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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5536.txt b/5536.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fc9a8e1 --- /dev/null +++ b/5536.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2306 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook A Thorny Path, by Georg Ebers, v7 +#97 in our series by Georg Ebers + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: A Thorny Path, Volume 7. + +Author: Georg Ebers + +Release Date: April, 2004 [EBook #5536] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on July 19, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A THRONY PATH, BY EBERS, V7 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + + + +A THORNY PATH + +By Georg Ebers + +Volume 7. + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +The high-priest of Serapis presided over the sacrifices to be offered +this morning. Caesar had given beasts in abundance to do honor to the +god; still, the priest had gone but ill-disposed to fulfill his part; for +the imperial command that the citizens' houses should be filled with the +troops, who were also authorized to make unheard-of demands on their +hosts, had roused his ire against the tyrant, who, in the morning, after +his bath, had appeared to him unhappy indeed, but at the same time a +gifted and conscientious ruler, capable of the highest and grandest +enterprise. + +Melissa, in obedience to the lady Euryale, had taken an hour's rest, and +then refreshed herself by bathing. She now was breakfasting with her +venerated friend, and Philostratus had joined them. He was able to tell +them that a swift State galley was already on its way to overtake and +release her father and brother; and when he saw how glad she was to hear +it, how beautiful, fresh, and pure she was, he thought to himself with +anxiety that it would be a wonder if the imperial slave to his own +passions should not desire to possess this lovely creature. + +Euryale also feared this, and Melissa realized what filled them with +anxiety; yet she by no means shared the feeling, and the happy confidence +with which she tried to comfort her old friends, at the same time +pacified and alarmed them. It seemed to her quite foolish and vain to +suppose that the emperor, the mighty ruler of the world, should fall in +love with her, the humble, obscure gem-cutter's child, who aspired to one +suitor alone. It was merely as a patient wishes for the physician, she +assured herself, that the emperor wished for her presence--Philostratus +had understood that. During the night she had certainly been seized with +great fears, but, as she now thought, without any cause. What she really +had to dread was that she might be falsely judged by his followers; +still, she cared nothing about all these Romans. However, she would beg +Euryale to see Diodoros, and to tell him what forced her to obey the +emperor's summons, if he should send for her. It was highly probable +that the sick man had been informed of her interview with Caracalla, and, +as her betrothed, he must be told how she felt toward Caesar; for this +was his right, and jealous agitation might injure him. + +Her face so expressed the hope and confidence of a pure heart that when, +after a little time, she withdrew, Euryale said to the philosopher: + +"We must not alarm her more! Her trustful innocence perhaps may protect +her better than anxious precautions." + +And Philostratus agreed, and assured her that in any case he expected +good results for Melissa, for she was one of those who were the elect of +the gods and whom they chose to be their instruments. And then he +related what wonderful influence she had over Caesar's sufferings, and +praised her with his usual enthusiastic warmth. + +When Melissa returned, Philostratus had left the matron. She was again +alone with Euryale, who reminded her of the lesson conveyed in the +Christian words that she had explained to her yesterday. Every deed, +every thought, had some influence on the way in which the fulfillment of +time would come for each one; and when the hour of death was over, no +regrets, repentance, or efforts could then alter the past. A single +moment, as her own young experience had taught her, was often sufficient +to brand the name of an estimable man. Till now, her way through life +had led along level paths, through meadows and gardens, and others had +kept their eyes open for her; now she was drawing near to the edge of a +precipice, and at every turning, even at the smallest step, she must +never forget the threatening danger. The best will and the greatest +prudence could not save her if she did not trust to a higher guidance; +and then she asked the girl to whom she raised her heart when she prayed; +and Melissa named Isis and other gods, and lastly the manes of her dead +mother. + +During this confession, old Adventus appeared, to summon the girl to his +sovereign. Melissa promised to follow him immediately; and, when the old +man had gone, the matron said: + +"Few here pray to the same gods, and he whose worship my husband leads is +not mine. I, with several others, know that there is a Father in heaven +who loves us men, his creatures, and guards us as his children. You do +not yet know him, and therefore you can not hope for anything from him; +but if you will follow the advice of a friend, who was also once young, +think in the future that your right hand is held firmly by the invisible, +beloved hand of your mother. Persuade yourself that she is by you, and +take care that every word, yes, every glance, meets with her approval. +Then she will be there, and will protect you whenever you require her +aid." + +Melissa sank on the breast of her kind friend, embracing her as closely +and kissing her as sincerely as if she had been the beloved mother to +whose care Euryale had commended her, + +The counsels of this true friend agreed with those of her own heart, and +so they must be right. When at last they had to part, Euryale wished to +send for one of the gentlemen of the court, whom she knew, that he might +escort her through the troops of Caesar's attendants and friends who were +waiting, and of the visitors and petitioners; but Melissa felt so happy +and so well protected by Adventus, that she followed him without further +delay. In fact, the old man had a friendly feeling for her, since she +had covered his feet so carefully the day before; she knew it by the tone +of his voice and by the troubled look in his dim eyes. + +Even now she did not believe in the dangers at which her friends trembled +for her, and she walked calmly across the lofty marble halls, the +anteroom, and the other vast rooms of the imperial dwelling. The +attendants accompanied her respectfully from door to door, in obedience +to the emperor's commands, and she went on with a firm step, looking +straight in front of her, without noticing the inquisitive, approving, +or scornful glances which were aimed at her. + +In the first rooms she needed an escort, for they were crowded with +Romans and Alexandrians who were waiting for a sign from Caesar to appeal +for his pardon or his verdict, or perhaps only wishing to see his +countenance. The emperor's "friends" sat at breakfast, of which +Caracalla did not partake. The generals, and the members of his court +not immediately attached to his person, stood together in the various +rooms, while the principal people of Alexandria--several senators and +rich and important citizens of the town--as well as the envoys of the +Egyptian provinces, in magnificent garments and rich gold ornaments, held +aloof from the Romans, and waited in groups for the call of the usher. + +Melissa saw no one, nor did she observe the costly woven hangings on the +walls, the friezes decorated with rare works of art and high reliefs, nor +the mosaic floors over which she passed. She did not notice the hum and +murmur of the numerous voices which surrounded her; nor could she indeed +have understood a single coherent sentence; for, excepting the ushers and +the emperor's immediate attendants, at the reception-hour no one was +allowed to raise his voice. Expectancy and servility seemed here to +stifle every lively impulse; and when, now and then, the loud call of +one of the ushers rang above the murmur, one of those who were waiting +spontaneously bowed low, or another started up, as if ready to obey any +command. The sensation, shared by many, of waiting in the vicinity of a +high, almost godlike power, in whose hands lay their well-being or +misery, gave rise to a sense of solemnity. Every movement was subdued; +anxious, nay, fearful expectation was written on many faces, and on +others impatience and disappointment. After a little while it was +whispered from ear to ear that the emperor would only grant a few more +audiences; and how many had already waited in vain yesterday, for hours, +in the same place! + +Without delay Melissa went on till she had reached the heavy curtain +which, as she already knew, shut off Caesar's inner apartments. + +The usher obligingly drew it back, even before she had mentioned her +name, and while a deputation of the town senators, who had been received +by Caracalla, passed out, she was followed by Alexandrian citizens, the +chiefs of great merchant-houses, whose request for an audience he had +sanctioned. They were for the most part elderly men, and Melissa +recognized among them Seleukus, Berenike's husband. + +Melissa bowed to him, but he did not notice her, and passed by without a +word. Perhaps he was considering the enormous sum to be expended on the +show at night which he, with a few friends, intended to arrange at the +circus in Caesar's honor. + +All was quite still in the large hall which separated the emperor's +reception-room from the anteroom. Melissa observed only two soldiers, +who were looking out of window, and whose bodies were shaking as though +they were convulsed with profound merriment. + +It happened that she had to wait here some time; for the usher begged her +to have patience until the merchants' audience was over. They were the +last who would be received that day. He invited her to rest on the couch +on which was spread a bright giraffe's skin, but she preferred to walk up +and down, for her heart was beating violently. And while the usher +vanished from the room, one of the warriors turned his head to look about +him, and directly he caught sight of Melissa he gave his comrade a push, +and said to him, loud enough for Melissa to hear: + +"A wonder! Apollonaris, by Eros and all the Erotes, a precious wonder!" + +The next moment they both stepped back from the window and stared at the +girl, who stood blushing and embarrassed, and gazed at the floor when she +found with whom she had been left alone. + +They were two tribunes of the praetorians, but, notwithstanding their +high grade, they were only young men of about twenty. Twin brothers of +the honorable house of the Aurelia, they had entered the army as +centurions, but had soon been placed at the head of a thousand men, and +appointed tribunes in Caesar's body-guard. They resembled one another +exactly; and this likeness, which procured them much amusement, they +greatly enhanced by arranging their coal-black beards and hair in exactly +the same way, and by dressing alike down to the rings on their fingers. +One was called Apollonaris, the other Nemesianus Aurelius. They were of +the same height, and equally well grown, and no one could say which had +the finest black eyes, which mouth the haughtiest smile, or to which of +them the thick short beard and the artistically shaved spot between the +under lip and chin was most becoming. The beautifully embossed ornaments +on their breast-plates and shirts of mail, and on the belt of the short +sword, showed that they grudged no expense; in fact, they thought only of +enjoyment, and it was merely for the honor of it that they were serving +for a few years in the imperial guard. By and by they would rest, after +all the hardships of the campaign, in their palace at Rome, or in the +villas on the various estates that they had inherited from their father +and mother, and then, for a change, hold honorary positions in the public +service. Their friends knew that they also contemplated being married on +the same day, when the game of war should be a thing of the past. + +In the mean time they desired nothing in the world but honor and +pleasure; and such pleasure as well-bred, healthy, and genial youths, +with amiability, strength, and money to spend, can always command, they +enjoyed to the full, without carrying it to reckless extravagance. Two +merrier, happier, more popular comrades probably did not exist in the +whole army. They did their duty in the field bravely; during peace, and +in a town like Alexandria, they appeared, on the contrary, like mere +effeminate men of fashion. At least, they spent a large part of their +time in having their black hair crimped; they gave ridiculous sums to +have it anointed with the most delicate perfumes; and it was difficult to +imagine how effectively their carefully kept hands could draw a sword, +and, if necessary, handle the hatchet or spade. + +To-day Nemesianus was in the emperor's anteroom by command, and +Apollonaris, of his own freewill, had taken the place of another tribune, +that he might bear his brother company. They