, <q>I will have no murder done in cold +blood. As much fighting as you please, in the way of +business, but we are no hired assassins, my men and I. To +put one Cæsar off the throne, and another on, is a pretty +night’s amusement enough, and I have no objection to it; +but to take an old man out of his bed, even though he be an +emperor, and slay him as you slay a fat sheep, I’ll none of +it. Send for a butcher, tribune; this is no trade of ours!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Placidus bit his lip, and seemed to think profoundly for +a moment, then his brow cleared, and he resumed with a +light laugh. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Far be it from me to offend a gladiator’s scruples. I +know the morals of the Family, and respect their prejudices. +Half the money shall be in your hands within an hour; the +rest shall be paid when the job is done. I think we understand +each other well enough. Is it a bargain, Hippias? +Can I depend upon you?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The fencing-master was not yet satisfied. +</p> + +<p> +<q>About the guests,</q> he asked sternly; <q>how are we to +pay for our supper?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Placidus clapped him on the shoulder, with a jovial +laugh. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I will be frank with thee,</q> said he, <q>old comrade. Why +should there be secrets between thee and me? We go from +my supper-table to the palace. We enter with the storming-party. +I know the private apartments of the Emperor. I +can lead our little band direct to the royal presence. Here +we will rally round Vitellius, and take his sacred person into +our charge. Hippias, I will make it ten thousand sesterces +a man, for each of the ten, and thou shalt name thine own +price for thine own services. But the Emperor must not +escape. Dost thou understand me now?</q> +</p> + +<pb n='169'/><anchor id='Pg169'/> + +<p> +<q>I like it not,</q> replied the other; <q>but the price is fair +enough, and my men must live. I would it could be so +arranged that some resistance might be made in the palace; +you slay a man so much easier with his helmet on and his +sword in his hand!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Pooh! prejudice!</q> laughed the tribune. <q>Professional +fancies that spring from thy coarse material trade. Blood +leaves no more stain than wine. You and I have spilt +enough of both in our time. What matter, a throat cut +or a cracked flagon of Falernian? Dash a pitcher of water +over a marble floor like this, and you wash away the signs +of both at once. Said I not well, Damasippus? Why, what +ails thee, man? Thy face has turned as white as thy +gown!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Damasippus, indeed, whose eyes were fixed upon the +floor to which his patron had just alluded, presented, at this +juncture, an appearance of intense terror and amazement. +The freedman’s mouth was open, his cheeks were deadly +pale, and his very hair seemed to bristle with dismay. +Pointing a shaking finger to the slabs of marble at his feet, +he could only stammer out in broken accents: <q>May the +gods avert the omen!</q> over and over again. +</p> + +<p> +The others, following the direction of his gaze, were no +less astonished to see a narrow stream of crimson winding +over the smooth white floor, as though the very stones protested +against the tribune’s reckless and inhuman sentiments. +For an instant all stood motionless, then Placidus, leaping at +the velvet curtain, tore it fiercely open, and discovered the +cause of the phenomenon. +</p> + +<p> +Listening attentively for some further mention of the +name that had roused his whole being, not a syllable of the +foregoing conversation had been lost upon Esca, who, kneeling +on one knee, with his wounded foot bent under him, and +his ear applied close to the heavy folds of the curtain, had +never moved a hair’s-breadth from his attitude of fixed and +absorbing attention. In this constrained position, the wound +in his foot, which was not yet healed over, had opened afresh, +and though he was himself unconscious of all but the cruel +and treacherous scheme he overheard, it bled so freely that +a dark stream stole gradually beneath the curtains, and crept +gently along the marble to the very feet of the horror-stricken +Damasippus. +</p> + +<p> +Esca sprang to his full height; in that moment his blood +curdled, as it had done when he was down upon the sand, +with his enemy’s eye glaring on him through the cruel net. +<pb n='170'/><anchor id='Pg170'/>He knew the tribune, and he felt there was no hope. The +latter laughed loud and long. It was his way of covering all +disagreeable emotions, but it boded no good to the object +of his mirth. When Esca heard that laugh he looked +anxiously about him as though to seek a weapon. What +was the use? He stood wounded and defenceless in the +power of four reckless men, of whom two were armed. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Hold him!</q> exclaimed Placidus to his freedmen, +drawing at the same time a short two-edged sword from +its sheath. <q>It is unfortunate for the barbarian that he +has learned our language. The necessity is disagreeable, +but there is only one way of ensuring silence. My bath, too, +is prepared, so I can spare him for to-day, and my freedmen +will see that his place is supplied by to-morrow. Hold +him, cowards! I say; do you fear that he will bite you?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Neither Damasippus nor Oarses, however, seemed much +inclined to grapple with the stalwart Briton. Wounded and +outnumbered as he was, without a chance of rescue or escape, +there was yet a defiant carriage of the head, a fierce glare +in the eye, that warned the freedmen to keep hands off him +as long as they could. They looked at each other irresolutely, +and shrank from the patron’s glance. That moment’s hesitation +saved him. Hippias, who regarded every six feet of +manhood with a brave heart inside it as his own peculiar +property, had besides a kindly feeling for his old pupil. +He put his muscular frame between the master and the +slave. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Give him a day or two, tribune,</q> said he carelessly. +<q>I can find a better use for him than to cut his throat here +on this clean white floor, and an equally safe one in the end, +you may be sure.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Impossible, fool!</q> answered Placidus angrily. <q>He has +heard enough to destroy every hair on the head of each of us. +He must never leave this room alive!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Only twenty-four hours,</q> pleaded the fencing-master, +who well knew how much at that time in Rome a day +might bring forth. <q>Put him in ward as close as you will, +but let him live till to-morrow. Hippias asks it as a favour +to himself, and you may not like to be refused by him, when +it is <hi rend='italic'>your</hi> turn. What if I should say <q>No</q> in the private +apartments of the palace? Come, let us make a compromise.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The tribune reflected for a moment. Then striking his +right hand into that of Hippias— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Agreed,</q> said he. <q>Twenty-four hours’ grace on one +<pb n='171'/><anchor id='Pg171'/>side, and the sharpest blade in Rome at my disposal on the +other. Ho! Damasippus, call some of my people in. Bid +them put the new collar on the slave, and chain him to the +middle pillar in the inner court.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The order was punctually obeyed, and Esca found himself +a helpless prisoner, burdened with a secret that might save +the empire, and with maddening apprehensions on behalf +of Mariamne tearing at his heart. +</p> + +</div><div n="2.2" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='172'/><anchor id='Pg172'/> +<index index="toc" level1="II. Attack and Defence"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="II. Attack and Defence"/> +<head>CHAPTER II<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">ATTACK AND DEFENCE</hi></head> + +<p> +Such beauty as the Jewess’s, although she seldom went +abroad, and led as sequestered a life as was compatible +with the domestic duties she had to perform, could not +pass unnoticed in a place like Rome. Notwithstanding the +utter contempt in which her nation was held by its proud +conquerors, she had been observed going to market in the +morning for the few necessaries of her household, or filling +her pitcher from the Tiber at sunset; and amongst other +evil eyes that had rested on her fair young face were those +of Damasippus, freedman to Julius Placidus the tribune. +He had lost no time in reporting to his patron the jewel he +had discovered, so to speak, in its humble setting; for, like +the jackal, Damasippus never dared to hunt for himself, and +followed after evil, not for its own sake, but for the lust of +gold. +</p> + +<p> +His patron, too, though he had only seen the girl once, +and then closely veiled, was so inflamed by the description +of her charms, on which the client dwelt at great length, that +he resolved to possess himself of her, in the sheer insolence +of a great man’s whim, promising the freedman that after +the lion was served he should have the jackal’s reward. It +was in consequence of this agreement that a plot was laid +of which Esca overheard but half a dozen syllables, and yet +enough to render him very uneasy when he reflected on the +recklessness and cruelty of him with whom it originated, +and the slavish obedience with which it was sure to be +carried out. It would have broken the spirit of a brave man +to be chained to a pillar, fasting and wounded, with only +twenty-four hours to live; and a keen suspicion that the +woman he loved was even then all unconsciously walking +into the toils, added a pang to bodily suffering which might +have turned the stoutest heart to water, but Esca never lost +hope altogether. Something he could not analyse seemed +to give him comfort and support, nor was he aware that the +<pb n='173'/><anchor id='Pg173'/>blind vague trust he was beginning to entertain in some +power above and beyond himself, yet on which he felt he +could implicitly rely, was the first glimmer of the true faith +dawning on his soul. +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps the slave in his chain, under sentence of death, +bore a lighter heart than his luxurious master, washed, +perfumed, and tricked out in all the glitter of dress and +ornament, rolling in his gilded chariot to do homage to the +woman who had really mastered his selfish heart. Automedon, +whose eyes were of the sharpest, remarked that his lord was +nervous and restless, that his cheek paled, and his lip shook +more and more as they proceeded on their well-known way, +and that when they neared the portals of Valeria’s house +the tribune’s hand trembled so that he could scarcely fasten +the brooch upon his shoulder. How white against the +crimson mantle, dyed twice and thrice till it had deepened +almost into purple, looked those uncertain fingers, quivering +about the clasp of gold! +</p> + +<p> +However reckless, unprincipled, and cunning a man may +be, he is inevitably disarmed by the woman he really loves. +This is even the case when his affection is returned; but +when he has fallen into the hands of one who, disliking him +personally, has resolved to make him her tool, his situation +is pitiable indeed. These hopeless passions, too, have in +all ages been of the fiercest and the most enduring. Ill-usage +on the one side or the other has not produced the +effect that might be expected, and the figurative shirt of +Nessus, instead of being torn off in shreds and cast away, +has been far oftener hugged closer and closer to the skin, +burning and blistering into the very marrow. It generally +happens, too, that the suitor, whose whole existence seems +to hang upon his success, blunders into the course that leads +him in a direction exactly contrary to his goal. He is pretty +sure to say and do the wrong thing at the wrong time. He +offers his attentions with a pertinacity that wearies and +offends, or withdraws them with a precipitation so transparent +as to compel remark. When he should be firm, he is +plaintive; when he is expected to be cheerful, he turns sulky. +To enhance his own value he becomes boastful to the extreme +verge, and sometimes beyond it, of the truth; or in order to +prove his devotion, he makes himself ridiculous, and thereby +deals the final and suicidal blow, if such indeed be necessary, +that is to shatter like glass the fabric of his hopes. +</p> + +<p> +The tribune knew women thoroughly. He could plead +no lack of experience, for ignorance of that intricate and +<pb n='174'/><anchor id='Pg174'/>puzzling labyrinth, a woman’s heart. He had, indeed, broken +more than one in the process of examination, and yet the +boy Automedon, sitting by his side in the chariot, with the +wind lifting his golden curls, would hardly have been guilty +of so many false movements, such mistakes both of tactics +and strategy, as disgraced his lord’s conduct of the unequal +warfare he waged with Valeria. Yet this engrossing affection, +stained and selfish as it was, constituted perhaps the one +redeeming quality of the tribune’s character; afforded the +only incentive by which his better and manlier feelings could +be aroused. +</p> + +<p> +Possibly Valeria expected him. Women have strange +instincts on such matters, which seldom deceive. She was +dressed with the utmost magnificence, as though conscious +that simplicity could have no charms for Placidus, and sat +in a splendour nearly regal, keeping Myrrhina and the rest +of her maidens within call. Lovers are acute observers; as +he walked up the cool spacious court to greet her, he saw +that she was gentler, and more languid than her wont; she +looked wearied and unhappy, as though she, too, acknowledged +the sorrows and the weaknesses of her sex. Lover-like, he +thought this unusual shade of softness became her well. +</p> + +<p> +For days she had been fighting with her own heart, and +she had suffered as such undisciplined natures must. The +strife had left its traces on her pale proud face, and she felt +a vague unacknowledged yearning for repose. The wild-bird +had beat her wings and ruffled her plumage till she was +tired, and a skilful fowler would have taken advantage of the +reaction to lure her into his net. Perhaps she had been +thinking what happiness it must be to have one in the +world in whom she could confide, on whom she could rely; +one loyal manly nature on which to rest her woman’s heart, +with all its caprices, and weaknesses, and capacity for love; +perhaps she may have been even touched by the tribune’s +unshaken devotion to herself, by the constancy which could +withstand the allurements of vice, and even the distractions +of political intrigue; perhaps to-day she disliked him less +than on any former occasion, though it could hardly have +been for <hi rend='italic'>his</hi> sake that her eye was heavy, and her bosom +heaved. If so, whatever favour he had unconsciously gained, +was as unconsciously destroyed by his own hand. He +approached her with an air of assumed confidence, that +masked only too well the agitation of his real feelings. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Fair Valeria,</q> said he, <q>I have obeyed your commands, +and I come like a faithful servant to claim my reward.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='175'/><anchor id='Pg175'/> + +<p> +Now a woman’s commands are not always intended to +be literally obeyed. Under any circumstances she seldom +likes to be reminded of them; and as for <hi rend='italic'>claiming</hi> anything +from Valeria, why the very word roused all the rebellion +that was dormant in her nature. At that instant rose on +her mind’s eye the scene in the amphitheatre, the level sand, +the tossing sea of faces, the hoarse roar of the crowd, the +strong white limbs and the yellow locks lying helpless +beneath a dark vindictive face, and a glitter of uplifted +steel. How she hated the conqueror then! How she hated +him now! She was clasping a bracelet carelessly on her +arm, the fair round arm he admired so much, and that never +looked so fair and round as in this gesture. It was part +of his torture to make herself as attractive as she could. +Her cold eyes chilled him at once. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I had forgotten all about it,</q> said she. <q>I am obliged +to you for reminding me that I am in your debt.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Though somewhat hurt, he answered courteously, <q>There +can be no debt from a mistress to her slave. You know, +Valeria, that all of mine, even to my life, is at your disposal.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well?</q> she asked, with a provoking persistency of misapprehension. +</p> + +<p> +He began to lose his head; he, ordinarily so calm, and +cunning, and self-reliant. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You bade me enter on a difficult and dangerous undertaking. +It was perhaps a lady’s caprice, the merest possible +whim. But you expressed a wish, and I never rested till +I had accomplished it.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You mean about that wretched slave?</q> said she, and +the colour rose faintly to her cheek. <q>But you never killed +him after all.</q> +</p> + +<p> +How little he knew her! This, then, he thought, was the +cause of her coldness, of her displeasure. Esca had in some +way incurred her ill-will, and she was angry with the conqueror +who had spared him so foolishly when in his power. What +a heart must this be of hers that could only quench its +resentment in blood! Yet he loved her none the less. +How the fair round arm, and the stately head, and the turn +of the white shoulder maddened him with a longing that +was almost akin to rage. He caught her hand, and pressed +it fervently to his lips. +</p> + +<p> +<q>How can I please you?</q> he exclaimed, and his voice +trembled with the only <hi rend='italic'>real</hi> emotion he perhaps had ever +felt. <q>Oh! Valeria, you know that I love the very ground +you tread on.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='176'/><anchor id='Pg176'/> + +<p> +She bade Myrrhina bring her some embroidery on which +the girl was busied, and thus effectually checked any further +outpouring of sentiments which are not conveniently expressed +within earshot of a third person. The waiting-maid took +her seat at her mistress’s elbow, her black eyes dancing in +malicious mirth. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Is that all you have to tell me?</q> resumed Valeria, with +a smile in which coquetry, indifference, and conscious power +were admirably blended. <q>Words are but empty air. My +favour is reserved for those who win it by deeds.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>He shall die! I pledge you my word he shall die!</q> +exclaimed the tribune, still misunderstanding the beautiful +enigma on which he had set his heart. <q>I have but spared +him till I should know your pleasure, and now his fate is +sealed. Ere this time to-morrow he will have crossed the Styx, +and Valeria will repay me with one of her brightest smiles.</q> +</p> + +<p> +A shudder she could not suppress swept over the smooth +white skin, but she suffered no trace of emotion to appear +upon her countenance. She had a game to play now, and it +must be played steadily and craftily to ensure success. She +bade Myrrhina fetch wine and fruit to place before her guest, +and while the waiting-maid crossed the hall on her errand, +she suffered the tribune to take her hand once more—nay, +even returned its caressing clasp, with an almost imperceptible +pressure. He was intoxicated with his success, he felt +he was winning at last; and the jewelled cup that Myrrhina +brought him, as he thought all too soon, remained for a while +suspended in his hand, while he uttered fervent protestations +of love, which were received with an equanimity that ought +to have convinced him they were hopelessly wasted on his idol. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You profess much,</q> said she, <q>but it costs men little to +promise. We have but one faithful lover in the empire, and +he is enslaved by a barbarian princess and another man’s +wife. Would <hi rend='italic'>you</hi> have turned back from all the pleasures of +Rome, to fight one more campaign against those dreadful +Jews, for the sake of Berenice’s sunburnt face?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Titus had consulted the oracle of Venus,</q> replied the +tribune, with a meaning smile; <q>and doubtless the goddess +had promised him a double victory. Valeria, you know there +is nothing a man will not dare to win the woman he loves.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Could you be as true?</q> she asked, throwing all the +sweetness of her mellow voice, all the power of her winning +eyes, into the question. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Try me,</q> answered he, and for one moment the man’s +nature was changed, and he felt capable of devotion, +self-<pb n='177'/><anchor id='Pg177'/>sacrifice, fidelity, all that constitutes the heroism of love. The +next, nature reasserted her sway, and he was counting the cost. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I have a fancy for your barbarian,</q> said Valeria carelessly, +after a pause. <q>Myrrhina loves him, and—and if you +will give him to me I will take him into my household.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Placidus shot a piercing glance at the waiting-maid, and +that well-tutored damsel cast down her eyes and tried to +blush. There was something, too, in Valeria’s manner that +did not satisfy him, and yet he was willing to believe more +than he hoped, and nearly all he wished. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I seldom <hi rend='italic'>ask</hi> for anything,</q> resumed Valeria, raising her +head with a proud petulant gesture of which she knew the +full effect. <q>It is far easier for me to grant a favour than to +implore one. And yet, I know not why, but I do not feel it +painful to beg anything to-day from you!</q> +</p> + +<p> +A soft smile broke over the haughty face while she spoke, +and she raised her eyes and looked full into his for an instant, +ere she lowered them to toy with the bracelet once more. It +was the deadliest thrust she had in all her cunning of fence, +the antagonist could seldom parry or withstand it; would it +foil him in their present encounter? He loved her as much +as such a nature can love, but the question was one of life +and death, and it was no time for child’s play now, as Esca +was in possession of a secret that might annihilate his lord in +an hour. The tribune was not a man to sacrifice his very +existence for a woman, even though that woman was Valeria. +He hesitated, and she, marking his hesitation, turned pale, +and shook with rage. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You refuse me!</q> said she, in accents that trembled +either with suppressed fury or lacerated feelings. <q>You +refuse me. <hi rend='italic'>You</hi>, the only man living for whom I would have +so lowered myself. The only man I ever stooped to entreat. +Oh! it is too much, too much.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She bowed her head in her hands, and as the wealth of +brown hair showered over her white shoulders, they heaved as +if she wept. Myrrhina looked reproachfully at the tribune, +and muttered, <q>Oh! if he knew, if he only <hi rend='italic'>knew</hi>!</q> +</p> + +<p> +In his dealings with the other sex Placidus had always +been of opinion that it is better to untie a knot than to cut it. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Fair Valeria,</q> said he, <q>ask me anything but this. I am +pledged to slay this man within twenty-four hours; will not +that content you?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The exigency of the situation, the danger of him for +whom she had conceived so wild and foolish a passion, +sharpened her powers of deception, and made her reckless of +<pb n='178'/><anchor id='Pg178'/>her own feelings, her own degradation. Shaking the hair back +from her temples, beautiful in her disorder and her tears, she +looked with wet eyes in the tribune’s face, while she replied— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Do you think I care for the barbarian? What difference +can it make to Valeria if such as this Briton were slain by +hecatombs? It is for Myrrhina’s sake I grieve; and more, +far more than this, to think that you can refuse me anything +in the whole world!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Duplicity was no new effort for the tribune. He had +often, ere now, betaken himself to this mode of defence when +driven to his last ward. He raised her hands respectfully to +his lips. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Be it as you will,</q> said he; <q>I make him over to you +to do with him what you please. Esca is your property, +beautiful Valeria, from this hour.</q> +</p> + +<p> +A dark thought had flitted through his brain, that it +would be no such difficult matter to destroy an inconvenient +witness, and retain the favour of an exacting mistress at the +same time. It was but a grain or two of poison in the slave’s +last meal, and he might depart in peace, a doomed man, to +Valeria’s mansion. He would take the chance of his silence +for the few hours that intervened, and after all, the ravings of +one whose brow was already stamped with death would +arouse little suspicion. Afterwards it would be easy to pacify +Valeria, and shift the blame on some over-zealous freedman, +or officious client. He did not calculate on the haste with +which women jump to conclusions. Valeria clapped her +hands with unusual glee. <q>Quick! Myrrhina,</q> said she, <q>my +tablets to the tribune. He shall write the order here, and +my people can go for the slave and bring him back, before +Placidus departs.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Nay,</q> interposed the latter in some confusion, <q>it is +indispensable that I go home at once. I have already +lingered here too long. Farewell, Valeria. Ere the sun goes +down you shall see that Placidus is proud and happy to obey +your lightest whim.</q> +</p> + +<p> +With these words, he made a low obeisance, and, ere his +hostess could stop him, had traversed the outer hall, and +mounted in his chariot. Valeria seemed half stupefied by this +sudden departure, but ere the rolls of his wheels had died +away, a light gleamed in her eyes, and summoning the little +negro, who had lain unnoticed and coiled up within call during +the interview, she bade him run out and see which direction +the chariot took, then she stared wildly in Myrrhina’s face, +and burst into a strange, half-choking laugh. +</p> + +</div><div n="2.3" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='179'/><anchor id='Pg179'/> +<index index="toc" level1="III. “Furens quid fœmina”"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="III. 'Furens quid foemina'"/> +<head>CHAPTER III<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller"><q>FURENS QUID FŒMINA</q></hi></head> + +<p> +<q>The chariot has turned into the Flaminian Way,</q> said +the urchin, running breathlessly back to his mistress. +<q>Oh! so fast! so fast!</q> and he clapped his little black +hands with the indescribable delight all children take in +rapidity of movement. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The Flaminian Way!</q> repeated Valeria. <q>He must go +round by the Great Gate and the Triumphal Arches to get +home. Myrrhina, if we make haste, we shall yet be in +time.</q> +</p> + +<p> +In less than ten minutes the two women had crossed the +wide pleasure-grounds which skirted Valeria’s mansion, and +had let themselves out by a pass-key into the street. So +complete, however, was their transformation that the most +intimate friend would have failed to recognise in these +shrouded, hurrying figures, the fashionable Roman lady +and her attendant. A wig of curling yellow hair covered +Valeria’s nut-brown tresses, and the lower part of her face +was concealed by a mask, whilst Myrrhina, closely-veiled and +wrapped in a dark-coloured mantle, stained and threadbare +with many a winter’s storm, looked like some honest child +of poverty, bound on one of the humble errands of daily +plebeian life. As they tripped rapidly along a narrow and +little frequented street,—one of the many inconvenient +thoroughfares which Nero’s great fire had spared, and which +still intersected the magnificence of the Imperial City,—they +had to pass a miserable-looking house, with a low shabby +doorway, which was yet secured by strong fastenings of bolts +and bars, as though its tenant had sufficient motives for +affecting privacy and retirement. The women looked meaningly +at each other while they approached it, for the dwelling +of Petosiris the Egyptian was too well known to all who +led a life of pleasure or intrigue in Rome. He it was who +provided potions, love philtres, charms of every description, +and whom the superstitious of all classes, no trifling majority, +<pb n='180'/><anchor id='Pg180'/>young and old, rich and poor, male and female, consulted in +matters of interest and affection; the supplanting of a rival, +the acquisition of a heart, and the removal of those who stood +in the way either of a fortune or a conquest. It is needless +to observe that the Egyptian’s wealth increased rapidly; and +that humbler visitors had to turn from his door disappointed, +day after day, waiting the leisure of the celebrated magician. +</p> + +<p> +But if Valeria hurried breathlessly through the dirty and +ill-conditioned street, she stopped transfixed when she reached +its farthest extremity, and beheld the tribune’s chariot, standing +empty in the shade, as though waiting for its master. +The white horses beguiled their period of inaction in the heat, +by stamping, snorting, and tossing their heads, while Automedon, +now nodding drowsily, now staring vacantly about +him, scarcely noticed the figures of the two women, so well +were they disguised. +</p> + +<p> +<q>What can he be doing there?</q> whispered Valeria +anxiously; and Myrrhina replied in the same cautious tones, +<q>If Placidus be trafficking for philtres with the Egyptian, +take my word for it, madam, there will be less of love than +murder in the draught!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Then they hurried on faster than before, as if life and +death hung upon the rapidity of their footsteps. +</p> + +<p> +Far back, up a narrow staircase, in a dark and secluded +chamber, sat Petosiris, surrounded by the implements of his +art. Enormous as his wealth was supposed to be, he suffered +no symptoms of it to appear, either in his dwelling or his +apparel. The walls of his chamber were bare and weather-stained, +totally devoid of ornament, save for a mystic figure +traced here and there on their surface, while the floor was +scorched, and the ceiling blackened, with the burning liquids +that had fallen on the one, and the heavy aromatic vapours +that clung about the other. The magician’s own robe, though +once of costly materials, and surrounded with a broad border, +on which cabalistic signs and numerals were worked in golden +thread, now sadly frayed, was worn to the last degree of +tenuity, and his linen head-dress, wound in a multiplicity of +folds, till it rose into a peak some two feet high, was yellow +with dirt and neglect. Under this grotesque covering peered +forth a pair of shrewd black eyes, set in a grave emaciated +face. They denoted cunning, audacity, and that restless +vigilance which argued some deficiency or warping of the +brain, a tendency, however remote, to insanity, from which, +with all their mental powers, these impostors are seldom free. +There was nothing else remarkable about the man. He had +<pb n='181'/><anchor id='Pg181'/>the deep yellow tint with the supple figure and peculiar +nostril of the Egyptian, and when he rose in compliment to +his visitor, his low stature afforded a quaint contrast to his +trailing robes and real dignity of bearing. +</p> + +<p> +The tribune—for he it was whose entrance disturbed the +calculations on which the magician was engaged—accosted +the latter with an air of abrupt and almost contemptuous +familiarity. It was evident that Placidus was a good +customer, one who bought largely while he paid freely; and +Petosiris, throwing aside all assumption of mystery or preoccupation, +laughed pleasantly as he returned the greeting. +Yet was there something jarring in his laugh, something +startling in his abrupt transition to the profoundest gravity; +and though his small glittering eyes betrayed a schoolboy’s +love of mischief, gleams shot from them at intervals which +expressed a diabolical malice, and love of evil for evil’s +sake. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Despatch, my man of science!</q> said the tribune, scarcely +noticing the obeisance and expressions of regard lavished on +him by his host. <q>As usual I have little time to spare, and +less inclination to enter into particulars. Give me what I +want—you have it here in abundance—and let me begone +out of this atmosphere, which is enough to stifle the lungs of +an honest man!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>My lord! my illustrious patron! my worthiest friend!</q> +replied the other, with evident enjoyment of his customer’s +impatience, <q>you have but to command, you know it well, +and I obey. Have I not served you faithfully in all my +dealings? Was not the horoscope right to a minute? Did +not the charm protect from evil? and the love philtre ensure +success? Have I ever failed, my noble employer? Speak, +mighty tribune; thy slave listens to obey.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Words! words!</q> replied the other impatiently. <q>You +know what I require. Produce it, there is the price!</q> +</p> + +<p> +At the same time he threw a bag of gold on the floor, +the weight of which inferred that secrecy must constitute no +small portion of the bargain it was to purchase. Though he +affected utter unconsciousness, the Egyptian’s eyes flashed +at the welcome chink of the metal against the boards; none +the more, however, would he abstain from tantalising the +donor by assuming a misapprehension of his meaning. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The hour,</q> said he, <q>is not propitious for casting a +horoscope. Evil planets are in the ascendant, and the influence +of the good genius is counteracted by antagonistic spells. +Thus much I can tell you, noble tribune, they are of barbarian +<pb n='182'/><anchor id='Pg182'/>origin. Come again an hour later to-morrow, and I will do +your bidding.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Fool!</q> exclaimed Placidus impatiently, at the same +time raising his foot as though to spurn the magician like a +dog. <q>Does a man give half a helmetful of gold for a few +syllables of jargon scrawled on a bit of scorched parchment? +You keep but one sort of wares that fetch a price like this. +Let me have the strongest of them.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Neither the gesture, nor the insult it implied, was lost +on the Egyptian. Yet he preserved a calm and imperturbable +demeanour, while he continued his irritating inquiries. +</p> + +<p> +<q>A philtre, noble patron? A love philtre? They are +indeed worth any amount of gold. Maid or matron, vestal +virgin or Athenian courtesan, three drops of that clear tasteless +fluid, and she is your own!</q> +</p> + +<p> +The tribune’s evil smile was deepening round his mouth—it +was not safe to jest with him any further; he stooped over +the magician and whispered two words in his ear; the latter +looked up with an expression in which curiosity, horror, and +a perverted kind of admiration, were strangely blended. +Then his eyes twinkled once more with the schoolboy’s +mirth and malice, while he ransacked a massive ebony +cabinet, and drew forth a tiny phial from its secret drawer. +Wrapping this in a thin scroll, on which was written the +word <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">Cave</foreign> (beware!) to denote the fatal nature of its contents, +he hurried it into the tribune’s hands, hid away the bag of +gold, and in a voice trembling with emotion, bade his visitor +begone, an injunction which Placidus obeyed with his usual +easy carelessness of demeanour, stepping daintily into his +chariot, as though his errand had been of the most benevolent +and harmless kind. +</p> + +<p> +In the meantime, Valeria, accompanied by her attendant, +had reached the tribune’s house, which she entered with a +bold front indeed, but with shaking limbs. Despite her +undaunted nature, all the fears and weaknesses of her sex +were aroused by the task she had set herself to fulfil, and her +woman’s instinct told her that, whatever might be her motives, +the crossing of this notorious threshold was an act she would +bitterly repent at some future time. Myrrhina entertained +no such misgivings; she looked on the whole proceeding as +an opportunity to display her own talents for intrigue, and +make herself, if possible, more necessary than ever to the +mistress with whose secrets she was so dangerously familiar. +</p> + +<p> +In the outer hall were lounging a few slaves and freedmen, +who welcomed the entrance of the two women with +consider<pb n='183'/><anchor id='Pg183'/>ably less respect than one of them at least was accustomed +to consider her due. Damasippus, indeed, with a coarse jest, +strove to snatch away the mask that concealed the lower part +of Valeria’s face, but she released herself from his hold so +energetically as to send him reeling back half a dozen paces, +not a little discomfited by the unexpected strength of that +shapely white arm. Then drawing herself to her full height, +and throwing her disguise upon the floor, she confronted the +astonished freedman in her own person, and bade him stand +out of her way. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am Valeria!</q> said she, <q>and here by your master’s +invitation, slave! for what are you better than a mere slave +after all? If I were to hint at your insolence, he would have +you tied to that doorpost, in despite of your citizenship, and +scourged to death, like a disobedient hound. Pick up those +things,</q> she added loftily, <q>and show me, some of you, to +the private apartment of your lord. Myrrhina, you may +remain outside, but within call.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Completely cowed by her demeanour, and no whit relishing +the tone in which she threatened him, Damasippus did +as he was commanded; while a couple of slaves, who had +remained till now in the background, ushered the visitor into +another apartment, where they left her with many obsequious +assurances that their lord was expected home every moment. +</p> + +<p> +Every moment! Then there was no time to lose. How +her heart beat, and what a strange instinct it was that made +her feel she was in the vicinity of the man she loved! As +yet she had formed no plan, she had made no determination, +she only knew he was in danger, he was to die, and come +what might, at any risk, at any sacrifice, her place was by +his side. Imminent as was the peril, critical as was the +moment, through all the tumult of her feelings, she was +conscious of a vague wild happiness to be near him; and as +she walked up and down the polished floor, counting its +tesselated squares mechanically, in her strong mental excitement, +she pressed both hands hard against her bosom, as +though to keep the heart within from beating so fiercely, and +to collect all its energies by sheer strength and force of will. +</p> + +<p> +Thus pacing to and fro, running over in her mind every +possible and impossible scheme for the discovery and release +of the slave, whose very prison she had yet to search out, her +quick ear caught the dull and distant clank of a chain. The +sound reached her from an opposite direction to that of the +principal entrance; and as all Roman houses were constructed +on nearly the same plan, Valeria had no fear of losing her +<pb n='184'/><anchor id='Pg184'/>way among the roomy halls and long corridors of her +admirer’s mansion. She held her breath as she hurried on, +fortunately without meeting a human being, for the household +slaves of both sexes had disposed themselves in shady nooks +and corners to sleep away the sultriest hours of the day; +nor did she stop till she reached a heavy crimson curtain, +screening an inner court, paved and walled by slabs of white +stone that refracted the sun’s rays with painful intensity. +Here she stood still and listened, while her very lips grew +white with emotion, then she drew the curtain, and looked +into the court. +</p> + +<p> +He had dragged himself as far as his chain would +permit, to get the benefit of some two feet of shade close +under the stifling wall. A water-jar, long since emptied, +stood on the floor beside him, accompanied by a crust of +black mouldy bread. A heavy iron collar, which defied +alike strength and ingenuity, was round his throat, while +the massive links that connected it with an iron staple let +into the pavement would have held an elephant. It was +obvious the prisoner could neither stand nor even sit upright +without constraint; and the white skin of his neck and +shoulders was already galled and blistered in his efforts +to obtain relief by occasional change of posture. Without +the key of the heavy padlock that fastened chain and collar, +Vulcan himself could scarcely have released the Briton; and +Valeria’s heart sank within her as she gazed helplessly round, +and thought of what little avail were her own delicate fingers +for such a task. There seemed no nearer prospect of help +even now that she had reached him; and she clenched her +hand with anger while she reflected how he must have +suffered from heat, and thirst, and physical pain, besides +the sense of his degradation and the certainty of his doom. +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless, extended there upon the hard glowing +stones, Esca was sleeping as sound and peacefully as an +infant. His head was pillowed on one massive arm, half +hidden in the clustering yellow locks that showered across +it, and his large shoulders rose and fell regularly with the +measured breathing of a deep and dreamless slumber. She +stole nearer softly, as afraid to wake him, and for a moment +came upon Valeria’s face something of the deep and holy +tenderness with which a mother looks upon a child. Yet +light as was that dainty footstep it disturbed, without actually +rousing, the watchful instincts of the sleeper. He stirred +and turned his face upwards with a movement of impatience, +while she, hanging over him and drinking in the beauty that +<pb n='185'/><anchor id='Pg185'/>had made such wild work with her tranquillity, as if her life +had neither hope nor fear beyond the ecstasy of the moment, +gazed on his fair features and his closed eyes, till she forgot +time and place and hazard, the emergency of the occasion, +and the errand on which she had herself come. Deeper +and deeper sank into her being the dangerous influence of +the hour and the situation. The summer sky above, the +hot dreamy solitude around, and there, down at her feet—nay, +so near, that, while she bent over him, his warm breath +stirred the very hair upon her brow—the only face of man +that had ever thrilled her heart, sleeping so calmly close to +her own, and now made doubly dear by all it had suffered, +all it was fated to undergo. Lower and lower, nearer and +nearer, bent her dainty head to meet the slave’s; and as he +stirred once more in his sleep, and a quiet smile stole over +his unconscious countenance, her lips clung to his in one +long, loving, and impassioned kiss. +</p> + +</div><div n="2.4" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='186'/><anchor id='Pg186'/> +<index index="toc" level1="IV. The Loving Cup"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="IV. The Loving Cup"/> +<head>CHAPTER IV<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE LOVING CUP</hi></head> + +<p> +As he opened his dreamy eyes she started to her feet, +for voices now broke in on the silence that had +hitherto reigned throughout the household, and the tread +of slaves bustling to and fro announced the return of their +lord, a master who brooked no neglect, as well they knew, +from those who were in his service. She had scarcely risen +from her posture of soothing and devoted affection; scarcely +had time to shake the long hair off her face, when Julius +Placidus entered the court and stood before her with that +inscrutable expression of countenance which most she hated, +and which left her in complete ignorance as to whether or +not he had been in time to witness the caresses she had +lavished on the captive. And now Valeria vindicated the +woman’s nature of which, with all her faults, she partook +so largely. At this critical moment her courage and presence +of mind rose with the occasion; and though, womanlike, +she had recourse to dissimulation, that refuge of the weak, +there was something on her brow that argued, if need were, +she would not shrink from the last desperate resources of +the strong. Turning to the tribune with the quiet dignity +and the playful smile that she knew became her so well, +she pointed to the recumbent figure of the Briton, and said +gently— +</p> + +<p> +<q>You gave him to me, and I am here to fetch him. +Why is it that of late I value your lightest gift so much? +Placidus, what must you think of me, to have come unbidden +to your house?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Then she cast down her eyes and drooped her stately +head, as though ready to sink in an agony of love and shame. +Deceiver, intriguer, as he had been ever since the down +was on his chin, he was no match for her. He shot, indeed, +one sharp inquisitive glance at Esca, but the slave’s bewildered +gaze reassured him. The latter, worn out with +trouble and privation, was only half awake, and almost +<pb n='187'/><anchor id='Pg187'/>imagined himself in a dream. Then the tribune’s looks +softened as they rested on his mistress; and, although there +was a gleam of malicious triumph on his brow, the hard +unmeaning expression left his face, which brightened with +more of kindness and cordiality than was its wont. +</p> + +<p> +<q>It is no longer house of mine,</q> said he, <q>but of yours, +beautiful Valeria! Here you are ever welcome, and here +you will remain, will you not, with him who loves you +better than all the world besides?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Even while he spoke she had run over in her mind the +exigencies and difficulties of her position. In that instant +of time she could think of Esca’s danger—of the necessity +that she should herself be present to save him from the fate +with which, for some special reason that she was also determined +to find out, he was obviously threatened—of the +tribune’s infamous character, and her own fair fame; for +Cornelia might not have left such a house as that with her +reputation unscathed, and Valeria could far less afford to +tamper with so fragile and shadowy a possession than the +severe mother of the Gracchi. Yet her brow was unclouded, +and there was nothing but frank good-humour in her tone +while she replied— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Nay, Placidus. You know that even we of the patrician +order cannot do always as we would. Surely I have risked +enough already; because—because I fancied you left me +in anger, and I could not bear the thought even for an +hour. I will but ask you for a cup of wine and begone. +Myrrhina accompanied me here, and we can return, unknown +and unsuspected, as we came.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He wished nothing better. A cup of wine, a sumptuous +feast spread on the moment, garlands of flowers, heavy +perfumes loading the sultry air; soft music stealing on the +senses gently as the faint breeze that whispered through +the drowsy shade. All the voluptuous accessories so adapted +to a pleading tongue and so dangerous to a willing ear. +He had never known them fail; it should not be the fault +of master or household if they proved useless now. +</p> + +<p> +He took Valeria respectfully by the hand, and led her to +the large banqueting-hall with as much deference as though +she had been Cæsar’s wife. None knew better than the +tribune how scrupulously all the honours of war must be +paid to a fortress about to capitulate. As he bent before +her, the phial he had purchased from Petosiris peeped forth +in the bosom of his tunic, and her quick eye did not fail +to detect it. In an instant she turned back as though +<pb n='188'/><anchor id='Pg188'/>stumbling on the skirt of her robe, and in the action made +a rapid sign to Esca by raising her hand to her mouth, +accompanied by a warning shake of the head and a glance +from her eloquent eyes, that she trusted he would understand +as forbidding him to taste either food or drink till +her return. Once more, whilst she made this covert signal, +the set and passionless look came over the tribune’s face. +Cunning, cautious as she might think herself, his snake-like +eye had seen enough. At that moment Placidus had resolved +Esca should die within the hour. Then those two walked +gracefully into the adjoining hall, and seated themselves at +the banquet with a scrupulous courtesy and strict observance +of the outward forms of good breeding; while the slaves +who waited believed that the whole proceeding was but +one of their lord’s usual affairs of gallantry, and that the +noble pair before them loved each other well. +</p> + +<p> +The tribune, like the rest of his sex, was no large eater +when making love; and an appetite that could accompany +Vitellius through the most elaborate banquets of the gluttonous +Cæsar was satisfied with a handful of dates and a bunch +or two of grapes in the presence of Valeria. She, too, in +her anxiety and agitation, felt as if every morsel would +choke her; but she pledged her host willingly in a goblet +of red Falernian, with a vague idea that every moment she +could keep his attention employed was of priceless value, +clingingly almost hopelessly to the chance of obtaining by +some means the possession of the fatal phial before it was +too late. +</p> + +<p> +He was in high spirits,—voluble, witty, eloquent, sarcastic, +but devoted to her. In the moment, as he hoped, of his +triumph he could afford to show, or rather to affect, more +of delicacy and generosity than she had believed him to +possess, and she loathed and hated him all the more. Once, +when, after enunciating a sentiment of the warmest regard +and attachment, she caught the expression of his eyes as +they looked into her own, she glanced wildly round the +room, and clenched her hand with rage to observe that the +walls were bare of weapons. He was no stately, high-spirited +Agamemnon, this supple intriguer, yet had there +been sword, axe, or dagger within reach of that white arm, +she would have asked nothing better than to enact the +part of Clytemnestra. How she wished to be a man for +the moment—ay, and a strong one! She felt she could +have strangled him there, hateful and smiling on the couch! +Oh! for Esca’s thews and sinews! Esca—so fair, and brave, +<pb n='189'/><anchor id='Pg189'/>and honest! Her brain swam when she thought of him +chained, like a beast, within ten paces of her. An effort +must be made to save him at any risk and at any sacrifice. +</p> + +<p> +Placidus talked gaily on, broaching in turn those topics +of luxury, dissipation, and even vice, which constituted the +everyday life of the patrician order at Rome, and she forced +herself to reply with an affected levity and indifference that +nearly drove her mad. Cæsar’s banquets; Galeria’s yellow +head-gear, and the bad taste in which her jewels were set, +so inexcusable in an emperor’s wife; the war in Judæa; +the last chariot race; and the rival merits of the Red and +Green factions, were canvassed and dismissed with a light +word and a happy jest. Such subjects inevitably led to a +discussion on the arena and its combatants, the magnificence +of the late exhibition, and the tribune’s own prowess in the +deadly game. Placidus turned suddenly, as if recollecting +himself, called for a slave, whispered an order in his ear, and +bade him begone. The man hastened from the room, leaving +lover and mistress once more alone. +</p> + +<p> +The presence of mind and self-command on which she +prided herself now completely deserted Valeria. In an +agony of alarm for Esca, she jumped at once to the +conclusion that his doom was gone forth. The tribune, +turning to her with some choice phrase, half-jest, half-compliment, +was startled to observe her face colourless to the +very lips, while her large eyes shone with a fierce, unnatural +light. Uttering a low stifled cry, like that of some wild +animal in its death-pang, she fell at his feet, clasping him +round the knees, and gasped out— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Spare him! spare him! Placidus—beloved Placidus! +spare him—for <hi rend='italic'>my</hi> sake!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Her host, whose whole mind at that moment was +occupied with thoughts very foreign to bloodshed, and whose +whispered mandate had reference to nothing more deadly +than orders for a strain of unexpected music, gazed in +astonishment at the proud woman thus humbled before him +to the dust. He had, indeed, intended to despatch Esca +quietly by poison before nightfall, and so get rid at once of +an inconvenient witness and a possible rival; but for the +present he had dismissed the slave completely from his mind. +If, an hour ago, he had allowed himself to harbour such a +wild fancy, as that a mere barbarian should have captivated +the woman on whom he had set his affections, her voluntary +acceptance of his hospitality and her cordial demeanour since, +had dispelled so foolish and unjust a suspicion, which he +<pb n='190'/><anchor id='Pg190'/>wondered he could have entertained even for a moment. +Now, however, a chill seemed to curdle the blood about his +heart. Very quietly he raised her from the floor; but, +though he was not conscious of it, his grasp left a mark upon +her wrist. Very distinct and steady were the tones in which +he soothed her, asking courteously— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Whom do you wish me to spare? What is it, Valeria? +Surely you are not still dwelling on that barbarian slave? +What is he, to come between you and me? It is too late—too +late!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Never! never!</q> she gasped out, seizing his hand in both +her own, and folding it to her breast. <q>It is no time now +for concealment; no time for choice phrases, and mock +reserve, and false shame! I love him, Placidus! I love +him!—do you hear? Grant me but his life, and ask me for +everything I have in return!</q> +</p> + +<p> +She looked beautiful as she knelt before him once more, +so dishevelled and disordered, with upturned face and +streaming hair. It seemed to the tribune as though a knife +had been driven home to his heart; but he collected all his +energies for a revenge commensurate to the hurt, as he threw +himself indolently on the couch, a worse man by a whole +age of malice than he had risen from it a few seconds before. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Why did you not tell me sooner?</q> said he, in accents +of the calmest courtesy and self-command. <q>Fair Valeria! +not more bargains are driven every day in the Forum than +in the courts of Love! You offer liberal terms. It seems +to me we have nothing left to do but to settle the remainder +of the agreement.</q> +</p> + +<p> +What a price was she paying for her interference! Not +a woman in Rome could have felt more deeply the +degradation she was accepting, the insult to which she was +submitting; and through it all she was miserably conscious +of a false move in the game she had the temerity to play +against this formidable adversary. Still she had resolved +that she would shrink from no humiliation to save Esca, and +she blushed blood-red with anger and shame as she rose from +her knees, hid her face in her hands, while she summoned her +woman’s wit and her woman’s powers of endurance to help +her in the emergency. +</p> + +<p> +He, too, had bethought him of an appropriate revenge. +The tribune never forgave; for such an offence as the present +it was his nature to seek reprisals, exceeding, in their subtle +cruelty, the injury they were to atone. There is no venom +so deadly as a bad man’s love turned to gall. It would be +<pb n='191'/><anchor id='Pg191'/>fine sport, thought Placidus, to make her slay this yellow-haired +darling of hers with her own hand. The triumph +would be complete, when he had outwitted her at every +point, and could sneer politely over the dead body of the +man, and the passionate reproaches of the woman. The +first step to so tempting a consummation was, of course, to +put her off her guard, and for this it would be necessary to +assume some natural displeasure and pique; too open a +brow would surely arouse suspicions, so he spoke angrily, +in the harsh excited tones of a generous man who has been +wronged. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I have been deceived,</q> said he, striking his hand against +the board; <q>deceived, duped, scorned, and by you, Valeria, +from whom I did not deserve it. Shame on the woman who +could thus wring an honest heart for the mere triumph of +her vanity! And yet,</q> he added, with an admirable appearance +of wounded feeling in his lowered voice and relenting +accents, <q>I can forgive, because I would not others should +suffer as I do now. Yes, Valeria’s wishes are still laws to +me; I <hi rend='italic'>will</hi> spare him for your sake, and you shall bear the +news to him yourself. But he must be half dead ere this, +of thirst and exhaustion; take him a cup of wine with your +own fair hands, and tell him he will be a free man before +sunset!</q> +</p> + +<p> +While he spoke, he turned from her to a sideboard, on +which stood a tall jar of Falernian, flanked by a pair of +silver goblets. She had sunk from the couch beside him, +and was resting her head upon the table; but she looked up +quickly for a moment, and saw his back reflected in the +burnished surface of a gold vase that stood before her. By +the motion of his shoulders she was aware that he had taken +something from his bosom while he filled the wine. The +whole danger of the situation flashed upon her at once; she +felt intuitively that one of the cups was poisoned; she could +risk her life to find out which. Her tears were dried, her +nerves were strung, as if by magic; like a different being she +rose to her feet now, pale and beautiful, but perfectly calm +and composed. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You do love me, Placidus,</q> said she, raising one of the +goblets from the salver on which they stood. <q>Such truth +as yours might win any woman. I pledge you, to show that +we are friends again at least, if nothing more!</q> +</p> + +<p> +She was in the act of putting it to her lips, when he +interposed, somewhat hurriedly, and with a voice not so +steady as usual— +</p> + +<pb n='192'/><anchor id='Pg192'/> + +<p> +<q>One moment!</q> he exclaimed, taking it from her hand, +and setting it down again in its place, <q>we have not made +our terms yet; the treaty must be signed and sealed; a +libation must be poured to the gods. It is a strong rough +wine, that Falernian: I have some Coan here you would like +better. You see I have not forgotten your tastes.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He laughed nervously, and his lip twitched; she knew +now that it was the right-hand goblet which held the poison. +Both were equally full, and they stood close together on the +salver. +</p> + +<p> +<q>And this man could not slay me after all,</q> was the +thought that for a moment softened her heart, and bade her +acknowledge some shadow of compunction for her admirer. +Bad as he was, she could not help reflecting that to her +influence he owed the only real feeling his life had ever +known, and it made her waver, but not for long. Soon the +image of Esca, chained and prostrate, passed before her, and +the remembrance of her odious bargain goaded her into the +bitterest hatred once more. +</p> + +<p> +She placed her hand in the tribune’s with the abandonment +of a woman who really loves, she turned her eyes on +his with the swimming glance of which she had not miscalculated +the power. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Forgive me,</q> she murmured. <q>I have never valued +you, never known you till now. I was heartless, unfeeling, +mad; but I have learned a lesson to-day that neither of us +will ever forget. No, we will never quarrel again!</q> +</p> + +<p> +He clasped her in his arms, he took her to his heart, his +brain reeled, his senses failed him, that bewitching beauty +seemed to pervade his being, to surround him with its +fragrance like some intoxicating vapour; and whilst his +frame thrilled, and his lips murmured out broken words of +fondness, the white hand thrown so confidingly across his +shoulder had shifted the position of the goblets, and the +heart that beat so wildly against his own had doomed him +remorselessly to die. +</p> + +<p> +She extricated herself from his embrace, she put her hair +back from her brow; love is blind, indeed, or it must have +struck him that instead of blushing with conscious fondness, +her cheek was as white and cold as marble, though +she kept her eyes cast down as if they dared not meet his +own. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Pledge me,</q> said she, in a tone of the utmost softness, +and forcing a playful smile that remained, carved as it were, +in fixed lines round her mouth; <q>drink to me in token of +<pb n='193'/><anchor id='Pg193'/>forgiveness; it will be the sweetest draught I have ever +tasted when your lips have kissed the cup.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He reached his hand out gaily to the salver. Her heart +stood still in the agony of her suspense, lest he should mark +the change she had made so warily; but the goblets were +exactly alike, and he seized the nearest without hesitation, +and half-emptied it ere he set it down. Laughing, he was +in the act of handing to her what remained, when his eye +grew dull, his jaw dropped, and, stammering some broken +syllables, he sank back senseless upon the couch. +</p> + +<p> +She would have almost given Esca’s life now to undo the +deed. But it was no time for repentance or indecision; +keeping her eyes off the white vacant face, which yet seemed +ever before her, she felt resolutely in the bosom of the +tribune’s tunic for the precious key, and having found it, +walked steadily to the door and listened. It was well she +did so, for a slave’s step was heard rapidly approaching, and +she had but time to return, on tiptoe, and take her place +upon the couch ere the domestic entered; disposing of the +tribune’s powerless head upon her lap as though he had +sunk to sleep in her embrace. The slave discreetly retired, +but short as was its duration, the torture of those few seconds +was hardly inadequate to the guilt that had preceded them. +Then she hurried through the well-known passages, and +reached the court in which Esca was confined. Not a word +of explanation, not a syllable of fondness escaped her lips as +she calmly liberated the man for whom she had risked so +much. Mechanically, and like a sleep-walker, she unlocked +the collar round his neck, signing to him at the same time, +for she seemed incapable of speech, to rise and follow her. +He obeyed, scarce knowing what he did, astonished at the +apparition of his deliverer, and almost scared by her ghastly +looks and strange imperious gestures. Thus they threaded, +without interruption, the passages of the house, and emerged +from the private entrance into the now silent and deserted +street. Then came the reaction; Valeria could bear up no +longer, and trembling all over while she clung to Esca, but +for whose arm she must have fallen, she burst into a passion +of sobs upon his breast. +</p> + +</div><div n="2.5" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='194'/><anchor id='Pg194'/> +<index index="toc" level1="V. Surgit amari"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="V. Surgit amari"/> +<head>CHAPTER V<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">SURGIT AMARI</hi></head> + +<figure url="images/i_217.png" rend="w40"><figDesc>Initial S</figDesc></figure> + +<p> +She had known but few moments of happiness, +that proud unbending woman, in +the course of her artificial life. Now, +though remorse was gnawing at her heart, +there was such a wild delight in the +Briton’s presence, such ecstasy in the consciousness +of having saved him, though +at the price of a hateful crime, that the +pleasure kept down and stifled the pain. +It was a new sensation to cling to that +stalwart form and acknowledge him for +her lord whom others deemed a mere barbarian and a slave. +It was intense joy to think that she had penetrated his noble +character; that she had given him her love unasked, when +such a gift could alone have saved him from destruction; and +that she had grudged no price at which to ransom him for +herself. It was the first time in Valeria’s whole existence that +she had vindicated her woman’s birthright of merging her own +existence in another’s, and for the moment this engrossing +consciousness completely altered the whole character and +training of the patrician lady. Myrrhina, walking discreetly +some ten paces behind, could hardly believe in the identity +of that drooping form, faltering in step, and timid in gesture, +with her imperious and wilful mistress. This vigilant damsel, +who was never flurried nor surprised, had effected her escape +from the domestics of the tribune’s household, at the moment +her practised ear caught the light footstep of Valeria making +its way to the door; and although she scarcely expected to +see the latter pacing home with the captive at her side, as +oblivious of her waiting-maid’s existence, as of everything else +in the world, she was quite satisfied to observe that this preoccupation +was the result of interest in her companion. So +long as an intrigue was on foot, it mattered little to Myrrhina +who might be its originators or its victims. +</p> + +<pb n='195'/><anchor id='Pg195'/> + +<p> +They had not proceeded far before Esca stopped, waking +up like a man from a dream. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I owe you my life,</q> he said, in his calm voice and foreign +accent, that made such music to her ear. <q>How shall I ever +repay you, noble lady? I have nothing to give but the +strength of my right arm, and of what service can such as I +be to such as you?</q> +</p> + +<p> +She blushed deeply, and cast down her eyes. +</p> + +<p> +<q>We are not safe yet,</q> she answered. <q>We will talk of +this when we get home.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He looked before him down the stately street, with its +majestic porticoes, its towering palaces, and its rows of lofty +pillars, stretching on in grand perspective till they met the +dusky crimson of the evening sky; and perhaps he was thinking +of a free upland, and blue hills, and laughing sunshine +glittering on the mere and trembling in the green wood far +away at home, for he only answered by repeating her last +word with a sigh, and adding: <q>There is none for me; a +wanderer, an outcast, and a degraded man.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She seemed to check the outburst that was rising to her +lips, and she kept her eyes off his face, while she whispered— +</p> + +<p> +<q>I have determined to save you. Do you not know that +there is nothing you can ask me which I will not grant?</q> +</p> + +<p> +He raised her hand to his lips, but the gesture partook +more of the dependant’s homage than the lover’s rapture. +She felt instinctively that it was a tribute of gratitude and +loyalty, not an impassioned caress. For the second time, +something seemed to warn her she had better have left that +day’s work undone. Then she began to talk rapidly of the +dangers they might undergo from pursuit, of the necessity for +immediate flight to her house, and close concealment when +there; wandering wildly on from one subject to another, and +apparently but half-conscious of anything she said. At last +he asked her eagerly, even sternly— +</p> + +<p> +<q>And the tribune? What of him? How could you +release me from his power? I tell you, I had the life of +Placidus in my hand, as completely as if I had been standing +over him in the amphitheatre with my foot on his neck. +Would any price have purchased me from him, with all I +knew?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The crimson rose to her brow as she answered hurriedly, +<q>No price! Believe me, no price that man could offer, or +woman either! Esca, do not think worse of me than I +deserve!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Then why am I here?</q> he continued, with a softened +<pb n='196'/><anchor id='Pg196'/>look; <q>I would like well to discover the secret by which +Valeria can charm such a man as Placidus to her will.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She was very pale now. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The tribune will claim you no more,</q> said she; <q>I have +settled that account for ever.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He did not understand her, yet he dropped the hand he +held and walked on a little farther from her side. She felt +her punishment had already commenced, and when she spoke +again it was in hard cold accents quite unlike her own. +</p> + +<p> +<q>He crossed my path, Esca, and he met the fate of all +who are rash enough to oppose Valeria. What motives of +pity, or love, or honour, would avail with Placidus? When +did he ever swerve a hair’s-breadth from his goal for any +consideration but self? I knew him, ah! too well. There +was but one invincible argument for the tribune, and I used +it. I slew him—slew him there, upon his couch; but it was +to save you!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Perhaps he felt he was ungrateful. Perhaps he tried to +think that he, at least, had no right to judge her harshly; +that such devotion for his sake should have made him look +with indulgent eye, even on so foul a crime as murder; but +he could not control the repugnance and horror that now rose +in him for this beautiful, reckless, and unscrupulous woman: +but while he strove to conceal his feelings, and to mask them +with an air of deference and gratitude, she knew by the +instinct of love all that was passing in his breast, and suffered, +as those only can suffer, who have thrown honour, virtue, +conscience, everything to the winds, to purchase but the +conviction that their shameful sacrifice has been in vain. +She determined to put a period to the tortures she was +enduring. Ere this, they had reached the street, from which +opened the private entrance into her own grounds. Myrrhina, +though within sight, still kept discreetly in the rear. This +was the situation, this was the moment that Valeria had +pictured to herself in many a rapturous day-dream, that +seemed too impossibly happy ever to come to pass. To have +ransomed him from some great danger at some equivalent +price; to have led him off with her in triumph; those two +pacing by themselves through the deserted streets at the +witching sunset hour; to have brought him home her own, +her very own, to this identical gate exactly in this manner; +to have none between them, none to watch them, except +faithful Myrrhina, and to see before her a long future of +uninterrupted sunshine, this it had been ecstasy to dream of—and +now it had come, and brought with it a dull sickening +<pb n='197'/><anchor id='Pg197'/>sensation that was worse than pain. She had a brave rebellious +nature, in keeping with the haughty head and stately +form hereditary in her line. No scion of that noble old house +would shrink or quiver under mental, any more than under +bodily, torture. Among the ancestral busts that graced her +cornices, was that of one who endured with a calm set face to +watch his own hand shrivelled up and crackling in the glowing +coals. His descendants, male and female, partook of that +unflinching character; and not Mutius Scævola himself, erect +and stern before the Tuscan king, had more of the desperate +tenacity which sets fate itself at defiance, than lurked under +the soft white skin, and the ready smile, and the voluptuous +beauty of proud Valeria. +</p> + +<p> +She looked prouder and fairer than ever now, as she +stopped at her own gate and confronted the Briton. +</p><anchor id="i_220"/> +<pgIf output='txt'><then> + <p rend="ill">[Illustration: ‘You are safe she said’]</p> +</then><else> + <p><figure rend="w80" url="images/i_220.png"><head>‘You are safe she said’</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: ‘You are safe she said’</figDesc></figure></p> +</else></pgIf> +<p> +<q>You are safe,</q> she said, and what it cost her to say it +none knew but herself. <q>You are free besides, and at liberty +to go where you will.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The rapture with which he kissed her hand while she +spoke, the gleam of delight that lit up his whole face, the +intense gratitude with which he bowed himself to the ground +before her, smote like repeated strokes of a dagger to her +heart. She continued in accents of well-acted indifference, +though a less preoccupied observer might have marked the +quivering eyelid and dilated nostril— +</p> + +<p> +<q>You may have friends whom you long to see—friends +who have been anxious about your safety. Though it seems,</q> +she added, ironically, <q>they have taken but little pains to set +you out of danger.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Esca was always frank and honest; this was, perhaps, the +charm that, combined with his yellow locks and broad +shoulders, so endeared him to the Roman lady. She was +unaccustomed to these qualities in the men she usually +met. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I have no friends,</q> he answered, rather sadly; <q>none +in the whole of this great city, except perhaps yourself, +noble lady, who care whether I am alive or dead. Yet I +have one mission, for the power of performing which this +very night I thank you far more than for saving my life. +To-morrow, it would be too late.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The tone was less that of a question than an assertion, in +which she forced out the words— +</p> + +<p> +<q>It concerns that dark-eyed girl! Esca, do not fear to +tell me the truth.</q> +</p> + +<p> +A faint red stole over the young man’s brow. They were +<pb n='198'/><anchor id='Pg198'/>standing together within the garden-wall on the smooth lawn +that sloped towards the house. The black cedars cut clear +and distinct against the pure serene opal of the fading sky. +A star or two were dimly visible, and not a breath stirred the +silent foliage of the holm-oaks, folded as it were in sleep, +or the drooping flowers, drowsy with the very weight of +fragrance they exhaled. It was the time and place for a +confession of love. What a mockery it seemed to Valeria +to stand there and watch his rising colour, and listen to the +faltering voice in which he betrayed his secret! +</p> + +<p> +<q>I must save her, noble lady,</q> said he; <q>I must save her +this very night, whatever else be left undone. Be he dead or +alive, she shall not enter the tribune’s house, whilst I can +strike a blow or grasp an enemy by the throat. Lady, you +have earned my eternal gratitude, my eternal service; give me +but this one night, and I return to-morrow to be the humblest +and most willing of your slaves for ever after.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And see her no more?</q> asked Valeria, with a choking +throat and a strong tendency to burst into tears. +</p> + +<p> +<q>And see her no more,</q> repeated Esca, sadly and +resignedly. +</p> + +<p> +There was no mistaking the tone of manly, unselfish, +and utterly hopeless love. Valeria passed her hand across +her face, and tried more than once to speak. At last she +muttered in a hoarse hard voice— +</p> + +<p> +<q>You love her then very dearly?</q> +</p> + +<p> +He raised his head proudly, and a smile came on his lips, +a light into his blue eyes. She remembered how he had +looked so in the arena, when he gave his salute before the +imperial chair. She remembered, too, a pair of dark eyes +and a pale face that followed his every movement. +</p> + +<p> +<q>So dearly,</q> was his answer, <q>that can I but rescue her +I will gladly bargain to give her up and never even look on +her again. How can I think of myself when the question +is of her happiness and her safety?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Valeria with all her faults was a woman. She had indeed +dreamed of an affection such as this, an affection purified +from the dross and alloy that combine to form so much of +what men call love. She might not be capable of feeling it, +but, womanlike, she could admire and appreciate the nobility +of its aspirations, and the ideal standard to which it stretched. +Womanlike, too, she was not to be outdone in generosity, +and Esca’s proposal of returning to her household, and +submitting to her will directly he had accomplished his +errand, disarmed her completely. She was not accustomed +<pb n='199'/><anchor id='Pg199'/>to analyse her feelings, or to check the reckless impulse +which always bade her act on the spur of the moment. She +did not stop to consider to-morrow’s repentance, nor the +grudging regrets which would goad her when the excitement +of her self-denial had died out, and the blank that had +hitherto rendered existence so dreary would be even less +tolerable than before. If a shadowy misgiving that she +would repent her concession hereafter passed for a moment +across her mind, she hastened to repress it, ere it should +warp her better intentions; and she could urge him to leave +her now, with all the more importunity, that she dared not +trust her heart to waver for an instant in the sacrifice. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You are alone,</q> said she, calming herself with a great +effort, and speaking very quick. <q>Alone in this great city, +but you are loyal and brave. Such men are rare here and +are worth a legion. Still, you must have gold in your bosom +and steel at your belt, if you would succeed. You shall take +both from me, and you will tell the dark-eyed girl that it was +Valeria who saved her and you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +His blue eyes turned upon her with looks of the deepest, +the most fervent gratitude, and again the wild love surged up +in her heart, and threatened to swamp every consideration +but its own irresistible longing. His answer, however, sent it +ebbing coldly back again. +</p> + +<p> +<q>We shall be ever grateful; oh! that either of us could +prove it! We shall not forget Valeria.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Myrrhina thought her mistress had never looked so +queenly, as when she called her up at this juncture, and +bade her fetch a purse of gold from her own cabinet, and +one of the swords that hung in the vestibule, and deliver +them to Esca. Then, very erect and pale, Valeria walked +towards the house, apparently insensible to his thanks and +protestations, but turned round ere she had reached the +threshold, and gave him her hand to kiss. Myrrhina returning +from her errand, saw the face that was bent over him +as he stooped in act of homage, and even that hollow-hearted +girl was touched by its wild, tender, and mournful +expression, but ere he could look up, it was cold and passionless +as marble once more. Then she disappeared slowly +through the porch, and Myrrhina with all her daring had +not the courage to follow her into the privacy of her own +chamber. +</p> + +</div><div n="2.6" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='200'/><anchor id='Pg200'/> +<index index="toc" level1="VI. Dead Leaves"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="VI. Dead Leaves"/> +<head>CHAPTER VI<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">DEAD LEAVES</hi></head> + +<p> +The stars shone brilliantly down on the roofs of the +great city—roofs that covered in how various a +multitude of hopes, fears, wishes, crimes, joys, study, debaucheries, +toil, and repose. What enormities were veiled +by a tile some half an inch thick! What contrasts separated +by a partition of a deal plank, and a crevice stopped with +mortar! Here, a poor worn son of toil, working with +bleared eyes and hollow cheeks to complete the pittance +that a whole day’s labour was insufficient to attain; there, +a sleek pampered slave, snoring greasily on his pallet, +drenched with pilfered wine, and gorged with the fat +leavings of his master’s meal. On this side the street, a +whole family penned helplessly together in a stifling garret; +on that, a spacious palace, with marble floors, and airy halls, +and lofty corridors, devoted to the occasional convenience +and the shameful pleasures of one man—a patrician in rank, +a senator in office; yet, notwithstanding, a profligate, a +coward, a traitor, and a debauchee. Could those roofs have +been taken off; could those chambers have been bared to +the million eyes of night that seemed to be watching her so +intently, what a mass of corruption would Imperial Rome +have laid bare! There were plague-spots under her purple, +festering and spreading and eating into the very marrow of +the mistress of the world. Up six storeys, under the slanting +roof, in a miserable garret, a scene was being enacted, bad as +it was, far below the nightly average of vice and treachery in +Rome. +</p> + +<p> +Dismissed from their patron’s house when he had no +further need of their attendance, and, so to speak, off duty +for the day, Damasippus and Oarses had betaken themselves +to their home in order to prepare for the exploits of the +night. That home was of the cheapest and most wretched +among the many cheap and wretched lodgings to be found in +the overgrown yet crowded city. Four bare walls bulging and +<pb n='201'/><anchor id='Pg201'/>blistered with the heat, supported the naked rafters on which +rested the tiles, yet glowing from an afternoon sun. A +wooden bedstead, rickety and creaking, with a coarse pallet, +through the rents of which the straw peeped and rustled, +occupied one corner, and a broken jar of common earthenware, +but of a sightly design copied from the Greek, half-full +of tepid water, stood in another. These constituted the +only furniture of the apartment, except a few irregular shelves +filled with unguents, cosmetics, and the inevitable pumice-stone, +by which the fashionable Roman studied to eradicate +every superfluous hair from his unmanly cheek and limbs. +A broken Chiron, in common plaster, yet showing marks of +undoubted genius where the shoulders and hoofs of the +Centaur had escaped mutilation, kept guard over these +treasures, and filled a place that in the pious days of the old +Republic, however humble the dwelling, would have been +occupied by the Lares and Penates of the hearth. A +mouldy crust of bread, slipped from the lid of an open trunk +full of clothing, lay on the floor, and a wine-jar emptied to +the dregs stood by its side. The two inhabitants, however, +of this squalid apartment betrayed in their persons none of +the misery in keeping with their dwelling-place. They were +tolerably well fed, because their meals were usually furnished +at their patron’s expense; they contrived to be well dressed, +because a decent and even wealthy appearance was creditable +to their patron’s generosity, and indispensable to many of the +duties he called upon them to perform—dirty work indeed, +but only to be done, nevertheless, with clean clothes and an +assured countenance; so that the exterior both of Damasippus +and Oarses would have offered no discredit to the ante-room +of Cæsar himself. But they were men of pleasure as the +word is understood in great cities—men who lived solely for +the sensual indulgences of the body; and it was their nature +to spend their gains, chiefly ill-gotten, in those debasing +luxuries which an insatiable demand enabled Rome to supply +to her public at the lowest possible cost, to sun themselves, +as it were, in the glare of that gaudy vice which walks abroad +in the streets, and then creep back into their loathsome hole, +like reptiles as they were. +</p> + +<p> +Damasippus, whose plump well-rounded form and clear +colour afforded a remarkable contrast to the lithe shape and +sallow tint of Oarses, was the first to speak. He had been +watching the Egyptian intently, while the latter went through +the painful and elaborate ceremonies of a protracted toilet, +rasping his chin with pumice-stone, smoothing and greasing +<pb n='202'/><anchor id='Pg202'/>his dark locks with a preparation of lard and perfumed oil, +and finally drawing a needle charged with lampblack carefully +and painfully through his closed eyelids, in order to lengthen +the line of the eye, and give it that soft languishing expression +so prized by Orientals of either sex. Damasippus, waxing +impatient, then, at the evident satisfaction with which his +friend pursued the task of adornment, broke out irritably— +</p> + +<p> +<q>And of course it is to be the old story again! As usual, +mine the trouble, and, by Hercules! no small share of the +danger, now that the town is swarming with soldiers, all +discontented and ill-paid. While yours, the credit, and very +likely the reward, and nothing to do but to whine out a few +coaxing syllables, and make yourself as like an old woman as +you can. No difficult task either,</q> he added, with a half-sarcastic, +half-good-humoured laugh. +</p> + +<p> +The other lingered before a few inches of cracked mirror, +which seemed to rivet his attention, and put the finishing +touches to either eyelid with infinite care, ere he replied— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Every tool to its own work; and every man to his +special trade. The wooden-headed mallet to drive home the +sharp wedge. The brute force of Damasippus to support +the fine skill of Oarses.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And the sword of a Roman,</q> retorted the other, who, like +many untried men, was somewhat boastful of his mettle, <q>to +hew a path for the needlework of an Egyptian. Well, at +least the needle is in appropriate hands. By all the fountains +of Caria thou hast the true feminine leer in thine eye, the +very swing of thy draperies seems to say, <q>Follow me, but +not too near.</q> The clasp of Salmacis herself could not have +effected a more perfect transformation. Oarses, thou lookest +an ugly old woman to the life!</q> +</p> + +<p> +In truth the Egyptian’s disguise was now nearly complete. +The dark locks, smoothed and flattened, were laid in modest +bands about his head; the matronly stole, or gown, gathered +at the breast by a broad girdle, and fastened with a handsome +clasp high on the shoulder, descended in long sweeping lines +to his feet, where it was ornamented by a broad and elaborate +flounce of embroidery. Over the whole was disposed in +graceful folds a large square shawl of the finest texture, dark-coloured +but woven through with glistening golden threads, +and further set off by a wide golden fringe. It formed a veil +and cloak in one, and might easily be arranged to conceal the +figure as well as the face of the wearer. Oarses was not a +little proud of the dainty feminine grace with which he wore +the head-gear, and as he tripped to and fro across the narrow +<pb n='203'/><anchor id='Pg203'/>floor of his garret, it would have taken a sharper eye than +that of keen Damasippus himself to detect the disguise of his +wily confederate. +</p> + +<p> +<q>A woman, my friend,</q> he replied, somewhat testily, <q>but +not such an ugly one, after all; as thou wilt find to thy cost +when we betake ourselves to the streets. I look to thee, +my Damasippus,</q> he added maliciously, <q>to protect thy fair +companion from annoyance and insult.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Damasippus was a coward, and he knew it, so he answered +stoutly— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Let them come, let them come! a dozen at a time if they +will. What! a good blade and a light helmet is enough for +me, though you put me at half-sword with a whole maniple +of gladiators! The patron knows what manhood is, none +better. Why should he have selected Damasippus for this +enterprise, but that he judges my arm is iron, and my heart +is oak?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And thy forehead brass,</q> added the Egyptian, scarcely +concealing a contemptuous smile. +</p> + +<p> +<q>And my forehead brass,</q> repeated the other, obviously +gratified by the compliment. <q>Nay, friend, the shrinking +heart, and the failing arm, and the womanly bearing, are no +disgrace, perhaps, to a man born by the tepid Nile; but we +who drink from the Tiber here (and very foul it is)—we of the +blood of Romulus, the she-wolf’s litter, and the war-god’s line—are +never so happy as when our feet are reeling in the +press of battle, our hearts leaping to the clash of shields, and +our ears deafened by the shout of victory. Hark! what is +that?