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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/6070-0.txt b/6070-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6d62db3 --- /dev/null +++ b/6070-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10257 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Unwilling Vestal, by Edward Lucas White + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Unwilling Vestal + +Author: Edward Lucas White + +Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6070] +Last Updated: November 20, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNWILLING VESTAL *** + + + + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer + + + + + + +THE UNWILLING VESTAL + +A Tale of Rome under the Caesars + +By Edward Lucas White + +Author of “El Supremo” + + + + Original Project Gutenberg editor’s note: First published in + 1918, this book went through sixteen printings before it + ceased to be a money-maker for its publishers. It provides a + fascinating glimpse into a world most of us know nothing + about. + + It has been slightly re-edited for ease in reading as an + E-text. The author’s spellings have been left alone even when + they are incorrect in English English, American English, and + Latin. + + + + +JACKET BLURB: + +EDWARD LUCAS WHITE Author of “El Supremo” + +This book presents, for the first time in fiction, a correct and +adequate account of the Vestal Virgins, their powers and privileges, as +well as of many strange Roman customs and beliefs. + +The author combines the power of writing a rattling good story with +a sound and full knowledge of conditions of the life which he +is depicting. Mr. White brings to the history of Rome all the +picturesqueness and power which made his South American novel, “El +Supremo,” so remarkable. The result is a vivid pageant of imperial Rome +and Roman life at the height of its power and splendor. + + + + +PUBLISHERS’ NOTE + +Readers of _The Unwilling Vestal_ who are not acquainted at first hand +with the lighter and more intimate literature of the Romans may be +surprised to discover that the lights of Roman high society talked slang +and were interested in horseracing. Most writers who have tried to draw +Roman society for us have been either ignorant or afraid of these facts. +The author of _The Unwilling Vestal_ is neither. He presents to us the +upper class Romans exactly as they reveal themselves in the literature +of their day; excitable, slangy, sophisticated and yet strangely +credulous, enthusiastic sportsmen, hearty eaters and drinkers, and +unblushingly keen on the trail of the almighty denarius. In a word, very +much like the most up-to-date American society of to-day. + +The Publishers feel that it is only fair that it should be made plain +that the great difference between the Roman society folk of _The +Unwilling Vestal_ and those appearing in other novels is due to the +author’s thorough acquaintance with the people and the period about +which he is writing. + +Incidentally, the Publishers wish to thank Mr. C. Powell Minnegerode, +the Curator of the Corcoran Gallery of Art of Washington, D. C., for his +permission to reproduce Leroux’ beautiful painting “The Vestal Tuccia” + for use on the wrapper of the volume. + + + + +PREFACE BY AUTHOR + +The title of this romance is likely to prejudice any reader against it. +There exists a popular delusion that fiction with a classical setting is +bound to be dull and lumbering, that it is impossible for it to possess +that quality of bravura slangily denominated “punch.” Anybody will be +disabused of that notion upon reading this story. + + PG EDITOR’S NOTE: The slang is now, alas, over ninety years + old. It now sounds even more stilted than the classical + language does. + +On the other hand, after having read it, almost any one will be likely +to imagine that a novel with so startling a heroine and with incidents +so bizarre cannot possibly be based on any sound and genuine knowledge +of its background; that the author has conjured out of his fantasy not +only his plot and chief characters, but also their world; that he +has created out and out not merely his Vestal, but his Vestals, their +circumstances and the life which they are represented as leading: that +he has manufactured his local color to suit as he went along. + +Nothing could be further from the actuality. The details of rule and +ritual, of dress and duties, of privileges and punishments are set forth +in accordance with a full first-hand and intimate acquaintance with +all available evidence touching the Vestals; including all known +inscriptions relating to them, every passage in Roman or Greek +literature in any way concerning them, the inferences drawn from all +existing or recorded sculptures and coins which add to our knowledge of +them, and every treatise written since the revival of learning in Europe +in which the Vestals are discussed. The story contains no preposterous +anachronisms or fatuous absurdities. Throughout, it either embodies the +known facts or is invented in conformity with the known facts. + +Any one to whom chapter twenty-one seems incredible should consult an +adequate encyclopedia article or an authoritative treatise on physics +and read up on the surface tension of liquids. + + + + +LIST OF CONTENTS + + Book I + + The Rage of Disappointment + + I. Precocity + II. Sieves + III. Stutterings + IV. Pestilence + V. Escapades + VI. Notoriety + VII. Audience + + Book II + + The Revolt of Despondency + + VIII. Scourging + IX. Alarms + X. Conference + XI. Farewell + XII. Observances + XIII. Perversity + XIV. Amazement + + Book III + + The Rebellion of Desperation + + XV. Rehabilitation + XVI. Vagary + XVII. Recklessness + XVIII. Fury + XIX. Comfort + + Book IV + + The Revulsion of Delight + + XX. Accusation + XXI. Ordeal + XXII Triumph + XXII. Salvage + + + + +BOOK I--THE RAGE OF DISAPPOINTMENT + + + +CHAPTER I - PRECOCITY + + +“Brinnaria!” he said severely, “you will marry any man I designate.” + +“I never shall marry any man,” she retorted positively, “except the man +I want to marry.” + +She gazed unflinchingly into her father’s imperious eyes, wide-set +on either side of a formidable Roman nose. His return gaze was +less incensed than puzzled. All his life he had been habituated to +subserviency, had never met opposition, and to find it from his youngest +daughter, and she a mere child, amazed him. As she faced him she +appeared both resolute and tremulous. He looked her up and down from +the bright blue velvety leather of her little shoes on which the gilt +sole-edges and gilt laces glittered to the red flower in her brown +hair. Inside her clinging red robe the soft outlines of her young +shape swelled plump and healthy, yet altogether she seemed to him but a +fragile creature. Resistance from her was incredible. + +Perhaps this was one more of her countless whims. While he considered +her meditatively he did not move his mighty arms or legs; the broad +crimson stripe down his tunic rose and fell slowly above his ample +paunch and vaster chest as his breath came evenly; on his short bull +neck his great bullet head was as moveless as if he had been one of the +painted statues that lined the walls all about. As the two regarded +each other they could hear the faint splash of the fountain in the tank +midway of the courtyard. + +Her father, a true Roman to his marrow, with all a Roman’s arbitrary +instincts, reverted to the direct attack. + +“You will marry Pulfennius Calvaster,” he commanded. + +“I will not!” she declared. + +He temporized. + +“Why not?” he queried. + +The obstinacy faded from Brinnaria’s handsome, regular face. She looked +merely reflective. + +“In the first place,” she said, “because I despise him and hate him +worse than any young man I ever knew; I would not marry Calvaster if he +were the only man left alive. In the second place, because, if all the +men on earth were courting me at once, all rich and all fascinating +and Caius were poor and anything and everything else that he isn’t, I’d +marry nobody ever except Caius. You hear me, Father. Caius Segontius +Almo is the only, only man I’ll ever marry. Nothing can shake my +resolution, never.” + +She was breathing eagerly, her cheeks flushed a warm red through her +olive complexion, her eyes shining till tiny specks sparkled green and +yellow in the wide brown of her big irises. + +Her father’s jaw set. + +“I’ve listened to you, daughter,” he said. “Now you listen to me. I have +no objections to Almo; I rather like him. I have thought of marrying you +to him; if Segontius and I had not quarreled, we might have arranged +it. There is no possibility of it now. And just now, for some reason +or other, Pulfennius is keen on arranging a marriage between you and +Calvaster. His offers are too tempting to be rejected and the chance is +to good to be missed. Our properties adjoin not only here and at Baiae, +but also at Praeneste, at Grumentum and at Ceneta. With our estates so +marvellously paired the marriage seems divinely ordained when one comes +to think it over. Don’t be a fool. Anyhow, if you insist on making +trouble for yourself, it will do you no good. My mind is made up. You +are to marry Calvaster.” + +“I won’t!” Brinnaria maintained + +Her father smiled, a menacing smile + +“Perhaps not,” he said, “but there will be only one alternative. Unless +you agree to obey me I shall go at once to the Pontifex and offer you +for a Vestal.” + +Every trace of apprehension vanished from Brinnaria’s expression. She +grinned saucily, almost impudently, at her father, and snapped her +fingers in his face. + +“You can’t scare me that way, Daddy!” she mocked him. “I know better +than that. There can be only six Vestals. You can offer, if you like, +but the Emperors themselves can’t take me for a Vestal while the six are +alive.” + +The laugh muffled in her throat; she was fairly daunted. Never had she +seen her father’s face so dark, so threatening. Not in all her life had +he so much as spoken harshly to her; she had been his pet since she had +begun to remember. But now, for one twinkling, she feared a blow from +him. She almost shrank back from him. + +He did not move and he spoke softly. + +“Rabulla died this morning before dawn,” was all he said. + +Instantly Brinnaria was fluttering with panic. + +“You aren’t in earnest, Daddy!” she protested. “You can’t be in earnest. +You’re only fooling; you’re only trying to frighten me. You don’t really +mean it; oh, please, Daddy, say you don’t really mean it!” + +“I really mean it,” her father answered heavily. “I never meant anything +more genuinely in my life. You know my influence with the Emperors and +with the Pontifex of Vesta. You know that if I made the proposal they +would disregard any rival petitioners, would override all unnecessary +formalities, would have the matter despatched at once. Unless you obey +me you will be a Vestal before sunset to-morrow.” + +Brinnaria was now fairly quivering with terror. + +“Oh, Daddy!” she quivered, “you couldn’t be so cruel. I’d rather die +than have to be a Vestal. I couldn’t imagine any life so terrible. Oh, +Daddy, please say you are not in earnest.” + +He frowned. + +“I swear,” he said, “that I was never more in earnest. I say it +solemnly, as sure as my name is Marcus Brinnarius Epulo, I’ll have you +made a Vestal unless you agree this moment to give up all thoughts of +Almo, to obey me about marrying Calvaster, and to be properly polite to +him and Pulfennius.” + +“Daddy!” Brinnaria cried. “Only don’t have me made a Vestal and I’ll do +anything. I’ll forget there ever was an Almo. I’ll be sweet as honey +to Pulfennius till he loves me better than Secunda, and I’ll marry +Calvaster; I’ll marry anybody. Why, Daddy, I’d marry a boar pig rather +than be a Vestal.” + +Her father smiled. + +“I thought my little daughter would behave properly,” he soothed +her, “and you are just in time. That may be your future husband and +father-in-law coming now.” + +In fact they were in a moment ushered in. Pulfennius was a tall man, +lean and loose-jointed, with straggling, greenish-gray hair; a long, +uneven head, broad at the skull and narrow at the chin; puffy, white +bags of flabby flesh under his eyes; irregular yellow teeth and sagging +cheeks that made his face look squarish. Calvaster was a mere boy, with +a leaden complexion, shifty gray eyes, thin lips, and an expression at +once sly and conceited. + +“You come opportunely,” said their host after the greetings had been +exchanged, “for you happen to find me alone with the very daughter of +whom you and I were talking. This is Brinnaria.” + +“This!” Pulfennius exclaimed. “This the girl we were talking about? +Impossible! Incredible! There must be some mistake.” + +“There is no mistake,” his host assured him. “This is the girl we were +talking about, this is Brinnaria.” + +The visitor regarded her, respectfully standing now, her brown eyes +down-cast, the flush faded from her olive-skinned cheeks, her arms +hanging limply at her sides. She was tall for a girl and while slenderly +built was well muscled, a fine handsome figure in her red robe. + +“This!” he exclaimed again. “Indeed. So this is Brinnaria. I am very +glad to have seen her. And now having seen her, do you not think that +our business would be better transacted by us three males together?” + +“Certainly, if you prefer,” Brinnarius asserted. + +He patted Brinnaria and kissed her. + +“Run away now, little girl,” he said, “and wait in the peristyle until I +want you.” + +Brinnaria, once in the rear courtyard, instantly called: + +“Guntello!” + +Her call was answered by a great brute of a slave, bigger even than her +father, a gigantic Goth, pink-skinned, blue-eyed and yellow-haired. + +“Now listen to me, Guntello,” his little mistress said, “for if you make +any mistake about my errand you’ll get me into no end of trouble.” + +The Goth, manifestly devoted to her, leaned his ear close and grinned +amiably. She repeated her directions twice and made him repeat them +after her in his broken Latin. When she was sure that he understood, she +despatched him with a whispered injunction: + +“Hurry! Hurry!” + +Meanwhile, in the gorgeous atrium, the fathers’ conference had +continued. The moment she had gone Pulfennius said: + +“I do not believe in discussing misunderstandings before females; +evidently there is some misunderstanding here. I want for my son a bride +younger than he is, even if he has to wait two or even four years to +claim her. You assured me that your daughter Brinnaria was not yet +ten years of age and you show me a grown woman and tell me that she is +Brinnaria. What is the explanation?” + +“A very simple explanation,” he was answered. “Merely that Brinnaria is +unusually well grown and well developed for her age. I have seen other +cases of early ripening in children and so must you.” + +“I’ve seen girls grown beyond their years,” Pulfennius admitted, “but no +case comparable to this. Why, man, that girl who has just left us would +be taken for over eighteen years old by any stranger at first sight +of her, and no one on earth could look at her carefully and hazard the +conjecture that she might possibly be under sixteen.” + +“Quite so,” his host agreed, “and the better you know Brinnaria the more +you wonder at her. She not only looks sixteen or eighteen and acts as if +she were that age, but she talks as if she were that old and thinks as +if she were even older, and she is actually three full months, more +than three months, to be precise three months and twelve days, under ten +years of age.” + +“Amazing!” spluttered Pulfennius, “astounding! inexplicable!” + +“Don’t you believe me?” Brinnarius queried sharply. + +“Certainly I believe you,” his guest disclaimed, “but I cannot realize +that it can be true; I am bewildered; I am dazed.” + +“Perhaps,” the other suggested, “you would realize it better if +Quartilla added her assurances to mine.” + +“Oh,” the other deprecated, “I do not require anybody’s corroboration to +your statement. But if her mother is at home, perhaps her presence would +be as well for other reasons.” + +When summoned his host’s wife appeared as a medium-sized woman, neither +plump nor slender, with a complexion neither brown nor white, with +yellow-brown hair, gray-brown eyes, and in every outline, hue, and +feature as neutral and inconspicuous a creature as could be conceived +of. + +“Yes,” Quartilla said, “everybody is surprised at Brinnaria’s growth. +I was scared, when she first began to grow so fast, and had special +prayers offered and sacrifices made at the temples of Youth and +Health. Also I had a Babylonian seer consult the stars concerning her +birth-signs. Everybody said she was born to long life, good health and +great luck. But I can’t fancy what ever made her grow so. She was fed +like her brothers and sisters and she never seems to eat any heartier +or any oftener. Till she was two and a half she was just like any other +child. But she has grown more in seven years than any other child I ever +knew of ever grew in fourteen and she’s so old for her years too. Not +but that she plays with dolls and toys and jacks; and she runs about +just like any other child of her age, in spite of her size; but she says +such grown-up things and she has such a womanly mind. She understands +the family accounts better than I do, is keen on economy and could +oversee the providing for the entire household. She astonishes me over +and over. But there is no doubt about her age. Both my sisters were with +me when she was born and Nemestronia too. Ask any of the three. Or I can +tell you a dozen other ladies who know just as well. Brinnaria will not +be ten years old until the Ides of September.” + +“Wonderful! marvellous!” Pulfennius exclaimed. “Madam, you amaze me. But +if this is true so much the better. I had thought my boy must wait two +years or more for a wife, as I am determined that no more of my sons +shall marry wives of their own age, let alone older. If your daughter +is so young, she will just suit me, and since she is already grown up +we shall not have to wait for her to grow up. We can arrange for the +wedding for this month.” + +They chaffered a long time about the marriage settlement, Calvaster +sitting silent, biting his lips, staring about him and fidgetting; +Quartilla equally silent, but entirely placid, without the twitch of a +muscle or any shift of gaze; the two men doing all the talking. Some of +the talking was almost vehement, Pulfennius disclaiming promises which +his host declared he had made. Once they came to a deadlock and then +Brinnarius, his voice suddenly mild and soft, mentioned Rabulla’s +death and his notion of offering Brinnaria for her successor. At once +Pulfennius became manageable and supple and all eagerness for the +happiness of the young couple. + +When it seemed that they had reached an agreement on every point +Quartilla had her say. + +“I think you will find Brinnaria everything you could wish as a +daughter-in-law. The most uncanny thing about her precocious habits +of thought is her tenacity of any resolve and her grave and earnest +attitude towards all questions of duty and propriety. She takes clan +traditions very seriously and is determined to comport herself according +to ancestral precedents. You will have no fault to find with her +respectfulness towards you and Herrania or with her behavior as a wife. +She will be circumspect in her deportment towards all men and is sure +to turn out an excellent housewife. She has lofty inherited standards to +live up to and she is deeply devoted to them. + +“This is the more to be wondered at since she is strangely undignified +in many ways. I trust this will wear off as she grows up. It is only in +this respect that Brinnaria has ever given me any cause for concern. +She is more like a boy than a girl in many ways. She not only plays with +boys and plays boys’ games and plays them as well as boys or better, +not only climbs trees when she is in the country, and rides bareback and +goes fishing and swimming in any stream or pool, and ranges the woods +and cannot be restrained; but also she will indulge in the wildest +pranks, the most unthinkable freaks, play rough practical jokes on +anybody and everybody, laugh out loud, shout and yell, gesticulate +and contort herself into undignified postures and act generally in an +uproarious and uncurbed fashion. She keeps up that sort of thing even in +town, and is boisterous and unexpected beyond anything I ever heard of +in any young girl She is most docile in all really important things, but +in respect to her jokings and shriekings and carryings-on she is really +beyond my control. She is never openly disobedient, yet she is most +ingenious at devising methods for avoiding obedience. Sometimes I lose +patience with Brinnaria. But, when I really think it all over, there +is no harm in any of it. Strangers, however, would think her a very +terrible girl; she belies herself so. Any one becoming cognizant of some +of her vagaries would form a very unfavorable judgment of her and most +unjustly. In her heart she is anything but the wild creature she makes +herself appear. Her squawks of merriment, her rude interruptions of +her elders, her pert remarks, her sarcastic jokes, are all the +manifestations of mere overflowing animal spirits, of warm-blooded youth +and hearty health. She will tone down. She is the most startling +and incalculable child I ever heard of. No one could anticipate her +eccentricities. There is an originality of invention about her pranks +which amazes me. But I am sure she will turn out all that I could wish.” + +“I trust so, indeed,” said Pulfennius dryly. “I am grateful to you +for warning me; I promise not to misjudge her because of any childish +freakishness. And now it seems to me that we should make the young +lady herself a party of this conference and bring the matter to a final +settlement.” + +Brinnarius called a slave and bade him fetch Brinnaria. + +Almost at once the fellow, a dark-skinned, obsequious Lydian, returned +looking scared and yet on the verge of laughter. He could barely control +his merriment, yet was plainly afraid to utter what he had to say. His +master ordered him to speak. + +“Instead of coming with me,” he said, “the young lady sent a message. +But I am afraid to give it to you. I am afraid of a thrashing if I give +the message as she gave it to me.” + +“Another of her jokes,” her father growled. “You shan’t suffer for +any of her impudence. Repeat her exact words; I’ll hold you excused, +Dastor.” + +Dastor, reassured, grinned with anticipated enjoyment and said: + +“She says she is sitting down and very comfortable where she is, that +she will not stand up till she feels inclined, and that if you want to +see her you can come to her, for she will not come to you.” + +For a moment there was a tense silence. + +Pulfennius spoke first. + +“If this is a sample of the sort of deportment which my future +daughter-in-law is expected to outgrow I might as well be shown just +what this kind of behavior is like. Let us acquiesce and go to the +little witch, if you do not object.” + + +“I don’t object at all to going,” his host replied, “but I object to her +behavior; I’ll make her smart for it. Come, let us have it over with; +I’ll show you a submissive Brinnaria or I’ll know the reason why.” + +They stood up and from the open atrium passed into a narrow passage +lighted only from the two ends and so into the larger courtyard with +gleaming marble columns at each end and long rows of them down each +side. The tank under the open sky was much larger than that in the +atrium and had two fountains in it. Pigeons cooed on the tiles of the +roofs, and two or three of them strutted on the mosaic pavement among +the columns. + +The party, dumbfounded and stunned, stood without voice or movement, +gazing at the picture before them. + +The pavement was a cool grayish white in effect, for its mosaic work was +all of pale neutral tints. Above it the background was all white,--white +marble walls, the white marble polished pillars of the peristyle, white +marble entablature above them, the general whiteness emphasized by the +mere streak of red tiled roof visible against the intense blue of the +sky. + +The only color in the picture was to the left of the tank and close +to it, where there had been set a big armchair upholstered in blue +tapestry. In it sat a tall, fair-haired, curly-headed lad, with merry +blue eyes. He wore a robe of pale green, the green of young onion tops. +Against that green the red of Brinnaria’s gown showed strident and +glary, for Brinnaria was sitting on his lap. His arms were round her +waist, hers about his neck. She was slowly swinging her blue-shod feet +rhythmically and was kissing the lad audibly and repeatedly. As her +elders stood still, petrified, mute and motionless with amazement, she +imprinted a loud smack on the lad’s lips, laid her cheek roguishly to +his and peered archly at them, saying: + +“Glad to see you again, Pulfennius; what do you think of me for a +daughter-in-law?” + +“I do not think of you for a daughter-in-law,” Pulfennius snarled +furiously. + +He turned angrily to Brinnarius. + +“What does this mean?” he queried. + +His host echoed him. + +“Brinnaria!” he called, imperatively. “What does this mean?” + +“Mean?” she repeated. “It means that I am making the most of Almo while +I can. I love Almo; I’ve promised to forget him, to be a good wife to +Calvaster, and of course I’m going to keep my word. From the moment I’m +married to Calvaster I’ll never so much as look at Almo, let alone touch +him. So I’m touching him all I can while I have the chance.” + +She paused, kissed Almo twice, lingeringly and loudly, and looked up +again. + +“How’s that for kissing, Calvaster?” she chirped. “Don’t you wish it was +you?” + +“Come, son!” Pulfennius spluttered, “let us be gone! This is no place +for us. We are being mocked and insulted.” + +“Nonsense, Pulfennius!” his host exclaimed. “Can’t you see that I had +no part in this, that the minx devised it all by herself expressly to +thwart me? Don’t let her have the satisfaction of outmanoeuvering both +of us. Don’t let a mere prank of a child spoil all our arrangements. +She’ll be a good wife as she says.” + +“A good wife!” Pulfennius snorted. “I much doubt whether she can now +ever be a good wife to any man. I’m sure she’ll never be a wife to my +son. You’d never convince me that she’s fit to be my son’s wife. +Make her a Vestal, indeed! She a Vestal? She’s much more likely to be +something very different!” + +“Do you mean to insinuate--” his host began. + +“I mean to insinuate anything and everything appropriate to her wanton +behavior,” Pulfennius raged. + +The two men glared at each other in a silence through which could +be heard the cooing of the doves, the trickle of the two fountains, +Brinnaria’s low chuckle and the faint lisping sound of three distinct +kisses. + +“I beg your pardon!” spoke a voice behind them. + +The four looked around. + +“What brings you here, Segontius?” Brinnarius asked. + +“One of my slaves brought me word,” the intruder explained, “that my son +had entered this house. I knew you had not changed your mind since you +forbade him to cross your threshold, so I came here at once to disclaim +any share in his intrusion and to take him home. I feared he might get +into mischief.” + +“He has,” Brinnarius replied, sententiously, “as you may see.” + +Brinnaria, entirely at her ease, hugged Almo rapturously and kissed him +repeatedly. + +“And I thought,” Segontius pursued, “that you would probably smash every +bone in his body if you caught him.” + +“I don’t know why I haven’t,” spoke the big man reflectively. + +“I know,” shouted Pulfennius, “I can tell you. It is because this whole +comedy has been rehearsed between you just to make me ridiculous. I know +your way, your malignity, your tenacity of a grudge, your pretence of +reconciliation, your ingenuity, your well-laid traps. I’ll be revenged +for this yet!” + +“You won’t live to be revenged,” Brinnarius told him, “unless you get +out of here quick. I’ll break every bone in your body, for certain, if +you address another word to me.” + +“Come, son, said Pulfennius, and shambled away. + +“And now,” spoke Segontius, “don’t you think, Marcus, that you and I had +best forget our quarrels and be friends again? These young folks were +plainly meant for each other by all the gods who favor lovers. Let us +not stand in the way.” + +“Indeed, Lucius,” spoke the big man, holding out his huge hand. “I am +of the same mind. But both of them deserve some punishment for their +presumption. They should wait four years at least before they marry. My +girl is too young.” + +“I agree,” said Segontius, “and I’ll send my boy to Falerii for the +present. That will keep them apart and ensure propriety of behavior.” + +“That is well,” growled Brinnarius, “and I’ll send my girl to her aunt +Septima’s.” + +Brinnaria sprang up. + +“Aunt Septima’s?” she cried. “Spinach and mallows and a tiny roast lark +for dinner every day. I’ll starve to death And prim! I’d almost as lief +be a Vestal!” + + + +CHAPTER II - SIEVES + + +To her luxurious but austerely managed villa, Aunt Septima welcomed +Brinnaria with heartfelt, if repressed affection. Until the second +sunrise Brinnaria controlled herself. Then the good lady endured her +overgrown niece for some strenuous days, suffered impatiently for a few +more, but finally packed off to Rome “that unspeakable child.” At home +again Brinnaria demanded pork and cabbage. + +“My insides are as empty as the sky,” she wailed. “Asparagus is all very +well, but it’s none too filling, even if you can eat all you want, and +aunty says ten stalks is enough for any one meal. Chicken-breast is +good, hot or cold, but aunty would never let me have a second helping. +She wouldn’t even let me have as much bread as I wanted and only one +little dish of strawberries. I filled up on raw eggs, all I could find +in the nests. But, my six days of raw eggs was five days too many for +me. I’m wild for cabbage, all I want, and pork, big hunks of it.” + +She got it and slept a sound night’s sleep. + +The next day she craved an outing on foot. Her mother, prone to the +shortest cut to peace on all occasions, acquiesced at once and let her +go out with her one-eyed maid, Utta. + +Utta, born somewhere beyond the Rhine, had been brought to Rome when a +small child and had no memories except memories of Italy. She was the +most placid and acquiescent creature imaginable. Her little mistress +led her first of all to the nearest pastry-cook’s shop where the two ate +till they could not swallow another crumb. + +Brinnaria, like many eccentric children born to wealth and position, had +special favorites, almost cronies, among the lowly. Chief among them +was the old sieve-maker of the Via Sacra. To his shop she made Utta lead +her. Utta interposed no objection. Utta never objected to anything. +But in this case she was especially complaisant, since opposite the +sieve-maker’s was a fascinating embroidery shop, the keeper of which was +entirely willing, when he had no customers, to let Utta lounge on one of +his sofas and inspect embroideries to her heart’s content. So lounging, +rapt in the contemplation of Egyptian appliques, Syrian gold-thread +borders, Spanish linen-work, silk flower patterns from Cos, Parthian +animal designs and Celtic cord-labyrinths after originals in leather +thongs, Utta could glance up from time to time and make sure that her +charge was safe with the sieve-maker. + +Safe she would have been without any maid to watch her, for old +Truttidius adored her. He was a small, hale, merry, wizened man, his +seamed and wrinkled face brown as berry in spite of his lifelong habit +of indoor labor and comparative inertia. He had more than a little tact +and was an excellent listener. Brinnaria was entirely at ease with him. + +His shop was rather large for those days, nearly fifteen feet wide and +fully twenty deep. It faced directly on the street, from which it was +separated only by the stone counter which occupied all the front except +a narrow entrance at one side. Above the counter projected the heavy +shutters which closed the shop at night and which, being hinged at the +top, were by day pushed upward and outward so as to form a sort of pent +like a wooden substitute for an awning. The entrance by the end of the +counter was closed by a solid little gate. Behind the counter was the +low stool from which Truttidius rose to chaffer with customers, and +on which, when not occupied in trading, he sat at work, his bench and +brazier by his side, his tools hanging on the wall by his hand, orderly +in their neat racks or on their neat rows of hooks. Except for the +trifling wall-space which they occupied, the walls were hidden under +sieves hanging close together; bronze sieves, copper sieves, rush sieves +with rims of white willow wood, white horse-hair sieves whose hoops were +stout ash, sieves of black horse-hair stretched in rims of clean steamed +oak and linen sieves hooped about with birch. Sieves were piled on the +counter, mostly fancy sieves with hoops of carved wood strung with black +and white horse-hair interlaced in bold patterns, or copper sieves, +polished till they shone, they being most likely to catch the eyes of +the passing throng. + +Brinnaria, sprawled on the sofa against the wall behind the work-bench, +surveyed her surroundings and sighed happily, entirely at home. +Truttidius was beating copper wire, a process always fascinating to +watch. + +“I’ve had an awful time in the country with Aunt Septima,” Brinnaria +chatted, “and I had an awful scare before they sent me to the country. +Daddy threatened to make me a Vestal.” + +“In place of Rabulla?” Truttidius queried, glancing up. + +“Yes,” Brinnaria answered, “but I got off; my, but I was scared though.” + +“You didn’t want to be a Vestal?” Truttidius asked, eyeing her over his +work. + +“Not I!” Brinnaria declared. “I can’t think of anything worse except +being killed.” + +“Well,” mused Truttidius, “there is no accounting for tastes. Most girls +would be wild with delight at the idea. But there would be no sense in +being a Vestal unless you wanted to be one.” + +“I don’t,” Brinnaria proclaimed emphatically, “but I have been thinking +about Vestals ever since Daddy threatened me and scared me so; I’ve been +thinking about Vestals and sieves. Did anybody ever really carry water +in a sieve, Truttidius?” + +“Water in a sieve?” the old man exclaimed. “Not anybody that ever I saw. +What do you mean?” + +“You must have heard the story of Tuccia, the Vestal,” Brinnaria +wondered, wide-eyed. “She lived ages ago, before Hannibal invaded Italy, +when everything was different. They said she was bad and she said it was +a lie and they said she could not prove it was a lie and she said she +could. She said if she was all she ought to be the Goddess would show +it by answering her prayer. And she took a sieve and walked down to the +river, right by the end of the Sublician bridge, where the stairs are +on the right-hand side. And the five other Vestals, and the flamens, and +all the priests, and the Pontifex, and the consuls went with her. And +she stood on the lowest step with her toes in the water and prayed out +loud to the Goddess to help her and show that she had told the truth and +then she stooped over and dipped up water with her sacrificing ladle and +poured it into the sieve and it didn’t run through, and she dipped up +more and more until the sieve was half full of water, as if it had been +a pan. And then she hung her ladle at her girdle-hook and took the +sieve in both hands and carried the water all the way to the temple. And +everybody said that that proved that she had told the truth. + +“That’s the story. Had you ever heard it?” + +“Yes, little lady,” Truttidius said, “I have heard it.” + +“What I want to know,” Brinnaria pursued, “is this: Is it a made-up +story or is it a true story?” + +“Little lady,” spoke Truttidius, “it is impious to doubt the truth of +pious stories handed down from days of old.” + +“That isn’t answering my question,” said the practical Brinnaria. “What +I want you to tell me is to say right out plain do you believe it. Did +anybody really ever carry water in a sieve?” + +“You must remember, dear little lady,” the sieve-maker said, “that she +was a most holy priestess, most pleasing in the eyes of her Goddess, +that she was in dire straits and that she prayed to the Goddess to aid +her. The Goddess helped her votary; the gods can do all things.” + +“The gods can do all things,” Brinnaria echoed, her eyes flashing, “but +the gods don’t do all things, not even for their favorites. There are +lots and lots of things no god ever did for any votary or ever will. +What I want to know is this: Is carrying water in a sieve one of the +things the gods not only can do but do do? Did anybody ever carry water +in a sieve truly?” + +Truttidius smiled, his wrinkles doubling and quadrupling till his face +was all a network of tiny folds of hard, dry skin. He put down his work +and regarded his guest, his face serious after the fading of his brief +smile. The soft-footed sandalled throng that packed the narrow street +shuffled and padded by unnoticed. No customer interrupted them. They +might have been alone in a Sibyl’s cell on a mountain side. + +“Little lady,” spoke the sieve-maker, “you are, indeed, very old for +your age, not only in height and build, but in heart and mind. What +other child would bother her head about so subtle a problem? What other +child would perceive the verity at the heart of the puzzle and put it so +neatly in so few words? To you an old man cannot help talking as to an +experienced matron, because to you an old man can talk as to a woman of +sense. You deserve to be answered in the spirit of the question.” + +He reflected. Brinnaria, fascinated and curious, hardly breathed in her +intentness, watching his face and waiting for his answer. + +“Little lady,” he said, after a long silence, “the gods can, indeed, do +all things. But as you have yourself perceived the gods do not do all +things, even for their favorites. The gods work miracles to vindicate +their votaries, but as you divine, each miracle is the happening by the +special ordinance of the gods of what might happen even without their +mandate, but which does not happen because it is only once in countless +ages that all the circumstances necessary to bring about that sort of +happening concur to produce so unusual an effect. What folks call a +miracle is the occurrence, by the beneficent will of heaven, at just +the right time and place, of what might happen anywhere to any one, but +almost never does happen anywhere to any one, because it is so unlikely +that all things should conspire to bring about so unlikely a result. + +“So of carrying water in a sieve. + +“Anybody might carry water in a sieve any day. But very seldom, oh, +very, very seldom can it come to pass that the kind of person capable +of carrying water in a sieve can be just in the condition of muscle and +mood to do so and can at just that moment be in possession of just the +kind of sieve that will hold water and not let it through. For an actual +breathing woman of flesh and blood to carry water in a real ordinary +sieve of rush-fibres, or linen thread or horsehair or metal wire, in +such a sieve as pastry-cooks use to sift their finest flour; for that to +happen in broad daylight under the open sky before a crowd of onlookers, +that requires the special intervention of the blessed gods, or of the +most powerful of them. And not even all of them together could make +that happen to a woman of ordinary quality of hand and eye, with a usual +sieve, as most sieves are.” + +“Explain!” Brinnaria half whispered, “what kind of woman could actually +carry water in a sieve and in what kind of a sieve, and under what +circumstances?” + +“That’s three questions,” Truttidius counted, “and one at a time is +enough. + +“In the first place, no god, not all the gods together, could give +any votary power to carry water in a sieve, be it rush or linen or +horse-hair or metal, of which the meshes had been first scrubbed with +natron or embalmers’ salt or wood-ashes or fullers’ earth. Water +would run through such a sieve, did even all the gods will that it be +retained. No one ever dipped a sieve into water and brought it up with +water in it and saw that water retained by the meshes. Once wet the +under side of a sieve and water will run through to the last drop. + +“But if a sieve were ever so little greasy or oily, not dripping with +oil or clogged with grease, but greasy as a working slave’s finger is +greasy on a hot day; if such a sieve were free of any drop of water +on the underside, if into such a sieve water were slowly and carefully +poured, as you say that Tuccia in the story ladled water into her sieve +with her libation-dipper, then that water might spread evenly over the +meshes to the rim all around, might deepen till it was as deep as the +width of two fingers or of three, and might be retained by the meshes +even for an hour, even while the sieve was carried over a rough road, up +hill and down, through crowded streets. + +“But few are the women who could so carry a sieve of water or could even +so hold it that the water would not run through at once.” + +“How could the water be retained at all?” queried Brinnaria the +practical. “What is the explanation?” + +Truttidius wrinkled up his face in deep thought. + +“You have seen wine spilled at dinner,” he illustrated. “You have seen a +drop of it or a splash of it fall on a sofa-cover, and you have seen it +soak in and leave an ugly stain?” + +“Of course,” Brinnaria agreed, “often and often.” + +“And then again, not very often,” the sieve-maker went on, “you see a +patch of spilt wine stand up on a perfectly dry fabric and remain +there awhile without soaking in, its surface shining wet and its edges +gleaming round and smooth and curved, bright as a star. Well, the +retaining of water in a sieve by the open meshes is like the momentary +holding up of spilt wine on a woven fabric. I can’t explain any better, +but the two happenings are similar, only the not soaking in of the +splashed liquid is far, oh, far more frequent, countless, uncountable +times more frequent, than the sustaining of fluid in a sieve. But as the +one can happen and does, so the other could happen and might.” + +“I see,” Brinnaria breathed. “You have made me see that. Now, next +point: How must the sieve be held?” + +The old man smiled again. + +“You keep close to the subject,” he chuckled. “You talk like a +grandmother of consuls. You have a head on your shoulders.” + +“That does not answer my question,” Brinnaria persisted. + +“Your question is easily answered,” he said. “For the miracle to happen, +in fact, the sieve must be held as level as the top rail of a mason’s +T-shaped plumb-line frame, and as steady as if clamped in a vise. For +a woman to carry water in a sieve the weather must be dry, for in damp +weather the water would run through the meshes, even if the threads or +wires were just oily enough and not too oily, even if the meshes were +just the right size to favor the forming in each mesh of a little pocket +of water underneath, like the edges of the upstanding drop of wine on a +sofa-cushion. I don’t know how it comes to pass, but somehow, if all the +conditions are right, little bags of water form on the underside of a +sieve, one to each mesh, like drops after a rain hanging from the edge +of my shop-shutters, or from the mutules on the cornice of a temple. +They are capable of sustaining one or even two finger-thicknesses +of water on the upper side of the sieve-web. But if the sieve-web +is unevenly woven or unevenly stretched, it will not retain water an +instant, and if the sieve-web bags anywhere the water, even if the rest +of the sieve-web promises to retain it, will run through at that point. +And even if the sieve is perfect, the slightest tilt, the very slightest +tilt, will cause the little bags of water to break at the lowest point, +and so start all the water to running through. I know; I have tried; +I have seen the sieve hold up the water for some breaths. But for the +marvel to last any length of time, that would require the intervention +of the gods; that would be a miracle. For a woman to hold a sieve so +that it would retain water would mean that her hand was as steady as the +hand of a sleep-walker or of the priestess of Isis in her trance in the +great yearly mystery-festival. That could happen seldom to any woman; +such a woman would be rare.” + +“I see,” Brinnaria barely whispered, so intent was she on the old man’s +words. “Now, what kind of woman could do such a wonder?” + +“A very exceptional and unusual kind of woman,” the old man declared. +“Women, the run of them, are not steady-handed. Even steady-handed women +are easily distracted, their attention is readily called away from any +definite task. Even a woman usually steady-handed would find her hand +tremble if she were conscious of guilt, even a woman high-hearted with +her sense of her own worthiness might glance aside at some one in a +great crowd of people about her, might let her thoughts wander. + +“That is where the miracle would come in. Only a woman directly favored +by the mighty gods could so ignore the throng about her, could so forget +herself, could so concentrate all her faculties on the receptacle she +held, could so perfectly control her muscles or could so completely let +her muscles act undisturbed by her will, could possess muscles capable +of so long tension at so perfect an adjustment.” + +“I see,” Brinnaria sighed. “The thing may have happened in fact, +may happen again, but it could happen only once out of ten times ten +thousand times ten thousand chances. I understand. It is a possibility +in the ordinary course of events. It was a miracle if it ever took +place; it will be a miracle if it ever comes to pass again. It is not +impossible, but it’s too improbable for anybody to believe it could be, +in fact.” + +“You have it,” the sieve-maker assured her. + +“I’m glad I have,” she said. “Now it’ll go out of my head and quit +bothering me. I’ve thought about it day and night ever since Daddy +threatened me. Now I’ll forget it and sleep sound.” + + + +CHAPTER III - STUTTERING + + +When Brinnaria returned from her outing she found waiting for her her +best friend, chum and crony, Flexinna, a girl four years older, not so +tall, decidedly more slender and much prettier. Brinnaria was robustly +handsome; Flexinna was delicately lovely, yet they did not differ much +in tints of hair, eyes or skin and might have been sisters. In fact, +they were not infrequently taken for sisters. + +They chatted of their girlish interests and of local gossip and family +news, like any pair of girls, until Brinnaria described the escapade +that led to her rustication. + +Flexinna’s eyes were wide and wider as she listened. + +“D-d-do-you really m-m-mean,” she stuttered, “that you had a c-c-chance +to be a V-V-Vestal and d-d-didn’t jump at it?” + +“Jump at it!” exclaimed Brinnaria. “I jumped away from it! I can’t think +of anything, except death, that would fill me with more horror than the +very idea of being made a Vestal. It makes me shiver now just to speak +of it.” + +“You’re a f-f-fool,” Flexinna declared, “the f-f-foolest kind of a +f-f-fool. This is the f-f-first f-f-foolish thing I ever knew you to +d-d-do. I always th-th-thought you s-s-so s-s-sensible, t-t-too. +And you’ve m-m-missed a ch-ch-chance to be a V-V-Vestal. I’ve n-n-no +p-p-patience with you. Any other g-g-girl would j-j-jump at the +ch-ch-chance.” + +“Jump at it!” cried Brinnaria. “Why?” + +“Why?” sneered Flexinna, blazing with excitement. “Why, just think what +you’ve m-m-missed! You’re as wild as I am to see g-g-gladiators fight, +k-k-keener than I am to see a real horse-race in the circus, and you’ll +have to wait until you’re g-g-grown up, as I’ll have to, before you +s-s-see either. And you’d have g-g-gone to every spectacle, from the +very day you were t-t-taken, and not have m-m-missed one. Think of it! +F-F-Front seats in the circus, front seats in the amphitheatre, all your +life, or for thirty years at least, for certain! And you’ve m-m-missed +it. And that’s not half. Your lictor to c-c-clear the way for you +whenever you g-g-go out and your choice to g-g-go out in your litter +with eight b-b-bearers or in your c-c-carriage, your own c-c-carriage, +all your own, and the right to d-d-drive any where in the city any +d-d-day in the year. Oh, you f-f-fool, you s-s-silly f-f-fool! A +ch-ch-chance to be one of the s-s-seven m-m-most imp-p-portant women in +Rome, one of the s-s-six who are on a level with the Empress, and you +m-m-missed it! Fancy it; to b-b-be mistress of an income so large +that it m-m-makes you d-d-dizzy to think of it, and you throw away the +ch-ch-chance! To be able the m-m-moment you were taken, to m-m-make your +own w-w-will! To have every legacy c-c-cadger in Rome running after you +and m-m-making you p-p-presents and d-d-doing you favors and angling +for your n-n-notice all your 1-l-life 1-1-long, and you m-m-miss the +ch-ch-chance!” + +“Yes,” Brinnaria admitted, reflectively, “I have missed all that, that’s +so. But that’s not all there is to think of, when you think about being +a Vestal. I’ve missed a lot of fine privileges, mighty valuable to any +girl that would care for that sort of thing; but I’ve escaped a lot +of things that would go with those privileges. I love bright colors, +I always did and I look ghastly in white--I look like a ghost. And I’d +have had to wear white and nothing else, even white flowers, like a +corpse. And a Vestal has to keep her eyes on the ground and walk slow +and stately and stand straight and dignified, and talk soft and low. I’d +suffer, even if I could learn all the tricks they teach them as well as +Gargilia has. And I don’t believe I ever could. I’d keep my eyes cast +down for a month or a year and then, right in the middle of a sacrifice, +I’d see something funny, like the gander squawking under the feet of the +pall-bearers at poor old Gibba’s funeral at the farm last summer, and +I’d wink at the head Vestal or roll my eyes at the whole congregation +and spoil the prayers; or, after keeping meek and mum for a year or so +I’d be so wild to laugh that I’d roar right out and break up the whole +service. I think I’m the last girl alive to be a Vestal. A Vestal +mustn’t answer back or make a pun, no matter how good a chance she gets. +I just can’t help cutting in, if I see a chance; the words come out of +my mouth before I know it, and, if I trained myself to keep still and +look as mild as a lamb, I’d be boiling inside and sometime I’d burst out +with a yell just to relieve my feelings or I’d jab a shawl-pin into the +Pontifex to see him jump, or put out my toe and trip up somebody just +to see him sprawl. I couldn’t help it. The more I’d bottle myself up +the farther the naughtiness in me would spurt when it burst through the +skin. I know. No Vestaling for me! I wasn’t born for that trade!” + +“Nonsense!” Flexinna disclaimed vigorously. “You’d g-g-get used to the +whole thing in a m-m-month and be the most s-s-statuesque of the six in +t-t-ten years. Think of it! I’m just raging inside at your f-f-folly. To +have the right to an interview with the Emperor whenever you d-d-demand +it, to see the m-m-magistrates’ lictors lower their fasces to you and +s-s-stand aside at the s-s-salute and let you p-p-pass whenever you +m-m-meet them in p-p-public. To live in one of the finest p-p-palaces in +Rome, one of the most m-m-magnificent residences on earth, to have the +ch-ch-chance at all that and m-m-miss it; I’ve no p-p-patience with +you!” + +“That’s all very fine,” Brinnaria countered, “but there’s much to be +said on the other side. I’ve been in the Atrium. Aunt Septima took me +there to call on Causidiena. It’s big, it’s gorgeous, it’s luxurious, +that’s all true. But I love sunlight. I’d loathe living in that hole +in the ground; why, the shadow of the Palace falls across the courtyard +before noon and for all the rest of the day it’s gloomy as the bottom +of a well. I heard Causidiena tell Aunt Septima how shoes mould and +embroideries mildew and what a time they have with the inlays popping +off the furniture on account of the dampness and about the walls and +lamp-standards sweating moisture. I’d hate the dark, poky, cold place.” + +“Oh,” Flexinna admitted, “there are d-d-drawbacks to any s-s-situation +in life, but, really the higher the s-s-station the fewer the drawbacks. +The p-p-plain truth is that being a Vestal is the highest s-s-station in +Rome except being an Empress. No g-g-girl dare aspire to be an Empress; +it would be treason. If any g-g-girl d-d-dreams of it she k-k-keeps her +d-d-dreams to herself. But any g-g-girl has a right to aspire to be a +Vestal, if she is made perfect and is under ten and has her f-f-father +and m-m-mother noble and alive. You’ve got all that and you are offered +what any g-g-girl would envy you and you throw it away! I’ve no patience +with you.” + +“You forget,” Brinnaria argued, “that I’m in love with Almo and I’d have +to give up Almo.” + +“Not f-f-forever,” Flexinna retorted. “He’s enough in love with you to +wait for you, to wait for you! You could have pledged him to wait till +your term of service was up and then you two could have married just the +same.” + +“Just the same!” Brinnaria echoed. “A lot of good it’d do me to marry +after I’d be an old wrinkled, gray-haired woman of forty, dried up and +withered.” + +“Nemestronia,” Flexinna cited, “has married twice since she was +forty, and she’s not withered yet, not by a great deal, even if she is +gray-haired and has a wrinkle or two.” + +“What’s the use of arguing,” Brinnaria summed up. “I hate the very idea +of being a Vestal. I’d hate the fact a million times more. I’d hate it +even if I were not in love with Almo, furiously in love with Almo. Daddy +says I’ve got to wait four years to marry him. I roll around in bed and +bite the pillows with rage to think of it, night after night. A fine +figure I’d cut trying to wait thirty years for him. I’d swoon with +longing for him and write him a note or peep out of the temple to +see him go by and then I’d get accused of misbehavior, and accused is +convicted for a Vestal; well, you know it. I’d look fine being buried +alive in a seven-by-five underground stone cell, with half a pint of +milk and a gill of wine to keep me alive long enough to suffer before +I starved to death and a thimbleful of oil in a lamp to make me more +scared of the dark when the lamp burned out. No burial alive for me. +I’m in love. I’m too much in love to balance arguments. I’m not sorry I +missed my chance, as you call it. I’m glad I escaped; the chance isn’t +missed for that matter. Rabulla’s place hasn’t been filled yet.” + +“Do you know who is g-g-going to be ch-ch-chosen to fill it?” Flexinna +asked. “You d-d-don’t? The choice has about narrowed d-d-down to that +execrable, weasel-faced little M-M-Meffia.” + +“Meffia!” Brinnaria cried. “There’s no one alive I despise as much as +that detestable ninny. I’ve a mind to chuck Almo and ask Daddy to offer +me, just to spite Meffia.” + +“Why d-d-don’t you?” Flexinna stuttered. “D-d-do it n-n-now, right +n-n-now. You might be t-t-too late.” + +“Oh bosh,” Brinnaria groaned. “What’s the use of talking nonsense? What +would be the sense in my spoiling my life to spite Meffia? I hate her. +I’ll hate to see her putting on airs as a Vestal, but I’d hate worse to +be a Vestal myself, and worst of all to lose Almo. I just couldn’t give +up Almo.” + +“I wish I were you,” Flexinna raged. “If I were only under ten and +d-d-didn’t s-s-stutter, I’d d-d-do all I c-c-could to g-g-get D-D-Daddy +to offer m-m-me.” + +“Bosh!” Brinnaria sneered. “You’re in love with Vocco and you know you +wouldn’t even think of giving him up if you had the chance.” + +“Just wouldn’t I!” Flexinna retorted. “I love Quintus dearly. But if I +had a ch-ch-chance to be a V-V-Vestal, I’d fling poor Quintus hard and +never regret him. Not I. Think of the influence a V-V-Vestal has! Every +man who wants p-p-promotion in the army or in the fleet, or who wants +an appointment to any office would set his sisters and all his +women relations to besieging me to use my influence for him. Every +temple-carver and shrine-painter in Rome would have his wife showing me +attentions. I know; I’ve heard the talk. + +“And b-b-besides, in all the Empire a Vestal is the nearest thing to +a p-p-princess we have. We read a lot about Egyptian princesses, and +Asiatic princesses and we hear about P-P-Parthian p-p-princesses, but +the only p-p-princesses we ever see are the Vestals. They are the only +p-p-princesses in the Empire, in Italy, in Rome, the six of them. And +you had a chance to be one of the only six p-p-princesses in our world +and you didn’t take it. Oh, you f-f-fool, you f-f-fool!” + +They wrangled about their conflicting views for a long time. + +It was only as Flexinna was leaving that she inquired casually: + +“Have you heard what Rabulla d-d-died of?” + +“No,” said Brinnaria, “what was it?” + +“Hadn’t you heard?” Flexinna wondered. “It was the p-p-pestilence.” + + + +CHAPTER IV - PESTILENCE + + +Pestilence! + +Brinnaria heard the word often during the next few days. Rome talked of +little else. It had begun with a few deaths along the river front in +the sailors’ quarters, and among the stevedores and porters of the +grain-warehouses, southwest of the Aventine Hill in the thirteenth ward. +Next it came to notice when there were many deaths along the Subura in +the very centre of the city. From there the infection had spread to +every wind. Panic seized the people. There was an exodus of all who +could afford it, to their country estates, to the mountains, to the +seaside. Brinnarius and Quartilla discussed arrangements for their +departure to his mountain farm in the Sabine hills above Carsioli. Their +difficulty was to decide to whom to commit their great house in Rome. +They had no slave whom they implicitly trusted, and no one certainly who +would be willing to stay in the city. To close the house was to +invite burglary, for in the general panic watchmen were unreliable and +house-breakings were frequent. Into their consultation Brinnaria thrust +herself uninvited. + +“Why don’t you leave me in town?” she suggested. “I hate the country and +I hate it near Carsioli worse than any neighborhood I ever saw. I want +to stay right here. I love Rome. And I’m not afraid of pestilence. +Nobody can die more than once and nobody dies till the gods will it. +There’s more danger of dying of fright and worry than of pestilence. +Anyhow a pestilence never kills all the people in a city, most of the +towns- folk stay right at home and keep alive all right. Half the people +that die scare or fret themselves to death. I won’t fret or worry and +I’ll keep well here; but if you take me with you I’ll be miserable and +chafe myself ill. I can run the house as well as mother can. Most of the +slaves worship me and will obey me for love, the rest are deadly afraid +of me and will not dare to disobey me. I’ll keep order and I will not +waste a sesterce. Can’t I stay, Father?” + +Brinnarius knit his brows and looked at his wife. Her eyes answered his. + +“It would save a deal of trouble,” he said, reflectively. + +“It would make a deal of gossip,” Quartilla declared. “All my enemies +would say that I am an unnatural mother, that I do not love my youngest +child, that I hate her, that I am exposing her to certain death, that I +am as bad as a murderess.” + +“Nonsense!” her husband retorted. “We can’t bother about all the malice +of all the slanderers in Rome. Other people’s daughters are remaining. +Lucconius means to stay here in Rome with his family. If he ventures to +keep Flexinna here we might venture to leave Brinnaria behind.” + +“You might,” that self-assertive child cut in, “and you know there is +really no use in taking me if I do not want to go. You know how much +trouble it will make for both of you.” + +Quartilla sighed. + +“Perhaps we had best leave her,” she said. “Certainly the house will be +safe and the slaves kept in order. I shan’t have an instant’s anxiety +about that. Then Brinnaria is so genuinely brave that she will really +not dread the pestilence, and all the doctors say that there is nothing +like that feeling to protect any one from the danger. She makes me feel +that she will be safe. I don’t believe I’ll worry about that either.” + +“Fine!” Brinnaria squealed. “I’m to stay.” + +“Not so fast,” her father rebuked her. “I haven’t said yet that you may +stay. But if I say so, then you must stay. I’ll not have you changing +your mind and deciding to leave Rome after we have arranged to put you +in charge here. It would make trouble indeed to have you shutting up +this house in a hurry and chasing after us to Carsioli.” + +“Epulo!” his wife reproached him, “the child has her faults, but +changeableness is not one of them. She is the most resolute child I ever +knew. If you leave her, she will not fail us. If she gives her word +she will keep it. I never knew Brinnaria to break an earnestly made +promise.” + +“Will you promise?” her father asked her. + +“I promise,” Brinnaria shouted, “I pledge myself. I take oath. I swear +by my love of both of you, by my respect for our clan, by my hopes of +marrying Almo, that I’ll stick it out here in Rome, going out only when +necessary, unless you send for me to come away. If anything happens that +makes me think I ought to leave the city I shall send a message to you, +but I shall not cross the city boundaries nor relax my watch on this +house without your permission. I swear.” + +“That’s enough, dearie,” her father said, “enough and too much. If +your judgment tells you that you ought to flee from Rome, you have my +permission to send me a messenger; I know you will not resort to that +without real need. I rely on your judgment. The gods be with you, child. +You have taken a load of my shoulders, two loads, in fact.” + +Thereupon preparations for departure were pushed and soon after sunrise +on the next day Brinnaria found herself left to her own resources, +responsible for the welfare of a large retinue of obsequious slaves, +autocrat over them, and mistress of one of the largest private houses +in Rome. She acquitted herself well of her duties. She had been right +in claiming that she was loved by most and feared by the rest. Certainly +she was trusted and respected by all as if she had been five times her +age. She made them as comfortable as town-slaves could be and they knew +it. To her they accorded instant and implicit obedience. The life of the +household went on as smoothly as if the master had been at home. And its +life was not gloomy. Although the main subject of conversation was the +pestilence, open forebodings were not indulged in and the house was +outwardly cheerful. + +Equally cheerful was Flexinna, whom Brinnaria saw daily. Neither of +them had the slightest fear of the pestilence and no member of either +household had shown the slightest symptoms of any kind of illness. Of +the daily deaths among their large acquaintance or among the nobilities +of the city, they talked calmly, without any feeling of gloom or of +dread, secure in the confidence of youth and health. + +On the tenth day after Brinnaria had been left to her own devices +Flexinna visited her as usual. Early in their talk she said: + +“D-D-Dossonia died last night.” + +“The Chief Vestal?” Brinnaria queried. + +“Yes,” Flexinna replied, a bright tear in each eye. + +“She couldn’t live forever,” Brinnaria said. “She was ninety-four, +wasn’t she?” + +“Ninety-four years and eight months yesterday,” Flexinna replied. “She +had been Chief Vestal ever since C-C-Calpurnia P-P-Praetextata died, and +that’s fifty- six years ago. She had been Chief Vestal longer than any +ever and she had lived longer than any Vestal ever.” + +“Well,” said Brinnaria, the practical, “she ought to have been glad to +go, and she stone blind for twenty years.” + +“Yes, I know,” Flexinna rejoined, “but she was such an old d-d-dear, she +looked so much younger than her age, her face so healthy and pink, and +b-b-beautiful even with all its wrinkles, so calm and placid and holy +I loved to look at her sitting in her big chair like a great white +b-b-butterfly, so plump and handsome and soft-looking. She always +put out her hand to my face and recognized me at the first t-t-touch, +almost, and gave me her blessing so b-b-beautifully. Sometimes Manlia +let me read to the old dear, and she always seemed to enjoy it so much. +I’m real shaken at her d-d-death. I really loved her.” + +“Everybody loved her,” Brinnaria declared. “But everybody loves +Causidiena too, and she’s Chief Vestal now. She’s not fat and placid +like Dossonia, but she is wonderfully dignified. My, I admire that +woman!” + +“I wonder,” Flexinna reflected, “who will be chosen in her p-p-place.” + +“Poor wretch!” Brinnaria commented. “I’m sorry for her, whoever she is. +Just think, she’ll have to pair with that unspeakable little muff of a +Meffia. I hate that girl.” + +“Whoever she is,” Flexinna continued, “she is sure to be chosen and +taken mighty quick. For with this p-p-pestilence in the city, and all +the trouble the P-P-Parthians are making in the East, of the Marcomanni +on the Rhine colonies, and the thunder-storms that have raged about +lately, there’ll be need felt for all the p-p-prayers all the offer. +They’ll not leave the vacancy open long. I’ll bet they have it filled +by d-d-day after to-morrow. Old B-B-Bambilio is a stickler for pious +precision an observance of all ritual matters and the Emperors are with +him.” + +“Marcus is,” Brinnaria agreed, pertly, “but Lucius doesn’t care what +happens so long as he has his fun.” + +“You mustn’t t-t-t-talk that way about the Emperors,” Flexinna cautioned +her. “If you were overheard you’d get into no end of trouble. Anyhow, +Verus defers to Aurelius in everything, so that whatever Aurelius wishes +is as if both wished it. And there never was a more p-p-pious Emperor +than Aurelius. So the place is certain to be filled p-p-promptly.” + +“At once, for sure,” Brinnaria agreed. “I wonder who the victim will be? +Do you suppose it will be Occurnea?” + +“It would have been Occurnea, I think,” Flexinna said. “You know it was +a chance for a while whether she’d get it instead of Meffia. But she’s +not eligible now. Her mother d-d-died yesterday.” + +“Tallentia, perhaps,” Brinnaria hazarded. + +“Impossible,” Flexinna declared. “You remember how recklessly she rode +and how her horse f-f-fell on her. She has limped ever since and always +will.” + +“Cuppiena?” suggested Brinnaria. + +“Not she,” said Flexinna; “she has some k-k-kind of skin rash and has +lost almost all her hair.” + +“Sabbia,” Brinnaria proposed. + +“Her mother’s d-d-dead too,” Flexinna reminded her; “has been for +months.” + +“Fremnia,” came the next suggestion. + +“She’s off to Aquileia with her family,” said Flexinna; “they all left +the d-d-day your folks went.” + +“Eppia,” ventured Brinnaria. + +“She’s ten years old now,” Flexinna demurred. “She celebrated her +b-b-birthday three days before the Kalends. I was at the party.” + +“Pennasia, perhaps,” Brinnaria suggested. + +“D-d-deaf in one ear like her mother and grandmother,” said Flexinna, +“and you know it.” + +“Licinia,” Brinnaria ventured. + +“She’d be the last they’d choose on account of the b-b-bad luck Vestals +of her family have had;” Flexinna reminded her. “The very name suggests +disgrace. Anyhow, she’s in Baiae with her p-p-people.” + +“Rentulana,” came the next conjecture. + +“Has a b-b-big wen on the side of her head,” Flexinna proclaimed. + +“Numledia?” came next. + +“You’ve lost your memory, Brinnaria,” said Flexinna, severely. “She’s +got a b-b-big purple birthmark on her neck.” + +“Magnonia,” Brinnaria proposed. + +“She’s far away, in Britain, with her father and mother; might as well +be out of the world.” + +Brinnaria was at a loss. She meditated. “Gavinna!” she said at last. + +“She has a bad squint and you know it,” laughed Flexinna. “Why don’t you +think of an eligible c-c-candidate?” + +They tried a dozen more names, all of girls out of the city or defective +in some way, or with one parent dead. + +“But who will it be?” Brinnaria wondered. “It’s bound to be somebody and +quick.” + +She jumped to her feet. + +She screamed. + +“They’ll take me! They’ll take me! Oh, what am I to do, what am I to do? +I’m the only possible candidate in the city. And they’ll be after me the +moment they run over the lists and find no one else is in town.” + +She stood a moment, considering, then she called Guntello, and a +lean Caledonian slave called Intinco. She gave them each a written +journey-order to show to any patrol that questioned them, told Guntello +to take the best horse in the stable and to give the next best to +Intinco, bade Intinco ride to Carsioli and Guntello to Falerii, gave +Guntello a letter for Almo and Intinco a letter to her father and told +them verbally, in case the letter was lost, to make it plain that +she was in danger of being taken for a Vestal and bid her father come +quickly to interfere and her lover to ride fast to claim her in time. +She enjoined both slaves to spur their horses, gave them money in case +they needed to hire fresh mounts and wound up: + +“Kill Rhaebus, kill Xanthus, kill as many hired horses as need be, ride +without halt or mercy. Get there and get father and Almo here. Be quick. +You can’t be too quick.” + +She watched them ride off at a sedate walk, for no man was allowed to +trot a horse in the streets of Rome. Both had assured her that they +would ride at full gallop from the moment they passed the gates. + +Then began for Brinnaria a tense and anxious period of waiting. Flexinna +obtained her parents’ permission and remained with her friend. The +entire household continued in good health and there was nothing to +distract t he two from their dread on the one hand that the Pontifex +might come to claim Brinnaria before Almo and her father arrived, and +their hope on the other hand of seeing them come in time. + +On the whole the strain told on Flexinna more than on Brinnaria, who +never once shed a tear, attended to her housewifely duties calmly and +steadily and talked little. Flexinna fidgeted constantly and talked a +good deal. + +“If I were in your place,” she said, “I shouldn’t be waiting here +inertly for Faltonius to come and claim me. Instead of dispatching +messengers for your father and Almo, you ought to have left the city at +once and made your best speed for Carsioli yourself.” + +“I couldn’t,” Brinnaria declared, “and you know why. I passed my word to +stay in this house and not so much as to go out unless some compelling +necessity arose. I pledged myself not to leave here unless I sent a +messenger saying I needed to leave and received permission before I +started. I took my oath not to cross the city limits without Father’s +consent. I can’t break my oath and I shouldn’t break my word, even if I +hadn’t sworn in addition to promising.” + +“You f-f-fool!” Flexinna declared. + +“All members of our clan keep their word,” said Brinnaria proudly. “We +do not ask whether it is advantageous to keep our word or pleasant; +when we have passed our word we keep it. I’ve given my word and there’s +nothing to do but to wait for Almo and Daddy and hope that both, or at +least a message from Daddy will get here before Faltonius.” + +“There is something else you might do,” Flexinna suggested. “You might +easily arrange to be ineligible before Bambilio comes for you.” + +“I shall,” spoke the matter-of-fact Brinnaria. “The moment Daddy and +Almo come, I’ll be Alma’s wife in less time than it takes to tell it and +will be able to snap my fingers at Bambilio.” + +“Suppose he comes before your father,” Flexinna suggested. + +“I’d be a Vestal and all hope gone,” said Brinnaria, + +“I mean,” said Flexinna, “suppose Almo comes before your father.” + +“I’ve thought of that,” Brinnaria admitted. “But I’d hate to break the +record of which our family is so proud. None of our women ever were so +much as accused of any misbehavior before marriage.” + +“I’ve no p-p-patience with you,” Flexinna raged. “You’ll throw away +your life for a mere scruple. You risk being made a Vestal every moment. +Faltonius may be on the way here now. If I were in your place I’d make +sure. I’d not wait for Almo. Any lad would do for me. You c-c-could make +sure, if you had sense. Almo would forgive you and marry you anyway. +Your father would forgive you; he’d never approve, I know.” + +“Not he!” Brinnaria proclaimed, “and he’ll never have any such dishonor +to forgive. No man of our clan ever had reason to be ashamed of his +daughter or of his sister. I’ll not be the first to disgrace the clan. +If Faltonius comes he’ll find me as eligible as the hour I was born, +unless Daddy and Almo come in time for me to be married first.” + +“At least,” Flexinna persisted, “you might say no when he asks you. That +would stall the whole ceremony and give you t-t-time.” + +“Do you suppose,” Brinnaria sneered, “that I haven’t thought of that? +I’m tempted, of course. But that would be to advertise myself a disgrace +to the Pontifex during a solemn interrogatory.” + +“At least,” Flexinna pleaded, “you might say you are over age. You look +sixteen to anybody, and no one would imagine you are under fourteen. You +could halt the proceedings, at least, and gain t-t-time.” + +“Faltonius has the lists,” said Brinnaria wearily, “with all the +birthdays sworn to by both parents for every girl on them and attested +by four excellent witnesses, besides. He’d know I was lying and it would +do me no good.” + +Flexinna changed the subject. + +But when the next day dawned and neither Brinnarius nor Almo appeared, +she returned to the attack. Brinnaria was very pale, very tense, but +obdurate. She controlled herself, did not forget, did not express her +feelings, but she posted a slave at each street corner, right and left +of the house-door, and had them look out for what she hoped and what she +feared. + +Dastor brought word that the Pontifex and his retinue were approaching; +three litters, each with eight bearers, preceded by the lictor of the +Chief Vestal. + +Brinnaria, pale and tense, did her best to look collected and +controlled. She succeeded well, heard calmly the announcement of her +august visitors, ordered them shown into the atrium, and received them +with proper dignity. Her self-possession did not desert her when she +recognized in the train of the Pontifex her rejected suitor Calvaster, +sly, malignant and with an air of suppressed elation. + +Faltonius Bambilio, the Pontifex of Vesta, was a pursy, pudgy, pompous +old man, immensely self-important, almost ridiculous in his fussiness, +but clothed with a certain impressiveness by the mere fact of his +religious office. He gazed about him, stared at Brinnaria, hemmed and +hawed and threw himself into poses intended to be stately. + +With him was Causidiena, now Chief Vestal, a tall, spare woman of about +forty-five, her austere face kindly and reassuring, her dark hair barely +showing under her official head-dress, a statuesque figure in her white +robes of office. + +“My daughter,” spoke Faltonius to Brinnaria, “Rome has but five Vestals. +I have come to take you into the vacant place. You have been chosen, as +best suited to this high dignity, from among those whose names were +on the lists of those fit for the office. Was it proper that your name +should be on the lists?” + +“I believe so,” spoke Brinnaria, weakly, almost in a whisper. + +“Are you fit to be taken as a Vestal, my daughter?” + +“I believe so,” came the answer. + +“Have you any blemish or defect of body, any impediment of speech, any +difficulty of hearing?” + +Brinnaria’s awe was wearing off, and the irritating pomposity of +Faltonius was producing its usual effect of arousing antagonism, as it +generally did in those he talked to. Brinnaria felt all her wild self +surge up in her. + +“I’m sound as a two-year-old racing filly,” she replied. “I’m clean as +fresh curd; I hear you perfectly and you can hear me perfectly.” + +Bambilio bristled like a bantam rooster. + +“That is not the way for a Vestal to speak,” he rebuked. + +“I’m not a Vestal yet,” Brinnaria retorted, “and that was my answer to +those questions. If you don’t like it I don’t care a shred of bran.” + +“Come! come!” fussed Bambilio, “answer the interrogatories properly.” + +“I have and I shall,” Brinnaria maintained mutinously. + +“Are you fit in mind and in faculties to be a Vestal?” he continued. + +“Fit to be Flaminica or Empress,” Brinnaria responded. + +“Are you pure?” came the next query. + +“As when I was born,” said Brinnaria emphatically. + +“What is your age?” the Pontifex queried his victim. + +“I’ll be ten on the Ides of next September,” quoth his victim. + +“Are your parents both alive?” he asked. + +“They were the last time I heard of them,” spoke Brinnaria flippantly. + +“When was that?” he insisted. + +“This is the twelfth day since they left Rome,” said Brinnaria, “and +I’ve not heard from them since they sent a messenger back from the ninth +milestone on the road to Tibur.” + +Faltonius was irritating her more and more, and she added: + +“They may both be dead by this time, for all I know.” + +“This will not do,” spoke Faltonius. “We must be sure that they are both +alive.” + +“Find out,” snapped Brinnaria. + +Up spoke young Calvaster, his pasty face alight with a sort of malicious +glee. + +“I passed Quartilla’s travelling carriage at Varia last night. Quartilla +was alive and well. I passed Brinnarius this morning at dawn, this side +of Tibur. He was alive then and puffing.” + +“How did you get here ahead of him?” Brinnaria interjected. + +“I am light built,” Calvaster explained with obvious relish, “and I rode +the best horse in Italy. His mount labored heavily under his load.” + +“Both parents are then alive,” spoke Faltonius. “I hereupon and hereby +pronounce you in all respects fit to be taken as a Vestal. Are you +willing?” + +“Not I!” Brinnaria fairly shouted. + +“Not willing!” Faltonius cried, incredulous. + +“Not a fibre of me!” she proclaimed emphatically. + +“Wretched girl!” expostulated the Pontiff. “Have you no sense of +patriotism? Do you not realize your duty to your country, to the Roman +people, to Rome, to the Emperor, to all of us, to the commonwealth? Do +you not realize Rome’s need of you? Shall it be said that Rome has need +of one of her daughters and that her unnatural child refuses?” + +“I have not refused,” said Brinnaria. “I only said I was unwilling.” + +“It is the same thing,” declared the bewildered ecclesiastic. + +“Not a bit the same thing,” Brinnaria disclaimed. “I know my duty in +this matter perfectly. Castor be good to me, I know it too well. I +know that a refusal would avail me nothing, if I did refuse. I have not +refused. I would not, even if I could escape by refusal I realize my +duty. If I am taken I shall be all that a Vestal is expected to be, all +that she must be to ensure the glory and prosperity and safety of the +city and the Empire. I shall not fail the Emperor nor the Roman people, +nor Rome. But I am unwilling, and I said so. Little good it will do me. +But I am no liar, not even in the tightest place.” + +“Stand up, my daughter,” said Faltonius, rising himself, suddenly +clothed in dignity, a really impressive figure, in spite of his globular +proportions. + +Brinnaria stood, her eyes on the door to the vestibule, her face very +pale, trembling a little, but controlled. + +The Pontifex took her hand and spoke: + +“As priestess of Vesta, to perform those rites which it is fitting that +a priestess of Vesta perform for the Roman People and the citizens, as a +girl who has been chosen properly, so I take you, Beloved.” + +At the word “Beloved,” which made her irretrievably a Vestal, Brinnaria +could not repress a little gasp. Her eyes no longer watched the +vestibule door. She looked at the Pontiff. He let go her hand. + +“You will now go with your servitor to be clothed as befits your +calling.” + +He indicated one of Causidiena’s attendants, a solidly built woman, +like a Tuscan villager, who carried over her arm a mass of fresh white +garments and robes. + +With her and Causidiena Brinnaria left the atrium; with them she +presently returned, a slim white figure, her hair braided and the six +braids wound round her forehead like a coronet, above them the folds of +the plain square headdress of the Vestals. + +“I thought,” she said, “that my hair would be cut off.” + +“That will be after you are made at home in the Atrium of Vesta,” spoke +the Pontiff. + +“And remember,” he continued sternly, “that you are now a Vestal and +that young Vestals may not speak unless spoken to.” + +Brinnaria bit her lip. + +At that moment they heard hoofs and voices outside, the door burst open +and Brinnarius entered. + +“Too late, Daddy!” cried Brinnaria. “You can’t help me now. I’m not your +little girl any more; I don’t count as your daughter; you don’t count as +my father; I’m daughter to the Pontifex from now on. I’m a Vestal.” + +She was trembling, but she kept her countenance. Brinnarius uttered no +sound, the whole gathering was still and mute, the noises of the street +outside were plainly audible. They heard horse-hoofs again, again the +door flew open wide. In burst Almo, wide-eyed and panting. + +At him Brinnaria launched a sort of shriek of expostulation. + +“Why couldn’t you ride! You call yourself a horseman! And you’ve come +too late! I mustn’t even kiss you good-bye. And I mustn’t speak to you, +I mustn’t see you, I mustn’t so much as think of you for thirty years, +for thirty years, _for thirty years_!” + + +CHAPTER V - ESCAPADES + + +WHEN Brinnaria found herself actually domiciled in the House of the +Vestals she experienced an odd mingling of awe and elation. The mere +size of it was impressive, for it was nearly two hundred feet wide and +almost four hundred feet long. Also it stood alone, bounded by four +streets. Besides, it gained much dignity from its location, near the +southeast corner of the great Forum of Rome, that most famous of all +city squares, and under the very shadow of the Imperial Palace, the +walls of which towered nearly three hundred feet above it, where it +crouched as it were, on a site scooped out of the huge flank of the +Palatine Hill. + +Completely as it was dominated by the enormous bulk of the Palace it +yet looked very large, having three lofty stories. Inside it was both +spacious and stately. Brinnaria was habituated to space and stateliness, +for her father’s house had both, yet the Atrium of Vesta, as the House +of the Vestals was officially denominated, impressed her as vast and +splendid. That this immense and magnificent building was to be her +home gave her sense of her own importance that thrilled her through and +through. Its numerous retinue of deft and obsequious maid-servants added +to this impression. Brinnaria’s personal attendants, entirely at her +beck and call and serving her alone, made up a considerable retinue by +themselves. She found herself, like each of the other Vestals, served +by a special waitress at table, by a waitress who had nothing to do but +look after her wants. Then she had a sort of maid-of-honor, who had no +duties except to act as companion, make herself agreeable, read aloud, +if requested, accompany her on her outings and help to pass her leisure +pleasantly. As she was a mere child in years she had a sort of governess +to instruct her in all those subjects in which a Roman girl of good +family was generally given lessons: correct reading; a smattering of +mathematics, about equivalent to the simple arithmetic of our days; some +knowledge of literature; a steady and efficient drill in reading and +talking Greek; instrumental music, similar to the guitar-playing of +modern times, and embroidery. She had a personal maid to bathe her, +arrange her hair and otherwise make her comfortable; also a special maid +to attend to her private apartment, which included what we would call +a sitting-room, a tiny bedroom, and a large bath-room. The largest room +was used mostly as a school-room for lessons with her instructress. +Outside the Atrium Brinnaria had her private stable, her carriages, +her coachman and ostlers, and her lictor, the red-cloaked runner, who +preceded her carriage, announced its coming and cleared the way for it +through the crowds of foot-passengers who thronged the streets of Rome. +Life in the Atrium was austere and formal, but in no respect ascetic. +The austerities extended only to attire and behavior. The decorations +of the courtyard, of the corridors and stairs, of the two hundred rooms, +were bewilderingly varied and overpoweringly gorgeous. Every appointment +of the Atrium was luxurious to the last degree; the furnishings were +beautiful and precious, every object a work of art; the bathrooms +cunningly devised for comfort, the beds deep and soft, scarcely less +so the sofas on which the Vestals reclined at their meals, the table +service of exquisite glass-ware and elaborately chased silver, the food +abundant and including every delicacy and rarity most appetizing and +enjoyable. + +Except Meffia her co-Vestals were immediately liked and speedily loved +by Brinnaria. Meffia, a month older than herself and looking six years +younger, was a small, awkward, ungainly girl, with pale blue eyes, pale +yellow hair and babyish pink complexion. She had never had an ill hour +in her life, yet she always appeared ailing, shrank from any effort, +hated exercise and exertion and at every necessity for movement asserted +that she was tired, often that she felt weak. Brinnaria thought her +merely innately lazy and a natural shirk. The more she saw of her the +more her loathing for her and her hatred of her intensified. Quite +the reverse with the others. Manlia was a large young woman of about +twenty-two, a typical Roman aristocrat, her hair between dark brown and +black, her complexion swarthy, her figure abundant. Gargilia was older +than Manlia; a tall, slender creature with intensely black hair +and piercing black eyes that looked straight at you out of a face +healthfully tinted indeed, but of a whiteness which was the envy of half +the beauties in Rome. Numisia Maximilla was much like an older Manlia, +but sparer and of markedly haughty bearing and carriage. Causidiena, +newly become Chief Vestal, was a woman of about forty-five years of age, +mild, gentle, and charming, with cool gray eyes and glossy brown hair, a +being who aroused affection, inspired admiration and compelled love from +all her household. + +She won Brinnaria’s heart at once by telling her that she herself, when +she had first entered the Atrium of Vesta, had found it difficult to +learn the etiquette of the order, had wanted to shout and sing and laugh +out loud, to run up and down stairs instead of walking, to skip and +jump. + +That Causidiena had triumphed over similar tendencies comforted +Brinnaria and helped her to try to overcome her own. Most difficult to +curb was her tendency to be rude to Meffia. This Causidiena noticed +at once and set herself to obliterate. Brinnaria unbosomed herself and +Causidiena listened so sympathetically that Brinnaria sat silent +through the long lecture that followed and was very submissive during +a searching interrogatory. She promised to comport herself as a Vestal +should. + +“But,” she said, “I shall suffer. That girl is unpleasant in ten +thousand ways, but the smell of her is the most unpleasant thing about +her. She’s been tubbed and scrubbed and massaged and perfumed twice a +day ever since I came here and she smells worse than a polecat, anyhow, +all day long, even the moment after her maid has finished her toilet. A +whiff of Meffia sets me frantic. I’d be capable of any crime to get rid +of her.” + +More lecturing followed. + +“But it’s true!” Brinnaria maintained. “You can’t help smelling her +yourself; she smells like nothing else on earth. It isn’t the smell of +a dirty girl or of an ill girl, nor the smell of a girl at all or of any +kind of a human being. I can’t describe it, but it’s a thin sour smell, +sharp and shrill like the note of a cricket, if a sound and a smell can +be compared. It’s horrible; it’s not human.” + +More lecturing, a long session of lecturing, followed this outburst. At +the end of it the victim was meek and pliable, or so professed herself. +For at least five days Brinnaria kept up her effort to be comradely +with Meffia. By the sixth day she was completely exhausted and the two +avoided each other as before. + +Agonies indeed Brinnaria suffered in her efforts to live up to +Causidiena’s ideas of what she should be. On the whole she succeeded +pretty well and committed few errors of deportment. Outwardly she +controlled herself from the first; for, before her first cowed +sensations had worn off, her adoration of Causidiena had gained full +sway over her. Yet inwardly she suffered more and more acutely as time +went on, partly feeling that she must burst out in spite of herself, +partly dreading that she would. + +At last, after many days, she perpetrated her first and most undignified +prank. It was a terrific occurrence, judged by the standards of the +Atrium. + +The great peristyle of the House of the Vestals, including nearly +three-fourths of the whole courtyard, was beautified with a splendid +double colonnade, two tiers of pillars, one above the other, the lower +of delicately mottled Carystian marble wavily veined with green streaks +varying its whiteness, the upper of coral-red brecchia. Midway of the +court was a tank lined with marbles and always filled with clear water. + +One morning Meffia, walking about the court, in her irritatingly aimless +fashion, passed between Brinnaria and the edge of the tank. There was no +earthly reason for her so doing, as Brinnaria was barely a yard from +the margin of the pool, and on the other side of Brinnaria was the ample +expanse of the pavement of the spacious court. + +Brinnaria was exasperated by Meffia’s proximity, by her lackadaisical +manner, by her shambling gait, by her sleep-walking attitude, most of +all by the peculiar thin, sour odor which Meffia exhaled. At the +sight of Meffia’s elaborately disagreeable demeanor of isolation, +all Brinnaria’s natural self began to boil in her; at the whiff which +assailed her nostrils she boiled over, all her uncurbed instincts +surging up at once. She put out one foot and gave Meffia a push. + +Meffia, with a squall and a great splash, fell into the tank. + +She not only fell in, but she went under the water. + +She went under and did not come up. + +For an instant Brinnaria thought she was shamming to scare her; but, in +a twinkling she realized that Meffia had fainted. + +Promptly she plunged in and rescued her victim. + +Numisia, hurrying to the sound of Meffia’s squawk, was horrified at the +sight of a dripping Vestal toiling up the steps of the tank carrying +over her shoulder another Vestal, equally dripping and limp as a +meal-sack, her arms and legs trailing horribly. + +Agitation at Meffia’s prolonged insensibility postponed inquiry as to +how she came to fall into the tank. It so happened that Causidiena first +questioned some of the maid-servants, who all hated Meffia and liked +Brinnaria. Therefore the ones interrogated told a story as much at +variance with the facts as they saw fit. + +Brinnaria, after she was again dry-clad, quaked inwardly in anticipation +of Causidiena’s wrath and suffered a good deal more at the thought of +her pained, silent displeasure. Hours passed, long hours passed and +nothing was said on the subject. From none of her sister Vestals did +she hear a word of reproach, not one of them behaved towards her any +differently from what was usual. + +Finally one of the maids enlightened Brinnaria. Promptly she sought a +private audience with Causidiena. First she made sure that none of +the maids would suffer for their duplicity and partiality; then she +confessed. + +The Chief Vestal was not wrathful, not even stern. She talked mildly and +gently, yet made Brinnaria feel very much ashamed of herself and acutely +penitent. + +The end of the interview was that Causidiena said: + +“You are such a robust child that you do not realize how frail Meffia +is. She is perfectly healthy, but is very easily unnerved or exhausted. +You have given her such a shock that she is unfit for duty. Any Vestal +is allowed to be ill for two nights and one day, if the trouble seems +trifling. But, if any Vestal is ill for a longer time, she is promptly +removed from the Atrium for nursing. I fear that Meffia may not recover +within the permitted time. I am most anxious that there should be as few +as possible cases of recorded illness in the Atrium under my management. +As you have caused the situation you must help me to avoid what I fear. +Go to Meffia and nurse her out of this and get her about to-morrow +morning.” + +“Castor be good to me!” Brinnaria cried. “Smell that girl for a day and +a night! Whew! Pretty severe punishment! But I deserve that and worse. +And I’ll do anything for you, Causidiena.” + +Meffia hated Brinnaria cordially, yet she found her a deft, tactful and +silent nurse. But the very sight of Brinnaria was to her an irritant +tonic. She was entirely fit for duty the next day, not a trace of +slackness, unwillingness or sullenness. + +Causidiena early made up her mind that Brinnaria’s intentions were good +and that she was far from planning her outbursts. She had herself +no prevision of what was coming, not an inkling of what was about to +happen, she blurted out her shocking remarks without herself knowing +what she was going to say and was overwhelmed with confusion when her +own ears heard the totally unexpected words which she had uttered; she +contemplated aghast the havoc she had wrought. Generally she made a +pretty fair attempt at demeaning herself as a Vestal should; but, every +once in a while, without warning, something of her old wild self surged +up in her and the speech was spoken or the action completed before she +realized she was about to speak or act at all. + +One such freak gave her a sort of notoriety, brought her name to the +lips of every gossip in Rome. + +She was as pleased with her privileges as a normal child of her age with +a set of new toys, as warily insistent on them as any aristocrat of her +build and appearance. + +She learned the precise nature and extent of her prerogatives and did +her utmost to enjoy them all. Being an adept at accounts she ascertained +the character of the various estates and investments that went to make +up the great property which was her jointure as a Vestal, made sure of +the exact income from each of its components, also the total amount; +both how far she was allowed to have her way in spending it and how +soon she would be free of supervision in that respect. She made her will +before she had been a Vestal for a month, leaving all her property to +Almo, should she die before him; but the whole to the order of Vestals +if he died before her. + +Of all her privileges the one she enjoyed most was the right to drive +where she pleased through the city in her private carriage, with her +lictor running ahead and clearing the way for it. Carriage-driving +within the city limits was restricted in Rome by severe regulations +rigorously enforced.* Ordinary travelling carriages might use only the +great main thoroughfares leading to the city gates. The owner of +one, unless he happened to live on one of those chief arteries of the +traffic, might not step from his house door into his carriage but must +have it halted at some point on the permitted avenues and must reach +it on foot or by litter. But there was no street or alley in Rome wide +enough for a carriage which a Vestal might not drive through; a. +Vestal might drive anywhere. Brinnaria was first taken out driving by +Causidiena and Numisia, then by the others in succession. Driving with +Meffia was no pleasure to her, but it was the etiquette of the order +that each Vestal in turn should offer the courtesy of her carriage to a +new member of the sisterhood. + +*In fact, wheeled vehicles except for those of the Emperor and the +Vestals were forbidden in the city during the daytime. + +After that formality had been complied with Brinnaria was permitted to +drive where she pleased, with what guest she chose, or accompanied +only by her official companion or by her maid. Systematically she +drove everywhere, once alone with her maid, once with each of the other +Vestals, often with her mother, often with Flexinna. It gave her great +pleasure to drive up the long zigzag approach to the Capitol, where no +human being save the Vestals and the Empress might be driven, and where +few Empresses had ever ventured to drive, to have her carriage halted +before the great Temple of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, where no carriage +except the carriages of the Vestals had been seen for more than a +hundred years, to enter the temple and say her prayers. It gave her +even more pleasure to take her mother or Flexinna with her, as was her +privilege; to make them sharers in her right to be driven to Rome’s +chief temple, to which all other Romans, even the Emperors, must walk or +be carried by litter-bearers. + +She discovered another privilege of her position. Roman women of the +better classes never went out of doors alone. On the streets a lady, +if not companioned by one or more equals, was always accompanied by a +maid-servant. This had been the custom from time immemorial and had come +to have the force of a moral law. The sight of a woman of wealth and +position entirely alone in her carriage would have been startling, to +see a lady in her litter without a maid walking behind the bearers would +have been shocking: the spectacle of a lady alone on foot would have +given scandal. + +But, by some survival of the simplicity of the manners in those +primitive days in which the order originated, the Vestals were +exceptions to this mandatory fashion. A Vestal might never go abroad on +foot, except in one of the solemn processions. But, in her litter or her +carriage, she might go anywhere in Rome unaccompanied, protected only +by her lictor and her bearers or coachman. This privilege, like many +others, marked the Vestals as being apart from and exalted above the +rest of woman-kind. + +As soon as Brinnaria learned that she possessed this right she proceeded +to exercise it. Though she felt lonesome when driving alone and enjoyed +her outing far more when she had a companion, yet she drove alone day +after day, merely because it was her prerogative. So driving she had, in +one day, two thrilling experiences. She had told her coachman to drive +where he pleased and hardly noticed where she was being driven. + +Suddenly turning from a side street into one of the main thoroughfares +of the city, she encountered the co-Emperor Lucius Verus with his +official escort. It was during the busy days preceding his departure for +Antioch and his great campaign against the Parthians. Verus, roused from +his devotion to sport and pleasure, was feverish with enthusiasm and +full of mercurial energy. He bustled in and out of Rome, inspecting +camps, presiding at ceremonials and keeping everything in a ferment. + +That day he was returning from an inspection amid a large and gorgeous +retinue. Brinnaria had a blurred vision of splendid uniforms and +dazzling accoutrements. Her vision was blurred because her eyes filled +with tears; she turned hot and cold and almost fainted with emotion, +when the Emperor’s twenty-four lictors lowered their fasces, the whole +procession halted, the escort and the Emperor himself swerved their +horses aside to let her pass and remained at the salute until she +had passed. The sudden realization of the importance of her official +position overwhelmed her. + +As she drove on, when she recovered herself, she meditated on the +experience, and told herself that she must live up to her exalted +station, that she must never, never, never for such as one instant, +forget herself or behave otherwise than as became a Vestal. On the very +same drive, before she returned to the Atrium, she completely forgot +herself. + +It was a hot, sultry afternoon and it suited her coachman to drive +homeward along the Subura, that thronged and unsavory Bowery of ancient +Rome. Three street urchins were teasing and maltreating a rough +coated, muddy little cur. Brinnaria called imperiously to her lictor +to interfere. He was too far ahead to hear her. Her coachman had all he +could do to control her mettlesome span of Spanish mares. She spoke to +the boys and they laughed at her. Before she knew it she had flung open +her carriage door, had leapt out, had cuffed soundly the ears of the +three dumbfounded gamins, and was back among her cushions, the dog in +her arms. + +This escapade brought upon her a visit from the Pontifex of Vesta, the +semi-globular Faltonius Bambilio, diffusing pomposity. From him she +had to listen to a long lecture on deportment and to a reading of the +minutes of the meeting of the College of Pontiffs which had discussed +her public misbehavior. + + + +CHAPTER VI - NOTORIETY + + +WITHIN a month she did far worse. She perpetrated, in fact, a deed with +the fame of which not only the city, but the Empire rang; made herself +notorious everywhere. + +It was on the occasion of her introductory visit to the Colosseum when, +for the first time, she was a spectator at an exhibition of fighting +gladiators. She was in a high-strung state of elation and anticipation. +Going to the Amphitheatre, in itself, was a soul-stirring experience. +Meffia, to Brinnaria’s joy, had been on duty that day, along with +Numisia. This alone was enough to put Brinnaria in a good humor. +Meffia’s presence spoiled for her any sort of pleasure. Then, besides, +they drove to the Colosseum, not in their light carriages, but two +by two in their gorgeous state coaches, huge vehicles, of which the +woodwork was elaborately carved and heavily gilded and whose cushions +and curtains were all of that splendid official color, the imperial +purple. The name conveys to us a false impression, for the hue known +then as imperial purple was not what we should call a purple, but a +deep, dark crimson, like the tint of claret in a goblet. Against a +background of this magnificent color, the Vestals, habited all in white, +showed conspicuously. Their stately progress through the streets, gazed +at and pointed at by the admiring crowds, was conducive to high spirits. +Still more so was it to be ushered obsequiously through cool corridors +and up carpeted stairs to the Vestals’ private loge, a roomy space +immediately to the right of the imperial pavilion. To be inside the +Colosseum at last set her eyes dancing and her heart thumping; the +anticipation of actually viewing the countless fights of many hundreds +of gladiators increased her excitement; to be seated in front seats, +with nothing but the carved stone coping between her and the arena +was most exhilarating of all. She was delighted with her great, carved +arm-chair, deeply cushioned and so heavy that it was as firm on its +solid oak legs as if bolted to the stone floor. She settled herself in +it luxuriously, gazed across the smooth yellow sand, glanced up at the +gay, parti-colored awning, and then conned the vast audience, line after +line of rose-crowned heads rising tier above tier all about her. + +She scanned the faces in the front row to left and right as far as she +could make them out clearly. She peered across the open space of the +arena, puckering her eyes to see better. When she caught sight of what +she was looking for she turned timidly, leaned past Manlia and asked +Causidiena: + +“May I wave my hand to mother?” + +“Certainly, my child,” Causidiena assured her. + +Brinnaria waved her little hand and was seen, and felt the thrill of a +general family handwaving in reply. + +Suddenly she experienced a qualm of bashfulness, as if every one in the +enormous gathering were looking at her, watching her. She cast down her +eyes, wrapped her white robe close about her, hiding her hands under it, +and shrank into her arm-chair. For a while, for a long while, she fanned +herself nervously, very slowly, and striving to appear calm. Gradually +she became calm and laughed to herself at her own folly, realizing that +nobody was noticing her. + +Nobody noticed her. Many spectators noticed the Vestals, but no one +noticed her individually. This she realized acutely before the day was +over. + +At about the time when she began to feel herself at ease the entrance +of the Emperor and his suite distracted her attention from herself. When +the trumpet blew, announcing the approach of the Imperial party, a +hush fell on the vast audience and all eyes turned towards the grand +pavilion. When the trumpet blew the second time, just before the Emperor +came in sight, the hush deepened and the spectators watched intently. +When his head appeared as he mounted the stairs the audience burst into +the short, sharply staccato song of welcome, something like a tuneful, +sing-song college yell, with which Roman crowds greeted their master. +This vocal salute, a mere tag of eight or nine syllables, each with +its distinctive note, was repeated over and over until the Emperor was +seated. + +Then the audience settled themselves into their seats. Brinnaria had +instinctively started to rise when she caught sight of the Emperor. +Manlia had put out a restraining hand. The Vestals, alone of all Romans, +remained seated in the presence of the Emperor, not even rising when he +appeared. + +Marcus Aurelius was a tall, spare man of over forty years of age, with +abundant hair curling in long ringlets over his chest and shoulders, +and a full beard mingling with the carefully disposed curls. He was a +serious-faced man, careworn and solemn. + +Brinnaria regarded him with interest. She had never seen him so +close and she felt a sudden fellow-feeling for him from the sense of +semi-equality with him that flooded through her at having remained +seated. She recalled vividly the half-dozen times she had watched from +balconies the passage of processions in which the Emperor took part, +how her mother had made her stand up the moment he came in sight and had +kept her standing until he was far away. Her sudden exaltation in social +position was borne in upon her with startling emphasis. Not even her +carriage rides had impressed her so tellingly with the sensation of her +own importance in the great world of Imperial Rome. + +“How does he look to you?” Manlia asked. They were seated in the order +of their seniority, Causidiena on the right, then Gargilia, Manlia next +Brinnaria. + +“He looks crushed under his responsibilities and anxieties,” Brinnaria +replied. “He looks depressed, even sad.” + +“He is all that, poor man,” her neighbor agreed, “and no wonder in these +days. The Parthians are at us on the east, the Germans in the north, +and there have been more than twelve deaths in the palace each day for +twenty consecutive days now. This pestilence is enough to make anybody +sad.” + +“More than that,” Brinnaria countered. “He looks irritated and bored. +Everybody else is alert and keyed up with anticipation. His eyes are +dull and he looks as if he wished that the show was over and he could go +home.” + +“You have read him right,” Manlia told her. “He detests all kinds of +spectacles, takes no interest in races and hates beast-fights. Most of +all he loathes gladiatorial combats. Father has told me about it more +than once and Causidiena says the same thing. I can’t understand it. I +never get tired of sword-fighting, myself. What I like about it is its +endless variety. I never saw any two fights exactly alike, never saw two +closely alike. Each fight is a spectacle by itself, entirely different +from any other. I don’t mean the difference between the fighters in +respect to their equipment and appearance, though that contributes to +the variety also; I mean the difference in posture, method of defense +and attack, style of lunge and parry, and all that; and the countless +variations in form in the men, the subtle differences of character which +makes them face similar situations so very differently. You’ll get the +feeling for it in a half a dozen shows and be as keen on it as the rest +of us. + +“But the Emperor is different. Perhaps it’s because he is such a booky +man and spends so much time in reading and study. But I think not. There +never was anybody more of a bookworm than Numisia and she is as wild +over the shows as any street-boy in Rome. Anyhow, whatever the cause is, +that is the way he is. He was more than surfeited with shows before he +was Emperor. While he was nothing but a boy, soon after he was adopted +and made Caesar, he often had to preside in the Circus or here, +when Hadrian was away travelling and Antonius and Verus were on the +frontiers. He used to bring his tutors with him and have two of them +sit on each side of him a little behind him. Then, after the shows had +started, he would put a tablet on his knee and write a theme or work out +a problem in geometry and when he had finished it, would pass it to +one of his tutors for comment, or he would have them make out sets +of questions on history or something else and he would write out the +answers the best he could. Sometimes he would read. All this he did as +calmly as if he were alone in a closed room with nothing to call off his +attention. Yet he was most careful to seem to watch the shows and would +look up every little while and gaze about the arena. But nothing ever +distracted him from his lessons. That is the kind he is. He simply never +cared for this sort of thing. He says that what oppresses him is +the maddening monotony of gladiatorial shows. Fancy anybody thinking +sword-fighting monotonous! But he does. He says every combat is just +like every other. All he sees in a fight is two men facing each other +and one being killed. He gets no thrills from the uncertainties of the +outcome, no pleasure from the dexterity and skill of the fighters. To +him it’s just butchery, and the same kind of butchery over and over. He +says he might get some enjoyment out of a show if something novel would +happen, something he never saw before, something unexpected. But nothing +ever does.” + +Brinnaria regarded curiously this grave, earnest man, who derived so +little pleasure from the most coveted position on earth. She continued +to watch him until everybody turned to the procession around the arena +of all who were to fight that day, the invariable preliminary of a +gladiatorial show and always a splendid spectacle. When the fights began +Brinnaria felt at first an unexpected tightening of the chest, as if +a band were being drawn tight just under her armpits. Her breath came +short and hard and her heart thumped her ribs. + +The first sight of blood made her feel faint and the horrible +contortions just below her of a dying man, who writhed in strong +convulsions like a fish out of water, made her qualmish and sick. +But all that soon passed off. She was a Roman and the Romans were +professional killers, had been professional killers for a thousand +years. Success in hand to hand combat with any individual foe was every +male Roman’s ideal of the crowning glory of human life; the thought of +it was in every Roman’s mind from early childhood, every act of life was +a preparation for it. Their wives and sisters shared their enthusiasm +for fighting and their daughters inherited the instinct. Combat on the +field of battle was felt as the chief business of a man, to which all +other activities merely led up. By reflected light, as it were, every +kind of combat acquired a glamour in the thoughts of a Roman. The idea +of men killing men, of men being killed by men, was familiar to all +Romans, of whatever sex or age. Brinnaria was not affected as a modern +girl would be by the sight of blood or of death. The novelty revolted +her at first, but only briefly. Soon she was absorbed in the interest of +the fighting. + +Almost at once her eye was caught by a young and handsome fighter who +reminded her strongly of Almo. + +His adversary was that kind of gladiator known technically as a +secutor, a burly ruffian in complete armor, with huge shin-guards like +jack-boots, a kilt of broad leather straps hanging in two overlapping +rows, the upper set plated with bronze scales, a bronze corselet, and, +fitting closely to his shoulders, covering head and neck together, a +great, heavy helmet. He carried a large shield, squarish in shape, but +curving to fit him as if he were hiding behind a section of the outer +bark of a big tree. He was armed with a keen, straight bladed Spanish +sword. + +Facing this portentous tower of metal was a gladiator of the sort known +as a retiarius, equipped solely with a long-handled, slender-shafted +trident, like a fisherman’s eel-spear, and a voluminous, wide-meshed net +of thin cord. His only clothing was a scanty body-piece of bright blue. +His feet were small with high-arched insteps. Brinnaria particularly +noticed his perfectly shaped toes. His bare legs, body and arms were +in every proportion the perfection of form, the supple muscles rippling +exquisitely under his warm tanned skin. His face was almost beautiful, +with a round chin, thin curled lips, a straight nose, and a wide brow. +Its expression was lively, even merry, almost roguish, his lips parted +in an alert smile, his blue eyes sparkling. He seemed to enjoy the game +in which he was engaged, to be brimming over with self-confidence, to +anticipate success, to relish his foretaste of combat with a sort of +impish delight. + +Roman children heard as much talk of gladiators as modern children hear +of baseball or cricket. Brinnaria knew perfectly well that the betting +on a set-to between such a pair was customarily five to three against +the secutor and on the retiarius. Yet she felt the sensation usual +with onlookers in such a case, the sensation purposed by the device +of pairing men so differently equipped, the sensation that the mailed +secutor was invincible and the naked retiarius helpless against him. She +was keyed up with interest. + +In fact the combat was interesting. The secutor, of course, could have +disposed of his antagonist in a trice, if he had only been able to +reach him. But a clumsy, heavy secutor never could reach a nimble, +agile retiarius. The one Brinnaria was watching was more than usually +light-footed and skipped about his adversary in a taunting, teasing way. +Again and again he cast his net intentionally too short, merely to +show how easily he could recover it and escape his opponent’s onset. He +danced, capered, pretended to be lame and that he could not avoid being +overtaken, led his pursuer on, out-manoeuvred him, derided him; twice he +lunged through the flapping straps of his kilt and grazed his thigh. The +secutor was barely scratched, but his blood trickled down his shin-guard +and he was limping. + +Then, all in a flash, the retiarius pirouetted too rashly, slipped on +ton the sand, fell sprawling, failed to rise in time, and was slashed +deeply all down one calf. He rolled over in a last effort to escape, but +the secutor kicked him in the ribs and, before he could recover, sent +the trident spinning with a second kick and set his foot upon his +victim’s neck. So standing he rolled his eyes over that part of the +audience nearest him to discover whether it was the pleasure of the +lookers-on that the defeated man should be killed or spared. + +Now it so happened that nearly all the spectators in that part of the +audience were watching a far more exciting contest farther out in the +arena, where two Indian elephants, each manned by a crew of five picked +men, were clashing in a terrific struggle No one, except Brinnaria, had +any eyes for the plight of the young retiarius below them The secutor +beheld indifferent faces gazing over his head The few thumbs he could +see pointed outward. Brinnaria, to be sure, was holding out her right +arm, thumb flat, and doing her best to attract the secutor’s attention. +She failed. He glanced, indeed, at the Vestals, but as three of them sat +impassive he missed Brinnaria’s imperious gesture. He prepared to put +his foe to death. First, however, he looked further along the front rows +to make sure that he had the permission of the general audience, since +the occupants of the Imperial box and of the Vestals loge seemed to +ignore him. + +Brinnaria perceived that he would probably not look again in her +direction; that as soon as his roving eyes came back from their +unhurried survey of the audience, he would deliver the fatal blow. She +quickly knotted the corner of her robe to the arm of her chair, squirmed +out of it, and threw it over the parapet. The robe of a Roman lady +was sleeveless and seamless, rather like a very long pair of very thin +blankets, all in one piece. Tied, as she had tied it, by one corner, +it made a sort of rope as it hung. She had acted so quickly that no one +noticed her, not even Manlia, who sat next her, staring fascinatedly at +the spectacle of the wrestling elephants and their warring crews. + +Grasping her robe firmly with both hands, escaping by a hair’s-breadth +the despairing clutch of the horrified Manlia, Brinnaria half vaulted, +half rolled over the parapet, swung sailor-fashion to the rope her robe +formed, went down it, hand over hand, raced across the sand and faced +the victorious secutor. + +He, although a foreigner and a savage, had been long enough in Rome to +know perfectly what a Vestal was and he recoiled from her in a panic +no less than he would have felt had the goddess Vesta herself come down +from the sky to balk him of his prey. + +The next instant no one was regarding the death-struggle of the +elephants, nor any other of the scores of fights ended, ending, under +way or just begun. Every human being in the audience was staring at the +amazing spectacle of a Vestal virgin, clad only in her thin, clinging +tunic, standing over a fallen retiarius and facing an appalled and +dumbfounded secutor. + +The place fell very still. So still that the shrill voice of a +street-gamin, a boy from the Via Sacra, was audible throughout the vast +enclosure from gallery to gallery. He yelled in his cutting falsetto: +“Good for you, Sis!” + +But his neighbors silenced him at once and not even any other ragamuffin +lifted his voice. The audience were startled mute. They were quite ready +to applaud the girl’s daring, but the shocking impropriety of her breach +of decorum struck them dumb. + +The Emperor, roused from his meditations by the sudden hush, looked +about him for the cause of it and saw the situation. He leaned forward, +arm out, thumb flat against the extended fingers. The secutor sheathed +his sword. + +Manlia, with great presence of mind, untied the dangling robe and +dropped it over the parapet. One of the arena attendants carried it to +Brinnaria and she put it on. But she would not stir and stood straddling +the fallen lad until one of the Emperor’s aides came out of one of the +low doors in the arena-wall, crossed to her and assured her that the +defeated retiarius would be spared and cared for. Then she suffered +herself to be led back to her seat, by way of the door in the wall and +passages and stairs never meant for any Vestal to tread. + +Not until they saw Brinnaria move off in charge of the staff-officer did +the audience let loose their pent-up feelings. The place pulsated with +a roar like that of a great waterfall in a deep gorge, salvo after salvo +of cheers swelling and merging. The deep boom of their applause pursued +Brinnaria and made her cower. The people would never forget her now. +They were in ecstasy. She was their darling. + + + +CHAPTER VII - AUDIENCE + + +ON the drive homeward from that unforgettable gladiatorial exhibition +Manlia and Gargilia shared the second state coach: in the first sat +Brinnaria by Causidiena. + +“My child,” Causidiena queried, “what ever made you do it?” + +“I don’t know,” Brinnaria replied. “I did it before I thought.” + +“Well!” said her elder philosophically. “It is done now and cannot be +helped. But please try to remember that a Vestal is expected to control +herself at all times, never to act without forethought, to reflect long +before she acts, to do nothing unusual, to be very sure in each instance +that what she is about to do is wholly becoming to a Vestal.” + +“I’ll keep on trying,” Brinnaria replied mutinously, “but I was not +constructed to be a Vestal. I always knew it; I know it now and I am +afraid I’ll continue my blundering through the conventions. I’m built +that way.” + +She had to endure a second long lecture from Faltonius Bambilio. +She listened submissively enough, but vouchsafed not one word of +self-defence, rejoinder or comment; and, when urged to speak, she was +obstinately silent. + +“My daughter,” Faltonius droned at her, “remember that, since your +entrance into the order of Vestals, I stand to you in the relation of +parent to his own child. You should confide in me as in your spiritual +father.” + +“I should do nothing of the kind,” Brinnaria refuted him. “I know the +statutes of the order better than that. Up to the days of the Divine +Augustus, the Pontifex Maximus inhabited the house next to the house +of the Vestals and stood in the closest relation of fatherhood towards +them. But since he went to live on the Palatine and made us a present of +his house we have occupied all this Atrium which was built in the place +of the two houses. Since then no one has been in the same intimate +relation of control over us. The Emperors have always held the office of +Pontifex Maximus and as such each Emperor has been the spiritual father +of the Vestals. The Emperor is my spiritual father and you are not.” + +“Your self-opinionated talk does you little credit,” Faltonius retorted. +“Since you know so much you must know also that for many years each +Emperor has designated some priest as Pontifex of Vesta to be his deputy +and to stand in the closest relation of parental oversight towards the +members of your consecrated order; I am that deputy.” + +“I have no desire to confide in a deputy,” Brinnaria told him, “or to +consider the deputy as my real spiritual father. If I feel inclined to +confide I’ll make my confidences to my genuine spiritual father, not to +his understrapper.” + +Bambilio was piqued and spoke sourly. + +“The Emperor,” he said, “will be far from pleased with my report of +you.” + +“It will make no difference to me or to him what you report or whether +you make any report or not,” spoke Brinnaria. “I’m going to have a talk +with him myself.” + +“Doubtless,” Bambilio meditated. “He has sent for you to rebuke you.” + +“He has done nothing of the kind,” she retorted vigorously. “He has +more sense. And if he had sent for me I should not have gone. I know my +rights. If he wanted to talk to me, he’d have to come to me here. But +as, in this case, I wanted to talk to him, I have asked for an audience +and the day and the hour have been fixed. I am to have an audience +to-morrow morning. And now, as I am to talk to him myself, I see no +reason why I should spend more time being bored by his deputy. If you +please, I should be obliged if you would terminate this interview.” + +Astounded and dumb, Faltonius bowed himself out. + +Causidiena suggested that she accompany Brinnaria on her visit to the +Palace. + +“It would be lovely to have you with me,” Brinnaria said, “and I am ever +so grateful for your offer. You are a dear and I love you. I shall want +you and wish for you all the way there, all the time I am there and all +the way back. I shall be scared to death. But I must go alone. In +the first place it is my right, if I were only six years old, to have +audience with the Emperor alone whenever I ask for it and as often as I +ask for it. I am not going to abate an iota of my rights merely for my +own comfort. In the second place, I must go through this unhelped and +unsupported all by myself. I know it; I must fight it out alone and come +through alone. He’ll be sympathetic, if I deserve it. If I don’t deserve +sympathy from him I don’t deserve it from you, nor your company and your +countenance, either.” + +Scared Brinnaria was, but even through her worst qualms of panic she was +uplifted by an elating sense of her own importance. Not her encounter +with Verus and his retinue, not her having remained seated when Aurelius +entered the Colosseum had so poignantly made her realize how exalted was +a Vestal. She drove to the Palace alone, not in her light carriage, but +in her huge state coach, feeling very small in her white robes amid +all that crimson upholstery, but also feeling herself a very great +personage. + +Her reception at the Palace made her feel even more so. The magnificence +of the courtyard in which her coach came to a standstill, the ceremonial +of turning out the guard in her honor, the formality with which she was +conducted from corridor to corridor and from hail to hail, the immensity +and gorgeousness of the vast audience hall in which she was finally left +alone with the Emperor; all these did not so much overwhelm her as exalt +her. She felt herself indeed a princess. + +The Emperor greeted Brinnaria kindly, was as sympathetic as possible +and put her at her ease at once. He soothed her, made her seat herself +comfortably and said: + +“Don’t worry about what you have done. You are certainly the most +startling Vestal since Gegania, but you have really done nothing +actually wrong. So do not agitate yourself about what cannot be altered. +The question which concerns me is, what will you do next?” + +“I think,” said Brinnaria, “that the next thing I shall do will be to +procure a good strong rope and hang myself.” + +“My child,” the shocked Emperor exclaimed, “you really should not speak +so flippantly of so dreadful an idea!” + +“I’m not a particle flippant this time,” Brinnaria declared. “I know I +am often flippant, but not now, not a bit. I am just as serious as +life and death. I have thought of nothing but suicide since Trebellius +conducted me back to my seat. I can’t get the idea out of my head and +that is why I have come to you.” + +“Tell me all about it from the beginning,” the Emperor said, +comfortingly. “What put the notion into your head?” + +“In the beginning,” said Brinnaria, “you know that I didn’t want to be a +Vestal.” + +“Yes, I know,” he assured her. + +“Well,” she went on, “now I am a Vestal and must serve out my thirty +years, I’m really trying to do my best to be all I ought to be. I really +am. I’ve tried hard to be sedate and grave and collected and reticent +and slow-spoken, and all the rest of it. And I think I haven’t done +badly most of the time. But after all, I’m myself and I can’t be +changed. Every once in a while myself boils up in me under the scum of +convention I’ve spread on top of the cauldron, so to speak. I don’t +mean to let go and be natural and spontaneous. I’ve done the awful thing +before I know I’m going to do it. I didn’t mean to pour the pork gravy +over old Gubba’s head; but she looked so funny I just did it without +knowing what I was going to do. I didn’t mean to throw Manlia’s pet +monkey out of the window on to Moccilo’s head. But her shock of red +curls looked to be just the place on which to drop little Dito, and +I dropped Dito before I thought. It’s just the same way about all the +other dreadful things I do. I don’t mean to do them, but I do do them.” + +“Don’t worry,” the Emperor said, “you’ll outgrow all that.” + +“I trust I may,” Brinnaria sighed, “but how about the harm I’m doing as +I go along?” + +“You haven’t done any harm, not any harm that matters,” the Emperor +soothed her. + +“Are you perfectly sure of that?” she persisted. “If you could make +me perfectly sure of that, I should feel a great deal better. Are you +sure?” + +“I can’t see any real harm in your pranks,” the Emperor said. “I +certainly should not encourage you to continue or repeat such conduct or +to revert to it, but I see no real harm in it.” + +“You think I have not unfitted myself for my duties?” + +The Emperor meditated. + +“To a certainty,” he said, “if your conduct was intentional, if you +thought up these pranks of yours and perpetrated them, with deliberate +consciousness of what you were about to do, I should hold you gravely +unfitted for your position. But you are manifestly sincere in your +efforts to be all you ought to be and are trying genuinely to overcome +your tendencies and to outgrow your coltishness. I am of the opinion +that, if you curb yourself from now on, you have done no harm.” + +“Do you think,” Brinnaria insisted, “that if you called a meeting of all +the colleges of pontiffs and put the question to them, that they would +make the same answer you have made?” + +“You amazing child!” Aurelius exclaimed. “Why should you assume the +attitude of advocate against yourself? Why suggest a synod to discuss +your conduct and express an official opinion on it? Is not my opinion +enough? Even if I saw fit to call a synod and all the members of it held +the same views and expressed them never so cogently, do you not realize +that, if my views were contrary to theirs, it would be my view that +would prevail; that it would not only be my privilege and my right +but my imperative duty to override any opposition and to enforce my +decision? Are you not satisfied with the opinions of the man who is at +once Emperor and Chief Pontifex of Rome?” + +“But,” Brinnaria persisted, “I am not at all sure that you are speaking +as Emperor and Chief Pontifex. To me you seem to speak as a kindly +husband and father very sympathetic towards another man’s little +daughter who comes to you in deep trouble of spirit.” + +“You amazing child!” the Emperor repeated. “You talk as if you were +forty years old. Tell me precisely what is troubling you, for I must +have failed to fathom it, and be sure I shall reply officially as +Emperor and Pontifex.” + +“What troubles me,” said Brinnaria, “is the dread that my wild +and tomboyish behavior may be as displeasing to the Goddess as +coquettishness or wantonness. I am in terror for fear my ministrations +may be unpleasant to her, may be sacrilegious, may not only fail to win +her blessing upon Rome but may draw down her curse upon all of us. I +never thought of that until I stood there all alone out in the arena, +astraddle of that beautiful boy whom I just had to save, feeling all of +a sudden horribly naked in my one thin, clinging undergarment, with two +hundred thousand eyes staring at me. It came over me with a rush that +I was not only never going to be fit for a Vestal but that I wasn’t fit +for a Vestal and I hadn’t been fit for a Vestal; that I not only was +going to do harm, not only was doing harm, but had done harm. If the +Parthians are devastating the frontier along the Euphrates and the +Marcommani and the Quadi are storming the outposts along the Danube +and the Rhine, perhaps that is because my presence in the Atrium is an +offence in the eyes of Vesta, my prayers an affront to my Goddess, my +care of her altar-fire an insult to her. I tremble to think of it. And I +cannot get it out of my head. I wake up in the dark and think of it and +it keeps me awake, sometimes, longer than I ever lay awake in the dark +in my life. It scares me. I am a Vestal to bring prosperity and glory +to the Empire, to pray prayers that will surely be answered. Suppose +the Goddess is deaf to my prayers because I am unworthy to pray to her? +Suppose that my prayers infuriate her because I am vile in her sight? +Suppose I am causing disaster to the Empire? I keep thinking all that. +Do you wonder that I think of suicide, of hanging myself, like the two +Oculatas?” + +“My child!” Aurelius cut in. “You have not done anything that justifies +your comparing yourself to the Oculata sisters.” + +“We’ll come back to that later,” Brinnaria replied. “Just now let us +stick to the point. Do you think my fears justified or not?” + +“Decidedly not,” the Emperor rejoined, without an instant’s hesitation, +“and I speak not as a soft-hearted parent who sees the soul of his own +daughter looking at him out of the eyes of every little girl whose heart +troubles her, I speak as the guardian of the interests of the Empire, as +the warder of the destinies of Rome. + +“Your misbehavior has certainly been grave, I admit; and, if done +maliciously, would entail all the harm you imagine. But the Goddess can +see not only your actions but your thoughts. Your scruples do you high +credit. I will not say you are as pleasing to the Goddess as would be a +grave and sedate ministrant, but I do solemnly decide and declare that +you need have no further dread of any past, present or future harm to +the Empire or to Rome from your past behavior, if you honestly try to +err no more. This is my official decision. Be at peace in your heart.” + +Brinnaria drew a deep breath. + +“You certainly comfort me,” she said, “but I just know I’ll boil over +again and not once, but many times.” + +“Vesta will comprehend,” he said, “if your derelictions are less and +less frequent and less and less violent; if you succeed a little better +from month to month and from year to year. She will not be pleased +with your lapses, if you lapse again, but she will be pleased at your +struggles with yourself and with your good intentions. She will smile +upon your ministrations and hearken to your petitions. Be comforted.” + +“I am,” said Brinnaria, “as far as that trifle goes, but now we come to +my real and chief concern. Suppose I am as detestable in the sight of my +Goddess as the Oculata sisters were, and for a similar reason; suppose +I ought to hang myself as dead as they hanged themselves. Oughtn’t I, +then, to hang myself?” + +“You incredible creature!” Aurelius cried. “I’ve met women by the +thousand, by the tens of thousands, but never a girl like you. What +do you mean? What can you mean? You cannot mean what you seem to mean. +Explain yourself. Be explicit. Tell me all about what is troubling you. +I’ll understand and put your mind at ease.” + +“I trust you may,” Brinnaria sighed, “but I dread that you cannot. I +mean just what I seem to mean.” + +“Impossible!” the Emperor cried, “a child of ten, but a few months out +of her mother’s care and those few months in the care of Causidiena! And +I wouldn’t believe it of you if you were twice your age.” + +“Oh,” said Brinnaria, “I haven’t acted like Caparronia and the two +Oculatas, and I shouldn’t if I were never so much left to myself. +But you said yourself that Vesta can read my thoughts and I knew that +without your telling me so. Suppose that my thoughts are as abominable +in the sight of my Goddess as was the behavior of those three +unfortunates? Oughtn’t I to hang myself and be done with myself?” + +“Indubitably,” said the Emperor, “if the facts were as your words imply. +But you are just frightening yourself to death with vapors like a child +afraid of its own shadow. Be explicit, be definite, and I can put you at +peace with yourself at once and permanently.” + +Brinnaria drew a deep breath. + +“To begin with,” she said, “you know that, before I was taken for a +Vestal, I was plighted to Caius Segontius Almo.” + +“Certainly, I knew that,” Aurelius replied. “All Rome knew of his ride +from Falerii and of his arriving just too late.” + +“You knew I was in love with him?” + +“I assumed that,” the Emperor told her. + +“Well,” she said, a pathetic break in her voice, “I can’t make myself +stop loving Almo. I always have loved him, I always shall, I love him +now.” + +“I assumed that too,” the Emperor said. “All Rome knows of his resolve +to remain unmarried, to wait thirty years for you, to marry you the very +day you are free. I assumed that he would not be so constant unless +he believed you equally constant. No harm in that! You have a right to +marry at the end of your service and a right to look forward to it.” + +“That is what troubles me,” Brinnaria said. “I cannot feel that I have a +right to look forward to it.” + +“Now listen to me,” said the Emperor. “Few Vestals have left the Atrium +at the end of their thirty years. Not every one that has left has +married, the third Terentia withdrew at the end of her term and did +not marry, nor did the only Licinia who ever completed her service. But +Appellasia married and so did Quetonia and Seppia. Others have married +after their service, though it is thought unlucky. The right to leave +the order implies the right to marry after leaving. The right to leave +implies the right to mean to leave, to plan to leave, to look forward to +leaving and marrying. You have that right, like any other Vestal. Does +that satisfy you?” + +“It does not,” Brinnaria asserted. “I know a Vestal has a right to leave +and marry and to plan to leave and marry. But, after thirty years of +service, or nearly thirty years of service, to plan to leave and marry +and to look forward to it for a few days or months appear to me very +different from looking forward to it from the first hour of my service, +and knowing not only that I mean to marry, but just the man I mean to +marry, and loving him all the time, and longing for him. I can’t help +it; I feel that way, and I dread that I am not an acceptable ministrant +and I tremble for fear of the consequences to you and to Rome. I think +I ought to hang myself and be done with it. You haven’t comforted me a +bit.” + +The Emperor stood up. + +“Sit still!” he commanded, sharply. + +He paced up and down the huge audience hail; paced its full length three +times each way. + +Then he reseated himself. + +“Do you sleep soundly?” he queried. + +“Like a top, mostly,” said Brinnaria. “I go to sleep the instant I put +my head on the pillow. Generally I sleep all night long until my maid +wakes me up in the morning. Many nights, but not every night, nor most +nights, I wake up with a dreadful start, as if I had had a nightmare, +and lie there quaking for fear I am ruining Rome. But even then I +generally go to sleep again pretty quick.” + +“Do you think of Almo when you wake up in the dark?” he pursued. + +“Mighty little,” she declared. “In the dark all I can think of is Rome +and my duty. I often reflect how immediately and how greatly being taken +for a Vestal changes a girl and alters, not only her outlook on life and +her ways of thinking, but also her feelings. It has cooled and steadied +me more than I could have believed. When Daddy quarrelled with Segontius +and told me he would not let me marry Caius I used to feel as if I were +going to suffocate, used to feel that way sometimes for hours at a time, +used to suffer horribly, used to wake up in the dark and feel as if, +if I could not get to Almo right then, at once, I should die, as if I +should be choked to death by the thumping of my heart. I used to feel +that way at dinner, when out visiting any time of day, for hours. I +never feel that way now. And after Daddy and Segontius made up their +quarrel and it was arranged that I was to marry Almo, I used to feel as +if it would kill me to wait four years, I used to grit my teeth to think +of it, of waiting four years for him; used to think of it an day long, +no matter what I was doing. And I used to wake up in the dark and roll +round in bed and bite the bed-clothes with rage at the thought of the +long waiting ahead of me. I wanted Almo the way you want a drink, just +before noon of a hot day, when you have been travelling since before +sunrise and the carriage creaks and jolts and the road is all dusty and +there is no wind and you feel as if you would rather die than go any +longer without a drink. I used to want that way to be married to Almo. + +“I never feel that way now. I want him and I want to be married to him, +but I look forward to it as I look forward to the next race-day at the +Circus or the next fight of gladiators at the Colosseum, as a desirable +and delightful time sure to come but by no means to be hurried, as +something I can very well do without until the time comes. The thought +of Almo is always somewhere back in my mind ready to come forward when +I have nothing else to think of. But I think of him placidly and calmly +and never when on duty nor when at my lessons nor when at meals. And at +night, never.” + +“My daughter,” said Aurelius, smiling at her, “listen well to me. I +speak as Chief Pontifex and as Emperor of Rome. I command you to forget +your qualms and to banish your fears. Officially as Chief Pontifex I +judge you a ministrant most acceptable to your Goddess, as a most fit +and suitable Vestal. I judge that no girl naturally austere, frigid and +self-contained could be half so pleasing to Vesta as a tempestuous child +like you who curbs her temper and schools her outward behavior all she +can in the effort to be all she ought to be; whose feelings even tame +themselves without any effort of hers in the holy atmosphere of the +Atrium. + +“Manifestly you are telling the truth about your acts, your impulses +and your thoughts, I judge you a pure-minded, clean-hearted Vestal, +most suitable for her duties. Vesta understands and is glad of your good +intentions and pleased with your struggles to master yourself. You +are most acceptable to her. You will bring no curses on Rome, but your +prayers will be heard and you will bring many blessings on the Empire. +Be comforted!” + +“I am,” said Brinnaria simply, “and I shall stay comforted.” + + + + +BOOK II--THE REVOLT OF DESPONDENCY + + + +CHAPTER VIII - SCOURGING + + + +AFTER her audience with the Emperor, Brinnaria felt more at peace with +herself, succeeded better in curbing her native wildness, incurred less +and less disapprobation and won increasingly the respect and affection +of her elders. Her outbursts were less frequent and less violent; she +learned to hold her tongue, to appear calm, to stand with dignity, to +move with deliberation. Her admiration for Causidiena and Numisia and of +their statuesque attitudes and queenly movements helped her a great deal +by both conscious and unconscious imitation. It helped her more to find +that she was succeeding better than Meffia. At first Brinnaria had been +notably more prone than Meffia to assume gawky or ungainly postures, +and, as she was the bigger of the two, she was the more conspicuous. + +Before long she began to improve in her bearing, but Meffia did not. +Brinnaria held herself erect, head up and shoulders back. Meffia +slouched and sagged along, a semi-boneless creature, her clothing +hanging on her baggily and unbecomingly. + +The difference was particularly noticeable at meals. + +In the Roman world all well-to-do people lay down to meals luxuriously +extended on broad sofas. Brinnaria had always had trouble about her +meal-time attitudes, and her mild easy-going mother had often had to +speak to her and bid her remember herself. In the Atrium she had found +her legs kept up their old habits of getting into strange postures, her +feet seemed distressingly in evidence, and her knees always in the wrong +place. + +Causidiena, tactful and sympathetic, solved the problem of how to +influence her by getting her to watch Meffia and to contrast her with +Manlia and Gargilia. + +They were almost as statuesque as their two elders, who reclined at +table in attitudes scarcely less majestic than those of the Fates on the +Parthenon pediment. Meffia sprawled uncouthly and was forever spreading +her knees apart, generally with one up in the air. Her postures were so +disgusting that Brinnaria was hot all over with determination not to be +like Meffia. + +She succeeded. + +Great was her exultation when she perceived that it was no longer +Brinnaria and Meffia who gave cause for concern to Causidiena, but +Meffia and Brinnaria, great her triumph when she made sure that +Causidiena had ceased worrying about her, or worried only at long +intervals, but was perpetually solicitous concerning Meffia. + +Meffia was indeed a cause of solicitude. She was stupid, slow and idle +about her lessons, tearful on the slightest provocation, inert at all +times and generally ailing, though never actually ill. She never looked +clean, no matter how faithfully her maid toiled over her; she could +somehow reduce, in an amazingly short time, the neatest attire to the +semblance of mussed and rumpled rags; she slouched and shambled rather +than walked, she lolled rather than sat. + +Her hands were feeble and ineffective, her writing remained a childish +scrawl, no matter how much she was made to practice, she dropped things +continually and frequently spilt her food at meal-time. Most of all was +her awkwardness manifest in the temple. + +The temple was circular, its roof supported by eighteen splendid marble +columns, the intervals between which were walled up to the height of not +much more than five feet, the space from the top of the low wall to the +roof being filled in with magnificent lattices of heavy cast bronze; +so that the temple was a pleasant, breezy place on warm days, but very +draughty in chilly weather and bitterly cold in winter. It contained +no statue, nor any other object of worship, except in the center of +its floor the circular altar on which burned the sacred fire, solemnly +extinguished and ceremonially rekindled on each first of March, the New +Year’s day of the primitive Roman Calendar, but which must never at any +other time be permitted to go out, upon whose continual burning depended +the prosperity of Rome, according to the belief implicitly held by all +Romans from the earliest days until Brinnaria’s time, and for centuries +after. The extinction of the perpetual fire, whether by accident or +by neglect, was looked upon as a presage of frightful disaster to the +nation, as an omen of impending horrors, almost as the probable cause +of national misfortunes. Without qualification or doubt the people of +Brinnaria’s world believed that, as long as Vesta’s holy fire burned +steadily and brightly, Rome was assured the favor and protection of her +gods; that, should it die out, their wrath was certain to be manifested +in terrible afflictions involving the entire population. + +The care of the fire was the chief duty of Brinnaria and her five +associates, as it had been of their predecessors for more than nine +hundred years. As maple was the sacred wood in the Roman ritual, maple +only was used for the holy fire. The size of the pieces used and their +shape was also a matter of immemorial ordinance. Each piece was about +a cubit long, about the length of the forearm of an average adult, +measured from elbow to finger-tips. Each piece must be wedge-shaped, +with the bark on the rounded side and the other two sides meeting at a +sharp edge where had been the heart of the trunk or branch from which it +had been cut. Each piece must have been clean cleft with a strong sweep +of the axe. The pieces varied from sections of stout trunks to mere +slivers from slender boughs. All were of dry, well-seasoned wood, +carefully prepared. + +The placing of these on the fire was a matter of ritual and might be +done no otherwise than as prescribed. It was quite a delicate art to lay +the necessary piece in just the right place and at just the right angle; +it required more than a little good sense and discretion to know just +when a piece was required, for the fire must not burn violently nor must +it smoulder, it must be steady but not strong. This discretion, this +good sense, Meffia was slow to acquire. The art of laying the wood +properly she acquired very imperfectly. She did it well enough under +direction; but, even with Causidiena watching her, she was likely to +drop the piece of wood on the floor, or, what was worse, to drop it on +the fire instead of laying it on. The scattering of ashes on the floor +of the temple was held unseemly, that live coals should fall from +the Altar was considered almost sacrilegious. Meffia, more than once, +perpetrated such appalling blunders. Very tardily did she learn her +duties; only after four years could she be trusted to take her regular +turn in care of the fire and to stand her watch of half a night each +time her turn came between sunset and sunrise. + +During these four years she had grown into a not unpersonable young +woman, for Roman girls were generally young women at fourteen years of +age. She was never ruddy or robust, always pale, delicate-looking and +fragile-seeming, never actually ill, but usually ailing, peevish, limp +and querulous. Life in the Atrium largely consisted in the effort to +keep Meffia well, to make sure that she was not overtired, to +foresee and forestall opportunities for her to blunder, to repair the +consequences of her mistakes, generally to protect and guide her. + +In the same four years Brinnaria had developed into a muscular girl, +tall, amply fleshed, robust, rosy, full of healthy vigor, lithe and +strong. She was radiantly handsome, knew it, and was proud of it. Her +duties she knew to the last, least detail, and Causidiena trusted her +quite as much as Manlia or Gargilia. + +One spring night it was Mafia’s watch until midnight, at which time +Brinnaria was to relieve her. It was the custom that, at the end of her +watch, the Vestal on duty made sure that the fire was burning properly +and then left it and herself waked her relief, it being entirely +inconceivable that, under roof and protected all round by bronze +lattices, a properly burning fire could go out in the brief space of +time required to leave the temple, enter the court-yard, cross it, +ascend the stairs and for the relieving Vestal to reach the temple by +the same path reversed. + +Brinnaria was a sound sleeper. She woke in the pitch dark with the +instant conviction that she had slept long past midnight, with a sudden +qualm of apprehension, of boding, almost of terror. + +She was a methodical creature for all her wildness, and very neat in +her habits. By touch, almost without groping, she dressed in the dark. +Silently she slipped out of her room, noiselessly she closed the door, +softly she groped her way to the stairs, down the stairs out into the +courtyard to the corner of the colonnade. + +There, a pace or two beyond the pillars, under the open sky, she peered +up. + +The gray light of dawn was faintly hinted in the blackish canopy of +cloud above her. + +Swiftly she flitted the length of the court, whisking past the +dimly-seen columns; swiftly she traversed the three small rooms at its +eastern end, panting she plunged through the dark doorway into the dark +temple. + +There was no flicker of fire-light on the carved and gilded panels of +the lofty ceiling; the ceiling, in fact, was invisible, unguessable in +the gloom. + +There was no glow upon the altar, not even a glimmer of redness through +the ashes. + +Brinnaria held her hand over the ashes. Nowhere could she discern more +than the merest hint of warmth. + +On the back of her hands, as on the back of her neck, she could feel the +chill of the faintly stirring dawn wind that breathed through the bronze +lattices and across the temple interior. + +She felt among the wood piled ready, found a slender sliver of a cleft +branchlet, and methodically ploughed the ashes across and across. She +did bring to the surface a faint redness, but not even one coal which +could have been blown into sufficient heat to start a flame on her +splinter of dry maple. + +A sound assailed her ears. + +Meffia snoring! + +Guided by the gurgling noise she found Meffia crumpled in a heap on the +mosaic floor against the base of one of the pillars. + +Brinnaria kicked her once viciously and shook her repeatedly. + +Slowly, dazedly, Meffia half awoke, whining: + +“Where am I?” she gasped. + +“In the temple!” Brinnaria replied. + +“Oh!” Meffia exclaimed, “what has happened?” + +“You went to sleep, you little fool,” Brinnaria raged at her, “and the +fire has gone out.” + +“Oh! what shall we do?” wailed Meffia, “what shall we do?” + +“Do?” snarled Brinnaria. “It’s plain enough what you have to do. Go +to your room, go to bed and go’ to sleep, stay asleep, keep your mouth +shut, say nothing, pretend you woke me at midnight, pretend you had +nothing to do with the fire going out, pretend you know nothing about +it, keep your face straight, keep mum, leave the rest to me!” + +“But,” wailed Meffia, “if they think you let the fire go out you’ll be +scourged for it.” + +“Well,” snapped Brinnaria, “what’s that to you? Go to bed.” + +“But,” Meffia insisted, “I let it go out. I ought to take the blame, not +you. I ought to be scourged with you.” + +“You insufferable little idiot,” Brinnaria hurled at her, “you never +could stand a flogging, you’d die of it most likely. To a certainty +you’d be ill, and have to be sent off to be nursed and kept away for a +month or more to recover. I won’t have Causidiena worried with any such +performances. And as sure as the fire is out, you’d behave like the poor +creature you are. You’d scream and howl and faint and shame us all. + +“No flogging of you if I can help it! + +“Now, go to bed!” + +“But,” protested Meffia, “why need either of us be flogged? I have +tinder and flint and steel in my room. We could light the fire and no +one ever know it.” + +“You imbecile child! You silly baby! You wicked, horrible, sacrilegious +girl!” Brinnaria stormed. “You irreligious, atheistical, blasphemous +wretch! To save your hide you’d desecrate the temple, pollute the Altar, +anger Vesta, make all our prayers in vain, bring down curses without +count on Rome and all of us. Be silent! Don’t you dare to speak another +word! Off to bed with you!” + +“But,” Meffia trembled, “you hate me; why do you take my punishment?” + +“I don’t hate you,” hissed Brinnaria. “I despise you! And I’ve told you +why I’m going to take the licking. Off to bed with you!” + +“But,” Meffia still persisted, “what will you do?” + +“Do?” whispered Brinnaria. “Do? Why I’ll curl up where you’ve left a +warm spot on the floor and go to sleep and sleep till some one finds me. +I can sleep any time.” + +“But think of the scourging!” Meffia insisted. + +“I shan’t,” Brinnaria maintained. “I shan’t think of it a moment. I +never did mind a licking. It’s bad enough while it lasts, but soon over. +No licking will worry me. I’ll sleep like a top. Now to bed with you, or +I’ll break every bone in your worthless body!” Meffia started to speak +again; Brinnaria caught her gullet in one strong, young hand, clutched +her neck with the other, and craftily pressed one thumb behind one of +Meffia’s ears. + +Meffia squeaked like a snared rabbit. + +“There!” Brinnaria whispered fiercely. “Now you know how badly I can +hurt you when I try. If you let on that it was you and not I that let +the fire go out what I did to you then won’t amount to anything to what +I’ll do to you. I’ll kill you. Promise you’ll keep mum.” + +“I promise,” gasped Meffia. + +“Go to bed!” Brinnaria hissed. + +Meffia went. + +Brinnaria, left alone, did all she could to make the ashes on the Altar +look like the remains of a fire that had died out of itself, to efface +all signs of her efforts to find live coals under the ashes. She judged +that she had succeeded pretty well. + +Then she composed herself on the floor and was asleep in ten breaths. + +There Manlia found her when the daylight was already strong. + +When wakened Brinnaria merely remarked: + +“It can’t be helped. I always did sleep too sound.” That day was a +gloomy day in Rome. The report was noised abroad that the holy fire +had gone out and a chill of horror spread through all classes of the +population, from the richest to the poorest. + +The Romans were very far from being what they are represented to have +been by unsympathetic modern writers on them. Practically all modern +writers have been unsympathetic with the Romans, for the Romans were +Pagans and all modern writers on them have been more or less Christians, +chiefly interested in Pagans because most Pagans were in the later +centuries converted to Christianity. With that fact in the foreground of +their thoughts and with the utterances of Roman skeptics and dilettantes +well in view, most modern writers assert what they sincerely believe, +that the Romans had only the vaguest and most lukewarm religious faith, +and no vivid devout convictions at all. + +The facts were entirely the other way. There were agnostics among the +cultured leisure classes, there were unbelievers of various degrees +everywhere in the towns and cities. But the mass of the population, +not only universally, all over the countryside, but collectively in the +urban centers, believed in their gods as implicitly as they believed +in heat and cold, birth and death, fire and water, pleasure and pain. +Government, from the Roman point of view, was a partnership between the +Roman people, as represented by their senate, and the gods. Under the +Republic every election had appeared to the Romans who participated in +it to be a rite for ascertaining what man would be most pleasing to the +gods to fill the position in question. Under the Empire the selection +of a new Emperor, whether a confirmation by the senate of the previous +Emperor’s accredited heir, or an acclamation by the army of the +soldiers’ favorite, appeared to the Romans as the determination of the +gods’ preference for a particular individual as their chief partner. + +The choice of war or peace, of battle or maneuvering for delay, seemed +to the Romans the taking of the advice of the gods, who manifested their +injunctions by various signs, by the appearance of the liver, heart, +lungs and kidneys of the cattle and sheep sacrificed, by the flight +of birds, by the shape of the flames of altar-fires, all regarded as +definite answers to explicit questions; who also made suggestions +or gave warnings by means of earthquakes, floods, conflagrations, +pestilences, eclipses, by the aurora borealis, by any sort of strange +happening. + +The extinction of the sacred fire in the Temple of Vesta was looked upon +as a categorical warning that the behavior of the Romans or of some part +of them or the conduct of the government was so displeasing to the gods +that the Empire would come to a sudden end unless matters were at once +corrected. All Romans believed that as implicitly as they believed that +food would keep them alive or that steel could kill them. + +Therefore the days after Meffia let the fire go out were gloomy days +in Rome. The report of a great defeat for their army, with a terrible +slaughter of their best soldiers would not have depressed the crowds +more. + +The people were as dazed, numb and silent as after the first news of +a terrific disaster. Every kind of public amusement or diversion was +postponed, merry-making ceased everywhere, the wildest and most reckless +felt no inclination towards frivolity, even the games of children were +checked and repressed, gravity and solemnity enveloped the entire city +and its vast suburbs. The men talked soberly, as if at a funeral; while +for women of every degree, but especially for the matrons of the upper +classes, the three ensuing days were days of prayer and fasting. + +For the Pontiffs they were anxious and busy days. + +Both Emperors were away from Rome, Lucius Verus in Greece, on his way +home from Antioch and the great victories of his three years’ campaign +against the Parthians, Marcus Aurelius in Germany hastening from point +to point along the headwaters of the Rhine and Danube, desperately +resisting the pertinacious attacks of the Marcomanni. The Pontiffs +were without their chief and acted under the leadership of Faltonius +Bambilio, Pontifex of Vesta, the busiest and most anxious of them all. +In consultation with the august College of Pontiffs, hastily assembled +at the Regia, a splendid building occupying the site of Numa’s rustic +palace, near the great Forum and close to the Temple of Vesta, he +arranged for the necessary ceremonial of expiation and atonement. + +Besides the fasting of the women all over the city, besides their +day-long and night-long prayers, besides the sacrifices which each +matron must personally offer in her own house, besides the sacrifices +which must be offered for the matrons in the Temple of Castor and in the +less popular women’s temples in every quarter of the city, there must he +public sacrifices of cattle, sheep and swine, there must be solemn and +gorgeous processions; every sort of ceremonial traditionally supposed +to mitigate the wrath of the gods, to placate them, to win their +favor, must be carried out with every detail of care, with the utmost +magnificence. + +Meanwhile, and above all, the negligent Vestal must be punished; and at +once the sacred fire must be ritually rekindled. + +The ritual rekindling worried and exhausted Bambilio not a little. + +The procedure was traditional and rigidly prescribed in every detail. +The sacred fire might not be rekindled by anything so modern as a flint +and steel, far less by anything so much more modern as a burning glass. + +The primitive fire drill must be used and the fresh fire produced by the +friction of wood on wood. + +The ritual prescribed that a plank of apple wood, about two inches +thick, about two feet wide and about three feet long, should be placed +on a firm support, upon which it would rest solidly without any tendency +to joggle. At its middle was bored a small circular depression, about +the size of a man’s thumb-nail and shallow. Into this was thrust the +tapered end of a round rod of maple wood about as thick as a large man’s +thumb. The upper end of the rod fitted freely into a socket in a ball of +maple wood of suitable size to be held in the left hand and pressed down +so as to press the lower end of the rod into the hole in the apple wood +plank. Round the middle of the rod was looped a bow-string kept taut by +a strong bow. By grasping the bow in his right hand and sawing it back +and forth, the operator caused the rod to whirl round, first one way and +then the other, with great velocity. The friction of its lower end soon +heated up the hole in the apple-wood plank, and round that were piled +chips of dry apple-wood, which, if the operator was strong and skilled, +soon burst into flame. + +Bambilio was fat and clumsy. Before he had succeeded he was dripping +with perspiration, limp with weariness and ready to faint. But succeed +he did. The quart or more of apple-wood chips burst into flame at last; +Causidiena, standing ready with the prescribed copper sieve, caught the +blazing chips as they were tilted off the plank, conveyed them to the +Altar, placed maple splinters on them, and soon had the sacred fire +burning properly. + +The punishment of the guilty Vestal was even more a matter of concern, +of trepidation. She must be scourged that very night, and, as in respect +to the rekindling of the fire, every detail of what must be done was +prescribed by immemorial tradition, long since committed to writing, +among the statutes of the order. + +The scourging must be done by the Pontiff himself. + +The scourge must be one with a maple-wood handle and three thongs of +leather made from the hide of a roan heifer. In each thong were knotted +the tiny, horny half-hoofs of a newborn white lamb, eight to a thong, +twenty-four in all. These bits of horny hoof tore and cut terribly the +bare back of the victim. It was prescribed that the scourge must be laid +on vigorously, not lightly. + +The Vestal scourged must be entirely nude. As it would have been +sacrilege unspeakable for a man to see the ankle or shoulder of a +Vestal, let alone her entire body, it was enjoined that the scourging +take place at midnight, in a shut room, and that a woolen curtain should +hang between the Pontifex and his victim. + +Bambilio was terribly wrought up at the prospect of the perplexing and +delicate duty before him. He was fat and short-winded and would suffer +from the effort of laying on the blows. He was as pious as possible and +quaked inwardly with the dread that, in spite of the dark room and the +curtain, he might catch a glimpse of his victim and bring down the wrath +of the gods on himself and on Rome. And, apart from all else, he was +shame-faced and hot and cold at the idea of being in the same room, +even in a darkened room screened by a curtain, with a naked Vestal. +He blushed and shuddered. To be sure, it was prescribed that one other +Vestal was to be in the room, on the same side of the curtain as the +victim, to say when the scourging had continued long enough and the +negligent Vestal had been sufficiently punished. But this comforted +Bambilio very little. + +He wished the ordeal over. + +At midnight he stood in the dark, close to the curtain. The darkness +was not as dark as he should have liked. Some ghost of a glimmer of +starshine filtered into the room and he could make out the shape of the +curtain. He waited, scourge in hand. + +Presently Numisia spoke, told him that Brinnaria was prepared for her +beating, took his left hand and guided it in the dark. He felt the +curtain’s edge against his wrist, felt a warm soft elbow, grasped it, +and at once gained a notion of the direction in which he was to lay on +his blows. + +He struck round the other side of the curtain and felt that the scourge +met its mark, but slantingly and draggingly. He tried again and seemed +to do better. + +For the third blow he made the scourge whistle through the air. + +“Hit harder, you old fool,” spoke Brinnaria, “you’re barely tapping me!” + That made him angry and Brinnaria experienced as severe a scourging as +any fat old gentleman could have compassed. + +She did not shriek, sob or whimper: not a sound escaped her. She +suffered, suffered acutely, particularly when one of the lamb hoofs +struck a second time on a bleeding gash in her back or on a swollen +weal. But her physical pain was drowned in a rising tide of anger +and wrath. She felt the long repressed, half-forgotten tomboy, hoyden +Brinnaria surging up in her and gaining mastery. She fairly boiled with +rage, she blazed and flamed inwardly with a conflagration of resentment. +It was all she could do not to tear down the curtain, spring on +Bambilio, wrench his scourge from his hand and lay it on him. She kept +still and silent, but she felt her inward tornado of emotion gaining +strength. + +When Numisia spoke Bambilio let go Brinnaria’s arm and stepped back +a pace. “My daughter,” he said, “you have been punished enough. Your +punishment is accomplished. This is sufficient.” + +Then Brinnaria spoke, in a voice tense, not with pain, but with fury: + +“You won’t hit me again?” + +“No, my daughter,” said Bambilio, “no more.” + +“You have quite done beating me?” she demanded. + +“Quite done,” he replied. + +Then, unexpectedly to herself, Brinnaria’s wrath boiled over. + +“Then,” she fairly yelled at him, “I’m going to begin beating you. Shut +your eyes. I’m going to pull down the curtain!” + +Numisia made a horrified grab at Brinnaria and missed her. Brinnaria +gave her a push; Numisia slipped, fell her length on the floor, struck +her head and either fainted or was stunned. + +Bambilio, his eyes tight shut, the instant after Numisia’s head cracked +the floor, heard snap the string supporting the curtain. + +He shut his eyes tighter. + +He felt the scourge wrenched from his limp fingers, felt the back of +his neck grasped by a muscular young hand, felt the impact of the +twenty-four sheep-hoofs on his back. + +Through his clothing they stung and smarted. + +There came another blow and another. Bambilio tried to get away, but he +dreaded unseemly contact with a naked Vestal and did not succeed in his +efforts. + +The blows fell thick and fast. He was an old man exhausted by a long day +of excitement and by his exertions while scourging Brinnaria. + +His knees knocked together, he gasped, he snorted: the pain of the blows +made him feel faint; he collapsed on the floor. + +Then Brinnaria did beat him, till the blood ran from his back almost as +from hers, beat him till the old man fainted dead away. + +When her arm was tired she gave him a kick, threw the scourge on him and +groped for Numisia. + +Numisia had sat up. + +“My child,” she said, “why did you do it?” + +“I don’t know,” snarled Brinnaria. “I was furious. I did it before I +thought. Are you hurt?” + +“No,” said Numisia. “Don’t tell anyone you pushed me. I’ll never tell. I +don’t blame you, dear.” She fainted again. + +Causidiena, waiting under the colonnade of the courtyard, was appalled +to descry in the gloom a totally naked Brinnaria, a mass of clothing +hanging over her arm. + +“My child,” she protested, “why did you not put on your clothes?” + +“I don’t care who sees me!” Brinnaria retorted. “I’m boiling hot; I’m +all over sweat and blood and my back’s cut to ribbons.” + +“What are you going to do?” Causidiena queried. + +“I’m going to bed,” Brinnaria replied. “Please send Utta to me and tell +her to bring the turpentine jug and the salt box.” + +“My dear,” Causidiena objected, “you’ll never endure the pain!” + +“Yes, I shall,” Brinnaria maintained. “I’ll set my teeth and stand the +smart. I don’t mean to have a festered back. I’ll have Utta rub me with +salt and turpentine from neck to hips; I’ll be asleep before she’s done +rubbing.” + +“I’ll come and see she does it properly,” Causidiena said. + +“Better not,” said Brinnaria. “Numisia and Bambilio need you worse than +I do.” + +“Why?” queried Causidiena. + +“After Bambilio was done beating me,” Brinnaria explained calmly, “I +beat him. Numisia tried to stop me and somehow fell on the floor and +was stunned. She came to after I was done with Bambilio, but she fainted +again. I beat him till he is just a lump of raw meat, eleven-twelfths +dead, wallowing in his blood like a sausage in a plate of gravy.” + +“My child!” Causidiena cried, “this is sacrilege!” + +“Not a bit of it!” Brinnaria maintained, a tall, white shape in the +star-shine, waving her armful of clothing. + +“I have pored over the statutes of the order. It was incumbent on me +to keep still and silent all through my licking. But I defy you or any +other Vestal or any Pontiff or Flamen or either of the Emperors to show +me a word on the statutes of the order or in any other sacred writing +that forbids a Vestal, after her thrashing, to beat the Pontifex to red +pulp. I have. You’d better go help him; he might die. And poor Numisia +needs reviving. I’m all right; send me Utta and the salt and turpentine, +and I’ll be fit for duty in a day or two.” + +“You terrible child!” said Causidiena. + + + +CHAPTER IX - ALARMS + + +THE next year was the year of the great pestilence. Pestilence, indeed, +had ravaged Italy for five consecutive summers previous to that year. +But the great pestilence, for two centuries afterwards spoken of merely +as “the pestilence,” fell in the nine hundred and nineteenth year after +the founding of Rome, the year 166 of our era, when Marcus Aurelius and +Lucius Verus had been co-Emperors for a little more than five years and +Brinnaria had been almost five years a Vestal. It devastated the entire +Empire from Nisibis in upper Mesopotamia to Segontium, opposite the isle +of Anglesea. Every farm, hamlet and village suffered; in not one town +did it leave more than half the inhabitants alive; few cities escaped +with so much as a third of the population surviving. Famine accompanied +the pestilence in all the western portions of the Roman world, and from +famine perished many whom the plague had spared. + +This disaster was, in fact, the real deathblow to Rome’s greatness and +from it dates the decline of the Roman power. It broke the tradition of +civilization and culture which had grown from the small beginnings of +the primitive Greeks and Etruscans more than two thousand years before. +During all those two thousand years there had been a more or less steady +and a scarcely interrupted development of the agriculture, manufactures, +arts, skill, knowledge and power of the mass of humanity about the +Mediterranean Sea; men who fought with shields and spears and swords, +also with arrows and slings, believed in approximately the same sort of +gods; wore clothing rather wrapped round them than upholstered on their +bodies as with us; reclined on sofas at meals; lived mostly out of doors +all the year round; built their houses about courtyards, and made rows +of columns the chief feature of their architecture, and sheltering +themselves in colonnades, sunny or shady according to the time of the +year, the chief feature of their personal comfort. Up to the year of the +great pestilence that civilization had prospered, had produced a +long series of generals, inventors, architects, sculptors, painters, +musicians, poets, authors, and orators. Everywhere men had shown +self-confidence, capacity, originality, power and competence and had +achieved success for two thousand years. + +The great pestilence of 166 so depleted the population that Rome never +again pushed forward the boundaries of her Empire. Some lucky armies +won occasional victories, but Rome never again put on the field an +overwhelming army for foreign conquest, never again could fully man, +even defensively, the long line of her frontiers. + +All classes of the people suffered, but most of all the rich, the +well-to-do, the educated and the cultured classes of the towns and +cities. And the main point of difference between the great pestilence +and the others which had preceded it was the universality of its +incidence. For two thousand years pestilence had occurred at intervals, +but previously not everywhere at once. + +If one country suffered others did not; if half the Mediterranean world, +even, was devastated, the other half escaped. From the immune +regions competence and capacity had flowed into the ruined areas and +civilization had gone on. But the great pestilence left no district +unharmed. In six months it killed off all the brains and skill, all the +culture and ingenuity in the Empire. There were so few capable men left +in any line of activity that the next generation grew up practically +untaught. The tradition of two thousand years was broken. In all the +Mediterranean world, until centuries later, descendants of the savage +invaders developed their new civilization on the ruins of the old; no +man ever again made a great speech, wrote a great book or play or +poem, painted a good picture, carved a good statue, or contrived a good +campaign or battle. The brains of the Roman world died that year, the +originality of the whole nation was killed at once, the tradition broke +off. + +Of course, the survivors did not realize the finality of the disaster, +but they did realize its magnitude. In Italy, fed almost wholly by +imported food, the famine was most severe. In Italy the pestilence +was most virulent. Men disputed as to whether the great army of Lucius +Verus, returned home from its splendid victories in Parthia, had brought +with it a form of pestilence worse than that of the five previous years, +or whether the returned soldiers had merely been a specially easy +prey to the pestilence already abroad in Rome. Whichever was true, the +veterans died like flies. So did the residents of Rome. Whole blocks of +tenements were emptied of their last occupier and stood wholly vacant; +many palaces of the wealthy were left without so much as a guardian, +the last inmate dead; the splendid furnishings, even the silver plate, +untouched in every room; for the plague had so ravaged Rome that there +were not even robbers and thieves left to steal To the survivors, since +genuine piety as they knew it was all but universal among the Romans, it +was some small comfort, a faint ray of hope, a sign that the gods were +not inexorably wrathful, that, after Rabulla’s death, there was no +case of pestilence in the Atrium, not even among the servitors, that +no Vestal so much as sickened. Through it all the six remained hale and +sound. + +But when the plague abated, only Manlia had any living relations left +her. The other five had lost every kinsman and kinswoman, to the ninth +and tenth degree. + +Brinnaria’s parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and cousins were +all among the victims. This left her grave and sobered with grief, with +no trace of her girlish wildness apparent. + +It also left her enormously rich, one of the wealthiest women in Rome. + +Not a tenth so wealthy, but still very rich, it left Almo, Vocco and +Flexinna, all of whom survived. + +As the plague had been rife, worse each year, for some seasons before +the year of the great pestilence, so, ebbing yearly, it continued for +some years after its acme. As soon as the worst was manifestly over the +life of Rome began to revive to some degree, the city dwellers plucked +up heart, the refugees began to return to their town houses, hunger +and terror were forgotten, industry and commerce rallied, bustle and +activity increased from day to day, and, slowly indeed, but steadily, +Rome returned to its normal activity and appearance. The survivors +reconstructed their life on the old lines, the streets and squares +were again thronged, the public baths, those vast casinos of ancient +club-life, were daily crowded with idlers. + +The repopulation of the city brought into it many rich families from +towns all over the Roman world. + +Their influx sent up the price of large residences and caused much +activity in the renting and selling of properties suitable for the homes +of people of ample means. + +Brinnaria, without a male relation of even the remotest degree, came to +lean more and more on Vocco, the husband of her chum Flexinna. He was a +young man of not unpleasing appearance and of courtly manners, but very +haughty, reserved and silent by nature; and exceedingly spare, lean +and wiry, with black hair and brows, a complexion as if tanned and +weatherbeaten and an habitual frown. He was fond of Brinnaria and unbent +to her more than to most of his acquaintances. She treated him as a sort +of honorary cousin and turned over to him many details of the care of +her large and scattered property. He took upon himself in her interest +the sale or management of her distant estates, found for them capable +overseers or purchasers at advantageous prices, bought slaves where they +were needed, arranged for the marketing of the more important products +and accounted to her for the proceeds. + +About her town properties he had more trouble and some exasperation, +for he found the apparently practical and unsentimental Brinnaria oddly +unwilling to disturb the contents of the palaces in which her kinsmen +had lived and died. She was naturally a good business woman and all +her instincts urged her to increase her capital and her income by every +means within her power and at every opportunity. Yet, when Vocco came to +her with offers of high prices for the various buildings which she +had inherited he could induce her to arrange for the sale only of the +smaller and less valuable houses, or of those tenements which had been +owned merely to rent, but had never been inhabited by any members of +the Brinnarian clan. At the suggestion of preparing for sale any of the +palaces of her near kinsfolk she balked; from the barest hint towards +moving the furniture in her father’s home she recoiled in horror. + +Vocco found himself faced by invincible femininity, with the possession +of which he would not have credited Brinnaria. At first he was +irritated. As he missed sale after sale he became more and more +aggravated. But he kept his temper, held his tongue and waited for +Brinnaria’s mood to alter. Her sentimentality gradually waned as the +prices offered steadily mounted. After long hesitation she gave orders +to sell at auction the furniture from the house of a distant cousin, and +to rent the house. That broke the spell. One by one the late abodes of +the Brinnarii were cleared and sold; sold furniture and all, cleared and +rented, or rented furnished. + +The former dwellings of her aunts and uncles she was reluctant to +disturb. She felt a sort of sacredness about these splendid houses where +she had been merry as a child. When at last she made up her mind to part +with one she would not give the order to sell it until she had gone over +it herself and selected some pieces of furniture which she specially +valued. Vocco tried to dissuade her, but she would not listen to him. + +Her visit to the vast, empty palace had a most depressing effect on her. +All her grief at her countless bereavements rushed back over her in a +flood and overwhelmed her. She would not allow a stick of furniture to +be moved and withdrew her consent to the sale. + +Vocco was patient and silent. + +After a time this mood, too, wore off. + +She had that particular dwelling emptied and sold and, once that first +step taken, under the pressure of hugely profitable offers, sold all the +other properties. + +In each case she insisted on inspecting the houses room by room before +anything was moved. After the first she had no hysterical qualms, +did not show any outward emotion, selected what she meant to keep for +herself, ordered the sale of the rest, remained calm through it all. + +Finally Vocco came to her with a most tempting offer for her childhood +home. Brinnaria took a night to think it over. + +She had not entered the place since her father’s funeral. He had been +the last of the family to die, three months after his wife, and some +days after his last surviving son. During the lengthy interval the +palace had stood shut fast, cared for only by a few slaves, and those +not lifelong family servants, but recent purchases; for the pestilence +had carried off with their masters nearly all the home-bred house +slaves. + +At the thought of going through the deserted halls and silent rooms +Brinnaria winced. But she nerved herself up to it. She named a day on +which she meant to face the ordeal, asked Vocco to order the palace +swept and dusted, and announced to Guntello, almost the sole survivor of +her father’s personal servitors, that he was to accompany her. + +When the day came she set out, not in her carriage, but in her litter +with eight Cilician bearers, her lictor running ahead and Guntello and +Utta walking behind. + +She began her survey accompanied by Guntello and Utta. But when she came +to the nursery and schoolroom she sent the two away, told them to wait +for her in the peristyle, shut herself in and had a long, hard cry; +precisely as if she had been, as of old, a little girl hurt or angry or +vexed. After she had wept till no more tears flowed she felt relieved +and comforted. + +She called Utta, had her bring water, bathed her face and sent the maid +away again. + +Then she resolutely examined room after room. The second floor took a +long while, for there were many doors to open and close for the last +time. + +There was a third floor, a feature possessed by few dwellings in Rome +in ancient times. The Imperial Palace, which later towered to even +seven stories, was unique in Brinnaria’s time, in the possession of five +superposed floors. The great palace of Sallust, near the Salarian Gate, +had but three. + +To the third floor she mounted. Before she had investigated half the +rooms she found a door fast. What was more, as she tried it, she thought +she heard a sound, as of human movement, inside that room. + +Brinnaria was no weakling. Methodically she tried that door with her +full, young strength, tried it all along its edge opposite its hinges, +tried it at the middle, at the top, at the bottom. She made sure the +door was not stuck or jammed; she was convinced that it was bolted +within the room. + +She leaned over the railing of the gallery and called Guntello. + +The odd note in her voice brought that faithful giant up the stairs, two +steps at a time; the beams of the house, even the marble steps of the +stair, seemed to quiver under his tread. + +She had him try the door. He agreed that it was bolted. + +“Can you break it in?” she queried. + +Guntello laughed. “Without half trying, little Mistress,” he replied. + +Brinnaria’s voice came hard and sharp. + +“You in that room!” she called, “unbolt that door and come out, or it +will be the worse for you. I’ll count ten and then order the door burst +open.” She began to count. + +She heard the bolt shot back. + +She nodded to Guntello. + +He gave the door a push. + +Before them stood Calvaster, his attitude and countenance expressing +cringing cowardice, cloaked by ill-assumed effrontery. He did not speak, +trying to appear unconcerned. + +“What are you doing in my house?” Brinnaria demanded. + +“I do not wonder that you are astonished to see me here and angry as +well,” Calvaster replied, “but the explanation is simple. I learned that +you were proposing to sell the property. I had a curiosity to see it as +it is. I found means to slip in and go over the building. I counted on +leaving before you arrived. I miscalculated, that is all. Awkward for +both of us, but unintentional on my part.” + +“I don’t believe half of that rigmarole,” snapped Brinnaria. + +“It is all true, nevertheless,” Calvaster asserted with an air of +injured innocence. + +“One thing is plain, anyhow,” Brinnaria declared. “You bribed one of my +slaves. Which one did you bribe?” + +Calvaster kept his lips pressed tight together. + +“March him downstairs, Guntello,” Brinnaria commanded. + +Calvaster winced and made as if to dodge. Big as he was Guntello was +wonderfully quick. In a flash he had the intruder by the neck. Utterly +helpless Calvaster was marched down the stairs. + +In the courtyard Brinnaria had brought before her the half dozen slaves +who had charge of the empty house. They stood in a row fidgeting and +glancing at each other. + +“Now,” she demanded of Calvaster, “point out which one you bribed.” + Calvaster remained motionless and mute. + +“Hurt him, Guntello,” said Brinnaria. + +Guntello applied a few simple twists and squeezes, such as schoolboys of +all climes employ on their victims. + +Calvaster yielded at once and indicated one of the suspects. + +“Throw him out, Guntello,” said Brinnaria. + +When Guntello returned he cheerfully inquired, with the easy assurance +of an indulged favorite. + +“Shall I kill Tranio, Mistress?” + +“No!” said Brinnaria viciously. “I wouldn’t have a toad killed on the +word of that contemptible scoundrel. Give Tranio a moderate beating and +hand him over to Olynthides to be sold at auction without a character.” + Her survey of her former home and her selection of the ornaments, +pictures, statues, articles of furniture and other objects which +she desired reserved for herself she completed with an air less of +melancholy than of puzzled thought. + +She was off duty for all of that day and night and was to dine with +Flexinna and Vocco. In the course of the pestilence they had inherited a +magnificent abode on the Esquiline. In particular it had a private bath +with a large swimming-pool. The Vestals were the only ladies in Rome who +might not enjoy the magnificent public baths, to which all Roman society +flocked every afternoon, somewhat as we moderns throng a beach at a +fashionable seaside resort. Brinnaria, who loved swimming, felt +the deprivation keenly. The Atrium had luxurious baths, but no +swimming-pool. Whenever Brinnaria dined with Flexinna she particularly +enjoyed the swim the two always took together before dinner. On that +afternoon, while they were revelling in the water, Brinnaria told +Flexinna of her adventure. + +“I can’t conjecture,” she said, “what motive brought him there. I have +been racking my brains about it ever since it happened and it is an +enigma to me.” + +“No riddle to me,” Flexinna declared. “It’s as c-c-clear as +d-d-daylight.” + +“If you are so sure,” said Brinnaria, “explain. I have no guess even.” + +“Why,” expounded Flexinna, “he was there to c-c-collect evidence +against you. He hates you because you wouldn’t marry him and he is +t-t-tenaciously resolved to be revenged. He is on the lookout for +anything that might d-d-discredit you. He hoped to spy on an interview +b-b-between you and Almo, for he surmised that you would arrange to have +Almo meet you in the empty house!” + +“The nasty beast!” cried Brinnaria, shocked. “How dare he?” + +“Oh, b-b-be sensible,” Flexinna admonished her. “You know the k-k-kind +he is. He’s b-b-bound to impute to everybody what he would d-d-do in +their p-p-place. Any man under the same circumstances would jump at the +same suspicions.” + +“But why?” queried Brinnaria, bewildered and angry. + +“Think a minute,” said Flexinna. “To suspect all women is a +c-c-convention, almost an axiom, with most men. All men like +C-C-Calvaster assume that every married woman is interested in some man +b-b-besides her husband, or in almost any man, and if married women are +under suspicion, on the assumption that one husband is not enough, of +c-c-course you Vestals, who haven’t even a husband, are doubly under +suspicion.” + +“Bah!” snarled Brinnaria, “you make me cross!” + +“Facts are facts,” Flexinna summed up. + +Brinnaria did not retort. She had climbed out of the tank and was seated +on the edge, the drops streaming off her in rivulets, watching the +ripples her toes’ made in the water. + +“Facts are facts,” she echoed, “and conjectures are merely conjectures; +what is more, conjectures ought to have some basis in fact. You assert, +as if you know it to be true, that Calvaster expected Almo to meet me +to-day. But Almo is at Falerii.” + +“No, he’s not,” Flexinna retorted; “he’s b-b-been in t-t-town t-t-ten +d-d-days and has had the old house on the C-C-Carinae reopened. He’s +settling d-d-down to live in Rome.” + +Brinnaria flushed. + +“I think,” she said, scrambling to her feet, “that he might have had +enough consideration for me to stay in the country.” + +“So d-d-do I,” said Flexinna. + + + +CHAPTER X - CONFERENCE + + +SOME months later, during one of the brief and infrequent breathing +spells in his ten years’ fight to beat off the raids of the Marcomanni +and other Germanic tribes, Aurelius returned from the Rhine frontier +to Rome. As soon as she was reasonably sure that the Emperor was rested +from the fatigues of his journey and had disposed of the worst of his +accumulated routine duties, Brinnaria sought a second audience with the +chief of the nation. + +She was then a tall, grave girl of nineteen, looking and behaving like +a woman of twenty-five. Very handsome she was, full-fleshed without a +trace of plumpness, fun breasted without a hint of overabundance. Her +brown hair, now grown long again after its ceremonial shearing at her +entrance into the order of Vestals, was so dark that it was almost +black. Arranged in the six braids traditional for Vestals and wound +round her head like a coronet it became her notably. Her complexion +was creamy, with a splendid brilliant color that came and went in her +cheeks. Her expression of face was an indescribable blend of kindliness +and haughtiness towards others, of austerity and cheerfulness inwardly, +of intellectuality and comprehension towards life at large. She had +acquired the statuesqueness of the conventional Vestal attitudes and +movements, but she sat and stood so that all beholders felt a vivid +impression of her vitality, of reserve strength, incomparably beyond +anything possessed by her five colleagues. + +Her stately pacing as she walked always appeared the conscious restraint +of what, of itself, would have been a swinging stride. She wore her +clothes with an unanalyzable difference, with a sort of effrontery, as +Calvaster put it in talking of her to his cronies. + +On her way to the palace, erect in her white robe amid the gorgeous +crimson hangings of her gilded state coach, she meditated on the great +dissimilarity between the feelings with which she had gone to her first +audience with the Emperor and those with which she now approached his +abode. Then she had been palpitating with conscientious scruples and +childish dreads, now she was sure of herself and of her errand; then she +had thought chiefly of her mother and of the traditions of her family +and clan, now not only her mother was dead, but the whole family of +the Epulones had perished except herself and the Brinnarian clan was +represented by but three families, her relationship to which was fainter +than any assignable degree of cousinship; then she had been full of +elation at her lofty position in the world, now she was perfectly at +home in her environment and felt no emotion at the thought of it. + +At the palace she found herself in the same vast room, alone with a +somewhat older and graver Emperor, now sole ruler of their world since +the death of his colleague, Lucius Verus. He greeted her kindly, with an +air of effort to conceal his weariness, and when both were seated asked +her errand. + +“In the first place,” she said, “I want you to tell me whether you are +satisfied with the reports you have had of me.” + +Aurelius half smiled. + +“I am well pleased in respect to all your actions but one,” he said. +“You have certainly done better than I expected or hoped. You have +curbed your wild nature so well that, of late years, you have behaved +altogether as a Vestal should. Even earlier your conduct was creditable, +since from the very day of your promise to me, your outbursts were less +and less frequent and also less and less violent. Once only have you +acted so that I felt displeased when I heard what you had done and feel +somewhat displeased even yet.” + +“I suppose,” Brinnaria ruminated, “you mean my larruping Bambilio.” + +“Yes,” Aurelius admitted. “That was in a sense unforgivable. Had I been +in Rome at the time I must have animadverted upon it with the greatest +severity.” + +“If you had been in Rome at the time,” spoke Brinnaria boldly, “I should +not have been flogged by any mere deputy Pontifex of Vesta. It would +have been incumbent upon you, as Pontifex Maximus, yourself to give +me my ceremonial scourging. To you I should have been, of course, as +submissive after my beating as while it was going on. No harm would have +been done.” + +The Emperor smiled more than a half smile. + +“I am not sure,” he said, “that any harm was done, anyhow.” + +“What!” cried Brinnaria. “You excuse me? You defend me?” + +“Softly! Softly!” the Emperor caveatted, raising his hand. “I do not +acquit you nor exonerate you. But I do make allowances. And we must +distinguish. We must not confuse the causes of my disapprobation of what +you did with my reasons for believing that no harm resulted. Nor, for +that matter, must we confound with either of them those qualities +in yourself and those circumstances of the case which make me feel, +illogically perhaps, but very possibly, more inclined to thank you than +to censure you.” + +“Castor be good to me!” cried Brinnaria. “Am I dreaming?” + +“Don’t interrupt, you disrespectful minx,” the Emperor laughed; “this is +a lecture. Hear it out. + +“In the first place you were technically right in saying that there +is not one word in any sacred writing or in the pronouncements of the +Pontiffs or the statutes of the Vestals to forbid a flogged Vestal from +beating her scourger. Just as Solon in the code of laws which he drew up +for the Athenians prescribed no penalty for the slayer of his father or +mother, because, as he explained when the omission was pointed out to +him, he had thought that no child would ever kill its parents; so no +framer of rubrics ever foresaw the necessity of forbidding what no one +conceived of as possible. All persons were assumed to be too much in +awe of Pontiffs, for anyone to dare to raise a hand against any Pontiff, +least of all a Vestal against her spiritual father. The world had to +wait for a Brinnaria to demonstrate that the unimaginable could come to +pass. + +“Yet the very fact that it was nowhere written down that you must not do +it makes your act all the worse. It was monstrous. + +“But fortunately it was not sacrilegious. The person of the Pontifex of +Vesta is not sacrosanct and a blow inflicted on him is not to be rated +as impious. Your act called for no expiation, personal or official. It +did not desecrate him, or you, nor the place where it occurred. + +“Besides, I cannot resist admitting to you,”--and the Emperor smiled an +unmistakable smile--“that this particular Pontiff of Vesta is farther +from being sacrosanct than any of his predecessors. As far as I can +learn, Faltonius is a worthy man, pious and scrupulous. But he is +absurdly unfitted for his office in appearance and in manner. The +self-importance he assumes, the pomposity with which he performs his +duties, would be too great even for an Emperor. He irritates all of +us. All of us have wished, secretly or openly, many, many times, that +Bambilio would be soundly thrashed. He has been. You did it. The story +was too good to keep. It has not, of course, been allowed to leak out, +and become common property. But it is known to all the Flamens, Augurs +and Pontiffs. + +“I need not describe to you the feelings of my colleagues, nor my +own. To hint them is perhaps too much; to particularize them would be +unseemly. I may say, however, that just as street-boys acclaim you by +shouting: + +“‘That’s the girl that saved the dog;’ just as all over the Empire you +are talked of as the lady who rescued the retiarius; so at any festival +or ceremonial in which the Vestals take part, many a dignitary is likely +to nudge his neighbor, indicate you and whisper: + +“‘That’s the priestess who walloped Bambilio!’ You are not infamous, you +are famous. + +“As for myself I am the more inclined to feel indulgent towards you +because I understand how you felt. You were boiling with rage at being +struck by any one, as any noble girl would be. Yet you would have +controlled your fury but for the fact that you knew that you yourself +had done nothing to deserve chastisement, that you were suffering for +another’s fault.” + +“What!” cried Brinnaria. + +“Oh, yes,” Aurelius continued, easily. “Causidiena and I are quite +agreed on that point. Neither she nor I have questioned Meffia, and we +do not mean to; partly because we are sure enough, without any admission +from her; partly because the matter is best left as it is, without any +further notice. But, with the exception of Meffia, it is quite certain +that, from the Vestals themselves down to the last slave-girl, every +resident of the Atrium believes that not you but Meffia let the fire go +out, and that you took the blame due her. And we can all conjecture your +motives, as we all applaud them. + +“Meffia might never have survived a scourging, might have been ailing +for months. Rome wants no sick Vestals nor dead Vestals. Causidiena is +grateful to you, all the Atrium is grateful, I am grateful.” + +“But,” said Brinnaria, wide-eyed, “I had supposed that, if Meffia was +suspected, there would be an inquisition and testimony under oath and +that it would be obligatory that the Vestal actually at fault must be +scourged.” + +“For once,” the Emperor smiled, “you have failed to read accurately the +statutes of the order. It is positively refreshing. I was beginning to +feel that you were altogether too accurate. In fact the scourging of a +delinquent Vestal is a mere disciplinary regulation, designed to assure +the maintenance of the fire. It is not in the nature of a mandatory +atonement. It has nothing in common with an act of expiation. It has +nothing to do with placating or propitiating the Goddess. It has no +likeness whatever to the punishment of a guilty Vestal.” + +“That reminds me,” said Brinnaria, “of what I came for. I’m as grateful +as possible for what you have said to me, surprised that Causidiena and +you so easily saw through my deception, delighted that you take it as +you have, more than delighted to find you so kindly disposed towards me. +I need all the kindness you can feel towards me. I want to come to +the point, to the reason why I am here. I want you to answer me this +question: Suppose I were accused of the worst possible misconduct, +formally accused before you, what then?” + +“Then,” said Aurelius, “you would have a fair trial.” + +“I believe I should,” said Brinnaria. “You would be perfectly fair and +entirely just. And a fair trial would be a novelty. Almost never has an +accused Vestal had a fair trial.” + +“Not even if acquitted?” the Emperor suggested slyly. + +“No,” Brinnaria retorted vigorously. “Even most of those absolved were +not tried fairly. Postumia was, if the records from so long ago are to +be trusted. The first trial of the third Licinia was perfectly fair, the +minutes are very full and there is no shade of bias in the discussion of +her many interviews with Crassus, while the court was plainly genuinely +amused at his greed for desirable real-estate and at his artifices to +induce her to sell cheap. Fabia, in the same year, was justly treated. +But most of the other acquittals were quite as bad as most of the +convictions to my mind. I can discover almost no trial where both sides +had a full hearing, where the judges tried to get at the facts and kept +their attention on the evidence, where the finding as the expression of +the opinions rather than of the partiality of the Pontiffs. Almost +every verdict on record, it seems to me, was dictated by favoritism or +influence or prejudice or wrath.” + +“You seem to think you know a great deal about the subject of trials of +Vestals,” Aurelius remarked. + +“I feel justified in thinking so,” Brinnaria maintained. “Where the +minutes of the court have perished, as, of course, in the case of all +the trials before the capture and burning of the city by the Gauls, I +have read what records remain. Where the court records are extant I have +pored over every word of the minutes of the proceedings and of every +document attached.” + +“That is more than ever I found time to do,” Aurelius meditated. “Your +conclusions ought to be of interest. What are they?” + +Brinnaria drew a deep breath and went on. “I am convinced,” she said, +“that sometimes the accused received what she deserved, but generally +by accident. The judges were swayed by politics or expediency or +clan-feeling or popular clamor or self-interest, not by reason. + +“Nobody could form any judgment, at this distance of time, about the +guilt or innocence of Oppia or Opimia or Popilia or Porphilia or Orbilia +or Orbinia or whatever her real name was, it all happened so long ago. +But Minucia and Sextilia and Floronia and the rest were just victims of +judicial ferocity, as far as I can make out.” + +“You are then of the opinion,” the Emperor asked, “that there never was +a guilty Vestal?” + +“No,” Brinnaria replied judicially, “I don’t go as far as that. +Varonilla was probably depraved and with her the two Oculatas. I don’t +think their suicides prove anything against them, for a woman is just as +likely to hang herself because she despairs of a fair hearing as because +she is conscious of guilt. What weighs with me is that they were brought +up in the dissolute times of Messalina and Nero and that their relatives +were leaders of the most profligate set in Rome, cronies of Vitellius +and his coterie. But although Cornelia was bred and raised in the same +social atmosphere, I am quite as sure of her innocence as all the +world was the day she was buried and as everybody has been ever since. +Domitian just murdered her without a trial, for political reasons +and for moral effect. So likewise Marcia and the second Licinia were +judicially murdered by that fierce old Cassius Longinus Ravilla. He was +elected to convict them, not to try them, and he conducted the trial +not to arrive at a fair verdict, but to force a conviction. He had some +excuse, for their acquittal on their former trial had been brought about +by idiotic bribing and family influence. On the face of the evidence +at both trials they were clearly blameless. What ruined them was their +trying to shield Aurelia, surely the worst Vestal on record, for she had +everything in her favor, ancestry, upbringing and surroundings; she +was beyond doubt innately vicious. She was the only Vestal ever justly +convicted and justly punished, in my opinion. All the others were +irreproachable women, doomed to a frightful fate by prejudiced judges. +In general, an accused Vestal is as good as condemned, the whole +population so dreads the results of acquitting an unclean priestess. And +it is the easiest thing in the world for a Vestal to be accused. Refuse +to sell a farm for half its value, snub a bore, order a slave flogged +for some unbearable blunder, and the result is the same; false +accusation with perjured witnesses and a quick conviction most likely to +follow.” + +“The subject seems to have occupied your mind a great deal,” Aurelius +ruminated. + +“Do you wonder?” Brinnaria flamed at him. “What in all the tragic, +dramatic history of Rome is half so dramatic or a tenth so tragic as the +burial of a Vestal? In all our centuries of ferocity, what seems half so +cruel? + +“I know that cruelty played no part in the invention of burial alive +as a punishment for a convicted Vestal. I know that no caitiff could +be found so vile as to dare to lay hands on a Vestal, no ruffian so +reckless as to venture to end her life by sword or axe, by strangling +or drowning. The most impious miscreant has too much fear of the gods to +injure a consecrated priestess. The only way to dispose of a delinquent +Vestal is to bury her alive. But the cruelty of it makes me choke. I +think of the last hours of each of those who were punished, of their +thoughts as the time drew near, of their feelings alone in the dark +waiting for death to release them from their sufferings. + +“I think of these underground cells as they are now, out there under +that awful unkempt, ragged waste lot by the Colline Gate. I think of the +skeletons mouldering on the mouldering cots, of the bones, the fragments +of crumbling bones, the dust of crumbled bones on the stone floors, as +they have been for hundreds of years, as they will be for thousands of +years to come. The cot cannot yet have decayed from under what is left +of poor Cornelia; her bones must still be entire and in order on the +webbing; Aurelia’s bones must be whole yet and Licinia’s and Marcia’s; +of Floronia there can hardly be left a trace by now, where Minucia died +there can be only an empty stone cell. Do you wonder that the subject +haunts me?” + +“I do and I do not,” Aurelius replied. “I’ve let you relieve your mind +by talking yourself tired. Now listen to me. I think I understand you +perfectly. When you came to me before the novel responsibilities of your +office had worn on your nerves and you were quivering with dread +for fear you might be an unworthy priestess. Now the perils of your +situation are wearing on your nerves and you are brooding over the +possibility of accusation, trial, conviction and burial alive. + +“I sympathize with you. As an Emperor I am exposed to the perpetual +danger of assassination. You would be amazed if I detailed to you my +various narrow escapes from death at the hands of disappointed seekers +after preferment, of incompetent officials, of knaves with grievances +of every conceivable and inconceivable variety and of fools with no +grievance at all. You would be astonished if I merely reckoned the +occasions on which I have just missed being killed. It gets on my +nerves, more or less, of course. But I strive to bear up and remain calm +and I succeed more or less. I keep before me the fact that as an +Emperor I am obnoxious to countless hatreds from fancied slights and to +uncountable schemes of revenge. I reflect that the danger is inseparable +from the state of my being an Emperor. I try to be philosophical about +it. + +“So you must attempt to remain placid under the strain of the knowledge +that you are exposed to perpetual danger of a horrible death from +conviction on false accusation. It is part of the condition of being a +Vestal. If anything goes wrong in the way of earthquake, flood, famine, +pestilence, conflagrations or defeats, the populace are likely to cry +out that some Vestal is unclean and bringing down on the Empire the +wrath of the gods. That nothing of the kind has occurred during our +recent afflictions has been clearly due to the holiness of Dossonia and +Causidiena and to their reputation for strict discipline. But the danger +of popular outcry is always real. Then there is the fact that far too +large a proportion of our population are dissolute and that, among the +dissolute-minded, all Vestals are under suspicion because they are the +only women among our nobility who remain unmarried long after they have +reached marriageable years. You must learn to take all this as a matter +of course and to go sedately about your duties. + +“Of course, I lessen my danger by keeping about me many trusty guards. +It is right that you should appeal to me in your anxiety. I shall do +what I can to lessen your danger. I believe in you. If you were accused +before me it would take notably plain and convincing evidence to make +me believe anything against you. I shall put my opinion of you on record +among my papers of instructions to my successor. I shall declare it to +all the Chief Pontiffs. I shall verbally and in writing make it clear to +all concerned that you seem to me all you should be, that you are in an +unusually difficult and delicate position and that in case of accusation +all presumption should be in favor of your innocence and against the +sincerity of your accusers. + +“And now I think that ought to satisfy you and cover all the general +considerations. Let us come to the special consideration that interests +me chiefly. You have never come to me because you became gradually +unnerved by brooding which had no specific origin or cause: + +“Tell me plainly and outspokenly what has happened to you lately to +fill your mind with thoughts of buried Vestals, trials, accusations and +terrors?” + +Brinnaria thereupon related her encounter with Calvaster and her +conversation with Flexinna. + +The Emperor stroked his beard and reflected. + +“I have never liked Calvaster,” he said, “and if I had been in the city +to consider recommendations for appointments he would, assuredly, never +have become a member of Rome’s hierarchy. I deem him gravely unsuited +for even the most minor grade of Pontiff. He appears to me to be +mean-spirited, narrow-minded and base. I am inclined to believe of him +all that you impute. But, even to such as Calvaster, we should be just. +You complained, a while ago, that the judges of the Vestals had ignored +both the facts and the evidence. Let us weigh the evidence and stick +to the facts. The only fact you present is that you caught Calvaster +lurking in your house. You confess that you were completely puzzled as +to what motive brought him there. Your friend surmises an explanation +which disgusts, insults and alarms you. You instantly credit it +completely, think and act as if it were unquestionably true. I am +prejudiced against Calvaster, as I have told you, yet I am by no means +ready to admit that your beliefs about him are evidence against +him, more particularly as they rest solely on Flexinna’s ingenious +conjectures. The notion is plausible and it is entirely congruent with +Calvaster’s character as I imagine it. Yet it is, after all, merely +a plausible surmise. I am just as inclined to accept Calvaster’s own +explanation; he is an inquisitive busybody. + +“My verdict is that you need feel no alarm.” + +“But I do,” Brinnaria maintained; “I do not feel safe with Calvaster +anywhere about.” + +The Emperor reflected. + +“The peace of mind of a Vestal,” he said, “is a matter of such +importance to the state that I should not hesitate about ordering +Calvaster banished to some comfortable and healthy island and there +detained permanently, were it not that the fellow has made himself +almost indispensable. The pestilence has carried off practically all the +adepts at interpretation of the sacred writings, the prophetic books, +the rubrics and rituals of the various temples, the statutes of +the brotherhoods and other orders of the hierarchy. Only Numerius +Aproniarius remains of the older experts, and he is afflicted by an +incurable and loathsome disease which he cannot long survive. Of the +younger men only Calvaster has displayed any aptitude for learning this +delicate and complex art, only he has attained any reputation. He is, in +the circumstances, indispensable, I cannot banish him merely to please +you. You will have to endure Calvaster.” + +Brinnaria pulled a wry face, as in her mutinous girlhood. She felt +entirely at ease with Aurelius. + +“I perceive that I must endure him,” she said, “but if you cannot banish +Calvaster, perhaps you’ll oblige me by banishing Almo.” + +“Almo!” the Emperor exclaimed, “what can you have against that gallant +lad? Have you turned against him? I thought you were unshakably resolved +to marry him, thought you loved him unalterably!” + +“I shall marry him, if we both live,” Brinnaria replied, “and most +unalterably love him. But I love life and daylight and fresh air and my +full meals even more. I have a splendid appetite, I loath stuffy places, +I hate the dark. The idea of being shut in an underground cell to +suffocate slowly or starve to death even more slowly goes against my +gorge. I see myself in my mind’s eye climbing down that ladder, like +poor Cornelia, I see myself stretched out on my cot, watching the ladder +being pulled up by the executioner, watching the workmen fitting in the +last stone of the vault. I imagine myself staring at the wick of the +lamp and wondering how long the oil will last and debating whether it +would be better to blow out the light and save the oil to drink and +so live longer in the dark, or to let the lamp burn out and have the +discomfort of the light a little longer. I fancy myself conning over +the trifle of bread, milk, fruit and wine left on the stone slab, and +speculating as to how long they’ll keep me alive. + +“Bah! + +“No burial alive for me. + +“Acquittal on a trial is a poor way for a Vestal to escape the worst +possible fate, a last resort, at best, and an unchancy reliance, even as +a last resort. A far better way is never to be tried, and the best way +never to be tried is never to be accused. You’ve been good enough to +tell me that if I were accused you’d be predisposed to favor me in all +possible ways and that you’ll give instructions as to your opinion of +me. Any directions of yours would be respected by any heir of yours. But +you yourself have just remarked how slender is an Emperor’s hold on life +or on power. I may survive both yourself and your son. I might be tried +before men we should never think of now. I must arrange so that I shall +never be tried at all, I must live so that I shall never be accused. + +“Now I am unlikely ever to be accused in relation to any man except +Almo. Everybody knows I mean to marry Almo when my service is at an end, +everybody knows he means to marry me, everybody knows we are in love +with each other. That puts me in the most delicate position any Vestal +ever was placed in. I have been extremely careful. I have never spoken +to Almo since I was taken for a Vestal, have never met him except by +accident, have never set eyes on him except against my will; have never +even written a letter to him or received one from him. I have been, I +think, wise, judicious and controlled. But Almo has not behaved well +towards me.” + +“Indeed!” Aurelius interjected. “You surprise me! What has he done?” + +Brinnaria flushed. + +“A girl in love,” she said, “is a fool, but she has sense enough to +conceal her foolishness. A man is different. I suppose men are made that +way and can’t help themselves. But a man in love is not only a fool, but +he parades his foolishness. Almo sent me messages by all sorts of mutual +acquaintances, by his people and mine, by Flexinna, by Nemestronia, by +Vocco, begging me to exchange letters with him. I was angry and said +so and repeatedly sent him word that he was most foolish and most +inconsiderate. I sent him word that if he wanted to please me he’d +ignore my existence and stay as far from me as possible. + +“He actually begged his father to be allowed to come to Rome. His father +had the good sense to keep him at Falerii. Now that all his relatives +are dead and he is his own master he has come to Rome. If he had any +real consideration for me he’d go to Aquileia, at least he might be +satisfied with a popular resort like Baiae or a place like Capua; Capua +has enough baths and shows and horse-races and gladiators for anybody. + +“But he must come to Rome, when a spark of sense and decency would tell +him to keep as far away as he could. It stands to reason that I could +never be accused of misconduct with him if he had never been within a +hundred miles of me since I was taken for a Vestal. + +“But he must needs come to Rome. He has opened his house on the Carinae +and had it put in order and has settled down to such a life here as is +usual with wealthy leisured idlers. He has bought additional furniture, +as if his father’s house wasn’t stuffed with everything magnificent, he +has bought curios and antiques and statuary and pictures and books. He +spends most of his time in the barracks of his favorite gladiatorial +company or at the stables of the Greens, and the rest of it at the +afternoon baths. I sent Vocco to him to protest and to urge him to leave +Rome for my sake. The selfish wretch said he loved me and always would, +but he just could not live anywhere except at Rome. He stays here, in +defiance of my wishes and against all reason.” + +“That is not what I should have expected of him,” the Emperor meditated. +“I am surprised and far from pleased. I shall certainly find means to +relieve your mind as far as he is concerned.” + +“There is worse yet to tell,” Brinnaria went on. “You’d think that, if +he must stay in Rome he’d at least have the decency to keep away from +me and from places where he is likely to encounter me. He does just +the reverse. He haunts me, he waylays me. He prowls up and down the Via +Sacra and the Via Nova, he stands in the moonlight and stares up at the +outside windows of the Atrium; on festival days he waits outside of our +entrance to the Colosseum or of the Circus Maximus to watch me enter; on +any day he loiters about the portal of the Atrium to watch me come out +to my litter or my carriage, he dogs me on my airings.” + +“Hercules!” Aurelius exclaimed. “This is too bad!” + +“Too bad indeed,” Brinnaria pursued; “it would be bad enough from +anybody in his position, from him it is ten times worse than from anyone +else. You know how individual Almo is, how almost peculiar he looks, +how no one would mistake him for anyone else or forget him or fail to +recognize him. I have often tried to analyze the factors that go to +make him look so striking, but I cannot. He is perfectly proportioned +in every measurement, yet, somehow, he has a long-armed and long-legged +appearance different from that of any young man in Rome, he gives almost +the effect of reminding one of a spider or of a grasshopper or of +a daddy-long-legs. It makes him the most conspicuous, the most +recognizable man in all Rome. Why, if your son were to mingle in a +crowd, habited like any other boy in that crowd and Almo did the same, +and nobody in the crowd had any reason to expect to see either, Almo +would most likely be noticed sooner than Antoninus, recognized more +generally, more readily, further off and quicker.” + +“You are right,” Aurelius mused, “I never thought of that, but Almo is +unforgettable, striking and arresting to the eye beyond any lad in our +nobility.” + +“And being what he is,” Brinnaria raged, “he must needs arrange that +nearly every crowd I am in should see him at the same time as me. +Already thousands of reputable Romans must remember seeing us at the +same glance. Before long the majority will be ready to recall, if the +subject is broached, that they have habitually seen him wherever they +saw me. Some one will start the talk and presently all Rome will buzz +with the gossip that we are continually seen together. A charming state +of affairs for me if some busybody or some enemy of mine raises the +question of my fitness for my holy duties! I have protested. I’ve had +Vocco go to Almo and urge all these considerations on him, and the silly +boy says he can’t live without seeing me, that he longs for the sight +of me so he cannot control himself. How’s that for lover’s folly? One +minute he can’t live away from Rome, he loves Rome more than he loves +me; the next minute I’m the one object on earth which he must behold or +die. I’ve no patience with such imbecility.” + +“And I have very little,” said the Emperor; “just enough to imagine a +better way of disburdening you and of disposing of Almo than banishing +him would be. The lad is far too good to be wasting his time with the +horse-jockeys and charioteers and ostlers of the Greens, or brutalizing +himself with the companionship of ruffianly prize-fighters, belonging to +this or that speculator in the flesh of ferocious savages. He must find +some outlet for his energies and interests and is carried away by the +fashionable mania, which is corrupting our whole population, especially +our young nobles, and which, even at his tender age, fills the thoughts +of my son, to the despair of his tutors. + +“All Almo needs is worthy occupation. I’ll put the sea between him and +you and so put your mind at rest. I’ll make a man of him at the same +time. I’ll appeal to his pride and his patriotism. Rome needs such +keen-minded, capable youths on the frontiers. I’ll not give him too hard +or too unpleasant employment, not relegate him to Britain or Dacia +or Syria. I’ll send him to Africa to chase the desert nomads who are +harrying the borders of Numidia and Mauretania. He can gain credit there +without danger, can learn to command men and to know the great game +of war. Nepte and Bescera are pleasant little cities--he will be +comfortable between campaigns. I’ll see he sets out the day after +to-morrow, at latest.” + + + +CHAPTER XI - FAREWELL + + +Two days later, Brinnaria had a visit from Flexinna. Flexinna’s eyes +were dancing. + +“G-G-Guess where I’ve been,” she challenged. + +“I’m not good at guessing,” Brinnaria parried; “better tell me.” + +“I’ve b-b-been to the Palace,” Flexinna revealed. + +“What took you there?” Brinnaria queried, surprised. + +“I was sent for,” Flexinna declared, elated. + +“Who’d you see?” Brinnaria enquired. + +“The Emperor himself,” proclaimed Flexinna triumphantly. + +Brinnaria was very much astonished. + +“Better tell me the whole story,” she suggested. + +“Not much story,” said Flexinna. “Aurelius t-t-told me that he wanted +t-t-to see you again and that, as a formal visit from the Emperor +as P-P-Pontifex Maximus at the Atrium was unusual and was likely to +c-c-cause g-g-gossip, whereas you Vestals are c-c-continually at the +Palace to ask favors for all sorts of people who p-p-pester you to use +your influence with the Emperor, he thought it b-b-best to suggest +that you apply for an audience t-t-to-morrow. He said he wanted the +intimation c-c-conveyed to you as unobtrusively as p-p-possible and +d-d-desired p-p-particularly that no one should ever know or g-g-guess +that it had b-b-been g-g-given. So he sent for me, as your b-b-best +friend, since he was sure I would never t-t-tell anybody. + +“B-B-Better send along your application for an audience. It was +p-p-plain to me that he has something agreeable to t-t-tell you. His +face was just as g-g-grave as usual but his eyes sparkled at me, +as d-d-different as p-p-possible from their habitual dull filmed +appearance. He was all k-k-kindliness and anticipation.” + +“I’m willing to take the hint, of course,” Brinnaria replied. + +Next morning she found Aurelius most cordial and informal in his +greeting to her. + +“I’ve been investigating Almo,” he said, “and I am more than pleased +with all I can learn of him. I see no reason for not telling you that, +from the very day you were taken as a Vestal, some of the most expert, +secret and trustworthy men in the employ of the information department +have had no other duties than to keep close watch upon you and Almo. I +have been over all the papers relating to him and to you, I have talked +with the men themselves. They all assure me that never once have you and +Almo met since he reached your father’s house a half hour too late. They +also report that, in the course of his injudicious moonings about your +haunts, he has always kept at a respectful distance. And except for +those same loverly danglings about places where he might catch glimpses +of you, I can find nothing against the lad. Everybody speaks most highly +of him. His former tutors and preceptors are enthusiastic in their +laudations of his capacities, abilities, diligence and attainments in +all matters pertaining to books and study. About Falerii he was regarded +as a fine specimen of a young nobleman, huntsman and swimmer, good at +all rustic sports, as haughty as the proudest when he was given good +cause to assert himself, but habitually affable, unassuming and sunny +tempered. Towards his father’s tenants and slaves he was most kindly +and nothing could be more to any man’s credit than his downright heroic +behavior from the very day the pestilence appeared on his estates, all +through the frightful period of its raging about Falerii, until the +neighborhood had somewhat recovered after the plague had abated. + +“The most extraordinary feature of the reports about him is that they +all agree as to his amazing devotion to you. All persons who know him +or know of him are unanimous in the opinion that he has never taken the +slightest personal interest in any human being except yourself; all are +emphatic in stating that he has certainly never manifested any affection +for anyone else. This is unprecedented. I never heard of such another +case. There is nothing astonishing about a young Roman declaring that +he would remain unmarried for thirty years in order to mate, ultimately, +with the girl of his choice. There is nothing wonderful about his +keeping his word. But any other youth I ever heard of would have +consoled himself variously, and variedly. Almo’s austere celibacy is a +portent in our world and altogether marvellous. It lifts his affair with +you out of the humdrum atmosphere of to-day and puts it on a level with +the legendary stories of heroic times, with the life-long fidelities of +the Milesian tales. + +“Under the stress of such severe and unflinching self isolation I do +not wonder that his broodings drove him to overstep the bounds of common +sense, that he was irresistibly compelled to leave Falerii, to come to +Rome, to loiter where he might, at least, behold you at a distance. I +shall make sure that he does so no longer. This very day he sets out for +Carthage, Theveste and the deserts to the south beyond the lagoons of +Nepte. But I cannot be angry with him for being unable to restrain his +longing at least to set eyes on you. And I see no reason why you two, +who have not exchanged a word in more than nine years, should not +meet here in this room and say farewell to each other before I put the +Mediterranean between you.” + +Brinnaria sprang up. + +“I see many reasons,” she declared, “and my feelings are all against +seeing Almo until my service as a Vestal is ended.” + +“I can well believe,” came the answer, “that you feel that way at the +first presentation of the idea. But I am your Emperor and also Chief +Pontiff of Rome. I am engaged at present in solving the problem of ow +best to ensure peace of mind to one of Rome’s Vestals. To ensure her +peace of mind I am about to relegate her future husband to important +duties on a far frontier of the Empire. I judge that he will better +perform his duties, that she will better perform hers, if she bids +him farewell in my presence. I am a lover of wisdom and a student of +wisdom.* I believe I possess some pretensions to wisdom. Will you not +defer to me in this? I am of the opinion that he will worry less about +you and you less about him if you see each other once before your twenty +years of certain separation begins.” + + *The wisdom of Marcus Aurelius was recognized during his + lifetime and is highly regarded even today, over 1900 years + later. His book, _Meditations_, remains in print and is + available through Project Gutenberg.--PG Ed. + +Brinnaria looked mutinous and gazed at the Emperor in silence. In +silence he waited for her to speak. At last she said, curtly: + +“I bow to your authority.” + +The Emperor struck his silver gong and a page appeared. Aurelius gave a +brief order. A few moments later Almo was ushered in. After his formal +salute to the Emperor he stood silent, his eyes fixed on Brinnaria. + +They made a fine picture. The ceiling of the immense hall was a +barrel-vault, of which the beams were stuccoed in cream-white, picked +out with gilding, while between them the depth of each soffit was +colored an intense deep blue, against which stood out a great gilt +rosette. The mighty pilasters, whose gilded capitals supported the +vaulting, were of many-veined dark yellow marble, polished and gleaming +like the slabs of pale yellow marble which panelled the interspaces. The +high-moulded wainscot was of red and green porphyry, somberly smooth +and shining. Against it, below the wall-panels, were set great chests +of carved and gilded wood, while about the bases of the pilasters were +placed groups of settees and armchairs, similarly carved and gilded +and richly upholstered. The floor was paved with an intricate mosaic +of parti-colored bits of marble, its expanse broken only by the great +gorgeous carpet before the throne, by the chair set for Brinnaria, by +the onyx table, supported on sculptured monsters like griffons, beside +the throne, and by the throne itself, a curule seat of ivory mounted +with gold, its crimson cushion glowing, set far out in the room. + +Before the throne stood Aurelius, his head bare, the long ringlets of +his hair and beard sweeping his shoulders and his bosom, one foot a +trifle advanced, the gold eagle embroidered on his sky-blue buskin +showing beneath the crimson silk robes, lavishly embroidered with a +complicated pattern of winding vines, bright blue and green, edged +with gold, which the etiquette of the time imposed upon even a +philosophically austere Emperor; on his right Brinnaria, erect and tense +in her white official habit, her square white headdress all but hiding +her coronet of dark braids, her veil pushed back from her flushed face; +the tassels and ribbons of her head-band, her great pearl necklace, the +big pearl brooch that fastened the folds of her headdress where they +crossed on her breast, and the bunch of fresh white flowers which it +clasped, rising and falling with the heaving of her bosom; facing +her, splendid in the gilded armor and scarlet cloak of a commander of +irregular cavalry, Almo. + +“You know why I have sent for you,” Aurelius reminded him. “Speak out.” + +Like a school-boy repeating a lesson by rote, Alma spoke. + +“Brinnaria,” he said, “the Emperor has remonstrated with me on my recent +folly. I am sincerely ashamed of myself and I wish to apologize to you +for my lack of self-control and for my lack of consideration for you. I +leave Rome before sunset and shall not return until I may return without +danger to you.” + +Aurelius looked at Brinnaria. + +“Caius,” she said, “I forgive you. I trust that you will win promotion +and honor where you are going and I am sure that you will do your duty +to the Empire. May the blessing of all the gods be on you and may you +return to me safe and well.” + +“And may I find you safe and well when I return,” spoke Almo. “Farewell, +Brinnaria.” + +“Farewell, Caius,” said she. + +The Emperor nodded and Almo bowed himself out. + +“Do you know,” said Aurelius, when they were alone, “I have been +thinking over what you said about Almo’s peculiar notability of looks. +It puzzles me as it puzzles you. He is not merely of distinguished +appearance, he is unusual, striking, unforgettable, conspicuous. I have +talked about it to several of my gentlemen-in-waiting, equerries and +orderlies. They have seen him lately about the stables of the Greens. +They all say that he is, in fact, as normally proportioned as any youth +alive, but they confirm what you said about his long-legged appearance. +Julianus used almost the same word you used, said Almo looked +‘Grasshoppery.’ They all say Almo is precisely the most unmistakable, +the most readily and quickly recognizable youth in all our young +nobility.” + +Brinnaria rose to go. Aurelius bent on her a kindly smile. + +“I have been talking about you with Faustina,” he said. “We are both +much interested by the strangeness of your fate, by the difficulty and +delicacy of your situation and by the wonderful constancy of you both. +Faustina and I are a most united pair, never happy out of each other’s +company and very proud of our domestic felicity. We are, if I may +use the word, rather prone to gloat over it, and, while continually +congratulating ourselves and each other, we cannot but mourn the +infrequency of such happiness throughout our Italian nobility. There +are few matrons in Rome as serenely happy as your friend Flexinna, few +indeed who find all their happiness in children, husband and household. +And of those who really enjoy their homes most are remarried after a +divorce, or even after two or more. Our society suffers from a plague +worse than the pestilence itself, a plague of greed for excitement, +eagerness for novelty, of peevishness and fickleness. + +“In this unhealthy atmosphere such households as Vocco’s are most +notable. And that you, who seem by nature fitted for just such +blessedness as has befallen Flexinna, should have been robbed of it by +a strange series of peculiar circumstances wins for you our interest +and our solicitude. Still more are our hearts drawn towards you by your +unwavering fidelity, alike to your present duties and all that they +imply and to that love which you have had to put away and forget, to the +ideal of that felicity which you have had to postpone so far. + +“Faustina desires an interview with you. She is now in the amber +gallery. I shall have you conducted there, if you do not object.” + +Brinnaria could not very well object and after an equerry, very stately +in his garb of duty, and two gaudily clad pages had escorted her through +what seemed like miles of corridors, she found herself alone with the +Empress. + +The Empress she had so far seen infrequently and spoken with only +seldom. It was impossible to be a Vestal, in the heyday of Rome’s +Imperial times, and not meet and know the Empress of Rome. Brinnaria +had seen her whenever they were both present at the Circus or the +Amphitheatre; had been close to her at all important state functions; +had occasionally dined with her at formal Palace banquets, when the +curved sofa about the Empress’ table was always occupied by the Empress, +the wives of the chief Flamens and the Vestals; but had hardly ever +exchanged a word with her. + +Faustina was endowed with the general healthiness with which Roman +noblewomen were blessed. But she had had the bad luck to suffer from +many and severe illnesses. These and her slow recoveries from them had +kept her away from very many official functions and public festivals. +Numerous had been the occasions on which Aurelius had appeared without +her. When she was well, indeed, they were always together, if possible. +A great proportion of his time, however, was occupied with official +duties of such a nature that, according to Roman etiquette, no woman +could participate in them. During such enforced separations Faustina +sought amusement. And with the overflowing energy and abounding vigor +which she displayed between her illness, she threw herself into +the whirl of her pleasures with such impetuosity, there was so much +rollicking and roistering about her favorite diversions that she +attracted to herself and kept around her just those elements of Roman +society with which the Vestals were least likely to mingle, professional +idlers, and what we moderns would call the fast set. Naturally, +therefore, Brinnaria and Faustina had never had any familiar +intercourse. This was their first real conversation. + +Faustina was not a large woman. She was of medium height, slender and +graceful. She was noted for the originality of her coiffures, which made +the most of her magnificent hair. Her hair Brinnaria noticed the moment +her eyes fell on her. + +Her habitual expression of haughtiness and boredom had vanished from the +Empress’s face and she was all kindliness and solicitude. + +Faustina put her at her ease at once. + +“I have always been so sorry,” she began, “that I was ill the day you +climbed over the balustrade of the podium and rescued the retiarius. +I’ve missed many a sight I regretted, I miss so much by falling ill +again and again, but I never missed a sight I regretted missing more +than that. Nothing more worth seeing ever happened in the Colosseum.” + +“I was terribly ashamed when I found what I had done,” said Brinnaria. + +“Of course you were,” the Empress agreed. + +This broke the ice between them and Faustina led her into a long +talk about all her past, her love affair, her life as a Vestal, her +bereavements, her embarrassing circumstances, her future, her hopes. + +Brinnaria left the Empress, feeling that she had found a real friend and +also feeling comforted at heart. + + + +CHAPTER XII -OBSERVANCES + + +BRINNARIA found that, with Almo definitely and permanently out of the +way, she did not worry about Calvaster. She also found that she did +not worry about Almo and that her glimpse of him had rather calmed +her feelings. She confessed as much to Aurelius when she had a third +audience with him before he left for the Rhine frontier, and she thanked +him for his insistence. + +With her mind at peace Brinnaria settled more and more into the routine +of her life and enjoyed it more and more. + +She came to feel keenly the spiritual significance of every detail of +the ritual observances in which she took part. Besides the maintenance +of the sacred fire, the Vestals had many obligatory duties. Every +sacrifice of the Roman public worship involved the sprinkling of the +sacred meal upon the head of the victim, if a live animal was offered, +or upon the fire, if the sacrifice was bloodless. Early in each ceremony +one of the small boys assisting the priest carried around to all the +participants in the act of worship a maple-wood box containing the holy +meal; from it each worshipper ladled a small portion into the palm of +his right hand; at a specified point in the course of the ceremonial +each participant sprinkled the meal as prescribed. + +The holy meal was made of very coarsely ground wheat, a sort of +grits, salted and toasted. It was prepared by the Vestals according +to immemorial custom. They were supplied with a sufficient quantity of +heads of wheat, the best of the produce of two of their estates, one +near Caere, the other near Lanuvium. These wheat ears were packed in +baskets and stored on the farms in dry, airy barns. There they were +kept drying and hardening their grains until the next spring. Then the +allotted baskets were brought into Rome. On the seventh of May, after +a ceremonial of prayer, the three elder Vestals began going over these +wheat-ears, sorting out those entirely perfect, and placing them in +larger baskets shaped like the big earthen jars in which the Romans +commonly tored wheat, olives, oil, wine and other similar supplies. +On the next day the wheat from the first day’s selection of ears was +separated from the straw, beards and chaff, was roasted and coarsely +ground. The resultant groats were then put away in great earthen jars in +the outer storeroom of the temple. On the third day they again selected +wheat ears, on the fourth they again prepared wheat-grits, and so on +alternately for eight days. By the evening of the eighth day they had +stored enough groats to make the sacred meal for one year’s ceremonies +of the entire Roman ritual. + +The salt with which they salted the holy meal was prepared with similar +invariable formality. Crude salt, obtained from evaporated sea-water +out of the sand-pits on the seashore near Lavinium, was conveyed to +the Atrium in small two-handled earthenware jars. This coarse, dirty, +dark-colored salt was dissolved by the three younger Vestals in boiling +water, which water might not be obtained from the lead pipes which +connected the Atrium with the general water-supply of the city’s +aqueducts, but must be drawn by the Vestals themselves and carried by +them in the earthenware jars from the famous fountain of Jaturna, at +which Castor and Pollux were fabled to have watered their white horses +after bringing to Rome the news of the victory at Lake Regillus. The +solution was purified by repeated boilings, the impurities being gotten +rid of by successive careful decantings of the liquid from one vessel +into another, so that the sediment might be left behind as the top +part was poured off. When sufficiently boiled down the solution was +recrystallized in shallow earthenware pans. The resulting slabs of +salt were harder than the pans and were freed from them by breaking the +earthenware with an ancient stone hammer, said to have been captured by +AEneas himself from a king of Ardea. The slabs of salt were sawed into +pieces with an iron saw, the pieces were pounded in a mortar, the fine +salt was thrown into an earthenware bowl and dried out in a kiln. When +dried a little powdered gypsum was stirred through it to prevent it from +again becoming moist. It was then stored in a tall jar with a tight lid, +which was kept in the outer storeroom of the temple, along with the jars +of meal. Three times a year, on the ninth of June, on the thirteenth +of September and on the fifteenth of February, with solemn prayers the +Vestals mixed the prepared salt with the prepared grits, the resultant +mixture being the sacred meal. + +On each First of March the fire in the temple was allowed to go out and +was solemnly rekindled by the friction of maple wood on apple wood, as +when the fire went out by accident. The temple was then decorated with +fresh boughs of green laurel, after the boughs put up the year before +had been removed. + +On May fifteenth the Vestals were the chief figures in a solemn +procession of the entire Roman hierarchy to the Sublician bridge, from +which the Vestals threw into the Tiber thirty dolls made of rushes, +fifteen representing men, fifteen women, each about two feet high. + +This offering to the river of effigies of men and women commemorated the +primitive human sacrifices by which the river was each year placated, +that it might not drown more by floods. + +On June fifth the inner storeroom of the temple was opened and its +treasures inspected by the Pontifex wearing his antique vestments. With +him entered always also the Chief Vestal clad in her austere habit with +all her badges of office. They were attended by the other Vestals, who +went through traditional pacings, haltings and prayers. The Temple of +Vesta was an enclosure from which all men were rigidly excluded. +The only exceptions to this immemorial taboo were a few of the more +important Pontiffs, and they might only enter on specified festal days, +and then must be in their full regalia. Also, in general, the temple was +closed against all women except the Vestals and their assistants. It was +open, however, from sunrise on the morning of each seventh of June until +sunset on the evening of the fourteenth of June. During this period +it was incumbent upon every Roman matron to visit the temple. And each +worshipper must walk the entire distance from her home to the temple and +must leave her house barefoot, barefoot she must walk from the temple to +her home. Only illness excused a Roman woman from this religious duty. +Few ever omitted it from indifference. + +During these eight days the temple was thronged. + +During these eight days also fell the great yearly festival of Vesta, +on the ninth of June, on which day also all millers kept holiday, with +processions and picnics to which the mill-donkeys were led decorated +with wreaths of flowers and strings of tiny, crisp-baked rolls. + +On June fifteenth the temple was ceremonially cleaned and the sweepings +and the ashes collected from the sacred fire for the year past were +solemnly carried in a stately procession to a prescribed spot on the +slope of the Capitol where a great pit was closed by a heavy maple-wood +door. In this pit the ashes were reverently buried. + +Besides these observances of their special cult the Vestals took part in +nearly every important sacrifice, procession and festival of the public +worship of Rome. They were busy women and among them Brinnaria was +anything but idle. She never found time hang heavy on her hands. + +So busied with her duties she passed three peaceful years, contented and +happy. There was but one drawback to life in the Atrium from Brinnaria’s +point of view. That drawback was Meffia. Meffia was never ill but never +well. Everything tired her. It tired her to walk upstairs, to stand for +any length of time, to do anything. She was forever sitting down to +rest or lying down to rest. Excitement exhausted her totally. She was a +perpetual worry to the other Vestals. + +Otherwise Brinnaria was very happy. Through Flexinna she had frequent +news of Almo. Ancient Rome had no institution, public or private, in any +way corresponding to our post office. But routes of trade and travel by +land and sea were well defined and traffic along them fairly regular, on +the most used routes almost continual. There were private organizations, +vaguely resembling our modern express companies, which forwarded +merchandise along the main-travelled routes and even into remote +regions. Their messengers took charge of bales, boxes and packages of +all sizes and also of letters. The service on the roads of Africa, +from Bescera, Nepte and Putea along the frontier of the desert, through +Lambese, Capsa and Thysdrus, to Carthage, by well-built vehicles with +frequent relays of horses on the excellent highroads was fairly +good. The ships from Sicily plied with almost the regularity of our +ocean-liners. Roads and road-service in Sicily were of a high quality of +excellence. The transit to Italy at Messina was a sort of ferry. Italy +was served by a network of roads always busy. Almo’s letters to Flexinna +were fairly regular and Vocco heard frequently from his friends among +Almo’s brother officers and sometimes from his military superiors. + +Almo was an immediate and brilliant success as a leader of scouting +expeditions, cavalry dashes, and, within a year, of raids in +considerable force. His men adored him at once; his fellow-officers +found him excellent company, unassuming and companionable, his +commanders came early to rely on him. He won an excellent reputation and +was universally regarded as a young officer of great promise, likely to +rise to high position and not unlikely to become famous. + +This kind of news delighted Brinnaria and promoted her peace of mind. In +great contentment she went about her duties, loving them more and +more from month to month, preparing the blessed salt, assisting at +sacrifices, participating in processions. + +Also interest in music and enjoyment of music came to play more and more +a part in her spiritual life. As a child she had hated music and had +been in continual conflict with her musical governesses. Even after she +entered the Atrium her aversion to learning anything about music had +given Causidiena a great deal of trouble. Later Brinnaria was docile, +but the reverse of enthusiastic. Only after Almo’s departure for Africa +did music begins to mean anything to her. + +But one keyed instrument was known to the ancients. That was a form of +organ, in effect and appearance not very dissimilar to a small portable +modern organ, with one bank of keys. Its mechanism, however, was very +different in respect to the construction of the pipe stops and bellows. +In particular, the steady flow of air to the pipes was obtained from +the pressure of water, and a receptacle partly filled with water was an +essential part of every Roman organ. From this feature it was called +the water-organ. The Emperor Nero had been a notable performer on the +water-organ and had interested himself in some improvements in its +mechanism. + +As with the modern organ, so with the Roman water-organ, the sonorous, +sustained and resonant notes lent themselves naturally to the expression +of religious emotion. + +Religious emotions, Brinnaria, at this period of her life, felt to an +overwhelming extent. She expressed them in long colloquies with Numisia +and Causidiena, in a tendency to be unnecessarily careful about her +duties, to pet her daily routine, as it were; and in an awakening to +the charms of music in general and of organ music in particular. She +developed into a capable performer on the water-organ, bought for +herself the finest to be found in all Rome, had it set up in the Atrium +in place of the old one which had belonged to the order of Vestals, and +sat before it for hours at a time. + +Her solitary communings with her favorite instrument became her chief +solace when she was: low-spirited, which was seldom, and her favorite +diversion when she was high-spirited, which was often. Moreover, her +rendition of well-known airs and he improvisings came to be a great +pleasure to all the inmates of the Atrium, most of all to Causidiena. + +Besides her many duties and her indoor amusements, Brinnaria found +time for much activity outside the Atrium. She had kept up her girlish +friendship for the sieve-maker Truttidius, and saw him occasionally, +sometimes ordering her litter halted before his shop and leaning out to +ask after his health and that of his family. Truttidius had an ailing +household, though he himself was always well and never seemed to get any +older. + +From her talks with Truttidius she came to take a personal interest +in the welfare of the countless tenants in her many properties in the +poorer quarters of the city. She visited some of them-a sort of approach +to modern slumming by the philanthropic rich. Such actions on the part +of a landowner and such an attitude of mind from any rich person toward +the poor was very unusual in the ancient world. Her behavior in this +regard won Brinnaria a sort of fame among the poor, as if she were a +live goddess moving among them. + +She had a healthy love of mere enjoyment too. Except when she happened +to be on duty watching the sacred fire, she never missed a theatrical +performance, a gladiatorial display or an exhibition of chariot-racing +in anyone of the vast race-courses flanked by tiers of stone-seats, +which the Romans called circuses. At all shows, whether of scenic +artists, fighting men or speeding horses, the Vestals had specified +seats, as good as the best. + +Besides these formal pleasures, she took great delight in mixing in +society merely for society’s sake. Moderns are likely to imagine that +the Vestals of ancient Rome were nuns or something like nuns. They were +nothing of the sort. They were maiden ladies of wealth and position +whose routine duties brought them into familiar association with all the +men important in the Roman government, hierarchy, nobility and gentry +and with their wives and daughters. They were women of such importance +in their world that their acquaintance was sought by all who had any +pretensions to being entitled to meet them and by shoals of social +bounders who had none. Their influence was so powerful that they were +unremittingly sought, waylaid, pursued and besieged by persons who hoped +to enlist their interest in the appointment or promotion of this, that +or the other connection or relative; by the same persons they were +continually overwhelmed with presents of flowers, fruit, delicacies, +dainties, ornaments, laces, garments, pieces of furniture, horses, +slaves, and of anything and everything capable of being made a present +of in the Roman world; likewise with social invitations-chiefly to +dinners, banquets and feasts. Invitations to banquets and dinners +Brinnaria seldom declined, unless her duties made acceptance impossible +or the invitation came from people beneath her notice. As she had +said to Aurelius, she had an excellent appetite. She had an epicurean +tendency from her early years and was fond of oysters, sweetbreads, +eels, thrushes, turbot and other articles of food esteemed as delicacies +by the Romans. But she was a hearty eater and consumed generous portions +of roast meats, particularly of pork, which even in late imperial times +was the staple of Roman diet. She never lost her childish relish for +boiled pork and cabbage, for bacon, for ham, hot or cold. She was by +no means a glutton, ate deliberately and daintily, and while she ate, +joined in the general conversation or even led it. She had a quick wit +and a sharp tongue and her sallies were acclaimed. She was sought after +as a guest not merely because she was a Vestal, but for herself, for her +gaiety and her unexpected utterances. + +On the whole she preferred informal dinners to formal banquets and +liked better to dine with her friends than with the most luxurious +entertainers in Roman society. + +With Vocco and Flexinna she dined frequently, three times a month +at least and generally oftener. Brinnaria loved children, +especially babies, and there was always a baby in the Istorian +household--Flexinna’s babies were all healthy and grew famously. Of the +six children, Brinnaria could not have told which she loved or which +loved her most. Her arrivals were always heralded with shouts of glee, +her romps with the children always put her in a good humor, her swim +with Flexinna sharpened an appetite which needed no edge, while the +cosiness and informality of Flexinna’s dining-room, where each of the +three had undivided possession of one entire sofa, made it certain that +nothing marred her enjoyment. + + + +CHAPTER XIII - PERVERSITY + + +ABOUT three years after her farewell to Almo, on entering Vocco’s house +one afternoon, Brinnaria had a presentiment of something wrong. The +children were as vociferous and as whimsical as usual, but there was +a nameless difference in Flexinna’s expression and bearing. As soon as +they were alone in their bath, after she had had one good plunge in the +pool, Brinnaria, treading water in the deepest part of the tank, shaking +her head like a wet spaniel, demanded: + +“What is the matter? There’s something wrong. You might as well tell +me.” + +But Flexinna put her off and laughed at her insistence. + +To Brinnaria the laughter seemed forced and so did the talk at dinner. +No sooner was the dinner over and the tray of figs, almonds and +pomegranates and other fruit on the table, than she whispered to +Flexinna: + +“Tell the servants to stay out. I want to talk.” Flexinna signed to +Vocco and they exchanged glances. + +“Why did you keep up the farce so long?” Brinnaria sneered. “I saw +through it from the first.” + +“We were afraid,” Vocco apologized, “that what I have to tell you would +spoil your appetite.” + +“It would take something pretty bad to spoil my appetite,” Brinnaria +reflected. “Is Almo dead?” + +“Not so b-b-bad as that,” spoke Flexinna. + +“Tell me, Quintus,” Brinnaria breathed. + +Vocco fidgeted. + +“It’s an amazing story,” he began. + +“All his story, all my story, all our story,” Brinnaria cut in, “is +amazing. Leave out the comments and tell the story.” + +“While Almo was away on the expedition against the nomads of the +plateau,” Vocco narrated, “Pennasius fell ill, was allowed to resign his +governorship and Grittonius took his place. On Almo’s return Grittonius +complimented him most highly and promised him any reward he asked for. +Almo amazed him by asking for a full and honorable discharge from the +army. Grittonius expostulated with him but Almo held him to his promise. +In spite of the governor’s appeals to his pride and to his patriotism he +insisted, and Grittonius gave him his full official discharge. At +once Almo applied for permission to sell himself as a slave. This so +astounded Grittonius that he made him repeat the application before +witnesses and give his reasons. Almo explained that he had always been +devoted to horseracing and that he wanted formally and regularly to +article himself to one of the racing companies as a charioteer; that he +had always craved that life and had longed for it more and more as his +career as a soldier went on. He said there was no use in his continuing +a life he detested, nor missing the happiness he anticipated as a +charioteer. + +“Grittonius had him examined by a committee of the most reputed +physicians of the province. They reported Almo entirely sane. Grittonius +wanted to hold the matter over until he had special permission from the +Emperor. Almo craftily maintained that Grittonius had been made governor +with the fullest powers on all lines specifically to save the Emperor +from being bothered about such trifles. Grittonius yielded. The +necessary papers were drawn up, all the depositions were made out in +duplicate. Every formality was fulfilled and Almo was publicly sold as a +slave in the market place of Hippo.” + +“What company did he enter?” Brinnaria queried. + +“Veppius did not state,” Vocco replied; “he merely said that Almo sailed +the next day for Spain.” + +“The fool!” Brinnaria cried. “The three fools; a fool of a Veppius to +write so vaguely, a fool of a governor to be persuaded so easily and +Almo the biggest fool of all! + +“What a fool of a lover I have! Are all men like that? I’m as much in +love with him as he with me and I can behave myself decently and keep +outwardly calm and observe the conventions of life. Why can’t he be +decent? How can it comfort a man in love to throw away a splendid +career, abandon a great income and vanish from the ken of all who love +him? What madness is this with which the gods afflict him? Oh, I could +tear my hair with rage!” + +To trace Almo everything was done that could be done. Vocco himself +set out at once for Hippo. He found that Almo had been sold to a Greek +slave-dealer named Olynthides, brother of the well-known dealer at Rome. +He found Olynthides a small man with a club-foot. He said he remembered +the matter, that he had been employed to buy Almo and resell him for +cash, especially to conceal the real purchaser. + +When Vocco expressed astonishment Olynthides said: + +“There is nothing to be surprised at, the thing happens every day. It is +a regular feature of slave-trading. There are all sorts of reasons why +a man wants a slave without any past. Such sales are customary and +habitual.” + +When pressed further he retorted: + +“Of course I did not ask the buyer’s name; equally of course, I did not +take any note of him, it was my business to forget him. I didn’t notice +him when he came into the courtyard, there are always knots of people +coming in all day, looking over the slaves I offer for sale, and going +out again. He came in like anybody else and looked over my stock. When +he spoke to me he had a servant with him carrying a stout leather bag. +He indicated Almo and asked his price. I named it. + +“‘Cash sale,’ says he; ‘no papers except a bare sale certificate.’ + +“‘Done,’ says I. + +“He counted out the cash from his servant’s bag and I gave him the +customary certificate, with a description of Almo and the statement: + +“‘Sold on this day and date for cash’ and my signature and seal. That +was all there was to it.” + +When Vocco was persistent, Olynthides averred that he had “heard” that +the purchaser’s name was Jegius and that he came from Cadiz. Vocco could +not discover anyone in Hippo who had ever heard of a slave-dealer named +Jegius. + +When Vocco returned to Rome with his report Brinnaria set in motion all +the forces of her world which could be utilized under the circumstances. +Aurelius was on the Rhine frontier, but Brinnaria had, by this time, a +close acquaintance with all important court officers and was on terms +of the utmost cordiality with the officials who governed Rome in the +Emperor’s absence. They sympathized with her and put at her disposal +all the machinery of the government secret service. They agreed with +her that the matter must be kept quiet, there must be no proclamations, +posters, no rewards offered by crier or placard, no publishing of +descriptions. With emphatic injunctions of secrecy they sent warnings to +every provincial governor, to every local magistrate, to the aldermen +of every free city, to institute unobtrusive investigations and to keep +unostentatious watch. Brinnaria insisted that these mandates should be +sent all over the Empire, pointing out that no one could conjecture what +port of the Mediterranean or of the Black Sea might be the destination +of any nameless trading ship. But, with special care, full orders were +distributed throughout Spain. + +Towards Spain, likewise, Brinnaria directed the energies of those +organizations of the ancient world which were analogous to our modern +private detective bureaus, and upon Spain she focussed the energies of +the managers of the racing companies. + +These great corporations were among the most important money-making +enterprises of the Roman world. They maintained luxurious headquarters +in the most congested business districts of the capital. They had +offices adjacent to each of the circuses, they possessed huge congeries +of buildings utilized as stables for their crack racers and barracks for +their charioteers, and provided with spacious courtyards for +training their teams. Outside of Rome they had similar offices and +training-stables in every city and in most towns of any size or wealth. +Besides they owned countless stud-farms, estates and ranches in every +province of the Empire and maintained an army of herdsmen, ostlers and +drovers to convoy their horses by land and whole fleets of ships to +transport them by sea. + +They were joint-stock companies, and while many smaller ones existed in +various parts of the Empire and a few even at Rome, the small concerns +were insignificant and generally ignored. When one spoke of the +racing-companies one meant the six great companies whose central +organizations were domiciled at Rome and whose ramifications penetrated +every district of the Empire. These were known, after the racing-colors +of their jockeys, as the Greens, the Blues, the Reds, the Whites, +the Crimsons and the Golds. The Reds and the Whites were the oldest +companies, the Crimsons and the Golds were companies established in +the heyday of the Empire by coteries of millionaires, the Blues and the +Greens were the largest, the wealthiest and the most popular, especially +the Greens. In the Greens, somewhere, Brinnaria expected to find Almo, +as he had been enthusiastic about the Greens from boyhood. He had been +wearing their leek-green colors the day she had sat in his lap in her +father’s courtyard. He had haunted their training-stables during +his brief sojourn at Rome before Aurelius sent him to Africa, he had +inherited a big block of stock in the Greens. In the Greens, likewise, +Brinnaria owned stock; and, having entered into inheritances from +more than seventy different wealthy relatives who had died during the +pestilence, she happened to own stock in every one of the six great +companies. She had personal friends among the directors of each of the +six. Therefore it was especially easy for her to enlist their help in +her efforts to find Almo. It would have been easy, anyhow, since to be +able to oblige a Vestal was a refreshing novelty for almost anyone +at Rome and to find a Vestal seeking one’s influence and one’s help, +equally novel and refreshing; generally the shoe was on the other +foot--most persons in public life in Rome were used to attempting to +enlist the help and the interests of the Vestals for their purposes +and were generally utterly at a loss for any means of requital, if the +interest of a Vestal was enlisted and her help obtained. + +Consequently all that the racing-companies could do to find Almo was +done as well as all that could be done by the private detective agencies +and by government officials. + +All that was done was utterly in vain. No trace of Almo could be +discovered after he had sailed from Hippo with Jegius. No slave-dealer +named Jegius could be found nor anyone who knew such a slave-dealer. +No clue, no ghost of a clue came to light. The Greens, like the other +companies, could find among their charioteers, their jockeys, their +free employees, their slaves, no individual in the least answering +to descriptions of Almo. All governmental efforts, all professional +efforts, all private efforts, all Vocco’s efforts, all Brinnaria’s +efforts, were completely baffled. + +Almo had completely vanished. + +When Aurelius, passing through Rome on his way from the Rhine frontier +to Syria, was in his capital for a brief period, Brinnaria had an +audience with him. + +“Daughter!” he said, “it is all my fault. I should have given Grittonius +explicit injunctions about the boy. But the assaults of the Marcomanni +were particularly furious just at that time; I was feverishly hurrying +from point to point along the frontier; I accepted the resignation of +Pennasius; by letter. I appointed Grittonius by letter; I assumed that +Grittonius would have sense; I assumed that Pennasius would impart to +him his secret instructions. I erred by inadvertence; I should have set +a special watch on the boy. But I never thought of it. He was doing so +well and he seemed so interested in his work. He was wonderfully +fitted for frontier duty along the desert. I was watching him with keen +interest; each report of him gave me greater pleasure. I do not hesitate +to tell you that I had him in my mind’s eye to command this very +expedition which I must now command myself, as there is no other man in +the Empire fit to take charge of it. + +“Is it not a shame that a man whom the Empire needs, who had before him +so splendid an opportunity, who was fitting himself for so brilliant +a career, should throw it all away from mere perversity? Yet I am not +wrathful against him; I see many reasons for sympathizing with him. + +“Rigid and unflinching celibacy affects different individuals very +differently. Some it does not affect at all, apparently. It does not +seem to affect you. You are as plump and rosy, as healthy and alert, +as happy and normal a young woman, to all appearance, as could be found +among matrons of your age in all the Empire. Celibacy seems to agree +with you. + +“Manifestly it did not agree with Almo. It got on his nerves somehow. +That is the most probable explanation of his eccentric vagary. Don’t be +discouraged. He’ll turn up somewhere, after a while, safe and sound and +none the worse for his experiences.” + +Brinnaria, in fact, was not discouraged. She resolutely and unweariedly +prosecuted her efforts to find Almo. Nor was she despondent. She scouted +the suggestion that he might be dead. She kept up her spirits, did not +mope or brood and never lost her hearty appetite. She was the life of +the dinners she attended and as talkative and witty as ever. + +But the strain affected her greatly. She was outwardly controlled, +statuesque and dignified, but the inward turmoil of emotion that surged +through her manifested itself in an unremitting activity. She slept well +and soundly, but rose early and kept on the go. Besides her duties, her +music and her participation in social gatherings, she must needs find +other outlets for her energy, other means to pass her time and distract +her thoughts. + +In the course of her dealings with the racing companies she became +interested in them not merely as means towards locating Almo, but for +themselves. She became particularly interested in their stables, their +jockeys and their horses. There was no bar of religious tradition or +of social custom which hindered a Vestal from freely mingling with men +visibly in the open daylight in public. Visiting the stables of the +racing companies had long been a fad with Rome’s social leaders, men and +women alike. Brinnaria availed herself of her freedom in this regard and +followed her inclination. She haunted the training-stables of all six +corporations, but mostly of the Greens, always in company with Manlia, +or Flexinna, or Nemestronia or some other of her women friends; she +visited the barracks almost daily, chatted with the charioteers, grooms +and ostlers, watched the exercising of the teams, inspected the stalls, +conned the racers. + +She made herself an excellent judge of a jockey and a better judge of a +horse. + +She interested herself in the methods by which the companies obtained +and selected their animals. She became an adept on the entire subject of +horse-raising. It engrossed her thoughts. + +Then she herself took over the management of several of her estates in +the environs of Rome; of all, in fact, which were near enough for her +to visit personally. She redistributed the force of slaves that +managed them, sold some, bought others and fitted up the properties +as stud-farms. Herself she selected the brood mares and stallions with +which to stock these estates. She herself laid down the principles +guiding their management and she herself dictated the methods of +breeding them. She herself superintended the carrying out of her orders, +visiting each estate frequently and inspecting everything carefully and +intelligently. + +Her first offering of two-year-olds sold at good prices. She was +encouraged, felt herself completely an adept, and would take no one’s +word about anything relating to horses, relying solely on her own +judgment. + +All this would have subjected her to much reprehension had Faltonius +Bambilio survived. But he had died just about the time of Almo’s +disappearance. His son, also named Faltonius Bambilio, had taken up a +political rather than a priestly life and was not to be thought of as +his successor. In his place Aurelius, on his way to Syria, had nominated +Lutorius Rusco, a man who impressed everyone at first sight, and more +and more the better anyone knew him, as the paragon of a Pontifex. He +was not lacking in ecclesiastical unction, but did not wallow in it as +had Bambilio. He was pious, but did not think it necessary to advertise +it day and night unremittingly. He was not lax in religious matters, but +he was no stickler for minute trifles. He inspired confidence by every +characteristic of his appearance and behavior. He was a man somewhat +over medium height, well built, neither heavy nor large, with an +unusually dignified bearing and carriage, not a hint of self-assertion +and with a genially comprehending smile. It was impossible not to +confide in him and unthinkable that confiding in him should ever be +regretted. Brinnaria confided in him and never regretted it. + +Of Almo’s disappearance she talked to him freely; freely also she talked +of her feelings for Almo. He was as sympathetic and comprehending as +the Emperor and Empress and he encouraged her to hope that Almo was yet +alive, which she sometimes doubted. + +Of her stock farms he said to her: + +“I should certainly not have advised any woman to enter upon such an +enterprise, least of all a Vestal. I know of no other member of our +hierarchy who has any similar interests, except Calvaster, whose +haunting of the gladiatorial schools and association with trainers +of gladiators has given some scandal. Some people would call your +horse-breeding unseemly for a Vestal. But I see no harm in it. I have +talked with Causidiena and it is clear that you do not neglect or skimp +your duties, that you give them full time and close attention. Your +leisure is your own to do with as you please. And your immediate success +appears an evidence that, to say the least, your undertakings give no +offence to the gods.” + +During the latter months of Bambilio’s oversight Brinnaria had felt +restive and as if some inward force was forever driving her to feverish +activities; under the care of Lutorius she became placid and thought +less of her stock-raising, journeys to and fro to her estates, talks +with grooms and such like activitie and devoted herself with more cool +ardor to her duties. + + + +CHAPTER XIV - AMAZEMENT + + +AURELIUS returned from Syria with his victorious army in the nine +hundred and twenty-ninth year of Rome, 176 of our era, ten years after +the great pestilence. He had merely crushed a local rebellion, but a +vast coalition of nomadic Arab tribes of the desert had been allied with +the rebels, and to the Romans it seemed that their Emperor had won a +great victory in a mighty campaign. Aurelius humored their mood, and +with good judgment, for they needed all the encouragement possible. He +arranged to have his return celebrated by shows of all kinds, +theatrical performances, fights of gladiators, beast fights, horse-races +uncountable and above all, by that thrilling procession of a victor and +his armed soldiers through the city along the Sacred Street, up to the +great temple on the Capitol, which was the highest honor an army and +a commander could receive at the hands of the Roman government, which +signalized a notable victory over notable odds, which was called a +triumph. Of triumphs Rome had seen fewer than three hundred in more than +nine hundred years. Not one of the three hundred had been as magnificent +as the triumph of Aurelius. + +Its auxiliary spectacles were similarly magnificent. In particular the +gladiatorial shows surpassed anything within the memory of the oldest +living spectator. + +Causidiena, whose eyes troubled her greatly, found that watching the +triumphal procession caused her so much pain that she absented herself +from the remaining shows. To all of these, races, beast-fights and +combats of gladiators, she insisted that the other five Vestals should +go together. The arrangement was unusual, but no one could object, for +no one would hint or even think that the sacred fire would be in any +danger of going out with such a Chief Vestal as Causidiena caring for +it or that she needed any other Vestal to assist her. Likewise her five +colleagues were genuinely pleased that not one of them would miss any +part of the shows. + +As the number was odd, Causidiena decreed that they should be conveyed +to the spectacles each in her own state coach, attended by her maid of +honor. The maids, of course, did not sit with the Vestals, but had seats +far back with the populace. + +In their luxurious private box in the Colosseum the five Vestals sat +in the ample front row arm-chairs. They were seated not according to +seniority, but Numisia in the middle, Meffia and Brinnaria, as the +youngest, on either side of her, Gargilia next Meffia, and Manlia next +Brinnaria. + +In the Imperial loge near them Aurelius, now for more than a year a +widower, presided over the games, clad in his gorgeous silk robes and +attended by his fifteen-year-old son Antoninus, afterward known by his +nickname of “Commodus.” The four tiers of the Colosseum were packed +with spectators, pontiffs, senators, nobles, ambassadors magistrates and +other notables in the front seats along the coping of the arena wall, +lesser notables in the first tier, well-to-do persons in the second +tier, traders and manufacturers and such like in the third tier and the +commonalty in the fourth. + +Besides the ninety thousand seated spectators* many thousand more stood +in the galleries, in the openings of the stairways, in any place where +a foothold could be found and from which a view could be obtained. The +outlook from the Vestals’ box was across the level sand to the gigantic +curve of seats, all hidden under their occupants, so that the interior +of the Amphitheatre was a vast expanse of flower-crowned heads, eager +faces and waving fans. + + *The author forgets himself. Earlier in the book he + describes an audience of 100,000 as Brinnaria tells the + emperor how she felt down on the sand in her shift, with + “two hundred thousand eyes” (implying one hundred thousand + people) staring at her. In fact, the Colosseum could handle + an audience of about 45 to 50 thousand.--GB ed. + + +During that second day of gladiatorial fighting Manlia had several times +said to Brinnaria: + +“Is there anything wrong? Are you ill? You do not seem yourself!” Each +time Brinnaria had positively denied that anything was wrong and had +asserted that she was entirely herself. + +About the middle of the afternoon, the arena was filled with pairs of +gladiators, all the couples fighting simultaneously. Each pair had +with it a trainer, called a lanista, who watched, guided or checked the +fighting. + +The contending pairs were of a kind much liked by the Romans, because +of the excitement they afforded, each pair consisting of a light-built, +light-armed, nimble expert pitted against a heavily built, heavily +armed ruffian, the two supposed to be equally matched, the strength and +weapons of the one fully balanced by the skill and agility of the other. + +Viewing fights of this kind Manlia felt rather than heard or saw a +change in Brinnaria next her, felt her stiffen and grow silent, +rigid and tense. Manlia glanced at her, followed her gaze and became +interested in the fight Brinnaria was watching. Before them, not +immediately below them, but some distance out in the arena, fought a +conspicuous pair of gladiators. One was a great hulking full-armored +brute of a Goth, helmeted and corseleted, kilted in bronze-plated +leather straps, booted, as it were, with ample shin-guards of thick +hide, bronze-plated like the straps of his flapping kilt. He carried a +big oval shield and threatened with a long straight sword his adversary, +a Roman in every outline, a slender young man, barefoot, bare-legged, +kilted with the scantiest form of gladiator’s body-piece and apron, +clad in a green tunic and carrying only the small round shield and short +sabre of a Thracian. He wore a helmet like a skull cap with a broad +nose-guard that amounted to a mask, above which were small openings for +his eyes. + +Conning this pair Manlia’s attention was riveted by the slighter man. +He was very light on his feet, jaunty of bearing and, as it were, ablaze +with self-confidence. + +Manlia, who was an expert judge of sword-fighting, perceived at once +that he was a master of his art. His method for the moment was to +hold back, lead his opponent on and bide his time. His attitudes and +movements bespoke the most perfect knowledge of sword play in all its +finest details. But what most held Manlia’s attention was his beauty +of form and a strange something about him, a long-armed, long-legged +appearance. She turned to Brinnaria. + +“I should have sworn,” she said, “that there was not in all the world +another man like Segontius Almo. But that Thracian is a duplicate of +him, as like him as if he were his twin brother.” + +“More like him than a twin brother,” Brinnaria replied, her voice +muffled and choked. “I’ve been watching him ever since he came in. I +recognized him in the procession this morning. That is Almo.” + +“Almo!” breathed Manlia, in a horrified whisper. + +“Yes, Almo!” hissed Brinnaria. + +“What shall we do?” quavered Manlia. + +“Do?” snorted Brinnaria, “do nothing.” + +“But we can pray,” Manlia panted. “We can pray. Surely you are praying, +Brinnaria?” + +“I am praying,” came the answer, in a viperish whisper. “I’m praying he +may be killed.” + +“Killed!” Manlia gasped. + +“Yes, killed,” repeated Brinnaria, viciously. “Killing is what he +deserves, mere killing is too good for him. If he wanted to commit +suicide why couldn’t he do it decently at once and privately without all +this elaborate machinery of selling himself as a slave, and lying about +his intentions and disgracing himself by becoming a prize-fighter and +exposing himself to getting killed in public? Why couldn’t he get +killed at Treves or Lyons or Aquileia? Why must he humiliate me by this +exhibition of himself before me and all Rome? The quicker he is killed +the better. I’m praying he’ll be killed at once.” + +“Oh, Brinnaria!” groaned the horrified Manlia. + +The Thracian was not killed in that first fight; he was never in any +danger of being killed. He played with his man as a cat plays with a +mouse; held him off without an effort, caught the attention of all +the nearby spectators; won their interest by the perfection of his +sword-play; and aroused their enthusiasm by that nameles quality which +marks off, from even the best drilled talent, the man who is a born +genius in his line. + +He pinked his victim between corselet and helmet, so lightly that only +those spectators watching most closely saw the lunge, so effectually +that the man died almost as he fell. + +“You must have prayed for him to win; I did,” spoke Manlia. + +“I didn’t,” Brinnaria snapped. “I prayed for him to be killed. I wish he +had been. I’m not the only one who has recognized him. Aurelius has and +he has told Antoninus; I watched him.” + +“How could you?” Manlia exclaimed. “How could you watch anything but +Almo?” + +“I could and I did,” Brinnaria asseverated. “I’m looking all ways at +once, just now. The news is all over the Imperial loge already. They are +looking at me as well as at him. I hope he’ll be killed this next bout.” + The lanista, in fact, at once matched Almo with another full-armed +giant. Again Almo gave an exhibition of perfect swordsmanship. The +Romans were as quick to appreciate form in fighting as we moderns are +to applaud our best bail players; they recognized pre-eminence in the +swordman’s art, as we acclaim the skill of a crack baseball pitcher or +cricket bowler. + +Almo caught the eye of spectator after spectator, till most of the +audience on that side of the arena were watching the fight in which +he took part to the exclusion of everything else that was going on. He +displayed that perfect balance of all the mental and physical faculties, +that instantaneous co-ordination of eye, brain and muscle, which only an +occasional phenomenon can attain to. He made no mistakes, bore himself +like a dancer on a tight-rope, circled about his adversary, warded off +all his thrusts, lunges and rushes, turned aside his long sword with his +small round shield without a trace of effort, and at his leisure found +a joint in his body armor and pierced his heart with an ostentatiously +difficult lunge delivered with the acme of apparent ease. + +“There,” sighed Manlia, “I prayed hard.” + +“So did I,” Brinnaria murmured, “but I prayed the other way. He ought +to have been killed already. Numisia has recognized him and he has +been recognized by three or four nobles along the coping. The rumor is +spreading from each of them and running through the audience.” + Manlia, in fact, looking about was aware of an unusual stir among +the spectators, of notes being handed along and read, of whisperings, +callings, signs, pointings; of messengers worming their way from row to +row and from tier to tier. + +Almo won his third bout. While it was in progress Manlia had seen one of +the Emperor’s orderlies enter the arena from one of the small doors in +the wall and confer with the chief lanista, who directed the fighting. + +By the time Almo began a fourth bout half the audience was looking at +him or at Brinnaria. There were thousands present who had survived the +pestilence, who had been present fifteen years before when she had +let herself down into the arena and had rescued the retiarius. They +remembered her spectacular interference and were curious as to how she +would now comport herself. Brinnaria, erect and calm, fanned herself +placidly. + +Almo won his fourth bout. + +By this time the arrangements of the lanistas had been so far modified +that, instead of a great throng of fighters, there were, in the whole +immense arena, not more than twenty pairs. + +With scarcely a breathing space Almo was pitted against a fifth +adversary. By the time he had disposed of him the entire audience, fully +a hundred thousand souls, were as well aware of what was going on as was +Brinnaria herself. She was pale, but entirely collected. To Manlia she +whispered venomously: + +“Castor be thanked, he is certain to be killed, Aurelius has attended +to that.” In fact the Roman sense of fair play was offended when the +lanista gave Almo a mere moment of rest and then set against him a +sixth antagonist. Murmurs ran from tier to tier, there were hoots and +cat-calls. + +Aurelius put up his hand and the people became still. + +It was not often that the entire throng in the Colosseum focussed its +attention on anyone fighter. That happened now. The dozen or more +other pairs of fighters were ignored, all eyes were on Almo and his +opponent--all eyes that did not stray towards Brinnaria. + +Almo was not showing any signs of weariness, but he was plainly +husbanding his strength. The sixth bout was tame--seldom had the +Amphitheatre displayed so mild a set to. The heavy-armed man had seen +Almo dispose of five like himself, he was timid; Almo was not timid, +but he was cautious. The result was a tedious exhibition of fencing for +position, each sword monotonously caught on the other shield. At the end +Almo slashed his opponent’s wrist, feinted, pretended to be unable to +avoid a clumsy thrust, slipped inside the big man’s guard and drove his +sabre deep under his arm-pit. + +The Colosseum rang with cheers. + +Without so much as a sponging down or a mouthful of wine Almo was faced +by a seventh fresh swordsman in complete armor. This time there were no +caterwaulings or groans. Even the upper gallery had recognized Almo +or been told who he was, even the populace had remembered or had been +informed of the relation between Almo and Brinnaria. Everybody had +recalled or been reminded of her rescue of the retiarius. + +The audience collectively comprehended that Aurelius meant Almo to be +defeated and put at an adversary’s mercy before Brinnaria, that he was +testing her. + +The habitual hubbub, hum, and buzz of undertones was checked to a very +unusual degree, the Amphitheatre became almost still. + +But when Almo fairly duplicated his first bout and neatly, almost +without effort, cut his victim’s throat, the audience cheered him +vociferously. + +Louder, if possible did they acclaim his calm and adequate strategy +against his eighth antagonist. + +A ninth and a tenth were promptly put beyond power to hurt him by wounds +ingeniously disabling, but far from deadly. + +The eleventh bout was more tedious than the sixth. + +Almo divined some greater strength or skill in this adversary and played +him warily. When the audience was bored to the point of being almost +ready to call for something diverting Almo slaughtered his man with a +terrible wound between his corselet and kilt. + +The twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth antagonists Almo plainly +despised. He stood almost still, hardly altering the position of his +feet except to turn as the huge barbarians circled ponderously about +him. Each he brought down with his first lunge. + +As the fifteenth bout began the audience was manifestly impatient and +restive. But they were not bored. That one Thracian, almost without +rest, should successively dispose of fourteen antagonists, in the +fullest armor, was a notable feat. The perfect form of Almo’s fighting +was even more notable. At each victory the audience cheered him till +they were hoarse. They seemed to cheer quite spontaneously and to need +the relief for their feelings. But also they seemed to mean to give him +as long a rest as was in their power. They were all for him. + +But no man could go on fighting continually without fatigue. In his +fifteenth bout Almo moved heavily. + +The other man was unusually quick for a big man. He handled his big +sword deftly. After much sparring he was too quick for Almo, and the +point of his slender blade scratched Almo’s splay vizor, nicked his +chin, and tore a long shallow slash in the skin of his right breast. + +Blood welling through it stained the green of Almo’s tunic; blood +dropping from his chin spotted the bright green. + +The populace groaned. + +Manlia prayed. + +Brinnaria, under scrutiny of two hundred thousand eyes, sat erect, +fanned herself steadily, and gazed straight before her. To all +appearance she was as indifferent to Almo as if he did not exist. + +After that Alma moved like a sleep-walker or a man in a dream, dully and +dazedly. + +The big man feinted and lunged cleverly. The point of his weapon ripped +Alma’s thigh on the outside above the knee. No man could stand up after +such a wound. He went down, his shield under him. + +From all around the arena, from every tier, automatically, thousands +of arms shot out, thumb flat. Instantly every arm whipped back and was +hidden under its owner’s robe. All realized that expression of sympathy +was not their business. A hush fell. Everybody looked at the Emperor and +at Brinnaria. + +Brinnaria sat erect in her arm-chair, fanning herself evenly, staring +straight across the arena. The same instinct, the same curiosity which +actuated the rest of the audience, restrained the Vestals from giving +the sign of mercy. All felt that the matter concerned only Aurelius +and Brinnaria, that for anyone else to interfere would be flouting the +Emperor. + +Brinnaria, white as a corpse, dizzy and numb, kept up the unvarying +motion of her fan. Otherwise she was perfectly still. + +The victor rolled his eyes along the rows of spectators. He got no +inkling of their feelings. + +He gazed at the Vestals. The audience saw him gaze that way. Brinnaria +ignored him. Almo and all the world. + +The victor looked toward the Emperor. + +Aurelius held out his right hand, thumb out. + +The lanista removed Almo’s helmet. If anyone had doubted his identity +the doubt was dispelled among all near enough to make out his face. + +The victor put one foot on Almo’s chest. Almo stretched his neck. + +Brinnaria sat there, tense, pale, but as collected as if she had no +interest in what was going on. + +The savage standing over Alma glanced a second time towards the Emperor. + +Aurelius was holding his arm at full stretch over the coping, thumb flat +against the extended fingers. + +Brinnaria knew that she had won, that Aurelius had put her to the test +before all Rome, that she had stood the test, that all Rome was witness. +Her fingers clutched the handle of her fan. She could hardly feel it in +her grasp. + +The big man took his foot from Almo’s chest. + +The audience broke into howls of applause, gust after gust of cheers, +roaring like a storm wind in a forest. + +Brinnaria saw the arena, saw the spectators, through a film of mist, +through a gray veil, through a fog of blackness. She realized that, +for the first time in her life, she was on the verge of fainting. +Mechanically she looked about her. Her glance fell on Meffia crumpled in +her arm-chair. + +That steadied her. If Meffia had fainted, she would not, she would not. + +She did not faint. She fanned herself steadily as she watched the +lanistas help Almo to hobble from the arena. When he was gone her +attention returned to Meffia. Gargilia and Numisia were trying to rouse +her. + +She remained crumpled, she collapsed, she slid off her chair to the +floor of the box. She lay in a horrid heap unmistakable in its limpness. +The excitement had been too much for Meffia. She was stone dead. + + + + +BOOK III--THE REBELLION OF DESPERATION + + +CHAPTER XV - REHABILITATION + + +THE death of a Vestal, except from old age, was always regarded by the +Roman populace as a sign of the gods’ disfavor. The death of a young +Vestal, sudden, unexpected and unexplained, could not but cause great +uneasiness throughout all classes of the population. + +Moreover, gladiatorial exhibitions were part of the Roman public +worship, which largely proceeded on the naive assumption that the gods +liked just about what men liked and that, the best way to please the +gods and win their favor was to delight them with such spectacles as men +enjoyed, acrobatic exhibitions, dramas, beast-fights, fights of +beasts with men or of men with men, chariot-races and similar exciting +displays, and so put the gods in a good humor. This underlying theory +of diverting spectacles as a species of prayer and as the most effective +kind of prayer was not so much definitely expressed by the Romans, as +tacitly and unconsciously assumed. It was, nevertheless, entirely real +and all Romans felt every public show as an act of public worship, as a +hallowed function. + +Most Roman rites were held to be entirely vitiated if a death took +place among the worshippers during the course of the ceremony. To +all solemnities at which only a few persons were present this applied +without qualification and positively. Naturally a death among the crowd +about a temple was held of much less import. + +Still less could anyone regard a death amid the vast throng in the +Colosseum or the Circus Maximus. So that Meffia’s sudden end was not +necessarily held a certain indication of the wrath of the gods. But, +as the death of one of the most important functionaries present at the +spectacle, it caused much concern. The dismay of the people the pontiffs +tried to alleviate by all the means in their power, by consultation +of the augurs, soothsayers and professional prophets, and by official +consultation of the Sibylline Books. The general anxiety was somewhat +allayed by their placards and proclamations, announcing that Meffia’s +death was wholly due to her personal weakness and was not to be regarded +as a portent, in particular that it in no way indicated the wrath of the +gods or their rejection of the petition for public safety embodied in +the spectacles celebrating the triumph of Aurelius. + +The Temple and the Atrium of Vesta made up an institution in which death +was entirely disregarded. As no seriously ill Vestal was ever allowed +to remain within the limits of the Atrium, but, as soon as alarming +symptoms appeared, was removed from the Atrium and put in charge of +relations or friends, so also the body of a dead Vestal was always +turned over to the care of her family or connections. Though the +Vestals, alone among Romans, possessed the privilege of being buried +inside the walls of Rome, though their funerals were magnificent public +processions, participated in by all the functionaries of the state and +lavishly provided at the public expense, yet the death itself was held +to be a concern of the family of the dead Vestal, not of her surviving +colleagues. The Vestals might mourn but the Atrium was never in +mourning. Its routine went on as if nothing had happened; no sign of +grief was displayed or even permitted; visitors were received as usual. + +Among the first visitors to the Atrium on the morning after Almo’s fight +and Meffia’s death was, naturally, Flexinna. + +At the first word Brinnaria cut her short. + +“I don’t want to hear his name,” she declared. “I’m done with him +forever. I don’t love him any longer; I don’t care for him, even; I hate +him. It does not concern me whether he recovers or not. I’d rather he +wouldn’t recover. The best thing for both of us would be for him to die +anyhow. I wish he were dead; I wish one of those heavy men had killed +him.” + +“B-B-Brinnaria!” Flexinna remonstrated, “you t-t-talk like a raving +maniac! You look like a F-F-Fury!” + +“I’m furious enough!” Brinnaria snarled, “and I’ve plenty of good cause +for being angry. Was ever woman on earth put in a position so invidious, +so embarrassing? Everybody knew of my rescue of the retiarius, thousands +had seen me rescue him. Everybody knew of my involvement with Almo +before I was taken for a Vestal, of our love for each other, of my +expressed intention to marry him at the end of my service. Everybody +recognized Almo. + +“And there I was with the one man on earth in the jaws of death before +my eyes and I with the power to save him if I chose and a hundred +thousand people watching me to see what I would do. And because I had +once before rescued a man in that same situation everybody expected me +to do something unusual and spectacular to save Almo. + +“If it had been any other man it would have been the most natural thing +in the world for me to give the signal for mercy and nobody would have +thought anything of it. But, because the man before me was the man I had +expressed my intention of marrying at the end of my service, therefore, +if I had tried to save him, that would be taken as a confession of my +being actuated by the sort of interest which no Vestal has a right to +feel for any man. + +“A delightful situation to be placed in! + +“And he must needs go out of his way to put me in that position! When +all he had to do was to live the normal life of a Roman gentleman and +all things would in time come right for both of us, he must needs strain +the powers of human ingenuity, compel the forces of time and space, of +wind and wave to conspire to produce that situation and make me suffer +those unnecessary agonies! + +“Furious! + +“Of course I’m furious. + +“Never name him to me!” + +When Lutorius Rusco, the new Pontifex of Vesta, called on her she was +less explosive, but still fuming. + +She received him in the large room at the east end of the peristyle of +the Atrium, a sort of parlor which had on either side of it three very +small rooms, the six, used as private offices by the six Vestals. +There each had her writing desk, and the cabinets in which she kept her +important papers, letters and such possessions. + +After they had exchanged greetings Lutorius motioned towards Brinnaria’s +little sanctum. Brinnaria bridled. + +“I’ve nothing to say that we cannot say out here,” she advertised, “and +I do not want to hear anything that cannot be said out here.” + +Lutorius was tactful and had his way. When they were alone, he said: + +“You were magnificent! You behaved splendidly. You could not have done +better. We are all proud of you, from the Emperor down to the lowest +slumgullion, every single Roman of us. You are certainly the most +popular woman alive and your popularity is now of a sort to last as long +as you live, complete and unqualified. You were popular before, but with +considerable reservations. The hierarchy liked you, but were not sure +that they ought to approve a Vestal who had perpetrated such exploits +as yours, particularly your trouncing poor old Faltonius. The nobility +admired you, but shook their heads over your stock-farming. The populace +were enthusiastic about you, but, like the upper classes, were uneasy +because of your expressed intention to marry at the end of your service +and to marry a specified man, who had been your boyish lover. All +classes acclaimed you as a woman, but nearly everybody was dubious about +you as a Vestal. + +“Now nobody has any hesitation about feeling that you are all a Vestal +should be, a priestess whose prayers are certain to be heard and +answered.” + +Brinnaria made a wry face. + +“My prayers were not heard yesterday,” she sighed. “Almo was not killed. +I was praying hard to have him dead and have it all over with and done +with forever.” + +Lutorius turned on her a slow, benignant, indulgent smile. + +“Daughter,” he said, “you must remember that you are not the only +Vestal. Four Vestals were praying that Almo be saved, each praying not +only with her lips but with every fibre of her being. And your heart and +soul were praying silently with them and against the fierce prayers of +your lips.” + +“It is not so,” she denied. “Every fibre of me was praying as my lips +prayed. My prayers were genuine.” + +“I am sure you thought so,” Lutorius agreed. “It was natural for you to +feel that way. You were very angry. But your anger will wear off.” + +“My anger may,” Brinnaria admitted, “but never my resentment and my +disgust.” + +“Only time can prove whether your forecast is correct,” the Pontiff +soothed her, “but are you justified even in being resentful? Ought you +not rather to be thankful that chance or fate or the direct intervention +of the gods working through Almo gave you the precious opportunity to +free yourself from the shadow of an imputation that lay upon you from +your entrance into the order? Rome vaguely suspected you of too warm an +interest in Almo. Much of Rome had seen and all Rome had heard of your +theatrical rescue of a gladiator totally unknown to you. All Rome knew +your impulsive nature. All Rome has now seen you perfectly controlled +and outwardly calm with Almo on the verge of death before your eyes. +Everybody has watched you ignore him and show less interest in his +fate than you once manifested towards a casual savage. Your outward +observance of the conventions under such trying circumstances has +abolished any qualms the people felt because of your many past +unconventionalities. This puts you in a very strong position toward any +possible accusation or trial. You know how earnestly you have talked to +me of your dread of such contingencies. Ought you not, after thinking it +over, to forget your anger against Almo and to feel positively grateful +for the opportunity so to exalt ourself?” + +“Perhaps I ought,” Brinnaria mused. “The value to me of the results I +had not thought of, but admit it now that you expound it. But I am not +grateful. I suffered too much. I am still smarting with indignation. + +“And, apart from any remains of anger, I ache with the humiliation of +it all. Think of the infamy, of the degradation Almo has brought on +himself!” + +Lutorius pursed his lips. + +“There is a certain social stigma upon any man who has joined a +prize-fighting gang,” he conceded, “but the obloquy resulting from +having been a gladiator has greatly attenuated amid the loose manners +of our day. Nothing that becomes fashionable remains disgraceful. The +social disgrace of it has greatly lessened as the thing has become more +usual, and freemen who have been gladiators are rather acclaimed and +sought after than condemned and shunned. They win a sort of vogue, if +successful fighters. + +“The treatment of such persons has greatly changed in recent years. Even +since I began to remember there has been an all but universal alteration +in the general attitude towards such cases--they have become too +numerous for the old feelings to survive. Not only Roman citizens have +entered gladiatorial schools, risen high in the profession, fought +countless fights, served out their time as prize-fighters, and returned +to their families, but noblemen have done so, even senators. Vescularius +is as much a senator as if he had not won seventy-eight bouts in three +years.” + +“I know it,” Brinnaria admitted, “and I have thought over all that. But +I am old-fashioned in my feelings even if I have often been the reverse +in my behavior. I am revolted at the thought of Almo as a professional +cut-throat--I was insulted at the sight of him in the arena. I feel that +by his abasement of himself he has obliterated my love for him. It is as +if he had never existed. I shall not marry him, even if we both outlive +my obligatory term of service. I shall never marry anybody. I shall die +a Vestal.” + +“You feel that way now, of course,” Lutorius agreed, “but you will get +over it, though you do not think so now.” + +“I do not believe I shall ever get over it,” Brinnaria declared. “So +many things rankle in my thoughts, the small things even more than what +is more important. I grind my teeth over the mere legal consequences +of his having been a gladiator. He will forfeit half the properties he +inherited and he can never hold any office, civil or military.” + +“All that,” said Lutorius, “the Emperor will attend to in full. And your +thinking of such trifles shows that you even yet care more for Almo than +you admit to yourself. + +“You must let me tell you about him. He is in the care of the best +physicians in Rome. They assure me that he will recover, that his face +will show but the merest trace of a scar, no disfigurement whatever, +and that he will walk without the slightest limp. He is comfortable and +convalescing nicely. I am going to bring you news of him daily, whether +you think you want it or not, and you are going to listen to me because +I tell you to.” + +Brinnaria, for once in her life, was submissive and silent. + +Not many days later the Pontiff greeted her with a contented smile. + +“Almo,” he said, “is now practically recovered. He is well enough to +have enjoyed brief visits from several of his former cronies. He is in +his house on the Carinae, and it is besieged by all the fashionables +of Rome, not only his boyhood friends and acquaintances, but people who +never spoke to him. Everybody is rushing to call on him. + +“He is a free man again. At an intimation of the Emperor’s wishes +Elufrius became as supple as possible and all willingness to oblige. +He asked a huge price for Almo’s release, and no wonder, for after the +advertisement you gave him, Almo could have commanded fabulous fees for +all future fights and the profits accruing to Elufrius must have been +enormous. So Elufrius had to be paid a large sum, but nothing compared +to even one year’s accumulation of revenue from Almo’s estates +administered by his agents. So Almo will never feel that. The papers +have all been drawn, signed and sealed. The cash has been paid. Almo is +no longer a member of a gladiatorial band. + +“And, at a word from the Emperor, the Senate framed and passed a decree +relieving Almo of all the legal disabilities inhering in his past. He +has been restored to his former rank in the nobility, has been confirmed +in the possession of all inheritances which he might otherwise have +forfeited, has been declared free from all stain and entirely fit to +hold any office in the service of the Republic. The decree has been +engrossed, sealed and signed by the Emperor. Almo is a nobleman as +before. Are you pleased?” + +“I am,” Brinnaria confessed. + +Lutorius nodded. + +“Now, do not take umbrage,” he said, “at what I am about to ask. If you +must say no, say no without being offended. May I tell the Emperor what +you have said to me?” + +“Certainly,” Brinnaria authorized him. “Aurelius is so good a friend to +me that sometimes I think he is the best friend I have on earth.” + +After an interval of some days the Pontiff hinted that the Emperor +desired to see her. Brinnaria’s disposition to stand upon ceremony +and to insist on her full rights as a Vestal had waned as she grew +to maturity. In her dealing with Aurelius she had long laid it aside +altogether and likewise with Lutorius, both were so unassuming, so +manifestly actuated by the sincerest regard for her. Now she obediently +sent in her application for an audience with the Emperor. + +It was accorded her about twenty days after Almo’s fight. Aurelius came +straight to the point. + +“Daughter,” he said, “I want you to tell me the entire truth. You +can confide in me without reservation and you should do so without +hesitation, since I ask it. + +“What I wish you to tell me is this: Has your lover’s behavior +effaced your regard for him, as you asserted to Lutorius, or were you +self-deceived? Is everything at an end between you and will you ignore +his existence in future and remain a Vestal for life or have your +feelings overcome your displeasure and are you again thinking of him and +of your future as you did in the past?” + +“Castor be good to me,” Brinnaria confessed. “I did think his folly had +alienated me from him forever, but the more I brood over it all the more +I realize that no matter what he has done or does or will do I love +him just as genuinely as if he deserved it, and as far as I can judge I +shall love him to the last breath I draw. I am ashamed of my weakness, +but I foresee that, when my service is over, I shall be just as eager to +marry him as if he had been all he ought to have been.” + +“You please me,” said Aurelius, “particularly in the way you put it. + +“I am not in the habit of giving a second chance to any man. But Almo’s +case is so peculiar and the circumstances so unusual and my interest in +him is so compelling that I am going to make an exception in respect +to him. I shall give him another opportunity as an officer. I have +reflected where to send him and I have concluded to relegate him to +Britain. There, in the north, our frontier, pushed far beyond the +former line, is ceaselessly attacked by the Caledonian savages. My +predecessor’s great earthwork needs larger garrisons. There Almo will +find occupation and may rehabilitate himself. There he will be under the +watch of Opstorius, who is a stern and scrupulous governor. He sets out +this very day. + +“Now is the time for me to speak to you of Calvaster. Calvaster, +unfortunately, is as indispensable as ever, even more so. My impulse +was to banish him, but I had to forego the idea. I contented myself with +summoning him to my presence and telling him in so many words that the +slightest suspicion of any further machinations by him against you or +Almo would draw down on him the unescapable consequences of my severest +displeasure. By that admonition, and by his chagrin at the unexpected +and unwelcome outcome of his plot, I think him sufficiently punished. +Also I think him thoroughly cowed. He will make no further attempt to +trouble you. + +“It appears that when he was touring Spain, inspecting the copies of +the sacred books at all the chief temples of the five provinces, +he recognized Almo in the arena at Corduba. He at once used all the +influence in his power to arrange that Elufrius should bring his gang +of fighters to Rome and that their bouts should be so managed that Almo +would be saved to fight before you as he did. Almo himself found this +out through Elufrius since he became again a free man and in control of +his fortune, and it took a great deal of money and the participation of +a great many experts to uncover and prove the facts. Proved they have +been to my satisfaction and Calvaster’s confusion. + +“Almo had expected to serve his three years in Spain and was as dismayed +as possible when he found he was to be transferred to Rome. But an +articled gladiator has taken oath to submit to anything, specifying +death, torture, burning, wounding, flogging and more besides, an +articled gladiator cannot object to fighting anywhere. Almo had to +acquiesce. + +“And now, having heard that it was not wholly his fault that you were +so cruelly tried before all of us, will you not agree to say farewell to +him a second time?” + +In the flood-tide of her revulsion of feeling Brinnaria could refuse +Aurelius nothing. The Emperor gave a signal and Almo was ushered in as +he had been six years before. + +Brinnaria’s eager scrutiny could detect no limp in his gait, could +barely descry the scar on his chin, even when she knew so well where to +look for it. She noted that he looked well, vigorous and very handsome +in his gilded armor and scarlet cloak. She contrasted their magnificent +surroundings with the rough frontier to which he was going. + +Almo tried to speak and choked. + +“Caius,” she said, “the Emperor has told me how it all came about. +Don’t ask me to forgive; I ask your pardon for misconceiving you; I have +nothing to forgive in you. If you are what I believe you to be I shall +never have to forgive anything from you. Go, and with the help of the +blessed gods, prove yourself all you ought to be. Farewell!” + +And Almo, as he bowed, managed to say: + +“Farewell!” + + + +CHAPTER XVI - VAGARY + + +TERENTIA FLAVOLA, who was taken as a Vestal to fill Meffia’s place, was +a really beautiful girl. + +Her hair was golden hair in fact, not merely in name; her eyes were an +intense, bright blue; her complexion was exquisite, the delicate texture +and perfect whiteness of her skin emphasized by the healthful coloring +which came and went on her cheeks. Every one of the Vestals fell in love +with her at once, most of all Brinnaria. + +Besides her good looks Terentia had a charming disposition, a pretty +unconsciousness of herself and a winning deferentialness towards her +elders. The combination made her irresistible. + +Also she was an interesting child, being amazingly precocious, not as +Brinnaria had been, in growth and behavior, for she was a complete +child in all respects, but in being what moderns call an infant prodigy. +Infant prodigies in ancient times displayed their unusual powers chiefly +by recitations, mostly of poems, which they learned by rote and repeated +with very little understanding of what they rehearsed. More than most of +her kind Terentia comprehended what she declaimed, but she knew by heart +many poems entirely beyond her childish grasp. At barely eight years of +age she was able to reel off without hesitation or effort anyone of an +amazingly long list. With little prompting she could recite some of the +longest narrative poems in Latin literature and she needed prompting +only to give her the cue words at the beginning of each book and of each +important episode. + +Besides her amazing powers as a reciter she was already proficient in +Greek, talked it easily and knew many poems in that language, which all +educated Romans spoke and which was used more than Latin at Court. + +But her chief distinction came from her capability as a musician. +In music she was not only an infant prodigy, but very much of a born +genius. Her memory for any composition she heard once was unfailingly +accurate; her rendition of anything she knew was more than perfect, +since to perfection of rendition she added sympathetic interpretation. +She was already reputed the best female performer on the lyre, the most +popular instrument in ancient times. The lyre had an effect something +between that of a guitar and a harp, with some of the characteristics of +the modern banjo, zither and mandolin. + +Since the lyre was looked upon as frivolous and unsuited to the gravity +of a Vestal, Brinnaria introduced Terentia to the organ. This instrument +the child had heard, but had not learned to play, as organs were +expensive in those days, whereas Terentia’s family, although of the most +ancient nobility, were in very straitened circumstances. + +To the organ Terentia took with great enthusiasm, and in performing on +it she soon surpassed her teacher. + +Brinnaria’s playing on the water-organ was similar to the piano music +of a modern girl who has mostly taught herself and who plays largely by +ear; Terentia played it as a born genius in our days plays her piano, +with impeccable exactitude, inimitable individuality and compelling +charm. Her organ recitals were soon a chief feature of the social life +in the Atrium, each thronged by the most fashionable ladies in Rome, +who competed for invitations. Her vogue in no way spoiled Terentia, who +played with just as much zest for her co-inmates of the Atrium, or +when she was entirely alone amusing herself at the organ. Teaching her, +playing with her, listening to her, took up a good deal of Brinnaria’s +time and came to be a great solace and comfort to her. + +Even more was this abundance of good music a solace and a comfort to +Causidiena, for, like Dossonia, her predecessor, like so many former +Chief Vestals, Causidiena was going blind from some disorder slow, +painless and obscure, altogether baffling to the best medical and +surgical skill.* + +*Clearly cataracts. As a matter of fact they WERE sometimes treated even +this long ago, but the treatments did not meet with much success, and +Causidiena probably would not have cared to take the risk. + +For much of the ritual of Vesta and much of the participation of the +Vestals in the public worship in general, the presence of the Chief +Vestal was essential. + +She was the Vestal, the others were only her assistants and in training +to succeed her. But as Causidiena became less and less able to see, all +matters which could be attended to by others devolved more and more +upon Numisia. Among her colleagues Numisia had greatest confidence in +Brinnaria, so that Brinnaria’s duties occupied her insistently. + +Besides her ritual duties and her music she kept up her interest in +horse-racing; in fact, she became more and more devoted to this pastime, +which Lutorius countenanced, but which her detractors characterized as +indelicate. + +The success of her venture was notable. She became an important local +dealer in racers. Her colts, sold at well-advertised auctions, were +sought after, were competed for, brought fancy prices, won many races, +came to have a reputation that spread beyond the city, over all Italy, +even into the provinces. Her career as a stock farmer was brilliant, +meteoric, phenomenal. + +Between her duties, her music and her horse-breeding Brinnaria’s mind +was pretty well occupied. She had no time to brood and passed six +contented and almost happy years. + +She had reason for happiness in the fact that reports from Almo were +uniformly good. To Flexinna he wrote at intervals and his letters +reached their destination without much irregularity. In those days +communication with Britain was by no means so easy as with Africa. Gaul +was a country well Romanized and very populous, busy and prosperous. All +across it were good roads, excellent bridges and frequent post houses. +But between Italy and Gaul were the Alps, where the winter snows blocked +the roads for months at a time and where avalanches and floods suspended +traffic at unpredictable intervals at all times of the year. The only +sure road uniting Italy and Gaul was not through the Alps but past them +along the sea-coast, and that was roundabout. + +At the other end of Gaul the sea interposed a barrier which the Romans +found annoying. In the state of seamanship in those ages a head-wind was +an insuperable obstacle. As long as the wind blew the wrong way there +was nothing to do but wait for the wind to change. High winds made +navigation altogether impossible. Between storms and head-winds, on more +than half the days in the year attempting the passage of the channel was +not to be thought of. Moreover, bitter experience had taught the Romans +that the weather-signs of the Mediterranean were not to be relied on +when one dealt with Atlantic weather conditions. In particular they +found that a clear sky, a light breeze, warm air and a calm sea in the +morning not infrequently heralded a terrible storm before dusk. + +Consequently their attempts to cross from Gaul to Britain or from +Britain to Gaul were restricted to occasions when, at and after sunset, +the sky was clear, the sea calm and the wind favorable. Only under those +circumstances could they be reasonably sure of the conditions remaining +unaltered until the transit was accomplished. In practice about +sixty-five nights in a year promised well for traffic. With sea transit +so restricted, communication with Britain was infrequent, and news of +Almo irregular. + +Besides his letters to Flexinna he wrote occasionally to Vocco. Vocco +also had hopes of hearing from some of his comrades in arms. But as +Valentia was a place of semi-exile for incompetent, illiterate, drunken +and reckless officers, small reliance could be placed on any such +channel of news. + +Therefore, with Brinnaria’s knowledge and at her expense, Vocco had +arranged to have an unremitting watch kept on Almo by skillful hirelings +of the Imperial information department. These men sent messages whenever +it was possible, and their reports were consistently favorable. + +The frontier of Caledonia offered no such opportunities for distinction +and promotion as the outskirts of the Sahara had afforded. Military +duty from the Forth to the Clyde was monotonous and wearisome. But, +considering his environment, Almo did very well. He was liked by his +companions, loved by his subordinates and worshipped by his men. What +there was to do he did capably, and in his leisure, among comrades who +guzzled wine and gambled like madmen, he was always sober and never +abused the dice, which were an inevitable social feature of all Roman +outpost existence. + +Aurelius spent the last four years of his life along the headwaters of +the Danube and Rhine, where the rising tide of Germanic migrations beat +incessantly at the outworks of the Empire. His death at Vienna occurred +when Brinnaria was twenty-nine years old and had been nineteen years +a Vestal. He was succeeded by his son Antoninus, whose obliging +disposition and easy-going manners made him exceedingly popular with his +cronies, the young fops, dandies and sports of Roman society, and led +to his being known among them as “the good fellow,” which nickname of +“Commodus” soon supplanted his given names and official titles, on the +lips first of the Romans, then of the Italians, soon of all his subjects +everywhere. + +Commodus was not in Rome when his father died and it was therefore not +possible for Brinnaria to have an audience with him. She dreaded that a +change of governors in Britain might work unfavorably for Almo. + +In consultation with Vocco she did what she could, through the city +Prefect in charge of Rome during the Emperor’s absence, and through +other officials, to make sure that any new governor of Britain would +be fully informed of the secret instructions which Aurelius had given +Opstorius concerning Almo. She also did all that was possible to have +Commodus reminded of the matter. This was difficult at a distance and +a delicate undertaking at any time and in any place, no Emperor ever +relishing the assumption that he need be reminded of anything, while the +necessity for emphasis and secrecy at one and the same time taxed the +best ingenuity. With the great influence possessed by the Vestals, they +hoped that they had succeeded. + +But when Commodus had been Emperor a little over a year, Brinnaria, as +she descended from her carriage at Vocco’s door, felt a thrill of vague +foreboding. On entering the house her premonition of something wrong +intensified. At first sight Flexinna’s face confirmed her suspicions. +However, she asked no questions and worked off her feelings by a series +of high dives, followed by fancy-stroke swimming under water. She came +up from her tenth plunge sufficiently exhausted to feel to some extent +soothed. + +As they composed themselves on the dining-sofas Vocco and Flexinna +exchanged glances. Brinnaria did not wait for either to speak. + +“I am afraid,” she said, “that my appetite is not as reliable as it was +ten years ago. I think we had best eat our dinner first and discuss our +bad news afterwards.” Vocco and Flexinna looked distinctly relieved. + +Brinnaria’s appetite seemed excellent. She ate abundantly, and, after +the dinner tray was removed and the dessert tray brought in, she +relished a half a dozen of her favorite purple figs. Savoring her glass +of Vocco’s exquisite Setian wine she asked: + +“What has gone wrong, Quintus?” + +“Just precisely what we feared has happened,” Vocco replied. “In spite +of all our efforts Hostidius appears to have known nothing whatever +about Almo’s peculiar past or of the special instructions Aurelius gave +Opstorius. + +“Almo has practically repeated the vagary he perpetrated at Hippo. He +induced Hostidius to give him a full, honorable discharge from the army +and later wheedled the governor into authorizing him to have himself +sold as a slave.” + +“What maggot can he have in his brain,” Brinnaria burst in, “that he is +so fascinated with the idea of being sold as a slave? What earthly basis +can there be for the enticement it holds out to him? Being sold as a +slave is universally regarded as the worst fate that can befall a man in +life. What makes the prospect of life as a slave so alluring to him?” + +“Flexinna and I have been debating that point,” said Vocco, “but we +cannot so much as think up a conjecture. + +“As to the facts there can be no doubt. He was publicly sold in the +marketplace of Eboracum.” + +“At least,” Brinnaria breathed, “we have not lost track of him this +time.” + +“We have not,” Vocco answered, “and I’ll wager we shall not.” + +“Is it prize-fighting again?” Brinnaria queried, “or is it really +charioteering this time?” + +“Neither,” said Vocco. “I must say it sounds like lunacy. But all +Almo’s words and all the small details of his behavior show no signs of +derangement. Up to the last report he slept well, ate well, looked well, +talked sensibly, in respect to all minor matters acted like a rational +being, and seemed to thrive. But what he did in the large sense appears +incredible. + +“He had himself advertised for sale as an expert farm overseer, was +bought by a prosperous proprietor whose properties are situated in the +southwestern part of Britain and there, near Ischalis, he has settled +down to the management of a large estate; large at least for that part +of the world. He was giving excellent satisfaction in his dealings with +the slaves and by his knowledge of budding, grafting, transplanting and +of all the mysteries of gardening, orchard lore, and of agriculture in +general.” + +“Yes,” Brinnaria reflected, “he was keen on all that sort of thing while +he was at the villa near Falerii. Such knowledge, gained in boyhood, +sinks in deep and is never forgotten. He is not playing a part or +pretending; he is really enjoying farm life. But what kink in his head +makes him fancy that he prefers to enjoy it as a slave rather than as +a free man? That puzzles me. Why be sold as a slave in order to bask in +rural delights when he could buy the ten largest estates in Britain and +never feel the outlay? When after his honorable discharge from the army +he was at liberty to remain in Britain openly and to do as he liked? Can +you see through it?” + +Flexinna and Vocco agreed that they saw no glimmer of light. + +“At least,” Brinnaria summed up, “he is in Britain and we can arrange +to prevent his leaving the island. Certainly we can have him watched, +wherever he goes.” + +Vocco at once set about making the arrangements to ensure that Almo +would not leave Britain. Within a half year he had to report that their +efforts had been futile. + +“We were too late,” he said. “He did not remain at Ischalis a year. +Egnatius Probus, of Fregellae, had been in Britain more than ten years +as adviser to the tax-department. His health had given way and he was +taking the waters at Aquae Solis. He was an acquaintance of Almo’s owner +and went down to Ischalis after his water-cure had had its effect and +he felt better. While visiting and idling at Ischalis he took a fancy to +Almo, offered a high price for him and bought him. He returned home by +way of Marseilles and from there by ship to Puteoli. He is now on his +estates near Fregellae and Almo is his head overseer, in charge of the +entire place. He has been there three months already.” + +Brinnaria fidgeted on her sofa, for, as on the previous occasion, Vocco +had imparted his news after dinner. + +“Give me another goblet of that Setian you bought from Zaelis,” she +said. “I’m getting to be a confirmed wine-bibber. At every piece of bad +news I need a bracer.” + +After she had emptied her glass, she burst out: + +“If Almo is acting as villicus of an estate near Fregellae he must be +living with some slave-woman or other.” + +“He is not,” Vocco informed her. “I made careful inquiries on just +that point and got my information from two different sources. Almo told +Egnatius that he was a woman-hater and could not endure a woman about +him. Egnatius humored him and he is acting villicus without any villica. +The wife of the assistant overseer does whatever is necessary in the +way of prayers and sacrifices and such duties of a villica. She and her +husband occupy the overseer’s house and Almo is living in the hut meant +for the assistant villicus.” + +“Did anybody ever hear the like!” exclaimed Brinnaria. + +Vocco’s agents verified this news and made it quite certain that Almo +was masquerading as a slave and as a villicus of a fine estate in lower +Latium, near Fregellae, southeast of Rome on the Latin highroad, about +half way between Capua and the capital. + +Brinnaria found herself very much in a quandary, and discussions with +Flexinna and Vocco, however lengthy and however often repeated, left her +just where she started. They could not decide whether it was best to do +nothing or to interfere, and whether, if they were to interfere, what +form their intervention should take. + +Should Vocco travel to Fregellae and force an interview with Almo +and try to appeal to his better self? If so, should he do so without +apprizing Egnatius of the real name and origin of his overseer? Or +should they enlighten Egnatius under a pledge of secrecy and afterwards +decide whether or not to make an attempt to recall Almo to his natural +way of life? Should they do any of these things without appealing to +the Emperor or would it be better first to inform Commodus? They debated +over and over every line of conduct any one of them could suggest. After +all complete inaction and entire secrecy seemed best. + +This view was confirmed when Brinnaria consulted Celsianus, the most +reputed physician of Rome. She had already confided in Lutorius, who +informed Celsianus, arranged for an interview and was present at it. + +The great man said: “Almo is not necessarily or even probably deranged. +On the face of what you tell me the most unfavorable conjecture I could +form would be that he has resolved to commit suicide. You will say that +the idea is absurd, that suicide is easy and that the means are always +at hand, which is quite true. + +“But there are cases, more numerous than you could fancy, of persons +who make up their minds to bring about their end in some unimaginable +manner, of which nobody but themselves would ever have thought. Then +they lay complicated plans and by devious ways approach their purpose. +If they are thwarted or diverted, they never end their lives in any +other fashion than by the special method they have devised. + +“I am inclined to think that Almo’s entrance into a gang of +sword-fighters was caused by some such intention, that he is alive +because the circumstances he looked forward to never conspired to give +him just the kind of death he preferred. I am inclined to think that he +is now working towards some unthinkable exit from life. + +“But I am not much disposed to think his such a case at all. It may be +a mere whim of self-torment, or it may be spontaneous yielding to a +genuine liking for the life he is living. What one human being likes +cannot be realized by other human beings, in many cases. + +“My advice is to let him entirely alone. If you interfere you may +precipitate his suicide, if he meditates suicide. By calling in the help +of the Emperor or of his owner or both, you may destroy the chances, the +very good chances, of his returning to his full senses. Men in his state +of mind are often sane in all respects, and, if unsettled, are deranged +only in one particular. They are generally wholly reasonable on all +points except as to their fad of the moment. If that wears off they are +entirely rational. Let him alone. Watch him, but take no other steps.” + +This advice seemed simple enough, but carrying it out proved more of a +strain than Brinnaria could have foreseen. The knowledge that Almo was +in Italy, near Fregellae, actually in Latium and within seventy miles +of Rome, that he was living in the hut of an under-farm-bailiff, that he +perhaps purposed some eccentric method of suicide proved racking to her +nerves. She became irritable and fidgety, her music failed to solace +or comfort her and sometimes almost bored her. She groped blindly for +something to distract her mind. + +First she had a brief but violent attack of solicitude for her pauper +tenants. She found entertainment in visiting her slum properties and in +endeavoring to alleviate the condition of their inmates. They were far +from grateful. To have a Vestal, clad in the awe-inspiring dignity of +her white robes, with all her badges of office, six braids, headdress, +headband, tassels, ribbons, brooch and all descend from her dazzlingly +upholstered carriage and invade the courtyard of their hive was +thrilling but still more disconcerting to a swarm of slum spawn. They +bragged of the honor for the rest of their lives and strutted over it +for months, but they were unaffectedly relieved to see her depart. + +Her inquiries as to their means of livelihood were excruciatingly +embarrassing. The Roman populace, all freemen with their wives and +children, were legally entitled to free seats at the spectacles and to +cooked rations from the government cook-shops in their precinct. They +throve on their free rations. Of their own efforts they had merely to +clothe themselves and pay the rent of their quarters. Cash for rent and +garments they obtained in whatever way happened to be easiest, often by +dubious means. As to their resources they were reticent. + +In particular, Brinnaria was unable to cajole any admission, by word or +silence, from any dweller in one of her largest rookeries, and they +were better off than any tenants she had, too. What was more, not one of +their neighbors would impart any information about them.. + +Brinnaria’s curiosity was aroused. She bethought herself of Truttidius, +the sieve-maker, and of his intimate knowledge of all the dens and lairs +in the city. + +She asked him. He laughed. + +“On the Fagutal?” he made sure, “at the second corner beyond the end of +the Subura?” + +He laughed again. + +Then he tactfully explained that the tenants in that particular +congeries of buildings were professional secret cut-throats, good enough +husbands and fathers and amicable among themselves, but earning an +honest livelihood by putting out of the way any persons displeasing to +anybody able to pay for their services. + +Brinnaria abruptly ceased slumming. + +All the more she threw herself into her horse-breeding. She visited her +stud-farms oftener; and, oddly enough, as the result of her overwrought +state of mind, the management of the farms themselves came to mean less +to her than the means of reaching them and returning. She paid close +attention to the make of her road-carriage, to the speed and pace of +her roadsters. She bought picked teams of blooded mares, selecting them +especially for their ability to keep up a fast walk without breaking +pace. She boasted that she had six spans of mares, any one of which +could, at a walk, outdistance any team in Rome owned by anybody else. + +By specializing in fast-walking cattle she saved much time in passing +from the Atrium to the city gates and in returning. + +Outside the city her mares displayed their capacity for other paces +than the walk. She saw to it that her coachman kept them at their +utmost speed. The sight of her tearing along a highway became familiar +everywhere throughout the suburban countryside. She made a hobby of +extremely fast driving and of buying fast mares. + +Also she fell into another fad, at the time all the rage, invented since +the accession of Commodus and made fashionable by the young Emperor. +Some popinjay had conceived a whim for travelling by litter instead of +in his carriage. It was far less expeditious and far more expensive. But +the notion took. All at once every fop in Roman society must needs take +his country outings, go to his villa and come back from it, not in his +carriage but in his litter. The plea was that a carriage jolted and that +riding in a litter was less tiring. There was something in that, for +carriage springs had not been invented in those days. But mostly it was +just a craze among the very wealthy, as distinguishing them from people +who could afford but one set of litter-bearers. An ordinary four-man +litter could be used only for going about the city--longer distances +were impossible, and excursions into the country soon tired out eight +bearers. For road travelling one must have sixteen bearers, two sets +relieving each other in turn. Brinnaria bought sixteen gigantic negroes +and tested them on her inspections of her stock-farms. She tried German +bearers, Goths and Cilicians. Her bearers became famous for their speed +and endurance. If she heard of any squad reputed better than hers, +she bought it at any price, until, not counting the teams of bearers +belonging to the Palace, there was only one gang in Rome which she +envied. She tried to purchase them but could not. They belonged to her +mother’s friend Nemestronia. + +Nemestronia always had been a wonder and was a marvel. She was one of +the wealthiest women in Rome and had never been ill a moment in her +life. A very beautiful girl, she had kept her looks and a wonderful +singing voice, still clear and sweet when she was over sixty. She had +been, since within a year after her first marriage, one of the social +leaders of Rome. She had become the social leader of Rome, her influence +almost equal to that of the Empress. She had outlived three empresses +and had reigned unquestioned in the social world for over fifty years, +yet had not an enemy in Rome. Everybody loved Nemestronia. At the +time of the litter craze she had already celebrated her eighty-first +birthday, was plump, rosy, merry and spry, always ready for any +amusement, and was living happily with her fifth husband. + +She prided herself on her litter-bearers and with her unerring social +instinct anticipated the caprice of her world and provided herself +with three sets of carriers, sixteen to a set. One gang, of brawny +Cappadocians, outclassed any but the Emperor’s own. + +These Brinnaria tried to buy, tried in vain. Nemestronia was willing to +exchange, if she could do so to her advantage. But sell she would not. +Amid her opulence no sum could tempt her. + +Brinnaria fumed and drove her horses almost to death, urged her +litter-men almost to exhaustion. But, with all her haste, care outpaced +her steeds or carriers. She gnawed her heart out. + +Only at Vocco’s house, amid Flexinna’s bevy of youngsters, did she find +peace of mind. + +Even there, at last, care followed her. + +When Alma had been more than a year at Fregellae, Brinnaria, visiting +Flexinna about the middle of May, scented more trouble. As they lay down +to dinner she said: + +“The occasion, I perceive, calls for an extra supply of wine. Let it be +the old Falernian this time and have the mixture strong.” After they had +eaten, none any too heartily, Vocco told his news. + +Almo had left his master’s estate without a permit, in plain words had +gone off like any runaway slave and had thereby exposed himself to the +penalties incurred by a fugitive. Egnatius had taken the usual steps to +recapture him, but neither he nor the authorities had any clue to Almo’s +whereabouts. As far as they were concerned he had vanished. + +He had not, however, eluded the vigilance of Brinnaria’s agents, of +the men Vocco had employed to keep him in view. They understood that +Egnatius was to be kept in ignorance of their activity, and gave no aid +to the police of the neighborhood in their efforts to retake him. They +had reported only to Vocco. + +Almo had money with him and at Arpinum had garbed himself decently +for the road. He avoided the main highway and wandered along by-roads, +zigzagging and circling about. He idled at inns, sometime for days in +one place, often in small towns, oftener at road-houses between. + +He was then near Atina. + +At intervals during June and July Vocco gave Brinnaria reports about +Almo. He seemed to enjoy the society of the casual travellers he met at +small inns and of the local frequenters of them. He got on famously +with everybody. Nowhere was he suspected of being a runaway slave and +naturally, for he had the unmistakable carriage and bearing of a born +freeman. The hue and cry Egnatius had set loose after him was active +wherever he went, but he sat under placards offering rewards for his +capture and no one applied the description to him. + +Early in June he was at Casinum and Interamna, before it ended at Fundi +and Privernum. In July he passed through Setia, Ulubrae, Norba and +Cora. Early in August he was idling at Velitrae, playing quoits in the +inn-yard morning after morning. + +He seemed to like Velitrae. He stayed there longer than anywhere else. + + + +CHAPTER XVII - RECKLESSNESS + + +ON the fifteenth of that same August, not long after noon, Brinnaria was +much surprised by a call from Flexinna. + +“The most amazing weather that ever was,” Flexinna stated. “I never +heard of such, everybody says nobody ever heard of the like. Even +Nemestronia says she never saw or heard of anything to compare to it. +The densest imaginable fog, as white as milk. You c-c-can’t see across a +street, you c-c-can hardly see the bearers in front of your litter.” + +“I noticed it in the courtyard,” Brinnaria replied, “and it is thicker +than usual. But we often have morning fogs and I have seen several +almost as dense as this.” + +“Nothing unusual in a fog d-d-down hereabouts and along the river,” + Flexinna admitted. “B-B-But this fog is most unusual. It is all over the +whole city. I have lived on the Esquiline ever since I was b-b-born and +I never saw a fog up there except p-p-perhaps a whiff just about +sunrise and then only in wisps. This fog is high up on the Esquiline, +as d-d-dense as along the river. I know the fog is all over the +city b-b-because I sent two slaves to the P-P-Pincian and two to the +Aventine, and they reported that it is just as b-b-bad everywhere +as here and at home. And I met Satronius Satro, just b-b-back from +B-B-Baiae. He slept at B-B-Bovillae last night and he says the fog is +just as b-b-bad all the way from B-B-Bovillae. He says it is heavy over +the whole c-c-country for miles. It amounts to a portent.” + +“Flexinna,” said Brinnaria, “you never came here and at this time of +day, to talk about the weather.” + +“I d-d-didn’t know how to b-b-begin,” Flexinna admitted. + +“What has Almo done now?” Brinnaria queried. + +“He left Velitrae day before yesterday,” said Flexinna, “and went to +Aricia. Yesterday he challenged the K-K-King of the G-G-Grove.” + +“Just as Celsianus conjectured,” Brinnaria groaned. “Some unthinkable +method of suicide. Is he dead?” + +“No,” Flexinna replied. “He’s very much alive.” + +“Then he is the King of the Grove!” Brinnaria cried. + +“They haven’t fought yet,” Flexinna informed her. + +“Impossible!” Brinnaria exclaimed. “Or there is something wrong with +your information. There is only one way to challenge the King of the +Grove and that is to enter the Grove with a weapon. Almost as many men +as women go to worship at the Temple of Diana in the Grove by the Lake; +the King of the Grove never notices any unarmed man. But let a man with +a weapon of any kind, spear, sword, or what not, even a club, step over +the boundary line of the Grove and that act of entrance there with a +weapon constitutes a challenge to the King of the Grove; at sight of an +armed man the King or the Grove attacks him. They fight then and there +till one is killed. The survivor is the King of the Grove. + +“The challenger is supposed to pluck a twig from the sacred oak-tree and +the act of picking the branch is supposed to be the challenge. But, in +practice, the King of the Grove watches the sacred oak so carefully, +that nobody remembers any challenger who succeeded in pulling a twig +unless he won the fight. + +“That is the only way to challenge the King of the Grove. Everybody +knows that.” + +“That is just what I always thought,” Flexinna confessed, “b-b-but, it +seems we are b-b-both mistaken. There is another way to challenge the +K-K-King of the G-G-Grove; that is to go to the Dictator of Aricia and +enter formal challenge. In that c-c-case, the Dictator notifies the +K-K-King of the G-G-Grove that he must face the challenger at +midnight next d-d-day. Meanwhile, the challenger is entertained in +the t-t-town-hall of Aricia. He is b-b-bathed, p-p-provided with fresh +c-c-clothing, g-g-given whatever food he asks for and accommodated with +a c-c-comfortable b-b-bed for the night after his challenge. Then, when +he has had a g-g-good chance to sleep all night and has had at least +four g-g-good meals, he is c-c-conducted by the aldermen to the +G-G-Grove just b-b-before midnight. The aldermen t-t-take with them +two ancient shields, p-p-precisely alike, and two ancient Amazonian +b-b-battle-axes, also p-p-precisely alike, which are k-k-kept among the +t-t-treasures in the strong room of the t-t-town hall at Aricia. The +challenger plucks a t-t-twig from the sacred oak. Then he and the +K-K-King of the G-G-Grove face each other in the open space b-b-before +it. A shield and a b-b-battle-axe are handed to each. Then they wait for +the word of the Dictator of Aricia. At the word they fight. + +“That is the other way to challenge the K-K-King of the G-G-Grove.” + +Flexinna, as generally happened, had been shown at once up to +Brinnaria’s private apartment and had walked straight into Brinnaria’s +bedroom. In that small room they sat facing each other. + +“Then they fight at midnight to-night,” Brinnaria deduced. + +“Yes,” Flexinna corroborated. + +“How did you come here?” her friend queried. + +“In Nemestronia’s litter,” the visitor answered. “I b-b-borrowed it.” + +“With her Cappadocian bearers?” queried Brinnaria. + +“Eighteen, of them,” said Flexinna; “two extras.” + +“How on earth did you come to do that?” Brinnaria wondered. + +“I had a notion,” Flexinna explained, “of trying to get to the G-G-Grove +by the Lake b-b-before the fight. I thought p-p-perhaps Almo would +listen to me if I c-c-could see him in t-t-time.” + +“Did you tell Quintus?” Brinnaria demanded. + +“Of c-c-course,” said Flexinna. “He wanted to go alone, b-b-but I said +Almo would not listen to him, so I p-p-persuaded him to let me t-t-try. +I c-c-couldn’t think of riding, of c-c-course, as I am. He wouldn’t even +hear of my d-d-driving, said I might as well hang myself and be d-d-done +with it as risk the jar of a t-t-travelling c-c-carriage. I said I’d +use my litter. He said our b-b-bearers c-c-could never g-g-get there in +t-t-time for me to hope to d-d-do any g-g-good. I said I’d b-b-borrow +Nemestronia’s fastest gang. He said he c-c-could g-g-go and c-c-come +b-b-back on a horse quicker than any litter c-c-could reach the +G-G-Grove. I repeated that Almo would certainly p-p-pay no attention to +him, b-b-but might listen to me. So I b-b-borrowed Nemestronia’s litter. +Shall I g-g-go? Shall I start at once?” + +“No!” Brinnaria cut her off. “Let me think. Sixteen miles? They could +do it in a little over five hours, if everything went just right. They’d +take at least eight hours for the return journey. You wouldn’t be back +at the Appian gate before sunrise. It would be a hungry job.” + +“I thought of that,” Flexinna informed her. “I’m always ravenous when +I’m this way* and c-c-can never g-g-go from one meal to the next. I had +a k-k-kid-skin of wine p-p-put in the litter and b-b-bread and cheese +and fruit.” + +*In other words, she’s pregnant. --PG ed. + +“You did!” cried Brinnaria. “Where is Vocco?” + +“On horseback b-b-beside the litter,” said Flexinna, “waiting for your +d-d-decision.” + +“I’ve made it,” Brinnaria proclaimed. + +“Shall I g-g-go t-t-try?” enquired Flexinna. + +“No!” Brinnaria fairly shouted, pulling off her headdress. + +“What shall I d-d-do then?” Flexinna queried. + +“Undress,” Brinnaria ordered, “undress quick!” Flexinna stared at her, +horrified. + +“What for?” she quavered. + +“Undress first and ask afterwards,” Brinnaria commanded. “Undress, +woman, undress!” She was tearing off her clothes as she talked. + +“Can’t you see, you fool!” she hissed. “The gods have made it all easy. +The densest fog Rome ever saw and all over the country-side, a curtained +litter with the fastest bearers alive right at my door, my best friend +on horseback beside it, drink and food enough and to spare, me off duty +till to-morrow noon and you here to change clothes with me. I put on +your clothes and go save Almo.” + +“You’ll be outside Rome all night,” Flexinna objected. “That’s +sacrilege.” + +“Not a bit of it,” Brinnaria retorted. “I know a regulation from a +taboo. When the Gauls captured Rome the Flamen of Jupiter went up into +the Capitol with the garrison. He might not leave Rome, it would have +been impious. But the other flamens nd the Vestals left Rome, the +Vestals were months at Caere. It is not impiety for a Vestal to be +outside the city walls over night, it is merely forbidden by the rules. +I’m going.” + +“You might as well g-g-go b-b-bury yourself alive and b-b-be d-d-done +with it,” Flexinna protested. “You’re certain to b-b-be found out. It’s +sure d-d-death for you.” + +“Hang the risk!” Brinnaria snarled. “I never realized how much I loved +Almo till you brought this news. I don’t care whether I live or die or +what death I die, if I can only save him. + +“And the risk is too small to think of. All you have to do is to stay +abed and keep still. Utta will never tell and she won’t let anyone +in. Numisia will not suspect anything: any Vestal has the right to +twenty-four hours abed and no questions asked, Meffia spent one day out +of ten in bed. Manlia takes a day’s rest a dozen times a year. Even I +have done it several times, when I was sore all over with jolting too +long at full gallop over our so-called perfect roads. I was abed all +day about a month ago, and certainly I rove hard enough and long enough +yesterday and I was in the Temple half the night. I’ll be back here long +before noon to-morrow. + +“Don’t you see how easy it is? Flexinna has called on Brinnaria to-day, +as usual, except the hour. And Flexinna often calls on Brinnaria at odd +hours. Flexinna makes a short call and goes out to her litter. Flexinna +makes an excursion into the country in a litter with drawn curtains, +her husband riding by it. Nobody can take any notice of that. Flexinna +returns from her outing, calls at once on Brinnaria, pays a brief call, +goes out, gets into her litter and goes home. Brinnaria, refreshed by +twenty-four hours abed, goes about her duties. The plan simply can’t +fail.” She had on all Flexinna’s clothes by the end of her explanation +and was adjusting er two veils, one over her face, the other tied over +the broad-brimmed travelling-hat, so that the edges of the brim, drawn +down on either side, almost met under her chin and her face was lost in +it. + +Flexinna continued to protest feebly, but Brinnaria made her compose +herself in the bed. + +“You can have anything you want to eat,” she reminded her, “and as much +as you want, any time.” + +Utta came at the first signal. + +“Now listen,” Brinnaria instructed her, “I am in that bed and I am going +to stay there until the lady who has just called on me comes back. That +will be tomorrow morning. I am tired and need rest, the same as I did +the day after the axle broke and I barked my knee in the gravel. I am +not going out now; oh, no the lady going out is the lady who called on +me. Do you understand?” + +Utta understood. + +Flexinna, quaking in the bed, prayed under her breath. + +“For Castor’s sake,” was her farewell, “d-d-don’t forget to +s-s-stutter.” In a fashionable costume of brilliant pink silk with +pearly gray trimmings, feeling horribly conspicuous, but unaccosted and, +as far as she could judge, unnoticed, Brinnaria descended the stairs, +traversed the courtyard and passed the portal. Just outside, in the nook +left by the angle of the wall enclosing the Temple, she found the litter +set down clear of the throng that surged and jostled ceaselessly up and +down the Holy Street. The bearers stood about it, one holding Vocco’s +horse; all, like the street-crowd, vague and unreal in the fog. Through +the fog Vocco strode towards her and checked, amazed. She put her +fingers to the folds of the veil over her lips. + +“C-C-Careful,” she warned him, laboriously stuttering. “I am Flexinna +come back. Now for Aricia, as fast as the b-b-bearers can hoof it.” + +Vocco, dazed, helped her into the litter, gave the order and mounted his +horse. + +Composed in her litter, Brinnaria’s sensations were all of the +strangeness of the outlook; fog blurring the outlines of familiar +buildings; fog hiding the landmarks she looked for, fog wrapping her +round till she could hardly see the front pair of carriers tramping +ahead or even Vocco beside her on his horse; fog concealing all the wide +prospect of the levels south of Rome, fog so thick that they positively +groped their way through the towns along the road, fog so dense that she +could not discern the gradations by which afternoon melted into evening +and dusk into darkness. + +When they were clear of the city Vocco ranged his horse alongside the +litter and expostulated with Brinnaria, talking Greek that the bearers +might not understand. + +“The best thing you can do,” he said, “is to give up this harebrained +adventure and merely swing round through the suburbs for some hours and +return to the Atrium by some other gate.” + +“Not I,” she replied in her hardest tone. + +“How do you expect to succeed in speaking to Almo?” he asked. + +“I leave that to you,” she said; “you must manage to see the Dictator of +Aricia and tell him that you have with you a lady in a litter who must +speak to the challenger before the fight.” + +“I’ll attempt the commission,” said Vocco, “and I’ll do my utmost, but I +hold it impossible.” + +“In any case,” spoke Brinnaria, “I keep on even if I have to expose +myself and be recognized in Aricia.” + +Vocco gave up the effort to influence her. + +The roads joining the Appian Way were paved with similar blocks of the +same sort of stone. In the fog they went wrong three several times where +side-roads branched off at a thin angle. In each case they failed to +discover their mistake until they had gone on for some distance; in each +case they had to retrace their steps for fear of getting wholly lost if +they tried a cross-road; in each case they wasted much time. + +Twice the leading bearers were all but trampled on by the recklessly +driven horses of careless drivers. Both times the mix-up delayed them. + +Just beyond Bovillae they had a third collision, in which one pole of +the litter was snapped and two of the bearers injured. It barely missed +resulting in a free-fight. All of Vocco’s tact was needed to allay the +feelings on both sides. By great good luck he succeeded in getting a +substitute litter-pole from a near-by inn without too much publicity. + +The delays caused by missing the road and by collisions had cut down +the margin of time they had hoped for at Aricia. This last misfortune +delayed them so much that it seemed unlikely that they could reach the +Grove until midnight. + +In fact, before they reached Aricia, the road was alive with parties of +celebrants, men and women, but no children, every man carrying a lighted +torch, nearly every man accompanied by a slave with an armful or a +back-load of spare torches, all moving in the same direction with them. + +With torch-bearing crowds the streets of Aricia were jammed. From gate +to gate of the town they crawled, wading slowly through the press of +revellers. Along the road to the Grove they were as a chip floated along +on a tide of torchbearers, for the parties of worshippers converging to +their great local yearly festival from Tusculum, Tibur, Cora, Pometia, +Lanuvium and Ardea formed a continuous procession, their pulsing +torch-flames looking strange and blurred through the fog. + +When they reached the top of the ridge enclosing the Lake, Vocco +dismounted and trusted his roan to one of Nemestronia’s extra bearers, +as horses were not allowed within the Grove or its precincts. + +Not much before midnight the bearers swung sharply at the brink of +the cliff and plunged down the steep narrow road cut along its face. +Brinnaria felt the dampness of the lake air on her cheek. + +By the Lake the fog was, if possible, more impenetrable than elsewhere. +The Grove, the lodging for the cripples and invalids who thronged the +place to be cured, the vast halls about the temple, the temple itself, +all were doubly whelmed in the darkness and the mist. + +Brinnaria made out only the six channelled vermilion columns of the +temple portico and the black boughs of the sacred oak. These, to right +and left of the temple area, showed vaguely in the light of thousands of +torches in the hands of the throng packed about it. + +Respect for a closed litter with sixteen bearers accompanied by a +gentleman in a Senator’s robes won them a way through the crowd, the +torches surging in waves of flame as they ploughed through. + +When they reached the margin of the open space, Brinnaria, choking with +the realization that she had arrived too late, peered between the drawn +curtains of her litter and saw the pavement of the temple-area bright +under the splendor of the torch-rays; saw a dozen young women, dressed +in gowns of a startling deep orange, standing in a row clear of the +torch-bearing crowd; saw the five aldermen of Aricia in their official +robes, grouped about the square marble altar; saw before the altar a +circular space of clipped turf midway of the area pavement, saw standing +on it to the right of the altar the King of the Grove, clad in his +barbaric smock of dingy undyed black wool, his three-stranded necklace +of raw turquoises broad on his bosom, the fox-tails of his fox-skin cap +trailing by his ears; saw facing him Almo, bare-kneed, his hunting-boots +of soft leather like chamois-skin coming half way up to his calves, +his leek-green tunic covering him only to mid-thigh, his head bare, his +right hand waving an oak bough. + +After she recognized Almo and glimpsed the bough in his hand she hardly +looked at him. She stared, fascinated, at the white marble altar on +which, as an offering to Diana of the Underworld, the victor of the +fight would lay the corpse of his victim. + +The Dictator of Aricia, chief of the Aldermen, raised his hand. From +somewhere in the darkness behind the dozen simpering wenches appeared +two slaves, each carrying a small round shield and a double-headed +battle-axe. The shields had painted on each a horse, the battle-axes +were of the pattern always seen in pictures of the legendary Amazons. +The blade of each axe-head was shaped like a crescent moon. From +the inner side projected a flat, thick shank, by which the blade was +fastened to the helve. The curve of each blade made almost a half +circle, the tips of the crescents almost touched the haft between them, +so that their outer cutting-edges made a nearly complete circle of +razor-sharp steel, from which protruded the keen spear-head tipping the +shaft. + +Two of the aldermen received these accoutrements from the slaves. +Brinnaria noticed that one of the other aldermen held the broad, +gold-mounted, jeweled scabbard containing the great scimitar with which +the King of the Grove kept girt, waking or sleeping. She even noted how +its belt trailed from his hands and the shine of its gloss-leather in +the torch-rays. + +The two aldermen handed a shield and an axe to each contestant. One took +from Almo the oak-bough and passed it to the Dictator. + +The two champions fitted the shields on their arms, balanced them, and +hefted their battle-axes. Each assumed the posture that suited him best, +his feet well under him. So they stood facing each other, waiting for +the signal. + +The King of the Grove was a stocky, solidly-built ruffian of medium +height and weight. Almo seemed much taller and very much slenderer and +lighter. His delicate features and thin nose contrasted strangely to the +high cheek-bones, small, close-set eyes, and wide, flat nostrils of his +antagonist. + +The Dictator waved the oak-bough and shouted. + +The two champions warily approached each other. + +Each kept his left foot forward; each crouched, as it were, inside the +shield tight against his shoulder; each held his axe aloft. + +Each struck, each dodged, Almo awkwardly, his axe trailing behind him +after it missed. + +The stocky man thought he saw his chance and whirled his weapon, +bringing it down in a terrible sweep. Craftily Almo caught it against +his shield, just below the upper rim, horribly it grated against the +bronze plating of the shield, with the full weight of the mighty swing +it buried itself in the sod. + +The force of his blow carried the assailant with it so that he almost +fell face forward on the sward. + +Before he could recover himself Almo’s ready axe swung. + +Brinnaria saw it flash in the air. Then she saw the fox-skin cap in two +halves, a horrid red void between. + +“Oh Vocco,” she called, “t-t-take me home, t-t-take me home.” At that +volcanic instant, at the bitterest moment of her life, what kept back +her tears was her tendency to laugh at the fact, that, ill the midst of +her agony, she did not forget to stutter. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII - FURY + + +THE darkness of the night, the impenetrability of the fog and the +weariness of the bearers all contributed to impede their return journey. +While on her way and buoyed up by her wild purpose, Brinnaria had been +able to rest herself by dozing along the roadway and had remembered to +keep up her strength with food and wine. After they had turned back she +could not have swallowed anything, if she had thought to try, and the +nearest she came to sleep was an uneasy drowse which seemed a long +nightmare. The Cappadocians, famous for their strength, endurance and +indifference to wakefulness, exertion, hunger or thirst, were also +astute foragers. On their way from Rome the reliefs had invaded every +inn they passed and, lavishly provided with small coins by Vocco, had +provisioned themselves abundantly. These supplies they handed over to +their fellows when they took up the litter. All the way back the spare +carriers, plodding behind, munched their provender and conversed in +undertones. The bearers, necessarily flagging, trudged leadenly. + +Through it all Brinnaria was haunted by her memory of two pictures. + +One was of the row of saffron-clad hussies watching the fight. + +The King of the Grove was the only legal polygamist in Italy. +Concomitant with the barbarous and savage conditions determining his +tenure of the office as High Priest in the Grove by the Lake of Diana of +the Underworld, congruent with his outlandish attire and ornaments, he +had the right to have twelve wives at once. Seldom had a King of the +Grove failed to avail himself of the privilege; and, indeed, to have +twelve wives was regarded as incumbent upon him, as necessary to his +proper sanctity and as indispensable to maintain the curative potencies +of the locality, which restored to health each year an army of +sufferers. + +He had the power to repudiate any wife at any time, to dismiss her and +expel her from the Grove. Any former wife of his, when expelled or after +leaving the Grove of her own accord, became a free woman with all the +privileges of a liberated slave. Most of his ex-wives, however, elected +to remain in the Grove and formed a sort of corps of official nurses +for the sick who flocked there to be cured. In practice the King of the +Grove usually repudiated any wife who lost her youthful charms. + +His wives were commonly, like himself, truant slaves. + +Fugitive male slaves were an ever-present feature of country life in +all parts of the ancient world, as tramps are in modern times. A female +runaway, however, was a distinct rarity. But the sanctuary afforded them +by the Grove encouraged them about Aricia and many fled to it. If +young and comely they became wives of its King. Also slave-girls were +constantly being presented to him by grateful convalescents, who had +come to the Grove as invalids or cripples and had left it hale and +sound. Thus the twelve wives of the King were always as vital and buxom +a convocation of wenches as could be found anywhere. + +The spectacle they had made haunted Brinnaria. + +They had been so utterly callous, so completely indifferent, so merely +curious to see which contestant was to be their future master, so +vacant-mindedly giggling and nudging each other. The impression they had +made on her nauseated her, while the memory of their red cheeks, full +contours, youthfulness and undeniable animal charm enraged her. + +The other picture which had branded itself on her memory was the sight +of Almo, straightening up after stooping over his butchered predecessor, +clasping the triple turquoise necklace about his throat. + +Almo was King of the Grove. + +At that thought and at the recollection of the dozen jades wriggling and +smirking, her blood boiled. + +By the margin of the cliff Vocco had had much ado finding his horse. +On the road back to Aricia they passed through many parties of belated +worshippers. As the torch festival kept up until dawn that town was +open all night. Unquestioned they passed in at a wide-open gate, through +torch-lit, but almost deserted streets, out at another wide-set gate. + +In the Roman world travelling by night was almost unexistent. Only +imperial couriers and civilians driven by some dire stress kept on their +way after sunset. In general travellers halted for the night at some +convenient inn or town, or camped by the road if darkness overtook them +far from any hostelry. But on the night of the yearly festival of Diana, +many parties were abroad. Between Aricia and Bovillae they met several +convoys, and about half-way they were overtaken and passed by a rapidly +driven carriage, and somewhat tater by a troop of horsemen, trotting +restrainedly, one of them on a white horse which showed rather +distinctly, even in the fog and darkness. + +Near Bovillae they overtook the same band of horsemen, halted about the +wreck of two travelling carriages which had crashed together in the +fog. Two of the horses lay dead on the stones, killed to put them out of +their misery. From curb to curb the pavement was cluttered with pieces +of wreckage and the carcasses of the horses. The roadway was completely +blocked and the bearers, at first, could find no way around the +obstacle. + +Some women were wailing over a little boy whose leg had been crushed and +who was uttering frightful shrieks. The child screamed so terribly that +Brinnaria impulsively leaned half-way out of her litter, carried away by +her sympathies. Close beside her she saw the white horse and astride of +it, vague in the mist, but unmistakable in his lop-sided, bony leanness, +outlined against the glare of the torches behind him, she recognized +Calvaster. + +Instantly she shrank behind her litter curtains. + +Almost at once a relief bearer who had gone to scout reported a free +path through the fields by the road. + +They continued on their way. + +Bovillae, not being one of the towns participating in the Festival of +Diana, was closed for the night, its gates shut fast, its walls dark. +Going round it was a trying detour over rough cross-roads. + +After they were again on the Appian Road they were for a second time +overtaken by the same band of horsemen. When their hoof-beats had grown +faint in the distance ahead, Vocco ranged his horse alongside the litter +and asked: + +“Did you notice the man on the white horse?” + +“I recognized him,” said Brinnaria briefly. + +The fog held all the way to the Appian Gate, which they reached as some +watery sun-rays struggled through the mist, held until they reached the +Atrium. + +Out of her litter tumbled Brinnaria in Flexinna’s rumpled finery, +feeling unescapably recognizable, even inside her double veil and under +her broad-brimmed, tied-down travelling hat. + +But the heavy-built, sinewy slave-woman who guarded the portal of the +Atrium passed her in without remark. She met no one on her way up to her +suite, where she found Utta squatted outside her bedroom door. + +Flexinna was incredulously delighted, pathetically overjoyed to see her. + +“You have a wonderful larder here,” she said. “Every single thing I +asked for was b-b-brought me at once. I d-d-didn’t have any appetite, +b-b-but I had to have food. And I g-g-got it.” + +Promptly she put on her own clothing and was gone. + +In a trice Brinnaria was flat on her back in bed with Utta massaging her +vigorously and methodically. After one comprehensive rubbing she went +off for hot milk, hot wine, honey, barley-meal and spices. The posset +she brewed she compelled her mistress to swallow. Then she gently +massaged her until she was asleep. Thanks to these attentions Brinnaria, +after some four hours abed, was able to reappear in the Temple looking +not much unlike a Vestal who had enjoyed twenty-four hours of unbroken +repose. + +Numisia appeared to suspect nothing. Certainly she remonstrated with her +and begged her not to exhaust herself so by hard riding. + +After that first sleep, induced by fatigue and by Utta’s ministrations, +Brinnaria slept little. She tossed and turned. Before her eyes was +continually the recollection of that row of saffron-clad minxes, of +their exuberant health, heartiness and rollicking vivacity. + +The memory of them suffocated her. In the Atrium she had to conceal her +inward convulsions of rage, had to appear calm, placid and collected. + +The effort made her the more explosive when she was at Flexinna’s and +could speak out. She stormed. + +Flexinna let her talk herself hoarse. But no amount of talking relieved +her. Whatever she said, no matter how often she had said it, she wound +up the same way: + +“Here I am, packed in ice, so to speak, for thirty years and there he +is, King of the Grove, with twelve wives, twelve wives, _twelve wives_!” + +Jealousy, in its most furious form, is not a mild malady, even in our +days, and in women of northern ancestry and cold blood. Brinnaria was a +hot-blooded Latin and the pulses of her heart were earthquakes of fire. +The Romans were a ferocious and sanguinary stock. Even among the most +delicately nurtured women love turned quickly into hate and solicitude +might in a brief time give place to the thirst for vengeance. + +Brinnaria struggled with herself for some days. + +Then she bade her coachman drive her to the Fagutal. Her appearance +among her tenants caused general trepidation, as usual. + +When the clustering drabs and brats discovered that she felt no present +interest in women and children, but that she demanded speech with the +men, the elder men, their dismay deepened into acute consternation. + +Since she would take no denial some dotards and striplings were routed +out and the patriarch of the clan was thrust forward. He looked senile +from his slippered feet to the shine on his bald-pate, he was blear-eyed +and hard of hearing, but he understood plain Latin when he heard it, he +knew of old the signs he read in the flash of her eyes, the set of her +jaw and every feature as she stood or moved. Also no dog ever had a +keener scent for game than he for business. + +He shouted in the slang of his caste. + +The women and children vanished. + +Promptly a chair was brought, carefully dusted and she was invited to +seat herself. Before her cringed, in attitudes of obsequious deference, +a group of as hulking, truculent, ruthless villains as could have +been found anywhere on earth. Just out of earshot of a low-voiced +conversation, stood younger men, sentinels, to keep all others at a +distance. + +The patriarch’s son, recognized chief of the brotherhood, an appallingly +inhuman brute, acted as spokesman. + +At the first word their wary expression altered to one of brotherly +comprehension. There was a man to be killed. Pride in their vocation +shone all over them. Yes, they knew of the King of the Grove, who +did not? and they especially, since the patriarch’s grandfather, +great-grandfather to the spokesman, had at an advanced age ended his +life in the Grove, after years as its priest, having become King late in +life, the last of a long series of challengers whom the Emperor Caligula +had suborned against an insufferable and all but invincible hierophant. + +Could they find a swashbuckler willing to assail the present incumbent? + +Of a surety and what was more able to vanquish anybody. + +Could it be arranged secretly? + +No human being would ever suspect that she knew anything about the +matter; what was more, the most inquisitive would never divine that they +themselves had any hand in the change of priests at Aricia. + +How could this be accomplished? + +In countless ways. One might find a discontented slave, mighty and +skilled with weapons, and reveal to him a means of bettering his +condition, or one might bribe the owner of a capable slave to wink at +his running away, or if no fit slave could be found, a suitable freeman +might be induced to become a slave under a master also in the plot. It +was easy, merely a matter of money. + +How much money would be needed? + +That would depend. If they could cajole a slave the job would call only +for cash for the instigator’s expenses, for journey-money and for +a good sabre for the challenger, and at the last a bonus for all +concerned. If a slave-owner had to be bribed, more cash and more money +for bonuses would be required. If a freeman had to be employed the +enterprise would be still more expensive. It was all a matter of money, +above all, of cash. + +Cash was forthcoming. + +Brinnaria returned to the Atrium by a circuitous drive out the Tiber +Gate, round through the suburbs and in at the River Gate. She needed +fresh air. All the way, all the afternoon, all the wakeful night, she +was in an eery state of icy, numb exaltation. It was all over--Almo was +a dead man, she had avenged herself, she had vindicated the proprieties, +her wrath was righteous, her vengeance laudable. This tense condition of +her nerves lasted for some days. + +According to stipulation the messenger from the tenements on the Fagutal +was a decently clad woman of inconspicuously respectable appearance. +She came after an interval of about ten days. She was apologetic. Their +first champion had perished. + +Twice more she brought the same message. Then Brinnaria ventured a +second visit to the unsavory locality. She was sarcastic. The chief was +abashed. + +This, he said, was evidently a task unexpectedly difficult. The more +certain was it that they would measure up to the requirements. They felt +that their time-honored reputation was at stake. + +There followed for Brinnaria an exciting, a wearing autumn and winter. +For some months messages came to her at about nine-day intervals, all +of the same tenure. Towards mid-winter, on a mild fair day, she risked a +third expostulation with her hirelings. On an apologetic and humiliated +rabble she poured her scorn. + +Thereafter the messages came thicker, about one every four days, but +monotonously unwelcome. Brinnaria set her teeth and sent all the money +asked for. + +Meanwhile her wrath, her jealousy, her thirst for vengeance steadily +waned and their place was largely taken by admiration for Almo’s +incredible skill and by a sort of pride in him. + +But again and again the vision of the twelve baggages returned to her +and she steeled her heart. One warm June morning she lost patience and +burst in on her gang of cut-throats. + +Inundated by a cascade of vitriolic denunciations and stinging sneers +they hung their heads, too limp to utter a protest. The patriarch was +weeping openly. + +Turned from anger to curiosity she found the rookery was in mourning. +Their chief, the apple of their eye, aghast at the failures of his +minions, had himself undertaken to redeem their honor. For him they +grieved. They owned themselves beaten. They had scoured Italy, had sent +against Almo every promising bully in the fifteen districts. Their best +young men had gone, lastly their adored leader. They could do no more; +Almo was invincible. + +Brinnaria, reflecting that, after all, she was to blame for their +dejection and woe, that, after all, they had done their best, +distributed what cash she had with her and promised them a lavish +apportionment of gold. + +As she went she realized, as they realized, that the place would never +see her again. + +Next morning she sent for Guntello. That faithful Goth, still huge, +mighty and terrific, came, mild as a pet bulldog. + +“Go kill him!” she commanded. + +“Certainly, Little Mistress,” he acquiesced, “but whom am I to kill?” + +She explained. + +Guntello, always parsimonious, asked a moderate sum for the purchase of +a sabre and for road-money. She gave him ten times as much. + +When he was gone, she felt, as at first, a painful numbness of +exaltation. Almo was now certainly a dead man. + +This mood suddenly inverted itself into an uncontrollable passion f +solicitude. Off she posted to Flexinna and confessed everything to +Vocco. In a frenzy she demanded they again borrow Nemestronia’s litter +and that Vocco again accompany her to Aricia. To their expostulations +she retorted that go she would, if not escorted by Vocco, then alone, if +not disguised and in a borrowed litter, then in her own and openly, or +openly in her carriage or afoot if need be; but go she would! + +Flexinna succeeded in getting her to listen long enough to urge that +there was no need for her to go personally, as Guntello would obey Vocco +at sight of her signet ring, moreover that Guntello now had a long start +and that only a swift horseman might hope to intervene in time. To these +representations she yielded. + +Vocco returned amazed and manifestly relieved. He had arrived too late. +Guntello was dead. + +That night Brinnaria wept long and bitterly. + +“The poor, brave, harmless, faithful fellow,” she moaned. “Out of the +malignity of my heart, in my pride and callousness, I sent him to an +undeserved death! Oh, I am a wicked woman!” Strangely enough Guntello’s +death seemed to divert her mind entirely from the idea of avenging +herself on Almo. From hating him, she came to realize that she had +really loved him all the while, that she loved him unalterably. From +thinking that she desired his death she came to dread acutely that, +exhausted in body by more than a hundred fights in ten months and worn +by the strain of ceaseless anxiety and vigilance, Almo might succumb to +even a chance-brought adversary. + +In this new mood she confided in Lutorius. + +The good man was horrified. + +“And I never suspected anything wrong!” he exclaimed. “At least you have +been outwardly collected. Nobody has suspected anything. But this is +terrible. A Vestal should menace no man’s life, should not desire any +man’s death. Far from it, her heart should be clean of hate, malice or +envy.” + +“Never mind what I have been,” said Brinnaria. + +“No disasters have befallen Rome. There is no sign of any wrathfulness +of the gods, or of their displeasure, and I am no longer as I was. That +is all over, I am chastened. I desire harm to no one. Quite the reverse. +What fills my mind now is the thought that, sooner or later, Alma must +perish at the hand of some challenger. I long to save him. I would move +earth and sea to save him. Must a King of the Grove live and die King of +the Grove? Is there no way to rescue him?” + +“Consult the Emperor,” said Lutorius. “He is Chief Pontiff of Rome.” + + + +CHAPTER XIX - COMFORT + + +COMMODUS received Brinnaria in the same palatial room in which she +had so often conferred with his father. The majestic impression of +the magnificent hall was, however, marred by the evidence of the young +Emperor’s chief interests. On one of the great chests lay a pair of +boxing gloves, on another a quiver of arrows and two unstrung bows, on a +third a bridle; a fourth was open and from it protruded a sheaf of +those wooden swords which the Romans used for fencing-practice as we +use foils. Commodus could never wholly free himself from his absorbing +passion for athletic sports. + +He himself was a sort of artistic caricature of his father, being very +like him in height, build, features and complexion, with similarly +abundant hair and beard falling over his shoulders and bosom in long +ringlets. But in place of the gravity, wisdom, intelligence and sympathy +which had ennobled the countenance of Aurelius, his face wore an +expression of boyish frivolity, silly vanity, vapid stupidity and +impatient selfishness. + +Brinnaria had seen him countless times and often near at hand, not only +close to her when both occupied their official seats in the Amphitheatre +or the Circus, at horse-races or other shows, but almost at arm’s length +at various religious functions, processions, sacrifices and other +acts of public worship. Necessarily they had often exchanged formal +greetings, but never yet any other words. + +He greeted her effusively, with a comical mixture of hobbledehoy +clumsiness and imperial dignity. + +“I’m glad you demanded an audience,” he said, as she sat down; “we +should have had a good talk long ago. You lambasted old Bambilio. That +is one for you. A juicier story I never heard. You are made of pepper. +And you saved the retiarius, the year after I was born. I’ve often +gloated over the story and wished I had been there to see. I was +there when you had your embarrassing experience and came through it so +gallantly. I was proud of you, like everybody else. I remember it well. +And Father gave me special instructions about you, so emphatically +that even scatter-brained as I am I have not forgotten them. I’ve been +meaning to have a talk with you ever since I took up this Emperor job. +But you know how it is. Every day there are ready and waiting for me to +do more things I really want to do than anyone man could get through in +anyone day, and three-quarters of them I have to forego doing because +of the pressure of my official duties. I can never seem to get time for +half the sword-exercise and archery drill and driving practice I need, +let alone for chats with heroines. + +“I trust you’ll accept my apologies. + +“There! That is all the talking I mean to do. I’m going to listen, now. +Tell me what you want and I’ll see your desire accomplished. I’ll do +anything for you, not only for your heroism and on account of Father’s +directions, but because of your horse-breeding. They say you’re as good +a judge of a horse as any man in Italy and I believe there are not a +dozen to equal you. + +“I’ve driven several pairs of your crack colts and they are paragon +racers, docile as lambs and mettlesome as game-cocks. + +“There! I’ve gone on talking! But I am really going to stop now and +listen. State your wishes.” + +“I’ll have to make a long story of it,” said Brinnaria, hesitatingly. + +“And one sixty times better worth listening to than ninety-nine out of +a hundred of the long stories folks bore me with, I’ll wager,” said +Commodus. “If it is long we’ll get to the end quicker by beginning at +once. And take your time, I’ll talk to you till dark, if need be. You +are entitled to all of my time you choose to claim.” Brinnaria began at +the beginning and rehearsed her story fully, Commodus listening without +much fidgeting and interrupting only to say now and then: + +“Yes, I know about that. I remember that.” When she came to Almo’s +escape from Britain the Emperor slapped his thigh and emitted a sound +between a grunt and a squawk. + +“The joke is on me!” he guffawed. “Just like me! Father told me +particularly about his injunctions to Opstorius, and Pertinax himself +reminded me about Almo after Father’s death. But it all went out of my +head and I never thought of it from the moment Pertinax bowed himself +out until this very instant. I’ll make up to you for my forgetfulness, I +promise you. Go on.” Upon her telling of Almo’s idling at inns after he +ran away from Fregellae, Commodus cut in with: + +“I liked Almo, what little I saw of him, but I had forgotten him. +You make me remember him, make me recall trifling things about him, +attitudes, smiles, tones of his voice, witty replies, quips. I liked +him. But I like him better than ever from what you tell me of him. I +understand him. I know just how he feels. I long, sometimes, to chuck +Emperorizing and go off alone, with no responsibilities, and have a +really good time hobnobbing with the good fellows the world is full of. +I envy him. I dream of doing it, but he cut loose and did it. Good for +Almo.” At first mention of the King of the Grove Commodus leapt up from +his throne, strode up and down the room and clapped his hands. + +Two pages rushed in. + +“Get out!” he shouted. “I wasn’t clapping for you.” He paced the room +like a caged tiger. + +“Think of it!” he exclaimed. “Think of it! Your lad certainly has fire +in his belly, yes and brains in his head, too! Think of it! He thought +it all out up there in the raw all-day mists, thought it all out, and he +works towards his purpose like a pattern diplomat, like a born general, +like a Scipio, like a cat after a bird! Has himself sold as a slave, +bides his time, puts himself in the pink of condition, watches his +opportunity. + +“Think of it! Disconsolate because he couldn’t marry you, moody because +he has to wait so long, he seeks comfort in challenging the King of the +Grove. Oh, I love him! Only a prince of good fellows would have thought +of it. No ordinary adventure would divert him. He picks out the most +hazardous venture possible. Oh, I love him!” + +When she narrated her interchange of clothing with Flexinna and her +litter-journey, Commodus looked grave. The loutishness vanished from his +attitude and expression. He became wholly an Emperor. + +“Out of Rome, outside the walls, beyond the Pomoerium all night!” he +exclaimed. “That sounds bad. You were fool-hardy, too reckless entirely. +Why that is impiety. That amounts to sacrilege!” As with Flexinna, +Brinnaria reminded him of the Vestals’ flight after the disaster at +the Allia and of their sojourn at Caere, again emphasizing the contrast +between their unreprehended departure and the scrupulous steadfastness +of the Flamen of Jupiter. + +“You have me!” he acknowledged. “Your contentions are sound. But, all +the same, even if it was merely a violation of rule, still, it is a +mighty serious matter. It is a good thing for you that I like you, that +my Father trusted you so notably, and gave me such explicit and emphatic +injunctions about you, that you have made a clean breast of it all +to me. If I had known nothing more about you than I know of Manlia or +Gargilia, if I had learned of your escapade from anyone but you, I’d +have had you formally accused, tried, convicted and buried alive with +the utmost dispatch. + +“As things are, after all Father had to say about you, after his +detailing to me your several conversations with him, I understand, I +sympathize, I am convinced of the innocence of your feeling for Almo, +of the austerity with which you have banished from you all thoughts +unbefitting a Vestal and have postponed your anticipations of marriage +until your service shall have come to an end, I believe in the +impeccable correctness of your attitude. + +“But, without that, even having learnt of your prank from yourself, I +should have thought it necessary to lay the facts before the College of +Pontiffs and ask their opinion. It looks fishy, stravaging all over the +landscape after dark with a cavalier beside your litter all night +long. I comprehend, I condone, I judge that you have not impaired your +qualifications for your high office. I have no qualms. But it is well +for you that Father instructed me. Go on, tell me the rest.” Over the +fight he rubbed his hands and chirruped with delight, and, when she +spoke of the King’s harem, he burst into roars of laughter, rolling +himself on his throne, slapping his thighs, holding his ribs. + +“Oh you women,” he gurgled, “you are all alike, you Vestals as much as +the rest! The fire of womanhood smoulders under your icy composure like +the fires of Etna under her mantle of snow. + +“You more than most Vestals, of course. You are a real human being, you +are! So you went out to save him, even if you lost your life trying, +even if you were buried alive for it, and you came back hot, red hot, to +have him killed, and the sooner the better, it couldn’t be too soon for +you. + +“Oh, I’m glad you came. I haven’t been entertained like this since I was +made Emperor. Go on!” When she uttered the word Fagutal and told of +her visit to the rookery he had another fit of laughter and exhausted +himself with mirth. + +When she narrated the repeated failures of the champions she had +suborned and Almo’s uniform success, Commodus was in ecstasy. + +“He’s the boy for my money,” he cried. “He’s worth all the trouble +you’ve had with him. You’ll get a husband worth waiting for. He’s one in +a million. One hundred and five bouts in ten months and victor in all +of them! He’s a jewel, a pearl I I’d do anything for you, as I told you, +I’d keep myself on the rack day and night for you and him. You are a +pair! There’s not on earth the match for the two of you!” + +At the end of her story he said: + +“You have not gone to all this trouble and taken up so much of my time +and confided to me all the secrets of your heart merely to ease your +mind. There’s something you want me to do, some help you expect to gain +from me. You have given me no inkling of what it is. What is it? Speak +out!” + +“He is certain to be killed sooner or later,” she said, wringing her +hands. “I want you to help me to save him.” + +“Save him!” Commodus echoed. “Isn’t he competent to save himself? Hasn’t +he convinced you of his ability to protect himself--Sooner or later? +Much later, very much later. And he’s more likely to be killed by old +age than by any weapon in the hands of any man. + +“I’ll never understand women. No man can, I suppose. You’re bent, bound +and resolved that he must die. You pour out gold like water to compass +his death. You have Italy ransacked for dexterous cutthroats. He never +turns a hair. It’s easy for him as for a Molossian dog to kill wolves. +He enjoys it; disposes of every man who dare face him. You can’t find +another bravo to take the risk, not for any money! Then, when he has +proved himself the best fighter in Italy, you face about and all of a +sudden you are in a wax for fear some one may kill him! + +“Nobody will ever kill him. You and I saw him dispose of more than a +dozen expert gladiators, one after the other; you saw how daintily +and adroitly he did, it. You have just described his fight with his +predecessor. It was over almost before it was begun. The incumbent was +a dead man from the moment he faced Almo. Both knew it, too, and, since +then he has done for the pick of the blackguards from all Italy. If +Ravax and his gang could find no one to face him, there is none; if no +man of that crew could best him, not Ravax himself, no man can best him. +Don’t you see?” + +“No, I don’t,” she said. “It will be just like his fights in the arena. +No matter how often he wins, he is bound to lose at last.” + +“Don’t you believe it,” Commodus argued. “I remember him well. I was +wild over him just after Father’s triumph and saw a good deal of him +before he set out for Britain. I was then no such all-round expert at +weapon-play as I have become since, but I was good for my age. I fenced +with him repeatedly and I know his quality. I had all the best swordsmen +in the capital pitted against him and not one of them was his match. +Murmex Lucro did not come to Rome till after Father’s death. So I never +saw Murmex and Almo fence. But let me tell you this: Murmex is the only +man alive who can fence with me for points and make anything like my +score. And Almo is the only man alive, except me, who is fit to face +Murmex on equal terms. There are only two men on earth who could kill +Almo in a fight with any kind of weapons--Murmex is one and I am the +other. + +“Why, Almo is as safe in the Grove as I am in the Palace. Don’t you +worry about him. Nobody will kill him; take it from me, I know.” + +Brinnaria, with a sharp intake of her breath, gazed about the room and +collected herself to resume her argument and make her next point. + +“Do you concede,” she queried, “that I have the right to be solicitous +about Almo’s life?” + +“Father said so,” Commodus replied, “and I never knew him to be wrong. I +took that opinion from him and I see no reason to change it.” + +“Do you concede,” she pressed him, “that I have the right to looking +forward to marrying him at the end of my service?” + +“Like Father, I do,” he admitted. + +“How can I ever marry him,” she demanded, “if he remains King of the +Grove?” + +The young Emperor laughed merrily. + +“Don’t you worry about that, either,” he said. “I told you I’d do +anything for you and I meant it. I told you I’d do anything for Almo, +and I meant that too. But, as things are, doing what you want and what +is good for him will be doing just what I most want myself. I have a +frightfully poor memory. Barely seven years ago my Father triumphed +after what was thought a complete, decisive and crushing victory over +Avidius Cassius and a huge confederation of nomadic tribes. Cassius was +certainly abolished; he was buried. But after scarcely five years the +desert nomads were as active as ever and they have grown so pertinacious +and cocky that something must be done. I don’t want to go myself, and +I feel no confidence in my ability to accomplish anything if I went. +I have been on the rack to decide whom to send. I can’t afford to send +some bungler who’d mismanage and let the sand-hills devour a half a +dozen of my best legions. + +“My councillors and I have found no promising candidate. All the while I +have been cudgelling my brains trying to remember something Father told +me. I distinctly recalled that he said that he had in view the very +paragon of a commander to dispatch against Avidius, but that some +occurrence made it impossible to send him and he had to go himself. I +couldn’t for the life of me recollect what had happened to hinder +the man going or what the man’s name was. Since it was a verbal +communication from Father I had no memorandum and no one else had ever +known it. + +“Now I remember that Almo was the man and that his infatuation with the +life of a gladiator was what prevented. + +“Do you see what I mean? I shall not have to go to Syria and I’ll send +the very best man for that job who can be found on earth. If anybody +knows what I’m doing they’ll say that Almo is a lunatic and I am another +to send him. But nobody will ever know and if everybody knows, what do I +care. Father knew a good man when he saw one. I’ll take his word for it +that Almo proved himself the greatest genius for desert fighting that +the Republic has produced in a hundred years. And I’ll follow my +own intuition that a swashbuckler whose own thoughts prompted him to +challenge the King of the Grove as a cure for tedium, who had the nerve +to carry out the idea and the skill to win a hundred and six fights in +ten months must be a good all-round man and a real man clear through. +I take it that being put in supreme command of a great expedition will +brush the cobwebs from Almo’s brain and restore him to himself. Do you +follow my idea?” + +“I cannot conjecture,” Brinnaria replied, “how you expect to carry it +out.” + +“Simple enough,” said Commodus. “I’m not the man my Father was, not by a +great deal. I am a natural all-round athlete, but I was never born to be +an Emperor. All the same, when I buckle down to my job, I’m not such a +bad hand at it. If I have a talk with Almo I’ll swing him my way without +half trying.” + +“But,” Brinnaria interposed, “even you, even as Emperor and Chief +Pontiff, cannot free a man who has become King of the Grove. There is +no record of any form of exauguration for a Priest of Diana of the +Underworld. There would be an outcry. Once King of the Grove a man must +live out his life as King of the Grove.” + +Commodus grinned a school-boy grin. + +“My dear,” he said, “there are more ways of killing a dog besides +choking him to death on fresh curds.” + +Brinnaria stared. + +“You talk,” he said, “as if you had gone over all the records. Don’t you +recall two cases where a King of the Grove died without being killed?” + +“Yes,” she admitted. + +“Well,” he continued, “what was done?” + +“Two challengers were brought forward,” she said, “and they fought each +other.” + +“Just so,” said he, “and don’t you recall one case where a King of +the Grove disappeared and was believed to have run away, but was never +found, nor any trace of him?” + +“I remember that, too,” she agreed. + +“Well,” he pressed her, “what was done in that case?” + +“Two challengers fought each other that time also,” she allowed. + +“Well,” he summed up, “that’s what we’ll have done now. Almo will +vanish. He’s good at it, he’s had practice. Two challengers can be found +easily enough.” + +“But,” she cavilled, wide-eyed, “there’s all the difference in the world +between egging on two challengers after the post is vacant and arranging +to vacate the post. What you propose would be sacrilege, impiety.” + +“Don’t you worry about that!” he soothed her. “The priesthood at Aricia +is no part of our hierarchy; the safety of Rome in no way depends on its +sanctity. It is important enough for the nine towns that share the cult, +but it concerns no others. It’s an alien cult, anyhow. Whether Orestes +brought it to Aricia or Hippolytus or who else makes no difference, +nor the tradition that it is four hundred years older than Rome. It’s +a disgrace to Italy and it exists on sufferance. Father told me that +Grandfather and he were both in half a mind to have it suppressed as the +Bacchanals were suppressed. The curative repute of the Grove stood in +the way. As for me, if it were not for the sporting character of the +King’s tenure, I’d see to it that Almo would be the last King. I feel +free to do as I please in any matter that concerns it.” + +Brinnaria said nothing. + +He resumed: + +“Leave it all to me. I’ll go to Aricia myself; I’ll expostulate with +Almo; I’ll appeal to his manhood, to his pride, to his patriotism. Ten +to one he’s disillusioned by this time, sick of his job and ready to +listen to reason. He’ll promise to obey me and he’ll obey me. + +“The rest will be managed by men who will make no mistakes. They’ll find +two challengers each much like Almo in build and appearance. One dark +night Almo will slip off in charge of the men I delegate for that duty; +the two challengers will be guided so that each thinks he is fighting +the King of the Grove. Whichever survives will be rigged up in the +customary toggery. There will be a corpse properly offered on the altar. +Nobody will suspect anything.” + +About a month later Lutorius conveyed to her a hint from the Emperor. +She at once applied for an audience. + +Commodus was as expansive as a boy who has had a good day’s fishing. + +“It’s all over,” he said, “and everything went off just as I foresaw and +planned. Almo was disgusted and tractable. We found two desperadoes of +suitable make. While we steered them at each other Almo slipped out. +Besides you, your two friends, your agents, Lutorius and myself, no one +knows that Almo was ever King of the Grove. I had him brought to the +Palace and Lucro and I had no end of good fun fencing with him. I +had the Senate pass a decree relieving him of all and sundry legal +consequences of having been sold as a slave in Britain. I had him choose +a full staff of the best possible aides, orderlies and such. He is off +to Syria. I did not send for you until I had word that he had not +only sailed from Brundisium but had actually landed at Dyrrhachium. I +anticipate that the job I have sent him on will take all of six years. +Just about when your service is drawing to an end he will return to Rome +covered with glory and loaded with loot. The nomads have been plundering +our cities and have accumulated in their strongholds immense amounts of +treasure. He’ll get it back. Meantime your mind should be at peace.” + +Brinnaria was properly grateful and expressed her feelings fervently. + +“And now,” said Commodus, “since I have done what you wanted and you are +pleased, may I ask a favor of you? You can do something for me that +no one else can and if you promise it will set my mind at rest to some +extent.” + +Brinnaria earnestly promised to do her best. + +“I am troubled,” said the Emperor, “very much troubled. You know how +rumors get about among people, starting no one knows where; and how, +when such a notion is abroad, nothing on earth can counteract it. + +“Well, there’s a story going about of an oracle, an oracle which says +that the Republic reached its acme under Trajan, that the Empire kept up +its prosperity under Hadrian and my Grandfather and Father, but that the +glory of Rome is fated to fade and wane and that its decline will date +from my taking over the Principiate. + +“I am worried about it. I have sent to Delphi and Dodona and every other +oracle from Olisipo to Pattala, but I can find no record of any such +oracle having been uttered. The people, however, credit it as if it came +from Delphi. + +“I’ve had a hundred oracles consulted about the matter, Delphi too. They +all hedge; not one is clear. But they all speak of an impending disaster +that may be averted by watchfulness. And they all hint darkly at some +danger to the Palladium; they all mention it somehow; most of them +allude unmistakably to the Temple of Vesta; some of them manifestly +refer to the Atrium; all of them speak of fire. + +“Now I know that the sacred fire will be cared for by you and Manlia and +Gargilia and Numisia as well as ever it was since Numa. Causidiena is +too old to count and Terentia is too young, but in the four of you I +have complete confidence as far as the fire is concerned. + +“About the Palladium I don’t feel so sure. The six terra-cotta chests +are so exactly alike and the five counterfeits are so like the real +statue that I am afraid the precautions taken to baffle an intruding +thief might confuse you Vestals in a crisis. + +“Do you know the real Palladium from the five dummies?” + +“I do,” said Brinnaria; “we all do. When I had been a Vestal five years +Causidiena showed me the Palladium. No Vestal is ever shown it until she +is over fifteen. Like all other young Vestals I was made to spend hours +in the inner storeroom, blindfolded, learning to recognize the real +Palladium by touch. + +“The differences between the original and the copies are very small, +mostly in the carving of the folds of the gown. But every young Vestal +is drilled until she can recognize the genuine relic by touch, one +hundred times out of one hundred times, and until she can similarly +discriminate the terra-cotta chest that contains it from the other five +chests. I could tell the Palladium from the imitations instantly any +time.” + +“You relieve me,” said Commodus. “I’ve wanted to talk about this to +all you Vestals, but I’ve been ashamed to broach the subject. Since you +confided in me I feel no hesitation about confiding in you.” + +“I promise you,” said Brinnaria, “that the Palladium will never be +stolen, lost, or come to any harm if I can prevent it, and I believe I +can. I pledge you my word.” + +“I feel better,” said Commodus. + +“And I want to say,” Brinnaria added, “that I have always felt a special +interest in the Palladium. Ever since I was old enough to share all the +duties and all the responsibilities of a Vestal, my feelings have been +particularly engaged with the Palladium. There is something tremendous +and crushing in the thought of being in charge of four of the seven +objects on the safety of which depends the safety of Rome and the +prosperity of the Republic. Whenever Causidiena has shown them to us +younger Vestals I have felt the strongest emotions at the sight of the +jar containing the ashes of Orestes, of the antique gold canister +which protects the plain, gold-mounted ivory sceptre of Priam, of the +lapis-lazuli casket which enshrines the tatters remaining of Ilione’s +veil; but more than at sight of them I have trembled with awe to look at +that little statuette, no longer than my forearm, and to think that if +it were destroyed the Empire would crumble and Rome would perish. You +maybe sure I shall do all I can to keep safe the precious treasure +committed to my charge.” + +“I feel sure you will,” said Commodus. + + + + +BOOK IV--THE REVULSION OF DELIGHT + + + +CHAPTER XX - ACCUSATION + + +AFTER Almo’s redemption and his departure for Syria Brinnaria calmed +down. Her feverish activity abated and vanished. She ceased to take any +interest in the speed of her litter-bearers or of her carriage-teams. +She took her outings for their own sake, not merely to feel herself +transported rapidly from somewhere to anywhere. She kept an oversight of +her stock-farms, but she left the management of them almost entirely to +her bailiffs. On music she spent more of her time and in it she took an +intenser delight. + +Life in the Atrium altered chiefly through the growing up of Terentia, +whose fifteenth birthday was celebrated soon after Almo left Italy, and +by the steady waning of Causidiena’s eyesight. She could still recognize +familiar persons when between her and the strong light of a door or +window in the daytime; she could still place pieces of wood on the fire, +if it was burning well. But she was plainly verging on total blindness. +Except in so far as it was modified by pride in Terentia and solicitude +for Causidiena, life in the Atrium flowed on as it had for centuries. + +Reports from Almo were uniformly good. From the first he displayed +all the qualifications requisite for a commander in chief. For him +everything promised well. + +Under these conditions Brinnaria throve. Her natural vigor had always +been such that she never had showed any outward signs of the strain +to which she had been subjected. Uniformly she had looked handsome and +healthy. But now, if anything, she looked healthier and handsomer than +ever. She was then thirty-two years old. At ten years of age she had +looked eighteen, at eighteen she had looked twenty-four. At thirty-two +she still looked no more than twenty-five. Her hair was abundant and +glossy, her eyes bright, her cheeks rosy; she was neither slender nor +plump, but a well-muscled, graceful woman, decidedly young-looking, and +altogether statuesque in build and carriage, but very much alive in her +springy suppleness. + +About a year after Almo’s departure for Syria Lutorius came to see her +one morning, his face grave. + +He indicated that they had best confer alone. In her tiny sanctum he +came straight to the point. + +“Daughter,” he said, “my news is as bad as possible. You are formally +accused of the worst misconduct.” + +“Why look so gloomy?” said Brinnaria. “That is comic, not tragic. Who’s +the fool accuser?” + +“Calvaster, as you might conjecture,” he answered; “and grieve to have +to inform you,” he added, “that this is no laughing matter.” + +“Pooh!” said Brinnaria. “I’m not a bit afraid of Calvaster. Aurelius +gave Commodus emphatic injunctions about me. And he went into details. +Commodus can’t have forgotten his reprimand to Calvaster nor his +categorical threat.” + +“I fear,” said Lutorius, “that his father’s instructions on that +particular point are not well to the front of the Emperor’s mind.” + +“Well, anyhow,” said Brinnaria, “everybody knows my preoccupation with +Almo and everybody saw my behavior in the Amphitheatre. I feel pretty +safe in respect to my general reputation. As to particulars, I’ve been +vigilantly careful to keep away from Almo. Except twice, in the +presence of Aurelius, I haven’t been within speaking distance of him in +twenty-two years. Between the fact that no one can prove that I have had +anything to do with him and the improbability that anyone would suspect +me of interest in any other man, let alone misconduct with any other +man, I feel entirely secure.” + +Lutorius wagged his head. + +“You are accused of misconduct with another man,” he said. + +“Absurd!” said Brinnaria, “easy to confute. Who is the man?” + +“Not so easy to confute, I fear,” said Lutorius. “The man named is +Quintus Istorius Vocco.” + +“Whew!” cried Brinnaria, springing to her feet and snapping her fingers. +“That is ingenious! That will give me trouble! I didn’t credit Calvaster +with that much sense. I never thought of anyone looking askance at my +relations with Quintus. I’ve never taken any precautions as to when +I was with him or how long or where. I’ve treated him as an honorary +brother, seeing I have no brothers of my own left alive. Flexinna has +been such a sister to me, that we have disregarded Quintus almost as if +he were a slave or a statue or a picture on the wall or another woman. +Whew!” + +“You perceive,” said Lutorius, “that the situation, in general, is very +serious?” + +“I do, indeed!” admitted Brinnaria. + +“Serious as it is in general,” he went on, “it is still more serious in +particular. Your excursion to Aricia was by no means as much a secret +as you have all along supposed. I, for instance, knew of it before you +confessed it to me.” + +“How was that?” Brinnaria inquired. + +“Numisia,” he explained, “saw you go out in Flexinna’s clothes and +recognized you. She entered your room and talked with Flexinna. She +summoned me and we conferred. We both loved you and we both believed +in you. We were solicitous for the cult, but we were nearly as much +solicitous for you. We agreed that we were almost fully warranted in +assuming your entire innocence of heart and that your impulsive behavior +would not alienate the good will of the Goddess. We decided to take +it upon ourselves to judge you blameless and to shield you. Utta +was instructed never to let you know that Numisia had seen Flexinna; +Flexinna, of course, fell in with our plans. Numisia made every +arrangement that would prevent any more from learning the secret and +would make your return easy. + +“After you came back safe our decision seemed justified. I talked with +Vocco and learned that nothing had occurred to render your exposure +likely, except your encounter with Calvaster. As we heard nothing from +Calvaster we felt entirely successful. It turns out that he was only +biding his time. He has formally accused you before the College of +Pontiffs, alleging in general your long-continued familiarity with +Vocco, and, in particular, your having been outside of Rome after +midnight in Vocco’s company.” + +“Whew,” Brinnaria exclaimed, “this is indeed serious! I feel myself +strangling or starving in a vaulted cell. What am I to do?” + +“See Commodus first of all,” said Lutorius. + +In the short interval since her former audience, those traits of which +he had previously shown the merest traces had rapidly developed in +Commodus into fixed characteristics. He had become what he remained +until his end, an odd mingling of loutish, peevish school-boy, +easy-going, self-indulgent athlete and superstitious, suspicious despot. + +“To begin with,” he said, “I want you to understand that I like you, +that I haven’t forgotten that you rescued the retiarius, whopped +Bambilio and behaved like a trump when Father tested you. I’m for you. +Your colts are the cream of Italian stud-farms. You are a wonderful +woman, all round. But, as a Vestal, you have your weak points. I +remember Father’s instructions about you and I have all that in mind. +Besides, I know that I, as Chief Pontiff, have the right to make my own +decision about any such matter and to brush aside anybody else’s opinion +and anybody else’s interpretation of the evidence. Also my impulse is +to make use of my prerogative, dismiss the accusation against you, +reiterate Father’s warning to Calvaster and get the whole thing off my +mind. I don’t like Calvaster and I don’t value him an atom. They say +he’s indispensable, but if he irritates me ever so little more I’ll +dispense with him and I’ll wager the Republic will get on without +him. You see that I am strong on your side and almost on the point of +deciding in your favor. + +“But I hesitate. This case of yours worries me more than anything that +has come up since I took over the Principiate. I cannot make up my mind. + +“I’m not the man I was a year ago. I’m shaken. Father told me that the +most wearing feature of his being Emperor was his recurring escapes from +assassination. I had my first escape just after your audience with +me. It jarred me horribly. The fool barely missed finishing me. The +experience made me take precautions and so no other miscreant has come +so near to doing for me. But the repetitions have grown monotonous. +I always thought highly of your lad, and I’ve often wondered how he +managed to get any sleep or swallow any food while he was King of the +Grove, but I think immeasurably more of him since I’ve been through +something faintly similar. He deserves the best of life and I hope he’ll +get his heart’s desire and marry you at the end of your service. + +“You see how enthusiastically I am on your side. + +“But there is much to be considered. + +“If this were a question of judging a two-year-old filly I’d need no +man’s advice and I’d listen to no man’s opinion. I’m better fitted to +judge a horse than any man alive. It would be the same if it were +a question of refereeing a sword-bout or a boxing-mill or a +wrestling-match or anything of the kind. I know all about such things +and I know that I am a judge superior to anybody on earth. I’m a born +all-round athlete and everybody knows it and recognizes me as a past +master. + +“But as an Emperor, as Chief Pontiff, such is not at all the case. I +feel a fumbler, a bungler. I grope. I suspect that the judgment of my +advisers is better than mine. What is worse, I know that they think so. +I am surrounded by men pre-eminent in their specialties, who look on me +as a green boy placed by mere chance in a position which I fail to fill +adequately. They watch me like hawks, they expect to see me blunder, +they raise eyebrows at each other, they exchange glances. It rattles me. +I wish I had Alexander’s nerve. He was as young as I am and he brooked +no opposition, but rammed his opinions down his councillors’ throats +from the hour when he became King. But I haven’t his nerve, not by a +long shot. I had as good teachers as he had, too. But, Hercules be good +to me, I never could learn anything out of a book. + +“As a charioteer, or a swordsman I’m as confident as a lion. As an +Emperor I’m as cowardly as a jackal. It’s the effect of the prophecies +and auguries and oracles and such. They all hint at my impairing the +prosperity of the Republic or diminishing the power of the Empire. It +gallies me when I see two old bald heads wink at each other; I know they +are thinking: + +“‘What did I tell you! Here’s this young fool ruining Rome, just as the +oracle prophesies.’ It gets on my nerves. + +“I daren’t decide the matter on my own judgment. + +“Besides, there’s the danger of assassination hanging over me. All the +men who have tried so far have been highly educated magnates of lofty +principles. They seem to feel I am an unworthy Prince and that to kill +me would be a service to the state. It galls me to think of it, and me +doing my best for the Republic and the Empire, denying myself hours of +pleasure daily, missing races and all kinds of contests and toiling over +documents and estimates and statistics. But it is true. If I decide this +case of yours, ten to one any number of self-righteous nobles will say +to themselves: + +“‘Here is this lout on the way to destroy the foundations of Rome’s +greatness. Rome must be saved from him. My duty is clear. He must be put +out of the way.’ Nice situation for me. I dare not let loose any such +possible fanaticism for my own destruction. + +“And apart from any qualms about my qualifications to judge, apart from +any dread of the consequences to myself, of absolving you, there is my +sense of duty to Rome. Here are these cursed ambiguous oracles hinting +some harm to Rome, mentioning fire and the Temple of Vesta and the +Palladium. Perhaps what they mean is just the possible wrath of Vesta at +an unworthy priestess. How can I tell? + +“You see why I hesitate?” + +Brinnaria nodded. She judged it no time to speak, and, had she wished to +speak she could hardly have done so. + +“I might not have hesitated,” Commodus resumed, “if Calvaster had come +to me. But he pops up in a full meeting of the College of Pontiffs and +says he saw you, after midnight and before dawn, on the Appian Road, +between Aricia and Bovillae, in a litter that didn’t belong to you +and with Vocco on horseback beside it. That puts all the Pontiffs in +possession of the facts and on the watch to see how I’ll decide, if I +do decide. Calvaster made sure of proving those facts, for he had two +highly respectable and respected nobles to swear that they were with him +and saw Vocco and the litter and knew the litter for Nemestronia’s. That +he had any number of witnesses to swear to the frequency of your visits +to Vocco’s house, your habit of dining there and the freedom with which +you treated him. + +“My impulse was to tell Calvaster I disbelieved any story he fathered, +that I had my Father’s instructions discrediting him, that I knew all +about your intimacy with Flexinna and her husband, that I knew all about +your excursion to Aricia and why you went and that I approved and that +was the end of it. I have told you why I hesitated. + +“But I was inclined that way. I have talked with Lutorius and Causidiena +and Numisia. They feel towards you as my Father felt. They believe +in you and in your worthiness as a priestess, and they minimize your +irregularities. I sent for Flexinna and talked with her. She deserves +consideration, if only because she is the mother of the largest family +to be found among our nobility, even among our gentry. She hoots at the +idea of anything improper between you and Vocco, in act or thought. She +evidently tells the truth. It is plain that she and Vocco are a devoted +pair, that you and he never did anything wrong or thought of anything +wrong. I sent for Vocco and talked with him. I am all but clear what I +should do, but I am not quite clear. + +“Now, there are only two ways to settle this: one is for me to settle +it myself and out of hand. The other is to have a formal trial of you +before the College of Pontiffs. + +“If you are tried you’ll be condemned. All you can say of the innocence +of your intimacy with Vocco, all you can say of the innocence of your +regard for Almo, all I can say of my Father’s high esteem of you, of his +injunctions regarding you, will not avail to save you. The Pontiffs will +not heed the considerations which were so plain to Father and are +so plain to me and Lutorius and Numisia. They will say it makes no +difference whether you went to Aricia because of solicitude for Almo +or on account of an intrigue with Vocco. They will hold that such a +manifestation of interest in Almo proves you almost as unfit to be a +Vestal as if it were certain that you were philandering with Vocco. + +“In particular they will hold that there might be room to absolve you +had you openly gone to save Almo in your full regalia and in your own +carriage, or your own litter, with your lictor before you; but that +while the fact of your being out of Rome all night in a litter is +damning enough, the appearance of duplicity and underhanded secrecy +given to the proceeding by your being disguised in another woman’s +clothing and carried in a borrowed litter makes terribly against you. + +“Of course I could impose my will on the Pontiffs, but I should hesitate +to override their decision, even more than I hesitate to decide the case +myself, and for the reasons I have given. + +“Yet I must say I could forget my dread of assassination and ignore any +opinionated contempt I might evoke, if I could be sure in my own heart +that I am doing what is best for Rome; I should be as arrogant an +Emperor as ever Domitian was if only I felt confident that my instincts +are right. My instincts all urge me to act as an Emperor and a Pontifex +Maximus and settle this matter out of hand, once and for all. + +“But I hesitate. I can’t make up my mind. All I need is a sign that you +are as acceptable to Vesta as I believe you are. I have tried to satisfy +myself, to elicit some sign of the Goddess’ will, but no sign has been +vouchsafed me. I’ve had the Sibylline Books consulted, which is a trying +matter with Calvaster left out of the consulting board; I have sent to +every oracle within reach, have put questions to all the sibyls in all +the caves of Italy, have called in a rabble of Etruscan soothsayers, +every haruspex and auspex in Etruria, I believe. They all hedge. They +are all vague. They are all indefinite. They give me no help! + +“Now, I like you; I like Almo; I like both of you and I respect you; I +believe in you. I’d hate to wake up and call for any breakfast I had a +whim for and look at it and smell it and think of you, all alone in the +dark in a vaulted cell six foot under the rubbish of that garbage-dump +out by the Colline Gate. And I hate the thought of the bother and worry +of a trial. I want to put my foot down and assert my will and be done +with it all. But, as I’ve said a dozen times already, I hesitate. +Chiefly I hesitate because I am resolute to do my duty to Rome according +to my lights. I feel I am right, but I am not quite man enough to follow +my feelings. If I could have some plain sign that Vesta understands and +condones your past irregularities as I do, that Vesta approves of you +and is pleased with you as I am, if I could feel Vesta corroborating my +feelings, if I could evoke an unmistakable token of her will, I’d not +hesitate. I’d scout the suggestion of a trial; I’d squelch Calvaster; +I’d absolve you.” + +Brinnaria looked straight into his goggling, bloodshot eyes. + +“Would you consider it an unmistakable sign,” she said, “a plain token +of my acceptability to my Goddess, of her esteem for me, if Vesta gave +me power to carry water in a sieve?” + +Commodus goggled his eyes at her even more than habitually. + +“Carry water in a sieve,” he cried, “as Tuccia did?” + +“There is a legend,” said Brinnaria sedately, “that some Vestal once +proved her holiness by carrying water in a sieve. And the story is +connected with Tuccia in popular tradition. But if it was ever done some +other Vestal did it. Poor Tuccia was innocent, as far as I can judge +from the minutes of her trial. But she was not absolved, by intervention +of Vesta or of her judges. She was condemned and buried. You can read +the verdict as well as the details of the proceedings in the records. +And what is left of poor Tuccia is now in one of those tiny vaulted +cells under the Wicked Field. You will find, along with the documents +of her case, the bill for the wages of the mason who completed the vault +after she had descended the ladder and the affidavits of the sentinels +who patrolled the spot day and night for a month, according to custom.” + +“Never mind who did it or didn’t do it, or whether it ever was done at +all before,” said Commodus, “if I saw you carry water in a sieve I’d +hold it a plain sign of Vesta’s particular favor to you, of your special +acceptability to her, of the correctness of my intuitions about you and +about this whole wretched business. + +“Do I understand you to offer to demonstrate your innocence by carrying +water in a sieve?” + +“That is my offer!” said Brinnaria. + +“But,” he protested, “the thing can’t be done. It’s impossible! Better +stand your chance of a trial.” + +“I am sure,” said Brinnaria, “that my Goddess will not desert me. I know +I am innocent and acceptable to her. She knows me and will give me the +power to prove my worthiness. She will no fail me. I know I can do it.” + +“Do I understand you to offer to do it in broad daylight before me and +the whole College of Pontiffs, Calvaster and all?” + +“In sight of all Rome,” said Brinnaria, “if all Rome could crowd near +enough to see.” + +“Do I understand you,” said the Emperor, “to stake your life on the +venture, and, just as you would expect full absolution if you succeed, +so to expect a rigid and severely stern trial before me and the College +of Pontiffs, with your failure counting against you, if you fail in the +attempt?” + +“That is my understanding,” said Brinnaria, unflinching, her clear eyes +on his face, her cheeks neither flushed nor blanched, her expression +calm, her pose easy, her voice unfaltering. + +“Hercules be good to me!” cried Commodus. “That is a first class game +sporting offer! I like you, girl! I like the idea. I see my way to a +decision. I glimpse a method of banishing my hesitation. I’ll take you. +If you agree, clasp hands, like a man.” + +Brinnaria stood up and put out her hand. + +“For life or death,” said the Emperor. + +They clasped hands. + +“Done!” said Commodus. + + + +CHAPTER XXI - ORDEAL + + +THE next day Commodus, officially, in his full regalia as Emperor +and Pontifex Maximus, convoyed by a magnificent retinue of gorgeously +apparelled gentlemen-in-waiting, equerries, aides, orderlies and pages, +and of gaudily uniformed guards, paid a formal visit to the Atrium. + +He was received by Lutorius, Causidiena and Numisia, who had been in +close conference most of the previous afternoon and until late at night +and again most of the morning from dawn. Causidiena, on account of her +failing sight, was escorted by Manlia and Gargilia. + +After the exchange of ceremonious greetings Commodus asked: + +“Where is Brinnaria? Why isn’t she here?” + +“We thought best,” Causidiena replied, “that she should not be present +at our conference.” + +“As to part of it I quite agree,” said the Emperor. “Fairness to her +requires that much of what we have to say should be said in her absence, +as she must be free from any suspicion of participation in some of our +arrangements. But part of what we have to say she must hear and some +details I must talk over with her. Send for her, and meanwhile, sit +down, all of you, sit down, I say.” + +Manlia and Gargilia departed to summon Brinnaria. + +When she came and had seated herself the Emperor said: + +“I’ve been thinking over this matter ever since you left me. Precious +little else did I do yesterday and mighty little sleep did I get last +night. I’m not clear yet altogether, but I see daylight on several +points. + +“What you propose is more or less like interpreting the significance of +the appearances seen in the victim’s intestines after a sacrifice for +a specific object; it amounts to asking a definite question of your +Goddess and getting a yes or no answer. + +“That is one way to regard it and seems to me correct from the religious +point of view. + +“But there is another point of view and another way to regard it, not +less correct, it seems to me. + +“This is a sort of a sporting proposal, like a dicing contest, or any +kind of match or wager. + +“Now in such matters, it is important, it is of the utmost importance, +that there should be no differences of opinion between the principals +or among the backers or lookers-on after the contest or during its +progress; particularly that no unexpected differences of opinion should +crop up after starting the set of actions which determine the decision. +To avoid all such untoward possibilities, every detail must be settled +in advance before the matter comes to a test. + +“Now, treating your appeal to Vesta not only as a solemn invocation of +the Goddess, but also as a sporting chance, I intend to have a definite, +unquestionable understanding beforehand on every debatable point. + +“You see what I mean? + +“Some of the points we others will settle without you, but we shall +begin with those which you must settle or share in settling. + +“I and Lutorius, Causidiena and Numisia are to be the witnesses to the +stipulations and our agreement on any point is to prove that point. I +propose to make it impossible for there to be any misunderstanding +or disagreement among the four of us, to make it certain that we four +think, speak and act unanimously on all points whatever. Nothing must be +assumed, everything must be explicit. + +“To begin with, is this a fair statement of your proposal? + +“You maintain that you are a worthy priestess of Vesta and wholly +acceptable to her. You propose to demonstrate this by asking of her the +power to carry water in a sieve in the sight of the whole College of +Pontiffs and of such other persons as I may see fit to have present at +the test. If you fail you will expect to be tried for misconduct. If +you succeed you will expect to be then and there absolved from all +accusations and imputations connected with your deportment or behavior. + +“Is that a fair statement of your proposal?” + +“It is,” Brinnaria replied. + +“What kind of water do you propose to carry?” Commodus asked. “Spring +water, rain-water from a tank, aqueduct-water, or what?” + +“I assumed,” said Brinnaria, “that I would carry water from the river, +in accordance with the legend of my predecessor: Father Tiber being +himself one of our gods, one of the sternest to evildoers, yet to the +righteous most kindly and helpful.” + +“Excellent!” said the Emperor. “My notion precisely. That is settled. I +accordingly appoint as the place of your test the Marble Quay, since +the porticoes flanking it shut out the mob and protect the Quay from +intruding eyes, and since the space enclosed by them is ample for +the assemblage of the College of Pontiffs, the Senate and the Court +officials. Are you satisfied with that place?” + +“I am,” said Brinnaria. + +“In what kind of a sieve do you propose to carry water?” came the next +question. + +“A sieve,” said Brinnaria, “is a sieve.” + +“Not at all,” Commodus objected. “There are sieves and sieves.” + +“Well, of course,” Brinnaria reflected, “I do not mean a broken, +worn-out or imperfect sieve, nor one incompetently made.” + +“Just so,” the Emperor amplified. “You propose to carry water in a sieve +with a circular rim, without any hole, crevice or crack in it and with a +web stretched taut on the rim, evenly woven and of the finest mesh.” + +“That expresses my unformed idea,” said Brinnaria. + +“Did you mean a linen sieve,” the Emperor asked, “or a horse-hair sieve, +or a metal sieve?” + +“That,” said Brinnaria, “can make no difference, if it fulfills the +conditions you have just specified. I leave the choice of material to +you.” + +“That is the correct attitude for you,” said Commodus, “and does you +credit. + +“And now I think we four will settle the other details without you. Do +you agree to that?” + +“No!” Brinnaria objected. “I think I should be a party to the settling +of several other details.” + +“What are they?” Commodus queried. + +“In the first place,” said Brinnaria, “there should be the clearest +understanding as to how much water I must carry.” + +“What do you mean?” the Emperor asked. + +“Well,” Brinnaria expounded, “a drop of water the size of my thumb-nail +would not be enough, I presume. That would not be considered as +demonstrating my innocence. You would expect me to carry more water than +that. On the other hand, to exact that I carry a sieve full of water to +the top of the rim, as if it were a pan, would be unfair to me.” + +“I see,” said Commodus. “I should lay down the condition that the water +must cover the web of the sieve entirely and touch the rim all round, +and that it should be a finger-breadth deep. Deeper than that it need +not be, that depth would prove the favor of your Goddess as plainly as +if you carried all Tiber. Is that all? If not, what next?” + +“Next,” she said, “it ought to be definitely agreed how far I must carry +the sieve with the water in it.” + +“You do not need to carry it at all,” said Commodus. “If you stand up +and hold the sieve of water as high as your chin, you will have proved +the favor of your Goddess for you.” + +Lutorius, tactful and bland, here spoke up. + +“Your Majesty,” he said, “I doubt whether that will confute Brinnaria’s +enemies or even convince the majority of the Pontiffs.” + +“What does it signify?” the Emperor demanded, “whether anybody else is +convinced, if I am satisfied?” + +“Nothing whatever, your Majesty,” said Lutorius, “if you take that view +of the matter.” + +“Perhaps,” Commodus admitted, “there may be something in your +suggestion. Suppose we make the stipulation that she must carry the +sieve of water from the brink of the river to the top of the steps.” + +“The number of steps,” Lutorius reminded him, “varies at different +points along the Marble Quay.” + +“True,” the Emperor admitted. “Let us specify the middle stair, which +has seven steps, if I mistake not. Do you agree to that?” he asked +Brinnaria. + +“I agree,” she concluded. + +After Brinnaria had gone, Commodus resumed: + +“Now we must decide,” he said, “what kind of a sieve she is to use.” + +Causidiena spoke up, her all but sightless eyes strained towards the +Emperor. + +“Lutorius and Numisia and I have talked over that question,” she said. +“It seems to me that it would be unfair to her for us to decide on a +metal sieve. They are always coarse and the apertures between the wires +are comparatively large. It seems to us that no one could carry water in +a copper sieve, not even by a miracle. + +“The meshes of linen sieves are the smallest of any made, but the linen +does not seem to have much sustaining power. We feel that with a linen +sieve not only Brinnaria would be, as Lutorius expressed it, severely +handicapped for water-carrying, but that, as he also said, I fear +irreverently, that Vesta herself would be too much handicapped in +respect to miracle-working.” + +“A mighty sensible remark,” Commodus cut in, “and one with which I +concur. You are more of a sport than I thought you, Lutorius.” + +“Considering only the construction of sieves,” Causidiena continued, +“we were of the opinion that a horsehair sieve would be the fairest. The +hairs are coarser than linen threads and finer than copper wires and the +apertures between are similarly of medium size, as sieves go. + +“Besides, we have ascertained that horse-hair sieves are by far the most +usual kind. We are told that in most sieve-shops in Rome all the linen +sieves and copper sieves sold do not amount to one-third the horsehair +sieves.” + +“That ought to settle that point,” said Commodus. “No one can cavil if +we use the commonest kind of sieve, of medium fineness and of normal +make. + +“As to the question of procuring one we must arrange that Brinnaria may +feel wholly secure that it has not been tampered with by some enemy of +hers, and, on the other hand, that all persons whatever, to whomsoever +hostile or friendly, or wholly indifferent, may be at once and forever +certain that neither Brinnaria nor any partisan of hers has had any +access to it before the test. Have you any suggestions to make?” + +“Yes,” Causidiena replied. “Lutorius and Numisia and I have debated that +point and have come to a conclusion which we think you might approve. +The best sieve-maker in Rome is Caius Truttidius Falcifer, a tenant of +one of our shops on the Holy Street. Not only are his wares reputed the +best-made sieves produced in Rome, but he sells more than anyone else +and carries a larger stock than can be found in the possession of any +other dealer. He is sieve-maker to the Atrium, like his father before +him. His horse-hair sieves are the closest and finest of their kind. We +use them to sift the flour for our ceremonial cakes. I had some brought +to show you. Where are they, Numisia?” + +Numisia rose and took from an onyx console a flattish dish-like basket +of gilt wicker, containing a number of square cakes. In size and on +account of the ridges on them, each looked much like the joined four +fingers of a man’s hand. + +Commodus took one, broke it and munched a piece. + +“Very good,” he said. “If the excellence of the pastry demonstrates the +virtue of the sieve let us consider it proved. I do not see, however, +what the cakes have to do with it. But I am entirely willing to agree +that Brinnaria is to use a horse-hair sieve made by Truttidius. + +“Now, how are we to select the particular sieve so as to convince +all concerned that it is a normal sieve chosen at random and not one +doctored for the occasion?” + +“Our idea,” said Lutorius, “was to arrange that Truttidius be present +with a number of horse-hair sieves, practically with his whole stock of +his best, and that one of those be chosen before the whole College +of Pontiffs, perhaps by your Majesty, perhaps by some one of the +altar-boys, blindfolded, if you like that idea, or in any other manner +which seems good to you.” + +“That,” said the Emperor, “is an excellent suggestion. But would not +there be some difficulty in carrying to the Marble Quay so large a +number of sieves at once, particularly just when it will be crowded with +notables and the neighboring squares and streets choked, even jammed, +with their equipages? We should not want to present a numerous gang of +sieve-carrying slaves. But if more than two sieves are trusted to each +slave, there will be danger of the sieves being damaged in transit. We +might find it difficult to select one sufficiently perfect.” + +“We have thought of that,” said Lutorius, “and have devised a solution +which we think you might accept. I have arranged to have Truttidius +convey some eighty horse-hair sieves to the water-front of the Marble +Quay in a flat-bottomed row-boat, such as are used for bringing +vegetables to the quays of the Forum Olitorium. The oarsmen can keep +the boat nearly stationary off any point of the Quay indicated, and the +selection can be made in sight of the official assemblage of all the +Senators and Pontiffs.” + +“That,” said Commodus, “is an excellent suggestion. Have it carried +out and see to it that only we four know of it and that no one but the +sieve-maker and his assistants have anything to do with conveying +the sieves from his shop to the boat and that only the boatmen, the +sieve-maker and his assistants are in the boat, that no one else has +been in the boat. I’ll detail any number of men you ask for to escort +the sieve-maker and his convoy. + +“I’ll have the river policed and all possible traffic suspended. Any +craft that are let through the cordons of police-boats will be made to +follow the other side of the river. We’ll have nothing off the Marble +Quay except the boat-load of sieves and the patrol-boats.” He sighed. + +“I believe,” he said, “that that is all except fixing the day and the +hour.” + +“I suggest,” said Lutorius, “the day after to-morrow, the eighteenth +day before the Kalends of September, the twenty-third anniversary of +Brinnaria’s entrance into the order of Vestals, and, I regret to say, +the second anniversary of her night expedition to Aricia.” + +“That suits me,” said Commodus. + +“And the hour?” Numisia queried. + +“Noon,” said the Emperor. + +Accordingly it was settled that Brinnaria was to face her ordeal at +midday on August fifteenth of the nine hundred and thirty-seventh year +after the founding of Rome, 184 of our era. + +That night Numisia, conferring with Brinnaria, concluded by saying: + +“Truttidius enjoined me to remind you to be very careful not to touch +the web of the sieve with your fingers. Also he says that, if anybody’s +finger touches the web of the sieve as it is being handed to you, you +are to decline to accept it and to demand another.” + +“I understand that already,” said Brinnaria. + +The Marble Quay was that part of the embankment along the left bank of +the Tiber which was used by the Emperors of Rome for embarking on their +state barges and for landing from them whenever they took part in one of +the gorgeous river processions. Also it was used by all members of the +Imperial household for starting on excursions by water or when returning +from them. It was situated below the north corner of the Aventine Hill, +not far from the square end of the Circus Maximus, close to the round +Temple of Hercules and near the meat market. Every trace of it has +long since vanished, its precious marbles having offered most tempting +plunder for builders of every century since the fall of Rome. + +In its glory it was a space about two hundred feet long and nearly a +hundred feet wide, bounded by a gentle hollow curve along the river, and +enclosed on the other three sides by magnificent colonnaded porticoes. + +The shafts of the columns were of black Lucullean marble and fully +forty feet high. Their capitals and bases were of green porphyry, the +entablature they carried of red porphyry and the wall behind them of +yellow Numidian marble. The area was paved with slabs of pinkish and +light greenish marble while the copings of the Quay and the steps +leading down to the water were of coral red marble, a building material +extremely rare and very costly. + +At noon on the fifteenth of August the area, lined all round just before +the colonnade by a double rank of Pretorian guards, gorgeous in their +trappings of red gloss leather, gilded metal and scarlet cloth, was +thronged with Senators, Pontiffs and officials of the Imperial Court, to +the number of nearly a thousand. + +Midway of the crowd, near the head of the middle water-stair, a part of +the pavement, ringed about by the lucky dignitaries in the front row +of spectators, was left free. In it, by the water-steps, were grouped +a selection of Pontiffs, all the Flamens, four Vestals and the Emperor. +The yellow river was almost free of craft; along the other bank some +barges were being warped up-stream; nearby only patrol boats were +visible. + +Brinnaria, standing alert and springily erect, her white habit +dazzlingly fresh, fresh as the white flowers clasped at her bosom by +her big pearl brooch, looked like a care-free young matron who had had +a long night’s sleep and a good breakfast. Commodus, looking her up nd +down, mentally contrasted her easy pose and the rosiness of her smiling +face with the tense statuesqueness and austere, almost grim countenances +of her three colleagues. He noticed that her three-strand pearl necklace +seemed to become her more than theirs became the other three and that +she wore her square, white headdress with an indefinable difference, +that there was a difference in the very hang of her headband and in the +way its tassels lay on her bosom. He noted two unusual adjuncts to her +attire; a long, rough towel through her girdle and a gold sacrificial +dipper thrust in beside it. + +“Are you ready?” he asked her. + +She looked him full in the face and slowly raised her left arm, stiffly +straight, hand extended, palm down, until her finger-tips were almost +level with his face and not a foot from it. Holding it so at full +stretch she asked: + +“What do you think of that? Am I ready?” + +Commodus regarded her finger-tips, her face, and again her finger-tips: + +“Hercules be good to me!” he exclaimed. “Not a tremble, not a waver, not +a quiver. You are mighty cool. You’ve plenty of confidence. I take it +you are ready.” + +“I am,” said Brinnaria. “Where is that sieve?” + +From behind her spoke Calvaster. “I have a sieve here.” + +Commodus rounded on him like an angry mastiff. + +“Who authorized you to speak?” he demanded. “You act as if you were +Emperor. You are merely a minor Pontiff. Remember that and speak when +you are spoken to.” + +Calvaster, abashed but persistent, stammered: + +“I merely offered a sieve.” + +“None of your concern to offer a sieve,” Commodus growled. “You insult +all of us and me most of all. Do you take me to be so unfair as to +subject this lady to her test with a sieve brought and offered by her +accuser?” + +Calvaster was dumb. + +“Show me that sieve,” the Emperor commanded. + +Calvaster produced from under his robes a copper-hooped sieve strung +with linen. + +Commodus handed it to Brinnaria. + +“What do you think of that sieve?” he inquired. + +Brinnaria held it up to the light and looked through the web; held it +level, upside down, and looked along the web. + +“It is very irregularly woven,” she pronounced; “some of the meshes are +three times the size of others. It is very unevenly strung, it bags in +two places.” She held it up to her face a moment. + +“Also,” she concluded, “it has been scrubbed with wood-ashes and +fuller’s-earth. Vesta herself could not carry water in that sieve.” + +“Give it back to me!” the Emperor ordered. + +He eyed it as she had, sniffed at it like a dog at a mouse-hole, and +glared over it at Calvaster. + +“You advertise yourself to all the world,” he snarled, “as an unworthy +Pontiff and a contemptible caitiff. You attempt to entrap me into the +meanest unfairness! You pose as a public-spirited citizen solicitous +about the sanctity of the worship of Vesta and I find you a pettifogging +wretch actuated by spite and malice. You desire not a fair test, but the +ruin of a woman you are low-minded enough to hate. Eugh!” With one of +his excesses of unconventional energy he flung the sieve far out over +the river. It sailed whirling through the air, splashed in the water and +sank out of sight. + +“For the price of one dried bean, I’d order you thrown after it,” said +Commodus to Calvaster. + +He beckoned one of his aides. + +“Signal that boat!” he commanded. + +A broad blunt-ended cargo-boat, rather guided than propelled by its four +heavy oars, came drifting down with the current. Its gunwale was hung +with horsehair sieves. Up from the thwarts stood many poles, each with +cross-pieces, every cross-piece hung with sieves. Its oarsmen edged it +nearer and nearer to the Quay and slowed its motion until it was almost +stationary opposite the stair, scarcely an arm’s-length from the lowest +step. + +When it was close the Emperor spoke to Numisia: + +“Choose any sieve you see.” + +Numisia indicated the sieve on the forward arm of the second cross-piece +of the fourth pole from the bow. + +Lutorius, at the Emperor’s bidding, called the directions to Truttidius, +who, bowed and bent with age until he looked almost like a clothed ape, +wizened so that his leathery, wrinkled face was like a dried apple, was +standing near the middle of the boat. + +“Go down the steps,” said Commodus to Brinnaria, “and yourself take the +sieve from him.” Brinnaria, on the lower step, reached over the water, +and grasped the rim of the sieve which Truttidius held out to her. She +held it up to the light. Its web was of black and white horse-hair, each +thread alternately of a different color. It was made for bolting the +finest flour and the tiny apertures between the hairs were all of a size +and scarcely broader than the hairs themselves. + +She scrutinized the sieve from several angles and then looked back at +the Emperor. + +“Are you satisfied with that sieve?” he queried. + +“I am satisfied with this sieve,” spoke Brinnaria, loud and clear. + +“I want to see close,” said Commodus, coming down the steps. + +Brinnaria, holding the sieve in both hands, lifted it towards the blue +sky. “O Vesta!” she prayed aloud, “O my dear Goddess, manifest your +divinity, succor your votary! To prove me pleasing and acceptable in +your eyes, grant me the miraculous power to carry up these stairs water +from this river in the sieve which I hold!” She lowered her arms and +holding the sieve in her left hand knelt on one knee on the lowest +step, spread her towel over the other knee and took from her belt the +sacrificial dipper. With that she scooped up half a ladleful of Tiber +water. On the towel spread over her knee she carefully dried the bottom +of the dipper. + +Holding it just outside the rim of the sieve she glanced up at Commodus. + +“Go on,” he said. + +She smiled. + +“If you want to see me fail,” she said, “talk to me. If you want to see +me carry water in this sieve, let me alone.” + +“I’m dumb*,” said he. + + * “Dumb” at this time meant unable to speak. --PG editor + +She eyed the sieve to make sure that it was level and steady. Commodus, +also eyeing it, judged it both steady and level. + +She brought the ladle over the rim of the sieve and lowered it until it +all but touched the middle of the web. + +She tilted the ladle slowly, slowly she poured its contents over its +lip. + +She lifted it clear: + +On the web of the sieve lay a silver disk, as it were, of water, +round-edged and shining. + +“Hercules be good to me!” cried Commodus. + +“Keep quiet!” she admonished him. “You’ll put me off.” She dipped up a +ladleful of water, flirted half the water out, wiped the bottom of the +ladle on her knee and brought it cautiously over the sieve, cautiously +she lowered it until it nearly touched the shining disk of water, +cautiously she tilted it, cautiously she let its contents flow over its +lip. + +The disk of water spread. She repeated the process. The disk of water +spread. + +Again and again she repeated the process. + +The disk of water became a film hiding nearly all the web of the sieve. + +Commodus noticed that, as she dipped up each ladleful of water, she +watched the dipper out of the corner of her eye, as it were, with a sort +of partial, sidelong glance, but that all the while her gaze was intent +on the sieve. + +He noticed other details of her procedure. + +“You never pour twice in the same place,” he commented. + +Rigid as a statue, the sieve in her hand as unmoving as if clamped in a +vise, Brinnaria spoke: + +“If I take my eyes off the sieve,” she rebuked him, “it will tilt in my +hand and the water will run through. If you make me look round you’ll +destroy me. You are not fair.” + +“I’m dumb,” said Commodus again, apologetically. + +As she poured in the next dipper-load, the film of water touched the rim +of the sieve at one point. + +Commodus heard a sharp intake of Brinnaria’s breath. + +The next half-ladleful she poured near the spot where the water touched +the sieve-rim. + +Round near the hoop she dribbled in half-ladleful after half-ladleful +until the web of the sieve was entirely covered. + +She had moved slowly from the first dip into the river. But now, since +she could not see any part of the web of the sieve, she moved yet more +slowly. + +Commodus began to be impatient. + +“That is plenty of water,” he said. + +“Do you, as Pontifex Maximus,” she uttered, “certify that the water now +in this sieve is as deep as you stipulated?” + +“I,” said Commodus in a loud voice, “as Emperor and as Pontifex Maximus, +here certify before all men that the water now supported by the web of +that sieve is enough to demonstrate the favor of Vesta towards you and +your impeccable integrity.” + +“Back away,” said Brinnaria, “I’m going to stand up.” She thrust the +handle of the ladle through her belt, brushed the towel from her knee +and with her right hand also she grasped the sieve. Holding it now in +both hands, her eyes on it, she very slowly, inch by inch, rose to her +feet. When she was erect, she very slowly drew back her left foot until +her two feet were close together. + +“Back away,” she repeated. “I’m going to turn round.” Slowly she pivoted +on her firm feet until she was standing with her back to the river. + +Commodus at the top of the steps stared down at her. + +“Back away,” she reiterated, “I’m coming up the steps.” Up the steps +she came, very slowly. Planted on her right foot she would almost +imperceptibly raise and advance her left foot. When it was firm on the +step, she would gradually shift her weight to that foot, would very +deliberately straighten up and very carefully draw up her right foot +until both feet were together. So standing she would breathe several +times before she repeated the process. + +When she was standing firm on the top step on the level of the Quay +platform, she raised both hands until the sieve was level with her chin. + +“You have won,” Commodus exclaimed. “You have demonstrated your +Goddess’s favor. The test is over.” + +An arm’s length away stood Calvaster. + +“It’s a trick!” he cried. “That is not water.” + +“Not water!” cried Brinnaria. + +All the forgotten tomboy of her childish girlhood surged up within her. +The obsolete hoydenishness inside her exploded. + +“Not water!” she cried, and smashed the sieve over his head. + +The rim on his shoulders, his head protruding from the torn eb, +frayed ends of broken horse-hair sticking up round his neck, the water +trickling down his clothing and dripping from his thin locks, from his +big flaring ears, from the end of his long nose, his face rueful and +stultified, he presented a sufficiently absurd appearance. + +Commodus, like the overgrown boy he was, burst into roars of laughter. +The Pontiffs laughed, the Senators laughed, even Manlia and Gargilia +laughed. + +“It’s a trick!” Calvaster repeated. + +On the face of Commodus mirth gave place to wrath. + +“Isn’t that enough water for you?” he roared. “Anybody would think, the +way you behave, that I am the minor Pontiff and you the Emperor. I’ll +teach you!” He turned and beckoned a centurion of the guard. + +With his file of men he came on the double quick. + +“Seize that man!” the Emperor commanded. + +Two of the Pretorians gripped Calvaster by the elbows. + +“March him out there to the edge,” came the next order, the Emperor +gesturing towards the quay-front on his right. + +At the brink of the platform the Pretorians paused. + +“Grab him with both your hands,” the Emperor commanded, “and pitch him +into the river.” Over went Calvaster with a mighty splash. + +As all Romans were excellent swimmers he came to the surface almost at +once. A few strokes in front of him was the boat with the sieves. To it +he swam and Truttidius hauled him aboard and located him on a thwart. + +After the general merriment had waned and the laughter had abated +Commodus faced the assemblage and raised his hand. + +Into the ensuing silence he spoke not as a blundering lad nor as a +sportsman, but as a ruler. For the moment, in fact, he looked all the +Emperor. + +“We have all beheld,” he said, “a miracle marvellous and convincing. +As Prince of the Republic, as Chief Pontiff of Rome, I proclaim this +Priestess cleared of all imputations whatever. Manifestly she is dear +to Vesta, and worthy of the favor she has shown her. Henceforward let no +man dare to smirch her with any slur or slander.” + + + +CHAPTER XXII - TRIUMPH + + +IN recognition of Brinnaria’s complete and incontrovertible vindication +Commodus decreed an unusually sumptuous state banquet at the Palace, +inviting to it all the most important personages of the capital, +including the more distinguished senators, every magistrate, the higher +Pontiffs, the Flamens in a body and most of his personal cronies. + +While old-fashioned households, such as that of Vocco and Flexinna, +clung to the antique Roman habit of lying down to meals on three +rectangular dining-sofas placed on three sides of a square-topped table, +this arrangement had long been supplanted at Court by a newer invention. +The mere fact that, from of old, it had been looked upon as the worst +sort of bad manners to have more than three diners on a sofa, and as +scarcely less ridiculous to have fewer than three, had made the custom +vexatious in the extreme, as it constrained all entertainers to arrange +for nine guests or eighteen or twenty-seven and ruled out any other more +convenient intermediate numbers. In the progressive circles of society +and at the Palace, the tables were circular, each supported from the +center by one standard with three feet, and each table was clasped, as +it were, by a single ample C-shaped sofa on which any number of guests +from four to twelve could conveniently recline. + +At the Palace banquet in honor of Brinnaria, three tables only were set +on the Imperial dais at the head of the dining hall. On one side of the +Emperor’s table was that where feasted the higher Flamens and Pontiffs, +the sofa of the other was occupied by the young Empress, by the wives of +the higher Flamens, and by the four Vestals present. + +Brinnaria declared that her appetite was as good as on the day when she +had returned home from her exile to Aunt Septima’s villa. + +After two public advertisements of the Emperor’s favor and esteem she +was entirely free from any sort of worry. Her enemies were few, merely +Calvaster and his parasites, and they were thoroughly cowed and curbed +their tongues. Not only no defamation of her but not even an innuendo +gained currency in the gossip of the city during the remainder of her +term of service. + +Quite the other way. Her fame as a Vestal whose prayers were sure to be +heard, at first a source of natural pride and gratification to her, came +to be a burden, even a positive misery. There was an immemorial belief +that if a Vestal could be induced to pray for the recapture of an +escaped slave, such a runaway, if within the boundaries of Rome, would +be overcome by a sort of inward numbness which would make it impossible +for him to cross the city limits, so that the retaking of such fugitives +became easy, as it was only necessary to search the wards for them. +City owners of escaped slaves besieged Brinnaria for years and as it +was reported that her intercessions were invariably effective, her fame +increased and petitions for her assistance pestered her. + +She bore the annoyance resignedly, reflecting that, while she was in +such repute, no one was likely to impugn her honor. + +Life in the Atrium, for the ensuing six years, altered little. +Causidiena, within three years after Brinnaria’s ordeal, became totally +blind. Care of her devolved particularly upon Terentia, of whom she was +dotingly fond. + +The routine duties of the maintenance of the sacred fire those two +shared, for Causidiena, even stone blind, never required anyone’s +assistance to tell her the condition of the altar-fire and could care +for it and feed it even alone, judging its needs by the sensations of +her outstretched hands, never burning herself, never letting brands or +ashes fall on the Temple floor. But in all other matters Causidiena and +Terentia were concerned only when their participation was demanded +by canonical regulations, Terentia devoting herself to attendance on +Causidiena, while Causidiena officiated only when the presence of the +Chief Vesta was indispensable. + +For Numisia, Gargilia, Manlia and Brinnaria, their main concern was to +arrange that Causidiena should have as little as possible to do and that +Terentia might devote as much as possible of her time to entertaining +Causidiena. This was not easy to accomplish, for Causidiena’s mind was +perfectly clear, her knowledge of every inch of the Atrium enabled her +to move about it unhesitatingly at all hours of the day and night, her +sense of duty urged her to do all that she had ever done when her sight +was perfect, and, like most blind persons, she resented any reference, +expressed or implied, to her infirmity. Consideration for her called for +almost superhuman tact and dexterity. To the best of their ability +the four strove to shield her without her being able to perceive their +sedulity. To the charm of Terentia’s music she, moreover, yielded +readily. Music, as never before, occupied the leisure of the Atrium. + +During these years Brinnaria was almost entirely happy. Her duties, her +solicitude for Causidiena, her affection for Terentia, her delight in +her own and Terentia’s music filled up most of her time. + +Her horse-breeding continued to interest her, but her interest was +milder and far from absorbing. She kept it up largely because she +regarded her outings as imperatively necessary to maintain her health, +while aimless outings bored her. + +As when younger, she dined out very often and regularly with Vocco and +Flexinna. But since Calvaster’s accusation, she never visited Flexinna +alone, always in company with another Vestal, usually Terentia, so that +her dinners at Flexinna’s became restricted to evenings on which she +and Terentia were both off duty. Terentia, who was passionately fond of +small children, revelled in her visits to Flexinna’s house, where there +were children of all ages in abundance, all ready to make friends, all +diverting, all pleased at being petted, and, as Flexinna said: + +“Not a stutterer among ‘em.” + +From Almo news came frequently through Flexinna. + +His campaign, deliberately prepared and relentlessly carried out, +progressed evenly and without any reverse. + +The nomads nowhere withstood his legions and their attendant cloud of +allied cavalry; one after the other their strongholds were reached and +stormed, methodically and unhurriedly he reduced tribe after tribe to +submission, his prestige growing from season to season and from year to +year. + +When Brinnaria’s term of service was drawing to an end and only about +eleven months of it remained, all Roman society was convulsed by what +was variously referred to as the Calvaster scandal, the great poisoning +trial or the murder of Pulfennia. + +Pulfennia Ulubrana, one of Calvaster’s great-aunts, was a dwarfish +creature, humpbacked and clubfooted. + +She was an only child and her parents, in spite of her deformities, +were devoted to her. They lavished on her everything that fondness could +suggest, and, as they were very wealthy, she not only lived but enjoyed +life in her way and to a very considerable extent. + +To begin with she never had an ill hour or an ache or a pain from her +earliest years. Then, like many cripples, she had great vitality and +a wonderfully alert mind. Amid the small army of maids, governesses, +tutors, pages, litter-bearers, and so on, with which her parents +surrounded her she did not become merely peevish, exacting and +overbearing, as might have been expected. Even the services of her +personal physician, of three expert readers to read aloud to her and of +a half dozen musicians to divert her whenever she pleased, did not spoil +her. She was imperious enough, self-willed and obstinately resolute +to have her own way in all matters, but she had a great deal of +common-sense, realized what was possible and what impossible and was +considerate of her entire retinue, even of such unimportant slave-girls +as her three masseuses. + +She was greedy of all sorts of knowledge and acquired an education +altogether unusual for a Roman woman. + +Withal she was feminine in her tastes, spent much time on embroidery +and was justly proud of her complex and beautiful productions in this +womanly art. She overcame her disabilities to a great extent and, with +no lack of conveyances, became a figure almost as well-known in oman +society as Nemestronia herself. + +As she had an accommodating disposition, an excellent appetite and a +witty tongue, she was a welcome guest at banquets and went about a great +deal. Also she entertained lavishly. + +She survived the pestilence and, like so many of the remnants of the +nobility, found herself solitary and enormously wealthy. + +Her vast estates she managed herself and she knew to a sesterce +the value of every piece of property, the justifiable expenses of +maintaining each, and the income each should yield. Self-indulgent as +she was and moreover an inveterate gambler, she grew richer every year. + +Like all childless Romans of independent means she was the object of +unblushing and overwhelming attentions from countless legacy cadgers. +She enjoyed the game, accepted everything offered in the way of gifts, +services or invitations, and, moreover, played up to it, for she was +forever destroying her last will and making a new one. Each was read +aloud to a concourse of expectant and envious legatees. Each specified +scores of legacies of no despicable amount, and yet more numerous sops +to numerous acquaintances. In every will Calvaster, her nearest relative +and favorite grandnephew, was named as chief legatee. + +She kept on making wills, and, what was more, she kept on living. +Naturally her wealth, her eccentricities, her amazing healthiness +and her obstinate vitality were subjects of general remark by all the +gossips of the capital. + +One night, an hour or two after midnight, she was seized with violent +internal pains, and, in spite of the ministrations of her private +physician, died before dawn. + +In Rome any sudden death was likely to be attributed to poison. In her +case the indications, from the Roman point of view, all converged on the +inference that she had been poisoned. No-one questioned the conclusion. + +Calvaster was immediately suspected. The evidence against him would not +suffice to put in jeopardy any one in our days. To the Romans it seemed +sufficient to justify his incarceration and trial. He had more to gain +by the old lady’s death than anybody else. He had been chronically in +need of money and there had been much friction between him and Pulfennia +on this point. She had always provided for his necessities, but had +always insisted on scrutinizing every item in his accounts, and on being +convinced of his need for every sesterce she gave him. She had supported +him, but by an irritating dole of small sums. He had joked with his +cronies about her hold on life. He had been heard to say that he would +be glad when she was gone. He had bought various drugs from various +apothecaries, though none within a year of her death and none used +merely as a poison. Under torture some of her slaves and some of his +slaves told of his having tried to induce them to put poison in her +food. + +Roman society promptly divided into two camps on the question of his +guilt or innocence. The subject was debated with vehemence, even with +acrimony. He had been a disagreeable creature from childhood and had +made many enemies. On the other hand, great numbers of fair-minded +people asserted that no man, however distasteful to themselves, should +be convicted on such flimsy evidence. + +His trial was watched with great interest, and when he was convicted and +an appeal was successful and a retrial ordered, upper class Rome seethed +with altercations. The case, by common consent, was tabooed as a subject +of conversation at all social gatherings; feeling ran so high that it +was possible to mention the matter only between intimate friends. + +Naturally Flexinna and Brinnaria, Terentia and Vocco discussed the case +frequently. To her friends’ amazement Brinnaria maintained that she did +not feel convinced of Calvaster’s guilt. + +“I always despised him and hated him,” she said, “and I despise and hate +him as much as ever, if not more. He certainly has been my worst enemy +and he came very near to ruining me. But I see no reason why hate should +blind me in judging his case. I should be glad to have him plainly +convicted and put to death. It would please me. But I am not pleased at +his present plight. I am not convinced of his guilt. I don’t believe any +slave evidence given under torture. A tortured slave will say anything +he thinks likely to relax his sufferings or please his questioners. And +I see no proof of Calvaster’s guilt in the other evidence. Everybody +buys such drugs as he bought. And suppose he did joke about Pulfennia’s +tenacity to life, who wouldn’t? I don’t believe it is proved that she +died of poison anyway. People who have never been ill are reckless +eaters. Look at me, I am. She may have died of indigestion or +stomach-ache or what not. I’d do anything I could to save him, now.” + +“D-D-Do you mean to say,” spoke Flexinna, “that if you encountered him +being led out to execution, you’d reprieve him?” + +“A Vestal can’t use her prerogative of reprieving criminals,” said +Brinnaria, “unless she encounters by accident a criminal being led to +execution. She can’t lay in wait for one. Any suspicion of collusion +vitiates her privilege. The encounter must be unforeseen.” + +“Suppose,” said Flexinna, “you did meet C-C-Calvaster on his way to +execution, wouldn’t you g-g-gloat over him and watch him on his way and +not interfere?” + +“No, I should not, I should interfere,” said Brinnaria, “and anyhow, +what is the use of supposing? Suppose the moon fell on your front teeth, +would you stop stuttering?” + +In June of 191 Almo returned from Syria, completely victorious and much +acclaimed. He brought with him his veteran legions and was received with +every mark of the Emperor’s favor. After his official reception he at +once left Rome for Falerii, where he was to remain until the last day of +Brinnaria’s service. + +Meanwhile his house on the Carinae was opened and put in order under +Flexinna’s supervision. + +On August 14th, Lutorius, Causidiena, Numisia and Brinnaria had a long +conference as to the details of her wedding, which was to take place on +August 16th. + +The subject needed not a little discussion, as the circumstances were +unusual. Having no parents, nor indeed any near connections, it was +inevitable that the wedding should vary a great deal from what was +customary. + +It was decided that on leaving the Atrium after her exauguration, she +should spend one night as the guest of Nemestronia; that on the next day +she should go to Vocco’s house and be married from there; but that in +the ceremonies, Lutorius, who had been her spiritual father for many +years, should take the part which her own father would have taken had +he been alive. It was also decided that the wedding feast should be +at Almo’s house, after the wedding-procession, instead of at Vocco’s +before, as it would have been if she had living parents and was being +married from her home. + +Lutorius, who had a warm personal affection for Brinnaria, had been +hovering about her, as it were, for some days, and on this last full +day of her service he kept, so to speak, fluttering in and out of the +Atrium, repeatedly returning to confer about some trifle or other which +he had forgotten. + +So it happened that he was approaching the portal as she came out for +her afternoon airing. + +“You have your light carriage, to-day, I see,” he said. “Yesterday you +had out your state coach. Why the difference?” + +Brinnaria, settling herself among her cushions, leaned out towards him +as he stood beside the vehicle, holding on to the tires, his arms stiff, +a hand on each wheel. + +“This,” she said, “is merely a constitutional. Yesterday I took my last +outing with all my special privileges as a Vestal, drove all over Rome +in my state coach, drove up to the Capitol, and, in a fashion, said +farewell to the advantages of my office.” + +“How do you feel about it all?” he asked. + +Brinnaria pulled a wry face and laughed a forced laugh. + +“I am finding out,” she said, “why so few Vestals ever leave the order. +When I realize that, after to-day, I shall have no lictor to clear +the streets for me, that I may go out in my litter daily, but even so +without a runner ahead, that I may never again drive through Rome, that +I have been driven up to the Capitol for the last time and may go there +hereafter only afoot or in my litter, I am almost ready to change my +mind, give up freedom and matrimony and Almo and all and cling to my +privileges. When it comes over me that, as I go out to-day, the lictors +of any magistrate will salute me, even the lictors of the Emperor, +whereas after to-morrow noon there will be no salutes for me, I +understand why most Vestals live out their lives in the order.” + +“There is time still to change your mind and stay with us,” he said, +smiling. + +Brinnaria laughed a perfectly natural laugh. + +“No danger,” she said; “my heart is Almo’s as always.” + +“And now, if you have nothing urgent to discuss, I’m off!” + +“Where to?” asked Lutorius. + +“I don’t care,” said Brinnaria, “I don’t even want to know. Give the +coachman any orders that come into your head, sketch a round-about drive +for me. I’m in the humor to have nothing on my mind.” + +Lutorius, with a comprehending smile, whispered to the coachman, who +mounted his tiny seat. + +Almost at once Brinnaria was lost in thought and jolted through the +streets oblivious to her surroundings, not even seeing what was before +her eyes. + +From her muse she was roused by the halting of the carriage. + +Amazed, she looked up. + +Still more amazed, she recognized, standing near the head of the +off-horse, the state-executioner. + +This repulsive public character, tolerated but despised and loathed, was +the last living creature in or about Rome who would dare to approach a +Vestal. + +At sight of him she was inundated with a hot flood of wrath. She was +about to call to her lictor, to demand why the carriage had stopped and +rebuke him for being so negligent as to allow so unsavory a being to +come so near her. + +Then she saw between her and the executioner, just in front of that +official, a kneeling figure. + +She recognized Calvaster. + +Also she saw the guards and executioner’s assistants grouped about the +two. + +It came over her that she had encountered, wholly by accident, this +gloomy convoy, and that before her, beseeching her for a reprieve, +begging for a mere day and night more of life, knelt her inveterate, +furtive enemy. + +She raised her hand and looked the executioner full in the eyes. + +“Send him back,” she commanded. “He is reprieved until this hour +to-morrow.” The guards dragged off Calvaster, babbling his pitiful +gratitude. + +“Drive home,” said Brinnaria to her coachman. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII - SALVAGE + + +THE exauguration of a Vestal, by which canonical ritual she was formally +released from her obligations of chastity and service and became free to +go where she liked and to marry or to remain unmarried as she preferred, +was a brief and simple ceremony. But it required the presence of all the +Vestals, of the major Flamens, of many Pontiffs, of the entire College +of Augurs and of the Emperor himself as Pontifex Maximus. Commodus, who +was impatient of anything which curtailed the time he might lavish on +athletic amusements, arrived precisely at noon, at the very last minute. +The moment he had entered the Atrium he hurried the ceremony. It was +soon over and Brinnaria no longer a Vestal, but a free woman. + +It had been arranged that immediately after her exauguration her +successor should be taken as a Vestal there in the Atrium by Commodus +himself as Chief Pontiff. Little difficulty had been encountered as to +selecting a candidate, since a most suitable child had been offered by +her parents, people of xcellent family and of unblemished reputation. +Her name was Campia Severina, and she was a small girl, just seven years +old, plump, with a round full-moon of a face, a leaden-pasty complexion, +and a most un-Roman nose, flat, broad and snub. + +Commodus, prompted by Lutorius, droned through the required questions +and showed manifest relief when he pronounced the word “Beloved” and the +second ceremony was over. + +He was, however, not wholly a loutish and unmannerly Emperor, but could +be tactful and gracious when his interest was aroused. He took time to +speak to each of the Vestals; complimented Terentia on her music and +spoke of the Empress’s admiration of her organ-playing, had a brief but +kindly commendation for Manlia and Gargilia; praised Numisia highly for +her efficient discharge of the duties devolving on her, and condoled +with Causidiena on her blindness and feebleness, wording what he said so +dexterously that she could not but feel cheered and comforted. + +Then, aside from the assemblage of Pontiffs, Augurs, Flamens and the +rest, he spoke privately with Brinnaria: + +“I’m sorry to lose you,” he said; “I felt comfortable about the +Palladium as long as you were a Vestal. Numisia is a woman to be relied +on too, and Gargilia and Manlia are capable creatures, but not one +of the three is your equal in any respect and they are but three; the +others are a corpse, a doll and an infant. + +“Understand I’m not growling at your departure, I am trying to convey +to you how highly I esteem you. I’ll advertise it to all the world by +having you and your husband, the moment you are married, put on the +official roster of my personal friends who have the right of access to +me at all times and can go in and out of the Palace at their pleasure. + +“As to your wedding, I’m sorry I gave you my promise to stay away from +it. I think that this recent notion of yours that the marriage of an +ex-Vestal is an ill-omened occasion, like a funeral, is morbid and +baseless. Every Vestal has a right to leave the order at the end of her +term of service and to marry if she pleases. The right is indubitable. +Nothing that is right is ill-omened. I think that an ex-Vestal’s wedding +ought to be regarded precisely as the wedding of anybody else. The most +I’ll concede is, that it might be likened to the wedding of a widow, +considering her service as a sort of first marriage. That is my +judgment, not merely as a man but as Chief Pontiff. + +“My impulse is to revoke my pledge and to do all I can to make your +wedding a grand affair. But I’m too good a betting man to break a +promise. Besides, though I impugn your arguments as an ex-Vestal, I +respect your personal preference for a quiet wedding. I’ll not insist +on being invited to the banquet, and, so far from taking part in the +procession, I’ll not even peep at it down a side street. I’ll keep +inside the Palace. + +“But I want you to release me from my promise in one small detail. +I want to be present at Vocco’s to see you two break and eat the +old-fashioned cake, and I want to be first to sign your marriage +register. I promise to leave as soon as I have signed the register.” + +Brinnaria, of course, could not but acquiesce. + +“Good for you!” said the Emperor, “and thank you too. I’ll keep away +from the procession, but that won’t make any difference in the throngs +you’ll find along your route. They’ll jam the streets and you’ll have to +plough your way through. No Emperor could ever call out more sight-seers +than will the wedding of Brinnaria the water-carrier.” He then went out +into the street which his escort blocked, and departed, accompanied +by his coterie of boxers, wrestlers, swordsmen, jockeys and such-like, +convoyed by a large and gorgeous retinue of pages, runners, guards nd +lictors. + +Immediately after his departure Brinnaria said her farewells and set out +for Nemestronia’s. + +Next morning, as she descended from her litter at Vocco’s door, a +Vestal’s carriage drove up and Gargilia got out. + +“You’re surprised to see me at this hour,” she said, “and I don’t +wonder.” When they were indoors and seated with Flexinna she explained: + +“We have been having a terrible night at the Atrium and the worst sort +of luck this morning. That little fool of a Campia is the most complete +cry-baby and the most homesick little wretch I ever saw or heard of. +She has sobbed herself ill and screamed us all out of a night’s sleep. +Terentia and Manlia were up half the night with her and she waked me and +Causidiena. + +“The result is that Causidiena has had one of her semi-fainting +spells and is in her arm-chair for the day, poor Manlia has one of +her splitting headaches and Terentia is almost as bad. I never saw the +Atrium in such a state. Campia goes to sleep off and on from exhaustion, +but she wakes up howling and keeps blubbering and whining and sniveling. +I left both Terentia and Manlia in tears. They are so vexed to think +that to-morrow they will be entirely well, but for to-day there is +absolutely nothing for it but they must both keep abed and in the dark. + +“Numisia sent me to tell you that she will be at your wedding, will walk +in the procession and will be at the banquet, but that I must be on duty +in the Temple. So we’ll just have to have our chat now and when I leave +we shall not see each other again for the present.” + +As she climbed into her carriage she said: + +“I’m sorry you haven’t a bright wedding day.” + +“So am I,” said Brinnaria, glancing up at the gray canopy of rainless +cloud which hid the sky; “any day is a good day to be married on, but I +hoped for sunshine.” + +Commodus, faithful to the spirit of his promise, came to Vocco’s house +with the smallest possible official retinue. He was in the best humor, +affable and genial, and cast no chill of formality over the ceremony. He +was the first to set his signature to the marriage register, signing in +his sprawling school-boy hand. Then he stood aside and looked on while +Flexinna, as matron of honor, led Brinnaria to Almo and joined +their right hands, while they seated themselves side by side on the +traditional cushioned stools, while the Flamen of Jupiter offered on the +house-altar the old-fashioned contract-cake, and said the formal prayers +for the happiness of the bride and groom; while the Flamen’s assistant, +one of Flexinna’s older boys, carried the cake to Almo and Brinnaria and +each broke off a piece and ate it, she uttering the old-time formula: + +“Where you are Caius I am Caia.” + +Above the voices of the guests Commodus’ could be distinguished shouting +with them: + +“Good luck! Good luck!” + +In the silence that followed he warned: + +“Now, no rising, no bowing. I’m not here to spoil this wedding, I came +to enjoy it. No bowing, I tell you, no rising. Let me get out like an +ordinary man.” + +Into the gathering dusk he vanished with his retinue. + +As soon as he was gone the arrangement for the procession began, the +slaves lit their torches and grouped themselves outside the house-door, +the flute players struck up a tune, Flexinna’s thirteen-year-old boy +lit his white-thorn torch at the altar-fire, her eleven-year-old and +nine-year-old, as pages of honor, caught Brinnaria by the hands and led +her out at the door. So led by the two little boys, their brother with +the white-thorn torch walking before her, she passed through the streets +to Almo’s house, Nemestronia and Flexinna on either side of Almo, close +behind her, Vocco and the other guests following. + +The people made good the Emperor’s prophecy. + +From house-door to house-door the streets were packed with crowds eager +to see her pass and loud to acclaim her. Through cheers, good wishes, +loud jokes, merry longs and cries of “Talassio! Talassio!” she passed +along the upper part of the Fagutal, and past the flank of the Baths of +Titus to the Carinae. + +Her bridal dress of pearl-gray, with the flame-colored bridal veil, +reminded her more than a little of that costume of Flexinna’s which +she had worn to Aricia and back, only that was mostly pink, this mostly +gray. + +She looked well in it and wore the six braids and the headband more +naturally than most brides, having been habituated to them for thirty +years, since all Vestals always wore the bridal coiffure. + +At the doorway of Almo’s house, the bearer of the white-thorn torch +halted and faced about inside the door, his two little brothers let go +her hands, Almo himself caught her up clear of the pavement and swung +her clear of the door-sill. As he held her in the air, nestling to him, +she repeated the formula: + +“Where you are Caius, I am Caia.” + +When he set her down inside the house she was at last a married woman. + +She turned and watched the scramble for the white-thorn torch which its +bearer first put out and then threw among the crowd after the slaves had +also put out their torches. + +So watching, Almo’s arm about her, she became aware of a strange +something in the look of the crowd and of the street. + +“What makes it so light?” she asked Almo. “Why are the tops of their +heads all bright that way?” + +Lutorius, who was near them, explained: + +“There is a big fire somewhere the other side of the Capitol. I noticed +it at the top of the street. The Capitol stood out black, the outline of +both temples plain as in the daylight, against the red smoke behind it.” + +“Send some of the slaves,” said Brinnaria, “to find out where the fire +is, and let us lie down to dinner. I’m as hungry as a wolf.” And like a +true Roman she began with a trifle of three hard-boiled eggs, merely to +take the edge off her appetite. + +There were six tables set in Almo’s dining-room and an ample +crescent-shaped sofa to each. The sixty guests made the big room buzz +with talk and echo with laughter. + +Nemestronia called across to Brinnaria: + +“Now you have what you’ve always wanted. You’re a married woman at +last.” + +“And I’ll soon have what I’ve wanted almost as much,” Brinnaria replied. + +“What’s that?” several voices called. + +“Two desires,” Brinnaria explained, “haunted me all the while I was a +Vestal. One was the longing for a horseback ride. I used to revel in +galloping bareback. I haven’t been astraddle of a horse for thirty +years. It won’t be many days now before I shall enjoy a good canter on a +good horse. + +“Then, by to-morrow night, I trust, I shall have had a fine long swim +with my husband and six hundred other couples in the big basin of one of +the City Baths. + +“Words could not tell you how I have longed to go swimming in the public +baths with the rest of my kind, as a lady should.” + +The messengers returned with the news that the fire had started near +the round end of the Flaminian Circus, close to the Temple of Bellona. +Before a strong wind it had spread both ways, had caught everything +in the north slope of the Capitol between it and Trajan’s Forum: the +silver-smiths’ shops were all ablaze; to the south it had crept between +the slope of the Capitol and the theatre of Marcellus and was sweeping +over the booths of the Vegetable Market. + +“It is the biggest fire in our time,” said Lutorius. + +“Where will it stop?” queried Numisia. + +Both sent their lictors to make further report. + +Before the dinner was half over they returned, with messengers from the +Atrium. The conflagration was roaring up the Vicus Jugarius and Gargilia +was alarmed. + +Lutorius and Numisia hastily excused themselves, called for their shoes +and went off; he in his litter and she in her carriage. + +As Brinnaria was about to cut the wedding cake her former lictor, Barbo, +thrust himself into the dining-hall, frantic with concern, and narrated +how the fire was beyond any hope of control and was already devouring +the Basilica Argentaria and Basilica Julia. + +“Lutorius has had the sacred fire carried out of the Temple in a copper +pan by Gargilia and Manlia,” he said, “and Terentia and Numisia, with +little Campia, were helping Causidiena along the Holy Street. Causidiena +had an earthenware casket in her arms. I saw them turn the corner to +their right into Pearl-Dealers Lane. They are safe in the Palace by +now.” + +“Safe in the Palace?” Brinnaria echoed. + +“Yes,” Barbo repeated. “Safe in the Palace. They say that the Temple and +the Atrium must burn, nothing can save them.” + +“The Temple!” cried Brinnana. “Fire! And everybody ill except Gargilia +and Numisia! And all they could think of would be saving that dear old +blind saint and that contemptible cry-baby. Ten to one they have missed +the Palladium and taken one of the dummies by mistake! + +“O, Almo, I must go save the Palladium!” + +Of course Almo protested. + +“Don’t hinder me,” she begged. “Go I must, whether you object or not. +We’d never forgive ourselves if to-morrow we learned too late that the +Vestals missed the true Palladium in the confusion, whereas I might have +saved it if I had tried. They may have taken the real Palladium; I may +be too late now to save it if they made a mistake, but I am bound to +try.” + +He shut his lips, but she read his eyes. + +“That is like my hero,” she said. “Patriotism first, self last. + +“Barbo,” she called, “run before me and clear the way as if I were still +a Vestal. It’s illegal, but it will work.” + +She started for the house-door and then paused. + +“Have you any fire buckets?” she asked Almo. “Then have two of the +slaves each fill a bucket and keep close behind us.” + +Amid the prayers and blessings of the wedding-guests, they went out hand +in hand, the two slaves with leather water-buckets behind them, Barbo +ahead, bellowing: + +“Room for Brinnaria Epulonia! Room for Brinnaria Epulonia!” At the +street corner, before they started down the slope of the Carinae, they +had before them a wide view over the city directly towards the Capitol. +Between them and the Capitol Hill they could see the buildings about the +Great Forum all one sea of flames. + +“The Basilica AEmilia is on fire,” said Brinnaria, “and the Temple of +Augustus is just catching. We shall be in time; our Temple won’t catch +before we get there. + +“Run, let’s run.” + +Run they did, the crowds making way at Barbo’s loud adjurations. In +their wedding finery, she with her veil wrapped round her head like a +market-woman’s shawl, they ran, hand in hand between the great Temple of +Venus and Rome, black on their right hand against the reddened clouds, +and the vast Colosseum on their left, all orange in the glare, the +gilding on its awning poles glimmering. + +Up the Sacred Street they passed, running when they could, ploughing +through the crowds when the crowd was too thick. + +By the time they passed through the Arch of Titus they were running, +panting and gasping, through a hail of warm ashes, hot cinders, glowing +embers, blazing bits of wood, flaming brands. + +At the corner of the Pearl-Dealers Exchange Almo halted, detaining her +by her gripped left hand. + +“It is no use,” he said; “we are too late. You might pass the portal +of the Atrium alive, but you’d never get back alive. And I doubt if you +could reach the portal through this heat. You’d scorch to death.” + +“I shall reach the portal,” Brinnaria declared, firmly. “But I’m not +coming back through it. Listen to me and don’t forget. I’m going to make +a dash for the portal. I can reach it, our Temple has not caught yet, +the bronze-tile roof will hold the fire off the beams some time. This +end of the Temple of Augustus has not blazed yet; I can see the cornice. + +“Once inside the Atrium I’ll not try to come back this way, I’ll find +the Palladium or make sure it is not there; then I’ll run upstairs to +the south-east corner. Those rooms are on a level with the pavement of +the New Street.” + +“But,” Almo interrupted, “there isn’t an opening towards the New Street. +The outer wall of the Atrium towards the Palace is all blank wall to the +cornice, not even a ventilation hole anywhere.” + +“I know,” she rebuked him; “keep still and listen. I’ll run into the +third room from the corner. All that end of the Atrium is of brick and +cement, not a beam anywhere and the ceilings are vaulted; the fire will +be a long time reaching me there. You go up Pearl Dealers’ Lane to the +corner of the New Street. From the corner measure thirty-eight feet +along the New Street. At that point have a hole smashed through the +wall. There are hordes of firemen about with their axes, sledge-hammers +and pick-axes. They’ll hack a hole through for you in no time. The wall +is thin there; we had a temporary door made there three years ago for +the plumbers when they were putting in the new bath-rooms. + +“Now, every moment is precious. Hold my hand and help me to make my dash +for the portal, but drop my hand and turn back at the portal; no man +may enter the Atrium, except a Pontiff or a workman. When I squeeze your +fingers, drop my hand and make your dash back. + +“Don’t try to check me, husband; self last and patriotism first, for +every Roman of us all. We have waited thirty years for each other and +we’ve hardly had time for three kisses yet. But if we must lose each +other to save Rome, then we must. + +“If I fail, good-bye!” Then she turned and called the trembling slaves +to come nearer. + +She ordered: + +“Dash that water over us, one over him, one over me. Don’t waste any, +pour it on our heads. Now go where you please!” + +Dripping, hand in hand, they ran over the cinder-strewn pavement, +under the rain of blazing fragments, up the Sacred Street, between the +furnace-hot walls. + +Under the long arcade they were safe. + +At its further end she had to face a dash of some ten yards through the +blazing brands, the very air seeming on fire. + +“I’m afraid!” she cried. “Be brave, Almo, and give me courage!” Her +fingers pressed his, their hands parted. + +Her hands over her face she dashed forward. + +He saw her vanish through the portal. + +He ran back. + +Inside the Atrium Brinnaria turned to her right, passed through a small +door, traversed four dark rooms and groped, kneeling on the floor. + +Her fingers found five earthenware caskets in a row. + +Swiftly she felt them. + +The third she opened. + +Carefully she fingered the statuette inside, running the tips of her +finger-ends along the carved folds of the gown, over the helmet, over +the fingers clasping the spear. + +With the statuette in her hands she stood up. Tearing off her veil she +wrapped the statuette in it. + +Back she went to the peristyle, and ran round it to her right. Under the +roof of the colonnade she was safe from the rain of brands, but even +in there the heat was appalling. She felt as if the very marble columns +must crumble beside her as she ran. + +At the far corner of the courtyard she dashed through a door and ran +up two flights of stairs; a short flight in front of her, and a longer +flight to her left from the landing of the first. At the top of the +stairs she passed through four rooms. In the fifth, lighted from +behind her through a door by an orange glow from the glare of the +conflagration, she sank down on the floor against its farther wall. + +Almost at once she was on her feet, recoiling from the wall. It quivered +with the shock of blows from the outside. + +A shower of plaster and bits of brick stung her face and spattered all +over her. + +She saw the point of a pick-axe shine an instant in the fire-glare. + +“I’m here,” she called. “I’m safe. Take your time. It’s not hot in here +yet.” The excited blows thudded on the wall. The sledges broke a hole as +big as her head, four times as big as her head. + +“Take your time!” she repeated. “There is no hurry now.” Soon she could +see the torches outside, the faces of the firemen, Almo’s face. + +“No!” she said, “I won’t be dragged through a crevice. There is plenty +of time. Dig that hole bigger!” When it was large enough to suit her she +bade her rescuers back away. + +“No man must touch what I carry,” she warned. + +Outside, in Almo’s arms, she was hurried through winding alleys, up +narrow stone stairways, to the Palace. + +At the end of a deep, dark passageway between high walls Lutorius, with +some of the Emperor’s aides, was waiting for them at a small door. He +guided them to where they were eagerly expected. As they threaded the +corridors, they heard, at first far off, then closer and closer, the +sound of a child wailing, bawling, blubbering. Even in the Palace, +Campia was an irrepressible cry-baby. + +In the chapel of the Statue of Victory they found the Vestals, the +Empress and the Emperor. + +“I’ve got it safe,” Brinnaria proclaimed. + +“I’m a frightful-looking bride,” she added, “wet as a drowned pup, +scorched all over, all my hair burnt off; I must look a guy.” + +“Never mind that,” said Commodus; “you can’t get home to-night, the +conflagration is still spreading. I doubt if the firemen can save the +Colosseum. It would take you till daylight to work your way round the +districts which are in confusion. You’ll sleep here. I’ve had Trajan’s +own private suite made ready for you two, as soon as the first messenger +told me of your gallantry. You’ll find an army of maids and such waiting +for you. Go make yourselves comfortable. + +“The bedroom of Rome’s greatest Emperor is none too good for you. +Nothing is too good for you, Brinnaria. + +“You’ve saved the Palladium, and me, and the Empire and the Republic and +Rome.” + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg’s The Unwilling Vestal, by Edward Lucas White + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNWILLING VESTAL *** + +***** This file should be named 6070-0.txt or 6070-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/7/6070/ + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Unwilling Vestal + +Author: Edward Lucas White + +Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6070] +Last Updated: November 20, 2016 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNWILLING VESTAL *** + + + + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <div style="height: 8em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + THE UNWILLING VESTAL + </h1> + <h3> + A Tale of Rome under the Caesars + </h3> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Edward Lucas White + </h2> + <h4> + Author of “El Supremo” + </h4> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + Original Project Gutenberg editor’s note: First published in + 1918, this book went through sixteen printings before it + ceased to be a money-maker for its publishers. It provides a + fascinating glimpse into a world most of us know nothing + about. + + It has been slightly re-edited for ease in reading as an + E-text. The author’s spellings have been left alone even when + they are incorrect in English English, American English, and + Latin. +</pre> + </blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> PUBLISHERS’ NOTE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE BY AUTHOR </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> <b>BOOK I—THE RAGE OF DISAPPOINTMENT</b> + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I - PRECOCITY </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II - SIEVES </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III - STUTTERING </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV - PESTILENCE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V - ESCAPADES </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI - NOTORIETY </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII - AUDIENCE </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> <b>BOOK II—THE REVOLT OF DESPONDENCY</b> + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII - SCOURGING </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX - ALARMS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X - CONFERENCE </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI - FAREWELL </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER XII -OBSERVANCES </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER XIII - PERVERSITY </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER XIV - AMAZEMENT </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0021"> <b>BOOK III—THE REBELLION OF DESPERATION</b> + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER XV - REHABILITATION </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER XVI - VAGARY </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER XVII - RECKLESSNESS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER XVIII - FURY </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER XIX - COMFORT </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0027"> <b>BOOK IV—THE REVULSION OF DELIGHT</b> + </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0020"> CHAPTER XX - ACCUSATION </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0021"> CHAPTER XXI - ORDEAL </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0022"> CHAPTER XXII - TRIUMPH </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0023"> CHAPTER XXIII - SALVAGE </a> + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + JACKET BLURB: + </h2> + <h3> + EDWARD LUCAS WHITE Author of “El Supremo” + </h3> + <p> + This book presents, for the first time in fiction, a correct and adequate + account of the Vestal Virgins, their powers and privileges, as well as of + many strange Roman customs and beliefs. + </p> + <p> + The author combines the power of writing a rattling good story with a + sound and full knowledge of conditions of the life which he is depicting. + Mr. White brings to the history of Rome all the picturesqueness and power + which made his South American novel, “El Supremo,” so remarkable. The + result is a vivid pageant of imperial Rome and Roman life at the height of + its power and splendor. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PUBLISHERS’ NOTE + </h2> + <p> + Readers of <i>The Unwilling Vestal</i> who are not acquainted at first + hand with the lighter and more intimate literature of the Romans may be + surprised to discover that the lights of Roman high society talked slang + and were interested in horseracing. Most writers who have tried to draw + Roman society for us have been either ignorant or afraid of these facts. + The author of <i>The Unwilling Vestal</i> is neither. He presents to us + the upper class Romans exactly as they reveal themselves in the literature + of their day; excitable, slangy, sophisticated and yet strangely + credulous, enthusiastic sportsmen, hearty eaters and drinkers, and + unblushingly keen on the trail of the almighty denarius. In a word, very + much like the most up-to-date American society of to-day. + </p> + <p> + The Publishers feel that it is only fair that it should be made plain that + the great difference between the Roman society folk of <i>The Unwilling + Vestal</i> and those appearing in other novels is due to the author’s + thorough acquaintance with the people and the period about which he is + writing. + </p> + <p> + Incidentally, the Publishers wish to thank Mr. C. Powell Minnegerode, the + Curator of the Corcoran Gallery of Art of Washington, D. C., for his + permission to reproduce Leroux’ beautiful painting “The Vestal Tuccia” for + use on the wrapper of the volume. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PREFACE BY AUTHOR + </h2> + <p> + The title of this romance is likely to prejudice any reader against it. + There exists a popular delusion that fiction with a classical setting is + bound to be dull and lumbering, that it is impossible for it to possess + that quality of bravura slangily denominated “punch.” Anybody will be + disabused of that notion upon reading this story. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + PG EDITOR’S NOTE: The slang is now, alas, over ninety years + old. It now sounds even more stilted than the classical + language does. +</pre> + <p> + On the other hand, after having read it, almost any one will be likely to + imagine that a novel with so startling a heroine and with incidents so + bizarre cannot possibly be based on any sound and genuine knowledge of its + background; that the author has conjured out of his fantasy not only his + plot and chief characters, but also their world; that he has created out + and out not merely his Vestal, but his Vestals, their circumstances and + the life which they are represented as leading: that he has manufactured + his local color to suit as he went along. + </p> + <p> + Nothing could be further from the actuality. The details of rule and + ritual, of dress and duties, of privileges and punishments are set forth + in accordance with a full first-hand and intimate acquaintance with all + available evidence touching the Vestals; including all known inscriptions + relating to them, every passage in Roman or Greek literature in any way + concerning them, the inferences drawn from all existing or recorded + sculptures and coins which add to our knowledge of them, and every + treatise written since the revival of learning in Europe in which the + Vestals are discussed. The story contains no preposterous anachronisms or + fatuous absurdities. Throughout, it either embodies the known facts or is + invented in conformity with the known facts. + </p> + <p> + Any one to whom chapter twenty-one seems incredible should consult an + adequate encyclopedia article or an authoritative treatise on physics and + read up on the surface tension of liquids. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BOOK I—THE RAGE OF DISAPPOINTMENT + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I - PRECOCITY + </h2> + <p> + “Brinnaria!” he said severely, “you will marry any man I designate.” + </p> + <p> + “I never shall marry any man,” she retorted positively, “except the man I + want to marry.” + </p> + <p> + She gazed unflinchingly into her father’s imperious eyes, wide-set on + either side of a formidable Roman nose. His return gaze was less incensed + than puzzled. All his life he had been habituated to subserviency, had + never met opposition, and to find it from his youngest daughter, and she a + mere child, amazed him. As she faced him she appeared both resolute and + tremulous. He looked her up and down from the bright blue velvety leather + of her little shoes on which the gilt sole-edges and gilt laces glittered + to the red flower in her brown hair. Inside her clinging red robe the soft + outlines of her young shape swelled plump and healthy, yet altogether she + seemed to him but a fragile creature. Resistance from her was incredible. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps this was one more of her countless whims. While he considered her + meditatively he did not move his mighty arms or legs; the broad crimson + stripe down his tunic rose and fell slowly above his ample paunch and + vaster chest as his breath came evenly; on his short bull neck his great + bullet head was as moveless as if he had been one of the painted statues + that lined the walls all about. As the two regarded each other they could + hear the faint splash of the fountain in the tank midway of the courtyard. + </p> + <p> + Her father, a true Roman to his marrow, with all a Roman’s arbitrary + instincts, reverted to the direct attack. + </p> + <p> + “You will marry Pulfennius Calvaster,” he commanded. + </p> + <p> + “I will not!” she declared. + </p> + <p> + He temporized. + </p> + <p> + “Why not?” he queried. + </p> + <p> + The obstinacy faded from Brinnaria’s handsome, regular face. She looked + merely reflective. + </p> + <p> + “In the first place,” she said, “because I despise him and hate him worse + than any young man I ever knew; I would not marry Calvaster if he were the + only man left alive. In the second place, because, if all the men on earth + were courting me at once, all rich and all fascinating and Caius were poor + and anything and everything else that he isn’t, I’d marry nobody ever + except Caius. You hear me, Father. Caius Segontius Almo is the only, only + man I’ll ever marry. Nothing can shake my resolution, never.” + </p> + <p> + She was breathing eagerly, her cheeks flushed a warm red through her olive + complexion, her eyes shining till tiny specks sparkled green and yellow in + the wide brown of her big irises. + </p> + <p> + Her father’s jaw set. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve listened to you, daughter,” he said. “Now you listen to me. I have + no objections to Almo; I rather like him. I have thought of marrying you + to him; if Segontius and I had not quarreled, we might have arranged it. + There is no possibility of it now. And just now, for some reason or other, + Pulfennius is keen on arranging a marriage between you and Calvaster. His + offers are too tempting to be rejected and the chance is to good to be + missed. Our properties adjoin not only here and at Baiae, but also at + Praeneste, at Grumentum and at Ceneta. With our estates so marvellously + paired the marriage seems divinely ordained when one comes to think it + over. Don’t be a fool. Anyhow, if you insist on making trouble for + yourself, it will do you no good. My mind is made up. You are to marry + Calvaster.” + </p> + <p> + “I won’t!” Brinnaria maintained + </p> + <p> + Her father smiled, a menacing smile + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps not,” he said, “but there will be only one alternative. Unless + you agree to obey me I shall go at once to the Pontifex and offer you for + a Vestal.” + </p> + <p> + Every trace of apprehension vanished from Brinnaria’s expression. She + grinned saucily, almost impudently, at her father, and snapped her fingers + in his face. + </p> + <p> + “You can’t scare me that way, Daddy!” she mocked him. “I know better than + that. There can be only six Vestals. You can offer, if you like, but the + Emperors themselves can’t take me for a Vestal while the six are alive.” + </p> + <p> + The laugh muffled in her throat; she was fairly daunted. Never had she + seen her father’s face so dark, so threatening. Not in all her life had he + so much as spoken harshly to her; she had been his pet since she had begun + to remember. But now, for one twinkling, she feared a blow from him. She + almost shrank back from him. + </p> + <p> + He did not move and he spoke softly. + </p> + <p> + “Rabulla died this morning before dawn,” was all he said. + </p> + <p> + Instantly Brinnaria was fluttering with panic. + </p> + <p> + “You aren’t in earnest, Daddy!” she protested. “You can’t be in earnest. + You’re only fooling; you’re only trying to frighten me. You don’t really + mean it; oh, please, Daddy, say you don’t really mean it!” + </p> + <p> + “I really mean it,” her father answered heavily. “I never meant anything + more genuinely in my life. You know my influence with the Emperors and + with the Pontifex of Vesta. You know that if I made the proposal they + would disregard any rival petitioners, would override all unnecessary + formalities, would have the matter despatched at once. Unless you obey me + you will be a Vestal before sunset to-morrow.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria was now fairly quivering with terror. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Daddy!” she quivered, “you couldn’t be so cruel. I’d rather die than + have to be a Vestal. I couldn’t imagine any life so terrible. Oh, Daddy, + please say you are not in earnest.” + </p> + <p> + He frowned. + </p> + <p> + “I swear,” he said, “that I was never more in earnest. I say it solemnly, + as sure as my name is Marcus Brinnarius Epulo, I’ll have you made a Vestal + unless you agree this moment to give up all thoughts of Almo, to obey me + about marrying Calvaster, and to be properly polite to him and + Pulfennius.” + </p> + <p> + “Daddy!” Brinnaria cried. “Only don’t have me made a Vestal and I’ll do + anything. I’ll forget there ever was an Almo. I’ll be sweet as honey to + Pulfennius till he loves me better than Secunda, and I’ll marry Calvaster; + I’ll marry anybody. Why, Daddy, I’d marry a boar pig rather than be a + Vestal.” + </p> + <p> + Her father smiled. + </p> + <p> + “I thought my little daughter would behave properly,” he soothed her, “and + you are just in time. That may be your future husband and father-in-law + coming now.” + </p> + <p> + In fact they were in a moment ushered in. Pulfennius was a tall man, lean + and loose-jointed, with straggling, greenish-gray hair; a long, uneven + head, broad at the skull and narrow at the chin; puffy, white bags of + flabby flesh under his eyes; irregular yellow teeth and sagging cheeks + that made his face look squarish. Calvaster was a mere boy, with a leaden + complexion, shifty gray eyes, thin lips, and an expression at once sly and + conceited. + </p> + <p> + “You come opportunely,” said their host after the greetings had been + exchanged, “for you happen to find me alone with the very daughter of whom + you and I were talking. This is Brinnaria.” + </p> + <p> + “This!” Pulfennius exclaimed. “This the girl we were talking about? + Impossible! Incredible! There must be some mistake.” + </p> + <p> + “There is no mistake,” his host assured him. “This is the girl we were + talking about, this is Brinnaria.” + </p> + <p> + The visitor regarded her, respectfully standing now, her brown eyes + down-cast, the flush faded from her olive-skinned cheeks, her arms hanging + limply at her sides. She was tall for a girl and while slenderly built was + well muscled, a fine handsome figure in her red robe. + </p> + <p> + “This!” he exclaimed again. “Indeed. So this is Brinnaria. I am very glad + to have seen her. And now having seen her, do you not think that our + business would be better transacted by us three males together?” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly, if you prefer,” Brinnarius asserted. + </p> + <p> + He patted Brinnaria and kissed her. + </p> + <p> + “Run away now, little girl,” he said, “and wait in the peristyle until I + want you.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria, once in the rear courtyard, instantly called: + </p> + <p> + “Guntello!” + </p> + <p> + Her call was answered by a great brute of a slave, bigger even than her + father, a gigantic Goth, pink-skinned, blue-eyed and yellow-haired. + </p> + <p> + “Now listen to me, Guntello,” his little mistress said, “for if you make + any mistake about my errand you’ll get me into no end of trouble.” + </p> + <p> + The Goth, manifestly devoted to her, leaned his ear close and grinned + amiably. She repeated her directions twice and made him repeat them after + her in his broken Latin. When she was sure that he understood, she + despatched him with a whispered injunction: + </p> + <p> + “Hurry! Hurry!” + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, in the gorgeous atrium, the fathers’ conference had continued. + The moment she had gone Pulfennius said: + </p> + <p> + “I do not believe in discussing misunderstandings before females; + evidently there is some misunderstanding here. I want for my son a bride + younger than he is, even if he has to wait two or even four years to claim + her. You assured me that your daughter Brinnaria was not yet ten years of + age and you show me a grown woman and tell me that she is Brinnaria. What + is the explanation?” + </p> + <p> + “A very simple explanation,” he was answered. “Merely that Brinnaria is + unusually well grown and well developed for her age. I have seen other + cases of early ripening in children and so must you.” + </p> + <p> + “I’ve seen girls grown beyond their years,” Pulfennius admitted, “but no + case comparable to this. Why, man, that girl who has just left us would be + taken for over eighteen years old by any stranger at first sight of her, + and no one on earth could look at her carefully and hazard the conjecture + that she might possibly be under sixteen.” + </p> + <p> + “Quite so,” his host agreed, “and the better you know Brinnaria the more + you wonder at her. She not only looks sixteen or eighteen and acts as if + she were that age, but she talks as if she were that old and thinks as if + she were even older, and she is actually three full months, more than + three months, to be precise three months and twelve days, under ten years + of age.” + </p> + <p> + “Amazing!” spluttered Pulfennius, “astounding! inexplicable!” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t you believe me?” Brinnarius queried sharply. + </p> + <p> + “Certainly I believe you,” his guest disclaimed, “but I cannot realize + that it can be true; I am bewildered; I am dazed.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” the other suggested, “you would realize it better if Quartilla + added her assurances to mine.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” the other deprecated, “I do not require anybody’s corroboration to + your statement. But if her mother is at home, perhaps her presence would + be as well for other reasons.” + </p> + <p> + When summoned his host’s wife appeared as a medium-sized woman, neither + plump nor slender, with a complexion neither brown nor white, with + yellow-brown hair, gray-brown eyes, and in every outline, hue, and feature + as neutral and inconspicuous a creature as could be conceived of. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” Quartilla said, “everybody is surprised at Brinnaria’s growth. I + was scared, when she first began to grow so fast, and had special prayers + offered and sacrifices made at the temples of Youth and Health. Also I had + a Babylonian seer consult the stars concerning her birth-signs. Everybody + said she was born to long life, good health and great luck. But I can’t + fancy what ever made her grow so. She was fed like her brothers and + sisters and she never seems to eat any heartier or any oftener. Till she + was two and a half she was just like any other child. But she has grown + more in seven years than any other child I ever knew of ever grew in + fourteen and she’s so old for her years too. Not but that she plays with + dolls and toys and jacks; and she runs about just like any other child of + her age, in spite of her size; but she says such grown-up things and she + has such a womanly mind. She understands the family accounts better than I + do, is keen on economy and could oversee the providing for the entire + household. She astonishes me over and over. But there is no doubt about + her age. Both my sisters were with me when she was born and Nemestronia + too. Ask any of the three. Or I can tell you a dozen other ladies who know + just as well. Brinnaria will not be ten years old until the Ides of + September.” + </p> + <p> + “Wonderful! marvellous!” Pulfennius exclaimed. “Madam, you amaze me. But + if this is true so much the better. I had thought my boy must wait two + years or more for a wife, as I am determined that no more of my sons shall + marry wives of their own age, let alone older. If your daughter is so + young, she will just suit me, and since she is already grown up we shall + not have to wait for her to grow up. We can arrange for the wedding for + this month.” + </p> + <p> + They chaffered a long time about the marriage settlement, Calvaster + sitting silent, biting his lips, staring about him and fidgetting; + Quartilla equally silent, but entirely placid, without the twitch of a + muscle or any shift of gaze; the two men doing all the talking. Some of + the talking was almost vehement, Pulfennius disclaiming promises which his + host declared he had made. Once they came to a deadlock and then + Brinnarius, his voice suddenly mild and soft, mentioned Rabulla’s death + and his notion of offering Brinnaria for her successor. At once Pulfennius + became manageable and supple and all eagerness for the happiness of the + young couple. + </p> + <p> + When it seemed that they had reached an agreement on every point Quartilla + had her say. + </p> + <p> + “I think you will find Brinnaria everything you could wish as a + daughter-in-law. The most uncanny thing about her precocious habits of + thought is her tenacity of any resolve and her grave and earnest attitude + towards all questions of duty and propriety. She takes clan traditions + very seriously and is determined to comport herself according to ancestral + precedents. You will have no fault to find with her respectfulness towards + you and Herrania or with her behavior as a wife. She will be circumspect + in her deportment towards all men and is sure to turn out an excellent + housewife. She has lofty inherited standards to live up to and she is + deeply devoted to them. + </p> + <p> + “This is the more to be wondered at since she is strangely undignified in + many ways. I trust this will wear off as she grows up. It is only in this + respect that Brinnaria has ever given me any cause for concern. She is + more like a boy than a girl in many ways. She not only plays with boys and + plays boys’ games and plays them as well as boys or better, not only + climbs trees when she is in the country, and rides bareback and goes + fishing and swimming in any stream or pool, and ranges the woods and + cannot be restrained; but also she will indulge in the wildest pranks, the + most unthinkable freaks, play rough practical jokes on anybody and + everybody, laugh out loud, shout and yell, gesticulate and contort herself + into undignified postures and act generally in an uproarious and uncurbed + fashion. She keeps up that sort of thing even in town, and is boisterous + and unexpected beyond anything I ever heard of in any young girl She is + most docile in all really important things, but in respect to her jokings + and shriekings and carryings-on she is really beyond my control. She is + never openly disobedient, yet she is most ingenious at devising methods + for avoiding obedience. Sometimes I lose patience with Brinnaria. But, + when I really think it all over, there is no harm in any of it. Strangers, + however, would think her a very terrible girl; she belies herself so. Any + one becoming cognizant of some of her vagaries would form a very + unfavorable judgment of her and most unjustly. In her heart she is + anything but the wild creature she makes herself appear. Her squawks of + merriment, her rude interruptions of her elders, her pert remarks, her + sarcastic jokes, are all the manifestations of mere overflowing animal + spirits, of warm-blooded youth and hearty health. She will tone down. She + is the most startling and incalculable child I ever heard of. No one could + anticipate her eccentricities. There is an originality of invention about + her pranks which amazes me. But I am sure she will turn out all that I + could wish.” + </p> + <p> + “I trust so, indeed,” said Pulfennius dryly. “I am grateful to you for + warning me; I promise not to misjudge her because of any childish + freakishness. And now it seems to me that we should make the young lady + herself a party of this conference and bring the matter to a final + settlement.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnarius called a slave and bade him fetch Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + Almost at once the fellow, a dark-skinned, obsequious Lydian, returned + looking scared and yet on the verge of laughter. He could barely control + his merriment, yet was plainly afraid to utter what he had to say. His + master ordered him to speak. + </p> + <p> + “Instead of coming with me,” he said, “the young lady sent a message. But + I am afraid to give it to you. I am afraid of a thrashing if I give the + message as she gave it to me.” + </p> + <p> + “Another of her jokes,” her father growled. “You shan’t suffer for any of + her impudence. Repeat her exact words; I’ll hold you excused, Dastor.” + </p> + <p> + Dastor, reassured, grinned with anticipated enjoyment and said: + </p> + <p> + “She says she is sitting down and very comfortable where she is, that she + will not stand up till she feels inclined, and that if you want to see her + you can come to her, for she will not come to you.” + </p> + <p> + For a moment there was a tense silence. + </p> + <p> + Pulfennius spoke first. + </p> + <p> + “If this is a sample of the sort of deportment which my future + daughter-in-law is expected to outgrow I might as well be shown just what + this kind of behavior is like. Let us acquiesce and go to the little + witch, if you do not object.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t object at all to going,” his host replied, “but I object to her + behavior; I’ll make her smart for it. Come, let us have it over with; I’ll + show you a submissive Brinnaria or I’ll know the reason why.” + </p> + <p> + They stood up and from the open atrium passed into a narrow passage + lighted only from the two ends and so into the larger courtyard with + gleaming marble columns at each end and long rows of them down each side. + The tank under the open sky was much larger than that in the atrium and + had two fountains in it. Pigeons cooed on the tiles of the roofs, and two + or three of them strutted on the mosaic pavement among the columns. + </p> + <p> + The party, dumbfounded and stunned, stood without voice or movement, + gazing at the picture before them. + </p> + <p> + The pavement was a cool grayish white in effect, for its mosaic work was + all of pale neutral tints. Above it the background was all white,—white + marble walls, the white marble polished pillars of the peristyle, white + marble entablature above them, the general whiteness emphasized by the + mere streak of red tiled roof visible against the intense blue of the sky. + </p> + <p> + The only color in the picture was to the left of the tank and close to it, + where there had been set a big armchair upholstered in blue tapestry. In + it sat a tall, fair-haired, curly-headed lad, with merry blue eyes. He + wore a robe of pale green, the green of young onion tops. Against that + green the red of Brinnaria’s gown showed strident and glary, for Brinnaria + was sitting on his lap. His arms were round her waist, hers about his + neck. She was slowly swinging her blue-shod feet rhythmically and was + kissing the lad audibly and repeatedly. As her elders stood still, + petrified, mute and motionless with amazement, she imprinted a loud smack + on the lad’s lips, laid her cheek roguishly to his and peered archly at + them, saying: + </p> + <p> + “Glad to see you again, Pulfennius; what do you think of me for a + daughter-in-law?” + </p> + <p> + “I do not think of you for a daughter-in-law,” Pulfennius snarled + furiously. + </p> + <p> + He turned angrily to Brinnarius. + </p> + <p> + “What does this mean?” he queried. + </p> + <p> + His host echoed him. + </p> + <p> + “Brinnaria!” he called, imperatively. “What does this mean?” + </p> + <p> + “Mean?” she repeated. “It means that I am making the most of Almo while I + can. I love Almo; I’ve promised to forget him, to be a good wife to + Calvaster, and of course I’m going to keep my word. From the moment I’m + married to Calvaster I’ll never so much as look at Almo, let alone touch + him. So I’m touching him all I can while I have the chance.” + </p> + <p> + She paused, kissed Almo twice, lingeringly and loudly, and looked up + again. + </p> + <p> + “How’s that for kissing, Calvaster?” she chirped. “Don’t you wish it was + you?” + </p> + <p> + “Come, son!” Pulfennius spluttered, “let us be gone! This is no place for + us. We are being mocked and insulted.” + </p> + <p> + “Nonsense, Pulfennius!” his host exclaimed. “Can’t you see that I had no + part in this, that the minx devised it all by herself expressly to thwart + me? Don’t let her have the satisfaction of outmanoeuvering both of us. + Don’t let a mere prank of a child spoil all our arrangements. She’ll be a + good wife as she says.” + </p> + <p> + “A good wife!” Pulfennius snorted. “I much doubt whether she can now ever + be a good wife to any man. I’m sure she’ll never be a wife to my son. + You’d never convince me that she’s fit to be my son’s wife. Make her a + Vestal, indeed! She a Vestal? She’s much more likely to be something very + different!” + </p> + <p> + “Do you mean to insinuate—” his host began. + </p> + <p> + “I mean to insinuate anything and everything appropriate to her wanton + behavior,” Pulfennius raged. + </p> + <p> + The two men glared at each other in a silence through which could be heard + the cooing of the doves, the trickle of the two fountains, Brinnaria’s low + chuckle and the faint lisping sound of three distinct kisses. + </p> + <p> + “I beg your pardon!” spoke a voice behind them. + </p> + <p> + The four looked around. + </p> + <p> + “What brings you here, Segontius?” Brinnarius asked. + </p> + <p> + “One of my slaves brought me word,” the intruder explained, “that my son + had entered this house. I knew you had not changed your mind since you + forbade him to cross your threshold, so I came here at once to disclaim + any share in his intrusion and to take him home. I feared he might get + into mischief.” + </p> + <p> + “He has,” Brinnarius replied, sententiously, “as you may see.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria, entirely at her ease, hugged Almo rapturously and kissed him + repeatedly. + </p> + <p> + “And I thought,” Segontius pursued, “that you would probably smash every + bone in his body if you caught him.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t know why I haven’t,” spoke the big man reflectively. + </p> + <p> + “I know,” shouted Pulfennius, “I can tell you. It is because this whole + comedy has been rehearsed between you just to make me ridiculous. I know + your way, your malignity, your tenacity of a grudge, your pretence of + reconciliation, your ingenuity, your well-laid traps. I’ll be revenged for + this yet!” + </p> + <p> + “You won’t live to be revenged,” Brinnarius told him, “unless you get out + of here quick. I’ll break every bone in your body, for certain, if you + address another word to me.” + </p> + <p> + “Come, son, said Pulfennius, and shambled away. + </p> + <p> + “And now,” spoke Segontius, “don’t you think, Marcus, that you and I had + best forget our quarrels and be friends again? These young folks were + plainly meant for each other by all the gods who favor lovers. Let us not + stand in the way.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed, Lucius,” spoke the big man, holding out his huge hand. “I am of + the same mind. But both of them deserve some punishment for their + presumption. They should wait four years at least before they marry. My + girl is too young.” + </p> + <p> + “I agree,” said Segontius, “and I’ll send my boy to Falerii for the + present. That will keep them apart and ensure propriety of behavior.” + </p> + <p> + “That is well,” growled Brinnarius, “and I’ll send my girl to her aunt + Septima’s.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria sprang up. + </p> + <p> + “Aunt Septima’s?” she cried. “Spinach and mallows and a tiny roast lark + for dinner every day. I’ll starve to death And prim! I’d almost as lief be + a Vestal!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II - SIEVES + </h2> + <p> + To her luxurious but austerely managed villa, Aunt Septima welcomed + Brinnaria with heartfelt, if repressed affection. Until the second sunrise + Brinnaria controlled herself. Then the good lady endured her overgrown + niece for some strenuous days, suffered impatiently for a few more, but + finally packed off to Rome “that unspeakable child.” At home again + Brinnaria demanded pork and cabbage. + </p> + <p> + “My insides are as empty as the sky,” she wailed. “Asparagus is all very + well, but it’s none too filling, even if you can eat all you want, and + aunty says ten stalks is enough for any one meal. Chicken-breast is good, + hot or cold, but aunty would never let me have a second helping. She + wouldn’t even let me have as much bread as I wanted and only one little + dish of strawberries. I filled up on raw eggs, all I could find in the + nests. But, my six days of raw eggs was five days too many for me. I’m + wild for cabbage, all I want, and pork, big hunks of it.” + </p> + <p> + She got it and slept a sound night’s sleep. + </p> + <p> + The next day she craved an outing on foot. Her mother, prone to the + shortest cut to peace on all occasions, acquiesced at once and let her go + out with her one-eyed maid, Utta. + </p> + <p> + Utta, born somewhere beyond the Rhine, had been brought to Rome when a + small child and had no memories except memories of Italy. She was the most + placid and acquiescent creature imaginable. Her little mistress led her + first of all to the nearest pastry-cook’s shop where the two ate till they + could not swallow another crumb. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria, like many eccentric children born to wealth and position, had + special favorites, almost cronies, among the lowly. Chief among them was + the old sieve-maker of the Via Sacra. To his shop she made Utta lead her. + Utta interposed no objection. Utta never objected to anything. But in this + case she was especially complaisant, since opposite the sieve-maker’s was + a fascinating embroidery shop, the keeper of which was entirely willing, + when he had no customers, to let Utta lounge on one of his sofas and + inspect embroideries to her heart’s content. So lounging, rapt in the + contemplation of Egyptian appliques, Syrian gold-thread borders, Spanish + linen-work, silk flower patterns from Cos, Parthian animal designs and + Celtic cord-labyrinths after originals in leather thongs, Utta could + glance up from time to time and make sure that her charge was safe with + the sieve-maker. + </p> + <p> + Safe she would have been without any maid to watch her, for old Truttidius + adored her. He was a small, hale, merry, wizened man, his seamed and + wrinkled face brown as berry in spite of his lifelong habit of indoor + labor and comparative inertia. He had more than a little tact and was an + excellent listener. Brinnaria was entirely at ease with him. + </p> + <p> + His shop was rather large for those days, nearly fifteen feet wide and + fully twenty deep. It faced directly on the street, from which it was + separated only by the stone counter which occupied all the front except a + narrow entrance at one side. Above the counter projected the heavy + shutters which closed the shop at night and which, being hinged at the + top, were by day pushed upward and outward so as to form a sort of pent + like a wooden substitute for an awning. The entrance by the end of the + counter was closed by a solid little gate. Behind the counter was the low + stool from which Truttidius rose to chaffer with customers, and on which, + when not occupied in trading, he sat at work, his bench and brazier by his + side, his tools hanging on the wall by his hand, orderly in their neat + racks or on their neat rows of hooks. Except for the trifling wall-space + which they occupied, the walls were hidden under sieves hanging close + together; bronze sieves, copper sieves, rush sieves with rims of white + willow wood, white horse-hair sieves whose hoops were stout ash, sieves of + black horse-hair stretched in rims of clean steamed oak and linen sieves + hooped about with birch. Sieves were piled on the counter, mostly fancy + sieves with hoops of carved wood strung with black and white horse-hair + interlaced in bold patterns, or copper sieves, polished till they shone, + they being most likely to catch the eyes of the passing throng. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria, sprawled on the sofa against the wall behind the work-bench, + surveyed her surroundings and sighed happily, entirely at home. Truttidius + was beating copper wire, a process always fascinating to watch. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve had an awful time in the country with Aunt Septima,” Brinnaria + chatted, “and I had an awful scare before they sent me to the country. + Daddy threatened to make me a Vestal.” + </p> + <p> + “In place of Rabulla?” Truttidius queried, glancing up. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” Brinnaria answered, “but I got off; my, but I was scared though.” + </p> + <p> + “You didn’t want to be a Vestal?” Truttidius asked, eyeing her over his + work. + </p> + <p> + “Not I!” Brinnaria declared. “I can’t think of anything worse except being + killed.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” mused Truttidius, “there is no accounting for tastes. Most girls + would be wild with delight at the idea. But there would be no sense in + being a Vestal unless you wanted to be one.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t,” Brinnaria proclaimed emphatically, “but I have been thinking + about Vestals ever since Daddy threatened me and scared me so; I’ve been + thinking about Vestals and sieves. Did anybody ever really carry water in + a sieve, Truttidius?” + </p> + <p> + “Water in a sieve?” the old man exclaimed. “Not anybody that ever I saw. + What do you mean?” + </p> + <p> + “You must have heard the story of Tuccia, the Vestal,” Brinnaria wondered, + wide-eyed. “She lived ages ago, before Hannibal invaded Italy, when + everything was different. They said she was bad and she said it was a lie + and they said she could not prove it was a lie and she said she could. She + said if she was all she ought to be the Goddess would show it by answering + her prayer. And she took a sieve and walked down to the river, right by + the end of the Sublician bridge, where the stairs are on the right-hand + side. And the five other Vestals, and the flamens, and all the priests, + and the Pontifex, and the consuls went with her. And she stood on the + lowest step with her toes in the water and prayed out loud to the Goddess + to help her and show that she had told the truth and then she stooped over + and dipped up water with her sacrificing ladle and poured it into the + sieve and it didn’t run through, and she dipped up more and more until the + sieve was half full of water, as if it had been a pan. And then she hung + her ladle at her girdle-hook and took the sieve in both hands and carried + the water all the way to the temple. And everybody said that that proved + that she had told the truth. + </p> + <p> + “That’s the story. Had you ever heard it?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, little lady,” Truttidius said, “I have heard it.” + </p> + <p> + “What I want to know,” Brinnaria pursued, “is this: Is it a made-up story + or is it a true story?” + </p> + <p> + “Little lady,” spoke Truttidius, “it is impious to doubt the truth of + pious stories handed down from days of old.” + </p> + <p> + “That isn’t answering my question,” said the practical Brinnaria. “What I + want you to tell me is to say right out plain do you believe it. Did + anybody really ever carry water in a sieve?” + </p> + <p> + “You must remember, dear little lady,” the sieve-maker said, “that she was + a most holy priestess, most pleasing in the eyes of her Goddess, that she + was in dire straits and that she prayed to the Goddess to aid her. The + Goddess helped her votary; the gods can do all things.” + </p> + <p> + “The gods can do all things,” Brinnaria echoed, her eyes flashing, “but + the gods don’t do all things, not even for their favorites. There are lots + and lots of things no god ever did for any votary or ever will. What I + want to know is this: Is carrying water in a sieve one of the things the + gods not only can do but do do? Did anybody ever carry water in a sieve + truly?” + </p> + <p> + Truttidius smiled, his wrinkles doubling and quadrupling till his face was + all a network of tiny folds of hard, dry skin. He put down his work and + regarded his guest, his face serious after the fading of his brief smile. + The soft-footed sandalled throng that packed the narrow street shuffled + and padded by unnoticed. No customer interrupted them. They might have + been alone in a Sibyl’s cell on a mountain side. + </p> + <p> + “Little lady,” spoke the sieve-maker, “you are, indeed, very old for your + age, not only in height and build, but in heart and mind. What other child + would bother her head about so subtle a problem? What other child would + perceive the verity at the heart of the puzzle and put it so neatly in so + few words? To you an old man cannot help talking as to an experienced + matron, because to you an old man can talk as to a woman of sense. You + deserve to be answered in the spirit of the question.” + </p> + <p> + He reflected. Brinnaria, fascinated and curious, hardly breathed in her + intentness, watching his face and waiting for his answer. + </p> + <p> + “Little lady,” he said, after a long silence, “the gods can, indeed, do + all things. But as you have yourself perceived the gods do not do all + things, even for their favorites. The gods work miracles to vindicate + their votaries, but as you divine, each miracle is the happening by the + special ordinance of the gods of what might happen even without their + mandate, but which does not happen because it is only once in countless + ages that all the circumstances necessary to bring about that sort of + happening concur to produce so unusual an effect. What folks call a + miracle is the occurrence, by the beneficent will of heaven, at just the + right time and place, of what might happen anywhere to any one, but almost + never does happen anywhere to any one, because it is so unlikely that all + things should conspire to bring about so unlikely a result. + </p> + <p> + “So of carrying water in a sieve. + </p> + <p> + “Anybody might carry water in a sieve any day. But very seldom, oh, very, + very seldom can it come to pass that the kind of person capable of + carrying water in a sieve can be just in the condition of muscle and mood + to do so and can at just that moment be in possession of just the kind of + sieve that will hold water and not let it through. For an actual breathing + woman of flesh and blood to carry water in a real ordinary sieve of + rush-fibres, or linen thread or horsehair or metal wire, in such a sieve + as pastry-cooks use to sift their finest flour; for that to happen in + broad daylight under the open sky before a crowd of onlookers, that + requires the special intervention of the blessed gods, or of the most + powerful of them. And not even all of them together could make that happen + to a woman of ordinary quality of hand and eye, with a usual sieve, as + most sieves are.” + </p> + <p> + “Explain!” Brinnaria half whispered, “what kind of woman could actually + carry water in a sieve and in what kind of a sieve, and under what + circumstances?” + </p> + <p> + “That’s three questions,” Truttidius counted, “and one at a time is + enough. + </p> + <p> + “In the first place, no god, not all the gods together, could give any + votary power to carry water in a sieve, be it rush or linen or horse-hair + or metal, of which the meshes had been first scrubbed with natron or + embalmers’ salt or wood-ashes or fullers’ earth. Water would run through + such a sieve, did even all the gods will that it be retained. No one ever + dipped a sieve into water and brought it up with water in it and saw that + water retained by the meshes. Once wet the under side of a sieve and water + will run through to the last drop. + </p> + <p> + “But if a sieve were ever so little greasy or oily, not dripping with oil + or clogged with grease, but greasy as a working slave’s finger is greasy + on a hot day; if such a sieve were free of any drop of water on the + underside, if into such a sieve water were slowly and carefully poured, as + you say that Tuccia in the story ladled water into her sieve with her + libation-dipper, then that water might spread evenly over the meshes to + the rim all around, might deepen till it was as deep as the width of two + fingers or of three, and might be retained by the meshes even for an hour, + even while the sieve was carried over a rough road, up hill and down, + through crowded streets. + </p> + <p> + “But few are the women who could so carry a sieve of water or could even + so hold it that the water would not run through at once.” + </p> + <p> + “How could the water be retained at all?” queried Brinnaria the practical. + “What is the explanation?” + </p> + <p> + Truttidius wrinkled up his face in deep thought. + </p> + <p> + “You have seen wine spilled at dinner,” he illustrated. “You have seen a + drop of it or a splash of it fall on a sofa-cover, and you have seen it + soak in and leave an ugly stain?” + </p> + <p> + “Of course,” Brinnaria agreed, “often and often.” + </p> + <p> + “And then again, not very often,” the sieve-maker went on, “you see a + patch of spilt wine stand up on a perfectly dry fabric and remain there + awhile without soaking in, its surface shining wet and its edges gleaming + round and smooth and curved, bright as a star. Well, the retaining of + water in a sieve by the open meshes is like the momentary holding up of + spilt wine on a woven fabric. I can’t explain any better, but the two + happenings are similar, only the not soaking in of the splashed liquid is + far, oh, far more frequent, countless, uncountable times more frequent, + than the sustaining of fluid in a sieve. But as the one can happen and + does, so the other could happen and might.” + </p> + <p> + “I see,” Brinnaria breathed. “You have made me see that. Now, next point: + How must the sieve be held?” + </p> + <p> + The old man smiled again. + </p> + <p> + “You keep close to the subject,” he chuckled. “You talk like a grandmother + of consuls. You have a head on your shoulders.” + </p> + <p> + “That does not answer my question,” Brinnaria persisted. + </p> + <p> + “Your question is easily answered,” he said. “For the miracle to happen, + in fact, the sieve must be held as level as the top rail of a mason’s + T-shaped plumb-line frame, and as steady as if clamped in a vise. For a + woman to carry water in a sieve the weather must be dry, for in damp + weather the water would run through the meshes, even if the threads or + wires were just oily enough and not too oily, even if the meshes were just + the right size to favor the forming in each mesh of a little pocket of + water underneath, like the edges of the upstanding drop of wine on a + sofa-cushion. I don’t know how it comes to pass, but somehow, if all the + conditions are right, little bags of water form on the underside of a + sieve, one to each mesh, like drops after a rain hanging from the edge of + my shop-shutters, or from the mutules on the cornice of a temple. They are + capable of sustaining one or even two finger-thicknesses of water on the + upper side of the sieve-web. But if the sieve-web is unevenly woven or + unevenly stretched, it will not retain water an instant, and if the + sieve-web bags anywhere the water, even if the rest of the sieve-web + promises to retain it, will run through at that point. And even if the + sieve is perfect, the slightest tilt, the very slightest tilt, will cause + the little bags of water to break at the lowest point, and so start all + the water to running through. I know; I have tried; I have seen the sieve + hold up the water for some breaths. But for the marvel to last any length + of time, that would require the intervention of the gods; that would be a + miracle. For a woman to hold a sieve so that it would retain water would + mean that her hand was as steady as the hand of a sleep-walker or of the + priestess of Isis in her trance in the great yearly mystery-festival. That + could happen seldom to any woman; such a woman would be rare.” + </p> + <p> + “I see,” Brinnaria barely whispered, so intent was she on the old man’s + words. “Now, what kind of woman could do such a wonder?” + </p> + <p> + “A very exceptional and unusual kind of woman,” the old man declared. + “Women, the run of them, are not steady-handed. Even steady-handed women + are easily distracted, their attention is readily called away from any + definite task. Even a woman usually steady-handed would find her hand + tremble if she were conscious of guilt, even a woman high-hearted with her + sense of her own worthiness might glance aside at some one in a great + crowd of people about her, might let her thoughts wander. + </p> + <p> + “That is where the miracle would come in. Only a woman directly favored by + the mighty gods could so ignore the throng about her, could so forget + herself, could so concentrate all her faculties on the receptacle she + held, could so perfectly control her muscles or could so completely let + her muscles act undisturbed by her will, could possess muscles capable of + so long tension at so perfect an adjustment.” + </p> + <p> + “I see,” Brinnaria sighed. “The thing may have happened in fact, may + happen again, but it could happen only once out of ten times ten thousand + times ten thousand chances. I understand. It is a possibility in the + ordinary course of events. It was a miracle if it ever took place; it will + be a miracle if it ever comes to pass again. It is not impossible, but + it’s too improbable for anybody to believe it could be, in fact.” + </p> + <p> + “You have it,” the sieve-maker assured her. + </p> + <p> + “I’m glad I have,” she said. “Now it’ll go out of my head and quit + bothering me. I’ve thought about it day and night ever since Daddy + threatened me. Now I’ll forget it and sleep sound.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III - STUTTERING + </h2> + <p> + When Brinnaria returned from her outing she found waiting for her her best + friend, chum and crony, Flexinna, a girl four years older, not so tall, + decidedly more slender and much prettier. Brinnaria was robustly handsome; + Flexinna was delicately lovely, yet they did not differ much in tints of + hair, eyes or skin and might have been sisters. In fact, they were not + infrequently taken for sisters. + </p> + <p> + They chatted of their girlish interests and of local gossip and family + news, like any pair of girls, until Brinnaria described the escapade that + led to her rustication. + </p> + <p> + Flexinna’s eyes were wide and wider as she listened. + </p> + <p> + “D-d-do-you really m-m-mean,” she stuttered, “that you had a c-c-chance to + be a V-V-Vestal and d-d-didn’t jump at it?” + </p> + <p> + “Jump at it!” exclaimed Brinnaria. “I jumped away from it! I can’t think + of anything, except death, that would fill me with more horror than the + very idea of being made a Vestal. It makes me shiver now just to speak of + it.” + </p> + <p> + “You’re a f-f-fool,” Flexinna declared, “the f-f-foolest kind of a + f-f-fool. This is the f-f-first f-f-foolish thing I ever knew you to + d-d-do. I always th-th-thought you s-s-so s-s-sensible, t-t-too. And + you’ve m-m-missed a ch-ch-chance to be a V-V-Vestal. I’ve n-n-no + p-p-patience with you. Any other g-g-girl would j-j-jump at the + ch-ch-chance.” + </p> + <p> + “Jump at it!” cried Brinnaria. “Why?” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” sneered Flexinna, blazing with excitement. “Why, just think what + you’ve m-m-missed! You’re as wild as I am to see g-g-gladiators fight, + k-k-keener than I am to see a real horse-race in the circus, and you’ll + have to wait until you’re g-g-grown up, as I’ll have to, before you + s-s-see either. And you’d have g-g-gone to every spectacle, from the very + day you were t-t-taken, and not have m-m-missed one. Think of it! + F-F-Front seats in the circus, front seats in the amphitheatre, all your + life, or for thirty years at least, for certain! And you’ve m-m-missed it. + And that’s not half. Your lictor to c-c-clear the way for you whenever you + g-g-go out and your choice to g-g-go out in your litter with eight + b-b-bearers or in your c-c-carriage, your own c-c-carriage, all your own, + and the right to d-d-drive any where in the city any d-d-day in the year. + Oh, you f-f-fool, you s-s-silly f-f-fool! A ch-ch-chance to be one of the + s-s-seven m-m-most imp-p-portant women in Rome, one of the s-s-six who are + on a level with the Empress, and you m-m-missed it! Fancy it; to b-b-be + mistress of an income so large that it m-m-makes you d-d-dizzy to think of + it, and you throw away the ch-ch-chance! To be able the m-m-moment you + were taken, to m-m-make your own w-w-will! To have every legacy c-c-cadger + in Rome running after you and m-m-making you p-p-presents and d-d-doing + you favors and angling for your n-n-notice all your 1-l-life 1-1-long, and + you m-m-miss the ch-ch-chance!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” Brinnaria admitted, reflectively, “I have missed all that, that’s + so. But that’s not all there is to think of, when you think about being a + Vestal. I’ve missed a lot of fine privileges, mighty valuable to any girl + that would care for that sort of thing; but I’ve escaped a lot of things + that would go with those privileges. I love bright colors, I always did + and I look ghastly in white—I look like a ghost. And I’d have had to + wear white and nothing else, even white flowers, like a corpse. And a + Vestal has to keep her eyes on the ground and walk slow and stately and + stand straight and dignified, and talk soft and low. I’d suffer, even if I + could learn all the tricks they teach them as well as Gargilia has. And I + don’t believe I ever could. I’d keep my eyes cast down for a month or a + year and then, right in the middle of a sacrifice, I’d see something + funny, like the gander squawking under the feet of the pall-bearers at + poor old Gibba’s funeral at the farm last summer, and I’d wink at the head + Vestal or roll my eyes at the whole congregation and spoil the prayers; + or, after keeping meek and mum for a year or so I’d be so wild to laugh + that I’d roar right out and break up the whole service. I think I’m the + last girl alive to be a Vestal. A Vestal mustn’t answer back or make a + pun, no matter how good a chance she gets. I just can’t help cutting in, + if I see a chance; the words come out of my mouth before I know it, and, + if I trained myself to keep still and look as mild as a lamb, I’d be + boiling inside and sometime I’d burst out with a yell just to relieve my + feelings or I’d jab a shawl-pin into the Pontifex to see him jump, or put + out my toe and trip up somebody just to see him sprawl. I couldn’t help + it. The more I’d bottle myself up the farther the naughtiness in me would + spurt when it burst through the skin. I know. No Vestaling for me! I + wasn’t born for that trade!” + </p> + <p> + “Nonsense!” Flexinna disclaimed vigorously. “You’d g-g-get used to the + whole thing in a m-m-month and be the most s-s-statuesque of the six in + t-t-ten years. Think of it! I’m just raging inside at your f-f-folly. To + have the right to an interview with the Emperor whenever you d-d-demand + it, to see the m-m-magistrates’ lictors lower their fasces to you and + s-s-stand aside at the s-s-salute and let you p-p-pass whenever you + m-m-meet them in p-p-public. To live in one of the finest p-p-palaces in + Rome, one of the most m-m-magnificent residences on earth, to have the + ch-ch-chance at all that and m-m-miss it; I’ve no p-p-patience with you!” + </p> + <p> + “That’s all very fine,” Brinnaria countered, “but there’s much to be said + on the other side. I’ve been in the Atrium. Aunt Septima took me there to + call on Causidiena. It’s big, it’s gorgeous, it’s luxurious, that’s all + true. But I love sunlight. I’d loathe living in that hole in the ground; + why, the shadow of the Palace falls across the courtyard before noon and + for all the rest of the day it’s gloomy as the bottom of a well. I heard + Causidiena tell Aunt Septima how shoes mould and embroideries mildew and + what a time they have with the inlays popping off the furniture on account + of the dampness and about the walls and lamp-standards sweating moisture. + I’d hate the dark, poky, cold place.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” Flexinna admitted, “there are d-d-drawbacks to any s-s-situation in + life, but, really the higher the s-s-station the fewer the drawbacks. The + p-p-plain truth is that being a Vestal is the highest s-s-station in Rome + except being an Empress. No g-g-girl dare aspire to be an Empress; it + would be treason. If any g-g-girl d-d-dreams of it she k-k-keeps her + d-d-dreams to herself. But any g-g-girl has a right to aspire to be a + Vestal, if she is made perfect and is under ten and has her f-f-father and + m-m-mother noble and alive. You’ve got all that and you are offered what + any g-g-girl would envy you and you throw it away! I’ve no patience with + you.” + </p> + <p> + “You forget,” Brinnaria argued, “that I’m in love with Almo and I’d have + to give up Almo.” + </p> + <p> + “Not f-f-forever,” Flexinna retorted. “He’s enough in love with you to + wait for you, to wait for you! You could have pledged him to wait till + your term of service was up and then you two could have married just the + same.” + </p> + <p> + “Just the same!” Brinnaria echoed. “A lot of good it’d do me to marry + after I’d be an old wrinkled, gray-haired woman of forty, dried up and + withered.” + </p> + <p> + “Nemestronia,” Flexinna cited, “has married twice since she was forty, and + she’s not withered yet, not by a great deal, even if she is gray-haired + and has a wrinkle or two.” + </p> + <p> + “What’s the use of arguing,” Brinnaria summed up. “I hate the very idea of + being a Vestal. I’d hate the fact a million times more. I’d hate it even + if I were not in love with Almo, furiously in love with Almo. Daddy says + I’ve got to wait four years to marry him. I roll around in bed and bite + the pillows with rage to think of it, night after night. A fine figure I’d + cut trying to wait thirty years for him. I’d swoon with longing for him + and write him a note or peep out of the temple to see him go by and then + I’d get accused of misbehavior, and accused is convicted for a Vestal; + well, you know it. I’d look fine being buried alive in a seven-by-five + underground stone cell, with half a pint of milk and a gill of wine to + keep me alive long enough to suffer before I starved to death and a + thimbleful of oil in a lamp to make me more scared of the dark when the + lamp burned out. No burial alive for me. I’m in love. I’m too much in love + to balance arguments. I’m not sorry I missed my chance, as you call it. + I’m glad I escaped; the chance isn’t missed for that matter. Rabulla’s + place hasn’t been filled yet.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you know who is g-g-going to be ch-ch-chosen to fill it?” Flexinna + asked. “You d-d-don’t? The choice has about narrowed d-d-down to that + execrable, weasel-faced little M-M-Meffia.” + </p> + <p> + “Meffia!” Brinnaria cried. “There’s no one alive I despise as much as that + detestable ninny. I’ve a mind to chuck Almo and ask Daddy to offer me, + just to spite Meffia.” + </p> + <p> + “Why d-d-don’t you?” Flexinna stuttered. “D-d-do it n-n-now, right + n-n-now. You might be t-t-too late.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh bosh,” Brinnaria groaned. “What’s the use of talking nonsense? What + would be the sense in my spoiling my life to spite Meffia? I hate her. + I’ll hate to see her putting on airs as a Vestal, but I’d hate worse to be + a Vestal myself, and worst of all to lose Almo. I just couldn’t give up + Almo.” + </p> + <p> + “I wish I were you,” Flexinna raged. “If I were only under ten and + d-d-didn’t s-s-stutter, I’d d-d-do all I c-c-could to g-g-get D-D-Daddy to + offer m-m-me.” + </p> + <p> + “Bosh!” Brinnaria sneered. “You’re in love with Vocco and you know you + wouldn’t even think of giving him up if you had the chance.” + </p> + <p> + “Just wouldn’t I!” Flexinna retorted. “I love Quintus dearly. But if I had + a ch-ch-chance to be a V-V-Vestal, I’d fling poor Quintus hard and never + regret him. Not I. Think of the influence a V-V-Vestal has! Every man who + wants p-p-promotion in the army or in the fleet, or who wants an + appointment to any office would set his sisters and all his women + relations to besieging me to use my influence for him. Every temple-carver + and shrine-painter in Rome would have his wife showing me attentions. I + know; I’ve heard the talk. + </p> + <p> + “And b-b-besides, in all the Empire a Vestal is the nearest thing to a + p-p-princess we have. We read a lot about Egyptian princesses, and Asiatic + princesses and we hear about P-P-Parthian p-p-princesses, but the only + p-p-princesses we ever see are the Vestals. They are the only + p-p-princesses in the Empire, in Italy, in Rome, the six of them. And you + had a chance to be one of the only six p-p-princesses in our world and you + didn’t take it. Oh, you f-f-fool, you f-f-fool!” + </p> + <p> + They wrangled about their conflicting views for a long time. + </p> + <p> + It was only as Flexinna was leaving that she inquired casually: + </p> + <p> + “Have you heard what Rabulla d-d-died of?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Brinnaria, “what was it?” + </p> + <p> + “Hadn’t you heard?” Flexinna wondered. “It was the p-p-pestilence.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV - PESTILENCE + </h2> + <p> + Pestilence! + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria heard the word often during the next few days. Rome talked of + little else. It had begun with a few deaths along the river front in the + sailors’ quarters, and among the stevedores and porters of the + grain-warehouses, southwest of the Aventine Hill in the thirteenth ward. + Next it came to notice when there were many deaths along the Subura in the + very centre of the city. From there the infection had spread to every + wind. Panic seized the people. There was an exodus of all who could afford + it, to their country estates, to the mountains, to the seaside. Brinnarius + and Quartilla discussed arrangements for their departure to his mountain + farm in the Sabine hills above Carsioli. Their difficulty was to decide to + whom to commit their great house in Rome. They had no slave whom they + implicitly trusted, and no one certainly who would be willing to stay in + the city. To close the house was to invite burglary, for in the general + panic watchmen were unreliable and house-breakings were frequent. Into + their consultation Brinnaria thrust herself uninvited. + </p> + <p> + “Why don’t you leave me in town?” she suggested. “I hate the country and I + hate it near Carsioli worse than any neighborhood I ever saw. I want to + stay right here. I love Rome. And I’m not afraid of pestilence. Nobody can + die more than once and nobody dies till the gods will it. There’s more + danger of dying of fright and worry than of pestilence. Anyhow a + pestilence never kills all the people in a city, most of the towns- folk + stay right at home and keep alive all right. Half the people that die + scare or fret themselves to death. I won’t fret or worry and I’ll keep + well here; but if you take me with you I’ll be miserable and chafe myself + ill. I can run the house as well as mother can. Most of the slaves worship + me and will obey me for love, the rest are deadly afraid of me and will + not dare to disobey me. I’ll keep order and I will not waste a sesterce. + Can’t I stay, Father?” + </p> + <p> + Brinnarius knit his brows and looked at his wife. Her eyes answered his. + </p> + <p> + “It would save a deal of trouble,” he said, reflectively. + </p> + <p> + “It would make a deal of gossip,” Quartilla declared. “All my enemies + would say that I am an unnatural mother, that I do not love my youngest + child, that I hate her, that I am exposing her to certain death, that I am + as bad as a murderess.” + </p> + <p> + “Nonsense!” her husband retorted. “We can’t bother about all the malice of + all the slanderers in Rome. Other people’s daughters are remaining. + Lucconius means to stay here in Rome with his family. If he ventures to + keep Flexinna here we might venture to leave Brinnaria behind.” + </p> + <p> + “You might,” that self-assertive child cut in, “and you know there is + really no use in taking me if I do not want to go. You know how much + trouble it will make for both of you.” + </p> + <p> + Quartilla sighed. + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps we had best leave her,” she said. “Certainly the house will be + safe and the slaves kept in order. I shan’t have an instant’s anxiety + about that. Then Brinnaria is so genuinely brave that she will really not + dread the pestilence, and all the doctors say that there is nothing like + that feeling to protect any one from the danger. She makes me feel that + she will be safe. I don’t believe I’ll worry about that either.” + </p> + <p> + “Fine!” Brinnaria squealed. “I’m to stay.” + </p> + <p> + “Not so fast,” her father rebuked her. “I haven’t said yet that you may + stay. But if I say so, then you must stay. I’ll not have you changing your + mind and deciding to leave Rome after we have arranged to put you in + charge here. It would make trouble indeed to have you shutting up this + house in a hurry and chasing after us to Carsioli.” + </p> + <p> + “Epulo!” his wife reproached him, “the child has her faults, but + changeableness is not one of them. She is the most resolute child I ever + knew. If you leave her, she will not fail us. If she gives her word she + will keep it. I never knew Brinnaria to break an earnestly made promise.” + </p> + <p> + “Will you promise?” her father asked her. + </p> + <p> + “I promise,” Brinnaria shouted, “I pledge myself. I take oath. I swear by + my love of both of you, by my respect for our clan, by my hopes of + marrying Almo, that I’ll stick it out here in Rome, going out only when + necessary, unless you send for me to come away. If anything happens that + makes me think I ought to leave the city I shall send a message to you, + but I shall not cross the city boundaries nor relax my watch on this house + without your permission. I swear.” + </p> + <p> + “That’s enough, dearie,” her father said, “enough and too much. If your + judgment tells you that you ought to flee from Rome, you have my + permission to send me a messenger; I know you will not resort to that + without real need. I rely on your judgment. The gods be with you, child. + You have taken a load of my shoulders, two loads, in fact.” + </p> + <p> + Thereupon preparations for departure were pushed and soon after sunrise on + the next day Brinnaria found herself left to her own resources, + responsible for the welfare of a large retinue of obsequious slaves, + autocrat over them, and mistress of one of the largest private houses in + Rome. She acquitted herself well of her duties. She had been right in + claiming that she was loved by most and feared by the rest. Certainly she + was trusted and respected by all as if she had been five times her age. + She made them as comfortable as town-slaves could be and they knew it. To + her they accorded instant and implicit obedience. The life of the + household went on as smoothly as if the master had been at home. And its + life was not gloomy. Although the main subject of conversation was the + pestilence, open forebodings were not indulged in and the house was + outwardly cheerful. + </p> + <p> + Equally cheerful was Flexinna, whom Brinnaria saw daily. Neither of them + had the slightest fear of the pestilence and no member of either household + had shown the slightest symptoms of any kind of illness. Of the daily + deaths among their large acquaintance or among the nobilities of the city, + they talked calmly, without any feeling of gloom or of dread, secure in + the confidence of youth and health. + </p> + <p> + On the tenth day after Brinnaria had been left to her own devices Flexinna + visited her as usual. Early in their talk she said: + </p> + <p> + “D-D-Dossonia died last night.” + </p> + <p> + “The Chief Vestal?” Brinnaria queried. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” Flexinna replied, a bright tear in each eye. + </p> + <p> + “She couldn’t live forever,” Brinnaria said. “She was ninety-four, wasn’t + she?” + </p> + <p> + “Ninety-four years and eight months yesterday,” Flexinna replied. “She had + been Chief Vestal ever since C-C-Calpurnia P-P-Praetextata died, and + that’s fifty- six years ago. She had been Chief Vestal longer than any + ever and she had lived longer than any Vestal ever.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” said Brinnaria, the practical, “she ought to have been glad to go, + and she stone blind for twenty years.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I know,” Flexinna rejoined, “but she was such an old d-d-dear, she + looked so much younger than her age, her face so healthy and pink, and + b-b-beautiful even with all its wrinkles, so calm and placid and holy I + loved to look at her sitting in her big chair like a great white + b-b-butterfly, so plump and handsome and soft-looking. She always put out + her hand to my face and recognized me at the first t-t-touch, almost, and + gave me her blessing so b-b-beautifully. Sometimes Manlia let me read to + the old dear, and she always seemed to enjoy it so much. I’m real shaken + at her d-d-death. I really loved her.” + </p> + <p> + “Everybody loved her,” Brinnaria declared. “But everybody loves Causidiena + too, and she’s Chief Vestal now. She’s not fat and placid like Dossonia, + but she is wonderfully dignified. My, I admire that woman!” + </p> + <p> + “I wonder,” Flexinna reflected, “who will be chosen in her p-p-place.” + </p> + <p> + “Poor wretch!” Brinnaria commented. “I’m sorry for her, whoever she is. + Just think, she’ll have to pair with that unspeakable little muff of a + Meffia. I hate that girl.” + </p> + <p> + “Whoever she is,” Flexinna continued, “she is sure to be chosen and taken + mighty quick. For with this p-p-pestilence in the city, and all the + trouble the P-P-Parthians are making in the East, of the Marcomanni on the + Rhine colonies, and the thunder-storms that have raged about lately, + there’ll be need felt for all the p-p-prayers all the offer. They’ll not + leave the vacancy open long. I’ll bet they have it filled by d-d-day after + to-morrow. Old B-B-Bambilio is a stickler for pious precision an + observance of all ritual matters and the Emperors are with him.” + </p> + <p> + “Marcus is,” Brinnaria agreed, pertly, “but Lucius doesn’t care what + happens so long as he has his fun.” + </p> + <p> + “You mustn’t t-t-t-talk that way about the Emperors,” Flexinna cautioned + her. “If you were overheard you’d get into no end of trouble. Anyhow, + Verus defers to Aurelius in everything, so that whatever Aurelius wishes + is as if both wished it. And there never was a more p-p-pious Emperor than + Aurelius. So the place is certain to be filled p-p-promptly.” + </p> + <p> + “At once, for sure,” Brinnaria agreed. “I wonder who the victim will be? + Do you suppose it will be Occurnea?” + </p> + <p> + “It would have been Occurnea, I think,” Flexinna said. “You know it was a + chance for a while whether she’d get it instead of Meffia. But she’s not + eligible now. Her mother d-d-died yesterday.” + </p> + <p> + “Tallentia, perhaps,” Brinnaria hazarded. + </p> + <p> + “Impossible,” Flexinna declared. “You remember how recklessly she rode and + how her horse f-f-fell on her. She has limped ever since and always will.” + </p> + <p> + “Cuppiena?” suggested Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + “Not she,” said Flexinna; “she has some k-k-kind of skin rash and has lost + almost all her hair.” + </p> + <p> + “Sabbia,” Brinnaria proposed. + </p> + <p> + “Her mother’s d-d-dead too,” Flexinna reminded her; “has been for months.” + </p> + <p> + “Fremnia,” came the next suggestion. + </p> + <p> + “She’s off to Aquileia with her family,” said Flexinna; “they all left the + d-d-day your folks went.” + </p> + <p> + “Eppia,” ventured Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + “She’s ten years old now,” Flexinna demurred. “She celebrated her + b-b-birthday three days before the Kalends. I was at the party.” + </p> + <p> + “Pennasia, perhaps,” Brinnaria suggested. + </p> + <p> + “D-d-deaf in one ear like her mother and grandmother,” said Flexinna, “and + you know it.” + </p> + <p> + “Licinia,” Brinnaria ventured. + </p> + <p> + “She’d be the last they’d choose on account of the b-b-bad luck Vestals of + her family have had;” Flexinna reminded her. “The very name suggests + disgrace. Anyhow, she’s in Baiae with her p-p-people.” + </p> + <p> + “Rentulana,” came the next conjecture. + </p> + <p> + “Has a b-b-big wen on the side of her head,” Flexinna proclaimed. + </p> + <p> + “Numledia?” came next. + </p> + <p> + “You’ve lost your memory, Brinnaria,” said Flexinna, severely. “She’s got + a b-b-big purple birthmark on her neck.” + </p> + <p> + “Magnonia,” Brinnaria proposed. + </p> + <p> + “She’s far away, in Britain, with her father and mother; might as well be + out of the world.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria was at a loss. She meditated. “Gavinna!” she said at last. + </p> + <p> + “She has a bad squint and you know it,” laughed Flexinna. “Why don’t you + think of an eligible c-c-candidate?” + </p> + <p> + They tried a dozen more names, all of girls out of the city or defective + in some way, or with one parent dead. + </p> + <p> + “But who will it be?” Brinnaria wondered. “It’s bound to be somebody and + quick.” + </p> + <p> + She jumped to her feet. + </p> + <p> + She screamed. + </p> + <p> + “They’ll take me! They’ll take me! Oh, what am I to do, what am I to do? + I’m the only possible candidate in the city. And they’ll be after me the + moment they run over the lists and find no one else is in town.” + </p> + <p> + She stood a moment, considering, then she called Guntello, and a lean + Caledonian slave called Intinco. She gave them each a written + journey-order to show to any patrol that questioned them, told Guntello to + take the best horse in the stable and to give the next best to Intinco, + bade Intinco ride to Carsioli and Guntello to Falerii, gave Guntello a + letter for Almo and Intinco a letter to her father and told them verbally, + in case the letter was lost, to make it plain that she was in danger of + being taken for a Vestal and bid her father come quickly to interfere and + her lover to ride fast to claim her in time. She enjoined both slaves to + spur their horses, gave them money in case they needed to hire fresh + mounts and wound up: + </p> + <p> + “Kill Rhaebus, kill Xanthus, kill as many hired horses as need be, ride + without halt or mercy. Get there and get father and Almo here. Be quick. + You can’t be too quick.” + </p> + <p> + She watched them ride off at a sedate walk, for no man was allowed to trot + a horse in the streets of Rome. Both had assured her that they would ride + at full gallop from the moment they passed the gates. + </p> + <p> + Then began for Brinnaria a tense and anxious period of waiting. Flexinna + obtained her parents’ permission and remained with her friend. The entire + household continued in good health and there was nothing to distract t he + two from their dread on the one hand that the Pontifex might come to claim + Brinnaria before Almo and her father arrived, and their hope on the other + hand of seeing them come in time. + </p> + <p> + On the whole the strain told on Flexinna more than on Brinnaria, who never + once shed a tear, attended to her housewifely duties calmly and steadily + and talked little. Flexinna fidgeted constantly and talked a good deal. + </p> + <p> + “If I were in your place,” she said, “I shouldn’t be waiting here inertly + for Faltonius to come and claim me. Instead of dispatching messengers for + your father and Almo, you ought to have left the city at once and made + your best speed for Carsioli yourself.” + </p> + <p> + “I couldn’t,” Brinnaria declared, “and you know why. I passed my word to + stay in this house and not so much as to go out unless some compelling + necessity arose. I pledged myself not to leave here unless I sent a + messenger saying I needed to leave and received permission before I + started. I took my oath not to cross the city limits without Father’s + consent. I can’t break my oath and I shouldn’t break my word, even if I + hadn’t sworn in addition to promising.” + </p> + <p> + “You f-f-fool!” Flexinna declared. + </p> + <p> + “All members of our clan keep their word,” said Brinnaria proudly. “We do + not ask whether it is advantageous to keep our word or pleasant; when we + have passed our word we keep it. I’ve given my word and there’s nothing to + do but to wait for Almo and Daddy and hope that both, or at least a + message from Daddy will get here before Faltonius.” + </p> + <p> + “There is something else you might do,” Flexinna suggested. “You might + easily arrange to be ineligible before Bambilio comes for you.” + </p> + <p> + “I shall,” spoke the matter-of-fact Brinnaria. “The moment Daddy and Almo + come, I’ll be Alma’s wife in less time than it takes to tell it and will + be able to snap my fingers at Bambilio.” + </p> + <p> + “Suppose he comes before your father,” Flexinna suggested. + </p> + <p> + “I’d be a Vestal and all hope gone,” said Brinnaria, + </p> + <p> + “I mean,” said Flexinna, “suppose Almo comes before your father.” + </p> + <p> + “I’ve thought of that,” Brinnaria admitted. “But I’d hate to break the + record of which our family is so proud. None of our women ever were so + much as accused of any misbehavior before marriage.” + </p> + <p> + “I’ve no p-p-patience with you,” Flexinna raged. “You’ll throw away your + life for a mere scruple. You risk being made a Vestal every moment. + Faltonius may be on the way here now. If I were in your place I’d make + sure. I’d not wait for Almo. Any lad would do for me. You c-c-could make + sure, if you had sense. Almo would forgive you and marry you anyway. Your + father would forgive you; he’d never approve, I know.” + </p> + <p> + “Not he!” Brinnaria proclaimed, “and he’ll never have any such dishonor to + forgive. No man of our clan ever had reason to be ashamed of his daughter + or of his sister. I’ll not be the first to disgrace the clan. If Faltonius + comes he’ll find me as eligible as the hour I was born, unless Daddy and + Almo come in time for me to be married first.” + </p> + <p> + “At least,” Flexinna persisted, “you might say no when he asks you. That + would stall the whole ceremony and give you t-t-time.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you suppose,” Brinnaria sneered, “that I haven’t thought of that? I’m + tempted, of course. But that would be to advertise myself a disgrace to + the Pontifex during a solemn interrogatory.” + </p> + <p> + “At least,” Flexinna pleaded, “you might say you are over age. You look + sixteen to anybody, and no one would imagine you are under fourteen. You + could halt the proceedings, at least, and gain t-t-time.” + </p> + <p> + “Faltonius has the lists,” said Brinnaria wearily, “with all the birthdays + sworn to by both parents for every girl on them and attested by four + excellent witnesses, besides. He’d know I was lying and it would do me no + good.” + </p> + <p> + Flexinna changed the subject. + </p> + <p> + But when the next day dawned and neither Brinnarius nor Almo appeared, she + returned to the attack. Brinnaria was very pale, very tense, but obdurate. + She controlled herself, did not forget, did not express her feelings, but + she posted a slave at each street corner, right and left of the + house-door, and had them look out for what she hoped and what she feared. + </p> + <p> + Dastor brought word that the Pontifex and his retinue were approaching; + three litters, each with eight bearers, preceded by the lictor of the + Chief Vestal. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria, pale and tense, did her best to look collected and controlled. + She succeeded well, heard calmly the announcement of her august visitors, + ordered them shown into the atrium, and received them with proper dignity. + Her self-possession did not desert her when she recognized in the train of + the Pontifex her rejected suitor Calvaster, sly, malignant and with an air + of suppressed elation. + </p> + <p> + Faltonius Bambilio, the Pontifex of Vesta, was a pursy, pudgy, pompous old + man, immensely self-important, almost ridiculous in his fussiness, but + clothed with a certain impressiveness by the mere fact of his religious + office. He gazed about him, stared at Brinnaria, hemmed and hawed and + threw himself into poses intended to be stately. + </p> + <p> + With him was Causidiena, now Chief Vestal, a tall, spare woman of about + forty-five, her austere face kindly and reassuring, her dark hair barely + showing under her official head-dress, a statuesque figure in her white + robes of office. + </p> + <p> + “My daughter,” spoke Faltonius to Brinnaria, “Rome has but five Vestals. I + have come to take you into the vacant place. You have been chosen, as best + suited to this high dignity, from among those whose names were on the + lists of those fit for the office. Was it proper that your name should be + on the lists?” + </p> + <p> + “I believe so,” spoke Brinnaria, weakly, almost in a whisper. + </p> + <p> + “Are you fit to be taken as a Vestal, my daughter?” + </p> + <p> + “I believe so,” came the answer. + </p> + <p> + “Have you any blemish or defect of body, any impediment of speech, any + difficulty of hearing?” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria’s awe was wearing off, and the irritating pomposity of Faltonius + was producing its usual effect of arousing antagonism, as it generally did + in those he talked to. Brinnaria felt all her wild self surge up in her. + </p> + <p> + “I’m sound as a two-year-old racing filly,” she replied. “I’m clean as + fresh curd; I hear you perfectly and you can hear me perfectly.” + </p> + <p> + Bambilio bristled like a bantam rooster. + </p> + <p> + “That is not the way for a Vestal to speak,” he rebuked. + </p> + <p> + “I’m not a Vestal yet,” Brinnaria retorted, “and that was my answer to + those questions. If you don’t like it I don’t care a shred of bran.” + </p> + <p> + “Come! come!” fussed Bambilio, “answer the interrogatories properly.” + </p> + <p> + “I have and I shall,” Brinnaria maintained mutinously. + </p> + <p> + “Are you fit in mind and in faculties to be a Vestal?” he continued. + </p> + <p> + “Fit to be Flaminica or Empress,” Brinnaria responded. + </p> + <p> + “Are you pure?” came the next query. + </p> + <p> + “As when I was born,” said Brinnaria emphatically. + </p> + <p> + “What is your age?” the Pontifex queried his victim. + </p> + <p> + “I’ll be ten on the Ides of next September,” quoth his victim. + </p> + <p> + “Are your parents both alive?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “They were the last time I heard of them,” spoke Brinnaria flippantly. + </p> + <p> + “When was that?” he insisted. + </p> + <p> + “This is the twelfth day since they left Rome,” said Brinnaria, “and I’ve + not heard from them since they sent a messenger back from the ninth + milestone on the road to Tibur.” + </p> + <p> + Faltonius was irritating her more and more, and she added: + </p> + <p> + “They may both be dead by this time, for all I know.” + </p> + <p> + “This will not do,” spoke Faltonius. “We must be sure that they are both + alive.” + </p> + <p> + “Find out,” snapped Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + Up spoke young Calvaster, his pasty face alight with a sort of malicious + glee. + </p> + <p> + “I passed Quartilla’s travelling carriage at Varia last night. Quartilla + was alive and well. I passed Brinnarius this morning at dawn, this side of + Tibur. He was alive then and puffing.” + </p> + <p> + “How did you get here ahead of him?” Brinnaria interjected. + </p> + <p> + “I am light built,” Calvaster explained with obvious relish, “and I rode + the best horse in Italy. His mount labored heavily under his load.” + </p> + <p> + “Both parents are then alive,” spoke Faltonius. “I hereupon and hereby + pronounce you in all respects fit to be taken as a Vestal. Are you + willing?” + </p> + <p> + “Not I!” Brinnaria fairly shouted. + </p> + <p> + “Not willing!” Faltonius cried, incredulous. + </p> + <p> + “Not a fibre of me!” she proclaimed emphatically. + </p> + <p> + “Wretched girl!” expostulated the Pontiff. “Have you no sense of + patriotism? Do you not realize your duty to your country, to the Roman + people, to Rome, to the Emperor, to all of us, to the commonwealth? Do you + not realize Rome’s need of you? Shall it be said that Rome has need of one + of her daughters and that her unnatural child refuses?” + </p> + <p> + “I have not refused,” said Brinnaria. “I only said I was unwilling.” + </p> + <p> + “It is the same thing,” declared the bewildered ecclesiastic. + </p> + <p> + “Not a bit the same thing,” Brinnaria disclaimed. “I know my duty in this + matter perfectly. Castor be good to me, I know it too well. I know that a + refusal would avail me nothing, if I did refuse. I have not refused. I + would not, even if I could escape by refusal I realize my duty. If I am + taken I shall be all that a Vestal is expected to be, all that she must be + to ensure the glory and prosperity and safety of the city and the Empire. + I shall not fail the Emperor nor the Roman people, nor Rome. But I am + unwilling, and I said so. Little good it will do me. But I am no liar, not + even in the tightest place.” + </p> + <p> + “Stand up, my daughter,” said Faltonius, rising himself, suddenly clothed + in dignity, a really impressive figure, in spite of his globular + proportions. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria stood, her eyes on the door to the vestibule, her face very + pale, trembling a little, but controlled. + </p> + <p> + The Pontifex took her hand and spoke: + </p> + <p> + “As priestess of Vesta, to perform those rites which it is fitting that a + priestess of Vesta perform for the Roman People and the citizens, as a + girl who has been chosen properly, so I take you, Beloved.” + </p> + <p> + At the word “Beloved,” which made her irretrievably a Vestal, Brinnaria + could not repress a little gasp. Her eyes no longer watched the vestibule + door. She looked at the Pontiff. He let go her hand. + </p> + <p> + “You will now go with your servitor to be clothed as befits your calling.” + </p> + <p> + He indicated one of Causidiena’s attendants, a solidly built woman, like a + Tuscan villager, who carried over her arm a mass of fresh white garments + and robes. + </p> + <p> + With her and Causidiena Brinnaria left the atrium; with them she presently + returned, a slim white figure, her hair braided and the six braids wound + round her forehead like a coronet, above them the folds of the plain + square headdress of the Vestals. + </p> + <p> + “I thought,” she said, “that my hair would be cut off.” + </p> + <p> + “That will be after you are made at home in the Atrium of Vesta,” spoke + the Pontiff. + </p> + <p> + “And remember,” he continued sternly, “that you are now a Vestal and that + young Vestals may not speak unless spoken to.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria bit her lip. + </p> + <p> + At that moment they heard hoofs and voices outside, the door burst open + and Brinnarius entered. + </p> + <p> + “Too late, Daddy!” cried Brinnaria. “You can’t help me now. I’m not your + little girl any more; I don’t count as your daughter; you don’t count as + my father; I’m daughter to the Pontifex from now on. I’m a Vestal.” + </p> + <p> + She was trembling, but she kept her countenance. Brinnarius uttered no + sound, the whole gathering was still and mute, the noises of the street + outside were plainly audible. They heard horse-hoofs again, again the door + flew open wide. In burst Almo, wide-eyed and panting. + </p> + <p> + At him Brinnaria launched a sort of shriek of expostulation. + </p> + <p> + “Why couldn’t you ride! You call yourself a horseman! And you’ve come too + late! I mustn’t even kiss you good-bye. And I mustn’t speak to you, I + mustn’t see you, I mustn’t so much as think of you for thirty years, for + thirty years, <i>for thirty years</i>!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V - ESCAPADES + </h2> + <p> + WHEN Brinnaria found herself actually domiciled in the House of the + Vestals she experienced an odd mingling of awe and elation. The mere size + of it was impressive, for it was nearly two hundred feet wide and almost + four hundred feet long. Also it stood alone, bounded by four streets. + Besides, it gained much dignity from its location, near the southeast + corner of the great Forum of Rome, that most famous of all city squares, + and under the very shadow of the Imperial Palace, the walls of which + towered nearly three hundred feet above it, where it crouched as it were, + on a site scooped out of the huge flank of the Palatine Hill. + </p> + <p> + Completely as it was dominated by the enormous bulk of the Palace it yet + looked very large, having three lofty stories. Inside it was both spacious + and stately. Brinnaria was habituated to space and stateliness, for her + father’s house had both, yet the Atrium of Vesta, as the House of the + Vestals was officially denominated, impressed her as vast and splendid. + That this immense and magnificent building was to be her home gave her + sense of her own importance that thrilled her through and through. Its + numerous retinue of deft and obsequious maid-servants added to this + impression. Brinnaria’s personal attendants, entirely at her beck and call + and serving her alone, made up a considerable retinue by themselves. She + found herself, like each of the other Vestals, served by a special + waitress at table, by a waitress who had nothing to do but look after her + wants. Then she had a sort of maid-of-honor, who had no duties except to + act as companion, make herself agreeable, read aloud, if requested, + accompany her on her outings and help to pass her leisure pleasantly. As + she was a mere child in years she had a sort of governess to instruct her + in all those subjects in which a Roman girl of good family was generally + given lessons: correct reading; a smattering of mathematics, about + equivalent to the simple arithmetic of our days; some knowledge of + literature; a steady and efficient drill in reading and talking Greek; + instrumental music, similar to the guitar-playing of modern times, and + embroidery. She had a personal maid to bathe her, arrange her hair and + otherwise make her comfortable; also a special maid to attend to her + private apartment, which included what we would call a sitting-room, a + tiny bedroom, and a large bath-room. The largest room was used mostly as a + school-room for lessons with her instructress. Outside the Atrium + Brinnaria had her private stable, her carriages, her coachman and ostlers, + and her lictor, the red-cloaked runner, who preceded her carriage, + announced its coming and cleared the way for it through the crowds of + foot-passengers who thronged the streets of Rome. Life in the Atrium was + austere and formal, but in no respect ascetic. The austerities extended + only to attire and behavior. The decorations of the courtyard, of the + corridors and stairs, of the two hundred rooms, were bewilderingly varied + and overpoweringly gorgeous. Every appointment of the Atrium was luxurious + to the last degree; the furnishings were beautiful and precious, every + object a work of art; the bathrooms cunningly devised for comfort, the + beds deep and soft, scarcely less so the sofas on which the Vestals + reclined at their meals, the table service of exquisite glass-ware and + elaborately chased silver, the food abundant and including every delicacy + and rarity most appetizing and enjoyable. + </p> + <p> + Except Meffia her co-Vestals were immediately liked and speedily loved by + Brinnaria. Meffia, a month older than herself and looking six years + younger, was a small, awkward, ungainly girl, with pale blue eyes, pale + yellow hair and babyish pink complexion. She had never had an ill hour in + her life, yet she always appeared ailing, shrank from any effort, hated + exercise and exertion and at every necessity for movement asserted that + she was tired, often that she felt weak. Brinnaria thought her merely + innately lazy and a natural shirk. The more she saw of her the more her + loathing for her and her hatred of her intensified. Quite the reverse with + the others. Manlia was a large young woman of about twenty-two, a typical + Roman aristocrat, her hair between dark brown and black, her complexion + swarthy, her figure abundant. Gargilia was older than Manlia; a tall, + slender creature with intensely black hair and piercing black eyes that + looked straight at you out of a face healthfully tinted indeed, but of a + whiteness which was the envy of half the beauties in Rome. Numisia + Maximilla was much like an older Manlia, but sparer and of markedly + haughty bearing and carriage. Causidiena, newly become Chief Vestal, was a + woman of about forty-five years of age, mild, gentle, and charming, with + cool gray eyes and glossy brown hair, a being who aroused affection, + inspired admiration and compelled love from all her household. + </p> + <p> + She won Brinnaria’s heart at once by telling her that she herself, when + she had first entered the Atrium of Vesta, had found it difficult to learn + the etiquette of the order, had wanted to shout and sing and laugh out + loud, to run up and down stairs instead of walking, to skip and jump. + </p> + <p> + That Causidiena had triumphed over similar tendencies comforted Brinnaria + and helped her to try to overcome her own. Most difficult to curb was her + tendency to be rude to Meffia. This Causidiena noticed at once and set + herself to obliterate. Brinnaria unbosomed herself and Causidiena listened + so sympathetically that Brinnaria sat silent through the long lecture that + followed and was very submissive during a searching interrogatory. She + promised to comport herself as a Vestal should. + </p> + <p> + “But,” she said, “I shall suffer. That girl is unpleasant in ten thousand + ways, but the smell of her is the most unpleasant thing about her. She’s + been tubbed and scrubbed and massaged and perfumed twice a day ever since + I came here and she smells worse than a polecat, anyhow, all day long, + even the moment after her maid has finished her toilet. A whiff of Meffia + sets me frantic. I’d be capable of any crime to get rid of her.” + </p> + <p> + More lecturing followed. + </p> + <p> + “But it’s true!” Brinnaria maintained. “You can’t help smelling her + yourself; she smells like nothing else on earth. It isn’t the smell of a + dirty girl or of an ill girl, nor the smell of a girl at all or of any + kind of a human being. I can’t describe it, but it’s a thin sour smell, + sharp and shrill like the note of a cricket, if a sound and a smell can be + compared. It’s horrible; it’s not human.” + </p> + <p> + More lecturing, a long session of lecturing, followed this outburst. At + the end of it the victim was meek and pliable, or so professed herself. + For at least five days Brinnaria kept up her effort to be comradely with + Meffia. By the sixth day she was completely exhausted and the two avoided + each other as before. + </p> + <p> + Agonies indeed Brinnaria suffered in her efforts to live up to + Causidiena’s ideas of what she should be. On the whole she succeeded + pretty well and committed few errors of deportment. Outwardly she + controlled herself from the first; for, before her first cowed sensations + had worn off, her adoration of Causidiena had gained full sway over her. + Yet inwardly she suffered more and more acutely as time went on, partly + feeling that she must burst out in spite of herself, partly dreading that + she would. + </p> + <p> + At last, after many days, she perpetrated her first and most undignified + prank. It was a terrific occurrence, judged by the standards of the + Atrium. + </p> + <p> + The great peristyle of the House of the Vestals, including nearly + three-fourths of the whole courtyard, was beautified with a splendid + double colonnade, two tiers of pillars, one above the other, the lower of + delicately mottled Carystian marble wavily veined with green streaks + varying its whiteness, the upper of coral-red brecchia. Midway of the + court was a tank lined with marbles and always filled with clear water. + </p> + <p> + One morning Meffia, walking about the court, in her irritatingly aimless + fashion, passed between Brinnaria and the edge of the tank. There was no + earthly reason for her so doing, as Brinnaria was barely a yard from the + margin of the pool, and on the other side of Brinnaria was the ample + expanse of the pavement of the spacious court. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria was exasperated by Meffia’s proximity, by her lackadaisical + manner, by her shambling gait, by her sleep-walking attitude, most of all + by the peculiar thin, sour odor which Meffia exhaled. At the sight of + Meffia’s elaborately disagreeable demeanor of isolation, all Brinnaria’s + natural self began to boil in her; at the whiff which assailed her + nostrils she boiled over, all her uncurbed instincts surging up at once. + She put out one foot and gave Meffia a push. + </p> + <p> + Meffia, with a squall and a great splash, fell into the tank. + </p> + <p> + She not only fell in, but she went under the water. + </p> + <p> + She went under and did not come up. + </p> + <p> + For an instant Brinnaria thought she was shamming to scare her; but, in a + twinkling she realized that Meffia had fainted. + </p> + <p> + Promptly she plunged in and rescued her victim. + </p> + <p> + Numisia, hurrying to the sound of Meffia’s squawk, was horrified at the + sight of a dripping Vestal toiling up the steps of the tank carrying over + her shoulder another Vestal, equally dripping and limp as a meal-sack, her + arms and legs trailing horribly. + </p> + <p> + Agitation at Meffia’s prolonged insensibility postponed inquiry as to how + she came to fall into the tank. It so happened that Causidiena first + questioned some of the maid-servants, who all hated Meffia and liked + Brinnaria. Therefore the ones interrogated told a story as much at + variance with the facts as they saw fit. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria, after she was again dry-clad, quaked inwardly in anticipation + of Causidiena’s wrath and suffered a good deal more at the thought of her + pained, silent displeasure. Hours passed, long hours passed and nothing + was said on the subject. From none of her sister Vestals did she hear a + word of reproach, not one of them behaved towards her any differently from + what was usual. + </p> + <p> + Finally one of the maids enlightened Brinnaria. Promptly she sought a + private audience with Causidiena. First she made sure that none of the + maids would suffer for their duplicity and partiality; then she confessed. + </p> + <p> + The Chief Vestal was not wrathful, not even stern. She talked mildly and + gently, yet made Brinnaria feel very much ashamed of herself and acutely + penitent. + </p> + <p> + The end of the interview was that Causidiena said: + </p> + <p> + “You are such a robust child that you do not realize how frail Meffia is. + She is perfectly healthy, but is very easily unnerved or exhausted. You + have given her such a shock that she is unfit for duty. Any Vestal is + allowed to be ill for two nights and one day, if the trouble seems + trifling. But, if any Vestal is ill for a longer time, she is promptly + removed from the Atrium for nursing. I fear that Meffia may not recover + within the permitted time. I am most anxious that there should be as few + as possible cases of recorded illness in the Atrium under my management. + As you have caused the situation you must help me to avoid what I fear. Go + to Meffia and nurse her out of this and get her about to-morrow morning.” + </p> + <p> + “Castor be good to me!” Brinnaria cried. “Smell that girl for a day and a + night! Whew! Pretty severe punishment! But I deserve that and worse. And + I’ll do anything for you, Causidiena.” + </p> + <p> + Meffia hated Brinnaria cordially, yet she found her a deft, tactful and + silent nurse. But the very sight of Brinnaria was to her an irritant + tonic. She was entirely fit for duty the next day, not a trace of + slackness, unwillingness or sullenness. + </p> + <p> + Causidiena early made up her mind that Brinnaria’s intentions were good + and that she was far from planning her outbursts. She had herself no + prevision of what was coming, not an inkling of what was about to happen, + she blurted out her shocking remarks without herself knowing what she was + going to say and was overwhelmed with confusion when her own ears heard + the totally unexpected words which she had uttered; she contemplated + aghast the havoc she had wrought. Generally she made a pretty fair attempt + at demeaning herself as a Vestal should; but, every once in a while, + without warning, something of her old wild self surged up in her and the + speech was spoken or the action completed before she realized she was + about to speak or act at all. + </p> + <p> + One such freak gave her a sort of notoriety, brought her name to the lips + of every gossip in Rome. + </p> + <p> + She was as pleased with her privileges as a normal child of her age with a + set of new toys, as warily insistent on them as any aristocrat of her + build and appearance. + </p> + <p> + She learned the precise nature and extent of her prerogatives and did her + utmost to enjoy them all. Being an adept at accounts she ascertained the + character of the various estates and investments that went to make up the + great property which was her jointure as a Vestal, made sure of the exact + income from each of its components, also the total amount; both how far + she was allowed to have her way in spending it and how soon she would be + free of supervision in that respect. She made her will before she had been + a Vestal for a month, leaving all her property to Almo, should she die + before him; but the whole to the order of Vestals if he died before her. + </p> + <p> + Of all her privileges the one she enjoyed most was the right to drive + where she pleased through the city in her private carriage, with her + lictor running ahead and clearing the way for it. Carriage-driving within + the city limits was restricted in Rome by severe regulations rigorously + enforced.* Ordinary travelling carriages might use only the great main + thoroughfares leading to the city gates. The owner of one, unless he + happened to live on one of those chief arteries of the traffic, might not + step from his house door into his carriage but must have it halted at some + point on the permitted avenues and must reach it on foot or by litter. But + there was no street or alley in Rome wide enough for a carriage which a + Vestal might not drive through; a. Vestal might drive anywhere. Brinnaria + was first taken out driving by Causidiena and Numisia, then by the others + in succession. Driving with Meffia was no pleasure to her, but it was the + etiquette of the order that each Vestal in turn should offer the courtesy + of her carriage to a new member of the sisterhood. + </p> + <p> + *In fact, wheeled vehicles except for those of the Emperor and the Vestals + were forbidden in the city during the daytime. + </p> + <p> + After that formality had been complied with Brinnaria was permitted to + drive where she pleased, with what guest she chose, or accompanied only by + her official companion or by her maid. Systematically she drove + everywhere, once alone with her maid, once with each of the other Vestals, + often with her mother, often with Flexinna. It gave her great pleasure to + drive up the long zigzag approach to the Capitol, where no human being + save the Vestals and the Empress might be driven, and where few Empresses + had ever ventured to drive, to have her carriage halted before the great + Temple of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, where no carriage except the + carriages of the Vestals had been seen for more than a hundred years, to + enter the temple and say her prayers. It gave her even more pleasure to + take her mother or Flexinna with her, as was her privilege; to make them + sharers in her right to be driven to Rome’s chief temple, to which all + other Romans, even the Emperors, must walk or be carried by + litter-bearers. + </p> + <p> + She discovered another privilege of her position. Roman women of the + better classes never went out of doors alone. On the streets a lady, if + not companioned by one or more equals, was always accompanied by a + maid-servant. This had been the custom from time immemorial and had come + to have the force of a moral law. The sight of a woman of wealth and + position entirely alone in her carriage would have been startling, to see + a lady in her litter without a maid walking behind the bearers would have + been shocking: the spectacle of a lady alone on foot would have given + scandal. + </p> + <p> + But, by some survival of the simplicity of the manners in those primitive + days in which the order originated, the Vestals were exceptions to this + mandatory fashion. A Vestal might never go abroad on foot, except in one + of the solemn processions. But, in her litter or her carriage, she might + go anywhere in Rome unaccompanied, protected only by her lictor and her + bearers or coachman. This privilege, like many others, marked the Vestals + as being apart from and exalted above the rest of woman-kind. + </p> + <p> + As soon as Brinnaria learned that she possessed this right she proceeded + to exercise it. Though she felt lonesome when driving alone and enjoyed + her outing far more when she had a companion, yet she drove alone day + after day, merely because it was her prerogative. So driving she had, in + one day, two thrilling experiences. She had told her coachman to drive + where he pleased and hardly noticed where she was being driven. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly turning from a side street into one of the main thoroughfares of + the city, she encountered the co-Emperor Lucius Verus with his official + escort. It was during the busy days preceding his departure for Antioch + and his great campaign against the Parthians. Verus, roused from his + devotion to sport and pleasure, was feverish with enthusiasm and full of + mercurial energy. He bustled in and out of Rome, inspecting camps, + presiding at ceremonials and keeping everything in a ferment. + </p> + <p> + That day he was returning from an inspection amid a large and gorgeous + retinue. Brinnaria had a blurred vision of splendid uniforms and dazzling + accoutrements. Her vision was blurred because her eyes filled with tears; + she turned hot and cold and almost fainted with emotion, when the + Emperor’s twenty-four lictors lowered their fasces, the whole procession + halted, the escort and the Emperor himself swerved their horses aside to + let her pass and remained at the salute until she had passed. The sudden + realization of the importance of her official position overwhelmed her. + </p> + <p> + As she drove on, when she recovered herself, she meditated on the + experience, and told herself that she must live up to her exalted station, + that she must never, never, never for such as one instant, forget herself + or behave otherwise than as became a Vestal. On the very same drive, + before she returned to the Atrium, she completely forgot herself. + </p> + <p> + It was a hot, sultry afternoon and it suited her coachman to drive + homeward along the Subura, that thronged and unsavory Bowery of ancient + Rome. Three street urchins were teasing and maltreating a rough coated, + muddy little cur. Brinnaria called imperiously to her lictor to interfere. + He was too far ahead to hear her. Her coachman had all he could do to + control her mettlesome span of Spanish mares. She spoke to the boys and + they laughed at her. Before she knew it she had flung open her carriage + door, had leapt out, had cuffed soundly the ears of the three dumbfounded + gamins, and was back among her cushions, the dog in her arms. + </p> + <p> + This escapade brought upon her a visit from the Pontifex of Vesta, the + semi-globular Faltonius Bambilio, diffusing pomposity. From him she had to + listen to a long lecture on deportment and to a reading of the minutes of + the meeting of the College of Pontiffs which had discussed her public + misbehavior. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI - NOTORIETY + </h2> + <p> + WITHIN a month she did far worse. She perpetrated, in fact, a deed with + the fame of which not only the city, but the Empire rang; made herself + notorious everywhere. + </p> + <p> + It was on the occasion of her introductory visit to the Colosseum when, + for the first time, she was a spectator at an exhibition of fighting + gladiators. She was in a high-strung state of elation and anticipation. + Going to the Amphitheatre, in itself, was a soul-stirring experience. + Meffia, to Brinnaria’s joy, had been on duty that day, along with Numisia. + This alone was enough to put Brinnaria in a good humor. Meffia’s presence + spoiled for her any sort of pleasure. Then, besides, they drove to the + Colosseum, not in their light carriages, but two by two in their gorgeous + state coaches, huge vehicles, of which the woodwork was elaborately carved + and heavily gilded and whose cushions and curtains were all of that + splendid official color, the imperial purple. The name conveys to us a + false impression, for the hue known then as imperial purple was not what + we should call a purple, but a deep, dark crimson, like the tint of claret + in a goblet. Against a background of this magnificent color, the Vestals, + habited all in white, showed conspicuously. Their stately progress through + the streets, gazed at and pointed at by the admiring crowds, was conducive + to high spirits. Still more so was it to be ushered obsequiously through + cool corridors and up carpeted stairs to the Vestals’ private loge, a + roomy space immediately to the right of the imperial pavilion. To be + inside the Colosseum at last set her eyes dancing and her heart thumping; + the anticipation of actually viewing the countless fights of many hundreds + of gladiators increased her excitement; to be seated in front seats, with + nothing but the carved stone coping between her and the arena was most + exhilarating of all. She was delighted with her great, carved arm-chair, + deeply cushioned and so heavy that it was as firm on its solid oak legs as + if bolted to the stone floor. She settled herself in it luxuriously, gazed + across the smooth yellow sand, glanced up at the gay, parti-colored + awning, and then conned the vast audience, line after line of rose-crowned + heads rising tier above tier all about her. + </p> + <p> + She scanned the faces in the front row to left and right as far as she + could make them out clearly. She peered across the open space of the + arena, puckering her eyes to see better. When she caught sight of what she + was looking for she turned timidly, leaned past Manlia and asked + Causidiena: + </p> + <p> + “May I wave my hand to mother?” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly, my child,” Causidiena assured her. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria waved her little hand and was seen, and felt the thrill of a + general family handwaving in reply. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly she experienced a qualm of bashfulness, as if every one in the + enormous gathering were looking at her, watching her. She cast down her + eyes, wrapped her white robe close about her, hiding her hands under it, + and shrank into her arm-chair. For a while, for a long while, she fanned + herself nervously, very slowly, and striving to appear calm. Gradually she + became calm and laughed to herself at her own folly, realizing that nobody + was noticing her. + </p> + <p> + Nobody noticed her. Many spectators noticed the Vestals, but no one + noticed her individually. This she realized acutely before the day was + over. + </p> + <p> + At about the time when she began to feel herself at ease the entrance of + the Emperor and his suite distracted her attention from herself. When the + trumpet blew, announcing the approach of the Imperial party, a hush fell + on the vast audience and all eyes turned towards the grand pavilion. When + the trumpet blew the second time, just before the Emperor came in sight, + the hush deepened and the spectators watched intently. When his head + appeared as he mounted the stairs the audience burst into the short, + sharply staccato song of welcome, something like a tuneful, sing-song + college yell, with which Roman crowds greeted their master. This vocal + salute, a mere tag of eight or nine syllables, each with its distinctive + note, was repeated over and over until the Emperor was seated. + </p> + <p> + Then the audience settled themselves into their seats. Brinnaria had + instinctively started to rise when she caught sight of the Emperor. Manlia + had put out a restraining hand. The Vestals, alone of all Romans, remained + seated in the presence of the Emperor, not even rising when he appeared. + </p> + <p> + Marcus Aurelius was a tall, spare man of over forty years of age, with + abundant hair curling in long ringlets over his chest and shoulders, and a + full beard mingling with the carefully disposed curls. He was a + serious-faced man, careworn and solemn. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria regarded him with interest. She had never seen him so close and + she felt a sudden fellow-feeling for him from the sense of semi-equality + with him that flooded through her at having remained seated. She recalled + vividly the half-dozen times she had watched from balconies the passage of + processions in which the Emperor took part, how her mother had made her + stand up the moment he came in sight and had kept her standing until he + was far away. Her sudden exaltation in social position was borne in upon + her with startling emphasis. Not even her carriage rides had impressed her + so tellingly with the sensation of her own importance in the great world + of Imperial Rome. + </p> + <p> + “How does he look to you?” Manlia asked. They were seated in the order of + their seniority, Causidiena on the right, then Gargilia, Manlia next + Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + “He looks crushed under his responsibilities and anxieties,” Brinnaria + replied. “He looks depressed, even sad.” + </p> + <p> + “He is all that, poor man,” her neighbor agreed, “and no wonder in these + days. The Parthians are at us on the east, the Germans in the north, and + there have been more than twelve deaths in the palace each day for twenty + consecutive days now. This pestilence is enough to make anybody sad.” + </p> + <p> + “More than that,” Brinnaria countered. “He looks irritated and bored. + Everybody else is alert and keyed up with anticipation. His eyes are dull + and he looks as if he wished that the show was over and he could go home.” + </p> + <p> + “You have read him right,” Manlia told her. “He detests all kinds of + spectacles, takes no interest in races and hates beast-fights. Most of all + he loathes gladiatorial combats. Father has told me about it more than + once and Causidiena says the same thing. I can’t understand it. I never + get tired of sword-fighting, myself. What I like about it is its endless + variety. I never saw any two fights exactly alike, never saw two closely + alike. Each fight is a spectacle by itself, entirely different from any + other. I don’t mean the difference between the fighters in respect to + their equipment and appearance, though that contributes to the variety + also; I mean the difference in posture, method of defense and attack, + style of lunge and parry, and all that; and the countless variations in + form in the men, the subtle differences of character which makes them face + similar situations so very differently. You’ll get the feeling for it in a + half a dozen shows and be as keen on it as the rest of us. + </p> + <p> + “But the Emperor is different. Perhaps it’s because he is such a booky man + and spends so much time in reading and study. But I think not. There never + was anybody more of a bookworm than Numisia and she is as wild over the + shows as any street-boy in Rome. Anyhow, whatever the cause is, that is + the way he is. He was more than surfeited with shows before he was + Emperor. While he was nothing but a boy, soon after he was adopted and + made Caesar, he often had to preside in the Circus or here, when Hadrian + was away travelling and Antonius and Verus were on the frontiers. He used + to bring his tutors with him and have two of them sit on each side of him + a little behind him. Then, after the shows had started, he would put a + tablet on his knee and write a theme or work out a problem in geometry and + when he had finished it, would pass it to one of his tutors for comment, + or he would have them make out sets of questions on history or something + else and he would write out the answers the best he could. Sometimes he + would read. All this he did as calmly as if he were alone in a closed room + with nothing to call off his attention. Yet he was most careful to seem to + watch the shows and would look up every little while and gaze about the + arena. But nothing ever distracted him from his lessons. That is the kind + he is. He simply never cared for this sort of thing. He says that what + oppresses him is the maddening monotony of gladiatorial shows. Fancy + anybody thinking sword-fighting monotonous! But he does. He says every + combat is just like every other. All he sees in a fight is two men facing + each other and one being killed. He gets no thrills from the uncertainties + of the outcome, no pleasure from the dexterity and skill of the fighters. + To him it’s just butchery, and the same kind of butchery over and over. He + says he might get some enjoyment out of a show if something novel would + happen, something he never saw before, something unexpected. But nothing + ever does.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria regarded curiously this grave, earnest man, who derived so + little pleasure from the most coveted position on earth. She continued to + watch him until everybody turned to the procession around the arena of all + who were to fight that day, the invariable preliminary of a gladiatorial + show and always a splendid spectacle. When the fights began Brinnaria felt + at first an unexpected tightening of the chest, as if a band were being + drawn tight just under her armpits. Her breath came short and hard and her + heart thumped her ribs. + </p> + <p> + The first sight of blood made her feel faint and the horrible contortions + just below her of a dying man, who writhed in strong convulsions like a + fish out of water, made her qualmish and sick. But all that soon passed + off. She was a Roman and the Romans were professional killers, had been + professional killers for a thousand years. Success in hand to hand combat + with any individual foe was every male Roman’s ideal of the crowning glory + of human life; the thought of it was in every Roman’s mind from early + childhood, every act of life was a preparation for it. Their wives and + sisters shared their enthusiasm for fighting and their daughters inherited + the instinct. Combat on the field of battle was felt as the chief business + of a man, to which all other activities merely led up. By reflected light, + as it were, every kind of combat acquired a glamour in the thoughts of a + Roman. The idea of men killing men, of men being killed by men, was + familiar to all Romans, of whatever sex or age. Brinnaria was not affected + as a modern girl would be by the sight of blood or of death. The novelty + revolted her at first, but only briefly. Soon she was absorbed in the + interest of the fighting. + </p> + <p> + Almost at once her eye was caught by a young and handsome fighter who + reminded her strongly of Almo. + </p> + <p> + His adversary was that kind of gladiator known technically as a secutor, a + burly ruffian in complete armor, with huge shin-guards like jack-boots, a + kilt of broad leather straps hanging in two overlapping rows, the upper + set plated with bronze scales, a bronze corselet, and, fitting closely to + his shoulders, covering head and neck together, a great, heavy helmet. He + carried a large shield, squarish in shape, but curving to fit him as if he + were hiding behind a section of the outer bark of a big tree. He was armed + with a keen, straight bladed Spanish sword. + </p> + <p> + Facing this portentous tower of metal was a gladiator of the sort known as + a retiarius, equipped solely with a long-handled, slender-shafted trident, + like a fisherman’s eel-spear, and a voluminous, wide-meshed net of thin + cord. His only clothing was a scanty body-piece of bright blue. His feet + were small with high-arched insteps. Brinnaria particularly noticed his + perfectly shaped toes. His bare legs, body and arms were in every + proportion the perfection of form, the supple muscles rippling exquisitely + under his warm tanned skin. His face was almost beautiful, with a round + chin, thin curled lips, a straight nose, and a wide brow. Its expression + was lively, even merry, almost roguish, his lips parted in an alert smile, + his blue eyes sparkling. He seemed to enjoy the game in which he was + engaged, to be brimming over with self-confidence, to anticipate success, + to relish his foretaste of combat with a sort of impish delight. + </p> + <p> + Roman children heard as much talk of gladiators as modern children hear of + baseball or cricket. Brinnaria knew perfectly well that the betting on a + set-to between such a pair was customarily five to three against the + secutor and on the retiarius. Yet she felt the sensation usual with + onlookers in such a case, the sensation purposed by the device of pairing + men so differently equipped, the sensation that the mailed secutor was + invincible and the naked retiarius helpless against him. She was keyed up + with interest. + </p> + <p> + In fact the combat was interesting. The secutor, of course, could have + disposed of his antagonist in a trice, if he had only been able to reach + him. But a clumsy, heavy secutor never could reach a nimble, agile + retiarius. The one Brinnaria was watching was more than usually + light-footed and skipped about his adversary in a taunting, teasing way. + Again and again he cast his net intentionally too short, merely to show + how easily he could recover it and escape his opponent’s onset. He danced, + capered, pretended to be lame and that he could not avoid being overtaken, + led his pursuer on, out-manoeuvred him, derided him; twice he lunged + through the flapping straps of his kilt and grazed his thigh. The secutor + was barely scratched, but his blood trickled down his shin-guard and he + was limping. + </p> + <p> + Then, all in a flash, the retiarius pirouetted too rashly, slipped on ton + the sand, fell sprawling, failed to rise in time, and was slashed deeply + all down one calf. He rolled over in a last effort to escape, but the + secutor kicked him in the ribs and, before he could recover, sent the + trident spinning with a second kick and set his foot upon his victim’s + neck. So standing he rolled his eyes over that part of the audience + nearest him to discover whether it was the pleasure of the lookers-on that + the defeated man should be killed or spared. + </p> + <p> + Now it so happened that nearly all the spectators in that part of the + audience were watching a far more exciting contest farther out in the + arena, where two Indian elephants, each manned by a crew of five picked + men, were clashing in a terrific struggle No one, except Brinnaria, had + any eyes for the plight of the young retiarius below them The secutor + beheld indifferent faces gazing over his head The few thumbs he could see + pointed outward. Brinnaria, to be sure, was holding out her right arm, + thumb flat, and doing her best to attract the secutor’s attention. She + failed. He glanced, indeed, at the Vestals, but as three of them sat + impassive he missed Brinnaria’s imperious gesture. He prepared to put his + foe to death. First, however, he looked further along the front rows to + make sure that he had the permission of the general audience, since the + occupants of the Imperial box and of the Vestals loge seemed to ignore + him. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria perceived that he would probably not look again in her + direction; that as soon as his roving eyes came back from their unhurried + survey of the audience, he would deliver the fatal blow. She quickly + knotted the corner of her robe to the arm of her chair, squirmed out of + it, and threw it over the parapet. The robe of a Roman lady was sleeveless + and seamless, rather like a very long pair of very thin blankets, all in + one piece. Tied, as she had tied it, by one corner, it made a sort of rope + as it hung. She had acted so quickly that no one noticed her, not even + Manlia, who sat next her, staring fascinatedly at the spectacle of the + wrestling elephants and their warring crews. + </p> + <p> + Grasping her robe firmly with both hands, escaping by a hair’s-breadth the + despairing clutch of the horrified Manlia, Brinnaria half vaulted, half + rolled over the parapet, swung sailor-fashion to the rope her robe formed, + went down it, hand over hand, raced across the sand and faced the + victorious secutor. + </p> + <p> + He, although a foreigner and a savage, had been long enough in Rome to + know perfectly what a Vestal was and he recoiled from her in a panic no + less than he would have felt had the goddess Vesta herself come down from + the sky to balk him of his prey. + </p> + <p> + The next instant no one was regarding the death-struggle of the elephants, + nor any other of the scores of fights ended, ending, under way or just + begun. Every human being in the audience was staring at the amazing + spectacle of a Vestal virgin, clad only in her thin, clinging tunic, + standing over a fallen retiarius and facing an appalled and dumbfounded + secutor. + </p> + <p> + The place fell very still. So still that the shrill voice of a + street-gamin, a boy from the Via Sacra, was audible throughout the vast + enclosure from gallery to gallery. He yelled in his cutting falsetto: + “Good for you, Sis!” + </p> + <p> + But his neighbors silenced him at once and not even any other ragamuffin + lifted his voice. The audience were startled mute. They were quite ready + to applaud the girl’s daring, but the shocking impropriety of her breach + of decorum struck them dumb. + </p> + <p> + The Emperor, roused from his meditations by the sudden hush, looked about + him for the cause of it and saw the situation. He leaned forward, arm out, + thumb flat against the extended fingers. The secutor sheathed his sword. + </p> + <p> + Manlia, with great presence of mind, untied the dangling robe and dropped + it over the parapet. One of the arena attendants carried it to Brinnaria + and she put it on. But she would not stir and stood straddling the fallen + lad until one of the Emperor’s aides came out of one of the low doors in + the arena-wall, crossed to her and assured her that the defeated retiarius + would be spared and cared for. Then she suffered herself to be led back to + her seat, by way of the door in the wall and passages and stairs never + meant for any Vestal to tread. + </p> + <p> + Not until they saw Brinnaria move off in charge of the staff-officer did + the audience let loose their pent-up feelings. The place pulsated with a + roar like that of a great waterfall in a deep gorge, salvo after salvo of + cheers swelling and merging. The deep boom of their applause pursued + Brinnaria and made her cower. The people would never forget her now. They + were in ecstasy. She was their darling. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII - AUDIENCE + </h2> + <p> + ON the drive homeward from that unforgettable gladiatorial exhibition + Manlia and Gargilia shared the second state coach: in the first sat + Brinnaria by Causidiena. + </p> + <p> + “My child,” Causidiena queried, “what ever made you do it?” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t know,” Brinnaria replied. “I did it before I thought.” + </p> + <p> + “Well!” said her elder philosophically. “It is done now and cannot be + helped. But please try to remember that a Vestal is expected to control + herself at all times, never to act without forethought, to reflect long + before she acts, to do nothing unusual, to be very sure in each instance + that what she is about to do is wholly becoming to a Vestal.” + </p> + <p> + “I’ll keep on trying,” Brinnaria replied mutinously, “but I was not + constructed to be a Vestal. I always knew it; I know it now and I am + afraid I’ll continue my blundering through the conventions. I’m built that + way.” + </p> + <p> + She had to endure a second long lecture from Faltonius Bambilio. She + listened submissively enough, but vouchsafed not one word of self-defence, + rejoinder or comment; and, when urged to speak, she was obstinately + silent. + </p> + <p> + “My daughter,” Faltonius droned at her, “remember that, since your + entrance into the order of Vestals, I stand to you in the relation of + parent to his own child. You should confide in me as in your spiritual + father.” + </p> + <p> + “I should do nothing of the kind,” Brinnaria refuted him. “I know the + statutes of the order better than that. Up to the days of the Divine + Augustus, the Pontifex Maximus inhabited the house next to the house of + the Vestals and stood in the closest relation of fatherhood towards them. + But since he went to live on the Palatine and made us a present of his + house we have occupied all this Atrium which was built in the place of the + two houses. Since then no one has been in the same intimate relation of + control over us. The Emperors have always held the office of Pontifex + Maximus and as such each Emperor has been the spiritual father of the + Vestals. The Emperor is my spiritual father and you are not.” + </p> + <p> + “Your self-opinionated talk does you little credit,” Faltonius retorted. + “Since you know so much you must know also that for many years each + Emperor has designated some priest as Pontifex of Vesta to be his deputy + and to stand in the closest relation of parental oversight towards the + members of your consecrated order; I am that deputy.” + </p> + <p> + “I have no desire to confide in a deputy,” Brinnaria told him, “or to + consider the deputy as my real spiritual father. If I feel inclined to + confide I’ll make my confidences to my genuine spiritual father, not to + his understrapper.” + </p> + <p> + Bambilio was piqued and spoke sourly. + </p> + <p> + “The Emperor,” he said, “will be far from pleased with my report of you.” + </p> + <p> + “It will make no difference to me or to him what you report or whether you + make any report or not,” spoke Brinnaria. “I’m going to have a talk with + him myself.” + </p> + <p> + “Doubtless,” Bambilio meditated. “He has sent for you to rebuke you.” + </p> + <p> + “He has done nothing of the kind,” she retorted vigorously. “He has more + sense. And if he had sent for me I should not have gone. I know my rights. + If he wanted to talk to me, he’d have to come to me here. But as, in this + case, I wanted to talk to him, I have asked for an audience and the day + and the hour have been fixed. I am to have an audience to-morrow morning. + And now, as I am to talk to him myself, I see no reason why I should spend + more time being bored by his deputy. If you please, I should be obliged if + you would terminate this interview.” + </p> + <p> + Astounded and dumb, Faltonius bowed himself out. + </p> + <p> + Causidiena suggested that she accompany Brinnaria on her visit to the + Palace. + </p> + <p> + “It would be lovely to have you with me,” Brinnaria said, “and I am ever + so grateful for your offer. You are a dear and I love you. I shall want + you and wish for you all the way there, all the time I am there and all + the way back. I shall be scared to death. But I must go alone. In the + first place it is my right, if I were only six years old, to have audience + with the Emperor alone whenever I ask for it and as often as I ask for it. + I am not going to abate an iota of my rights merely for my own comfort. In + the second place, I must go through this unhelped and unsupported all by + myself. I know it; I must fight it out alone and come through alone. He’ll + be sympathetic, if I deserve it. If I don’t deserve sympathy from him I + don’t deserve it from you, nor your company and your countenance, either.” + </p> + <p> + Scared Brinnaria was, but even through her worst qualms of panic she was + uplifted by an elating sense of her own importance. Not her encounter with + Verus and his retinue, not her having remained seated when Aurelius + entered the Colosseum had so poignantly made her realize how exalted was a + Vestal. She drove to the Palace alone, not in her light carriage, but in + her huge state coach, feeling very small in her white robes amid all that + crimson upholstery, but also feeling herself a very great personage. + </p> + <p> + Her reception at the Palace made her feel even more so. The magnificence + of the courtyard in which her coach came to a standstill, the ceremonial + of turning out the guard in her honor, the formality with which she was + conducted from corridor to corridor and from hail to hail, the immensity + and gorgeousness of the vast audience hall in which she was finally left + alone with the Emperor; all these did not so much overwhelm her as exalt + her. She felt herself indeed a princess. + </p> + <p> + The Emperor greeted Brinnaria kindly, was as sympathetic as possible and + put her at her ease at once. He soothed her, made her seat herself + comfortably and said: + </p> + <p> + “Don’t worry about what you have done. You are certainly the most + startling Vestal since Gegania, but you have really done nothing actually + wrong. So do not agitate yourself about what cannot be altered. The + question which concerns me is, what will you do next?” + </p> + <p> + “I think,” said Brinnaria, “that the next thing I shall do will be to + procure a good strong rope and hang myself.” + </p> + <p> + “My child,” the shocked Emperor exclaimed, “you really should not speak so + flippantly of so dreadful an idea!” + </p> + <p> + “I’m not a particle flippant this time,” Brinnaria declared. “I know I am + often flippant, but not now, not a bit. I am just as serious as life and + death. I have thought of nothing but suicide since Trebellius conducted me + back to my seat. I can’t get the idea out of my head and that is why I + have come to you.” + </p> + <p> + “Tell me all about it from the beginning,” the Emperor said, comfortingly. + “What put the notion into your head?” + </p> + <p> + “In the beginning,” said Brinnaria, “you know that I didn’t want to be a + Vestal.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I know,” he assured her. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” she went on, “now I am a Vestal and must serve out my thirty + years, I’m really trying to do my best to be all I ought to be. I really + am. I’ve tried hard to be sedate and grave and collected and reticent and + slow-spoken, and all the rest of it. And I think I haven’t done badly most + of the time. But after all, I’m myself and I can’t be changed. Every once + in a while myself boils up in me under the scum of convention I’ve spread + on top of the cauldron, so to speak. I don’t mean to let go and be natural + and spontaneous. I’ve done the awful thing before I know I’m going to do + it. I didn’t mean to pour the pork gravy over old Gubba’s head; but she + looked so funny I just did it without knowing what I was going to do. I + didn’t mean to throw Manlia’s pet monkey out of the window on to Moccilo’s + head. But her shock of red curls looked to be just the place on which to + drop little Dito, and I dropped Dito before I thought. It’s just the same + way about all the other dreadful things I do. I don’t mean to do them, but + I do do them.” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t worry,” the Emperor said, “you’ll outgrow all that.” + </p> + <p> + “I trust I may,” Brinnaria sighed, “but how about the harm I’m doing as I + go along?” + </p> + <p> + “You haven’t done any harm, not any harm that matters,” the Emperor + soothed her. + </p> + <p> + “Are you perfectly sure of that?” she persisted. “If you could make me + perfectly sure of that, I should feel a great deal better. Are you sure?” + </p> + <p> + “I can’t see any real harm in your pranks,” the Emperor said. “I certainly + should not encourage you to continue or repeat such conduct or to revert + to it, but I see no real harm in it.” + </p> + <p> + “You think I have not unfitted myself for my duties?” + </p> + <p> + The Emperor meditated. + </p> + <p> + “To a certainty,” he said, “if your conduct was intentional, if you + thought up these pranks of yours and perpetrated them, with deliberate + consciousness of what you were about to do, I should hold you gravely + unfitted for your position. But you are manifestly sincere in your efforts + to be all you ought to be and are trying genuinely to overcome your + tendencies and to outgrow your coltishness. I am of the opinion that, if + you curb yourself from now on, you have done no harm.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you think,” Brinnaria insisted, “that if you called a meeting of all + the colleges of pontiffs and put the question to them, that they would + make the same answer you have made?” + </p> + <p> + “You amazing child!” Aurelius exclaimed. “Why should you assume the + attitude of advocate against yourself? Why suggest a synod to discuss your + conduct and express an official opinion on it? Is not my opinion enough? + Even if I saw fit to call a synod and all the members of it held the same + views and expressed them never so cogently, do you not realize that, if my + views were contrary to theirs, it would be my view that would prevail; + that it would not only be my privilege and my right but my imperative duty + to override any opposition and to enforce my decision? Are you not + satisfied with the opinions of the man who is at once Emperor and Chief + Pontifex of Rome?” + </p> + <p> + “But,” Brinnaria persisted, “I am not at all sure that you are speaking as + Emperor and Chief Pontifex. To me you seem to speak as a kindly husband + and father very sympathetic towards another man’s little daughter who + comes to you in deep trouble of spirit.” + </p> + <p> + “You amazing child!” the Emperor repeated. “You talk as if you were forty + years old. Tell me precisely what is troubling you, for I must have failed + to fathom it, and be sure I shall reply officially as Emperor and + Pontifex.” + </p> + <p> + “What troubles me,” said Brinnaria, “is the dread that my wild and + tomboyish behavior may be as displeasing to the Goddess as coquettishness + or wantonness. I am in terror for fear my ministrations may be unpleasant + to her, may be sacrilegious, may not only fail to win her blessing upon + Rome but may draw down her curse upon all of us. I never thought of that + until I stood there all alone out in the arena, astraddle of that + beautiful boy whom I just had to save, feeling all of a sudden horribly + naked in my one thin, clinging undergarment, with two hundred thousand + eyes staring at me. It came over me with a rush that I was not only never + going to be fit for a Vestal but that I wasn’t fit for a Vestal and I + hadn’t been fit for a Vestal; that I not only was going to do harm, not + only was doing harm, but had done harm. If the Parthians are devastating + the frontier along the Euphrates and the Marcommani and the Quadi are + storming the outposts along the Danube and the Rhine, perhaps that is + because my presence in the Atrium is an offence in the eyes of Vesta, my + prayers an affront to my Goddess, my care of her altar-fire an insult to + her. I tremble to think of it. And I cannot get it out of my head. I wake + up in the dark and think of it and it keeps me awake, sometimes, longer + than I ever lay awake in the dark in my life. It scares me. I am a Vestal + to bring prosperity and glory to the Empire, to pray prayers that will + surely be answered. Suppose the Goddess is deaf to my prayers because I am + unworthy to pray to her? Suppose that my prayers infuriate her because I + am vile in her sight? Suppose I am causing disaster to the Empire? I keep + thinking all that. Do you wonder that I think of suicide, of hanging + myself, like the two Oculatas?” + </p> + <p> + “My child!” Aurelius cut in. “You have not done anything that justifies + your comparing yourself to the Oculata sisters.” + </p> + <p> + “We’ll come back to that later,” Brinnaria replied. “Just now let us stick + to the point. Do you think my fears justified or not?” + </p> + <p> + “Decidedly not,” the Emperor rejoined, without an instant’s hesitation, + “and I speak not as a soft-hearted parent who sees the soul of his own + daughter looking at him out of the eyes of every little girl whose heart + troubles her, I speak as the guardian of the interests of the Empire, as + the warder of the destinies of Rome. + </p> + <p> + “Your misbehavior has certainly been grave, I admit; and, if done + maliciously, would entail all the harm you imagine. But the Goddess can + see not only your actions but your thoughts. Your scruples do you high + credit. I will not say you are as pleasing to the Goddess as would be a + grave and sedate ministrant, but I do solemnly decide and declare that you + need have no further dread of any past, present or future harm to the + Empire or to Rome from your past behavior, if you honestly try to err no + more. This is my official decision. Be at peace in your heart.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria drew a deep breath. + </p> + <p> + “You certainly comfort me,” she said, “but I just know I’ll boil over + again and not once, but many times.” + </p> + <p> + “Vesta will comprehend,” he said, “if your derelictions are less and less + frequent and less and less violent; if you succeed a little better from + month to month and from year to year. She will not be pleased with your + lapses, if you lapse again, but she will be pleased at your struggles with + yourself and with your good intentions. She will smile upon your + ministrations and hearken to your petitions. Be comforted.” + </p> + <p> + “I am,” said Brinnaria, “as far as that trifle goes, but now we come to my + real and chief concern. Suppose I am as detestable in the sight of my + Goddess as the Oculata sisters were, and for a similar reason; suppose I + ought to hang myself as dead as they hanged themselves. Oughtn’t I, then, + to hang myself?” + </p> + <p> + “You incredible creature!” Aurelius cried. “I’ve met women by the + thousand, by the tens of thousands, but never a girl like you. What do you + mean? What can you mean? You cannot mean what you seem to mean. Explain + yourself. Be explicit. Tell me all about what is troubling you. I’ll + understand and put your mind at ease.” + </p> + <p> + “I trust you may,” Brinnaria sighed, “but I dread that you cannot. I mean + just what I seem to mean.” + </p> + <p> + “Impossible!” the Emperor cried, “a child of ten, but a few months out of + her mother’s care and those few months in the care of Causidiena! And I + wouldn’t believe it of you if you were twice your age.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh,” said Brinnaria, “I haven’t acted like Caparronia and the two + Oculatas, and I shouldn’t if I were never so much left to myself. But you + said yourself that Vesta can read my thoughts and I knew that without your + telling me so. Suppose that my thoughts are as abominable in the sight of + my Goddess as was the behavior of those three unfortunates? Oughtn’t I to + hang myself and be done with myself?” + </p> + <p> + “Indubitably,” said the Emperor, “if the facts were as your words imply. + But you are just frightening yourself to death with vapors like a child + afraid of its own shadow. Be explicit, be definite, and I can put you at + peace with yourself at once and permanently.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria drew a deep breath. + </p> + <p> + “To begin with,” she said, “you know that, before I was taken for a + Vestal, I was plighted to Caius Segontius Almo.” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly, I knew that,” Aurelius replied. “All Rome knew of his ride + from Falerii and of his arriving just too late.” + </p> + <p> + “You knew I was in love with him?” + </p> + <p> + “I assumed that,” the Emperor told her. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” she said, a pathetic break in her voice, “I can’t make myself stop + loving Almo. I always have loved him, I always shall, I love him now.” + </p> + <p> + “I assumed that too,” the Emperor said. “All Rome knows of his resolve to + remain unmarried, to wait thirty years for you, to marry you the very day + you are free. I assumed that he would not be so constant unless he + believed you equally constant. No harm in that! You have a right to marry + at the end of your service and a right to look forward to it.” + </p> + <p> + “That is what troubles me,” Brinnaria said. “I cannot feel that I have a + right to look forward to it.” + </p> + <p> + “Now listen to me,” said the Emperor. “Few Vestals have left the Atrium at + the end of their thirty years. Not every one that has left has married, + the third Terentia withdrew at the end of her term and did not marry, nor + did the only Licinia who ever completed her service. But Appellasia + married and so did Quetonia and Seppia. Others have married after their + service, though it is thought unlucky. The right to leave the order + implies the right to marry after leaving. The right to leave implies the + right to mean to leave, to plan to leave, to look forward to leaving and + marrying. You have that right, like any other Vestal. Does that satisfy + you?” + </p> + <p> + “It does not,” Brinnaria asserted. “I know a Vestal has a right to leave + and marry and to plan to leave and marry. But, after thirty years of + service, or nearly thirty years of service, to plan to leave and marry and + to look forward to it for a few days or months appear to me very different + from looking forward to it from the first hour of my service, and knowing + not only that I mean to marry, but just the man I mean to marry, and + loving him all the time, and longing for him. I can’t help it; I feel that + way, and I dread that I am not an acceptable ministrant and I tremble for + fear of the consequences to you and to Rome. I think I ought to hang + myself and be done with it. You haven’t comforted me a bit.” + </p> + <p> + The Emperor stood up. + </p> + <p> + “Sit still!” he commanded, sharply. + </p> + <p> + He paced up and down the huge audience hail; paced its full length three + times each way. + </p> + <p> + Then he reseated himself. + </p> + <p> + “Do you sleep soundly?” he queried. + </p> + <p> + “Like a top, mostly,” said Brinnaria. “I go to sleep the instant I put my + head on the pillow. Generally I sleep all night long until my maid wakes + me up in the morning. Many nights, but not every night, nor most nights, I + wake up with a dreadful start, as if I had had a nightmare, and lie there + quaking for fear I am ruining Rome. But even then I generally go to sleep + again pretty quick.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you think of Almo when you wake up in the dark?” he pursued. + </p> + <p> + “Mighty little,” she declared. “In the dark all I can think of is Rome and + my duty. I often reflect how immediately and how greatly being taken for a + Vestal changes a girl and alters, not only her outlook on life and her + ways of thinking, but also her feelings. It has cooled and steadied me + more than I could have believed. When Daddy quarrelled with Segontius and + told me he would not let me marry Caius I used to feel as if I were going + to suffocate, used to feel that way sometimes for hours at a time, used to + suffer horribly, used to wake up in the dark and feel as if, if I could + not get to Almo right then, at once, I should die, as if I should be + choked to death by the thumping of my heart. I used to feel that way at + dinner, when out visiting any time of day, for hours. I never feel that + way now. And after Daddy and Segontius made up their quarrel and it was + arranged that I was to marry Almo, I used to feel as if it would kill me + to wait four years, I used to grit my teeth to think of it, of waiting + four years for him; used to think of it an day long, no matter what I was + doing. And I used to wake up in the dark and roll round in bed and bite + the bed-clothes with rage at the thought of the long waiting ahead of me. + I wanted Almo the way you want a drink, just before noon of a hot day, + when you have been travelling since before sunrise and the carriage creaks + and jolts and the road is all dusty and there is no wind and you feel as + if you would rather die than go any longer without a drink. I used to want + that way to be married to Almo. + </p> + <p> + “I never feel that way now. I want him and I want to be married to him, + but I look forward to it as I look forward to the next race-day at the + Circus or the next fight of gladiators at the Colosseum, as a desirable + and delightful time sure to come but by no means to be hurried, as + something I can very well do without until the time comes. The thought of + Almo is always somewhere back in my mind ready to come forward when I have + nothing else to think of. But I think of him placidly and calmly and never + when on duty nor when at my lessons nor when at meals. And at night, + never.” + </p> + <p> + “My daughter,” said Aurelius, smiling at her, “listen well to me. I speak + as Chief Pontifex and as Emperor of Rome. I command you to forget your + qualms and to banish your fears. Officially as Chief Pontifex I judge you + a ministrant most acceptable to your Goddess, as a most fit and suitable + Vestal. I judge that no girl naturally austere, frigid and self-contained + could be half so pleasing to Vesta as a tempestuous child like you who + curbs her temper and schools her outward behavior all she can in the + effort to be all she ought to be; whose feelings even tame themselves + without any effort of hers in the holy atmosphere of the Atrium. + </p> + <p> + “Manifestly you are telling the truth about your acts, your impulses and + your thoughts, I judge you a pure-minded, clean-hearted Vestal, most + suitable for her duties. Vesta understands and is glad of your good + intentions and pleased with your struggles to master yourself. You are + most acceptable to her. You will bring no curses on Rome, but your prayers + will be heard and you will bring many blessings on the Empire. Be + comforted!” + </p> + <p> + “I am,” said Brinnaria simply, “and I shall stay comforted.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BOOK II—THE REVOLT OF DESPONDENCY + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII - SCOURGING + </h2> + <p> + AFTER her audience with the Emperor, Brinnaria felt more at peace with + herself, succeeded better in curbing her native wildness, incurred less + and less disapprobation and won increasingly the respect and affection of + her elders. Her outbursts were less frequent and less violent; she learned + to hold her tongue, to appear calm, to stand with dignity, to move with + deliberation. Her admiration for Causidiena and Numisia and of their + statuesque attitudes and queenly movements helped her a great deal by both + conscious and unconscious imitation. It helped her more to find that she + was succeeding better than Meffia. At first Brinnaria had been notably + more prone than Meffia to assume gawky or ungainly postures, and, as she + was the bigger of the two, she was the more conspicuous. + </p> + <p> + Before long she began to improve in her bearing, but Meffia did not. + Brinnaria held herself erect, head up and shoulders back. Meffia slouched + and sagged along, a semi-boneless creature, her clothing hanging on her + baggily and unbecomingly. + </p> + <p> + The difference was particularly noticeable at meals. + </p> + <p> + In the Roman world all well-to-do people lay down to meals luxuriously + extended on broad sofas. Brinnaria had always had trouble about her + meal-time attitudes, and her mild easy-going mother had often had to speak + to her and bid her remember herself. In the Atrium she had found her legs + kept up their old habits of getting into strange postures, her feet seemed + distressingly in evidence, and her knees always in the wrong place. + </p> + <p> + Causidiena, tactful and sympathetic, solved the problem of how to + influence her by getting her to watch Meffia and to contrast her with + Manlia and Gargilia. + </p> + <p> + They were almost as statuesque as their two elders, who reclined at table + in attitudes scarcely less majestic than those of the Fates on the + Parthenon pediment. Meffia sprawled uncouthly and was forever spreading + her knees apart, generally with one up in the air. Her postures were so + disgusting that Brinnaria was hot all over with determination not to be + like Meffia. + </p> + <p> + She succeeded. + </p> + <p> + Great was her exultation when she perceived that it was no longer + Brinnaria and Meffia who gave cause for concern to Causidiena, but Meffia + and Brinnaria, great her triumph when she made sure that Causidiena had + ceased worrying about her, or worried only at long intervals, but was + perpetually solicitous concerning Meffia. + </p> + <p> + Meffia was indeed a cause of solicitude. She was stupid, slow and idle + about her lessons, tearful on the slightest provocation, inert at all + times and generally ailing, though never actually ill. She never looked + clean, no matter how faithfully her maid toiled over her; she could + somehow reduce, in an amazingly short time, the neatest attire to the + semblance of mussed and rumpled rags; she slouched and shambled rather + than walked, she lolled rather than sat. + </p> + <p> + Her hands were feeble and ineffective, her writing remained a childish + scrawl, no matter how much she was made to practice, she dropped things + continually and frequently spilt her food at meal-time. Most of all was + her awkwardness manifest in the temple. + </p> + <p> + The temple was circular, its roof supported by eighteen splendid marble + columns, the intervals between which were walled up to the height of not + much more than five feet, the space from the top of the low wall to the + roof being filled in with magnificent lattices of heavy cast bronze; so + that the temple was a pleasant, breezy place on warm days, but very + draughty in chilly weather and bitterly cold in winter. It contained no + statue, nor any other object of worship, except in the center of its floor + the circular altar on which burned the sacred fire, solemnly extinguished + and ceremonially rekindled on each first of March, the New Year’s day of + the primitive Roman Calendar, but which must never at any other time be + permitted to go out, upon whose continual burning depended the prosperity + of Rome, according to the belief implicitly held by all Romans from the + earliest days until Brinnaria’s time, and for centuries after. The + extinction of the perpetual fire, whether by accident or by neglect, was + looked upon as a presage of frightful disaster to the nation, as an omen + of impending horrors, almost as the probable cause of national + misfortunes. Without qualification or doubt the people of Brinnaria’s + world believed that, as long as Vesta’s holy fire burned steadily and + brightly, Rome was assured the favor and protection of her gods; that, + should it die out, their wrath was certain to be manifested in terrible + afflictions involving the entire population. + </p> + <p> + The care of the fire was the chief duty of Brinnaria and her five + associates, as it had been of their predecessors for more than nine + hundred years. As maple was the sacred wood in the Roman ritual, maple + only was used for the holy fire. The size of the pieces used and their + shape was also a matter of immemorial ordinance. Each piece was about a + cubit long, about the length of the forearm of an average adult, measured + from elbow to finger-tips. Each piece must be wedge-shaped, with the bark + on the rounded side and the other two sides meeting at a sharp edge where + had been the heart of the trunk or branch from which it had been cut. Each + piece must have been clean cleft with a strong sweep of the axe. The + pieces varied from sections of stout trunks to mere slivers from slender + boughs. All were of dry, well-seasoned wood, carefully prepared. + </p> + <p> + The placing of these on the fire was a matter of ritual and might be done + no otherwise than as prescribed. It was quite a delicate art to lay the + necessary piece in just the right place and at just the right angle; it + required more than a little good sense and discretion to know just when a + piece was required, for the fire must not burn violently nor must it + smoulder, it must be steady but not strong. This discretion, this good + sense, Meffia was slow to acquire. The art of laying the wood properly she + acquired very imperfectly. She did it well enough under direction; but, + even with Causidiena watching her, she was likely to drop the piece of + wood on the floor, or, what was worse, to drop it on the fire instead of + laying it on. The scattering of ashes on the floor of the temple was held + unseemly, that live coals should fall from the Altar was considered almost + sacrilegious. Meffia, more than once, perpetrated such appalling blunders. + Very tardily did she learn her duties; only after four years could she be + trusted to take her regular turn in care of the fire and to stand her + watch of half a night each time her turn came between sunset and sunrise. + </p> + <p> + During these four years she had grown into a not unpersonable young woman, + for Roman girls were generally young women at fourteen years of age. She + was never ruddy or robust, always pale, delicate-looking and + fragile-seeming, never actually ill, but usually ailing, peevish, limp and + querulous. Life in the Atrium largely consisted in the effort to keep + Meffia well, to make sure that she was not overtired, to foresee and + forestall opportunities for her to blunder, to repair the consequences of + her mistakes, generally to protect and guide her. + </p> + <p> + In the same four years Brinnaria had developed into a muscular girl, tall, + amply fleshed, robust, rosy, full of healthy vigor, lithe and strong. She + was radiantly handsome, knew it, and was proud of it. Her duties she knew + to the last, least detail, and Causidiena trusted her quite as much as + Manlia or Gargilia. + </p> + <p> + One spring night it was Mafia’s watch until midnight, at which time + Brinnaria was to relieve her. It was the custom that, at the end of her + watch, the Vestal on duty made sure that the fire was burning properly and + then left it and herself waked her relief, it being entirely inconceivable + that, under roof and protected all round by bronze lattices, a properly + burning fire could go out in the brief space of time required to leave the + temple, enter the court-yard, cross it, ascend the stairs and for the + relieving Vestal to reach the temple by the same path reversed. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria was a sound sleeper. She woke in the pitch dark with the instant + conviction that she had slept long past midnight, with a sudden qualm of + apprehension, of boding, almost of terror. + </p> + <p> + She was a methodical creature for all her wildness, and very neat in her + habits. By touch, almost without groping, she dressed in the dark. + Silently she slipped out of her room, noiselessly she closed the door, + softly she groped her way to the stairs, down the stairs out into the + courtyard to the corner of the colonnade. + </p> + <p> + There, a pace or two beyond the pillars, under the open sky, she peered + up. + </p> + <p> + The gray light of dawn was faintly hinted in the blackish canopy of cloud + above her. + </p> + <p> + Swiftly she flitted the length of the court, whisking past the dimly-seen + columns; swiftly she traversed the three small rooms at its eastern end, + panting she plunged through the dark doorway into the dark temple. + </p> + <p> + There was no flicker of fire-light on the carved and gilded panels of the + lofty ceiling; the ceiling, in fact, was invisible, unguessable in the + gloom. + </p> + <p> + There was no glow upon the altar, not even a glimmer of redness through + the ashes. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria held her hand over the ashes. Nowhere could she discern more + than the merest hint of warmth. + </p> + <p> + On the back of her hands, as on the back of her neck, she could feel the + chill of the faintly stirring dawn wind that breathed through the bronze + lattices and across the temple interior. + </p> + <p> + She felt among the wood piled ready, found a slender sliver of a cleft + branchlet, and methodically ploughed the ashes across and across. She did + bring to the surface a faint redness, but not even one coal which could + have been blown into sufficient heat to start a flame on her splinter of + dry maple. + </p> + <p> + A sound assailed her ears. + </p> + <p> + Meffia snoring! + </p> + <p> + Guided by the gurgling noise she found Meffia crumpled in a heap on the + mosaic floor against the base of one of the pillars. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria kicked her once viciously and shook her repeatedly. + </p> + <p> + Slowly, dazedly, Meffia half awoke, whining: + </p> + <p> + “Where am I?” she gasped. + </p> + <p> + “In the temple!” Brinnaria replied. + </p> + <p> + “Oh!” Meffia exclaimed, “what has happened?” + </p> + <p> + “You went to sleep, you little fool,” Brinnaria raged at her, “and the + fire has gone out.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh! what shall we do?” wailed Meffia, “what shall we do?” + </p> + <p> + “Do?” snarled Brinnaria. “It’s plain enough what you have to do. Go to + your room, go to bed and go’ to sleep, stay asleep, keep your mouth shut, + say nothing, pretend you woke me at midnight, pretend you had nothing to + do with the fire going out, pretend you know nothing about it, keep your + face straight, keep mum, leave the rest to me!” + </p> + <p> + “But,” wailed Meffia, “if they think you let the fire go out you’ll be + scourged for it.” + </p> + <p> + “Well,” snapped Brinnaria, “what’s that to you? Go to bed.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” Meffia insisted, “I let it go out. I ought to take the blame, not + you. I ought to be scourged with you.” + </p> + <p> + “You insufferable little idiot,” Brinnaria hurled at her, “you never could + stand a flogging, you’d die of it most likely. To a certainty you’d be + ill, and have to be sent off to be nursed and kept away for a month or + more to recover. I won’t have Causidiena worried with any such + performances. And as sure as the fire is out, you’d behave like the poor + creature you are. You’d scream and howl and faint and shame us all. + </p> + <p> + “No flogging of you if I can help it! + </p> + <p> + “Now, go to bed!” + </p> + <p> + “But,” protested Meffia, “why need either of us be flogged? I have tinder + and flint and steel in my room. We could light the fire and no one ever + know it.” + </p> + <p> + “You imbecile child! You silly baby! You wicked, horrible, sacrilegious + girl!” Brinnaria stormed. “You irreligious, atheistical, blasphemous + wretch! To save your hide you’d desecrate the temple, pollute the Altar, + anger Vesta, make all our prayers in vain, bring down curses without count + on Rome and all of us. Be silent! Don’t you dare to speak another word! + Off to bed with you!” + </p> + <p> + “But,” Meffia trembled, “you hate me; why do you take my punishment?” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t hate you,” hissed Brinnaria. “I despise you! And I’ve told you + why I’m going to take the licking. Off to bed with you!” + </p> + <p> + “But,” Meffia still persisted, “what will you do?” + </p> + <p> + “Do?” whispered Brinnaria. “Do? Why I’ll curl up where you’ve left a warm + spot on the floor and go to sleep and sleep till some one finds me. I can + sleep any time.” + </p> + <p> + “But think of the scourging!” Meffia insisted. + </p> + <p> + “I shan’t,” Brinnaria maintained. “I shan’t think of it a moment. I never + did mind a licking. It’s bad enough while it lasts, but soon over. No + licking will worry me. I’ll sleep like a top. Now to bed with you, or I’ll + break every bone in your worthless body!” Meffia started to speak again; + Brinnaria caught her gullet in one strong, young hand, clutched her neck + with the other, and craftily pressed one thumb behind one of Meffia’s + ears. + </p> + <p> + Meffia squeaked like a snared rabbit. + </p> + <p> + “There!” Brinnaria whispered fiercely. “Now you know how badly I can hurt + you when I try. If you let on that it was you and not I that let the fire + go out what I did to you then won’t amount to anything to what I’ll do to + you. I’ll kill you. Promise you’ll keep mum.” + </p> + <p> + “I promise,” gasped Meffia. + </p> + <p> + “Go to bed!” Brinnaria hissed. + </p> + <p> + Meffia went. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria, left alone, did all she could to make the ashes on the Altar + look like the remains of a fire that had died out of itself, to efface all + signs of her efforts to find live coals under the ashes. She judged that + she had succeeded pretty well. + </p> + <p> + Then she composed herself on the floor and was asleep in ten breaths. + </p> + <p> + There Manlia found her when the daylight was already strong. + </p> + <p> + When wakened Brinnaria merely remarked: + </p> + <p> + “It can’t be helped. I always did sleep too sound.” That day was a gloomy + day in Rome. The report was noised abroad that the holy fire had gone out + and a chill of horror spread through all classes of the population, from + the richest to the poorest. + </p> + <p> + The Romans were very far from being what they are represented to have been + by unsympathetic modern writers on them. Practically all modern writers + have been unsympathetic with the Romans, for the Romans were Pagans and + all modern writers on them have been more or less Christians, chiefly + interested in Pagans because most Pagans were in the later centuries + converted to Christianity. With that fact in the foreground of their + thoughts and with the utterances of Roman skeptics and dilettantes well in + view, most modern writers assert what they sincerely believe, that the + Romans had only the vaguest and most lukewarm religious faith, and no + vivid devout convictions at all. + </p> + <p> + The facts were entirely the other way. There were agnostics among the + cultured leisure classes, there were unbelievers of various degrees + everywhere in the towns and cities. But the mass of the population, not + only universally, all over the countryside, but collectively in the urban + centers, believed in their gods as implicitly as they believed in heat and + cold, birth and death, fire and water, pleasure and pain. Government, from + the Roman point of view, was a partnership between the Roman people, as + represented by their senate, and the gods. Under the Republic every + election had appeared to the Romans who participated in it to be a rite + for ascertaining what man would be most pleasing to the gods to fill the + position in question. Under the Empire the selection of a new Emperor, + whether a confirmation by the senate of the previous Emperor’s accredited + heir, or an acclamation by the army of the soldiers’ favorite, appeared to + the Romans as the determination of the gods’ preference for a particular + individual as their chief partner. + </p> + <p> + The choice of war or peace, of battle or maneuvering for delay, seemed to + the Romans the taking of the advice of the gods, who manifested their + injunctions by various signs, by the appearance of the liver, heart, lungs + and kidneys of the cattle and sheep sacrificed, by the flight of birds, by + the shape of the flames of altar-fires, all regarded as definite answers + to explicit questions; who also made suggestions or gave warnings by means + of earthquakes, floods, conflagrations, pestilences, eclipses, by the + aurora borealis, by any sort of strange happening. + </p> + <p> + The extinction of the sacred fire in the Temple of Vesta was looked upon + as a categorical warning that the behavior of the Romans or of some part + of them or the conduct of the government was so displeasing to the gods + that the Empire would come to a sudden end unless matters were at once + corrected. All Romans believed that as implicitly as they believed that + food would keep them alive or that steel could kill them. + </p> + <p> + Therefore the days after Meffia let the fire go out were gloomy days in + Rome. The report of a great defeat for their army, with a terrible + slaughter of their best soldiers would not have depressed the crowds more. + </p> + <p> + The people were as dazed, numb and silent as after the first news of a + terrific disaster. Every kind of public amusement or diversion was + postponed, merry-making ceased everywhere, the wildest and most reckless + felt no inclination towards frivolity, even the games of children were + checked and repressed, gravity and solemnity enveloped the entire city and + its vast suburbs. The men talked soberly, as if at a funeral; while for + women of every degree, but especially for the matrons of the upper + classes, the three ensuing days were days of prayer and fasting. + </p> + <p> + For the Pontiffs they were anxious and busy days. + </p> + <p> + Both Emperors were away from Rome, Lucius Verus in Greece, on his way home + from Antioch and the great victories of his three years’ campaign against + the Parthians, Marcus Aurelius in Germany hastening from point to point + along the headwaters of the Rhine and Danube, desperately resisting the + pertinacious attacks of the Marcomanni. The Pontiffs were without their + chief and acted under the leadership of Faltonius Bambilio, Pontifex of + Vesta, the busiest and most anxious of them all. In consultation with the + august College of Pontiffs, hastily assembled at the Regia, a splendid + building occupying the site of Numa’s rustic palace, near the great Forum + and close to the Temple of Vesta, he arranged for the necessary ceremonial + of expiation and atonement. + </p> + <p> + Besides the fasting of the women all over the city, besides their day-long + and night-long prayers, besides the sacrifices which each matron must + personally offer in her own house, besides the sacrifices which must be + offered for the matrons in the Temple of Castor and in the less popular + women’s temples in every quarter of the city, there must he public + sacrifices of cattle, sheep and swine, there must be solemn and gorgeous + processions; every sort of ceremonial traditionally supposed to mitigate + the wrath of the gods, to placate them, to win their favor, must be + carried out with every detail of care, with the utmost magnificence. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, and above all, the negligent Vestal must be punished; and at + once the sacred fire must be ritually rekindled. + </p> + <p> + The ritual rekindling worried and exhausted Bambilio not a little. + </p> + <p> + The procedure was traditional and rigidly prescribed in every detail. The + sacred fire might not be rekindled by anything so modern as a flint and + steel, far less by anything so much more modern as a burning glass. + </p> + <p> + The primitive fire drill must be used and the fresh fire produced by the + friction of wood on wood. + </p> + <p> + The ritual prescribed that a plank of apple wood, about two inches thick, + about two feet wide and about three feet long, should be placed on a firm + support, upon which it would rest solidly without any tendency to joggle. + At its middle was bored a small circular depression, about the size of a + man’s thumb-nail and shallow. Into this was thrust the tapered end of a + round rod of maple wood about as thick as a large man’s thumb. The upper + end of the rod fitted freely into a socket in a ball of maple wood of + suitable size to be held in the left hand and pressed down so as to press + the lower end of the rod into the hole in the apple wood plank. Round the + middle of the rod was looped a bow-string kept taut by a strong bow. By + grasping the bow in his right hand and sawing it back and forth, the + operator caused the rod to whirl round, first one way and then the other, + with great velocity. The friction of its lower end soon heated up the hole + in the apple-wood plank, and round that were piled chips of dry + apple-wood, which, if the operator was strong and skilled, soon burst into + flame. + </p> + <p> + Bambilio was fat and clumsy. Before he had succeeded he was dripping with + perspiration, limp with weariness and ready to faint. But succeed he did. + The quart or more of apple-wood chips burst into flame at last; + Causidiena, standing ready with the prescribed copper sieve, caught the + blazing chips as they were tilted off the plank, conveyed them to the + Altar, placed maple splinters on them, and soon had the sacred fire + burning properly. + </p> + <p> + The punishment of the guilty Vestal was even more a matter of concern, of + trepidation. She must be scourged that very night, and, as in respect to + the rekindling of the fire, every detail of what must be done was + prescribed by immemorial tradition, long since committed to writing, among + the statutes of the order. + </p> + <p> + The scourging must be done by the Pontiff himself. + </p> + <p> + The scourge must be one with a maple-wood handle and three thongs of + leather made from the hide of a roan heifer. In each thong were knotted + the tiny, horny half-hoofs of a newborn white lamb, eight to a thong, + twenty-four in all. These bits of horny hoof tore and cut terribly the + bare back of the victim. It was prescribed that the scourge must be laid + on vigorously, not lightly. + </p> + <p> + The Vestal scourged must be entirely nude. As it would have been sacrilege + unspeakable for a man to see the ankle or shoulder of a Vestal, let alone + her entire body, it was enjoined that the scourging take place at + midnight, in a shut room, and that a woolen curtain should hang between + the Pontifex and his victim. + </p> + <p> + Bambilio was terribly wrought up at the prospect of the perplexing and + delicate duty before him. He was fat and short-winded and would suffer + from the effort of laying on the blows. He was as pious as possible and + quaked inwardly with the dread that, in spite of the dark room and the + curtain, he might catch a glimpse of his victim and bring down the wrath + of the gods on himself and on Rome. And, apart from all else, he was + shame-faced and hot and cold at the idea of being in the same room, even + in a darkened room screened by a curtain, with a naked Vestal. He blushed + and shuddered. To be sure, it was prescribed that one other Vestal was to + be in the room, on the same side of the curtain as the victim, to say when + the scourging had continued long enough and the negligent Vestal had been + sufficiently punished. But this comforted Bambilio very little. + </p> + <p> + He wished the ordeal over. + </p> + <p> + At midnight he stood in the dark, close to the curtain. The darkness was + not as dark as he should have liked. Some ghost of a glimmer of starshine + filtered into the room and he could make out the shape of the curtain. He + waited, scourge in hand. + </p> + <p> + Presently Numisia spoke, told him that Brinnaria was prepared for her + beating, took his left hand and guided it in the dark. He felt the + curtain’s edge against his wrist, felt a warm soft elbow, grasped it, and + at once gained a notion of the direction in which he was to lay on his + blows. + </p> + <p> + He struck round the other side of the curtain and felt that the scourge + met its mark, but slantingly and draggingly. He tried again and seemed to + do better. + </p> + <p> + For the third blow he made the scourge whistle through the air. + </p> + <p> + “Hit harder, you old fool,” spoke Brinnaria, “you’re barely tapping me!” + That made him angry and Brinnaria experienced as severe a scourging as any + fat old gentleman could have compassed. + </p> + <p> + She did not shriek, sob or whimper: not a sound escaped her. She suffered, + suffered acutely, particularly when one of the lamb hoofs struck a second + time on a bleeding gash in her back or on a swollen weal. But her physical + pain was drowned in a rising tide of anger and wrath. She felt the long + repressed, half-forgotten tomboy, hoyden Brinnaria surging up in her and + gaining mastery. She fairly boiled with rage, she blazed and flamed + inwardly with a conflagration of resentment. It was all she could do not + to tear down the curtain, spring on Bambilio, wrench his scourge from his + hand and lay it on him. She kept still and silent, but she felt her inward + tornado of emotion gaining strength. + </p> + <p> + When Numisia spoke Bambilio let go Brinnaria’s arm and stepped back a + pace. “My daughter,” he said, “you have been punished enough. Your + punishment is accomplished. This is sufficient.” + </p> + <p> + Then Brinnaria spoke, in a voice tense, not with pain, but with fury: + </p> + <p> + “You won’t hit me again?” + </p> + <p> + “No, my daughter,” said Bambilio, “no more.” + </p> + <p> + “You have quite done beating me?” she demanded. + </p> + <p> + “Quite done,” he replied. + </p> + <p> + Then, unexpectedly to herself, Brinnaria’s wrath boiled over. + </p> + <p> + “Then,” she fairly yelled at him, “I’m going to begin beating you. Shut + your eyes. I’m going to pull down the curtain!” + </p> + <p> + Numisia made a horrified grab at Brinnaria and missed her. Brinnaria gave + her a push; Numisia slipped, fell her length on the floor, struck her head + and either fainted or was stunned. + </p> + <p> + Bambilio, his eyes tight shut, the instant after Numisia’s head cracked + the floor, heard snap the string supporting the curtain. + </p> + <p> + He shut his eyes tighter. + </p> + <p> + He felt the scourge wrenched from his limp fingers, felt the back of his + neck grasped by a muscular young hand, felt the impact of the twenty-four + sheep-hoofs on his back. + </p> + <p> + Through his clothing they stung and smarted. + </p> + <p> + There came another blow and another. Bambilio tried to get away, but he + dreaded unseemly contact with a naked Vestal and did not succeed in his + efforts. + </p> + <p> + The blows fell thick and fast. He was an old man exhausted by a long day + of excitement and by his exertions while scourging Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + His knees knocked together, he gasped, he snorted: the pain of the blows + made him feel faint; he collapsed on the floor. + </p> + <p> + Then Brinnaria did beat him, till the blood ran from his back almost as + from hers, beat him till the old man fainted dead away. + </p> + <p> + When her arm was tired she gave him a kick, threw the scourge on him and + groped for Numisia. + </p> + <p> + Numisia had sat up. + </p> + <p> + “My child,” she said, “why did you do it?” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t know,” snarled Brinnaria. “I was furious. I did it before I + thought. Are you hurt?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” said Numisia. “Don’t tell anyone you pushed me. I’ll never tell. I + don’t blame you, dear.” She fainted again. + </p> + <p> + Causidiena, waiting under the colonnade of the courtyard, was appalled to + descry in the gloom a totally naked Brinnaria, a mass of clothing hanging + over her arm. + </p> + <p> + “My child,” she protested, “why did you not put on your clothes?” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t care who sees me!” Brinnaria retorted. “I’m boiling hot; I’m all + over sweat and blood and my back’s cut to ribbons.” + </p> + <p> + “What are you going to do?” Causidiena queried. + </p> + <p> + “I’m going to bed,” Brinnaria replied. “Please send Utta to me and tell + her to bring the turpentine jug and the salt box.” + </p> + <p> + “My dear,” Causidiena objected, “you’ll never endure the pain!” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I shall,” Brinnaria maintained. “I’ll set my teeth and stand the + smart. I don’t mean to have a festered back. I’ll have Utta rub me with + salt and turpentine from neck to hips; I’ll be asleep before she’s done + rubbing.” + </p> + <p> + “I’ll come and see she does it properly,” Causidiena said. + </p> + <p> + “Better not,” said Brinnaria. “Numisia and Bambilio need you worse than I + do.” + </p> + <p> + “Why?” queried Causidiena. + </p> + <p> + “After Bambilio was done beating me,” Brinnaria explained calmly, “I beat + him. Numisia tried to stop me and somehow fell on the floor and was + stunned. She came to after I was done with Bambilio, but she fainted + again. I beat him till he is just a lump of raw meat, eleven-twelfths + dead, wallowing in his blood like a sausage in a plate of gravy.” + </p> + <p> + “My child!” Causidiena cried, “this is sacrilege!” + </p> + <p> + “Not a bit of it!” Brinnaria maintained, a tall, white shape in the + star-shine, waving her armful of clothing. + </p> + <p> + “I have pored over the statutes of the order. It was incumbent on me to + keep still and silent all through my licking. But I defy you or any other + Vestal or any Pontiff or Flamen or either of the Emperors to show me a + word on the statutes of the order or in any other sacred writing that + forbids a Vestal, after her thrashing, to beat the Pontifex to red pulp. I + have. You’d better go help him; he might die. And poor Numisia needs + reviving. I’m all right; send me Utta and the salt and turpentine, and + I’ll be fit for duty in a day or two.” + </p> + <p> + “You terrible child!” said Causidiena. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX - ALARMS + </h2> + <p> + THE next year was the year of the great pestilence. Pestilence, indeed, + had ravaged Italy for five consecutive summers previous to that year. But + the great pestilence, for two centuries afterwards spoken of merely as + “the pestilence,” fell in the nine hundred and nineteenth year after the + founding of Rome, the year 166 of our era, when Marcus Aurelius and Lucius + Verus had been co-Emperors for a little more than five years and Brinnaria + had been almost five years a Vestal. It devastated the entire Empire from + Nisibis in upper Mesopotamia to Segontium, opposite the isle of Anglesea. + Every farm, hamlet and village suffered; in not one town did it leave more + than half the inhabitants alive; few cities escaped with so much as a + third of the population surviving. Famine accompanied the pestilence in + all the western portions of the Roman world, and from famine perished many + whom the plague had spared. + </p> + <p> + This disaster was, in fact, the real deathblow to Rome’s greatness and + from it dates the decline of the Roman power. It broke the tradition of + civilization and culture which had grown from the small beginnings of the + primitive Greeks and Etruscans more than two thousand years before. During + all those two thousand years there had been a more or less steady and a + scarcely interrupted development of the agriculture, manufactures, arts, + skill, knowledge and power of the mass of humanity about the Mediterranean + Sea; men who fought with shields and spears and swords, also with arrows + and slings, believed in approximately the same sort of gods; wore clothing + rather wrapped round them than upholstered on their bodies as with us; + reclined on sofas at meals; lived mostly out of doors all the year round; + built their houses about courtyards, and made rows of columns the chief + feature of their architecture, and sheltering themselves in colonnades, + sunny or shady according to the time of the year, the chief feature of + their personal comfort. Up to the year of the great pestilence that + civilization had prospered, had produced a long series of generals, + inventors, architects, sculptors, painters, musicians, poets, authors, and + orators. Everywhere men had shown self-confidence, capacity, originality, + power and competence and had achieved success for two thousand years. + </p> + <p> + The great pestilence of 166 so depleted the population that Rome never + again pushed forward the boundaries of her Empire. Some lucky armies won + occasional victories, but Rome never again put on the field an + overwhelming army for foreign conquest, never again could fully man, even + defensively, the long line of her frontiers. + </p> + <p> + All classes of the people suffered, but most of all the rich, the + well-to-do, the educated and the cultured classes of the towns and cities. + And the main point of difference between the great pestilence and the + others which had preceded it was the universality of its incidence. For + two thousand years pestilence had occurred at intervals, but previously + not everywhere at once. + </p> + <p> + If one country suffered others did not; if half the Mediterranean world, + even, was devastated, the other half escaped. From the immune regions + competence and capacity had flowed into the ruined areas and civilization + had gone on. But the great pestilence left no district unharmed. In six + months it killed off all the brains and skill, all the culture and + ingenuity in the Empire. There were so few capable men left in any line of + activity that the next generation grew up practically untaught. The + tradition of two thousand years was broken. In all the Mediterranean + world, until centuries later, descendants of the savage invaders developed + their new civilization on the ruins of the old; no man ever again made a + great speech, wrote a great book or play or poem, painted a good picture, + carved a good statue, or contrived a good campaign or battle. The brains + of the Roman world died that year, the originality of the whole nation was + killed at once, the tradition broke off. + </p> + <p> + Of course, the survivors did not realize the finality of the disaster, but + they did realize its magnitude. In Italy, fed almost wholly by imported + food, the famine was most severe. In Italy the pestilence was most + virulent. Men disputed as to whether the great army of Lucius Verus, + returned home from its splendid victories in Parthia, had brought with it + a form of pestilence worse than that of the five previous years, or + whether the returned soldiers had merely been a specially easy prey to the + pestilence already abroad in Rome. Whichever was true, the veterans died + like flies. So did the residents of Rome. Whole blocks of tenements were + emptied of their last occupier and stood wholly vacant; many palaces of + the wealthy were left without so much as a guardian, the last inmate dead; + the splendid furnishings, even the silver plate, untouched in every room; + for the plague had so ravaged Rome that there were not even robbers and + thieves left to steal To the survivors, since genuine piety as they knew + it was all but universal among the Romans, it was some small comfort, a + faint ray of hope, a sign that the gods were not inexorably wrathful, + that, after Rabulla’s death, there was no case of pestilence in the + Atrium, not even among the servitors, that no Vestal so much as sickened. + Through it all the six remained hale and sound. + </p> + <p> + But when the plague abated, only Manlia had any living relations left her. + The other five had lost every kinsman and kinswoman, to the ninth and + tenth degree. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria’s parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and cousins were all + among the victims. This left her grave and sobered with grief, with no + trace of her girlish wildness apparent. + </p> + <p> + It also left her enormously rich, one of the wealthiest women in Rome. + </p> + <p> + Not a tenth so wealthy, but still very rich, it left Almo, Vocco and + Flexinna, all of whom survived. + </p> + <p> + As the plague had been rife, worse each year, for some seasons before the + year of the great pestilence, so, ebbing yearly, it continued for some + years after its acme. As soon as the worst was manifestly over the life of + Rome began to revive to some degree, the city dwellers plucked up heart, + the refugees began to return to their town houses, hunger and terror were + forgotten, industry and commerce rallied, bustle and activity increased + from day to day, and, slowly indeed, but steadily, Rome returned to its + normal activity and appearance. The survivors reconstructed their life on + the old lines, the streets and squares were again thronged, the public + baths, those vast casinos of ancient club-life, were daily crowded with + idlers. + </p> + <p> + The repopulation of the city brought into it many rich families from towns + all over the Roman world. + </p> + <p> + Their influx sent up the price of large residences and caused much + activity in the renting and selling of properties suitable for the homes + of people of ample means. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria, without a male relation of even the remotest degree, came to + lean more and more on Vocco, the husband of her chum Flexinna. He was a + young man of not unpleasing appearance and of courtly manners, but very + haughty, reserved and silent by nature; and exceedingly spare, lean and + wiry, with black hair and brows, a complexion as if tanned and + weatherbeaten and an habitual frown. He was fond of Brinnaria and unbent + to her more than to most of his acquaintances. She treated him as a sort + of honorary cousin and turned over to him many details of the care of her + large and scattered property. He took upon himself in her interest the + sale or management of her distant estates, found for them capable + overseers or purchasers at advantageous prices, bought slaves where they + were needed, arranged for the marketing of the more important products and + accounted to her for the proceeds. + </p> + <p> + About her town properties he had more trouble and some exasperation, for + he found the apparently practical and unsentimental Brinnaria oddly + unwilling to disturb the contents of the palaces in which her kinsmen had + lived and died. She was naturally a good business woman and all her + instincts urged her to increase her capital and her income by every means + within her power and at every opportunity. Yet, when Vocco came to her + with offers of high prices for the various buildings which she had + inherited he could induce her to arrange for the sale only of the smaller + and less valuable houses, or of those tenements which had been owned + merely to rent, but had never been inhabited by any members of the + Brinnarian clan. At the suggestion of preparing for sale any of the + palaces of her near kinsfolk she balked; from the barest hint towards + moving the furniture in her father’s home she recoiled in horror. + </p> + <p> + Vocco found himself faced by invincible femininity, with the possession of + which he would not have credited Brinnaria. At first he was irritated. As + he missed sale after sale he became more and more aggravated. But he kept + his temper, held his tongue and waited for Brinnaria’s mood to alter. Her + sentimentality gradually waned as the prices offered steadily mounted. + After long hesitation she gave orders to sell at auction the furniture + from the house of a distant cousin, and to rent the house. That broke the + spell. One by one the late abodes of the Brinnarii were cleared and sold; + sold furniture and all, cleared and rented, or rented furnished. + </p> + <p> + The former dwellings of her aunts and uncles she was reluctant to disturb. + She felt a sort of sacredness about these splendid houses where she had + been merry as a child. When at last she made up her mind to part with one + she would not give the order to sell it until she had gone over it herself + and selected some pieces of furniture which she specially valued. Vocco + tried to dissuade her, but she would not listen to him. + </p> + <p> + Her visit to the vast, empty palace had a most depressing effect on her. + All her grief at her countless bereavements rushed back over her in a + flood and overwhelmed her. She would not allow a stick of furniture to be + moved and withdrew her consent to the sale. + </p> + <p> + Vocco was patient and silent. + </p> + <p> + After a time this mood, too, wore off. + </p> + <p> + She had that particular dwelling emptied and sold and, once that first + step taken, under the pressure of hugely profitable offers, sold all the + other properties. + </p> + <p> + In each case she insisted on inspecting the houses room by room before + anything was moved. After the first she had no hysterical qualms, did not + show any outward emotion, selected what she meant to keep for herself, + ordered the sale of the rest, remained calm through it all. + </p> + <p> + Finally Vocco came to her with a most tempting offer for her childhood + home. Brinnaria took a night to think it over. + </p> + <p> + She had not entered the place since her father’s funeral. He had been the + last of the family to die, three months after his wife, and some days + after his last surviving son. During the lengthy interval the palace had + stood shut fast, cared for only by a few slaves, and those not lifelong + family servants, but recent purchases; for the pestilence had carried off + with their masters nearly all the home-bred house slaves. + </p> + <p> + At the thought of going through the deserted halls and silent rooms + Brinnaria winced. But she nerved herself up to it. She named a day on + which she meant to face the ordeal, asked Vocco to order the palace swept + and dusted, and announced to Guntello, almost the sole survivor of her + father’s personal servitors, that he was to accompany her. + </p> + <p> + When the day came she set out, not in her carriage, but in her litter with + eight Cilician bearers, her lictor running ahead and Guntello and Utta + walking behind. + </p> + <p> + She began her survey accompanied by Guntello and Utta. But when she came + to the nursery and schoolroom she sent the two away, told them to wait for + her in the peristyle, shut herself in and had a long, hard cry; precisely + as if she had been, as of old, a little girl hurt or angry or vexed. After + she had wept till no more tears flowed she felt relieved and comforted. + </p> + <p> + She called Utta, had her bring water, bathed her face and sent the maid + away again. + </p> + <p> + Then she resolutely examined room after room. The second floor took a long + while, for there were many doors to open and close for the last time. + </p> + <p> + There was a third floor, a feature possessed by few dwellings in Rome in + ancient times. The Imperial Palace, which later towered to even seven + stories, was unique in Brinnaria’s time, in the possession of five + superposed floors. The great palace of Sallust, near the Salarian Gate, + had but three. + </p> + <p> + To the third floor she mounted. Before she had investigated half the rooms + she found a door fast. What was more, as she tried it, she thought she + heard a sound, as of human movement, inside that room. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria was no weakling. Methodically she tried that door with her full, + young strength, tried it all along its edge opposite its hinges, tried it + at the middle, at the top, at the bottom. She made sure the door was not + stuck or jammed; she was convinced that it was bolted within the room. + </p> + <p> + She leaned over the railing of the gallery and called Guntello. + </p> + <p> + The odd note in her voice brought that faithful giant up the stairs, two + steps at a time; the beams of the house, even the marble steps of the + stair, seemed to quiver under his tread. + </p> + <p> + She had him try the door. He agreed that it was bolted. + </p> + <p> + “Can you break it in?” she queried. + </p> + <p> + Guntello laughed. “Without half trying, little Mistress,” he replied. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria’s voice came hard and sharp. + </p> + <p> + “You in that room!” she called, “unbolt that door and come out, or it will + be the worse for you. I’ll count ten and then order the door burst open.” + She began to count. + </p> + <p> + She heard the bolt shot back. + </p> + <p> + She nodded to Guntello. + </p> + <p> + He gave the door a push. + </p> + <p> + Before them stood Calvaster, his attitude and countenance expressing + cringing cowardice, cloaked by ill-assumed effrontery. He did not speak, + trying to appear unconcerned. + </p> + <p> + “What are you doing in my house?” Brinnaria demanded. + </p> + <p> + “I do not wonder that you are astonished to see me here and angry as + well,” Calvaster replied, “but the explanation is simple. I learned that + you were proposing to sell the property. I had a curiosity to see it as it + is. I found means to slip in and go over the building. I counted on + leaving before you arrived. I miscalculated, that is all. Awkward for both + of us, but unintentional on my part.” + </p> + <p> + “I don’t believe half of that rigmarole,” snapped Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + “It is all true, nevertheless,” Calvaster asserted with an air of injured + innocence. + </p> + <p> + “One thing is plain, anyhow,” Brinnaria declared. “You bribed one of my + slaves. Which one did you bribe?” + </p> + <p> + Calvaster kept his lips pressed tight together. + </p> + <p> + “March him downstairs, Guntello,” Brinnaria commanded. + </p> + <p> + Calvaster winced and made as if to dodge. Big as he was Guntello was + wonderfully quick. In a flash he had the intruder by the neck. Utterly + helpless Calvaster was marched down the stairs. + </p> + <p> + In the courtyard Brinnaria had brought before her the half dozen slaves + who had charge of the empty house. They stood in a row fidgeting and + glancing at each other. + </p> + <p> + “Now,” she demanded of Calvaster, “point out which one you bribed.” + Calvaster remained motionless and mute. + </p> + <p> + “Hurt him, Guntello,” said Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + Guntello applied a few simple twists and squeezes, such as schoolboys of + all climes employ on their victims. + </p> + <p> + Calvaster yielded at once and indicated one of the suspects. + </p> + <p> + “Throw him out, Guntello,” said Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + When Guntello returned he cheerfully inquired, with the easy assurance of + an indulged favorite. + </p> + <p> + “Shall I kill Tranio, Mistress?” + </p> + <p> + “No!” said Brinnaria viciously. “I wouldn’t have a toad killed on the word + of that contemptible scoundrel. Give Tranio a moderate beating and hand + him over to Olynthides to be sold at auction without a character.” Her + survey of her former home and her selection of the ornaments, pictures, + statues, articles of furniture and other objects which she desired + reserved for herself she completed with an air less of melancholy than of + puzzled thought. + </p> + <p> + She was off duty for all of that day and night and was to dine with + Flexinna and Vocco. In the course of the pestilence they had inherited a + magnificent abode on the Esquiline. In particular it had a private bath + with a large swimming-pool. The Vestals were the only ladies in Rome who + might not enjoy the magnificent public baths, to which all Roman society + flocked every afternoon, somewhat as we moderns throng a beach at a + fashionable seaside resort. Brinnaria, who loved swimming, felt the + deprivation keenly. The Atrium had luxurious baths, but no swimming-pool. + Whenever Brinnaria dined with Flexinna she particularly enjoyed the swim + the two always took together before dinner. On that afternoon, while they + were revelling in the water, Brinnaria told Flexinna of her adventure. + </p> + <p> + “I can’t conjecture,” she said, “what motive brought him there. I have + been racking my brains about it ever since it happened and it is an enigma + to me.” + </p> + <p> + “No riddle to me,” Flexinna declared. “It’s as c-c-clear as d-d-daylight.” + </p> + <p> + “If you are so sure,” said Brinnaria, “explain. I have no guess even.” + </p> + <p> + “Why,” expounded Flexinna, “he was there to c-c-collect evidence against + you. He hates you because you wouldn’t marry him and he is t-t-tenaciously + resolved to be revenged. He is on the lookout for anything that might + d-d-discredit you. He hoped to spy on an interview b-b-between you and + Almo, for he surmised that you would arrange to have Almo meet you in the + empty house!” + </p> + <p> + “The nasty beast!” cried Brinnaria, shocked. “How dare he?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, b-b-be sensible,” Flexinna admonished her. “You know the k-k-kind he + is. He’s b-b-bound to impute to everybody what he would d-d-do in their + p-p-place. Any man under the same circumstances would jump at the same + suspicions.” + </p> + <p> + “But why?” queried Brinnaria, bewildered and angry. + </p> + <p> + “Think a minute,” said Flexinna. “To suspect all women is a + c-c-convention, almost an axiom, with most men. All men like C-C-Calvaster + assume that every married woman is interested in some man b-b-besides her + husband, or in almost any man, and if married women are under suspicion, + on the assumption that one husband is not enough, of c-c-course you + Vestals, who haven’t even a husband, are doubly under suspicion.” + </p> + <p> + “Bah!” snarled Brinnaria, “you make me cross!” + </p> + <p> + “Facts are facts,” Flexinna summed up. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria did not retort. She had climbed out of the tank and was seated + on the edge, the drops streaming off her in rivulets, watching the ripples + her toes’ made in the water. + </p> + <p> + “Facts are facts,” she echoed, “and conjectures are merely conjectures; + what is more, conjectures ought to have some basis in fact. You assert, as + if you know it to be true, that Calvaster expected Almo to meet me to-day. + But Almo is at Falerii.” + </p> + <p> + “No, he’s not,” Flexinna retorted; “he’s b-b-been in t-t-town t-t-ten + d-d-days and has had the old house on the C-C-Carinae reopened. He’s + settling d-d-down to live in Rome.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria flushed. + </p> + <p> + “I think,” she said, scrambling to her feet, “that he might have had + enough consideration for me to stay in the country.” + </p> + <p> + “So d-d-do I,” said Flexinna. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X - CONFERENCE + </h2> + <p> + SOME months later, during one of the brief and infrequent breathing spells + in his ten years’ fight to beat off the raids of the Marcomanni and other + Germanic tribes, Aurelius returned from the Rhine frontier to Rome. As + soon as she was reasonably sure that the Emperor was rested from the + fatigues of his journey and had disposed of the worst of his accumulated + routine duties, Brinnaria sought a second audience with the chief of the + nation. + </p> + <p> + She was then a tall, grave girl of nineteen, looking and behaving like a + woman of twenty-five. Very handsome she was, full-fleshed without a trace + of plumpness, fun breasted without a hint of overabundance. Her brown + hair, now grown long again after its ceremonial shearing at her entrance + into the order of Vestals, was so dark that it was almost black. Arranged + in the six braids traditional for Vestals and wound round her head like a + coronet it became her notably. Her complexion was creamy, with a splendid + brilliant color that came and went in her cheeks. Her expression of face + was an indescribable blend of kindliness and haughtiness towards others, + of austerity and cheerfulness inwardly, of intellectuality and + comprehension towards life at large. She had acquired the statuesqueness + of the conventional Vestal attitudes and movements, but she sat and stood + so that all beholders felt a vivid impression of her vitality, of reserve + strength, incomparably beyond anything possessed by her five colleagues. + </p> + <p> + Her stately pacing as she walked always appeared the conscious restraint + of what, of itself, would have been a swinging stride. She wore her + clothes with an unanalyzable difference, with a sort of effrontery, as + Calvaster put it in talking of her to his cronies. + </p> + <p> + On her way to the palace, erect in her white robe amid the gorgeous + crimson hangings of her gilded state coach, she meditated on the great + dissimilarity between the feelings with which she had gone to her first + audience with the Emperor and those with which she now approached his + abode. Then she had been palpitating with conscientious scruples and + childish dreads, now she was sure of herself and of her errand; then she + had thought chiefly of her mother and of the traditions of her family and + clan, now not only her mother was dead, but the whole family of the + Epulones had perished except herself and the Brinnarian clan was + represented by but three families, her relationship to which was fainter + than any assignable degree of cousinship; then she had been full of + elation at her lofty position in the world, now she was perfectly at home + in her environment and felt no emotion at the thought of it. + </p> + <p> + At the palace she found herself in the same vast room, alone with a + somewhat older and graver Emperor, now sole ruler of their world since the + death of his colleague, Lucius Verus. He greeted her kindly, with an air + of effort to conceal his weariness, and when both were seated asked her + errand. + </p> + <p> + “In the first place,” she said, “I want you to tell me whether you are + satisfied with the reports you have had of me.” + </p> + <p> + Aurelius half smiled. + </p> + <p> + “I am well pleased in respect to all your actions but one,” he said. “You + have certainly done better than I expected or hoped. You have curbed your + wild nature so well that, of late years, you have behaved altogether as a + Vestal should. Even earlier your conduct was creditable, since from the + very day of your promise to me, your outbursts were less and less frequent + and also less and less violent. Once only have you acted so that I felt + displeased when I heard what you had done and feel somewhat displeased + even yet.” + </p> + <p> + “I suppose,” Brinnaria ruminated, “you mean my larruping Bambilio.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” Aurelius admitted. “That was in a sense unforgivable. Had I been in + Rome at the time I must have animadverted upon it with the greatest + severity.” + </p> + <p> + “If you had been in Rome at the time,” spoke Brinnaria boldly, “I should + not have been flogged by any mere deputy Pontifex of Vesta. It would have + been incumbent upon you, as Pontifex Maximus, yourself to give me my + ceremonial scourging. To you I should have been, of course, as submissive + after my beating as while it was going on. No harm would have been done.” + </p> + <p> + The Emperor smiled more than a half smile. + </p> + <p> + “I am not sure,” he said, “that any harm was done, anyhow.” + </p> + <p> + “What!” cried Brinnaria. “You excuse me? You defend me?” + </p> + <p> + “Softly! Softly!” the Emperor caveatted, raising his hand. “I do not + acquit you nor exonerate you. But I do make allowances. And we must + distinguish. We must not confuse the causes of my disapprobation of what + you did with my reasons for believing that no harm resulted. Nor, for that + matter, must we confound with either of them those qualities in yourself + and those circumstances of the case which make me feel, illogically + perhaps, but very possibly, more inclined to thank you than to censure + you.” + </p> + <p> + “Castor be good to me!” cried Brinnaria. “Am I dreaming?” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t interrupt, you disrespectful minx,” the Emperor laughed; “this is a + lecture. Hear it out. + </p> + <p> + “In the first place you were technically right in saying that there is not + one word in any sacred writing or in the pronouncements of the Pontiffs or + the statutes of the Vestals to forbid a flogged Vestal from beating her + scourger. Just as Solon in the code of laws which he drew up for the + Athenians prescribed no penalty for the slayer of his father or mother, + because, as he explained when the omission was pointed out to him, he had + thought that no child would ever kill its parents; so no framer of rubrics + ever foresaw the necessity of forbidding what no one conceived of as + possible. All persons were assumed to be too much in awe of Pontiffs, for + anyone to dare to raise a hand against any Pontiff, least of all a Vestal + against her spiritual father. The world had to wait for a Brinnaria to + demonstrate that the unimaginable could come to pass. + </p> + <p> + “Yet the very fact that it was nowhere written down that you must not do + it makes your act all the worse. It was monstrous. + </p> + <p> + “But fortunately it was not sacrilegious. The person of the Pontifex of + Vesta is not sacrosanct and a blow inflicted on him is not to be rated as + impious. Your act called for no expiation, personal or official. It did + not desecrate him, or you, nor the place where it occurred. + </p> + <p> + “Besides, I cannot resist admitting to you,”—and the Emperor smiled + an unmistakable smile—“that this particular Pontiff of Vesta is + farther from being sacrosanct than any of his predecessors. As far as I + can learn, Faltonius is a worthy man, pious and scrupulous. But he is + absurdly unfitted for his office in appearance and in manner. The + self-importance he assumes, the pomposity with which he performs his + duties, would be too great even for an Emperor. He irritates all of us. + All of us have wished, secretly or openly, many, many times, that Bambilio + would be soundly thrashed. He has been. You did it. The story was too good + to keep. It has not, of course, been allowed to leak out, and become + common property. But it is known to all the Flamens, Augurs and Pontiffs. + </p> + <p> + “I need not describe to you the feelings of my colleagues, nor my own. To + hint them is perhaps too much; to particularize them would be unseemly. I + may say, however, that just as street-boys acclaim you by shouting: + </p> + <p> + “‘That’s the girl that saved the dog;’ just as all over the Empire you are + talked of as the lady who rescued the retiarius; so at any festival or + ceremonial in which the Vestals take part, many a dignitary is likely to + nudge his neighbor, indicate you and whisper: + </p> + <p> + “‘That’s the priestess who walloped Bambilio!’ You are not infamous, you + are famous. + </p> + <p> + “As for myself I am the more inclined to feel indulgent towards you + because I understand how you felt. You were boiling with rage at being + struck by any one, as any noble girl would be. Yet you would have + controlled your fury but for the fact that you knew that you yourself had + done nothing to deserve chastisement, that you were suffering for + another’s fault.” + </p> + <p> + “What!” cried Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes,” Aurelius continued, easily. “Causidiena and I are quite agreed + on that point. Neither she nor I have questioned Meffia, and we do not + mean to; partly because we are sure enough, without any admission from + her; partly because the matter is best left as it is, without any further + notice. But, with the exception of Meffia, it is quite certain that, from + the Vestals themselves down to the last slave-girl, every resident of the + Atrium believes that not you but Meffia let the fire go out, and that you + took the blame due her. And we can all conjecture your motives, as we all + applaud them. + </p> + <p> + “Meffia might never have survived a scourging, might have been ailing for + months. Rome wants no sick Vestals nor dead Vestals. Causidiena is + grateful to you, all the Atrium is grateful, I am grateful.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” said Brinnaria, wide-eyed, “I had supposed that, if Meffia was + suspected, there would be an inquisition and testimony under oath and that + it would be obligatory that the Vestal actually at fault must be + scourged.” + </p> + <p> + “For once,” the Emperor smiled, “you have failed to read accurately the + statutes of the order. It is positively refreshing. I was beginning to + feel that you were altogether too accurate. In fact the scourging of a + delinquent Vestal is a mere disciplinary regulation, designed to assure + the maintenance of the fire. It is not in the nature of a mandatory + atonement. It has nothing in common with an act of expiation. It has + nothing to do with placating or propitiating the Goddess. It has no + likeness whatever to the punishment of a guilty Vestal.” + </p> + <p> + “That reminds me,” said Brinnaria, “of what I came for. I’m as grateful as + possible for what you have said to me, surprised that Causidiena and you + so easily saw through my deception, delighted that you take it as you + have, more than delighted to find you so kindly disposed towards me. I + need all the kindness you can feel towards me. I want to come to the + point, to the reason why I am here. I want you to answer me this + question: Suppose I were accused of the worst possible misconduct, + formally accused before you, what then?” + </p> + <p> + “Then,” said Aurelius, “you would have a fair trial.” + </p> + <p> + “I believe I should,” said Brinnaria. “You would be perfectly fair and + entirely just. And a fair trial would be a novelty. Almost never has an + accused Vestal had a fair trial.” + </p> + <p> + “Not even if acquitted?” the Emperor suggested slyly. + </p> + <p> + “No,” Brinnaria retorted vigorously. “Even most of those absolved were not + tried fairly. Postumia was, if the records from so long ago are to be + trusted. The first trial of the third Licinia was perfectly fair, the + minutes are very full and there is no shade of bias in the discussion of + her many interviews with Crassus, while the court was plainly genuinely + amused at his greed for desirable real-estate and at his artifices to + induce her to sell cheap. Fabia, in the same year, was justly treated. But + most of the other acquittals were quite as bad as most of the convictions + to my mind. I can discover almost no trial where both sides had a full + hearing, where the judges tried to get at the facts and kept their + attention on the evidence, where the finding as the expression of the + opinions rather than of the partiality of the Pontiffs. Almost every + verdict on record, it seems to me, was dictated by favoritism or influence + or prejudice or wrath.” + </p> + <p> + “You seem to think you know a great deal about the subject of trials of + Vestals,” Aurelius remarked. + </p> + <p> + “I feel justified in thinking so,” Brinnaria maintained. “Where the + minutes of the court have perished, as, of course, in the case of all the + trials before the capture and burning of the city by the Gauls, I have + read what records remain. Where the court records are extant I have pored + over every word of the minutes of the proceedings and of every document + attached.” + </p> + <p> + “That is more than ever I found time to do,” Aurelius meditated. “Your + conclusions ought to be of interest. What are they?” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria drew a deep breath and went on. “I am convinced,” she said, + “that sometimes the accused received what she deserved, but generally by + accident. The judges were swayed by politics or expediency or clan-feeling + or popular clamor or self-interest, not by reason. + </p> + <p> + “Nobody could form any judgment, at this distance of time, about the guilt + or innocence of Oppia or Opimia or Popilia or Porphilia or Orbilia or + Orbinia or whatever her real name was, it all happened so long ago. But + Minucia and Sextilia and Floronia and the rest were just victims of + judicial ferocity, as far as I can make out.” + </p> + <p> + “You are then of the opinion,” the Emperor asked, “that there never was a + guilty Vestal?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” Brinnaria replied judicially, “I don’t go as far as that. Varonilla + was probably depraved and with her the two Oculatas. I don’t think their + suicides prove anything against them, for a woman is just as likely to + hang herself because she despairs of a fair hearing as because she is + conscious of guilt. What weighs with me is that they were brought up in + the dissolute times of Messalina and Nero and that their relatives were + leaders of the most profligate set in Rome, cronies of Vitellius and his + coterie. But although Cornelia was bred and raised in the same social + atmosphere, I am quite as sure of her innocence as all the world was the + day she was buried and as everybody has been ever since. Domitian just + murdered her without a trial, for political reasons and for moral effect. + So likewise Marcia and the second Licinia were judicially murdered by that + fierce old Cassius Longinus Ravilla. He was elected to convict them, not + to try them, and he conducted the trial not to arrive at a fair verdict, + but to force a conviction. He had some excuse, for their acquittal on + their former trial had been brought about by idiotic bribing and family + influence. On the face of the evidence at both trials they were clearly + blameless. What ruined them was their trying to shield Aurelia, surely the + worst Vestal on record, for she had everything in her favor, ancestry, + upbringing and surroundings; she was beyond doubt innately vicious. She + was the only Vestal ever justly convicted and justly punished, in my + opinion. All the others were irreproachable women, doomed to a frightful + fate by prejudiced judges. In general, an accused Vestal is as good as + condemned, the whole population so dreads the results of acquitting an + unclean priestess. And it is the easiest thing in the world for a Vestal + to be accused. Refuse to sell a farm for half its value, snub a bore, + order a slave flogged for some unbearable blunder, and the result is the + same; false accusation with perjured witnesses and a quick conviction most + likely to follow.” + </p> + <p> + “The subject seems to have occupied your mind a great deal,” Aurelius + ruminated. + </p> + <p> + “Do you wonder?” Brinnaria flamed at him. “What in all the tragic, + dramatic history of Rome is half so dramatic or a tenth so tragic as the + burial of a Vestal? In all our centuries of ferocity, what seems half so + cruel? + </p> + <p> + “I know that cruelty played no part in the invention of burial alive as a + punishment for a convicted Vestal. I know that no caitiff could be found + so vile as to dare to lay hands on a Vestal, no ruffian so reckless as to + venture to end her life by sword or axe, by strangling or drowning. The + most impious miscreant has too much fear of the gods to injure a + consecrated priestess. The only way to dispose of a delinquent Vestal is + to bury her alive. But the cruelty of it makes me choke. I think of the + last hours of each of those who were punished, of their thoughts as the + time drew near, of their feelings alone in the dark waiting for death to + release them from their sufferings. + </p> + <p> + “I think of these underground cells as they are now, out there under that + awful unkempt, ragged waste lot by the Colline Gate. I think of the + skeletons mouldering on the mouldering cots, of the bones, the fragments + of crumbling bones, the dust of crumbled bones on the stone floors, as + they have been for hundreds of years, as they will be for thousands of + years to come. The cot cannot yet have decayed from under what is left of + poor Cornelia; her bones must still be entire and in order on the webbing; + Aurelia’s bones must be whole yet and Licinia’s and Marcia’s; of Floronia + there can hardly be left a trace by now, where Minucia died there can be + only an empty stone cell. Do you wonder that the subject haunts me?” + </p> + <p> + “I do and I do not,” Aurelius replied. “I’ve let you relieve your mind by + talking yourself tired. Now listen to me. I think I understand you + perfectly. When you came to me before the novel responsibilities of your + office had worn on your nerves and you were quivering with dread for fear + you might be an unworthy priestess. Now the perils of your situation are + wearing on your nerves and you are brooding over the possibility of + accusation, trial, conviction and burial alive. + </p> + <p> + “I sympathize with you. As an Emperor I am exposed to the perpetual danger + of assassination. You would be amazed if I detailed to you my various + narrow escapes from death at the hands of disappointed seekers after + preferment, of incompetent officials, of knaves with grievances of every + conceivable and inconceivable variety and of fools with no grievance at + all. You would be astonished if I merely reckoned the occasions on which I + have just missed being killed. It gets on my nerves, more or less, of + course. But I strive to bear up and remain calm and I succeed more or + less. I keep before me the fact that as an Emperor I am obnoxious to + countless hatreds from fancied slights and to uncountable schemes of + revenge. I reflect that the danger is inseparable from the state of my + being an Emperor. I try to be philosophical about it. + </p> + <p> + “So you must attempt to remain placid under the strain of the knowledge + that you are exposed to perpetual danger of a horrible death from + conviction on false accusation. It is part of the condition of being a + Vestal. If anything goes wrong in the way of earthquake, flood, famine, + pestilence, conflagrations or defeats, the populace are likely to cry out + that some Vestal is unclean and bringing down on the Empire the wrath of + the gods. That nothing of the kind has occurred during our recent + afflictions has been clearly due to the holiness of Dossonia and + Causidiena and to their reputation for strict discipline. But the danger + of popular outcry is always real. Then there is the fact that far too + large a proportion of our population are dissolute and that, among the + dissolute-minded, all Vestals are under suspicion because they are the + only women among our nobility who remain unmarried long after they have + reached marriageable years. You must learn to take all this as a matter of + course and to go sedately about your duties. + </p> + <p> + “Of course, I lessen my danger by keeping about me many trusty guards. It + is right that you should appeal to me in your anxiety. I shall do what I + can to lessen your danger. I believe in you. If you were accused before me + it would take notably plain and convincing evidence to make me believe + anything against you. I shall put my opinion of you on record among my + papers of instructions to my successor. I shall declare it to all the + Chief Pontiffs. I shall verbally and in writing make it clear to all + concerned that you seem to me all you should be, that you are in an + unusually difficult and delicate position and that in case of accusation + all presumption should be in favor of your innocence and against the + sincerity of your accusers. + </p> + <p> + “And now I think that ought to satisfy you and cover all the general + considerations. Let us come to the special consideration that interests me + chiefly. You have never come to me because you became gradually unnerved + by brooding which had no specific origin or cause: + </p> + <p> + “Tell me plainly and outspokenly what has happened to you lately to fill + your mind with thoughts of buried Vestals, trials, accusations and + terrors?” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria thereupon related her encounter with Calvaster and her + conversation with Flexinna. + </p> + <p> + The Emperor stroked his beard and reflected. + </p> + <p> + “I have never liked Calvaster,” he said, “and if I had been in the city to + consider recommendations for appointments he would, assuredly, never have + become a member of Rome’s hierarchy. I deem him gravely unsuited for even + the most minor grade of Pontiff. He appears to me to be mean-spirited, + narrow-minded and base. I am inclined to believe of him all that you + impute. But, even to such as Calvaster, we should be just. You complained, + a while ago, that the judges of the Vestals had ignored both the facts and + the evidence. Let us weigh the evidence and stick to the facts. The only + fact you present is that you caught Calvaster lurking in your house. You + confess that you were completely puzzled as to what motive brought him + there. Your friend surmises an explanation which disgusts, insults and + alarms you. You instantly credit it completely, think and act as if it + were unquestionably true. I am prejudiced against Calvaster, as I have + told you, yet I am by no means ready to admit that your beliefs about him + are evidence against him, more particularly as they rest solely on + Flexinna’s ingenious conjectures. The notion is plausible and it is + entirely congruent with Calvaster’s character as I imagine it. Yet it is, + after all, merely a plausible surmise. I am just as inclined to accept + Calvaster’s own explanation; he is an inquisitive busybody. + </p> + <p> + “My verdict is that you need feel no alarm.” + </p> + <p> + “But I do,” Brinnaria maintained; “I do not feel safe with Calvaster + anywhere about.” + </p> + <p> + The Emperor reflected. + </p> + <p> + “The peace of mind of a Vestal,” he said, “is a matter of such importance + to the state that I should not hesitate about ordering Calvaster banished + to some comfortable and healthy island and there detained permanently, + were it not that the fellow has made himself almost indispensable. The + pestilence has carried off practically all the adepts at interpretation of + the sacred writings, the prophetic books, the rubrics and rituals of the + various temples, the statutes of the brotherhoods and other orders of the + hierarchy. Only Numerius Aproniarius remains of the older experts, and he + is afflicted by an incurable and loathsome disease which he cannot long + survive. Of the younger men only Calvaster has displayed any aptitude for + learning this delicate and complex art, only he has attained any + reputation. He is, in the circumstances, indispensable, I cannot banish + him merely to please you. You will have to endure Calvaster.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria pulled a wry face, as in her mutinous girlhood. She felt + entirely at ease with Aurelius. + </p> + <p> + “I perceive that I must endure him,” she said, “but if you cannot banish + Calvaster, perhaps you’ll oblige me by banishing Almo.” + </p> + <p> + “Almo!” the Emperor exclaimed, “what can you have against that gallant + lad? Have you turned against him? I thought you were unshakably resolved + to marry him, thought you loved him unalterably!” + </p> + <p> + “I shall marry him, if we both live,” Brinnaria replied, “and most + unalterably love him. But I love life and daylight and fresh air and my + full meals even more. I have a splendid appetite, I loath stuffy places, I + hate the dark. The idea of being shut in an underground cell to suffocate + slowly or starve to death even more slowly goes against my gorge. I see + myself in my mind’s eye climbing down that ladder, like poor Cornelia, I + see myself stretched out on my cot, watching the ladder being pulled up by + the executioner, watching the workmen fitting in the last stone of the + vault. I imagine myself staring at the wick of the lamp and wondering how + long the oil will last and debating whether it would be better to blow out + the light and save the oil to drink and so live longer in the dark, or to + let the lamp burn out and have the discomfort of the light a little + longer. I fancy myself conning over the trifle of bread, milk, fruit and + wine left on the stone slab, and speculating as to how long they’ll keep + me alive. + </p> + <p> + “Bah! + </p> + <p> + “No burial alive for me. + </p> + <p> + “Acquittal on a trial is a poor way for a Vestal to escape the worst + possible fate, a last resort, at best, and an unchancy reliance, even as a + last resort. A far better way is never to be tried, and the best way never + to be tried is never to be accused. You’ve been good enough to tell me + that if I were accused you’d be predisposed to favor me in all possible + ways and that you’ll give instructions as to your opinion of me. Any + directions of yours would be respected by any heir of yours. But you + yourself have just remarked how slender is an Emperor’s hold on life or on + power. I may survive both yourself and your son. I might be tried before + men we should never think of now. I must arrange so that I shall never be + tried at all, I must live so that I shall never be accused. + </p> + <p> + “Now I am unlikely ever to be accused in relation to any man except Almo. + Everybody knows I mean to marry Almo when my service is at an end, + everybody knows he means to marry me, everybody knows we are in love with + each other. That puts me in the most delicate position any Vestal ever was + placed in. I have been extremely careful. I have never spoken to Almo + since I was taken for a Vestal, have never met him except by accident, + have never set eyes on him except against my will; have never even written + a letter to him or received one from him. I have been, I think, wise, + judicious and controlled. But Almo has not behaved well towards me.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed!” Aurelius interjected. “You surprise me! What has he done?” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria flushed. + </p> + <p> + “A girl in love,” she said, “is a fool, but she has sense enough to + conceal her foolishness. A man is different. I suppose men are made that + way and can’t help themselves. But a man in love is not only a fool, but + he parades his foolishness. Almo sent me messages by all sorts of mutual + acquaintances, by his people and mine, by Flexinna, by Nemestronia, by + Vocco, begging me to exchange letters with him. I was angry and said so + and repeatedly sent him word that he was most foolish and most + inconsiderate. I sent him word that if he wanted to please me he’d ignore + my existence and stay as far from me as possible. + </p> + <p> + “He actually begged his father to be allowed to come to Rome. His father + had the good sense to keep him at Falerii. Now that all his relatives are + dead and he is his own master he has come to Rome. If he had any real + consideration for me he’d go to Aquileia, at least he might be satisfied + with a popular resort like Baiae or a place like Capua; Capua has enough + baths and shows and horse-races and gladiators for anybody. + </p> + <p> + “But he must come to Rome, when a spark of sense and decency would tell + him to keep as far away as he could. It stands to reason that I could + never be accused of misconduct with him if he had never been within a + hundred miles of me since I was taken for a Vestal. + </p> + <p> + “But he must needs come to Rome. He has opened his house on the Carinae + and had it put in order and has settled down to such a life here as is + usual with wealthy leisured idlers. He has bought additional furniture, as + if his father’s house wasn’t stuffed with everything magnificent, he has + bought curios and antiques and statuary and pictures and books. He spends + most of his time in the barracks of his favorite gladiatorial company or + at the stables of the Greens, and the rest of it at the afternoon baths. I + sent Vocco to him to protest and to urge him to leave Rome for my sake. + The selfish wretch said he loved me and always would, but he just could + not live anywhere except at Rome. He stays here, in defiance of my wishes + and against all reason.” + </p> + <p> + “That is not what I should have expected of him,” the Emperor meditated. + “I am surprised and far from pleased. I shall certainly find means to + relieve your mind as far as he is concerned.” + </p> + <p> + “There is worse yet to tell,” Brinnaria went on. “You’d think that, if he + must stay in Rome he’d at least have the decency to keep away from me and + from places where he is likely to encounter me. He does just the reverse. + He haunts me, he waylays me. He prowls up and down the Via Sacra and the + Via Nova, he stands in the moonlight and stares up at the outside windows + of the Atrium; on festival days he waits outside of our entrance to the + Colosseum or of the Circus Maximus to watch me enter; on any day he + loiters about the portal of the Atrium to watch me come out to my litter + or my carriage, he dogs me on my airings.” + </p> + <p> + “Hercules!” Aurelius exclaimed. “This is too bad!” + </p> + <p> + “Too bad indeed,” Brinnaria pursued; “it would be bad enough from anybody + in his position, from him it is ten times worse than from anyone else. You + know how individual Almo is, how almost peculiar he looks, how no one + would mistake him for anyone else or forget him or fail to recognize him. + I have often tried to analyze the factors that go to make him look so + striking, but I cannot. He is perfectly proportioned in every measurement, + yet, somehow, he has a long-armed and long-legged appearance different + from that of any young man in Rome, he gives almost the effect of + reminding one of a spider or of a grasshopper or of a daddy-long-legs. It + makes him the most conspicuous, the most recognizable man in all Rome. + Why, if your son were to mingle in a crowd, habited like any other boy in + that crowd and Almo did the same, and nobody in the crowd had any reason + to expect to see either, Almo would most likely be noticed sooner than + Antoninus, recognized more generally, more readily, further off and + quicker.” + </p> + <p> + “You are right,” Aurelius mused, “I never thought of that, but Almo is + unforgettable, striking and arresting to the eye beyond any lad in our + nobility.” + </p> + <p> + “And being what he is,” Brinnaria raged, “he must needs arrange that + nearly every crowd I am in should see him at the same time as me. Already + thousands of reputable Romans must remember seeing us at the same glance. + Before long the majority will be ready to recall, if the subject is + broached, that they have habitually seen him wherever they saw me. Some + one will start the talk and presently all Rome will buzz with the gossip + that we are continually seen together. A charming state of affairs for me + if some busybody or some enemy of mine raises the question of my fitness + for my holy duties! I have protested. I’ve had Vocco go to Almo and urge + all these considerations on him, and the silly boy says he can’t live + without seeing me, that he longs for the sight of me so he cannot control + himself. How’s that for lover’s folly? One minute he can’t live away from + Rome, he loves Rome more than he loves me; the next minute I’m the one + object on earth which he must behold or die. I’ve no patience with such + imbecility.” + </p> + <p> + “And I have very little,” said the Emperor; “just enough to imagine a + better way of disburdening you and of disposing of Almo than banishing him + would be. The lad is far too good to be wasting his time with the + horse-jockeys and charioteers and ostlers of the Greens, or brutalizing + himself with the companionship of ruffianly prize-fighters, belonging to + this or that speculator in the flesh of ferocious savages. He must find + some outlet for his energies and interests and is carried away by the + fashionable mania, which is corrupting our whole population, especially + our young nobles, and which, even at his tender age, fills the thoughts of + my son, to the despair of his tutors. + </p> + <p> + “All Almo needs is worthy occupation. I’ll put the sea between him and you + and so put your mind at rest. I’ll make a man of him at the same time. + I’ll appeal to his pride and his patriotism. Rome needs such keen-minded, + capable youths on the frontiers. I’ll not give him too hard or too + unpleasant employment, not relegate him to Britain or Dacia or Syria. I’ll + send him to Africa to chase the desert nomads who are harrying the borders + of Numidia and Mauretania. He can gain credit there without danger, can + learn to command men and to know the great game of war. Nepte and Bescera + are pleasant little cities—he will be comfortable between campaigns. + I’ll see he sets out the day after to-morrow, at latest.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI - FAREWELL + </h2> + <p> + Two days later, Brinnaria had a visit from Flexinna. Flexinna’s eyes were + dancing. + </p> + <p> + “G-G-Guess where I’ve been,” she challenged. + </p> + <p> + “I’m not good at guessing,” Brinnaria parried; “better tell me.” + </p> + <p> + “I’ve b-b-been to the Palace,” Flexinna revealed. + </p> + <p> + “What took you there?” Brinnaria queried, surprised. + </p> + <p> + “I was sent for,” Flexinna declared, elated. + </p> + <p> + “Who’d you see?” Brinnaria enquired. + </p> + <p> + “The Emperor himself,” proclaimed Flexinna triumphantly. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria was very much astonished. + </p> + <p> + “Better tell me the whole story,” she suggested. + </p> + <p> + “Not much story,” said Flexinna. “Aurelius t-t-told me that he wanted + t-t-to see you again and that, as a formal visit from the Emperor as + P-P-Pontifex Maximus at the Atrium was unusual and was likely to c-c-cause + g-g-gossip, whereas you Vestals are c-c-continually at the Palace to ask + favors for all sorts of people who p-p-pester you to use your influence + with the Emperor, he thought it b-b-best to suggest that you apply for an + audience t-t-to-morrow. He said he wanted the intimation c-c-conveyed to + you as unobtrusively as p-p-possible and d-d-desired p-p-particularly that + no one should ever know or g-g-guess that it had b-b-been g-g-given. So he + sent for me, as your b-b-best friend, since he was sure I would never + t-t-tell anybody. + </p> + <p> + “B-B-Better send along your application for an audience. It was p-p-plain + to me that he has something agreeable to t-t-tell you. His face was just + as g-g-grave as usual but his eyes sparkled at me, as d-d-different as + p-p-possible from their habitual dull filmed appearance. He was all + k-k-kindliness and anticipation.” + </p> + <p> + “I’m willing to take the hint, of course,” Brinnaria replied. + </p> + <p> + Next morning she found Aurelius most cordial and informal in his greeting + to her. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve been investigating Almo,” he said, “and I am more than pleased with + all I can learn of him. I see no reason for not telling you that, from the + very day you were taken as a Vestal, some of the most expert, secret and + trustworthy men in the employ of the information department have had no + other duties than to keep close watch upon you and Almo. I have been over + all the papers relating to him and to you, I have talked with the men + themselves. They all assure me that never once have you and Almo met since + he reached your father’s house a half hour too late. They also report + that, in the course of his injudicious moonings about your haunts, he has + always kept at a respectful distance. And except for those same loverly + danglings about places where he might catch glimpses of you, I can find + nothing against the lad. Everybody speaks most highly of him. His former + tutors and preceptors are enthusiastic in their laudations of his + capacities, abilities, diligence and attainments in all matters pertaining + to books and study. About Falerii he was regarded as a fine specimen of a + young nobleman, huntsman and swimmer, good at all rustic sports, as + haughty as the proudest when he was given good cause to assert himself, + but habitually affable, unassuming and sunny tempered. Towards his + father’s tenants and slaves he was most kindly and nothing could be more + to any man’s credit than his downright heroic behavior from the very day + the pestilence appeared on his estates, all through the frightful period + of its raging about Falerii, until the neighborhood had somewhat recovered + after the plague had abated. + </p> + <p> + “The most extraordinary feature of the reports about him is that they all + agree as to his amazing devotion to you. All persons who know him or know + of him are unanimous in the opinion that he has never taken the slightest + personal interest in any human being except yourself; all are emphatic in + stating that he has certainly never manifested any affection for anyone + else. This is unprecedented. I never heard of such another case. There is + nothing astonishing about a young Roman declaring that he would remain + unmarried for thirty years in order to mate, ultimately, with the girl of + his choice. There is nothing wonderful about his keeping his word. But any + other youth I ever heard of would have consoled himself variously, and + variedly. Almo’s austere celibacy is a portent in our world and altogether + marvellous. It lifts his affair with you out of the humdrum atmosphere of + to-day and puts it on a level with the legendary stories of heroic times, + with the life-long fidelities of the Milesian tales. + </p> + <p> + “Under the stress of such severe and unflinching self isolation I do not + wonder that his broodings drove him to overstep the bounds of common + sense, that he was irresistibly compelled to leave Falerii, to come to + Rome, to loiter where he might, at least, behold you at a distance. I + shall make sure that he does so no longer. This very day he sets out for + Carthage, Theveste and the deserts to the south beyond the lagoons of + Nepte. But I cannot be angry with him for being unable to restrain his + longing at least to set eyes on you. And I see no reason why you two, who + have not exchanged a word in more than nine years, should not meet here in + this room and say farewell to each other before I put the Mediterranean + between you.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria sprang up. + </p> + <p> + “I see many reasons,” she declared, “and my feelings are all against + seeing Almo until my service as a Vestal is ended.” + </p> + <p> + “I can well believe,” came the answer, “that you feel that way at the + first presentation of the idea. But I am your Emperor and also Chief + Pontiff of Rome. I am engaged at present in solving the problem of ow best + to ensure peace of mind to one of Rome’s Vestals. To ensure her peace of + mind I am about to relegate her future husband to important duties on a + far frontier of the Empire. I judge that he will better perform his + duties, that she will better perform hers, if she bids him farewell in my + presence. I am a lover of wisdom and a student of wisdom.* I believe I + possess some pretensions to wisdom. Will you not defer to me in this? I am + of the opinion that he will worry less about you and you less about him if + you see each other once before your twenty years of certain separation + begins.” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + *The wisdom of Marcus Aurelius was recognized during his + lifetime and is highly regarded even today, over 1900 years + later. His book, <i>Meditations</i>, remains in print and is + available through Project Gutenberg.—PG Ed. +</pre> + <p> + Brinnaria looked mutinous and gazed at the Emperor in silence. In silence + he waited for her to speak. At last she said, curtly: + </p> + <p> + “I bow to your authority.” + </p> + <p> + The Emperor struck his silver gong and a page appeared. Aurelius gave a + brief order. A few moments later Almo was ushered in. After his formal + salute to the Emperor he stood silent, his eyes fixed on Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + They made a fine picture. The ceiling of the immense hall was a + barrel-vault, of which the beams were stuccoed in cream-white, picked out + with gilding, while between them the depth of each soffit was colored an + intense deep blue, against which stood out a great gilt rosette. The + mighty pilasters, whose gilded capitals supported the vaulting, were of + many-veined dark yellow marble, polished and gleaming like the slabs of + pale yellow marble which panelled the interspaces. The high-moulded + wainscot was of red and green porphyry, somberly smooth and shining. + Against it, below the wall-panels, were set great chests of carved and + gilded wood, while about the bases of the pilasters were placed groups of + settees and armchairs, similarly carved and gilded and richly upholstered. + The floor was paved with an intricate mosaic of parti-colored bits of + marble, its expanse broken only by the great gorgeous carpet before the + throne, by the chair set for Brinnaria, by the onyx table, supported on + sculptured monsters like griffons, beside the throne, and by the throne + itself, a curule seat of ivory mounted with gold, its crimson cushion + glowing, set far out in the room. + </p> + <p> + Before the throne stood Aurelius, his head bare, the long ringlets of his + hair and beard sweeping his shoulders and his bosom, one foot a trifle + advanced, the gold eagle embroidered on his sky-blue buskin showing + beneath the crimson silk robes, lavishly embroidered with a complicated + pattern of winding vines, bright blue and green, edged with gold, which + the etiquette of the time imposed upon even a philosophically austere + Emperor; on his right Brinnaria, erect and tense in her white official + habit, her square white headdress all but hiding her coronet of dark + braids, her veil pushed back from her flushed face; the tassels and + ribbons of her head-band, her great pearl necklace, the big pearl brooch + that fastened the folds of her headdress where they crossed on her breast, + and the bunch of fresh white flowers which it clasped, rising and falling + with the heaving of her bosom; facing her, splendid in the gilded armor + and scarlet cloak of a commander of irregular cavalry, Almo. + </p> + <p> + “You know why I have sent for you,” Aurelius reminded him. “Speak out.” + </p> + <p> + Like a school-boy repeating a lesson by rote, Alma spoke. + </p> + <p> + “Brinnaria,” he said, “the Emperor has remonstrated with me on my recent + folly. I am sincerely ashamed of myself and I wish to apologize to you for + my lack of self-control and for my lack of consideration for you. I leave + Rome before sunset and shall not return until I may return without danger + to you.” + </p> + <p> + Aurelius looked at Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + “Caius,” she said, “I forgive you. I trust that you will win promotion and + honor where you are going and I am sure that you will do your duty to the + Empire. May the blessing of all the gods be on you and may you return to + me safe and well.” + </p> + <p> + “And may I find you safe and well when I return,” spoke Almo. “Farewell, + Brinnaria.” + </p> + <p> + “Farewell, Caius,” said she. + </p> + <p> + The Emperor nodded and Almo bowed himself out. + </p> + <p> + “Do you know,” said Aurelius, when they were alone, “I have been thinking + over what you said about Almo’s peculiar notability of looks. It puzzles + me as it puzzles you. He is not merely of distinguished appearance, he is + unusual, striking, unforgettable, conspicuous. I have talked about it to + several of my gentlemen-in-waiting, equerries and orderlies. They have + seen him lately about the stables of the Greens. They all say that he is, + in fact, as normally proportioned as any youth alive, but they confirm + what you said about his long-legged appearance. Julianus used almost the + same word you used, said Almo looked ‘Grasshoppery.’ They all say Almo is + precisely the most unmistakable, the most readily and quickly recognizable + youth in all our young nobility.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria rose to go. Aurelius bent on her a kindly smile. + </p> + <p> + “I have been talking about you with Faustina,” he said. “We are both much + interested by the strangeness of your fate, by the difficulty and delicacy + of your situation and by the wonderful constancy of you both. Faustina and + I are a most united pair, never happy out of each other’s company and very + proud of our domestic felicity. We are, if I may use the word, rather + prone to gloat over it, and, while continually congratulating ourselves + and each other, we cannot but mourn the infrequency of such happiness + throughout our Italian nobility. There are few matrons in Rome as serenely + happy as your friend Flexinna, few indeed who find all their happiness in + children, husband and household. And of those who really enjoy their homes + most are remarried after a divorce, or even after two or more. Our society + suffers from a plague worse than the pestilence itself, a plague of greed + for excitement, eagerness for novelty, of peevishness and fickleness. + </p> + <p> + “In this unhealthy atmosphere such households as Vocco’s are most notable. + And that you, who seem by nature fitted for just such blessedness as has + befallen Flexinna, should have been robbed of it by a strange series of + peculiar circumstances wins for you our interest and our solicitude. Still + more are our hearts drawn towards you by your unwavering fidelity, alike + to your present duties and all that they imply and to that love which you + have had to put away and forget, to the ideal of that felicity which you + have had to postpone so far. + </p> + <p> + “Faustina desires an interview with you. She is now in the amber gallery. + I shall have you conducted there, if you do not object.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria could not very well object and after an equerry, very stately in + his garb of duty, and two gaudily clad pages had escorted her through what + seemed like miles of corridors, she found herself alone with the Empress. + </p> + <p> + The Empress she had so far seen infrequently and spoken with only seldom. + It was impossible to be a Vestal, in the heyday of Rome’s Imperial times, + and not meet and know the Empress of Rome. Brinnaria had seen her whenever + they were both present at the Circus or the Amphitheatre; had been close + to her at all important state functions; had occasionally dined with her + at formal Palace banquets, when the curved sofa about the Empress’ table + was always occupied by the Empress, the wives of the chief Flamens and the + Vestals; but had hardly ever exchanged a word with her. + </p> + <p> + Faustina was endowed with the general healthiness with which Roman + noblewomen were blessed. But she had had the bad luck to suffer from many + and severe illnesses. These and her slow recoveries from them had kept her + away from very many official functions and public festivals. Numerous had + been the occasions on which Aurelius had appeared without her. When she + was well, indeed, they were always together, if possible. A great + proportion of his time, however, was occupied with official duties of such + a nature that, according to Roman etiquette, no woman could participate in + them. During such enforced separations Faustina sought amusement. And with + the overflowing energy and abounding vigor which she displayed between her + illness, she threw herself into the whirl of her pleasures with such + impetuosity, there was so much rollicking and roistering about her + favorite diversions that she attracted to herself and kept around her just + those elements of Roman society with which the Vestals were least likely + to mingle, professional idlers, and what we moderns would call the fast + set. Naturally, therefore, Brinnaria and Faustina had never had any + familiar intercourse. This was their first real conversation. + </p> + <p> + Faustina was not a large woman. She was of medium height, slender and + graceful. She was noted for the originality of her coiffures, which made + the most of her magnificent hair. Her hair Brinnaria noticed the moment + her eyes fell on her. + </p> + <p> + Her habitual expression of haughtiness and boredom had vanished from the + Empress’s face and she was all kindliness and solicitude. + </p> + <p> + Faustina put her at her ease at once. + </p> + <p> + “I have always been so sorry,” she began, “that I was ill the day you + climbed over the balustrade of the podium and rescued the retiarius. I’ve + missed many a sight I regretted, I miss so much by falling ill again and + again, but I never missed a sight I regretted missing more than that. + Nothing more worth seeing ever happened in the Colosseum.” + </p> + <p> + “I was terribly ashamed when I found what I had done,” said Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + “Of course you were,” the Empress agreed. + </p> + <p> + This broke the ice between them and Faustina led her into a long talk + about all her past, her love affair, her life as a Vestal, her + bereavements, her embarrassing circumstances, her future, her hopes. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria left the Empress, feeling that she had found a real friend and + also feeling comforted at heart. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII -OBSERVANCES + </h2> + <p> + BRINNARIA found that, with Almo definitely and permanently out of the way, + she did not worry about Calvaster. She also found that she did not worry + about Almo and that her glimpse of him had rather calmed her feelings. She + confessed as much to Aurelius when she had a third audience with him + before he left for the Rhine frontier, and she thanked him for his + insistence. + </p> + <p> + With her mind at peace Brinnaria settled more and more into the routine of + her life and enjoyed it more and more. + </p> + <p> + She came to feel keenly the spiritual significance of every detail of the + ritual observances in which she took part. Besides the maintenance of the + sacred fire, the Vestals had many obligatory duties. Every sacrifice of + the Roman public worship involved the sprinkling of the sacred meal upon + the head of the victim, if a live animal was offered, or upon the fire, if + the sacrifice was bloodless. Early in each ceremony one of the small boys + assisting the priest carried around to all the participants in the act of + worship a maple-wood box containing the holy meal; from it each worshipper + ladled a small portion into the palm of his right hand; at a specified + point in the course of the ceremonial each participant sprinkled the meal + as prescribed. + </p> + <p> + The holy meal was made of very coarsely ground wheat, a sort of grits, + salted and toasted. It was prepared by the Vestals according to immemorial + custom. They were supplied with a sufficient quantity of heads of wheat, + the best of the produce of two of their estates, one near Caere, the other + near Lanuvium. These wheat ears were packed in baskets and stored on the + farms in dry, airy barns. There they were kept drying and hardening their + grains until the next spring. Then the allotted baskets were brought into + Rome. On the seventh of May, after a ceremonial of prayer, the three elder + Vestals began going over these wheat-ears, sorting out those entirely + perfect, and placing them in larger baskets shaped like the big earthen + jars in which the Romans commonly tored wheat, olives, oil, wine and other + similar supplies. On the next day the wheat from the first day’s selection + of ears was separated from the straw, beards and chaff, was roasted and + coarsely ground. The resultant groats were then put away in great earthen + jars in the outer storeroom of the temple. On the third day they again + selected wheat ears, on the fourth they again prepared wheat-grits, and so + on alternately for eight days. By the evening of the eighth day they had + stored enough groats to make the sacred meal for one year’s ceremonies of + the entire Roman ritual. + </p> + <p> + The salt with which they salted the holy meal was prepared with similar + invariable formality. Crude salt, obtained from evaporated sea-water out + of the sand-pits on the seashore near Lavinium, was conveyed to the Atrium + in small two-handled earthenware jars. This coarse, dirty, dark-colored + salt was dissolved by the three younger Vestals in boiling water, which + water might not be obtained from the lead pipes which connected the Atrium + with the general water-supply of the city’s aqueducts, but must be drawn + by the Vestals themselves and carried by them in the earthenware jars from + the famous fountain of Jaturna, at which Castor and Pollux were fabled to + have watered their white horses after bringing to Rome the news of the + victory at Lake Regillus. The solution was purified by repeated boilings, + the impurities being gotten rid of by successive careful decantings of the + liquid from one vessel into another, so that the sediment might be left + behind as the top part was poured off. When sufficiently boiled down the + solution was recrystallized in shallow earthenware pans. The resulting + slabs of salt were harder than the pans and were freed from them by + breaking the earthenware with an ancient stone hammer, said to have been + captured by AEneas himself from a king of Ardea. The slabs of salt were + sawed into pieces with an iron saw, the pieces were pounded in a mortar, + the fine salt was thrown into an earthenware bowl and dried out in a kiln. + When dried a little powdered gypsum was stirred through it to prevent it + from again becoming moist. It was then stored in a tall jar with a tight + lid, which was kept in the outer storeroom of the temple, along with the + jars of meal. Three times a year, on the ninth of June, on the thirteenth + of September and on the fifteenth of February, with solemn prayers the + Vestals mixed the prepared salt with the prepared grits, the resultant + mixture being the sacred meal. + </p> + <p> + On each First of March the fire in the temple was allowed to go out and + was solemnly rekindled by the friction of maple wood on apple wood, as + when the fire went out by accident. The temple was then decorated with + fresh boughs of green laurel, after the boughs put up the year before had + been removed. + </p> + <p> + On May fifteenth the Vestals were the chief figures in a solemn procession + of the entire Roman hierarchy to the Sublician bridge, from which the + Vestals threw into the Tiber thirty dolls made of rushes, fifteen + representing men, fifteen women, each about two feet high. + </p> + <p> + This offering to the river of effigies of men and women commemorated the + primitive human sacrifices by which the river was each year placated, that + it might not drown more by floods. + </p> + <p> + On June fifth the inner storeroom of the temple was opened and its + treasures inspected by the Pontifex wearing his antique vestments. With + him entered always also the Chief Vestal clad in her austere habit with + all her badges of office. They were attended by the other Vestals, who + went through traditional pacings, haltings and prayers. The Temple of + Vesta was an enclosure from which all men were rigidly excluded. The only + exceptions to this immemorial taboo were a few of the more important + Pontiffs, and they might only enter on specified festal days, and then + must be in their full regalia. Also, in general, the temple was closed + against all women except the Vestals and their assistants. It was open, + however, from sunrise on the morning of each seventh of June until sunset + on the evening of the fourteenth of June. During this period it was + incumbent upon every Roman matron to visit the temple. And each worshipper + must walk the entire distance from her home to the temple and must leave + her house barefoot, barefoot she must walk from the temple to her home. + Only illness excused a Roman woman from this religious duty. Few ever + omitted it from indifference. + </p> + <p> + During these eight days the temple was thronged. + </p> + <p> + During these eight days also fell the great yearly festival of Vesta, on + the ninth of June, on which day also all millers kept holiday, with + processions and picnics to which the mill-donkeys were led decorated with + wreaths of flowers and strings of tiny, crisp-baked rolls. + </p> + <p> + On June fifteenth the temple was ceremonially cleaned and the sweepings + and the ashes collected from the sacred fire for the year past were + solemnly carried in a stately procession to a prescribed spot on the slope + of the Capitol where a great pit was closed by a heavy maple-wood door. In + this pit the ashes were reverently buried. + </p> + <p> + Besides these observances of their special cult the Vestals took part in + nearly every important sacrifice, procession and festival of the public + worship of Rome. They were busy women and among them Brinnaria was + anything but idle. She never found time hang heavy on her hands. + </p> + <p> + So busied with her duties she passed three peaceful years, contented and + happy. There was but one drawback to life in the Atrium from Brinnaria’s + point of view. That drawback was Meffia. Meffia was never ill but never + well. Everything tired her. It tired her to walk upstairs, to stand for + any length of time, to do anything. She was forever sitting down to rest + or lying down to rest. Excitement exhausted her totally. She was a + perpetual worry to the other Vestals. + </p> + <p> + Otherwise Brinnaria was very happy. Through Flexinna she had frequent news + of Almo. Ancient Rome had no institution, public or private, in any way + corresponding to our post office. But routes of trade and travel by land + and sea were well defined and traffic along them fairly regular, on the + most used routes almost continual. There were private organizations, + vaguely resembling our modern express companies, which forwarded + merchandise along the main-travelled routes and even into remote regions. + Their messengers took charge of bales, boxes and packages of all sizes and + also of letters. The service on the roads of Africa, from Bescera, Nepte + and Putea along the frontier of the desert, through Lambese, Capsa and + Thysdrus, to Carthage, by well-built vehicles with frequent relays of + horses on the excellent highroads was fairly good. The ships from Sicily + plied with almost the regularity of our ocean-liners. Roads and + road-service in Sicily were of a high quality of excellence. The transit + to Italy at Messina was a sort of ferry. Italy was served by a network of + roads always busy. Almo’s letters to Flexinna were fairly regular and + Vocco heard frequently from his friends among Almo’s brother officers and + sometimes from his military superiors. + </p> + <p> + Almo was an immediate and brilliant success as a leader of scouting + expeditions, cavalry dashes, and, within a year, of raids in considerable + force. His men adored him at once; his fellow-officers found him excellent + company, unassuming and companionable, his commanders came early to rely + on him. He won an excellent reputation and was universally regarded as a + young officer of great promise, likely to rise to high position and not + unlikely to become famous. + </p> + <p> + This kind of news delighted Brinnaria and promoted her peace of mind. In + great contentment she went about her duties, loving them more and more + from month to month, preparing the blessed salt, assisting at sacrifices, + participating in processions. + </p> + <p> + Also interest in music and enjoyment of music came to play more and more a + part in her spiritual life. As a child she had hated music and had been in + continual conflict with her musical governesses. Even after she entered + the Atrium her aversion to learning anything about music had given + Causidiena a great deal of trouble. Later Brinnaria was docile, but the + reverse of enthusiastic. Only after Almo’s departure for Africa did music + begins to mean anything to her. + </p> + <p> + But one keyed instrument was known to the ancients. That was a form of + organ, in effect and appearance not very dissimilar to a small portable + modern organ, with one bank of keys. Its mechanism, however, was very + different in respect to the construction of the pipe stops and bellows. In + particular, the steady flow of air to the pipes was obtained from the + pressure of water, and a receptacle partly filled with water was an + essential part of every Roman organ. From this feature it was called the + water-organ. The Emperor Nero had been a notable performer on the + water-organ and had interested himself in some improvements in its + mechanism. + </p> + <p> + As with the modern organ, so with the Roman water-organ, the sonorous, + sustained and resonant notes lent themselves naturally to the expression + of religious emotion. + </p> + <p> + Religious emotions, Brinnaria, at this period of her life, felt to an + overwhelming extent. She expressed them in long colloquies with Numisia + and Causidiena, in a tendency to be unnecessarily careful about her + duties, to pet her daily routine, as it were; and in an awakening to the + charms of music in general and of organ music in particular. She developed + into a capable performer on the water-organ, bought for herself the finest + to be found in all Rome, had it set up in the Atrium in place of the old + one which had belonged to the order of Vestals, and sat before it for + hours at a time. + </p> + <p> + Her solitary communings with her favorite instrument became her chief + solace when she was: low-spirited, which was seldom, and her favorite + diversion when she was high-spirited, which was often. Moreover, her + rendition of well-known airs and he improvisings came to be a great + pleasure to all the inmates of the Atrium, most of all to Causidiena. + </p> + <p> + Besides her many duties and her indoor amusements, Brinnaria found time + for much activity outside the Atrium. She had kept up her girlish + friendship for the sieve-maker Truttidius, and saw him occasionally, + sometimes ordering her litter halted before his shop and leaning out to + ask after his health and that of his family. Truttidius had an ailing + household, though he himself was always well and never seemed to get any + older. + </p> + <p> + From her talks with Truttidius she came to take a personal interest in the + welfare of the countless tenants in her many properties in the poorer + quarters of the city. She visited some of them-a sort of approach to + modern slumming by the philanthropic rich. Such actions on the part of a + landowner and such an attitude of mind from any rich person toward the + poor was very unusual in the ancient world. Her behavior in this regard + won Brinnaria a sort of fame among the poor, as if she were a live goddess + moving among them. + </p> + <p> + She had a healthy love of mere enjoyment too. Except when she happened to + be on duty watching the sacred fire, she never missed a theatrical + performance, a gladiatorial display or an exhibition of chariot-racing in + anyone of the vast race-courses flanked by tiers of stone-seats, which the + Romans called circuses. At all shows, whether of scenic artists, fighting + men or speeding horses, the Vestals had specified seats, as good as the + best. + </p> + <p> + Besides these formal pleasures, she took great delight in mixing in + society merely for society’s sake. Moderns are likely to imagine that the + Vestals of ancient Rome were nuns or something like nuns. They were + nothing of the sort. They were maiden ladies of wealth and position whose + routine duties brought them into familiar association with all the men + important in the Roman government, hierarchy, nobility and gentry and with + their wives and daughters. They were women of such importance in their + world that their acquaintance was sought by all who had any pretensions to + being entitled to meet them and by shoals of social bounders who had none. + Their influence was so powerful that they were unremittingly sought, + waylaid, pursued and besieged by persons who hoped to enlist their + interest in the appointment or promotion of this, that or the other + connection or relative; by the same persons they were continually + overwhelmed with presents of flowers, fruit, delicacies, dainties, + ornaments, laces, garments, pieces of furniture, horses, slaves, and of + anything and everything capable of being made a present of in the Roman + world; likewise with social invitations-chiefly to dinners, banquets and + feasts. Invitations to banquets and dinners Brinnaria seldom declined, + unless her duties made acceptance impossible or the invitation came from + people beneath her notice. As she had said to Aurelius, she had an + excellent appetite. She had an epicurean tendency from her early years and + was fond of oysters, sweetbreads, eels, thrushes, turbot and other + articles of food esteemed as delicacies by the Romans. But she was a + hearty eater and consumed generous portions of roast meats, particularly + of pork, which even in late imperial times was the staple of Roman diet. + She never lost her childish relish for boiled pork and cabbage, for bacon, + for ham, hot or cold. She was by no means a glutton, ate deliberately and + daintily, and while she ate, joined in the general conversation or even + led it. She had a quick wit and a sharp tongue and her sallies were + acclaimed. She was sought after as a guest not merely because she was a + Vestal, but for herself, for her gaiety and her unexpected utterances. + </p> + <p> + On the whole she preferred informal dinners to formal banquets and liked + better to dine with her friends than with the most luxurious entertainers + in Roman society. + </p> + <p> + With Vocco and Flexinna she dined frequently, three times a month at least + and generally oftener. Brinnaria loved children, especially babies, and + there was always a baby in the Istorian household—Flexinna’s babies + were all healthy and grew famously. Of the six children, Brinnaria could + not have told which she loved or which loved her most. Her arrivals were + always heralded with shouts of glee, her romps with the children always + put her in a good humor, her swim with Flexinna sharpened an appetite + which needed no edge, while the cosiness and informality of Flexinna’s + dining-room, where each of the three had undivided possession of one + entire sofa, made it certain that nothing marred her enjoyment. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIII - PERVERSITY + </h2> + <p> + ABOUT three years after her farewell to Almo, on entering Vocco’s house + one afternoon, Brinnaria had a presentiment of something wrong. The + children were as vociferous and as whimsical as usual, but there was a + nameless difference in Flexinna’s expression and bearing. As soon as they + were alone in their bath, after she had had one good plunge in the pool, + Brinnaria, treading water in the deepest part of the tank, shaking her + head like a wet spaniel, demanded: + </p> + <p> + “What is the matter? There’s something wrong. You might as well tell me.” + </p> + <p> + But Flexinna put her off and laughed at her insistence. + </p> + <p> + To Brinnaria the laughter seemed forced and so did the talk at dinner. No + sooner was the dinner over and the tray of figs, almonds and pomegranates + and other fruit on the table, than she whispered to Flexinna: + </p> + <p> + “Tell the servants to stay out. I want to talk.” Flexinna signed to Vocco + and they exchanged glances. + </p> + <p> + “Why did you keep up the farce so long?” Brinnaria sneered. “I saw through + it from the first.” + </p> + <p> + “We were afraid,” Vocco apologized, “that what I have to tell you would + spoil your appetite.” + </p> + <p> + “It would take something pretty bad to spoil my appetite,” Brinnaria + reflected. “Is Almo dead?” + </p> + <p> + “Not so b-b-bad as that,” spoke Flexinna. + </p> + <p> + “Tell me, Quintus,” Brinnaria breathed. + </p> + <p> + Vocco fidgeted. + </p> + <p> + “It’s an amazing story,” he began. + </p> + <p> + “All his story, all my story, all our story,” Brinnaria cut in, “is + amazing. Leave out the comments and tell the story.” + </p> + <p> + “While Almo was away on the expedition against the nomads of the plateau,” + Vocco narrated, “Pennasius fell ill, was allowed to resign his + governorship and Grittonius took his place. On Almo’s return Grittonius + complimented him most highly and promised him any reward he asked for. + Almo amazed him by asking for a full and honorable discharge from the + army. Grittonius expostulated with him but Almo held him to his promise. + In spite of the governor’s appeals to his pride and to his patriotism he + insisted, and Grittonius gave him his full official discharge. At once + Almo applied for permission to sell himself as a slave. This so astounded + Grittonius that he made him repeat the application before witnesses and + give his reasons. Almo explained that he had always been devoted to + horseracing and that he wanted formally and regularly to article himself + to one of the racing companies as a charioteer; that he had always craved + that life and had longed for it more and more as his career as a soldier + went on. He said there was no use in his continuing a life he detested, + nor missing the happiness he anticipated as a charioteer. + </p> + <p> + “Grittonius had him examined by a committee of the most reputed physicians + of the province. They reported Almo entirely sane. Grittonius wanted to + hold the matter over until he had special permission from the Emperor. + Almo craftily maintained that Grittonius had been made governor with the + fullest powers on all lines specifically to save the Emperor from being + bothered about such trifles. Grittonius yielded. The necessary papers were + drawn up, all the depositions were made out in duplicate. Every formality + was fulfilled and Almo was publicly sold as a slave in the market place of + Hippo.” + </p> + <p> + “What company did he enter?” Brinnaria queried. + </p> + <p> + “Veppius did not state,” Vocco replied; “he merely said that Almo sailed + the next day for Spain.” + </p> + <p> + “The fool!” Brinnaria cried. “The three fools; a fool of a Veppius to + write so vaguely, a fool of a governor to be persuaded so easily and Almo + the biggest fool of all! + </p> + <p> + “What a fool of a lover I have! Are all men like that? I’m as much in love + with him as he with me and I can behave myself decently and keep outwardly + calm and observe the conventions of life. Why can’t he be decent? How can + it comfort a man in love to throw away a splendid career, abandon a great + income and vanish from the ken of all who love him? What madness is this + with which the gods afflict him? Oh, I could tear my hair with rage!” + </p> + <p> + To trace Almo everything was done that could be done. Vocco himself set + out at once for Hippo. He found that Almo had been sold to a Greek + slave-dealer named Olynthides, brother of the well-known dealer at Rome. + He found Olynthides a small man with a club-foot. He said he remembered + the matter, that he had been employed to buy Almo and resell him for cash, + especially to conceal the real purchaser. + </p> + <p> + When Vocco expressed astonishment Olynthides said: + </p> + <p> + “There is nothing to be surprised at, the thing happens every day. It is a + regular feature of slave-trading. There are all sorts of reasons why a man + wants a slave without any past. Such sales are customary and habitual.” + </p> + <p> + When pressed further he retorted: + </p> + <p> + “Of course I did not ask the buyer’s name; equally of course, I did not + take any note of him, it was my business to forget him. I didn’t notice + him when he came into the courtyard, there are always knots of people + coming in all day, looking over the slaves I offer for sale, and going out + again. He came in like anybody else and looked over my stock. When he + spoke to me he had a servant with him carrying a stout leather bag. He + indicated Almo and asked his price. I named it. + </p> + <p> + “‘Cash sale,’ says he; ‘no papers except a bare sale certificate.’ + </p> + <p> + “‘Done,’ says I. + </p> + <p> + “He counted out the cash from his servant’s bag and I gave him the + customary certificate, with a description of Almo and the statement: + </p> + <p> + “‘Sold on this day and date for cash’ and my signature and seal. That was + all there was to it.” + </p> + <p> + When Vocco was persistent, Olynthides averred that he had “heard” that the + purchaser’s name was Jegius and that he came from Cadiz. Vocco could not + discover anyone in Hippo who had ever heard of a slave-dealer named + Jegius. + </p> + <p> + When Vocco returned to Rome with his report Brinnaria set in motion all + the forces of her world which could be utilized under the circumstances. + Aurelius was on the Rhine frontier, but Brinnaria had, by this time, a + close acquaintance with all important court officers and was on terms of + the utmost cordiality with the officials who governed Rome in the + Emperor’s absence. They sympathized with her and put at her disposal all + the machinery of the government secret service. They agreed with her that + the matter must be kept quiet, there must be no proclamations, posters, no + rewards offered by crier or placard, no publishing of descriptions. With + emphatic injunctions of secrecy they sent warnings to every provincial + governor, to every local magistrate, to the aldermen of every free city, + to institute unobtrusive investigations and to keep unostentatious watch. + Brinnaria insisted that these mandates should be sent all over the Empire, + pointing out that no one could conjecture what port of the Mediterranean + or of the Black Sea might be the destination of any nameless trading ship. + But, with special care, full orders were distributed throughout Spain. + </p> + <p> + Towards Spain, likewise, Brinnaria directed the energies of those + organizations of the ancient world which were analogous to our modern + private detective bureaus, and upon Spain she focussed the energies of the + managers of the racing companies. + </p> + <p> + These great corporations were among the most important money-making + enterprises of the Roman world. They maintained luxurious headquarters in + the most congested business districts of the capital. They had offices + adjacent to each of the circuses, they possessed huge congeries of + buildings utilized as stables for their crack racers and barracks for + their charioteers, and provided with spacious courtyards for training + their teams. Outside of Rome they had similar offices and training-stables + in every city and in most towns of any size or wealth. Besides they owned + countless stud-farms, estates and ranches in every province of the Empire + and maintained an army of herdsmen, ostlers and drovers to convoy their + horses by land and whole fleets of ships to transport them by sea. + </p> + <p> + They were joint-stock companies, and while many smaller ones existed in + various parts of the Empire and a few even at Rome, the small concerns + were insignificant and generally ignored. When one spoke of the + racing-companies one meant the six great companies whose central + organizations were domiciled at Rome and whose ramifications penetrated + every district of the Empire. These were known, after the racing-colors of + their jockeys, as the Greens, the Blues, the Reds, the Whites, the + Crimsons and the Golds. The Reds and the Whites were the oldest companies, + the Crimsons and the Golds were companies established in the heyday of the + Empire by coteries of millionaires, the Blues and the Greens were the + largest, the wealthiest and the most popular, especially the Greens. In + the Greens, somewhere, Brinnaria expected to find Almo, as he had been + enthusiastic about the Greens from boyhood. He had been wearing their + leek-green colors the day she had sat in his lap in her father’s + courtyard. He had haunted their training-stables during his brief sojourn + at Rome before Aurelius sent him to Africa, he had inherited a big block + of stock in the Greens. In the Greens, likewise, Brinnaria owned stock; + and, having entered into inheritances from more than seventy different + wealthy relatives who had died during the pestilence, she happened to own + stock in every one of the six great companies. She had personal friends + among the directors of each of the six. Therefore it was especially easy + for her to enlist their help in her efforts to find Almo. It would have + been easy, anyhow, since to be able to oblige a Vestal was a refreshing + novelty for almost anyone at Rome and to find a Vestal seeking one’s + influence and one’s help, equally novel and refreshing; generally the shoe + was on the other foot—most persons in public life in Rome were used + to attempting to enlist the help and the interests of the Vestals for + their purposes and were generally utterly at a loss for any means of + requital, if the interest of a Vestal was enlisted and her help obtained. + </p> + <p> + Consequently all that the racing-companies could do to find Almo was done + as well as all that could be done by the private detective agencies and by + government officials. + </p> + <p> + All that was done was utterly in vain. No trace of Almo could be + discovered after he had sailed from Hippo with Jegius. No slave-dealer + named Jegius could be found nor anyone who knew such a slave-dealer. No + clue, no ghost of a clue came to light. The Greens, like the other + companies, could find among their charioteers, their jockeys, their free + employees, their slaves, no individual in the least answering to + descriptions of Almo. All governmental efforts, all professional efforts, + all private efforts, all Vocco’s efforts, all Brinnaria’s efforts, were + completely baffled. + </p> + <p> + Almo had completely vanished. + </p> + <p> + When Aurelius, passing through Rome on his way from the Rhine frontier to + Syria, was in his capital for a brief period, Brinnaria had an audience + with him. + </p> + <p> + “Daughter!” he said, “it is all my fault. I should have given Grittonius + explicit injunctions about the boy. But the assaults of the Marcomanni + were particularly furious just at that time; I was feverishly hurrying + from point to point along the frontier; I accepted the resignation of + Pennasius; by letter. I appointed Grittonius by letter; I assumed that + Grittonius would have sense; I assumed that Pennasius would impart to him + his secret instructions. I erred by inadvertence; I should have set a + special watch on the boy. But I never thought of it. He was doing so well + and he seemed so interested in his work. He was wonderfully fitted for + frontier duty along the desert. I was watching him with keen interest; + each report of him gave me greater pleasure. I do not hesitate to tell you + that I had him in my mind’s eye to command this very expedition which I + must now command myself, as there is no other man in the Empire fit to + take charge of it. + </p> + <p> + “Is it not a shame that a man whom the Empire needs, who had before him so + splendid an opportunity, who was fitting himself for so brilliant a + career, should throw it all away from mere perversity? Yet I am not + wrathful against him; I see many reasons for sympathizing with him. + </p> + <p> + “Rigid and unflinching celibacy affects different individuals very + differently. Some it does not affect at all, apparently. It does not seem + to affect you. You are as plump and rosy, as healthy and alert, as happy + and normal a young woman, to all appearance, as could be found among + matrons of your age in all the Empire. Celibacy seems to agree with you. + </p> + <p> + “Manifestly it did not agree with Almo. It got on his nerves somehow. That + is the most probable explanation of his eccentric vagary. Don’t be + discouraged. He’ll turn up somewhere, after a while, safe and sound and + none the worse for his experiences.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria, in fact, was not discouraged. She resolutely and unweariedly + prosecuted her efforts to find Almo. Nor was she despondent. She scouted + the suggestion that he might be dead. She kept up her spirits, did not + mope or brood and never lost her hearty appetite. She was the life of the + dinners she attended and as talkative and witty as ever. + </p> + <p> + But the strain affected her greatly. She was outwardly controlled, + statuesque and dignified, but the inward turmoil of emotion that surged + through her manifested itself in an unremitting activity. She slept well + and soundly, but rose early and kept on the go. Besides her duties, her + music and her participation in social gatherings, she must needs find + other outlets for her energy, other means to pass her time and distract + her thoughts. + </p> + <p> + In the course of her dealings with the racing companies she became + interested in them not merely as means towards locating Almo, but for + themselves. She became particularly interested in their stables, their + jockeys and their horses. There was no bar of religious tradition or of + social custom which hindered a Vestal from freely mingling with men + visibly in the open daylight in public. Visiting the stables of the racing + companies had long been a fad with Rome’s social leaders, men and women + alike. Brinnaria availed herself of her freedom in this regard and + followed her inclination. She haunted the training-stables of all six + corporations, but mostly of the Greens, always in company with Manlia, or + Flexinna, or Nemestronia or some other of her women friends; she visited + the barracks almost daily, chatted with the charioteers, grooms and + ostlers, watched the exercising of the teams, inspected the stalls, conned + the racers. + </p> + <p> + She made herself an excellent judge of a jockey and a better judge of a + horse. + </p> + <p> + She interested herself in the methods by which the companies obtained and + selected their animals. She became an adept on the entire subject of + horse-raising. It engrossed her thoughts. + </p> + <p> + Then she herself took over the management of several of her estates in the + environs of Rome; of all, in fact, which were near enough for her to visit + personally. She redistributed the force of slaves that managed them, sold + some, bought others and fitted up the properties as stud-farms. Herself + she selected the brood mares and stallions with which to stock these + estates. She herself laid down the principles guiding their management and + she herself dictated the methods of breeding them. She herself + superintended the carrying out of her orders, visiting each estate + frequently and inspecting everything carefully and intelligently. + </p> + <p> + Her first offering of two-year-olds sold at good prices. She was + encouraged, felt herself completely an adept, and would take no one’s word + about anything relating to horses, relying solely on her own judgment. + </p> + <p> + All this would have subjected her to much reprehension had Faltonius + Bambilio survived. But he had died just about the time of Almo’s + disappearance. His son, also named Faltonius Bambilio, had taken up a + political rather than a priestly life and was not to be thought of as his + successor. In his place Aurelius, on his way to Syria, had nominated + Lutorius Rusco, a man who impressed everyone at first sight, and more and + more the better anyone knew him, as the paragon of a Pontifex. He was not + lacking in ecclesiastical unction, but did not wallow in it as had + Bambilio. He was pious, but did not think it necessary to advertise it day + and night unremittingly. He was not lax in religious matters, but he was + no stickler for minute trifles. He inspired confidence by every + characteristic of his appearance and behavior. He was a man somewhat over + medium height, well built, neither heavy nor large, with an unusually + dignified bearing and carriage, not a hint of self-assertion and with a + genially comprehending smile. It was impossible not to confide in him and + unthinkable that confiding in him should ever be regretted. Brinnaria + confided in him and never regretted it. + </p> + <p> + Of Almo’s disappearance she talked to him freely; freely also she talked + of her feelings for Almo. He was as sympathetic and comprehending as the + Emperor and Empress and he encouraged her to hope that Almo was yet alive, + which she sometimes doubted. + </p> + <p> + Of her stock farms he said to her: + </p> + <p> + “I should certainly not have advised any woman to enter upon such an + enterprise, least of all a Vestal. I know of no other member of our + hierarchy who has any similar interests, except Calvaster, whose haunting + of the gladiatorial schools and association with trainers of gladiators + has given some scandal. Some people would call your horse-breeding + unseemly for a Vestal. But I see no harm in it. I have talked with + Causidiena and it is clear that you do not neglect or skimp your duties, + that you give them full time and close attention. Your leisure is your own + to do with as you please. And your immediate success appears an evidence + that, to say the least, your undertakings give no offence to the gods.” + </p> + <p> + During the latter months of Bambilio’s oversight Brinnaria had felt + restive and as if some inward force was forever driving her to feverish + activities; under the care of Lutorius she became placid and thought less + of her stock-raising, journeys to and fro to her estates, talks with + grooms and such like activitie and devoted herself with more cool ardor to + her duties. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIV - AMAZEMENT + </h2> + <p> + AURELIUS returned from Syria with his victorious army in the nine hundred + and twenty-ninth year of Rome, 176 of our era, ten years after the great + pestilence. He had merely crushed a local rebellion, but a vast coalition + of nomadic Arab tribes of the desert had been allied with the rebels, and + to the Romans it seemed that their Emperor had won a great victory in a + mighty campaign. Aurelius humored their mood, and with good judgment, for + they needed all the encouragement possible. He arranged to have his return + celebrated by shows of all kinds, theatrical performances, fights of + gladiators, beast fights, horse-races uncountable and above all, by that + thrilling procession of a victor and his armed soldiers through the city + along the Sacred Street, up to the great temple on the Capitol, which was + the highest honor an army and a commander could receive at the hands of + the Roman government, which signalized a notable victory over notable + odds, which was called a triumph. Of triumphs Rome had seen fewer than + three hundred in more than nine hundred years. Not one of the three + hundred had been as magnificent as the triumph of Aurelius. + </p> + <p> + Its auxiliary spectacles were similarly magnificent. In particular the + gladiatorial shows surpassed anything within the memory of the oldest + living spectator. + </p> + <p> + Causidiena, whose eyes troubled her greatly, found that watching the + triumphal procession caused her so much pain that she absented herself + from the remaining shows. To all of these, races, beast-fights and combats + of gladiators, she insisted that the other five Vestals should go + together. The arrangement was unusual, but no one could object, for no one + would hint or even think that the sacred fire would be in any danger of + going out with such a Chief Vestal as Causidiena caring for it or that she + needed any other Vestal to assist her. Likewise her five colleagues were + genuinely pleased that not one of them would miss any part of the shows. + </p> + <p> + As the number was odd, Causidiena decreed that they should be conveyed to + the spectacles each in her own state coach, attended by her maid of honor. + The maids, of course, did not sit with the Vestals, but had seats far back + with the populace. + </p> + <p> + In their luxurious private box in the Colosseum the five Vestals sat in + the ample front row arm-chairs. They were seated not according to + seniority, but Numisia in the middle, Meffia and Brinnaria, as the + youngest, on either side of her, Gargilia next Meffia, and Manlia next + Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + In the Imperial loge near them Aurelius, now for more than a year a + widower, presided over the games, clad in his gorgeous silk robes and + attended by his fifteen-year-old son Antoninus, afterward known by his + nickname of “Commodus.” The four tiers of the Colosseum were packed with + spectators, pontiffs, senators, nobles, ambassadors magistrates and other + notables in the front seats along the coping of the arena wall, lesser + notables in the first tier, well-to-do persons in the second tier, traders + and manufacturers and such like in the third tier and the commonalty in + the fourth. + </p> + <p> + Besides the ninety thousand seated spectators* many thousand more stood in + the galleries, in the openings of the stairways, in any place where a + foothold could be found and from which a view could be obtained. The + outlook from the Vestals’ box was across the level sand to the gigantic + curve of seats, all hidden under their occupants, so that the interior of + the Amphitheatre was a vast expanse of flower-crowned heads, eager faces + and waving fans. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + *The author forgets himself. Earlier in the book he + describes an audience of 100,000 as Brinnaria tells the + emperor how she felt down on the sand in her shift, with + “two hundred thousand eyes” (implying one hundred thousand + people) staring at her. In fact, the Colosseum could handle + an audience of about 45 to 50 thousand.—GB ed. +</pre> + <p> + During that second day of gladiatorial fighting Manlia had several times + said to Brinnaria: + </p> + <p> + “Is there anything wrong? Are you ill? You do not seem yourself!” Each + time Brinnaria had positively denied that anything was wrong and had + asserted that she was entirely herself. + </p> + <p> + About the middle of the afternoon, the arena was filled with pairs of + gladiators, all the couples fighting simultaneously. Each pair had with it + a trainer, called a lanista, who watched, guided or checked the fighting. + </p> + <p> + The contending pairs were of a kind much liked by the Romans, because of + the excitement they afforded, each pair consisting of a light-built, + light-armed, nimble expert pitted against a heavily built, heavily armed + ruffian, the two supposed to be equally matched, the strength and weapons + of the one fully balanced by the skill and agility of the other. + </p> + <p> + Viewing fights of this kind Manlia felt rather than heard or saw a change + in Brinnaria next her, felt her stiffen and grow silent, rigid and tense. + Manlia glanced at her, followed her gaze and became interested in the + fight Brinnaria was watching. Before them, not immediately below them, but + some distance out in the arena, fought a conspicuous pair of gladiators. + One was a great hulking full-armored brute of a Goth, helmeted and + corseleted, kilted in bronze-plated leather straps, booted, as it were, + with ample shin-guards of thick hide, bronze-plated like the straps of his + flapping kilt. He carried a big oval shield and threatened with a long + straight sword his adversary, a Roman in every outline, a slender young + man, barefoot, bare-legged, kilted with the scantiest form of gladiator’s + body-piece and apron, clad in a green tunic and carrying only the small + round shield and short sabre of a Thracian. He wore a helmet like a skull + cap with a broad nose-guard that amounted to a mask, above which were + small openings for his eyes. + </p> + <p> + Conning this pair Manlia’s attention was riveted by the slighter man. He + was very light on his feet, jaunty of bearing and, as it were, ablaze with + self-confidence. + </p> + <p> + Manlia, who was an expert judge of sword-fighting, perceived at once that + he was a master of his art. His method for the moment was to hold back, + lead his opponent on and bide his time. His attitudes and movements + bespoke the most perfect knowledge of sword play in all its finest + details. But what most held Manlia’s attention was his beauty of form and + a strange something about him, a long-armed, long-legged appearance. She + turned to Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + “I should have sworn,” she said, “that there was not in all the world + another man like Segontius Almo. But that Thracian is a duplicate of him, + as like him as if he were his twin brother.” + </p> + <p> + “More like him than a twin brother,” Brinnaria replied, her voice muffled + and choked. “I’ve been watching him ever since he came in. I recognized + him in the procession this morning. That is Almo.” + </p> + <p> + “Almo!” breathed Manlia, in a horrified whisper. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, Almo!” hissed Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + “What shall we do?” quavered Manlia. + </p> + <p> + “Do?” snorted Brinnaria, “do nothing.” + </p> + <p> + “But we can pray,” Manlia panted. “We can pray. Surely you are praying, + Brinnaria?” + </p> + <p> + “I am praying,” came the answer, in a viperish whisper. “I’m praying he + may be killed.” + </p> + <p> + “Killed!” Manlia gasped. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, killed,” repeated Brinnaria, viciously. “Killing is what he + deserves, mere killing is too good for him. If he wanted to commit suicide + why couldn’t he do it decently at once and privately without all this + elaborate machinery of selling himself as a slave, and lying about his + intentions and disgracing himself by becoming a prize-fighter and exposing + himself to getting killed in public? Why couldn’t he get killed at Treves + or Lyons or Aquileia? Why must he humiliate me by this exhibition of + himself before me and all Rome? The quicker he is killed the better. I’m + praying he’ll be killed at once.” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, Brinnaria!” groaned the horrified Manlia. + </p> + <p> + The Thracian was not killed in that first fight; he was never in any + danger of being killed. He played with his man as a cat plays with a + mouse; held him off without an effort, caught the attention of all the + nearby spectators; won their interest by the perfection of his sword-play; + and aroused their enthusiasm by that nameles quality which marks off, from + even the best drilled talent, the man who is a born genius in his line. + </p> + <p> + He pinked his victim between corselet and helmet, so lightly that only + those spectators watching most closely saw the lunge, so effectually that + the man died almost as he fell. + </p> + <p> + “You must have prayed for him to win; I did,” spoke Manlia. + </p> + <p> + “I didn’t,” Brinnaria snapped. “I prayed for him to be killed. I wish he + had been. I’m not the only one who has recognized him. Aurelius has and he + has told Antoninus; I watched him.” + </p> + <p> + “How could you?” Manlia exclaimed. “How could you watch anything but + Almo?” + </p> + <p> + “I could and I did,” Brinnaria asseverated. “I’m looking all ways at once, + just now. The news is all over the Imperial loge already. They are looking + at me as well as at him. I hope he’ll be killed this next bout.” The + lanista, in fact, at once matched Almo with another full-armed giant. + Again Almo gave an exhibition of perfect swordsmanship. The Romans were as + quick to appreciate form in fighting as we moderns are to applaud our best + bail players; they recognized pre-eminence in the swordman’s art, as we + acclaim the skill of a crack baseball pitcher or cricket bowler. + </p> + <p> + Almo caught the eye of spectator after spectator, till most of the + audience on that side of the arena were watching the fight in which he + took part to the exclusion of everything else that was going on. He + displayed that perfect balance of all the mental and physical faculties, + that instantaneous co-ordination of eye, brain and muscle, which only an + occasional phenomenon can attain to. He made no mistakes, bore himself + like a dancer on a tight-rope, circled about his adversary, warded off all + his thrusts, lunges and rushes, turned aside his long sword with his small + round shield without a trace of effort, and at his leisure found a joint + in his body armor and pierced his heart with an ostentatiously difficult + lunge delivered with the acme of apparent ease. + </p> + <p> + “There,” sighed Manlia, “I prayed hard.” + </p> + <p> + “So did I,” Brinnaria murmured, “but I prayed the other way. He ought to + have been killed already. Numisia has recognized him and he has been + recognized by three or four nobles along the coping. The rumor is + spreading from each of them and running through the audience.” Manlia, in + fact, looking about was aware of an unusual stir among the spectators, of + notes being handed along and read, of whisperings, callings, signs, + pointings; of messengers worming their way from row to row and from tier + to tier. + </p> + <p> + Almo won his third bout. While it was in progress Manlia had seen one of + the Emperor’s orderlies enter the arena from one of the small doors in the + wall and confer with the chief lanista, who directed the fighting. + </p> + <p> + By the time Almo began a fourth bout half the audience was looking at him + or at Brinnaria. There were thousands present who had survived the + pestilence, who had been present fifteen years before when she had let + herself down into the arena and had rescued the retiarius. They remembered + her spectacular interference and were curious as to how she would now + comport herself. Brinnaria, erect and calm, fanned herself placidly. + </p> + <p> + Almo won his fourth bout. + </p> + <p> + By this time the arrangements of the lanistas had been so far modified + that, instead of a great throng of fighters, there were, in the whole + immense arena, not more than twenty pairs. + </p> + <p> + With scarcely a breathing space Almo was pitted against a fifth adversary. + By the time he had disposed of him the entire audience, fully a hundred + thousand souls, were as well aware of what was going on as was Brinnaria + herself. She was pale, but entirely collected. To Manlia she whispered + venomously: + </p> + <p> + “Castor be thanked, he is certain to be killed, Aurelius has attended to + that.” In fact the Roman sense of fair play was offended when the lanista + gave Almo a mere moment of rest and then set against him a sixth + antagonist. Murmurs ran from tier to tier, there were hoots and cat-calls. + </p> + <p> + Aurelius put up his hand and the people became still. + </p> + <p> + It was not often that the entire throng in the Colosseum focussed its + attention on anyone fighter. That happened now. The dozen or more other + pairs of fighters were ignored, all eyes were on Almo and his opponent—all + eyes that did not stray towards Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + Almo was not showing any signs of weariness, but he was plainly husbanding + his strength. The sixth bout was tame—seldom had the Amphitheatre + displayed so mild a set to. The heavy-armed man had seen Almo dispose of + five like himself, he was timid; Almo was not timid, but he was cautious. + The result was a tedious exhibition of fencing for position, each sword + monotonously caught on the other shield. At the end Almo slashed his + opponent’s wrist, feinted, pretended to be unable to avoid a clumsy + thrust, slipped inside the big man’s guard and drove his sabre deep under + his arm-pit. + </p> + <p> + The Colosseum rang with cheers. + </p> + <p> + Without so much as a sponging down or a mouthful of wine Almo was faced by + a seventh fresh swordsman in complete armor. This time there were no + caterwaulings or groans. Even the upper gallery had recognized Almo or + been told who he was, even the populace had remembered or had been + informed of the relation between Almo and Brinnaria. Everybody had + recalled or been reminded of her rescue of the retiarius. + </p> + <p> + The audience collectively comprehended that Aurelius meant Almo to be + defeated and put at an adversary’s mercy before Brinnaria, that he was + testing her. + </p> + <p> + The habitual hubbub, hum, and buzz of undertones was checked to a very + unusual degree, the Amphitheatre became almost still. + </p> + <p> + But when Almo fairly duplicated his first bout and neatly, almost without + effort, cut his victim’s throat, the audience cheered him vociferously. + </p> + <p> + Louder, if possible did they acclaim his calm and adequate strategy + against his eighth antagonist. + </p> + <p> + A ninth and a tenth were promptly put beyond power to hurt him by wounds + ingeniously disabling, but far from deadly. + </p> + <p> + The eleventh bout was more tedious than the sixth. + </p> + <p> + Almo divined some greater strength or skill in this adversary and played + him warily. When the audience was bored to the point of being almost ready + to call for something diverting Almo slaughtered his man with a terrible + wound between his corselet and kilt. + </p> + <p> + The twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth antagonists Almo plainly despised. + He stood almost still, hardly altering the position of his feet except to + turn as the huge barbarians circled ponderously about him. Each he brought + down with his first lunge. + </p> + <p> + As the fifteenth bout began the audience was manifestly impatient and + restive. But they were not bored. That one Thracian, almost without rest, + should successively dispose of fourteen antagonists, in the fullest armor, + was a notable feat. The perfect form of Almo’s fighting was even more + notable. At each victory the audience cheered him till they were hoarse. + They seemed to cheer quite spontaneously and to need the relief for their + feelings. But also they seemed to mean to give him as long a rest as was + in their power. They were all for him. + </p> + <p> + But no man could go on fighting continually without fatigue. In his + fifteenth bout Almo moved heavily. + </p> + <p> + The other man was unusually quick for a big man. He handled his big sword + deftly. After much sparring he was too quick for Almo, and the point of + his slender blade scratched Almo’s splay vizor, nicked his chin, and tore + a long shallow slash in the skin of his right breast. + </p> + <p> + Blood welling through it stained the green of Almo’s tunic; blood dropping + from his chin spotted the bright green. + </p> + <p> + The populace groaned. + </p> + <p> + Manlia prayed. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria, under scrutiny of two hundred thousand eyes, sat erect, fanned + herself steadily, and gazed straight before her. To all appearance she was + as indifferent to Almo as if he did not exist. + </p> + <p> + After that Alma moved like a sleep-walker or a man in a dream, dully and + dazedly. + </p> + <p> + The big man feinted and lunged cleverly. The point of his weapon ripped + Alma’s thigh on the outside above the knee. No man could stand up after + such a wound. He went down, his shield under him. + </p> + <p> + From all around the arena, from every tier, automatically, thousands of + arms shot out, thumb flat. Instantly every arm whipped back and was hidden + under its owner’s robe. All realized that expression of sympathy was not + their business. A hush fell. Everybody looked at the Emperor and at + Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria sat erect in her arm-chair, fanning herself evenly, staring + straight across the arena. The same instinct, the same curiosity which + actuated the rest of the audience, restrained the Vestals from giving the + sign of mercy. All felt that the matter concerned only Aurelius and + Brinnaria, that for anyone else to interfere would be flouting the + Emperor. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria, white as a corpse, dizzy and numb, kept up the unvarying motion + of her fan. Otherwise she was perfectly still. + </p> + <p> + The victor rolled his eyes along the rows of spectators. He got no inkling + of their feelings. + </p> + <p> + He gazed at the Vestals. The audience saw him gaze that way. Brinnaria + ignored him. Almo and all the world. + </p> + <p> + The victor looked toward the Emperor. + </p> + <p> + Aurelius held out his right hand, thumb out. + </p> + <p> + The lanista removed Almo’s helmet. If anyone had doubted his identity the + doubt was dispelled among all near enough to make out his face. + </p> + <p> + The victor put one foot on Almo’s chest. Almo stretched his neck. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria sat there, tense, pale, but as collected as if she had no + interest in what was going on. + </p> + <p> + The savage standing over Alma glanced a second time towards the Emperor. + </p> + <p> + Aurelius was holding his arm at full stretch over the coping, thumb flat + against the extended fingers. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria knew that she had won, that Aurelius had put her to the test + before all Rome, that she had stood the test, that all Rome was witness. + Her fingers clutched the handle of her fan. She could hardly feel it in + her grasp. + </p> + <p> + The big man took his foot from Almo’s chest. + </p> + <p> + The audience broke into howls of applause, gust after gust of cheers, + roaring like a storm wind in a forest. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria saw the arena, saw the spectators, through a film of mist, + through a gray veil, through a fog of blackness. She realized that, for + the first time in her life, she was on the verge of fainting. Mechanically + she looked about her. Her glance fell on Meffia crumpled in her arm-chair. + </p> + <p> + That steadied her. If Meffia had fainted, she would not, she would not. + </p> + <p> + She did not faint. She fanned herself steadily as she watched the lanistas + help Almo to hobble from the arena. When he was gone her attention + returned to Meffia. Gargilia and Numisia were trying to rouse her. + </p> + <p> + She remained crumpled, she collapsed, she slid off her chair to the floor + of the box. She lay in a horrid heap unmistakable in its limpness. The + excitement had been too much for Meffia. She was stone dead. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0021" id="link2H_4_0021"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BOOK III—THE REBELLION OF DESPERATION + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XV - REHABILITATION + </h2> + <p> + THE death of a Vestal, except from old age, was always regarded by the + Roman populace as a sign of the gods’ disfavor. The death of a young + Vestal, sudden, unexpected and unexplained, could not but cause great + uneasiness throughout all classes of the population. + </p> + <p> + Moreover, gladiatorial exhibitions were part of the Roman public worship, + which largely proceeded on the naive assumption that the gods liked just + about what men liked and that, the best way to please the gods and win + their favor was to delight them with such spectacles as men enjoyed, + acrobatic exhibitions, dramas, beast-fights, fights of beasts with men or + of men with men, chariot-races and similar exciting displays, and so put + the gods in a good humor. This underlying theory of diverting spectacles + as a species of prayer and as the most effective kind of prayer was not so + much definitely expressed by the Romans, as tacitly and unconsciously + assumed. It was, nevertheless, entirely real and all Romans felt every + public show as an act of public worship, as a hallowed function. + </p> + <p> + Most Roman rites were held to be entirely vitiated if a death took place + among the worshippers during the course of the ceremony. To all + solemnities at which only a few persons were present this applied without + qualification and positively. Naturally a death among the crowd about a + temple was held of much less import. + </p> + <p> + Still less could anyone regard a death amid the vast throng in the + Colosseum or the Circus Maximus. So that Meffia’s sudden end was not + necessarily held a certain indication of the wrath of the gods. But, as + the death of one of the most important functionaries present at the + spectacle, it caused much concern. The dismay of the people the pontiffs + tried to alleviate by all the means in their power, by consultation of the + augurs, soothsayers and professional prophets, and by official + consultation of the Sibylline Books. The general anxiety was somewhat + allayed by their placards and proclamations, announcing that Meffia’s + death was wholly due to her personal weakness and was not to be regarded + as a portent, in particular that it in no way indicated the wrath of the + gods or their rejection of the petition for public safety embodied in the + spectacles celebrating the triumph of Aurelius. + </p> + <p> + The Temple and the Atrium of Vesta made up an institution in which death + was entirely disregarded. As no seriously ill Vestal was ever allowed to + remain within the limits of the Atrium, but, as soon as alarming symptoms + appeared, was removed from the Atrium and put in charge of relations or + friends, so also the body of a dead Vestal was always turned over to the + care of her family or connections. Though the Vestals, alone among Romans, + possessed the privilege of being buried inside the walls of Rome, though + their funerals were magnificent public processions, participated in by all + the functionaries of the state and lavishly provided at the public + expense, yet the death itself was held to be a concern of the family of + the dead Vestal, not of her surviving colleagues. The Vestals might mourn + but the Atrium was never in mourning. Its routine went on as if nothing + had happened; no sign of grief was displayed or even permitted; visitors + were received as usual. + </p> + <p> + Among the first visitors to the Atrium on the morning after Almo’s fight + and Meffia’s death was, naturally, Flexinna. + </p> + <p> + At the first word Brinnaria cut her short. + </p> + <p> + “I don’t want to hear his name,” she declared. “I’m done with him forever. + I don’t love him any longer; I don’t care for him, even; I hate him. It + does not concern me whether he recovers or not. I’d rather he wouldn’t + recover. The best thing for both of us would be for him to die anyhow. I + wish he were dead; I wish one of those heavy men had killed him.” + </p> + <p> + “B-B-Brinnaria!” Flexinna remonstrated, “you t-t-talk like a raving + maniac! You look like a F-F-Fury!” + </p> + <p> + “I’m furious enough!” Brinnaria snarled, “and I’ve plenty of good cause + for being angry. Was ever woman on earth put in a position so invidious, + so embarrassing? Everybody knew of my rescue of the retiarius, thousands + had seen me rescue him. Everybody knew of my involvement with Almo before + I was taken for a Vestal, of our love for each other, of my expressed + intention to marry him at the end of my service. Everybody recognized + Almo. + </p> + <p> + “And there I was with the one man on earth in the jaws of death before my + eyes and I with the power to save him if I chose and a hundred thousand + people watching me to see what I would do. And because I had once before + rescued a man in that same situation everybody expected me to do something + unusual and spectacular to save Almo. + </p> + <p> + “If it had been any other man it would have been the most natural thing in + the world for me to give the signal for mercy and nobody would have + thought anything of it. But, because the man before me was the man I had + expressed my intention of marrying at the end of my service, therefore, if + I had tried to save him, that would be taken as a confession of my being + actuated by the sort of interest which no Vestal has a right to feel for + any man. + </p> + <p> + “A delightful situation to be placed in! + </p> + <p> + “And he must needs go out of his way to put me in that position! When all + he had to do was to live the normal life of a Roman gentleman and all + things would in time come right for both of us, he must needs strain the + powers of human ingenuity, compel the forces of time and space, of wind + and wave to conspire to produce that situation and make me suffer those + unnecessary agonies! + </p> + <p> + “Furious! + </p> + <p> + “Of course I’m furious. + </p> + <p> + “Never name him to me!” + </p> + <p> + When Lutorius Rusco, the new Pontifex of Vesta, called on her she was less + explosive, but still fuming. + </p> + <p> + She received him in the large room at the east end of the peristyle of the + Atrium, a sort of parlor which had on either side of it three very small + rooms, the six, used as private offices by the six Vestals. There each had + her writing desk, and the cabinets in which she kept her important papers, + letters and such possessions. + </p> + <p> + After they had exchanged greetings Lutorius motioned towards Brinnaria’s + little sanctum. Brinnaria bridled. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve nothing to say that we cannot say out here,” she advertised, “and I + do not want to hear anything that cannot be said out here.” + </p> + <p> + Lutorius was tactful and had his way. When they were alone, he said: + </p> + <p> + “You were magnificent! You behaved splendidly. You could not have done + better. We are all proud of you, from the Emperor down to the lowest + slumgullion, every single Roman of us. You are certainly the most popular + woman alive and your popularity is now of a sort to last as long as you + live, complete and unqualified. You were popular before, but with + considerable reservations. The hierarchy liked you, but were not sure that + they ought to approve a Vestal who had perpetrated such exploits as yours, + particularly your trouncing poor old Faltonius. The nobility admired you, + but shook their heads over your stock-farming. The populace were + enthusiastic about you, but, like the upper classes, were uneasy because + of your expressed intention to marry at the end of your service and to + marry a specified man, who had been your boyish lover. All classes + acclaimed you as a woman, but nearly everybody was dubious about you as a + Vestal. + </p> + <p> + “Now nobody has any hesitation about feeling that you are all a Vestal + should be, a priestess whose prayers are certain to be heard and + answered.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria made a wry face. + </p> + <p> + “My prayers were not heard yesterday,” she sighed. “Almo was not killed. I + was praying hard to have him dead and have it all over with and done with + forever.” + </p> + <p> + Lutorius turned on her a slow, benignant, indulgent smile. + </p> + <p> + “Daughter,” he said, “you must remember that you are not the only Vestal. + Four Vestals were praying that Almo be saved, each praying not only with + her lips but with every fibre of her being. And your heart and soul were + praying silently with them and against the fierce prayers of your lips.” + </p> + <p> + “It is not so,” she denied. “Every fibre of me was praying as my lips + prayed. My prayers were genuine.” + </p> + <p> + “I am sure you thought so,” Lutorius agreed. “It was natural for you to + feel that way. You were very angry. But your anger will wear off.” + </p> + <p> + “My anger may,” Brinnaria admitted, “but never my resentment and my + disgust.” + </p> + <p> + “Only time can prove whether your forecast is correct,” the Pontiff + soothed her, “but are you justified even in being resentful? Ought you not + rather to be thankful that chance or fate or the direct intervention of + the gods working through Almo gave you the precious opportunity to free + yourself from the shadow of an imputation that lay upon you from your + entrance into the order? Rome vaguely suspected you of too warm an + interest in Almo. Much of Rome had seen and all Rome had heard of your + theatrical rescue of a gladiator totally unknown to you. All Rome knew + your impulsive nature. All Rome has now seen you perfectly controlled and + outwardly calm with Almo on the verge of death before your eyes. Everybody + has watched you ignore him and show less interest in his fate than you + once manifested towards a casual savage. Your outward observance of the + conventions under such trying circumstances has abolished any qualms the + people felt because of your many past unconventionalities. This puts you + in a very strong position toward any possible accusation or trial. You + know how earnestly you have talked to me of your dread of such + contingencies. Ought you not, after thinking it over, to forget your anger + against Almo and to feel positively grateful for the opportunity so to + exalt ourself?” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps I ought,” Brinnaria mused. “The value to me of the results I had + not thought of, but admit it now that you expound it. But I am not + grateful. I suffered too much. I am still smarting with indignation. + </p> + <p> + “And, apart from any remains of anger, I ache with the humiliation of it + all. Think of the infamy, of the degradation Almo has brought on himself!” + </p> + <p> + Lutorius pursed his lips. + </p> + <p> + “There is a certain social stigma upon any man who has joined a + prize-fighting gang,” he conceded, “but the obloquy resulting from having + been a gladiator has greatly attenuated amid the loose manners of our day. + Nothing that becomes fashionable remains disgraceful. The social disgrace + of it has greatly lessened as the thing has become more usual, and freemen + who have been gladiators are rather acclaimed and sought after than + condemned and shunned. They win a sort of vogue, if successful fighters. + </p> + <p> + “The treatment of such persons has greatly changed in recent years. Even + since I began to remember there has been an all but universal alteration + in the general attitude towards such cases—they have become too + numerous for the old feelings to survive. Not only Roman citizens have + entered gladiatorial schools, risen high in the profession, fought + countless fights, served out their time as prize-fighters, and returned to + their families, but noblemen have done so, even senators. Vescularius is + as much a senator as if he had not won seventy-eight bouts in three + years.” + </p> + <p> + “I know it,” Brinnaria admitted, “and I have thought over all that. But I + am old-fashioned in my feelings even if I have often been the reverse in + my behavior. I am revolted at the thought of Almo as a professional + cut-throat—I was insulted at the sight of him in the arena. I feel + that by his abasement of himself he has obliterated my love for him. It is + as if he had never existed. I shall not marry him, even if we both outlive + my obligatory term of service. I shall never marry anybody. I shall die a + Vestal.” + </p> + <p> + “You feel that way now, of course,” Lutorius agreed, “but you will get + over it, though you do not think so now.” + </p> + <p> + “I do not believe I shall ever get over it,” Brinnaria declared. “So many + things rankle in my thoughts, the small things even more than what is more + important. I grind my teeth over the mere legal consequences of his having + been a gladiator. He will forfeit half the properties he inherited and he + can never hold any office, civil or military.” + </p> + <p> + “All that,” said Lutorius, “the Emperor will attend to in full. And your + thinking of such trifles shows that you even yet care more for Almo than + you admit to yourself. + </p> + <p> + “You must let me tell you about him. He is in the care of the best + physicians in Rome. They assure me that he will recover, that his face + will show but the merest trace of a scar, no disfigurement whatever, and + that he will walk without the slightest limp. He is comfortable and + convalescing nicely. I am going to bring you news of him daily, whether + you think you want it or not, and you are going to listen to me because I + tell you to.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria, for once in her life, was submissive and silent. + </p> + <p> + Not many days later the Pontiff greeted her with a contented smile. + </p> + <p> + “Almo,” he said, “is now practically recovered. He is well enough to have + enjoyed brief visits from several of his former cronies. He is in his + house on the Carinae, and it is besieged by all the fashionables of Rome, + not only his boyhood friends and acquaintances, but people who never spoke + to him. Everybody is rushing to call on him. + </p> + <p> + “He is a free man again. At an intimation of the Emperor’s wishes Elufrius + became as supple as possible and all willingness to oblige. He asked a + huge price for Almo’s release, and no wonder, for after the advertisement + you gave him, Almo could have commanded fabulous fees for all future + fights and the profits accruing to Elufrius must have been enormous. So + Elufrius had to be paid a large sum, but nothing compared to even one + year’s accumulation of revenue from Almo’s estates administered by his + agents. So Almo will never feel that. The papers have all been drawn, + signed and sealed. The cash has been paid. Almo is no longer a member of a + gladiatorial band. + </p> + <p> + “And, at a word from the Emperor, the Senate framed and passed a decree + relieving Almo of all the legal disabilities inhering in his past. He has + been restored to his former rank in the nobility, has been confirmed in + the possession of all inheritances which he might otherwise have + forfeited, has been declared free from all stain and entirely fit to hold + any office in the service of the Republic. The decree has been engrossed, + sealed and signed by the Emperor. Almo is a nobleman as before. Are you + pleased?” + </p> + <p> + “I am,” Brinnaria confessed. + </p> + <p> + Lutorius nodded. + </p> + <p> + “Now, do not take umbrage,” he said, “at what I am about to ask. If you + must say no, say no without being offended. May I tell the Emperor what + you have said to me?” + </p> + <p> + “Certainly,” Brinnaria authorized him. “Aurelius is so good a friend to me + that sometimes I think he is the best friend I have on earth.” + </p> + <p> + After an interval of some days the Pontiff hinted that the Emperor desired + to see her. Brinnaria’s disposition to stand upon ceremony and to insist + on her full rights as a Vestal had waned as she grew to maturity. In her + dealing with Aurelius she had long laid it aside altogether and likewise + with Lutorius, both were so unassuming, so manifestly actuated by the + sincerest regard for her. Now she obediently sent in her application for + an audience with the Emperor. + </p> + <p> + It was accorded her about twenty days after Almo’s fight. Aurelius came + straight to the point. + </p> + <p> + “Daughter,” he said, “I want you to tell me the entire truth. You can + confide in me without reservation and you should do so without hesitation, + since I ask it. + </p> + <p> + “What I wish you to tell me is this: Has your lover’s behavior effaced + your regard for him, as you asserted to Lutorius, or were you + self-deceived? Is everything at an end between you and will you ignore his + existence in future and remain a Vestal for life or have your feelings + overcome your displeasure and are you again thinking of him and of your + future as you did in the past?” + </p> + <p> + “Castor be good to me,” Brinnaria confessed. “I did think his folly had + alienated me from him forever, but the more I brood over it all the more I + realize that no matter what he has done or does or will do I love him just + as genuinely as if he deserved it, and as far as I can judge I shall love + him to the last breath I draw. I am ashamed of my weakness, but I foresee + that, when my service is over, I shall be just as eager to marry him as if + he had been all he ought to have been.” + </p> + <p> + “You please me,” said Aurelius, “particularly in the way you put it. + </p> + <p> + “I am not in the habit of giving a second chance to any man. But Almo’s + case is so peculiar and the circumstances so unusual and my interest in + him is so compelling that I am going to make an exception in respect to + him. I shall give him another opportunity as an officer. I have reflected + where to send him and I have concluded to relegate him to Britain. There, + in the north, our frontier, pushed far beyond the former line, is + ceaselessly attacked by the Caledonian savages. My predecessor’s great + earthwork needs larger garrisons. There Almo will find occupation and may + rehabilitate himself. There he will be under the watch of Opstorius, who + is a stern and scrupulous governor. He sets out this very day. + </p> + <p> + “Now is the time for me to speak to you of Calvaster. Calvaster, + unfortunately, is as indispensable as ever, even more so. My impulse was + to banish him, but I had to forego the idea. I contented myself with + summoning him to my presence and telling him in so many words that the + slightest suspicion of any further machinations by him against you or Almo + would draw down on him the unescapable consequences of my severest + displeasure. By that admonition, and by his chagrin at the unexpected and + unwelcome outcome of his plot, I think him sufficiently punished. Also I + think him thoroughly cowed. He will make no further attempt to trouble + you. + </p> + <p> + “It appears that when he was touring Spain, inspecting the copies of the + sacred books at all the chief temples of the five provinces, he recognized + Almo in the arena at Corduba. He at once used all the influence in his + power to arrange that Elufrius should bring his gang of fighters to Rome + and that their bouts should be so managed that Almo would be saved to + fight before you as he did. Almo himself found this out through Elufrius + since he became again a free man and in control of his fortune, and it + took a great deal of money and the participation of a great many experts + to uncover and prove the facts. Proved they have been to my satisfaction + and Calvaster’s confusion. + </p> + <p> + “Almo had expected to serve his three years in Spain and was as dismayed + as possible when he found he was to be transferred to Rome. But an + articled gladiator has taken oath to submit to anything, specifying death, + torture, burning, wounding, flogging and more besides, an articled + gladiator cannot object to fighting anywhere. Almo had to acquiesce. + </p> + <p> + “And now, having heard that it was not wholly his fault that you were so + cruelly tried before all of us, will you not agree to say farewell to him + a second time?” + </p> + <p> + In the flood-tide of her revulsion of feeling Brinnaria could refuse + Aurelius nothing. The Emperor gave a signal and Almo was ushered in as he + had been six years before. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria’s eager scrutiny could detect no limp in his gait, could barely + descry the scar on his chin, even when she knew so well where to look for + it. She noted that he looked well, vigorous and very handsome in his + gilded armor and scarlet cloak. She contrasted their magnificent + surroundings with the rough frontier to which he was going. + </p> + <p> + Almo tried to speak and choked. + </p> + <p> + “Caius,” she said, “the Emperor has told me how it all came about. Don’t + ask me to forgive; I ask your pardon for misconceiving you; I have nothing + to forgive in you. If you are what I believe you to be I shall never have + to forgive anything from you. Go, and with the help of the blessed gods, + prove yourself all you ought to be. Farewell!” + </p> + <p> + And Almo, as he bowed, managed to say: + </p> + <p> + “Farewell!” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVI - VAGARY + </h2> + <p> + TERENTIA FLAVOLA, who was taken as a Vestal to fill Meffia’s place, was a + really beautiful girl. + </p> + <p> + Her hair was golden hair in fact, not merely in name; her eyes were an + intense, bright blue; her complexion was exquisite, the delicate texture + and perfect whiteness of her skin emphasized by the healthful coloring + which came and went on her cheeks. Every one of the Vestals fell in love + with her at once, most of all Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + Besides her good looks Terentia had a charming disposition, a pretty + unconsciousness of herself and a winning deferentialness towards her + elders. The combination made her irresistible. + </p> + <p> + Also she was an interesting child, being amazingly precocious, not as + Brinnaria had been, in growth and behavior, for she was a complete child + in all respects, but in being what moderns call an infant prodigy. Infant + prodigies in ancient times displayed their unusual powers chiefly by + recitations, mostly of poems, which they learned by rote and repeated with + very little understanding of what they rehearsed. More than most of her + kind Terentia comprehended what she declaimed, but she knew by heart many + poems entirely beyond her childish grasp. At barely eight years of age she + was able to reel off without hesitation or effort anyone of an amazingly + long list. With little prompting she could recite some of the longest + narrative poems in Latin literature and she needed prompting only to give + her the cue words at the beginning of each book and of each important + episode. + </p> + <p> + Besides her amazing powers as a reciter she was already proficient in + Greek, talked it easily and knew many poems in that language, which all + educated Romans spoke and which was used more than Latin at Court. + </p> + <p> + But her chief distinction came from her capability as a musician. In music + she was not only an infant prodigy, but very much of a born genius. Her + memory for any composition she heard once was unfailingly accurate; her + rendition of anything she knew was more than perfect, since to perfection + of rendition she added sympathetic interpretation. She was already reputed + the best female performer on the lyre, the most popular instrument in + ancient times. The lyre had an effect something between that of a guitar + and a harp, with some of the characteristics of the modern banjo, zither + and mandolin. + </p> + <p> + Since the lyre was looked upon as frivolous and unsuited to the gravity of + a Vestal, Brinnaria introduced Terentia to the organ. This instrument the + child had heard, but had not learned to play, as organs were expensive in + those days, whereas Terentia’s family, although of the most ancient + nobility, were in very straitened circumstances. + </p> + <p> + To the organ Terentia took with great enthusiasm, and in performing on it + she soon surpassed her teacher. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria’s playing on the water-organ was similar to the piano music of a + modern girl who has mostly taught herself and who plays largely by ear; + Terentia played it as a born genius in our days plays her piano, with + impeccable exactitude, inimitable individuality and compelling charm. Her + organ recitals were soon a chief feature of the social life in the Atrium, + each thronged by the most fashionable ladies in Rome, who competed for + invitations. Her vogue in no way spoiled Terentia, who played with just as + much zest for her co-inmates of the Atrium, or when she was entirely alone + amusing herself at the organ. Teaching her, playing with her, listening to + her, took up a good deal of Brinnaria’s time and came to be a great solace + and comfort to her. + </p> + <p> + Even more was this abundance of good music a solace and a comfort to + Causidiena, for, like Dossonia, her predecessor, like so many former Chief + Vestals, Causidiena was going blind from some disorder slow, painless and + obscure, altogether baffling to the best medical and surgical skill.* + </p> + <p> + *Clearly cataracts. As a matter of fact they WERE sometimes treated even + this long ago, but the treatments did not meet with much success, and + Causidiena probably would not have cared to take the risk. + </p> + <p> + For much of the ritual of Vesta and much of the participation of the + Vestals in the public worship in general, the presence of the Chief Vestal + was essential. + </p> + <p> + She was the Vestal, the others were only her assistants and in training to + succeed her. But as Causidiena became less and less able to see, all + matters which could be attended to by others devolved more and more upon + Numisia. Among her colleagues Numisia had greatest confidence in + Brinnaria, so that Brinnaria’s duties occupied her insistently. + </p> + <p> + Besides her ritual duties and her music she kept up her interest in + horse-racing; in fact, she became more and more devoted to this pastime, + which Lutorius countenanced, but which her detractors characterized as + indelicate. + </p> + <p> + The success of her venture was notable. She became an important local + dealer in racers. Her colts, sold at well-advertised auctions, were sought + after, were competed for, brought fancy prices, won many races, came to + have a reputation that spread beyond the city, over all Italy, even into + the provinces. Her career as a stock farmer was brilliant, meteoric, + phenomenal. + </p> + <p> + Between her duties, her music and her horse-breeding Brinnaria’s mind was + pretty well occupied. She had no time to brood and passed six contented + and almost happy years. + </p> + <p> + She had reason for happiness in the fact that reports from Almo were + uniformly good. To Flexinna he wrote at intervals and his letters reached + their destination without much irregularity. In those days communication + with Britain was by no means so easy as with Africa. Gaul was a country + well Romanized and very populous, busy and prosperous. All across it were + good roads, excellent bridges and frequent post houses. But between Italy + and Gaul were the Alps, where the winter snows blocked the roads for + months at a time and where avalanches and floods suspended traffic at + unpredictable intervals at all times of the year. The only sure road + uniting Italy and Gaul was not through the Alps but past them along the + sea-coast, and that was roundabout. + </p> + <p> + At the other end of Gaul the sea interposed a barrier which the Romans + found annoying. In the state of seamanship in those ages a head-wind was + an insuperable obstacle. As long as the wind blew the wrong way there was + nothing to do but wait for the wind to change. High winds made navigation + altogether impossible. Between storms and head-winds, on more than half + the days in the year attempting the passage of the channel was not to be + thought of. Moreover, bitter experience had taught the Romans that the + weather-signs of the Mediterranean were not to be relied on when one dealt + with Atlantic weather conditions. In particular they found that a clear + sky, a light breeze, warm air and a calm sea in the morning not + infrequently heralded a terrible storm before dusk. + </p> + <p> + Consequently their attempts to cross from Gaul to Britain or from Britain + to Gaul were restricted to occasions when, at and after sunset, the sky + was clear, the sea calm and the wind favorable. Only under those + circumstances could they be reasonably sure of the conditions remaining + unaltered until the transit was accomplished. In practice about sixty-five + nights in a year promised well for traffic. With sea transit so + restricted, communication with Britain was infrequent, and news of Almo + irregular. + </p> + <p> + Besides his letters to Flexinna he wrote occasionally to Vocco. Vocco also + had hopes of hearing from some of his comrades in arms. But as Valentia + was a place of semi-exile for incompetent, illiterate, drunken and + reckless officers, small reliance could be placed on any such channel of + news. + </p> + <p> + Therefore, with Brinnaria’s knowledge and at her expense, Vocco had + arranged to have an unremitting watch kept on Almo by skillful hirelings + of the Imperial information department. These men sent messages whenever + it was possible, and their reports were consistently favorable. + </p> + <p> + The frontier of Caledonia offered no such opportunities for distinction + and promotion as the outskirts of the Sahara had afforded. Military duty + from the Forth to the Clyde was monotonous and wearisome. But, considering + his environment, Almo did very well. He was liked by his companions, loved + by his subordinates and worshipped by his men. What there was to do he did + capably, and in his leisure, among comrades who guzzled wine and gambled + like madmen, he was always sober and never abused the dice, which were an + inevitable social feature of all Roman outpost existence. + </p> + <p> + Aurelius spent the last four years of his life along the headwaters of the + Danube and Rhine, where the rising tide of Germanic migrations beat + incessantly at the outworks of the Empire. His death at Vienna occurred + when Brinnaria was twenty-nine years old and had been nineteen years a + Vestal. He was succeeded by his son Antoninus, whose obliging disposition + and easy-going manners made him exceedingly popular with his cronies, the + young fops, dandies and sports of Roman society, and led to his being + known among them as “the good fellow,” which nickname of “Commodus” soon + supplanted his given names and official titles, on the lips first of the + Romans, then of the Italians, soon of all his subjects everywhere. + </p> + <p> + Commodus was not in Rome when his father died and it was therefore not + possible for Brinnaria to have an audience with him. She dreaded that a + change of governors in Britain might work unfavorably for Almo. + </p> + <p> + In consultation with Vocco she did what she could, through the city + Prefect in charge of Rome during the Emperor’s absence, and through other + officials, to make sure that any new governor of Britain would be fully + informed of the secret instructions which Aurelius had given Opstorius + concerning Almo. She also did all that was possible to have Commodus + reminded of the matter. This was difficult at a distance and a delicate + undertaking at any time and in any place, no Emperor ever relishing the + assumption that he need be reminded of anything, while the necessity for + emphasis and secrecy at one and the same time taxed the best ingenuity. + With the great influence possessed by the Vestals, they hoped that they + had succeeded. + </p> + <p> + But when Commodus had been Emperor a little over a year, Brinnaria, as she + descended from her carriage at Vocco’s door, felt a thrill of vague + foreboding. On entering the house her premonition of something wrong + intensified. At first sight Flexinna’s face confirmed her suspicions. + However, she asked no questions and worked off her feelings by a series of + high dives, followed by fancy-stroke swimming under water. She came up + from her tenth plunge sufficiently exhausted to feel to some extent + soothed. + </p> + <p> + As they composed themselves on the dining-sofas Vocco and Flexinna + exchanged glances. Brinnaria did not wait for either to speak. + </p> + <p> + “I am afraid,” she said, “that my appetite is not as reliable as it was + ten years ago. I think we had best eat our dinner first and discuss our + bad news afterwards.” Vocco and Flexinna looked distinctly relieved. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria’s appetite seemed excellent. She ate abundantly, and, after the + dinner tray was removed and the dessert tray brought in, she relished a + half a dozen of her favorite purple figs. Savoring her glass of Vocco’s + exquisite Setian wine she asked: + </p> + <p> + “What has gone wrong, Quintus?” + </p> + <p> + “Just precisely what we feared has happened,” Vocco replied. “In spite of + all our efforts Hostidius appears to have known nothing whatever about + Almo’s peculiar past or of the special instructions Aurelius gave + Opstorius. + </p> + <p> + “Almo has practically repeated the vagary he perpetrated at Hippo. He + induced Hostidius to give him a full, honorable discharge from the army + and later wheedled the governor into authorizing him to have himself sold + as a slave.” + </p> + <p> + “What maggot can he have in his brain,” Brinnaria burst in, “that he is so + fascinated with the idea of being sold as a slave? What earthly basis can + there be for the enticement it holds out to him? Being sold as a slave is + universally regarded as the worst fate that can befall a man in life. What + makes the prospect of life as a slave so alluring to him?” + </p> + <p> + “Flexinna and I have been debating that point,” said Vocco, “but we cannot + so much as think up a conjecture. + </p> + <p> + “As to the facts there can be no doubt. He was publicly sold in the + marketplace of Eboracum.” + </p> + <p> + “At least,” Brinnaria breathed, “we have not lost track of him this time.” + </p> + <p> + “We have not,” Vocco answered, “and I’ll wager we shall not.” + </p> + <p> + “Is it prize-fighting again?” Brinnaria queried, “or is it really + charioteering this time?” + </p> + <p> + “Neither,” said Vocco. “I must say it sounds like lunacy. But all Almo’s + words and all the small details of his behavior show no signs of + derangement. Up to the last report he slept well, ate well, looked well, + talked sensibly, in respect to all minor matters acted like a rational + being, and seemed to thrive. But what he did in the large sense appears + incredible. + </p> + <p> + “He had himself advertised for sale as an expert farm overseer, was bought + by a prosperous proprietor whose properties are situated in the + southwestern part of Britain and there, near Ischalis, he has settled down + to the management of a large estate; large at least for that part of the + world. He was giving excellent satisfaction in his dealings with the + slaves and by his knowledge of budding, grafting, transplanting and of all + the mysteries of gardening, orchard lore, and of agriculture in general.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” Brinnaria reflected, “he was keen on all that sort of thing while + he was at the villa near Falerii. Such knowledge, gained in boyhood, sinks + in deep and is never forgotten. He is not playing a part or pretending; he + is really enjoying farm life. But what kink in his head makes him fancy + that he prefers to enjoy it as a slave rather than as a free man? That + puzzles me. Why be sold as a slave in order to bask in rural delights when + he could buy the ten largest estates in Britain and never feel the outlay? + When after his honorable discharge from the army he was at liberty to + remain in Britain openly and to do as he liked? Can you see through it?” + </p> + <p> + Flexinna and Vocco agreed that they saw no glimmer of light. + </p> + <p> + “At least,” Brinnaria summed up, “he is in Britain and we can arrange to + prevent his leaving the island. Certainly we can have him watched, + wherever he goes.” + </p> + <p> + Vocco at once set about making the arrangements to ensure that Almo would + not leave Britain. Within a half year he had to report that their efforts + had been futile. + </p> + <p> + “We were too late,” he said. “He did not remain at Ischalis a year. + Egnatius Probus, of Fregellae, had been in Britain more than ten years as + adviser to the tax-department. His health had given way and he was taking + the waters at Aquae Solis. He was an acquaintance of Almo’s owner and went + down to Ischalis after his water-cure had had its effect and he felt + better. While visiting and idling at Ischalis he took a fancy to Almo, + offered a high price for him and bought him. He returned home by way of + Marseilles and from there by ship to Puteoli. He is now on his estates + near Fregellae and Almo is his head overseer, in charge of the entire + place. He has been there three months already.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria fidgeted on her sofa, for, as on the previous occasion, Vocco + had imparted his news after dinner. + </p> + <p> + “Give me another goblet of that Setian you bought from Zaelis,” she said. + “I’m getting to be a confirmed wine-bibber. At every piece of bad news I + need a bracer.” + </p> + <p> + After she had emptied her glass, she burst out: + </p> + <p> + “If Almo is acting as villicus of an estate near Fregellae he must be + living with some slave-woman or other.” + </p> + <p> + “He is not,” Vocco informed her. “I made careful inquiries on just that + point and got my information from two different sources. Almo told + Egnatius that he was a woman-hater and could not endure a woman about him. + Egnatius humored him and he is acting villicus without any villica. The + wife of the assistant overseer does whatever is necessary in the way of + prayers and sacrifices and such duties of a villica. She and her husband + occupy the overseer’s house and Almo is living in the hut meant for the + assistant villicus.” + </p> + <p> + “Did anybody ever hear the like!” exclaimed Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + Vocco’s agents verified this news and made it quite certain that Almo was + masquerading as a slave and as a villicus of a fine estate in lower + Latium, near Fregellae, southeast of Rome on the Latin highroad, about + half way between Capua and the capital. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria found herself very much in a quandary, and discussions with + Flexinna and Vocco, however lengthy and however often repeated, left her + just where she started. They could not decide whether it was best to do + nothing or to interfere, and whether, if they were to interfere, what form + their intervention should take. + </p> + <p> + Should Vocco travel to Fregellae and force an interview with Almo and try + to appeal to his better self? If so, should he do so without apprizing + Egnatius of the real name and origin of his overseer? Or should they + enlighten Egnatius under a pledge of secrecy and afterwards decide whether + or not to make an attempt to recall Almo to his natural way of life? + Should they do any of these things without appealing to the Emperor or + would it be better first to inform Commodus? They debated over and over + every line of conduct any one of them could suggest. After all complete + inaction and entire secrecy seemed best. + </p> + <p> + This view was confirmed when Brinnaria consulted Celsianus, the most + reputed physician of Rome. She had already confided in Lutorius, who + informed Celsianus, arranged for an interview and was present at it. + </p> + <p> + The great man said: “Almo is not necessarily or even probably deranged. On + the face of what you tell me the most unfavorable conjecture I could form + would be that he has resolved to commit suicide. You will say that the + idea is absurd, that suicide is easy and that the means are always at + hand, which is quite true. + </p> + <p> + “But there are cases, more numerous than you could fancy, of persons who + make up their minds to bring about their end in some unimaginable manner, + of which nobody but themselves would ever have thought. Then they lay + complicated plans and by devious ways approach their purpose. If they are + thwarted or diverted, they never end their lives in any other fashion than + by the special method they have devised. + </p> + <p> + “I am inclined to think that Almo’s entrance into a gang of sword-fighters + was caused by some such intention, that he is alive because the + circumstances he looked forward to never conspired to give him just the + kind of death he preferred. I am inclined to think that he is now working + towards some unthinkable exit from life. + </p> + <p> + “But I am not much disposed to think his such a case at all. It may be a + mere whim of self-torment, or it may be spontaneous yielding to a genuine + liking for the life he is living. What one human being likes cannot be + realized by other human beings, in many cases. + </p> + <p> + “My advice is to let him entirely alone. If you interfere you may + precipitate his suicide, if he meditates suicide. By calling in the help + of the Emperor or of his owner or both, you may destroy the chances, the + very good chances, of his returning to his full senses. Men in his state + of mind are often sane in all respects, and, if unsettled, are deranged + only in one particular. They are generally wholly reasonable on all points + except as to their fad of the moment. If that wears off they are entirely + rational. Let him alone. Watch him, but take no other steps.” + </p> + <p> + This advice seemed simple enough, but carrying it out proved more of a + strain than Brinnaria could have foreseen. The knowledge that Almo was in + Italy, near Fregellae, actually in Latium and within seventy miles of + Rome, that he was living in the hut of an under-farm-bailiff, that he + perhaps purposed some eccentric method of suicide proved racking to her + nerves. She became irritable and fidgety, her music failed to solace or + comfort her and sometimes almost bored her. She groped blindly for + something to distract her mind. + </p> + <p> + First she had a brief but violent attack of solicitude for her pauper + tenants. She found entertainment in visiting her slum properties and in + endeavoring to alleviate the condition of their inmates. They were far + from grateful. To have a Vestal, clad in the awe-inspiring dignity of her + white robes, with all her badges of office, six braids, headdress, + headband, tassels, ribbons, brooch and all descend from her dazzlingly + upholstered carriage and invade the courtyard of their hive was thrilling + but still more disconcerting to a swarm of slum spawn. They bragged of the + honor for the rest of their lives and strutted over it for months, but + they were unaffectedly relieved to see her depart. + </p> + <p> + Her inquiries as to their means of livelihood were excruciatingly + embarrassing. The Roman populace, all freemen with their wives and + children, were legally entitled to free seats at the spectacles and to + cooked rations from the government cook-shops in their precinct. They + throve on their free rations. Of their own efforts they had merely to + clothe themselves and pay the rent of their quarters. Cash for rent and + garments they obtained in whatever way happened to be easiest, often by + dubious means. As to their resources they were reticent. + </p> + <p> + In particular, Brinnaria was unable to cajole any admission, by word or + silence, from any dweller in one of her largest rookeries, and they were + better off than any tenants she had, too. What was more, not one of their + neighbors would impart any information about them.. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria’s curiosity was aroused. She bethought herself of Truttidius, + the sieve-maker, and of his intimate knowledge of all the dens and lairs + in the city. + </p> + <p> + She asked him. He laughed. + </p> + <p> + “On the Fagutal?” he made sure, “at the second corner beyond the end of + the Subura?” + </p> + <p> + He laughed again. + </p> + <p> + Then he tactfully explained that the tenants in that particular congeries + of buildings were professional secret cut-throats, good enough husbands + and fathers and amicable among themselves, but earning an honest + livelihood by putting out of the way any persons displeasing to anybody + able to pay for their services. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria abruptly ceased slumming. + </p> + <p> + All the more she threw herself into her horse-breeding. She visited her + stud-farms oftener; and, oddly enough, as the result of her overwrought + state of mind, the management of the farms themselves came to mean less to + her than the means of reaching them and returning. She paid close + attention to the make of her road-carriage, to the speed and pace of her + roadsters. She bought picked teams of blooded mares, selecting them + especially for their ability to keep up a fast walk without breaking pace. + She boasted that she had six spans of mares, any one of which could, at a + walk, outdistance any team in Rome owned by anybody else. + </p> + <p> + By specializing in fast-walking cattle she saved much time in passing from + the Atrium to the city gates and in returning. + </p> + <p> + Outside the city her mares displayed their capacity for other paces than + the walk. She saw to it that her coachman kept them at their utmost speed. + The sight of her tearing along a highway became familiar everywhere + throughout the suburban countryside. She made a hobby of extremely fast + driving and of buying fast mares. + </p> + <p> + Also she fell into another fad, at the time all the rage, invented since + the accession of Commodus and made fashionable by the young Emperor. Some + popinjay had conceived a whim for travelling by litter instead of in his + carriage. It was far less expeditious and far more expensive. But the + notion took. All at once every fop in Roman society must needs take his + country outings, go to his villa and come back from it, not in his + carriage but in his litter. The plea was that a carriage jolted and that + riding in a litter was less tiring. There was something in that, for + carriage springs had not been invented in those days. But mostly it was + just a craze among the very wealthy, as distinguishing them from people + who could afford but one set of litter-bearers. An ordinary four-man + litter could be used only for going about the city—longer distances + were impossible, and excursions into the country soon tired out eight + bearers. For road travelling one must have sixteen bearers, two sets + relieving each other in turn. Brinnaria bought sixteen gigantic negroes + and tested them on her inspections of her stock-farms. She tried German + bearers, Goths and Cilicians. Her bearers became famous for their speed + and endurance. If she heard of any squad reputed better than hers, she + bought it at any price, until, not counting the teams of bearers belonging + to the Palace, there was only one gang in Rome which she envied. She tried + to purchase them but could not. They belonged to her mother’s friend + Nemestronia. + </p> + <p> + Nemestronia always had been a wonder and was a marvel. She was one of the + wealthiest women in Rome and had never been ill a moment in her life. A + very beautiful girl, she had kept her looks and a wonderful singing voice, + still clear and sweet when she was over sixty. She had been, since within + a year after her first marriage, one of the social leaders of Rome. She + had become the social leader of Rome, her influence almost equal to that + of the Empress. She had outlived three empresses and had reigned + unquestioned in the social world for over fifty years, yet had not an + enemy in Rome. Everybody loved Nemestronia. At the time of the litter + craze she had already celebrated her eighty-first birthday, was plump, + rosy, merry and spry, always ready for any amusement, and was living + happily with her fifth husband. + </p> + <p> + She prided herself on her litter-bearers and with her unerring social + instinct anticipated the caprice of her world and provided herself with + three sets of carriers, sixteen to a set. One gang, of brawny + Cappadocians, outclassed any but the Emperor’s own. + </p> + <p> + These Brinnaria tried to buy, tried in vain. Nemestronia was willing to + exchange, if she could do so to her advantage. But sell she would not. + Amid her opulence no sum could tempt her. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria fumed and drove her horses almost to death, urged her litter-men + almost to exhaustion. But, with all her haste, care outpaced her steeds or + carriers. She gnawed her heart out. + </p> + <p> + Only at Vocco’s house, amid Flexinna’s bevy of youngsters, did she find + peace of mind. + </p> + <p> + Even there, at last, care followed her. + </p> + <p> + When Alma had been more than a year at Fregellae, Brinnaria, visiting + Flexinna about the middle of May, scented more trouble. As they lay down + to dinner she said: + </p> + <p> + “The occasion, I perceive, calls for an extra supply of wine. Let it be + the old Falernian this time and have the mixture strong.” After they had + eaten, none any too heartily, Vocco told his news. + </p> + <p> + Almo had left his master’s estate without a permit, in plain words had + gone off like any runaway slave and had thereby exposed himself to the + penalties incurred by a fugitive. Egnatius had taken the usual steps to + recapture him, but neither he nor the authorities had any clue to Almo’s + whereabouts. As far as they were concerned he had vanished. + </p> + <p> + He had not, however, eluded the vigilance of Brinnaria’s agents, of the + men Vocco had employed to keep him in view. They understood that Egnatius + was to be kept in ignorance of their activity, and gave no aid to the + police of the neighborhood in their efforts to retake him. They had + reported only to Vocco. + </p> + <p> + Almo had money with him and at Arpinum had garbed himself decently for the + road. He avoided the main highway and wandered along by-roads, zigzagging + and circling about. He idled at inns, sometime for days in one place, + often in small towns, oftener at road-houses between. + </p> + <p> + He was then near Atina. + </p> + <p> + At intervals during June and July Vocco gave Brinnaria reports about Almo. + He seemed to enjoy the society of the casual travellers he met at small + inns and of the local frequenters of them. He got on famously with + everybody. Nowhere was he suspected of being a runaway slave and + naturally, for he had the unmistakable carriage and bearing of a born + freeman. The hue and cry Egnatius had set loose after him was active + wherever he went, but he sat under placards offering rewards for his + capture and no one applied the description to him. + </p> + <p> + Early in June he was at Casinum and Interamna, before it ended at Fundi + and Privernum. In July he passed through Setia, Ulubrae, Norba and Cora. + Early in August he was idling at Velitrae, playing quoits in the inn-yard + morning after morning. + </p> + <p> + He seemed to like Velitrae. He stayed there longer than anywhere else. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVII - RECKLESSNESS + </h2> + <p> + ON the fifteenth of that same August, not long after noon, Brinnaria was + much surprised by a call from Flexinna. + </p> + <p> + “The most amazing weather that ever was,” Flexinna stated. “I never heard + of such, everybody says nobody ever heard of the like. Even Nemestronia + says she never saw or heard of anything to compare to it. The densest + imaginable fog, as white as milk. You c-c-can’t see across a street, you + c-c-can hardly see the bearers in front of your litter.” + </p> + <p> + “I noticed it in the courtyard,” Brinnaria replied, “and it is thicker + than usual. But we often have morning fogs and I have seen several almost + as dense as this.” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing unusual in a fog d-d-down hereabouts and along the river,” + Flexinna admitted. “B-B-But this fog is most unusual. It is all over the + whole city. I have lived on the Esquiline ever since I was b-b-born and I + never saw a fog up there except p-p-perhaps a whiff just about sunrise and + then only in wisps. This fog is high up on the Esquiline, as d-d-dense as + along the river. I know the fog is all over the city b-b-because I sent + two slaves to the P-P-Pincian and two to the Aventine, and they reported + that it is just as b-b-bad everywhere as here and at home. And I met + Satronius Satro, just b-b-back from B-B-Baiae. He slept at B-B-Bovillae + last night and he says the fog is just as b-b-bad all the way from + B-B-Bovillae. He says it is heavy over the whole c-c-country for miles. It + amounts to a portent.” + </p> + <p> + “Flexinna,” said Brinnaria, “you never came here and at this time of day, + to talk about the weather.” + </p> + <p> + “I d-d-didn’t know how to b-b-begin,” Flexinna admitted. + </p> + <p> + “What has Almo done now?” Brinnaria queried. + </p> + <p> + “He left Velitrae day before yesterday,” said Flexinna, “and went to + Aricia. Yesterday he challenged the K-K-King of the G-G-Grove.” + </p> + <p> + “Just as Celsianus conjectured,” Brinnaria groaned. “Some unthinkable + method of suicide. Is he dead?” + </p> + <p> + “No,” Flexinna replied. “He’s very much alive.” + </p> + <p> + “Then he is the King of the Grove!” Brinnaria cried. + </p> + <p> + “They haven’t fought yet,” Flexinna informed her. + </p> + <p> + “Impossible!” Brinnaria exclaimed. “Or there is something wrong with your + information. There is only one way to challenge the King of the Grove and + that is to enter the Grove with a weapon. Almost as many men as women go + to worship at the Temple of Diana in the Grove by the Lake; the King of + the Grove never notices any unarmed man. But let a man with a weapon of + any kind, spear, sword, or what not, even a club, step over the boundary + line of the Grove and that act of entrance there with a weapon constitutes + a challenge to the King of the Grove; at sight of an armed man the King or + the Grove attacks him. They fight then and there till one is killed. The + survivor is the King of the Grove. + </p> + <p> + “The challenger is supposed to pluck a twig from the sacred oak-tree and + the act of picking the branch is supposed to be the challenge. But, in + practice, the King of the Grove watches the sacred oak so carefully, that + nobody remembers any challenger who succeeded in pulling a twig unless he + won the fight. + </p> + <p> + “That is the only way to challenge the King of the Grove. Everybody knows + that.” + </p> + <p> + “That is just what I always thought,” Flexinna confessed, “b-b-but, it + seems we are b-b-both mistaken. There is another way to challenge the + K-K-King of the G-G-Grove; that is to go to the Dictator of Aricia and + enter formal challenge. In that c-c-case, the Dictator notifies the + K-K-King of the G-G-Grove that he must face the challenger at midnight + next d-d-day. Meanwhile, the challenger is entertained in the + t-t-town-hall of Aricia. He is b-b-bathed, p-p-provided with fresh + c-c-clothing, g-g-given whatever food he asks for and accommodated with a + c-c-comfortable b-b-bed for the night after his challenge. Then, when he + has had a g-g-good chance to sleep all night and has had at least four + g-g-good meals, he is c-c-conducted by the aldermen to the G-G-Grove just + b-b-before midnight. The aldermen t-t-take with them two ancient shields, + p-p-precisely alike, and two ancient Amazonian b-b-battle-axes, also + p-p-precisely alike, which are k-k-kept among the t-t-treasures in the + strong room of the t-t-town hall at Aricia. The challenger plucks a + t-t-twig from the sacred oak. Then he and the K-K-King of the G-G-Grove + face each other in the open space b-b-before it. A shield and a + b-b-battle-axe are handed to each. Then they wait for the word of the + Dictator of Aricia. At the word they fight. + </p> + <p> + “That is the other way to challenge the K-K-King of the G-G-Grove.” + </p> + <p> + Flexinna, as generally happened, had been shown at once up to Brinnaria’s + private apartment and had walked straight into Brinnaria’s bedroom. In + that small room they sat facing each other. + </p> + <p> + “Then they fight at midnight to-night,” Brinnaria deduced. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” Flexinna corroborated. + </p> + <p> + “How did you come here?” her friend queried. + </p> + <p> + “In Nemestronia’s litter,” the visitor answered. “I b-b-borrowed it.” + </p> + <p> + “With her Cappadocian bearers?” queried Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + “Eighteen, of them,” said Flexinna; “two extras.” + </p> + <p> + “How on earth did you come to do that?” Brinnaria wondered. + </p> + <p> + “I had a notion,” Flexinna explained, “of trying to get to the G-G-Grove + by the Lake b-b-before the fight. I thought p-p-perhaps Almo would listen + to me if I c-c-could see him in t-t-time.” + </p> + <p> + “Did you tell Quintus?” Brinnaria demanded. + </p> + <p> + “Of c-c-course,” said Flexinna. “He wanted to go alone, b-b-but I said + Almo would not listen to him, so I p-p-persuaded him to let me t-t-try. I + c-c-couldn’t think of riding, of c-c-course, as I am. He wouldn’t even + hear of my d-d-driving, said I might as well hang myself and be d-d-done + with it as risk the jar of a t-t-travelling c-c-carriage. I said I’d use + my litter. He said our b-b-bearers c-c-could never g-g-get there in + t-t-time for me to hope to d-d-do any g-g-good. I said I’d b-b-borrow + Nemestronia’s fastest gang. He said he c-c-could g-g-go and c-c-come + b-b-back on a horse quicker than any litter c-c-could reach the G-G-Grove. + I repeated that Almo would certainly p-p-pay no attention to him, b-b-but + might listen to me. So I b-b-borrowed Nemestronia’s litter. Shall I + g-g-go? Shall I start at once?” + </p> + <p> + “No!” Brinnaria cut her off. “Let me think. Sixteen miles? They could do + it in a little over five hours, if everything went just right. They’d take + at least eight hours for the return journey. You wouldn’t be back at the + Appian gate before sunrise. It would be a hungry job.” + </p> + <p> + “I thought of that,” Flexinna informed her. “I’m always ravenous when I’m + this way* and c-c-can never g-g-go from one meal to the next. I had a + k-k-kid-skin of wine p-p-put in the litter and b-b-bread and cheese and + fruit.” + </p> + <p> + *In other words, she’s pregnant. —PG ed. + </p> + <p> + “You did!” cried Brinnaria. “Where is Vocco?” + </p> + <p> + “On horseback b-b-beside the litter,” said Flexinna, “waiting for your + d-d-decision.” + </p> + <p> + “I’ve made it,” Brinnaria proclaimed. + </p> + <p> + “Shall I g-g-go t-t-try?” enquired Flexinna. + </p> + <p> + “No!” Brinnaria fairly shouted, pulling off her headdress. + </p> + <p> + “What shall I d-d-do then?” Flexinna queried. + </p> + <p> + “Undress,” Brinnaria ordered, “undress quick!” Flexinna stared at her, + horrified. + </p> + <p> + “What for?” she quavered. + </p> + <p> + “Undress first and ask afterwards,” Brinnaria commanded. “Undress, woman, + undress!” She was tearing off her clothes as she talked. + </p> + <p> + “Can’t you see, you fool!” she hissed. “The gods have made it all easy. + The densest fog Rome ever saw and all over the country-side, a curtained + litter with the fastest bearers alive right at my door, my best friend on + horseback beside it, drink and food enough and to spare, me off duty till + to-morrow noon and you here to change clothes with me. I put on your + clothes and go save Almo.” + </p> + <p> + “You’ll be outside Rome all night,” Flexinna objected. “That’s sacrilege.” + </p> + <p> + “Not a bit of it,” Brinnaria retorted. “I know a regulation from a taboo. + When the Gauls captured Rome the Flamen of Jupiter went up into the + Capitol with the garrison. He might not leave Rome, it would have been + impious. But the other flamens nd the Vestals left Rome, the Vestals were + months at Caere. It is not impiety for a Vestal to be outside the city + walls over night, it is merely forbidden by the rules. I’m going.” + </p> + <p> + “You might as well g-g-go b-b-bury yourself alive and b-b-be d-d-done with + it,” Flexinna protested. “You’re certain to b-b-be found out. It’s sure + d-d-death for you.” + </p> + <p> + “Hang the risk!” Brinnaria snarled. “I never realized how much I loved + Almo till you brought this news. I don’t care whether I live or die or + what death I die, if I can only save him. + </p> + <p> + “And the risk is too small to think of. All you have to do is to stay abed + and keep still. Utta will never tell and she won’t let anyone in. Numisia + will not suspect anything: any Vestal has the right to twenty-four hours + abed and no questions asked, Meffia spent one day out of ten in bed. + Manlia takes a day’s rest a dozen times a year. Even I have done it + several times, when I was sore all over with jolting too long at full + gallop over our so-called perfect roads. I was abed all day about a month + ago, and certainly I rove hard enough and long enough yesterday and I was + in the Temple half the night. I’ll be back here long before noon + to-morrow. + </p> + <p> + “Don’t you see how easy it is? Flexinna has called on Brinnaria to-day, as + usual, except the hour. And Flexinna often calls on Brinnaria at odd + hours. Flexinna makes a short call and goes out to her litter. Flexinna + makes an excursion into the country in a litter with drawn curtains, her + husband riding by it. Nobody can take any notice of that. Flexinna returns + from her outing, calls at once on Brinnaria, pays a brief call, goes out, + gets into her litter and goes home. Brinnaria, refreshed by twenty-four + hours abed, goes about her duties. The plan simply can’t fail.” She had on + all Flexinna’s clothes by the end of her explanation and was adjusting er + two veils, one over her face, the other tied over the broad-brimmed + travelling-hat, so that the edges of the brim, drawn down on either side, + almost met under her chin and her face was lost in it. + </p> + <p> + Flexinna continued to protest feebly, but Brinnaria made her compose + herself in the bed. + </p> + <p> + “You can have anything you want to eat,” she reminded her, “and as much as + you want, any time.” + </p> + <p> + Utta came at the first signal. + </p> + <p> + “Now listen,” Brinnaria instructed her, “I am in that bed and I am going + to stay there until the lady who has just called on me comes back. That + will be tomorrow morning. I am tired and need rest, the same as I did the + day after the axle broke and I barked my knee in the gravel. I am not + going out now; oh, no the lady going out is the lady who called on me. Do + you understand?” + </p> + <p> + Utta understood. + </p> + <p> + Flexinna, quaking in the bed, prayed under her breath. + </p> + <p> + “For Castor’s sake,” was her farewell, “d-d-don’t forget to s-s-stutter.” + In a fashionable costume of brilliant pink silk with pearly gray + trimmings, feeling horribly conspicuous, but unaccosted and, as far as she + could judge, unnoticed, Brinnaria descended the stairs, traversed the + courtyard and passed the portal. Just outside, in the nook left by the + angle of the wall enclosing the Temple, she found the litter set down + clear of the throng that surged and jostled ceaselessly up and down the + Holy Street. The bearers stood about it, one holding Vocco’s horse; all, + like the street-crowd, vague and unreal in the fog. Through the fog Vocco + strode towards her and checked, amazed. She put her fingers to the folds + of the veil over her lips. + </p> + <p> + “C-C-Careful,” she warned him, laboriously stuttering. “I am Flexinna come + back. Now for Aricia, as fast as the b-b-bearers can hoof it.” + </p> + <p> + Vocco, dazed, helped her into the litter, gave the order and mounted his + horse. + </p> + <p> + Composed in her litter, Brinnaria’s sensations were all of the strangeness + of the outlook; fog blurring the outlines of familiar buildings; fog + hiding the landmarks she looked for, fog wrapping her round till she could + hardly see the front pair of carriers tramping ahead or even Vocco beside + her on his horse; fog concealing all the wide prospect of the levels south + of Rome, fog so thick that they positively groped their way through the + towns along the road, fog so dense that she could not discern the + gradations by which afternoon melted into evening and dusk into darkness. + </p> + <p> + When they were clear of the city Vocco ranged his horse alongside the + litter and expostulated with Brinnaria, talking Greek that the bearers + might not understand. + </p> + <p> + “The best thing you can do,” he said, “is to give up this harebrained + adventure and merely swing round through the suburbs for some hours and + return to the Atrium by some other gate.” + </p> + <p> + “Not I,” she replied in her hardest tone. + </p> + <p> + “How do you expect to succeed in speaking to Almo?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + “I leave that to you,” she said; “you must manage to see the Dictator of + Aricia and tell him that you have with you a lady in a litter who must + speak to the challenger before the fight.” + </p> + <p> + “I’ll attempt the commission,” said Vocco, “and I’ll do my utmost, but I + hold it impossible.” + </p> + <p> + “In any case,” spoke Brinnaria, “I keep on even if I have to expose myself + and be recognized in Aricia.” + </p> + <p> + Vocco gave up the effort to influence her. + </p> + <p> + The roads joining the Appian Way were paved with similar blocks of the + same sort of stone. In the fog they went wrong three several times where + side-roads branched off at a thin angle. In each case they failed to + discover their mistake until they had gone on for some distance; in each + case they had to retrace their steps for fear of getting wholly lost if + they tried a cross-road; in each case they wasted much time. + </p> + <p> + Twice the leading bearers were all but trampled on by the recklessly + driven horses of careless drivers. Both times the mix-up delayed them. + </p> + <p> + Just beyond Bovillae they had a third collision, in which one pole of the + litter was snapped and two of the bearers injured. It barely missed + resulting in a free-fight. All of Vocco’s tact was needed to allay the + feelings on both sides. By great good luck he succeeded in getting a + substitute litter-pole from a near-by inn without too much publicity. + </p> + <p> + The delays caused by missing the road and by collisions had cut down the + margin of time they had hoped for at Aricia. This last misfortune delayed + them so much that it seemed unlikely that they could reach the Grove until + midnight. + </p> + <p> + In fact, before they reached Aricia, the road was alive with parties of + celebrants, men and women, but no children, every man carrying a lighted + torch, nearly every man accompanied by a slave with an armful or a + back-load of spare torches, all moving in the same direction with them. + </p> + <p> + With torch-bearing crowds the streets of Aricia were jammed. From gate to + gate of the town they crawled, wading slowly through the press of + revellers. Along the road to the Grove they were as a chip floated along + on a tide of torchbearers, for the parties of worshippers converging to + their great local yearly festival from Tusculum, Tibur, Cora, Pometia, + Lanuvium and Ardea formed a continuous procession, their pulsing + torch-flames looking strange and blurred through the fog. + </p> + <p> + When they reached the top of the ridge enclosing the Lake, Vocco + dismounted and trusted his roan to one of Nemestronia’s extra bearers, as + horses were not allowed within the Grove or its precincts. + </p> + <p> + Not much before midnight the bearers swung sharply at the brink of the + cliff and plunged down the steep narrow road cut along its face. Brinnaria + felt the dampness of the lake air on her cheek. + </p> + <p> + By the Lake the fog was, if possible, more impenetrable than elsewhere. + The Grove, the lodging for the cripples and invalids who thronged the + place to be cured, the vast halls about the temple, the temple itself, all + were doubly whelmed in the darkness and the mist. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria made out only the six channelled vermilion columns of the temple + portico and the black boughs of the sacred oak. These, to right and left + of the temple area, showed vaguely in the light of thousands of torches in + the hands of the throng packed about it. + </p> + <p> + Respect for a closed litter with sixteen bearers accompanied by a + gentleman in a Senator’s robes won them a way through the crowd, the + torches surging in waves of flame as they ploughed through. + </p> + <p> + When they reached the margin of the open space, Brinnaria, choking with + the realization that she had arrived too late, peered between the drawn + curtains of her litter and saw the pavement of the temple-area bright + under the splendor of the torch-rays; saw a dozen young women, dressed in + gowns of a startling deep orange, standing in a row clear of the + torch-bearing crowd; saw the five aldermen of Aricia in their official + robes, grouped about the square marble altar; saw before the altar a + circular space of clipped turf midway of the area pavement, saw standing + on it to the right of the altar the King of the Grove, clad in his + barbaric smock of dingy undyed black wool, his three-stranded necklace of + raw turquoises broad on his bosom, the fox-tails of his fox-skin cap + trailing by his ears; saw facing him Almo, bare-kneed, his hunting-boots + of soft leather like chamois-skin coming half way up to his calves, his + leek-green tunic covering him only to mid-thigh, his head bare, his right + hand waving an oak bough. + </p> + <p> + After she recognized Almo and glimpsed the bough in his hand she hardly + looked at him. She stared, fascinated, at the white marble altar on which, + as an offering to Diana of the Underworld, the victor of the fight would + lay the corpse of his victim. + </p> + <p> + The Dictator of Aricia, chief of the Aldermen, raised his hand. From + somewhere in the darkness behind the dozen simpering wenches appeared two + slaves, each carrying a small round shield and a double-headed battle-axe. + The shields had painted on each a horse, the battle-axes were of the + pattern always seen in pictures of the legendary Amazons. The blade of + each axe-head was shaped like a crescent moon. From the inner side + projected a flat, thick shank, by which the blade was fastened to the + helve. The curve of each blade made almost a half circle, the tips of the + crescents almost touched the haft between them, so that their outer + cutting-edges made a nearly complete circle of razor-sharp steel, from + which protruded the keen spear-head tipping the shaft. + </p> + <p> + Two of the aldermen received these accoutrements from the slaves. + Brinnaria noticed that one of the other aldermen held the broad, + gold-mounted, jeweled scabbard containing the great scimitar with which + the King of the Grove kept girt, waking or sleeping. She even noted how + its belt trailed from his hands and the shine of its gloss-leather in the + torch-rays. + </p> + <p> + The two aldermen handed a shield and an axe to each contestant. One took + from Almo the oak-bough and passed it to the Dictator. + </p> + <p> + The two champions fitted the shields on their arms, balanced them, and + hefted their battle-axes. Each assumed the posture that suited him best, + his feet well under him. So they stood facing each other, waiting for the + signal. + </p> + <p> + The King of the Grove was a stocky, solidly-built ruffian of medium height + and weight. Almo seemed much taller and very much slenderer and lighter. + His delicate features and thin nose contrasted strangely to the high + cheek-bones, small, close-set eyes, and wide, flat nostrils of his + antagonist. + </p> + <p> + The Dictator waved the oak-bough and shouted. + </p> + <p> + The two champions warily approached each other. + </p> + <p> + Each kept his left foot forward; each crouched, as it were, inside the + shield tight against his shoulder; each held his axe aloft. + </p> + <p> + Each struck, each dodged, Almo awkwardly, his axe trailing behind him + after it missed. + </p> + <p> + The stocky man thought he saw his chance and whirled his weapon, bringing + it down in a terrible sweep. Craftily Almo caught it against his shield, + just below the upper rim, horribly it grated against the bronze plating of + the shield, with the full weight of the mighty swing it buried itself in + the sod. + </p> + <p> + The force of his blow carried the assailant with it so that he almost fell + face forward on the sward. + </p> + <p> + Before he could recover himself Almo’s ready axe swung. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria saw it flash in the air. Then she saw the fox-skin cap in two + halves, a horrid red void between. + </p> + <p> + “Oh Vocco,” she called, “t-t-take me home, t-t-take me home.” At that + volcanic instant, at the bitterest moment of her life, what kept back her + tears was her tendency to laugh at the fact, that, ill the midst of her + agony, she did not forget to stutter. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XVIII - FURY + </h2> + <p> + THE darkness of the night, the impenetrability of the fog and the + weariness of the bearers all contributed to impede their return journey. + While on her way and buoyed up by her wild purpose, Brinnaria had been + able to rest herself by dozing along the roadway and had remembered to + keep up her strength with food and wine. After they had turned back she + could not have swallowed anything, if she had thought to try, and the + nearest she came to sleep was an uneasy drowse which seemed a long + nightmare. The Cappadocians, famous for their strength, endurance and + indifference to wakefulness, exertion, hunger or thirst, were also astute + foragers. On their way from Rome the reliefs had invaded every inn they + passed and, lavishly provided with small coins by Vocco, had provisioned + themselves abundantly. These supplies they handed over to their fellows + when they took up the litter. All the way back the spare carriers, + plodding behind, munched their provender and conversed in undertones. The + bearers, necessarily flagging, trudged leadenly. + </p> + <p> + Through it all Brinnaria was haunted by her memory of two pictures. + </p> + <p> + One was of the row of saffron-clad hussies watching the fight. + </p> + <p> + The King of the Grove was the only legal polygamist in Italy. Concomitant + with the barbarous and savage conditions determining his tenure of the + office as High Priest in the Grove by the Lake of Diana of the Underworld, + congruent with his outlandish attire and ornaments, he had the right to + have twelve wives at once. Seldom had a King of the Grove failed to avail + himself of the privilege; and, indeed, to have twelve wives was regarded + as incumbent upon him, as necessary to his proper sanctity and as + indispensable to maintain the curative potencies of the locality, which + restored to health each year an army of sufferers. + </p> + <p> + He had the power to repudiate any wife at any time, to dismiss her and + expel her from the Grove. Any former wife of his, when expelled or after + leaving the Grove of her own accord, became a free woman with all the + privileges of a liberated slave. Most of his ex-wives, however, elected to + remain in the Grove and formed a sort of corps of official nurses for the + sick who flocked there to be cured. In practice the King of the Grove + usually repudiated any wife who lost her youthful charms. + </p> + <p> + His wives were commonly, like himself, truant slaves. + </p> + <p> + Fugitive male slaves were an ever-present feature of country life in all + parts of the ancient world, as tramps are in modern times. A female + runaway, however, was a distinct rarity. But the sanctuary afforded them + by the Grove encouraged them about Aricia and many fled to it. If young + and comely they became wives of its King. Also slave-girls were constantly + being presented to him by grateful convalescents, who had come to the + Grove as invalids or cripples and had left it hale and sound. Thus the + twelve wives of the King were always as vital and buxom a convocation of + wenches as could be found anywhere. + </p> + <p> + The spectacle they had made haunted Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + They had been so utterly callous, so completely indifferent, so merely + curious to see which contestant was to be their future master, so + vacant-mindedly giggling and nudging each other. The impression they had + made on her nauseated her, while the memory of their red cheeks, full + contours, youthfulness and undeniable animal charm enraged her. + </p> + <p> + The other picture which had branded itself on her memory was the sight of + Almo, straightening up after stooping over his butchered predecessor, + clasping the triple turquoise necklace about his throat. + </p> + <p> + Almo was King of the Grove. + </p> + <p> + At that thought and at the recollection of the dozen jades wriggling and + smirking, her blood boiled. + </p> + <p> + By the margin of the cliff Vocco had had much ado finding his horse. On + the road back to Aricia they passed through many parties of belated + worshippers. As the torch festival kept up until dawn that town was open + all night. Unquestioned they passed in at a wide-open gate, through + torch-lit, but almost deserted streets, out at another wide-set gate. + </p> + <p> + In the Roman world travelling by night was almost unexistent. Only + imperial couriers and civilians driven by some dire stress kept on their + way after sunset. In general travellers halted for the night at some + convenient inn or town, or camped by the road if darkness overtook them + far from any hostelry. But on the night of the yearly festival of Diana, + many parties were abroad. Between Aricia and Bovillae they met several + convoys, and about half-way they were overtaken and passed by a rapidly + driven carriage, and somewhat tater by a troop of horsemen, trotting + restrainedly, one of them on a white horse which showed rather distinctly, + even in the fog and darkness. + </p> + <p> + Near Bovillae they overtook the same band of horsemen, halted about the + wreck of two travelling carriages which had crashed together in the fog. + Two of the horses lay dead on the stones, killed to put them out of their + misery. From curb to curb the pavement was cluttered with pieces of + wreckage and the carcasses of the horses. The roadway was completely + blocked and the bearers, at first, could find no way around the obstacle. + </p> + <p> + Some women were wailing over a little boy whose leg had been crushed and + who was uttering frightful shrieks. The child screamed so terribly that + Brinnaria impulsively leaned half-way out of her litter, carried away by + her sympathies. Close beside her she saw the white horse and astride of + it, vague in the mist, but unmistakable in his lop-sided, bony leanness, + outlined against the glare of the torches behind him, she recognized + Calvaster. + </p> + <p> + Instantly she shrank behind her litter curtains. + </p> + <p> + Almost at once a relief bearer who had gone to scout reported a free path + through the fields by the road. + </p> + <p> + They continued on their way. + </p> + <p> + Bovillae, not being one of the towns participating in the Festival of + Diana, was closed for the night, its gates shut fast, its walls dark. + Going round it was a trying detour over rough cross-roads. + </p> + <p> + After they were again on the Appian Road they were for a second time + overtaken by the same band of horsemen. When their hoof-beats had grown + faint in the distance ahead, Vocco ranged his horse alongside the litter + and asked: + </p> + <p> + “Did you notice the man on the white horse?” + </p> + <p> + “I recognized him,” said Brinnaria briefly. + </p> + <p> + The fog held all the way to the Appian Gate, which they reached as some + watery sun-rays struggled through the mist, held until they reached the + Atrium. + </p> + <p> + Out of her litter tumbled Brinnaria in Flexinna’s rumpled finery, feeling + unescapably recognizable, even inside her double veil and under her + broad-brimmed, tied-down travelling hat. + </p> + <p> + But the heavy-built, sinewy slave-woman who guarded the portal of the + Atrium passed her in without remark. She met no one on her way up to her + suite, where she found Utta squatted outside her bedroom door. + </p> + <p> + Flexinna was incredulously delighted, pathetically overjoyed to see her. + </p> + <p> + “You have a wonderful larder here,” she said. “Every single thing I asked + for was b-b-brought me at once. I d-d-didn’t have any appetite, b-b-but I + had to have food. And I g-g-got it.” + </p> + <p> + Promptly she put on her own clothing and was gone. + </p> + <p> + In a trice Brinnaria was flat on her back in bed with Utta massaging her + vigorously and methodically. After one comprehensive rubbing she went off + for hot milk, hot wine, honey, barley-meal and spices. The posset she + brewed she compelled her mistress to swallow. Then she gently massaged her + until she was asleep. Thanks to these attentions Brinnaria, after some + four hours abed, was able to reappear in the Temple looking not much + unlike a Vestal who had enjoyed twenty-four hours of unbroken repose. + </p> + <p> + Numisia appeared to suspect nothing. Certainly she remonstrated with her + and begged her not to exhaust herself so by hard riding. + </p> + <p> + After that first sleep, induced by fatigue and by Utta’s ministrations, + Brinnaria slept little. She tossed and turned. Before her eyes was + continually the recollection of that row of saffron-clad minxes, of their + exuberant health, heartiness and rollicking vivacity. + </p> + <p> + The memory of them suffocated her. In the Atrium she had to conceal her + inward convulsions of rage, had to appear calm, placid and collected. + </p> + <p> + The effort made her the more explosive when she was at Flexinna’s and + could speak out. She stormed. + </p> + <p> + Flexinna let her talk herself hoarse. But no amount of talking relieved + her. Whatever she said, no matter how often she had said it, she wound up + the same way: + </p> + <p> + “Here I am, packed in ice, so to speak, for thirty years and there he is, + King of the Grove, with twelve wives, twelve wives, <i>twelve wives</i>!” + </p> + <p> + Jealousy, in its most furious form, is not a mild malady, even in our + days, and in women of northern ancestry and cold blood. Brinnaria was a + hot-blooded Latin and the pulses of her heart were earthquakes of fire. + The Romans were a ferocious and sanguinary stock. Even among the most + delicately nurtured women love turned quickly into hate and solicitude + might in a brief time give place to the thirst for vengeance. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria struggled with herself for some days. + </p> + <p> + Then she bade her coachman drive her to the Fagutal. Her appearance among + her tenants caused general trepidation, as usual. + </p> + <p> + When the clustering drabs and brats discovered that she felt no present + interest in women and children, but that she demanded speech with the men, + the elder men, their dismay deepened into acute consternation. + </p> + <p> + Since she would take no denial some dotards and striplings were routed out + and the patriarch of the clan was thrust forward. He looked senile from + his slippered feet to the shine on his bald-pate, he was blear-eyed and + hard of hearing, but he understood plain Latin when he heard it, he knew + of old the signs he read in the flash of her eyes, the set of her jaw and + every feature as she stood or moved. Also no dog ever had a keener scent + for game than he for business. + </p> + <p> + He shouted in the slang of his caste. + </p> + <p> + The women and children vanished. + </p> + <p> + Promptly a chair was brought, carefully dusted and she was invited to seat + herself. Before her cringed, in attitudes of obsequious deference, a group + of as hulking, truculent, ruthless villains as could have been found + anywhere on earth. Just out of earshot of a low-voiced conversation, stood + younger men, sentinels, to keep all others at a distance. + </p> + <p> + The patriarch’s son, recognized chief of the brotherhood, an appallingly + inhuman brute, acted as spokesman. + </p> + <p> + At the first word their wary expression altered to one of brotherly + comprehension. There was a man to be killed. Pride in their vocation shone + all over them. Yes, they knew of the King of the Grove, who did not? and + they especially, since the patriarch’s grandfather, great-grandfather to + the spokesman, had at an advanced age ended his life in the Grove, after + years as its priest, having become King late in life, the last of a long + series of challengers whom the Emperor Caligula had suborned against an + insufferable and all but invincible hierophant. + </p> + <p> + Could they find a swashbuckler willing to assail the present incumbent? + </p> + <p> + Of a surety and what was more able to vanquish anybody. + </p> + <p> + Could it be arranged secretly? + </p> + <p> + No human being would ever suspect that she knew anything about the matter; + what was more, the most inquisitive would never divine that they + themselves had any hand in the change of priests at Aricia. + </p> + <p> + How could this be accomplished? + </p> + <p> + In countless ways. One might find a discontented slave, mighty and skilled + with weapons, and reveal to him a means of bettering his condition, or one + might bribe the owner of a capable slave to wink at his running away, or + if no fit slave could be found, a suitable freeman might be induced to + become a slave under a master also in the plot. It was easy, merely a + matter of money. + </p> + <p> + How much money would be needed? + </p> + <p> + That would depend. If they could cajole a slave the job would call only + for cash for the instigator’s expenses, for journey-money and for a good + sabre for the challenger, and at the last a bonus for all concerned. If a + slave-owner had to be bribed, more cash and more money for bonuses would + be required. If a freeman had to be employed the enterprise would be still + more expensive. It was all a matter of money, above all, of cash. + </p> + <p> + Cash was forthcoming. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria returned to the Atrium by a circuitous drive out the Tiber Gate, + round through the suburbs and in at the River Gate. She needed fresh air. + All the way, all the afternoon, all the wakeful night, she was in an eery + state of icy, numb exaltation. It was all over—Almo was a dead man, + she had avenged herself, she had vindicated the proprieties, her wrath was + righteous, her vengeance laudable. This tense condition of her nerves + lasted for some days. + </p> + <p> + According to stipulation the messenger from the tenements on the Fagutal + was a decently clad woman of inconspicuously respectable appearance. She + came after an interval of about ten days. She was apologetic. Their first + champion had perished. + </p> + <p> + Twice more she brought the same message. Then Brinnaria ventured a second + visit to the unsavory locality. She was sarcastic. The chief was abashed. + </p> + <p> + This, he said, was evidently a task unexpectedly difficult. The more + certain was it that they would measure up to the requirements. They felt + that their time-honored reputation was at stake. + </p> + <p> + There followed for Brinnaria an exciting, a wearing autumn and winter. For + some months messages came to her at about nine-day intervals, all of the + same tenure. Towards mid-winter, on a mild fair day, she risked a third + expostulation with her hirelings. On an apologetic and humiliated rabble + she poured her scorn. + </p> + <p> + Thereafter the messages came thicker, about one every four days, but + monotonously unwelcome. Brinnaria set her teeth and sent all the money + asked for. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile her wrath, her jealousy, her thirst for vengeance steadily waned + and their place was largely taken by admiration for Almo’s incredible + skill and by a sort of pride in him. + </p> + <p> + But again and again the vision of the twelve baggages returned to her and + she steeled her heart. One warm June morning she lost patience and burst + in on her gang of cut-throats. + </p> + <p> + Inundated by a cascade of vitriolic denunciations and stinging sneers they + hung their heads, too limp to utter a protest. The patriarch was weeping + openly. + </p> + <p> + Turned from anger to curiosity she found the rookery was in mourning. + Their chief, the apple of their eye, aghast at the failures of his + minions, had himself undertaken to redeem their honor. For him they + grieved. They owned themselves beaten. They had scoured Italy, had sent + against Almo every promising bully in the fifteen districts. Their best + young men had gone, lastly their adored leader. They could do no more; + Almo was invincible. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria, reflecting that, after all, she was to blame for their + dejection and woe, that, after all, they had done their best, distributed + what cash she had with her and promised them a lavish apportionment of + gold. + </p> + <p> + As she went she realized, as they realized, that the place would never see + her again. + </p> + <p> + Next morning she sent for Guntello. That faithful Goth, still huge, mighty + and terrific, came, mild as a pet bulldog. + </p> + <p> + “Go kill him!” she commanded. + </p> + <p> + “Certainly, Little Mistress,” he acquiesced, “but whom am I to kill?” + </p> + <p> + She explained. + </p> + <p> + Guntello, always parsimonious, asked a moderate sum for the purchase of a + sabre and for road-money. She gave him ten times as much. + </p> + <p> + When he was gone, she felt, as at first, a painful numbness of exaltation. + Almo was now certainly a dead man. + </p> + <p> + This mood suddenly inverted itself into an uncontrollable passion f + solicitude. Off she posted to Flexinna and confessed everything to Vocco. + In a frenzy she demanded they again borrow Nemestronia’s litter and that + Vocco again accompany her to Aricia. To their expostulations she retorted + that go she would, if not escorted by Vocco, then alone, if not disguised + and in a borrowed litter, then in her own and openly, or openly in her + carriage or afoot if need be; but go she would! + </p> + <p> + Flexinna succeeded in getting her to listen long enough to urge that there + was no need for her to go personally, as Guntello would obey Vocco at + sight of her signet ring, moreover that Guntello now had a long start and + that only a swift horseman might hope to intervene in time. To these + representations she yielded. + </p> + <p> + Vocco returned amazed and manifestly relieved. He had arrived too late. + Guntello was dead. + </p> + <p> + That night Brinnaria wept long and bitterly. + </p> + <p> + “The poor, brave, harmless, faithful fellow,” she moaned. “Out of the + malignity of my heart, in my pride and callousness, I sent him to an + undeserved death! Oh, I am a wicked woman!” Strangely enough Guntello’s + death seemed to divert her mind entirely from the idea of avenging herself + on Almo. From hating him, she came to realize that she had really loved + him all the while, that she loved him unalterably. From thinking that she + desired his death she came to dread acutely that, exhausted in body by + more than a hundred fights in ten months and worn by the strain of + ceaseless anxiety and vigilance, Almo might succumb to even a + chance-brought adversary. + </p> + <p> + In this new mood she confided in Lutorius. + </p> + <p> + The good man was horrified. + </p> + <p> + “And I never suspected anything wrong!” he exclaimed. “At least you have + been outwardly collected. Nobody has suspected anything. But this is + terrible. A Vestal should menace no man’s life, should not desire any + man’s death. Far from it, her heart should be clean of hate, malice or + envy.” + </p> + <p> + “Never mind what I have been,” said Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + “No disasters have befallen Rome. There is no sign of any wrathfulness of + the gods, or of their displeasure, and I am no longer as I was. That is + all over, I am chastened. I desire harm to no one. Quite the reverse. What + fills my mind now is the thought that, sooner or later, Alma must perish + at the hand of some challenger. I long to save him. I would move earth and + sea to save him. Must a King of the Grove live and die King of the Grove? + Is there no way to rescue him?” + </p> + <p> + “Consult the Emperor,” said Lutorius. “He is Chief Pontiff of Rome.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XIX - COMFORT + </h2> + <p> + COMMODUS received Brinnaria in the same palatial room in which she had so + often conferred with his father. The majestic impression of the + magnificent hall was, however, marred by the evidence of the young + Emperor’s chief interests. On one of the great chests lay a pair of boxing + gloves, on another a quiver of arrows and two unstrung bows, on a third a + bridle; a fourth was open and from it protruded a sheaf of those wooden + swords which the Romans used for fencing-practice as we use foils. + Commodus could never wholly free himself from his absorbing passion for + athletic sports. + </p> + <p> + He himself was a sort of artistic caricature of his father, being very + like him in height, build, features and complexion, with similarly + abundant hair and beard falling over his shoulders and bosom in long + ringlets. But in place of the gravity, wisdom, intelligence and sympathy + which had ennobled the countenance of Aurelius, his face wore an + expression of boyish frivolity, silly vanity, vapid stupidity and + impatient selfishness. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria had seen him countless times and often near at hand, not only + close to her when both occupied their official seats in the Amphitheatre + or the Circus, at horse-races or other shows, but almost at arm’s length + at various religious functions, processions, sacrifices and other acts of + public worship. Necessarily they had often exchanged formal greetings, but + never yet any other words. + </p> + <p> + He greeted her effusively, with a comical mixture of hobbledehoy + clumsiness and imperial dignity. + </p> + <p> + “I’m glad you demanded an audience,” he said, as she sat down; “we should + have had a good talk long ago. You lambasted old Bambilio. That is one for + you. A juicier story I never heard. You are made of pepper. And you saved + the retiarius, the year after I was born. I’ve often gloated over the + story and wished I had been there to see. I was there when you had your + embarrassing experience and came through it so gallantly. I was proud of + you, like everybody else. I remember it well. And Father gave me special + instructions about you, so emphatically that even scatter-brained as I am + I have not forgotten them. I’ve been meaning to have a talk with you ever + since I took up this Emperor job. But you know how it is. Every day there + are ready and waiting for me to do more things I really want to do than + anyone man could get through in anyone day, and three-quarters of them I + have to forego doing because of the pressure of my official duties. I can + never seem to get time for half the sword-exercise and archery drill and + driving practice I need, let alone for chats with heroines. + </p> + <p> + “I trust you’ll accept my apologies. + </p> + <p> + “There! That is all the talking I mean to do. I’m going to listen, now. + Tell me what you want and I’ll see your desire accomplished. I’ll do + anything for you, not only for your heroism and on account of Father’s + directions, but because of your horse-breeding. They say you’re as good a + judge of a horse as any man in Italy and I believe there are not a dozen + to equal you. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve driven several pairs of your crack colts and they are paragon + racers, docile as lambs and mettlesome as game-cocks. + </p> + <p> + “There! I’ve gone on talking! But I am really going to stop now and + listen. State your wishes.” + </p> + <p> + “I’ll have to make a long story of it,” said Brinnaria, hesitatingly. + </p> + <p> + “And one sixty times better worth listening to than ninety-nine out of a + hundred of the long stories folks bore me with, I’ll wager,” said + Commodus. “If it is long we’ll get to the end quicker by beginning at + once. And take your time, I’ll talk to you till dark, if need be. You are + entitled to all of my time you choose to claim.” Brinnaria began at the + beginning and rehearsed her story fully, Commodus listening without much + fidgeting and interrupting only to say now and then: + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I know about that. I remember that.” When she came to Almo’s escape + from Britain the Emperor slapped his thigh and emitted a sound between a + grunt and a squawk. + </p> + <p> + “The joke is on me!” he guffawed. “Just like me! Father told me + particularly about his injunctions to Opstorius, and Pertinax himself + reminded me about Almo after Father’s death. But it all went out of my + head and I never thought of it from the moment Pertinax bowed himself out + until this very instant. I’ll make up to you for my forgetfulness, I + promise you. Go on.” Upon her telling of Almo’s idling at inns after he + ran away from Fregellae, Commodus cut in with: + </p> + <p> + “I liked Almo, what little I saw of him, but I had forgotten him. You make + me remember him, make me recall trifling things about him, attitudes, + smiles, tones of his voice, witty replies, quips. I liked him. But I like + him better than ever from what you tell me of him. I understand him. I + know just how he feels. I long, sometimes, to chuck Emperorizing and go + off alone, with no responsibilities, and have a really good time + hobnobbing with the good fellows the world is full of. I envy him. I dream + of doing it, but he cut loose and did it. Good for Almo.” At first mention + of the King of the Grove Commodus leapt up from his throne, strode up and + down the room and clapped his hands. + </p> + <p> + Two pages rushed in. + </p> + <p> + “Get out!” he shouted. “I wasn’t clapping for you.” He paced the room like + a caged tiger. + </p> + <p> + “Think of it!” he exclaimed. “Think of it! Your lad certainly has fire in + his belly, yes and brains in his head, too! Think of it! He thought it all + out up there in the raw all-day mists, thought it all out, and he works + towards his purpose like a pattern diplomat, like a born general, like a + Scipio, like a cat after a bird! Has himself sold as a slave, bides his + time, puts himself in the pink of condition, watches his opportunity. + </p> + <p> + “Think of it! Disconsolate because he couldn’t marry you, moody because he + has to wait so long, he seeks comfort in challenging the King of the + Grove. Oh, I love him! Only a prince of good fellows would have thought of + it. No ordinary adventure would divert him. He picks out the most + hazardous venture possible. Oh, I love him!” + </p> + <p> + When she narrated her interchange of clothing with Flexinna and her + litter-journey, Commodus looked grave. The loutishness vanished from his + attitude and expression. He became wholly an Emperor. + </p> + <p> + “Out of Rome, outside the walls, beyond the Pomoerium all night!” he + exclaimed. “That sounds bad. You were fool-hardy, too reckless entirely. + Why that is impiety. That amounts to sacrilege!” As with Flexinna, + Brinnaria reminded him of the Vestals’ flight after the disaster at the + Allia and of their sojourn at Caere, again emphasizing the contrast + between their unreprehended departure and the scrupulous steadfastness of + the Flamen of Jupiter. + </p> + <p> + “You have me!” he acknowledged. “Your contentions are sound. But, all the + same, even if it was merely a violation of rule, still, it is a mighty + serious matter. It is a good thing for you that I like you, that my Father + trusted you so notably, and gave me such explicit and emphatic injunctions + about you, that you have made a clean breast of it all to me. If I had + known nothing more about you than I know of Manlia or Gargilia, if I had + learned of your escapade from anyone but you, I’d have had you formally + accused, tried, convicted and buried alive with the utmost dispatch. + </p> + <p> + “As things are, after all Father had to say about you, after his detailing + to me your several conversations with him, I understand, I sympathize, I + am convinced of the innocence of your feeling for Almo, of the austerity + with which you have banished from you all thoughts unbefitting a Vestal + and have postponed your anticipations of marriage until your service shall + have come to an end, I believe in the impeccable correctness of your + attitude. + </p> + <p> + “But, without that, even having learnt of your prank from yourself, I + should have thought it necessary to lay the facts before the College of + Pontiffs and ask their opinion. It looks fishy, stravaging all over the + landscape after dark with a cavalier beside your litter all night long. I + comprehend, I condone, I judge that you have not impaired your + qualifications for your high office. I have no qualms. But it is well for + you that Father instructed me. Go on, tell me the rest.” Over the fight he + rubbed his hands and chirruped with delight, and, when she spoke of the + King’s harem, he burst into roars of laughter, rolling himself on his + throne, slapping his thighs, holding his ribs. + </p> + <p> + “Oh you women,” he gurgled, “you are all alike, you Vestals as much as the + rest! The fire of womanhood smoulders under your icy composure like the + fires of Etna under her mantle of snow. + </p> + <p> + “You more than most Vestals, of course. You are a real human being, you + are! So you went out to save him, even if you lost your life trying, even + if you were buried alive for it, and you came back hot, red hot, to have + him killed, and the sooner the better, it couldn’t be too soon for you. + </p> + <p> + “Oh, I’m glad you came. I haven’t been entertained like this since I was + made Emperor. Go on!” When she uttered the word Fagutal and told of her + visit to the rookery he had another fit of laughter and exhausted himself + with mirth. + </p> + <p> + When she narrated the repeated failures of the champions she had suborned + and Almo’s uniform success, Commodus was in ecstasy. + </p> + <p> + “He’s the boy for my money,” he cried. “He’s worth all the trouble you’ve + had with him. You’ll get a husband worth waiting for. He’s one in a + million. One hundred and five bouts in ten months and victor in all of + them! He’s a jewel, a pearl I I’d do anything for you, as I told you, I’d + keep myself on the rack day and night for you and him. You are a pair! + There’s not on earth the match for the two of you!” + </p> + <p> + At the end of her story he said: + </p> + <p> + “You have not gone to all this trouble and taken up so much of my time and + confided to me all the secrets of your heart merely to ease your mind. + There’s something you want me to do, some help you expect to gain from me. + You have given me no inkling of what it is. What is it? Speak out!” + </p> + <p> + “He is certain to be killed sooner or later,” she said, wringing her + hands. “I want you to help me to save him.” + </p> + <p> + “Save him!” Commodus echoed. “Isn’t he competent to save himself? Hasn’t + he convinced you of his ability to protect himself—Sooner or later? + Much later, very much later. And he’s more likely to be killed by old age + than by any weapon in the hands of any man. + </p> + <p> + “I’ll never understand women. No man can, I suppose. You’re bent, bound + and resolved that he must die. You pour out gold like water to compass his + death. You have Italy ransacked for dexterous cutthroats. He never turns a + hair. It’s easy for him as for a Molossian dog to kill wolves. He enjoys + it; disposes of every man who dare face him. You can’t find another bravo + to take the risk, not for any money! Then, when he has proved himself the + best fighter in Italy, you face about and all of a sudden you are in a wax + for fear some one may kill him! + </p> + <p> + “Nobody will ever kill him. You and I saw him dispose of more than a dozen + expert gladiators, one after the other; you saw how daintily and adroitly + he did, it. You have just described his fight with his predecessor. It was + over almost before it was begun. The incumbent was a dead man from the + moment he faced Almo. Both knew it, too, and, since then he has done for + the pick of the blackguards from all Italy. If Ravax and his gang could + find no one to face him, there is none; if no man of that crew could best + him, not Ravax himself, no man can best him. Don’t you see?” + </p> + <p> + “No, I don’t,” she said. “It will be just like his fights in the arena. No + matter how often he wins, he is bound to lose at last.” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t you believe it,” Commodus argued. “I remember him well. I was wild + over him just after Father’s triumph and saw a good deal of him before he + set out for Britain. I was then no such all-round expert at weapon-play as + I have become since, but I was good for my age. I fenced with him + repeatedly and I know his quality. I had all the best swordsmen in the + capital pitted against him and not one of them was his match. Murmex Lucro + did not come to Rome till after Father’s death. So I never saw Murmex and + Almo fence. But let me tell you this: Murmex is the only man alive who can + fence with me for points and make anything like my score. And Almo is the + only man alive, except me, who is fit to face Murmex on equal terms. There + are only two men on earth who could kill Almo in a fight with any kind of + weapons—Murmex is one and I am the other. + </p> + <p> + “Why, Almo is as safe in the Grove as I am in the Palace. Don’t you worry + about him. Nobody will kill him; take it from me, I know.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria, with a sharp intake of her breath, gazed about the room and + collected herself to resume her argument and make her next point. + </p> + <p> + “Do you concede,” she queried, “that I have the right to be solicitous + about Almo’s life?” + </p> + <p> + “Father said so,” Commodus replied, “and I never knew him to be wrong. I + took that opinion from him and I see no reason to change it.” + </p> + <p> + “Do you concede,” she pressed him, “that I have the right to looking + forward to marrying him at the end of my service?” + </p> + <p> + “Like Father, I do,” he admitted. + </p> + <p> + “How can I ever marry him,” she demanded, “if he remains King of the + Grove?” + </p> + <p> + The young Emperor laughed merrily. + </p> + <p> + “Don’t you worry about that, either,” he said. “I told you I’d do anything + for you and I meant it. I told you I’d do anything for Almo, and I meant + that too. But, as things are, doing what you want and what is good for him + will be doing just what I most want myself. I have a frightfully poor + memory. Barely seven years ago my Father triumphed after what was thought + a complete, decisive and crushing victory over Avidius Cassius and a huge + confederation of nomadic tribes. Cassius was certainly abolished; he was + buried. But after scarcely five years the desert nomads were as active as + ever and they have grown so pertinacious and cocky that something must be + done. I don’t want to go myself, and I feel no confidence in my ability to + accomplish anything if I went. I have been on the rack to decide whom to + send. I can’t afford to send some bungler who’d mismanage and let the + sand-hills devour a half a dozen of my best legions. + </p> + <p> + “My councillors and I have found no promising candidate. All the while I + have been cudgelling my brains trying to remember something Father told + me. I distinctly recalled that he said that he had in view the very + paragon of a commander to dispatch against Avidius, but that some + occurrence made it impossible to send him and he had to go himself. I + couldn’t for the life of me recollect what had happened to hinder the man + going or what the man’s name was. Since it was a verbal communication from + Father I had no memorandum and no one else had ever known it. + </p> + <p> + “Now I remember that Almo was the man and that his infatuation with the + life of a gladiator was what prevented. + </p> + <p> + “Do you see what I mean? I shall not have to go to Syria and I’ll send the + very best man for that job who can be found on earth. If anybody knows + what I’m doing they’ll say that Almo is a lunatic and I am another to send + him. But nobody will ever know and if everybody knows, what do I care. + Father knew a good man when he saw one. I’ll take his word for it that + Almo proved himself the greatest genius for desert fighting that the + Republic has produced in a hundred years. And I’ll follow my own intuition + that a swashbuckler whose own thoughts prompted him to challenge the King + of the Grove as a cure for tedium, who had the nerve to carry out the idea + and the skill to win a hundred and six fights in ten months must be a good + all-round man and a real man clear through. I take it that being put in + supreme command of a great expedition will brush the cobwebs from Almo’s + brain and restore him to himself. Do you follow my idea?” + </p> + <p> + “I cannot conjecture,” Brinnaria replied, “how you expect to carry it + out.” + </p> + <p> + “Simple enough,” said Commodus. “I’m not the man my Father was, not by a + great deal. I am a natural all-round athlete, but I was never born to be + an Emperor. All the same, when I buckle down to my job, I’m not such a bad + hand at it. If I have a talk with Almo I’ll swing him my way without half + trying.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” Brinnaria interposed, “even you, even as Emperor and Chief Pontiff, + cannot free a man who has become King of the Grove. There is no record of + any form of exauguration for a Priest of Diana of the Underworld. There + would be an outcry. Once King of the Grove a man must live out his life as + King of the Grove.” + </p> + <p> + Commodus grinned a school-boy grin. + </p> + <p> + “My dear,” he said, “there are more ways of killing a dog besides choking + him to death on fresh curds.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria stared. + </p> + <p> + “You talk,” he said, “as if you had gone over all the records. Don’t you + recall two cases where a King of the Grove died without being killed?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” she admitted. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” he continued, “what was done?” + </p> + <p> + “Two challengers were brought forward,” she said, “and they fought each + other.” + </p> + <p> + “Just so,” said he, “and don’t you recall one case where a King of the + Grove disappeared and was believed to have run away, but was never found, + nor any trace of him?” + </p> + <p> + “I remember that, too,” she agreed. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” he pressed her, “what was done in that case?” + </p> + <p> + “Two challengers fought each other that time also,” she allowed. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” he summed up, “that’s what we’ll have done now. Almo will vanish. + He’s good at it, he’s had practice. Two challengers can be found easily + enough.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” she cavilled, wide-eyed, “there’s all the difference in the world + between egging on two challengers after the post is vacant and arranging + to vacate the post. What you propose would be sacrilege, impiety.” + </p> + <p> + “Don’t you worry about that!” he soothed her. “The priesthood at Aricia is + no part of our hierarchy; the safety of Rome in no way depends on its + sanctity. It is important enough for the nine towns that share the cult, + but it concerns no others. It’s an alien cult, anyhow. Whether Orestes + brought it to Aricia or Hippolytus or who else makes no difference, nor + the tradition that it is four hundred years older than Rome. It’s a + disgrace to Italy and it exists on sufferance. Father told me that + Grandfather and he were both in half a mind to have it suppressed as the + Bacchanals were suppressed. The curative repute of the Grove stood in the + way. As for me, if it were not for the sporting character of the King’s + tenure, I’d see to it that Almo would be the last King. I feel free to do + as I please in any matter that concerns it.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria said nothing. + </p> + <p> + He resumed: + </p> + <p> + “Leave it all to me. I’ll go to Aricia myself; I’ll expostulate with Almo; + I’ll appeal to his manhood, to his pride, to his patriotism. Ten to one + he’s disillusioned by this time, sick of his job and ready to listen to + reason. He’ll promise to obey me and he’ll obey me. + </p> + <p> + “The rest will be managed by men who will make no mistakes. They’ll find + two challengers each much like Almo in build and appearance. One dark + night Almo will slip off in charge of the men I delegate for that duty; + the two challengers will be guided so that each thinks he is fighting the + King of the Grove. Whichever survives will be rigged up in the customary + toggery. There will be a corpse properly offered on the altar. Nobody will + suspect anything.” + </p> + <p> + About a month later Lutorius conveyed to her a hint from the Emperor. She + at once applied for an audience. + </p> + <p> + Commodus was as expansive as a boy who has had a good day’s fishing. + </p> + <p> + “It’s all over,” he said, “and everything went off just as I foresaw and + planned. Almo was disgusted and tractable. We found two desperadoes of + suitable make. While we steered them at each other Almo slipped out. + Besides you, your two friends, your agents, Lutorius and myself, no one + knows that Almo was ever King of the Grove. I had him brought to the + Palace and Lucro and I had no end of good fun fencing with him. I had the + Senate pass a decree relieving him of all and sundry legal consequences of + having been sold as a slave in Britain. I had him choose a full staff of + the best possible aides, orderlies and such. He is off to Syria. I did not + send for you until I had word that he had not only sailed from Brundisium + but had actually landed at Dyrrhachium. I anticipate that the job I have + sent him on will take all of six years. Just about when your service is + drawing to an end he will return to Rome covered with glory and loaded + with loot. The nomads have been plundering our cities and have accumulated + in their strongholds immense amounts of treasure. He’ll get it back. + Meantime your mind should be at peace.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria was properly grateful and expressed her feelings fervently. + </p> + <p> + “And now,” said Commodus, “since I have done what you wanted and you are + pleased, may I ask a favor of you? You can do something for me that no one + else can and if you promise it will set my mind at rest to some extent.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria earnestly promised to do her best. + </p> + <p> + “I am troubled,” said the Emperor, “very much troubled. You know how + rumors get about among people, starting no one knows where; and how, when + such a notion is abroad, nothing on earth can counteract it. + </p> + <p> + “Well, there’s a story going about of an oracle, an oracle which says that + the Republic reached its acme under Trajan, that the Empire kept up its + prosperity under Hadrian and my Grandfather and Father, but that the glory + of Rome is fated to fade and wane and that its decline will date from my + taking over the Principiate. + </p> + <p> + “I am worried about it. I have sent to Delphi and Dodona and every other + oracle from Olisipo to Pattala, but I can find no record of any such + oracle having been uttered. The people, however, credit it as if it came + from Delphi. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve had a hundred oracles consulted about the matter, Delphi too. They + all hedge; not one is clear. But they all speak of an impending disaster + that may be averted by watchfulness. And they all hint darkly at some + danger to the Palladium; they all mention it somehow; most of them allude + unmistakably to the Temple of Vesta; some of them manifestly refer to the + Atrium; all of them speak of fire. + </p> + <p> + “Now I know that the sacred fire will be cared for by you and Manlia and + Gargilia and Numisia as well as ever it was since Numa. Causidiena is too + old to count and Terentia is too young, but in the four of you I have + complete confidence as far as the fire is concerned. + </p> + <p> + “About the Palladium I don’t feel so sure. The six terra-cotta chests are + so exactly alike and the five counterfeits are so like the real statue + that I am afraid the precautions taken to baffle an intruding thief might + confuse you Vestals in a crisis. + </p> + <p> + “Do you know the real Palladium from the five dummies?” + </p> + <p> + “I do,” said Brinnaria; “we all do. When I had been a Vestal five years + Causidiena showed me the Palladium. No Vestal is ever shown it until she + is over fifteen. Like all other young Vestals I was made to spend hours in + the inner storeroom, blindfolded, learning to recognize the real Palladium + by touch. + </p> + <p> + “The differences between the original and the copies are very small, + mostly in the carving of the folds of the gown. But every young Vestal is + drilled until she can recognize the genuine relic by touch, one hundred + times out of one hundred times, and until she can similarly discriminate + the terra-cotta chest that contains it from the other five chests. I could + tell the Palladium from the imitations instantly any time.” + </p> + <p> + “You relieve me,” said Commodus. “I’ve wanted to talk about this to all + you Vestals, but I’ve been ashamed to broach the subject. Since you + confided in me I feel no hesitation about confiding in you.” + </p> + <p> + “I promise you,” said Brinnaria, “that the Palladium will never be stolen, + lost, or come to any harm if I can prevent it, and I believe I can. I + pledge you my word.” + </p> + <p> + “I feel better,” said Commodus. + </p> + <p> + “And I want to say,” Brinnaria added, “that I have always felt a special + interest in the Palladium. Ever since I was old enough to share all the + duties and all the responsibilities of a Vestal, my feelings have been + particularly engaged with the Palladium. There is something tremendous and + crushing in the thought of being in charge of four of the seven objects on + the safety of which depends the safety of Rome and the prosperity of the + Republic. Whenever Causidiena has shown them to us younger Vestals I have + felt the strongest emotions at the sight of the jar containing the ashes + of Orestes, of the antique gold canister which protects the plain, + gold-mounted ivory sceptre of Priam, of the lapis-lazuli casket which + enshrines the tatters remaining of Ilione’s veil; but more than at sight + of them I have trembled with awe to look at that little statuette, no + longer than my forearm, and to think that if it were destroyed the Empire + would crumble and Rome would perish. You maybe sure I shall do all I can + to keep safe the precious treasure committed to my charge.” + </p> + <p> + “I feel sure you will,” said Commodus. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0027" id="link2H_4_0027"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + BOOK IV—THE REVULSION OF DELIGHT + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XX - ACCUSATION + </h2> + <p> + AFTER Almo’s redemption and his departure for Syria Brinnaria calmed down. + Her feverish activity abated and vanished. She ceased to take any interest + in the speed of her litter-bearers or of her carriage-teams. She took her + outings for their own sake, not merely to feel herself transported rapidly + from somewhere to anywhere. She kept an oversight of her stock-farms, but + she left the management of them almost entirely to her bailiffs. On music + she spent more of her time and in it she took an intenser delight. + </p> + <p> + Life in the Atrium altered chiefly through the growing up of Terentia, + whose fifteenth birthday was celebrated soon after Almo left Italy, and by + the steady waning of Causidiena’s eyesight. She could still recognize + familiar persons when between her and the strong light of a door or window + in the daytime; she could still place pieces of wood on the fire, if it + was burning well. But she was plainly verging on total blindness. Except + in so far as it was modified by pride in Terentia and solicitude for + Causidiena, life in the Atrium flowed on as it had for centuries. + </p> + <p> + Reports from Almo were uniformly good. From the first he displayed all the + qualifications requisite for a commander in chief. For him everything + promised well. + </p> + <p> + Under these conditions Brinnaria throve. Her natural vigor had always been + such that she never had showed any outward signs of the strain to which + she had been subjected. Uniformly she had looked handsome and healthy. But + now, if anything, she looked healthier and handsomer than ever. She was + then thirty-two years old. At ten years of age she had looked eighteen, at + eighteen she had looked twenty-four. At thirty-two she still looked no + more than twenty-five. Her hair was abundant and glossy, her eyes bright, + her cheeks rosy; she was neither slender nor plump, but a well-muscled, + graceful woman, decidedly young-looking, and altogether statuesque in + build and carriage, but very much alive in her springy suppleness. + </p> + <p> + About a year after Almo’s departure for Syria Lutorius came to see her one + morning, his face grave. + </p> + <p> + He indicated that they had best confer alone. In her tiny sanctum he came + straight to the point. + </p> + <p> + “Daughter,” he said, “my news is as bad as possible. You are formally + accused of the worst misconduct.” + </p> + <p> + “Why look so gloomy?” said Brinnaria. “That is comic, not tragic. Who’s + the fool accuser?” + </p> + <p> + “Calvaster, as you might conjecture,” he answered; “and grieve to have to + inform you,” he added, “that this is no laughing matter.” + </p> + <p> + “Pooh!” said Brinnaria. “I’m not a bit afraid of Calvaster. Aurelius gave + Commodus emphatic injunctions about me. And he went into details. Commodus + can’t have forgotten his reprimand to Calvaster nor his categorical + threat.” + </p> + <p> + “I fear,” said Lutorius, “that his father’s instructions on that + particular point are not well to the front of the Emperor’s mind.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, anyhow,” said Brinnaria, “everybody knows my preoccupation with + Almo and everybody saw my behavior in the Amphitheatre. I feel pretty safe + in respect to my general reputation. As to particulars, I’ve been + vigilantly careful to keep away from Almo. Except twice, in the presence + of Aurelius, I haven’t been within speaking distance of him in twenty-two + years. Between the fact that no one can prove that I have had anything to + do with him and the improbability that anyone would suspect me of interest + in any other man, let alone misconduct with any other man, I feel entirely + secure.” + </p> + <p> + Lutorius wagged his head. + </p> + <p> + “You are accused of misconduct with another man,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “Absurd!” said Brinnaria, “easy to confute. Who is the man?” + </p> + <p> + “Not so easy to confute, I fear,” said Lutorius. “The man named is Quintus + Istorius Vocco.” + </p> + <p> + “Whew!” cried Brinnaria, springing to her feet and snapping her fingers. + “That is ingenious! That will give me trouble! I didn’t credit Calvaster + with that much sense. I never thought of anyone looking askance at my + relations with Quintus. I’ve never taken any precautions as to when I was + with him or how long or where. I’ve treated him as an honorary brother, + seeing I have no brothers of my own left alive. Flexinna has been such a + sister to me, that we have disregarded Quintus almost as if he were a + slave or a statue or a picture on the wall or another woman. Whew!” + </p> + <p> + “You perceive,” said Lutorius, “that the situation, in general, is very + serious?” + </p> + <p> + “I do, indeed!” admitted Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + “Serious as it is in general,” he went on, “it is still more serious in + particular. Your excursion to Aricia was by no means as much a secret as + you have all along supposed. I, for instance, knew of it before you + confessed it to me.” + </p> + <p> + “How was that?” Brinnaria inquired. + </p> + <p> + “Numisia,” he explained, “saw you go out in Flexinna’s clothes and + recognized you. She entered your room and talked with Flexinna. She + summoned me and we conferred. We both loved you and we both believed in + you. We were solicitous for the cult, but we were nearly as much + solicitous for you. We agreed that we were almost fully warranted in + assuming your entire innocence of heart and that your impulsive behavior + would not alienate the good will of the Goddess. We decided to take it + upon ourselves to judge you blameless and to shield you. Utta was + instructed never to let you know that Numisia had seen Flexinna; Flexinna, + of course, fell in with our plans. Numisia made every arrangement that + would prevent any more from learning the secret and would make your return + easy. + </p> + <p> + “After you came back safe our decision seemed justified. I talked with + Vocco and learned that nothing had occurred to render your exposure + likely, except your encounter with Calvaster. As we heard nothing from + Calvaster we felt entirely successful. It turns out that he was only + biding his time. He has formally accused you before the College of + Pontiffs, alleging in general your long-continued familiarity with Vocco, + and, in particular, your having been outside of Rome after midnight in + Vocco’s company.” + </p> + <p> + “Whew,” Brinnaria exclaimed, “this is indeed serious! I feel myself + strangling or starving in a vaulted cell. What am I to do?” + </p> + <p> + “See Commodus first of all,” said Lutorius. + </p> + <p> + In the short interval since her former audience, those traits of which he + had previously shown the merest traces had rapidly developed in Commodus + into fixed characteristics. He had become what he remained until his end, + an odd mingling of loutish, peevish school-boy, easy-going, self-indulgent + athlete and superstitious, suspicious despot. + </p> + <p> + “To begin with,” he said, “I want you to understand that I like you, that + I haven’t forgotten that you rescued the retiarius, whopped Bambilio and + behaved like a trump when Father tested you. I’m for you. Your colts are + the cream of Italian stud-farms. You are a wonderful woman, all round. + But, as a Vestal, you have your weak points. I remember Father’s + instructions about you and I have all that in mind. Besides, I know that + I, as Chief Pontiff, have the right to make my own decision about any such + matter and to brush aside anybody else’s opinion and anybody else’s + interpretation of the evidence. Also my impulse is to make use of my + prerogative, dismiss the accusation against you, reiterate Father’s + warning to Calvaster and get the whole thing off my mind. I don’t like + Calvaster and I don’t value him an atom. They say he’s indispensable, but + if he irritates me ever so little more I’ll dispense with him and I’ll + wager the Republic will get on without him. You see that I am strong on + your side and almost on the point of deciding in your favor. + </p> + <p> + “But I hesitate. This case of yours worries me more than anything that has + come up since I took over the Principiate. I cannot make up my mind. + </p> + <p> + “I’m not the man I was a year ago. I’m shaken. Father told me that the + most wearing feature of his being Emperor was his recurring escapes from + assassination. I had my first escape just after your audience with me. It + jarred me horribly. The fool barely missed finishing me. The experience + made me take precautions and so no other miscreant has come so near to + doing for me. But the repetitions have grown monotonous. I always thought + highly of your lad, and I’ve often wondered how he managed to get any + sleep or swallow any food while he was King of the Grove, but I think + immeasurably more of him since I’ve been through something faintly + similar. He deserves the best of life and I hope he’ll get his heart’s + desire and marry you at the end of your service. + </p> + <p> + “You see how enthusiastically I am on your side. + </p> + <p> + “But there is much to be considered. + </p> + <p> + “If this were a question of judging a two-year-old filly I’d need no man’s + advice and I’d listen to no man’s opinion. I’m better fitted to judge a + horse than any man alive. It would be the same if it were a question of + refereeing a sword-bout or a boxing-mill or a wrestling-match or anything + of the kind. I know all about such things and I know that I am a judge + superior to anybody on earth. I’m a born all-round athlete and everybody + knows it and recognizes me as a past master. + </p> + <p> + “But as an Emperor, as Chief Pontiff, such is not at all the case. I feel + a fumbler, a bungler. I grope. I suspect that the judgment of my advisers + is better than mine. What is worse, I know that they think so. I am + surrounded by men pre-eminent in their specialties, who look on me as a + green boy placed by mere chance in a position which I fail to fill + adequately. They watch me like hawks, they expect to see me blunder, they + raise eyebrows at each other, they exchange glances. It rattles me. I wish + I had Alexander’s nerve. He was as young as I am and he brooked no + opposition, but rammed his opinions down his councillors’ throats from the + hour when he became King. But I haven’t his nerve, not by a long shot. I + had as good teachers as he had, too. But, Hercules be good to me, I never + could learn anything out of a book. + </p> + <p> + “As a charioteer, or a swordsman I’m as confident as a lion. As an Emperor + I’m as cowardly as a jackal. It’s the effect of the prophecies and + auguries and oracles and such. They all hint at my impairing the + prosperity of the Republic or diminishing the power of the Empire. It + gallies me when I see two old bald heads wink at each other; I know they + are thinking: + </p> + <p> + “‘What did I tell you! Here’s this young fool ruining Rome, just as the + oracle prophesies.’ It gets on my nerves. + </p> + <p> + “I daren’t decide the matter on my own judgment. + </p> + <p> + “Besides, there’s the danger of assassination hanging over me. All the men + who have tried so far have been highly educated magnates of lofty + principles. They seem to feel I am an unworthy Prince and that to kill me + would be a service to the state. It galls me to think of it, and me doing + my best for the Republic and the Empire, denying myself hours of pleasure + daily, missing races and all kinds of contests and toiling over documents + and estimates and statistics. But it is true. If I decide this case of + yours, ten to one any number of self-righteous nobles will say to + themselves: + </p> + <p> + “‘Here is this lout on the way to destroy the foundations of Rome’s + greatness. Rome must be saved from him. My duty is clear. He must be put + out of the way.’ Nice situation for me. I dare not let loose any such + possible fanaticism for my own destruction. + </p> + <p> + “And apart from any qualms about my qualifications to judge, apart from + any dread of the consequences to myself, of absolving you, there is my + sense of duty to Rome. Here are these cursed ambiguous oracles hinting + some harm to Rome, mentioning fire and the Temple of Vesta and the + Palladium. Perhaps what they mean is just the possible wrath of Vesta at + an unworthy priestess. How can I tell? + </p> + <p> + “You see why I hesitate?” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria nodded. She judged it no time to speak, and, had she wished to + speak she could hardly have done so. + </p> + <p> + “I might not have hesitated,” Commodus resumed, “if Calvaster had come to + me. But he pops up in a full meeting of the College of Pontiffs and says + he saw you, after midnight and before dawn, on the Appian Road, between + Aricia and Bovillae, in a litter that didn’t belong to you and with Vocco + on horseback beside it. That puts all the Pontiffs in possession of the + facts and on the watch to see how I’ll decide, if I do decide. Calvaster + made sure of proving those facts, for he had two highly respectable and + respected nobles to swear that they were with him and saw Vocco and the + litter and knew the litter for Nemestronia’s. That he had any number of + witnesses to swear to the frequency of your visits to Vocco’s house, your + habit of dining there and the freedom with which you treated him. + </p> + <p> + “My impulse was to tell Calvaster I disbelieved any story he fathered, + that I had my Father’s instructions discrediting him, that I knew all + about your intimacy with Flexinna and her husband, that I knew all about + your excursion to Aricia and why you went and that I approved and that was + the end of it. I have told you why I hesitated. + </p> + <p> + “But I was inclined that way. I have talked with Lutorius and Causidiena + and Numisia. They feel towards you as my Father felt. They believe in you + and in your worthiness as a priestess, and they minimize your + irregularities. I sent for Flexinna and talked with her. She deserves + consideration, if only because she is the mother of the largest family to + be found among our nobility, even among our gentry. She hoots at the idea + of anything improper between you and Vocco, in act or thought. She + evidently tells the truth. It is plain that she and Vocco are a devoted + pair, that you and he never did anything wrong or thought of anything + wrong. I sent for Vocco and talked with him. I am all but clear what I + should do, but I am not quite clear. + </p> + <p> + “Now, there are only two ways to settle this: one is for me to settle it + myself and out of hand. The other is to have a formal trial of you before + the College of Pontiffs. + </p> + <p> + “If you are tried you’ll be condemned. All you can say of the innocence of + your intimacy with Vocco, all you can say of the innocence of your regard + for Almo, all I can say of my Father’s high esteem of you, of his + injunctions regarding you, will not avail to save you. The Pontiffs will + not heed the considerations which were so plain to Father and are so plain + to me and Lutorius and Numisia. They will say it makes no difference + whether you went to Aricia because of solicitude for Almo or on account of + an intrigue with Vocco. They will hold that such a manifestation of + interest in Almo proves you almost as unfit to be a Vestal as if it were + certain that you were philandering with Vocco. + </p> + <p> + “In particular they will hold that there might be room to absolve you had + you openly gone to save Almo in your full regalia and in your own + carriage, or your own litter, with your lictor before you; but that while + the fact of your being out of Rome all night in a litter is damning + enough, the appearance of duplicity and underhanded secrecy given to the + proceeding by your being disguised in another woman’s clothing and carried + in a borrowed litter makes terribly against you. + </p> + <p> + “Of course I could impose my will on the Pontiffs, but I should hesitate + to override their decision, even more than I hesitate to decide the case + myself, and for the reasons I have given. + </p> + <p> + “Yet I must say I could forget my dread of assassination and ignore any + opinionated contempt I might evoke, if I could be sure in my own heart + that I am doing what is best for Rome; I should be as arrogant an Emperor + as ever Domitian was if only I felt confident that my instincts are right. + My instincts all urge me to act as an Emperor and a Pontifex Maximus and + settle this matter out of hand, once and for all. + </p> + <p> + “But I hesitate. I can’t make up my mind. All I need is a sign that you + are as acceptable to Vesta as I believe you are. I have tried to satisfy + myself, to elicit some sign of the Goddess’ will, but no sign has been + vouchsafed me. I’ve had the Sibylline Books consulted, which is a trying + matter with Calvaster left out of the consulting board; I have sent to + every oracle within reach, have put questions to all the sibyls in all the + caves of Italy, have called in a rabble of Etruscan soothsayers, every + haruspex and auspex in Etruria, I believe. They all hedge. They are all + vague. They are all indefinite. They give me no help! + </p> + <p> + “Now, I like you; I like Almo; I like both of you and I respect you; I + believe in you. I’d hate to wake up and call for any breakfast I had a + whim for and look at it and smell it and think of you, all alone in the + dark in a vaulted cell six foot under the rubbish of that garbage-dump out + by the Colline Gate. And I hate the thought of the bother and worry of a + trial. I want to put my foot down and assert my will and be done with it + all. But, as I’ve said a dozen times already, I hesitate. Chiefly I + hesitate because I am resolute to do my duty to Rome according to my + lights. I feel I am right, but I am not quite man enough to follow my + feelings. If I could have some plain sign that Vesta understands and + condones your past irregularities as I do, that Vesta approves of you and + is pleased with you as I am, if I could feel Vesta corroborating my + feelings, if I could evoke an unmistakable token of her will, I’d not + hesitate. I’d scout the suggestion of a trial; I’d squelch Calvaster; I’d + absolve you.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria looked straight into his goggling, bloodshot eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Would you consider it an unmistakable sign,” she said, “a plain token of + my acceptability to my Goddess, of her esteem for me, if Vesta gave me + power to carry water in a sieve?” + </p> + <p> + Commodus goggled his eyes at her even more than habitually. + </p> + <p> + “Carry water in a sieve,” he cried, “as Tuccia did?” + </p> + <p> + “There is a legend,” said Brinnaria sedately, “that some Vestal once + proved her holiness by carrying water in a sieve. And the story is + connected with Tuccia in popular tradition. But if it was ever done some + other Vestal did it. Poor Tuccia was innocent, as far as I can judge from + the minutes of her trial. But she was not absolved, by intervention of + Vesta or of her judges. She was condemned and buried. You can read the + verdict as well as the details of the proceedings in the records. And what + is left of poor Tuccia is now in one of those tiny vaulted cells under the + Wicked Field. You will find, along with the documents of her case, the + bill for the wages of the mason who completed the vault after she had + descended the ladder and the affidavits of the sentinels who patrolled the + spot day and night for a month, according to custom.” + </p> + <p> + “Never mind who did it or didn’t do it, or whether it ever was done at all + before,” said Commodus, “if I saw you carry water in a sieve I’d hold it a + plain sign of Vesta’s particular favor to you, of your special + acceptability to her, of the correctness of my intuitions about you and + about this whole wretched business. + </p> + <p> + “Do I understand you to offer to demonstrate your innocence by carrying + water in a sieve?” + </p> + <p> + “That is my offer!” said Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + “But,” he protested, “the thing can’t be done. It’s impossible! Better + stand your chance of a trial.” + </p> + <p> + “I am sure,” said Brinnaria, “that my Goddess will not desert me. I know I + am innocent and acceptable to her. She knows me and will give me the power + to prove my worthiness. She will no fail me. I know I can do it.” + </p> + <p> + “Do I understand you to offer to do it in broad daylight before me and the + whole College of Pontiffs, Calvaster and all?” + </p> + <p> + “In sight of all Rome,” said Brinnaria, “if all Rome could crowd near + enough to see.” + </p> + <p> + “Do I understand you,” said the Emperor, “to stake your life on the + venture, and, just as you would expect full absolution if you succeed, so + to expect a rigid and severely stern trial before me and the College of + Pontiffs, with your failure counting against you, if you fail in the + attempt?” + </p> + <p> + “That is my understanding,” said Brinnaria, unflinching, her clear eyes on + his face, her cheeks neither flushed nor blanched, her expression calm, + her pose easy, her voice unfaltering. + </p> + <p> + “Hercules be good to me!” cried Commodus. “That is a first class game + sporting offer! I like you, girl! I like the idea. I see my way to a + decision. I glimpse a method of banishing my hesitation. I’ll take you. If + you agree, clasp hands, like a man.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria stood up and put out her hand. + </p> + <p> + “For life or death,” said the Emperor. + </p> + <p> + They clasped hands. + </p> + <p> + “Done!” said Commodus. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0021" id="link2HCH0021"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXI - ORDEAL + </h2> + <p> + THE next day Commodus, officially, in his full regalia as Emperor and + Pontifex Maximus, convoyed by a magnificent retinue of gorgeously + apparelled gentlemen-in-waiting, equerries, aides, orderlies and pages, + and of gaudily uniformed guards, paid a formal visit to the Atrium. + </p> + <p> + He was received by Lutorius, Causidiena and Numisia, who had been in close + conference most of the previous afternoon and until late at night and + again most of the morning from dawn. Causidiena, on account of her failing + sight, was escorted by Manlia and Gargilia. + </p> + <p> + After the exchange of ceremonious greetings Commodus asked: + </p> + <p> + “Where is Brinnaria? Why isn’t she here?” + </p> + <p> + “We thought best,” Causidiena replied, “that she should not be present at + our conference.” + </p> + <p> + “As to part of it I quite agree,” said the Emperor. “Fairness to her + requires that much of what we have to say should be said in her absence, + as she must be free from any suspicion of participation in some of our + arrangements. But part of what we have to say she must hear and some + details I must talk over with her. Send for her, and meanwhile, sit down, + all of you, sit down, I say.” + </p> + <p> + Manlia and Gargilia departed to summon Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + When she came and had seated herself the Emperor said: + </p> + <p> + “I’ve been thinking over this matter ever since you left me. Precious + little else did I do yesterday and mighty little sleep did I get last + night. I’m not clear yet altogether, but I see daylight on several points. + </p> + <p> + “What you propose is more or less like interpreting the significance of + the appearances seen in the victim’s intestines after a sacrifice for a + specific object; it amounts to asking a definite question of your Goddess + and getting a yes or no answer. + </p> + <p> + “That is one way to regard it and seems to me correct from the religious + point of view. + </p> + <p> + “But there is another point of view and another way to regard it, not less + correct, it seems to me. + </p> + <p> + “This is a sort of a sporting proposal, like a dicing contest, or any kind + of match or wager. + </p> + <p> + “Now in such matters, it is important, it is of the utmost importance, + that there should be no differences of opinion between the principals or + among the backers or lookers-on after the contest or during its progress; + particularly that no unexpected differences of opinion should crop up + after starting the set of actions which determine the decision. To avoid + all such untoward possibilities, every detail must be settled in advance + before the matter comes to a test. + </p> + <p> + “Now, treating your appeal to Vesta not only as a solemn invocation of the + Goddess, but also as a sporting chance, I intend to have a definite, + unquestionable understanding beforehand on every debatable point. + </p> + <p> + “You see what I mean? + </p> + <p> + “Some of the points we others will settle without you, but we shall begin + with those which you must settle or share in settling. + </p> + <p> + “I and Lutorius, Causidiena and Numisia are to be the witnesses to the + stipulations and our agreement on any point is to prove that point. I + propose to make it impossible for there to be any misunderstanding or + disagreement among the four of us, to make it certain that we four think, + speak and act unanimously on all points whatever. Nothing must be assumed, + everything must be explicit. + </p> + <p> + “To begin with, is this a fair statement of your proposal? + </p> + <p> + “You maintain that you are a worthy priestess of Vesta and wholly + acceptable to her. You propose to demonstrate this by asking of her the + power to carry water in a sieve in the sight of the whole College of + Pontiffs and of such other persons as I may see fit to have present at the + test. If you fail you will expect to be tried for misconduct. If you + succeed you will expect to be then and there absolved from all accusations + and imputations connected with your deportment or behavior. + </p> + <p> + “Is that a fair statement of your proposal?” + </p> + <p> + “It is,” Brinnaria replied. + </p> + <p> + “What kind of water do you propose to carry?” Commodus asked. “Spring + water, rain-water from a tank, aqueduct-water, or what?” + </p> + <p> + “I assumed,” said Brinnaria, “that I would carry water from the river, in + accordance with the legend of my predecessor: Father Tiber being himself + one of our gods, one of the sternest to evildoers, yet to the righteous + most kindly and helpful.” + </p> + <p> + “Excellent!” said the Emperor. “My notion precisely. That is settled. I + accordingly appoint as the place of your test the Marble Quay, since the + porticoes flanking it shut out the mob and protect the Quay from intruding + eyes, and since the space enclosed by them is ample for the assemblage of + the College of Pontiffs, the Senate and the Court officials. Are you + satisfied with that place?” + </p> + <p> + “I am,” said Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + “In what kind of a sieve do you propose to carry water?” came the next + question. + </p> + <p> + “A sieve,” said Brinnaria, “is a sieve.” + </p> + <p> + “Not at all,” Commodus objected. “There are sieves and sieves.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, of course,” Brinnaria reflected, “I do not mean a broken, worn-out + or imperfect sieve, nor one incompetently made.” + </p> + <p> + “Just so,” the Emperor amplified. “You propose to carry water in a sieve + with a circular rim, without any hole, crevice or crack in it and with a + web stretched taut on the rim, evenly woven and of the finest mesh.” + </p> + <p> + “That expresses my unformed idea,” said Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + “Did you mean a linen sieve,” the Emperor asked, “or a horse-hair sieve, + or a metal sieve?” + </p> + <p> + “That,” said Brinnaria, “can make no difference, if it fulfills the + conditions you have just specified. I leave the choice of material to + you.” + </p> + <p> + “That is the correct attitude for you,” said Commodus, “and does you + credit. + </p> + <p> + “And now I think we four will settle the other details without you. Do you + agree to that?” + </p> + <p> + “No!” Brinnaria objected. “I think I should be a party to the settling of + several other details.” + </p> + <p> + “What are they?” Commodus queried. + </p> + <p> + “In the first place,” said Brinnaria, “there should be the clearest + understanding as to how much water I must carry.” + </p> + <p> + “What do you mean?” the Emperor asked. + </p> + <p> + “Well,” Brinnaria expounded, “a drop of water the size of my thumb-nail + would not be enough, I presume. That would not be considered as + demonstrating my innocence. You would expect me to carry more water than + that. On the other hand, to exact that I carry a sieve full of water to + the top of the rim, as if it were a pan, would be unfair to me.” + </p> + <p> + “I see,” said Commodus. “I should lay down the condition that the water + must cover the web of the sieve entirely and touch the rim all round, and + that it should be a finger-breadth deep. Deeper than that it need not be, + that depth would prove the favor of your Goddess as plainly as if you + carried all Tiber. Is that all? If not, what next?” + </p> + <p> + “Next,” she said, “it ought to be definitely agreed how far I must carry + the sieve with the water in it.” + </p> + <p> + “You do not need to carry it at all,” said Commodus. “If you stand up and + hold the sieve of water as high as your chin, you will have proved the + favor of your Goddess for you.” + </p> + <p> + Lutorius, tactful and bland, here spoke up. + </p> + <p> + “Your Majesty,” he said, “I doubt whether that will confute Brinnaria’s + enemies or even convince the majority of the Pontiffs.” + </p> + <p> + “What does it signify?” the Emperor demanded, “whether anybody else is + convinced, if I am satisfied?” + </p> + <p> + “Nothing whatever, your Majesty,” said Lutorius, “if you take that view of + the matter.” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps,” Commodus admitted, “there may be something in your suggestion. + Suppose we make the stipulation that she must carry the sieve of water + from the brink of the river to the top of the steps.” + </p> + <p> + “The number of steps,” Lutorius reminded him, “varies at different points + along the Marble Quay.” + </p> + <p> + “True,” the Emperor admitted. “Let us specify the middle stair, which has + seven steps, if I mistake not. Do you agree to that?” he asked Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + “I agree,” she concluded. + </p> + <p> + After Brinnaria had gone, Commodus resumed: + </p> + <p> + “Now we must decide,” he said, “what kind of a sieve she is to use.” + </p> + <p> + Causidiena spoke up, her all but sightless eyes strained towards the + Emperor. + </p> + <p> + “Lutorius and Numisia and I have talked over that question,” she said. “It + seems to me that it would be unfair to her for us to decide on a metal + sieve. They are always coarse and the apertures between the wires are + comparatively large. It seems to us that no one could carry water in a + copper sieve, not even by a miracle. + </p> + <p> + “The meshes of linen sieves are the smallest of any made, but the linen + does not seem to have much sustaining power. We feel that with a linen + sieve not only Brinnaria would be, as Lutorius expressed it, severely + handicapped for water-carrying, but that, as he also said, I fear + irreverently, that Vesta herself would be too much handicapped in respect + to miracle-working.” + </p> + <p> + “A mighty sensible remark,” Commodus cut in, “and one with which I concur. + You are more of a sport than I thought you, Lutorius.” + </p> + <p> + “Considering only the construction of sieves,” Causidiena continued, “we + were of the opinion that a horsehair sieve would be the fairest. The hairs + are coarser than linen threads and finer than copper wires and the + apertures between are similarly of medium size, as sieves go. + </p> + <p> + “Besides, we have ascertained that horse-hair sieves are by far the most + usual kind. We are told that in most sieve-shops in Rome all the linen + sieves and copper sieves sold do not amount to one-third the horsehair + sieves.” + </p> + <p> + “That ought to settle that point,” said Commodus. “No one can cavil if we + use the commonest kind of sieve, of medium fineness and of normal make. + </p> + <p> + “As to the question of procuring one we must arrange that Brinnaria may + feel wholly secure that it has not been tampered with by some enemy of + hers, and, on the other hand, that all persons whatever, to whomsoever + hostile or friendly, or wholly indifferent, may be at once and forever + certain that neither Brinnaria nor any partisan of hers has had any access + to it before the test. Have you any suggestions to make?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” Causidiena replied. “Lutorius and Numisia and I have debated that + point and have come to a conclusion which we think you might approve. The + best sieve-maker in Rome is Caius Truttidius Falcifer, a tenant of one of + our shops on the Holy Street. Not only are his wares reputed the best-made + sieves produced in Rome, but he sells more than anyone else and carries a + larger stock than can be found in the possession of any other dealer. He + is sieve-maker to the Atrium, like his father before him. His horse-hair + sieves are the closest and finest of their kind. We use them to sift the + flour for our ceremonial cakes. I had some brought to show you. Where are + they, Numisia?” + </p> + <p> + Numisia rose and took from an onyx console a flattish dish-like basket of + gilt wicker, containing a number of square cakes. In size and on account + of the ridges on them, each looked much like the joined four fingers of a + man’s hand. + </p> + <p> + Commodus took one, broke it and munched a piece. + </p> + <p> + “Very good,” he said. “If the excellence of the pastry demonstrates the + virtue of the sieve let us consider it proved. I do not see, however, what + the cakes have to do with it. But I am entirely willing to agree that + Brinnaria is to use a horse-hair sieve made by Truttidius. + </p> + <p> + “Now, how are we to select the particular sieve so as to convince all + concerned that it is a normal sieve chosen at random and not one doctored + for the occasion?” + </p> + <p> + “Our idea,” said Lutorius, “was to arrange that Truttidius be present with + a number of horse-hair sieves, practically with his whole stock of his + best, and that one of those be chosen before the whole College of + Pontiffs, perhaps by your Majesty, perhaps by some one of the altar-boys, + blindfolded, if you like that idea, or in any other manner which seems + good to you.” + </p> + <p> + “That,” said the Emperor, “is an excellent suggestion. But would not there + be some difficulty in carrying to the Marble Quay so large a number of + sieves at once, particularly just when it will be crowded with notables + and the neighboring squares and streets choked, even jammed, with their + equipages? We should not want to present a numerous gang of sieve-carrying + slaves. But if more than two sieves are trusted to each slave, there will + be danger of the sieves being damaged in transit. We might find it + difficult to select one sufficiently perfect.” + </p> + <p> + “We have thought of that,” said Lutorius, “and have devised a solution + which we think you might accept. I have arranged to have Truttidius convey + some eighty horse-hair sieves to the water-front of the Marble Quay in a + flat-bottomed row-boat, such as are used for bringing vegetables to the + quays of the Forum Olitorium. The oarsmen can keep the boat nearly + stationary off any point of the Quay indicated, and the selection can be + made in sight of the official assemblage of all the Senators and + Pontiffs.” + </p> + <p> + “That,” said Commodus, “is an excellent suggestion. Have it carried out + and see to it that only we four know of it and that no one but the + sieve-maker and his assistants have anything to do with conveying the + sieves from his shop to the boat and that only the boatmen, the + sieve-maker and his assistants are in the boat, that no one else has been + in the boat. I’ll detail any number of men you ask for to escort the + sieve-maker and his convoy. + </p> + <p> + “I’ll have the river policed and all possible traffic suspended. Any craft + that are let through the cordons of police-boats will be made to follow + the other side of the river. We’ll have nothing off the Marble Quay except + the boat-load of sieves and the patrol-boats.” He sighed. + </p> + <p> + “I believe,” he said, “that that is all except fixing the day and the + hour.” + </p> + <p> + “I suggest,” said Lutorius, “the day after to-morrow, the eighteenth day + before the Kalends of September, the twenty-third anniversary of + Brinnaria’s entrance into the order of Vestals, and, I regret to say, the + second anniversary of her night expedition to Aricia.” + </p> + <p> + “That suits me,” said Commodus. + </p> + <p> + “And the hour?” Numisia queried. + </p> + <p> + “Noon,” said the Emperor. + </p> + <p> + Accordingly it was settled that Brinnaria was to face her ordeal at midday + on August fifteenth of the nine hundred and thirty-seventh year after the + founding of Rome, 184 of our era. + </p> + <p> + That night Numisia, conferring with Brinnaria, concluded by saying: + </p> + <p> + “Truttidius enjoined me to remind you to be very careful not to touch the + web of the sieve with your fingers. Also he says that, if anybody’s finger + touches the web of the sieve as it is being handed to you, you are to + decline to accept it and to demand another.” + </p> + <p> + “I understand that already,” said Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + The Marble Quay was that part of the embankment along the left bank of the + Tiber which was used by the Emperors of Rome for embarking on their state + barges and for landing from them whenever they took part in one of the + gorgeous river processions. Also it was used by all members of the + Imperial household for starting on excursions by water or when returning + from them. It was situated below the north corner of the Aventine Hill, + not far from the square end of the Circus Maximus, close to the round + Temple of Hercules and near the meat market. Every trace of it has long + since vanished, its precious marbles having offered most tempting plunder + for builders of every century since the fall of Rome. + </p> + <p> + In its glory it was a space about two hundred feet long and nearly a + hundred feet wide, bounded by a gentle hollow curve along the river, and + enclosed on the other three sides by magnificent colonnaded porticoes. + </p> + <p> + The shafts of the columns were of black Lucullean marble and fully forty + feet high. Their capitals and bases were of green porphyry, the + entablature they carried of red porphyry and the wall behind them of + yellow Numidian marble. The area was paved with slabs of pinkish and light + greenish marble while the copings of the Quay and the steps leading down + to the water were of coral red marble, a building material extremely rare + and very costly. + </p> + <p> + At noon on the fifteenth of August the area, lined all round just before + the colonnade by a double rank of Pretorian guards, gorgeous in their + trappings of red gloss leather, gilded metal and scarlet cloth, was + thronged with Senators, Pontiffs and officials of the Imperial Court, to + the number of nearly a thousand. + </p> + <p> + Midway of the crowd, near the head of the middle water-stair, a part of + the pavement, ringed about by the lucky dignitaries in the front row of + spectators, was left free. In it, by the water-steps, were grouped a + selection of Pontiffs, all the Flamens, four Vestals and the Emperor. The + yellow river was almost free of craft; along the other bank some barges + were being warped up-stream; nearby only patrol boats were visible. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria, standing alert and springily erect, her white habit dazzlingly + fresh, fresh as the white flowers clasped at her bosom by her big pearl + brooch, looked like a care-free young matron who had had a long night’s + sleep and a good breakfast. Commodus, looking her up nd down, mentally + contrasted her easy pose and the rosiness of her smiling face with the + tense statuesqueness and austere, almost grim countenances of her three + colleagues. He noticed that her three-strand pearl necklace seemed to + become her more than theirs became the other three and that she wore her + square, white headdress with an indefinable difference, that there was a + difference in the very hang of her headband and in the way its tassels lay + on her bosom. He noted two unusual adjuncts to her attire; a long, rough + towel through her girdle and a gold sacrificial dipper thrust in beside + it. + </p> + <p> + “Are you ready?” he asked her. + </p> + <p> + She looked him full in the face and slowly raised her left arm, stiffly + straight, hand extended, palm down, until her finger-tips were almost + level with his face and not a foot from it. Holding it so at full stretch + she asked: + </p> + <p> + “What do you think of that? Am I ready?” + </p> + <p> + Commodus regarded her finger-tips, her face, and again her finger-tips: + </p> + <p> + “Hercules be good to me!” he exclaimed. “Not a tremble, not a waver, not a + quiver. You are mighty cool. You’ve plenty of confidence. I take it you + are ready.” + </p> + <p> + “I am,” said Brinnaria. “Where is that sieve?” + </p> + <p> + From behind her spoke Calvaster. “I have a sieve here.” + </p> + <p> + Commodus rounded on him like an angry mastiff. + </p> + <p> + “Who authorized you to speak?” he demanded. “You act as if you were + Emperor. You are merely a minor Pontiff. Remember that and speak when you + are spoken to.” + </p> + <p> + Calvaster, abashed but persistent, stammered: + </p> + <p> + “I merely offered a sieve.” + </p> + <p> + “None of your concern to offer a sieve,” Commodus growled. “You insult all + of us and me most of all. Do you take me to be so unfair as to subject + this lady to her test with a sieve brought and offered by her accuser?” + </p> + <p> + Calvaster was dumb. + </p> + <p> + “Show me that sieve,” the Emperor commanded. + </p> + <p> + Calvaster produced from under his robes a copper-hooped sieve strung with + linen. + </p> + <p> + Commodus handed it to Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + “What do you think of that sieve?” he inquired. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria held it up to the light and looked through the web; held it + level, upside down, and looked along the web. + </p> + <p> + “It is very irregularly woven,” she pronounced; “some of the meshes are + three times the size of others. It is very unevenly strung, it bags in two + places.” She held it up to her face a moment. + </p> + <p> + “Also,” she concluded, “it has been scrubbed with wood-ashes and + fuller’s-earth. Vesta herself could not carry water in that sieve.” + </p> + <p> + “Give it back to me!” the Emperor ordered. + </p> + <p> + He eyed it as she had, sniffed at it like a dog at a mouse-hole, and + glared over it at Calvaster. + </p> + <p> + “You advertise yourself to all the world,” he snarled, “as an unworthy + Pontiff and a contemptible caitiff. You attempt to entrap me into the + meanest unfairness! You pose as a public-spirited citizen solicitous about + the sanctity of the worship of Vesta and I find you a pettifogging wretch + actuated by spite and malice. You desire not a fair test, but the ruin of + a woman you are low-minded enough to hate. Eugh!” With one of his excesses + of unconventional energy he flung the sieve far out over the river. It + sailed whirling through the air, splashed in the water and sank out of + sight. + </p> + <p> + “For the price of one dried bean, I’d order you thrown after it,” said + Commodus to Calvaster. + </p> + <p> + He beckoned one of his aides. + </p> + <p> + “Signal that boat!” he commanded. + </p> + <p> + A broad blunt-ended cargo-boat, rather guided than propelled by its four + heavy oars, came drifting down with the current. Its gunwale was hung with + horsehair sieves. Up from the thwarts stood many poles, each with + cross-pieces, every cross-piece hung with sieves. Its oarsmen edged it + nearer and nearer to the Quay and slowed its motion until it was almost + stationary opposite the stair, scarcely an arm’s-length from the lowest + step. + </p> + <p> + When it was close the Emperor spoke to Numisia: + </p> + <p> + “Choose any sieve you see.” + </p> + <p> + Numisia indicated the sieve on the forward arm of the second cross-piece + of the fourth pole from the bow. + </p> + <p> + Lutorius, at the Emperor’s bidding, called the directions to Truttidius, + who, bowed and bent with age until he looked almost like a clothed ape, + wizened so that his leathery, wrinkled face was like a dried apple, was + standing near the middle of the boat. + </p> + <p> + “Go down the steps,” said Commodus to Brinnaria, “and yourself take the + sieve from him.” Brinnaria, on the lower step, reached over the water, and + grasped the rim of the sieve which Truttidius held out to her. She held it + up to the light. Its web was of black and white horse-hair, each thread + alternately of a different color. It was made for bolting the finest flour + and the tiny apertures between the hairs were all of a size and scarcely + broader than the hairs themselves. + </p> + <p> + She scrutinized the sieve from several angles and then looked back at the + Emperor. + </p> + <p> + “Are you satisfied with that sieve?” he queried. + </p> + <p> + “I am satisfied with this sieve,” spoke Brinnaria, loud and clear. + </p> + <p> + “I want to see close,” said Commodus, coming down the steps. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria, holding the sieve in both hands, lifted it towards the blue + sky. “O Vesta!” she prayed aloud, “O my dear Goddess, manifest your + divinity, succor your votary! To prove me pleasing and acceptable in your + eyes, grant me the miraculous power to carry up these stairs water from + this river in the sieve which I hold!” She lowered her arms and holding + the sieve in her left hand knelt on one knee on the lowest step, spread + her towel over the other knee and took from her belt the sacrificial + dipper. With that she scooped up half a ladleful of Tiber water. On the + towel spread over her knee she carefully dried the bottom of the dipper. + </p> + <p> + Holding it just outside the rim of the sieve she glanced up at Commodus. + </p> + <p> + “Go on,” he said. + </p> + <p> + She smiled. + </p> + <p> + “If you want to see me fail,” she said, “talk to me. If you want to see me + carry water in this sieve, let me alone.” + </p> + <p> + “I’m dumb*,” said he. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + *"Dumb” at this time meant unable to speak. —PG editor +</pre> + <p> + She eyed the sieve to make sure that it was level and steady. Commodus, + also eyeing it, judged it both steady and level. + </p> + <p> + She brought the ladle over the rim of the sieve and lowered it until it + all but touched the middle of the web. + </p> + <p> + She tilted the ladle slowly, slowly she poured its contents over its lip. + </p> + <p> + She lifted it clear: + </p> + <p> + On the web of the sieve lay a silver disk, as it were, of water, + round-edged and shining. + </p> + <p> + “Hercules be good to me!” cried Commodus. + </p> + <p> + “Keep quiet!” she admonished him. “You’ll put me off.” She dipped up a + ladleful of water, flirted half the water out, wiped the bottom of the + ladle on her knee and brought it cautiously over the sieve, cautiously she + lowered it until it nearly touched the shining disk of water, cautiously + she tilted it, cautiously she let its contents flow over its lip. + </p> + <p> + The disk of water spread. She repeated the process. The disk of water + spread. + </p> + <p> + Again and again she repeated the process. + </p> + <p> + The disk of water became a film hiding nearly all the web of the sieve. + </p> + <p> + Commodus noticed that, as she dipped up each ladleful of water, she + watched the dipper out of the corner of her eye, as it were, with a sort + of partial, sidelong glance, but that all the while her gaze was intent on + the sieve. + </p> + <p> + He noticed other details of her procedure. + </p> + <p> + “You never pour twice in the same place,” he commented. + </p> + <p> + Rigid as a statue, the sieve in her hand as unmoving as if clamped in a + vise, Brinnaria spoke: + </p> + <p> + “If I take my eyes off the sieve,” she rebuked him, “it will tilt in my + hand and the water will run through. If you make me look round you’ll + destroy me. You are not fair.” + </p> + <p> + “I’m dumb,” said Commodus again, apologetically. + </p> + <p> + As she poured in the next dipper-load, the film of water touched the rim + of the sieve at one point. + </p> + <p> + Commodus heard a sharp intake of Brinnaria’s breath. + </p> + <p> + The next half-ladleful she poured near the spot where the water touched + the sieve-rim. + </p> + <p> + Round near the hoop she dribbled in half-ladleful after half-ladleful + until the web of the sieve was entirely covered. + </p> + <p> + She had moved slowly from the first dip into the river. But now, since she + could not see any part of the web of the sieve, she moved yet more slowly. + </p> + <p> + Commodus began to be impatient. + </p> + <p> + “That is plenty of water,” he said. + </p> + <p> + “Do you, as Pontifex Maximus,” she uttered, “certify that the water now in + this sieve is as deep as you stipulated?” + </p> + <p> + “I,” said Commodus in a loud voice, “as Emperor and as Pontifex Maximus, + here certify before all men that the water now supported by the web of + that sieve is enough to demonstrate the favor of Vesta towards you and + your impeccable integrity.” + </p> + <p> + “Back away,” said Brinnaria, “I’m going to stand up.” She thrust the + handle of the ladle through her belt, brushed the towel from her knee and + with her right hand also she grasped the sieve. Holding it now in both + hands, her eyes on it, she very slowly, inch by inch, rose to her feet. + When she was erect, she very slowly drew back her left foot until her two + feet were close together. + </p> + <p> + “Back away,” she repeated. “I’m going to turn round.” Slowly she pivoted + on her firm feet until she was standing with her back to the river. + </p> + <p> + Commodus at the top of the steps stared down at her. + </p> + <p> + “Back away,” she reiterated, “I’m coming up the steps.” Up the steps she + came, very slowly. Planted on her right foot she would almost + imperceptibly raise and advance her left foot. When it was firm on the + step, she would gradually shift her weight to that foot, would very + deliberately straighten up and very carefully draw up her right foot until + both feet were together. So standing she would breathe several times + before she repeated the process. + </p> + <p> + When she was standing firm on the top step on the level of the Quay + platform, she raised both hands until the sieve was level with her chin. + </p> + <p> + “You have won,” Commodus exclaimed. “You have demonstrated your Goddess’s + favor. The test is over.” + </p> + <p> + An arm’s length away stood Calvaster. + </p> + <p> + “It’s a trick!” he cried. “That is not water.” + </p> + <p> + “Not water!” cried Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + All the forgotten tomboy of her childish girlhood surged up within her. + The obsolete hoydenishness inside her exploded. + </p> + <p> + “Not water!” she cried, and smashed the sieve over his head. + </p> + <p> + The rim on his shoulders, his head protruding from the torn eb, frayed + ends of broken horse-hair sticking up round his neck, the water trickling + down his clothing and dripping from his thin locks, from his big flaring + ears, from the end of his long nose, his face rueful and stultified, he + presented a sufficiently absurd appearance. + </p> + <p> + Commodus, like the overgrown boy he was, burst into roars of laughter. The + Pontiffs laughed, the Senators laughed, even Manlia and Gargilia laughed. + </p> + <p> + “It’s a trick!” Calvaster repeated. + </p> + <p> + On the face of Commodus mirth gave place to wrath. + </p> + <p> + “Isn’t that enough water for you?” he roared. “Anybody would think, the + way you behave, that I am the minor Pontiff and you the Emperor. I’ll + teach you!” He turned and beckoned a centurion of the guard. + </p> + <p> + With his file of men he came on the double quick. + </p> + <p> + “Seize that man!” the Emperor commanded. + </p> + <p> + Two of the Pretorians gripped Calvaster by the elbows. + </p> + <p> + “March him out there to the edge,” came the next order, the Emperor + gesturing towards the quay-front on his right. + </p> + <p> + At the brink of the platform the Pretorians paused. + </p> + <p> + “Grab him with both your hands,” the Emperor commanded, “and pitch him + into the river.” Over went Calvaster with a mighty splash. + </p> + <p> + As all Romans were excellent swimmers he came to the surface almost at + once. A few strokes in front of him was the boat with the sieves. To it he + swam and Truttidius hauled him aboard and located him on a thwart. + </p> + <p> + After the general merriment had waned and the laughter had abated Commodus + faced the assemblage and raised his hand. + </p> + <p> + Into the ensuing silence he spoke not as a blundering lad nor as a + sportsman, but as a ruler. For the moment, in fact, he looked all the + Emperor. + </p> + <p> + “We have all beheld,” he said, “a miracle marvellous and convincing. As + Prince of the Republic, as Chief Pontiff of Rome, I proclaim this + Priestess cleared of all imputations whatever. Manifestly she is dear to + Vesta, and worthy of the favor she has shown her. Henceforward let no man + dare to smirch her with any slur or slander.” + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0022" id="link2HCH0022"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXII - TRIUMPH + </h2> + <p> + IN recognition of Brinnaria’s complete and incontrovertible vindication + Commodus decreed an unusually sumptuous state banquet at the Palace, + inviting to it all the most important personages of the capital, including + the more distinguished senators, every magistrate, the higher Pontiffs, + the Flamens in a body and most of his personal cronies. + </p> + <p> + While old-fashioned households, such as that of Vocco and Flexinna, clung + to the antique Roman habit of lying down to meals on three rectangular + dining-sofas placed on three sides of a square-topped table, this + arrangement had long been supplanted at Court by a newer invention. The + mere fact that, from of old, it had been looked upon as the worst sort of + bad manners to have more than three diners on a sofa, and as scarcely less + ridiculous to have fewer than three, had made the custom vexatious in the + extreme, as it constrained all entertainers to arrange for nine guests or + eighteen or twenty-seven and ruled out any other more convenient + intermediate numbers. In the progressive circles of society and at the + Palace, the tables were circular, each supported from the center by one + standard with three feet, and each table was clasped, as it were, by a + single ample C-shaped sofa on which any number of guests from four to + twelve could conveniently recline. + </p> + <p> + At the Palace banquet in honor of Brinnaria, three tables only were set on + the Imperial dais at the head of the dining hall. On one side of the + Emperor’s table was that where feasted the higher Flamens and Pontiffs, + the sofa of the other was occupied by the young Empress, by the wives of + the higher Flamens, and by the four Vestals present. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria declared that her appetite was as good as on the day when she + had returned home from her exile to Aunt Septima’s villa. + </p> + <p> + After two public advertisements of the Emperor’s favor and esteem she was + entirely free from any sort of worry. Her enemies were few, merely + Calvaster and his parasites, and they were thoroughly cowed and curbed + their tongues. Not only no defamation of her but not even an innuendo + gained currency in the gossip of the city during the remainder of her term + of service. + </p> + <p> + Quite the other way. Her fame as a Vestal whose prayers were sure to be + heard, at first a source of natural pride and gratification to her, came + to be a burden, even a positive misery. There was an immemorial belief + that if a Vestal could be induced to pray for the recapture of an escaped + slave, such a runaway, if within the boundaries of Rome, would be overcome + by a sort of inward numbness which would make it impossible for him to + cross the city limits, so that the retaking of such fugitives became easy, + as it was only necessary to search the wards for them. City owners of + escaped slaves besieged Brinnaria for years and as it was reported that + her intercessions were invariably effective, her fame increased and + petitions for her assistance pestered her. + </p> + <p> + She bore the annoyance resignedly, reflecting that, while she was in such + repute, no one was likely to impugn her honor. + </p> + <p> + Life in the Atrium, for the ensuing six years, altered little. Causidiena, + within three years after Brinnaria’s ordeal, became totally blind. Care of + her devolved particularly upon Terentia, of whom she was dotingly fond. + </p> + <p> + The routine duties of the maintenance of the sacred fire those two shared, + for Causidiena, even stone blind, never required anyone’s assistance to + tell her the condition of the altar-fire and could care for it and feed it + even alone, judging its needs by the sensations of her outstretched hands, + never burning herself, never letting brands or ashes fall on the Temple + floor. But in all other matters Causidiena and Terentia were concerned + only when their participation was demanded by canonical regulations, + Terentia devoting herself to attendance on Causidiena, while Causidiena + officiated only when the presence of the Chief Vesta was indispensable. + </p> + <p> + For Numisia, Gargilia, Manlia and Brinnaria, their main concern was to + arrange that Causidiena should have as little as possible to do and that + Terentia might devote as much as possible of her time to entertaining + Causidiena. This was not easy to accomplish, for Causidiena’s mind was + perfectly clear, her knowledge of every inch of the Atrium enabled her to + move about it unhesitatingly at all hours of the day and night, her sense + of duty urged her to do all that she had ever done when her sight was + perfect, and, like most blind persons, she resented any reference, + expressed or implied, to her infirmity. Consideration for her called for + almost superhuman tact and dexterity. To the best of their ability the + four strove to shield her without her being able to perceive their + sedulity. To the charm of Terentia’s music she, moreover, yielded readily. + Music, as never before, occupied the leisure of the Atrium. + </p> + <p> + During these years Brinnaria was almost entirely happy. Her duties, her + solicitude for Causidiena, her affection for Terentia, her delight in her + own and Terentia’s music filled up most of her time. + </p> + <p> + Her horse-breeding continued to interest her, but her interest was milder + and far from absorbing. She kept it up largely because she regarded her + outings as imperatively necessary to maintain her health, while aimless + outings bored her. + </p> + <p> + As when younger, she dined out very often and regularly with Vocco and + Flexinna. But since Calvaster’s accusation, she never visited Flexinna + alone, always in company with another Vestal, usually Terentia, so that + her dinners at Flexinna’s became restricted to evenings on which she and + Terentia were both off duty. Terentia, who was passionately fond of small + children, revelled in her visits to Flexinna’s house, where there were + children of all ages in abundance, all ready to make friends, all + diverting, all pleased at being petted, and, as Flexinna said: + </p> + <p> + “Not a stutterer among ‘em.” + </p> + <p> + From Almo news came frequently through Flexinna. + </p> + <p> + His campaign, deliberately prepared and relentlessly carried out, + progressed evenly and without any reverse. + </p> + <p> + The nomads nowhere withstood his legions and their attendant cloud of + allied cavalry; one after the other their strongholds were reached and + stormed, methodically and unhurriedly he reduced tribe after tribe to + submission, his prestige growing from season to season and from year to + year. + </p> + <p> + When Brinnaria’s term of service was drawing to an end and only about + eleven months of it remained, all Roman society was convulsed by what was + variously referred to as the Calvaster scandal, the great poisoning trial + or the murder of Pulfennia. + </p> + <p> + Pulfennia Ulubrana, one of Calvaster’s great-aunts, was a dwarfish + creature, humpbacked and clubfooted. + </p> + <p> + She was an only child and her parents, in spite of her deformities, were + devoted to her. They lavished on her everything that fondness could + suggest, and, as they were very wealthy, she not only lived but enjoyed + life in her way and to a very considerable extent. + </p> + <p> + To begin with she never had an ill hour or an ache or a pain from her + earliest years. Then, like many cripples, she had great vitality and a + wonderfully alert mind. Amid the small army of maids, governesses, tutors, + pages, litter-bearers, and so on, with which her parents surrounded her + she did not become merely peevish, exacting and overbearing, as might have + been expected. Even the services of her personal physician, of three + expert readers to read aloud to her and of a half dozen musicians to + divert her whenever she pleased, did not spoil her. She was imperious + enough, self-willed and obstinately resolute to have her own way in all + matters, but she had a great deal of common-sense, realized what was + possible and what impossible and was considerate of her entire retinue, + even of such unimportant slave-girls as her three masseuses. + </p> + <p> + She was greedy of all sorts of knowledge and acquired an education + altogether unusual for a Roman woman. + </p> + <p> + Withal she was feminine in her tastes, spent much time on embroidery and + was justly proud of her complex and beautiful productions in this womanly + art. She overcame her disabilities to a great extent and, with no lack of + conveyances, became a figure almost as well-known in oman society as + Nemestronia herself. + </p> + <p> + As she had an accommodating disposition, an excellent appetite and a witty + tongue, she was a welcome guest at banquets and went about a great deal. + Also she entertained lavishly. + </p> + <p> + She survived the pestilence and, like so many of the remnants of the + nobility, found herself solitary and enormously wealthy. + </p> + <p> + Her vast estates she managed herself and she knew to a sesterce the value + of every piece of property, the justifiable expenses of maintaining each, + and the income each should yield. Self-indulgent as she was and moreover + an inveterate gambler, she grew richer every year. + </p> + <p> + Like all childless Romans of independent means she was the object of + unblushing and overwhelming attentions from countless legacy cadgers. She + enjoyed the game, accepted everything offered in the way of gifts, + services or invitations, and, moreover, played up to it, for she was + forever destroying her last will and making a new one. Each was read aloud + to a concourse of expectant and envious legatees. Each specified scores of + legacies of no despicable amount, and yet more numerous sops to numerous + acquaintances. In every will Calvaster, her nearest relative and favorite + grandnephew, was named as chief legatee. + </p> + <p> + She kept on making wills, and, what was more, she kept on living. + Naturally her wealth, her eccentricities, her amazing healthiness and her + obstinate vitality were subjects of general remark by all the gossips of + the capital. + </p> + <p> + One night, an hour or two after midnight, she was seized with violent + internal pains, and, in spite of the ministrations of her private + physician, died before dawn. + </p> + <p> + In Rome any sudden death was likely to be attributed to poison. In her + case the indications, from the Roman point of view, all converged on the + inference that she had been poisoned. No-one questioned the conclusion. + </p> + <p> + Calvaster was immediately suspected. The evidence against him would not + suffice to put in jeopardy any one in our days. To the Romans it seemed + sufficient to justify his incarceration and trial. He had more to gain by + the old lady’s death than anybody else. He had been chronically in need of + money and there had been much friction between him and Pulfennia on this + point. She had always provided for his necessities, but had always + insisted on scrutinizing every item in his accounts, and on being + convinced of his need for every sesterce she gave him. She had supported + him, but by an irritating dole of small sums. He had joked with his + cronies about her hold on life. He had been heard to say that he would be + glad when she was gone. He had bought various drugs from various + apothecaries, though none within a year of her death and none used merely + as a poison. Under torture some of her slaves and some of his slaves told + of his having tried to induce them to put poison in her food. + </p> + <p> + Roman society promptly divided into two camps on the question of his guilt + or innocence. The subject was debated with vehemence, even with acrimony. + He had been a disagreeable creature from childhood and had made many + enemies. On the other hand, great numbers of fair-minded people asserted + that no man, however distasteful to themselves, should be convicted on + such flimsy evidence. + </p> + <p> + His trial was watched with great interest, and when he was convicted and + an appeal was successful and a retrial ordered, upper class Rome seethed + with altercations. The case, by common consent, was tabooed as a subject + of conversation at all social gatherings; feeling ran so high that it was + possible to mention the matter only between intimate friends. + </p> + <p> + Naturally Flexinna and Brinnaria, Terentia and Vocco discussed the case + frequently. To her friends’ amazement Brinnaria maintained that she did + not feel convinced of Calvaster’s guilt. + </p> + <p> + “I always despised him and hated him,” she said, “and I despise and hate + him as much as ever, if not more. He certainly has been my worst enemy and + he came very near to ruining me. But I see no reason why hate should blind + me in judging his case. I should be glad to have him plainly convicted and + put to death. It would please me. But I am not pleased at his present + plight. I am not convinced of his guilt. I don’t believe any slave + evidence given under torture. A tortured slave will say anything he thinks + likely to relax his sufferings or please his questioners. And I see no + proof of Calvaster’s guilt in the other evidence. Everybody buys such + drugs as he bought. And suppose he did joke about Pulfennia’s tenacity to + life, who wouldn’t? I don’t believe it is proved that she died of poison + anyway. People who have never been ill are reckless eaters. Look at me, I + am. She may have died of indigestion or stomach-ache or what not. I’d do + anything I could to save him, now.” + </p> + <p> + “D-D-Do you mean to say,” spoke Flexinna, “that if you encountered him + being led out to execution, you’d reprieve him?” + </p> + <p> + “A Vestal can’t use her prerogative of reprieving criminals,” said + Brinnaria, “unless she encounters by accident a criminal being led to + execution. She can’t lay in wait for one. Any suspicion of collusion + vitiates her privilege. The encounter must be unforeseen.” + </p> + <p> + “Suppose,” said Flexinna, “you did meet C-C-Calvaster on his way to + execution, wouldn’t you g-g-gloat over him and watch him on his way and + not interfere?” + </p> + <p> + “No, I should not, I should interfere,” said Brinnaria, “and anyhow, what + is the use of supposing? Suppose the moon fell on your front teeth, would + you stop stuttering?” + </p> + <p> + In June of 191 Almo returned from Syria, completely victorious and much + acclaimed. He brought with him his veteran legions and was received with + every mark of the Emperor’s favor. After his official reception he at once + left Rome for Falerii, where he was to remain until the last day of + Brinnaria’s service. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile his house on the Carinae was opened and put in order under + Flexinna’s supervision. + </p> + <p> + On August 14th, Lutorius, Causidiena, Numisia and Brinnaria had a long + conference as to the details of her wedding, which was to take place on + August 16th. + </p> + <p> + The subject needed not a little discussion, as the circumstances were + unusual. Having no parents, nor indeed any near connections, it was + inevitable that the wedding should vary a great deal from what was + customary. + </p> + <p> + It was decided that on leaving the Atrium after her exauguration, she + should spend one night as the guest of Nemestronia; that on the next day + she should go to Vocco’s house and be married from there; but that in the + ceremonies, Lutorius, who had been her spiritual father for many years, + should take the part which her own father would have taken had he been + alive. It was also decided that the wedding feast should be at Almo’s + house, after the wedding-procession, instead of at Vocco’s before, as it + would have been if she had living parents and was being married from her + home. + </p> + <p> + Lutorius, who had a warm personal affection for Brinnaria, had been + hovering about her, as it were, for some days, and on this last full day + of her service he kept, so to speak, fluttering in and out of the Atrium, + repeatedly returning to confer about some trifle or other which he had + forgotten. + </p> + <p> + So it happened that he was approaching the portal as she came out for her + afternoon airing. + </p> + <p> + “You have your light carriage, to-day, I see,” he said. “Yesterday you had + out your state coach. Why the difference?” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria, settling herself among her cushions, leaned out towards him as + he stood beside the vehicle, holding on to the tires, his arms stiff, a + hand on each wheel. + </p> + <p> + “This,” she said, “is merely a constitutional. Yesterday I took my last + outing with all my special privileges as a Vestal, drove all over Rome in + my state coach, drove up to the Capitol, and, in a fashion, said farewell + to the advantages of my office.” + </p> + <p> + “How do you feel about it all?” he asked. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria pulled a wry face and laughed a forced laugh. + </p> + <p> + “I am finding out,” she said, “why so few Vestals ever leave the order. + When I realize that, after to-day, I shall have no lictor to clear the + streets for me, that I may go out in my litter daily, but even so without + a runner ahead, that I may never again drive through Rome, that I have + been driven up to the Capitol for the last time and may go there hereafter + only afoot or in my litter, I am almost ready to change my mind, give up + freedom and matrimony and Almo and all and cling to my privileges. When it + comes over me that, as I go out to-day, the lictors of any magistrate will + salute me, even the lictors of the Emperor, whereas after to-morrow noon + there will be no salutes for me, I understand why most Vestals live out + their lives in the order.” + </p> + <p> + “There is time still to change your mind and stay with us,” he said, + smiling. + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria laughed a perfectly natural laugh. + </p> + <p> + “No danger,” she said; “my heart is Almo’s as always.” + </p> + <p> + “And now, if you have nothing urgent to discuss, I’m off!” + </p> + <p> + “Where to?” asked Lutorius. + </p> + <p> + “I don’t care,” said Brinnaria, “I don’t even want to know. Give the + coachman any orders that come into your head, sketch a round-about drive + for me. I’m in the humor to have nothing on my mind.” + </p> + <p> + Lutorius, with a comprehending smile, whispered to the coachman, who + mounted his tiny seat. + </p> + <p> + Almost at once Brinnaria was lost in thought and jolted through the + streets oblivious to her surroundings, not even seeing what was before her + eyes. + </p> + <p> + From her muse she was roused by the halting of the carriage. + </p> + <p> + Amazed, she looked up. + </p> + <p> + Still more amazed, she recognized, standing near the head of the + off-horse, the state-executioner. + </p> + <p> + This repulsive public character, tolerated but despised and loathed, was + the last living creature in or about Rome who would dare to approach a + Vestal. + </p> + <p> + At sight of him she was inundated with a hot flood of wrath. She was about + to call to her lictor, to demand why the carriage had stopped and rebuke + him for being so negligent as to allow so unsavory a being to come so near + her. + </p> + <p> + Then she saw between her and the executioner, just in front of that + official, a kneeling figure. + </p> + <p> + She recognized Calvaster. + </p> + <p> + Also she saw the guards and executioner’s assistants grouped about the + two. + </p> + <p> + It came over her that she had encountered, wholly by accident, this gloomy + convoy, and that before her, beseeching her for a reprieve, begging for a + mere day and night more of life, knelt her inveterate, furtive enemy. + </p> + <p> + She raised her hand and looked the executioner full in the eyes. + </p> + <p> + “Send him back,” she commanded. “He is reprieved until this hour + to-morrow.” The guards dragged off Calvaster, babbling his pitiful + gratitude. + </p> + <p> + “Drive home,” said Brinnaria to her coachman. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0023" id="link2HCH0023"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XXIII - SALVAGE + </h2> + <p> + THE exauguration of a Vestal, by which canonical ritual she was formally + released from her obligations of chastity and service and became free to + go where she liked and to marry or to remain unmarried as she preferred, + was a brief and simple ceremony. But it required the presence of all the + Vestals, of the major Flamens, of many Pontiffs, of the entire College of + Augurs and of the Emperor himself as Pontifex Maximus. Commodus, who was + impatient of anything which curtailed the time he might lavish on athletic + amusements, arrived precisely at noon, at the very last minute. The moment + he had entered the Atrium he hurried the ceremony. It was soon over and + Brinnaria no longer a Vestal, but a free woman. + </p> + <p> + It had been arranged that immediately after her exauguration her successor + should be taken as a Vestal there in the Atrium by Commodus himself as + Chief Pontiff. Little difficulty had been encountered as to selecting a + candidate, since a most suitable child had been offered by her parents, + people of xcellent family and of unblemished reputation. Her name was + Campia Severina, and she was a small girl, just seven years old, plump, + with a round full-moon of a face, a leaden-pasty complexion, and a most + un-Roman nose, flat, broad and snub. + </p> + <p> + Commodus, prompted by Lutorius, droned through the required questions and + showed manifest relief when he pronounced the word “Beloved” and the + second ceremony was over. + </p> + <p> + He was, however, not wholly a loutish and unmannerly Emperor, but could be + tactful and gracious when his interest was aroused. He took time to speak + to each of the Vestals; complimented Terentia on her music and spoke of + the Empress’s admiration of her organ-playing, had a brief but kindly + commendation for Manlia and Gargilia; praised Numisia highly for her + efficient discharge of the duties devolving on her, and condoled with + Causidiena on her blindness and feebleness, wording what he said so + dexterously that she could not but feel cheered and comforted. + </p> + <p> + Then, aside from the assemblage of Pontiffs, Augurs, Flamens and the rest, + he spoke privately with Brinnaria: + </p> + <p> + “I’m sorry to lose you,” he said; “I felt comfortable about the Palladium + as long as you were a Vestal. Numisia is a woman to be relied on too, and + Gargilia and Manlia are capable creatures, but not one of the three is + your equal in any respect and they are but three; the others are a corpse, + a doll and an infant. + </p> + <p> + “Understand I’m not growling at your departure, I am trying to convey to + you how highly I esteem you. I’ll advertise it to all the world by having + you and your husband, the moment you are married, put on the official + roster of my personal friends who have the right of access to me at all + times and can go in and out of the Palace at their pleasure. + </p> + <p> + “As to your wedding, I’m sorry I gave you my promise to stay away from it. + I think that this recent notion of yours that the marriage of an ex-Vestal + is an ill-omened occasion, like a funeral, is morbid and baseless. Every + Vestal has a right to leave the order at the end of her term of service + and to marry if she pleases. The right is indubitable. Nothing that is + right is ill-omened. I think that an ex-Vestal’s wedding ought to be + regarded precisely as the wedding of anybody else. The most I’ll concede + is, that it might be likened to the wedding of a widow, considering her + service as a sort of first marriage. That is my judgment, not merely as a + man but as Chief Pontiff. + </p> + <p> + “My impulse is to revoke my pledge and to do all I can to make your + wedding a grand affair. But I’m too good a betting man to break a promise. + Besides, though I impugn your arguments as an ex-Vestal, I respect your + personal preference for a quiet wedding. I’ll not insist on being invited + to the banquet, and, so far from taking part in the procession, I’ll not + even peep at it down a side street. I’ll keep inside the Palace. + </p> + <p> + “But I want you to release me from my promise in one small detail. I want + to be present at Vocco’s to see you two break and eat the old-fashioned + cake, and I want to be first to sign your marriage register. I promise to + leave as soon as I have signed the register.” + </p> + <p> + Brinnaria, of course, could not but acquiesce. + </p> + <p> + “Good for you!” said the Emperor, “and thank you too. I’ll keep away from + the procession, but that won’t make any difference in the throngs you’ll + find along your route. They’ll jam the streets and you’ll have to plough + your way through. No Emperor could ever call out more sight-seers than + will the wedding of Brinnaria the water-carrier.” He then went out into + the street which his escort blocked, and departed, accompanied by his + coterie of boxers, wrestlers, swordsmen, jockeys and such-like, convoyed + by a large and gorgeous retinue of pages, runners, guards nd lictors. + </p> + <p> + Immediately after his departure Brinnaria said her farewells and set out + for Nemestronia’s. + </p> + <p> + Next morning, as she descended from her litter at Vocco’s door, a Vestal’s + carriage drove up and Gargilia got out. + </p> + <p> + “You’re surprised to see me at this hour,” she said, “and I don’t wonder.” + When they were indoors and seated with Flexinna she explained: + </p> + <p> + “We have been having a terrible night at the Atrium and the worst sort of + luck this morning. That little fool of a Campia is the most complete + cry-baby and the most homesick little wretch I ever saw or heard of. She + has sobbed herself ill and screamed us all out of a night’s sleep. + Terentia and Manlia were up half the night with her and she waked me and + Causidiena. + </p> + <p> + “The result is that Causidiena has had one of her semi-fainting spells and + is in her arm-chair for the day, poor Manlia has one of her splitting + headaches and Terentia is almost as bad. I never saw the Atrium in such a + state. Campia goes to sleep off and on from exhaustion, but she wakes up + howling and keeps blubbering and whining and sniveling. I left both + Terentia and Manlia in tears. They are so vexed to think that to-morrow + they will be entirely well, but for to-day there is absolutely nothing for + it but they must both keep abed and in the dark. + </p> + <p> + “Numisia sent me to tell you that she will be at your wedding, will walk + in the procession and will be at the banquet, but that I must be on duty + in the Temple. So we’ll just have to have our chat now and when I leave we + shall not see each other again for the present.” + </p> + <p> + As she climbed into her carriage she said: + </p> + <p> + “I’m sorry you haven’t a bright wedding day.” + </p> + <p> + “So am I,” said Brinnaria, glancing up at the gray canopy of rainless + cloud which hid the sky; “any day is a good day to be married on, but I + hoped for sunshine.” + </p> + <p> + Commodus, faithful to the spirit of his promise, came to Vocco’s house + with the smallest possible official retinue. He was in the best humor, + affable and genial, and cast no chill of formality over the ceremony. He + was the first to set his signature to the marriage register, signing in + his sprawling school-boy hand. Then he stood aside and looked on while + Flexinna, as matron of honor, led Brinnaria to Almo and joined their right + hands, while they seated themselves side by side on the traditional + cushioned stools, while the Flamen of Jupiter offered on the house-altar + the old-fashioned contract-cake, and said the formal prayers for the + happiness of the bride and groom; while the Flamen’s assistant, one of + Flexinna’s older boys, carried the cake to Almo and Brinnaria and each + broke off a piece and ate it, she uttering the old-time formula: + </p> + <p> + “Where you are Caius I am Caia.” + </p> + <p> + Above the voices of the guests Commodus’ could be distinguished shouting + with them: + </p> + <p> + “Good luck! Good luck!” + </p> + <p> + In the silence that followed he warned: + </p> + <p> + “Now, no rising, no bowing. I’m not here to spoil this wedding, I came to + enjoy it. No bowing, I tell you, no rising. Let me get out like an + ordinary man.” + </p> + <p> + Into the gathering dusk he vanished with his retinue. + </p> + <p> + As soon as he was gone the arrangement for the procession began, the + slaves lit their torches and grouped themselves outside the house-door, + the flute players struck up a tune, Flexinna’s thirteen-year-old boy lit + his white-thorn torch at the altar-fire, her eleven-year-old and + nine-year-old, as pages of honor, caught Brinnaria by the hands and led + her out at the door. So led by the two little boys, their brother with the + white-thorn torch walking before her, she passed through the streets to + Almo’s house, Nemestronia and Flexinna on either side of Almo, close + behind her, Vocco and the other guests following. + </p> + <p> + The people made good the Emperor’s prophecy. + </p> + <p> + From house-door to house-door the streets were packed with crowds eager to + see her pass and loud to acclaim her. Through cheers, good wishes, loud + jokes, merry longs and cries of “Talassio! Talassio!” she passed along the + upper part of the Fagutal, and past the flank of the Baths of Titus to the + Carinae. + </p> + <p> + Her bridal dress of pearl-gray, with the flame-colored bridal veil, + reminded her more than a little of that costume of Flexinna’s which she + had worn to Aricia and back, only that was mostly pink, this mostly gray. + </p> + <p> + She looked well in it and wore the six braids and the headband more + naturally than most brides, having been habituated to them for thirty + years, since all Vestals always wore the bridal coiffure. + </p> + <p> + At the doorway of Almo’s house, the bearer of the white-thorn torch halted + and faced about inside the door, his two little brothers let go her hands, + Almo himself caught her up clear of the pavement and swung her clear of + the door-sill. As he held her in the air, nestling to him, she repeated + the formula: + </p> + <p> + “Where you are Caius, I am Caia.” + </p> + <p> + When he set her down inside the house she was at last a married woman. + </p> + <p> + She turned and watched the scramble for the white-thorn torch which its + bearer first put out and then threw among the crowd after the slaves had + also put out their torches. + </p> + <p> + So watching, Almo’s arm about her, she became aware of a strange something + in the look of the crowd and of the street. + </p> + <p> + “What makes it so light?” she asked Almo. “Why are the tops of their heads + all bright that way?” + </p> + <p> + Lutorius, who was near them, explained: + </p> + <p> + “There is a big fire somewhere the other side of the Capitol. I noticed it + at the top of the street. The Capitol stood out black, the outline of both + temples plain as in the daylight, against the red smoke behind it.” + </p> + <p> + “Send some of the slaves,” said Brinnaria, “to find out where the fire is, + and let us lie down to dinner. I’m as hungry as a wolf.” And like a true + Roman she began with a trifle of three hard-boiled eggs, merely to take + the edge off her appetite. + </p> + <p> + There were six tables set in Almo’s dining-room and an ample + crescent-shaped sofa to each. The sixty guests made the big room buzz with + talk and echo with laughter. + </p> + <p> + Nemestronia called across to Brinnaria: + </p> + <p> + “Now you have what you’ve always wanted. You’re a married woman at last.” + </p> + <p> + “And I’ll soon have what I’ve wanted almost as much,” Brinnaria replied. + </p> + <p> + “What’s that?” several voices called. + </p> + <p> + “Two desires,” Brinnaria explained, “haunted me all the while I was a + Vestal. One was the longing for a horseback ride. I used to revel in + galloping bareback. I haven’t been astraddle of a horse for thirty years. + It won’t be many days now before I shall enjoy a good canter on a good + horse. + </p> + <p> + “Then, by to-morrow night, I trust, I shall have had a fine long swim with + my husband and six hundred other couples in the big basin of one of the + City Baths. + </p> + <p> + “Words could not tell you how I have longed to go swimming in the public + baths with the rest of my kind, as a lady should.” + </p> + <p> + The messengers returned with the news that the fire had started near the + round end of the Flaminian Circus, close to the Temple of Bellona. Before + a strong wind it had spread both ways, had caught everything in the north + slope of the Capitol between it and Trajan’s Forum: the silver-smiths’ + shops were all ablaze; to the south it had crept between the slope of the + Capitol and the theatre of Marcellus and was sweeping over the booths of + the Vegetable Market. + </p> + <p> + “It is the biggest fire in our time,” said Lutorius. + </p> + <p> + “Where will it stop?” queried Numisia. + </p> + <p> + Both sent their lictors to make further report. + </p> + <p> + Before the dinner was half over they returned, with messengers from the + Atrium. The conflagration was roaring up the Vicus Jugarius and Gargilia + was alarmed. + </p> + <p> + Lutorius and Numisia hastily excused themselves, called for their shoes + and went off; he in his litter and she in her carriage. + </p> + <p> + As Brinnaria was about to cut the wedding cake her former lictor, Barbo, + thrust himself into the dining-hall, frantic with concern, and narrated + how the fire was beyond any hope of control and was already devouring the + Basilica Argentaria and Basilica Julia. + </p> + <p> + “Lutorius has had the sacred fire carried out of the Temple in a copper + pan by Gargilia and Manlia,” he said, “and Terentia and Numisia, with + little Campia, were helping Causidiena along the Holy Street. Causidiena + had an earthenware casket in her arms. I saw them turn the corner to their + right into Pearl-Dealers Lane. They are safe in the Palace by now.” + </p> + <p> + “Safe in the Palace?” Brinnaria echoed. + </p> + <p> + “Yes,” Barbo repeated. “Safe in the Palace. They say that the Temple and + the Atrium must burn, nothing can save them.” + </p> + <p> + “The Temple!” cried Brinnana. “Fire! And everybody ill except Gargilia and + Numisia! And all they could think of would be saving that dear old blind + saint and that contemptible cry-baby. Ten to one they have missed the + Palladium and taken one of the dummies by mistake! + </p> + <p> + “O, Almo, I must go save the Palladium!” + </p> + <p> + Of course Almo protested. + </p> + <p> + “Don’t hinder me,” she begged. “Go I must, whether you object or not. We’d + never forgive ourselves if to-morrow we learned too late that the Vestals + missed the true Palladium in the confusion, whereas I might have saved it + if I had tried. They may have taken the real Palladium; I may be too late + now to save it if they made a mistake, but I am bound to try.” + </p> + <p> + He shut his lips, but she read his eyes. + </p> + <p> + “That is like my hero,” she said. “Patriotism first, self last. + </p> + <p> + “Barbo,” she called, “run before me and clear the way as if I were still a + Vestal. It’s illegal, but it will work.” + </p> + <p> + She started for the house-door and then paused. + </p> + <p> + “Have you any fire buckets?” she asked Almo. “Then have two of the slaves + each fill a bucket and keep close behind us.” + </p> + <p> + Amid the prayers and blessings of the wedding-guests, they went out hand + in hand, the two slaves with leather water-buckets behind them, Barbo + ahead, bellowing: + </p> + <p> + “Room for Brinnaria Epulonia! Room for Brinnaria Epulonia!” At the street + corner, before they started down the slope of the Carinae, they had before + them a wide view over the city directly towards the Capitol. Between them + and the Capitol Hill they could see the buildings about the Great Forum + all one sea of flames. + </p> + <p> + “The Basilica AEmilia is on fire,” said Brinnaria, “and the Temple of + Augustus is just catching. We shall be in time; our Temple won’t catch + before we get there. + </p> + <p> + “Run, let’s run.” + </p> + <p> + Run they did, the crowds making way at Barbo’s loud adjurations. In their + wedding finery, she with her veil wrapped round her head like a + market-woman’s shawl, they ran, hand in hand between the great Temple of + Venus and Rome, black on their right hand against the reddened clouds, and + the vast Colosseum on their left, all orange in the glare, the gilding on + its awning poles glimmering. + </p> + <p> + Up the Sacred Street they passed, running when they could, ploughing + through the crowds when the crowd was too thick. + </p> + <p> + By the time they passed through the Arch of Titus they were running, + panting and gasping, through a hail of warm ashes, hot cinders, glowing + embers, blazing bits of wood, flaming brands. + </p> + <p> + At the corner of the Pearl-Dealers Exchange Almo halted, detaining her by + her gripped left hand. + </p> + <p> + “It is no use,” he said; “we are too late. You might pass the portal of + the Atrium alive, but you’d never get back alive. And I doubt if you could + reach the portal through this heat. You’d scorch to death.” + </p> + <p> + “I shall reach the portal,” Brinnaria declared, firmly. “But I’m not + coming back through it. Listen to me and don’t forget. I’m going to make a + dash for the portal. I can reach it, our Temple has not caught yet, the + bronze-tile roof will hold the fire off the beams some time. This end of + the Temple of Augustus has not blazed yet; I can see the cornice. + </p> + <p> + “Once inside the Atrium I’ll not try to come back this way, I’ll find the + Palladium or make sure it is not there; then I’ll run upstairs to the + south-east corner. Those rooms are on a level with the pavement of the New + Street.” + </p> + <p> + “But,” Almo interrupted, “there isn’t an opening towards the New Street. + The outer wall of the Atrium towards the Palace is all blank wall to the + cornice, not even a ventilation hole anywhere.” + </p> + <p> + “I know,” she rebuked him; “keep still and listen. I’ll run into the third + room from the corner. All that end of the Atrium is of brick and cement, + not a beam anywhere and the ceilings are vaulted; the fire will be a long + time reaching me there. You go up Pearl Dealers’ Lane to the corner of the + New Street. From the corner measure thirty-eight feet along the New + Street. At that point have a hole smashed through the wall. There are + hordes of firemen about with their axes, sledge-hammers and pick-axes. + They’ll hack a hole through for you in no time. The wall is thin there; we + had a temporary door made there three years ago for the plumbers when they + were putting in the new bath-rooms. + </p> + <p> + “Now, every moment is precious. Hold my hand and help me to make my dash + for the portal, but drop my hand and turn back at the portal; no man may + enter the Atrium, except a Pontiff or a workman. When I squeeze your + fingers, drop my hand and make your dash back. + </p> + <p> + “Don’t try to check me, husband; self last and patriotism first, for every + Roman of us all. We have waited thirty years for each other and we’ve + hardly had time for three kisses yet. But if we must lose each other to + save Rome, then we must. + </p> + <p> + “If I fail, good-bye!” Then she turned and called the trembling slaves to + come nearer. + </p> + <p> + She ordered: + </p> + <p> + “Dash that water over us, one over him, one over me. Don’t waste any, pour + it on our heads. Now go where you please!” + </p> + <p> + Dripping, hand in hand, they ran over the cinder-strewn pavement, under + the rain of blazing fragments, up the Sacred Street, between the + furnace-hot walls. + </p> + <p> + Under the long arcade they were safe. + </p> + <p> + At its further end she had to face a dash of some ten yards through the + blazing brands, the very air seeming on fire. + </p> + <p> + “I’m afraid!” she cried. “Be brave, Almo, and give me courage!” Her + fingers pressed his, their hands parted. + </p> + <p> + Her hands over her face she dashed forward. + </p> + <p> + He saw her vanish through the portal. + </p> + <p> + He ran back. + </p> + <p> + Inside the Atrium Brinnaria turned to her right, passed through a small + door, traversed four dark rooms and groped, kneeling on the floor. + </p> + <p> + Her fingers found five earthenware caskets in a row. + </p> + <p> + Swiftly she felt them. + </p> + <p> + The third she opened. + </p> + <p> + Carefully she fingered the statuette inside, running the tips of her + finger-ends along the carved folds of the gown, over the helmet, over the + fingers clasping the spear. + </p> + <p> + With the statuette in her hands she stood up. Tearing off her veil she + wrapped the statuette in it. + </p> + <p> + Back she went to the peristyle, and ran round it to her right. Under the + roof of the colonnade she was safe from the rain of brands, but even in + there the heat was appalling. She felt as if the very marble columns must + crumble beside her as she ran. + </p> + <p> + At the far corner of the courtyard she dashed through a door and ran up + two flights of stairs; a short flight in front of her, and a longer flight + to her left from the landing of the first. At the top of the stairs she + passed through four rooms. In the fifth, lighted from behind her through a + door by an orange glow from the glare of the conflagration, she sank down + on the floor against its farther wall. + </p> + <p> + Almost at once she was on her feet, recoiling from the wall. It quivered + with the shock of blows from the outside. + </p> + <p> + A shower of plaster and bits of brick stung her face and spattered all + over her. + </p> + <p> + She saw the point of a pick-axe shine an instant in the fire-glare. + </p> + <p> + “I’m here,” she called. “I’m safe. Take your time. It’s not hot in here + yet.” The excited blows thudded on the wall. The sledges broke a hole as + big as her head, four times as big as her head. + </p> + <p> + “Take your time!” she repeated. “There is no hurry now.” Soon she could + see the torches outside, the faces of the firemen, Almo’s face. + </p> + <p> + “No!” she said, “I won’t be dragged through a crevice. There is plenty of + time. Dig that hole bigger!” When it was large enough to suit her she bade + her rescuers back away. + </p> + <p> + “No man must touch what I carry,” she warned. + </p> + <p> + Outside, in Almo’s arms, she was hurried through winding alleys, up narrow + stone stairways, to the Palace. + </p> + <p> + At the end of a deep, dark passageway between high walls Lutorius, with + some of the Emperor’s aides, was waiting for them at a small door. He + guided them to where they were eagerly expected. As they threaded the + corridors, they heard, at first far off, then closer and closer, the sound + of a child wailing, bawling, blubbering. Even in the Palace, Campia was an + irrepressible cry-baby. + </p> + <p> + In the chapel of the Statue of Victory they found the Vestals, the Empress + and the Emperor. + </p> + <p> + “I’ve got it safe,” Brinnaria proclaimed. + </p> + <p> + “I’m a frightful-looking bride,” she added, “wet as a drowned pup, + scorched all over, all my hair burnt off; I must look a guy.” + </p> + <p> + “Never mind that,” said Commodus; “you can’t get home to-night, the + conflagration is still spreading. I doubt if the firemen can save the + Colosseum. It would take you till daylight to work your way round the + districts which are in confusion. You’ll sleep here. I’ve had Trajan’s own + private suite made ready for you two, as soon as the first messenger told + me of your gallantry. You’ll find an army of maids and such waiting for + you. Go make yourselves comfortable. + </p> + <p> + “The bedroom of Rome’s greatest Emperor is none too good for you. Nothing + is too good for you, Brinnaria. + </p> + <p> + “You’ve saved the Palladium, and me, and the Empire and the Republic and + Rome.” + </p> + <div style="height: 6em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg’s The Unwilling Vestal, by Edward Lucas White + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNWILLING VESTAL *** + +***** This file should be named 6070-h.htm or 6070-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/7/6070/ + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Unwilling Vestal + +Author: Edward Lucas White + +Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6070] +Last Updated: August 21, 2012 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNWILLING VESTAL *** + + + + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer + + + + + + +THE UNWILLING VESTAL + +A Tale of Rome under the Caesars + +By Edward Lucas White + +Author of "El Supremo" + + + + Original Project Gutenberg editor's note: First published in + 1918, this book went through sixteen printings before it + ceased to be a money-maker for its publishers. It provides a + fascinating glimpse into a world most of us know nothing + about. + + It has been slightly re-edited for ease in reading as an + E-text. The author's spellings have been left alone even when + they are incorrect in English English, American English, and + Latin. + + + + +JACKET BLURB: + +EDWARD LUCAS WHITE Author of "El Supremo" + +This book presents, for the first time in fiction, a correct and +adequate account of the Vestal Virgins, their powers and privileges, as +well as of many strange Roman customs and beliefs. + +The author combines the power of writing a rattling good story with +a sound and full knowledge of conditions of the life which he +is depicting. Mr. White brings to the history of Rome all the +picturesqueness and power which made his South American novel, "El +Supremo," so remarkable. The result is a vivid pageant of imperial Rome +and Roman life at the height of its power and splendor. + + + + +PUBLISHERS' NOTE + +Readers of _The Unwilling Vestal_ who are not acquainted at first hand +with the lighter and more intimate literature of the Romans may be +surprised to discover that the lights of Roman high society talked slang +and were interested in horseracing. Most writers who have tried to draw +Roman society for us have been either ignorant or afraid of these facts. +The author of _The Unwilling Vestal_ is neither. He presents to us the +upper class Romans exactly as they reveal themselves in the literature +of their day; excitable, slangy, sophisticated and yet strangely +credulous, enthusiastic sportsmen, hearty eaters and drinkers, and +unblushingly keen on the trail of the almighty denarius. In a word, very +much like the most up-to-date American society of to-day. + +The Publishers feel that it is only fair that it should be made plain +that the great difference between the Roman society folk of _The +Unwilling Vestal_ and those appearing in other novels is due to the +author's thorough acquaintance with the people and the period about +which he is writing. + +Incidentally, the Publishers wish to thank Mr. C. Powell Minnegerode, +the Curator of the Corcoran Gallery of Art of Washington, D. C., for his +permission to reproduce Leroux' beautiful painting "The Vestal Tuccia" +for use on the wrapper of the volume. + + + + +PREFACE BY AUTHOR + +The title of this romance is likely to prejudice any reader against it. +There exists a popular delusion that fiction with a classical setting is +bound to be dull and lumbering, that it is impossible for it to possess +that quality of bravura slangily denominated "punch." Anybody will be +disabused of that notion upon reading this story. + + PG EDITOR'S NOTE: The slang is now, alas, over ninety years + old. It now sounds even more stilted than the classical + language does. + +On the other hand, after having read it, almost any one will be likely +to imagine that a novel with so startling a heroine and with incidents +so bizarre cannot possibly be based on any sound and genuine knowledge +of its background; that the author has conjured out of his fantasy not +only his plot and chief characters, but also their world; that he +has created out and out not merely his Vestal, but his Vestals, their +circumstances and the life which they are represented as leading: that +he has manufactured his local color to suit as he went along. + +Nothing could be further from the actuality. The details of rule and +ritual, of dress and duties, of privileges and punishments are set forth +in accordance with a full first-hand and intimate acquaintance with +all available evidence touching the Vestals; including all known +inscriptions relating to them, every passage in Roman or Greek +literature in any way concerning them, the inferences drawn from all +existing or recorded sculptures and coins which add to our knowledge of +them, and every treatise written since the revival of learning in Europe +in which the Vestals are discussed. The story contains no preposterous +anachronisms or fatuous absurdities. Throughout, it either embodies the +known facts or is invented in conformity with the known facts. + +Any one to whom chapter twenty-one seems incredible should consult an +adequate encyclopedia article or an authoritative treatise on physics +and read up on the surface tension of liquids. + + + + +LIST OF CONTENTS + + Book I + + The Rage of Disappointment + + I. Precocity + II. Sieves + III. Stutterings + IV. Pestilence + V. Escapades + VI. Notoriety + VII. Audience + + Book II + + The Revolt of Despondency + + VIII. Scourging + IX. Alarms + X. Conference + XI. Farewell + XII. Observances + XIII. Perversity + XIV. Amazement + + Book III + + The Rebellion of Desperation + + XV. Rehabilitation + XVI. Vagary + XVII. Recklessness + XVIII. Fury + XIX. Comfort + + Book IV + + The Revulsion of Delight + + XX. Accusation + XXI. Ordeal + XXII Triumph + XXII. Salvage + + + + +BOOK I--THE RAGE OF DISAPPOINTMENT + + + +CHAPTER I - PRECOCITY + + +"Brinnaria!" he said severely, "you will marry any man I designate." + +"I never shall marry any man," she retorted positively, "except the man +I want to marry." + +She gazed unflinchingly into her father's imperious eyes, wide-set +on either side of a formidable Roman nose. His return gaze was +less incensed than puzzled. All his life he had been habituated to +subserviency, had never met opposition, and to find it from his youngest +daughter, and she a mere child, amazed him. As she faced him she +appeared both resolute and tremulous. He looked her up and down from +the bright blue velvety leather of her little shoes on which the gilt +sole-edges and gilt laces glittered to the red flower in her brown +hair. Inside her clinging red robe the soft outlines of her young +shape swelled plump and healthy, yet altogether she seemed to him but a +fragile creature. Resistance from her was incredible. + +Perhaps this was one more of her countless whims. While he considered +her meditatively he did not move his mighty arms or legs; the broad +crimson stripe down his tunic rose and fell slowly above his ample +paunch and vaster chest as his breath came evenly; on his short bull +neck his great bullet head was as moveless as if he had been one of the +painted statues that lined the walls all about. As the two regarded +each other they could hear the faint splash of the fountain in the tank +midway of the courtyard. + +Her father, a true Roman to his marrow, with all a Roman's arbitrary +instincts, reverted to the direct attack. + +"You will marry Pulfennius Calvaster," he commanded. + +"I will not!" she declared. + +He temporized. + +"Why not?" he queried. + +The obstinacy faded from Brinnaria's handsome, regular face. She looked +merely reflective. + +"In the first place," she said, "because I despise him and hate him +worse than any young man I ever knew; I would not marry Calvaster if he +were the only man left alive. In the second place, because, if all the +men on earth were courting me at once, all rich and all fascinating +and Caius were poor and anything and everything else that he isn't, I'd +marry nobody ever except Caius. You hear me, Father. Caius Segontius +Almo is the only, only man I'll ever marry. Nothing can shake my +resolution, never." + +She was breathing eagerly, her cheeks flushed a warm red through her +olive complexion, her eyes shining till tiny specks sparkled green and +yellow in the wide brown of her big irises. + +Her father's jaw set. + +"I've listened to you, daughter," he said. "Now you listen to me. I have +no objections to Almo; I rather like him. I have thought of marrying you +to him; if Segontius and I had not quarreled, we might have arranged +it. There is no possibility of it now. And just now, for some reason +or other, Pulfennius is keen on arranging a marriage between you and +Calvaster. His offers are too tempting to be rejected and the chance is +to good to be missed. Our properties adjoin not only here and at Baiae, +but also at Praeneste, at Grumentum and at Ceneta. With our estates so +marvellously paired the marriage seems divinely ordained when one comes +to think it over. Don't be a fool. Anyhow, if you insist on making +trouble for yourself, it will do you no good. My mind is made up. You +are to marry Calvaster." + +"I won't!" Brinnaria maintained + +Her father smiled, a menacing smile + +"Perhaps not," he said, "but there will be only one alternative. Unless +you agree to obey me I shall go at once to the Pontifex and offer you +for a Vestal." + +Every trace of apprehension vanished from Brinnaria's expression. She +grinned saucily, almost impudently, at her father, and snapped her +fingers in his face. + +"You can't scare me that way, Daddy!" she mocked him. "I know better +than that. There can be only six Vestals. You can offer, if you like, +but the Emperors themselves can't take me for a Vestal while the six are +alive." + +The laugh muffled in her throat; she was fairly daunted. Never had she +seen her father's face so dark, so threatening. Not in all her life had +he so much as spoken harshly to her; she had been his pet since she had +begun to remember. But now, for one twinkling, she feared a blow from +him. She almost shrank back from him. + +He did not move and he spoke softly. + +"Rabulla died this morning before dawn," was all he said. + +Instantly Brinnaria was fluttering with panic. + +"You aren't in earnest, Daddy!" she protested. "You can't be in earnest. +You're only fooling; you're only trying to frighten me. You don't really +mean it; oh, please, Daddy, say you don't really mean it!" + +"I really mean it," her father answered heavily. "I never meant anything +more genuinely in my life. You know my influence with the Emperors and +with the Pontifex of Vesta. You know that if I made the proposal they +would disregard any rival petitioners, would override all unnecessary +formalities, would have the matter despatched at once. Unless you obey +me you will be a Vestal before sunset to-morrow." + +Brinnaria was now fairly quivering with terror. + +"Oh, Daddy!" she quivered, "you couldn't be so cruel. I'd rather die +than have to be a Vestal. I couldn't imagine any life so terrible. Oh, +Daddy, please say you are not in earnest." + +He frowned. + +"I swear," he said, "that I was never more in earnest. I say it +solemnly, as sure as my name is Marcus Brinnarius Epulo, I'll have you +made a Vestal unless you agree this moment to give up all thoughts of +Almo, to obey me about marrying Calvaster, and to be properly polite to +him and Pulfennius." + +"Daddy!" Brinnaria cried. "Only don't have me made a Vestal and I'll do +anything. I'll forget there ever was an Almo. I'll be sweet as honey +to Pulfennius till he loves me better than Secunda, and I'll marry +Calvaster; I'll marry anybody. Why, Daddy, I'd marry a boar pig rather +than be a Vestal." + +Her father smiled. + +"I thought my little daughter would behave properly," he soothed +her, "and you are just in time. That may be your future husband and +father-in-law coming now." + +In fact they were in a moment ushered in. Pulfennius was a tall man, +lean and loose-jointed, with straggling, greenish-gray hair; a long, +uneven head, broad at the skull and narrow at the chin; puffy, white +bags of flabby flesh under his eyes; irregular yellow teeth and sagging +cheeks that made his face look squarish. Calvaster was a mere boy, with +a leaden complexion, shifty gray eyes, thin lips, and an expression at +once sly and conceited. + +"You come opportunely," said their host after the greetings had been +exchanged, "for you happen to find me alone with the very daughter of +whom you and I were talking. This is Brinnaria." + +"This!" Pulfennius exclaimed. "This the girl we were talking about? +Impossible! Incredible! There must be some mistake." + +"There is no mistake," his host assured him. "This is the girl we were +talking about, this is Brinnaria." + +The visitor regarded her, respectfully standing now, her brown eyes +down-cast, the flush faded from her olive-skinned cheeks, her arms +hanging limply at her sides. She was tall for a girl and while slenderly +built was well muscled, a fine handsome figure in her red robe. + +"This!" he exclaimed again. "Indeed. So this is Brinnaria. I am very +glad to have seen her. And now having seen her, do you not think that +our business would be better transacted by us three males together?" + +"Certainly, if you prefer," Brinnarius asserted. + +He patted Brinnaria and kissed her. + +"Run away now, little girl," he said, "and wait in the peristyle until I +want you." + +Brinnaria, once in the rear courtyard, instantly called: + +"Guntello!" + +Her call was answered by a great brute of a slave, bigger even than her +father, a gigantic Goth, pink-skinned, blue-eyed and yellow-haired. + +"Now listen to me, Guntello," his little mistress said, "for if you make +any mistake about my errand you'll get me into no end of trouble." + +The Goth, manifestly devoted to her, leaned his ear close and grinned +amiably. She repeated her directions twice and made him repeat them +after her in his broken Latin. When she was sure that he understood, she +despatched him with a whispered injunction: + +"Hurry! Hurry!" + +Meanwhile, in the gorgeous atrium, the fathers' conference had +continued. The moment she had gone Pulfennius said: + +"I do not believe in discussing misunderstandings before females; +evidently there is some misunderstanding here. I want for my son a bride +younger than he is, even if he has to wait two or even four years to +claim her. You assured me that your daughter Brinnaria was not yet +ten years of age and you show me a grown woman and tell me that she is +Brinnaria. What is the explanation?" + +"A very simple explanation," he was answered. "Merely that Brinnaria is +unusually well grown and well developed for her age. I have seen other +cases of early ripening in children and so must you." + +"I've seen girls grown beyond their years," Pulfennius admitted, "but no +case comparable to this. Why, man, that girl who has just left us would +be taken for over eighteen years old by any stranger at first sight +of her, and no one on earth could look at her carefully and hazard the +conjecture that she might possibly be under sixteen." + +"Quite so," his host agreed, "and the better you know Brinnaria the more +you wonder at her. She not only looks sixteen or eighteen and acts as if +she were that age, but she talks as if she were that old and thinks as +if she were even older, and she is actually three full months, more +than three months, to be precise three months and twelve days, under ten +years of age." + +"Amazing!" spluttered Pulfennius, "astounding! inexplicable!" + +"Don't you believe me?" Brinnarius queried sharply. + +"Certainly I believe you," his guest disclaimed, "but I cannot realize +that it can be true; I am bewildered; I am dazed." + +"Perhaps," the other suggested, "you would realize it better if +Quartilla added her assurances to mine." + +"Oh," the other deprecated, "I do not require anybody's corroboration to +your statement. But if her mother is at home, perhaps her presence would +be as well for other reasons." + +When summoned his host's wife appeared as a medium-sized woman, neither +plump nor slender, with a complexion neither brown nor white, with +yellow-brown hair, gray-brown eyes, and in every outline, hue, and +feature as neutral and inconspicuous a creature as could be conceived +of. + +"Yes," Quartilla said, "everybody is surprised at Brinnaria's growth. +I was scared, when she first began to grow so fast, and had special +prayers offered and sacrifices made at the temples of Youth and +Health. Also I had a Babylonian seer consult the stars concerning her +birth-signs. Everybody said she was born to long life, good health and +great luck. But I can't fancy what ever made her grow so. She was fed +like her brothers and sisters and she never seems to eat any heartier +or any oftener. Till she was two and a half she was just like any other +child. But she has grown more in seven years than any other child I ever +knew of ever grew in fourteen and she's so old for her years too. Not +but that she plays with dolls and toys and jacks; and she runs about +just like any other child of her age, in spite of her size; but she says +such grown-up things and she has such a womanly mind. She understands +the family accounts better than I do, is keen on economy and could +oversee the providing for the entire household. She astonishes me over +and over. But there is no doubt about her age. Both my sisters were with +me when she was born and Nemestronia too. Ask any of the three. Or I can +tell you a dozen other ladies who know just as well. Brinnaria will not +be ten years old until the Ides of September." + +"Wonderful! marvellous!" Pulfennius exclaimed. "Madam, you amaze me. But +if this is true so much the better. I had thought my boy must wait two +years or more for a wife, as I am determined that no more of my sons +shall marry wives of their own age, let alone older. If your daughter +is so young, she will just suit me, and since she is already grown up +we shall not have to wait for her to grow up. We can arrange for the +wedding for this month." + +They chaffered a long time about the marriage settlement, Calvaster +sitting silent, biting his lips, staring about him and fidgetting; +Quartilla equally silent, but entirely placid, without the twitch of a +muscle or any shift of gaze; the two men doing all the talking. Some of +the talking was almost vehement, Pulfennius disclaiming promises which +his host declared he had made. Once they came to a deadlock and then +Brinnarius, his voice suddenly mild and soft, mentioned Rabulla's +death and his notion of offering Brinnaria for her successor. At once +Pulfennius became manageable and supple and all eagerness for the +happiness of the young couple. + +When it seemed that they had reached an agreement on every point +Quartilla had her say. + +"I think you will find Brinnaria everything you could wish as a +daughter-in-law. The most uncanny thing about her precocious habits +of thought is her tenacity of any resolve and her grave and earnest +attitude towards all questions of duty and propriety. She takes clan +traditions very seriously and is determined to comport herself according +to ancestral precedents. You will have no fault to find with her +respectfulness towards you and Herrania or with her behavior as a wife. +She will be circumspect in her deportment towards all men and is sure +to turn out an excellent housewife. She has lofty inherited standards to +live up to and she is deeply devoted to them. + +"This is the more to be wondered at since she is strangely undignified +in many ways. I trust this will wear off as she grows up. It is only in +this respect that Brinnaria has ever given me any cause for concern. +She is more like a boy than a girl in many ways. She not only plays with +boys and plays boys' games and plays them as well as boys or better, +not only climbs trees when she is in the country, and rides bareback and +goes fishing and swimming in any stream or pool, and ranges the woods +and cannot be restrained; but also she will indulge in the wildest +pranks, the most unthinkable freaks, play rough practical jokes on +anybody and everybody, laugh out loud, shout and yell, gesticulate +and contort herself into undignified postures and act generally in an +uproarious and uncurbed fashion. She keeps up that sort of thing even in +town, and is boisterous and unexpected beyond anything I ever heard of +in any young girl She is most docile in all really important things, but +in respect to her jokings and shriekings and carryings-on she is really +beyond my control. She is never openly disobedient, yet she is most +ingenious at devising methods for avoiding obedience. Sometimes I lose +patience with Brinnaria. But, when I really think it all over, there +is no harm in any of it. Strangers, however, would think her a very +terrible girl; she belies herself so. Any one becoming cognizant of some +of her vagaries would form a very unfavorable judgment of her and most +unjustly. In her heart she is anything but the wild creature she makes +herself appear. Her squawks of merriment, her rude interruptions of +her elders, her pert remarks, her sarcastic jokes, are all the +manifestations of mere overflowing animal spirits, of warm-blooded youth +and hearty health. She will tone down. She is the most startling +and incalculable child I ever heard of. No one could anticipate her +eccentricities. There is an originality of invention about her pranks +which amazes me. But I am sure she will turn out all that I could wish." + +"I trust so, indeed," said Pulfennius dryly. "I am grateful to you +for warning me; I promise not to misjudge her because of any childish +freakishness. And now it seems to me that we should make the young +lady herself a party of this conference and bring the matter to a final +settlement." + +Brinnarius called a slave and bade him fetch Brinnaria. + +Almost at once the fellow, a dark-skinned, obsequious Lydian, returned +looking scared and yet on the verge of laughter. He could barely control +his merriment, yet was plainly afraid to utter what he had to say. His +master ordered him to speak. + +"Instead of coming with me," he said, "the young lady sent a message. +But I am afraid to give it to you. I am afraid of a thrashing if I give +the message as she gave it to me." + +"Another of her jokes," her father growled. "You shan't suffer for +any of her impudence. Repeat her exact words; I'll hold you excused, +Dastor." + +Dastor, reassured, grinned with anticipated enjoyment and said: + +"She says she is sitting down and very comfortable where she is, that +she will not stand up till she feels inclined, and that if you want to +see her you can come to her, for she will not come to you." + +For a moment there was a tense silence. + +Pulfennius spoke first. + +"If this is a sample of the sort of deportment which my future +daughter-in-law is expected to outgrow I might as well be shown just +what this kind of behavior is like. Let us acquiesce and go to the +little witch, if you do not object." + + +"I don't object at all to going," his host replied, "but I object to her +behavior; I'll make her smart for it. Come, let us have it over with; +I'll show you a submissive Brinnaria or I'll know the reason why." + +They stood up and from the open atrium passed into a narrow passage +lighted only from the two ends and so into the larger courtyard with +gleaming marble columns at each end and long rows of them down each +side. The tank under the open sky was much larger than that in the +atrium and had two fountains in it. Pigeons cooed on the tiles of the +roofs, and two or three of them strutted on the mosaic pavement among +the columns. + +The party, dumbfounded and stunned, stood without voice or movement, +gazing at the picture before them. + +The pavement was a cool grayish white in effect, for its mosaic work was +all of pale neutral tints. Above it the background was all white,--white +marble walls, the white marble polished pillars of the peristyle, white +marble entablature above them, the general whiteness emphasized by the +mere streak of red tiled roof visible against the intense blue of the +sky. + +The only color in the picture was to the left of the tank and close +to it, where there had been set a big armchair upholstered in blue +tapestry. In it sat a tall, fair-haired, curly-headed lad, with merry +blue eyes. He wore a robe of pale green, the green of young onion tops. +Against that green the red of Brinnaria's gown showed strident and +glary, for Brinnaria was sitting on his lap. His arms were round her +waist, hers about his neck. She was slowly swinging her blue-shod feet +rhythmically and was kissing the lad audibly and repeatedly. As her +elders stood still, petrified, mute and motionless with amazement, she +imprinted a loud smack on the lad's lips, laid her cheek roguishly to +his and peered archly at them, saying: + +"Glad to see you again, Pulfennius; what do you think of me for a +daughter-in-law?" + +"I do not think of you for a daughter-in-law," Pulfennius snarled +furiously. + +He turned angrily to Brinnarius. + +"What does this mean?" he queried. + +His host echoed him. + +"Brinnaria!" he called, imperatively. "What does this mean?" + +"Mean?" she repeated. "It means that I am making the most of Almo while +I can. I love Almo; I've promised to forget him, to be a good wife to +Calvaster, and of course I'm going to keep my word. From the moment I'm +married to Calvaster I'll never so much as look at Almo, let alone touch +him. So I'm touching him all I can while I have the chance." + +She paused, kissed Almo twice, lingeringly and loudly, and looked up +again. + +"How's that for kissing, Calvaster?" she chirped. "Don't you wish it was +you?" + +"Come, son!" Pulfennius spluttered, "let us be gone! This is no place +for us. We are being mocked and insulted." + +"Nonsense, Pulfennius!" his host exclaimed. "Can't you see that I had +no part in this, that the minx devised it all by herself expressly to +thwart me? Don't let her have the satisfaction of outmanoeuvering both +of us. Don't let a mere prank of a child spoil all our arrangements. +She'll be a good wife as she says." + +"A good wife!" Pulfennius snorted. "I much doubt whether she can now +ever be a good wife to any man. I'm sure she'll never be a wife to my +son. You'd never convince me that she's fit to be my son's wife. +Make her a Vestal, indeed! She a Vestal? She's much more likely to be +something very different!" + +"Do you mean to insinuate--" his host began. + +"I mean to insinuate anything and everything appropriate to her wanton +behavior," Pulfennius raged. + +The two men glared at each other in a silence through which could +be heard the cooing of the doves, the trickle of the two fountains, +Brinnaria's low chuckle and the faint lisping sound of three distinct +kisses. + +"I beg your pardon!" spoke a voice behind them. + +The four looked around. + +"What brings you here, Segontius?" Brinnarius asked. + +"One of my slaves brought me word," the intruder explained, "that my son +had entered this house. I knew you had not changed your mind since you +forbade him to cross your threshold, so I came here at once to disclaim +any share in his intrusion and to take him home. I feared he might get +into mischief." + +"He has," Brinnarius replied, sententiously, "as you may see." + +Brinnaria, entirely at her ease, hugged Almo rapturously and kissed him +repeatedly. + +"And I thought," Segontius pursued, "that you would probably smash every +bone in his body if you caught him." + +"I don't know why I haven't," spoke the big man reflectively. + +"I know," shouted Pulfennius, "I can tell you. It is because this whole +comedy has been rehearsed between you just to make me ridiculous. I know +your way, your malignity, your tenacity of a grudge, your pretence of +reconciliation, your ingenuity, your well-laid traps. I'll be revenged +for this yet!" + +"You won't live to be revenged," Brinnarius told him, "unless you get +out of here quick. I'll break every bone in your body, for certain, if +you address another word to me." + +"Come, son, said Pulfennius, and shambled away. + +"And now," spoke Segontius, "don't you think, Marcus, that you and I had +best forget our quarrels and be friends again? These young folks were +plainly meant for each other by all the gods who favor lovers. Let us +not stand in the way." + +"Indeed, Lucius," spoke the big man, holding out his huge hand. "I am +of the same mind. But both of them deserve some punishment for their +presumption. They should wait four years at least before they marry. My +girl is too young." + +"I agree," said Segontius, "and I'll send my boy to Falerii for the +present. That will keep them apart and ensure propriety of behavior." + +"That is well," growled Brinnarius, "and I'll send my girl to her aunt +Septima's." + +Brinnaria sprang up. + +"Aunt Septima's?" she cried. "Spinach and mallows and a tiny roast lark +for dinner every day. I'll starve to death And prim! I'd almost as lief +be a Vestal!" + + + +CHAPTER II - SIEVES + + +To her luxurious but austerely managed villa, Aunt Septima welcomed +Brinnaria with heartfelt, if repressed affection. Until the second +sunrise Brinnaria controlled herself. Then the good lady endured her +overgrown niece for some strenuous days, suffered impatiently for a few +more, but finally packed off to Rome "that unspeakable child." At home +again Brinnaria demanded pork and cabbage. + +"My insides are as empty as the sky," she wailed. "Asparagus is all very +well, but it's none too filling, even if you can eat all you want, and +aunty says ten stalks is enough for any one meal. Chicken-breast is +good, hot or cold, but aunty would never let me have a second helping. +She wouldn't even let me have as much bread as I wanted and only one +little dish of strawberries. I filled up on raw eggs, all I could find +in the nests. But, my six days of raw eggs was five days too many for +me. I'm wild for cabbage, all I want, and pork, big hunks of it." + +She got it and slept a sound night's sleep. + +The next day she craved an outing on foot. Her mother, prone to the +shortest cut to peace on all occasions, acquiesced at once and let her +go out with her one-eyed maid, Utta. + +Utta, born somewhere beyond the Rhine, had been brought to Rome when a +small child and had no memories except memories of Italy. She was the +most placid and acquiescent creature imaginable. Her little mistress +led her first of all to the nearest pastry-cook's shop where the two ate +till they could not swallow another crumb. + +Brinnaria, like many eccentric children born to wealth and position, had +special favorites, almost cronies, among the lowly. Chief among them +was the old sieve-maker of the Via Sacra. To his shop she made Utta lead +her. Utta interposed no objection. Utta never objected to anything. +But in this case she was especially complaisant, since opposite the +sieve-maker's was a fascinating embroidery shop, the keeper of which was +entirely willing, when he had no customers, to let Utta lounge on one of +his sofas and inspect embroideries to her heart's content. So lounging, +rapt in the contemplation of Egyptian appliques, Syrian gold-thread +borders, Spanish linen-work, silk flower patterns from Cos, Parthian +animal designs and Celtic cord-labyrinths after originals in leather +thongs, Utta could glance up from time to time and make sure that her +charge was safe with the sieve-maker. + +Safe she would have been without any maid to watch her, for old +Truttidius adored her. He was a small, hale, merry, wizened man, his +seamed and wrinkled face brown as berry in spite of his lifelong habit +of indoor labor and comparative inertia. He had more than a little tact +and was an excellent listener. Brinnaria was entirely at ease with him. + +His shop was rather large for those days, nearly fifteen feet wide and +fully twenty deep. It faced directly on the street, from which it was +separated only by the stone counter which occupied all the front except +a narrow entrance at one side. Above the counter projected the heavy +shutters which closed the shop at night and which, being hinged at the +top, were by day pushed upward and outward so as to form a sort of pent +like a wooden substitute for an awning. The entrance by the end of the +counter was closed by a solid little gate. Behind the counter was the +low stool from which Truttidius rose to chaffer with customers, and +on which, when not occupied in trading, he sat at work, his bench and +brazier by his side, his tools hanging on the wall by his hand, orderly +in their neat racks or on their neat rows of hooks. Except for the +trifling wall-space which they occupied, the walls were hidden under +sieves hanging close together; bronze sieves, copper sieves, rush sieves +with rims of white willow wood, white horse-hair sieves whose hoops were +stout ash, sieves of black horse-hair stretched in rims of clean steamed +oak and linen sieves hooped about with birch. Sieves were piled on the +counter, mostly fancy sieves with hoops of carved wood strung with black +and white horse-hair interlaced in bold patterns, or copper sieves, +polished till they shone, they being most likely to catch the eyes of +the passing throng. + +Brinnaria, sprawled on the sofa against the wall behind the work-bench, +surveyed her surroundings and sighed happily, entirely at home. +Truttidius was beating copper wire, a process always fascinating to +watch. + +"I've had an awful time in the country with Aunt Septima," Brinnaria +chatted, "and I had an awful scare before they sent me to the country. +Daddy threatened to make me a Vestal." + +"In place of Rabulla?" Truttidius queried, glancing up. + +"Yes," Brinnaria answered, "but I got off; my, but I was scared though." + +"You didn't want to be a Vestal?" Truttidius asked, eyeing her over his +work. + +"Not I!" Brinnaria declared. "I can't think of anything worse except +being killed." + +"Well," mused Truttidius, "there is no accounting for tastes. Most girls +would be wild with delight at the idea. But there would be no sense in +being a Vestal unless you wanted to be one." + +"I don't," Brinnaria proclaimed emphatically, "but I have been thinking +about Vestals ever since Daddy threatened me and scared me so; I've been +thinking about Vestals and sieves. Did anybody ever really carry water +in a sieve, Truttidius?" + +"Water in a sieve?" the old man exclaimed. "Not anybody that ever I saw. +What do you mean?" + +"You must have heard the story of Tuccia, the Vestal," Brinnaria +wondered, wide-eyed. "She lived ages ago, before Hannibal invaded Italy, +when everything was different. They said she was bad and she said it was +a lie and they said she could not prove it was a lie and she said she +could. She said if she was all she ought to be the Goddess would show +it by answering her prayer. And she took a sieve and walked down to the +river, right by the end of the Sublician bridge, where the stairs are +on the right-hand side. And the five other Vestals, and the flamens, and +all the priests, and the Pontifex, and the consuls went with her. And +she stood on the lowest step with her toes in the water and prayed out +loud to the Goddess to help her and show that she had told the truth and +then she stooped over and dipped up water with her sacrificing ladle and +poured it into the sieve and it didn't run through, and she dipped up +more and more until the sieve was half full of water, as if it had been +a pan. And then she hung her ladle at her girdle-hook and took the +sieve in both hands and carried the water all the way to the temple. And +everybody said that that proved that she had told the truth. + +"That's the story. Had you ever heard it?" + +"Yes, little lady," Truttidius said, "I have heard it." + +"What I want to know," Brinnaria pursued, "is this: Is it a made-up +story or is it a true story?" + +"Little lady," spoke Truttidius, "it is impious to doubt the truth of +pious stories handed down from days of old." + +"That isn't answering my question," said the practical Brinnaria. "What +I want you to tell me is to say right out plain do you believe it. Did +anybody really ever carry water in a sieve?" + +"You must remember, dear little lady," the sieve-maker said, "that she +was a most holy priestess, most pleasing in the eyes of her Goddess, +that she was in dire straits and that she prayed to the Goddess to aid +her. The Goddess helped her votary; the gods can do all things." + +"The gods can do all things," Brinnaria echoed, her eyes flashing, "but +the gods don't do all things, not even for their favorites. There are +lots and lots of things no god ever did for any votary or ever will. +What I want to know is this: Is carrying water in a sieve one of the +things the gods not only can do but do do? Did anybody ever carry water +in a sieve truly?" + +Truttidius smiled, his wrinkles doubling and quadrupling till his face +was all a network of tiny folds of hard, dry skin. He put down his work +and regarded his guest, his face serious after the fading of his brief +smile. The soft-footed sandalled throng that packed the narrow street +shuffled and padded by unnoticed. No customer interrupted them. They +might have been alone in a Sibyl's cell on a mountain side. + +"Little lady," spoke the sieve-maker, "you are, indeed, very old for +your age, not only in height and build, but in heart and mind. What +other child would bother her head about so subtle a problem? What other +child would perceive the verity at the heart of the puzzle and put it so +neatly in so few words? To you an old man cannot help talking as to an +experienced matron, because to you an old man can talk as to a woman of +sense. You deserve to be answered in the spirit of the question." + +He reflected. Brinnaria, fascinated and curious, hardly breathed in her +intentness, watching his face and waiting for his answer. + +"Little lady," he said, after a long silence, "the gods can, indeed, do +all things. But as you have yourself perceived the gods do not do all +things, even for their favorites. The gods work miracles to vindicate +their votaries, but as you divine, each miracle is the happening by the +special ordinance of the gods of what might happen even without their +mandate, but which does not happen because it is only once in countless +ages that all the circumstances necessary to bring about that sort of +happening concur to produce so unusual an effect. What folks call a +miracle is the occurrence, by the beneficent will of heaven, at just +the right time and place, of what might happen anywhere to any one, but +almost never does happen anywhere to any one, because it is so unlikely +that all things should conspire to bring about so unlikely a result. + +"So of carrying water in a sieve. + +"Anybody might carry water in a sieve any day. But very seldom, oh, +very, very seldom can it come to pass that the kind of person capable +of carrying water in a sieve can be just in the condition of muscle and +mood to do so and can at just that moment be in possession of just the +kind of sieve that will hold water and not let it through. For an actual +breathing woman of flesh and blood to carry water in a real ordinary +sieve of rush-fibres, or linen thread or horsehair or metal wire, in +such a sieve as pastry-cooks use to sift their finest flour; for that to +happen in broad daylight under the open sky before a crowd of onlookers, +that requires the special intervention of the blessed gods, or of the +most powerful of them. And not even all of them together could make +that happen to a woman of ordinary quality of hand and eye, with a usual +sieve, as most sieves are." + +"Explain!" Brinnaria half whispered, "what kind of woman could actually +carry water in a sieve and in what kind of a sieve, and under what +circumstances?" + +"That's three questions," Truttidius counted, "and one at a time is +enough. + +"In the first place, no god, not all the gods together, could give +any votary power to carry water in a sieve, be it rush or linen or +horse-hair or metal, of which the meshes had been first scrubbed with +natron or embalmers' salt or wood-ashes or fullers' earth. Water +would run through such a sieve, did even all the gods will that it be +retained. No one ever dipped a sieve into water and brought it up with +water in it and saw that water retained by the meshes. Once wet the +under side of a sieve and water will run through to the last drop. + +"But if a sieve were ever so little greasy or oily, not dripping with +oil or clogged with grease, but greasy as a working slave's finger is +greasy on a hot day; if such a sieve were free of any drop of water +on the underside, if into such a sieve water were slowly and carefully +poured, as you say that Tuccia in the story ladled water into her sieve +with her libation-dipper, then that water might spread evenly over the +meshes to the rim all around, might deepen till it was as deep as the +width of two fingers or of three, and might be retained by the meshes +even for an hour, even while the sieve was carried over a rough road, up +hill and down, through crowded streets. + +"But few are the women who could so carry a sieve of water or could even +so hold it that the water would not run through at once." + +"How could the water be retained at all?" queried Brinnaria the +practical. "What is the explanation?" + +Truttidius wrinkled up his face in deep thought. + +"You have seen wine spilled at dinner," he illustrated. "You have seen a +drop of it or a splash of it fall on a sofa-cover, and you have seen it +soak in and leave an ugly stain?" + +"Of course," Brinnaria agreed, "often and often." + +"And then again, not very often," the sieve-maker went on, "you see a +patch of spilt wine stand up on a perfectly dry fabric and remain +there awhile without soaking in, its surface shining wet and its edges +gleaming round and smooth and curved, bright as a star. Well, the +retaining of water in a sieve by the open meshes is like the momentary +holding up of spilt wine on a woven fabric. I can't explain any better, +but the two happenings are similar, only the not soaking in of the +splashed liquid is far, oh, far more frequent, countless, uncountable +times more frequent, than the sustaining of fluid in a sieve. But as the +one can happen and does, so the other could happen and might." + +"I see," Brinnaria breathed. "You have made me see that. Now, next +point: How must the sieve be held?" + +The old man smiled again. + +"You keep close to the subject," he chuckled. "You talk like a +grandmother of consuls. You have a head on your shoulders." + +"That does not answer my question," Brinnaria persisted. + +"Your question is easily answered," he said. "For the miracle to happen, +in fact, the sieve must be held as level as the top rail of a mason's +T-shaped plumb-line frame, and as steady as if clamped in a vise. For +a woman to carry water in a sieve the weather must be dry, for in damp +weather the water would run through the meshes, even if the threads or +wires were just oily enough and not too oily, even if the meshes were +just the right size to favor the forming in each mesh of a little pocket +of water underneath, like the edges of the upstanding drop of wine on a +sofa-cushion. I don't know how it comes to pass, but somehow, if all the +conditions are right, little bags of water form on the underside of a +sieve, one to each mesh, like drops after a rain hanging from the edge +of my shop-shutters, or from the mutules on the cornice of a temple. +They are capable of sustaining one or even two finger-thicknesses +of water on the upper side of the sieve-web. But if the sieve-web +is unevenly woven or unevenly stretched, it will not retain water an +instant, and if the sieve-web bags anywhere the water, even if the rest +of the sieve-web promises to retain it, will run through at that point. +And even if the sieve is perfect, the slightest tilt, the very slightest +tilt, will cause the little bags of water to break at the lowest point, +and so start all the water to running through. I know; I have tried; +I have seen the sieve hold up the water for some breaths. But for the +marvel to last any length of time, that would require the intervention +of the gods; that would be a miracle. For a woman to hold a sieve so +that it would retain water would mean that her hand was as steady as the +hand of a sleep-walker or of the priestess of Isis in her trance in the +great yearly mystery-festival. That could happen seldom to any woman; +such a woman would be rare." + +"I see," Brinnaria barely whispered, so intent was she on the old man's +words. "Now, what kind of woman could do such a wonder?" + +"A very exceptional and unusual kind of woman," the old man declared. +"Women, the run of them, are not steady-handed. Even steady-handed women +are easily distracted, their attention is readily called away from any +definite task. Even a woman usually steady-handed would find her hand +tremble if she were conscious of guilt, even a woman high-hearted with +her sense of her own worthiness might glance aside at some one in a +great crowd of people about her, might let her thoughts wander. + +"That is where the miracle would come in. Only a woman directly favored +by the mighty gods could so ignore the throng about her, could so forget +herself, could so concentrate all her faculties on the receptacle she +held, could so perfectly control her muscles or could so completely let +her muscles act undisturbed by her will, could possess muscles capable +of so long tension at so perfect an adjustment." + +"I see," Brinnaria sighed. "The thing may have happened in fact, +may happen again, but it could happen only once out of ten times ten +thousand times ten thousand chances. I understand. It is a possibility +in the ordinary course of events. It was a miracle if it ever took +place; it will be a miracle if it ever comes to pass again. It is not +impossible, but it's too improbable for anybody to believe it could be, +in fact." + +"You have it," the sieve-maker assured her. + +"I'm glad I have," she said. "Now it'll go out of my head and quit +bothering me. I've thought about it day and night ever since Daddy +threatened me. Now I'll forget it and sleep sound." + + + +CHAPTER III - STUTTERING + + +When Brinnaria returned from her outing she found waiting for her her +best friend, chum and crony, Flexinna, a girl four years older, not so +tall, decidedly more slender and much prettier. Brinnaria was robustly +handsome; Flexinna was delicately lovely, yet they did not differ much +in tints of hair, eyes or skin and might have been sisters. In fact, +they were not infrequently taken for sisters. + +They chatted of their girlish interests and of local gossip and family +news, like any pair of girls, until Brinnaria described the escapade +that led to her rustication. + +Flexinna's eyes were wide and wider as she listened. + +"D-d-do-you really m-m-mean," she stuttered, "that you had a c-c-chance +to be a V-V-Vestal and d-d-didn't jump at it?" + +"Jump at it!" exclaimed Brinnaria. "I jumped away from it! I can't think +of anything, except death, that would fill me with more horror than the +very idea of being made a Vestal. It makes me shiver now just to speak +of it." + +"You're a f-f-fool," Flexinna declared, "the f-f-foolest kind of a +f-f-fool. This is the f-f-first f-f-foolish thing I ever knew you to +d-d-do. I always th-th-thought you s-s-so s-s-sensible, t-t-too. +And you've m-m-missed a ch-ch-chance to be a V-V-Vestal. I've n-n-no +p-p-patience with you. Any other g-g-girl would j-j-jump at the +ch-ch-chance." + +"Jump at it!" cried Brinnaria. "Why?" + +"Why?" sneered Flexinna, blazing with excitement. "Why, just think what +you've m-m-missed! You're as wild as I am to see g-g-gladiators fight, +k-k-keener than I am to see a real horse-race in the circus, and you'll +have to wait until you're g-g-grown up, as I'll have to, before you +s-s-see either. And you'd have g-g-gone to every spectacle, from the +very day you were t-t-taken, and not have m-m-missed one. Think of it! +F-F-Front seats in the circus, front seats in the amphitheatre, all your +life, or for thirty years at least, for certain! And you've m-m-missed +it. And that's not half. Your lictor to c-c-clear the way for you +whenever you g-g-go out and your choice to g-g-go out in your litter +with eight b-b-bearers or in your c-c-carriage, your own c-c-carriage, +all your own, and the right to d-d-drive any where in the city any +d-d-day in the year. Oh, you f-f-fool, you s-s-silly f-f-fool! A +ch-ch-chance to be one of the s-s-seven m-m-most imp-p-portant women in +Rome, one of the s-s-six who are on a level with the Empress, and you +m-m-missed it! Fancy it; to b-b-be mistress of an income so large +that it m-m-makes you d-d-dizzy to think of it, and you throw away the +ch-ch-chance! To be able the m-m-moment you were taken, to m-m-make your +own w-w-will! To have every legacy c-c-cadger in Rome running after you +and m-m-making you p-p-presents and d-d-doing you favors and angling +for your n-n-notice all your 1-l-life 1-1-long, and you m-m-miss the +ch-ch-chance!" + +"Yes," Brinnaria admitted, reflectively, "I have missed all that, that's +so. But that's not all there is to think of, when you think about being +a Vestal. I've missed a lot of fine privileges, mighty valuable to any +girl that would care for that sort of thing; but I've escaped a lot +of things that would go with those privileges. I love bright colors, +I always did and I look ghastly in white--I look like a ghost. And I'd +have had to wear white and nothing else, even white flowers, like a +corpse. And a Vestal has to keep her eyes on the ground and walk slow +and stately and stand straight and dignified, and talk soft and low. I'd +suffer, even if I could learn all the tricks they teach them as well as +Gargilia has. And I don't believe I ever could. I'd keep my eyes cast +down for a month or a year and then, right in the middle of a sacrifice, +I'd see something funny, like the gander squawking under the feet of the +pall-bearers at poor old Gibba's funeral at the farm last summer, and +I'd wink at the head Vestal or roll my eyes at the whole congregation +and spoil the prayers; or, after keeping meek and mum for a year or so +I'd be so wild to laugh that I'd roar right out and break up the whole +service. I think I'm the last girl alive to be a Vestal. A Vestal +mustn't answer back or make a pun, no matter how good a chance she gets. +I just can't help cutting in, if I see a chance; the words come out of +my mouth before I know it, and, if I trained myself to keep still and +look as mild as a lamb, I'd be boiling inside and sometime I'd burst out +with a yell just to relieve my feelings or I'd jab a shawl-pin into the +Pontifex to see him jump, or put out my toe and trip up somebody just +to see him sprawl. I couldn't help it. The more I'd bottle myself up +the farther the naughtiness in me would spurt when it burst through the +skin. I know. No Vestaling for me! I wasn't born for that trade!" + +"Nonsense!" Flexinna disclaimed vigorously. "You'd g-g-get used to the +whole thing in a m-m-month and be the most s-s-statuesque of the six in +t-t-ten years. Think of it! I'm just raging inside at your f-f-folly. To +have the right to an interview with the Emperor whenever you d-d-demand +it, to see the m-m-magistrates' lictors lower their fasces to you and +s-s-stand aside at the s-s-salute and let you p-p-pass whenever you +m-m-meet them in p-p-public. To live in one of the finest p-p-palaces in +Rome, one of the most m-m-magnificent residences on earth, to have the +ch-ch-chance at all that and m-m-miss it; I've no p-p-patience with +you!" + +"That's all very fine," Brinnaria countered, "but there's much to be +said on the other side. I've been in the Atrium. Aunt Septima took me +there to call on Causidiena. It's big, it's gorgeous, it's luxurious, +that's all true. But I love sunlight. I'd loathe living in that hole +in the ground; why, the shadow of the Palace falls across the courtyard +before noon and for all the rest of the day it's gloomy as the bottom +of a well. I heard Causidiena tell Aunt Septima how shoes mould and +embroideries mildew and what a time they have with the inlays popping +off the furniture on account of the dampness and about the walls and +lamp-standards sweating moisture. I'd hate the dark, poky, cold place." + +"Oh," Flexinna admitted, "there are d-d-drawbacks to any s-s-situation +in life, but, really the higher the s-s-station the fewer the drawbacks. +The p-p-plain truth is that being a Vestal is the highest s-s-station in +Rome except being an Empress. No g-g-girl dare aspire to be an Empress; +it would be treason. If any g-g-girl d-d-dreams of it she k-k-keeps her +d-d-dreams to herself. But any g-g-girl has a right to aspire to be a +Vestal, if she is made perfect and is under ten and has her f-f-father +and m-m-mother noble and alive. You've got all that and you are offered +what any g-g-girl would envy you and you throw it away! I've no patience +with you." + +"You forget," Brinnaria argued, "that I'm in love with Almo and I'd have +to give up Almo." + +"Not f-f-forever," Flexinna retorted. "He's enough in love with you to +wait for you, to wait for you! You could have pledged him to wait till +your term of service was up and then you two could have married just the +same." + +"Just the same!" Brinnaria echoed. "A lot of good it'd do me to marry +after I'd be an old wrinkled, gray-haired woman of forty, dried up and +withered." + +"Nemestronia," Flexinna cited, "has married twice since she was +forty, and she's not withered yet, not by a great deal, even if she is +gray-haired and has a wrinkle or two." + +"What's the use of arguing," Brinnaria summed up. "I hate the very idea +of being a Vestal. I'd hate the fact a million times more. I'd hate it +even if I were not in love with Almo, furiously in love with Almo. Daddy +says I've got to wait four years to marry him. I roll around in bed and +bite the pillows with rage to think of it, night after night. A fine +figure I'd cut trying to wait thirty years for him. I'd swoon with +longing for him and write him a note or peep out of the temple to +see him go by and then I'd get accused of misbehavior, and accused is +convicted for a Vestal; well, you know it. I'd look fine being buried +alive in a seven-by-five underground stone cell, with half a pint of +milk and a gill of wine to keep me alive long enough to suffer before +I starved to death and a thimbleful of oil in a lamp to make me more +scared of the dark when the lamp burned out. No burial alive for me. +I'm in love. I'm too much in love to balance arguments. I'm not sorry I +missed my chance, as you call it. I'm glad I escaped; the chance isn't +missed for that matter. Rabulla's place hasn't been filled yet." + +"Do you know who is g-g-going to be ch-ch-chosen to fill it?" Flexinna +asked. "You d-d-don't? The choice has about narrowed d-d-down to that +execrable, weasel-faced little M-M-Meffia." + +"Meffia!" Brinnaria cried. "There's no one alive I despise as much as +that detestable ninny. I've a mind to chuck Almo and ask Daddy to offer +me, just to spite Meffia." + +"Why d-d-don't you?" Flexinna stuttered. "D-d-do it n-n-now, right +n-n-now. You might be t-t-too late." + +"Oh bosh," Brinnaria groaned. "What's the use of talking nonsense? What +would be the sense in my spoiling my life to spite Meffia? I hate her. +I'll hate to see her putting on airs as a Vestal, but I'd hate worse to +be a Vestal myself, and worst of all to lose Almo. I just couldn't give +up Almo." + +"I wish I were you," Flexinna raged. "If I were only under ten and +d-d-didn't s-s-stutter, I'd d-d-do all I c-c-could to g-g-get D-D-Daddy +to offer m-m-me." + +"Bosh!" Brinnaria sneered. "You're in love with Vocco and you know you +wouldn't even think of giving him up if you had the chance." + +"Just wouldn't I!" Flexinna retorted. "I love Quintus dearly. But if I +had a ch-ch-chance to be a V-V-Vestal, I'd fling poor Quintus hard and +never regret him. Not I. Think of the influence a V-V-Vestal has! Every +man who wants p-p-promotion in the army or in the fleet, or who wants +an appointment to any office would set his sisters and all his +women relations to besieging me to use my influence for him. Every +temple-carver and shrine-painter in Rome would have his wife showing me +attentions. I know; I've heard the talk. + +"And b-b-besides, in all the Empire a Vestal is the nearest thing to +a p-p-princess we have. We read a lot about Egyptian princesses, and +Asiatic princesses and we hear about P-P-Parthian p-p-princesses, but +the only p-p-princesses we ever see are the Vestals. They are the only +p-p-princesses in the Empire, in Italy, in Rome, the six of them. And +you had a chance to be one of the only six p-p-princesses in our world +and you didn't take it. Oh, you f-f-fool, you f-f-fool!" + +They wrangled about their conflicting views for a long time. + +It was only as Flexinna was leaving that she inquired casually: + +"Have you heard what Rabulla d-d-died of?" + +"No," said Brinnaria, "what was it?" + +"Hadn't you heard?" Flexinna wondered. "It was the p-p-pestilence." + + + +CHAPTER IV - PESTILENCE + + +Pestilence! + +Brinnaria heard the word often during the next few days. Rome talked of +little else. It had begun with a few deaths along the river front in +the sailors' quarters, and among the stevedores and porters of the +grain-warehouses, southwest of the Aventine Hill in the thirteenth ward. +Next it came to notice when there were many deaths along the Subura in +the very centre of the city. From there the infection had spread to +every wind. Panic seized the people. There was an exodus of all who +could afford it, to their country estates, to the mountains, to the +seaside. Brinnarius and Quartilla discussed arrangements for their +departure to his mountain farm in the Sabine hills above Carsioli. Their +difficulty was to decide to whom to commit their great house in Rome. +They had no slave whom they implicitly trusted, and no one certainly who +would be willing to stay in the city. To close the house was to +invite burglary, for in the general panic watchmen were unreliable and +house-breakings were frequent. Into their consultation Brinnaria thrust +herself uninvited. + +"Why don't you leave me in town?" she suggested. "I hate the country and +I hate it near Carsioli worse than any neighborhood I ever saw. I want +to stay right here. I love Rome. And I'm not afraid of pestilence. +Nobody can die more than once and nobody dies till the gods will it. +There's more danger of dying of fright and worry than of pestilence. +Anyhow a pestilence never kills all the people in a city, most of the +towns- folk stay right at home and keep alive all right. Half the people +that die scare or fret themselves to death. I won't fret or worry and +I'll keep well here; but if you take me with you I'll be miserable and +chafe myself ill. I can run the house as well as mother can. Most of the +slaves worship me and will obey me for love, the rest are deadly afraid +of me and will not dare to disobey me. I'll keep order and I will not +waste a sesterce. Can't I stay, Father?" + +Brinnarius knit his brows and looked at his wife. Her eyes answered his. + +"It would save a deal of trouble," he said, reflectively. + +"It would make a deal of gossip," Quartilla declared. "All my enemies +would say that I am an unnatural mother, that I do not love my youngest +child, that I hate her, that I am exposing her to certain death, that I +am as bad as a murderess." + +"Nonsense!" her husband retorted. "We can't bother about all the malice +of all the slanderers in Rome. Other people's daughters are remaining. +Lucconius means to stay here in Rome with his family. If he ventures to +keep Flexinna here we might venture to leave Brinnaria behind." + +"You might," that self-assertive child cut in, "and you know there is +really no use in taking me if I do not want to go. You know how much +trouble it will make for both of you." + +Quartilla sighed. + +"Perhaps we had best leave her," she said. "Certainly the house will be +safe and the slaves kept in order. I shan't have an instant's anxiety +about that. Then Brinnaria is so genuinely brave that she will really +not dread the pestilence, and all the doctors say that there is nothing +like that feeling to protect any one from the danger. She makes me feel +that she will be safe. I don't believe I'll worry about that either." + +"Fine!" Brinnaria squealed. "I'm to stay." + +"Not so fast," her father rebuked her. "I haven't said yet that you may +stay. But if I say so, then you must stay. I'll not have you changing +your mind and deciding to leave Rome after we have arranged to put you +in charge here. It would make trouble indeed to have you shutting up +this house in a hurry and chasing after us to Carsioli." + +"Epulo!" his wife reproached him, "the child has her faults, but +changeableness is not one of them. She is the most resolute child I ever +knew. If you leave her, she will not fail us. If she gives her word +she will keep it. I never knew Brinnaria to break an earnestly made +promise." + +"Will you promise?" her father asked her. + +"I promise," Brinnaria shouted, "I pledge myself. I take oath. I swear +by my love of both of you, by my respect for our clan, by my hopes of +marrying Almo, that I'll stick it out here in Rome, going out only when +necessary, unless you send for me to come away. If anything happens that +makes me think I ought to leave the city I shall send a message to you, +but I shall not cross the city boundaries nor relax my watch on this +house without your permission. I swear." + +"That's enough, dearie," her father said, "enough and too much. If +your judgment tells you that you ought to flee from Rome, you have my +permission to send me a messenger; I know you will not resort to that +without real need. I rely on your judgment. The gods be with you, child. +You have taken a load of my shoulders, two loads, in fact." + +Thereupon preparations for departure were pushed and soon after sunrise +on the next day Brinnaria found herself left to her own resources, +responsible for the welfare of a large retinue of obsequious slaves, +autocrat over them, and mistress of one of the largest private houses +in Rome. She acquitted herself well of her duties. She had been right +in claiming that she was loved by most and feared by the rest. Certainly +she was trusted and respected by all as if she had been five times her +age. She made them as comfortable as town-slaves could be and they knew +it. To her they accorded instant and implicit obedience. The life of the +household went on as smoothly as if the master had been at home. And its +life was not gloomy. Although the main subject of conversation was the +pestilence, open forebodings were not indulged in and the house was +outwardly cheerful. + +Equally cheerful was Flexinna, whom Brinnaria saw daily. Neither of +them had the slightest fear of the pestilence and no member of either +household had shown the slightest symptoms of any kind of illness. Of +the daily deaths among their large acquaintance or among the nobilities +of the city, they talked calmly, without any feeling of gloom or of +dread, secure in the confidence of youth and health. + +On the tenth day after Brinnaria had been left to her own devices +Flexinna visited her as usual. Early in their talk she said: + +"D-D-Dossonia died last night." + +"The Chief Vestal?" Brinnaria queried. + +"Yes," Flexinna replied, a bright tear in each eye. + +"She couldn't live forever," Brinnaria said. "She was ninety-four, +wasn't she?" + +"Ninety-four years and eight months yesterday," Flexinna replied. "She +had been Chief Vestal ever since C-C-Calpurnia P-P-Praetextata died, and +that's fifty- six years ago. She had been Chief Vestal longer than any +ever and she had lived longer than any Vestal ever." + +"Well," said Brinnaria, the practical, "she ought to have been glad to +go, and she stone blind for twenty years." + +"Yes, I know," Flexinna rejoined, "but she was such an old d-d-dear, she +looked so much younger than her age, her face so healthy and pink, and +b-b-beautiful even with all its wrinkles, so calm and placid and holy +I loved to look at her sitting in her big chair like a great white +b-b-butterfly, so plump and handsome and soft-looking. She always +put out her hand to my face and recognized me at the first t-t-touch, +almost, and gave me her blessing so b-b-beautifully. Sometimes Manlia +let me read to the old dear, and she always seemed to enjoy it so much. +I'm real shaken at her d-d-death. I really loved her." + +"Everybody loved her," Brinnaria declared. "But everybody loves +Causidiena too, and she's Chief Vestal now. She's not fat and placid +like Dossonia, but she is wonderfully dignified. My, I admire that +woman!" + +"I wonder," Flexinna reflected, "who will be chosen in her p-p-place." + +"Poor wretch!" Brinnaria commented. "I'm sorry for her, whoever she is. +Just think, she'll have to pair with that unspeakable little muff of a +Meffia. I hate that girl." + +"Whoever she is," Flexinna continued, "she is sure to be chosen and +taken mighty quick. For with this p-p-pestilence in the city, and all +the trouble the P-P-Parthians are making in the East, of the Marcomanni +on the Rhine colonies, and the thunder-storms that have raged about +lately, there'll be need felt for all the p-p-prayers all the offer. +They'll not leave the vacancy open long. I'll bet they have it filled +by d-d-day after to-morrow. Old B-B-Bambilio is a stickler for pious +precision an observance of all ritual matters and the Emperors are with +him." + +"Marcus is," Brinnaria agreed, pertly, "but Lucius doesn't care what +happens so long as he has his fun." + +"You mustn't t-t-t-talk that way about the Emperors," Flexinna cautioned +her. "If you were overheard you'd get into no end of trouble. Anyhow, +Verus defers to Aurelius in everything, so that whatever Aurelius wishes +is as if both wished it. And there never was a more p-p-pious Emperor +than Aurelius. So the place is certain to be filled p-p-promptly." + +"At once, for sure," Brinnaria agreed. "I wonder who the victim will be? +Do you suppose it will be Occurnea?" + +"It would have been Occurnea, I think," Flexinna said. "You know it was +a chance for a while whether she'd get it instead of Meffia. But she's +not eligible now. Her mother d-d-died yesterday." + +"Tallentia, perhaps," Brinnaria hazarded. + +"Impossible," Flexinna declared. "You remember how recklessly she rode +and how her horse f-f-fell on her. She has limped ever since and always +will." + +"Cuppiena?" suggested Brinnaria. + +"Not she," said Flexinna; "she has some k-k-kind of skin rash and has +lost almost all her hair." + +"Sabbia," Brinnaria proposed. + +"Her mother's d-d-dead too," Flexinna reminded her; "has been for +months." + +"Fremnia," came the next suggestion. + +"She's off to Aquileia with her family," said Flexinna; "they all left +the d-d-day your folks went." + +"Eppia," ventured Brinnaria. + +"She's ten years old now," Flexinna demurred. "She celebrated her +b-b-birthday three days before the Kalends. I was at the party." + +"Pennasia, perhaps," Brinnaria suggested. + +"D-d-deaf in one ear like her mother and grandmother," said Flexinna, +"and you know it." + +"Licinia," Brinnaria ventured. + +"She'd be the last they'd choose on account of the b-b-bad luck Vestals +of her family have had;" Flexinna reminded her. "The very name suggests +disgrace. Anyhow, she's in Baiae with her p-p-people." + +"Rentulana," came the next conjecture. + +"Has a b-b-big wen on the side of her head," Flexinna proclaimed. + +"Numledia?" came next. + +"You've lost your memory, Brinnaria," said Flexinna, severely. "She's +got a b-b-big purple birthmark on her neck." + +"Magnonia," Brinnaria proposed. + +"She's far away, in Britain, with her father and mother; might as well +be out of the world." + +Brinnaria was at a loss. She meditated. "Gavinna!" she said at last. + +"She has a bad squint and you know it," laughed Flexinna. "Why don't you +think of an eligible c-c-candidate?" + +They tried a dozen more names, all of girls out of the city or defective +in some way, or with one parent dead. + +"But who will it be?" Brinnaria wondered. "It's bound to be somebody and +quick." + +She jumped to her feet. + +She screamed. + +"They'll take me! They'll take me! Oh, what am I to do, what am I to do? +I'm the only possible candidate in the city. And they'll be after me the +moment they run over the lists and find no one else is in town." + +She stood a moment, considering, then she called Guntello, and a +lean Caledonian slave called Intinco. She gave them each a written +journey-order to show to any patrol that questioned them, told Guntello +to take the best horse in the stable and to give the next best to +Intinco, bade Intinco ride to Carsioli and Guntello to Falerii, gave +Guntello a letter for Almo and Intinco a letter to her father and told +them verbally, in case the letter was lost, to make it plain that +she was in danger of being taken for a Vestal and bid her father come +quickly to interfere and her lover to ride fast to claim her in time. +She enjoined both slaves to spur their horses, gave them money in case +they needed to hire fresh mounts and wound up: + +"Kill Rhaebus, kill Xanthus, kill as many hired horses as need be, ride +without halt or mercy. Get there and get father and Almo here. Be quick. +You can't be too quick." + +She watched them ride off at a sedate walk, for no man was allowed to +trot a horse in the streets of Rome. Both had assured her that they +would ride at full gallop from the moment they passed the gates. + +Then began for Brinnaria a tense and anxious period of waiting. Flexinna +obtained her parents' permission and remained with her friend. The +entire household continued in good health and there was nothing to +distract t he two from their dread on the one hand that the Pontifex +might come to claim Brinnaria before Almo and her father arrived, and +their hope on the other hand of seeing them come in time. + +On the whole the strain told on Flexinna more than on Brinnaria, who +never once shed a tear, attended to her housewifely duties calmly and +steadily and talked little. Flexinna fidgeted constantly and talked a +good deal. + +"If I were in your place," she said, "I shouldn't be waiting here +inertly for Faltonius to come and claim me. Instead of dispatching +messengers for your father and Almo, you ought to have left the city at +once and made your best speed for Carsioli yourself." + +"I couldn't," Brinnaria declared, "and you know why. I passed my word to +stay in this house and not so much as to go out unless some compelling +necessity arose. I pledged myself not to leave here unless I sent a +messenger saying I needed to leave and received permission before I +started. I took my oath not to cross the city limits without Father's +consent. I can't break my oath and I shouldn't break my word, even if I +hadn't sworn in addition to promising." + +"You f-f-fool!" Flexinna declared. + +"All members of our clan keep their word," said Brinnaria proudly. "We +do not ask whether it is advantageous to keep our word or pleasant; +when we have passed our word we keep it. I've given my word and there's +nothing to do but to wait for Almo and Daddy and hope that both, or at +least a message from Daddy will get here before Faltonius." + +"There is something else you might do," Flexinna suggested. "You might +easily arrange to be ineligible before Bambilio comes for you." + +"I shall," spoke the matter-of-fact Brinnaria. "The moment Daddy and +Almo come, I'll be Alma's wife in less time than it takes to tell it and +will be able to snap my fingers at Bambilio." + +"Suppose he comes before your father," Flexinna suggested. + +"I'd be a Vestal and all hope gone," said Brinnaria, + +"I mean," said Flexinna, "suppose Almo comes before your father." + +"I've thought of that," Brinnaria admitted. "But I'd hate to break the +record of which our family is so proud. None of our women ever were so +much as accused of any misbehavior before marriage." + +"I've no p-p-patience with you," Flexinna raged. "You'll throw away +your life for a mere scruple. You risk being made a Vestal every moment. +Faltonius may be on the way here now. If I were in your place I'd make +sure. I'd not wait for Almo. Any lad would do for me. You c-c-could make +sure, if you had sense. Almo would forgive you and marry you anyway. +Your father would forgive you; he'd never approve, I know." + +"Not he!" Brinnaria proclaimed, "and he'll never have any such dishonor +to forgive. No man of our clan ever had reason to be ashamed of his +daughter or of his sister. I'll not be the first to disgrace the clan. +If Faltonius comes he'll find me as eligible as the hour I was born, +unless Daddy and Almo come in time for me to be married first." + +"At least," Flexinna persisted, "you might say no when he asks you. That +would stall the whole ceremony and give you t-t-time." + +"Do you suppose," Brinnaria sneered, "that I haven't thought of that? +I'm tempted, of course. But that would be to advertise myself a disgrace +to the Pontifex during a solemn interrogatory." + +"At least," Flexinna pleaded, "you might say you are over age. You look +sixteen to anybody, and no one would imagine you are under fourteen. You +could halt the proceedings, at least, and gain t-t-time." + +"Faltonius has the lists," said Brinnaria wearily, "with all the +birthdays sworn to by both parents for every girl on them and attested +by four excellent witnesses, besides. He'd know I was lying and it would +do me no good." + +Flexinna changed the subject. + +But when the next day dawned and neither Brinnarius nor Almo appeared, +she returned to the attack. Brinnaria was very pale, very tense, but +obdurate. She controlled herself, did not forget, did not express her +feelings, but she posted a slave at each street corner, right and left +of the house-door, and had them look out for what she hoped and what she +feared. + +Dastor brought word that the Pontifex and his retinue were approaching; +three litters, each with eight bearers, preceded by the lictor of the +Chief Vestal. + +Brinnaria, pale and tense, did her best to look collected and +controlled. She succeeded well, heard calmly the announcement of her +august visitors, ordered them shown into the atrium, and received them +with proper dignity. Her self-possession did not desert her when she +recognized in the train of the Pontifex her rejected suitor Calvaster, +sly, malignant and with an air of suppressed elation. + +Faltonius Bambilio, the Pontifex of Vesta, was a pursy, pudgy, pompous +old man, immensely self-important, almost ridiculous in his fussiness, +but clothed with a certain impressiveness by the mere fact of his +religious office. He gazed about him, stared at Brinnaria, hemmed and +hawed and threw himself into poses intended to be stately. + +With him was Causidiena, now Chief Vestal, a tall, spare woman of about +forty-five, her austere face kindly and reassuring, her dark hair barely +showing under her official head-dress, a statuesque figure in her white +robes of office. + +"My daughter," spoke Faltonius to Brinnaria, "Rome has but five Vestals. +I have come to take you into the vacant place. You have been chosen, as +best suited to this high dignity, from among those whose names were +on the lists of those fit for the office. Was it proper that your name +should be on the lists?" + +"I believe so," spoke Brinnaria, weakly, almost in a whisper. + +"Are you fit to be taken as a Vestal, my daughter?" + +"I believe so," came the answer. + +"Have you any blemish or defect of body, any impediment of speech, any +difficulty of hearing?" + +Brinnaria's awe was wearing off, and the irritating pomposity of +Faltonius was producing its usual effect of arousing antagonism, as it +generally did in those he talked to. Brinnaria felt all her wild self +surge up in her. + +"I'm sound as a two-year-old racing filly," she replied. "I'm clean as +fresh curd; I hear you perfectly and you can hear me perfectly." + +Bambilio bristled like a bantam rooster. + +"That is not the way for a Vestal to speak," he rebuked. + +"I'm not a Vestal yet," Brinnaria retorted, "and that was my answer to +those questions. If you don't like it I don't care a shred of bran." + +"Come! come!" fussed Bambilio, "answer the interrogatories properly." + +"I have and I shall," Brinnaria maintained mutinously. + +"Are you fit in mind and in faculties to be a Vestal?" he continued. + +"Fit to be Flaminica or Empress," Brinnaria responded. + +"Are you pure?" came the next query. + +"As when I was born," said Brinnaria emphatically. + +"What is your age?" the Pontifex queried his victim. + +"I'll be ten on the Ides of next September," quoth his victim. + +"Are your parents both alive?" he asked. + +"They were the last time I heard of them," spoke Brinnaria flippantly. + +"When was that?" he insisted. + +"This is the twelfth day since they left Rome," said Brinnaria, "and +I've not heard from them since they sent a messenger back from the ninth +milestone on the road to Tibur." + +Faltonius was irritating her more and more, and she added: + +"They may both be dead by this time, for all I know." + +"This will not do," spoke Faltonius. "We must be sure that they are both +alive." + +"Find out," snapped Brinnaria. + +Up spoke young Calvaster, his pasty face alight with a sort of malicious +glee. + +"I passed Quartilla's travelling carriage at Varia last night. Quartilla +was alive and well. I passed Brinnarius this morning at dawn, this side +of Tibur. He was alive then and puffing." + +"How did you get here ahead of him?" Brinnaria interjected. + +"I am light built," Calvaster explained with obvious relish, "and I rode +the best horse in Italy. His mount labored heavily under his load." + +"Both parents are then alive," spoke Faltonius. "I hereupon and hereby +pronounce you in all respects fit to be taken as a Vestal. Are you +willing?" + +"Not I!" Brinnaria fairly shouted. + +"Not willing!" Faltonius cried, incredulous. + +"Not a fibre of me!" she proclaimed emphatically. + +"Wretched girl!" expostulated the Pontiff. "Have you no sense of +patriotism? Do you not realize your duty to your country, to the Roman +people, to Rome, to the Emperor, to all of us, to the commonwealth? Do +you not realize Rome's need of you? Shall it be said that Rome has need +of one of her daughters and that her unnatural child refuses?" + +"I have not refused," said Brinnaria. "I only said I was unwilling." + +"It is the same thing," declared the bewildered ecclesiastic. + +"Not a bit the same thing," Brinnaria disclaimed. "I know my duty in +this matter perfectly. Castor be good to me, I know it too well. I +know that a refusal would avail me nothing, if I did refuse. I have not +refused. I would not, even if I could escape by refusal I realize my +duty. If I am taken I shall be all that a Vestal is expected to be, all +that she must be to ensure the glory and prosperity and safety of the +city and the Empire. I shall not fail the Emperor nor the Roman people, +nor Rome. But I am unwilling, and I said so. Little good it will do me. +But I am no liar, not even in the tightest place." + +"Stand up, my daughter," said Faltonius, rising himself, suddenly +clothed in dignity, a really impressive figure, in spite of his globular +proportions. + +Brinnaria stood, her eyes on the door to the vestibule, her face very +pale, trembling a little, but controlled. + +The Pontifex took her hand and spoke: + +"As priestess of Vesta, to perform those rites which it is fitting that +a priestess of Vesta perform for the Roman People and the citizens, as a +girl who has been chosen properly, so I take you, Beloved." + +At the word "Beloved," which made her irretrievably a Vestal, Brinnaria +could not repress a little gasp. Her eyes no longer watched the +vestibule door. She looked at the Pontiff. He let go her hand. + +"You will now go with your servitor to be clothed as befits your +calling." + +He indicated one of Causidiena's attendants, a solidly built woman, +like a Tuscan villager, who carried over her arm a mass of fresh white +garments and robes. + +With her and Causidiena Brinnaria left the atrium; with them she +presently returned, a slim white figure, her hair braided and the six +braids wound round her forehead like a coronet, above them the folds of +the plain square headdress of the Vestals. + +"I thought," she said, "that my hair would be cut off." + +"That will be after you are made at home in the Atrium of Vesta," spoke +the Pontiff. + +"And remember," he continued sternly, "that you are now a Vestal and +that young Vestals may not speak unless spoken to." + +Brinnaria bit her lip. + +At that moment they heard hoofs and voices outside, the door burst open +and Brinnarius entered. + +"Too late, Daddy!" cried Brinnaria. "You can't help me now. I'm not your +little girl any more; I don't count as your daughter; you don't count as +my father; I'm daughter to the Pontifex from now on. I'm a Vestal." + +She was trembling, but she kept her countenance. Brinnarius uttered no +sound, the whole gathering was still and mute, the noises of the street +outside were plainly audible. They heard horse-hoofs again, again the +door flew open wide. In burst Almo, wide-eyed and panting. + +At him Brinnaria launched a sort of shriek of expostulation. + +"Why couldn't you ride! You call yourself a horseman! And you've come +too late! I mustn't even kiss you good-bye. And I mustn't speak to you, +I mustn't see you, I mustn't so much as think of you for thirty years, +for thirty years, _for thirty years_!" + + +CHAPTER V - ESCAPADES + + +WHEN Brinnaria found herself actually domiciled in the House of the +Vestals she experienced an odd mingling of awe and elation. The mere +size of it was impressive, for it was nearly two hundred feet wide and +almost four hundred feet long. Also it stood alone, bounded by four +streets. Besides, it gained much dignity from its location, near the +southeast corner of the great Forum of Rome, that most famous of all +city squares, and under the very shadow of the Imperial Palace, the +walls of which towered nearly three hundred feet above it, where it +crouched as it were, on a site scooped out of the huge flank of the +Palatine Hill. + +Completely as it was dominated by the enormous bulk of the Palace it +yet looked very large, having three lofty stories. Inside it was both +spacious and stately. Brinnaria was habituated to space and stateliness, +for her father's house had both, yet the Atrium of Vesta, as the House +of the Vestals was officially denominated, impressed her as vast and +splendid. That this immense and magnificent building was to be her +home gave her sense of her own importance that thrilled her through and +through. Its numerous retinue of deft and obsequious maid-servants added +to this impression. Brinnaria's personal attendants, entirely at her +beck and call and serving her alone, made up a considerable retinue by +themselves. She found herself, like each of the other Vestals, served +by a special waitress at table, by a waitress who had nothing to do but +look after her wants. Then she had a sort of maid-of-honor, who had no +duties except to act as companion, make herself agreeable, read aloud, +if requested, accompany her on her outings and help to pass her leisure +pleasantly. As she was a mere child in years she had a sort of governess +to instruct her in all those subjects in which a Roman girl of good +family was generally given lessons: correct reading; a smattering of +mathematics, about equivalent to the simple arithmetic of our days; some +knowledge of literature; a steady and efficient drill in reading and +talking Greek; instrumental music, similar to the guitar-playing of +modern times, and embroidery. She had a personal maid to bathe her, +arrange her hair and otherwise make her comfortable; also a special maid +to attend to her private apartment, which included what we would call +a sitting-room, a tiny bedroom, and a large bath-room. The largest room +was used mostly as a school-room for lessons with her instructress. +Outside the Atrium Brinnaria had her private stable, her carriages, +her coachman and ostlers, and her lictor, the red-cloaked runner, who +preceded her carriage, announced its coming and cleared the way for it +through the crowds of foot-passengers who thronged the streets of Rome. +Life in the Atrium was austere and formal, but in no respect ascetic. +The austerities extended only to attire and behavior. The decorations +of the courtyard, of the corridors and stairs, of the two hundred rooms, +were bewilderingly varied and overpoweringly gorgeous. Every appointment +of the Atrium was luxurious to the last degree; the furnishings were +beautiful and precious, every object a work of art; the bathrooms +cunningly devised for comfort, the beds deep and soft, scarcely less +so the sofas on which the Vestals reclined at their meals, the table +service of exquisite glass-ware and elaborately chased silver, the food +abundant and including every delicacy and rarity most appetizing and +enjoyable. + +Except Meffia her co-Vestals were immediately liked and speedily loved +by Brinnaria. Meffia, a month older than herself and looking six years +younger, was a small, awkward, ungainly girl, with pale blue eyes, pale +yellow hair and babyish pink complexion. She had never had an ill hour +in her life, yet she always appeared ailing, shrank from any effort, +hated exercise and exertion and at every necessity for movement asserted +that she was tired, often that she felt weak. Brinnaria thought her +merely innately lazy and a natural shirk. The more she saw of her the +more her loathing for her and her hatred of her intensified. Quite +the reverse with the others. Manlia was a large young woman of about +twenty-two, a typical Roman aristocrat, her hair between dark brown and +black, her complexion swarthy, her figure abundant. Gargilia was older +than Manlia; a tall, slender creature with intensely black hair +and piercing black eyes that looked straight at you out of a face +healthfully tinted indeed, but of a whiteness which was the envy of half +the beauties in Rome. Numisia Maximilla was much like an older Manlia, +but sparer and of markedly haughty bearing and carriage. Causidiena, +newly become Chief Vestal, was a woman of about forty-five years of age, +mild, gentle, and charming, with cool gray eyes and glossy brown hair, a +being who aroused affection, inspired admiration and compelled love from +all her household. + +She won Brinnaria's heart at once by telling her that she herself, when +she had first entered the Atrium of Vesta, had found it difficult to +learn the etiquette of the order, had wanted to shout and sing and laugh +out loud, to run up and down stairs instead of walking, to skip and +jump. + +That Causidiena had triumphed over similar tendencies comforted +Brinnaria and helped her to try to overcome her own. Most difficult to +curb was her tendency to be rude to Meffia. This Causidiena noticed +at once and set herself to obliterate. Brinnaria unbosomed herself and +Causidiena listened so sympathetically that Brinnaria sat silent +through the long lecture that followed and was very submissive during +a searching interrogatory. She promised to comport herself as a Vestal +should. + +"But," she said, "I shall suffer. That girl is unpleasant in ten +thousand ways, but the smell of her is the most unpleasant thing about +her. She's been tubbed and scrubbed and massaged and perfumed twice a +day ever since I came here and she smells worse than a polecat, anyhow, +all day long, even the moment after her maid has finished her toilet. A +whiff of Meffia sets me frantic. I'd be capable of any crime to get rid +of her." + +More lecturing followed. + +"But it's true!" Brinnaria maintained. "You can't help smelling her +yourself; she smells like nothing else on earth. It isn't the smell of +a dirty girl or of an ill girl, nor the smell of a girl at all or of any +kind of a human being. I can't describe it, but it's a thin sour smell, +sharp and shrill like the note of a cricket, if a sound and a smell can +be compared. It's horrible; it's not human." + +More lecturing, a long session of lecturing, followed this outburst. At +the end of it the victim was meek and pliable, or so professed herself. +For at least five days Brinnaria kept up her effort to be comradely +with Meffia. By the sixth day she was completely exhausted and the two +avoided each other as before. + +Agonies indeed Brinnaria suffered in her efforts to live up to +Causidiena's ideas of what she should be. On the whole she succeeded +pretty well and committed few errors of deportment. Outwardly she +controlled herself from the first; for, before her first cowed +sensations had worn off, her adoration of Causidiena had gained full +sway over her. Yet inwardly she suffered more and more acutely as time +went on, partly feeling that she must burst out in spite of herself, +partly dreading that she would. + +At last, after many days, she perpetrated her first and most undignified +prank. It was a terrific occurrence, judged by the standards of the +Atrium. + +The great peristyle of the House of the Vestals, including nearly +three-fourths of the whole courtyard, was beautified with a splendid +double colonnade, two tiers of pillars, one above the other, the lower +of delicately mottled Carystian marble wavily veined with green streaks +varying its whiteness, the upper of coral-red brecchia. Midway of the +court was a tank lined with marbles and always filled with clear water. + +One morning Meffia, walking about the court, in her irritatingly aimless +fashion, passed between Brinnaria and the edge of the tank. There was no +earthly reason for her so doing, as Brinnaria was barely a yard from +the margin of the pool, and on the other side of Brinnaria was the ample +expanse of the pavement of the spacious court. + +Brinnaria was exasperated by Meffia's proximity, by her lackadaisical +manner, by her shambling gait, by her sleep-walking attitude, most of +all by the peculiar thin, sour odor which Meffia exhaled. At the +sight of Meffia's elaborately disagreeable demeanor of isolation, +all Brinnaria's natural self began to boil in her; at the whiff which +assailed her nostrils she boiled over, all her uncurbed instincts +surging up at once. She put out one foot and gave Meffia a push. + +Meffia, with a squall and a great splash, fell into the tank. + +She not only fell in, but she went under the water. + +She went under and did not come up. + +For an instant Brinnaria thought she was shamming to scare her; but, in +a twinkling she realized that Meffia had fainted. + +Promptly she plunged in and rescued her victim. + +Numisia, hurrying to the sound of Meffia's squawk, was horrified at the +sight of a dripping Vestal toiling up the steps of the tank carrying +over her shoulder another Vestal, equally dripping and limp as a +meal-sack, her arms and legs trailing horribly. + +Agitation at Meffia's prolonged insensibility postponed inquiry as to +how she came to fall into the tank. It so happened that Causidiena first +questioned some of the maid-servants, who all hated Meffia and liked +Brinnaria. Therefore the ones interrogated told a story as much at +variance with the facts as they saw fit. + +Brinnaria, after she was again dry-clad, quaked inwardly in anticipation +of Causidiena's wrath and suffered a good deal more at the thought of +her pained, silent displeasure. Hours passed, long hours passed and +nothing was said on the subject. From none of her sister Vestals did +she hear a word of reproach, not one of them behaved towards her any +differently from what was usual. + +Finally one of the maids enlightened Brinnaria. Promptly she sought a +private audience with Causidiena. First she made sure that none of +the maids would suffer for their duplicity and partiality; then she +confessed. + +The Chief Vestal was not wrathful, not even stern. She talked mildly and +gently, yet made Brinnaria feel very much ashamed of herself and acutely +penitent. + +The end of the interview was that Causidiena said: + +"You are such a robust child that you do not realize how frail Meffia +is. She is perfectly healthy, but is very easily unnerved or exhausted. +You have given her such a shock that she is unfit for duty. Any Vestal +is allowed to be ill for two nights and one day, if the trouble seems +trifling. But, if any Vestal is ill for a longer time, she is promptly +removed from the Atrium for nursing. I fear that Meffia may not recover +within the permitted time. I am most anxious that there should be as few +as possible cases of recorded illness in the Atrium under my management. +As you have caused the situation you must help me to avoid what I fear. +Go to Meffia and nurse her out of this and get her about to-morrow +morning." + +"Castor be good to me!" Brinnaria cried. "Smell that girl for a day and +a night! Whew! Pretty severe punishment! But I deserve that and worse. +And I'll do anything for you, Causidiena." + +Meffia hated Brinnaria cordially, yet she found her a deft, tactful and +silent nurse. But the very sight of Brinnaria was to her an irritant +tonic. She was entirely fit for duty the next day, not a trace of +slackness, unwillingness or sullenness. + +Causidiena early made up her mind that Brinnaria's intentions were good +and that she was far from planning her outbursts. She had herself +no prevision of what was coming, not an inkling of what was about to +happen, she blurted out her shocking remarks without herself knowing +what she was going to say and was overwhelmed with confusion when her +own ears heard the totally unexpected words which she had uttered; she +contemplated aghast the havoc she had wrought. Generally she made a +pretty fair attempt at demeaning herself as a Vestal should; but, every +once in a while, without warning, something of her old wild self surged +up in her and the speech was spoken or the action completed before she +realized she was about to speak or act at all. + +One such freak gave her a sort of notoriety, brought her name to the +lips of every gossip in Rome. + +She was as pleased with her privileges as a normal child of her age with +a set of new toys, as warily insistent on them as any aristocrat of her +build and appearance. + +She learned the precise nature and extent of her prerogatives and did +her utmost to enjoy them all. Being an adept at accounts she ascertained +the character of the various estates and investments that went to make +up the great property which was her jointure as a Vestal, made sure of +the exact income from each of its components, also the total amount; +both how far she was allowed to have her way in spending it and how +soon she would be free of supervision in that respect. She made her will +before she had been a Vestal for a month, leaving all her property to +Almo, should she die before him; but the whole to the order of Vestals +if he died before her. + +Of all her privileges the one she enjoyed most was the right to drive +where she pleased through the city in her private carriage, with her +lictor running ahead and clearing the way for it. Carriage-driving +within the city limits was restricted in Rome by severe regulations +rigorously enforced.* Ordinary travelling carriages might use only the +great main thoroughfares leading to the city gates. The owner of +one, unless he happened to live on one of those chief arteries of the +traffic, might not step from his house door into his carriage but must +have it halted at some point on the permitted avenues and must reach +it on foot or by litter. But there was no street or alley in Rome wide +enough for a carriage which a Vestal might not drive through; a. +Vestal might drive anywhere. Brinnaria was first taken out driving by +Causidiena and Numisia, then by the others in succession. Driving with +Meffia was no pleasure to her, but it was the etiquette of the order +that each Vestal in turn should offer the courtesy of her carriage to a +new member of the sisterhood. + +*In fact, wheeled vehicles except for those of the Emperor and the +Vestals were forbidden in the city during the daytime. + +After that formality had been complied with Brinnaria was permitted to +drive where she pleased, with what guest she chose, or accompanied +only by her official companion or by her maid. Systematically she +drove everywhere, once alone with her maid, once with each of the other +Vestals, often with her mother, often with Flexinna. It gave her great +pleasure to drive up the long zigzag approach to the Capitol, where no +human being save the Vestals and the Empress might be driven, and where +few Empresses had ever ventured to drive, to have her carriage halted +before the great Temple of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, where no carriage +except the carriages of the Vestals had been seen for more than a +hundred years, to enter the temple and say her prayers. It gave her +even more pleasure to take her mother or Flexinna with her, as was her +privilege; to make them sharers in her right to be driven to Rome's +chief temple, to which all other Romans, even the Emperors, must walk or +be carried by litter-bearers. + +She discovered another privilege of her position. Roman women of the +better classes never went out of doors alone. On the streets a lady, +if not companioned by one or more equals, was always accompanied by a +maid-servant. This had been the custom from time immemorial and had come +to have the force of a moral law. The sight of a woman of wealth and +position entirely alone in her carriage would have been startling, to +see a lady in her litter without a maid walking behind the bearers would +have been shocking: the spectacle of a lady alone on foot would have +given scandal. + +But, by some survival of the simplicity of the manners in those +primitive days in which the order originated, the Vestals were +exceptions to this mandatory fashion. A Vestal might never go abroad on +foot, except in one of the solemn processions. But, in her litter or her +carriage, she might go anywhere in Rome unaccompanied, protected only +by her lictor and her bearers or coachman. This privilege, like many +others, marked the Vestals as being apart from and exalted above the +rest of woman-kind. + +As soon as Brinnaria learned that she possessed this right she proceeded +to exercise it. Though she felt lonesome when driving alone and enjoyed +her outing far more when she had a companion, yet she drove alone day +after day, merely because it was her prerogative. So driving she had, in +one day, two thrilling experiences. She had told her coachman to drive +where he pleased and hardly noticed where she was being driven. + +Suddenly turning from a side street into one of the main thoroughfares +of the city, she encountered the co-Emperor Lucius Verus with his +official escort. It was during the busy days preceding his departure for +Antioch and his great campaign against the Parthians. Verus, roused from +his devotion to sport and pleasure, was feverish with enthusiasm and +full of mercurial energy. He bustled in and out of Rome, inspecting +camps, presiding at ceremonials and keeping everything in a ferment. + +That day he was returning from an inspection amid a large and gorgeous +retinue. Brinnaria had a blurred vision of splendid uniforms and +dazzling accoutrements. Her vision was blurred because her eyes filled +with tears; she turned hot and cold and almost fainted with emotion, +when the Emperor's twenty-four lictors lowered their fasces, the whole +procession halted, the escort and the Emperor himself swerved their +horses aside to let her pass and remained at the salute until she +had passed. The sudden realization of the importance of her official +position overwhelmed her. + +As she drove on, when she recovered herself, she meditated on the +experience, and told herself that she must live up to her exalted +station, that she must never, never, never for such as one instant, +forget herself or behave otherwise than as became a Vestal. On the very +same drive, before she returned to the Atrium, she completely forgot +herself. + +It was a hot, sultry afternoon and it suited her coachman to drive +homeward along the Subura, that thronged and unsavory Bowery of ancient +Rome. Three street urchins were teasing and maltreating a rough +coated, muddy little cur. Brinnaria called imperiously to her lictor +to interfere. He was too far ahead to hear her. Her coachman had all he +could do to control her mettlesome span of Spanish mares. She spoke to +the boys and they laughed at her. Before she knew it she had flung open +her carriage door, had leapt out, had cuffed soundly the ears of the +three dumbfounded gamins, and was back among her cushions, the dog in +her arms. + +This escapade brought upon her a visit from the Pontifex of Vesta, the +semi-globular Faltonius Bambilio, diffusing pomposity. From him she +had to listen to a long lecture on deportment and to a reading of the +minutes of the meeting of the College of Pontiffs which had discussed +her public misbehavior. + + + +CHAPTER VI - NOTORIETY + + +WITHIN a month she did far worse. She perpetrated, in fact, a deed with +the fame of which not only the city, but the Empire rang; made herself +notorious everywhere. + +It was on the occasion of her introductory visit to the Colosseum when, +for the first time, she was a spectator at an exhibition of fighting +gladiators. She was in a high-strung state of elation and anticipation. +Going to the Amphitheatre, in itself, was a soul-stirring experience. +Meffia, to Brinnaria's joy, had been on duty that day, along with +Numisia. This alone was enough to put Brinnaria in a good humor. +Meffia's presence spoiled for her any sort of pleasure. Then, besides, +they drove to the Colosseum, not in their light carriages, but two +by two in their gorgeous state coaches, huge vehicles, of which the +woodwork was elaborately carved and heavily gilded and whose cushions +and curtains were all of that splendid official color, the imperial +purple. The name conveys to us a false impression, for the hue known +then as imperial purple was not what we should call a purple, but a +deep, dark crimson, like the tint of claret in a goblet. Against a +background of this magnificent color, the Vestals, habited all in white, +showed conspicuously. Their stately progress through the streets, gazed +at and pointed at by the admiring crowds, was conducive to high spirits. +Still more so was it to be ushered obsequiously through cool corridors +and up carpeted stairs to the Vestals' private loge, a roomy space +immediately to the right of the imperial pavilion. To be inside the +Colosseum at last set her eyes dancing and her heart thumping; the +anticipation of actually viewing the countless fights of many hundreds +of gladiators increased her excitement; to be seated in front seats, +with nothing but the carved stone coping between her and the arena +was most exhilarating of all. She was delighted with her great, carved +arm-chair, deeply cushioned and so heavy that it was as firm on its +solid oak legs as if bolted to the stone floor. She settled herself in +it luxuriously, gazed across the smooth yellow sand, glanced up at the +gay, parti-colored awning, and then conned the vast audience, line after +line of rose-crowned heads rising tier above tier all about her. + +She scanned the faces in the front row to left and right as far as she +could make them out clearly. She peered across the open space of the +arena, puckering her eyes to see better. When she caught sight of what +she was looking for she turned timidly, leaned past Manlia and asked +Causidiena: + +"May I wave my hand to mother?" + +"Certainly, my child," Causidiena assured her. + +Brinnaria waved her little hand and was seen, and felt the thrill of a +general family handwaving in reply. + +Suddenly she experienced a qualm of bashfulness, as if every one in the +enormous gathering were looking at her, watching her. She cast down her +eyes, wrapped her white robe close about her, hiding her hands under it, +and shrank into her arm-chair. For a while, for a long while, she fanned +herself nervously, very slowly, and striving to appear calm. Gradually +she became calm and laughed to herself at her own folly, realizing that +nobody was noticing her. + +Nobody noticed her. Many spectators noticed the Vestals, but no one +noticed her individually. This she realized acutely before the day was +over. + +At about the time when she began to feel herself at ease the entrance +of the Emperor and his suite distracted her attention from herself. When +the trumpet blew, announcing the approach of the Imperial party, a +hush fell on the vast audience and all eyes turned towards the grand +pavilion. When the trumpet blew the second time, just before the Emperor +came in sight, the hush deepened and the spectators watched intently. +When his head appeared as he mounted the stairs the audience burst into +the short, sharply staccato song of welcome, something like a tuneful, +sing-song college yell, with which Roman crowds greeted their master. +This vocal salute, a mere tag of eight or nine syllables, each with +its distinctive note, was repeated over and over until the Emperor was +seated. + +Then the audience settled themselves into their seats. Brinnaria had +instinctively started to rise when she caught sight of the Emperor. +Manlia had put out a restraining hand. The Vestals, alone of all Romans, +remained seated in the presence of the Emperor, not even rising when he +appeared. + +Marcus Aurelius was a tall, spare man of over forty years of age, with +abundant hair curling in long ringlets over his chest and shoulders, +and a full beard mingling with the carefully disposed curls. He was a +serious-faced man, careworn and solemn. + +Brinnaria regarded him with interest. She had never seen him so +close and she felt a sudden fellow-feeling for him from the sense of +semi-equality with him that flooded through her at having remained +seated. She recalled vividly the half-dozen times she had watched from +balconies the passage of processions in which the Emperor took part, +how her mother had made her stand up the moment he came in sight and had +kept her standing until he was far away. Her sudden exaltation in social +position was borne in upon her with startling emphasis. Not even her +carriage rides had impressed her so tellingly with the sensation of her +own importance in the great world of Imperial Rome. + +"How does he look to you?" Manlia asked. They were seated in the order +of their seniority, Causidiena on the right, then Gargilia, Manlia next +Brinnaria. + +"He looks crushed under his responsibilities and anxieties," Brinnaria +replied. "He looks depressed, even sad." + +"He is all that, poor man," her neighbor agreed, "and no wonder in these +days. The Parthians are at us on the east, the Germans in the north, +and there have been more than twelve deaths in the palace each day for +twenty consecutive days now. This pestilence is enough to make anybody +sad." + +"More than that," Brinnaria countered. "He looks irritated and bored. +Everybody else is alert and keyed up with anticipation. His eyes are +dull and he looks as if he wished that the show was over and he could go +home." + +"You have read him right," Manlia told her. "He detests all kinds of +spectacles, takes no interest in races and hates beast-fights. Most of +all he loathes gladiatorial combats. Father has told me about it more +than once and Causidiena says the same thing. I can't understand it. I +never get tired of sword-fighting, myself. What I like about it is its +endless variety. I never saw any two fights exactly alike, never saw two +closely alike. Each fight is a spectacle by itself, entirely different +from any other. I don't mean the difference between the fighters in +respect to their equipment and appearance, though that contributes to +the variety also; I mean the difference in posture, method of defense +and attack, style of lunge and parry, and all that; and the countless +variations in form in the men, the subtle differences of character which +makes them face similar situations so very differently. You'll get the +feeling for it in a half a dozen shows and be as keen on it as the rest +of us. + +"But the Emperor is different. Perhaps it's because he is such a booky +man and spends so much time in reading and study. But I think not. There +never was anybody more of a bookworm than Numisia and she is as wild +over the shows as any street-boy in Rome. Anyhow, whatever the cause is, +that is the way he is. He was more than surfeited with shows before he +was Emperor. While he was nothing but a boy, soon after he was adopted +and made Caesar, he often had to preside in the Circus or here, +when Hadrian was away travelling and Antonius and Verus were on the +frontiers. He used to bring his tutors with him and have two of them +sit on each side of him a little behind him. Then, after the shows had +started, he would put a tablet on his knee and write a theme or work out +a problem in geometry and when he had finished it, would pass it to +one of his tutors for comment, or he would have them make out sets +of questions on history or something else and he would write out the +answers the best he could. Sometimes he would read. All this he did as +calmly as if he were alone in a closed room with nothing to call off his +attention. Yet he was most careful to seem to watch the shows and would +look up every little while and gaze about the arena. But nothing ever +distracted him from his lessons. That is the kind he is. He simply never +cared for this sort of thing. He says that what oppresses him is +the maddening monotony of gladiatorial shows. Fancy anybody thinking +sword-fighting monotonous! But he does. He says every combat is just +like every other. All he sees in a fight is two men facing each other +and one being killed. He gets no thrills from the uncertainties of the +outcome, no pleasure from the dexterity and skill of the fighters. To +him it's just butchery, and the same kind of butchery over and over. He +says he might get some enjoyment out of a show if something novel would +happen, something he never saw before, something unexpected. But nothing +ever does." + +Brinnaria regarded curiously this grave, earnest man, who derived so +little pleasure from the most coveted position on earth. She continued +to watch him until everybody turned to the procession around the arena +of all who were to fight that day, the invariable preliminary of a +gladiatorial show and always a splendid spectacle. When the fights began +Brinnaria felt at first an unexpected tightening of the chest, as if +a band were being drawn tight just under her armpits. Her breath came +short and hard and her heart thumped her ribs. + +The first sight of blood made her feel faint and the horrible +contortions just below her of a dying man, who writhed in strong +convulsions like a fish out of water, made her qualmish and sick. +But all that soon passed off. She was a Roman and the Romans were +professional killers, had been professional killers for a thousand +years. Success in hand to hand combat with any individual foe was every +male Roman's ideal of the crowning glory of human life; the thought of +it was in every Roman's mind from early childhood, every act of life was +a preparation for it. Their wives and sisters shared their enthusiasm +for fighting and their daughters inherited the instinct. Combat on the +field of battle was felt as the chief business of a man, to which all +other activities merely led up. By reflected light, as it were, every +kind of combat acquired a glamour in the thoughts of a Roman. The idea +of men killing men, of men being killed by men, was familiar to all +Romans, of whatever sex or age. Brinnaria was not affected as a modern +girl would be by the sight of blood or of death. The novelty revolted +her at first, but only briefly. Soon she was absorbed in the interest of +the fighting. + +Almost at once her eye was caught by a young and handsome fighter who +reminded her strongly of Almo. + +His adversary was that kind of gladiator known technically as a +secutor, a burly ruffian in complete armor, with huge shin-guards like +jack-boots, a kilt of broad leather straps hanging in two overlapping +rows, the upper set plated with bronze scales, a bronze corselet, and, +fitting closely to his shoulders, covering head and neck together, a +great, heavy helmet. He carried a large shield, squarish in shape, but +curving to fit him as if he were hiding behind a section of the outer +bark of a big tree. He was armed with a keen, straight bladed Spanish +sword. + +Facing this portentous tower of metal was a gladiator of the sort known +as a retiarius, equipped solely with a long-handled, slender-shafted +trident, like a fisherman's eel-spear, and a voluminous, wide-meshed net +of thin cord. His only clothing was a scanty body-piece of bright blue. +His feet were small with high-arched insteps. Brinnaria particularly +noticed his perfectly shaped toes. His bare legs, body and arms were +in every proportion the perfection of form, the supple muscles rippling +exquisitely under his warm tanned skin. His face was almost beautiful, +with a round chin, thin curled lips, a straight nose, and a wide brow. +Its expression was lively, even merry, almost roguish, his lips parted +in an alert smile, his blue eyes sparkling. He seemed to enjoy the game +in which he was engaged, to be brimming over with self-confidence, to +anticipate success, to relish his foretaste of combat with a sort of +impish delight. + +Roman children heard as much talk of gladiators as modern children hear +of baseball or cricket. Brinnaria knew perfectly well that the betting +on a set-to between such a pair was customarily five to three against +the secutor and on the retiarius. Yet she felt the sensation usual +with onlookers in such a case, the sensation purposed by the device +of pairing men so differently equipped, the sensation that the mailed +secutor was invincible and the naked retiarius helpless against him. She +was keyed up with interest. + +In fact the combat was interesting. The secutor, of course, could have +disposed of his antagonist in a trice, if he had only been able to +reach him. But a clumsy, heavy secutor never could reach a nimble, +agile retiarius. The one Brinnaria was watching was more than usually +light-footed and skipped about his adversary in a taunting, teasing way. +Again and again he cast his net intentionally too short, merely to +show how easily he could recover it and escape his opponent's onset. He +danced, capered, pretended to be lame and that he could not avoid being +overtaken, led his pursuer on, out-manoeuvred him, derided him; twice he +lunged through the flapping straps of his kilt and grazed his thigh. The +secutor was barely scratched, but his blood trickled down his shin-guard +and he was limping. + +Then, all in a flash, the retiarius pirouetted too rashly, slipped on +ton the sand, fell sprawling, failed to rise in time, and was slashed +deeply all down one calf. He rolled over in a last effort to escape, but +the secutor kicked him in the ribs and, before he could recover, sent +the trident spinning with a second kick and set his foot upon his +victim's neck. So standing he rolled his eyes over that part of the +audience nearest him to discover whether it was the pleasure of the +lookers-on that the defeated man should be killed or spared. + +Now it so happened that nearly all the spectators in that part of the +audience were watching a far more exciting contest farther out in the +arena, where two Indian elephants, each manned by a crew of five picked +men, were clashing in a terrific struggle No one, except Brinnaria, had +any eyes for the plight of the young retiarius below them The secutor +beheld indifferent faces gazing over his head The few thumbs he could +see pointed outward. Brinnaria, to be sure, was holding out her right +arm, thumb flat, and doing her best to attract the secutor's attention. +She failed. He glanced, indeed, at the Vestals, but as three of them sat +impassive he missed Brinnaria's imperious gesture. He prepared to put +his foe to death. First, however, he looked further along the front rows +to make sure that he had the permission of the general audience, since +the occupants of the Imperial box and of the Vestals loge seemed to +ignore him. + +Brinnaria perceived that he would probably not look again in her +direction; that as soon as his roving eyes came back from their +unhurried survey of the audience, he would deliver the fatal blow. She +quickly knotted the corner of her robe to the arm of her chair, squirmed +out of it, and threw it over the parapet. The robe of a Roman lady +was sleeveless and seamless, rather like a very long pair of very thin +blankets, all in one piece. Tied, as she had tied it, by one corner, +it made a sort of rope as it hung. She had acted so quickly that no one +noticed her, not even Manlia, who sat next her, staring fascinatedly at +the spectacle of the wrestling elephants and their warring crews. + +Grasping her robe firmly with both hands, escaping by a hair's-breadth +the despairing clutch of the horrified Manlia, Brinnaria half vaulted, +half rolled over the parapet, swung sailor-fashion to the rope her robe +formed, went down it, hand over hand, raced across the sand and faced +the victorious secutor. + +He, although a foreigner and a savage, had been long enough in Rome to +know perfectly what a Vestal was and he recoiled from her in a panic +no less than he would have felt had the goddess Vesta herself come down +from the sky to balk him of his prey. + +The next instant no one was regarding the death-struggle of the +elephants, nor any other of the scores of fights ended, ending, under +way or just begun. Every human being in the audience was staring at the +amazing spectacle of a Vestal virgin, clad only in her thin, clinging +tunic, standing over a fallen retiarius and facing an appalled and +dumbfounded secutor. + +The place fell very still. So still that the shrill voice of a +street-gamin, a boy from the Via Sacra, was audible throughout the vast +enclosure from gallery to gallery. He yelled in his cutting falsetto: +"Good for you, Sis!" + +But his neighbors silenced him at once and not even any other ragamuffin +lifted his voice. The audience were startled mute. They were quite ready +to applaud the girl's daring, but the shocking impropriety of her breach +of decorum struck them dumb. + +The Emperor, roused from his meditations by the sudden hush, looked +about him for the cause of it and saw the situation. He leaned forward, +arm out, thumb flat against the extended fingers. The secutor sheathed +his sword. + +Manlia, with great presence of mind, untied the dangling robe and +dropped it over the parapet. One of the arena attendants carried it to +Brinnaria and she put it on. But she would not stir and stood straddling +the fallen lad until one of the Emperor's aides came out of one of the +low doors in the arena-wall, crossed to her and assured her that the +defeated retiarius would be spared and cared for. Then she suffered +herself to be led back to her seat, by way of the door in the wall and +passages and stairs never meant for any Vestal to tread. + +Not until they saw Brinnaria move off in charge of the staff-officer did +the audience let loose their pent-up feelings. The place pulsated with +a roar like that of a great waterfall in a deep gorge, salvo after salvo +of cheers swelling and merging. The deep boom of their applause pursued +Brinnaria and made her cower. The people would never forget her now. +They were in ecstasy. She was their darling. + + + +CHAPTER VII - AUDIENCE + + +ON the drive homeward from that unforgettable gladiatorial exhibition +Manlia and Gargilia shared the second state coach: in the first sat +Brinnaria by Causidiena. + +"My child," Causidiena queried, "what ever made you do it?" + +"I don't know," Brinnaria replied. "I did it before I thought." + +"Well!" said her elder philosophically. "It is done now and cannot be +helped. But please try to remember that a Vestal is expected to control +herself at all times, never to act without forethought, to reflect long +before she acts, to do nothing unusual, to be very sure in each instance +that what she is about to do is wholly becoming to a Vestal." + +"I'll keep on trying," Brinnaria replied mutinously, "but I was not +constructed to be a Vestal. I always knew it; I know it now and I am +afraid I'll continue my blundering through the conventions. I'm built +that way." + +She had to endure a second long lecture from Faltonius Bambilio. +She listened submissively enough, but vouchsafed not one word of +self-defence, rejoinder or comment; and, when urged to speak, she was +obstinately silent. + +"My daughter," Faltonius droned at her, "remember that, since your +entrance into the order of Vestals, I stand to you in the relation of +parent to his own child. You should confide in me as in your spiritual +father." + +"I should do nothing of the kind," Brinnaria refuted him. "I know the +statutes of the order better than that. Up to the days of the Divine +Augustus, the Pontifex Maximus inhabited the house next to the house +of the Vestals and stood in the closest relation of fatherhood towards +them. But since he went to live on the Palatine and made us a present of +his house we have occupied all this Atrium which was built in the place +of the two houses. Since then no one has been in the same intimate +relation of control over us. The Emperors have always held the office of +Pontifex Maximus and as such each Emperor has been the spiritual father +of the Vestals. The Emperor is my spiritual father and you are not." + +"Your self-opinionated talk does you little credit," Faltonius retorted. +"Since you know so much you must know also that for many years each +Emperor has designated some priest as Pontifex of Vesta to be his deputy +and to stand in the closest relation of parental oversight towards the +members of your consecrated order; I am that deputy." + +"I have no desire to confide in a deputy," Brinnaria told him, "or to +consider the deputy as my real spiritual father. If I feel inclined to +confide I'll make my confidences to my genuine spiritual father, not to +his understrapper." + +Bambilio was piqued and spoke sourly. + +"The Emperor," he said, "will be far from pleased with my report of +you." + +"It will make no difference to me or to him what you report or whether +you make any report or not," spoke Brinnaria. "I'm going to have a talk +with him myself." + +"Doubtless," Bambilio meditated. "He has sent for you to rebuke you." + +"He has done nothing of the kind," she retorted vigorously. "He has +more sense. And if he had sent for me I should not have gone. I know my +rights. If he wanted to talk to me, he'd have to come to me here. But +as, in this case, I wanted to talk to him, I have asked for an audience +and the day and the hour have been fixed. I am to have an audience +to-morrow morning. And now, as I am to talk to him myself, I see no +reason why I should spend more time being bored by his deputy. If you +please, I should be obliged if you would terminate this interview." + +Astounded and dumb, Faltonius bowed himself out. + +Causidiena suggested that she accompany Brinnaria on her visit to the +Palace. + +"It would be lovely to have you with me," Brinnaria said, "and I am ever +so grateful for your offer. You are a dear and I love you. I shall want +you and wish for you all the way there, all the time I am there and all +the way back. I shall be scared to death. But I must go alone. In +the first place it is my right, if I were only six years old, to have +audience with the Emperor alone whenever I ask for it and as often as I +ask for it. I am not going to abate an iota of my rights merely for my +own comfort. In the second place, I must go through this unhelped and +unsupported all by myself. I know it; I must fight it out alone and come +through alone. He'll be sympathetic, if I deserve it. If I don't deserve +sympathy from him I don't deserve it from you, nor your company and your +countenance, either." + +Scared Brinnaria was, but even through her worst qualms of panic she was +uplifted by an elating sense of her own importance. Not her encounter +with Verus and his retinue, not her having remained seated when Aurelius +entered the Colosseum had so poignantly made her realize how exalted was +a Vestal. She drove to the Palace alone, not in her light carriage, but +in her huge state coach, feeling very small in her white robes amid +all that crimson upholstery, but also feeling herself a very great +personage. + +Her reception at the Palace made her feel even more so. The magnificence +of the courtyard in which her coach came to a standstill, the ceremonial +of turning out the guard in her honor, the formality with which she was +conducted from corridor to corridor and from hail to hail, the immensity +and gorgeousness of the vast audience hall in which she was finally left +alone with the Emperor; all these did not so much overwhelm her as exalt +her. She felt herself indeed a princess. + +The Emperor greeted Brinnaria kindly, was as sympathetic as possible +and put her at her ease at once. He soothed her, made her seat herself +comfortably and said: + +"Don't worry about what you have done. You are certainly the most +startling Vestal since Gegania, but you have really done nothing +actually wrong. So do not agitate yourself about what cannot be altered. +The question which concerns me is, what will you do next?" + +"I think," said Brinnaria, "that the next thing I shall do will be to +procure a good strong rope and hang myself." + +"My child," the shocked Emperor exclaimed, "you really should not speak +so flippantly of so dreadful an idea!" + +"I'm not a particle flippant this time," Brinnaria declared. "I know I +am often flippant, but not now, not a bit. I am just as serious as +life and death. I have thought of nothing but suicide since Trebellius +conducted me back to my seat. I can't get the idea out of my head and +that is why I have come to you." + +"Tell me all about it from the beginning," the Emperor said, +comfortingly. "What put the notion into your head?" + +"In the beginning," said Brinnaria, "you know that I didn't want to be a +Vestal." + +"Yes, I know," he assured her. + +"Well," she went on, "now I am a Vestal and must serve out my thirty +years, I'm really trying to do my best to be all I ought to be. I really +am. I've tried hard to be sedate and grave and collected and reticent +and slow-spoken, and all the rest of it. And I think I haven't done +badly most of the time. But after all, I'm myself and I can't be +changed. Every once in a while myself boils up in me under the scum of +convention I've spread on top of the cauldron, so to speak. I don't +mean to let go and be natural and spontaneous. I've done the awful thing +before I know I'm going to do it. I didn't mean to pour the pork gravy +over old Gubba's head; but she looked so funny I just did it without +knowing what I was going to do. I didn't mean to throw Manlia's pet +monkey out of the window on to Moccilo's head. But her shock of red +curls looked to be just the place on which to drop little Dito, and +I dropped Dito before I thought. It's just the same way about all the +other dreadful things I do. I don't mean to do them, but I do do them." + +"Don't worry," the Emperor said, "you'll outgrow all that." + +"I trust I may," Brinnaria sighed, "but how about the harm I'm doing as +I go along?" + +"You haven't done any harm, not any harm that matters," the Emperor +soothed her. + +"Are you perfectly sure of that?" she persisted. "If you could make +me perfectly sure of that, I should feel a great deal better. Are you +sure?" + +"I can't see any real harm in your pranks," the Emperor said. "I +certainly should not encourage you to continue or repeat such conduct or +to revert to it, but I see no real harm in it." + +"You think I have not unfitted myself for my duties?" + +The Emperor meditated. + +"To a certainty," he said, "if your conduct was intentional, if you +thought up these pranks of yours and perpetrated them, with deliberate +consciousness of what you were about to do, I should hold you gravely +unfitted for your position. But you are manifestly sincere in your +efforts to be all you ought to be and are trying genuinely to overcome +your tendencies and to outgrow your coltishness. I am of the opinion +that, if you curb yourself from now on, you have done no harm." + +"Do you think," Brinnaria insisted, "that if you called a meeting of all +the colleges of pontiffs and put the question to them, that they would +make the same answer you have made?" + +"You amazing child!" Aurelius exclaimed. "Why should you assume the +attitude of advocate against yourself? Why suggest a synod to discuss +your conduct and express an official opinion on it? Is not my opinion +enough? Even if I saw fit to call a synod and all the members of it held +the same views and expressed them never so cogently, do you not realize +that, if my views were contrary to theirs, it would be my view that +would prevail; that it would not only be my privilege and my right +but my imperative duty to override any opposition and to enforce my +decision? Are you not satisfied with the opinions of the man who is at +once Emperor and Chief Pontifex of Rome?" + +"But," Brinnaria persisted, "I am not at all sure that you are speaking +as Emperor and Chief Pontifex. To me you seem to speak as a kindly +husband and father very sympathetic towards another man's little +daughter who comes to you in deep trouble of spirit." + +"You amazing child!" the Emperor repeated. "You talk as if you were +forty years old. Tell me precisely what is troubling you, for I must +have failed to fathom it, and be sure I shall reply officially as +Emperor and Pontifex." + +"What troubles me," said Brinnaria, "is the dread that my wild +and tomboyish behavior may be as displeasing to the Goddess as +coquettishness or wantonness. I am in terror for fear my ministrations +may be unpleasant to her, may be sacrilegious, may not only fail to win +her blessing upon Rome but may draw down her curse upon all of us. I +never thought of that until I stood there all alone out in the arena, +astraddle of that beautiful boy whom I just had to save, feeling all of +a sudden horribly naked in my one thin, clinging undergarment, with two +hundred thousand eyes staring at me. It came over me with a rush that +I was not only never going to be fit for a Vestal but that I wasn't fit +for a Vestal and I hadn't been fit for a Vestal; that I not only was +going to do harm, not only was doing harm, but had done harm. If the +Parthians are devastating the frontier along the Euphrates and the +Marcommani and the Quadi are storming the outposts along the Danube +and the Rhine, perhaps that is because my presence in the Atrium is an +offence in the eyes of Vesta, my prayers an affront to my Goddess, my +care of her altar-fire an insult to her. I tremble to think of it. And I +cannot get it out of my head. I wake up in the dark and think of it and +it keeps me awake, sometimes, longer than I ever lay awake in the dark +in my life. It scares me. I am a Vestal to bring prosperity and glory +to the Empire, to pray prayers that will surely be answered. Suppose +the Goddess is deaf to my prayers because I am unworthy to pray to her? +Suppose that my prayers infuriate her because I am vile in her sight? +Suppose I am causing disaster to the Empire? I keep thinking all that. +Do you wonder that I think of suicide, of hanging myself, like the two +Oculatas?" + +"My child!" Aurelius cut in. "You have not done anything that justifies +your comparing yourself to the Oculata sisters." + +"We'll come back to that later," Brinnaria replied. "Just now let us +stick to the point. Do you think my fears justified or not?" + +"Decidedly not," the Emperor rejoined, without an instant's hesitation, +"and I speak not as a soft-hearted parent who sees the soul of his own +daughter looking at him out of the eyes of every little girl whose heart +troubles her, I speak as the guardian of the interests of the Empire, as +the warder of the destinies of Rome. + +"Your misbehavior has certainly been grave, I admit; and, if done +maliciously, would entail all the harm you imagine. But the Goddess can +see not only your actions but your thoughts. Your scruples do you high +credit. I will not say you are as pleasing to the Goddess as would be a +grave and sedate ministrant, but I do solemnly decide and declare that +you need have no further dread of any past, present or future harm to +the Empire or to Rome from your past behavior, if you honestly try to +err no more. This is my official decision. Be at peace in your heart." + +Brinnaria drew a deep breath. + +"You certainly comfort me," she said, "but I just know I'll boil over +again and not once, but many times." + +"Vesta will comprehend," he said, "if your derelictions are less and +less frequent and less and less violent; if you succeed a little better +from month to month and from year to year. She will not be pleased +with your lapses, if you lapse again, but she will be pleased at your +struggles with yourself and with your good intentions. She will smile +upon your ministrations and hearken to your petitions. Be comforted." + +"I am," said Brinnaria, "as far as that trifle goes, but now we come to +my real and chief concern. Suppose I am as detestable in the sight of my +Goddess as the Oculata sisters were, and for a similar reason; suppose +I ought to hang myself as dead as they hanged themselves. Oughtn't I, +then, to hang myself?" + +"You incredible creature!" Aurelius cried. "I've met women by the +thousand, by the tens of thousands, but never a girl like you. What +do you mean? What can you mean? You cannot mean what you seem to mean. +Explain yourself. Be explicit. Tell me all about what is troubling you. +I'll understand and put your mind at ease." + +"I trust you may," Brinnaria sighed, "but I dread that you cannot. I +mean just what I seem to mean." + +"Impossible!" the Emperor cried, "a child of ten, but a few months out +of her mother's care and those few months in the care of Causidiena! And +I wouldn't believe it of you if you were twice your age." + +"Oh," said Brinnaria, "I haven't acted like Caparronia and the two +Oculatas, and I shouldn't if I were never so much left to myself. +But you said yourself that Vesta can read my thoughts and I knew that +without your telling me so. Suppose that my thoughts are as abominable +in the sight of my Goddess as was the behavior of those three +unfortunates? Oughtn't I to hang myself and be done with myself?" + +"Indubitably," said the Emperor, "if the facts were as your words imply. +But you are just frightening yourself to death with vapors like a child +afraid of its own shadow. Be explicit, be definite, and I can put you at +peace with yourself at once and permanently." + +Brinnaria drew a deep breath. + +"To begin with," she said, "you know that, before I was taken for a +Vestal, I was plighted to Caius Segontius Almo." + +"Certainly, I knew that," Aurelius replied. "All Rome knew of his ride +from Falerii and of his arriving just too late." + +"You knew I was in love with him?" + +"I assumed that," the Emperor told her. + +"Well," she said, a pathetic break in her voice, "I can't make myself +stop loving Almo. I always have loved him, I always shall, I love him +now." + +"I assumed that too," the Emperor said. "All Rome knows of his resolve +to remain unmarried, to wait thirty years for you, to marry you the very +day you are free. I assumed that he would not be so constant unless +he believed you equally constant. No harm in that! You have a right to +marry at the end of your service and a right to look forward to it." + +"That is what troubles me," Brinnaria said. "I cannot feel that I have a +right to look forward to it." + +"Now listen to me," said the Emperor. "Few Vestals have left the Atrium +at the end of their thirty years. Not every one that has left has +married, the third Terentia withdrew at the end of her term and did +not marry, nor did the only Licinia who ever completed her service. But +Appellasia married and so did Quetonia and Seppia. Others have married +after their service, though it is thought unlucky. The right to leave +the order implies the right to marry after leaving. The right to leave +implies the right to mean to leave, to plan to leave, to look forward to +leaving and marrying. You have that right, like any other Vestal. Does +that satisfy you?" + +"It does not," Brinnaria asserted. "I know a Vestal has a right to leave +and marry and to plan to leave and marry. But, after thirty years of +service, or nearly thirty years of service, to plan to leave and marry +and to look forward to it for a few days or months appear to me very +different from looking forward to it from the first hour of my service, +and knowing not only that I mean to marry, but just the man I mean to +marry, and loving him all the time, and longing for him. I can't help +it; I feel that way, and I dread that I am not an acceptable ministrant +and I tremble for fear of the consequences to you and to Rome. I think +I ought to hang myself and be done with it. You haven't comforted me a +bit." + +The Emperor stood up. + +"Sit still!" he commanded, sharply. + +He paced up and down the huge audience hail; paced its full length three +times each way. + +Then he reseated himself. + +"Do you sleep soundly?" he queried. + +"Like a top, mostly," said Brinnaria. "I go to sleep the instant I put +my head on the pillow. Generally I sleep all night long until my maid +wakes me up in the morning. Many nights, but not every night, nor most +nights, I wake up with a dreadful start, as if I had had a nightmare, +and lie there quaking for fear I am ruining Rome. But even then I +generally go to sleep again pretty quick." + +"Do you think of Almo when you wake up in the dark?" he pursued. + +"Mighty little," she declared. "In the dark all I can think of is Rome +and my duty. I often reflect how immediately and how greatly being taken +for a Vestal changes a girl and alters, not only her outlook on life and +her ways of thinking, but also her feelings. It has cooled and steadied +me more than I could have believed. When Daddy quarrelled with Segontius +and told me he would not let me marry Caius I used to feel as if I were +going to suffocate, used to feel that way sometimes for hours at a time, +used to suffer horribly, used to wake up in the dark and feel as if, +if I could not get to Almo right then, at once, I should die, as if I +should be choked to death by the thumping of my heart. I used to feel +that way at dinner, when out visiting any time of day, for hours. I +never feel that way now. And after Daddy and Segontius made up their +quarrel and it was arranged that I was to marry Almo, I used to feel as +if it would kill me to wait four years, I used to grit my teeth to think +of it, of waiting four years for him; used to think of it an day long, +no matter what I was doing. And I used to wake up in the dark and roll +round in bed and bite the bed-clothes with rage at the thought of the +long waiting ahead of me. I wanted Almo the way you want a drink, just +before noon of a hot day, when you have been travelling since before +sunrise and the carriage creaks and jolts and the road is all dusty and +there is no wind and you feel as if you would rather die than go any +longer without a drink. I used to want that way to be married to Almo. + +"I never feel that way now. I want him and I want to be married to him, +but I look forward to it as I look forward to the next race-day at the +Circus or the next fight of gladiators at the Colosseum, as a desirable +and delightful time sure to come but by no means to be hurried, as +something I can very well do without until the time comes. The thought +of Almo is always somewhere back in my mind ready to come forward when +I have nothing else to think of. But I think of him placidly and calmly +and never when on duty nor when at my lessons nor when at meals. And at +night, never." + +"My daughter," said Aurelius, smiling at her, "listen well to me. I +speak as Chief Pontifex and as Emperor of Rome. I command you to forget +your qualms and to banish your fears. Officially as Chief Pontifex I +judge you a ministrant most acceptable to your Goddess, as a most fit +and suitable Vestal. I judge that no girl naturally austere, frigid and +self-contained could be half so pleasing to Vesta as a tempestuous child +like you who curbs her temper and schools her outward behavior all she +can in the effort to be all she ought to be; whose feelings even tame +themselves without any effort of hers in the holy atmosphere of the +Atrium. + +"Manifestly you are telling the truth about your acts, your impulses +and your thoughts, I judge you a pure-minded, clean-hearted Vestal, +most suitable for her duties. Vesta understands and is glad of your good +intentions and pleased with your struggles to master yourself. You +are most acceptable to her. You will bring no curses on Rome, but your +prayers will be heard and you will bring many blessings on the Empire. +Be comforted!" + +"I am," said Brinnaria simply, "and I shall stay comforted." + + + + +BOOK II--THE REVOLT OF DESPONDENCY + + + +CHAPTER VIII - SCOURGING + + + +AFTER her audience with the Emperor, Brinnaria felt more at peace with +herself, succeeded better in curbing her native wildness, incurred less +and less disapprobation and won increasingly the respect and affection +of her elders. Her outbursts were less frequent and less violent; she +learned to hold her tongue, to appear calm, to stand with dignity, to +move with deliberation. Her admiration for Causidiena and Numisia and of +their statuesque attitudes and queenly movements helped her a great deal +by both conscious and unconscious imitation. It helped her more to find +that she was succeeding better than Meffia. At first Brinnaria had been +notably more prone than Meffia to assume gawky or ungainly postures, +and, as she was the bigger of the two, she was the more conspicuous. + +Before long she began to improve in her bearing, but Meffia did not. +Brinnaria held herself erect, head up and shoulders back. Meffia +slouched and sagged along, a semi-boneless creature, her clothing +hanging on her baggily and unbecomingly. + +The difference was particularly noticeable at meals. + +In the Roman world all well-to-do people lay down to meals luxuriously +extended on broad sofas. Brinnaria had always had trouble about her +meal-time attitudes, and her mild easy-going mother had often had to +speak to her and bid her remember herself. In the Atrium she had found +her legs kept up their old habits of getting into strange postures, her +feet seemed distressingly in evidence, and her knees always in the wrong +place. + +Causidiena, tactful and sympathetic, solved the problem of how to +influence her by getting her to watch Meffia and to contrast her with +Manlia and Gargilia. + +They were almost as statuesque as their two elders, who reclined at +table in attitudes scarcely less majestic than those of the Fates on the +Parthenon pediment. Meffia sprawled uncouthly and was forever spreading +her knees apart, generally with one up in the air. Her postures were so +disgusting that Brinnaria was hot all over with determination not to be +like Meffia. + +She succeeded. + +Great was her exultation when she perceived that it was no longer +Brinnaria and Meffia who gave cause for concern to Causidiena, but +Meffia and Brinnaria, great her triumph when she made sure that +Causidiena had ceased worrying about her, or worried only at long +intervals, but was perpetually solicitous concerning Meffia. + +Meffia was indeed a cause of solicitude. She was stupid, slow and idle +about her lessons, tearful on the slightest provocation, inert at all +times and generally ailing, though never actually ill. She never looked +clean, no matter how faithfully her maid toiled over her; she could +somehow reduce, in an amazingly short time, the neatest attire to the +semblance of mussed and rumpled rags; she slouched and shambled rather +than walked, she lolled rather than sat. + +Her hands were feeble and ineffective, her writing remained a childish +scrawl, no matter how much she was made to practice, she dropped things +continually and frequently spilt her food at meal-time. Most of all was +her awkwardness manifest in the temple. + +The temple was circular, its roof supported by eighteen splendid marble +columns, the intervals between which were walled up to the height of not +much more than five feet, the space from the top of the low wall to the +roof being filled in with magnificent lattices of heavy cast bronze; +so that the temple was a pleasant, breezy place on warm days, but very +draughty in chilly weather and bitterly cold in winter. It contained +no statue, nor any other object of worship, except in the center of +its floor the circular altar on which burned the sacred fire, solemnly +extinguished and ceremonially rekindled on each first of March, the New +Year's day of the primitive Roman Calendar, but which must never at any +other time be permitted to go out, upon whose continual burning depended +the prosperity of Rome, according to the belief implicitly held by all +Romans from the earliest days until Brinnaria's time, and for centuries +after. The extinction of the perpetual fire, whether by accident or +by neglect, was looked upon as a presage of frightful disaster to the +nation, as an omen of impending horrors, almost as the probable cause +of national misfortunes. Without qualification or doubt the people of +Brinnaria's world believed that, as long as Vesta's holy fire burned +steadily and brightly, Rome was assured the favor and protection of her +gods; that, should it die out, their wrath was certain to be manifested +in terrible afflictions involving the entire population. + +The care of the fire was the chief duty of Brinnaria and her five +associates, as it had been of their predecessors for more than nine +hundred years. As maple was the sacred wood in the Roman ritual, maple +only was used for the holy fire. The size of the pieces used and their +shape was also a matter of immemorial ordinance. Each piece was about +a cubit long, about the length of the forearm of an average adult, +measured from elbow to finger-tips. Each piece must be wedge-shaped, +with the bark on the rounded side and the other two sides meeting at a +sharp edge where had been the heart of the trunk or branch from which it +had been cut. Each piece must have been clean cleft with a strong sweep +of the axe. The pieces varied from sections of stout trunks to mere +slivers from slender boughs. All were of dry, well-seasoned wood, +carefully prepared. + +The placing of these on the fire was a matter of ritual and might be +done no otherwise than as prescribed. It was quite a delicate art to lay +the necessary piece in just the right place and at just the right angle; +it required more than a little good sense and discretion to know just +when a piece was required, for the fire must not burn violently nor must +it smoulder, it must be steady but not strong. This discretion, this +good sense, Meffia was slow to acquire. The art of laying the wood +properly she acquired very imperfectly. She did it well enough under +direction; but, even with Causidiena watching her, she was likely to +drop the piece of wood on the floor, or, what was worse, to drop it on +the fire instead of laying it on. The scattering of ashes on the floor +of the temple was held unseemly, that live coals should fall from +the Altar was considered almost sacrilegious. Meffia, more than once, +perpetrated such appalling blunders. Very tardily did she learn her +duties; only after four years could she be trusted to take her regular +turn in care of the fire and to stand her watch of half a night each +time her turn came between sunset and sunrise. + +During these four years she had grown into a not unpersonable young +woman, for Roman girls were generally young women at fourteen years of +age. She was never ruddy or robust, always pale, delicate-looking and +fragile-seeming, never actually ill, but usually ailing, peevish, limp +and querulous. Life in the Atrium largely consisted in the effort to +keep Meffia well, to make sure that she was not overtired, to +foresee and forestall opportunities for her to blunder, to repair the +consequences of her mistakes, generally to protect and guide her. + +In the same four years Brinnaria had developed into a muscular girl, +tall, amply fleshed, robust, rosy, full of healthy vigor, lithe and +strong. She was radiantly handsome, knew it, and was proud of it. Her +duties she knew to the last, least detail, and Causidiena trusted her +quite as much as Manlia or Gargilia. + +One spring night it was Mafia's watch until midnight, at which time +Brinnaria was to relieve her. It was the custom that, at the end of her +watch, the Vestal on duty made sure that the fire was burning properly +and then left it and herself waked her relief, it being entirely +inconceivable that, under roof and protected all round by bronze +lattices, a properly burning fire could go out in the brief space of +time required to leave the temple, enter the court-yard, cross it, +ascend the stairs and for the relieving Vestal to reach the temple by +the same path reversed. + +Brinnaria was a sound sleeper. She woke in the pitch dark with the +instant conviction that she had slept long past midnight, with a sudden +qualm of apprehension, of boding, almost of terror. + +She was a methodical creature for all her wildness, and very neat in +her habits. By touch, almost without groping, she dressed in the dark. +Silently she slipped out of her room, noiselessly she closed the door, +softly she groped her way to the stairs, down the stairs out into the +courtyard to the corner of the colonnade. + +There, a pace or two beyond the pillars, under the open sky, she peered +up. + +The gray light of dawn was faintly hinted in the blackish canopy of +cloud above her. + +Swiftly she flitted the length of the court, whisking past the +dimly-seen columns; swiftly she traversed the three small rooms at its +eastern end, panting she plunged through the dark doorway into the dark +temple. + +There was no flicker of fire-light on the carved and gilded panels of +the lofty ceiling; the ceiling, in fact, was invisible, unguessable in +the gloom. + +There was no glow upon the altar, not even a glimmer of redness through +the ashes. + +Brinnaria held her hand over the ashes. Nowhere could she discern more +than the merest hint of warmth. + +On the back of her hands, as on the back of her neck, she could feel the +chill of the faintly stirring dawn wind that breathed through the bronze +lattices and across the temple interior. + +She felt among the wood piled ready, found a slender sliver of a cleft +branchlet, and methodically ploughed the ashes across and across. She +did bring to the surface a faint redness, but not even one coal which +could have been blown into sufficient heat to start a flame on her +splinter of dry maple. + +A sound assailed her ears. + +Meffia snoring! + +Guided by the gurgling noise she found Meffia crumpled in a heap on the +mosaic floor against the base of one of the pillars. + +Brinnaria kicked her once viciously and shook her repeatedly. + +Slowly, dazedly, Meffia half awoke, whining: + +"Where am I?" she gasped. + +"In the temple!" Brinnaria replied. + +"Oh!" Meffia exclaimed, "what has happened?" + +"You went to sleep, you little fool," Brinnaria raged at her, "and the +fire has gone out." + +"Oh! what shall we do?" wailed Meffia, "what shall we do?" + +"Do?" snarled Brinnaria. "It's plain enough what you have to do. Go +to your room, go to bed and go' to sleep, stay asleep, keep your mouth +shut, say nothing, pretend you woke me at midnight, pretend you had +nothing to do with the fire going out, pretend you know nothing about +it, keep your face straight, keep mum, leave the rest to me!" + +"But," wailed Meffia, "if they think you let the fire go out you'll be +scourged for it." + +"Well," snapped Brinnaria, "what's that to you? Go to bed." + +"But," Meffia insisted, "I let it go out. I ought to take the blame, not +you. I ought to be scourged with you." + +"You insufferable little idiot," Brinnaria hurled at her, "you never +could stand a flogging, you'd die of it most likely. To a certainty +you'd be ill, and have to be sent off to be nursed and kept away for a +month or more to recover. I won't have Causidiena worried with any such +performances. And as sure as the fire is out, you'd behave like the poor +creature you are. You'd scream and howl and faint and shame us all. + +"No flogging of you if I can help it! + +"Now, go to bed!" + +"But," protested Meffia, "why need either of us be flogged? I have +tinder and flint and steel in my room. We could light the fire and no +one ever know it." + +"You imbecile child! You silly baby! You wicked, horrible, sacrilegious +girl!" Brinnaria stormed. "You irreligious, atheistical, blasphemous +wretch! To save your hide you'd desecrate the temple, pollute the Altar, +anger Vesta, make all our prayers in vain, bring down curses without +count on Rome and all of us. Be silent! Don't you dare to speak another +word! Off to bed with you!" + +"But," Meffia trembled, "you hate me; why do you take my punishment?" + +"I don't hate you," hissed Brinnaria. "I despise you! And I've told you +why I'm going to take the licking. Off to bed with you!" + +"But," Meffia still persisted, "what will you do?" + +"Do?" whispered Brinnaria. "Do? Why I'll curl up where you've left a +warm spot on the floor and go to sleep and sleep till some one finds me. +I can sleep any time." + +"But think of the scourging!" Meffia insisted. + +"I shan't," Brinnaria maintained. "I shan't think of it a moment. I +never did mind a licking. It's bad enough while it lasts, but soon over. +No licking will worry me. I'll sleep like a top. Now to bed with you, or +I'll break every bone in your worthless body!" Meffia started to speak +again; Brinnaria caught her gullet in one strong, young hand, clutched +her neck with the other, and craftily pressed one thumb behind one of +Meffia's ears. + +Meffia squeaked like a snared rabbit. + +"There!" Brinnaria whispered fiercely. "Now you know how badly I can +hurt you when I try. If you let on that it was you and not I that let +the fire go out what I did to you then won't amount to anything to what +I'll do to you. I'll kill you. Promise you'll keep mum." + +"I promise," gasped Meffia. + +"Go to bed!" Brinnaria hissed. + +Meffia went. + +Brinnaria, left alone, did all she could to make the ashes on the Altar +look like the remains of a fire that had died out of itself, to efface +all signs of her efforts to find live coals under the ashes. She judged +that she had succeeded pretty well. + +Then she composed herself on the floor and was asleep in ten breaths. + +There Manlia found her when the daylight was already strong. + +When wakened Brinnaria merely remarked: + +"It can't be helped. I always did sleep too sound." That day was a +gloomy day in Rome. The report was noised abroad that the holy fire +had gone out and a chill of horror spread through all classes of the +population, from the richest to the poorest. + +The Romans were very far from being what they are represented to have +been by unsympathetic modern writers on them. Practically all modern +writers have been unsympathetic with the Romans, for the Romans were +Pagans and all modern writers on them have been more or less Christians, +chiefly interested in Pagans because most Pagans were in the later +centuries converted to Christianity. With that fact in the foreground of +their thoughts and with the utterances of Roman skeptics and dilettantes +well in view, most modern writers assert what they sincerely believe, +that the Romans had only the vaguest and most lukewarm religious faith, +and no vivid devout convictions at all. + +The facts were entirely the other way. There were agnostics among the +cultured leisure classes, there were unbelievers of various degrees +everywhere in the towns and cities. But the mass of the population, +not only universally, all over the countryside, but collectively in the +urban centers, believed in their gods as implicitly as they believed +in heat and cold, birth and death, fire and water, pleasure and pain. +Government, from the Roman point of view, was a partnership between the +Roman people, as represented by their senate, and the gods. Under the +Republic every election had appeared to the Romans who participated in +it to be a rite for ascertaining what man would be most pleasing to the +gods to fill the position in question. Under the Empire the selection +of a new Emperor, whether a confirmation by the senate of the previous +Emperor's accredited heir, or an acclamation by the army of the +soldiers' favorite, appeared to the Romans as the determination of the +gods' preference for a particular individual as their chief partner. + +The choice of war or peace, of battle or maneuvering for delay, seemed +to the Romans the taking of the advice of the gods, who manifested their +injunctions by various signs, by the appearance of the liver, heart, +lungs and kidneys of the cattle and sheep sacrificed, by the flight +of birds, by the shape of the flames of altar-fires, all regarded as +definite answers to explicit questions; who also made suggestions +or gave warnings by means of earthquakes, floods, conflagrations, +pestilences, eclipses, by the aurora borealis, by any sort of strange +happening. + +The extinction of the sacred fire in the Temple of Vesta was looked upon +as a categorical warning that the behavior of the Romans or of some part +of them or the conduct of the government was so displeasing to the gods +that the Empire would come to a sudden end unless matters were at once +corrected. All Romans believed that as implicitly as they believed that +food would keep them alive or that steel could kill them. + +Therefore the days after Meffia let the fire go out were gloomy days +in Rome. The report of a great defeat for their army, with a terrible +slaughter of their best soldiers would not have depressed the crowds +more. + +The people were as dazed, numb and silent as after the first news of +a terrific disaster. Every kind of public amusement or diversion was +postponed, merry-making ceased everywhere, the wildest and most reckless +felt no inclination towards frivolity, even the games of children were +checked and repressed, gravity and solemnity enveloped the entire city +and its vast suburbs. The men talked soberly, as if at a funeral; while +for women of every degree, but especially for the matrons of the upper +classes, the three ensuing days were days of prayer and fasting. + +For the Pontiffs they were anxious and busy days. + +Both Emperors were away from Rome, Lucius Verus in Greece, on his way +home from Antioch and the great victories of his three years' campaign +against the Parthians, Marcus Aurelius in Germany hastening from point +to point along the headwaters of the Rhine and Danube, desperately +resisting the pertinacious attacks of the Marcomanni. The Pontiffs +were without their chief and acted under the leadership of Faltonius +Bambilio, Pontifex of Vesta, the busiest and most anxious of them all. +In consultation with the august College of Pontiffs, hastily assembled +at the Regia, a splendid building occupying the site of Numa's rustic +palace, near the great Forum and close to the Temple of Vesta, he +arranged for the necessary ceremonial of expiation and atonement. + +Besides the fasting of the women all over the city, besides their +day-long and night-long prayers, besides the sacrifices which each +matron must personally offer in her own house, besides the sacrifices +which must be offered for the matrons in the Temple of Castor and in the +less popular women's temples in every quarter of the city, there must he +public sacrifices of cattle, sheep and swine, there must be solemn and +gorgeous processions; every sort of ceremonial traditionally supposed +to mitigate the wrath of the gods, to placate them, to win their +favor, must be carried out with every detail of care, with the utmost +magnificence. + +Meanwhile, and above all, the negligent Vestal must be punished; and at +once the sacred fire must be ritually rekindled. + +The ritual rekindling worried and exhausted Bambilio not a little. + +The procedure was traditional and rigidly prescribed in every detail. +The sacred fire might not be rekindled by anything so modern as a flint +and steel, far less by anything so much more modern as a burning glass. + +The primitive fire drill must be used and the fresh fire produced by the +friction of wood on wood. + +The ritual prescribed that a plank of apple wood, about two inches +thick, about two feet wide and about three feet long, should be placed +on a firm support, upon which it would rest solidly without any tendency +to joggle. At its middle was bored a small circular depression, about +the size of a man's thumb-nail and shallow. Into this was thrust the +tapered end of a round rod of maple wood about as thick as a large man's +thumb. The upper end of the rod fitted freely into a socket in a ball of +maple wood of suitable size to be held in the left hand and pressed down +so as to press the lower end of the rod into the hole in the apple wood +plank. Round the middle of the rod was looped a bow-string kept taut by +a strong bow. By grasping the bow in his right hand and sawing it back +and forth, the operator caused the rod to whirl round, first one way and +then the other, with great velocity. The friction of its lower end soon +heated up the hole in the apple-wood plank, and round that were piled +chips of dry apple-wood, which, if the operator was strong and skilled, +soon burst into flame. + +Bambilio was fat and clumsy. Before he had succeeded he was dripping +with perspiration, limp with weariness and ready to faint. But succeed +he did. The quart or more of apple-wood chips burst into flame at last; +Causidiena, standing ready with the prescribed copper sieve, caught the +blazing chips as they were tilted off the plank, conveyed them to the +Altar, placed maple splinters on them, and soon had the sacred fire +burning properly. + +The punishment of the guilty Vestal was even more a matter of concern, +of trepidation. She must be scourged that very night, and, as in respect +to the rekindling of the fire, every detail of what must be done was +prescribed by immemorial tradition, long since committed to writing, +among the statutes of the order. + +The scourging must be done by the Pontiff himself. + +The scourge must be one with a maple-wood handle and three thongs of +leather made from the hide of a roan heifer. In each thong were knotted +the tiny, horny half-hoofs of a newborn white lamb, eight to a thong, +twenty-four in all. These bits of horny hoof tore and cut terribly the +bare back of the victim. It was prescribed that the scourge must be laid +on vigorously, not lightly. + +The Vestal scourged must be entirely nude. As it would have been +sacrilege unspeakable for a man to see the ankle or shoulder of a +Vestal, let alone her entire body, it was enjoined that the scourging +take place at midnight, in a shut room, and that a woolen curtain should +hang between the Pontifex and his victim. + +Bambilio was terribly wrought up at the prospect of the perplexing and +delicate duty before him. He was fat and short-winded and would suffer +from the effort of laying on the blows. He was as pious as possible and +quaked inwardly with the dread that, in spite of the dark room and the +curtain, he might catch a glimpse of his victim and bring down the wrath +of the gods on himself and on Rome. And, apart from all else, he was +shame-faced and hot and cold at the idea of being in the same room, +even in a darkened room screened by a curtain, with a naked Vestal. +He blushed and shuddered. To be sure, it was prescribed that one other +Vestal was to be in the room, on the same side of the curtain as the +victim, to say when the scourging had continued long enough and the +negligent Vestal had been sufficiently punished. But this comforted +Bambilio very little. + +He wished the ordeal over. + +At midnight he stood in the dark, close to the curtain. The darkness +was not as dark as he should have liked. Some ghost of a glimmer of +starshine filtered into the room and he could make out the shape of the +curtain. He waited, scourge in hand. + +Presently Numisia spoke, told him that Brinnaria was prepared for her +beating, took his left hand and guided it in the dark. He felt the +curtain's edge against his wrist, felt a warm soft elbow, grasped it, +and at once gained a notion of the direction in which he was to lay on +his blows. + +He struck round the other side of the curtain and felt that the scourge +met its mark, but slantingly and draggingly. He tried again and seemed +to do better. + +For the third blow he made the scourge whistle through the air. + +"Hit harder, you old fool," spoke Brinnaria, "you're barely tapping me!" +That made him angry and Brinnaria experienced as severe a scourging as +any fat old gentleman could have compassed. + +She did not shriek, sob or whimper: not a sound escaped her. She +suffered, suffered acutely, particularly when one of the lamb hoofs +struck a second time on a bleeding gash in her back or on a swollen +weal. But her physical pain was drowned in a rising tide of anger +and wrath. She felt the long repressed, half-forgotten tomboy, hoyden +Brinnaria surging up in her and gaining mastery. She fairly boiled with +rage, she blazed and flamed inwardly with a conflagration of resentment. +It was all she could do not to tear down the curtain, spring on +Bambilio, wrench his scourge from his hand and lay it on him. She kept +still and silent, but she felt her inward tornado of emotion gaining +strength. + +When Numisia spoke Bambilio let go Brinnaria's arm and stepped back +a pace. "My daughter," he said, "you have been punished enough. Your +punishment is accomplished. This is sufficient." + +Then Brinnaria spoke, in a voice tense, not with pain, but with fury: + +"You won't hit me again?" + +"No, my daughter," said Bambilio, "no more." + +"You have quite done beating me?" she demanded. + +"Quite done," he replied. + +Then, unexpectedly to herself, Brinnaria's wrath boiled over. + +"Then," she fairly yelled at him, "I'm going to begin beating you. Shut +your eyes. I'm going to pull down the curtain!" + +Numisia made a horrified grab at Brinnaria and missed her. Brinnaria +gave her a push; Numisia slipped, fell her length on the floor, struck +her head and either fainted or was stunned. + +Bambilio, his eyes tight shut, the instant after Numisia's head cracked +the floor, heard snap the string supporting the curtain. + +He shut his eyes tighter. + +He felt the scourge wrenched from his limp fingers, felt the back of +his neck grasped by a muscular young hand, felt the impact of the +twenty-four sheep-hoofs on his back. + +Through his clothing they stung and smarted. + +There came another blow and another. Bambilio tried to get away, but he +dreaded unseemly contact with a naked Vestal and did not succeed in his +efforts. + +The blows fell thick and fast. He was an old man exhausted by a long day +of excitement and by his exertions while scourging Brinnaria. + +His knees knocked together, he gasped, he snorted: the pain of the blows +made him feel faint; he collapsed on the floor. + +Then Brinnaria did beat him, till the blood ran from his back almost as +from hers, beat him till the old man fainted dead away. + +When her arm was tired she gave him a kick, threw the scourge on him and +groped for Numisia. + +Numisia had sat up. + +"My child," she said, "why did you do it?" + +"I don't know," snarled Brinnaria. "I was furious. I did it before I +thought. Are you hurt?" + +"No," said Numisia. "Don't tell anyone you pushed me. I'll never tell. I +don't blame you, dear." She fainted again. + +Causidiena, waiting under the colonnade of the courtyard, was appalled +to descry in the gloom a totally naked Brinnaria, a mass of clothing +hanging over her arm. + +"My child," she protested, "why did you not put on your clothes?" + +"I don't care who sees me!" Brinnaria retorted. "I'm boiling hot; I'm +all over sweat and blood and my back's cut to ribbons." + +"What are you going to do?" Causidiena queried. + +"I'm going to bed," Brinnaria replied. "Please send Utta to me and tell +her to bring the turpentine jug and the salt box." + +"My dear," Causidiena objected, "you'll never endure the pain!" + +"Yes, I shall," Brinnaria maintained. "I'll set my teeth and stand the +smart. I don't mean to have a festered back. I'll have Utta rub me with +salt and turpentine from neck to hips; I'll be asleep before she's done +rubbing." + +"I'll come and see she does it properly," Causidiena said. + +"Better not," said Brinnaria. "Numisia and Bambilio need you worse than +I do." + +"Why?" queried Causidiena. + +"After Bambilio was done beating me," Brinnaria explained calmly, "I +beat him. Numisia tried to stop me and somehow fell on the floor and +was stunned. She came to after I was done with Bambilio, but she fainted +again. I beat him till he is just a lump of raw meat, eleven-twelfths +dead, wallowing in his blood like a sausage in a plate of gravy." + +"My child!" Causidiena cried, "this is sacrilege!" + +"Not a bit of it!" Brinnaria maintained, a tall, white shape in the +star-shine, waving her armful of clothing. + +"I have pored over the statutes of the order. It was incumbent on me +to keep still and silent all through my licking. But I defy you or any +other Vestal or any Pontiff or Flamen or either of the Emperors to show +me a word on the statutes of the order or in any other sacred writing +that forbids a Vestal, after her thrashing, to beat the Pontifex to red +pulp. I have. You'd better go help him; he might die. And poor Numisia +needs reviving. I'm all right; send me Utta and the salt and turpentine, +and I'll be fit for duty in a day or two." + +"You terrible child!" said Causidiena. + + + +CHAPTER IX - ALARMS + + +THE next year was the year of the great pestilence. Pestilence, indeed, +had ravaged Italy for five consecutive summers previous to that year. +But the great pestilence, for two centuries afterwards spoken of merely +as "the pestilence," fell in the nine hundred and nineteenth year after +the founding of Rome, the year 166 of our era, when Marcus Aurelius and +Lucius Verus had been co-Emperors for a little more than five years and +Brinnaria had been almost five years a Vestal. It devastated the entire +Empire from Nisibis in upper Mesopotamia to Segontium, opposite the isle +of Anglesea. Every farm, hamlet and village suffered; in not one town +did it leave more than half the inhabitants alive; few cities escaped +with so much as a third of the population surviving. Famine accompanied +the pestilence in all the western portions of the Roman world, and from +famine perished many whom the plague had spared. + +This disaster was, in fact, the real deathblow to Rome's greatness and +from it dates the decline of the Roman power. It broke the tradition of +civilization and culture which had grown from the small beginnings of +the primitive Greeks and Etruscans more than two thousand years before. +During all those two thousand years there had been a more or less steady +and a scarcely interrupted development of the agriculture, manufactures, +arts, skill, knowledge and power of the mass of humanity about the +Mediterranean Sea; men who fought with shields and spears and swords, +also with arrows and slings, believed in approximately the same sort of +gods; wore clothing rather wrapped round them than upholstered on their +bodies as with us; reclined on sofas at meals; lived mostly out of doors +all the year round; built their houses about courtyards, and made rows +of columns the chief feature of their architecture, and sheltering +themselves in colonnades, sunny or shady according to the time of the +year, the chief feature of their personal comfort. Up to the year of the +great pestilence that civilization had prospered, had produced a +long series of generals, inventors, architects, sculptors, painters, +musicians, poets, authors, and orators. Everywhere men had shown +self-confidence, capacity, originality, power and competence and had +achieved success for two thousand years. + +The great pestilence of 166 so depleted the population that Rome never +again pushed forward the boundaries of her Empire. Some lucky armies +won occasional victories, but Rome never again put on the field an +overwhelming army for foreign conquest, never again could fully man, +even defensively, the long line of her frontiers. + +All classes of the people suffered, but most of all the rich, the +well-to-do, the educated and the cultured classes of the towns and +cities. And the main point of difference between the great pestilence +and the others which had preceded it was the universality of its +incidence. For two thousand years pestilence had occurred at intervals, +but previously not everywhere at once. + +If one country suffered others did not; if half the Mediterranean world, +even, was devastated, the other half escaped. From the immune +regions competence and capacity had flowed into the ruined areas and +civilization had gone on. But the great pestilence left no district +unharmed. In six months it killed off all the brains and skill, all the +culture and ingenuity in the Empire. There were so few capable men left +in any line of activity that the next generation grew up practically +untaught. The tradition of two thousand years was broken. In all the +Mediterranean world, until centuries later, descendants of the savage +invaders developed their new civilization on the ruins of the old; no +man ever again made a great speech, wrote a great book or play or +poem, painted a good picture, carved a good statue, or contrived a good +campaign or battle. The brains of the Roman world died that year, the +originality of the whole nation was killed at once, the tradition broke +off. + +Of course, the survivors did not realize the finality of the disaster, +but they did realize its magnitude. In Italy, fed almost wholly by +imported food, the famine was most severe. In Italy the pestilence +was most virulent. Men disputed as to whether the great army of Lucius +Verus, returned home from its splendid victories in Parthia, had brought +with it a form of pestilence worse than that of the five previous years, +or whether the returned soldiers had merely been a specially easy +prey to the pestilence already abroad in Rome. Whichever was true, the +veterans died like flies. So did the residents of Rome. Whole blocks of +tenements were emptied of their last occupier and stood wholly vacant; +many palaces of the wealthy were left without so much as a guardian, +the last inmate dead; the splendid furnishings, even the silver plate, +untouched in every room; for the plague had so ravaged Rome that there +were not even robbers and thieves left to steal To the survivors, since +genuine piety as they knew it was all but universal among the Romans, it +was some small comfort, a faint ray of hope, a sign that the gods were +not inexorably wrathful, that, after Rabulla's death, there was no +case of pestilence in the Atrium, not even among the servitors, that +no Vestal so much as sickened. Through it all the six remained hale and +sound. + +But when the plague abated, only Manlia had any living relations left +her. The other five had lost every kinsman and kinswoman, to the ninth +and tenth degree. + +Brinnaria's parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and cousins were +all among the victims. This left her grave and sobered with grief, with +no trace of her girlish wildness apparent. + +It also left her enormously rich, one of the wealthiest women in Rome. + +Not a tenth so wealthy, but still very rich, it left Almo, Vocco and +Flexinna, all of whom survived. + +As the plague had been rife, worse each year, for some seasons before +the year of the great pestilence, so, ebbing yearly, it continued for +some years after its acme. As soon as the worst was manifestly over the +life of Rome began to revive to some degree, the city dwellers plucked +up heart, the refugees began to return to their town houses, hunger +and terror were forgotten, industry and commerce rallied, bustle and +activity increased from day to day, and, slowly indeed, but steadily, +Rome returned to its normal activity and appearance. The survivors +reconstructed their life on the old lines, the streets and squares +were again thronged, the public baths, those vast casinos of ancient +club-life, were daily crowded with idlers. + +The repopulation of the city brought into it many rich families from +towns all over the Roman world. + +Their influx sent up the price of large residences and caused much +activity in the renting and selling of properties suitable for the homes +of people of ample means. + +Brinnaria, without a male relation of even the remotest degree, came to +lean more and more on Vocco, the husband of her chum Flexinna. He was a +young man of not unpleasing appearance and of courtly manners, but very +haughty, reserved and silent by nature; and exceedingly spare, lean +and wiry, with black hair and brows, a complexion as if tanned and +weatherbeaten and an habitual frown. He was fond of Brinnaria and unbent +to her more than to most of his acquaintances. She treated him as a sort +of honorary cousin and turned over to him many details of the care of +her large and scattered property. He took upon himself in her interest +the sale or management of her distant estates, found for them capable +overseers or purchasers at advantageous prices, bought slaves where they +were needed, arranged for the marketing of the more important products +and accounted to her for the proceeds. + +About her town properties he had more trouble and some exasperation, +for he found the apparently practical and unsentimental Brinnaria oddly +unwilling to disturb the contents of the palaces in which her kinsmen +had lived and died. She was naturally a good business woman and all +her instincts urged her to increase her capital and her income by every +means within her power and at every opportunity. Yet, when Vocco came to +her with offers of high prices for the various buildings which she +had inherited he could induce her to arrange for the sale only of the +smaller and less valuable houses, or of those tenements which had been +owned merely to rent, but had never been inhabited by any members of +the Brinnarian clan. At the suggestion of preparing for sale any of the +palaces of her near kinsfolk she balked; from the barest hint towards +moving the furniture in her father's home she recoiled in horror. + +Vocco found himself faced by invincible femininity, with the possession +of which he would not have credited Brinnaria. At first he was +irritated. As he missed sale after sale he became more and more +aggravated. But he kept his temper, held his tongue and waited for +Brinnaria's mood to alter. Her sentimentality gradually waned as the +prices offered steadily mounted. After long hesitation she gave orders +to sell at auction the furniture from the house of a distant cousin, and +to rent the house. That broke the spell. One by one the late abodes of +the Brinnarii were cleared and sold; sold furniture and all, cleared and +rented, or rented furnished. + +The former dwellings of her aunts and uncles she was reluctant to +disturb. She felt a sort of sacredness about these splendid houses where +she had been merry as a child. When at last she made up her mind to part +with one she would not give the order to sell it until she had gone over +it herself and selected some pieces of furniture which she specially +valued. Vocco tried to dissuade her, but she would not listen to him. + +Her visit to the vast, empty palace had a most depressing effect on her. +All her grief at her countless bereavements rushed back over her in a +flood and overwhelmed her. She would not allow a stick of furniture to +be moved and withdrew her consent to the sale. + +Vocco was patient and silent. + +After a time this mood, too, wore off. + +She had that particular dwelling emptied and sold and, once that first +step taken, under the pressure of hugely profitable offers, sold all the +other properties. + +In each case she insisted on inspecting the houses room by room before +anything was moved. After the first she had no hysterical qualms, +did not show any outward emotion, selected what she meant to keep for +herself, ordered the sale of the rest, remained calm through it all. + +Finally Vocco came to her with a most tempting offer for her childhood +home. Brinnaria took a night to think it over. + +She had not entered the place since her father's funeral. He had been +the last of the family to die, three months after his wife, and some +days after his last surviving son. During the lengthy interval the +palace had stood shut fast, cared for only by a few slaves, and those +not lifelong family servants, but recent purchases; for the pestilence +had carried off with their masters nearly all the home-bred house +slaves. + +At the thought of going through the deserted halls and silent rooms +Brinnaria winced. But she nerved herself up to it. She named a day on +which she meant to face the ordeal, asked Vocco to order the palace +swept and dusted, and announced to Guntello, almost the sole survivor of +her father's personal servitors, that he was to accompany her. + +When the day came she set out, not in her carriage, but in her litter +with eight Cilician bearers, her lictor running ahead and Guntello and +Utta walking behind. + +She began her survey accompanied by Guntello and Utta. But when she came +to the nursery and schoolroom she sent the two away, told them to wait +for her in the peristyle, shut herself in and had a long, hard cry; +precisely as if she had been, as of old, a little girl hurt or angry or +vexed. After she had wept till no more tears flowed she felt relieved +and comforted. + +She called Utta, had her bring water, bathed her face and sent the maid +away again. + +Then she resolutely examined room after room. The second floor took a +long while, for there were many doors to open and close for the last +time. + +There was a third floor, a feature possessed by few dwellings in Rome +in ancient times. The Imperial Palace, which later towered to even +seven stories, was unique in Brinnaria's time, in the possession of five +superposed floors. The great palace of Sallust, near the Salarian Gate, +had but three. + +To the third floor she mounted. Before she had investigated half the +rooms she found a door fast. What was more, as she tried it, she thought +she heard a sound, as of human movement, inside that room. + +Brinnaria was no weakling. Methodically she tried that door with her +full, young strength, tried it all along its edge opposite its hinges, +tried it at the middle, at the top, at the bottom. She made sure the +door was not stuck or jammed; she was convinced that it was bolted +within the room. + +She leaned over the railing of the gallery and called Guntello. + +The odd note in her voice brought that faithful giant up the stairs, two +steps at a time; the beams of the house, even the marble steps of the +stair, seemed to quiver under his tread. + +She had him try the door. He agreed that it was bolted. + +"Can you break it in?" she queried. + +Guntello laughed. "Without half trying, little Mistress," he replied. + +Brinnaria's voice came hard and sharp. + +"You in that room!" she called, "unbolt that door and come out, or it +will be the worse for you. I'll count ten and then order the door burst +open." She began to count. + +She heard the bolt shot back. + +She nodded to Guntello. + +He gave the door a push. + +Before them stood Calvaster, his attitude and countenance expressing +cringing cowardice, cloaked by ill-assumed effrontery. He did not speak, +trying to appear unconcerned. + +"What are you doing in my house?" Brinnaria demanded. + +"I do not wonder that you are astonished to see me here and angry as +well," Calvaster replied, "but the explanation is simple. I learned that +you were proposing to sell the property. I had a curiosity to see it as +it is. I found means to slip in and go over the building. I counted on +leaving before you arrived. I miscalculated, that is all. Awkward for +both of us, but unintentional on my part." + +"I don't believe half of that rigmarole," snapped Brinnaria. + +"It is all true, nevertheless," Calvaster asserted with an air of +injured innocence. + +"One thing is plain, anyhow," Brinnaria declared. "You bribed one of my +slaves. Which one did you bribe?" + +Calvaster kept his lips pressed tight together. + +"March him downstairs, Guntello," Brinnaria commanded. + +Calvaster winced and made as if to dodge. Big as he was Guntello was +wonderfully quick. In a flash he had the intruder by the neck. Utterly +helpless Calvaster was marched down the stairs. + +In the courtyard Brinnaria had brought before her the half dozen slaves +who had charge of the empty house. They stood in a row fidgeting and +glancing at each other. + +"Now," she demanded of Calvaster, "point out which one you bribed." +Calvaster remained motionless and mute. + +"Hurt him, Guntello," said Brinnaria. + +Guntello applied a few simple twists and squeezes, such as schoolboys of +all climes employ on their victims. + +Calvaster yielded at once and indicated one of the suspects. + +"Throw him out, Guntello," said Brinnaria. + +When Guntello returned he cheerfully inquired, with the easy assurance +of an indulged favorite. + +"Shall I kill Tranio, Mistress?" + +"No!" said Brinnaria viciously. "I wouldn't have a toad killed on the +word of that contemptible scoundrel. Give Tranio a moderate beating and +hand him over to Olynthides to be sold at auction without a character." +Her survey of her former home and her selection of the ornaments, +pictures, statues, articles of furniture and other objects which +she desired reserved for herself she completed with an air less of +melancholy than of puzzled thought. + +She was off duty for all of that day and night and was to dine with +Flexinna and Vocco. In the course of the pestilence they had inherited a +magnificent abode on the Esquiline. In particular it had a private bath +with a large swimming-pool. The Vestals were the only ladies in Rome who +might not enjoy the magnificent public baths, to which all Roman society +flocked every afternoon, somewhat as we moderns throng a beach at a +fashionable seaside resort. Brinnaria, who loved swimming, felt +the deprivation keenly. The Atrium had luxurious baths, but no +swimming-pool. Whenever Brinnaria dined with Flexinna she particularly +enjoyed the swim the two always took together before dinner. On that +afternoon, while they were revelling in the water, Brinnaria told +Flexinna of her adventure. + +"I can't conjecture," she said, "what motive brought him there. I have +been racking my brains about it ever since it happened and it is an +enigma to me." + +"No riddle to me," Flexinna declared. "It's as c-c-clear as +d-d-daylight." + +"If you are so sure," said Brinnaria, "explain. I have no guess even." + +"Why," expounded Flexinna, "he was there to c-c-collect evidence +against you. He hates you because you wouldn't marry him and he is +t-t-tenaciously resolved to be revenged. He is on the lookout for +anything that might d-d-discredit you. He hoped to spy on an interview +b-b-between you and Almo, for he surmised that you would arrange to have +Almo meet you in the empty house!" + +"The nasty beast!" cried Brinnaria, shocked. "How dare he?" + +"Oh, b-b-be sensible," Flexinna admonished her. "You know the k-k-kind +he is. He's b-b-bound to impute to everybody what he would d-d-do in +their p-p-place. Any man under the same circumstances would jump at the +same suspicions." + +"But why?" queried Brinnaria, bewildered and angry. + +"Think a minute," said Flexinna. "To suspect all women is a +c-c-convention, almost an axiom, with most men. All men like +C-C-Calvaster assume that every married woman is interested in some man +b-b-besides her husband, or in almost any man, and if married women are +under suspicion, on the assumption that one husband is not enough, of +c-c-course you Vestals, who haven't even a husband, are doubly under +suspicion." + +"Bah!" snarled Brinnaria, "you make me cross!" + +"Facts are facts," Flexinna summed up. + +Brinnaria did not retort. She had climbed out of the tank and was seated +on the edge, the drops streaming off her in rivulets, watching the +ripples her toes' made in the water. + +"Facts are facts," she echoed, "and conjectures are merely conjectures; +what is more, conjectures ought to have some basis in fact. You assert, +as if you know it to be true, that Calvaster expected Almo to meet me +to-day. But Almo is at Falerii." + +"No, he's not," Flexinna retorted; "he's b-b-been in t-t-town t-t-ten +d-d-days and has had the old house on the C-C-Carinae reopened. He's +settling d-d-down to live in Rome." + +Brinnaria flushed. + +"I think," she said, scrambling to her feet, "that he might have had +enough consideration for me to stay in the country." + +"So d-d-do I," said Flexinna. + + + +CHAPTER X - CONFERENCE + + +SOME months later, during one of the brief and infrequent breathing +spells in his ten years' fight to beat off the raids of the Marcomanni +and other Germanic tribes, Aurelius returned from the Rhine frontier +to Rome. As soon as she was reasonably sure that the Emperor was rested +from the fatigues of his journey and had disposed of the worst of his +accumulated routine duties, Brinnaria sought a second audience with the +chief of the nation. + +She was then a tall, grave girl of nineteen, looking and behaving like +a woman of twenty-five. Very handsome she was, full-fleshed without a +trace of plumpness, fun breasted without a hint of overabundance. Her +brown hair, now grown long again after its ceremonial shearing at her +entrance into the order of Vestals, was so dark that it was almost +black. Arranged in the six braids traditional for Vestals and wound +round her head like a coronet it became her notably. Her complexion +was creamy, with a splendid brilliant color that came and went in her +cheeks. Her expression of face was an indescribable blend of kindliness +and haughtiness towards others, of austerity and cheerfulness inwardly, +of intellectuality and comprehension towards life at large. She had +acquired the statuesqueness of the conventional Vestal attitudes and +movements, but she sat and stood so that all beholders felt a vivid +impression of her vitality, of reserve strength, incomparably beyond +anything possessed by her five colleagues. + +Her stately pacing as she walked always appeared the conscious restraint +of what, of itself, would have been a swinging stride. She wore her +clothes with an unanalyzable difference, with a sort of effrontery, as +Calvaster put it in talking of her to his cronies. + +On her way to the palace, erect in her white robe amid the gorgeous +crimson hangings of her gilded state coach, she meditated on the great +dissimilarity between the feelings with which she had gone to her first +audience with the Emperor and those with which she now approached his +abode. Then she had been palpitating with conscientious scruples and +childish dreads, now she was sure of herself and of her errand; then she +had thought chiefly of her mother and of the traditions of her family +and clan, now not only her mother was dead, but the whole family of +the Epulones had perished except herself and the Brinnarian clan was +represented by but three families, her relationship to which was fainter +than any assignable degree of cousinship; then she had been full of +elation at her lofty position in the world, now she was perfectly at +home in her environment and felt no emotion at the thought of it. + +At the palace she found herself in the same vast room, alone with a +somewhat older and graver Emperor, now sole ruler of their world since +the death of his colleague, Lucius Verus. He greeted her kindly, with an +air of effort to conceal his weariness, and when both were seated asked +her errand. + +"In the first place," she said, "I want you to tell me whether you are +satisfied with the reports you have had of me." + +Aurelius half smiled. + +"I am well pleased in respect to all your actions but one," he said. +"You have certainly done better than I expected or hoped. You have +curbed your wild nature so well that, of late years, you have behaved +altogether as a Vestal should. Even earlier your conduct was creditable, +since from the very day of your promise to me, your outbursts were less +and less frequent and also less and less violent. Once only have you +acted so that I felt displeased when I heard what you had done and feel +somewhat displeased even yet." + +"I suppose," Brinnaria ruminated, "you mean my larruping Bambilio." + +"Yes," Aurelius admitted. "That was in a sense unforgivable. Had I been +in Rome at the time I must have animadverted upon it with the greatest +severity." + +"If you had been in Rome at the time," spoke Brinnaria boldly, "I should +not have been flogged by any mere deputy Pontifex of Vesta. It would +have been incumbent upon you, as Pontifex Maximus, yourself to give +me my ceremonial scourging. To you I should have been, of course, as +submissive after my beating as while it was going on. No harm would have +been done." + +The Emperor smiled more than a half smile. + +"I am not sure," he said, "that any harm was done, anyhow." + +"What!" cried Brinnaria. "You excuse me? You defend me?" + +"Softly! Softly!" the Emperor caveatted, raising his hand. "I do not +acquit you nor exonerate you. But I do make allowances. And we must +distinguish. We must not confuse the causes of my disapprobation of what +you did with my reasons for believing that no harm resulted. Nor, for +that matter, must we confound with either of them those qualities +in yourself and those circumstances of the case which make me feel, +illogically perhaps, but very possibly, more inclined to thank you than +to censure you." + +"Castor be good to me!" cried Brinnaria. "Am I dreaming?" + +"Don't interrupt, you disrespectful minx," the Emperor laughed; "this is +a lecture. Hear it out. + +"In the first place you were technically right in saying that there +is not one word in any sacred writing or in the pronouncements of the +Pontiffs or the statutes of the Vestals to forbid a flogged Vestal from +beating her scourger. Just as Solon in the code of laws which he drew up +for the Athenians prescribed no penalty for the slayer of his father or +mother, because, as he explained when the omission was pointed out to +him, he had thought that no child would ever kill its parents; so no +framer of rubrics ever foresaw the necessity of forbidding what no one +conceived of as possible. All persons were assumed to be too much in +awe of Pontiffs, for anyone to dare to raise a hand against any Pontiff, +least of all a Vestal against her spiritual father. The world had to +wait for a Brinnaria to demonstrate that the unimaginable could come to +pass. + +"Yet the very fact that it was nowhere written down that you must not do +it makes your act all the worse. It was monstrous. + +"But fortunately it was not sacrilegious. The person of the Pontifex of +Vesta is not sacrosanct and a blow inflicted on him is not to be rated +as impious. Your act called for no expiation, personal or official. It +did not desecrate him, or you, nor the place where it occurred. + +"Besides, I cannot resist admitting to you,"--and the Emperor smiled an +unmistakable smile--"that this particular Pontiff of Vesta is farther +from being sacrosanct than any of his predecessors. As far as I can +learn, Faltonius is a worthy man, pious and scrupulous. But he is +absurdly unfitted for his office in appearance and in manner. The +self-importance he assumes, the pomposity with which he performs his +duties, would be too great even for an Emperor. He irritates all of +us. All of us have wished, secretly or openly, many, many times, that +Bambilio would be soundly thrashed. He has been. You did it. The story +was too good to keep. It has not, of course, been allowed to leak out, +and become common property. But it is known to all the Flamens, Augurs +and Pontiffs. + +"I need not describe to you the feelings of my colleagues, nor my +own. To hint them is perhaps too much; to particularize them would be +unseemly. I may say, however, that just as street-boys acclaim you by +shouting: + +"'That's the girl that saved the dog;' just as all over the Empire you +are talked of as the lady who rescued the retiarius; so at any festival +or ceremonial in which the Vestals take part, many a dignitary is likely +to nudge his neighbor, indicate you and whisper: + +"'That's the priestess who walloped Bambilio!' You are not infamous, you +are famous. + +"As for myself I am the more inclined to feel indulgent towards you +because I understand how you felt. You were boiling with rage at being +struck by any one, as any noble girl would be. Yet you would have +controlled your fury but for the fact that you knew that you yourself +had done nothing to deserve chastisement, that you were suffering for +another's fault." + +"What!" cried Brinnaria. + +"Oh, yes," Aurelius continued, easily. "Causidiena and I are quite +agreed on that point. Neither she nor I have questioned Meffia, and we +do not mean to; partly because we are sure enough, without any admission +from her; partly because the matter is best left as it is, without any +further notice. But, with the exception of Meffia, it is quite certain +that, from the Vestals themselves down to the last slave-girl, every +resident of the Atrium believes that not you but Meffia let the fire go +out, and that you took the blame due her. And we can all conjecture your +motives, as we all applaud them. + +"Meffia might never have survived a scourging, might have been ailing +for months. Rome wants no sick Vestals nor dead Vestals. Causidiena is +grateful to you, all the Atrium is grateful, I am grateful." + +"But," said Brinnaria, wide-eyed, "I had supposed that, if Meffia was +suspected, there would be an inquisition and testimony under oath and +that it would be obligatory that the Vestal actually at fault must be +scourged." + +"For once," the Emperor smiled, "you have failed to read accurately the +statutes of the order. It is positively refreshing. I was beginning to +feel that you were altogether too accurate. In fact the scourging of a +delinquent Vestal is a mere disciplinary regulation, designed to assure +the maintenance of the fire. It is not in the nature of a mandatory +atonement. It has nothing in common with an act of expiation. It has +nothing to do with placating or propitiating the Goddess. It has no +likeness whatever to the punishment of a guilty Vestal." + +"That reminds me," said Brinnaria, "of what I came for. I'm as grateful +as possible for what you have said to me, surprised that Causidiena and +you so easily saw through my deception, delighted that you take it as +you have, more than delighted to find you so kindly disposed towards me. +I need all the kindness you can feel towards me. I want to come to +the point, to the reason why I am here. I want you to answer me this +question:'Suppose I were accused of the worst possible misconduct, +formally accused before you, what then?" + +"Then," said Aurelius, "you would have a fair trial." + +"I believe I should," said Brinnaria. "You would be perfectly fair and +entirely just. And a fair trial would be a novelty. Almost never has an +accused Vestal had a fair trial." + +"Not even if acquitted?" the Emperor suggested slyly. + +"No," Brinnaria retorted vigorously. "Even most of those absolved were +not tried fairly. Postumia was, if the records from so long ago are to +be trusted. The first trial of the third Licinia was perfectly fair, the +minutes are very full and there is no shade of bias in the discussion of +her many interviews with Crassus, while the court was plainly genuinely +amused at his greed for desirable real-estate and at his artifices to +induce her to sell cheap. Fabia, in the same year, was justly treated. +But most of the other acquittals were quite as bad as most of the +convictions to my mind. I can discover almost no trial where both sides +had a full hearing, where the judges tried to get at the facts and kept +their attention on the evidence, where the finding as the expression of +the opinions rather than of the partiality of the Pontiffs. Almost +every verdict on record, it seems to me, was dictated by favoritism or +influence or prejudice or wrath." + +"You seem to think you know a great deal about the subject of trials of +Vestals," Aurelius remarked. + +"I feel justified in thinking so," Brinnaria maintained. "Where the +minutes of the court have perished, as, of course, in the case of all +the trials before the capture and burning of the city by the Gauls, I +have read what records remain. Where the court records are extant I have +pored over every word of the minutes of the proceedings and of every +document attached." + +"That is more than ever I found time to do," Aurelius meditated. "Your +conclusions ought to be of interest. What are they?" + +Brinnaria drew a deep breath and went on. "I am convinced," she said, +"that sometimes the accused received what she deserved, but generally +by accident. The judges were swayed by politics or expediency or +clan-feeling or popular clamor or self-interest, not by reason. + +"Nobody could form any judgment, at this distance of time, about the +guilt or innocence of Oppia or Opimia or Popilia or Porphilia or Orbilia +or Orbinia or whatever her real name was, it all happened so long ago. +But Minucia and Sextilia and Floronia and the rest were just victims of +judicial ferocity, as far as I can make out." + +"You are then of the opinion," the Emperor asked, "that there never was +a guilty Vestal?" + +"No," Brinnaria replied judicially, "I don't go as far as that. +Varonilla was probably depraved and with her the two Oculatas. I don't +think their suicides prove anything against them, for a woman is just as +likely to hang herself because she despairs of a fair hearing as because +she is conscious of guilt. What weighs with me is that they were brought +up in the dissolute times of Messalina and Nero and that their relatives +were leaders of the most profligate set in Rome, cronies of Vitellius +and his coterie. But although Cornelia was bred and raised in the same +social atmosphere, I am quite as sure of her innocence as all the +world was the day she was buried and as everybody has been ever since. +Domitian just murdered her without a trial, for political reasons +and for moral effect. So likewise Marcia and the second Licinia were +judicially murdered by that fierce old Cassius Longinus Ravilla. He was +elected to convict them, not to try them, and he conducted the trial +not to arrive at a fair verdict, but to force a conviction. He had some +excuse, for their acquittal on their former trial had been brought about +by idiotic bribing and family influence. On the face of the evidence +at both trials they were clearly blameless. What ruined them was their +trying to shield Aurelia, surely the worst Vestal on record, for she had +everything in her favor, ancestry, upbringing and surroundings; she +was beyond doubt innately vicious. She was the only Vestal ever justly +convicted and justly punished, in my opinion. All the others were +irreproachable women, doomed to a frightful fate by prejudiced judges. +In general, an accused Vestal is as good as condemned, the whole +population so dreads the results of acquitting an unclean priestess. And +it is the easiest thing in the world for a Vestal to be accused. Refuse +to sell a farm for half its value, snub a bore, order a slave flogged +for some unbearable blunder, and the result is the same; false +accusation with perjured witnesses and a quick conviction most likely to +follow." + +"The subject seems to have occupied your mind a great deal," Aurelius +ruminated. + +"Do you wonder?" Brinnaria flamed at him. "What in all the tragic, +dramatic history of Rome is half so dramatic or a tenth so tragic as the +burial of a Vestal? In all our centuries of ferocity, what seems half so +cruel? + +"I know that cruelty played no part in the invention of burial alive +as a punishment for a convicted Vestal. I know that no caitiff could +be found so vile as to dare to lay hands on a Vestal, no ruffian so +reckless as to venture to end her life by sword or axe, by strangling +or drowning. The most impious miscreant has too much fear of the gods to +injure a consecrated priestess. The only way to dispose of a delinquent +Vestal is to bury her alive. But the cruelty of it makes me choke. I +think of the last hours of each of those who were punished, of their +thoughts as the time drew near, of their feelings alone in the dark +waiting for death to release them from their sufferings. + +"I think of these underground cells as they are now, out there under +that awful unkempt, ragged waste lot by the Colline Gate. I think of the +skeletons mouldering on the mouldering cots, of the bones, the fragments +of crumbling bones, the dust of crumbled bones on the stone floors, as +they have been for hundreds of years, as they will be for thousands of +years to come. The cot cannot yet have decayed from under what is left +of poor Cornelia; her bones must still be entire and in order on the +webbing; Aurelia's bones must be whole yet and Licinia's and Marcia's; +of Floronia there can hardly be left a trace by now, where Minucia died +there can be only an empty stone cell. Do you wonder that the subject +haunts me?" + +"I do and I do not," Aurelius replied. "I've let you relieve your mind +by talking yourself tired. Now listen to me. I think I understand you +perfectly. When you came to me before the novel responsibilities of your +office had worn on your nerves and you were quivering with dread +for fear you might be an unworthy priestess. Now the perils of your +situation are wearing on your nerves and you are brooding over the +possibility of accusation, trial, conviction and burial alive. + +"I sympathize with you. As an Emperor I am exposed to the perpetual +danger of assassination. You would be amazed if I detailed to you my +various narrow escapes from death at the hands of disappointed seekers +after preferment, of incompetent officials, of knaves with grievances +of every conceivable and inconceivable variety and of fools with no +grievance at all. You would be astonished if I merely reckoned the +occasions on which I have just missed being killed. It gets on my +nerves, more or less, of course. But I strive to bear up and remain calm +and I succeed more or less. I keep before me the fact that as an +Emperor I am obnoxious to countless hatreds from fancied slights and to +uncountable schemes of revenge. I reflect that the danger is inseparable +from the state of my being an Emperor. I try to be philosophical about +it. + +"So you must attempt to remain placid under the strain of the knowledge +that you are exposed to perpetual danger of a horrible death from +conviction on false accusation. It is part of the condition of being a +Vestal. If anything goes wrong in the way of earthquake, flood, famine, +pestilence, conflagrations or defeats, the populace are likely to cry +out that some Vestal is unclean and bringing down on the Empire the +wrath of the gods. That nothing of the kind has occurred during our +recent afflictions has been clearly due to the holiness of Dossonia and +Causidiena and to their reputation for strict discipline. But the danger +of popular outcry is always real. Then there is the fact that far too +large a proportion of our population are dissolute and that, among the +dissolute-minded, all Vestals are under suspicion because they are the +only women among our nobility who remain unmarried long after they have +reached marriageable years. You must learn to take all this as a matter +of course and to go sedately about your duties. + +"Of course, I lessen my danger by keeping about me many trusty guards. +It is right that you should appeal to me in your anxiety. I shall do +what I can to lessen your danger. I believe in you. If you were accused +before me it would take notably plain and convincing evidence to make +me believe anything against you. I shall put my opinion of you on record +among my papers of instructions to my successor. I shall declare it to +all the Chief Pontiffs. I shall verbally and in writing make it clear to +all concerned that you seem to me all you should be, that you are in an +unusually difficult and delicate position and that in case of accusation +all presumption should be in favor of your innocence and against the +sincerity of your accusers. + +"And now I think that ought to satisfy you and cover all the general +considerations. Let us come to the special consideration that interests +me chiefly. You have never come to me because you became gradually +unnerved by brooding which had no specific origin or cause: + +"Tell me plainly and outspokenly what has happened to you lately to +fill your mind with thoughts of buried Vestals, trials, accusations and +terrors?" + +Brinnaria thereupon related her encounter with Calvaster and her +conversation with Flexinna. + +The Emperor stroked his beard and reflected. + +"I have never liked Calvaster," he said, "and if I had been in the city +to consider recommendations for appointments he would, assuredly, never +have become a member of Rome's hierarchy. I deem him gravely unsuited +for even the most minor grade of Pontiff. He appears to me to be +mean-spirited, narrow-minded and base. I am inclined to believe of him +all that you impute. But, even to such as Calvaster, we should be just. +You complained, a while ago, that the judges of the Vestals had ignored +both the facts and the evidence. Let us weigh the evidence and stick +to the facts. The only fact you present is that you caught Calvaster +lurking in your house. You confess that you were completely puzzled as +to what motive brought him there. Your friend surmises an explanation +which disgusts, insults and alarms you. You instantly credit it +completely, think and act as if it were unquestionably true. I am +prejudiced against Calvaster, as I have told you, yet I am by no means +ready to admit that your beliefs about him are evidence against +him, more particularly as they rest solely on Flexinna's ingenious +conjectures. The notion is plausible and it is entirely congruent with +Calvaster's character as I imagine it. Yet it is, after all, merely +a plausible surmise. I am just as inclined to accept Calvaster's own +explanation; he is an inquisitive busybody. + +"My verdict is that you need feel no alarm." + +"But I do," Brinnaria maintained; "I do not feel safe with Calvaster +anywhere about." + +The Emperor reflected. + +"The peace of mind of a Vestal," he said, "is a matter of such +importance to the state that I should not hesitate about ordering +Calvaster banished to some comfortable and healthy island and there +detained permanently, were it not that the fellow has made himself +almost indispensable. The pestilence has carried off practically all the +adepts at interpretation of the sacred writings, the prophetic books, +the rubrics and rituals of the various temples, the statutes of +the brotherhoods and other orders of the hierarchy. Only Numerius +Aproniarius remains of the older experts, and he is afflicted by an +incurable and loathsome disease which he cannot long survive. Of the +younger men only Calvaster has displayed any aptitude for learning this +delicate and complex art, only he has attained any reputation. He is, in +the circumstances, indispensable, I cannot banish him merely to please +you. You will have to endure Calvaster." + +Brinnaria pulled a wry face, as in her mutinous girlhood. She felt +entirely at ease with Aurelius. + +"I perceive that I must endure him," she said, "but if you cannot banish +Calvaster, perhaps you'll oblige me by banishing Almo." + +"Almo!" the Emperor exclaimed, "what can you have against that gallant +lad? Have you turned against him? I thought you were unshakably resolved +to marry him, thought you loved him unalterably!" + +"I shall marry him, if we both live," Brinnaria replied, "and most +unalterably love him. But I love life and daylight and fresh air and my +full meals even more. I have a splendid appetite, I loath stuffy places, +I hate the dark. The idea of being shut in an underground cell to +suffocate slowly or starve to death even more slowly goes against my +gorge. I see myself in my mind's eye climbing down that ladder, like +poor Cornelia, I see myself stretched out on my cot, watching the ladder +being pulled up by the executioner, watching the workmen fitting in the +last stone of the vault. I imagine myself staring at the wick of the +lamp and wondering how long the oil will last and debating whether it +would be better to blow out the light and save the oil to drink and +so live longer in the dark, or to let the lamp burn out and have the +discomfort of the light a little longer. I fancy myself conning over +the trifle of bread, milk, fruit and wine left on the stone slab, and +speculating as to how long they'll keep me alive. + +"Bah! + +"No burial alive for me. + +"Acquittal on a trial is a poor way for a Vestal to escape the worst +possible fate, a last resort, at best, and an unchancy reliance, even as +a last resort. A far better way is never to be tried, and the best way +never to be tried is never to be accused. You've been good enough to +tell me that if I were accused you'd be predisposed to favor me in all +possible ways and that you'll give instructions as to your opinion of +me. Any directions of yours would be respected by any heir of yours. But +you yourself have just remarked how slender is an Emperor's hold on life +or on power. I may survive both yourself and your son. I might be tried +before men we should never think of now. I must arrange so that I shall +never be tried at all, I must live so that I shall never be accused. + +"Now I am unlikely ever to be accused in relation to any man except +Almo. Everybody knows I mean to marry Almo when my service is at an end, +everybody knows he means to marry me, everybody knows we are in love +with each other. That puts me in the most delicate position any Vestal +ever was placed in. I have been extremely careful. I have never spoken +to Almo since I was taken for a Vestal, have never met him except by +accident, have never set eyes on him except against my will; have never +even written a letter to him or received one from him. I have been, I +think, wise, judicious and controlled. But Almo has not behaved well +towards me." + +"Indeed!" Aurelius interjected. "You surprise me! What has he done?" + +Brinnaria flushed. + +"A girl in love," she said, "is a fool, but she has sense enough to +conceal her foolishness. A man is different. I suppose men are made that +way and can't help themselves. But a man in love is not only a fool, but +he parades his foolishness. Almo sent me messages by all sorts of mutual +acquaintances, by his people and mine, by Flexinna, by Nemestronia, by +Vocco, begging me to exchange letters with him. I was angry and said +so and repeatedly sent him word that he was most foolish and most +inconsiderate. I sent him word that if he wanted to please me he'd +ignore my existence and stay as far from me as possible. + +"He actually begged his father to be allowed to come to Rome. His father +had the good sense to keep him at Falerii. Now that all his relatives +are dead and he is his own master he has come to Rome. If he had any +real consideration for me he'd go to Aquileia, at least he might be +satisfied with a popular resort like Baiae or a place like Capua; Capua +has enough baths and shows and horse-races and gladiators for anybody. + +"But he must come to Rome, when a spark of sense and decency would tell +him to keep as far away as he could. It stands to reason that I could +never be accused of misconduct with him if he had never been within a +hundred miles of me since I was taken for a Vestal. + +"But he must needs come to Rome. He has opened his house on the Carinae +and had it put in order and has settled down to such a life here as is +usual with wealthy leisured idlers. He has bought additional furniture, +as if his father's house wasn't stuffed with everything magnificent, he +has bought curios and antiques and statuary and pictures and books. He +spends most of his time in the barracks of his favorite gladiatorial +company or at the stables of the Greens, and the rest of it at the +afternoon baths. I sent Vocco to him to protest and to urge him to leave +Rome for my sake. The selfish wretch said he loved me and always would, +but he just could not live anywhere except at Rome. He stays here, in +defiance of my wishes and against all reason." + +"That is not what I should have expected of him," the Emperor meditated. +"I am surprised and far from pleased. I shall certainly find means to +relieve your mind as far as he is concerned." + +"There is worse yet to tell," Brinnaria went on. "You'd think that, if +he must stay in Rome he'd at least have the decency to keep away from +me and from places where he is likely to encounter me. He does just +the reverse. He haunts me, he waylays me. He prowls up and down the Via +Sacra and the Via Nova, he stands in the moonlight and stares up at the +outside windows of the Atrium; on festival days he waits outside of our +entrance to the Colosseum or of the Circus Maximus to watch me enter; on +any day he loiters about the portal of the Atrium to watch me come out +to my litter or my carriage, he dogs me on my airings." + +"Hercules!" Aurelius exclaimed. "This is too bad!" + +"Too bad indeed," Brinnaria pursued; "it would be bad enough from +anybody in his position, from him it is ten times worse than from anyone +else. You know how individual Almo is, how almost peculiar he looks, +how no one would mistake him for anyone else or forget him or fail to +recognize him. I have often tried to analyze the factors that go to +make him look so striking, but I cannot. He is perfectly proportioned +in every measurement, yet, somehow, he has a long-armed and long-legged +appearance different from that of any young man in Rome, he gives almost +the effect of reminding one of a spider or of a grasshopper or of +a daddy-long-legs. It makes him the most conspicuous, the most +recognizable man in all Rome. Why, if your son were to mingle in a +crowd, habited like any other boy in that crowd and Almo did the same, +and nobody in the crowd had any reason to expect to see either, Almo +would most likely be noticed sooner than Antoninus, recognized more +generally, more readily, further off and quicker." + +"You are right," Aurelius mused, "I never thought of that, but Almo is +unforgettable, striking and arresting to the eye beyond any lad in our +nobility." + +"And being what he is," Brinnaria raged, "he must needs arrange that +nearly every crowd I am in should see him at the same time as me. +Already thousands of reputable Romans must remember seeing us at the +same glance. Before long the majority will be ready to recall, if the +subject is broached, that they have habitually seen him wherever they +saw me. Some one will start the talk and presently all Rome will buzz +with the gossip that we are continually seen together. A charming state +of affairs for me if some busybody or some enemy of mine raises the +question of my fitness for my holy duties! I have protested. I've had +Vocco go to Almo and urge all these considerations on him, and the silly +boy says he can't live without seeing me, that he longs for the sight +of me so he cannot control himself. How's that for lover's folly? One +minute he can't live away from Rome, he loves Rome more than he loves +me; the next minute I'm the one object on earth which he must behold or +die. I've no patience with such imbecility." + +"And I have very little," said the Emperor; "just enough to imagine a +better way of disburdening you and of disposing of Almo than banishing +him would be. The lad is far too good to be wasting his time with the +horse-jockeys and charioteers and ostlers of the Greens, or brutalizing +himself with the companionship of ruffianly prize-fighters, belonging to +this or that speculator in the flesh of ferocious savages. He must find +some outlet for his energies and interests and is carried away by the +fashionable mania, which is corrupting our whole population, especially +our young nobles, and which, even at his tender age, fills the thoughts +of my son, to the despair of his tutors. + +"All Almo needs is worthy occupation. I'll put the sea between him and +you and so put your mind at rest. I'll make a man of him at the same +time. I'll appeal to his pride and his patriotism. Rome needs such +keen-minded, capable youths on the frontiers. I'll not give him too hard +or too unpleasant employment, not relegate him to Britain or Dacia +or Syria. I'll send him to Africa to chase the desert nomads who are +harrying the borders of Numidia and Mauretania. He can gain credit there +without danger, can learn to command men and to know the great game +of war. Nepte and Bescera are pleasant little cities--he will be +comfortable between campaigns. I'll see he sets out the day after +to-morrow, at latest." + + + +CHAPTER XI - FAREWELL + + +Two days later, Brinnaria had a visit from Flexinna. Flexinna's eyes +were dancing. + +"G-G-Guess where I've been," she challenged. + +"I'm not good at guessing," Brinnaria parried; "better tell me." + +"I've b-b-been to the Palace," Flexinna revealed. + +"What took you there?" Brinnaria queried, surprised. + +"I was sent for," Flexinna declared, elated. + +"Who'd you see?" Brinnaria enquired. + +"The Emperor himself," proclaimed Flexinna triumphantly. + +Brinnaria was very much astonished. + +"Better tell me the whole story," she suggested. + +"Not much story," said Flexinna. "Aurelius t-t-told me that he wanted +t-t-to see you again and that, as a formal visit from the Emperor +as P-P-Pontifex Maximus at the Atrium was unusual and was likely to +c-c-cause g-g-gossip, whereas you Vestals are c-c-continually at the +Palace to ask favors for all sorts of people who p-p-pester you to use +your influence with the Emperor, he thought it b-b-best to suggest +that you apply for an audience t-t-to-morrow. He said he wanted the +intimation c-c-conveyed to you as unobtrusively as p-p-possible and +d-d-desired p-p-particularly that no one should ever know or g-g-guess +that it had b-b-been g-g-given. So he sent for me, as your b-b-best +friend, since he was sure I would never t-t-tell anybody. + +"B-B-Better send along your application for an audience. It was +p-p-plain to me that he has something agreeable to t-t-tell you. His +face was just as g-g-grave as usual but his eyes sparkled at me, +as d-d-different as p-p-possible from their habitual dull filmed +appearance. He was all k-k-kindliness and anticipation." + +"I'm willing to take the hint, of course," Brinnaria replied. + +Next morning she found Aurelius most cordial and informal in his +greeting to her. + +"I've been investigating Almo," he said, "and I am more than pleased +with all I can learn of him. I see no reason for not telling you that, +from the very day you were taken as a Vestal, some of the most expert, +secret and trustworthy men in the employ of the information department +have had no other duties than to keep close watch upon you and Almo. I +have been over all the papers relating to him and to you, I have talked +with the men themselves. They all assure me that never once have you and +Almo met since he reached your father's house a half hour too late. They +also report that, in the course of his injudicious moonings about your +haunts, he has always kept at a respectful distance. And except for +those same loverly danglings about places where he might catch glimpses +of you, I can find nothing against the lad. Everybody speaks most highly +of him. His former tutors and preceptors are enthusiastic in their +laudations of his capacities, abilities, diligence and attainments in +all matters pertaining to books and study. About Falerii he was regarded +as a fine specimen of a young nobleman, huntsman and swimmer, good at +all rustic sports, as haughty as the proudest when he was given good +cause to assert himself, but habitually affable, unassuming and sunny +tempered. Towards his father's tenants and slaves he was most kindly +and nothing could be more to any man's credit than his downright heroic +behavior from the very day the pestilence appeared on his estates, all +through the frightful period of its raging about Falerii, until the +neighborhood had somewhat recovered after the plague had abated. + +"The most extraordinary feature of the reports about him is that they +all agree as to his amazing devotion to you. All persons who know him +or know of him are unanimous in the opinion that he has never taken the +slightest personal interest in any human being except yourself; all are +emphatic in stating that he has certainly never manifested any affection +for anyone else. This is unprecedented. I never heard of such another +case. There is nothing astonishing about a young Roman declaring that +he would remain unmarried for thirty years in order to mate, ultimately, +with the girl of his choice. There is nothing wonderful about his +keeping his word. But any other youth I ever heard of would have +consoled himself variously, and variedly. Almo's austere celibacy is a +portent in our world and altogether marvellous. It lifts his affair with +you out of the humdrum atmosphere of to-day and puts it on a level with +the legendary stories of heroic times, with the life-long fidelities of +the Milesian tales. + +"Under the stress of such severe and unflinching self isolation I do +not wonder that his broodings drove him to overstep the bounds of common +sense, that he was irresistibly compelled to leave Falerii, to come to +Rome, to loiter where he might, at least, behold you at a distance. I +shall make sure that he does so no longer. This very day he sets out for +Carthage, Theveste and the deserts to the south beyond the lagoons of +Nepte. But I cannot be angry with him for being unable to restrain his +longing at least to set eyes on you. And I see no reason why you two, +who have not exchanged a word in more than nine years, should not +meet here in this room and say farewell to each other before I put the +Mediterranean between you." + +Brinnaria sprang up. + +"I see many reasons," she declared, "and my feelings are all against +seeing Almo until my service as a Vestal is ended." + +"I can well believe," came the answer, "that you feel that way at the +first presentation of the idea. But I am your Emperor and also Chief +Pontiff of Rome. I am engaged at present in solving the problem of ow +best to ensure peace of mind to one of Rome's Vestals. To ensure her +peace of mind I am about to relegate her future husband to important +duties on a far frontier of the Empire. I judge that he will better +perform his duties, that she will better perform hers, if she bids +him farewell in my presence. I am a lover of wisdom and a student of +wisdom.* I believe I possess some pretensions to wisdom. Will you not +defer to me in this? I am of the opinion that he will worry less about +you and you less about him if you see each other once before your twenty +years of certain separation begins." + + *The wisdom of Marcus Aurelius was recognized during his + lifetime and is highly regarded even today, over 1900 years + later. His book, _Meditations_, remains in print and is + available through Project Gutenberg.