had caroused through half +the night, and had begun the new day by a visit to the flower market, +for love of the pretty saleswomen. Each had a half-opened rose stuck in +between his cuirass and shirt of mail on the left breast, plucked, as the +charming Daphnion had assured them, from a bush which had been introduced +from Persia only the year before. The brothers, at any rate, had never +seen any like them. + +While they were looking out of the window they had passed the time by +examining every girl or woman who went by, intending to fling one rose at +the first whose perfect beauty should claim it, and the other flower at +the second; but during the half-hour none had appeared who was worthy of +such a gift. All the beauties in Alexandria were walking in the streets +in the cool hour before sunset, and really there was no lack of handsome +girls. The brothers had even heard that Caesar, who seemed to have +renounced the pleasures of love, had yielded to the charms of a lovely +Greek. + +Directly they saw Melissa they were convinced that they had met the +beautiful plaything of the imperial fancy, and each with the same action +offered her his rose, as if moved by the same invisible power. + +Apollonaris, who had come into the world a little sooner than his +brother, and who, by right of birth, had therefore a more audacious +manner, stepped boldly up to Melissa and presented his, while Nemesianus +at the same instant bowed to her, and begged her to give his the +preference. + +Though their speeches were flattering and well-worded, Melissa repulsed +them by remarking sharply that she did not want their flowers. + +"We can easily believe that," answered Apollonaris, "for are you not +yourself a lovely, blooming rose?" + +"Vain flattery," replied Melissa; "and I certainly do not bloom for you." + +"That is both cruel and unjust," sighed Nemesianus, "for that which you +refuse to us poor fellows you grant to another, who can obtain everything +that other mortals yearn for." + +"But we," interrupted his brother, "are modest, nay, and pious warriors. +We had intended offering up these roses to Aphrodite, but lo! the goddess +has met us in person." + +"Her image at any rate," added the other. + +"And you should thank the foam-born goddess," continued Apollonaris; "for +she has lent you, in spite of the danger of seeing herself eclipsed, her +own divine charms. Do you think she will be displeased if we withdraw +the flowers and offer them to you?" + +"I think nothing," answered Melissa, "excepting that your honeyed +remarks annoy me. Do what you like with your roses, I will not accept +them." + +"How dare you," asked Apollonaris, approaching her--"you, to whom the +mother of love has given such wonderfully fresh lips--misuse them by +refusing so sternly the humble petition of her faithful worshipers? If +you would not have Aphrodite enraged with you, hasten to atone for this +transgression. One kiss, my beauty, for her votary, and she will forgive +you." + +Here Apollonaris stretched out his hand toward the girl to draw her to +him, but she motioned him back indignantly, declaring that it would be +reprehensible and cowardly in a soldier to use violence toward a modest +maid. + +At this the two brothers laughed heartily, and Nemesianus exclaimed, "You +do not belong to the Temple of Vesta, most lovely of roses, and yet you +are well protected by such sharp thorns that it requires a great deal of +courage to venture to attack you." + +"More," added Apollonaris, "than to storm a fortress. But what camp or +stronghold contains booty so well worth capturing?" + +Thereupon he threw his arm round Melissa and drew her to him. + +Neither he nor his brother had ever conducted themselves badly towards an +honorable woman; and if Melissa had been but the daughter of a simple +craftsman, her reproachful remarks would have sufficed to keep them at a +distance. But such immunity was not to be granted to the emperor's +sweetheart, who could so audaciously reject two brothers accustomed to +easy conquests; her demure severity could hardly be meant seriously. +Apollonaris therefore took no notice of her violent resistance, but held +her hands forcibly, and, though he could not succeed in kissing her for +her struggling, he pressed his lips to her cheek, while she endeavored to +free herself and pushed him off, breathless with real indignation. + +'Till now, the brothers had taken the matter as a joke; but when +Apollonaris seized the girl again, and she, beside herself with fear, +cried for help, he at once set her free. + +It was too late; for the curtains of the audience-room were already +withdrawn, and Caracalla approached. His countenance was red and +distorted; he trembled with rage, and his angry glance fell like a flash +of lightning on the luckless brothers. Close by his side was the prefect +Macrinus, who feared lest he should be attacked by a fresh fit; and +Melissa shared his fears, as Caracalla cried to Apollonaris in an angry +voice, "Scoundrel that you are, you shall repent of this!" + +Still, Aurelius had, by various wanton jokes, incurred the emperor's +wrath before now, and he was accustomed to disarm it by some insinuating +confession, so he answered him with a roguish smile, while raising his +eyes to him humbly: + +"Forgive me, great Caesar! Our poor strength, as you well know, is +easily defeated in conflicts against overpowering beauty. Dainties are +sweet, not only for children. Long ago Mars was drawn to Venus; and if +I--" + +He had spoken these words in Latin, which Melissa did not understand; +but the color left the emperor's face, and, pale with excitement, he +stammered out laboriously: + +"You have--you have dared--" + +"For this rose," began the youth again, "I begged a hasty kiss from +the beauty, which certainly blooms for all, and she--" He raised his +hands and eyes imploringly to the despot; but Caracalla had already +snatched Macrinus's sword from its sheath, and before Aurelius could +defend himself he was struck first on the head with the flat of the +blade, and then received a series of sharp cuts on his brow and face. + +Streaming with blood from the gaping wounds which the victim, trembling +with fear and rage, covered with his hands, he surrendered himself to the +care of his startled brother, while Caesar overwhelmed them both with a +flood of furious reproaches. + +When Nemesianus began to bind up his wounded brother's head with a +handkerchief handed to him by Melissa, and Caracalla saw the gaping +wounds he had inflicted, he became quieter, and said: + +"I think those lips will not try to steal kisses again for some time from +honorable maidens. You and Nemesianus have forfeited your lives; how +ever, the beseeching look of those all-powerful eves has saved you--you +are spared. Take your brother away, Nemesianus. You are not to leave +your quarters until further orders." + +With this he turned his back on the twins, but on the threshold he again +addressed them and said: + +"You were mistaken about this maiden. She is not less pure and noble +than your own sister." + +The merchants were dismissed from the tablinum more hastily than was due +to the importance of their business, in which, until this interruption, +the sovereign had shown a sympathetic interest and intelligence which +surprised them; and they left Caesar's presence disappointed, but with +the promise that they should be received again in the evening. + +As soon as they had retired, Caracalla threw himself again on the couch. + +The bath had done him good. Still somewhat exhausted, though his head +was clear, he would not be hindered from receiving the deputation for +which he had important matters to decide; but this fresh attack of rage +revenged itself by a painful headache. Pale, and with slightly quivering +limbs, he dismissed the prefect and his other friends, and desired +Epagathos to call Melissa. + +He needed rest, and again the girl's little hand, which had yesterday +done him good, proved its healing power. The throbbing in his head +yielded to her gentle touch, and by degrees exhaustion gave way to the +comfortable languor of convalesence. + +To-day, as yesterday, he expressed his thanks to Melissa, but he found +her changed. She looked timidly and anxiously down into her lap +excepting when she replied to a direct question; and yet he had done +everything to please her. Her relations would soon be free and in +Alexandria once more, and Zminis was in prison, chained hand and foot. +This he told her; and, though she was glad, it was not enough to restore +the calm cheerfulness he had loved to see in her. + +He urged her, with warm insistence, to tell him what it was that weighed +on her, and at last, with eyes full of tears, she forced herself to say: + +"You yourself have seen what they take me for." + +"And you have seen," he quickly replied, "how I punish those who forget +the respect they owe to you." + +"But you are so dreadful in your wrath!" The words broke from her lips. +"Where others blame, you can destroy; and you do it, too, when passion +carries you away. I am bound to obey your call, and here I am. But I +fancy myself like the little dog--you may see him any day--which in the +beast-garden of the Panaeum, shares a cage with a royal tiger. The huge +brute puts up with a great deal from his small companion, but woe betide +the dog if the tiger once pats him with his heavy, murderous paw--and he +might, out of sheer forgetfulness!" + +"But this hand," Caesar broke in, raising his delicate hand covered with +rings, "will never forget, any more than my heart, how much it owes to +you." + +"Until I, in some unforeseen way--perhaps quite unconsciously--excite +your anger," sighed Melissa. "Then you will be carried away by passion, +and I shall share the common fate." + +Caracalla was about to reply indignantly, but just then Adventus entered +the room, announcing the chief astrologer of the Temple of Serapis. +Caracalla refused to receive him just then, but he anxiously asked +whether he had any signs to report. The reply was in the affirmative, +and in a few minutes Caesar had in his hand a wax tablet covered with +words and figures. He studied it eagerly, and his countenance cleared; +still holding the tablets, he exclaimed to Melissa: + +"You, daughter of Heron, have nothing to fear from me, you of all the +world! In some quiet hour I will explain to you how my planet yearns to +yours, and yours--that is, yourself--to mine. The gods have created us +for each other, child; I am already under your influence, but your heart +still hesitates, and I know why; it is because you distrust me." + +Melissa raised her large eyes to his face in astonishment, and he went +on, pensively: + +"The past must stand; it is like a scar which no water will wash out. +What have you not heard of my past? What did they feel, in their self- +conscious virtue, when they talked of my crimes? Did it ever occur to +any one, I wonder, that with the purple I assumed the sword, to protect +my empire and throne? And when I have used the blade, how eagerly have +fingers pointed at me, how gladly slanderous tongues have wagged! Who +has ever thought of asking what compulsion led me to shed blood, or how +much it cost me to do it? You, fair child--and the stars confirm it--you +were sent by fate to share the burden that oppresses me, and to you I +will ease my heart, to you I will confide all, unasked, because my heart +prompts me to do so. But first you must tell me with what tales they +taught you to hate the man to whom, as you yourself confessed, you +nevertheless felt drawn." + +At this Melissa raised her hands in entreaty and remonstrance, and Caesar +went on: + +"I will spare you the pains. They say that I am ever athirst for fresh +bloodshed if only some one is rash enough to suggest it to me. You were +told that Caesar murdered his brother Geta, with many more who did but +speak his victim's name. My father-in-law, and his daughter Plautilla, +my wife, were, it is said, the victims of my fury. I killed Papinian, +the lawyer and prefect, and Cilo--whom you saw yesterday--nearly shared +the same fate. What did they conceal? Nothing. Your nod confesses it-- +well, and why should they, since speaking ill of others is their greatest +delight? It is all true, and I should never think of denying it. But +did it ever occur to you, or did any one ever suggest to you, to inquire +how it came to pass that I perpetrated such horrors; I--who was brought +up in the fear of the gods and the law, like you and other people?" + +"No, my lord, never," replied Melissa, in distress. "But I beg you, I +beseech you, say no more about such dreadful things. I know full well +that you are not wicked; that you are much better than people think." + +"And for that very reason," cried Caesar, whose cheeks were flushed with +pleasure in the hard task he had set himself, "you must hear me. I am +Caesar. There is no judge over me; I need give account to none for my +actions. Nor do I. Who, besides yourself, is more to me than the flies +on that cup?" + +"And your conscience?" she timidly put in. + +"It raises hideous questions from time to time," he replied, gloomily. +"It can be obtrusive, but we can teach ourselves not to answer--besides, +what you call conscience knows the motives for every action, and, +remembering them, judges leniently. You, child, should do the same; for +you--" + +"O my lord, what can my poor judgment matter?" Melissa panted out; but +Caracalla exclaimed, as if the question pained him: + +"Must I explain all that? The stars, as you know, proclaim to you, as to +me, that a higher power has joined us as light and warmth are joined. +Have you forgotten how we both felt only yesterday? Or am I mistaken? +Has not Roxana's soul entered into that divinely lovely form because it +longed for its lost companion spirit?" + +He spoke vehemently, with a quivering of his eyelids; but feeling her +hand tremble in his own, he collected himself, and went on in a lower +tone, but with urgent emphasis: + +"I will let you glance into this bosom, closed to every other eye; for +my desolate heart is inspired by you to fresh energy and life; I am as +grateful to you as a drowning man to his deliverer. I shall suffocate +and die if I repress the impulse to open my heart to you!" + +What change was this that had come over this mysterious being? Melissa +felt as though she was gazing on the face of a stranger, for, though his +eyelids still quivered, his eyes were bright with ecstatic fire and his +features looked more youthful. On that noble brow the laurel wreath he +wore looked well. Also, as she now observed, he was magnificently +attired; he wore a close-fitting tunic, or breast-plate made of thick +woolen stuff, and over it a purple mantle, while from his bare throat +hung a precious medallion, shield-shaped, and set in gold and gems, the +center formed by a large head of Medusa, with beautiful though terrible +features. The lion-heads of gold attached to each corner of the short +cloak he wore over the sham coat of mail, were exquisite works of art, +and sandals embroidered with gold and gems covered his feet and ankles. +He was dressed to-day like the heir of a lordly house, anxious to charm; +nay, indeed, like an emperor, as he was; and with what care had his body- +slave arranged his thin curls! + +He passed his hand over his brow and cast a glance at a silver mirror on +the low table at the head of his couch. When he turned to her again his +amorous eyes met Melissa's. + +She looked down in startled alarm. Was it for her sake that Caesar had +thus decked himself and looked in the mirror? It seemed scarcely +possible, and yet it flattered and pleased her. But in the next instant +she longed more fervently than she ever had before for a magic charm +by which she might vanish and be borne far, far away from this +dreadful man. In fancy she saw the vessel which the lady Berenike had in +readiness. She would, she must fly hence, even if it should part her for +a time from Diodoros. + +Did Caracalla read her thought? Nay, he could not see through her; so +she endured his gaze, tempting him to speak; and his heart beat high with +hope as he fancied he saw that she was beginning to be affected by his +intense agitation. At this moment he felt convinced, as he often had +been, that the most atrocious of his crimes had been necessary and +inevitable. There was something grand and vast in his deeds of blood, +and that--for he flattered himself he knew the female heart--must win +her admiration, besides the awe and love she already felt. + +During the night, at his waking, and in his bath, he had felt that she +was as necessary to him as the breath of life and hope. What he +experienced was love as the poets had sung it. How often had he laughed +it to scorn, and boasted that he was armed against the arrows of Eros! +Now, for the first time, he was aware of the anxious rapture, the ardent +longing of which he had read in so many songs. There stood the object of +his passion. She must hear him, must be his--not by compulsion, not by +imperial command, but of the free impulse of her heart. + +His confession would help to this end. + +With a swift gesture, as if to throw off the last trace of fatigue, +he sat up and began in a firm voice, with a light in his eyes: + +"Yes, I killed my brother Geta. You shudder. And yet, if at this day, +when I know all the results of the deed, the state of affairs were the +same as then, I would do it again! That shocks you. But only listen, +and then you will say with me that it was Fate which compelled me to act +so, and not otherwise." + +He paused, and then mistaking the anxiety which was visible in Melissa's +face for sympathetic attention, he began his story, confident of her +interest: + +"When I was born, my father had not yet assumed the purple, but he +already aimed at the sovereignty. Augury had promised it to him; my +mother knew this, and shared his ambition. While I was still at my +nurse's breast he was made consul; four years later he seized the throne. +Pertinax was killed, the wretched Didius Julianus bought the empire, and +this brought my father to Rome from Pannonia. Meanwhile he had sent us +children, my brother Geta and me, away from the city; nor was it till he +had quelled the last resistance on the Tiber that he recalled us. + +"I was then but a child of five, and yet one day of that time I remember +vividly. My father was going through Rome in solemn procession. His +first object was to do due honor to the corpse of Pertinax. Rich +hangings floated from every window and balcony in the city. Garlands of +flowers and laurel wreaths adorned the houses, and pleasant odors were +wafted to us as we went. The jubilation of the people was mixed with the +trumpet-call of the soldiers; handkerchiefs were waved and acclamations +rang out. This was in honor of my father, and of me also, the future +Caesar. My little heart was almost bursting with pride; it seemed to me +that I had grown several heads taller, not only than other boys, but than +the people that surrounded me. + +"When the funeral procession began, my mother wished me to go with her +into the arcade where seats had been placed for the ladies to view, but +I refused to follow her. My father became angry. But when he heard me +declare that I was a man and the future Emperor, that I would rather see +nothing than show myself to the people among the women, he smiled. He +ordered Cilo, who was then the prefect of Rome, to lead me to the seats +of the past consuls and the old senators. I was delighted at this; but +when he allowed my younger brother Geta to follow me, my pleasure was +entirely spoiled." + +"And you were then five years old?" asked Melissa, astonished. + +"That surprises you!" smiled Caracalla. "But I had already traveled +through half the empire, and had experienced more than other boys of +twice my age. I was, at any rate, still child enough to forget +everything else in the brilliant spectacle that unfolded before my eyes. +I remember to this day the colored wax statue which represented Pertinax +so exactly that it might have been himself risen from the grave. And the +procession! It seemed to have no end; one new thing followed another. +All walked past in mourning robes, even the choir of singing boys and +men. Cilo explained to me who had made the statues of the Romans who had +served their country, who the artists and scholars were, whose statues +and busts were carried by. Then came bronze groups of the people of +every nation in the empire, in their costumes. Cilo told me what they +were called, and where they lived; he then added that one day they would +all belong to me; that I must learn the art of fighting, in case they +resisted me, and should require suppressing. Also, when they carried the +flags of the guilds past, when the horse and foot soldiers, the race- +horses from the circus and several other things came by, he continued to +explain them. I only remember it now because it made me so happy. The +old man spoke to me alone; he regarded me alone as the future sovereign. +He left Geta to eat the sweets which his aunts had given him, and when I +too wanted some my brother refused to let me have any. Then Cilo stroked +my hair, and said: 'leave him his toys. When you are a man you shall +have the whole Roman Empire for your own, and all the nations I told you +of.' Geta meanwhile had thought better of it, and pushed some of the +sweetmeats toward me. I would not have them, and, when he tried to make +me take them, I threw them into the road." + +"And you remember all that?" said Melissa. + +"More things than these are indelibly stamped on my mind from that day," +said Caesar. "I can see before me now the pile on which Pertinax was to +be burned. It was splendidly decorated, and on the top stood the gilt +chariot in which he had loved to ride. Before the consuls fired the logs +of Indian wood, my father led us to the image of Pertinax, that we might +kiss it. He held me by the hand. Wherever we went, the senate and +people hailed us with acclamations. My mother carried Geta in her arms. +This delighted the populace. They shouted for her and my brother as +enthusiastically as for us, and I recollect to this day how that went to +my heart. He might have the sweets and welcome, but what the people had +to offer was due only to my father and me, not to my brother. At that +moment I first fully understood that Severus was the present and I the +future Caesar. Geta had only to obey, like every one else. + +"After kissing the image, I stood, still holding my father's hand, to +watch the flames. I can see them now, crackling and writhing as they +gained on the wood, licking it and fawning, as it were, till it caught +and sent up a rush of sparks and fire. At last the whole pile was one +huge blaze. Then, suddenly, out of the heart of the flames an eagle +rose. The creature flapped its broad wings in the air, which was golden +with sunshine and quivering with heat, soaring above the smoke and fire, +this way and that. But it soon took flight, away from the furnace +beneath. I shouted with delight, and cried to my father: 'Look at the +bird! Where is he flying?' And he eagerly answered: 'Well done! +If you desire to preserve the power I have conquered for you always +undiminished, you must keep your eyes open. Let no sign pass unnoticed, +no opportunity neglected.' + +"He himself acted on this rule. To him obstacles existed only to be +removed, and he taught me, too, to give myself neither peace nor rest, +and not to spare the life of a foe.--That festival secured my father the +suffrages of the Romans. Meanwhile Pescennius Niger rose up in the East +with a large army and took the field against Severus. But my father was +not the man to hesitate. Within a few months of the obsequies of +Pertinax his opponent was a headless corpse. + +"There was yet another obstacle to be removed. You have heard of Clodius +Albinus. My father had adopted him and raised him to share his throne. +But Severus could not divide the rule with any man. + +"When I was nine years old I saw, after the battle of Lugdunum, the dead +face of Albinus's head; it was set up in front of the Curia on a lance. + +"I now was the second personage in the empire, next to my father; the +first among the youth of the whole world, and the future emperor. When +I was eleven the soldiers hailed me as Augustus; that was in the war +against the Parthians, before Ktesiphon. But they did the same to Geta. +This was like wormwood in the sweet draught; and if then--But what can +a girl care about the state, and the fate of rulers and nations?" + +"Yes, go on," said Melissa. "I see already what you are coming to. You +disliked the idea of sharing your power with another." + +"Nay," cried Caracalla, vehemently, "I not only disliked it, it was +intolerable, impossible! What I want you to see is that I did not grudge +my brother his share of my father's inheritance, like any petty trader. +The world--that is the point--the world itself was too small for two of +us. It was not I, but Fate, which had doomed Geta to die. I am certain +of this, and so must you be. Yes, it was Fate. Fate prompted the +child's little hand to attempt its brother's life. And that was long +before my brain could form a thought or my baby-lips could stammer his +hated name." + +"Then you tried to kill your brother even in infancy?" asked Melissa, and +her large eyes dilated with horror as she gazed at the terrible narrator. +But Caracalla went on, in an apologetic tone: + +"I was then but two years old. It was at Mediolanum, soon after Geta's +birth. An egg was found in the court of the palace; a hen had laid it +close to a pillar. It was of a purple hue-red all over like the imperial +mantle, and this indicated that the newly born infant was destined to +sovereignty. Great was the rejoicing. The purple marvel was shown even +to me who could but just walk. I, like a naughty boy, flung it down; the +shell cracked, and the contents poured out on the pavement. My mother +saw it, and her exclamation, 'Wicked child, you have murdered your +brother!' was often repeated to me in after-years. It never struck me as +particularly motherly." + +Here he paused, gazing meditatively into vacancy, and then asked the +girl, who had listened intently: + +"Were you never haunted by a word so that you could not be rid of it?" + +"Oh, yes," cried Melissa; "a striking rhythm in a song, or a line of +poetry--" + +Caracalla nodded agreement, and went on more vehemently: "That is what I +experienced at the words, 'You have murdered your brother!' I not only +heard them now and then with my inward ear, but incessantly, like the +dreary hum of the flies in my camp-tent, for hours at a time, by day and +by night. No fanning could drive these away. The diabolical voice +whispered loudest when Geta had done anything to vex me; or if things had +been given him which I did not wish him to have. And how often that +happened! For I--I was only Bassianus to my mother; but her youngest was +her dear little Geta. + +"So the years passed. We had, while still quite young, our own teams in +the circus. One day, when we were driving for a wager-we were still +boys, and I was ahead of the other lads--the horses of my chariot shied +to one side. I was thrown some distance on the course. Geta saw this. +He turned his horses to the right where I lay. He drove over his brother +as he would over straw and apple-parings in the dust; and his wheel broke +my thigh. Who knows what else it crushed in me? One thing is certain-- +from that date the most painful of my sufferings originated. And he, the +mean scoundrel, had done it intentionally. He had sharp eyes. He knew +how to guide his steeds. He had never driven his wheel over a hazel-nut +in the sand of the arena against his will; and I was lying some distance +from the driving course." + +Caesar's eyelids blinked spasmodically as he uttered this accusation, and +his very glance revealed the raging fire that was burning in his soul. +Melissa's sad cry of: + +"What terrible suspicion!" he answered with a short, scornful laugh and +the furious assertion: + +"Oh, there were friends enough who informed me what hope Geta had founded +on this act of treachery. The disappointment made him irritable and +listless, when Galenus had succeeded in curing me so far that I was able +to throw away my Crutch; and my limp--at least so they tell me--is hardly +perceptible." + +"Not at all, most certainly not at all," Melissa sympathetically assured +him. He, however, went on: + +"Yet what I endured meanwhile!