ANDIVIUS HEDULIOAdventures of a Roman Nobleman in the Days of the Empire

BYEDWARD LUCAS WHITE

Mirum atque inscitum somniavi somnium. --PLAUTUS

[Illustration: THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN THE SECOND CENTURY A. D. To Show The Wanderings Of ANDIVIUS HEDULIO]

[Illustration: THE CITY OF ROME UNDER THE EMPIRE]

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSONWHO, IN READING FICTION, LOVED "THE OPEN ROAD AND THE BRIGHT EYES OFDANGER"

CONTENTS

BOOK I. DISASTER

HEDULIO'S PREFACE

CHAPTER

I. AN UNEXPECTED GUEST

II. A COUNTRY DINNER

III. TENANTRY AND SLAVERY

IV. HOROSCOPES AND MARVELS

V. ENCOUNTERS

VI. A RATHER BAD DAY

VII. A RATHER GOOD DAY

VIII. THE WATER GARDEN

IX. THE SQUALL OF THE LEOPARD

BOOK II. DISAPPEARANCE

X. ESCAPE

XI. HIDING

XII. SUCCOUR

XIII. THE LONELY HUT

XIV. WINTER IN THE MOUNTAINS

XV. THE HUNT

XVI. THE CAVE

XVII. THE FESTIVAL

XVIII. GALLOPING

XIX. MARSEILLES AND TIBER WHARF

XX. CHARIOTEERING

XXI. MISADVENTURES

BOOK III. DIVERSITIES

XXII. THE MUTINEERS

XXIII. THE EMPEROR

XXIV. THE MASSACRE

XXV. THE OPEN COUNTRY

XXVI. THE OUTLAWS

XXVII. THE POINT OF VIEW

XXVIII. MOONLIGHT

BOOK IV. DISSIMULATIONS

XXIX. FELIX

XXX. FESTUS

XXXI. RECOGNITION

XXXII. PHORBAS

XXXIII. IMPOSTURE

XXXIV. PALUS THE INCOMPARABLE

XXXV. MURMEX

XXXVI. ANXIETY

XXXVII. ACCUSATION

XXXVIII. TORTURE

XXXIX. THE TULLIANUM

XL. SEVERUS

EPILOGUE

NOTES

ANDIVIUS HEDULIO

HEDULIO'S PREFACE

(PRAEFATIO HEDULIONIS)

By no means absurd, it seems to me, but altogether reasonable, is theimpulse which urges me to write out a detailed narrative of my years ofadversity and of the vicissitudes which befell me during that wretchedperiod of my life. My adventures, in themselves, were worthy of record andmy memories of them and of the men and women encountered in them are clearand vivid. It is natural that I should wish to set them down for theedification of my posterity and of any who may chance to read them. 

For my experience has been, I believe, unique. Since the establishment ofthe Principate in our Republic many men, even an uncountable horde of men, have incurred Imperial displeasure. Of these not a few, after banishmentfrom Italy or relegation to guarded islands or to some distant frontieroutpost, have survived the Prince who exiled them and have, by the favorof his successors, been permitted to return to Rome and to the enjoymentof their property. But I believe that no Roman nobleman implicated, justlyor unjustly, in any conspiracy against the life of his Sovereign, everescaped the extreme penalty of death. Some, by their own hands, forestalled the arrival of the Imperial emissaries, others perished by theweapons or implements of those designated to abolish the enemies of thePrince. Except myself not one ever survived to regain Imperial favor in alater reign; except myself not one ever recovered his patrimony andenjoyed, to a green old age, the income, position and privileges to whichhe had been born. If such a thing ever occurred, certainly there is norecord of any other nobleman domiciled in Italy, except myself, havinggrasped at the slender chance of escape afforded by the device ofarranging that he be supposed dead, of disguising himself, of vanishingamong the populace, of passing himself off for a man of the people. I notonly was led, by my clever slave, to attempt this histrionic feat, but Isucceeded in the face of unimaginable difficulties. An experience sonotably without a parallel seems peculiarly deserving of such a record asfollows. 

BOOK I

DISASTER

CHAPTER I

AN UNEXPECTED GUEST

When I look back on the beginning of my adventures, I can set the very dayand hour when the tranquil course of my early life came to an end, whenthe comfortable commonplaces of my previous existence altered, when theplacid current of my former life broke suddenly and without warning intothe tumultuous rapids which hurried me from surprise to surprise and fromperil to peril. The last hour of my serene youth was about the ninth ofthe day, nearly midafternoon, on the Nones of June in the 937th year ofthe city, [Footnote: A. D. 184. See Note C. ] while Cossonius Marullus andPapirius Aelian were consuls, when Commodus had already been four yearsEmperor. 

It was not that misfortune then suddenly overwhelmed me, not that, sharpas a blown trumpet, I heard the voice of doom blare over me; not that, asone sees the upper rim of the sun vanish beneath the waves where theskyline meets the sea, and knows day ended and night begun, not thus thatI recognized the end of my prosperity and the beginning of my disasters. That moment came later, as I shall record. It was rather that; as, incertain states of the weather, long before sunset one may be suddenlyaware that afternoon is past and evening approaches; so, though I had nointimation at the moment, yet, reviewing my memories I realize that atthat instant began the chain of trivial circumstances which led up to mycalamity and enmeshed me in ruin. 

And just here I cannot but remark, what I have often meditated over, howtrifling, how apparently insignificant, are the circumstances whichdetermine the felicity or misery of human beings. I was possessed of anample estate; I was, in most difficult conditions, in unruffled amity withall my neighbors, on both sides of the great feud, except only myhereditary enemy; I was high in the favor of the Emperor; I was in a fairway to marry the youngest, the most lovely and the richest widow in Rome. In the twinkling of an eye I was cast down from the pinnacle of goodfortune into an abyss of adversity. And upon what did my catastrophehinge? Upon the whims of a friend and upon one oversight of my secretary. I should have had no story to tell, I should have been a man continuouslyhappy, affluent and at ease, early married and passing from one highoffice to the next higher in an uninterrupted progress of success, had itnot entered the head of my capricious crony to pay me an unexpected andunannounced visit, had he not arrived precisely at the time at which hecame, had he not encountered just the persons he met just where he didmeet them, had not his prankishness hatched in him the vagary which ledhim to give quizzical replies to their questions; had I not, carried awayby my elation at my prosperity and fine prospects, been a trifle tooindulgent to my tenantry. 

Even after, as a result, the nexus of circumstances had been woven aboutme and after I found myself embroiled with both my powerful neighbors, Ishould have escaped any evil consequences had not my secretary, than whomno man ever was more loyal to his master or more wary and inclusive in hisforesight upon every conceivable eventuality, failed to forecast thepossible effects of a minor omission. 

When my story begins I had already had one small adventure, nothing muchout of the ordinary. Agathemer and I were returning from my finalinspection of my estate. As we rode past one of the farmsteads we heardcries for help. Reining up and turning into the barn-yard, we found thetenant himself being attacked by his bull. I dismounted and diverted theanimal's attention. After the beast was securely penned up I was ridinghomewards more than a little tired, rumpled and heated and very eager fora bath. 

As we approached my villa we saw a runner coming up the road, a big Nubianin a fantastic livery which when he reached us turned out to be entirelyunknown to me. My grooms were just taking our horses. The grinning black, not a bit out of breath after his long run, saluted and addressed me. 

"My master has sent me ahead to say he is coming to visit you. "

"Who is your master?" I asked. 

"My master, " he said, still grinning goodnaturedly, "enjoined me not totell you who he is. "

I turned to Agathemer. 

"What do you make of this?" I asked. 

"There is but one man in Italy, " he replied, "who is likely to send yousuch a message, and his name is on the tip of your tongue. "

"And on the tip of yours, I'll wager, " said I. "Both together now!"

I raised my finger and counted. 

"One! Two! Three!"

Both together we uttered:

"Opsitius Tanno!"

There was no variation in the Nubian's non-committal grin. We went up thesteps and stood by the balustrade of the terrace, where it commanded agood view of the valley. We could see a party approaching, a mountedintendant in advance, a litter, extra bearers and runners and severalbaggage mules. 

"Nobody but Tanno would send me such a message, " I said to Agathemer. 

"No one else, " he agreed, "but I should be no more surprised to see theEmperor himself in this part of the world. "

"One of his wild whims, " I conjectured. "Nothing else would tear him awayfrom the city. "

I meditated. 

"Our arrangements for dinner, " I continued, "fall in very well with hiscoming. I suppose the guest-rooms are all ready, but you had best go seeto that, and meanwhile turn this fellow over to Ofatulenus. "

Agathemer nodded. The pleasantest of his many good qualities was thatwhatever he might be asked to do he carried out without comment orobjection. Nothing was too big or too small for him. If he were asked toarrange for an interview with the Emperor or to attend to the creasing ofa toga he was equally painstaking and obliging. He went off, followed bythe negro. I waited on the terrace for Tanno. There was no use attemptingto bathe until after his arrival. Presently a cheerful halloo from thelitter reached my ears. It was Tanno to a certainty. Nobody else of myacquaintance had voice enough to make himself heard at that distance orwas sufficiently lacking in dignity to emit a yawp in that fashion. Whenhis escort came near enough I could see that all his bearers wore the samelivery as his runner. Tanno was forever changing his liveries and eachfresh invention he managed to make more fantastic than the last. Therewere eight bearers to the litter and some twenty reliefs. Travelling longdistances by litter, begun as a necessity to such invalids as my uncle, had become a fashion through the extreme coxcombery of wealthy fops andthe practice of the young Emperor. Tanno's litter had all its panels slidback, and the curtains were not drawn. He was sitting almost erect, propped up by countless down cushions. He greeted me with many waves ofthe hand and a smile as genial as his halloo. I went down a little fromthe terrace to meet him and walked a few paces beside the litter. Herolled out and embraced me cordially, appearing as glad to see me as I wasdelighted to see him. 

"I do not know, " I said, "whether I am more surprised or pleased to seeyou. To what do I owe my good fortune?"

"We simply cannot get on without you, " he answered, "and I am going totake you back to Rome with me. How soon can you start?"

"You came at the nick of time, " said I, "I had expected to go down threedays from now, but I found out this afternoon that I can get away tomorrowmorning. "

"Praise be to Hercules and all the gods, " said Tanno. "I love the countryfrantically, especially when I am in the city. I love it so that threedays on the road is enough country for me. I have been bored to death anddo so want a bath. "

"The bath is all hot and ready, " said I, "and the slaves waiting. But I amgiving a dinner this evening and nearly all my neighbors are coming. Thediners are almost due to arrive, I need a bath and want one, but I meantto wait for my guests. "

"Well, " he said, "you have one guest here already and that's enough. Let'sbathe once, at once, and you can bathe again when your Sabine clodhoppersget here. Life is too short for a man to get enough baths, anyhow. Two aday is never enough for me. A pretext for two in an afternoon is alwayswelcome. Come on, let's bathe quick, so as to have it over with before thefirst of the other guests arrives, then we can get a breath of fresh airand be as keen for the second bath as for the first. "

Conversation with Tanno consisted mostly in listening and interjectingquestions. He wallowed in the cold tank like a porpoise; caught me andducked me until I yelled for mercy, and while I was trying to get mybreath, half drowned me with the water he splashed over me with bothhands; talking incessantly, except when his head was under water. When welay down on the divan in the warm room he rattled on. 

"You needn't tell me, " he said, "that your runners haven't taken lettersto Vedia, but she is supposed not to hear from you, so, as I told of twoof your letters to me, I have, in a way been held responsible for you andhave been pelted with inquiries. Nemestronia loves you like a grandson, and, if you ask me, I say Vedia is in love with you out and out. As I hadheard from you and nobody else had, I began to feel as if I ought to lookafter you. Everything was abominably humdrum and I deceived myself intothinking I should enjoy the smell of green fields. I certainly should haveturned back less than half way if I had been concerned with anybody elsethan you; and when we turned off the Via Salaria into your country byroadI cursed you and your neighbors and all Sabinum. The most deserted stretchof road I ever travelled in all my life. I saw only six human beingsbefore I reached your villa and I had heard that this valley was populousand busy. I slept last night at Vicus Novus and I started this morning, bright and early. When we turned up the road below Villa Satronia I wasnever more disgusted in my life. My men are perfectly matched in height, weight, pace and action and any eight of the lot will carry me at fullspeed as smoothly as a pleasure-barge. But they could make nothing of thatroad. It is all washed, guttered, dusty in the open places, puddly wheretrees hang over it and full of loose stones on top everywhere. 

"I was so horribly jolted that I called the bearers to stop. I madeDromanus get off his horse and give me his poncho and his big felt hat. Then I got on his horse and told him to get into the litter. He wasembarrassed. 

"'Pooh', said I, 'you cannot walk and we should look like fools with anempty litter. Get in and be jounced! Draw the curtains; if we meet anybodyI'll give you an impressive title. ' He rolled in among the cushions, looking as foolish as possible. His horse ambled perfectly and I felt morecomfortable. I went on ahead. We had not met anybody since we turned intothe crossroads; about half a mile beyond the place where I had left mylitter I came around one of the innumerable curves a little ahead of theprocession and saw two men approaching on foot. When they came abreast ofme they saluted me politely and the taller, a black-haired, dark-facedfellow with a broad jaw, inquired (in the tone he would have used toDromanus) whose litter I was escorting. I was rather tickled that theytook me for my own intendant. I judged we must be approaching the entranceto Villa Satronia and that they were people from there. I assumed anexaggerated imitation of Dromanus' most grandiloquent manner and in hisorotund unctuous delivery I declaimed:

"'My master is Numerius Vedius Vindex. He is asleep. ' (They swallowed thatawful lie, they did not realize how bad their own road was. ) 'We are onour way to Villa Vedia. '

"They looked sour enough at that, I promise you, and I made out that theywere Satronians for certain. The two fellows exchanged a glance, thankedme politely and went on. 

"I knew the entrance to the Satronian estate by the six big chestnut-trees, you had often described them to me; and I knew the next privateroad by the single huge plane tree. But when we crossed the second bridge, the little one, I went over that round hill and did not recognize the footof your road when we came to it. I was for going on. Dromanus called frombehind the curtains of the litter:

"'This is Hedulio's road: turn to the right. '

"I was stubborn and sang back at him:

"'Hedulio has told me all about this country. This is not his land. It isfurther on at the next brook. '

"We went on over the next bridge past the entrance to the south, and Ifelt more and more that Dromanus was right and I was wrong, and yet I grewmore and more stubborn. When we passed the sixth bridge and I saw thestream getting bigger and turning to the left, I knew I was wrong. At thecrossroads I realized we were at the entrance to Villa Vedia, but I wouldnot give up, I took the left-hand turn and went down stream. Beyond thefirst bend in the road we found ourselves approaching a long, straggling, one-street village of tall, narrow stone houses along the eastern bank ofthe little river. By the road, just before the first house, watching fivegoats, was a boy, a boy with a crooked twitching face. 

"'The village idiot, ' I put in. 'They can never let him out of sight andhe is always beside the road. '

"He was not too big an idiot to tell us it was Vediamnum. "

"He was enough of an idiot, " I said, "to forget you, and your question thenext minute. The boy is almost a beast. "

"He had enough sense to tell us the name of the village, " Tanno retorted, "and I had to acknowledge to Dromanus he was right, and so we turnedround. When we were hardly more than out of sight of Vediamnum we metanother party, a respectable-looking man, much like a farm bailiff, onhorseback, and two slaves afoot. I had not seen them before, and they, apparently, had not previously seen us. The rider asked, very decently, whose was the party. I treated them as I had the others. 

"'My master is asleep, ' I said again. (It was not such an improbable liethat time, for the road by Vediamnum is pretty good. ) 'I have the honor toescort Mamercus Satronius Sabinus. '

"I had guessed that they were Vedians and I was sure of it when I saidthat. The slaves scowled and the bailiff saluted very stiffly. 

"Just after we turned into your road, I stopped the escort and toldDromanus to take his horse. He had relieved me of his hat and poncho and Ihad one hand on the litter, ready to climb in, when I heard hoofs behindus on the road. I looked back. There was a rider on a beautiful bay marecoming up at a smartish lope. Just as he came abreast of us she shied atthe litter and reared and began to prance about. I give you my word Inever had such a fright in my life. If you can imagine Commodus in an oldweather-beaten, broad-brimmed hat of soft, undyed felt and a mean, cheap, shaggy poncho of undyed wool, and worse than the hat, that was the man onthe mare. He was left-handed, too. "

"How did you know that?" I asked. 

"By the way he handled his reins, of course, " said Tanno. 

"The mare was a magnificent beast, vicious as a fury, with a mouth as hardas an eighty-pound tunny. He sat her like Castor himself. She pirouettedback and forth across the road and my fellows scampered from under herhoofs. The mare was such a beauty I could not take my eyes off her. "

"Yes, " I put in, "Ducconius has a splendid stud. "

"Was he Ducconius?" Tanno exclaimed. "Your adversary in your old law-suit?"

"His son Marcus, from your description, " I amplified. "He is proprietor ofthe property now. His father died last year. "

"Well, " Tanno went on. "You know that look Commodus has, like a healthy, well-fed country proprietor with no education, no ideas and no thoughtsbeyond crops and deer-hunting and boar-hunting, with a vacuous, unintelligent stare? Well, that was just the way he looked. "

"That is the way young Ducconius looks, " I rejoined. "He ought to. Youhave described exactly what he is. "

"Does he know he looks like the Emperor?" Tanno asked, "and how does ithappen?"

"Pure coincidence, " said I. "The family have been reared in these hillsfor generations, none of them ever went to Rome. Reate is the end of theworld for them. "

"Well, " Tanno commented, "he might be Commodus' twin brother, by hislooks. He'll be a head shorter, in a hurry, if Commodus ever hears of him. He is the duplicate of him. I stood in the road, staring after him, andforgot to climb into the litter. When I woke up and climbed in, my ladsswung up your road at a great pace, and here I am. If I had had any senseI'd have been here not much after noon. As it is I have wasted most of theday. "

When we went into the hot room, I asked him, "Where did you get your new bearers? They look to me like Nemestronia's. What have you done with your Saxons?"

"Nemestronia has them, " he explained, "and my Nubians were hers. The dearold lady took a fancy to my Saxons and teased and wheedled until I agreedto exchange. Nobody ever can refuse anything to Nemestronia. I argued agood deal. I told her that even if she is the youngest-looking old lady inRome it would never do in the world to set herself in contrast to suchblue eyes and pink skins and such yellow hair: that Nubians were much moreappropriate and that nothing could be more trying than Saxons, even for abride. She told me I mustn't make fun of her old age and decrepitude. Shesaid that the Saxons had such cheerful, bright faces and looked suchinfantile giants that she really must have them. So I let her have herway. The Nubians stand the heat better and the Saxons were almost tooshowy. "

Even while the attendant was thumping and kneading him on the slab, Tannowent on talking a cheerful monologue of frothy gossip. I asked him aboutthe Emperor. 

"As fretful as possible, " he said. "The trouble with Commodus is that heis growing tired of exhibiting himself as an athlete to invited audiencesin the Palace. He is perfectly frantic to show himself off in the Circusor in the Amphitheatre. He oscillates between the determination todisregard convention and to do as he likes and virtuous resolutions, whenhe has been given a good talking-to by his old councillors and has made uphis mind to behave properly. He will break out yet into public exhibitionsof himself. He is really pathetically unhappy over his hard lot andpositively wails about the amount of his time which is taken up with Statebusiness and about the pitifully small opportunity he has for training andexercise. "

My bath was broken off, sooner than I had intended, by the appearance ofone of the kitchen-boys, who asked for me so tragically and so urgentlyand was so positive that no one else would suffice, that I went down intothe kitchen in a towering rage at being interrupted and wondering why onearth I could be needed. I found Ofatulena, wife of the Villa-farmbailiff, in violent altercation with my head-cook. He asserted that shehad no business in his kitchen and must get out. Her contention was thatshe, as bailiff's wife, was above all slaves whatever, that she knew herplace and that when a distinguished stranger visited the Villa she wouldshow him what old-fashioned Sabine cooking was like, so she would. Thecook had had, through Agathemer, my directions for a formal dinner and hedeclared that one more guest made no difference and that his dinner wasgood enough for anybody. I compromised by telling him to continue as hehad planned, but to allow Ofatulena to prepare one dish for each courseand to add to each one of her own. I was rather pleased at her intrusion, for there was no better cook in Sabinum, and anything old-fashioned wassure to be a novelty to Tanno. 

I found Tanno on the terrace, basking comfortably in the late sunshine andgazing down the valley. 

"What is that big hill away off to the East?" he asked. 

"That is on the Aemilian property, " I answered. "Villa Aemilia has adirect outlet to the Via Valeria and the Aemilian Estate does not belongto this neighborhood at all. It runs back to the Tolenus and mostly drainsand slopes that way. Huge as the Vedian estates are, and though theSatronian estates are still huger, yet the Aemilian estates are so vastthat they are larger than both the Vedian and Satronian lands together. The Aemilian land has much woodland along its western borders and blanketsand almost encloses the Vedian and Satronian estates and all of us inbetween. The road you came up is a sort of detour east of the Salarianway. The Satronians and Vedians and we in between all use it, turning tothe right towards Reate and to the left towards Rome. "

Tanno blinked at the soft, hazy view and swept his arm southward. 

"That is all Satronian over there?" he asked. 

"All, " I said, "as far as the Aemilian domain. "

"Which way, " he queried, "is Villa Vedia?"

"To see it from here, " I said, "you would have to look straight throughthis house and half a dozen hills. It is almost due north. "

"Vedians to the northward, " he continued, "Satronians to the southward, and just you and Ducconius sandwiched in between, clapper-clawing eachother. "

"No, quite otherwise!" I retorted. "My property does not touch Vedian orSatronian land anywhere, and Ducconius has barely half a mile of boundaryline along the Satronian domain. There are six other estates, the largesthalf as big as mine, the smallest not much bigger than the largest of mytenant-farms; three are on one side of me and three on the other. You willmeet the proprietors at dinner, as I told you. They should be here now. "

"Goggling country bumpkins?" he conjectured. 

"Not a bit like that, " I countered, "though you would scarcely call themcultured. There is no art connoisseur among them. They care little forbooks, but they are educated gentlemen and can talk of other subjectsbesides vine-growing and cattle breeding. They have all been to Rome, theDucconians are the only stay-at-home, stick-in-the-mud family in thisvalley. You will find all your fellow-diners keenly interested in anythingyou can tell them about the latest fashions and the latest gossip fromRome. They think and talk of the doings of Rome's fast set much more thanyou do. "

"They have nothing to do with the feud?" he queried. 

"Three of them, " I explained, "are on the Vedian side, three on theSatronian side, though they are always polite to each other. But it is afrigid politeness and I was anticipating the dinner tonight as a frightfultrial. I fancy your presence will ensure its passing off comfortably. Entedius Hirnio will be here, too. His estates are beyond Vediamnum and hehas never taken sides in the feud any more than Ducconius or my family. "

"Do you ever see Ducconius?" he asked. 

"Oh, never, " said I, "we take care never to recognize each other, Iassure you. We cannot help meeting occasionally, but I never see him andhe never sees me. We meet mostly on the road. The lower part of thisvalley-road where he overtook you is as much his right-of-way as mine, upto where the road forks and is crossed by the Bran Brook. You can see thebridge from here. "

Tanno shaded his eyes with his hand. 

"That is all his land over there, on the other side of the Bran Brook, " Icontinued. "Further up the valley the brook has three feeders. The Flourrises back of my land on the Vedian estate. The Chaff brook is all mineand the Bran rises in his woodlands. "

"Will he appeal the case or reopen it now your uncle is dead?" Tannoqueried. 

"There is no possibility of appeal, " I said, "or of reopening. The case isclosed and I have won it forever. And all thanks to Agathemer. But forAgathemer, Ducconius would have won the final hearing as he had won allthe intermediate appeals. His defeat after so many victories hasembittered him more than if we had won every time and he hates me worsethan ever. 

"The only unpleasant feature for me is that the tenant of the farm so longin dispute cannot be ousted. He was heart and soul with Ducconius allthrough the period of the suit. His daughter is married to one ofDucconius' tenants and his younger son has taken one of Ducconius' farmssince three of his tenant-families died off year before, last with theplague. This makes old Chryseros Philargyrus by no means a pleasant tenantfor me. "

"Old Love-Gold Love-Silver, " Tanno commented, "is that a nickname or is itreally his name?"

"Really his name, " I affirmed. "His mother was so extravagant and wastefulthat his father named him Chryseros Philargyrus as a sort of antidoteincantation, in the hope that it might prove a good omen of hisdisposition and predispose him to parsimony. He certainly has turned outsufficiently close-fisted to justify the choice. "

"I don't understand your talk about tenantry, " said Tanno. "Do you meanyou cannot change a bailiff on a farm which you have won incontestably onfinal appeal in a suit at law?"

"He is no bailiff, " I answered him. "He is a free man, just as much as youor I. Sabinum is not like Latium or Etruria or Campania, where the freetenantry has vanished, or like Bruttium or Spain, where there never wasany free tenantry. The free tenantry have survived in Sabinum morecompletely than in any part of the world. I have only one bailiff here andhe manages only the villa-farm with a very moderate gang of slaves underhim. I do not own any more slaves on my estate. The slaves on the farmsare all owned by my tenants and there are eight farms besides the villa-farm; counting Chryseros, there are nine tenant farmers. Each owns slavesenough to work his farms. All the estates about here are managed in thatway: Aemilian, Vedian, Satronian, Entedian and all the rest, big orlittle. We are rather proud of the system and very proud of our tenants. "

"It must be a fine system, " Tanno sneered. "I have been wondering whatkept you away from Rome. I suppose it has been the beautifully smooth andmarvellously easy working of your farm-tenant system. "

"It works just as well as one slave-gang under one bailiff, if notbetter, " I retorted, hotly. 

"Oh, yes, " Tanno drawled, "it works just as well as one slave-gang underone bailiff. That is why you have not had to inspect your estates inBruttium, why you have not visited Bruttium at all, why you have not somuch as thought of visiting Bruttium, whereas you have had to spend morethan two months here in these fascinating wilds. You can trust yourtenantry so completely that you only have to spend two months making surethey are not idling or cheating you: you can trust your Bruttian bailiffso poorly that you let him alone absolutely. "

I was more than a little nettled by his ironical mood. 

"I spent three months of the year out of the past four years in Bruttium, "I argued. "I know every inch of the ranches perfectly. My uncle neverallowed me to become acquainted with anything up here. I was hisrepresentative and factor in Bruttium. When I visited him here I was nomore than a guest and I have had to learn all the workings of the estatefrom the beginning. "

"Nonsense!" Tanno rejoined. "You know each when you see it. If the tenantspay their rent on time, what do you need to know about how they run theirfarms?"

"They pay cash and on time, " I explained, "but the cash represents halfthe yield and each manages the sale of his own produce. It is necessaryfor the proprietor to understand the capacities of each farm. "

"And you are proud of a tenantry, " he sneered, "so honest that you cannottrust them not to swindle you out of your just dues and on whom you haveto spy all the time to get what you should get from them. "

"You do not understand, " I declared. 

"Right you are, " said Tanno. "I do not and I do not want to. "

"Just wait a moment and do not interrupt, " I urged. "You do notunderstand, there is no use in being a proprietor if you do not know morethan your tenantry. There are a thousand, there are ten thousand detailsin which the management of the farms may be made more profitable or lessprofitable, and all these details have to be watched and must be well inthe proprietor's mind. "

"Could you not get some kind of overseeing general estate bailiff to doall that for you?" he suggested. 

"I can, " I said, "and I'm going to get one. My uncle's overseer died ofthe plague and my uncle was too old and too set in his ways to getanother, so he acted as his own overseer for the last four years of hislife. I must know of my own knowledge just how the place ought to bemanaged or I can never detect and forestall unnecessary and ruinousfriction and trouble between my tenantry and any new superintendingoverseer. "

"I do not know, " Tanno ruminated, "which to admire more, the beauties ofthe Sabine tenant system or the wonders of the Sabine character. Any otherman I know would have stayed in Rome and attended strictly to hiscourtship and let his estates take care of themselves. You are supposed tobe violently in love and you certainly behave like it: yet you leave Romeand Vedia and shut yourself up among these damp cold hills and inspect andreinspect and make a final inspection, and delay for one last peep andlinger for one final glance, where any other man would ignore the propertyand be with the widow. "

"I do not see anything extraordinary about it, " I disclaimed. "A man needsan income, a lover most of all. "

"Income!" he snorted. "Isn't your income from your Bruttian estates tentimes the gross return from the property?"

"More than ten times, " I admitted. 

"Why worry about it at all then?" he demanded. "Isn't your Bruttian incomeenough?"

"No income is enough, " I declared, "if a man has a chance to get in more. "

"Of course, " he beamed, "you do not see anything extraordinary in yourpetting this property. A Sabine would use up a year to get in a sestercefrom a frog pond. You are a Sabine. All Sabines worship the AlmightySesterce. But to anybody not a Sabine it is amazing to see a loverpostponing prayers to Lord Cupid until he has finished the last detail ofhis ceremonial duties to Chief Cash, Greatest and Best. "

CHAPTER II

A COUNTRY DINNER

Just then Tanno caught sight of a horseman approaching up the valley. Ilooked where he pointed. 

"That will be Entedius Hirnio, " I said. "Of my dinner guests he livesfurthest away and so he always comes in first to any festivity. "

"How far beyond Vediamnum does he live?" Tanno enquired. 

"On the other side of the Vedian lands, " I explained. "His property isover the divide towards the Tolenus, in between Villa Vedia and VillaAemilia. "

Entedius it was, as I made sure, when he drew nearer, by his magnificentblack mare. He covered the last hundred paces at a furious gallop, pulledup his snorting mare abruptly, and dismounted jauntily. Plainly, at firstsight, he and Tanno liked each other. When I had introduced them theylooked each other up and down appraisingly, Entedius appearing to relishTanno's swarthy vigor, warm coloring and exuberant health as much as didTanno his hard-muscled leanness and weather-beaten complexion. 

"Are you any relation to Entedia Jucunda?" Tanno queried. 

"Very distant, " Hirnio replied, "very distant indeed: too far for us tocall each other 'cousin. ' When I am in Rome I always call on her; once ina while she invites me to one of her very big dinners; otherwise we neversee each other. "

Almost before they had exchanged greetings Mallius Vulso rounded the housefrom the east and then Neponius Pomplio from the west; after he had beenpresented, the two other Satronians, Bultius Seclator and Juventius Muso, cantered up, followed closely by Fisevius Rusco and Lisius Naepor, bothadherents of the Vedian side of the feud. 

As soon as the stable-boys had led off their horses we started bathwards, delayed a moment by the arrival of a slave of Entedius, on a mule, leadinganother heavily laden with two packs. We made a quick bath, with noloitering, and at once went in to dinner. My uncle had been to the lastdegree conservative and old-fashioned. He would have nothing to do withany new inventions, save his own. So he would not hear of any alterationsin the furnishings of his villa, except those suggested by his ideas ofsanitation. Otherwise it had been kept just as my grandfather had left itto him. In particular uncle could not be brought to like the newly popularC-shaped dining sofas, which all Rome and all fashionables all over Italyand the provinces had so acclaimed and so promptly adopted along withcircular-topped dining-tables. My _triclinium_ still held grandfather'ssquare-topped table and the three square sofas about it. Uncle's will, infact, had stipulated that no furnishings of the villa must be alteredwithin five years of the date of his death. As I had to adjust my formaldinners to the old style, I was not only delighted to have Tanno with usfor himself and for his jollity, but also because he just made up the ninediners demanded by ancient convention. 

Agathemer had asked me, as a special favor, to leave the decoration of the_triclinium_ entirely to him, and I had agreed, when he fairly begged me, not to enter the _triclinium_ or even pass its door, after my noondaysiesta. When I did enter it with my guests I was dazzled. The sun had justset and the northwestern sky was all a blaze of golden brightness, streaked with long pink and rosy streamers of cloud, from which theevening light, neither glaring nor dim, flooded through the bignorthwestern windows. The spacious room was a bower of bloom. Greatarmfuls of flowers hid the capitals of the pilasters, others their bases;garlands--heavy, even corpulent garlands--were looped from pilaster topilaster; every vase was filled with flowers, the little vases on thebrackets, the big ones alternating with the statues in the niches, thehuge floor-vases in the corners: the table, the sofas, the floor, all werestrewn with smaller blossoms, tiny flowers or fresh petals of roses. Thegarlands for our heads, which were offered us heaped on a tray, were tothe last degree exquisite. I adjusted mine as if in a dream. I was dazed. I knew that the flowers could not have been supplied by our gardens; Icould not conjecture whence they came. 

Agathemer, bowing and grinning, stood in the inner doorway. My eyesquestioned his. 

"I have a note here, " he said, "which I was enjoined not to hand you untilyou had lain down to dinner. "

The two second assistant waiter boys took our shoes and we disposedourselves on the sofas, Tanno in the place of honor, I rejoicing againthat his presence had solved, acceptably to all the rest, the otherwiseinsoluble problem of to whom I should accord that location. 

Agathemer handed me the note. At sight of it I recognized the handwritingof Vedius Caspo. Of course, like my uncle before me, I always invited toany of my formal entertainments all my neighbors except Ducconius Furfur, our enemy, and the only neighbor with whom we were not on good terms. Equally, of course, Vedius Caspo at Villa Vedia and Satronius Dromo atVilla Satronia, regularly found some transparent pretext for declining myinvitation, each fearing that, if he accepted, the other might by someprank of the gods of chance accept also, and they might encounter eachother. 

The thread was too strong for me to break. I tore it out of the seal, and, asking my guests' indulgence, I opened the note. It read:

 "Vedius Caspo to his good friend Andivius Hedulio. If you are well I am well also. I was writing at Villa Vedia on the day before the Nones of June. I had written you some days before and explained my inability to avail myself of your kind invitation to dinner on the Nones. I purposed sending you, with this, what flowers my gardens afford towards decorating your _triclinium_ for your feast. I beg that you accept these as a token of my good will. When you reach Rome I beg that, at your leisure and convenience, you transmit my best wishes to my kinswoman, Vedia Venusta. 

 "Farewell. "

This note staggered me more than the sight of the flowers. It was amazingthat Vedius should have taken the trouble to be so gracious to me; thathe should go out of his way to write me the vague and veiled, butunequivocal intimation of his approval of my suit for Vedia implied in thelast sentences of his letter was astounding. Vedia had a very largeproperty inherited from her father, from two aunts and from others of theVedian clan. The whole clan was certain to be very jealous of her choiceof a second husband. I had anticipated their united opposition to my suit. To be assured of his approbation by the beloved brother of the head of theclan made me certain that I should meet with no opposition at all. 

My delight must have irradiated my face. Tanno, the irresistible, at onceurged me to read the note aloud, saying:

"Don't be a hog. Don't keep all those good things to yourself. Let us havea share of the tid-bits. Read it out to all of us. "

I yielded. 

Of course the three Satronians looked sour. But Tanno knew how to smoothout any embarrassing situation. He beamed at me and fairly bubbled withglee. 

"I bet on you, " he said. "The widow will be yours at this rate. But don'tshow her that note till you two are married. "

Before anybody else could speak he went on:

"I'm famished. So are we all. Flowers are fine to look at and to smell, but give me food. Let's get at our dinner. "

We did. We fell upon the relishes, disposing of them with hardly theinterchange of a word. 

When the boys cleared the table I observed with some pride that Tanno eyedwith an expression of approval the table cloth and the big silver traywhich they set on it, laden with the second course. 

"You are, " he said, "pretty well equipped for house-keeping in theseremote wilds, Caius. Your table-cloth is far above the average for towntables and your tray is magnificent. "

That started a round of talk on city usages, town etiquette and courtgossip. Tanno, very naturally, did much of the talking, the rest mostlyquestioning and listening. He spoke at length of the Emperor, but ofcourse more guardedly than while talking to me alone. 

When the tray with the first course was removed and while that with thesecond course was being brought in the talk ebbed. Tanno gave it a turn, which at first seemed likely to prove unfortunate, by saying:

"Now I've told you the latest news from Rome and the current gossip andthe popular fads. Turn about is fair play. It is time for some of you totell me what just now most interests this country-side. My idea of countrylife is that it is about as exciting as the winter sleep of a dormouse orof a hibernating bear; but for all I know, it may be as lively in its wayas life in town; you may be agog over some occurrence as important to youas a change of Palace Prefects would be at Rome. Speak out somebody, ifthere is anything worth telling. "

"Whether it be worth telling I do not know, " spoke up Bultius Seclator, "but the country-side hereabouts is agog just now over a recent case ofabduction. "

(I shuddered: here was the feud to the fore in spite of everything. And Ishuddered yet more as I saw set and harden the features of Vulso, Ruscoand Naepor. )

"To make clear to you, " he went on, "I'll have to explain thecircumstances. You undoubtedly know both Satronius Dromo of this valleyand his father, Satronius Satro, at Rome. Satro's father, old SatroniusSatronianus, among the horde of slaves set free by his will, liberated anumber of artisans of various kinds, who, scattered about among theneighboring towns and villages, had lived like free men, in dwellingsbelonging to him or in rented abodes, plying their trades and returning totheir master a better income than he could have derived from theiractivities in any other way, since one of his assistant overseers saw toit that they paid in, unfailingly and promptly, the stipulated percentageof their gains. Among these was a cobbler named Turpio, at Trebula. He wasso expert, so deft, so quick and so ingratiating to customers, that theoverseer insisted on his paying a percentage of his earnings larger thanthat paid by any other similar slave. Now cobbling, at the best of it, isnot an occupation at which one would fancy that anyone would becomewealthy. Yet Turpio grew to be very well off. He early amassed savingsenough to pay for his own freedom, but his master would not agree to that, so Turpio bought the house in which he lived and his workshop. In thecourse of time he accumulated possessions of no mean value and ownedseveral slaves, whom he employed as assistant cobblers. By his master'swill all that he had amassed became his property, of course, when he wasfreed. He was, as he is, very popular in Trebula and among all thecountry-folk round about who visit Trebula. He is esteemed by all who knowhim and by all Satronians of every degree. 

"Now Turpio, some years ago, partly on account of his kind-heartedness, partly since he could never resist a bargain and he got her for almostnothing, partly, perhaps because of his canny foresight, bought awretched, puny, sickly, little runt of a four-year-old slave-girl, a mererack of bones covered with yellow skin. She continued sickly for someyears, then, when she was more than half grown, the fresh air of Trebula, its good water, the kindness with which she was treated, the generous fareaccorded her, all working together, suddenly began to show results. Sheplumped out, grew tall, vigorous, active, graceful and charming. She alsoacquired notable skill at weaving. His intimates congratulated Turpio onhis luck or prescience and foretold for him notable profits from her sale. Turpio averred that he and his spouse were so fond of the girl that he wasunwilling to part with her except to a master or mistress whom she took toand who seemed likely to be kind to her. He refused several handsomeoffers for her. She became notable in Trebula as its most beautifulinhabitant and all who knew her wished her well. 

"Not long ago, Vedius Molo of Concordia, not a bad specimen of a noblelad, I will say, came to Villa Vedia. He roamed about the country as ayoung nobleman will. By some chance he caught sight of Xantha, for that isher name, and, of course, like many another, fell in love with her. Hepromptly offered to buy her. But Xantha did not like him at all andTurpio, as always, consulted her before deciding to sell her. Oppositioninflamed Molo and he bid Turpio up till his business instincts all butovercame his doting affection for Xantha. But Xantha liked Molo less andless the more she saw of him. She begged Turpio not to sell her to Molo. He was obdurate, although Molo bid on up till he was offering a reallyfabulous price, though one well within his means. He could not credit thatTurpio would not yield. When he was convinced that he could not wheedlehim he lost his temper. Turpio told him that the negotiations were at anend and warned him not to return. Molo went off in a rage. 

"Two nights later Turpio's house was broken into by a considerable body ofmen, armed, certainly with clubs or staffs. Turpio and his householddefended themselves vigorously and were all severely mishandled in theaffray, Turpio most severely of all. They were overcome, even overwhelmed, and, before their neighbors could come to their assistance or the townsmenin general rally to help, Xantha was carried off by the intruders, who, beating the night watchman insensible, escaped through the postern of thenorth gate. 

"This highhanded outrage has greatly incensed all Trebula and the entireneighborhood. The night was very dark, neither Turpio nor any of hishousehold nor yet the watchman at the postern claims to have recognizedany of the abductors. Yet all impute the outrage to Vedius Molo. Everymagistrate is alert to punish the delinquents and to return Xantha to hermaster. Yet she has totally vanished. After they passed the postern herabductors left no trace. Whether they had or had not with them a two-wheeled or a four-wheeled carriage or a litter or a sedan-chair cannot bedetermined; nor whether they were on foot or on horseback. The weather wasdry and windy and the rocky roads out of Trebula showed no tracks of anykind. The country has been scoured in every direction and all personsquestioned, not only at the change-stations on the main roads, and atcrossroads, but at all villages. Not a clue has been found; though allTurpio's friends more than suspect Vedius Molo, there is not an iota ofevidence on which anyone could base a demand for a warrant to search VillaVedia or any other specified villa, farmstead or other piece of property. Xantha has vanished. There are rumors that she is at Villa Vedia, but theyseem as baseless as the rumor of a party of horsemen conveying a closedlitter, which rumor has radiated from uncountable localities all abouthere, not one of which localities could, when their inhabitants werequestioned, substantiate the rumor in any way. Equally baseless appear thenumerous rumors that this or that individual has it on unimpeachableauthority that Xantha's abductors are camped somewhere in this or thatwoodland and are preparing to smuggle Xantha into Villa Vedia by thatroute which they deem least probable for such a venture and thereforeleast watched. With all this the country-side is agog, I can assure you. "

"Fairly exciting, I admit, " Tanno remarked when Bultius paused. "Soundslike the tales of goings-on in Latium in the days when the Aequi, Volsciand Hernici raided up to the gates of Rome four summers out of five. I hadnot thought Sabinum so primitive. "

Before I could speak, Fisevius Rusco cut in. 

"Bultius, " he said, "Vulso and Naepor and I have listened without anyinterruptions to your version of the occurrences you have narrated, and Imust say you have told them as fairly as could be expected from any onewith your leanings. I have no remarks to make on your story nor anythingto say in rebuttal. But it seems to me, it is now your turn, along withNepronius and Juventius, to listen with equal patience, while I narrate asimilar story. "

The three Satronians bowed stiffly and in silence. 

Rusco resumed, addressing Tanno:

"I shall not, " he said, "be compelled to go into details as minutely asdid Bultius. You can comprehend my story with less background. 

"At Reate, for some years past, there lived a worthy couple, freedman andfreedwoman of Vedius Vindex. The husband died more than a year ago, leaving a young and childless widow, named Greia Posis, possessed of agood town-house and of three small farms not far out in the country. Naturally as she was comely and well-off, Greia soon had suitors aplenty. For some time she showed no favor to any, but lately it has been plainthat she would marry either Helvidius Flaccus, a tenant-farmer holding hisland under one of the Vedian clan near Reate, or Annius Largus, similarlya tenant of one of the Satronian properties. Although Helvidius was onGreia's side of our local feud, while Annius was on the other, idlers atReate were laying wagers that Annius would win Greia, considering him mostin her favor. 

"Recently, however, Greia had some sort of a quarrel with Annius, andannounced her intention of marrying Helvidius. 

"You must understand that Greia has the best sort of reputation, isuniversally respected, and is greatly liked by all her neighbors andacquaintances and is popular in Reate. 

"Now, a day or two after the abduction which Bultius has narrated, Greiahad visited one of her farms and, towards dark, was returning home toReate in a two-wheeled gig driven by a slave of hers, a deaf-mute lad. What occurred can only be conjectured, as the deaf-mute cannot relate it, but, at all events, he was found insensible, bruised and bleeding, by theroad, apparently having been unmercifully beaten. Not far from him themule was grazing by the roadside, his harness in perfect condition and thegig unharmed. Greia, however, had vanished. No one had seen Annius in theneighborhood, yet it is generally assumed that he managed to abduct Greiain broad daylight without any one sighting him either coming or going:which, if the fact, would be an almost miraculous feat. 

"Certainly Greia has disappeared. The magistrates of Reate searchedAnnius' farmstead, but found neither Greia nor, indeed, any trace ofAnnius himself. It is conjectured that he is hiding, with Greia, at somefarm or villa under the Satronian protection. But there is no shadow ofany tangible basis for the conjecture, nor for the rumors, which, likethose concerning Xantha which Bultius had told you of, run all over thecountry-side; very similar rumors, too; for some are to the effect thatAnnius is holding Greia in durance at Villa Satronia; others that acortege of horsemen escorting a closed litter has been seen here or thereon some road; others that someone has learnt that Annius is about toattempt to reach Villa Satronia with Greia, convoyed by an escort of hisclansmen. The country-side buzzes with such whispers. 

"And let me point out to you, what you undoubtedly comprehend, thatserious as is the forcible abduction of a slave-girl, the abduction of afreewoman, even if a freedwoman, is a far more serious matter. Not only isHelvidius on fire to reclaim his bride and to revenge himself on Largus, not only are all his relations, friends and well-wishers eager to assisthim by every means in their power, not only are all right-thinking menincensed at the outrage, but the magistrates of Reate are determined tobring the guilty man to justice and to free Greia. "

Pomplio paused. 

"Very well told, " was Tanno's comment, "and I comprehend far better thanyou perhaps imagine. Not only are the magistrates of Reate hot on thetrail of Annius and those of Trebula equally keen after Vedius Molo, butall Vedians are eager to shield Molo and to help catch and convict AnniusLargus, and all Satronians conversely doing all they can to shield Largusand get Molo. Oh, I twig! Moreover I realize that all Vedians regard theabduction of Greia as not so much a hot-headed folly of Largus as aSatronian retort to the abduction of Xantha; and conversely, allSatronians regard it as merely an insufficient counter to Xantha'sabduction. Oh, I comprehend the feud atmosphere. I have no doubt thatscores of poniards of the Vedian clan are sharp and daily sharpenedsharper, for use on Largus and as many Satronian dirks for use on Molo;that every road hereabouts has watchers posted along it; that bands oflusty lads are camped here and there waiting summonses or are actually inlikely ambushes by the roadsides. I foresee shindies of great amplitude. You need not say any more; neither of you need say any more; none of youneed say any more. In fact, I beg that the whole subject be dropped righthere. I comprehend the feud atmosphere and I don't want any more of it inthis _triclinium_. Let's forget or ignore the feud and enjoy Hedulio'sgood fare. "

His compelling personality exerted its magic, as usual. All six feudistsrelaxed. I could feel the social tension dissolve. We all felt relieved. 

By that time we had disposed of the fish and roasts, the boys had lightedthe hanging lamps and the standing lamps, had removed the tray with whatwe had left of the roasts and had brought in the third-course tray withthe birds and salads. As we sampled them Tanno remarked:

"You have a cook, astonishingly good, Caius, for anywhere outside of Romeand amazingly good for a villa in the hills, far from a town. I must seeyour cook and question him. His roasts, his broiled, baked and frieddishes are above the averages, yet nothing wonderful. But his ragouts orfricassees or whatever you call them, are marvellous. This salmi of fig-peckers (or of some similar bird, for it is so ingeniously flavored andspiced, that I cannot be sure) is miraculous. There was a sort of chowder, too, of what fish I could not conjecture, which was so appetizing that Icould have gorged on it. Just as provocative and alluring was one of theconcoctions of the second course, apparently of lamb or kid, butindubitably a masterpiece. I certainly must see your cook. "

"My cook, " I confessed, "was not the artist of the dishes you praise sohighly. Hereabouts we do not give them such high-sounding names as youapply to them, we call them hashes or stews. Ofatulena, the wife of myvilla-farm bailiff, devised them and prepared them. She is famoushereabouts for her cooking. "

"What, " cried Tanno, "a woman cook! Never saw a woman cook, never heard ofone, never read of one. Egypt, Babylonia, Lydia, Persia, Greece and Italy, all cooks have always been men. I ought to know all about cookery, whatwith my library on cookery and my travels to all the cities famous forcookery. But you have taught me something novel and wholly unsuspected. Trot out your female cook. Let's have a look at her. "

I sent for Ofatulena and she came in, pleased and embarrassed, flushedbrick-red all over her full moon of a face, diffident and elated, trembling and giggling. 

Tanno questioned her and satisfied himself that she had prepared thedishes which had won his approbation and also that she was no hit-or-misscook, but a real artist in the kitchen, and really knew what she wasdoing. 

"Beware, Hedulio, " he said as he dismissed her. "You Sabines will havethree abductions to gossip over if you do not look out. I'm half temptednow to suborn some of the riff-raff of the Subura to kidnap this miracle-worker of yours and hale her to Rome into my kitchen to amaze my guests. "

When she was gone he resumed:

"Everything is topsy turvy in Sabinum, woman cooks and tenant farmers!What next? I gather that all of you, Satronians, Vedians and outsiders, have your estates parcelled out among free tenant farmers. Am I right?"

Hirnio, Seclator and the rest assured him that he was right. 

"Well, then, " he said, "tenant farming must be a subject perfectly safefor all persons present. Let's talk about it. Hedulio has tried to expoundto me the beauties of the system, but he had no great success. I fail sofar, to comprehend how the institution ever came into existence, why ithas maintained itself only in Sabinum and what are its advantages. Tell meabout it. "

Tanno had hit upon one of the few subjects on which all present feltconcordantly. His utterance started a hubbub, all my guests talking atonce, each trying to out-talk all the others and all voicing our localenthusiasm for our local farm-system. The _triclinium_ rang with paeans ofpraise of our Sabine yeomanry, and when the excitement had abated enoughto permit of intelligible discourse, Tanno was regaled with a series oftales illustrating the sterling worth of the Sabine yeomen, theirknowledge of farming, their diligence, their patience, their unflaggingenergy, their parsimony, their amazing productivity in respect to crop-yield, stock, implements and all things raised or made on their farms, their devotion to their landlords, the charm of the ties between thegentry and the yeomanry and the universal Sabine cult of the tenantsystem. 

With all this talk we lingered longer than usual over Ofatulena'sbewitching salads, which Tanno lauded even above her ragouts. 

When it was time for the last course, after the service-boys had slid thethird-course tray off the table, I was amazed to see my four strongesttable slaves enter fairly staggering under the load put upon them byGrandfather's biggest dinner-tray heaped with fruit, among which Idescried African pomegranates and other exotics. Still more was I amazedwhen other slaves crowded in behind them, carrying baskets of hot-housemelons of astonishing size and insistent perfume. Last of the processionwas Agathemer, who stood in the doorway, grinning and beaming. 

Tanno, not less than the guests in chorus, acclaimed this unexpectedprofusion. 

Again I looked interrogatively at Agathemer. He responded as at thecommencement of our meal. 

"I have a note here, " he said, "which I was enjoined not to hand you untilafter this fruit had been set upon your table. "

He handed me the missive, the superscription of which was, to myastonishment, in the handwriting of Satronius Dromo. While my fingerstugged at the thread, Tanno commanded:

"Read it out loud at once, like the other. No secrets here. Let us allin. "

The letter began with all the traditional polite formalities, as had thatfrom Vedius. It read:

 "Satronius Dromo to his valued friend Andivius Hedulio. If you are well I am well also. I was writing at Villa Satronia on the day before the Nones of June. Some days before I had written you expressing my regret at the circumstances which prevented me from accepting your most welcome invitation to dine with you on the Nones. I intended dispatching to you, with this, what fruit my establishment has fit for your acceptance, which I ask of you, this fruit being sent as an earnest of my cordiality. When you are settled at Rome I beg that, when perfectly convenient to you, you convey my warmest regards to my cousin's widow, Vedia Venusta. 

 "Farewell. "

At this letter I was fairly thunderstruck. That Satronius should take anynotice of me at all was more amazing than the graciousness of Vedius. Thathe should have ransacked the provinces and overstrained the capabilitiesof rowers and horseflesh to send me costly rarities out of season wasastounding. That his last sentence should practically duplicate the lastsentence of the letter from Vedius was most incredible of all. For if allVedians were sure to be very decidedly hypercritical as to anyone likelyto become Vedia's second husband, it was still more a certainty that theentire Satronian connection would scrutinize minutely everythingconcerning any man likely to come into control of the great propertieswhich she had inherited from her husband, Satronius Patavinus. That Ishould be disfavored by the entire Satronian connection had seemed to memore than likely. Dromo's intimation of his warm approval of my suit forVedia, coming on top of Caspo's, cleared of all obstacles my path towardsmatrimony with the woman of my heart's choice. I was more than elated, Iwas drunk with ecstacy. 

After I had finished reading, dead silence reigned in the _triclinium_;even Tanno was too dumbfounded to utter any sound. 

Hirnio spoke first. 

"Gentlemen, " he said, "I beg of you to hear me out with attention. Likeour Caius here and like his hereditary antagonist, Ducconius Furfur, Ihave never taken sides in our age-long local feud. Like all outsiders andlike a majority of its partisans, I have grieved at its existence, deplored its unfortunate results and hoped for its extinction. I think Imay say with truth that there was not one inhabitant of this neighborhoodwho did not rejoice when the heads of the two families, with the abolitionof the feud and the creation of the permanent amity in view, arranged amarriage between the lovely daughter of the head of the northern branchof the Vedian House and the son of the northern branch of the SatronianHouse. Satronian or Vedian; freeman or slave, everyone was delighted atthe prospect of lasting harmony. The sudden death of Satronius Patavinusnot only blasted these hopes, but intensified antagonisms; for all theVedians felt that a daughter of the clan had been sacrificed in vain andall Satronians regretted that vast properties about Padua, long possessedby Satronians, passed by the will of her husband to a young widow, born ofthe Vedian House. All saw the prospect of exacerbated enmities and theirprobable results. 

"Now it must be apparent to you that the two letters which we have heardread would never have been written without their writers having consultedwith the heads of their respective houses. These letters are an intimationto our Caius that both her kinsmen and the kinsmen of her first husbandsmile upon his suit for the most lovely, the most charming and thewealthiest widow in Rome. This means, to a certainty, that both SatroniusSatro and Vedius Vedianus descry the possibility that Vedia's union with asecond husband acceptable to both clans and opposed to neither may workfor mitigation of the feud spirit and for establishment of harmoniousamity almost as powerfully as would have the permanency of her membershipof the Satronian clan. I conceive that all of us, outsiders and partisans, may congratulate Caius without reservation or afterthought, heartily andenthusiastically. "

To this all present agreed in chorus, all drank my health. 

Vulso, rather hesitatingly, spoke next. 

"As all we say here, " he began, "is under the rose and will not berepeated or hinted at, I do not mind saying that I feel as does Hirnio. "

To this Rusco and Naepor agreed, with less hesitancy. 

Similarly the three Satronians expressed their concurrence. 

Again they all congratulated me on my luck, drank to the success of mysuit, and to my prosperity and health. 

Complete harmony reigned and the strained social atmosphere attending adinner in the feud area vanished completely. 

By this time the moon, which was nearly full, was high enough to bathe theworld with silvery light. Tanno peering across the table and through thewindows, remarked:

"You have a fine prospect, Caius. I admired it when I first lay down, butour interest in the flowers and in your letter from Vedius diverted myintention to speak of it. It is a charming outlook even by moonlight. "

"Yes, " I admitted, with not a little pride. "Grandfather, of course, dinedearlier than is fashionable nowadays. He built this _triclinium_ so thathe could bask in the rays of the declining sun and could watch the sunsetcolors as they varied and deepened. My uncle used to dine as early as hisfather and, even in the hottest weather, enjoyed the direct rays of thesun on him as he dined, for he was always rheumatic and chilly, yet heenjoyed the beauty of the view even more. "

"It is charming even by moonlight, " Tanno repeated, "and that although thevilla is between our outlook and the moon, so its shadow darkens thenearer prospect. "

We all contemplated the view through the window. "Who are those men I seejust beyond the shadow of the house?" Tanno queried. "Quite an assemblage, it seems to me; almost a mob for these lonely districts. "

I looked where he indicated and could not conjecture what it was that Isaw. 

CHAPTER III

TENANTRY AND SLAVERY

Agathemer came in and explained that my tenants had a petition to presentto me and had gathered, hoping that I would receive them after dinner. (Doubtless, I thought, conjecturing that I would be, just after dinner, inthe most accommodating humor possible. )

"I must see this and hear what they have to say, " Tanno declared. "Haveyou any objections to our going with you, Caius?" he asked. 

On my saying that I should be glad to have him come along, he said:

"Come on, all of you, it will be fun, and standing out in the night coolwill freshen our zest for our wine. "

All nine of us went out on the terrace. The prospect was indeed beautiful, only the brighter stars showing in the pale sky, the far hills outlinedagainst it, the nearer hills darkly glimmering in the moon-rays, thevalleys all full of pearly moonlit haze, the pleasance about the villavague in the witchery of the moon's full radiance. 

In that full radiance, on the path below the balustrade of the terrace, were my nine tenant farmers. Not one, as was natural among our healthyhills, but was my elder. Yet, according to our customary mode of addressfrom master to tenant, I said to them:

"What brings you here, lads, so long after your habitual bed-time?"

Ligo Atrior acted as spokesman. 

"We have a request to prefer, " he said, "and we judged this an opportunetime. "

"Speak out, " I said, "our wine is waiting for me and my guests, and I amlistening. Speak out!"

He set forth, at considerable length and with many halts and repetitions, that all their farms were in excellent order and in an exceedingly forwardcondition, promising very well for the future in all respects; that I hadjust assured myself of all this by a minute inspection; that they werekeenly emulous of each other and each thought his farm the best of thenine; that they were and had been very curious to learn which of the ninefarms I thought the best kept; that someone had suggested that, if Ijudged any one of the nine distinctly better than his fellows', it wouldbe proper to distinguish the man of my choice by some gift, bonus, exemption or privilege, if his farm was really the best kept; that whilediscussing these matters someone had remarked that he envied me myapproaching visit to Rome, as he had never been there; that this hadbrought to their notice that not one of them had ever seen Rome, though itwas less than three days' journey away; that someone had suggested thatperhaps I might be induced not only to specify which of them I consideredthe best farmer, but to indicate my preference by allowing the best ofthem to visit Rome later in the summer, after the crops were allharvested; that they had agreed to abide loyally by my choice and thatthey prayed me to declare which of them, in my opinion, was the bestfarmer. 