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The boaster’s face turned very pale, and he hastily +unbuckled the sword he had been girding on while he spoke; +for a wild, ominous cry came sweeping over the roofs of the +adjoining houses, rising and falling, as it seemed, with the +sway of deadly strife, and boding, in its fierce fluctuations, to +some a cruel triumph, to others a merciless defeat. +</p> + +<p> +Oarses heard it too. His dark face scarce looked like +a woman’s now, with its gleam of malicious glee and exulting +cunning. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The old Prætorians are up,</q> said he quietly. <q>I have +been expecting this for a week. Brave soldier, there will be +a fill of fighting for thee this night in the streets; and goodly +spoils, too, for the ready hand, and love and wine, and all the +rest of it, without the outlay of a farthing.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>But it will not be safe to be seen in arms now,</q> gasped +Damasippus, sitting down on the tester-bed, with a white +<pb n='204'/><anchor id='Pg204'/>flabby face, and a general appearance of being totally +unstrung. <q>Besides,</q> he added, with a ludicrous attempt at +reasserting his dignity, <q>a brave Roman should not engage +in civil war.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Oarses reflected for a moment, undisturbed by a second +shout, that made his frightened companion tremble in every +limb; then he smoothed his brows, and spoke in soothing and +persuasive tones. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Dost thou not see, my friend, how all is in favour of our +undertaking? Had the city been quiet, we might have +aroused attention, and a dozen chance passengers half as +brave as thyself might have foiled us at the very moment of +success. Now, the streets will be clear of small parties, and +it is easy for us to avoid a large body before it approaches. +One act of violence amongst the hundreds sure to be committed +to-night, will never again be heard of. The three or +four resolute slaves under thine orders, will be taken to belong +to one or other of the fighting factions, and thus even the +patron’s spotless character will escape without a blemish. +Besides, in such a turmoil as we are like to have by sundown, +a woman might scream her heart out, and nobody would +think of noticing her. On with that sword again, my hero, +and let us go softly down into the street.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>But if the old Prætorians succeed,</q> urged the other, +evincing a great disinclination for the adventure, <q>what will +become of Cæsar? and with Cæsar’s fall down goes the patron +too, and then who is to bear us harmless from the effects of +our expedition to-night?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Oh! thick-witted Ajax!</q> answered the Egyptian, laughing; +<q>bold and strong in action as the lion; but in council +innocent as the lamb. Knowest thou the tribune so little as +to think he will be on the losing side? If there is tumult in +Rome, and revolt, and the city boils and seethes like a huge +flesh-pot casting up its choicest morsels to the surface, dost +thou suppose that Placidus is not stirring the fire underneath? +I tell thee that, come what may of Cæsar to-night, to-morrow +will behold the tribune more popular and more powerful +than ever; and I for one will beware of disobeying his +behests.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The last argument was not without its effect. Damasippus, +though much against the grain, was persuaded that of two +perils he had better choose the lesser; and it speaks well for +the ascendency gained by Placidus over his followers, that +the cleverer and more daring knave should have obeyed him +unhesitatingly from self-interest, the ruffian and the coward +<pb n='205'/><anchor id='Pg205'/>from fear. Damasippus, then, girding on his sword once +more, and assuming as warlike a port as was compatible with +his sinking heart, marched down into the street to accompany +his disguised companion on their nefarious undertaking, with +many personal fears and misgivings for the result. +</p> + +<p> +How different, save in its disquietude, was the noble +nature at the same moment seeking repose and finding none, +within half a bow-shot of the garret in which these two knaves +were plotting. Despite his blameless life, despite his distinguished +career, Caius L. Licinius sat and brooded, lonely +and sorrowful, in his stately home. In that noble palace, +long ranges of galleries and chambers were filled with objects +of art and taste, beautiful, and costly, and refined. If a yard +of the wall had looked bare, it would have been adorned +forthwith by some trophy of barbaric arms taken in warfare. +If a corner had seemed empty, it would have been at once +filled with an exquisite group of marble, wrought into still +life by some Greek artist’s chisel. Not a recess in that pile +of building, but spoke of comfort, complete in every respect, +and the only empty chamber in the whole was its owner’s +heart. Nay, more than empty, for it was haunted by the +ghost of a beloved memory, and the happiness that was +never to come again. +</p> + +<p> +Cold and dreary is the air of that mysterious tenement +where we buried our treasures long ago. Cold and dreary, +like the atmosphere of the tomb, but a perfume hangs about +it still, because love, being divine, is therefore eternal; and +though the turf be laid damp and heavy over the beloved +head, our tears fall like the blessed rain from heaven, and +water the very barrenness of the grave, till at length, through +weary patience and humble resignation, the flowers of hope +begin to spring, and faith tells us they shall bloom hereafter, +in another and a better world. +</p> + +<p> +Licinius was very lonely, and at a time of life when, +perhaps, loneliness is most oppressive to the mind. Youth +has so much to anticipate, is so full of hope, is so sanguine, so +daring, that its own dreams are sufficient for its sustenance; +but in middle age, men have already found out that the +mirage is but sand and sunshine after all; they look forward, +indeed, still, yet only from habit, and because the excitement +that was once such intoxicating rapture, is now but a necessary +stimulant. If they have no ties of family, no affections to +take them out of themselves, they become pompous triflers, +or despondent recluses, according as their temperaments lead +them to inordinate self-importance or excessive humility. +<pb n='206'/><anchor id='Pg206'/>Not so when the quiver is full, and the hearth is merry with +the patter of little feet, and the ring of childish laughter. +There is a charm to dispel all the evil, and call up all the +good, even of the worst man’s nature, in the soft white brow, +pure from the stamp of sin and care, in the bold bright eyes +that look up so trustingly to his own. There is a sense of +protection and responsibility, that few natures are so depraved +as to repudiate, in the household relationship which acknowledges +and obeys the father as its head; and there is no man +so callous or so reckless, but he would wish to appear nobler +and better than he is in the eyes of his child. Licinius had +none of these incentives to virtue; but the lofty nature and +the loving heart that could worship a memory, and feel that +it was a reality still, had kept him pure from vice. He had +never of late attached himself much to anything, till Esca +became an inmate of his household; but since he had been in +habits of daily intercourse with the Briton, a feeling of content +and well-being, he would have found it difficult to analyse, +had gradually crept over him. Perhaps he would have +remained unconscious of his slave’s influence, had it not been +for the blank occasioned by his departure. He missed him +sadly now, and wondered why, at every moment of the day, +he found himself thinking of the pleasant familiar face and +frank cordial smile. +</p> + +<p> +So much alone, he had acquired grave habits of reflection, +even of that self-examination which is so beneficial an exercise +when impartially performed, but which men so rarely practise +without a self-deception that obviates all its good effects. +This evening he was in a more thoughtful mood than +common; this evening, more than ever, it seemed to him that +his was an aimless, fruitless life; that he had let the material +pleasures of existence slip through his fingers, and taken +nothing in exchange. Of what availed his toils, his enterprise, +his love of country, his self-denial, his endurance of hardship +and privation? What was he the better now, that he had +marched, and watched, and bled, and preserved whole colonies +for the empire; and sat glorious, crowned with laurels in the +triumphal car? He looked round on his stately walls, and +the trophies that adorned them, thinking the while that even +such a home as this might be purchased too dear at the expense +of a lifetime. Gold and marble, corridors and columns, +ivory couches and Tyrian carpets, were these equivalents for +youth’s toil and manhood’s care, and at last a desolate old +age? What was this ambition that led men so irresistibly +up the steepest paths, by the brink of such fatal precipices? +<pb n='207'/><anchor id='Pg207'/>Had he ever experienced its temptations? He scarcely +knew; he could not realise them now. Had Guenebra lived, +indeed, and had she been his own, he might have prized +honour and renown, and a name that was on all men’s lips, +for her dear sake. To see the kind eyes brighten; to call up +a smile into the beloved face, that would surely have been +reward enough, and that would never be. Then he fell to +thinking of the bright days when they were all in all to each +other, when the very sky seemed fairer, while he watched for +her white dress under the oak-tree. Was he not perfectly +happy then? Would he not at least have been perfectly +happy could he have called her, as he hoped to do, his own? +Honesty answered, No. At the very best there was a vague +longing, a something wanting, a sense of insufficiency, of +insecurity, and even discontent. If it was so then, how had +it been since? Passing over the sharp sudden stroke, so +numbing his senses at the time that a long interval had to +elapse ere he awoke to its full agony—passing over the +subsequent days of yearning, and nights of vain regret, the +desolation that laid waste a heart which would bear fruit no +more, he reviewed the long years in which he had striven to +make duty and the love of country fill the void, and was +forced to confess that here, too, all was barren. There was a +something ever wanting, even to complete the dull torpor of +that resignation which philosophy inculcated, and common +sense enjoined. What was it? Licinius could not answer +his own question, though he felt that it must have some +solution, at which man’s destiny intended him to arrive. +</p> + +<p> +All the Roman knew, all he could realise, was that the +spring was gone long ago, with her buds of promise, and +her laughing morning skies; that the glory of summer had +passed away, with its lustrous beauty and its burnished +plains, and its deep dark foliage quivering in the heat; that +the blast of autumn had strewn the cold earth now with faded +flowers and withered leaves, and all the wreck of all the +hopes that blossomed so tenderly, and bloomed so bright and +fair. The heaven was cold and grey, and between him and +heaven the bare branches waved and nodded, mocking, pointing +with spectral fingers to the dull cheerless sky. Could +he but have believed, could he but have vaguely imaged to +himself that there would come another spring; that belief, +that vague imagining, had been to Licinius the one inestimable +treasure for which he would have bartered all else +in the world. +</p> + +<p> +In vain he sought, and looked about him for something +<pb n='208'/><anchor id='Pg208'/>on which to lean; for something out of, and superior to +himself, inspiring him with that sense of being protected, for +which humanity feels so keen, yet so indefinite, a desire. +What is the bravest and wisest of mankind, but a child in +the dark, groping for the parental hand that shall guide its +uncertain steps? Where was he to find the ideal that he +could honestly worship, on the superiority of which he could +heartily depend? The mythology of Rome, degraded as it +had become, was not yet stripped of all the graceful attributes +it owed to its Hellenic origin. That which was Greek, +might indeed be evil, yet it could scarce fail to be fair; but +what rational man could ground his faith on the theocracy +of Olympus, or contemplate with any feeling save disgust +that material Pantheism, in which the lowest even of human +vices was exalted into a divinity? As well become a worshipper +of Isis at once, and prostitute, to the utter degradation +of the body, all the noblest and fairest imagery of the mind. +No, the deities that Homer sang were fit subjects for the +march of those Greek hexameters, sonorous and majestic +as the roll of the Ægean sea; fit types of sensuous perfection, +to be wrought by the Greek chisel, from out the veined blocks +of smooth, white Parian stone; but for man, intellectual man, +to bow down before the crafty Hermes, or the thick-witted +god of forges, or the ambrosial front of father Jove himself, +the least ideal of all, was a simple absurdity, that could scarce +impose upon a woman or a child. +</p> + +<p> +Licinius had served in the East, and he bethought him +now of a nation against whom he had stood in arms, brave +fierce soldiers, men instinct with public virtue and patriotism; +whose rites, different from those of all other races, +were observed with scrupulous fidelity and self-denial. This +people, he had heard, worshipped a God of whom there was +no material type, whose being was omnipresent and spiritual, +on whom they implicitly depended when all else failed, and +trusting in whom they never feared to die. But they admitted +none to partake with them in their advantages, and their +faith seemed to inculcate hatred of the stranger no less than +dissensions and strife amongst themselves. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Is there nothing, alas! but duty, stern cold duty, to fill +this void?</q> thought Licinius. <q>Be it so, then; my sword +shall be once more at the service of my country, and I will +die in my harness like a Roman and a soldier at the last!</q> +</p> + +</div><div n="2.7" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='209'/><anchor id='Pg209'/> +<index index="toc" level1="VII. “Habet!”"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="VII. 'Habet!'"/> +<head>CHAPTER VII<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller"><q>HABET!</q></hi></head> + +<p> +Hippias, the fencing-master, had completed his preparations +for the night. With a certain military instinct, as +necessary to his profession as to that of the legitimate soldier, +he could rely upon his own dispositions, when they were once +made, with perfect confidence, and a total absence of anxiety +for the result. Like all men habituated to constant strife, he +was never so completely in his element as when surrounded +by perils, only to be warded off by cool, vigilant courage; and +though he may have had moments in which he longed for the +softer joys of affection and repose, it needed but the clang of +a buckler, or the gleam of a sword, to rouse him into his +fiercer self once more. +</p> + +<p> +It had been his habit to attend Valeria, for the purpose +of instructing her in swordsmanship, by an hour’s practice +on certain appointed days. Everything connected with the +amphitheatre possessed at this period such a morbid fascination +for all classes of the Roman people, that even ladies of +rank esteemed it a desirable accomplishment to understand +the use of the sword; and it is said that on more than one +occasion women of noble birth had been known to take part +in the deadly games themselves. These, however, were rare +instances of such complete defiance of all modesty and even +natural feeling; but to thrust, and shout, and stamp, in the +conflict of mimic warfare, was simply esteemed the regular +exercise and the healthy excitement of every patrician dame +who aspired to a fashionable reputation. Such sudorifics, +accompanied by excessive use of the bath and a free indulgence +in slaking the thirst, arising from so severe a course +of treatment, must have been highly detrimental to female +beauty; but even this consideration was postponed to the +absorbing claims of fashion, and then, as now, a woman was +content and pleased to disfigure herself by any process, however +painful and inconvenient, providing other women did the +same. +</p> + +<pb n='210'/><anchor id='Pg210'/> + +<p> +It is possible, too, that the manly symmetry of form, the +tough thews and sinews of their instructors, were not without +effect on pupils, whose hearts softened in proportion as their +muscles became hard, and whose whole habits and education +tended to interest them in the person and profession of the +gladiator. Be this as it may, the fencing-masters of Rome +had but little time left on their hands, and, of these, Hippias +was doubtless the most sought after by the fair. It was +his custom to neglect nothing, however trifling, connected +with his calling. No details were too small to be attended +to by one whose daily profession taught him that life and +victory might depend on the mere quiver of an eyelid, the +accidental slip of a buckle; and, besides, he took a strange +pride in his deadly trade, and especially in the methodical +regularity with which he carried it out. Though bound to-night +for the desperate enterprise which should make or mar +him; though confident that, in either event, he would to-morrow +be far beyond the necessities of a gladiator, it was +part of his character to play out his part thoroughly to-day. +Valeria would expect him, as usual, before the bathing-hour +on the following morning. It was but decent he should +leave a message at her house that he might be detained. +The very wording of his excuse brought to his mind the +possibilities of the next few hours—the many chances of +failure in the enterprise, failure which, to him at least, the +leader of desperate men, was synonymous with certain death. +</p> + +<p> +To-day, for the first time, as he turned his steps towards +her mansion, a soft, half-sorrowful, yet not unpleasing +sensation stole into his heart as the image of its mistress +rose before him in all the pride of her stately beauty. He +had often admired the regularity of her haughty features—had +scanned, in his own critical way, with unqualified approval +the lines of her noble figure, and the symmetry of her firm, +well-turned limbs; had even longed to touch that wealth +of silken hair when it shook loose in her exertions, and yet—a +strange sensation for such a man—had flinched and felt +oppressed when, placing her once in a position of defence, +a tress of it had fallen across his hand. Now, it seemed to +him that he would give much to live those few moments +over again; that he would like to see her once more, if, +indeed, as was probable, it would be for the last time; that +there was no other woman to be compared with her in Rome; +and that, with all her glowing beauty and all her physical +attractions, her pride was her greatest charm. +</p> + +<p> +He was a desperate man, about to play a desperate +<pb n='211'/><anchor id='Pg211'/>game for life. Such thoughts in such a heart and at such +a time quicken with fearful rapidity into evil. Admiration, +untempered by the holier leavening of that affection which +can only exist in the breast that has kept itself pure, soon +grows to cruelty and selfishness. The love of beauty, +poisoned by the love of strife, seethes into a fierce passionate +longing, less that of the lover for his mistress than of the +tiger for its prey. Valeria was a proud woman, the proudest +and the fairest in Rome. He drew his breath hard as he +thought what a wild triumph it would be to bend that stately +neck, and humble that pride to his very feet. Methodical +and soldierlike, he had seen to everything with his own +eyes. The plot was laid, the conspirators were armed and +instructed, there was yet an hour or two to spare before the +appointed gathering at the tribune’s house, and that time +he resolved should be devoted to Valeria; at least, he +would feast his eyes once more on that glorious beauty, of +which he now seemed to acknowledge the full power. He +would see her, would bid her farewell. She had always +welcomed him cordially and kindly; perhaps she would be +sorry to lose him altogether. He smiled a very evil smile, +though his heart beat faster than it had done since he was +a boy, as he halted under the statue of Hermes in her porch. +</p> + +<p> +And Valeria was sitting in her chamber, with her head +buried in her hands, and her long brown hair sweeping like +a mantle to her feet. All the feelings that could most goad +and madden a woman were tearing at her heart. She dared +not—for the sake of tottering reason she dared not—think +of the tribune’s white face and dropping jaw, and limbs +strewed helpless on the couch. She suffered the vision, +indeed, to weigh upon her like some oppressive nightmare; +but she abstained, with an effort of which she was yet fully +conscious, from analysing its meaning or recalling its details, +above all, from considering its origin and its effect. No! +the image of Esca still filled her brain and her heart. Esca +in the amphitheatre; Esca chained and sleeping on the +hard hot pavement; Esca walking by her side through the +shady streets; and Esca turning away with his noble figure +and his manly step, exulting in the liberty that set him free +from <hi rend='italic'>her</hi>! +</p> + +<p> +Then came a rush of those softer feelings, that were +required to render her torture unbearable: the sting of +what might have been; the picture of herself (she could see +herself in her mind’s eye—beautiful and fascinating, in all +the advantages of dress and jewels) leaning on that strong +<pb n='212'/><anchor id='Pg212'/>arm, and the kind brave face looking down into hers with +the protective air that became it so well. To give him all; +to tell him all she had risked, all she had done for his +sake, and to hear his loving accents in reply! She almost +fancied in her dream that this had actually come to pass, +so vividly did her heart imagine to itself its dearest longings. +Then she saw another figure in the place that ought to be +her own—another face into which he was looking as he had +never looked in hers. It was the dark-eyed girl’s! The +dark-eyed girl, who had been her rival throughout! Would +she have done as much for him with her pale face and +her frightened, shrinking ways? And now, ere this, he +had reached her home, was whispering in her ear, with his +arm round her waist. Perhaps he was boasting of the +conquest he had made over the haughty Roman lady, and +telling her that he had scorned Valeria for her dear sake. +Then all that was evil in her nature gained the ascendant, +and with the bitter recklessness that has ruined so many +an undisciplined heart, she said to herself—<q>There is no +reality but evil. Life is an illusion, and hope a lie. It +matters little what becomes of me now!</q> +</p> + +<p> +When Myrrhina entered she found her lady busied in +rearranging the folds of her robe and her disordered tresses. +It was no part of Valeria’s character to show by her outward +bearing what was passing in her mind, and least of +all would she have permitted her attendant to guess at the +humiliation she had undergone. The waiting-maid, indeed, +was a little puzzled; but she had gained so much knowledge, +both by observation and experience, of the strange effects +produced by over-excitement on her sex, that she never +suffered herself to be surprised at a feminine vagary of any +description. Now, though she wondered why Esca was +gone, and why her mistress was so reserved and haughty, +she refrained discreetly from question or remark, contenting +herself with a silent offer of her services, and arranging the +brown hair into a plaited coronet on Valeria’s brows, without +betraying by her manner that she was conscious anything +unusual had taken place. +</p> + +<p> +After a few moments’ silence, her mistress’s voice was +sufficiently steadied for her to speak. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I did not send for you,</q> said she. <q>What do you want +here?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Myrrhina’s hands were busied with the long silken tresses, +and she held a comb between her teeth. Nevertheless, she +answered volubly. +</p> + +<pb n='213'/><anchor id='Pg213'/> + +<p> +<q>I would not have disturbed you, madam, this warm, +sultry evening—and I rebuked the porter soundly for letting +him in; only as he said, to be sure, he never was denied +before, and I thought, perhaps, you would not be displeased +to see him, if it was only for a few minutes, and he seemed +so anxious and hurried—and, indeed, he never has much +time to spare, so I bade him wait in the inner hall while I +came to let you know.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Hoping even against hope! She knew it was impossible, +yet her heart leapt as she thought—<q>Oh! if it were only +Esca who had turned back!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I will see him,</q> said she quietly, prolonging the illusion +by purposely avoiding to ask who this untimely visitor +might be. +</p> + +<p> +In another minute Hippias stood before her—Hippias, +the fencing-master, a man in whose dangerous career she +had always taken a vague interest; whose personal prowess +she admired, and whose reputation, such as it was, possessed +for her a wild fascination of its own. He was reckless, too, +from the very nature of his profession; and she, in her +present mood, more reckless, more desperate than any +gladiator of them all. It would have done her good to +stand, with naked steel, against some fierce wild beast or +deadly foe. There was nothing, she felt, that she could not +dare to-day. Nerve and brain wound up to the highest +pitch of excitement—heart and feelings crushed, and wounded, +and sore. When the reaction came, it would necessarily be +fatal; when the tide ebbed, it would leave a wearied, helpless +sufferer on the shore. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the frame of mind in which Valeria received +the gladiator; outwardly impassive—for her colour did not +even deepen, nor her breath come quicker at his unexpected +appearance—inwardly vexed by a conflict of tumultuous +feelings, and longing for any change—any anodyne that +could deaden or alleviate her pain. How could she but +respond to his manly, respectful farewell? How could she +but listen to the few burning words in which he spoke of +long-suppressed and hopeless adoration, or pretend not to +be interested in the desperate enterprise which he hinted +might prevent his ever looking on her fair face again. He +soothed her self-love; he roused her curiosity; he set her +pride on its broken pedestal again, and propped it with a +strong, yet gentle hand; and so the two thunder-clouds +drew nearer still and nearer, ere they met, to be destroyed +and riven by the lightning their own contact had engendered. +</p> + +</div><div n="2.8" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='214'/><anchor id='Pg214'/> +<index index="toc" level1="VIII. Too Late!"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="VIII. Too Late!"/> +<head>CHAPTER VIII<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">TOO LATE!</hi></head> + +<p> +Esca, treading on air, hastened from Valeria’s house +with the common selfishness of love, ignoring all the +pain and disappointment he had left behind him. The young +blood coursed merrily through his veins, and, in spite of his +anxiety, he exulted in the sense of being at liberty once more. +He was alive, doubtless, to the generosity and devotion of the +woman who had set him free, nor was he so blind as to be +unaware of the affection that had driven her to such desperate +measures for his sake; and in the first glow of a gratitude, +that had in it no vestige of tenderer feelings, he had resolved, +when his mission was accomplished and Mariamne placed +in safety, he would return and throw himself at the Roman +lady’s feet once more. But the farther he left her stately +porch behind, the weaker became this generous resolution, +and ere long he had little difficulty in persuading himself +that his first duty was to the Jewess, and that in his future +actions he must be guided by circumstances, or, in other +words, follow the bent of his own inclinations. Meanwhile, +in spite of his wounded foot, he sped on towards the Tiber +as fast as, in years gone by, he had followed the lean wolf, +or the foam-flecked boar, over the green hills of Britain. The +sun had not been down an hour when he entered the well-known +street that was now enchanted ground; yet, while +he looked up into the darkening sky, his heart turned sick +within him at the thought that he might be too late, after all. +</p> + +<p> +The garden-door was open, as she must have left it. +She was not, therefore, in the house. He might find her at +the riverside, and have the happiness of a few minutes alone +with her, ere he brought her back and placed her, for the +second time, in safety within her father’s walls. The more +prudent course, he confessed to himself at the time, would +have been to alarm Eleazar, and put him on the defensive at +once; but he had been so long without seeing Mariamne, the +peril in which she was placed had so endeared her to him, +<pb n='215'/><anchor id='Pg215'/>and his own near approach to death had stamped her image +so vividly on his heart, that he could not resist the temptation +of seeking her at the water-side, and telling her, unwatched +by other ears or eyes, all he had felt and endured +since they last parted, and how, for both their sakes, they +must never part again. +</p> + +<p> +Full of such thoughts, he ran down to the water’s edge, +and sought the broken column where she was accustomed to +descend and fill her pitcher from the stream. In vain his +eager eye watched for the dark-clad figure and the dear pale +face. Once in the deepening twilight his heart leapt as he +thought he saw her crouching low beneath the bank, and +sank again to find he had been deceived by a fallen slab of +stone. Then he turned for one more searching look ere he +departed, and his glance rested on a pitcher, broken into a +dozen fragments, at his feet. He did not know that it was +Mariamne’s. How should he, when a thousand pitchers +carried by a thousand women to the Tiber every evening +were precisely alike? Yet his blood ran cold through his +veins and his fears hurried him back, almost insensibly, to +Eleazar’s door, which he burst open without going through +the ceremony of knocking. +</p> + +<p> +Her father and his brother were in the house. The +former leapt to his feet and snatched a javelin from the wall +ere he recognised his visitor. The latter, less prone to do +battle at a moment’s notice, laid his hand on Eleazar’s arm, +and calmly said— +</p> + +<p> +<q>It is the friend who is always welcome, and whom we +have expected day by day in vain.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Everything looked so much as usual that for a moment +Esca felt almost reassured. It was possible Mariamne might +be even now busied with household affairs, safe in the +inner chamber. A lover’s bashfulness brought the blood to +his cheeks, as he reflected if it were so it would be difficult +to account for his unceremonious entrance; but the recollection +of her danger soon stifled all such trivial considerations, +and he confronted her father impetuously, and asked +him, almost in a threatening tone— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Where is Mariamne?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Eleazar looked first simply astonished, then somewhat +offended. He answered, however, with more command of +temper than was his wont. +</p> + +<p> +<q>My daughter has but now left the house with her pitcher. +She will be home again almost immediately; but what is this +to thee?</q> +</p> + +<pb n='216'/><anchor id='Pg216'/> + +<p> +<q>What is it to me?</q> repeated Esca in a voice of thunder, +catching hold of his questioner’s arm at the same time with +an iron grasp for which the fierce old Jew liked him none the +worse—<q>What is it to thee, to him, to all of us? I tell thee, +old man, whilst we are drivelling here, they are bearing her +off into captivity ten thousand times worse than death! I +heard the plot—I heard it with my own ears, lying chained +like a dog on the hard stones. The wicked tribune was to +make her his own this very night, and though he has met +his reward, the villains that do his bidding have got her in +their power ere this. The pure—the loved—the beautiful—Mariamne—Mariamne!</q> +</p> + +<p> +He hid his face in his hands, and his strong frame shook +with agony from head to heel. +</p> + +<p> +It was the turn of Calchas now to start to his feet, and +look about him as if in search of a weapon. His first impulse +was resistance to oppression, even by the strong hand. With +Eleazar, on the contrary, the instincts of the soldier predominated, +and the very magnitude of the emergency seemed +to endow him with preternatural coolness and composure. +He knit his thick brows indeed, and there was a smothered +glare in his eye that boded no good to an enemy when the +time for an outbreak should arrive, but his voice was low and +distinct, as in a few sharp eager questions he gathered the +outline of the plot that was to rob him of his daughter. +Then he thought for a few seconds ere he spoke. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The men that were to take her? What were they like? +I would fain know them if I came across them.</q> +</p> + +<p> +His white teeth gleamed like a wild beast’s with a smile +ominous of his intentions on their behalf. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Damasippus and Oarses,</q> replied the Briton. <q>The +former stout, sleek, heavy, and beetle-browed. The latter +pale, dark, and thin. An Egyptian with an Egyptian’s +false face, and more than an Egyptian’s cruelty and +cunning.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Where live they?</q> asked the Jew, buckling at the same +time a formidable two-edged sword to his side. +</p> + +<p> +<q>In the Flaminian Way,</q> replied the other. <q>High up +in some garret where we should never find them. But they +will not take her there. She is by this time at the other +end of the city in the tribune’s house.</q> And again he groaned +in anguish of spirit at the thought. +</p> + +<p> +<q>And that house?</q> asked Eleazar, still busied with his +warlike preparations. <q>How is it defended? I know its +outside well, and an easy entrance from the wall to the +<pb n='217'/><anchor id='Pg217'/>inner court; but what resistance shall we encounter within? +what force can the tribune’s people raise at a moment’s +outcry?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Alas!</q> answered Esca. <q>To-night of all nights, the +house of Placidus is garrisoned like a fortress. A chosen +band of gladiators are to sup with the tribune, and afterwards +to take possession of the palace and drag Cæsar from the +throne. When they find the banquet prepared for them, I +know them too well to think they will separate without +partaking of it, even though their host be lying dead on the +festal couch. She will become the prey of men like Hippias, +Lutorius, and Euchenor. But if we cannot rescue her, at +least we may die in the attempt.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Even in his anxiety for his daughter, such news as this +could not but startle the emissary of the Jewish nation. In +an instant’s time he had run over its importance, as it regarded +his own mission and the probable influence on the +destinies of his country. Should the conspiracy succeed, +Vitellius might already be numbered with the dead, and +instead of that easy self-indulgent glutton, over whom he +had already obtained considerable influence, he would have +to do with the bold, sagacious, far-seeing general, the remorseless +enemy of his nation, whom neither he nor any of his +countrymen had ever succeeded in deceiving by stratagem +or worsting by force of arms. When the purple descended +on Vespasian the doom of Jerusalem was sealed. Nevertheless, +Eleazar concentrated his mind on the present emergency. +In a few words he laid out his plan for the rescue of his +daughter. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The freedmen’s garret must be our first point of attack,</q> +said he. <q>The tribune would scarce have ordered them to +bring their prize to his house to-night, where there would be +so many to dispute it with him, and where dissension would +be fatal to his great enterprise. Calchas and I will proceed +immediately to the dwelling of this Damasippus and his +fellow-villain. Your directions will enable us to find it. +You, Esca, speed off at once to the tribune’s house. You +will soon learn whether she has been brought there. If so, +come to us without delay in the Flaminian Way. I am not +entirely without friends even here, and I will call on two or +three of my people to help as I go along. Young man, you +are bold and true. We will have her out of the tribune’s +house if we pull the walls down with our naked hands; and +let me but come within reach of the villains who take shelter +there</q>—here his face darkened and his frame quivered in a +<pb n='218'/><anchor id='Pg218'/>paroxysm of suppressed fury—<q>may my father’s tomb be +dishonoured, and the name of my mother defiled, if I dip +not my hands to the very elbows in their hearts’ blood!</q> +</p> + +<p> +To be told he was brave and true by her father added +fuel to Esca’s enthusiasm. It was indeed much for Eleazar +to confess on behalf of a stranger and a heathen, but the +fierce old warrior’s heart warmed to a kindred nature that +seemed incapable of selfish fear, and he approved hugely, +moreover, of the implicit attention with which the Briton +listened to his directions, and his readiness for instantaneous +action, however desperate. Calchas, too, clasped the young +man warmly by the hand. +</p> + +<p> +<q>We are but three,</q> said he, <q>three against a host. Yet +I have no fear. I trust in One who never failed His servants +yet. One to whom emperors and legions are as a handful of +dust before the wind, or a few dried thorns on the beacon-fire. +And so do you, my son, so do you, though you know it not. +But the time shall come when His very benefits shall compel +you to confess your Master, and when in sheer gratitude you +shall enrol yourself amongst those who serve Him faithfully +even unto death.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Many a time during that eventful and anxious night had +Esca occasion to remember the old man’s solemn words. Its +horrors, its catastrophes, its alternations of hope and fear, might +have driven one mad, who had nothing to depend upon but his +own unaided strength and resolution. Few great actions have +been performed, few tasks exacting the noble heroism of endurance +fulfilled successfully, without extraneous aid, without +the help of some leading principle out of, and superior to, +the man. Honour, patriotism, love, loyalty, all have supported +their votaries through superhuman exertions and +difficulties that seemed insurmountable, teaching them to +despise dangers and hardships with a courage sterner than +mortals are expected to possess; but none of these can +impart that confidence which is born of faith in the believer’s +breast;—that confidence which enables him to take good +and evil with an equal mind, to look back on the past +without a sigh, forward on the future without a fear; and +though the present may be all a turmoil of peril, uncertainty, +and confusion, to stand calmly in the midst, doing the best +he can with a stout heart and an unruffled brow, while he +leaves the result fearlessly and trustfully in the hand of God. +</p> + +<p> +Eleazar and Calchas were already equipped for the +pursuit. The one armed to the teeth, and looking indeed +a formidable enemy; the other mild and hopeful as usual, +<pb n='219'/><anchor id='Pg219'/>venerable with his white hair and beard, and carrying but +a simple staff for his weapon. In grave silence, but with a +grasp of the hand more emphatic than any spoken words, +the three parted on their search; Esca threading his way at +once through the narrow and devious streets that led towards +the tribune’s house—that house which he had left so gladly +but a few short hours ago when, rescued by Valeria, he bade +her farewell, exulting in the liberty that enabled him to seek +Mariamne’s side once more. He soon reached the hated +dwelling. All there seemed quiet as the grave. From other +quarters of the city indeed there came, now and again, the +roar of distant voices which rose and fell at intervals as the +tide of tumult ebbed and flowed, but, preoccupied as he was, +Esca took little heed of these ominous sounds, for they bore +him no intelligence of Mariamne. All was silent in the +porch, all was silent in the vestibule and outer hall, but as +he ventured across its marble pavement, he heard the bustle +of preparation, and the din of flagons within. +</p> + +<p> +It was at the risk of liberty and life, that he crept +noiselessly forward, and peeped into the banqueting-hall, +which was already partially lighted up for the feast. Shrinking +behind a column, he observed the slaves, many of whom +he knew well by sight, laying covers, burnishing vases, and +otherwise making ready for a sumptuous entertainment. He +listened for a few moments, hoping to gather from their +conversation some news of the Jewess and her captors. All +at once he started and trembled violently. Bold as he was, +in common with his northern countrymen a vein of superstition +ran through his nature, and though he feared nothing +tangible or corporeal, he held in considerable dread all that +touched upon the confines of the spiritual and the unknown. +There within ten paces of him, ghastly pale, with dark circles +round his eyes, and clad in white, stood the figure of the +tribune, pointing, as it seemed to him, with shadowy hand +at the different couches, and giving directions in a low +sepulchral voice for the order of the banquet. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Not yet!</q> he heard the apparition exclaim in tones +of languid, fretful impatience. <q>Not come yet! the idle +loiterers! Well, she must preside there at the supper-table +and take her place at once as mistress here. Ho! slaves! +bring more flowers! Fill the tall golden cup with Falernian +and set it next to mine!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Well did Esca know to whom these directions must refer. +Though his blood had been chilled for an instant by this +reappearance, as he believed it, of his enemy from the grave, +<pb n='220'/><anchor id='Pg220'/>he soon collected his scattered energies and summoned his +courage back, with the hateful conviction that, alive or dead, +the tribune was resolved to possess himself of Mariamne. +And this he vowed to prevent, ay, though he should slay his +dark-eyed love with his own hand. +</p> + +<p> +It was obvious now that Damasippus and Oarses would +bring the captive straight to their patron’s house, that Eleazar +and Calchas had gone upon a fool’s errand to the freedmen’s +garret in the Flaminian Way. What would he have given to +be cheered by the wise counsels of the one, and backed by +the strong arm of the other! Would there be time for him +to slip from here unobserved, and to summon them to his +aid? Three desperate men might cut their way through all +the slaves that Placidus could muster, and if they had any +chance of success at all it must be before the arrival of the +gladiators. But then she was obviously expected every +minute. She might arrive—horrible thought!—while he was +gone for help, and once in the tribune’s power it would be too +late. In his despair the words of Calchas recurred forcibly to +his mind. <q>We are but three,</q> said the old man, <q>three +against a host, yet I have no fear.</q> And Esca resolved that +though he was but one, he too would have no fear, but would +trust implicitly in the award of eternal justice, which would +surely interfere to prevent this unholy sacrifice. +</p> + +<p> +Feeling that his sword was loose in its sheath and ready +to his hand, holding his breath, and nerving himself for the +desperate effort he might be called upon at any moment to +make, the Briton stole softly back through the vestibule, and +concealed himself behind a marble group in the darkest +corner of the porch. Here, with the dogged courage of his +race, he made up his mind that he would await the arrival of +Mariamne, and rescue her at all hazards, against any odds, or +die with her in the attempt. +</p> +</div><div n="2.9" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='221'/><anchor id='Pg221'/> +<index index="toc" level1="IX. The Lure"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="IX. The Lure"/> +<head>CHAPTER IX<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE LURE</hi></head> + +<figure url="images/i_248.png" rend="w40"><figDesc>Initial L</figDesc></figure> + +<p> +Like other great cities, the poorer +quarters of Rome were densely +crowded. The patricians, and indeed +all the wealthier class, affected rural +tastes even in the midst of the +capital, and much space was devoted +to the gardens and pleasure-grounds +which surrounded their +dwellings. The humbler inhabitants +were consequently driven to herd +together in great numbers, with little +regard to health or convenience, and +the streets leading to and adjoining +the Tiber were perhaps the most thickly populated of all. That +in which Eleazar’s house stood, was seldom empty of passengers +at any hour of the twenty-four, and least of all about +sunset when the women thronged out of their dwellings to +draw water for the household consumption of the following +day. Oarses was well aware of this, and therefore it was that +the cunning Egyptian had protested against an abduction of +the Jewish maiden by open force from her father’s door. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Leave it to me,</q> said this finished villain, in discussing +their infamous project with his patron. <q>I know a lure to +wile such birds as these off the bough into my open hand. +Stratagem first, force afterwards. There is no need to waken +the tongues of all the women in the quarter. It was the +cackling of a goose, my patron, that foiled the attack on the +Capitol.</q> +</p><anchor id="i_246"/> +<pgIf output='txt'><then> + <p rend="ill">[Illustration: ‘she was accosted by a dark sallow old woman’]</p> +</then><else> + <p><figure rend="w80" url="images/i_246.png"><head>‘she was accosted by a dark sallow old woman’</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: ‘she was accosted by a dark sallow old woman’</figDesc></figure></p> +</else></pgIf> +<p> +Mariamne, anxious and sad, was carrying her pitcher +listlessly down to the Tiber and letting her thoughts wander +far from her occupation, into a few sweet memories, and a +thousand dreary apprehensions, when she was accosted by a +dark sallow old woman, whose speech and manners, as well +as her dress, betrayed an Eastern origin. The stranger +<pb n='222'/><anchor id='Pg222'/>asked some trifling questions about her way, and prayed for +a draught of cold water when the pitcher should be filled. +Mariamne, whose heart unconsciously warmed to the homely +Syriac, entered freely into conversation with one of her own +sex, and whose language denoted, moreover, that she was +familiar with her nation. Willingly she drew her a measure +from the stream, which the other quaffed with the moderation +of one whose thirst is habitually quenched with wine rather +than water. +</p> + +<p> +<q>It is somewhat muddy, I fear,</q> said the girl kindly, +reverting in her own mind to the sparkling fountains of her +native land, and yet acknowledging how she loved this turbid +stream better than them all. <q>If you will come back with +me to my father’s house I can offer you a draught of wine +and a morsel of bread to cheer you on your way.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The other, though with no great avidity, took a second +pull at the pitcher. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Nay,</q> said she, <q>my daughter, I will not tax your hospitality +so far. Nor have I need. There is lore enough left +under these faded locks of mine, to turn the foulest cesspool +in Rome as clear as crystal. Ay, to change this tasteless +draught to wine of Lebanon, and the pitcher that contains it +to a vase of gold.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Mariamne shrank from her with a gesture of dismay. +Believing implicitly in their power, her religion forbade her +to hold any intercourse with those who professed the black +art. The other marked her repugnance. +</p> + +<p> +<q>My child,</q> she continued, in soothing tones, <q>be not +afraid of the old woman’s secret gifts. Mine is but a harmless +knowledge, gained by study of the ancient Chaldæan +scrolls, such as your own wise king possessed of old. It is +but white magic, such as your high-priest himself would not +scruple to employ. Fear not, I say—I, who have pored over +those mystic characters till mine eyes grew dim, can read +your sweet pale face as plain as the brazen tablets in the +Forum, and I can see in it sorrow, and care, and anxiety for +him you love.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Mariamne started. It was true enough, but how could +the wise woman have found it out? The girl looked wistfully +at her companion, and the latter, satisfied she was on the +right track, proceeded to answer that questioning glance. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Yes,</q> she said, <q>you think he is in danger or in grief. +You wonder why you do not see him oftener. Sometimes +you fear he may be false. What would you not give, my +poor child, to look on the golden locks, and the white brow, +<pb n='223'/><anchor id='Pg223'/>now, at this very moment? And I can show them to you +if you will. The old woman is not ungrateful even for a +draught of the Tiber’s muddy stream.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The blood mounted to Mariamne’s brow, but the light +kindled at the same time in her eyes, and the soft gleam +swept over her face that comes into every human countenance +when the heart vibrates with an allusion to its treasure as +though the silver cord thrilled to the touch of an angel’s +wing. It was no clumsy guess of the wise woman, to infer +that this dark-eyed damsel cherished some fair-haired lover. +</p> + +<p> +<q>What mean you?</q> asked the girl eagerly. <q>How can +you show him to me? What do you know of him? Is he +safe? Is he happy?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The wise woman smiled. Here was a bird flying blindfold +into the net. Take her by her affections, and there +would be little difficulty in the capture. +</p> + +<p> +<q>He is in danger,</q> she replied. <q>But you could save +him if you only knew how. He might be happy too, if he +would. But with another!</q> +</p> + +<p> +To do Mariamne justice she heard only the first sentence. +</p> + +<p> +<q>In danger!</q> she repeated, <q>and I could save him! Oh, +tell me where he is, and what I can do for his sake!</q> +</p> + +<p> +The wise woman pulled a small mirror from her bosom. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I cannot tell you,</q> she answered, <q>but I can show him +to you in this. Only not here, where the shadow of a +passer-by might destroy the charm. Let us turn aside to +that vacant space by the broken column, and you shall look +without interruption on the face you love.</q> +</p> + +<p> +It was but a short way off, though the ruins which +surrounded it made the place lonely and secluded; had +it been twice the distance, however, Mariamne would have +accompanied her new acquaintance without hesitation in +her eagerness for tidings of Esca’s fate. As she neared the +broken column, so endeared to her by associations, she could +not repress a faint sigh, which was not lost on her companion. +</p> + +<p> +<q>It was here you met him before,</q> whispered the wise +woman. <q>It is here you shall see his face again.</q> +</p> + +<p> +This was scarcely a random shaft, for it required little +penetration to discover that Mariamne had some tender +associations connected with a spot thus adapted for the +meeting of a pair of lovers; nevertheless the apparent +familiarity with her previous actions was sufficient to convince +the Jewess of her companion’s supernatural knowledge, and +though it roused alarm, it excited curiosity in a still greater +degree. +</p> + +<pb n='224'/><anchor id='Pg224'/> + +<p> +<q>Take the mirror in your hand,</q> whispered the wise +woman, when they had reached the column, casting, at the +same time, a searching glance around. <q>Shut your eyes +whilst I speak the charm that calls him, three times over, +and then look steadily on its surface till I have counted a +hundred.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Mariamne obeyed these directions implicitly. Standing +in the vacant space with the mirror in her hand, she shut +her eyes and listened intently to the solemn tones of the +wise woman chanting in a low monotonous voice some unintelligible +stanzas, while from the deep shadow behind the +broken column, there stole out the portly figure of Damasippus, +and, at the same moment, half a dozen strong well-armed +slaves rose from the different hiding-places in which they +lay concealed amongst the ruins. Ere the incantation had +been twice repeated, Damasippus threw a shawl over the +girl’s head, muffling her so completely, while he caught her +in his strong arms, that an outcry was impossible. The +others snatched her up ere she could make a movement, and +bore her swiftly off to a chariot with four white horses +waiting in the next street, whilst the wise woman, following +at a rapid pace, and disencumbering herself of her female +attire as she sped along, disclosed the cunning features and +the thin wiry form of Oarses the Egyptian. Coming up with +Damasippus, who was panting behind the slaves and their +burden, he laughed a low noiseless laugh. +</p> + +<p> +<q>My plan was the best,</q> said he, <q>after all. What fools +these women are, O my friend! Is there any other creature +that can be taken with a bait so simple? Three inches of +mirror and the ghost of an absent face!</q> +</p> + +<p> +But Damasippus had not breath to reply. Hurrying +onward, he was chiefly anxious to dispose of his prize in +the chariot without interruption; and when he reached it +he mounted by her side, and bidding Oarses and the slaves +follow as near as was practicable, he drove off at great speed +in the direction of the tribune’s house. +</p> + +<p> +But this was an eventful night in Rome, and although for +that reason well adapted to a deed of violence, its tumult and +confusion exacted great caution from those who wished to +proceed without interruption along the streets. The shouts +that had disturbed the two freedmen in their garret whilst +preparing the enterprise they had since so successfully carried +out, gave no false warning of the coming storm. That storm +had burst, and was now raging in its fury throughout a wide +portion of the city. Like all such outbreaks it gathered +<pb n='225'/><anchor id='Pg225'/>force and violence in many quarters at once, and from many +sources unconnected with its original cause. +</p> + +<p> +Rome was the theatre that night of a furious civil war, +consequent on the intrigues of various parties which had +now grown to a head. The old Prætorian guard had been +broken up by Vitellius, and dismissed without any of the +honours and gratuities to which they considered themselves +entitled, in order to make way for another body of troops +on whose fidelity the Emperor believed he could rely, and +who were now called, in contradistinction to their predecessors, +the New Prætorians. Two such conflicting interests carried +in them the elements of the direst hatred and strife. The +original body-guard hoping to be restored by Vespasian, +should he attain the purple, had everything to gain by a +change of dynasty, and were easily won over by the partisans +of that successful general to any enterprise, however desperate, +which would place him on the throne. Trusting to this +powerful aid, these partisans, of whom Julius Placidus, the +tribune, though he had wormed himself into the confidence +of Vitellius, was one of the most active and unscrupulous, +were ready enough to raise the standard of revolt and had +no fear for the result. The train was laid, and to-night it +had been decided that the match should be applied. In +regular order of battle, in three ranks with spears advanced +and eagles in the centre, the Old Prætorians marched at +sundown to attack the camp of their successors. It was a +bloody and obstinate contest. The new body-guard, proud +of their promotion, and loyal to the hand that had bought +them, defended themselves to the death. Again and again +was the camp almost carried. Again and again were the +assailants obstinately repulsed. It was only when slain, +man by man, falling in their ranks as they stood, with all +their wounds <hi rend='italic'>in front</hi>, that a victory was obtained—a victory +which so crippled the conquerors as to render them but +inefficient auxiliaries in the other conflicts of that eventful +night. But this was only one of the many pitched battles, +so to speak, of which Rome was the unhappy theatre. The +Capitol after an obstinate defence had been taken by the +partisans of the present Emperor and burned to the ground. +</p> + +<p> +This stronghold having been previously seized and +occupied by Sabinus, who declared himself Governor of Rome +in the name of Vespasian, and who even received in state +several of the principal nobility and a deputation from the +harassed and vacillating senate, had been alternately the +object of attack and defence to either party. Its possession +<pb n='226'/><anchor id='Pg226'/>seemed to confer a spurious sovereignty over the whole city, +and it was held as obstinately as it was vigorously and +desperately attacked. +</p> + +<p> +An hour or two before sunset, an undisciplined body of +soldiers, armed only with their swords, and formidable chiefly +from the wild fury with which they seemed inspired, marched +through the Forum and ascended the Capitoline Hill. The +assailants having no engines of war either for protection or +offence, suffered severely from the missiles showered upon +them by the besieged, till the thought struck them of +throwing flaming torches into the place from the roofs of the +houses which surrounded it, and which, erected in time of +peace, had been suffered to overtop the Roman citadel. In +vain, after the flames had consumed the gate, did they +endeavour to force an entrance; for Sabinus, with the unscrupulous +resource of a Roman soldier, had blocked the +way by a hundred prostrate statues of gods and men, pulled +down from the sacred pedestals on which they had stood +for ages; but the contiguous houses catching fire, and all +the woodwork of the Capitol being old and dry, the flames +soon spread, and in a few hours the stronghold of Roman +pride and Roman history was levelled with the ground. +Callous to the memories around him, forgetful of the Tarquins, +and the Scipios, and the many hallowed names that shed +their lustre on this monument of his country’s greatness, +Sabinus lost his presence of mind in proportion as the necessity +for preserving it became more urgent. He was no longer +able to control his troops, and the latter, panic-stricken with +the entrance of their enemies, disbanded, and betook themselves +to flight. The majority, including one woman of noble +birth, were put ruthlessly to the sword, but a few, resembling +their assailants, as they did, in arms, appearance, and language, +were fortunate enough to catch the password by which they +recognised each other, and so escaped. +</p> + +<p> +In another quarter of the mighty city, a large body of +troops who had hoisted the standard of Vespasian, and had +already suffered one repulse which rather excited their +animosity than quelled their ardour, were advancing in good +order, and, according to sound warlike tactics, in three +divisions. The gardens of Sallust, laid out by that elegant +and intellectual sensualist, with a view to pursuits far removed +from strife and bloodshed, were the scene of an obstinate +combat, in which, however, one of these columns succeeded +in establishing itself within the walls; and now the struggle +that had heretofore been carried on in its outskirts, penetrated +<pb n='227'/><anchor id='Pg227'/>to the heart of the Roman capital. The citizens beheld war +brought into their very homes and hearths—the familiar +street slippery with blood—the wounded soldier reeling on +the doorsill, where the children were wont to play—the dead +man’s limbs strewed helpless by the fountain, where the girls +assembled with shrill laughing voices on the calm summer +evenings,—and worse than all, instead of the kindly grasp of +friends and fellow-countrymen, the brother’s hand clutching +at the brother’s throat. +</p> + +<p> +Such horrors, however, did but more demoralise a population +already steeped to the very lips in cruelty, vice, and foul +iniquity. Trained to bloodshed by the ghastly entertainments +of the amphitheatre, the Roman citizen gloated on no spectacle +with so keen a pleasure as on the throes of a fellow-creature +in the agony of violent death. The populace seemed now to +consider the contest waged at their doors as a goodly show +got up for their especial amusement. Loud shouts encouraged +the combatants as either party swayed and wavered in the +mortal press, and +<foreign rend='italic' lang="grc">Euge!</foreign>—<foreign rend='italic' lang="la">Bene!</foreign> were cried as loudly for +their encouragement, as if they had been paid gladiators, +earning their awful livelihood on the sand. Nay, worse, +when some wounded soldier dragged himself into a house +for safety, instead of succour, he was received with yells of +reprobation, and thrust out into the street that he might +be despatched by his conquerors according to the merciless +regulations of the amphitheatre. +</p> + +<p> +Nor was man the only demon on the scene. Unsexed +women with bare bosoms, wild eyes, streaming hair, and +white feet stained with blood, flew to and fro amongst the +soldiers, stimulating them to fresh atrocities with wine and +caresses and odious ribald mirth. It was a festival of Death +and Sin. She had wreathed her fair arms around the spectral +king, and crowned his fleshless brows with her gaudy garlands, +and wrapped him in her mantle of flame, and pressed the +blood-red goblet to his lips, maddening him with her shrieks +of wild, mocking laughter, the while their mutual feet trampled +out the lives and souls of their victims on the stones of Rome. +</p> + +<p> +Through a town in such a state of turmoil and confusion, +Damasippus took upon himself to conduct in safety the prize +he had succeeded in capturing, not, it must be confessed, +without many hearty regrets that he had ever embarked in +the undertaking. Devoutly did he now wish that he could +shift the whole business on to the shoulders of Oarses; but +of late he had been concerned to observe in the patron’s +manner a certain sense of his own inutility as compared with +<pb n='228'/><anchor id='Pg228'/>the astute Egyptian; and if the latter were now permitted to +conclude, as he had undoubtedly inaugurated, the adventure, +Placidus might be satisfied that there was little use in entertaining +two rogues to do the work of one. He knew his +patron well enough to be aware of the effect such a conviction +would have on his own prospects. The tribune would no +more scruple to bid him go starve or hang, than he would to +pull out a superfluous hair from his beard. Therefore, at all +risks, thought Damasippus, he must be the man to bring +Mariamne into his lord’s house. It was a difficult and a +dangerous task. There was only room for himself and one +stout slave besides the charioteer and the prisoner. The +latter had struggled violently, and required to be held down +by main force, nor in muffling her screams was it easy to +observe the happy medium between silence and suffocation. +Also, it was indispensable, in the present lawless state of +affairs, to avoid observation; and the spectacle of a handsomely +gilded chariot with a female figure in it, held down +and closely veiled, the whole drawn by four beautiful white +horses, was not calculated to traverse the streets of a crowded +city without remark. Oarses, indeed, had suggested a litter, +but this had been overruled by his comrade on the score of +speed, and now the state of the streets made speed impossible. +To be sure this enabled the escort to keep up with him, and +Damasippus, who was no fighter at heart, derived some comfort +from their presence. The darkness, however, which +should have favoured him, was dispelled by the numerous +conflagrations in various parts of the city; and when the +chariot was stopped and forced to turn into a by-street to +avoid a crowd rushing towards the blazing Capitol, Damasippus +felt his heart sink within him in an access of terror, +such as even he had never felt before. +</p> + +</div><div n="2.10" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='229'/><anchor id='Pg229'/> +<index index="toc" level1="X. From Scylla to Charybdis"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="X. From Scylla to Charybdis"/> +<head>CHAPTER X<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">FROM SCYLLA TO CHARYBDIS</hi></head> + +<p> +Up one street, down another, avoiding the main thoroughfares, +now rendered impassable by the tumult, his +anxious freedmen threaded their way with difficulty in the +direction of the tribune’s house. Mariamne seemed either +to have fainted, or to have resigned herself to her fate, for +she had ceased to struggle, and cowered down on the floor +of the chariot, silent and motionless. Damasippus trusted +his difficulties were nearly over, and resolved never again to +be concerned in such an enterprise. Already he imagined +himself safe in his patron’s porch, claiming the reward of his +dexterity, when he was once more arrested by a stoppage +which promised a hazardous and protracted delay. +</p> + +<p> +Winding its slow length along, in all the pomp and dignity +affected by the maiden order, a procession of Vestals crossed +in front of the white horses, and not a man in Rome but +would have trembled with superstitious awe at the bare +notion of breaking in on the solemn march of these sacred +virgins, dedicated to the service of a goddess, whose peculiar +attributes were mystery, antiquity, and remorseless vengeance +for offence. Dressed in their long white garments, simple +and severe, with no relief save a narrow purple border round +the veil, they swept on in slow majestic column, like a vision +from the other world, led by a stately priestess, pale and +calm, of lofty stature and majestic bearing. They believed +that to them was confided the welfare of the State, the safety +of the city; nay, that with the mysterious symbols in their +temple, they guarded the very existence of the nation; therefore +on all public occasions of strife or disorder, the Vestal +Virgins were accustomed to show themselves confidently in +the streets, and use their influence for the restoration of peace. +Nor had they need to fear either injury or insult. To touch +the person of a Vestal, even to obstruct the litter in which +she was carried, was punishable with death, and public opinion +in such a case was even more exacting than the law. +<pb n='230'/><anchor id='Pg230'/>Immunities and privileges of many kinds were granted to the +order by different enactments. When the Vestal went abroad, +she was preceded and followed by the lictors of the State; +and if she met a criminal under sentence of death, honestly +by accident, during her progress, he was pardoned and set +free for her sake, on the spot. +</p> + +<p> +It may be that Mariamne had some vague recollection +of this custom, for no sooner were the horses stopped to let +the procession pass, than she uttered a loud shriek, which +brought it to a halt at once, and caused her own guards to +gather round the chariot and prepare for resistance, Oarses +wisely keeping aloof, and Damasippus, while he strove to +wear a bold front, quaking in every limb. At a signal from +the superior priestess, the long white line stood still, while +her lictors seized the horses, and surrounded the chariot. +Already a crowd of curious bystanders was gathering, and +the glare of the burning Capitol shed its light even here, on +their dark, eager faces, contrasting strangely with the veiled +figures that occupied the middle of the street, cold and +motionless as marble. +</p> + +<p> +Two lictors seized on Damasippus, each by a shoulder, +and brought him unceremoniously to within a few paces of +the priestess. Here he dropped upon his knees, and began +wringing his hands in ludicrous dismay, whilst the populace, +gathering round, laughed and jeered at him, only refraining +from violence on account of the Vestal’s presence. +</p> + +<p> +<q>She is a slave, our slave, bought with our own money in +the market, sacred virgin. I can swear it. I can prove it. +Here is the man who paid for her. O accursed Oarses, +hast thou left me in the lurch at last?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The wily Egyptian now came up, composed and sedate, +with the air of a man confident in the justice of his cause. +Mariamne, meanwhile, could but strive to release herself in +vain. So effectually had she been bound and muffled, that +she could scarcely move, and was unable to articulate. She +struggled on, nevertheless, in the wild hope of succour, +writhing her whole body to set her lips free from the bandages +that stifled them. With the quiet dignity which was an +especial attribute of her office, the priestess pointed to the +chariot containing the prisoner, and from beneath her veil, +in clear, low tones, while the bystanders listened with respectful +awe, came the question— +</p> + +<p> +<q>What crime has she committed?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>No crime, sacred virgin, no crime whatsoever,</q> replied +the wily Oarses, well knowing that the privilege of pardon, +<pb n='231'/><anchor id='Pg231'/>which the Vestals loved to exercise, was less likely to be +exerted for a refractory bondswoman than a condemned +criminal. <q>She is but a runaway slave, a mere dancing-girl. +How shall I tell it in your august presence? I bought her +scarce a week ago, as my friend here knows, and can swear. +Canst thou not, Damasippus, worthy citizen? I gave but +two thousand sesterces, nevertheless it was a large sum for +me, who am a poor man; and I borrowed the half of it from +my friend here. I bought her in the open market, and I took +her home with me to my wife and children, that she might +beat flax and card wool, and so gain an honest livelihood—an +honest livelihood, sacred virgin; and that is why she ran +away from me; so I informed the ædile, and I sought her +diligently, and to-day I found her with her cheeks painted, +and her bosom gilt, in her old haunts, drunk with wine. +Then I bound her, and placed her in a litter, and the litter +breaking down, for I am poor, sacred virgin, and of humble +birth, though a Roman citizen—the litter, I say, breaking +down, and my patron’s chariot passing by, I placed her within +it, that I might take her home, for she is insensible still. All +this I swear, and here is my friend who will swear it too. +Damasippus, wilt thou not?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The latter worthy had indeed been accompanying every +syllable of his confederate’s statement with those eager +Italian gestures which signify so much of argument and +expostulation. These were not without effect on the bystanders, +predisposed as such generally are to believe the +worst, and prone to be influenced by the last speaker, +especially when supported by testimony, however unworthy +of reliance. They crowded in as near as their awe of the +priestess would allow, and angry looks were shot at the +poor, dark figure lying helpless in the chariot. +</p> + +<p> +Under the Vestal’s long white veil, there might have +been a gleam of pity or a flash of scorn on the unseen face, +according as she felt a kindly sympathy or womanly indignation +for the sins of an erring sister. But whatever was +her private opinion, with a priestess of her order, such an +appeal as that of Oarses could have but one result. The +pale slender hand made a gesture of contempt and impatience. +The tall ghostly figure moved on with a prouder, +sterner step, and the procession swept by, carrying away +with it the last fragile hope of succour that had comforted +Mariamne’s heart. Like a poor hunted hind caught in a +net, when the sharp muzzle of the deerhound touches her +flank, the Jewess made one convulsive effort that loosened +<pb n='232'/><anchor id='Pg232'/>the shawl about her mouth. In her agony, the beloved +name flew instinctively to her lips, and hopelessly, unconsciously, +she called out, <q>Esca! Esca!</q> in loud piercing +tones of terror and despair. +</p> + +<p> +The Vestals had indeed passed by, and the chariot was +again set in motion, but the Briton’s name seemed to act +as a talisman on the crowd, for no sooner had she pronounced +it, than the bystanders were seen to give way on each side +to the pressure of a huge pair of shoulders, surmounted by +the fearless, honest face of Hirpinus the gladiator. That +professional, in common with a few chosen comrades, had +found the last few hours hang exceedingly heavy on his +hands. Bound by oath to keep sober, and, what was perhaps +even a more galling restriction, to abstain from fighting, this +little party had seen themselves deprived at once of their +two principal resources, the favourite occupations which gave +a zest to their existence. But the saying that there is +<q>Honour among thieves</q> dates farther back than the +institution of an amphitheatre; and as soon as the gladiator +had made his bargain, he considered himself, body and soul, +the property of his purchaser. So, when Hippias gave his +final orders, insisting on the appearance of his myrmidons +at a given place and a given time, fresh, sober, and without +a scratch, he had no fear but that they would be punctually +and honestly obeyed. +</p> + +<p> +Accordingly, Hirpinus, Rufus, Lutorius, and a few of +the surest blades in the Family, had been whiling away +their leisure with a stroll through the principal streets of +Rome, and had met with not a few incidents peculiarly +pleasing to men of their profession. They had been good +enough to express their approval of the soldierlike manner +in which the gardens of Sallust were attacked and carried; +they had also marked, with a certain grim satisfaction, the +assault on the Capitol, though they complained that when +it was fired the thick volumes of smoke that swept downwards +from its walls obstructed their view of the fighting, +which was to them the chief attraction of the entertainment, +and which they criticised with many instructive and professional +remarks; it was difficult, doubtless, to abstain from +taking part in any of these skirmishes, more particularly as +each man was armed with the short, two-edged Roman +sword; but, as they reminded one another, it was only a +temporary abstinence, and for a very short period, since, +from all they could gather, before midnight they might be +up to their necks in wine, and over their ankles in blood. +<pb n='233'/><anchor id='Pg233'/>Now, supper-time was approaching, and the athletes were +getting fierce, hungry, and weary of inaction. They had +stood still to watch the procession of Vestals pass by, and +even these wild, unscrupulous men had refrained from word +or gesture that could be construed into disrespect for the +maiden order; but they had shown little interest in the +cause of stoppage, and scarce condescended to notice a +discussion that arose from so mean a subject as a runaway +slave. Suddenly, however, to the amazement of his comrades +and the discomfiture of the bystanders, Hirpinus burst +hastily through the crowd, unceremoniously thrusting aside +those who stood in his way, and lifting one inquisitive little +barber clean off his legs, to hurl him like a plaything into +a knot of chattering citizens, much to their indignation +and the poor man’s own physical detriment. Hands were +clenched, indeed, and brows bent, as the strong square form +forged through the press, like some bluff galley through the +surf, but <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">Cave! cave!</foreign> was whispered by the more cautious, +and in such dread was a gladiator held by his peaceful +fellow-citizens, that the boldest preferred submission under +insult to a quarrel with a man whose very trade was strife. +The chariot was already in motion, when a strong hand +forced the two centre horses back upon their haunches, and +the bold, frank voice of Hirpinus was heard above the +trampling hoofs and general confusion. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Easy, my little fellow, for a moment,</q> said he to the +indignant Automedon. <q>I heard a comrade’s name spoken +just now, from within that gilded shell of thine. Halt! I +tell thee, lad, and keep that whip quiet, lest I brain thee +with my open hand!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Automedon, little relishing the business from the beginning, +pulled his horses together, and looked very much +disposed to cry. Damasippus, however, confident in the +support of his companion, and the presence of half a dozen +armed slaves, stepped boldly forward, and bade the gladiator +<q>make way there</q> in a high, authoritative voice. Hirpinus +recognised the freedman at once, and laughed loud and long. +</p> + +<p> +<q>What now?</q> said he, <q>my old convive and boon-companion. +By Pollux! I knew thee not in thy warlike +array of steel. In faith, a garland of roses becomes that +red nose of thine better than the bosses of a helmet, and the +stem of a goblet would fit thy hand more deftly than the +haft of that gaudy sword. What stolen goods are these, +old parasite? I’ll wager now that the jackal is but taking +home a lump of carrion to the lion’s den.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='234'/><anchor id='Pg234'/> + +<p> +<q>Stay me not, good friend,</q> replied the other, with importance. +<q>It is even as you say, and I am about the +business of your employer and mine, Julius Placidus the +tribune.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Hirpinus, in high good-humour, would have bade him +pass on, but Mariamne, whose mouth was now released, +gathered her exhausted energies for a last appeal. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You are his comrade! you said so even now. Save +me, save me, for Esca’s sake!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Again at that name the gladiator’s eye glistened. He +loved the young Briton like a son—he who had so little to +love in the world. He had brought him out, as he boasted +twenty times a day. He had made a man—more, a swords-man—of +him. Now he had lost sight of him, and, as far +as his nature permitted, had been anxious and unhappy +ever since. If a dog had belonged to Esca, he would have +dashed in to rescue it from danger at any risk. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Stand back, fool!</q> he shouted to Damasippus, as the +latter interposed his person between the gladiator and the +chariot. <q>Have a care, I tell thee! I want the woman out +into the street. What! you will, will you?—One—two.—Take +it then, idiot! Here! comrades, close in, and keep +off this accursed crowd!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Damasippus, confident in the numbers of his escort, and +believing, too, that his adversary was alone, had, indeed, +drawn his sword, and called up the slaves to his assistance, +when the gladiator moved towards the chariot containing +his charge. To dash the blade from his unaccustomed grasp, +to deal him a straight, swift, crushing blow, that sent him +down senseless on the pavement, and then, drawing his +own weapon, to turn upon the shrinking escort a point +that seemed to threaten all at once, was for Hirpinus a mere +matter of professional business, so simple as to be almost +a relaxation. His comrades, laughing boisterously, made +a ring round the combatants. The slaves hesitated, gave +ground, turned and fled; Hirpinus dragged the helpless +form of Mariamne from the chariot, and Oarses, who had +remained in the background till now, leaped nimbly in, to +assume the vacant place, and, whispering Automedon, went +off at a gallop. +</p> + +<p> +The poor girl, terrified by the danger she had escaped, +and scarcely reassured by the mode of her rescue, or the +appearance of her deliverers, clung, half-fainting, to the +person of her supporter, and the old swordsman, with a +delicacy almost ludicrous in one of his rough exterior, +<pb n='235'/><anchor id='Pg235'/>soothed her with such terms of encouragement as he could +summon at the moment: now like a nurse hushing a child +off to sleep, anon like a charioteer quieting a frightened or +fretful horse. +</p> + +<p> +In the meantime, the crowd, gathering confidence from +the sheathed swords and obvious good-humour of the +gladiators, pressed round with many rude gestures and +insulting remarks, regardless of the fallen man, who, on +recovering his senses, wisely remained for a while where +he was, and chiefly bent on examining the features of the +cloaked and hooded prize, that had created this pretty little +skirmish for their diversion. Such unmannerly curiosity +soon aroused the indignation of Hirpinus. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Keep them off, comrades!</q> said he angrily; <q>these +miserable citizens. Keep them off, I say! Have they never +seen a veiled woman before, that they gape and stare, and +pass their rancid jests, as they do on you and me when we +are down on our backs for their amusement in the arena? +Let her have air, my lads, and she will soon come to. +Pollux! She looks like the lily thy wife was watering at +home, when we stopped there this morning, Rufus, for a +draught of the five-year-old wine, and a gambol with those +bright-haired kids of thine.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The tall champion to whom this remark was addressed, +and who had that very morning, in company with his friend, +bidden a farewell, that might be eternal, to wife and children, +as indeed it was nothing unusual for him to do, softened +doubtless by the remembrance, now exerted himself strenuously +to give the fainting woman room. Without the use +of any but nature’s weapons, and from sheer weight, strength, +and resolution, the gladiators soon cleared an ample space +in the middle of the street for their comrade and his charge; +nor did they seem at all indisposed to a task which afforded +opportunities of evincing their own physical superiority, and +the supreme contempt in which they held the mass of their +fellow-citizens. Perhaps it was pleasant to feel how completely +they could domineer over the crowd by the use of +those very qualities which made their dying struggles a +spectacle for the vulgar; perhaps they enjoyed the repayment +in advance of some of the ribaldry and insult that +would too surely accompany their end. At anyrate they +shouldered the mob back with unnecessary violence, drove +their spiked sandals into the feet of such as came under their +tread, and scrupled not to strike with open hand or clenched +fist any adventurous citizen who was fool enough to put +<pb n='236'/><anchor id='Pg236'/>himself forward for appeal or resistance. These, too, seemed +terror-stricken by this handful of resolute men. Accustomed +to look on them from a safe distance in the amphitheatre, +like the wild beasts with whom they often saw them fight, +they were nearly as unwilling to beard the one as the other; +and to come into collision with a gladiator in the street, was +like meeting a tiger on the wrong side of his bars. So +Hirpinus had plenty of room to undo the girl’s bands, +and remove the stifling folds that muffled her head and +throat. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Where am I?</q> she murmured, as she began to breathe +more freely, looking round bewildered and confused. <q>You +are Esca’s friend. Surely I heard you say so. You will take +care of me, then, for Esca’s sake.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Instinctively she addressed herself to Hirpinus, instinctively +she seemed to appeal to him for protection and +encouragement. The veil had been taken from her head, +and the beauty of the sweet pale face was not lost on the +surrounding gladiators. Old Hirpinus looked at her with +a comical expression, in which admiration and pity were +blended with astonishment and a proud sense of personal +appropriation in the defenceless girl who seemed utterly +dependent on him. He had never seen anything so beautiful +in his life. He had never known the happiness of a home; +never had wife nor child: but at that moment his heart +warmed to her as a father’s to a daughter. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Where are you,</q> he repeated, <q>pretty flower? You are +within a hundred paces of the Flaminian Way. How came +you here? Ay, that is more than I can tell you. Yonder +knave lying there.—What? he is gone, is he? Ay! I could +not hit hard enough at a man with whom I have emptied +so many skins of Sabine.—Well, Damasippus brought thee +here, he best knows why, in his master’s gaudy chariot. I +heard thee speak, my pretty one, and who loves Esca, loves +me, and I love him, or her, or whoever it may be. So I +knocked him over, that fat freedman, and took thee from +the chariot, and pulled off these wraps that were stifling thee, +and indeed I think it was about time.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He had raised her while he spoke, and supported her +on his strong arm, walking slowly on, while the gladiators, +closing round them, moved steadily along the street, followed, +though at a safe distance, by much verbal insult and abuse. +At intervals, two or three of the rear-guard would turn and +confront the mob, who immediately gave back and were +silent. Thus the party proceeded on its way, more, it would +<pb n='237'/><anchor id='Pg237'/>seem, with the view of leaving the crowd than of reaching +any definite place of shelter. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Where are we going? and who are those who guard +us?</q> whispered Mariamne, clinging close to her protector. +<q>You will take care of me, will you not?</q> she added, in a +confiding tone. +</p> + +<p> +<q>They are my comrades,</q> he answered soothingly; <q>and +old Hirpinus will guard you, pretty one, like the apple of his +eye. We will take you straight home, or wherever you wish +to go, and not one of these will molest you while I am by—never +fear!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Just then, Euchenor, who was one of the band, and had +overheard this reassuring sentence, clapped the old swordsman +on the shoulder. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You seem to forget our compact,</q> said he, with his evil, +mocking laugh. +</p> + +<p> +The face of Hirpinus fell, and his brow lowered, for he +remembered then that Mariamne was not much better off here +than in the captivity from which he had rescued her. +</p> + +</div><div n="2.11" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='238'/><anchor id='Pg238'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XI. The Rules of the Family"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XI. The Rules of the Family"/> +<head>CHAPTER XI<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE RULES OF THE FAMILY</hi></head> + +<p> +The Jewess had indeed but escaped one danger to fall +into another. Bold and lawless as were these professional +swordsmen, they acknowledged certain rules of +their own, which they were never known to infringe. When +a band of gladiators had been mustered, and told off for a +particular service, it was their custom to bind themselves by +oath, as forming one body, unanimous and indivisible, until +that service was completed. They swore to stand by each +other to the death, to obey their chief implicitly, and to take +orders from him alone—to make common cause with their +fellows, in defiance of all personal feelings of interest or +danger, even to the cheerful sacrifice of life itself; and to +consider all booty of arms, gold, jewels, captives, or otherwise, +however obtained, as the property of the band; subject to +its disposal, according to the established code of their profession. +Therefore it was that Hirpinus felt his heart sink +at Euchenor’s malicious observation. Therefore it was that +though he strove to put on an appearance of good-humour +and confidence, a perceptible tremor shook his voice while +he replied— +</p> + +<p> +<q>I found her first. I dragged her from the chariot. I +put that foolish citizen on his back to make sport for you all. +I am the oldest swordsman in the band. I think you might +leave her to me!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Euchenor’s eye was on the frightened girl, and, meeting +its glance, she shrank yet closer to her protector, while the +Greek observed, with a sneer— +</p> + +<p> +<q>You had better make a new set of rules for us then, +since you seem inclined to break through the old. +Comrades, I appeal to you; doth not the booty belong to +us all, share and share alike?