--PG Ed. + +Brinnaria looked mutinous and gazed at the Emperor in silence. In +silence he waited for her to speak. At last she said, curtly: + +"I bow to your authority." + +The Emperor struck his silver gong and a page appeared. Aurelius gave a +brief order. A few moments later Almo was ushered in. After his formal +salute to the Emperor he stood silent, his eyes fixed on Brinnaria. + +They made a fine picture. The ceiling of the immense hall was a +barrel-vault, of which the beams were stuccoed in cream-white, picked +out with gilding, while between them the depth of each soffit was +colored an intense deep blue, against which stood out a great gilt +rosette. The mighty pilasters, whose gilded capitals supported the +vaulting, were of many-veined dark yellow marble, polished and gleaming +like the slabs of pale yellow marble which panelled the interspaces. The +high-moulded wainscot was of red and green porphyry, somberly smooth +and shining. Against it, below the wall-panels, were set great chests +of carved and gilded wood, while about the bases of the pilasters were +placed groups of settees and armchairs, similarly carved and gilded +and richly upholstered. The floor was paved with an intricate mosaic +of parti-colored bits of marble, its expanse broken only by the great +gorgeous carpet before the throne, by the chair set for Brinnaria, by +the onyx table, supported on sculptured monsters like griffons, beside +the throne, and by the throne itself, a curule seat of ivory mounted +with gold, its crimson cushion glowing, set far out in the room. + +Before the throne stood Aurelius, his head bare, the long ringlets of +his hair and beard sweeping his shoulders and his bosom, one foot a +trifle advanced, the gold eagle embroidered on his sky-blue buskin +showing beneath the crimson silk robes, lavishly embroidered with a +complicated pattern of winding vines, bright blue and green, edged +with gold, which the etiquette of the time imposed upon even a +philosophically austere Emperor; on his right Brinnaria, erect and tense +in her white official habit, her square white headdress all but hiding +her coronet of dark braids, her veil pushed back from her flushed face; +the tassels and ribbons of her head-band, her great pearl necklace, the +big pearl brooch that fastened the folds of her headdress where they +crossed on her breast, and the bunch of fresh white flowers which it +clasped, rising and falling with the heaving of her bosom; facing +her, splendid in the gilded armor and scarlet cloak of a commander of +irregular cavalry, Almo. + +"You know why I have sent for you," Aurelius reminded him. "Speak out." + +Like a school-boy repeating a lesson by rote, Alma spoke. + +"Brinnaria," he said, "the Emperor has remonstrated with me on my recent +folly. I am sincerely ashamed of myself and I wish to apologize to you +for my lack of self-control and for my lack of consideration for you. I +leave Rome before sunset and shall not return until I may return without +danger to you." + +Aurelius looked at Brinnaria. + +"Caius," she said, "I forgive you. I trust that you will win promotion +and honor where you are going and I am sure that you will do your duty +to the Empire. May the blessing of all the gods be on you and may you +return to me safe and well." + +"And may I find you safe and well when I return," spoke Almo. "Farewell, +Brinnaria." + +"Farewell, Caius," said she. + +The Emperor nodded and Almo bowed himself out. + +"Do you know," said Aurelius, when they were alone, "I have been +thinking over what you said about Almo's peculiar notability of looks. +It puzzles me as it puzzles you. He is not merely of distinguished +appearance, he is unusual, striking, unforgettable, conspicuous. I have +talked about it to several of my gentlemen-in-waiting, equerries and +orderlies. They have seen him lately about the stables of the Greens. +They all say that he is, in fact, as normally proportioned as any youth +alive, but they confirm what you said about his long-legged appearance. +Julianus used almost the same word you used, said Almo looked +'Grasshoppery.' They all say Almo is precisely the most unmistakable, +the most readily and quickly recognizable youth in all our young +nobility." + +Brinnaria rose to go. Aurelius bent on her a kindly smile. + +"I have been talking about you with Faustina," he said. "We are both +much interested by the strangeness of your fate, by the difficulty and +delicacy of your situation and by the wonderful constancy of you both. +Faustina and I are a most united pair, never happy out of each other's +company and very proud of our domestic felicity. We are, if I may +use the word, rather prone to gloat over it, and, while continually +congratulating ourselves and each other, we cannot but mourn the +infrequency of such happiness throughout our Italian nobility. There +are few matrons in Rome as serenely happy as your friend Flexinna, few +indeed who find all their happiness in children, husband and household. +And of those who really enjoy their homes most are remarried after a +divorce, or even after two or more. Our society suffers from a plague +worse than the pestilence itself, a plague of greed for excitement, +eagerness for novelty, of peevishness and fickleness. + +"In this unhealthy atmosphere such households as Vocco's are most +notable. And that you, who seem by nature fitted for just such +blessedness as has befallen Flexinna, should have been robbed of it by +a strange series of peculiar circumstances wins for you our interest +and our solicitude. Still more are our hearts drawn towards you by your +unwavering fidelity, alike to your present duties and all that they +imply and to that love which you have had to put away and forget, to the +ideal of that felicity which you have had to postpone so far. + +"Faustina desires an interview with you. She is now in the amber +gallery. I shall have you conducted there, if you do not object." + +Brinnaria could not very well object and after an equerry, very stately +in his garb of duty, and two gaudily clad pages had escorted her through +what seemed like miles of corridors, she found herself alone with the +Empress. + +The Empress she had so far seen infrequently and spoken with only +seldom. It was impossible to be a Vestal, in the heyday of Rome's +Imperial times, and not meet and know the Empress of Rome. Brinnaria +had seen her whenever they were both present at the Circus or the +Amphitheatre; had been close to her at all important state functions; +had occasionally dined with her at formal Palace banquets, when the +curved sofa about the Empress' table was always occupied by the Empress, +the wives of the chief Flamens and the Vestals; but had hardly ever +exchanged a word with her. + +Faustina was endowed with the general healthiness with which Roman +noblewomen were blessed. But she had had the bad luck to suffer from +many and severe illnesses. These and her slow recoveries from them had +kept her away from very many official functions and public festivals. +Numerous had been the occasions on which Aurelius had appeared without +her. When she was well, indeed, they were always together, if possible. +A great proportion of his time, however, was occupied with official +duties of such a nature that, according to Roman etiquette, no woman +could participate in them. During such enforced separations Faustina +sought amusement. And with the overflowing energy and abounding vigor +which she displayed between her illness, she threw herself into +the whirl of her pleasures with such impetuosity, there was so much +rollicking and roistering about her favorite diversions that she +attracted to herself and kept around her just those elements of Roman +society with which the Vestals were least likely to mingle, professional +idlers, and what we moderns would call the fast set. Naturally, +therefore, Brinnaria and Faustina had never had any familiar +intercourse. This was their first real conversation. + +Faustina was not a large woman. She was of medium height, slender and +graceful. She was noted for the originality of her coiffures, which made +the most of her magnificent hair. Her hair Brinnaria noticed the moment +her eyes fell on her. + +Her habitual expression of haughtiness and boredom had vanished from the +Empress's face and she was all kindliness and solicitude. + +Faustina put her at her ease at once. + +"I have always been so sorry," she began, "that I was ill the day you +climbed over the balustrade of the podium and rescued the retiarius. +I've missed many a sight I regretted, I miss so much by falling ill +again and again, but I never missed a sight I regretted missing more +than that. Nothing more worth seeing ever happened in the Colosseum." + +"I was terribly ashamed when I found what I had done," said Brinnaria. + +"Of course you were," the Empress agreed. + +This broke the ice between them and Faustina led her into a long +talk about all her past, her love affair, her life as a Vestal, her +bereavements, her embarrassing circumstances, her future, her hopes. + +Brinnaria left the Empress, feeling that she had found a real friend and +also feeling comforted at heart. + + + +CHAPTER XII -OBSERVANCES + + +BRINNARIA found that, with Almo definitely and permanently out of the +way, she did not worry about Calvaster. She also found that she did +not worry about Almo and that her glimpse of him had rather calmed +her feelings. She confessed as much to Aurelius when she had a third +audience with him before he left for the Rhine frontier, and she thanked +him for his insistence. + +With her mind at peace Brinnaria settled more and more into the routine +of her life and enjoyed it more and more. + +She came to feel keenly the spiritual significance of every detail of +the ritual observances in which she took part. Besides the maintenance +of the sacred fire, the Vestals had many obligatory duties. Every +sacrifice of the Roman public worship involved the sprinkling of the +sacred meal upon the head of the victim, if a live animal was offered, +or upon the fire, if the sacrifice was bloodless. Early in each ceremony +one of the small boys assisting the priest carried around to all the +participants in the act of worship a maple-wood box containing the holy +meal; from it each worshipper ladled a small portion into the palm of +his right hand; at a specified point in the course of the ceremonial +each participant sprinkled the meal as prescribed. + +The holy meal was made of very coarsely ground wheat, a sort of +grits, salted and toasted. It was prepared by the Vestals according +to immemorial custom. They were supplied with a sufficient quantity of +heads of wheat, the best of the produce of two of their estates, one +near Caere, the other near Lanuvium. These wheat ears were packed in +baskets and stored on the farms in dry, airy barns. There they were +kept drying and hardening their grains until the next spring. Then the +allotted baskets were brought into Rome. On the seventh of May, after +a ceremonial of prayer, the three elder Vestals began going over these +wheat-ears, sorting out those entirely perfect, and placing them in +larger baskets shaped like the big earthen jars in which the Romans +commonly tored wheat, olives, oil, wine and other similar supplies. +On the next day the wheat from the first day's selection of ears was +separated from the straw, beards and chaff, was roasted and coarsely +ground. The resultant groats were then put away in great earthen jars in +the outer storeroom of the temple. On the third day they again selected +wheat ears, on the fourth they again prepared wheat-grits, and so on +alternately for eight days. By the evening of the eighth day they had +stored enough groats to make the sacred meal for one year's ceremonies +of the entire Roman ritual. + +The salt with which they salted the holy meal was prepared with similar +invariable formality. Crude salt, obtained from evaporated sea-water +out of the sand-pits on the seashore near Lavinium, was conveyed to +the Atrium in small two-handled earthenware jars. This coarse, dirty, +dark-colored salt was dissolved by the three younger Vestals in boiling +water, which water might not be obtained from the lead pipes which +connected the Atrium with the general water-supply of the city's +aqueducts, but must be drawn by the Vestals themselves and carried by +them in the earthenware jars from the famous fountain of Jaturna, at +which Castor and Pollux were fabled to have watered their white horses +after bringing to Rome the news of the victory at Lake Regillus. The +solution was purified by repeated boilings, the impurities being gotten +rid of by successive careful decantings of the liquid from one vessel +into another, so that the sediment might be left behind as the top +part was poured off. When sufficiently boiled down the solution was +recrystallized in shallow earthenware pans. The resulting slabs of +salt were harder than the pans and were freed from them by breaking the +earthenware with an ancient stone hammer, said to have been captured by +AEneas himself from a king of Ardea. The slabs of salt were sawed into +pieces with an iron saw, the pieces were pounded in a mortar, the fine +salt was thrown into an earthenware bowl and dried out in a kiln. When +dried a little powdered gypsum was stirred through it to prevent it from +again becoming moist. It was then stored in a tall jar with a tight lid, +which was kept in the outer storeroom of the temple, along with the jars +of meal. Three times a year, on the ninth of June, on the thirteenth +of September and on the fifteenth of February, with solemn prayers the +Vestals mixed the prepared salt with the prepared grits, the resultant +mixture being the sacred meal. + +On each First of March the fire in the temple was allowed to go out and +was solemnly rekindled by the friction of maple wood on apple wood, as +when the fire went out by accident. The temple was then decorated with +fresh boughs of green laurel, after the boughs put up the year before +had been removed. + +On May fifteenth the Vestals were the chief figures in a solemn +procession of the entire Roman hierarchy to the Sublician bridge, from +which the Vestals threw into the Tiber thirty dolls made of rushes, +fifteen representing men, fifteen women, each about two feet high. + +This offering to the river of effigies of men and women commemorated the +primitive human sacrifices by which the river was each year placated, +that it might not drown more by floods. + +On June fifth the inner storeroom of the temple was opened and its +treasures inspected by the Pontifex wearing his antique vestments. With +him entered always also the Chief Vestal clad in her austere habit with +all her badges of office. They were attended by the other Vestals, who +went through traditional pacings, haltings and prayers. The Temple of +Vesta was an enclosure from which all men were rigidly excluded. +The only exceptions to this immemorial taboo were a few of the more +important Pontiffs, and they might only enter on specified festal days, +and then must be in their full regalia. Also, in general, the temple was +closed against all women except the Vestals and their assistants. It was +open, however, from sunrise on the morning of each seventh of June until +sunset on the evening of the fourteenth of June. During this period +it was incumbent upon every Roman matron to visit the temple. And each +worshipper must walk the entire distance from her home to the temple and +must leave her house barefoot, barefoot she must walk from the temple to +her home. Only illness excused a Roman woman from this religious duty. +Few ever omitted it from indifference. + +During these eight days the temple was thronged. + +During these eight days also fell the great yearly festival of Vesta, +on the ninth of June, on which day also all millers kept holiday, with +processions and picnics to which the mill-donkeys were led decorated +with wreaths of flowers and strings of tiny, crisp-baked rolls. + +On June fifteenth the temple was ceremonially cleaned and the sweepings +and the ashes collected from the sacred fire for the year past were +solemnly carried in a stately procession to a prescribed spot on the +slope of the Capitol where a great pit was closed by a heavy maple-wood +door. In this pit the ashes were reverently buried. + +Besides these observances of their special cult the Vestals took part in +nearly every important sacrifice, procession and festival of the public +worship of Rome. They were busy women and among them Brinnaria was +anything but idle. She never found time hang heavy on her hands. + +So busied with her duties she passed three peaceful years, contented and +happy. There was but one drawback to life in the Atrium from Brinnaria's +point of view. That drawback was Meffia. Meffia was never ill but never +well. Everything tired her. It tired her to walk upstairs, to stand for +any length of time, to do anything. She was forever sitting down to +rest or lying down to rest. Excitement exhausted her totally. She was a +perpetual worry to the other Vestals. + +Otherwise Brinnaria was very happy. Through Flexinna she had frequent +news of Almo. Ancient Rome had no institution, public or private, in any +way corresponding to our post office. But routes of trade and travel by +land and sea were well defined and traffic along them fairly regular, on +the most used routes almost continual. There were private organizations, +vaguely resembling our modern express companies, which forwarded +merchandise along the main-travelled routes and even into remote +regions. Their messengers took charge of bales, boxes and packages of +all sizes and also of letters. The service on the roads of Africa, +from Bescera, Nepte and Putea along the frontier of the desert, through +Lambese, Capsa and Thysdrus, to Carthage, by well-built vehicles with +frequent relays of horses on the excellent highroads was fairly +good. The ships from Sicily plied with almost the regularity of our +ocean-liners. Roads and road-service in Sicily were of a high quality of +excellence. The transit to Italy at Messina was a sort of ferry. Italy +was served by a network of roads always busy. Almo's letters to Flexinna +were fairly regular and Vocco heard frequently from his friends among +Almo's brother officers and sometimes from his military superiors. + +Almo was an immediate and brilliant success as a leader of scouting +expeditions, cavalry dashes, and, within a year, of raids in +considerable force. His men adored him at once; his fellow-officers +found him excellent company, unassuming and companionable, his +commanders came early to rely on him. He won an excellent reputation and +was universally regarded as a young officer of great promise, likely to +rise to high position and not unlikely to become famous. + +This kind of news delighted Brinnaria and promoted her peace of mind. In +great contentment she went about her duties, loving them more and +more from month to month, preparing the blessed salt, assisting at +sacrifices, participating in processions. + +Also interest in music and enjoyment of music came to play more and more +a part in her spiritual life. As a child she had hated music and had +been in continual conflict with her musical governesses. Even after she +entered the Atrium her aversion to learning anything about music had +given Causidiena a great deal of trouble. Later Brinnaria was docile, +but the reverse of enthusiastic. Only after Almo's departure for Africa +did music begins to mean anything to her. + +But one keyed instrument was known to the ancients. That was a form of +organ, in effect and appearance not very dissimilar to a small portable +modern organ, with one bank of keys. Its mechanism, however, was very +different in respect to the construction of the pipe stops and bellows. +In particular, the steady flow of air to the pipes was obtained from +the pressure of water, and a receptacle partly filled with water was an +essential part of every Roman organ. From this feature it was called +the water-organ. The Emperor Nero had been a notable performer on the +water-organ and had interested himself in some improvements in its +mechanism. + +As with the modern organ, so with the Roman water-organ, the sonorous, +sustained and resonant notes lent themselves naturally to the expression +of religious emotion. + +Religious emotions, Brinnaria, at this period of her life, felt to an +overwhelming extent. She expressed them in long colloquies with Numisia +and Causidiena, in a tendency to be unnecessarily careful about her +duties, to pet her daily routine, as it were; and in an awakening to +the charms of music in general and of organ music in particular. She +developed into a capable performer on the water-organ, bought for +herself the finest to be found in all Rome, had it set up in the Atrium +in place of the old one which had belonged to the order of Vestals, and +sat before it for hours at a time. + +Her solitary communings with her favorite instrument became her chief +solace when she was: low-spirited, which was seldom, and her favorite +diversion when she was high-spirited, which was often. Moreover, her +rendition of well-known airs and he improvisings came to be a great +pleasure to all the inmates of the Atrium, most of all to Causidiena. + +Besides her many duties and her indoor amusements, Brinnaria found +time for much activity outside the Atrium. She had kept up her girlish +friendship for the sieve-maker Truttidius, and saw him occasionally, +sometimes ordering her litter halted before his shop and leaning out to +ask after his health and that of his family. Truttidius had an ailing +household, though he himself was always well and never seemed to get any +older. + +From her talks with Truttidius she came to take a personal interest +in the welfare of the countless tenants in her many properties in the +poorer quarters of the city. She visited some of them-a sort of approach +to modern slumming by the philanthropic rich. Such actions on the part +of a landowner and such an attitude of mind from any rich person toward +the poor was very unusual in the ancient world. Her behavior in this +regard won Brinnaria a sort of fame among the poor, as if she were a +live goddess moving among them. + +She had a healthy love of mere enjoyment too. Except when she happened +to be on duty watching the sacred fire, she never missed a theatrical +performance, a gladiatorial display or an exhibition of chariot-racing +in anyone of the vast race-courses flanked by tiers of stone-seats, +which the Romans called circuses. At all shows, whether of scenic +artists, fighting men or speeding horses, the Vestals had specified +seats, as good as the best. + +Besides these formal pleasures, she took great delight in mixing in +society merely for society's sake. Moderns are likely to imagine that +the Vestals of ancient Rome were nuns or something like nuns. They were +nothing of the sort. They were maiden ladies of wealth and position +whose routine duties brought them into familiar association with all the +men important in the Roman government, hierarchy, nobility and gentry +and with their wives and daughters. They were women of such importance +in their world that their acquaintance was sought by all who had any +pretensions to being entitled to meet them and by shoals of social +bounders who had none. Their influence was so powerful that they were +unremittingly sought, waylaid, pursued and besieged by persons who hoped +to enlist their interest in the appointment or promotion of this, that +or the other connection or relative; by the same persons they were +continually overwhelmed with presents of flowers, fruit, delicacies, +dainties, ornaments, laces, garments, pieces of furniture, horses, +slaves, and of anything and everything capable of being made a present +of in the Roman world; likewise with social invitations-chiefly to +dinners, banquets and feasts. Invitations to banquets and dinners +Brinnaria seldom declined, unless her duties made acceptance impossible +or the invitation came from people beneath her notice. As she had +said to Aurelius, she had an excellent appetite. She had an epicurean +tendency from her early years and was fond of oysters, sweetbreads, +eels, thrushes, turbot and other articles of food esteemed as delicacies +by the Romans. But she was a hearty eater and consumed generous portions +of roast meats, particularly of pork, which even in late imperial times +was the staple of Roman diet. She never lost her childish relish for +boiled pork and cabbage, for bacon, for ham, hot or cold. She was by +no means a glutton, ate deliberately and daintily, and while she ate, +joined in the general conversation or even led it. She had a quick wit +and a sharp tongue and her sallies were acclaimed. She was sought after +as a guest not merely because she was a Vestal, but for herself, for her +gaiety and her unexpected utterances. + +On the whole she preferred informal dinners to formal banquets and +liked better to dine with her friends than with the most luxurious +entertainers in Roman society. + +With Vocco and Flexinna she dined frequently, three times a month +at least and generally oftener. Brinnaria loved children, +especially babies, and there was always a baby in the Istorian +household--Flexinna's babies were all healthy and grew famously. Of the +six children, Brinnaria could not have told which she loved or which +loved her most. Her arrivals were always heralded with shouts of glee, +her romps with the children always put her in a good humor, her swim +with Flexinna sharpened an appetite which needed no edge, while the +cosiness and informality of Flexinna's dining-room, where each of the +three had undivided possession of one entire sofa, made it certain that +nothing marred her enjoyment. + + + +CHAPTER XIII - PERVERSITY + + +ABOUT three years after her farewell to Almo, on entering Vocco's house +one afternoon, Brinnaria had a presentiment of something wrong. The +children were as vociferous and as whimsical as usual, but there was +a nameless difference in Flexinna's expression and bearing. As soon as +they were alone in their bath, after she had had one good plunge in the +pool, Brinnaria, treading water in the deepest part of the tank, shaking +her head like a wet spaniel, demanded: + +"What is the matter? There's something wrong. You might as well tell +me." + +But Flexinna put her off and laughed at her insistence. + +To Brinnaria the laughter seemed forced and so did the talk at dinner. +No sooner was the dinner over and the tray of figs, almonds and +pomegranates and other fruit on the table, than she whispered to +Flexinna: + +"Tell the servants to stay out. I want to talk." Flexinna signed to +Vocco and they exchanged glances. + +"Why did you keep up the farce so long?" Brinnaria sneered. "I saw +through it from the first." + +"We were afraid," Vocco apologized, "that what I have to tell you would +spoil your appetite." + +"It would take something pretty bad to spoil my appetite," Brinnaria +reflected. "Is Almo dead?" + +"Not so b-b-bad as that," spoke Flexinna. + +"Tell me, Quintus," Brinnaria breathed. + +Vocco fidgeted. + +"It's an amazing story," he began. + +"All his story, all my story, all our story," Brinnaria cut in, "is +amazing. Leave out the comments and tell the story." + +"While Almo was away on the expedition against the nomads of the +plateau," Vocco narrated, "Pennasius fell ill, was allowed to resign his +governorship and Grittonius took his place. On Almo's return Grittonius +complimented him most highly and promised him any reward he asked for. +Almo amazed him by asking for a full and honorable discharge from the +army. Grittonius expostulated with him but Almo held him to his promise. +In spite of the governor's appeals to his pride and to his patriotism he +insisted, and Grittonius gave him his full official discharge. At +once Almo applied for permission to sell himself as a slave. This so +astounded Grittonius that he made him repeat the application before +witnesses and give his reasons. Almo explained that he had always been +devoted to horseracing and that he wanted formally and regularly to +article himself to one of the racing companies as a charioteer; that he +had always craved that life and had longed for it more and more as his +career as a soldier went on. He said there was no use in his continuing +a life he detested, nor missing the happiness he anticipated as a +charioteer. + +"Grittonius had him examined by a committee of the most reputed +physicians of the province. They reported Almo entirely sane. Grittonius +wanted to hold the matter over until he had special permission from the +Emperor. Almo craftily maintained that Grittonius had been made governor +with the fullest powers on all lines specifically to save the Emperor +from being bothered about such trifles. Grittonius yielded. The +necessary papers were drawn up, all the depositions were made out in +duplicate. Every formality was fulfilled and Almo was publicly sold as a +slave in the market place of Hippo." + +"What company did he enter?" Brinnaria queried. + +"Veppius did not state," Vocco replied; "he merely said that Almo sailed +the next day for Spain." + +"The fool!" Brinnaria cried. "The three fools; a fool of a Veppius to +write so vaguely, a fool of a governor to be persuaded so easily and +Almo the biggest fool of all! + +"What a fool of a lover I have! Are all men like that? I'm as much in +love with him as he with me and I can behave myself decently and keep +outwardly calm and observe the conventions of life. Why can't he be +decent? How can it comfort a man in love to throw away a splendid +career, abandon a great income and vanish from the ken of all who love +him? What madness is this with which the gods afflict him? Oh, I could +tear my hair with rage!" + +To trace Almo everything was done that could be done. Vocco himself +set out at once for Hippo. He found that Almo had been sold to a Greek +slave-dealer named Olynthides, brother of the well-known dealer at Rome. +He found Olynthides a small man with a club-foot. He said he remembered +the matter, that he had been employed to buy Almo and resell him for +cash, especially to conceal the real purchaser. + +When Vocco expressed astonishment Olynthides said: + +"There is nothing to be surprised at, the thing happens every day. It is +a regular feature of slave-trading. There are all sorts of reasons why +a man wants a slave without any past. Such sales are customary and +habitual." + +When pressed further he retorted: + +"Of course I did not ask the buyer's name; equally of course, I did not +take any note of him, it was my business to forget him. I didn't notice +him when he came into the courtyard, there are always knots of people +coming in all day, looking over the slaves I offer for sale, and going +out again. He came in like anybody else and looked over my stock. When +he spoke to me he had a servant with him carrying a stout leather bag. +He indicated Almo and asked his price. I named it. + +"'Cash sale,' says he; 'no papers except a bare sale certificate.' + +"'Done,' says I. + +"He counted out the cash from his servant's bag and I gave him the +customary certificate, with a description of Almo and the statement: + +"'Sold on this day and date for cash' and my signature and seal. That +was all there was to it." + +When Vocco was persistent, Olynthides averred that he had "heard" that +the purchaser's name was Jegius and that he came from Cadiz. Vocco could +not discover anyone in Hippo who had ever heard of a slave-dealer named +Jegius. + +When Vocco returned to Rome with his report Brinnaria set in motion all +the forces of her world which could be utilized under the circumstances. +Aurelius was on the Rhine frontier, but Brinnaria had, by this time, a +close acquaintance with all important court officers and was on terms +of the utmost cordiality with the officials who governed Rome in the +Emperor's absence. They sympathized with her and put at her disposal +all the machinery of the government secret service. They agreed with +her that the matter must be kept quiet, there must be no proclamations, +posters, no rewards offered by crier or placard, no publishing of +descriptions. With emphatic injunctions of secrecy they sent warnings to +every provincial governor, to every local magistrate, to the aldermen +of every free city, to institute unobtrusive investigations and to keep +unostentatious watch. Brinnaria insisted that these mandates should be +sent all over the Empire, pointing out that no one could conjecture what +port of the Mediterranean or of the Black Sea might be the destination +of any nameless trading ship. But, with special care, full orders were +distributed throughout Spain. + +Towards Spain, likewise, Brinnaria directed the energies of those +organizations of the ancient world which were analogous to our modern +private detective bureaus, and upon Spain she focussed the energies of +the managers of the racing companies. + +These great corporations were among the most important money-making +enterprises of the Roman world. They maintained luxurious headquarters +in the most congested business districts of the capital. They had +offices adjacent to each of the circuses, they possessed huge congeries +of buildings utilized as stables for their crack racers and barracks for +their charioteers, and provided with spacious courtyards for +training their teams. Outside of Rome they had similar offices and +training-stables in every city and in most towns of any size or wealth. +Besides they owned countless stud-farms, estates and ranches in every +province of the Empire and maintained an army of herdsmen, ostlers and +drovers to convoy their horses by land and whole fleets of ships to +transport them by sea. + +They were joint-stock companies, and while many smaller ones existed in +various parts of the Empire and a few even at Rome, the small concerns +were insignificant and generally ignored. When one spoke of the +racing-companies one meant the six great companies whose central +organizations were domiciled at Rome and whose ramifications penetrated +every district of the Empire. These were known, after the racing-colors +of their jockeys, as the Greens, the Blues, the Reds, the Whites, +the Crimsons and the Golds. The Reds and the Whites were the oldest +companies, the Crimsons and the Golds were companies established in +the heyday of the Empire by coteries of millionaires, the Blues and the +Greens were the largest, the wealthiest and the most popular, especially +the Greens. In the Greens, somewhere, Brinnaria expected to find Almo, +as he had been enthusiastic about the Greens from boyhood. He had been +wearing their leek-green colors the day she had sat in his lap in her +father's courtyard. He had haunted their training-stables during +his brief sojourn at Rome before Aurelius sent him to Africa, he had +inherited a big block of stock in the Greens. In the Greens, likewise, +Brinnaria owned stock; and, having entered into inheritances from +more than seventy different wealthy relatives who had died during the +pestilence, she happened to own stock in every one of the six great +companies. She had personal friends among the directors of each of the +six. Therefore it was especially easy for her to enlist their help in +her efforts to find Almo. It would have been easy, anyhow, since to be +able to oblige a Vestal was a refreshing novelty for almost anyone +at Rome and to find a Vestal seeking one's influence and one's help, +equally novel and refreshing; generally the shoe was on the other +foot--most persons in public life in Rome were used to attempting to +enlist the help and the interests of the Vestals for their purposes +and were generally utterly at a loss for any means of requital, if the +interest of a Vestal was enlisted and her help obtained. + +Consequently all that the racing-companies could do to find Almo was +done as well as all that could be done by the private detective agencies +and by government officials. + +All that was done was utterly in vain. No trace of Almo could be +discovered after he had sailed from Hippo with Jegius. No slave-dealer +named Jegius could be found nor anyone who knew such a slave-dealer. +No clue, no ghost of a clue came to light. The Greens, like the other +companies, could find among their charioteers, their jockeys, their +free employees, their slaves, no individual in the least answering +to descriptions of Almo. All governmental efforts, all professional +efforts, all private efforts, all Vocco's efforts, all Brinnaria's +efforts, were completely baffled. + +Almo had completely vanished. + +When Aurelius, passing through Rome on his way from the Rhine frontier +to Syria, was in his capital for a brief period, Brinnaria had an +audience with him. + +"Daughter!" he said, "it is all my fault. I should have given Grittonius +explicit injunctions about the boy. But the assaults of the Marcomanni +were particularly furious just at that time; I was feverishly hurrying +from point to point along the frontier; I accepted the resignation of +Pennasius; by letter. I appointed Grittonius by letter; I assumed that +Grittonius would have sense; I assumed that Pennasius would impart to +him his secret instructions. I erred by inadvertence; I should have set +a special watch on the boy. But I never thought of it. He was doing so +well and he seemed so interested in his work. He was wonderfully +fitted for frontier duty along the desert. I was watching him with keen +interest; each report of him gave me greater pleasure. I do not hesitate +to tell you that I had him in my mind's eye to command this very +expedition which I must now command myself, as there is no other man in +the Empire fit to take charge of it. + +"Is it not a shame that a man whom the Empire needs, who had before him +so splendid an opportunity, who was fitting himself for so brilliant +a career, should throw it all away from mere perversity? Yet I am not +wrathful against him; I see many reasons for sympathizing with him. + +"Rigid and unflinching celibacy affects different individuals very +differently. Some it does not affect at all, apparently. It does not +seem to affect you. You are as plump and rosy, as healthy and alert, +as happy and normal a young woman, to all appearance, as could be found +among matrons of your age in all the Empire. Celibacy seems to agree +with you. + +"Manifestly it did not agree with Almo. It got on his nerves somehow. +That is the most probable explanation of his eccentric vagary. Don't be +discouraged. He'll turn up somewhere, after a while, safe and sound and +none the worse for his experiences." + +Brinnaria, in fact, was not discouraged. She resolutely and unweariedly +prosecuted her efforts to find Almo. Nor was she despondent. She scouted +the suggestion that he might be dead. She kept up her spirits, did not +mope or brood and never lost her hearty appetite. She was the life of +the dinners she attended and as talkative and witty as ever. + +But the strain affected her greatly. She was outwardly controlled, +statuesque and dignified, but the inward turmoil of emotion that surged +through her manifested itself in an unremitting activity. She slept well +and soundly, but rose early and kept on the go. Besides her duties, her +music and her participation in social gatherings, she must needs find +other outlets for her energy, other means to pass her time and distract +her thoughts. + +In the course of her dealings with the racing companies she became +interested in them not merely as means towards locating Almo, but for +themselves. She became particularly interested in their stables, their +jockeys and their horses. There was no bar of religious tradition or +of social custom which hindered a Vestal from freely mingling with men +visibly in the open daylight in public. Visiting the stables of the +racing companies had long been a fad with Rome's social leaders, men and +women alike. Brinnaria availed herself of her freedom in this regard and +followed her inclination. She haunted the training-stables of all six +corporations, but mostly of the Greens, always in company with Manlia, +or Flexinna, or Nemestronia or some other of her women friends; she +visited the barracks almost daily, chatted with the charioteers, grooms +and ostlers, watched the exercising of the teams, inspected the stalls, +conned the racers. + +She made herself an excellent judge of a jockey and a better judge of a +horse. + +She interested herself in the methods by which the companies obtained +and selected their animals. She became an adept on the entire subject of +horse-raising. It engrossed her thoughts. + +Then she herself took over the management of several of her estates in +the environs of Rome; of all, in fact, which were near enough for her +to visit personally. She redistributed the force of slaves that +managed them, sold some, bought others and fitted up the properties +as stud-farms. Herself she selected the brood mares and stallions with +which to stock these estates. She herself laid down the principles +guiding their management and she herself dictated the methods of +breeding them. She herself superintended the carrying out of her orders, +visiting each estate frequently and inspecting everything carefully and +intelligently. + +Her first offering of two-year-olds sold at good prices. She was +encouraged, felt herself completely an adept, and would take no one's +word about anything relating to horses, relying solely on her own +judgment. + +All this would have subjected her to much reprehension had Faltonius +Bambilio survived. But he had died just about the time of Almo's +disappearance. His son, also named Faltonius Bambilio, had taken up a +political rather than a priestly life and was not to be thought of as +his successor. In his place Aurelius, on his way to Syria, had nominated +Lutorius Rusco, a man who impressed everyone at first sight, and more +and more the better anyone knew him, as the paragon of a Pontifex. He +was not lacking in ecclesiastical unction, but did not wallow in it as +had Bambilio. He was pious, but did not think it necessary to advertise +it day and night unremittingly. He was not lax in religious matters, but +he was no stickler for minute trifles. He inspired confidence by every +characteristic of his appearance and behavior. He was a man somewhat +over medium height, well built, neither heavy nor large, with an +unusually dignified bearing and carriage, not a hint of self-assertion +and with a genially comprehending smile. It was impossible not to +confide in him and unthinkable that confiding in him should ever be +regretted. Brinnaria confided in him and never regretted it. + +Of Almo's disappearance she talked to him freely; freely also she talked +of her feelings for Almo. He was as sympathetic and comprehending as +the Emperor and Empress and he encouraged her to hope that Almo was yet +alive, which she sometimes doubted. + +Of her stock farms he said to her: + +"I should certainly not have advised any woman to enter upon such an +enterprise, least of all a Vestal. I know of no other member of our +hierarchy who has any similar interests, except Calvaster, whose +haunting of the gladiatorial schools and association with trainers +of gladiators has given some scandal. Some people would call your +horse-breeding unseemly for a Vestal. But I see no harm in it. I have +talked with Causidiena and it is clear that you do not neglect or skimp +your duties, that you give them full time and close attention. Your +leisure is your own to do with as you please. And your immediate success +appears an evidence that, to say the least, your undertakings give no +offence to the gods." + +During the latter months of Bambilio's oversight Brinnaria had felt +restive and as if some inward force was forever driving her to feverish +activities; under the care of Lutorius she became placid and thought +less of her stock-raising, journeys to and fro to her estates, talks +with grooms and such like activitie and devoted herself with more cool +ardor to her duties. + + + +CHAPTER XIV - AMAZEMENT + + +AURELIUS returned from Syria with his victorious army in the nine +hundred and twenty-ninth year of Rome, 176 of our era, ten years after +the great pestilence. He had merely crushed a local rebellion, but a +vast coalition of nomadic Arab tribes of the desert had been allied with +the rebels, and to the Romans it seemed that their Emperor had won a +great victory in a mighty campaign. Aurelius humored their mood, and +with good judgment, for they needed all the encouragement possible. He +arranged to have his return celebrated by shows of all kinds, +theatrical performances, fights of gladiators, beast fights, horse-races +uncountable and above all, by that thrilling procession of a victor and +his armed soldiers through the city along the Sacred Street, up to the +great temple on the Capitol, which was the highest honor an army and +a commander could receive at the hands of the Roman government, which +signalized a notable victory over notable odds, which was called a +triumph. Of triumphs Rome had seen fewer than three hundred in more than +nine hundred years. Not one of the three hundred had been as magnificent +as the triumph of Aurelius. + +Its auxiliary spectacles were similarly magnificent. In particular the +gladiatorial shows surpassed anything within the memory of the oldest +living spectator. + +Causidiena, whose eyes troubled her greatly, found that watching the +triumphal procession caused her so much pain that she absented herself +from the remaining shows. To all of these, races, beast-fights and +combats of gladiators, she insisted that the other five Vestals should +go together. The arrangement was unusual, but no one could object, for +no one would hint or even think that the sacred fire would be in any +danger of going out with such a Chief Vestal as Causidiena caring for +it or that she needed any other Vestal to assist her. Likewise her five +colleagues were genuinely pleased that not one of them would miss any +part of the shows. + +As the number was odd, Causidiena decreed that they should be conveyed +to the spectacles each in her own state coach, attended by her maid of +honor. The maids, of course, did not sit with the Vestals, but had seats +far back with the populace. + +In their luxurious private box in the Colosseum the five Vestals sat +in the ample front row arm-chairs. They were seated not according to +seniority, but Numisia in the middle, Meffia and Brinnaria, as the +youngest, on either side of her, Gargilia next Meffia, and Manlia next +Brinnaria. + +In the Imperial loge near them Aurelius, now for more than a year a +widower, presided over the games, clad in his gorgeous silk robes and +attended by his fifteen-year-old son Antoninus, afterward known by his +nickname of "Commodus." The four tiers of the Colosseum were packed +with spectators, pontiffs, senators, nobles, ambassadors magistrates and +other notables in the front seats along the coping of the arena wall, +lesser notables in the first tier, well-to-do persons in the second +tier, traders and manufacturers and such like in the third tier and the +commonalty in the fourth. + +Besides the ninety thousand seated spectators* many thousand more stood +in the galleries, in the openings of the stairways, in any place where +a foothold could be found and from which a view could be obtained. The +outlook from the Vestals' box was across the level sand to the gigantic +curve of seats, all hidden under their occupants, so that the interior +of the Amphitheatre was a vast expanse of flower-crowned heads, eager +faces and waving fans. + + *The author forgets himself. Earlier in the book he + describes an audience of 100,000 as Brinnaria tells the + emperor how she felt down on the sand in her shift, with + "two hundred thousand eyes" (implying one hundred thousand + people) staring at her. In fact, the Colosseum could handle + an audience of about 45 to 50 thousand.--GB ed. + + +During that second day of gladiatorial fighting Manlia had several times +said to Brinnaria: + +"Is there anything wrong? Are you ill? You do not seem yourself!" Each +time Brinnaria had positively denied that anything was wrong and had +asserted that she was entirely herself. + +About the middle of the afternoon, the arena was filled with pairs of +gladiators, all the couples fighting simultaneously. Each pair had +with it a trainer, called a lanista, who watched, guided or checked the +fighting. + +The contending pairs were of a kind much liked by the Romans, because +of the excitement they afforded, each pair consisting of a light-built, +light-armed, nimble expert pitted against a heavily built, heavily +armed ruffian, the two supposed to be equally matched, the strength and +weapons of the one fully balanced by the skill and agility of the other. + +Viewing fights of this kind Manlia felt rather than heard or saw a +change in Brinnaria next her, felt her stiffen and grow silent, +rigid and tense. Manlia glanced at her, followed her gaze and became +interested in the fight Brinnaria was watching. Before them, not +immediately below them, but some distance out in the arena, fought a +conspicuous pair of gladiators. One was a great hulking full-armored +brute of a Goth, helmeted and corseleted, kilted in bronze-plated +leather straps, booted, as it were, with ample shin-guards of thick +hide, bronze-plated like the straps of his flapping kilt. He carried a +big oval shield and threatened with a long straight sword his adversary, +a Roman in every outline, a slender young man, barefoot, bare-legged, +kilted with the scantiest form of gladiator's body-piece and apron, +clad in a green tunic and carrying only the small round shield and short +sabre of a Thracian. He wore a helmet like a skull cap with a broad +nose-guard that amounted to a mask, above which were small openings for +his eyes. + +Conning this pair Manlia's attention was riveted by the slighter man. +He was very light on his feet, jaunty of bearing and, as it were, ablaze +with self-confidence. + +Manlia, who was an expert judge of sword-fighting, perceived at once +that he was a master of his art. His method for the moment was to +hold back, lead his opponent on and bide his time. His attitudes and +movements bespoke the most perfect knowledge of sword play in all its +finest details. But what most held Manlia's attention was his beauty +of form and a strange something about him, a long-armed, long-legged +appearance. She turned to Brinnaria. + +"I should have sworn," she said, "that there was not in all the world +another man like Segontius Almo. But that Thracian is a duplicate of +him, as like him as if he were his twin brother." + +"More like him than a twin brother," Brinnaria replied, her voice +muffled and choked. "I've been watching him ever since he came in. I +recognized him in the procession this morning. That is Almo." + +"Almo!" breathed Manlia, in a horrified whisper. + +"Yes, Almo!" hissed Brinnaria. + +"What shall we do?" quavered Manlia. + +"Do?" snorted Brinnaria, "do nothing." + +"But we can pray," Manlia panted. "We can pray. Surely you are praying, +Brinnaria?" + +"I am praying," came the answer, in a viperish whisper. "I'm praying he +may be killed." + +"Killed!" Manlia gasped. + +"Yes, killed," repeated Brinnaria, viciously. "Killing is what he +deserves, mere killing is too good for him. If he wanted to commit +suicide why couldn't he do it decently at once and privately without all +this elaborate machinery of selling himself as a slave, and lying about +his intentions and disgracing himself by becoming a prize-fighter and +exposing himself to getting killed in public? Why couldn't he get +killed at Treves or Lyons or Aquileia? Why must he humiliate me by this +exhibition of himself before me and all Rome? The quicker he is killed +the better. I'm praying he'll be killed at once." + +"Oh, Brinnaria!" groaned the horrified Manlia. + +The Thracian was not killed in that first fight; he was never in any +danger of being killed. He played with his man as a cat plays with a +mouse; held him off without an effort, caught the attention of all +the nearby spectators; won their interest by the perfection of his +sword-play; and aroused their enthusiasm by that nameles quality which +marks off, from even the best drilled talent, the man who is a born +genius in his line. + +He pinked his victim between corselet and helmet, so lightly that only +those spectators watching most closely saw the lunge, so effectually +that the man died almost as he fell. + +"You must have prayed for him to win; I did," spoke Manlia. + +"I didn't," Brinnaria snapped. "I prayed for him to be killed. I wish he +had been. I'm not the only one who has recognized him. Aurelius has and +he has told Antoninus; I watched him." + +"How could you?" Manlia exclaimed. "How could you watch anything but +Almo?" + +"I could and I did," Brinnaria asseverated. "I'm looking all ways at +once, just now. The news is all over the Imperial loge already. They are +looking at me as well as at him. I hope he'll be killed this next bout." +The lanista, in fact, at once matched Almo with another full-armed +giant. Again Almo gave an exhibition of perfect swordsmanship. The +Romans were as quick to appreciate form in fighting as we moderns are +to applaud our best bail players; they recognized pre-eminence in the +swordman's art, as we acclaim the skill of a crack baseball pitcher or +cricket bowler. + +Almo caught the eye of spectator after spectator, till most of the +audience on that side of the arena were watching the fight in which +he took part to the exclusion of everything else that was going on. He +displayed that perfect balance of all the mental and physical faculties, +that instantaneous co-ordination of eye, brain and muscle, which only an +occasional phenomenon can attain to. He made no mistakes, bore himself +like a dancer on a tight-rope, circled about his adversary, warded off +all his thrusts, lunges and rushes, turned aside his long sword with his +small round shield without a trace of effort, and at his leisure found +a joint in his body armor and pierced his heart with an ostentatiously +difficult lunge delivered with the acme of apparent ease. + +"There," sighed Manlia, "I prayed hard." + +"So did I," Brinnaria murmured, "but I prayed the other way. He ought +to have been killed already. Numisia has recognized him and he has +been recognized by three or four nobles along the coping. The rumor is +spreading from each of them and running through the audience." +Manlia, in fact, looking about was aware of an unusual stir among +the spectators, of notes being handed along and read, of whisperings, +callings, signs, pointings; of messengers worming their way from row to +row and from tier to tier. + +Almo won his third bout. While it was in progress Manlia had seen one of +the Emperor's orderlies enter the arena from one of the small doors in +the wall and confer with the chief lanista, who directed the fighting. + +By the time Almo began a fourth bout half the audience was looking at +him or at Brinnaria. There were thousands present who had survived the +pestilence, who had been present fifteen years before when she had +let herself down into the arena and had rescued the retiarius. They +remembered her spectacular interference and were curious as to how she +would now comport herself. Brinnaria, erect and calm, fanned herself +placidly. + +Almo won his fourth bout. + +By this time the arrangements of the lanistas had been so far modified +that, instead of a great throng of fighters, there were, in the whole +immense arena, not more than twenty pairs. + +With scarcely a breathing space Almo was pitted against a fifth +adversary. By the time he had disposed of him the entire audience, fully +a hundred thousand souls, were as well aware of what was going on as was +Brinnaria herself. She was pale, but entirely collected. To Manlia she +whispered venomously: + +"Castor be thanked, he is certain to be killed, Aurelius has attended +to that." In fact the Roman sense of fair play was offended when the +lanista gave Almo a mere moment of rest and then set against him a +sixth antagonist. Murmurs ran from tier to tier, there were hoots and +cat-calls. + +Aurelius put up his hand and the people became still. + +It was not often that the entire throng in the Colosseum focussed its +attention on anyone fighter. That happened now. The dozen or more +other pairs of fighters were ignored, all eyes were on Almo and his +opponent--all eyes that did not stray towards Brinnaria. + +Almo was not showing any signs of weariness, but he was plainly +husbanding his strength. The sixth bout was tame--seldom had the +Amphitheatre displayed so mild a set to. The heavy-armed man had seen +Almo dispose of five like himself, he was timid; Almo was not timid, +but he was cautious. The result was a tedious exhibition of fencing for +position, each sword monotonously caught on the other shield. At the end +Almo slashed his opponent's wrist, feinted, pretended to be unable to +avoid a clumsy thrust, slipped inside the big man's guard and drove his +sabre deep under his arm-pit. + +The Colosseum rang with cheers. + +Without so much as a sponging down or a mouthful of wine Almo was faced +by a seventh fresh swordsman in complete armor. This time there were no +caterwaulings or groans. Even the upper gallery had recognized Almo +or been told who he was, even the populace had remembered or had been +informed of the relation between Almo and Brinnaria. Everybody had +recalled or been reminded of her rescue of the retiarius. + +The audience collectively comprehended that Aurelius meant Almo to be +defeated and put at an adversary's mercy before Brinnaria, that he was +testing her. + +The habitual hubbub, hum, and buzz of undertones was checked to a very +unusual degree, the Amphitheatre became almost still. + +But when Almo fairly duplicated his first bout and neatly, almost +without effort, cut his victim's throat, the audience cheered him +vociferously. + +Louder, if possible did they acclaim his calm and adequate strategy +against his eighth antagonist. + +A ninth and a tenth were promptly put beyond power to hurt him by wounds +ingeniously disabling, but far from deadly. + +The eleventh bout was more tedious than the sixth. + +Almo divined some greater strength or skill in this adversary and played +him warily. When the audience was bored to the point of being almost +ready to call for something diverting Almo slaughtered his man with a +terrible wound between his corselet and kilt. + +The twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth antagonists Almo plainly +despised. He stood almost still, hardly altering the position of his +feet except to turn as the huge barbarians circled ponderously about +him. Each he brought down with his first lunge. + +As the fifteenth bout began the audience was manifestly impatient and +restive. But they were not bored. That one Thracian, almost without +rest, should successively dispose of fourteen antagonists, in the +fullest armor, was a notable feat. The perfect form of Almo's fighting +was even more notable. At each victory the audience cheered him till +they were hoarse. They seemed to cheer quite spontaneously and to need +the relief for their feelings. But also they seemed to mean to give him +as long a rest as was in their power. They were all for him. + +But no man could go on fighting continually without fatigue. In his +fifteenth bout Almo moved heavily. + +The other man was unusually quick for a big man. He handled his big +sword deftly. After much sparring he was too quick for Almo, and the +point of his slender blade scratched Almo's splay vizor, nicked his +chin, and tore a long shallow slash in the skin of his right breast. + +Blood welling through it stained the green of Almo's tunic; blood +dropping from his chin spotted the bright green. + +The populace groaned. + +Manlia prayed. + +Brinnaria, under scrutiny of two hundred thousand eyes, sat erect, +fanned herself steadily, and gazed straight before her. To all +appearance she was as indifferent to Almo as if he did not exist. + +After that Alma moved like a sleep-walker or a man in a dream, dully and +dazedly. + +The big man feinted and lunged cleverly. The point of his weapon ripped +Alma's thigh on the outside above the knee. No man could stand up after +such a wound. He went down, his shield under him. + +From all around the arena, from every tier, automatically, thousands +of arms shot out, thumb flat. Instantly every arm whipped back and was +hidden under its owner's robe. All realized that expression of sympathy +was not their business. A hush fell. Everybody looked at the Emperor and +at Brinnaria. + +Brinnaria sat erect in her arm-chair, fanning herself evenly, staring +straight across the arena. The same instinct, the same curiosity which +actuated the rest of the audience, restrained the Vestals from giving +the sign of mercy. All felt that the matter concerned only Aurelius +and Brinnaria, that for anyone else to interfere would be flouting the +Emperor. + +Brinnaria, white as a corpse, dizzy and numb, kept up the unvarying +motion of her fan. Otherwise she was perfectly still. + +The victor rolled his eyes along the rows of spectators. He got no +inkling of their feelings. + +He gazed at the Vestals. The audience saw him gaze that way. Brinnaria +ignored him. Almo and all the world. + +The victor looked toward the Emperor. + +Aurelius held out his right hand, thumb out. + +The lanista removed Almo's helmet. If anyone had doubted his identity +the doubt was dispelled among all near enough to make out his face. + +The victor put one foot on Almo's chest. Almo stretched his neck. + +Brinnaria sat there, tense, pale, but as collected as if she had no +interest in what was going on. + +The savage standing over Alma glanced a second time towards the Emperor. + +Aurelius was holding his arm at full stretch over the coping, thumb flat +against the extended fingers. + +Brinnaria knew that she had won, that Aurelius had put her to the test +before all Rome, that she had stood the test, that all Rome was witness. +Her fingers clutched the handle of her fan. She could hardly feel it in +her grasp. + +The big man took his foot from Almo's chest. + +The audience broke into howls of applause, gust after gust of cheers, +roaring like a storm wind in a forest. + +Brinnaria saw the arena, saw the spectators, through a film of mist, +through a gray veil, through a fog of blackness. She realized that, +for the first time in her life, she was on the verge of fainting. +Mechanically she looked about her. Her glance fell on Meffia crumpled in +her arm-chair. + +That steadied her. If Meffia had fainted, she would not, she would not. + +She did not faint. She fanned herself steadily as she watched the +lanistas help Almo to hobble from the arena. When he was gone her +attention returned to Meffia. Gargilia and Numisia were trying to rouse +her. + +She remained crumpled, she collapsed, she slid off her chair to the +floor of the box. She lay in a horrid heap unmistakable in its limpness. +The excitement had been too much for Meffia. She was stone dead. + + + + +BOOK III--THE REBELLION OF DESPERATION + + +CHAPTER XV - REHABILITATION + + +THE death of a Vestal, except from old age, was always regarded by the +Roman populace as a sign of the gods' disfavor. The death of a young +Vestal, sudden, unexpected and unexplained, could not but cause great +uneasiness throughout all classes of the population. + +Moreover, gladiatorial exhibitions were part of the Roman public +worship, which largely proceeded on the naive assumption that the gods +liked just about what men liked and that, the best way to please the +gods and win their favor was to delight them with such spectacles as men +enjoyed, acrobatic exhibitions, dramas, beast-fights, fights of +beasts with men or of men with men, chariot-races and similar exciting +displays, and so put the gods in a good humor. This underlying theory +of diverting spectacles as a species of prayer and as the most effective +kind of prayer was not so much definitely expressed by the Romans, as +tacitly and unconsciously assumed. It was, nevertheless, entirely real +and all Romans felt every public show as an act of public worship, as a +hallowed function. + +Most Roman rites were held to be entirely vitiated if a death took +place among the worshippers during the course of the ceremony. To +all solemnities at which only a few persons were present this applied +without qualification and positively. Naturally a death among the crowd +about a temple was held of much less import. + +Still less could anyone regard a death amid the vast throng in the +Colosseum or the Circus Maximus. So that Meffia's sudden end was not +necessarily held a certain indication of the wrath of the gods. But, +as the death of one of the most important functionaries present at the +spectacle, it caused much concern. The dismay of the people the pontiffs +tried to alleviate by all the means in their power, by consultation +of the augurs, soothsayers and professional prophets, and by official +consultation of the Sibylline Books. The general anxiety was somewhat +allayed by their placards and proclamations, announcing that Meffia's +death was wholly due to her personal weakness and was not to be regarded +as a portent, in particular that it in no way indicated the wrath of the +gods or their rejection of the petition for public safety embodied in +the spectacles celebrating the triumph of Aurelius. + +The Temple and the Atrium of Vesta made up an institution in which death +was entirely disregarded. As no seriously ill Vestal was ever allowed +to remain within the limits of the Atrium, but, as soon as alarming +symptoms appeared, was removed from the Atrium and put in charge of +relations or friends, so also the body of a dead Vestal was always +turned over to the care of her family or connections. Though the +Vestals, alone among Romans, possessed the privilege of being buried +inside the walls of Rome, though their funerals were magnificent public +processions, participated in by all the functionaries of the state and +lavishly provided at the public expense, yet the death itself was held +to be a concern of the family of the dead Vestal, not of her surviving +colleagues. The Vestals might mourn but the Atrium was never in +mourning. Its routine went on as if nothing had happened; no sign of +grief was displayed or even permitted; visitors were received as usual. + +Among the first visitors to the Atrium on the morning after Almo's fight +and Meffia's death was, naturally, Flexinna. + +At the first word Brinnaria cut her short. + +"I don't want to hear his name," she declared. "I'm done with him +forever. I don't love him any longer; I don't care for him, even; I hate +him. It does not concern me whether he recovers or not. I'd rather he +wouldn't recover. The best thing for both of us would be for him to die +anyhow. I wish he were dead; I wish one of those heavy men had killed +him." + +"B-B-Brinnaria!" Flexinna remonstrated, "you t-t-talk like a raving +maniac! You look like a F-F-Fury!" + +"I'm furious enough!" Brinnaria snarled, "and I've plenty of good cause +for being angry. Was ever woman on earth put in a position so invidious, +so embarrassing? Everybody knew of my rescue of the retiarius, thousands +had seen me rescue him. Everybody knew of my involvement with Almo +before I was taken for a Vestal, of our love for each other, of my +expressed intention to marry him at the end of my service. Everybody +recognized Almo. + +"And there I was with the one man on earth in the jaws of death before +my eyes and I with the power to save him if I chose and a hundred +thousand people watching me to see what I would do. And because I had +once before rescued a man in that same situation everybody expected me +to do something unusual and spectacular to save Almo. + +"If it had been any other man it would have been the most natural thing +in the world for me to give the signal for mercy and nobody would have +thought anything of it. But, because the man before me was the man I had +expressed my intention of marrying at the end of my service, therefore, +if I had tried to save him, that would be taken as a confession of my +being actuated by the sort of interest which no Vestal has a right to +feel for any man. + +"A delightful situation to be placed in! + +"And he must needs go out of his way to put me in that position! When +all he had to do was to live the normal life of a Roman gentleman and +all things would in time come right for both of us, he must needs strain +the powers of human ingenuity, compel the forces of time and space, of +wind and wave to conspire to produce that situation and make me suffer +those unnecessary agonies! + +"Furious! + +"Of course I'm furious. + +"Never name him to me!" + +When Lutorius Rusco, the new Pontifex of Vesta, called on her she was +less explosive, but still fuming. + +She received him in the large room at the east end of the peristyle of +the Atrium, a sort of parlor which had on either side of it three very +small rooms, the six, used as private offices by the six Vestals. +There each had her writing desk, and the cabinets in which she kept her +important papers, letters and such possessions. + +After they had exchanged greetings Lutorius motioned towards Brinnaria's +little sanctum. Brinnaria bridled. + +"I've nothing to say that we cannot say out here," she advertised, "and +I do not want to hear anything that cannot be said out here." + +Lutorius was tactful and had his way. When they were alone, he said: + +"You were magnificent! You behaved splendidly. You could not have done +better. We are all proud of you, from the Emperor down to the lowest +slumgullion, every single Roman of us. You are certainly the most +popular woman alive and your popularity is now of a sort to last as long +as you live, complete and unqualified. You were popular before, but with +considerable reservations. The hierarchy liked you, but were not sure +that they ought to approve a Vestal who had perpetrated such exploits +as yours, particularly your trouncing poor old Faltonius. The nobility +admired you, but shook their heads over your stock-farming. The populace +were enthusiastic about you, but, like the upper classes, were uneasy +because of your expressed intention to marry at the end of your service +and to marry a specified man, who had been your boyish lover. All +classes acclaimed you as a woman, but nearly everybody was dubious about +you as a Vestal. + +"Now nobody has any hesitation about feeling that you are all a Vestal +should be, a priestess whose prayers are certain to be heard and +answered." + +Brinnaria made a wry face. + +"My prayers were not heard yesterday," she sighed. "Almo was not killed. +I was praying hard to have him dead and have it all over with and done +with forever." + +Lutorius turned on her a slow, benignant, indulgent smile. + +"Daughter," he said, "you must remember that you are not the only +Vestal. Four Vestals were praying that Almo be saved, each praying not +only with her lips but with every fibre of her being. And your heart and +soul were praying silently with them and against the fierce prayers of +your lips." + +"It is not so," she denied. "Every fibre of me was praying as my lips +prayed. My prayers were genuine." + +"I am sure you thought so," Lutorius agreed. "It was natural for you to +feel that way. You were very angry. But your anger will wear off." + +"My anger may," Brinnaria admitted, "but never my resentment and my +disgust." + +"Only time can prove whether your forecast is correct," the Pontiff +soothed her, "but are you justified even in being resentful? Ought you +not rather to be thankful that chance or fate or the direct intervention +of the gods working through Almo gave you the precious opportunity to +free yourself from the shadow of an imputation that lay upon you from +your entrance into the order? Rome vaguely suspected you of too warm an +interest in Almo. Much of Rome had seen and all Rome had heard of your +theatrical rescue of a gladiator totally unknown to you. All Rome knew +your impulsive nature. All Rome has now seen you perfectly controlled +and outwardly calm with Almo on the verge of death before your eyes. +Everybody has watched you ignore him and show less interest in his +fate than you once manifested towards a casual savage. Your outward +observance of the conventions under such trying circumstances has +abolished any qualms the people felt because of your many past +unconventionalities. This puts you in a very strong position toward any +possible accusation or trial. You know how earnestly you have talked to +me of your dread of such contingencies. Ought you not, after thinking it +over, to forget your anger against Almo and to feel positively grateful +for the opportunity so to exalt ourself?" + +"Perhaps I ought," Brinnaria mused. "The value to me of the results I +had not thought of, but admit it now that you expound it. But I am not +grateful. I suffered too much. I am still smarting with indignation. + +"And, apart from any remains of anger, I ache with the humiliation of +it all. Think of the infamy, of the degradation Almo has brought on +himself!" + +Lutorius pursed his lips. + +"There is a certain social stigma upon any man who has joined a +prize-fighting gang," he conceded, "but the obloquy resulting from +having been a gladiator has greatly attenuated amid the loose manners +of our day. Nothing that becomes fashionable remains disgraceful. The +social disgrace of it has greatly lessened as the thing has become more +usual, and freemen who have been gladiators are rather acclaimed and +sought after than condemned and shunned. They win a sort of vogue, if +successful fighters. + +"The treatment of such persons has greatly changed in recent years. Even +since I began to remember there has been an all but universal alteration +in the general attitude towards such cases--they have become too +numerous for the old feelings to survive. Not only Roman citizens have +entered gladiatorial schools, risen high in the profession, fought +countless fights, served out their time as prize-fighters, and returned +to their families, but noblemen have done so, even senators. Vescularius +is as much a senator as if he had not won seventy-eight bouts in three +years." + +"I know it," Brinnaria admitted, "and I have thought over all that. But +I am old-fashioned in my feelings even if I have often been the reverse +in my behavior. I am revolted at the thought of Almo as a professional +cut-throat--I was insulted at the sight of him in the arena. I feel that +by his abasement of himself he has obliterated my love for him. It is as +if he had never existed. I shall not marry him, even if we both outlive +my obligatory term of service. I shall never marry anybody. I shall die +a Vestal." + +"You feel that way now, of course," Lutorius agreed, "but you will get +over it, though you do not think so now." + +"I do not believe I shall ever get over it," Brinnaria declared. "So +many things rankle in my thoughts, the small things even more than what +is more important. I grind my teeth over the mere legal consequences +of his having been a gladiator. He will forfeit half the properties he +inherited and he can never hold any office, civil or military." + +"All that," said Lutorius, "the Emperor will attend to in full. And your +thinking of such trifles shows that you even yet care more for Almo than +you admit to yourself. + +"You must let me tell you about him. He is in the care of the best +physicians in Rome. They assure me that he will recover, that his face +will show but the merest trace of a scar, no disfigurement whatever, +and that he will walk without the slightest limp. He is comfortable and +convalescing nicely. I am going to bring you news of him daily, whether +you think you want it or not, and you are going to listen to me because +I tell you to." + +Brinnaria, for once in her life, was submissive and silent. + +Not many days later the Pontiff greeted her with a contented smile. + +"Almo," he said, "is now practically recovered. He is well enough to +have enjoyed brief visits from several of his former cronies. He is in +his house on the Carinae, and it is besieged by all the fashionables +of Rome, not only his boyhood friends and acquaintances, but people who +never spoke to him. Everybody is rushing to call on him. + +"He is a free man again. At an intimation of the Emperor's wishes +Elufrius became as supple as possible and all willingness to oblige. +He asked a huge price for Almo's release, and no wonder, for after the +advertisement you gave him, Almo could have commanded fabulous fees for +all future fights and the profits accruing to Elufrius must have been +enormous. So Elufrius had to be paid a large sum, but nothing compared +to even one year's accumulation of revenue from Almo's estates +administered by his agents. So Almo will never feel that. The papers +have all been drawn, signed and sealed. The cash has been paid. Almo is +no longer a member of a gladiatorial band. + +"And, at a word from the Emperor, the Senate framed and passed a decree +relieving Almo of all the legal disabilities inhering in his past. He +has been restored to his former rank in the nobility, has been confirmed +in the possession of all inheritances which he might otherwise have +forfeited, has been declared free from all stain and entirely fit to +hold any office in the service of the Republic. The decree has been +engrossed, sealed and signed by the Emperor. Almo is a nobleman as +before. Are you pleased?" + +"I am," Brinnaria confessed. + +Lutorius nodded. + +"Now, do not take umbrage," he said, "at what I am about to ask. If you +must say no, say no without being offended. May I tell the Emperor what +you have said to me?" + +"Certainly," Brinnaria authorized him. "Aurelius is so good a friend to +me that sometimes I think he is the best friend I have on earth." + +After an interval of some days the Pontiff hinted that the Emperor +desired to see her. Brinnaria's disposition to stand upon ceremony +and to insist on her full rights as a Vestal had waned as she grew +to maturity. In her dealing with Aurelius she had long laid it aside +altogether and likewise with Lutorius, both were so unassuming, so +manifestly actuated by the sincerest regard for her. Now she obediently +sent in her application for an audience with the Emperor. + +It was accorded her about twenty days after Almo's fight. Aurelius came +straight to the point. + +"Daughter," he said, "I want you to tell me the entire truth. You +can confide in me without reservation and you should do so without +hesitation, since I ask it. + +"What I wish you to tell me is this: Has your lover's behavior +effaced your regard for him, as you asserted to Lutorius, or were you +self-deceived? Is everything at an end between you and will you ignore +his existence in future and remain a Vestal for life or have your +feelings overcome your displeasure and are you again thinking of him and +of your future as you did in the past?" + +"Castor be good to me," Brinnaria confessed. "I did think his folly had +alienated me from him forever, but the more I brood over it all the more +I realize that no matter what he has done or does or will do I love +him just as genuinely as if he deserved it, and as far as I can judge I +shall love him to the last breath I draw. I am ashamed of my weakness, +but I foresee that, when my service is over, I shall be just as eager to +marry him as if he had been all he ought to have been." + +"You please me," said Aurelius, "particularly in the way you put it. + +"I am not in the habit of giving a second chance to any man. But Almo's +case is so peculiar and the circumstances so unusual and my interest in +him is so compelling that I am going to make an exception in respect +to him. I shall give him another opportunity as an officer. I have +reflected where to send him and I have concluded to relegate him to +Britain. There, in the north, our frontier, pushed far beyond the +former line, is ceaselessly attacked by the Caledonian savages. My +predecessor's great earthwork needs larger garrisons. There Almo will +find occupation and may rehabilitate himself. There he will be under the +watch of Opstorius, who is a stern and scrupulous governor. He sets out +this very day. + +"Now is the time for me to speak to you of Calvaster. Calvaster, +unfortunately, is as indispensable as ever, even more so. My impulse +was to banish him, but I had to forego the idea. I contented myself with +summoning him to my presence and telling him in so many words that the +slightest suspicion of any further machinations by him against you or +Almo would draw down on him the unescapable consequences of my severest +displeasure. By that admonition, and by his chagrin at the unexpected +and unwelcome outcome of his plot, I think him sufficiently punished. +Also I think him thoroughly cowed. He will make no further attempt to +trouble you. + +"It appears that when he was touring Spain, inspecting the copies of +the sacred books at all the chief temples of the five provinces, +he recognized Almo in the arena at Corduba. He at once used all the +influence in his power to arrange that Elufrius should bring his gang +of fighters to Rome and that their bouts should be so managed that Almo +would be saved to fight before you as he did. Almo himself found this +out through Elufrius since he became again a free man and in control of +his fortune, and it took a great deal of money and the participation of +a great many experts to uncover and prove the facts. Proved they have +been to my satisfaction and Calvaster's confusion. + +"Almo had expected to serve his three years in Spain and was as dismayed +as possible when he found he was to be transferred to Rome. But an +articled gladiator has taken oath to submit to anything, specifying +death, torture, burning, wounding, flogging and more besides, an +articled gladiator cannot object to fighting anywhere. Almo had to +acquiesce. + +"And now, having heard that it was not wholly his fault that you were +so cruelly tried before all of us, will you not agree to say farewell to +him a second time?" + +In the flood-tide of her revulsion of feeling Brinnaria could refuse +Aurelius nothing. The Emperor gave a signal and Almo was ushered in as +he had been six years before. + +Brinnaria's eager scrutiny could detect no limp in his gait, could +barely descry the scar on his chin, even when she knew so well where to +look for it. She noted that he looked well, vigorous and very handsome +in his gilded armor and scarlet cloak. She contrasted their magnificent +surroundings with the rough frontier to which he was going. + +Almo tried to speak and choked. + +"Caius," she said, "the Emperor has told me how it all came about. +Don't ask me to forgive; I ask your pardon for misconceiving you; I have +nothing to forgive in you. If you are what I believe you to be I shall +never have to forgive anything from you. Go, and with the help of the +blessed gods, prove yourself all you ought to be. Farewell!" + +And Almo, as he bowed, managed to say: + +"Farewell!" + + + +CHAPTER XVI - VAGARY + + +TERENTIA FLAVOLA, who was taken as a Vestal to fill Meffia's place, was +a really beautiful girl. + +Her hair was golden hair in fact, not merely in name; her eyes were an +intense, bright blue; her complexion was exquisite, the delicate texture +and perfect whiteness of her skin emphasized by the healthful coloring +which came and went on her cheeks. Every one of the Vestals fell in love +with her at once, most of all Brinnaria. + +Besides her good looks Terentia had a charming disposition, a pretty +unconsciousness of herself and a winning deferentialness towards her +elders. The combination made her irresistible. + +Also she was an interesting child, being amazingly precocious, not as +Brinnaria had been, in growth and behavior, for she was a complete +child in all respects, but in being what moderns call an infant prodigy. +Infant prodigies in ancient times displayed their unusual powers chiefly +by recitations, mostly of poems, which they learned by rote and repeated +with very little understanding of what they rehearsed. More than most of +her kind Terentia comprehended what she declaimed, but she knew by heart +many poems entirely beyond her childish grasp. At barely eight years of +age she was able to reel off without hesitation or effort anyone of an +amazingly long list. With little prompting she could recite some of the +longest narrative poems in Latin literature and she needed prompting +only to give her the cue words at the beginning of each book and of each +important episode. + +Besides her amazing powers as a reciter she was already proficient in +Greek, talked it easily and knew many poems in that language, which all +educated Romans spoke and which was used more than Latin at Court. + +But her chief distinction came from her capability as a musician. +In music she was not only an infant prodigy, but very much of a born +genius. Her memory for any composition she heard once was unfailingly +accurate; her rendition of anything she knew was more than perfect, +since to perfection of rendition she added sympathetic interpretation. +She was already reputed the best female performer on the lyre, the most +popular instrument in ancient times. The lyre had an effect something +between that of a guitar and a harp, with some of the characteristics of +the modern banjo, zither and mandolin. + +Since the lyre was looked upon as frivolous and unsuited to the gravity +of a Vestal, Brinnaria introduced Terentia to the organ. This instrument +the child had heard, but had not learned to play, as organs were +expensive in those days, whereas Terentia's family, although of the most +ancient nobility, were in very straitened circumstances. + +To the organ Terentia took with great enthusiasm, and in performing on +it she soon surpassed her teacher. + +Brinnaria's playing on the water-organ was similar to the piano music +of a modern girl who has mostly taught herself and who plays largely by +ear; Terentia played it as a born genius in our days plays her piano, +with impeccable exactitude, inimitable individuality and compelling +charm. Her organ recitals were soon a chief feature of the social life +in the Atrium, each thronged by the most fashionable ladies in Rome, +who competed for invitations. Her vogue in no way spoiled Terentia, who +played with just as much zest for her co-inmates of the Atrium, or +when she was entirely alone amusing herself at the organ. Teaching her, +playing with her, listening to her, took up a good deal of Brinnaria's +time and came to be a great solace and comfort to her. + +Even more was this abundance of good music a solace and a comfort to +Causidiena, for, like Dossonia, her predecessor, like so many former +Chief Vestals, Causidiena was going blind from some disorder slow, +painless and obscure, altogether baffling to the best medical and +surgical skill.* + +*Clearly cataracts. As a matter of fact they WERE sometimes treated even +this long ago, but the treatments did not meet with much success, and +Causidiena probably would not have cared to take the risk. + +For much of the ritual of Vesta and much of the participation of the +Vestals in the public worship in general, the presence of the Chief +Vestal was essential. + +She was the Vestal, the others were only her assistants and in training +to succeed her. But as Causidiena became less and less able to see, all +matters which could be attended to by others devolved more and more +upon Numisia. Among her colleagues Numisia had greatest confidence in +Brinnaria, so that Brinnaria's duties occupied her insistently. + +Besides her ritual duties and her music she kept up her interest in +horse-racing; in fact, she became more and more devoted to this pastime, +which Lutorius countenanced, but which her detractors characterized as +indelicate. + +The success of her venture was notable. She became an important local +dealer in racers. Her colts, sold at well-advertised auctions, were +sought after, were competed for, brought fancy prices, won many races, +came to have a reputation that spread beyond the city, over all Italy, +even into the provinces. Her career as a stock farmer was brilliant, +meteoric, phenomenal. + +Between her duties, her music and her horse-breeding Brinnaria's mind +was pretty well occupied. She had no time to brood and passed six +contented and almost happy years. + +She had reason for happiness in the fact that reports from Almo were +uniformly good. To Flexinna he wrote at intervals and his letters +reached their destination without much irregularity. In those days +communication with Britain was by no means so easy as with Africa. Gaul +was a country well Romanized and very populous, busy and prosperous. All +across it were good roads, excellent bridges and frequent post houses. +But between Italy and Gaul were the Alps, where the winter snows blocked +the roads for months at a time and where avalanches and floods suspended +traffic at unpredictable intervals at all times of the year. The only +sure road uniting Italy and Gaul was not through the Alps but past them +along the sea-coast, and that was roundabout. + +At the other end of Gaul the sea interposed a barrier which the Romans +found annoying. In the state of seamanship in those ages a head-wind was +an insuperable obstacle. As long as the wind blew the wrong way there +was nothing to do but wait for the wind to change. High winds made +navigation altogether impossible. Between storms and head-winds, on more +than half the days in the year attempting the passage of the channel was +not to be thought of. Moreover, bitter experience had taught the Romans +that the weather-signs of the Mediterranean were not to be relied on +when one dealt with Atlantic weather conditions. In particular they +found that a clear sky, a light breeze, warm air and a calm sea in the +morning not infrequently heralded a terrible storm before dusk. + +Consequently their attempts to cross from Gaul to Britain or from +Britain to Gaul were restricted to occasions when, at and after sunset, +the sky was clear, the sea calm and the wind favorable. Only under those +circumstances could they be reasonably sure of the conditions remaining +unaltered until the transit was accomplished. In practice about +sixty-five nights in a year promised well for traffic. With sea transit +so restricted, communication with Britain was infrequent, and news of +Almo irregular. + +Besides his letters to Flexinna he wrote occasionally to Vocco. Vocco +also had hopes of hearing from some of his comrades in arms. But as +Valentia was a place of semi-exile for incompetent, illiterate, drunken +and reckless officers, small reliance could be placed on any such +channel of news. + +Therefore, with Brinnaria's knowledge and at her expense, Vocco had +arranged to have an unremitting watch kept on Almo by skillful hirelings +of the Imperial information department. These men sent messages whenever +it was possible, and their reports were consistently favorable. + +The frontier of Caledonia offered no such opportunities for distinction +and promotion as the outskirts of the Sahara had afforded. Military +duty from the Forth to the Clyde was monotonous and wearisome. But, +considering his environment, Almo did very well. He was liked by his +companions, loved by his subordinates and worshipped by his men. What +there was to do he did capably, and in his leisure, among comrades who +guzzled wine and gambled like madmen, he was always sober and never +abused the dice, which were an inevitable social feature of all Roman +outpost existence. + +Aurelius spent the last four years of his life along the headwaters of +the Danube and Rhine, where the rising tide of Germanic migrations beat +incessantly at the outworks of the Empire. His death at Vienna occurred +when Brinnaria was twenty-nine years old and had been nineteen years +a Vestal. He was succeeded by his son Antoninus, whose obliging +disposition and easy-going manners made him exceedingly popular with his +cronies, the young fops, dandies and sports of Roman society, and led +to his being known among them as "the good fellow," which nickname of +"Commodus" soon supplanted his given names and official titles, on the +lips first of the Romans, then of the Italians, soon of all his subjects +everywhere. + +Commodus was not in Rome when his father died and it was therefore not +possible for Brinnaria to have an audience with him. She dreaded that a +change of governors in Britain might work unfavorably for Almo. + +In consultation with Vocco she did what she could, through the city +Prefect in charge of Rome during the Emperor's absence, and through +other officials, to make sure that any new governor of Britain would +be fully informed of the secret instructions which Aurelius had given +Opstorius concerning Almo. She also did all that was possible to have +Commodus reminded of the matter. This was difficult at a distance and +a delicate undertaking at any time and in any place, no Emperor ever +relishing the assumption that he need be reminded of anything, while the +necessity for emphasis and secrecy at one and the same time taxed the +best ingenuity. With the great influence possessed by the Vestals, they +hoped that they had succeeded. + +But when Commodus had been Emperor a little over a year, Brinnaria, as +she descended from her carriage at Vocco's door, felt a thrill of vague +foreboding. On entering the house her premonition of something wrong +intensified. At first sight Flexinna's face confirmed her suspicions. +However, she asked no questions and worked off her feelings by a series +of high dives, followed by fancy-stroke swimming under water. She came +up from her tenth plunge sufficiently exhausted to feel to some extent +soothed. + +As they composed themselves on the dining-sofas Vocco and Flexinna +exchanged glances. Brinnaria did not wait for either to speak. + +"I am afraid," she said, "that my appetite is not as reliable as it was +ten years ago. I think we had best eat our dinner first and discuss our +bad news afterwards." Vocco and Flexinna looked distinctly relieved. + +Brinnaria's appetite seemed excellent. She ate abundantly, and, after +the dinner tray was removed and the dessert tray brought in, she +relished a half a dozen of her favorite purple figs. Savoring her glass +of Vocco's exquisite Setian wine she asked: + +"What has gone wrong, Quintus?" + +"Just precisely what we feared has happened," Vocco replied. "In spite +of all our efforts Hostidius appears to have known nothing whatever +about Almo's peculiar past or of the special instructions Aurelius gave +Opstorius. + +"Almo has practically repeated the vagary he perpetrated at Hippo. He +induced Hostidius to give him a full, honorable discharge from the army +and later wheedled the governor into authorizing him to have himself +sold as a slave." + +"What maggot can he have in his brain," Brinnaria burst in, "that he is +so fascinated with the idea of being sold as a slave? What earthly basis +can there be for the enticement it holds out to him? Being sold as a +slave is universally regarded as the worst fate that can befall a man in +life. What makes the prospect of life as a slave so alluring to him?" + +"Flexinna and I have been debating that point," said Vocco, "but we +cannot so much as think up a conjecture. + +"As to the facts there can be no doubt. He was publicly sold in the +marketplace of Eboracum." + +"At least," Brinnaria breathed, "we have not lost track of him this +time." + +"We have not," Vocco answered, "and I'll wager we shall not." + +"Is it prize-fighting again?" Brinnaria queried, "or is it really +charioteering this time?" + +"Neither," said Vocco. "I must say it sounds like lunacy. But all +Almo's words and all the small details of his behavior show no signs of +derangement. Up to the last report he slept well, ate well, looked well, +talked sensibly, in respect to all minor matters acted like a rational +being, and seemed to thrive. But what he did in the large sense appears +incredible. + +"He had himself advertised for sale as an expert farm overseer, was +bought by a prosperous proprietor whose properties are situated in the +southwestern part of Britain and there, near Ischalis, he has settled +down to the management of a large estate; large at least for that part +of the world. He was giving excellent satisfaction in his dealings with +the slaves and by his knowledge of budding, grafting, transplanting and +of all the mysteries of gardening, orchard lore, and of agriculture in +general." + +"Yes," Brinnaria reflected, "he was keen on all that sort of thing while +he was at the villa near Falerii. Such knowledge, gained in boyhood, +sinks in deep and is never forgotten. He is not playing a part or +pretending; he is really enjoying farm life. But what kink in his head +makes him fancy that he prefers to enjoy it as a slave rather than as +a free man? That puzzles me. Why be sold as a slave in order to bask in +rural delights when he could buy the ten largest estates in Britain and +never feel the outlay? When after his honorable discharge from the army +he was at liberty to remain in Britain openly and to do as he liked? Can +you see through it?" + +Flexinna and Vocco agreed that they saw no glimmer of light. + +"At least," Brinnaria summed up, "he is in Britain and we can arrange +to prevent his leaving the island. Certainly we can have him watched, +wherever he goes." + +Vocco at once set about making the arrangements to ensure that Almo +would not leave Britain. Within a half year he had to report that their +efforts had been futile. + +"We were too late," he said. "He did not remain at Ischalis a year. +Egnatius Probus, of Fregellae, had been in Britain more than ten years +as adviser to the tax-department. His health had given way and he was +taking the waters at Aquae Solis. He was an acquaintance of Almo's owner +and went down to Ischalis after his water-cure had had its effect and +he felt better. While visiting and idling at Ischalis he took a fancy to +Almo, offered a high price for him and bought him. He returned home by +way of Marseilles and from there by ship to Puteoli. He is now on his +estates near Fregellae and Almo is his head overseer, in charge of the +entire place. He has been there three months already." + +Brinnaria fidgeted on her sofa, for, as on the previous occasion, Vocco +had imparted his news after dinner. + +"Give me another goblet of that Setian you bought from Zaelis," she +said. "I'm getting to be a confirmed wine-bibber. At every piece of bad +news I need a bracer." + +After she had emptied her glass, she burst out: + +"If Almo is acting as villicus of an estate near Fregellae he must be +living with some slave-woman or other." + +"He is not," Vocco informed her. "I made careful inquiries on just +that point and got my information from two different sources. Almo told +Egnatius that he was a woman-hater and could not endure a woman about +him. Egnatius humored him and he is acting villicus without any villica. +The wife of the assistant overseer does whatever is necessary in the +way of prayers and sacrifices and such duties of a villica. She and her +husband occupy the overseer's house and Almo is living in the hut meant +for the assistant villicus." + +"Did anybody ever hear the like!" exclaimed Brinnaria. + +Vocco's agents verified this news and made it quite certain that Almo +was masquerading as a slave and as a villicus of a fine estate in lower +Latium, near Fregellae, southeast of Rome on the Latin highroad, about +half way between Capua and the capital. + +Brinnaria found herself very much in a quandary, and discussions with +Flexinna and Vocco, however lengthy and however often repeated, left her +just where she started. They could not decide whether it was best to do +nothing or to interfere, and whether, if they were to interfere, what +form their intervention should take. + +Should Vocco travel to Fregellae and force an interview with Almo +and try to appeal to his better self? If so, should he do so without +apprizing Egnatius of the real name and origin of his overseer? Or +should they enlighten Egnatius under a pledge of secrecy and afterwards +decide whether or not to make an attempt to recall Almo to his natural +way of life? Should they do any of these things without appealing to +the Emperor or would it be better first to inform Commodus? They debated +over and over every line of conduct any one of them could suggest. After +all complete inaction and entire secrecy seemed best. + +This view was confirmed when Brinnaria consulted Celsianus, the most +reputed physician of Rome. She had already confided in Lutorius, who +informed Celsianus, arranged for an interview and was present at it. + +The great man said: "Almo is not necessarily or even probably deranged. +On the face of what you tell me the most unfavorable conjecture I could +form would be that he has resolved to commit suicide. You will say that +the idea is absurd, that suicide is easy and that the means are always +at hand, which is quite true. + +"But there are cases, more numerous than you could fancy, of persons +who make up their minds to bring about their end in some unimaginable +manner, of which nobody but themselves would ever have thought. Then +they lay complicated plans and by devious ways approach their purpose. +If they are thwarted or diverted, they never end their lives in any +other fashion than by the special method they have devised. + +"I am inclined to think that Almo's entrance into a gang of +sword-fighters was caused by some such intention, that he is alive +because the circumstances he looked forward to never conspired to give +him just the kind of death he preferred. I am inclined to think that he +is now working towards some unthinkable exit from life. + +"But I am not much disposed to think his such a case at all. It may be +a mere whim of self-torment, or it may be spontaneous yielding to a +genuine liking for the life he is living. What one human being likes +cannot be realized by other human beings, in many cases. + +"My advice is to let him entirely alone. If you interfere you may +precipitate his suicide, if he meditates suicide. By calling in the help +of the Emperor or of his owner or both, you may destroy the chances, the +very good chances, of his returning to his full senses. Men in his state +of mind are often sane in all respects, and, if unsettled, are deranged +only in one particular. They are generally wholly reasonable on all +points except as to their fad of the moment. If that wears off they are +entirely rational. Let him alone. Watch him, but take no other steps." + +This advice seemed simple enough, but carrying it out proved more of a +strain than Brinnaria could have foreseen. The knowledge that Almo was +in Italy, near Fregellae, actually in Latium and within seventy miles +of Rome, that he was living in the hut of an under-farm-bailiff, that he +perhaps purposed some eccentric method of suicide proved racking to her +nerves. She became irritable and fidgety, her music failed to solace +or comfort her and sometimes almost bored her. She groped blindly for +something to distract her mind. + +First she had a brief but violent attack of solicitude for her pauper +tenants. She found entertainment in visiting her slum properties and in +endeavoring to alleviate the condition of their inmates. They were far +from grateful. To have a Vestal, clad in the awe-inspiring dignity of +her white robes, with all her badges of office, six braids, headdress, +headband, tassels, ribbons, brooch and all descend from her dazzlingly +upholstered carriage and invade the courtyard of their hive was +thrilling but still more disconcerting to a swarm of slum spawn. They +bragged of the honor for the rest of their lives and strutted over it +for months, but they were unaffectedly relieved to see her depart. + +Her inquiries as to their means of livelihood were excruciatingly +embarrassing. The Roman populace, all freemen with their wives and +children, were legally entitled to free seats at the spectacles and to +cooked rations from the government cook-shops in their precinct. They +throve on their free rations. Of their own efforts they had merely to +clothe themselves and pay the rent of their quarters. Cash for rent and +garments they obtained in whatever way happened to be easiest, often by +dubious means. As to their resources they were reticent. + +In particular, Brinnaria was unable to cajole any admission, by word or +silence, from any dweller in one of her largest rookeries, and they +were better off than any tenants she had, too. What was more, not one of +their neighbors would impart any information about them.. + +Brinnaria's curiosity was aroused. She bethought herself of Truttidius, +the sieve-maker, and of his intimate knowledge of all the dens and lairs +in the city. + +She asked him. He laughed. + +"On the Fagutal?" he made sure, "at the second corner beyond the end of +the Subura?" + +He laughed again. + +Then he tactfully explained that the tenants in that particular +congeries of buildings were professional secret cut-throats, good enough +husbands and fathers and amicable among themselves, but earning an +honest livelihood by putting out of the way any persons displeasing to +anybody able to pay for their services. + +Brinnaria abruptly ceased slumming. + +All the more she threw herself into her horse-breeding. She visited her +stud-farms oftener; and, oddly enough, as the result of her overwrought +state of mind, the management of the farms themselves came to mean less +to her than the means of reaching them and returning. She paid close +attention to the make of her road-carriage, to the speed and pace of +her roadsters. She bought picked teams of blooded mares, selecting them +especially for their ability to keep up a fast walk without breaking +pace. She boasted that she had six spans of mares, any one of which +could, at a walk, outdistance any team in Rome owned by anybody else. + +By specializing in fast-walking cattle she saved much time in passing +from the Atrium to the city gates and in returning. + +Outside the city her mares displayed their capacity for other paces +than the walk. She saw to it that her coachman kept them at their +utmost speed. The sight of her tearing along a highway became familiar +everywhere throughout the suburban countryside. She made a hobby of +extremely fast driving and of buying fast mares. + +Also she fell into another fad, at the time all the rage, invented since +the accession of Commodus and made fashionable by the young Emperor. +Some popinjay had conceived a whim for travelling by litter instead of +in his carriage. It was far less expeditious and far more expensive. But +the notion took. All at once every fop in Roman society must needs take +his country outings, go to his villa and come back from it, not in his +carriage but in his litter. The plea was that a carriage jolted and that +riding in a litter was less tiring. There was something in that, for +carriage springs had not been invented in those days. But mostly it was +just a craze among the very wealthy, as distinguishing them from people +who could afford but one set of litter-bearers. An ordinary four-man +litter could be used only for going about the city--longer distances +were impossible, and excursions into the country soon tired out eight +bearers. For road travelling one must have sixteen bearers, two sets +relieving each other in turn. Brinnaria bought sixteen gigantic negroes +and tested them on her inspections of her stock-farms. She tried German +bearers, Goths and Cilicians. Her bearers became famous for their speed +and endurance. If she heard of any squad reputed better than hers, +she bought it at any price, until, not counting the teams of bearers +belonging to the Palace, there was only one gang in Rome which she +envied. She tried to purchase them but could not. They belonged to her +mother's friend Nemestronia. + +Nemestronia always had been a wonder and was a marvel. She was one of +the wealthiest women in Rome and had never been ill a moment in her +life. A very beautiful girl, she had kept her looks and a wonderful +singing voice, still clear and sweet when she was over sixty. She had +been, since within a year after her first marriage, one of the social +leaders of Rome. She had become the social leader of Rome, her influence +almost equal to that of the Empress. She had outlived three empresses +and had reigned unquestioned in the social world for over fifty years, +yet had not an enemy in Rome. Everybody loved Nemestronia. At the +time of the litter craze she had already celebrated her eighty-first +birthday, was plump, rosy, merry and spry, always ready for any +amusement, and was living happily with her fifth husband. + +She prided herself on her litter-bearers and with her unerring social +instinct anticipated the caprice of her world and provided herself +with three sets of carriers, sixteen to a set. One gang, of brawny +Cappadocians, outclassed any but the Emperor's own. + +These Brinnaria tried to buy, tried in vain. Nemestronia was willing to +exchange, if she could do so to her advantage. But sell she would not. +Amid her opulence no sum could tempt her. + +Brinnaria fumed and drove her horses almost to death, urged her +litter-men almost to exhaustion. But, with all her haste, care outpaced +her steeds or carriers. She gnawed her heart out. + +Only at Vocco's house, amid Flexinna's bevy of youngsters, did she find +peace of mind. + +Even there, at last, care followed her. + +When Alma had been more than a year at Fregellae, Brinnaria, visiting +Flexinna about the middle of May, scented more trouble. As they lay down +to dinner she said: + +"The occasion, I perceive, calls for an extra supply of wine. Let it be +the old Falernian this time and have the mixture strong." After they had +eaten, none any too heartily, Vocco told his news. + +Almo had left his master's estate without a permit, in plain words had +gone off like any runaway slave and had thereby exposed himself to the +penalties incurred by a fugitive. Egnatius had taken the usual steps to +recapture him, but neither he nor the authorities had any clue to Almo's +whereabouts. As far as they were concerned he had vanished. + +He had not, however, eluded the vigilance of Brinnaria's agents, of +the men Vocco had employed to keep him in view. They understood that +Egnatius was to be kept in ignorance of their activity, and gave no aid +to the police of the neighborhood in their efforts to retake him. They +had reported only to Vocco. + +Almo had money with him and at Arpinum had garbed himself decently +for the road. He avoided the main highway and wandered along by-roads, +zigzagging and circling about. He idled at inns, sometime for days in +one place, often in small towns, oftener at road-houses between. + +He was then near Atina. + +At intervals during June and July Vocco gave Brinnaria reports about +Almo. He seemed to enjoy the society of the casual travellers he met at +small inns and of the local frequenters of them. He got on famously +with everybody. Nowhere was he suspected of being a runaway slave and +naturally, for he had the unmistakable carriage and bearing of a born +freeman. The hue and cry Egnatius had set loose after him was active +wherever he went, but he sat under placards offering rewards for his +capture and no one applied the description to him. + +Early in June he was at Casinum and Interamna, before it ended at Fundi +and Privernum. In July he passed through Setia, Ulubrae, Norba and +Cora. Early in August he was idling at Velitrae, playing quoits in the +inn-yard morning after morning. + +He seemed to like Velitrae. He stayed there longer than anywhere else. + + + +CHAPTER XVII - RECKLESSNESS + + +ON the fifteenth of that same August, not long after noon, Brinnaria was +much surprised by a call from Flexinna. + +"The most amazing weather that ever was," Flexinna stated. "I never +heard of such, everybody says nobody ever heard of the like. Even +Nemestronia says she never saw or heard of anything to compare to it. +The densest imaginable fog, as white as milk. You c-c-can't see across a +street, you c-c-can hardly see the bearers in front of your litter." + +"I noticed it in the courtyard," Brinnaria replied, "and it is thicker +than usual. But we often have morning fogs and I have seen several +almost as dense as this." + +"Nothing unusual in a fog d-d-down hereabouts and along the river," +Flexinna admitted. "B-B-But this fog is most unusual. It is all over the +whole city. I have lived on the Esquiline ever since I was b-b-born and +I never saw a fog up there except p-p-perhaps a whiff just about +sunrise and then only in wisps. This fog is high up on the Esquiline, +as d-d-dense as along the river. I know the fog is all over the +city b-b-because I sent two slaves to the P-P-Pincian and two to the +Aventine, and they reported that it is just as b-b-bad everywhere +as here and at home. And I met Satronius Satro, just b-b-back from +B-B-Baiae. He slept at B-B-Bovillae last night and he says the fog is +just as b-b-bad all the way from B-B-Bovillae. He says it is heavy over +the whole c-c-country for miles. It amounts to a portent." + +"Flexinna," said Brinnaria, "you never came here and at this time of +day, to talk about the weather." + +"I d-d-didn't know how to b-b-begin," Flexinna admitted. + +"What has Almo done now?" Brinnaria queried. + +"He left Velitrae day before yesterday," said Flexinna, "and went to +Aricia. Yesterday he challenged the K-K-King of the G-G-Grove." + +"Just as Celsianus conjectured," Brinnaria groaned. "Some unthinkable +method of suicide. Is he dead?" + +"No," Flexinna replied. "He's very much alive." + +"Then he is the King of the Grove!" Brinnaria cried. + +"They haven't fought yet," Flexinna informed her. + +"Impossible!" Brinnaria exclaimed. "Or there is something wrong with +your information. There is only one way to challenge the King of the +Grove and that is to enter the Grove with a weapon. Almost as many men +as women go to worship at the Temple of Diana in the Grove by the Lake; +the King of the Grove never notices any unarmed man. But let a man with +a weapon of any kind, spear, sword, or what not, even a club, step over +the boundary line of the Grove and that act of entrance there with a +weapon constitutes a challenge to the King of the Grove; at sight of an +armed man the King or the Grove attacks him. They fight then and there +till one is killed. The survivor is the King of the Grove. + +"The challenger is supposed to pluck a twig from the sacred oak-tree and +the act of picking the branch is supposed to be the challenge. But, in +practice, the King of the Grove watches the sacred oak so carefully, +that nobody remembers any challenger who succeeded in pulling a twig +unless he won the fight. + +"That is the only way to challenge the King of the Grove. Everybody +knows that." + +"That is just what I always thought," Flexinna confessed, "b-b-but, it +seems we are b-b-both mistaken. There is another way to challenge the +K-K-King of the G-G-Grove; that is to go to the Dictator of Aricia and +enter formal challenge. In that c-c-case, the Dictator notifies the +K-K-King of the G-G-Grove that he must face the challenger at +midnight next d-d-day. Meanwhile, the challenger is entertained in +the t-t-town-hall of Aricia. He is b-b-bathed, p-p-provided with fresh +c-c-clothing, g-g-given whatever food he asks for and accommodated with +a c-c-comfortable b-b-bed for the night after his challenge. Then, when +he has had a g-g-good chance to sleep all night and has had at least +four g-g-good meals, he is c-c-conducted by the aldermen to the +G-G-Grove just b-b-before midnight. The aldermen t-t-take with them +two ancient shields, p-p-precisely alike, and two ancient Amazonian +b-b-battle-axes, also p-p-precisely alike, which are k-k-kept among the +t-t-treasures in the strong room of the t-t-town hall at Aricia. The +challenger plucks a t-t-twig from the sacred oak. Then he and the +K-K-King of the G-G-Grove face each other in the open space b-b-before +it. A shield and a b-b-battle-axe are handed to each. Then they wait for +the word of the Dictator of Aricia. At the word they fight. + +"That is the other way to challenge the K-K-King of the G-G-Grove." + +Flexinna, as generally happened, had been shown at once up to +Brinnaria's private apartment and had walked straight into Brinnaria's +bedroom. In that small room they sat facing each other. + +"Then they fight at midnight to-night," Brinnaria deduced. + +"Yes," Flexinna corroborated. + +"How did you come here?" her friend queried. + +"In Nemestronia's litter," the visitor answered. "I b-b-borrowed it." + +"With her Cappadocian bearers?" queried Brinnaria. + +"Eighteen, of them," said Flexinna; "two extras." + +"How on earth did you come to do that?" Brinnaria wondered. + +"I had a notion," Flexinna explained, "of trying to get to the G-G-Grove +by the Lake b-b-before the fight. I thought p-p-perhaps Almo would +listen to me if I c-c-could see him in t-t-time." + +"Did you tell Quintus?" Brinnaria demanded. + +"Of c-c-course," said Flexinna. "He wanted to go alone, b-b-but I said +Almo would not listen to him, so I p-p-persuaded him to let me t-t-try. +I c-c-couldn't think of riding, of c-c-course, as I am. He wouldn't even +hear of my d-d-driving, said I might as well hang myself and be d-d-done +with it as risk the jar of a t-t-travelling c-c-carriage. I said I'd +use my litter. He said our b-b-bearers c-c-could never g-g-get there in +t-t-time for me to hope to d-d-do any g-g-good. I said I'd b-b-borrow +Nemestronia's fastest gang. He said he c-c-could g-g-go and c-c-come +b-b-back on a horse quicker than any litter c-c-could reach the +G-G-Grove. I repeated that Almo would certainly p-p-pay no attention to +him, b-b-but might listen to me. So I b-b-borrowed Nemestronia's litter. +Shall I g-g-go? Shall I start at once?" + +"No!" Brinnaria cut her off. "Let me think. Sixteen miles? They could +do it in a little over five hours, if everything went just right. They'd +take at least eight hours for the return journey. You wouldn't be back +at the Appian gate before sunrise. It would be a hungry job." + +"I thought of that," Flexinna informed her. "I'm always ravenous when +I'm this way* and c-c-can never g-g-go from one meal to the next. I had +a k-k-kid-skin of wine p-p-put in the litter and b-b-bread and cheese +and fruit." + +*In other words, she's pregnant. --PG ed. + +"You did!" cried Brinnaria. "Where is Vocco?" + +"On horseback b-b-beside the litter," said Flexinna, "waiting for your +d-d-decision." + +"I've made it," Brinnaria proclaimed. + +"Shall I g-g-go t-t-try?" enquired Flexinna. + +"No!" Brinnaria fairly shouted, pulling off her headdress. + +"What shall I d-d-do then?" Flexinna queried. + +"Undress," Brinnaria ordered, "undress quick!" Flexinna stared at her, +horrified. + +"What for?" she quavered. + +"Undress first and ask afterwards," Brinnaria commanded. "Undress, +woman, undress!" She was tearing off her clothes as she talked. + +"Can't you see, you fool!" she hissed. "The gods have made it all easy. +The densest fog Rome ever saw and all over the country-side, a curtained +litter with the fastest bearers alive right at my door, my best friend +on horseback beside it, drink and food enough and to spare, me off duty +till to-morrow noon and you here to change clothes with me. I put on +your clothes and go save Almo." + +"You'll be outside Rome all night," Flexinna objected. "That's +sacrilege." + +"Not a bit of it," Brinnaria retorted. "I know a regulation from a +taboo. When the Gauls captured Rome the Flamen of Jupiter went up into +the Capitol with the garrison. He might not leave Rome, it would have +been impious. But the other flamens nd the Vestals left Rome, the +Vestals were months at Caere. It is not impiety for a Vestal to be +outside the city walls over night, it is merely forbidden by the rules. +I'm going." + +"You might as well g-g-go b-b-bury yourself alive and b-b-be d-d-done +with it," Flexinna protested. "You're certain to b-b-be found out. It's +sure d-d-death for you." + +"Hang the risk!" Brinnaria snarled. "I never realized how much I loved +Almo till you brought this news. I don't care whether I live or die or +what death I die, if I can only save him. + +"And the risk is too small to think of. All you have to do is to stay +abed and keep still. Utta will never tell and she won't let anyone +in. Numisia will not suspect anything: any Vestal has the right to +twenty-four hours abed and no questions asked, Meffia spent one day out +of ten in bed. Manlia takes a day's rest a dozen times a year. Even I +have done it several times, when I was sore all over with jolting too +long at full gallop over our so-called perfect roads. I was abed all +day about a month ago, and certainly I rove hard enough and long enough +yesterday and I was in the Temple half the night. I'll be back here long +before noon to-morrow. + +"Don't you see how easy it is? Flexinna has called on Brinnaria to-day, +as usual, except the hour. And Flexinna often calls on Brinnaria at odd +hours. Flexinna makes a short call and goes out to her litter. Flexinna +makes an excursion into the country in a litter with drawn curtains, +her husband riding by it. Nobody can take any notice of that. Flexinna +returns from her outing, calls at once on Brinnaria, pays a brief call, +goes out, gets into her litter and goes home. Brinnaria, refreshed by +twenty-four hours abed, goes about her duties. The plan simply can't +fail." She had on all Flexinna's clothes by the end of her explanation +and was adjusting er two veils, one over her face, the other tied over +the broad-brimmed travelling-hat, so that the edges of the brim, drawn +down on either side, almost met under her chin and her face was lost in +it. + +Flexinna continued to protest feebly, but Brinnaria made her compose +herself in the bed. + +"You can have anything you want to eat," she reminded her, "and as much +as you want, any time." + +Utta came at the first signal. + +"Now listen," Brinnaria instructed her, "I am in that bed and I am going +to stay there until the lady who has just called on me comes back. That +will be tomorrow morning. I am tired and need rest, the same as I did +the day after the axle broke and I barked my knee in the gravel. I am +not going out now; oh, no the lady going out is the lady who called on +me. Do you understand?" + +Utta understood. + +Flexinna, quaking in the bed, prayed under her breath. + +"For Castor's sake," was her farewell, "d-d-don't forget to +s-s-stutter." In a fashionable costume of brilliant pink silk with +pearly gray trimmings, feeling horribly conspicuous, but unaccosted and, +as far as she could judge, unnoticed, Brinnaria descended the stairs, +traversed the courtyard and passed the portal. Just outside, in the nook +left by the angle of the wall enclosing the Temple, she found the litter +set down clear of the throng that surged and jostled ceaselessly up and +down the Holy Street. The bearers stood about it, one holding Vocco's +horse; all, like the street-crowd, vague and unreal in the fog. Through +the fog Vocco strode towards her and checked, amazed. She put her +fingers to the folds of the veil over her lips. + +"C-C-Careful," she warned him, laboriously stuttering. "I am Flexinna +come back. Now for Aricia, as fast as the b-b-bearers can hoof it." + +Vocco, dazed, helped her into the litter, gave the order and mounted his +horse. + +Composed in her litter, Brinnaria's sensations were all of the +strangeness of the outlook; fog blurring the outlines of familiar +buildings; fog hiding the landmarks she looked for, fog wrapping her +round till she could hardly see the front pair of carriers tramping +ahead or even Vocco beside her on his horse; fog concealing all the wide +prospect of the levels south of Rome, fog so thick that they positively +groped their way through the towns along the road, fog so dense that she +could not discern the gradations by which afternoon melted into evening +and dusk into darkness. + +When they were clear of the city Vocco ranged his horse alongside the +litter and expostulated with Brinnaria, talking Greek that the bearers +might not understand. + +"The best thing you can do," he said, "is to give up this harebrained +adventure and merely swing round through the suburbs for some hours and +return to the Atrium by some other gate." + +"Not I," she replied in her hardest tone. + +"How do you expect to succeed in speaking to Almo?" he asked. + +"I leave that to you," she said; "you must manage to see the Dictator of +Aricia and tell him that you have with you a lady in a litter who must +speak to the challenger before the fight." + +"I'll attempt the commission," said Vocco, "and I'll do my utmost, but I +hold it impossible." + +"In any case," spoke Brinnaria, "I keep on even if I have to expose +myself and be recognized in Aricia." + +Vocco gave up the effort to influence her. + +The roads joining the Appian Way were paved with similar blocks of the +same sort of stone. In the fog they went wrong three several times where +side-roads branched off at a thin angle. In each case they failed to +discover their mistake until they had gone on for some distance; in each +case they had to retrace their steps for fear of getting wholly lost if +they tried a cross-road; in each case they wasted much time. + +Twice the leading bearers were all but trampled on by the recklessly +driven horses of careless drivers. Both times the mix-up delayed them. + +Just beyond Bovillae they had a third collision, in which one pole of +the litter was snapped and two of the bearers injured. It barely missed +resulting in a free-fight. All of Vocco's tact was needed to allay the +feelings on both sides. By great good luck he succeeded in getting a +substitute litter-pole from a near-by inn without too much publicity. + +The delays caused by missing the road and by collisions had cut down +the margin of time they had hoped for at Aricia. This last misfortune +delayed them so much that it seemed unlikely that they could reach the +Grove until midnight. + +In fact, before they reached Aricia, the road was alive with parties of +celebrants, men and women, but no children, every man carrying a lighted +torch, nearly every man accompanied by a slave with an armful or a +back-load of spare torches, all moving in the same direction with them. + +With torch-bearing crowds the streets of Aricia were jammed. From gate +to gate of the town they crawled, wading slowly through the press of +revellers. Along the road to the Grove they were as a chip floated along +on a tide of torchbearers, for the parties of worshippers converging to +their great local yearly festival from Tusculum, Tibur, Cora, Pometia, +Lanuvium and Ardea formed a continuous procession, their pulsing +torch-flames looking strange and blurred through the fog. + +When they reached the top of the ridge enclosing the Lake, Vocco +dismounted and trusted his roan to one of Nemestronia's extra bearers, +as horses were not allowed within the Grove or its precincts. + +Not much before midnight the bearers swung sharply at the brink of +the cliff and plunged down the steep narrow road cut along its face. +Brinnaria felt the dampness of the lake air on her cheek. + +By the Lake the fog was, if possible, more impenetrable than elsewhere. +The Grove, the lodging for the cripples and invalids who thronged the +place to be cured, the vast halls about the temple, the temple itself, +all were doubly whelmed in the darkness and the mist. + +Brinnaria made out only the six channelled vermilion columns of the +temple portico and the black boughs of the sacred oak. These, to right +and left of the temple area, showed vaguely in the light of thousands of +torches in the hands of the throng packed about it. + +Respect for a closed litter with sixteen bearers accompanied by a +gentleman in a Senator's robes won them a way through the crowd, the +torches surging in waves of flame as they ploughed through. + +When they reached the margin of the open space, Brinnaria, choking with +the realization that she had arrived too late, peered between the drawn +curtains of her litter and saw the pavement of the temple-area bright +under the splendor of the torch-rays; saw a dozen young women, dressed +in gowns of a startling deep orange, standing in a row clear of the +torch-bearing crowd; saw the five aldermen of Aricia in their official +robes, grouped about the square marble altar; saw before the altar a +circular space of clipped turf midway of the area pavement, saw standing +on it to the right of the altar the King of the Grove, clad in his +barbaric smock of dingy undyed black wool, his three-stranded necklace +of raw turquoises broad on his bosom, the fox-tails of his fox-skin cap +trailing by his ears; saw facing him Almo, bare-kneed, his hunting-boots +of soft leather like chamois-skin coming half way up to his calves, +his leek-green tunic covering him only to mid-thigh, his head bare, his +right hand waving an oak bough. + +After she recognized Almo and glimpsed the bough in his hand she hardly +looked at him. She stared, fascinated, at the white marble altar on +which, as an offering to Diana of the Underworld, the victor of the +fight would lay the corpse of his victim. + +The Dictator of Aricia, chief of the Aldermen, raised his hand. From +somewhere in the darkness behind the dozen simpering wenches appeared +two slaves, each carrying a small round shield and a double-headed +battle-axe. The shields had painted on each a horse, the battle-axes +were of the pattern always seen in pictures of the legendary Amazons. +The blade of each axe-head was shaped like a crescent moon. From +the inner side projected a flat, thick shank, by which the blade was +fastened to the helve. The curve of each blade made almost a half +circle, the tips of the crescents almost touched the haft between them, +so that their outer cutting-edges made a nearly complete circle of +razor-sharp steel, from which protruded the keen spear-head tipping the +shaft. + +Two of the aldermen received these accoutrements from the slaves. +Brinnaria noticed that one of the other aldermen held the broad, +gold-mounted, jeweled scabbard containing the great scimitar with which +the King of the Grove kept girt, waking or sleeping. She even noted how +its belt trailed from his hands and the shine of its gloss-leather in +the torch-rays. + +The two aldermen handed a shield and an axe to each contestant. One took +from Almo the oak-bough and passed it to the Dictator. + +The two champions fitted the shields on their arms, balanced them, and +hefted their battle-axes. Each assumed the posture that suited him best, +his feet well under him. So they stood facing each other, waiting for +the signal. + +The King of the Grove was a stocky, solidly-built ruffian of medium +height and weight. Almo seemed much taller and very much slenderer and +lighter. His delicate features and thin nose contrasted strangely to the +high cheek-bones, small, close-set eyes, and wide, flat nostrils of his +antagonist. + +The Dictator waved the oak-bough and shouted. + +The two champions warily approached each other. + +Each kept his left foot forward; each crouched, as it were, inside the +shield tight against his shoulder; each held his axe aloft. + +Each struck, each dodged, Almo awkwardly, his axe trailing behind him +after it missed. + +The stocky man thought he saw his chance and whirled his weapon, +bringing it down in a terrible sweep. Craftily Almo caught it against +his shield, just below the upper rim, horribly it grated against the +bronze plating of the shield, with the full weight of the mighty swing +it buried itself in the sod. + +The force of his blow carried the assailant with it so that he almost +fell face forward on the sward. + +Before he could recover himself Almo's ready axe swung. + +Brinnaria saw it flash in the air. Then she saw the fox-skin cap in two +halves, a horrid red void between. + +"Oh Vocco," she called, "t-t-take me home, t-t-take me home." At that +volcanic instant, at the bitterest moment of her life, what kept back +her tears was her tendency to laugh at the fact, that, ill the midst of +her agony, she did not forget to stutter. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII - FURY + + +THE darkness of the night, the impenetrability of the fog and the +weariness of the bearers all contributed to impede their return journey. +While on her way and buoyed up by her wild purpose, Brinnaria had been +able to rest herself by dozing along the roadway and had remembered to +keep up her strength with food and wine. After they had turned back she +could not have swallowed anything, if she had thought to try, and the +nearest she came to sleep was an uneasy drowse which seemed a long +nightmare. The Cappadocians, famous for their strength, endurance and +indifference to wakefulness, exertion, hunger or thirst, were also +astute foragers. On their way from Rome the reliefs had invaded every +inn they passed and, lavishly provided with small coins by Vocco, had +provisioned themselves abundantly. These supplies they handed over to +their fellows when they took up the litter. All the way back the spare +carriers, plodding behind, munched their provender and conversed in +undertones. The bearers, necessarily flagging, trudged leadenly. + +Through it all Brinnaria was haunted by her memory of two pictures. + +One was of the row of saffron-clad hussies watching the fight. + +The King of the Grove was the only legal polygamist in Italy. +Concomitant with the barbarous and savage conditions determining his +tenure of the office as High Priest in the Grove by the Lake of Diana of +the Underworld, congruent with his outlandish attire and ornaments, he +had the right to have twelve wives at once. Seldom had a King of the +Grove failed to avail himself of the privilege; and, indeed, to have +twelve wives was regarded as incumbent upon him, as necessary to his +proper sanctity and as indispensable to maintain the curative potencies +of the locality, which restored to health each year an army of +sufferers. + +He had the power to repudiate any wife at any time, to dismiss her and +expel her from the Grove. Any former wife of his, when expelled or after +leaving the Grove of her own accord, became a free woman with all the +privileges of a liberated slave. Most of his ex-wives, however, elected +to remain in the Grove and formed a sort of corps of official nurses +for the sick who flocked there to be cured. In practice the King of the +Grove usually repudiated any wife who lost her youthful charms. + +His wives were commonly, like himself, truant slaves. + +Fugitive male slaves were an ever-present feature of country life in +all parts of the ancient world, as tramps are in modern times. A female +runaway, however, was a distinct rarity. But the sanctuary afforded them +by the Grove encouraged them about Aricia and many fled to it. If +young and comely they became wives of its King. Also slave-girls were +constantly being presented to him by grateful convalescents, who had +come to the Grove as invalids or cripples and had left it hale and +sound. Thus the twelve wives of the King were always as vital and buxom +a convocation of wenches as could be found anywhere. + +The spectacle they had made haunted Brinnaria. + +They had been so utterly callous, so completely indifferent, so merely +curious to see which contestant was to be their future master, so +vacant-mindedly giggling and nudging each other. The impression they had +made on her nauseated her, while the memory of their red cheeks, full +contours, youthfulness and undeniable animal charm enraged her. + +The other picture which had branded itself on her memory was the sight +of Almo, straightening up after stooping over his butchered predecessor, +clasping the triple turquoise necklace about his throat. + +Almo was King of the Grove. + +At that thought and at the recollection of the dozen jades wriggling and +smirking, her blood boiled. + +By the margin of the cliff Vocco had had much ado finding his horse. +On the road back to Aricia they passed through many parties of belated +worshippers. As the torch festival kept up until dawn that town was +open all night. Unquestioned they passed in at a wide-open gate, through +torch-lit, but almost deserted streets, out at another wide-set gate. + +In the Roman world travelling by night was almost unexistent. Only +imperial couriers and civilians driven by some dire stress kept on their +way after sunset. In general travellers halted for the night at some +convenient inn or town, or camped by the road if darkness overtook them +far from any hostelry. But on the night of the yearly festival of Diana, +many parties were abroad. Between Aricia and Bovillae they met several +convoys, and about half-way they were overtaken and passed by a rapidly +driven carriage, and somewhat tater by a troop of horsemen, trotting +restrainedly, one of them on a white horse which showed rather +distinctly, even in the fog and darkness. + +Near Bovillae they overtook the same band of horsemen, halted about the +wreck of two travelling carriages which had crashed together in the +fog. Two of the horses lay dead on the stones, killed to put them out of +their misery. From curb to curb the pavement was cluttered with pieces +of wreckage and the carcasses of the horses. The roadway was completely +blocked and the bearers, at first, could find no way around the +obstacle. + +Some women were wailing over a little boy whose leg had been crushed and +who was uttering frightful shrieks. The child screamed so terribly that +Brinnaria impulsively leaned half-way out of her litter, carried away by +her sympathies. Close beside her she saw the white horse and astride of +it, vague in the mist, but unmistakable in his lop-sided, bony leanness, +outlined against the glare of the torches behind him, she recognized +Calvaster. + +Instantly she shrank behind her litter curtains. + +Almost at once a relief bearer who had gone to scout reported a free +path through the fields by the road. + +They continued on their way. + +Bovillae, not being one of the towns participating in the Festival of +Diana, was closed for the night, its gates shut fast, its walls dark. +Going round it was a trying detour over rough cross-roads. + +After they were again on the Appian Road they were for a second time +overtaken by the same band of horsemen. When their hoof-beats had grown +faint in the distance ahead, Vocco ranged his horse alongside the litter +and asked: + +"Did you notice the man on the white horse?" + +"I recognized him," said Brinnaria briefly. + +The fog held all the way to the Appian Gate, which they reached as some +watery sun-rays struggled through the mist, held until they reached the +Atrium. + +Out of her litter tumbled Brinnaria in Flexinna's rumpled finery, +feeling unescapably recognizable, even inside her double veil and under +her broad-brimmed, tied-down travelling hat. + +But the heavy-built, sinewy slave-woman who guarded the portal of the +Atrium passed her in without remark. She met no one on her way up to her +suite, where she found Utta squatted outside her bedroom door. + +Flexinna was incredulously delighted, pathetically overjoyed to see her. + +"You have a wonderful larder here," she said. "Every single thing I +asked for was b-b-brought me at once. I d-d-didn't have any appetite, +b-b-but I had to have food. And I g-g-got it." + +Promptly she put on her own clothing and was gone. + +In a trice Brinnaria was flat on her back in bed with Utta massaging her +vigorously and methodically. After one comprehensive rubbing she went +off for hot milk, hot wine, honey, barley-meal and spices. The posset +she brewed she compelled her mistress to swallow. Then she gently +massaged her until she was asleep. Thanks to these attentions Brinnaria, +after some four hours abed, was able to reappear in the Temple looking +not much unlike a Vestal who had enjoyed twenty-four hours of unbroken +repose. + +Numisia appeared to suspect nothing. Certainly she remonstrated with her +and begged her not to exhaust herself so by hard riding. + +After that first sleep, induced by fatigue and by Utta's ministrations, +Brinnaria slept little. She tossed and turned. Before her eyes was +continually the recollection of that row of saffron-clad minxes, of +their exuberant health, heartiness and rollicking vivacity. + +The memory of them suffocated her. In the Atrium she had to conceal her +inward convulsions of rage, had to appear calm, placid and collected. + +The effort made her the more explosive when she was at Flexinna's and +could speak out. She stormed. + +Flexinna let her talk herself hoarse. But no amount of talking relieved +her. Whatever she said, no matter how often she had said it, she wound +up the same way: + +"Here I am, packed in ice, so to speak, for thirty years and there he +is, King of the Grove, with twelve wives, twelve wives, _twelve wives_!" + +Jealousy, in its most furious form, is not a mild malady, even in our +days, and in women of northern ancestry and cold blood. Brinnaria was a +hot-blooded Latin and the pulses of her heart were earthquakes of fire. +The Romans were a ferocious and sanguinary stock. Even among the most +delicately nurtured women love turned quickly into hate and solicitude +might in a brief time give place to the thirst for vengeance. + +Brinnaria struggled with herself for some days. + +Then she bade her coachman drive her to the Fagutal. Her appearance +among her tenants caused general trepidation, as usual. + +When the clustering drabs and brats discovered that she felt no present +interest in women and children, but that she demanded speech with the +men, the elder men, their dismay deepened into acute consternation. + +Since she would take no denial some dotards and striplings were routed +out and the patriarch of the clan was thrust forward. He looked senile +from his slippered feet to the shine on his bald-pate, he was blear-eyed +and hard of hearing, but he understood plain Latin when he heard it, he +knew of old the signs he read in the flash of her eyes, the set of her +jaw and every feature as she stood or moved. Also no dog ever had a +keener scent for game than he for business. + +He shouted in the slang of his caste. + +The women and children vanished. + +Promptly a chair was brought, carefully dusted and she was invited to +seat herself. Before her cringed, in attitudes of obsequious deference, +a group of as hulking, truculent, ruthless villains as could have +been found anywhere on earth. Just out of earshot of a low-voiced +conversation, stood younger men, sentinels, to keep all others at a +distance. + +The patriarch's son, recognized chief of the brotherhood, an appallingly +inhuman brute, acted as spokesman. + +At the first word their wary expression altered to one of brotherly +comprehension. There was a man to be killed. Pride in their vocation +shone all over them. Yes, they knew of the King of the Grove, who +did not? and they especially, since the patriarch's grandfather, +great-grandfather to the spokesman, had at an advanced age ended his +life in the Grove, after years as its priest, having become King late in +life, the last of a long series of challengers whom the Emperor Caligula +had suborned against an insufferable and all but invincible hierophant. + +Could they find a swashbuckler willing to assail the present incumbent? + +Of a surety and what was more able to vanquish anybody. + +Could it be arranged secretly? + +No human being would ever suspect that she knew anything about the +matter; what was more, the most inquisitive would never divine that they +themselves had any hand in the change of priests at Aricia. + +How could this be accomplished? + +In countless ways. One might find a discontented slave, mighty and +skilled with weapons, and reveal to him a means of bettering his +condition, or one might bribe the owner of a capable slave to wink at +his running away, or if no fit slave could be found, a suitable freeman +might be induced to become a slave under a master also in the plot. It +was easy, merely a matter of money. + +How much money would be needed? + +That would depend. If they could cajole a slave the job would call only +for cash for the instigator's expenses, for journey-money and for +a good sabre for the challenger, and at the last a bonus for all +concerned. If a slave-owner had to be bribed, more cash and more money +for bonuses would be required. If a freeman had to be employed the +enterprise would be still more expensive. It was all a matter of money, +above all, of cash. + +Cash was forthcoming. + +Brinnaria returned to the Atrium by a circuitous drive out the Tiber +Gate, round through the suburbs and in at the River Gate. She needed +fresh air. All the way, all the afternoon, all the wakeful night, she +was in an eery state of icy, numb exaltation. It was all over--Almo was +a dead man, she had avenged herself, she had vindicated the proprieties, +her wrath was righteous, her vengeance laudable. This tense condition of +her nerves lasted for some days. + +According to stipulation the messenger from the tenements on the Fagutal +was a decently clad woman of inconspicuously respectable appearance. +She came after an interval of about ten days. She was apologetic. Their +first champion had perished. + +Twice more she brought the same message. Then Brinnaria ventured a +second visit to the unsavory locality. She was sarcastic. The chief was +abashed. + +This, he said, was evidently a task unexpectedly difficult. The more +certain was it that they would measure up to the requirements. They felt +that their time-honored reputation was at stake. + +There followed for Brinnaria an exciting, a wearing autumn and winter. +For some months messages came to her at about nine-day intervals, all +of the same tenure. Towards mid-winter, on a mild fair day, she risked a +third expostulation with her hirelings. On an apologetic and humiliated +rabble she poured her scorn. + +Thereafter the messages came thicker, about one every four days, but +monotonously unwelcome. Brinnaria set her teeth and sent all the money +asked for. + +Meanwhile her wrath, her jealousy, her thirst for vengeance steadily +waned and their place was largely taken by admiration for Almo's +incredible skill and by a sort of pride in him. + +But again and again the vision of the twelve baggages returned to her +and she steeled her heart. One warm June morning she lost patience and +burst in on her gang of cut-throats. + +Inundated by a cascade of vitriolic denunciations and stinging sneers +they hung their heads, too limp to utter a protest. The patriarch was +weeping openly. + +Turned from anger to curiosity she found the rookery was in mourning. +Their chief, the apple of their eye, aghast at the failures of his +minions, had himself undertaken to redeem their honor. For him they +grieved. They owned themselves beaten. They had scoured Italy, had sent +against Almo every promising bully in the fifteen districts. Their best +young men had gone, lastly their adored leader. They could do no more; +Almo was invincible. + +Brinnaria, reflecting that, after all, she was to blame for their +dejection and woe, that, after all, they had done their best, +distributed what cash she had with her and promised them a lavish +apportionment of gold. + +As she went she realized, as they realized, that the place would never +see her again. + +Next morning she sent for Guntello. That faithful Goth, still huge, +mighty and terrific, came, mild as a pet bulldog. + +"Go kill him!" she commanded. + +"Certainly, Little Mistress," he acquiesced, "but whom am I to kill?" + +She explained. + +Guntello, always parsimonious, asked a moderate sum for the purchase of +a sabre and for road-money. She gave him ten times as much. + +When he was gone, she felt, as at first, a painful numbness of +exaltation. Almo was now certainly a dead man. + +This mood suddenly inverted itself into an uncontrollable passion f +solicitude. Off she posted to Flexinna and confessed everything to +Vocco. In a frenzy she demanded they again borrow Nemestronia's litter +and that Vocco again accompany her to Aricia. To their expostulations +she retorted that go she would, if not escorted by Vocco, then alone, if +not disguised and in a borrowed litter, then in her own and openly, or +openly in her carriage or afoot if need be; but go she would! + +Flexinna succeeded in getting her to listen long enough to urge that +there was no need for her to go personally, as Guntello would obey Vocco +at sight of her signet ring, moreover that Guntello now had a long start +and that only a swift horseman might hope to intervene in time. To these +representations she yielded. + +Vocco returned amazed and manifestly relieved. He had arrived too late. +Guntello was dead. + +That night Brinnaria wept long and bitterly. + +"The poor, brave, harmless, faithful fellow," she moaned. "Out of the +malignity of my heart, in my pride and callousness, I sent him to an +undeserved death! Oh, I am a wicked woman!" Strangely enough Guntello's +death seemed to divert her mind entirely from the idea of avenging +herself on Almo. From hating him, she came to realize that she had +really loved him all the while, that she loved him unalterably. From +thinking that she desired his death she came to dread acutely that, +exhausted in body by more than a hundred fights in ten months and worn +by the strain of ceaseless anxiety and vigilance, Almo might succumb to +even a chance-brought adversary. + +In this new mood she confided in Lutorius. + +The good man was horrified. + +"And I never suspected anything wrong!" he exclaimed. "At least you have +been outwardly collected. Nobody has suspected anything. But this is +terrible. A Vestal should menace no man's life, should not desire any +man's death. Far from it, her heart should be clean of hate, malice or +envy." + +"Never mind what I have been," said Brinnaria. + +"No disasters have befallen Rome. There is no sign of any wrathfulness +of the gods, or of their displeasure, and I am no longer as I was. That +is all over, I am chastened. I desire harm to no one. Quite the reverse. +What fills my mind now is the thought that, sooner or later, Alma must +perish at the hand of some challenger. I long to save him. I would move +earth and sea to save him. Must a King of the Grove live and die King of +the Grove? Is there no way to rescue him?" + +"Consult the Emperor," said Lutorius. "He is Chief Pontiff of Rome." + + + +CHAPTER XIX - COMFORT + + +COMMODUS received Brinnaria in the same palatial room in which she +had so often conferred with his father. The majestic impression of +the magnificent hall was, however, marred by the evidence of the young +Emperor's chief interests. On one of the great chests lay a pair of +boxing gloves, on another a quiver of arrows and two unstrung bows, on a +third a bridle; a fourth was open and from it protruded a sheaf of +those wooden swords which the Romans used for fencing-practice as we +use foils. Commodus could never wholly free himself from his absorbing +passion for athletic sports. + +He himself was a sort of artistic caricature of his father, being very +like him in height, build, features and complexion, with similarly +abundant hair and beard falling over his shoulders and bosom in long +ringlets. But in place of the gravity, wisdom, intelligence and sympathy +which had ennobled the countenance of Aurelius, his face wore an +expression of boyish frivolity, silly vanity, vapid stupidity and +impatient selfishness. + +Brinnaria had seen him countless times and often near at hand, not only +close to her when both occupied their official seats in the Amphitheatre +or the Circus, at horse-races or other shows, but almost at arm's length +at various religious functions, processions, sacrifices and other +acts of public worship. Necessarily they had often exchanged formal +greetings, but never yet any other words. + +He greeted her effusively, with a comical mixture of hobbledehoy +clumsiness and imperial dignity. + +"I'm glad you demanded an audience," he said, as she sat down; "we +should have had a good talk long ago. You lambasted old Bambilio. That +is one for you. A juicier story I never heard. You are made of pepper. +And you saved the retiarius, the year after I was born. I've often +gloated over the story and wished I had been there to see. I was +there when you had your embarrassing experience and came through it so +gallantly. I was proud of you, like everybody else. I remember it well. +And Father gave me special instructions about you, so emphatically +that even scatter-brained as I am I have not forgotten them. I've been +meaning to have a talk with you ever since I took up this Emperor job. +But you know how it is. Every day there are ready and waiting for me to +do more things I really want to do than anyone man could get through in +anyone day, and three-quarters of them I have to forego doing because +of the pressure of my official duties. I can never seem to get time for +half the sword-exercise and archery drill and driving practice I need, +let alone for chats with heroines. + +"I trust you'll accept my apologies. + +"There! That is all the talking I mean to do. I'm going to listen, now. +Tell me what you want and I'll see your desire accomplished. I'll do +anything for you, not only for your heroism and on account of Father's +directions, but because of your horse-breeding. They say you're as good +a judge of a horse as any man in Italy and I believe there are not a +dozen to equal you. + +"I've driven several pairs of your crack colts and they are paragon +racers, docile as lambs and mettlesome as game-cocks. + +"There! I've gone on talking! But I am really going to stop now and +listen. State your wishes." + +"I'll have to make a long story of it," said Brinnaria, hesitatingly. + +"And one sixty times better worth listening to than ninety-nine out of +a hundred of the long stories folks bore me with, I'll wager," said +Commodus. "If it is long we'll get to the end quicker by beginning at +once. And take your time, I'll talk to you till dark, if need be. You +are entitled to all of my time you choose to claim." Brinnaria began at +the beginning and rehearsed her story fully, Commodus listening without +much fidgeting and interrupting only to say now and then: + +"Yes, I know about that. I remember that." When she came to Almo's +escape from Britain the Emperor slapped his thigh and emitted a sound +between a grunt and a squawk. + +"The joke is on me!" he guffawed. "Just like me! Father told me +particularly about his injunctions to Opstorius, and Pertinax himself +reminded me about Almo after Father's death. But it all went out of my +head and I never thought of it from the moment Pertinax bowed himself +out until this very instant. I'll make up to you for my forgetfulness, I +promise you. Go on." Upon her telling of Almo's idling at inns after he +ran away from Fregellae, Commodus cut in with: + +"I liked Almo, what little I saw of him, but I had forgotten him. +You make me remember him, make me recall trifling things about him, +attitudes, smiles, tones of his voice, witty replies, quips. I liked +him. But I like him better than ever from what you tell me of him. I +understand him. I know just how he feels. I long, sometimes, to chuck +Emperorizing and go off alone, with no responsibilities, and have a +really good time hobnobbing with the good fellows the world is full of. +I envy him. I dream of doing it, but he cut loose and did it. Good for +Almo." At first mention of the King of the Grove Commodus leapt up from +his throne, strode up and down the room and clapped his hands. + +Two pages rushed in. + +"Get out!" he shouted. "I wasn't clapping for you." He paced the room +like a caged tiger. + +"Think of it!" he exclaimed. "Think of it! Your lad certainly has fire +in his belly, yes and brains in his head, too! Think of it! He thought +it all out up there in the raw all-day mists, thought it all out, and he +works towards his purpose like a pattern diplomat, like a born general, +like a Scipio, like a cat after a bird! Has himself sold as a slave, +bides his time, puts himself in the pink of condition, watches his +opportunity. + +"Think of it! Disconsolate because he couldn't marry you, moody because +he has to wait so long, he seeks comfort in challenging the King of the +Grove. Oh, I love him! Only a prince of good fellows would have thought +of it. No ordinary adventure would divert him. He picks out the most +hazardous venture possible. Oh, I love him!" + +When she narrated her interchange of clothing with Flexinna and her +litter-journey, Commodus looked grave. The loutishness vanished from his +attitude and expression. He became wholly an Emperor. + +"Out of Rome, outside the walls, beyond the Pomoerium all night!" he +exclaimed. "That sounds bad. You were fool-hardy, too reckless entirely. +Why that is impiety. That amounts to sacrilege!" As with Flexinna, +Brinnaria reminded him of the Vestals' flight after the disaster at +the Allia and of their sojourn at Caere, again emphasizing the contrast +between their unreprehended departure and the scrupulous steadfastness +of the Flamen of Jupiter. + +"You have me!" he acknowledged. "Your contentions are sound. But, all +the same, even if it was merely a violation of rule, still, it is a +mighty serious matter. It is a good thing for you that I like you, that +my Father trusted you so notably, and gave me such explicit and emphatic +injunctions about you, that you have made a clean breast of it all +to me. If I had known nothing more about you than I know of Manlia or +Gargilia, if I had learned of your escapade from anyone but you, I'd +have had you formally accused, tried, convicted and buried alive with +the utmost dispatch. + +"As things are, after all Father had to say about you, after his +detailing to me your several conversations with him, I understand, I +sympathize, I am convinced of the innocence of your feeling for Almo, +of the austerity with which you have banished from you all thoughts +unbefitting a Vestal and have postponed your anticipations of marriage +until your service shall have come to an end, I believe in the +impeccable correctness of your attitude. + +"But, without that, even having learnt of your prank from yourself, I +should have thought it necessary to lay the facts before the College of +Pontiffs and ask their opinion. It looks fishy, stravaging all over the +landscape after dark with a cavalier beside your litter all night +long. I comprehend, I condone, I judge that you have not impaired your +qualifications for your high office. I have no qualms. But it is well +for you that Father instructed me. Go on, tell me the rest." Over the +fight he rubbed his hands and chirruped with delight, and, when she +spoke of the King's harem, he burst into roars of laughter, rolling +himself on his throne, slapping his thighs, holding his ribs. + +"Oh you women," he gurgled, "you are all alike, you Vestals as much as +the rest! The fire of womanhood smoulders under your icy composure like +the fires of Etna under her mantle of snow. + +"You more than most Vestals, of course. You are a real human being, you +are! So you went out to save him, even if you lost your life trying, +even if you were buried alive for it, and you came back hot, red hot, to +have him killed, and the sooner the better, it couldn't be too soon for +you. + +"Oh, I'm glad you came. I haven't been entertained like this since I was +made Emperor. Go on!" When she uttered the word Fagutal and told of +her visit to the rookery he had another fit of laughter and exhausted +himself with mirth. + +When she narrated the repeated failures of the champions she had +suborned and Almo's uniform success, Commodus was in ecstasy. + +"He's the boy for my money," he cried. "He's worth all the trouble +you've had with him. You'll get a husband worth waiting for. He's one in +a million. One hundred and five bouts in ten months and victor in all +of them! He's a jewel, a pearl I I'd do anything for you, as I told you, +I'd keep myself on the rack day and night for you and him. You are a +pair! There's not on earth the match for the two of you!" + +At the end of her story he said: + +"You have not gone to all this trouble and taken up so much of my time +and confided to me all the secrets of your heart merely to ease your +mind. There's something you want me to do, some help you expect to gain +from me. You have given me no inkling of what it is. What is it? Speak +out!" + +"He is certain to be killed sooner or later," she said, wringing her +hands. "I want you to help me to save him." + +"Save him!" Commodus echoed. "Isn't he competent to save himself? Hasn't +he convinced you of his ability to protect himself--Sooner or later? +Much later, very much later. And he's more likely to be killed by old +age than by any weapon in the hands of any man. + +"I'll never understand women. No man can, I suppose. You're bent, bound +and resolved that he must die. You pour out gold like water to compass +his death. You have Italy ransacked for dexterous cutthroats. He never +turns a hair. It's easy for him as for a Molossian dog to kill wolves. +He enjoys it; disposes of every man who dare face him. You can't find +another bravo to take the risk, not for any money! Then, when he has +proved himself the best fighter in Italy, you face about and all of a +sudden you are in a wax for fear some one may kill him! + +"Nobody will ever kill him. You and I saw him dispose of more than a +dozen expert gladiators, one after the other; you saw how daintily +and adroitly he did, it. You have just described his fight with his +predecessor. It was over almost before it was begun. The incumbent was +a dead man from the moment he faced Almo. Both knew it, too, and, since +then he has done for the pick of the blackguards from all Italy. If +Ravax and his gang could find no one to face him, there is none; if no +man of that crew could best him, not Ravax himself, no man can best him. +Don't you see?" + +"No, I don't," she said. "It will be just like his fights in the arena. +No matter how often he wins, he is bound to lose at last." + +"Don't you believe it," Commodus argued. "I remember him well. I was +wild over him just after Father's triumph and saw a good deal of him +before he set out for Britain. I was then no such all-round expert at +weapon-play as I have become since, but I was good for my age. I fenced +with him repeatedly and I know his quality. I had all the best swordsmen +in the capital pitted against him and not one of them was his match. +Murmex Lucro did not come to Rome till after Father's death. So I never +saw Murmex and Almo fence. But let me tell you this: Murmex is the only +man alive who can fence with me for points and make anything like my +score. And Almo is the only man alive, except me, who is fit to face +Murmex on equal terms. There are only two men on earth who could kill +Almo in a fight with any kind of weapons--Murmex is one and I am the +other. + +"Why, Almo is as safe in the Grove as I am in the Palace. Don't you +worry about him. Nobody will kill him; take it from me, I know." + +Brinnaria, with a sharp intake of her breath, gazed about the room and +collected herself to resume her argument and make her next point. + +"Do you concede," she queried, "that I have the right to be solicitous +about Almo's life?" + +"Father said so," Commodus replied, "and I never knew him to be wrong. I +took that opinion from him and I see no reason to change it." + +"Do you concede," she pressed him, "that I have the right to looking +forward to marrying him at the end of my service?" + +"Like Father, I do," he admitted. + +"How can I ever marry him," she demanded, "if he remains King of the +Grove?" + +The young Emperor laughed merrily. + +"Don't you worry about that, either," he said. "I told you I'd do +anything for you and I meant it. I told you I'd do anything for Almo, +and I meant that too. But, as things are, doing what you want and what +is good for him will be doing just what I most want myself. I have a +frightfully poor memory. Barely seven years ago my Father triumphed +after what was thought a complete, decisive and crushing victory over +Avidius Cassius and a huge confederation of nomadic tribes. Cassius was +certainly abolished; he was buried. But after scarcely five years the +desert nomads were as active as ever and they have grown so pertinacious +and cocky that something must be done. I don't want to go myself, and +I feel no confidence in my ability to accomplish anything if I went. +I have been on the rack to decide whom to send. I can't afford to send +some bungler who'd mismanage and let the sand-hills devour a half a +dozen of my best legions. + +"My councillors and I have found no promising candidate. All the while I +have been cudgelling my brains trying to remember something Father told +me. I distinctly recalled that he said that he had in view the very +paragon of a commander to dispatch against Avidius, but that some +occurrence made it impossible to send him and he had to go himself. I +couldn't for the life of me recollect what had happened to hinder +the man going or what the man's name was. Since it was a verbal +communication from Father I had no memorandum and no one else had ever +known it. + +"Now I remember that Almo was the man and that his infatuation with the +life of a gladiator was what prevented. + +"Do you see what I mean? I shall not have to go to Syria and I'll send +the very best man for that job who can be found on earth. If anybody +knows what I'm doing they'll say that Almo is a lunatic and I am another +to send him. But nobody will ever know and if everybody knows, what do I +care. Father knew a good man when he saw one. I'll take his word for it +that Almo proved himself the greatest genius for desert fighting that +the Republic has produced in a hundred years. And I'll follow my +own intuition that a swashbuckler whose own thoughts prompted him to +challenge the King of the Grove as a cure for tedium, who had the nerve +to carry out the idea and the skill to win a hundred and six fights in +ten months must be a good all-round man and a real man clear through. +I take it that being put in supreme command of a great expedition will +brush the cobwebs from Almo's brain and restore him to himself. Do you +follow my idea?" + +"I cannot conjecture," Brinnaria replied, "how you expect to carry it +out." + +"Simple enough," said Commodus. "I'm not the man my Father was, not by a +great deal. I am a natural all-round athlete, but I was never born to be +an Emperor. All the same, when I buckle down to my job, I'm not such a +bad hand at it. If I have a talk with Almo I'll swing him my way without +half trying." + +"But," Brinnaria interposed, "even you, even as Emperor and Chief +Pontiff, cannot free a man who has become King of the Grove. There is +no record of any form of exauguration for a Priest of Diana of the +Underworld. There would be an outcry. Once King of the Grove a man must +live out his life as King of the Grove." + +Commodus grinned a school-boy grin. + +"My dear," he said, "there are more ways of killing a dog besides +choking him to death on fresh curds." + +Brinnaria stared. + +"You talk," he said, "as if you had gone over all the records. Don't you +recall two cases where a King of the Grove died without being killed?" + +"Yes," she admitted. + +"Well," he continued, "what was done?" + +"Two challengers were brought forward," she said, "and they fought each +other." + +"Just so," said he, "and don't you recall one case where a King of +the Grove disappeared and was believed to have run away, but was never +found, nor any trace of him?" + +"I remember that, too," she agreed. + +"Well," he pressed her, "what was done in that case?" + +"Two challengers fought each other that time also," she allowed. + +"Well," he summed up, "that's what we'll have done now. Almo will +vanish. He's good at it, he's had practice. Two challengers can be found +easily enough." + +"But," she cavilled, wide-eyed, "there's all the difference in the world +between egging on two challengers after the post is vacant and arranging +to vacate the post. What you propose would be sacrilege, impiety." + +"Don't you worry about that!" he soothed her. "The priesthood at Aricia +is no part of our hierarchy; the safety of Rome in no way depends on its +sanctity. It is important enough for the nine towns that share the cult, +but it concerns no others. It's an alien cult, anyhow. Whether Orestes +brought it to Aricia or Hippolytus or who else makes no difference, +nor the tradition that it is four hundred years older than Rome. It's +a disgrace to Italy and it exists on sufferance. Father told me that +Grandfather and he were both in half a mind to have it suppressed as the +Bacchanals were suppressed. The curative repute of the Grove stood in +the way. As for me, if it were not for the sporting character of the +King's tenure, I'd see to it that Almo would be the last King. I feel +free to do as I please in any matter that concerns it." + +Brinnaria said nothing. + +He resumed: + +"Leave it all to me. I'll go to Aricia myself; I'll expostulate with +Almo; I'll appeal to his manhood, to his pride, to his patriotism. Ten +to one he's disillusioned by this time, sick of his job and ready to +listen to reason. He'll promise to obey me and he'll obey me. + +"The rest will be managed by men who will make no mistakes. They'll find +two challengers each much like Almo in build and appearance. One dark +night Almo will slip off in charge of the men I delegate for that duty; +the two challengers will be guided so that each thinks he is fighting +the King of the Grove. Whichever survives will be rigged up in the +customary toggery. There will be a corpse properly offered on the altar. +Nobody will suspect anything." + +About a month later Lutorius conveyed to her a hint from the Emperor. +She at once applied for an audience. + +Commodus was as expansive as a boy who has had a good day's fishing. + +"It's all over," he said, "and everything went off just as I foresaw and +planned. Almo was disgusted and tractable. We found two desperadoes of +suitable make. While we steered them at each other Almo slipped out. +Besides you, your two friends, your agents, Lutorius and myself, no one +knows that Almo was ever King of the Grove. I had him brought to the +Palace and Lucro and I had no end of good fun fencing with him. I +had the Senate pass a decree relieving him of all and sundry legal +consequences of having been sold as a slave in Britain. I had him choose +a full staff of the best possible aides, orderlies and such. He is off +to Syria. I did not send for you until I had word that he had not +only sailed from Brundisium but had actually landed at Dyrrhachium. I +anticipate that the job I have sent him on will take all of six years. +Just about when your service is drawing to an end he will return to Rome +covered with glory and loaded with loot. The nomads have been plundering +our cities and have accumulated in their strongholds immense amounts of +treasure. He'll get it back. Meantime your mind should be at peace." + +Brinnaria was properly grateful and expressed her feelings fervently. + +"And now," said Commodus, "since I have done what you wanted and you are +pleased, may I ask a favor of you? You can do something for me that +no one else can and if you promise it will set my mind at rest to some +extent." + +Brinnaria earnestly promised to do her best. + +"I am troubled," said the Emperor, "very much troubled. You know how +rumors get about among people, starting no one knows where; and how, +when such a notion is abroad, nothing on earth can counteract it. + +"Well, there's a story going about of an oracle, an oracle which says +that the Republic reached its acme under Trajan, that the Empire kept up +its prosperity under Hadrian and my Grandfather and Father, but that the +glory of Rome is fated to fade and wane and that its decline will date +from my taking over the Principiate. + +"I am worried about it. I have sent to Delphi and Dodona and every other +oracle from Olisipo to Pattala, but I can find no record of any such +oracle having been uttered. The people, however, credit it as if it came +from Delphi. + +"I've had a hundred oracles consulted about the matter, Delphi too. They +all hedge; not one is clear. But they all speak of an impending disaster +that may be averted by watchfulness. And they all hint darkly at some +danger to the Palladium; they all mention it somehow; most of them +allude unmistakably to the Temple of Vesta; some of them manifestly +refer to the Atrium; all of them speak of fire. + +"Now I know that the sacred fire will be cared for by you and Manlia and +Gargilia and Numisia as well as ever it was since Numa. Causidiena is +too old to count and Terentia is too young, but in the four of you I +have complete confidence as far as the fire is concerned. + +"About the Palladium I don't feel so sure. The six terra-cotta chests +are so exactly alike and the five counterfeits are so like the real +statue that I am afraid the precautions taken to baffle an intruding +thief might confuse you Vestals in a crisis. + +"Do you know the real Palladium from the five dummies?" + +"I do," said Brinnaria; "we all do. When I had been a Vestal five years +Causidiena showed me the Palladium. No Vestal is ever shown it until she +is over fifteen. Like all other young Vestals I was made to spend hours +in the inner storeroom, blindfolded, learning to recognize the real +Palladium by touch. + +"The differences between the original and the copies are very small, +mostly in the carving of the folds of the gown. But every young Vestal +is drilled until she can recognize the genuine relic by touch, one +hundred times out of one hundred times, and until she can similarly +discriminate the terra-cotta chest that contains it from the other five +chests. I could tell the Palladium from the imitations instantly any +time." + +"You relieve me," said Commodus. "I've wanted to talk about this to +all you Vestals, but I've been ashamed to broach the subject. Since you +confided in me I feel no hesitation about confiding in you." + +"I promise you," said Brinnaria, "that the Palladium will never be +stolen, lost, or come to any harm if I can prevent it, and I believe I +can. I pledge you my word." + +"I feel better," said Commodus. + +"And I want to say," Brinnaria added, "that I have always felt a special +interest in the Palladium. Ever since I was old enough to share all the +duties and all the responsibilities of a Vestal, my feelings have been +particularly engaged with the Palladium. There is something tremendous +and crushing in the thought of being in charge of four of the seven +objects on the safety of which depends the safety of Rome and the +prosperity of the Republic. Whenever Causidiena has shown them to us +younger Vestals I have felt the strongest emotions at the sight of the +jar containing the ashes of Orestes, of the antique gold canister +which protects the plain, gold-mounted ivory sceptre of Priam, of the +lapis-lazuli casket which enshrines the tatters remaining of Ilione's +veil; but more than at sight of them I have trembled with awe to look at +that little statuette, no longer than my forearm, and to think that if +it were destroyed the Empire would crumble and Rome would perish. You +maybe sure I shall do all I can to keep safe the precious treasure +committed to my charge." + +"I feel sure you will," said Commodus. + + + + +BOOK IV--THE REVULSION OF DELIGHT + + + +CHAPTER XX - ACCUSATION + + +AFTER Almo's redemption and his departure for Syria Brinnaria calmed +down. Her feverish activity abated and vanished. She ceased to take any +interest in the speed of her litter-bearers or of her carriage-teams. +She took her outings for their own sake, not merely to feel herself +transported rapidly from somewhere to anywhere. She kept an oversight of +her stock-farms, but she left the management of them almost entirely to +her bailiffs. On music she spent more of her time and in it she took an +intenser delight. + +Life in the Atrium altered chiefly through the growing up of Terentia, +whose fifteenth birthday was celebrated soon after Almo left Italy, and +by the steady waning of Causidiena's eyesight. She could still recognize +familiar persons when between her and the strong light of a door or +window in the daytime; she could still place pieces of wood on the fire, +if it was burning well. But she was plainly verging on total blindness. +Except in so far as it was modified by pride in Terentia and solicitude +for Causidiena, life in the Atrium flowed on as it had for centuries. + +Reports from Almo were uniformly good. From the first he displayed +all the qualifications requisite for a commander in chief. For him +everything promised well. + +Under these conditions Brinnaria throve. Her natural vigor had always +been such that she never had showed any outward signs of the strain +to which she had been subjected. Uniformly she had looked handsome and +healthy. But now, if anything, she looked healthier and handsomer than +ever. She was then thirty-two years old. At ten years of age she had +looked eighteen, at eighteen she had looked twenty-four. At thirty-two +she still looked no more than twenty-five. Her hair was abundant and +glossy, her eyes bright, her cheeks rosy; she was neither slender nor +plump, but a well-muscled, graceful woman, decidedly young-looking, and +altogether statuesque in build and carriage, but very much alive in her +springy suppleness. + +About a year after Almo's departure for Syria Lutorius came to see her +one morning, his face grave. + +He indicated that they had best confer alone. In her tiny sanctum he +came straight to the point. + +"Daughter," he said, "my news is as bad as possible. You are formally +accused of the worst misconduct." + +"Why look so gloomy?" said Brinnaria. "That is comic, not tragic. Who's +the fool accuser?" + +"Calvaster, as you might conjecture," he answered; "and grieve to have +to inform you," he added, "that this is no laughing matter." + +"Pooh!" said Brinnaria. "I'm not a bit afraid of Calvaster. Aurelius +gave Commodus emphatic injunctions about me. And he went into details. +Commodus can't have forgotten his reprimand to Calvaster nor his +categorical threat." + +"I fear," said Lutorius, "that his father's instructions on that +particular point are not well to the front of the Emperor's mind." + +"Well, anyhow," said Brinnaria, "everybody knows my preoccupation with +Almo and everybody saw my behavior in the Amphitheatre. I feel pretty +safe in respect to my general reputation. As to particulars, I've been +vigilantly careful to keep away from Almo. Except twice, in the +presence of Aurelius, I haven't been within speaking distance of him in +twenty-two years. Between the fact that no one can prove that I have had +anything to do with him and the improbability that anyone would suspect +me of interest in any other man, let alone misconduct with any other +man, I feel entirely secure." + +Lutorius wagged his head. + +"You are accused of misconduct with another man," he said. + +"Absurd!" said Brinnaria, "easy to confute. Who is the man?" + +"Not so easy to confute, I fear," said Lutorius. "The man named is +Quintus Istorius Vocco." + +"Whew!" cried Brinnaria, springing to her feet and snapping her fingers. +"That is ingenious! That will give me trouble! I didn't credit Calvaster +with that much sense. I never thought of anyone looking askance at my +relations with Quintus. I've never taken any precautions as to when +I was with him or how long or where. I've treated him as an honorary +brother, seeing I have no brothers of my own left alive. Flexinna has +been such a sister to me, that we have disregarded Quintus almost as if +he were a slave or a statue or a picture on the wall or another woman. +Whew!" + +"You perceive," said Lutorius, "that the situation, in general, is very +serious?" + +"I do, indeed!" admitted Brinnaria. + +"Serious as it is in general," he went on, "it is still more serious in +particular. Your excursion to Aricia was by no means as much a secret +as you have all along supposed. I, for instance, knew of it before you +confessed it to me." + +"How was that?" Brinnaria inquired. + +"Numisia," he explained, "saw you go out in Flexinna's clothes and +recognized you. She entered your room and talked with Flexinna. She +summoned me and we conferred. We both loved you and we both believed +in you. We were solicitous for the cult, but we were nearly as much +solicitous for you. We agreed that we were almost fully warranted in +assuming your entire innocence of heart and that your impulsive behavior +would not alienate the good will of the Goddess. We decided to take +it upon ourselves to judge you blameless and to shield you. Utta +was instructed never to let you know that Numisia had seen Flexinna; +Flexinna, of course, fell in with our plans. Numisia made every +arrangement that would prevent any more from learning the secret and +would make your return easy. + +"After you came back safe our decision seemed justified. I talked with +Vocco and learned that nothing had occurred to render your exposure +likely, except your encounter with Calvaster. As we heard nothing from +Calvaster we felt entirely successful. It turns out that he was only +biding his time. He has formally accused you before the College of +Pontiffs, alleging in general your long-continued familiarity with +Vocco, and, in particular, your having been outside of Rome after +midnight in Vocco's company." + +"Whew," Brinnaria exclaimed, "this is indeed serious! I feel myself +strangling or starving in a vaulted cell. What am I to do?" + +"See Commodus first of all," said Lutorius. + +In the short interval since her former audience, those traits of which +he had previously shown the merest traces had rapidly developed in +Commodus into fixed characteristics. He had become what he remained +until his end, an odd mingling of loutish, peevish school-boy, +easy-going, self-indulgent athlete and superstitious, suspicious despot. + +"To begin with," he said, "I want you to understand that I like you, +that I haven't forgotten that you rescued the retiarius, whopped +Bambilio and behaved like a trump when Father tested you. I'm for you. +Your colts are the cream of Italian stud-farms. You are a wonderful +woman, all round. But, as a Vestal, you have your weak points. I +remember Father's instructions about you and I have all that in mind. +Besides, I know that I, as Chief Pontiff, have the right to make my own +decision about any such matter and to brush aside anybody else's opinion +and anybody else's interpretation of the evidence. Also my impulse is +to make use of my prerogative, dismiss the accusation against you, +reiterate Father's warning to Calvaster and get the whole thing off my +mind. I don't like Calvaster and I don't value him an atom. They say +he's indispensable, but if he irritates me ever so little more I'll +dispense with him and I'll wager the Republic will get on without +him. You see that I am strong on your side and almost on the point of +deciding in your favor. + +"But I hesitate. This case of yours worries me more than anything that +has come up since I took over the Principiate. I cannot make up my mind. + +"I'm not the man I was a year ago. I'm shaken. Father told me that the +most wearing feature of his being Emperor was his recurring escapes from +assassination. I had my first escape just after your audience with +me. It jarred me horribly. The fool barely missed finishing me. The +experience made me take precautions and so no other miscreant has come +so near to doing for me. But the repetitions have grown monotonous. +I always thought highly of your lad, and I've often wondered how he +managed to get any sleep or swallow any food while he was King of the +Grove, but I think immeasurably more of him since I've been through +something faintly similar. He deserves the best of life and I hope he'll +get his heart's desire and marry you at the end of your service. + +"You see how enthusiastically I am on your side. + +"But there is much to be considered. + +"If this were a question of judging a two-year-old filly I'd need no +man's advice and I'd listen to no man's opinion. I'm better fitted to +judge a horse than any man alive. It would be the same if it were +a question of refereeing a sword-bout or a boxing-mill or a +wrestling-match or anything of the kind. I know all about such things +and I know that I am a judge superior to anybody on earth. I'm a born +all-round athlete and everybody knows it and recognizes me as a past +master. + +"But as an Emperor, as Chief Pontiff, such is not at all the case. I +feel a fumbler, a bungler. I grope. I suspect that the judgment of my +advisers is better than mine. What is worse, I know that they think so. +I am surrounded by men pre-eminent in their specialties, who look on me +as a green boy placed by mere chance in a position which I fail to fill +adequately. They watch me like hawks, they expect to see me blunder, +they raise eyebrows at each other, they exchange glances. It rattles me. +I wish I had Alexander's nerve. He was as young as I am and he brooked +no opposition, but rammed his opinions down his councillors' throats +from the hour when he became King. But I haven't his nerve, not by a +long shot. I had as good teachers as he had, too. But, Hercules be good +to me, I never could learn anything out of a book. + +"As a charioteer, or a swordsman I'm as confident as a lion. As an +Emperor I'm as cowardly as a jackal. It's the effect of the prophecies +and auguries and oracles and such. They all hint at my impairing the +prosperity of the Republic or diminishing the power of the Empire. It +gallies me when I see two old bald heads wink at each other; I know they +are thinking: + +"'What did I tell you! Here's this young fool ruining Rome, just as the +oracle prophesies.' It gets on my nerves. + +"I daren't decide the matter on my own judgment. + +"Besides, there's the danger of assassination hanging over me. All the +men who have tried so far have been highly educated magnates of lofty +principles. They seem to feel I am an unworthy Prince and that to kill +me would be a service to the state. It galls me to think of it, and me +doing my best for the Republic and the Empire, denying myself hours of +pleasure daily, missing races and all kinds of contests and toiling over +documents and estimates and statistics. But it is true. If I decide this +case of yours, ten to one any number of self-righteous nobles will say +to themselves: + +"'Here is this lout on the way to destroy the foundations of Rome's +greatness. Rome must be saved from him. My duty is clear. He must be put +out of the way.' Nice situation for me. I dare not let loose any such +possible fanaticism for my own destruction. + +"And apart from any qualms about my qualifications to judge, apart from +any dread of the consequences to myself, of absolving you, there is my +sense of duty to Rome. Here are these cursed ambiguous oracles hinting +some harm to Rome, mentioning fire and the Temple of Vesta and the +Palladium. Perhaps what they mean is just the possible wrath of Vesta at +an unworthy priestess. How can I tell? + +"You see why I hesitate?" + +Brinnaria nodded. She judged it no time to speak, and, had she wished to +speak she could hardly have done so. + +"I might not have hesitated," Commodus resumed, "if Calvaster had come +to me. But he pops up in a full meeting of the College of Pontiffs and +says he saw you, after midnight and before dawn, on the Appian Road, +between Aricia and Bovillae, in a litter that didn't belong to you +and with Vocco on horseback beside it. That puts all the Pontiffs in +possession of the facts and on the watch to see how I'll decide, if I +do decide. Calvaster made sure of proving those facts, for he had two +highly respectable and respected nobles to swear that they were with him +and saw Vocco and the litter and knew the litter for Nemestronia's. That +he had any number of witnesses to swear to the frequency of your visits +to Vocco's house, your habit of dining there and the freedom with which +you treated him. + +"My impulse was to tell Calvaster I disbelieved any story he fathered, +that I had my Father's instructions discrediting him, that I knew all +about your intimacy with Flexinna and her husband, that I knew all about +your excursion to Aricia and why you went and that I approved and that +was the end of it. I have told you why I hesitated. + +"But I was inclined that way. I have talked with Lutorius and Causidiena +and Numisia. They feel towards you as my Father felt. They believe +in you and in your worthiness as a priestess, and they minimize your +irregularities. I sent for Flexinna and talked with her. She deserves +consideration, if only because she is the mother of the largest family +to be found among our nobility, even among our gentry. She hoots at the +idea of anything improper between you and Vocco, in act or thought. She +evidently tells the truth. It is plain that she and Vocco are a devoted +pair, that you and he never did anything wrong or thought of anything +wrong. I sent for Vocco and talked with him. I am all but clear what I +should do, but I am not quite clear. + +"Now, there are only two ways to settle this: one is for me to settle +it myself and out of hand. The other is to have a formal trial of you +before the College of Pontiffs. + +"If you are tried you'll be condemned. All you can say of the innocence +of your intimacy with Vocco, all you can say of the innocence of your +regard for Almo, all I can say of my Father's high esteem of you, of his +injunctions regarding you, will not avail to save you. The Pontiffs will +not heed the considerations which were so plain to Father and are +so plain to me and Lutorius and Numisia. They will say it makes no +difference whether you went to Aricia because of solicitude for Almo +or on account of an intrigue with Vocco. They will hold that such a +manifestation of interest in Almo proves you almost as unfit to be a +Vestal as if it were certain that you were philandering with Vocco. + +"In particular they will hold that there might be room to absolve you +had you openly gone to save Almo in your full regalia and in your own +carriage, or your own litter, with your lictor before you; but that +while the fact of your being out of Rome all night in a litter is +damning enough, the appearance of duplicity and underhanded secrecy +given to the proceeding by your being disguised in another woman's +clothing and carried in a borrowed litter makes terribly against you. + +"Of course I could impose my will on the Pontiffs, but I should hesitate +to override their decision, even more than I hesitate to decide the case +myself, and for the reasons I have given. + +"Yet I must say I could forget my dread of assassination and ignore any +opinionated contempt I might evoke, if I could be sure in my own heart +that I am doing what is best for Rome; I should be as arrogant an +Emperor as ever Domitian was if only I felt confident that my instincts +are right. My instincts all urge me to act as an Emperor and a Pontifex +Maximus and settle this matter out of hand, once and for all. + +"But I hesitate. I can't make up my mind. All I need is a sign that you +are as acceptable to Vesta as I believe you are. I have tried to satisfy +myself, to elicit some sign of the Goddess' will, but no sign has been +vouchsafed me. I've had the Sibylline Books consulted, which is a trying +matter with Calvaster left out of the consulting board; I have sent to +every oracle within reach, have put questions to all the sibyls in all +the caves of Italy, have called in a rabble of Etruscan soothsayers, +every haruspex and auspex in Etruria, I believe. They all hedge. They +are all vague. They are all indefinite. They give me no help! + +"Now, I like you; I like Almo; I like both of you and I respect you; I +believe in you. I'd hate to wake up and call for any breakfast I had a +whim for and look at it and smell it and think of you, all alone in the +dark in a vaulted cell six foot under the rubbish of that garbage-dump +out by the Colline Gate. And I hate the thought of the bother and worry +of a trial. I want to put my foot down and assert my will and be done +with it all. But, as I've said a dozen times already, I hesitate. +Chiefly I hesitate because I am resolute to do my duty to Rome according +to my lights. I feel I am right, but I am not quite man enough to follow +my feelings. If I could have some plain sign that Vesta understands and +condones your past irregularities as I do, that Vesta approves of you +and is pleased with you as I am, if I could feel Vesta corroborating my +feelings, if I could evoke an unmistakable token of her will, I'd not +hesitate. I'd scout the suggestion of a trial; I'd squelch Calvaster; +I'd absolve you." + +Brinnaria looked straight into his goggling, bloodshot eyes. + +"Would you consider it an unmistakable sign," she said, "a plain token +of my acceptability to my Goddess, of her esteem for me, if Vesta gave +me power to carry water in a sieve?" + +Commodus goggled his eyes at her even more than habitually. + +"Carry water in a sieve," he cried, "as Tuccia did?" + +"There is a legend," said Brinnaria sedately, "that some Vestal once +proved her holiness by carrying water in a sieve. And the story is +connected with Tuccia in popular tradition. But if it was ever done some +other Vestal did it. Poor Tuccia was innocent, as far as I can judge +from the minutes of her trial. But she was not absolved, by intervention +of Vesta or of her judges. She was condemned and buried. You can read +the verdict as well as the details of the proceedings in the records. +And what is left of poor Tuccia is now in one of those tiny vaulted +cells under the Wicked Field. You will find, along with the documents +of her case, the bill for the wages of the mason who completed the vault +after she had descended the ladder and the affidavits of the sentinels +who patrolled the spot day and night for a month, according to custom." + +"Never mind who did it or didn't do it, or whether it ever was done at +all before," said Commodus, "if I saw you carry water in a sieve I'd +hold it a plain sign of Vesta's particular favor to you, of your special +acceptability to her, of the correctness of my intuitions about you and +about this whole wretched business. + +"Do I understand you to offer to demonstrate your innocence by carrying +water in a sieve?" + +"That is my offer!" said Brinnaria. + +"But," he protested, "the thing can't be done. It's impossible! Better +stand your chance of a trial." + +"I am sure," said Brinnaria, "that my Goddess will not desert me. I know +I am innocent and acceptable to her. She knows me and will give me the +power to prove my worthiness. She will no fail me. I know I can do it." + +"Do I understand you to offer to do it in broad daylight before me and +the whole College of Pontiffs, Calvaster and all?" + +"In sight of all Rome," said Brinnaria, "if all Rome could crowd near +enough to see." + +"Do I understand you," said the Emperor, "to stake your life on the +venture, and, just as you would expect full absolution if you succeed, +so to expect a rigid and severely stern trial before me and the College +of Pontiffs, with your failure counting against you, if you fail in the +attempt?" + +"That is my understanding," said Brinnaria, unflinching, her clear eyes +on his face, her cheeks neither flushed nor blanched, her expression +calm, her pose easy, her voice unfaltering. + +"Hercules be good to me!" cried Commodus. "That is a first class game +sporting offer! I like you, girl! I like the idea. I see my way to a +decision. I glimpse a method of banishing my hesitation. I'll take you. +If you agree, clasp hands, like a man." + +Brinnaria stood up and put out her hand. + +"For life or death," said the Emperor. + +They clasped hands. + +"Done!" said Commodus. + + + +CHAPTER XXI - ORDEAL + + +THE next day Commodus, officially, in his full regalia as Emperor +and Pontifex Maximus, convoyed by a magnificent retinue of gorgeously +apparelled gentlemen-in-waiting, equerries, aides, orderlies and pages, +and of gaudily uniformed guards, paid a formal visit to the Atrium. + +He was received by Lutorius, Causidiena and Numisia, who had been in +close conference most of the previous afternoon and until late at night +and again most of the morning from dawn. Causidiena, on account of her +failing sight, was escorted by Manlia and Gargilia. + +After the exchange of ceremonious greetings Commodus asked: + +"Where is Brinnaria? Why isn't she here?" + +"We thought best," Causidiena replied, "that she should not be present +at our conference." + +"As to part of it I quite agree," said the Emperor. "Fairness to her +requires that much of what we have to say should be said in her absence, +as she must be free from any suspicion of participation in some of our +arrangements. But part of what we have to say she must hear and some +details I must talk over with her. Send for her, and meanwhile, sit +down, all of you, sit down, I say." + +Manlia and Gargilia departed to summon Brinnaria. + +When she came and had seated herself the Emperor said: + +"I've been thinking over this matter ever since you left me. Precious +little else did I do yesterday and mighty little sleep did I get last +night. I'm not clear yet altogether, but I see daylight on several +points. + +"What you propose is more or less like interpreting the significance of +the appearances seen in the victim's intestines after a sacrifice for +a specific object; it amounts to asking a definite question of your +Goddess and getting a yes or no answer. + +"That is one way to regard it and seems to me correct from the religious +point of view. + +"But there is another point of view and another way to regard it, not +less correct, it seems to me. + +"This is a sort of a sporting proposal, like a dicing contest, or any +kind of match or wager. + +"Now in such matters, it is important, it is of the utmost importance, +that there should be no differences of opinion between the principals +or among the backers or lookers-on after the contest or during its +progress; particularly that no unexpected differences of opinion should +crop up after starting the set of actions which determine the decision. +To avoid all such untoward possibilities, every detail must be settled +in advance before the matter comes to a test. + +"Now, treating your appeal to Vesta not only as a solemn invocation of +the Goddess, but also as a sporting chance, I intend to have a definite, +unquestionable understanding beforehand on every debatable point. + +"You see what I mean? + +"Some of the points we others will settle without you, but we shall +begin with those which you must settle or share in settling. + +"I and Lutorius, Causidiena and Numisia are to be the witnesses to the +stipulations and our agreement on any point is to prove that point. I +propose to make it impossible for there to be any misunderstanding +or disagreement among the four of us, to make it certain that we four +think, speak and act unanimously on all points whatever. Nothing must be +assumed, everything must be explicit. + +"To begin with, is this a fair statement of your proposal? + +"You maintain that you are a worthy priestess of Vesta and wholly +acceptable to her. You propose to demonstrate this by asking of her the +power to carry water in a sieve in the sight of the whole College of +Pontiffs and of such other persons as I may see fit to have present at +the test. If you fail you will expect to be tried for misconduct. If +you succeed you will expect to be then and there absolved from all +accusations and imputations connected with your deportment or behavior. + +"Is that a fair statement of your proposal?" + +"It is," Brinnaria replied. + +"What kind of water do you propose to carry?" Commodus asked. "Spring +water, rain-water from a tank, aqueduct-water, or what?" + +"I assumed," said Brinnaria, "that I would carry water from the river, +in accordance with the legend of my predecessor: Father Tiber being +himself one of our gods, one of the sternest to evildoers, yet to the +righteous most kindly and helpful." + +"Excellent!" said the Emperor. "My notion precisely. That is settled. I +accordingly appoint as the place of your test the Marble Quay, since +the porticoes flanking it shut out the mob and protect the Quay from +intruding eyes, and since the space enclosed by them is ample for +the assemblage of the College of Pontiffs, the Senate and the Court +officials. Are you satisfied with that place?" + +"I am," said Brinnaria. + +"In what kind of a sieve do you propose to carry water?" came the next +question. + +"A sieve," said Brinnaria, "is a sieve." + +"Not at all," Commodus objected. "There are sieves and sieves." + +"Well, of course," Brinnaria reflected, "I do not mean a broken, +worn-out or imperfect sieve, nor one incompetently made." + +"Just so," the Emperor amplified. "You propose to carry water in a sieve +with a circular rim, without any hole, crevice or crack in it and with a +web stretched taut on the rim, evenly woven and of the finest mesh." + +"That expresses my unformed idea," said Brinnaria. + +"Did you mean a linen sieve," the Emperor asked, "or a horse-hair sieve, +or a metal sieve?" + +"That," said Brinnaria, "can make no difference, if it fulfills the +conditions you have just specified. I leave the choice of material to +you." + +"That is the correct attitude for you," said Commodus, "and does you +credit. + +"And now I think we four will settle the other details without you. Do +you agree to that?" + +"No!" Brinnaria objected. "I think I should be a party to the settling +of several other details." + +"What are they?" Commodus queried. + +"In the first place," said Brinnaria, "there should be the clearest +understanding as to how much water I must carry." + +"What do you mean?" the Emperor asked. + +"Well," Brinnaria expounded, "a drop of water the size of my thumb-nail +would not be enough, I presume. That would not be considered as +demonstrating my innocence. You would expect me to carry more water than +that. On the other hand, to exact that I carry a sieve full of water to +the top of the rim, as if it were a pan, would be unfair to me." + +"I see," said Commodus. "I should lay down the condition that the water +must cover the web of the sieve entirely and touch the rim all round, +and that it should be a finger-breadth deep. Deeper than that it need +not be, that depth would prove the favor of your Goddess as plainly as +if you carried all Tiber. Is that all? If not, what next?" + +"Next," she said, "it ought to be definitely agreed how far I must carry +the sieve with the water in it." + +"You do not need to carry it at all," said Commodus. "If you stand up +and hold the sieve of water as high as your chin, you will have proved +the favor of your Goddess for you." + +Lutorius, tactful and bland, here spoke up. + +"Your Majesty," he said, "I doubt whether that will confute Brinnaria's +enemies or even convince the majority of the Pontiffs." + +"What does it signify?" the Emperor demanded, "whether anybody else is +convinced, if I am satisfied?" + +"Nothing whatever, your Majesty," said Lutorius, "if you take that view +of the matter." + +"Perhaps," Commodus admitted, "there may be something in your +suggestion. Suppose we make the stipulation that she must carry the +sieve of water from the brink of the river to the top of the steps." + +"The number of steps," Lutorius reminded him, "varies at different +points along the Marble Quay." + +"True," the Emperor admitted. "Let us specify the middle stair, which +has seven steps, if I mistake not. Do you agree to that?" he asked +Brinnaria. + +"I agree," she concluded. + +After Brinnaria had gone, Commodus resumed: + +"Now we must decide," he said, "what kind of a sieve she is to use." + +Causidiena spoke up, her all but sightless eyes strained towards the +Emperor. + +"Lutorius and Numisia and I have talked over that question," she said. +"It seems to me that it would be unfair to her for us to decide on a +metal sieve. They are always coarse and the apertures between the wires +are comparatively large. It seems to us that no one could carry water in +a copper sieve, not even by a miracle. + +"The meshes of linen sieves are the smallest of any made, but the linen +does not seem to have much sustaining power. We feel that with a linen +sieve not only Brinnaria would be, as Lutorius expressed it, severely +handicapped for water-carrying, but that, as he also said, I fear +irreverently, that Vesta herself would be too much handicapped in +respect to miracle-working." + +"A mighty sensible remark," Commodus cut in, "and one with which I +concur. You are more of a sport than I thought you, Lutorius." + +"Considering only the construction of sieves," Causidiena continued, +"we were of the opinion that a horsehair sieve would be the fairest. The +hairs are coarser than linen threads and finer than copper wires and the +apertures between are similarly of medium size, as sieves go. + +"Besides, we have ascertained that horse-hair sieves are by far the most +usual kind. We are told that in most sieve-shops in Rome all the linen +sieves and copper sieves sold do not amount to one-third the horsehair +sieves." + +"That ought to settle that point," said Commodus. "No one can cavil if +we use the commonest kind of sieve, of medium fineness and of normal +make. + +"As to the question of procuring one we must arrange that Brinnaria may +feel wholly secure that it has not been tampered with by some enemy of +hers, and, on the other hand, that all persons whatever, to whomsoever +hostile or friendly, or wholly indifferent, may be at once and forever +certain that neither Brinnaria nor any partisan of hers has had any +access to it before the test. Have you any suggestions to make?" + +"Yes," Causidiena replied. "Lutorius and Numisia and I have debated that +point and have come to a conclusion which we think you might approve. +The best sieve-maker in Rome is Caius Truttidius Falcifer, a tenant of +one of our shops on the Holy Street. Not only are his wares reputed the +best-made sieves produced in Rome, but he sells more than anyone else +and carries a larger stock than can be found in the possession of any +other dealer. He is sieve-maker to the Atrium, like his father before +him. His horse-hair sieves are the closest and finest of their kind. We +use them to sift the flour for our ceremonial cakes. I had some brought +to show you. Where are they, Numisia?" + +Numisia rose and took from an onyx console a flattish dish-like basket +of gilt wicker, containing a number of square cakes. In size and on +account of the ridges on them, each looked much like the joined four +fingers of a man's hand. + +Commodus took one, broke it and munched a piece. + +"Very good," he said. "If the excellence of the pastry demonstrates the +virtue of the sieve let us consider it proved. I do not see, however, +what the cakes have to do with it. But I am entirely willing to agree +that Brinnaria is to use a horse-hair sieve made by Truttidius. + +"Now, how are we to select the particular sieve so as to convince +all concerned that it is a normal sieve chosen at random and not one +doctored for the occasion?" + +"Our idea," said Lutorius, "was to arrange that Truttidius be present +with a number of horse-hair sieves, practically with his whole stock of +his best, and that one of those be chosen before the whole College +of Pontiffs, perhaps by your Majesty, perhaps by some one of the +altar-boys, blindfolded, if you like that idea, or in any other manner +which seems good to you." + +"That," said the Emperor, "is an excellent suggestion. But would not +there be some difficulty in carrying to the Marble Quay so large a +number of sieves at once, particularly just when it will be crowded with +notables and the neighboring squares and streets choked, even jammed, +with their equipages? We should not want to present a numerous gang of +sieve-carrying slaves. But if more than two sieves are trusted to each +slave, there will be danger of the sieves being damaged in transit. We +might find it difficult to select one sufficiently perfect." + +"We have thought of that," said Lutorius, "and have devised a solution +which we think you might accept. I have arranged to have Truttidius +convey some eighty horse-hair sieves to the water-front of the Marble +Quay in a flat-bottomed row-boat, such as are used for bringing +vegetables to the quays of the Forum Olitorium. The oarsmen can keep +the boat nearly stationary off any point of the Quay indicated, and the +selection can be made in sight of the official assemblage of all the +Senators and Pontiffs." + +"That," said Commodus, "is an excellent suggestion. Have it carried +out and see to it that only we four know of it and that no one but the +sieve-maker and his assistants have anything to do with conveying +the sieves from his shop to the boat and that only the boatmen, the +sieve-maker and his assistants are in the boat, that no one else has +been in the boat. I'll detail any number of men you ask for to escort +the sieve-maker and his convoy. + +"I'll have the river policed and all possible traffic suspended. Any +craft that are let through the cordons of police-boats will be made to +follow the other side of the river. We'll have nothing off the Marble +Quay except the boat-load of sieves and the patrol-boats." He sighed. + +"I believe," he said, "that that is all except fixing the day and the +hour." + +"I suggest," said Lutorius, "the day after to-morrow, the eighteenth +day before the Kalends of September, the twenty-third anniversary of +Brinnaria's entrance into the order of Vestals, and, I regret to say, +the second anniversary of her night expedition to Aricia." + +"That suits me," said Commodus. + +"And the hour?" Numisia queried. + +"Noon," said the Emperor. + +Accordingly it was settled that Brinnaria was to face her ordeal at +midday on August fifteenth of the nine hundred and thirty-seventh year +after the founding of Rome, 184 of our era. + +That night Numisia, conferring with Brinnaria, concluded by saying: + +"Truttidius enjoined me to remind you to be very careful not to touch +the web of the sieve with your fingers. Also he says that, if anybody's +finger touches the web of the sieve as it is being handed to you, you +are to decline to accept it and to demand another." + +"I understand that already," said Brinnaria. + +The Marble Quay was that part of the embankment along the left bank of +the Tiber which was used by the Emperors of Rome for embarking on their +state barges and for landing from them whenever they took part in one of +the gorgeous river processions. Also it was used by all members of the +Imperial household for starting on excursions by water or when returning +from them. It was situated below the north corner of the Aventine Hill, +not far from the square end of the Circus Maximus, close to the round +Temple of Hercules and near the meat market. Every trace of it has +long since vanished, its precious marbles having offered most tempting +plunder for builders of every century since the fall of Rome. + +In its glory it was a space about two hundred feet long and nearly a +hundred feet wide, bounded by a gentle hollow curve along the river, and +enclosed on the other three sides by magnificent colonnaded porticoes. + +The shafts of the columns were of black Lucullean marble and fully +forty feet high. Their capitals and bases were of green porphyry, the +entablature they carried of red porphyry and the wall behind them of +yellow Numidian marble. The area was paved with slabs of pinkish and +light greenish marble while the copings of the Quay and the steps +leading down to the water were of coral red marble, a building material +extremely rare and very costly. + +At noon on the fifteenth of August the area, lined all round just before +the colonnade by a double rank of Pretorian guards, gorgeous in their +trappings of red gloss leather, gilded metal and scarlet cloth, was +thronged with Senators, Pontiffs and officials of the Imperial Court, to +the number of nearly a thousand. + +Midway of the crowd, near the head of the middle water-stair, a part of +the pavement, ringed about by the lucky dignitaries in the front row +of spectators, was left free. In it, by the water-steps, were grouped +a selection of Pontiffs, all the Flamens, four Vestals and the Emperor. +The yellow river was almost free of craft; along the other bank some +barges were being warped up-stream; nearby only patrol boats were +visible. + +Brinnaria, standing alert and springily erect, her white habit +dazzlingly fresh, fresh as the white flowers clasped at her bosom by +her big pearl brooch, looked like a care-free young matron who had had +a long night's sleep and a good breakfast. Commodus, looking her up nd +down, mentally contrasted her easy pose and the rosiness of her smiling +face with the tense statuesqueness and austere, almost grim countenances +of her three colleagues. He noticed that her three-strand pearl necklace +seemed to become her more than theirs became the other three and that +she wore her square, white headdress with an indefinable difference, +that there was a difference in the very hang of her headband and in the +way its tassels lay on her bosom. He noted two unusual adjuncts to her +attire; a long, rough towel through her girdle and a gold sacrificial +dipper thrust in beside it. + +"Are you ready?" he asked her. + +She looked him full in the face and slowly raised her left arm, stiffly +straight, hand extended, palm down, until her finger-tips were almost +level with his face and not a foot from it. Holding it so at full +stretch she asked: + +"What do you think of that? Am I ready?" + +Commodus regarded her finger-tips, her face, and again her finger-tips: + +"Hercules be good to me!" he exclaimed. "Not a tremble, not a waver, not +a quiver. You are mighty cool. You've plenty of confidence. I take it +you are ready." + +"I am," said Brinnaria. "Where is that sieve?" + +From behind her spoke Calvaster. "I have a sieve here." + +Commodus rounded on him like an angry mastiff. + +"Who authorized you to speak?" he demanded. "You act as if you were +Emperor. You are merely a minor Pontiff. Remember that and speak when +you are spoken to." + +Calvaster, abashed but persistent, stammered: + +"I merely offered a sieve." + +"None of your concern to offer a sieve," Commodus growled. "You insult +all of us and me most of all. Do you take me to be so unfair as to +subject this lady to her test with a sieve brought and offered by her +accuser?" + +Calvaster was dumb. + +"Show me that sieve," the Emperor commanded. + +Calvaster produced from under his robes a copper-hooped sieve strung +with linen. + +Commodus handed it to Brinnaria. + +"What do you think of that sieve?" he inquired. + +Brinnaria held it up to the light and looked through the web; held it +level, upside down, and looked along the web. + +"It is very irregularly woven," she pronounced; "some of the meshes are +three times the size of others. It is very unevenly strung, it bags in +two places." She held it up to her face a moment. + +"Also," she concluded, "it has been scrubbed with wood-ashes and +fuller's-earth. Vesta herself could not carry water in that sieve." + +"Give it back to me!" the Emperor ordered. + +He eyed it as she had, sniffed at it like a dog at a mouse-hole, and +glared over it at Calvaster. + +"You advertise yourself to all the world," he snarled, "as an unworthy +Pontiff and a contemptible caitiff. You attempt to entrap me into the +meanest unfairness! You pose as a public-spirited citizen solicitous +about the sanctity of the worship of Vesta and I find you a pettifogging +wretch actuated by spite and malice. You desire not a fair test, but the +ruin of a woman you are low-minded enough to hate. Eugh!" With one of +his excesses of unconventional energy he flung the sieve far out over +the river. It sailed whirling through the air, splashed in the water and +sank out of sight. + +"For the price of one dried bean, I'd order you thrown after it," said +Commodus to Calvaster. + +He beckoned one of his aides. + +"Signal that boat!" he commanded. + +A broad blunt-ended cargo-boat, rather guided than propelled by its four +heavy oars, came drifting down with the current. Its gunwale was hung +with horsehair sieves. Up from the thwarts stood many poles, each with +cross-pieces, every cross-piece hung with sieves. Its oarsmen edged it +nearer and nearer to the Quay and slowed its motion until it was almost +stationary opposite the stair, scarcely an arm's-length from the lowest +step. + +When it was close the Emperor spoke to Numisia: + +"Choose any sieve you see." + +Numisia indicated the sieve on the forward arm of the second cross-piece +of the fourth pole from the bow. + +Lutorius, at the Emperor's bidding, called the directions to Truttidius, +who, bowed and bent with age until he looked almost like a clothed ape, +wizened so that his leathery, wrinkled face was like a dried apple, was +standing near the middle of the boat. + +"Go down the steps," said Commodus to Brinnaria, "and yourself take the +sieve from him." Brinnaria, on the lower step, reached over the water, +and grasped the rim of the sieve which Truttidius held out to her. She +held it up to the light. Its web was of black and white horse-hair, each +thread alternately of a different color. It was made for bolting the +finest flour and the tiny apertures between the hairs were all of a size +and scarcely broader than the hairs themselves. + +She scrutinized the sieve from several angles and then looked back at +the Emperor. + +"Are you satisfied with that sieve?" he queried. + +"I am satisfied with this sieve," spoke Brinnaria, loud and clear. + +"I want to see close," said Commodus, coming down the steps. + +Brinnaria, holding the sieve in both hands, lifted it towards the blue +sky. "O Vesta!" she prayed aloud, "O my dear Goddess, manifest your +divinity, succor your votary! To prove me pleasing and acceptable in +your eyes, grant me the miraculous power to carry up these stairs water +from this river in the sieve which I hold!" She lowered her arms and +holding the sieve in her left hand knelt on one knee on the lowest +step, spread her towel over the other knee and took from her belt the +sacrificial dipper. With that she scooped up half a ladleful of Tiber +water. On the towel spread over her knee she carefully dried the bottom +of the dipper. + +Holding it just outside the rim of the sieve she glanced up at Commodus. + +"Go on," he said. + +She smiled. + +"If you want to see me fail," she said, "talk to me. If you want to see +me carry water in this sieve, let me alone." + +"I'm dumb*," said he. + + *"Dumb" at this time meant unable to speak. --PG editor + +She eyed the sieve to make sure that it was level and steady. Commodus, +also eyeing it, judged it both steady and level. + +She brought the ladle over the rim of the sieve and lowered it until it +all but touched the middle of the web. + +She tilted the ladle slowly, slowly she poured its contents over its +lip. + +She lifted it clear: + +On the web of the sieve lay a silver disk, as it were, of water, +round-edged and shining. + +"Hercules be good to me!" cried Commodus. + +"Keep quiet!" she admonished him. "You'll put me off." She dipped up a +ladleful of water, flirted half the water out, wiped the bottom of the +ladle on her knee and brought it cautiously over the sieve, cautiously +she lowered it until it nearly touched the shining disk of water, +cautiously she tilted it, cautiously she let its contents flow over its +lip. + +The disk of water spread. She repeated the process. The disk of water +spread. + +Again and again she repeated the process. + +The disk of water became a film hiding nearly all the web of the sieve. + +Commodus noticed that, as she dipped up each ladleful of water, she +watched the dipper out of the corner of her eye, as it were, with a sort +of partial, sidelong glance, but that all the while her gaze was intent +on the sieve. + +He noticed other details of her procedure. + +"You never pour twice in the same place," he commented. + +Rigid as a statue, the sieve in her hand as unmoving as if clamped in a +vise, Brinnaria spoke: + +"If I take my eyes off the sieve," she rebuked him, "it will tilt in my +hand and the water will run through. If you make me look round you'll +destroy me. You are not fair." + +"I'm dumb," said Commodus again, apologetically. + +As she poured in the next dipper-load, the film of water touched the rim +of the sieve at one point. + +Commodus heard a sharp intake of Brinnaria's breath. + +The next half-ladleful she poured near the spot where the water touched +the sieve-rim. + +Round near the hoop she dribbled in half-ladleful after half-ladleful +until the web of the sieve was entirely covered. + +She had moved slowly from the first dip into the river. But now, since +she could not see any part of the web of the sieve, she moved yet more +slowly. + +Commodus began to be impatient. + +"That is plenty of water," he said. + +"Do you, as Pontifex Maximus," she uttered, "certify that the water now +in this sieve is as deep as you stipulated?" + +"I," said Commodus in a loud voice, "as Emperor and as Pontifex Maximus, +here certify before all men that the water now supported by the web of +that sieve is enough to demonstrate the favor of Vesta towards you and +your impeccable integrity." + +"Back away," said Brinnaria, "I'm going to stand up." She thrust the +handle of the ladle through her belt, brushed the towel from her knee +and with her right hand also she grasped the sieve. Holding it now in +both hands, her eyes on it, she very slowly, inch by inch, rose to her +feet. When she was erect, she very slowly drew back her left foot until +her two feet were close together. + +"Back away," she repeated. "I'm going to turn round." Slowly she pivoted +on her firm feet until she was standing with her back to the river. + +Commodus at the top of the steps stared down at her. + +"Back away," she reiterated, "I'm coming up the steps." Up the steps +she came, very slowly. Planted on her right foot she would almost +imperceptibly raise and advance her left foot. When it was firm on the +step, she would gradually shift her weight to that foot, would very +deliberately straighten up and very carefully draw up her right foot +until both feet were together. So standing she would breathe several +times before she repeated the process. + +When she was standing firm on the top step on the level of the Quay +platform, she raised both hands until the sieve was level with her chin. + +"You have won," Commodus exclaimed. "You have demonstrated your +Goddess's favor. The test is over." + +An arm's length away stood Calvaster. + +"It's a trick!" he cried. "That is not water." + +"Not water!" cried Brinnaria. + +All the forgotten tomboy of her childish girlhood surged up within her. +The obsolete hoydenishness inside her exploded. + +"Not water!" she cried, and smashed the sieve over his head. + +The rim on his shoulders, his head protruding from the torn eb, +frayed ends of broken horse-hair sticking up round his neck, the water +trickling down his clothing and dripping from his thin locks, from his +big flaring ears, from the end of his long nose, his face rueful and +stultified, he presented a sufficiently absurd appearance. + +Commodus, like the overgrown boy he was, burst into roars of laughter. +The Pontiffs laughed, the Senators laughed, even Manlia and Gargilia +laughed. + +"It's a trick!" Calvaster repeated. + +On the face of Commodus mirth gave place to wrath. + +"Isn't that enough water for you?" he roared. "Anybody would think, the +way you behave, that I am the minor Pontiff and you the Emperor. I'll +teach you!" He turned and beckoned a centurion of the guard. + +With his file of men he came on the double quick. + +"Seize that man!" the Emperor commanded. + +Two of the Pretorians gripped Calvaster by the elbows. + +"March him out there to the edge," came the next order, the Emperor +gesturing towards the quay-front on his right. + +At the brink of the platform the Pretorians paused. + +"Grab him with both your hands," the Emperor commanded, "and pitch him +into the river." Over went Calvaster with a mighty splash. + +As all Romans were excellent swimmers he came to the surface almost at +once. A few strokes in front of him was the boat with the sieves. To it +he swam and Truttidius hauled him aboard and located him on a thwart. + +After the general merriment had waned and the laughter had abated +Commodus faced the assemblage and raised his hand. + +Into the ensuing silence he spoke not as a blundering lad nor as a +sportsman, but as a ruler. For the moment, in fact, he looked all the +Emperor. + +"We have all beheld," he said, "a miracle marvellous and convincing. +As Prince of the Republic, as Chief Pontiff of Rome, I proclaim this +Priestess cleared of all imputations whatever. Manifestly she is dear +to Vesta, and worthy of the favor she has shown her. Henceforward let no +man dare to smirch her with any slur or slander." + + + +CHAPTER XXII - TRIUMPH + + +IN recognition of Brinnaria's complete and incontrovertible vindication +Commodus decreed an unusually sumptuous state banquet at the Palace, +inviting to it all the most important personages of the capital, +including the more distinguished senators, every magistrate, the higher +Pontiffs, the Flamens in a body and most of his personal cronies. + +While old-fashioned households, such as that of Vocco and Flexinna, +clung to the antique Roman habit of lying down to meals on three +rectangular dining-sofas placed on three sides of a square-topped table, +this arrangement had long been supplanted at Court by a newer invention. +The mere fact that, from of old, it had been looked upon as the worst +sort of bad manners to have more than three diners on a sofa, and as +scarcely less ridiculous to have fewer than three, had made the custom +vexatious in the extreme, as it constrained all entertainers to arrange +for nine guests or eighteen or twenty-seven and ruled out any other more +convenient intermediate numbers. In the progressive circles of society +and at the Palace, the tables were circular, each supported from the +center by one standard with three feet, and each table was clasped, as +it were, by a single ample C-shaped sofa on which any number of guests +from four to twelve could conveniently recline. + +At the Palace banquet in honor of Brinnaria, three tables only were set +on the Imperial dais at the head of the dining hall. On one side of the +Emperor's table was that where feasted the higher Flamens and Pontiffs, +the sofa of the other was occupied by the young Empress, by the wives of +the higher Flamens, and by the four Vestals present. + +Brinnaria declared that her appetite was as good as on the day when she +had returned home from her exile to Aunt Septima's villa. + +After two public advertisements of the Emperor's favor and esteem she +was entirely free from any sort of worry. Her enemies were few, merely +Calvaster and his parasites, and they were thoroughly cowed and curbed +their tongues. Not only no defamation of her but not even an innuendo +gained currency in the gossip of the city during the remainder of her +term of service. + +Quite the other way. Her fame as a Vestal whose prayers were sure to be +heard, at first a source of natural pride and gratification to her, came +to be a burden, even a positive misery. There was an immemorial belief +that if a Vestal could be induced to pray for the recapture of an +escaped slave, such a runaway, if within the boundaries of Rome, would +be overcome by a sort of inward numbness which would make it impossible +for him to cross the city limits, so that the retaking of such fugitives +became easy, as it was only necessary to search the wards for them. +City owners of escaped slaves besieged Brinnaria for years and as it +was reported that her intercessions were invariably effective, her fame +increased and petitions for her assistance pestered her. + +She bore the annoyance resignedly, reflecting that, while she was in +such repute, no one was likely to impugn her honor. + +Life in the Atrium, for the ensuing six years, altered little. +Causidiena, within three years after Brinnaria's ordeal, became totally +blind. Care of her devolved particularly upon Terentia, of whom she was +dotingly fond. + +The routine duties of the maintenance of the sacred fire those two +shared, for Causidiena, even stone blind, never required anyone's +assistance to tell her the condition of the altar-fire and could care +for it and feed it even alone, judging its needs by the sensations of +her outstretched hands, never burning herself, never letting brands or +ashes fall on the Temple floor. But in all other matters Causidiena and +Terentia were concerned only when their participation was demanded +by canonical regulations, Terentia devoting herself to attendance on +Causidiena, while Causidiena officiated only when the presence of the +Chief Vesta was indispensable. + +For Numisia, Gargilia, Manlia and Brinnaria, their main concern was to +arrange that Causidiena should have as little as possible to do and that +Terentia might devote as much as possible of her time to entertaining +Causidiena. This was not easy to accomplish, for Causidiena's mind was +perfectly clear, her knowledge of every inch of the Atrium enabled her +to move about it unhesitatingly at all hours of the day and night, her +sense of duty urged her to do all that she had ever done when her sight +was perfect, and, like most blind persons, she resented any reference, +expressed or implied, to her infirmity. Consideration for her called for +almost superhuman tact and dexterity. To the best of their ability +the four strove to shield her without her being able to perceive their +sedulity. To the charm of Terentia's music she, moreover, yielded +readily. Music, as never before, occupied the leisure of the Atrium. + +During these years Brinnaria was almost entirely happy. Her duties, her +solicitude for Causidiena, her affection for Terentia, her delight in +her own and Terentia's music filled up most of her time. + +Her horse-breeding continued to interest her, but her interest was +milder and far from absorbing. She kept it up largely because she +regarded her outings as imperatively necessary to maintain her health, +while aimless outings bored her. + +As when younger, she dined out very often and regularly with Vocco and +Flexinna. But since Calvaster's accusation, she never visited Flexinna +alone, always in company with another Vestal, usually Terentia, so that +her dinners at Flexinna's became restricted to evenings on which she +and Terentia were both off duty. Terentia, who was passionately fond of +small children, revelled in her visits to Flexinna's house, where there +were children of all ages in abundance, all ready to make friends, all +diverting, all pleased at being petted, and, as Flexinna said: + +"Not a stutterer among 'em." + +From Almo news came frequently through Flexinna. + +His campaign, deliberately prepared and relentlessly carried out, +progressed evenly and without any reverse. + +The nomads nowhere withstood his legions and their attendant cloud of +allied cavalry; one after the other their strongholds were reached and +stormed, methodically and unhurriedly he reduced tribe after tribe to +submission, his prestige growing from season to season and from year to +year. + +When Brinnaria's term of service was drawing to an end and only about +eleven months of it remained, all Roman society was convulsed by what +was variously referred to as the Calvaster scandal, the great poisoning +trial or the murder of Pulfennia. + +Pulfennia Ulubrana, one of Calvaster's great-aunts, was a dwarfish +creature, humpbacked and clubfooted. + +She was an only child and her parents, in spite of her deformities, +were devoted to her. They lavished on her everything that fondness could +suggest, and, as they were very wealthy, she not only lived but enjoyed +life in her way and to a very considerable extent. + +To begin with she never had an ill hour or an ache or a pain from her +earliest years. Then, like many cripples, she had great vitality and +a wonderfully alert mind. Amid the small army of maids, governesses, +tutors, pages, litter-bearers, and so on, with which her parents +surrounded her she did not become merely peevish, exacting and +overbearing, as might have been expected. Even the services of her +personal physician, of three expert readers to read aloud to her and of +a half dozen musicians to divert her whenever she pleased, did not spoil +her. She was imperious enough, self-willed and obstinately resolute +to have her own way in all matters, but she had a great deal of +common-sense, realized what was possible and what impossible and was +considerate of her entire retinue, even of such unimportant slave-girls +as her three masseuses. + +She was greedy of all sorts of knowledge and acquired an education +altogether unusual for a Roman woman. + +Withal she was feminine in her tastes, spent much time on embroidery +and was justly proud of her complex and beautiful productions in this +womanly art. She overcame her disabilities to a great extent and, with +no lack of conveyances, became a figure almost as well-known in oman +society as Nemestronia herself. + +As she had an accommodating disposition, an excellent appetite and a +witty tongue, she was a welcome guest at banquets and went about a great +deal. Also she entertained lavishly. + +She survived the pestilence and, like so many of the remnants of the +nobility, found herself solitary and enormously wealthy. + +Her vast estates she managed herself and she knew to a sesterce +the value of every piece of property, the justifiable expenses of +maintaining each, and the income each should yield. Self-indulgent as +she was and moreover an inveterate gambler, she grew richer every year. + +Like all childless Romans of independent means she was the object of +unblushing and overwhelming attentions from countless legacy cadgers. +She enjoyed the game, accepted everything offered in the way of gifts, +services or invitations, and, moreover, played up to it, for she was +forever destroying her last will and making a new one. Each was read +aloud to a concourse of expectant and envious legatees. Each specified +scores of legacies of no despicable amount, and yet more numerous sops +to numerous acquaintances. In every will Calvaster, her nearest relative +and favorite grandnephew, was named as chief legatee. + +She kept on making wills, and, what was more, she kept on living. +Naturally her wealth, her eccentricities, her amazing healthiness +and her obstinate vitality were subjects of general remark by all the +gossips of the capital. + +One night, an hour or two after midnight, she was seized with violent +internal pains, and, in spite of the ministrations of her private +physician, died before dawn. + +In Rome any sudden death was likely to be attributed to poison. In her +case the indications, from the Roman point of view, all converged on the +inference that she had been poisoned. No-one questioned the conclusion. + +Calvaster was immediately suspected. The evidence against him would not +suffice to put in jeopardy any one in our days. To the Romans it seemed +sufficient to justify his incarceration and trial. He had more to gain +by the old lady's death than anybody else. He had been chronically in +need of money and there had been much friction between him and Pulfennia +on this point. She had always provided for his necessities, but had +always insisted on scrutinizing every item in his accounts, and on being +convinced of his need for every sesterce she gave him. She had supported +him, but by an irritating dole of small sums. He had joked with his +cronies about her hold on life. He had been heard to say that he would +be glad when she was gone. He had bought various drugs from various +apothecaries, though none within a year of her death and none used +merely as a poison. Under torture some of her slaves and some of his +slaves told of his having tried to induce them to put poison in her +food. + +Roman society promptly divided into two camps on the question of his +guilt or innocence. The subject was debated with vehemence, even with +acrimony. He had been a disagreeable creature from childhood and had +made many enemies. On the other hand, great numbers of fair-minded +people asserted that no man, however distasteful to themselves, should +be convicted on such flimsy evidence. + +His trial was watched with great interest, and when he was convicted and +an appeal was successful and a retrial ordered, upper class Rome seethed +with altercations. The case, by common consent, was tabooed as a subject +of conversation at all social gatherings; feeling ran so high that it +was possible to mention the matter only between intimate friends. + +Naturally Flexinna and Brinnaria, Terentia and Vocco discussed the case +frequently. To her friends' amazement Brinnaria maintained that she did +not feel convinced of Calvaster's guilt. + +"I always despised him and hated him," she said, "and I despise and hate +him as much as ever, if not more. He certainly has been my worst enemy +and he came very near to ruining me. But I see no reason why hate should +blind me in judging his case. I should be glad to have him plainly +convicted and put to death. It would please me. But I am not pleased at +his present plight. I am not convinced of his guilt. I don't believe any +slave evidence given under torture. A tortured slave will say anything +he thinks likely to relax his sufferings or please his questioners. And +I see no proof of Calvaster's guilt in the other evidence. Everybody +buys such drugs as he bought. And suppose he did joke about Pulfennia's +tenacity to life, who wouldn't? I don't believe it is proved that she +died of poison anyway. People who have never been ill are reckless +eaters. Look at me, I am. She may have died of indigestion or +stomach-ache or what not. I'd do anything I could to save him, now." + +"D-D-Do you mean to say," spoke Flexinna, "that if you encountered him +being led out to execution, you'd reprieve him?" + +"A Vestal can't use her prerogative of reprieving criminals," said +Brinnaria, "unless she encounters by accident a criminal being led to +execution. She can't lay in wait for one. Any suspicion of collusion +vitiates her privilege. The encounter must be unforeseen." + +"Suppose," said Flexinna, "you did meet C-C-Calvaster on his way to +execution, wouldn't you g-g-gloat over him and watch him on his way and +not interfere?" + +"No, I should not, I should interfere," said Brinnaria, "and anyhow, +what is the use of supposing? Suppose the moon fell on your front teeth, +would you stop stuttering?" + +In June of 191 Almo returned from Syria, completely victorious and much +acclaimed. He brought with him his veteran legions and was received with +every mark of the Emperor's favor. After his official reception he at +once left Rome for Falerii, where he was to remain until the last day of +Brinnaria's service. + +Meanwhile his house on the Carinae was opened and put in order under +Flexinna's supervision. + +On August 14th, Lutorius, Causidiena, Numisia and Brinnaria had a long +conference as to the details of her wedding, which was to take place on +August 16th. + +The subject needed not a little discussion, as the circumstances were +unusual. Having no parents, nor indeed any near connections, it was +inevitable that the wedding should vary a great deal from what was +customary. + +It was decided that on leaving the Atrium after her exauguration, she +should spend one night as the guest of Nemestronia; that on the next day +she should go to Vocco's house and be married from there; but that in +the ceremonies, Lutorius, who had been her spiritual father for many +years, should take the part which her own father would have taken had +he been alive. It was also decided that the wedding feast should be +at Almo's house, after the wedding-procession, instead of at Vocco's +before, as it would have been if she had living parents and was being +married from her home. + +Lutorius, who had a warm personal affection for Brinnaria, had been +hovering about her, as it were, for some days, and on this last full +day of her service he kept, so to speak, fluttering in and out of the +Atrium, repeatedly returning to confer about some trifle or other which +he had forgotten. + +So it happened that he was approaching the portal as she came out for +her afternoon airing. + +"You have your light carriage, to-day, I see," he said. "Yesterday you +had out your state coach. Why the difference?" + +Brinnaria, settling herself among her cushions, leaned out towards him +as he stood beside the vehicle, holding on to the tires, his arms stiff, +a hand on each wheel. + +"This," she said, "is merely a constitutional. Yesterday I took my last +outing with all my special privileges as a Vestal, drove all over Rome +in my state coach, drove up to the Capitol, and, in a fashion, said +farewell to the advantages of my office." + +"How do you feel about it all?" he asked. + +Brinnaria pulled a wry face and laughed a forced laugh. + +"I am finding out," she said, "why so few Vestals ever leave the order. +When I realize that, after to-day, I shall have no lictor to clear +the streets for me, that I may go out in my litter daily, but even so +without a runner ahead, that I may never again drive through Rome, that +I have been driven up to the Capitol for the last time and may go there +hereafter only afoot or in my litter, I am almost ready to change my +mind, give up freedom and matrimony and Almo and all and cling to my +privileges. When it comes over me that, as I go out to-day, the lictors +of any magistrate will salute me, even the lictors of the Emperor, +whereas after to-morrow noon there will be no salutes for me, I +understand why most Vestals live out their lives in the order." + +"There is time still to change your mind and stay with us," he said, +smiling. + +Brinnaria laughed a perfectly natural laugh. + +"No danger," she said; "my heart is Almo's as always." + +"And now, if you have nothing urgent to discuss, I'm off!" + +"Where to?" asked Lutorius. + +"I don't care," said Brinnaria, "I don't even want to know. Give the +coachman any orders that come into your head, sketch a round-about drive +for me. I'm in the humor to have nothing on my mind." + +Lutorius, with a comprehending smile, whispered to the coachman, who +mounted his tiny seat. + +Almost at once Brinnaria was lost in thought and jolted through the +streets oblivious to her surroundings, not even seeing what was before +her eyes. + +From her muse she was roused by the halting of the carriage. + +Amazed, she looked up. + +Still more amazed, she recognized, standing near the head of the +off-horse, the state-executioner. + +This repulsive public character, tolerated but despised and loathed, was +the last living creature in or about Rome who would dare to approach a +Vestal. + +At sight of him she was inundated with a hot flood of wrath. She was +about to call to her lictor, to demand why the carriage had stopped and +rebuke him for being so negligent as to allow so unsavory a being to +come so near her. + +Then she saw between her and the executioner, just in front of that +official, a kneeling figure. + +She recognized Calvaster. + +Also she saw the guards and executioner's assistants grouped about the +two. + +It came over her that she had encountered, wholly by accident, this +gloomy convoy, and that before her, beseeching her for a reprieve, +begging for a mere day and night more of life, knelt her inveterate, +furtive enemy. + +She raised her hand and looked the executioner full in the eyes. + +"Send him back," she commanded. "He is reprieved until this hour +to-morrow." The guards dragged off Calvaster, babbling his pitiful +gratitude. + +"Drive home," said Brinnaria to her coachman. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII - SALVAGE + + +THE exauguration of a Vestal, by which canonical ritual she was formally +released from her obligations of chastity and service and became free to +go where she liked and to marry or to remain unmarried as she preferred, +was a brief and simple ceremony. But it required the presence of all the +Vestals, of the major Flamens, of many Pontiffs, of the entire College +of Augurs and of the Emperor himself as Pontifex Maximus. Commodus, who +was impatient of anything which curtailed the time he might lavish on +athletic amusements, arrived precisely at noon, at the very last minute. +The moment he had entered the Atrium he hurried the ceremony. It was +soon over and Brinnaria no longer a Vestal, but a free woman. + +It had been arranged that immediately after her exauguration her +successor should be taken as a Vestal there in the Atrium by Commodus +himself as Chief Pontiff. Little difficulty had been encountered as to +selecting a candidate, since a most suitable child had been offered by +her parents, people of xcellent family and of unblemished reputation. +Her name was Campia Severina, and she was a small girl, just seven years +old, plump, with a round full-moon of a face, a leaden-pasty complexion, +and a most un-Roman nose, flat, broad and snub. + +Commodus, prompted by Lutorius, droned through the required questions +and showed manifest relief when he pronounced the word "Beloved" and the +second ceremony was over. + +He was, however, not wholly a loutish and unmannerly Emperor, but could +be tactful and gracious when his interest was aroused. He took time to +speak to each of the Vestals; complimented Terentia on her music and +spoke of the Empress's admiration of her organ-playing, had a brief but +kindly commendation for Manlia and Gargilia; praised Numisia highly for +her efficient discharge of the duties devolving on her, and condoled +with Causidiena on her blindness and feebleness, wording what he said so +dexterously that she could not but feel cheered and comforted. + +Then, aside from the assemblage of Pontiffs, Augurs, Flamens and the +rest, he spoke privately with Brinnaria: + +"I'm sorry to lose you," he said; "I felt comfortable about the +Palladium as long as you were a Vestal. Numisia is a woman to be relied +on too, and Gargilia and Manlia are capable creatures, but not one +of the three is your equal in any respect and they are but three; the +others are a corpse, a doll and an infant. + +"Understand I'm not growling at your departure, I am trying to convey +to you how highly I esteem you. I'll advertise it to all the world by +having you and your husband, the moment you are married, put on the +official roster of my personal friends who have the right of access to +me at all times and can go in and out of the Palace at their pleasure. + +"As to your wedding, I'm sorry I gave you my promise to stay away from +it. I think that this recent notion of yours that the marriage of an +ex-Vestal is an ill-omened occasion, like a funeral, is morbid and +baseless. Every Vestal has a right to leave the order at the end of her +term of service and to marry if she pleases. The right is indubitable. +Nothing that is right is ill-omened. I think that an ex-Vestal's wedding +ought to be regarded precisely as the wedding of anybody else. The most +I'll concede is, that it might be likened to the wedding of a widow, +considering her service as a sort of first marriage. That is my +judgment, not merely as a man but as Chief Pontiff. + +"My impulse is to revoke my pledge and to do all I can to make your +wedding a grand affair. But I'm too good a betting man to break a +promise. Besides, though I impugn your arguments as an ex-Vestal, I +respect your personal preference for a quiet wedding. I'll not insist +on being invited to the banquet, and, so far from taking part in the +procession, I'll not even peep at it down a side street. I'll keep +inside the Palace. + +"But I want you to release me from my promise in one small detail. +I want to be present at Vocco's to see you two break and eat the +old-fashioned cake, and I want to be first to sign your marriage +register. I promise to leave as soon as I have signed the register." + +Brinnaria, of course, could not but acquiesce. + +"Good for you!" said the Emperor, "and thank you too. I'll keep away +from the procession, but that won't make any difference in the throngs +you'll find along your route. They'll jam the streets and you'll have to +plough your way through. No Emperor could ever call out more sight-seers +than will the wedding of Brinnaria the water-carrier." He then went out +into the street which his escort blocked, and departed, accompanied +by his coterie of boxers, wrestlers, swordsmen, jockeys and such-like, +convoyed by a large and gorgeous retinue of pages, runners, guards nd +lictors. + +Immediately after his departure Brinnaria said her farewells and set out +for Nemestronia's. + +Next morning, as she descended from her litter at Vocco's door, a +Vestal's carriage drove up and Gargilia got out. + +"You're surprised to see me at this hour," she said, "and I don't +wonder." When they were indoors and seated with Flexinna she explained: + +"We have been having a terrible night at the Atrium and the worst sort +of luck this morning. That little fool of a Campia is the most complete +cry-baby and the most homesick little wretch I ever saw or heard of. +She has sobbed herself ill and screamed us all out of a night's sleep. +Terentia and Manlia were up half the night with her and she waked me and +Causidiena. + +"The result is that Causidiena has had one of her semi-fainting +spells and is in her arm-chair for the day, poor Manlia has one of +her splitting headaches and Terentia is almost as bad. I never saw the +Atrium in such a state. Campia goes to sleep off and on from exhaustion, +but she wakes up howling and keeps blubbering and whining and sniveling. +I left both Terentia and Manlia in tears. They are so vexed to think +that to-morrow they will be entirely well, but for to-day there is +absolutely nothing for it but they must both keep abed and in the dark. + +"Numisia sent me to tell you that she will be at your wedding, will walk +in the procession and will be at the banquet, but that I must be on duty +in the Temple. So we'll just have to have our chat now and when I leave +we shall not see each other again for the present." + +As she climbed into her carriage she said: + +"I'm sorry you haven't a bright wedding day." + +"So am I," said Brinnaria, glancing up at the gray canopy of rainless +cloud which hid the sky; "any day is a good day to be married on, but I +hoped for sunshine." + +Commodus, faithful to the spirit of his promise, came to Vocco's house +with the smallest possible official retinue. He was in the best humor, +affable and genial, and cast no chill of formality over the ceremony. He +was the first to set his signature to the marriage register, signing in +his sprawling school-boy hand. Then he stood aside and looked on while +Flexinna, as matron of honor, led Brinnaria to Almo and joined +their right hands, while they seated themselves side by side on the +traditional cushioned stools, while the Flamen of Jupiter offered on the +house-altar the old-fashioned contract-cake, and said the formal prayers +for the happiness of the bride and groom; while the Flamen's assistant, +one of Flexinna's older boys, carried the cake to Almo and Brinnaria and +each broke off a piece and ate it, she uttering the old-time formula: + +"Where you are Caius I am Caia." + +Above the voices of the guests Commodus' could be distinguished shouting +with them: + +"Good luck! Good luck!" + +In the silence that followed he warned: + +"Now, no rising, no bowing. I'm not here to spoil this wedding, I came +to enjoy it. No bowing, I tell you, no rising. Let me get out like an +ordinary man." + +Into the gathering dusk he vanished with his retinue. + +As soon as he was gone the arrangement for the procession began, the +slaves lit their torches and grouped themselves outside the house-door, +the flute players struck up a tune, Flexinna's thirteen-year-old boy +lit his white-thorn torch at the altar-fire, her eleven-year-old and +nine-year-old, as pages of honor, caught Brinnaria by the hands and led +her out at the door. So led by the two little boys, their brother with +the white-thorn torch walking before her, she passed through the streets +to Almo's house, Nemestronia and Flexinna on either side of Almo, close +behind her, Vocco and the other guests following. + +The people made good the Emperor's prophecy. + +From house-door to house-door the streets were packed with crowds eager +to see her pass and loud to acclaim her. Through cheers, good wishes, +loud jokes, merry longs and cries of "Talassio! Talassio!" she passed +along the upper part of the Fagutal, and past the flank of the Baths of +Titus to the Carinae. + +Her bridal dress of pearl-gray, with the flame-colored bridal veil, +reminded her more than a little of that costume of Flexinna's which +she had worn to Aricia and back, only that was mostly pink, this mostly +gray. + +She looked well in it and wore the six braids and the headband more +naturally than most brides, having been habituated to them for thirty +years, since all Vestals always wore the bridal coiffure. + +At the doorway of Almo's house, the bearer of the white-thorn torch +halted and faced about inside the door, his two little brothers let go +her hands, Almo himself caught her up clear of the pavement and swung +her clear of the door-sill. As he held her in the air, nestling to him, +she repeated the formula: + +"Where you are Caius, I am Caia." + +When he set her down inside the house she was at last a married woman. + +She turned and watched the scramble for the white-thorn torch which its +bearer first put out and then threw among the crowd after the slaves had +also put out their torches. + +So watching, Almo's arm about her, she became aware of a strange +something in the look of the crowd and of the street. + +"What makes it so light?" she asked Almo. "Why are the tops of their +heads all bright that way?" + +Lutorius, who was near them, explained: + +"There is a big fire somewhere the other side of the Capitol. I noticed +it at the top of the street. The Capitol stood out black, the outline of +both temples plain as in the daylight, against the red smoke behind it." + +"Send some of the slaves," said Brinnaria, "to find out where the fire +is, and let us lie down to dinner. I'm as hungry as a wolf." And like a +true Roman she began with a trifle of three hard-boiled eggs, merely to +take the edge off her appetite. + +There were six tables set in Almo's dining-room and an ample +crescent-shaped sofa to each. The sixty guests made the big room buzz +with talk and echo with laughter. + +Nemestronia called across to Brinnaria: + +"Now you have what you've always wanted. You're a married woman at +last." + +"And I'll soon have what I've wanted almost as much," Brinnaria replied. + +"What's that?" several voices called. + +"Two desires," Brinnaria explained, "haunted me all the while I was a +Vestal. One was the longing for a horseback ride. I used to revel in +galloping bareback. I haven't been astraddle of a horse for thirty +years. It won't be many days now before I shall enjoy a good canter on a +good horse. + +"Then, by to-morrow night, I trust, I shall have had a fine long swim +with my husband and six hundred other couples in the big basin of one of +the City Baths. + +"Words could not tell you how I have longed to go swimming in the public +baths with the rest of my kind, as a lady should." + +The messengers returned with the news that the fire had started near +the round end of the Flaminian Circus, close to the Temple of Bellona. +Before a strong wind it had spread both ways, had caught everything +in the north slope of the Capitol between it and Trajan's Forum: the +silver-smiths' shops were all ablaze; to the south it had crept between +the slope of the Capitol and the theatre of Marcellus and was sweeping +over the booths of the Vegetable Market. + +"It is the biggest fire in our time," said Lutorius. + +"Where will it stop?" queried Numisia. + +Both sent their lictors to make further report. + +Before the dinner was half over they returned, with messengers from the +Atrium. The conflagration was roaring up the Vicus Jugarius and Gargilia +was alarmed. + +Lutorius and Numisia hastily excused themselves, called for their shoes +and went off; he in his litter and she in her carriage. + +As Brinnaria was about to cut the wedding cake her former lictor, Barbo, +thrust himself into the dining-hall, frantic with concern, and narrated +how the fire was beyond any hope of control and was already devouring +the Basilica Argentaria and Basilica Julia. + +"Lutorius has had the sacred fire carried out of the Temple in a copper +pan by Gargilia and Manlia," he said, "and Terentia and Numisia, with +little Campia, were helping Causidiena along the Holy Street. Causidiena +had an earthenware casket in her arms. I saw them turn the corner to +their right into Pearl-Dealers Lane. They are safe in the Palace by +now." + +"Safe in the Palace?" Brinnaria echoed. + +"Yes," Barbo repeated. "Safe in the Palace. They say that the Temple and +the Atrium must burn, nothing can save them." + +"The Temple!" cried Brinnana. "Fire! And everybody ill except Gargilia +and Numisia! And all they could think of would be saving that dear old +blind saint and that contemptible cry-baby. Ten to one they have missed +the Palladium and taken one of the dummies by mistake! + +"O, Almo, I must go save the Palladium!" + +Of course Almo protested. + +"Don't hinder me," she begged. "Go I must, whether you object or not. +We'd never forgive ourselves if to-morrow we learned too late that the +Vestals missed the true Palladium in the confusion, whereas I might have +saved it if I had tried. They may have taken the real Palladium; I may +be too late now to save it if they made a mistake, but I am bound to +try." + +He shut his lips, but she read his eyes. + +"That is like my hero," she said. "Patriotism first, self last. + +"Barbo," she called, "run before me and clear the way as if I were still +a Vestal. It's illegal, but it will work." + +She started for the house-door and then paused. + +"Have you any fire buckets?" she asked Almo. "Then have two of the +slaves each fill a bucket and keep close behind us." + +Amid the prayers and blessings of the wedding-guests, they went out hand +in hand, the two slaves with leather water-buckets behind them, Barbo +ahead, bellowing: + +"Room for Brinnaria Epulonia! Room for Brinnaria Epulonia!" At the +street corner, before they started down the slope of the Carinae, they +had before them a wide view over the city directly towards the Capitol. +Between them and the Capitol Hill they could see the buildings about the +Great Forum all one sea of flames. + +"The Basilica AEmilia is on fire," said Brinnaria, "and the Temple of +Augustus is just catching. We shall be in time; our Temple won't catch +before we get there. + +"Run, let's run." + +Run they did, the crowds making way at Barbo's loud adjurations. In +their wedding finery, she with her veil wrapped round her head like a +market-woman's shawl, they ran, hand in hand between the great Temple of +Venus and Rome, black on their right hand against the reddened clouds, +and the vast Colosseum on their left, all orange in the glare, the +gilding on its awning poles glimmering. + +Up the Sacred Street they passed, running when they could, ploughing +through the crowds when the crowd was too thick. + +By the time they passed through the Arch of Titus they were running, +panting and gasping, through a hail of warm ashes, hot cinders, glowing +embers, blazing bits of wood, flaming brands. + +At the corner of the Pearl-Dealers Exchange Almo halted, detaining her +by her gripped left hand. + +"It is no use," he said; "we are too late. You might pass the portal +of the Atrium alive, but you'd never get back alive. And I doubt if you +could reach the portal through this heat. You'd scorch to death." + +"I shall reach the portal," Brinnaria declared, firmly. "But I'm not +coming back through it. Listen to me and don't forget. I'm going to make +a dash for the portal. I can reach it, our Temple has not caught yet, +the bronze-tile roof will hold the fire off the beams some time. This +end of the Temple of Augustus has not blazed yet; I can see the cornice. + +"Once inside the Atrium I'll not try to come back this way, I'll find +the Palladium or make sure it is not there; then I'll run upstairs to +the south-east corner. Those rooms are on a level with the pavement of +the New Street." + +"But," Almo interrupted, "there isn't an opening towards the New Street. +The outer wall of the Atrium towards the Palace is all blank wall to the +cornice, not even a ventilation hole anywhere." + +"I know," she rebuked him; "keep still and listen. I'll run into the +third room from the corner. All that end of the Atrium is of brick and +cement, not a beam anywhere and the ceilings are vaulted; the fire will +be a long time reaching me there. You go up Pearl Dealers' Lane to the +corner of the New Street. From the corner measure thirty-eight feet +along the New Street. At that point have a hole smashed through the +wall. There are hordes of firemen about with their axes, sledge-hammers +and pick-axes. They'll hack a hole through for you in no time. The wall +is thin there; we had a temporary door made there three years ago for +the plumbers when they were putting in the new bath-rooms. + +"Now, every moment is precious. Hold my hand and help me to make my dash +for the portal, but drop my hand and turn back at the portal; no man +may enter the Atrium, except a Pontiff or a workman. When I squeeze your +fingers, drop my hand and make your dash back. + +"Don't try to check me, husband; self last and patriotism first, for +every Roman of us all. We have waited thirty years for each other and +we've hardly had time for three kisses yet. But if we must lose each +other to save Rome, then we must. + +"If I fail, good-bye!" Then she turned and called the trembling slaves +to come nearer. + +She ordered: + +"Dash that water over us, one over him, one over me. Don't waste any, +pour it on our heads. Now go where you please!" + +Dripping, hand in hand, they ran over the cinder-strewn pavement, +under the rain of blazing fragments, up the Sacred Street, between the +furnace-hot walls. + +Under the long arcade they were safe. + +At its further end she had to face a dash of some ten yards through the +blazing brands, the very air seeming on fire. + +"I'm afraid!" she cried. "Be brave, Almo, and give me courage!" Her +fingers pressed his, their hands parted. + +Her hands over her face she dashed forward. + +He saw her vanish through the portal. + +He ran back. + +Inside the Atrium Brinnaria turned to her right, passed through a small +door, traversed four dark rooms and groped, kneeling on the floor. + +Her fingers found five earthenware caskets in a row. + +Swiftly she felt them. + +The third she opened. + +Carefully she fingered the statuette inside, running the tips of her +finger-ends along the carved folds of the gown, over the helmet, over +the fingers clasping the spear. + +With the statuette in her hands she stood up. Tearing off her veil she +wrapped the statuette in it. + +Back she went to the peristyle, and ran round it to her right. Under the +roof of the colonnade she was safe from the rain of brands, but even +in there the heat was appalling. She felt as if the very marble columns +must crumble beside her as she ran. + +At the far corner of the courtyard she dashed through a door and ran +up two flights of stairs; a short flight in front of her, and a longer +flight to her left from the landing of the first. At the top of the +stairs she passed through four rooms. In the fifth, lighted from +behind her through a door by an orange glow from the glare of the +conflagration, she sank down on the floor against its farther wall. + +Almost at once she was on her feet, recoiling from the wall. It quivered +with the shock of blows from the outside. + +A shower of plaster and bits of brick stung her face and spattered all +over her. + +She saw the point of a pick-axe shine an instant in the fire-glare. + +"I'm here," she called. "I'm safe. Take your time. It's not hot in here +yet." The excited blows thudded on the wall. The sledges broke a hole as +big as her head, four times as big as her head. + +"Take your time!" she repeated. "There is no hurry now." Soon she could +see the torches outside, the faces of the firemen, Almo's face. + +"No!" she said, "I won't be dragged through a crevice. There is plenty +of time. Dig that hole bigger!" When it was large enough to suit her she +bade her rescuers back away. + +"No man must touch what I carry," she warned. + +Outside, in Almo's arms, she was hurried through winding alleys, up +narrow stone stairways, to the Palace. + +At the end of a deep, dark passageway between high walls Lutorius, with +some of the Emperor's aides, was waiting for them at a small door. He +guided them to where they were eagerly expected. As they threaded the +corridors, they heard, at first far off, then closer and closer, the +sound of a child wailing, bawling, blubbering. Even in the Palace, +Campia was an irrepressible cry-baby. + +In the chapel of the Statue of Victory they found the Vestals, the +Empress and the Emperor. + +"I've got it safe," Brinnaria proclaimed. + +"I'm a frightful-looking bride," she added, "wet as a drowned pup, +scorched all over, all my hair burnt off; I must look a guy." + +"Never mind that," said Commodus; "you can't get home to-night, the +conflagration is still spreading. I doubt if the firemen can save the +Colosseum. It would take you till daylight to work your way round the +districts which are in confusion. You'll sleep here. I've had Trajan's +own private suite made ready for you two, as soon as the first messenger +told me of your gallantry. You'll find an army of maids and such waiting +for you. Go make yourselves comfortable. + +"The bedroom of Rome's greatest Emperor is none too good for you. +Nothing is too good for you, Brinnaria. + +"You've saved the Palladium, and me, and the Empire and the Republic and +Rome." + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Unwilling Vestal, by Edward Lucas White + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE UNWILLING VESTAL *** + +***** This file should be named 6070.txt or 6070.