When Ligo paused, old Chryseros Philargyrus, his wiry leanness manifesteven in the moonlight, although he was well muffled up against thedampness of the night, pushed himself to the front and said that heclaimed that, in any such competition, he ought to stand on a level withmy eight other tenants, even if they had been life-long tenants of theestate, whereas he, like his father and grandfather, had paid rent toDucconius Furfur. He claimed that the court decision by which Ducconiushad had to refund to my uncle all the rents received from the farm indispute since the first decision of the lowest court had awarded it to aDucconius had been, in effect, an affirmation that his ancestors and hehad always been, constructively, tenants of the Andivian estate. 

The old man spoke well and tersely, made his points neatly and stated hisarguments lucidly, and, in conclusion he said:

"And you must realize, Sir, that whatever my feelings have been up totoday, after what happened this afternoon I have forgotten that I or mineever owned Ducconius Furfur as master. I am your man henceforward, bodyand soul; I call you not only patron but savior and father. I make my pleafor treatment putting me on full equality with my fellows, and I valuemyself so highly that I hope for the prize. Yet if I am not the lucky man, I shall loyally and in silence abide by your decision. "

I was pleased with his words and I admitted the correctness of hiscontentions, but rebuked him for his self-assertive manner. 

Then Ligo spoke again. 

"Please publish your opinion, Master, for we are sleepy and long to beabed. But much more do we long for your decision, for each one of usconsiders himself a better farmer than any other and expects to be thechosen man. "

I smiled. 

"Suppose, " I said, "that I am of the opinion that no one of you is betterthan all his fellows, but that two of you are better than the other seven, but equal to each other in merit?"

Ligo stood at loss, but old Chryseros spoke out at once, saying:

"In that case, Master, it would be proper that both men go to Rome, assuch a prize could not be divided into shares. "

His forwardness angered me. I told him sharply to mind his manners and tokeep his place; that Ligo had been chosen spokesman and that he was tohold his peace. I also pointed out that I had not agreed to give any suchprize for distinguished excellence, that far less had I agreed that avisit to Rome should be the prize. 

All nine of them stood mute. 

I was tingling with my elation over my prospects of winning Vedia, for Ifelt sure of her personal favor, and the two notes from my great neighborshad thrown me into a sort of trance of rapture. I was genuinely pleasedwith the frugality, diligence and skill of my tenants. My estate was in away to return far more than I had expected of it. I was in a position tobe liberal, I felt indulgent. 

"Lads, " I cried, "everyone of the nine of you is as good a farmer aseveryone of the other eight. You are the nine best farmers in Sabinum. Youare such good farmers that you have put your farms in a state where yourbailiffs can oversee the harvest as well as if under your own eyes. Everyone of you has earned a visit to Rome and everyone of you shall haveit, and not at some future time, which may never come, but now. I startfor Rome at daybreak and the whole nine of you shall go with me!"

This unexpected liberality they heard in silence: they stood dumb andmotionless. 

All but Philargyrus. Gesticulating, he pressed forward among them fromwhere he had retired to the rear after my late rebuke. Gesticulating, hisvoice rising into a senile scream, he upbraided me for folly, extravagance, unthrift and prodigality. He declared that such indulgencewould ruin me, would debauch him and his fellows and would, by its evilexample, infect, corrupt and deprave the whole countryside. He railed atme. He vowed that, whatever the rest might do, he would use all his powersof persuasion to urge them to stick to their farms till harvest was overand he swore that he himself would, under no circumstances, leave his tillthe last ear of grain, the last root, the last fruit, was garnered, storedand safe for the winter. 

I let him shriek himself hoarse and talk himself mute; then I spoke calmlyand sternly:

"I am master here and master of all of you. The loyalty due from a freetenant is, in Sabinum, as mandatory a bond as the obedience legally duefrom a slave. I speak. Listen, all of you. I set out for Rome at dawn. Seethat every man of the nine of you is on horseback at the east courtyardgate at dawn, with an ample pack of all things needed for a month'sabsence properly girthed on a led mule. If any of you dare to disobey Ishall find some effective means to make him smart for his temerity. "

Ligo, finding his voice, thanked me for the nine, and they trudged away. 

When we were back again on the dining-sofas Tanno, as was his habit, tookcharge of things after his breezy fashion. 

"With the permission of our Caius, " he said, without asking my permission, of which he was sure, "I appoint myself King of the Revels. Where's thehead butler?"

When my major-domo came forward, Tanno queried:

"How much water did you mix with the wine we've been drinking with ourdinner?"

The butler replied:

"Two measures of water to one of wine. "

Tanno nodded to me, smiling. 

"You've mighty good wine, Caius, " he said. "No one is more an expert thanI and I should have conjectured three to two. "

"Lads, " he continued, to the guests collectively, "this is the sort ofmaster-of-the-revels I am. I mean to start for Rome at dawn with Caius andI intend that both of us shall start cold sober. Therefore all of us mustgo to bed reasonably sober. You must submit to my rulings. "

Then he instructed the butler:

"Give us no more of the mixture we have been drinking. Mix a big bowlthree to one and ladle that out to us. "

When our goblets had been filled he spoke to me!

"Caius, I want to know what that old hunks of a Chryseros Philargyrusmeant when he said that after what had occurred this afternoon he was yourman, body and soul. What happened?"

"Nothing much. " I said. "As Agathemer and I were riding home and werepassing his barn-yard gate, we heard yells for help. I dismounted and ranin. I found Chryseros rather at a disadvantage in handling a bull. Ihelped him get the beast into his pen. His gratitude seems exaggerated. "

"Not any more exaggerated than your modesty, " spoke up Neponius Pomplio, who had hardly uttered a word since he arrived. Turning to Tanno hecontinued:

"You'll never get Hedulio to tell you anything more definite than the veryvague and hazy adumbration of his exploit he has already given. I heardsome rumors of his feat as I rode down here from my house. I conjecturethat the story is worth telling, to its least detail. If you want to hearwhat really occurred, call in Agathemer; he was with Hedulio when ithappened. "

"Good idea, " said Tanno, "and I want Agathemer here for another reason. May I call him in, Caius?"

I assented and Agathemer came in, as smiling and obsequious as always. 

"Agathemer, " Tanno queried, "have you finished your dinner?"

"Long ago, " said Agathemer, "and plenty too. "

"Then, have a chair, " said Tanno, rolling himself luxuriously on the deep, soft mattress of one of my uncle's superlatively comfortable sofas. "No!"he said sharply. "No demurring. Sit down, man! Do as I tell you! I've abatch of questions to put to you and you'll be long answering me. I wantyou entirely at ease while you talk. You can't talk as I want you tounless you forget everything else. If you stand you'll be thinking of yourtired legs instead of talking without thinking at all. "

Agathemer, embarrassed, seated himself in the lowest and simplest chair inthe room. 

"We called you in for something else, " said Tanno, "but first of all Iwant to ask you why you were not with us at dinner? Caius has written meagain and again how he and you dine together evening after evening and howyou are so entertaining that he enjoys a dinner just with you almost asmuch as if he has novel guests. Why were you left out of this? Is Hedulioshy of more or less than nine at table, like his uncle, or does hisuncle's dining-room outfit coerce him? Or what _was_ the reason?"

Agathemer turned red and visibly writhed, mute and sweating. 

I cut in. 

"Here, Caius, " I said to Tanno, "this isn't the torture chamber nor youthe executioner, nor yet has Agathemer deserved the rack. You are puttinghim in an excruciating dilemma. He is too courteous to tell you that youought to ask me, not him, and he is too loyal to tell you the reason. "

I was nearer to being angry with Tanno than I had ever been in our lives. I comprehended why he, with all his superlative equipment of tact andintuition, had blundered; he could not but assume that circumstances wereas they should have been rather than as they were; yet the blunder was, ina sense, unforgivable, and had created a social situation than whichnothing could be more awkward. 

Agathemer's face cleared as I spoke. 

Tanno rounded on me. 

"You tell me, then!" he said. "I guess from their faces that I haveadvertised my ignorance of what is perfectly well known to everybody elsehere. Remove my disabilities. "

I hesitated and then went in with a rush. 

"It does not matter a particle, " I said, "how often I lie down to dinnerwith Agathemer when we are alone. Since I am then the only freeman in thevilla there are no witnesses of our dining together. But if I have him todinner with any guest he becomes thereby a freeman, as you very well know. And if I were free to set him free and chose to free him in that fashion, I should have to advise my friends in advance of my intentions and askwhether they were willing to lend themselves to such a proceeding. Onecannot invite a man without previous explanation and then, when he'salready in one's house, ask him to lie down to dinner with a slave. "

"Slave!" Tanno roared at me, his face red as the back of a boiled lobster. If I had just missed being angry with him, there was no doubt that he wasin a tearing fury with me. 

"Slave?" he repeated. "Agathemer still a slave? Are you joking or are youserious? Is this true?"

"Entirely and literally true. " I affirmed. 

Tanno, so red that I should have thought it impossible that he could growredder, grew redder. 

"If your uncle, " he roared, "did not free him in his will he was a hog. Ifyou haven't freed him yourself, you're a hog. Free him here and now! Showsome decency and some gratitude! Better late than never. Here, Agathemer, get off that boy's stool and lie down between me and Entedius. "

"Go slow, Caius!" I admonished him. "You just confessed that you knownothing of the circumstances, yet you give orders in my house, ordersaffecting my property-rights, without first acquainting yourself with allthe conditions on which such orders should be based, even if you had askedand received my permission to issue them. "

Tanno was impulsive, even headlong, but he never wrangled or quarrelledand seldom lost his temper. I had feared a still more violent outburstfrom him, but my admonition brought him to himself. 

"I apologize, " he said, the red fading from his face. "Tell me the wholematter, so that I may comprehend. I'll listen in silence. "

"The vital fact, " I said, "is that, although I fully expected my uncle, inhis will, to free Agathemer, he not only did not free him, but he enjoinedme not to free him within five years after my entrance into myinheritance. "

"Well, " said Tanno, "I take back what I said of you when I called you ahog, but, even if we are taught to utter nothing but good of the dead, Irepeat that your uncle was a hog. What do you think of it, Agathemer?"

Agathemer sat at ease now on his stool and his face was placid. 

"Since you have asked what I think, " he said, "may I assume that youaccord me permission to utter what I think, as if I were even a free man?"

"Utter precisely what you think, without any reservations ormodifications, " said Tanno. "I want to have exactly what you think and allyou think. "

"I think, " spoke Agathemer, "that you are neither wise to speak so of thedead nor justified in speaking so of my former master. He was a just manand a wise man. Though I cannot conjecture his reason, I am sure that whathe did was, somehow, for the best. "

Tanno stared at him with a puzzled expression. 

He turned to me. 

"Isn't it true, " he queried, "that your uncle had on his hands anhereditary lawsuit of the most exasperating sort, in the course of whichthe other side had won the first decision and every appeal?"

"Everybody knows that, Socrates, " I admitted. 

"Didn't Agathemer, " Tanno pressed me, "just before the case was heard inthe highest court, make a suggestion which your uncle's lawyers utilizedand through which they won the case?"

"That is also true, " I affirmed. 

"Didn't they all say, that Agathemer's suggestion was just what theyshould have thought of at the very first and didn't they admit that theyhad not thought of it until Agathemer suggested it and that they neverwould have thought of it if he had not suggested it?"

"Those are the facts, " I confessed. 

"In view of those facts, " Tanno continued, "what did you yourself expectyour uncle to do for Agathemer in his will?"

I ruminated. 

"The very least I anticipated, " I said, "was that he would free Agathemerand make him a present equal to the value of half the property in disputein the lawsuit. As Ducconius had had to repay to my uncle the full amountof the rents paid since his family first gained possession of theproperty, that would have been a very moderate reward for Agathemer'sservice. I also conjectured that he might free Agathemer and will him asum equivalent to the net proceeds of the repaid rents, less the costs ofthe suit. I should not have been surprised if he had made him a present ofthe whole farm out and out. Many an owner has done more for a slave whohad done less for him. "

"And you would have regarded it as fair if your uncle had taken any ofthose methods of recompensing Agathemer?"

"Certainly!" I affirmed. 

"Then why, in the name of Mercury, " he demanded, "didn't you freeAgathemer the moment the will was read?"

"I have told you over and over, " I retorted impatiently, "that my uncle'swill enjoined me not to free Agathemer within five years, though he alsoenjoined that I was to make a new will at once so as to leave Agathemerfree and recompensed if I died before the five years elapsed. "

"But the injunction was not binding, " Tanno persisted, "either in law orby religious custom. No dead man can prevent his heirs freeing slaves heleaves them. Why heed the injunction?"

"I could not contravene so explicit a behest of the dead, " I demurred, "especially of a man I loved and revered. And you must recall my uncle'squeer habit of acting on intuitions and the way he expressed them, alwayssaying:

"'It has been revealed to me that.... ' And his intuitions always seemed toamount to prevision, he never seemed to have acted amiss, howevereccentric his act, however baseless his premonition. I have a feeling thatin Agathemer's case he acted on some such presentiment. "

Tanno turned to Agathemer. 

"Do you feel that way too?" he demanded. 

"I most certainly do, " said Agathemer, "I have a feeling that my remaininga slave is going to be of vital service to Hedulio, somehow, sometime. "

"Then you are content to remain a slave?" Tanno queried. 

"No one wants to remain a slave, " Agathemer confessed, "and every slavelongs to be a free man and is impatient to be free at once. But I try tobe resigned, of course, and, except that I cannot rejoice in not beingfree, I am as well fed, clothed and housed as I should be as a free manand have as much leisure. "

Tanno glowered at both of us. 

I cut in:

"You must remember that Agathemer was raised almost as a free man andalmost as my brother. We slept and played together from the time we couldwalk. We had the same tutors, always, when in the country, both inBruttium and in Sabinum. In Rome, while I was at school, Agathemer wastaught the same subjects at home. We love each other almost as brothers. Both of us were amazed when grandfather left Agathemer to my Uncle insteadof to my father or to me. We were more amazed at Uncle's will. But asthings are between us, Agathemer not only looks forward to freedom and anestate within five years, but knows that his interval of waiting will bepleasant, as pleasant as I can make it. "

"But, " Tanno objected, "think of the danger he is in while a slave. Forinstance, just suppose--(may the gods avert the omen)--that you weremurdered in your bed this very night and no clue to the murderer found. Nothing could save Agathemer from being tortured along with all your otherslaves. "

"Pooh!" I cried. "You are behind the times! You may be an unsurpassableexpert on dress and manners, on perfumery and jewels, but you could knowmore law. All those ferocious old statutes have been abolished by theenactments of Antoninus and Aurelius. A slave, during good behavior, isalmost as safe as a freedman. "

"It is you, " Tanno countered, "who are behind the times. Commodus has hadrescinded every edict ameliorating the condition of slaves promulgatedsince the accession of Trajan. As Nerva did little for them the status ofslaves is now practically what it was at the death of Domitian. "

"Anyhow, " spoke up Agathemer, "whatever real or fancied perils hang overme, by my late master's will and wish, a slave I am and a slave I remaintill the five years elapse. Even thereafter I shall be Hedulio's devotedservitor, meanwhile I am his devoted slave. "

"Does being his slave inhibit you from telling the truth about him?" Tannoqueried. 

"If it is to his discredit, certainly, " Agathemer answered. 

"Suppose it is to his credit, very much to his credit, " Tanno pursued. 

"Then I am permitted to tell the truth, " laughed Agathemer. 

"Then, " said Tanno, "tell us the whole truth about Hedulio and ChryserosPhilargyrus and the bull. "

Agathemer laughed out loud. 

"Delighted to oblige you, " he bowed. Tanno looked at me. 

"Hedulio is blushing, " he said, "this promises to be interesting. As kingof the revels I forbid Hedulio from interrupting. Everybody drain agoblet. Boy, pour a goblet for Agathemer. Agathemer, take a good longdrink, so you may start in good voice. And, boy, fill his goblet againwhen it gets low. Keep an eye on it. Begin, Agathemer. "

"It is a shorter story than you anticipate, " Agathemer began. 

"Hedulio and I had completed the final inspection of the estate. We hadbegun each inspection with Chryseros' farm and had taken the farms inrotation, ending up with Feliger's. We had inspected Macer's farm in themorning, had had a leisurely bath, lunch and snooze and had ridden out toFeliger's. After looking over the last details of the toolsheds andhenneries we were riding home under the over-arching elms down Bran Lane. As we passed Chryseros' entrance we heard yells for help. Hedulio spurredhis horse up the avenue and towards the yells, I after him. The yellsguided us to the lower barn-yard gate. Hedulio reined up abruptly, leapedoff, leaving me to catch his mare, and vaulted the gate. I tethered ourmounts as quickly as I could and climbed the gate. I saw old Chryserospinned against the wall of his barley-barn, in between the horns of hiswhite bull. The points of the bull's horns were driven into the wood ofthe barn and the horns were so long that Chryseros was in no immediatedanger of being crushed between the bull's forehead and the barn wall. Thebull was so enraged that he was pushing with all his might, puffing andbellowing, spraying Chryseros' legs with froth, grunting and lowingbetween bellows. As long as he kept on pushing Chryseros was more scaredthan hurt; but, sooner or later, the bull was certain to draw back, lunge, and skewer Chryseros on one or the other of his horns. 

"When I first saw them Chryseros and the bull were as I have described. Hedulio was twisting the bull's tail. 

"The bull paid no more attention to the tail-twisting than if Hedulio hadbeen in the moon. 

"Hedulio shouted to Chryseros to hold tight to the bull's horns, as he wasalready doing, and to stand still. He let go the bull's tail and turnedround. Seeing me, he ordered me to get back over the gate and to staythere. He looked about, ran to the stable door, peered in, went in andreturned with a manure fork. With that in his hand he ran back to the bulland jabbed him with the fork. 

"Then the bull did roar. He backed suddenly away from the barn, shakinghis horns loose from the futile grip Chryseros had on them, and whirled onHedulio. Hedulio jabbed him in the neck with the fork. The bull bellowedwith rage, it seemed, more than with pain, lowered his head and charged atHedulio. 

"Hedulio side-stepped as deftly as a professional beast-fighter in anamphitheatre and to my amazement, well as I knew him, threw away the fork. 

"The bull's rush carried him almost the whole breadth of the barn-yard. When he turned round he stood, pawing the ground, shaking his head andbellowing. I never saw a bull angrier-looking. He lowered his head tocharge. 

"But he never charged. 

"Hedulio was walking toward him and the bull just stood and pawed andbellowed till Hedulio caught hold of the ring in his nose and led him offto his pen. 

"Chryseros, who had dodged through the little door into the barn and hadslammed it after him, had peered out of it just before Hedulio reached thebull and had stood, mouth open, hands hanging, letting the door swing wideopen. 

"Hedulio led the bull into the pen, patted him on the neck and then turnedhis back on him and sauntered out of the pen, shutting the gate withouthurry. 

"Chryseros ran to him, stumbling as he ran, fell on his knees, caughtHedulio's hand, and poured out a torrent of thanks. "

"Did all that really happen?" Tanno queried. 

"Precisely as I have told it. " Agathemer affirmed. 

"Well, " said Tanno, "I know why Caius did not want to tell it. He knew I'dthink it an impudent lie. "

"Don't you believe it?" Agathemer asked, respectfully. 

"Well, " Tanno drawled, "I've been watching the faces of the audience. Nobody has laughed or smiled or sneered. I'm an expert on curios andantiques and other specialties, but I am no wiser on bulls than any othercity man. So I suppose I ought to believe it. But it struck me, while Ilistened to you, as the biggest lie I ever heard. I apologize for myincredulity. "

"It would be incredible, " said Juventius Muso, "if told of any one exceptHedulio and it would probably be untrue. As it is told of Hedulio it isprobably true and also entirely credible. "

"Why of Caius any more than any one else?" queried Tanno. 

Muso stared at him. 

"I beg pardon, " he said, "but I somehow got the idea that you were an oldand close friend of our host. "

"I was and am, " Tanno asserted. 

"And know nothing, " Muso pressed him, "of his marvellous powers overanimals of all kinds, even over birds and fish?"

"Never heard he had any such powers. " Tanno confessed. 

"How's this, Hedulio?" Juventius demanded of me. 

"I suppose, " I said, "that Tanno and I have mostly been together at Rome. Animals are scarcer there than in the country and human beings moreplentiful. He knows more of my dealings with men and women than with othercreatures. "

"Besides, " Tanno cut in, "you must all remember that our Caius not onlynever boasts but is absurdly reticent about anything he has done of such akind that most men would brag of it. Towards his chums and cronies he isopen-hearted and as unreserved as a friend could be about everything else, but especially close with them about such matters. So I know nothing ofhis powers concerning which you speak. "

My guests cried out in amazement, all talking at once. 

"I'm king of the revels, " Tanno reminded them. 

"Juventius was talking; let him say his say. Everyone of you shall talkhis fill, I promise you. I am immensely interested and curious, as Iexpect to hear many things which I should have heard from Caius any timethese ten years. Speak out, Juventius!"

"Before I say what I meant to say, " Muso began, "I want to ask somequestions. What you have just told me has amazed me and what little youhave said leaves me puzzled. Surely there are dogs in Rome?"

"Plenty, " Tanno assured him. 

"Haven't you ever seen a vicious dog fly at Hedulio?" Muso pursued. 

"Many a time, " Tanno admitted. 

"Did you ever see one bite him?" Muso asked. 

"Never!" Tanno affirmed. 

"Can you recall what happened?" queried Muso. 

Tanno rubbed his chin. 

"It seems to me, " he said, "that every time I saw a snarling cur or anopen-mouthed watch-dog rush at Caius, the dog slowed his rush before hereached him, circled about him, sniffing, and trotted back where he camefrom. "

"Did you never see Hedulio beckon such a dog, handle and gentle him, evenpet him. "

"Once I did, as I now recall, " Tanno confessed, "yet I thought nothing ofit at the time and forgot it at once. "

"Probably, " Muso conjectured, "you thought the dog was only pretending tobe cross and was really tame. "

"Just about that, I suppose, " Tanno ruminated. 

"Well, " said Muso, "I take it that any one of the dogs you saw run atHedulio was affected by him just as was the bull this afternoon; eachbegan by acting towards him as he would have towards any other man; eachwas cowed and tendered mild by the nearer sight of him. That is the wayHedulio affects all animals whatever. "

"Tell us some cases you have seen yourself, " Tanno suggested. 

"I fear your skepticism, even your derision, " Muso demurred. 

"I haven't a trace of either left in me by now, " Tanno declared. "What yousay has knocked the mental wind out of me, so to speak, and I see that theothers feel as you do and seem to have similar ideas to express. I vow Ibelieve you, gentlemen, though something inside me is still numb withamazement. Tell us, Juventius, the biggest story you know of these allegedpowers of our Caius. "

"I told you so, " said Muso. "In spite of your disclaimers you slip in that'alleged. ' I don't like that 'alleged' of yours, Opsitius. "

"That wasn't mine. " Tanno laughed. "That was the numb something inside metalking in its sleep. I'm all sympathetic interest, with no admixture ofunbelief. I can see you have startling anecdotes to tell. Tell the moststartling. "

"The most startling, " Juventius began, "I most solemnly aver is literallytrue. Hedulio and I were once riding along a woodcutters' road through theforests on the Aemilian estate, in the wildest portion of it. The roadforms a part of a good short-cut from Villa Aemilia to this valley. It washot weather and very dry. We were both thirsty. There is a cool andabundant spring not many paces up a steep path on the left of that road. At the path we tethered our horses and walked to the spring. When we hadquenched our thirst and had started down the little glade below the springwe saw the head of a big gray wolf appear among some ferns at the lowerend of the glade by the path on our left. I stopped, for we had noweapons. Hedulio, however, went on, never altering his easy saunter. Thewolf came out of the ferns and paced up to Hedulio like a house dog. Hedulio patted his head, pulled his ears and the wolf not only did notattack him nor snap at him, nor even snarl, but showed his pleasure asplainly as any pet dog. When Hedulio had stopped petting him, I reachedthem. We two went on as if we were alone, leaving the wolf standinglooking after us as if he were watch-dog at the house of an intimatefriend. "

"Rome, " said Tanno, when Muso paused, "is rated the most wonderful placeon earth. Rome is my home. Rome rates Sabinum low, except for olives, wines, oaks, sheep and mules. Wonders are not named among the stapleproducts of Sabinum. Yet I come to Sabinum for the first time and hearwonders such as I never dreamed of at Rome. "

"And you are only at the beginning of such wonders, " spoke up EntediusHirnio. "That tale of Muso's is mild to one I can tell and I take oath inadvance to every word of my story. "

"Begin it then, in the name of Hercules, " Tanno urged him. "If it is whatyou herald we cannot have it too quickly. "

"When Hedulio and I were hardly more than boys, " Hirnio began, "we bird-nested and fished and hunted and roamed the woods like any pair of countrylads. Parts of our woodland hereabouts are wilder than anything on theAemilian estate, and we liked the wildest parts best. I had an uncle atAmiternum and it happened that Hedulio's uncle allowed him to go with meonce when my father visited his brother. My uncle had a farm high up inthe mountains east of Amiternum and Hedulio and I there revelled inwildness wilder than anything hereabouts. We had no fear and ranged thehillsides, ravines and pine-woods eager and unafraid. 

"High up the mountains we blundered on a bear's den with two cubs in it. They were old enough to be playful and young enough not to be fierce ordangerous. I was for carrying them off, but Hedulio said that if themother returned before we were well on our way home she would certainlycatch us before we could reach a place of safety and we should certainlybe killed. 

"'We had better stop playing with these fascinating little brutes, ' hesaid, 'and be as far off as possible before she comes back. '

"Just as he said it we heard twigs snapping, the crash of rent underbrush, and I looked up and saw the bear coming. 

"I had never seen a wild bear till then. She looked to me as big as a halfgrown calf, and as fat as a six-year-old sow. She came like a race-horse. Besides my instantaneous sense of her size, weight and speed, I saw onlyher great red mouth, wide-open, set round with gleaming white teeth, fromwhich came a snarl like the roar of a cataract. 

"I sprang to the nearest tree which promised a refuge, caught the lowestboughs and scrambled up, the angry snarls of the bear filling my ears. AsI reached the first strong branch the snarls stopped. 

"I settled myself and looked down. 

"The bear was standing still, some paces from her den, peering at it andsnuffing the air, working her nose it seemed to me, and moving her headfrom side to side. 

"Hedulio had not moved. He stood just where I had left him, one cub in hisarms, the other cuddled at his feet. 

"The bear, growling very short, almost inaudible growls, approached himslowly, moving only one foot at a time and pausing before she liftedanother foot. She sniffed at the cub on the ground, sniffed at Hedulio'slegs, and looked up at the cub in his arms. She made a sound more like awhine than a growl. Hedulio lowered the cub and she sniffed at it. ThenHedulio caught her by the back of the neck. She did not snarl but yieldedto his pull and rolled over on her side. He picked up the cub on theground and laid both by her nipples. They went to, nursing avidly, almostlike little pigs, yet also somewhat like puppies. Hedulio sauntered awayand to my tree, beckoned me down and we strolled away as if there were nobear near: she in fact paying no attention to either of us after the cubsbegan nursing her. "

Tanno looked wildly about. 

"Boys, " he said, "forgive me if I am dazed, and don't be insulted. Irecall that Entedius prefaced his narrative with an oath to its veracity. I am ready to believe all this if he reaffirms it. But I have a horriblefeeling that you farmers think you have caught a city ignoramus and thatit is your duty to stuff me with the tallest stories you can invent. Please set me right. If you are stuffing me the joke is certainly on me, for these incredible tales seem true: if they are true the joke is doublyon me. As I am the butt, either way, don't be too hard on me: Please setme right. "

They chorused at him that they had all heard the story, most of them soonafter the marvel took place; that they had always believed it, andbelieved it then. I corroborated Hirnio's exactitude as to all thedetails. 

CHAPTER IV

HOROSCOPES AND MARVELS

Tanno looked about again, less wildly, but still like a man in a daze. 

"But, " he cried, "if you do such wonders, how do you do them, Caius?"

"I don't know now, " I said, "any more than I knew the first time I gentleda fierce strange dog. It came natural then, it always has come natural. "

"Naturally, " said Lisius Naepor, "since it is part of your nature frombefore birth. Do you mean to tell us, Opsitius, that Hedulio has nevershown you his horoscope?"

"Never!" said Tanno, "and he never spoke of it to me. I'm Spanish, youknow, by ancestry, and Spaniards are not Syrians or Egyptians. Horoscopesdon't figure largely in Spanish life. I never bothered about horoscopes, Isuppose. So I never mentioned horoscopes to Hedulio nor he to me. "

"Nor he to you of course, " said Neponius Pomplio, "he is too modest. "

"In fact, " said Naepor. "I should never have known of Hedulio's horoscopeif his uncle had not shown me a copy. Caius has never mentioned it, unlessone of us talked of it first. "

"What's the point of the horoscope?" Tanno queried. 

"Why you see, " Naepor explained. "Hedulio was born in the third watch ofthe night on the Ides of September. 

"Now it is well known that persons are likely to be competent trainers ofanimals if they are born under the influence of the Whale or of theCentaur or the Lion or the Scorpion or when the Lesser Bear rises at dawnor in those watches of the night when the Great Bear, after swinging lowin the northern sky, is again beginning to swing upwards, or at thosehours of the day when, as it can be established by calculations, the GreatBear, though invisible in the glow of the sunlight, is in that part of itscircle round the northern pole. 

"It is disputed which of these constellations has the most powerfulinfluence, but it is generally reckoned that the Whale is mostinfluential, next the Centaur, next the Lion, and the Scorpion least ofall, while the dawn rising of the Lesser Bear and the beginning of theupward motion of the Great Bear are held to have merely auxiliaryinfluence when the other signs are favorable. If two or more of these areat one and the same time powerful in the sky at the moment of any one'sbirth, he will be an unusually capable animal-tamer, the more puissantaccording as more of the potent stars shine upon his birth. 

"It is manifest that, at no day and hour, will all of these signs conspireat their greatest potency. For clearly, for instance, the Lion and theScorpion, being both in the Zodiac, and being separated in the Zodiac bythe interposition of two entire constellations, can never be in theascendant at one and the same time, nor can one be near the ascendant whenthe other is in that position. Yet there are times when a majority of themall exert their most potent or nearly their most potent influence, thereare some moments when their possible combination of influences is nearlyat its maximum potency. 

"Now the day, hour, and moment of Hedulio's birth is, as astrologersagree, precisely that instant of the entire year when the stars combinetheir magic powers with their most puissant force to produce theirgreatest possible effect on the nature of a child born at that instant, inorder that he may have irresistible sway over the wills of all fierce, wild and ferocious animals. 

"Such, from his birth and by the divine might of his birth-stars, is ourHedulio. "

"After all that, " said Tanno, "I should believe anything. I believe thetale of the she-bear. Who has another to tell?"

"Before anyone begins another anecdote, " said Neponius Pomplio, "I want tostate my opinion that Hedulio's habitual and instantaneous subjugation ofvicious dogs which have never before set eyes on him and his miraculouspowers of similarly pacifying such wild animals as bears and wolves, whileinexpressibly marvellous, is no more wonderful, if, in fact, as wondrousas his power to attract to him, even from a great distance, creaturesnaturally solitary, or timorous. "

"It is strange, " said Juventius Muso, "that I should have begun by tellingthe story of the wolf at the spring, an occurrence of which I was the onlywitness, instead of mentioning first Hedulio's power over deer, somethingknown to all of us, and many miracles which everyone of us has seen. Isuppose we each thought of the most spectacular example of Hedulio'spowers known to us, whereas he had so generally handled and gentled deerthat we instinctively regarded that as commonplace. "

"I think you are right, " said Lisius Naepor, "for Hedulio's ability toapproach a doe with fawns and to handle the young in sight of the motherwithout her showing any sign of alarm or concern, is, to my mind, quite asmarvellous as his dealings with the she-bear. It seems to me as miraculousto overcome the timidity of the doe as the ferocity of the bear. And wehave all seen him play with fawns, fawns so young that they had barelybegun to follow their dam. We have all seen a herd of deer stand placidlyand let him approach them, move about among them, handle them. We have allseen him handle and gentle stags, even old stags in the rutting season. There is no gainsaying our Hedulio's power over animals, it is a matter oftoo general and too common knowledge. "

"I have seen a mole, " said Fisevius Rusco, "come out of its burrow at duskand eat earth worms out of Hedulio's hand. "

"I, " said Naepor, "have watched him catch a butterfly and, holding ituncrushed, walk into a wood, and have seen a woodthrush flutter down tohim, take the butterfly from his fingers, speed away with it to feed itsyoung and presently return to his empty hand, as if expecting anotherinsect, perch on his hand, peck at it and remain some time; and there isno song-bird more fearful of mankind, more aloof, more retiring, moresecret than a wood-thrush. "

Several of the others told of my similarly attracting seed-eating birdswith handfuls of millet, wheat or other grains or seeds; of squirrels, anywhere in the forests, coming down trees to me and taking nuts from myfingers. 

Bultius Seclator said:

"I have seen Hedulio seat himself on a rock in the sunshine and seen agolden eagle, circling in the sky, circle lower and lower till he perchedon Hedulio's wrist and not only perched there, but sat there some time, preening his feathers as if alone on the dead topmost limb of a tall tree, eye Hedulio's face without pecking at him and finally take wing and leaveHedulio's arm not only untorn by his talons, but unscratched, without evena mark of the claw-points. "

Said Mallius Vulso:

"Hedulio has a way of catching flies with a quick sweep of his hand. Ihave seen him catch a fly and hold him, buzzing between his fingers andthumb and have seen a lizard run up to him and dart at the fly. "

"And I, " said Lisius Naepor, "have seen fish in a tank rise to his handand let him take them out of the water, handle them and slip them backinto the water again, all without a struggle. "

"More wonderful than that, " spoke up Juventius Muso, "I have seen lampreysfeed from his hand without biting it, and I have even seen him pick uplampreys out of the water without their attempting to bite him. I'll wagerno other man ever did the like. "

"True, " ruminated Naepor, "Hedulio can pick up and handle a puff-adder andit will never strike at him and he can similarly handle any kind ofsnake. "

"Well, " Tanno summed up, after they had talked the subject out, "youcountrymen beat me. Here I've been cronying with Caius for years and yearsand never suspected any such wizardry in him. "

"May I speak?" asked Agathemer from his stool, where he had sat silent, sipping his wine very moderately at infrequent intervals. 

"Certainly, man, " said Tanno, "speak up if you have anything to tell asgood as the bull story. "

"Although I know my master's modesty. " Agathemer said, "I cannot conceivehow you can have associated with him so long without knowing of his powerover animals. Have you never seen him, for instance, with Nemestronia'sleopard?"

"Never that I recall, " said Tanno, "and if I had I should have thoughtnothing of it. Nemestronia's leopard has been tame since it learned tosuck milk from Nemestronia's fingers, before its eyes were half open. Italways has been tame and is tame with everybody, not only with allNemestronia's household, not only with frequenters of her reception rooms, but also with casual visitors, total strangers to it. Nobody would thinkit anything wonderful for Hedulio to handle Nemestronia's leopard. "

"I do not mean merely handling, " said Agathemer respectfully. "I meansomething quite amazing in itself. And that leads me to remark that noneof you gentlemen has mentioned or referred to what I regard as one of mymaster's most amazing feats and one which he has repeated countless timesin the presence of uncountable witnesses: I mean taking a bone away from avicious dog which has never seen him before. I think that amounts to aportent, or would if it had not happened so often. "

"Incredible!" cried Tanno. 

Then the whole room broke into a hubbub of confirmations andcorroborations of Agathemer's statement. 

"I give in, " Tanno declared, "now for the leopard. "

"I am told, " said Agathemer, "that all such animals, lions, tigers, leopards, panthers and lynxes, when they set out on their nocturnalprowlings, intent on catching prey, have the strange habit of givingnotice to all creatures within hearing that they are about to beginhunting, by a series of roars, snarls, squalls, screams, screeches orwhatever they may be properly called for each variety of animal. 

"Now one of the tricks of Nemestronia's leopard, which she is fond ofexhibiting to her guests, is its method of approaching any live creatureexposed to its mercy for its food. If a kid, hare, lamb, porker or whatnot is turned into one of Nemestronia's walled gardens and the leopard letin, she will, at first sight of the game, crouch belly-flat on the groundand give out a really appalling series of screams or whatever they shouldbe called, entirely unlike any other noise she ever makes. Her hunting-squall, as Nemestronia calls it, rises and falls like a tune on an organ, and besides changing from shriller to less shrill alters in volume fromlouder to less loud and louder again. It is an experience to hear it, forit is like no sound anyone in Rome ever heard and is unforgettable. "

"There you are wrong, " Tanno cut in, "it is the normal hunting cry of aleopard. But not many leopards in captivity ever give it. She is the onlyleopard I ever heard give it in captivity, but I have heard it in thedeserts south of Gaetulia and Africa, when I was there with my cohort, while I was still in the army. And let me tell you right here, what I haveoften told Nemestronia, only the dear self-willed old lady will not listento me at all, there will be trouble yet with that leopard. She has been aparlor and bedroom pet from birth and she is tame, not only to allNemestronia's household but to all visitors. But the mere fact that she isold enough to give her hunting-squall for small game is warning enough, ifNemestronia would only realize it, that she is getting fiercer as she getsolder. It's only a question of time, no matter how liberally she is fed, that she will turn on her human associates. Possibly she'll give themwarning with her hunting-squall, and precious little help it will betowards escaping her, but most likely she'll just turn on someone, withoutwarning, and there'll be a corpse and a pool of blood on the floor orpavement. You mark my words: that is coming as sure as fate, ifNemestronia keeps that leopard about her mansion. "

"That may all be true, " Hirnio cut in, "but Opsitius, do let Agathemer sayhis say, whatever it may be. "

"You are right and I was wrong, " Tanno admitted. 

"Proceed, Agathemer. "

"Let me describe her behavior fully, for the sake of others, " Agathemerresumed. "When she sights a victim she flattens herself out on the groundand gives her long, quavering squall. If the victim remains stationary shecrawls toward it very slowly, almost imperceptibly, moving one paw only ata time. If it runs about she ceases her advance and pivots around until itis again stationary and she facing it. She keeps that up until she iswithin springing distance. But if she sees it near a gate or a door andapparently trying to escape through that, she springs and bounds on it. Otherwise, if the victim keeps quiet and still, she spends a long time inher approach, seeming to enjoy every breath she draws and to be gloatingover her helpless prey. "

"Just so, gentlemen, " Tanno put in, "Agathemer is exact. I have seen allthat over and over. "

"It is the more astonishing to me, " Agathemer went on, "that you havenever seen Hedulio divert her attention and entice her away from hervictim, even when she is within leaping distance and ready for her finalspring. That, to me, is the only thing I ever saw Hedulio do surpassinghis repeated success in taking a bone from a cross dog without resistancefrom the dog. "

"Never saw him do it, " Tanno declared. "Never heard of it fromNemestronia, and she'll talk 'leopard' by the hour, if you let her. Neversuspected any such sorcery from Hedulio. How does he do it? Expound hismethods. "

"Very simple, " said Agathemer. "He calls to her or he walks in front ofher. At once she turns her attention to him, appears to forget her preyaltogether, rubs against him, purrs, lets him chafe her ears, head andneck, seems to beg for more chafing, rolls on the ground by him andinvites him to play with her. Sometimes she seems to insist on his playingwith her and to threaten to lose her temper unless he does play with her. "

"What do you mean by playing with her?" Tanno queried. 

"Have you ever seen any of these little Egyptian cats which some folkshave nowadays for pets?" Agathemer asked in his turn. "Creatures about aslong as your forearm and rather gentle?"

"Certainly, " said Tanno. "I've seen a number of them at ultra-fashionablemansions of the fast set, who must have the latest novelty. "

"Ever see any of their kittens?" Agathemer asked. 

"Two or three times I have, " Tanno replied. "Amusing, fluffy littlecreatures, not much bigger than a man's hand. "

"Ever see one play with a ball?" Agathemer asked. 

Tanno laughed. 

"Run after a ball, you mean, " he said, "slap it first with one paw andthen with the other, bound after it and all that?"

"No, " said Agathemer, "I do not mean that way; I mean the way a kittenwill pretend that a ball is another kitten, will lie on the floor with theball between its paws, will kick it with its hind feet and paw at it withits forefeet and yet not really claw it. "

"I've seen that, too, " said Tanno. 

"Well, " said Agathemer, "Hedulio acts as the ball or the other kitten forthat big leopard. He lies down on the pavement by her and they tussle liketwo puppies, only it is cat-play not dog-play. Hedulio kicks and slaps theleopard and she kicks and slaps him, and they are all mixed up like a pairof wrestlers, and she growls and mouths his hands and arms and shoulders, yet she never bites or claws him, does all that clawing of him with herclaws sheathed; never hurts him, and, when she has had enough play, letshim lead her off to her cage. "

"Miraculous!" cried Tanno, "but beastly undignified. Fancy a Roman, ofequestrian rank, moving in Rome's best society circles, a friend of theEmperor, sprawling on a pavement playing with a stinking leopard, lettingher tousle him and rumple his clothes, and letting her slobber her foulsaliva all over his arms and shoulders! I'm ashamed of you, Hedulio!"

"Nothing to be ashamed of!" I said. "I thought it fun, every time I havedone it, and I did it only for Nemestronia and a few of her intimates, never before any large gathering. "

"I should hope not!" Tanno cried, "and I trust you will never try itagain. It's disgraceful! And it's too risky. If you keep it up some fineday she'll slash the face off you or bite your whole head off at onesnap. "

I was surprised and abashed at Tanno's reception of the leopard story andAgathemer seemed similarly affected and more so than I. He tried to starta diversion. 

"Most marvellous of all Hedulio's exploits, " he said, "I account hisencounter with the piebald horse. "

"Tell us about it, " said Tanno. "Horse-training is, at least, and always, an activity fit for a gentleman and wholly decent and respectable. "

"It happened last year, " said Agathemer, "in the autumn, before Andiviusdied; in fact, before we had any reason to dread that the end of his lifewas near. Entedius saw it, perhaps he would be a more suitable narratorthan I. "

"Go on, " said Hirnio, "I'd rather listen to you than talk myself. "

Agathemer resumed. 

"We were at Reate Fair. You know how such festivals are always attended byhorse-dealers and all sorts of such cheats and mountebanks. There was aplausible and ingratiating horse-dealer with some good horses. Entediusbought one and has it yet. "

"And no complaints to make, " said Hirnio, "the brute was as representedand has given satisfaction in every way. "

"Some others in our party bought horses of him also. " Agathemer continued. "Later, when the sports were on, he brought out a tall, long-barrelledpiebald horse, rather a well-shaped beast, and one which would have beenhandsome had he been cream or bay. He showed off his paces and thenoffered him as a free gift to anyone who could stick on him without afall. Several farm-lads tried and he threw them by simple buckings andrearings. Some more experienced horse-wranglers tried, but he threw oneafter the other. 

"Then there came forward Blaesus Agellus, the best horse-master aboutReate. He had watched till he thought he knew all the young stallion'stricks. No kicking, rearing or bucking could unseat him and the beasttried several unusual and bizarre contortions. Blaesus stuck on. Then thehorse-dealer seemed to give a signal, as the horse cantered tamely roundthe ring. 

"Instantly the horse, without any motion which gave warning of what he wasabout to do, threw himself sideways flat on the ground. 

"Blaesus was stunned and his right leg badly bruised, though not broken. 

"The owner gloried in his treasure and boasted of his control over thehorse, even at a distance. 

"Then Hedulio came forward. The crowd was visibly amazed to see a youngnobleman put himself on a level with the commonality. But they all knewHedulio's affable ways and there were no hoots or jeers. 

"Hedulio examined the horse carefully, fetlocks, hoofs, mouth and all. Then he gentled and patted it. When he vaulted into the saddle, the brutedid a little rearing, kicking and bucking, but soon quieted. 

"Hedulio trotted him round the ring, calling to the owner:

"I dare you to try all your signals. '

"The owner seemed to try, at first far back in the crowd, so confident washe of his control of the horse, then nearer, then standing in the frontrow of spectators. 

"The horse remained quiet. 

"So Hedulio rode him home and all at the villa acclaimed the horse a greatprize. 

"The marvel was that he was only a two-year-old, as all experts agreed. Ihave seen many trick horses, but seldom a good trick horse under eightyears old and never a well-trained trick horse under four years old. Thiswas barely two. "

"Is he still in your stables?" Tanno asked. 

"Let Agathemer finish his tale, " I replied. 

"Two mornings afterward, " Agathemer summed up, "we found the stable wasbroken into and the young stallion gone. No other horse had been stolen. "

"Just what might have been expected, " said Tanno, "and now, as king of therevels, I pronounce this symposium at an end. I mean to be up by dawn andto get Hedulio up soon after I am awake. I mean to start back for Romewith him as soon after dawn as I can arrange. You other gentlemen cansleep as late as you like, of course. "

"I'm going with you, " Hirnio cut in. "I came prepared, with my servant andled-mule loaded with my outfit. I'm to be up as soon as you two. "

"Let's all turn in, " Tanno proposed. 

Mallius Vulso and Neponius Pomplio, who lived nearest me, declared theirintention of riding home in the moon-light. The others discussed whetherthey should also go home or sleep in the rooms ready for them. I urgedthem to stay, but finally, they all decided to ride home. 

Agathemer went to give orders for their horses to be brought round. 

"By the way, Caius, " Tanno asked, "how are you going to travel?"

"On horseback, " I replied. 

"Why not in your carriage?" he queried. "I was hoping to ride with you tothe Via Salaria, at least, unless your roads jolt a carriage as badly asbearers on them jolt a litter. What's wrong with the superperfecttravelling carriage of your late Uncle?"

"I have lent it, " I explained, "to Marcus Martius, to travel to Rome inwith his bride. I wrote you of his wedding. He has just married my uncle'sfreedwoman Marcia. I wrote you about it. "

"Pooh!" cried Tanno, "how should I remember the marriage of a freedwoman Inever saw with a bumpkin I never heard of?"

"No bumpkin, " cut in Lisius Naepor. "Not any more of a bumpkin than I orany of the rest of us here. You are too high and mighty, Opsitius. It istrue that in our countryside the only senators are Aemilius, Vedius andSatronius, and that in our immediate vicinity Hirnio and Hedulio are theonly proprietors of equestrian rank but we commoners here are no bumpkinsor clodhoppers. "

"I apologize, " Tanno spoke conciliatingly. "You are right to call me down. We Romans of Rome really know the worth of farmers and provincials and thelike. But we are so used, among ourselves, to thinking of Rome as thewhole world, that our speech belies our esteem for our equals. I shouldnot have spoken so. Who is Marcus Martius, Caius, and who is Marcia?"

"Marcus Martius, " I said, "is a local landowner like the rest of us. Hewould have been here to-night but for his recent marriage and approachingjourney to Rome. I have always asked him to my dinners. "

"Then how, in the name of Ops Consiva, " cried Tanno, "did he come to marryyour uncle's freedwoman?"

"This time I agree with you, Opsitius, " said Naepor. "Your tone of scornis wholly justified. Marrying freedwomen is getting far too common. Ifthings go on this way there will be no Roman nobility nor gentry nor evenany Roman commonality; just a wish-wash of counterfeit Romans, nine-tenthsforeign in ancestry, with just enough of a dash of Roman blood to bequeaththem our weaknesses and vices. "

"On the other hand, " said Juventius Muso, "while agreeing with Naepor asto the propriety of the tone, I object to the question. Instead of askinghow Martius came to marry Marcia, had you been acquainted with the recentpast history of this neighborhood, Opsitius, you would have asked how mostof the rest of us managed to escape marrying her. "

"A freedwoman!" cried Tanno. 

"A most unusual freedwoman, " Hirnio asserted, "as she was almost a portentas a slave-girl. Haven't you ever heard of her, Opsitius?"

"We Romans, " Tanno bantered, "are lamentably ignorant on the life-histories of brood-sows, slave-girls, prize-heifers and such-likenotabilities of Sabinum. "

"She is no Sabine, " Hirnio retorted, "but, as far as the locality of herbirth and upbringing goes, is as Roman as you are. Did you never hear ofUmmidius Quadratus?"

"Hush!" Tanno breathed. "I have heard of the man you have named, heard ofhim on the deaf side of my head, as did all Rome. But, in the name ofMinerva, do not utter his name. It is best forgotten. Even so long afterhis execution and so far from Rome, the mention of the name of anyoneimplicated as he was might have most unfortunate results. "

"Not here and among us, " Hirnio declared. "The point is that Quadratus hada eunuch less worthless than most eunuchs. He became a very clever surgeonand physician, and endeared himself to Quadratus by many cures among hiscountless slaves, and even among his kin. Quadratus made him his chiefphysician and trusted him utterly. Naturally he let him set up anestablishment of his own, allowing him to select a location. Hyacinthus, for that is the eunuch's name, instead of choosing for a home any one of adozen desirable neighborhoods well within his means with the liberalallowance Quadratus gave him, settled in a peculiarly vile slum, because, as he said, his associates mostly lived there; meaning by his associatesthe votaries of some sort of Syrian cult, chiefly peddlers and such, living like ants or maggots, all packed together in the rookeries of thatquarter. 

"Hyacinthus was not only a member of their sect, but their hierophant, orwhatever they call it, and presided at the ceremonies of their religion attheir little temple somewhere in the same part of the city. 

"He divided his energies between his calling of surgeon, at which heprospered amazingly, and his avocation of hierophant. 

"As head of their cult it fell to him to care for the orphans of theirpoorer families and for foundlings, for such Asiatics never expose infantsor fail to succor exposed infants. 

"Marcia was a foundling and brought up by Hyacinthus, therefore, legally aslave of Quadratus. 

"Quadratus saw her and took a fancy to her. He had her taught not onlydancing, music and such accomplishments, but had her educated almost as ifshe had been his niece or daughter. 

"When she was yet but a half-grown girl, she had acquired such a hold onhim that he used to bewail it. What was it he said, Hedulio?"

"I have heard him say to my uncle, " I said, "that Marcia was as imperiousas if she were Empress and that living with her was as bad as beingmarried. Quadratus was born to be a bachelor and never thought ofmatrimony. But though he had solaced himself with a long series ofbeauties in all previous cases his word had been law and not one of hisconcubines had had any will of her own. Marcia's word was law to him, evenher tone or look. She had wheedled him into lavishing on her flowers, perfumery, jewels, an incredibly varied and costly wardrobe, maids, masseuses, bathgirls, a mob of waiters, cooks, doorkeepers, litter-bearersand what not and the most costly equipages. 

"He groaned, but was too infatuated to deny her anything. 

"My uncle sympathized with him and, with the idea of disabusing him of hisfolly, somehow, while visiting him, saw Marcia. 

"Uncle at once fell madly in love with her. 

"He offered to buy her. 

"That was just before Quadratus became involved in the intrigues radiatingfrom Lucilla's conspiracy, was implicated in the conspiracy itself and sodisgraced and executed. 

"Marcia seems to have had some prevision or inkling of what was coming. Anyhow she could not have acted more for her own interest if she had hadaccurate information of what was impending. She cajoled Uncle into buyingher and coaxed Quadratus into selling her. 

"'Take her, ' Quadratus told him, 'at your own price. If you don't or ifsomebody else don't free me from this vampire, I'll be fool enough tomanumit her and marry her as soon as she is free!'

"Uncle brought her up here. 

"Did she wail at leaving Rome and mourn over seclusion in our hills? Notshe. 

"She made as big a fool of Uncle as she had of Quadratus. 

"He, with his ill health and his frequent illnesses, got as muchsatisfaction out of Marcia as a blind man would get from a painting. Buthe indulged her far beyond his means. He gave her the little west villafor her home, and a small horde of servants. She wheedled him into freeingher and then, from the day she was freed, set herself to marry and marrywell. She had every bachelor and widower hereabouts visiting her, danglingabout her, competing for her smiles, showering gifts on her, solicitingher favor!

"When they found, one by one, that the only road to her favors was bymatrimony, they sheered off in terror, one by one. 

"She nearly married Vedius Caspo, came almost as near with SatroniusSabinus. 

"Then, when she saw no hope left of a senator, she almost landed Hirnio, tried to marry Uncle, and tried to marry me. "

"And just missed all three, " said Hirnio, fervently. "I am still equallycongratulating myself on my escape and wondering over it. I was sureAndivius would marry her, sure of it until his last illness made itimpossible. And I feared for our Hedulio here. 

"The only man hereabouts whom she did not try to marry was DucconiusFurfur. She had made eyes at his father, and Ducconius was precious afraidshe would be his stepmother. At first he railed at her. Then, just beforehis father's death, it was manifest to everybody that he was yielding toher fascinations, himself. Hardly was old Ducconius buried when youngFurfur lost his head completely and fell madly in love with Marcia. Shecould have married him easily; in fact, he offered marriage, not only toher in private, but before witnesses. She, for some reason, would not hearof marrying him. In fact, Furfur, it seems, was the only bachelorhereabouts whom she was unwilling to marry. She flouted him, derided him, and finally forbade him her house and ordered him never to dare toapproach her. He kept away, sulky and morose and low-spirited. 

"After that episode she had a go at Muso, the only other bachelor among usseven. 

"Finally she fastened on Marcus Martius, who is not quite as rich as Muso, but yet comfortably well off. She married him day before yesterday. "

"Thanks be to Hercules, " Tanno cried, "that I have never set eyes on thejade. I'm for matrimony only with an heiress of my own class and only withsuch an heiress as I personally fancy. No matrimony for me otherwise. "

With this the party broke up. We all went out on the terrace. My sixneighbors mounted and cantered off on their various roads home; Tanno, Hirnio and I went in and to bed. 

CHAPTER V

ENCOUNTERS

Next morning I was wakened by a dash of cold water over me and sat up inbed dripping and angry. Tanno was bending over me. 

"I had to souse you, " he explained. "I've been shaking you and yelling atyou and you stayed as fast asleep as before I touched you. Get up andlet's start for Rome. "

We enjoyed a brief rubdown and after Entedius joined us each relished asmall cup of mulled wine and one of Ofatulena's delicious little hot, crisp rolls. 

In the east courtyard we found our equipages and I descried my tenantsoutside the gate, all horsed and each muffled in a close rain-cloak, topped off by a big umbrella hat, its wide brim dripping all round itsedge, for the weather was atrocious; foggy mist blanketing all the worldunder a gray sky from which descended a thin, chilly drizzle. 

Hirnio was inspecting Tanno's litter and chatting with Tanno about it. 

"Never saw one with poles like this, " he said. "All I have seen had onelong pole on each side, a continuous bar of wood from end to end. What'sthe idea of four poles, half poles you might call them, two on a side?"

"You see, " Tanno explained, "It is far harder to get sound, flawless, perfect poles full length. Then, too, full-length spare poles are verybothersome and inconvenient to carry. With a litter equipped in thisfashion one man can carry a spare pole, and they are much easier andquicker to put in if a pole snaps. "

"I should think, " Hirnio remarked, "that the half-poles would pull out ofthe sockets. "

"Not a bit, " said Tanno, "they clamp in at the end, this way. See? Theclamps fasten instantly and release at a touch, but hold tenaciously whenshut. "

Under the arcade my household had gathered to say farewell and wish megood luck. I spoke briefly to each and thanked Ofatulena for herdistinguished cookery, both in respect to the credit her masterpieces haddone me at dinner and also for the taste of her rolls, which yet lingeredin mouth and memory. Tanno also expressed his admiration of her powers. 

Last I said farewell to my old nurse and foster mother Uturia, who, when Iwas scarcely a year old, had closed the eyes of my dying mother, and notmuch later of my father, and who had not merely suckled me, but had beenalmost as my real mother to me in my childhood. 

She could not keep back her tears, as always at our partings; the more asshe had had dreams the night before and she took her dreams veryseriously. 

"Deary, " she sobbed, "it has been revealed to me that you go into greatperils when you set out to-day. I saw danger all about you, danger frommen and danger from beasts. Beware of strangers, of narrow streets, ofwalled gardens, of plots, of secret conferences. All these threaten youespecially. "

I kissed her as heartily as if she had been my own mother. 

"Don't worry, Uturia, " I said, "as long as I live I'll take care of youand if I die you shall be a free woman with a cottage and garden and threeslaves of your own. "

But she only sobbed harder, both as she clung to me and after I hadmounted. 

Tanno, of course, rolled into his litter and slid the panels against therain. His bearers were muffled up precisely like my tenants. So wasTanno's intendant, so was Hirnio, so was I. The entire caravan was a merecolumn of horses, cloaks and hats, not a man visible, all the faces hidunder the flapping hat-brims, no man recognizable. 

Hirnio and I led, next came Tanno in his litter, then his extra bearers, next his intendant on horseback, then my nine tenants, each horsed andleading a pack-mule, last the mounted servants, Tanno's, Hirnio's andmine, similarly leading pack-mules, in all twenty-seven men afoot, sixteenmounted and twelve led mules. 

As we strung out Tanno called to me:

"Luck for us if we don't blunder into one of those ambushes we heard aboutat dinner last night. With all this cavalcade everybody we meet cannotfail to conjecture that so large a party can only be from either VillaVedia or Villa Satronia, such an escort misbefits anyone not of senatorialrank. If we do blunder into an ambush either side will know we are nottheir men and will assume we are of the other party. No one can recognizeanybody in this wet-weather rig. Any ambush will attack first andinvestigate afterwards or not at all. "

Had I heeded his chance words I might, even then, have saved myself. Butwhile my ears heard him my wits were deaf. I called back:

"There are no ambushes. Each side spreads such rumors to discredit theother, but neither so much as thinks of ambush. If Xantha or Greia islocated, the clan concerned for her freedom will gather a rescue-party andthere may be fight over her, but there are no ambushes. "

At the foot of my road Hirnio and I turned to our left. Tanno from hislitter emitted a howl of protest. 

"Nothing, " he yelled, "will induce me to traverse that road again. I toldyou so. You promised to take the other road. What do you mean?"

"Don't worry, Opsitius, " Hirnio reassured him. "We turned instinctivelyaccording to habit. You shall have your way. It is not much farther by theother road. "

"Anyhow, " I added, "Martius is not in sight. He was to have been herebefore us. If we went this way we should have to wait for him. If we gothe other we shall most likely meet him at the fork of the road. "

We turned to our right towards Villa Vedia and Vediamnum. About half wayto the entrance to Villa Vedia, at the top of the hill between the twobridges, the rain for a brief interval fairly cascaded from the sky. During this temporary downpour, as we splashed along, we saw loom out ofthe rain, fog and mist the outline of what might have been an equestrianstatue, but which, as we drew up to it, we found a horse and rider, stationary and motionless to the south of the road, on a tiny knoll, facing the road and so close to it that I might have put out my right handand touched the horse's nose as we passed. 