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The others were crowding in now, having reached a +narrower street, and left the populace behind. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Of course, of course!</q> was re-echoed on all sides; <q>who +doubts it? who disputes it?</q> +</p> + +<pb n='239'/><anchor id='Pg239'/> + +<p> +<q>What would you have, man?</q> exclaimed Hirpinus, +waxing wroth. <q>You cannot cut a captive into twenty +pieces and give every man a portion! I tell you, she is +mine. Let her alone!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You cannot cut a wineskin into twenty pieces, nor need +you,</q> replied the Greek; <q>but you pass it round amongst +your comrades, till every man’s thirst be slaked. ’Faith, +after that, you may keep the empty skin for your own share, +if you like!</q> +</p> + +<p> +He spoke in a cold derisive tone, and although Mariamne +could not understand half he said, garnished as his speech +was with the cant terms of his calling, she gathered enough +of its import to be terrified at the prospect before her. Old +Hirpinus lost patience at last. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Will you take her from me?</q> he burst out, knitting his +bushy brows, and putting his face close to the Greek’s. +<q>Stand up then like a man and try!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Euchenor turned very pale. It was no part of his scheme +to provoke his robust old comrade to a personal encounter; +and, indeed, the pugilist was a coward at heart, owing his +reputation chiefly to the skill with which he had always +matched himself against those whom he was sure to conquer. +Now he fell back a step or two from his glaring adversary, +and appealed once more to their companions. These +gathered round, speaking all at once, Hirpinus turning from +one to the other, and ever shielding his charge with his body, +as an animal shields its young. He was determined to save +the girl, because he understood dimly that she belonged in +some way to Esca, and the loyal old swordsman would not +have hesitated one moment in flinging his life down, then +and there, to purchase her safety. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Hold, comrades!</q> shouted he, in a stentorian voice that +made itself heard above the din. <q>Will ye bay me altogether +like a pack of Molossian wolf-hounds? Hounds, forsooth! +nay, the Molossians are true-bred, and there is one cur +amongst us here at least, to my knowledge. Rather, like a +knot of jabbering old women in a market-place! Talk of +rules! Of course we abide by our rules, ay, and stick to our +oath. Rufus, old friend, we have stood with our swords at +each other’s throats for hours together, many a time during +the last ten years, and never had an angry word or an unkindly +thought. Thou wilt not fail me now? Thou wilt +not see old Hirpinus wronged?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The champion thus appealed to by such tender associations, +thrust his tall person forward in the throng. Slow of speech, +<pb n='240'/><anchor id='Pg240'/>calm, calculating, and reflective, Rufus was held an oracle of +good sense amongst his fellow-swordsmen. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You are both wrong,</q> said he sententiously. <q>The girl +belongs to neither of you. If this had happened yesterday, +Hirpinus would have had a right to carry her where he chose. +But we have taken the oath since then, old comrade, and she +is the joint property of the band by all our laws.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I said so!</q> exclaimed Euchenor triumphantly. <q>The +prize belongs to us all. Every man his turn. The apple +seems fair and ripe enough. Mine shall be the hand to pare +its rind.</q> +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke, he pulled aside the veil which Mariamne +had modestly drawn once more about her head, and the girl, +flushing scarlet at the insult, stamped passionately with her +foot, and then, as if acknowledging her helplessness, burst +into tears, and hid her face in her hands. Hirpinus caught +the aggressor by the shoulder, and sent him reeling back +amongst the rest. His beard bristled with anger, and the +foam stood on his lip like some old boar at bay. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Hands off!</q> roared the veteran. <q>Rules or no rules, +another such jest as that and I drive a foot of steel through +the jester’s brisket! What! Rufus, I came not into the +Family yesterday. I was eating raw flesh and lentil porridge +when most of these were sucking their mothers’ milk. I tell +thee, man, the old law was this: When gladiators disputed on +any subject whatever—pay, plunder, or precedence—they +were to take short swords, throw away their shields, and fight +it out by pairs, till they were agreed. Stand round, comrades! +Put the little Greek up at half-sword distance; clear +a space of seven feet square, not an inch more, and I’ll show +you how we used to settle these matters when Nero wore the +purple!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Nay, nay!</q> interposed Mariamne, wringing her hands in +an agony of terror and dismay. <q>Shed not blood on my +account. I am a poor, helpless girl. I have done no one any +harm. Let me go, for pity’s sake! Let me go!</q> +</p> + +<p> +But to this solution of the difficulty objections were offered +on all sides. Rufus indeed, and one or two of the older +swordsmen, moved by the youth and tears of the captive, +would willingly have permitted her to escape; but Euchenor, +Lutorius, and the rest, objected violently to the loss of so +beautiful a prize. Rufus, too, when appealed to, though he +would fain have supported his old comrade, was obliged to +confess that justice, according to gladiator’s law, was on +Euchenor’s side. Even the proposal to fight for her possession +<pb n='241'/><anchor id='Pg241'/>by pairs, popular as it was likely to be in such a company, +was rendered inadmissible by the terms of the late oath. The +band, indeed, when purchased as they had been by Hippias +for a special duty to be performed that night, had become +pledged, according to custom, not only to the usual brotherhood +and community of interests, but also to refrain from +baring steel upon any pretence or provocation either amongst +themselves or against a common foe, until ordered to do so +by their employer. Hirpinus, though he chafed and swore +vehemently, and kept Mariamne close under his wing through +it all, was obliged to acknowledge the force of his comrade’s +arguments; and the puzzled athlete racked his unaccustomed +brains till his head ached to find some means of escape for +the girl he had resolved to save. In the meantime, delay was +dangerous. These men were not used to hesitate or refrain, +and already the hour was approaching at which they were to +muster for their night’s work, whatever it might be, in the +tribune’s house. The old swordsman felt he must dissemble, +were it but to gain time; so he smoothed his brows, and, +much against the grain, assumed an appearance of good-humour +and satisfaction. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Be it as you will,</q> said he; <q>old Hirpinus is the last man +to turn round upon his comrades, or to break the laws of the +Family, for the sake of a cream-coloured face and a wisp of +black hair. I will abide by the decision of Hippias. We +shall find him at the tribune’s house, and it is time we were +there now. Forward, my lads! Nay, hands off! I tell thee +once more, Euchenor, till we have brought her to the master’s +she belongs to me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Euchenor grumbled, but was compelled to submit; for the +other’s influence amongst the gladiators was far greater than +his own. And the little party, with Mariamne in the centre, +still clinging fast to Hirpinus, moved on in the direction of +the tribune’s house. +</p> + +<p> +Esca, crouching in his place of concealment, silent and +wary, as he had ofttimes crouched long ago, when watching +for the dun deer on the hillside, was aware of the tramp of +disciplined men approaching the porch in which he lay in +ambush. Every faculty was keenly, painfully on the stretch. +Once, at the sound of wheels, he had started from his lair, +ready to make one desperate attempt for the rescue of his +love; but greatly to his consternation, the gilded chariot +returned empty, save of Automedon, looking much scared +and bewildered. The wily Oarses, indeed, having made his +escape from the gladiators, had betaken himself to his lodging, +<pb n='242'/><anchor id='Pg242'/>and there determined to remain, either till his patron’s wrath +should be exhausted, or till the events which he foresaw the +night would bring forth should have diverted it into another +channel. So Automedon went home in fear and trembling +by himself. As the Briton revolved matters in his mind, he +knew not whether to be most alarmed or reassured by this +unforeseen contingency. Though the chariot had returned +without Mariamne, the freedmen and armed slaves were still +absent. Could they have missed their prey, and were they +still searching for her? or had they carried her elsewhere?—to +the freedmen’s garret, perhaps, there to remain concealed +till the night was further advanced. Yet the words of +Placidus, or of his ghost, which he had overheard, seemed to +infer that the Jewess was expected every minute. Every +minute indeed! and those racking minutes seemed to +stretch themselves to hours. With the natural impatience +of inaction, which accompanies uncertainty, he had almost +made up his mind to return in search of Eleazar, when +the steady footfall of the approaching party arrested his +attention. +</p> + +<p> +There was a bright moon shining above, and the open +space into which the gladiators advanced was clear as day. +With a keen feeling of confidence he recognised the square +frame of Hirpinus, and then, as he caught sight of the dark-robed +figure at the swordsman’s side, for one exulting moment, +doubt, fear, anxiety, all were merged in the delight of seeing +Mariamne once more. With the bound of a wild deer, he +was in the midst of them, clasping her in his arms, and the +girl sobbing on his breast felt safe and happy, because she +was with him. Hirpinus gave a shout that startled the slaves +laying the tables in the inner hall. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Safe, my lad!</q> he exclaimed, <q>and in a whole skin. +Sound and hearty, and fit to join us in to-night’s work. +Better late than never. Swear him, comrades! swear him on +the spot! Send in for a morsel of bread and a pinch of salt. +Here, Rufus, cross thy blade with mine! Thou art in the +nick of time, lad, to take thy share with the rest, of peril, and +pleasure, and profit to boot!</q> +</p> + +<p> +This speech he eked out with many winks and signs to +his young friend, for Hirpinus, guessing how matters stood +between the pair, could think of no better plan by which +Esca should at least claim a share in the prey they had so +recently acquired. His artifice was, however, lost upon the +Briton, who seemed wholly occupied with Mariamne, and to +whom the girl was whispering her fears and distresses, and +<pb n='243'/><anchor id='Pg243'/>entreaties that he would save her from the band. The young +man drew her to his side. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Give way,</q> said he haughtily, as Euchenor and Lutorius +closed in upon him. <q>She has made her choice, she goes +with me. I take her home to her father’s house.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The others set up a shout of derision. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Hear him!</q> they cried. <q>It is the prætor who speaks! +It is the voice of Cæsar himself! Yes, yes, go in peace, if +thou wilt. We have had enough and to spare of your yellow-haired +barbarians, but the girl remains with us.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She was not trembling now. She was past all fear in +such a crisis as this. Erect and defiant she stood beside her +champion—pale indeed as the dead, but with eyes in which +flashed the courage of despair. His lips were white with the +effort of self-command as he strove to keep cool and to use +fair words. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am one of yourselves,</q> said he. <q>You will not turn +against me all at once. Let me but take the maiden home, +and I will come back and join you, true as the blade to the +haft.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ay, let them go!</q> put in Hirpinus. <q>He speaks fairly, +and these barbarians never fail their word!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>No, no,</q> interposed Euchenor. <q>He has nothing to do +with us. Why, he was beaten in the open circus by a mere +patrician. Besides, he is not engaged for to-night. He has +no interest in the job. Who is he, this barbarian, that we +should give up to him the fairest prize we are like to take in +the whole business?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Will you fight for her?</q> thundered Esca, hitching his +swordbelt to the front. +</p> + +<p> +Euchenor shrank back amongst his comrades. <q>Our oath +forbids me,</q> said he; and the others, though they could not +refrain from jeering at the unwilling Greek, confirmed his +decision. +</p> + +<p> +Esca’s mind was made up. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Pass your hands under my girdle,</q> he whispered to +Mariamne. <q>Hold fast, and we shall break through!</q> +</p> + +<p> +His sword was out like lightning, and he dashed amongst +the gladiators, but he had to do with men thoroughly skilled +in arms and trained to every kind of personal contest. A +dozen blades were gleaming in the moonlight as ready as his +own. A dozen points were threatening him, backed by fearless +hearts, and strong supple practised hands. He was at +bay; a desperate man penned in by a circle of steel. He +glanced fiercely round, defiant yet bewildered, then down at +<pb n='244'/><anchor id='Pg244'/>the pale face at his breast, and his heart sank within him. +He was at his wits’ end. She looked up—loving, resolute, +and courageous. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Dear one,</q> she said softly, <q>let me rather die by your +hand. See, I do not fear. Strike! You only have the right, +for I am yours!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Even then a faint blush came into her cheek, while the +pale hands busied themselves with her dress to bare her +bosom for the blow. He turned his point upon her, and she +smiled up in his face. Old Hirpinus dashed the tears from +his shaggy eyelashes. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Hold! hold!</q> said he, in a broken voice; <q>not till I am +down and out of the game for one! Enough of this!</q> he +added in an altered tone, and with a ludicrous assumption +of his usual careless manner. <q>Here comes the master—no +more wrangling, lads! we will refer the matter to him!</q> +</p> + +<p> +While he spoke, Hippias entered the open space in front +of the tribune’s house, and the gladiators gathered eagerly +around him, Euchenor alone remaining somewhat in the +background. +</p> + +</div><div n="2.12" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='245'/><anchor id='Pg245'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XII. A Master of Fence"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XII. A Master of Fence"/> +<head>CHAPTER XII<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">A MASTER OF FENCE</hi></head> + +<p> +Hippias knew well how to maintain discipline amongst +his followers. While he interested himself keenly in +their training and personal welfare, he permitted no approach +to familiarity, and above all never suffered a syllable of discussion +on a command, or a moment’s hesitation in its fulfilment. +He came now to put himself at their head for the +carrying out of a hazardous and important enterprise. The +consciousness of coming danger, especially when it is of a +kind with which habit has rendered him familiar, and which +practice has taught him to baffle by his own skill and +courage, has a good moral effect on a brave man’s character. +It cheers his spirits, it exalts his imagination, it sharpens his +intellects, and, above all, it softens his heart. Hippias felt +that to-night he would need all the qualities he most prized +to carry him safely through his task—that while failure must +be inevitable destruction, success would open out to him a +career of which the ultimate goal might be a procuratorship +or even a kingdom. How quickly past, present, and possible +future, flitted through his brain! It was not so long since his +first victory in the amphitheatre! He remembered, as if it +were but yesterday, the canvas awnings, the blue sky, and +the confused mass of faces, framing that dazzling sweep of +sand, all of which his sight took in at once, though his eyes +were fixed on those of the watchful Gaul, whom he disarmed +in a couple of passes, and slew without the slightest remorse. +He could feel again, even now, the hot breath of the Libyan +tiger, as he fell beneath it, choked with sand and covered by +his buckler, stabbing desperately at that sinewy chest in +which the life seemed to lie so deep. The tiger’s claws had +left their marks upon his brawny shoulder, but he had risen +from the contest victorious, and Red and Green through the +whole crowded building, from the senators’ cushions to the +slaves’ six inches of standing-room, cheered him to a man. +After this triumph, who such a favourite with the Roman +people as handsome Hippias? Again, he was the centre of +<pb n='246'/><anchor id='Pg246'/>all observation, as, confessedly the head of his profession, +he set in order Nero’s cruel shows, and catered with profuse +splendour for the tastes of Imperial Rome. Yes, he had +reached the pinnacle of a gladiator’s fame, and from that +elevation a prospect opened itself that he had scarcely even +dreamed of till now. A handful of determined men, a torch +or two for every score of blades, a palace in flames, a night +of blood (he only hoped and longed that there might be +resistance enough to distinguish strife from murder), another +dynasty, a grateful patron, and a brave man’s services worthily +acknowledged and repaid. Then the future would indeed +smile in gorgeous hues. Which of Rome’s dominions in the +East would most fully satisfy the thirst for royal luxury that +he now experienced for the first time? In which of his +manlier qualities was he so inferior to the Jew, that Hippias +the gladiator should make a lowlier monarch than Herod the +Great? and men had not done talking of that warlike king, +even now!—his wisdom, his cruelty, his courage, his splendour, +and his crimes. A Roman province was but another name +for an independent government. Hippias saw himself enthroned +in the blaze of majesty under a glowing Eastern sky. +Life offering all it had to give of pomp and pageantry and +rich material enjoyment. Slaves, horses, jewels, banquets, +dark-eyed women, silken eunuchs, and gaudy guards with +burnished helmets and flashing shields of gold. Nothing +wanting, not even one with whom to share the glittering +vision. Valeria would be his. Valeria was born to be a +queen. It would, indeed, be a triumph to offer the half of +a throne to the woman who had hitherto condescended by +listening to his suit. There was a leavening of generosity in +Hippias that caused him to reflect with intense pleasure on +the far deeper homage he would pay her after so romantic a +consummation of his hopes. He felt as if he could almost +love her then, with the love he had experienced in his boyhood—that +boyhood which seemed now to have been +another’s rather than his own. He had put it away long +since, and it had not come back to him for years till to-day; +but gratified vanity, the pleasure which most hearts experience +in grasping an object that has been dangling out of +reach, beyond all, the power exerted by a woman, over one +who has been accustomed to consider himself either above +or below such pleasing influences, had softened him strangely, +and he hardly felt like the same man who made his bargain +with the tribune for a certain quantity of flesh and blood and +mettle, so short a time ago. +</p> + +<pb n='247'/><anchor id='Pg247'/> + +<p> +It is not to be thought, however, that in his dreams of the +future, the fencing-master neglected the means by which that +future was to be attained. He had mustered and prepared +his band with more than common care; had seen with his +own eyes that their arms were bright and sharp and fit for +work; had placed them at their appointed posts and visited +them repeatedly, enjoining, above all things, extreme vigilance +and sobriety. Not one of those men saw beneath his +unruffled brow and quiet stern demeanour anything unusual +in the conduct of their leader; not one could have guessed +that schemes of ambition far beyond any he had ever +cherished before, were working in his brain—that a strange, +soft, kindly feeling was nestling at his heart. He stood in +the moonlight amongst his followers, calm, abrupt, severe as +usual; and when Hirpinus looked into his stern set face, the +hopes of the old gladiator fell as did his countenance, but +Mariamne perceived at once with a woman’s eye something +that taught her an appeal to his pity on this occasion would +not be made in vain. +</p> + +<p> +With habitual caution, his first proceeding was to count +the band ere he took note of the two figures in their centre. +Then he cast a scrutinising glance at their arms to satisfy +himself all were ready for immediate action. After that he +turned with a displeased air to Hirpinus, and asked— +</p> + +<p> +<q>What doth the woman amongst us? You heard my +orders this morning? Who brought her here?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Half a dozen voices were raised at once to answer the +master’s question; only he to whom it was especially +addressed kept silence, knowing the nature with which he +had to do. Hippias raised but his sheathed sword and the +clamour ceased. Not a maniple in all Rome’s well-drilled +legions seemed in better discipline than this handful of +desperate men. Then he turned to Esca, still speaking in +short incisive tones. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Briton!</q> said he, <q>you are not one of us to-night. Go +your ways in peace!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well said!</q> shouted the gladiators. <q>He is no comrade +of ours! He hath no share in our spoil!</q> +</p> + +<p> +But Hippias only wished to save the Briton from the +perils of the coming night, and this from some vague feeling +he could hardly explain to himself, that Valeria was interested +in the stalwart barbarian. It was not in the fencing-master’s +nature to entertain sentiments of jealousy upon uncertain +grounds. And he was just fond enough of Valeria to value +anyone she liked for her sake. Moreover Esca knew their +<pb n='248'/><anchor id='Pg248'/>plans. He would alarm the palace, and there would be a +fight. He wished nothing better. +</p> + +<p> +Esca was about to make his appeal, but Mariamne +interposed. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Where he goeth I will go,</q> said she, almost in the words +of her own sacred writings. <q>I have to-night lost father, and +home, and people. This is the second time he hath saved +me from captivity worse than death. Part us not now, I +beseech thee, part us not!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Hippias looked kindly on the sweet face with its large +imploring eager eyes. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You love him,</q> said he, <q>foolish girl. Begone then, and +take him with you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +But again a fierce murmur rose amongst the gladiators. +Not even the master’s authority was sufficient to carry out +such a breach of all laws and customs as this. Euchenor, +ever prone to wrangle, stepped forward from the background, +where he had remained so as to appear an impartial and +uninterested observer. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The oath!</q> exclaimed the Greek. <q>The oath—we +swore it when the sun was up—shall we break it ere the +moon goes down? She is ours, Hippias, by all the laws of +the Family, and we will not give her up.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Silence!</q> thundered the master, with a look that made +Euchenor shrink back once more. <q>Who asked for your +vote? Hirpinus, Rufus, once again, how came this woman +here?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>She was bound hand and foot in a chariot,</q> answered +the former, ignoring, however, with less than his usual +frankness, to whom that chariot belonged. <q>She was carried +away by force. I protected her from ill-usage,</q> he added +stoutly, <q>as I would protect her again.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The girl gave him a grateful look, which sank into the old +swordsman’s heart. Esca, too, muttered warm broken words +of thanks, while the band assented to the truth of this +statement. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Even so!</q> they exclaimed. <q>Hirpinus speaks well. +That is why she belongs to us, and we claim every man his +share.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Hippias was too experienced a commander not to know +that there are times when it is necessary to yield with a good +grace, and to use artifice if force will not avail. It is thus the +skilful rider rules his steed, and the judicious wife her husband—the +governing power in either case inducing the governed +to believe that it obeys entirely of its own free will. He +<pb n='249'/><anchor id='Pg249'/>smiled, therefore, pleasantly on his followers, and addressed +them in careless good-humoured tones. +</p> + +<p> +<q>She belongs to us all without doubt,</q> said he, <q>and, by +the sandals of Aphrodité, she is so fair that I shall put in my +claim with the rest! Nevertheless there is no time to be +wasted now, for the sake of the brightest eyes that ever +flashed beneath a veil. Put her aside for a few hours or so. +You, Hirpinus, as you captured her, shall take care that she +does not escape. For the Briton, we may as well keep him +safe too—we may find a use for those long arms of his when +to-night’s business is accomplished. In the meantime, fall in, +my heroes, and make ready for your work. Supper first (and +it’s laid even now) with the noblest patrician and the +deepest drinker in Rome, Julius Placidus the tribune!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<foreign rend='italic' lang="grc">Euge!</foreign> exclaimed the gladiators in a breath, forgetful +at the moment of their recent dissatisfaction, and eager to +hear more of the night’s enterprise, about which they +entertained the wildest and most various anticipations; +nothing loth, besides, to share the orgies of a man whose +table was celebrated for its luxuries amongst all classes in +Rome. Hippias looked round on their well-pleased faces, +and continued— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Then what say you, my children, to a walk through the +palace gardens? We will take our swords, by Hercules, for +the German guards are stubborn dogs, and best convinced by +the argument each of us carries at his belt. It may be dark, +too, ere we get there, for the moon is early to-night, and we +have no need to stir till we have tasted the tribune’s wine, so +we must not forget a few torches to light us on our way. +There are a score at least lying ready in the corner of that +porch. So we will join our comrades in a fair midnight frolic +under Cæsar’s roof. Cæsar’s, forsooth! my children, there +will be a smouldering palace and another Cæsar by to-morrow!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<foreign rend='italic' lang="grc">Euge!</foreign> exclaimed the gladiators once more. <q>Hail, +Cæsar! Long live Cæsar!</q> they repeated with shouts of +fierce mocking laughter. +</p> + +<p> +<q>It is well,</q> remarked Rufus sagaciously, when silence was +restored. <q>The pay is good and the work no heavier than an +ordinary prætor’s show. But I remember a fiercer lion than +common, that Nero turned loose upon us once in the arena, +and we called him Cæsar amongst ourselves, because he was +dangerous to meddle with. If the old man’s purple is to be +rent, we should have something over the regular pay. They +have not lasted long of late; but still, Hippias, ’tis somewhat +<pb n='250'/><anchor id='Pg250'/>out of the usual business. We don’t change an emperor +every night, even now.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>True enough,</q> answered the master good-humouredly. +<q>And you have never been within the walls of a palace in +your life. Something beyond your pay, said you? Why, +man, the pay is but a pretext, a mere matter of form. Once +in Cæsar’s chambers, a large-fisted fellow like Rufus here, +may carry away a king’s ransom in either hand. Then think +of the old wine! Fifty-year-old Cæcuban, in six-quart cups +of solid gold, and welcome to take the goblet away with you, +besides, if you care to be encumbered with it. Shawls from +Persia, lying about for mere coverings to the couches. +Mother-of-pearl and ivory gleaming in every corner. Jewels +scattered in heaps upon the floor. Only get the work done +first, and every man here shall help himself unquestioned, +and walk home with whatever pleases him best.</q> +</p> + +<p> +It was not often Hippias treated his followers to so long a +speech, or one, in their estimation, so much to the purpose. +They marked their approval with vehement and repeated +shouts. They ceased to think of Esca, and forgot all about +Mariamne and their late dissatisfaction; nay, they seemed +now but to be impatient of every subject unconnected with +their enterprise, and to grudge every minute that delayed +them from their promised spoil. At a signal from Hippias +and his intimation that supper was ready, and their host +awaiting them, they rushed tumultuously through the porch, +leaving behind them Mariamne and Esca, guarded only by +old Hirpinus and Euchenor, the latter appearing alone to be +unmoved by the glowing prospects of plunder held out, and +obstinately standing on his rights, determined not to lose +sight of the captured girl, the more so that she was now +overlooked by the rest of his comrades. +</p> + +<p> +This man, though deficient in the dashing physical daring +which is so popular a quality amongst those of his profession, +possessed, nevertheless, a dogged tenacity of purpose, totally +unqualified by any moral scruples or feelings of shame, which +rendered him formidable as an antagonist, and generally +successful in any villany he attempted. As in the combats +he waged with or without the heavy lacerating <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">cestus</foreign>, his +object was to tire out his adversary by protracted and +scientific defence, taking as little punishment as possible, and +never hazarding a blow save when it could not be returned, +so in everything he undertook, it was his study to reach the +goal by unrelaxing vigilance, and unremitting recourse to the +means which experience and common sense pointed out for +<pb n='251'/><anchor id='Pg251'/>its attainment. Slinking behind the broad back of Hirpinus, +he concealed himself in the darkest corner of the porch, and +watched the result of Mariamne’s appeal to the fencing-master. +</p> + +<p> +Hippias pushed the gladiators on before him, with +boisterous good-humour and considerable violence; as they +crowded through the narrow entrance, he remained behind +for a moment, and whispered to Esca— +</p> + +<p> +<q>You will take the girl home, comrade. Can I trust +you?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Trust me!</q> was all the Briton answered, but the tone in +which he spoke, and the glance he exchanged with Mariamne, +might have satisfied a more exacting inquirer than the +captain of gladiators. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Fare thee well, lad,</q> said Hirpinus, <q>and thee, too, my +pretty flower. I would go with you myself, but it is a long +way from here to Tiber-side, and I must not be missing +to-night, come what may.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Begone, both of you!</q> added Hippias hurriedly. <q>Had +it not been for the plunder, I should scarce have found my +lambs so reasonable to-night; were you to fall in with them +again, the Vestals themselves could not save you. Begone, +and farewell.</q> +</p> + +<p> +They obeyed and hastened off, while the fencing-master, +with a well-pleased smile, clapped Hirpinus on the shoulder, +and accompanied him into the house. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Old comrade,</q> said he, <q>we will drink a measure of the +tribune’s Cæcuban to-night, come what may. To-morrow we +shall either be on our backs gaping for the death-fee, or +pressing our lips to nothing meaner than a chalice of +burnished gold. Who knows? Who cares?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Not I for one,</q> replied Hirpinus; <q>but I am strangely +thirsty in the meantime, and the tribune’s wine, they tell me, +is the best in Rome.</q> +</p> + +</div><div n="2.13" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='252'/><anchor id='Pg252'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XIII. The Esquiline"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XIII. The Esquiline"/> +<head>CHAPTER XIII<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE ESQUILINE</hi></head> + +<figure url="images/i_279.png" rend="w40"><figDesc>Initial W</figDesc></figure> + +<p> +With attentive ears, and faculties +keenly on the stretch, Euchenor, +lurking in the corner of the +porch, listened to the foregoing +conversation. When he gathered +that Tiber-side was the +direction the fugitives meant to +take, his quick Greek intellect +formed its plan of operation at +once. +</p> + +<p> +There was a post of his +comrades, consisting of some +of the gladiators purchased by +Placidus, and placed there a few +hours since by the orders of +Hippias, in the direct road for that locality. He would follow +the pair, noiseless and unsuspected, for he had no mind to provoke +an encounter with the Briton till within reach of assistance, +then give the alarm, seize the wayfarers, and appeal to the +club-law they all held sacred, for his rights. Esca would be sure +to defend the girl with his life, but he would be overpowered by +numbers, and it would be strange if he could not be quieted +for ever in the struggle. There would still be time enough, +thought Euchenor, after his victory to join his comrades at +the tribune’s table, leaving the girl to the tender mercies of +the band. He could make some excuse for his absence to +satisfy his companions, heated as they would by that time be +with wine. Indeed, for his own part, he had no great fancy +for the night’s adventure, promising as it did more hard +knocks than he cared to exchange in a fight with the German +guard, fierce blue-eyed giants, who would give and take no +quarter. He did not wish, indeed, to lose his share of the +plunder, for no one was more alive to the advantages of a +full purse, but he trusted to his own dexterity for securing +<pb n='253'/><anchor id='Pg253'/>this, without running unnecessary risk. Meanwhile, it was +his method to attend to one thing at a time; he waited +impatiently, therefore, till Hippias entered the house, and left +him at liberty to emerge from his hiding-place. +</p> + +<p> +No sooner was the master’s back turned than the Greek +sped into the street, glancing eagerly down its long vista, +lying white in the moonlight, for the two dark figures he +sought. Agile and noiseless as a panther, he skulked swiftly +along under the shadow of the houses, till he reached the +corner which a passenger would turn who was bound for +Tiber-side. Here he made sure that he must sight his +prey; but no, amongst the few wayfarers who dotted this +less solitary district he looked in vain for Esca’s towering +shoulders or the shrinking figure of the Jewess. In vain, +like a hound, he quested to and fro, now casting forward +upon a vague speculation, now trying back with untiring +perseverance and determination. Like a hound, too, whose +game has foiled him, he was obliged to slink home at length, +ashamed and baffled, to the porch of the tribune’s house, +inventing as he went a plausible excuse to host and +comrades for his tardy appearance at the banquet. He had +passed, nevertheless, within twenty paces of those he hunted, +but he knew it not. +</p> + +<p> +With the first rapture of intense joy for their escape, it +was in the nature of Mariamne that her predominant feeling +should be one of gratitude to Heaven for thus preserving +both herself and him whose life was dearer to her than her +own. In common with her nation, she believed in the constant +and immediate interposition of the Almighty in favour +of His servants; and the new faith, which was rapidly gaining +ground in her heart, had tempered the awe in which His +worshipper regards the Deity, with the implicit trust, and +love, and confidence, entertained for its father by a child. +Such feelings can but find an outlet in thanksgiving and +prayer. Before Mariamne had gone ten paces from the +tribune’s house, she stopped short, looked up in Esca’s face, +and said: <q>Let us kneel together, and thank God for our +deliverance.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Not here at least!</q> exclaimed the Briton, whose nerves, +good as they were, had been somewhat unstrung by the +vicissitudes of the night, and the apprehensions that had +racked him for his beloved companion. <q>They may return +at any moment. You are not safe even now. If you are +so exhausted you cannot go on (for she was leaning heavily +on his arm, and her head drooped), I will carry you in my +<pb n='254'/><anchor id='Pg254'/>arms from here to your father’s house. My love, I would +carry you through the world.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She smiled sweetly on him, though her face was very +pale. <q>Let us turn in at this ruined gateway,</q> said she; +<q>a few moments’ rest will restore me; and, Esca, I must +give thanks to the God of Israel, who has saved both thee +and me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +They were near a crumbling archway, with a broken +iron gate that had fallen in. It was on the opposite side of +the street to the tribune’s house; and as they passed beneath +its mouldering span, they saw that it formed an entrance +into one of those wildernesses, which, after the great fire of +Nero, existed here and there, not only in the suburbs, but +at the very heart of Rome. They were, in truth, in that +desolate waste which had once been the famous Esquiline +Gardens, originally a burial-ground, and granted by +Augustus to his favourite, the illustrious Mæcenas, to +plant and decorate according to his prolific fancy and +unimpeachable taste. That learned nobleman had taken +advantage of his emperor’s liberality to build here a stately +palace, which had not, however, escaped the great fire, and +to lay out extensive pleasure-grounds, which had been +devastated by the same calamity. Little, indeed, now remained, +save the trees that had originally shadowed the +Roman’s grave in the days of the old Republic. The +<q>unwelcome cypresses</q> so touchingly described in his most +reflective ode, by him whose genius Mæcenas fostered, and +whose gratitude paid his princely patron back by rendering +him immortal. +</p> + +<p> +Many a time had Horace lounged in these pleasant +shades, musing with quaint and varied fancies, half pathetic, +half grotesque, on the business and the pleasures, the sunshine +and the shadows, the aim and the end, of that to him +inexplicable problem, a man’s short life. Here, too, perhaps, +he speculated on the mythology, to the beauty of which +his poetic imagination was so keenly alive, while his strong +common sense and somewhat material character must have +been so utterly incredulous of its truth. Nay, on this very +spot did he not ridicule certain superstitions of his countrymen, +with a coarseness that is only redeemed by its wit? +and preserve, in pungent sarcasm, for coming ages, the +memory of an indecent statue on the Esquiline, as he has +preserved in sweet and glowing lines the glades of cool +Præneste, or the terraced vineyards basking in the glare +and glitter of noonday on Tibur’s sunny slopes? Here, +<pb n='255'/><anchor id='Pg255'/>perhaps, many a time may have been seen the stout sleek +form, so round and well-cared for, with its clean white +gown, and dainty shining head, crowned with a garland of +festive roses, and not wanting, be sure, a festive goblet in +its hand. Here may the poet have sat out many a joyous +hour in the shade, with mirth, and song, and frequent sips +of old Falernian, and a vague dreary fancy the while ever +present, though unacknowledged—like a death’s-head at the +banquet—that feast, and jest, and song could not last for +ever, but that the time must come at length, when the +empty jar would not be filled again, when the faded roses +could be bound together no longer in a chaplet for the unconscious +brows, and the string of the lyre, once snapped, +must be silent henceforward for evermore. The very waterfall +that had soothed its master to his noonday slumber in +the drowsy shade, was now dried up, and in the cavity +above, a heap of dusty rubbish alone remained, where erst +the cool translucent surface shone, fair and smooth as +glass. Weeds were growing rank and tall, where once the +myrtle quivered and the roses bloomed. Where Chloe +gambolled and where Lydia sang, the raven croaked and +fluttered, and the night-owl screamed. Instead of velvet +turf and trim exotic shrubs, and shapely statues framed in +bowers of green, the nettle spread its festering carpet, and +the dock put out its pointed leaf; and here and there a +tombstone showed its slab of marble, smooth and grim, like +a bone that has been laid bare. All was ruin or decay—a +few short years had done the work of ages; and whether +they waked or whether they slept, poet and patron had +gone hence, never to return. +</p><anchor id="i_282"/> +<pgIf output='txt'><then> + <p rend="ill">[Illustration: ‘Her eyes grew dim, her senses seemed failing’]</p> +</then><else> + <p><figure rend="w80" url="images/i_282.png"><head>‘Her eyes grew dim, her senses seemed failing’</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: ‘Her eyes grew dim, her senses seemed failing’</figDesc></figure></p> +</else></pgIf> +<p> +Under the branches of a spectral holm-oak, blackened, +withered, and destroyed by fire, Mariamne paused, and +clung with both hands to her companion’s arm. Bravely +had the girl borne up for hours against terrible mental +anxiety, as well as actual bodily pain, but with relief and +comparative safety came the reaction. Her eyes grew dim, +her senses seemed failing, and her limbs trembled so that +she was unable to proceed. He hung over her in positive +fear. The pale face looked so deathlike that his bold +heart quailed, as the possibility presented itself of life without +her. Propped in his strong grasp she soon recovered, +and he told her as much, in a few frank simple words. +</p> + +<p> +<q>And yet it must come at last,</q> said she gently. <q>What +is the short span of a man’s life, Esca, for such love as ours? +Even had we everything we can wish, all the world can +<pb n='256'/><anchor id='Pg256'/>give, there would be a sting in each moment of happiness +at the thought that it must end so soon.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Happiness!</q> repeated Esca. <q>What is it? Why is +there so little of it on earth? <hi rend='italic'>My</hi> happiness is to be with +you; and see, I win it but for an hour at a time, at a cost +to yourself I cannot bear to think of.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She looked lovingly in his face. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Do you suppose <hi rend='italic'>I</hi> would count the cost?</q> said she. +<q>Ever since the night you took me from those fearful +revellers, and brought me so gently and so courteously +to my father’s house, I—I have never forgotten what +I owe you.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He raised her hand to his lips, with the action of an +inferior doing homage. Alone with the woman he loved, +the very depth and generosity of his young affection made +him look on her as something sacred and apart She +hesitated, for she had yet more to say, which maiden shame +repressed, lest it should disclose her feelings too openly; +but she loved him well: she could not keep silence on so +vital a subject, and after a pause, she took courage and asked— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Esca, could you bear to think we were never to meet +again?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I would rather die at once!</q> he exclaimed fervently. +</p> + +<p> +She shook her head, and smiled rather sadly. +</p> + +<p> +<q>But <hi rend='italic'>after</hi> death,</q> she insisted; <q>after death do you +believe you will see me no more?</q> +</p> + +<p> +He looked blank and confused. The same question had +been present almost unconsciously in his mind, but had never +taken so definite a shape before. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You would make me a coward, Mariamne,</q> said he; +<q>when I think of you, I almost fear to die.</q> +</p> + +<p> +They were standing under the holm-oak, where the +moonlight streamed down clear and cold through the bare +branches. It shone on a slab of marble, half defaced, half +overgrown with moss. Nevertheless, on that surface was +distinctly carved the horse’s head with which the Roman +loved to decorate the stone that marked his last resting-place. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Do you know what that means?</q> said she, pointing to +this quaint and yet suggestive symbol. <q>Even the proud +Roman feels that death and departure are the same,—that +he is going on a journey he knows not where, but one from +which he never shall return. It is a journey we must all +take, none can tell how soon; for you and me the horse +may be harnessed this very night. But I know where I am +<pb n='257'/><anchor id='Pg257'/>going, Esca. If you had slain me an hour ago with your +sword, I should have been there even now.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And I?</q> he exclaimed. <q>Should I have been with +you? for I would have died amongst the gladiators as I +have seen a wolf die in my own country, overmatched by +hounds. Mariamne, you would not have left me for ever? +What would have become of me?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Again she shook her head with the same pitiful plaintive +smile. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You do not know the way,</q> said she. <q>You have no +guide to take you by the hand; you would be lost in the +darkness; and I—I should see you no more. Oh! Esca, I +can teach you, I can show it you. Let us travel it together, +and, come what may, we need never part again!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Then the girl knelt down under that dead tree, with the +moonbeams shining on her pale face, and her lips moved in +whispered thanksgiving for the late escape, and prayer for +him who now stood by her side, and who watched her with +wistful looks, as a child watches a piece of mechanism of +which he sees plainly the effect, while he strives in vain to +comprehend the cause. It seemed to Esca that the woman +he loved must have found the talisman that all his youth he +had felt a vague consciousness he wanted—something beyond +manly courage, or burning patriotism, or the dogged obstinacy +that fortifies itself by defying the worst. Moreover, the course +of his past life, above all, the trials he had lately undergone, +could not but have prepared the ground for the reception of +that good seed which brings forth such good fruit,—could not +but have shown him the necessity for a strength superior to +the bravest endurance of mere humanity, for a hope that +was fixed beyond the grave. A few minutes she remained +on her knees, praying fervently for herself,—for him. He +felt that it was so, and while his eyes were riveted on the dear +face, so pure and peaceful, turned upward to the sky, he knew +that his own being was elevated by her holy influence, that +the earthly affection of a lover for his mistress, was in his +breast refined by the adoration of a worshipper for a saint. +</p> + +<p> +Then she rose, and taking him by the arm, walked +leisurely on her way, discoursing, as she went, on certain +truths which she had learnt from Calchas, and which she +believed with the faith of those who have been taught by +one, himself an eye-witness of the wonders he relates. There +were no dogmas in those early days of the Christian Church +to distract the minds of its votaries from the simple tenets of +their creed. The grain of mustard-seed had not yet shot up +<pb n='258'/><anchor id='Pg258'/>into that goodly tree which has since borne so many branches, +and the pruning-knife, hereafter to lop away so many redundant +heresies, was not as yet unsheathed. The Christian +of the first century held to a very simple exposition of his +faith as handed down to him from his Divine Master. Trust +and love were the fundamental rules of his order. Trust +that in the extremity of mortal agony could penetrate beyond +the gates of death, and brighten the martyr’s face with a ray +of splendour <q>like the face of an angel.</q> Love that embraced +all things, downward from the Creator to the lowest +of the created, that opened its heart freely and ungrudgingly +to each, the sinner, the prodigal, and the traveller who fell +among thieves. Other faiths, indeed, and other motives have +fortified men to march proudly to the stake, to bear without +wincing tortures that forced the sickening spectator to turn +shuddering away. A heathen or a Jew could front the lion’s +sullen scowl, or the grin and glare of the cruel tiger, in the +amphitheatre, with the dignified composure that brave men +borrow from despair; could behold unmoved the straight-cut +furrow in the sand that marked the arena of his sufferings, +soon to run crimson with his blood. Even athwart the dun +smoke, amidst the leaping yellow flames, pale faces have +been seen to move, majestic and serene as spectres, with no +sustaining power beyond that of a lofty courage, the offspring +of education and of pride. But it was the Christian alone +who could submit to the vilest degradations and the fiercest +sufferings with a humble and even cheerful thankfulness; +who could drink from the bitter cup and accept the draught +without a murmur, save of regret for his own unworthiness; +nay, who could forgive and bless the very tyranny that +extorted, the very hand that ministered to, the tortures +he endured. +</p> + +<p> +In its early days, fresh from the fountain-head, the +Christian’s was, indeed, essentially and emphatically, a +religion of love. To feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, +to stretch a hand to the fallen, to think no evil, to judge not, +nor to condemn, in short, to love <q>the brother whom he <hi rend='italic'>had</hi> +seen,</q> were the direct commands of that Great Example who +had so recently been here on earth. His first disciples strove, +hard as fallible humanity can, to imitate Him, and in so +striving, failed not to attain a certain peaceful composure +and contentment of mind, that no other code of morality, no +other system of philosophy, had ever yet produced. Perhaps +this was the quality that, in his dealings with his victim, the +Roman executioner found most mysterious and inexplicable. +<pb n='259'/><anchor id='Pg259'/>Fortitude, resolution, defiance, these he could understand: +but the childlike simplicity that accepted good and evil with +equal confidence; that was thankful and cheerful under both, +and that entertained neither care for to-day nor anxiety for +to-morrow, was a moral elevation, at which, with all their +pretensions, his own countrymen had never yet been able +to arrive. Neither Stoic nor Epicurean, Sophist nor +Philosopher, could look upon life, and death also, with the +calm assurance of these unlearned men, leaning on a hand +the Roman could not see, convinced of an immortality the +Roman was unable to conceive. +</p> + +<p> +With this happy conviction beaming in her face, Mariamne +inculcated on Esca the tenets of her noble faith; explaining, +not logically, indeed, but with woman’s persuasive reasonings +of the heart, how fair was the prospect thus open to him, +how glorious the reward, which, though mortal eye could +not behold it, mortal hand could not take away. Promises +of future happiness are none the less glowing that they fall +on a man’s ear from the lips he loves. Conviction goes the +straighter to his heart when it pervades another’s that beats +in unison with his own. Under that moonlit sky, reddened +in the horizon with the glare of a distant quarter of the city +already set on fire by the insurgents; in that dreary waste +of the Esquiline, with its blasted trees, its shrieking night-birds, +and its scattered grave-stones, the Briton <anchor id="corr259"/><corr sic="inbibed">imbibed</corr> the +first principles of Christianity from the daughter of Judah, +whom he loved; and the girl’s face beamed with a holy +tenderness more than mortal, while she showed the way of +everlasting happiness, and life, and light, to him whose soul +was dearer to her than her own. +</p> + +<p> +And meanwhile around them on all sides, murder, rapine, +and violence were stalking abroad unchecked. Riotous +parties of Vespasian’s supporters met, here and there, detached +companies of Cæsar’s broken legions; and when such +collisions took place, the combatants fought madly, as it +would seem from mere wanton love of bloodshed, to the +death; whichever conquered, neither spared the dissolute +citizens, who indeed, when safe out of reach, from roofs +or windows encouraged the strife heartily with word and +gesture. Sparks fell in showers through the streets of Rome, +and blood and wine ran in streams along the pavement; nor +were the deserted gardens of the Esquiline undisturbed by +the tumult and devastation that pervaded the rest of the +unhappy city. +</p> + +</div><div n="2.14" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='260'/><anchor id='Pg260'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XIV. The Church"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XIV. The Church"/> +<head>CHAPTER XIV<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE CHURCH</hi></head> + +<p> +When they sought to leave their place of refuge, Esca +and Mariamne found themselves hemmed in and +drawn back by the continued tumult that was raging through +the surrounding quarters. On all sides were heard the shouts +of victory, the shrieks of despair, and the mad riot of drunken +mirth. Occasionally, flying parties of pursuers or pursued +swept through the very outskirts of the gardens themselves, +compelling the Briton and his charge to plunge deeper into +its gloomy solitudes for concealment. +</p> + +<p> +At length they reached a place of comparative safety, +under a knot of dark cypresses that had escaped the general +conflagration, and here they paused to take breath and listen, +Mariamne becoming every moment more composed and +tranquil, while Esca, with a beating heart, calculated the +many chances that must still be risked ere they could reach her +home beyond the Tiber, and he could place the daughter in +safety under her father’s roof once more. It was very dark +where they were, for the cypresses grew thick and black +between them and the sky. The place had probably in +former times been a favourite resort in the noonday heat. +There were the remains of a grotto or summer-house not +yet wholly destroyed, and the fragments of a wide stone basin, +from which a fountain had once shot its sparkling drops +into the summer air. Several alleys, too, cut in the young +plantations, had apparently converged at this spot; and +although these were much overgrown and neglected, one still +formed, so to speak, a broad white street of turf, hemmed in +by walls of quivering foliage, dark and massive, but sprinkled +here and there with points of silver in the moonlight. +</p> + +<p> +Mariamne crept closer to her companion’s side. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I feel so safe and so happy with you,</q> said she +caressingly. <q>We seem to have changed places. You are +the one who is now anxious and—no, not frightened—but ill +at ease. Esca! what is it?</q> she asked with a start, as, +<pb n='261'/><anchor id='Pg261'/>looking fondly up in his face, she caught its expression of +actual terror and dismay. +</p> + +<p> +His blue eyes were fixed like stone. With parted lips +and rigid features, his whole being seemed concentrated into +the one effort of seeing, and backed by the dark shadows of +the cypress, his face, usually so frank and fearless, was paler +even than her own. Following with her eyes the direction of +his glance, she, too, was something more than startled at +what she saw. Two black figures, clad in long and trailing +garments, moved slowly into sight, and crossed the sheet of +moonlight which flooded the wide avenue, with solemn step +and slow. These again were followed by two in white, +looking none the less ghostly that their outlines were so +indistinctly defined, the head and feet being alone visible, +and the rest of the figure wrapped, as it were, in mist. Then +came two more in black, and thus in alternate pairs the +unearthly procession glided by; only, ere the half of it had +passed, a something, not unlike the human form, draped in a +white robe, seemed to float horizontally, at a cubit’s height, +above the line. A low and wailing chant, too, rose and fell +fitfully on the listeners’ ears. It was the <q>Kyrie Eleison,</q> +the humble plaintive dirge in which the Christian mourned, +not without hope, for his dead. +</p> + +<p> +Fear was no familiar sentiment in Esca’s breast. It could +not remain there long. He drew himself up, and the colour +rushed back redly to his brow. +</p> + +<p> +<q>They are spirits!</q> said he; <q>spirits of the wood, on +whose domains we have trespassed. Good or evil, we will +resist them to the last. They will sacrifice us to their +vengeance if we show the least signs of fear.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She was proud of his courage even then—the courage +that could defy, though it had not been able to shake off, +the superstitions of his northern birthplace. It was sweet, +too, to think that from her lips he must learn what was +truth, both of this world and of the next. +</p> + +<p> +<q>They are no spirits!</q> she answered. <q>They are +Christians burying their dead. Esca, we shall be safe with +them, and they will show us how to leave this place unobserved.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Christians?</q> he replied doubtfully; <q>and we, too, are +Christians, are we not? I would they were armed, though,</q> +he added reflectively. <q>With twenty good swordsmen, I +would engage to take you unmolested from one end of +Rome to the other; but these, I fear, are only priests. Priests! +and the legions are loose even now all over the city!</q> +</p> + +<pb n='262'/><anchor id='Pg262'/> + +<p> +He was but a young disciple, thought his loving teacher, +and many a defeat must be experienced, many a rebuff +sustained, ere dependence on his own courage is rooted out +of a brave man’s heart, to be replaced by that nobler fortitude +which relies solely on the will of Heaven. Yet a brave man +is no bad material out of which to form a good one. +</p> + +<p> +They left their hiding-place, and hastened down the alley +after the departing Christians. In a secluded place, where +the remaining trees grew thickest and most luxuriant—where +the noontide ray had least power to penetrate, the procession +had halted. The grave was already being dug. As spadeful +after spadeful of loose earth fell with a dull grating sound +on the sward, or trickled back into the cavity, the dirge +wailed on, now lowered and repressed like the stifled sob of +one who weeps in secret, now rising into notes of chastened +triumph, that were almost akin to joy. And here, where +Mæcenas, and his poets and his parasites, had met, with +garland and goblet, to while away the summer’s day in +frivolous disputations, arguing on the endless topics of here +and hereafter, life and death, body and soul; groping blindly +and in vain throughout the labyrinth for a clue—sneering +at Pythagoras, refuting Plato, and maligning Socrates—the +body of the dead Christian was laid humbly and trustfully +in the earth, and already the departed spirit had learned the +efficacy of those truths it had imbibed through scorn and +suffering in its lifetime—truths that the heathen sages would +have given goblets and garlands, and riches and empire, +and all the world besides, but to know and believe in that +supreme moment, when all around the dying fades and fails +as though it had never been, and there is but one reality from +which is no escape. +</p> + +<p> +The Jewess and her champion waited a few paces off +while the spade threw its last handfuls to the surface. Then +the Christians gathered solemnly and silently round the +open grave, and the corpse was lowered gently into its +resting-place, and the faces that watched it sink, and stop, +and waver, and sink again out of sight, even like the life of +the departed, beamed with a holy triumph, for they knew +that with this wayfarer, at least, the journey was over and +the home attained. Two mourners, somewhat conspicuous +from the rest, stood at either end of the grave. The one was +a woman, still in the meridian of her beauty; the other a +strong warlike man, scarcely of middle age. The woman’s +face was turned to heaven, rapt, as it seemed in an ecstasy +of prayer. She was not thinking of the poor remains, the +<pb n='263'/><anchor id='Pg263'/>empty shell, consigned beneath her feet to its kindred dust; +but with the eye of faith she watched the spirit in its upward +flight, and for her the heavens were opened, and her child +was even now disappearing through the golden gate. But +on the man’s contracted features might be read the pain of +him who is too weak to bear, and yet too strong to weep. +His eye followed with sad wistful glances clod after clod, as +they fell in to cover up the loved and lost. When the earth +was flattened down above her head, and not till then, he +seemed to look inquiringly at the vacant space amongst the +bystanders, and to know that she was gone. He clenched +his strong hands tight, and raised his eyes at last. <q>It is +hard to bear,</q> he muttered; <q>it is very hard to say, <q>Thy +will be done.</q></q> Then he thought of the empty place at +home, and hid his face and wept. +</p> + +<p> +A young girl, on the verge of womanhood, had been +called away—called suddenly away—the pride and the +flower and the darling of her father’s house. He was a good +man and a brave, and a believer, yet every time his child’s +face rose up before him, with its bright hair and its loving +eyes, something smote him, sharp and cold, like the thrust +of a knife. +</p> + +<p> +When the grave was finally closed, the Christians gathered +round it in prayer. Mariamne, taking Esca by the hand, +came silently among them, and joined in their devotions. +It was a strange and solemn sight to the barbarian. A circle +of cloaked figures kneeling round an empty space, to worship +an unseen power. On either hand a wilderness of ruin and +devastation in the heart of a great city; above, an angry +glare on the midnight sky, and the shouts of maddened +combatants rising and falling on the breeze. By his side, +the woman he loved so dearly, and whom he had thought +he should never look on again. He knelt with the others, +to offer his tribute from a grateful heart. Their prayers were +short and fervent, nor did they omit the form their Master +had given them expressly for their use. When they rose to +their feet, one figure stood forth amongst the rest, and signed +for silence with uplifted hand. This man was obviously a +Roman by birth, and spoke his language with the ease, but +at the same time with the accent and phrases of the lowest +plebeian class. He seemed a handicraftsman by trade, and +his palm, when he raised it impressively to bespeak attention, +was hardened and scarred with toil. Low of stature, mean +in appearance, coarsely clothed, with bare head and feet, +there was little in his exterior to command interest or respect; +<pb n='264'/><anchor id='Pg264'/>but his frame, square and strongly built, seemed capable of +sustaining a vast amount of toil or hardship, while his face, +notwithstanding its plain features, denoted repressed enthusiasm, +earnest purpose, and honest singleness of heart. He +was indeed one of the pioneers of a religion, destined hereafter +to cover the surface of the earth. Such were the men +who went forth in their master’s name, without scrip or +sandals, or change of raiment, to overrun and conquer the +world—who took no thought what they should say when +brought before the kings, and governors, and great ones of +the earth, trusting only in the sanctity of their mission, and +the inspiration under which they spoke. Having little +learning, they could refute the wisest philosophers. Having +neither rank nor lineage, they could beard the Proconsul on +his judgment-seat or the Cæsar on his throne. Homely and +ignorant, they feared not to wander far and wide through +strange countries, and hostile nations, spreading the good +tidings with a simple ungrudging faith that forced men to +believe. Weak by nature it may be, and timid by education, +they descended into the arena to meet their martyrdom from +the hungry lion, with a quiet fortitude such as neither soldier +nor gladiator had courage to display. It was a moral their +Master never ceased to inculcate, that His was a message +sent not to the noble, and the prosperous, and the distinguished, +for these, if they wished to find Him, might make their own +opportunities to seek Him out; but to the poor and lowly, +the humble and forlorn, especially to those who were in +distress and sorrow, who, having none to help them here, +might rely all the more implicitly on His protection, who is +emphatically the friend of the friendless. +</p> + +<p> +Therefore, the men who did His work seem to have been +chosen principally from the humbler classes of society, +from such as could speak to the multitude in homely +phrases and with familiar imagery; whose authority the +most careless and unthinking might perceive originated in +no aid of extraneous circumstances, but came directly from +above. +</p> + +<p> +As the speaker warmed to his subject, Esca could not +but observe the change that came over the bearing and +appearance of his outward man. At first the eye was dull, +the speech hesitating, the manner diffident. Gradually a +light seemed to steal over his whole countenance, his form +towered erect as though it had actually increased in stature, +his words flowed freely in a torrent of glowing and appropriate +language, his action became dignified, and the whole man +<pb n='265'/><anchor id='Pg265'/>clothed himself, as it were, in the majesty of the subject on +which he spoke. +</p> + +<p> +That subject was indeed simple enough, sad, it may be, +from an earthly point of view, and yet how comforting to +the mourners gathered round him beside the new-made +grave! At first he contented himself with a short and +earnest tribute, clothed in the plainest form of speech, to the +worth and endearing qualities of that young girl whom they +had just laid in the earth. <q>She was precious to us all,</q> +said he, <q rend="post: none">yet words like these seem but a mockery to some +present here, for whom she was the hope and the joy, and +the very light of an earthly home. Grieve, I say, and weep, +and wring your hands, for such is man’s weak nature, and +He who took our nature upon Him sympathises with our +sorrows, and, like the good physician, pities while He heals. +To-day your wounds are fresh, your hearts are full, your eyes +are blind with tears, you cannot see the truth. To-morrow +you will wonder why you mourn so bitterly; to-morrow you +will say, <q>It is well; we are labouring in the sun, she is +resting in the shade; we are hungry and thirsty in a barren +land, she is eating the bread and drinking the waters of life, +in the garden of Paradise; we are weary and footsore, wayfarers +still upon the road, but she has reached her home.</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">Yea, now at this very hour, standing here where the +earth has just closed over the young face, tender and delicate +even in death, would you have her back to you if you could? +Those who have considered but the troubles that surround +us now, and to whom there is no hereafter, who call themselves +philosophers, and whose wisdom is as the wisdom of +a blind man walking on the brink of a precipice, have themselves +said <q>whom the gods love die young</q>; and will you +grudge that your beloved one should have been called out +of the vineyard, to take her wages and go to her rest, before +the burden and heat of the day? Think what her end might +have been. Think that you might have offered her up to +bear witness to the truth, tied to a stake in the foul arena, +face to face with the crouching wild beast gathered for his +spring. Ay! and worse even than this might have befallen +the child, whom you remember, as it were but yesterday, +nestling to her mother’s bosom, or clinging round her father’s +knees! <q>The Christians to the panther, and the maidens +to the pandar!</q><note place="foot"><q>Christiani ad leones! virgines ad lenones!</q>—a sentence that found no +small favour with the Roman crowd.</note> You have heard the brutal shouts and +shuddered with fear and anger while you heard. And +<pb n='266'/><anchor id='Pg266'/>you would have offered her, as Abraham offered Isaac, +beating your breasts, and holding your breath for very agony +the while. But is it not better thus? She has earned the +day’s wages, labouring but for an hour at sunrise; she has +escaped the cross, and yet has won the crown!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>But you who hear me, envy not this young maiden, +though she be now arrived where all so long to go. Rather +be proud and happy, that your Master cannot spare you, +that He has yet work for you to do. To every man’s hand +is set his appointed task, and every man shall find strength +given him to fulfil it when the time arrives. Some of you +will bear witness before Cæsar, and for such the scourges +are already knotted and the cross is reared; but to these I +need scarcely speak of loyalty, for to them the very suffering +brings with it its own fortitude, and they are indeed blessed +who are esteemed worthy of the glory of martyrdom! Some +must go forth to preach the gospel in wild and distant lands; +and well I know that neither toil, nor hardship, nor peril, +will cause them to waver an hair’s-breadth from their path, +yet have they difficulties to meet, and foes to contend with, +that they know not of. Let them beware of pride and self-sufficiency, +lest, in raising the altar, they make the sacrifice +of more account than the spirit in which it is offered; lest +in building the church they take note of every stone in the +edifice, and lose sight of the purpose for which it was reared. +But ye cannot all be martyrs, nor preachers, nor prophets, +nor chief-priests, yet every one of you, even the weakest +and the lowest here present—woman, child, slave, or barbarian—is +none the less a soldier and a servant of the cross! +Every one has his duty to do, his watch to keep, his enemy +to conquer. It is not much that is required of you—little +indeed in comparison with all you have received—but that +little must be given without reserve, and with the whole +heart. Has any one of you left a duty unfulfilled? when +he departs from hence let him go home and accomplish it. +Has any one an enemy? let him be reconciled. Has he +done his brother a wrong? let him make amends. Has he +sustained an injury? let him forgive it. Even as you have +laid in the grave the perishable body of the departed, so +lay down here every earthly weakness, every unholy wish, +and every evil thought. Nay, as these chief mourners have +to-night parted and weaned themselves from that which +they loved best on earth, so must you tear out and cast +away from you the truest and dearest affections that stand +between you and your service, ay, even though you rend +<pb n='267'/><anchor id='Pg267'/>them from the very inner chambers of your heart. And +then, with constant effort and never-ceasing prayer, striving, +step by step, and winning, inch by inch, now slipping back +it may be where the path is treacherous, and the hill is +steep, to rise from your knees, humbled and therefore +stronger, gaining more than you have lost, you shall arrive +at last, where there is no strife, and no failing, where she +for whom you weep to-night is even now in glory, where +He whom you follow has already prepared a place for you, +and where you who have loved and trusted, shall be happy +for evermore!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Ceasing, he spread his hands abroad, and implored a +blessing on those who heard him, after which the Christians +breaking up their circle, gathered round the bereaved parents +with a few quiet words and gestures of sympathy, such as +those offer who have themselves experienced the sorrows +they are fain to assuage. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am in safety here,</q> whispered Mariamne to the Briton, +as she pointed out a dark figure, with white flowing locks, +whom he now recognised as Calchas. In another moment +she was in the old man’s arms, who raised his eyes to heaven, +and thanked God with heartfelt gratitude for her deliverance. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Your father and I,</q> said he, <q>have sought you with +fearful anxiety, and even now he is raising some of his +countrymen to storm the tribune’s house, and take you +from it with the strong hand. Mariamne, you hardly know +how much your father loves his child. And I too was +disturbed for your safety, but I trusted—trusted in that +Heaven which never fails the innocent. Nevertheless, I +sought for aid among my brethren, and they have raised, +even the poorest of them, such a sum as would have tempted +the prætor to interfere, even against a man like Placidus. +I did but remain with them to say a prayer while they +buried their dead. But now you are safe, and you will +come back with me to your father’s house, and one of these +whom I can trust shall go to tell him at the place where +his friends were to assemble; and Esca, thy preserver for +the second time, who is to me as a son, shall accompany +us home—though we shall not need a guard, for thy father’s +friends, tried warriors every man, and armed, will meet us +ere we leave the wilderness for the streets.</q> +</p> + +<p> +It was a strong temptation to the Briton, but the words +he had so lately heard had sunk deep into his heart. He, +too, would fain cast in his lot amongst these earnest men. +He, too, he thought, had a task to perform—a cherished +<pb n='268'/><anchor id='Pg268'/>happiness to forego. With a timely warning, it might be +in his power to save the Emperor’s life, and his very eagerness +to accompany Mariamne but impressed him the more +with the conviction that it was his duty to leave her, now +she was in comparative safety, and hasten on his errand of +mercy. Calchas, too, insisted strongly on this view, and +though Mariamne was silent, and even pleaded with her +eyes against the risk, he turned stoutly from their influence, +and ere she was clasped in her father’s arms, the new +Christian was already half-way between the Esquiline and +the palace of Cæsar. +</p> + +</div><div n="2.15" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='269'/><anchor id='Pg269'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XV. Redivivus"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XV. Redivivus"/> +<head>CHAPTER XV<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">REDIVIVUS</hi></head> + +<p> +Many had been the debauch at which, himself its +chief originator and promoter, the tribune had +assisted; nor had he escaped the penalties that Nature +exacts even from the healthiest constitutions, when her laws +are habitually outraged in the high-tide of revelry and +mirth; but never, after his longest sittings with the Emperor, +had he experienced anything to compare with the utter +prostration of mind and body in which he came to himself, +waking from the deathlike sleep that followed his pledge +to Valeria. With returning consciousness came a sense of +painful giddiness, which, as the velvet cushions of the couch +rose and heaved beneath his sight, confused him utterly as +to where he was, or how he got there; then, sitting up with +an effort that seemed to roll a ball of lead across his brain, +he was aware that every vein throbbed at fever-heat, that +his hands were numbed and swollen, that his mouth was +parched, his lips cracked, and that he had a racking headache—the +latter symptom was sufficiently familiar to be +reassuring; he sprang to his feet, regardless of the pang so +sudden a movement shot through his frame, then seizing a +goblet from the table, filled it to the brim with Falernian, +and in defiance of the nausea with which its very fragrance +overpowered him, emptied it to the dregs. The effect, as +he expected, was instantaneous; it enabled him to stand +erect, and, passing his hand across his brow, by a strong +effort of the will, he forced himself to connect and comprehend +the events that had led to this horrible and +bewildering trance. By degrees, one after another, like +links in a chain, he traced the doings of the day, beginning +a long way back, somewhere about noon, till the immediate +past, so to speak, came more and more tangibly within his +grasp. It was with a thrill of triumphant pleasure that he +remembered Valeria’s visit, and his own arm winding round +her handsome form on that very couch. Where was she +<pb n='270'/><anchor id='Pg270'/>now? He looked about him vacantly, almost expecting +to find her in the room; as he did so, his eye lighted on +the two goblets, one of them half-emptied, still standing +on their salver. +</p> + +<p> +To say that Placidus had a conscience would be simply +a perversion of terms; for that monitor, never very troublesome, +had since his manhood been so stifled and silenced +as to have become a mere negative quality, yet in his present +unhinged state, a shudder of horror did come over him, as +he recalled the visit to Petosiris, and the poison with which +he had resolved to ensure the silence of his slave. But ere +that shudder passed away, the dark secret Esca knew, the +plot from which it was now too late to draw back, the +desperate adventure that every hour brought nearer, and +that must be attempted to-night—all these considerations +came flooding in on his memory at once, and for a moment +he felt paralysed by the height of the precipice on the +brink of which he stood. With the emergency, however, +as was always the case in the tribune’s character, came the +energy required to encounter it. <q>At least,</q> he muttered, +steadying himself by the table with one hand, <q>the cup is +nearly empty; the drug cannot but have done its work. +First, I must make sure of the carrion, and then it will be +time enough to find Valeria.</q> Had he suffered less in body, +he would have laughed his own low malicious laugh, to +think how deftly he had outwitted the woman he professed +to love. The laugh, however, died away in a grin that +betrayed more pain than mirth; and the tribune, with +chattering teeth and shaking frame, and wavering uncertain +steps, betook himself to the outer court to make sure with +his own eyes that the stalwart frame of him whom he feared +was stiff and cold in death. +</p> + +<p> +His first feeling would have been one of acute apprehension, +had not anger so completely mastered that sensation, +when he perceived the slave’s chain and collar lying coiled +on the pavement. Obviously, Esca had escaped; and was +gone, moreover, with his late master’s life completely in his +power; but Placidus possessed a keen intellect and one +familiar with sudden combinations; it flashed upon him at +once, that he had been outwitted by Valeria, and the two had +fled together. +</p> + +<p> +The sting was very sharp, but it roused and sobered him. +Pacing swiftly back through the corridors, and stopping for a +few minutes to immerse his head and face in cold water, he +returned to the banqueting-hall, and eagerly scrutinised with +<pb n='271'/><anchor id='Pg271'/>look and smell, and, notwithstanding all that had happened, +even with a sparing taste, the cup from which he had last +drunk. The opiate, however, had been so skilfully prepared +that nothing suspicious could be detected in the flavour of +the wine; nevertheless, reflecting on all the circumstances +with a clearer head, as the strength of his constitution +gradually asserted itself, he arrived at the true conclusion, +and was satisfied that Valeria had changed the cups while his +attention was distracted by her charms; that he had purchased +a poison he never doubted for a moment, nor suspected +that Petosiris could have dared, from sheer love of trickery, +to substitute an opiate for the deadlier draught; but he +exulted to think that his powerful organisation must have +resisted its effects, and that he who had so often narrowly +escaped death in the field must indeed bear a charmed life. +If a suspicion haunted him that the venom might still be +lurking in his system, to do its work more completely after +a short respite, the vague horror of such a thought did but +goad him to make use of the intervening time all the more +ardently for business and pleasure, not forgetting the sacred +duty of revenge. <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">Dum vivimus vivamus!</foreign> was the tribune’s +motto, and if he had been granted but one hour to live, he +would have divided that hour systematically, between the +delights of love, wine, and mischief. +</p> + +<p> +Rapidly, though coolly, he reviewed his position, as though +he had been commanding a cohort hemmed in by the Jewish +army. To-night would make or mar him. The gladiators +would be here within an hour. Esca must, ere this, have +reached the palace and given the alarm. Why had a +centurion of Cæsar not yet arrived with a sufficient guard to +arrest him in his own house? They might be expected at +any moment. Should he fly while there was yet time? +What! and lose the brilliant future so nearly within his +reach? No—he would weather this as he had weathered +other storms, by skilful and judicious steering. A man who +has no scruples need never be deficient in resource. To leave +his house now, would be a tacit admission of guilt. To be +found alone, undefended, unsuspicious, a strong presumption +of innocence. He would at least have sufficient interest to +be taken into the presence of Cæsar. There, what so easy +as to accuse the slave of treachery, to persuade the Emperor +the barbarian had but hatched a plot against his master’s +life; to make the good-humoured old glutton laugh with an +account of the drugged goblet, and finish the night by a +debauch with his imperial host? +</p> + +<pb n='272'/><anchor id='Pg272'/> + +<p> +Then, he must be guided by the preparations for defence +which he observed in the palace. If they were weak, he +must find some means of communicating with Hippias, and +the attack would be facilitated by his own presence inside. +If, on the contrary, there was an obvious intention of firm +resistance, the conspirators must be warned to postpone their +enterprise. If worst came to the worst, he could always save +his own head by informing against his confederates, and so +handing over Hippias and the gladiators to death. +</p> + +<p> +Some slight compunction visited him at the thought of +such an alternative, but he soon stifled it with the arguments +of his characteristic philosophy. Should he be found, indeed, +presiding at a supper-party composed of these desperate men, +they might defend the gate whilst he fled directly to Cæsar, +and sacrificed them at once. Under any circumstances, he +argued, he had bought them, and had a right to make use +of them. +</p> + +<p> +In the meantime, Mariamne would be here directly. She +ought to have been here long ago. Whatever the future +threatened, an hour, half an hour, a quarter, should be +devoted to her society, and after that, come what might, +at least he would not have been foiled in every event of the +day. It was when he had arrived at this conclusion, that +Esca from his hiding-place saw the figure of the tribune, +pale, wan, and ghostly, giving directions for the preparation +of the supper-table. +</p> + +<p> +The evening stole on, the sun-dial no longer showed the +hour, and the slave whose duty it was to keep count of time +by the water-clock<note place="foot">The <foreign rend='italic' lang="grc">clepsydra</foreign>, or water-clock—a Greek invention for the division of time—consisting +of a hollow globe made of glass, or some transparent substance, from +which the water trickled out through a narrow orifice, in quantities so regulated, +that the sinking level of the element marked with sufficient exactitude the time +that had elapsed since the vessel was filled.</note> then in vogue, announced that the first +watch of the night was already advanced. He was followed +by Automedon, who came into the presence of his master, +with hanging head and sheepish looks, sadly mistrusting how +far his own favour would bear him harmless in the delivery +of the tidings he had to impart. It was always a perilous +duty to inform Placidus of the failure of any of his schemes. +He listened, indeed, with a calm demeanour and an unmoved +countenance, but sooner or later he surely contrived to visit +on the unfortunate messenger the annoyance he himself +experienced from the message. +</p> + +<p> +The tribune’s face brightened as the boy came into the +<pb n='273'/><anchor id='Pg273'/>hall; with characteristic duplicity, however, he veiled even +from his charioteer the impatience in which he had waited +his return. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Have you brought the horses in cool?</q> said he, with an +affectation of extreme indifference. +</p> + +<p> +Automedon looked greatly relieved. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Quite cool,</q> he answered, <q>most illustrious! and Oarses +came part of the way home, but he got down near the Sacred +Gate, and I had no one with me in the chariot the whole +length of the Flaminian Way; and the slaves will be back +presently; and Damasippus—Oh! my lord, do not be angry!—Damasippus—I +fear I have left him dead in the street.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Here the lad’s courage failed him completely; he had +indeed been thoroughly frightened by the events of the +night; and making a piteous face, he twined his fingers in +his long curls and wept aloud. +</p> + +<p> +<q>What, fool!</q> thundered the tribune, his brow turning +black with rage. <q>You have not brought her after all! +Silly child,</q> he added, controlling himself with a strong +effort. <q>Where is the—the passenger—I charged Damasippus +to bring here with him to-night?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I will tell you the truth,</q> exclaimed the boy, flinging +himself down on his knees, and snatching at the hem of his +master’s garment. <q>By the Temple of Vesta, I will tell you +the truth. I drove from here across Tiber, and I waited in +the shadow by Tiber-side; and Jugurtha wouldn’t stand still, +and presently Damasippus brought a—a passenger in his +arms, and put it into the chariot, and bade me go on fast; +and we went on at a gallop till we tried to cross the Appian +Way, and then we had to turn aside, for the houses were +burning and the people fighting in the street, and Scipio was +frightened and pulled, and Jugurtha wouldn’t face the crowd, +and I drove on to cross a little farther down, but we were +stopped again by the Vestals, and I couldn’t drive through +<hi rend='italic'>them</hi>! So we halted to let them pass, and then a fierce +terrible giant caught the horses and stopped them once +more, and a thousand soldiers, nay, a legion at least, +surrounded the chariot, and they killed Damasippus, and +they tore the passenger out, and killed it too, and Scipio +kicked, and I was frightened, and drove home as fast as I +could—and indeed it wasn’t my fault!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Automedon’s fears had magnified both the number of the +assailants and the dangers undergone. He had not recognised +the gladiators, and was altogether in too confused a state, as +the tribune perceived at a glance, to afford his master any +<pb n='274'/><anchor id='Pg274'/>more coherent information than the foregoing. Placidus bit +his lip in baffled anger, for he could not see his way; nevertheless +the boy-charioteer was a favourite, and he would not +visit the failure of the enterprise on him. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am glad the horses are safe,</q> said he good-humouredly. +<q>Go, get some supper and a cup of wine. I will send for you +again presently.