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/0/7/6070/ + +Produced by An Anonymous Volunteer + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: The Unwilling Vestal + +Author: Edward Lucas White + +Release Date: July, 2004 [EBook #6070] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on November 1, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE UNWILLING VESTAL *** + + + + +Project Gutenberg Etext The Unwilling Vestal +by Edward Lucas White + +Project Gutenberg editor's note: + +First published in 1918, this book went through sixteen printings +before it ceased to be a money-maker for its publishers. It provides +a fascinating glimpse into a world most of us know nothing about. + +It has been slightly re-edited for ease in reading as an e-text. +The author's spellings have been left alone even when they are +incorrect in English English, American English, and Latin. + +End PG editor's note. + +THE UNWILLING VESTAL + + + + +The Unwilling Vestal +A Tale of Rome under the Caesars + + +JACKET BLURB: + + + +EDWARD LUCAS WHITE +Author of "El Supremo" + +This book presents, for the first time in fiction, a correct and +adequate account of the Vestal Virgins, their powers and +privileges, as well as of many strange Roman customs and +beliefs. + +The author combines the power of writing a rattling good story +with a sound and full knowledge of conditions of the life which he +is depicting. Mr. White brings to the history of Rome all the +picturesqueness and power which made his South American novel, +"El Supremo," so remarkable. The result is a vivid pageant of +imperial Rome and Roman life at the height of its power and splendor. + +End of Jacket Blurb + + +PUBLISHERS' NOTE + + + +Readers of <The Unwilling Vestal> who are not acquainted at first +hand with the lighter and more intimate literature of the Romans +may be surprised to discover that the lights of Roman high society +talked slang and were interested in horseracing. Most writers +who have tried to draw Roman society for us have been either +ignorant or afraid of these facts. The author of <The Unwilling +Vestal> is neither. He presents to us the upper class Romans +exactly as they reveal themselves in the literature of their day; +excitable, slangy, sophisticated and yet strangely credulous, +enthusiastic sportsmen, hearty eaters and drinkers, and +unblushingly keen on the trail of the almighty denarius. In a word, +very much like the most up-to-date American society of to-day. + +The Publishers feel that it is only fair that it should be made +plain that the great difference between the Roman society folk +of <The Unwilling Vestal> and those appearing in other novels +is due to the author's thorough acquaintance with the people +and the period about which he is writing. + +Incidentally, the Publishers wish to thank Mr. C. Powell +Minnegerode, the Curator of the Corcoran Gallery of Art of +Washington, D. C., for his permission to reproduce Leroux' +beautiful painting "The Vestal Tuccia" for use on the wrapper of +the volume. + +[wrapper not available - PG ed.] + +End of Publisher's Note + + +PREFACE by author + + + +The title of this romance is likely to prejudice any reader +against it. There exists a popular delusion that fiction with +a classical setting is bound to be dull and lumbering, that it +is impossible for it to possess that quality of bravura slangily +denominated "punch." Anybody will be disabused of that notion +upon reading this story. + +<<PG EDITOR'S NOTE: The slang is now, alas, over ninety +years old. It now sounds even more stilted than the classical +language does.>> + +On the other hand, after having read it, almost any one will be +likely to imagine that a novel with so startling a heroine and with +incidents so bizarre cannot possibly be based on any sound and +genuine knowledge of its background; that the author has conjured +out of his fantasy not only his plot and chief characters, but also +their world; that he has created out and out not merely his Vestal, +but his Vestals, their circumstances and the life which they are +represented as leading: that he has manufactured his local color +to suit as he went along. + +Nothing could be further from the actuality. The details of rule +and ritual, of dress and duties, of privileges and punishments are +set forth in accordance with a full first-hand and intimate +acquaintance with all available evidence touching the Vestals; +including all known inscriptions relating to them, every passage in +Roman or Greek literature in any way concerning them, the +inferences drawn from all existing or recorded sculptures and coins +which add to our knowledge of them, and every treatise written since +the revival of learning in Europe in which the Vestals are +discussed. The story contains no preposterous anachronisms or +fatuous absurdities. Throughout, it either embodies the known +facts or is invented in conformity with the known facts. + +Any one to whom chapter twenty-one seems incredible should consult +an adequate encyclopedia article or an authoritative treatise on +physics and read up on the surface tension of liquids. + + +End of Preface by Author + + +Contents + + + +Book I + +The Rage of Disappointment + +I. Precocity +II. Sieves +III. Stutterings +IV. Pestilence +V. Escapades +VI. Notoriety +VII. Audience + +Book II + +The Revolt of Despondency + +VIII. Scourging +IX. Alarms +X. Conference +XI. Farewell +XII. Observances +XIII. Perversity +XIV. Amazement + +Book III + +The Rebellion of Desperation + +XV. Rehabilitation +XVI. Vagary +XVII. Recklessness +XVIII. Fury +XIX. Comfort + +Book IV + +The Revulsion of Delight + +XX. Accusation +XXI. Ordeal +XXII Triumph +XXII. Salvage + + + + + +Book I + + + + + + +The Rage of Disappointment + + + + +Chapter I - Precocity + + + +"Brinnaria!" he said severely, "you will marry any man +I designate." + +"I never shall marry any man," she retorted positively, "except +the man I want to marry." + +She gazed unflinchingly into her father's imperious eyes, wide-set +on either side of a formidable Roman nose. His return gaze was +less incensed than puzzled. All his life he had been habituated +to subserviency, had never met opposition, and to find it from his +youngest daughter, and she a mere child, amazed him. As she +faced him she appeared both resolute and tremulous. He looked +her up and down from the bright blue velvety leather of her little +shoes on which the gilt sole-edges and gilt laces glittered to the +red flower in her brown hair. Inside her clinging red robe the +soft outlines of her young shape swelled plump and healthy, yet +altogether she seemed to him but a fragile creature. Resistance +from her was incredible. + +Perhaps this was one more of her countless whims. While he +considered her meditatively he did not move his mighty arms or +legs; the broad crimson stripe down his tunic rose and fell slowly +above his ample paunch and vaster chest as his breath came evenly; +on his short bull neck his great bullet head was as moveless as if +he had been one of the painted statues that lined the walls all +about. As the two regarded each other they could hear the faint +splash of the fountain in the tank midway of the courtyard. + +Her father, a true Roman to his marrow, with all a Roman's +arbitrary instincts, reverted to the direct attack. + +"You will marry Pulfennius Calvaster," he commanded. + +"I will not!" she declared. + +He temporized. + +"Why not?" he queried. + +The obstinacy faded from Brinnaria's handsome, regular face. +She looked merely reflective + +"In the first place," she said, "because I despise him and hate +him worse than any young man I ever knew; I would not marry +Calvaster if he were the only man left alive. In the second place, +because, if all the men on earth were courting me at once, all +rich and all fascinating and Caius were poor and anything and +everything else that he isn't, I'd marry nobody ever except Caius. +You hear me, Father. Caius Segontius Almo is the only, only man +I'll ever marry. Nothing can shake my resolution, never." + +She was breathing eagerly, her cheeks flushed a warm red through her +olive complexion, her eyes shining till tiny specks sparkled green and +yellow in the wide brown of her big irises. + +Her father's jaw set. + +"I've listened to you, daughter," he said. "Now you listen to +me. I have no objections to Almo; I rather like him. I have thought +of marrying you to him; if Segontius and I had not quarreled, we +might have arranged it. There is no possibility of it now. And +just now, for some reason or other, Pulfennius is keen on arranging +a marriage between you and Calvaster. His offers are too tempting +to be rejected and the chance is to good to be missed. Our properties +adjoin not only here and at Baiae, but also at Praeneste, at +Grumentum and at Ceneta. With our estates so marvellously +paired the marriage seems divinely ordained when one comes to think +it over. Don't be a fool. Anyhow, if you insist on making trouble +for yourself, it will do you no good. My mind is made up. You are +to marry Calvaster." + +"I won't!" Brinnaria maintained + +Her father smiled, a menacing smile + +"Perhaps not," he said, "but there will be only one alternative. +Unless you agree to obey me I shall go at once to the Pontifex +and offer you for a Vestal." + +Every trace of apprehension vanished from Brinnaria's expression. +She grinned saucily, almost impudently, at her father, and snapped +her fingers in his face. + +"You can't scare me that way, Daddy!" she mocked him. "I know +better than that. There can be only six Vestals. You can offer, if +you like, but the Emperors themselves can't take me for a Vestal +while the six are alive." + +The laugh muffled in her throat; she was fairly daunted. Never had +she seen her father's face so dark, so threatening. Not in all her +life had he so much as spoken harshly to her; she had been his pet +since she had begun to remember. But now, for one twinkling, +she feared a blow from him. She almost shrank back from him. + +He did not move and he spoke softly. + +"Rabulla died this morning before dawn," was all he said. + +Instantly Brinnaria. was fluttering with panic. + +"You aren't in earnest, Daddy!" she protested. "You can't be in +earnest. You're only fooling; you're only trying to frighten me. +You don't really mean it; oh, please, Daddy, say you don't really +mean it!" + +"I really mean it," her father answered heavily. "I never meant +anything more genuinely in my life. You know my influence with +the Emperors and with the Pontifex of Vesta. You know that if I +made the proposal they would disregard any rival petitioners, would +override all unnecessary formalities, would have the matter +despatched at once. Unless you obey me you will be a Vestal +before sunset to-morrow." + +Brinnaria was now fairly quivering with terror. + +"Oh, Daddy!" she quivered, "you couldn't be so cruel. I'd rather +die than have to be a Vestal. I couldn't imagine any life so +terrible. Oh, Daddy, please say you are not in earnest." + +He frowned. + +"I swear," he said, "that I was never more in earnest. I say it +solemnly, as sure as my name is Marcus Brinnarius Epulo, I'll +have you made a Vestal unless you agree this moment to give up +all thoughts of Almo, to obey me about marrying Calvaster, and +to be properly polite to him and Pulfennius." + +"Daddy!" Brinnaria cried. "Only don't have me made a Vestal and +I'll do anything. I'll forget there ever was an Almo. I'll be sweet +as honey to Pulfennius till he loves me better than Secunda, and +I'll marry Calvaster; I'll marry anybody. Why, Daddy, I'd marry +a boar pig rather than be a Vestal." + +Her father smiled. + +"I thought my little daughter would behave properly," he soothed +her, "and you are just in time. That may be your future husband +and father-in-law coming now." + +In fact they were in a moment ushered in. Pulfennius was a tall +man, lean and loose-jointed, with straggling, greenish-gray hair; +a long, uneven head, broad at the skull and narrow at the chin; +puffy, white bags of flabby flesh under his eyes; irregular yellow +teeth and sagging cheeks that made his face look squarish. Calvaster +was a mere boy, with a leaden complexion, shifty gray eyes, thin +lips, and an expression at once sly and conceited. + +"You come opportunely," said their host after the greetings had +been exchanged, "for you happen to find me alone with the very +daughter of whom you and I were talking. This is Brinnaria." + +"This!" Pulfennius exclaimed. "This the girl we were talking about? +Impossible! Incredible! There must be some mistake." + +"There is no mistake," his host assured him. "This is the girl we +were talking about, this is Brinnaria." + +The visitor regarded her, respectfully standing now, her brown +eyes down-cast, the flush faded from her olive-skinned cheeks, her +arms hanging limply at her sides. She was tall for a girl and while +slenderly built was well muscled, a fine handsome figure in her red +robe. + +"This!" he exclaimed again. "Indeed. So this is Brinnaria. I am +very glad to have seen her. And now having seen her, do you not +think that our business would be better transacted by us three males +together?" + +"Certainly, if you prefer," Brinnarius asserted. + +He patted Brinnaria and kissed her. + +"Run away now, little girl," he said, "and wait in the peristyle +until I want you." + +Brinnaria, once in the rear courtyard, instantly called: + +"Guntello!" + +Her call was answered by a great brute of a slave, bigger even +than her father, a gigantic Goth, pink-skinned, blue-eyed and +yellow-haired. + +"Now listen to me, Guntello," his little mistress said, "for if +you make any mistake about my errand you'll get me into no end of +trouble." + +The Goth, manifestly devoted to her, leaned his ear close and +grinned amiably. She repeated her directions twice and made him +repeat them after her in his broken Latin. When she was sure that +he understood, she despatched him with a whispered injunction: + +"Hurry! Hurry!" + +Meanwhile, in the gorgeous atrium, the fathers' conference had +continued. The moment she had gone Pulfennius said: + +"I do not believe in discussing misunderstandings before females; +evidently there is some misunderstanding here. I want for my son +a bride younger than he is, even if he has to wait two or even +four years to claim her. You assured me that your daughter +Brinnaria was not yet ten years of age and you show me a grown +woman and tell me that she is Brinnaria. What is the explanation?" + +"A very simple explanation," he was answered. "Merely that +Brinnaria is unusually well grown and well developed for her age. +I have seen other cases of early ripening in children and so must +you." + +"I've seen girls grown beyond their years," Pulfennius admitted, +"but no case comparable to this. Why, man, that girl who has just +left us would be taken for over eighteen years old by any stranger +at first sight of her, and no one on earth could look at her +carefully and hazard the conjecture that she might possibly be +under sixteen." + +"Quite so," his host agreed, "and the better you know Brinnaria +the more you wonder at her. She not only looks sixteen or eighteen +and acts as if she were that age, but she talks as if she were +that old and thinks as if she were even older, and she is actually +three full months, more than three months, to be precise three +months and twelve days, under ten years of age." + +"Amazing!" spluttered Pulfennius, "astounding! inexplicable!" + +"Don't you believe me?" Brinnarius queried sharply. + +"Certainly I believe you," his guest disclaimed, "but I cannot +realize that it can be true; I am bewildered; I am dazed." + +"Perhaps," the other suggested, "you would realize it better if +Quartilla added her assurances to mine." + +"Oh," the other deprecated, "I do not require anybody's +corroboration to your statement. But if her mother is at home, +perhaps her presence would be as well for other reasons." + +When summoned his host's wife appeared as a medium-sized woman, +neither plump nor slender, with a complexion neither brown nor +white, with yellow-brown hair, gray-brown eyes, and in every +outline, hue, and feature as neutral and inconspicuous a creature +as could be conceived of. + +"Yes," Quartilla said, "everybody is surprised at Brinnaria's +growth. I was scared, when she first began to grow so fast, and +had special prayers offered and sacrifices made at the temples +of Youth and Health. Also I had a Babylonian seer consult the +stars concerning her birth-signs. Everybody said she was born to +long life, good health and great luck. But I can't fancy what ever +made her grow so. She was fed like her brothers and sisters and +she never seems to eat any heartier or any oftener. Till she was +two and a half she was just like any other child. But she has +grown more in seven years than any other child I ever knew of +ever grew in fourteen and she's so old for her years too. Not but +that she plays with dolls and toys and jacks; and she runs about +just like any other child of her age, in spite of her size; but +she says such grown-up things and she has such a womanly mind. She +understands the family accounts better than I do, is keen on +economy and could oversee the providing for the entire household. +She astonishes me over and over. But there is no doubt about her +age. Both my sisters were with me when she was born and +Nemestronia too. Ask any of the three. Or I can tell you a dozen +other ladies who know just as well. Brinnaria will not be ten +years old until the Ides of September." + +"Wonderful! marvellous!" Pulfennius exclaimed. "Madam, you amaze +me. But if this is true so much the better. I had thought my boy +must wait two years or more for a wife, as I am determined that +no more of my sons shall marry wives of their own age, let alone +older. If your daughter is so young, she will just suit me, and +since she is already grown up we shall not have to wait for her +to grow up. We can arrange for the wedding for this month." + +They chaffered a long time about the marriage settlement,Calvaster +sitting silent, biting his lips, staring about him and fidgetting; +Quartilla equally silent, but entirely placid, without the twitch +of a muscle or any shift of gaze; the two men doing all the talking. +Some of the talking was almost vehement, Pulfennius disclaiming +promises which his host declared he had made. Once they came to +a deadlock and then Brinnarius, his voice suddenly mild and soft, +mentioned Rabulla's death and his notion of offering Brinnaria for +her successor. At once Pulfennius became manageable and supple +and all eagerness for the happiness of the young couple. + +When it seemed that they had reached an agreement on every point +Quartilla had her say. + +"I think you will find Brinnaria everything you could wish as a +daughter-in-law. The most uncanny thing about her precocious +habits of thought is her tenacity of any resolve and her grave and +earnest attitude towards all questions of duty and propriety. She takes +clan traditions very seriously and is determined to comport herself +according to ancestral precedents. You will have no fault to find +with her respectfulness towards you and Herrania or with her +behavior as a wife. She will be circumspect in her deportment +towards all men and is sure to turn out an excellent housewife. +She has lofty inherited standards to live up to and she is deeply +devoted to them. + +"This is the more to be wondered at since she is strangely +undignified in many ways. I trust this will wear off as she grows +up. It is only in this respect that Brinnaria has ever given me +any cause for concern. She is more like a boy than a girl in many +ways. She not only plays with boys and plays boys' games and +plays them as well as boys or better, not only climbs trees when +she is in the country, and rides bareback and goes fishing and +swimming in any stream or pool, and ranges the woods and cannot +be restrained; but also she will indulge in the wildest pranks, the +most unthinkable freaks, play rough practical jokes on anybody +and everybody, laugh out loud, shout and yell, gesticulate and +contort herself into undignified postures and act generally in an +uproarious and uncurbed fashion. She keeps up that sort of thing +even in town, and is boisterous and unexpected beyond anything I +ever heard of in any young girl She is most docile in all really +important things, but in respect to her jokings and shriekings +and carryings-on she is really beyond my control. She is never +openly disobedient, yet she is most ingenious at devising methods +for avoiding obedience. Sometimes I lose patience with Brinnaria. +But, when I really think it all over, there is no harm in any of it. +Strangers, however, would think her a very terrible girl; she +belies herself so. Any one becoming cognizant of some of her +vagaries would form a very unfavorable judgment of her and most +unjustly. In her heart she is anything but the wild creature she +makes herself appear. Her squawks of merriment, her rude +interruptions of her elders, her pert remarks, her sarcastic jokes, +are all the manifestations of mere overflowing animal spirits, of +warm-blooded youth and hearty health. She will tone down. She is +the most startling and incalculable child I ever heard of. No one +could anticipate her eccentricities. There is an originality of +invention about her pranks which amazes me. But I am sure she +will turn out all that I could wish." + +"I trust so, indeed," said Pulfennius dryly. "I am grateful to you +for warning me; I promise not to misjudge her because of any +childish freakishness. And now it seems to me that we should +make the young lady herself a party of this conference and bring +the matter to a final settlement." + +Brinnarius called a slave and bade him fetch Brinnaria. + +Almost at once the fellow, a dark-skinned, obsequious Lydian, +returned looking scared and yet on the verge of laughter. He +could barely control his merriment, yet was plainly afraid to utter +what he had to say. His master ordered him to speak. + +"Instead of coming with me," he said, "the young lady sent a +message. But I am afraid to give it to you. I am afraid of a +thrashing if I give the message as she gave it to me." + +"Another of her jokes," her father growled. "You shan't suffer +for any of her impudence. Repeat her exact words; I'll hold you +excused, Dastor." + +Dastor, reassured, grinned with anticipated enjoyment and said: + +"She says she is sitting down and very comfortable where she is, +that she will not stand up till she feels inclined, and that if you +want to see her you can come to her, for she will not come to you." + +For a moment there was a tense silence. + +Pulfennius spoke first. + +"If this is a sample of the sort of deportment which my future +daughter-in-law is expected to outgrow I might as well be shown +just what this kind of behavior is like. Let us acquiesce and go +to the little witch, if you do not object." + + +"I don't object at all to going," his host replied, "but I object to +her behavior; I'll make her smart for it. Come, let us have it +over with; I'll show you a submissive Brinnaria or I'll know the +reason why." + +They stood up and from the open atrium passed into a narrow +passage lighted only from the two ends and so into the larger +courtyard with gleaming marble columns at each end and long +rows of them down each side. The tank under the open sky was +much larger than that in the atrium and had two fountains in it. +Pigeons cooed on the tiles of the roofs, and two or three of them +strutted on the mosaic pavement among the columns. + +The party, dumbfounded and stunned, stood without voice or +movement, gazing at the picture before them. + +The pavement was a cool grayish white in effect, for its mosaic +work was all of pale neutral tints. Above it the background was +all white,--white marble walls, the white marble polished pillars +of the peristyle, white marble entablature above them, the general +whiteness emphasized by the mere streak of red tiled roof visible +against the intense blue of the sky. + +The only color in the picture was to the left of the tank and close +to it, where there had been set a big armchair upholstered in blue +tapestry. In it sat a tall, fair-haired, curly-headed lad, with +merry blue eyes. He wore a robe of pale green, the green of young +onion tops. Against that green the red of Brinnaria's gown showed +strident and glary, for Brinnaria was sitting on his lap. His arms +were round her waist, hers about his neck. She was slowly swinging +her blue-shod feet rhythmically and was kissing the lad audibly and +repeatedly. As her elders stood still, petrified, mute and +motionless with amazement, she imprinted a loud smack on the lad's +lips, laid her cheek roguishly to his and peered archly at them, +saying: + +"Glad to see you again, Pulfennius; what do you think of me for a +daughter-in-law?" + +"I do not think of you for a daughter-in-law," Pulfennius snarled +furiously. + +He turned angrily to Brinnarius. + +"What does this mean?" he queried. + +His host echoed him. + +"Brinnaria!" he called, imperatively. "What does this mean?" + +"Mean?" she repeated. "It means that I am making the most of +Almo while I can. I love Almo; I've promised to forget him, to be +a good wife to Calvaster, and of course I'm going to keep my word. +>From the moment I'm married to Calvaster I'll never so much as +look at Almo, let alone touch him. So I'm touching him all I can +while I have the chance." + +She paused, kissed Almo twice, lingeringly and loudly, and looked +up again. + +"How's that for kissing, Calvaster?" she chirped. "Don't you +wish it was you?" + +"Come, son!" Pulfennius spluttered, "let us be gone! This is no +place for us. We are being mocked and insulted." + +"Nonsense, Pulfennius!" his host exclaimed. "Can't you see that +I had no part in this, that the minx devised it all by herself +expressly to thwart me? Don't let her have the satisfaction of +outmanoeuvering both of us. Don't let a mere prank of a child +spoil all our arrangements. She'll be a good wife as she says." + +"A good wife!" Pulfennius snorted. 'I much doubt whether she +can now ever be a good wife to any man. I'm sure she'll never be +a wife to my son. You'd never convince me that she's fit to be +my son's wife. Make her a Vestal, indeed! She a Vestal? She's +much more likely to be something very different!" + +"Do you mean to insinuate--" his host began. + +"I mean to insinuate anything and everything appropriate to her +wanton behavior," Pulfennius raged. + +The two men glared at each other in a silence through which could +be heard the cooing of the doves, the trickle of the two fountains, +Brinnaria's low chuckle and the faint lisping sound of three +distinct kisses. + +"I beg your pardon!" spoke a voice behind them. + +The four looked around. + +"What brings you here, Segontius?" Brinnarius asked. + +"One of my slaves brought me word," the intruder explained, "that +my son had entered this house. I knew you had not changed your +mind since you forbade him to cross your threshold, so I came here +at once to disclaim any share in his intrusion and to take him +home. I feared he might get into mischief." + +"He has," Brinnarius replied, sententiously, "as you may see." + +Brinnaria, entirely at her ease, hugged Almo rapturously and +kissed him repeatedly. + +"And I thought," Segontius pursued, "that you would probably +smash every bone in his body if you caught him." + +"I don't know why I haven't," spoke the big man reflectively. + +"I know," shouted Pulfennius, "I can tell you. It is because this +whole comedy has been rehearsed between you just to make me +ridiculous. I know your way, your malignity, your tenacity of a +grudge, your pretence of reconciliation, your ingenuity, your +well-laid traps. I'll be revenged for this yet!" + +"You won't live to be revenged," Brinnarius told him, "unless you +get out of here quick. I'll break every bone in your body, for +certain, if you address another word to me." + +"Come, son, said Pulfennius, and shambled away. + +"And now," spoke Segontius, "don't you think, Marcus, that you +and I had best forget our quarrels and be friends again? These +young folks were plainly meant for each other by all the gods +who favor lovers. Let us not stand in the way." + +"Indeed, Lucius," spoke the big man, holding out his huge hand. +"I am of the same mind. But both of them deserve some punishment +for their presumption. They should wait four years at least before +they marry. My girl is too young." + +"I agree," said Segontius, "and I'll send my boy to Falerii for +the present. That will keep them apart and ensure propriety of +behavior." + +"That is well," growled Brinnarius, "and I'll send my girl to her +aunt Septima's." + +Brinnaria sprang up. + +"Aunt Septima's?" she cried. "Spinach and mallows and a tiny +roast lark for dinner every day. I'll starve to death And prim! +I'd almost as lief be a Vestal!" + + + +Chapter II - Sieves + + + +To her luxurious but austerely managed villa, Aunt Septima welcomed +Brinnaria with heartfelt, if repressed affection. Until the second +sunrise Brinnaria controlled herself. Then the good lady endured +her overgrown niece for some strenuous days, suffered impatiently +for a few more, but finally packed off to Rome "that unspeakable +child." At home again Brinnaria demanded pork and cabbage. + +"My insides are as empty as the sky," she wailed. "Asparagus +is all very well, but it's none too filling, even if you can eat +all you want, and aunty says ten stalks is enough for any one meal. +Chicken-breast is good, hot or cold, but aunty would never let me +have a second helping. She wouldn't even let me have as much bread +as I wanted and only one little dish of strawberries. I filled up +on raw eggs, all I could find in the nests. But, my, six days of +raw eggs was five days too many for me. I'm wild for cabbage, +all I want, and pork, big hunks of it." + +She got it and slept a sound night's sleep. + +The next day she craved an outing on foot. Her mother, prone to +the shortest cut to peace on all occasions, acquiesced at once and +let her go out with her one-eyed maid, Utta. + +Utta, born somewhere beyond the Rhine, had been brought to Rome +when a small child and had no memories except memories of Italy. +She was the most placid and acquiescent creature imaginable. Her +little mistress led her first of all to the nearest pastry-cook's +shop where the two ate till they could not swallow another crumb. + +Brinnaria, like many eccentric children born to wealth and +position, had special favorites, almost cronies, among the lowly. +Chief among them was the old sieve-maker of the Via Sacra. To +his shop she made Utta lead her. Utta interposed no objection. +Utta never objected to anything. But in this case she was +especially complaisant, since opposite the sieve-maker's was a +fascinating embroidery shop, the keeper of which was entirely +willing, when he had no customers, to let Utta lounge on one of +his sofas and inspect embroideries to her heart's content. So +lounging, rapt in the contemplation of Egyptian appliqus, Syrian +gold-thread borders, Spanish linen-work, silk flower patterns from +Cos, Parthian animal designs and Celtic cord-labyrinths after +originals in leather thongs, Utta could glance up from time to time +and make sure that her charge was safe with the sieve-maker. + +Safe she would have been without any maid to watch her, for old +Truttidius adored her. He was a small, hale, merry, wizened man, his +seamed and wrinkled face brown as berry in spite of his lifelong habit +of indoor labor and comparative inertia. He had more than a little tact +and was an excellent listener. Brinnaria was entirely at ease with him. + +His shop was rather large for those days, nearly fifteen feet wide and +fully twenty deep. It faced directly on the street, from which it was +separated only by the stone counter which occupied all the front except +a narrow entrance at one side. Above the counter projected the heavy +shutters which closed the shop at night and which, being hinged at the +top, were by day pushed upward and outward so as to form a sort of +pent like a wooden substitute for an awning. The entrance by the end +of the counter was closed by a solid little gate. Behind the counter +was the low stool from which Truttidius rose to chaffer with +customers, and on which, when not occupied in trading, he sat at +work, his bench and brazier by his side, his tools hanging on the +wall by his hand, orderly in their neat racks or on their neat +rows of hooks. Except for the trifling wall-space which they occupied, +the walls were hidden under sieves hanging close together; bronze +sieves, copper sieves, rush sieves with rims of white willow wood, +white horse-hair sieves whose hoops were stout ash, sieves of black +horse-hair stretched in rims of clean steamed oak and linen sieves +hooped about with birch. Sieves were piled on the counter, mostly +fancy sieves with hoops of carved wood strung with black and white +horse-hair interlaced in bold patterns, or copper sieves, polished +till they shone, they being most likely to catch the eyes of the +passing throng. + +Brinnaria, sprawled on the sofa against the wall behind the +work-bench, surveyed her surroundings and sighed happily, +entirely at home. Truttidius was beating copper wire, a process +always fascinating to watch. + +"I've had an awful time in the country with Aunt Septima," +Brinnaria chatted, "and I had an awful scare before they sent +me to the country. Daddy threatened to make me a Vestal." + +"In place of Rabulla?" Truttidius queried, glancing up. + +"Yes," Brinnaria answered, "but I got off; my, but I was scared +though." + +"You didn't want to be a Vestal?" Truttidius asked, eyeing her +over his work. + +"Not I!" Brinnaria declared. "I can't think of anything worse +except being killed." + +"Well," mused Truttidius, "there is no accounting for tastes. Most +girls would be wild with delight at the idea. But there would be +no sense in being a Vestal unless you wanted to be one." + +"I don't," Brinnaria proclaimed emphatically, "but I have been +thinking about Vestals ever since Daddy threatened me and scared +me so; I've been thinking about Vestals and sieves. Did anybody +ever really carry water in a sieve, Truttidius?" + +"Water in a sieve?" the old man exclaimed. "Not anybody that ever +I saw. What do you mean?" + +"You must have heard the story of Tuccia, the Vestal," Brinnaria +wondered, wide-eyed. "She lived ages ago, before Hannibal invaded +Italy, when everything was different. They said she was bad and she +said it was a lie and they said she could not prove it was a lie and +she said she could. She said if she was all she ought to be the +Goddess would show it by answering her prayer. And she took a sieve +and walked down to the river, right by the end of the Sublician +bridge, where the stairs are on the right-hand side. And the five +other Vestals, and the flamens, and all the priests, and the Pontifex, +and the consuls went with her. And she stood on the lowest step +with her toes in the water and prayed out loud to the Goddess to +help her and show that she had told the truth and then she stooped +over and dipped up water with her sacrificing ladle and poured it +into the sieve and it didn't run through, and she dipped up more +and more until the sieve was half full of water, as if it had been +a pan. And then she hung her ladle at her girdle-hook and took +the sieve in both hands and carried the water all the way to the +temple. And everybody said that that proved that she had told +the truth. + +"That's the story. Had you ever heard it?" + +"Yes, little lady," Truttidius said, "I have heard it." + +"What I want to know," Brinnaria pursued, "is this: +Is it a made-up story or is it a true story P" + +Little lady," spoke Truttidius, "it is impious to +doubt the truth of pious stories handed down from days +of old." + +"That isn't answering my question," said the practical Brinnaria. +"What I want you to tell me is to say right out plain do you believe +it. Did anybody really ever carry water in a sieve?" + +"You must remember, dear little lady," the sieve-maker said, +"that she was a most holy priestess, most pleasing in the eyes +of her Goddess, that she was in dire straits and that she prayed +to the Goddess to aid her. The Goddess helped her votary; the +gods can do all things." + +"The gods can do all things," Brinnaria echoed, her eyes flashing, +"but the gods don't do all things, not even for their favorites. +There are lots and lots of things no god ever did for any votary +or ever will. What I want to know is this: Is carrying water in a +sieve one of the things the gods not only can do but do do? Did +anybody ever carry water in a sieve truly?" + +Truttidius smiled, his wrinkles doubling and quadrupling till +his face was all a network of tiny folds of hard, dry skin. He +put down his work and regarded his guest, his face serious after +the fading of his brief smile. The soft-footed sandalled throng +that packed the narrow street shuffled and padded by unnoticed. +No customer interrupted them. They might have been alone in a +Sibyl's cell on a mountain side. + +"Little lady," spoke the sieve-maker, "you are, indeed, very old +for your age, not only in height and build, but in heart and mind. +What other child would bother her head about so subtle a problem? +What other child would perceive the verity at the heart of the puzzle +and put it so neatly in so few words? To you an old man cannot help +talking as to an experienced matron, because to you an old man can +talk as to a woman of sense. You deserve to be answered in the +spirit of the question." + +He reflected. Brinnaria, fascinated and curious, hardly breathed +in her intentness, watching his face and waiting for his answer. + +"Little lady," he said, after a long silence, "the gods can, indeed, +do all things. But as you have yourself perceived the gods do not +do all things, even for their favorites. The gods work miracles to +vindicate their votaries, but as you divine, each miracle is the +happening by the special ordinance of the gods of what might happen +even without their mandate, but which does not happen because it is +only once in countless ages that all the circumstances necessary to +bring about that sort of happening concur to produce so unusual +an effect. What folks call a miracle is the occurrence, by the +beneficent will of heaven, at just the right time and place, of what +might happen anywhere to any one, but almost never does happen +anywhere to any one, because it is so unlikely that all things +should conspire to bring about so unlikely a result. + +"So of carrying water in a sieve. + +"Anybody might carry water in a sieve any day. But very seldom, +oh, very, very seldom can it come to pass that the kind of person +capable of carrying water in a sieve can be just in the condition +of muscle and mood to do so and can at just that moment be in +possession of just the kind of sieve that will hold water and not +let it through. For an actual breathing woman of flesh and blood +to carry water in a real ordinary sieve of rush-fibres, or linen +thread or horsehair or metal wire, in such a sieve as pastry-cooks +use to sift their finest flour; for that to happen in broad daylight +under the open sky before a crowd of onlookers, that requires the +special intervention of the blessed gods, or of the most powerful +of them. And not even all of them together could make that happen +to a woman of ordinary quality of hand and eye, with a usual sieve, +as most sieves are." + +"Explain!" Brinnaria half whispered, "what kind of woman could +actually carry water in a sieve and in what kind of a sieve, and +under what circumstances?" + +"That's three questions," Truttidius counted, "and one at a time is +enough. + +"In the first place, no god, not all the gods together, could give +any votary power to carry water in a sieve, be it rush or linen or +horse-hair or metal, of which the meshes had been first scrubbed +with natron or embalmers' salt or wood-ashes or fullers' earth. +Water would run through such a sieve, did even all the gods will +that it be retained. No one ever dipped a sieve into water and +brought it up with water in it and saw that water retained by the +meshes. Once wet the under side of a sieve and water will run +through to the last drop. + +"But if a sieve were ever so little greasy or oily, not dripping +with oil or clogged with grease, but greasy as a working slave's +finger is greasy on a hot day; if such a sieve were free of any +drop of water on the underside, if into such a sieve water were +slowly and carefully poured, as you say that Tuccia in the story +ladled water into her sieve with her libation-dipper, then that +water might spread evenly over the meshes to the rim all around, +might deepen till it was as deep as the width of two fingers or of +three, and might be retained by the meshes even for an hour, even +while the sieve was carried over a rough road, up hill and down, +through crowded streets. + +"But few are the women who could so carry a sieve of water or could +even so hold it that the water would not run through at once." + +"How could the water be retained at all?" queried Brinnaria the +practical. "What is the explanation?" + +Truttidius wrinkled up his face in deep thought. + +"You have seen wine spilled at dinner," he illustrated. "You have +seen a drop of it or a splash of it fall on a sofa-cover, and you +have seen it soak in and leave an ugly stain?" + +"Of course," Brinnaria agreed, "often and often." + +"And then again, not very often," the sieve-maker went on, "you +see a patch of spilt wine stand up on a perfectly dry fabric and +remain there awhile without soaking in, its surface shining wet +and its edges gleaming round and smooth and curved, bright as a +star. Well, the retaining of water in a sieve by the open meshes +is like the momentary holding up of spilt wine on a woven fabric. +I can't explain any better, but the two happenings are similar, +only the not soaking in of the splashed liquid is far, oh, far more +frequent, countless, uncountable times more frequent, than +the sustaining of fluid in a sieve. But as the one can happen and +does, so the other could happen and might." + +"I see," Brinnaria breathed. "You have made me see that. Now, +next point: How must the sieve be held?" + +The old man smiled again. + +"You keep close to the subject," he chuckled. "You talk like a +grandmother of consuls. You have a head on your shoulders." + +"That does not answer my question," Brinnaria persisted. + +"Your question is easily answered," he said. "For the miracle to +happen, in fact, the sieve must be held as level as the top rail of +a mason's T-shaped plumb-line frame, and as steady as if clamped +in a vise. For a woman to carry water in a sieve the weather must +be dry, for in damp weather the water would run through the meshes, +even if the threads or wires were just oily enough and not too oily, +even if the meshes were just the right size to favor the forming in +each mesh of a little pocket of water underneath, like the edges of +the upstanding drop of wine on a sofa-cushion. I don't know how +it comes to pass, but somehow, if all the conditions are right, little +bags of water form on the underside of a sieve, one to each mesh, +like drops after a rain hanging from the edge of my shop-shutters, +or from the mutules on the cornice of a temple. They are capable +of sustaining one or even two finger-thicknesses of water on the +upper side of the sieve-web. But if the sieve-web is unevenly woven +or unevenly stretched, it will not retain water an instant, and if the +sieve-web bags anywhere the water, even if the rest of the sieve-web +promises to retain it, will run through at that point. And even if +the sieve is perfect, the slightest tilt, the very slightest tilt, will +cause the little bags of water to break at the lowest point, and +so start all the water to running through. I know; I have tried; I +have seen the sieve hold up the water for some breaths. But for +the marvel to last any length of time, that would require the +intervention of the gods; that would be a miracle. For a woman +to hold a sieve so that it would retain water would mean that her +hand was as steady as the hand of a sleep-walker or of the priestess +of Isis in her trance in the great yearly mystery-festival. That +could happen seldom to any woman; such a woman would be rare." + +"I see," Brinnaria barely whispered, so intent was she on the old +man's words. "Now, what kind of woman could do such a wonder?" + +"A very exceptional and unusual kind of woman," the old man +declared. "Women, the run of them, are not steady-handed. +Even steady-handed women are easily distracted, their attention +is readily called away from any definite task. Even a woman usually +steady-handed would find her hand tremble if she were conscious +of guilt, even a woman high-hearted with her sense of her own +worthiness might glance aside at some one in a great crowd of +people about her, might let her thoughts wander. + +"That is where the miracle would come in. Only a woman directly +favored by the mighty gods could so ignore the throng about her, +could so forget herself, could so concentrate all her faculties on +the receptacle she held, could so perfectly control her muscles or +could so completely let her muscles act undisturbed by her will, +could possess muscles capable of so long tension at so perfect +an adjustment." + +"I see," Brinnaria sighed. "The thing may have happened in fact, +may happen again, but it could happen only once out of ten times +ten thousand times ten thousand chances. I understand. It is a +possibility in the ordinary course of events. It was a miracle if it +ever took place; it will be a miracle if it ever comes to pass again. +It is not impossible, but it's too improbable for anybody to believe +it could be, in fact." + +"You have it," the sieve-maker assured her. + +"I'm glad I have," she said. "Now it'll go out of my head and quit +bothering me. I've thought about it day and night ever since +Daddy threatened me. Now I'll forget it and sleep sound." + + +Chapter III - Stuttering + + + +When Brinnaria returned from her outing she found waiting for her +her best friend, chum and crony, Flexinna, a girl four years older, +not so tall, decidedly more slender and much prettier. Brinnaria +was robustly handsome; Flexinna was delicately lovely, yet they +did not differ much in tints of hair, eyes or skin and might have +been sisters. In fact, they were not infrequently taken for sisters. + +They chatted of their girlish interests and of local gossip and +family news, like any pair of girls, until Brinnaria described the +escapade that led to her rustication. + +Flexinna's eyes were wide and wider as she listened. + +"D-d-do-you really m-m-mean," she stuttered, "that you had a +c-c-chance to be a V-V-Vestal and d-d-didn't jump at it?" + +"Jump at it!" exclaimed Brinnaria. "I jumped away from it! I +can't think of anything, except death, that would fill me with +more horror than the very idea of being made a Vestal. It makes +me shiver now just to speak of it." + +"You're a f-f-fool," Flexinna declared, "the f-f-foolest kind of +a f-f-fool. This is the f-f-first f-f-foolish thing I ever knew you +to d-d-do. I always th-th-thought you s-s-so s-s-sensible, t-t-too. +And you've m-m-missed a ch-ch-chance to be a V-V-Vestal. I've +n-n-no p-p-patience with you. Any other g-g-girl would j-j-jump +at the ch-ch-chance." + +"Jump at it!" cried Brinnaria. "Why?" + +"Why?" sneered Flexinna, blazing with excitement. "Why, just think +what you've m-m-missed! You're as wild as I am to see +g-g-gladiators fight, k-k-keener than I am to see a real horse-race +in the circus, and you'll have to wait until you're g-g-grown up, +as I'll have to, before you s-s-see either. And you'd have g-g-gone +to every spectacle, from the very day you were t-t-taken, and not +have m-m-missed one. Think of it! F-F-Front seats in the circus, +front seats in the amphitheatre, all your life, or for thirty years +at least, for certain! And you've m-m-missed it. And that's not +half. Your lictor to c-c-clear the way for you whenever you g-g-go +out and your choice to g-g-go out in your litter with eight +b-b-bearers or in your c-c-carriage, your own c-c-carriage, all +your own, and the right to d-d-drive any where in the city any +d-d-day in the year. Oh, you f-f-fool, you s-s-silly f-f-fool! +A ch-ch-chance to be one of the s-s-seven m-m-most imp-p-portant +women in Rome, one of the s-s-six who are on a level with the +Empress, and you m-m-missed it! Fancy it; to b-b-be mistress of +an income so large that it m-m-makes you d-d-dizzy to think of it, +and you throw away the ch-ch-chance! To be able the m-m-moment +you were taken, to m-m-make your own w-w-will! To have every +legacy c-c-cadger in Rome running after you and m-m-making you +p-p-presents and d-d-doing you favors and angling for your n-n-notice +all your 1-l-life 1-1-long, and you m-m-miss the ch-ch-chance!" + +"Yes," Brinnaria admitted, reflectively, "I have missed all that, +that's so. But that's not all there is to think of, when you think +about being a Vestal. I've missed a lot of fine privileges, mighty +valuable to any girl that would care for that sort of thing; but I've +escaped a lot of things that would go with those privileges. I love +bright colors, I always did and I look ghastly in white--I look like +a ghost. And I'd have had to wear white and nothing else, even +white flowers, like a corpse. And a Vestal has to keep her eyes on +the ground and walk slow and stately and stand straight and +dignified, and talk soft and low. I'd suffer, even if I could learn +all the tricks they teach them as well as Gargilia has. And I don't +believe I ever could. I'd keep my eyes cast down for a month or a +year and then, right in the middle of a sacrifice, I'd see something +funny, like the gander squawking under the feet of the pall-bearers +at poor old Gibba's funeral at the farm last summer, and I'd wink +at the head Vestal or roll my eyes at the whole congregation and +spoil the prayers; or, after keeping meek and mum for a year or so +I'd be so wild to laugh that I'd roar right out and break up the +whole service. I think I'm the last girl alive to be a Vestal. A +Vestal mustn't answer back or make a pun, no matter how good a +chance she gets. I just can't help cutting in, if I see a chance; +the words come out of my mouth before I know it, and, if I trained +myself to keep still and look as mild as a lamb, I'd be boiling +inside and sometime I'd burst out with a yell just to relieve my +feelings or I'd jab a shawl-pin into the Pontifex to see him jump, +or put out my toe and trip up somebody just to see him sprawl. +I couldn't help it. The more I'd bottle myself up the farther the +naughtiness in me would spurt when it burst through the skin. +I know. No Vestaling for me! I wasn't born for that trade!" + +"Nonsense!" Flexinna disclaimed vigorously. "You'd g-g-get used +to the whole thing in a m-m-month and be the most s-s-statuesque +of the six in t-t-ten years. Think of it! I'm just raging inside at your +f-f-folly. To have the right to an interview with the Emperor +whenever you d-d-demand it, to see the m-m-magistrates' lictors +lower their fasces to you and s-s-stand aside at the s-s-salute and +let you p-p-pass whenever you m-m-meet them in p-p-public. To +live in one of the finest p-p-palaces in Rome, one of the most +m-m-magnificent residences on earth, to have the ch-ch-chance +at all that and m-m-miss it; I've no p-p-patience with you!" + +"That's all very fine," Brinnaria countered, "but there's much to +be said on the other side. I've been in the Atrium. Aunt Septima +took me there to call on Causidiena. It's big, it's gorgeous, it's +luxurious, that's all true. But I love sunlight. I'd loathe living +in that hole in the ground; why, the shadow of the Palace falls +across the courtyard before noon and for all the rest of the day +it's gloomy as the bottom of a well. I heard Causidiena tell Aunt +Septima how shoes mould and embroideries mildew and what a time +they have with the inlays popping off the furniture on account of the +dampness and about the walls and lamp-standards sweating moisture. +I'd hate the dark, poky, cold place." + +"Oh," Flexinna admitted, "there are d-d-drawbacks to any +s-s-situation in life, but, really the higher the s-s-station the +fewer the drawbacks. The p-p-plain truth is that being a Vestal +is the highest s-s-station in Rome except being an Empress. No +g-g-girl dare aspire to be an Empress; it would be treason. If any +g-g-girl d-d-dreams of it she k-k-keeps her d-d-dreams to herself. +But any g-g-girl has a right to aspire to be a Vestal, if she is +made perfect and is under ten and has her f-f-father and m-m-mother +noble and alive. You've got all that and you are offered what any +g-g-girl would envy you and you throw it away! I've no patience +with you." + +"You forget," Brinnaria argued, "that I'm in love with Almo and +I'd have to give up Almo." + +"Not f-f-forever," Flexinna retorted. "He's enough in love with +you to wait for you, to wait for you! You could have pledged him +to wait till your term of service was up and then you two could +have married just the same." + +"Just the same!" Brinnaria echoed. "A lot of good it'd do me to +marry after I'd be an old wrinkled, gray-haired woman of forty, +dried up and withered." + +"Nemestronia," Flexinna cited, "has married twice since she was +forty, and she's not withered yet, not by a great deal, even if she +is gray-haired and has a wrinkle or two." + +"What's the use of arguing," Brinnaria summed up. "I hate the very +idea of being a Vestal. I'd hate the fact a million times more. I'd +hate it even if I were not in love with Almo, furiously in love +with Almo. Daddy says I've got to wait four years to marry him. +I roll around in bed and bite the pillows with rage to think of it, +night after night. A fine figure I'd cut trying to wait thirty +years for him. I'd swoon with longing for him and write him a note +or peep out of the temple to see him go by and then I'd get accused +of misbehavior, and accused is convicted for a Vestal; well, you +know it. I'd look fine being buried alive in a seven-by-five +underground stone cell, with half a pint of milk and a gill of wine +to keep me alive long enough to suffer before I starved to death +and a thimbleful of oil in a lamp to make me more scared of the +dark when the lamp burned out. No burial alive for me. I'm in +love. I'm too much in love to balance arguments. I'm not sorry I +missed my chance, as you call it. I'm glad I escaped; the chance +isn't missed for that matter. Rabulla's place hasn't been filled yet." + +"Do you know who is g-g-going to be ch-ch-chosen to fill it?" +Flexinna asked. "You d-d-don't? The choice has about narrowed +d-d-down to that execrable, weasel-faced little M-M-Meffia." + +"Meffia!" Brinnaria cried. "There's no one alive I despise as much +as that detestable ninny. I've a mind to chuck Almo and ask Daddy +to offer me, just to spite Meffia." + +"Why d-d-don't you?" Flexinna stuttered. "D-d-do it n-n-now, right +n-n-now. You might be t-t-too late." + +"Oh bosh," Brinnaria groaned. "What's the use of talking nonsense? +What would be the sense in my spoiling my life to spite Meffia? I +hate her. I'll hate to see her putting on airs as a Vestal, but I'd +hate worse to be a Vestal myself, and worst of all to lose Almo. I +just couldn't give up Almo." + +"I wish I were you," Flexinna raged. "If I were only under ten and +d-d-didn't s-s-stutter, I'd d-d-do all I c-c-could to g-g-get +D-D-Daddy to offer m-m-me." + +"Bosh!" Brinnaria sneered. "You're in love with Vocco and you +know you wouldn't even think of giving him up if you had the chance." + +"Just wouldn't I!" Flexinna retorted. "I love Quintus dearly. But +if I had a ch-ch-chance to be a V-V-Vestal, I'd fling poor Quintus +hard and never regret him. Not I. Think of the influence a V-V-Vestal +has! Every man who wants p-p-promotion in the army or in the +fleet, or who wants an appointment to any office would set his +sisters and all his women relations to besieging me to use my +influence for him. Every temple-carver and shrine-painter in Rome +would have his wife showing me attentions. I know; I've heard +the talk. + +"And b-b-besides, in all the Empire a Vestal is the nearest thing +to a p-p-princess we have. We read a lot about Egyptian princesses, +and Asiatic princesses and we hear about P-P-Parthian +p-p-princesses, but the only p-p-princesses we ever see are the +Vestals. They are the only p-p-princesses in the Empire, in Italy, +in Rome, the six of them. And you had a chance to be one of the +only six p-p-princesses in our world and you didn't take it. Oh, +you f-f-fool, you f-f-fool!" + +They wrangled about their conflicting views for a long time. + +It was only as Flexinna was leaving that she inquired casually: + +"Have you heard what Rabulla d-d-died of?" + +"No," said Brinnaria. "what was it?" + +"Hadn't you heard?" Flexinna wondered. "It was the p-p-pestilence." + + +Chapter IV - Pestilence + + + +Pestilence! + +Brinnaria heard the word often during the next few days. Rome +talked of little else. It had begun with a few deaths along the +river front in the sailors' quarters, and among the stevedores +and porters of the grain-warehouses, southwest of the Aventine +Hill in the thirteenth ward. Next it came to notice when there +were many deaths along the Subura in the very centre of the city. +>From there the infection had spread to every wind. Panic seized +the people. There was an exodus of all who could afford it, to +their country estates, to the mountains, to the seaside. Brinnarius +and Quartilla discussed arrangements for their departure to his +mountain farm in the Sabine hills above Carsioli. Their difficulty +was to decide to whom to commit their great house in Rome. They +had no slave whom they implicitly trusted, and no one certainly +who would be willing to stay in the city. To close the house was +to invite burglary, for in the general panic watchmen were +unreliable and house-breakings were frequent. Into their +consultation Brinnaria thrust herself uninvited. + +"Why don't you leave me in town?" she suggested. "I hate the +country and I hate it near Carsioli worse than any neighborhood +I ever saw. I want to stay right here. I love Rome. And I'm not +afraid of pestilence. Nobody can die more than once and nobody +dies till the gods will it. There's more danger of dying of fright +and worry than of pestilence. Anyhow a pestilence never kills all +the people in a city, most of the towns- folk stay right at home +and keep alive all right. Half the people that die scare or fret +themselves to death. I won't fret or worry and I'll keep well here; +but if you take me with you I'll be miserable and chafe myself ill. + I can run the house as well as mother can. Most of the slaves +worship me and will obey me for love, the rest are deadly afraid +of me and will not dare to disobey me. I'll keep order and I will +not waste a sesterce. Can't I stay, Father?" + +Brinnarius knit his brows and looked at his wife. Her eyes +answered his. + +"It would save a deal of trouble," he said, reflectively. + +"It would make a deal of gossip," Quartilla declared. "All my +enemies would say that I am an unnatural mother, that I do not +love my youngest child, that I hate her, that I am exposing her +to certain death, that I am as bad as a murderess." + +"Nonsense!" her husband retorted. "We can't bother about all the +malice of all the slanderers in Rome. Other people's daughters are +remaining. Lucconius means to stay here in Rome with his family. +If he ventures to keep Flexinna here we might venture to leave +Brinnaria behind." + +"You might," that self-assertive child cut in, "and you know there +is really no use in taking me if I do not want to go. You know +how much trouble it will make for both of you." + +Quartilla sighed. + +"Perhaps we had best leave her," she said. "Certainly the house +will be safe and the slaves kept in order. I shan't have an +instant's anxiety about that. Then Brinnaria is so genuinely +brave that she will really not dread the pestilence, and all the +doctors say that there is nothing like that feeling to protect any +one from the danger. She makes me feel that she will be safe. I +don't believe I'll worry about that either." + +"Fine!" Brinnaria squealed. "I'm to stay." + +"Not so fast," her father rebuked her. "I haven't said yet that +you may stay. But if I say so, then you must stay. I'll not have +you changing your mind and deciding to leave Rome after we have +arranged to put you in charge here. It would make trouble indeed +to have you shutting up this house in a hurry and chasing after +us to Carsioli." + +"Epulo!" his wife reproached him, "the child has her faults, +but changeableness is not one of them. She is the most resolute +child I ever knew. If you leave her, she will not fail us. If +she gives her word she will keep it. I never knew Brinnaria to +break an earnestly made promise." + +"Will you promise?" her father asked her. + +"I promise," Brinnaria shouted, "I pledge myself. I take oath. +I swear by my love of both of you, by my respect for our clan, by +my hopes of marrying Almo, that I'll stick it out here in Rome, +going out only when necessary, unless you send for me to come +away. If anything happens that makes me think I ought to leave +the city I shall send a message to you, but I shall not cross +the city boundaries nor relax my watch on this house without your +permission. I swear." + +"That's enough, dearie," her father said, "enough and too much. If +your judgment tells you that you ought to flee from Rome, you have +my permission to send me a messenger; I know you will not resort to +that without real need. I rely on your judgment. The gods be with you, +child. You have taken a load of my shoulders, two loads, in fact." + +Thereupon preparations for departure were pushed and soon after +sunrise on the next day Brinnaria found herself left to her own +resources, responsible for the welfare of a large retinue of +obsequious slaves, autocrat over them, and mistress of one of the + largest private houses in Rome. She acquitted herself well of +her duties. She had been right in claiming that she was loved by +most and feared by the rest. Certainly she was trusted and respected +by all as if she had been five times her age. She made them as +comfortable as town-slaves could be and they knew it. To her they +accorded instant and implicit obedience. The life of the household +went on as smoothly as if the master had been at home. And its life +was not gloomy. Although the main subject of conversation was the + pestilence, open forebodings were not indulged in and the house was + outwardly cheerful. + +Equally cheerful was Flexinna, whom Brinnaria saw daily. Neither of +them had the slightest fear of the pestilence and no member of +either household had shown the slightest symptoms of any kind of + illness. Of the daily deaths among their large acquaintance or +among the nobilities of the city, they talked calmly, without any + feeling of gloom or of dread, secure in the confidence of youth +and health. + +On the tenth day after Brinnaria had been left to her own devices + Flexinna visited her as usual. Early in their talk she said: + +"D-D-Dossonia died last night." + +"The Chief Vestal?" Brinnaria queried. + +"Yes," Flexinna replied, a bright tear in each eye. + +"She couldn't live forever," Brinnaria said. "She was ninety-four, + wasn't she?" + +"Ninety-four years and eight months yesterday," Flexinna replied. +"She had been Chief Vestal ever since C-C-Calpurnia P-P-Praetextata + died, and that's fifty- six years ago. She had been Chief Vestal +longer than any ever and she had lived longer than any Vestal ever." + +"Well," said Brinnaria, the practical, "she ought to have been +glad to go, and she stone blind for twenty years." + +"Yes, I know," Flexinna rejoined, "but she was such an old d-d-dear, +she looked so much younger than her age, her face so healthy and +pink, and b-b-beautiful even with all its wrinkles, so calm and +placid and holy I loved to look at her sitting in her big chair +like a great white b-b-butterfly, so plump and handsome and soft- +looking. She always put out her hand to my face and recognized me +at the first t-t-touch, almost, and gave me her blessing so +b-b-beautifully. Sometimes Manlia let me read to the old dear, +and she always seemed to enjoy it so much. I'm real shaken at her +d-d-death. I really loved her." + +"Everybody loved her," Brinnaria declared. "But everybody loves + Causidiena too, and she's Chief Vestal now. She's not fat and +placid like Dossonia, but she is wonderfully dignified. My, I +admire that woman!" + +"I wonder," Flexinna reflected, "who will be chosen in her p-p-place." + +"Poor wretch!" Brinnaria commented. "I'm sorry for her, whoever +she is. Just think, she'll have to pair with that unspeakable +little muff of a Meffia. I hate that girl." + +"Whoever she is," Flexinna continued, "she is sure to be chosen +and taken mighty quick. For with this p-p-pestilence in the city, +and all the trouble the P-P-Parthians are making in the East, of +the Marcomanni on the Rhine colonies, and the thunder-storms that +have raged about lately, there'll be need felt for all the p-p-prayers + all the offer. They'll not leave the vacancy open long. I'll bet they + have it filled by d-d-day after to-morrow. Old B-B-Bambilio is a +stickler for pious precision an observance of all ritual matters +and the Emperors are with him." + +"Marcus is," Brinnaria agreed, pertly, "but Lucius doesn't care +what happens so long as he has his fun." + +"You mustn't t-t-t-talk that way about the Emperors," Flexinna + cautioned her. "If you were overheard you'd get into no end of +trouble. Anyhow, Verus defers to Aurelius in everything, so that + whatever Aurelius wishes is as if both wished it. And there never +was a more p-p-pious Emperor than Aurelius. So the place is +certain to be filled p-p-promptly." + +"At once, for sure," Brinnaria agreed. "I wonder who the victim +will be? Do you suppose it will be Occurnea?" + +"It would have been Occurnea, I think," Flexinna said. "You know +it was a chance for a while whether she'd get it instead of Meffia. +But she's not eligible now. Her mother d-d-died yesterday." + +"Tallentia, perhaps," Brinnaria hazarded. + +"Impossible," Flexinna declared. "You remember how recklessly +she rode and how her horse f-f-fell on her. She has limped ever +since and always will." + +"Cuppiena?" suggested Brinnaria. + +"Not she," said Flexinna; "she has some k-k-kind of skin rash and +has lost almost all her hair." + +"Sabbia," Brinnaria proposed. + +"Her mother's d-d-dead too," Flexinna reminded her; "has been for + months." + +"Fremnia," came the next suggestion. + +"She's off to Aquileia with her family," said Flexinna; "they +all left the d-d-day your folks went." + +"Eppia," ventured Brinnaria. + +"She's ten years old now," Flexinna demurred. "She celebrated +her b-b-birthday three days before the Kalends. I was at the party." + +"Pennasia, perhaps," Brinnaria suggested. + +"D-d-deaf in one ear like her mother and grandmother," said +Flexinna, "and you know it." + +"Licinia," Brinnaria ventured. + +"She'd be the last they'd choose on account of the b-b-bad luck +Vestals of her family have had;" Flexinna reminded her. "The +very name suggests disgrace. Anyhow, she's in Baiae with her +p-p-people." + +"Rentulana," came the next conjecture. + +"Has a b-b-big wen on the side of her head," Flexinna proclaimed. + +"Numledia?" came next. + +"You've lost your memory, Brinnaria," said Flexinna, severely. +"She's got a b-b-big purple birthmark on her neck." + +"Magnonia," Brinnaria proposed. + +"She's far away, in Britain, with her father and mother; might as +well be out of the world." + +Brinnaria was at a loss. She meditated. "Gavinna!" she said at +last. + +"She has a bad squint and you know it," laughed Flexinna. "Why +don't you think of an eligible c-c-candidate?" + +They tried a dozen more names, all of girls out of the city or +defective in some way, or with one parent dead. + +"But who will it be?" Brinnaria wondered. "It's bound to be +somebody and quick." + +She jumped to her feet. + +She screamed. + +"They'll take me! They'll take me! Oh, what am I to do, what am I +to do? I'm the only possible candidate in the city. And they'll be +after me the moment they run over the lists and find no one else +is in town." + +She stood a moment, considering, then she called Guntello, and a +lean Caledonian slave called Intinco. She gave them each a +written journey-order to show to any patrol that questioned them, told +Guntello to take the best horse in the stable and to give the +next best to Intinco, bade Intinco ride to Carsioli and Guntello +to Falerii, gave Guntello a letter for Almo and Intinco a letter +to her father and told them verbally, in case the letter was lost, +to make it plain that she was in danger of being taken for a Vestal +and bid her father come quickly to interfere and her lover to ride +fast to claim her in time. She enjoined both slaves to spur their + horses, gave them money in case they needed to hire fresh mounts +and wound up: + +"Kill Rhaebus, kill Xanthus, kill as many hired horses as need be, +ride without halt or mercy. Get there and get father and Almo here. +Be quick. You can't be too quick." + +She watched them ride off at a sedate walk, for no man was allowed +to trot a horse in the streets of Rome. Both had assured her that +they would ride at full gallop from the moment they passed the gates. + +Then began for Brinnaria a tense and anxious period of waiting. +Flexinna obtained her parents' permission and remained with her +friend. The entire household continued in good health and there +was nothing to distract t he two from their dread on the one hand +that the Pontifex might come to claim Brinnaria before Almo and her + father arrived, and their hope on the other hand of seeing them +come in time. + +On the whole the strain told on Flexinna more than on Brinnaria, + who never once shed a tear, attended to her housewifely duties +calmly and steadily and talked little. Flexinna fidgeted constantly +and talked a good deal. + +"If I were in your place," she said, "I shouldn't be waiting here +inertly for Faltonius to come and claim me. Instead of dispatching +messengers for your father and Almo, you ought to have left the +city at once and made your best speed for Carsioli yourself." + +"I couldn't," Brinnaria declared, "and you know why. I passed my +word to stay in this house and not so much as to go out unless +some compelling necessity arose. I pledged myself not to leave here + unless I sent a messenger saying I needed to leave and received +permission before I started. I took my oath not to cross the city + limits without Father's consent. I can't break my oath and I +shouldn't break my word, even if I hadn't sworn in addition to +promising." + +"You f-f-fool!" Flexinna declared. + +"All members of our clan keep their word," said Brinnaria proudly. +"We do not ask whether it is advantageous to keep our word or +pleasant; when we have passed our word we keep it. I've given my +word and there's nothing to do but to wait for Almo and Daddy and +hope that both, or at least a message from Daddy will get here +before Faltonius." + +"There is something else you might do," Flexinna suggested. "You +might easily arrange to be ineligible before Bambilio comes for +you." + +"I shall," spoke the matter-of-fact Brinnaria. "The moment Daddy +and Almo come, I'll be Alma's wife in less time than it takes +to tell it and will be able to snap my fingers at Bambilio." + +"Suppose he comes before your father," Flexinna suggested. + +"I'd be a Vestal and all hope gone," said Brinnaria, + +"I mean," said Flexinna, "suppose Almo comes before your father." + +"I've thought of that," Brinnaria admitted. "But I'd hate to break +the record of which our family is so proud. None of our women +ever were so much as accused of any misbehavior before marriage." + +"I've no p-p-patience with you," Flexinna raged. 'You'll throw +away your life for a mere scruple. You risk being made a Vestal +every moment. Faltonius may be on the way here now. If I were +in your place I'd make sure. I'd not wait for Almo. Any lad would +do for me. You c-c-could make sure, if you had sense. Almo would +forgive you and marry you anyway. Your father would forgive you; +he'd never approve, I know." + +"Not he!" Brinnaria proclaimed, "and he'll never have any such +dishonor to forgive. No man of our clan ever had reason to be +ashamed of his daughter or of his sister. I'll not be the first +to disgrace the clan. If Faltonius comes he'll find me as eligible +as the hour I was born, unless Daddy and Almo come in time for me +to be married first." + +"At least," Flexinna persisted, "you might say no when he asks you. +That would stall the whole ceremony and give you t-t-time." + +"Do you suppose," Brinnaria sneered, "that I haven't thought of +that? I'm tempted, of course. But that would be to advertise +myself a disgrace to the Pontifex during a solemn interrogatory." + +"At least," Flexinna pleaded, "you might say you are over age. You +look sixteen to anybody, and no one would imagine you are under + fourteen. You could halt the proceedings, at least, and gain +t-t-time." + +"Faltonius has the lists," said Brinnaria wearily, "with all the + birthdays sworn to by both parents for every girl on them and +attested by four excellent witnesses, besides. He'd know I was +lying and it would do me no good." + +Flexinna changed the subject. + +But when the next day dawned and neither Brinnarius nor Almo +appeared, she returned to the attack. Brinnaria was very pale, +very tense, but obdurate. She controlled herself, did not forget, +did not express her feelings, but she posted a slave at each street + corner, right and left of the house-door, and had them look out + for what she hoped and what she feared. + +Dastor brought word that the Pontifex and his retinue were +approaching; three litters, each with eight bearers, preceded by +the lictor of the Chief Vestal. + +Brinnaria, pale and tense, did her best to look collected and + controlled. She succeeded well, heard calmly the announcement of + her august visitors, ordered them shown into the atrium, and +received them with proper dignity. Her self-possession did not +desert her when she recognized in the train of the Pontifex her +rejected suitor Calvaster, sly, malignant and with an air of +suppressed elation. + +Faltonius Bambilio, the Pontifex of Vesta, was a pursy, pudgy, +pompous old man, immensely self-important, almost ridiculous in +his fussiness, but clothed with a certain impressiveness by the +mere fact of his religious office. He gazed about him, stared at +Brinnaria, hemmed and hawed and threw himself into poses intended +to be stately. + +With him was Causidiena, now Chief Vestal, a tall, spare woman +of about forty-five, her austere face kindly and reassuring, her +dark hair barely showing under her official head-dress, a statuesque + figure in her white robes of office. + +"My daughter," spoke Faltonius to Brinnaria, "Rome has but five +Vestals. I have come to take you into the vacant place. You have +been chosen, as best suited to this high dignity, from among those +whose names were on the lists of those fit for the office. Was it +proper that your name should be on the lists?" + +"I believe so," spoke Brinnaria, weakly, almost in a whisper. + +"Are you fit to be taken as a Vestal, my daughter?" + +"I believe so," came the answer. + +"Have you any blemish or defect of body, any impediment of speech, +any difficulty of hearing?" + +Brinnaria's awe was wearing off, and the irritating pomposity of +Faltonius was producing its usual effect of arousing antagonism, +as it generally did in those he talked to. Brinnaria felt all her +wild self surge up in her. + +"I'm sound as a two-year-old racing filly," she replied. "I'm +clean as fresh curd; I hear you perfectly and you can hear me + perfectly." + +Bambilio bristled like a bantam rooster. + +"That is not the way for a Vestal to speak," he rebuked. + +"I'm not a Vestal yet," Brinnaria retorted, "and that was my +answer to those questions. If you don't like it I don't care +a shred of bran." + +"Come! come!" fussed Bambilio, "answer the interrogatories +properly." + +"I have and I shall," Brinnaria maintained mutinously. + +"Are you fit in mind and in faculties to be a Vestal?" he continued. + +"Fit to be Flaminica or Empress," Brinnaria responded. + +"Are you pure?" came the next query. + +"As when I was born," said Brinnaria emphatically. + +"What is your age?" the Pontifex queried his victim. + +"I'll be ten on the Ides of next September," quoth his victim. + +"Are your parents both alive?" he asked. + +"They were the last time I heard of them," spoke Brinnaria flippantly. + +"When was that?" he insisted. + +"This is the twelfth day since they left Rome," said Brinnaria, +"and I've not heard from them since they sent a messenger back +from the ninth milestone on the road to Tibur." + +Faltonius was irritating her more and more, and she added: + +"They may both be dead by this time, for all I know." + +"This will not do," spoke Faltonius. "We must be sure that they +are both alive." + +"Find out," snapped Brinnaria. + +Up spoke young Calvaster, his pasty face alight with a sort of +malicious glee. + +"I passed Quartilla's travelling carriage at Varia last night. +Quartilla was alive and well. I passed Brinnarius this morning +at dawn, this side of Tibur. He was alive then and puffing." + +"How did you get here ahead of him?" Brinnaria interjected. + +"I am light built," Calvaster explained with obvious relish, "and +I rode the best horse in Italy. His mount labored heavily under +his load." + +"Both parents are then alive," spoke Faltonius. "I hereupon and +hereby pronounce you in all respects fit to be taken as a Vestal. +Are you willing?" + +"Not I!" Brinnaria fairly shouted. + +"Not willing!" Faltonius cried, incredulous. + +"Not a fibre of me!" she proclaimed emphatically. + +"Wretched girl!" expostulated the Pontiff. "Have you no sense of +patriotism? Do you not realize your duty to your country, to the +Roman people, to Rome, to the Emperor, to all of us, to the +commonwealth? Do yon not realize Rome's need of you? Shall it be +said that Rome has need of one of her daughters and that her + unnatural child refuses?" + +"I have not refused," said Brinnaria. "I only said I was unwilling." + +"It is the same thing," declared the bewildered ecclesiastic. + +"Not a bit the same thing," Brinnaria disclaimed. "I know my duty +in this matter perfectly. Castor be good to me, I know it too well. +I know that a refusal would avail me nothing, if I did refuse. I +have not refused. I would not, even if I could escape by refusal I +realize my duty. If I am taken I shall be all that a Vestal is +expected to be, all that she must be to ensure the glory and +prosperity and safety of the city and the Empire. I shall not +fail the Emperor nor the Roman people, nor Rome. But I am +unwilling, and I said so. Little good it will do me. But I am no +liar, not even in the tightest place." + +"Stand up, my daughter," said Faltonius, rising himself, suddenly + clothed in dignity, a really impressive figure, in spite of his + globular proportions. + +Brinnaria stood, her eyes on the door to the vestibule, her face very + pale, trembling a little, but controlled. + +The Pontifex took her hand and spoke: + +"As priestess of Vesta, to perform those rites which it is fitting +that a priestess of Vesta perform for the Roman People and the +citizens, as a girl who has been chosen properly, so I take you, +Beloved." + +At the word "Beloved," which made her irretrievably a Vestal, +Brinnaria could not repress a little gasp. Her eyes no longer +watched the vestibule door. She looked at the Pontiff. He let +go her hand. + +"You will now go with your servitor to be clothed as befits your +calling." + +He indicated one of Causidiena's attendants, a solidly built +woman, like a Tuscan villager, who carried over her arm a mass of +fresh white garments and robes. + +With her and Causidiena Brinnaria left the atrium; with them she + presently returned, a slim white figure, her hair braided and +the six braids wound round her forehead like a coronet, above +them the folds of the plain square headdress of the Vestals. + +"I thought," she said, "that my hair would be cut off." + +"That will be after you are made at home in the Atrium of Vesta," +spoke the Pontiff. + +"And remember," he continued sternly, "that you are now a Vestal +and that young Vestals may not speak unless spoken to." + +Brinnaria bit her lip. + +At that moment they heard hoofs and voices outside, the door +burst open and Brinnarius entered. + +"Too late, Daddy!" cried Brinnaria. "You can't help me now. I'm +not your little girl any more; I don't count as your daughter; +you don't count as my father; I'm daughter to the Pontifex from +now on. I'm a Vestal." + +She was trembling, but she kept her countenance. Brinnarius +uttered no sound, the whole gathering was still and mute, the +noises of the street outside were plainly audible. They heard +horse-hoofs again, again the door flew open wide. In burst Almo, +wide-eyed and panting. + +At him Brinnaria launched a sort of shriek of expostulation. + +"Why couldn't you ride! You call yourself a horseman! And you've +come too late! I mustn't even kiss you good-bye. And I mustn't +speak to you, I mustn't see you, I mustn't so much as think +of you for thirty years, for thirty years, <for thirty years>!" + + +CHAPTER V - ESCAPADES + + + +WHEN Brinnaria found herself actually domiciled in the House of +the Vestals she experienced an odd mingling of awe and elation. +The mere size of it was impressive, for it was nearly two hundred +feet wide and almost four hundred feet long. Also it stood alone, +bounded by four streets. Besides, it gained much dignity from its +location, near the southeast corner of the great Forum of Rome, that +most famous of all city squares, and under the very shadow of the +Imperial Palace, the walls of which towered nearly three hundred feet +above it, where it crouched as it were, on a site scooped out of the +huge flank of the Palatine Hill. + +Completely as it was dominated by the enormous bulk of the Palace +it yet looked very large, having three lofty stories. Inside it was both +spacious and stately. Brinnaria was habituated to space and stateliness, +for her father's house had both, yet the Atrium of Vesta, as the House +of the Vestals was officially denominated, impressed her as vast and +splendid. That this immense and magnificent building was to be her home +gave her sense of her own importance that thrilled her through and +through. Its numerous retinue of deft and obsequious maid-servants added +to this impression. Brinnaria's personal attendants, entirely at her +beck and call and serving her alone, made up a considerable retinue by +themselves. She found herself, like each of the other Vestals, served by +a special waitress at table, by a waitress who had nothing to do but +look after her wants. Then she had a sort of maid-of-honor, who had no +duties except to act as companion, make herself agreeable, read aloud, +if requested, accompany her on her outings and help to pass her leisure +pleasantly. As she was a mere child in years she had a sort of governess +to instruct her in all those subjects in which a Roman girl of good +family was generally given lessons: correct reading; a smattering of +mathematics, about equivalent to the simple arithmetic of our days; some +knowledge of literature; a steady and efficient drill in reading and +talking Greek; instrumental music, similar to the guitar-playing of +modern times, and embroidery. She had a personal maid to bathe her, +arrange her hair and otherwise make her comfortable; also a special maid +to attend to her private apartment, which included what we would call a +sitting-room, a tiny bedroom, and a large bath-room. The largest room +was used mostly as a school-room for lessons with her instructress. +Outside the Atrium Brinnaria had her private stable, her carriages, her +coachman and ostlers, and her lictor, the red-cloaked runner, who +preceded her carriage, announced its coming and cleared the way for it +through the crowds of foot-passengers who thronged the streets of Rome. +Life in the Atrium was austere and formal, but in no respect ascetic. +The austerities extended only to attire and behavior. The decorations of +the courtyard, of the corridors and stairs, of the two hundred rooms, +were bewilderingly varied and overpoweringly gorgeous. Every appointment +of the Atrium was luxurious to the last degree; the furnishings were +beautiful and precious, every object a work of art; the bathrooms +cunningly devised for comfort, the beds deep and soft, scarcely less so +the sofas on which the Vestals reclined at their meals, the table +service of exquisite glass-ware and elaborately chased silver, the food +abundant and including every delicacy and rarity most appetizing and +enjoyable. + +Except Meffia her co-Vestals were immediately liked and speedily +loved by Brinnaria. Meffia, a month older than herself and looking six +years younger, was a small, awkward, ungainly girl, with pale blue eyes, +pale yellow hair and babyish pink complexion. She had never had an ill +hour in her life, yet she always appeared ailing, shrank from any +effort, hated exercise and exertion and at every necessity for movement +asserted that she was tired, often that she felt weak. Brinnaria thought +her merely innately lazy and a natural shirk. The more she saw of her +the more her loathing for her and her hatred of her intensified. +Quite the reverse with the others. Manlia was a large young woman of +about twenty-two, a typical Roman aristocrat, her hair between dark +brown and black, her complexion swarthy, her figure abundant. Gargilia +was older than Manlia; a tall, slender creature with intensely black +hair and piercing black eyes that looked straight at you out of a face +healthfully tinted indeed, but of a whiteness which was the envy of half +the beauties in Rome. Numisia Maximilla was much like an older Manlia, +but sparer and of markedly haughty bearing and carriage. Causidiena, +newly become Chief Vestal, was a woman of about forty-five years of age, +mild, gentle, and charming, with cool gray eyes and glossy brown hair, a +being who aroused affection, inspired admiration and compelled love from +all her household. + +She won Brinnaria's heart at once by telling her that she herself, when +she had first entered the Atrium of Vesta, had found it difficult to +learn the etiquette of the order, had wanted to shout and sing and laugh +out loud, to run up and down stairs instead of walking, to skip and +jump. + +That Causidiena had triumphed over similar tendencies comforted +Brinnaria and helped her to try to overcome her own. Most difficult to +curb was her tendency to be rude to Meffia. This Causidiena noticed at +once and set herself to obliterate. Brinnaria unbosomed herself and +Causidiena listened so sympathetically that Brinnaria sat silent through +the long lecture that followed and was very submissive during a +searching interrogatory. She promised to comport herself as a Vestal +should. + +"But," she said, "I shall suffer. That girl is unpleasant in ten +thousand ways, but the smell of her is the most unpleasant thing about +her. She's been tubbed and scrubbed and massaged and perfumed twice a +day ever since I came here and she smells worse than a polecat, anyhow, +all day long, even the moment after her maid has finished her toilet. A +whiff of Meffia sets me frantic. I'd be capable of any crime to get rid +of her." + +More lecturing followed. + +"But it's true!" Brinnaria maintained. "You can't help smelling her +yourself; she smells like nothing else on earth. It isn't the smell of a +dirty girl or of an ill girl, nor the smell of a girl at all or of any +kind of a human being. I can't describe it, but it's a thin sour smell, +sharp and shrill like the note of a cricket, if a sound and a smell can +be compared. It's horrible; it's not human." + +More lecturing, a long session of lecturing, followed this outburst. At +the end of it the victim was meek and pliable, or so professed herself. +For at least five days Brinnaria kept up her effort to be comradely with +Meffia. By the sixth day she was completely exhausted and the two +avoided each other as before. + +Agonies indeed Brinnaria suffered in her efforts to live up to +Causidiena's ideas of what she should be. On the whole she succeeded +pretty well and committed few errors of deportment. Outwardly she +controlled herself from the first; for, before her first cowed +sensations had worn off, her adoration of Causidiena had gained full +sway over her. Yet inwardly she suffered more and more acutely as time +went on, partly feeling that she must burst out in spite of herself, +partly dreading that she would. + +At last, after many days, she perpetrated her first and most +undignified prank. It was a terrific occurrence, judged by the standards +of the Atrium. + +The great peristyle of the House of the Vestals, including nearly +three-fourths of the whole courtyard, was beautified with a splendid +double colonnade, two tiers of pillars, one above the other, the lower +of delicately mottled Carystian marble wavily veined with green streaks +varying its whiteness, the upper of coral-red brecchia. Midway of the +court was a tank lined with marbles and always filled with clear water. + +One morning Meffia, walking about the court, in her irritatingly +aimless fashion, passed between Brinnaria and the edge of the tank. +There was no earthly reason for her so doing, as Brinnaria was barely a +yard from the margin of the pool, and on the other side of Brinnaria was +the ample expanse of the pavement of the spacious court. + +Brinnaria was exasperated by Meffia's proximity, by her +lackadaisical manner, by her shambling gait, by her sleep-walking +attitude, most of all by the peculiar thin, sour odor which Meffia +exhaled. At the sight of Meffia's elaborately disagreeable demeanor of +isolation, all Brinnaria's natural self began to boil in her; at the +whiff which assailed her nostrils she boiled over, all her uncurbed +instincts surging up at once. She put out one foot and gave Meffia a +push. + +Meffia, with a squall and a great splash, fell into the tank. + +She not only fell in, but she went under the water. + +She went under and did not come up. + +For an instant Brinnaria thought she was shamming to scare her; +but, in a twinkling she realized that Meffia had fainted. + +Promptly she plunged in and rescued her victim. + +Numisia, hurrying to the sound of Meffia's squawk, was horrified +at the sight of a dripping Vestal toiling up the steps of the tank +carrying over her shoulder another Vestal, equally dripping and limp as +a meal-sack, her arms and legs trailing horribly. + +Agitation at Meffia's prolonged insensibility postponed inquiry as +to how she came to fall into the tank. It so happened that Causidiena +first questioned some of the maid-servants, who all hated Meffia and +liked Brinnaria. Therefore the ones interrogated told a story as much at +variance with the facts as they saw fit. + +Brinnaria, after she was again dry-clad, quaked inwardly in +anticipation of Causidiena's wrath and suffered a good deal more at the +thought of her pained, silent displeasure. Hours passed, long hours +passed and nothing was said on the subject. From none of her sister +Vestals did she hear a word of reproach, not one of them behaved towards +her any differently from what was usual. + +Finally one of the maids enlightened Brinnaria. Promptly she +sought a private audience with Causidiena. First she made sure that none +of the maids would suffer for their duplicity and partiality; then she +confessed. + +The Chief Vestal was not wrathful, not even stern. She talked +mildly and gently, yet made Brinnaria feel very much ashamed of herself +and acutely penitent. + +The end of the interview was that Causidiena said: + +"You are such a robust child that you do not realize how frail +Meffia is. She is perfectly healthy, but is very easily unnerved or +exhausted. You have given her such a shock that she is unfit for duty. +Any Vestal is allowed to be ill for two nights and one day, if the +trouble seems trifling. But, if any Vestal is ill for a longer time, she +is promptly removed from the Atrium for nursing. I fear that Meffia may +not recover within the permitted time. I am most anxious that there +should be as few as possible cases of recorded illness in the Atrium +under my management. As you have caused the situation you must help me +to avoid what I fear. Go to Meffia and nurse her out of this and get her +about to-morrow morning." + +"Castor be good to me!" Brinnaria cried. "Smell that girl for a +day and a night! Whew! Pretty severe punishment! But I deserve that and +worse. And I'll do anything for you, Causidiena." + +Meffia hated Brinnaria cordially, yet she found her a deft, +tactful and silent nurse. But the very sight of Brinnaria was to her +an irritant tonic. She was entirely fit for duty the next day, not + a trace of slackness, unwillingness or sullenness. + +Causidiena early made up her mind that Brinnaria's intentions were +good and that she was far from planning her outbursts. She had herself +no prevision of what was coming, not an inkling of what was about to +happen, she blurted out her shocking remarks without herself knowing what +she was going to say and was overwhelmed with confusion when her own +ears heard the totally unexpected words which she had uttered; she +contemplated aghast the havoc she had wrought. Generally she made a +pretty fair attempt at demeaning herself as a Vestal should; but, every +once in a while, without warning, something of her old wild self surged +up in her and the speech was spoken or the action completed before she +realized she was about to speak or act at all. + +One such freak gave her a sort of notoriety, brought her name to +the lips of every gossip in Rome. + +She was as pleased with her privileges as a normal child of her +age with a set of new toys, as warily insistent on them as any +aristocrat of her build and appearance. + +She learned the precise nature and extent of her prerogatives and +did her utmost to enjoy them all. Being an adept at accounts she +ascertained the character of the various estates and investments that +went to make up the great property which was her jointure as a Vestal, +made sure of the exact income from each of its components, also the +total amount; both how far she was allowed to have her way in spending +it and how soon she would be free of supervision in that respect. She +made her will before she had been a Vestal for a month, leaving all her +property to Almo, should she die before him; but the whole to the order +of Vestals if he died before her. + +Of all her privileges the one she enjoyed most was the right to +drive where she pleased through the city in her private carriage, with +her lictor running ahead and clearing the way for it. Carriage-driving +within the city limits was restricted in Rome by severe regulations +rigorously enforced.* Ordinary travelling carriages might use only the +great main thoroughfares leading to the city gates. The owner of one, +unless he happened to live on one of those chief arteries of the +traffic, might not step from his house door into his carriage but must +have it halted at some point on the permitted avenues and must reach it +on foot or by litter. But there was no street or alley in Rome wide +enough for a carriage which a Vestal might not drive through; a. Vestal +might drive anywhere. Brinnaria was first taken out driving by +Causidiena and Numisia, then by the others in succession. Driving with +Meffia was no pleasure to her, but it was the etiquette of the order +that each Vestal in turn should offer the courtesy of her carriage to a +new member of the sisterhood. + + *In fact, wheeled vehicles except for those of the Emperor + and the Vestals were forbidden in the city during the daytime. + +After that formality had been complied with Brinnaria was +permitted to drive where she pleased, with what guest she chose, or +accompanied only by her official companion or by her maid. +Systematically she drove everywhere, once alone with her maid, once with +each of the other Vestals, often with her mother, often with Flexinna. +It gave her great pleasure to drive up the long zigzag approach to the +Capitol, where no human being save the Vestals and the Empress might be +driven, and where few Empresses had ever ventured to drive, to have her +carriage halted before the great Temple of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, +where no carriage except the carriages of the Vestals had been seen for +more than a hundred years, to enter the temple and say her prayers. It +gave her even more pleasure to take her mother or Flexinna with her, as +was her privilege; to make them sharers in her right to be driven to +Rome's chief temple, to which all other Romans, even the Emperors, must +walk or be carried by litter-bearers. + +She discovered another privilege of her position. Roman women of +the better classes never went out of doors alone. On the streets a lady, +if not companioned by one or more equals, was always accompanied by a +maid-servant. This had been the custom from time immemorial and had come +to have the force of a moral law. The sight of a woman of wealth and +position entirely alone in her carriage would have been startling, to +see a lady in her litter without a maid walking behind the bearers would +have been shocking: the spectacle of a lady alone on foot would have +given scandal. + +But, by some survival of the simplicity of the manners in those +primitive days in which the order originated, the Vestals were +exceptions to this mandatory fashion. A Vestal might never go abroad on +foot, except in one of the solemn processions. But, in her litter or her +carriage, she might go anywhere in Rome unaccompanied, protected only by +her lictor and her bearers or coachman. This privilege, like many +others, marked the Vestals as being apart from and exalted above the +rest of woman-kind. + +As soon as Brinnaria learned that she possessed this right she +proceeded to exercise it. Though she felt lonesome when driving alone +and enjoyed her outing far more when she had a companion, yet she drove +alone day after day, merely because it was her prerogative. +So driving she had, in one day, two thrilling experiences. She had +told her coachman to drive where he pleased and hardly noticed where she +was being driven. + +Suddenly turning from a side street into one of the main +thoroughfares of the city, she encountered the co-Emperor Lucius Verus +with his official escort. It was during the busy days preceding his +departure for Antioch and his great campaign against the Parthians. +Verus, roused from his devotion to sport and pleasure, was feverish with +enthusiasm and full of mercurial energy. He bustled in and out of Rome, +inspecting camps, presiding at ceremonials and keeping everything in a +ferment. + +That day he was returning from an inspection amid a large and +gorgeous retinue. Brinnaria had a blurred vision of splendid uniforms +and dazzling accoutrements. Her vision was blurred because her eyes +filled with tears; she turned hot and cold and almost fainted with +emotion, when the Emperor's twenty-four lictors lowered their fasces, +the whole procession halted, the escort and the Emperor himself swerved +their horses aside to let her pass and remained at the salute until she +had passed. The sudden realization of the importance of her official +position overwhelmed her. + +As she drove on, when she recovered herself, she meditated on the +experience, and told herself that she must live up to her exalted +station, that she must never, never, never for such as one instant, +forget herself or behave otherwise than as became a Vestal. +On the very same drive, before she returned to the Atrium, she +completely forgot herself. + +It was a hot, sultry afternoon and it suited her coachman to drive +homeward along the Subura, that thronged and unsavory Bowery of ancient +Rome. Three street urchins were teasing and maltreating a rough coated, +muddy little cur. Brinnaria called imperiously to her lictor to +interfere. He was too far ahead to hear her. Her coachman had all he +could do to control her mettlesome span of Spanish mares. She spoke to +the boys and they laughed at her. Before she knew it she had flung open +her carriage door, had leapt out, had cuffed soundly the ears of the +three dumbfounded gamins, and was back among her cushions, the dog in +her arms. + +This escapade brought upon her a visit from the Pontifex of Vesta, +the semi-globular Faltonius Bambilio, diffusing pomposity. From him she +had to listen to a long lecture on deportment and to a reading of the +minutes of the meeting of the College of Pontiffs which had discussed +her public misbehavior. + + +CHAPTER VI - NOTORIETY + + + +WITHIN a month she did far worse. She perpetrated, in fact, a deed +with the fame of which not only the city, but the Empire rang; made +herself notorious everywhere. + +It was on the occasion of her introductory visit to the Colosseum +when, for the first time, she was a spectator at an exhibition of +fighting gladiators. She was in a high-strung state of elation and +anticipation. Going to the Amphitheatre, in itself, was a soul-stirring +experience. Meffia, to Brinnaria's joy, had been on duty that day, along +with Numisia. This alone was enough to put Brinnaria in a good humor. +Meffia's presence spoiled for her any sort of pleasure. Then, besides, +they drove to the Colosseum, not in their light carriages, but two by +two in their gorgeous state coaches, huge vehicles, of which the +woodwork was elaborately carved and heavily gilded and whose cushions +and curtains were all of that splendid official color, the imperial +purple. The name conveys to us a false impression, for the hue known +then as imperial purple was not what we should call a purple, but a +deep, dark crimson, like the tint of claret in a goblet. +Against a background of this magnificent color, the Vestals, +habited all in white, showed conspicuously. Their stately progress +through the streets, gazed at and pointed at by the admiring crowds, +was conducive to high spirits. Still more so was it to be ushered +obsequiously through cool corridors and up carpeted stairs to the +Vestals' private loge, a roomy space immediately to the right of the +imperial pavilion. To be inside the Colosseum at last set her eyes +dancing and her heart thumping; the anticipation of actually viewing the +countless fights of many hundreds of gladiators increased her +excitement; to be seated in front seats, with nothing but the carved +stone coping between her and the arena was most exhilarating of all. She +was delighted with her great, carved arm-chair, deeply cushioned and so +heavy that it was as firm on its solid oak legs as if bolted to the +stone floor. She settled herself in it luxuriously, gazed across the +smooth yellow sand, glanced up at the gay, parti-colored awning, and +then conned the vast audience, line after line of rose-crowned heads +rising tier above tier all about her. + +She scanned the faces in the front row to left and right as far as +she could make them out clearly. She peered across the open space of the +arena, puckering her eyes to see better. When she caught sight of what +she was looking for she turned timidly, leaned past Manlia and asked +Causidiena: + +"May I wave my hand to mother?" + +"Certainly, my child," Causidiena assured her. + +Brinnaria waved her little hand and was seen, and felt the thrill +of a general family handwaving in reply. + +Suddenly she experienced a qualm of bashfulness, as if every one +in the enormous gathering were looking at her, watching her. She cast +down her eyes, wrapped her white robe close about her, hiding her hands +under it, and shrank into her arm-chair. For a while, for a long while, +she fanned herself nervously, very slowly, and striving to appear calm. +Gradually she became calm and laughed to herself at her own folly, +realizing that nobody was noticing her. + +Nobody noticed her. Many spectators noticed the Vestals, but no +one noticed her individually. This she realized acutely before the day +was over. + +At about the time when she began to feel herself at ease the +entrance of the Emperor and his suite distracted her attention from +herself. When the trumpet blew, announcing the approach of the Imperial +party, a hush fell on the vast audience and all eyes turned towards the +grand pavilion. When the trumpet blew the second time, just before the +Emperor came in sight, the hush deepened and the spectators watched +intently. When his head appeared as he mounted the stairs the audience +burst into the short, sharply staccato song of welcome, something like a +tuneful, sing-song college yell, with which Roman crowds greeted their +master. This vocal salute, a mere tag of eight or nine syllables, each +with its distinctive note, was repeated over and over until the Emperor +was seated. + +Then the audience settled themselves into their seats. Brinnaria +had instinctively started to rise when she caught sight of the Emperor. +Manlia had put out a restraining hand. The Vestals, alone of all Romans, +remained seated in the presence of the Emperor, not even rising when he +appeared. + +Marcus Aurelius was a tall, spare man of over forty years of age, +with abundant hair curling in long ringlets over his chest and +shoulders, and a full beard mingling with the carefully disposed curls. +He was a serious-faced man, careworn and solemn. + +Brinnaria regarded him with interest. She had never seen him so +close and she felt a sudden fellow-feeling for him from the sense of +semi-equality with him that flooded through her at having remained +seated. She recalled vividly the half-dozen times she had watched from +balconies the passage of processions in which the Emperor took part, how +her mother had made her stand up the moment he came in sight and had +kept her standing until he was far away. Her sudden exaltation in social +position was borne in upon her with startling emphasis. Not even her +carriage rides had impressed her so tellingly with the sensation of her +own importance in the great world of Imperial Rome. + +"How does he look to you?" Manlia asked. They were seated in the +order of their seniority, Causidiena on the right, then Gargilia, +Manlia next Brinnaria. + +"He looks crushed under his responsibilities and anxieties," +Brinnaria replied. "He looks depressed, even sad." + +"He is all that, poor man," her neighbor agreed, "and no wonder in +these days. The Parthians are at us on the east, the Germans in the +north, and there have been more than twelve deaths in the palace each +day for twenty consecutive days now. This pestilence is enough to make +anybody sad." + +"More than that," Brinnaria countered. "He looks irritated and +bored. Everybody else is alert and keyed up with anticipation. His eyes +are dull and he looks as if he wished that the show was over and he +could go home." + +"You have read him right," Manlia told her. "He detests all kinds +of spectacles, takes no interest in races and hates beast-fights. Most +of all he loathes gladiatorial combats. Father has told me about it more +than once and Causidiena says the same thing. I can't understand it. I +never get tired of sword-fighting, myself. What I like about it is its +endless variety. I never saw any two fights exactly alike, never saw two +closely alike. Each fight is a spectacle by itself, entirely different +from any other. I don't mean the difference between the fighters in +respect to their equipment and appearance, though that contributes to +the variety also; I mean the difference in posture, method of defense +and attack, style of lunge and parry, and all that; and the countless +variations in form in the men, the subtle differences of character which +makes them face similar situations so very differently. You'll get the +feeling for it in a half a dozen shows and be as keen on it as the rest +of us. + +"But the Emperor is different. Perhaps it's because he is such a +booky man and spends so much time in reading and study. But I think not. +There never was anybody more of a bookworm than Numisia and she is as +wild over the shows as any street-boy in Rome. Anyhow, whatever the +cause is, that is the way he is. He was more than surfeited with shows +before he was Emperor. While he was nothing but a boy, soon after he was +adopted and made Caesar, he often had to preside in the Circus or here, +when Hadrian was away travelling and Antonius and Verus were on the +frontiers. He used to bring his tutors with him and have two of them sit +on each side of him a little behind him. Then, after the shows had +started, he would put a tablet on his knee and write a theme or work out +a problem in geometry and when he had finished it, would pass it to one +of his tutors for comment, or he would have them make out sets of +questions on history or something else and he would write out the +answers the best he could. Sometimes he would read. All this he did as +calmly as if he were alone in a closed room with nothing to call off his +attention. Yet he was most careful to seem to watch the shows and would +look up every little while and gaze about the arena. But nothing ever +distracted him from his lessons. That is the kind he is. He simply never +cared for this sort of thing. He says that what oppresses him is the +maddening monotony of gladiatorial shows. Fancy anybody thinking sword- +fighting monotonous! But he does. He says every combat is just like +every other. All he sees in a fight is two men facing each other and one +being killed. He gets no thrills from the uncertainties of the outcome, +no pleasure from the dexterity and skill of the fighters. To him it's +just butchery, and the same kind of butchery over and over. He says he +might get some enjoyment out of a show if something novel would happen, +something he never saw before, something unexpected. But nothing ever +does." + +Brinnaria regarded curiously this grave, earnest man, who derived +so little pleasure from the most coveted position on earth. She +continued to watch him until everybody turned to the procession around +the arena of all who were to fight that day, the invariable preliminary +of a gladiatorial show and always a splendid spectacle. +When the fights began Brinnaria felt at first an unexpected +tightening of the chest, as if a band were being drawn tight just under +her armpits. Her breath came short and hard and her heart thumped her +ribs. + +The first sight of blood made her feel faint and the horrible +contortions just below her of a dying man, who writhed in strong +convulsions like a fish out of water, made her qualmish and sick. +But all that soon passed off. She was a Roman and the Romans were +professional killers, had been professional killers for a thousand +years. Success in hand to hand combat with any individual foe was every +male Roman's ideal of the crowning glory of human life; the thought of +it was in every Roman's mind from early childhood, every act of life was +a preparation for it. Their wives and sisters shared their enthusiasm +for fighting and their daughters inherited the instinct. Combat on the +field of battle was felt as the chief business of a man, to which all +other activities merely led up. By reflected light, as it were, every +kind of combat acquired a glamour in the thoughts of a Roman. The idea +of men killing men, of men being killed by men, was familiar to all +Romans, of whatever sex or age. Brinnaria was not affected as a modern +girl would be by the sight of blood or of death. The novelty revolted +her at first, but only briefly. Soon she was absorbed in the interest of +the fighting. + +Almost at once her eye was caught by a young and handsome fighter +who reminded her strongly of Almo. + +His adversary was that kind of gladiator known technically as a +secutor, a burly ruffian in complete armor, with huge shin-guards like +jack-boots, a kilt of broad leather straps hanging in two overlapping +rows, the upper set plated with bronze scales, a bronze corselet, and, +fitting closely to his shoulders, covering head and neck together, a +great, heavy helmet. He carried a large shield, squarish in shape, but +curving to fit him as if he were hiding behind a section of the outer +bark of a big tree. He was armed with a keen, straight bladed Spanish +sword. + +Facing this portentous tower of metal was a gladiator of the sort +known as a retiarius, equipped solely with a long-handled, slender- +shafted trident, like a fisherman's eel-spear, and a voluminous, wide- +meshed net of thin cord. His only clothing was a scanty body-piece of +bright blue. His feet were small with high-arched insteps. Brinnaria +particularly noticed his perfectly shaped toes. His bare legs, body and +arms were in every proportion the perfection of form, the supple muscles +rippling exquisitely under his warm tanned skin. His face was almost +beautiful, with a round chin, thin curled lips, a straight nose, and a +wide brow. Its expression was lively, even merry, almost roguish, his +lips parted in an alert smile, his blue eyes sparkling. He seemed to +enjoy the game in which he was engaged, to be brimming over with self- +confidence, to anticipate success, to relish his foretaste of combat +with a sort of impish delight. + +Roman children heard as much talk of gladiators as modern children +hear of baseball or cricket. Brinnaria knew perfectly well that the +betting on a set-to between such a pair was customarily five to three +against the secutor and on the retiarius. Yet she felt the sensation +usual with onlookers in such a case, the sensation purposed by the +device of pairing men so differently equipped, the sensation that the +mailed secutor was invincible and the naked retiarius helpless against +him. She was keyed up with interest. + +In fact the combat was interesting. The secutor, of course, could +have disposed of his antagonist in a trice, if he had only been able to +reach him. But a clumsy, heavy secutor never could reach a nimble, agile +retiarius. The one Brinnaria was watching was more than usually light- +footed and skipped about his adversary in a taunting, teasing way. Again +and again he cast his net intentionally too short, merely to show how +easily he could recover it and escape his opponent's onset. He danced, +capered, pretended to be lame and that he could not avoid being +overtaken, led his pursuer on, out-manoeuvred him, derided him; twice he +lunged through the flapping straps of his kilt and grazed his thigh. The +secutor was barely scratched, but his blood trickled down his shin-guard +and he was limping. + +Then, all in a flash, the retiarius pirouetted too rashly, slipped +on ton the sand, fell sprawling, failed to rise in time, and was slashed +deeply all down one calf. He rolled over in a last effort to escape, but +the secutor kicked him in the ribs and, before he could recover, sent +the trident spinning with a second kick and set his foot upon his +victim's neck. So standing he rolled his eyes over that part of the +audience nearest him to discover whether it was the pleasure of the +lookers-on that the defeated man should be killed or spared. + +Now it so happened that nearly all the spectators in that part of +the audience were watching a far more exciting contest farther out in +the arena, where two Indian elephants, each manned by a crew of five +picked men, were clashing in a terrific struggle No one, except +Brinnaria, had any eyes for the plight of the young retiarius below them +The secutor beheld indifferent faces gazing over his head The few thumbs +he could see pointed outward. Brinnaria, to be sure, was holding out her +right arm, thumb flat, and doing her best to attract the secutor's +attention. She failed. He glanced, indeed, at the Vestals, but as three +of them sat impassive he missed Brinnaria's imperious gesture. +He prepared to put his foe to death. First, however, he looked +further along the front rows to make sure that he had the permission of +the general audience, since the occupants of the Imperial box and of the +Vestals loge seemed to ignore him. + +Brinnaria perceived that he would probably not look again in her +direction; that as soon as his roving eyes came back from their +unhurried survey of the audience, he would deliver the fatal blow. +She quickly knotted the corner of her robe to the arm of her +chair, squirmed out of it, and threw it over the parapet. The robe of a +Roman lady was sleeveless and seamless, rather like a very long pair of +very thin blankets, all in one piece. Tied, as she had tied it, by one +corner, it made a sort of rope as it hung. She had acted so quickly that +no one noticed her, not even Manlia, who sat next her, staring +fascinatedly at the spectacle of the wrestling elephants and their +warring crews. + +Grasping her robe firmly with both hands, escaping by a hair's- +breadth the despairing clutch of the horrified Manlia, Brinnaria half +vaulted, half rolled over the parapet, swung sailor-fashion to the rope +her robe formed, went down it, hand over hand, raced across the sand and +faced the victorious secutor. + +He, although a foreigner and a savage, had been long enough in +Rome to know perfectly what a Vestal was and he recoiled from her in a +panic no less than he would have felt had the goddess Vesta herself come +down from the sky to balk him of his prey. + +The next instant no one was regarding the death-struggle of the +elephants, nor any other of the scores of fights ended, ending, under +way or just begun. Every human being in the audience was staring at the +amazing spectacle of a Vestal virgin, clad only in her thin, clinging +tunic, standing over a fallen retiarius and facing an appalled and +dumbfounded secutor. + +The place fell very still. So still that the shrill voice of a +street-gamin, a boy from the Via Sacra, was audible throughout the vast +enclosure from gallery to gallery. He yelled in his cutting falsetto: +"Good for you, Sis!" + +But his neighbors silenced him at once and not even any other +ragamuffin lifted his voice. The audience were startled mute. They were +quite ready to applaud the girl's daring, but the shocking impropriety +of her breach of decorum struck them dumb. + +The Emperor, roused from his meditations by the sudden hush, +looked about him for the cause of it and saw the situation. He leaned +forward, arm out, thumb flat against the extended fingers. The secutor +sheathed his sword. + +Manlia, with great presence of mind, untied the dangling robe and +dropped it over the parapet. One of the arena attendants carried it to +Brinnaria and she put it on. But she would not stir and stood straddling +the fallen lad until one of the Emperor's aides came out of one of the +low doors in the arena-wall, crossed to her and assured her that the +defeated retiarius would be spared and cared for. Then she suffered +herself to be led back to her seat, by way of the door in the wall and +passages and stairs never meant for any Vestal to tread. + +Not until they saw Brinnaria move off in charge of the staff- +officer did the audience let loose their pent-up feelings. The place +pulsated with a roar like that of a great waterfall in a deep gorge, +salvo after salvo of cheers swelling and merging. The deep boom +of their applause pursued Brinnaria and made her cower. The +people would never forget her now. They were in ecstasy. She +was their darling. + + +CHAPTER VII - AUDIENCE + + +ON the drive homeward from that unforgettable gladiatorial +exhibition Manlia and Gargilia shared the second state coach: +in the first sat Brinnaria by Causidiena. + +"My child," Causidiena queried, "what ever made you do it?" + +"I don't know," Brinnaria replied. "I did it before I thought." + +"Well!" said her elder philosophically. "It is done now and +cannot be helped. But please try to remember that a Vestal is +expected to control herself at all times, never to act without +forethought, to reflect long before she acts, to do nothing +unusual, to be very sure in each instance that what she is about +to do is wholly becoming to a Vestal." + +"I'll keep on trying," Brinnaria replied mutinously, "but I was +not constructed to be a Vestal. I always knew it; I know it now +and I am afraid I'll continue my blundering through the conventions. +I'm built that way." + +She had to endure a second long lecture from Faltonius Bambilio. +She listened submissively enough, but vouchsafed not one word of +self-defence, rejoinder or comment; and, when urged to speak, she +was obstinately silent. + +"My daughter," Faltonius droned at her, "remember that, since +your entrance into the order of Vestals, I stand to you in the +relation of parent to his own child. You should confide in me as +in your spiritual father." + +"I should do nothing of the kind," Brinnaria refuted him. "I know +the statutes of the order better than that. Up to the days of the +Divine Augustus, the Pontifex Maximus inhabited the house next to +the house of the Vestals and stood in the closest relation of +fatherhood towards them. But since he went to live on the Palatine +and made us a present of his house we have occupied all this Atrium + which was built in the place of the two houses. Since then no one +has been in the same intimate relation of control over us. The +Emperors have always held the office of Pontifex Maximus and as +such each Emperor has been the spiritual father of the Vestals. +The Emperor is my spiritual father and you are not." + +"Your self-opinionated talk does you little credit," Faltonius retorted. +"Since you know so much you must know also that for many years +each Emperor has designated some priest as Pontifex of Vesta to +be his deputy and to stand in the closest relation of parental oversight +towards the members of your consecrated order; I am that deputy." + +"I have no desire to confide in a deputy," Brinnaria told him, +"or to consider the deputy as my real spiritual father. If I feel + inclined to confide I'll make my confidences to my genuine +spiritual father, not to his understrapper." + +Bambilio was piqued and spoke sourly. + +"The Emperor," he said, "will be far from pleased with my report +of you." + +"It will make no difference to me or to him what you report or +whether you make any report or not," spoke Brinnaria. "I'm going +to have a talk with him myself." + +"Doubtless," Bambilio meditated. "He has sent for you to rebuke +you." + +"He has done nothing of the kind," she retorted vigorously. "He +has more sense. And if he had sent for me I should not have gone. +I know my rights. If he wanted to talk to me, he'd have to come +to me here. But as, in this case, I wanted to talk to him, I have +asked for an audience and the day and the hour have been fixed. +I am to have an audience to-morrow morning. And now, as I am to +talk to him myself, I see no reason why I should spend more time +being bored by his deputy. If you please, I should be obliged if +you would terminate this interview." + +Astounded and dumb, Faltonius bowed himself out. + +Causidiena suggested that she accompany Brinnaria on her visit to +the Palace. + +"It would be lovely to have you with me," Brinnaria said, "and I +am ever so grateful for your offer. You are a dear and I love you. +I shall want you and wish for you all the way there, all the time +I am there and all the way back. I shall be scared to death. But +I must go alone. In the first place it is my right, if I were only +six years old, to have audience with the Emperor alone whenever I +ask for it and as often as I ask for it. I am not going to abate +an iota of my rights merely for my own comfort. In the second place, +I must go through this unhelped and unsupported all by myself. I know + it; I must fight it out alone and come through alone. He'll be +sympathetic, if I deserve it. If I don't deserve sympathy from him +I don't deserve it from you, nor your company and your countenance, +either." + +Scared Brinnaria was, but even through her worst qualms of panic +she was uplifted by an elating sense of her own importance. Not +her encounter with Verus and his retinue, not her having remained +seated when Aurelius entered the Colosseum had so poignantly made + her realize how exalted was a Vestal. She drove to the Palace +alone, not in her light carriage, but in her huge state coach, +feeling very small in her white robes amid all that crimson +upholstery, but also feeling herself a very great personage. + +Her reception at the Palace made her feel even more so. The +magnificence of the courtyard in which her coach came to a +standstill, the ceremonial of turning out the guard in her +honor, the formality with which she was conducted from corridor +to corridor and from hail to hail, the immensity and gorgeousness + of the vast audience hall in which she was finally left alone +with the Emperor; all these did not so much overwhelm her as exalt +her. She felt herself indeed a princess. + +The Emperor greeted Brinnaria kindly, was as sympathetic as possible +and put her at her ease at once. He soothed her, made her seat +herself comfortably and said: + +"Don't worry about what you have done. You are certainly the most + startling Vestal since Gegania, but you have really done nothing +actually wrong. So do not agitate yourself about what cannot be +altered. The question which concerns me is, what will you do next?" + +"I think," said Brinnaria, "that the next thing I shall do will +be to procure a good strong rope and hang myself." + +"My child," the shocked Emperor exclaimed, "you really should not +speak so flippantly of so dreadful an idea!" + +"I'm not a particle flippant this time," Brinnaria declared. "I +know I am often flippant, but not now, not a bit. I am just as +serious as life and death. I have thought of nothing but suicide +since Trebellius conducted me back to my seat. I can't get the +idea out of my head and that is why I have come to you." + +"Tell me all about it from the beginning," the Emperor said, +comfortingly. "What put the notion into your head?" + +"In the beginning," said Brinnaria, "you know that I didn't want +to be a Vestal." + +"Yes, I know," he assured her. + +"Well," she went on, "now I am a Vestal and must serve out my +thirty years, I'm really trying to do my best to be all I ought +to be. I really am. I've tried hard to be sedate and grave and +collected and reticent and slow-spoken, and all the rest of it. +And I think I haven't done badly most of the time. But after all, +I'm myself and I can't be changed. Every once in a while myself +boils up in me under the scum of convention I've spread on top +of the cauldron, so to speak. I don't mean to let go and be natural + and spontaneous. I've done the awful thing before I know I'm +going to do it. I didn't mean to pour the pork gravy over old +Gubba's head; but she looked so funny I just did it without knowing + what I was going to do. I didn't mean to throw Manlia's pet +monkey out of the window on to Moccilo's head. But her shock of +red curls looked to be just the place on which to drop little +Dito, and I dropped Dito before I thought. It's just the same way +about all the other dreadful things I do. I don't mean to do them, +but I do do them." + +"Don't worry," the Emperor said, "you'll outgrow all that." + +"I trust I may," Brinnaria sighed, "but how about the harm I'm +doing as I go along?" + +"You haven't done any harm, not any harm that matters," the +Emperor soothed her. + +"Are you perfectly sure of that?" she persisted. "If you could +make me perfectly sure of that, I should feel a great deal better. +Are you sure?" + +"I can't see any real harm in your pranks," the Emperor said. "I +certainly should not encourage you to continue or repeat such +conduct or to revert to it, but I see no real harm in it." + +"You think I have not unfitted myself for my duties?" + +The Emperor meditated. + +"To a certainty," he said, "if your conduct was intentional, if +you thought up these pranks of yours and perpetrated them, with +deliberate consciousness of what you were about to do, I should +hold you gravely unfitted for your position. But you are manifestly + sincere in your efforts to be all you ought to be and are trying +genuinely to overcome your tendencies and to outgrow your +coltishness. I am of the opinion that, if you curb yourself from +now on, you have done no harm." + +"Do you think," Brinnaria insisted, "that if you called a meeting +of all the colleges of pontiffs and put the question to them, +that they would make the same answer you have made?" + +"You amazing child!" Aurelius exclaimed. "Why should you assume +the attitude of advocate against yourself" Why suggest a synod to + discuss your conduct and express an official opinion on it? Is + not my opinion enough? Even if I saw fit to call a synod and +all the members of it held the same views and expressed them never +so cogently, do you not realize that, if my views were contrary to +theirs, it would be my view that would prevail; that it would not + only be my privilege and my right but my imperative duty to +override any opposition and to enforce my decision? Are you not +satisfied with the opinions of the man who is at once Emperor +and Chief Pontifex of Rome?" + +"But," Brinnaria persisted, "I am not at all sure that you are +speaking as Emperor and Chief Pontifex. To me you seem to speak +as a kindly husband and father very sympathetic towards another +man's little daughter who comes to you in deep trouble of spirit." + +"You amazing child!" the Emperor repeated. "You talk as if you were + forty years old. Tell me precisely what is troubling you, for I must + have failed to fathom it, and be sure I shall reply officially as +Emperor and Pontifex." + +"What troubles me," said Brinnaria, "is the dread that my wild and +tomboyish behavior may be as displeasing to the Goddess as + coquettishness or wantonness. I am in terror for fear my +ministrations may be unpleasant to her, may be sacrilegious, may +not only fail to win her blessing upon Rome but may draw down her +curse upon all of us. I never thought of that until I stood there +all alone out in the arena, astraddle of that beautiful boy whom +I just had to save, feeling all of a sudden horribly naked in my +one thin, clinging undergarment, with two hundred thousand eyes +staring at me. It came over me with a rush that I was not only +never going to be fit for a Vestal but that I wasn't fit for a +Vestal and I hadn't been fit for a Vestal; that I not only was +going to do harm, not only was doing harm, but had done harm. If +the Parthians are devastating the frontier along the Euphrates and + the Marcommani and the Quadi are storming the outposts along the +Danube and the Rhine, perhaps that is because my presence in the +Atrium is an offence in the eyes of Vesta, my prayers an affront +to my Goddess, my care of her altar-fire an insult to her. I +tremble to think of it. And I cannot get it out of my head. I +wake up in the dark and think of it and it keeps me awake, +sometimes, longer than I ever lay awake in the dark in my life. +It scares me. I am a Vestal to bring prosperity and glory to the +Empire, to pray prayers that will surely be answered. Suppose the +Goddess is deaf to my prayers because I am unworthy to pray to her? +Suppose that my prayers infuriate her because I am vile in her +sight? Suppose I am causing disaster to the Empire? I keep thinking +all that. Do you wonder that I think of suicide, of hanging myself, +like the two Oculatas?" + +"My child!" Aurelius cut in. "You have not done anything that +justifies your comparing yourself to the Oculata sisters." + +"We'll come back to that later," Brinnaria replied. "Just now let us + stick to the point. Do you think my fears justified or not?" + +"Decidedly not," the Emperor rejoined, without an instant's +hesitation, "and I speak not as a soft-hearted parent who sees the +soul of his own daughter looking at him out of the eyes of every +little girl whose heart troubles her, I speak as the guardian of +the interests of the Empire, as the warder of the destinies of Rome. + +"Your misbehavior has certainly been grave, I admit; and, if done + maliciously, would entail all the harm you imagine. But the Goddess +can see not only your actions but your thoughts. Your scruples do +you high credit. I will not say you are as pleasing to the Goddess +as would be a grave and sedate ministrant, but I do solemnly decide +and declare that you need have no further dread of any past, present +or future harm to the Empire or to Rome from your past behavior, +if you honestly try to err no more. This is my official decision. +Be at peace in your heart." + +Brinnaria drew a deep breath. + +"You certainly comfort me," she said, "but I just know I'll boil +over again and not once, but many times." + +"Vesta will comprehend," he said, "if your derelictions are less +and less frequent and less and less violent; if you succeed a +little better from month to month and from year to year. She will +not be pleased with your lapses, if you lapse again, but she will +be pleased at your struggles with yourself and with your good +intentions. She will smile upon your ministrations and hearken to +your petitions. Be comforted." + +"I am," said Brinnaria, "as far as that trifle goes, but now we come + to my real and chief concern. Suppose I am as detestable in the +sight of my Goddess as the Oculata sisters were, and for a similar +reason; suppose I ought to hang myself as dead as they hanged +themselves. Oughtn't I, then, to hang myself?" + +"You incredible creature !" Aurelius cried. "I've met women by the + thousand, by the tens of thousands, but never a girl like you. +What do you mean? What can you mean? You cannot mean what you seem +to mean. Explain yourself. Be explicit. Tell me all about what is +troubling you. I'll understand and put your mind at ease." + +"I trust you may," Brinnaria sighed, "but I dread that you cannot. +I mean just what I seem to mean." + +"Impossible!" the Emperor cried, "a child of ten, but a few +months out of her mother's care and those few months in the care +of Causidiena! And I wouldn't believe it of you if you were twice +your age." + +"Oh," said Brinnaria, "I haven't acted like Caparronia and the two + Oculatas, and I shouldn't if I were never so much left to myself. +But you said yourself that Vesta can read my thoughts and I knew +that without your telling me so. Suppose that my thoughts are as +abominable in the sight of my Goddess as was the behavior of those +three unfortunates? Oughtn't I to hang myself and be done with +myself?" + +"Indubitably," said the Emperor, "if the facts were as your words +imply. But you are just frightening yourself to death with vapors +like a child afraid of its own shadow. Be explicit, be definite, +and I can put you at peace with yourself at once and permanently." + +Brinnaria drew a deep breath. + +"To begin with," she said, "you know that, before I was taken for +a Vestal, I was plighted to Caius Segontius Almo." + +"Certainly, I knew that," Aurelius replied. "All Rome knew of his + ride from Falerii and of his arriving just too late." + +"You knew I was in love with him?" + +"I assumed that," the Emperor told her. + +"Well," she said, a pathetic break in her voice, "I can't make +myself stop loving Almo. I always have loved him, I always shall, +I love him now." + +"I assumed that too," the Emperor said. "All Rome knows of his +resolve to remain unmarried, to wait thirty years for you, to +marry you the very day you are free. I assumed that he would not +be so constant unless he believed you equally constant. No harm +in that! You have a right to marry at the end of your service +and a right to look forward to it." + +"That is what troubles me," Brinnaria said. "I cannot feel that +I have a right to look forward to it." + +"Now listen to me," said the Emperor. "Few Vestals have left the +Atrium at the end of their thirty years. Not every one that has +left has married, the third Terentia withdrew at the end of her +term and did not marry, nor did the only Licinia who ever completed + her service. But Appellasia married and so did Quetonia and +Seppia. Others have married after their service, though it is +thought unlucky. The right to leave the order implies the right +to marry after leaving. The right to leave implies the right to +mean to leave, to plan to leave, to look forward to leaving and + marrying. You have that right, like any other Vestal. Does that +satisfy you?" + +"It does not," Brinnaria asserted. "I know a Vestal has a right +to leave and marry and to plan to leave and marry. But, after thirty + years of service, or nearly thirty years of service, to plan to +leave and marry and to look forward to it for a few days or months + appear to me very different from looking forward to it from the +first hour of my service, and knowing not only that I mean to marry, +but just the man I mean to marry, and loving him all the time, and + longing for him. I can't help it; I feel that way, and I dread +that I am not an acceptable ministrant and I tremble for fear of +the consequences to you and to Rome. I think I ought to hang myself +and be done with it. You haven't comforted me a bit." + +The Emperor stood up. + +"Sit still !" he commanded, sharply. + +He paced up and down the huge audience hail; paced its full length +three times each way. + +Then he reseated himself. + +"Do you sleep soundly?" he queried. + +"Like a top, mostly," said Brinnaria. "I go to sleep the instant +I put my head on the pillow. Generally I sleep all night long +until my maid wakes me up in the morning. Many nights, but not +every night, nor most nights, I wake up with a dreadful start, as +if I had had a nightmare, and lie there quaking for fear I am +ruining Rome. But even then I generally go to sleep again pretty +quick." + +"Do you think of Almo when you wake up in the dark?" he pursued. + +"Mighty little," she declared. "In the dark all I can think of is +Rome and my duty. I often reflect how immediately and how greatly +being taken for a Vestal changes a girl and alters, not only her +outlook on life and her ways of thinking, but also her feelings. +It has cooled and steadied me more than I could have believed. +When Daddy quarrelled with Segontius and told me he would not let +me marry Caius I used to feel as if I were going to suffocate, used +to feel that way sometimes for hours at a time, used to suffer +horribly, used to wake up in the dark and feel as if, if I could +not get to Almo right then, at once, I should die, as if I should +be choked to death by the thumping of my heart. I used to feel that +way at dinner, when out visiting any time of day, for hours. I +never feel that way now. And after Daddy and Segontius made up their + quarrel and it was arranged that I was to marry Almo, I used to +feel as if it would kill me to wait four years, I used to grit my +teeth to think of it, of waiting four years for him; used to think +of it an day long, no matter what I was doing. And I used to wake +up in the dark and roll round in bed and bite the bed-clothes +with rage at the thought of the long waiting ahead of me. I wanted +Almo the way you want a drink, just before noon of a hot day, +when you have been travelling since before sunrise and the carriage +creaks and jolts and the road is all dusty and there is no wind +and you feel as if you would rather die than go any longer without + a drink. I used to want that way to be married to Almo. + +"I never feel that way now. I want him and I want to be married +to him, but I look forward to it as I look forward to the next +race-day at the Circus or the next fight of gladiators at the +Colosseum, as a desirable and delightful time sure to come but +by no means to be hurried, as something I can very well do without +until the time comes. The thought of Almo is always somewhere +back in my mind ready to come forward when I have nothing else to +think of. But I think of him placidly and calmly and never when on +duty nor when at my lessons nor when at meals. And at night, never." + +"My daughter," said Aurelius, smiling at her, "listen well to me. I + speak as Chief Pontifex and as Emperor of Rome. I command you to +forget your qualms and to banish your fears. Officially as Chief +Pontifex I judge you a ministrant most acceptable to your Goddess, +as a most fit and suitable Vestal. I judge that no girl naturally + austere, frigid and self-contained could be half so pleasing to +Vesta as a tempestuous child like you who curbs her temper and +schools her outward behavior all she can in the effort to be all +she ought to be; whose feelings even tame themselves without any +effort of hers in the holy atmosphere of the Atrium. + +"Manifestly you are telling the truth about your acts, your +impulses and your thoughts, 1 judge you a pure-minded, clean-hearted + Vestal, most suitable for her duties. Vesta understands and is +glad of your good intentions and pleased with your struggles to + master yourself. You are most acceptable to her. You will bring +no curses on Rome, but your prayers will be heard and you will +bring many blessings on the Empire. Be comforted!" + +"I am," said Brinnaria simply, "and I shall stay comforted." + + + + + + +BOOK II + +THE REVOLT OF DESPONDENCY + + + + +CHAPTER VIII - SCOURGING + + + +AFTER her audience with the Emperor, Brinnaria felt more at peace +with herself, succeeded better in curbing her native wildness, +incurred less and less disapprobation and won increasingly the +respect and affection of her elders. Her outbursts were less +frequent and less violent; she learned to hold her tongue, to +appear calm, to stand with dignity, to move with deliberation. +Her admiration for Causidiena and Numisia and of their statuesque + attitudes and queenly movements helped her a great deal by both + conscious and unconscious imitation. It helped her more to find +that she was succeeding better than Meffia. At first Brinnaria +had been notably more prone than Meffia to assume gawky or ungainly +postures, and, as she was the bigger of the two, she was the more +conspicuous. + +Before long she began to improve in her bearing, but Meffia did +not. Brinnaria held herself erect, head up and shoulders back. +Meffia slouched and sagged along, a semi-boneless creature, her +clothing hanging on her baggily and unbecomingly. + +The difference was particularly noticeable at meals. + +In the Roman world all well-to-do people lay down to meals +luxuriously extended on broad sofas. Brinnaria had always had +trouble about her meal-time attitudes, and her mild easy-going +mother had often had to speak to her and bid her remember herself. +In the Atrium she had found her legs kept up their old habits of +getting into strange postures, her feet seemed distressingly in + evidence, and her knees always in the wrong place. + +Causidiena, tactful and sympathetic, solved the problem of how to +influence her by getting her to watch Meffia and to contrast her +with Manlia and Gargilia. + +They were almost as statuesque as their two elders, who reclined +at table in attitudes scarcely less majestic than those of the +Fates on the Parthenon pediment. Meffia sprawled uncouthly and +was forever spreading her knees apart, generally with one up in +the air. Her postures were so disgusting that Brinnaria was hot +all over with determination not to be like Meffia. + +She succeeded. + +Great was her exultation when she perceived that it was no longer + Brinnaria and Meffia who gave cause for concern to Causidiena, but +Meffia and Brinnaria, great her triumph when she made sure that +Causidiena had ceased worrying about her, or worried only at long + intervals, but was perpetually solicitous concerning Meffia. + +Meffia was indeed a cause of solicitude. She was stupid, slow and +idle about her lessons, tearful on the slightest provocation, inert +at all times and generally ailing, though never actually ill. She +never looked clean, no matter how faithfully her maid toiled over +her; she could somehow reduce, in an amazingly short time, the +neatest attire to the semblance of mussed and rumpled rags; she +slouched and shambled rather than walked, she lolled rather than sat. + +Her hands were feeble and ineffective, her writing remained a +childish scrawl, no matter how much she was made to practice, she + dropped things continually and frequently spilt her food at +meal-time. Most of all was her awkwardness manifest in the temple. + +The temple was circular, its roof supported by eighteen splendid +marble columns, the intervals between which were walled up to the +height of not much more than five feet, the space from the top of +the low wall to the roof being filled in with magnificent lattices +of heavy cast bronze; so that the temple was a pleasant, breezy +place on warm days, but very draughty in chilly weather and bitterly +cold in winter. It contained no statue, nor any other object of +worship, except in the center of its floor the circular altar on +which burned the sacred fire, solemnly extinguished and ceremonially +rekindled on each first of March, the New Year's day of the primitive + Roman Calendar, but which must never at any other time be permitted +to go out, upon whose continual burning depended the prosperity of +Rome, according to the belief implicitly held by all Romans from the +earliest days until Brinnaria's time, and for centuries after. The +extinction of the perpetual fire, whether by accident or by neglect, +was looked upon as a presage of frightful disaster to the nation, +as an omen of impending horrors, almost as the probable cause of +national misfortunes. Without qualification or doubt the people of + Brinnaria's world believed that, as long as Vesta's holy fire +burned steadily and brightly, Rome was assured the favor and +protection of her gods; that, should it die out, their wrath was +certain to be manifested in terrible afflictions involving the +entire population. + +The care of the fire was the chief duty of Brinnaria and her five +associates, as it had been of their predecessors for more than nine +hundred years. As maple was the sacred wood in the Roman ritual, +maple only was used for the holy fire. The size of the pieces used +and their shape was also a matter of immemorial ordinance. Each +piece was about a cubit long, about the length of the forearm of +an average adult, measured from elbow to finger-tips. Each piece +must be wedge-shaped, with the bark on the rounded side and the +other two sides meeting at a sharp edge where had been the heart +of the trunk or branch from which it had been cut. Each piece must +have been clean cleft with a strong sweep of the axe. The pieces +varied from sections of stout trunks to mere slivers from slender +boughs. All were of dry, well-seasoned wood, carefully prepared. + +The placing of these on the fire was a matter of ritual and might +be done no otherwise than as prescribed. It was quite a delicate +art to lay the necessary piece in just the right place and at just +the right angle; it required more than a little good sense and +discretion to know just when a piece was required, for the fire +must not burn violently nor must it smoulder, it must be steady +but not strong. This discretion, this good sense, Meffia was slow +to acquire. The art of laying the wood properly she acquired very +imperfectly. She did it well enough under direction; but, even with +Causidiena watching her, she was likely to drop the piece of wood +on the floor, or, what was worse, to drop it on the fire instead +of laying it on. The scattering of ashes on the floor of the temple +was held unseemly, that live coals should fall from the Altar was + considered almost sacrilegious. Meffia, more than once, perpetrated +such appalling blunders. Very tardily did she learn her duties; only + after four years could she be trusted to take her regular turn in +care of the fire and to stand her watch of half a night each time +her turn came between sunset and sunrise. + +During these four years she had grown into a not unpersonable young +woman, for Roman girls were generally young women at fourteen years +of age. She was never ruddy or robust, always pale, delicate-looking +and fragile-seeming, never actually ill, but usually ailing, peevish, + limp and querulous. Life in the Atrium largely consisted in the +effort to keep Meffia well, to make sure that she was not overtired, +to foresee and forestall opportunities for her to blunder, to +repair the consequences of her mistakes, generally to protect +and guide her. + +In the same four years Brinnaria had developed into a muscular girl, +tall, amply fleshed, robust, rosy, full of healthy vigor, lithe and +strong. She was radiantly handsome, knew it, and was proud of it. Her + duties she knew to the last, least detail, and Causidiena trusted her + quite as much as Manlia or Gargilia. + +One spring night it was Mafia's watch until midnight, at which time +Brinnaria was to relieve her. It was the custom that, at the end +of her watch, the Vestal) on duty made sure that the fire was +burning properly and then left it and herself waked her relief, +it being entirely inconceivable that, under roof and protected all + round by bronze lattices, a properly burning fire could go out in +the brief space of time required to leave the temple, enter the +court-yard, cross it, ascend the stairs and for the relieving Vestal +to reach the temple by the same path reversed. + +Brinnaria was a sound sleeper. She woke in the pitch dark with the +instant conviction that she had slept long past midnight, with a +sudden qualm of apprehension, of boding, almost of terror. + +She was a methodical creature for all her wildness, and very neat + in her habits. By touch, almost without groping, she dressed in +the dark. Silently she slipped out of her room, noiselessly she +closed the door, softly she groped her way to the stairs, down +the stairs out into the courtyard to the corner of the colonnade. + +There, a pace or two beyond the pillars, under the open sky, +she peered up. + +The gray light of dawn was faintly hinted in the blackish canopy +of cloud above her. + +Swiftly she flitted the length of the court, whisking past the +dimly-seen columns; swiftly she traversed the three small rooms +at its eastern end, panting she plunged through the dark doorway +into the dark temple. + +There was no flicker of fire-light on the carved and gilded +panels of the lofty ceiling; the ceiling, in fact, was invisible, + unguessable in the gloom. + +There was no glow upon the altar, not even a glimmer of redness +through the ashes. + +Brinnaria held her hand over the ashes. Nowhere could she discern +more than the merest hint of warmth. + +On the back of her hands, as on the back of her neck, she could +feel the chill of the faintly stirring dawn wind that breathed +through the bronze lattices and across the temple interior. + +She felt among the wood piled ready, found a slender sliver of a +cleft branchlet, and methodically ploughed the ashes across and +across. She did bring to the surface a faint redness, but not +even one coal which could have been blown into sufficient heat +to start a flame on her splinter of dry maple. + +A sound assailed her ears. + +Meffia snoring! + +Guided by the gurgling noise she found Meffia crumpled in a heap +on the mosaic floor against the base of one of the pillars. + +Brinnaria kicked her once viciously and shook her repeatedly. + +Slowly, dazedly, Meffia half awoke, whining: + +"Where am I?" she gasped. + +"In the temple!" Brinnaria replied. + +"Oh!" Meffia exclaimed, "what has happened?" + +"You went to sleep, you little fool," Brinnaria raged at her, +"and the fire has gone out." + +"Oh! what shall we do?" wailed Meffia, "what shall we do?" + +"Do?" snarled Brinnaria. "It's plain enough what you have to do. +Go to your room, go to bed and go' to sleep, stay asleep, keep +your mouth shut, say nothing, pretend you woke me at midnight, +pretend you had nothing to do with the fire going out, pretend +you know nothing about it, keep your face straight, keep mum, +leave the rest to me!" + +"But," wailed Meffia, "if they think you let the fire go out +you'll be scourged for it." + +"Well," snapped Brinnaria, "what's that to you? Go to bed." + +"But," Meffia insisted, "I let it go out. I ought to take the +blame, not you. I ought to be scourged with you." + +"You insufferable little idiot," Brinnaria hurled at her, "you +never could stand a flogging, you'd die of it most likely. To a +certainty you'd be ill, and have to be sent off to be nursed and +kept away for a month or more to recover. I won't have Causidiena + worried with any such performances. And as sure as the fire is +out, you'd behave like the poor creature you are. You'd scream +and howl and faint and shame us all. + +"No flogging of you if I can help it! + +"Now, go to bed!" + +"But," protested Meffia, "why need either of us be flogged? I have + tinder and flint and steel in my room. We could light the fire +and no one ever know it." + +"You imbecile child! You silly baby! You wicked, horrible, sacrilegious + girl!" Brinnaria stormed. "You irreligious, atheistical, blasphemous +wretch! To save your hide you'd desecrate the temple, pollute the Altar, + anger Vesta, make all our prayers in vain, bring down curses without + count on Rome and all of us. Be silent! Don't you dare to speak +another word! Off to bed with you!" + +"But," Meffia trembled, "you hate me; why do you take my +punishment?" + +"I don't hate you," hissed Brinnaria. "I despise you! And I've told +you why I'm going to take the licking. Off to bed with you !" + +"But," Meffia still persisted, "what will you do?" + +"Do?" whispered Brinnaria. "Do? Why I'll curl up where you've +left a warm spot on the floor and go to sleep and sleep till +some one finds me. I can sleep any time." + +"But think of the scourging!" Meffia insisted. + +"I shan't," Brinnaria maintained. "I shan't think of it a moment. +I never did mind a licking. It's bad enough while it lasts, but +soon over. No licking will worry me. I'll sleep like a top. Now +to bed with you, or I'll break every bone in your worthless body!" + Meffia started to speak again; Brinnaria caught her gullet in one + strong, young hand, clutched her neck with the other, and craftily + pressed one thumb behind one of Meffia's ears. + +Meffia squeaked like a snared rabbit. + +"There!" Brinnaria whispered fiercely. "Now you know how badly I +can hurt you when I try. If you let on that it was you and not I +that let the fire go out what I did to you then won't amount to +anything to what I'll do to you. I'll kill you. Promise you'll +keep mum." + +"I promise," gasped Meffia. + +"Go to bed!" Brinnaria hissed. + +Meffia went. + +Brinnaria, left alone, did all she could to make the ashes on the +Altar look like the remains of a fire that had died out of itself, +to efface all signs of her efforts to find live coals under the +ashes. She judged that she had succeeded pretty well. + +Then she composed herself on the floor and was asleep in ten breaths. + +There Manlia found her when the daylight was already strong. + +When wakened Brinnaria merely remarked: + +"It can't be helped. I always did sleep too sound." That day was +a gloomy day in Rome. The report was noised abroad that the holy +fire had gone out and a chill of horror spread through all classes +of the population, from the richest to the poorest. + +The Romans were very far from being what they are represented to +have been by unsympathetic modern writers on them. Practically +all modern writers have been unsympathetic with the Romans, for +the Romans were Pagans and all modern writers on them have been +more or less Christians, chiefly interested in Pagans because most + Pagans were in the later centuries converted to Christianity. With +that fact in the foreground of their thoughts and with the +utterances of Roman skeptics and dilettantes well in view, most +modern writers assert what they sincerely believe, that the Romans +had only the vaguest and most lukewarm religious faith, and no +vivid devout convictions at all. + +The facts were entirely the other way. There were agnostics among +the cultured leisure classes, there were unbelievers of various +degrees everywhere in the towns and cities. But the mass of the +population, not only universally, all over the countryside, but +collectively in the urban centers, believed in their gods as +implicitly as they believed in heat and cold, birth and death, +fire and water, pleasure and pain. Government, from the Roman +point of view, was a partnership between the Roman people, as +represented by their senate, and the gods. Under the Republic +every election had appeared to the Romans who participated in +it to be a rite for ascertaining what man would be most pleasing +to the gods to fill the position in question. Under the Empire the + selection of a new Emperor, whether a confirmation by the senate +of the previous Emperor's accredited heir, or an acclamation by the + army of the soldiers' favorite, appeared to the Romans as the + determination of the gods' preference for a particular individual + as their chief partner. + +The choice of war or peace, of battle or maneuvering for delay, +seemed to the Romans the taking of the advice of the gods, who +manifested their injunctions by various signs, by the appearance +of the liver, heart, lungs and kidneys of the cattle and sheep +sacrificed, by the flight of birds, by the shape of the flames of +altar-fires, all regarded as definite answers to explicit questions; +who also made suggestions or gave warnings by means of earthquakes, +floods, conflagrations, pestilences, eclipses, by the aurora +borealis, by any sort of strange happening. + +The extinction of the sacred fire in the Temple of Vesta was looked +upon as a categorical warning that the behavior of the Romans or of +some part of them or the conduct of the government was so displeasing + to the gods that the Empire would come to a sudden end unless matters + were at once corrected. All Romans believed that as implicitly as they + believed that food would keep them alive or that steel could kill them. + +Therefore the days after Meffia let the fire go out were gloomy days +in Rome. The report of a great defeat for their army, with a terrible + slaughter of their best soldiers would not have depressed the crowds + more. + +The people were as dazed, numb and silent as after the first news +of a terrific disaster. Every kind of public amusement or diversion +was postponed, merry-making ceased everywhere, the wildest and most + reckless felt no inclination towards frivolity, even the games of + children were checked and repressed, gravity and solemnity enveloped + the entire city and its vast suburbs. The men talked soberly, as +if at a funeral; while for women of every degree, but especially +for the matrons of the upper classes, the three ensuing days were +days of prayer and fasting. + +For the Pontiffs they were anxious and busy days. + +Both Emperors were away from Rome, Lucius Verus in +Greece, on his way home from Antioch and the great +victories of his three years' campaign against the Parthians, +Marcus Aurelius in Germany hastening from point to point +along the headwaters of the Rhine and Danube, desperately +resisting the pertinacious attacks of the Marcomanni. The +Pontiffs were without their chief and acted under the leadership +of Faltonius Bambilio, Pontifex of Vesta, the busiest and most +anxious of them all. In consultation with the august College of +Pontiffs, hastily assembled at the Regia, a splendid building +occupying the site of Numa's rustic palace, near the great Forum +and close to the Temple of Vesta, he arranged for the necessary +ceremonial of expiation and atonement. + +Besides the fasting of the women all over the city, besides their +day-long and night-long prayers, besides the sacrifices which +each matron must personally offer in her own house, besides +the sacrifices which must be offered for the matrons in the +Temple of Castor and in the less popular women's temples in +every quarter of the city, there must he public sacrifices of cattle, +sheep and swine, there must be solemn and gorgeous processions; +every sort of ceremonial traditionally supposed to mitigate the +wrath of the gods, to placate them, to win their favor, must be +carried out with every detail of care, with the utmost magnificence. + +Meanwhile, and above all, the negligent Vestal must be punished; +and at once the sacred fire must be ritually rekindled. + +The ritual rekindling worried and exhausted Bambilio not a little. + +The procedure was traditional and rigidly prescribed in every detail. +The sacred fire might not be rekindled by anything so modern as a +flint and steel, far less by anything so much more modern as a burning +glass. + +The primitive fire drill must be used and the fresh fire produced by the +friction of wood on wood. + +The ritual prescribed that a plank of apple wood, about two inches +thick, about two feet wide and about three feet long, should be placed on a +firm support, upon which it would rest solidly without any tendency to joggle. +At its middle was bored a small circular depression, about the size of a man's +thumb-nail and shallow. Into this was thrust the tapered end of a round rod +of maple wood about as thick as a large man's thumb. The upper end of the +rod fitted freely into a socket in a ball of maple wood of suitable size to be +held in the left hand and pressed down so as to press the lower end of the +rod into the hole in the apple wood plank. Round the middle of the rod was +looped a bow-string kept taut by a strong bow. By grasping the bow in his +right hand and sawing it back and forth, the operator caused the rod to whirl +round, first one way and then the other, with great velocity. The friction of its +lower end soon heated up the hole in the apple-wood plank, and round that +were piled chips of dry apple-wood, which, if the operator was strong and +skilled, soon burst into flame. + +Bambilio was fat and clumsy. Before he had succeeded he was dripping +with perspiration, limp with weariness and ready to faint. But succeed he +did. The quart or more of apple-wood chips burst into flame at last; +Causidiena, standing ready with the prescribed copper sieve, caught +the blazing chips as they were tilted off the plank, conveyed them to the +Altar, placed maple splinters on them, and soon had the sacred fire +burning properly. + +The punishment of the guilty Vestal was even more a matter of +concern, of trepidation. She must be scourged that very night, +and, as in respect to the rekindling of the fire, every detail of +what must be done was prescribed by immemorial tradition, +long since committed to writing, among the statutes of the order. + +The scourging must be done by the Pontiff himself. + +The scourge must be one with a maple-wood handle and three +thongs of leather made from the hide of a roan heifer. In each +thong were knotted the tiny, horny half-hoofs of a newborn +white lamb, eight to a thong, twenty-four in all. These bits of horny +hoof tore and cut terribly the bare back of the victim. It was +prescribed that the scourge must be laid on vigorously, not lightly. + +The Vestal scourged must be entirely nude. As it would have +been sacrilege unspeakable for a man to see the ankle or shoulder +of a Vestal, let alone her entire body, it was enjoined that the +scourging take place at midnight, in a shut room, and that a +woolen curtain should hang between the Pontifex and his victim. + +Bambilio was terribly wrought up at the prospect of the +perplexing and delicate duty before him. He was fat and +short-winded and would suffer from the effort of laying on +the blows. He was as pious as possible and quaked inwardly +with the dread that, in spite of the dark room and the curtain, +he might catch a glimpse of his victim and bring down the +wrath of the gods on himself and on Rome. And, apart from all +else, he was shame-faced and hot and cold at the idea of being +in the same room, even in a darkened room screened by a +curtain, with a naked Vestal. He blushed and shuddered. To +be sure, it was prescribed that one other Vestal was to be in the +room, on the same side of the curtain as the victim, to say +when the scourging had continued long enough and the negligent +Vestal had been sufficiently punished. But this comforted Bambilio +very little. + +He wished the ordeal over. + +At midnight he stood in the dark, close to the curtain. The darkness +was not as dark as he should have liked. Some ghost of a glimmer of +starshine filtered into the room and he could make out the shape of +the curtain. He waited, scourge in hand. + +Presently Numisia spoke, told him that Brinnaria was prepared +for her beating, took his left hand and guided it in the dark. He +felt the curtain's edge against his wrist, felt a warm soft elbow, +grasped it, and at once gained a notion of the direction in which +he was to lay on his blows. + +He struck round the other side of the curtain and felt that the +scourge met its mark, but slantingly and draggingly. He tried +again and seemed to do better. + +For the third blow he made the scourge whistle through the air. + +"Hit harder, you old fool," spoke Brinnaria, "you're barely +tapping me!" That made him angry and Brinnaria experienced +as severe a scourging as any fat old gentleman could have compassed. + +She did not shriek, sob or whimper: not a sound escaped her. +She suffered, suffered acutely, particularly when one of the +lamb hoofs struck a second time on a bleeding gash in her back +or on a swollen weal. But her physical pain was drowned in a +rising tide of anger and wrath. She felt the long repressed, +half-forgotten tomboy, hoyden Brinnaria surging up in her and +gaining mastery. She fairly boiled with rage, she blazed and +flamed inwardly with a conflagration of resentment. It was all +she could do not to tear down the curtain, spring on Bambilio, +wrench his scourge from his hand and lay it on him. She kept still +and silent, but she felt her inward tornado of emotion gaining strength. + +When Numisia spoke Bambilio let go Brinnaria's arm and stepped +back a pace. "My daughter," he said, "you have been punished +enough. Your punishment is accomplished. This is sufficient." + +Then Brinnaria spoke, in a voice tense, not with pain, but with fury: + +"You won't hit me again?" + +"No, my daughter," said Bambilio, "no more." + +"You have quite done beating me?" she demanded. + +"Quite done," he replied. + +Then, unexpectedly to herself, Brinnaria's wrath boiled over. + +"Then," she fairly yelled at him, "I'm going to begin beating you. +Shut your eyes. I'm going to pull down the curtain!" + +Numisia made a horrified grab at Brinnaria and missed her. +Brinnaria gave her a push; Numisia slipped, fell her length +on the floor, struck her head and either fainted or was stunned. + +Bambilio, his eyes tight shut, the instant after Numisia's head +cracked the floor, heard snap the string supporting the curtain. + +He shut his eyes tighter. + +He felt the scourge wrenched from his limp fingers, felt the back +of his neck grasped by a muscular young hand, felt the impact of +the twenty-four sheep-hoofs on his back. + +Through his clothing they stung and smarted. + +There came another blow and another. Bambilio tried to get away, +but he dreaded unseemly contact with a naked Vestal and did not +succeed in his efforts. + +The blows fell thick and fast. He was an old man exhausted by a +long day of excitement and by his exertions while scourging Brinnaria. + +His knees knocked together, he gasped, he snorted: the pain of the +blows made him feel faint; he collapsed on the floor. + +Then Brinnaria did beat him, till the blood ran from his back almost +as from hers, beat him till the old man fainted dead away. + +When her arm was tired she gave him a kick, threw the scourge +on him and groped for Numisia. + +Numisia had sat up. + +"My child," she said, "why did you do it?" + +"I don't know," snarled Brinnaria. "I was furious. I did it before +I thought. Are you hurt?" + +"No," said Numisia. "Don't tell anyone you pushed me. I'll never tell. +I don't blame you, dear." She fainted again. + +Causidiena, waiting under the colonnade of the courtyard, was +appalled to descry in the gloom a totally naked Brinnaria, a mass +of clothing hanging over her arm. + +"My child," she protested, "why did you not put on your clothes?" + +"I don't care who sees me!" Brinnaria retorted. "I'm boiling hot; +I'm all over sweat and blood and my back's cut to ribbons." + +"What are you going to do?" Causidiena queried. + +"I'm going to bed," Brinnaria replied. "Please send Utta to me +and tell her to bring the turpentine jug and the salt box." + +"My dear," Causidiena objected, "you'll never endure the pain!" + +"Yes, I shall," Brinnaria maintained. "I'll set my teeth and stand +the smart. I don't mean to have a festered back. I'll have Utta +rub me with salt and turpentine from neck to hips; I'll be asleep +before she's done rubbing." + +"I'll come and see she does it properly," Causidiena said. + +"Better not," said Brinnaria. "Numisia and Bambilio need +you worse than I do." + +"Why?" queried Causidiena. + +"After Bambilio was done beating me," Brinnaria explained calmly, +"I beat him. Numisia tried to stop me and somehow fell on the floor +and was stunned. She came to after I was done with Bambilio, but she +fainted again. I beat him till he is just a lump of raw meat, eleven-twelfths +dead, wallowing in his blood like a sausage in a plate of gravy." + +"My child!" Causidiena cried, "this is sacrilege!" + +"Not a bit of it!" Brinnaria maintained, a tall, white shape in the +star-shine, waving her armful of clothing. + +"I have pored over the statutes of the order. It was incumbent +on me to keep still and silent all through my licking. But I defy +you or any other Vestal or any Pontiff or Flamen or either of +the Emperors to show me a word on the statutes of the order or +in any other sacred writing that forbids a Vestal, after her thrashing, +to beat the Pontifex to red pulp. I have. You'd better go help him; he +might die. And poor Numisia needs reviving. I'm all right; send me +Utta and the salt and turpentine, and I'll be fit for duty in a day or two." + +"You terrible child!" said Causidiena. + + +CHAPTER IX - ALARMS + + + +THE next year was the year of the great pestilence. Pestilence, +indeed, had ravaged Italy for five consecutive summers previous +to that year. But the great pestilence, for two centuries afterwards +spoken of merely as "the pestilence," fell in the nine hundred and +nineteenth year after the founding of Rome, the year 166 of our era, +when Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus had been co-Emperors +for a little more than five years and Brinnaria had been almost five +years a Vestal. It devastated the entire Empire from Nisibis in upper +Mesopotamia to Segontium, opposite the isle of Anglesea. Every +farm, hamlet and village suffered; in not one town did it leave more +than half the inhabitants alive; few cities escaped with so much as a +third of the population surviving. Famine accompanied the pestilence +in all the western portions of the Roman world, and from famine +perished many whom the plague had spared. + +This disaster was, in fact, the real deathblow to Rome's greatness +and from it dates the decline of the Roman power. It broke the +tradition of civilization and culture which had grown from the +small beginnings of the primitive Greeks and Etruscans more +than two thousand years before. During all those two thousand +years there had been a more or less steady and a scarcely interrupted +development of the agriculture, manufactures, arts, skill, knowledge +and power of the mass of humanity about the Mediterranean Sea; +men who fought with shields and spears and swords, also with +arrows and slings, believed in approximately the same sort of gods; +wore clothing rather wrapped round them than upholstered on their +bodies as with us; reclined on sofas at meals; lived mostly out of +doors all the year round; built their houses about courtyards, and +made rows of columns the chief feature of their architecture, and +sheltering themselves in colonnades, sunny or shady according to +the time of the year, the chief feature of their personal comfort. Up +to the year of the great pestilence that civilization had prospered, had +produced a long series of generals, inventors, architects, sculptors, +painters, musicians, poets, authors, and orators. Everywhere men +had shown self-confidence, capacity, originality, power and competence +and had achieved success for two thousand years. + +The great pestilence of 166 so depleted the population that Rome never +again pushed forward the boundaries of her Empire. Some lucky +armies won occasional victories, but Rome never again put on the +field an overwhelming army for foreign conquest, never again could +fully man, even defensively, the long line of her frontiers. + +All classes of the people suffered, but most of all the rich, the +well-to-do, the educated and the cultured classes of the towns and +cities. And the main point of difference between the great pestilence +and the others which had preceded it was the universality of its +incidence. For two thousand years pestilence had occurred at intervals, +but previously not everywhere at once. + +If one country suffered others did not; if half the Mediterranean world, +even, was devastated, the other half escaped. From the immune regions +competence and capacity had flowed into the ruined areas and +civilization had gone on. But the great pestilence left no district +unharmed. In six months it killed off all the brains and skill, all the +culture and ingenuity in the Empire. There were so few capable men +left in any line of activity that the next generation grew up practically +untaught. The tradition of two thousand years was broken. In all the +Mediterranean world, until centuries later, descendants of the savage +invaders developed their new civilization on the ruins of the old; no +man ever again made a great speech, wrote a great book or play or +poem, painted a good picture, carved a good statue, or contrived a good +campaign or battle. The brains of the Roman world died that year, the +originality of the whole nation was killed at once, the tradition broke off. + +Of course, the survivors did not realize the finality of the disaster, but +they did realize its magnitude. In Italy, fed almost wholly by imported +food, the famine was most severe. In Italy the pestilence was most virulent. +Men disputed as to whether the great army of Lucius Verus, returned +home from its splendid victories in Parthia, had brought with it a form +of pestilence worse than that of the five previous years, or whether the +returned soldiers had merely been a specially easy prey to the pestilence +already abroad in Rome. Whichever was true, the veterans died like +flies. So did the residents of Rome. Whole blocks of tenements were +emptied of their last occupier and stood wholly vacant; many palaces +of the wealthy were left without so much as a guardian, the last inmate +dead; the splendid furnishings, even the silver plate, untouched in every +room; for the plague had so ravaged Rome that there were not even +robbers and thieves left to steal To the survivors, since genuine piety +as they knew it was all but universal among the Romans, it was some +small comfort, a faint ray of hope, a sign that the gods were not +inexorably wrathful, that, after Rabulla's death, there was no case of +pestilence in the Atrium, not even among the servitors, that no Vestal so +much as sickened. Through it all the six remained hale and sound. + +But when the plague abated, only Manlia had any living relations left her. +The other five had lost every kinsman and kinswoman, to the ninth and +tenth degree. + +Brinnaria's parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and cousins were +all among the victims. This left her grave and sobered with grief, with +no trace of her girlish wildness apparent. + +It also left her enormously rich, one of the wealthiest women in Rome. + +Not a tenth so wealthy, but still very rich, it left Almo, Vocco and Flexinna, +all of whom survived. + +As the plague had been rife, worse each year, for some seasons before +the year of the great pestilence, so, ebbing yearly, it continued for some +years after its acme. As soon as the worst was manifestly over the life +of Rome began to revive to some degree, the city dwellers plucked up +heart, the refugees began to return to their town houses, hunger and +terror were forgotten, industry and commerce rallied, bustle and activity +increased from day to day, and, slowly indeed, but steadily, Rome +returned to its normal activity and appearance. The survivors +reconstructed their life on the old lines, the streets and squares +were again thronged, the public baths, those vast casinos of ancient +club-life, were daily crowded with idlers. + +The repopulation of the city brought into it many rich families from +towns all over the Roman world. + +Their influx sent up the price of large residences and caused much +activity in the renting and selling of properties suitable for the homes +of people of ample means. + +Brinnaria, without a male relation of even the remotest degree, came +to lean more and more on Vocco, the husband of her chum Flexinna. +He was a young man of not unpleasing appearance and of courtly +manners, but very haughty, reserved and silent by nature; and exceedingly +spare, lean and wiry, with black hair and brows, a complexion as if +tanned and weatherbeaten and an habitual frown. He was fond of Brinnaria +and unbent to her more than to most of his acquaintances. She treated him +as a sort of honorary cousin and turned over to him many details of the +care of her large and scattered property. He took upon himself in her +interest the sale or management of her distant estates, found for them +capable overseers or purchasers at advantageous prices, bought slaves +where they were needed, arranged for the marketing of the more +important products and accounted to her for the proceeds. + +About her town properties he had more trouble and some exasperation, +for he found the apparently practical and unsentimental Brinnaria oddly +unwilling to disturb the contents of the palaces in which her kinsmen had +lived and died. She was naturally a good business woman and all her +instincts urged her to increase her capital and her income by every means +within her power and at every opportunity. Yet, when Vocco came to +her with offers of high prices for the various buildings which she had +inherited he could induce her to arrange for the sale only of the smaller +and less valuable houses, or of those tenements which had been owned +merely to rent, but had never been inhabited by any members of the +Brinnarian clan. At the suggestion of preparing for sale any of the +palaces of her near kinsfolk she balked; from the barest hint towards +moving the furniture in her father's home she recoiled in horror. + +Vocco found himself faced by invincible femininity, with the possession +of which he would not have credited Brinnaria. At first he was irritated. +As he missed sale after sale he became more and more aggravated. But +he kept his temper, held his tongue and waited for Brinnaria's mood to +alter. Her sentimentality gradually waned as the prices offered steadily +mounted. After long hesitation she gave orders to sell at auction the +furniture from the house of a distant cousin, and to rent the house. That +broke the spell. One by one the late abodes of the Brinnarii were cleared +and sold; sold furniture and all, cleared and rented, or rented furnished. + +The former dwellings of her aunts and uncles she was reluctant to disturb. +She felt a sort of sacredness about these splendid houses where she had +been merry as a child. When at last she made up her mind to part with +one she would not give the order to sell it until she had gone over it herself +and selected some pieces of furniture which she specially valued. Vocco +tried to dissuade her, but she would not listen to him. + +Her visit to the vast, empty palace had a most depressing effect on her. +All her grief at her countless bereavements rushed back over her in a +flood and overwhelmed her. She would not allow a stick of furniture +to be moved and withdrew her consent to the sale. + +Vocco was patient and silent. + +After a time this mood, too, wore off. + +She had that particular dwelling emptied and sold and, once that first step +taken, under the pressure of hugely profitable offers, sold all the other +properties. + +In each case she insisted on inspecting the houses room by room before +anything was moved. After the first she had no hysterical qualms, did +not show any outward emotion, selected what she meant to keep for +herself, ordered the sale of the rest, remained calm through it all. + +Finally Vocco came to her with a most tempting offer for her childhood +home. Brinnaria took a night to think it over. + +She had not entered the place since her father's funeral. He had been +the last of the family to die, three months after his wife, and some days +after his last surviving son. During the lengthy interval the palace had +stood shut fast, cared for only by a few slaves, and those not lifelong +family servants, but recent purchases; for the pestilence had carried +off with their masters nearly all the home-bred house slaves. + +At the thought of going through the deserted halls and silent rooms +Brinnaria winced. But she nerved herself up to it. She named a day +on which she meant to face the ordeal, asked Vocco to order the +palace swept and dusted, and announced to Guntello, almost the +sole survivor of her father's personal servitors, that he was to +accompany her. + +When the day came she set out, not in her carriage, but in her litter + with eight Cilician bearers, her lictor running ahead and Guntello +and Utta walking behind. + +She began her survey accompanied by Guntello and Utta. But when she +came to the nursery and schoolroom she sent the two away, told them +to wait for her in the peristyle, shut herself in and had a long, hard +cry; precisely as if she had been, as of old, a little girl hurt or angry +or vexed. After she had wept till no more tears flowed she felt relieved +and comforted. + +She called Utta, had her bring water, bathed her face and sent the +maid away again. + +Then she resolutely examined room after room. The second floor took +a long while, for there were many doors to open and close for the last time. + +There was a third floor, a feature possessed by few dwellings in Rome +in ancient times. The Imperial Palace, which later towered to even +seven stories, was unique in Brinnaria's time, in the possession of +five superposed floors. The great palace of Sallust, near the Salarian +Gate, had but three. + +To the third floor she mounted. Before she had investigated half the +rooms she found a door fast. What was more, as she tried it, she +thought she heard a sound, as of human movement, inside that room. + +Brinnaria was no weakling. Methodically she tried that door with her +full, young strength, tried it all along its edge opposite its hinges, tried it +at the middle, at the top, at the bottom. She made sure the door was not +stuck or jammed; she was convinced that it was bolted within the room. + +She leaned over the railing of the gallery and called Guntello. + +The odd note in her voice brought that faithful giant up the stairs, two +steps at a time; the beams of the house, even the marble steps of the +stair, seemed to quiver under his tread. + +She had him try the door. He agreed that it was bolted. + +"Can you break it in?" she queried. + +Guntello laughed. "Without half trying, little Mistress," he replied. + +Brinnaria's voice came hard and sharp. + +"You in that room!" she called, "unbolt that door and come out, or +it will be the worse for you. I'll count ten and then order the door +burst open." She began to count. + +She heard the bolt shot back. + +She nodded to Guntello. + +He gave the door a push. + +Before them stood Calvaster, his attitude and countenance expressing +cringing cowardice, cloaked by ill-assumed effrontery. He did not speak, +trying to appear unconcerned. + +"What are you doing in my house?" Brinnaria demanded. + +"I do not wonder that you are astonished to see me here and angry +as well," Calvaster replied, "but the explanation is simple. I learned +that you were proposing to sell the property. I had a curiosity to see it +as it is. I found means to slip in and go over the building. I counted on +leaving before you arrived. I miscalculated, that is all. Awkward for +both of us, but unintentional on my part." + +"I don't believe half of that rigmarole," snapped Brinnaria. + +"It is all true, nevertheless," Calvaster asserted with an air of injured +innocence. + +"One thing is plain, anyhow," Brinnaria declared. "You bribed one +of my slaves. Which one did you bribe?" + +Calvaster kept his lips pressed tight together. + +"March him downstairs, Guntello," Brinnaria commanded. + +Calvaster winced and made. as if to dodge. Big as he was Guntello +was wonderfully quick. In a flash he had the intruder by the neck. +Utterly helpless Calvaster was marched down the stairs. + +In the courtyard Brinnaria had brought before her the half dozen +slaves who had charge of the empty house. They stood in a row +fidgeting and glancing at each other. + +"Now," she demanded of Calvaster, "point out which one you bribed." +Calvaster remained motionless and mute. + +"Hurt him, Guntello," said Brinnaria. + +Guntello applied a few. simple twists and squeezes, such as schoolboys +of all climes employ on their victims. + +Calvaster yielded at once and indicated one of the suspects. + +"Throw him out, Guntello," said Brinnaria. + +When Guntello returned he cheerfully inquired, with the easy +assurance of an indulged favorite. + +"Shall I kill Tranio, Mistress?" + +"No!" said Brinnaria viciously. "I wouldn't have a toad killed on +the word of that contemptible scoundrel. Give Tranio a moderate +beating and hand him over to Olynthides to be sold at auction +without a character." Her survey of her former home and her +selection of the ornaments, pictures, statues, articles of furniture +and other objects which she desired reserved for herself she +completed with an air less of melancholy than of puzzled thought. + +She was off duty for all of that day and night and was to dine with +Flexinna and Vocco. In the course of the pestilence they had inherited +a magnificent abode on the Esquiline. In particular it had a private +bath with a large swimming-pool. The Vestals were the only ladies +in Rome who might not enjoy the magnificent public baths, to which +all Roman society flocked every afternoon, somewhat as we moderns +throng a beach at a fashionable seaside resort. Brinnaria, who +loved swimming, felt the deprivation keenly. The Atrium had +luxurious baths, but no swimming-pool. Whenever Brinnaria dined +with Flexinna she particularly enjoyed the swim the two always +took together before dinner. On that afternoon, while they were +revelling in the water, Brinnaria told Flexinna of her adventure. + +"I can't conjecture," she said, "what motive brought him there. +I have been racking my brains about it ever since it happened +and it is an enigma to me." + +"No riddle to me," Flexinna declared. "It's as c-c-clear as d-d-daylight." + +"If you are so sure," said Brinnaria, "explain. I have no guess even." + +"Why," expounded Flexinna, "he was there to c-c-collect evidence +against you. He hates you because you wouldn't marry him and he +is t-t-tenaciously resolved to be revenged. He is on the lookout for +anything that might d-d-discredit you. He hoped to spy on an interview +b-b-between you and Almo, for he surmised that you would arrange +to have Almo meet you in the empty house!" + +"The nasty beast!" cried Brinnaria, shocked. "How dare he?" + +"Oh, b-b-be sensible," Flexinna admonished her. "You know the +k-k-kind he is. He's b-b-bound to impute to everybody what he +would d-d-do in their p-p-place. Any man under the same +circumstances would jump at the same suspicions." + +"But why?" queried Brinnaria, bewildered and angry. + +"Think a minute," said Flexinna. "To suspect all women is a +c-c-convention, almost an axiom, with most men. All men like +C-C-Calvaster assume that every married woman is interested +in some man b-b-besides her husband, or in almost any man, +and if married women are under suspicion, on the assumption +that one husband is not enough, of c-c-course you Vestals, +who haven't even a husband, are doubly under suspicion." + +"Bah!" snarled Brinnaria, "you make me cross!" + +"Facts are facts," Flexinna summed up. + +Brinnaria did not retort. She had climbed out of the tank and +was seated on the edge, the drops streaming off her in rivulets, +watching the ripples her toes' made in the water. + +"Facts are facts," she echoed, "and conjectures are merely +conjectures; what is more, conjectures ought to have some +basis in fact. You assert, as if you know it to he true, that +Calvaster expected Almo to meet me to-day. But Almo is +at Falerii." + +"No, he's not," Flexinna retorted; "he's b-b-been in t-t-town +t-t-ten d-d-days and has had the old house on the C-C-Carinae +reopened. He's settling d-d-down to live in Rome." + +Brinnaria flushed. + +"I think," she said, scrambling to her feet, "that he might +have had enough consideration for me to stay in the country." + +"So d-d-do I," said Flexinna. + + + +CHAPTER X - CONFERENCE + + + +SOME months later, during one of the brief and infrequent +breathing spells in his ten years' fight to beat off the raids of +the Marcomanni and other Germanic tribes, Aurelius returned +from the Rhine frontier to Rome. As soon as she was +reasonably sure that the Emperor was rested from the fatigues +of his journey and had disposed of the worst of his accumulated +routine duties, Brinnaria sought a second audience with the +chief of the nation. + +She was then a tall, grave girl of nineteen, looking and behaving +like a woman of twenty-five. Very handsome she was, full-fleshed +without a trace of plumpness, fun breasted without a hint of +overabundance. Her brown hair, now grown long again after +its ceremonial shearing at her entrance into the order of Vestals, +was so dark that it was almost black. Arranged in the six braids +traditional for Vestals and wound round her head like a coronet +it became her notably. Her complexion was creamy, with a +splendid brilliant color that came and went in her cheeks. Her +expression of face was an indescribable blend of kindliness and +haughtiness towards others, of austerity and cheerfulness +inwardly, of intellectuality and comprehension towards life at +large. She had acquired the statuesqueness of the conventional +Vestal attitudes and movements, but she sat and stood so that +all beholders felt a vivid impression of her vitality, of reserve +strength, incomparably beyond anything possessed by her five +colleagues. + +Her stately pacing as she walked always appeared the conscious +restraint of what, of itself, would have been a swinging stride. She +wore her clothes with an unanalyzable difference, with a sort of +effrontery, as Calvaster put it in talking of her to his cronies. + +On her way to the palace, erect in her white robe amid the gorgeous +crimson hangings of her gilded state coach, she meditated on the +great dissimilarity between the feelings with which she had gone +to her first audience with the Emperor and those with which she +now approached his abode. Then she had been palpitating with +conscientious scruples and childish dreads, now she was sure +of herself and of her errand; then she had thought chiefly of her +mother and of the traditions of her family and clan, now not +only her mother was dead, but the whole family of the Epulones +had perished except herself and the Brinnarian clan was +represented by but three families, her relationship to which was +fainter than any assignable degree of cousinship; then she had +been full of elation at her lofty position in the world, now she +was perfectly at home in her environment and felt no emotion +at the thought of it. + +At the palace she found herself in the same vast room, alone +with a somewhat older and graver Emperor, now sole ruler +of their world since the death of his colleague, Lucius Verus. +He greeted her kindly, with an air of effort to conceal his +weariness, and when both were seated asked her errand. + +"In the first place," she said, "I want you to tell me whether +you are satisfied with the reports you have had of me." + +Aurelius half smiled. + +"I am well pleased in respect to all your actions but one," he said. +"You have certainly done better than I expected or hoped. You +have curbed your wild nature so well that, of late years, you have +behaved altogether as a Vestal should. Even earlier your conduct +was creditable, since from the very day of your promise to me, +your outbursts were less and less frequent and also less and less +violent. Once only have you acted so that I felt displeased when +I heard what you had done and feel somewhat displeased even yet." + +"I suppose," Brinnaria ruminated, "you mean my larruping Bambilio." + +"Yes," Aurelius admitted. "That was in a sense unforgivable. Had +I been in Rome at the time I must have animadverted upon it with +the greatest severity." + +"If you had been in Rome at the time," spoke Brinnaria boldly, "I +should not have been flogged by any mere deputy Pontifex of Vesta. +It would have been incumbent upon you, as Pontifex Maximus, +yourself to give me my ceremonial scourging. To you I should +have been, of course, as submissive after my beating as while it +was going on. No harm would have been done." + +The Emperor smiled more than a half smile. + +"I am not sure," he said, "that any harm was done, anyhow." + +"What!" cried Brinnaria. "You excuse me? You defend me?" + +"Softly! Softly!" the Emperor caveatted, raising his hand. "I do +not acquit you nor exonerate you. But I do make allowances. +And we must distinguish. We must not confuse the causes of my +disapprobation of what you did with my reasons for believing +that no harm resulted. Nor, for that matter, must we confound +with either of them those qualities in yourself and those +circumstances of the case which make me feel, illogically perhaps, +but very possibly, more inclined to thank you than to censure you." + +"Castor be good to me!" cried Brinnaria. "Am I dreaming?" + +"Don't interrupt, you disrespectful minx," the Emperor laughed; +"this is a lecture. Hear it out. + +"In the first place you were technically right in saying that there +is not one word in any sacred writing or in the pronouncements +of the Pontiffs or the statutes of the Vestals to forbid a flogged +Vestal from beating her scourger. Just as Solon in the code of +laws which he drew up for the Athenians prescribed no penalty +for the slayer of his father or mother, because, as he explained +when the omission was pointed out to him, he had thought that +no child would ever kill its parents; so no framer of rubrics ever +foresaw the necessity of forbidding what no one conceived of as +possible. All persons were assumed to be too much in awe of +Pontiffs, for anyone to dare to raise a hand against any Pontiff, +least of all a Vestal against her spiritual father. The world had +to wait for a Brinnaria to demonstrate that the unimaginable +could come to pass. + +"Yet the very fact that it was nowhere written down that you +must not do it makes your act all the worse. It was monstrous. + +"But fortunately it was not sacrilegious. The person of the +Pontifex of Vesta is not sacrosanct and a blow inflicted on +him is not to be rated as impious. Your act called for no +expiation, personal or official. It did not desecrate him, or +you, nor the place where it occurred. + +"Besides, I cannot resist admitting to you,"--and the Emperor +smiled an unmistakable smile--"that this particular Pontiff of +Vesta is farther from being sacrosanct than any of his predecessors. +As far as I can learn, Faltonius is a worthy man, pious and +scrupulous. But he is absurdly unfitted for his office in appearance +and in manner. The self-importance he assumes, the pomposity +with which he performs his duties, would be too great even for +an Emperor. He irritates all of us. All of us have wished, secretly +or openly, many, many times, that Bambilio would be soundly +thrashed. He has been. You did it. The story was too good to keep. +It has not, of course, been allowed to leak out, and become +common property. But it is known to all the Flamens, Augurs and Pontiffs. + +"I need not describe to you the feelings of my colleagues, nor my own. +To hint them is perhaps too much; to particularize them would be +unseemly. I may say, however, that just as street-boys acclaim you +by shouting: + +"'That's the girl that saved the dog;' just as all over the Empire +you are talked of as the lady who rescued the retiarius; so at any +festival or ceremonial in which the Vestals take part, many a +dignitary is likely to nudge his neighbor, indicate you and whisper: + +"'That's the priestess who walloped Bambilio!' You are not infamous, +you are famous. + +"As for myself I am the more inclined to feel indulgent towards you +because I understand how you felt. You were boiling with rage at +being struck by any one, as any noble girl would be. Yet you +would have controlled your fury but for the fact that you knew +that you yourself had done nothing to deserve chastisement, +that you were suffering for another's fault." + +"What!" cried Brinnaria. + +"Oh, yes," Aurelius continued, easily. "Causidiena and I are quite +agreed on that point. Neither she nor I have questioned Meffia, +and we do not mean to; partly because we are sure enough, without +any admission from her; partly because the matter is best left as it +is, without any further notice. But, with the exception of Meffia, it +is quite certain that, from the Vestals themselves down to the last +slave-girl, every resident of the Atrium believes that not you but +Meffia let the fire go out, and that you took the blame due her. +And we can all conjecture your motives, as we all applaud them. + +"Meffia might never have survived a scourging, might have been +ailing for months. Rome wants no sick Vestals nor dead Vestals. +Causidiena is grateful to you, all the Atrium is grateful, I am grateful." + +"But," said Brinnaria, wide-eyed, "I had supposed that, if Meffia +was suspected, there would be an inquisition and testimony under +oath and that it would be obligatory that the Vestal actually at +fault must be scourged." + +"For once," the Emperor smiled, "you have failed to read +accurately the statutes of the order. It is positively refreshing. +I was beginning to feel that you were altogether too accurate. +In fact the scourging of a delinquent Vestal is a mere +disciplinary regulation, designed to assure the maintenance +of the fire. It is not in the nature of a mandatory atonement. +It has nothing in common with an act of expiation. It has +nothing to do with placating or propitiating the Goddess. +It has no likeness whatever to the punishment of a guilty Vestal." + +"That reminds me," said Brinnaria, "of what I came for. +I'm as grateful as possible for what you have said to me, +surprised that Causidiena and you so easily saw through my +deception, delighted that you take it as you have, more than +delighted to find you so kindly disposed towards me. I need +all the kindness you can feel towards me. I want to come +to the point, to the reason why I am here. I want you to +answer me this question :'Suppose I were accused of the +worst possible misconduct, formally accused before you, +what then?" + +"Then," said Aurelius, "you would have a fair trial." + +"I believe I should," said Brinnaria. "You would be perfectly +fair and entirely just. And a fair trial would be a novelty. Almost +never has an accused Vestal had a fair trial." + +"Not even if acquitted?" the Emperor suggested slyly. + +"No," Brinnaria retorted vigorously. "Even most of those +absolved were not tried fairly. Postumia was, if the records from +so long ago are to be trusted. The first trial of the third Licinia +was perfectly fair, the minutes are very full and there is no shade +of bias in the discussion of her many interviews with Crassus, +while the court was plainly genuinely amused at his greed for +desirable real-estate and at his artifices to induce her to sell +cheap. Fabia, in the same year, was justly treated. But most of +the other acquittals were quite as bad as most of the convictions + to my mind. I can discover almost no trial where both sides +had a full hearing, where the judges tried to get at the facts +and kept their attention on the evidence, where the finding +as the expression of the opinions rather than of the partiality +of the Pontiffs. Almost every verdict on record, it seems to me, +was dictated by favoritism or influence or prejudice or wrath." + +"You seem to think you know a great deal about the subject of +trials of Vestals," Aurelius remarked. + +"I feel justified in thinking so," Brinnaria maintained. "Where +the minutes of the court have perished, as, of course, in the case +of all the trials before the capture and burning of the city by +the Gauls, I have read what records remain. Where the court +records are extant I have pored over every word of the minutes +of the proceedings and of every document attached." + +"That is more than ever I found time to do," Aurelius meditated. +"Your conclusions ought to be of interest. What are they?" + +Brinnaria drew a deep breath and went on. "I am convinced," +she said, "that sometimes the accused received what she deserved, +but generally by accident. The judges were swayed by politics or +expediency or clan-feeling or popular clamor or self-interest, not +by reason. + +"Nobody could form any judgment, at this distance of time, about +the guilt or innocence of Oppia or Opimia or Popilia or Porphilia +or Orbilia or Orbinia or whatever her real name was, it all happened +so long ago. But Minucia and Sextilia and Floronia and the rest +were just victims of judicial ferocity, as far as I can make out." + +"You are then of the opinion," the Emperor asked, "that there never +was a guilty Vestal?" + +"No," Brinnaria replied judicially, "I don't go as far as that. Varonilla +was probably depraved and with her the two Oculatas. I don't think +their suicides prove anything against them, for a woman is just as +likely to hang herself because she despairs of a fair hearing as +because she is conscious of guilt. What weighs with me is that they +were brought up in the dissolute times of Messalina and Nero and +that their relatives were leaders of the most profligate set in Rome, +cronies of Vitellius and his coterie. But although Cornelia was bred +and raised in the same social atmosphere, I am quite as sure of her +innocence as all the world was the day she was buried and as +everybody has been ever since. Domitian just murdered her without +a trial, for political reasons and for moral effect. So likewise +Marcia and the second Licinia were judicially murdered by that +fierce old Cassius Longinus Ravilla. He was elected to convict +them, not to try them, and he conducted the trial not to arrive +at a fair verdict, but to force a conviction. He had some excuse, +for their acquittal on their former trial had been brought about +by idiotic bribing and family influence. On the face of the evidence +at both trials they were clearly blameless. What ruined them was +their trying to shield Aurelia, surely the worst Vestal on record, +for she had everything in her favor, ancestry, upbringing and +surroundings; she was beyond doubt innately vicious. She was +the only Vestal ever justly convicted and justly punished, in my +opinion. All the others were irreproachable women, doomed to +a frightful fate by prejudiced judges. In general, an accused +Vestal is as good as condemned, the whole population so dreads +the results of acquitting an unclean priestess. And it is the +easiest thing in the world for a Vestal to be accused. Refuse +to sell a farm for half its value, snub a bore, order a slave +flogged for some unbearable blunder, and the result is the +same; false accusation with perjured witnesses and a quick +conviction most likely to follow." + +"The subject seems to have occupied your mind a great deal," +Aurelius ruminated. + +"Do you wonder?" Brinnaria flamed at him. "What in all the +tragic, dramatic history of Rome is half so dramatic or a tenth +so tragic as the burial of a Vestal? In all our centuries of ferocity, +what seems half so cruel? + +"I know that cruelty played no part in the invention of burial alive +as a punishment for a convicted Vestal. I know that no caitiff could be +found so vile as to dare to lay hands on a Vestal, no ruffian so reckless +as to venture to end her life by sword or axe, by strangling or +drowning. The most impious miscreant has too much fear of the +gods to injure a consecrated priestess. The only way to dispose +of a delinquent Vestal is to bury her alive. But the cruelty of it +makes me choke. I think of the last hours of each of those who +were punished, of their thoughts as the time drew near, of their +feelings alone in the dark waiting for death to release them from +their sufferings. + +"I think of these underground cells as they are now, out there +under that awful unkempt, ragged waste lot by the Colline Gate. +I think of the skeletons mouldering on the mouldering cots, of the +bones, the fragments of crumbling bones, the dust of crumbled +bones on the stone floors, as they have been for hundreds of years, +as they will be for thousands of years to come. The cot cannot +yet have decayed from under what is left of poor Cornelia; her +bones must still be entire and in order on the webbing; Aurelia's +bones must be whole yet and Licinia's and Marcia's; of Floronia +there can hardly be left a trace by now, where Minucia died there +can be only an empty stone cell. Do you wonder that the subject +haunts me?" + +"I do and I do not," Aurelius replied. "I've let you relieve your +mind by talking yourself tired. Now listen to me. I think I understand +you perfectly. When you came to me before the novel responsibilities +of your office had worn on your nerves and you were quivering +with dread for fear you might be an unworthy priestess. Now the +perils of your situation are wearing on your nerves and you are +brooding over the possibility of accusation, trial, conviction and +burial alive. + +"I sympathize with you. As an Emperor I am exposed to the +perpetual danger of assassination. You would be amazed if I +detailed to you my various narrow escapes from death at the hands +of disappointed seekers after preferment, of incompetent officials, +of knaves with grievances of every conceivable and inconceivable +variety and of fools with no grievance at all. You would be +astonished if I merely reckoned the occasions on which I have +just missed being killed. It gets on my nerves, more or less, of +course. But I strive to bear up and remain calm and I succeed +more or less. I keep before me the fact that as an Emperor I +am obnoxious to countless hatreds from fancied slights and to +uncountable schemes of revenge. I reflect that the danger is +inseparable from the state of my being an Emperor. I try to +be philosophical about it. + +"So you must attempt to remain placid under the strain of the +knowledge that you are exposed to perpetual danger of a horrible +death from conviction on false accusation. It is part of the +condition of being a Vestal. If anything goes wrong in the way +of earthquake, flood, famine, pestilence, conflagrations or +defeats, the populace are likely to cry out that some Vestal +is unclean and bringing down on the Empire the wrath of the +gods. That nothing of the kind has occurred during our recent +afflictions has been clearly due to the holiness of Dossonia and +Causidiena and to their reputation for strict discipline. But the +danger of popular outcry is always real. Then there is the fact +that far too large a proportion of our population are dissolute +and that, among the dissolute-minded, all Vestals are under +suspicion because they are the only women among our nobility +who remain unmarried long after they have reached +marriageable years. You must learn to take all this as a matter +of course and to go sedately about your duties. + +"Of course, I lessen my danger by keeping about me many trusty +guards. It is right that you should appeal to me in your anxiety. +I shall do what I can to lessen your danger. I believe in you. If +you were accused before me it would take notably plain and +convincing evidence to make me believe anything against you. +I shall put my opinion of you on record among my papers of +instructions to my successor. I shall declare it to all the Chief +Pontiffs. I shall verbally and in writing make it clear to all +concerned that you seem to me all you should be, that you +are in an unusually difficult and delicate position and that in +case of accusation all presumption should be in favor of your +innocence and against the sincerity of your accusers. + +"And now I think that ought to satisfy you and cover all the +general considerations. Let us come to the special consideration +that interests me chiefly. You have never come to me because +you became gradually unnerved by brooding which had no +specific origin or cause: + +"Tell me plainly and outspokenly what has happened to you +lately to fill your mind with thoughts of buried Vestals, trials, +accusations and terrors?" + +Brinnaria thereupon related her encounter with Calvaster +and her conversation with Flexinna. + +The Emperor stroked his beard and reflected. + +"I have never liked Calvaster," he said, "and if I had been +in the city to consider recommendations for appointments +he would, assuredly, never have become a member of Rome's +hierarchy. I deem him gravely unsuited for even the most +minor grade of Pontiff. He appears to me to be mean-spirited, +narrow-minded and base. I am inclined to believe of him all +that you impute. But, even to such as Calvaster, we should be +just. You complained, a while ago, that the judges of the +Vestals had ignored both the facts and the evidence. Let us +weigh the evidence and stick to the facts. The only fact you +present is that you caught Calvaster lurking in your house. +You confess that you were completely puzzled as to what +motive brought him there. Your friend surmises an +explanation which disgusts, insults and alarms you. You +instantly credit it completely, think and act as if it were +unquestionably true. I am prejudiced against Calvaster, as +I have told you, yet I am by no means ready to admit that +your beliefs about him are evidence against him, more +particularly as they rest solely on Flexinna's ingenious +conjectures. The notion is plausible and it is entirely +congruent with Calvaster's character as I imagine it. +Yet it is, after all, merely a plausible surmise. I am just +as inclined to accept Calvaster's own explanation; he is +an inquisitive busybody. + +"My verdict is that you need feel no alarm." + +"But I do," Brinnaria maintained; "I do not feel safe with +Calvaster anywhere about." + +The Emperor reflected. + +"The peace of mind of a Vestal," he said, "is a matter of such +importance to the state that I should not hesitate about ordering +Calvaster banished to some comfortable and healthy island +and there detained permanently, were it not that the fellow has +made himself almost indispensable. The pestilence has carried +off practically all the adepts at interpretation of the sacred +writings, the prophetic books, the rubrics and rituals of the +various temples, the statutes of the brotherhoods and other +orders of the hierarchy. Only Numerius Aproniarius remains +of the older experts, and he is afflicted by an incurable and +loathsome disease which he cannot long survive. Of the +younger men only Calvaster has displayed any aptitude for +learning this delicate and complex art, only he has attained +any reputation. He is, in the circumstances, indispensable, I +cannot banish him merely to please you. You will have to +endure Calvaster." + +Brinnaria pulled a wry face, as in her mutinous girlhood. She +felt entirely at ease with Aurelius. + +"I perceive that I must endure him," she said, "but if you cannot +banish Calvaster, perhaps you'll oblige me by banishing Almo." + +"Almo!" the Emperor exclaimed, "what can you have against +that gallant lad? Have you turned against him? I thought you +were unshakably resolved to marry him, thought you loved him +unalterably!" + +"I shall marry him, if we both live," Brinnaria replied, "and +most unalterably love him. But I love life and daylight and fresh +air and my full meals even more. I have a splendid appetite, I +loath stuffy places, I hate the dark. The idea of being shut in +an underground cell to suffocate slowly or starve to death even +more slowly goes against my gorge. I see myself in my mind's +eye climbing down that ladder, like poor Cornelia, I see myself +stretched out on my cot, watching the ladder being pulled up by +the executioner, watching the workmen fitting in the last stone +of the vault. I imagine myself staring at the wick of the lamp +and wondering how long the oil will last and debating whether +it would be better to blow out the light and save the oil to drink +and so live longer in the dark, or to let the lamp burn out and +have the discomfort of the light a little longer. I fancy myself +conning over the trifle of bread, milk, fruit and wine left on +the stone slab, and speculating as to how long they'll keep me alive. + +"Bah! + +"No burial alive for me. + +"Acquittal on a trial is a poor way for a Vestal to escape the +worst possible fate, a last resort, at best, and an unchancy reliance, +even as a last resort. A far better way is never to be tried, and the +best way never to be tried is never to be accused. You've been +good enough to tell me that if I were accused you'd be predisposed +to favor me in all possible ways and that you'll give instructions +as to your opinion of me. Any directions of yours would be respected +by any heir of yours. But you yourself have just remarked how +slender is an Emperor's hold on life or on power. I may survive +both yourself and your son. I might be tried before men we should +never think of now. I must arrange so that I shall never be tried +at all, I must live so that I shall never be accused. + +"Now I am unlikely ever to be accused in relation to any man except +Almo. Everybody knows I mean to marry Almo when my service is +at an end, everybody knows he means to marry me, everybody knows +we are in love with each other. That puts me in the most delicate +position any Vestal ever was placed in. I have been extremely +careful. I have never spoken to Almo since I was taken for a +Vestal, have never met him except by accident, have never set +eyes on him except against my will; have never even written a +letter to him or received one from him. I have been, I think, wise, +judicious and controlled. But Almo has not behaved well towards me." + +"Indeed!" Aurelius interjected. "You surprise me! What has he done?" + +Brinnaria flushed. + +"A girl in love," she said, "is a fool, but she has sense enough to +conceal her foolishness. A man is different. I suppose men are +made that way and can't help themselves. But a man in love is +not only a fool, but he parades his foolishness. Almo sent me +messages by all sorts of mutual acquaintances, by his people +and mine, by Flexinna, by Nemestronia, by Vocco, begging me +to exchange letters with him. I was angry and said so and +repeatedly sent him word that he was most foolish and most +inconsiderate. I sent him word that if he wanted to please me +he'd ignore my existence and stay as far from me as possible. + +"He actually begged his father to be allowed to come to Rome. +His father had the good sense to keep him at Falerii. Now that +all his relatives are dead and he is his own master he has come +to Rome. If he had any real consideration for me he'd go to +Aquileia, at least he might be satisfied with a popular resort like +Baiae or a place like Capua; Capua has enough baths and shows +and horse-races and gladiators for anybody. + +"But he must come to Rome, when a spark of sense and decency +would tell him to keep as far away as he could. It stands to +reason that I could never be accused of misconduct with him +if he had never been within a hundred miles of me since I was +taken for a Vestal. + +"But he must needs come to Rome. He has opened his house on +the Carinae and had it put in order and has settled down to such +a life here as is usual with wealthy leisured idlers. He has bought +additional furniture, as if his father's house wasn't stuffed with +everything magnificent, he has bought curios and antiques and +statuary and pictures and books. He spends most of his time in +the barracks of his favorite gladiatorial company or at the stables +of the Greens, and the rest of it at the afternoon baths. I sent +Vocco to him to protest and to urge him to leave Rome for my +sake. The selfish wretch said he loved me and always would, +but he just could not live anywhere except at Rome. He stays +here, in defiance of my wishes and against all reason." + +"That is not what I should have expected of him," the Emperor +meditated. "I am surprised and far from pleased. I shall certainly +find means to relieve your mind as far as he is concerned." + +"There is worse yet to tell," Brinnaria went on. "You'd think that, +if he must stay in Rome he'd at least have the decency to keep +away from me and from places where he is likely to encounter me. +He does just the reverse. He haunts me, he waylays me. He prowls +up and down the Via Sacra and the Via Nova, he stands in the +moonlight and stares up at the outside windows of the Atrium; +on festival days he waits outside of our entrance to the Colosseum +or of the Circus Maximus to watch me enter; on any day he loiters +about the portal of the Atrium to watch me come out to my litter +or my carriage, he dogs me on my airings." + +"Hercules!" Aurelius exclaimed. "This is too bad!" + +"Too bad indeed," Brinnaria pursued; "it would be bad enough from +anybody in his position, from him it is ten times worse than from anyone +else. You know how individual Almo is, how almost peculiar he looks, +how no one would mistake him for anyone else or forget him or fail to +recognize him. I have often tried to analyze the factors that go to make +him look so striking, but I cannot. He is perfectly proportioned in every +measurement, yet, somehow, he has a long-armed and long-legged +appearance different from that of any young man in Rome, he gives +almost the effect of reminding one of a spider or of a grasshopper +or of a daddy-long-legs. It makes him the most conspicuous, the most +recognizable man in all Rome. Why, if your son were to mingle in +a crowd, habited like any other boy in that crowd and Almo did the +same, and nobody in the crowd had any reason to expect to see either, +Almo would most likely be noticed sooner than Antoninus, recognized +more generally, more readily, further off and quicker." + +"You are right," Aurelius mused, "I never thought of that, but Almo +is unforgettable, striking and arresting to the eye beyond any lad in +our nobility." + +"And being what he is," Brinnaria raged, "he must needs arrange +that nearly every crowd I am in should see him at the same time as +me. Already thousands of reputable Romans must remember seeing +us at the same glance. Before long the majority will be ready to +recall, if the subject is broached, that they have habitually seen +him wherever they saw me. Some one will start the talk and presently +all Rome will buzz with the gossip that we are continually seen +together. A charming state of affairs for me if some busybody or +some enemy of mine raises the question of my fitness for my holy +duties! I have protested. I've had Vocco go to Almo and urge all +these considerations on him, and the silly boy says he can't live +without seeing me, that he longs for the sight of me so he cannot +control himself. How's that for lover's folly? One minute he can't +live away from Rome, he loves Rome more than he loves me; the +next minute I'm the one object on earth which he must behold or +die. I've no patience with such imbecility." + +"And I have very little," said the Emperor; "just enough to imagine +a better way of disburdening you and of disposing of Almo than +banishing him would be. The lad is far too good to be wasting his +time with the horse-jockeys and charioteers and ostlers of the Greens, +or brutalizing himself with the companionship of ruffianly +prize-fighters, belonging to this or that speculator in the flesh of +ferocious savages. He must find some outlet for his energies and +interests and is carried away by the fashionable mania, which is +corrupting our whole population, especially our young nobles, and +which, even at his tender age, fills the thoughts of my son, to the +despair of his tutors. + +"All Almo needs is worthy occupation. I'll put the sea between +him and you and so put your mind at rest. I'll make a man of +him at the same time. I'll appeal to his pride and his patriotism. +Rome needs such keen-minded, capable youths on the frontiers. +I'll not give him too hard or too unpleasant employment, not +relegate him to Britain or Dacia or Syria. I'll send him to +Africa to chase the desert nomads who are harrying the borders +of Numidia and Mauretania. He can gain credit there without +danger, can learn to command men and to know the great game +of war. Nepte and Bescera are pleasant little cities--he will be +comfortable between campaigns. I'll see he sets out the day after +to-morrow, at latest." + + + + CHAPTER XI - FAREWELL + + + +Two days later, Brinnaria had a visit from Flexinna. Flexinna's +eyes were dancing. + + "G-G-Guess where I've been," she challenged. + + "I'm not good at guessing," Brinnaria parried; "better tell me." + + "I've b-b-been to the Palace," Flexinna revealed. + + "What took you there?" Brinnaria queried, surprised. + + "I was sent for," Flexinna declared, elated. + + "Who'd you see?" Brinnaria enquired. + + "The Emperor himself," proclaimed Flexinna triumphantly. + + Brinnaria was very much astonished. + + "Better tell me the whole story," she suggested. + + "Not much story," said Flexinna. "Aurelius t-t-told me that +he wanted t-t-to see you again and that, as a formal visit from +the Emperor as P-P-Pontifex Maximus at the Atrium was +unusual and was likely to c-c-cause g-g-gossip, whereas +you Vestals are c-c-continually at the Palace to ask favors +for all sorts of people who p-p-pester you to use your +influence with the Emperor, he thought it b-b-best to suggest +that you apply for an audience t-t-to-morrow. He said he +wanted the intimation c-c-conveyed to you as unobtrusively +as p-p-possible and d-d-desired p-p-particularly that no one +should ever know or g-g-guess that it had b-b-been g-g-given. +So he sent for me, as your b-b-best friend, since he was sure +I would never t-t-tell anybody. + + "B-B-Better send along your application for an audience. It +was p-p-plain to me that he has something agreeable to t-t-tell +you. His face was just as g-g-grave as usual but his eyes sparkled +at me, as d-d-different as p-p-possible from their habitual dull filmed +appearance. He was all k-k-kindliness and anticipation." + + "I'm willing to take the hint, of course," Brinnaria replied. + + Next morning she found Aurelius most cordial and informal in his +greeting to her. + + "I've been investigating Almo," he said, "and I am more than pleased +with all I can learn of him. I see no reason for not telling you that, from +the very day you were taken as a Vestal, some of the most expert, +secret and trustworthy men in the employ of the information department +have had no other duties than to keep close watch upon you and Almo. +I have been over all the papers relating to him and to you, I have talked +with the men themselves. They all assure me that never once have you +and Almo met since he reached your father's house a half hour too late. +They also report that, in the course of his injudicious moonings about +your haunts, he has always kept at a respectful distance. And except +for those same loverly danglings about places where he might catch +glimpses of you, I can find nothing against the lad. Everybody speaks +most highly of him. His former tutors and preceptors are enthusiastic +in their laudations of his capacities, abilities, diligence and attainments +in all matters pertaining to books and study. About Falerii he was +regarded as a fine specimen of a young nobleman, huntsman and swimmer, +good at all rustic sports, as haughty as the proudest when he was given +good cause to assert himself, but habitually affable, unassuming and sunny +tempered. Towards his father's tenants and slaves he was most kindly and +nothing could be more to any man's credit than his downright heroic +behavior from the very day the pestilence appeared on his estates, all +through the frightful period of its raging about Falerii, until the +neighborhood had somewhat recovered after the plague had abated. + + "The most extraordinary feature of the reports about him is that they +all agree as to his amazing devotion to you. All persons who know him +or know of him are unanimous in the opinion that he has never taken +the slightest personal interest in any human being except yourself; all +are emphatic in stating that he has certainly never manifested any +affection for anyone else. This is unprecedented. I never heard of such +another case. There is nothing astonishing about a young Roman +declaring that he would remain unmarried for thirty years in order to +mate, ultimately, with the girl of his choice. There is nothing wonderful +about his keeping his word. But any other youth I ever heard of would +have consoled himself variously, and variedly. Almo's austere +celibacy is a portent in our world and altogether marvellous. It lifts his +affair with you out of the humdrum atmosphere of to-day and puts it on +a level with the legendary stories of heroic times, with the life-long +fidelities of the Milesian tales. + + "Under the stress of such severe and unflinching self isolation I do +not wonder that his broodings drove him to overstep the bounds of +common sense, that he was irresistibly compelled to leave Falerii, +to come to Rome, to loiter where he might, at least, behold you at +a distance. I shall make sure that he does so no longer. This very +day he sets out for Carthage, Theveste and the deserts to the south +beyond the lagoons of Nepte. But I cannot be angry with him for +being unable to restrain his longing at least to set eyes on you. And +I see no reason why you two, who have not exchanged a word in +more than nine years, should not meet here in this room and say +farewell to each other before I put the Mediterranean between you." + + Brinnaria sprang up. + + "I see many reasons," she declared, "and my feelings are all against +seeing Almo until my service as a Vestal is ended." + + "I can well believe," came the answer, "that you feel that way at the +first presentation of the idea. But I am your Emperor and also Chief +Pontiff of Rome. I am engaged at present in solving the problem of +ow best to ensure peace of mind to one of Rome's Vestals. To ensure +her peace of mind I am about to relegate her future husband to +important duties on a far frontier of the Empire. I judge that he +will better perform his duties, that she will better perform hers, if +she bids him farewell in my presence. I am a lover of wisdom and +a student of wisdom.