Like everyone in our convoy the rider was enveloped in a rain-cloak andhis head and face hidden under a wide-brimmed umbrella hat. He saluted asI came abreast of him, but his salutation was merely a perfunctory wave ofa hand, an all-but-imperceptible nod and an inarticulate grunt. 

I barely caught a glimpse of his face, but I made sure he was no one I hadever seen before and equally sure that he was not a Sabine. 

When we reached the entrance of Villa Vedia, which was also the crossroaddown which Marcus Martius and his bride must come, there was no sign of atravelling carriage, nor any fresh ruts in the road. 

We halted and peered into the mist. Nothing was in sight on the road, butthere was a stir in the bushes by the roadside. Out of them appeared abare head, with a shock of tousled, matted, rain-soaked gray hair, ahatchet face, brow like a bare skull, bleared eyes, far apart and deepseton either side of a sharp hooked nose like the beak of a bird of prey, high cheekbones under the thin, dry, tight-drawn skin above the sunkencheeks, a wide, thin-lipped mouth and a chin like a ship's prow. The raintrickled down the face. 

Up it rose, till there was visible under it a lean stringy neck, atattered garment, and the outline of a gaunt, emaciated body, that of atall, spare, half-starved old woman. 

I recognized the Aemilian Sibyl, as all the countryside called her, an oldcrone who had, since before the memory of our oldest patriarchs, lived ina cave in the woods on the Aemilian Estate, supported by the gifts doledout to her by the kindness, respect or fear of the slaves and peasantryliving nearest her abode, for she had a local reputation for magicalpowers in the way of spells to cure or curse, charms for wealth or health, love philtres, fortune-telling, prophecy and good advice on all subjectslikely to cause uncertainty of mind in farm-life. 

She towered out of the dripping shrubberies and pointed a long skinnyfinger at me. 

"I know you under your cloak and hat, Hedulio, " she wheezed. "Well for youif younger folk than I had such, eyes in their heads as I have in myspirit. I know you, Andivius Hedulio. You turn your face towards Reate, but you shall never see Reate this day. You might as well take the road toRome and be done with it, for to Rome you shall go, whether you will ornot. Whether you will or not, whatever road your feet take, you will findit leads you to Rome, whatever ship you take, no matter to what port shesteers, will land you at Rome's Wharf. They say all roads lead to Rome. For you, in truth, every road leads to Rome, whether you face towards Romeor away from Rome. 

"Be warned! Yield to your fate! If you would have luck, go to Rome, abidein Rome; and if you must leave Rome, return to Rome. 

"And hearken to my words, let them sink deep into your mind, remember themand heed them; beware of a man with a hooked nose, beware of secretconferences, beware of plots, walled gardens, beware of narrow streets, for these will be your undoing. "

Agathemer had edged his horse along the roadside the length of ourcavalcade and had joined me. He dismounted, strode to the hag and held outhis hand to her, some silver pieces on its palm, saying:

"My master thanks you for your warning and offers you these as a guerdon. "

"Greek!" she screamed. "I warn not for guerdons, but at the behest of theGod of Prophecy. Begone with your silver! Silver I scorn and gold and allthe treasures of mankind's folly and all the joys of mankind's life. I amthe Sibyl!"

And she tramped off through the crackling underbrush till the trees hidher and the noise of her going died away, till she was so far off that weheard the rain drops drip from the boughs and the horses fret at theirbits. 

So at a standstill, as we stared expectantly up the crossroad, we saw comeinto sight, not a travelling carriage, but a horseman, looming huge out ofthe fog, a vast bulk of a man on a big black horse like a farm work-horse. 

He drew rein and saluted civilly, tilting up his hat. His face was ruddy, his eyes blue, his expression that of a mountaineer from a village orsmall town. 

"I have lost my way, " he said. "My name is Murmex Lucro. I come fromNersae and am bound for Rome. I was told of a short cut that should havebrought me out on the Salarian Road near Trebula. But I must have taken awrong turn, for I was wholly at a loss at dusk yesterday and so camped inthe woods by a spring. I have not met a human being since daylight. Wheream I and how can I reach the Via Salaria?"

"You are not far from it, " Hirnio told him. "We are bound for Rome and ifyou join us you can reach Via Salaria with us by the road on which we aregoing. Should you prefer to follow the road along which we have come, which is rough, but less roundabout, you can, by taking every turn to theright, reach the Via Salaria some miles nearer Rome than where our roadwill bring us out on it. "

"I'll join your cavalcade, if you have no objection, " the stranger said. 

Hirnio and I expressed our entire willingness to have his company. 

Hirnio asked him:

"Are you in any way related to Murmex Frugi?"

"He was my father, " Murmex replied, simply. 

"Was!" Hirnio repeated. "The word strikes ominously on my ear. Someonefrom this neighborhood, I forget who, was in Nersae since the roads becamefit for travelling this spring and returned from there, or perhaps somewayfarer from Nersae stopped with someone hereabouts. At any rate we heardhe had seen Murmex Frugi still hale and sound, even at his advanced age. "

"My father, " said Murmex, "was still hale and sound on the Kalends of Mayand for a day or two thereafter. He fell ill with a cough and fever, anddied after only two nights' illness, on the Nones of May, barely more thana month ago. "

"He lived to a green old age, " said Hirnio, "and must have enjoyed everymoment of his life. "

"He seemed to, " said Murmex. 

"And I conjecture, " I put in, "that he was proud of his son. "

"He seemed so, " Murmex admitted, "but he was never a tenth as proud of meas I of him. "

"It is an honor, " I said, "to be the son of the greatest gladiator of ourfathers' days, of the man esteemed the best swordsman Italy ever saw liveout his term of service and live to retire on his savings. "

"It is, " Murmex said, as simply as before. 

Here we were interrupted by a yell from Tanno, as he leaned out of hislitter. 

"Are we going to take root here, " he bawled, "like Phaethon's sisters? Wewere supposed to be journeying to Rome. We appear to be bound for Hades;we shall certainly reach it if we continue sinking into your Sabine mud!"

"Martius agreed to wait for me, if I was late, " I shouted back to him. "Iagreed to wait for him; I keep my word. If you choose, we'll get out ofyour way and let you pass on. We can catch up with you. "

"Bah!" he roared. "No going it alone on a Sabine road for me! I'm tied toyou hand and foot. But this waiting in the rain is no fun! Did you noticethat man on horseback we passed on the road?"

"I did, " I called back. 

"Do you know who he is?"

"Never set eyes on him before, " I replied. 

"Do you know what he is?"

"No, " I answered, "I do not. What is he, according to your conjecture?"

"I'm not depending on any conjectures, " Tanno bellowed, "I know to acertainty. "

"Then tell us, " I called. 

"Not here!" cried Tanno. "I'll tell you later. "

He pulled his head inside his litter. 

We again stared up the crossroad. Nothing was in sight. 

"It seems to me, " Hirnio again addressed Murmex, "that not only yourfather was a Nersian, but also Pacideianus and that I have heard that healso was living in retirement at Nersae. "

"He is yet, " rejoined Murmex, laconically. 

"Then you know him?" Hirnio queried. 

"My mother, " said Murmex, "is his sister. "

"Your uncle!" cried Hirnio, "son to one of the two greatest retiredgladiators in Italy, nephew to the other! Living in the same town withthem! Did either of them ever teach you anything of sword play?"

"Both of them, " said Murmex, "taught me everything they knew of swordplay, from the day I could hold a toy lath sword. "

"Hercules!" I cried, "and what did they say of your proficiency?"

"My father with his last breath, " said Murmex solemnly, "and my unclePacideianus as he bade me farewell, told me that I am the best swordsmanalive. "

"Why have you never, " I asked, "tried your luck in the arena?"

"My father forbade me, " Murmex explained. "He bade me wait. He trowed agrown man was worth ten growing lads, and he said so and stuck to that. Onhis death-bed he told me I was almost seasoned. After we buried him I feltI could abide Nersae no longer. Uncle agreed with me that I had bestfollow my instincts. I fare to Rome to seek my fortune as a swordsman onthe sand in the amphitheatres. "

"You have fallen into good company, " I said, "for I can bring you at onceto the Emperor's notice. "

"I should be most grateful, " said Murmex. 

At that instant we heard an halloo from the road and saw a horseman appearout of the mist, then a travelling carriage behind him. It was Martius. When he was near enough I could see his grave, handsome, mediocre face farback in the carriage, and beside it Marcia's; small, delicate, shell-pink, her intense blue eyes bright even in that blurred gloomy daylight, shiningclose together over her little aquiline nose. 

We conferred and he agreed to fall in behind Tanno's extra bearers, between them and my farmers, Tanno's intendant getting in front of thelitter where he normally belonged. 

We got properly into line as arranged and plodded on down the road. 

Just outside of Vediamnum was, as Tanno had related, the village idiot, guarding his flock of goats. He mowed and gibbered at us and then spokesome intelligible words, as he occasionally did. 

"I know you, Hedulio, " he called. "You can't hide yourself under that hatnor inside that raincloak. I know you, Hedulio. But nobody but an idiotwould ever recognize you inside that rig and with all this escort. I knowyou, you aren't Vedius Vindex, you aren't Satronius Sabinus. You'reAndivius Hedulio. I know you. But nobody else will guess who you are. Nobody else around here is an idiot!"

Again, as with Tanno's utterance when we were leaving my villa, the wordsfell on my ears but did not penetrate to my thinking consciousness. Had Inoted what I heard, had I thought instantaneously of what the idiot'swords really signified, I might even then have saved myself. 

We plodded on, a long cavalcade of horsemen and bevy of men afoot, convoying a shut litter and a closed travelling carriage. 

Round the turn of the road, after passing the idiot and his goats, withthe brawling stream of the Bran Brook, now swollen to a respectable littleriver, on our left, with the wooded hills rising on our right, we enteredthe long, narrow winding single street of Vediamnum, a paved lane alongthe close-crowded tall stone houses built against the hillside on thenortheast, with the stream along it to the southwest, and houses wedgedbetween the street and the stream, brokenly, for about half of its length, with open intervals between. 

As we entered the village I saw ahead on the street not a human form, sawno face at any door of any house. I wondered over this, wondereduncomprehendingly. I had never seen the street of Vediamnum. Whollydeserted, not even in rains much harder than that which descended on us. Still wondering, still uncomprehending, when we were far enough into thevillage for the travelling carriage to be already between the firsthouses, I saw fall across the roadway, in front of me, two stout trunks oftrimmed trees, straight like pine trees; I heard the crash as they jarredon the stones of the stream-side wall, I saw them quiver as they settled;breast high and shoulder high from house-wall to house-wall, effectuallyblocking the highway. 

At the same instant there sounded a chorus of yells, shouts, calls, cheersand commands; and men poured out of the house doors, out of the alleysbetween the houses, up the river bank in the unbuilt intervals; menhatless and cloakless, clad only in their tunics, men with clubs, withstaffs, with staves, with bludgeons, with cudgels, men yelling:

"Greia! Greia! Rescue Greia! Club 'em! Brain 'em! Chase 'em! Vediusforever! At 'em boys! Mustard's the word! Make 'em run! Rescue Posis!"

They clubbed us. They clubbed the horses, they clubbed the mules, theyclubbed the bearers and their reliefs. They gave us no time to explain, and though I yelled out who I was and who was with me, though Hirnio andTanno and Martius yelled similarly, their explanations were unheard in thehubbub or unheeded. Also our effort to explain was brief. Swathed as wewere in our cloaks the hot gush of rage that flamed up in us drove usinstinctively to free our arms and fight. 

Now anyone might suppose that it would be an easy matter for some eighteenhorsemen to ride down and scatter a mob of varlets afoot. So it would bein the open, when the riders were aware of the attack and ready to meetit. We were taken wholly by surprise whereas our assailants were ready andagreed. For a moment it looked like a rout for us, our horses and mulesrearing and kicking, our whole caravan in confusion, jammed togetherhiggledy-piggledy, with all our attackers headed for the carriage, mistaking Marcia for Greia. 

Marcia never screamed, never moved, sat still and silent, apparently calmand placid. 

They all but dragged her out of the carriage. 

In fact we should indubitably have been frightfully mauled and Marciacarried off had it not been for Murmex and Tanno. 

At first onset Tanno had yelled explanations; but almost with his firstyell he rolled out of his litter, snatched a spare pole from a relief, andwith it laid about him; Murmex did the like. The two of them, one on theright of the litter and carriage, the other on the left, bore the wholeshock of our attackers' first rush and alone delayed it. 

Somehow, probably by Tanno's orders, perhaps by their own instincts, thereliefs with the other poles handed them to Hirnio and me as wedismounted. Three of the clever blacks caught our horses and Murmex's. Others detached the poles from the litter and the four biggest bearersseized them and used them vigorously. 

Thus, actually quicker than it takes to tell of it, eight powerful, skillful and justly incensed men on our side were plying litter polesagainst the cudgels of our attackers. 

I was severely bruised before I warmed up to my work; when I did warm up Ilaid a man flat with every blow of the pole I wielded. 

When my adversaries had had a sufficient taste of my skill to cause themto draw away from me, as far as they could in that press of men, horsesand mules, and I had cleared a space around me, I looked about. 

Agathemer, light built as he was, had wrenched a bludgeon from some Vedianand was wielding it not ineffectually. 

Hirnio was doing his part in the fighting like a gentleman and an expert. 

But Murmex and Tanno chiefly caught my eye. 

It was wonderful to see Tanno fight. Every swing of his pole cracked on askull. Men fell about him by twos and threes, one on the other. 

If Tanno was wonderful Murmex was marvellous. Never had I seen a manhandle a staff so rapidly and effectively. 

By this time my nine tenants were afoot, and uncloaked. Now a Sabinefarmer, afoot or horsed, is never without his trusty staff of yew or hollyor thorn. These the nine used to admiration, if less miraculously thanTanno and Murmex. 

Since there were now a round dozen skilled fencers plying their staffs onour side, and four huge and mighty Nubians doing their best (with no meanskill of their own, either) to assist us, we soon were on the way tovictory. 

The remnant of our adversaries still on their feet fled; fled up thealleys between the houses, into the houses, down the bank towards thestream or into the stream, over the barricade of the twin logs. 

That barricade made it impossible for us to go on. The number of men laidlow, some of whom were reviving from their stunned condition and crawlingor staggering away from under the hoofs of the crazed horses and mules, made it unthinkable that any explanation of the mistake which had led tothe fracas could be possible, or if possible, that explanation couldquench the fires of animosity which blazed in the breasts of allconcerned. 

With one accord, without any conference or the exchange of a word, ourparty made haste to escape from Vediamnum before our assailants ralliedfor a second onset. No horse or mule was hamstrung or lamed, no man hadbeen knocked senseless. All of us were more or less bruised and sore, somewere bleeding, two of my tenants had blood pouring from torn scalps, butevery man, horse and mule was fit to travel. 

We carried, lifted, dragged or rolled out of the way the disabled Vediansin the roadbed, making sure that not one was killed, we somehow got thetravelling carriage turned round, no small feat in that narrow space; wereadjusted the litter-poles, Tanno climbed in, Hirnio and Murmex and Imounted, Tanno's extra litter bearers led my farmers' horses and mules andwe set off on our retreat, my nine tenants, even with two of them halfscalped, forming a rearguard of entirely competent bludgeoners; certainlythey must have impressed the Vedians as adequate, for no face so much asshowed at a doorway until we were clear of the village and my tenantsremounted. Then came a few derisive yells after us as the mist cut off ourview of the nearest houses. 

We made haste, you may be sure. Outside of the village we passed the idiotand his goats. He mowed and grinned at us, but uttered no word. We saw noother human figure till we had passed the entrance to Villa Vedia and feltsafer. Nor did we pass anyone between that cross-road and the foot of myroad, save only the same immobile horseman on the same knoll, in the sameposition, and, apparently, at precisely the same spot, as if he wereindeed an equestrian statue. His salutation was as curt as before. 

At the foot of my road we held a consultation. Hirnio advised returning tomy villa and demanding an apology from Vedius, even instituting legalproceedings at Reate if he did not make an apology and enter a disclaimer. But Tanno, Martius and all my tenants, even the two with cracked heads, were for going on, and, of course, Murmex, who talked as if he had been amember of our company from the first. 

"Hercules be good to me, " Tanno cried, "to get out of this cursedneighborhood I am willing even to face the horrors of the bit of road Isuffered on as I came up. Let us be off on our road to Rome. "

"With all my heart, " I said. "But first tell me who or what is thatvoiceless and moveless horseman we passed twice between here and thecrossroads. You said you knew. "

"I do know, " Tanno grunted, "and I'm not fool enough to blurt it out on acountry road, either. Let's be off. Attention! Form ranks! Ready! Forward!March!"

Off we set, ordering our caravan as at first, except that Agathemer rodeby me, with Hirnio and Murmex in advance. 

We plodded down the muddy road, through the fine, continuous drizzle, wrapped in our cloaks, all the world about us helmed in fog, mist andrain, the trees looming blurred and gray-green in the wet air. 

Without meeting any wayfarers, with little talk among ourselves, we hadpassed the entrance to Villa Satronia and were no great distance from theSalarian Highway, when, where the road traversed a dense bit of woodland, the trees of which met overhead, the underbrush on both sides of the roadsuddenly rang with yells and was alive with excited men. 

It was almost the duplicate of our experience in Vediamnum, save that ourassailants were more numerous and shouted:

"Xantha, Xantha, rescue Xantha!"

"Satronius forever! Eat 'em alive, boys! Get Xantha! Get Xantha!" and suchlike calls. 

This time we had an infinitesimally longer warning, as the bushes to rightand left of the road were further apart than had been the houses liningthe streets of Vediamnum; also we reacted more quickly to the yells, having heard the like such a short time before. 

The fight was fully joined all along the line and was raging with noadvantage for either side, when I missed a parry and knew no more. 

Afterwards I was told that I fell stunned from a blow on the head and lay, bleeding not only from a terrific scalp wound but also from a dozen otherabrasions, until the fight was over, our assailants routed and completelyput to flight, and Tanno with the rest of the pursuers returned to thetravelling carriage and litter to find Marcia, pink and pretty and placid, seated as she had been when she left home, and me, weltering in a pool ofblood. 

A dozen Satronians lay stunned. Tanno reckoned two of them dead men. 

I was the only man seriously hurt on our side. 

Agathemer was for convoying me home. 

Tanno hooted at the idea, expatiating on the distance from Reate and theimprobability of such a town harboring a competent physician, on thenumber of excellent surgeons in Rome, on the advisability of getting meout of the locality afflicted with our Vedian-Satronian feud, and so on. 

He had me bandaged as best might be and composed in his litter. 

He took my horse. 

To me the journey to Rome was and is a complete blank. I was mostlyinsensible, and, when I showed signs of consciousness, was delirious. Irecall nothing except a vague sense of endless pain, misery and horror. Ihave no memory of anything that occurred on the road after I was hit onthe head, nor of the first night at Vicus Novus nor of the second atEretum. I first came to myself about the tenth hour of the third day, whenwe were but a short distance from Rome and in full sight of it. The viewof Rome, from any eminence outside the city from which a view of it may behad, has always seemed to me the most glorious spectacle upon which aRoman may feast his eyes. As a boy my tutors had yielded to myimportunities and had escorted me to every one of those elevations nearthe city famous as viewpoints. As a lad I had ridden out to each manytimes, whenever the weather promised a fine view, to delight my soul withthe aspect of the great city citizenship in which was my dearest heritage. To have been born a Roman was my chief pride; to gaze at Rome, to exult atthe beauty of Rome, was my keenest delight. 

More even than the acclaimed viewpoints, to which residents like me andvisitors from all the world flocked on fine afternoons, did I esteem thoseplaces on the roads radiating from Rome where a traveller faring Romewardcaught his first sight of the city; or those points where, if one road hadseveral hill-crests in succession, one had the best view possible anywherealong the road. 

Of the various roads entering Rome it always appeared to my judgment thatthe Tiburtine Highway afforded the most charming views of the city. 

But, along the Salarian Highway, are several rises at the top of each ofwhich one sees a fascinating picture when looking towards Rome. Of thesemy favorite was that from the crest of the ascent after one crosses theAnio, just after passing Antemnae, near the third milestone. 

This view I love now as I have always loved it, as I loved it when a boy. To halt on that crest of the road, of a fair, still, mild, brilliantafternoon when the sun is already visibly declining and its rays fallslanting and mellow; to view the great city bathed in the warm, evenlight, its pinnacles, tower-roofs, domes, and roof-tiles flashing andsparkling in the late sunshine, all of it radiant with the magical glow ofan Italian afternoon, to see Rome so vast, so grandiose, so majestic, sowinsome, so lovely; to know that one owns one's share in Rome, that one ispart of Rome; that, I conceive, confers the keenest joy of which the humanheart is capable. 

It so happened that Tanno had his litter opened, that I might get all theair possible, and the curtains looped back tightly. Somehow, at the verycrest of that rise on the Salarian Road, on a perfect afternoon, about thetenth hour, I came to myself. 

I was aching in every limb and joint, I was sore over every inch of mysurface, I was all one jelly of bruises, my head and my left shin hurt meacutely. More than all that I was permeated by that nameless horror whichcomes from weakness and a high fever. 

Now it would be impossible to convey, by any human words, the strangenessof my sensations. My sufferings, my illness, my distress of mind envelopedme and permeated me with a general misery in which I could not but loathelife, the world and anything I saw, and I saw before me the mostmagnificent, the most noble, the most inspiriting sight the world affords. 

At the instant of reviving I was overwhelmed by my sensations, by myrecollections of the two fights and of all they meant to me of misfortuneand disaster, and I was more than overwhelmed by the glory spread beforeme. I went all hot and cold inside and all through me and lostconsciousness. 

After this lapse I was not conscious of anything until I began to be dimlyaware that I was in my own bed in my own bedroom, in my own house andtended by my own personal servants. 

Strangely enough this second awakening was as different as possible frommy momentary revival near Antemnae. Then I had been appalled by the rushof varying sensations, crowding memories, conflicting emotions anddaunting forebodings, each of which seemed as distinct, vivid and keen asevery other of the uncountable swarm of impressions: I had felt acutelyand cared extremely. Now every memory and sensation was blurred, nothought of the future intruded, I accepted without internal questioningswhatever was done for me, and lay semi-conscious, incurious andindifferent. Mostly I dozed half-conscious. I was almost in a stupor, atpeace with myself and all the world, wretched, yet acquiescing in mywretchedness, not rebellious nor recalcitrant. 

This semi-stupor gradually wore off, my half-consciousness between longsleeps growing less and less blurred, my faculties more alive, mypersonality emerging. 

When I came entirely to myself I found Tanno seated by my bed. 

"You're all right now, Caius, " he said, "I have kept away till Galen saidyou were well enough for me to talk to you. "

"Galen?" I repeated, "have I been as ill as all that?"

"Not ill, " Tanno disclaimed, "merely bruised. You are certainly a portentin a fight. I never saw you fight before, never saw you practice at reallyserious fencing, never heard anybody speak of you as an expert, or as afighter. But I take oath I never saw a man handle a stave as you did. Youwere quicker than lightning, you seemed in ten places at once, you were asreckless as a Fury and as effectual as a thunderbolt. You laid men out bytwos and threes. But jammed as you were in a press of enemies you were hitoften and hard, so often and so hard that, after you were downed by a blowon the head, you never came to until I had you where you are. "

"Yes I did, " I protested, "I came to on the hilltop this side ofAntemnae. "

"Not enough to tell any of us about it, " he soothed me. "Anyhow, you aremending now and will soon be yourself. "

I was indifferent. My mind was not yet half awake. 

"Did I fight as well as you say?" I asked, "or are you flattering me?"

"No flattery, my boy, " he said. "You are a portent. "

Then he told me of the result of the fight with the Satronians, of theircomplete discomfiture and rout, of how he had brought me to Rome, seen meproperly attended and looked after my tenants. 

"They are having the best time, " he said, "they ever had in all theirlives. "

And he told me where he had them lodged and which sights of Rome they hadseen from day to day. 

"Just as soon as I had seen to you and them, " he said, "I called on dearold Nemestronia and told her of your condition. She is full of solicitudefor you and will overwhelm you with dainties as soon as you are wellenough to relish any. "

He did not mention Vedia and I was still too dazed, too numb, too weak, too acquiescent to ask after her, or even to think of asking after her orto notice that he had not mentioned her. 

"While I was talking to Nemestronia, " Tanno said, "I took care to warn herabout that cursed leopard. She would not agree to cage it, at least notpermanently. She did agree to cage it at night and said she would not letit have the run of her palace even by day, as it has since she first gotit, but would keep it shut up in the shrubbery garden, as she calls it, where they usually feed it and where you and I have seen it crawl up onits victims and pounce on them. "

I could not be interested in leopards, or Nemestronia or even in Vedia, ifhe had mentioned Vedia. I fell into a half doze. Just on the point ofgoing fast asleep I half roused, queerly enough. 

"Caius!" I asked, "do you remember that man on horseback we passed in therain between my road entrance and Vediamnum?"

"You can wager your estate I remember him!" Tanno replied. 

"What sort of man was he?" I queried, struggling with my tendency tosleep. "You said you knew. "

"I do know, " Tanno asserted, "I cannot identify him, though I havequestioned those who should know and who are safe. I should know his name, but I cannot recall it or place him. But I know his occupation. He is aprofessional informer in the employ of the palace secret service, anImperial spy. 

"Now what in the name of Mercury was he doing in the rain, on a Sabineroadside? I cannot conjecture. "

This should have roused me staring wide awake. 

But I was too exhausted to take any normal interest in anything. 

"I can't conjecture either, " I drawled thickly. 

CHAPTER VI

A RATHER BAD DAY

Next morning, strangely enough, I wakened at my normal, habitual time forwakening when in town, and wakened feeling weak indeed and still sore inplaces, but entirely myself in general and filled with a sort of shamenergy and spurious vigor. 

By me, when I woke, was Occo, my soft-voiced, noiseless-footed, deft-handed personal attendant. At my bidding he summoned Agathemer. When Itold him that I proposed to get up, dress and go out as I usually did whenin Rome, in fact that I intended to follow the conventional andfashionable daily routine to which I had been habituated, he protestedvigorously. He said that both Celsianus and Galen, the two most acclaimedphysicians in Rome, who had been called in in consultation by my ownphysician, but also he himself, had enjoined most emphatically that I mustremain abed for some days yet, must keep indoors for many days more, if Iwas to continue on the road to recovery on which their ministrations hadset me, and that all three had bidden him tell me that any transgressionof their instructions would expose me to the probability of a relapse farmore serious than my initial illness and to a far longer period ofinactivity. 

I was determined and obstinate. When he added that I must not only remainquiet, but must not talk for any length of time nor concern myself withany news or any matters likely to excite me, I revolted. I commanded himto obey me and to be silent as to the physicians' orders. 

I began by asking him what day it was. I then learned that I had been illfifteen days since reaching Rome, for I had left my villa on the eighthday before the Ides of June and it was now the ninth day before theKalends of July. 

Next I asked after my tenants. Agathemer said that they had most dutifullypresented themselves each morning to salute me and attend my reception, ifI should be well enough to hold one; to ask after my progress towardsrecovery if I was not; that Ligo Atrior, as recognized leader among them, had also come each evening between bath-time and dinner-time to askpersonally after my condition; that, as all the physicians had, the daybefore, stated that I must by no means be allowed to see anyone save Tannoor to leave my bedroom, for some days, he had told Ligo the evening beforenot to diminish his and his fellows' time for sight-seeing by coming onthis particular morning; that Ligo had expressed his unalterable intentionof coming each evening in any case. 

I commended Agathemer's discretion but told him to tell Ligo, when he camein the afternoon, that I intended to hold a reception next morning andwanted to see all nine of them at it. 

I then asked about Murmex. Agathemer said that Tanno had offered to bringhim to the Emperor's notice, but that Murmex had declined, thanking him, but remarking that, as I had offered to bring him to the Emperor's notice, it would be bad manners on his part to appear under the countenance of anyother patron and would moreover be inviting bad luck instead of good luckon his presentation. 

Agathemer said Murmex had called twice to ask after me and had told himwhere he lodged. I instructed him to apprise Murmex of my intention tohold a morning reception. I knew Agathemer would send out notifications toall my city clients of long standing without any admonition of mine. 

He told me that no message of any kind had come from Vedia nor from VediusVedianus, the head of her clan, nor from Satronius Satro. I could notconjecture just why Vedia had remained silent, and I was not only worriedover the fact of her silence and aloofness, but felt myself wearied, evenafter a very short time, by the uncontrollable turmoil of my mind, puzzling as to why she had ignored me. 

As to Vedius and Satronius, I was vividly aware of their state of mind andacutely wretched over it. 

Only nineteen days before I had seen my _triclinium_ walled and flooredwith flowers presented by the local leader of one clan; had seen my dinnertable groan under the fruit sent me by the local leader of the other clan, had known that both clans were competing for my favor and that I was highin the good graces of each. 

Now I felt that all men of both clans must be bitterly incensed with me, for I knew their clan-pride. No man of either clan would weigh the facts:that neither fight had been of my seeking; that both fights had beenforced on me; that I could not by any exercise of ingenuity have avoidedeither, once the onset began; that each had been the result of theheadlong impetuosity and self-deception of my assailants, that both werethe outcome of conditions which I could not be expected to recognize asdangerous beforehand, of a mistake not of my causing, for which I was inno way to blame. I knew that every man of both clans, and most of all thehead of each clan, would consider nothing except that I had participatedin a roadside brawl in which men of their clan had been roughly handled, some of them by me personally, and from which their men had fled inconfusion, routed partly by my participation. 

I saw myself embroiled with both clans, conjectured that the two fightswere the staple of the clan gossip on both sides, and that animosityagainst me was increasing from day to day. I felt impelled to state mycase to both Vedius and Satronius, but I knew that even if I had been inthe best of health, even if I should be eloquent beyond my best previouseffort, there was little or no chance that anything I might say wouldavail to placate either magnate or to abate either's hostility toward me. And I knew that, in my dazed condition, the chances were that I wouldbungle the simplest mental task. 

Yet I formed the purpose of attempting, that very morning, to see bothSatronius and Vedius, and of attempting, if I was admitted to either, toconvince him that he had no reason to be incensed with me, but that heshould rather be incensed against my assailants: an aim impossible ofattainment, as I knew, but would not admit to myself. 

As I was to have no reception that morning I lay abed a while longer, atAgathemer's earnest solicitation. 

Little good it did me. In my mind, behind my shut eyelids, I rehearsed theunfortunate occurrences on the road, I groped back to their causes. 

I could see that Tanno's jesting replies to the Satronians he had met onthe road had given them the idea that Xantha was being conveyed, in a shutlitter, to Villa Vedia: similarly his quizzical words to the Vedians hehad met had given them a similar notion that Greia was being smuggledbehind slid panels and drawn curtains, to Villa Satronia. 

The men of each side had spread their conjecture among their clansmen. Each side had made the forecast that the abductors would try to carry offtheir prize to Rome: each had calculated that the other side would try tofool them, that they would not travel the obvious road, but try to escapeby boldly following the route least to be expected. So the Vediansinferred that the Satronians, instead of taking their direct road to theSalarian Highway, would expect an ambush along it and would try to sneakthrough Vediamnum. Therefore they were in ambush at Vediamnum. Similarlyand for similar reasons the Satronians were in ambush below their roadentrance, calculating that the Vedians would pass that way. 

I had blundered on both ambushes in succession. 

I lay, eyes closed, raging at my lack of foresight and at my hideous badluck. 

When Agathemer knew that I could not be kept longer abed he brought me acup of delicious hot mulled wine and a roll almost as well-flavored asOfatulena's, for my town cook was fit for a senator's kitchen. I lay stilla while longer. 

When I stood up I felt dizzy and faint, but I was resolved and stubborn. Besides, I craved fresh air and thought that an airing would revive me. Infact, once out of doors and in my litter, with all Uncle's sliding panelsopen, I felt very much better. I told my bearers to take me to the Vedianmansion. 

There the doorkeeper, indeed, stared, and the footmen nudged each other, but I was received civilly and was shown into the atrium, which I foundcrowded with the clan clients and with gentlemen like myself. 

The atrium of the Vedian mansion had kept, by family tradition, a sort ofaffectation of old-fashioned plainness. It was indeed lined with expensivemarbles, but it was far soberer in coloring, far simpler in every detail, than most atriums of similar houses. Instead of striving for an effect ofopulent gorgeousness by every device of material, color and decoration, the heads of the Vedian family had expressed, in their atrium, their cultof primitive simplicity. Compared with others of the houses of senatorstheir atrium appeared bare and bleak. 

His guests gazed at me curiously as I advanced to greet our host. 

Vedius, the smallest man in the throng, stood blinking at me with his redeyelids, his bald head shining from its top to the thin fringe of reddishhair above his big flaring ears, his small wizened face all screwed upinto a knot, his thin lips pursed, his little ferret eyes, close-setagainst his mean, miserly nose, peering at me under their blinking redlids. 

His expression was malign and sneering, his tone sarcastic, but his merewords were not discourteous. 

"I am delighted to see you, Andivius, " he said, "and very much amazed tosee you here. 

"I have been told that on the eighth day before the Ides, you enteredVediamnum early of a rainy morning, with an escort so numerous that nonecould have conjectured that the cavalcade was yours; that, when three orfour of the inhabitants of the village accosted you civilly and asked whoyou were and where you were going, your men, without any reply, fell onthem and beat them unmercifully; that, when the population of Vediamnumrushed to the assistance of their fellows, your convoy set upon them andstarted a pitched battle, mishandling them so frightfully that the streetwas strewn with stunned and bleeding villagers; that you not onlyparticipated in the affray, but fomented it and led it; that the two menwho have since died, fell under blows from your own quarter-staff. 

"Now, the fact that I see you here leads me to conjecture that, after theoccurrences which I have rehearsed, you would not have presented yourselfbefore me and come to salute me, had you not had some version of theseevents other than that uniformly reported to me. If you have any versiondiffering from those which I have heard, speak; we listen. "

I had begun to feel dizzy and faint just as soon as I was indoors, Iseemed dazed and as if my faculties were numb; at his ironical mock-courtesy I felt myself hot and cold all over. Yet I essayed to state myside of the case. 

I explained all the circumstances, narrated Tanno's unexpected arrival, his quizzical bantering of the persons whom he encountered on the road, mytenants' petition, my agreement with Marcus Martins, the accretion ofHirnio and Murmex to our party, Tanno's insistence on reaching theSalarian Highway through Vediamnum, and all the other trivial factorswhich had conspired to my undoing; I described the affray in Vediamnum, both as I had seen it and as Tanno and Agathemer had told me of it;similarly the fight below Villa Satronia. I thought I was lucid andconvincing. 

When I paused Vedius leered at me. 

"Andivius, " he said, "I am not such a fool as you take me for. I am not inany way deceived by all that rigmarole. I see through you and your wordsas I saw through your actions. I comprehend perfectly that you connivedwith the Satronians to entice my people into a roadside brawl to discreditour clan. I understand how ingeniously you made all your arrangements, even to concocting a sham fight with the Satronians to enable you to putforward the excuses you have offered. 

"Your plans miscarried at only two points: you did not mean to leave anycorpses, yet you caused the deaths of two of my retainers; you did notmean to suffer anything yourself, yet in your sham fight you wereaccidentally hit on the head. 

"Blows on the head often unsettle the intellect. I take that intoconsideration in dealing with you. If you go home now and recover fromyour injury your mind will clear. Then you will have wit enough to decidehow soon and how often it will be advisable for you to return here!"

His labored sarcasm was entirely intelligible. I bade him farewell asceremoniously as I could manage. 

He silkily said:

"I have a bit of parting advice for you, Andivius. The climate of Bruttiumis far better than that of Rome or Sabinum in promoting a recovery fromany sort of illness; it is also far more conducive to long life. If youare wise Rome will not see you linger here, nor will either Sabinum orRome see you return; a word to the wise is enough. "

Somehow I reached my litter. I understood his implied threat and sawendless difficulties and perils confronting me. 

At the Satronian mansion the lackeys were insolent and it needed allAgathemer's tact and self-control, and all mine to browbeat them intoadmitting me. 

As much as possible in contrast with the Vedian atrium was the Satronianatrium, a hall decorated as gorgeously, floridly and opulently as any inRome; fairly walled with statues almost jostling in their niches, soclosely were the niches set; and all behind, between and above them ablazewith crimson and glittering with gilding; every inch of walls and ceilingcarved, colored, gilded and glowing. 

Satronius was similarly in contrast with Vedius, a man tall, bulky, swarthy, rubicund and overbearing. 

No finesse about Satronius, not a trace. 

From amid his bevy of sycophants and toadies, over the heads of hisfashionably garbed guests, he towered, his face red as a beacon, his bigbullet head wagging, his great mouth open. 

He roared at me:

"What brings you here, with your hands red with the blood of three of myhenchmen? No Greek can outdo you in effrontery, Andivius. You are theshame of our nobility. To force your way into my morning reception afterhaving killed three of my men in an unprovoked assault on them on the openroad on my own land!"

I kept my temper and somehow kept my head clear, though it buzzed, and Ikept my feet though I seemed to myself to reel. I spoke up for myselfboldly and, I thought, expounded the circumstances and my version of thebrawls even better than I had to Vedius. 

To my amazement Satronius, in more brutal language, all but duplicatedwhat Vedius had said to me, only reversing the clan names. He wasconvinced that I had assaulted his men by prearrangement with the Vedians, after a mock fight with them at Vediamnum. 

I saw I was accomplishing nothing and endeavored to escape after a formalfarewell. 

Satronius roared after me:

"You left three corpses on the roadway below my villa. I'll not forgetthem nor will any man of my name. If you have sense you'll keep away fromSabinum, you'll get out of Rome, you'll hide yourself far away. My menhave long memories and keen eyes. There'll be another corpse foundsomewhere by and by and the score paid off. "

I laughed mirthlessly to myself as I climbed into my litter. I had, infact, embroiled myself hopelessly with both sides of the feud. 

Then my men carried me to the Palace. 

The enormousness and magnificence of the great public throne-room hadalways overwhelmed me with a sense of my own insignificance. On thatmorning, chagrined at my reception by Vedius and Satronius, weak, ill andtottering on my feet, needing all my will power to stand steadily and notreel, with my head buzzing and my ears humming, feeling large and lightand queer, I was abased and crushed by the vastness and hugeness of theroom and by the uncountable crowd which thronged it. 

Necessarily I was kept standing a long time in the press, and, in myweakened condition, I found my toga more than usually a burden, which issaying a great deal. 

I suppose the toga was a natural enough garment for our ancestors, whopractically wore nothing else, as their tunics were short and light. Butsince we have adopted and even developed foreign fashions in attire, weare sufficiently clad without any toga at all. To have to conceal one'sbecoming clothes under a toga, on all state and official occasions, isirritating to any well-dressed man even in the coldest weather, when theweight of the toga is unnoticed, since its warmth is grateful. 

But to have to stew in a toga in July, when the lightest clothing is nonetoo light, is a positive affliction, even out of doors on a breezy day. Indoors, in still and muggy weather, when one is jammed in a throng for anhour or two, a toga becomes an instrument of torture. Yet togas we mustwear at all public functions, and though we rage at the infliction andwonder at the queerness of the fate which has, by mere force oftraditional fashion, condemned us to such unconscionable sufferings, yetno one can devise any means of breaking with our hereditary socialconventions in attire. Therefore we continue to suffer though we rail. 

If a toga is a misery to a strong, well man, conceive of the agonies Isuffered in my weakened state, when I needed rest and fresh air, and hadto stand, supporting that load of garments, the sweat soaking my innertunic, fainting from exhaustion and heat. 

I somewhat revived when Tanno edged his way through the crowd and stood byme. We talked of my health, he rebuking me for my rashness in coming outso soon, I protesting that I was plenty well enough and feeling better formy outing. 

There we stood an hour or more, very uncomfortable, Tanno makingconversation to keep me cheerful. 

I needed his companionship and the atmosphere he diffused. For in additionto my illness and the circumstances I have described, I suffered from theproximity of Talponius Pulto, my only enemy among my acquaintances in theCity. I had seen him once already that morning, in the Vedian atrium, where he had stood beside Vedius Vedianus, towering over his diminutivehost, for he was a very tall man. Now, in the Imperial Audience Hall, hewas almost a full head taller than any man in the press about him, so thatI could not but be aware of his satirical gaze. 

He was a singularly handsome man, surpassed by few among our nobility, andI had remarked how he dwarfed Vedius, how he made him appear stunted andcontemptible. He had a head well shaped and well set, curly brown hair, fine and abundant, a high forehead, wide-set dark blue eyes, a chiselednose, a perfect mouth and a fine, rounded chin. His neck was the envy ofhalf our most beautiful women. His carriage was noble and he always lookeda very distinguished man. 

I could never divine why he hated me, but hate me he had from our earliestencounters. He derided me, maligned me and had often thwarted me from, apparently, mere spitefulness. 

As I knew his evil gaze on me I now, in my weakened condition, somehowfelt unable to bear it. 

Yet I was somewhat buoyed up, as I stood there, by a recurrence ofthoughts which I had often had before under similar circumstances. Mostmen of my rank seemed to take their wealth and position as matters ofcourse. I never could. I have, all my life, at times meditated on my goodfortune in being a Roman and a Roman of equestrian rank. While waiting inthe great Audience Hall of the Palace, especially, the emotions aroused bythese meditations often became so poignant as almost to overcome me, onthis day in particular. As I viewed the splendor of the Hall and thegorgeousness of the crowd that thronged it, my heart swelled at thethought of being part of all that magnificence. It thrilled me to feelthat I had a share and had a right to a share in Rome's glory. 

The Emperor was busy with a succession of embassies, delegations and soon, and, as far as I could see, was in a good humor and trying to appearaffable and not to seem bored. 

After the deputations were disposed of the senators passed before thethrone and saluted the Prince. Commodus barely spoke to most of them; itseemed to me, indeed, that he said more to Vedius and Satronius than toany other senators. 

Then came the turn of us knights, far more numerous than the senators. Theushers positively hurried us along. 

To me, to my amazement, the Emperor spoke very kindly. 

"I am delighted to see you here today, Hedulio. " he said. 

"And I am sorry that I have no time for what I want to ask you and say toyou. 

"I have heard of your illness and I know how it originated. Galen told meyou ought to keep your bed for days yet. Are you sure you are well enoughto be out?"

"I think it is doing me good, your Majesty, " I replied. "Your words are, Iknow. "

"If you feel too ill to come here tomorrow, " he said, "I'll hold youexcused, but in that case send a message early. I want you here tomorrow, specially, come if you can. 

"Meanwhile, tell me, has coming here to-day tired you? Can you staylonger?"

"I certainly can, " I replied, elated at his notice. 

"Then stay here till this tiresome ceremonial is over, " he said, "andaccompany me to the Palace Stadium. I have some yokes of chariot horses tolook over and try out, and some new chariots to try. I want you there. Imay need your advice. "

Flattered, I felt strength course through my veins and fatigue vanish. Ipassed completely round the lower part of the room and, with Tanno, tookmy stand near the southeastern door, by which he would pass out if on hisway to the Stadium. 

Few senators passed through that door with the party of which I was one, the invitations being based on horsemanship and good fellowship, not onwealth, social prominence or political importance. 

In the Stadium, of course, it was not only possible but natural to sitdown and Tanno and I took our seats in the shade and as far back as ourrank permitted. 

I was amazed to find how much I needed to sit down, what a relief it was, and to realize how near I had been to fainting. In the breezy shade I soonrevived and felt my strength come back. 

From my comfortable seat I watched one of those exhibitions of miraculoushorsemanship of which only Commodus was capable. 

The Palace Stadium, of course, is a very large and impressive structureand its arena of no mean extent. But compared, not merely with the CircusMaximus, but with the Flaminian Circus or Domitian's Stadium it seemedsmall and contracted. 

In this comparatively cramped space Commodus, divested of his officialrobes and clad only in a charioteer's tunic, belt and boots, performedsome amazing feats of horsemastery. 

The pace to which he could speed up a four-horse team on that shortstraight-away, his ability to postpone slowing them down for the turn, andyet to pull them in handily and in time, the deftness and precision of hisshort turns, the promptness with which he compelled them to gather speedafter the turn, these were astonishing, enough; but far more astonishingwere his grace of pose, his perfect form in every motion, the ease of allhis manoeuvres, the sense of his effortless control of his vehicle, ofreserve strength greatly in excess of the strength he exerted; these werenothing short of dazzling. His pride in his artistry, for it amounted tothat, and his enjoyment of every detail of what he did and of the sport ingeneral, was infectious and delightful. I felt my love of horses growingin me with my admiration for so perfect a horseman, felt the like in allthe spectators. 

Team after team and chariot after chariot he tried out. 

Meanwhile Tanno and I, seated comfortably side by side, varied ourwatching of Commodus and our praises of his driving with talk of myembroilment with both sides of the feud, with rehearsing to each other theunseen missteps which had led me into such a hideous predicament, and withdiscussions of what might be done to set me right with both clans. Also hedescribed again to me what had occurred on the road after I was knockedsenseless and rehearsed his version of both fights, I commenting andtelling him what I recalled. 

"What occupies my thoughts most, " he said, "is that statuesque horsebackinformer planted by the roadside in the rain. What in the name of Mercurywas he doing in your Sabine fog so early on a wet day?"

I was unable to make any conjecture. 

For some time Commodus was almost uninterruptedly on the arena, making hischanges from team to team, with scarcely an instant's interval. When helingered under the arcade at the starting end of the Stadium Tannoremarked:

"We had best join the gathering. Do you feel sufficiently rested?"

I stood up and, for the first time that day, did so without any dizziness, lightheadedness or weakness in my knees. I felt almost myself. 

Under the arcade we found Commodus explaining the merits of a new chariotmade after his own design. It was a beautiful specimen of the vehicle-maker's art, its pole tipped with a bronze lion's head exquisitely chased, the pole itself of ash, the axle and wheel-spokes of cornel-wood, all thewoodwork gilded, the hubs and tires of wrought bronze, also gilded, thefront of the chariot-body of hammered bronze, embossed with figuresdepicting two of the Labors of Hercules; every part profusely decoratedand the whole effect very tasteful. 

Commodus ignored all these beauties entirely and discoursed of itsmeasurements. 

"Come close, Hedulio, " he commanded, "this is just what I wanted you for. "

The jockeys, athletes, acrobats and mimes about him made way for Tanno andme and some other gentlemen. 

"I have always had very definite theories of chariot construction, "Commodus went on. "I hold that the popular makes are all bad; in fact I ampositively of the opinion that the tendencies in chariot building havebeen all in the wrong direction for centuries. They have followed andintensified the traditions from ancient days, when chariots were chieflyused for battle and only once in a while for racing. 

"For battle purposes chariots, of course, were built for speed and quickturning, but after that, to avoid upsets. When a man was going to drive apair of half-wild stallions across trackless country, over gullies andboulders, through bushes, up and down hill, often along a gravellyhillside, he saw to it that his chariot would keep right side up no matterhow it bounced and tilted and swerved. He made sure that his axle waslong, his wheels far apart, and their spokes short, so that his chariot-bed was as low as possible. He was right. 

"But, after fighting from chariots was wholly a thing of the past in Italyand chariots were used, as they are used, for racing only, why cling toprovisions for obsolete uses?

"A good general thinks of winning victories, not, like the fools I havedisgracing me along the Rhine, of avoiding defeats. So a good charioteerought to think, not of avoiding upsets, but of winning races. Yet allcharioteers appear to want their vehicles as low built as possible, withshort spoked wheels, wide apart on the ends of a long axle. That makesthem feel safer on a short turn, and, so help me Hercules, I hardly blamethem, anyhow. Besides, they all want to spraddle their legs apart and settheir feet wide, so as to stand firm on the chariot bed, so they want thechariot body made as wide as possible. 

"Now I don't need to plant my feet far apart when I drive. I believe Icould drive on one foot and keep my balance. So I hold a broad chariotbody is worse than unnecessary. More than that I maintain that the lowerthe axle is set, the less the team's strength goes into attaining speed. The lower the axle is set, the more sharply the pole slopes upward fromthe axle to the yoke-ring; the less of the team's energy goes into pullingthe chariot along, the more of it is wasted, so to speak, on lifting thechariot into the air at every leap forward. The higher the axle is set, the nearer the pole is to being level, the less power is wasted on thatupward pull and the more is utilized on the forward pull and goes toproduce speed. 

"Then again, I maintain that the farther apart the wheels are set the moreone drags against the other, not only at the turns, where anyone can seethe outer wheel drag on the inner, but at every swerve of the team on thestraightaway. All such dragging reduces speed and tires the team withpulling which is energy utterly wasted. 

"I hold the ideal racing chariot should have a chariot body as narrow aspossible, not much wider than the width of the driver's hips; should havethe wheels as close together as possible, to diminish the drag of onewheel against the other, should have the axle set as high as can bemanaged. 

"All charioteers exclaim that such a chariot tends to overset. So it does. But I never have had an overset and I never expect to overset. I know howto drive and poise myself so as to keep my chariot right side up, and Inever think of oversetting, I think of winning my race, and always do. 

"Anyhow, here before your eyes, is my new racing chariot and of all thechariots ever made on earth this has the longest wheel-spokes, thehighest-set axle, the closest-set wheels and the narrowest chariot body. Now I'm going to try it out and show it off. "

He did to admiration, amid excited acclaims, his four cream-colored maresfairly flying along the straights and taking the turns at a pace whichmade us hold our breath. 

After this thrilling exhibition he came back under the arcade and spoke tome first. 

"Hedulio, " he said, "you are one of the most competent horsemasters I everknew. What do you think of my idea of the best form for a racing chariot?"

"I think, " I said, "that it has all the merits you claim for it, but thatnot one charioteer in ten thousand could drive in it and avoid an upset, sooner or later, at a turn. "

"Right you are!" he replied, "but I am one charioteer in ten thousand. "

"Say in a hundred thousand, " I ventured to add. "For surely you could notfind, among all the professionals in the Empire, any other man to equalyou in team-driving. "

He beamed at me. 

When we left the Palace Tanno saw me in my litter and insisted onfollowing behind mine in his until he had seen me out of mine and into myown house. 

There I had a very brief and very light lunch, Agathemer hovering over meand reminding me of Galen's orders for my diet, so that I found myselfforbidden every viand which I craved and asked for, and limited to thevery simple fare which had been prepared for me. 

After lunch I went to bed and to sleep. 

I woke soon and very wide awake. When I rolled into bed I had felt soutterly done up with the excitement of my interviews with Vedius andSatronius, with the exertion of standing in the Throne-room and throughthe Emperor's lecture on chariot design, that I had renounced my intentionof calling on Vedia and had resigned myself to postponing my attempt tosee her until the morrow. 

I woke all feverish energy and restless determination to go to see her atonce. Therefore, between the siesta hour and the hour of the bath, Ipresented myself at Vedia's mansion. 

I was at once ushered into her atrium, where I found myself alone andwhere I sat waiting some time. 

When a maid summoned me into her _tablinum_, I found her alone, seated inher favorite lounging chair, charmingly attired and, I thought, morelovely than I had ever seen her. 

"Oh, Caia!" I cried. 

She bridled and stared at me haughtily. 

"'Vedia, '" if you please, she said coldly. "You have no manner of right to'Caia' me, Andivius. "

The distant formality of her address, her disdainful tone, the affront ofher words, chilled me like a dash of cold water. 

"Caia!" I stammered, "Vedia, I mean. What has happened? What is wrong?"For I could not credit that she would be incensed with me because of myinvolvement in the affray in Vediamnum nor that she would condemn meunheard, especially as Tanno had told me, in the Stadium of the Palace, that he had taken care to call on Vedia, and give her his version of mymishap. 

She glowered at me. 

"Your effrontery, " she burst out, "amazes me. I am incredulous that Ireally see you in my home, that you really have the shamelessness to forceyourself into my presence! It is an unforgivable affront that you shouldpretend love for me and aspire to be my husband and all the while bephilandering after a freedwoman; but that you should parade yourself onthe high road with her all the way from your villa to Rome, with the hussyenthroned in your own travelling carriage, is far worse. That you shouldget involved in roadside brawls with competitors for the possession of theminx is worse yet. Worst of all that you should advertise by all thesedoings, to all our world, your infatuation for such a creature and yourgreater interest in her than in me. I am indignant that I have consideredmarrying a suitor capable of such vileness, of such fatuity, of suchfolly. "

I was like a sailboat taken all aback by a sudden change of wind. I couldnot believe my ears. 

"I never took the slightest interest in Marcia, " I protested, "except tokeep my uncle from marrying her, after he set her free. She made eyes atme also, of course, for she made eyes at every marriageable man withinreach. But I never had anything to do with her, never called on her bymyself, never so much as talked to her alone. I went to her dinners, ofcourse. All widowers and bachelors of our district went to her dinners. But her dinners were the pattern of propriety in every way. Your owngrandmother's famous dinners were not more decorous. Except for being aguest, with others, at her dinners, I never was at her villa. I lent mycarriage not to her but to her bridegroom, Marcus Martius, a prosperousgentleman of my neighborhood, of whom you have often heard me speak, afriend of my uncle's and a friend of mine since boyhood. The fights, asTanno explained to you, had nothing to do with Marcia and her involvementin them was as accidental as mine. "

Vedia did not look a particle mollified. 

"You men, " she said, "are all alike. You will philander about your nastyjades. But, at least, when you vow that you love one woman and one only, and use every artifice to induce her to marry you, you should feel itincumbent on you to keep away from such creatures as this Marcia of yours. But you must needs dangle about her and go to her dinners. That was badenough. But, while wooing me, to arrange a mock marriage for her with alocal confederate and then positively bring her to Rome with you wasinfinitely worse. I am insulted, of course. But, above and beyond yourtreachery to me, I am insulted at your bungling your clumsy intrigues andflaunting the minx in the face of all the world and setting allfashionable Rome to gossiping about you and your hussy and to wonderinghow I am going to act about it. 

"I'll show them and you how I am going to act! I'm angry at your double-dealing; at your lies I am furious. I hate you. I hope I'll never set eyeson you again. The sooner you are gone, the better I'll like it. And I'llgive orders to ensure your never darkening my doors again!"

I tried to argue with her, to persuade her, to convince her, to induce herto listen to me. 

She raged at me. 

Dazed, I groped my way to my litter and, once in it, lost consciousnessentirely, not in a faint, but in the sleep of total exhaustion. 

As I rolled into my litter, feeling utterly unfit to enjoy a bath with anynatural associates, I had ordered my bearers to take me home. 

There I rested a while, for I waked before I reached home. Then I bathed, ate a simple dinner, alone with Agathemer, and went at once to bed. 

CHAPTER VII

A RATHER GOOD DAY

I slept soundly all night but woke at the first appearance of light. I layabed, my mind milling over my situation, over Vedia's unexpected jealousyof Marcia, over the absurdity of it, over her illogical but impregnableindignation and over the equally baseless but similarly unalterablehostility of Vedius and Satronius. 

I concluded to try again to placate all three. It seemed to me I couldrecall many omissions and infelicities in what I had said to bothmagnates, while in dealing with Vedia I seemed to myself to have beentongue-tied and fragmentary. 

After the bit of bread and hot mulled wine which I did not crave, butwhich Agathemer insisted on my taking according to Galen's orders, I helda brief morning reception. My nine farmer-tenants were all present, allpathetically and touchingly glad to see me again about, even old ChryserosPhilargyrus. 

They had a petition to prefer, namely, that I should give them permissionto leave Rome and return home, jointly and severally, just as soon as theypleased. Ligo Atrior acted as spokesman and said that they had comeprovided for a month's stay, as I had ordered, but they felt that theycould see all the sights of Rome which would interest them before themonth was out, and some sooner than others. Moreover they felt thatalthough they had left their farms in the best of condition and infaithful hands, yet their desire to return home would soon overcome theirinterest in sight-seeing and would grow more overmastering daily. 

I readily accorded what they asked. 

Murmex Lucro was there, and his appearance of superhuman strengthimpressed me even more than on the road, I bade him meet me at the Palace, and instructed him by which entrance to approach it and at what portal andprecisely where to take his stand in order that I might not miss him. Agathemer suggested that I detail one of my slaves to act as his guide andI did so. 

My salutants disposed of without hurry and to the last man, in spite ofAgathemer's protests, I ordered my litter. 

At the Vedian mansion I was refused admission. Agathemer and even I arguedand expostulated, but the doorkeeper said he had explicit orders not toadmit me, and the four big Nubians flanking the vestibule, two on a side, looked capable of using muscular force on any would-be intruder andappeared eager for a pretext for hurling themselves on me. 

I climbed back into my litter. 

As my men shouldered it, the doorkeeper or some one of his helpers madethe mistake of unchaining the watch-dog at me. 

He was a big, short-haired, black and white Aquitanian dog. He flew at thecalves of my bearers, snarling, and would have bitten them badly had I nothalf rolled, half fallen from my litter, almost into his jaws; in fact, not a foot in front of him. 

As all such animals always do with me, he checked, cowered, fawned andthen exhibited every symptom of recognition, delight and affection. Ipatted him, pulled his ears, smoothed his spine and climbed back into mylitter. The dog took his place under it as naturally as if I had raisedhim from a puppy and kept neatly underneath it, all the way to theSatronian Mansion. 

There, at sight of me, as I descended from my litter, the doorkeeperloosed his big fawn-colored Molossian hound at me. And he came in silence, but his lips wrinkled off his teeth, swift as a lion and looking in factas big as a yearling lioness and not unlike one in outline and color. 

The Aquitanian from under the litter flew at him with a snarl, theMolossian replied with a louder snarl, the two dogs clinched and tore eachother, snarling, and hung to each other, worrying and growling andsnarling, to the delight of my bearers. 

Out of the Satronian mansion poured a small mob of footmen, lackeys andsuch house-slaves. But not one dared approach the two dogs. At a safedistance they watched the fight. 

I seized the dogs, spoke to them, quieted them, separated them and when Iordered them, they lay down side by side under the litter. 

I climbed in. 

As my bearers shouldered the litter, the Satronian doorkeeper came forwardand said truculently:

"That is our dog under your litter. "

"Is he your dog?" I retorted. "Prove it! Take hold of him. "

The doorkeeper tried and the Molossian snarled at him. He called thefootmen to help him. 