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Automedon, agreeably surprised, glanced up at his +master’s face ere he departed, and observed that, although +deadly pale, it had assumed the fixed resolute expression his +dependants knew so well. +</p> + +<p> +Placidus had indeed occasion to summon all the presence +of mind on which he prided himself, for even while he spoke, +his quick ear caught the tramp of feet, and the familiar clink +of steel. The blood gathered round his heart as he contemplated +the possibility that a maniple of Cæsar’s guards +might even now be occupying the court. It was with a sigh +of intense relief that, instead of the centurion’s eagle crest, +he recognised the tall form of Rufus, accompanied by his +comrades, advancing respectfully, and even with awkward +diffidence, through the outer hall. The tribune could assume—none +better—any character it suited him to play at a +moment’s notice; nevertheless there was a ring of real +cordiality in his greeting, for the visitors were more welcome +than they guessed. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Hail! Rufus, Lutorius, Eumolpus!</q> he shouted boisterously. +<q>Gallant swordsmen and deep drinkers all! What! +old Hirpinus, do I not see thy broad shoulders yonder in the +rear? and Hippias too, the king of the arena! Welcome, +every man of you! Even now the feast is spread, and the +Chian cooling yonder amongst the flowers. Once again, a +hearty welcome to you all!</q> +</p> + +<p> +The gladiators, still somewhat abashed by the unaccustomed +splendour which met their eyes on every side, +responded with less than their usual confidence to their +entertainer. Rufus nudged Lutorius to reply in polite +language, and the Gaul, in a fit of unusual modesty, passed +the signal on to Eumolpus of Ravenna—a beetle-browed, +bow-legged warrior, with huge muscles and a heavy, sullen +face. This champion looked helplessly about him and +seemed inclined to turn tail and fly, when, to his great relief, +Hippias advanced from the rear of his comrades, and created +a diversion in his favour, of which he availed himself by +slinking incontinently into the background. Placidus clapped +his hands, an Asiatic fashion affected by the more luxurious +<pb n='275'/><anchor id='Pg275'/>Romans; and two or three slaves appeared in obedience to +the summons. The gladiators looked on in awe at the +sumptuous dresses and personal beauty of these domestics. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Hand round wine here amongst my friends. I will +but say three words to your captain, and we will go to supper +forthwith.</q> +</p> + +<p> +So speaking, the tribune led Hippias apart, having +resolved that in the present critical state of affairs it would be +better to take him entirely into his confidence, and trust to +the scrupulous notions of fidelity to their bargains, which +such men entertained, for the result. +</p> + +<p> +<q>There is no time to lose,</q> observed he anxiously, when +he had led Hippias apart from his followers. <q>Something +has occurred which was out of all our calculations. Can they +overhear us, think ye?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The fencing-master glanced carelessly at his band. +<q>Whilst they are at <hi rend='italic'>that</hi> game,</q> said he, <q>they would not +hear the assembly sounding from all four quarters of the +camp. Never fear, illustrious! it will keep them busy till +supper time.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The band had broken up into pairs, and were hard at +work with their favourite pastime, old as the Alban hills, and +handed down to the Roman Empire from the dynasty of the +Pharaohs. It consisted in gambling for small coins at the +following trial of skill:—the players sat or stood, face to face; +each held the left hand erect, on which he marked the +progress of his game. With the right he shot out any one +or more of his four fingers and thumb, or all together, with +immense rapidity, guessing aloud at the same time the sum-total +of the fingers thus brandished by himself and his +adversary, who was employed in the same manner. Whoever +guessed right won a point, which was immediately marked +on the left, held immovable at shoulder-height for the +purpose, and when five of these had been won the game +began again. Nothing could be more simple, nothing +apparently less interesting, and yet it seemed to engross the +attention of the gladiators to the exclusion of all other +subjects, even the prospect of supper and the flavour of the +Falernian.<note place="foot">This game is played to-day with equal zest, under its Italian name of +<q>Morro.</q> Perhaps its nature was best rendered by the Latin phrase <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">micare +digitos</foreign>, <q>to flash the fingers.</q></note> +</p> + +<p> +<q>They are children now,</q> said Placidus contemptuously. +<q>They will be men presently, and tigers to-night. Hippias, +the slave has escaped. We must attack the palace forthwith.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='276'/><anchor id='Pg276'/> + +<p> +<q>I know it,</q> replied the other quietly. <q>But the Germans +are relieving guard at this hour. My own people are hardly +ready, and it is not dark enough yet.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You know it,</q> repeated Placidus, even more irritated +than astonished by his companion’s coolness, <q>you <hi rend='italic'>know</hi> it, +and yet you have not hastened your preparations? Do you +know, too, that this yellow-haired barbarian has got your +head, and mine, and all the empty skulls of our intelligent +friends who are amusing themselves yonder, under his belt? +Do you know that Cæsar, true to his swinish propensities, +will turn like a hunted boar, when he suspects the least +shadow of danger? Do you know that not one of us may +live to eat the very supper waiting for us in the next room? +What are you made of, man, that you can thus look me so +coolly in the face with the sword at both our throats?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I can keep my own throat with my hand,</q> replied the +other, totally unmoved by his host’s agitation. <q>And I am +certainly not accustomed to fear danger before it comes. +But that the barbarian has escaped I saw with my own eyes, +for I left him ten minutes since within a hundred paces of +your own gate.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The tribune’s eyebrows went up in unfeigned surprise. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Then he has not reached the palace!</q> he exclaimed, +speaking rather to himself than his informant. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Not reached the palace certainly,</q> replied the latter +calmly, <q>since I tell you I saw him here. And in very good +company too,</q> he added with a smile. +</p> + +<p> +The tribune’s astonishment had for once deprived him of +his self-command. +</p> + +<p> +<q>With Valeria?</q> he asked unguardedly; and directly he +had spoken, a vague suspicion made him wish that he had +held his tongue. +</p> + +<p> +The fencing-master started and knit his brows. His +head was more erect and his voice sterner when he +answered— +</p> + +<p> +<q>I have seen the lady Valeria too, within the last +hour. She had no slaves with her beyond her usual +attendants.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Anger, curiosity, uncertainty, jealousy, a hundred conflicting +emotions were rankling at the tribune’s heart. What +had this handsome gladiator to do at Valeria’s house? and +was it possible that she did not care for the slave after all? +Then what could have been her object throughout? He +marked too the alteration in manner betrayed by Hippias at +the mention of this fair and flighty dame; nor did it seem +<pb n='277'/><anchor id='Pg277'/>improbable under all the circumstances that he entertained a +kindly feeling, if nothing more, for his pupil. Judging men +and women by his own evil nature, and knowing well the +favour with which their female admirers regarded these +votaries of the sword, the tribune did not hesitate to put its +true construction on such kindly feelings, and their probable +result. From that moment he hated Hippias—hated him all +the more that in the tumult and confusion of the coming +night he might find an opportunity of gratifying his hatred +by the destruction of the gladiator. Many a bold leader has +been struck down from behind by the very followers he was +encouraging; and who would ask how a conspirator met his +death, in the attack on a palace and the murder of an +emperor? Even while the thought crossed his mind he +took the other by the hand, and laughed frankly in his +face. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Thou art at home in the private apartments of every +lady in Rome, I believe, my warlike Apollo,</q> said he. <q>But, +indeed, it is no question now of such trifling; the business +of to-night must be determined on—ay, and disposed of—without +delay. If my slave had reached the palace our +whole plan must have been altered. I wish, as you did come +across him, you had treated him to that deadly thrust of +yours under the short-ribs, and brought him in here dead or +alive.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>He will not trouble us,</q> observed the other coolly. +<q>Take my word for it, tribune, he is disposed of for the +present.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>What mean you?</q> asked Placidus, a devilish joy lighting +up his sallow face. <q>Did you bribe him to secrecy then and +there with the metal you are accustomed to lavish so freely? +Gold will buy silence for a time, but steel ensures it for +ever.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Nay, tribune,</q> answered Hippias, with a frank laugh. +<q>We have been fencing too long in the dark. I will tell you +the whole truth. This young giant of yours is safe enough +for the present. I saw him depart with a pale-faced girl, in a +black hood, whom he promised to take care of as far as +Tiber-side. Depend upon it, he will think of nothing else to-night. +For all his broad shoulders the down is yet upon his +chin. And a man’s beard must be grey before he leaves such +a fair young lass as that to knock his head against a wall, +even though it be the wall of a palace. No, no, tribune, +he is safe enough, I tell you, for the next twelve hours, at +least!</q> +</p> + +<pb n='278'/><anchor id='Pg278'/> + +<p> +<q>A pale-faced girl?</q> repeated Placidus, still harping on +Valeria. <q>What and who was she? Did you know her? did +you speak to her?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>My people had some wild tale,</q> replied the fencing-master, +<q>about a chariot with white horses, that had been +upset in the street, and a girl all gagged and muffled, whom +they pulled out of it, and for whom, of course, they quarrelled +amongst themselves. In faith, had it not been for to-night’s +business and the oath, you might have seen some sweet +practice in your own porch, for I have two or three here that +can make as close and even work with a sword as a tailor +does with his needle. They said something about her being +a Jewess. Very likely she may be, for they swam across +Tiber since we have lost Nero. And the lad might as well +be a Jew as a Briton for that matter. Are you satisfied now, +tribune? By the belly of Bacchus, I must wash my mouth +out with Falernian! All this talking makes a man as thirsty +as a camel.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Satisfied! and after what he had just learnt! Chariot! +White horses! Jewess! There could be no doubt of it. +These gladiators must have blundered on her, thought the +tribune, and slain my freedman, and rescued her from my +people, and handed her over to the man whom most I hate +and fear on earth. Satisfied! Perhaps I shall be better +satisfied when I have captured her, and humbled Valeria, and +put you out of the way, my gallant cut-throat, and seen the +slave scourged to death at my own doorpost! Then, and not +till then, shall I be able to drink my wine without a heartburn, +and lay my head on the pillow with some chance of sleep. +In the meantime, to-night’s work must be done. To-night’s +work, that puts Vespasian virtually on the throne (for this +boy<note place="foot">Domitian.</note> of his shall only keep the cushion warm till his father +takes his seat), that makes Placidus the first man in the +empire. Nay, that might even open a path to the purple +itself. The general is well advanced in years; already +somewhat broken and worn with his campaigns. Titus, +indeed, is the darling of the legions, but all the heart black-browed +Berenice has left him, is wrapped up in war. He +loves it, I verily believe—the daring fool!—for the mere +braying of trumpets, and the clash of steel. Not a centurion +exposes himself half so freely, nor so often. Well, a Zealot’s +javelin, or a stone from the ramparts of some nameless town +in Judæa, may dispose of him at any time. Then there is but +Domitian—a clever youth indeed, and an unscrupulous. So +<pb n='279'/><anchor id='Pg279'/>much the worse for him! A mushroom is not the only dish +that may be fatal to an emperor, and if the knot be so secure +as to baffle all dexterity, why, it must be cut with steel. Ay, +the Macedonian knew well how the great game should be +played. Satisfied! Like him, I shall never be satisfied +while there is anything more to win! These being the +tribune’s thoughts, it is needless to say that he assumed a +manner of the utmost frankness and carelessness. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Thirsty!</q> he repeated, in a loud voice, clapping Hippias +on the shoulder. <q>Thirsty—I could empty an aqueduct! +Welcome again, and heartily, my heroes all! See, the +supper waits. Let us go in and drink out the old +Falernian!</q> +</p> + +</div><div n="2.16" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='280'/><anchor id='Pg280'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XVI. “Morituri”"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XVI. 'Morituri'"/> +<head>CHAPTER XVI<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller"><q>MORITURI</q></hi></head> + +<p> +Knowing well with whom he was to deal, Placidus had +ordered a repast to be prepared for his guests on a +scale of magnificence unusual even in his luxurious dwelling. +It was advisable, not only to impose on these rude natures +with unaccustomed pomp and parade, but also to excite their +cupidity by the display of gold and jewels while their fiercer +passions were inflamed with wine. The more reckless and +desperate they could be rendered, the more fit would they be +for his purpose. There were the tools, sharp and ready for +use, but he thought they would admit of a yet finer edge, and +prepared to put it on accordingly. Therefore, he had ordered +the supper to be laid in an inner apartment, reserved for +occasions of especial state, and in which it was whispered +that Vitellius himself had more than once partaken of his +subject’s hospitality; nay, had even expressed gratification +with his entertainment; and which, while blazing with as +much of ornament and decoration as could be crowded into a +supper-room, was of such moderate dimensions as to bring +all the costly objects it contained within notice of the guests. +The tesselated pavement was of the richest and gaudiest +squares, laid together as smooth and bright as glass. The +walls were of polished citron-wood, heavily gilded round the +skirting and edges, while the panels were covered in the florid +and gradually deteriorating taste of the period, with paintings, +brilliant in colour, and beautiful in execution. These represented +mythological subjects not of the purest nature, but +fauns, nymphs, and satyrs were to be found in the majority, +while Bacchus himself was more than once repeated in all the +glory of his swaying paunch; his garland of vine-leaves, his +ivy-covered wand, and surrounding clusters of rich, ripe, +purple grapes. To fill the niches between these panels, the +goat—an animal always associated in the Roman mind with +wine, perhaps because he drinks no water—was imitated in +precious metals, and in every attitude. Here they butted, +<pb n='281'/><anchor id='Pg281'/>there they browsed, in another corner a pair of them frisked +and gambolled in living kid-like glee, while yonder, horned +and bearded, a venerable sage in silver gazed upon the guests +with a wise Arcadian simplicity that was almost ludicrous. +The tables, which were removed with every change of dishes, +were of cedar, supported on grotesque claws of bronze, heavily +gilt; the couches, framed of ivory and gold, were draped in +various coloured shawls of the softest Asiatic texture, and +strewed with cushions of so rich a crimson as to border nearly +on imperial purple. No dish was of a meaner metal than +gold, and the drinking-cups, in which Falernian blushed, or +Chian sparkled, were studded with rubies, emeralds, pearls, +and other precious stones. The sharp nail of a gladiator +might at any moment have picked out, unobserved, that which +would have purchased his freedom and his life, but the men +were honest, as they understood the term, and the gems were +as safe here, and indeed a good deal safer, than they would +have been in the temple of Vesta, or of the Capitoline Jove +himself. In a recess at one end of the apartment, reared like +an altar upon three wide low carpeted steps, from each of +which censers exhaled aromatic odours, stood the sideboard +of polished walnut, carved in exquisite imitation of birds, +insects, reptiles, flowers, and fruit. This was covered by a +snowy cloth, and on it glittered, richly chased and burnished, +the tribune’s store of golden cups and vases, which men quoted +at every supper-table in Rome. +</p> + +<p> +Lutorius, reclining opposite this blaze of magnificence, +shaded his eyes with his hand. +</p> + +<p> +<q>What is it, my bold Gaul?</q> asked his host, raising +himself on his elbow to pledge him, and signing to a slave to +fill the swordsman’s cup. <q>Hast thou got thy guard up +already to save thy face?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>They dazzle me, most illustrious!</q> answered the ready +Gaul. <q>I had rather blink at the sunrise flashing on the +blue waters from Ostia. I did not think there had been so +much gold in Rome.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>He has not seen the palace yet,</q> said Placidus, laughing, +as he emptied his cup and turned to the other guests. <q>Some +of us will indeed be dazzled to-night, if I mistake not. What +think ye, my friends, must be the plates and drinking-vessels +where the very shields and helmets of the guards are solid +gold? Meantime, let us wash our eyes with Falernian, lest +we mistake our way and intrude on the privacy of Cæsar in +the dark.</q> +</p> + +<p> +So appropriate a sentiment met with universal approval. +<pb n='282'/><anchor id='Pg282'/>The gladiators laughed loudly, and proffered their cups to +be filled. There was no question now of secrecy or disguise; +there was even no further affectation of ignoring the purpose +for which they had met, or the probable result of the night’s +enterprise. Eumolpus, indeed, and one or two more of the +thicker-witted, satisfied to know that the present moment +brought a magnificent reception and an abundance of good +cheer, were willing to remain in uncertainty about the future, +resolving simply to obey the orders of their captain, and to +ask no questions; but even these could not help learning by +degrees that they had before them no work of ordinary bloodshed, +but that they were involved in a conspiracy which was +to determine the empire of the world. It did not destroy +their appetite, though it may have increased their thirst. +</p> + +<p> +In proportion as the wine flowed faster the guests lost +their diffidence and found their tongues. Their host exerted +himself to win golden opinions from all, and entered with +ready tact into the characteristics and peculiarities of each. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Eumolpus!</q> said he, as a slave entered bearing an +enormous turbot on a yet larger dish, <q>fear not to encounter +him. He is a worthy foe, and a countryman of thine own. +He left Ravenna but yesterday. In truth, that fair-built town +sends us the widest turbots and the broadest shoulders in the +empire. Taste him, man, with a cup of Chian, and say if +the trainer’s rations have spoiled thy palate for native food.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Half-brutalised as he was by nature and education, the +gladiator had still a kindly feeling for his birthplace. Even +now a memory of his boyhood would sometimes steal across +him like a dream. The stretch of sand, the breezy Adriatic, +the waves dashing against the harbour-walls, and a vision +of curly-headed, black-eyed children, of whom he was one, +tumbling and playing on the shore. He felt more human +when he thought of such things. While the tribune spoke he +rose in his own esteem; for his host treated him like a man +rather than a beast; and those few careless words gained a +champion for Placidus who was ready to follow him to the +death. +</p> + +<p> +So was it with the rest. To Rufus he enlarged on the +happiness of a country life, and the liberty—none the less +dear for being imaginary—enjoyed by a Roman citizen, who, +within easy distance of the capital, could sit beneath his own +porch to watch the sunset crimsoning the Apennines, and +tread into home-made wine the grapes of his own vineyard. +He talked of pruning the elms and training the vines, of +shearing sheep and goading oxen, as though he had been a +<pb n='283'/><anchor id='Pg283'/>rustic all his life, seasoning such glowing descriptions, to suit +his listener’s palate, with the charms even of winter in the +snow amongst the hills—the boar driven through the leafless +copse, the wild-fowl lured from the half-frozen lake, the snug +and homely roof, the crackling fire, and the children playing +on the hearth. +</p> + +<p> +<q>’Tis but another night-watch,</q> said he cordially, <q>and +it will be my turn to sup with thee in thy mountain-home. +Half a dozen such strokes as I have seen thee deal in mere +sport, my hero! and thou wilt never need to meddle with +steel again, save in the form of a ploughshare or a hunting-spear. +By the fillet of Ceres! my friends, there is a golden +harvest to-night, only waiting for the sickle!</q> +</p> + +<p> +And Rufus, for whom a few acres of Italian soil, and +liberty to cultivate them in peace, with his wife and children, +comprised all of happiness that life could give, contemplated +the prospect thus offered with an imagination heated by wine, +and a determination, truly formidable in a man of his quiet, +dogged resolution, if hard fighting was to count for anything, +not to fail in at least deserving his reward. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Hirpinus!</q> exclaimed the host, turning to the veteran, +who was a sworn lover of good cheer, and had already consumed +supper enough for two ordinary men, washed down +by proportionate draughts of wine, <q>thy favourite morsel is +even now leaving the spit. Pledge me in Falernian ere it +comes. Nay, spoil it not with honey, which I hold to be a +mistake unworthy of a gladiator. We will pour a libation to +Diana down our throats, in her capacity of huntress only, my +friend; I care not for the goddess in any other. Ho! slaves! +bring here some wild boars!</q> +</p> + +<p> +As he spoke the domestics reappeared, in pairs, carrying +between them as many wild boars, roasted whole, as there +were guests. One of these huge dishes was set aside for +each man, and the carvers proceeded to their duty, unmoved +by the ejaculations of amazement that broke from the +gladiators at such prodigal magnificence. +</p> + +<p> +Their attention was, however, somewhat distracted at this +stage of the feast by the entrance of Euchenor, who slunk +to the place reserved for him with a shade of sullen disappointment +lowering on his brow. The host, however, had +resolved that nothing should occur to mar the success of his +entertainment, so refrained from asking any questions as to +his absence, and motioned him courteously to a couch, with +as frank a greeting as though he had been aware of its cause. +He suspected treachery notwithstanding, none the less that +<pb n='284'/><anchor id='Pg284'/>Euchenor hastened to explain his tardy arrival. <q>He had +heard a tumult in the neighbourhood,</q> he said, <q>whilst the +guests were entering the house, and had visited the nearest +post of his comrades to ascertain that they had not been +attacked. It was some distance to the palace-gardens, and +he could not avoid missing the earlier stages of the banquet.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You must make up for lost time,</q> observed Placidus, +signing to the slaves to heap the new-comer’s plate and fill +his cup to the brim. <q>The later, the warmer welcome; the +earlier, the better cheer;</q> and whilst he spoke the friendly +words he was resolving that the Greek should be placed in +front that whole night, under his immediate supervision. At +the slightest symptom of treachery or wavering he would slay +him with his own hand. +</p> + +<p> +And now the gigantic hunger of these champions seemed +to be appeased at last. Dish had succeeded dish in endless +variety, and they had applied themselves to each as it came +with an undiminished energy that astonished the domestics +accustomed to the palled appetites of jaded men of pleasure +like their lord. Even the latter—though he tried hard, for +he especially prided himself on his capacity of eating and +drinking—found it impossible to keep pace with his guests. +Their great bodily powers, indeed, increased by severe and +habitual training, enabled them to consume vast quantities +of food, without experiencing those sensations of lassitude +and repletion which overcome weaker frames. It seemed as +though most of what they ate went at once to supply the +waste created by years of toil, and as soon as swallowed, +fed the muscles instead of burdening the stomach. It was +equally so with wine. Such men can drink draught after +draught, and partake freely in the questionable pleasures +of intoxication, whilst they pay none of its penalties. A +breath of fresh air, a few minutes’ exercise, and their brains +are cool, their eyes clear, their whole system strengthened +for the time, and stimulated, rather than stupefied, by their +excess. +</p> + +<p> +The gladiators lay back on their couches in extreme +bodily content. The cups were still quickly filled and +emptied, but more in compliance with the customs of conviviality +than the demands of thirst. They were all talking +at once, and every man saw both present and future through +the rosy medium of the wine he had imbibed. +</p> + +<p> +There were two, however, of the party who had not +suffered their real inmost attention to stray for an instant +from the actual business of the night, who calculated the +<pb n='285'/><anchor id='Pg285'/>time exactly as it passed—who watched the men through +the succeeding phases of satisfaction, good-humour, conviviality, +and recklessness, stopping just short of inebriety, +and seized the very moment at which the iron was hot +enough to strike. The same thought was in the brain of +each, when their eyes met; the same words were springing +to their lips, but Hippias spoke first. +</p> + +<p> +<q>No more wine to-night, tribune, if work is to be done! +The circus is full; the arena swept; the show paid for. +When the prætor takes his seat we are ready to begin.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Placidus glanced significantly in his face, and rose, +holding a brimming goblet in his hand. The suddenness +of the movement arrested immediate attention. The men +were all silent, and looking towards their host. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Good friends!</q> said he. <q>Trusty swordsmen! Welcome +guests! Listen to me. To-night we burn the palace—we +overthrow the empire—we hurl Cæsar from his throne. All +this you know, but there is something more you do not know. +One has escaped who is acquainted with the plot. In an +hour it may be too late. We are fast friends; we are in the +same galley—the land is not a bowshot off. But the wind +is rising—the water rushing in beneath her keel. Will you +bend your backs forthwith and row the galley safe home +with me?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The project was a favourite one, the metaphor suited to +their tastes. As the tribune paused, acclamations greeted +him on all sides, and <q>We will! We will!</q> <q>Through +storm and sunshine!</q> <q>Against wind and weather!</q> sprang +from many an eager lip. It was obvious the men were ready +for anything. <q>One libation to Pluto!</q> added the host, +emptying his cup, and the guests leaping to their feet +followed his example with a mad cheer. Then they formed +in pairs, as they were accustomed in the amphitheatre, and +Euchenor with a malicious laugh exclaimed—<foreign rend='italic' lang="la">Morituri te +salutant</foreign>. +</p> + +<p> +It was enough! The ominous words were caught up and +repeated in wild defiance and derision, boding small scruples +of mercy or remorse. Twice they marched round the supper-room +to the burden of that ghastly chant, and when shaking +off the fumes of wine they snatched eagerly at their arms, +Placidus put himself at their head with a triumphant conviction +that, come what might, they would not fail him in +his last desperate throw for the great game. +</p> + +</div><div n="2.17" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='286'/><anchor id='Pg286'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XVII. The German Guard"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XVII. The German Guard"/> +<head>CHAPTER XVII<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE GERMAN GUARD</hi></head> + +<figure url="images/i_315.png" rend="w40"><figDesc>Initial A</figDesc></figure> + +<p> +All was in confusion at the palace of +the Cæsars. The civil war that had +now been raging for several hours in +the capital, the tumults that pervaded +every quarter of the city, had roused +the alarm, and to a certain extent +the vigilance of such troops as still +owned allegiance to Vitellius. But +late events had much slackened the +discipline for which Roman soldiers +were so famous, and that could be +but a spurious loyalty which depended +on amount of pay and opportunities +for plunder, which was accustomed moreover to see the +diadem transferred from one successful general to another +at a few months’ interval. Perhaps his German guards were +the only soldiers of Vitellius on whom he could place any +reliance; but even these had been reduced to a mere handful +by slaughter and desertion, while the few who remained, +though unimpeachable in their fidelity, were wanting in every +quality that constitutes military efficiency, except the physical +strength and desperate courage they brought with them from +the north. +</p> + +<p> +They were, however, the Emperor’s last hope. They +occupied palace-gardens to-night, feeding their bivouac-fires +with branches from its stately cedars, or uprooting its exotic +shrubs to hurl them crackling in the blaze. The Roman +citizens looking on their gigantic forms moving to and fro +in the glare, shuddered and whispered, and pointed them out +to each other as being half men, half demons, while a passing +soldier would raise his eagle crest more proudly, relating how +those were the foes over whom the legions had triumphed, +and would turn forthwith into a wineshop to celebrate his +prowess at the expense of some admiring citizen in the crowd. +</p> + +<pb n='287'/><anchor id='Pg287'/> + +<p> +One of these German mercenaries may be taken as a +sample of the rest. He was standing sentry over a narrow +wicket that afforded entrance to the palace-gardens, and was +the first obstacle encountered by Esca, after the latter had +hastened from the Esquiline to give intelligence of the design +against Cæsar’s life. Leaning on his spear, with his tall +frame and large muscles thrown into strong relief by the +light of the bivouac-fire behind him, he brought to the +Briton’s mind many a stirring memory of his own warlike +boyhood, when by the side of just such champions, armed +in such a manner, he had struggled, though in vain, against +the discipline and the strategy of the invader. Scarcely +older than himself, the sentry possessed the comely features +and the bright colouring of youth, with a depth of chest and +squareness of shoulder that denoted all the power of mature +manhood. He seemed indeed a formidable antagonist for +any single foe, and able to keep at bay half a score of the +finest men who stood in the front rank of the legions. He +was clad in a long white garment of linen, reaching below +the knee, and fastened at the neck by a single clasp of gold; +his shield and helmet too, although this was no state occasion, +but one on which he would probably be massacred before +morning, were of the same metal, his spear-head and sword +of the finest-tempered steel. The latter, especially, was a +formidable weapon. Considerably longer than the Roman’s, +which was only used for the thrust at close quarters, it could +deal sweeping blows that would cleave a headpiece or lop a +limb, and managed lightly as a riding-wand by the German’s +powerful arm, would hew fearful gaps in the ranks of an +enemy, if their line wavered, or their order was in any degree +destroyed. +</p> + +<p> +Notwithstanding the warlike nature of his arms and +bearing, the sentry’s face was fair and smooth as a woman’s; +the flaxen down was scarcely springing on his chin, and the +golden locks escaped beneath his helmet, and clustered in +curls upon his neck. His light blue eye, too, had a mild +and rather vacant expression as it roved carelessly around; +but the Romans had long ago learned that those light blue +eyes could kindle into sparks of fire when steel was crossed, +could glare with invincible hatred and defiance even when +fixed in death. +</p> + +<p> +Esca’s heart warmed to the barbarian guardsman with a +feeling of sympathy and kindred. The latter sentiment may +have suggested the plan by which he obtained entrance to +the palace, for the difficulty of so doing had presented itself +<pb n='288'/><anchor id='Pg288'/>to him in brighter colours every moment as he approached. +Pausing, therefore, at a few paces from the sentry, who +levelled his spear and challenged when he heard footsteps, +the Briton unbuckled his sword and cast it down between +them, to indicate that he claimed protection and had no +intention of offence. The other muttered some unintelligible +words in his own language. It was obvious that he knew +no Latin and that their conversation must be carried on by +signs. This, however, rather smoothed than enhanced the +difficulty; and it was a relief to Esca that the first impulse +of the German had not been to alarm his comrades and +resort to violence. The latter seemed to entertain no +apprehension from any single individual, whether friend or +foe, and looked, moreover, with favourable eyes on Esca’s +appearance, which bore a certain family likeness to that of +his own countrymen. He suffered him therefore to approach +his post, questioning him by signs, to which the Briton replied +in the same manner, perfectly ignorant of their meaning, but +with a fervent hope that the result of these mysterious gestures +might be his admission within the wall. +</p> + +<p> +Under such circumstances the two were not likely to +arrive at a clear understanding. After a while the German +looked completely puzzled, and passed the word in his own +language to a comrade within hearing, apparently for +assistance. Esca heard the sound repeated in more than +one voice, till it died away under the trees; there was +obviously a strong chain of sentries round Cæsar’s palace. +In the meantime the German would not permit Esca to +approach within spear’s-length of his post, though he kept +him back good-humouredly with the butt-end of that weapon, +nor would he suffer him to pick his sword up and gird it +round his waist again—making nevertheless, all the while, +signs of cordiality and friendship; but though Esca responded +to these with equal warmth, he was no nearer the inside than +at first. +</p> + +<p> +Presently the heavy tramp of armed men smote his ear, +and a centurion, accompanied by half a dozen soldiers, +approached the wicket. These bore a strong resemblance, +both in form and features, to the sentry who had summoned +them; but their officer spoke Latin, and Esca, who had +gained a little time to mature his plan, answered the German +centurion’s questions without hesitation. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I belong to your own division,</q> said he, <q>though I +come from farther north than your troop, and speak a +different dialect. We were disbanded but yesterday, by a +<pb n='289'/><anchor id='Pg289'/>written order from Cæsar. It has turned out to be a forgery. +We have been scattered through half the wineshops in +Rome, and a herald came round and found me drinking, +and bade me return to my duty without delay. He said +we were to muster somewhere hereabouts, that we should +find a post at the palace, and could join it till our own +officers came back. I am but a barbarian, I know little +of Rome, but this is the palace, is it not? and you are a +centurion of the German guard?</q> +</p> + +<p> +He drew himself up as he spoke with military respect, +and the officer had no hesitation in believing his tale, the +more so that certain of Cæsar’s troops had lately been disbanded +at a time when their services seemed to be most in +requisition. Taking charge of Esca’s weapon, he spoke a +few words in his own language to the sentry, and then +addressed the Briton. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You may come to the main-guard,</q> said he. <q>I should +not mind a few more of the same maniple. We are likely +to want all we can get to-night.</q> +</p> + +<p> +As he conducted him through the gardens, he asked +several questions concerning the strength of the opposing +party, the state of the town, and the general feeling of the +citizens towards Vitellius, all which Esca parried to the best +of his abilities, hazarding a guess where he could, and +accounting for his ignorance where he could not, on the +plea that he had spent his whole time since his dismissal +in the wineshops—an excuse which the centurion’s knowledge +of the tastes and habits of his division caused him to +accept without suspicion of its truth. +</p> + +<p> +Arrived at the watch-fire, Esca’s military experience, +slight as it had been, was enough to apprise him of the +imminent dangers that threatened the palace in the event +of an attack. The huge Germans lounged and lay about +in the glare of the burning logs, as though feast, and song, +and revelry were the objects for which they were mustered. +Wine was flowing freely in large flagons, commensurate +to the noble thirst of these Scandinavian warriors; and even +the sentries leaving their posts at intervals, as caprice or +indolence prompted, strode up to the watch-fire, laughed a +loud laugh, drained a full beaker, and walked quietly back +again, none the worse, to their beat. All hailed a new +comrade with the utmost glee, as a further incentive to +drink; and although Esca was pleased to find that none +but their centurion was familiar with Latin, and that he +was consequently free from much inconvenient +cross-<pb n='290'/><anchor id='Pg290'/>examination, it was obvious that there was no intention of +letting him depart without pledging them in deep draughts +of the rough and potent Sabine wine. +</p> + +<p> +With youth, health, and a fixed resolve to keep his wits +about him, the Briton managed to perform this part of a +soldier’s duty to the satisfaction of his entertainers. The +moments seemed very long, but whilst the Germans were +singing, drinking, and making their remarks upon him in +their own language, he had time to think of his plans. To +have declared at once that he knew of a plot against +Cæsar, and to call upon the centurion to obtain his admittance +to the person of the Emperor, would, he was well +aware, only defeat his own object, by throwing suspicion on +himself as a probable assassin and confederate of the conspirators. +To put the officer on the alert, would cause him, +perhaps, to double his sentries, and to stop the allowance of +wine in course of consumption; but Esca saw plainly that +no resistance from within the palace could be made to the +large force his late master would bring to bear upon it. +The only chance for the Emperor was to escape. If he +could himself reach his presence, and warn him personally, +he thought he could prevail upon him to fly. This was the +difficulty. A monarch in his palace is not visible to everyone +who may wish to see him, even when his own safety is +concerned; but Esca had already gained the interior of the +gardens, and that success encouraged him to proceed. +</p> + +<p> +The Germans, though believing themselves more vigilant +than usual (to such a low state the boasted discipline of +Cæsar’s body-guard had fallen), were confused and careless +under the influence of wine, and their attention to the new-comer +was soon distracted by a fresh chorus and a fresh +flagon. Esca, under pretence that he required repose, +managed to withdraw himself from the glare of the firelight, +and borrowing a cloak from a ruddy comrade with +a stentorian voice, lay down in the shadow of an arbutus, +and affected profound repose. By degrees, coiling himself +along the sward like a snake, he slipped out of sight, leaving +his cloak so arranged as to resemble a sleeping form, and +sped off in the direction of the palace, to which he was +guided by numerous distant lights. +</p> + +<p> +Some alarm had evidently preceded him even here. +Crowds of slaves, both male and female, chiefly Greeks and +Asiatics, were pouring from its egresses and hurrying through +the gardens in obvious dismay. The Briton could not but +remark that none were empty-handed, and the value of +<pb n='291'/><anchor id='Pg291'/>their burdens denoted that those who now fled had no intention +ever to return. They took little notice of him when +they passed, save that a few of the more timid, glancing +at his stalwart figure, turned aside and ran the swifter; +while others, perceiving that he was unarmed, for he had +left his sword with the Germans, shot at him some contemptuous +gesture or ribald jest, which they thought the +barbarian would not understand in time to resent. +</p> + +<p> +Thus he reached the spacious front of the palace, and +here, indeed, the trumpets were sounding, and the German +guard forming, evidently for resistance to an attack. There +was no mistaking the expression of the men’s faces, nor the +clang of their heavy weapons. Though they filled the main +court, however, a stream of fugitives still poured from the +side-doors, and through one of these, the Briton determined +he would find no difficulty in effecting an entrance. +Glancing at the fine men getting under arms with such +business-like rapidity, he thought how even that handful +might make such a defence as would give Cæsar time to +escape, either at the back of the palace, or, if that were +invested, disguised as one of the slaves who were still +hurrying off in motley crowds; and notwithstanding his +new-born feelings, he could not help, from old association, +wishing that he might strike a blow by the side of these +stalwart guardsmen, even for such a cause as theirs. +</p> + +<p> +Observing a door opening on a terrace which had +been left completely undefended, Esca entered the palace +unopposed, and roamed through hall after hall without +meeting a living creature. Much of value had already been +cleared away, but enough remained to have excited the +cupidity of the richest subject in Rome. Shawls, arms, +jewels, vases, statues, caskets, and drinking-cups were +scattered about in a waste of magnificent confusion, while +in many instances rapacious ignorance had carried off that +which was comparatively the dross, and left the more +precious articles behind. Esca had never even dreamed +of such gorgeous luxury as he now beheld. For a few +minutes his mind was no less stupefied than his eye was +dazzled, and he almost forgot his object in sheer wonder +and admiration; but there was no time to be lost, and he +looked about in vain for some clue to guide him through +this glittering wilderness to the presence of the Emperor. +</p> + +<p> +The rooms seemed endless, opening one into another, +and each more splendid than the last. At length he heard +the sound of voices, and darting eagerly forward, found +<pb n='292'/><anchor id='Pg292'/>himself in the midst of half a dozen persons clad in robes +of state, with garlands on their heads, reclining round the +fragments of a feast, a flagon or two of wine, and a golden +cornucopia of fruit and flowers. As he entered, these started +to their feet, exclaiming, <q>They are upon us!</q> and huddled +together in a corner, like a flock of sheep when terrified by +a dog. Observing, however, that the Briton was alone and +unarmed, they seemed to take courage, and a fat figure +thrusting itself forward, exclaimed in one breath, <q>He is +not to be disturbed! Cæsar is busy. Are the Germans +firm?</q> +</p> + +<p> +His voice shook and his whole frame quivered with fear, +nevertheless Esca recognised the speaker. It was his old +antagonist Spado, a favourite eunuch of the household, in dire +terror for his life, yet showing the one redeeming quality of +fidelity to the hand that fed him. His comrades kept behind +him, taking their cue from his conduct as the bellwether of +the flock, yet trusting fervently his wisdom would counsel +immediate flight. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I know you,</q> said Esca hurriedly. <q>I struck you that +night in anger. It is all over now. I have come to save your +lives, all of you, and to rescue Cæsar.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>How?</q> said Spado, ignoring his previous injuries in the +alarm of the hour. <q>You can save us? You can rescue +Cæsar? Then it <hi rend='italic'>is</hi> true. The tumult is grown to a rebellion! +The Germans are driven in, and the game is lost!</q> +</p> + +<p> +The others caught up their mantles, girded themselves, +and prepared for instant flight. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The guard can hold the palace for half an hour yet,</q> +replied Esca coolly. <q>But the Emperor must escape. Julius +Placidus will be here forthwith, at the head of two hundred +gladiators, and the tribune means to murder his master as +surely as you stand trembling there.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Ere he had done speaking, he was left alone in the +room with Spado. The tribune’s character was correctly +appreciated, even by the eunuchs of the palace, and they +stayed to hear no more; but Spado only looked blankly in +the Briton’s face, wringing his fat hands, and answered to the +other’s urgent appeals, <q>His orders were explicit. Cæsar is +busy. He must not be disturbed. He said so himself. +Cæsar is busy!</q> +</p> + +</div><div n="2.18" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='293'/><anchor id='Pg293'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XVIII. The Business of Cæsar"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XVIII. The Business of Caesar"/> +<head>CHAPTER XVIII<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE BUSINESS OF CÆSAR</hi></head> + +<p> +Thrusting Spado aside without ceremony, and disregarding +the eunuch’s expostulations in obedience to +the orders he had received, Esca burst through a narrow door, +tore down a velvet curtain, and found himself in the private +apartment of the Emperor. Cæsar’s business was at that +moment scarcely of an urgency to weigh against the consideration +of Cæsar’s life. Vitellius was reclining on a couch, +his dress disordered and ungirt, a garland of roses at his feet, +his heavy face, of which the swollen features had lost all their +early comeliness, expressing nothing but sullen torpid calm; +his eye fixed on vacancy, his weak nerveless hands crossed in +front of his unwieldy person, and his whole attitude that of +one who had little to occupy his attention, save his own +personal indulgence and comfort. Yet for all this, the mind +was busy within that bloated form. There are moments in +existence, when the past comes back to us day by day, and +incident by incident, shining out in colours vivid and lifelike +as the present. On the eve of an important crisis, during the +crisis itself if we are not permitted to take an active part in it +but compelled to remain passive, the mere sport of its contingencies, +for the few minutes that succeed a complete +demolition of the fabric we have been building all our lives, +we become possessed of this faculty, and seem, in a strange +dream-like sense, to live our time over again. +</p> + +<p> +For the last few days, even Vitellius had awoke to the +conviction that his diadem was in danger, for the last few +hours he had seen cause to tremble for his life; nevertheless, +none of the usual habits of the palace had been altered; and +even when Primus, the successful general of his dangerous +rival, Vespasian, occupied the suburbs, his reverses did but +elicit from the Emperor a call for more wine and a heartless +jest. To-day he must have seen clearly that all was lost, yet +the supper to which he sat down with half a dozen favourite +eunuchs, was no less elaborate than usual, the wine flowed as +<pb n='294'/><anchor id='Pg294'/>freely, the Emperor ate as enormously, and when he could +eat no more, retired to pass his customary half-hour in perfect +silence and repose, nor suffered the important process of +digestion to be disturbed by the fact that his very gates must +ere midnight be in possession of the enemy. +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless, as if in warning of what was to come, the +pageant of his life seemed to move past his half-closed eyes; +and who shall say how vain and empty such a pageant may +have appeared even to the besotted glutton, who, though he +had the address to catch the diadem of the Cæsars, when it +was thrown to him by chance, knew but too well that he had +no power to retain it on his head when wrested by the grasp +of force. Though feeble and worn out, he was not old, far +short of threescore years, yet what a life of change and +turmoil and vicissitudes his had been! Proconsul of Africa, +favourite of four emperors, it must have been a certain +versatility of talent that enabled him to rule such an +important province with tolerable credit, and yet retain the +good graces of successive tyrants, resembling each other in +nothing save incessant caprice. An informer with Tiberius; +a pander to the crimes, and a proselyte to the divinity of mad +Caligula; a screen for Messalina’s vices, and an easy adviser +to her easy and timid lord; lastly, everything in turn with +Nero—chariot-driver, singer, parasite, buffoon, and in all these +various parts, preserving the one unfailing characteristic of +a consummate and systematic debauchee. It seemed but +yesterday that he had thrown the dice with Claudius, staking +land and villas as freely as jewels and gold, losing heavily to +his imperial master; and, though he had to borrow the money +at high usury, quick-witted enough to perceive the noble +reversion he had thus a chance of purchasing. It seemed but +yesterday that he flew round the dusky circus, grazing the +goal with practised skill, and, by a happy dexterity, suffering +Caligula to win the race so narrowly, as to enchance the +pleasure of imperial triumph. It seemed but yesterday that +he sang with Nero, and flattered the monster by comparing +him with the sirens, whose voices charmed mariners to their +destruction. +</p> + +<p> +And now was it all over? Must he indeed give up +the imperial purple and the throne of blazing gold?—the +luxurious banquets and the luscious wines? He shuddered +and sickened while he thought of a crust of brown bread +and a pitcher of water. Nay, worse than this, was he sure +his life was safe? He had seen death often—what Roman had +not? But at his best, in the field, clad in corselet and +head<pb n='295'/><anchor id='Pg295'/>piece, and covered with a buckler, he had thought him an +ugly and unwelcome visitor. Even at Bedriacum, when he +told his generals as he rode over the slain, putrefying on the +ground, that <q>a dead enemy smelt sweet, and the sweeter for +being a citizen,</q> he remembered now that his gorge had risen +while he spoke. He remembered, too, the German body-guard +that had accompanied him, and the faithful courage +with which his German levies fought. There were a few of +them in the palace yet. It gave him confidence to recollect +this. For a moment the soldier-spirit kindled up within, and +he felt as though he could put himself at the head of those +blue-eyed giants, lead them into the very centre of the enemy, +and die there like a man. He rose to his feet, and snatched +at one of the weapons hanging for ornament against the wall, +but the weak limbs failed, the pampered body asserted itself, +and he sank back helpless on the couch. +</p> + +<p> +It was at this moment that Esca burst so unceremoniously +into the Emperor’s presence. +</p> + +<p> +Vitellius did not rise again, less alarmed, perhaps, than +astonished. The Briton threw himself upon his knees, +and touched the broad crimson binding of the imperial +gown. +</p> + +<p> +<q>There is not a moment to lose!</q> said he. <q>They are +forcing the gates. The guard has been driven back. It is +too late for resistance; but Cæsar may yet escape if he will +trust himself to me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Vitellius looked about him, bewildered. At that moment +a shout was heard from the palace-gardens, accompanied by +a rush of many feet, and the ominous clash of steel. Esca +knew that the assailants were gladiators. If they came in +with their blood up, they would give no quarter. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Cæsar must disguise himself,</q> he insisted earnestly. +<q>The slaves have been leaving the palace in hundreds. If +the Emperor would put on a coarse garment and come with +me, I can show him the way to safety; and Placidus, hastening +to this apartment, will find it empty.</q> +</p> + +<p> +With all his sensual vices, there was yet something left of +the old Roman spirit in Vitellius, which sparkled out in an +emergency. After the first sudden surprise of Esca’s entrance, +he became cooler every moment. At the mention of the +tribune’s name he seemed to reflect. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Who are you?</q> said he, after a pause; <q>and how came +you here?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Short as had been his reign he had acquired the tone of +royalty; and could even assume a certain dignity, +notwith<pb n='296'/><anchor id='Pg296'/>standing the urgency of his present distress. In a few words +Esca explained to him his danger, and his enemies. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Placidus,</q> repeated the Emperor thoughtfully, and as if +more concerned than surprised; <q>then there is no chance of +the design failing; no hope of mercy when it has succeeded. +Good friend! I will take your advice. I will trust you, and +go with you, where you will. If I am an Emperor to-morrow, +you will be the greatest man in Rome.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Hitherto he had been leaning indolently back on the +couch. Now he seemed to rouse himself for action, and +stripped the crimson-bordered gown from his shoulders, the +signet-ring from his hand. +</p> + +<p> +<q>They will make a gallant defence,</q> said he, <q>but if I +know Julius Placidus, he will outnumber them ten to one. +Nevertheless they may hold him at bay with their long +swords till we get clear of the palace. The gardens are +dark and spacious; we can hide there for a time, and take +an opportunity of reaching my wife’s house on Mount +Aventine; Galeria will not betray me, and they will never +think of looking for me there.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Speaking thus coolly and deliberately, but more to himself +than his companion, Cæsar, divested of all marks of splendour +in his dress and ornaments, stripped to a plain linen garment, +turning up his sleeves and girding himself the while, like a +slave busied in some household work requiring activity and +despatch, suffered the Briton to lead him into the next +apartment, where, deserted by his comrades, and sorely +perplexed between a vague sense of duty and a strong +inclination to run away, Spado was pacing to and fro in a +ludicrous state of perturbation and dismay. Already the +noise of fighting was plainly distinguished in the outer court. +The gladiators, commanded by Hippias and guided by the +treacherous tribune, had overpowered the main body of the +Germans who occupied the imperial gardens, and were now +engaged with the remnant of these faithful barbarians at the +very doors of the palace. +</p> + +<p> +The latter, though outnumbered, fought with the desperate +courage of their race. The Roman soldier in his +cool methodical discipline, was sometimes puzzled to account +for that frantic energy, which acknowledged no superiority +either of position or numbers, which seemed to gather a +fresher and more stubborn courage from defeat; and even +the gladiators, men whose very livelihood was slaughter, and +whose weapons were never out of their hands, found themselves +no match for these large savage warriors in the struggle +<pb n='297'/><anchor id='Pg297'/>of a hand-to-hand combat, recoiled more than once in baffled +rage and astonishment from the long swords, and the blue +eyes, and the tall forms that seemed to tower and dilate in +the fierce revelry of battle. +</p> + +<p> +The military skill of Placidus, exercised before many a +Jewish rampart, and on many a Syrian plain, had worsted +the main body of the Germans by taking them in flank. +Favoured by the darkness of the shrubberies, he had contrived +to throw a hundred practised swordsmen unexpectedly +on their most defenceless point. Surprised and outnumbered, +they retreated nevertheless in good order, though sadly +diminished, upon their comrades at the gate. Here the +remaining handful made a desperate stand, and here Placidus, +wiping his bloody sword upon his tunic, whispered to +Hippias— +</p> + +<p> +<q>We must put Hirpinus and the supper-party in front! +If we can but carry the gate, there are a score of entrances +into the palace. Remember! we give no quarter, and we +recognise no one.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Whilst the chosen band who had left the tribune’s table +were held in check by the guard, there was a moment’s +respite, during which Cæsar might possibly escape. Esca, +rapidly calculating the difficulties in his own mind, had resolved +to hurry him through the most secluded part of the +gardens into the streets, and so running the chance of recognition +which in the darkness of night, and under the coarse +garb of a household slave, was but a remote contingency, to +convey him by a circuitous route to Galeria’s house, of which +he knew the situation, and where he might be concealed for +a time without danger of detection. The great obstacle was +to get him out of the palace without being seen. The private +door by which he had himself entered, he knew must be defended, +or the assailants would have taken advantage of it ere +this, and he dared not risk recognition, to say nothing of the +chances of war, by endeavouring to escape through the midst +of the conflict at the main gate. He appealed to Spado for +assistance. +</p> + +<p> +<q>There is a terrace at the back here,</q> stammered the +eunuch; <q>if Cæsar can reach it, a pathway leads directly +down to the summer-house in the thickest part of the +gardens; thence he can go between the fish-ponds straight +to the wicket that opens on the Appian Way.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Idiot!</q> exclaimed the Emperor angrily, <q>how am I to +reach the terrace? There is no door, and the window must +be a man’s height at least from the ground.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='298'/><anchor id='Pg298'/> + +<p> +<q>It is your only chance of life, illustrious!</q> observed +Esca impatiently. <q>Guide us to the window, friend,</q> he +added, turning to Spado, who looked from one to the other +in helpless astonishment, <q>and tear that shawl from the +couch; we may want it for a rope to let the Emperor +down.</q> +</p> + +<p> +A fresh shout from the combatants at the gate, while +it completely paralysed the eunuch, seemed to determine +Vitellius. He moved resolutely forward, followed by his +two companions, Spado whispering to the Briton, <q>You are +a brave young man. We will all escape together, I—I will +stand by you to the last!</q> +</p> + +<p> +They needed but to cross a passage and traverse another +room. Cæsar peered over the window-sill into the darkness +below, and drew back. +</p> + +<p> +<q>It is a long way down,</q> said he. <q>What if I were to +break a limb?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Esca produced the shawl he had brought with him from +the adjoining apartment, and offered to place it under his +arms and round his body. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Shall I go first?</q> said Spado. <q>It is not five cubits +from the ground.</q> +</p> + +<p> +But the Emperor thought of his brother Lucius and the +cohorts at Terracina. Could he but gain the camp there he +would be safe, nay more, he could make head against his +rival; he would return to Rome with a victorious army; he +would retrieve the diadem and the purple, and the suppers +at the palace once more. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Stay where you are!</q> he commanded Spado, who was +looking with an eager eye at the window. <q>I will risk it. +One draught of Falernian, and I will risk it and be gone.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He turned back towards the banqueting-room, and while +he did so another shout warned him that the gate was carried, +and the palace in possession of the conspirators. +</p> + +<p> +Esca followed the Emperor, vainly imploring him to fly. +Spado, taking one more look from the window ere he risked +his bones, heard the ring of armour and the tramp of feet +coming round the corner of the palace, on the very terrace +he desired to reach. White and trembling, he tore the +garland from his head and gnawed its roses with his teeth +in the inpotence of his despair. He knew the last chance +was gone now, and they must die. +</p> + +<p> +The Emperor returned to the room where he had supped; +seized a flagon of Falernian, filled himself a large goblet +which he half-emptied at a draught, and set it down on the +<pb n='299'/><anchor id='Pg299'/>board with a deep sigh of satisfaction. The courtyard had +been taken at last, and the palace surrounded. Resistance +was hopeless, and escape impossible. The Germans were +still fighting, indeed, within the rooms, disputing inch by +inch the glittering corridors, and the carved doorways, and +the shining polished floors, now more slippery than ever +with blood. Pictures and statues seemed to look down in +calm amazement at thrust and blow and death-grapple, and +all the reeling confusion of mortal strife. But the noise came +nearer and nearer; the Germans, falling man by man, were +rapidly giving ground. Esca knew the game was lost at +last, and he turned to his companions in peril with a grave +and clouded brow. +</p> + +<p> +<q>There is nothing for it left,</q> said he, <q>but to die like +men. Yet if there be any corner in which Cæsar can hide,</q> +he added, with something of contempt in his tone, <q>I will +gain him five minutes more of life, if this glittering toy holds +together so long.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Then he snatched from the wall an Asiatic javelin, all +lacquered and ornamented with gold, cast one look at the +others, as if to bid them farewell, and hurried from the room. +Spado, a mass of shaking flesh, and tumbled garments and +festive ornaments strangely out of keeping with his attitude, +cowered down against the wall, hiding his face in his hands; +but Vitellius, with something akin even to gratification on his +countenance, returned to the half-emptied cup, and raising it +to his lips, deliberately finished his Falernian. +</p> + +</div><div n="2.19" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='300'/><anchor id='Pg300'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XIX. At Bay"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XIX. At Bay"/> +<head>CHAPTER XIX<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">AT BAY</hi></head> + +<p> +It was not in Esca’s nature to be within hearing of shrewd +blows and yet abstain from taking part in the fray. His +recent sentiments had indeed undergone a change that would +produce timely fruit; and neither the words of the preacher +in the Esquiline, nor the example of Calchas, nor the sweet +influence of Mariamne, had been without their effect. But it +was engrained in his very character to love the stir and +tumult of a fight. From a boy his blood leaped and tingled +at the clash of steel. His was the courage which is scarcely +exercised in the tide of personal conflict, and must be proved +rather in endurance than in action—so naturally does it force +itself to the front when men are dealing blow for blow. His +youth, too, had been spent in warfare, and in that most +ennobling of all warfare which defends home from the +aggression of an invader. He had long ago learned to love +danger for its own sake, and now he experienced besides a +morbid desire to have his hand on the tribune’s throat, so he +felt the point and tried the shaft of his javelin with a thrill of +savage joy, while, guided by the sounds of combat he hurried +along the corridor to join the remnant of the faithful German +guard. Not a score of them were left, and of these scarce +one but bled from some grievous wound. Their white +garments were stained with crimson, their gaudy golden +armour was hacked and dinted, their strength was nearly +spent, and every hope of safety gone; but their courage was +still unquenched, and as man after man went down, the +survivors closed in and fought on, striking desperately with +their faces to the foe. The tribune and his chosen band, +supported by a numerous body of inferior gladiators, were +pressing them sore. Placidus, an expert swordsman, and in +no way wanting physical courage, was conspicuous in the +front. Hippias alone seemed to vie with the tribune in +reckless daring, though Hirpinus, Eumolpus, Lutorius, and +the others, were all earning their wages with scrupulous +<pb n='301'/><anchor id='Pg301'/>fidelity, and bearing themselves according to custom, as if +fighting were the one business of their lives. +</p> + +<p> +When Esca reached the scene of conflict the tribune had +just closed with a gigantic adversary. For a minute they +reeled in the death-grapple, then parted as suddenly as they +met, the German falling backward with a groan, the tribune’s +blade as he brandished it aloft dripping with blood to the +very hilt. +</p> + +<p> +<q><foreign rend='italic' lang="grc">Euge!</foreign></q> shouted Hippias, who was at his side, parrying +at the same moment, with consummate address, a sweeping +sword-cut dealt at him from the dead man’s comrade. <q>That +was prettily done, tribune, and like an artist!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Esca, catching sight of his enemy’s hated face, dashed in +with the bound of a tiger, and taking him unawares, delivered +at him so fierce and rapid a thrust as would have settled +accounts between them, had Placidus possessed no other +means of defence than his own skilful swordsmanship; but +the fencing-master, whose eye seemed to take in all the +combatants at once, cut through the curved shaft of the +Briton’s weapon with one turn of his short sword, and its +head fell harmless on the floor. His hand was up for a +deadly thrust when Esca found himself felled to the ground +by some powerful fist, while a ponderous form holding him +down with its whole weight, made it impossible for him to +rise. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Keep quiet, lad,</q> whispered a friendly voice in his ear; +<q>I was forced to strike hard to get thee down in time. +Faith! the master gives short warning with his thrusts. +Here thou’rt safe, and here I’ll take care thou shalt remain +till the tide has rolled over us, and I can pass thee out +unseen. Keep quiet! I tell thee, lest I have to strike thee +senseless for thine own good.</q> +</p> + +<p> +In vain the Briton struggled to regain his feet; Hirpinus +kept him down by main force. No sooner had the gladiator +caught sight of his friend, than he resolved to save him from +the fate which too surely threatened all who were found in +the palace, and with characteristic promptitude, used the +only means at his disposal for the fulfilment of his object. +A moment’s reflection satisfied Esca of his old comrade’s +good faith. Life is sweet, and with the hope of its preservation +came back the thought of Mariamne. He lay still for a +few minutes, and by that time the tide of fight had rolled on, +and they were left alone. Hirpinus rose first with a jovial +laugh. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Why, you went down, man,</q> said he, <q>like an ox at an +<pb n='302'/><anchor id='Pg302'/>altar. I would have held my hand a little—in faith I would—had +there been time. Well, I must help thee up, I suppose, +seeing that I put thee down. Take my advice, lad, get outside +as quick as thou canst. Keep the first turning to the +right of the great gate, stick to the darkest part of the +gardens, and run for thy life!</q> +</p> + +<p> +So speaking, the gladiator helped Esca to his feet, and +pointed down the corridor where the way was now clear. +The Briton would have made one more effort to save the +Emperor, but Hirpinus interposed his burly form, and finding +his friend so refractory, half-led, half-pushed him to the door +of the palace. Here he bade him farewell, looking wistfully +out into the night, as though he would fain accompany him. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I have little taste for the job here, and that’s the truth,</q> +said he, in the tone of a man who has been unfairly deprived +of some expected pleasure. <q>The Germans made a pretty +good stand for a time, but I thought there were more of them, +and that the fight would have lasted twice as long. Good +luck go with thee, lad; I shall perhaps never see thee again. +Well, well, it can’t be helped. I have been bought and paid +for, and must go back to my work.</q> +</p> + +<p> +So, while Esca, hopeless of doing any more good, went +his way into the gardens, Hirpinus re-entered the palace to +follow his comrades, and assist in the search for the Emperor. +He was somewhat surprised to hear loud shouts of laughter +echoing from the end of the corridor. Hastening on to learn +the cause of such strangely-timed mirth, he came upon Rufus +lying across the prostrate body of a German, and trying hard +to stanch the blood that welled from a fatal gash inflicted by +his dead enemy, ere he went down. Hirpinus raised his +friend’s head, and knew it was all over. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I have got it,</q> said Rufus, in a faint voice; <q>my foot +slipped and the clumsy barbarian lunged in over my guard. +Farewell, old comrade! Bid the wife keep heart. There is +a home for her at Picenum, and—the boys—keep them out +of the Family. When you close with these Germans—disengage—at +half distance, and turn your wrist down with the—old—thrust, +so as to</q>— +</p> + +<p> +Weaker and weaker came the gladiator’s last syllables, +his head sank, his jaw dropped, and Hirpinus, turning for a +farewell look at the comrade with whom he had trained, and +toiled, and drank, and fought, for half a score of years, dashed +his hand angrily to his shaggy eyelashes, for he saw him +through a mist of tears. +</p> + +<p> +Another shout of laughter, louder still and nearer, roused +<pb n='303'/><anchor id='Pg303'/>him to action. Turning into the room whence it proceeded, +he came upon a scene of combat, nearly as ludicrous as the +last was pitiful. Surrounded by a circle of gladiators, roaring +out their applause and holding their sides with mirth, two +most unwilling adversaries were pitted against each other. +They seemed, indeed, very loth to come to close quarters, +and stood face to face with excessive watchfulness and caution. +</p> + +<p> +In searching for the Emperor, Placidus and his myrmidons +had scoured several apartments without success. Finding +the palace thus unoccupied, and now in their own hands, the +men had commenced loading themselves with valuables, and +prepared to decamp with their plunder, each to his home, as +having fulfilled their engagement, and earned their reward. +But the tribune well knew that if Vitellius survived the night, +his own head would be no longer safe on his shoulders, and +that it was indispensable to find the Emperor at all hazards; +so gathering a handful of gladiators round him, persuading +some and threatening others, he instituted a strict search in +one apartment after another, leaving no hole nor corner untried, +persuaded that Cæsar must be still inside the palace, +and consequently within his grasp. He entertained, nevertheless, +a lurking mistrust of treachery roused by the late +appearance of Euchenor at supper, which was rather +strengthened than destroyed by the Greek’s unwillingness +to engage in personal combat with the Germans. Whilst +he was able to do so, the tribune had kept a wary eye upon +the pugilist, and had indeed prevented him more than once +from slipping out of the conflict altogether. Now that the +Germans were finally disposed of, and the palace in his +power, he kept the Greek close at hand with less difficulty, +jeering him, half in jest and half in earnest, on the great care +he had taken of his own person in the fray. Thus, with +Euchenor at his side, followed by Hippias, and some half-dozen +gladiators, the tribune entered the room in which the +Emperor had supped, and from which a door, concealed by +a heavy curtain, led into a dark recess originally intended for +a bath. At the foot of this curtain, half-lying, half-sitting, +grovelled an obese unwieldy figure, clad in white, which +moaned and shook and rocked itself to and fro, in a +paroxysm of abject fear. The tribune leapt forward with +a gleam of diabolical triumph in his eyes. The next instant +his face fell, as the figure, looking up, presented the scared +features of the bewildered Spado. But even in his wrath and +disappointment Placidus could indulge himself with a brutal +jest. +</p> + +<pb n='304'/><anchor id='Pg304'/> + +<p> +<q>Euchenor,</q> said he, <q>thou hast hardly been well blooded +to-night. Drive thy sword through this carrion, and draw it +out of our way.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The Greek was only averse to cruelty when it involved +personal danger. He rushed in willingly enough, his blade +up, and his eyes glaring like a tiger’s; but the action roused +whatever was left of manhood in the victim, and Spado +sprang to his feet with the desperate courage of one who +has no escape left. Close at his hand lay a Parthian bow, +one of the many curiosities in arms that were scattered about +the room, together with a sandal-wood quiver of puny painted +arrows. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Their points are poisoned,</q> he shouted; <q>and a touch is +death!</q> +</p><anchor id="i_334"/> +<pgIf output='txt'><then> + <p rend="ill">[Illustration: <q>‘Their points are poisoned’, he shouted</q>]</p> +</then><else> + <p><figure rend="w80" url="images/i_334.png"><head><q>’Their points are poisoned’, he shouted</q></head> +<figDesc>Illustration: <q>‘Their points are poisoned’, he shouted</q></figDesc></figure></p> +</else></pgIf> +<p> +Then he drew the bow to its full compass, and glared +about him like some hunted beast brought to bay. +Euchenor, checked in his spring, stood rigid as if turned +to stone. His beautiful form indeed, motionless in that +lifelike attitude, would have been a fit study for one of his +own country’s sculptors; but the surrounding gladiators, +influenced only by the ludicrous points of the situation, +laughed till their sides shook, at the two cowards thus confronting +each other. +</p> + +<p> +<q>To him, Euchenor!</q> said they, with the voice and +action by which a man encourages his dog at its prey. +<q>To him, lad! Here’s old Hirpinus come to back thee. +He always voted thee a cur. Show him some of thy +mettle now!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Goaded by their taunts, Euchenor made a rapid feint, and +crouched for another dash. Terrified and confused, the +eunuch let the bowstring escape from his nerveless fingers, +and the light gaudy arrow, grazing the Greek’s arm and +scarcely drawing blood, fell, as it seemed, harmless to the +floor between his feet. Again there was a loud shout of +derision, for Euchenor, dropping his weapon, applied this +trifling scratch to his mouth; ere the laugh subsided, however, +the Greek’s face contracted and turned pale. With a wild +yell he sprang bolt upright, raising his arms above his head, +and fell forward on his breast, dead. +</p> + +<p> +The gladiators leaping in, passed half a dozen swords +through the eunuch’s body, almost ere their comrade touched +the floor. Then Lutorius and Eumolpus tearing down the +curtain disappeared in the dark recess behind. There was +an exclamation of surprise, a cry for mercy, a scuffling of +feet, the fall of some heavy piece of furniture, and the two +<pb n='305'/><anchor id='Pg305'/>emerged again, dragging between them, pale and gasping, a +bloated and infirm old man. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Cæsar is fled!</q> said he, looking wildly round. <q>You +seek Cæsar?</q> then perceiving the dark smile on the tribune’s +face, and abandoning all hope of disguise, he folded his arms +with a certain dignity that his coarse garments and disordered +state could not wholly neutralise, and added— +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am Cæsar! Strike! since there is no mercy and no +escape!</q> +</p> + +<p> +The tribune paused an instant and pondered. Already +the dawn was stealing through the palace, and the dead +upturned face of Spado looked grey and ghastly in the pale +cold light. Master of the situation, he did but deliberate +whether he should slay Cæsar with his own hand, thus bidding +high for the gratitude of his successor, or whether, by delivering +him over to an infuriated soldiery, who would surely +massacre him on the spot, he should make his death appear +an act of popular justice, in the furtherance of which he was +himself a mere dutiful instrument. A few moments’ reflection +on the character of Vespasian, decided him to pursue the +latter course. He turned to the gladiators, and bade them +secure their prisoner. +</p> + +<p> +Loud shouts and the tramp of many thousand armed +feet announced that the disaffected legions were converging +on the palace, and had already filled its courtyard with +masses of disciplined men, ranged under their eagles in all +the imposing precision and the glittering pomp of war. The +increasing daylight showed their serried files, extending far +beyond the gate, over the spacious gardens of the palace, and +the cold morning breeze unfurled a banner here and there, +on which were already emblazoned the initials of the new +emperor, <q>Titus Flavius Vespasian Cæsar.</q> As Vitellius +with his hands bound, led between two gladiators, passed +out of the gate which at midnight had been his own, one +of these gaudy devices glittered in the rising sun before his +eyes. Then his whole frame seemed to collapse, and his +head sank upon his breast, for he knew that the bitterness +of death had indeed come at last. +</p> + +<p> +But it was no part of the tribune’s scheme that his victim’s +lineaments should escape observation. He put his own +sword beneath the Emperor’s chin, and forced him to hold +his head up while the soldiers hooted and reviled, and +ridiculed their former lord. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Let them see thy face,</q> said the tribune brutally. +<q>Even now thou art still the most notorious man in Rome.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='306'/><anchor id='Pg306'/> + +<p> +Obese in person, lame in gait, pale, bloated, dishevelled, +and a captive, there was yet a certain dignity about the +fallen emperor, while he drew himself up, and thus answered +his enemy— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Thou hast eaten of my bread and drunk from my cup. +I have loaded thee with riches and honours. Yesterday I +was thine emperor and thy host. To-day I am thy captive +and thy victim. But here, in the jaws of death, I tell thee +that not to have my life and mine empire back again, would +I change places with Julius Placidus the tribune!</q> +</p> + +<p> +They were the last words he ever spoke, for while they +paraded him along the Sacred Way, the legions gathered in +and struck him down, and hewed him in pieces, casting the +fragments of his body into the stream of Father Tiber, +stealing calm and noiseless by the walls of Rome. And +though the faithful Galeria collected them for decent interment, +few cared to mourn the memory of Vitellius the glutton; for +the good and temperate Vespasian reigned in his stead. +</p> + +</div><div n="2.20" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='307'/><anchor id='Pg307'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XX. The Fair Haven"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XX. The Fair Haven"/> +<head>CHAPTER XX<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE FAIR HAVEN</hi></head> + +<p> +In a land-locked bay sheltered by wooded hills, under a +calm cloudless sky, and motionless as some sleeping +seabird, a galley lay at anchor on the glistening surface of +the Mediterranean. Far out at sea, against a clear horizon +the breeze just stirred the waters to a purer deeper blue, but +here, behind the sharp black point, that shot boldly from the +shore, long sheets of light, unshadowed by a single ripple +traversed the bay, basking warm and still in the glaring +sunshine. The very gulls that usually flit so restless to and +fro, had folded their wings for an interval of repose, and the +hush of the hot southern noon lay drowsily on the burnished +surface of the deep. +</p> + +<p> +The galley had obviously encountered her share of wind +and weather. Spars were broken and tackle strained. Her +large square sail, rent and patched, was under process of +repair; heaped up, neglected for the present, and half unfurled +upon the deck, while the double-banked seats of her +rowers were unoccupied, and the long oars shipped idly in +her sides. Like the seabird she resembled, and whose +destiny she shared, it seemed as though she also had folded +her wings, and gone peacefully to sleep. +</p> + +<p> +Two figures were on the deck of the galley, drinking in +the beauty that surrounded them, with the avidity of youth, +and health, and love. They thought not of the dangers they +had so narrowly escaped—of the perils by sea and perils by +land that were in store for them yet, of the sorrows they +must undergo, the difficulties they must encounter, the frail +thread on which their present happiness depended. It was +enough for them that they were gazing on the loveliness of +one of the fairest isles in the Ægean, and that they were +together. +</p> + +<p> +Surely there is a Fair Haven in the voyage of each of us, +to which we reach perhaps once in a lifetime, where we pause +and furl the sail and ship the oar, not that we are weary +<pb n='308'/><anchor id='Pg308'/>indeed, nor unseaworthy, but that we cannot resist, even the +strongest and bravest of us, the longing of poor humanity +for rest. Such seasons as these come to remind us of our +noble destiny, and our inherent unworthiness—of our capacity +for happiness, and our failure in attaining it—of the sordid +casket, and the priceless jewel we are sure that it contains. +At such seasons shall we not rejoice and revel in the happiness +they bring? Shall we not bathe in the glorious sunshine, +and snatch at the glowing fruit, and empty the golden cup, +ay to the very dregs? What though there be a cloud behind +the hill, a bitter morsel at the fruit’s core, a drop of wormwood +in the sparkling draught?—a consciousness of insecurity, a +foresight of sorrow, a craving for the infinite and the eternal, +which goads and guides us at once on the upward way? +Would we be without it if we could? We cannot be more +than human; we would not willingly be less. Is not failure +the teacher of humility? Is not humility the first step to +wisdom? Where is least of self-dependence, there is surely +most of faith; and are not pain and sorrow the title-deeds +of our inheritance hereafter? +</p> + +<p> +It is a false moral, it is a morbid and unreal sentiment, +beautifully as it is expressed, which teaches us that <q>a sorrow’s +crown of sorrows, is remembering happier things.</q> All true +happiness is of spiritual origin. When we have been brushed, +though never so lightly by the angel’s wing, we cannot afterwards +entirely divest ourselves of the fragrance breathed by +that celestial presence. Even in those blissful moments, +something warned us they would pass away; now that they +have faded here, something assures us that they will come +again, hereafter. Hope is the birthright of immortality. +Without winter there would be no spring. In decay is the +very germ of life, and while suffering is transitory, mercy is +infinite, and joy eternal. +</p> + +<p> +The sailors were taking their noonday rest below, to +escape the heat. Eleazar, the Jew, sat at the stern of the +vessel, deep in meditation, pondering on his country’s resources +and his nation’s wrongs—the dissensions that paralysed the +Lion of Judah, and the formidable qualities of the princely +hunter who was bringing him warily and gradually to bay. +It would be hard enough to resist Titus with both hands free, +how hopeless a task when one neutralised the efforts of the +other! Eleazar’s outward eye, indeed, took in the groves +of olives, and the dazzling porches, the jagged rocks and the +glancing water; but his spirit was gazing the while upon a +very different scene. He saw his tumultuous countrymen +<pb n='309'/><anchor id='Pg309'/>armed with sword and spear, brave, impetuous, full of the +headlong courage which made their race irresistible for attack, +but lacking the cool methodical discipline, the stern habitual +self-reliance so indispensable for a wearing and protracted +defence; and he saw also the long even lines under the +eagles, the impregnable array of the legions; their fortified +camp, their mechanical discipline, their exact manœuvres, +and the calm confident strength that was converging day +by day for the downfall and destruction of his people. Then +he moved restlessly, like a man impatient of actual fetters +about his limbs, for he would fain be amongst them again, +with his armour on and his spear in his hand. Calchas, too, +was on board the anchored galley. He looked on the fair +scene around as those look who see good in everything. +And then his eye wandered from the glowing land, and the +cloudless heaven, and the sparkling sea, to the stately form +of Esca, and Mariamne with her gentle loving face, ere it +sought his task again, the perusal of his treasured Syriac +scroll; for the old man, who took his share of all the labours +and hardships incidental to a sea-voyage, spent in sacred +study many of the hours devoted by others to rest; his lips +moved in prayer, and he called down a blessing on the head +of the proselyte he had gained over, and the kinsman he +loved. +</p> + +<p> +After the success of the tribune’s plot, and the escape +of Esca from the imperial palace, Rome was no longer a +place in which the Briton might remain in safety. Julius +Placidus, although, from the prominent part taken by +Domitian in public affairs, he had not attained such power as +he anticipated, was yet sufficiently formidable to be a fatal +enemy, and it was obvious that the only chance of life was +immediately to leave the neighbourhood of so implacable +an adversary. The murder, too, of Vitellius, and the +accession of Vespasian, rendered Eleazar’s further stay at +Rome unnecessary, and even impolitic, while the services +rendered to Mariamne by her champion and lover, had +given him a claim to the protection of the Jewish household, +and the intimacy of its members. On condition of his conforming +to certain fasts and observances, Eleazar therefore +willingly gave Esca the shelter of his roof, concealed him +whilst he himself made preparations for a hasty departure, +and suffered him to accompany the other two members that +constituted his family, on their voyage home to Jerusalem. +After many storms and casualties, half of that voyage was +completed, and the attachment between Esca and Mariamne +<pb n='310'/><anchor id='Pg310'/>which sprang up so unexpectedly at the corner of a street +in Rome, had now grown to the engrossing and abiding +affection which lasts for life, perhaps for eternity. Floating +in that fair haven, with the glow of love enhancing the +beauty of an earthly paradise, they quaffed at the cup of +happiness without remorse or misgiving, thankful for the +present and trusting for the future. As shipwreck had +threatened them but yesterday, as to-morrow they might +again be destined to weather stormy skies, and ride through +raging seas, so, although they had suffered great dangers +and hardships in life, greater were yet probably in store. +Nevertheless, to-day all was calm and sunshine, contentment, +security, and repose. They took it as it came, and standing +together on the galley’s deck, the beauty of those two young +creatures seemed god-like, in the halo of their great joy. +</p> + +<p> +<q>We shall never be parted here,</q> whispered Esca, while +they stooped over the bulwark, and his hand stealing to his +companion’s, pressed it in a gentle timid clasp. +</p> + +<p> +With her large loving eyes full of tears, she leaned +towards him, nearer, nearer, till her cheek touched his +shoulder, and, pointing upward, she answered in the low +earnest tones that acknowledge neither doubt nor fear: +<q>Esca, we shall never be parted hereafter.