--and while I passed so many long weeks of +pain and impatience on a couch, the words my mother had said about the +brother whom I murdered rang constantly in my ears as though a reciter +were engaged by day and night to reiterate them. + +"But even this passed away. With the pain, which had spoiled many good +hours for me, the quiet had brought me something more to the purpose- +thoughts and plans. Yes, during those peaceful weeks the things my +father and tutor had taught me became clear and real for the first time. +I realized that I must become energetic if I meant ever to be a thorough +sovereign. As soon as I could use my foot again I became an industrious +and docile pupil under Cilo. From a child up to the time of this cruel +experience, my youthful heart had clung to my nurse. She was a Christian +from my father's African home--I knew she loved me best on earth. My +mother knew of no higher destiny than that of being the Domna,--[Domna, +lady or mistress, in corrupt Latin. Hence her name of Julia Domna] the +lady of the soldiers, the mother of the camp, and the lady philosopher +among the sages. What she gave me in the way of love was but copper +alms. She threw golden solidi of love into Geta's lap in lavish +abundance. And her sister and her nieces, who often lived with us, +treated me exactly as she did. They were distantly civil, or they +shunned me; but my brother was their spoiled plaything. I was as +incapable as Geta was master of the art of stealing hearts; but in my +childhood I needed none of them: for, if I wished for a kind word, +a sweet kiss, or the love of a woman, my nurse's arms were open to me. +Nor was she an ordinary woman. As the widow of a tribune who had fallen +in my father's service, she had undertaken to attend on me. She loved me +as no one else ever did. She was also the only person whom I would +willingly obey. I came into the world full of wild instincts, but she +knew how to tame them kindly. My aversion to my brother was the one +thing she checked but feebly, for he was a thorn in her side too. I +learned this when she, who was so gentle, explained to me, with asperity +in her tone, that there was but one God in heaven, and on earth but one +emperor, who should govern the world in his name. She also imparted +these convictions to others, and this turned to her disadvantage. My +mother parted us, and sent her back to her African home. She died soon +after." He was silent, and gazed pensively into vacancy; soon, however, +he collected his thoughts and said, lightly: + +"Well, I became Cilo's diligent pupil." + +"But," asked Melissa, "did you not say that at one time you attempted his +life?" + +"I did so," replied Caracalla darkly; "for a moment arrived when I +cursed his teaching, and yet it was certainly wise and well meant. You +see, child, all of you who go through life humbly and without power are +trained to submit obediently to the will of Heaven. Cilo taught me to +place my own power, and the greatness of the realm which it would be +incumbent on me to reign over, above everything, even above the gods. +It was impressed upon you and yours to hold the life of another sacred; +to us, our duty as the sovereign transcends this law. Even the blood of +a brother must flow if it is for the good of the state intrusted to us. +My nurse had taught me that being good meant doing unto others as we +would be done by; Cilo cried to me: 'Strike down, that you may not be +struck down--away with mercy, if the welfare of the state is threatened!' +And how many hands are raised against Rome, the universal empire, which I +rule over! It needs a strong hand to keep its antagonistic parts +together. Otherwise it would fall apart like a bundle of arrows when the +string that bound them is broken. And I, even as a boy, had sworn to my +father, by the Terminus stone in the Capitol, never to abandon a single +inch of his ground without fighting for it. He, Severus, was the wisest +of the rulers. Only the blind love for his second son, encouraged by the +women, caused him to forget his moderation and prudence. My brother Geta +was to reign together with me over the empire, which ought to have been +mine alone as the first-born. Every year festivals were kept, with +prayers and sacrifices, to the "love of the brothers." You have perhaps +seen the coins, which show us hand in hand, and have on them the +inscription, 'Eternal union'! + +"I in union--I hand in hand with the man I most hated under the sun! +It almost maddened me only to hear his voice. I would have liked best +of all to spring at his throat when I saw him with his learned fellows +squandering their time. Do you know what they did? They invented the +names by which the voices of different animals were to be known. Once I +snatched the pencil out of the hand of the freedman as he was writing the +sentences, 'The horse neighs, the pig grunts, the goat bleats, the cow +lows, the sheep baas.' 'He, himself,' I added, 'croaks like a hoarse +jay.' + +"That I should share the government with this miserable, faint-hearted, +poisonous nobody could never be,--this enemy, who, when I said 'Yes,' +cried 'No!' Who frustrated all my measures,--it was impossible! It +would have caused the destruction of the state, as certainly as it was +the unfairest and unwisest of the deeds of Severus, to place the younger +brother as co-regent with the first-born, the rightful heir to the +throne. I, whom my father had taught to watch for signs, was reminded +every hour that this unbearable position must come to an end. + +"After the death of Severus, we lived at first close to one another in +separate parts of the same palace like two lions in a cage across which a +partition has been erected, so that they may not reciprocally mangle each +other. + +"We used to meet at my mother's. + +"That morning my mastiff had bitten Geta's wolfhound and killed him, +and they had found a black liver in the beast he had sent for sacrifice. +I had been informed of this. Destiny was on my side. This indolent +inactivity must be brought to a close. I myself do not know how I felt +as I mounted the steps to my mother's rooms. I only remember distinctly +that a demon cried continually in my ear, 'You have murdered your +brother!' Then I suddenly found myself face to face with him. It was +in the empress's reception-room. And when I saw the hated flat-shaped +head so close to me, when his beardless mouth with its thick underlip +smiled at me so sweetly and at the same time so falsely, I felt as if I +again heard the cry with which he had cheered on his horse. And I felt + . . . I even felt the pain-as if he broke my thigh again with his +wheel. And at the same time a fiend whispered in my ear: 'Destroy him, +or he will kill you, and through him Rome will perish!' + +"Then I seized my sword. In his odious, peevish voice he said something +--I forget what nonsense--to me. Then it appeared to me as if all the +sheep and goats over which he had squandered his time were bleating at +me. The blood rushed to my head. The room spun round me in a circle. +Black spots on a red ground danced before my eyes. + +"And then--What flashed in my right hand was my own naked sword! I +neither heard nor said anything further. Nor had I planned, nor ever +thought of, what then occurred. . . . But suddenly I felt as if a +mountain of oppressive lead had fallen from my breast. How easily I +could breathe again! All that had just before turned round me in a mad, +whirling dance stood still. The sun shone brightly in the large room; a +shaft of light, showing dancing dust, fell on Geta. He sank on his knees +close to me, with my sword in his breast. My mother made a fruitless +effort to shield him. His blood trickled over her hand. I can still see +every ring on those slender, white fingers. I also remember distinctly +how, when I raised my sword against him, my mother rushed in between us +to protect her favorite. The sharp blade, as she tried to seize it, +accidentally grazed her hand--I know not how--only the skin was slightly +cut. Yet what a scream she gave over the wound which the son had given +his mother! Julia Maesa, her daughter Mammara, and the other women, +rushed in. How they exaggerated! They made a river out of every drop of +blood. + +"So the dreadful deed was done; and yet, had I let the wretch live, I +should have been a traitor to Rome, to myself, and to my father's life's +work. That day, for the first time, I was ruler of the world. Those who +accuse me of fratricide no doubt believe themselves to be right. But +they certainly are not. I know better. You also know now with me that +destiny, and not I, struck Geta out from among the living." + +Here he sat for some time in breathless silence. Then he asked Melissa: + +"You understand now how I came to shed my brother's blood?" + +She started, and repeated gently after him: "Yes, I understand it." + +Deep compassion filled her heart, and yet she felt she dare not sanction +what she had heard and deplored. Torn by deep and conflicting feelings +she threw back her head, brushed her hair off her face, and cried: "Let +me go now; I can bear it no longer!" + +"So soft-hearted?" asked he, and shook his head disapprovingly. "Life +rages more wildly round the throne than in an artist's home. You will +have to learn to swim through the roaring torrent with me. Believe me, +even enormities can become quite commonplace. And, besides, why does it +still shock you when you yourself know that it was indispensable?" + +"I am only a weak girl, and I feel as if I had witnessed these fearful +deeds, and had to bear the terrible blood-guiltiness with you!" broke +from her lips. + +"That is what you must and shall do! It is to that end that I have +confided to you what no one else has ever heard from my mouth!" cried +Caracalla, his eyes flashing more brightly. She felt as though this cry +called her from her slumbers and revealed the precipice to which she had +strayed in her sleepwalking. + +When Caracalla had begun telling her of his youth, she had only listened +with half an ear; for she could not forget Berenike's rescuing ship. But +soon his confessions completely attracted her attention, and the lament +of this powerful man on whom so many injuries and wrongs had fallen, who +even in childhood had been deprived of the happiness of a mother's love, +had touched her tender heart. That which was afterward told to her she +had identified with her own humble life; she heard with a shudder that it +was to the malice of his brother that this unhappy being owed the injury +which, like a poisonous blight, had marred for him all the joys of +existence, while she owed all that was loveliest and best in her +young life to a brother's love. + +The grounds on which Caracalla had based the assertion that destiny had +compelled him to murder Geta appeared to her young and inexperienced mind +as indisputable. He was only the pitiable victim of his birth and of a +cruel fate. Besides, the humblest and most sober-minded can not resist +the charm of majesty; and this hapless man, who had honored Melissa with +his confidence, and who had assured her so earnestly that she was of such +importance to him and could do so much for him, was the ruler of the +universe. + +She had also felt, after Caesar's confession, that she had a right to be +proud, since he had thought her worthy to take an interest in the tragedy +in the imperial palace, as if she had been a member of the court. In her +lively imagination she had witnessed the ghastly act to which