At that somehow, I both lost my temper and felt prankish. 

"Chase 'em, Terror, " I called. "Chase 'em, Fury!"

It was a wonder to see the Aquitanian obey, to see the Molossian obey wasa portent. 

Into the mansion scuttled the doorkeeper, the footmen, the lackeys, thehangers-on, the two dogs barking at their heels. 

I called them off in time to forestall any lacerated ankles, and stillmore marvellously they obeyed instantly, checked, withdrew to under thelitter and there paced, side by side, to Vedia's home. 

There, also, I was denied admission, but urbanely, the porter assertingthat his mistress was not at home. 

While I was questioning the porter, who was becomingly respectful, a bevyof Vedian retainers, house-lackeys and other slaves, overtook me, demanding the return of the Aquitanian watchdog. 

"Take him!" I said, "take him if you can!"

The boldest of them approached the dog, calling him by name andwheedlingly. When he was but a yard or so away the dog flew at his throatand almost set his fangs into it, for they snapped together a mere hand'sbreadth short. 

The fellow recoiled and, when the dog followed like an arrow from a bow, took to his heels, his companions with him, and they ran helter-skelterdown the street, the dog pursuing them to the corner of the Carinae, andreturning, his tongue hanging out, his tail wagging, with all thedemonstrations of a dog who feels he has done his full duty and has earnedapprobation. 

Hardly had he returned when a band of Satronians appeared and a similarscene was enacted, with the Molossian as chief actor. 

When the last Satronian had vanished round the corner of the thoroughfareI reëntered my litter and we set off for the Palace, both dogs sedatelypacing side by side underneath. 

At the Palace portal Agathemer had no difficulty in locating Murmex, evenin the crowd which packed all approaches to that entrance. I spoke to thecenturion on duty at the portal and to the head out-door usher, meaning toarrange that Murmex should be let in among the first when the commonalitywere admitted after the senators and knights had paid their duty to theEmperor. To my amazement the head usher looked at a list or memorandumwhich he had in his hand and said:

"You are Andivius Hedulio, are you not? You are to take in with youanybody you please, to the number of ten. Caesar has given special ordersabout you. " Murmex therefore passed in with me and took up a position inthe lower part of the Audience Hall, where I could send a page to summonhim if my plans worked out as I hoped. 

We were early and the vast public throne-room almost empty. Tanno joinedme after I had stood but a short time and not long afterwards the Emperorentered, just as a fair crowd of senators had assembled. 

The formal salutation began at once and I noticed that the Emperor saidsomething personal to Vedius and that Vedius stepped out of the line ofsalutants and took up a position behind the Emperor on his left. Similarlyhe spoke to Satronius, who similarly took his station behind the Emperoron his right. 

When, in the long line of my equals, in an Audience Hall now jammed to thedoors, I drew near to the throne, I felt a growing embarrassment at seeingthe Emperor flanked by my two enemies. But, when I made my salutation, tomy amazement, the Emperor took my hand and leaned over and kissed me as ifI had been a senator. 

"I love you, Hedulio, " he said, "and I am proud of you. I have heard verylaudatory reports of you. My agents all agree in reporting that you have, in very difficult circumstances, done your utmost to avoid giving offenceto any of your neighbors in Sabinum, and that, if you have given offense, it was not your fault. They also agree in reporting that, mild andpeaceful as you are by disposition, you know how to defend yourself whenattacked, that you are not only a bold and resolute man in a tight place, but resourceful and prompt, a hard and quick hitter, and what is more, apast master at quarter-staff play. I love brave men and good fighters. Icommend you. "

He turned ironically to Vedius and asked:

"Did you miss any part of what I have just said to Andivius? I meant youto hear every word of it. "

Vedius, his mean face lead-gray, bowed and said:

"Your Majesty was completely audible. "

Then Commodus similarly questioned Satronius. He, his big face brick-red, his eyes popping out, seemed half strangled by his efforts to speak. 

"I could hear it all, " he managed to say. 

"You two stand facing me, " Commodus commanded. "Stand on either side ofAndivius. "

They so placed themselves with a very bad grace. 

The Emperor raised his voice. 

"Come near, all you senators, " he commanded. "I want all of you to hearwhat I am about to say and to be witnesses to it. "

Everybody, senators, knights and commoners crowded as close to the throneas etiquette and the ushers would allow. 

"Now listen to me, " spoke Commodus. "You know I hate all sorts of officialbusiness and should greatly prefer to put my entire time and energies onathletics, horsemanship and swordsmanship, archery and other things reallyworth while. I make no secret of my love for the activities at which I ambest and of my detestation of my duties. 

"But, just because I hate my duties, it does not follow that I neglectthem. A lot of you think I do. I'll show you you are not always right, noroften right. Just because I surround myself with wrestlers and charioteersand gladiators and other good fellows, not with senile self-styledphilosophers, prosy and with unkempt beards and rough cloaks, as my fatherdid, half of you think I am incapable of being serious, or haven'tintellect enough to understand government or sense enough to care for theEmpire. 

"You are mightily mistaken. I realize the importance of myresponsibilities and the magnificence of my opportunities. I hate routine, but I know well the value of our Empire and that I, as Prince of theRepublic, [Footnote: See Note A. ] have a bigger stake in it than any othercitizen of our Republic. I am not wholly absorbed in the joys ofpracticing feats of strength and skill. I put more time on governing thanyou think. 

"I am autocrat of our world, and I know how to make my influence felt whenI choose. I have very positive views about fighting. Fighting has to goon, on the frontiers of the Empire. My army can keep off our foes, but itcannot kill off the Moorish and Arab and Scythian nomads, nor the hordesof the German forests and the Caledonian moors. The Marcomanni and therest will claw at us. There must be fighting on the frontiers. It isproper that there should be fighting where necessary, on any frontier, andcorpses scattered about. 

"Also corpses are in place on any arena of any amphitheatre anywhereinside our frontiers; fighting inside amphitheatres is proper and seemly. 

"But I will tolerate no fighting inside our frontiers outside theamphitheatres. I'll not condone any corpses on the pavement of any streetor on the road of any highway or byways. I'll not permit any battles, set-tos, affrays or brawls in towns or villages or on roads. You hear me? Youhear me, Vedius? You hear me, Satronius? You hear me, all of you?

"Now it so happened that I had heard of your disgraceful Sabine feud, which mars the peace of a whole countryside near Reate, and I had sent acompetent and reliable agent with four assistants to investigate andreport. For once luck was with me: generally my luck as a ruler is as badas it is good for me as an athlete. It so happened that my agents had justcompleted their preliminary investigations and acquainted themselves withgeneral conditions when your idiotic feud broke loose in two abductions ofwomen, one by each side, that put my agents on their mettle. They keptawake. They are no fools. My head man has a keen scent for incipienttrouble; he managed to have one of his helpers get among the ambushers inVediamnum and another among those on your byway, Satronius. Each of thesetwo severally heard all the talk of the ambushers with whom he mingled; soI have had a faithful report of just what the Vedian ambush meant to do tothe Satronian convoy they lay in wait for and similarly of the other side. Each was waiting for a sheep; both caught a wildcat. If the men in theambushes had had any eyes or any sense, no fight would have occurred. Asit was they got no more than they deserved. Hedulio was set on withoutprovocation and merely defended himself and his associates as any self-respecting free man would. I have no fault to find with Hedulio. I takeyou all to witness. 

"Now that disposes of what is past. As to the future I shall tolerate noillegalities of any kind anywhere in the City, in Italy or in the Empire. You'll see. Dr. Commodus will cure this epidemic of lawlessness whichafflicts the Republic. You'll see my agents run down, catch and bring topunishment the ingenious rascals who have been amusing themselves bymasquerading as Imperial Messengers, scampering across the landscape forthe fun of the thing, eating lavish meals at my cost, running the legs offmy best horses, lodging luxuriously in the best bed at every inn they stopat, showing forged papers, or showing none at all, using no other meansthan effrontery and assurance. I'll have them stopped. I'll stop them. AndI'll quell, I'll squelch this outburst of banditry of which we have toomuch. I'll see that my agents hunt down and capture and execute thesehighwaymen who rob not only rich travellers, but government treasure-convoys, who even rob Imperial Messengers. A pretty state of affairs whenmy couriers are fair game alike for impostors and robbers. I'll make theslyest and the boldest quail at the idea of interfering with one of mydespatch riders and I'll exterminate all highwaymen. I'll have no oneswaggering up and down Italy, now in Liguria, now in Apulia, mocking thelaw and its guardians, looting as he pleases, uncatchable, untraceable, hidden and helped by mountaineers and farm-laborers and farmers, evenwelcomed secretly in villages and towns, acclaimed as King of theHighwaymen, until songs are made on him and sung even in Rome. He'll soondecorate a gibbet, impaled there and spiked there too. You'll see. Andstill less will I tolerate lawlessness among men of property and position. The past actions of you magnates I dislike. As to the future I may saythat my agents were at your morning reception yesterday, Vedius, and heardand reported your covert threats to Hedulio: likewise two were at yourhouse, Satronius, and heard and reported your open threats. 

"Now I perfectly understand what you two implied. You threatened Andiviuswith assassination, if he returned to his estates in Sabinum or if he somuch as remained in Rome. 

"Beware! Be warned! Take care! I am easy-going enough, but I am Caesar andI'll brook no trenching on my personal prerogatives or my legal authority. I have the tribunician power for life, I am commissioned thereby to forbidanything in the Republic and to see to it that no magistrate or citizenoversteps the limits of what is permitted him. By your threats to Hedulioyou practically arrogate to yourself the right to exile a Roman ofequestrian rank. Banishment is a governmental power and a prerogative ofCaesar. I'll have no magnates of such overweening behavior. I am jealousof my prerogatives, more than jealous!

"I know what you intend and what you can accomplish by your henchmen. Icomprehend that hundreds of stilettos are being sharpened, up there in theSabine Hills, and down here in the slums, for a chance at Hedulio. 

"Now I can do much by legal authority and more by personal prerogative. Bequick. Pass the word swiftly to all your satellites, here and in Sabinum. Let them all know that if Andivius Hedulio dies by poison or violence oris injured by any weapon, you two at Rome and your brother at Villa Vediaand your son, Satro, at Villa Satronia, will not see two more sunrises. Iknow how to enforce my will, and well you know that. Your lives are inpawn for his, let all your clansmen know in good time. 

"And more: if you dare, either of you, to move against Hedulio in anycourt at Reate or elsewhere in Sabinum for his participation in the brawlswhich you fomented and he fell into, I shall see to it that not yourinfluence dominates any trial, but evenhanded justice, jealously watchedover by my best legal advisers. You know what that means to you. "

The Emperor spoke with a sustained, white-hot fury and it was comical towatch Satronius and Vedius, as I did by sidelong glances when theEmperor's eyes were not on my face. 

When he stopped, both magnates bowed low and each in turn expressed hisloyal submissiveness. 

The Emperor dismissed them with a wave of his hand. To me he said:

"That will keep you alive, Hedulio and, I trust, help you to get back intogood health. Horrible bore, these small-size local matters; worse, ifanything, even, than the maintenance of the Rhine frontier. I loathe allthis routine. But my agents serve me pretty well. Besides putting me intouch, with all this feud idiocy they have incidentally informed me thatyou brought to Rome with you a son of Murmex Frugi, also a nephew ofPacideianus, and a pupil of both, who has come to Rome to try his luck attheir former profession. Did you bring him here today? I hoped you would. "

"I did, " I answered, "and thanks to your orders, I was able to pass him inwith me. He is in this hall now. " "Fine!" cried the Emperor, "and howabout your nine tenants, who stood by you so well in both fights. Did youbring them too?"

"I should never have so presumed, " I stammered, amazed, "It would neverhave entered my head to ask entry here for such simple rustics. I shouldhave anticipated your wrath had I so far forgot myself. "

"Rustics, " said Commodus, smiling, even grinning, "who can fight as I amtold your tenants can fight are always to my mind. Bring them heretomorrow, if you like. I'll see them in the Palaestra. I'm going theretoday after this function is finished. Bring your swordsman there. Youknow the door. I have given orders to admit you in my retinue. "

In the Palaestra Tanno cheerfully presented Murmex to some of his favoriteprize-fighters and he stood talking with them, they appraisingly conningthe son of Murmex Frugi. 

Tanno and I seated ourselves well back on the middle tier of thespectators' benches and chatted until the Emperor should have returnedfrom his dressing-room and should seem at leisure to notice us. 

"You must not be too puffed up at your good luck of today, " Tanno warnedme. 

"In fact, I advise you to be very wary and to comport yourself mostmodestly. You know Commodus. It has too often happened that when he hasoverwhelmed a courtier with favors, his very condescension seems to causea reaction in his feelings and he becomes insanely suspicious. Respondpromptly to all his suggestions, of course, but do not obtrude yourself onhis notice. In particular ask no favor of him for a long time to come. "

I thanked him for his advice and assured him that I most heartily agreedwith his ideas. 

Presently a page summoned me, and Tanno came, too. 

Commodus had rid himself of his official robes and was now clad only in anathlete's tunic and soft-soled shoes. I presented Murmex and the Emperorquestioned him, as to his age, his upbringing, his father's years inretirement at Nersae, as to Pacideianus and put questions about thrustsand parries designed to test his knowledge of fence. 

Then he seated himself on his throne on the little dais by the fencing-floor and had Murmex called to him, made him stand by him, and asked hisopinion of several pairs of fighters whom he had fence, one pair after theother. 

Appearing pleased with the replies he elicited he bade Murmex go with oneof the pages, rub down and change into fencing rig. While Murmex was gonehe viewed more fencing by young aspirants matched against accreditedPalace-school trainers. 

When Murmex returned he had him matched with the best of these tiros. But, almost at once, he called to the _lanista_:

"Save that novice! Murmex will kill him, even with that lath sword, if youdon't separate them. "

He then had Murmex pitted against a succession of experts, each betterthan his predecessor. Murmex acquitted himself so brilliantly thatCommodus cried:

"I must try this man myself. "

He stood up and stepped down from the dais. Then he spent some time inselecting a pair of cornel-wood fencing-swords of equal length and weightand of similar balance, repeatedly hefting the sword he had chosen andrepeatedly asking Murmex whether he was satisfied with his sword, whetherit suited him; and similarly of the choice of shields. 

When they faced each other they made as pretty a spectacle as I had everseen: Murmex stocky, so burly that he did not look tall, square-shouldered, deep-chested, vast of chest-girth, huge in every dimension andyet neither heavy nor slow in his movements; Commodus tall, slender, sinewy, lithe and graceful, quick in every movement and amazinglyhandsome. 

They had made but a few passes when Commodus exclaimed:

"You show your training: it is some fun to fence with you. "

After not many more thrusts and parries he called out:

"Be on your guard! I'm going to attack in earnest. "

There followed a hot burst of sword-play and when both adversaries wereout of breath and stepped back and stood panting, Commodus praised Murmexhighly. 

"You have the best guard I have ever encountered, " he said, "steady-eyed, cautious, wary yet quick too, and always with the threat of attack in yourdefense. You are a credit to your training. "

When they stepped forward again Commodus commanded:

"Attack now, attack your fiercest and show your quality. I shall not beangry if you land on me, I shall be pleased. Do your utmost!"

After the second bout he said:

"You are most dangerous in attack. At last I have found a man really worthfencing with. You gave me all I could do to protect myself. You are apearl!"

He looked round at the envious faces of more than two score seasonedprofessionals and addressed the gathering at large. 

"We have here a man who is nephew of Pacideianus and son to Murmex Frugi, trained since infancy by both. No wonder he is a marvel. I have neverfaced a swordsman who gave me so much trouble to protect myself or whoheld off my attacks so easily and completely. He is the only man alive, sofar as I know, really in my class as a fencer. "

As he was eyeing the assembly to note their manner of receiving thisproclamation his expression changed. 

"Egnatius!" he called sharply. "Come here!"

Egnatius Capito came forward. Like Tanno and myself he was conspicuoussince he was in his toga, most of those present being athletes and cladfor practice. 

"I did not notice you among your fellow senators at my levee, " said theEmperor. 

"I was not there, " Egnatius admitted. "I had a press of clients at my ownlevee this morning and reached the Palace just in time to hear what youhad to say to Vedius and Satronius. I tried to catch your eye as youpassed out, but you did not notice me at all. "

"I had rather see you here than in the throne-room, " Commodus said. "I amtold that you have let your tongue run entirely too wild in talking of melately. If I had not been also told that you had had too much wine Ishould animadvert on your effrontery officially. As it is I prefer toprove you wrong before these experts and gentlemen. "

"Of what have I been accused?" Capito queried, steadily. 

"There has been no accusation, " Commodus disclaimed. "But I have been toldthat, at more than one dinner, you have been fool enough to say that I amonly a sham swordsman, that I take a steel sword and face an adversarywhose sword has a blade of lead: that it is no wonder that no one scoresoff me, and that I run up big scores in all my bouts. "

"If I ever said anything like that, " spoke Capito boldly, "I was so drunkthat I have no recollection of having said it. And I am a sober man and alight drinker. Also I have never harbored such thoughts unless too drunkto know what I thought or said. "

"You are cold sober now, aren't you?" Commodus queried. 

"Entirely sober, " Egnatius agreed. 

"And you are a fencer far above the average?" he pursued. 

"I have been told I have no mean skill, " said Capito modestly. 

"Such being the case, " said Commodus, "you and I shall fence. Go with theattendants and change into fencing kit. You'll find all styles and sizesof everything needed in the dressing-rooms. First pick out a pair ofcornel-wood swords, entirely to your mind. "

When Capito had selected a pair of swords which suited both him and theEmperor, he went off to change. While he was gone Commodus had the armorerdrill a tiny hole near the point of one sword and insert in it one ofthose thorn-like little steel points which are commonly used on the endsof donkey-goads. 

When Capito returned he showed him the two swords. Capito looked up at himquestioningly and amazedly. 

"The idea is this, " Commodus explained. "I mean to demonstrate my perfectability to defend myself, as well as my dangerousness in attack. You areto use the sword with the goad point set in it; so that, if you succeed inhitting me, you will tear a long slash in my hide; for I am going to fencewith you in my skin only, stark; mother-naked as I was born. I shall usethe unaltered sword and you will have on your fencing-tunic, so that if Ihit you, it won't hurt you nearly as much as a hit from you will hurt me. 

"If you draw blood from me, I'll pay you one hundred thousand sesterces:if I fail to lay you out on the pavement, totally insensible, in threebouts, I'll pay you two hundred thousand sesterces. You can pick any_lanista_ here to judge the fight and tell us when to separate and rest. "

Capito, cool enough, indicated Murmex as referee. 

"He's not a _lanista_, " Commodus objected. 

"He's Frugi's pupil, " Capito maintained, "and therefore the best _lanista_here. "

"I agree, " said Commodus, and he called:

"Who's the physician on duty?"

When the official came forward he said truculently:

"Get your plasters ready and your revivers. You'll have to attend a manflat on the pavement, insensible and with a bad scalp wound, before muchtime has passed. "

And actually, though Capito fenced well, he was no match for Commodus. 

The bout was worth watching. The adversaries were just the same height anddiffered little in weight. Capito seemed more compact and steady; Commodusmore lithe and agile. Capito was a handsome man and made a fine figure inhis scanty, leek-green fencing tunic. Commodus, always vain, of his goodlooks, delighted in exhibiting himself totally nude, not only because heloved to shock elderly noblemen imbued with old-fashioned ideas ofpropriety, but also because he rightly thought himself one of the bestformed men alive. He was fond of being told that he was like Hercules but, except in the paintings of Zeuxis, Hercules has always been depicted asbrawnier and more mature than Commodus was then or ever became, to hislast hour. To me he suggested Mercury, especially as he appears in thepaintings of Polygnotus, or Apollo, as Apelles depicted him. 

Besides the grace and good looks of the two, they fenced very well, Capitocorrectly and with good judgment, Commodus with amazing dash andoriginality. 

Capito, though bold, was wholly unable to touch Commodus, while Commodusslashed him, even through his tunic, till his blood ran from a dozenscratches. Before the second bout was well joined Capito was felled by ablow on the head, which laid him flat and insensible, bleeding from aterrible scalp wound. 

After Capito had been carried off by the attendants, the Emperor, wrappedin an athlete's blanket, talked a while to Murmex and then went off tobathe, for he bathed many times a day. 

Set free, I went out and was helped into my litter. The two dogs werestill by it, took their places under it as if they had belonged to mesince puppyhood and under it trotted as I returned home. Once home I atethe lunch permitted me and had an hour's sound, dreamless sleep. 

I woke feeling so well that I sent for Agathemer, bade him have my litterready and told him I was going to the Baths of Titus. 

Inevitably Agathemer protested that I was not well enough; naturally Iinsisted and, of course, I had my way. 

As with court levees, I have never been able to take as a matter of coursewithout wonder and admiration, the marvellous spectacle afforded by anassemblage of our nobility and gentry gathered for their afternoon bath inany of our splendid Thermae. Of these I hold the Baths of Titus not onlythe most magnificent, which is conceded by everybody, but also I hold themthe most impressive mass of buildings in Rome, both outside and inside, and surpassing in every respect every other great public building in thecity. Most connoisseurs appraise the Temple of Venus and Rome as ourcapital's most splendid structure, but I could never bring myself to admitit superior to or even equal to the Baths of Titus. To enter thissurpassing building, always congratulating myself on my right to enter thebaths and use them; to be one of the courtly throng of fashionablenotables resorting to them: I could never take these things as a matter ofcourse. 

Nor could I ever take as a matter of course the sight of the bulk ofRome's nobility, gentlemen and ladies together, thronging the great poolsand halls or roaming about the corridors, passage-ways or galleries, alltotally nude. 

Social convention is an amazing factor in human life. One may say thatanything fashionable is accepted and that anything unfashionable isbanned. But that does not help one to explain to one's self the oddity ofsome social conventions. 

Oddest of all our Roman social conventions is the contrast between theinsistence on complete concealment of the human figure everywhere else andthe universal acceptance of its display at the Thermae. 

At home, if receiving guests, on the streets, at a formal dinner, atPalace levees, at the Circus games or in the Amphitheatre, a man must bewrapped up in his toga. Any exposure of too much of the left arm, ofeither ankle, is hooted at as bad form, is decried as indecent. 

So of our ladies, on dinner sofas, on their reclining chairs in theirreception rooms, in their homes, in their litters abroad, at theAmphitheatre or at the Circus games, from neck to instep they are muffledup. If one catches a glimpse of a beauty's ankle as she goes up a stair, one is thrilled, one watches eagerly, one cranes to look. 

Yet one encounters the same beauty the same afternoon in a corridor of theBaths of Titus, with nothing on but a net over her elaborate coiffure andthe bracelet with the key and number of the locker in which the attendanthas put away her clothing and valuables and one not only cannot stare ather, one cannot look at her, not even if she accosts one and lingers for achat. 

I have pondered over this, the most singular of our social conventions, and the most mandatory and inescapable; and the more I ponder the moresingular it seems. 

Yet it is real, it is a fact. One meets the wives of all one's friends, the wives of all Rome's nobility, naked as they were born; they minglewith the men in the swimming pools, in the ante-rooms, in the rest-rooms, everywhere except in the shower-bath cabinets and the rubbing-down rooms;one swims with them, lounges with them, joins groups of chatting gentlemenand ladies, chats, goes off, and all the while one cannot, one simplycannot stare at a nude woman, any more than any of the women ever staresat any man. 

It is a social convention. But not the less amazing, although a fact. 

One not only cannot scrutinize a woman, one cannot scrutinize a group ofwomen, even at a distance, even all the way across a swimming pool. So, hoping to encounter Vedia in the gathering, I yet could not look for her. 

I had met and talked with many of my acquaintances, notably Marcus Martiusand his bride Marcia. 

Marcia, rosy as the inside of a sea-shell, with her gold hair confined bya net of gold wire, was a bewitching creature, if I had been able to letmy eyes dwell on her. 

She was as contained and slow spoken and soft-voiced as always, but shewas, for her, notably complimentary as to my share in the two fights;thanked me warmly for defending her, declared that she would certainlyhave been carried off, either as Xantha or Greia, or as a hostage for oneor the other, if I had not fought "like both the Dioscuri at once, " as shephrased it. 

Martius corroborated her opinion of my services to them and thanked mewarmly. 

Delayed by chats with friends and acquaintances, held up by distantacquaintances and even by persons hardly known to me by sight, whocongratulated me on the Emperor's public championing of me against mypowerful Sabine neighbors, I felt my strength ebbing and sometimes saw agray blur between my eyes and what I looked at. 

I was, in fact, so weak that I nearly fainted when, unseen in the swarm ofbathers until he was close to me, I encountered Talponius Pulto, tall, handsome, disdainful, sneering and malignant as usual. From his proximityI escaped as unobtrusively as I could and as promptly. 

The cold douche and a swim in the cold pool had revived me. Also, in thecold pool I had encountered Nemestronia, still personable enough ateighty-odd to mingle daily with her social world, as nude as they, andenjoy herself thoroughly. Yet, at her age, she knew she looked better whenunder water, and spent most of her time in the pools. She and I did somefancy swimming together, while she questioned me about my health. 

I did not spend any more time than I could help between the cold pool andthe tepid pool; no more at least than importunate acquaintances exacted ofme. 

In the tepid pool I felt, somehow, weaker and more relaxed than at anytime since I had gone out the previous morning. The effect of theEmperor's favor, the effect of the cold plunge, were wearing off: mind andbody were losing tone. I swam languidly, alone, on my back and so swimmingfound myself about one third of the way from the upper end of the pool andabout midway of its width. I was staring up at the panels of the vaulting, relishing the beauty of the color scheme, the gold rosettes brilliantagainst the deep blue of the soffits, set off by the red of the coffering. 

So swimming and staring my eyes roamed downward to the great round-headedcoved window above the gallery. The railing of the gallery had a sort ofwicket in it, by which bathers could emerge one by one on to the bracket-like platform which overhung the pool at that end, for use as a take-offfor a high dive. 

Suddenly, on this diving-stand, poised for her dive, outlined against thewindow behind her, I recognized Vedia; Vedia, my angered sweetheart, rosyas Marcia, more lovely, and nude as Venus rising from the sea. 

Seeing her thus, and seeing her thus unexpectedly, woke in me a volcanicoutburst of conflicting emotions altogether too much for my weakenedcondition. 

I fainted. 

When I came to I felt weak and queer and did not at first open my eyes. Iheard subdued voices all about me, as of an interested crowd; I felt allwet, I felt the cold of a wet mosaic pavement under me, but my head andshoulders were pillowed on a support wet indeed, as I was, but soft andwarm. 

I opened my eyes. 

I realized that my head was in Vedia's lap, for I saw above me herdripping breasts and, higher, her anxious face looking down at mine. 

I fainted again. 

CHAPTER VIII

THE WATER-GARDEN

Just how long I was entirely unconscious I do not know. For after I beganto come to myself at intervals which grew shorter, for periods which grewlonger, I was too weak to move a muscle or to utter a syllable. I lay, flaccid, in my big, deep, soft bed, very dimly aware of Occo or ofAgathemer hovering about me, generally recalled to consciousness by aneggspoonful of hot spiced wine being forced through my slow-opening lipsand teeth. 

How many times I was sufficiently conscious to know that I was being fed, but too ill for any thoughts whatever, I cannot conjecture. When I beganto have mental feelings the first was one of dazed confusion of mind, ofgroping to recollect where I was and why and what had last happened to me. 

When I recalled my last waking experience I lay bathed in sleepycontentment. I could think connectedly enough to reason out, or myunthinking intuitions presented to me without my thinking, the convictionthat, if Vedia could recognize me in a big pool among scores of swimmers, if her perceptions in regard to me were acute enough and quick enough forher and her alone to notice that I had fainted in the water, if she caredenough for me and was sufficiently indifferent to what society might sayof her, for her to rescue me and sit down on the pavement of the_tepidarium_ and pillow my wet head on her wet thighs till I showed signsof life, I need not worry about whether Vedia cared for me or not. I waspermeated with the conviction that, however difficult it might be to gether to acknowledge it, however great or many might be the obstacles in theway of my marrying her, Vedia loved me almost as consumedly as I lovedher. 

In this frame of mind I convalesced steadily, if slowly, incurious of theflight of time, of news, of anything; content to get well whenever itshould please the gods and confident that happiness, even if longdeferred, was certain to follow my recovery. 

After I could talk to Occo and Agathemer and seemed to want to askquestions, which both of them discouraged, one morning, on wakening forthe second time, after a minute allowance of nourishment and a refreshingnap, I found Galen by my bedside. 

He looked me over and asked questions, as physicians invariably do, concerning my bodily sensations. After he seemed satisfied he asked:

"My son, were you ever ill before you were hit on the head in your recentaffrays?"

"Never that I remember, " I answered. 

"I judge so, " he said. "If you had not been blessed with the very bestphysique and constitution you would have died in your friend's litter onthe Salarian Highway. Thanks to your general strength and healthiness, andthanks, to some extent, to my care and that of my colleagues, you arealive and on the way to complete, permanent recovery and to long life withgood health. But you very nearly committed suicide when you went out andabout contrary to my orders. I say all this solemnly, for I want you toremember it. If you disobey again, you will, most likely, be soon buried. If you obey you have every chance of getting so well that you can safelyforget that you ever were ill. 

"But, until I tell you that you are well, do not forget that you are ill. "

"I shall remember, " I said, "and I shall be scrupulously obedient. "

"Good !" he ejaculated. "I infer that you find life worth living. "

"Very well worth living, " I rejoined devoutly. 

"Then listen to me, " he said. "You must remain abed until I tell you toget up; when you first get up, it must be for only an hour or so. You mustnot attempt to go out until I give you permission. You must not riskeating such meals as you are used to. You must take small amounts ofspecified foods at stated intervals. Agathemer will see to all that, withOcco to help him. Do you promise to acquiesce?"

"I promise, " I said. 

"Remember, " he cautioned me, "that the number, variety and severity of theblows rained on you in your two fights were so great that you were almostbeaten to death. You had no bones broken, but the injury to your musclesand ligaments was sufficient to kill a man only ordinarily strong, whilethe blows affecting your kidneys, liver and other internal organs were inthemselves, without the bruising of all your surface, enough to causedeath. I had you convalescing promptly and rapidly; you went out andoverstrained all your vitalities. Your recklessness almost ended you. Youwere far nearer death in your relapse than at first, and that is saying agreat deal. If you obey me you will certainly recover. If you disobey youwill probably kill yourself. "

"I shall take all that to heart, " I said. "I have promised to be docile:I'll keep my word and obey my slaves as if every day were the Saturnalia. "

"Good!" he exclaimed. "You are getting better. "

He looked me over again and asked:

"Is there anything you want?"

"I want to see Tanno, " I said. 

"You shall the day after tomorrow, " he promised, "or perhaps tomorrow, ifI find you improving faster than I anticipate. "

Actually, after a brief visit from him the next day, Tanno was usheredinto my sick-room. 

My first question was about my tenants. Not one such tenant-farmer in amillion would ever have a chance of being personally presented to Caesar. They had been awestruck when I told them of their amazing good fortune. They had said almost nothing. But I knew that they were, all nine of them, as nearly rapt into ecstasy as Sabine farmers could be at the prospect ofpersonally saluting Caesar in his Palace, in his Audience Hall on histhrone. I had been too inert to worry about anything, but I almost worriedat the thought of their disappointment, through my relapse. 

Tanno told me that he, knowing the Emperor's character pretty well, hadtaken it upon himself to have them passed in with him as the Emperor hadordered, and had himself asked permission to present them and hadpresented them. The next day, he said, everyone of them had returned home. 

I heaved a deep sigh of relief: my tenants and my Sabine Estate were offmy mind; I might be entirely easy about all things in Sabinum. 

He then told me what a brilliant success Marcia was among the pleasure-loving, novelty-loving, luxurious high-living set in our city society. 

"Since the enforcement of the old-fashioned laws relaxed and became a deadletter and some were even repealed, " he said, "not a few men of equestrianrank have married freed-women and such occurrences no longer cause anyscandal or much remark. But the results are not generally productive ofany social success for the ill-assorted pair. 

"I have known a few freedwomen married to men of wealth, and equestrianrank, who gained some vague approximation of social standing among thewives of their husbands' friends. But Marcia is the first freedwoman Iever knew or heard of to be treated, by everybody and at once, as if shehad been freeborn and since birth in her husband's class. Martius has notbrought this about, or aided much; he is a good enough fellow, but he hasno social qualities; for all the power he has of attracting friends hemight as well be an archaic statue. Marcia has done it all. She's awonder. "

Then he told me of Murmex: how he was already rated Rome's championswordsman; how the Palace Palaestra was jammed with notables eager to seehim fence, how magnates competed for invitations to such exhibitions, howMurmex was overwhelmed with attentions of all kinds from all sorts ofpeople, had had a furnished apartment put at his disposal by one admirer, a litter and bearers presented him by another, already saw his domicilecrowded with presents of statuary, paintings, furniture, flowers and allpossible gifts, how he was an immediate and brilliant success with allclasses, even the populace talking of him, crowding behind his litter, anddemanding him for the next public exhibition of gladiators. 

That such luck had befallen a man whom I had presented to Court auguredwell for me, indubitably. 

After I had been out of bed an hour or more for several consecutive daysGalen said to me:

"You are almost well enough to be about, but not quite. If you go back toyour habitual hours of sleep you will fret and fidget indoors, and you arenot yet sufficiently recovered to resume your normal life. You need freshair. I have considered what is best and what is possible. I have talkedwith your friend Opsitius. Through him I have arranged for you to haveshort outings in this manner. On fair days if you feel like going out youmay call for your litter. In it you must keep the panels closed and thecurtains drawn. Agathemer will give your bearers directions. Nemestroniahas offered you the use of her lower garden. You are to have it all toyourself, whenever you want it, as long as my directions to Agathemerpermit you to remain in it; and you need not remain a moment unless youenjoy being there. "

I understood without asking any questions. Nemestronia's palace was one ofthe most desirable, magnificent and spacious abodes in Rome. Her father, who had been accustomed to say that he was too great a man to have to livein a fashionable neighborhood, that any neighborhood in which he settledwould thereby become fashionable, had bought a very generous plot of landnearly on the crest of the Viminal Hill and had there built himself adwelling which was at once noted among the dozen finest private dwellingsin the Eternal City. In one respect it was preëminent. From its loftyposition it had, down the slope of the hill, a wide view over the city andthis view was unobstructed, for below his palace Nemestronius had had laidout six separate gardens, two large and four small. Next the house theground fell away so sharply that he had been able to create a terracedgarden, the only private terraced garden in Rome, extending across theentire rear of his palace and with three terraces, from the uppermost ofwhich the view was almost as good as from the upper windows of themansion. Below this, each extending along but half the length of theterraces, was a grass-garden, where it was possible to play ball-games, itbeing a mere expanse of sward shut in by high walls covered with floweringvines; and a formal garden, in the fashionable style. Below the grass-garden was one of similar size, all flower-beds, to supply roses, lilies, violets and other staple blossoms for his banqueting-hall, below theformal garden was one called the wild-garden or shrubbery-garden, like thegrass-garden in being covered with sward almost from wall to wall, butunlike it, in that it had four shade trees, no two alike, and manyflowering shrubs of all kinds and sizes. Lastly below these two was thewater-garden, the same size as the terraced garden, taken up withfountains and pools, and all gay in season, with the flowers which thrivein or beside ponds and pools. It had also eight beautiful lotus trees. 

High walls, through which one might pass from one to the other only bygates generally shut fast, separated and enclosed these gardens, for theircreator's intention was to enjoy the peculiar charm of each undistractedby the contrasting charms of the others. From the upper gardens it waspossible to see, to some extent, into those lower down the hill; but, fromthe lower, one could see nothing of those above. 

One side of the property was flanked by a street, a mere narrow, walledlane on which no dwelling opened. Along this were posterns in the wall, giving access to or exit from the terrace-garden, the formal-garden, thewild-garden and the water-garden. 

I understood at once what I later heard from Agathemer. The water-gardenwas to be mine for my airings. I was to leave my litter at its postern inthe unfrequented lane and reenter my litter there. 

There I went next day and revelled in the beauty of the garden, in thesunshine, in the breeze and in the sensations of returning health andstrength which inundated me. There I went for some days in successionsimilarly. 

On the eighth day before the Kalends of August Galen came to see me, notearly in the morning, but about the bath-hour of the afternoon. He seemedwell pleased with his inspection of me and with my answers to hisquestions. 

"You are practically well, " he said, "and much sooner than I anticipated. I am tempted to tell you to return to your normal routine of meals, eatingwhat you please; and to give you permission to resume your usual socialactivities But I think it better, in a case like yours, to wait a monthtoo long rather than to be a day too soon. So I shall enjoin an adherenceto your diet and a continuance of your long rest hours and brief outingsfor some days yet. "

He had me summon Agathemer and repeated to him much of what he had said tome. 

"He might go out at once, " he said, "but we had best be cautious. Limithim to morning outings in Nemestronia's gardens. He may, however, seefriends, one at a time, according to his wishes and your directions. Andbe particular as to his diet. Give him more of each viand at each feeding. Feed him as soon as he wakes. Then time the feedings two hours apart. Areyour _clepsydras_ [Footnote: water-clocks] good?"

"Of the best, " I interjected. "My uncle was a fancier of time-keepers andhad one in every room, and no two alike in ornamentation, all beautifullydecorated. "

"The ornamentation doesn't matter, " said Galen, impatiently. "Do they keeptime with anything approaching accuracy?"

"As near accuracy, " I said, "as any _clepsydras_ ever made. "

"Well, " he said, "_clepsydras_ always work better when nearly full thanwhen nearly empty. When you feed him have a full _clepsydra_ handy andstart it when he begins to eat. Then by it feed him again after two hours. Keep to that interval and to the diet I have enjoined. "

Next day I spent over three hours in Nemestronia's water-garden, Tannowith me for most of the time. Twice, during the chat, Agathemer brought mea tray with the drink and food enjoined for that hour of the day. Eachtime I left not a drop or crumb: I was ravenous. 

The following morning Agathemer let in to me, in that same garden, MurmexLucro, who thanked me for my good offices with Commodus and narrated histriumphal progress of professional and social success ever since I hadseen him fence with the Emperor. 

Agathemer did not permit Murmex to linger long, saying that it was againstGalen's orders. After I was alone and had eaten what he brought I baskedand idled happily, thinking of Vedia, entirely unruffled by the fact thatI had had no missive or message from her, considering her silence merelydiscreet and judicious after her spectacular rescue of me in the_Tepidarium_, and confident of seeing her as soon as I was entirely well. 

While I was in this mood my hostess came to chat with me. Nemestronia, ateighty-odd, was as dainty and charming an old lady as the sun ever shoneon. And as lovable as any woman alive. I loved her dearly, as all Romeloved her dearly, and I ranked myself high among her countless honorarygrandsons, for her motherly ways made her seem an honorary grandmother toall young noblemen whom she favored. 

After a heart-warming chat she said:

"I must go now, by Galen's orders. Before I go I want to ask you whetheryou are coming here tomorrow?"

"Certainly!" I cried, looking about me with delight. "Could there, canthere, be in Rome a more Elysian spot in which to feel health beingrestored to one?"

She beamed at me. 

"Be sure to be here, " she said. "You will not regret coming. "

Between naps that afternoon and before I slept that night I soothed myselfwith the hope that I was, by Nemestronia's influence, to have an interviewwith Vedia. 

Next morning the weather was beautiful, the sky clear, the air neither toocool nor too warm, the breeze soft and steady. Nemestronia's water-gardenappeared to me even more delightful than the day before. I admired thelotus trees, the water-lily pads in the pools, the jets of the fountains, the bright strips of flowers along the pools, particularly some water-flags or some flowers resembling water-flags. 

I was idling in the sun on a cushion which Agathemer had arranged for meon a marble seat against the upper wall, nearly midway of the garden, butin sight of the postern gate by which I had entered. So idling anddreaming day dreams I let my eyes rove languidly about the scene beforeme. While meditating and staring at the pavement at my feet I heardfootsteps on the walk and looked up. 

To my amazement I saw Egnatius Capito approaching. 

No wonder I was amazed. I knew him but slightly. I should never havethought of asking to see him, as I had asked to be allowed to see severalof my semi-intimates. Agathemer had insisted that I postpone seeing them, because an interview with any of them was likely to overtire me. I knewthat no one could have entered that garden without Agathemer's knowledge. I could not conceive how Capito came to be there. 

He greeted me formally and asked permission to seat himself beside me. Igave it rather grudgingly. 

He asked after my health and I answered only less grudgingly. 

"I conjecture, " he said, "that you are surprised to see me here?"

"I am surprised, " I said shortly. 

"Will you permit me to explain?" he asked courteously. 

I could not be less courteous than he and signified my assent. 

"Your secretary, " he said, "is of the opinion that your illness, whilecaused by your injuries in the affrays into which you were entrapped, wasgreatly intensified by your chagrin at finding yourself embroiled withboth the Vedian and Satronian clans, and he also thinks that brooding overthe condition of affairs has delayed your recovery. "

"I assumed all that, " I interrupted, "but I cannot conceive why he hastalked to you about it. "

Capito was always ingratiating. He gazed at me reproachfully, gently, winningly. 

"If I have your permission, " he said, "I shall explain. "

"Explain!" I cried impatiently. 

"Agathemer, " he went on, "has left no stone unturned to find some meansfor placating both clans and for reconciling you with both. In pursuit ofthis aim he has been cautious, discreet, tactful and secret. He hascovertly tried many plans of approach. It was intimated to him, truly, that I had on foot a scheme which promised to succeed in reconciling bothclans with each other and he rightly inferred that I might be able toarrange for reconciling both with you at the same time. I am confidentthat I can, as I told him when he tentatively approached me andunostentatiously sounded me on this matter. I told him that it was onlynecessary that I have an interview with you as soon as might be. Believingthat an early dissipation of your embroilment would conduce to your quickand complete recovery he arranged for me to meet you as I have. "

While he was saying this my eyes roved about the garden. To myastonishment I saw a man standing against the shut postern door, intentlyregarding us as we sat on the marble seat conferring. In my halfconvalescent state I had become used to acquiescence in anything andeverything, I was inert mentally and physically and my perceptivefaculties dulled and slow as were my intellectual processes. Whilehearkening to Capito I gazed at the man uncomprehendingly, only halfconscious. I thought him a queer-looking fellow to be in Capito's retinue;he did not look like a slave, but like a free man of the lowest class. Idid not recognize him, yet it seemed to me that I should; I did not likethe way he looked at us, yet I said nothing. He seemed to see me lookingat him, opened the postern, stepped through it and shut it after him. Ashe went I was shot through with the conviction that I had seen himsomewhere before. 

"If you have in you, " I said to Capito, "any such supernatural powers asyou would need for success in what you aim at, if you have any reasons foranticipating success, Agathemer was fully justified in what he has done. If you can really accomplish what you seem to believe you can accomplish, I shall be grateful to you to the last breath I draw. But I am skeptical. Speak on. Convince me. "

"I must first, " he said, "have your pledge of secrecy for what I am aboutto say. "

"What sort of secrecy?" I queried, repelled and suspicious. 

"If I am to disclose what I wish to disclose, " he said, "you must give meyour word not to reveal by word, look, act or silence anything I may makeknown to you, from your pledge until the termination of our interview. "

I was uneasy, but curious. I gave my pledge as he asked. 

He looked about, warily. He leaned closer to me. He spoke in a subduedtone. 

"It must be known to you, " he said, "that many of us nobles, many men ofequestrian rank, many senators, are gravely anxious concerning theRepublic, gravely dissatisfied with the character and behavior, I mightsay the misbehavior, of our present Prince. "

"I don't wonder that you pledged me to secrecy, " I blurted out. "You aretalking treason. "

"Hear me to the end, " he begged, "and you will find that I am talking nottreason but patriotism. "

I grunted and he went on. 

"Many of us are of the opinion that the Republic, which was never asprosperous as within the past eighty years, is in grave danger of losingmuch of its Empire, so gloriously extended by Trajan, so well maintainedby his three successors, if it continues to be neglected and mismanaged asit is. To save the commonwealth and retain its provinces we must have aCaesar competent, diligent, discreet and brave; and not one of theseepithets can be properly applied to the autocrat now in power. We feelthat he must be removed and that there must be substituted for him a rulerwho is all that the State needs and has the right to expect. "

"Fine words, " I said. "Masking a conspiracy to assassinate our Emperor. "

He looked shocked and pained. 

"Hear me out, " he pleaded. 

"I am curious, I confess, " I admitted, "to learn what all this has to dowith reconciling Vedius and Satronius and regaining me the good graces ofboth. I ought to terminate the interview, but I am weak. Go on. "

"Naturally, " he said, "both Vedius and Satronius resent what the Emperordid and said concerning your entanglement in their feud and they are bothinfuriated at their humiliation and at the effective means he took to tietheir hands as far as concerns you and to ensure your safety, as far asthey were concerned. "

"Commodus, " I interrupted, "is not altogether a bungler when he gives hismind to the duties of his office. "

"May I go on?" Capito enquired, mildly, even reproachfully and, I mightsay, irresistibly. He was a born leader of a conspiracy, for few men couldbe alone with him and not fall under his influence. 

"Go on, " I said. "I am consumed with curiosity to discover how their rageat the Emperor could lead to a reconciliation between them. "

"It is not obvious, I admit, " he said, "but when I explain, you will seehow naturally, how inevitably a reconciliation might be expected toresult. 

"You have seen, perhaps often, a peasant or laborer beating his wife?"

"Everybody has, " I replied. "What has that to do with what you weretalking of?"

"Be patient!" he pleaded. "You have seen some bystander interfere in sucha domestic fracas?"

"Often, " I agreed. 

"You have also seen, " he continued, "not only the husband turn on theoutsider, but the wife join her spouse in attacking her would-be rescuer, have seen both trounce the interloper and in their mutual help forgettheir late antagonism. "

"Certainly, " I agreed. 

"Well, " he pursued, "human nature, male or female, low-life or high-life, is the same in essence. Vedius and Satronius are so incensed with Caesarfor balking their appetite for revenge on you that they are thirsting forrevenge on Caesar and ready to forget all their hereditary animosities andjoin in abasing him. In fact, they have joined the league of patriots ofwhich I am the leader. And they are so bent on their new purpose that theyare ready to be hearty friends to anyone sworn as our confederate. I canarrange to obliterate, even to annihilate forever, all trace of enmitybetween you and either of them, if you will but agree to let your naturalinherent patriotism overcome all other feelings in your heart and aid usto abolish the shame of our Republic and to safeguard the Commonwealth andthe Empire. "

All this while I had been half listening to him, half occupied in tryingto recall where I had seen the man who had stepped through the postern. Atthis instant, as Capito paused, I suddenly realized that he was theimmobile horseman whom we had twice passed in the rain by the roadside themorning I had started from my villa for Rome. His hooked nose wasunmistakable. 

Somehow this realization, along with the recollection of what Tanno hadsaid of the fellow, woke me to a sense of the danger to which I wasexposed by being with Capito and also to a sense of the craziness of hisideas and plans. 

I felt my face redden. 

"You have said enough!" I cut him short. "I perfectly understand. Youthink yourself the destined savior of Rome and the deviser of pricelessplans for Rome's future. You are not so much a conspirator as a lunatic. Your schemes are half idiocy, half moonshine. I have pledged you my wordto be secret as to what you have told me. My pledge holds if you now keepsilent, rise from this seat and walk straight out to your litter, by thesame way by which you came from it. If you utter another syllable to me, if you do not rise promptly, if you hesitate about going, if you linger onyour path, I'll call my litter, I'll go straight to the Palace, I'll askfor a private audience, I'll wait till I get one, I'll tell the Emperorevery word you have said to me. If you want protection for yourself frommy pledge, leave me. Go!"

He gave one glance at me and went. 

CHAPTER IX

THE SQUALL OF THE LEOPARD

When he was gone, when I had seen the postern door shut behind him, I feltsuddenly weak and faint. I was amazed to find how exhausted I was left bythe ebbing of the hot wave of indignation and rage which had surgedthrough me as I revolted from his absurd and contemptible proposals. Ifelt flaccid and limp. 

At this instant Agathemer brought me a tray of food. My impulse was toburst out at him with reproaches for having, without consulting me, presumed to arrange for me an interview with a man not among my intimates. But I was so enraged that I dreaded the effect on me, in my weakenedstate, if I let myself go in respect to rebuking my slave. I kept silentand was mildly surprised to find myself tempted by the food. I ate anddrank all that was on the tray, and Agathemer vanished noiselessly, without a word. 

I sat there, revived by the food and wine, feeling the weakness caused bymy rage gradually passing off and meditating on the sudden change in mycondition. Before Capito accosted me I had felt perfectly well and waslooking forward to resuming my normal life next day, to going to thePalace Levee, to enjoying a bath with my acquaintances at the Thermae ofTitus. Since Capito had left me I had felt so overcome that I was ready tolook forward to some days yet of strict regimen and isolation. 

Thus meditating I was again aware of footsteps on the walk. 

I looked up and was more amazed than when I had caught sight of Capito. Approaching me, but a few paces from me, was one of the most detestablebores in Rome, a man whom I sedulously avoided, Faltonius Bambilio. Hisfather, the Pontifex of Vesta, was an offensively and absurdly unctuousand pompous man. His son, who had already held several minor offices inthe City Government, had been one of the quaestors the year before, and sowas now a senator. But he was, as he always had been, as he remained, abooby. I do not believe that there was any man in Rome I detested soheartily. 

He greeted me as if he had a right to my notice and said:

"I was told that Egnatius Capito was in this garden. "

"He was, " I replied curtly, "but he has left it. "

"I certainly am disappointed, " he said, seating himself by me, uninvited. "I particularly wanted to speak to Capito at once. "

"You might find him at his house, " I suggested. 

But Bambilio was impervious to suggestions. 

"I wanted to talk to him and you together, " he said, "but that can bemanaged some other time. "

I was about to reply tartly, but I remembered how my irritation withCapito had affected me and recalled Galen's injunction that I must avoidall causes of excitement and emotion. I held my peace. 

Bambilio, as if he had been an intimate and had been specially invited, lolled comfortably on the bench and gazed approvingly about. 

"Fine garden, Andivius, " he said. "Fine trees, fine flowers and I say, what a jewel of a slave-girl, eh! Hedulio!"

I could have hit him, I was so incensed at his familiarity, I was alreadychoking with internal rage at Agathemer for having let anyone in to talkto me in that garden, still more at his having done so without consultingme and most of all that after doing so he had not made sure that no onebut Capito could pass the postern door. But I almost exploded into volublewrath when I looked where he indicated, saw a pretty, shapely young womanin the scanty attire of a slave-girl picking flag-flowers into a basketshe carried, and recognized Vedia. That Agathemer's presumption shouldhave spoiled the interview with Vedia which she and Nemestronia hadmanifestly arranged for us, that it should have exposed Vedia in herundignified disguise to recognition by the greatest ass and blatherskitein the senate, this infuriated me till I felt internally like Aetna orVesuvius on the verge of eruption. 

Vedia, for it was she, had evidently been approaching me circuitously, hoping to be noticed and hailed from afar. Now when she was near enoughfor not merely a lover but for any acquaintance to recognize her, shelooked up at me over her basket as she laid a flower-stalk in it. 

Instantly her face flamed, she turned away and went on picking flowersdiligently. After she had moved a few steps she sprang into the path andscampered off like a child, her basket swinging, vanishing through a doorin the upper wall on my left. 

"Neat little piece!" Bambilio commented. "Taking, and every part of herpretty. Fine calves, especially. "

I was by this time in a condition which, had I been old and fat, must havebrought on an apoplexy. But my hot rage cooled to an icy haughtiness, and, though it took a weary, tedious long time, I kept my temper and mydemeanor, look, tone and word, managed to convey to him, even through thethick armor of his self-conceit, that he was not welcome. He rose, saidfarewell and waddled off to the postern. As soon as he was outside, morerapidly than I had moved since I was felled in the roadside affray, Iwalked to that door and made sure that it was bolted. 

I was strolling unhurriedly back to the seat I had left and was perhapshalf way to it, when I heard, loud and clear, the long-drawn, blood-curdling hunting-squall of Nemestronia's pet leopard; heard in it more ofmenace, more of adult ferocity, more of the horrible joy of the power tokill than I had ever heard before. 

Instantly I comprehended what had happened. Either Agathemer when he tookoff my tray or Vedia when she escaped had passed through the wild-garden(probably it had been Vedia, who would not know that the leopard wasconfined there), and had left a door imperfectly closed. The leopard, which might have been asleep, under the shrubberies and invisible, hadroused and had passed through the unfastened door up into the terrace-garden. This was the kind of morning on which Nemestronia would have manyvisitors, the kind of weather which would tempt them to have their chairsout on the upper terrace, the hour of the morning at which they would bemost likely to be out there. The leopard, I instantly inferred, wasstalking, not some hare, porker, kid or lamb, but her owner and herowner's guests. 

I disembarrassed myself of my outer garments, threw off my sun-hat, and, clad only in my shoes and tunic, sprinted for the door into the wild-garden, through it, through its upper door, which, as I had forecasted, Ifound open, and out on the lower terrace. From there I could not seeanything on the upper terrace, but, as I cleared the door, I heard again, rising, quavering, sinking, rising, the leopard's hunting cry from theupper terrace. I sprang up the stair to the middle terrace, and half wayup that to the upper; but, when my head was about on a level with thepavement of the walk along the upper terrace, I checked myself and moved ahairs-breadth at a time; for the rescue on which I had come was a delicatetask and any quick movement might precipitate the leopard's killing-spring. 

Through the spaces between the yellow Numidian marble balusters I saw whatI had anticipated. Partly under the big middle awning, but mostly out infront of it on the walk, were set a score of light chairs. On thosefurthest out were seated nine ladies: Nemestronia, Vedia, Urgulania, Entedia, Aemilia Prisca, Magnonia, Claudia Ardeana, Semnia, Papiria andCossonia. They were rigid in their chairs, white with terror and yetafraid to move a muscle. Belly flat on the walk, about twelve paces fromthem, crouched the leopard, moving forward a paw at a time. As I gained aview of her she emitted a third squall. 

I saw that I was in time and felt so relieved that I almost fainted in therevulsion from my agony of anxiety. As I began to move my mind was freeenough to wonder how Vedia had found time to change from her slave-girldisguise into a bewitching fashionable toilet. Among those leaders ofRoman society, the very pick of Rome's noblewomen, she showed her best andoutshone them all. 

I moved evenly and steadily up the steps and along the balustrade till Iwas past the crouching leopard and then on round till I was in her line ofsight and half between her and her victims. 

She recognized me at once, the evil switching of her tail ceased, she halfrose; she began to purr, a purr that sounded to me as loud as the roar ofa water-fall in a gorge; she took a few steps towards me, then, suddenly, she made a peculiar movement hard to describe, something like thecurvetting of a mettlesome colt, but characteristic of a leopard andtherefore like the movement of no other animal save a leopard or lion ortiger; she leapt daintily clear of the pavement and struck sideways withher forepaws. The antic perfectly expressed playful delight andfriendliness. 

I recognized her mood and knew that I had not only distracted her from herbloodthirst but had her entire attention. I knew what I must do, but Iraged at the ridiculous exhibition which I must make of myself before themost fastidious and conventional of Rome's noblewomen. Yet, if I was tosave them, I must not hesitate. I threw myself flat on my side on thepavement and made clawing motions with my hands and feet, the leopardresponded to my suggestion, capered again as before and, when close to me, lay down before me on the pavement and began to paw at me, purring loudlyin her throat, now and then snarling softly. She played with me as she hadoften played before, all her claws sheathed and her paws soft asthistledown; mumbling my hands and forearms in her hot mouth, slaveringover them, yet never so much as bruising the skin with her needle-sharpteeth. Yet I seemed to detect a subtle difference in her mood and, frommoment to moment, dreaded that she might claw me to ribbons or sink herfangs in my shoulders or face. 

All the while she was mouthing, pawing and kicking me I was raging atAgathemer for having put me in a position where I had to make soundignified an exhibition of myself before such an assemblage. 

Presently I recognized that alteration in her mood which made it possiblefor me to rise, take her by the scruff of the neck, and lead her off toher cage. 

When I had her inside I realized how hot, sweaty, dusty tousled, rumpledand mussed I was. Her cage was under the vaulted arcade beneath the secondterrace. I was, when I shot its bolts, altogether out of sight of Vedia, Nemestronia and the other noble ladies who had been spectators of mytussle with the leopard. I did not want them to see me again in mydishevelled and dirty condition: I sneaked into the house by the passagefrom the arcade into the cellars and up the scullery stairs, made thefirst slave I saw escort me to the guest-room I usually occupied when atNemestronia's and bade him summon bath-attendants and dressers. Nemestronia had a store-room lined with wardrobes of men's attirecontaining every sort of garment of every style and size. I was soon cleanand clad as a gentleman should be in a fresh tunic and in the garment Ihad left in the water-garden, which a footman had fetched for me. 

Then I went out on the upper terrace. 

There I found the nine ladies, with some maids and waiters. Before theladies, facing Nemestronia, stood Agathemer; behind and about himNemestronia's six big, husky, bull-necked slave-lashers, the two head-lashers with their many-lashed scourges. 

I realized at once what had happened. Nemestronia had needed no one toinform her that it was through Agathemer's negligence or mismanagementthat the leopard had escaped from the wild-garden. She had not waited toask me to investigate the matter and punish my slave. She had, like thegreat noblewoman she was, assumed my acquiescence and approval andsummoned and questioned Agathemer. Before I appeared his answers hadconvicted him. She did not look round at me as I joined the group andseated myself in a vacant chair on her left, between Vedia and ClaudiaArdeana. As I seated myself she gave the order:

"Strip him and give him a hundred lashes!"

Now, then and there I found myself in the most cruel and painful situationI had ever been in my life. Agathemer and I had been playmates almost fromour cradles; comrades, cronies, chums all our lives. Neither of us hadever had a brother. Each had been, since infancy, a brother to the other. I could not have loved a real brother any more than I loved Agathemer, norcould he have had more implicit confidence in the goodwill of a bloodbrother. I was, in fact, as solicitous for Agathemer's welfare as for myown, and I rejoiced with his joys and mourned with his griefs. I wouldhave done anything to protect him and save him, as he had faithfully andtirelessly nursed and cared for me in my illness. 