</q> +</p> + +</div></div> +<div type="book" rend="page-break-before: right"> +<pb n='311'/><anchor id='Pg311'/> +<index index="toc" level1="Moira"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="Moira"/> +<head><hi rend="font-weight: bold">Moira</hi></head> +<div n="3.1" type="chapter"> +<index index="toc" level1="I. A House Divided Against Itself"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="I. A House Divided Against Itself"/> + +<head>CHAPTER I<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">A HOUSE DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF</hi></head> + +<figure url="images/i_342.png" rend="w40"><figDesc>Initial T</figDesc></figure> + +<p> +The Feast of the Passover was at +hand; the feast that was wont to +call the children of Israel out of all +parts of Syria to worship in the +Holy City; the feast that had celebrated +their deliverance from the +relentless grasp of Pharaoh: that +was ordained to mark the fulfilment +of prophecy in the downfall of the +chosen people, and their national +extinction under the imperial might +of Rome. Nevertheless, even this, +the last Passover held in that Temple +of which Solomon was the founder, and in the destruction of +which, notwithstanding its sacred character, not one stone was +permitted to remain upon another, had collected vast multitudes +of the descendants of Abraham from all parts of Judæa, +Samaria, Galilee, Perea, and other regions, to increase the +sufferings of famine, and enhance the horrors of a siege. True +to the character of their religion, rigidly observant of outward +ceremonies, and admitting no exemptions from the requirements +of the law, they swarmed in thousands and tens of +thousands to their devoted city, round which even now Titus +was drawing closer and closer the iron band of blockade, over +which the Roman eagles were hovering, ere they swooped +down irresistible on their prey. +</p> + +<p> +There was the hush of coming destruction in the very +stillness of the Syrian noon, as it glowed on the white carved +pinnacles of the temple, and flashed from its golden roof. +There was a menace in the tall black cypresses, pointing as +it were with warning gesture towards the sky. There was +<pb n='312'/><anchor id='Pg312'/>a loathsome reality of carnage about the frequent vulture, +poised on his wide wings over every open space, or flapping +heavily away with loaded gorge and dripping beak, from +his hideous meal. Jerusalem lay like some royal lady in +her death-pang; the fair face changed and livid in its ghastly +beauty, the queenly brow warped beneath its diadem, and +the wasted limbs quivering with agony under their robe of +scarlet and gold. +</p> + +<p> +Inside the walls, splendour and misery, unholy mirth and +abject despair, the pomp of war and the pressure of starvation, +were mingled in frightful contrast. Beneath the shadow of +princely edifices dead bodies lay unburied and uncared-for +in the streets. Wherever was a foot or two of shelter from +the sun, there some poor wretch seemed to have dragged +himself to die. Marble pillars, lofty porches, white terraces, +and luxuriant gardens denoted the wealth of the city, and +the pride of its inhabitants; yet squalid figures crawling +about, bent low towards the ground, sought eagerly here and +there for every substance that could be converted into nourishment, +and the absence of all offal and refuse on the pavement +denoted the sad scarcity even of such loathsome food. +</p> + +<p> +The city of Jerusalem, built upon two opposite hills, of +which the plan of the streets running from top to bottom +in each, and separated only by a narrow valley, exactly +corresponded, was admirably adapted to purposes of defence. +The higher hill, on which was situated the upper town and +the holy Temple, might, from the very nature of its position, +be considered impregnable; and even the lower offered on +its outside so steep and precipitous an ascent as to be almost +inaccessible by regular troops. In addition to its natural +strength, the city was further defended by walls of enormous +height and solidity, protected by large square towers, each +capable of containing a formidable garrison, and supplied +with reservoirs of water and all other necessaries of war. +Herod the Great, who, notwithstanding his vices, his crimes, +and his occasional fits of passion amounting to madness, +possessed the qualities both of a statesman and a soldier, +had not neglected the means at his disposal for the security +of his capital. He had himself superintended the raising +of one of these walls at great care and expense, and had +added to it three lofty towers, which he named after his friend, +his brother, and his ill-fated wife.<note place="foot">Hippicus, Phasaelus, and lovely Mariamne, for whom, in the dead of +night, the great king used to call out in his agony of remorse when she was +no more.</note> These were constructed +<pb n='313'/><anchor id='Pg313'/>of huge blocks of marble, fitted to each other with such +nicety, and afterwards wrought out by the workman’s hand +with such skill, that the whole edifice appeared to be cut +from one gigantic mass of stone. In the days, too, of that +magnificent monarch, these towers were nothing less than +palaces within, containing guest-chambers, banqueting-rooms, +porticoes, nay, even fountains, gardens, and cisterns, with +great store of precious stones, gold and silver vessels, and +all the barbaric wealth of Judæa’s fierce and powerful king. +Defended by Herod, even a Roman army might have turned +away discomfited from before Jerusalem. +</p> + +<p> +Agrippa, too, the first of that name, who was afterwards +stricken with a loathsome disease, and <q>eaten of worms,</q> like +a mere mortal, while he affected the attributes of a god, +commenced a system of fortification to surround the city, +which would have laughed to scorn the efforts of an enemy; +but the Jewish monarch was too dependent on his imperial +master at Rome to brave his suspicion by proceeding with +it; and although a wall of magnificent design was begun, +and even raised to a considerable height, it was never +finished in the stupendous proportions originally intended. +The Jews, indeed, after the death of its founder, strengthened +it considerably, and completed it for purposes of defence, but +not to the extent by which Agrippa proposed to render the +town impregnable. +</p> + +<p> +And even had Jerusalem been entered and invested by an +enemy, the Temple, which was also the citadel of the place, +had yet to be taken. This magnificent building, the very +stronghold of the wealth and devotion of Judæa, the very +symbol of that nationality which was still so prized by the +posterity of Jacob, was situated on the summit of the higher +hill, from which it looked down and commanded both the +upper and lower cities. On three sides it was artificially +fortified with extreme caution, while on the fourth, it was so +precipitous as to defy even the chances of a surprise. To +possess the Temple was to hold the whole town as it were in +hand; nor was its position less a matter of importance to the +assailed than its splendour rendered it an object of cupidity +to the assailants. Every ornament of architecture was +lavished upon its cloisters, its pillars, its porticoes, and its +walls. Its outward gates even, according to their respective +positions, were brass, silver, and gold; its beams were of +cedar, and other choice woods inlaid with the precious metal, +which was also thickly spread over doorposts, candlesticks, +cornices—everything that would admit of such costly +<pb n='314'/><anchor id='Pg314'/>decoration. The fifteen steps that led from the Court of the +Women to the great Corinthian gate, with its double doors of +forty cubits high, were worth as many talents of gold as they +numbered.<note place="foot">Josephus, <hi rend='italic'>Wars of the Jews</hi>, book v. sec. 5.</note> +</p> + +<p> +To those who entered far enough to behold what was +termed the Inner Temple, a sight was presented which +dazzled eyes accustomed to the splendour of the greatest +monarchs on earth. Its whole front was covered with plates +of beaten gold; vines bearing clusters of grapes the size of a +man’s finger, all of solid gold, were twined about and around +its gates, of which the spikes were pointed sharp, that birds +might not pollute them by perching there. Within were +golden doors of fifty-five cubits in height; and before this +entrance hung the celebrated veil of the Temple. It +consisted of a curtain embroidered with blue, fine linen, +scarlet and purple, signifying by mystical interpretation, a +figure of the universe, wherein the flax typified earth; the +blue, air; the scarlet, fire; and the purple, water. Within +this sumptuous shrine were contained the candlestick, the +table of shew-bread, and the altar of incense: the seven +lamps of the first denoting the seven planets of heaven; the +twelve loaves on the second representing the circle of the +zodiac and the year; while the thirteen sweet-smelling spices +on the third, reminded men of the Great Giver of all good +things in the whole world. In the inmost part, again, of this +Inner Temple was that sacred space, into which mortal eye +might not look, nor mortal step enter. Secluded, awful, +invisible, divested of all material object, it typified forcibly to +the Jew the nature of that spiritual worship which was taught +him through Abraham and the Patriarchs, direct from heaven. +</p> + +<p> +All men, however, of all creeds and nations, might gaze +upon the outward front of the Temple, and judge by the +magnificence of the covering the costly splendour of the +shrine it contained. While a dome of pure white marble +rose above it like a mountain of snow, the front itself of the +Temple was overlaid with massive plates of gold, so that +when it flashed in the sunrise men could no more look upon +it than on the god of day himself. Far off in his camp, +watching the beleaguered city, how often may the Roman +soldier have pondered in covetous admiration, speculating on +the strength of its defenders and the value of his prey! +</p> + +<p> +The Temple of Jerusalem then was celebrated through all +the known earth for its size, its splendour, and its untold +wealth. The town, strong in its natural position and its +<pb n='315'/><anchor id='Pg315'/>artificial defences, garrisoned, moreover, by a fierce and +warlike people, whose impetuous valour could be gauged by +no calculations of military experience, was justly esteemed so +impregnable a fortress, as might mock the attack of a Roman +army even under such a leader as the son of Vespasian. +Had it been assailed by none other than the enemy outside +the walls, the Holy Place need never have been desecrated +and despoiled by the legions, the baffled eagles would have +been driven westward, balked of their glorious prey. But +here was a <q>house divided against itself.</q> The dissension +within the walls was far more terrible than the foe without. +Blood flowed faster in the streets than on the ramparts. +Many causes originating in his past history, had combined to +shake the loyalty and undermine the nationality of the Jew. +Perhaps, for the wisest purposes, it seems ordained that true +religion should be especially prone to schism. Humanity, +however high its aspirations, cannot be wholly refined from +its earthly dross; and those who are the most in earnest +are sometimes the most captious and unforgiving. While +worship for his Maker appears to be a natural instinct of man, +it needed a teacher direct from heaven to inculcate forbearance +and brotherly love. The Jews were sufficiently ill-disposed +to those of their own faith, who differed with them +on unimportant points of doctrine, or minute observance of +outward ceremonies; but where the heresy extended to +fundamental tenets of their creed, they seemed to have hated +each other honestly, rancorously, and mercilessly, as only +brethren can. +</p> + +<p> +Now for many generations they have been divided into +three principal sects, differing widely in belief, principle, and +practice. These were distinguished by the names of Pharisees, +Sadducees, and Essenes. The first, as is well known, were +rigid observers of the traditional law, handed down to them +from their fathers, attaching fully as much importance to its +letter as to its spirit. With a vague belief in what is +understood by the term predestination, they yet allowed +to mankind the choice between good and evil, confounding, +perhaps, the foreknowledge of the Creator with the freewill of +the creature, and believed in the immortality of souls, and the +doctrine of eternal punishment. Their failings seem to have +been inordinate religious pride, and undue exaltation of +outward forms to the neglect of that which they symbolised; +a grasping ambition of priestly power, and an utter want of +charity for those who differed in opinion with themselves. +</p> + +<p> +The Sadducees, though professing belief in the Deity, +<pb n='316'/><anchor id='Pg316'/>argued an entire absence of influence from above on the +conduct of the human race. Limiting the dispensation of +reward and punishment to this world, they esteemed it a +matter of choice with mankind to earn the one or incur the +other; and as they utterly ignored the life to come, were +content to enjoy temporal blessings, and to deprecate +physical evil alone. Though wanting a certain genial +philosophy on which the heathen prided himself, the +Sadducee, both in principles and practice, seems closely +to have resembled the Epicurean of ancient Greece and +Rome. +</p> + +<p> +But there was also a third sect which numbered many +votaries throughout Judæa, in whose tenets we discover +several points of similarity with our own, and whose ranks, it is +not unfair to suppose, furnished numbers of the early converts +to Christianity. These were the Essenes, a persuasion that +rejected pleasure as a positive evil, and with whom a community +of goods was the prevailing and fundamental rule of +the order. These men, while they affected celibacy, chose +out the children of others to provide for and educate. While +they neither bought nor sold, they never wanted the necessaries +of life, for each gave and received ungrudgingly, +according to his own and his neighbour’s need. While they +despised riches, they practised a strict economy, appointing +stewards to care for and dispense that common patrimony +which was raised by the joint subscription of all. Scattered +over the whole country, in every city they were sure of finding +a home, and none took on a journey either money, food, or +raiment, because he was provided by his brethren with all he +required wherever he stopped to rest. Their piety, too, was +exemplary. Before sunrise not a word was spoken referring +to earthly concerns, but public prayer was offered, imploring +the blessing of light day by day before it came. Then they +dispersed to their different handicrafts, by which they earned +wages for the general purse. Meeting together once more, +they bathed in cold water and sat down in white garments to +their temperate meal, in which a sufficiency and no more was +provided for each person, and again separated to labour till +the evening, when they assembled for supper in the same +manner before going to rest. +</p> + +<p> +The vows taken by all who were admitted into their +society, and that only after a two years’ probation, sufficiently +indicated the purity and benevolence of their code. These +swore to observe piety towards God, and justice towards men; +to do no one an injury, either voluntarily or by command of +<pb n='317'/><anchor id='Pg317'/>others; to avoid the evil, and to aid the good; to obey legal +authority as coming from above; to love truth, and openly +reprove a lie; to keep the hands clean from theft, and the +heart from unfair gain; neither to conceal anything from +their own sect, nor to discover their secrets to others, but to +guard them with life; also to impart these doctrines to a +proselyte literally and exactly as each had received them +himself. If one of the order committed any grievous sin, he +was cast out of their society for a time; a sentence which +implied starvation, as he had previously sworn never to eat +save in the presence of his brethren. When in the last stage +of exhaustion he was received again, as having suffered a +punishment commensurate with his crime, and which, by the +maceration of the body, should purify and save the soul. +</p> + +<p> +With such tenets and such training, the Essenes were conspicuous +for their confidence in danger, their endurance of +privation, and their contempt for death. The flesh they +despised as the mere corruptible covering of the spirit, +that imperishable essence, of which the aspiration was ever +upwards, and which, when released from prison, in obedience +to the dictates of its very nature, flew direct to heaven. Undoubtedly +such doctrines as these, scattered here and there +throughout the land, partially redeemed the Jewish character +from the fierce unnatural stage of fanaticism, to which it had +arrived at the period of the Christian era—afforded, it may +be, a leavening which preserved the whole people from utter +reprobation; and helped, perhaps, to smooth the way for +those pioneers, who carried the good tidings first heard +beneath the star of Bethlehem, westward through the world. +</p> + +<p> +But at the period when Jerusalem lay beleaguered by +Titus and his legions, three political parties raged within her +walls, to whose furious fanaticism her three religious sects +could offer no comparison. The first and most moderate of +these, though men who scrupled not to enforce their opinions +with violence, had considerable influence with the great bulk +of the populace, and were, indeed, more than either of the +others, free from selfish motives, and sincere in their desire +for the common good. They affected a great concern for +the safety and credit of their religion, making no small outcry +at the fact that certain stones and timber, provided formerly +by Agrippa for the decoration of the Temple, had been +desecrated by being applied to the repair of the defences and +the construction of engines of war. They observed, also, how +the rivalry of faction, in which, nevertheless, they took a +prominent part, devastated the city more than any efforts of +<pb n='318'/><anchor id='Pg318'/>the enemy; and they did not scruple to paralyse the energies +of the besieged, by averring that the military rule of the +Romans, wise and temperate, though despotic, was preferable +to the alternations of tyranny and anarchy under which they +lived. +</p> + +<p> +This numerous party was especially displeasing to Eleazar, +whose restless force of character and fanatical courage were +impatient of any attempt at capitulation, who was determined +on resistance to the death, and the utter destruction of the +Holy City rather than its surrender. He was now living in +the element of storm and strife, which seemed most congenial +to his nature. No longer a foreign intriguer, disguised in +poor attire, and hiding his head in a back street of Rome, the +Jew seemed to put on fresh valour every day with his breastplate, +and walked abroad in the streets or directed operations +from the ramparts; a mark for friend and foe, in his splendid +armour, with the port of a warrior, a patriarch and a king. +He was avowedly at the head of a numerous section of the +seditious, who had adopted the title of Zealots; and who, +affecting the warmest enthusiasm in the cause of patriotism +and religion, were utterly unscrupulous as to the means by +which they furthered their own objects and aggrandisement. +Their practice was indeed much opposed to the principles +they professed, and to that zeal for religion from which they +took their name. They had not scrupled to cast lots for the +priesthood, and to confer the highest and holiest office of the +nation on an illiterate rustic, whose only claim to the sacerdotal +dignity consisted in his relationship with one of the +pontifical tribes. Oppression, insult, and rapine inflicted on +their countrymen, had rendered the very name of Zealot +hateful to the mass of the people; but they numbered in +their ranks many desperate and determined men, skilled in +the use of arms, and ready to perpetrate any act of violence +on friend or foe. In the hands of a bold unscrupulous leader, +they were sharp and efficient weapons. As such Eleazar +considered them, keeping them under his own control and +fit for immediate use. +</p> + +<p> +The third of these factions, which was also perhaps the +most numerous, excited the apprehensions of the more peaceably +disposed no less than the hatred of the last-mentioned +party who had put Eleazar at their head. It was led by a +man distinguished alike for consummate duplicity and reckless +daring—John of Gischala, so called from a small town in +Judæa, the inhabitants of which he had influenced to hold +out against the Romans, and whence he had himself escaped +<pb n='319'/><anchor id='Pg319'/>by a stratagem, redounding as much to the clemency of Titus +as to his own dishonour. +</p> + +<p> +Gischala being inhabited by a rural and unwarlike population, +unprovided besides with defences against regular troops, +would have fallen an easy prey to the prince with his handful +of horsemen, had it not been for that disposition to clemency +which Titus, in common with other great warriors, seems to +have indulged when occasion offered. Knowing that if the +place were carried by storm it would be impossible to restrain +his soldiers from putting the inhabitants to the sword, he rode +in person within earshot of the wall, and exhorted the defenders +to open their gates and trust to his forbearance, a +proposal to which John, who with his adherents completely +overmastered and dominated the population, took upon himself +to reply. He reminded the Roman commander that it +was the Sabbath, a day on which not only was it unlawful +for the Jews to undertake any matters of war, policy, or +business, but even to treat of such, and therefore they could +not so much as entertain the present proposals of peace; but +that if the Romans would give them four-and-twenty hours’ +respite, during which period they could surround the city +with their camp, so that none could escape from it, the keys +of the gate should be given up to him on the following day, +when he might enter in triumph and take possession of the +place. Titus withdrew accordingly, probably for want of +forage, to a village at some distance, and John with his +followers, accompanied by a multitude of women and children, +whom he afterwards abandoned, made his escape in the night +and fled to Jerusalem. +</p> + +<p> +After such a breach of faith, he could expect nothing from +the clemency of the Roman general; so that John of Gischala, +like many others of the besieged, might be said to fight with +a rope round his neck. +</p> + +<p> +Within the city there had now been a fierce struggle for +power between the Zealots under Eleazar, and the reckless +party called by different opprobrious terms, of which +<q>Robbers</q> was the mildest, who followed the fortunes of +John. The peaceful section, unable to make head against +these two, looked anxiously for the entrance of the eagles, +many indeed of the wealthier deserting when practicable to +the camp of the enemy. Meanwhile the Romans pushed the +siege vigorously. Their army now consisted of Vespasian’s +choicest legions, commanded by his son in person. Their +engines of war were numerous and powerful. Skilful, scientific, +exact in discipline, and unimpeachable in courage, they +<pb n='320'/><anchor id='Pg320'/>were gradually but surely converging, in all their strength, +for one conclusive effort on the devoted city. Already the +second wall had been taken, retaken in a desperate struggle +by the besieged, and once more stormed and carried by the +legions. Famine, too, with her cruel hand, was withering +the strongest arms and chilling the bravest hearts in the city. +It was time to forget self-interest, faction, fanaticism, everything +but the nationality of Judæa, and the enemy at the +gate. +</p> + +</div><div n="3.2" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='321'/><anchor id='Pg321'/> +<index index="toc" level1="II. The Lion of Judah"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="II. The Lion of Judah"/> +<head>CHAPTER II<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE LION OF JUDAH</hi></head> + +<p> +Eleazar had resolved to obtain supreme command. +In a crisis like the present, no divided authority could +be expected to offer a successful resistance. John of Gischala +must be ruined by any means and at any sacrifice. His +unscrupulous rival, regardless of honour, truth, every consideration +but the rescue of his country, laid his plans accordingly. +With a plausible pretence of being reconciled, and +thus amalgamating two formidable armies for the common +good, he proposed to hold a conference with John in the +Outer Court of the Temple, where, in presence of the elders +and chief men of the city, they should arrange their past +differences and enter into a compact of alliance for the future. +The Great Council of the nation, ostensibly the rulers of +public affairs, and influenced alternately by the two antagonists, +were to be present. Eleazar thought it would go hard, +but that, with his own persuasive powers and public services, +he should gain some signal advantage over his adversary ere +they separated. +</p> + +<p> +He appeared, accordingly, at the place of conference, +splendidly armed indeed in his own person, but accompanied +by a small retinue of adherents all attired in long peaceful +robes, as though inviting the confidence of his enemy. +Observant eyes, it is true, and attentive ears, caught the +occasional clank and glitter of steel under these innocent +linen mantles, and the friends, if few in number, were of tried +valour and fidelity, while a mob of warlike men outside, who +had gathered ostensibly to look idly on, belonged obviously +to the party of the Zealots. Nevertheless, Eleazar had so +contrived matters that, while he guarded against surprise, +he should appear before the Council as a suppliant imploring +justice rather than a leader dictating terms. He +took up his position, accordingly, at the lower end of the +court, and after a deep obeisance to the assembled elders, +stood, as it were, in the background, assuming an air of +<pb n='322'/><anchor id='Pg322'/>humility somewhat at variance with his noble and warlike +exterior. +</p> + +<p> +His rival, on the contrary, whose followers completely +blocked up the entrance from the Temple, through which he +had thought it becoming to arrive, strode into the midst with +a proud and insolent bearing, scarcely deigning to acknowledge +the salutations he received, and glancing from time to +time back amongst his adherents, with scornful smiles, that +seemed to express a fierce contempt for the whole proceeding. +He was a man who, though scarcely past his youth, wore in +his face the traces of his vicious and disorderly career. His +features were flushed and swollen with intemperance; and +the deep lines about his mouth, only half concealed by the +long moustache and beard, denoted the existence of violent +passions, indulged habitually to excess. His large stature +and powerful frame set off the magnificence of his dress and +armour, nor was his eye without a flash of daring and defiance +that boded evil to an enemy; but his bearing, bold as it was, +smacked rather of the outlaw than the soldier, and his rude, +abrupt gestures contrasted disadvantageously with the cool +self-possession of his rival. The latter, asking permission, as +it were, of the Senate by another respectful obeisance, walked +frankly into the middle of the court to meet his foe. John +changed colour visibly, and his hand stole to the dagger at +his belt. He seemed to expect the treachery of which he +felt himself capable; but Eleazar, halting a full pace off, +looked him steadily in the face, and held out his right hand +in token of amity and reconciliation. A murmur of approval +ran through the Senate, which increased John’s uncertainty +how to act; but after a moment’s hesitation, unwillingly and +with a bad grace, he gave his own in return. +</p> + +<p> +Eleazar’s action, though apparently so frank and spontaneous, +was the result of calculation. He had now made +the impression he desired on the Senate, and secured the +favourable hearing which he believed was alone necessary for +his triumph. +</p> + +<p> +<q>We have been enemies,</q> said he, releasing the other’s +hand and turning to the assembly, while his full voice rang +through the whole court, and every syllable reached the +listeners outside. <q>We have been fair and open enemies, in +the belief that each was opposed to the interests of his +country; but the privations we have now undergone in the +same cause, the perils we have confronted side by side on the +same ramparts, must have convinced us that however we may +differ in our political tenets, nay, in our religious practices, +<pb n='323'/><anchor id='Pg323'/>we are equally sincere in a determination to shed our last +drop of blood in the defence of the Holy City from the +pollution of the heathen. This is no time for any consideration +but one—Jerusalem is invested, the Temple is threatened, +and the enemy at the gate. I give up all claim to authority, +save as a leader of armed men. I yield precedence in rank, +in council, in everything but danger. I devote my sword and +my life to the salvation of Judæa! Who is on my side?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Loud acclamations followed this generous avowal; and it +was obvious that Eleazar’s influence was more than ever in +the ascendant. It was no time for John to stem the torrent +of popular feeling, and he wisely floated with the stream. +Putting a strong control upon his wrath, he expressed to the +Senate in a few hesitating words, his consent to act in unison +with his rival, under their orders as Supreme Council of the +nation; a concession which elicited groans and murmurs from +his own partisans, many of whom forced their way with +insolent threats and angry gestures into the court. Eleazar +did not suffer the opportunity to escape without a fresh effort +for the downfall of his adversary. +</p> + +<p> +<q>There are men,</q> said he, pointing to the disaffected, and +raising his voice in full clear tones, <q>who had better have +swelled the ranks of the enemy than stood side by side with +Judah on the ramparts of Agrippa’s wall. They may be +brave in battle, but it is with a fierce undisciplined courage +more dangerous to friend than foe. Their very leader, bold +and skilful soldier as he is, cannot restrain such mutineers +even in the august presence of the Council. Their excesses +are laid to his charge; and a worthy and patriotic commander +becomes the scapegoat of a few ruffians whose crimes he is +powerless to prevent. John of Gischala, we have this day +exchanged the right hand of fellowship. We are friends, nay, +we are brothers-in-arms once more. I call upon thee, as a +brother, to dismiss these robbers, these paid cut-throats, whom +our very enemies stigmatise as <q>Sicarii,</q> and to cast in thy +lot with thine own people, and with thy father’s house!</q> +</p> + +<p> +John shot an eager glance from his rival to his followers. +The latter were bending angry brows upon the speaker, and +seemed sufficiently discontented with their own leader that +he should listen tamely to such a proposal. Swords, too, +were drawn by those in the rear, and brandished fiercely over +the heads of the seething mass. For an instant the thought +crossed his mind, that he had force enough to put the +opposing assemblage, Senate and all, to the sword; but his +quick practised glance taught him at the same time, that +<pb n='324'/><anchor id='Pg324'/>Eleazar’s party gathered quietly towards their chief, with +a confidence unusual in men really without arms, and a +methodical precision that denoted previous arrangement; +also that certain signals passed from them to the crowd, and +that the court was filling rapidly from the multitude without. +He determined then to dissemble for a time, and turned to +the Senate with a far more deferential air than he had yet +assumed. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I appeal to the elders of Judah,</q> said he, repressing at +the same time by a gesture the turbulence of his followers—<q>I +am content to abide by the decision of the National +Council. Is to-day a fitting season for the reduction of our +armament? Shall I choose the present occasion to disband +a body of disciplined soldiers, and turn a host of outraged +and revengeful men loose into the city with swords in their +hands? Have we not already enough idle mouths to feed, +or can we spare a single javelin from the walls? My <hi rend='italic'>brother</hi></q>—he +laid great stress upon the word, and gripped the haft of +his dagger under his mantle while he spoke it—<q>My brother +gives strange counsel, but I am willing to believe it sincere. +I too, though the words drop not like honey from my beard +as from his, have a right to be heard. Did I not leave +Gischala and my father’s vineyard for a prey to the enemy? +Did I not fool the whole Roman army, and mock Titus to +his face, that I might join in the defence of Jerusalem? and +shall I be schooled like an infant, or impeached for a traitor +to-day? Judge me by the result. I was on the walls this +morning; I saw not my brother there. The enemy were +preparing for an assault. The engine they call Victory had +been moved yet nearer by a hundred cubits. While we prate +here the eagles are advancing. To the walls! To the walls, +I say! Every man who calls himself a Jew; be he Priest or +Levite, Pharisee or Sadducee, Zealot or Essene. Let us see +whether John and his Sicarii are not as forward in the ranks +of the enemy as this <hi rend='italic'>brother</hi> of mine, Eleazar, and the bravest +he can bring!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Thus speaking, and regardless of the presence in which +he stood, John drew his sword and placed himself at the head +of his adherents, who with loud shouts demanded to be led +instantly to the ramparts. The enthusiasm spread like wildfire, +and even communicated itself to the Council. Eleazar’s +own friends caught the contagion, and the whole mass poured +out of the Temple, and, forming into bands in the streets, +hurried tumultuously to the walls. +</p> + +<p> +What John had stated to the Council was indeed true. +<pb n='325'/><anchor id='Pg325'/>The Romans, who had previously demolished the outer wall +and a considerable portion of the suburbs, had now for the +second time obtained possession of the second wall, and of +the high flanking tower called Antonia, which John, to do +him justice, had defended with great gallantry after he had +retaken it once from the assailants. It was from this point +of vantage that an attack was now organised by the flower of +the Roman army, having for its object the overthrow of her +last defences and complete reduction of the city. When +Eleazar and his rival appeared with their respective bands +they proved a welcome reinforcement to the defenders, who, +despite of their stubborn resistance, were hardly pressed by +the enemy. +</p> + +<p> +Every able-bodied Jew was a soldier on occasion. Troops +thus composed are invariably more formidable in attack than +defence. They have usually undaunted courage and a blind +headlong valour that sometimes defies the calculations of +military science or experience; but they are also susceptible +of panic under reverses, and lack the cohesion and solidity +which is only found in those who make warfare the profession +of a lifetime. The Jew armed with spear and sword, uttering +wild cries as he leaped to the assault, was nearly irresistible; +but once repulsed, his final discomfiture was imminent. +The Roman, on the contrary, never suffered himself to be +drawn out of his ranks by unforeseen successes, and preserved +the same methodical order in the advance as the retreat. He +was not, therefore, to be lured into an ambush however well +disguised; and even when outnumbered by a superior force, +could retire without defeat. +</p> + +<p> +The constitution of the legion, too, was especially adapted +to enhance the self-reliance of well-drilled troops. Every +Roman legion was a small army in itself, containing its +proportion of infantry, cavalry, engines of war, and means +for conveyance of baggage. A legion finding itself never so +unexpectedly detached from the main body, was at no loss +for those necessaries without which an army melts away like +snow in the sunshine, and was capable of independent action, +in any country and under any circumstances. Each man too +had perfect confidence in himself and his comrades; and +while it was esteemed so high a disgrace to be taken prisoner +that many soldiers have been known rather to die by their +own hands than submit to such dishonour, it is not surprising +that the imperial armies were often found to extricate +themselves with credit from positions which would have +ensured the destruction of any other troops in the world. +</p> + +<pb n='326'/><anchor id='Pg326'/> + +<p> +The internal arrangement, too, of every cohort, a title +perhaps answering to the modern word regiment, as does the +legion to that of division, was calculated to promote individual +intelligence and energy in the ranks. Every soldier not only +fought, but fed, slept, marched, and toiled, under the immediate +eye of his <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">decurion</foreign> or captain of ten, who again was +directly responsible for those under his orders to his centurion, +or captain of a hundred. A certain number of these centuries +or companies, varying according to circumstances, constituted +a maniple, two of which made up the cohort. Every legion +consisted of ten cohorts, under the charge of but six tribunes, +who seem to have entered on their onerous office in rotation. +These were again subservient to the general, who, under the +different titles of prætor, consul, etc., commanded the whole +legion. The private soldiers were armed with shield, breastplate, +helmet, spear, sword, and dagger; but in addition to +his weapons every man carried a set of intrenching tools, and +on occasion two or more strong stakes, for the rapid erection +of palisades. All were, indeed, robust labourers and skilful +mechanics, as well as invincible combatants. +</p> + +<p> +The Jews, therefore, though a fierce and warlike nation, +had but little chance against the conquerors of the world. +It was but their characteristic self-devotion that enabled +them to hold Titus and his legions so long in check. Their +desperate sallies were occasionally crowned with success, and +the generous Roman seems to have respected the valour and +the misfortunes of his foe; but it must have been obvious to +so skilful a leader, that his reduction of Jerusalem and eventual +possession of all Judæa was a question only of time. +</p> + +<p> +At an earlier period of the siege the Romans had made a +wide and shallow cutting capable of sheltering infantry, for +the purpose of advancing their engines closer to the wall, +but from the nature of the soil this work had been afterwards +discontinued. It now formed a moderately-secure covered-way, +enabling the besieged to reach within a short distance +of the Tower of Antonia, the retaking of which was of the +last importance—none the less that from its summit Titus +himself was directing the operations of his army. There was +a breach in this tower on its inner side, which the Romans +strove in vain to repair, harassed as they were by showers of +darts and javelins from the enemy on the wall. More than +once, in attempting to make it good at night, their materials +had been burnt and themselves driven back upon their works +with great loss, by the valour of the besieged. The Tower of +Antonia was indeed the key to the possession of the second +<pb n='327'/><anchor id='Pg327'/>wall. Could it but be retaken, as it had already been, the +Jews might find themselves once more with two strong lines +of defence between the upper city and the foe. +</p> + +<p> +When Eleazar and John, at the head of their respective +parties, now mingled indiscriminately together, reached the +summit of the inner wall, they witnessed a fierce and desperate +struggle in the open space below. +</p> + +<p> +Esca, no longer in the position of a mere household slave, +but the friend and client of the most influential man in +Jerusalem, who had admitted him, men said, as a proselyte +to his faith, and was about to bestow on him his daughter +in marriage, had already so distinguished himself by various +feats of arms in the defence of the city, as to be esteemed one +of the boldest leaders in the Jewish army. Panting to achieve +a high reputation, which he sometimes dared to hope might +gain him all he wished for on earth—the hand of Mariamne—and +sharing to a great extent with the besieged their veneration +for the Temple and abhorrence of a foreign yoke, the +Briton lost no opportunity of adding a leaf to the laurels he +had gained, and thrust himself prominently forward in every +enterprise demanding an unusual amount of strength and +courage. His lofty stature and waving golden hair, so conspicuous +amongst the swarthy warriors who surrounded him, +were soon well known in the ranks of the Romans, who +bestowed on him the title of the Yellow Hostage, as inferring +from his appearance that he must have lately been a stranger +in Jerusalem; and many a stout legionary closed in more +firmly on his comrade, and raised his shield more warily to +the level of his eyes, when he saw those bright locks waving +above the press of battle, and the long sword flashing with +deadly strokes around that fair young head. He was now +leading a party of chosen warriors, along the covered-way +that has been mentioned, to attack the Tower of Antonia. +For this purpose, the trench had been deepened during the +night by the Jews themselves, who had for some days meditated +a bold stroke of this nature; and the chosen band had +good reason to believe that their movements were unseen and +unsuspected by the enemy. +</p> + +<p> +As they deployed into the open space, but a few furlongs +from the base of the tower, the Jews caught sight of Titus on +the summit, his golden armour flashing in the sun, and, with +a wild yell of triumph, they made one of their fierce, rushing, +disorderly charges to the attack. They had reached within +twenty paces of the breach, when swooping round the angle +of the tower, like a falcon on his prey, came Placidus, at the +<pb n='328'/><anchor id='Pg328'/>head of a thousand horsemen, dashing forward with lifted +shields and levelled spears amongst the disorganised mass of +the Jews, broken by the very impetus of their own advance. +</p> + +<p> +The tribune had but lately joined the Roman army, having +been employed in the subjugation of a remote province of +Judæa—a task for which his character made him a peculiarly +fit instrument. Enriched by a few months of extortion and +rapine, he had taken care to rejoin his commander in time to +share with him the crowning triumphs of the siege. Julius +Placidus was a consummate soldier. His vigilance had detected +the meditated attack, and his science was prepared to +meet it in the most effectual manner. Titus, from the summit +of his tower, could not but admire the boldness and rapidity +with which the tribune dashed from his concealment, and +launched his cavalry on the astonished foe. +</p> + +<p> +But he had to do with one, who, though his inferior in +skill and experience, was his equal in that cool hardihood +which can accept and baffle a surprise. Esca had divided +his force into two bodies, so that the second might advance +in a dense mass to the support of the first, whether its disorderly +attack should be attended by failure or success. This +body, though clear of the trench, yet remaining firm in its +ranks, now became a rallying point for its comrades, and +although a vast number of the Jews were ridden down and +speared by the attacking horsemen, there were enough left +to form a bristling phalanx, presenting two converging fronts +of level steel impervious to the enemy. Placidus observed +the manœuvre and ground his teeth in despite; but though +his brow lowered for one instant, the evil smile lit up his +face the next, for he espied Esca, detached from his band +and engaged in rallying its stragglers; nor did he fail to +recognise at a glance the man he most hated on earth. +Urging his horse to speed, and even at that moment of +gratified fury glancing towards the tower to see whether +Titus was looking on, he levelled his spear and bore down +upon the Briton in a desperate and irresistible charge. Esca +stepped nimbly aside, and receiving the weapon on his +buckler, dealt a sweeping sword-cut at the tribune’s head, +which stooping to avoid, the latter pulled at his horse’s reins +so vigorously as to check the animal’s career and bring it +suddenly on its haunches. The Briton, watching his opportunity, +seized the bit in his powerful grasp, and with the aid +of his massive weight and strength, rolled man and horse to +the ground in a crashing fall. The tribune was undermost, +and for the moment at the mercy of his adversary. Looking +<pb n='329'/><anchor id='Pg329'/>upward with a livid face and deep bitter hatred glaring in his +eye, he did but hiss out <q>Oh, mine enemy!</q> from between +his clenched teeth, and prepared to receive his deathblow; +but the hand that was raised to strike, fell quietly to Esca’s +side, and he turned back through the press of horsemen, +buffeting them from him as a swimmer buffets the waves, +till he reached his own men. Placidus, rising from the ground, +shook his clenched fist at the retreating figure; but he never +knew that he owed his preservation to the first-fruits of that +religion which had now taken root in the breast of his former +slave. When he groaned out in his despair <q>Oh, mine +enemy!</q> the Briton remembered that this man had, indeed, +shown himself the bitterest and most implacable of his foes. +It was no mere impulse, but the influence of a deep abiding +principle that bade him now forgive and spare for the sake +of One whose lessons he was beginning to learn, and in whose +service he had resolved to enter. Amongst all the triumphs +and the exploits of that day, there was none more noble +than Esca’s, when he lowered his sword and turned away, +unwilling, indeed, but resolute, from his fallen foe. +</p> + +<p> +The fight raged fiercely still. Eleazar with his Zealots—John +of Gischala with his Robbers—rushed from the walls to +the assistance of their countrymen. The Roman force was +in its turn outnumbered and surrounded, though Placidus, +again on horseback, did all in the power of man to make +head against the mass of his assailants. Titus at length +ordered the Tenth Legion, called by his own name and constituting +the very flower of the Roman army, to the rescue +of their countrymen. Commanded by Licinius, in whose +cool and steady valour they had perfect confidence, these +soon turned the tide of combat, and forced the Jews back +to their defences; not, however, until their general had recognised +in the Yellow Hostage the person of his favourite +slave, and thought, with a pang, that the fate of war would +forbid his ever seeing him face to face again, except as a +captive or a corpse. +</p> + +</div><div n="3.3" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='330'/><anchor id='Pg330'/> +<index index="toc" level1="III. The Wisdom of the Serpent"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="III. The Wisdom of the Serpent"/> +<head>CHAPTER III<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE WISDOM OF THE SERPENT</hi></head> + +<p> +Ever since the night which changed the imperial master +of Rome, Esca had dwelt with Eleazar as if he were +a member of the same family and the same creed. Though +Mariamne, according to the custom of her nation, confined +herself chiefly to the women’s apartments, it was impossible +that two who loved each other so well as the Jewess and +the Briton should reside under the same roof without an +occasional interview. These usually took place when the +latter returned to unarm after his military duties; and +though but a short greeting was interchanged, a hurried +inquiry, a few words of thanksgiving for his safety, and +assurances of her continued affection, these moments were +prized and looked forward to by both, as being the only +occasions on which they could enjoy each other’s society +uninterrupted and alone. +</p> + +<p> +After the repulse of the tribune’s attack beneath the +Tower of Antonia, Esca returned in triumph to Eleazar’s +house. He was escorted to the very door by the chief men +of the city, and a band of those chosen warriors who had +witnessed and shared in his exploits. Mariamne, from the +gallery which surrounded it, saw him enter her father’s court +at the head of her father’s friends, heard that father address +him before them all in a few soldierlike words of thanks +and commendation—nay, even observed him lead the successful +combatant away with him as though for some +communication of unusual confidence. The girl’s heart +leaped within her; and vague hopes, of which she could +not have explained the grounds, took possession of her +mind. She loved him very dearly: they slept under the +same roof, they ate at the same board; notwithstanding the +perils of warfare to which she was now habituated, they +met every day: but this was not enough; something was +wanting still; so she watched him depart with her father, +and grudged not the loss of her own short interview with +<pb n='331'/><anchor id='Pg331'/>its congratulations that she so longed to pour into his ear, +because the indefinite hopes that dawned on her, seemed to +promise more happiness than she could bear. +</p> + +<p> +Eleazar took the helmet from his brow, and signed to +Esca to do the same. Then he filled a measure of wine, +and draining the half of it eagerly, handed the rest to his +companion. For a few minutes he paced up and down the +room, still wearing his breastplate, and with his sword girded +to his side, deep in thought, ere turning abruptly to +his companion he placed his hand on his shoulder, and +said— +</p> + +<p> +<q>You have eaten my bread—you have drunk from my +cup. Esca, you are to me as a son; will you do my +bidding?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Even as a son,</q> replied the Briton; to whom such an +address seemed at once to open the way for the fulfilment +of his dearest wishes. +</p> + +<p> +Eleazar ignored the emphasis on the word. It may be +that his mind was too entirely engrossed with public interests +to admit a thought upon private affairs; it may be that he +considered Esca, like the sword upon his thigh, as a strong +and serviceable weapon, to be laid aside when no longer +wanted for conflict; or it may be that his purpose was +honest, and that, after the salvation of his country, he would +have been actuated by the kindlier motives of a father and +a friend; but in the meantime he had a purpose in view, +and no considerations of affection or partiality would have +led him to swerve from it by a hair’s-breadth. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Look around you,</q> said he, <q>and behold the type of +Judæa, and especially of Jerusalem, in this very building. +See how fair and stately are the walls of my house, how +rich its ornaments, how costly its hangings and decorations. +Here are ivory, and sandal-wood, and cedar; webs of divers +colours; robes of purple, stores of fine linen, vessels of +silver, and drinking-cups of gold; frankincense and wine +are here in plenty, but of barley we have scarce a few +handfuls; and if the same visitors that my father Abraham +entertained on the plains of Mamre were at my door to-day, +where should I find a kid that I might slay it, and set it +before them to eat? I have everything here in the house, +save that alone without which everything else is of no avail—the +daily bread that gives man strength for his daily task. +And so is it with my country: we have men, we have +weapons, we have wealth; but we lack that which alone +renders those advantages efficient for defence—the constant +<pb n='332'/><anchor id='Pg332'/>unshrinking reliance on itself and its faith, from which a +nation derives its daily resources as from its daily bread. +There are men here in the city now who would hand +Jerusalem over to the heathen without striking another blow +in her defence.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Shame on them!</q> answered the other warmly. <q>Barbarian, +stranger as I am, I pledge myself to die there, ere +a Roman soldier’s foot shall pollute the threshold of the +Temple.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You are a warrior,</q> answered Eleazar; <q>you have +proved it to-day. As a warrior I consult with you on the +possibility of our defence. You saw the result of the conflict +under the Tower of Antonia, and the bravery of the Tenth +Legion; we cannot resist another such attack till our defences +are repaired. We must gain time; at all hazards, +and at any sacrifice, we must gain time.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>In two days the breach might be strengthened,</q> replied +the other; <q>but Titus is an experienced soldier; he was +watching us to-day from the summit of his tower. He will +hardly delay the assault beyond to-morrow.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>He must!</q> answered Eleazar vehemently. <q>I have +my preparations for defence, and in less than two days the +city shall be again impregnable. Listen, Esca; you little +know the opposition I have met with, or the hatred I have +incurred in overcoming it. I have sought means to preserve +the city from all quarters, and have thus given a handle to +my enemies that they will not fail to use for my destruction. +Have I not taken the holy oil from the sacrifice, to pour +boiling on the heads of the besiegers? and will not John of +Gischala and the Robbers fling this sacrilege in my teeth +when it becomes known? Even at this moment I have +seized the small quantity of chaff there is yet remaining in +the city, to fill the sacks with which we may neutralise the +iron strokes of that heavy battering-ram, which the soldiers +themselves call Victory. There is scarce a grain of wheat +left, and many a hungry stomach must sleep to-night without +even the miserable meal it had promised itself, for want +of this poor measure of chaff. Men will curse Eleazar in +their prayers. It is cruel work,—cruel work. But, no! I +will never abandon my post, and the seed of Jacob shall +eat one another for very hunger in the streets, ere I deliver +the Holy City into the keeping of the heathen.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Something almost like a tear shone in the eye of this +iron-hearted fanatic while he spoke, but his resolution was +not to be shaken; and he only spoke the truth when he +<pb n='333'/><anchor id='Pg333'/>avowed that famine, stalking abroad in its most horrible +form, would be a less hateful sight to him than the crest of +a Roman soldier within the walls of Jerusalem. His brain +had been hard at work on his return from the conflict of the +day; and he had woven a plan by which he hoped to gain +such a short respite from attack as would enable him to bid +defiance to Titus once more. This could only be done, +however, with the aid of others, and by means of a perfidy +that even he could scarcely reconcile to himself—that he +could not but fear must be repugnant to his agent. +</p> + +<p> +The well-known clemency of the Roman commander, +and his earnest wish to spare, if it were possible, the beautiful +and sacred city from destruction, had caused him to +listen patiently at all times to any overtures made by the +Jews for the temporary suspension of hostilities. Titus +seemed not only averse to bloodshed, but also extended +his goodwill in an extraordinary degree to an enemy whose +religion he respected, and whose miseries obtained his sincere +compassion. On many occasions he had delayed his orders +for a final and probably irresistible assault, in the hope that +the city might be surrendered; and that he could hand over +to his father this beautiful prize, undefaced by the violence +inflicted on a town taken by storm. The great Roman +commander was not only the most skilful leader of his day, +but a wise and far-sighted politician, as well as a humane and +generous man. Eleazar knew the character with which he +had to deal; but he stifled all scruples of honour in the one +consideration, that his first and only duty was to the cause +of Judah; yet in his breast were lying dormant the instincts +of a brave man, and it was not without misgivings of opposition +from his listener, that he disclosed to Esca the scheme +by which he hoped to overreach Titus and gain a few hours’ +respite for the town. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Two days,</q> said he, resuming his restless walk up and +down the apartment—<q>two days is all I ask—all I require. +Two days I <hi rend='italic'>must</hi> have. Listen, young man. I have proved +you, I can trust you; and yet the safety of Judah hangs on +your fidelity. Swear, by the God of Israel, that you will +never reveal the secret I disclose to you this day. It is but +known to my brother, my daughter, and myself. You are +the adopted son of my house. Swear!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I swear!</q> replied Esca solemnly; and his hopes grew +brighter as he found himself thus admitted, as it were, to +a place in the family of the woman he loved. +</p> + +<p> +Eleazar looked from the casement and through the door, +<pb n='334'/><anchor id='Pg334'/>to assure himself against listeners; then he filled the Briton’s +cup once more, and proceeded with his confidences. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Around that dried-up fountain,</q> said he, pointing to the +terraces on which his stately house was built, <q>there lie seven +slabs of marble, with which its basin is paved. If you put +the point of your sword under the left-hand corner of the +centre one, you may move it sufficiently to admit your hand. +Lift it, and you find a staircase leading to a passage; follow +that passage, in which a full-grown man can stand upright, +and along which you may grope your way without fear, and +you come to an egress choked up with a few faggots and +briers. Burst through these, and, lo! you emerge beyond +the Tower of Antonia, and within fifty paces of the Roman +camp. Will you risk yourself amongst the enemy for +Judah’s sake?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I have been nearer the Romans than fifty paces,</q> +answered Esca proudly. <q>It is no great service you ask; +and if they seize upon me as an escaped slave, and condemn +me to the cross, what then? It is but a soldier’s duty I am +undertaking after all. When shall I depart?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Eleazar reflected for a moment. The other’s unscrupulous, +unquestioning fidelity touched even his fierce heart to the +quick. It would be, doubtless, death to the messenger, who, +notwithstanding his character of herald, would be too surely +treated as a mere runaway; but the message must be +delivered, and who was there but Esca for him to send? He +bent his brows, and proceeded in a harder tone— +</p> + +<p> +<q>I have confided to you the secret way, that is known to +but three besides in Jerusalem. I need keep nothing from +you now. You shall bear my written proposals to Titus for +a truce till the sun has again set twice, on certain terms; but +those terms it will be safer for the messenger not to know. +Will you run the risk, and when?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>This instant, if they are ready,</q> answered the other +boldly; but even while he spoke, Calchas entered the apartment; +and Eleazar, conscious of the certain doom to which +he was devoting his daughter’s preserver and his own guest, +shrank from his brother’s eye, and would have retired to +prepare his missive without further question. +</p> + +<p> +Fierce and unscrupulous as he was, he could yet feel +bitterly for the brave, honest nature that walked so unsuspiciously +into the trap he laid. It was one thing to overreach a +hostile general, and another to sacrifice a faithful and devoted +friend. He had no hesitation in affecting treason to Titus, +and promising the Romans that, if they would but grant him +<pb n='335'/><anchor id='Pg335'/>that day and the next, to obtain the supremacy of his own +faction and chief power within the walls, he would deliver +over the city, with the simple condition that the Temple +should not be demolished, and the lives of the inhabitants +should be spared. He acknowledged no dishonour in the +determination, which he concealed in his own breast, to +employ that interval strenuously in defensive works, and +when it had elapsed to break faith unhesitatingly with his +foe. In the cause of Judah—so thought this fanatic, half-soldier, +half-priest—it was but a fair stratagem of war, and +would, as a means of preserving the true faith, meet with the +direct approval of Heaven. But it seemed hard—very hard—that, +to secure these advantages, he must devote to certain +destruction one who had sat at his board and lived under his +roof for months; and a pang, of which he did not care to +trace the origin, smote the father’s heart when he thought of +Mariamne’s face, and her question to-morrow, <q>Where <anchor id="corr335"/><corr sic="s">is</corr> +Esca? and why is he not come back?</q> +</p> + +<p> +He took his brother aside, and told him, shortly, that Esca +was going as a messenger of peace to the Roman camp. +Calchas looked him full in the face, and shook his head. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Brother,</q> said he, <q>thy ways are tortuous, though thy +bearing is warlike and bold. Thou trustest too much to the +sword of steel and the arm of flesh—the might of man’s +strength, which a mere pebble on the pavement can bring +headlong to the ground; and the scheming of man’s brain, +which cannot foresee, even for one instant, the trifle that shall +baffle and confound it in the next. It is better to trust boldly +in the right. This youth is of our own household: he is more +to us than friend and kindred. Wouldst thou send him up +with his hands bound to the sacrifice? Brother, thou shalt +not do this great sin!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>What would you?</q> said Eleazar impatiently. <q>Every +man to his duty. The priest to the offering; the craftsman +to his labour; the soldier to the wall. He alone knows the +secret passage. Whom have I but Esca to send?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am a man of peace,</q> replied Calchas, and over his face +stole that ray of triumphant confidence which at seasons of +danger seemed to brighten it like a glory; <q>who so fitting to +carry a message of peace as myself? You have said, everyone +to his appointed task. I cannot—nay, I <hi rend='italic'>would</hi> not—put +a breastplate on my worthless body, and a helmet on my old +grey head, and brandish spear, or javelin, or deadly weapon +in my feeble hands; but do you think it is because I fear? +Remember, brother, the blood of the sons of Manahem runs in +<pb n='336'/><anchor id='Pg336'/>my veins as in yours, and I, too, have a right to risk every drop +of it in the service of my country! Oh! I have sinned! +I have sinned!</q> added the old man, with a burst of contrition, +after this momentary outburst. <q>What am I to speak such +words? I, the humblest and least worthy of my master’s +servants!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You shall not go!</q> exclaimed Eleazar, covering his face +with his hands as the horrid results of such a mission rose +before his eyes. Should the Romans keep the herald for a +hostage, as most probably they would, until the time of +surrender had elapsed, what must be his certain fate? Had +they not already crucified more than one such emissary in +face of the walls? and could they be expected to show mercy +in a case like this? His love for his brother had been the +one humanising influence of Eleazar’s life. It tore his heart +now with a grief that was something akin to rage, when he +reflected that even that brother, if requisite, must be sacrificed +to the cause of Jerusalem. +</p> + +<p> +Esca looked from one to the other, apparently unmoved. +To him the whole affair seemed simply a matter of duty, in +the fulfilment of which he would himself certainly run considerable +risk, that did not extend to Calchas. He was +perfectly willing to go; but could not, at the same time, +refrain from thinking that the latter was the fitter person to +undertake such a mission at such a time. He could not guess +at the perfidy which Eleazar meditated, and which brought +with it its own punishment in his present sufferings for his +brother. <q>I am ready,</q> said he quietly, resting his hand on +his helmet, as though prepared to depart forthwith. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You shall not go,</q> repeated Calchas, looking fixedly at +his brother the while. <q>I tell thee, Eleazar,</q> he added, with +kindling eye and heightened tone, <q>that I will not stand by +and see this murder done. As an escaped slave, Esca will be +condemned to death unheard. It may be that they will even +subject him to the scourge, and worse. As the bearer of +terms for a truce, our enemies will treat me as an honoured +guest. If thou art determined to persevere, I will frustrate +thine intention by force. I need but whisper to the Sanhedrim +that Eleazar is trafficking with those outside the walls, and +where would be the house of Ben-Manahem? and how long +would the Zealots own allegiance to their chief? Nay, +brother, such discord and such measures can never be between +thee and me. When have we differed in our lives, since we +clung together to our mother’s knees? Prepare thy missive. +I will take it to the Roman camp forthwith, and return in +<pb n='337'/><anchor id='Pg337'/>safety as I went. What have I to fear? Am I not protected +by Him whom I serve?</q> +</p> + +<p> +When Eleazar withdrew his hands from his face it was +deadly pale, and large drops stood upon his forehead. The +struggle had been cruel indeed, but it was over. <q>Jerusalem +before all,</q> was the principle from which he had never been +known to swerve, and now he must sacrifice to it that life so +much dearer than his own. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Be it as you will,</q> said he, commanding himself with a +strong effort; <q>you can only leave the city by our secret +passage. The scroll shall be ready at midnight. It must be +in the hand of Titus by dawn!</q> +</p> + +</div><div n="3.4" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='338'/><anchor id='Pg338'/> +<index index="toc" level1="IV. The Masters of the World"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="IV. The Masters of the World"/> +<head>CHAPTER IV<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE MASTERS OF THE WORLD</hi></head> + +<p> +An hour before sunrise Calchas was stopped by one of the +sentinels on the verge of the Roman camp. He had +made his escape from the city, as he hoped, without arousing +the suspicions of the besieged. The outskirts of Jerusalem +were, indeed, watched almost as narrowly by its defenders as +its assailants, for so many of the peaceful inhabitants had +already taken refuge with the latter, and so many more were +waiting their opportunity to fly from the horrors within the +walls, and trust to the mercy of the conquerors without, that +a strict guard had been placed by the national party on the +different gates of the city, and all communication with the +enemy forbidden and made punishable with death. It was +no light risk, therefore, that Calchas took upon himself in +carrying his brother’s proposals to the Roman general. +</p> + +<p> +Following the high-crested centurion, who, summoned by +the first sentinel that had challenged, offered to conduct him +at once to the presence of Titus; the emissary, man of peace +though he was, could not but admire the regularity of the +encampment in which he found himself, and the discipline +observed by those who occupied it. The line of tents was +arranged with mathematical order and precision, forming a +complete city of canvas, of which the principal street, so to +speak, stretching in front of the tents occupied by the tribunes +and other chief officers, was not less than a hundred feet +wide. From this great thoroughfare all the others struck off +at right angles, completing a simple figure, in which communication +was unimpeded and confusion impossible, whilst +an open space of some two hundred feet was preserved +between the camp and the ramparts that encircled the whole. +In this interval troops might parade, spoil and baggage be +stored, or beasts of burden tethered, whilst its width afforded +comparative security to those within from darts, firebrands, +or other missiles of offence. +</p> + +<p> +If Calchas had ever dreamed of the possibility that his +<pb n='339'/><anchor id='Pg339'/>countrymen would be able to make head against the Romans, +he abandoned the idea now. As he followed his conductor +through the long white streets in which the legions lay at rest, +he could not but observe the efficient state of that army which +no foe had ever yet been able to resist—he could not fail to +be struck by the brightness of the arms, piled in exact +symmetry before each tent; by the ready obedience and +cheerful respect paid by the men to their officers, and by the +abundant supplies of food and water, contrasting painfully +with the hunger and thirst of the besieged. Line after line +he traversed in silent wonder, and seemed no nearer the +pavilion of the general than at first; and he could not conceal +from himself that the enemy were no less formidable to the +Jews in their numerical superiority than in discipline, organisation, +and all the advantages of war. +</p> + +<p> +His conductor halted at length in front of a large canvas +dome, opposite to which a strong guard of the Tenth Legion +were resting on their arms. At a sign from the centurion, +two of these advanced like machines, and stood motionless +one on each side of Calchas. Then the centurion disappeared, +to return presently with a tribune, who, after a +short investigation of the emissary, bade him follow, and, +lifting a curtain, Calchas found himself at once in the presence +of the Roman conqueror and his generals. As the latter +gave way on each side, the hero advanced a step and confronted +the ambassador from the besieged. Titus, according +to custom, was fully armed, and with his helmet on his +head. The only luxury the hardy soldier allowed himself +was in the adornment of his weapons, which were richly +inlaid with gold. Many a time had he nearly paid the +penalty of this warlike fancy with his life; for, in the thick +of battle, who so conspicuous as the bold prince in his +golden armour? Who such a prize, alive or dead, as the +son of Vespasian, and heir to the sovereignty of the world? +He stood now, erect and dignified, a fitting representative +of the mighty engine he wielded with such skill. His firm +and well-knit frame wore its steel covering lightly and easily +as a linen tunic. His noble features and manly bearing bore +witness to the generous disposition and the fearless heart +within; and his gestures denoted that self-reliance and +self-respect which spring from integrity and conscious +power combined. He looked every inch a soldier and a +prince. +</p> + +<p> +But there was a peculiarity in the countenance of Titus +which added a nameless charm to his frank and handsome +<pb n='340'/><anchor id='Pg340'/>features. With all its manly daring, there was yet in the +depths of those keen eyes a gleam of womanly compassion +and tenderness, that emboldened a suppliant and reassured +a prisoner. There was a softness in the unfrequent smile +that could but belong to a kindly guileless nature. It was +the face of a man capable, not only of lofty deeds and daring +exploits, but of gentle memories, loving thoughts, home +affections, generosity, commiseration, and self-sacrifice. +</p> + +<p> +Close behind the general, affording a striking contrast +in every respect to his chief, stood the least-trusted, but by +no means the least efficient, of his officers. Almost the first +eye that Calchas met when he entered the tent was that +of Julius Placidus, whose services to Vespasian, though never +thoroughly understood, had been rewarded by a high command +in the Roman army. The most right-thinking of +Cæsars could not neglect the man whose energies had helped +him to the throne; and Titus, though he saw through the +character he thoroughly despised, was compelled to do +justice to the ready courage and soldierlike qualities of the +tribune. So Julius Placidus found himself placed in a +position from which he could play his favourite game to +advantage, and was still courting ambition as zealously as +when he intrigued at Rome against Vitellius, and bargained +with Hippias over a cup of wine for the murder of his +emperor. +</p> + +<p> +That retired swordsman, too, was present in the tent; no +longer the mere trainer of professional gladiators, but commanding +a band that had made itself a name for daring at +which the besieged grew pale, and which the Tenth Legion +itself could hardly hope to emulate. After the assassination +of the last Cæsar, this host of gladiators had formed themselves +into a body of mercenaries, with Hippias at their +head, and offered their services to the new emperor. Under +the ominous title of <q>The Lost Legion,</q> these desperate +men had distinguished themselves by entering on all such +enterprises as promised an amount of danger to which it +was hardly thought prudent to expose regular troops, and +had gained unheard-of credit during the siege, which from +its nature afforded them many opportunities for the display +of wild and reckless courage. Their leader was conspicuous, +even in the general’s tent, by the lavish splendour of his +arms and appointments; but, though his bearing was proud +and martial as ever, his face had grown haggard and careworn, +his beard was thickly sprinkled with grey. Hippias +had played for the heaviest stakes of life boldly, and had +<pb n='341'/><anchor id='Pg341'/>won. He seemed to be little better off, and little better +satisfied, than the losers in the great game. +</p> + +<p> +Near him stood Licinius,—staid, placid, determined; the +commander of the Tenth Legion; the favoured councillor +of Titus; the pride of the whole army; having all the experiences, +all the advantages, all the triumphs of life at his +feet. Alas! knowing too well what they were worth. It +was a crown of parsley men gave the young athlete who +conquered in the Isthmian Games; and round the unwrinkled +brows that parsley was precious as gold. Later +in life the converse holds too true, and long before the hair +turns grey, all earthly triumphs are but empty pageantry; +all crowns but withered parsley at the best. +</p> + +<p> +Titus, standing forward from amongst his officers, glanced +with a look of pity at the worn hungry face of the messenger. +Privation, nay, famine, was beginning to do its work even +on the wealthiest of the besieged, and Calchas could not +hide under his calm, dignified bearing, the lassitude and +depression of physical want. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The proposal is a fair one,</q> said the prince, turning to +his assembled captains. <q>Two days’ respite, and a free +surrender of the city, with the simple condition that the +holy places shall be respected, and the lives of the inhabitants +spared. These Jews may do me the justice to +remember that my wish throughout the war has ever been +to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, and had they treated me +with more confidence, I would long ago have shown them +how truly I respected their Temple and their faith. It is +not too late now. Nevertheless, illustrious friends, I called +you not together so soon after cock-crow<note place="foot">The first call of the Roman trumpets in camp, about two hours before +dawn, was distinguished by that name.</note> for a council of +war, without intending to avail myself of your advice. I +hold in my hand a proposal from Eleazar, an influential +patrician, as it appears, in the city, to deliver up the keys +of the Great Gate, within forty-eight hours, provided I will +pledge him my word to preserve his Temple from demolition, +and his countrymen from slaughter; provided also, that the +Roman army abstain during that time from all offensive +measures, whatever preparations for resistance they may +observe upon the walls. He further states that the city +contains a large party of desperate men, who are opposed +to all terms of capitulation, and that he must labour during +these two days to coerce some and cajole others to his own +opinion. It is a fair proposal enough, I repeat. The Tenth +<pb n='342'/><anchor id='Pg342'/>Legion is the first in seniority as in fame—I call upon its +commander for his opinion.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Licinius, thus appealed to, earnestly advised that any +terms which might put an end to the loss of life on both +sides, should be entertained from motives of policy as well +as humanity. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I speak not,</q> said the general, <q>for myself or my legion. +Our discipline is unshaken, our supplies are regular, our +men have been inured by long campaigning to a Syrian +climate and a Syrian sun. We have lost comparatively few +from hardships or disease. But no commander knows +better than Titus, how an army in the field melts by the +mere influence of time, and the difference that a few weeks +can make in its efficiency and numerical strength is the +difference between victory and defeat. Other divisions have +not been so fortunate as my own. I will put it to the +leader of the Lost Legion, how many men he could march +to-day to the assault?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Hippias stroked his beard gravely, and shook his head. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Had I been asked the question five days ago,</q> said he +frankly, <q>I could have answered a thousand. Had I been +asked it yesterday, seven hundred. Great prince, at noon, +to-day, I must be content to muster five hundred swordsmen. +Nevertheless,</q> he added, with something of his old abrupt +manner, <q>not one of them but claims his privilege of leading +the other cohorts to the breach!</q> +</p> + +<p> +It was too true that the influence of climate, acting upon +men disposed to intemperance in pleasure, added to the +severity of their peculiar service, had reduced the original +number of the gladiators by one half. The remnant, however, +were still actuated, like their commander, by the fierce +reckless spirit of the amphitheatre. Titus, looking from +one to the other, pondered for a few moments in earnest +thought, and Placidus, seizing the opportunity, broke in with +his smooth courteous tones. +</p> + +<p> +<q>It is not for me,</q> said he, <q>to differ with such illustrious +leaders as those who have just spoken. The empire has +long acknowledged Licinius as one of her bravest commanders; +and Hippias the gladiator lives but in his natural +element of war. Still, my first duty is to Cæsar and to +Rome. Great prince, when a short while ago you bade a +noble Jewish captive address his countrymen on the wall, +what was the result? They knew him to be a patrician of +their oldest blood, and, I believe, a priest also of their own +superstitions. They had proved him a skilful general, and +<pb n='343'/><anchor id='Pg343'/>I myself speak of him without rancour, though he foiled me +before Jotapata. Till taken prisoner by Vespasian Cæsar, +he had been their staunchest patriot and their boldest +leader. When he addressed them, notwithstanding the +length of his appeal, they had no reason but to believe him +sincere. And what, I say, was the result? A few hours +gained for resistance; a fiercer defiance flung at Rome; a +more savage cruelty displayed towards her troops. I would +not trust them, prince. This very proposal may be but a +stratagem to gain time. The attack of yesterday, covered +by my cavalry, must have shaken them shrewdly. Probably +their stores are exhausted. The very phalanx that opposed +us so stubbornly looked gaunt and grim as wolves. Observe +this very emissary from the most powerful man in Jerusalem. +Is there not famine in his hollow cheeks and sunken eyes? +Give him to eat. See how his visage brightens at the very +name of food! Give him to eat, now, in presence of the +council of war, and judge by his avidity of the privations +he has endured behind the walls.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Hold!</q> exclaimed Titus indignantly; <q>hold, tribune, +and learn, if you have one generous feeling left, to respect +misfortune, most of all when you behold it in the person of +your enemy. This venerable man shall indeed be supplied +with wine and food; but he shall not be insulted in my camp +by feeling that his sufferings are gauged as the test of his +truth. Licinius, my old and trusty counsellor, my very +instructor in the art of war, I confide him to your care. +Take him with you to your tent; see that he wants for +nothing. I need not remind you to treat an enemy with +all the kindness and courtesy compatible with the caution +of a soldier. But you must not lose sight of him for a +moment, and you will send him back with my answer under +a strong guard to the chief gate of Jerusalem. I will have +no underhand dealings with this unhappy people; though +much, I fear, my duty to my father and the empire will not +permit me to grant them the interval of repose that they +desire. This is for my consideration. I have taken your +opinions, for which I thank you. I reserve to myself the +option of being guided by them. Friends and comrades, +you are dismissed. Let this man be forthcoming in an hour, +to take my answer back to those who sent him. <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">Vale!</foreign></q> +</p> + +<p> +<foreign rend='italic' lang="la">Vale!</foreign> repeated each officer, as he bowed and passed out +of the tent. +</p> + +<p> +Hippias and Placidus lingered somewhat behind the rest, +and halting when out of hearing of the sentinel who guarded +<pb n='344'/><anchor id='Pg344'/>the eagles planted before the commander’s quarters, or +Prætorium, as it was called, looked in each other’s faces, and +laughed. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You put it pointedly,</q> said the former, <q>and took an +ugly thrust in return. Nevertheless, the assault will be +delayed after all, and my poor harmless lambs will scarce +muster in enough force to be permitted to lead the attack.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Fear not,</q> replied the tribune; <q>it will take place +to-morrow. It would suit neither your game nor mine, my +Hippias, to make a peaceable entry by the Great Gate, +march in order of battle to the Temple, and satisfy ourselves +with a stare at its flashing golden roof. I can hardly stave +off my creditors. You can scarce pay your men. Had it +not been for the prospect of sacking the Holy Place, neither +of us would have been to-day under a heavy breastplate in +this scorching sun. And we <hi rend='italic'>shall</hi> sack it, I tell you, never +fear.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You think so?</q> said the other doubtfully; <q>and yet the +prince spoke very sternly, as if he not only differed with you, +but disapproved of your counsel. I am glad I was not in +your place; I should have been tempted to answer even the +son of Vespasian.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The tribune laughed gaily once more. <q>Trifles,</q> said he; +<q>I have the hide of a rhinoceros when it is but a question +of looks and words, however stern and biting they may be. +Besides, do you not yet know this cub of the old lion? The +royal beast is always the same; dangerous when his hair is +rubbed the wrong way. Titus was only angry because his +better judgment opposed his inclinations, and agreed with +me—me to whom he pays the compliment of his dislike. I +tell you we shall give the assault before two days are out, +with my cohort swarming on the flanks, and thy Lost Legion, +my Hippias, maddening to the front. So now for a draught +of wine and a robe of linen, even though it be under one of +these suffocating tents. I think when once the siege is over +and the place taken, I shall never buckle on a breastplate +again.</q> +</p> + +</div><div n="3.5" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='345'/><anchor id='Pg345'/> +<index index="toc" level1="V. Glad Tidings"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="V. Glad Tidings"/> +<head>CHAPTER V<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">GLAD TIDINGS</hi></head> + +<figure url="images/i_376.png" rend="w40"><figDesc>Initial T</figDesc></figure> + +<p> +The eye of Calchas did indeed +brighten, and his colour went and +came when food was placed before +him in the Roman general’s tent. +It was with a strong effort that he +controlled and stifled the cravings +of hunger, never so painful as when +the body has been brought down +by slow degrees to exist on the +smallest possible quantity of nourishment. +It was long since a full +meal had been spread even on +Eleazar’s table; and the sufferings +from famine of the poorer classes in Jerusalem had reached +a pitch unheard-of in the history of nations. Licinius could +not but admire the self-control with which his guest partook +of his hospitality. The old man was resolved not to betray, +in his own person, the straits of the besieged. It was a staunch +and soldierlike sentiment to which the Roman was keenly +alive, and Licinius turned his back upon his charge, affecting +to give long directions to some of his centurions from the +tent-door, in order to afford Calchas the opportunity of satisfying +his hunger unobserved. +</p> + +<p> +After a while, the general seated himself inside, +courteously desiring his guest to do the same. A decurion, +with his spearmen, stood at the entrance, under the standard +where the eagles of the Tenth Legion hovered over his +shining crest. The sun was blazing fiercely down on the +white lines of canvas that stretched in long perspective on +every side, and flashing back at stated intervals from shield, +and helm, and breastplate, piled in exact array at each tent-door. +It was too early in the year for the crackling locust; +and every trace of life, as of vegetation, had disappeared from +the parched surface of the soil, burnished and slippery with +<pb n='346'/><anchor id='Pg346'/>the intense heat. It was an hour of lassitude and repose +even in the beleaguering camp, and scarce a sound broke +the drowsy stillness of noon, save the stamp and snort of +a tethered steed, or the scream of an ill-tempered mule. +Scorched without, and stifled within, even the well-disciplined +legionary loathed his canvas shelter; longing, yearning vainly +in his day-dreams for the breeze of cool Præneste, and the +shades of darkling Tibur, and the north wind blowing through +the holm-oaks off the crest of the snowy Apennines. +</p> + +<p> +In the general’s pavilion the awning had been raised a +cubit from the ground, to admit what little air there was, so +faint as scarce to stir the fringe upon his tunic. Against the +pole that propped the soldier’s home, rested a mule’s pack-saddle, +and a spare breastplate. On the wooden frame which +served him for a bed, lay the general’s tablets, and a sketch +of the Tower of Antonia. A simple earthenware dish contained +the food offered to his guest, and, like the coarse clay +vessel into which a wineskin had been poured, was nearly +empty. Licinius sat with his helmet off, but otherwise +completely armed. Calchas, robed in his long dark mantle, +fixed his mild eye steadily on his host. +</p> + +<p> +The man of war and the man of peace seemed to have +some engrossing thought, some all-important interest in +common. For a while they conversed on light and trivial +topics, the discipline of the camp, the fertility of Syria, the +distance from Rome, and the different regions in which her +armies fought and conquered. Then Licinius broke through +his reserve, and spoke out freely to his guest. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You have a hero,</q> said the Roman, <q>in your ranks, of +whom I would fain learn something, loving him as I do like +a son. Our men call him the Yellow Hostage; and there is +not a warrior among all the brave champions of Jerusalem +whom they regard with such admiration and dread. I +myself saw him but yesterday save your whole army from +destruction beneath the walls.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>It is Esca!</q> exclaimed Calchas. <q>Esca, once a chief +in Britain, and afterwards your slave in Rome.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>The same,</q> answered Licinius; <q>and, though a slave, +the noblest and the bravest of men. A chief, you say, in +Britain. What know you of him? He never told me who +he was, or whence he came.