he--as she +had certainly believed, even when she had replied to his question--had +been forced by fate. + +But the demand which had followed her answer now recurred to her. The +picture of Diodoros, which had completely vanished from her thoughts +while she had been listening, suddenly appeared to her, and, as she +fancied, he looked at her reproachfully. + +Had she, then, transgressed against her betrothed? + +No, no, indeed she had not! + +She loved him, and only him; and for that very reason, her upright +judgment told her now, that it would be sinning against her lover to +carry out Caracalla's wish, as if she had become his fellow-culprit, +or certainly the advocate of the bloody outrage. She could think of no +answer to his "That is what you must and shall do!" that would not awaken +his wrath. Cautiously, and with sincere thanks for his confidence in +her, she begged him once more to allow her to leave him, because she +needed rest after such a shock to her mind. And it would also do him +good to grant himself a short rest. But he assured her he knew that he +could only rest when he had fulfilled his duty as a sovereign. His +father had said, a few minutes before he drew his last breath: + +"If there is anything more to be done, give it me to do," and he, the +son, would do likewise. + +"Moreover," he concluded, "it has done me good to bring to light that +which I had for so long kept sealed within me. To gaze in your face at +the same time was, perhaps, even better physic." + +At this he rose and, seizing the startled girl by both hands, he cried: + +"You, child, can satisfy the insatiable! The love which I offer you +resembles a full bunch of grapes, and yet I am quite content if you will +give me back but one berry." + +At the very commencement, this declaration was drowned by a loud shout +which rang through the room in waves of sound. + +Caracalla started, but, before he could reach the window, old Adventus +rushed in breathless; and he was followed, though in a more dignified +manner, with a not less hasty step and every sign of excitement, by +Macrinus, the prefect of the praetorians, with his handsome young son and +a few of Caesar's friends. + +"This is how I rest!" exclaimed Caracalla, bitterly, as he released +Melissa's hand and turned inquiringly to the intruders. + +The news had spread among the praetorians and the Macedonian legions, +that the emperor, who, contrary to his custom, had not shown himself for +two days, was seriously ill, and at the point of death. Feeling +extremely anxious about one who had showered gold on them, and given them +such a degree of freedom as no other imperator had ever allowed them, +they had collected before the Serapeum and demanded to see Caesar. +Caracalla's eyes lighted up at this information, and, excitedly pleased, +he cried: + +"They only are really faithful!" + +He asked for his sword and helmet, and sent for the 'paludamentum', +the general's cloak of purple, embroidered with gold, which he never +otherwise wore except on the field. The soldiers should see that he +intended leading in future battles. + +While they waited, he conversed quietly with Macrinus and the others; +when, however, the costly garment covered his shoulders, and when his +favorite, Theocritus, who had known best how to support him during his +illness, offered him an arm, he answered imperiously that he required no +assistance. + +"Nevertheless, you should, after so serious an attack--" the physician in +ordinary ventured to exhort him; but he interrupted him scornfully, and, +glancing toward Melissa, exclaimed: + +"Those little hands there contain more healing power than yours and the +great Galenus's put together." + +Thereupon he beckoned to the young girl, and when she once more besought +his permission to go, he left the room with the commanding cry, "You are +to wait!" + +He had rather far to go and some steps to mount in order to reach the +balcony which ran round the base of the cupola of the Pantheon which his +father had joined to the Serapeum, yet he undertook this willingly, as +thence he could best be seen and heard. + +A few hours earlier it would have been impossible for him to reach this +point, and Epagathos had arranged that a sedan-chair and strong bearers +should be waiting at the foot of the steps; but he refused it, for he +felt entirely restored, and the shouts of his warriors intoxicated him +like sparkling wine. + +Meanwhile Melissa remained behind in the audience-chamber. She must obey +Caesar's command. Yet it frightened her; and, besides, she was woman +enough to feel it as an offense that the man who had assured her so +sincerely of his gratitude, and who even feigned to love her, should have +refused so harshly her desire to rest. She foresaw that, as long as he +remained in Alexandria, she would have to be his constant companion. She +trembled at the idea; yet, if she tried to fly from him, all she loved +would be lost. No, this must not be thought of! She must remain. + +She threw herself on a divan, lost in thought, and as she realized the +confidence of which the unapproachable, proud emperor had thought her +worthy, a secret voice whispered to her that it was certainly a +delightful thing to share the overwhelming agitations of the highest +and greatest. And was he then really bad, he who felt the necessity of +vindicating himself before a simple girl, and to whom it appeared so +intolerable to be misjudged and condemned even by her? Besides being +the emperor and a suffering man, Caracalla had also become her wooer. +It never once entered her mind to accept him; but still it flattered +her extremely that the greatest of men should declare his love for her. +Why, then, need she fear him? She was so important to him, she could do +so much for him, that he would surely take care not to insult or offend +her. This modest child, who till quite lately had trembled before her +own father's temper, now, in the consciousness of Caesar's favor, felt +herself strong to triumph over the wrath and passions of the most +powerful and most terrible of men. In the mean time she dared not risk +confessing to him that she was another's bride, for that might determine +him to let Diodoros feel his power. The thought that the emperor could +care about her good opinion greatly pleased her; it even had the effect +of raising the hope in her inexperienced mind that Caracalla would +moderate his passion for her sake--when old Adventus came into the room. + +He was in a hurry; for preparations had to be made in the dining-hall +for the reception of the ambassadors. But when at his appearance Melissa +rose from the divan he begged her good-naturedly to continue resting. +No one could tell what humor Caracalla might be in when he returned. +She had often seen how rapidly that chameleon could change color. +Who that had seen him just now, going to meet his soldiers, would believe +that he had a few hours before sent away, with hard words, the widow of +the Egyptian governor, who had come to beg mercy for her husband? + +"So that wretch, Theocritus, has really carried out his intention of +ruining the honest Titianus?" asked Melissa, horrified. + +"Not only of ruining him," answered the chamberlain; "Titianus is by this +time beheaded." + +The old man bowed and left the room; but Melissa remained behind, feeling +as if the floor had opened in front of her. He, whose ardent assurance +she had just now believed, that he had been forced to shed the blood of +an impious wretch, in obedience to an overpowering fate, was capable of +allowing the noblest of men to be beheaded, unjudged, merely to please +a mercenary favorite! His confession, then, had been nothing but a +revolting piece of acting! He had endeavored to vanquish the disgust she +felt for him merely to ensnare her and her healing hand more surely--as +his plaything, his physic, his sleeping draught. And she had entered the +trap, and acquitted him of the most horrible blood-guiltiness. + +He had that very day rejected, without pity, a noble Roman lady who +petitioned for her husband's life, and with the same breath he had +afterwards befooled her! + +She started up, indignant and deeply wounded. Was it not ignominious +even to wait here like a prisoner in obedience to the command of this +wretch? And she had dared for one moment to compare this monster with +Diodoros, the handsomest, the best, and most amiable of youths! + +It seemed to her inconceivable. If only he had not the power to destroy +all that was dearest to her heart, what pleasure it would have been to +shout in his face: + +"I detest you, murderer, and I am the betrothed of another, who is as +good and beautiful as you are vile and odious!" + +Then the question occurred to her whether it was only for the sake of her +healing hands that he had felt attracted to her, and had made her an +avowal as if she were his equal. + +The blood mounted to her face at this thought, and with a burning brow +she walked to the open window. + +A crowd of presentiments rushed into her innocent and, till then, +unsuspecting heart, and they were all so alarming that it was a relief to +her when a shout of joy from the panoplied breasts of several thousand +armed men rent the air. Mingling with this overpowering demonstration of +united rejoicing from such huge masses, came the blare of the trumpets +and horns of the assembled legions. What a maddening noise! + +Before her lay the square, filled with many legions of warriors who +surrounded the Serapeum in their shining armor, with their eagles and +vexilla. The praetorians stood by the picked men of the Macedonian +phalanx, and with these were all the troops who had escorted the imperial +general hither, and the garrisons of the city of Alexander who hoped to +be called out in the next war. + +On the balcony, decorated with statues which surrounded the colonnade of +the Pantheon on which the cupola rested, she saw Caracalla, and at a +respectful distance a superb escort of his friends, in red and white +togas, bordered with purple stripes, and wearing armor. Having taken off +his gold helmet, the imperial general bowed to his people, and at every +nod of his head, and each more vigorous movement, the enthusiastic cheers +were renewed more loudly than ever. + +Macrinus then stepped up to Caesar's side, and the lictors who followed +him, by lowering their fasces, signaled to the warriors to keep silence. + +Instantly the ear-splitting din changed to a speechless lull. + +At first she still heard the lances and shields, which several of the +warriors had waved in enthusiastic joy, ringing against the ground, and +the clatter of the swords being put back in their sheaths; then this also +ceased, and finally, although only the superior officers had arrived on +horseback, the stamping of hoofs, the snorting of the horses, and the +rattle of the chains at their bits, were the only sounds. + +Melissa listened breathlessly, looking first at the square and the +soldiers below, then at the balcony where the emperor stood. In spite +of the aversion she felt, her heart beat quicker. It was as if this +immeasurable army had only one voice; as if an irresistible force drew +all these thousands of eyes toward one point--the one little man up there +on the Pantheon. + +Directly he began to speak, Melissa's glance was also fixed on Caracalla. + +She only heard the closing sentence, as, with raised voice, he shouted to +the soldiers; and from it she gathered that he thanked his companions in +arms for their anxiety, but that he still felt strong enough to share all +their difficulties with them. Severe exertions lay behind them. The +rest in this luxurious city would do them all good. There was still much +to be conquered in the rich East, and to add to what they had already +won, before they could return to Rome to celebrate a well-earned triumph. +The weary should make themselves comfortable here. The wealthy merchants +in whose houses he had quartered them had been told to attend to their +wants, and if they neglected to do so every single warrior was man enough +to show them what a soldier needed for his comfort. The people here +looked askance at him and his soldiers, but too much moderation would be +misplaced. + +There certainly were some things even here which the host was not bound +to supply to his military; he, Caesar, would provide them with these, and +for that purpose he had put aside two million denarii out of his own +poverty to distribute among them. + +This speech had several times been interrupted by applause, but now such +a tremendous shout of joy went up that it would have drowned the loudest +thunder. The number of voices as well as their power seemed to have +doubled. + +Caracalla had added another link to the golden chain which already bound +him to these faithful people; and, as he smiled and nodded to the +delighted crowd from the balcony, he looked like a happy, light-hearted +youth who had prepared a great treat for himself and several beloved +friends. + +What he said further was lost in the confusion of voices in the square. +The ranks were broken up, and the cuirasses, helmets, and arms of the +moving warriors caught the sun and sent bright beams of light crossing +one another over the wide space surrounded with dazzling white marble +statues. + +When Caracalla left the balcony, Melissa drew back from the window. + +The compassionate