But I knew that no explanations could ever make Nemestronia understand ourmutual relations or accept my views of them; to her a slave was a slave;she felt as unalterable a gulf between free man and slave as betweenmankind and cattle. I could only let her have her way, though I wasinundated with misery at the thought of Agathemer's approaching agonies. Ihad been hotly wrathful with him and had meditated, as I dressed, whatsort of punishment would befit his fault: now that Nemestronia had orderedhim flogged my resentment against him had all oozed out of me and I wasfilled with sympathy for him and scorn of my cowardice in not protectinghim. I glanced at him as the lashers stripped and bound him. He sent backat me a glance which said, as plain as words:

"I am to blame. I know you are sorry for me. But give no sign, I must gothrough this alone. "

And I had to sit there while the head-lasher flogged him till the pavementon which he lay was all a pool of gore, till his back was in tatters fromneck to hips, till he was carried off, insensible, perhaps dead. 

Also I had to express my approbation of Nemestronia's orders, and had tosit there and chat with the ladies, seven of whom were inclined to befacetious over the figure I had cut sprawling on the mosaic walk, tusslingwith that abominable leopard. They thanked me for saving their lives, orat least, the life of some one of them. But they were sly about my comicalappearance while the leopard mauled and tousled me. 

Two did not speak. 

Vedia was cold and mute and spoke only when she rose, excusing herself toNemestronia and calling for her litter first of them all. 

Nemestronia was so weak from the reaction after her fright and sounwilling to display her weakness that she hardly spoke, limiting herselfto the brief words courtesy demanded. 

When I reached home I forgot everything else in my solicitude forAgathemer. I not only called for my own physician, but sent urgentmessages summoning Galen and Celsianus. Celsianus was affronted at thesuggestion that he stoop to prescribe for a slave and incensed at havingbeen called in haste for such a trifle: but Galen, who came in whileCelsianus was expressing his indignation, diverted his mind at once byrejoicing that I was sufficiently recovered to take that much interest inone of my slaves. He made haste to see, inspect and assist Agathemer: whenhe was somewhat relieved and we had left him abed with Occo to watch himand with injunctions that quiet was the best medicine for him, Galenturned to me. 

"You have had a shock, " he said, "and a superabundance of excitement. Tellme all about it. "

When I had told him what had happened, omitting only Vedia's disguise andher presence in the water-garden, he said:

"I certainly should not have prescribed any such excitements and effortsas medicaments for a case like yours. But it sometimes happens that beingstartled accomplishes more towards a cure than long rest can. Yourperturbation of mind and activity of body has cured you. You are, as faras I can judge, well. I am of the opinion that you may safely eat anddrink what you like in moderation, rest only as you please and may resumeyour normal life. "

I was, naturally, much pleased, but had no impulse to resume my habitsthat day. I kept indoors, denied myself to all visitors, slept long afterGalen had left, ate a moderate dinner and went early to bed. 

Next day I went through the normal routine of a Roman of my rank. Thestory of the leopard had been noised about and the husbands of the ladiesconcerned every one came to salute me at my morning reception and to thankme for my miraculous intervention, as they called it. As six of the eightwere senators my atrium had an aspect seldom seen at the reception of aman of equestrian rank. 

At the Palace I found the tale of the leopard had reached the ears of theEmperor. He congratulated me, saying:

"You are not only a good fighter, Hedulio, but also incredibly bold andmarvellously favored by the gods. "

Tanno was at the Palace to say farewell for the summer, as he was off forBaiae to enjoy the scenery and sea-breezes. 

"I envy you, " said Commodus. "I must remain, here many days yet to get ridof the most pressing matters on my crowded files of official papers. "

After the Palace levee was over I went to Vedia's mansion and tried to seeher, but was rebuffed, the porter declaring that, by her physician'sorders, she was denying herself to all visitors. 

At home I found Agathemer still suffering terribly, but without fever, with no sign of proud flesh anywhere on his flayed back and not onlyentirely able to talk to me but eager to do so. We had a long talk on theentire subject of our peculiar relations as a master and slave who weremore like brothers. He assured me that I had done just right to act as Ihad and he begged my pardon for his blunders in arranging to have Capitoadmitted to talk to me, in arranging it without my permission or evenknowledge, in neglecting to guard the outer door of the garden and soadmitting Bambilio, and in causing the escape of the leopard. I heartilyforgave him, told him to forget all that, that I forgot it all and, on myside, begged his forgiveness for his agonies. He said there was nothing toforgive: that my uncle's injunctions had compelled my leaving him a slaveand the rest had been his fault, not mine. 

I told him that I would do anything in my power to make him well, comfortable and happy, except setting him free, from which I wasrestrained by my uncle's behests. 

He asked to be allowed to return to Villa Andivia as soon as thephysicians pronounced him fit to travel. 

I agreed: commanded that my travelling carriage, which Marcus Martius hadreturned to me, should be put in order and prepared for the journey; andconsulted Galen, who came of his own accord to see Agathemer two days insuccession. On his third visit he gave Agathemer permission to travel bycarriage the next day and he accordingly set off for Villa Andivia on theIdes of August. 

Each day I had spent most of my afternoon at the Baths of Titus. Eachafternoon I had seen Vedia at a distance, but she had always taken painsto avoid me, and one cannot pursue or seem to pursue, a lady in theThermae. 

Each day, also, I had called to see her at her house; each day I had beenrebuffed. On the morning of the nineteenth day before the Kalends ofSeptember one of the runners brought me a letter. It read:

 "Vedia gives greetings to Andivius. If you are well I am well also. "

But this formal opening altered at once to familiar writing. 

 "You are acting like a silly boy. As things are, both in my cousins' clan and in that of my late husband, I cannot receive you at my house, and you ought to have sense enough to realize that without being told. Be patient and I shall arrange for an interview with you. Please avoid me at the Baths, as I have you. 

 "Farewell. "

This letter greatly encouraged me and I felt so elated that I reallyenjoyed life for the next few days, which were filled up with a receptionof my own each morning, a round of receptions to salute magnates, mysalutation to the Emperor, a lunch always with some friends, a long nap athome, a lingering afternoon at the Baths of Titus, and a jolly dinner atsome friend's house, for I was invited out twice each day. 

On the seventh day before the Kalends of September, as I was on my way tothe Palace levee, a runner inconspicuously clad ranged himself alongsidemy litter and handed me a letter. 

It read:

 "She whose handwriting he will recognize gives greeting to Hedulio. Take care! Do not let anyone see this letter; take care to seem negligent and uninterested as you read it. 

 "A conspiracy against the life of Caesar has been detected and reported. Its leader is said to be Egnatius Capito. As some informer, sponsored by Talponius Pulto, claims to have seen you in Capito's company, you are implicated. Save yourself. Do not return home. Do not go to the Palace, order yourself carried immediately to the Querquetulan Gate. On the way there purchase a raincloak and an umbrella hat and whatever else may be needful for your journey. Outside the _Porta Querquetulana_, in front of Plosurnia's tavern, you will find one of the fastest horses in Italy, a blood-bay, noticeable for light-blue reins with silver bosses, his saddlecloth light-blue with a silver edge. Descend from your litter in front of the tavern, accost the man holding the horse, say to him:

 "'Is this the leopard-tamer's horse?'

 "He will reply:

 "'It is. '

 "Then say:

 "'I am the leopard-tamer. '

 "He will then allow one of your spare bearers to take the horse. 

 "Divest yourself of your toga then, not sooner. Equip yourself for your journey. Mount and order your bearers to take your empty litter home. Follow the Praenestine Highroad till it meets the _Via Labicana_. Then take the first crossroad to the Highroad to Tibur. From Tibur press on to Carseoli. Prom there return to Villa Andivia as you judge best. Provide for yourself thereafter as best you may. 

 "Farewell. "

I recognized Vedia's handwriting. I trusted her implicitly. I was far moreelated at her concern for me than I was depressed at my impending ruin. Somehow the fact that she had taken the trouble not only to warn me, butto think out for me all the details of a plan of at least temporaryescape, the inference that she hoped, hoped against hope, that I might besomehow saved, heartened me amazingly; so that I was rather inspirited atthe prospect of adventure than daunted by the shadow of inescapable doom. I gathered myself together, determined to take as much advantage aspossible of Vedia's warning, and of the respite it afforded me. I resolvedto follow her suggestions. I had set out for the Palace unusually early. Ihad plenty of time. I ordered my bearers to carry me through the heart ofthe City down the whole length of the _Vicus Tuscus_ to the meat market. 

I should, I suppose, have been in an agony of vain regrets; I ratherexpected from moment to moment to be drowned in an inundation of suchsensations, I was more than a little surprised at my actual feelings. HereI was, hitherto a wealthy Roman nobleman in excellent standing with myfellows, my superiors and the Prince; from now on a hunted fugitive andnot likely to postpone my last hour more than a few days. I was, presumably, viewing the throbbing heart of glorious Rome for the lasttime. I should have felt chief mourner at my own funeral. Actually Irelished, I hugely enjoyed, every pace of my progress through the fillingstreets, where the passers-by and idlers were still fresh, and livelyafter a night's sleep and where everything was irradiated by cheerfulmorning sunlight. I felt cheerful as the sunlight. 

Beyond the Meat Market I had my bearers stop at the Temple of Fortune, which I entered, there I prayed fervently before the statue of theGoddess. 

When I was again out in the market I bought two live white hens, young andplump, and assigned one of my relief-bearers to carry carefully the basketin which the old market-woman ensconced them, after I had paid her wellfor her basket as well as her hens. 

Then I had my men carry me down the straight empty street along thesouthwest flank of the Circus Maximus. Half way along it I halted thembefore the Temple of Mercury. This I entered and, bidding one of theattendants lead me to the priest in charge at that hour, I requested himto offer for me the two white hens and beseech for me the favor of theGod. 

Outside I reëntered my litter and made my bearers trot all the way roundby the big and little Coelian Hills to the Querquetulan Gate. We passed onthis route many cheap shops. From one I bought a pair of horseman's highboots, soft and supple and mud-proof. All the way I enjoyed hugely myouting and the sights and sounds around me. From another shop one of myreliefs brought me an umbrella hat which fitted me and a voluminoushorseman's raincloak which could not but protect anybody; at another I hadbought for me a wallet; at another flint and steel in a good horn case, compact and neat. 

Outside the Querquetulan Gate, which my bearers reached blown andsweating, although the reliefs had changed at short intervals, we had nodifficulty in locating Plosurnia's tavern. The holder of the bay horsewith the blue and silver trappings recognized my pass-words andsurrendered his charge to one of my extra bearers. At the tavern anotherlined my wallet with bread, sausages, olives, dried figs and cheese, whileI was changing into horseman's kit. 

I put into the wallet my money, more than enough cash for my journey home, and Vedia's letter. I then mounted, gave my boys their orders and set offat an easy canter. I knew I must show no signs of haste until I was on theHighroad, so I took my time about working round to it. Once on the _ViaTiburtina_, where horsemen at a tearing gallop, going in either direction, were too common a sight to cause any remarks, I let out my mettlesomemount and covered the remainder of the twenty-four miles to Tibur not longbefore noon. 

Between the bridge over the Anio and Tibur are a number of hilltops, fromeach of which one has a fine view of Rome, if the weather is clear andbright. The weather was very bright and clear and the views very fine. Ateach hilltop I checked my mount, wheeled him and remained so for sometime, contemplating the magnificence I might never see again, the glory uponwhich my gaze, most likely, would never again feast. I should have felt myeyes fill with tears at each of these prospects, the viewing of which was, each time, in the nature of a last farewell. Yet, somehow, mostirrationally, I felt anything but dejected, rather hopeful and full ofconjectures about my future, instead of being filled with forebodings ofdoom, with sorrow for my hard fate. 

BOOK II

DISAPPEARANCE

CHAPTER X

ESCAPE

At Tibur I put up at a clean little inn I had known of since boyhood, butwhich I had never before entered or even seen, so that I felt safe thereand reasonably sure to pass as a traveller of no rank whatever. Myknowledge of country ways, too, enabled me to behave like a landedproprietor of small means. 

After a hearty lunch I pushed boldly on up the Valerian Highway andcovered the twenty-two miles between Tibur and Carseoli without visiblytiring my mount. He was no more winded nor lathered than any traveller'shorse should be at the end of a day on the road. At Carseoli I again knewof a clean, quiet inn, and there I dined and slept. 

Thence I intended to follow the rough country roads along the Tolenus. Stream-side roads are always bad, so I allowed two days more in which toreach home, and I could hardly have done it quicker. The night after Ileft Carseoli I camped by a tributary of the Tolenus in a very prettylittle grove. From Carseoli on the weather was fine. 

About the third hour of the day, on the fifth day before the Kalends ofSeptember, of a fair, bright morning, I came to my own estate. On the roadnearing it I had met no one. I met no one along the woodland tracksleading into my property from that side: on my estate I met no one savejust as I was about to enter my villa. Then I encountered Ofatulenus, bailiff of the Villa Farm. He, of course, was amazed to see me. I bade himmention to no one, not even to his wife, that I had returned home. 

"Be secret!" I enjoined. 

He nodded. 

I believed he would be dumb. Give me a Sabine to keep a secret; I'd backany Sabine against any other sort of human being. 

Ofatulenus took my horse and swore that no one outside of the stableshould know it was there or suspect it. I told him to lock the trappingsin the third locker in my harness-room, which locker I knew should beempty. 

I got from the stable to my villa without encountering any human being. Outside I found Agathemer, as I had hoped I would, sunning himself on theterrace. 

He was even more amazed than Ofatulenus and began to exclaim. I silencedhim and questioned him as to his health. He told me that his back wasentirely healed and that, while any effort still caused him not a littlepain, he was capable of the customary activities of his normal life. 

I then told him why I had returned home. He listened in silence, exceptthat he here and there put in a query when I omitted some detail in myexcitement. 

When he understood my situation thoroughly he asked:

"And what do you propose to do?"

"I propose, " I said, "to live here unobtrusively, visiting no one, receiving no one and, by all the means in our power, arranging that as fewpersons as possible may know of my presence here. There is not thefaintest scintilla of hope in my doing anything whatever. But if I merelyexist without calling attention to my existence there may be some hope forme. No man accused as I am is ever allowed an opportunity to clearhimself: but it has often happened that, by keeping away from Rome for atime, a man in my situation has given his friends a chance to use theirinfluence in his behalf, to gain the ear of someone powerful at Court, toget an unbiassed hearing for what they had to say, to prove his completeinnocence and rehabilitate him. Vedia and Tanno will do all they can forme. I have hosts of friends, not a few of whom will aid Vedia and Tanno asfar as they are able. By keeping quiet here I shall give my friends achance to save me, if I can be saved. If not, I shall here await suchorders as may be sent me, or my arrest, if I am to be seized. "

"Is that your whole plan?" Agathemer queried. 

"All, " I said. 

"May I speak?" he asked. "May I speak out my full mind?"

"Certainly!" I agreed. "Speak!"

"If you stay here as you propose, " he said, "you will be arrested notlater than tomorrow and haled to your death, if not butchered at sight. Atmost the centurion in charge might allow you an hour in which to commitsuicide. But if you remain here inactive your death is certain, you willnever see two sunrises. 

"But I agree with you that your friends will do what they can and Iheartily believe that Opsitius and Vedia will move sky, earth and sea andHades beneath all, as far as their powers go, to save you. If they haveany chance of succeeding they will need more time than Perennis will givethem. If you stay here you will be dead before they can so much as layplans to gain them the ear of Saoteros and Anteros or some other Palacefavorite, let along groping through all the complicated intriguesnecessary to arrange for an audience with the Emperor when he might be ina compliant humor. 

"Your plan means certain death for you. I think I can save you if you willput yourself in my hands. Will you?"

"I most certainly will, " I said, "and without reservation. If you thinkyou can save me, tell me what you want me to do and I shall do it. I shallfollow your suggestions implicitly. "

"Well, " said Agathemer, "since remaining here means certain death andsince there seems a chance of final salvation for you through the effortsof your friends and especially those of Opsitius and Vedia, since theywill need plenty of time to save you, if you can be saved, from everypoint of view the right course of action is not merely inaction, notmerely hiding, but an immediate and complete disappearance. If you arefound you will be ordered to kill yourself or will be put to death. If youcannot be found you cannot be killed or made to kill yourself. Since youcannot be found you will stay alive until you can be rehabilitated withthe Emperor. If that cannot be done or is not done, at least you will bealive. My deduction is, disappear at once and completely. You have manytimes, for a lark, disguised yourself as an ordinary country proprietor orsmall farmer and mingled with the crowd at a fair without beingrecognized. What you have done for an evening in jest now attempt inearnest and for as long a period as is necessary. And to begin with, vanish from here at once and completely. "

"But how?" I queried. 

"If you are to disappear, " said Agathemer, "why should I waste time inexplaining how. Let us disappear together, leaving no trace and let us doit at once. "

"But, " I cried, "I could never consent to anything like that! You are notin any danger. You will be manumitted by my will and you can live safely, comfortably and at ease. Why should I drag you into I know not whatmiseries, hardships and privations along with me? Tell me what to do and Iwill proceed to do it. But do you stay here. "

"If I told you my plan, " said Agathemer, "you could not carry it outalone. My scheme for your escape and vanishment pivots on my disappearingalong with you. If you agree, as I beg that you will, we shall both besafe, I hope and trust; alive, able to return here if it can be arranged, able to live elsewhere, somehow, if it cannot be arranged. If you refuseyour assent, I shall die with you or soon after you; I am resolute not tosurvive you. "

"I agree, " I said. "I am under your orders henceforth, not you undermine. "

Agathemer at once guided me into the house and upstairs to his rooms, forhe inhabited the guest-suite next my rooms, which had been my uncle's. 

"The first thing to do, " he said, "is for both of us to eat heartily, forwe do not know when we shall eat again. I have been choicy and whimmyabout my eating since I came back here and mostly my meals have revoltedme and I have left the _triclinium_ practically unfed, whereas I haveoften been seized with imperative hunger between meals. I have anoverabundant supply of all sorts of tempting cold viands up here. "

And, in fact, in the room he used as a reading and writing room, on a sidetable, I found an inviting array of cold meats, jellies, cakes, and fancybreads, with an assortment of wines. We ate till we could eat no more, masticating our food carefully and taking wine in moderation. 

Then Agathemer put up a liberal supply of bread and relishes in a smalllinen bag, obliterated all traces of our meal and presence and went intohis dressing-room, where he stripped stark naked and rubbed himself downwith a rough towel, carefully disposing of his garments in his wardrobes. 

From one of his tables he took a small silver case containing flint, steeland tinder. Then we went into my rooms, where he stripped me, rubbed medown, and disposed of my garments as he had of his. My wallet he tookpains to hide in the bottom of a chest, after emptying it and putting thecontents about so that each article was hidden in a different place andnone could be connected with the others or with the wallet. The littlehorn case with flint and steel he retained. 

The ante-room to what had been my uncle's bed-room and was now mine, hadon its walls trophies of hunting-spears and other weapons of the chase. Agathemer selected two knives for killing wounded stags, dependableimplements, blade and shank one piece of fine steel, the handles of stag-horn, fastened on with copper rivets. 

With the bag of food, the two knives and the two tinder boxes we went upmy uncle's private stair to his library and reading room. 

My uncle had had his own ideas as to nearly everything, usually much atvariance with other people's ideas. As to building his ideas, perhaps, were less aberrant than his opinions on other subjects, but, certainly hewas as tenacious of them as of his other notions. 

He held, in the first place, that sleeping-rooms on the ground-floor ofany house were unhealthy and a relic of primitive barbarism. He wasequally positive that, in the country, where there was ample room for abuilding to spread out, it was folly to construct a dwelling of three ormore stories: such villas he railed at as exhibitions of sillyextravagance and of a desire to appear different from one's neighbors. Hisvilla, therefore, was of two stories only. 

But, on the other hand, he loved fresh air, light, and wide prospects fromhis windows; also he spent most of his daylight reading or writing, orboth. To gratify to the full all his chief tastes at once he included inthe plans of his villa a sort of tower, at the northwest corner, risingwell above the remainder of the structure, so that the floors of its thirdstory were on a level higher than that of the ridge-poles of the roofs ofthe other parts of the villa and from the wide windows of its rooms therewas an unobstructed view over the tiles of the villa upon the farm-buildings and beyond them across the fields to the woodlands and theforested eastern and southern horizon as well as a fine outlook down thevalley northward and across it westward. 

In this third story of this tower he housed his library and there he spentmost of his time. It was reached by three stairs. One was connected withthe villa in general and was used by him when going down to meals in his_triclinium_, or when escorting visitors up to his library, as hesometimes did with his particular favorites; and this stair was also usedby such servants as he might summon to him while in his library or asmight have to go up there to attend to it in his absence. The second stairconnected with his living-rooms on the second floor, which rooms lookednorthwestward, as he detested being waked early by the rays of the risingsun and loved basking in the mellow radiance of afternoon sunlight. Thethird stair is not easy to describe and was one of my uncle's oddesteccentricities. It was inside a sort of minor tower built against thetower in which his library was set aloft, which minor tower extended farup towards the sky, like a great chimney. What was the primary purpose ofthis minor tower I shall explain later. In it, however, was a narrow, cramped, spiral stair, unlit by any window or loop-hole, unconnected withthe second or first floor of the villa, opening at the top into thelibrary and at the bottom into a cellar, a cellar so far down the hillsidethat its vault was below the level of the floors of the cellars under thevilla in general. This stair my uncle had had constructed to enable him toapply his idea that a master could ensure the diligence of his tenants andslaves only if he was known to be in the habit of coming upon themunexpectedly at any hour of the day, only if they never knew when he mightappear and so were spurred to continual diligence for fear he might catchthem idling. For my uncle, though he habitually spent his entire daylightin his library, might at any hour slip down this stair, slip out onto thenorthwestern slope from the villa through a door locked to all but him andof which he kept the key, or might slip out southeastward or southwestwardor northeastward, through similar doors on the ground floor, reached bypassages built between the many cellars of the upper level of cellarsunder the ground floor of the villa. By this plan and by popping outsometimes many times a day, sometimes after an interval of many days, hekept his underlings alert. 

My uncle's tastes in respect to books were as peculiar as in all otherrespects. He had a really magnificent library, including all the Greekpoets, all our own, and other noble works of literature, such as thehistorians in both the Greek and Latin tongues; the orators, and thewriters on painting, sculpture, architecture and music. 

But he paid more attention to his personal fads. He had a creditablecollection of all works on divination, a similarly inclusive assemblage ofworks on the theory of government, and an almost complete array of thewritings of the Emperors, from the Divine Julius to the Divine Aurelius, whose meditations he extolled. 

But he extolled above all other Princes and authors the Divine Julius. 

"Caius Julius Caesar, " he was never tired of saying, "was, in allrespects, the greatest man who ever lived on earth. He was also thegreatest author earth has ever produced. His poems, his mimes, hiscomedies, his dramas, compare favorably with the best of their kind. Hisaccounts of his wars, whether against the Gauls or against his domesticadversaries, are models of narration, of lucidity, of terseness and ofstyle. His astronomy is the best manual of that subject in Latin. Hisworks on Engineering surpass anything of their kind in clearness andpreserve for the benefit of future generations more useful and originalideas than ever before came from the brain of any one man. His works ondivination, particularly that on Auspices, excel everything previouslywritten on that most important of all human arts. 

"But his two books against Cato are his masterpiece. It is wonderful thatany man could have, in the space of eight days, written, with his ownhand, so fiery an invective, so compelling of the attention of any reader, so completely annihilative of his antagonist's pretensions andcontentions, so convincingly establishing his own: to have made of it, inthe course of composition so rapid and totally unrevised, such a jewel ofLatinity, in a style not only pure and impeccable, but glowing andcharming, is astonishing. But it is downright miraculous that he shouldhave embodied in it the whole theory of government with all its principlesmarshalled in their array with the most perfect subordination ofconsiderations of lesser importance to main principles. The twoAnticatones contain all that a ruler or any minister of a ruler need knowto guide him aright in his tasks. The First Book displays a completetheory of internal policy, the Second of external policy. The two togetherform a whole which is the most brilliant product of Rome's literary andpolitical genius. "

In accordance with his high esteem for Caesar's masterpiece he hadpossessed himself of a beautiful copy of it, written by the celebratedcalligrapher Praxitelides, upon papyrus of the finest quality. It was inseven rolls, each book of Caesar's text occupying two rolls, the index afifth, and the commentaries of grammarians two more. The rollers insidethe rolls were of Nubian ivory, their ends carved into pine cones, each ofthe fourteen representing the cone of a different variety of pine. Eachroll was enclosed in a copper cylinder made accurately to be bothwatertight and airtight. The seven cylinders were housed in an ebony case, inlaid with mother of pearl. I have never seen any literary work morebeautifully enshrined. 

When Agathemer and I were in the library he shut and locked the door atthe top of my uncle's private stair, as he had the door at the bottom ofit. The two keys he hid far apart, where neither was at all likely to befound easily or soon. He had laid the knives, tinder-boxes and bag of foodon a table. He went to the case containing my uncle's most highly prizedtreasures. From it he took the ebony box, opened it and took out two ofthe cylinders. From these he removed the rolls embodying the grammarians'comments. These rolls he put back in the box, shut it, returned it to thecase and closed the case. 

The two cylinders he had laid on the table by the things which he hadbrought up stairs. Inside each cylinder he placed a knife, a tinder-box, and a selection of the food. The bag, with what remained of the food, hetied up again. He handed me one cylinder. 

"Now, " he said, "we are prepared to escape. My idea is to leave no traceof how we leave this villa, to have no one see us leave, to have nothingwith us which could identify us after we have left. We are to go down thesecret stair, crawl out through the big lower drain pipe, hide in thebushes till dark, take to the woods, hide by day, creep northward bynight, and, if we succeed in reaching a district where no one wouldrecognize us, press on northward boldly, passing ourselves off as runawayslaves if anyone encounters us. "

"We'd be locked up as runaway slaves, " I said, "advertised, sold to thehighest bidder if unclaimed and henceforth kept in slavery. "

"I'm in slavery now, " said Agathemer. "You, if kept in slavery, would atleast be alive and in no danger of being recognized. "

"Let us go, " said I. 

We looked at each other and burst out laughing. We made a sufficientlyabsurd spectacle, each stark naked, each holding a copper cylinder, as westood in that elegant and luxurious room. According to the fashion of thetime, which aped the ways of the young Emperor, we wore our hairmoderately long and as both had hair naturally curly, were perfectly instyle as to hair. Our beards, also, we wore clipped but not shaved, andlong enough to show a tendency to curl, as the Emperor wore his. 

Our laugh over I gave a farewell glance about my little-used library. Itwas then about the fifth hour. Agathemer gazing rather outside at thelandscape than inside at the room remained frozen stiff, staring northwarddown the valley. 

"We are barely in time, " he said. "Mercury is with us and Fortune. "

"Before I left Rome, " I said, "I prayed to Fortune and sacrificed toMercury. "

"Time well spent, " he said. "Look there!"

Peering where he pointed I saw, where the road was first visible in thedistance, fully two miles away, a dozen or more horsemen, manifestly, evenat that distance, of military bearing: I caught, against the sunrays, agleam of crimson and a glint of gold; I conjectured a detail of PraetorianGuards coming to arrest me or to put me out of the way. 

Agathemer opened the upper door of the secret stair, which unlike mostdoors, could be locked on either side, for my uncle always wanted to lockthe doors he used, whichever way he passed through them. After we hadpassed this door Agathemer closed it behind us, and, as we stood in thepitch dark, locked it. 

We groped our way down the dizzying turns of the steep stair, Agathemergoing first and, at the bottom, whacking his knee-cap on the lower door. This he unlocked and I found myself in a dim-lit cellar which I hadvisited but twice before. Agathemer locked the stair-door behind us. 

Now the minor tower, in which was the spiral stair, was built as a vent tocarry up into the air, far above the roofs of the villa, any miasma, effluvium or exhalation from the drainage-water of the villa's baths, kitchen and latrines. On the subject of harmful vapours from drains myuncle was fanatical and to bear out his contentions he quoted from theworks of many celebrated philosophers and physicians, including those ofGalen. 

Pursuant with his notions as to how to get rid of the exhalations fromdrainage and to make certain that no whiff of any such vapours ever foundits way up any offset into his kitchen or any latrine or bathroom, he hadbuilt in this small high tower a shaft reaching its top and full six feetsquare all the way up. At its bottom it widened out into a chamber fullytwelve feet square, carried down below the level of the cellar floor toform a cemented tank, vat, cistern or cesspool fully as deep as it waswide. The outfall from this trap was by a terra-cotta pipe of considerablesize, its opening at such a point that the drain-water in the trap neverreached higher than a foot or so below the level of the cellar floor. Thevarious drainage-pipes from different parts of the villa were so led intothis trap-room that their lower ends were always under water, so that noexhalations could ever pass up any of them. 

To the bottom of the trap settled the solid matter and sediment from thedrainage-water. The trap was cleaned by slaves so often that the ooze init never rose high enough to escape down the outfall pipe and befoul theBran Brook. For cleaning out the trap-room had an outer door, of heavy, solid oak, carefully locked, which when opened enabled the slavesentrusted with this task to dredge or bale or scoop out the filth andconvey it off to be used as garden manure. There was also an inner door, as heavy and solid as the other, opening from the cellar, which enabled myuncle to inspect the trap at his convenience. This door Agathemer opened. 

I peered in and, after my eyes became accustomed to the gloom, descriedthe opening of the outfall drain opposite me. It was large enough for leanmen like me and Agathemer to crawl through, but certainly barely largeenough. I could see, after some moments, the lower ends of the drainpipes, two dozen or more, dipping into the foul liquid which filled thecistern. It was very foul, for since my uncle's death the cleaning out ofthe trap had been neglected and the ooze came almost to the top of thewater. 

Agathemer hunted about the cellar, found some bits of stone about the sizeof apples, put them in the bag of food, tied up its neck again, and threwit into the trap, where it sank out of sight. After it he threw in the twokeys. 

Now was the moment for our plunge into the unknown. Agathemer's planimplied that we must crawl a full furlong through the outfall drain. Wemight be drowned, at any point of the crawl, by a rush of water from thebath-tank. We might suffocate in the foul vapours of the drain. But, plainly, Agathemer had pitched upon our only chance of escape, and we mustescape that way and at once or not at all. 

Agathemer threw the two copper cylinders, one after the other, neatly anddeftly into the mouth of the outfall drain. 

"Now, " he said, "one of us must jump for that opening, and must cling toit, his arms inside, his body in the ooze of the trap. The other muststand on the narrow stone ledge inside this door, must contrive to slamthe door behind him so that it will shut fast and stay shut, must then, inthe pitch dark, jump for the shoulders of the other. If the drag of hisweight pulls the other down, both of us will drown in this deep trap inthe vile ooze. If the under man clings on, the upper must crawl over himinto the drain, pass back to him one of the cylinders and then we shall beready for our crawl down. Which goes first?"

"You choose, " said I. 

"Can you slam the door?" Agathemer queried. 

I considered the door, the sill, the ledge inside, the jambs of the door, its edges; stood on the ledge, went through the motions and concluded thatI could slam the door shut and not be knocked off into the ooze by itsimpact or topple off because of the sill's narrowness. I said so. 

"Then I'll go first, " said Agathemer. "You are, even yet, far moreimpaired in strength by your beating than I by my flogging. If I camesecond you might not be able to hold on to the opening of the drain. Iknow I can hold on, no matter how much filth is plastered over my head asyou crawl over me. I should not like the idea of defiling your head withfilth in crawling over you. Jump so that your clutching hands just reachmy shoulders; so that your weight will come on me gradually as you sinkinto the ooze. Take your time about crawling over me. Be sure to pass backto me one cylinder. "

Then he drilled me as to the signals he would give me by pinching my feet. When he was sure we both knew them he grinned a wry grin, and made awhimsical boyish gesture with his uplifted right hand, took a carefulstand on the sill, balanced himself and jumped. 

"I'm all right, " he called back, "and ready for you. "

Three times I tried to slam that door and failed to shut it. The fourthtime I found myself, my back against the shut door, my toes sticking outover the edge of the stone sill, balanced in the pitch dark on a toonarrow ledge. 

"Lean back against the door, " Agathemer called, thickly. "If it gives itis not shut. "

It did not give. 

I said so. 

"Then no one will ever know how we got out, " said Agathemer; adding: "Jumpwhen you are ready, but say 'now. '"

I jumped and my fingers caught his shoulders. He held on. My body sankslowly through the ooze, which gave way with a sickening sliminess, untilI was in contact with Agathemer all the way to my toes. Then I began totry to crawl up over him. I found it far harder than either of us hadanticipated. 

All slippery as we were with the foul ooze it was a fearful struggle forme to scramble up over him, I slipped back so often. After what seemed anhour of effort and apprehension I had my head, shoulders and most of mybody in the drain and knew I had succeeded. I wriggled forward till I feltmy feet beyond the opening, then about as far ahead, pushing before me thecylinders. When Agathemer touched my foot I pushed a cylinder past my bodyand felt, with my ankle, that he pulled it back. 

After that, escape was a matter of wriggling on down the drain. Andwriggling was not impossible, though excessively difficult and exhausting. The drain was nowhere choked with silt, but all along was furred with oozeand there was more than an inch of ooze along its bottom. In this, hitching myself forward on my elbows by violent contortions, I slippedback almost as much as I heaved forward. 

Agathemer seemed to have as much trouble as I had and to find the effortas exhausting. For he had instructed me that I was not to crawl forwarduntil he pinched my foot. One pinch was to mean "advance, " two pinches"rest. " More than once he had signalled me to rest. 

Our worst moment came somewhere near half way down the sewer. There Iencountered a cracked drain-pipe, the ragged edge of the broken terra-cotta projecting into the sewer, its point toward me. I wriggled myshoulders by it, though it gouged my shoulder-muscle on that side; but, atmy hips, it stuck into me so that I could not get past it. 

Agathemer, behind, kept pinching my foot, signalling for me to go forward. I bellowed explanations, but could not suppose that he could hear them inthat horrible tube. But he either heard or guessed, he never could be surewhich. Anyhow, he felt that we must get forward or perish. In desperationhe sunk his teeth into the soft part of the inner side of the sole of myleft foot. The pain made me give a convulsive wriggle and I scraped pastthe obstacle, tearing my hip badly in getting clear. 

From there on we wriggled frantically till I could see ahead a round patchof light at the lower outfall of the drain. 

It seemed an age before I reached the opening, but reach it I did. I laythere, my head just inside, panting and guzzling clean air in greatgulping gasps. Agathemer pinched my foot. I slipped out into the oozy poolbelow the outfall, slid out as quietly as I could and kept myselfsubmerged up to my chin, clutching my cylinder with one hand, pullingmyself clear of the drain and keeping my head out of the drainage byholding to the stem of an alder bush growing by the brook's edge. 

I came to rest, the sunlight dazzling my eyes, though the outfall wasshaded by willows above the alders, and looked for Agathemer. He, his facepurple, kept his head inside the sewer and I could see him suck in theclean air in long gasps as I had. 

At that instant there was a squawking above us and, through the alders, came, quacking and flapping their wings, a hundred or more of my uncle'svalued white ducks. Their alarm made me peep through the alder stems. Isaw, not ten yards from my face, the legs of horses, heard their hoofsthud on the roadway, descried men's feet against their bellies, recognizedthe gilded edges of the boot-soles, the make of the boots, the gilt scaleson the kilt-straps, the gilded breast plates, the crimson tunics andshort-cloaks, the gilded sword-sheaths and helmets. There, just above us, was passing the detachment of Praetorian Guards sent to arrest or despatchme. 

They clanked by us, never suspecting our proximity, though the ducksresented our presence in their favorite pool and quacked at usprotestingly. They continued, in fact, to quack at us most of the timeuntil sunset, so that both of us were in an agony of dread for fear thatsome passer-by might notice their voluble expressions of displeasure andmight take a notion to investigate to discover what was exciting theirwrath. 

But no one was attracted by the ducks' noise and, if anyone passed up ordown the road we, where we were, did not know it. 

We talked, at intervals, in whispers. Agathemer said that he had beenbarely grazed by the broken drain-pipe and hardly noticed his scratches. I, on the other hand, was in great pain from the gouge along my hip, andhardly less pained by the tear in my shoulder. The water, under which Ihad to keep up to my chin, dulled the pain of my wounds, but chilled metill my teeth chattered, though the weather was hot; so hot in fact, thatthe sunrays on my head seemed to scorch my hair, even through the willowsand alders. I was devoutly glad when the sunrays became more slanting andthe daylight began to wane, and the ducks, still quacking protestingly, departed. 

CHAPTER XI

HIDING

It was fully dark before we dared to leave our hiding-place and attemptthe risky venture of essaying to reach a safer shelter or refuge in theforests without attracting the attention of any dog at any of the severalfarmsteads which we must pass. 

Agathemer led and I followed, my teeth chattering and the night insectsbiting me severely. Hugging our precious copper cylinders we waded morethan waistdeep in the water, up the Bran Brook, sometimes all butswimming, as we skirted some of the deeper pools. There was no moon and wecould see but little by the faint starlight. We had to go slowly, as wecould not swim and keep hold of our cylinders; and must not risk losingone if Agathemer went over his head in a deep pool. It seemed to me thatwe had been threading the curves of the brook for at least two hours whenI began to feel as if something were wrong. Even in the dark I had beenaware of a sort of recognition of each pool, shallow, riffle, bend, bankor what not. Now, gradually, it came over me that I was among surroundingsas unfamiliar as if I had not been in Sabinum, or even in Italy. 

I caught Agathemer by the arm. 

"Where are we?" I whispered. 

"Don't talk!" he warned. 

But I insisted; for, as we were by now no more than knee-deep in thewater, I knew we must be well up towards the headwaters and it came overme that we had not turned off anywhere as sharply as we should had weturned up either the Chaff or the Flour. 

"Are we going up the Bran?" I queried. 

"Precisely!" Agathemer breathed. 

I almost spoke out loud. 

"This, " I said, "is the last place on earth I'd expect you to guide meto. "

"Precisely, " he repeated, "and it's the last place on earth anybody elsewould expect me to lead you to or you to be in, by any chance; thereforeit's the last place in Italy where any one will look for you; therefore itis, just now, the safest place in Italy for you. Come on, I know everystone of this brook. "

I followed him. His logic was good, but, on Ducconius Furfur's land I felthopelessly lost and overwhelmed by despair. 

We had not gone far from where I had forced Agathemer to reveal his ruse, when he turned round and whispered:

"This is the place. Here we leave the water. Follow me. "

I was dimly aware of a blacker blackness before us, as of a big, tallrock. This we skirted and then stepped out of the brook towards the left. There we stepped into deep drifts of dead leaves. 

"Here is bedding, " said Agathemer, "such as Ulysses was content with afterhis long sea-swim to the island of the Phaeacians. Perhaps we can getalong in such bedding. "

Naked as we were we burrowed into the dead leaves, and, after a bit I feltless chilly, though by no means warm. 

Agathemer took from me the cylinder I had been carrying; opened one of thetwo, a matter of some difficulty, as the top was so tight; sniffed at it, and took from it some morsels of food: a bit of cold ham, a bit of coldfowl and a bit of bread. These I ate, chewing them slowly. At the sametime he ate, as slowly, an equal share. 

After eating we tried to sleep. I was too weary and drowsy to keep awake, and too cold and too much in pain from the scratch on my shoulder and thegouge on my hip to be able to sleep long. I got some sleep before dawn, but not much. 

Fortunately for us the night had been clear, warm and windless. Even so wesuffered severely with the cold; since the chilled air, of course, rolleddown the hillsides into the hollow along the bed of the brook, till thevalley was filled with thick mist and every leaf and twig dripped withmoisture. Through the mist the dawn broke pearly gray at first and theniridescent; and, when the first sunrays penetrated the white haze andgilded every leaf-edge, turning the tree-tops to gold and making everywaterdrop a diamond, no lovelier morning could be imagined. 

The trees about and above us were mostly beeches, with many chestnuts anda few plane-trees and poplars. We were in a clump of willows with thickalders under them, so that, even with no other protection, we could nothave been seen from any distance. And we were most excellently protected, being on a little island where the brook forked and flowed, three or fouryards wide and nearly a yard deep, round a huge gray rock, fully fifteenyards across and nearly seven yards high, a bulge of worn stone, shapedmuch like half a melon and almost as symmetrical. And, as one might layhalf a melon, curve up, and then split it with one blow of a kitchen-knife, so this great rock, as if cleft by a single sweep of a Titan'ssword, was rent in half and the halves left about four yards apart. Thefracture was clean and smooth, except that a piece about two yards squarehad cracked loose at the ground level from the southern half and laybedded in the mud, its top a foot or so above the earth, leaving in theface of one rock a rectangular niche about a man's length each way, inwhich cavity two men could shelter from the rain. 

As soon as it was light enough to see I was for crawling into this littlecavern. But Agathemer restrained me. 

"The face of the rock, " he said, "would feel cold as ice to your skin. Youhave, even if you do not realize it, somewhat warmed the leaves next you. For the present we are least uncomfortable where we are. The dawn-windcannot get at our hides while we are under these leaves. Keep still. "

He kept himself as much as possible under the leaves but wriggled nearerthe altar-shaped bit of rock. Half-sitting, half crouching by it, littlebesides his head out of the heap of leaves in which he was, he opened bothcylinders and laid out on the top of the stone what food was in them. Thishe divided into six equal portions, two he put back in each cylinder. Wemunched interminably, making every morsel last as long as possible. 

The food revived me, and even before the dawn-wind had died, the rays ofthe sun began to make themselves felt. I began to be restless; Agathemeragain checked me. 

"Keep still, " he commanded. "As soon as the sun has dried the dew off theleaves I can make you more comfortable. Just now we are best as we are. "

I kept under the leaves, but I peered about. At each end of the cleftbetween the two halves of the rock I could see the brook brawling by amongthe worn stones. The line of the cleft was directly across the bed of thebrook; and, along the cleft, past the detached, almost buried, altar-shaped stone, I descried, barely discernible but unmistakable, such a pathas is made by the bare or sandalled feet of even one human being followingdaily the same track. I conned it. I judged that it was many, many decadesold and had been trodden daily for a lifetime or so, but that it had beentotally disused for at least a year and possibly for more. 

I pointed it out to Agathemer and asked him about it. 

"That, " he said, "is part of what used to be the shorter and more used ofthe two paths from Furfur's villa to Philargyrus's farmstead. Naturally, since the Philargyrus farm has been detached from Furfur's estate and hasbecome part of yours, there must be very little intercommunication betweenthe farm and the villa and I judged that any slave going from one to theother would avoid the more obvious path and sneak round the longer way. Therefore I judged it safer to locate here, as this path is probablytotally unused. "

"How did you know of it?" I queried. 

Up to his neck in leaves, arms under too, only his head out, Agathemerblushed all over his handsome face. 

"Before Andivius won the suit, " he said, "while Philargyrus was stillFurfur's tenant, I had an impassioned love-affair with one of Furfur'sslave-girls. We used to meet here, at first on moonlit nights, and, later, when we each knew every inch of our way here and home again, more often onmoonless nights. I always waded up and down the bed of the brook, so as toleave no scent for any dog to follow. I know this nook well and thought ofit the instant I began to plan an escape for you. "

I said nothing. 

"It is barely possible, " he said, "that some one may use this path, evenif no one has passed along it for months. That is just the way luck turnsout. I mean to be invisible if anyone does come. There was no likelihoodof anyone coming by at dawn, and no possibility of doing anything ifanyone did come. Now it is warm enough for me to pick off the outer layerof dew-wet leaves from whatever heaps of dead leaves are hereabouts. I cangather the dry leaves into that little grotto. We can lie on a bed ofthem, wrapped up in them we can cower under them, we can even pull ourheads under and be invisible if we hear footsteps approaching. You keepstill. "

He then stood up and went off. After a time he returned with a greatarmful of leaves, which he threw into the niche. After many trips he hadthe niche almost full of fairly dry dead leaves. By this time the warmthof the sun was making itself felt and I stood up and stretched myself. Idid not feel weak, but my shoulder and hip, where the drain-pipe had tornme, and the sole of my foot, where Agathemer had bitten me, were decidedlypainful. Agathemer, solicitously, steadied me on my feet and led me to thestreamside. There I seated myself on a convenient rock and he bathed myfoot, hip and shoulder. There was no sign of puffiness or heat in any ofthe three wounds, but all three were raw and sore. We had nothing withwhich to dress them and Agathemer merely dried them as well as he could bypatting them. 

Meanwhile, even in my misery and despair, even hungry, weak and cold andin pain as I was, I could not but feel a gleam of pleasure at theenchanting beauty of the woodland scene about our hiding place. I gazed upat the bits of blue sky between the sunlit boughs, at the canopy of green, at the tenderer green of the underwood, at the carpet of grass, ferns, sedges and flowering plants which hid the earth and I almost rejoiced atits loveliness. 

Agathemer led me back to our retreat and ensconced me in the nook of rock, on a soft deep bed of dry dead leaves, under a coverlet of more. Into theheaps he burrowed. The warmth of his naked body warmed me a trifle. Therewe lay still till dark. I slept, I think, from about noon till aftersunset. 

While we could still see, Agathemer, making me keep flat as I was, wriggled out of the leaves and pushed them aside from my head and face. Wethen ate half our remaining food. As it grew dark Agathemer expounded tome his plans. 

"Last night, " he said, "there was no sense in doing anything. Hiding andkeeping out of sight was the best thing we could do. But tonight I musttry to steal what we need most. The risk must be taken. If I do not returnyou will know I have done my best. But I feel confident of returningbefore midnight. I know every farmstead on Furfur's estate and all thedogs know me. On your estate I not only know the dogs, but I have justfinished an inspection and I know the location of every dairy, smoke-house, larder and oven, I might almost say of every loaf, cheese, ham, flitch, wine-vat and oil-jar on the estate, not to mention every store-room where I might get us hats, tunics, sandals, quilts and what not. 

"If I cannot do it otherwise, as a last resort I'll wake Uturia and tellher of our situation; she will help and will be secret. But I'll notresort to her if I can help it. Her most willing secrecy will not be assafe as her ignorance of our fate. No torture could surmount that. "

I wanted to say "Farewell, " but restrained myself and uttered a not toogloomy:

"Good luck and a prosperous return!"

After that, I lay and quaked till long past midnight. Then, I seemed tohear sounds which I could but interpret as heralding Agathemer's approach. In fact he soon spoke to me from close by and I heard the unmistakableblurred noise made by a soft and yet heavy pack deposited on the ground bymy bed of leaves. 

"I've nearly everything I wanted, " said Agathemer. "Keep still while Iuntie the quilt I carried it all in, and find things in the dark. "

Presently he said:

"Stand up, and I'll try to dress you. "

In the dark his hand found my hand and he guided me so that I extricatedmyself from the heap of leaves without hitting my head on the jutting roofof rock and without slipping on the wet earth or stumbling from weakness. 

In the dark he slipped over my head a coarse, patched tunic. (I could feelagainst my skin the rude stitching of the patches. ) Then he wrapped aboutme a coarse cloak, also much patched. 

"Now, " he said, "stand where you are till I make some sort of a bed foryou. "

He fumbled about in the dark, grunting and making, I thought, too muchrustling in the leaves. Presently he said:

"I've laid a doubled quilt on the leaves and packed them down. Give meyour hand and I'll arrange you on it. Then I'll cover you with anotherquilt. "

He did, deftly and solicitously. 

I began to feel warm for the first time since I had sunk into the ooze ofthe drain-trap. 

Agathemer fumbled about in the dark for a while and then came near againand felt me, making sure where my head was. He made me sit up. 

"Smell that!" he said, "and catch hold of it. "

I smelt ewe's-milk cheese and my fingers closed on a generous piece of it. Then, he put into my other hand a big chunk of bread, not yet entirelycold. 

I bit the bread. It was Ofatulena's unsurpassable farm bread, half wheatflour and half barley flour and at that more appetizing and flavorsomethan any wheat-bread I ever tasted. 

"There is plenty for both of us, " Agathemer said, "eat all you want, buteat slow and be careful not to bolt a morsel. "

He sat down by me and we munched in silence. 

By and by he asked:

"Do you want any more?"

"No, " I answered, "you judged my capacity pretty well. I am filled up. "

"Don't lie down, " he said, "I have a small kid-skin of wine. "

We laughed a good deal before he made sure precisely where my mouth wasand put into it the reed which projected from one leg of the kid-skin. Idrank in abundance of a thin, sour wine, such as we kept for the slaves. It gave me new life. 

After that draught of wine I composed myself to sleep and went to sleep atonce. I knew nothing of Agathemer's doings after that and did not feel himwhen he lay down by me. I slept till broad daylight. 

When I waked Agathemer gave me a moderate draught of wine and all thebread and cheese I chose to eat: also a handful of olives. Then hedisplayed the total of his plunder: hats, with brims neither too broad nortoo narrow, the best pattern if one was to have only one hat, worn andbattered enough to suit us as being inconspicuous, yet nowhere torn, broken or slit; a tunic and cloak apiece, about the oldest and mostpatched in my villa-farm storage-loft, such as Ofatulena would hand out tonewly bought and untried slaves; three quilts, as bad as the cloaks andtunics, yet, like them, fairly serviceable and far from worn out; the kid-skin of wine, a whole loaf of bread and the remains of the one we had beeneating, what was left of a cheese and another whole; a little, tall, narrow jar of olive oil; a small bag of olives; a tiny box full of salt, the box of beechwood and about the size of a man's three fingers; awhetstone, a pair of rusty scissors; two small beechwood cups; a littlecopper dipper; some rags, old and worn, but perfectly clean; and aflageolet!

"In the name of Dionysius!" I cried laughing, "why the flageolet?"

Agathemer laughed also. 

"My hand, " he said, "came on it in the dark while feeling for thescissors. I could not resist bringing it. It is small, it weighs little, it will not add to our burdens and, once far away from here, I can play onit when we are lonely and so cheer us up. "

"You appear, " I said, "to have been able to help yourself as you pleased. "

"No more trouble, " said he, "than if I had walked out of the villa nightbefore last and poked about the out-buildings to see whether everythingwas as when I inspected them by day; only three dogs barked, and theyquieted down almost immediately. I am sure I roused no one and am ready towager that every slave was as sound asleep as if I had not been there. "

I lazily readjusted myself on my quilt and leaf mattress, tucking my quiltclose about me. The morning was still, warm and cloudy, not a ray ofsunshine visible, even for a moment, since sunset the night before. 

"Time to dress your wounds!" said Agathemer. 

He brought from the brook a cupful of water, and, with the smallest of therags, solicitously bathed the gouge on my hip. He pronounced it healinghealthily. He then anointed it with olive oil. The bathing and anointingcomforted me greatly. Then, he similarly treated my shoulder and foot. When I was composed and covered he said:

"Now for the scissors!" and he sharpened them on his whetstone until hefelt satisfied that he could get them no sharper, then he clipped my hairand beard, as closely as those scissors could. Then I sat up and clippedhim, awkwardly and unevenly, but effectively. 

Hardly were we shorn when drops of rain began to patter on the leavesabove us. Agathemer wrapped his bread in the rags, put it between the twohats and tucked it under the leaves in one inner corner of the littlegrotto; bestowed the other things on it, or by it or in the other corner;and then lay down by me and pulled his quilt over him, then managing tocover both of us with leaves so that no trace of our presence would bevisible to any passer-by, yet we could breathe comfortably behind or underour screen of leaves. 

It rained all day, a sluggish drizzle, soaking the earth, but notaccumulating enough water on it to produce visible trickles flowing on thesurface. The air was perfectly windless, so that no rain blew in on us aswe lay; we were damp, but not wet. 

Before dusk the rain ceased and a brisk, warm wind shook the drops fromthe trees. We ate and Agathemer declared his intention of going on anotherraid about an hour after dark. 

"What are you after this time?" I queried. 

"More food, " he said, "all I dare steal. I must not steal too much fromany one place. I'll wager my pilferings of last night will pass, notmerely unheeded, but entirely unnoticed. Ofatulena herself is so scatter-brained that she will never be sure that two loaves vanished from heroven; I doubt if she will so much as suspect any loss. But I cannot repeatthat depletion of her baking tonight; she might talk. She is not quick-witted enough to conjecture the truth, if she did her utter loyalty wouldkeep her mute; she'd impute the theft to some slave and likely as not havean investigation and advertise her loss. If there happened to be a craftyinspector with the Praetorians and if they have lingered, they mightsuspect the truth, beat the woods for us and capture us. So I must take alittle here and a little there. 

"Then I want another quilt for myself, and shoes for both of us. Is thereanything else you can think of?"

"Manifestly!" I said, "we need a slave-scourge, a branding-iron with thelong F for 'runaway', [Footnote: _Fugitivus_. The short F stood for _fur_, "thief. "] a brazier big enough to heat the branding iron and enoughcharcoal to fire it once. "

"What, in the name of Mercury, " he whispered amazedly, "do you want of abranding-iron and a scourge?"

"We are to pass as runaway slaves, if caught, according to your outline ofa plan, " I said, "we had best do all we can to be sure of being thoughtordinary runaway slaves. Few slaves travel far from their owners' landwhen they first venture to run away. We should be branded, to seem oldoffenders. 

"As for you, thanks to Nemestronia, your back is all it should be to helpplay the part we intend. My back has no scars. You must scourge me till Ihave as many as you. "

In the late dusk, inside that grotto, under the dead leaves, I could seethe horror on his face. 

"I scourge you!" he cried aloud. 

"Hush!" I admonished him. "Scourged I must be, if I am to hope to escapeCaesar's agents as you have cleverly conceived that I might. Steal ascourge and a branding-iron tonight, and let us be ready for the road assoon as may be; we cannot set out northwards till my back is healed andthe brands on both of us, too. "

We wrangled and argued till it was past time for him to start on hisexpedition. I finally declared that, unless he fetched a scourge and abranding-iron, I would, at daybreak, walk back to my villa and give myselfup to the authorities. At that he consented. 

I went to sleep soon after he was gone and never woke till daylight. 

I woke from a troubled sleep, haunted by nightmare dreams, woke aware of ageneral discomfort, misery and horror, and of acute pain in my wounds. Iseemed to have a good appetite and ate with relish; but, hardly had Iceased eating, when I appeared definitely feverish and the pain in my footbecame unbearable. 

I told Agathemer how I felt and he examined my wounds. All three werepuffy, red, even purplish, and with pus at the edges. It was then and hasalways been since a puzzle to both of us why wounds, seemingly healingnaturally when unwashed and undressed, should inflame and fester aftercareful washing and dressing. 

My fever was not high, but enough to make me fretful and irritable. Theday was very hot and still. I made Agathemer show me what spoil he hadbrought and at once ordered him to light the charcoal brazier, heat theiron and brand me. He demurred. 

"If you feel feverish, " he said, "the pain of the branding will doubleyour fever and, if you have three inflamed wounds, the brand will festerto a certainty. You'll probably die of it, if I brand you. "

"As well die one way as another, " I said. "If we stay here we are certainto be discovered sooner or later. Our only hope is to get away as soon asmay be. That cannot be until my back and both brands heal enough for us totramp northward. Your back is healed, so your brand will heal promptly. Ihave to get over these wounds and the branding and scourging too. We mustbe quick. "

He argued, but I was half delirious and wholly unreasonable. I againthreatened to go straight to the villa and give myself up unless I had myway. 

Agathemer, distraught and aghast, yielded. I argued that in the earlyhaze, the little trifle of smoke from the charcoal could not attractnotice. He complied. He had trouble getting a light from his flint andsteel, but he succeeded, and, when the charcoal caught, set the littlebrazier close to our nook and fanned it with a leafy bough to disperse thesmoke. When no further trace of smoke appeared and the charcoal glowedevenly, he put the iron to heat. 

When it was hot enough he suggested, again, that we put off branding metill next day, and that he brand only himself. I insisted on his brandingme and branding me first. 

To my amazement, when he had bared my shoulder, set me in position, andsnatched the iron from the brazier, I shrank back with a sort of weakscream. 

Agathemer instantly replaced the iron in the brazier and turned, staringat me in silence. 

Instantly I had a revulsion of resolution, of obstinacy, of deliriousrage. I reviled him. I commanded, I threatened. 

Coolly he bared his left shoulder, knelt by the brazier and made as if tobrand himself. 

"You can't do it, " I protested, "you'll scar yourself to no purpose andanyone will know the mark is not a brand. Fetch the iron here and hand itto me. "

He did, deftly. Without a wince or squeak he, kneeling and leaning, heldhis shoulder to the white-hot iron. I could not have done better if I hadbeen well and standing, instead of delirious and sitting, wrapped in aquilt, in a bed of dried leaves. I set the iron fair on the muscle of hisshoulder, held it there just the brief instant required for brandingwithout injury and snatched it away without any drag sideways. 

After witnessing the stoical heroism of my slave I could not but insist onhis branding me and was exalted to the point of nerve-tension at which Ibit in my half-uttered scream as the heat seared my flesh. Agathemerdressed each brand with an oil-soaked rag and we composed ourselves tohide until dark. 

CHAPTER XII

SUCCOUR

As on the days before, no one passed us and, indeed, as far as I couldjudge, no living thing came near us, except a hare or two. We kept closeunder our heap of leaves, inside our niche of rock. But this time I didnot snuggle inside my cloak and quilt; I cast off, first the quilt, thenthe cloak, and lay in my tunic only, panting and gasping. For it was avery hot, still day, and my fever increased, increased so much, in fact, that I could stomach but little food at dusk and took but little interestin anything; in my condition, in Agathemer's brand, in his departure. 

His return, late at night, was to me only one incident of a sort ofcontinuous nightmare: I was half asleep, wholly delirious and everyimpression was as the half-delusion of a half-waking dream. I was barelyhalf-conscious, yet I had sense enough to lie still, except for writhingand turning over, and to restrain myself from singing or screaming. 

At dawn I ate even less than at dusk, but I did eat something. Eatingroused me enough for me to insist on Agathemer's stripping me andscourging me. He felt my forehead, my wrists and my feet, and shook hishead. 

"You have a terrific fever, " he said, "and four festering wounds, for thebrand-mark is festering already; you are in danger of death anyhow as itis; you will never recover from a scourging. "

I, with all a delirious man's unreasoning, insisted and again threatenedto give myself up. 

The sun was about two hours high, gilding the treetops and sending shaftsof golden light through the still wet foliage. One such shaft of sunshineshot between the two halves of the great rock that sheltered us and fellon the table-topped fragment of stone, like a nearly buried altar, whichlay midway of them. 