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I know him,</q> replied Calchas, <q>as one who lives with +us like a kinsman, who takes his share of hardship, and far +more than his share of danger, as though he were a very +chief in Israel—who is to me, indeed, and those dearest to +<pb n='347'/><anchor id='Pg347'/>me, far more precious than a son. We escaped together +from Rome—my brother, my brother’s child, and this young +Briton. Many a night on the smooth Ægean has he told +me of his infancy, his youth, his manhood, the defence his +people made against your soldiers, the cruel stratagems by +which they were foiled and overcome, how nobly he himself +had braved the legions; and yet how the first lessons he +learned in childhood were to feel kindly for the invader, how +the first accents his mother taught him were in the Roman +tongue.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>It is strange,</q> observed Licinius, musing deeply, and +answering, as it seemed, his own thought. <q>Strange lesson +for one of that nation to learn. Strange, too, that fate +seems to have posted him continually in arms against the +conqueror.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>They were his mother’s lessons,</q> resumed Calchas; +<q>and that mother he has not forgotten even to-day. He +loves to speak of her as though she could see him still. And +who shall say she cannot? He loves to tell of her stately +form, her fond eyes, and her gentle brow, with its lines of +thought and care. He says she had some deep sorrow in +her youth, which her child suspected, but of which she never +spoke. It taught her to be kind and patient with all; it +made her none the less loving for her boy. Ay, ’tis the same +tale in every nation and under every sky. The garment has +not yet been woven in which the black hank of sin and +sorrow does not cross and recross throughout the whole web. +She had her burden to bear, and so has Esca, and so hast +thou, great Roman commander, one of the conquerors of +the earth; and so have I, but I know where to lay mine +down, and rest in peace.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>They are a noble race, these women of Britain,</q> said +Licinius, following out the thread of his own thoughts with +a heavy heart, on which one of them had impressed her +image so deeply, that while it beat, a memory would reign +there, as it had reigned already for years, undisturbed by a +living rival. <q>And so the boy loves to talk of his childhood, +and his lost mother—lost,</q> he added bitterly, <q>surely lost, +because so loved!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Even so,</q> replied Calchas; <q>and deep as was the child’s +grief, it carried a sharper sting from the manner of her death. +Too young to bear arms, he had seen his father hurry away +at the head of his tribe to meet the Roman legions. His +father, a fierce, imperious warrior, of whom he knew but little, +and whom he would have dreaded rather than loved, had +<pb n='348'/><anchor id='Pg348'/>the boy dreaded anything on earth. His mother lay on a +bed of sickness; and even the child felt a nameless fear on +her account, that forbade him to leave her side. With pain +and difficulty they moved her on her litter to a fastness in +their deep, tangled forests, where the Britons made a last +stand. Then certain long-bearded priests took him by force +from his mother’s side, and hid him away in a cavern, because +he was a chief’s son. He can recall now the pale face and +the loving eyes, turned on him in a last look, as he was borne +off struggling and fighting like a young wolf-cub. From his +cavern he heard plainly the shouts of battle and the very +clash of steel; but he heeded them not, for a vague and +sickening dread had come over him that he should see his +mother no more. It was even so. They hurried the child +from his refuge by night. They never halted till the sun had +risen and set again. Then they spoke to him with kind, +soothing words; but when he turned from them, and called +for his mother, they told him she was dead. They had not +even paid her the last tribute of respect. While they closed +her eyes, the legions had already forced their rude defences; +her few attendants fled for their lives, and the high-born +Guenebra was left in the lonely hut wherein she died, to +the mercy of the conquerors.</q> +</p> + +<p> +When Calchas ceased speaking, he saw that his listener +had turned ghastly pale, and that the sweat was standing on +his brow. His strong frame, too, shook till his armour +rattled. He rose and crossed to the tent-door as if for air, +then turned to his guest, and spoke in a low but steady +voice— +</p> + +<p> +<q>I knew it,</q> said he—<q>I knew it must be so; this Esca +is the son of one whom I met in my youth, and why should +I be ashamed to confess it? whose influence has pervaded +my whole life. I am old and grey now. Look at me; what +have such as I to do with the foolish hopes and fears that +quicken the young fresh heart, and flush the unwrinkled +cheek? But now, to-day, I tell thee, warworn and saddened +as I am, it seems to me that the cup of life has been but +offered, and dashed cruelly away ere it had so much as cooled +my thirsty lips. Why should I have known happiness, only +to be mocked by its want? What! thou hast a human heart? +Thou art a brave man, too, though thy robes denote a vocation +of peace, else thou hadst not been here to-day in the +heart of an enemy’s camp. Need I tell thee, that when I +entered that rude hut in the Briton’s stronghold, and saw all +I loved on earth stretched cold and inanimate on her litter +<pb n='349'/><anchor id='Pg349'/>at my feet, had I not been a soldier of Rome my own good +sword had been my consolation, and I had fallen by her +there, to be laid in the same grave; and now I shall never +see her more!</q> He passed his hand across his face, and +added, in a broken whisper, <q>Never more! never more!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You cannot think so. You cannot believe in such utter +desolation,</q> exclaimed Calchas, roused like some old war-horse +by the trumpet sound, as he saw the task assigned him, +and recognised yet another traveller on the great road, whom +he could guide home. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Do you think that you or she, or any one of us, were +made to suffer, and to cause others suffering—to strive and +fail, and long and sorrow, for a little while, only to drop into +the grave at last, like an over-ripe fig from its branch, and be +forgotten? Do you think that life is to end for you, or for +me, when the one falls in his armour, at the head of the Tenth +Legion, pierced by a Jewish javelin, or the other is crucified +before the walls for a spy, by Titus, or stoned in the gate for +a traitor, by his own countrymen? And this is the fate which +may await us both before to-morrow’s sun is set. Believe it +not, noble Roman! That frame of yours is no more Licinius +than is the battered breastplate yonder on the ground, which +you have cast aside because it is no longer proof against sword +and spear; the man himself leaves his worn-out robe behind, +and goes rejoicing on his journey—the journey that is to lead +him to his home elsewhere.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And where?</q> asked the Roman, interested by the +earnestness of his guest, and the evident conviction with +which he spoke. <q>Is it the home to which, as our own poets +have said, good Æneas, and Tullus, and Ancus have gone +before? the home of which some philosophers have dreamed, +and at which others laugh—a phantom-land, a fleeting +pageant, impalpable plains beyond a shadowy river? These +are but dreams, the idle visions of men of thought. What +have we, who are the men of action, to do with aught but +reality?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And what is reality?</q> replied Calchas. <q>Is it without +or within? Look from your own tent-door, noble Roman, +and behold the glorious array that meets your eye—the even +camp, the crested legionaries, the eagles, the trophies, and the +piles of arms. Beyond, the towers and pinnacles of Jerusalem, +and the white dome of the Temple with its dazzling roof of +gold. Far away, the purple hills of Moab looking over the +plains of the Dead Sea. It is a world of beautiful reality. +There cometh a flash from a thunder-cloud or an arrow off +<pb n='350'/><anchor id='Pg350'/>the wall, and your life is spared, but your eyesight is gone: +which is the reality now, the light or the darkness? the wide +expanse of glittering sunshine, or the smarting pain and the +black night within? So is it with life and death. Titus in +his golden armour, Vespasian on the throne of the Cæsars, +that stalwart soldier leaning yonder on his spear, or the +wasted captive dying for hunger in the town—are they +beings of the same kind? and why are their shares so +unequal in the common lot? Because it matters so little +what may be the different illusions that deceive us now, when +all may attain equally to the same reality at last.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Licinius pondered for a few minutes ere he replied. Like +many another thinking heathen, he had often speculated on +the great question which forces itself at times on every reflective +being, <q>Why are these things so?</q> He, too, had +been struck ere now with the obvious discrepancy between +man’s aspirations and his efforts—the unaccountable caprices +of fortune, the apparent injustice of fate. He had begun life +in the bold confidence of an energetic character, believing all +things possible to the resolute strength and courage of manhood. +When he failed, he blamed himself with something of +contempt; when he succeeded, he gathered fresh confidence +in his own powers and in the truth of his theories. But in +the pride of youth and happiness, sorrow took him by the +hand, and taught him the bitter lesson that it is good to learn +early rather than late; because, until the plough has passed +over it, there can be no real fertility, no healthy produce on +the untilled soil. The deeper they are scored, the heavier is +the harvest from these furrows of the heart. Licinius, in the +prime of life, and on the pinnacle of success, became a +thoughtful, because a lonely and disappointed, man. He +saw the complications around him; he acknowledged his +inability to comprehend them. While others thought him +so strong and self-reliant, he knew his own weakness and his +own need; the broken spirit was humble and docile as a +child’s. +</p> + +<p> +<q>There must be a <hi rend='italic'>reason</hi> for everything,</q> he exclaimed at +last; <q>there must be a clue in the labyrinth, if a man’s hand +could only find it. What is truth? say our philosophers. +Oh, that I did but know!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Then, in the warlike tent, in the heart of the conquering +army, the Jew imparted to the Roman that precious wisdom +to which all other learning is but an entrance and a path. +Under the very shadow of the eagles that were gathered to +devastate his city, the man to whom all vicissitudes were alike, +<pb n='351'/><anchor id='Pg351'/>to whom all was good, because he knew <q>what was truth,</q> +showed to his brother, whose sword was even then sharpened +for the destruction of his people, that talisman which gave +him the mastery over all created things: which made him +superior to hunger and thirst, pain and sorrow, insult, dishonour, +and death. It is something, even in this world, to +wear a suit of impenetrable armour, such as is provided for +the weakest and the lowest who enter the service that requires +so little and that grants so much. Licinius listened eagerly, +greedily, as a blind man would listen to one who taught him +how to recover his sight. Gladdening was the certainty of +a future to one who had hitherto lived so mournfully in the +past. Fresh and beautiful was the rising edifice of hope to +one whose eye was dull with looking on the grey ruins of +regret. There was comfort for him, there was encouragement, +there was example. When Calchas told, in simple, +earnest words, all that he himself had heard and seen of +glorious self-sacrifice, of infinite compassion, and of priceless +ransom, the soldier’s knee was bent, and his eyes were wet +with tears. +</p> + +<p> +By the orders of his commander, Licinius conducted his +guest back to the Great Gate of Jerusalem with all the +customary honours paid to an ambassador from a hostile +power. He bore the answer of Titus, granting to the +besieged the respite they desired. Placidus had been so +far right that the prince’s better judgment condemned the +ill-timed reprieve; but in this, as in many other instances, +Titus suffered his clemency to prevail over his experience in +Jewish duplicity and his anxiety to terminate the war. +</p> + +</div><div n="3.6" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='352'/><anchor id='Pg352'/> +<index index="toc" level1="VI. Wine on the Lees"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="VI. Wine on the Lees"/> +<head>CHAPTER VI<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">WINE ON THE LEES</hi></head> + +<p> +The commander of the Lost Legion, when he parted +with Placidus after the council of war, retired moodily +to his tent. He, too, was disappointed and dissatisfied, +wearied with the length of the siege, harassed and uneasy +about the ravages made by sickness among his men, and +anxious moreover as to his share of the spoil. Hippias, it +is needless to say, was lavish in his expenses, and luxurious +in his personal habits: like the mercenaries he commanded, +he looked to the sacking of Jerusalem as a means of paying +his creditors, and supplying him with money for future +excesses. Not a man of the Lost Legion but had already +calculated the worth of that golden roof, to which they +looked so longingly, and his own probable portion when it +was melted into coin. Rumour, too, had not failed to multiply +by tens the amount of wealth stored in the Temple, and the +jewels it contained. The besiegers were persuaded that +every soldier who should be fortunate enough to enter it +sword in hand, would be enriched for life; and the gladiators +were the last men to grudge danger or bloodshed for such +an object. +</p> + +<p> +But there is a foe who smites an army far more surely +than the enemy that meets it face to face in the field. Like +the angel who breathed on the host of the Assyrians in the +night, so that when the Jews rose in the morning, their +adversaries were <q>all dead men,</q> this foe takes his prey by +scores as they sleep in their tents, or pace to and fro watching +under their armour in the sun. His name is Pestilence; +and wherever man meets man for mutual destruction, he +hovers over the opposing multitudes, and secures the lion’s +share of both. Partly from their previous habits, partly from +their looser discipline, he had been busier amongst the +gladiators than in any other quarter of the camp. Dwindling +day by day in numbers and efficiency, Hippias began to fear +that they would be unable to take the prominent part he +<pb n='353'/><anchor id='Pg353'/>had promised them in the assault, and the chance of such a +disappointment was irritating enough; but when to this +grievance was added the proposal he had just heard, for +the peaceful surrender of the city—a proposal which Titus +seemed to regard with favourable eyes, and which would +entail the distribution in equal portions of whatever treasure +was considered the spoil of the army, so that the gladiator +and legionary should but share alike—the contingency was +nothing less than maddening. He had given Titus a true +report of his legion in council; for Hippias was not a man +to take shelter in falsehood, under any pressure of necessity, +but he repented, nevertheless, of his frankness; and, cursing +the hour when he embarked for Syria, began to think of +Rome with regret, and to believe that he was happier and +more prosperous in the amphitheatre after all. Passing +amongst the tents of his men, he was distressed to meet old +Hirpinus, who reported to him that another score had been +stricken by the sickness since watch-setting the previous +night. Every day was of the utmost importance now, and +here were two more to be wasted in negotiations, even if the +assault should be ordered to take place after all. The +reflection did not serve to soothe him, and Hippias entered +his own tent with a fevered frame, and a frown of ill-omen +on his brow. +</p> + +<p> +For a soldier it was indeed a luxurious home; adorned +with trophies of arms, costly shawls, gold and silver drinking-vessels, +and other valuables scattered about. There was +even a porcelain vase filled with fresh flowers standing +between two wineskins; and a burnished mirror, with +a delicate comb resting against its stand, denoted either +an extraordinary care for his personal appearance in the +owner, or a woman’s presence behind the crimson curtain +which served to screen another compartment of the tent. +Kicking the mirror out of his way, and flinging himself +on a couch covered with a dressed leopard-skin, Hippias +set his heavy headpiece on the ground, and called angrily +for a cup of wine. At the second summons, the curtain +was drawn aside, and a woman appeared from behind its +folds. +</p> + +<p> +Pale, haughty, and self-possessed, tameless, and defiant, +even in her degradation, Valeria, though fallen, seemed to +rise superior to herself, and stood before the man whom she +had never loved, and yet to whom, in a moment of madness, +she had sacrificed her whole existence, with the calm, quiet +demeanour of a mistress in the presence of her slave. Her +<pb n='354'/><anchor id='Pg354'/>beauty had not faded—far from it—though changed somewhat +in its character, growing harder and colder than of old. +If less womanly, it was of a deeper and loftier kind. The +eyes, indeed, had lost the loving, laughing look which had +once been their greatest charm, but they were keen and +dazzling still; while the other features, like the shapely +figure, had gained a severe and majestic dignity in exchange +for the flowing outlines and the round comeliness of youth. +She was dressed sumptuously, and with an affectation of +Eastern habits that suited her beauty well. Alas! that beauty +was her only weapon left; and although she had turned it +against herself, a true woman to the end, she had kept it +bright and pointed still. +</p> + +<p> +When Valeria left her home to follow the fortunes of a +gladiator, she had not even the excuse of blindness for her +folly. She knew that she was abandoning friends, fortune, +position—all the advantages of life for that which she did +not care to have. She believed herself to be utterly desperate, +depraved, and unsexed. It was her punishment that she +could not rid herself of her woman’s nature, nor stifle the +voice that no woman ever <hi rend='italic'>can</hi> stifle in her heart. For a +time, perhaps, the change of scene, the voyage, the excitement +of the step she had taken, the determination to abide by her +choice and defy everything, served to deaden her mind to +her own misery. It was her whim to assume on occasions +the arms and accoutrements of a gladiator; and it was even +said in the Lost Legion, that she had fought in their ranks +more than once in some of their desperate enterprises against +the town. It was certain that she never appeared abroad +in the female dress she wore within her tent: Titus, indeed, +would have scarcely failed to notice such a flagrant breach +of camp-discipline; and many a fierce swordsman whispered +to his comrade, with a thrill of interest, that in a force like +theirs she might mingle unnoticed in their ranks, and be +with them at any time. It was but a whisper, though, +after all, for they knew their commander too well to canvass +his conduct openly, or to pry into matters he chose to keep +secret. +</p> + +<p> +These outbreaks, however, so contrary to all the impulses +and instincts of a woman’s nature, soon palled on the high-born +Roman lady; and as the siege, with its various fortunes, +was protracted from day to day, the yoke under which she +had voluntarily placed her proud white neck, became too +galling to endure. She hated the long glistening line of +tents; she hated the scorching Syrian sky, the flash of armour, +<pb n='355'/><anchor id='Pg355'/>the tramp of men, the constant trumpet-calls, the eternal +guard-mounting, the wearisome and monotonous routine of +a camp. She hated the hot tent, with its stifling atmosphere +and its narrow space; above all, she was learning daily to +hate the man with whom she shared its shelter and its +inconveniences. +</p> + +<p> +She handed him the wine he asked for without a word, +and standing there in her cold scornful beauty, never noticed +him by look or gesture. She seemed miles away in thought, +and utterly unconscious of his presence. +</p> + +<p> +He remembered when it was so different. He remembered +how, even when first he knew her, his arrival used to call a +smile of pleasure to her lips, a glance of welcome to her +eye. It might be only on the surface, but still it was there; +and he felt for his own part, that as far as he had ever +cared for any woman, he had cared for her. It was galling, +truly, this indifference, this contempt. He was hurt, +and his fierce undisciplined nature urged him to strike +again. +</p> + +<p> +He emptied the cup, and flung it from him with an angry +jerk. The golden vessel rolled out from under the hangings +of the tent; she made no offer to pick it up and fetch it +back. He glared fiercely into her eyes, and they met his +own with the steady scornful gaze he almost feared; for that +cold look chilled him to the very heart. The man was +hardened, depraved, steeped to the lips in cruelty and crime; +but there was a defenceless place in him still that she could +stab when she liked, for he would have loved her if she had +let him. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am very weary of the siege,</q> said he, stretching his +limbs on the couch with affected indifference, <q>weary of +the daily drudgery, the endless consultations, the scorching +climate, above all, this suffocating atmosphere, where a man +can hardly breathe. Would that I had never seen this +accursed tent, or aught that it contains!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>You cannot be more weary of it than I am,</q> she +replied, in the same contemptuous quiet tone that maddened +him. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Why did you come?</q> he retorted, with a bitter laugh. +<q>Nobody wanted such a delicate dainty lady in a soldier’s +tent—and certainly nobody ever asked you to share it with +him!</q> +</p> + +<p> +She gave a little gasp, as though something touched her +to the quick, but recovered herself on the instant, and +answered calmly and scornfully, <q>It is kindly said, and +<pb n='356'/><anchor id='Pg356'/>generously, considering all things. Just what I might have +expected from a gladiator!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>There was a time you liked the Family well enough!</q> +he exclaimed angrily; and then, softened by his own +recollections of that time, added in a milder tone, <q>Valeria, +why will you thus quarrel with me? It used not to be so +when I brought the foils and dumbbells to your portico, and +spared no pains to make you the deadliest fencer, as you +were the fairest, in Rome. Those were happy days enough, +and so might these be, if you had but a grain of common +sense. Can you not see, when you and I fall out, who must +necessarily be the loser? What have you to depend on now +but me?</q> +</p> + +<p> +He should have stopped at his tender recollections. +Argument, especially if it has any show of reason in it, is to +an angry woman but as the <foreign rend='italic' lang="es">bandillero’s</foreign> goad to the Iberian +bull. Its flutter serves to irritate rather than to scare, and +the deeper its pointed steel sinks in, the more actively indeed +does the recipient swerve aside, but returns the more rapidly +and the more obstinately to the charge. Of all considerations, +that which most maddened Valeria, and rendered her utterly +reckless, was that she should be dependent on a gladiator. +The cold eyes flashed fire; but she would not give him the +advantage over her of acknowledging that he could put her +in a passion, so she restrained herself, though her heart was +ready to burst. Had she cared for him she might have +stabbed him to death in such a mood. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I thank you for reminding me,</q> she answered bitterly. +<q>It is not strange that one of the Mutian line should +occasionally forget her duty to Hippias, the retired prize-fighter. +A patrician, perhaps, would have brought it more +delicately to her remembrance; but I have no right to +blame the fencing-master for his plebeian birth and +bringing up.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Now, by the body of Hercules, this is too much!</q> he +exclaimed, springing erect on the couch, and grinding his +teeth with rage. <q>What! you tax me with my birth! You +scout me for my want of mincing manners and white hands, +and syllables that drop like slobbered wine from the close-shaven +lip! You, the dainty lady, the celebrated beauty, the +admired, forsooth, of all admirers, whose porch was choked +with gilded chariots, whose litter was thronged with every +curly-headed, white-shouldered, crimson-cloaked, young +Narcissus in Rome, and yet who sought her chosen lovers in +the amphitheatre—who scanned with judicious eye the points +<pb n='357'/><anchor id='Pg357'/>and the vigour and the promise of naked athletes, and could +find at last none to serve her turn, but war-worn old Hippias, +the roughest and the rudest, and the worst-favoured, but the +strongest, nevertheless, amongst them all!</q> +</p> + +<p> +The storm was gathering apace, but she still tried hard to +keep it down. An experienced mariner might have known by +the short-coming breath, the white cheek, and the dilated nostril, +that it was high time to shorten sail, and run for shelter before +the squall. +</p> + +<p> +<q>It was indeed a strange taste,</q> she retorted. <q>None can +marvel at it more than myself.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Not so strange as you think,</q> he burst out, somewhat +inconsistently. <q>Do not fancy you were the only lady in +Rome who was proud to be admired by Hippias the gladiator. +I tell you I had my choice amongst a hundred maids and +matrons, nobler born, fairer, ay, and of better repute than +yourself! any one of whom would have been glad to be here +to-day in your place. I was a fool for my pains; but I +thought you were the fittest to bear the toil of campaigning, +and the least able to do without me, so I took you, more out +of pity than of love!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Coward!</q> she hissed between her clenched teeth. +<q>Traitor and fool, too! Must you know the truth at last? +Must you know what I have spared you this long time? what +alone has kept me from sinking under the weight of these +weary days with their hourly degradation? what has been +disease and remedy, wound and balm, bitterest punishment, +and yet dearest consolation? Take it then, since have it you +will! Can you think that such as I could ever love such as +you? Can you believe you could be more to Valeria than +the handle of the blade, the shaft of the javelin, the cord of the +bow, by which she could inflict a grievous wound in another’s +bosom? Listen! When you wooed me, I was a scorned, an +insulted, a desperate woman. I loved one who was nobler, +handsomer, better. Ay, you pride yourself on your fierce +courage and your brutal strength. I tell you who was twice +as strong, and a thousand times as brave as the best of you. +I loved him, do you hear? as men like you never can be +loved—with an utter and entire devotion, that asked but to +sacrifice itself without hope of a return, and he scorned me, +not as you would have done, with a rough brutal frankness +that had taken away half the pain, but so kindly, so delicately, +so generously, that even while I clung to him, and he turned +away from me, I felt he was dearer than ever to my heart. +Ay, you may sit there and look at me with your eyes glaring +<pb n='358'/><anchor id='Pg358'/>and your beard bristling like some savage beast of prey; but +you brought it on yourself, and if you killed me I would not +spare you now. I had never <hi rend='italic'>looked</hi> at you but for your hired +skill, which you imparted to the man I loved. I took you +because he scorned me, as I would have taken one of my +Liburnians, had I thought it would have wounded him deeper, +or made him hate me more. You are a fencer, I believe—one +who prides himself on his skill in feints and parries, in +giving and taking, in judging accurately of the adversary’s +strength and weakness at a glance. Have I foiled you to +some purpose? You thought you were the darling of the +high-born lady, the favourite of her fancy, the minion to +whom she could refuse nothing, not even her fair fame, and +she was using you all the time as a mere rod with which to +smite a slave! A <hi rend='italic'>slave</hi>, do you hear? Yes, the man I +preferred, not only to you, but to a host of your betters, the +man I loved so dearly, and love so madly still, is but your +pupil Esca, a barbarian, and a slave!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Her anger had supported her till now, but with Esca’s +name came a flood of tears, and, thoroughly unstrung, she sat +down on the ground and wept passionately, covering her face +with her hands. He could have almost found it in his heart +to strike her, but for her defenceless attitude, so exasperated +was he, so maddened by the torrent of her words. He could +think of nothing, however, more bitter than to taunt her with +her helplessness, whilst under his charge. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Your minion,</q> said he, <q>is within the walls at this +moment. From that tent door, you might almost see him on +the rampart, if he be not skulking from his duty like a slave +as he is. Think, proud lady, you who are so ready, asked +or unasked, for slave or gladiator, you need but walk five +hundred paces to be in his arms. Surely, if they knew your +mission, Roman guards and Jewish sentries would lower their +spears to you as you passed! Enough of this! Remember +who and what you are. Above all, remember <hi rend='italic'>where</hi> you are, +and how you came here. I have forborne too long, my +patience is exhausted at last. You are in a soldier’s tent, and +you must learn a soldier’s duty—unquestioning obedience. +Go! pick up that goblet I let fall just now. Fill it, and bring +it me here, without a word!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Somewhat to his surprise, she rose at once to do his +bidding, leaving the tent with a perfectly composed step and +air. He might have remarked, though, that when she +returned with his wine, the red drops fell profusely over her +white trembling fingers, though she looked in his face as +<pb n='359'/><anchor id='Pg359'/>proudly and steadily as ever. The hand might, indeed, shake, +but the heart was fixed and resolute. In the veins of none of +her ancestors did the Mutian blood, so strong for good and +evil, ebb and flow with a fuller, more resistless tide, than in +hers. Valeria had made up her mind in the space of time it +took to lift a goblet from the ground. +</p> + +</div><div n="3.7" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='360'/><anchor id='Pg360'/> +<index index="toc" level1="VII. The Attainder"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="VII. The Attainder"/> +<head>CHAPTER VII<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE ATTAINDER</hi></head> + +<p> +John of Gischala would never have obtained the +ascendency he enjoyed in Jerusalem, had he not been +as well versed in the sinuous arts of intrigue, as in the +simpler stratagems of war. After confronting his rival in the +Council, and sustaining in public opinion the worst of the +encounter, he was more than ever impressed with the necessity +of ruining Eleazar at any price; therefore, keeping a wary +eye upon all the movements of the Zealots, he held himself +ready at every moment to take advantage of the first false +step on the part of his adversary. +</p> + +<p> +Eleazar, with the promptitude natural to his character, +had commenced a repair of the defences, almost before his +emissary was admitted to the Roman camp, thinking it +needless to await the decision of Titus, either for or against +his proposal. Labouring heart and soul at the works, with +all the available force he could muster, he left John and his +party in charge of the Great Gate, and it happened that his +rival was present there in person, when Calchas was brought +back to the city by the Roman guard of honour Titus had +ordered for his safe-conduct—a compliment his brother never +expected, and far less desired. Eleazar made sure his +messenger would be permitted to return the way he came, +and that his own communications with the enemy would +remain a secret from the besieged. +</p> + +<p> +John saw his opportunity, and availed himself of it on the +instant. No sooner had Calchas placed his foot once more +within the town, than his head was covered, so that he might +not be recognised; and he was carried off by a guard of +John’s adherents, and placed in secure ward, their chief +adroitly arresting him by a false name, for the information of +the populace, lest the rumour should reach Eleazar’s ears. +He knew his rival’s readiness of resource, and determined to +take him by surprise. Then he rent his garment, and ran +bareheaded through the streets towards the Temple, calling +<pb n='361'/><anchor id='Pg361'/>with a great voice, <q>Treason! Treason!</q> and sending +round the fragments of his gown amongst the senators, to +convoke them in haste upon a matter of life and death, in +their usual place of deliberation. So rapidly did he take his +measures that the Outer Court was already filled and the +Council assembled, ere Eleazar, busied with his labours at the +wall far off, opposite the Tower of Antonia, knew that they +had been summoned. Covered with sweat and dust, he +obeyed at once the behest of the Levite who came breathlessly +to require his presence, as an elder of Israel; but it was not +without foreboding of evil that he observed the glances of +suspicion and mistrust shot at him by his colleagues when he +joined them. John of Gischala, with an affectation of extreme +fairness, had declined to enter upon the business of the State, +until this, the latest of her councillors, had arrived; but he +had taken good care, by means of his creatures, to scatter +rumours amongst the Senate, and even amongst the Zealots +themselves, deeply affecting the loyalty of their chief. +</p> + +<p> +No sooner had Eleazar, still covered with the signs of +his toil, taken his accustomed station, than John stood forth +in the hall and spoke out in a loud, clear voice. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Before the late troublous times,</q> said he, <q rend="post: none">and when +every man in Judæa ate of his own figs from his own fig-tree, +and trod out his own grapes in his own vineyard; when +we digged our wells unmolested, and our women drew water +unveiled, and drank it peacefully at sundown; when our +children played about our knees at the door, and ate butter +and honey, and cakes baked in oil; when the cruse was +never empty, and the milk mantled in the milking-vessels, +and the kid seethed in the pot—yea, in the pleasant time, +in the days of old, it chanced that I was taking a prey in +the mountain by the hunter’s craft, in the green mountain, +even the mountain of Lebanon. Then at noon I was wearied +and athirst, and I laid me down under a goodly cedar and +slept, and dreamed a dream. Behold, I will discover to the +elders my dream and the interpretation thereof.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">Now the cedar under which I lay was a goodly cedar, +but in my dream it seemed that it reached far into the +heavens, and spread its roots abroad to the springs of many +waters, and sheltered the birds of the air in its branches, +and comforted the beasts of the field with its shade. Then +there came a beast out of the mountain—a huge beast with +a serpent between its eyes and horns upon its jaws—and +leaned against the cedar, but the tree neither bent nor broke. +So there came a great wind against the cedar—a mighty +<pb n='362'/><anchor id='Pg362'/>wind that rushed and roared through its branches, till it +rocked to and fro, bending and swaying to the blast—but +the storm passed away, and the goodly tree stood firm and +upright as before. Again the face of heaven was darkened, +and the thunder roared above, and the lightning leaped +from the cloud, and smote upon the cedar, and rent off one +of its limbs with a great and terrible crash; but when the +sky cleared once more, the tree was a fair tree yet. So I +said in my dream, <q>Blessed is the cedar among the trees +of the forest, for destruction shall not prevail against it.</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">Then I looked, and behold, the cedar was already rotting, +and its arms were withered up, and its head was no longer +black, for a little worm, and another, and yet another were +creeping from within the bark, where they had been eating +at its heart. Then one drew near bearing fagots on his +shoulders, and he builded the fagots round the tree, and +set a light to them, and burned them with fire, and the worms +fell out by myriads from the tree, and perished in the smoke.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q rend="post: none">Then said he unto me, <q>John of Gischala, arise! The +cedar is the Holy City, and the beast is the might of the +Roman Empire, and the storm and the tempest are the +famine and the pestilence, and none of these shall prevail +against it, save by the aid of the enemies from within. +Purge them therefore with fire, and smite them with the +sword, and crush them, even as the worm is crushed beneath +thy heel into the earth!</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And the interpretation of the dream hath remained +with me to this day, for is it not thus even now when the +Roman is at the gate, as it hath ever been with the Holy +City in the times of old? When the Assyrian came up +against her, was not his host greater in number than the +sands of the seashore? But he retired in discomfiture from +before her, because she was true to herself. Would Nebuzaradan +have put his chains on our people’s neck, and Gedaliah +scorned to accept honour from the conqueror, and to pay +him tribute? When Pompey pitched his camp at Jericho +and surrounded the Holy City with his legions, did not +Aristobulus play the traitor and offer to open the gate? +and when the soldiers mutinied, and prevented so black a +treason, did not Hyrcanus, who was afterwards high-priest, +assist the besiegers from within, and enable them to gain +possession of the town? In later days, Herod, indeed, who +was surnamed the Great, fortified Jerusalem like a soldier +and a patriot; but even Herod, our warrior king, soiled his +hands with Roman gold, and bowed his head to the Roman +<pb n='363'/><anchor id='Pg363'/>yoke. Will you tell me of Agrippa’s wall, reared by the +namesake and successor of the mighty monarch? Why +was it never finished? Can you answer me that? I trow +ye know too well; there was fear of displeasing Cæsar, +there was the old shameful truckling to Rome. This is the +leaven that leaveneth all our leaders; this is the palsy that +withereth all our efforts. Is not the chief who defended +Jotapata now a guest in the tent of Titus? Is not Agrippa +the younger a staunch adherent of Vespasian? Is he not +a mere procurator of the Empire, for the province, forsooth, +of Judæa? And shall we learn nothing from our history? +Nothing from the events of our own times, from the scenes +we ourselves witness day by day? Must the cedar fall +because we fail to destroy the worms that are eating at its +core? Shall Jerusalem be desecrated because we fear to +denounce the hand that would deliver her to the foe? We +have a plague-spot in the nation. We have an enemy in +the town. We have a traitor in the Council, Eleazar Ben-Manahem! +I bid thee stand forth!</q> +</p> + +<p> +There is an instinct of danger which seems to warn the +statesman like the mariner of coming storms, giving him +time to trim his sail, while they are yet below the horizon. +When the assembled Senate turned their startled looks on +Eleazar, they beheld a countenance unmoved by the suddenness +and gravity of the accusation, a bearing that denoted, +if not conscious innocence, at least a fixed resolution to +wear its semblance without a shadow of weakness or fear. +Pointing to his dusty garments, and the stains of toil upon +his hands and person, he looked round frankly among the +elders, rather, as it seemed, appealing to the Senate than +answering his accuser, in his reply. +</p> + +<p> +<q>These should be sufficient proofs,</q> said he, <q>if any were +wanting, that Eleazar Ben-Manahem hath not been an +instant absent from his post. I have but to strip the gown +from my breast, and I can show yet deeper marks to attest my +loyalty and patriotism. I have not grudged my own blood, +nor the blood of my kindred, and of my father’s house, to +defend the walls of Jerusalem. John of Gischala hath dealt with +you in parables, but I speak to you in the plain language of +truth. This right hand of mine is hardened with grasping sword +and spear against the enemies of Judah; and I would cut it +off with its own fellow, ere I stretched it forth in amity to +the Roman or the heathen. Talk not to me of thy worms +and thy cedars! John of Gischala, man of blood and rapine—speak +out thine accusation plainly, that I may answer it!</q> +</p> + +<pb n='364'/><anchor id='Pg364'/> + +<p> +John was stepping angrily forward, when he was arrested +by the voice of a venerable long-bearded senator. +</p> + +<p> +<q>It is not meet,</q> said the sage, <q>that accuser and accused +should bandy words in the presence of the Council. John +of Gischala, we summon thee to lay the matter at once +before the Senate, warning thee that an accusation without +proofs will but recoil upon the head of him who brings it +forward.</q> +</p> + +<p> +John smiled in grim triumph. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Elders of Israel,</q> said he, <q>I accuse Eleazar Ben-Manahem +of offering terms to the enemy.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Eleazar started, but recovered himself instantaneously. +It was war to the knife, as well he knew, between him and +John. He must not seem to hesitate now when his ascendency +amongst the people was at such a crisis. He took +the plunge at once. +</p> + +<p> +<q>And I reply,</q> he exclaimed indignantly, <q>that rather +than make terms with the Roman, I would plunge the sword +into my own body.</q> +</p> + +<p> +A murmur of applause ran through the assembly at this +spirited declaration. The accused had great weight amongst +the nobility and the national party in Jerusalem, of which +the Council chiefly consisted. Could Eleazar but persevere +in his denial of communication with Titus, he must triumph +signally over his adversary; and, to do him justice, there +was now but little personal ambition mingled with his desire +for supremacy. He was a fanatic, but he was a patriot as +well. He believed all things were lawful in the cause of +Jerusalem, and trusting to the secret way by which Calchas +had left the city for the Roman camp, and by which he +felt assured he must have returned, as, thanks to John’s +precautions, nothing had been heard of his arrival at the +Great Gate and subsequent arrest, he resolved to persevere +in his denial, and trust to his personal influence to carry +things with a high hand. +</p> + +<p> +<q>There hath been a communication made from his own +house, and by one of his own family, to the Roman commander,</q> +urged John, but with a certain air of deference and +hesitation, for he perceived the favourable impression made +on the Council by his adversary, and he was crafty enough +to know the advantage of reserving his convincing proofs +for the last, and taking the tide of opinion at the turn. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I deny it,</q> said Eleazar firmly. <q>The children of Ben-Manahem +have no dealings with the heathen!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>It is one of the seed of Ben-Manahem whom I accuse,</q> +<pb n='365'/><anchor id='Pg365'/>replied John, still addressing himself to the elders. <q>I can +prove he hath been seen going to and fro, between the camp +and the city.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>His blood be on his own head!</q> answered Eleazar +solemnly. +</p> + +<p> +He had a vague hope that after all they might but have +intercepted some poor half-starved wretch whom the pangs +of hunger had driven to the enemy. John looked back +amongst his adherents crowding in the gate that led towards +the Temple. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I speak not without proofs,</q> said he; <q>bring forward +the prisoner!</q> +</p> + +<p> +There was a slight scuffle amongst the throng, and a +murmur which subsided almost immediately as two young +men appeared in the court, leading between them a figure, +having its hands tied, and a mantle thrown over its head. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Eleazar Ben-Manahem!</q> said John, in a loud, clear voice +that seemed to ring amongst the porticoes and pinnacles of +the overhanging Temple, <q>stand forth, and speak the truth! +Is not this man thy brother?</q> +</p> + +<p> +At the same moment, the mantle was drawn from the +prisoner’s head, revealing the mild and placid features of +Calchas, who looked round upon the Council, neither intimidated +nor surprised. The Senate gazed in each other’s faces +with concern and astonishment: John seemed, indeed, in a +fair way of substantiating his accusation against the man +they most trusted in all Jerusalem. The accuser continued, +with an affectation of calm unprejudiced judgment, in a cool +and dispassionate voice— +</p> + +<p> +<q>This man was brought to the Great Gate to-day, under +a guard of honour, direct from the Roman camp. I happened +to be present, and the captain of the gate handed him over at +once to me. I appeal to the Council whether I exceeded my +duty in arresting him on the spot, permitting him no communication +with anyone in the town until I had brought him +before them in this court. I soon learned that he was the +brother of Eleazar, one of our most distinguished leaders, to +whom more than to any other the defence of the city has been +entrusted, who knows better than anyone our weakness and +the extremity of our need. By my orders he was searched, +and on his person was found a scroll, purporting to be from +no less a person than the commander of the Tenth Legion, +an officer second only in authority to Titus himself, and addressed +to one Esca, a Gentile, living in the very house, and I +am informed a member of the very family, of Eleazar +Ben-<pb n='366'/><anchor id='Pg366'/>Manahem, this elder in Judah, this chief of the Zealots, this +member of the Senate, this adviser in Council, this man whose +right hand is hardened with sword and spear, but who would +cut it off with his left, rather than that it should traffic with +the enemy! I demand from the Council an order for the +arrest of Esca, that he too may be brought before it, and confronted +with him whose bread he eats. From the mouth of +three offenders, our wise men may peradventure elicit the +truth. If I have erred in my zeal let the Senate reprove me. +If Eleazar can purge himself from my accusation, let him +defile my father’s grave, and call me liar and villain to my +very beard!</q> +</p> + +<p> +The Senate, powerfully affected by John’s appeal, and yet +unable to believe in the treachery of one who had earned their +entire confidence, seemed at a loss how to act. The conduct +of the accused, too, afforded no clue whereby to judge of his +probable guilt or innocence. His cheek was very pale, and +once he stepped forward a pace, as if to place himself at his +brother’s side. Then he halted and repeated his former +words, <q>His blood be on his own head,</q> in a loud and broken +voice, turning away the while, and glaring round upon the +senators like some fierce animal taken in the toils. Calchas, +too, kept his eyes fixed on the ground; and more than one +observer remarked that the brothers studiously abstained from +looking each other in the face. There was a dead silence for +several seconds. Then the senator who had before spoken, +raised his hand to command attention, and thus addressed the +Council— +</p> + +<p> +<q>This is a grave matter, involving as it does not only the +life and death of a son of Judah, but the honour of one of our +noblest houses, and the safety, nay, the very existence of the +Holy City. A grave matter, and one which may not be dealt +with, save by the highest tribunal in the nation. It must be +tried before our Sanhedrim, which will assemble for the +purpose without delay. Those of us here present who are +members of that august body, will divest their minds of all +they have heard in this place to-day, and proceed to a clear +and unbiassed judgment of the matters that shall be then +brought before them. Nothing has been yet proved against +Eleazar Ben-Manahem, though his brother, and the Gentile +who has to answer the same accusation, must be kept in +secure ward. I move that the Council, therefore, be now +dissolved, holding itself ready, nevertheless, seeing the imminent +peril of the times, to reassemble at an hour’s notice, +for the welfare of Judah, and the salvation of the Holy City.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='367'/><anchor id='Pg367'/> + +<p> +Even while he ceased speaking, and ere the grave +senators broke up, preparing to depart, a wail was heard +outside the court that chilled the very heart of each, as it +rose and fell like a voice from the other world, repeating +ever and again, in wild unearthly tones, in solemn warning— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Woe to Jerusalem! Woe to the Holy City! Sin, and +sorrow, and desolation! Woe to the Holy City! Woe to +Jerusalem!</q> +</p> + +</div><div n="3.8" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='368'/><anchor id='Pg368'/> +<index index="toc" level1="VIII. The Sanhedrim"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="VIII. The Sanhedrim"/> +<head>CHAPTER VIII<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE SANHEDRIM</hi></head> + +<p> +The highest tribunal acknowledged by the Jewish law, +taking cognisance of matters especially affecting the +religious and political welfare of the nation, essentially impartial +in its decisions, and admitting of no appeal from its +sentence, was that assembly of Seventy, or rather of Seventy-three +members, which was called the Sanhedrim. This court +of justice was supposed to express and embody the opinions +of the whole nation, consisting as it did of a number which +subdivided would have given six representatives for each +tribe, besides a president to rule the proceedings of the whole. +The latter, who was termed the <foreign rend='italic'>Nasi</foreign> or Prince of the Sanhedrim, +was necessarily of illustrious birth, venerable years, and +profound experience in all matters connected with the law—not +only the actual law as laid down by inspiration for the +guidance of the Chosen People, but also the traditional law, +with its infinite variety of customs, precedents, and ceremonious +observances, which had been added to, and as it +were overlaid on the other, much to the detriment of that +simpler code, which came direct from heaven. The members +themselves of this supreme council were of noble blood. In +no nation, perhaps, was the pride of birth more cherished than +amongst the Jews; and in such an assemblage as the Sanhedrim, +untainted lineage was the first indispensable qualification. +The majority, indeed, consisted of priests and Levites; +but other families of secular distinction who could count their +ancestors step by step, from generation to generation, through +the Great Captivity, and all the vicissitudes of their history, +back to the magnificence of Solomon and the glories of +David’s warlike reign, had their representatives in this solemn +conclave. +</p> + +<p> +Not only was nobility a requirement, but also maturity of +years, a handsome person, and a dignified bearing; nor were +mental attainments held in less regard than the adventitious +advantages of appearance and station. Every elder of the +<pb n='369'/><anchor id='Pg369'/>Sanhedrim was obliged to study physic, to become an adept +in the science of divination in all its branches, comprising +astrology, the casting of nativities and horoscopes, the prediction +of future events, and those mysteries of White Magic, +as it was called, which bordered so narrowly on the forbidden +limits of the Black Art. He was also required to be an +excellent linguist; and was indeed supposed to be proficient +in the seventy languages, believed to comprise all the tongues +of the habitable earth. No eunuch nor deformed person could +aspire to hold a place in this august body, no usurer, no +Sabbath-breaker, none who were in the practice of any unlawful +business or overt sin. Those who sat in the highest +place of the Jewish nation, who ruled her councils and held +the right of life and death over her children, must be prudent, +learned, blameless men, decked with the patent of true +nobility both in body and mind. +</p> + +<p> +The Sanhedrim, in its original constitution, was the only +Court which had the right of judging capital cases; and this +right, involving so grave a responsibility, it was careful to +preserve during all the calamities of the nation, until it fell +under the Roman yoke. The Empire, however, reserved to +itself the power of condemning its criminals to death; but no +sooner had the Jews broken out once more in open resistance +to their conquerors, than the Sanhedrim resumed all its +former privileges and sat again in judgment upon its +countrymen. +</p> + +<p> +In a large circular chamber, half within and half without +the Temple, this awful Court held its deliberations, the +members, ranged in order by seniority, occupying the outer +semicircle, as it was not lawful to sit down in the sacred +precincts. That chamber was now the theatre of a solemn +and imposing scene. The hall itself, which, though wide and +lofty, appeared of yet larger proportions from its circular form, +was hung round with cloth of a dark crimson colour, that +added much to the prevailing sentiments of gloom which its +appearance called forth. Over its entrance was suspended a +curtain of the same hue; and the accused who underwent +examination in this dreaded locality, found themselves encircled +by an unbroken wall the colour of blood. A black +carpet was spread on the floor, bordered with a wide yellow +margin, on which were written in black Hebrew characters +certain texts of the law, inculcating punishment rather than +pardon, inflexible justice rather than a leaning towards mercy +and forbearance. The heart of the guilty died within him as +he looked uneasily around; and even the innocent might +<pb n='370'/><anchor id='Pg370'/>well quail at these preparations for a trial over which an +exacting severity was so obviously to hold sway. +</p> + +<p> +The Sanhedrim were accustomed to assemble in an outer +chamber, and march in grave procession to the court of trial. +The crimson curtain, drawn by an unseen hand, rolled slowly +from the door, and the members, dressed in black, came in +by pairs and took their places in order. As they entered, +their names were called over by an official concealed behind +the hangings; and each man notified his arrival as he passed +on to his seat, by the solemn answer: <q>Here! In the +presence of the Lord!</q> Last of all, the president made his +appearance, and assumed a higher chair, set apart a little +from the rest. Then the youngest member offered up a short +prayer, to which the whole assembly responded with a deep +and fervent Amen! The Court was now considered to be +opened, and qualified for the trial of all causes that should +be brought before it during its sitting. +</p> + +<p> +On the present occasion the junior member was a Levite, +nearly threescore years of age, of a stately presence, which +he had preserved notwithstanding the hardships of the siege, +and who retained much of his youthful comeliness with the +flowing beard and grave countenance of maturer years. +Phineas Ben-Ezra possessed the exterior qualities by which +men are prone to be influenced, with a ready tongue, a +scheming brain, and an unscrupulous heart. He was attached +to John’s faction, and a bitter enemy of the Zealots, by whom +he had himself been formerly accused of treasonable correspondence +with Vespasian; an accusation that he refuted to +his own exultation and the utter confusion of his enemies, but +which those who had the best means of judging believed to +be true nevertheless. He took his seat now with an expression +of cold triumph on his handsome features, and exchanged +looks with one or two of the colleagues who seemed deepest +in his confidence, that the latter knew too well boded considerable +danger to the accused whom they were about to +try. +</p> + +<p> +The Prince of the Sanhedrim, Matthias the son of Boethus, +who had already filled the office of high-priest, was a stern +and conscientious man of the old Jewish party, whose opinions +indeed were in accordance with those of Eleazar, and who +entertained, besides, a personal friendship for that determined +enthusiast, but whose inflexible obstinacy was to be moved +by no earthly consideration from the narrow path of duty +which he believed his sacred character compelled him to +observe. His great age and austere bearing commanded +<pb n='371'/><anchor id='Pg371'/>considerable influence among his countrymen, enhanced by +the high office he had previously filled; nor was he the less +esteemed that his severe and even morose disposition, while +it gained him few friends, yielded no confidences and afforded +no opportunity for the display of those human weaknesses by +which a man wins their affections, while he loses the command +over his fellow-creatures. His face was very pale and grave +now, as he moved haughtily to the seat reserved for him; and +his dark flowing robes, decorated, in right of his former +priesthood, with certain mystic symbols, seemed well-fitted +to the character of a stern and inflexible judge. The other +members of the assembly, though varying in form and feature, +were distinguished one and all by a family likeness, originating +probably in similarity of habits and opinions, no less +than in a common nationality and the sharing of a common +danger, growing daily to its worst. The dark flashing eye, +the deep sallow tint, the curving nostril and the waving beard, +were no more distinguishing marks of any one individual in +the assembly, than were his long black gown and his expression +of severe and inscrutable gravity; but even these +universal characteristics were not so remarkable as a certain +ominous shadow that cast its gloom upon the face of each. +It was the shadow of that foe against whom sword and spear +and shield and javelin, bodily strength, dauntless courage, +and skill in the art of war, were all powerless to make head—the +foe who was irresistible because he lay at the very heart +of the fortress. The weary, anxious, longing look of hunger +was on the faces even of these, the noblest and the most +powerful behind the wall. They had stores of gold and +silver, rich silks, sparkling jewels, costly wines within their +houses; but there was a want of bread, and gaunt uneasy +famine had set his seal, if not as deeply at least as surely, +upon these faces in the Sanhedrim as on that of the meanest +soldier, who girded his sword-belt tighter to stay his pangs, +as he stood pale and wasted in his armour on the ramparts, +over against the foe. +</p> + +<p> +There was a hush for several seconds after the Prince of +the Sanhedrim had taken his seat, and the general prayer had +been offered up. It was broken at length by Matthias, who +rose with slow impressive gestures, drew his robe around him +so as to display the sacred symbols and cabalistic figures with +which its hem was garnished, and spoke in stern and measured +tones— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Princes of the House of Judah,</q> said he, <q>elders and +nobles, and priests and Levites of the nation, we are met +<pb n='372'/><anchor id='Pg372'/>once more to-day, in accordance with our ancient prerogative, +for the sifting of a grave and serious matter. In this, the +highest Council of our country, we adhere to the same forms +that have been handed down to us by our fathers from the +earliest times, even from their sojourn in the wilderness, that +have been preserved through the Great Captivity of our +nation, that may have been prohibited by our conquerors, +but that we have resumed with that independence which we +have recently asserted, and which the Ruler to whom alone +we owe allegiance will assuredly enable us to attain. We +will not part with one iota of our privileges, and least of all +with our jurisdiction in matters involving life and death; a +jurisdiction as inseparable from our very existence as the +Tabernacle itself, which we have accompanied through so +many vicissitudes, and with which we are so closely allied. +That inferior assemblage from which our chosen body is +selected has already considered the heavy accusation which +has collected us here. They have decided that the matter is +of too grave a character to be dealt with by their own +experience—that it involves the condemnation to death of +one if not two members of the illustrious family of Ben-Manahem—that +it may deprive us of a leader who claims to +be among the staunchest of our patriots, who has proved +himself the bravest of our defenders. But what then, princes +of the House of Judah, elders and nobles, and priests and +Levites of the nation? Shall I spare the pruning-hook, +because it is the heaviest branch in my vineyard that is +rotting from its stem? Shall I not rather lop it off with +mine own hand, and cast it from me into the consuming +fire? If my brother be guilty shall I screen him, brother +though he be? Shall I not rather hand him over to the +Avenger, and deliver my own soul? We are all assembled +in our places, ready to hear attentively, and to try impartially, +whatsoever accusations may be brought before us. Phineas +Ben-Ezra, youngest member of the Sanhedrim, I call on thee +to count over thy colleagues, and proclaim aloud the sum +thereof.</q> +</p> + +<p> +In compliance with established usage, Phineas, thus +adjured, rose from his seat, and walking gravely through the +hall, told off its inmates one by one, in a loud and solemn +voice, then finding the tale to be correct, stopped before the +high chair of the Nasi, and proclaimed thrice— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Prince of the Sanhedrim, the mystic number is complete!</q> +</p> + +<p> +The president addressed him again in the prescribed +formula— +</p> + +<pb n='373'/><anchor id='Pg373'/> + +<p> +<q>Phineas Ben-Ezra, are we prepared to try each cause +according to the traditions of our nation, and the strict letter +of the law? Do we abide by the decisions of wisdom without +favour, and justice without mercy?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Then the whole Sanhedrim repeated as with one voice, +<q>Wisdom without favour, and justice without mercy!</q> +</p> + +<p> +The president now seated himself, and looked once more +to Phineas, who, as the youngest member present, was +entitled to give his opinion first. The latter, answering his +glance, rose at once and addressed his fellows in a tone of +diffidence which would have seemed misplaced in one of his +venerable appearance, had he not been surrounded by men of +far greater age than himself. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am but as a disciple,</q> said he, <q>at the feet of a master, +in presence of Matthias the son of Boethus, and my honoured +colleagues. Submitting to their experience, I do but venture +to ask a question, without presuming to offer my own opinion +on its merits. Supposing that the Sanhedrim should be +required to try one of its own number, is it lawful that +he should remain and sit, as it were, in judgment upon +himself?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Eleazar, who was present in his place as a member of +the august body, felt that this attack was specially directed +against his own safety. He knew the virulence of the speaker, +and his rancorous enmity to the Zealots, and recognised the +danger to himself of exclusion from the coming deliberations. +He was in the act of rising in indignant protest against such +an assumption, when he was forestalled by Matthias, who +replied in tones of stern displeasure— +</p> + +<p> +<q>He must indeed be a mere disciple, and it will be long +ere he is worthy of the name of master in the Sanhedrim, +who has yet to learn, that our deliberations are uninfluenced +by aught we have heard or seen outside the chamber—that +we recognise in our august office no evidence but the proofs +that are actually brought before us here. Phineas Ben-Ezra, +the Court is assembled; admit accusers and accused. Must +I tell thee that we are still ignorant of the cause we are here +to try?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The decision of the Nasi, which was in accordance with +traditional observance and established custom, afforded +Eleazar a moment’s respite, in which to resolve on the course +he should adopt; but though his mind was working busily, +he sat perfectly unmoved, and to all outward appearance +calm and confident; whilst the hangings were again drawn +back, and the tread of feet announced the approach of accuser +<pb n='374'/><anchor id='Pg374'/>and accused. The latter were now two in number: for +by John’s orders a strong guard had already proceeded to +Eleazar’s house, and laid violent hands on Esca, who, confident +in his own innocence and in the influence of his host, +accompanied them without apprehension of danger into the +presence of the awful assembly. The Briton’s surprise was, +however, great, when he found himself confronted with +Calchas, of whose arrest, so skilfully had John managed it, he +was as unconscious as the rest of the besieged. The two +prisoners were not permitted to communicate with each +other; and it was only from a warning glance shot at him by +his fellow-sufferer, that Esca gathered they were both in a +situation of extreme peril. +</p> + +<p> +It was not without considerable anxiety that Eleazar +remarked, when the curtains were drawn back, how a large +body of armed men filled the adjoining cloister of the +Temple: like the guard who watched the prisoners, these +were partisans of John; and so well aware were the Sanhedrim +of that fierce soldier’s lawless disposition, that they +looked uneasily from one to the other, with the painful +reflection that he was quite capable of massacring the whole +conclave then and there, and taking the supreme government +of the city into his own hands. +</p> + +<p> +It was the influence, however, of no deliberative assembly +that was feared by a man like John of Gischala. Fierce and +reckless to the extreme, he dreaded only the violence of a +character bold and unscrupulous as his own. Could he but +pull Eleazar from the pinnacle on which he had hitherto +stood, he apprehended no other rival. The chief of the +Zealots was the only man who could equal him in craft as +well as in courage, whose stratagems were as deep, whose +strokes were even bolder, than his own. The opportunity +he had desired so long was come, he believed, at last. In +that circular chamber, thought John, before that council of +stern and cruel dotards, he was about to throw the winning +cast of his game. It behoved him to play it warily, though +courageously. If he could enlist the majority of the Sanhedrim +on his own side, his rival’s downfall was certain. When +he had assumed supreme power in Jerusalem—and he made +no doubt that would be his next step—it would be time +enough to consider whether he too might not ensure his own +safety, and make terms with Titus by delivering up the town +to the enemy. +</p> + +<p> +Standing apart from the prisoners, and affecting an air of +extreme deference to his audience, John addressed the Nasi, +<pb n='375'/><anchor id='Pg375'/>in the tones rather of an inferior who excused himself for +an excess of zeal in the performance of his duty, than of +an equal denouncing a traitor and demanding justice for an +offence. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I leave my case,</q> said he, <q>in the hands of the +Sanhedrim, appealing to them whether I have exceeded +my authority, or accused any man falsely of a crime which +I am unable to prove. I only ask for the indulgence due +to a mere soldier, who is charged with the defence of the +city, and is jealous of everything that can endanger her +safety. From each member here present without a single +exception, from Matthias the son of Boethus to Phineas +Ben-Ezra of the family of Nehemiah, I implore a favourable +hearing. There stands the man whom I secured at noon +this day, coming direct from Titus, with a written scroll +upon his person, of which the superscription was to a certain +Gentile dwelling in the house of Eleazar, who is also present +before you, and purporting to be in the writing of that +warrior of the heathen who commands the Tenth Legion. +Was it not my duty to bring such a matter at once before +the Council? and was it not expedient that the Council +should refer so grave a question to the Sanhedrim?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Matthias bent his brows sternly upon the speaker, and +thus addressed him— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Thou art concealing thy thoughts from those to whose +favour thou makest appeal. John of Gischala, thou art no +unpractised soldier to draw a bow at a venture, and heed +not where the shaft may strike. Speak out thine accusation, +honestly, boldly, without fear of man, before the assembly, +or for ever hold thy peace!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Thus adjured, John of Gischala cast an anxious glance +at the surrounding faces turned towards him, with varying +expressions of expectation, anger, encouragement, and mistrust. +Then he looked boldly at the president, and made +his accusation before the Sanhedrim as he had already made +it before the Council— +</p> + +<p> +<q>I charge Eleazar Ben-Manahem,</q> said he, <q>with treason, +and I charge these two men as his instruments. Let them +clear themselves if they can!</q> +</p> + +</div><div n="3.9" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='376'/><anchor id='Pg376'/> +<index index="toc" level1="IX. The Paved Hall"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="IX. The Paved Hall"/> +<head>CHAPTER IX<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE PAVED HALL</hi></head> + +<figure url="images/i_407.png" rend="w40"><figDesc>Initial A</figDesc></figure> + +<p> +All eyes were now turned on Eleazar, +who sat unmoved in his place, affecting +a composure which he was +far from feeling. His mind, indeed, +was tortured to agony, by the conflict +that went on within. Should +he stand boldly forward and confess +that he had sent his own brother +into the Roman camp, with proposals +for surrender? Well he +knew that such a confession would +be tantamount to placing his neck +at once under John of Gischala’s foot. +Who amongst his most devoted partisans would have courage +to profess a belief in his patriotic motives, or allow that he was +satisfied with the explanation offered for such a flagrant act of +treason? The condemnation of the Sanhedrim would be the +signal for his downfall and his death. When he was gone +who would be left to save Jerusalem? This was the consideration +that affected him, far more than any personal +apprehensions of danger or disgrace. On the other hand, +should he altogether renounce his brother, and disavow the +authority he had given him? It has already been said, +that as far as he loved any living being, he loved Calchas; +perhaps had it not been so, he might have shrunk from the +disgrace of abandoning one who had acted under his own +immediate orders, and risked so much in obeying them; but +in the depths of his fierce heart, something whispered that +self-sacrifice was essentially akin to duty, and that <hi rend='italic'>because</hi> +he loved him, therefore he must offer up his brother, as a +man offers up a victim at the altar. +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless, he ran his eye hastily over his seventy-two +colleagues, as they sat in grave deliberation, and summed up +rapidly the score of friends and foes. It was nearly balanced, +<pb n='377'/><anchor id='Pg377'/>yet he knew there were many who would take their opinions +from the Nasi; and from that stern old man he could expect +nothing but the severity of impartial justice. He dared not +look at Calchas, he dared not cover his face with his hand to +gain a brief respite from the cold grave eyes that were fixed +upon him. It was a bitter moment, but he reflected that, in +the cause of Jerusalem, shame and suffering and sorrow, and +even sin, became sacred, and he resolved to sacrifice all, even +his own flesh and blood, to his ascendency in the town. +</p> + +<p> +He was spared the pain, however, of striking the fatal +blow with his own hand. Matthias, scrupulous in all matters +of justice, had decided that until the accusation against him +was supported by some direct evidence, no member of the +Sanhedrim could be placed in the position of a culprit. He +therefore determined to interrogate the prisoners himself, +and ascertain whether anything would be elicited of so grave +a nature as to cause Eleazar’s suspension from his present +office, and the consequent reassembling of the whole Sanhedrim; +a delay that in the present critical state of matters it +was desirable to avoid, the more so that the day was already +far advanced, and the morrow was the Sabbath. He therefore +ordered the two prisoners to be placed in the centre of +the hall; and, looking sternly towards the accused, began his +interrogations in the severe accents of one who is an avenger +rather than a judge. +</p> + +<p> +The mild eye and placid demeanour of Calchas afforded +a strong contrast to the frowning brows and flashing glances +of the Nasi. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Your name, old man,</q> said the latter abruptly. <q>Your +name, lineage, and generation?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Calchas the son of Simeon,</q> was the reply, <q>the son of +Manahem, of the house of Manahem, and of the tribe of +Judah.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Art thou not the brother of Eleazar Ben-Manahem, who +is sitting yonder in his place as a member of the Sanhedrim, +before whom thou hast to plead?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Ere he replied, Calchas stole a look at Eleazar, who +forced himself to return it. There was something in the +elder brother’s face that caused the younger to turn his +eyes away, and bend them on the ground. The fierce old +president, impatient of that momentary delay, broke out +angrily— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Nay, look up, man! no subterfuges will avail thee here. +Remember the fate of those who dare to lie in the presence +of the Sanhedrim!</q> +</p> + +<pb n='378'/><anchor id='Pg378'/> + +<p> +Calchas fixed his eye on the president’s in mild rebuke. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am in a higher presence than thine, Matthias son of +Boethus,</q> said he; <q>neither need the children of Manahem +be adjured to speak truth before God and man!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Hast thou heard the accusation brought against thee +by John of Gischala?</q> proceeded the Nasi. <q>Canst thou +answer it with an open brow and a clean heart?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I heard the charge,</q> replied Calchas, <q>and I am ready +to answer it for myself, and for him who is in bonds by +my side. Have I permission to clear myself before the +Sanhedrim?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Thou wilt have enough to do to slip thine own neck +out of the yoke,</q> answered Matthias sternly. <q>Colleagues,</q> +he added, looking round, <q>ye have heard the accuser—will +ye now listen to the accused?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Then Phineas, speaking for the rest, answered: <q>We will +hear him, Nasi, without favour, we will judge him without +mercy.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Thus encouraged, Calchas shook the white hair from his +brow, and entered boldly on his defence. +</p> + +<p> +<q>It is true,</q> said he, <q>that I have been outside the walls. +It is true that I have been in the Roman camp, nay, that +I have been in the very presence of Titus himself. Shall I +tell the assembly of the strength of Rome, of the discipline +of her armies, of the late reinforcement of her legions? +Shall I tell them that I saw the very auxiliaries eating +wheaten bread and the flesh of kids and sheep, whilst my +countrymen are starving behind the walls? Shall I tell +them that we are outnumbered by our foes, and are ourselves +weakened by dissensions, and wasting our strength +and courage day by day? Shall I tell them that I read on +the face of Titus confidence in himself and reliance on his +army, and, even with a conviction that he should prevail, a +wish to show pity and clemency to the vanquished? All +this they already know, all this must make it needless for +me to enter into any defence beyond a simple statement +of my motives. Nay, I have gathered intelligence from the +Roman camp,</q> he added, now fixing his eyes on his brother, +to whom he had no other means of imparting the answer, +which the prince had confided to him through Licinius by +word of mouth,—<q>intelligence, the importance of which +should well bear me harmless, even had I committed a +greater offence than escaping from a beleaguered town to +hold converse with the enemy. Titus,</q> he spoke now in a +loud clear voice, of which every syllable rang through the +<pb n='379'/><anchor id='Pg379'/>building—<q>Titus bade me be assured that his determination +was unalterable, to grant no further delay, but, surrender or +no surrender, to enter Jerusalem the day after the Sabbath, +and if he encountered resistance, to lay waste the Holy City +with fire and sword!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Eleazar started to his feet, but recollected himself, and +resumed his seat instantaneously. The action might well be +interpreted as the mere outbreak of a soldier’s energy, called, +as it were, by the sound of the trumpet to the wall. This, +then, was what he had gained, a respite, a reprieve of one +day, and that one day he had purchased at the dear price of +his brother’s life. Yet even now the fierce warrior reflected +with a grim delight, how judiciously he had used the time +accorded him, and how, when the proud Roman did make +his threatened assault, he would meet with a reception worthy +of the warlike fame so long enjoyed by the Jewish nation. +</p> + +<p> +The rest of the Sanhedrim seemed scared and stupefied. +Every man looked in his neighbour’s face, and read there +only dismay and blank despair. The crisis had been long +threatening, and now it was at hand. Resistance was hopeless, +escape impossible, and captivity insupportable. The +prevailing feeling in the assembly was, nevertheless, one of +indignation against the bearer of such unwelcome tidings. +The Nasi was the first to recover himself, yet even he seemed +disturbed. +</p> + +<p> +<q>By whose authority,</q> said he—and every eye was turned +on Eleazar while he spoke—<q>by whose authority didst thou +dare to enter the camp of the enemy, and traffic with the +Gentile who encompasseth the Holy City with bow and +spear?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The chief of the Zealots knew well that he was the +observed of all his colleagues, many of whom would triumph +at his downfall, whilst even his own partisans would detach +themselves from it, each to the best of his abilities, when his +faction ceased to be in the ascendant. He knew, too, that on +his brother’s answer hung not only his life—which indeed he +had risked too often to rate at a high value—but the stability +of the whole fabric he had been building for months—the +authority by which he hoped to save Jerusalem and Judæa, +for which he grudged not to peril his immortal soul; and +knowing all this, he forced his features into a sedate and +solemn composure. He kept his eye away from the accused +indeed, but fixed sternly on the president, and sat in his +place the only man in the whole of that panic-stricken +assembly who appeared master of the situation, and confident +<pb n='380'/><anchor id='Pg380'/>in himself. Calchas paused before he answered, waiting till +the stir was hushed, and the attention which had been diverted +to his brother settled once more on his own case. Then he +addressed the Nasi in bold sonorous accents, his form dilating, +his face brightening as he spoke— +</p> + +<p> +<q>By the authority of Him who came to bring peace on +earth—by the authority that is as far greater than that of +Sanhedrim, or priest, or conqueror, as the heavens are higher +than the sordid speck of dust on which, but for that authority, +we should only swarm and grovel and live one little hour, +like the insects dancing in the sunbeams, to die at the close +of day—I am a man of peace! Could I bear to see my +country wasted by the armed hand, and torn by the trampling +hoof? I love my neighbour as myself. Could I bear to +know that his grasp was day by day on his brother’s throat? +I have learned from my Master that all are brethren, besieger +and besieged, Roman and barbarian, Jew and Gentile, bond +and free. Are they at variance, and shall I not set them at +one? Are their swords at each other’s breasts, and shall I +not step between and bid them be at peace? By whose +authority, dost thou ask me, Matthias son of Boethus? By +His authority who came to you, and ye knew Him not. +Who preached to you, and ye heeded Him not. Who would +have saved you in His own good time from the great desolation, +and ye reviled Him, and judged Him, and put Him to +death on yonder hill!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Even the Prince of the Sanhedrim was staggered at the +old man’s boldness. Like other influential men of his nation, +he could not ignore the existence of a well-known sect, which +had already exchanged its title of Nazarenes for that of +Christians, the name in which it was hereafter to spread +itself over the whole earth; but the very mention of these +self-devoted men was an abomination in his ears, and the last +house in which he could have expected to find a votary of +the cross, was that of Eleazar Ben-Manahem, chief of such a +party as the Zealots, and grounding his influence on his exclusive +nationality and strict adhesion to the very bigotry of +the Jewish law. He looked on Calchas for a space, as if +scarcely believing his eyes. Then there came over his +features, always stern and harsh, an expression of pitiless +severity, and he addressed his colleagues, rather than the +accused. +</p> + +<p> +<q>This is even a graver matter than I had thought for,</q> +said he, in a low yet distinct voice, that made itself heard in +the farthest corner of the Court. <q>Princes of the house of +<pb n='381'/><anchor id='Pg381'/>Judah, elders and nobles, and priests and Levites of the +nation, I am but the instrument of your will, the weapon +wielded by your collective might. Is it not the duty of mine +office that I smite and spare not?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Smite and spare not!</q> repeated Phineas; and the whole +assembly echoed the merciless verdict. +</p> + +<p> +There was not one dissentient, not even Eleazar, sitting +gloomy and resolved in his place. Then Matthias turned +once more to Calchas, and said, still in the same suppressed +tones— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Thou speakest in parables, and men may not address +the Sanhedrim save in the brief language of fact. Art thou +then one of those accursed Nazarenes who have called themselves +Christians of late?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am indeed a Christian,</q> answered Calchas, <q>and I +glory in the name. Would that thou, Matthias son of +Boethus, and these the elders of Judah, were partakers with +me in all that name affords.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Then he looked kindly and joyfully in Eleazar’s face, for +he knew that he had saved his brother. The corselet of the +latter rattled beneath his long black robe with the shiver that +ran through his whole frame. The tension was taken off his +nerves at last, and the relief was great, but it was purchased +at too dear a price. Now that it was doomed, he felt the +value of his brother’s life. He was totally unmanned, and +shifted uneasily in his seat, not knowing what to do or say. +They seemed to have changed places at last—Calchas to +have assumed the bold unyielding nature, and Eleazar the +loving tender heart. He recovered himself, however, before +long. The ruling passion triumphed once more, as he anticipated +the discomfiture of his rival, and the speedy renewal +of his own ascendency amongst his countrymen. +</p> + +<p> +The Prince of the Sanhedrim reflected for a few moments +ere he turned his severe frown on Esca, and said— +</p> + +<p> +<q>What doth this Gentile here in the Court of the Sanhedrim? +Let him speak what he knoweth in this matter, ere +he answer his own crime. Thy testimony at least may be +valid,</q> he added scornfully, <q>for thou surely art not a +Christian?</q> +</p> + +<p> +The Briton raised his head proudly to reply. If there +was less of holy meekness in his demeanour than in that of +Calchas, there was the same bold air of triumph, the same +obvious defiance of consequences, usually displayed by those +who sealed their testimony with their blood. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I <hi rend='italic'>am</hi> a Christian,</q> said he. <q>I confess it, and I too, like +<pb n='382'/><anchor id='Pg382'/>my teacher there, glory in the name! I will not deny the +banner under which I serve. I will fight under that banner, +even to the death.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The Nasi’s very beard bristled with indignation; he +caught up the skirt of his mantle, and tore it asunder to the +hem. Then, raising the pieces thus rent above his head, he +cried out in a loud voice, <q>It is enough! They have spoken +blasphemy before the Sanhedrim. There is nothing more +but to pronounce immediate sentence of death. Phineas +Ben-Ezra, bid thy colleagues adjourn to the Stone-paved +Hall!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Then the assembly rose in silence, and, marching gravely +two by two, passed out into an adjoining chamber, which was +paved, and roofed, and faced with stone. Here alone was it +lawful to pass sentence of death on those whom the Sanhedrim +had condemned; and here, while their judges stood +round them in a circle, the prisoners with their guard fronting +the Nasi took their position in the midst. The latter stooping +to the ground went through the form of collecting a handful +of dust and throwing it into the air. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Thus,</q> said he, <q>your lives are scattered to the winds, +and your blood recoils on your own heads. You, Calchas +the son of Simeon, the son of Manahem, of the house of +Manahem, and you, Gentile, called Esca on the scroll which +has been delivered into my hand, shall be kept in secure ward +till to-morrow be past, seeing that it is the Sabbath, and at +morning’s dawn on the first day of the week ye shall be +stoned with stones in the Outer Court adjoining the Temple +until ye die; and thus shall be done, and more also, to those +who are found guilty of blasphemy in the presence of the +Sanhedrim!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Then turning to Eleazar, who still retained his forced +composure throughout the hideous scene, he added— +</p> + +<p> +<q>For thee, Eleazar Ben-Manahem, thy name is still +untarnished in the nation, and thy place still knows thee +amongst thy brethren. The testimony of a Nazarene is +invalid; and no accusation hath yet been brought against +thee supported by any witness save these two condemned +and accursed men. That thou hast no portion, my brother, +with blasphemers scarcely needs thine own unsupported +word in the ears of the Sanhedrim!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Eleazar, with the same fixed white face, looked wildly +round him on the assembled elders, turning up the sleeves +of his gown the while, and moving his hands over each other +as though he were washing them. +</p> + +<pb n='383'/><anchor id='Pg383'/> + +<p> +<q>Their blood be on their own head,</q> said he. <q>I renounce +them from my family and my household—I abjure +them, I wash my hands of them—their blood be on their own +head!</q> +</p> + +<p> +And while he spoke, the warning voice was heard again +outside the Temple, causing even the bold heart of the Nasi +to thrill with a wild and unaccustomed fear—the voice of the +wailing prophet crying, <q>Woe to Jerusalem! Woe to the +Holy City! Sin and sorrow and desolation! Woe to the +Holy City! Woe to Jerusalem!