impulse to lighten the lot of a sufferer, which had +before drawn her so strongly to Caracalla, had now lost its sense and +meaning for this healthy, high-spirited man. She considered herself +cheated, as if she had been fooled by sham suffering into giving +excessively large alms to an artful beggar. + +Besides, she loved her native town, and Caracalla's advice to the +soldiers to force the citizens to provide luxurious living for them, +had made her considerably more rebellious. If he ever put her again +in a position to speak her mind freely to him, she would tell him all +undisguisedly; but instantly it again rushed into her mind that she must +keep guard over her tongue before the easily unchained wrath of this +despot, until her father and brothers were in safety once more. + +Before the emperor returned, the room was filled with people, of whom she +knew none, excepting her old friend the white-haired, learned Samonicus. +She was the aim and center of all eyes, and when even the kindly old man +greeted her from a distance, and so contemptuously, that the blood rushed +to her face, she begged Adventus to take her into the next room. + +The Chamberlain did as she wished, but before he left her he whispered to +her: "Innocence is trusting; but it is not of much avail here. Take +care, child! They say there are sand-banks in the Nile which, like soft +pillows, entice one to rest. But if you use them they become alive, and +a crocodile creeps out, with open jaws. I am talking already in +metaphor, like an Alexandrian, but you will understand me." + +Melissa bowed acknowledgment to him, and the old man went on: + +"He may perhaps forget you; for many things had accumulated during his +illness. If the mass of business, as it comes in, is not settled for +twenty four hours, it swells like a mill-stream that has the sluice down. +But when work is begun, it quite carries him away. He forgets then to +eat and drink. Ambassadors have arrived also from the Empress-mother, +from Armenia, and Parthia. If he does not ask for you in half an hour, +it will be suppertime, and I will let you out through that door." + +"Do so at once," begged Melissa, with raised, petitioning hands; but the +old man replied: "I should then reward you but ill for having warmed my +feet for me. Remember the crocodile under the sand! Patience, child! +There is Caesar's zithern. If you can play, amuse yourself with that. +The door shuts closely and the curtains are thick. My old ears just now +were listening to no purpose." + +But Caracalla was so far from forgetting Melissa that although he had +attended to the communication brought to him by the ambassadors, and +the various dispatches from the senate, he asked for her even at the door +of the tablinum. He had seen her from the balcony looking out on the +square; so she had witnessed the reception his soldiers had given him. +The magnificent spectacle must have impressed her and filled her with +joy. He was anxious to hear all this from her own lips, before he +settled down to work. + +Adverntus whispered to him where he had taken her, to avoid the +persecuting glances of the numerous strangers, and Caracalla nodded +to him approvingly and went into the next room. + +She sat there with the zithern, letting her fingers glide gently over the +strings. + +On his entering, she drew back hastily; but he cried to her brightly: +"Do not disturb yourself. I love that instrument. I am having a statue +erected to Mesomedes, the great zithern-player--you perhaps know his +songs. This evening, when the feast and the press of work are over, I +will hear how you play. I will also playa few airs to you." + +Melissa then plucked up courage and said, decidedly: "No, my lord; I am +about to bid you farewell for to-day." + +"That sounds very determined," he answered, half surprised and half +amused. "But may I be allowed to know what has made you decide on this +step?" + +"There is a great deal of work waiting for you," she replied, quietly. + +"That is my affair, not yours," was the crushing answer. + +"It is also mine," she said, endeavoring to keep calm; "for you have not +yet completely recovered, and, should you require my help again this +evening, I could not attend to your call." + +"No?" he asked, wrathfully, and his eyelids began to twitch. + +"No, my lord; for it would not be seemly in a maiden to visit you by +night, unless you were ill and needed nursing. As it is, I shall meet +your friends--my heart stands still only to think of it--" + +"I will teach them what is due to you!" Caracalla bellowed out, and his +brow was knit once more. + +"But you can not compel me," she replied, firmly, "to change my mind as +to what is seemly," and the courage which failed her if she met a spider, +but which stood by her in serious danger as a faithful ally, made her +perfectly steadfast as she eagerly added: "Not an hour since you promised +me that so long as I remained with you I should need no other protector, +and might count on your gratitude. But those were mere words, for, when +I besought you to grant me some repose, you scorned my very reasonable +request, and roughly ordered me to remain and attend on you." + +At this Caesar laughed aloud. + +"Just so! You are a woman, and like all the rest. You are sweet and +gentle only so long as you have your own way." + +"No, indeed," cried Melissa, and her eyes filled with tears. "I only +look further than from one hour to the next. If I should sacrifice what +I think right, merely to come and go at my own will, I should soon be not +only miserable myself, but the object of your contempt." + +Overcome by irresistible distress, she broke into loud sobs; but +Caracalla, with a furious stamp of his foot, exclaimed: + +"No tears! I can not, I will not see you weep. Can any harm come to +you? Nothing but good; nothing but the best of happiness do I propose +for you. By Apollo and Zeus, that is the truth! Till now you have been +unlike other women, but when you behave like them, you shall--I swear it +--you shall feel which of us two is the stronger!" + +He roughly snatched her hand away from her face and thereby achieved his +end, for her indignation at being thus touched by a man's brutal hand +gave Melissa strength to suppress her sobs. Only her wet cheeks showed +what a flood of tears she had shed, as, almost beside herself with anger, +she exclaimed: + +"Let my hand go! Shame on the man who insults a defenseless girl! You +swear! Then I, too, may take an oath, and, by the head of my mother, you +shall never see me again excepting as a corpse, if you ever attempt +violence! You are Caesar--you are the stronger. Who ever doubted it? +But you will never compel me to a vile action, not if you could inflict a +thousand deaths on me instead of one!" + +Caracalla, without a word, had released her hand and was staring at her +in amazement. + +A woman, and so gentle a woman, defying him as no man would have dared to +do! + +She stood before him, her hand raised, her bosom heaving; a flame of +anger sparkled in her eyes through their tears, and he had never before +thought her so fair. What majesty there was in this girl, whose simple +grace had made him more than once address her as "child"! She was like a +queen, an empress; perhaps she might become one. The idea struck him for +the first time. And that little hand which now fell--what soothing power +it had, how much he owed to it! How fervently he had wished but just now +to be understood by her, and to be thought better of by her than by the +rest! And this wish still possessed him. Nay, he was more strongly +attracted than ever to this creature, worthy as she was of the highest in +the land, and made doubly bewitching by her proud willfulness. That he +should see her for the last time seemed to him as impossible as that he +should never again see daylight; and yet her whole aspect announced that +her threat was serious. + +His aggrieved pride and offended sense of absolute power struggled with +his love, repentance, and fear of losing her healing presence; but the +struggle was brief, especially as a mass of business to be attended to +lay before him like a steep hill to climb, and haste was imperative. + +He went up to her, shaking his head, and said in the superior tone of a +sage rebuking thoughtlessness: + +"Like all the rest of them--I repeat it. My demands had no object in +view but to make you happy and derive comfort from you. How hot must the +blood be which boils and foams at the contact of a spark! Only too like +my own; and, since I understand you, I find it easy to forgive you. +Indeed, I must finally express myself grateful; for I was in danger of +neglecting my duties as a sovereign for the sake of pleasing my heart. +Go, then, and rest, while I devote myself to business." + +At this, Melissa forced herself to smile, and said, still somewhat +tearfully: "How grateful I am! And you will not again require me to +remain, will you, when I assure you that it is not fitting?" + +"Unluckily, I am not in the habit of yielding to a girl's whims." + +"I have no whims," she eagerly declared. "But you will keep your word +now, and allow me to withdraw? I implore you to let me go!" + +With a deep sigh and an amount of self-control of which he would +yesterday have thought himself incapable, he let go her hand, and she +with a shudder thought that she had found the answer to the question he +had asked her. His eyes, not his words, had betrayed it; for a woman can +see in a suitor's look what color his wishes take, while a woman's eyes +only tell her lover whether or no she reciprocates his feelings. + +"I am going," she said, but he remarked the deadly paleness which +overspread her features, and her colorless cheeks encouraged him in the +belief that, after a sleepless night and the agitations of the last few +hours, it was only physical exhaustion which made Melissa so suddenly +anxious to escape from him. So, saying kindly: + +"'Till to-morrow, then," he dismissed her. + +But when she had almost left the room, he added: "One thing more! +To-morrow we will try our zitherns together. After my bath is the time +I like best for such pleasant things; Adventus will fetch you. I am +curious to hear you play and sing. Of all sounds, that of the human +voice is the sweetest. Even the shouting of my legions is pleasing to +the ear and heart. Do you not think so, and does not the acclamation of +so many thousands stir your soul?" + +"Certainly," she replied hastily; and she longed to reproach him for +the injustice he was doing the populace of Alexandria to benefit his +warriors, but she felt that the time was ill chosen, and everything +gave way to her longing to be gone out of the dreadful man's sight. + +In the next room she met Philostratus, and begged him to conduct her to +the lady Euryale; for all the anterooms were now thronged, and she had +lost the calm confidence in which she had come thither. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +As Melissa made her way with the philosopher through the crowd, +Philostratus said to her: "It is for your sake, child, that these +hundreds have had so long to wait to-day, and many hopes will be +disappointed. To satisfy all is a giant's task. But Caracalla must do +it, well or ill." + +"Then he will forget me!" replied Melissa, with a sigh of relief. + +"Hardly," answered the philosopher. He was sorry for the terrified girl, +and in his wish to lighten her woes as far as he could, he said, gravely: +"You called him terrible, and he can be more terrible than any man +living. But he has been kind to you so far, and, if you take my advice, +you will always seem to expect nothing from him that is not good and +noble." + +"Then I must be a hypocrite," replied Melissa. "Only to-day he has +murdered the noble Titianus." + +"That is an affair of state which does not concern you," replied +Philostratus. "Read my description of Achilles. I represent him among +other heroes such as Caracalla might be. Try, on your part, to see him +in that light. I know that it is sometimes a pleasure to him to justify +the good opinion of others. Encourage your imagination to think the best +of him. I shall tell him that you regard him as magnanimous and noble." + +"No, no!" cried Melissa; "that would make everything worse." + +But the philosopher interrupted her. + +"Trust my riper experience. I know him. If you let him know your true +opinion of him, I will answer for nothing. My Achilles reveals the good +qualities with which he came into the world; and if you look closely you +may still find sparks among the ashes." + +He here took his leave, for they had reached the vestibule leading to the +high-priest's lodgings, and a few minutes later Melissa found herself +with Euryale, to whom she related all that she had seen and felt. When +she told her older friend what Philostratus had advised, the lady stroked +her hair, and said: "Try to follow the advice of so experienced a man. +It can not be very difficult. When a woman's heart has once been +attached to a man--and pity is one of the strongest of human ties--the +bond may be strained and worn, but a few threads must always remain." + +But Melissa hastily broke in: + +"There is not a spider's thread left which binds me to that cruel man. +The murder of Titianus has snapped them all." + +"Not so," replied the lady, confidently. "Pity is the only form of love +which