Writhing and groaning I slipped out of my quilt, cloak and tunic, and, groaning, I crawled to the flat-topped stone. Face down on it I lay, mychest against it, my knees on the ground, my arms outstretched, my fingersgripping the far edge of the altar-stone. 

So placed I bade Agathemer lay on with the scourge. 

"Flay me!" I ordered. "I should be torn raw from neck to hips. The worse Iam scored and ripped the more protection the scars will be. Lay onfuriously. If I faint, finish the job before you revive me. "

He began lashing me, but hesitatingly; I reviled him for a coward; but thepain, even of the first strokes, was too much for me. I could feel thesweat on my forehead, my finger nails dug into the sides of the stone, itssharp edge cut into the soft inside of my clutching fingers, I bit mytongue to keep from shrieking, yet my voice, as I taunted Agathemer andrailed at him, rose to a sort of scream. 

He laid on more fiercely. After a dozen blows or more a harder blow mademe groan. At that instant I was aware of a shadow above me, of a humanfigure rushing past me, and the blows ceased. 

I let go my clutch on the rock and tried to stand up. I did succeed inkneeling up, supported by my hand on the altar stone. So half erect Ilooked round. 

Agathemer lay under the intruder, who had him by the throat with bothhands. Partly by sight, even from behind him, partly by the objurgationwhich he panted out, I recognized Chryseros Philargyrus and realized thathe thought that Agathemer had been torturing me in revenge for hisflogging at Nemestronia's. 

I instantly forgot my plight and my natural instincts asserted themselves. As if I had been then what I had been ten days before, I ordered Chryserosto loose Agathemer and he obeyed me, as if I had been what I felt myself, his master. 

He and Agathemer stood up and looked at me and each other: I must havemade a laughable spectacle, swaying as I knelt, my hands on the rock, myhair and beard mere clipped stubble, and I naked, with my back bleedingand both shoulders and one hip inflamed, purple-red and puffy. Certainlyboth Chryseros and Agathemer appeared comical to me, even in my pain andmisery and weakness and through the enveloping horror of my fever. Agathemer, his hair and beard a worse stubble than mine, was gasping andruefully rubbing his throat, making a ridiculous figure in his browntunic, patched with patches of red, yellow and blue, all sewed on withwhite thread. Chryseros was panting, and his bald head shone in the sun. He had cast off his cloak as he rushed at Agathemer and stood only in hisrusty brown tunic, himself as dry and lean as a dead limb of a tree. 

Although he had obeyed instantly when I ordered him to loose Agathemer, yet, perhaps from some vagary of my fever, I stared at Chryseros withoutany other feeling than that he had been for most of his life the tenant ofour family enemy. As I looked at him I felt utterly lost, as if there wasnow no hope for me, as if Chryseros would certainly betray me to theauthorities. I felt utterly despairing and totally reckless. This mood, oddly enough, urged me to do the very best thing I could have done. 

Either from right instinct or delirious folly, I informed Chryseros fullyof our purposes, doings and plans. He apologized to Agathemer for hisassault on him, affirmed his complete loyalty to me and promised allpossible assistance and perfect secrecy. He examined me and said:

"I'll have your wounds clean, your back dried up, every inch of youhealing properly and your fever cooled before morning. Here, Agathemer, help get him abed. "

They washed my back and laid me, naked as I was, on the quilt laid overthe bed of leaves, then they covered me with the other quilt. 

"You two keep close till I come back, " Chryseros advised. "Someone elsemight use this path. I'll be back soon and I'll arrange to excite nosuspicion. "

When he returned he had me out on the flat-topped stone, washed my backand wounds, and then bathed them with some lotion which, when firstapplied, felt cooling and soothing, but almost at once burnt into me tillevery part of my back, my hip and both my shoulders smarted worse than hadthe one shoulder as the brand seared it: at least that was how I felt. Iwrithed and groaned. 

"Keep still!" Chryseros admonished me. "Keep quiet! This is doing yougood. "

And he chafed my back, inundating it with his fiery liniment till I was onthe verge of fainting from mere pain. Half fainting I was as the tworaised me to my feet and put the tunic on me, as they helped me back to mybed in the little grotto. When I was recumbent Chryseros made me drink anauseous, black, bitter liquid and then lie flat. 

"Keep there till morning, " he said, "and fast. Food can do you no goodwhile you have such a fever and fasting can do you no harm. "

Actually I was asleep before I knew it and slept all day and all night, not waking until Agathemer, when Chryseros ordered it, roused me. Theypressed on me a quart bowl of milk warm from the cow, and I drank most ofit. I felt much better and Chryseros pronounced me free from fever andafter he had inspected my back and wounds and again inundated them withhis fiery lotion, declared all inflammation had vanished and that I washealing up properly. He enjoined Agathemer to let me have no food butmilk, said he would bring more after sunset, and told us to keep close inthe niche. I slept all day long, and after a second draught of milk atdusk, all night till the sun was well up. 

I woke feeling stiff and sore, uncomfortable on my back, hip andshoulders, but with no positive pain anywhere: also I felt like my usualself. And I may say here, parenthetically, that I never had another day'sillness through all the vicissitudes of my flight, hiding, adventures andmisfortunes. 

Chryseros brought me milk; excellent wheat bread; a smooth and appetizingveal-stew, with beans and lentils in it and seasoned with spices; cheesenewly made from fresh curds, and luscious plums. He let me eat my fill anddrink all the milk I wanted. But he would not let me taste the wine ofwhich Agathemer drank moderately. 

"If you feel sleepy, " said Chryseros, "roll over, cover yourself and go tosleep; we can talk tomorrow. "

"I do not feel sleepy, " I declared, "and I feel very much like askingquestions. "

"Then we'll talk at once, " he said, "we'll take all the time needed foryour recovery; but once you are recovered, we'll waste no time in gettingyou out of Sabinum. "

The morning was fair and warm, with a light breeze. I was on my bed ofleaves inside my nook of rock. Agathemer was squatted by my head, his backagainst that edge of the niche; by my feet, leaning against the oppositeedge of the niche, facing Agathemer, and therefore where I could best seeand hear him sat Chryseros. 

He began by telling me that I must remain where I was until he judged mefit to travel, even if I remained ten days more; but that he thought Imight be able to start to-morrow night and would make his preparationsaccordingly. His first idea, he said, had been to set off on horseback forSpolitum, near, which he had a sister married to a prosperous farmer, towhom he had paid visits at intervals of about five years. He had thoughtthat it would be easy and safe to take me and Agathemer with him on foot, disguised as slaves. This idea, however, Agathemer had antagonized, pointing out that any convoy from my estate would be severely scrutinizedand every man examined and searched; that there was no chance of ourescaping by such a plan. 

At this point of his discourse he told me that the Praetorians had alreadydeparted from Villa Andivia leaving in charge Gratillus, a treasuryofficer of the confiscation department, a man whom I knew too well as alsoa member of the secret service, an articled Imperial spy and an activeprofessional informer, moreover a man who had always hated my uncle, andwho had hated me from my boyhood. 

According to Chryseros, Gratillus had made no great effort to find me, since, in fact, neither he nor anyone connected with the government hadhad any suspicion that I had returned home. He had merely made aperfunctory investigation to assure himself, as he thought, that I had notso returned. He had examined all the tenantry and slaves, had askedquestions, but had tortured no one and had been quite satisfied with theanswers he had received. Oddly enough, while he had closely questionedhimself and my other eight tenants as to the date of my departure for Romeand as to whether they had seen me since they last saw me in Rome, andwhile he had questioned Uturia and Ofatulena as to whether they had seenme since I set off for Rome, he had somehow omitted or forgotten to askOfatulenus the same questions, so that he had been able to answertruthfully the only questions asked of him. Agathemer, I found, had toldChryseros that only he and Ofatulenus had seen me between my return andescape. 

Gratillus had especially questioned the wives of my eight tenants, and asChryseros was a widower, his widowed daughter, who lived with him. Each ofthese he had summoned before him separately and had interrogated alone andat length. This was like Gratillus. 

He had made but one arrest, and this dumbfounded me. Ducconius Furfur hadbeen interrogated, like all my neighbors, but, while the rest had beendismissed after answering what questions were put to them, Furfur, withtwo servants, had accompanied to Rome the Praetorians when they went away. 

The more I reflected on this the stranger it seemed. 

Neither Chryseros nor Agathemer had any doubt that a close watch was beingquietly kept to make sure that I could not now return to Villa Andiviawithout being caught; nor yet leave it if I did return or had returned. 

As a result of his discussion with Agathemer they had agreed that we wereto leave by night and on foot, as we had originally intended. But he hadargued that, while it was perfectly sensible for us to plan to passourselves off as runaway slaves if arrested and questioned, there was nosense whatever in doing anything to appear like runaway slaves unless wewere actually arrested and questioned. Agathemer had admitted this, buthad pointed out that, while we had no hope of any assistance whatever, andwere planning to escape by our own unaided efforts, there was nopossibility of our trying to appear anything else than runaway slaves, ashe could easily steal slaves' cloaks and tunics from my spare stores, buthad no hope of getting his hands on any other garments. He had joyfullyaccepted the ideas and suggestions which Chryseros put forward, as well ashis proffers of assistance. 

Chryseros directed that the two copper cylinders and most of the spoils ofAgathemer's pilferings should be left in our little grotto, hidden underthe dead leaves. He would then smuggle them away and dispose of them. Hewould supply us with rusty brown tunics and cloaks of undyed mixed wool, such as were worn by poor or economical farmers throughout Sabinum. Alsohe would supply us with hats better than those Agathemer had fetched;belts; and travelling wallets, neither too big nor too small, neither toonew nor too worn, and each with a shoulder-strap for easy carriage; good, heavy shoes, two pair of them for each of us, so that we might carry aspare pair in each wallet. In the wallets also we were to hide the huntingknives Agathemer had taken from my uncle's collection; which knives, blades, handles and sheaths Chryseros highly approved. 

At sight of the flageolet he grinned, the only smile I saw on his facewhile he was helping us in our hiding and out of it. Agathemer, obstinately, insisted on taking that flageolet. And Chryseros grudginglyadmitted that it might prove a really valuable possession, perhaps. Wetook, of course, our two little flint and steel cases. 

Chryseros said we ought to eat all we could manage to swallow up to themoment of our departure. He would pack our wallets with food which couldbe made to last four or five days and would be plenty for two days. Mostimportant of all he would supply us with money, half copper and halfsilver, as much as our wallets could properly hold, so as not to make usappear thieves, if we were suspected and haled before a magistrate. Withmoney we could travel openly and by day after we were well out of Sabinum. 

We planned to make our way eastward, inclining very little to the north, towards Fisternae. The crossing of the Tolenus and Himella should give usno trouble whatever. We would pass south of Cliternia and north ofFisternae. Chryseros questioned Agathemer closely as to his knowledge ofthe byroads, and applauded him highly, only on a few points correcting himor amplifying what he knew. North of Fisternae we could gain the mountainsand work northwards. 

The most dangerous part of our proposed route, the critical point of ourescape, would be the crossing of the Avens and the Salarian Highway, whichwe must effect somewhere near Forum Decii, between Interocrium andFalacrinum. Once in the mountains we should be able easily to continue onnorthwards into Umbria. 

Chryseros suggested that, once in Umbria, we could pass ourselves off asbuyers of cattle, goats and mules, all of which were bred on the mountainfarms and regularly bought up by itinerant dealers who drove them or hadthem driven to Rome. The Umbrian mountains had no such numbers of theseanimals as Sabinum produced and their quality was far inferior, so thatthe dealers were always men of small means, driving close bargains. 

All this sounded very promising and, about half way between sunrise andnoon, he left us to hide for the rest of the day. I slept well and wokefeeling almost myself, with merely trifling discomfort from my fasthealing wounds. 

When Chryseros returned in the dusk, I ate ravenously. He brought us good, coarse tunics and cloaks, also hats, shoes, and belts; and for each of us, a small leather case containing two good needles and a little hank ofstrong linen thread. We talked in subdued tones, as before, and kept it upuntil long after dark. 

Next morning I woke full of hope and eager to be off. Chryseros broughtour wallets and we packed them with everything they were to hold exceptmost of the food. We had a long wrangle over the money, as Chryseroswanted to force on us more silver than I thought it safe to carry. 

That night, after a generous meal and a long final talk with Chryseros, weset off to sneak our way into the Aemilian Estate and from there eastward. Before we set off Chryseros insisted on hanging round each of our necks, by the usual leathern thong, one of those tiny, flat leathern pouches, inwhich slaves were accustomed to wear protective amulets. He declared thatthese contained talismans of great potency and of inestimable value to usin our flight, as in any risk or venture. At the moment of parting, to myamazement, he burst into tears, threw his arms around me, held me closeand clung to me sobbing, and kissing me as if I had been his own son. Aswe moved off I could still hear his sobs. 

We had excellent luck. Hiding by day and threading devious paths by nightwe reached and passed the Avens and the Salarian Highway without anyencounter with any human being; and indeed without near proximity to any. Our daytime hiding-places all turned out to have been well chosen and noone approached us in any one of them. The moon, which was in her firstquarter on the night of our setting out, helped us nightly. There was norain and only some moderate cloudiness, enough to be helpful at the timeof the full moon, when there was enough light all night for us to see totravel at a good rate of speed and without any error at forks in thepaths; and yet not enough light to make us conspicuous to any who might beabroad late at night. 

Once beyond the Nar and almost at the borders of Umbria, we grew bolder, travelled by day, bought food as we needed it, put up at inns and actedthe character we had assumed, of Sabines intent on stock-buying in theUmbrian mountains. No one appeared to suspect us and we had no adventures. 

But, inevitably, once we had escaped, we did not so much think ofimmediate danger as of permanent safety. Chryseros had confirmed ourinstinctive opinion that, as Sabines, we should be much less likely toarouse suspicion in Umbria and the Po Valley than in Samnium, Lucania orBruttium. We had never thought of escape southward; northward we had meantto work our way, from the instant of conceiving the idea of escaping. Butwe had no settled, coherent plan as to how to achieve safety and keepalive. We could not hide in the mountains indefinitely. 

We both agreed that we could hide best in a large city. Marseilles mighthave been a perfect hiding-place could we have reached it, full as italways was of riff-raff from all the shores of the Mediterranean and fromall parts of Italy. But Marseilles we could reach only by the AurelianHighway, through Genoa along the coast, and the Aurelian Highway wascertain to be sown with spies and likely enough might be travelled upon byofficials who had known me from childhood and would probably know methrough any disguise. 

Aquileia, on the other hand, was far more populous than Marseilles, evenmore a congeries of rabble from all shores and districts, even more easy-going. In Aquileia we should be able to earn a comfortable living by nottoo onerous activities and to be wholly unsuspected. Towards Aquileia wedecided to try to make our way. The roads, being less travelled, would beless spied-on and we should meet officials less likely to recognize me. 

But, if we were to reach Aquileia, we must husband our silver. Agathemer'sidea was that, from where we reached the borders of Umbria, somewherebetween Trebia and Nursia, we should keep as near as possible to the chineof the mountain-chain, using the roads, paths, tracks or trails highest upthe slope of the mountains; avoiding being seen as much as possible, and, if we were seen, claiming to have lost our way through misunderstandingthe directions given us by the last natives we had met. He proposed tosteal food for us, instead of buying it, and expounded his ideas, maintaining that it would be easy and not dangerous. 

We tried his plan and succeeded well with it. So wild and untravelled werethe districts which we traversed that, nearly half the time, we werewelcomed at farmsteads, (to which welcome Agathemer's flageolet-playinggreatly assisted us), invited to spend the night and had lavished upon ourentertainment all their rustic abundance, so that we visibly grew fat. When such luck did not befall us we had no trouble in helping ourselves tosupplies, for, far up the mountains, most habitations were shacks tenantedonly in summer and only by lads acting as goat-herds or herdsmen, whospent the day abroad with their charges, so that we could readily entertheir deserted cabins and take what we pleased; especially as, if a doghad been left to guard the hut, I could always master him so that hegreeted me fawning and stood wagging his tail as we made off. 

Except these not very risky raids for provender and such encounters ascalled for more than usually ingenious lying from Agathemer, we had noadventures. 

But we realized from day to day and more and more insistently, that wewere progressing slowly, far slower than we had anticipated. It was plainthat we could not hope to reach Aquileia before winter set in. It wasmanifest that it would be unsafe to attempt to winter anywhere in the Povalley between the mountains and Aquileia. At Ravenna, Bononia or Padua weshould be noticed, investigated and perhaps recognized: anywhere in theopen country, at any village or farm, we should, even more certainlyexcite suspicion. We must winter in the mountains. But how or where?

The question was solved for us by our first considerable adventure. Inever knew the precise locality. We had, in traversing the mountainstrails, avoided any semblance of ignorance of our general locality and hadsedulously refrained from asking any questions except as to our way tosome nearby objective, generally imaginary. All I know is that we weresomewhere on the northeastern slope of the long chain of mountains beyondIguvium and Tifernum perhaps near the headwaters of the Sena. On themorning of our adventure we were on a long spur of the main range, so thatwe were headed not northwest but northeast. The weather was still fine andwarm, but autumn was not far off. We hadn't seen a habitation since thatat which we had passed the night, and we had made about three leaguessince we left it, following what was at first a good mountain road, butwhich grew worse and worse till it became a mere trail. 

CHAPTER XIII

THE LONELY HUT

Some time before noon we were threading a barely visible track not farbelow the crest of the spur, a track bordered and overshadowed bychestnuts and beeches, but chestnuts and beeches intermingled with not afew pines and firs, when, out of the bushes on our left hand, from the upslope above us, appeared a large mouse-colored Molossian dog, very leanand starved looking. I first saw his big, square-jowled, short-muzzledhead peering out between some low cornel bushes, his brown eyes regardingme questioningly. 

He fawned on me, of course, and I made friends with him, fondled him, pulled his ears and played with him a while. 

Agathemer tartly enquired whether we really had time to waste onskylarking with strange dogs. I laughed, picked up my wallet, and startedto follow him as he swung round and strode on, ordering the dog to go backhome, a command which, from me, almost always won instant compliance anddisembarrassed me of any casual roadside friends. 

But the dog did not obey. He pawed at me, whined, and caught my cloak inhis teeth, tugging at it and whining. I could not induce him to let go, could not shake him off, and was much puzzled. Agathemer, impatient andirritated, halted again and urged our need of haste. 

After exhausting every wile by which I had been accustomed to rid myselfof too fond animals, I began to realize that the dog did not want tofollow us, did not want us to remain where we were and go on playing withhim, but, as plainly as if he spoke Latin, he was begging us to accompanyhim somewhere. 

I said to Agathemer:

"I'm going with this dog; come along. "

He remonstrated. 

I declared that I had an intuition that to follow the dog was the rightthing to do. Agathemer, contemptuous and reluctant, yielded. The dog ledus along an all but undistinguishable track through densely growing trees, up steep slopes and out into a flattish glade or clearing at the brow ofthe slope, overhung by merely a few hundred feet of wooded mountain sideand bare cliffs to the crest. The clearing was clothed in soft, late, second-growth grass, and had plainly been mown at haying time and pasturedon since. In it we found some well-built, well-thatched farm-buildings: asheepfold, a goatpen, a cowshed, a strongly built structure like a granaryor store-house, another like a repository for wine-jars and oil-jars;hovels such as all mountain farms have for slave-quarters and a house orcabin little better than a hut, mud-walled, like the other buildings, butnew thatched. It was nearly square and had no ridge-pole, the four slopesof the roof running together, at the top, yet not into a point, but as ifthere were a smoke-vent: in fact I thought I saw a suggestion of smokerising from the peak of the roof. 

To this hut the dog led us. The heavy door of weathered, rough-hewn oakwas shut, but, when I pushed it, proved to be unfastened. I found myselflooking into a largish room, roofed with rough rafters from which hungwhat might have been hams, flitches and cheeses. It was mud-walled and hada floor of beaten earth, in which was a sand-pit, nearly full of ashes andwith a small fire smouldering in the middle of it. Opposite me was a roughplank partition with two doors in it, both open. Against the partition, between the doors, hung bronze lamps, iron pots and pottery jars. The roomwas dim, lighted only from the door, in which I stood, and from the narrowsmoke-vent overhead. 

By the fire, on their hands and knees, and apparently poking at it, eachwith a bit of wood, or about to lay the bits of wood on it, were twolittle girls, shock-headed, barefoot and bare-legged, clad only in coarsetunics of rusty dark wool. I am not accurate as to children's ages: I tookthese girls for seven and five; but they may have been six and four oreight and six. At sight of us they scrambled to their feet and fledthrough one of the doors, one shrieking, the other screaming:

"Mamma! Mamma! Strange men! Strange men!"

In her panic she did not attempt to shut the door behind her and bolt it, both of which, as I afterwards discovered, she might have done. 

No other voices came to our ears and I followed the children into the rearroom in which they had taken refuge. It was totally dark, except for whatlight found its way through its door, and was cramped and small and halffilled by a Gallic bed. I had never seen a Gallic bed before. Such a bedis made like the body of a travelling-carriage or travelling litter, entirely encased in panelling, topped off with a sort of flat roof ofpanelling, and with sliding panels above the level of the cording, so thatthe occupants can shut themselves in completely; a structure which looksto a novice like a device for smothering its occupants, but which is awelcome retreat and shelter on cold, windy, winter nights, as I havelearned by later experience. As this was my first sight of one I wasamazed at it. 

Usually, as I learned later, such a bedstead is piled up with feather-beds, so that the occupant is much above the level of the top edge of thelower front on which the panels slide. But this bed was poorly providedwith mattresses and I had to stare down into it to descry the children'smother, who lay like a corpse in a coffin, but half buried in bedding andquilts, only her face visible. She was certainly alive, for her breathingwas loud and stertorous; but she was, quite certainly, unconscious. Between the shrieking children, who clung to the frame of the bed, I spoketo her and assured her that we were friends. She gave no sign ofunderstanding me, of hearing me, of knowing of my presence; but myrepeated assurances quieted the elder girl, who not only ceased screamingbut endeavored to calm her little sister. 

Seeing her so sensible, I questioned the child. All I could learn from herwas that her father had been away nearly ten days, her mother ill for fiveand insensible for three and their four slaves had run away the daybefore, taking everything they chose to carry off. I then examined theother room which had a similar bed in it, and in which, the child told me, she and her sister slept. She declared that she did not know her mother'sname, that her father never called her anything but "mother"; she alsodeclared that she did not know her father's name, her mother, alwayscalling him "father, " as she and her sister did. Her name was Prima andher sister's Secunda. 

As I could not rouse the woman and learned that the slaves had been gonemore than a full day, Agathemer and I went to save the bellowing andbleating stock. We found in the shed two fine young cows with uddersappallingly distended. But our attention was momentarily distracted fromthem by the sight of eight full-sized bronze pails, finer than those atany public well in Reate or Consentia, which hung on pegs by the door, four on each side of it. They were flat-bottomed, bulged, but narrowed atthe rim so that no water would splash out in carrying. The rims wereornamented with chased or cast patterns, scallops, leaves, egg and dartand wall of Troy: four patterns, showing that they were pairs. All hadheavy double handles. We looked for carrying-yokes, but could see none. Such pails, which would be the treasures of any village and the pride ofmost towns, amazed us in this fastness. Glancing at the pails took us lesstime than it does to tell of it. The cows needed us sorely and we eachpicked up one of the suitable earthenware jars which stood inverted justinside the shed door and milked them at once. Agathemer said he thought wewere in time to forestall any serious and permanent harm to them. Buttheir udders were frightfully swelled and blood came with the milk fromone teat of the cow I attended to. 

The sheep were in a worse state than the cows. Not a lamb was visible;besides the ewes there was only a two-year-old ram penned by himself in acorner of the fold. There were eight fine young ewes, in full milk. Aswith one cow, so among these ewes, four gave bloody milk from one teateach, and we milked that onto the earth. We found plenty of emptyearthenware crocks, clean, and turned upside down, in which to save thegood milk. 

The he-goat, a noble young specimen, was penned by himself, like the ram. There were nineteen she-goats, with not a kid anywhere, yet all in fullmilk and far worse off than the ewes. All but two gave bloody milk andthree gave no clean milk. These three I judged might die, but Agathemervowed he could save them. 

When we had finished milking we searched about for water. Towards thenortheast the clearing narrowed and here we came upon a tiny rilltrickling through a fringe of sedge. It came from a clear and abundantspring in a cleft of rock against the sharp up slope which rose thereunder the pines. At the lower edge of that part of the clearing, near themargin of the more nearly level ground, just before it plunged over therim of the flat, it was dammed into a drinking pool for the stock. We didnot dare let them out to drink and so laboriously carried water, I fromthe spring and Agathemer from the pond, using each a pair of the bronzepails, pouring the water into the troughs made of hollow logs, which wereset, one to each, in the shed, pen and fold. We kept this up till everygoat and ewe had had her fill, and then watered the he-goat and ram. Thecows, of course, we had watered first. After the watering we gave each cowa feed of mixed barley and millet and then filled with hay all the mangersand racks. 

When we had concluded this exhausting toil we filled the water-jar whichstood in one corner of the cabin and then carried some milk into thehouse, and offered Prima and Secunda whichever they preferred. They choseewe's milk and drank their fill. Prima was much impressed by the dog'sconfidence in me and seemed to give me hers. She said the dog's name wasHylactor. I tried to make the mother drink some cow's milk, but sheswallowed only a few drops which I forced through her teeth by the help ofa small horn spoon which I found on the floor of the outer room. 

Agathemer roused the fire and piled more wood on it. There were no lessthan seven tripods lying about the floor of the cabin, but all roughlymade and of the squat, short-legged pattern which holds a pot barely clearof a low bed of coals; not one was fit to hold a cauldron over a newlymade deep fire of half-caught wood. 

On the tallest of them, or rather on that least squatty, Agathemer set asmall pot, which he filled with fresh water. When he had this where itseemed likely to boil and certain to heat, he ferretted about forsupplies. He found a brick oven with about half a baking of bread in it;medium-sized loaves of coarse wheat bread. Two forked sticks stood in onecorner of the cabin and with one he lifted from its peg in the rafters apartly used flitch of good coarse bacon. There was a jar more than halffull of olive oil by the sticks in the same corner of the cabin. In asmall pot set in the ashes Agathemer stewed some of the onions he lifteddown from the rafters. In the other corner of the cabin was an amphoranearly full of harsh, sour wine. We made a full meal of bread, onions, bacon, olives and some raisins, drinking our fill of the wine. The littlegirls ate heartily with us, now convinced that we were friends andaccepting us as such. They seemed to some extent habituated to theirmother's condition of helplessness and insensibility. 

As soon as we had fed we inspected the place. The glade or clearing wasenclosed all around by the tall trees of a thick primitive forest. Towardsthe up slope and the cliffs below the crest of the mountain the trees wereall pines, firs or such-like dark and somber evergreens. There were a fewof these also on the lower slopes, but there, as along all that rim of theclearing, the forest was mostly of oak, beech, chestnut and other cheerfultrees. Their tops towered far above the verge of the slope and screenedthe clearing all round. Nowhere could we catch sight of any sign of atown, village or farmstead, though there were three several rifts in theforest through which we could see far into the valleys to the eastward. The cliff above the clearing ran nearly from southwest to northeast, sothat the place was well situated towards the sun. 

The cow-shed was divided by a partition and half of it had been used forstabling mules. Agathemer judged that no mule had been in it for about tendays. We inferred that the children's father had taken the mules with himwhen he departed. Over the cow-shed was a loft, well stored with good hay, as were the smaller lofts over the sheds which formed one side of thesheepfold and goat-pen. The hay was not mountain hay, but distinctlymeadow hay, such as is mown in valleys along streams. It was all inbundles, such bundles as are carried on mule-back, two to a mule. This wasqueer; even queerer the absence of any fowls or pigeons, or of any signthat any had ever been about the place. An Umbrian mountain farm withoutpigeons was unthinkable. 

In the granary we found an amazingly large store of excellent barley, butonly two jars of wheat, and that not very good, and neither jar entirelyfull. On the floor were loose piles of turnips, beets and of dried pods ofcoarse beans. There were jars of chick-peas, cow-peas, lentils, beans andmillet, more millet than wheat. From the rafters hung dried bean-bushes, with the pods on; long strings of onions, dried herbs, marjoram, thyme, sage, bay-leaves and other such seasonings, dried peppers, strung like theonions, and bunches of big sweet raisins. Also many rush-mats of driedfigs, the biggest and best of figs, some of them indubitably Caunean figs. On the floor, in heaps, were some hard-headed cabbages, only one or twospoiled. It was a very ample store and we marvelled at it and wonderedwhence it all came and how it came where it was. 

The other store-house amazed us. It was, as we had conjectured, full ofgreat jars; jars of wine, of olive oil, of pickled olives, of pickledfish, of pickled pork, of vinegar, of plums in vinegar, and smaller jarsof honey, sauces and prepared relishes. The rafters were set full ofcornel-wood pegs till they looked like weavers-combs. From the pegs hunghams, flitches, strings of smoked sausage, cheeses of all sizes, smoked soheavily that they appeared mere lumps of soot, and bags of a shapeunfamiliar to both of us. Agathemer knocked one down and opened it. It wasfull of tight packed fish, salted, dried and smoked, a fish of a kindunknown to us. 

There was, along the upper edge of the clearing, under the boughs of thepine trees, a huge pile of trimmed logs of oak, chestnut, pine and fir, with a scarcely smaller heap of cut lengths of boughs and branches. Undera lean-to shed was a small store of cut fire-wood. In a corner of the sameshed were four big cornel-wood mauls and eleven good iron wedges, not oneof them bearing any sign of ever having been used, but appearing as iffresh from the maker's hands. By the woodpile were four even heaviermauls, showing plenty of marks of hard usage and near them or about thewoodpile we found eight rusty wedges. 

We could find no axe, hatchet or any other such tool anywhere about theplace. The logs and six-foot lengths of boughs afforded a lavish supply offuel for two long winters; the cut fire-wood could not be made to keep thefire going ten days. 

The slave-quarters, as I said, were mere hovels, but they were providedwith bedding, quilts, and stores of clothing by no means such as aregenerally used for slaves. Slaves' quilts are mostly old and worn, made ofpatches of woollen or linen cloth all but worn out by previous use; andthen, when torn, patched with a patch on a patch and a patch on that. These quilts were the best of their kind, such as ladies of leisure makefor their own amusement, of squares and triangles of woolen stuff unwornand unsoiled. The mattresses were stuffed with dried grass or sedge, craftily packed to make a soft bed for any sleeper. The pillows were oflambs' wool, as good as the best pillows. And, in a big chest in eachhovel, were good, new, clean tunics, cloaks, rain-cloaks, and with themsandals, shoes, hats, rain-hats and all sorts of clothing, not as if forslaves, but as if for middle-class farmers, prosperous and self-indulgent. 

We were dumbfounded at such abundance in such a place. 

By each bed in the hut was a chest. These we opened and found in bothwomen's clothing; tunics, robes, cloaks and rolls of linen and fine woolenstuffs. 

The woman, although moaning and stirring in her bed, gave no more signs oflife than when we first saw her. Agathemer said, speaking Greek so thechildren would not understand:

"We must try to save this woman's life. You manage to get the children tofollow you outside and I'll lift her out of the bed, and wash her, put aclean tunic on her, put clean bedding in the bed and put her back in it; Ican do all that handily. She is so ill she will never know. "

We went out in the slave-hovels and chose what bedding seemed suitable andcarried it into the hut. Agathemer had put more fuel on the fire and set abig pot of water on the tripod. We put the bedding in a corner of the hutand selected from the contents of the chests a tunic and some roughtowels, of which there were some in each chest. 

I was not hopeful of being able to wheedle the children; but my firstattempt was a complete success. I suggested to Prima that she tell me thenames of the sheep and goats and she at once became absorbed ininstructing me. Each had a name, she was certain; but, I found, veryuncertain as to which name belonged to which and not very sure of some ofthe names. Her hesitations and efforts to remember took up so much timethat we were still at the goat-pen, Secunda with one hand clingingconfidingly to mine, when Agathemer called to me from the door of the hut. 

He told me in Greek that he had done all he could for the woman, hadeffaced all traces of his activities and had put the soiled bedding out inthe late sunshine to dry and air. We strolled about the clearing, remarking again that it seemed out of sight from any possible inhabited ortravelled viewpoint. Agathemer fetched a rough ladder he had seen in thecow-shed, set it against the hut, which was highest on the slope, andclimbed to the top of its roof. From there, he said, he could descrynothing in any direction which looked like a town, village, farmstead orbit of highway. The place was well hidden, by careful calculation, forthis could not have come about by accident. 

We peered into each of the buildings and poked about in them, hoping tofind an axe or hatchet, and marvelling that a place so liberally, solavishly, so amazingly oversupplied with hams, flitches, sausages andother such food should show nowhere any trace of the presence of hogs. There was no hog-pen nor any place where one might have been, nor did anypart of the clearing show any signs indicating a former wallow, nor hadany portion of it been rooted up. It was very puzzling. 

As we returned to the house, about an hour before sunset, wesimultaneously uttered, in Greek:

"Here we stay--"

"Go on, " said I checking. 

"Here we stay, " he began again, "until the husband comes home, or, if hedoes not return, until spring. "

"That is my idea, also, " I said, "and there is but one drawback. "

"Pooh, " said Agathemer, "if we do not find an axe somewhere hereaboutsI'll steal one from a farm if I have to spend two days and a night on thequest. "

We agreed that there was no question but that we must spend the nightwhere we were. The stock, after their long neglect and late milking, wouldbe best left unmilked and unwatered till morning. As we must not leave thewoman unwatched, we must sleep in the hut. We could bring in sedgemattresses and quilts from the hovels and sleep on the earth floor by thefire. When we had agreed on these points we forced some more milk on thesemi-unconscious woman, gave the stock more hay, ate an abundant meal ofbread, oil, sausages broiled over the fire on a spit, olives and raisins;and, soon after sunset, composed ourselves to sleep by the well-coveredfire, leaving open the door into the woman's bedroom, but shutting the twochildren into theirs after telling them by no means to stir until wecalled them in the morning. 

Hylactor curled up outside the cabin door, almost against it, afterAgathemer had convinced him that we would not let him sleep in the hut. Weslept unbrokenly till dawn woke us. 

It was cold before sunrise so high up the mountains. My face felt coldeven inside the hut and by the smouldering fire. I was reluctant to rollout of my quilts. But, what with Agathemer's urgings and my ownrealization of what was required, I did my share of the milking, wateringand feeding of the stock and ate a hearty breakfast. For, as when hidingin Furfur's woods, as when anywhere on our escape, since it was notpossible to eat as if at home and at ease, we ate our fill soon after dawnand again before dark, but during the day we ate nothing. We had fromnecessity already formed the habit of two meals a day, at sunrise andsunset. 

The woman seemed less violently ill than the day before. When we first sawher she had been in the throes of a violent fever and it had lasted untilafter Agathemer bathed her. From then on it seemed to abate, but, when Ilast felt her forehead and hands before we lay down to sleep, she wasstill feverish. When we first went to her in the morning she wasunconscious and as if in a stupor, but showed no signs of fever. She didnot struggle against feeding as on the previous day, but swallowed, aspoonful at a time, as much milk as Agathemer thought good for her. 

When we had done what seemed necessary Agathemer suggested that I remainby the cabin while he investigated the woods round the clearing to makesure how many roads or paths led out of it. He proposed to carry hissheath-knife and the stout and tried staff which had helped him along themountain trails, as a similar one had helped me, and to take Hylactor withhim: to make a circuit about the clearing some ten yards or so inside theforest and, if necessary a second circuit, further away from our glade. These two circuits should make him sure how many tracks led from or to ourclearing. Then he would follow each track and acquaint himself with it, and, if possible, learn where it led. I approved. 

Before noon he reported that only three tracks approached our location;that by which we had reached it up the slope of the mountain, and onealong the slope in each direction. About mid-afternoon he returned up thetrack by which we had come, stating that the trail southwards, about aleague south of us, joined the road along which we had travelled tillHylactor diverted us: he had made the circuit along the length of theleague or more of trail, back along the road by which we had travelled andup the track by which Hylactor had led us; he had met no living thing, save a hare or two, too fleet for Hylactor to catch; he had caught sightof no town, village or farmstead, even afar. He had made sure that themules had left the clearing by the track he had followed out of it, sothat, probably, the children's father had gone south. Exploring the othertrail he had put off till the next day. 

Next day he found that the other track joined the lower road only abouthalf a league to northeastwards. He turned back along the lower road andreturned by the uphill track, as he had done the day before to the south. He met no one and saw no town, village or farmstead anywhere in sight, andat some places he could see far to the eastward. 

We discussed his proposal to go off alone, with a wallet of food and tryto steal an axe. Plainly he would have to go far. It would be easy enoughto sneak back to the farm where we had spent our last night before meetingHylactor, but we both felt bound by the obligation of our hospitableentertainment there: though nameless fugitives we were still under thespell of the standards of our former lives. We admitted to each other thathe might steal an axe from that farm and I condone the knavery and availmyself of its proceeds; but we agreed that such baseness must be stoopedto only as a desperate last resort. He was to set off northwards next day. 

That night the woman, who had been inert and manageable, in a half-stupor, became violently delirious and for a time it took all the strengthAgathemer and I jointly possessed to hold her in bed. Prima and Secunda, waked by her shrieks, were in a pitiable panic, Secunda merely dazed andaghast, Prima begging us not to kill her mother, fancying we wereattacking her. We managed to convince the child that we were doing ourbest and what was best for her mother and that her mother's ravings wouldquiet and that she might regain her reason and health. I induced bothchildren to return to their bed and shut and bolted their door. Agathemerand I, by turns, and twice again each helping the other, kept the poorwoman in her bed all night. At dawn she quieted and fell into a profoundstupor. But the vigil left me and Agathemer worn out. We attended to themilking, feeding and watering of the stock and then I went to sleep in oneof the slave hovels, which were free from vermin, not the least amazing ofthe many amazing features of our place of sojourn. 

This outbreak of our insensible hostess made impossible the immediateexecution of Agathemer's project. He had to have adequate rest before hecould set off. After I had slept all the morning, he slept most of theafternoon. During his nap I found, behind the water-jar in the hut, ahatchet-head, with the handle broken off and what was left of it jammed inthe hole. It was small, but not very rusty or dull. Before Agathemerwakened I had it well sharpened. We had found a mallet in the storehouse, and, with this and a cornel-wood peg he whittled with his sheath-knife, Agathemer drove out the broken bit of hatchet handle. He then fashionedwith his sheath-knife a good handle of tough, seasoned ash from a piece hehad found in one of the buildings. With this hatchet we could cut up smallboughs selected from the big woodpile, but it was too small to enable usto cut logs into lengths or split lengths of logs. 

Again, when Agathemer was planning for the next day his axe-stealingexpedition, the woman had a fit of raving. This lasted a night, a day anda night and left both of us to the last degree weary and drowsy. Before wehad recuperated our firewood was almost used up. The situation lookedhopeless. It was well along into the Autumn, though we were now unsure ofwhat month we were in, so completely had we lost count of the days. AgainAgathemer projected an expedition for the next day, in the faint hope ofobtaining us an axe, and I feared he now aimed for our last harborage. Atdusk, as he hunted for small wood under the margin of the woodpile, hefound a good, big, double-edged axe-head. It was dull and very rusty, andhe had a vast deal of trouble getting out the fragment of broken handleand shaping a new handle, in which he was greatly helped by a fairly gooddraw-knife, which I had that very morning found hanging on a peg behindthe hay in the loft over the cow-shed. He had quite as much trouble infitting the handle into the axe-head and in sharpening both edges. But hedid all that before we composed ourselves to sleep. Besides those on thepartition we had found a score of fine bronze lamps and we had olive oilenough for all uses for two winters. 

Next morning we woke to find all our world buried under a foot of snow, the pines laden with it, the boughs of the beeches, oaks and chestnutsfurred with it along their tops. It was a magic outlook, the like of whichneither of us had ever seen. 

After that, all through the winter, our life was an unvarying routine ofmilking, feeding and watering the stock, preparing and eating mealslimited only by our appetites, nursing the sick woman, and choppingfirewood. From the first streak of dawn till the last gleam of twilightone or the other of us chopped the firewood. Neither of us was an adept athandling an axe. But Agathemer, with his half Greek ancestry and hiswholly Greek versatility and adaptability, taught himself to be a goodaxeman in ten days. I bungled and blundered away at it all winter. Agathemer could cut a two-foot oak log into suitable lengths with aminimum of effort, with clean, effective strokes of the ringing axe, thecuts sharp and even; I could cut any log into lengths and enjoyed theeffort, but I sweated over it and laid half my strokes awry, so that theends of my lengths were notched and unsightly. 

Also I broke five several axe-helves in the course of the winter. Thefirst time I broke a helve Agathemer had no substitute ready, and, whatwas more, the fragment of the old helve was in so tight that he had toburn it out in the fire and then retemper and resharpen our one preciousaxe-head. His retempering and resharpening turned out all right, but hesaid his success was accidental and he might ruin the axe if he triedagain. So he made two extra helves and had a dozen cornel-wood pegs readyto drive out the bit of broken handle next time I broke it; as I did, according to his laughing forecast. 

The incessant labor of our days hardened both of us. Our muscles were likesteel rods. We slept on our mattresses by that ash-covered fire as I hadnever slept at Villa Andivia or at my mansion in Rome. We ate enormouslyand relished every mouthful. 

Riving lengths of logs with wedges and maul was a kind of work calling forno special skill; Agathemer taught me all he knew in a day or two. Allwinter we alternated this work with woodchopping, afterwards chopping theriven lengths into firewood lengths and then splitting these intofirewood. Although we worked at riving and chopping and splitting everymoment of daylight when we were not busy at something else, we neveraccumulated any comfortable store of firewood, so as to be able to resteven one day. We drank new milk by the quart, with both our meals; wine, abundantly as we were supplied with it and good as it proved to be, wedrank sparingly, merely a draught at waking, one after each meal, and oneat bedtime. What we took we took strong, mixing wine and water in equalproportions. 

Both Agathemer and I preferred cows' milk and drank that only, as we gavecows' milk only to the sick woman. Both children preferred ewes' milk. Aswe had no hogs to feed we were put to it what to do with our surplus milk. Agathemer made a sort of soft cheese, by putting sour curds in a bag andhanging it up to drain. We both liked this and so did the little girls. But we could not use much this way. Agathemer, always resourceful, fed thedog all the goat's milk he would lap up, and, after he had set to curdlewhat seemed enough, mixed the rest, while fresh and sweet, with water andgave this mixture to the cows to drink, saying it increased their yield ofmilk. As the winter wore on he fed similarly the best milkers among theewes and goats. 

CHAPTER XIV

WINTER IN THE MOUNTAINS

Neither Agathemer nor I knew anything about bread-making. He tried, butmerely wasted flour. And both of us hated the wearisome labor of grindinggrain in either of the rough hand-mills which were in the store-house. Hefound a means of keeping us well fed, satisfied and looking forward to thenext meal with pleasure. He screened a peck or so of barley, put it tosoak in a crock, and then, when it was swelled, put it in a crock or flat-bottomed jar, with just enough water to cover it, and bedded this in thehot coals by the edge of the fire. There, under a tight lid, it stewed andswelled and steamed all day, unless he judged it done sooner. When it wascooked to his taste he mixed through it cheese, raisins, and several sortsof flavorings, also a little honey. The porridge-like product he baked, asit were, by turning a larger crock over the crock containing it. Theresult was always tasty and relishable. 

I asked him why he used barley, not wheat, of which there was quite asupply. He said barley was supposed to be heating, and we certainly neededall the heating we could get. 

The old smoked cheeses, of which an amazing number hung in the hut andstore-houses, were, to me, very appetizing, used in this way, though toostrongly flavored for me to eat any quantity of any sort as one would eatnormal cheese. Agathemer said they had all been smoked too soon, while thecheese was yet soft, so that the smoke had penetrated all through thecheese. Certainly the outside of each cheese was mere soot to the depth ofan inch, so that we had to throw it away. Even Hylactor would not eat it. 

Soon after the first hard freeze we found, one morning, one of the goatswith a leg broken. Agathemer, with me to help him, got her out into one ofthe buildings, out of sight or hearing of the other animals; and, therelater, butchered her. We had, by this time, found butchering knives andkitchen knives, to the number of a score, but each hidden by itself, andin the oddest places, one under a sill of the cowshed, another under awine-jar, several between the rafters and thatch, most buried in thethatch itself, as if they had been hidden on purpose. They were all rusty, but we soon had them bright and sharp. With some of these we butchered andcut up the goat. The offal we fed to Hylactor, not much at a time. Most ofthe rest of her we ate, a little at a time, as the frost kept the meatfrom spoiling. 

The kidneys Agathemer used first. He washed them, soaked them, parboiledthem, cut them into bits, fried the bits in olive oil, and then, when theywere crisp, stirred some of them through one of his crocks of cookedbarley. The result was delicious. The kidneys sufficed for two or threecrocks of barley. Then he did something similar with the liver with aresult almost as appetizing. 

We had some chops, broiled over the hot coals; also collops, spitted, withbits of fat bacon between. But neither of us cared much for goat's meat, and Agathemer's attempt at a broth made of the tougher meat was not asuccess. It had a repulsive smell and a more repulsive taste, though itseemed nourishing. He made only one pot of broth. After that we fed thecoarser parts, little by little, to Hylactor. 

This loss of one goat led Agathemer to do some thinking. There was apretty large supply of hay, but not enough to keep in good milk allthrough the winter, until grass grew next spring, two cows, eight ewes andtwenty goats. We talked the matter over. The ram and the he-goat weremanifestly of choice breeding stock, probably carefully selected andcherished. We judged their owner would be angry if he did not find them onhis return. So Agathemer considered which of the ewes gave the least milkand promised least as a breeder, and, after all the goat's meat was usedup, we killed her. Sheep's-kidneys and sheep's-liver are better eatingthan goat's-kidneys and goat's-liver. We both agreed on that and we likedmutton chops and mutton cutlets. Hylactor got only the offal and thecoarser bits, the rest Agathemer made into a relishable broth flavoredwith marjoram, bay-leaves and other herbs. 

During the winter he killed six more goats and one more ewe, so that wefed, all winter, six ewes and twelve goats. For these the hay sufficed andnot a little was left when we departed. 

For ourselves, while we wasted nothing, we were lavish with the foodstores. The bitter cold and our unremitting toil all day long, at athousand other tasks and always at preparing fire-wood, contributed tokeep us ravenous. We ate heartily twice a day, never taking anythingbetween meals except all the milk we chose to drink, and I found ewes'milk and goats' milk, yet warm, or milked that morning, good to drink incold weather. Often we mixed hot water with the goats' milk and drank themixture while warm. 

One intensely cold and brilliantly clear day, as I was riving a log, panting and glowing with the labor, yet with fingers numb and feet achingwith the cold, I heard a yell from Agathemer. Axe in hand, my left handmaking sure that my knife was loose in its sheath, where I wore it stuckin my belt, I raced to the store-house. There I found Agathemer alone, unhurt, standing by an olive-jar, staring into it. 

"What is wrong?" I queried. 

"Nothing wrong, " he said, "but something amazing. "

He fumbled in the jar, reaching his arm down into it as far as he could, his arm-pit tight down on the rim. After some straining he held up hishand, all dripping with dregs, and, between his thumb and forefinger, exhibited an unmistakable gold coin. How many there were in that jar wenever knew; there were too many to count. We turned the jar over on itsside, with some labor, and made sure that there were enough gold coins init to weigh more than either I or Agathemer weighed and we were aboutnormal-sized men, in every way. 

We discussed this find a good deal. We agreed that the coins were of nouse to us and could be of no use to us. As we meant to pass ourselves offfor Sabine cattle-buyers until we were out of Umbria, as we meant to presson to Aquileia, as soon as the weather was warm enough, as we meant topass ourselves off for runaway slaves, if we were arrested and questionedgold coins in our possession would have been most dangerous to us. Weagitated the idea of sewing a few into the hems of our tunics and into theends of our belts; but we came to the conclusion that any attempt toexchange a gold coin for silver would be very dangerous and much too riskya venture. 

We also agreed that if the master of the place returned he must notsuspect that we knew of his hoard. So we replaced the jar as it had stood, effaced all signs of its having been moved and refilled it with olives, taking them from another jar, which proved to contain olives only, all theway to the bottom. 

This find led Agathemer to investigate every jar on the place, running along rod of tough wood down into each as a sounder. In another jar ofolives he found a similar hoard of silver denarii. Of these we took asmany as were necessary to replenish the store of coins Chryseros hadfurnished us with. Even of silver we dared not carry too much. The hoardwas so large that the handful of coins we took was unlikely ever to bemissed. 

The little girls, early in our stay, became entirely accustomed to us andutterly trustful of us. In the chests Agathemer found other tunics, warmerthan those they had on when we came, which were suited to them. But therewere no cloaks small enough for them to wear. With our precious scissorsAgathemer cut in two the smallest warm cloak he could find and, with theneedles and thread Chryseros had given us, he roughly hemmed the cut edge. The two awkwardly-shaped cloaks, thus made, the children wore till spring. 

We could find no shoes for the children and they went barelegged andbarefooted all the winter. They did not seem to mind it, except on themost bitterly cold days, when the wind howled about the hut, roaringthrough the pines and naked-boughed oaks, blowing before it the snow insilver dust. Then they kept inside the hut all day. But, on sunny andwindless days, they ran about barefoot in the snow and seemed entirelyindifferent to the cold, though they always appeared glad to dry and warmtheir little pink toes at the fire, after they returned to the hut. Agathemer, more knowing than I, would not let them approach the fire untilthey had bathed their feet in a crock of water he kept standing readyinside the hut door and had partially dried them afterwards. He said thatotherwise their feet would puff and swell and perhaps inflame. They seemedhappy-hearted little beings and Secunda was bright. But Prima was verydull and less intelligent than her younger sister. We concluded that shewas, while not anything like an idiot, certainly a very backward child, lacking the wit of a normal child of her age. 

After the first snow fell we had no more trouble with violent outbreaksfrom the sick woman; or, at least, very little. Her next fit of ravingcame about ten days after the first snowfall and began in the daytime, when both Agathemer and I were in the hut. We forced her back into her bedand then Agathemer had an inspiration. He bade me hold her where she wasand he took down his flageolet, from where it hung on a high peg on thepartition, and began to play it. 

The woman quieted at once and seemed to sink to sleep. After that herfits, which recurred at frequent intervals, took up little of our time, asupon each we had only to get her back into her bed and compose her bymeans of Agathemer's music. 

It was well along towards spring, certainly far towards the end of thewinter, when Agathemer made his most astonishing discovery. By that timethe animals gave no more milk than sufficed for the five of us; there wasno surplus to feed back to the best milkers. Also we had a little reserveof firewood and did not have to drive ourselves so unremittingly to escapedeath by freezing if our fuel gave out. 

I was chopping wood in a leisurely way, and enjoying the exercise. Thelittle girls were inside the hut at the moment, after playing about mostof the morning. Agathemer came out of the store-house, glanced around, andbeckoned to me: together we went inside. There he showed me where he, ledby a very slight difference of color, had dug into the earth floor andcome upon a small maple-wood chest, like a temple treasure-box. It was, outside, perhaps a foot wide and about as high, and not over a foot and ahalf long. He had forced it open with the hatchet and a heavy knife, likea Spartan wood-knife. The wood of the chest was so thick that the insidecavity was comparatively small. But it was big enough to have held, say, two quarts of wine. And it was almost full of jewels; opals, turquoises, topazes, amethysts, rubies, emeralds and sapphires. 

Agathemer shut the store-house door and fastened it so the little girlscould not open it if they should chance to try. Then he spread his cloakon the earth floor and dumped the contents of the chest on it. Most of thegems were small, at least two score were very large, and there were many, of notable, though moderate, size. We could see them fairly well, thoughthe store-house was dim, since, with the door shut, the only light waswhat came through chinks. We ran our fingers through the heap of jewels, picked up the largest and held them to the light and gained a general ideaof the value of the hoard. We put them all back into the chest, shut it, and reburied it. It showed no marks of Agathemer's dexterous attempts atopening it, for the lid was held down only by a clasp outside, and by theswelling of the inside flange of wood against the overlapping rim of thelid. 

We went out to the woodpile and I resumed my chopping, while Agathemer setto riving logs with the wedges and maul. We had always kept the littlegirls away from the woodpile and so were sure of being alone. Also wetalked Greek as an extra precaution. 

Agathemer, resting between assaults on a very big log, said:

"I am of the same opinion I have held since we found the gold. This placebelongs to some Umbrian farmer who is in partnership with a bandit chiefor the leader of a gang of footpads. Just as the King of the Highwaymen issaid to have a brother in Rome, important among the Imperial spies, somost outlaws have some anchor somewhere with associates apparently honestand respectable. The owner of this place may be brother of a brigand, orrelated to one in some other way or merely a trusted friend. At any rate Iam of the opinion that this fastness is used as a repository for robbers'loot. Everything points to it. The gems and the coins make it certain, tomy thinking, but even if we had found none of these it is pretty plainfrom everything else. There is no sign that there ever was a pig anywhereabout here: yet the store of fine old bacon surpasses anything any merefarm ever kept on hand; there is not a square yard of ground hereaboutsthat ever has been plowed, spaded or hoed: yet the place is crammed withall sorts of farm produce. Manifestly it was all brought here, where thereare no pigeons to reveal the place by their flight above it, nor any cockto call attention to it by his crowing. This is not a farm, it is atreasure-house, lavishly provided with everything portable. 

"The absence of the man and the flight of the slaves puzzles me. As forthe slaves, I can form no conjecture. But I am inclined to think itpossible that the man was betrayed somehow to the authorities and is inprison or has been executed. We must assume, however, that he is alive andwill return and must comport ourselves accordingly. 

"Now I tell you what I mean to do. In such a hoard of gems a few of mediumsize could never be missed, even if missed, their abstraction could neverbe proved. I'm going to select the best of the medium-sized emeralds, topazes, rubies and sapphires; enough to fill the leather amulet-bagsChryseros gave us. All slaves wear amulet-bags, if they can get them; oursare old, worn and soiled and will make unsurpassable hiding places for asmany gems as they will hold. I'll take out the amulets and sew them intothe hems of our tunics, at the corners. I'll fill the bags as full of gemsas is possible without making them look unusually plump. Then, if we reachAquileia, we shall have a source of cash enough to last us years; for Ican sell the jewels one at a time at high prices. "

"Are you sure that the stones are worth all that care?" I cavilled. "Mayyou not be mistaken as to their value or even as to their genuineness?"

"Not I, " Agathemer bragged. "I am one of the foremost gem experts alive. Your uncle, as you know, held it a wicked waste of money for a sicklybachelor to buy gems; but he was a natural-born gem fancier. He knew everyfamous jewel in Rome: every one of the Imperial regalia, every one everworn by anyone at any festival or entertainment, every one in everyfancier's collection of jewels. From him I learned all I know: I myselfpossess the faculties to profit by my training. I know more of gems thanmost, I tell you!"

I agreed, and, during the nest few days, he selected the stones he judgedmost valuable, enough to fill the hollow of one of my hands and as muchfor him, and sewed the two batches up in our emptied amulet-bags. Theamulets, which were two Egyptian scarabs and two Babylonian seals, verycrude in workmanship and of the meanest glazed pottery, he sewed into thecorners of our tunics. 

Soon after this came the first thaw of the spring; a mild sunny daycleared every bough of every tree of the last vestiges of clinging snow orice. Then we had two days of warm rain, sometimes a drizzle, sometimes adownpour. Then, on the fourth day, the sky was clear again and thesunshine strong. 

As usual after my morning duties, I went in to take a look at ourinsensible hostess. She lay, as she had mostly lain all winter, breathingalmost imperceptibly, her eyes closed. As I bent over her, her eyesopened. 

She sat up, wide-eyed, startled, the picture of amazement and it came overme that she was no peasant woman, but a lady. 

"Who are you?" she demanded, supporting herself on one elbow. "I do notknow you; what are you doing here?"

"I have been helping to nurse you, " I said. "You have been ill a long timeand have needed much care. Lie down; you will hinder your recovery if youexert yourself too soon. "

She lay back, but propped herself up on her pillows, and in no weak voiceinsisted on knowing who I was. 

At that instant Agathemer entered. He, far more diplomatic than I, tookcharge of the situation. The woman, instead of losing consciousness againat once, as I expected, appeared possessed of much more strength thananyone would have anticipated and asked searching questions. 

Agathemer, tactfully but without any attempt at beating about the bush, told her the whole truth, as to her illness, our finding her alone withthe two children, our care of her, and the length of our stay. He saidafterwards that he hoped the shock would cure her. 

"Am I to understand you to say, " she asked, "that I have been in this bedsince the middle of the autumn and that it is now almost spring?"

"Just that, " said Agathemer simply. 

"And that you two men have been, practically, in possession of this entireplace all that time?"

"That is true also, " I said. 

Agathemer and I looked at each other. We had used our one pair of scissorsmutually and our hair and beards were not shaggy or bushy. But we were arough, rather fierce-looking, pair. 

"This, " she said, "is terrible, terrible! Where are my daughters?"

"Playing about out in the sunshine, " I said. "Plump and well-fed, andhealthy and cheerful. "

"This, " she repeated, "is terrible, terrible! May I not see them, may Inot speak to them, will you not bring them to me?"

"Indeed we will, " I said and motioned to Agathemer. While he was gone thewoman and I regarded each other without speaking. When Agathemer returnedwith the children I said:

"We will leave you to talk to your daughters alone. When you wish us toreturn send one of the children for us. "

The joy of the two at the sight of their mother, sensible and able torecognize them, was pathetic. Sobbing and laughing, they flung themselveson the bed and embraced her, kissing her and she kissing each. 

We went out and set to chopping and riving wood. 

Before very long Secunda came out and said her mother wanted to speak tome. Leaving Agathemer plying his maul I went in. 

The woman was now well propped up against a heap of pillows. She told thechildren to run off and play till she sent for them. Then she motioned meto seat myself on the chest. I did so. 

She regarded me fixedly, as she had while Agathemer had gone for thechildren. When she spoke she asked:

"What god do you worship?"

I was amazed at this unusual and unexpected question and hesitated amoment before I answered:

"Mercury, chiefly. Of course, Jupiter and Juno; Dionysius, Apollo, Minerva. But most of all Mercury. "

She sighed. 