</q> +</p> + +</div><div n="3.10" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='384'/><anchor id='Pg384'/> +<index index="toc" level1="X. A Zealot of the Zealots"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="X. A Zealot of the Zealots"/> +<head>CHAPTER X<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">A ZEALOT OF THE ZEALOTS</hi></head> + +<p> +The man who has resolved that he will shake himself +free from those human affections and human weaknesses +which, like the corporeal necessities of hunger and +thirst, seem to have been given us for our enjoyment rather +than our discomfort, will find he undertakes a task too hard +for mortal courage and for mortal strength. Without those +pleasant accessories, like water and sunshine, the simple and +universal luxuries of mankind, existence may indeed drag +on, but it can scarcely be called life. The Great Dispenser +of all knows best. His children are not meant to stand +alone, independent of each other and of Him. While they +help their fellows, and trust in His strength, they are strong +indeed; but no sooner do they lean on the staff themselves +have fashioned, than they stumble and fall. It wounds the +hand that grasps it, and breaks too surely when it is most +needed at the last. +</p> + +<p> +Eleazar believed, when he quitted the Paved Hall in +which the Sanhedrim pronounced their sentence, that the +bitterest drop was drained in the cup he had forced himself +to quaff. He had not anticipated the remorseful misery that +awaited him in his own home—the empty seats, where <hi rend='italic'>they</hi> +were not—the tacit reproach of every familiar object—worst +of all, the meeting with Mariamne, the daughter of his +affections, the only child of his house. All that dreary +Sabbath morning the Zealot sat in his desolate home, fearing—yes, +he who seemed to fear nothing; to whom the battle-cry +of shouting thousands on the wall was but as heart-stirring +and inspiring music—fearing the glance of a girl’s +dark eye, the tone of her gentle voice—and that girl his own +daughter. There was no daily sacrifice in the Temple now; +that last cherished prerogative of the Jewish religion had +been suspended. His creed forbade him to busy himself in +any further measures of defence which would involve labour +on the Sacred Day. He might not work with lever and +<pb n='385'/><anchor id='Pg385'/>crowbar at the breach. All that could be done in so short +a space of time had been done by his directions yesterday. +He must sit idle in his stately dwelling, brooding darkly over +his brother’s fate, or traverse his marble floor in restless +strides, with clenched hands, and gnashing teeth, and a wild +despair raging at his heart. Yet he never yielded nor wavered +in his fanatical resolve. Had it all to be done once more, he +would do the same again. +</p> + +<p> +One memory there was that he could not shake off—a +vague and dreary memory that sometimes seemed to soothe, +and sometimes to madden him. The image of Mariamne +would come up before his eyes, not as now in her fair and +perfect womanhood, but as a helpless loving little child, +running to him with outstretched arms, and round cheeks +wet with tears, asking him for the precious favourite that had +gone with the rest of the flock to one of those great sacrifices +with which the Jews kept their sacred festivals—the kid that +was his child’s playfellow—that he would have ransomed, +had he but known it in time, with whole hecatombs of sheep +and oxen, ere it should have been destroyed. The child had +no mother even then; and he remembered, with a strange +clearness, how he had taken the weeping little girl on his +knee and soothed her with unaccustomed tenderness, while +she put her arms round his neck, and laid her soft cheek +against his own, accepting consolation, and sobbing herself +to sleep upon his breast. +</p> + +<p> +After this there seemed to grow up a tacit confidence—a +strong though unspoken affection—between father and +daughter. They seldom exchanged many words in a day, +sometimes scarcely more than a look. No two human beings +could be much less alike, or have less in common. There +was but this one slender link between them, and yet how +strong it had been! After a while it angered him to find +this memory softening, while it oppressed him, whether he +would or no. He resolved he would see Mariamne at once +and face the worst. She knew he had avoided her, and held +him in too great awe to risk giving offence by forcing herself +upon him. Ignorant of Esca’s arrest, the instinctive apprehension +of a woman for the man she loves had yet caused +her to suspect some threatened danger from his prolonged +absence. She watched her opportunity, therefore, to enter +her father’s presence and gain tidings, if possible, of his +brother and the Briton. +</p> + +<p> +The hours sped on, and the fierce Syrian noon was +already glaring down upon the white porches and dazzling +<pb n='386'/><anchor id='Pg386'/>streets of the Holy City. The hush of the Sabbath was over +all; but it seemed more like the brooding, unnatural hush +that precedes earthquake or tempest, than the quiet of a day +devoted to peaceful enjoyment and repose. Her father was +accustomed to drink a cup of wine at this hour, and Mariamne +brought it him, trembling the while to learn the certainty of +that which she could not yet bear to leave in doubt. She +entered the room in which he sat with faltering steps, and +stood before him with a certain graceful timidity that seemed +to deprecate his resentment. His punishment had begun +already. She reminded him of her mother, standing there +pale and beautiful in her distress. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Father,</q> she said softly, as he took the cup from her +hand and set it down untasted, without speaking, <q>where is +our kinsman, Calchas? and—and Esca, the Briton? Father! +tell me the worst at once. I am your own daughter, and I +can bear it.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The worst, had she allowed herself to embody her vague +fears, would have applied to the younger of the absent ones. +It would have assumed that he was gravely wounded, even +dangerously. Not killed—surely not killed! He turned his +eyes upon her sternly, nay, angrily; but even then he could +not tell her till he had lifted the cup and drained it every +drop. His lip was steady now, and his face was harder, +gloomier, than before, while he spoke— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Daughter of Ben-Manahem!</q> said he, <q>henceforth thou +hast no portion with him who was thy kinsman but yesterday, +neither with him the Gentile within my gate, who has eaten +of my bread and drunk from my cup, and stood with me +shoulder to shoulder against the Roman on the wall.</q> +</p> + +<p> +She clasped her hands in agony, and her very lips turned +white; but she said true—she was his own daughter, and +she neither tottered nor gave way. In measured tones she +repeated her former words. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Tell me the worst, father. I can bear it.</q> +</p> + +<p> +He found it easier now that he had begun, and he could +lash himself into a spurious anger as he went on, detailing +the events of the previous day; the charges brought forward +by John of Gischala, the trial before the Sanhedrim, his own +narrow escape, and the confession of the two culprits, owning, +nay, glorying in their mortal crime. He fenced himself in +with the sophistry of an enthusiast and a fanatic. He +deluded himself into the belief that he had been injured and +aggrieved by the apostasy of the condemned. He poured +forth all the eloquence that might have vindicated him before +<pb n='387'/><anchor id='Pg387'/>Matthias and his colleagues, had John’s accusation been ever +brought to proof. The girl stood petrified and overpowered +with his violence: at last he denounced herself, for having +listened so eagerly to the gentle doctrines of her own father’s +brother, for having consorted on terms of friendship with the +stranger whom he had been the first to encourage and +welcome beneath his roof. Once she made her appeal on +Esca’s behalf, but he silenced her ere she had half completed +it. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Father,</q> she urged, <q>though a Gentile, he conformed to +the usages of our people; though a stranger, I have heard +yourself declare that not a warrior in our ranks struck harder +for the Holy City than your guest, the brave and loyal +Esca!</q> +</p> + +<p> +He interrupted her with a curse. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Daughter of Ben-Manahem! in the day in which thou +shalt dare again to speak that forbidden name, may thine +eye wax dim, and thy limbs fail, and thy heart grow cold +within thy breast—that thou be cut off even then, in thy sin—that +thou fall like a rotten branch from the tree of thy +generation—that thou go down into the dust and vanish like +water spilt on the sand—that thy name perish everlastingly +from among the maidens of Judah and the daughters of thy +father’s house!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Though his fury terrified it did not master her. Some +women would have fled in dismay from his presence; some +would have flung themselves on their knees and sought to +move him to compassion with prayers and tears. Mariamne +looked him fixedly in the face with a quiet sorrow in her +own that touched him to the quick, and maddened him the +more. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Father,</q> she said softly, <q>I have nothing left to fear in +this world. Slay me, but do not curse me.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The vision of her childhood, the memory of her mother, +the resigned sadness of her bearing, and the consciousness of +his own injustice, conspired to infuriate him. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Slay thee!</q> he repeated between his set teeth. <q>By the +bones of Manahem—by the head of the high-priest—by the +veil of the Temple itself, if ever I hear thee utter that accursed +name again, I will slay thee with mine own hand!</q> +</p> + +<p> +It was no empty threat to a daughter of her nation. Such +instances of fanaticism were neither unknown to the sterner +sects of the Jews, nor regarded with entirely unfavourable +eyes by that self-devoted and enthusiastic people. The tale +of Jephthah’s daughter was cherished rather as an example of +<pb n='388'/><anchor id='Pg388'/>holy and high-minded obedience, than a warning from rash +and inconsiderate vows. The father was more honoured as +a hero than the daughter was pitied for a victim. And in +later times, one Simon of Scythopolis, who had taken up arms +against his own countrymen, and repented of his treachery, +regained a high place in their estimation by putting himself +to death, having previously slain every member of his family +with his own hand.<note place="foot">Now when he had said this he looked round about him, upon his family, +with eyes of commiseration and of rage (that family consisted of a wife and +children, and his aged parents), so in the first place he caught his father by his +grey hairs, and ran his sword through him, and after him he did the same to his +mother, who willingly received it; and after them he did the like to his wife and +children, every one almost offering themselves to his sword, as desirous to +prevent being slain by their enemies; so when he had gone over all his family he +stood upon their bodies, to be seen by all, and stretching out his right hand, that +his action might be observed by all, he sheathed his entire sword into his own +bowels. This young man was to be pitied, on account of the strength of his body, +and the courage of his soul.—Josephus, <hi rend='italic'>Wars of the Jews</hi>, book ii. sec. 18.</note> It would have only added one more +incident, causing but little comment, to the horrors of the +siege, had the life of Mariamne been taken by her own father +on his very threshold. She looked at him more in surprise +than fear, with a hurt reproachful glance that pierced him to +the heart. <q>Father!</q> she exclaimed, <q>you cannot mean it. +Unsay those cruel words. Am I not your daughter? Father! +father! you used to love me, when I was a little girl!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Then his savage mood gave way, and he took her to him +and spoke to her in gentle soothing accents, as of old. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Thou art a daughter of Manahem,</q> said he, <q>a maiden +of Judah. It is not fit for thee to consort with the enemies +of thy nation and of thy father’s house. These men have +avowed the pernicious doctrines of the Nazarenes, who call +themselves Christians. Therefore they are become an +abomination in our sight, and are to be cut off from amongst +our people. Mariamne, if I can bear unmoved to see my +brother perish, surely it is no hard task for thee to give up +this stranger guest. It is not that my heart is iron to the +core, though thou seest me ofttimes so stern, even with thee; +but the men of to-day, who have taken upon themselves the +defence of Jerusalem from the heathen, must be weaned from +human affections and human weaknesses, even as the child is +weaned from its mother’s milk. I tell thee, girl, I would not +count the lives of all my kindred against one hour of the +safety of Judah; and Mariamne, though I love thee dearly, +ay, better far than thou canst know—for whom have I now +but thee, my daughter?—yet, if I believed that thou, too, +couldst turn traitor to thy country and thy faith—I speak it +<pb n='389'/><anchor id='Pg389'/>not in anger—flesh and blood of mine own though thou be, +I would bury my sword in thy heart!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Had Eleazar’s looks corresponded with his words, such +a threat, in her present frame of mind, might have caused +Mariamne to avow herself a Christian, and brave the worst +at once; but there was a weight of care on her father’s +haggard brow, a mournful tenderness in his eyes, that stirred +the very depths of her being in compassion—that merged all +other feelings in one of intense pity for the misery of that +fierce, resolute, and desolate old man. For the moment she +scarcely realised Esca’s danger in her sympathy for the +obvious sufferings of one usually so self-reliant and unmoved. +She came closer to his side, and placed her hand in his +without speaking. He looked fondly down at her. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Abide with me for a space,</q> said he; <q>Mariamne, thou +and I are left alone in the world.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Then he covered his face with his hands, and remained +without speaking, wrapped, as it seemed, in gloomy reflections +that she dare not disturb. So the two sat on through the +weary hours of that long hot Sabbath day. Whenever she +made the slightest movement, he looked up and signed for +her to remain where she was. Though it was torture, she +dared not disobey; and while the time slipped on and the +shadows lengthened, and the breeze began to stir, she knew +that every minute, as it passed, brought her lover nearer and +nearer to a cruel death. Thus much she had learned too +surely; but with the certainty were aroused all the energies +of her indomitable race, and she resolved that he should be +saved. Many a scheme passed through her working brain, +as she sat in her father’s presence, fearing now, above all +things, to awake his suspicion of her intentions by word or +motion, and so make it impossible for her to escape. Of all +her plans there was but one that seemed feasible; and even +that one presented difficulties almost insurmountable for a +woman. +</p> + +<p> +She knew that he was safe at least till the morrow. No +execution could take place on the Sabbath; and although +the holy day would conclude at sundown, it was not the +custom of her nation to put their criminals to death till after +the dawn, so that she had the whole night before her in +which to act. But, on the other hand, her father would not +leave his home during the Sabbath, and she would be compelled +to remain under his observation till the evening. At +night, then, she had resolved to make her escape, and taking +advantage of the private passage, only known to her father’s +<pb n='390'/><anchor id='Pg390'/>family, by which Calchas had reached the Roman camp, to +seek Titus himself, and offer to conduct his soldiers by that +path into the city, stipulating as the price of her treachery an +immediate assault, and the rescue of her kinsman, Calchas, +with his fellow-sufferer. Girl as she was, it never occurred to +her that Titus might refuse to believe in her good faith +towards himself, and was likely to look upon the whole +scheme as a design to lead his army into an ambush. The +only difficulty that presented itself was her own escape from +the city. She never doubted but that, once in the Roman +camp, her tears and entreaties would carry everything before +them, and, whatever became of herself, her lover would be +saved. +</p> + +<p> +It was not, however, without a strong conflict of feelings +that she came to this desperate resolve. The blood that +flowed in her veins was loyal enough to tingle with shame +ever and anon, as she meditated such treachery against her +nation. Must she, a daughter of Judah, admit the enemy +into the Holy City? Could the child of Eleazar Ben-Manahem, +the boldest warrior of her hosts, the staunchest +defender of her walls, be the traitor to defile Jerusalem with +a foreign yoke? She looked at her father sitting there, in +gloomy meditation, and her heart failed her as she thought +of his agony of shame, if he lived to learn the truth, of the +probability that he would never survive to know it, but perish +virtually by her hand, in an unprepared and desperate resistance. +Then she thought of Esca, tied to the stake, the +howling rabble, the cruel mocking faces, the bare arms and +the uplifted stones. There was no further doubt after that—no +more wavering—nothing but the dogged immovable +determination that proved whose daughter she was. +</p> + +<p> +When the sun had set, Eleazar seemed to shake off the fit +of despondency that had oppressed him during the day. The +Sabbath was now past, and it was lawful for him to occupy +mind and body in any necessary work. He bade Mariamne +light a lamp, and fetch him certain pieces of armour that had +done him good service, and now stood in need of repair. It +was a task in the skilful fulfilment of which every Jewish +warrior prided himself. Men of the highest rank would +unwillingly commit the renewal of these trusty defences to +any fingers but their own; and Eleazar entered upon it with +more of cheerfulness than he had shown for some time. As +he secured one rivet after another, with the patience and +precision required, every stroke of the hammer seemed to +smite upon his daughter’s brain. There she was compelled +<pb n='391'/><anchor id='Pg391'/>to remain a close prisoner, and the time was gliding away so +fast! At length, when the night was already far advanced, +even Eleazar’s strong frame began to feel the effects of +hunger, agitation, labour, and want of rest. He nodded two +or three times over his employment, worked on with redoubled +vigour, nodded again, let his head sink gradually on his +breast, while the hammer slipped from his relaxing fingers, +and he fell asleep. +</p> + +</div><div n="3.11" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='392'/><anchor id='Pg392'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XI. The Doomed City"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XI. The Doomed City"/> +<head>CHAPTER XI<lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE DOOMED CITY</hi></head> + +<p> +Mariamne watched her father for a few impatient +minutes, that seemed to lengthen themselves into +hours, till she had made sure by his deep respiration that her +movements would not wake him. Then she extinguished the +lamp and stole softly from the room, scarcely breathing till +she found herself safe out of the house. The door through +which she emerged was a private egress, opening on the wide +terrace that overhung the gardens. Its stone balustrades and +broad flight of steps were now white and glistening in the +moonlight, which shone brighter and fairer in those mellow +skies than doth many a noonday in the misty north. While +she paused to draw breath, and concentrate every faculty on +the task she had undertaken, she could not but admire the +scene spread out at her very feet. There lay the gardens in +which she had followed many a childish sport, and dreamed +out many a maiden’s dream, sitting in the shade of those +black cypresses, and turning her young face to catch the +breeze that stirred their whispering branches, direct from the +hills of Moab, blending in the far distance with the summer +sky. And lately, too, amid all the horrors and dangers of +the siege, had she not trod these level lawns with Esca, and +wondered how she could be so happy while all about her was +strife, and desolation, and woe? The thought goaded her +into action, and she passed rapidly on; nevertheless, in that +one glance around, the fair and gorgeous picture stamped +itself for ever on her brain. +</p> + +<p> +Beneath her—here black as ebony, there glistening like +sheets of burnished steel—lay the clear-cut terraces and level +lawns of her father’s stately home, dotted by tall tapering +cypresses pointing to the heavens, and guarded by the red +stems of many a noble cedar, flinging their twisted branches +aloft in the midnight sky. Beyond, the spires and domes and +pinnacles of the Holy City glittered and shone in the mellow +light, or loomed in the alternate shade, fantastic, gloomy, and +<pb n='393'/><anchor id='Pg393'/>indistinct. Massive blocks of building, relieved by rows of +marble pillars supporting their heavy porticoes, denoted the +dwellings of her princes and nobles; while encircling the +whole could be traced the dark level line of her last defensive +wall, broken by turrets placed at stated intervals, and already +heightened at the fatal breach opposite the Tower of Antonia, +from the summit of which glowed one angry spot of fire, +a beacon kindled for some hostile purpose by the enemy. +High above all, like a gigantic champion guarding his +charge, in burnished armour and robes of snowy white, rose +the Temple, with its marble dome and roof of beaten gold. +It was the champion’s last watch—it was the last sleep of the +fair and holy city. Never again would she lie in the moonlight, +beautiful, and gracious, and undefaced. Doomed, like +the Temple in which she trusted, to be utterly demolished +and destroyed, the plough was already yoked that should +score its furrows deep into her comeliness; the mighty +stones, so hewn and carved and fashioned into her pride of +strength, were even now vibrating to that shock which was +about to hurl them down into such utter ruin, that not one +should be left to rear itself upon the fragments of another! +</p> + +<p> +The moonbeams shone calm and pleasant on the doomed +city, as they shone on the stunted groves of the Mount of +Olives, on the distant crest of the hills of Moab, and, far +away below these, on the desolate plains that skirt the waters +of the Dead Sea. They shone down calm and pleasant, as +though all were in peace and safety, and plenty and repose; +yet even now the arm of the avenger was up to strike, the +eagle’s wing was pruned, his beak whetted; and Mariamne, +standing on the terrace by her father’s door, could count the +Roman watch-fires already established in the heart of the +Lower City, twinkling at regular distances along the summit +of Mount Calvary. +</p> + +<p> +The view of the enemy’s camp, the thought of Esca’s +danger, spurred her to exertion. She hurried along the +terrace, and down into the garden, following the path which +she knew was to lead her to the marble basin with its hidden +entrance to the secret passage. Her only thought now was +one of apprehension that her unassisted strength might be +unable to lift the slab. Full but of this care, she advanced +swiftly and confidently towards the disused fountain, to stop +within ten paces of it, and almost scream aloud in the high +state of tension to which her nerves had been strung—so +startled was she and scared at what she saw. Sitting with +its back to her, a long lean figure stooped and cowered over +<pb n='394'/><anchor id='Pg394'/>the empty basin, waving its arms, and rocking its body to +and fro with strange unearthly gestures, and broken, muttered +sentences, varied by gasps and moans. Her nation are not +superstitious, and Mariamne had too many causes for fear in +this world to spare much dread for the denizens of another; +nevertheless she stood for a space almost paralysed with the +suddenness of the alarm, and the unexpected nature of the +apparition, quaking in every limb, and unable either to +advance or fly. +</p> + +<p> +There are times when the boldest of human minds +become peculiarly susceptible to supernatural terrors—when +the hardest and least impressionable persons are little stronger +than their nervous and susceptible brethren. A little anxiety, +a little privation, the omission of a meal or two, nay, even the +converse of such abstinence in too great indulgence of the +appetites, bring down the boasted reason of mankind to a +sad state of weakness and credulity. The young, too, are +more subject to such fantastic terrors than the old. Children +suffer much from fears of the supernatural, conceiving in their +vivid imaginations forms and phantoms and situations, which +they can never have previously experienced, and of which it +is therefore difficult to account for the origin. But all classes, +and all ages, if they speak truth, must acknowledge, that at +one time or another, they have felt the blood curdle, the skin +creep, the breath come quick, and the heart rise with that +desperate courage which springs from intense fear, at the +fancied presence or the dreaded proximity of some ghostly +object which eludes them after all, leaving a vague uncertainty +behind it, that neither satisfies their curiosity nor ensures them +against a second visitation of a similar nature. +</p> + +<p> +Mariamne was in a fit state to become the victim of any +such supernatural delusion. Her frame was weakened by +the want of food; for like the rest of the besieged, she had +borne her share of the privations that created such sufferings +in the city for many long weeks before it was finally reduced. +She had gone through much fatigue of late—the continuous +unbroken fatigue that wears the spirits even faster than the +bodily powers; and above all she had been harassed for the +last few hours by the torture of inaction in a state of protracted +suspense. It was no wonder that she should suffer a +few moments of intense and inexplicable fear. +</p> + +<p> +The figure, still with its back to her, and rocking to and +fro, was gathering handfuls of dust from the disused basin of +the fountain, and scattering them with its long lean arms +upon its head and shoulders, chanting at the same time, in +<pb n='395'/><anchor id='Pg395'/>wild, mournful tones, the words <q>Wash and be clean,</q> over +and over again. It obviously imagined itself alone, and +pursued its monotonous task with that dreary earnestness +and endless repetition so peculiar to the actions of the +insane. +</p> + +<p> +After a while, Mariamne, perceiving that she was not +observed, summoned courage to consider what was best to +be done. The secret of the hidden passage was one to be +preserved inviolate under any circumstances; and to-night +everything she most prized depended on its not being discovered +by the besieged. While the figure remained in its +present position, she could do nothing towards the furtherance +of her scheme. And yet the moments were very +precious, and Esca’s life depended on her speed. +</p> + +<p> +There was no doubt, the unfortunate who had thus +wandered into her father’s gardens was a maniac; and those +who suffered under this severe affliction were held in especial +horror among her people. Unlike the Eastern nations of +to-day, who believe them to be not only under its special +protection, but even directly inspired by Providence, the Jews +held that these sufferers were subject to the great principle of +evil; that malignant spirits actually entered into the body of +the insane, afflicting, mocking, and torturing their victim, +goading it in its paroxysms to the exertion of that supernatural +strength with which they endowed its body, and +leaving the latter prostrate, exhausted, and helpless when they +had satiated their malice upon its agonies. To be possessed +of a devil was indeed the climax of all mental and corporeal +misery. The casting out of devils by a mere word or sign, +was perhaps the most convincing proof of miraculous power +that could be offered to a people with whom the visitation +was as general as it was mysterious and incomprehensible. +</p> + +<p> +Mariamne hovered about the fountain, notwithstanding +her great fear, as a bird hovers about the bush under which +a snake lies coiled, but which shelters nevertheless her nest +and her callow young. Standing there, in long dark robes, +beneath a flood of moonlight, her face and hands white as +ivory by the contrast, her eyes dilating, her head bent forward, +her whole attitude that of painful attention and +suspense, she might have been an enchantress composing the +spell that should turn the writhing figure before her into +stone, cold and senseless as the marble over which it bent. +She might have been a fiend, in the form of an angel, directing +its convulsions, and gloating over its agonies; or she +might have been a pure and trusting saint, exorcising the +<pb n='396'/><anchor id='Pg396'/>evil spirit, and bidding it come out of a vexed fellow-creature +in that name which fiends and men and angels must alike +obey. +</p> + +<p> +Presently the night-breeze coming softly over the Roman +camp, brought with it the mellow notes of a trumpet, proclaiming +that the watch was changed, and the centurions, +each in his quarter, pacing their vigilant rounds. Ere it +reached Mariamne’s ears, the maniac had caught the sound, +and sprang to his feet, with his head thrown back and his +muscles braced for a spring like some beast of chase alarmed +by the first challenge of the hound. Gazing wildly about +him, he saw the girl’s figure standing clear and distinct in +the open moonlight, and raising a howl of fearful mirth, he +leaped his own height from the ground, and made towards +her with the headlong rush of a madman. Then fear completely +overmastered her, and she turned and fled for her +life. It was no longer a curdling horror that weighed down +the limbs like lead, and relaxed the nerves like a palsy, +but the strong and natural instinct of personal safety, that +doubled quickness of perception for escape and speed of +foot in flight. +</p> + +<p> +Between herself and her father’s house lay a broad and +easy range of steps, leading upward to the terrace. Instinctively +she dared not trust the ascent, but turned downwards +over the level lawn into the gardens, with the maniac in close +pursuit. It was a fearful race. She heard his quick-drawn +breath, as he panted at her very heels. She could almost +fancy that she felt it hot upon her neck. Once the dancing +shadow of her pursuer, in the moonlight, actually reached +her own! Then she bounded forward again in her agony, +and eluded the grasp that had but just missed its prey. Thus +she reached a low wall, dividing her father’s from a neighbour’s +ground; feeling only that she must go straight on, +she bounded over it, she scarce knew how, and made for an +open doorway she saw ahead, trusting that it might lead into +the street. She heard his yell of triumph as he rose with a +vigorous leap into the air, the dull stroke of his feet as he +landed on the turf so close behind her, and the horror of that +moment was almost beyond endurance. Besides, she felt her +strength failing, and knew too well that she could not sustain +this rate of speed for many paces farther; but escape was +nearer than she hoped, and reaching the door a few yards +before the madman, she gained slightly on him as she shot +through it, and sped on, with weakening limbs and choking +breath, down the street. +</p> + +<pb n='397'/><anchor id='Pg397'/> + +<p> +She heard his yell once again, as he caught sight of her, +but two human figures in front restored her courage, and +she rushed on to implore their protection from her enemy; +yet fear had not so completely mastered her self-possession, +as to drive her into an obvious physical danger, even to escape +encounter with a lunatic. Nearing them, and indeed almost +within arm’s-length, she perceived that one was blasted with +the awful curse of leprosy. The moon shone bright and +clear upon the white glistening surface of his scarred and +mortifying flesh. On his brow, on his neck, in the patches +of his wasting beard and hair, on his naked arms and chest, +nay, in the very garment girt around his loins, the plague-spots +deepened, and widened, and festered, and ate them all +away. It would be death to come in contact, even with his +garments—nay, worse than death, for it would entail a +separation from the touch of human hand, and the help of +human skill. +</p> + +<p> +Yet grovelling there on the bare stones of the street, the +leper was struggling for a bone with a strong active youth, +who had nearly overpowered him, and whom famine had +driven to subject himself to the certainty of a horrible and +loathsome fate, rather than endure any longer its maddening +pangs. There was scarcely a meal of offal on the prize, and +yet he tore it from the leper whom he had overpowered, and +gnawed it with a greedy brutish muttering, as a dog mumbles +a bone. +</p> + +<p> +Gathering her dress around her to avoid a chance of the +fatal contact, Mariamne scoured past the ghastly pair, even +in her own imminent terror and distress feeling her heart +bleed for this flagrant example of the sufferings endured +by her countrymen. The maniac, however, permitted his +attention to be diverted for a few moments, by the two +struggling figures, from his pursuit; and Mariamne, turning +quickly aside into a narrow doorway, cowered down in its +darkest corner, and listened with feelings of relief and thankfulness +to the steps of her pursuer, as, passing this unsuspected +refuge, he sped in his fruitless chase along the street. +</p> + +</div><div n="3.12" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='398'/><anchor id='Pg398'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XII. Desolation"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XII. Desolation"/> +<head>CHAPTER XII<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">DESOLATION</hi></head> + +<p> +Panting like a hunted hind, yet true to the generous +blood that flowed in her veins, Mariamne recovered +her courage even before her strength. No sooner was the +immediate danger passed, than she cast aside all thoughts +of personal safety, and only considered how she might still +rescue the man she loved. Familiar with the street in which +she had taken refuge, as with every other nook and corner +of her native city—for the Jews permitted their women far +more liberty than did their Eastern neighbours—she bethought +her of taking a devious round in case she should be followed, +and then returning by the way she had come, to her father’s +gardens. It was above all things important that Eleazar +should not be made aware of his daughter’s absence; and +she calculated, not without reason, that the fatigues he had +lately gone through, would ensure a few hours at least of +sound unbroken sleep. The domestics, too, of his household, +worn out with watching and hunger, were not likely to be +aroused before morning; she had, therefore, sufficient time +before her to put her plan into execution. +</p> + +<p> +She reflected that it was impossible to approach her +father’s garden unnoticed at this hour, save by the way she +had taken in her flight. To go through his house from the +street was not to be thought of, as the entrance was probably +secured, and she could not gain admittance without giving +an explanation of her absence, and exciting the observation +she most wished to avoid. Then she fell to thinking on the +paths she had followed in her headlong flight, tracing them +backward in her mind with that clear feminine perception, +which so nearly approaches instinct, and is so superior to +the more logical sagacity of man. She knew she could +thread them step by step, to the marble basin of the fountain; +and once again at that spot she felt as if her task would be +half accomplished, instead of scarce begun. Doubtless the +exertion of mind served to calm her recent terrors, and to +<pb n='399'/><anchor id='Pg399'/>distract attention from the dangers of her present situation—alone +in a strange house, with the streets full of such horrors +as those she had lately witnessed, and thronged by armed +parties of lawless and desperate men. +</p> + +<p> +She had gathered her robes about her, and drawn her +veil over her head preparatory to emerging from her hiding-place, +when she was driven back by the sound of footsteps, +and the clank of weapons, coming up the street. To be seen +was to accept the certainty of insult, and to run the risk +of ill-usage, and perhaps death. She shrank farther back, +therefore, into the lower part of the house; and becoming +more accustomed to the gloom, looked anxiously about, to +ascertain what further chance she had within for concealment +or escape. +</p> + +<p> +It was a low irregular building, of which the ground-floor +seemed to have been used but as a space for passage to and +from the upper apartments, and, perhaps, before the famine +consumed them, as a shelter for beasts of burden, and for +cattle. Not a particle of their refuse, however, had been left +on the dry earthen floor; and though a wooden manger was +yet standing, not a vestige remained of halter or tethering +ropes, which had been long since eaten in the scarcity of +food.<note place="foot">Moreover, their hunger was so intolerable, that it obliged them to chew +everything, while they gathered such things as the most sordid animals would +not touch, and endured to eat them; nor did they at length abstain from girdles +and shoes; and the very leather which belonged to their shields they pulled off +and gnawed: the very wisps of old hay became food to some; and some gathered +up fibres, and sold a very small weight of them for four Attic (drachmæ).—Josephus, +<hi rend='italic'>Wars of the Jews</hi>, book vi. sec. 3.</note> A boarded staircase, fenced by carved wooden +balustrades, led from this court to the upper chambers, which +were carefully closed; but a glimmer of light proceeding +from the chinks of an ill-fitting door at its head, denoted +that the house was not deserted. It was probably inhabited +by some of the middle class of citizens; a rank of life that +had suffered more than the higher, or even the lower during +the siege—lacking the means of the one, and shrinking from +the desperate resources of the other. +</p> + +<p> +Mariamne, listening intently to every sound, was aware +of a light step passing to and fro, within the room, and +perceived besides a savoury smell as of roasted flesh, which +pervaded the whole house. She knew by the quiet footfall +and the rustle of drapery, that it was a woman whose motions +she overheard, and for an instant the desire crossed her +mind to beg for a mouthful of strengthening food, ere she +departed on her way—a request she had reason to believe +<pb n='400'/><anchor id='Pg400'/>would be refused with anger. She blushed as she thought +how a morsel of bread was now grudged, even at her own +father’s gate; and she remembered the time when scores +of poor neighbours thronged it every morning for their daily +meal; when sheep and oxen were slain and roasted at a +moment’s notice, on the arrival of some chance guest with +his train of followers. +</p> + +<p> +<q>It is a judgment!</q> thought the girl, regarding the +afflictions of her people in the light of her new faith. <q>It +may be, we must be purified by suffering, and so escape the +final doom. Woe is me for my kindred and for my father’s +house! What am I, that I should not take my share in the +sorrows of the rest?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Then in a pure and holy spirit of self-sacrifice, she turned +wearily away, resolving rather to seek the enemy weak and +fasting, than shift from her own shoulders one particle of +the burden borne by her wretched fellow-citizens; and ere +long the time came when she was thankful she had not +partaken, even in thought, of the food that was then being +prepared. +</p> + +<p> +Seeking the street once more, she found, to her dismay, +that the armed party had halted immediately before the +door. She was forced again to shrink back into the gloom +of the lower court, and wait in fear and trembling for the +result. These, too, had been arrested before the house by +the smell of food. Wandering up and down the devoted +city, such hungry and desperate men scrupled not to take +with the strong hand anything of which they had need. By +gold and silver, and soft raiment, they set now but little store—of +wine they could procure enough to inflame and madden +them, but food was the one passionate desire of their senses. +Besides his own party, John of Gischala had now attached +to his faction numbers of the Sicarii—a band of paid assassins +who had sprung up in the late troubles to make a trade of +murder—and had also seduced into his ranks such of the +Zealots as were weary of Eleazar’s rigid though fervent +patriotism, finding the anarchy within the walls produced +by the siege more to their taste than the disciplined efforts +of their chief to resist the enemy. The party that now +prevented Mariamne’s egress consisted of a few fierce pitiless +spirits from these three factions, united in a common bond +of recklessness and crime. It was no troop for a maiden +to meet by night in the house of a lone woman, or on the +stones of a deserted street, and the girl, trembling at the +conversation she was forced to overhear, needed all her +<pb n='401'/><anchor id='Pg401'/>courage to seize the first opportunity for escape. The clang +of their arms made her heart leap, as they halted together +at the door; but it was less suggestive of evil and violence +than their words. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I have it!</q> exclaimed one, striking his mailed hand +against the post, with a blow that vibrated through the +building. <q>Not a bloodhound of Molossis hath a truer nose +than mine, or hunts his game more steadily to its lair. I +could bury my muzzle, I warrant ye, in the very entrails +of my prey, had I but the chance. There is food here, +comrades, I tell ye, cooking on purpose for us. ’Tis strange +if we go fasting to the wall to-night!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Well said, old dog!</q> laughed another voice. <q>Small +scruple hast thou, Sosas, what the prey may be, so long as +it hath but the blood in it. Come on; up to the highest +seat with thee! No doubt we are expected, though the +doors be closed and we meet with a cold welcome!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Welcome!</q> repeated Sosas; <q>who talks of welcome? +I bid ye all welcome, comrades. Take what you please, +and call for more. Every man what he likes best, be it +sheep or lamb, or delicate young kid, or tender sweet-mouthed +heifer. My guests ye are, and I bid you again +walk up and welcome!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>’Twere strange to find a morsel of food here, too,</q> +interposed one of the band. <q>Say, Gyron, is not this the +house thou and I have already stripped these three times? +By the beard of old Matthias, there was but half a barley-cake +left when we made our last visit!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>True,</q> replied Gyron, with a brutal laugh, <q>and the +woman held on to it like a wild-cat. I was forced to lend +her a wipe over the wrist with my dagger, ere she let go, +and then the she-wolf sucked her own blood from the wound, +and shrieked out that we would not even leave her <hi rend='italic'>that</hi>. +We might let her alone this time, I think, and go elsewhere!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Go to!</q> interrupted Sosas. <q>Thou speakest like one +for whom the banquet is spread at every street corner. Art +turning tender, and delicate even as a weaned child, with +that grizzled beard on thy chin? Go to! I say. The supper +is getting cold. Follow me!</q> +</p> + +<p> +With these words the last speaker entered the house, and +proceeded to ascend the staircase, followed by his comrades, +who pushed and shouldered each other through the door +with ribald jest and laughter, that made their listeners’ blood +run cold. Mariamne, in her retreat, was thus compelled to +retire step by step before them to the top of the stairs, +<pb n='402'/><anchor id='Pg402'/>dreading every moment that their eyes, gradually accustomed +to the gloom, which was rendered more obscure by the +moonlight without, should perceive her figure, and their +relentless grasp seize upon her too surely for a prey. It +was well for her that the stairs were very dark, and that +her black dress offered no contrast in colour to the wall +against which she shrank. The door of the upper chamber +opened outwards, and she hid herself close behind it, hoping +to escape when her pursuers had entered one by one. To +her dismay, however, she found that, with more of military +caution than might have been expected, they had left a +scout below to guard against surprise. Mariamne heard +the unwilling sentinel growling and muttering his discontent, +as he paced to and fro on the floor beneath. +</p> + +<p> +Through the hinges of the open door, the upper apartment +was plainly visible, even by the dim light of a solitary +lamp that stood on the board, and threw its rays over the +ghastly banquet there set forth. Sick, faint, and trembling +with the great horror she beheld, Mariamne could not yet +turn her eyes away. A gaunt grim woman was crouching +at the table, holding something with both hands to her +mouth, and glaring sidelong at her visitors, like a wild beast +disturbed over its prey. Her grisly tresses were knotted +and tangled on her brow; dirt, misery, and hunger were in +every detail of her dress and person. The long lean arms +and hands, with their knotted joints and fleshless fingers, +like those of a skeleton, the sunken face, the sallow tight-drawn +skin, through which the cheek-bones seemed about +to start, the prominent jaw, and shrivelled neck, denoted +too clearly the tortures she must have undergone in a +protracted state of famine, bordering day by day upon +starvation. +</p> + +<p> +And what was that ghastly morsel hanging from those +parched thin lips? +</p> + +<p> +Mariamne could have shrieked aloud with mingled wrath +and pity and dismay. Often had she seen a baby’s tiny +fingers pressed and mumbled in a mother’s mouth, with +doting downcast looks and gentle soothing murmurs and +muttered phrases, fond and foolish, meaningless to others, +yet every precious syllable a golden link of love between +the woman and her child. But now, the red light of madness +glared in the mother’s eye; she was crouching fierce and +startled, like the wild wolf in its lair, and her teeth were +gnashing in her accursed hunger over the white and dainty +limbs of her last-born child. Its little hand was in her +<pb n='403'/><anchor id='Pg403'/>mouth when the ruffians entered, whose violence and excesses +had brought this abomination of desolation upon her house. +She looked up with scarce a trace of humanity left in her +blighted face. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You have food here, mother!</q> shouted Sosas, rushing +in at the head of his comrades. <q>Savoury food, roasted +flesh, dainty morsels. What! hast got no welcome for thy +friends? We have come to sup with thee unbidden, mother, +for we know of old<note place="foot">This frightful supper is said to have been eaten in the dwelling of one +Mary of Bethezub, which signifies the House of Hyssop.—Josephus, <hi rend='italic'>Wars of the +Jews</hi>, book vi. sec. 3.</note> the house of Hyssop is never ill-provided. +Ay, Gyron there, watching down below, misled us sadly. +His talk was but of scanty barley-cakes and grudging +welcome, while lo! here is a supper fit to set before the +high-priest, and the mother gives a good example, though +she wastes no breath on words of welcome. Come on, +comrades, I tell you; never wait to wash hands, but out +with your knives, and fall to!</q> +</p> + +<p> +While he spoke, the ruffian stretched his brawny arm +across the table, and darted his long knife into the smoking +dish. Mariamne behind the door, saw him start, and shiver, +and turn pale. The others looked on, horror-struck, with +staring eyes fixed upon the board. One, the fiercest and +strongest of the gang, wiped his brow, and sat down, sick +and gasping, on the floor. Then the woman laughed out, +and her laughter was terrible to hear. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I did it!</q> she cried, in loud, triumphant tones. <q>He +was my own child, my fair, fat boy. If I had a hundred +sons I would slay them all. All, I tell you, and set them +before you, that you might eat and rejoice, and depart full +and merry from the lonely woman’s house. I slew him at +sundown, my masters, when the Sabbath was past, and I +roasted him with my own hands, for we were alone in the +house, I and my boy. What! will ye not partake? Are +you so delicate, ye men of war, that ye cannot eat the food +which keeps life in a poor, weak woman like me? It is +good food, it is wholesome food, I tell ye, and I bid you +hearty welcome. Eat your fill, my masters; spare not, I +beseech you. But we will keep a portion for the child. +The child!</q> she repeated, like one who speaks in a dream: +<q>he must be hungry ere now; it is past his bedtime, my +masters, and I have not given him his supper yet!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Then she looked on the dish once more, with a vacant, +bewildered stare, rocking herself the while, and muttering +<pb n='404'/><anchor id='Pg404'/>in strange, unintelligible whispers, glancing from time to +time stealthily at her guests, and then upon the horrid +fragment she held, which, as though fain to hide it, she +turned over and over in her gown. At length she broke +out in another wild shriek of laughter, and laid her head +down upon the table, hiding her face in her hands. +</p> + +<p> +Pale and horror-struck, with quiet steps, and heads +averted from the board, the gang departed one by one. +Gyron, who was already wearied of his watch, met them on +the stairs, to receive a whispered word or two from Sosas, +with a muttered exclamation of dismay, and a frightful curse. +The rest, who had seen what their comrade only heard, +were speechless still, and Mariamne, listening to their +clanking, measured tread as it traversed the lower court and +passed out into the street, heard it die away in the distance, +unbroken by a single exclamation even of disgust or surprise. +The boldest of them dared not have stood another moment +face to face with the hideous thing from which he fled. +</p> + +<p> +Mariamne, too, waited not an instant after she had +made sure that they were gone. Not even her womanly +pity for suffering could overcome her feelings of horror +at what she had so lately beheld. She seemed stifled while +she remained under the roof where such a scene had been +enacted; and while she panted to quit it, was more than +ever determined to seek the Roman camp, and call in the +assistance of the enemy. It was obvious even to her, girl +as she was, that there was now no hope for Jerusalem within +the walls. While her father’s faction, and that of John, +were neutralising each other’s efforts for the common good—while +to the pressure of famine, and the necessary evils +of a siege, were added the horrors of rapine and violence, +and daily bloodshed, and all the worst features of civil war—it +seemed that submission to the fiercest enemy would be +a welcome refuge, that the rule of the sternest conqueror +would be mild and merciful by comparison. +</p> + +<p> +She remembered, too, much that Calchas had explained +in the sacred writings they had studied together, with the +assistance of that Syrian scroll which proclaimed the good +tidings of the new religion, elucidating and corroborating the +old. She had not forgotten the mystical menaces of the +prophets, the fiery denunciations of some, the distinct statements +of others—above all, the loving, merciful warning of +the Master himself. Surely the doom had gone forth at +length. Here, if anywhere, was the carcass. Yonder, where +she was going, was the gathering of the eagles. Was not +<pb n='405'/><anchor id='Pg405'/>she in her mission of to-night an instrument in the hands +of Providence? A means for the fulfilment of prophecy? +If she had felt patriotic scruples before, they vanished now. +If she had shrunk from betraying her country, dishonouring +her father, and disgracing her blood, all such considerations +were as nothing now, compared to the hope of becoming a +divine messenger, that, like the dove with its olive-branch, +should bring back eventual peace and safety in its return. +She had seen to-night madness and leprosy stalking abroad +in the streets. Within a Jewish home she had seen a more +awful sight even than these. It was in her power, at least, +to put an end to such horrors, and she doubted whether the +task might not have been specially appointed her from +heaven; but she never asked herself the question if she +would have been equally satisfied of her celestial mission, +had Esca not been lying under the wall of the Temple, +bound and condemned to die with the light of to-morrow’s +sun. +</p> + +</div><div n="3.13" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='406'/><anchor id='Pg406'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XIII. The Legion of the Lost"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XIII. The Legion of the Lost"/> +<head>CHAPTER XIII<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE LEGION OF THE LOST</hi></head> + +<figure url="images/i_437.png" rend="w40"><figDesc>Initial N</figDesc></figure> + +<p> +Nerving herself with every consideration +that could steel a woman’s heart, +Mariamne sought her father’s gardens +by the way she had already come. +They were deserted now, and the house, +at which she could not forbear taking +a look that would probably be her +last, was still quiet and undisturbed. +She would fain have seen her father +once more, even in his sleep—would +fain have kissed his unconscious brow, +and so taken a fancied pardon for the +treason she had resolved to commit—but +it was too great a risk to run, and with a prayer for +divine protection and assistance, she bent down to lift the +slab of marble that concealed the secret way. Having been +moved so lately in the egress of Calchas, it yielded easily to +her strength, and she descended, not without considerable +misgivings, a damp, winding stair, that seemed to lead into +the bowels of the earth. +</p> + +<p> +As the stone fell back to its former place, she was enveloped +in utter darkness; and while she groped her way +along the slimy arch that roofed-in the long, mysterious +tunnel, she could not forbear shuddering with dread of what +she might encounter, ere she beheld the light of day once +more. It was horrible to think of the reptiles that might be +crawling about her feet; of the unknown shapes with which, +at any moment, she might come in contact; of the chances +that might block her in on both sides, and so consign her, +warm and living, to the grave: worst of all, of the possibility +that some demoniac, like him from whom she had so recently +escaped, might have taken up his abode here, in the strange +infatuation of the possessed, and that she must assuredly +become his prey, without the possibility of escape. +</p> + +<pb n='407'/><anchor id='Pg407'/> + +<p> +Such apprehensions made the way tedious indeed; and it +was with no slight feeling of relief, and no mere formal +thanksgiving, that Mariamne caught a glimpse of light stealing +through the black, oppressive darkness, that seemed to +take her breath away, and was aware that she had reached +the other extremity of the passage at last. A few armfuls +of brushwood, skilfully disposed, concealed its egress. These +had been replaced by Calchas, in his late visit to the Roman +camp, and Mariamne, peering through, could see without +being seen, while she considered what step she should take +next. +</p> + +<p> +She was somewhat uneasy, nevertheless, to observe that +a Roman sentinel was posted within twenty paces; she could +hear the clank of his armour every time he stirred; she could +even trace the burnished plumage of the eagle on the crest +of his helmet. It was impossible to emerge from her hiding-place +without passing him; and short as his beat might be, +he seemed indisposed to avail himself of it by walking to and +fro. In the bright moonlight there was no chance of slipping +by unseen, and she looked in vain for a coming cloud on the +midnight sky. He would not even turn his head away from +the city, on which his gaze was fastened; and she watched +him with a sort of dreary fascination, pondering what was +best to be done. +</p> + +<p> +Even in her extremity she could not but remark the grace +of his attitude, and the beautiful outline of his limbs, as he +leaned wearily on his spear. His arms and accoutrements, +too, betrayed more splendour than seemed suitable to a mere +private soldier, while his mantle was of rich scarlet, looped up +and fastened at the shoulder with a clasp of gold. Such details +she took in mechanically and unconsciously, even as she +perceived that, at intervals, he raised his hand to his eyes, +like one who wipes away unbidden tears. Soon she +summoned her presence of mind, and watched him eagerly, +for he stretched his arms towards Jerusalem with a pitiful, +yearning gesture, and, bowing wearily, leant his crested head +upon both arms, resting them against the spear. +</p><anchor id="i_438"/> +<pgIf output='txt'><then> + <p rend="ill">[Illustration: ‘she walked boldly up to him’]</p> +</then><else> + <p><figure rend="w80" url="images/i_438.png"><head>‘she walked boldly up to him’</head> +<figDesc>Illustration: ‘she walked boldly up to him’</figDesc></figure></p> +</else></pgIf> +<p> +It was her opportunity, and she seized it; but at the first +movement she made the sentinel’s attention was aroused, and +she knew she was discovered, for he challenged immediately. +Even then, Mariamne could not but observe that his voice +was unsteady, and the spear he levelled trembled like an aspen +in his grasp. She thought it wisest to make no attempt at +deception, but walking boldly up to him, implored his safe-conduct, +and besought him to take her to the tent of the +<pb n='408'/><anchor id='Pg408'/>commander at once. The sentinel seemed uncertain how to +act, and showed, indeed, but little of that military promptitude +and decision for which the Roman army was so distinguished. +After a pause, he answered—and the soft tones, +musical even in their trouble, that rang in Mariamne’s ears, +were unquestionably those of a woman—a woman, too, whose +instincts of jealousy had recognised her even before she +spoke. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You are the girl I saw in the amphitheatre,</q> she said, +laying a white hand, which trembled violently, on the arm +of the Jewess. <q>You were watching him that day, when he +was down in the sand beneath the net. I know you, I say! +I marked you turned pale when the tribune’s arm was up to +strike. You loved him then. You love him now! Do not +deny it, girl! lest I drive this spear through your body, or +send you to the guard to be treated like a spy taken captive +in the act. You look pale, too, and wretched,</q> she added, +suddenly relenting. <q>Why are you here? Why have you +left him behind the walls alone? I would not have deserted +you in your need, Esca, my lost Esca!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Mariamne shivered when she heard the beloved name +pronounced in such fond accents by another’s lips. Womanlike, +she had not been without suspicions from the first, that her +lover had gained the affections of some noble Roman lady—suspicions +which were confirmed by his own admission to +herself, accompanied by many a sweet assurance of fidelity +and devotion; but yet it galled her even now, at this moment +of supreme peril, to feel the old wound thus probed by the +very hand that dealt it; and, moreover, through all her +anxiety and astonishment, rose a bitter and painful conviction +of the surprising beauty possessed by this shameless woman, +clad thus inexplicably in the garb of a Roman soldier. +Nevertheless, the Jewish maiden was true as steel. Like that +mother of her nation who so readily gave up all claim to her +own flesh and blood, to preserve it from dismemberment +under the award of the wisest and greatest of kings, she +would have saved her cherished Briton at any sacrifice, even +that of her own constant and unfathomable love. She knelt +down before the sentinel, and clasped the scarlet mantle in +both hands. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I will not ask you what or who you are,</q> she said; <q>I +am in your power, and at your mercy. I rejoice that it is so. +But you will help me, will you not? You will use all your +beauty and all your influence to save him whom—whom we +both love?</q> +</p> + +<pb n='409'/><anchor id='Pg409'/> + +<p> +She hesitated while she spoke the last sentence. It was +as if she gave him up voluntarily, when she thus acknowledged +another’s share. But his very life was at stake; and +what was her sore heart, her paltry jealousy, to stand in the +way at such a moment as this? The other looked scornfully +down on the kneeling girl. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You, too, seem to have suffered,</q> said the sentinel. <q>It +is true then, all I have heard of the desolation and misery +within the walls? But boast not of your sorrows; think not +you alone are to be pitied. There are weary heads and +aching hearts here in the leaguer, as yonder in the town. +Tell me the truth, girl! What of Esca? You know him. +You come from him even now. Where is he, and how fares +it with him?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Bound in the Outer Court of the Temple!</q> gasped +Mariamne, <q>and condemned to die with the first light of +to-morrow’s sun!</q> +</p> + +<p> +His fate seemed more terrible and more certain, now that +she had forced herself to put it into words. The Roman +soldier’s face turned deadly pale. The golden-crested helmet, +laid aside for air, released a shower of rich brown curls, that +fell over the ivory neck, and the smooth shoulders, and the +white bosom panting beneath its breastplate. There could +be no attempt at concealment now. Mariamne was obliged +to confess that, even in her male attire, the woman whom +she so feared, yet whom she must trust implicitly, was as +beautiful as she seemed to be reckless and unsexed. +</p> + +<p> +They were a lawless and a desperate band, that body of +gladiators which Hippias had brought with him to the siege +of Jerusalem. None of them but were deeply stained with +blood; most of them were branded with crime; all were +hopeless of good, fearless and defiant of evil. In many a +venturous assault, in many a hand-to-hand encounter, fought +out with enemies as fierce and almost as skilful as themselves, +they had earned their ominous title; and the very legionaries, +though they sneered at their discipline, and denied their +efficiency in long-protracted warfare, could not but admit +that to head a column of attack, to run a battering-ram under +the very ramparts of a citadel, to dash in with a mad cheer +over the shattered ruins of a breach, or to carry out any +other hot and desperate service, there were no soldiers in the +army like the Legion of the Lost. They had dwindled away, +indeed, sadly from slaughter and disease; yet there were still +some five or six hundred left, and this remnant consisted of +the strongest and staunchest in the band. They still +con<pb n='410'/><anchor id='Pg410'/>stituted a separate legion, nor would it have been judicious +to incorporate them with any other force, which, indeed, +might have been as unwilling to receive them as they could +be to enrol themselves in its ranks; and they performed the +same duties, and made it their pride to guard the same posts +they had formerly watched when thrice their present strength. +Under these circumstances a fresh draft would have been +highly acceptable to the Legion of the Lost; and in their +daily increasing want of men, even a single recruit was not +to be despised. Occasionally one of the Syrian auxiliaries, +or a member of any of the irregular forces attached to the +Roman army, who had greatly distinguished himself by his +daring, was admitted into their band, and these additions +became less rare as the original number decreased day by +day. +</p> + +<p> +An appeal to the good-nature of old Hirpinus, backed by +a heavy bribe to one of his centurions, ensured Valeria’s +enrolment into this wild, disorderly, and dangerous force; +nor in their present lax state of discipline, with the prospect +of an immediate assault, had she much to dread from the +curiosity of her new comrades. Even in a Roman camp, +money would purchase wine, and wine would purchase +everything else. Valeria had donned in earnest the arms she +had often before borne for sport. <q>Hippias taught me to use +them,</q> she thought, with bitter, morbid exultation; <q>he shall +see to-morrow how I have profited by his lessons!</q> Then +she resolved to feed her fancy by gazing at the walls of +Jerusalem; and she had little difficulty in persuading a comrade +to whom she brought a jar of strong Syrian wine, that he had +better suffer her to relieve him for the last hour or two of his +watch. +</p> + +<p> +The Amazons of old, with a courage we might look for in +vain amongst the other sex, were accustomed to amputate +their right breast that it might not hinder the bowstring +when they drew the arrow to its head. Did they never feel, +after the shapely bosom was thus mutilated and defaced, a +throb of anguish, or a weight of dull dead pain where the +flesh was now scarred, and hardened, and cicatrised—nay, +something worse than pain beneath the wound, when they +beheld a mother nursing a sucking-child? Valeria, too, had +resolved, so to speak, that she would cut the very heart from +out of her breast—that she would never feel as a woman feels +again. She knew she was miserable, degraded, desperate—she +believed she could bear it nobly now, because she was +turned to stone. Yet, as she leaned on her spear in the +<pb n='411'/><anchor id='Pg411'/>moonlight, and gazed on the city which contained the prize +she had so coveted and lost, she was compelled to acknowledge +that the fibres of that heart she had thought to tear out +and cast away, retained their feelings still. For all that was +come and gone, she loved him, oh! so dearly, yet; and the +eyes of the lost, maddened, desperate woman filled with +tears of as deep and unselfish affection as could have been +shed by Mariamne herself in her pure and stainless youth. +</p> + +<p> +Valeria, as Hippias had learned by painful experience, +was resolute for good and evil. It was this decision of +character, joined to the impulsive disposition which springs +from an undisciplined life, that had given him his prey. But +it was this that thwarted all the efforts he made to obtain +the ascendency over her which generally follows such a link +as theirs; and it was this, too, that ere long caused her to +tear the link asunder without a moment’s apprehension or +remorse. With all his energy and habits of command, the +gladiator found he could not control the proud Roman lady, +who in a moment of caprice had bowed her head to the very +dust for the sake of following him. He could neither +intimidate her into obedience, nor crush her into despair, +though he tried many a haughty threat, and many an +unmanly taunt at her shame. But all in vain; and as he +would not yield an inch in their disputes, there was but little +peace in the tent of the brave leader who ruled so sternly +over the Legion of the Lost. The pair, indeed, went through +the usual phases that accompany such bonds as those they +chose to wear; but the changes were more rapid than common, +as might well be expected, when their folly had not even the +excuse of true affection on both sides. Valeria indeed tired +first; for as far as the gladiator was capable of loving +anything but his profession, he loved her, and this perhaps +only embittered the guilty cup that was already sufficiently +unpalatable to both. Weariness, as usual, followed fast on +the heels of satiety, to be succeeded by irritation, discontent, +and dislike; then came rude words, angry gestures, and +overt aggression from the man, met by the woman with +trifling provocations, mute defiance, and sullen scorn. To +love another, too, so hopelessly and so dearly, made Valeria’s +lot even more difficult to bear, rendering her fretful, intolerant, +and inaccessible to all efforts at reconciliation. Thus the +breach widened hour by hour; and on the day when Hippias +returned to his tent from the council of war before which +Calchas had been brought, Valeria quitted it, vowing never +to return. She had but one object left for which to live. +<pb n='412'/><anchor id='Pg412'/>Maddened by shame, infuriated by the insults of the gladiator, +her great love yet surged up in her heart with an irresistible +tide; and she resolved that she would see Esca once more, +ay, though the whole Jewish army stood with levelled spears +between them. After that, she cared not if she died on the +spot at his feet! +</p> + +<p> +To get within the works was indeed no easy matter; and +so close a watch was kept by the Romans on all movements +between the lines of the hostile forces, now in such dangerous +proximity, that it was impossible to escape from the camp of +Titus and join the enemy behind the wall, though the Jews, +notwithstanding the vigilance of their countrymen, were trooping +to the besiegers’ camp by scores, to implore the protection +of the conqueror, and throw themselves on his well-known +clemency and moderation. +</p> + +<p> +Valeria, then, had taken the desperate resolution of entering +the city with the assault on the morrow. For this purpose +she had adopted the dress and array of the Lost Legion. +She would at least, she thought in her despair, be as forward +as any of those reckless combatants. She would, at least, +see Esca once more. If he met her under shield, not +knowing her, and hurled her to the ground, the arm that +smote her would be that of her glorious and beloved Briton. +There was a wild, sweet sadness in the thought that she +might perhaps die at last by his hand. Full of such +morbid fancies—her imagination over-excited, her courage +kindled, her nerves strung to their highest pitch—it brought +with it a fearful reaction to learn that even her last consolation +might be denied her—that the chance of meeting her +lover once more was no longer in her own hands. What! +had she undergone all these tortures, submitted to all this +degradation, for nothing? And was Esca to die after all, +and never learn that she had loved him to the last? She +could not have believed it, but for the calm, hopeless misery +that she read in Mariamne’s eyes. +</p> + +<p> +For a while Valeria covered her face and remained silent; +then she looked down scornfully on the Jewess, who was still +on her knees, holding the hem of the Roman lady’s garment, +and spoke in a cold, contemptuous tone— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Bound and condemned to death, and you are here? +You must indeed love him very dearly to leave him at such +a time!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Mariamne’s despair was insensible to the taunt. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I am here,</q> said she, <q>to save him. It is the only chance. +Oh, lady, help me! help me if only for his dear sake!</q> +</p> + +<pb n='413'/><anchor id='Pg413'/> + +<p> +<q>What would you have me do?</q> retorted the other +impatiently. <q>Can I pull down your fortified wall with my +naked hands? Can you and I storm the rampart at point +of spear, and bear him away from the midst of the enemy to +share him afterwards between us, as the legionaries share +a prey?</q>—and she laughed a strange, choking laugh while +she spoke. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Nay,</q> pleaded the kneeling Jewess, <q>look not down on +me so angrily. I pray—I implore you only to aid me! +Ay! though you slay me afterwards with your hand if I +displease you by word or deed. Listen, noble lady; I can +lead the Roman army within the walls; I can bring the soldiers +of Titus into Jerusalem, maniple by maniple, and cohort by +cohort, where they shall surprise my countrymen and obtain +easy possession of the town; and all I ask in return—the +price of my shame, the reward of my black treachery—is, +that they will rescue the two prisoners bound in the Outer +Court of the Temple, and spare their lives for her sake who +has sold honour, and country, and kindred here to-night!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Valeria reflected for a few seconds. The plan promised +well; her woman’s intuition read the secret of the other +woman’s heart. A thousand schemes rose rapidly in her +brain; schemes of love, of triumph, of revenge. Was it +feasible? She ran over the position of the wall, the direction +from which Mariamne had come, her own knowledge gained +from the charts she had studied in the tent of Hippias—charts +that, obtained partly by treachery and partly by +observation, mapped out every street and terrace in +Jerusalem—and she thought it was. Of her suppliant’s +good faith she entertained no doubt. +</p> + +<p> +<q>There is then a secret passage?</q> she said, preserving +still a stern and haughty manner to mask the anxiety she +really felt. <q>How long is it, and how many men will it take +in abreast?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>It cannot be far,</q> answered the Jewess, <q>since it extends +but from that heap of brushwood to the terrace of my father’s +house. It might hold three men abreast. I entreat you take +me to Titus, that I may prevail on him to order the attack +ere it be too late. I myself will conduct his soldiers into +the city.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Valeria’s generosity was not proof against her selfishness. +Like many other women, her instincts of possession were +strong; and no sooner had she grasped the possibility of +saving Esca, than the old fierce longing to have him for her +very own returned with redoubled force. +</p> + +<pb n='414'/><anchor id='Pg414'/> + +<p> +<q>That I may rescue the Briton for the Jewess!</q> she +retorted, with a sneer. <q>Do you know to whom you speak? +Listen, girl: I, too, have loved this Esca: loved him with a +love to which yours is but as the glimmer on my helmet +compared to the red glare of that watch-fire below the hill—loved +him as the tigress loves her cubs—nay, sometimes as +the tigress loves her prey! Do you think I will save him +for another?</q> +</p> + +<p> +Mariamne’s face was paler than ever now, but her voice +was clear, though very low and sad, while she replied— +</p> + +<p> +<q>You love him too! I know it, lady, and therefore I ask +you to save him. Not for me; oh! not for me! When he +is once set free, I will never see him more: this is your price, +is it not? Willingly, heartily I pay it; only save him—only +save him! You will, lady; will you not? And so you will +take me direct to Titus? See! the middle watch of the +night is already nearly past.</q> +</p> + +<p> +But Valeria’s plotting brain began now to shape its plans; +she saw the obstacles in her way were she to conduct the +girl at once into the presence of Titus. Her own disguise +would be discovered, and the Roman commander was not +likely to permit such a flagrant breach of discipline and +propriety to pass unnoticed. If not punished, she would +probably be at least publicly shamed, and placed under +restraint. Moreover, the prince might hesitate to credit +Mariamne’s story, and suspect the whole scheme was but a +plot to lead the attacking party into an ambush. Besides, +she would never yield to the Jewess the credit and the +privilege of saving her lover. No: she had a better plan +than this. She knew that Titus had resolved the city should +fall on the morrow. She knew the assault would take place +at dawn; she would persuade Mariamne to return into the +town; she would mark the secret entrance well. When the +gladiators advanced to the attack, she would lead a chosen +band by this path into the very heart of the city; she would +save Esca at the supreme moment; and surely his better +feelings would acknowledge her sovereignty then, when she +came to him as a deliverer and a conqueror, like some +fabulous heroine of his own barbarian nation. She would +revenge on Hippias all the past weary months of discord; +she would laugh Placidus to scorn with his subtle plans and +his venturous courage, and the skill he boasted in the art of +war. Nay, even Licinius himself would be brought to acknowledge +her in her triumph, and be forced to confess that, +stained, degraded as she was, his kinswoman had at last +<pb n='415'/><anchor id='Pg415'/>proved herself a true scion of their noble line, worthy of the +name of Roman! There was a sting, though, in a certain +memory that Mariamne’s words brought back; their very +tone recalled his, when he too had offered to sacrifice his love +that he might save its object—and she thought how different +were their hearts to hers. But the pain only goaded her into +action, and she raised the still kneeling girl with a kindly +gesture, and a reassuring smile. +</p> + +<p> +<q>You can trust me to save him,</q> said she; <q>but it would +be unwise to declare your plan to Titus. He would not +believe it, but would simply make you a prisoner, and prevent +me from fulfilling my object till too late. Show me the +secret path, girl; and by all a woman holds most sacred, by +all I have most prized, yet lost, I swear to you that the eagles +shall shake their wings in the Temple by to-morrow’s sunrise; +that I will cut Esca’s bonds with the very sword that hangs +here in my belt! Return the way you came; be careful to +avoid observation; and if you see Valeria again alive, depend +upon her friendship and protection for his sake whom you +and I shall have saved from death before another day be +past!</q> +</p> + +<p> +So strangely constituted are women, that something +almost like a caress passed between these two, as the one +gave and the other received the solemn pledge; although +Mariamne yielded but unwillingly to Valeria’s arguments, +and sought the secret way on her return with slow reluctant +steps. But she had no alternative; and the Roman lady’s +certainty of success imparted some of her own confidence +to the weary and desponding Jewess. <q>At least,</q> thought +Mariamne, <q>if I cannot save him, I can die with him, and +then nothing can separate us any more!</q> Sad as it was, she +yet felt comforted by the hopeless reflection, while it urged +her to hasten to her lover at once. +</p> + +<p> +There was no time to be lost. As she looked back to +the Roman sentinel, once more motionless on his post, and +waved her hand with a gesture that seemed to implore assistance, +while it expressed confidence, ere she stooped to remove +the brushwood for her return, a peal of Roman trumpets +broke on the silence, sounding out the call which was termed +<q>cock-crow,</q> an hour before the dawn. +</p> + +</div><div n="3.14" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='416'/><anchor id='Pg416'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XIV. Faith"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XIV. Faith"/> +<head>CHAPTER XIV<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">FAITH</hi></head> + +<p> +There is nothing in the history of ancient or modern +times that can at all help us to realise the feelings with +which the Jews regarded their Temple. To them the sacred +building was not only the very type and embodiment of their +religion, but it represented also the magnificence of their +wealth, the pride of their strength, the glory, the antiquity, +and the patriotism of the whole people—noble in architecture, +imposing in dimensions, and glittering with ornament, it was +at once a church, a citadel, and a palace. If a Jew would +express the attributes of strength, symmetry, or splendour, +he compared the object of his admiration with the Temple. +His prophecies continually alluded to the national building +as being identical with the nation itself; and to speak of +injury or contamination to the Temple was tantamount to a +threat of defeat by foreign arms, and invasion by a foreign +host—as its demolition was always considered synonymous +with the total destruction of Judæa; for no Jew could contemplate +the possibility of a national existence apart from +this stronghold of his faith. His tendency thus to identify +himself with his place of worship was also much fostered by +the general practice of his people, who annually flocked to +Jerusalem in great multitudes to keep the feast of the +Passover; so that there were few of the posterity of +Abraham throughout the whole of Syria who had not at +some time in their lives been themselves eye-witnesses of +the glories in which they took such pride. At the period +when the Roman army invested the Holy City, an unusually +large number of these worshippers had congregated +within its walls, enhancing to a great degree the scarcity of +provisions, and all other miseries inseparable from a state +of siege. +</p> + +<p> +The Jews defended their Temple to the last. While +the terrible circle was contracting day by day, while suburb +after suburb was taken, and tower after tower destroyed, +<pb n='417'/><anchor id='Pg417'/>they were driven, and, as it were, condensed gradually +and surely, towards the upper city and the Holy Place +itself. They seemed to cling round the latter and to trust +in it for protection, as though its very stones were animated +by the sublime worship they had been reared to +celebrate. +</p> + +<p> +It was a little before the dawn, and the Outer Court of +the Temple, called the Court of the Gentiles, was enveloped +in the gloom of this, the darkest hour in the whole twenty-four. +Nothing could be distinguished of its surrounding +cloisters, save here and there the stem of a pillar or the +segment of an arch, only visible because brought into relief +by the black recesses behind. A star or two were faintly +twinkling in the open sky overhead; but the morning was +preceded by a light vapoury haze, and the breeze that wafted +it came moist and chill from the distant sea, wailing and +moaning round the unseen pillars and pinnacles of the +mighty building above. Except the sacred precincts themselves, +this was perhaps the only place of security left to the +defenders of Jerusalem; and here, within a spear’s-length of +each other, they had bound the two Christians, doomed by +the Sanhedrim to die. Provided with a morsel of bread, +scarce as it was, and a jar of water, supplied by that spurious +mercy which keeps the condemned alive in order to put him +to death, they had seen the Sabbath, with its glowing hours +of fierce pitiless heat, pass slowly and wearily away; they +had dragged through the long watches of the succeeding +night, and now they were on the brink of that day, which +was to be their last on earth. +</p> + +<p> +Esca stirred uneasily where he sat; and the movement +seemed to rouse his companion from a fit of deep abstraction, +which, judging by the cheerful tones of his voice, could have +been of no depressing nature. +</p> + +<p> +<q>It hath been a tedious watch,</q> said Calchas, <q>and I am +glad it is over. See, Esca, the sky grows darker and darker, +even like our fate on earth. In a little while day will come, +and with it our great and crowning triumph. How glorious +will be the light shining on thee and me, in another world, +an hour after dawn!</q> +</p> + +<p> +The Briton looked admiringly at his comrade, almost +envying him the heartfelt happiness and content betrayed +by his very accents. He had not himself yet arrived at that +pinnacle of faith, on which his friend stood so confidently; +and, indeed, Providence seems to have ordained, that in most +cases such piety should be gradually and insensibly attained, +<pb n='418'/><anchor id='Pg418'/>that the ascent should be won slowly step by step, and that +even as a man breasting a mountain scales height after height, +and sees his horizon widening mile by mile as he strains +towards its crest, so the Christian must toil ever upwards, +thankful to gain a ridge at a time, though he finds that it +but leads him to a higher standard and a farther aim; and +that, though his view is extending all around, and increasing +knowledge takes in much of which he never dreamed before, +the prospect expands but as the eye ascends, while every +summit gained is an encouragement to attempt another, +nobler, and higher, and nearer yet to heaven. +</p> + +<p> +<q>It will be daylight in an hour,</q> said Esca, in a far less +cheerful voice, <q>and the cowards will be here to pound us to +death against this pavement with their cruel stones. I would +fain have my bonds cut, and a weapon within reach at the +last moment, Calchas, and so die at bay amongst them, sword +in hand!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Be thankful that a man’s death is not at his own choice,</q> +replied Calchas gently. <q>How would poor human nature be +perplexed, to take the happy method and the proper moment! +Be thankful, above all things, for the boon of death itself. +It was infinite mercy that bade the inevitable deliverer wait +on sin. What curse could equal an immortality of evil? +Would you live for ever in such a world as ours if you could? +nay, you in your youth, and strength, and beauty, would you +wish to remain till your form was bent, and your beard grey, +and your eyes dim? Think, too, of the many deaths you +might have died,—stricken with leprosy, crouching like a dog +in some hidden corner of the city, or wasted by famine, gnawing +a morsel of offal from which the sustenance had long +since been extracted by some wretch already perished. Or +burnt and suffocated amongst the flaming ramparts, like +the maniple of Romans whom you yourself saw consumed +over against the Tower of Antonia but a few short days +ago!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>That, at least, was a soldier’s death,</q> replied Esca, to +whose resolute nature the idea of yielding up his life without +a struggle seemed so hard. <q>Or I might have fallen by +sword-stroke, or spear-thrust, on the wall, like a man. But +to be stoned to death, as the shepherds stone a jackal in his +hole! It is a horrible and an ignoble fate!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Would you put away from you the great glory that is +offered you?</q> asked Calchas gravely. <q>Would you die but +as a heathen, or one of our own miserable Robbers and +Zealots, of whom the worst do not hesitate to give their blood +<pb n='419'/><anchor id='Pg419'/>for Jerusalem? Are you not better, and braver, and nobler +than any of these? Listen, young man, to him who speaks +to you now words for which he must answer at the great +tribunal ere another hour be past. Proud should you be of +His favour whom you will be permitted to glorify to-day. +Ashamed, indeed, as feeling your own unworthiness, yet +exulting that you, a young and inexperienced disciple, should +have been ranked amongst the leaders and the champions of +the true faith. Look upon me, Esca, bound and waiting here +like yourself for death. For two-score years have I striven +to follow my Master, with feeble steps, indeed, and many a +sad misgiving and many a humbling fall. For two-score +years have I prayed night and morning; first, that I might +have strength to persevere in the way that I had been taught, +so that I might continue amongst His servants, even though +I were the very lowest of the low. Secondly, that if ever the +time should come when I was esteemed worthy to suffer for +His sake, I might not be too much exalted with that glory +which I have so thirsted to attain. I tell thee, boy, that in +an hour’s time from now, thou and I shall be received by +those good and great men of whom I have so often spoken +to thee, coming forward in shining garments, with outstretched +arms, to welcome our approach, and lead us into the eternal +light of which I dare not speak even now, in the place which +eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man +conceived. And all this guerdon is for thee, coming +into the vineyard at the eleventh hour, yet sharing with +those who have borne the labour and heat of the day. Oh, +Esca, I have loved thee like a son, yet from my heart, I +cannot wish thee anywhere but bound here by my side this +night.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The other could not but kindle with his companion’s +enthusiasm. <q>Oh, when they come,</q> said he, <q>they shall +find me ready. And I too, Calchas, believe me, would not +flinch from thee now if I could. Nay, if it be His will that I +must be stoned to death here in the Outer Court of the +Temple, I have learned from thee, old friend, gratefully and +humbly to accept my lot. Yet I am but human, Calchas. +Thou sayest truly, I lack the long and holy training of thy +two-score years. I have a tie that binds me fast to earth. +It is no sin to love Mariamne, and I would fain see her once +again.