even the worst crime can not eradicate from a kind heart. You +prayed for Caesar before you knew him, and that was out of pure human +charity. Exercise now a wider compassion, and reflect that Fate has +called you to take care of a hapless creature raving in fever and hard +to deal with. How many Christian women, especially such as call +themselves deaconesses, voluntarily assume such duties! and good is +good, right is right for all, whether they pray to one God or to several. +If you keep your heart pure, and constantly think of the time which shall +be fulfilled for each of us, to our ruin or to our salvation, you will +pass unharmed through this great peril. I know it, I feel it." + +"But you do not know him," exclaimed Melissa, "and how terrible he can +be! And Diodoros! When he is well again, if he hears that I am with +Caesar, in obedience to his call whenever he sends for me, and if evil +tongues tell him dreadful things about me, he, too, will condemn me!" + +"No, no," the matron declared, kissing her brow and eyes. "If he loves +you truly, he will trust you." + +"He loves me," sobbed Melissa; "but, even if he does not desert me when I +am thus branded, his father will come between us." + +"God forbid!" cried Euryale. "Remain what you are, and I will always be +the same to you, come what may; and those who love you will not refuse to +listen to an old woman who has grown gray in honor." + +And Melissa believed her motherly, kind, worthy friend; and, with the new +confidence which revived in her, her longing for her lover began to stir +irresistibly. She wanted a fond glance from the eyes of the youth who +loved her, and to whom, for another man's sake, she could not give all +his due, nay, who had perhaps a right to complain of her. This she +frankly confessed, and the matron herself conducted the impatient girl to +see Diodoros. + +Melissa again found Andreas in attendance on the sufferer, and she was +surprised at the warmth with which the high-priest's wife greeted the +Christian. + +Diodoros was already able to be dressed and to sit up. He was pale +and weak, and his head was still bound up, but he welcomed the girl +affectionately, though with a mild reproach as to the rarity of her +visits. + +Andreas had already informed him that Melissa was kept away by her +mediation for the prisoners, and so he was comforted by her assurance +that if her duty would allow of it she would never leave him again. And +the joy of having her there, the delight of gazing into her sweet, lovely +face, and the youthful gift of forgetting the past in favor of the +present, silenced every bitter reflection. He was soon blissfully +listening to her with a fresh color in his cheeks, and never had he seen +her so tender, so devoted, so anxious to show him the fullness of her +great love. The quiet, reserved girl was to-day the wooer, and with the +zeal called forth by her ardent wish to do him good, she expressed all +the tenderness of her warm heart so frankly and gladly that to him it +seemed as though Eros had never till now pierced her with the right +shaft. + +As soon as Euryale was absorbed in conversation with Andreas, she offered +him her lips with gay audacity, as though in defiance of some stern +dragon of virtue, and he, drunk with rapture, enjoyed what she granted +him. And soon it was he who became daring, declaring that there would be +time enough to talk another day; that for the present her rosy mouth had +nothing to do but to cure him with kisses. And during this sweet give +and take, she implored him with pathetic fervor never, never to doubt her +love, whatever he might hear of her. Their older friends, who had turned +their backs on the couple and were talking busily by a window, paid no +heed to them, and the blissful conviction of being loved as ardently as +she loved flooded her whole being. + +Only now and then did the thought of Caesar trouble for a moment the +rapture of that hour, like a hideous form appearing out of distant +clouds. She felt prompted indeed to tell her lover everything, but it +seemed so difficult to make him understand exactly how everything had +happened, and Diodoros must not be distressed. And, indeed, intoxicated +as he was with heated passion, he made the attempt impossible. + +When he spoke it was only to assure her of his love; and when the lady +Euryale at last called her to go, and looked in the girl's glowing face, +Melissa felt as though she were snatched from a rapturous dream. + +In the anteroom they were stopped by Andreas. Euryale had indeed +relieved his worst fears, still he was anxious to lay before the girl the +question whether she would not be wise to take advantage of this very +night to make her escape. She, however, her eyes still beaming with +happiness, laid her little hand coaxingly on his bearded mouth, and +begged him not to sadden her high spirits and hopes of a better time by +warnings and dismal forecasts. Even the lady Euryale had advised her to +trust fearlessly to herself, and sitting with her lover she had acquired +the certainty that it was best so. The freedman could not bear to +disturb this happy confidence, and only impressed on Melissa that she +should send for him if ever she needed him. He would find her a hiding- +place, and the lady Euryale had undertaken to provide a messenger. He +then bade them godspeed, and they returned to the high-priest's dwelling. + +In the vestibule they found a servant from the lady Berenike; in his +mistress's name he desired Euryale to send Melissa to spend the night +with her. + +This invitation, which would remove Melissa from the Serapeum, was +welcome to them both, and the matron herself accompanied the young girl +down a private staircase leading to a small side-door. Argutis, who had +come to inquire for his young mistress, was to be her escort and to bring +her back early next morning to the same entrance. + +The old slave had much to tell her. He had been on his feet all day. He +had been to the harbor to inquire as to the return of the vessel with the +prisoners on board; to the Serapeum to inquire for her; to Dido, to give +her the news. He had met Alexander in the forenoon on the quay where the +imperial galleys were moored. When the young man learned that the +trireme could not come in before next morning at the soonest, he had set +out to cross the lake and see Zeus and his daughter. He had charged +Argutis to let Melissa know that his longing for the fair Agatha gave him +no peace. + +He and old Dido disapproved of their young master's feather-brain, which +had not been made more steady and patient even by the serious events of +this day and his sister's peril; however, he did not allow a word of +blame to escape him. He was happy only to be allowed to walk behind +Melissa, and to hear from her own lips that all was well with her, and +that Caesar was gracious. + +Alexander, indeed, had also told the old man that he and Caesar were +"good friends"; and now the slave was thinking of Pandion, Theocritus, +and the other favorites of whom he had heard; and he assured Melissa +that, as soon as her father should be free, Caracalla would be certain to +raise him to the rank of knight, to give him lands and wealth, perhaps +one of the imperial residences on the Bruchium. Then he, Argutis, would +be house steward, and show that he knew other things besides keeping the +workroom and garden in order, splitting wood, and buying cheaply at +market. + +Melissa laughed and said he should be no worse off if only the first wish +of her heart were fulfilled, and she were wife to Diodoros; and Argutis +declared he would be amply content if only she allowed him to remain with +her. + +But she only half listened and answered absently, for she breathed faster +as she pictured to herself how she would show Caesar, on whom she had +already proved her power, that she had ceased to tremble before him. + +Thus they came to the house of Seleukus. + +A large force had taken up their quarters there. In the pillared hall +beyond the vestibule bearded soldiers were sitting on benches or +squatting in groups on the ground, drinking noisily and singing, or +laughing and squabbling as they threw the dice on the costly mosaic +pavement. A riotous party were toping and reveling in the beautiful +garden of the impluvium round a fire which they had lighted on the velvet +turf. A dozen or so of officers had stretched themselves on cushions +under one of the colonnades, and, without attempting to check the wild +behavior of their men, were watching the dancing of some Egyptian girls +who had been brought into the house of their involuntary host. Although +Melissa was closely veiled and accompanied by a servant, she did not +escape rude words and insolent glances. Indeed, an audacious young +praetorian had put out his hand to pull away her veil, but an older +officer stopped him. + +The lady Berenike's rooms had so far not been intruded on; for Macrinus, +the praetorian prefect, who knew Berenike through her brother-in-law the +senator Coeranus, had given orders that the women's apartments were to be +exempt from the encroachments of the quartermaster of the body-guard. +Breathing rapidly and with a heightened color, Melissa at last entered +the room of Seleukus's wife. + +The matron's voice was full of bitterness as she greeted her young +visitor with the exclamation "You look as if you had fled to escape +persecution! And in my house, too! Or"--and her large eyes flashed +brightly--"or is the blood-hound on the track of his prey? My boat is +quite ready--" When Melissa denied this, and related what had happened, +Berenike exclaimed: "But you know that the panther lies still and gathers +himself up before he springs; or, if you do not, you may see it to-morrow +at the Circus. There is to be a performance in Caesar's honor, the like +of which not even Nero ever saw. My husband bears the chief part cf the +cost, and can think of nothing else. He has even forgotten his only +child, and all to please the man who insults us, robs and humiliates us! +Now that men kiss the hands which maltreat them, it is the part of women +to defy them. You must fly, child! The harbor is now closed, but it +will be open again to-morrow morning, and, if your folks are set free in +the course of the day, then away with you at once! Or do you really hope +for any good from the tyrant who has made this house what you now +see it?" + +"I know him," replied Melissa, "and I look for nothing but the worst." + +At this the elder woman warmly grasped the girl's hand, but she was +interrupted by the waiting woman Johanna, who said that a Roman officer +of rank, a tribune, craved to be admitted. + +When Berenike refused to receive him, the maid assured her that he was a +young man, and had expressed his wish to bring an urgent request to the +lady's notice in a becoming and modest manner. + +On this the matron allowed him to be shown in to her, and Melissa hastily +obeyed her instructions to withdraw into the adjoining room. + +Only a half-drawn curtain divided it from the room where Berenike +received the soldier, and without listening she could hear the loud voice +which riveted her attention as soon as she had recognized it. + +The young tribune, in a tone of courteous entreaty, begged his hostess to +provide a room for his brother, who was severely wounded. The sufferer +was in a high fever, and the physician said that the noise and rattle of +vehicles in the street, on which the room where he now lay looked out, +and the perpetual coming and going of the men, might endanger his life. +He had just been told that on the side of the women's apartments there +was a row of rooms looking out on the impluvium, and he ventured to +entreat her to spare one of them for the injured man. If she had a +brother or a child, she would forgive the boldness of his request. + +So far she listened in silence; then she suddenly raised her head and +measured the petitioner's tall figure with a lurid fire in her eye. Then +she replied, while she looked into his handsome young face with a half- +scornful, half-indignant air: "Oh, yes! I know what it is to see one we +love suffer. I had an only child; she was the joy of my heart. Death-- +death snatched her from me, and a few days later the sovereign whom +you serve commanded us to prepare a feast for him. It seemed to him +something new and delightful to hold a revel in a house of mourning. +At the last moment--all the guests were assembled--he sent us word that +he himself did not intend to appear. But his friends laughed and reveled +wildly enough! They enjoyed themselves, and no doubt praised our cook +and our wine. And now--another honor we can duly appreciate!