"I had expected a very different answer, " she said. "But, whatever god orgods you worship, you are a good man and your servant is a good man. I amamazed. My children were truthful till I fell ill. I am sure they couldnot have changed in one winter. In any case Secunda's precocity andPrima's vacuity seem equally incapable of any deception. What they tell meis all but incredible, yet I believe it. You two men have acted to me andmine as if you had been my blood kin. If you two had been my own brothersyou could have done no more for us. I shall always be grateful. What areyour names?"

Agathemer and I had agreed to use the names Sabinus Felix and BruttiusAsper. These names, common enough in Sabinum, we, in fact, had given atthe farms where Agathemer's flageolet-playing won us entertainment in theautumn. I gave them now. I added:

"It seems best to me that you should not ask either whence we came orwhither we are bound. "

"I understand, " she said. 

"And now, " said I, "since you have our names, tell us how we shouldaddress the mother of Prima and Secunda. "

"My name, " she said, "is Nona. [Footnote: Ninth. ] My mother had a largerfamily than I am ever likely to be blest with. "

Nona recovered with marvellous rapidity. The weather continued fair andwarm, with no strong winds, only steady, gentle breezes. This aided her, as it dried out the hut. She slept well at night, she said, and heavily inthe afternoons. When awake she ate heartily and was almost alert. Shequestioned me again and again as to the condition in which we had foundthe place. I told her the exact truth, except as to finding the hoards ofcoins and jewels, to the smallest detail. I also told her of ourstewardship and of our having killed and eaten a brace of ewes and eightgoats. She approved. 

I asked her about the children's tale of the slaves running away. 

She sighed. 

"I should have trusted any one of the seven, " she said. "I believed thatany one of them would have been faithful. I suppose almost all slaves arealike, after all. Hermes died about midsummer. He was the oldest of themand the best. I suppose that, in past winters, he had kept the others totheir duty. But then, I was never ill before. Without Hermes to lead them, without me to order them, I suppose what they did was natural. "

I told her of the great cold and abundant snow of the winter. Shequestioned me and said:

"Evidently you have had more cold and snow in one winter than I have hadin ten. "

On the third day after her revival she was able to get out of bed and, leaning heavily on me, to reach the door of the hut. There she sat baskingin the sun, Secunda on one side of her, Prima on the other, Hylactor ather feet. 

Hylactor had proved himself a perfect watchdog that winter. We had neverallowed him to sleep in the hut, as he would have done if permitted, andas he tried to do at first. Agathemer had fashioned him a tiny shelter andinto it he crawled nightly. Out of it, also, he dashed, if any sound orscent roused him. Tracks of wolves were frequent in the snow out in theforest, and not a few approached our clearing. But we lost not one sheepor goat to any wolf. Hylactor frightened off most and killed three, amedium-sized female and two full-grown young males, at the acme of theirfighting powers. We rated Hylactor a paragon among dogs. 

The warm weather held on, though unseasonable so early in the year. Nonarecovered so rapidly that she was able to visit each of the outbuildings. Just when she was well enough to walk alone and firmly came a sharp spellof cold, as unseasonable as had been the heat. It began about noon, oneclear day, with a high wind. By sunset everything was frozen. 

Nona said:

"You two have had more than your share of sleeping on the earth floor bythe fire. My bed will hold me and my girls, for a few nights. You two taketheir bed. It will be cold on the floor tonight. "

That night, therefore, Agathemer and I enjoyed a sound night's sleep in adeep, soft bed. It was our first night in a Gallic bed, and we liked it. Since our crawl through the drain we had slept abed but four times, atfarms in the Umbrian mountains. This was best of all. And we had asuccession of nights of it, for the cold held on and, even when it abated, Nona insisted on our continuing to sleep so. 

During the cold she mixed a batch of bread, and Agathemer baked it. Shehad praised his cookery, especially his savory messes of steamed barley, flavored with cheese, raisins and what not. But when the cold snap cameafter the thaws she suggested that we grind some wheat and she make bread. We acceded with alacrity. The bread tasted unbelievably good. 

As soon as the weather was again warm it was plain that spring was comingin earnest. Nona stood out of doors after sunset, went out again afterdark, staring up at the sky. 

Next morning, while the children were at play, she said to me:

"Felix, you and Asper must leave this place at once and be on your way. Myhusband will return soon. He may return any day now. He is a terrible man. He will come with too many men for you to resist and he will not ask anyquestions until after he has killed you both. I know him. If I could besure of telling him before he saw you what manner of men you are and howdeeply I am in your debt he would repay you lavishly, for he is liberaland generous. But, being what he is, if he finds you here, you will bedead before I can explain. You must go. Prepare to set off at dawntomorrow. "

I told Agathemer and he agreed with me that we had best do as Nona said. She was, as she averred, well enough to care for herself and the children. But we lingered next day. By dusk she was frantic, begging, imploring usto depart at dawn. I feared a recurrence of her illness and gave her mypromise. 

We set off, actually, not at dawn, but about an hour after sunrise, thebroad brims of our travelling hats flapping in the wind, our cloaks closeabout us, our wallets slung over our shoulders, our staffs in our hands. At the hut door Nona, Prima and Secunda bade us farewell, Nona thankingand blessing us. Hylactor was for following us: we had to order him back, for he paid more attention to us than to Nona. 

With a last backward glance at the edge of the clearing we plunged intothe forest by the track leading northward. 

We had not gone a hundred paces when I thought I heard a scream andstopped. Agathemer declared he had heard nothing. But, listening, we didhear twigs snapping and Hylactor bounded into sight. He did not fawn onus, but seized my cloak in his teeth and tugged, growling and snarling. 

"That dog, " said Agathemer, "is asking for help. He knows what is too muchfor him to fight. "

We threw off our shoes, wallets and cloaks, tucked up our tunics and, staffs in one hand and sheathless knives in the other, barefoot, racedback along the track after the guiding dog. 

From that entrance of the clearing the outbuildings hid the hut from us. When our rush brought us in sight of the hut door we were not six pacesfrom it and just in time to see Hylactor spring on and bear to the earth aman who stood before it. Leaving him to Hylactor we dashed inside, urgedby indubitable shrieks. 

In the dim interior we made out each child struggling with a man and Nonawith two. Before they could turn our knives had slaughtered the children'sassailants. One of the survivors Agathemer cracked over the head with hisstaff. I stabbed the other. Whereupon Agathemer cut the throat of the manhe had downed, and dashing outside, finished the man Hylactor wasworrying. Quicker than it takes to tell it the five were dead. 

Nona had fainted, as we rescued her. But Agathemer revived her with a dashof cold water in her face and some strong wine poured between her lips. Welaid her on her bed and told the children to watch her. Then we draggedout the corpses, laid them in a row and considered them. All five werepattern ruffians; black-haired, burly, brutal and fierce. We had hadamazing luck to dispose of them so easily. Five lucky flukes, Agathemercalled it, and we without a scratch. 

One by one we picked them up and carried them off, down the slope, to asoft bit of soil among some beeches. There we laid them in a row. On themwe found a few silver coins, five daggers, five knives, five amulet-bags, nothing else. Their tunics and cloaks were old and of poor material. 

Back to the hut we went and found Nona revived and at the door. 

"Begone!" she said. "Flee! Hasten! That man was my husband's bitterestenemy. He was intent on revenge. But he could never have found this placesave by tracking my husband and conjecturing his destination. My husbandmust have camped last night less than a day's journey from here. He willbe here today, he may be here any moment. Save yourselves. Begone!"

Agathemer and I looked at each other. 

"We shall not set off, " I said, "until we have buried the five corpses. I'm not going to be haunted on my way and perhaps for life by any suchspooks as the ghosts of those five ruffians. We shall make sure that theyare safely buried. "

Agathemer agreed with me and we set about the task. During the winter wehad found mattocks, pickaxes, hoes, spades and shovels hid in the mostunlikely places, each by itself, and had hafted them; with these we dug abig pit and in it laid the five corpses, and buried them too deep for anywolf, badger or other creature to be at all likely to smell them and digthem out or dig down to them. 

When the men were buried it was past noon. We went back to the hut, dranka second draught of the strongest and sweetest wine and drank it unmixed, as we had drunk our first before we set about carrying the corpses intothe forest. Nona renewed her adjurations to begone. 

But neither I nor Agathemer would listen to her. I said I was far tootired to travel until after a night's sleep and that after having savedher and her daughters, it was no more than fair that she should standwatch over us while we slept all the afternoon: she could easily watch atthe hut door and explain matters to her terrible husband if he came andwere as terrible as she averred. 

We retrieved our wallets, cloaks and shoes, threw them down in a corner ofthe hut, ate some bread with plenty of milk to wash it down, and went tosleep in the children's bed, as we had slept the night before. We wokebefore sunset, did what was needful about the place, ate a hearty dinnerof bread, bacon, olives, raisins and wine and at once went to bed for thenight. After dark Nona ceased adjuring us to begone; she said that, if herhusband came, she would hear him at the hut door and make him aware of thefacts in time to prevent any trouble. We slept till sunrise. Then Nonadeclared that she and the children could milk the animals. We agreed withher, for they had little milk by then. We ate a hearty breakfast and setoff. 

CHAPTER XV

THE HUNT

That day we met no one and made a long march north-westwards along theflank of the mountain, camping at dusk by a spring. There we rehearsed ourrescue of Nona and marvelled at the ease with which we had disposed offive burly ruffians. Agathemer agreed with me that it had been mostly theeffect of complete surprise. But he took a good deal of the credit tohimself. He reminded me how he had practiced me, ever since we began ourflight, at the art of fighting with knives, at knife attack in general. Inparticular he had drilled me, as well as he could without a corpse ordummy to practice on, at the favorite stroke of professional murderers, the stab under the left shoulder-blade, the point of the knife or daggerdirected a little upward so as to reach the heart. By this stroke I hadkilled both my victims, and he one of his. I acknowledged his claims, butwas inclined to thank the gods for special aid and favor. We discussedthat amazingly lucky fight until too sleepy to talk any more. 

Next day we met some charcoal burners, who were both friendly andunsuspicious and who gave us intelligible directions for making our waytowards Sarsina. The second night we again camped in the woods; the thirdwe spent at a farmhouse, thanks to Agathemer's flageolet. 

The farmer, whose name was Caesus, told a grewsome tale of the horrors ofthe plague and of the death of almost all his slaves. He was gloomy abouthis future, as he, his two sons, and their surviving slave were too few towork his farm. He seemed to regard us as fugitives from justice and as menwhom it was his duty to help and protect. As the season was too early forcomfortable travelling along byways or for safety from suspicion alonghighways, and as he welcomed us, we spent a month with him, well fed, welllodged and rather enjoying the hard farm work and the outdoor life, thoughwe spent also much time under-cover, working at what could be done undershelter during heavy rains. 

After he had come to feel at ease with us, our host, one day when we threewere alone, asked:

"Are you some of the King of the Highwaymen's men?"

On our disclaiming any connection with the King of the Highwaymen, or anyknowledge of such a character, he sighed and said:

"Oh, well! Of course, if you were, you would deny it, anyhow. You may beor you may not be. Anyhow, if you are, tell him I treated you well andshall always do my best for any man I take for one of his men. 

"You don't look like his kind nor act like any I ever was sure of, but hehas all sorts. I thought it best to make sure. It is best to stand wellwith him. He passes somewhere near here every spring or early summer onhis way north and again in the autumn on his way south. "

We left this bourne only on the solstice, the tenth day before the Kalendsof July, and trudged comfortably to Sarsina, where we put up at the inn, frequented by foot-farers like us. So also at Caesena and Faventia. Therewe agreed that we had had enough of the highway, as we might encountersome Imperial spies of the regular secret service department, and not afew of these spies might know me by sight in any disguise. So we struckoff due north through the almost level open country, intending to keep onnorthward until we came to the Spina and to follow that to the Po. AsAgathemer said, if we could not find ferrymen by day we could steal askiff by night. 

Not far north of Faventia, after an easy-going day's march under a mildspring sky, we came, just before sunset, to a forest of considerableextent. As we could not conjecture whether to turn east or west, we campedat its edge and slept soundly, comfortable in our cloaks, for the nightwas warm and still. 

Next morning the weather was so charming that we were tempted to plungeinto the forest and cross it as nearly due north as we could guideourselves by the sun. Since we reached the edge of the forest we had seenno human-being near enough for us to ask in which direction we had besttry to go round it. We plunged into it and in it we wasted the entire day. 

The country is very flat between Faventia and the Spina. I do not believethat in any part of that forest the surface of the soil was four yardshigher than in any other part. And it was marshy, all quagmires andsloughs, with narrow, sinuous ribbons, as it were, of fairly dry landbetween them. We were hopelessly involved among its morasses before werealized our plight and, after we did realize it, we seemed to make littleprogress. We agreed that it would be folly to try to regain our camp: weheld to our purpose and tried to advance northwards. But we doubled rightand left, had to retrace our steps often and could form no idea how far wehad penetrated. 

There was an astonishing abundance of game in that forest: hareseverywhere; does with fawns, young does, and not a few stags; wild boars, which fled, grunting, out of their wallows as we approached; foxes ofwhich we three times glimpsed one at a distance; and we came onindubitable wolf tracks. We had plenty of food and ate some at noon, forwe were tired. Then we spent the day threading the mazes of that swampyforest. We were careful not to get bogged and we kept our tunics andcloaks dry, though we were mired to the knees. But our very care delayedus. The day was breezy and mild but not really warm, so that we did notsuffer from the heat. But by nightfall we were exhausted and had no ideahow far we had advanced northward. Just at dusk we came to reasonably firmgoing and walked due north about a furlong. There, as the twilightdeepened, we encountered another stretch of ooze. We retreated from it adozen paces and camped under some swamp-maples on comfortably dry ground. We ate about half of our food, bread, olives, and dried figs; and whileeating dried and warmed our feet and shanks at a generous fire of fallenboughs, which Agathemer, who was clever with flint and steel, had madequickly. When our feet felt as if they really belonged to us, we wrappedourselves in our cloaks and slept soundly. 

We slept, indeed, so soundly, that it was broad day when, we waked. And wewaked to hear the wood ringing with the barking and baying of dogs andwith the cries of hunters and beaters. Instantly we realized that we werein danger. For a hunt of such size as was approaching us must have beengotten up by a coterie of wealthy land-owners; and such magnates, if theycaught sight of us, would at once suspect us of being runaway slaves. Ithad been easy enough to pass ourselves off for farmerly cattle-buyers inthe Umbrian Mountains. But, habited as we were, camped in the depths of athick, swampy forest, we were sure to be suspected of being runaway slavesby anyone who encountered us; and such gentry as organize big hunts withswarms of beaters are always prone to suspect any footfarers of beingrunaway slaves. 

We hastily girded ourselves for flight, meanwhile reminding each other ofthe story we had planned to tell if caught. 

At first we seemed to have luck. We turned westwards away from the beatersand found and passed the upper end of the morass which had stopped us thenight before. From there the going was good, through open underbrush, beneath big beeches and chestnuts, over firm and gently rolling ground. Stopping and listening we tried to judge by the sounds the location of theline of beaters. We seemed to have a chance of getting beyond its westernend. We set off again; just as we started on nine deer dashed past us, abig stag, two young stags and six does. 

Then we did run, for we knew it was our last chance and, indeed, butlittle further, a young wolf raced down a ferny glade, vanishing into somealders on the further side of the glade. I nearly trod on a fleeing hare. The beaters could not be far off. 

Yet, for a bit, we seemed to be gaining on them, although we werequartering their front on a long slant. The third time we stopped to pantand listen we thought that our next dash would carry us where we mightcrouch in the first thicket and let their line sweep past us. 

But, some fifty yards or so beyond, when we came to the dancing redfeathers on the cord and thought we would be safe in a few breaths, thererose at us, from behind the feathered cord, three stocky men, armed withbroad-bladed hunting-spears, who yelled at us:

"Halt! Stand! Surrender!"

We recoiled from them, amazed, threw away our wallets, threw off ourcloaks, and bolted, incredulous; and as we ran, we heard them yelling:

"Here! Here! Here they are! We see them! This way, all of you! We've gotthem! Here they are!"

No bogs, no sloughs turned us or delayed us. The going was good, over firmfooting, through light underwoods, among wide-set, big trees. For ourlives we ran. There seemed a very slender chance of our crossing the wholelength of the line of beaters and escaping on the other side, but thatslender chance seemed our only chance. We ran fit to burst our hearts. 

And the hunt was plainly converging on us. The noises of the beaters drewnearer. We seemed in a swarm of fleeing hares: more deer and more deerpassed us, this time, I thought, does with young fawns. We caught aglimpse of another wolf, of two foxes. And, in a moist hollow, we barelyavoided a nasty rush of eight panic-stricken, grunting wild swine. 

We did run across the entire line of beaters, but little good it did us. Again we saw before us the feathered cord, the scarlet plumes dancing inthe sun. At it we ran, sure of safety if we passed it unseen andpenetrated even ten yards beyond it into the underbrush. But we were againdisappointed. 

This time only two huntsmen rose at us, but they, too, flourished huntingspears with gleaming points, as big as spades. They too yelled at us andyelled to their fellows:

"Halt! You are caught! Hands up! Give yourselves up!"

And:

"There they go! Both of them! Come on! Here they are!"

Off we went again, slanting back across the approaching line of dogs andbeaters, now closer together as they drew on towards the nets, and alreadyappallingly close to us. Again we crossed the whole line, now muchshorter. But this time we ran, not against part of the long stretch offeathered cord, but against the outer yard-high net. Of course this waswell guarded and again we were yelled at and turned back. 

Doubling back, now steaming, panting, gasping, with knees trembling underus, we reached the net on the other side. 

Turned again, we found the beaters so near us and so close together, thatwe ran away from them rather than across their line. We ran, in fact, ina sort of mob of hares, foxes, boars, deer and even wolves, for some ofeach were in sight every moment. 

So running we came where we could see the line of nets, now of six-foot, heavy-meshed nets, on either side of us. We made a last, desperate dash atone of the nets, I hoping to leap it or vault it or clamber over it andescape, after all. But six keepers, all with broad-bladed hunting spears, rose at us beyond it, rose with triumphant yells:

"We've got you now! We've got you now!"

From them we shied off and ran, half staggering with exhaustion anddespair, between the converging lines of nets, ran in a veritable press ofterrified game of all sorts, ran madly, since we heard now, not thebarking and whine of dogs straining at their leashes, but the exultantyelping, barking and baying of great packs of dogs unleashed behind theirgame. 

Of course, although no single dog, however infuriated, would ever attackme in daylight, when it could see my face, yet I could do nothing whateverto protect myself, and far less Agathemer, against the massed onset ofmore than a hundred maddened hunting dogs, each bigger than a full-grownwolf. 

So running, staggering, stumbling, at the end of our strength, we foundourselves running into the battue-pocket at the meeting of the two longconverging lines of nets. Anything would be better than that. We tried todouble back and were met by a dozen big dogs, some Gallic dogs of thebreed of Tolosa, spotted black and white, others mouse-colored Molossians. To escape them we dodged apart, each ran for a tree, each jumped, eachcaught the lowest limb of a thick-foliaged maple, the two not much overfive yards apart. So thick were their leaves that I could hardly make outAgathemer in his tree. The two maples were close to the beginning of thepocket net. From my perch I could see plainly how cunningly the pocket hadbeen set. 

It was of strong, close-meshed nets fully three yards high stretched onsturdy forked stakes and well guyed back outside to pegs like tent-pegs. These pocketing nets were set along the tops of the two banks of a gullyabout twenty yards wide, sloping sharply downward from its top near ourtrees and with sides three or four yards high and steep. Once in thisgully, between the pocketing nets along the upper edge of its sides, noboar could scramble out, the lower meshes of the pocketing nets were toofine for any hare to squeeze through; no doe, no stag even, could leapsuch nets at the top of such banks. 

I could just spy a part of the heaviest net across the gully at the end ofthe pocket. It seemed a large meshed net of rope thicker than my knee, with the large meshes filled in with smaller meshes of rope the size of mywrist. 

Hardly was I safe in the crotch of my tree when the last of the game sweptby below us, the dogs hot behind them, up came the press of beaters, and, from each side, in rushed the hunters, a score of handsome nobles andgentry, habited in green tunics, wearing small, green, round-crowned, narrow-brimmed hunting hats and green boots up to just below their knees. Each carried a heavy shafted hunting spear, tipped with a huge triangulargleaming head, pointed like a needle, edged like a razor, broad as a spadeat its flare. 

Even in my terror and exhaustion I could not but feel a certain pleasurein the beauty of the scene, a sort of thrill at its strangeness. I hadparticipated in such hunts in Bruttium and Sabinum, but never as huntedgame. 

The sun was not yet half way up the heavens, the dew had not yet driedfrom the leaves, owing to the very late spring the freshness of springtimehad not yet passed into the fullness of early summer. Through the tendergreen of the young leafage, starry with drops of moisture, the sunshineshot long shafts of golden light. Under the beautiful canopy of blue skyand golden green foliage was the amazing turmoil of the hunt. 

More than a hundred large animals, pigs, fawns, sows, does, boars andstags had fled before the beaters and were now jammed pellmell in thegully, for the end-net held. There they frantically jostled each other andthe half dozen wolves caught among them which, indeed, snapped, slashedand tore at everything within reach, but, cowed themselves, had no effectwhatever on the maddened victims which all but trod them under andactually trampled on foxes and on the swarm of squeaking, helpless hares. 

Upon this mass of terrified flesh the two hundred dogs flung themselves, through the nets the huntsmen stabbed at the nearest victims, behind thedogs the shouting hunters advanced to spear their game, the battue was onand I watched it till the last animal was flat. The few which, frenzied, doubled back through the dogs and hunters were met and killed by thebeaters. Not one escaped. 

As the battue ended up came the rush of beaters and our trees were soonsurrounded by a crowd of eager, exultant, infuriated beaters and huntsmen. 

Up the trees young beaters swarmed and we were plucked down, thumped, whacked, punched, kicked and manacled, our tunics torn off, ourselvesmishandled till we streamed blood, all amid abuse, threats, epithets, execrations and curses. 

We stood, half fainting, utterly dazed, supported by the two or threecaptors who held each of us, but for whose clutches we should havecollapsed on the earth. 

We expected to be torn limb from limb, yet could not conjecture why wewere the objects of such infuriated animosity. A beater clutching eitherelbow, a hand clutching my neck from behind, my knees knocking together, naked, bruised, bloody, gasping, fainting, I, like Agathemer, was haled afew paces to one corner of the pocket net. There we were held till thegentlemen came up out of the gully. 

Up they came, a score of handsome young fellows, mostly each with his hatin his hand and mopping his forehead. 

"Why!" the foremost of them cried. "These are not the men! These are notthe men at all! They are not in the least like them!"

"Not in the least like Lupercus and Rufinus, certainly, " another added. 

"What a pack of asses you are!" cried a third, "to mishandle twostrangers. Couldn't you look at them before you mauled them?"

"We all took them for Rufinus and Lupercus, " the head huntsman rejoined. "Certainly they are desperate characters and runaways. Look at theirbacks. "

They turned us round, to display the marks of scourging still plain on usboth. 

"They've both been branded, " said a gentleman's voice. 

"Pooh!" cried another, "that proves nothing. They may have been scourgedand branded by former masters, and manumitted since. I'll have no strangerill-treated on my land until he has had a chance to explain himself. "

While he was speaking my guards turned me round again and took their handsoff me. 

Our champion was a tall, powerful, plump and florid young man, with verycurly golden hair, very light blue eyes, and the merest trace of downy, curly yellow beard. He was very handsome, with small delicate nose andmouth, a round chin and the most beautiful ears I ever saw on any man. Hewore senators' boots and a tunic of pure silk, dyed a very brilliant greenand embroidered all over with a flowering vine in a darker, glossiergreen. 

"What are your names?" asked the elder man who had noticed our brand-marks. He was swarthy and probably over thirty. 

I gave him the name of Felix and Agathemer that of Asper, as we hadagreed, neither of us thinking it advisable to claim to be free Romans byprefixing, "Sabinus" and "Bruttius. "

"Shut up, Marcus, " our champion ordered, "can't you see that these poorfellows are in no condition to answer any questions? We'll interrogatethem after they have bathed, eaten and slept. "

"Here, Trogus, " he called to one of the chief-huntsman's assistants, "takecharge of these two fellows. Treat them well; if they report anyincivility or omission on your part I'll make you regret it. When they arebathed and fed, let them sleep all they want to. 

"And, here, Umbro" (this to the head-huntsman), "see that their effectsare found and restored to them. "

He turned to us. 

"Did you have wallets?" he asked. 

We nodded, too shaken to speak. 

"Umbro, " he said, "scour the wood. Have their shoes, their cloaks andespecially their wallets found and brought to me. And make sure thatnothing is taken from those wallets, that they are handed to their ownersas they were found. If they find anything missing, I'll make you and yourmen smart. Be prompt! Be lively. Get those wallets and cloaks and shoes. "

While he gave these orders, some beaters brought us our torn tunics;which, even so, were better than no clothing at all. We put them on. 

Then we were led off to the edge of a forest, bestowed in a light Gallicgig, drawn by one tall roan mule only, and in it, the driver sitting atour feet, sideways, on one shaft, his legs hanging down, we were drivenoff through a beautiful gently rolling country, clothed with thesuperabundant crops, vines and orchards of the lower Po Valley, all bathedin brilliant spring sunshine, to a magnificent villa, most opulentlyprovided with white-walled, neat outbuildings, all roofed with red tiles. In one of these, apparently the house of the farm-overseer, we werebathed, clothed with fresh tunics, far better than our own, lavishly fedand led to rest in tiny white-washed rooms, very plain, but clean andairy, where we went to sleep on corded cots provided with very thin grass-stuffed mattresses. 

When we woke each found his wallet beside his cot, set on his neatlyfolded cloak; with our old worn shoes, well cleaned, on the floor by thefolded cloaks. 

Later we were led before our host and champion, who turned out to beTarrutenus Spinellus; in no wise, it seemed, affected, by the downfall ofhis great kinsman. He questioned us and Agathemer told the story we hadagreed on: that we had been slaves of Numerius Vedius of Aquileia, who hadbeen kind to both of us and had made him overseer and me accountant of hisvegetable farms on the sandy islets offshore along the coast of theAdriatic by Aquileia. There we had lived contentedly till we had beencaptured by raiding Liburnian pirates from the Dalmatian islands. They hadsold us at Ancona, where we had been horribly mistreated by a cruel andsavage master, who had branded and scourged us for imaginarydelinquencies. 

From him we had run away, intent on making our way back to Aquileia and toour rightful owner. 

"This all sounds plausible, " said Tarrutenus, "and I believe you, and itfalls out well. For my cousin, Cornelius Vindex, will leave tomorrow ornext day for Aquileia and you can travel in his company all the way. "

We were well fed and lodged while at Villa Spinella. While there welearned that Lupercus and Rufinus, the two escaped malefactors for whom wehad been mistaken by the huntsmen and beaters, had been runaway slaves, long uncatchable and lurking in swamps and forests, who had lately, triedto rob at night the store-house of a farmstead: and who, when the farmerrushed out to defend his property, had murdered him and even thereafter, in mere wantonness, had also murdered two of his slaves, his wife and ayoung daughter. This horrible crime had roused the whole countryside tohunt them down and the great battue in which we had been involved had beenorganized at a time of the year most unusual and ruinous to the increaseof deer-herds, precisely in order to snare the outlaws along with thegame. They had not been caught and we had. 

After two nights' good sleep, and a day's rest, with excellent andabundant meals, we set off at dawn in Cornelius' convoy, our preciousamulet-bags untouched; our wallets just as we had flung them down in theforest, not a coin missing; and we were clothed in new good tunics, ourbruises pretty well healed up or healing nicely, ourselves well contentwith our escape, but meditating a second escape, this time from, Cornelius. 

For we had no stomach for the road to Aquileia, if in such company that wemust present ourselves before Vedius as claiming to be slaves of his. 

We escaped easily enough, just after crossing the Po, by sneaking off inthe darkness from a villa where Cornelius, stopped overnight with afriend. Without any difficulty we recrossed the Po, not far belowHostilia, and from there made for Parma. 

For we agreed that, after our story to Tarrutenus, with Cornelius Vindexin Aquileia, Aquileia would be no fit bourne for us. So we decided, afterall, to risk the highway from Parma to Dertona and from there make our wayacross the Ligurian Mountains to Vada Sabatia and from there along thehighway to Marseilles, where we should be able to hide in the slums amongthe mixture of all races in that lively city; and where Agathemer was surehe could turn gems into cash without danger or suspicion. 

All, went well with us till we reached Placentia. There we put up at aninn. As we were leaving the town next morning, when we were about half wayfrom the inn to the Clastidian Gate, Agathemer gripped my arm and motionedme up a side street. We walked with every indication of leisurelyindifference until we had taken several turns and were alone in a narrowstreet. Then he told me that we had barely missed coming face to face withGratillus himself. 

This barely missed encounter with one of the most dreaded of the Emperor'sspies, a man who knew me perfectly and who had always disliked me, soterrified both of us that we left Placentia by the Nuran Gate and made ourway southwestward into the Apennines. 

Once in the mountains we avoided every good road we saw and kept to badbyways, until we were completely lost. 

CHAPTER XVI

THE CAVE

The late spring or early summer weather was hot and clear. We had beenpressing on feverishly and were heated, tired and sleepy, when, whilefollowing a faint track through dense woods, we took a wrong turn and soonfound that we had utterly lost our way. The sunlight was intenselybrilliant and the windless air sweltering. Stumbling over rocks andthrough bushes was exhausting. We came upon a little spring and quenchedour thirst. Standing by it and staring about we noticed what looked likean opening in an inconspicuous vine-clad cliff. It was, in fact, theentrance to a spacious and, apparently, extensive cave. 

The outer opening was about the size of an ordinary door. Though it waswell masked by beeches above and cornel bushes below, such was theposition of the sun and so intense was the flood of light it poured downfrom the cloudless sky, that the inside of the cave, for some littledistance, was faintly discernible in the glimmer which penetrated there. After our eyes had become accustomed to the darkness we could make outfairly well the shape and proportions of the first considerable grotto. 

From the outer opening a passage about a yard wide and two yards highextended straight into the cliff for about four yards. There it bentsharply to the right in an elbow. This offset extended three or four yardsand then bent to the left in a similar elbow, opening into a cavern morethan fifteen yards wide, twice as long or longer, and with a roof of dimwhite pendants like alabaster, no part of which was less than five yardsfrom the conveniently level, rather damp floor, while some parts of itwere lofty. 

The two elbows in the entrance passage made it impossible to see into thiscavern from anywhere out in the woods, and impossible to see out fromanywhere inside it. Yet, as I said, so brilliant was the sunlight and sofavorable the position, of the sun at the moment of our entrance that, after the outer dazzle had faded from inside our eyes, we could make outthe form and size of this rocky hall. 

To the right of the opening where the outer passage expanded, around ajutting shoulder of rock, we found a recess about three yards across andnearly as deep, in which we felt and smelt wood-ashes and charred, half-burnt wood. We groped among the damp charcoal, convincing ourselves thatmany good-sized fires had been made there, but none recently. We stoodback and regarded this recess, which was so placed that no gleam from anyfire, however large, kindled in it, could ever show outside the cave. Investigating the recess yet again Agathemer looked up and pointed. Aboveme, I saw sky. The recess was a natural fire-place with a natural chimneyfrom it, opening at a considerable height above. 

To the right of the fire-place recess, round another smaller shoulder ofrock, was a perfectly vertical wall of smooth stone terminating just aboveour reach at an opening three yards wide or more. The top of the wall ofrock at the bottom of the opening was almost as straight as a door-sill. 

At first we could descry in the walls of the cavern no other openings thanthe entrance, the chimney and this opening above our reach, unless oneboosted the other up. From under it we went all round the cave past thefire-place and the entrance. The floor was all damp or moist, no place fitfor us to lie down to sleep and we felt along the wall opposite the fire-place, where the light was too dim to see at all. After feeling for someyards we emerged or came round into a less dusky space, where we could seeto some extent and so on along the back wall of the cave opposite theentrance, later groping along the wall, when the light failed. 

Some forty to forty-five yards from the entrance, at the far end of thisextensive grotto, we came upon a passage, two or three yards wide andabout as high, leading further back into the bowels of the mountain. Wegroped into it a few steps, but it sloped sharply downward and was wet, sowe retreated out of it, it being also pitch dark. 

Returning along the other side of the cavern towards the fire-place wecame upon a narrow opening, less than a yard wide and not much over a yardhigh. It led into a passage which sloped upwards and was free frommoisture. Agathemer was for exploring it. I remonstrated. He insisted. After some expostulation I bade him stand at the opening, which was out ofsight of the gleam of daylight at the entrance, being behind a bigshoulder of rock further in than the fire-place. While he stood as I toldhim I went out towards the middle of the cavern floor till I could see thefireplace, though very dimly, and the entrance, quite clearly, by themellow glow at it from the outer sunshine reflected along the walls of thetwice bent entrance-passage. 

When I had reached a position from which I could certainly see theentrance and from which, as Agathemer told me, I could be seen by him, Itold him I would stay there while he explored the little passage into theside of the cavern. I adjured him to be cautious and not venture himselfrecklessly in the pitch dark. He declared he could feel his way safelysome distance and be sure of returning. Then he crawled into the narrowopening. 

Before I had waited long enough to grow impatient, I heard him call:

"Why, I can see you!"

The voice came not from the direction of the opening into which he hadcrawled, but from near the fire-place. 

"Where are you?" I called back. 

"Over here, " said he, "come towards me. "

Advancing towards the voice and peering into the dimness, where the lightdispersed from the entrance made the darkness of the cavern just a littleless dark than blackness, I saw him standing on the sill, as it were, ofthe opening up in the wall, beyond the fire-place as one approached fromthe entrance, and above the vertical wall of rock. 

He had found a passage just big enough to crawl through leading from theaperture up to this species of gallery-alcove. The passage curved and wasnot much over twenty yards long. He pulled me up to the gallery and wecrawled back together out of the aperture by which he had entered thepassage. The whole passage was dry, unlike the floor of the cave. 

"I tell you what we ought to do, " said Agathemer, "let us go outside andgather armfuls of small leafy boughs and twigs. These we can throw up intothat gallery-opening and make a fine bed there where it is dry. Then wecan get a good safe sleep, and we need a long sound sleep. "

We did as he suggested till we had leaves enough for a good bed. Then weate, sparingly, for we had not much food in our wallets. After eating wewrapped ourselves in our cloaks and went to sleep; Agathemer with hiswallet beside him and his head on his arm, I with my wallet under my head. 

I wakened with a hand over my mouth and with Agathemer's voice in my earsaying:

"Keep still! Lie still! Don't move or speak! Lie still!"

He spoke in a tense whisper, so low that I could hardly understand himwith his mouth against my ear, so full of terror that the tone of itstartled me wide awake. 

My first impression was of a glaring orange light on the roof of thecavern and a diffused reflection of it or from it on the roof of ourgallery-alcove. 

"Keep your head down!" Agathemer whispered. "If you turn over, turn overquietly. "

I did turn over, very slowly, a muscle at a time and with greatprecautions to avoid rustling the leaves or twigs of the bed on which welay. 

As soon as I turned over I perceived that a good, big fire must be burningon the fire-place and that the light on the cavern roof was the directglare from that, while the subdued glow on the roof of our alcove was thelight reflected from the farther wall of the cavern or from its roof. 

As our alcove was separated from the fire by a jutting pillar of rock, nodirect light from the fire fell on its opening; it and we were well in theshadow. So shadowed we could hunch ourselves forward as far as we daredand peer down into the cave. 

Its floor was littered with wallets, blankets, staffs and other foot-farers' gear. About it sat groups of men, every one with a sheath-knife ordagger in his belt. I counted forty and there were more out of sight roundthe shoulder of rock between our alcove and the fire-place. 

We smelt flesh roasting or boiling. The squatting groups seemed busy withpreparations for a meal. 

The men, except one lad like a shepherd, did not look Italian. Some struckme as Spanish, others as Gallic, one or two as runaway slaves of mongrelancestry. Nearly all of them had the unmistakable carriage and bearing ofsoldiers, even specifically of soldiers of out-of-the-way garrisons, inthe mountains or on frontiers. Yet their behavior was tin-soldierly. Ijudged them discharged campaigners with an admixture of deserters andoutlaws. They all had travellers' umbrella hats, and all had thrown themoff; their cloaks were coarse and rough, many torn, but none patched, their tunics similar; their boots of Gallic fashion, coming up nearly tothe knee, like Sicilian hunting-boots. They were all black-haired andshock-headed, all swarthy, and most of them of medium height and solidlybuilt. They did not talk loud and they all talked at once, so that we madeout little of what was said and nothing informing. 

I could not but remark that, although the weather was exceedingly hot andthe fire seemed large, it made no difference whatever in the feeling ofthe very slightly damp, gratefully cool and evenly mild air of the cavern. 

Presently the food was ready and was distributed: goat's-flesh, roasted orbroiled, some sort of coarse bread or quickly-made cakes, wine aplenty, olives and figs. While they ate most of them sat in groups; some stood bytwos or threes; a few stood singly. From their looks, attitudes, thedirection in which they faced and other indications, we inferred thattheir chief was seated to the right of the fire, between it and us, withhis back to the pillar of rock and just out of sight of us around it. Someappeared to be standing in a half-circle before him, listening to him, orconversing with him. A few of the men ate alone, sitting, standing orwalking about. 

One of these, munching a while as he strolled back and forth, came andtook his stand behind and outside of the respectful half circle, standingfacing the fire. When he finished eating and his face quieted as he stoodthere silent, gazing at something out of our sight, all at once, simultaneously, I gripped Agathemer and he gripped me. The fellow wasCaulonius Pelops, two years before secretary to the overseer of my uncle'sestate near Consentia in Bruttium. He had run away not long before myuncle's death. 

I stared at him, revolving in my mind the difference of the attitude ofmind towards runaway slaves of a former master who catches sight of arunaway from his estates and of the same being while pretending himself tobe a runaway. I could have laughed out loud at the contrast between thefeelings towards Pelops which I felt surge up in me and the feelings Ihoped for towards me, say in Tarrutenus Spinellus. 

Pelops, of course, knew me perfectly, knew Agathemer as well, wouldrecognize either of us at sight. Therefore, if we were now discovered, wesaw lost all that we had thought to gain and thought we had gained by ourcrawl through the drain pipe and the other features of our escape up tonow. If Pelops set eyes on me, he, at least, would know that I was yetalive, he might tell all the band; if he told them, any one of them, evenif not he himself, might inform the authorities and put new life into thesearch for me, if it had not been abandoned, or revive it if it had; putevery spy in Italy on the alert to catch me: or even betray me to thenearest magistrate. 

And Pelops had always disliked me and had always envied and hatedAgathemer. We were keyed up with anxiety. 

Just as we recognized Pelops a tall, red-headed, sandy lout, with a longneck and a prominent gullet-knot, came forward into sight from thedirection of the entrance, apparently from beyond the fire. He put up hisright hand and called, slowly and clearly:

"Eating time is over: Now we hold council!"

The men speedily assembled in curving rows facing the fire and sat orstood as they pleased, all facing where we inferred that their leader sat, to the right of the fire-place out of our sight round the bulge of theshoulder of rock. 

Between them and the fire, just far enough from it for him to be visibleto us, a burly shock-headed, black-haired southern Gaul took his stand. 

Then we clearly heard a voice, which we inferred must be the leader's, avoice distinct and far-carrying, but a voice amazingly soft, mild andgentle, say:

"Council is called. Let all other men be silent. Caburus is to speak. "

The burly Gaul began blusteringly, with a strong southern Gallic accentlike a Tolosan:

"It is no use, Maternus, trying to bamboozle us with your everlastingserenity. We decline to be fooled any longer. Somehow, by sorcery ormagic, you infused into us the greatest enthusiasm for your crazy project. You've dragged us over the Alps and into these Apennines. On the way we'vetalked matters over among ourselves. The nearer we get to Rome the crazierour errand seems. We have made fools of ourselves under your leadershiplong enough. We go no further. 

"We admit that Commodus ought to be killed; we admit that, if he werekilled, it would be a good thing for all Gaul and for Spain and Britain, too, and, we suppose, for Italy and all the provinces. We also admit thatit would be a fine thing for us if we could kill Commodus, avoid gettingkilled or caught ourselves, and win the rewards we could properly hope forfrom the next Emperor, and the glory we'd have at home as successfulheroes. 

"But, when free from the spell of your eloquence, we see no chance ofkilling the Emperor and surviving to reap the reward of our prowess: noneof surviving: not even any of killing him. You say you have a perfect andinfallible plan which you will reveal when the time comes. You may have aplan and it may be infallible and as certain of success as the sun iscertain of rising tomorrow and the day after. But we have followed you andyour secret plan long enough. We follow no further unless we know whatplan we are expected to take part in. We have all agreed to that and weall stick to that. "

And the assemblage chorused:

"We have all agreed to that and we all stick to that. "

Now, from, where we peered down from our hiding-place Maternus wasentirely out of sight. We could not see what attitude he took nor whatexpression his face wore. Yet, by the flickering light of the leapingfire, which flooded the cavern with its ruddy glare, we could plainly seethe effect of his personality on the assemblage. Even as their shouts ofassent to what Caburus had said still rang through the cave I could seethem half fawning, half cringing towards their chief. 

Yet his voice, when he spoke, was not harsh or domineering, but, whileperfectly audible, as bland and placid as a girl's. 

"Please remember, " he said, "that a plan such as I have conceived, whileit is, if carried out as designed, as certain of success as the swoop ofthe hawk upon the hare, is certain of success only while it is not onlyundreamed of by its object but totally unsuspected by anyone outside ofour band. The success of our project depends on no one having any inklingof any such project, far less having an inkling of what kind of a projectit is. 

"For your sakes and for your sakes only have I kept the details of myplans locked in my own bosom. You are venturing your lives to help me tothe realization of my hopes of setting free the world. Your lives must notbe risked needlessly. Little will be the risk any of you will run incarrying out my plans, so ingeniously are they conceived. But thatsmallness of risk can be attained only if the nature of the project isunknown to anyone save myself up to the latest possible moment beforeputting it into effect. Every day, every hour, which elapses between thegiving of my instructions and their execution increases the danger of ourbetrayal. We must have guides, we must, occasionally, induct into oursociety new associates. Not one of these can be a danger to us as long asthe methods by which we are to effect our purpose is unknown except to me. I propose no loitering in Rome. I mean to arrive at the right spot at theright hour, at the hour of opportunity, to strike and to vanish beforeanyone save ourselves knows that the blow has been struck. Only thus canwe succeed, only thus can we escape. Upon my silence our success depends. Once I speak, every day, every hour makes it more likely that someone willbetray to some outsider the nature of our plot or even its details. Thenwe shall certainly fail and perish. "

Thereupon ensued a long wrangle in which Caburus repeated that Maternushad said all that before and Maternus repeated the same argument in otherwords and brought up other similar arguments. The crowd, while swayed byMaternus, appeared to lean more and more to the opinions of Caburus. Itbecame manifest that they would break away and disperse unless Maternusrevealed his intentions. He was, apparently, quick to sense the situationand finally yielded. 

"I have three separate plans, " he said, "and I mean to prepare to use allthree, so that, if the first fails the second may succeed; if both thefirst and second fail I may hope to succeed with the third. 

"I mean to reach Rome two days before the Festival of Cybele and for allof us to get a sound night's sleep. Then, on the eve of the great day, most of you may wander about the city sight-seeing; Caburus and I and afew with us will buy or hire costumes for the Festival. 

"As we have all heard, the wildest license in costumes is permitted on theday of the celebration. Everybody dresses up as extravagantly as possible. More than that it is so customary for jokers to dress up in burlesque ofnotables that such assumptions of the costumes of officials are merelylaughed at and the wearers of them are never arrested or even reprimanded. 

"Caburus and I will buy at old-clothing shops or hire from costumers castoff uniforms of the privates of the Praetorian Guard. Two squads of us, all volunteers and approved as boldest, strongest and quickest, will dressup as Praetorians. One will be led by Caburus and I myself shall lead theother. 

"Caburus and his men will mingle with the crowd along the line of themorning procession. The procession is so long, its route is so jammed withsight-seeing rabble, the rabble is permitted so close to the line of theprocession, so many wonders and marvels form part of the procession, thereis so much interest in gazing at them, that it is possible that Caburusmay see a chance to achieve our object. I shall leave it to him whether togive whatever signal he may agree on with his men, or to withhold it. Ifhe sees an opportunity, that will mean that, in his judgment, there is agood chance of killing the tyrant and getting away unrecognized. You knowhow cautious Caburus is: you will run no risk if he does not give thesignal and little if he does. 

"Now, Caburus, what do you think of this plan?"

Not being able to watch Maternus making his speech, I, while straining myears to catch his softly uttered words, had kept my eyes on Caburus, hadmarvelled to see the dogged spirit of opposition and surly disaffectionfade out of his expression, to see interest and excitement take theirplace. 

"I think, " he shouted, "that you are a marvel! I don't wonder that youwanted to conceal this plan till the last possible moment. It is so goodthat I already want to tell it to somebody, just to see his amazement. Butwe'll keep your secret! And as to your plan, I'll risk it. No Gaul with adrop of sporting blood in his veins would hesitate to embrace theopportunity to try to carry out so ingenious, so promising a plan. 

"And you don't need a second plan or third plan. This plan, under myleadership, is certain to succeed. "

At this a scrawny, tow-headed, long-armed, long-legged fellow sprang tohis feet. 

"I don't agree with that at all, " he vociferated. 

"Just because the first plan pleases Caburus is no reason why we shouldnot hear the other two plans also. "

This utterance started a long discussion, from which Agathemer and Ilearned nothing except that there was much insubordination among the menfollowing Maternus and that the scrawny objector was named Torix. 

The upshot of the discussion was a general agreement that Maternus oughtto disclose all three plans. 

Maternus then resumed:

"The second plan is already known to Cossedo and it need not be known toanyone else, as he alone is concerned and he, if Caburus decides not tomake his attempt, will attempt his alone, without any assistance fromanyone and without endangering anyone else; in fact without endangeringhimself. I myself thought of this plan, which is so ingenious that, if itsucceeds, no one will ever know how Commodus came to his death; it iffails no one will ever suspect that it was tried at all. 

"You have all been wondering how Cossedo came to be with us. Many of youhave jeered him; many of you have protested to me. But I know what I amdoing. Cossedo can do other things besides walk the tight-rope, jugglefive balls at once, and stand on his head on the back of a gallopinghorse. He is just the right man to carry out my idea, which neither I norany other of us could put into effect. As Cossedo approves the plan; as heis to try it alone, no one else need know it. "

"Just so, " cried the red-headed lout who had heralded the council, comingforward into the fire-light. "I can try it and I may do it. If I do it, Commodus will be a corpse. If I fail, no one will know I have tried. Andit is a jewel of a plan. "

And he stood on his hands, feet waggling in the air, apparently from mereexuberance of spirits. Standing up again, he threw three flip-flopsforward, then two backward, then turned a half a dozen cart wheels, duringwhich gyrations he passed out of our field of view. 

Torix sulkily agreed that the second plan remain unknown except toMaternus and Cossedo, the assemblage not supporting him when he pressedfor its disclosure. But he was insistent about the third plan. 

"The third plan, " said Maternus, "is merely the first plan over again, except that I lead instead of Caburus and that we try after dark insteadof by day. From all I can hear the opportunity will be even better bytorchlight in the gardens about the temple than it will be by day in thejammed streets. I mean to be as cautious as I expect Caburus to be: thereis no use making an attempt unless a really promising chance presentsitself. If I see an opening I'll kill the monster myself, and I do notexpect to need any help from anybody, except a little jostling in thecrowd to increase the confusion. As rigged up in Praetorian uniforms wewill be laughed at and indulged. Either in the noonday swelter or in thetorchlit darkness it ought to be easy to pass from aping, mimicking andburlesquing Praetorians to personating and counterfeiting Praetorians. Once mistaken for real guards we ought to be able to get close toCommodus. Then in the torchlight it should be easy for me to finish himand for you others to escape. I shall not think of escape until the deedis done. Then I'll escape, if I can, but I shall let no thought of escapeinterfere with my doing what I purpose. "

This speech was acclaimed by everyone except Torix. He said:

"All this is most ingenious. But there is in this plan one flaw which noone has noted. I suppose that you, Maternus, evolved this really promisingidea from pondering on what Claudius told us. All the hearsay about Romeand its festivals which ever came to the ears of all of us put together isas nothing at all compared with what Claudius told us in two months. Claudius had lived in Rome, Claudius knew every alley in Rome. WithClaudius to pilot us we might have hoped to succeed. But Claudius is dead, dead somewhere in the Alps, where he is no use to us. He had seen theEmperor, he knew him by sight. Not one of us does. And, as Claudius toldus, at the Festival of Cybele, as at several other religious festivals, the Emperor does not wear his official robes, so that anyone may recognizehim, but appears in the garb of a priest of the deity celebrated, as HighPriest or Assistant High Priest, or as a dignitary of some other degree, the rank in the hierarchy varying with the deity worshipped. 

"Now not one of us, who have never set eyes on him, can tell Commodus, inthe garb of a priest of Cybele, from any other priest of Cybele. We haveno reasonable assurance of recognizing the mark at which we aim. Thus wehave only a small chance of success, by sunlight or torchlight. "

This utterance started another wrangle; the men, apparently, about equallydivided as backers of Maternus and of Torix. As I lay listening to thishubbub someone stepped on the calf of my leg, his foot slipped off of it, and he fell on top of me, with a smothered exclamation. 

"Who are you?" he demanded, adding some words which I did not catch. Itseemed that another man was occupied similarly with Agathemer. The manwho had fallen on me, in the act of scrambling up, yelled out:

"Here are two men lying and listening and they do not seem to belong tous. They do not respond to the pass-word. "

At that every voice stilled and every face turned to our alcove-balconywhere our captors, now four, gripped us and had lifted us to our knees. 

"Throw 'em down!" came a chorus of voices, "throw 'em down!"

Down we were thrown, none too tenderly, but we landed without breaking anybones. 

Two men clutched each of us and haled us towards the fire. There we hadour first glimpse of Maternus, who sat on a pack, his back against therock, not too close to the fire, the light of which played on his leftcheek. 

He looked plump and lazy. 

"Strip them, " he commanded. 

As he was being obeyed somebody did something to the fire which increasedthe light it gave. 

"Turn them round, " Maternus commanded. "Humph, " he commented, "by theirfaces they are a Roman gentleman and his Greek secretary; by their backsthey are fugitive slaves with bad records. "

"They are both branded, " added Torix, who had been inspecting us. 

"Where?" queried Maternus. "I don't see any brand marks. "

"On the left shoulder, each of them, " Torix replied. 

"Humph!" Maternus commented, "rascally slaves and indulgent master, orcanny owner of valuable, if restive, property. "

Just as he said this there was a yell at our left and Caulonius Pelopsrushed in from somewhere beyond the firelight, probably from outside thecave. 

"Here's the solution of our dilemma, " he cried. "We are all right now. We've two men who know Commodus by sight. This is Andivius Hedulio, myformer master's nephew, and the other is his secretary, Agathemer. "

"What, in the name of Mithras, " Maternus breathed, "is your master'snephew doing in a cave in the Apennines, with his back all scourge-marksand a runaway-slave brand on his shoulder?"

Then ensued a long series of questions and answers, in the course of whichAgathemer and I pretty well told our story. 

Maternus asked the assemblage whether they believed us and the consensuswas that they believed us and Pelops, who reminded them that Claudius hadread to them lists of those involved in conspiracies, who had beenexecuted or banished and their properties confiscated; that my name hadbeen among those he read; and that he, Pelops, had then told about me; allof which most of them did not recollect at all, and the few who claimed torecollect it recollected only vaguely. 

Maternus, in his mild way, suggested that we would make valuable additionsto their association. Torix opposed the idea, but Maternus pointed outthat no one of them had as much to gain by the Emperor's death as I had:that after it I might hope to be restored to my rank and wealth, and that, after my miseries, I ought to hate Commodus more viciously than any ofthem. The assemblage approved, and, while throat-cutting was notmentioned, as that was the obvious alternative, Agathemer and I took oathas brothers in the confraternity. 

Upon this we were released and our wallets, cloaks, hats and staffs, whichhad been deposited before Maternus, were restored to us. But Maternusinformed us that no member of the band was allowed any money of his own. We must give up to him any coins we had. 

Agathemer spread his cloak, spread mine on it, and upon it I emptied mywallet, that all might see its contents. I was allowed to retaineverything, except the denarii. Agathemer did the like, with the likeresult. But at the sight of his flageolet there were exclamations andquestions. He kept it out when he repacked his belongings, only giving thecoins to Maternus. After we had fed he played tunes on it, to the delightof the whole band. It seemed to me they would never let him stop playingthat flageolet and I was desperately drowsy. 

At last all were for sleep. Maternus decreed that Agathemer and I mightclimb up again on the dry shelf where we had been found. Neither he norany of the band seemed to object to, or indeed to notice, the dampness ofthe cave floor. 

Agathemer and I slept at once. Our precious amulet-bags, of course, hadnot been investigated, or so much as suspected, and were safe on our neck-thongs. 

CHAPTER XVII

THE FESTIVAL

Thus most strangely, and through no fault of mine, I found myself a fullfledged formally sworn member of a conspiracy against the life ofCommodus. 

Maternus, whether from innate considerateness or because it happened tocoincide with his plans, let us have our sleep out and wake naturally. Wewoke hungry and fed with the whole band, totalling forty-nine withourselves, according to my count and to the statement of Pelops. He wasmost absurdly, but naturally, more than a little shy and bashful atfinding himself in a position of complete equality with me. As we ate henarrated his reasons for running away and how he had escaped to Clampetia, from there on a fishing-boat to Sarcapus in Sardinia, and from there on atrading ship to Marseilles. There he had attached himself to a slave-dealer and with him had travelled to Tolosa and Narbo, where he had gotteninto trouble and had fled to the mountains. There he had joined someoutlaws, who had joined Maternus. 

The fellows who had found me and Agathemer told cheerfully how theshepherd lad, their local guide, who knew nothing of them except that theywere accepted associates of some local mountain brigands, had been showingthem the inner passages of the cave, into which Agathemer and I had notventured, and, on their return, had proposed to lead them up the side-passage to the outlook-opening. There they had trodden on us and socaptured us. 

After eating we set out on our way southwards to Rome. 

On the march, inevitably, I became acquainted with Maternus and marvelledat that most amazing man. I had heard of him, of course, for his exploitsas mutineer, outlaw, insurgent and rebel had made him notorious, not onlyin Spain and Gaul, but in Italy, even among the circles of society amidwhich I moved by inheritance. His reputation for strength, vigor, valor, resolution, ruthlessness, ferocity and cunning had made me picture him asdifferent as possible from what he really was. 

He was neither tall nor burly and nothing about him gave any hint of thegreat strength for which he was reputed and which, on occasion, I haveseen him exert. Only one man of the band was shorter than Maternus and noother looked so much the reverse of hard and tough. 

Maternus, in fact, looked soft. His very outline was plump, his feet andhands small, his toes and fingers delicate. He was not a handsome man, buthe was by no means ill-looking and in some respects was almost boyish, oreven girlish. He had glossy, straight brown hair, soft brown eyes, acomplexion almost infantile in its rosy freshness, and all his featureswere small, his ears close to his head, his mouth even tiny, his noselikewise: and withal, Maternus was habitually mild, serene of expression, slow and soft of speech, and deliberate in all his movements. I neverheard him raise his voice or speak or act hurriedly or urgently. 

Of course, I had been dumbfounded to find him in Italy and in theApennines when everybody supposed him a hunted fugitive, hiding in thePyrenees or the Cevennes; or even, perhaps, in the wilds of North Spain. Still more was I amazed at the boldness of a man who could conceive suchplans for assassinating the Prince of our Republic and could feel serenelyconfident of being able to execute them. 

He was perfectly open with me. He had been a worshipper and adorer ofAurelius. If Aurelius had lived to a reasonable old age, he averred, theRepublic would have been firmly established, the Empire solidified, theadministration purified and the frontiers defended. Everything that hadhappened in the past five years he blamed on Commodus. It was theindifference of Commodus which had ruined the administration of the army, so that incompetent, dishonest, and tyrannical under-officers drove youngpatriots like himself into mutiny, outlawry and their consequences. HadCommodus been a capable ruler he and his fellow malcontents would havebeen listened to, placated and sent off, aflame with patriotic enthusiasmand bent on redeeming their past records, to hurl back from the hardest-pressed part of our frontiers the most dangerous foes of the Republic. Upon Commodus he blamed his mutiny, all the atrocities he had committed inthe course of his insurrections, and all the blood he had shed, as well asall the towns he had sacked and burnt in the course of his raids; also onCommodus he blamed the destruction of his army of insurgents. 

He freely discussed with me his plans for assassinating Commodus. I couldnot deny that they were brilliantly conceived. 

Almost equally brilliant I thought his management of his expedition. Fromwhere I joined it, near the crest of the Apennines, somewhere between thehead-waters of the Trebia and the Nura, we advanced on Rome as rapidly asfootfarers could travel. In the Ligurian Apennines, until we had crossedthe upper tributaries of the Tarus, the Macra and the Auser, and werebetween Luna and Pistoria, we travelled all together, tramping all nightin single file after a guide and sleeping all day in well hidden camps. Everywhere we were well fed. Nowhere did we lose our way or meet anyonenot forewarned and friendly. It was as if the highwaymen, brigands andoutlaws of the whole Empire had formed an association, so that any of themcould travel secretly anywhere by the help of those of the regions whichthey crossed. We advanced as if swift and reliable runners had precededus, advised of our approach the outlaws of each district and they hadprepared to entertain us and to forward us on our way. 

From somewhere between Pistoria and Luca we broke up into small parties ofthree to seven, and travelled by day like ordinary wayfarers. Somewherenot far south of the Arnus we reassembled, evidently by prearrangement andas accurately as a well-managed military-expedition. Through themountains past Arretium we marched at night as in the Apennines. Againsomewhere to the west of Clusium, before we reached the Pallia, we againdispersed. We struck the Clodian Highway about halfway between Clusium andthe Pallia. From there we proceeded like ordinary footfarers. 

Both between Pistoria and Arretium, along the byroads, and from the Palliato Rome, on the Clodian Highway, I was in the party headed by Maternushimself, a party of five besides us two. When we dispersed near Luca I hadnoted that Torix, Pelops and Cossedo with two more made a party; and thatCaburus took Agathemer with him. 