* I believe I possess some pretensions to wisdom. +Will you not defer to me in this? I am of the opinion that he will worry +less about you and you less about him if you see each other once +before your twenty years of certain separation begins." + + *The wisdom of Marcus Aurelius was recognized during + his lifetime and is highly regarded even today, over 1900 + years later. His book, <Meditations>, remains in print + and is available through Project Gutenberg at + http://promo.net/cgi-promo/pg/t9.cgi?entry=2680&full= + yes&ftpsite=http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/ + + Brinnaria looked mutinous and gazed at the Emperor in silence. In +silence he waited for her to speak. At last she said, curtly: + + "I bow to your authority." + + The Emperor struck his silver gong and a page appeared. +Aurelius gave a brief order. A few moments later Almo was +ushered in. After his formal salute to the Emperor he stood +silent, his eyes fixed on Brinnaria. + + They made a fine picture. The ceiling of the immense hall was +a barrel-vault, of which the beams were stuccoed in cream-white, +picked out with gilding, while between them the depth of each +soffit was colored an intense deep blue, against which stood out +a great gilt rosette. The mighty pilasters, whose gilded capitals +supported the vaulting, were of many-veined dark yellow marble, +polished and gleaming like the slabs of pale yellow marble which +panelled the interspaces. The high-moulded wainscot was of red +and green porphyry, somberly smooth and shining. Against it, +below the wall-panels, were set great chests of carved and gilded +wood, while about the bases of the pilasters were placed groups +of settees and armchairs, similarly carved and gilded and richly +upholstered. The floor was paved with an intricate mosaic of +parti-colored bits of marble, its expanse broken only by the +great gorgeous carpet before the throne, by the chair set for +Brinnaria, by the onyx table, supported on sculptured monsters +like griffons, beside the throne, and by the throne itself, a curule +seat of ivory mounted with gold, its crimson cushion glowing, +set far out in the room. + + Before the throne stood Aurelius, his head bare, the long ringlets +of his hair and beard sweeping his shoulders and his bosom, one +foot a trifle advanced, the gold eagle embroidered on his sky-blue +buskin showing beneath the crimson silk robes, lavishly embroidered +with a complicated pattern of winding vines, bright blue and green, +edged with gold, which the etiquette of the time imposed upon even +a philosophically austere Emperor; on his right Brinnaria, erect +and tense in her white official habit, her square white headdress +all but hiding her coronet of dark braids, her veil pushed back +from her flushed face; the tassels and ribbons of her head-band, +her great pearl necklace, the big pearl brooch that fastened the +folds of her headdress where they crossed on her breast, and the +bunch of fresh white flowers which it clasped, rising and falling +with the heaving of her bosom; facing her, splendid in the gilded +armor and scarlet cloak of a commander of irregular cavalry, Almo. + + "You know why I have sent for you," Aurelius reminded him. +"Speak out." + + Like a school-boy repeating a lesson by rote, Alma spoke. + + "Brinnaria," he said, "the Emperor has remonstrated with +me on my recent folly. I am sincerely ashamed of myself and I +wish to apologize to you for my lack of self-control and for my +lack of consideration for you. I leave Rome before sunset and +shall not return until I may return without danger to you." + + Aurelius looked at Brinnaria. + + "Caius," she said, "I forgive you. I trust that you will win +promotion and honor where you are going and I am sure +that you will do your duty to the Empire. May the blessing of +all the gods be on you and may you return to me safe and well." + + "And may I find you safe and well when I return," spoke +Almo. "Farewell, Brinnaria." + + "Farewell, Caius," said she. + + The Emperor nodded and Almo bowed himself out. + + "Do you know," said Aurelius, when they were alone, "I have been +thinking over what you said about Almo's peculiar notability of looks. +It puzzles me as it puzzles you. He is not merely of distinguished +appearance, he is unusual, striking, unforgettable, conspicuous. +I have talked about it to several of my gentlemen-in-waiting, +equerries and orderlies. They have seen him lately about the stables +of the Greens. They all say that he is, in fact, as normally +proportioned as any youth alive, but they confirm what you +said about his long-legged appearance. Julianus used almost +the same word you used, said Almo looked 'Grasshoppery.' +They all say Almo is precisely the most unmistakable, the most +readily and quickly recognizable youth in all our young nobility." + +Brinnaria rose to go. Aurelius bent on her a kindly smile. + + "I have been talking about you with Faustina," he said. "We +are both much interested by the strangeness of your fate, by +the difficulty and delicacy of your situation and by the wonderful +constancy of you both. Faustina and I are a most united pair, +never happy out of each other's company and very proud of our +domestic felicity. We are, if I may use the word, rather prone to +gloat over it, and, while continually congratulating ourselves and +each other, we cannot but mourn the infrequency of such happiness +throughout our Italian nobility. There are few matrons in Rome as +serenely happy as your friend Flexinna, few indeed who find all +their happiness in children, husband and household. And of those +who really enjoy their homes most are remarried after a divorce, +or even after two or more. Our society suffers from a plague +worse than the pestilence itself, a plague of greed for excitement, +eagerness for novelty, of peevishness and fickleness. + + "In this unhealthy atmosphere such households as Vocco's are +most notable. And that you, who seem by nature fitted for just +such blessedness as has befallen Flexinna, should have been +robbed of it by a strange series of peculiar circumstances wins +for you our interest and our solicitude. Still more are our hearts +drawn towards you by your unwavering fidelity, alike to your +present duties and all that they imply and to that love which you +have had to put away and forget, to the ideal of that felicity +which you have had to postpone so far. + + "Faustina desires an interview with you. She is now in the amber +gallery. I shall have you conducted there, if you do not object." + +Brinnaria could not very well object and after an equerry, very +stately in his garb of duty, and two gaudily clad pages had escorted +her through what seemed like miles of corridors, she found herself +alone with the Empress. + + The Empress she had so far seen infrequently and spoken with only +seldom. It was impossible to be a Vestal, in the heyday of Rome's +Imperial times, and not meet and know the Empress of Rome. +Brinnaria had seen her whenever they were both present at the +Circus or the Amphitheatre; had been close to her at all important +state functions; had occasionally dined with her at formal Palace +banquets, when the curved sofa about the Empress' table was +always occupied by the Empress, the wives of the chief Flamens +and the Vestals; but had hardly ever exchanged a word with her. + + Faustina was endowed with the general healthiness with which +Roman noblewomen were blessed. But she had had the bad luck +to suffer from many and severe illnesses. These and her slow +recoveries from them had kept her away from very many official +functions and public festivals. Numerous had been the occasions +on which Aurelius had appeared without her. When she was well, +indeed, they were always together, if possible. A great proportion +of his time, however, was occupied with official duties of such a +nature that, according to Roman etiquette, no woman could +participate in them. During such enforced separations Faustina +sought amusement. And with the overflowing energy and abounding +vigor which she displayed between her illness, she threw herself +into the whirl of her pleasures with such impetuosity, there was +so much rollicking and roistering about her favorite diversions +that she attracted to herself and kept around her just those +elements of Roman society with which the Vestals were least +likely to mingle, professional idlers, and what we moderns would +call the fast set. Naturally, therefore, Brinnaria and Faustina had +never had any familiar intercourse. This was their first real +conversation. + + Faustina was not a large woman. She was of medium height, +slender and graceful. She was noted for the originality of her +coiffures, which made the most of her magnificent hair. Her +hair Brinnaria noticed the moment her eyes fell on her. + + Her habitual expression of haughtiness and boredom had +vanished from the Empress's face and she was all kindliness and solicitude. + + Faustina put her at her ease at once. + + "I have always been so sorry," she began, "that I was ill the day +you climbed over the balustrade of the podium and rescued the +retiarius. I've missed many a sight I regretted, I miss so much by +falling ill again and again, but I never missed a sight I regretted +missing more than that. Nothing more worth seeing ever happened +in the Colosseum." + + "I was terribly ashamed when I found what I had done," said Brinnaria. + + "Of course you were," the Empress agreed. + + This broke the ice between them and Faustina led her into a long +talk about all her past, her love affair, her life as a Vestal, her +bereavements, her embarrassing circumstances, her future, her hopes. + + Brinnaria left the Empress, feeling that she had found a real +friend and also feeling comforted at heart. + + +Chapter XII -Observances + + + + BRINNARIA found that, with Almo definitely and permanently +out of the way, she did not worry about Calvaster. She also found +that she did not worry about Almo and that her glimpse of him +had rather calmed her feelings. She confessed as much to Aurelius +when she had a third audience with him before he left for the +Rhine frontier, and she thanked him for his insistence. + + With her mind at peace Brinnaria settled more and more into +the routine of her life and enjoyed it more and more. + + She came to feel keenly the spiritual significance of every +detail of the ritual observances in which she took part. Besides +the maintenance of the sacred fire, the Vestals had many +obligatory duties. Every sacrifice of the Roman public worship +involved the sprinkling of the sacred meal upon the head of +the victim, if a live animal was offered, or upon the fire, if +the sacrifice was bloodless. Early in each ceremony one of +the small boys assisting the priest carried around to all the +participants in the act of worship a maple-wood box +containing the holy meal; from it each worshipper ladled +a small portion into the palm of his right hand; at a specified +point in the course of the ceremonial each participant +sprinkled the meal as prescribed. + +The holy meal was made of very coarsely ground wheat, a +sort of grits, salted and toasted. It was prepared by the Vestals +according to immemorial custom. They were supplied with +a sufficient quantity of heads of wheat, the best of the produce +of two of their estates, one near Caere, the other near +Lanuvium. These wheat ears were packed in baskets and +stored on the farms in dry, airy barns. There they were +kept drying and hardening their grains until the next spring. +Then the allotted baskets were brought into Rome. On the +seventh of May, after a ceremonial of prayer, the three elder +Vestals began going over these wheat-ears, sorting out those +entirely perfect, and placing them in larger baskets shaped +like the big earthen jars in which the Romans commonly +tored wheat, olives, oil, wine and other similar supplies. +On the next day the wheat from the first day's selection +of ears was separated from the straw, beards and chaff, +was roasted and coarsely ground. The resultant groats +were then put away in great earthen jars in the outer +storeroom of the temple. On the third day they again +selected wheat ears, on the fourth they again prepared +wheat-grits, arid so on alternately for eight days. By the +evening of the eighth day they had stored enough groats +to make the sacred meal for one year's ceremonies of the +entire Roman ritual. + + The salt with which they salted the holy meal was prepared +with similar invariable formality. Crude salt, obtained from +evaporated sea-water out of the sand-pits on the seashore +near Lavinium, was conveyed to the Atrium in small two-handled +earthenware jars. This coarse, dirty, dark-colored salt was +dissolved by the three younger Vestals in boiling water, which +water might not be obtained from the lead pipes which +connected the Atrium with the general water-supply of the +city's aqueducts, but must be drawn by the Vestals themselves +and carried by them in the earthenware jars from the famous +fountain of Jaturna, at which Castor and Pollux were fabled +to have watered their white horses after bringing to Rome +the news of the victory at Lake Regillus. The solution was +purified by repeated boilings, the impurities being gotten rid +of by successive careful decantings of the liquid from one vessel +into another, so that the sediment might be left behind as the +top part was poured off. When sufficiently boiled down the +solution was recrystallized in shallow earthenware pans. +The resulting slabs of salt were harder than the pans and +were freed from them by breaking the earthenware with +an ancient stone hammer, said to have been captured by +AEneas himself from a king of Ardea. The slabs of salt were +sawed into pieces with an iron saw, the pieces were pounded +in a mortar, the fine salt was thrown into an earthenware +bowl and dried out in a kiln. When dried a little powdered +gypsum was stirred through it to prevent it from again +becoming moist. It was then stored in a tall jar with a tight +lid, which was kept in the outer storeroom of the temple, +along with the jars of meal. Three times a year, on the +ninth of June, on the thirteenth of September and on the +fifteenth of February, with solemn prayers the Vestals +mixed the prepared salt with the prepared grits, the +resultant mixture being the sacred meal. + +On each First of March the fire in the temple was allowed to +go out and was solemnly rekindled by the friction of maple +wood on apple wood, as when the fire went out by accident. +The temple was then decorated with fresh boughs of green +laurel, after the boughs put up the year before had been removed. + +On May fifteenth the Vestals were the chief figures in a solemn +procession of the entire Roman hierarchy to the Sublician bridge, +from which the Vestals threw into the Tiber thirty dolls made of +rushes, fifteen representing men, fifteen women, each about two +feet high. + + This offering to the river of effigies of men and women +commemorated the primitive human sacrifices by which the +river was each year placated, that it might not drown more by floods. + + On June fifth the inner storeroom of the temple was opened +and its treasures inspected by the Pontifex wearing his antique +vestments. With him entered always also the Chief Vestal clad +in her austere habit with all her badges of office. They were +attended by the other Vestals, who went through traditional +pacings, haltings and prayers. The Temple of Vesta was an +enclosure from which all men were rigidly excluded. The only +exceptions to this immemorial taboo were a few of the more +important Pontiffs, and they might only enter on specified festal +days, and then must be in their full regalia. Also, in general, the +temple was closed against all women except the Vestals and +their assistants. It was open, however, from sunrise on the +morning of each seventh of June until sunset on the evening +of the fourteenth of June. During this period it was incumbent +upon every Roman matron to visit the temple. And each +worshipper must walk the entire distance from her home to +the temple and must leave her house barefoot, barefoot she +must walk from the temple to her home. Only illness excused +a Roman woman from this religious duty. Few ever omitted +it from indifference. + + During these eight days the temple was thronged. + + During these eight days also fell the great yearly festival of +Vesta, on the ninth of June, on which day also all millers kept +holiday, with processions and picnics to which the mill-donkeys +were led decorated with wreaths of flowers and strings of tiny, +crisp-baked rolls. + + On June fifteenth the temple was ceremonially cleaned and the +sweepings and the ashes collected from the sacred fire for the +year past were solemnly carried in a stately procession to a +prescribed spot on the slope of the Capitol where a great pit +was closed by a heavy maple-wood door. In this pit the ashes +were reverently buried. + + Besides these observances of their special cult the Vestals took +part in nearly every important sacrifice, procession and festival +of the public worship of Rome. They were busy women and +among them Brinnaria was anything but idle. She never found +time hang heavy on her hands. + + So busied with her duties she passed three peaceful years, +contented and happy. There was but one drawback to life in +the Atrium from Brinnaria's point of view. That drawback +was Meffia. Meffia was never ill but never well. Everything +tired her. It tired her to walk upstairs, to stand for any length +of time, to do anything. She was forever sitting down to rest +or lying down to rest. Excitement exhausted her totally. She +was a perpetual worry to the other Vestals. + + Otherwise Brinnaria was very happy. Through Flexinna +she had frequent news of Almo. Ancient Rome had no institution, +public or private, in any way corresponding to our post office. +But routes of trade and travel by land and sea were well defined +and traffic along them fairly regular, on the most used routes +almost continual. There were private organizations, vaguely +resembling our modern express companies, which forwarded +merchandise along the main-travelled routes and even into +remote regions. Their messengers took charge of bales, boxes +and packages of all sizes and also of letters. The service on +the roads of Africa, from Bescera, Nepte and Putea along +the frontier of the desert, through Lambese, Capsa and +Thysdrus, to Carthage, by well-built vehicles with frequent +relays of horses on the excellent highroads was fairly good. +The ships from Sicily plied with almost the regularity of our +ocean-liners. Roads and road-service in Sicily were of a high +quality of excellence. The transit to Italy at Messina was a +sort of ferry. Italy was served by a network of roads always +busy. Almo's letters to Flexinna were fairly regular and Vocco +heard frequently from his friends among Almo's brother +officers and sometimes from his military superiors. + + Almo was an immediate and brilliant success as a leader of +scouting expeditions, cavalry dashes, and, within a year, of +raids in considerable force. His men adored him at once; his +fellow-officers found him excellent company, unassuming and +companionable, his commanders came early to rely on him. +He won an excellent reputation and was universally regarded +as a young officer of great promise, likely to rise to high position +and not unlikely to become famous. + + This kind of news delighted Brinnaria and promoted her +peace of mind. In great contentment she went about her duties, +loving them more and more from month to month, preparing +the blessed salt, assisting at sacrifices, participating in processions. + + Also interest in music and enjoyment of music came to play more +and more a part in her spiritual life. As a child she had hated music +and had been in continual conflict with her musical governesses. +Even after she entered the Atrium her aversion to learning +anything about music had given Causidiena a great deal of trouble. +Later Brinnaria was docile, but the reverse of enthusiastic. Only +after Almo's departure for Africa did music begins to mean anything +to her. + + But one keyed instrument was known to the ancients. That was a +form of organ, in effect and appearance not very dissimilar to a small +portable modern organ, with one bank of keys. Its mechanism, however, +was very different in respect to the construction of the pipe stops and +bellows. In particular, the steady flow of air to the pipes was obtained +from the pressure of water, and a receptacle partly filled with water +was an essential part of every Roman organ. From this feature it +was called the water-organ. The Emperor Nero had been a notable +performer on the water-organ and had interested himself in some +improvements in its mechanism. + + As with the modern organ, so with the Roman water-organ, the +sonorous, sustained and resonant notes lent themselves naturally to +the expression of religious emotion. + + Religious emotions, Brinnaria, at this period of her life, felt to an +overwhelming extent. She expressed them in long colloquies with +Numisia and Causidiena, in a tendency to be unnecessarily careful +about her duties, to pet her daily routine, as it were; and in an +awakening to the charms of music in general and of organ music +in particular. She developed into a capable performer on the +water-organ, bought for herself the finest to be found in all Rome, +had it set up in the Atrium in place of the old one which had +belonged to the order of Vestals, and sat before it for hours +at a time. + + Her solitary communings with her favorite instrument became +her chief solace when she was: low-spirited, which was seldom, +and her favorite diversion when she was high-spirited, which was +often. Moreover, her rendition of well-known airs and he + improvisings came to be a great pleasure to all the inmates of the +Atrium, most of all to Causidiena. + + Besides her many duties and her indoor amusements, Brinnaria +found time for much activity outside the Atrium. She had kept up +her girlish friendship for the sieve-maker Truttidius, and saw +him occasionally, sometimes ordering her litter halted before +his shop and leaning out to ask after his health and that of his +family. Truttidius had an ailing household, though he himself was +always well and never seemed to get any older. + + From her talks with Truttidius she came to take a personal +interest in the welfare of the countless tenants in her many +properties in the poorer quarters of the city. She visited some +of them-a sort of approach to modern slumming by the +philanthropic rich. Such actions on the part of a landowner +and such an attitude of mind from any rich person toward the +poor was very unusual in the ancient world. Her behavior in +this regard won Brinnaria a sort of fame among the poor, as +if she were a live goddess moving among them. + + She had a healthy love of mere enjoyment too. Except when she +happened to be on duty watching the sacred fire, she never +missed a theatrical performance, a gladiatorial display or an +exhibition of chariot-racing in anyone of the vast race-courses +flanked by tiers of stone-seats, which the Romans called circuses. +At all shows, whether of scenic artists, fighting men or speeding +horses, the Vestals had specified seats, as good as the best. + + Besides these formal pleasures, she took great delight in mixing +in society merely for society's sake. Moderns are likely to imagine +that the Vestals of ancient Rome were nuns or something like +nuns. They were nothing of the sort. They were maiden ladies of +wealth and position whose routine duties brought them into +familiar association with all the men important in the Roman +government, hierarchy, nobility and gentry and with their wives +and daughters. They were women of such importance in their +world that their acquaintance was sought by all who had any +pretensions to being entitled to meet them and by shoals of social +bounders who had none. Their influence was so powerful that +they were unremittingly sought, waylaid, pursued and besieged +by persons who hoped to enlist their interest in the appointment +or promotion of this, that or the other connection or relative; by +the same persons they were continually overwhelmed with +presents of flowers, fruit, delicacies, dainties, ornaments, laces, +garments, pieces of furniture, horses, slaves, and of anything +and everything capable of being made a present of in the Roman +world; likewise with social invitations-chiefly to dinners, banquets +and feasts. Invitations to banquets and dinners Brinnaria seldom +declined, unless her duties made acceptance impossible or the +invitation came from people beneath her notice. As she had said +to Aurelius, she had an excellent appetite. She had an epicurean +tendency from her early years and was fond of oysters, +sweetbreads, eels, thrushes, turbot and other articles of food +esteemed as delicacies by the Romans. But she was a hearty eater +and consumed generous portions of roast meats, particularly of +pork, which even in late imperial times was the staple of Roman +diet. She never lost her childish relish for boiled pork and cabbage, +for bacon, for ham, hot or cold. She was by no means a glutton, +ate deliberately and daintily, and while she ate, joined in the +general conversation or even led it. She had a quick wit and a +sharp tongue and her sallies were acclaimed. She was sought +after as a guest not merely because she was a Vestal, but for +herself, for her gaiety and her unexpected utterances. + + On the whole she preferred informal dinners to formal banquets +and liked better to dine with her friends than with the most +luxurious entertainers in Roman society. + + With Vocco and Flexinna she dined frequently, three times a +month at least and generally oftener. Brinnaria loved children, +especially babies, and there was always a baby in the Istorian +household--Flexinna's babies were all healthy and grew famously. +Of the six children, Brinnaria could not have told which she +loved or which loved her most. Her arrivals were always heralded +with shouts of glee, her romps with the children always put her in +a good humor, her swim with Flexinna sharpened an appetite +which needed no edge, while the cosiness and informality of +Flexinna's dining-room, where each of the three had undivided +possession of one entire sofa, made it certain that nothing marred +her enjoyment. + + + CHAPTER XIII - Perversity + + + +ABOUT three years after her farewell to Almo, on entering +Vocco's house one afternoon, Brinnaria had a presentiment +of something wrong. The children were as vociferous and as +whimsical as usual, but there was a nameless difference in +Flexinna's expression and bearing. As soon as they were +alone in their bath, after she had had one good plunge in the +pool, Brinnaria, treading water in the deepest part of the tank, +shaking her head like a wet spaniel, demanded: + + "What is the matter? There's something wrong. You might as +well tell me." + + But Flexinna put her off and laughed at her insistence. + + To Brinnaria the laughter seemed forced and so did the talk +at dinner. No sooner was the dinner over and the tray of figs, +almonds and pomegranates and other fruit on the table, than +she whispered to Flexinna: + + "Tell the servants to stay out. I want to talk." Flexinna signed +to Vocco and they exchanged glances. + + "Why did you keep up the farce so long?" Brinnaria sneered. +"I saw through it from the first." + + "We were afraid," Vocco apologized, "that what I have to tell +you would spoil your appetite." + + "It would take something pretty bad to spoil my appetite," +Brinnaria reflected. "Is Almo dead?" + + ?Not so b-b-bad as that," spoke Flexinna. + + "Tell me, Quintus," Brinnaria breathed. + + Vocco fidgeted. + + "It's an amazing story," he began. + + "All his story, all my story, all our story," Brinnaria cut in, "is +amazing. Leave out the comments and tell the story." + + "While Almo was away on the expedition against the nomads of +the plateau," Vocco narrated, "Pennasius fell ill, was allowed to +resign his governorship and Grittonius took his place. On Almo's +return Grittonius complimented him most highly and promised +him any reward he asked for. Almo amazed him by asking for a +full and honorable discharge from the army. Grittonius +expostulated with him but Almo held him to his promise. In +spite of the governor's appeals to his pride and to his patriotism +he insisted, and Grittonius gave him his full official discharge. +At once Almo applied for permission to sell himself as a slave. +This so astounded Grittonius that he made him repeat the +application before witnesses and give his reasons. Almo +explained that he had always been devoted to horseracing +and that he wanted formally and regularly to article himself +to one of the racing companies as a charioteer; that he had +always craved that life and had longed for it more and more +as his career as a soldier went on. He said there was no use +in his continuing a life he detested, nor missing the happiness +he anticipated as a charioteer. + +"Grittonius had him examined by a committee of the most reputed +physicians of the province. They reported Almo entirely sane. +Grittonius wanted to hold the matter over until he had special +permission from the Emperor. Almo craftily maintained that +Grittonius had been made governor with the fullest powers +on all lines specifically to save the Emperor from being bothered +about such trifles. Grittonius yielded. The necessary papers +were drawn up, all the depositions were made out in duplicate. +Every formality was fulfilled and Almo was publicly sold as a +slave in the market place of Hippo." + +"What company did he enter?" Brinnaria queried. + +"Veppius did not state," Vocco replied; "he merely said that +Almo sailed the next day for Spain." + +"The fool!" Brinnaria cried. "The three fools; a fool of a Veppius +to write so vaguely, a fool of a governor to be persuaded so easily +and Almo the biggest fool of all! + +"What a fool of a lover I have! Are all men like that? +I'm as much in love with him as he with me and I can +behave myself decently and keep outwardly calm and +observe the conventions of life. Why can't he be decent? +How can it comfort a man in love to throw away a +splendid career, abandon a great income and vanish +from the ken of all who love him? What madness is +this with which the gods afflict him? Oh, I could tear +my hair with rage!" + +To trace Almo everything was done that could be done. +Vocco himself set out at once for Hippo. He found that +Almo had been sold to a Greek slave-dealer named +Olynthides, brother of the well-known dealer at Rome. +He found Olynthides a small man with a club-foot. He +said he remembered the matter, that he had been employed +to buy Almo and resell him for cash, especially to conceal +the real purchaser. + +When Vocco expressed astonishment Olynthides said: + + "There is nothing to be surprised at, the thing happens every +day. It is a regular feature of slave-trading. There are all +sorts of reasons why a man wants a slave without any past. +Such sales are customary and habitual." + + When pressed further he retorted: + + "Of course I did not ask the buyer's name; equally of course, +I did not take any note of him, it was my business to forget him. +I didn't notice him when he came into the courtyard, there are +always knots of people coming in all day, looking over the slaves +I offer for sale, and going out again. He came in like anybody else +and looked over my stock. When he spoke to me he had a servant +with him carrying a stout leather bag. He indicated Almo and +asked his price. I named it. + + "'Cash sale,' says he; 'no papers except a bare sale certificate.' + + "'Done,' says I. + + "He counted out the cash from his servant's bag and I gave him +the customary certificate, with a description of Almo and the statement: + + "'Sold on this day and date for cash' and my signature and seal. +That was all there was to it." + + When Vocco was persistent, Olynthides averred that he had +"heard" that the purchaser's name was Jegius and that he +came from Cadiz. Vocco could not discover anyone in Hippo +who had ever heard of a slave-dealer named Jegius. + + When Vocco returned to Rome with his report Brinnaria set in +motion all the forces of her world which could be utilized under +the circumstances. Aurelius was on the Rhine frontier, but +Brinnaria had, by this time, a close acquaintance with all important +court officers and was on terms of the utmost cordiality with the +officials who governed Rome in the Emperor's absence. They +sympathized with her and put at her disposal all the machinery +of the government secret service. They agreed with her that the +matter must be kept quiet, there must be no proclamations, +posters, no rewards offered by crier or placard, no publishing +of descriptions. With emphatic injunctions of secrecy they +sent warnings to every provincial governor, to every local +magistrate, to the aldermen of every free city, to institute +unobtrusive investigations and to keep unostentatious watch. +Brinnaria insisted that these mandates should be sent all over +the Empire, pointing out that no one could conjecture what +port of the Mediterranean or of the Black Sea might be the +destination of any nameless trading ship. But, with special +care, full orders were distributed throughout Spain. + + Towards Spain, likewise, Brinnaria directed the energies of those +organizations of the ancient world which were analogous to our +modern private detective bureaus, and upon Spain she focussed +the energies of the managers of the racing companies. + + These great corporations were among the most important +money-making enterprises of the Roman world. They maintained +luxurious headquarters in the most congested business districts +of the capital. They had offices adjacent to each of the circuses, +they possessed huge congeries of buildings utilized as stables +for their crack racers and barracks for their charioteers, and +provided with spacious courtyards for training their teams. +Outside of Rome they had similar offices and training-stables +in every city and in most towns of any size or wealth. Besides +they owned countless stud-farms, estates and ranches in +every province of the Empire and maintained an army of +herdsmen, ostlers and drovers to convoy their horses by land +and whole fleets of ships to transport them by sea. + + They were joint-stock companies, and while many smaller +ones existed in various parts of the Empire and a few even +at Rome, the small concerns were insignificant and generally +ignored. When one spoke of the racing-companies one meant +the six great companies whose central organizations were +domiciled at Rome and whose ramifications penetrated every +district of the Empire. These were known, after the racing-colors +of their jockeys, as the Greens, the Blues, the Reds, the Whites, +the Crimsons and the Golds. The Reds and the Whites were the +oldest companies, the Crimsons and the Golds were companies +established in the heyday of the Empire by coteries of millionaires, +the Blues and the Greens were the largest, the wealthiest and +the most popular, especially the Greens. In the Greens, somewhere, +Brinnaria expected to find Almo, as he had been enthusiastic +about the Greens from boyhood. He had been wearing their leek-green +colors the day she had sat in his lap in her father's courtyard. He +had haunted their training-stables during his brief sojourn at Rome +before Aurelius sent him to Africa, he had inherited a big block of +stock in the Greens. In the Greens, likewise, Brinnaria owned stock; +and, having entered into inheritances from more than seventy +different wealthy relatives who had died during the pestilence, she +happened to own stock in every one of the six great companies. She +had personal friends among the directors of each of the six. +Therefore it was especially easy for her to enlist their help in her +efforts to find Almo. It would have been easy, anyhow, since to be +able to oblige a Vestal was a refreshing novelty for almost anyone +at Rome and to find a Vestal seeking one's influence and one's help, +equally novel and refreshing; generally the shoe was on the other +foot--most persons in public life in Rome were used to attempting +to enlist the help and the interests of the Vestals for their purposes +and were generally utterly at a loss for any means of requital, if +the interest of a Vestal was enlisted and her help obtained. + + Consequently all that the racing-companies could do to find Almo +was done as well as all that could be done by the private detective +agencies and by government officials. + + All that was done was utterly in vain. No trace of Almo could be +discovered after he had sailed from Hippo with Jegius. +No slave-dealer named Jegius could be found nor anyone who knew +such a slave-dealer. No clue, no ghost of a clue came to light. The +Greens, like the other companies, could find among their +charioteers, their jockeys, their free employees, their slaves, +no individual in the least answering to descriptions of Almo. +All governmental efforts, all professional efforts, all private +efforts, all Vocco's efforts, all Brinnaria's efforts, were +completely baffled. + + Almo had completely vanished. + + When Aurelius, passing through Rome on his way from the +Rhine frontier to Syria, was in his capital for a brief period, +Brinnaria had an audience with him. + + "Daughter!" he said, "it is all my fault. I should have given +Grittonius explicit injunctions about the boy. But the assaults +of the Marcomanni were particularly furious just at that time; +I was feverishly hurrying from point to point along the frontier; +I accepted the resignation of Pennasius; by letter. I appointed +Grittonius by letter; I assumed that Grittonius would have +sense; I assumed that Pennasius would impart to him his secret +instructions. I erred by inadvertence; I should have set a special +watch on the boy. But I never thought of it. He was doing so well +and he seemed so interested in his work. He was wonderfully +fitted for frontier duty along the desert. I was watching him +with keen interest; each report of him gave me greater pleasure. +I do not hesitate to tell you that I had him in my mind's eye to +command this very expedition which I must now command +myself, as there is no other man in the Empire fit to take +charge of it. + + "Is it not a shame that a man whom the Empire needs, who +had before him so splendid an opportunity, who was fitting +himself for so brilliant a career, should throw it all away from +mere perversity? Yet I am not wrathful against him; I see +many reasons for sympathizing with him. + + "Rigid and unflinching celibacy affects different individuals +very differently. Some it does not affect at all, apparently. +It does not seem to affect you. You are as plump and rosy, as +healthy and alert, as happy and normal a young woman, to all +appearance, as could be found among matrons of your age in +all the Empire. Celibacy seems to agree with you. + + "Manifestly it did not agree with Almo. It got on his nerves somehow. +That is the most probable explanation of his eccentric vagary. Don't be +discouraged. He'll turn up somewhere, after a while, safe and sound +and none the worse for his experiences." + + Brinnaria, in fact, was not discouraged. She resolutely and +unweariedly prosecuted her efforts to find Almo. Nor was she +despondent. She scouted the suggestion that he might be dead. +She kept up her spirits, did not mope or brood and never lost +her hearty appetite. She was the life of the dinners she attended +nd as talkative and witty as ever. + + But the strain affected her greatly. She was outwardly +controlled, statuesque and dignified, but the inward turmoil of +emotion that surged through her manifested itself in an +unremitting activity. She slept well and soundly, but rose early +and kept on the go. Besides her duties, her music and her +participation in social gatherings, she must needs find other +outlets for her energy, other means to pass her time and +distract her thoughts. + + In the course of her dealings with the racing companies she +became interested in them not merely as means towards locating +Almo, but for themselves. She became particularly interested in +their stables, their jockeys and their horses. There was no bar +of religious tradition or of social custom which hindered a Vestal +from freely mingling with men visibly in the open daylight in +public. Visiting the stables of the racing companies had long been +a fad with Rome's social leaders, men and women alike. Brinnaria +availed herself of her freedom in this regard and followed her +inclination. She haunted the training-stables of all six corporations, +but mostly of the Greens, always in company with Manlia, or +Flexinna, or Nemestronia or some other of her women friends; +she visited the barracks almost daily, chatted with the charioteers, +grooms and ostlers, watched the exercising of the teams, +inspected the stalls, conned the racers. + + She made herself an excellent judge of a jockey and a better +judge of a horse. + + She interested herself in the methods by which the companies +obtained and selected their animals. She became an adept on +the entire subject of horse-raising. It engrossed her thoughts. + + Then she herself took over the management of several of her +estates in the environs of Rome; of all, in fact, which were near +enough for her to visit personally. She redistributed the force of +slaves that managed them, sold some, bought others and fitted up +the properties as stud-farms. Herself she selected the brood +mares and stallions with which to stock these estates. She herself +laid down the principles guiding their management and she herself +dictated the methods of breeding them. She herself superintended +the carrying out of her orders, visiting each estate frequently and +inspecting everything carefully and intelligently. + + Her first offering of two-year-olds sold at good prices. She was +encouraged, felt herself completely an adept, and would take +no one's word about anything relating to horses, relying solely +on her own judgment. + + All this would have subjected her to much reprehension had +Faltonius Bambilio survived. But he had died just about the time +of Almo's disappearance. His son, also named Faltonius Bambilio, +had taken up a political rather than a priestly life and was not to +be thought of as his successor. In his place Aurelius, on his way +to Syria, had nominated Lutorius Rusco, a man who impressed +everyone at first sight, and more and more the better anyone knew +him, as the paragon of a Pontifex. He was not lacking in ecclesiastical +unction, but did not wallow in it as had Bambilio. He was pious, +but did not think it necessary to advertise it day and night unremittingly. +He was not lax in religious matters, but he was no stickler for minute +trifles. He inspired confidence by every characteristic of his appearance +and behavior. He was a man somewhat over medium height, well built, +neither heavy nor large, with an unusually dignified bearing and carriage, +not a hint of self-assertion and with a genially comprehending smile. +It was impossible not to confide in him and unthinkable that confiding +in him should ever be regretted. Brinnaria confided in him and never +regretted it. + + Of Almo's disappearance she talked to him freely; freely also she +talked of her feelings for Almo. He was as sympathetic and +comprehending as the Emperor and Empress and he encouraged her +to hope that Almo was yet alive, which she sometimes doubted. + + Of her stock farms he said to her: + + "I should certainly not have advised any woman to enter upon +such an enterprise, least of all a Vestal. I know of no other member +of our hierarchy who has any similar interests, except Calvaster, +whose haunting of the gladiatorial schools and association with +trainers of gladiators has given some scandal. Some people +would call your horse-breeding unseemly for a Vestal. But I see +no harm in it. I have talked with Causidiena and it is clear that +you do not neglect or skimp your duties, that you give them full +time and close attention. Your leisure is your own to do with as +you please. And your immediate success appears an evidence +that, to say the least, your undertakings give no offence to the gods." + + During the latter months of Bambilio's oversight Brinnaria had +felt restive and as if some inward force was forever driving her +to feverish activities; under the care of Lutorius she became +placid and thought less of her stock-raising, journeys to and +fro to her estates, talks with grooms and such like activitie + and devoted herself with more cool ardor to her duties. + + + CHAPTER XIV - AMAZEMENT + + + +AURELIUS returned from Syria with his victorious army in the +nine hundred and twenty-ninth year of Rome, 176 of our era, +ten years after the great pestilence. He had merely crushed a +local rebellion, but a vast coalition of nomadic Arab tribes of +the desert had been allied with the rebels, and to the Romans +it seemed that their Emperor had won a great victory in a mighty +campaign. Aurelius humored their mood, and with good +judgment, for they needed all the encouragement possible. He +arranged to have his return celebrated by shows of all kinds, +theatrical performances, fights of gladiators, beast fights, +horse-races uncountable and above all, by that thrilling +procession of a victor and his armed soldiers through the +city along the Sacred Street, up to the great temple on the +Capitol, which was the highest honor an army and a +commander could receive at the hands of the Roman +government, which signalized a notable victory over notable +odds, which was called a triumph. Of triumphs Rome had +seen fewer than three hundred in more than nine hundred years. +Not one of the three hundred had been as magnificent as the +triumph of Aurelius. + + Its auxiliary spectacles were similarly magnificent. In particular +the gladiatorial shows surpassed anything within the memory of +the oldest living spectator. + + Causidiena, whose eyes troubled her greatly, found that watching +the triumphal procession caused her so much pain that she absented +herself from the remaining shows. To all of these, races, beast-fights +and combats of gladiators, she insisted that the other five Vestals +should go together. The arrangement was unusual, but no one could +object, for no one would hint or even think that the sacred fire +would be in any danger of going out with such a Chief Vestal +as Causidiena caring for it or that she needed any other Vestal to +assist her. Likewise her five colleagues were genuinely pleased +that not one of them would miss any part of the shows. + + As the number was odd, Causidiena decreed that they should be +conveyed to the spectacles each in her own state coach, attended +by her maid of honor. The maids, of course, did not sit with the +Vestals, but had seats far back with the populace. + + In their luxurious private box in the Colosseum the five Vestals sat +in the ample front row arm-chairs. They were seated not according +to seniority, but Numisia in the middle, Meffia and Brinnaria, as the +youngest, on either side of her, Gargilia next Meffia, and Manlia next Brinnaria. + + In the Imperial loge near them Aurelius, now for more than a year +a widower, presided over the games, clad in his gorgeous silk robes +and attended by his fifteen-year-old son Antoninus, afterward known +by his nickname of "Commodus." The four tiers of the Colosseum +were packed with spectators, pontiffs, senators, nobles, ambassadors + magistrates and other notables in the front seats along the coping +of the arena wall, lesser notables in the first tier, well-to-do persons +in the second tier, traders and manufacturers and such like in the +third tier and the commonalty in the fourth. + + Besides the ninety thousand seated spectators* many thousand more +stood in the galleries, in the openings of the stairways, in any place +where a foothold could be found and from which a view could be +obtained. The outlook from the Vestals' box was across the level +sand to the gigantic curve of seats, all hidden under their occupants, +so that the interior of the Amphitheatre was a vast expanse of +flower-crowned heads, eager faces and waving fans. + + *The author forgets himself. Earlier in the book he + describes an audience of 100,000 as Brinnaria tells + the emperor how she felt down on the sand in her + shift, with "two hundred thousand eyes" (implying + one hundred thousand people) staring at her. In fact, + the Colosseum could handle an audience of about + 45 to 50 thousand. -- GB ed. + + + During that second day of gladiatorial fighting Manlia had several +times said to Brinnaria: + + "Is there anything wrong? Are you ill? You do not seem yourself!" +Each time Brinnaria had positively denied that anything was wrong +and had asserted that she was entirely herself. + + About the middle of the afternoon, the arena was filled with pairs +of gladiators, all the couples fighting simultaneously. Each pair had +with it a trainer, called a lanista, who watched, guided or checked +the fighting. + + The contending pairs were of a kind much liked by the Romans, +because of the excitement they afforded, each pair consisting of a +light-built, light-armed, nimble expert pitted against a heavily built, +heavily armed ruffian, the two supposed to be equally matched, the +strength and weapons of the one fully balanced by the skill and +agility of the other. + + Viewing fights of this kind Manlia felt rather than heard or saw +a change in Brinnaria next her, felt her stiffen and grow silent, +rigid and tense. Manlia glanced at her, followed her gaze and +became interested in the fight Brinnaria was watching. Before +them, not immediately below them, but some distance out in the +arena, fought a conspicuous pair of gladiators. One was a great +hulking full-armored brute of a Goth, helmeted and corseleted, +kilted in bronze-plated leather straps, booted, as it were, with +ample shin-guards of thick hide, bronze-plated like the straps +of his flapping kilt. He carried a big oval shield and threatened +with a long straight sword his adversary, a Roman in every +outline, a slender young man, barefoot, bare-legged, kilted +with the scantiest form of gladiator's body-piece and apron, +clad in a green tunic and carrying only the small round shield +and short sabre of a Thracian. He wore a helmet like a skull +cap with a broad nose-guard that amounted to a mask, above +which were small openings for his eyes. + + Conning this pair Manlia's attention was riveted by the slighter man. +He was very light on his feet, jaunty of bearing and, as it were, +ablaze with self-confidence. + + Manlia, who was an expert judge of sword-fighting, perceived +at once that he was a master of his art. His method for the +moment was to hold back, lead his opponent on and bide his +time. His attitudes and movements bespoke the most perfect +knowledge of sword play in all its finest details. But what most +held Manlia's attention was his beauty of form and a strange +something about him, a long-armed, long-legged appearance. +She turned to Brinnaria. + + "I should have sworn," she said, "that there was not in all the +world another man like Segontius Almo. But that Thracian is a +duplicate of him, as like him as if he were his twin brother." + +"More like him than a twin brother," Brinnaria replied, her +voice muffled and choked. "I've been watching him ever since +he came in. I recognized him in the procession this morning. +That is Almo." + +"Almo!" breathed Manlia, in a horrified whisper. + + "Yes, Almo!" hissed Brinnaria. + + "What shall we do?" quavered Manlia. + + "Do?" snorted Brinnaria, "do nothing." + +"But we can pray," Manlia panted. "We can pray. Surely you +are praying, Brinnaria?" + +"I am praying," came the answer, in a viperish whisper. "I'm +praying he may be killed." + +"Killed!" Manlia gasped. + + "Yes, killed," repeated Brinnaria, viciously. "Killing is what he +deserves, mere killing is too good for him. If he wanted to commit +suicide why couldn't he do it decently at once and privately +without all this elaborate machinery of selling himself as a slave, +and lying about his intentions and disgracing himself by becoming +a prize-fighter and exposing himself to getting killed in public? +Why couldn't he get killed at Treves or Lyons or Aquileia? +Why must he humiliate me by this exhibition of himself before +me and all Rome? The quicker he is killed the better. I'm praying +he'll be killed at once." + +"Oh, Brinnaria!" groaned the horrified Manlia. + + The Thracian was not killed in that first fight; he was never in +any danger of being killed. He played with his man as a cat plays +with a mouse; held him off without an effort, caught the attention +of all the nearby spectators; won their interest by the perfection +of his sword-play; and aroused their enthusiasm by that nameles + quality which marks off, from even the best drilled talent, the +man who is a born genius in his line. + + He pinked his victim between corselet and helmet, so lightly that +only those spectators watching most closely saw the lunge, so +effectually that the man died almost as he fell. + + "You must have prayed for him to win; I did," spoke Manlia. + + "I didn't," Brinnaria snapped. "I prayed for him to be killed. I +wish he had been. I'm not the only one who has recognized him. +Aurelius has and he has told Antoninus; I watched him." + +"How could you?" Manlia exclaimed. "How could you watch +anything but Almo?" + +"I could and I did," Brinnaria asseverated. "I'm looking all +ways at once, just now. The news is all over the Imperial loge +already. They are looking at me as well as at him. I hope he'll +be killed this next bout." The lanista, in fact, at once matched +Almo with another full-armed giant. Again Almo gave an +exhibition of perfect swordsmanship. The Romans were as +quick to appreciate form in fighting as we moderns are to +applaud our best bail players; they recognized pre-eminence +in the swordman's art, as we acclaim the skill of a crack +baseball pitcher or cricket bowler. + + Almo caught the eye of spectator after spectator, till most +of the audience on that side of the arena were watching the +fight in which he took part to the exclusion of everything else +that was going on. He displayed that perfect balance of all the +mental and physical faculties, that instantaneous co-ordination +of eye, brain and muscle, which only an occasional phenomenon +can attain to. He made no mistakes, bore himself like a dancer +on a tight-rope, circled about his adversary, warded off all his +thrusts, lunges and rushes, turned aside his long sword with +his small round shield without a trace of effort, and at his +leisure found a joint in his body armor and pierced his heart +with an ostentatiously difficult lunge delivered with the acme +of apparent ease. + + "There," sighed Manlia, "I prayed hard." + +"So did I," Brinnaria murmured, "but I prayed the other way. +He ought to have been killed already. Numisia has recognized +him and he has been recognized by three or four nobles along +the coping. The rumor is spreading from each of them and +running through the audience." Manlia, in fact, looking about + was aware of an unusual stir among the spectators, of notes +being handed along and read, of whisperings, callings, signs, +pointings; of messengers worming their way from row to row +and from tier to tier. + + Almo won his third bout. While it was in progress Manlia +had seen one of the Emperor's orderlies enter the arena from +one of the small doors in the wall and confer with the chief +lanista, who directed the fighting. + + By the time Almo began a fourth bout half the audience was +looking at him or at Brinnaria. There were thousands present +who had survived the pestilence, who had been present fifteen +years before when she had let herself down into the arena and +had rescued the retiarius. They remembered her spectacular +interference and were curious as to how she would now comport +herself. Brinnaria, erect and calm, fanned herself placidly. + + Almo won his fourth bout. + + By this time the arrangements of the lanistas had been so far +modified that, instead of a great throng of fighters, there were, +in the whole immense arena, not more than twenty pairs. + + With scarcely a breathing space Almo was pitted against a +fifth adversary. By the time he had disposed of him the entire +audience, fully a hundred thousand souls, were as well aware of +what was going on as was Brinnaria herself. She was pale, but +entirely collected. To Manlia she whispered venomously: + + "Castor be thanked, he is certain to be killed, Aurelius has +attended to that." In fact the Roman sense of fair play was +offended when the lanista gave Almo a mere moment of +rest and then set against him a sixth antagonist. Murmurs +ran from tier to tier, there were hoots and cat-calls. + + Aurelius put up his hand and the people became still. + + It was not often that the entire throng in the Colosseum +focussed its attention on anyone fighter. That happened +now. The dozen or more other pairs of fighters were +ignored, all eyes were on Almo and his opponent--all eyes +that did not stray towards Brinnaria. + + Almo was not showing any signs of weariness, but he +was plainly husbanding his strength. The sixth bout was +tame--seldom had the Amphitheatre displayed so mild +a set to. The heavy-armed man had seen Almo dispose +of five like himself, he was timid; Almo was not timid, +but he was cautious. The result was a tedious exhibition +of fencing for position, each sword monotonously +caught on the other shield. At the end Almo slashed his +opponent's wrist, feinted, pretended to be unable to avoid +a clumsy thrust, slipped inside the big man's guard and +drove his sabre deep under his arm-pit. + + The Colosseum rang with cheers. + + Without so much as a sponging down or a mouthful of wine +Almo was faced by a seventh fresh swordsman in complete +armor. This time there were no caterwaulings or groans. +Even the upper gallery had recognized Almo or been told +who he was, even the populace had remembered or had +been informed of the relation between Almo and Brinnaria. +Everybody had recalled or been reminded of her rescue +of the retiarius. + + The audience collectively comprehended that Aurelius meant +Almo to be defeated and put at an adversary's mercy before +Brinnaria, that he was testing her. + + The habitual hubbub, hum, and buzz of undertones was +checked to a very unusual degree, the Amphitheatre became +almost still. + + But when Almo fairly duplicated his first bout and neatly, +almost without effort, cut his victim's throat, the audience +cheered him vociferously. + + Louder, if possible did they acclaim his calm and adequate +strategy against his eighth antagonist. + + A ninth and a tenth were promptly put beyond power to +hurt him by wounds ingeniously disabling, but far from deadly. + + The eleventh bout was more tedious than the sixth. + + Almo divined some greater strength or skill in this +adversary and played him warily. When the audience +was bored to the point of being almost ready to call +for something diverting Almo slaughtered his man +with a terrible wound between his corselet and kilt. + + The twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth antagonists +Almo plainly despised. He stood almost still, hardly +altering the position of his feet except to turn as the +huge barbarians circled ponderously about him. Each +he brought down with his first lunge. + + As the fifteenth bout began the audience was manifestly +impatient and restive. But they were not bored. That one +Thracian, almost without rest, should successively dispose +of fourteen antagonists, in the fullest armor, was a notable +feat. The perfect form of Almo's fighting was even more +notable. At each victory the audience cheered him till +they were hoarse. They seemed to cheer quite spontaneously +and to need the relief for their feelings. But also they +seemed to mean to give him as long a rest as was in +their power. They were all for him. + + But no man could go on fighting continually without fatigue. +In his fifteenth bout Almo moved heavily. + + The other man was unusually quick for a big man. He handled +his big sword deftly. After much sparring he was too quick +for Almo, and the point of his slender blade scratched Almo's +splay vizor, nicked his chin, and tore a long shallow slash in the +skin of his right breast. + + Blood welling through it stained the green of Almo's tunic; +blood dropping from his chin spotted the bright green. + + The populace groaned. + + Manlia prayed. + + Brinnaria, under scrutiny of two hundred thousand eyes, sat +erect, fanned herself steadily, and gazed straight before her. +To all appearance she was as indifferent to Almo as if he +did not exist. + + After that Alma moved like a sleep-walker or a man in a +dream, dully and dazedly. + + The big man feinted and lunged cleverly. The point of his +weapon ripped Alma's thigh on the outside above the knee. +No man could stand up after such a wound. He went down, +his shield under him. + + From all around the arena, from every tier, automatically, +thousands of arms shot out, thumb flat. Instantly every arm +whipped back and was hidden under its owner's robe. All +realized that expression of sympathy was not their business. +A hush fell. Everybody looked at the Emperor and at Brinnaria. + + Brinnaria sat erect in her arm-chair, fanning herself evenly, +staring straight across the arena. The same instinct, the same +curiosity which actuated the rest of the audience, restrained +the Vestals from giving the sign of mercy. All felt that the +matter concerned only Aurelius and Brinnaria, that for anyone +else to interfere would be flouting the Emperor. + + Brinnaria, white as a corpse, dizzy and numb, kept up the +unvarying motion of her fan. Otherwise she was perfectly still. + + The victor rolled his eyes along the rows of spectators. He +got no inkling of their feelings. + + He gazed at the Vestals. The audience saw him gaze that way. +Brinnaria ignored him. Almo and all the world. + + The victor looked toward the Emperor. + + Aurelius held out his right hand, thumb out. + + The lanista removed Almo's helmet. If anyone had doubted +his identity the doubt was dispelled among all near enough +to make out his face. + + The victor put one foot on Almo's chest. Almo stretched his neck. + + Brinnaria sat there, tense, pale, but as collected as if she had +no interest in what was going on. + + The savage standing over Alma glanced a second time towards +the Emperor. + + Aurelius was holding his arm at full stretch over the coping, +thumb flat against the extended fingers. + + Brinnaria knew that she had won, that Aurelius had put her +to the test before all Rome, that she had stood the test, that +all Rome was witness. Her fingers clutched the handle of +her fan. She could hardly feel it in her grasp. + + The big man took his foot from Almo's chest. + + The audience broke into howls of applause, gust after gust +of cheers, roaring like a storm wind in a forest. + + Brinnaria saw the arena, saw the spectators, through a film +of mist, through a gray veil, through a fog of blackness. She +realized that, for the first time in her life, she was on the verge +of fainting. Mechanically she looked about her. Her glance fell +on Meffia crumpled in her arm-chair. + + That steadied her. If Meffia had fainted, she would not, she +would not. + + She did not faint. She fanned herself steadily as she watched +the lanistas help Almo to hobble from the arena. When he was +gone her attention returned to Meffia. Gargilia and Numisia +were trying to rouse her. + + She remained crumpled, she collapsed, she slid off her chair +to the floor of the box. She lay in a horrid heap unmistakable +in its limpness. The excitement had been too much for Meffia. +She was stone dead. + + + BOOK III + + + + THE REBELLION OF DESPERATION + + + + + CHAPTER XV - REHABILITATION + + + + THE death of a Vestal, except from old age, was always regarded +by the Roman populace as a sign of the gods' disfavor. The death +of a young Vestal, sudden, unexpected and unexplained, could not +but cause great uneasiness throughout all classes of the population. + + Moreover, gladiatorial exhibitions were part of the Roman public +worship, which largely proceeded on the naive assumption that the +gods liked just about what men liked and that, the best way to please +the gods and win their favor was to delight them with such spectacles +as men enjoyed, acrobatic exhibitions, dramas, beast-fights, fights +of beasts with men or of men with men, chariot-races and similar +exciting displays, and so put the gods in a good humor. This +underlying theory of diverting spectacles as a species of prayer +and as the most effective kind of prayer was not so much definitely +expressed by the Romans, as tacitly and unconsciously assumed. +It was, nevertheless, entirely real and all Romans felt every public +show as an act of public worship, as a hallowed function. + + Most Roman rites were held to be entirely vitiated if a death +took place among the worshippers during the course of the +ceremony. To all solemnities at which only a few persons were +present this applied without qualification and positively. Naturally +a death among the crowd about a temple was held of much less import. + + Still less could anyone regard a death amid the vast throng in the +Colosseum or the Circus Maximus. So that Meffia's sudden end +was not necessarily held a certain indication of the wrath of the +gods. But, as the death of one of the most important functionaries +present at the spectacle, it caused much concern. The dismay of +the people the pontiffs tried to alleviate by all the means in their +power, by consultation of the augurs, soothsayers and +professional prophets, and by official consultation of the Sibylline +Books. The general anxiety was somewhat allayed by their +placards and proclamations, announcing that Meffia's death +was wholly due to her personal weakness and was not to be +regarded as a portent, in particular that it in no way indicated +the wrath of the gods or their rejection of the petition for public +safety embodied in the spectacles celebrating the triumph of Aurelius. + + The Temple and the Atrium of Vesta made up an institution in +which death was entirely disregarded. As no seriously ill Vestal +was ever allowed to remain within the limits of the Atrium, but, +as soon as alarming symptoms appeared, was removed from the +Atrium and put in charge of relations or friends, so also the body +of a dead Vestal was always turned over to the care of her family +or connections. Though the Vestals, alone among Romans, +possessed the privilege of being buried inside the walls of Rome, +though their funerals were magnificent public processions, +participated in by all the functionaries of the state and lavishly +provided at the public expense, yet the death itself was held to +be a concern of the family of the dead Vestal, not of her surviving +colleagues. The Vestals might mourn but the Atrium was never +in mourning. Its routine went on as if nothing had happened; no +sign of grief was displayed or even permitted; visitors were +received as usual. + + Among the first visitors to the Atrium on the morning after +Almo's fight and Meffia's death was, naturally, Flexinna. + + At the first word Brinnaria cut her short. + + "I don't want to hear his name," she declared. "I'm done +with him forever. I don't love him any longer; I don't care for +him, even; I hate him. It does not concern me whether he +recovers or not. I'd rather he wouldn't recover. The best +thing for both of us would be for him to die anyhow. I wish +he were dead; I wish one of those heavy men had killed him." + +"B-B-Brinnaria!" Flexinna remonstrated, "you t-t-talk like +a raving maniac! You look like a F-F-Fury!" + +"I'm furious enough!" Brinnaria snarled, "and I've plenty of +good cause for being angry. Was ever woman on earth put in +a position so invidious, so embarrassing? Everybody knew of +my rescue of the retiarius, thousands had seen me rescue him. +Everybody knew of my involvement with Almo before I was +taken for a Vestal, of our love for each other, of my expressed +intention to marry him at the end of my service. Everybody +recognized Almo. + + "And there I was with the one man on earth in the jaws of +death before my eyes and I with the power to save him if I +chose and a hundred thousand people watching me to see +what I would do. And because I had once before rescued a +man in that same situation everybody expected me to do +something unusual and spectacular to save Almo. + +"If it had been any other man it would have been the most +natural thing in the world for me to give the signal for mercy +and nobody would have thought anything of it. But, because +the man before me was the man I had expressed my intention +of marrying at the end of my service, therefore, if I had tried +to save him, that would be taken as a confession of my being +actuated by the sort of interest which no Vestal has a right to +feel for any man. + + "A delightful situation to be placed in! + + "And he must needs go out of his way to put me in that position! +When all he had to do was to live the normal life of a Roman +gentleman and all things would in time come right for both of +us, he must needs strain the powers of human ingenuity, compel +the forces of time and space, of wind and wave to conspire to +produce that situation and make me suffer those unnecessary agonies! + + "Furious! + + "Of course I'm furious. + + "Never name him to me!" + +When Lutorius Rusco, the new Pontifex of Vesta, called on her +she was less explosive, but still fuming. + + She received him in the large room at the east end of the peristyle +of the Atrium, a sort of parlor which had on either side of it three +very small rooms, the six, used as private offices by the six Vestals. +There each had her writing desk, and the cabinets in which she +kept her important papers, letters and such possessions. + + After they had exchanged greetings Lutorius motioned towards +Brinnaria's little sanctum. Brinnaria bridled. + +"I've nothing to say that we cannot say out here," she advertised, +"and I do not want to hear anything that cannot be said out here." + +Lutorius was tactful and had his way. When they were alone, he +said: + + "You were magnificent! You behaved splendidly. You could +not have done better. We are all proud of you, from the Emperor +down to the lowest slumgullion, every single Roman of us. You +are certainly the most popular woman alive and your popularity +is now of a sort to last as long as you live, complete and +unqualified. You were popular before, but with considerable +reservations. The hierarchy liked you, but were not sure that they +ought to approve a Vestal who had perpetrated such exploits as +yours, particularly your trouncing poor old Faltonius. The nobility +admired you, but shook their heads over your stock-farming. The +populace were enthusiastic about you, but, like the upper classes, +were uneasy because of your expressed intention to marry at the +end of your service and to marry a specified man, who had been +your boyish lover. All classes acclaimed you as a woman, but +nearly everybody was dubious about you as a Vestal. + + "Now nobody has any hesitation about feeling that you are all +a Vestal should be, a priestess whose prayers are certain to be +heard and answered." + +Brinnaria made a wry face. + + "My prayers were not heard yesterday," she sighed. "Almo +was not killed. I was praying hard to have him dead and have +it all over with and done with forever." + +Lutorius turned on her a slow, benignant, indulgent smile. + + "Daughter," he said, "you must remember that you are not +the only Vestal. Four Vestals were praying that Almo be saved, +each praying not only with her lips but with every fibre of her +being. And your heart and soul were praying silently with them +and against the fierce prayers of your lips." + +"It is not so," she denied. "Every fibre of me was praying as +my lips prayed. My prayers were genuine." + +"I am sure you thought so," Lutorius agreed. "It was natural +for you to feel that way. You were very angry. But your anger +will wear off." + +"My anger may," Brinnaria admitted, "but never my +resentment and my disgust." + +"Only time can prove whether your forecast is correct," the Pontiff +soothed her, "but are you justified even in being resentful? Ought +you not rather to be thankful that chance or fate or the direct +intervention of the gods working through Almo gave you the +precious opportunity to free yourself from the shadow of an +imputation that lay upon you from your entrance into the order? +Rome vaguely suspected you of too warm an interest in Almo. +Much of Rome had seen and all Rome had heard of your theatrical +rescue of a gladiator totally unknown to you. All Rome knew your +impulsive nature. All Rome has now seen you perfectly controlled +and outwardly calm with Almo on the verge of death before your +eyes. Everybody has watched you ignore him and show less interest +in his fate than you once manifested towards a casual savage. +Your outward observance of the conventions under such trying +circumstances has abolished any qualms the people felt because +of your many past unconventionalities. This puts you in a very strong +position toward any possible accusation or trial. You know how +earnestly you have talked to me of your dread of such contingencies. +Ought you not, after thinking it over, to forget your anger against +Almo and to feel positively grateful for the opportunity so to exalt +ourself?" + +"Perhaps I ought," Brinnaria mused. "The value to me of the +results I had not thought of, but admit it now that you expound it. +But I am not grateful. I suffered too much. I am still smarting +with indignation. + + "And, apart from any remains of anger, I ache with the humiliation +of it all. Think of the infamy, of the degradation Almo has brought +on himself!" + +Lutorius pursed his lips. + + "There is a certain social stigma upon any man who has joined +a prize-fighting gang," he conceded, "but the obloquy resulting +from having been a gladiator has greatly attenuated amid the +loose manners of our day. Nothing that becomes fashionable +remains disgraceful. The social disgrace of it has greatly +lessened as the thing has become more usual, and freemen who +have been gladiators are rather acclaimed and sought after than +condemned and shunned. They win a sort of vogue, if successful +fighters. + + "The treatment of such persons has greatly changed in recent +years. Even since I began to remember there has been an all +but universal alteration in the general attitude towards such +cases--they have become too numerous for the old feelings to +survive. Not only Roman citizens have entered gladiatorial +schools, risen high in the profession, fought countless fights, +served out their time as prize-fighters, and returned to their +families, but noblemen have done so, even senators. Vescularius +is as much a senator as if he had not won seventy-eight bouts +in three years." + +"I know it," Brinnaria admitted, "and I have thought over all +that. But I am old-fashioned in my feelings even if I have often +been the reverse in my behavior. I am revolted at the thought +of Almo as a professional cut-throat--I was insulted at the +sight of him in the arena. I feel that by his abasement of himself +he has obliterated my love for him. It is as if he had never existed. +I shall not marry him, even if we both outlive my obligatory +term of service. I shall never marry anybody. I shall die a Vestal." + +"You feel that way now, of course," Lutorius agreed, "but +you will get over it, though you do not think so now." + +"I do not believe I shall ever get over it," Brinnaria declared. +"So many things rankle in my thoughts, the small things even +more than what is more important. I grind my teeth over the +mere legal consequences of his having been a gladiator. He +will forfeit half the properties he inherited and he can never +hold any office, civil or military." + +"All that," said Lutorius, "the Emperor will attend to in full. +And your thinking of such trifles shows that you even yet +care more for Almo than you admit to yourself. + + "You must let me tell you about him. He is in the care of the +best physicians in Rome. They assure me that he will recover, +that his face will show but the merest trace of a scar, no +disfigurement whatever, and that he will walk without the +slightest limp. He is comfortable and convalescing nicely. +I am going to bring you news of him daily, whether you +think you want it or not, and you are going to listen to me +because I tell you to." + +Brinnaria, for once in her life, was submissive and silent. + + Not many days later the Pontiff greeted her with a contented smile. + + "Almo," he said, "is now practically recovered. He is well +enough to have enjoyed brief visits from several of his former +cronies. He is in his house on the Carinae, and it is besieged by +all the fashionables of Rome, not only his boyhood friends and +acquaintances, but people who never spoke to him. Everybody +is rushing to call on him. + + "He is a free man again. At an intimation of the Emperor's wishes +Elufrius became as supple as possible and all willingness to oblige. +He asked a huge price for Almo's release, and no wonder, for +after the advertisement you gave him, Almo could have commanded +fabulous fees for all future fights and the profits accruing to +Elufrius must have been enormous. So Elufrius had to be paid a +large sum, but nothing compared to even one year's accumulation +of revenue from Almo's estates administered by his agents. So +Almo will never feel that. The papers have all been drawn, signed +and sealed. The cash has been paid. Almo is no longer a member +of a gladiatorial band. + + "And, at a word from the Emperor, the Senate framed and passed +a decree relieving Almo of all the legal disabilities inhering in his +past. He has been restored to his former rank in the nobility, has +been confirmed in the possession of all inheritances which he might +otherwise have forfeited, has been declared free from all stain and +entirely fit to hold any office in the service of the Republic. The decree +has been engrossed, sealed and signed by the Emperor. Almo is a +nobleman as before. Are you pleased?" + +"I am," Brinnaria confessed. + + Lutorius nodded. + + "Now, do not take umbrage," he said, "at what I am about to ask. +If you must say no, say no without being offended. May I tell the +Emperor what you have said to me?" + +"Certainly," Brinnaria authorized him. "Aurelius is so good a +friend to me that sometimes I think he is the best friend I have +on earth." + +After an interval of some days the Pontiff hinted that the Emperor +desired to see her. Brinnaria's disposition to stand upon ceremony +and to insist on her full rights as a Vestal had waned as she grew +to maturity. In her dealing with Aurelius she had long laid it aside +altogether and likewise with Lutorius, both were so unassuming, +so manifestly actuated by the sincerest regard for her. Now she +obediently sent in her application for an audience with the Emperor. + + It was accorded her about twenty days after Almo's fight. +Aurelius came straight to the point. + + "Daughter," he said, "I want you to tell me the entire truth. You can +confide in me without reservation and you should do so without hesitation, +since I ask it. + + "What I wish you to tell me is this: Has your lover's behavior +effaced your regard for him, as you asserted to Lutorius, or were +you self-deceived? Is everything at an end between you and will +you ignore his existence in future and remain a Vestal for life +or have your feelings overcome your displeasure and are you again +thinking of him and of your future as you did in the past?" + +"Castor be good to me," Brinnaria confessed. "I did think his +folly had alienated me from him forever, but the more I brood +over it all the more I realize that no matter what he has done +or does or will do I love him just as genuinely as if he deserved it, +and as far as I can judge I shall love him to the last breath I draw. +I am ashamed of my weakness, but I foresee that, when my service +is over, I shall be just as eager to marry him as if he had been all +he ought to have been." + +"You please me," said Aurelius, "particularly in the way you put it. + + "I am not in the habit of giving a second chance to any man. But +Almo's case is so peculiar and the circumstances so unusual and +my interest in him is so compelling that I am going to make an +exception in respect to him. I shall give him another opportunity +as an officer. I have reflected where to send him and I have +concluded to relegate him to Britain. There, in the north, our +frontier, pushed far beyond the former line, is ceaselessly +attacked by the Caledonian savages. My predecessor's great +earthwork needs larger garrisons. There Almo will find occupation +and may rehabilitate himself. There he will be under the watch +of Opstorius, who is a stern and scrupulous governor. He sets +out this very day. + + "Now is the time for me to speak to you of Calvaster. Calvaster, +unfortunately, is as indispensable as ever, even more so. My +impulse was to banish him, but I had to forego the idea. I contented +myself with summoning him to my presence and telling him in so +many words that the slightest suspicion of any further machinations +by him against you or Almo would draw down on him the unescapable +consequences of my severest displeasure. By that admonition, and +by his chagrin at the unexpected and unwelcome outcome of his +plot, I think him sufficiently punished. Also I think him thoroughly +cowed. He will make no further attempt to trouble you. + + "It appears that when he was touring Spain, inspecting the copies +of the sacred books at all the chief temples of the five provinces, he +recognized Almo in the arena at Corduba. He at once used all the +influence in his power to arrange that Elufrius should bring his +gang of fighters to Rome and that their bouts should be so managed +that Almo would be saved to fight before you as he did. Almo +himself found this out through Elufrius since he became again a +free man and in control of his fortune, and it took a great deal of +money and the participation of a great many experts to uncover +and prove the facts. Proved they have been to my satisfaction +and Calvaster's confusion. + + "Almo had expected to serve his three years in Spain and was as +dismayed as possible when he found he was to be transferred to +Rome. But an articled gladiator has taken oath to submit to anything, +specifying death, torture, burning, wounding, flogging and more +besides, an articled gladiator cannot object to fighting anywhere. +Almo had to acquiesce. + + "And now, having heard that it was not wholly his fault that you +were so cruelly tried before all of us, will you not agree to say farewell +to him a second time?" + +In the flood-tide of her revulsion of feeling Brinnaria could refuse +Aurelius nothing. The Emperor gave a signal and Almo was ushered +in as he had been six years before. + + Brinnaria's eager scrutiny could detect no limp in his gait, could +barely descry the scar on his chin, even when she knew so well where +to look for it. She noted that he looked well, vigorous and very +handsome in his gilded armor and scarlet cloak. She contrasted their +magnificent surroundings with the rough frontier to which he was +going. + + Almo tried to speak and choked. + + "Caius," she said, "the Emperor has told me how it all came +about. Don't ask me to forgive; I ask your pardon for misconceiving +you; I have nothing to forgive in you. If you are what I believe +you to be I shall never have to forgive anything from you. Go, and +with the help of the blessed gods, prove yourself all you ought to +be. Farewell!" + +And Almo, as he bowed, managed to say: + + "Farewell!" + + + +Chapter XVI - VAGARY + + + +TERENTIA FLAVOLA, who was taken as a Vestal to fill Meffia's +place, was a really beautiful girl. + +Her hair was golden hair in fact, not merely in name; her eyes were +an intense, bright blue; her complexion was exquisite, the delicate +texture and perfect whiteness of her skin emphasized by the healthful +coloring which came and went on her cheeks. Every one of the Vestals +fell in love with her at once, most of all Brinnaria. + +Besides her good looks Terentia had a charming disposition, a pretty +unconsciousness of herself and a winning deferentialness towards her +elders. The combination made her irresistible. + +Also she was an interesting child, being amazingly precocious, not +as Brinnaria had been, in growth and behavior, for she was a complete +child in all respects, but in being what moderns call an infant prodigy. +Infant prodigies in ancient times displayed their unusual powers +chiefly by recitations, mostly of poems, which they learned by rote +and repeated with very little understanding of what they rehearsed. +More than most of her kind Terentia comprehended what she +declaimed, but she knew by heart many poems entirely beyond her +childish grasp. At barely eight years of age she was able to reel off +without hesitation or effort anyone of an amazingly long list. With +little prompting she could recite some of the longest narrative poems +in Latin literature and she needed prompting only to give her the +cue words at the beginning of each book and of each important episode. + +Besides her amazing powers as a reciter she was already proficient +in Greek, talked it easily and knew many poems in that language, +which all educated Romans spoke and which was used more than +Latin at Court. + +But her chief distinction came from her capability as a musician. In +music she was not only an infant prodigy, but very much of a born +genius. Her memory for any composition she heard once was unfailingly +accurate; her rendition of anything she knew was more than perfect, +since to perfection of rendition she added sympathetic interpretation. +She was already reputed the best female performer on the lyre, the +most popular instrument in ancient times. The lyre had an effect +something between that of a guitar and a harp, with some of the +characteristics of the modern banjo, zither and mandolin. + +Since the lyre was looked upon as frivolous and unsuited to the +gravity of a Vestal, Brinnaria introduced Terentia to the organ. +This instrument the child had heard, but had not learned to play, +as organs were expensive in those days, whereas Terentia's +family, although of the most ancient nobility, were in very +straitened circumstances. + +To the organ Terentia took with great enthusiasm, and in performing +on it she soon surpassed her teacher. + +Brinnaria's playing on the water-organ was similar to the piano +music of a modern girl who has mostly taught herself and who +plays largely by ear; Terentia played it as a born genius in our +days plays her piano, with impeccable exactitude, inimitable +individuality and compelling charm. Her organ recitals were soon +a chief feature of the social life in the Atrium, each thronged by +the most fashionable ladies in Rome, who competed for invitations. +Her vogue in no way spoiled Terentia, who played with just as +much zest for her co-inmates of the Atrium, or when she was +entirely alone amusing herself at the organ. Teaching her, playing +with her, listening to her, took up a good deal of Brinnaria's time +and came to be a great solace and comfort to her. + +Even more was this abundance of good music a solace and a +comfort to Causidiena, for, like Dossonia, her predecessor, like +so many former Chief Vestals, Causidiena was going blind +from some disorder slow, painless and obscure, altogether baffling +to the best medical and surgical skill.* + + *Clearly cataracts. As a matter of fact they WERE + sometimes treated even this long ago, but the treatments + did not meet with much success, and Causidiena probably + would not have cared to take the risk. + +For much of the ritual of Vesta and much of the participation +of the Vestals in the public worship in general, the presence of +the Chief Vestal was essential. + +She was the Vestal, the others were only her assistants and in training +to succeed her. But as Causidiena became less and less able to see, all +matters which could be attended to by others devolved more and more +upon Numisia. Among her colleagues Numisia had greatest confidence +in Brinnaria, so that Brinnaria's duties occupied her insistently. + +Besides her ritual duties and her music she kept up her interest in +horse-racing; in fact, she became more and more devoted to this pastime, +which Lutorius countenanced, but which her detractors characterized +as indelicate. + +The success of her venture was notable. She became an important local +dealer in racers. Her colts, sold at well-advertised auctions, were sought +after, were competed for, brought fancy prices, won many races, came +to have a reputation that spread beyond the city, over all Italy, even into +the provinces. Her career as a stock farmer was brilliant, meteoric, +phenomenal. + +Between her duties, her music and her horse-breeding Brinnaria's +mind was pretty well occupied. She had no time to brood and passed +six contented and almost happy years. + +She had reason for happiness in the fact that reports from Almo were +uniformly good. To Flexinna he wrote at intervals and his letters +reached their destination without much irregularity. In those days +communication with Britain was by no means so easy as with Africa. +Gaul was a country well Romanized and very populous, busy and +prosperous. All across it were good roads, excellent bridges and +frequent post houses. But between Italy and Gaul were the Alps, +where the winter snows blocked the roads for months at a time and +where avalanches and floods suspended traffic at unpredictable +intervals at all times of the year. The only sure road uniting Italy +and Gaul was not through the Alps but past them along the sea-coast, +and that was roundabout. + +At the other end of Gaul the sea interposed a barrier which the +Romans found annoying. In the state of seamanship in those ages +a head-wind was an insuperable obstacle. As long as the wind +blew the wrong way there was nothing to do but wait for the +wind to change. High winds made navigation altogether impossible. +Between storms and head-winds, on more than half the days in +the year attempting the passage of the channel was not to be +thought of. Moreover, bitter experience had taught the Romans +that the weather-signs of the Mediterranean were not to be +relied on when one dealt with Atlantic weather conditions. In +particular they found that a clear sky, a light breeze, warm air +and a calm sea in the morning not infrequently heralded a terrible +storm before dusk. + +Consequently their attempts to cross from Gaul to Britain or +from Britain to Gaul were restricted to occasions when, at and +after sunset, the sky was clear, the sea calm and the wind +favorable. Only under those circumstances could they be reasonably +sure of the conditions remaining unaltered until the transit was +accomplished. In practice about sixty-five nights in a year promised +well for traffic. With sea transit so restricted, communication +with Britain was infrequent, and news of Almo irregular. + +Besides his letters to Flexinna he wrote occasionally to Vocco. +Vocco also had hopes of hearing from some of his comrades in +arms. But as Valentia was a place of semi-exile for incompetent, +illiterate, drunken and reckless officers, small reliance could +be placed on any such channel of news. + +Therefore, with Brinnaria's knowledge and at her expense, +Vocco had arranged to have an unremitting watch kept on +Almo by skillful hirelings of the Imperial information department. +These men sent messages whenever it was possible, and their +reports were consistently favorable. + +The frontier of Caledonia offered no such opportunities for +distinction and promotion as the outskirts of the Sahara had +afforded. Military duty from the Forth to the Clyde was +monotonous and wearisome. But, considering his environment, +Almo did very well. He was liked by his companions, loved by +his subordinates and worshipped by his men. What there was +to do he did capably, and in his leisure, among comrades who +guzzled wine and gambled like madmen, he was always sober +and never abused the dice, which were an inevitable social +feature of all Roman outpost existence. + +Aurelius spent the last four years of his life along the headwaters +of the Danube and Rhine, where the rising tide of Germanic +migrations beat incessantly at the outworks of the Empire. +His death at Vienna occurred when Brinnaria was twenty-nine +years old and had been nineteen years a Vestal. He was +succeeded by his son Antoninus, whose obliging disposition +and easy-going manners made him exceedingly popular with +his cronies, the young fops, dandies and sports of Roman +society, and led to his being known among them as "the good fellow," +which nickname of "Commodus" soon supplanted his given +names and official titles, on the lips first of the Romans, then +of the Italians, soon of all his subjects everywhere. + +Commodus was not in Rome when his father died and it was +therefore not possible for Brinnaria to have an audience with +him. She dreaded that a change of governors in Britain might +work unfavorably for Almo. + +In consultation with Vocco she did what she could, through the +city Prefect in charge of Rome during the Emperor's absence, +and through other officials, to make sure that any new governor +of Britain would be fully informed of the secret instructions +which Aurelius had given Opstorius concerning Almo. She also +did all that was possible to have Commodus reminded of the +matter. This was difficult at a distance and a delicate undertaking +at any time and in any place, no Emperor ever relishing the +assumption that he need be reminded of anything, while the +necessity for emphasis and secrecy at one and the same time +taxed the best ingenuity. With the great influence possessed +by the Vestals, they hoped that they had succeeded. + +But when Commodus had been Emperor a little over a year, +Brinnaria, as she descended from her carriage at Vocco's door, +felt a thrill of vague foreboding. On entering the house her +premonition of something wrong intensified. At first sight +Flexinna's face confirmed her suspicions. However, she asked +no questions and worked off her feelings by a series of high dives, +followed by fancy-stroke swimming under water. She came up +from her tenth plunge sufficiently exhausted to feel to some +extent soothed. + +As they composed themselves on the dining-sofas Vocco and +Flexinna exchanged glances. Brinnaria did not wait for either to speak. + +"I am afraid," she said, "that my appetite is not as reliable as +it was ten years ago. I think we had best eat our dinner first and +discuss our bad news afterwards." Vocco and Flexinna looked +distinctly relieved. + +Brinnaria's appetite seemed excellent. She ate abundantly, and, +after the dinner tray was removed and the dessert tray brought +in, she relished a half a dozen of her favorite purple figs. +Savoring her glass of Vocco's exquisite Setian wine she asked: + +"What has gone wrong, Quintus?" + +"Just precisely what we feared has happened," Vocco replied. +"In spite of all our efforts Hostidius appears to have known +nothing whatever about Almo's peculiar past or of the special +instructions Aurelius gave Opstorius. + +"Almo has practically repeated the vagary he perpetrated at +Hippo. He induced Hostidius to give him a full, honorable discharge +from the army and later wheedled the governor into authorizing +him to have himself sold as a slave." + +"What maggot can he have in his brain," Brinnaria burst in, +"that he is so fascinated with the idea of being sold as a slave? +What earthly basis can there be for the enticement it holds out +to him? Being sold as a slave is universally regarded as the +worst fate that can befall a man in life. What makes the prospect +of life as a slave so alluring to him?" + +"Flexinna and I have been debating that point," said Vocco, "but +we cannot so much as think up a conjecture. + +"As to the facts there can be no doubt. He was publicly sold in the +marketplace of Eboracum." + +"At least," Brinnaria breathed, "we have not lost track of him +this time." + +"We have not," Vocco answered, "and I'll wager we shall not." + +"Is it prize-fighting again?" Brinnaria queried, "or is it really +charioteering this time?" + +"Neither," said Vocco. "I must say it sounds like lunacy. But +all Almo's words and all the small details of his behavior show +no signs of derangement. Up to the last report he slept well, ate +well, looked well, talked sensibly, in respect to all minor matters +acted like a rational being, and seemed to thrive. But what he +did in the large sense appears incredible. + +"He had himself advertised for sale as an expert farm overseer, +was bought by a prosperous proprietor whose properties are +situated in the southwestern part of Britain and there, near +Ischalis, he has settled down to the management of a large +estate; large at least for that part of the world. He was giving +excellent satisfaction in his dealings with the slaves and by his +knowledge of budding, grafting, transplanting and of all the +mysteries of gardening, orchard lore, and of agriculture in general." + +"Yes," Brinnaria reflected, "he was keen on all that sort of +thing while he was at the villa near Falerii. Such knowledge, +gained in boyhood, sinks in deep and is never forgotten. He is +not playing a part or pretending; he is really enjoying farm life. +But what kink in his head makes him fancy that he prefers to +enjoy it as a slave rather than as a free man? That puzzles me. +Why be sold as a slave in order to bask in rural delights when +he could buy the ten largest estates in Britain and never feel +the outlay? When after his honorable discharge from the +army he was at liberty to remain in Britain openly and to do +as he liked? Can you see through it?" + +Flexinna and Vocco agreed that they saw no glimmer of light. + +"At least," Brinnaria summed up, "he is in Britain and we can +arrange to prevent his leaving the island. Certainly we can have +him watched, wherever he goes." + +Vocco at once set about making the arrangements to ensure +that Almo would not leave Britain. Within a half year he had +to report that their efforts had been futile. + +"We were too late," he said. "He did not remain at Ischalis a +year. Egnatius Probus, of Fregellae, had been in Britain more +than ten years as adviser to the tax-department. His health had +given way and he was taking the waters at Aquae Solis. He was +an acquaintance of Almo's owner and went down to Ischalis +after his water-cure had had its effect and he felt better. While +visiting and idling at Ischalis he took a fancy to Almo, offered +a high price for him and bought him. He returned home by +way of Marseilles and from there by ship to Puteoli. He is +now on his estates near Fregellae and Almo is his head +overseer, in charge of the entire place. He has been there +three months already." + +Brinnaria fidgeted on her sofa, for, as on the previous occasion, +Vocco had imparted his news after dinner. + +"Give me another goblet of that Setian you bought from Zaelis," +she said. "I'm getting to be a confirmed wine-bibber. At +every piece of bad news I need a bracer." + +After she had emptied her glass, she burst out: + +"If Almo is acting as villicus of an estate near Fregellae he +must be living with some slave-woman or other." + +"He is not," Vocco informed her. "I made careful inquiries +on just that point and got my information from two different +sources. Almo told Egnatius that he was a woman-hater +and could not endure a woman about him. Egnatius +humored him and he is acting villicus without any villica. +The wife of the assistant overseer does whatever is +necessary in the way of prayers and sacrifices and +such duties of a villica. She and her husband occupy +the overseer's house and Almo is living in the hut +meant for the assistant villicus." + +"Did anybody ever hear the like!" exclaimed Brinnaria. + +Vocco's agents verified this news and made it quite certain +that Almo was masquerading as a slave and as a villicus of +a fine estate in lower Latium, near Fregellae, southeast of +Rome on the Latin highroad, about half way between Capua +and the capital. + +Brinnaria found herself very much in a quandary, and +discussions with Flexinna and Vocco, however lengthy +and however often repeated, left her just where she started. +They could not decide whether it was best to do nothing or +to interfere, and whether, if they were to interfere, what +form their intervention should take. + +Should Vocco travel to Fregellae and force an interview with +Almo and try to appeal to his better self? If so, should he do so +without apprizing Egnatius of the real name and origin of his +overseer? Or should they enlighten Egnatius under a pledge +of secrecy and afterwards decide whether or not to make an +attempt to recall Almo to his natural way of life? Should they +do any of these things without appealing to the Emperor or +would it be better first to inform Commodus? They debated +over and over every line of conduct any one of them could +suggest. After all complete inaction and entire secrecy seemed best. + +This view was confirmed when Brinnaria consulted Celsianus, +the most reputed physician of Rome. She had already confided +in Lutorius, who informed Celsianus, arranged for an interview +and was present at it. + +The great man said: "Almo is not necessarily or even probably +deranged. On the face of what you tell me the most unfavorable +conjecture I could form would be that he has resolved to +commit suicide. You will say that the idea is absurd, that suicide +is easy and that the means are always at hand, which is quite true. + +"But there are cases, more numerous than you could fancy, +of persons who make up their minds to bring about their end +in some unimaginable manner, of which nobody but themselves +would ever have thought. Then they lay complicated plans and +by devious ways approach their purpose. If they are thwarted +or diverted, they never end their lives in any other fashion than +by the special method they have devised. + +"I am inclined to think that Almo's entrance into a gang of +sword-fighters was caused by some such intention, that he is +alive because the circumstances he looked forward to never +conspired to give him just the kind of death he preferred. I am +inclined to think that he is now working towards some unthinkable +exit from life. + +"But I am not much disposed to think his such a case at all. +It may be a mere whim of self-torment, or it may be spontaneous +yielding to a genuine liking for the life he is living. What one +human being likes cannot be realized by other human beings, +in many cases. + +"My advice is to let him entirely alone. If you interfere you may +precipitate his suicide, if he meditates suicide. By calling in the +help of the Emperor or of his owner or both, you may destroy +the chances, the very good chances, of his returning to his full +senses. Men in his state of mind are often sane in all respects, +and, if unsettled, are deranged only in one particular. They are +generally wholly reasonable on all points except as to their fad +of the moment. If that wears off they are entirely rational. Let +him alone. Watch him, but take no other steps." + +This advice seemed simple enough, but carrying it out proved +more of a strain than Brinnaria could have foreseen. The knowledge +that Almo was in Italy, near Fregellae, actually in Latium and +within seventy miles of Rome, that he was living in the hut of an +under-farm-bailiff, that he perhaps purposed some eccentric method +of suicide proved racking to her nerves. She became irritable and +fidgety, her music failed to solace or comfort her and sometimes +almost bored her. She groped blindly for something to distract +her mind. + +First she had a brief but violent attack of solicitude for her pauper +tenants. She found entertainment in visiting her slum properties +and in endeavoring to alleviate the condition of their inmates. They +were far from grateful. To have a Vestal, clad in the awe-inspiring +dignity of her white robes, with all her badges of office, six braids, +headdress, headband, tassels, ribbons, brooch and all descend from +her dazzlingly upholstered carriage and invade the courtyard of their +hive was thrilling but still more disconcerting to a swarm of slum +spawn. They bragged of the honor for the rest of their lives and strutted +over it for months, but they were unaffectedly relieved to see her depart. + +Her inquiries as to their means of livelihood were excruciatingly +embarrassing. The Roman populace, all freemen with their wives and +children, were legally entitled to free seats at the spectacles and to +cooked rations from the government cook-shops in their precinct. +They throve on their free rations. Of their own efforts they had merely +to clothe themselves and pay the rent of their quarters. Cash for +rent and garments they obtained in whatever way happened to be +easiest, often by dubious means. As to their resources they were reticent. + +In particular, Brinnaria was unable to cajole any admission, by word +or silence, from any dweller in one of her largest rookeries, and they +were better off than any tenants she had, too. What was more, not +one of their neighbors would impart any information about them. . + +Brinnaria's curiosity was aroused. She bethought herself of +Truttidius, the sieve-maker, and of his intimate knowledge of +all the dens and lairs in the city. + +She asked him. He laughed. + +"On the Fagutal?" he made sure, "at the second corner beyond +the end of the Subura?" + +He laughed again. + +Then he tactfully explained that the tenants in that particular +congeries of buildings were professional secret cut-throats, +good enough husbands and fathers and amicable among +themselves, but earning an honest livelihood by putting out +of the way any persons displeasing to anybody able to pay +for their services. + +Brinnaria abruptly ceased slumming. + +All the more she threw herself into her horse-breeding. She +visited her stud-farms oftener; and, oddly enough, as the result +of her overwrought state of mind, the management of the farms +themselves came to mean less to her than the means of reaching +them and returning. She paid close attention to the make of +her road-carriage, to the speed and pace of her roadsters. She +bought picked teams of blooded mares, selecting them especially +for their ability to keep up a fast walk without breaking pace. +She boasted that she had six spans of mares, any one of which +could, at a walk, outdistance any team in Rome owned by +anybody else. + +By specializing in fast-walking cattle she saved much time in +passing from the Atrium to the city gates and in returning. + +Outside the city her mares displayed their capacity for other +paces than the walk. She saw to it that her coachman kept +them at their utmost speed. The sight of her tearing along a +highway became familiar everywhere throughout the suburban +countryside. She made a hobby of extremely fast driving +and of buying fast mares. + +Also she fell into another fad, at the time all the rage, invented +since the accession of Commodus and made fashionable by the +young Emperor. Some popinjay had conceived a whim for travelling +by litter instead of in his carriage. It was far less expeditious and +far more expensive. But the notion took. All at once every fop in +Roman society must needs take his country outings, go to his +villa and come back from it, not in his carriage but in his litter. +The plea was that a carriage jolted and that riding in a litter was +less tiring. There was something in that, for carriage springs had +not been invented in those days. But mostly it was just a craze +among the very wealthy, as distinguishing them from people +who could afford but one set of litter-bearers. An ordinary +four-man litter could be used only for going about the city--longer +distances were impossible, and excursions into the country +soon tired out eight bearers. For road travelling one must have +sixteen bearers, two sets relieving each other in turn. Brinnaria +bought sixteen gigantic negroes and tested them on her +inspections of her stock-farms. She tried German bearers, +Goths and Cilicians. Her bearers became famous for their speed +and endurance. If she heard of any squad reputed better than +hers, she bought it at any price, until, not counting the teams +of bearers belonging to the Palace, there was only one gang in +Rome which she envied. She tried to purchase them but could +not. They belonged to her mother's friend Nemestronia. + +Nemestronia always had been a wonder and was a marvel. +She was one of the wealthiest women in Rome and had never +been ill a moment in her life. A very beautiful girl, she had +kept her looks and a wonderful singing voice, still clear and +sweet when she was over sixty. She had been, since within +a year after her first marriage, one of the social leaders of +Rome. She had become the social leader of Rome, her influence +almost equal to that of the Empress. She had outlived three +empresses and had reigned unquestioned in the social world +for over fifty years, yet had not an enemy in Rome. Everybody +loved Nemestronia. At the time of the litter craze she had +already celebrated her eighty-first birthday, was plump, +rosy, merry and spry, always ready for any amusement, and +was living happily with her fifth husband. + +She prided herself on her litter-bearers and with her unerring +social instinct anticipated the caprice of her world and provided +herself with three sets of carriers, sixteen to a set. One gang, +of brawny Cappadocians, outclassed any but the Emperor's own. + +These Brinnaria tried to buy, tried in vain. Nemestronia was willing +to exchange, if she could do so to her advantage. But sell she would +not. Amid her opulence no sum could tempt her. + +Brinnaria fumed and drove her horses almost to death, urged her +litter-men almost to exhaustion. But, with all her haste, care +outpaced her steeds or carriers. She gnawed her heart out. + +Only at Vocco's house, amid Flexinna's bevy of youngsters, did +she find peace of mind. + +Even there, at last, care followed her. + +When Alma had been more than a year at Fregellae, Brinnaria, +visiting Flexinna about the middle of May, scented more trouble. +As they lay down to dinner she said: + +"The occasion, I perceive, calls for an extra supply of wine. +Let it be the old Falernian this time and have the mixture strong." +After they had eaten, none any too heartily, Vocco told his news. + +Almo had left his master's estate without a permit, in plain words +had gone off like any runaway slave and had thereby exposed himself +to the penalties incurred by a fugitive. Egnatius had taken the usual +steps to recapture him, but neither he nor the authorities had any +clue to Almo's whereabouts. As far as they were concerned he had +vanished. + +He had not, however, eluded the vigilance of Brinnaria's agents, +of the men Vocco had employed to keep him in view. They understood +that Egnatius was to be kept in ignorance of their activity, and gave +no aid to the police of the neighborhood in their efforts to retake him. +They had reported only to Vocco. + +Almo had money with him and at Arpinum had garbed himself decently +for the road. He avoided the main highway and wandered along +by-roads, zigzagging and circling about. He idled at inns, sometime +for days in one place, often in small towns, oftener at road-houses +between. + +He was then near Atina. + +At intervals during June and July Vocco gave Brinnaria reports +about Almo. He seemed to enjoy the society of the casual travellers +he met at small inns and of the local frequenters of them. He got +on famously with everybody. Nowhere was he suspected of being +a runaway slave and naturally, for he had the unmistakable carriage +and bearing of a born freeman. The hue and cry Egnatius had set +loose after him was active wherever he went, but he sat under +placards offering rewards for his capture and no one applied the +description to him. + +Early in June he was at Casinum and Interamna, before it ended +at Fundi and Privernum. In July he passed through Setia, Ulubrae, +Norba and Cora. Early in August he was idling at Velitrae, +playing quoits in the inn-yard morning after morning. + +He seemed to like Velitrae. He stayed there longer than anywhere else. + + + +Chapter XVII - RECKLESSNESS + + + +ON the fifteenth of that same August, not long after noon, +Brinnaria was much surprised by a call from Flexinna. + +"The most amazing weather that ever was," Flexinna stated. +"I never heard of such, everybody says nobody ever heard of the +like. Even Nemestronia says she never saw or heard of anything +to compare to it. The densest imaginable fog, as white as milk. +You c-c-can't see across a street, you c-c-can hardly see the +bearers in front of your litter." + +"I noticed it in the courtyard," Brinnaria replied, "and it is +thicker than usual. But we often have morning fogs and I +have seen several almost as dense as this." + +"Nothing unusual in a fog d-d-down hereabouts and along the +river," Flexinna admitted. "B-B-But this fog is most unusual. +It is all over the whole city. I have lived on the Esquiline ever +since I was b-b-born and I never saw a fog up there except +p-p-perhaps a whiff just about sunrise and then only in wisps. +This fog is high up on the Esquiline, as d-d-dense as along the +river. I know the fog is all over the city b-b-because I sent two +slaves to the P-P-Pincian and two to the Aventine, and they +reported that it is just as b-b-bad everywhere as here and at +home. And I met Satronius Satro, just b-b-back from B-B-Baiae. +He slept at B-B-Bovillae last night and he says the fog is just as +b-b-bad all the way from B-B-Bovillae. He says it is heavy over +the whole c-c-country for miles. It amounts to a portent." + +"Flexinna," said Brinnaria, "you never came here and at +this time of day, to talk about the weather." + +"I d-d-didn't know how to b-b-begin," Flexinna admitted. + +"What has Almo done now?" Brinnaria queried. + +"He left Velitrae day before yesterday," said Flexinna, "and +went to Aricia. Yesterday he challenged the K-K-King of the +G-G-Grove." + +"Just as Celsianus conjectured," Brinnaria groaned. "Some +unthinkable method of suicide. Is he dead?" + +"No," Flexinna replied. "He's very much alive." + +"Then he is the King of the Grove!" Brinnaria cried. + +"They haven't fought yet," Flexinna informed her. + +"Impossible!" Brinnaria exclaimed. "Or there is something +wrong with your information. There is only one way to challenge +the King of the Grove and that is to enter the Grove with a +weapon. Almost as many men as women go to worship at +the Temple of Diana in the Grove by the Lake; the King +of the Grove never notices any unarmed man. But let a +man with a weapon of any kind, spear, sword, or what not, +even a club, step over the boundary line of the Grove and +that act of entrance there with a weapon constitutes a +challenge to the King of the Grove; at sight of an armed +man the King or the Grove attacks him. They fight then +and there till one is killed. The survivor is the King of the Grove. + +"The challenger is supposed to pluck a twig from the sacred +oak-tree and the act of picking the branch is supposed to be +the challenge. But, in practice, the King of the Grove watches +the sacred oak so carefully, that nobody remembers any +challenger who succeeded in pulling a twig unless he won the fight. + +"That is the only way to challenge the King of the Grove. +Everybody knows that." + +"That is just what I always thought," Flexinna confessed, +"b-b-but, it seems we are b-b-both mistaken. There is another +way to challenge the K-K-King of the G-G-Grove; that is to +go to the Dictator of Aricia and enter formal challenge. In that +c-c-case, the Dictator notifies the K-K-King of the G-G-Grove +that he must face the challenger at midnight next d-d-day. +Meanwhile, the challenger is entertained in the t-t-town-hall +of Aricia. He is b-b-bathed, p-p-provided with fresh c-c-clothing, +g-g-given whatever food he asks for and accommodated with a +c-c-comfortable b-b-bed for the night after his challenge. Then, +when he has had a g-g-good chance to sleep all night and has +had at least four g-g-good meals, he is c-c-conducted by the +aldermen to the G-G-Grove just b-b-before midnight. The +aldermen t-t-take with them two ancient shields, p-p-precisely +alike, and two ancient Amazonian b-b-battle-axes, also p-p-precisely +alike, which are k-k-kept among the t-t-treasures in the strong +room of the t-t-town hall at Aricia. The challenger plucks a +t-t-twig from the sacred oak. Then he and the K-K-King of the +G-G-Grove face each other in the open space b-b-before it. A +shield and a b-b-battle-axe are handed to each. Then they wait +for the word of the Dictator of Aricia. At the word they fight. + +"That is the other way to challenge the K-K-King of the +G-G-Grove." + +Flexinna, as generally happened, had been shown at once up +to Brinnaria's private apartment and had walked straight into +Brinnaria's bedroom. In that small room they sat facing each other. + +"Then they fight at midnight to-night," Brinnaria deduced. + +"Yes," Flexinna corroborated. + +"How did you come here?" her friend queried. + +"In Nemestronia's litter," the visitor answered. "I b-b-borrowed it." + +"With her Cappadocian bearers?" queried Brinnaria. + +"Eighteen, of them," said Flexinna; "two extras." + +"How on earth did you come to do that?" Brinnaria wondered. + +"I had a notion," Flexinna explained, "of trying to get to the +G-G-Grove by the Lake b-b-before the fight. I thought +p-p-perhaps Almo would listen to me if I c-c-could see him in +t-t-time." + +"Did you tell Quintus?" Brinnaria demanded. + +"Of c-c-course," said Flexinna. "He wanted to go alone, +b-b-but I said Almo would not listen to him, so I p-p-persuaded +him to let me t-t-try. I c-c-couldn't think of riding, of c-c-course, +as I am. He wouldn't even hear of my d-d-driving, said I might +as well hang myself and be d-d-done with it as risk the jar of +a t-t-travelling c-c-carriage. I said I'd use my litter. He said our +b-b-bearers c-c-could never g-g-get there in t-t-time for me to +hope to d-d-do any g-g-good. I said I'd b-b-borrow Nemestronia's +fastest gang. He said he c-c-could g-g-go and c-c-come b-b-back +on a horse quicker than any litter c-c-could reach the G-G-Grove. +I repeated that Almo would certainly p-p-pay no attention to him, +b-b-but might listen to me. So I b-b-borrowed Nemestronia's litter. +Shall I g-g-go? Shall I start at once?" + +"No!" Brinnaria cut her off. "Let me think. Sixteen miles? +They could do it in a little over five hours, if everything went just +right. They'd take at least eight hours for the return journey. You +wouldn't be back at the Appian gate before sunrise. It would be a +hungry job." + +"I thought of that," Flexinna informed her. "I'm always ravenous +when I'm this way* and c-c-can never g-g-go from one meal to +the next. I had a k-k-kid-skin of wine p-p-put in the litter and b-b-bread +and cheese and fruit." + + *In other words, she's pregnant. --PG ed. + +"You did!" cried Brinnaria. "Where is Vocco?" + +"On horseback b-b-beside the litter," said Flexinna, "waiting +for your d-d-decision." + +"I've made it," Brinnaria proclaimed. + +"Shall I g-g-go t-t-try?" enquired Flexinna. + +"No!" Brinnaria fairly shouted, pulling off her headdress. + +"What shall I d-d-do then?" Flexinna queried. + +"Undress," Brinnaria ordered, "undress quick!" Flexinna +stared at her, horrified. + +"What for?" she quavered. + +"Undress first and ask afterwards," Brinnaria commanded. +"Undress, woman, undress!" She was tearing off her clothes +as she talked. + +"Can't you see, you fool!" she hissed. "The gods have made it +all easy. The densest fog Rome ever saw and all over the +country-side, a curtained litter with the fastest bearers alive +right at my door, my best friend on horseback beside it, drink +and food enough and to spare, me off duty till to-morrow noon + and you here to change clothes with me. I put on your clothes +and go save Almo." + +"You'll be outside Rome all night," Flexinna objected. +"That's sacrilege." + +"Not a bit of it," Brinnaria retorted. "I know a regulation +from a taboo. When the Gauls captured Rome the Flamen +of Jupiter went up into the Capitol with the garrison. He might +not leave Rome, it would have been impious. But the other flamens +nd the Vestals left Rome, the Vestals were months at Caere. It +is not impiety for a Vestal to be outside the city walls over +night, it is merely forbidden by the rules. I'm going." + +"You might as well g-g-go b-b-bury yourself alive and b-b-be +d-d-done with it," Flexinna protested. "You're certain to +b-b-be found out. It's sure d-d-death for you." + +"Hang the risk!" Brinnaria snarled. "I never realized how +much I loved Almo till you brought this news. I don't care +whether I live or die or what death I die, if I can only save him. + +"And the risk is too small to think of. All you have to do is to stay +abed and keep still. Utta will never tell and she won't let anyone +in. Numisia will not suspect anything: any Vestal has the right +to twenty-four hours abed and no questions asked, Meffia spent +one day out of ten in bed. Manlia takes a day's rest a dozen times +a year. Even I have done it several times, when I was sore all +over with jolting too long at full gallop over our so-called perfect +roads. I was abed all day about a month ago, and certainly I +rove hard enough and long enough yesterday and I was in the +Temple half the night. I'll be back here long before noon to-morrow. + +"Don't you see how easy it is? Flexinna has called on Brinnaria +to-day, as usual, except the hour. And Flexinna often calls on +Brinnaria at odd hours. Flexinna makes a short call and goes +out to her litter. Flexinna makes an excursion into the country +in a litter with drawn curtains, her husband riding by it. Nobody +can take any notice of that. Flexinna returns from her outing, calls +at once on Brinnaria, pays a brief call, goes out, gets into her litter +and goes home. Brinnaria, refreshed by twenty-four hours abed, +goes about her duties. The plan simply can't fail." She had on all +Flexinna's clothes by the end of her explanation and was adjusting +er two veils, one over her face, the other tied over the broad-brimmed +travelling-hat, so that the edges of the brim, drawn down on either +side, almost met under her chin and her face was lost in it. + +Flexinna continued to protest feebly, but Brinnaria made her +compose herself in the bed. + +"You can have anything you want to eat," she reminded her, +"and as much as you want, any time." + +Utta came at the first signal. + +"Now listen," Brinnaria instructed her, "I am in that bed +and I am going to stay there until the lady who has just called +on me comes back. That will be tomorrow morning. I am tired +and need rest, the same as I did the day after the axle broke and +I barked my knee in the gravel. I am not going out now; oh, no + the lady going out is the lady who called on me. Do you understand?" + +Utta understood. + +Flexinna, quaking in the bed, prayed under her breath. + +"For Castor's sake," was her farewell, "d-d-don't forget to +s-s-stutter." In a fashionable costume of brilliant pink silk with +pearly gray trimmings, feeling horribly conspicuous, but unaccosted +and, as far as she could judge, unnoticed, Brinnaria descended the +stairs, traversed the courtyard and passed the portal. Just outside, +in the nook left by the angle of the wall enclosing the Temple, she +found the litter set down clear of the throng that surged and jostled +ceaselessly up and down the Holy Street. The bearers stood about it, +one holding Vocco's horse; all, like the street-crowd, vague and unreal +in the fog. Through the fog Vocco strode towards her and checked, +amazed. She put her fingers to the folds of the veil over her lips. + +"C-C-Careful," she warned him, laboriously stuttering. "I am +Flexinna come back. Now for Aricia, as fast as the b-b-bearers +can hoof it." + +Vocco, dazed, helped her into the litter, gave the order and mounted +his horse. + +Composed in her litter, Brinnaria's sensations were all of the strangeness +of the outlook; fog blurring the outlines of familiar buildings; fog hiding +the landmarks she looked for, fog wrapping her round till she could +hardly see the front pair of carriers tramping ahead or even Vocco +beside her on his horse; fog concealing all the wide prospect of the levels +south of Rome, fog so thick that they positively groped their way through +the towns along the road, fog so dense that she could not discern the +gradations by which afternoon melted into evening and dusk into darkness. + +When they were clear of the city Vocco ranged his horse alongside the +litter and expostulated with Brinnaria, talking Greek that the bearers +might not understand. + +"The best thing you can do," he said, "is to give up this harebrained +adventure and merely swing round through the suburbs for some hours +and return to the Atrium by some other gate." + +"Not I," she replied in her hardest tone. + +"How do you expect to succeed in speaking to Almo?" he asked. + +"I leave that to you," she said; "you must manage to see the +Dictator of Aricia and tell him that you have with you a lady in +a litter who must speak to the challenger before the fight." + +"I'll attempt the commission," said Vocco, "and I'll do my utmost, +but I hold it impossible." + +"In any case," spoke Brinnaria, "I keep on even if I have to expose +myself and be recognized in Aricia." + +Vocco gave up the effort to influence her. + +The roads joining the Appian Way were paved with similar blocks +of the same sort of stone. In the fog they went wrong three several +times where side-roads branched off at a thin angle. In each case +they failed to discover their mistake until they had gone on for some +distance; in each case they had to retrace their steps for fear of +getting wholly lost if they tried a cross-road; in each case they wasted +much time. + +Twice the leading bearers were all but trampled on by the recklessly +driven horses of careless drivers. Both times the mix-up delayed them. + +Just beyond Bovillae they had a third collision, in which one pole of +the litter was snapped and two of the bearers injured. It barely +missed resulting in a free-fight. All of Vocco's tact was needed to +allay the feelings on both sides. By great good luck he succeeded +in getting a substitute litter-pole from a near-by inn without too +much publicity. + +The delays caused by missing the road and by collisions had cut +down the margin of time they had hoped for at Aricia. This last +misfortune delayed them so much that it seemed unlikely that +they could reach the Grove until midnight. + +In fact, before they reached Aricia, the road was alive with parties +of celebrants, men and women, but no children, every man carrying +a lighted torch, nearly every man accompanied by a slave with an +armful or a back-load of spare torches, all moving in the same +direction with them. + +With torch-bearing crowds the streets of Aricia were jammed. From +gate to gate of the town they crawled, wading slowly through the +press of revellers. Along the road to the Grove they were as a chip +floated along on a tide of torchbearers, for the parties of worshippers +converging to their great local yearly festival from Tusculum, Tibur, +Cora, Pometia, Lanuvium and Ardea formed a continuous procession, +their pulsing torch-flames looking strange and blurred through the fog. + +When they reached the top of the ridge enclosing the Lake, Vocco +dismounted and trusted his roan to one of Nemestronia's extra bearers, +as horses were not allowed within the Grove or its precincts. + +Not much before midnight the bearers swung sharply at the brink of +the cliff and plunged down the steep narrow road cut along its face. +Brinnaria felt the dampness of the lake air on her cheek. + +By the Lake the fog was, if possible, more impenetrable than elsewhere. +The Grove, the lodging for the cripples and invalids who thronged the +place to be cured, the vast halls about the temple, the temple itself, +all were doubly whelmed in the darkness and the mist. + +Brinnaria made out only the six channelled vermilion columns of the +temple portico and the black boughs of the sacred oak. These, to right +and left of the temple area, showed vaguely in the light of thousands +of torches in the hands of the throng packed about it. + +Respect for a closed litter with sixteen bearers accompanied by a +gentleman in a Senator's robes won them a way through the crowd, +the torches surging in waves of flame as they ploughed through. + +When they reached the margin of the open space, Brinnaria, choking +with the realization that she had arrived too late, peered between the +drawn curtains of her litter and saw the pavement of the temple-area +bright under the splendor of the torch-rays; saw a dozen young women, +dressed in gowns of a startling deep orange, standing in a row clear +of the torch-bearing crowd; saw the five aldermen of Aricia in their +official robes, grouped about the square marble altar; saw before the +altar a circular space of clipped turf midway of the area pavement, +saw standing on it to the right of the altar the King of the Grove, clad +in his barbaric smock of dingy undyed black wool, his three-stranded +necklace of raw turquoises broad on his bosom, the fox-tails of his +fox-skin cap trailing by his ears; saw facing him Almo, bare-kneed, +his hunting-boots of soft leather like chamois-skin coming half way +up to his calves, his leek-green tunic covering him only to mid-thigh, +his head bare, his right hand waving an oak bough. + +After she recognized Almo and glimpsed the bough in his hand she +hardly looked at him. She stared, fascinated, at the white marble +altar on which, as an offering to Diana of the Underworld, the +victor of the fight would lay the corpse of his victim. + +The Dictator of Aricia, chief of the Aldermen, raised his hand. +>From somewhere in the darkness behind the dozen simpering +wenches appeared two slaves, each carrying a small round shield +and a double-headed battle-axe. The shields had painted on each +a horse, the battle-axes were of the pattern always seen in pictures +of the legendary Amazons. The blade of each axe-head was shaped +like a crescent moon. From the inner side projected a flat, thick +shank, by which the blade was fastened to the helve. The curve +of each blade made almost a half circle, the tips of the crescents +almost touched the haft between them, so that their outer +cutting-edges made a nearly complete circle of razor-sharp steel, +from which protruded the keen spear-head tipping the shaft. + +Two of the aldermen received these accoutrements from the slaves. +Brinnaria noticed that one of the other aldermen held the broad, +gold-mounted, jeweled scabbard containing the great scimitar +with which the King of the Grove kept girt, waking or sleeping. +She even noted how its belt trailed from his hands and the shine +of its gloss-leather in the torch-rays. + +The two aldermen handed a shield and an axe to each contestant. +One took from Almo the oak-bough and passed it to the Dictator. + +The two champions fitted the shields on their arms, balanced +them, and hefted their battle-axes. Each assumed the posture +that suited him best, his feet well under him. So they stood +facing each other, waiting for the signal. + +The King of the Grove was a stocky, solidly-built ruffian of +medium height and weight. Almo seemed much taller and +very much slenderer and lighter. His delicate features and +thin nose contrasted strangely to the high cheek-bones, +small, close-set eyes, and wide, flat nostrils of his antagonist. + +The Dictator waved the oak-bough and shouted. + +The two champions warily approached each other. + +Each kept his left foot forward; each crouched, as it were, +inside the shield tight against his shoulder; each held his +axe aloft. + +Each struck, each dodged, Almo awkwardly, his axe trailing +behind him after it missed. + +The stocky man thought he saw his chance and whirled his +weapon, bringing it down in a terrible sweep. Craftily Almo +caught it against his shield, just below the upper rim, horribly +it grated against the bronze plating of the shield, with the full +weight of the mighty swing it buried itself in the sod. + +The force of his blow carried the assailant with it so that he +almost fell face forward on the sward. + +Before he could recover himself Almo's ready axe swung. + +Brinnaria saw it flash in the air. Then she saw the fox-skin +cap in two halves, a horrid red void between. + +"Oh Vocco," she called, "t-t-take me home, t-t-take me home." +At that volcanic instant, at the bitterest moment of her life, +what kept back her tears was her tendency to laugh at the +fact, that, ill the midst of her agony, she did not forget to stutter. + + +CHAPTER XVIII - FURY + + + + THE darkness of the night, the impenetrability of the fog and +the weariness of the bearers all contributed to impede their +return journey. While on her way and buoyed up by her wild +purpose, Brinnaria had been able to rest herself by dozing +along the roadway and had remembered to keep up her +strength with food and wine. After they had turned back she +could not have swallowed anything, if she had thought to try, +and the nearest she came to sleep was an uneasy drowse +which seemed a long nightmare. The Cappadocians, famous +for their strength, endurance and indifference to wakefulness, +exertion, hunger or thirst, were also astute foragers. On their +way from Rome the reliefs had invaded every inn they passed +and, lavishly provided with small coins by Vocco, had +provisioned themselves abundantly. These supplies they handed +over to their fellows when they took up the litter. All the way +back the spare carriers, plodding behind, munched their +provender and conversed in undertones. The bearers, +necessarily flagging, trudged leadenly. + + Through it all Brinnaria was haunted by her memory of +two pictures. + + One was of the row of saffron-clad hussies watching the fight. + + The King of the Grove was the only legal polygamist in Italy. +Concomitant with the barbarous and savage conditions +determining his tenure of the office as High Priest in the +Grove by the Lake of Diana of the Underworld, congruent +with his outlandish attire and ornaments, he had the right +to have twelve wives at once. Seldom had a King of the +Grove failed to avail himself of the privilege; and, indeed, +to have twelve wives was regarded as incumbent upon him, +as necessary to his proper sanctity and as indispensable +to maintain the curative potencies of the locality, which +restored to health each year an army of sufferers. + + He had the power to repudiate any wife at any time, to dismiss her +and expel her from the Grove. Any former wife of his, when +expelled or after leaving the Grove of her own accord, became +a free woman with all the privileges of a liberated slave. Most of +his ex-wives, however, elected to remain in the Grove and +formed a sort of corps of official nurses for the sick who +flocked there to be cured. In practice the King of the Grove +usually repudiated any wife who lost her youthful charms. + + His wives were commonly, like himself, truant slaves. + + Fugitive male slaves were an ever-present feature of country +life in all parts of the ancient world, as tramps are in modern +times. A female runaway, however, was a distinct rarity. But +the sanctuary afforded them by the Grove encouraged them +about Aricia and many fled to it. If young and comely they +became wives of its King. Also slave-girls were constantly +being presented to him by grateful convalescents, who had +come to the Grove as invalids or cripples and had left it +hale and sound. Thus the twelve wives of the King were +always as vital and buxom a convocation of wenches as +could be found anywhere. + + The spectacle they had made haunted Brinnaria. + + They had been so utterly callous, so completely indifferent, +so merely curious to see which contestant was to be their +future master, so vacant-mindedly giggling and nudging +each other. The impression they had made on her nauseated +her, while the memory of their red cheeks, full contours, +youthfulness and undeniable animal charm enraged her. + + The other picture which had branded itself on her memory +was the sight of Almo, straightening up after stooping over +his butchered predecessor, clasping the triple turquoise +necklace about his throat. + + Almo was King of the Grove. + + At that thought and at the recollection of the dozen jades +wriggling and smirking, her blood boiled. + + By the margin of the cliff Vocco had had much ado finding +his horse. On the road back to Aricia they passed through +many parties of belated worshippers. As the torch festival +kept up until dawn that town was open all night. Unquestioned +they passed in at a wide-open gate, through torch-lit, but almost +deserted streets, out at another wide-set gate. + + In the Roman world travelling by night was almost unexistent. +Only imperial couriers and civilians driven by some dire stress +kept on their way after sunset. In general travellers halted for +the night at some convenient inn or town, or camped by the +road if darkness overtook them far from any hostelry. But on +the night of the yearly festival of Diana, many parties were +abroad. Between Aricia and Bovillae they met several convoys, +and about half-way they were overtaken and passed by a rapidly +driven carriage, and somewhat tater by a troop of horsemen, +trotting restrainedly, one of them on a white horse which showed +rather distinctly, even in the fog and darkness. + + Near Bovillae they overtook the same band of horsemen, halted +about the wreck of two travelling carriages which had crashed +together in the fog. Two of the horses lay dead on the stones, +killed to put them out of their misery. From curb to curb the +pavement was cluttered with pieces of wreckage and the carcasses +of the horses. The roadway was completely blocked and the +bearers, at first, could find no way around the obstacle. + + Some women were wailing over a little boy whose leg had +been crushed and who was uttering frightful shrieks. The +child screamed so terribly that Brinnaria impulsively leaned +half-way out of her litter, carried away by her sympathies. +Close beside her she saw the white horse and astride of it, +vague in the mist, but unmistakable in his lop-sided, bony +leanness, outlined against the glare of the torches behind +him, she recognized Calvaster. + + Instantly she shrank behind her litter curtains. + + Almost at once a relief bearer who had gone to scout +reported a free path through the fields by the road. + + They continued on their way. + + Bovillae, not being one of the towns participating in the Festival +of Diana, was closed for the night, its gates shut fast, its walls +dark. Going round it was a trying detour over rough cross-roads. + + After they were again on the Appian Road they were for a +second time overtaken by the same band of horsemen. When +their hoof-beats had grown faint in the distance ahead, +Vocco ranged his horse alongside the litter and asked: + + "Did you notice the man on the white horse?" + + "I recognized him," said Brinnaria briefly. + + The fog held all the way to the Appian Gate, which they reached +as some watery sun-rays struggled through the mist, held until +they reached the Atrium. + + Out of her litter tumbled Brinnaria in Flexinna's rumpled finery, +feeling unescapably recognizable, even inside her double veil and +under her broad-brimmed, tied-down travelling hat. + + But the heavy-built, sinewy slave-woman who guarded the portal +of the Atrium passed her in without remark. She met no one on +her way up to her suite, where she found Utta squatted outside +her bedroom door. + + Flexinna was incredulously delighted, pathetically overjoyed to +see her. + + "You have a wonderful larder here," she said. "Every single +thing I asked for was b-b-brought me at once. I d-d-didn't +have any appetite, b-b-but I had to have food. And I g-g-got it." + +Promptly she put on her own clothing and was gone. + + In a trice Brinnaria was flat on her back in bed with Utta +massaging her vigorously and methodically. After one +comprehensive rubbing she went off for hot milk, hot +wine, honey, barley-meal and spices. The posset she +brewed she compelled her mistress to swallow. Then +she gently massaged her until she was asleep. Thanks +to these attentions Brinnaria, after some four hours +abed, was able to reappear in the Temple looking not +much unlike a Vestal who had enjoyed twenty-four +hours of unbroken repose. + + Numisia appeared to suspect nothing. Certainly she +remonstrated with her and begged her not to exhaust +herself so by hard riding. + + After that first sleep, induced by fatigue and by Utta's +ministrations, Brinnaria slept little. She tossed and turned. +Before her eyes was continually the recollection of that row +of saffron-clad minxes, of their exuberant health, heartiness +and rollicking vivacity. + + The memory of them suffocated her. In the Atrium she had +to conceal her inward convulsions of rage, had to appear +calm, placid and collected. + + The effort made her the more explosive when she was at +Flexinna's and could speak out. She stormed. + + Flexinna let her talk herself hoarse. But no amount of talking +relieved her. Whatever she said, no matter how often she had +said it, she wound up the same way: + + "Here I am, packed in ice, so to speak, for thirty years and +there he is, King of the Grove, with twelve wives, twelve wives, +<twelve wives>!" + +Jealousy, in its most furious form, is not a mild malady, even +in our days, and in women of northern ancestry and cold blood. +Brinnaria was a hot-blooded Latin and the pulses of her heart +were earthquakes of fire. The Romans were a ferocious and +sanguinary stock. Even among the most delicately nurtured +women love turned quickly into hate and solicitude might in +a brief time give place to the thirst for vengeance. + + Brinnaria struggled with herself for some days. + + Then she bade her coachman drive her to the Fagutal. +Her appearance among her tenants caused general trepidation, +as usual. + + When the clustering drabs and brats discovered that she felt +no present interest in women and children, but that she +demanded speech with the men, the elder men, their dismay +deepened into acute consternation. + + Since she would take no denial some dotards and striplings +were routed out and the patriarch of the clan was thrust +forward. He looked senile from his slippered feet to the +shine on his bald-pate, he was blear-eyed and hard of +hearing, but he understood plain Latin when he heard it, +he knew of old the signs he read in the flash of her eyes, +the set of her jaw and every feature as she stood or moved. +Also no dog ever had a keener scent for game than he +for business. + + He shouted in the slang of his caste. + + The women and children vanished. + + Promptly a chair was brought, carefully dusted and she was +invited to seat herself. Before her cringed, in attitudes of +obsequious deference, a group of as hulking, truculent, ruthless +villains as could have been found anywhere on earth. Just out +of earshot of a low-voiced conversation, stood younger men, +sentinels, to keep all others at a distance. + + The patriarch's son, recognized chief of the brotherhood, +an appallingly inhuman brute, acted as spokesman. + + At the first word their wary expression altered to one of +brotherly comprehension. There was a man to be killed. +Pride in their vocation shone all over them. Yes, they knew +of the King of the Grove, who did not? and they especially, +since the patriarch's grandfather, great-grandfather to the +spokesman, had at an advanced age ended his life in the +Grove, after years as its priest, having become King late +in life, the last of a long series of challengers whom the +Emperor Caligula had suborned against an insufferable +and all but invincible hierophant. + + Could they find a swashbuckler willing to assail the +present incumbent? + + Of a surety and what was more able to vanquish anybody. + + Could it be arranged secretly? + + No human being would ever suspect that she knew anything +about the matter; what was more, the most inquisitive would +never divine that they themselves had any hand in the change +of priests at Aricia. + + How could this be accomplished? + + In countless ways. One might find a discontented slave, mighty +and skilled with weapons, and reveal to him a means of bettering +his condition, or one might bribe the owner of a capable slave +to wink at his running away, or if no fit slave could be found, +a suitable freeman might be induced to become a slave under +a master also in the plot. It was easy, merely a matter of money. + + How much money would be needed? + + That would depend. If they could cajole a slave the job would +call only for cash for the instigators!" expenses, for journey-money +and for a good sabre for the challenger, and at the last a bonus +for all concerned. If a slave-owner had to be bribed, more cash +and more money for bonuses would be required. If a freeman +had to be employed the enterprise would be still more expensive. +It was all a matter of money, above all, of cash. + + Cash was forthcoming. + + Brinnaria returned to the Atrium by a circuitous drive out the +Tiber Gate, round through the suburbs and in at the River Gate. +She needed fresh air. All the way, all the afternoon, all the wakeful +night, she was in an eery state of icy, numb exaltation. It was all +over--Almo was a dead man, she had avenged herself, she had +vindicated the proprieties, her wrath was righteous, her vengeance +laudable. This tense condition of her nerves lasted for some days. + + According to stipulation the messenger from the tenements on +the Fagutal was a decently clad woman of inconspicuously +respectable appearance. She came after an interval of about +ten days. She was apologetic. Their first champion had perished. + + Twice more she brought the same message. Then Brinnaria +ventured a second visit to the unsavory locality. She was +sarcastic. The chief was abashed. + + This, he said, was evidently a task unexpectedly difficult. +The more certain was it that they would measure up to the +requirements. They felt that their time-honored reputation +was at stake. + + There followed for Brinnaria an exciting, a wearing autumn +and winter. For some months messages came to her at about +nine-day intervals, all of the same tenure. Towards mid-winter, +on a mild fair day, she risked a third expostulation with her +hirelings. On an apologetic and humiliated rabble she poured +her scorn. + + Thereafter the messages came thicker, about one every four +days, but monotonously unwelcome. Brinnaria set her teeth +and sent all the money asked for. + + Meanwhile her wrath, her jealousy, her thirst for vengeance +steadily waned and their place was largely taken by admiration +for Almo's incredible skill and by a sort of pride in him. + + But again and again the vision of the twelve baggages returned +to her and she steeled her heart. One warm June morning she +lost patience and burst in on her gang of cut-throats. + + Inundated by a cascade of vitriolic denunciations and stinging +sneers they hung their heads, too limp to utter a protest. The +patriarch was weeping openly. + + Turned from anger to curiosity she found the rookery was in +mourning. Their chief, the apple of their eye, aghast at the failures +of his minions, had himself undertaken to redeem their honor. For +him they grieved. They owned themselves beaten. They had +scoured Italy, had sent against Almo every promising bully in +the fifteen districts. Their best young men had gone, lastly their +adored leader. They could do no more; Almo was invincible. + + Brinnaria, reflecting that, after all, she was to blame for their +dejection and woe, that, after all, they had done their best, +distributed what cash she had with her and promised them +a lavish apportionment of gold. + + As she went she realized, as they realized, that the place would +never see her again. + + Next morning she sent for Guntello. That faithful Goth, stil + huge, mighty and terrific, came, mild as a pet bulldog. + + "Go kill him!" she commanded. + + "Certainly, Little Mistress," he acquiesced, "but whom am I to kill?" + +She explained. + + Guntello, always parsimonious, asked a moderate sum for the +purchase of a sabre and for road-money. She gave him ten times +as much. + + When he was gone, she felt, as at first, a painful numbness of +exaltation. Almo was now certainly a dead man. + + This mood suddenly inverted itself into an uncontrollable passion +f solicitude. Off she posted to Flexinna and confessed everything to +Vocco. In a frenzy she demanded they again borrow Nemestronia's +litter and that Vocco again accompany her to Aricia. To their +expostulations she retorted that go she would, if not escorted by +Vocco, then alone, if not disguised and in a borrowed litter, then in +her own and openly, or openly in her carriage or afoot if need be; +but go she would! + + Flexinna succeeded in getting her to listen long enough to urge +that there was no need for her to go personally, as Guntello would +obey Vocco at sight of her signet ring, moreover that Guntello now +had a long start and that only a swift horseman might hope to +intervene in time. To these representations she yielded. + + Vocco returned amazed and manifestly relieved. He had +arrived too late. Guntello was dead. + + That night Brinnaria wept long and bitterly. + + "The poor, brave, harmless, faithful fellow," she moaned. +"Out of the malignity of my heart, in my pride and callousness, +I sent him to an undeserved death! Oh, I am a wicked woman!" +Strangely enough Guntello's death seemed to divert her mind +entirely from the idea of avenging herself on Almo. From +hating him, she came to realize that she had really loved him +all the while, that she loved him unalterably. From thinking +that she desired his death she came to dread acutely that, +exhausted in body by more than a hundred fights in ten +months and worn by the strain of ceaseless anxiety and +vigilance, Almo might succumb to even a chance-brought +adversary. + + In this new mood she confided in Lutorius. + + The good man was horrified. + + "And I never suspected anything wrong!" he exclaimed. "At +least you have been outwardly collected. Nobody has +suspected anything. But this is terrible. A Vestal should +menace no man's life, should not desire any man's death. +Far from it, her heart should be clean of hate, malice or envy." + +"Never mind what I have been," said Brinnaria. + + "No disasters have befallen Rome. There is no sign of any +wrathfulness of the gods, or of their displeasure, and I am no +longer as I was. That is all over, I am chastened. I desire harm +to no one. Quite the reverse. What fills my mind now is the +thought that, sooner or later, Alma must perish at the hand +of some challenger. I long to save him. I would move earth and +sea to save him. Must a King of the Grove live and die King of +the Grove? Is there no way to rescue him?" + +"Consult the Emperor," said Lutorius. "He is Chief Pontiff of Rome." + + + CHAPTER XIX - COMFORT + + + + COMMODUS received Brinnaria in the same palatial room in which +she had so often conferred with his father. The majestic impression of +the magnificent hall was, however, marred by the evidence of the +young Emperor's chief interests. On one of the great chests lay a +pair of boxing gloves, on another a quiver of arrows and two unstrung +bows, on a third a bridle; a fourth was open and from it protruded a +sheaf of those wooden swords which the Romans used for fencing-practice +as we use foils. Commodus could never wholly free himself from his +absorbing passion for athletic sports. + + He himself was a sort of artistic caricature of his father, being very +like him in height, build, features and complexion, with similarly +abundant hair and beard falling over his shoulders and bosom in +long ringlets. But in place of the gravity, wisdom, intelligence and +sympathy which had ennobled the countenance of Aurelius, his face +wore an expression of boyish frivolity, silly vanity, vapid stupidity +and impatient selfishness. + + Brinnaria had seen him countless times and often near at hand, not +only close to her when both occupied their official seats in the +Amphitheatre or the Circus, at horse-races or other shows, but +almost at arm's length at various religious functions, processions, +sacrifices and other acts of public worship. Necessarily they had +often exchanged formal greetings, but never yet any other words. + + He greeted her effusively, with a comical mixture of hobbledehoy +clumsiness and imperial dignity. + + "I'm glad you demanded an audience," he said, as she sat down; +"we should have had a good talk long ago. You lambasted old +Bambilio. That is one for you. A juicier story I never heard. You are +made of pepper. And you saved the retiarius, the year after I was +born. I've often gloated over the story and wished I had been there +to see. I was there when you had your embarrassing experience +and came through it so gallantly. I was proud of you, like everybody +else. I remember it well. And Father gave me special instructions +about you, so emphatically that even scatter-brained as I am I have +not forgotten them. I've been meaning to have a talk with you ever +since I took up this Emperor job. But you know how it is. Every day +there are ready and waiting for me to do more things I really want +to do than anyone man could get through in anyone day, and +three-quarters of them I have to forego doing because of the pressure +of my official duties. I can never seem to get time for half the +sword-exercise and archery drill and driving practice I need, let +alone for chats with heroines. + + "I trust you'll accept my apologies. + + "There! That is all the talking I mean to do. I'm going to listen, +now. Tell me what you want and I'll see your desire accomplished. +I'll do anything for you, not only for your heroism and on account +of Father's directions, but because of your horse-breeding. They +say you're as good a judge of a horse as any man in Italy and I believe +there are not a dozen to equal you. + + I've driven several pairs of your crack colts and they are paragon +racers, docile as lambs and mettlesome as game-cocks. + + "There! I've gone on talking! But I am really going to stop now and +listen. State your wishes." + +"I'll have to make a long story of it," said Brinnaria, hesitatingly. + + "And one sixty times better worth listening to than ninety-nine out +of a hundred of the long stories folks bore me with, I'll wager," said +Commodus. "If it is long we'll get to the end quicker by beginning +at once. And take your time, I'll talk to you till dark, if need be. You +are entitled to all of my time you choose to claim." Brinnaria began +at the beginning and rehearsed her story fully, Commodus listening +without much fidgeting and interrupting only to say now and then: + + "Yes, I know about that. I remember that." When she came to +Almo's escape from Britain the Emperor slapped his thigh and +emitted a sound between a grunt and a squawk. + + "The joke is on me!" he guffawed. "Just like me! Father told me +particularly about his injunctions to Opstorius, and Pertinax +himself reminded me about Almo after Father's death. But it +all went out of my head and I never thought of it from the +moment Pertinax bowed himself out until this very instant. +I'll make up to you for my forgetfulness, I promise you. Go +on." Upon her telling of Almo's idling at inns after he ran away +from Fregellae, Commodus cut in with: + + "I liked Almo, what little I saw of him, but I had forgotten him. +You make me remember him, make me recall trifling things about +him, attitudes, smiles, tones of his voice, witty replies, quips. I liked +him. But I like him better than ever from what you tell me of him. +I understand him. I know just how he feels. I long, sometimes, to +chuck Emperorizing and go off alone, with no responsibilities, +and have a really good time hobnobbing with the good fellows +the world is full of. I envy him. I dream of doing it, but he cut +loose and did it. Good for Almo." At first mention of the King +of the Grove Commodus leapt up from his throne, strode up +and down the room and clapped his hands. + + Two pages rushed in. + + "Get out!" he shouted. "I wasn't clapping for you." He +paced the room like a caged tiger. + + "Think of it!" he exclaimed. "Think of it! Your lad certainly +has fire in his belly, yes and brains in his head, too! Think of it! +He thought it all out up there in the raw all-day mists, thought it +all out, and he works towards his purpose like a pattern diplomat, +like a born general, like a Scipio, like a cat after a bird! Has +himself sold as a slave, bides his time, puts himself in the pink of +condition, watches his opportunity. + + "Think of it! Disconsolate because he couldn't marry you, moody +because he has to wait so long, he seeks comfort in challenging the +King of the Grove. Oh, I love him! Only a prince of good fellows +would have thought of it. No ordinary adventure would divert him. +He picks out the most hazardous venture possible. Oh, I love him!" + +When she narrated her interchange of clothing with Flexinna and +her litter-journey, Commodus looked grave. The loutishness vanished +from his attitude and expression. He became wholly an Emperor. + + "Out of Rome, outside the walls, beyond the Pomoerium all night!" +he exclaimed. "That sounds bad. You were fool-hardy, too reckless +entirely. Why that is impiety. That amounts to sacrilege!" As with +Flexinna Brinnaria reminded him of the Vestals' flight after the +disaster at the Allia and of their sojourn at Caere, again emphasizing +the contrast between their unreprehended departure and the scrupulous +steadfastness of the Flamen of Jupiter." + +"You have me!" he acknowledged. "Your contentions are sound. But, +all the same, even if it was merely a violation of rule, still, it is a mighty +serious matter. It is a good thing for you that I like you, that my Father +trusted you so notably, and gave me such explicit and emphatic injunctions +about you, that you have made a clean breast of it all to me. If I had +known nothing more about you than I know of Manlia or Gargilia, +if I had learned of your escapade from anyone but you, I'd have had +you formally accused, tried, convicted and buried alive with the +utmost dispatch. + + "As things are, after all Father had to say about you, after his +detailing to me your several conversations with him, I understand, +I sympathize, I am convinced of the innocence of your feeling for +Almo, of the austerity with which you have banished from you all +thoughts unbefitting a Vestal and have postponed your anticipations +of marriage until your service shall have come to an end, I believe in +the impeccable correctness of your attitude. + + "But, without that, even having learnt of your prank from yourself, +I should have thought it necessary to lay the facts before the College +of Pontiffs and ask their opinion. It looks fishy, stravaging all over +the landscape after dark with a cavalier beside your litter all night +long. I comprehend, I condone, I judge that you have not impaired +your qualifications for your high office. I have no qualms. But it is +well for you that Father instructed me. Go on, tell me the rest." +Over the fight he rubbed his hands and chirruped with delight, +and, when she spoke of the King's harem, he burst into roars of +laughter, rolling himself on his throne, slapping his thighs, +holding his ribs. + + "Oh you women," he gurgled, "you are all alike, you Vestals +as much as the rest! The fire of womanhood smoulders under +your icy composure like the fires of Etna under her mantle of snow. + + "You more than most Vestals, of course. You are a real +human being, you are! So you went out to save him, even +if you lost your life trying, even if you were buried alive for +it, and you came back hot, red hot, to have him killed, and +the sooner the better, it couldn't be too soon for you. + + "Oh, I'm glad you came. I haven't been entertained like +this since I was made Emperor. Go on!" When she uttered +the word Fagutal and told of her visit to the rookery he had +another fit of laughter and exhausted himself with mirth. + + When she narrated the repeated failures of the champions +she had suborned and Almo's uniform success, Commodus +was in ecstasy. + + "He's the boy for my money," he cried. "He's worth all +the trouble you've had with him. You'll get a husband +worth waiting for. He's one in a million. One hundred +and five bouts in ten months and victor in all of them! +He's a jewel, a pearl I I'd do anything for you, as I told +you, I'd keep myself on the rack day and night for you +and him. You are a pair! There's not on earth the match +for the two of you!" + +At the end of her story he said: + + "You have not gone to all this trouble and taken up so much +of my time and confided to me all the secrets of your heart merely +to ease your mind. There's something you want me to do, some +help you expect to gain from me. You have given me no inkling +of what it is. What is it? Speak out!" + +"He is certain to be killed sooner or later," she said, wringing +her hands. "I want you to help me to save him." + +"Save him!" Commodus echoed. "Isn't he competent to save +himself? Hasn't he convinced you of his ability to protect +himself--Sooner or later? Much later, very much later. And +he's more likely to be killed by old age than by any weapon +in the hands of any man. + + "I'll never understand women. No man can, I suppose. +You're bent, bound and resolved that he must die. You +pour out gold like water to compass his death. You have +Italy ransacked for dexterous cutthroats. He never turns +a hair. It's easy for him as for a Molossian dog to kill +wolves. He enjoys it; disposes of every man who dare face +him. You can't find another bravo to take the risk, not for +any money! Then, when he has proved himself the best +fighter in Italy, you face about and all of a sudden you +are in a wax for fear some one may kill him! + + "Nobody will ever kill him. You and I saw him dispose +of more than a dozen expert gladiators, one after the other; +you saw how daintily and adroitly he did, it. You have just +described his fight with his predecessor. It was over +almost before it was begun. The incumbent was a dead +man from the moment he faced Almo. Both knew it, too, +and, since then he has done for the pick of the blackguards +from all Italy. If Ravax and his gang could find no one to +face him, there is none; if no man of that crew could best +him, not Ravax himself, no man can best him. Don't you see?" + +"No, I don't," she said. "It will be just like his fights in the +arena. No matter how often he wins, he is bound to lose at last." + +"Don't you believe it," Commodus argued. "I remember +him well. I was wild over him just after Father's triumph +and saw a good deal of him before he set out for Britain. +I was then no such all-round expert at weapon-play as I +have become since, but I was good for my age. I fenced +with him repeatedly and I know his quality. I had all the +best swordsmen in the capital pitted against him and not +one of them was his match. Murmex Lucro did not come +to Rome till after Father's death. So I never saw Murmex +and Almo fence. But let me tell you this: Murmex is the +only man alive who can fence with me for points and make +anything like my score. And Almo is the only man alive, +except me, who is fit to face Murmex on equal terms. +There are only two men on earth who could kill Almo +in a fight with any kind of weapons--Murmex is one +and I am the other. + + "Why, Almo is as safe in the Grove as I am in the Palace. +Don't you worry about him. Nobody will kill him; take it +from me, I know." + +Brinnaria, with a sharp intake of her breath, gazed about +the room and collected herself to resume her argument and +make her next point. + + "Do you concede," she queried, "that I have the right to be +solicitous about Almo's life?" + +"Father said so," Commodus replied, "and I never knew +him to be wrong. I took that opinion from him and I see +no reason to change it." + + "Do you concede," she pressed him, "that I have the right +to looking forward to marrying him at the end of my service?" + +"Like Father, I do," he admitted. + + "How can I ever marry him," she demanded, "if he remains +King of the Grove?" + +The young Emperor laughed merrily. + + "Don't you worry about that, either," he said. "I told you I'd +do anything for you and I meant it. I told you I'd do anything +for Almo, and I meant that too. But, as things are, doing what +you want and what is good for him will be doing just what I +most want myself. I have a frightfully poor memory. Barely +seven years ago my Father triumphed after what was +thought a complete, decisive and crushing victory over +Avidius Cassius and a huge confederation of nomadic +tribes. Cassius was certainly abolished; he was buried. +But after scarcely five years the desert nomads were as +active as ever and they have grown so pertinacious and +cocky that something must be done. I don't want to go +myself, and I feel no confidence in my ability to +accomplish anything if I went. I have been on the rack +to decide whom to send. I can't afford to send some +bungler who'd mismanage and let the sand-hills +devour a half a dozen of my best legions. + +"My councillors and I have found no promising candidate. +All the while I have been cudgelling my brains trying to +remember something Father told me. I distinctly recalled +that he said that he had in view the very paragon of a +commander to dispatch against Avidius, but that some +occurrence made it impossible to send him and he had +to go himself. I couldn't for the life of me recollect what +had happened to hinder the man going or what the man's +name was. Since it was a verbal communication from +Father I had no memorandum and no one else had +ever known it. + + "Now I remember that Almo was the man and that his +infatuation with the life of a gladiator was what prevented. + + "Do you see what I mean? I shall not have to go to Syria +and I'll send the very best man for that job who can be found +on earth. If anybody knows what I'm doing they'll say that +Almo is a lunatic and I am another to send him. But nobody +will ever know and if everybody knows, what do I care. +Father knew a good man when he saw one. I'll take his +word for it that Almo proved himself the greatest genius +for desert fighting that the Republic has produced in a +hundred years. And I'll follow my own intuition that a +swashbuckler whose own thoughts prompted him to +challenge the King of the Grove as a cure for tedium, +who had the nerve to carry out the idea and the skill +to win a hundred and six fights in ten months must be +a good all-round man and a real man clear through. +I take it that being put in supreme command of a great +expedition will brush the cobwebs from Almo's brain +and restore him to himself. Do you follow my idea?" + +"I cannot conjecture," Brinnaria replied, "how you +expect to carry it out." + +"Simple enough," said Commodus. "I'm not the man +my Father was, not by a great deal. I am a natural +all-round athlete, but I was never born to be an +Emperor. All the same, when I buckle down to my job, +I'm not such a bad hand at it. If I have a talk with +Almo I'll swing him my way without half trying." + +"But," Brinnaria interposed, "even you, even as +Emperor and Chief Pontiff, cannot free a man +who has become King of the Grove. There is no +record of any form of exauguration for a Priest +of Diana of the Underworld. There would be an +outcry. Once King of the Grove a man must live +out his life as King of the Grove." + + Commodus grinned a school-boy grin. + + "My dear," he said, "there are more ways of killing a +dog besides choking him to death on fresh curds." + +Brinnaria stared. + + "You talk," he said, "as if you had gone over all the records. +Don't you recall two cases where a King of the Grove died +without being killed?" + +"Yes," she admitted. + + "Well," he continued, "what was done?" + +"Two challengers were brought forward," she said, "and +they fought each other." + +"Just so," said he, "and don't you recall one case where a +King of the Grove disappeared and was believed to have +run away, but was never found, nor any trace of him?" + +"I remember that, too," she agreed. + + "Well," he pressed her, "what was done in that case?" + +"Two challengers fought each other that time also," +she allowed. + + "Well," he summed up, "that's what we'll have done now. +Almo will vanish. He's good at it, he's had practice. Two +challengers can be found easily enough." + +"But," she cavilled, wide-eyed, "there's all the difference +in the world between egging on two challengers after the +post is vacant and arranging to vacate the post. What +you propose would be sacrilege, impiety." + +"Don't you worry about that!" he soothed her. "The priesthood +at Aricia is no part of our hierarchy; the safety of Rome in no +way depends on its sanctity. It is important enough for the nine +towns that share the cult, but it concerns no others. It's an +alien cult, anyhow. Whether Orestes brought it to Aricia +or Hippolytus or who else makes no difference, nor the +tradition that it is four hundred years older than Rome. +It's a disgrace to Italy and it exists on sufferance. Father +told me that Grandfather and he were both in half a mind +to have it suppressed as the Bacchanals were suppressed. +The curative repute of the Grove stood in the way. As for +me, if it were not for the sporting character of the King's +tenure, I'd see to it that Almo would be the last King. I feel +free to do as I please in any matter that concerns it." + +Brinnaria said nothing. + +He resumed: + + "Leave it all to me. I'll go to Aricia myself; I'll expostulate with +Almo; I'll appeal to his manhood, to his pride, to his patriotism. +Ten to one he's disillusioned by this time, sick of his job and +ready to listen to reason. He'll promise to obey me and he'll +obey me. + + "The rest will be managed by men who will make no mistakes. They'll +find two challengers each much like Almo in build and appearance. +One dark night Almo will slip off in charge of the men I delegate for +that duty; the two challengers will be guided so that each thinks he +is fighting the King of the Grove. Whichever survives will be rigged +up in the customary toggery. There will be a corpse properly offered +on the altar. Nobody will suspect anything." + +About a month later Lutorius conveyed to her a hint from the +Emperor. She at once applied for an audience. + + Commodus was as expansive as a boy who has had a good +day's fishing. + + "It's all over," he said, "and everything went off just as I foresaw +and planned. Almo was disgusted and tractable. We found two +desperadoes of suitable make. While we steered them at each +other Almo slipped out. Besides you, your two friends, your agents, +Lutorius and myself, no one knows that Almo was ever King of +the Grove. I had him brought to the Palace and Lucro and I had +no end of good fun fencing with him. I had the Senate pass a +decree relieving him of all and sundry legal consequences of +having been sold as a slave in Britain. I had him choose a full +staff of the best possible aides, orderlies and such. He is off to +Syria. I did not send for you until I had word that he had not +only sailed from Brundisium but had actually landed at +Dyrrhachium. I anticipate that the job I have sent him on will +take all of six years. Just about when your service is drawing +to an end he will return to Rome covered with glory and loaded +with loot. The nomads have been plundering our cities and have +accumulated in their strongholds immense amounts of treasure. +He'll get it back. Meantime your mind should be at peace." + +Brinnaria was properly grateful and expressed her feelings +fervently. + + "And now," said Commodus, "since I have done what you +wanted and you are pleased, may I ask a favor of you? You +can do something for me that no one else can and if you +promise it will set my mind at rest to some extent." + +Brinnaria earnestly promised to do her best. + + "I am troubled," said the Emperor, "very much troubled. You +know how rumors get about among people, starting no one +knows where; and how, when such a notion is abroad, nothing +on earth can counteract it. + + "Well, there's a story going about of an oracle, an oracle +which says that the Republic reached its acme under Trajan, +that the Empire kept up its prosperity under Hadrian and +my Grandfather and Father, but that the glory of Rome is +fated to fade and wane and that its decline will date from +my taking over the Principiate. + + "I am worried about it. I have sent to Delphi and Dodona +and every other oracle from Olisipo to Pattala, but I can +find no record of any such oracle having been uttered. The +people, however, credit it as if it came from Delphi. + + "I've had a hundred oracles consulted about the matter, +Delphi too. They all hedge; not one is clear. But they all +speak of an impending disaster that may be averted by +watchfulness. And they all hint darkly at some danger to +the Palladium; they all mention it somehow; most of them +allude unmistakably to the Temple of Vesta; some of +them manifestly refer to the Atrium; all of them speak of fire. + + "Now I know that the sacred fire will be cared for by you +and Manlia and Gargilia and Numisia as well as ever it +was since Numa. Causidiena is too old to count and +Terentia is too young, but in the four of you I have complete +confidence as far as the fire is concerned. + + "About the Palladium I don't feel so sure. The six terra-cotta +chests are so exactly alike and the five counterfeits are so like +the real statue that I am afraid the precautions taken to baffle +an intruding thief might confuse you Vestals in a crisis. + + "Do you know the real Palladium from the five dummies?" + +"I do," said Brinnaria; "we all do. When I had been a Vestal +five years Causidiena showed me the Palladium. No Vestal is +ever shown it until she is over fifteen. Like all other young +Vestals I was made to spend hours in the inner storeroom, +blindfolded, learning to recognize the real Palladium by touch. + + "The differences between the original and the copies are very +small, mostly in the carving of the folds of the gown. But every +young Vestal is drilled until she can recognize the genuine relic +by touch, one hundred times out of one hundred times, and until +she can similarly discriminate the terra-cotta chest that contains +it from the other five chests. I could tell the Palladium from the +imitations instantly any time." + +"You relieve me," said Commodus. "I've wanted to talk about this +to all you Vestals, but I've been ashamed to broach the subject. +Since you confided in me I feel no hesitation about confiding in you." + +"I promise you," said Brinnaria, "that the Palladium will never +be stolen, lost, or come to any harm if I can prevent it, and I +believe I can. I pledge you my word." + +"I feel better," said Commodus. + + "And I want to say," Brinnaria added, "that I have always felt +a special interest in the Palladium. Ever since I was old enough +to share all the duties and all the responsibilities of a Vestal, +my feelings have been particularly engaged with the Palladium. +There is something tremendous and crushing in the thought of +being in charge of four of the seven objects on the safety of which +depends the safety of Rome and the prosperity of the Republic. +Whenever Causidiena has shown them to us younger Vestals I +have felt the strongest emotions at the sight of the jar containing +the ashes of Orestes, of the antique gold canister which protects +the plain, gold-mounted ivory sceptre of Priam, of the lapis-lazuli +casket which enshrines the tatters remaining of Ilione's veil; but +more than at sight of them I have trembled with awe to look at +that little statuette, no longer than my forearm, and to think +that if it were destroyed the Empire would crumble and Rome +would perish. You maybe sure I shall do all I can to keep safe +the precious treasure committed to my charge." + +"I feel sure you will," said Commodus. + + + + + + + BOOK IV + + + + THE REVULSION OF DELIGHT + + + + +CHAPTER XX - ACCUSATION + + + +AFTER Almo's redemption and his departure for Syria Brinnaria +calmed down. Her feverish activity abated and vanished. She +ceased to take any interest in the speed of her litter-bearers or +of her carriage-teams. She took her outings for their own sake, +not merely to feel herself transported rapidly from somewhere +to anywhere. She kept an oversight of her stock-farms, but she +left the management of them almost entirely to her bailiffs. +On music she spent more of her time and in it she took an +intenser delight. + + Life in the Atrium altered chiefly through the growing up of +Terentia, whose fifteenth birthday was celebrated soon after +Almo left Italy, and by the steady waning of Causidiena's +eyesight. She could still recognize familiar persons when +between her and the strong light of a door or window in +the daytime; she could still place pieces of wood on the fire, +if it was burning well. But she was plainly verging on total +blindness. Except in so far as it was modified by pride in +Terentia and solicitude for Causidiena, life in the Atrium +flowed on as it had for centuries. + + Reports from Almo were uniformly good. From the first +he displayed all the qualifications requisite for a commander +in chief. For him everything promised well. + + Under these conditions Brinnaria throve. Her natural vigor +had always been such that she never had showed any outward +signs of the strain to which she had been subjected. Uniformly +she had looked handsome and healthy. But now, if anything, +she looked healthier and handsomer than ever. She was then +thirty-two years old. At ten years of age she had looked +eighteen, at eighteen she had looked twenty-four. At thirty-two +she still looked no more than twenty-five. Her hair was +abundant and glossy, her eyes bright, her cheeks rosy; she +was neither slender nor plump, but a well-muscled, graceful +woman, decidedly young-looking, and altogether statuesque +in build and carriage, but very much alive in her springy +suppleness. + + About a year after Almo's departure for Syria Lutorius came +to see her one morning, his face grave. + + He indicated that they had best confer alone. In her tiny sanctum +he came straight to the point. + + "Daughter," he said, "my news is as bad as possible. You are +formally accused of the worst misconduct." + +"Why look so gloomy?" said Brinnaria. "That is comic, not +tragic. Who's the fool accuser?" + + "Calvaster, as you might conjecture," he answered; "and + grieve to have to inform you," he added, "that this is no +laughing matter." + +"Pooh!" said Brinnaria. "I'm not a bit afraid of Calvaster. +Aurelius gave Commodus emphatic injunctions about me. +And he went into details. Commodus can't have forgotten +his reprimand to Calvaster nor his categorical threat." + +"I fear," said Lutorius, "that his father's instructions on +that particular point are not well to the front of the Emperor's +mind." + +"Well, anyhow," said Brinnaria, "everybody knows my +preoccupation with Almo and everybody saw my behavior +in the Amphitheatre. I feel pretty safe in respect to my +general reputation. As to particulars, I've been vigilantly +careful to keep away from Almo. Except twice, in the +presence of Aurelius, I haven't been within speaking +distance of him in twenty-two years. Between the fact +that no one can prove that I have had anything to do +with him and the improbability that anyone would suspect +me of interest in any other man, let alone misconduct +with any other man, I feel entirely secure." + +Lutorius wagged his head. + + "You are accused of misconduct with another man," he said. + + "Absurd!" said Brinnaria, "easy to confute. Who is the man?" + +"Not so easy to confute, I fear," said Lutorius. "The man +named is Quintus Istorius Vocco." + +"Whew!" cried Brinnaria, springing to her feet and snapping +her fingers. "That is ingenious! That will give me trouble! +I didn't credit Calvaster with that much sense. I never thought +of anyone looking askance at my relations with Quintus. I've +never taken any precautions as to when I was with him or +how long or where. I've treated him as an honorary brother, +seeing I have no brothers of my own left alive. Flexinna has +been such a sister to me, that we have disregarded Quintus +almost as if he were a slave or a statue or a picture on the +wall or another woman. Whew!" + +"You perceive," said Lutorius, "that the situation, in general, +is very serious?" + + "I do, indeed!" admitted Brinnaria. + + "Serious as it is in general," he went on, "it is still more +serious in particular. Your excursion to Aricia was by no +means as much a secret as you have all along supposed. +I, for instance, knew of it before you confessed it to me." + +"How was that?" Brinnaria inquired. + + "Numisia," he explained, "saw you go out in Flexinna's +clothes and recognized you. She entered your room and +talked with Flexinna. She summoned me and we conferred. +We both loved you and we both believed in you. We were +solicitous for the cult, but we were nearly as much solicitous +for you. We agreed that we were almost fully warranted in +assuming your entire innocence of heart and that your +impulsive behavior would not alienate the good will of +the Goddess. We decided to take it upon ourselves to judge +you blameless and to shield you. Utta was instructed never +to let you know that Numisia had seen Flexinna; Flexinna, +of course, fell in with our plans. Numisia made every +arrangement that would prevent any more from learning +the secret and would make your return easy. + + "After you came back safe our decision seemed justified. +I talked with Vocco and learned that nothing had occurred +to render your exposure likely, except your encounter with +Calvaster. As we heard nothing from Calvaster we felt +entirely successful. It turns out that he was only biding +his time. He has formally accused you before the College +of Pontiffs, alleging in general your long-continued +familiarity with Vocco, and, in particular, your having +been outside of Rome after midnight in Vocco's company." + +"Whew," Brinnaria exclaimed, "this is indeed serious! I +feel myself strangling or starving in a vaulted cell. What +am I to do?" + +"See Commodus first of all," said Lutorius. + + In the short interval since her former audience, those traits +of which he had previously shown the merest traces had rapidly +developed in Commodus into fixed characteristics. He had +become what he remained until his end, an odd mingling +of loutish, peevish school-boy, easy-going, self-indulgent +athlete and superstitious, suspicious despot. + + "To begin with," he said, "I want you to understand that I +like you, that I haven't forgotten that you rescued the retiarius, +whopped Bambilio and behaved like a trump when Father +tested you. I'm for you. Your colts are the cream of Italian +stud-farms. You are a wonderful woman, all round. But, as a +Vestal, you have your weak points. I remember Father's +instructions about you and I have all that in mind. Besides, +I know that I, as Chief Pontiff, have the right to make my +own decision about any such matter and to brush aside +anybody else's opinion and anybody else's interpretation +of the evidence. Also my impulse is to make use of my +prerogative, dismiss the accusation against you, reiterate +Father's warning to Calvaster and get the whole thing off +my mind. I don't like Calvaster and I don't value him an +atom. They say he's indispensable, but if he irritates me +ever so little more I'll dispense with him and I'll wager +the Republic will get on without him. You see that I am +strong on your side and almost on the point of deciding +in your favor. + + "But I hesitate. This case of yours worries me more than +anything that has come up since I took over the Principiate. +I cannot make up my mind. + + "I'm not the man I was a year ago. I'm shaken. Father told +me that the most wearing feature of his being Emperor was +his recurring escapes from assassination. I had my first +escape just after your audience with me. It jarred me +horribly. The fool barely missed finishing me. The +experience made me take precautions and so no other +miscreant has come so near to doing for me. But the +repetitions have grown monotonous. I always thought +highly of your lad, and I've often wondered how he +managed to get any sleep or swallow any food while +he was King of the Grove, but I think immeasurably +more of him since I've been through something faintly +similar. He deserves the best of life and I hope he'll get +his heart's desire and marry you at the end of your service. + + "You see how enthusiastically I am on your side. + + "But there is much to be considered. + + "If this were a question of judging a two-year-old filly +I'd need no man's advice and I'd listen to no man's opinion. +I'm better fitted to judge a horse than any man alive. It +would be the same if it were a question of refereeing a +sword-bout or a boxing-mill or a wrestling-match or +anything of the kind. I know all about such things and +I know that I am a judge superior to anybody on earth. +I'm a born all-round athlete and everybody knows it and +recognizes me as a past master. + + "But as an Emperor, as Chief Pontiff, such is not at all the +case. I feel a fumbler, a bungler. I grope. I suspect that the +judgment of my advisers is better than mine. What is worse, +I know that they think so. I am surrounded by men pre-eminent +in their specialties, who look on me as a green boy placed by +mere chance in a position which I fail to fill adequately. They +watch me like hawks, they expect to see me blunder, they +raise eyebrows at each other, they exchange glances. It +rattles me. I wish I had Alexander's nerve. He was as young +as I am and he brooked no opposition, but rammed his +opinions down his councillors' throats from the hour +when he became King. But I haven't his nerve, not by +a long shot. I had as good teachers as he had, too. But, +Hercules be good to me, I never could learn anything +out of a book. + + "As a charioteer, or a swordsman I'm as confident as a +lion. As an Emperor I'm as cowardly as a jackal. It's the +effect of the prophecies and auguries and oracles and such. +They all hint at my impairing the prosperity of the Republic +or diminishing the power of the Empire. It gallies me when +I see two old bald heads wink at each other; I know they +are thinking: + + "'What did I tell you! Here's this young fool ruining Rome, +just as the oracle prophesies.' "It gets on my nerves. + +"I daren't decide the matter on my own judgment. + + "Besides, there's the danger of assassination hanging +over me. All the men who have tried so far have been +highly educated magnates of lofty principles. They +seem to feel I am an unworthy Prince and that to kill +me would be a service to the state. It galls me to think +of it, and me doing my best for the Republic and the +Empire, denying myself hours of pleasure daily, missing +races and all kinds of contests and toiling over documents +and estimates and statistics. But it is true. If I decide this +case of yours, ten to one any number of self-righteous +nobles will say to themselves: + + "'Here is this lout on the way to destroy the foundations of +Rome's greatness. Rome must be saved from him. My duty +is clear. He must be put out of the way.' "Nice situation for +me. I dare not let loose any such possible fanaticism for my +own destruction. + + "And apart from any qualms about my qualifications to judge, +apart from any dread of the consequences to myself, of +absolving you, there is my sense of duty to Rome. Here are +these cursed ambiguous oracles hinting some harm to Rome, +mentioning fire and the Temple of Vesta and the Palladium. +Perhaps what they mean is just the possible wrath of Vesta +at an unworthy priestess. How can I tell? + + "You see why I hesitate?" + +Brinnaria nodded. She judged it no time to speak, and, +had she wished to speak she could hardly have done so. + + "I might not have hesitated," Commodus resumed, "if +Calvaster had come to me. But he pops up in a full meeting +of the College of Pontiffs and says he saw you, after midnight +and before dawn, on the Appian Road, between Aricia and +Bovillae, in a litter that didn't belong to you and with Vocco +on horseback beside it. That puts all the Pontiffs in possession +of the facts and on the watch to see how I'll decide, if I do +decide. Calvaster made sure of proving those facts, for he +had two highly respectable and respected nobles to swear +that they were with him and saw Vocco and the litter and +knew the litter for Nemestronia's. That he had any number +of witnesses to swear to the frequency of your visits to +Vocco's house, your habit of dining there and the freedom +with which you treated him. + + "My impulse was to tell Calvaster I disbelieved any story +he fathered, that I had my Father's instructions discrediting +him, that I knew all about your intimacy with Flexinna and +her husband, that I knew all about your excursion to Aricia +and why you went and that I approved and that was the end +of it. I have told you why I hesitated. + + "But I was inclined that way. I have talked with Lutorius and +Causidiena and Numisia. They feel towards you as my Father felt. +They believe in you and in your worthiness as a priestess, and +they minimize your irregularities. I sent for Flexinna and talked +with her. She deserves consideration, if only because she is the +mother of the largest family to be found among our nobility, even +among our gentry. She hoots at the idea of anything improper +between you and Vocco, in act or thought. She evidently tells +the truth. It is plain that she and Vocco are a devoted pair, +that you and he never did anything wrong or thought of anything +wrong. I sent for Vocco and talked with him. I am all but clear +what I should do, but I am not quite clear. + + "Now, there are only two ways to settle this: one is for me to +settle it myself and out of hand. The other is to have a formal +trial of you before the College of Pontiffs. + + "If you are tried you'll be condemned. All you can say of the +innocence of your intimacy with Vocco, all you can say of the +innocence of your regard for Almo, all I can say of my Father's +high esteem of you, of his injunctions regarding you, will not +avail to save you. The Pontiffs will not heed the considerations +which were so plain to Father and are so plain to me and +Lutorius and Numisia. They will say it makes no difference +whether you went to Aricia because of solicitude for Almo +or on account of an intrigue with Vocco. They will hold +that such a manifestation of interest in Almo proves you +almost as unfit to be a Vestal as if it were certain that you +were philandering with Vocco. + + "In particular they will hold that there might be room to +absolve you had you openly gone to save Almo in your full +regalia and in your own carriage, or your own litter, with +your lictor before you; but that while the fact of your being +out of Rome all night in a litter is damning enough, the +appearance of duplicity and underhanded secrecy given +to the proceeding by your being disguised in another +woman's clothing and carried in a borrowed litter +makes terribly against you. + + "Of course I could impose my will on the Pontiffs, but I +should hesitate to override their decision, even more than +I hesitate to decide the case myself, and for the reasons +I have given. + + "Yet I must say I could forget my dread of assassination +and ignore any opinionated contempt I might evoke, if I +could be sure in my own heart that I am doing what is best +for Rome; I should be as arrogant an Emperor as ever Domitian +was if only I felt confident that my instincts are right. My +instincts all urge me to act as an Emperor and a Pontifex +Maximus and settle this matter out of hand, once and for all. + + "But I hesitate. I can't make up my mind. All I need is a sign +that you are as acceptable to Vesta as I believe you are. I have +tried to satisfy myself, to elicit some sign of the Goddess' will, +but no sign has been vouchsafed me. I've had the Sibylline +Books consulted, which is a trying matter with Calvaster left +out of the consulting board; I have sent to every oracle within +reach, have put questions to all the sibyls in all the caves of +Italy, have called in a rabble of Etruscan soothsayers, every +haruspex and auspex in Etruria, I believe. They all hedge. +They are all vague. They are all indefinite. They give me no help! + + "Now, I like you; I like Almo; I like both of you and I respect you; +I believe in you. I'd hate to wake up and call for any breakfast I +had a whim for and look at it and smell it and think of you, all +alone in the dark in a vaulted cell six foot under the rubbish of +that garbage-dump out by the Colline Gate. And I hate the +thought of the bother and worry of a trial. I want to put my foot +down and assert my will and be done with it all. But, as I've said +a dozen times already, I hesitate. Chiefly I hesitate because I am +resolute to do my duty to Rome according to my lights. I feel I +am right, but I am not quite man enough to follow my feelings. +If I could have some plain sign that Vesta understands and +condones your past irregularities as I do, that Vesta approves +of you and is pleased with you as I am, if I could feel Vesta +corroborating my feelings, if I could evoke an unmistakable +token of her will, I'd not hesitate. I'd scout the suggestion of +a trial; I'd squelch Calvaster; I'd absolve you." + +Brinnaria looked straight into his goggling, bloodshot eyes. + + "Would you consider it an unmistakable sign," she said, "a +plain token of my acceptability to my Goddess, of her esteem +for me, if Vesta gave me power to carry water in a sieve?" + +Commodus goggled his eyes at her even more than habitually. + + "Carry water in a sieve," he cried, "as Tuccia did?" + +"There is a legend," said Brinnaria. sedately, "that some Vestal +once proved her holiness by carrying water in a sieve. And the +story is connected with Tuccia in popular tradition. But if it was +ever done some other Vestal did it. Poor Tuccia was innocent, +as far as I can judge from the minutes of her trial. But she was +not absolved, by intervention of Vesta or of her judges. She was +condemned and buried. You can read the verdict as well as the +details of the proceedings in the records. And what is left of poor +Tuccia is now in one of those tiny vaulted cells under the Wicked +Field. You will find, along with the documents of her case, the bill +for the wages of the mason who completed the vault after she +had descended the ladder and the affidavits of the sentinels who +patrolled the spot day and night for a month, according to custom." + + "Never mind who did it or didn't do it, or whether it ever was +done at all before," said Commodus, "if I saw you carry water +in a sieve I'd hold it a plain sign of Vesta's particular favor to +you, of your special acceptability to her, of the correctness +of my intuitions about you and about this whole wretched +business. + + "Do I understand you to offer to demonstrate your innocence +by carrying water in a sieve?" + +"That is my offer!" said Brinnaria. + + "But," he protested, "the thing can't be done. It's impossible! +Better stand your chance of a trial." + +"I am sure," said Brinnaria, "that my Goddess will not desert +me. I know I am innocent and acceptable to her. She knows me +and will give me the power to prove my worthiness. She will no + fail me. I know I can do it." + +"Do I understand you to offer to do it in broad daylight before me +and the whole College of Pontiffs, Calvaster and all?" + +"In sight of all Rome," said Brinnaria, "if all Rome could crowd +near enough to see." + +"Do I understand you," said the Emperor, "to stake your life on +the venture, and, just as you would expect full absolution if you +succeed, so to expect a rigid and severely stern trial before me +and the College of Pontiffs, with your failure counting against +you, if you fail in the attempt?" + +"That is my understanding," said Brinnaria, unflinching, her +clear eyes on his face, her cheeks neither flushed nor blanched, +her expression calm, her pose easy, her voice unfaltering. + + "Hercules be good to me!" cried Commodus. "That is a first +class game sporting offer! I like you, girl! I like the idea. I see +my way to a decision. I glimpse a method of banishing my +hesitation. I'll take you. If you agree, clasp hands, like a man." + +Brinnaria stood up and put out her hand. + + "For life or death," said the Emperor. + + They clasped hands. + + "Done!' said Commodus. + + + CHAPTER XXI - ORDEAL + + + + THE next day Commodus, officially, in his full regalia as Emperor +and Pontifex Maximus, convoyed by a magnificent retinue of +gorgeously apparelled gentlemen-in-waiting, equerries, aides, +orderlies and pages, and of gaudily uniformed guards, paid a +formal visit to the Atrium. + + He was received by Lutorius, Causidiena. and Numisia, who +had been in close conference most of the previous afternoon +and until late at night and again most of the morning from +dawn. Causidiena, on account of her failing sight, was escorted +by Manlia and Gargilia. + + After the exchange of ceremonious greetings Commodus asked: + + "Where is Brinnaria? Why isn't she here?" + +"We thought best," Causidiena replied, "that she should not be +present at our conference." + +"As to part of it I quite agree," said the Emperor. "Fairness to +her requires that much of what we have to say should be said in +her absence, as she must be free from any suspicion of +participation in some of our arrangements. But part of +what we have to say she must hear and some details I must +talk over with her. Send for her, and meanwhile, sit down, +all of you, sit down, I say." + +Manlia and Gargilia departed to summon Brinnaria. + + When she came and had seated herself the Emperor said: + + "I've been thinking over this matter ever since you left me. +Precious little else did I do yesterday and mighty little sleep +did I get last night. I'm not clear yet altogether, but I see +daylight on several points. + + "What you propose is more or less like interpreting the +significance of the appearances seen in the victim's intestines +after a sacrifice for a specific object; it amounts to asking a +definite question of your Goddess and getting a yes or no answer. + +"That is one way to regard it and seems to me correct from +the religious point of view. + + "But there is another point of view and another way to regard +it, not less correct, it seems to me. + + "This is a sort of a sporting proposal, like a dicing contest, +or any kind of match or wager. + + "Now in such matters, it is important, it is of the utmost +importance, that there should be no differences of opinion +between the principals or among the backers or lookers-on +after the contest or during its progress; particularly that +no unexpected differences of opinion should crop up after +starting the set of actions which determine the decision. +To avoid all such untoward possibilities, every detail +must be settled in advance before the matter comes to a test. + + "Now, treating your appeal to Vesta not only as a solemn +invocation of the Goddess, but also as a sporting chance, +I intend to have a definite, unquestionable understanding +beforehand on every debatable point. + + "You see what I mean? + + "Some of the points we others will settle without you, but +we shall begin with those which you must settle or share in settling. + + "I and Lutorius, Causidiena and Numisia are to be the +witnesses to the stipulations and our agreement on any +point is to prove that point. I propose to make it impossible +for there to be any misunderstanding or disagreement +among the four of us, to make it certain that we four +think, speak and act unanimously on all points whatever. +Nothing must be assumed, everything must be explicit. + + "To begin with, is this a fair statement of your proposal? + + "You maintain that you are a worthy priestess of Vesta +and wholly acceptable to her. You propose to demonstrate +this by asking of her the power to carry water in a sieve +in the sight of the whole College of Pontiffs and of such +other persons as I may see fit to have present at the test. +If you fail you will expect to be tried for misconduct. +If you succeed you will expect to be then and there +absolved from all accusations and imputations +connected with your deportment or behavior. + + "Is that a fair statement of your proposal?" + +"It is," Brinnaria replied. + + "What kind of water do you propose to carry?" Commodus +asked. "Spring water, rain-water from a tank, aqueduct-water, +or what?" + +"I assumed," said Brinnaria, "that I would carry water from +the river, in accordance with the legend of my predecessor: +Father Tiber being himself one of our gods, one of the sternest +to evildoers, yet to the righteous most kindly and helpful." + +"Excellent!" said the Emperor. "My notion precisely. +That is settled. I accordingly appoint as the place of your +test the Marble Quay, since the porticoes flanking it shut +out the mob and protect the Quay from intruding eyes, +and since the space enclosed by them is ample for the +assemblage of the College of Pontiffs, the Senate and the +Court officials. Are you satisfied with that place?" + +"I am," said Brinnaria. + + "In what kind of a sieve do you propose to carry water?" +came the next question. + + "A sieve," said Brinnaria, "is a sieve." + + "Not at all," Commodus objected. "There are sieves +and sieves." + +"Well, of course," Brinnaria reflected, "I do not mean a +broken, worn-out or imperfect sieve, nor one incompetently made." + +"Just so," the Emperor amplified. "You propose to carry +water in a sieve with a circular rim, without any hole, +crevice or crack in it and with a web stretched taut on +the rim, evenly woven and of the finest mesh." + +"That expresses my unformed idea," said Brinnaria. + + "Did you mean a linen sieve," the Emperor asked, "or a +horse-hair sieve, or a metal sieve?" + +"That," said Brinnaria, "can make no difference, if it +fulfills the conditions you have just specified. I leave the +choice of material to you." + +"That is the correct attitude for you," said Commodus, +"and does you credit. + + "And now I think we four will settle the other details +without you. Do you agree to that?" + +"No!" Brinnaria objected. "I think I should be a party +to the settling of several other details." + +"What are they?" Commodus queried. + + "In the first place," said Brinnaria, "there should be the +clearest understanding as to how much water I must carry." + +"What do you mean?" the Emperor asked. + + "Well," Brinnaria expounded, "a drop of water the size of +my thumb-nail would not be enough, I presume. That would +not be considered as demonstrating my innocence. You +would expect me to carry more water than that. On the +other hand, to exact that I carry a sieve full of water to +the top of the rim, as if it were a pan, would be unfair to me." + +"I see," said Commodus. "I should lay down the condition +that the water must cover the web of the sieve entirely +and touch the rim all round, and that it should be a +finger-breadth deep. Deeper than that it need not be, that +depth would prove the favor of your Goddess as plainly +as if you carried all Tiber. Is that all? If not, what next?" + +"Next," she said, "it ought to be definitely agreed how far +I must carry the sieve with the water in it." + +"You do not need to carry it at all," said Commodus. "If +you stand up and hold the sieve of water as high as your +chin, you will have proved the favor of your Goddess for you." + +Lutorius, tactful and bland, here spoke up. + + "Your Majesty," he said, "I doubt whether that will confute +Brinnaria's enemies or even convince the majority of the Pontiffs." + +"What does it signify?" the Emperor demanded, "whether +anybody else is convinced, if I am satisfied?" + +"Nothing whatever, your Majesty," said Lutorius, "if +you take that view of the matter." + +"Perhaps," Commodus admitted, "there may be +something in your suggestion. Suppose we make +the stipulation that she must carry the sieve of +water from the brink of the river to the top of the steps." + +"The number of steps," Lutorius reminded him, "varies +at different points along the Marble Quay." + + "True," the Emperor admitted. "Let us specify the +middle stair, which has seven steps, if I mistake not. +Do you agree to that?" he asked Brinnaria. + + "I agree," she concluded. + + After Brinnaria had gone, Commodus resumed: + + "Now we must decide," he said, "what kind of a sieve she +is to use." + +Causidiena spoke up, her all but sightless eyes strained towards the Emperor. + + "Lutorius and Numisia and I have talked over that question," +she said. "It seems to me that it would be unfair to her for us +to decide on a metal sieve. They are always coarse and the +apertures between the wires are comparatively large. It seems +to us that no one could carry water in a copper sieve, not even +by a miracle. + + "The meshes of linen sieves are the smallest of any made, but +the linen does not seem to have much sustaining power. We feel +that with a linen sieve not only Brinnaria would be, as Lutorius +expressed it, severely handicapped for water-carrying, but that, +as he also said, I fear irreverently, that Vesta herself would be +too much handicapped in respect to miracle-working." + +"A mighty sensible remark," Commodus cut in, "and one +with which I concur. You are more of a sport than I thought +you, Lutorius." + +"Considering only the construction of sieves," Causidiena +continued, "we were of the opinion that a horsehair sieve +would be the fairest. The hairs are coarser than linen threads +and finer than copper wires and the apertures between are +similarly of medium size, as sieves go. + + "Besides, we have ascertained that horse-hair sieves are by +far the most usual kind. We are told that in most sieve-shops +in Rome all the linen sieves and copper sieves sold do not +amount to one-third the horsehair sieves." + +"That ought to settle that point," said Commodus. "No one +can cavil if we use the commonest kind of sieve, of medium +fineness and of normal make. + +"As to the question of procuring one we must arrange that +Brinnaria may feel wholly secure that it has not been tampered +with by some enemy of hers, and, on the other hand, that all +persons whatever, to whomsoever hostile or friendly, or +wholly indifferent, may be at once and forever certain that +neither Brinnaria nor any partisan of hers has had any access +to it before the test. Have you any suggestions to make?" + +"Yes," Causidiena replied. "Lutorius and Numisia and I +have debated that point and have come to a conclusion +which we think you might approve. The best sieve-maker +in Rome is Caius Truttidius Falcifer, a tenant of one of +our shops on the Holy Street. Not only are his wares +reputed the best-made sieves produced in Rome, but he +sells more than anyone else and carries a larger stock +than can be found in the possession of any other dealer. +He is sieve-maker to the Atrium, like his father before +him. His horse-hair sieves are the closest and finest of +their kind. We use them to sift the flour for our ceremonial +cakes. I had some brought to show you. Where are they, +Numisia?" + +Numisia rose and took from an onyx console a flattish +dish-like basket of gilt wicker, containing a number +of square cakes. In size and on account of the ridges +on them, each looked much like the joined four +fingers of a man's hand. + + Commodus took one, broke it and munched a piece. + + "Very good," he said. "If the excellence of the pastry +demonstrates the virtue of the sieve let us consider it +proved. I do not see, however, what the cakes have to +do with it. But I am entirely willing to agree that Brinnaria +is to use a horse-hair sieve made by Truttidius. + +"Now, how are we to select the particular sieve so as to +convince all concerned that it is a normal sieve chosen +at random and not one doctored for the occasion ?" + +"Our idea," said Lutorius, "was to arrange that Truttidius +be present with a number of horse-hair sieves, practically +with his whole stock of his best, and that one of those be +chosen before the whole College of Pontiffs, perhaps by +your Majesty, perhaps by some one of the altar-boys, +blindfolded, if you like that idea, or in any other manner +which seems good to you." + +"That," said the Emperor, "is an excellent suggestion. +But would not there be some difficulty in carrying to the +Marble Quay so large a number of sieves at once, +particularly just when it will be crowded with notables +and the neighboring squares and streets choked, even +jammed, with their equipages? We should not want +to present a numerous gang of sieve-carrying slaves. But +if more than two sieves are trusted to each slave, there +will be danger of the sieves being damaged in transit. +We might find it difficult to select one sufficiently perfect." + +"We have thought of that," said Lutorius, "and have devised +a solution which we think you might accept. I have arranged +to have Truttidius convey some eighty horse-hair sieves to +the water-front of the Marble Quay in a flat-bottomed +row-boat, such as are used for bringing vegetables to the +quays of the Forum Olitorium. The oarsmen can keep the +boat nearly stationary off any point of the Quay indicated, +and the selection can be made in sight of the official +assemblage of all the Senators and Pontiffs." + +"That," said Commodus, "is an excellent suggestion. +Have it carried out and see to it that only we four know +of it and that no one but the sieve-maker and his assistants +have anything to do with conveying the sieves from his +shop to the boat and that only the boatmen, the sieve-maker +and his assistants are in the boat, that no one else has been +in the boat. I'll detail any number of men you ask for to +escort the sieve-maker and his convoy. + + "I'll have the river policed and all possible traffic suspended. +Any craft that are let through the cordons of police-boats +will be made to follow the other side of the river. We'll have +nothing off the Marble Quay except the boat-load of sieves +and the patrol-boats." He sighed. + + "I believe," he said, "that that is all except fixing the day +and the hour." + +"I suggest," said Lutorius, "the day after to-morrow, the +eighteenth day before the Kalends of September, the +twenty-third anniversary of Brinnaria's entrance into +the order of Vestals, and, I regret to say, the second +anniversary of her night expedition to Aricia." + +"That suits me," said Commodus. + + "And the hour?" Numisia queried. + + "Noon," said the Emperor. + + Accordingly it was settled that Brinnaria was to face her ordeal +at midday on August fifteenth of the nine hundred and +thirty-seventh year after the founding of Rome, 184 of our era. + + That night Numisia, conferring with Brinnaria, concluded +by saying: + + "Truttidius enjoined me to remind you to be very careful +not to touch the web of the sieve with your fingers. Also he +says that, if anybody's finger touches the web of the sieve +as it is being handed to you, you are to decline to accept it +and to demand another." + +"I understand that already," said Brinnaria. + + The Marble Quay was that part of the embankment along +the left bank of the Tiber which was used by the Emperors +of Rome for embarking on their state barges and for landing +from them whenever they took part in one of the gorgeous +river processions. Also it was used by all members of the +Imperial household for starting on excursions by water or +when returning from them. It was situated below the north +corner of the Aventine Hill, not far from the square end of +the Circus Maximus, close to the round Temple of Hercules +and near the meat market. Every trace of it has long since +vanished, its precious marbles having offered most tempting +plunder for builders of every century since the fall of Rome. + + In its glory it was a space about two hundred feet long and +nearly a hundred feet wide, bounded by a gentle hollow curve +along the river, and enclosed on the other three sides by +magnificent colonnaded porticoes. + + The shafts of the columns were of black Lucullean marble +and fully forty feet high. Their capitals and bases were of +green porphyry, the entablature they carried of red porphyry +and the wall behind them of yellow Numidian marble. The +area was paved with slabs of pinkish and light greenish marble +while the copings of the Quay and the steps leading down to +the water were of coral red marble, a building material +extremely rare and very costly. + + At noon on the fifteenth of August the area, lined all round +just before the colonnade by a double rank of Pretorian +guards, gorgeous in their trappings of red gloss leather, +gilded metal and scarlet cloth, was thronged with Senators, +Pontiffs and officials of the Imperial Court, to the number +of nearly a thousand. + + Midway of the crowd, near the head of the middle water-stair, +a part of the pavement, ringed about by the lucky dignitaries +in the front row of spectators, was left free. In it, by the +water-steps, were grouped a selection of Pontiffs, all the +Flamens, four Vestals and the Emperor. The yellow river +was almost free of craft; along the other bank some barges +were being warped up-stream; nearby only patrol boats +were visible. + + Brinnaria, standing alert and springily erect, her white +habit dazzlingly fresh, fresh as the white flowers clasped +at her bosom by her big pearl brooch, looked like a +care-free young matron who had had a long night's +sleep and a good breakfast. Commodus, looking her up +nd down, mentally contrasted her easy pose and the +rosiness of her smiling face with the tense statuesqueness +and austere, almost grim countenances of her three +colleagues. He noticed that her three-strand pearl +necklace seemed to become her more than theirs +became the other three and that she wore her square, +white headdress with an indefinable difference, that +there was a difference in the very hang of her headband +and in the way its tassels lay on her bosom. He noted +two unusual adjuncts to her attire; a long, rough towel +through her girdle and a gold sacrificial dipper thrust +in beside it. + + "Are you ready?" he asked her. + + She looked him full in the face and slowly raised her +left arm, stiffly straight, hand extended, palm down, +until her finger-tips were almost level with his face and +not a foot from it. Holding it so at full stretch she asked: + + "What do you think of that? Am I ready?" + +Commodus regarded her finger-tips, her face, and +again her finger-tips: + + "Hercules be good to me !" he exclaimed. "Not a tremble, +not a waver, not a quiver. You are mighty cool. You've +plenty of confidence. I take it you are ready." + +"I am," said Brinnaria. "Where is that sieve?" + +>From behind her spoke Calvaster. "I have a sieve here." + +Commodus rounded on him like an angry mastiff. + + "Who authorized you to speak?" he demanded. "You act +as if you were Emperor. You are merely a minor Pontiff. +Remember that and speak when you are spoken to." + +Calvaster, abashed but persistent, stammered: + + "I merely offered a sieve." + +"None of your concern to offer a sieve," Commodus +growled. "You insult all of us and me most of all. Do +you take me to be so unfair as to subject this lady to +her test with a sieve brought and offered by her accuser?" + +Calvaster was dumb. + + "Show me that sieve," the Emperor commanded. + + Calvaster produced from under his robes a copper-hooped +sieve strung with linen. + + Commodus handed it to Brinnaria. + + "What do you think of that sieve?" he inquired. + + Brinnaria held it up to the light and looked through the +web; held it level, upside down, and looked along the web. + + "It is very irregularly woven," she pronounced; "some +of the meshes are three times the size of others. It is +very unevenly strung, it bags in two places." She held it +up to her face a moment. + + "Also," she concluded, "it has been scrubbed with +wood-ashes and fuller's-earth. Vesta herself could not +carry water in that sieve." + +"Give it back to me!" the Emperor ordered. + + He eyed it as she had, sniffed at it like a dog at a mouse-hole, +and glared over it at Calvaster. + + "You advertise yourself to all the world," he snarled, "as +an unworthy Pontiff and a contemptible caitiff. You attempt +to entrap me into the meanest unfairness! You pose as a +public-spirited citizen solicitous about the sanctity of the +worship of Vesta and I find you a pettifogging wretch +actuated by spite and malice. You desire not a fair test, +but the ruin of a woman you are low-minded enough to +hate. Eugh!" With one of his excesses of unconventional +energy he flung the sieve far out over the river. It sailed +whirling through the air, splashed in the water and sank +out of sight. + + "For the price of one dried bean, I'd order you thrown +after it," said Commodus to Calvaster. + + He beckoned one of his aides. + + "Signal that boat!" he commanded. + + A broad blunt-ended cargo-boat, rather guided than +propelled by its four heavy oars, came drifting down +with the current. Its gunwale was hung with horsehair +sieves. Up from the thwarts stood many poles, each with +cross-pieces, every cross-piece hung with sieves. Its +oarsmen edged it nearer and nearer to the Quay and +slowed its motion until it was almost stationary +opposite the stair, scarcely an arm's-length from the +lowest step. + + When it was close the Emperor spoke to Numisia: + + "Choose any sieve you see." + +Numisia indicated the sieve on the forward arm of the +second cross-piece of the fourth pole from the bow. + + Lutorius, at the Emperor's bidding, called the directions +to Truttidius, who, bowed and bent with age until he looked +almost like a clothed ape, wizened so that his leathery, +wrinkled face was like a dried apple, was standing near +the middle of the boat. + + "Go down the steps," said Commodus to Brinnaria, +"and yourself take the sieve from him." Brinnaria, on +the lower step, reached over the water, and grasped +the rim of the sieve which Truttidius held out to her. She +held it up to the light. Its web was of black and white +horse-hair, each thread alternately of a different color. +It was made for bolting the finest flour and the tiny +apertures between the hairs were all of a size and +scarcely broader than the hairs themselves. + + She scrutinized the sieve from several angles and +then looked back at the Emperor. + + "Are you satisfied with that sieve?" he queried. + + "I am satisfied with this sieve," spoke Brinnaria, +loud and clear. + + "I want to see close," said Commodus, coming down +the steps. + + Brinnaria, holding the sieve in both hands, lifted it +towards the blue sky. "O Vesta!" she prayed aloud, +"O my dear Goddess, manifest your divinity, succor +your votary! To prove me pleasing and acceptable in +your eyes, grant me the miraculous power to carry +up these stairs water from this river in the sieve +which I hold!" She lowered her arms and holding the +sieve in her left hand knelt on one knee on the lowest +step, spread her towel over the other knee and took +from her belt the sacrificial dipper. With that she +scooped up half a ladleful of Tiber water. On the +towel spread over her knee she carefully dried the +bottom of the dipper. + + Holding it just outside the rim of the sieve she glanced +up at Commodus. + + "Go on," he said. + + She smiled. + + "If you want to see me fail," she said, "talk to me. If +you want to see me carry water in this sieve, let me alone." + +"I'm dumb*," said he. + + *"Dumb" at this time meant unable to speak. + --PG editor + + She eyed the sieve to make sure that it was level and +steady. Commodus, also eyeing it, judged it both steady +and level. + + She brought the ladle over the rim of the sieve and lowered +it until it all but touched the middle of the web. + + She tilted the ladle slowly, slowly she poured its contents +over its lip. + + She lifted it clear: + + On the web of the sieve lay a silver disk, as it were, of +water, round-edged and shining. + + "Hercules be good to me!" cried Commodus. + + "Keep quiet!" she admonished him. "You'll put me off." +She dipped up a ladleful of water, flirted half the water +out, wiped the bottom of the ladle on her knee and brought +it cautiously over the sieve, cautiously she lowered it until +it nearly touched the shining disk of water, cautiously she +tilted it, cautiously she let its contents flow over its lip. + + The disk of water spread. She repeated the process. The +disk of water spread. + + Again and again she repeated the process. + + The disk of water became a film hiding nearly all +the web of the sieve. + + Commodus noticed that, as she dipped up each ladleful +of water, she watched the dipper out of the corner of her +eye, as it were, with a sort of partial, sidelong glance, but +that all the while her gaze was intent on the sieve. + + He noticed other details of her procedure. + + "You never pour twice in the same place," he commented. + + Rigid as a statue, the sieve in her hand as unmoving as if +clamped in a vise, Brinnaria spoke: + + "If I take my eyes off the sieve," she rebuked him, "it will +tilt in my hand and the water will run through. If you make +me look round you'll destroy me. You are not fair." + +"I'm dumb," said Commodus again, apologetically. + + As she poured in the next dipper-load, the film of water +touched the rim of the sieve at one point. + + Commodus heard a sharp intake of Brinnaria's breath. + + The next half-ladleful she poured near the spot where +the water touched the sieve-rim. + + Round near the hoop she dribbled in half-ladleful after +half-ladleful until the web of the sieve was entirely covered. + + She had moved slowly from the first dip into the river. +But now, since she could not see any part of the web of +the sieve, she moved yet more slowly. + + Commodus began to be impatient. + + "That is plenty of water," he said. + + "Do you, as Pontifex Maximus," she uttered, "certify +that the water now in this sieve is as deep as you stipulated ?" + +"I," said Commodus in a loud voice, "as Emperor and +as Pontifex Maximus, here certify before all men that the +water now supported by the web of that sieve is enough +to demonstrate the favor of Vesta towards you and your +impeccable integrity." + +"Back away," said Brinnaria, "I'm going to stand up." +She thrust the handle of the ladle through her belt, +brushed the towel from her knee and with her right +hand also she grasped the sieve. Holding it now in +both hands, her eyes on it, she very slowly, inch by inch, +rose to her feet. When she was erect, she very slowly +drew back her left foot until her two feet were close together. + + "Back away," she repeated. "I'm going to turn round." +Slowly she pivoted on her firm feet until she was standing +with her back to the river. + + Commodus at the top of the steps stared down at her. + + "Back away," she reiterated, "I'm coming up the steps." +Up the steps she came, very slowly. Planted on her right +foot she would almost imperceptibly raise and advance +her left foot. When it was firm on the step, she would +gradually shift her weight to that foot, would very +deliberately straighten up and very carefully draw up +her right foot until both feet were together. So standing +she would breathe several times before she repeated +the process. + + When she was standing firm on the top step on the +level of the Quay platform, she raised both hands until +the sieve was level with her chin. + + "You have won," Commodus exclaimed. "You have +demonstrated your Goddess's favor. The test is over." + +An arm's length away stood Calvaster. + + "It's a trick!" he cried. "That is not water." + +"Not water!" cried Brinnaria. + + All the forgotten tomboy of her childish girlhood surged +up within her. The obsolete hoydenishness inside her exploded. + + "Not water!" she cried, and smashed the sieve over his head. + + The rim on his shoulders, his head protruding from the torn +eb, frayed ends of broken horse-hair sticking up round his +neck, the water trickling down his clothing and dripping +from his thin locks, from his big flaring ears, from the end +of his long nose, his face rueful and stultified, he presented +a sufficiently absurd appearance. + + Commodus, like the overgrown boy he was, burst into +roars of laughter. The Pontiffs laughed, the Senators +laughed, even Manlia and Gargilia laughed. + + "It's a trick!" Calvaster repeated. + + On the face of Commodus mirth gave place to wrath. + + "Isn't that enough water for you?" he roared. "Anybody +would think, the way you behave, that I am the minor Pontiff +and you the Emperor. I'll teach you!" He turned and +beckoned a centurion of the guard. + + With his file of men he came on the double quick. + + "Seize that man!" the Emperor commanded. + + Two of the Pretorians gripped Calvaster by the elbows. + + "March him out there to the edge," came the next +order, the Emperor gesturing towards the quay-front +on his right. + + At the brink of the platform the Pretorians paused. + + "Grab him with both your hands," the Emperor commanded, +"and pitch him into the river." Over went Calvaster with +a mighty splash. + + As all Romans were excellent swimmers he came to the +surface almost at once. A few strokes in front of him was +the boat with the sieves. To it he swam and Truttidius +hauled him aboard and located him on a thwart. + + After the general merriment had waned and the laughter +had abated Commodus faced the assemblage and raised his hand. + + Into the ensuing silence he spoke not as a blundering +lad nor as a sportsman, but as a ruler. For the moment, +in fact, he looked all the Emperor. + + "We have all beheld," he said, "a miracle marvellous and +convincing. As Prince of the Republic, as Chief Pontiff of +Rome, I proclaim this Priestess cleared of all imputations +whatever. Manifestly she is dear to Vesta, and worthy of +the favor she has shown her. Henceforward let no man +dare to smirch her with any slur or slander." + + + CHAPTER XXII - TRIUMPH + + + + IN recognition of Brinnaria's complete and incontrovertible +vindication Commodus decreed an unusually sumptuous +state banquet at the Palace, inviting to it all the most important +personages of the capital, including the more distinguished +senators, every magistrate, the higher Pontiffs, the Flamens +in a body and most of his personal cronies. + + While old-fashioned households, such as that of Vocco and +Flexinna, clung to the antique Roman habit of lying down +to meals on three rectangular dining-sofas placed on three +sides of a square-topped table, this arrangement had long +been supplanted at Court by a newer invention. The mere +fact that, from of old, it had been looked upon as the worst +sort of bad manners to have more than three diners on a sofa, +and as scarcely less ridiculous to have fewer than three, had +made the custom vexatious in the extreme, as it constrained +all entertainers to arrange for nine guests or eighteen or +twenty-seven and ruled out any other more convenient +intermediate numbers. In the progressive circles of society +and at the Palace, the tables were circular, each supported +from the center by one standard with three feet, and each table +was clasped, as it were, by a single ample C-shaped sofa on +which any number of guests from four to twelve could +conveniently recline. + + At the Palace banquet in honor of Brinnaria, three tables +only were set on the Imperial dais at the head of the dining +hall. On one side of the Emperor's table was that where +feasted the higher Flamens and Pontiffs, the sofa of the +other was occupied by the young Empress, by the wives +of the higher Flamens, and by the four Vestals present. + + Brinnaria declared that her appetite was as good as on the +day when she had returned home from her exile to Aunt +Septima's villa. + + After two public advertisements of the Emperor's favor +and esteem she was entirely free from any sort of worry. +Her enemies were few, merely Calvaster and his parasites, +and they were thoroughly cowed and curbed their tongues. +Not only no defamation of her but not even an innuendo +gained currency in the gossip of the city during the +remainder of her term of service. + + Quite the other way. Her fame as a Vestal whose prayers +were sure to be heard, at first a source of natural pride +and gratification to her, came to be a burden, even a +positive misery. There was an immemorial belief that +if a Vestal could be induced to pray for the recapture +of an escaped slave, such a runaway, if within the +boundaries of Rome, would be overcome by a sort +of inward numbness which would make it impossible +for him to cross the city limits, so that the retaking of +such fugitives became easy, as it was only necessary +to search the wards for them. City owners of escaped +slaves besieged Brinnaria for years and as it was reported +that her intercessions were invariably effective, her fame +increased and petitions for her assistance pestered her. + + She bore the annoyance resignedly, reflecting that, while +she was in such repute, no one was likely to impugn her +honor. + + Life in the Atrium, for the ensuing six years, altered little. +Causidiena, within three years after Brinnaria's ordeal, +became totally blind. Care of her devolved particularly +upon Terentia, of whom she was dotingly fond. + + The routine duties of the maintenance of the sacred fire +those two shared, for Causidiena, even stone blind, never +required anyone's assistance to tell her the condition of the +altar-fire and could care for it and feed it even alone, judging +its needs by the sensations of her outstretched hands, never +burning herself, never letting brands or ashes fall on the +Temple floor. But in all other matters Causidiena and +Terentia were concerned only when their participation +was demanded by canonical regulations, Terentia devoting +herself to attendance on Causidiena, while Causidiena +officiated only when the presence of the Chief Vesta + was indispensable. + + For Numisia, Gargilia, Manlia and Brinnaria, their main +concern was to arrange that Causidiena should have as little +as possible to do and that Terentia might devote as much as +possible of her time to entertaining Causidiena. This was +not easy to accomplish, for Causidiena's mind was perfectly +clear, her knowledge of every inch of the Atrium enabled +her to move about it unhesitatingly at all hours of the day +and night, her sense of duty urged her to do all that she +had ever done when her sight was perfect, and, like +most blind persons, she resented any reference, expressed +or implied, to her infirmity. Consideration for her called +for almost superhuman tact and dexterity. To the best of +their ability the four strove to shield her without her being +able to perceive their sedulity. To the charm of Terentia's +music she, moreover, yielded readily. Music, as never before, +occupied the leisure of the Atrium. + + During these years Brinnaria was almost entirely happy. +Her duties, her solicitude for Causidiena, her affection for +Terentia, her delight in her own and Terentia's music filled +up most of her time. + + Her horse-breeding continued to interest her, but her interest +was milder and far from absorbing. She kept it up largely +because she regarded her outings as imperatively necessary +to maintain her health, while aimless outings bored her. + + As when younger, she dined out very often and regularly +with Vocco and Flexinna. But since Calvaster's accusation, +she never visited Flexinna alone, always in company with +another Vestal, usually Terentia, so that her dinners at +Flexinna's became restricted to evenings on which she +and Terentia were both off duty. Terentia, who was +passionately fond of small children, revelled in her visits +to Flexinna's house, where there were children of all +ages in abundance, all ready to make friends, all diverting, +all pleased at being petted, and, as Flexinna said: + + "Not a stutterer among 'em." + +>From Almo news came frequently through Flexinna. + + His campaign, deliberately prepared and relentlessly +carried out, progressed evenly and without any reverse. + + The nomads nowhere withstood his legions and their +attendant cloud of allied cavalry; one after the other +their strongholds were reached and stormed, methodically +and unhurriedly he reduced tribe after tribe to submission, +his prestige growing from season to season and from year +to year. + + When Brinnaria's term of service was drawing to an end +and only about eleven months of it remained, all Roman +society was convulsed by what was variously referred to +as the Calvaster scandal, the great poisoning trial or the +murder of Pulfennia. + + Pulfennia Ulubrana, one of Calvaster's great-aunts, was a +dwarfish creature, humpbacked and clubfooted. + + She was an only child and her parents, in spite of her +deformities, were devoted to her. They lavished on her +everything that fondness could suggest, and, as they were +very wealthy, she not only lived but enjoyed life in her +way and to a very considerable extent. + + To begin with she never had an ill hour or an ache or +a pain from her earliest years. Then, like many cripples, +she had great vitality and a wonderfully alert mind. Amid +the small army of maids, governesses, tutors, pages, +litter-bearers, and so on, with which her parents surrounded +her she did not become merely peevish, exacting and +overbearing, as might have been expected. Even the +services of her personal physician, of three expert +readers to read aloud to her and of a half dozen musicians +to divert her whenever she pleased, did not spoil her. She +was imperious enough, self-willed and obstinately resolute +to have her own way in all matters, but she had a great +deal of common-sense, realized what was possible and +what impossible and was considerate of her entire retinue, +even of such unimportant slave-girls as her three masseuses. + + She was greedy of all sorts of knowledge and acquired an +education altogether unusual for a Roman woman. + + Withal she was feminine in her tastes, spent much time +on embroidery and was justly proud of her complex and +beautiful productions in this womanly art. She overcame +her disabilities to a great extent and, with no lack of +conveyances, became a figure almost as well-known in +oman society as Nemestronia herself. + + As she had an accommodating disposition, an excellent +appetite and a witty tongue, she was a welcome guest +at banquets and went about a great deal. Also she +entertained lavishly. + + She survived the pestilence and, like so many of the +remnants of the nobility, found herself solitary and +enormously wealthy. + + Her vast estates she managed herself and she knew to a +sesterce the value of every piece of property, the justifiable +expenses of maintaining each, and the income each should +yield. Self-indulgent as she was and moreover an inveterate +gambler, she grew richer every year. + + Like all childless Romans of independent means she was +the object of unblushing and overwhelming attentions from +countless legacy cadgers. She enjoyed the game, accepted +everything offered in the way of gifts, services or invitations, +and, moreover, played up to it, for she was forever destroying +her last will and making a new one. Each was read aloud +to a concourse of expectant and envious legatees. Each +specified scores of legacies of no despicable amount, and +yet more numerous sops to numerous acquaintances. In +every will Calvaster, her nearest relative and favorite +grandnephew, was named as chief legatee. + + She kept on making wills, and, what was more, she kept +on living. Naturally her wealth, her eccentricities, her amazing +healthiness and her obstinate vitality were subjects of general +remark by all the gossips of the capital. + + One night, an hour or two after midnight, she was seized +with violent internal pains, and, in spite of the ministrations +of her private physician, died before dawn. + + In Rome any sudden death was likely to be attributed to +poison. In her case the indications, from the Roman point +of view, all converged on the inference that she had been +poisoned. No-one questioned the conclusion. + + Calvaster was immediately suspected. The evidence against +him would not suffice to put in jeopardy any one in our days. +To the Romans it seemed sufficient to justify his incarceration +and trial. He had more to gain by the old lady's death than +anybody else. He had been chronically in need of money and +there had been much friction between him and Pulfennia on +this point. She had always provided for his necessities, but had +always insisted on scrutinizing every item in his accounts, and +on being convinced of his need for every sesterce she gave +him. She had supported him, but by an irritating dole of small +sums. He had joked with his cronies about her hold on life. He +had been heard to say that he would be glad when she was +gone. He had bought various drugs from various apothecaries, +though none within a year of her death and none used merely +as a poison. Under torture some of her slaves and some of his +slaves told of his having tried to induce them to put poison in +her food. + + Roman society promptly divided into two camps on the question +of his guilt or innocence. The subject was debated with vehemence, +even with acrimony. He had been a disagreeable creature from +childhood and had made many enemies. On the other hand, great +numbers of fair-minded people asserted that no man, however +distasteful to themselves, should be convicted on such flimsy evidence. + + His trial was watched with great interest, and when he was +convicted and an appeal was successful and a retrial ordered, +upper class Rome seethed with altercations. The case, by +common consent, was tabooed as a subject of conversation +at all social gatherings; feeling ran so high that it was possible +to mention the matter only between intimate friends. + + Naturally Flexinna and Brinnaria, Terentia and Vocco +discussed the case frequently. To her friends' amazement +Brinnaria maintained that she did not feel convinced of +Calvaster's guilt. + + "I always despised him and hated him," she said, "and I +despise and hate him as much as ever, if not more. He certainly +has been my worst enemy and he came very near to ruining me. +But I see no reason why hate should blind me in judging his case. +I should be glad to have him plainly convicted and put to death. +It would please me. But I am not pleased at his present plight. I +am not convinced of his guilt. I don't believe any slave evidence +given under torture. A tortured slave will say anything he thinks +likely to relax his sufferings or please his questioners. And I see +no proof of Calvaster's guilt in the other evidence. Everybody +buys such drugs as he bought. And suppose he did joke about +Pulfennia's tenacity to life, who wouldn't? I don't believe it is +proved that she died of poison anyway. People who have never +been ill are reckless eaters. Look at me, I am. She may have +died of indigestion or stomach-ache or what not. I'd do anything +I could to save him, now." + +"D-D-Do you mean to say," spoke Flexinna, "that if you +encountered him being led out to execution, you'd reprieve him? + +"A Vestal can't use her prerogative of reprieving criminals," said +Brinnaria, "unless she encounters by accident a criminal being +led to execution. She can't lay in wait for one. Any suspicion +of collusion vitiates her privilege. The encounter must be unforeseen." + +"Suppose," said Flexinna, "you did meet C-C-Calvaster on his +way to execution, wouldn't you g-g-gloat over him and watch +him on his way and not interfere?" + +"No, I should not, I should interfere," said Brinnaria, "and +anyhow, what is the use of supposing? Suppose the moon +fell on your front teeth, would you stop stuttering?" + +In June of 191 Almo returned from Syria, completely +victorious and much acclaimed. He brought with him +his veteran legions and was received with every mark +of the Emperor's favor. After his official reception he +at once left Rome for Falerii, where he was to remain +until the last day of Brinnaria's service. + + Meanwhile his house on the Carinae was opened and +put in order under Flexinna's supervision. + + On August 14th, Lutorius, Causidiena, Numisia and +Brinnaria had a long conference as to the details of her +wedding, which was to take place on August 16th. + + The subject needed not a little discussion, as the circumstances +were unusual. Having no parents, nor indeed any near +connections, it was inevitable that the wedding should vary +a great deal from what was customary. + + It was decided that on leaving the Atrium after her exauguration, +she should spend one night as the guest of Nemestronia; that on +the next day she should go to Vocco's house and be married +from there; but that in the ceremonies, Lutorius, who had been +her spiritual father for many years, should take the part which +her own father would have taken had he been alive. It was also +decided that the wedding feast should be at Almo's house, +after the wedding-procession, instead of at Vocco's before, +as it would have been if she had living parents and was being +married from her home. + + Lutorius, who had a warm personal affection for Brinnaria, +had been hovering about her, as it were, for some days, and +on this last full day of her service he kept, so to speak, fluttering +in and out of the Atrium, repeatedly returning to confer about +some trifle or other which he had forgotten. + + So it happened that he was approaching the portal as she +came out for her afternoon airing. + + "You have your light carriage, to-day, I see," he said. +"Yesterday you had out your state coach. Why the difference?" + +Brinnaria, settling herself among her cushions, leaned out +towards him as he stood beside the vehicle, holding on to the +tires, his arms stiff, a hand on each wheel. + + "This," she said, "is merely a constitutional. Yesterday I +took my last outing with all my special privileges as a Vestal, +drove all over Rome in my state coach, drove up to the +Capitol, and, in a fashion, said farewell to the advantages +of my office." + +"How do you feel about it all?" he asked. + + Brinnaria pulled a wry face and laughed a forced laugh. + + "I am finding out," she said, "why so few Vestals ever +leave the order. When I realize that, after to-day, I shall +have no lictor to clear the streets for me, that I may go +out in my litter daily, but even so without a runner ahead, +that I may never again drive through Rome, that I have +been driven up to the Capitol for the last time and may go +there hereafter only afoot or in my litter, I am almost ready +to change my mind, give up freedom and matrimony and +Almo and all and cling to my privileges. When it comes +over me that, as I go out to-day, the lictors of any magistrate +will salute me, even the lictors of the Emperor, whereas after +to-morrow noon there will be no salutes for me, I understand +why most Vestals live out their lives in the order." + +"There is time still to change your mind and stay with us," +he said, smiling. + + Brinnaria laughed a perfectly natural laugh. + + "No danger," she said; "my heart is Almo's as always." + +"And now, if you have nothing urgent to discuss, I'm off!" + +"Where to?" asked Lutorius. + + "I don't care," said Brinnaria, "I don't even want to know. +Give the coachman any orders that come into your head, +sketch a round-about drive for me. I'm in the humor to have +nothing on my mind." + +Lutorius, with a comprehending smile, whispered to the +coachman, who mounted his tiny seat. + + Almost at once Brinnaria was lost in thought and jolted through +the streets oblivious to her surroundings, not even seeing what +was before her eyes. + + From her muse she was roused by the halting of the carriage. + + Amazed, she looked up. + + Still more amazed, she recognized, standing near the head +of the off-horse, the state-executioner. + + This repulsive public character, tolerated but despised and +loathed, was the last living creature in or about Rome who +would dare to approach a Vestal. + + At sight of him she was inundated with a hot flood of wrath. +She was about to call to her lictor, to demand why the carriage +had stopped and rebuke him for being so negligent as to +allow so unsavory a being to come so near her. + + Then she saw between her and the executioner, just in front of +that official, a kneeling figure. + + She recognized Calvaster. + + Also she saw the guards and executioner's assistants +grouped about the two. + + It came over her that she had encountered, wholly by accident, +this gloomy convoy, and that before her, beseeching her for a +reprieve, begging for a mere day and night more of life, knelt +her inveterate, furtive enemy. + + She raised her hand and looked the executioner full in the eyes. + + "Send him back," she commanded. "He is reprieved until +this hour to-morrow." The guards dragged off Calvaster, +babbling his pitiful gratitude. + + "Drive home," said Brinnaria to her coachman. + + + CHAPTER XXIII - SALVAGE + + + + THE exauguration of a Vestal, by which canonical ritual she +was formally released from her obligations of chastity and +service and became free to go where she liked and to marry +or to remain unmarried as she preferred, was a brief and +simple ceremony. But it required the presence of all the +Vestals, of the major Flamens, of many Pontiffs, of the entire +College of Augurs and of the Emperor himself as Pontifex +Maximus. Commodus, who was impatient of anything +which curtailed the time he might lavish on athletic +amusements, arrived precisely at noon, at the very last +minute. The moment he had entered the Atrium he hurried +the ceremony. It was soon over and Brinnaria no longer a +Vestal, but a free woman. + + It had been arranged that immediately after her exauguration +her successor should be taken as a Vestal there in the Atrium +by Commodus himself as Chief Pontiff. Little difficulty had +been encountered as to selecting a candidate, since a most +suitable child had been offered by her parents, people of +xcellent family and of unblemished reputation. Her name +was Campia Severina, and she was a small girl, just seven +years old, plump, with a round full-moon of a face, a +leaden-pasty complexion, and a most un-Roman nose, +flat, broad and snub. + + Commodus, prompted by Lutorius, droned through the +required questions and showed manifest relief when he +pronounced the word "Beloved" and the second ceremony +was over. + + He was, however, not wholly a loutish and unmannerly +Emperor, but could be tactful and gracious when his interest +was aroused. He took time to speak to each of the Vestals; +complimented Terentia on her music and spoke of the +Empress's admiration of her organ-playing, had a brief but +kindly commendation for Manlia and Gargilia; praised +Numisia highly for her efficient discharge of the duties +devolving on her, and condoled with Causidiena on her +blindness and feebleness, wording what he said so +dexterously that she could not but feel cheered and comforted. + + Then, aside from the assemblage of Pontiffs, Augurs, Flamens +and the rest, he spoke privately with Brinnaria: + + "I'm sorry to lose you," he said; "I felt comfortable about the +Palladium as long as you were a Vestal. Numisia is a woman +to be relied on too, and Gargilia and Manlia are capable +creatures, but not one of the three is your equal in any respect +and they are but three; the others are a corpse, a doll and an infant. + + "Understand I'm not growling at your departure, I am trying +to convey to you how highly I esteem you. I'll advertise it to +all the world by having you and your husband, the moment +you are married, put on the official roster of my personal +friends who have the right of access to me at all times and +can go in and out of the Palace at their pleasure. + + "As to your wedding, I'm sorry I gave you my promise to +stay away from it. I think that this recent notion of yours +that the marriage of an ex-Vestal is an ill-omened occasion, +like a funeral, is morbid and baseless. Every Vestal has a +right to leave the order at the end of her term of service +and to marry if she pleases. The right is indubitable. Nothing +that is right is ill-omened. I think that an ex-Vestal's wedding +ought to be regarded precisely as the wedding of anybody +else. The most I'll concede is, that it might be likened to the +wedding of a widow, considering her service as a sort of +first marriage. That is my judgment, not merely as a man +but as Chief Pontiff. + + "My impulse is to revoke my pledge and to do all I can +to make your wedding a grand affair. But I'm too good +a betting man to break a promise. Besides, though I +impugn your arguments as an ex-Vestal, I respect your +personal preference for a quiet wedding. I'll not insist +on being invited to the banquet, and, so far from taking +part in the procession, I'll not even peep at it down a +side street. I'll keep inside the Palace. + + "But I want you to release me from my promise in one +small detail. I want to be present at Vocco's to see you two +break and eat the old-fashioned cake, and I want to be +first to sign your marriage register. I promise to leave as +soon as I have signed the register." + +Brinnaria, of course, could not but acquiesce. + + "Good for you!" said the Emperor, "and thank you too. +I'll keep away from the procession, but that won't make +any difference in the throngs you'll find along your route. +They'll jam the streets and you'll have to plough your way +through. No Emperor could ever call out more sight-seers +than will the wedding of Brinnaria the water-carrier." +He then went out into the street which his escort blocked, +and departed, accompanied by his coterie of boxers, +wrestlers, swordsmen, jockeys and such-like, convoyed +by a large and gorgeous retinue of pages, runners, guards +nd lictors. + + Immediately after his departure Brinnaria said her farewells +and set out for Nemestronia's. + + Next morning, as she descended from her litter at Vocco's +door, a Vestal's carriage drove up and Gargilia got out. + + "You're surprised to see me at this hour," she said, "and +I don't wonder." When they were indoors and seated with +Flexinna she explained: + + "We have been having a terrible night at the Atrium and +the worst sort of luck this morning. That little fool of a +Campia is the most complete cry-baby and the most +homesick little wretch I ever saw or heard of. She +has sobbed herself ill and screamed us all out of a night's +sleep. Terentia and Manlia were up half the night with her +and she waked me and Causidiena. + + "The result is that Causidiena has had one of her semi-fainting +spells and is in her arm-chair for the day, poor Manlia has one +of her splitting headaches and Terentia is almost as bad. I never +saw the Atrium in such a state. Campia goes to sleep off and +on from exhaustion, but she wakes up howling and keeps +blubbering and whining and sniveling. I left both Terentia +and Manlia in tears. They are so vexed to think that to-morrow +they will be entirely well, but for to-day there is absolutely +nothing for it but they must both keep abed and in the dark. + + "Numisia sent me to tell you that she will be at your wedding, +will walk in the procession and will be at the banquet, but that +I must be on duty in the Temple. So we'll just have to have our +chat now and when I leave we shall not see each other again +for the present." + +As she climbed into her carriage she said: + + "I'm sorry you haven't a bright wedding day." + +"So am I," said Brinnaria, glancing up at the gray canopy +of rainless cloud which hid the sky; "any day is a good day +to be married on, but I hoped for sunshine." + +Commodus, faithful to the spirit of his promise, came to +Vocco's house with the smallest possible official retinue. +He was in the best humor, affable and genial, and cast no +chill of formality over the ceremony. He was the first to +set his signature to the marriage register, signing in his +sprawling school-boy hand. Then he stood aside and +looked on while Flexinna, as matron of honor, led +Brinnaria to Almo and joined their right hands, while +they seated themselves side by side on the traditional +cushioned stools, while the Flamen of Jupiter offered +on the house-altar the old-fashioned contract-cake, +and said the formal prayers for the happiness of the +bride and groom; while the Flamen's assistant, one +of Flexinna's older boys, carried the cake to Almo +and Brinnaria and each broke off a piece and ate it, +she uttering the old-time formula: + + "Where you are Caius I am Caia." + +Above the voices of the guests Commodus' could be +distinguished shouting with them: + + "Good luck! Good luck!" + +In the silence that followed he warned: + + "Now, no rising, no bowing. I'm not here to spoil this +wedding, I came to enjoy it. No bowing, I tell you, no rising. +Let me get out like an ordinary man." + +Into the gathering dusk he vanished with his retinue. + + As soon as he was gone the arrangement for the procession +began, the slaves lit their torches and grouped themselves +outside the house-door, the flute players struck up a tune, +Flexinna's thirteen-year-old boy lit his white-thorn torch at +the altar-fire, her eleven-year-old and nine-year-old, as pages +of honor, caught Brinnaria by the hands and led her out at +the door. So led by the two little boys, their brother with the +white-thorn torch walking before her, she passed through +the streets to Almo's house, Nemestronia and Flexinna +on either side of Almo, close behind her, Vocco and the +other guests following. + + The people made good the Emperor's prophecy. + + From house-door to house-door the streets were packed +with crowds eager to see her pass and loud to acclaim her. +Through cheers, good wishes, loud jokes, merry longs and +cries of "Talassio! Talassio!" she passed along the upper +part of the Fagutal, and past the flank of the Baths of Titus +to the Carinae. + + Her bridal dress of pearl-gray, with the flame-colored bridal +veil, reminded her more than a little of that costume of +Flexinna's which she had worn to Aricia and back, only +that was mostly pink, this mostly gray. + + She looked well in it and wore the six braids and the headband +more naturally than most brides, having been habituated to +them for thirty years, since all Vestals always wore the bridal coiffure. + + At the doorway of Almo's house, the bearer of the white-thorn +torch halted and faced about inside the door, his two little +brothers let go her hands, Almo himself caught her up clear +of the pavement and swung her clear of the door-sill. As he +held her in the air, nestling to him, she repeated the formula: + + "Where you are Caius, I am Caia." + + When he set her down inside the house she was at last a +married woman. + + She turned and watched the scramble for the white-thorn +torch which its bearer first put out and then threw among +the crowd after the slaves had also put out their torches. + + So watching, Almo's arm about her, she became aware of a +strange something in the look of the crowd and of the street. + + "What makes it so light?" she asked Almo. "Why are the +tops of their heads all bright that way?" + +Lutorius, who was near them, explained: + + "There is a big fire somewhere the other side of the +Capitol. I noticed it at the top of the street. The Capitol +stood out black, the outline of both temples plain as in the +daylight, against the red smoke behind it." + +"Send some of the slaves," said Brinnaria, "to find out +where the fire is, and let us lie down to dinner. I'm as +hungry as a wolf." And like a true Roman she began +with a trifle of three hard-boiled eggs, merely to take +the edge off her appetite. + + There were six tables set in Almo's dining-room and +an ample crescent-shaped sofa to each. The sixty guests +made the big room buzz with talk and echo with laughter. + + Nemestronia called across to Brinnaria: + + "Now you have what you've always wanted. You're a +married woman at last." + +"And I'll soon have what I've wanted almost as much," +Brinnaria replied. + + "What's that?" several voices called. + + "Two desires," Brinnaria explained, "haunted me all the +while I was a Vestal. One was the longing for a horseback ride. +I used to revel in galloping bareback. I haven't been astraddle +of a horse for thirty years. It won't be many days now before +I shall enjoy a good canter on a good horse. + + "Then, by to-morrow night, I trust, I shall have had a fine +long swim with my husband and six hundred other couples +in the big basin of one of the City Baths. + + "Words could not tell you how I have longed to go swimming +in the public baths with the rest of my kind, as a lady should." + +The messengers returned with the news that the fire had started near +the round end of the Flaminian Circus, close to the Temple of +Bellona. Before a strong wind it had spread both ways, had caught +everything in the north slope of the Capitol between it and Trajan's +Forum: the silver-smiths' shops were all ablaze; to the south it had +crept between the slope of the Capitol and the theatre of Marcellus +and was sweeping over the booths of the Vegetable Market. + + "It is the biggest fire in our time," said Lutorius. + + "Where will it stop?" queried Numisia. + + Both sent their lictors to make further report. + + Before the dinner was half over they returned, with messengers +from the Atrium. The conflagration was roaring up the Vicus +Jugarius and Gargilia was alarmed. + + Lutorius and Numisia hastily excused themselves, called for their +shoes and went off; he in his litter and she in her carriage. + + As Brinnaria was about to cut the wedding cake her former +lictor, Barbo, thrust himself into the dining-hall, frantic with +concern, and narrated how the fire was beyond any hope of +control and was already devouring the Basilica Argentaria +and Basilica Julia. + + "Lutorius has had the sacred fire carried out of the Temple +in a copper pan by Gargilia and Manlia," he said, "and Terentia +and Numisia, with little Campia, were helping Causidiena +along the Holy Street. Causidiena had an earthenware +casket in her arms. I saw them turn the corner to their right +into Pearl-Dealers Lane. They are safe in the Palace by now." + +"Safe in the Palace?" Brinnaria echoed. + + "Yes," Barbo repeated. "Safe in the Palace. They say that the +Temple and the Atrium must burn, nothing can save them." + +"The Temple!" cried Brinnana. "Fire! And everybody ill +except Gargilia and Numisia! And all they could think of +would be saving that dear old blind saint and that contemptible +cry-baby. Ten to one they have missed the Palladium and +taken one of the dummies by mistake! + + "O, Almo, I must go save the Palladium!" + +Of course Almo protested. + + "Don't hinder me," she begged. "Go I must, whether you +object or not. We'd never forgive ourselves if to-morrow +we learned too late that the Vestals missed the true +Palladium in the confusion, whereas I might have saved +it if I had tried. They may have taken the real Palladium; + I may be too late now to save it if they made a mistake, +but I am bound to try." + +He shut his lips, but she read his eyes. + + "That is like my hero," she said. "Patriotism first, self last. + +"Barbo," she called, "run before me and clear the way as +if I were still a Vestal. It's illegal, but it will work." + + She started for the house-door and then paused. + + "Have you any fire buckets?" she asked Almo. "Then have +two of the slaves each fill a bucket and keep close behind us." + +Amid the prayers and blessings of the wedding-guests, they +went out hand in hand, the two slaves with leather +water-buckets behind them, Barbo ahead, bellowing: + + "Room for Brinnaria Epulonia! Room for Brinnaria +Epulonia!" At the street corner, before they started down +the slope of the Carinae, they had before them a wide +view over the city directly towards the Capitol. Between +them and the Capitol Hill they could see the buildings +about the Great Forum all one sea of flames. + + "The Basilica AEmilia is on fire," said Brinnaria, "and +the Temple of Augustus is just catching. We shall be in +time; our Temple won't catch before we get there. + + "Run, let's run." + +Run they did, the crowds making way at Barbo's loud +adjurations. In their wedding finery, she with her veil +wrapped round her head like a market-woman's shawl, +they ran, hand in hand between the great Temple of Venus +and Rome, black on their right hand against the reddened +clouds, and the vast Colosseum on their left, all orange +in the glare, the gilding on its awning poles glimmering. + + Up the Sacred Street they passed, running when they could, +ploughing through the crowds when the crowd was too thick. + + By the time they passed through the Arch of Titus they +were running, panting and gasping, through a hail of warm +ashes, hot cinders, glowing embers, blazing bits of wood, +flaming brands. + + At the corner of the Pearl-Dealers Exchange Almo halted, +detaining her by her gripped left hand. + + "It is no use," he said; "we are too late. You might pass +the portal of the Atrium alive, but you'd never get back +alive. And I doubt if you could reach the portal through +this heat. You'd scorch to death." + +"I shall reach the portal," Brinnaria declared, firmly. "But +I'm not coming back through it. Listen to me and don't +forget. I'm going to make a dash for the portal. I can reach it, +our Temple has not caught yet, the bronze-tile roof will hold +the fire off the beams some time. This end of the Temple of +Augustus has not blazed yet; I can see the cornice. + + "Once inside the Atrium I'll not try to come back this way, +I'll find the Palladium or make sure it is not there; then I'll +run upstairs to the south-east corner. Those rooms are on +a level with the pavement of the New Street." + +"But," Almo interrupted, "there isn't an opening towards +the New Street. The outer wall of the Atrium towards the +Palace is all blank wall to the cornice, not even a +ventilation hole anywhere." + +"I know," she rebuked him; "keep still and listen. I'll run +into the third room from the corner. All that end of the +Atrium is of brick and cement, not a beam anywhere and the +ceilings are vaulted; the fire will be a long time reaching me +there. You go up Pearl Dealers' Lane to the corner of the +New Street. From the corner measure thirty-eight feet along +the New Street. At that point have a hole smashed through +the wall. There are hordes of firemen about with their axes, +sledge-hammers and pick-axes. They'll hack a hole through +for you in no time. The wall is thin there; we had a temporary +door made there three years ago for the plumbers when they +were putting in the new bath-rooms. + + "Now, every moment is precious. Hold my hand and help +me to make my dash for the portal, but drop my hand and +turn back at the portal; no man may enter the Atrium, +except a Pontiff or a workman. When I squeeze your fingers, +drop my hand and make your dash back. + + "Don't try to check me, husband; self last and patriotism +first, for every Roman of us all. We have waited thirty +years for each other and we've hardly had time for three +kisses yet. But if we must lose each other to save Rome, +then we must. + + "If I fail, good-bye!" Then she turned and called the +trembling slaves to come nearer. + + She ordered: + + "Dash that water over us, one over him, one over me. +Don't waste any, pour it on our heads. Now go where you please!" + +Dripping, hand in hand, they ran over the cinder-strewn +pavement, under the rain of blazing fragments, up the +Sacred Street, between the furnace-hot walls. + + Under the long arcade they were safe. + + At its further end she had to face a dash of some ten yards +through the blazing brands, the very air seeming on fire. + + "I'm afraid I" she cried. "Be brave, Almo, and give me +courage!" Her fingers pressed his, their hands parted. + + Her hands over her face she dashed forward. + + He saw her vanish through the portal. + + He ran back. + + Inside the Atrium Brinnaria turned to her right, passed +through a small door, traversed four dark rooms and groped, +kneeling on the floor. + + Her fingers found five earthenware caskets in a row. + + Swiftly she felt them. + + The third she opened. + + Carefully she fingered the statuette inside, running the tips +of her finger-ends along the carved folds of the gown, over +the helmet, over the fingers clasping the spear. + + With the statuette in her hands she stood up. Tearing off her +veil she wrapped the statuette in it. + + Back she went to the peristyle, and ran round it to her right. +Under the roof of the colonnade she was safe from the rain +of brands, but even in there the heat was appalling. She felt +as if the very marble columns must crumble beside her as she ran. + + At the far corner of the courtyard she dashed through a door +and ran up two flights of stairs; a short flight in front of her, +and a longer flight to her left from the landing of the first. +At the top of the stairs she passed through four rooms. In +the fifth, lighted from behind her through a door by an orange +glow from the glare of the conflagration, she sank down on +the floor against its farther wall. + + Almost at once she was on her feet, recoiling from the wall. +It quivered with the shock of blows from the outside. + + A shower of plaster and bits of brick stung her face and +spattered all over her. + + She saw the point of a pick-axe shine an instant in the +fire-glare. + + "I'm here," she called. "I'm safe. Take your time. It's not +hot in here yet." The excited blows thudded on the wall. +The sledges broke a hole as big as her head, four times as +big as her head. + + "Take your time!" she repeated. "There is no hurry now." +Soon she could see the torches outside, the faces of the +firemen, Almo's face. + + "No!" she said, "I won't be dragged through a crevice. +There is plenty of time. Dig that hole bigger!" When it was +large enough to suit her she bade her rescuers back away. + + "No man must touch what I carry," she warned. + + Outside, in Almo's arms, she was hurried through winding +alleys, up narrow stone stairways, to the Palace. + + At the end of a deep, dark passageway between high walls +Lutorius, with some of the Emperor's aides, was waiting +for them at a small door. He guided them to where they +were eagerly expected. As they threaded the corridors, +they heard, at first far off, then closer and closer, the +sound of a child wailing, bawling, blubbering. Even in +the Palace, Campia was an irrepressible cry-baby. + + In the chapel of the Statue of Victory they found the +Vestals, the Empress and the Emperor. + + "I've got it safe," Brinnaria proclaimed. + + "I'm a frightful-looking bride," she added, "wet as a +drowned pup, scorched all over, all my hair burnt off; +I must look a guy." + +"Never mind that," said Commodus; "you can't get home +to-night, the conflagration is still spreading. I doubt if the +firemen can save the Colosseum. It would take you till daylight +to work your way round the districts which are in confusion. +You'll sleep here. I've had Trajan's own private suite made +ready for you two, as soon as the first messenger told me +of your gallantry. You'll find an army of maids and such +waiting for you. Go make yourselves comfortable. + + " The bedroom of Rome's greatest Emperor is none too +ood for you. Nothing is too good for you, Brinnaria. + + "You've saved the Palladium, and me, and the Empire +and the Republic and Rome." + + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE UNWILLING VESTAL *** + +This file should be named vesta10.txt or vesta10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, vesta11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, vesta10a.txt + +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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