--he sends +his praetorians to turn this house of mourning into a tavern, a wine- +shop, where they call creatures in from the street to dance and sing. +The rank to which you have risen while yet so young shows that you are of +good family, so you can imagine how highly we esteem the honor of seeing +your men trampling, destroying, and burning in their camp-fires +everything which years of labor and care had produced to make our little +garden a thing of beauty. Only look down on them! Macrinus, who +commands you, promised me, moreover, that the women's apartments should +be respected. No praetorian, whether common soldier or commander,' and +here she raised her voice, "shall set foot within them! Here is his +writing. The prefect set the seal beneath it in Caesar's name." + +"I know of the order, noble lady," interrupted Nemesianus, "and should be +the last to wish to act against it. I do not demand, I only appeal +humbly to the heart of a woman and a mother.' + +"A mother!" broke in Berenike, scornfully; "yes! and one whose soul +your lord has pierced with daggers--a woman whose home has been +dishonored and made hateful to her. I have enjoyed sufficient honor now, +and shall stand firmly on my rights." + +"Hear but one thing more," began the youth, timidly; but the lady +Berenike had already turned her back upon him, and returned with a proud +and stately carriage to Melissa in the adjoining apartment. + +Breathing hard, as if stunned by her words, the tribune remained standing +on the threshold where the terrible lady had vanished from his sight, and +then, striving to regain his composure, pushed back the curling locks +from his brow. But scarcely had Berenike entered the other room than +Melissa whispered to her: "The wounded man is the unfortunate Aurelius, +whose face Caracalla wounded for my sake." + +At this the lady's eyes suddenly flashed and blazed so strangely that the +girl's blood ran cold. But she had no time to ask the reason of this +emotion, for the next moment the queenly woman grasped the weaker one by +the wrist with her strong right hand, and with a commanding "Come with +me," drew her back into the room they had just quitted. She called to +the tribune, whose hand was already on the door, to come back. + +The young man stood still, surprised and startled to see Melissa; but the +lady Berenike said, calmly, "Now that I have learned the honor that has +been accorded to you, too, by the master whom you so faithfully serve, +the poor injured man whom you call your brother shall be made welcome +within these walls. He is my companion in suffering. A quiet, airy +chamber shall be set apart for him, and he shall not lack careful +attention, nor anything which even his own mother could offer him. +Only two things I desire of you in return: that you admit no one of your +companions-in-arms, nor any man whatever, into this dwelling, save only +the physician whom I shall send to you. Furthermore, that you do not +betray, even to your nearest friend, whom you found here besides myself." + +Under the mortification that had wounded his brotherly heart, Aurelius +Nemesianus had lost countenance; but now he replied with a soldier's +ready presence of mind: "It is difficult for me to find a proper answer +to you, noble lady. I know right well that I owe you my warmest thanks, +and equally so that he whom you call our master has inflicted as deep a +wrong on us as on you; but Caesar is still my military chief." + +"Still!" broke in Berenike. "But you are too youthful a tribune for me +to believe that you took up the sword as a means of livelihood." + +"We are sons of the Aurelia," answered Nemesianus, haughtily, "and it is +very possible that this day's work may be the cause of our deserting the +eagles we have followed in order to win glory and taste the delights of +warfare. But all that is for the future to decide. Meanwhile, I thank +you, noble lady, and also in the name of my brother, who is my second +self. On behalf of Apollinaris, too, I beg you to pardon the rudeness +which we offered to this maiden--" + +"I am not angry with you any more," cried Melissa, eagerly and frankly, +and the tribune thanked her in his own and his brother's name. + +He began trying to explain the unfortunate occurrence, but Berenike +admonished him to lose no time. The soldier withdrew, and the lady +Berenike ordered her handmaiden to call the housekeeper and other +serving-women. Then she repaired quickly to the room she had destined +for the wounded man and his brother. But neither Melissa nor the other +women could succeed in really lending her any help, for she herself put +forth all her cleverness and power of head and hand, forgetting nothing +that might be useful or agreeable in the nursing of the sick. In that +wealthy, well-ordered house everything stood ready to hand; and in less +than a quarter of an hour the tribune Nemesianus was informed that the +chamber was ready for the reception of his brother. + +The lady then returned with Melissa to her own sleeping apartment, and +took various little bottles and jars from a small medicine-chest, begging +the girl at the same time to excuse her, as she intended to undertake the +nursing of the wounded man herself. Here were books, and there Korinna's +lute. Johanna would attend to the evening meal. Tomorrow morning they +could consult further as to what was necessary to be done; then she +kissed her guest and left the room. + +Left to herself, Melissa gave herself up to varying thoughts, till +Johanna brought her repast. While she hardly nibbled at it, the +Christian told her that matters looked ill with the tribune, and that the +wound in the forehead especially caused the physician much anxiety. Many +questions were needed to draw this much from the freedwoman, for she +spoke but little. When she did speak, however, it was with great +kindliness, and there lay something so simple and gentle in her whole +manner that it awakened confidence. Having satisfied her appetite, +Melissa returned to the lady Berenike's apartment; but there her heart +grew heavy at the thought of what awaited her on the morrow. When, at +the moment of leaving, Johanna inquired whether she desired anything +further, she asked her if she knew a saying of her fellow-believers, +which ran, "The fullness of time was come." + +"Yes, surely," returned the other; "our Lord himself spoke them, and Paul +wrote them to the Galatians." + +"Who is this Paul?" Melissa asked; and the Christian replied that of all +the teachers of her faith he was the one she most dearly loved. Then, +hesitating a little, she asked if Melissa, being a heathen, had inquired +the meaning of this saying. + +"Andrew, the freedman of Polybius and the lady Euryale, explained it to +me. Did the moment ever come to you in which you felt assured that for +you the time was fulfilled?" + +"Yes," replied Johanna, with decision; "and that moment comes, sooner or +later, in every life." + +"You are a maiden like myself," began Melissa, simply. "A heavy task +lies before me, and if you would confide to me--" + +But the Christian broke in: "My life has moved in other paths than yours, +and what has happened to me, the freedwoman and the Christian, can have +no interest for you. But the saying which has stirred your soul refers +to the coming of One who is all in all to us Christians. Did Andrew tell +you nothing of His life?" + +"Only a little," answered the girl, "but I would gladly hear more of +Him." + +Then the Christian seated herself at Melissa's side, and, clasping the +maiden's hand in hers, told her of the birth of the Saviour, of His +loving heart, and His willing death as a sacrifice for the sins of the +whole world. The girl listened with attentive ear. With no word did she +interrupt the narrative, and the image of the Crucified One rose before +her mind's eye, pure and noble, and worthy of all love. A thousand +questions rose to her lips, but, before she could ask one, the Christian +was called away to attend the lady Berenike, and Melissa was again alone. + +What she had already heard of the teaching of the Christians occurred to +her once more, and above all that first saying from the sacred Scriptures +which had attracted her attention, and about which she had just asked +Johanna. Perhaps for her, too, the time was already fulfilled, when she +had taken courage to defy the emperor's commands. + +She rejoiced at this action, for she felt that the strength would never +fail her now to set her will against his. She felt as though she bore a +charm against his power since she had parted from her lover, and since +the murder of the governor had opened her eyes to the true character of +him on whom she had all too willingly expended her pity. And yet she +shuddered at the thought of meeting the emperor again, and of having to +show him that she felt safe with him because she trusted to his +generosity. + +Lost in deep thought, she waited for the return of the lady and the +Christian waiting-woman, but in vain. At last her eye fell upon the +scrolls which the lady Berenike had pointed out to her. They lay in +beautiful alabaster caskets on an ebony stand. If they had only been +the writings of the Christians, telling of the life and death of their +Saviour! But how should writings such as those come here? The casket +only held the works of Philostratus, and she took from it the roll +containing the story of the hero of whom he had himself spoken to her. +Full of curiosity, she smoothed out the papyrus with the ivory stick, and +her attention was soon engaged by the lively conversation between the +vintner and his Phoenician guest. She passed rapidly over the beginning, +but soon reached the part of which Philostratus had told her. Under the +form of Achilles he had striven to represent Caracalla as he appeared to +the author's indulgent imagination. But it was no true portrait; it +described the original at most as his mother would have wished him to be. +There it was written that the vehemence flashing from the hero's bright +eyes, even when peacefully inclined, showed how easily his wrath could +break forth. But to those who loved him he was even more endearing +during these outbursts than before. The Athenians felt toward him as +they did toward a lion; for, if the king of beasts pleased them when he +was at rest, he charmed them infinitely more when, foaming with +bloodthirsty rage, he fell upon a bull, a wild boar, or some such +ferocious animal. + +Yes, indeed! Caracalla, too, fell mercilessly upon his prey! Had she +not seen him hewing down Apollinaris a few hours ago? + +Furthermore, Achilles was said to have declared that he could drive away +care by fearlessly encountering the greatest dangers for the sake of his +friends. But where were Caracalla's friends? + +At best, the allusion could only refer to the Roman state, for whose sake +the emperor certainly did endure many a hardship and many a wearisome +task, and he was not the only person who had told her so. + +Then she turned back a little and found the words: "But because he was +easily inclined to anger, Chiron instructed him in music; for is it not +inherent in this art to soothe violence and wrath--And Achilles acquired +without trouble the laws of harmony and sang to the lyre." + +This all corresponded with the truth, and tomorrow she was to discover +what had suggested to Philostratus the story that when Achilles begged +Calliope to endow him with the gifts of music and poetry she had given +him so much of both as he required to enliven the feast and banish +sadness. He was also said to be a poet, and devoted himself most +ardently to verse when resting from the toils of war. + +To hear that man unjustly blamed on whom her heart is set, only +increases a woman's love; but unmerited praise makes her criticise him +more sharply, and is apt to transform a fond smile into a scornful one. +Thus the picture that raised Caracalla to the level of an Achilles made +Melissa shrug her shoulders over the man she dreaded; and while she even +doubted Caesar's musical capacities, Diodoros's young, fresh, bell-like +voice rose doubly beautiful and true upon her memory's ear. The image of +her lover finally drove out that of the emperor, and, while she seemed to +hear the wedding song which the youths and maidens were so soon to sing +for them both, she fell asleep. + +It was late when Johanna came to admonish her to retire to rest. Shortly +before sunrise she was awakened by Berenike, who wished to take some +rest, and who told her, before seeking her couch, that Apollinaris was +doing well. The lady was still sleeping when Johanna came to inform +Melissa that the slave Argutis was waiting to see her. + +The Christian undertook to convey the maiden's farewell greetings to her +mistress. + +As they entered the living-room, the gardener had just brought in fresh +flowers, among them three rose-bushes covered with full-blown flowers and +half-opened, dewy buds. Melissa asked Johanna timidly if the lady +Berenike would permit her to pluck one--there were so many; to which the +Christian replied that it would depend on the use it was to be put to. + +"Only for the sick tribune," answered Melissa, reddening. So Johanna +plucked two of the fairest blooms and gave them to the maiden--one for +the man who had injured her and one for her betrothed. Melissa kissed +her, gratefully, and begged her to present the flowers to the sick man in +her name. + +Johanna carried out her wish at once; but the wounded man, gazing +mournfully at the rose, murmured to himself: "Poor, lovely, gentle +child! She will be ruined or dead before Caracalla leaves Alexandria!" + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Obstacles existed only to be removed +Speaking ill of others is their greatest delight +The past must stand; it is like a scar + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A THRONY PATH, BY EBERS, V7 *** + +******** This file should be named 5536.txt or 5536.zip ******** + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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