</q> +</p> + +<p> +A tear rose to the old man’s eye. Chastened, purified, as +was his spirit, and ready to take its flight for home, he could +yet feel for human love. Nay, the very ties of kindred were +<pb n='420'/><anchor id='Pg420'/>strong within him, here in his place of suffering, as they had +been at his brother’s hearth. It was no small subject of congratulation +to him, that his confession of faith before the +Sanhedrim, while it vindicated his master’s honour, should at +the same time have preserved Eleazar’s character in the eyes +of the nation, while his exultation at the prospect of sharing +with his disciple the glory of martyrdom, was damped by the +reflection that Mariamne must grieve bitterly, as the human +heart will, ere her nobler and holier self could become +reconciled to her loss. For a moment he spoke not, though +his lips moved in silent prayer for both, and Esca pursued +the subject that occupied most of his thoughts even at such +an hour as this. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I would fain see her,</q> he repeated dreamily. <q>I loved +her so well; my beautiful Mariamne. And yet it is a selfish +and unworthy wish. She would suffer so much to look on +me lying bound and helpless here. She will know, too, when +it is over, that my last thought was of her, and it may be +she will weep because she was not here to catch my last look +before I died. Tell me, Calchas, I shall surely meet her in +that other world? It can be no sin to love her as I have +loved!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>No sin,</q> repeated Calchas gravely; <q>none. The God +who bears such love for them has called nine-tenths of His +creatures to His knowledge through their affections. When +these are suffered to become the primary object of the heart, +it may be that He will see fit to crush them in the dust, and +will smite, with the bitterest of all afflictions, yet only that He +may heal. How many men have followed the path to +heaven that was first pointed out by a woman’s hand? That +a woman hath perhaps gone on to tread, beckoning him after +her as she vanished, with a holy hopeful smile. No, Esca, it +is not sin to love as thou hast done; and because thou hast +not scrupled to give up even this, the great and precious +treasure of thy heart, for thy master’s honour, thou shalt not +lose thy reward.</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And I shall see her again,</q> he insisted, clinging yet +somewhat to earthly feelings and earthly regrets, for was he +not but a young and untrained disciple? <q>It seems to me, +that it would be unjust to part her from me for ever. It +seems to me that heaven itself would not be heaven away +from her!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>I fear thou art not fit to die,</q> replied Calchas, in a low +and sorrowful voice. <q>Pray, my son, pray fervently, unceasingly, +that the human heart may be taken away from thee, +<pb n='421'/><anchor id='Pg421'/>and the new heart given which will fit thee for the place +whither thou goest to-day. It is not for thee and for me to +say, <q>Give me here, Father, a morsel of bread, or give me +there a cup of wine.</q> We need but implore in our prayers, +of Infinite Wisdom and Infinite Mercy, to grant that which it +knows is best for our welfare; and He who has taught us +how to pray, has bidden us, even before we ask for food, +acknowledge a humble unquestioning resignation to the will +of our Father which is in heaven. Leave all to Him, my son, +satisfied that He will grant thee what is best for thy welfare. +Distress not thyself with weak misgivings, nor subtle reasonings, +nor vain inquiries. Trust, only trust and pray, here in +the court of death, as yonder on the rampart, or at home by +the beloved hearth, so shalt thou obtain the victory; for, +indeed, the battle draweth nigh. The watches of the night +are past, and it is already time to buckle on our armour for +the fight.</q> +</p> + +<p> +While he spoke the old man pointed to the east, where +the first faint tinge of dawn was stealing up into the sky. +Looking into his companion’s face, only now becoming visible +in the dull twilight, he was struck with the change that a few +hours of suffering and imprisonment had wrought upon those +fair young features. Esca seemed ten years older in that one +day and night; nor could Calchas repress a throb of exultation, +as he thought how his own time-worn frame and feeble +nature had been supported by the strong faith within. The +feeling, however, was but momentary, for the Christian +identified himself at once with the suffering and the sorrowful; +nor would he have hesitated in the hearty self-sacrificing +spirit that his faith had taught him, that no other faith either +provides or enjoins, to take on his own shoulders the burden +that seemed so hard for his less-advanced brother to bear. +It was no self-confidence that gave the willing martyr such +invincible courage; but it was the thorough abnegation of +self, the entire dependence on Him, who alone never fails +man at his need, the fervent faith, which could see so clearly +through the mists of time and humanity, as to accept the +infinite and the eternal for the visible, and the tangible, and +the real. +</p> + +<p> +They seemed to have changed places now; that doomed +pair waiting in their bonds for death. The near approach of +morning seemed to call forth the exulting spirit of the warrior +in the older man, to endow the younger with the humble +resignation of the saint. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Pray for me that I may be thought worthy,</q> whispered +<pb n='422'/><anchor id='Pg422'/>the latter, pointing upwards to the grey light widening every +moment above their heads. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Be of good cheer,</q> replied the other, his whole face kindling +with a triumphant smile. <q>Behold, the day is breaking, +and thou and I have done with night, henceforth, for evermore!</q> +</p> + +</div><div n="3.15" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='423'/><anchor id='Pg423'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XV. Fanaticism"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XV. Fanaticism"/> +<head>CHAPTER XV<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">FANATICISM</hi></head> + +<p> +While faith has its martyrs, fanaticism also can boast +its soldiers and its champions. Calchas in his bonds +was not more in earnest than Eleazar in his breastplate; but +the zeal that brought peace to the one, goaded the other into +a restless energy of defiance, which amounted in itself to +torture. +</p> + +<p> +The chief of the Zealots was preparing for the great +struggle that his knowledge of warfare, no less than the words +of his brother before the Sanhedrim (words which yet rang in +his ears with a vague monotony of repetition), led him to +expect with morning. Soon after midnight, he had woke +from the slumber in which Mariamne left him wrapped, and +without making inquiry for his daughter, or indeed taking +any thought of her, he had armed himself at once and prepared +to visit the renewed defences with the first glimpse of day. +To do so he was obliged to pass through the Court of the +Gentiles, where his brother and his friend lay bound; for in +the strength of the Temple itself consisted the last hopes of +the besieged, and its security was of the more importance +now that the whole of the lower town was in possession of +the enemy. Eleazar had decided that if necessary he would +abandon the rest of the city to the Romans, and throwing +himself with a chosen band into this citadel and fortress of +his faith, would hold it to the last, and rather pollute the +sacred places with his blood, than surrender them into the +hand of the Gentiles. Sometimes, in his more exalted +moments, he persuaded himself that even at the extremity of +their need, Heaven would interpose for the rescue of the +chosen people. As a member of the Sanhedrim and one of +the chief nobility of the nation, he had not failed to acquire +the rudiments of that magic lore, which was called the science +of divination. Formerly, while in compliance with custom he +mastered the elements of the art, his strong intellect laughed +to scorn the power it pretended to confer, and the mysteries +<pb n='424'/><anchor id='Pg424'/>it professed to expound. Now, harassed by continual +anxiety, sapped by grief and privation, warped by the +unvaried predominance of one idea, the sane mind sought +refuge in the shadowy possibilities of the supernatural, from +the miseries and horrors of its daily reality. +</p> + +<p> +He recalled the prodigies, of which, though he had not +himself been an eye-witness, he had heard from credible and +trustworthy sources. They could not have been sent, he +thought, only to alarm and astonish an ignorant multitude. +Signs and wonders must have been addressed to him, and men +like him, leaders and rulers of the people. He never doubted +now that a sword of fire had been seen flaming over the city +in the midnight sky; that a heifer, driven there for sacrifice, +had brought forth a lamb in the midst of the Temple; or that +the great sacred gate of brass in the same building had +opened of its own accord in the middle watch of the night; +nay, that chariots and horsemen of fire had been seen careering +in the heavens, and fierce battles raging from the horizon +to the zenith, with alternate tide of conquest and defeat, with +all the slaughter and confusion and vicissitudes of mortal war.<note place="foot">For a description of these portentous appearances, both previous to and +during the siege of Jerusalem, see Josephus, <hi rend='italic'>Wars of the Jews</hi>, book vi. sec. 5, as +related by the historian with perfect good faith, and no slight reproaches to the +incredulity of his obdurate countrymen—that generation of whom the greatest +authority has said, <q>Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe.</q></note> +</p> + +<p> +These considerations endowed him with the exalted confidence +which borders on insanity. As the dreamer finds +himself possessed of supernatural strength and daring, +attempting and achieving feats which yet he knows the while +are impossibilities, so Eleazar, walking armed through the +waning night towards the Temple, almost believed that with +his own right hand he could save his country—almost hoped +that with daylight he should find an angel or a fiend at his +side empowered to assist him, and resolved that he would +accept the aid of either, with equal gratitude and delight. +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless, as he entered the cloisters that surrounded +the Court of the Gentiles, his proud crest sank, his step grew +slower and less assured. Nature prevailed for an instant, and +he would fain have gone over to that gloomy corner, and +bidden his brother a last kind farewell. The possibility +even crossed his brain of drawing his sword and setting the +prisoners free by a couple of strokes, bidding them escape in +the darkness, and shift for themselves; but the fanaticism +which had been so long gaining on his better judgment, +checked the healthy impulse as it arose. <q>It may be,</q> thought +<pb n='425'/><anchor id='Pg425'/>the Zealot, <q>that this last great sacrifice is required from +me—from me, Eleazar Ben-Manahem, chosen to save my +people from destruction this day. Shall I grudge the victim, +bound as he is now with cords to the altar? No, not though +my father’s blood will redden it when he dies. Shall I spare +the brave young Gentile, who hath been to me as a kinsman, +though but a stranger within my gate, if his life too be required +for an oblation? No! not though my child’s heart will break +when she learns that he is gone forth into the night, never to +return. Jephthah grudged not his daughter to redeem his +vow; shall I murmur to yield the lives of all my kindred, +freely as mine own, for the salvation of Jerusalem?</q> And +thus thinking, he steeled himself against every softer feeling, +and resolved he would not even bid the prisoners farewell. +He could not trust himself. It might unman him. It might +destroy his fortitude; nay, it might even offend the vengeance +he hoped to propitiate. Besides, if he were known to have +held communication with two professed Christians, where +would be the popularity and influence on which he calculated +to bear him in triumph through the great decisive struggle of +the day? It was better to stifle such foolish yearnings. It +was wiser to harden his heart and pass by on the other side. +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless he paused for a moment and stretched his +arms with a yearning gesture towards that corner in which +his brother lay bound, and, while he did so, a light step +glided by in the gloom; a light figure passed so near that it +almost touched him, and a woman’s lips were pressed to the +hem of his garment with a long clinging kiss, that bade him +a last farewell. +</p> + +<p> +Mariamne, returning to the city by the secret way from +her interview with Valeria in the Roman camp, had been careful +not to enter her father’s house, lest her absence might have +been discovered, and her liberty of action for the future +impaired. She would have liked to see that father once more; +but all other considerations were swallowed up in the thought +of Esca’s danger, and the yearning to die with him if her +efforts had been too late to save. She sped accordingly +through the dark streets to the Temple, despising, or rather +ignoring, those dangers which had so terrified her in her progress +during the earlier part of the night. While she stole +under the shadow of the cloisters towards her lover, her ear +recognised the sound of a familiar step, and her eye, accustomed +to the gloom, and sharpened by a child’s affection, made out +the figure of her father, armed and on his way to the wall. +She could not but remember that the morning light which +<pb n='426'/><anchor id='Pg426'/>was to bring certain death to Esca, might not, improbably +shine upon Eleazar’s corpse as well. He would defend the +place she knew to the last drop of his blood; and the Roman +would never enter the Temple but over the Zealot’s body. +She could never hope to see him again, the father whom, +notwithstanding his fierceness and his faults, she could not +choose but love. And all she could do was to shed a tear +upon his garment, and wish him this silent and unacknowledged +farewell. Thus it was that Eleazar bore with him into +the battle the last caress he was ever destined to receive from +his child. +</p> + +</div><div n="3.16" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='427'/><anchor id='Pg427'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XVI. Dawn"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XVI. Dawn"/> +<head>CHAPTER XVI<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">DAWN</hi></head> + +<p> +The day soon broke in earnest, cold and pale on the +towers and pinnacles of the Temple. The lofty dome +that had been looming in the sky, grand and grey and indistinct, +like the mass of clouds that rolls away before the +pure clear eye of morning, glowed with a flush of pink; and +changed again to its own glittering white of polished marble, +as its crest caught the full beams of the rising sun. Ere long +the golden roof was sparkling here and there in points of fire, +to blaze out at last in one dazzling sheet of flame; but still +the Court of the Gentiles below was wrapped in gloom, and +the two bound figures in its darkest corner, turned their pale +faces upward to greet the advent of another day—their last +on earth. +</p> + +<p> +But their attention was soon recalled to the court itself; +for through the dark recesses of the vaulted cloisters, was +winding an ominous procession of those who had been their +judges, and who now approached to seal the fiat of their +doom. Clad in long dark robes, and headed by their <q>Nasi,</q> +they paced slowly out, marching two by two with solemn +step and stern unpitying mien: it was obvious that the +Sanhedrim adhered strictly to that article of their code, which +enjoined them to perform justice without mercy. Gravely +advancing with the same slow step, gradual and inevitable +as time, they ranged themselves in a semicircle round the +prisoners—then halted every man at the same moment; +while all exclaimed as with one voice, to notify their completion +and their unanimity— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Here in the presence of the Lord!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Again a deathlike silence, intolerable, and apparently +interminable to the condemned. Even Calchas felt his +heart burn with a keen sense of injustice and a strange +instinct of resistance; while Esca, rising to his full height, +and in spite of his bonds, folding his brawny arms across his +chest, frowned back at the pitiless assembly a defiance that +<pb n='428'/><anchor id='Pg428'/>seemed to challenge them to do their worst. Matthias the +son of Boethus then stepped forward from amongst his +fellows; and addressed, according to custom, the youngest +member of the Sanhedrim. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Phineas Ben-Ezra. Hath the doom gone forth?</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>It hath gone forth through the nation,</q> answered Phineas, +in deep sonorous tones. <q>To north and south, to east and +west; to all the people of Judæa hath the inevitable decree +been made manifest. The accuser hath spoken and prevailed. +The accused have been judged and condemned. It is well. +Let the sentence be executed without delay!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>Phineas Ben-Ezra,</q> interposed Matthias, <q>can the condemned +put forth no plea for pardon or reprieve?</q> +</p> + +<p> +It was according to ancient custom that the Nasi should +even at the last moment urge this merciful appeal—an appeal +that never obtained a moment’s respite for the most innocent +of sufferers. Ere Calchas or Esca could have said a word +on their own behalf, Phineas took upon himself the established +reply— +</p> + +<p> +<q>The voice of the Sanhedrim hath spoken! There is no +plea; there is no pardon; there is no reprieve.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Then Matthias raised both hands above his head, and +spoke in low grave accents— +</p> + +<p> +<q>For the accused, justice; for the offender, death. The +Sanhedrim hath heard; the Sanhedrim hath judged; the +Sanhedrim hath condemned. It is written, <q>If a man be +found guilty of blasphemy, let him be stoned with stones +until he die!</q> Again I say unto you, Calchas Ben-Manahem, +and you, Esca the Gentile, your blood be upon your own +heads.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Lowering his hands, the signal was at once answered by +the inward rush of some score or two of vigorous young men, +who had been in readiness outside the court. These were +stripped to the waist, and had their loins girt. Some bore +huge stones in their bare arms; others, loosening the pavement +with crow and pick-axe, stooped down and tore it up +with a fierce and cruel energy, as though they had already +been kept waiting too long. They were followers of John of +Gischala, and their chief, though he took no part in the +proceeding, stood at their head. His first glance was one of +savage triumph, which faded into no less savage disappointment, +as he saw Eleazar’s place vacant in the assembly of +judges—that warrior’s duties against the enemy excusing his +attendance on the occasion. John had counted on this +critical moment for the utter discomfiture of his rival; but +<pb n='429'/><anchor id='Pg429'/>the latter, whose fortitude, strung as it had been to the +highest pitch, could scarcely have carried him through such +a trial as was prepared for him, had escaped it by leading a +chosen band of followers to the post of danger, where the +inner wall was weakest, and the breach so lately made had +been hastily and insufficiently repaired. +</p> + +<p> +John saw in this well-timed absence another triumph for +his invincible enemy. He turned away with a curse upon his +lips, and ordered the young men to proceed at once in the +execution of their ghastly duty. It seemed to him that he +must not lose a moment in following his rival to the wall, +yet he could not resist the brutal pleasure of witnessing that +rival’s brother lying defaced and mangled in the horrible +death to which he had been condemned. Already the stones +were poised, the fierce brows knit, the bare arms raised, when +even the savage executioners held their hands, and the grim +Sanhedrim glanced from one to another, half in uncertainty, +half in pity, at what they beheld. The figure of a woman +darting from the gloomy cloister, rushed across the court to +fall in Esca’s arms with a strange wild cry, not quite a shout +of triumph, not quite a shriek of despair; and the Briton +looking down upon Mariamne, folded her head to his +breast, with a murmur of manly tenderness that even such +a moment could not repress, while he shielded her with his +body from the threatened missiles, in mingled gentleness +and defiance, as a wild animal turned to bay protects its +young. +</p> + +<p> +She passed her hands across his brow with a fond impulsive +caress. With a woman’s instinct, too, of care and +compassion, she gently stroked his wrist where it had been +chafed and galled by his bonds; then she smiled up in his +face, a loving happy smile, and whispered, <q>My own, my +dear one; they shall never part us. If I cannot save thee, I +can die with thee; oh! so happy. Happier than I have ever +been before in my life.</q> +</p> + +<p> +It was a strange feeling for him to shrink from the +beloved presence, to avoid the desired caress, to entreat his +Mariamne to leave him; but though his first impulse had +been to clasp her in his arms, his blood ran cold to think of +the danger she was braving, the fate to which those tender +limbs, that fair young delicate body, would too surely be +exposed. +</p> + +<p> +<q>No, no,</q> he said, <q>not so. You are too young, too +beautiful to die. Mariamne, if you ever loved me—nay, as +you love me, I charge you to leave me now.</q> +</p> + +<pb n='430'/><anchor id='Pg430'/> + +<p> +She looked at Calchas, whom she had not yet seemed to +recognise, and there was a smile—yes! a smile on her face, +while she stood forth between the prisoners, and fronted that +whole assembly with dauntless forehead and brave flashing +eyes; her fair slight figure the one centre of all observation, +the one prominent object in the court. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Listen,</q> she said, in clear sweet tones, that rang like +music to the very farthest cloisters. <q>Listen all, and bear +witness! Princes of the House of Judah, elders and nobles, +and priests and Levites of the nation! ye cannot shrink from +your duty, ye cannot put off your sacred character. I appeal +to your own constitution and your own awful vow. Ye have +sworn to obey the dictates of wisdom without favour; ye +have sworn to fulfil the behests of justice without mercy. I +charge ye to condemn me, Mariamne, the daughter of Eleazar +Ben-Manahem, to be stoned with stones until I die; for that +I too am one of those Nazarenes whom men call Christians. +Yea, I triumph in their belief, as I glory in their name. Ye +need no evidence, for I condemn myself out of my own +mouth. Priests of my father’s faith, here in its very Temple +I deny your holiness, I abjure your worship, I renounce your +creed! This building that overshadows me shall testify to +my denunciations. It may be that this very day it shall fall +in upon you and cover you with its ruins. If these have +spoken blasphemy, so have I; if these are offenders worthy +of death, so am I. I bear witness against you! I defy you! +I bid you do your worst on those who are proud and happy +to die for conscience’ sake!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Her cheek glowed, her eye flashed, her very figure dilated +as she shook her white hand aloft, and thus braved the +assembled Sanhedrim with her defiance. It was strange how +like Eleazar she was at that moment, while the rich old blood +of Manahem mounted in her veins; and the courage of her +fathers, that of yore had smitten the armed Philistine in the +wilderness, and turned the fierce children of Moab in the very +tide of conquest, now blazed forth at the moment of danger in +the fairest and gentlest descendant of their line. Even her +very tones thrilled to the heart of Calchas, not so much for +her own sake, as for that of the brother whom he so loved, +and whose voice he seemed to hear in hers. Esca gazed on +her with a fond astonishment; and John of Gischala quailed +where he stood, as he thought of his noble enemy, and the +hereditary courage he had done more wisely not to have +driven to despair. +</p> + +<p> +But the tension of her nerves was too much for her +<pb n='431'/><anchor id='Pg431'/>woman’s strength. Bravely she hurled her challenge in their +very teeth; and then, shaking in every limb, she leaned +against the Briton’s towering form, and hid her face once +more on his breast. +</p> + +<p> +Even the Nasi was moved. Stern, rigid, and exacting, +yet apart from his office he too had human affections and +human weaknesses. He had mourned for more than one +brave son, he had loved more than one dark-eyed daughter. +He would have spared her if he could, and he bit his lip hard +under the long white beard, in a vain effort to steady the +quiver he could not control. He looked appealingly amongst +his colleagues, and met many an eye that obviously +sympathised with his tendency to mercy; but John of +Gischala interposed, and cried out loudly for justice to be +done without delay. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Ye have heard her!</q> he exclaimed, with an assumption +of holy and zealous indignation; <q>out of her own mouth +she is condemned. What need ye more proof or further +deliberation? The doom has gone forth. I appeal to the +Sanhedrim that justice be done, in the name of our faith, our +nation, our Temple, and our Holy City, which such righteous +acts as these may preserve even now from the desolation that +is threatening at the very gate!</q> +</p> + +<p> +With such an assembly, such an appeal admitted of no +refusal. The Seventy looked from one to another and shook +their heads, sorrowfully indeed, but with knitted brows and +grave stern faces that denoted no intention to spare. Already +Phineas Ben-Ezra had given the accustomed signal; already +the young men appointed as executioners had closed round +the doomed three, with huge blunt missiles poised, and +prepared to launch them forth, when another interruption +arrived to delay for a while the cruel sacrifice that a Jewish +Sanhedrim dignified with the title of justice. +</p> + +<p> +A voice that had been often heard before, though never so +wild and piercing as at this moment, rang through the Court +of the Gentiles, and seemed to wail among the very pinnacles +of the Temple towering in the morning air above. It was a +voice that struck to the hearts of all who heard it—such +a voice as terrifies men in their dreams; chilling the blood, +and making the flesh creep with a vague yet unendurable +horror, so that when the pale sleeper wakes, he is drenched +with the cold sweat of mortal fear. A voice that seemed at once +to threaten and to warn, to pity and to condemn; a voice of +which the moan and the burden were ever unbroken and the +same—<q>Woe to Jerusalem! Woe to the Holy City! Sin, +<pb n='432'/><anchor id='Pg432'/>and sorrow, and desolation! Woe to the Holy City! Woe +to Jerusalem!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Naked, save for a fold of camel’s hair around his loins, his +coarse black locks matted and tangled, and mingled with the +uncombed beard that reached below his waist—his dark eyes +gleaming with lurid fire, and his long lean arms tossing aloft +with the wild gestures of insanity—a tall figure stalked into +the middle of the court, and taking up its position before +the Nasi of the Sanhedrim, began scattering around it on the +floor the burning embers from a brazier it bore on its head; +accompanying its actions with the same mournful and prophetic +cry. The young men paused with their arms up in +act to hurl; the Nasi stood motionless and astonished; the +Sanhedrim seemed paralysed with fear; and the Prophet of +Warning, if prophet indeed he were, proceeded with his chant +of vengeance and denunciation against his countrymen. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Woe to Jerusalem!</q> said he once more. <q>Woe to the +Holy City! A voice from the East, a voice from the West, a +voice from the four winds; a voice against Jerusalem and the +holy house; a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides; +and a voice against the whole people!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Then he turned aside and walked round the prisoners in +a circle, still casting burning ashes on the floor. Matthias, +like his colleagues, was puzzled how to act. If this were +a demoniac, he entertained for him a natural horror and +aversion, enhanced by the belief he held, in common with his +countrymen, that one possessed had the strength of a score of +men in his single arm; but what if this should be a true +prophet, inspired directly from heaven? The difficulty would +then become far greater. To endeavour to suppress him +might provoke divine vengeance on the spot; whereas, to +suffer his denunciations to go abroad amongst the people as +having prevailed with the Great Council of the nation, would +be to abandon the inhabitants at once to despair, and to yield +up all hope of offering a successful defence to the coming +attack. From this dilemma the Nasi was released by the last +person on whom he could have counted for assistance at such +a time. Pointing to the prisoners with his wasted arm, the +prophet demanded their instant release, threatening divine +vengeance on the Sanhedrim if they refused; and then addressing +the three with the same wild gestures and incoherent +language, he bade them come forth from their bonds, and +join him in his work of prophecy through the length and +breadth of the city. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I have power to bind,</q> he exclaimed, <q>and power to +<pb n='433'/><anchor id='Pg433'/>loose! I command you to rend your bonds asunder! I +command you to come forth, and join me, the Prophet of +Warning, in the cry that I am commissioned to cry aloud, +without ceasing—<q>Woe to Jerusalem! Woe to the Holy +City! Woe to <anchor id="corr433"/><corr sic="Jeruslaem">Jerusalem</corr>!</q></q> +</p> + +<p> +Then Calchas, stretching out his bound hands, rebuked +him, calmly, mildly, solemnly, with the patience of a good +and holy man—with the instinctive superiority of one who is +standing on the verge of his open grave. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Wilt thou hinder God’s work?</q> he said. <q>Wilt thou +dare to suppress the testimony we are here to give in His +presence to-day? See! even this young girl, weak indeed in +body yet strong in faith, stands bold and unflinching at her +post! And thou, O man! what art thou, that thou shouldst +think to come between her and her glorious reward? Be +still! be still! Be no more vexed by the unquiet spirit, but +go in peace, or rather stay here in the Court of the Gentiles, +and bear witness to the truth, for which we are so thankful +and so proud to die!</q> +</p> + +<p> +The prophet’s eye wandered dreamily from the speaker’s +face to those of the surrounding listeners. His features +worked as though he strove against some force within that he +was powerless to resist; then his whole frame collapsed, as it +were, into a helpless apathy, and placing his brazier on the +ground, he sat down beside it, rocking his body to and fro, +while he moaned out, as it seemed unconsciously, in a low +and wailing voice, the burden of his accustomed chant. +</p> + +<p> +To many in the assembly that scene was often present in +their after lives. When they opened their eyes to the light +of morning they saw its glow once more on the bewildered +faces of the Sanhedrim; on the displeasure, mingled with +wonder and admiration, that ruffled the austere brow of +Matthias; on the downward scowl that betrayed how shame +and fear were torturing John of Gischala; on the clear-cut +figures of the young men he had marshalled, girded and +ready for their cruel office; on Esca’s towering frame, haughty +and undaunted still; on Mariamne’s drooping form, and +pale patient face; above all, on the smile that illumined the +countenance of Calchas, standing there in his bonds, so +venerable, and meek, and happy, now turning to encourage +his companions in affliction, now raising his eyes thankfully +to heaven, his whole form irradiated the while by a flood of +light, that seemed richer and more lustrous than the glow of +the morning sun. +</p> + +<p> +But while the prophet, thus tranquillised and silenced by +<pb n='434'/><anchor id='Pg434'/>the rebuke he had provoked, sat muttering and brooding +amongst his dying embers on the floor; while the Sanhedrim, +with their Nasi, stood aghast; while John of Gischala gnawed +his lip in impatient vindictive hatred; and the young men +gathered closer round their victims, as the wolves gather in +upon their prey,—Mariamne raised her head from Esca’s +breast, and, pushing the hair back from her ears and temples, +stood for an instant erect and motionless, with every faculty +absorbed in the one sense of listening. Then she turned her +flashing eyes, lit up with great hope and triumph, yet not +untinged by wistful mournful tenderness, upon the Briton’s +face, and sobbed in broken accents, between tears and +laughter— +</p> + +<p> +<q>Saved! Saved! beloved. And by my hand, though +lost to me!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Sharpened by intense affection, her ear alone had caught +the distant note of the Roman trumpets sounding for the +assault. +</p> + +</div><div n="3.17" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='435'/><anchor id='Pg435'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XVII. The First Stone"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XVII. The First Stone"/> +<head>CHAPTER XVII<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE FIRST STONE</hi></head> + +<figure url="images/i_468.png" rend="w40"><figDesc>Initial B</figDesc></figure> + +<p> +But the young men would hold their +hands no longer. Impatient of delay, +and encouraged by a sign from their +leader, they rushed in upon the prisoners. +Esca shielded Mariamne with +his body. Calchas, pale and motionless, +calmly awaited his fate. Gioras, +the son of Simeon, a prominent +warrior amongst the Sicarii, hurling +on him a block of granite with +merciless energy, struck the old man +bleeding to the earth; but while the +missile left his hands—while he yet +stood erect and with extended arms, a Roman arrow +quivered in the aggressor’s heart. He fell upon his face +stone dead at the very feet of his victim. That random +shaft was but the first herald of the storm. In another +moment a huge mass of rock, projected from a powerful +catapult against the building, falling short of its mark, struck +the prophet as he sat moaning on the ground, and crushed +him a lifeless, shapeless mass beneath its weight. Then rose +a cry of despair from the outer wall—a confused noise of +strife and shouting, the peal of the trumpets, the cheer of +the conquerors, the wild roar of defiance and despair from +the besieged. Ere long fugitives were pouring through the +court, seeking the shelter of the Temple itself. There was +no time to complete the execution—no time to think of the +prisoners. John of Gischala, summoning his adherents, and +bidding the young men hasten for their armour, betook +himself to his stronghold within the Sacred Place. The +Sanhedrim fled in consternation, although Matthias and the +braver of his colleagues died afterwards in the streets, as +became them, under shield. In a few minutes the Court of +the Gentiles was again clear, save for the prisoners, one of +<pb n='436'/><anchor id='Pg436'/>whom was bound, and one mangled and bleeding on the +pavement, tended by Mariamne, who bent over her kinsman +in speechless sorrow and consternation. The fragment of +rock, too, which had been propelled against the Temple, lay +in the centre, over the crushed and flattened body of the +prophet, whose hand and arm alone protruded from beneath +the mass. The place did not thus remain in solitude for +long. Fighting their retreat step by step, and, although +driven backward, contesting every yard with their faces to +the enemy, the flower of the Jewish army soon passed +through, in the best order they could maintain, as they +retired upon the Temple. Among the last of these was +Eleazar; hopeless now, for he knew all was lost, but brave +and unconquered still. He cast one look of affection at his +brother’s prostrate form, one of astonishment and reproof +on his kneeling child; but ere he could approach or even +speak to her, he was swept on with the resistless tide +of the defeated, ebbing before the advance of the Roman +host. +</p> + +<p> +And now Esca’s eye kindled, and his blood mounted, to +a well-known battle-cry. He had heard it in the deadly +circus; he had heard it on the crumbling breach; he had +heard it wherever blows rained hard and blood flowed free, +and men fought doggedly and hopelessly, without a chance +or a wish for escape. His heart leaped to the cheer of the +gladiators, rising fierce, reckless, and defiant above all the +combined din of war, and he knew that his old comrades and +late antagonists had carried the defences with their wonted +bravery, as they led the Roman army to the assault. +</p> + +<p> +The Legion of the Lost had indeed borne themselves +nobly on this occasion. Their leader had not spared them; +for Hippias well knew that to-day, with the handful left him +by slaughter and disease, he must play his last stake for +riches and distinction; nor had his followers failed to answer +gallantly to his call. Though opposed by Eleazar himself +and the best he could muster, they had carried the breach +at the first onset—they had driven the Jews before them +with a wild headlong charge that no courage could resist, +and they had entered the outskirts of the Temple almost at +the same moment with its discomfited defenders. It was +their trumpets sounding the advance that reached Mariamne’s +ear as she stood in the Court of the Gentiles, awaiting the +vengeance she had defied. And amongst this courageous +band two combatants had especially signalised themselves +by feats of reckless and unusual daring. The one was old +<pb n='437'/><anchor id='Pg437'/>Hirpinus, who felt thoroughly in his element in such a scene, +and whose natural valour was enhanced by the consciousness +of the superiority he had now attained as a soldier over his +former profession of a gladiator. The other was a comrade +whom none could identify; who was conspicuous no less +from his flowing locks, his beautiful form, and his golden +armour, than from the audacity with which he courted +danger, and the immunity he seemed to enjoy, in common +with those who display a real contempt for death. +</p> + +<p> +As he followed the golden headpiece and the long brown +hair, that made way so irresistibly through the press, more +than one stout swordsman exulted in the belief that some +tutelary deity of his country had descended in human shape +to aid the Roman arms; and Titus himself inquired, and +waited in vain for an answer, <q>Who was that dashing +warrior, with white arms and shining corselet, leading the +gladiators so gallantly to the attack?</q> +</p> + +<p> +But old Hirpinus knew, and smiled within his helmet as +he fought. <q>The captain is well rid of her,</q> thought he, +congratulating himself the while on his own freedom from +such inconveniences. <q>For all her comely face and winning +laugh, I had rather have a tigress loose in my tent than this +fair, fickle, fighting fury, who takes to shield and spear as +other women do to the shuttle and the distaff!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Valeria, in truth, deserved little credit for her bravery. +While apprehension of danger never for a moment overmastered +her, the excitement of its presence seemed to offer +a temporary relief to her wounded and remorseful heart. In +the fierce rush of battle she had no leisure to dwell on +thoughts that had lately tortured her to madness; and the +very physical exertion such a scene demanded, brought with +it, although she was unconscious of its severity, a sure anodyne +for mental suffering. Like all persons, too, who are +unaccustomed to bodily perils, the impunity with which she +affronted each imparted an overweening confidence in her +good fortune, and an undue contempt for the next, till it +seemed to herself that she bore a charmed life; and that, +though man after man might fall at her side as she fought +on, <hi rend='italic'>she</hi> was destined to fulfil her task unscathed, and reach +the presence of Esca in time to save him from destruction, +even though she should die the next minute at his +feet. +</p> + +<p> +The two first assailants who entered the Court of the +Gentiles were Valeria, in her golden armour, and Hirpinus, +brandishing the short deadly weapon he knew how to use +<pb n='438'/><anchor id='Pg438'/>so well. They were close together; but the former paused +to look around, and the gladiator, rushing to the front, made +for his old comrade, whom he recognised on the instant. +His haste, however, nearly proved fatal. The heavily-nailed +sandals that he wore afforded but a treacherous foothold on +the smooth stone pavement, his feet slipped from under him, +and he came with a heavy back-fall to the ground. <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">Habet!</foreign><note place="foot">The exclamation with which the spectators notified a conclusive thrust or +blow in the circus.</note> +exclaimed Hippias, from the sheer force of custom, following +close upon his tracks; but he strained eagerly forward to +defend his prostrate comrade while he spoke, and found himself +instantly engaged with a score of Jewish warriors, who +came swarming back like bees to settle on the fallen gladiator. +Hirpinus, however, covered his body skilfully under his shield, +and defended himself bravely with his sword—dealing more +than one fatal thrust at such of his assailants as were rash +enough to believe him vanquished because down. As more +of the gladiators came pouring in, they were opposed by +troops of the Jews, who, with Eleazar at their head, made a +desperate sally from the Temple to which they had retired, +and a fierce hand-to-hand struggle, that lasted several minutes, +took place round Hirpinus in the centre of the court. When +he at length regained his feet, his powerful aid soon made +itself felt in the fray, and the Jews, though fighting stubbornly +still, were obliged once more to retreat before the +increasing columns of the besiegers. +</p> + +<p> +Valeria, in the meantime, rushing through the court to +where she spied a well-known form struggling in its bonds, +came across the path of Eleazar, at whom she delivered a +savage thrust as she met him, lest he should impede her +course. The fierce Jew, who had enough on his hands at +such a moment, and was pressing eagerly forward into the +thickest of the struggle, was content to parry the stroke +with his javelin, and launch that weapon in return at his +assailant, while he passed on. The cruel missile did its +errand only too well. The broad thirsty point clove through +a crevice in her golden corselet, and sank deep in her white +tender side, to drink the life-blood of the woman-warrior as +she sped onward in fulfilment of her fatal task. Breaking +the javelin’s shaft in her hands, and flinging the fragments +from her with a scornful smile, Valeria found strength to +cross the court, nor did her swift step falter, nor did her +proud bearing betray wounds or weakness, till she reached +Esca’s side. A loving smile of recognition, two strokes of +<pb n='439'/><anchor id='Pg439'/>her sharp blade, and he was free! but as the severed bonds +fell from his arms, and he stretched them forth in the delight +of restored liberty, his deliverer, throwing away sword and +shield, seized his hand in both her own, and, pressing it +convulsively to her bosom, sank down helpless on the +pavement at his feet. +</p><anchor id="i_472"/> +<pgIf output='txt'><then> + <p rend="ill">[Illustration: Sank down helpless on the pavement at his feet.]</p> +</then><else> + <p><figure url="images/i_472.png" rend="w80"><head>Sank down helpless on the pavement at his feet.</head> +<figDesc>Sank down helpless on the pavement at his feet.</figDesc></figure></p> +</else></pgIf> +</div><div n="3.18" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='440'/><anchor id='Pg440'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XVIII. The Cost of Conquest"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XVIII. The Cost of Conquest"/> +<head>CHAPTER XVIII<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE COST OF CONQUEST</hi></head> + +<p> +Mariamne turned from the still insensible form of +Calchas to the beautiful face, that even now, though +pale from exhaustion and warped with agony, it pained her +to see so fair. Gently and tenderly she lifted the golden +helmet from Valeria’s brows; gently and tenderly she +smoothed the rich brown hair, and wiped away the dews of +coming death. Compassion, gratitude, and an ardent desire +to soothe and tend the sufferer left no room for bitterness +or unworthy feeling in Mariamne’s breast. Valeria had +redeemed her promise with her life—had ransomed the man +whom they both loved so dearly, at that fatal price, for <hi rend='italic'>her</hi>! +and the Jewess could only think of all she owed the Roman +lady in return; could only strive to tend and comfort her, +and minister to her wants, and support her in the awful +moment she did not fail to see was fast approaching. The +dying woman’s face was turned on her with a sweet sad +smile; but when Mariamne’s touch softly approached the +head of her father’s javelin, still protruding from the wound, +Valeria stayed her hand. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Not yet,</q> she whispered with a noble effort that steadied +voice and lips, and kept down mortal agony; <q>not yet; for +I know too well I am stricken to the death. While the steel +is there it serves to stanch the life-blood. When I draw it +out, then scatter a handful of dust over my forehead, and lay +the death-penny on my tongue. I would fain last a few +moments longer, Esca, were it but to look on thy dear face! +Raise me, both of you. I have somewhat to say, and my +time is short.</q> +</p> + +<p> +The Briton propped her in his strong arms, and she +leaned her head against his shoulder with a gesture of +contentment and relief. The winning eyes had lost none +of their witchery yet, though soon to be closed in death. +Perhaps they never shone with so soft and sweet a lustre as +now, while they looked upon the object of a wild, foolish, and +<pb n='441'/><anchor id='Pg441'/>impossible love. While one white hand was laid upon the +javelin’s head, and held it in its place, the other wandered +over Esca’s features in a fond caress, to be wetted with his +tears. Her voice was failing, her strength was ebbing fast, +but the brave spirit of the Mutian line held out, tameless and +unshaken still. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I have conquered,</q> gasped the Roman lady, in broken +accents and with quick-coming breath. <q>I have conquered, +though at the cost of life. What then? Victory can never +be bought too dear. Esca, I swore to rescue thee. I swore +thou shouldst be mine. Now have I kept my oath. I have +bought thee with my blood, and I give thee—<hi rend='italic'>give</hi> thee, my +own, to this brave girl, who risked her life to save thee too, +and who loves thee well; but not so well, not half so well, +as I have done. Esca, my noble one, come closer, closer yet.</q> +She drew his face down nearer and nearer to her own while +she guided his hand to the javelin’s head, still fast in her side. +<q>I can bear this agony no longer,</q> she gasped, <q>but it is not +hard to die in thine arms, and by thy dear hand!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Thus speaking, she closed his grasp within her own, +round the steel, and drew it gently from the wound. The +blood welled up in dark-red jets to pour forth, as it cleared +its channel, in one continuous stream that soon drained life +away. With a quiver of her dainty limbs, with a smile +deepening in her fair face, with her fond eyes fixed on the +man she loved, and her lips pressed against his hand, the +spirit of that beautiful, imperious, and wilful woman passed +away into eternity. +</p> + +<p> +Blinded by their tears, neither Esca nor Mariamne were, +for the moment, conscious of aught but the sad fate of her +who had twice saved the one from death, and to whom the +other had so lately appealed as the only source of aid in her +great need. Dearly as he loved the living woman by his +side, the Briton could not refrain from a burst of bitter +sorrow while he looked on the noble form of Valeria lying +dead at his feet; and Mariamne forgot her own griefs, her +own injuries, in holy pity for her who had sacrificed virtue, +happiness, wealth, life itself in his behalf, whom she, too, +loved more dearly than it behoves human weakness to love +anything this side the grave. +</p> + +<p> +But the living now claimed that attention which it availed +no longer to bestow upon the dead. Calchas, though sadly +bruised and mangled, began to show signs of restored life. +The stone that stretched him on the pavement had, indeed, +dealt a fatal injury; but though it stunned him for a time, +<pb n='442'/><anchor id='Pg442'/>had failed to inflict instantaneous death. The colour was +now returning to his cheek, his breath came in long deep +sighs, and he raised his hand to his head with a gesture of +renewed consciousness, denoted by a sense of pain. Esca, +careless and almost unaware of the conflict raging around, +bent sorrowfully over his old friend, and devoted all his +faculties to the task of aiding Mariamne in her efforts to +alleviate his sufferings. +</p> + +<p> +In the meantime, the tide of battle surged to and fro, +with increasing volume and unmitigated fury. The Legion +of the Lost, flushed with success, and secure of support from +the whole Roman army in their rear, pressed the Jews, with +the exulting and unremitting energy of the hunter closing +in on his prey. These, like the wild beasts driven to the +toils, turned to bay with the dreadful courage of despair. +Led by Eleazar, who was ever present where most needed, +they made repeated sallies from the body of the Temple, +endeavouring to regain the ground they had lost, at least +as far as the entrance to the Court of the Gentiles. This +became, therefore, an arena in which many a mortal combat +was fought out hand to hand, and was several times taken +and retaken with alternate success. +</p> + +<p> +Hippias, according to his wont, was conspicuous in the +fray. It was his ambition to lead his gladiators into the +Holy Place itself, before Titus should come up, and with +such an object he seemed to outdo to-day the daring feats +of valour for which he had previously been celebrated. +Hirpinus, who had no sooner regained his feet than he went +to work again as though, like the fabled Titan, he derived +renewed energy from the kisses of mother Earth, expostulated +more than once with his leader on the dangers he affronted, +and the numerical odds he did not hesitate to engage, but +received to each warning the same reply. Pointing with +dripping sword at the golden roof of the Temple flashing +conspicuously over their heads, <q>Yonder,</q> said the fencing-master, +<q>is the ransom of a kingdom. I will win it with +my own hand for the legion, and share it amongst you +equally, man by man.</q> Such a prospect inspired the +gladiators with even more than their usual daring; and +though many a stout swordsman went down with his face +to the enemy, and many a bold eye looked its last on the +coveted spoil, ere it grew dark for ever, the survivors did but +close in the fiercer, to fight on, step by step, and stroke by +stroke, till the court was strewed with corpses, and its +pavement slippery with blood. +</p> + +<pb n='443'/><anchor id='Pg443'/> + +<p> +During a pause in the reeling strife, and while marshalling +his men, who had again driven the Jews into the Temple, +for a fresh and decisive attack, Hippias found himself in that +corner of the court where Esca and Mariamne were still +bending over the prostrate form of Calchas. Without a +symptom of astonishment or jealousy, but with his careless +half-contemptuous laugh, the fencing-master recognised his +former pupil, and the girl whom he had once before seen in +the porch of the tribune’s mansion at Rome. Taking off his +heavy helmet, he wiped his brows, and leaned for a space +on his shield. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Go to the rear,</q> said he, <q>and take the lass with thee, +man, since she seems to hang like a clog round thy neck, +wherever there is fighting to be done. Give yourselves up +to the Tenth Legion, and tell Licinius, who commands it, +you are my prisoners. ’Tis your only chance of safety, my +pretty damsel, and none of your sex ever yet had cause to +rue her trust in Hippias. You may tell him also, Esca, that +if he make not the more haste, I shall have taken the Temple, +and all belonging to it, without his help. Off with thee, lad! +this is no place for a woman. Get her out of it as quick as +thou canst.</q> +</p> + +<p> +But the Briton pointed downward to Calchas, who had +again become unconscious, and whose head was resting on +Mariamne’s knees. His gesture drew the attention of Hippias +to the ground, cumbered as it was with slain. He had begun +with a brutal laugh to bid his pupil <q>leave the carrion for the +vultures,</q> but the sentence died out on his lips, which turned +deadly white, while his eyes stared vacantly, and the shield +on which he had been leaning fell with a clang to the stones. +</p> + +<p> +There at his very feet over the golden breastplate was the +dead face of Valeria; and the heart of the brave, reckless, +and unprincipled soldier smote him with a cruel pang, for +something told him that his own wilful pride and selfishness +had begun that work, which was completed, to his eternal +self-reproach, down there. +</p> + +<p> +He never thought he loved her so dearly. He recalled, +as if it were but yesterday, the first time he ever saw her, +beautiful and sumptuous and haughty, looking down from +her cushioned chair by the equestrian row, with the well-known +scornful glance that possessed for him so keen a +charm. He remembered how it kindled into approval as it +met his own, and how his heart thrilled under his buckler, +though he stood face to face with a mortal foe. He +remembered how fondly he clung to that mutual glance of +<pb n='444'/><anchor id='Pg444'/>recognition, the only link between them, renewed more +frankly and more kindly at every succeeding show, till, +raising his eyes to meet it once too often in the critical +moment of encounter, he went down badly wounded under +the blow he had thus failed to guard. Nevertheless, how +richly was he rewarded when fighting stubbornly on his +knee, and from that disadvantageous attitude vanquishing +his antagonist at last, he distinguished amidst the cheers +of thousands her marked and musical <foreign rend='italic' lang="grc">Euge!</foreign> syllabled so +clearly though so softly, for his special ear, by the lips of the +proud lady, whom from that moment he dared to love! +Afterwards, when admitted periodically to her house, how +delightful were the alternations of hope and fear with which +he saw himself treated; now as an honoured guest, now as +a mere inferior, at another time with mingled kindness and +restraint, that, impassible as he thought himself, woke such +wild wishes in his heart! How sweet it was to be sure of +seeing her at certain stated hours, the recollection of one +meeting bridging over the intervening period so pleasantly, +till it was time to look forward to another! She was to him +like the beautiful rose blooming in his garden, of which a +man is content at first only to admire the form ere he learns +to long for its fragrance, and at last desires to pluck it +ruthlessly from the stem that he may wear it on his breast. +How soon it withers there and dies, and then how bitterly, +how sadly, he wishes he had left it blushing where it grew! +There are plenty more flowers in the garden, but none of +them are quite equal to the rose. +</p> + +<p> +It was strange how little Hippias dwelt on the immediate +past—how it was the Valeria of Rome, not the Valeria +of Judæa, for whom his heart was aching now. He scarcely +reverted even to the delirious happiness of the first few days +when she accompanied him to the East; he did not dwell +on his own mad joy, nor the foolish triumph that lasted so +short a time. He forgot, as though they had never been, +her caprice, her wilfulness, her growing weariness of his +society, and the scorn she scarcely took the trouble to conceal. +It was all past and gone now, that constraint and +repugnance in the tent, that impatience of each other’s +presence, those angry recriminations, those heartless biting +taunts and the final rupture that could never be pardoned +nor atoned for now. She was again Valeria of the olden +time, of the haughty bearing, and the winning eyes, and +the fresh glad voice that sprang from a heart which had +never known a struggle nor a fall—the Valeria whose every +<pb n='445'/><anchor id='Pg445'/>mood and gesture were gifted with a dangerous witchery, +a subtle essence that seems to pervade the very presence of +such women—a priceless charm, indeed, and yet a fatal, +luring the possessor to the destruction of others and her own. +</p> + +<p> +Oh, that she could but speak to him once more! Only +once, though it were in words of keen reproach or bitter +scorn! It seemed like a dream that he should never hear +her voice again; and yet his senses vouched that it was +waking cold reality, for was she not lying there before him, +surrounded by the slain of his devoted legion? The foremost, +the fairest, and the earliest lost, amongst them all! +</p> + +<p> +He took no further note of Calchas nor of Esca. He +turned not to mark the renewed charge of his comrades, +nor the increased turmoil of the fight, but he stooped down +over the body of the dead woman, and laid his lips reverently +to her pale cold brow. Then he lifted one of her long +brown tresses, dabbled as they were in blood, to sever it +gently and carefully with his sword, and unbuckling his +corselet, hid it beneath the steel upon his heart. After this, +he turned and took leave of Esca. The Briton scarcely +knew him, his voice and mien were so altered. But watching +his figure as he disappeared, waving his sword, amidst the +press of battle, he knew instinctively that he had bidden +Hippias the gladiator a long and last farewell. +</p> + +</div><div n="3.19" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='446'/><anchor id='Pg446'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XIX. The Gathering of the Eagles"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XIX. The Gathering of the Eagles"/> +<head>CHAPTER XIX<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE GATHERING OF THE EAGLES</hi></head> + +<p> +Shouting their well-known war-cry, and placing himself +at the head of that handful of heroes who constituted +the remnant of the Lost Legion, Hippias rallied them for +one last desperate effort against the defenders of the Temple. +These had formed a hasty barricade on the exigency of the +moment from certain beams and timbers they had pulled +down in the Sacred Place. It afforded a slight protection +against the javelins, arrows, and other missiles of the +Romans, while it checked and repulsed the impetuous rush +of the latter, who now wavered, hesitated, and began to look +about them, making inquiry for the battering-rams and other +engines of war that were to have supported their onset from +the rear. In vain Hippias led them, once and again, to +carry this unforeseen obstacle. It was high and firm, it +bristled with spears and was lined with archers; above all, +it was defended by the indomitable valour of Eleazar, and +the gladiators were each time repulsed with loss. Their +leader, too, had been severely wounded. He had never +lifted his shield from the ground where it lay by Valeria’s +side; and, in climbing the barricade, he had received a +thrust in the body from an unknown hand. While he +stanched the blood with the folds of his tunic, and felt +within his breastplate for the tress of Valeria’s hair, he +looked anxiously back for his promised reinforcements, +now sorely needed, convinced that his shattered band would +be unable to obtain possession of the Temple without the +assistance of the legions. Faint from loss of blood, strength +and courage failing him at the same moment, an overpowering +sense of hopeless sorrow succeeding the triumphant +excitement of the last hour, his thoughts were yet for his +swordsmen; and collecting them with voice and gesture, +he bade them form with their shields the figure that was +called <q>the tortoise,</q> as a screen against the shower of +missiles that overpowered them from the barricade. Cool, +<pb n='447'/><anchor id='Pg447'/>confident, and well-drilled, the gladiators soon settled into +this impervious order of defence; and the word of command +had hardly died on his lips ere the leader himself was the +only soldier left out of that movable fortress of steel.<note place="foot">In bringing forward their heavy battering-rams, or otherwise advancing to +the attack of a fortified place, the Roman soldiers were instructed to raise their +shields obliquely above their heads, and, linking them together, thus form an +impervious roof of steel, under which they could manœuvre with sufficient freedom. +This formation was called the <foreign rend='italic' lang="la">testudo</foreign>, or tortoise, from its supposed +resemblance to the defensive covering with which nature provides that animal.</note> +</p> + +<p> +Turning from the enemy to inspect its security, his side +was left a moment exposed to their darts. The next, a +Jewish arrow quivered in his heart. True to his instincts, +he waved his sword over his head, as he went down, with a +triumphant cheer; for his failing ear recognised the blast of +the Roman trumpets—his darkening eye caught the glitter +of their spears and the gleam of their brazen helmets, as the +legions advanced in steady and imposing order to complete +the work he and his handful of heroes had begun. +</p> + +<p> +Even in the act of falling, Esca, looking up from his +charge, saw the fencing-master wheel half-round that his +dead face might be turned towards the foe; perhaps, too, +the Briton’s eye was the only one to observe a thin dark +stream of blood steal slowly along the pavement, till it +mingled with the red pool in which Valeria lay. +</p> + +<p> +Effectual assistance had come at last. From the Tower +of Antonia to the outworks of the Temple a broad and easy +causeway had been thrown up in the last hour by the Roman +soldiers. Where every man was engineer as well as combatant, +there was no lack of labour for such a task. A large +portion of the adjoining wall, as of the tower itself, had been +hastily thrown down to furnish materials; and while the +gladiators were storming the Court of the Gentiles, their +comrades had constructed a wide, easy, and gradual ascent, +by which, in regular succession, whole columns could be +poured in to the support of the first assailants. These were +led by Julius Placidus with his wonted skill and coolness. +In his recent collision with Esca he had sustained such +severe injuries as incapacitated him from mounting a horse; +but with the Asiatic auxiliaries were several elephants of +war, and on one of these huge beasts he now rode exalted, +directing from his movable tower the operations of his own +troops, and galling the enemy when occasion offered with +the shafts of a few archers who accompanied him on the +patient and sagacious animal. +</p> + +<p> +The elephant, in obedience to its driver, a dark supple +<pb n='448'/><anchor id='Pg448'/>Syrian, perched behind its ears, ascended the slope with +ludicrous and solemn caution. Though alarmed by the +smell of blood, it nevertheless came steadily on, a formidable +and imposing object, striking terror into the hearts of the +Jews, who were not accustomed to confront such enemies in +warfare. The tribune’s arms were more dazzling, his dress +even more costly than usual. It seemed that with his +Eastern charger he affected also something of Eastern +luxury and splendour; but he encouraged his men, as he +was in the habit of doing, with jeer and scoff, and such +coarse jests as soldiers best understand and appreciate in the +moment of danger. +</p> + +<p> +No sooner had he entered the court, through its battered +and half-demolished gateway, than his quick eye caught +sight of the still glowing embers scattered by the Prophet +of Warning on the pavement. These suggested a means +for the destruction of the barricade, and he mocked the +repulsed gladiators, with many a bitter taunt, for not having +yet applied them to that purpose. Calling on Hirpinus, +who now commanded the remnant of the Lost Legion, +to collect his followers, he bade them advance under the +<foreign rend='italic' lang="la">testudo</foreign> to pile these embers against the foundations of the +wooden barrier. +</p> + +<p> +<q>The defenders cannot find a drop of water,</q> said he, +laughing; <q>they have no means of stifling a fire kindled +from without. In five minutes all that dry wood will be +in a blaze, and in less than ten there will be a smoking gap +in the gateway large enough for me to ride through, elephant +and all!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Assisted by fresh reinforcements, the gladiators promptly +obeyed his orders. Heaps of live embers were collected and +applied to the wooden obstacle so hastily erected. Dried +to tinder in the scorching sun, and loosely put together for +a temporary purpose, it could not fail to be sufficiently +inflammable; and the hearts of the besieged sank within +them as the flame began to leap and the woodwork to +crackle, while their last defences seemed about to consume +gradually away. +</p> + +<p> +The tribune had time to lean over from his elephant and +question Hirpinus of his commander. With a grave sad +brow and a heavy heart, the stout old swordsman answered +by pointing to the ground where Hippias lay, his face calm +and fixed, his right hand closed firmly round his sword. +</p> + +<p> +<q><foreign rend='italic' lang="la">Habet!</foreign></q> exclaimed the tribune with a brutal laugh; +adding to himself, as Hirpinus turned away sorrowful and +<pb n='449'/><anchor id='Pg449'/>disgusted, <q>My last rival down; my last obstacle removed. +One more throw for the Sixes, and the great game is +fairly won!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Placidus was indeed now within a stride of all he most +coveted, all he most wished to grasp on earth. A dozen +feet below him, pale and rigid on the ground, lay the rival +he had feared might win the first place in the triumph of +to-day; the rival whom he knew to possess the favour of +Titus; the rival who had supplanted him in the good graces +of the woman he loved. He had neither forgotten nor forgiven +Valeria; but he bore none the less ill-will against him +with whom she had voluntarily fled. When he joined the +Roman army before Jerusalem, and found her beautiful, +miserable, degraded, in the tent of the gladiator, he had +but dissembled and deferred his revenge till the occasion +should arrive when he might still more deeply humiliate the +one and inflict a fatal blow on the other. Now the man +was under his elephant’s feet; and the woman left alone +yonder, friendless and deserted in the camp, could not, he +thought, fail eventually to become his prey. He little knew +that those who had made each other’s misery in life were +at last united in the cold embrace of death. He had +arrived, too, in the nick of time, to seize and place on his +own brows the wreath that had been twined for him by the +Lost Legion and their leader. A little earlier and Hippias, +supplied by himself with fresh troops, would have won the +credit of first entering the Temple; a little later, and his +triumph must have been shared by Licinius, already with +the Tenth Legion close upon his rear. But now, at the +glorious opportunity, there was nothing between him and +victory save a score of Jewish spearmen and a few feet of +blazing wood. +</p> + +<p> +Leaning over to the unwilling driver, he urged him to +goad the elephant through the flames, that its weight might +at once bear down what remained of the barricade and make +a way for his followers into the Temple. Ambition prompted +him not to lose a moment. The Syrian unwound the shawl +from his waist, and spread it over the animal’s eyes, while he +persuaded it, thus blindfolded, to advance. Though much +alarmed, the elephant pushed on, and there was small hope +that the shattered smouldering barrier would resist the +pressure of its enormous weight. The last chance of the +besieged seemed to fail them, when Eleazar leaped out +through the smoke, and, running swiftly to meet it, dashed +under the beast’s uplifted trunk, and stabbed it fiercely with +<pb n='450'/><anchor id='Pg450'/>quick repeated thrusts in the belly. At each fresh stroke the +elephant uttered a loud and hideous groan, a shriek of pain +and fear, mingled with a trumpet-note of fury, and then sinking +on its knees, fell slowly and heavily to the ground, crushing +the devoted Zealot beneath its huge carcass, and scattering +the band of archers, as a man scatters a handful of grain, over +the court. +</p> + +<p> +Eleazar never spoke again. The Lion of Judah died as +he had lived—fierce, stubborn, unconquered, and devoted to +the cause of Jerusalem. Mariamne recognised him as he +sallied forth, but no mutual glance had passed between the +father and the child. Pale, erect, motionless, she watched +him disappear under the elephant, but the scream of horror +that rang from her white lips when she realised his fate was +lost in the wild cry of pain, and anger, and dismay, that filled +the air, while the huge quivering mass tottered and went +down. Placidus was hurled to the pavement like a stone +from a sling. Lying there, helpless, though conscious, he +recognised at once the living Esca and the dead Valeria; but +baffled wrath and cherished hatred left no room in his heart +for sorrow or remorse. His eye glared angrily on the Briton, +and he ground his teeth with rage to feel that he could not +even lift his powerless hand from the ground; but the Jewish +warriors were closing in with fierce arms up to strike, and it +was but a momentary glimpse that Esca obtained of the +tribune’s dark, despairing, handsome face. It was years, +though, ere he forgot the vision. The costly robes, the +goodly armour, the shapely writhing form, and the wild +hopeless eyes that gleamed with hatred and defiance both of +the world he left and that to which he went. +</p> + +<p> +And now the court was filling fast with a dun lurid smoke +that wreathed its vapours round the pinnacles of the Temple, +and caused the still increasing troops of combatants to loom +like phantom shapes struggling and fighting in a dream. Ere +long, bright tongues of flame were leaping through the cloud, +licking the walls and pillars of the building, gliding and glancing +over the golden surface of its roof, and shooting upwards +here and there into shifting pyramids of fire. Soon was +heard the hollow rushing roar with which the consuming +element declares its victory, and showers of sparks, sweeping +like storms across the Court of the Gentiles, proclaimed that +the Temple was burning in every quarter. +</p> + +<p> +One of the gladiators, in the wild wantonness of strife, had +caught a blazing fragment of the barricade, as its remains +were carried by a rush of his comrades, after the fall of +<pb n='451'/><anchor id='Pg451'/>Eleazar, and flung it into an open window of the Temple over +his head. Lighting on the carved woodwork, with which the +casement was decorated, it soon kindled into a strong and +steady flame, that was fed by the quantity of timber, all +thoroughly dry and highly ornamented, which the building +contained; thus it had communicated from gallery to gallery, +and from storey to storey, till the whole was wrapped in one +glowing sheet of fire. From every quarter of the city, from +Agrippa’s wall to the Mount of Olives, from the camp of the +Assyrians to the Valley of Hinnom, awestruck faces of friend +and foe, white with fear, or anger, or astonishment, marked +that rolling column, expanding, swaying, shifting, and ever +rising higher into the summer sky, ever flinging out its red +forked banner of destruction broader, and brighter, and fiercer, +with each changing breeze. +</p> + +<p> +Then the Jews knew that their great tribulation was fulfilled—that +the curse which had been to them hitherto but a +dead letter and a sealed book, was poured forth literally in +streams of fire upon their heads—that their sanctuary was +desolate, their prosperity gone for ever, their very existence +as a nation destroyed, and <q>the place that had known them +should know them no more</q>! The very Romans themselves, +the cohorts advancing in serried columns to support their +comrades, the legions massed in solid squares for the completion +of its capture, in all the open places of the town, gazed +on the burning Temple with concern and awe. Titus, even, +in the flush of conquest, and the exulting joy of gratified +ambition, turned his head away with a pitying sigh, for +he would have spared the enemy had they but trusted him, +would fain have saved that monument of their nationality +and their religion, as well for their glory as his own. +</p> + +<p> +And now with the flames leaping, and the smoke curling +around, the huge timbers crashing down on every side to +throw up showers of sparkling embers as they fell—the very +marble glowing and riven with heat—the precious metal +pouring from the roof in streams of molten fire—Esca and +Mariamne, half suffocated in the Court of the Gentiles, could +not yet bring themselves to seek their own safety, and leave +the helpless form of Calchas to certain destruction. Loud +shouts, cries of agony and despair, warned them that even the +burning Temple, at furnace heat, was still the theatre of a +murderous and useless conflict. The defenders had set the +example of merciless bloodshed, and the Romans, exasperated +to cruelty, now took no prisoners and gave no quarter. John +of Gischala and his followers, driven to bay by the legions, +<pb n='452'/><anchor id='Pg452'/>still kept up a resistance the more furious that it was the +offspring of despair. Hunted from wall to wall, from roof to +roof, from storey to storey, they yet fought on while life and +strength remained. Even those whose weapons failed them, +or who were hemmed in by overwhelming numbers, leaped +down like madmen, and perished horribly in the flames. +</p> + +<p> +But although steel was clashing, and blood flowing, and +men fighting by myriads around it, the Court of the Gentiles +lay silent and deserted under its canopy of smoke, with its +pavement covered by the dead. The only living creatures +left were the three who had stood there in the morning, bound +and doomed to die. Of these, one had his foot already on +the border-land between time and eternity. +</p> + +<p> +<q>I will never desert him,</q> said Esca to his pale companion; +<q>but thou, Mariamne, hast now a chance of escape. +It may be the Romans will respect thee if thou canst reach +some high commander, or yield thee to some cohort of the +reserve, whose blood is not a-fire with slaughter. What said +Hippias of the Tenth Legion and Licinius? If thou couldst +but lay hold on his garment, thou wert safe for my sake!</q> +</p> + +<p> +<q>And leave thee here to die!</q> answered Mariamne. +<q>Oh, Esca! what would life be then? Besides, have we not +trusted through this terrible night, and shall we not trust +still? I know who is on my side. I have not forgotten all +he taught me who lies bruised and senseless here. See, +Esca! He opens his eyes. He knows us! It may be we +shall save him now!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Calchas did indeed seem to have recovered consciousness; +and the life so soon to fade glowed once more on his wasted +cheek, like an expiring lamp that glimmers into momentary +brightness ere its flame is extinguished for ever. +</p> + +</div><div n="3.20" type="chapter" rend="page-break-before: always"> +<pb n='453'/><anchor id='Pg453'/> +<index index="toc" level1="XX. The Victory"/> +<index index="pdf" level1="XX. The Victory"/> +<head>CHAPTER XX<lb/><lb/><hi rend="smaller">THE VICTORY</hi></head> + +<p> +The Tenth Legion, commanded by Licinius and guarding +the person of their beloved prince, were advancing +steadily upon the Temple. Deeming themselves the flower +of the Roman army, accustomed to fight under the eye of +Titus himself, there was no unseemly haste in the movements +of these highly disciplined troops. None even of that fiery +dash, which is sometimes so irresistible, sometimes so dangerous +a quality in the soldier. The Tenth Legion would no +more have neglected the even regularity of their line, the +mechanical precision of their step, in a charge than in a +retreat. They were, as they boasted, <q>equal to either fortune.</q><note place="foot"><q>Utrinque parati.</q></note> +Not flushed by success, because they considered +victory the mere wages to which they were entitled—not +discouraged by repulse, because they were satisfied that the +Tenth Legion could do all that was possible for soldiers; and +the very fact of their retiring, was to them in itself a sufficient +proof that sound strategy required such a movement. +</p> + +<p> +Thus, when the Legion of the Lost dashed forward with +wild cheers and an impetuous rush to the attack, the Tenth +supported them with even ranks and regular pace and a +scornful smile on their keen, bronzed, quiet faces. They +would have taken the Temple, they thought, if they had the +order, with half the noise and in half the time, so they closed +remorselessly in, as man after man fell under the Jewish +missiles, and preserved through their whole advance the same +stern, haughty, and immovable demeanour, which was the +favourite affectation of their courage. Titus had addressed +them, when he put himself at their head, to recommend +neither steadiness, valour, nor implicit compliance with orders, +for in all such requirements he could depend on them, as if +they were really what he loved to call them, <q>his own +children</q>! but he exhorted them to spare the lives of the +vanquished, and to respect as far as possible the property as +<pb n='454'/><anchor id='Pg454'/>well as the persons of the citizens. Above all, he had hoped +to save the Temple; and this hope he expressed again and +again to Licinius, who rode beside him, even until gazing +sorrowfully on the mass of lowering smoke and yellow flame, +his own eyes told him that his clemency was too late. +</p> + +<p> +Even then, leaving to his general the duty of completing +its capture and investing its defences, he put spurs to his +horse and rode at speed round the building, calling on his +soldiers to assist him in quenching the flames, shouting, +signing, gesticulating; but all in vain.<note place="foot">Then did Cæsar, both by calling to the soldiers that were fighting, with a +loud voice, and by giving a signal to them with his right hand, order them to +quench the fire; but they did not hear what he said, though he spake so loud, +having their ears already dinned by a greater noise another way; nor did they +attend to the signal he made with his hand neither, as still some of them were +distracted with passion, and others with fighting, neither any threatenings nor any +persuasions could restrain their violence, but each one’s own passion was his +commander at this time; and as they were crowding into the Temple together +many of them were trampled on by one another, while a great number fell +among the ruins of the cloisters, which were still hot and smoking, and were +destroyed in the same miserable way with those whom they had conquered.—Josephus, +<hi rend='italic'>Wars of the Jews</hi>, book vi. sec. 4.</note> Though the Tenth +Legion were steady as a rock, the rest of the army had not +resisted the infection of success; and stimulated by the +example of the gladiators, were more disposed to encourage +than to impede the conflagration—nor, even had they wished, +would their most strenuous efforts have been now able to +extinguish it. +</p> + +<p> +Though fighting still went on amongst the cloisters and +in the galleries of the Temple; though John of Gischala was +still alive, and the Robbers held out, here and there, in fast +diminishing clusters; though the Zealots had sworn to follow +their leader’s example, dying to a man in defence of the +Holy Place; and though the Sicarii were not yet completely +exterminated—Jerusalem might nevertheless be considered +at length in possession of the Roman army. Licinius, leading +the Tenth Legion through the Court of the Gentiles, more +effectually to occupy the Temple, and prevent if possible its +total destruction, was accosted at its entrance by Hirpinus, +who saluted him with a sword dripping from hilt to point in +blood. The old gladiator’s armour was hacked and dinted, +his dress scorched, his face blackened with smoke; but +though weary, wounded, and exhausted, his voice had lost +none of its rough jovial frankness, his brow none of the +kindly good-humoured courage it had worn through all the +hardships of the siege. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Hail, prætor!</q> said he, <q>I shall live to see thee sitting +<pb n='455'/><anchor id='Pg455'/>yet once again, high on the golden car, in the streets of +Rome. The Temple is thine at last, and all it contains, if we +can only save it from these accursed flames. The fighting is +over now; and I came back to look for a prisoner who can +tell me where water may be found. The yellow roof yonder +is flaring away like a torch in an oil-cask, and they must be +fond of gold who can catch it by handfuls, guttering down +like this in streams of fire. Our people, too, have cut their +prisoners’ throats as fast as they took them, and I cannot +find a living Jew to show me well or cistern. Illustrious! I +have won spoil enough to-day to buy a province—I would +give it all for as much clear water as would go into my +helmet. The bravest old man in Syria is dying in yonder +corner for want of a mouthful!</q> +</p> + +<p> +Returning through the court, in obedience to the prince’s +orders, to collect men and procure water, if possible, for the +extinction of the conflagration, Hirpinus had recognised his +young friend Esca with no little surprise and delight. Seeing +Calchas, too—for whom, ever since his bold address to the +gladiators in the training-school, he had entertained a sincere +admiration—lying half suffocated, and at his last gasp, on the +stones, the old swordsman’s heart smote him with a keen +sense of pity, and something between anger and shame at his +own helplessness to assist the sufferer. He said nothing but +truth, indeed, when he declared that he would give all his +share of spoil for a helmetful of water; but he might have +offered the price of a kingdom rather than a province, with as +little chance of purchasing what he desired. Blood there +was, flowing in streams, but of water not a drop! It was +more in despair than hope that he told his sad tale to Licinius, +on whom it seemed natural for every soldier in the army +to depend when in trouble, either for himself or for others. +Giving his orders, clear, concise, and imperative to his tribunes, +the Roman general accompanied Hirpinus to the corner of +the court where Calchas lay. Fallen beams and masses of +charred timber were smouldering around, dead bodies, writhed +in the wild contortions of mortal agony, in heaps on every +side—he was sick and faint, crushed, mangled, dying from +a painful wound, yet the Christian’s face looked calm and +happy; and he lay upon the hard stones, waiting for the +coming change, like one who seeks refreshing slumber on a +bed of down. +</p> + +<p> +As the kind eyes turned gently to Licinius, in glance of +friendly recognition, they were lit with the smile that is never +worn but by the departing traveller whose barque has already +<pb n='456'/><anchor id='Pg456'/>cast off its moorings from the shore—the smile in which he +seems to bid a hopeful, joyful farewell to those he leaves for a +little while, with which he seems to welcome the chill breeze +and the dark waters because of the haven where he would be. +Mariamne and Esca, bending over with tender care, and +watching each passing shade on that placid countenance, +knew well that the end was very near. +</p> + +<p> +His strength was almost gone; but Calchas pointed to +his kinswoman and the Briton, while looking at Licinius he +said, <q>They will be your care now. I have bestowed on +you countless treasures freely yonder in the camp of the +Assyrians.<note place="foot">The ground occupied by the Roman lines during the siege.</note> This you shall promise me in return.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Licinius laid his shield on the ground and took the dying +man’s hand in both his own. +</p> + +<p> +<q>They are my children,</q> said he, <q>from this day forth. +Oh! my guide, I will never forget thy teaching nor thy +behest.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Calchas looked inquiringly in the face of Hirpinus. The +gladiator’s rugged features bore a wistful expression of sorrow, +mingled with admiration, sympathy, and a dawning light of +hope. +</p> + +<p> +<q>Bring him into the fold with you,</q> he murmured to the +other three, and then his voice came loud and strong in full +triumphant tones. <q>It may be that this man of blood, also, +shall be one of the jewels in my crown. Glory to Him who +has accepted my humble tribute, who rewards a few brief +hours of imperfect service; a blow from a careless hand with +an eternity of happiness, an immortal crown of gold! I shall +see you, friends, again. We shall meet ere we have scarcely +parted. You will not forget me in that short interval. And +you will rejoice with me in humble thankful joy that I have +been permitted to instruct you of heaven, and to show you +myself the way.</q> +</p> + +<p> +Exhausted with the effort, he sank back ere he had scarce +finished speaking, and his listeners, looking on the calm dead +face, from which the radiant smile had not yet faded, needed +to keep watch no longer, for they knew that the martyr’s +spirit was even now holding converse with the angels in +heaven. +</p> + +<p rend="center; margin-top: 5"> +<hi rend="small">PRINTED BY MORRISON AND GIBB LIMITED, EDINBURGH</hi> +</p> + </div></div></body> + <back> +<div> + <pgIf output="pdf"> + <then/> + <else> + <div id="footnotes" rend="page-break-before: right"> + <index index="toc" level1="Footnotes"/> + <head>Footnotes</head> + <divGen type="footnotes"/> + </div> + </else> + </pgIf> + </div> +<div rend="page-break-before:right; x-class: boxed"> + <index index="pdf" level1="Transcriber's Note"/><index index="toc" level1="Transcriber’s Note"/> + <head>Transcriber’s Note</head> +<pgIf output="html"><then><p>The illustrations have been placed between paragraphs + in the electronic text.</p></then></pgIf> +<p>Variations in hyphenation have not been changed.</p> + <p>Other changes, which have been made to the text:</p> + +<list> +<item><ref target="corr009">page 9</ref>, exclamation mark added after <q>Jugurtha</q></item> +<item><ref target="corr098">page 98</ref>, quote mark removed after <q>plans.</q></item> +<item><ref target="corr114">page 114</ref>, quote mark removed before <q>after</q></item> +<item><ref target="corr137">page 137</ref>, <q>wel</q> changed to <q>well</q></item> +<item><ref target="corr164">page 164</ref>, <q>Brition</q> changed to <q>Briton</q></item> +<item><ref target="corr259">page 259</ref>, <q>inbibed</q> changed to <q>imbibed</q></item> +<item><ref target="corr335">page 335</ref>, <q>Where s</q> changed to <q>Where is</q></item> +<item><ref target="corr433">page 433</ref>, <q>Jeruslaem</q> changed to <q>Jerusalem</q></item> +</list> + </div> +<div rend="page-break-before: right"> + <divGen type="pgfooter"/> + </div> + </back> + </text> +</TEI.2> diff --git a/47822-tei/images/cover.jpg b/47822-tei/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d665feb --- /dev/null +++ b/47822-tei/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/47822-tei/images/i_004.png b/47822-tei/images/i_004.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..bb935cf --- /dev/null +++ b/47822-tei/images/i_004.png diff --git a/47822-tei/images/i_007.jpg b/47822-tei/images/i_007.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8f7bdd8 --- /dev/null +++ b/47822-tei/images/i_007.jpg diff --git a/47822-tei/images/i_018.png b/47822-tei/images/i_018.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..94ea283 --- /dev/null +++ b/47822-tei/images/i_018.png diff --git a/47822-tei/images/i_020.png b/47822-tei/images/i_020.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 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