As Maternus had been open with me about his past and his plans so he wasperfectly frank about his attitude towards me. 

"I assume, " he said, "that you are delighted at the opportunity whichchance and I have given you to assist in revenging yourself on Commodus. Isimilarly assume that you and Agathemer would keep any oath taken by you. But prudence compels a leader like me to take no chances. I must, as awary guardian of my associates, take all possible precautions. You willunderstand. "

We did understand. We were watched as if he assumed that we were on thealert for a chance of escape, as we were. On night marches a leathernthong was knotted about my waist and the ends knotted similarly about thewaists of the man before me and the man behind me. Agathemer was madesecure in a like fashion. When he lay down to sleep, after he had composedhimself to rest, a blanket was spread over him and a burly ruffian laydown on either side of him, the edges of the blanket under them. I sleptsimilarly guarded. On day marches Caburus kept Agathemer close to him; Iwas never out of sight of Maternus. 

Somewhere in the Etrurian hills north of Arretium I overheard part of aconversation between Maternus and Caburus. They were talking of me andAgathemer. 

"You cannot be sure, " said Maternus. "By every rule of reason Hedulioought to hate Commodus consumedly. But loyalty is so inbred in senatorsand men of equestrian rank, in all the Roman nobility, that he may have asoft place in his heart for him, after all. Instead of doing his best tohelp us kill him he might try to shield him, at a pinch. "

"Just what I have been thinking, " said Caburus. "I am half in doubt aboutthis enterprise, even now. Agathemer may after all, try to fool me and toshield Commodus, by pointing out some other man to me, at the crucialmoment. "

"If you suspect him of anything of the kind, " said Maternus gently, "justdrive your dirk good and far into him and be done with him. I'll be on thelookout for any hanky-panky from Hedulio. If I see the wrong look in hiseye or the wrong expression on his face I'll make a quick end of him. I'lltolerate no treachery after oath given and oath taken. "

It may easily be imagined how nervous and uncomfortable I felt afterhearing this mild, soft-voiced utterance. 

My anxiety was accentuated within an hour. Just as I, like the othermembers of the band, was composing myself to sleep, I heard high words, raised voices, threats, an oath and a yell. With the rest I rushed towardsthe sounds. There, with the rest, I saw Caulonius Pelops in the agonies ofdeath, a dagger in his heart. One of our Spanish associates hadmomentarily lost his temper. 

Maternus, calm and unruffled, mildly inquired the causes of the quarrel, affirmed his belief in the Spaniard's account, absolved him of all blameand ordered Pelops buried. Then, as if nothing happened, we all composedourselves to sleep. 

I did not sleep much. Evidently, stabbing on small provocation was takenas a matter of course among my present comrades. 

At Vulsinii we had a sound sleep at an inn and a bountiful meal at dawn. We needed both before dark, for Maternus marched us the entire twenty-eight miles to Forum Cassii by sunset. I was in as hard condition as anyof his band and I stood the long tramp well. Next day we paused for barelyan hour, near noon, at Sutrium, and made the twenty-three miles toBaccanae easily. The third day we even more easily made the twenty-onefrom Baccanae to Rome. Rome, naturally, I approached with emotion. I hadgazed back on it from the road to Tibur, certain that I should never againbehold it. And I was now about to enter it under most amazingcircumstances, as the associate of cutthroats and ruffians, as a swornmember of a conspiracy to assassinate the Prince of the Republic, as theprisoner of a ruthless outlaw, as a suspected associate of a chieftain whomight stab me at the slightest false action, motion, word, tone or look. 

There is, I think, no view of Rome as one approaches it along the ViaClodia or the Via Flaminia which is as fine as anyone of a score frompoints on the Via Salaria and Via Tiburtina. But, on a clear, mild, mellowsummer afternoon I caught glorious glimpses of the city from the higherpoints of the road as we neared it. The sight moved me to tears, tearswhich I was careful to conceal. I could not but note the fulfillment ofthe prophecy made by the Aemilian Sibyl. I could not but hope that I mightsurvive to see Rome under happier circumstances. 

Amid manifold dangers as I was, I was not gloomy. We entered the city bythe Flaminian Gate, of course, and, in the waning light, walked boldly thewhole length of the Via Lata, diagonally across from the Forum of Trajan, under his Triumphal Arch, through the Forum of Augustus, and across, theForum of Nerva past the Temple of Minerva and so to the Subura. All theway from the City Gate to the slum district I marvelled at Maternus: henever asked his way, took every turn correctly; and, amid the splendors ofTrajan's Forum, behaved like a frequenter, habituated to suchmagnificence. Equally did he seem at home amid such crowds as he couldnever have mingled with. He comported himself so as to attract no remark. 

As we passed the Temple of Minerva I sighed and remarked that I would giveanything short of life itself for a bath. 

"You need not give that much; we can bathe for a _quadrans_, and, sinceyou mention it, we shall all be better for a bath. "

"There is no reason why you and the rest should not bathe, " I rejoined, ruefully, "but with my back and shoulder a bath is no place for me. "

"Pooh!" laughed Maternus, "you grew up in Rome and I never set foot in ittill today, yet you know no bath you dare enter, while I can lead you to abath-house where no one will heed or notice brand-marks or scourge-sears. "

It was, in fact, close by and I had the first vapor bath I had enjoyedsince leaving Villa Spinella. After we left the bath Maternus bought threecheap little terra-cotta lamps and a small supply of oil. 

At the cheaper sort of cook-shop we ate a hearty meal, with plenty of verybad wine. Then we went where, manifestly, arrangements had been made forour lodging, in a seven-story rookery, such as I had never entered and hadhardly seen from outside. Its entrance was from the Subura and opened nearthe middle of one of the long sides of the courtyard, the pavement ofwhich was very uneven from irregular sinking and its many shaped stonesmuch worn. Out in it, at almost equal distances from the ends, the sidesand each other, stood two circular curb-walls, each about a yard high; onethe well, whence was drawn all the water used by the inmates; the otherthe sewer-opening, down which went all manner of refuge. The ascent to theupper stories was by an open stone stair in one corner of the court. Allround the court was an open arcaded corridor, running behind the stair inits corner. Above it were six similar arcaded galleries, one for eachupper floor. The rooms, judging from those into which I looked throughopen doors, appeared all alike. Ours were floored, walled and roofed withcoarse cement, full of small broken stone, and not very smoothly finished. The floors were worn smooth by long use. The only opening to each was thedoor, over which was a latticed window reaching to the vaulted ceilings ofthe gallery and room. 

Our rooms were on the fourth floor. There were three rooms, each withthree canvas cots. Maternus left the six others to dispose themselves asthey pleased. He and I took the middle room. Quite as a matter of coursehe bolted he door, drew his cot across it, and as soon as I had composedmyself to sleep, sat on his cot and blew out the little terra-cotta lamp. 

Next morning he quite unaffectedly discussed with me what he was to dowith me. 

"In Rome, anywhere in Rome, " he said, "you are likely to be recognized anymoment. I took the risk yesterday evening; I had to, I never attemptimpossibilities or worry over manifest necessities. But I never rununnecessary risks. The natural thing to do with you is to leave you inthis room all day with two of my lads to watch you. I do not want toirritate you, but I see no other way. "

"I'll agree to come back here and stay here quietly, " I said, "if you willlet me go out first for a while with you or any man or men you choose. Iwant to go to the Temple of Mercury and I want you to give me back enoughof my money to buy two white hens to offer to the god. "

"You surprise me, " he said. "I shouldn't have expected a man of yourorigin to pay particular attention to gaining the favor of Mercury. He ismore in the line of men like me. I am first and always devoted to Mithras, of course. But Mercury comes high up on my list. I've a mind to take therisk, go with you and buy four hens, two for you and two for me. "

Actually we went out together shortly after sunrise, down the Subura, through Nerva's Forum, and diagonally across the Forum itself. There Iquaked, for fear of being recognized; and marvelled at the coolness ofMaternus. He feasted his eyes and mind on the gorgeousness about us, butwith such discretion that no one could have conjectured that he was aforeigner, viewing Rome for the first time. 

On down the Vicus Tuscus we went into the meat market, where he boughtfour plump, young, white hens. As we started on with them, each of uscarrying two, he asked his first question. 

"What building is that?" nodding. 

"The Temple of Hercules, " I told him. 

"I thought so, " he said, "they always build his circular. We'll stop inthere on our way back. I never miss a chance to ask his help. "

Whereas, when I made my offering before my flight the previous year, thestreet had been deserted, since I passed along it within an hour aftersunrise, now it was humming with unsavory life, the eating-stalls underthe vaults crowded, throngs about the Babylonian and Egyptian seers whoprophesied anyone's future for a copper, tawdry hussies leering before thedoors of their dens, unsavory louts chatting with some of them, idlerseverywhere. This festering cess-pool of humanity Maternus regarded withdisdain and contempt manifest to me, but carefully concealed behind abland expression. 

When we came out of the Temple of Mercury, after making our offering, Maternus whispered:

"Walk very much at ease and as if your mind were as much as possible atpeace; two men opposite are watching us. "

I assumed my most indifferent air and carefully avoided looking across thestreet, except for one cautious glance from the lowest step of the Temple. Then I glimpsed, leaning against a pier of the outer arcade of the CircusMaximus, two men wrapped in dingy cloaks, for the morning had been cool. After we were in the Temple of Hercules, Maternus asked:

"Did you recognize them?"

"One I had never seen, " I replied. "The other I have seen before, but I donot know who he is nor where I have seen him. "

Not until after midnight that night did it suddenly pop into my head thathe was the same man whom I had first seen on horseback in the rain on thecrossroad above Vediamnum, the man whom Tanno had asserted was aprofessional informer and accredited Imperial spy, the man who had glancedinto Nemestronia's garden and seen me with Egnatius Capito. 

After we left the Temple of Hercules I expected him to conduct me back toour lodgings for the day. He never suggested it, but kept me with him, strolling about the central parts of the city as if he had nothing tofear, walking all round the Colosseum and loitering through the VicusCyprius, frankly amused at the sights we saw there. 

He had no difficulty in finding shops of costumers: on the eve of theFestival they displayed placards calling attention to their wares. Thefirst we entered had no Praetorian uniforms; but, as if the request forthem were a matter of course, its proprietor directed us to the shop of acousin of his who made a specialty of them. There I was amazed that suchlaxity of law, or of enforcement of law, could possibly exist as wouldpermit such a trade. There was evidently a regular manufacture for thisfestival of costumes simulating and travestying those of the Imperial BodyGuard. We were shown scores of them and the shop had them in a great pile. 

The tunics were genuine tunics formerly worn by the actual PraetorianGuards but discarded and sold as worn or faded. There were also many suchkilts and corselets and helmets. But as helmets, corselets and even kiltswore out or lost their freshness more slowly than tunics, there were manyimitation kilts and corselets of sheepskin painted, and many cheap, lighthelmets of willow-wood, covered with dogskin. But all these had genuineplumes, as cast-off plumes were even more plentiful than second-handtunics. 

As there was a strict enforcement of the law forbidding the sale, transport, storage or possession of the weapons of any part of themilitary establishment the shields and swords which went with the costumeswere all imitations; flimsy, but astonishingly deceiving to the eye, evenat a short distance. The shields were of sheep-skin stretched over anosier frame, but painted outside so as to present the appearance of thegenuine Praetorian shields. The baldricks and belts were also of sheep-skin, the scabbards of willow-wood, and the blades of the wooden swords offig-wood, so as to be completely harmless. 

When Maternus proposed to hire twenty-one of these suits the proprietortook it as a customary transaction, inspected and counted twenty-onecostumes and stated the charge for hiring them until the day after theFestival. But he also stated that he did not hire costumes except to hisregular customers; strangers must not only make a deposit but produce asvouchers two Romans in good standing and well known. Seeing Maternus at astick he added, easily and at once, that he sold costumes to any purchaserfor cash, without question, and agreed to repurchase the same costumesafter the Festival at nine denarii for every ten of the sale price, if thecostumes were brought back in good condition; if damaged, he would even sorepurchase them, but only at their damaged value. 

Maternus at once agreed to buy on those terms and, without haggling, accepted the price asked and paid it in gold. He then arranged for portersto carry the costumes where he wanted them. This also was taken as amatter of course. 

Followed by the porters we returned to our lodging. Maternus left twoporters, with their loads, in the courtyard and with the third porter weclimbed three flights of stairs. The porter bestowed his huge pack in mycell and there Maternus left me in charge of three of the men, with ordersthat two must watch me till he returned. The third was to be at my ordersto fetch any eatables or drinkables I wanted; to this man Maternus gave ahandful of carefully counted silver coins. 

There I remained until next morning, sleeping all the time I could get tosleep and stay asleep; trying not to fret when awake; and by no meansdispleased with the food and wine brought me. 

Maternus slept that night, as the night previous, with his cot across ourdoor. 

Next morning he said to me:

"I feel unusually reckless today. I've been thinking the matter over andit seems to me that, on the day of the Festival, there will be thousandsof sightseers in dingy cloaks and umbrella hats. I am of the opinion thatyou will run little risk on the streets anywhere in the poorer quarters ofthe city. I'm going to take you out with me to see the fun. We'll keep faraway from where Caburus and Cossedo and their helpers are to take theirstands. We'll see the morning fun and then eat a hearty meal and sleep allthe afternoon. "

Out we sallied, I and one varlet in our travelling outfit, Maternus andsix more habited as imitation Praetorians. Two of the ruffians had apretty taste in drollery and amused the crowd with buffooneries. Strangeto say the crowds seemed to think that they travestied Praetorians to anicety whereas neither had ever set eyes on a Praetorian and their anticswere the product of mere innate whimsicality. 

I found the procession really interesting, with its various wonders andmarvels. I had never been in Rome at the time of the Feast of Cybele, which was, of all the Festivals of the Gods, peculiarly the poor man'sfrolic. And I had always wondered how it was possible so to tame and traintwo healthy full-grown male lions as to have them draw a chariot withDemeter's statue through miles of crowded streets. After seeing them passI concluded that they were dazed by the glare, the crowds and the noise, and too cowed to be dangerous. 

At the license in the streets I was amazed. I saw a dozen men, eachattired as Prefect of the Palace; a score of loose women dressed in anunmistakable imitation of the Empress, consuls by scores and similarcounterfeits of every honored official or acclaimed individual. Inparticular, every corner had a laborious presentation of Murmex Lucro, themost popular gladiator in Rome. Almost equally frequent were presentmentsof Agilius Septentrio, the celebrated pantomimist; and of Palus, championcharioteer. 

And I saw, amid roars of laughter, jeers, cat-calls and plaudits, no lessthan three different roisterers got up, cautiously and in inexpensivestuffs, but recognizably, as caricatures of the Emperor himself; not, ofcourse, in his official robes, but in such garments as he wore in hissporting hours. These audacious merrymakers were ignored by the police andmilitary guards. 

Not long after noon Maternus declared that he had had enough. We ate at adecidedly good cook-shop, where we had excellent food and good mediumwine. When I waked near sunset Maternus reported that he had slept all theafternoon: certainly I had. 

He then explained to me that he was to make his attempt in the Gardens ofLucius Verus, where Commodus had this year decreed the torchlightprocession. He was again entirely frank. 

"Your part, " he said, "will be merely to point out Commodus to me. If Idecide not to make any attempt on him I shall expect you to return herewith me and abide by whatever decision our association makes at its nextmeeting: I cannot foresee whether they will vote to disband or to plananother venture. If I make my attempt, and I think I shall, for, apparently, both Caburus and Cossedo have blenched or failed, since norumors of any excitement have reached us, you will be free the moment yousee me stab Commodus. You must then look out for yourself and fend foryourself: you and I are never to meet again unless by some unimaginableseries of miracles. "

And he gave me four silver pieces, saying:

"This will keep you in food for a long time, if you are sparing. Goodluck!"

Then, habited as in the morning, we sallied out, and ate at a cook-shop wehad never before entered, which was full of revellers dressed as votariesof Isis, as Egyptians, as cut-laws, as Arabians, as anything andeverything. And as we crossed the city on our way to the Aelian Bridge, as we were passing through a better part of it, I was struck with thecraziness of the costumes, many imitating every imaginable style of garb:Gallic, Spanish, Moorish, Syrian, Persian, Lydian, Thracian, Scythian andmany more; but many also devised according to no style that ever existed, but invented by the wearers, in a mad competition to don the mostfantastic and bizarre garb imagination could suggest. 

In the torchlit gardens I perceived at once that it would be very easy forMaternus to edge close to the actual bodyguard, mingle with them, passhimself off as one, get near the Emperor and make a rush at him. He hadchosen a spot where the procession was to circle thrice about a greatstatue of Cybele set up for that occasion on a temporary base in themiddle of a round grass-plot. His idea was that I was to point outCommodus to him on the first round and he to consider the disposition ofthe participants in the procession and make his attempt on the second orthird round. 

Standing, as we did, in the front row of a mass of revellers packed asspectators along the incurved outer rim of the ring, we had a surpassinglygood view of the procession as it entered the circle. There were variousbands of votaries and then six eunuch priests, their faces whitened withflour, their garb a flowing robe of light vivid yellow, convoying a braceof panthers, pacing as sedately as the brace of lions in the morningprocession, drawing a light chariot in which sat a diademed, robed andgarlanded image of Cybele, very gaudy and garish. Behind the chariot pacedtwo priests of Cybele, not Phrygian Eunuchs, but Roman officials, in theirpontifical robes, a pair of dignified old senators, ex-consuls both, Vitrasius Pollio and Flavius Aper, full of self-importance. Then came theChief Priest, tall, full-bearded, swarthy, his robes a blaze of gold andjewels, pacing solemnly, on either side of him, as assistant priest, ayoung Roman nobleman, chosen from the college of the Pontiffs of Cybele, habited in very gorgeous robes. One was Marcus Octavius Vindex, son of theex-consul, a very handsome young man; the other, to my amazement, Talponius Pulto. 

At sight of my life-long enemy who had always rebuffed my overturestowards the establishment of courteous relations between us, who hadinsulted me a thousand times, who had sponsored the informer whoseinsinuations had caused my downfall, revengeful rage and self-congratulation at my opportunity filled me. 

For, between the two pompous old senators and this dignified, showy andimpressive trio, capered a score of eunuch priests clashing cymbals andamong them Commodus also clashing cymbals and amazingly garbed. I havenever been able to conjecture how his headgear was managed. He had a bandround his forehead and from that band rose a sphere of some lightmaterial, apparently a framework of whalebone covered with silk, a spherefully a yard in diameter, all gleaming with the sheen of silk, and whitewith an unsurpassable whiteness. His robe, or tunic or whatever it was, was of the same or a similar glossy white silk. Round his neck was agolden collar, and gold anklets of a similar pattern clanked on hisankles. From the links or bosses of the collar to the links or bosses ofthe anklets streamed silken ribbons of the same intense light yellow wehad seen in the robes of the panther-keepers. Two of the eunuch priestsfanned him with peacock feather fans, so that the ribbons fluttered andshimmered in the torchlight. He wore soft shoes or slippers of the samevivid yellow. Clashing his cymbals he shrieked and capered with the eunuchpriests. 

I was more than shocked to see the Prince of the Republic so degradehimself, to see him exhibit the acme of the craze for devisingunimaginably fantastic costumes for this Festival. 

Besides being shocked, I was terrified, even numb with terror. I knew thatMaternus would never believe me if I indicated this gaping zany andasserted that it was our Emperor: yet Maternus had such an uncanny powerof interpreting the expression of face of any interlocutor that I dreadedto tell him anything save the exact truth. I was in a dilemma, equallyafraid to tell the truth, for fear the improbability of it would infuriateMaternus and convince him of my treachery; or to take the obvious course, for fear some subtle shade of my tone or look might similarly impel him tostab me. 

As the convoy passed Maternus whispered, softly and unhurriedly:

"Which is he?"

In my panic I chose the less dangerous alternative. Pulto was by far themost Imperial figure in the throng; his great height, the fine poise ofhis head, his royal bearing, his regal expression, his stately port, allcontributed to make him dominate the assemblage. I felt that Maternusmight believe him Commodus and could never believe Commodus an Emperor oreven a noble. 

I indicated Pulto, haughty, dignified, handsome and magnificently habited. 

Maternus, apparently, believed me implicitly. 

He whispered again. 

"I am sure to get him when they come round again. Watch for my blow. If Iland or if I am seized, fend for yourself. Good luck and Mercury be goodto both of us. Farewell. "

As the procession came round again I could hear my heart thump; but, to mygaze, Maternus, handsome in his imitation Praetorian uniform, appeared thepersonification of calmness. 

When again the Imperial zany and his fan-bearers and posturing eunuchs hadpassed us and the High Priest and his Acolytes were opposite us, Maternusslipped forward between two of the Praetorians of the escort. 

At that instant I felt a grip on my arm and Agathemer's voice whispered:

"Come!"

Together we slunk back into the crowd, and when the yell arose behind us, presumably at sight of Pulto slaughtered by Maternus, we were well clearof the press and in the act of darting into the shrubbery. In fact we gotclear away unpursued, unmolested, unhindered. 

CHAPTER XVIII

GALLOPING

As the Gardens of Verus are north of the Tiber we had no difficultywhatever in casting a wide circuit to the left and coming out on theAurelian Highway. All the way to it we had met no one; on it we met noone. After striking the highway we walked along it as fast as we dared. Weshould have liked to run a mile or two, but we were careful to comportourselves as wayfarers and not act so as to appear fugitives. The nightwas overcast and pitch dark. We must have walked fully four miles, whichis about one third of the way to Loria. 

Then, being tired and with no reason whatever for going anywhere inparticular, we sat down to rest on the projecting base-course of apretentious tomb of great size but much neglected. It was so dilapidated, in fact, that Agathemer, feeling about by where he sat, found an aperturebig enough for us to crawl into. It began to rain and we investigated theopening. Apparently this huge tomb had been hastily built by dishonestcontractors, for here, low down, where the substructure should have beenas durable and solid as possible, they had cheapened the wall by insertingsome of those big earthenware jars which are universally built into theupper parts of high walls to lighten the construction. A slab of theexternal shell of gaudy marbles had fallen out, leaving an aperture nearlyas big as the neck of the great jar. 

As the rain increased to a downpour we wriggled and squirmed through thehole, barely squeezing ourselves in, and found the jar a bit dusty but dryand comfortable. We wrapped ourselves in our cloaks, rejoicing to be outof the torrent of water which now descended from the sky. Also we composedourselves to sleep, if we could. 

We discussed our situation. We had our tunics, cloaks, umbrella hats androad shoes, but no staffs, wallets or extras. Agathemer mourned for hisflageolet. Between us we had seven silver denarii and a handful ofcoppers; Maternus had given Agathemer four denarii, as he had me, butearly in the day, and he had broken one to buy two meals. 

He said that Caburus had either feared to make an attempt on Commodus, orjudged that no opportunity presented itself. Of Cossedo he knew no morethan I. Caburus had turned him over to two ruffians to watch and he hadeluded them in the crowds and made his way to the Gardens of Verusexpressly to find me, if possible, and help me to escape. 

He said that our coins could not be made to last any length of time. Norcould we well beg our way so near the city. Our store of gems in ouramulet-bags was of no use, because, as he said, he was personally known toevery gem-expert in Rome. Perusia was the nearest town to northward wherehe might hope to find prompt secret buyers for gems of dubious ownership;Perusia was far beyond the reach of two footfarers, without wallets andwith only seven denarii. 

We argued that, whatever happened, the wisest course was to get somesleep. Agathemer declared that we could fast over next day and night, ifnecessary, and that we had best keep in our hole till next night, anyhow. I acceded and we went to sleep. 

We were waked by loud voices in altercation. The sky had cleared, the latemoon was half way up, and we conjectured that the time was about midwaybetween midnight and dawn, the time when all roads are most deserted. 

Close to us, plain in the brilliant moonlight, were two stocky men on roanor bay horses. The moonlight was bright enough to make it certain thatthey were wearing the garb of Imperial couriers. The trappings of theirhorses, frontlets, saddle cloths, saddle bags and all suited their attire. 

But their actions, words, accents and everything about them was mostdiscordant with their horses and equipment. 

Both were so drunk that they could just stick on their stationary andimpassive mounts, so drunk that they talked thickly. And they weredisputing and arguing and wrangling with their voices raised almost to ashout. Thickly as they talked, we had listened to them but a few momentswhen we were sure that they were low-class highwaymen who had robbed twoImperial couriers, tied and gagged them, changed clothes with them andridden off on their horses, but had stopped to drink, raw and unmixed, thecouriers' overgenerous supply of heady wine; two kid-skins, by theirutterances. Now they were reviling each other, each claiming a largerproportion of the coins than he had. 

Here was a present from Mercury, indeed. It was a matter of no difficultyto crawl out of our hole, to approach Carex and Junco, as they called eachother, to pluck their daggers from their sheaths and to render thehighwaymen harmless, to pull them from their saddles, tie their hands withthe lashings of their saddle-bags and to gag them with strips torn fromtheir tunics; for they were too drunk to know that they were beingattacked; so drunk that each, as we dragged him from his horse, fanciedthat the other was assaulting him and expostulated at such unfair behavioron the part of a pal. So drunk were they that both were snoring before wetied their feet with more strips torn from their tunics. 

Like sacks we hauled them out of the moonlight, into the shadow of thetomb and then stripped them except of their tunics, fitted on ourselvesthe accoutrements they had stolen, and thrust them, trussed, gagged, snoring and helpless, into the hole where we had taken shelter. 

On horseback we rode like couriers, full gallop, passed Loria before thefirst hint of dawn showed through the moonlight and, about half waybetween Fregena and Alsium turned aside into a lovely little grove aboutan old shrine of Ops Consiva, a grove whose beauty and the openness ofwhose tree-embowered, grass-carpeted spaces was plain even by themoonlight. 

As soon as it was light enough to see we took stock of our windfall. Thehorses were both bays and of the finest; their trappings new and inperfect condition. Our attire was made up of the best horsemen's boots, atrifle too large for us, but not enough to be so noticeable as to betrayus, or even enough to make us uncomfortable; of horsemen's long rain-cloaks and of excellent umbrella hats, all of the regulation material, design and color. In the saddle-bags were excellent blankets, ourdespatches, legibly endorsed with the name, Munatius Plancus, of theofficial at Marseilles to whom we were to deliver them; and ourcredentials, entitling us to all possible assistance from all men and tofresh horses at all change-houses. From these diplomas we learned that ournames were Sabinus Felix and Bruttius Asper. 

This crowned our luck. We crowed with glee over the unimaginably helpfulcoincidence that these diplomas should be made out for couriers with thevery names which we had chosen at haphazard at the commencement of ourflight and had been using to each other ever since. 

The provision of cash was ample: besides plenty of silver there was morethan enough gold to have carried us all the way to Marseilles, on the mostlavish scale of expenditure, without resorting to our credentials to getus fresh horses. 

We ate liberally of the couriers' generous provision of bread, cheese, sausage, olives and figs; well content to quench our thirst at the springby the shrine. Then we muffled ourselves in our cloaks, tightened thestraps of our umbrella hats, jammed them down on our heads, pulled thebrims over our faces, mounted and set off, elated, sure of ourselves, wellfed, well clad, well horsed, opulent, accredited, gay. 

As couriers vary in their theories of horse-husbanding and in theirpractice of riding, we had a wide choice, and elected to get every mile wecould out of these fine horses and not change until as far as possiblefrom Rome. We found their most natural lope and, pausing to drink and towater them sparingly at the loneliest springs we descried, we pressed onthrough or past the Towers, Pyrgos, and Castrum Novum to Centumcellae. That was all of forty-one miles from the shrine of Ops Consiva and fullfifty from Rome, but, partly because we had to spare ourselves, as we hadnot been astride of a horse since we crawled through the drain at VillaAndivia, we so humored our horses that we arrived in a condition which theostler took as a matter of course, and it was then not quite noon, whichwe both considered a feat of horsemanship. 

At Centumcellae we ate liberally and enjoyed the inn's excellent wine. Also we set off on strong horses. From there only the danger of gettingsaddle-sick after our long disuse of horses and the certainty of gettingsaddle-sore, as we did, restrained us. We tore on through Martha, ForumAurelii, and a nameless change-house, spurring and lashing as much as wedared, for we dared not disable ourselves with blisters, changing at eachhalt and getting splendid horses, our diplomas unquestioned. Thus at duskwe reached Cosa, forty-nine miles from Centumcellae and a hundred and ninemiles from Rome. 

We dreaded that we should wake too sore to ride, perhaps too sore tomount, perhaps even too sore to get out of bed. But, while stiff and ingreat pain, we managed to breakfast and get away. 

That day we, perforce, rode with less abandon, though we both felt lessdiscomfort after we warmed to the saddle. We nooned at Rosellae, thirty-three miles on, and slept at Vada, the port of Volaterrae, fifty-six milesfurther, a day of eighty miles. Next day we were, if anything, yet sorerand stiffer, certainly we were less frightened. So we took it easier, nooning at Pisa, thirty miles on, and sleeping at Luna, thirty-fivefurther, a day of only sixty-five miles, rather too little for Imperialcouriers. Our third morning we woke feeling hardened and fit: we madethirty-nine miles before noon and ate at Bodetia; from there we pushed onforty-five miles to Genoa, an eighty-four mile day, more in character. 

At Genoa we were for taking the coast road. We were all for haste. We hadridden amazingly well for men who had not been astride of a horse fornearly a year; we had ridden fairly well for Imperial couriers; but we hadnot ridden fast enough to suit ourselves. From Cosa onward we had beenhaunted by the same dread. We had imagined the real Bruttius Asper andSabinus Felix reporting their loss of everything save their tunics, weimagined the hue and cry after us, the most capable men in the secretservice, riding fit to kill their horses on our trail. At Cosa, at Vada, at Luna we had waked dreading to find the avengers up with us andourselves prisoners; at Rosellae, at Pisa, at Bodetia, we had eaten withone eye on the door, expecting every instant to see our pursuers enter; soat every change-station, while our trappings were taken from our wearycattle and girthed on fresh mounts. So we were for the coast road asshortest. 

But the innkeeper, who was also manager of the change-stables, told usthat between Genoa and Vada Sabatia the road was blocked by landslides, washouts and the destruction of at least three bridges by freshets. Headvised us to take the carriage-road by Dertona, the Mineral Springs, Crixia and Canalicum. But we thought of the pursuers thundering after usand anyhow we wanted none of Dertona, recalling our encounter withGratillus at Placentia. We took the coast road, and, though we had to fordtwo streams and swam our horses over one, although we had to slide downslopes and toil up others afoot, leading our horses after us, although afull third of the road was mere rough track, like a wild mountain trail, though the distance was all of forty-five miles, yet we slept at VadaSabatia, very thankful to have done in one day what would have taken us atleast three by the hundred and fifty-one mile mountain-detour throughDertona, and still more thankful for the lonely safety of the coast road. 

From Vada Sabatia the coast road was better, but still far from easy. Wewere well content to noon at a tiny change-house between Albingaunum andAlbintimilium and to sleep at Lumo, seventy-seven miles on. Next morningearly, only six miles from Lumo, but six miles of hard climbing up atwisty, rock-cut road, we came out at its crest, where there is awonderful view up and down the coast and out southwards to sea, and therepassed the boundary of Italy and entered Gaul. That night we slept atMatavonium, eighty-four miles forward and but seventy-four miles fromMarseilles. 

So far we had had no adventures, had been accepted without questioneverywhere, had seen no look of suspicion from anyone, had encountered noother couriers, except those whom we met and passed on the road, we andthey lashing, spurring and hallooing, each party barely visible to theother through the cloud of dust both raised. 

On that day, our eighth out from Rome, at noon at Tegulata, we hadadventure enough. 

The common room of the inn was low-ceiled, I could have jumped and touchedthe carved beams with my hand. But it was very large indeed, somethinglike thirty yards long and fully twenty yards wide, with two Tuscancolumns about ten yards apart in the middle of it, supporting the sevengreat beams, smoke-blackened till their carving was blurred, on which theceiling-joists were laid. The floor was of some dark, smooth-grainedstone, polished by the feet which had trod it for generations; there weresix wide-latticed windows, and, opposite the door, a great fire-place, with an ample chimney above and four bronze cranes for pots or roasts. Each arm had several chains and actually, when we entered, four pots wereboiling, and a kid was roasting over the cunningly bedded fire of clearred coals, the fresh caught wood at the back, where the smoke would notdisflavor the roasting meat. It was the most civilized inn we had enteredon our post-ride and spoke of the nearness of Marseilles, though everydetail of its construction, furnishings and methods was Gallic, not Greek. 

Unlike our inns, where the drink and food is set on low, round-topped, one-legged, three-footed tables, about which are placed the backlessstools or low-backed, wooden-seated chairs on which the customers sit, ithad, Gallic fashion, big, heavy-topped, high-set, rectangular, six-leggedtables with benches along their long sides, others with chairs, like thoseat the ends of every table; solid, high-backed chairs, comfortable for theguests, whose knees were well under the high-topped, solid-legged tables. 

Agathemer and I took seats at the table in the far corner to the right ofthe door; only two of the five were occupied, and they by but two at each;plainly local customers. We told the host that we were in haste and askedfor whatever fare he had ready. He brought us an excellent stew of fowl, with bread and wine and recommended that we wait till he had broiled somesea-fish, saying they were small but toothsome, fresh-caught and would beready in a few moments. The fish tempted us, and, so near Marseilles, wefelt no hurry at all, for we meant to loiter on the road and pass the gateabout an hour before sunset, calculating that the later in the day wearrived the better chance we had of delivering our despatches, as we must, without being exposed as not the men we passed for, and of somehowdisembarrassing ourselves of our accoutrements and donning ordinary attirebought at some cheap shop. 

As we sat, tasting the eggs, shrimps, and such like relishes beforeattacking the stew, which was too hot as yet, there entered two men in theattire of Imperial couriers. Agathemer kept his face, but I am sure Iturned pale. I expected, of course, that they would walk over to ourtable, greet us, ask our names, and like as not turn out intimates ofBruttius Asper and Sabinus Felix, so that we would be exposed then andthere. 

But they merely saluted, perfunctorily, and took seats at the tablenearest the door on their left, diagonally the whole space of the roomfrom us. Agathemer and I returned their salute as precisely as we couldimitate it, thankful that they had saluted, so as to let us see what thecouriers' salute was, for we had felt much anxiety all along the road, since neither of us, often as we had seen it, could recall it well enoughto be sure of giving it properly, if we met genuine couriers, or, terriblethought, encountered an inspector making sure that the service was all itshould be and on the outlook for irregularities. 

The moment they were at the table they bawled for instant service, urgedthe host, reviled the slaves, fell on their food like wolves, eatinggreedily and hurriedly and guzzling their wine. We could catch most oftheir orders, but of their almost equally loud conversation, since theytalked with their mouths full, we caught only the words "Dertona" and"Crixia"; these comforted us; either they had left Rome before us and wehad overtaken them, or they came from Ancona or somewhere on the road fromAncona to Dertona or more likely from Aquileia, or somewhere on the roadfrom it, or perhaps even from beyond it. 

They disposed of relishes, boiling stew, a mountain of bread, and a lakeof wine, besides olives and fruit, in an incredibly short time, and then, again perfunctorily saluting us, rushed out. 

Our fish had just been served and were as good as prophesied. A momentafter the exit of the couriers there entered a plump, pompous individual, every line of whose person and attire advertised him a local dandy, whileevery lineament and expression of his face, his every attitude andmovement, equally proclaimed him a busybody. 

He walked straight to our table, bowed to us and nodded to one of theslave-waiters, who instantly and obsequiously vanished. Our new table-companion at once entered into conversation with us, speaking civilly, butwith an irritating self-sufficiency. 

"Gentlemen, " he said, "I am acquainted with many of your calling who passthrough here, but I do not recall having ever seen you before. My estatesare near Tegulata and I am chiefly concerned with wine-growing. My wines, indeed, are reckoned the best between Baeterrae and Verona. My name isValerius Donnotaurus; may I know yours?"

I kept my eyes on his face as I introduced Agathemer as Bruttius Asper andhe me as Sabinus Felix. It seemed to me that his expression was notaltogether free from a momentary gleam of suspicion; but my anxiety mighthave seen what was not there, I could not be sure. At any rate he bowedpolitely, asked me whence we came, when we had left Rome, and the latestnews. He commended our speed and our having overcome the difficulties ofthe coast road between Genoa and Vada Sabatia. 

The waiter, according to some subtle characteristic of his nod, broughtwine for three, which he assured us was wine from his estates, though nothis best, yet worth trying, and he invited us to drink with him. We couldnot well refuse and we were glad to be able to praise the wine, which, forGallic wine, was really not so bad. Before we had finished our fish heexcused himself and went out. 

We dallied with our food, counting on giving the two couriers time to getaway before we came out into the courtyard. But we learned afterwardsthat, as we had shown our credentials and ordered fresh horses before weentered the inn, the change-master would not give them the two best horseswhich he was holding ready for us and had in the yard no other horses. They had demanded our fresh horses, cursed him and blustered, but couldnot move him and so were still berating him when Donnotaurus came out tothem. He, after introducing himself, asking their names and route and, commiserating them on the poor supply of horses, had casually inquiredwhether they were acquainted with two couriers named Bruttius Asper andSabinus Felix. On their answering that they knew both of them he hadchatted a while longer and then asked them to reënter with him the inn'scommon-room, alleging that they could assist him on an important mattertouching the service of the Emperor. According to the change-master, whotold us all this later, they had complied in a hesitating and unwillingmanner, as if numb and bewildered. 

We, dallying over some excellent fruit and the not unpalatable wine, knowing nothing of all this, saw the three reënter together and approachus, the couriers looking not only reluctant, but dazed: up to usDonnotaurus led them. 

"Do you know these gentlemen?" he demanded. 

"Never set eyes on them in my life, " one of them disclaimed. The othernodded. 

"I thought so!" Donnotaurus cried. "These men claim to be Bruttius Asperand Sabinus Felix. You say you know Bruttius Asper and Sabinus Felix. Youdo not know these men. Therefore they are passing under false names. Theyare not Imperial couriers, but some of the scoundrels who have been posingas Imperial couriers and using the post-roads for their own private ends. I thank you for assisting me to expose them. It now remains to arrestthem!"

I had thought when the two entered first and saluted us that theirexpression of face was queer; now it was queerer: they looked like some ofthe deer we had seen in the net-pocket at Spinella, frantic to escape andseeing no way out. 

One mumbled something about having barely seen Bruttius Asper and SabinusFelix and not being sure that we were not they. But Donnotaurus neitherheard nor heeded. 

"Here, Tectosax!" he called to the host, "come help us arrest these men!They are bogus! They are shams! They are not couriers!"

"One man arrest two!" the host demurred. 

"I only want your help, " Donnotaurus bawled. "Call Arecomus and theostlers. They can make short work of it. "

At this point Agathemer found his voice, and he spoke steadily, coolly andfirmly, even with a bit of a drawl. 

"Don't do anything you will have to be sorry for, " he said. "Better notmake any mistake. "

At his utterance the two couriers were manifestly even more uncomfortablethan before. But Donnotaurus only bawled louder to the host. 

"I don't arrest travellers, " the host protested, "I feed 'em. Arecomusdon't arrest travellers, he horses 'em. Anyhow, there's no magistratehere; talking of arresting is folly. 

"And I wish you'd quit your foolishness, Donnotaurus. This is the thirdrow you've started here within six months. You're giving my inn a bad nameand ruining my trade. You're my best customer, yourself, but you are morenuisance than all the rest of my customers put together. I'd rather you'dmove out of the neighborhood or keep away from my inn than go on with suchnonsense. I don't want anybody arrested on my premises or threatened witharrest. And you've nothing to go on in this case, anyhow. "

Donnotaurus appeared at a loss, but obstinate and about to insist, whenthe doors opened and there entered a bevy of staff officers, all green andgold and blue and silver, clustered about a huge man in the full regaliaof a general, his crimson plumes nodding above his golden helmet, hiscrimson cloak dangling about his golden cuirass, his gilt kilt-strapsgleaming over his crimson tunic-skirt. There was no mistaking thatincredible expanse of face, seemingly as big as the body of an ordinaryman, those bleary gray eyes under the shaggy eyebrows, their great baggylower lids, the heavy cheeks and the vast sweep of russet beard. 

It was Pescennius Niger himself!

As he was later proclaimed Emperor and narrowly missed overcoming hiscompetitors and emerging master of the world, the mere encounter has acertain interest. Its details, I think, even more. 

Up to us he strode. 

"What's all this?" he demanded in his big, authoritative voice. Agathemerand I stood up and saluted. 

I expected Agathemer, who knew the value of speaking first, to anticipateDonnotaurus, but he let Donnotaurus give his version of the affair. 

"I'm competent to decide this, " said Pescennius, "and I shall. "

And he eyed us, asking: "What have you two to say?"

"In the first place, " said Agathemer, "I ask you to examine our papers. "

He took from the seat of his chair, where he had placed it as he stood up, our despatch bag, opened it, and displayed its contents; the package ofdespatches, our credentials, and the diploma entitling us to change ofhorses, with the endorsement of each change-master from Centumcellaeonwards. 

Pescennius examined these meditatively. 

"These papers, " he said, "are in perfect order. But they do not prove thatyou are the men named in them though they incline me to believe it. Ishould believe it, but these men deny that you are Bruttius Asper andSabinus Felix. "

"And why do they deny it?" Agathemer queried triumphantly. "Why, becausethey were caught by this busybody and asked whether they knew BruttiusAsper and Sabinus Felix and they said they did; then haled in here by himand confronted with us and asked whether they knew us and of course saidthey did not, as they did not. And why do they not know us? Because theyare not couriers at all, but men passing themselves off as couriers. Ourpapers are in perfect order, as you say. Ask them for their papers. Theyhaven't any!"

By the faces of the two I saw that Agathemer had guessed right. They, infact, were impostors. They had no despatches, no credentials, no papers atall, except a diploma with entries from Bononia, through Parma, Placentiaand Clastidium to Dertona and so onwards; a diploma so manifestly a clumsyforgery that, at sight of it, I wondered how it had fooled the stupidestchange-master. 

Pescennius barely glanced at it. To his apparitors, he said:

"Arrest these three!"

In a trice Donnotaurus and the two impostors were seized. 

To us he said:

"Gentlemen, I apologize for having doubted you, even for a moment. And Ithank you for having so cleverly and quietly exposed these preciousgentry. I shall keep an eye on them and on this local meddler; I'llinvestigate them in Marseilles. 

"Meantime I must eat. So I'll remain here. You are in haste and you haveeaten. Your horses are ready. I need not detain you. I'll see you atMarseilles tomorrow. I congratulate you on your horsemanship. To haveovertaken me, even when I am travelling by carriage, is no mean exploit. Iam pleased to have made your acquaintance. "

And he bade us farewell, allowed us to pass out, and seated himself at ourtable. 

CHAPTER XIX

MARSEILLES AND TIBER WHARF

We rode the first mile at full gallop and then slowed to an easy canterwhich permitted of conversation. All the way to Calcaria we discussed oursituation, prospects and plans. We revised our previous view and agreedthat we had best not be too late entering Marseilles, as we might not havetime to buy cloaks, hats and footgear, change and get rid of our equipmentand find lodgings. 

Then again, of course, we fell into a panic at the idea of riding intoCouriers' Headquarters and perhaps facing a dozen men who knew SabinusFelix and Bruttius Asper as well as we knew each other. We went over, forthe tenth time, a series of absurd suggestions and tried to conceive someway by which we might sneak in at some other gate than that to which ourroad led, might avoid delivering our despatches and might find ourselvessafe in ordinary clothes in some obscure lodging. 

But we came to the conclusion that, it would be highly suspicious to actotherwise than as genuine couriers would act. There was nothing for it butto ask our way to Couriers' Headquarters, which would not arousesuspicion, since couriers unacquainted with Marseilles must be constantlyarriving there, as green or shifted couriers did at all cities; to rideboldly in; to take what came if we were exposed, to deliver our despatchesand stroll out for an airing if we had luck. 

Even if we had luck so far I could not forecast our being able to buyordinary clothing and change into it without causing suspicion, investigation, and our arrest and ruin. Agathemer argued that, if Maternuscould find, in Rome, a bath where we could bathe without anyone so much asnoticing our brand-marks and scourge-scars, he ought to be able to find inwicked, easy-going Marseilles a shop whose proprietor would ask noquestion except had we the cash. I was palpitating with panic and couldforesee in a shopkeeper only an informer, greedy for a reward for ourapprehension. 

Agathemer asked:

"Didn't I get us out of our troubles at Tegulata?"

"You certainly did!" I replied. "To a marvel. "

"Well, " he pursued, "I have full confidence in my intuition and myresourcefulness. I feel that I can get us out of our troubles atMarseilles, if you will let me alone and not interfere. "

"I certainly won't interfere, " I said, "to spoil any chance you think yousee. If you see one, signal me and I'll let you use all your dexterity. "

After that we rode evenly to Calcaria and even gaily from there toMarseilles, which we entered about two hours before sunset of a mild, fair, delightful afternoon. 

The gate-guard took our questions as a matter of course and directed us toCouriers' Headquarters. There we found only one very stupid Gallicprovincial in charge, with a few slaves. 

"I, " said he, "am Gaius Valerius Procillus. "

And he fingered the package of despatches, eyeing us meditatively. Iquaked, but kept my countenance. 

He eyed us yet longer, but made no comment, wrote out a formal receipt forthe despatches, handed it to Agathemer and said:

"Munatius will not be back here at Headquarters till tomorrow. So I cannottell you whether you will have a day or more of rest, which you haveearned, or must set off again at once. Nor can I tell you whether, whenyou do set off, it will be back to Rome, or onward with some of these samedespatches to Spain or Britain or Germany. 

"Make the most of your time for rest and refreshment. You are free tilltomorrow at sunrise. Dromo will show you your quarters. "

And he beckoned one of the slaves. 

Headquarters was a low rectangle of two stories only, built of some stonelike lime-stone, roofed with red tiles and set about a spacious courtyard. The ground floor seemed mostly stables; but, besides the office in whichwe had found Procillus, it had other office rooms, a common-room, and weglimpsed a bath and a kitchen. Dromo led us up the stone stair and alongthe colonnaded portico of the second floor to clean rooms, provided withcomfortable cots, chests, stools, and not much else. 

We threw our wallets on our cots and sat on stools. As soon as Dromo wasgone we opened our wallets, made ourselves comfortable, disposed all ourmoney about us in the body-belts we had bought at Genoa and went out, unopposed and apparently unremarked. 

Through the lively streets of Marseilles, in the mellow glow of theevening sunshine, we made for the harborside, Agathemer nosing the airlike a dog on the scent. Presently he remarked:

"We are not far from what I am looking for. "

And he turned up a side street to our right. As we took turn after turneach street was less savory and more disreputable than the last till wewere in a sort of alley populated it seemed by slatternly trulls andtrollops. 

"This, " said Agathemer, "is the quarter of the town I am after, but notquite the part of it I want. "

At the end of the alley he questioned a boy, a typical Marseilles streetgamin. The lad nodded and led us still to our right, doubling back. Aftertwo or three turns Agathemer was for dismissing him. But the lad insistedon convoying us to some definite destination he had in mind. 

Agathemer displayed a coin. 

"Take that and get out and you are welcome to it, " he said. "If you do notagree to get out and to take it, you get nothing. "

The boy eyed his face, took the coin, and vanished. 

Unescorted we strolled along a clean street, all whitewashed blank lowerwalls and latticed overhanging balconies; in the walls every door wasfast; through the lattices I thought I discerned eyes watching us. 

Ahead of us a lattice opened and two faces looked out. In fact two girlsleaned out. Their type was manifest: well-housed, well clad, well fed, luxurious, loose-living, light-hearted minxes. 

One was plump, full-breasted, merry-faced, with intensely black and glossyhair, a brunette complexion and in her cheeks a great deal of brilliantcolor, which I afterwards found was all her own, but which at first I tookfor paint. She wore a gown of a yellow almost as intense as the garb ofthe priests of Cybele in the Gardens of Verus. Its insistent yellow wasintensified and set off by a girdle of black silk cords, braided into acomplicated pattern, and by shoulder-knots of black silk, with danglingfringes, and by black silk lacings along her smocked sleeves. 

Her companion was tall and slender and melancholy faced, her hair a dullreddish-gold or golden-red, her face without color and a bit freckled, hergown of pale blue. 

The black-haired girl called:

"You've had a long ride and you deserve recreation and refreshment. Comein. We don't know you two, but we have entertained couriers before this. This is the place for you. "

"Ah, my dear, " Agathemer replied, "we not only have had a long ride but wemay have to set out on a longer tomorrow, and you know the proverb:

"'Light lovers are seldom long lopers. '"

"If you were too much disinclined to being light lovers, " the girlretorted, "you'd never be strolling down this street. Come in!"

"My dear, " said Agathemer, "we'd love to come in. But remember theproverb:

"'Gay girls are not good for great gallopers. '"

"Oh, hang your proverbs, " the girl laughed down at us. "I don't know whatyou are up to, but I like you. You don't look as austere as you talk. AndI don't mind your asceticism. If you don't appreciate the entertainmentoffered you, you can have any sort of entertainment you prefer. A gobletof wine and an hour's chat won't enervate you or make you less fit. Comein. "

A horrible old Lydian woman, one-eyed, obese, clean enough of body andclothing, but a foul old beast for all that, let us in. 

Agathemer introduced me as Felix and himself as Asper. The merry dark-haired girl was named Doris and her languorous comrade Nebris. A moregarish and gaudy creature than Doris I have never beheld. I was struckwith her profusion of jewels, mostly topazes, but also many carbuncles andgarnets; rings, bracelets, a necklace, a hair-comb and many big-headedhair pins. Nebris was equally bejewelled with turquoises and opals, but, somehow, they did not glitter like the jewelry on Doris, but partook oftheir wearer's subdued coloring. As Doris remarked next day:

"Nebris is very graceful and almost pretty; but she was born faded, andnothing can brighten her. "

We found the girls housed in as neat, cosy and charming a little nest asheart could wish for. The atrium was tiny, the courtyard was tiny, everything was tiny. But it all had an air which put us at our ease andmade us feel at home. Doris, the dark-haired, red-cheeked, full-contouredlass, was plainly much taken with Agathemer and he with her; I always hada weakness for red-headed girls and felt genuinely pleased that Nebris, her long-limbed, long-fingered, pale-skinned, blurred, bleached comradeseemed equally taken with me. The sofas of the tiny _triclinium_ were softand comfortable and, after eight days in the saddle, without a bath, wewere glad to loll on them. The wine was good and, without any effort, thefour of us fell into cheerful chatter about nothing in particular. Icomplimented Doris on her dwelling and its furnishings and she at onceinsisted on showing us all over it: the kitchen, bath and latrine beyondthe tiny courtyard and upstairs a second _triclinium_, as tiny as thatbelow, and four tiny bed-rooms, with handsomely carved beds, piled withdeep, soft feather beds and feather-pillows. Doris and Nebris each had herbed-room furnished to harmonize with her own coloring. I complimented bothon their taste. 

In Nebris's room Agathemer spied a flageolet. 

"Do you play on this?" he asked. 

"Sometimes, " she said, "but Doris declares that my music makes hermelancholy, it's so dismal. "

"I'll play you any number of lively tunes, " Agathemer promised, possessinghimself of the flageolet. 

We all went down into the lower _triclinium_, where we had left the wine, and Agathemer charmed the girls with his music and, indeed, enlivened meas much as them. 

After a score of tunes, while our first goblets of wine were not yetemptied, Agathemer said:

"Felix, I believe I see a way out of our troubles. "

"Asper, " I replied, "I leave it all to you. "

"Doris, my dear, " said Agathemer, "we are not Imperial Couriers at all. "

Doris stared. 

"You mean it?" she asked. 

"So help me Hercules, " said Agathemer solemnly. 

"Well, " she meditated, with a sharp intake of her breath. "You fooled me. I thought you were genuine. How did you come in this rig?"

"We belong in Rome, both of us, " Agathemer began. "How we came inPlacentia is no part of the story. But we were in Placentia and we gotinto trouble. It wasn't serious trouble; we hadn't killed anybody, orstolen anything, or cheated anybody; but it was trouble enough and aplentyand we decided to get out of Placentia. Roads, road-houses, the townswouldn't have been healthy for us just then, so we took to the mountains. Not as brigands, you understand, but we hadn't much cash and coin will gofarther in the mountains than anywhere else; and the weather was fine andwe meant to camp out all we could and stay out all summer and let thingsblow over. It was hot, burning hot and we blundered on a cave, a nice, big, airy dry cave. We went in to cool off and sleep. And we slept sound. "

Then he told our entire story, just as it happened, from our capture byMaternus and his band, all down to Rome, into the Gardens of Verus, outalong the Aurelian Highway among the tombs, all about the two drunkenrobbers, in the moonlight, all about our gallop along the coast, all aboutour encounter with Pescennius Niger. 

Nebris kept looking from Agathemer to me, her pale gray eyes wide; butDoris kept her snapping brown eyes on Agathemer's face from his first wordto his last. 

"My!" she cried, "you have had adventures! Or you are the biggest liar andthe cleverest story-teller I ever met. If you invented that story youdeserve help as a paragon among improvisators; if you had all thoseadventures you deserve help ten times over and you certainly need it. Somehow I believe you. I'll help you all I can. You are in the rightplace. "

And she called:

"Mother, tell Parmenio to find Alopex and bring him to me at once. Tellhim to be quick. "

One of the slaves went out, slamming the door after him. 

"Doris, " said Nebris, "can you really save these lads?"

"I can!" Doris asserted. 

"With Pescennius Niger after them?" Nebris quavered. 

"Even with Pescennius Niger after them, " Doris declared. 

"You must remember, " she went on, "that Pescennius told these lads hewould not expect to see them till tomorrow morning. That gives me tilldark to set things going and till about two hours after sunrise to finishthe job. Unless, indeed, messengers announcing the robbery of the realSabinus Felix and Bruttius Asper happen to overtake Pescennius at Tegulataor between there and Marseilles. Even then he can hardly get on theselads' trail before dark. I think we shall be able to get these lads awaysafe, no matter what happens. Anyhow let's be cheerful and make the bestof things. "

And she filled our goblets. 

Alopex could not have been far away. Very shortly we heard the door openand shut and a youth came in, whom Doris introduced as Alopex. A morerepulsive being I have never seen. He was of medium height, slender, habited in the embroidered, be-fringed garb fashionable among Marseillesdandies, his hair curled and perfumed, his face much like a weasel's, hiscomplexion like cold porridge. I then had my first glimpse of a Marseillespimp, and I never want to see another. To me he looked capable of anymeanness, of any treachery, of any dishonor, of any crime. 

"Alopex, " Doris commanded, "look these gentlemen, over and take theirmeasure, then go out and buy hats, cloaks, boots and wallets for them, suitable for a sea-voyage, as inconspicuous as possible, durable andwater-proof. Get a porter and bring them back with you, in a bag, so noone on the streets will know what the porter is carrying. Be quick. "

"Six gold pieces, " said Alopex. 

"If you spend six gold pieces on that outfit, " said Doris, "you are anass; you shall have six gold pieces, but bring back a reasonable sum inchange, after paying the porter. "

I gave Alopex six gold pieces and he went out. 

"When he comes back, " Agathemer asked, "can he pilot us to a bath, wherewe shall be as safe as Felix was in Rome in the bath which Maternus knewof?"

"He can and he shall, " Doris replied. "You two certainly need a bath: andhowever you are marked by scourges and brands, the marks won't be noticedat the bath to which he will lead you. "

"How about a dinner?" Agathemer queried. 

"Asper, my dear, " said Doris, "you said you had plenty of cash. "

"We have, " said Agathemer. 

"Then, " said she, "just give me one of those gold pieces you got from thetwo drunken robbers and while you are bathing I'll order as fine a dinneras Marseilles affords and have it here ready to serve when you two getback from your bath. "

Alopex soon appeared with a complete outfit for us and the prices which heannounced appeared reasonable to me and were agreed to by Doris. He handedAgathemer a gold piece and three silver pieces. 

"Change, " Doris commanded, and we took off our boots and put on thoseAlopex had brought us. Doris had Parmenio bundle up our couriers' attire, boots and hats and said:

"I hate to see anything wasted. These outfits are going to be found atCouriers' Headquarters and no one will ever suspect how they got there. You can arrange that, Alopex, can't you?"

"Easy as that, " said Alopex, snapping his fingers. 

"Then you do it, " she ordered, "and now take these gentlemen to Sosia'sbathhouse and give him the tip that they are all right. "

Alopex acceded sulkily but obediently. That bath refreshed me amazinglyand Agathemer seemed to enjoy it as much as I did. It was after sunsetwhen we were back with Doris and Nebris, but still far from dark; in fact, light enough to see well. 

"Now Alopex, " said Doris, briskly, "make your best speed to the harborsideand see if you can find a sure ship sailing at dawn, with a captain we cantrust, to get these lads out of Marseilles at once. I doubt if you canfind one, but do your best. "

"We want a ship for Antioch, " Agathemer put in. 

"Alopex, " said Doris, "find a ship to get these lads out of Marseilles atdawn, never mind where it is bound for. Now go. And come back and report, tonight, sure, and as soon as you can. "

When he was gone she rounded on Agathemer:

"Asper, " said she, "I am ashamed of you. You are a fool. With PescenniusNiger likely after you, foaming at the mouth, raging because he let youslip through his fingers, you talk of picking and choosing a destination?Why lad, it makes no difference where the ship is bound so it isseaworthy, has a captain I can trust and is headed away from Marseilles. The point for you two is to get away from Marseilles quick. Whether youland at Carthage, or even Cadiz, makes no difference. You can reship fromanywhere to anywhere, once you are clear of Marseilles. You might lingerin Marseilles, under my protection, but for your encounter with PescenniusNiger. But after that there is nothing for you to do but get away quick. "

She paused for breath, shaking her finger at us, like a nurse at naughtychildren. 

"And now, " said she, "let's get at that dinner. I'm hungry and I'm sureyou ought to be. "

We were. And the dinner was excellent, much of it unfamiliar. TheMarseilles oysters had a flavor novel, odd, not agreeable at first, butvery likable after a bit of experience with it. Everything out of the seawas tasty. The main dish was a wonderful stew of fish, for which, Nebristold us, Marseilles was famous. It was flavored with any number ofvegetables and relishes, and had bits of meat in it, but fish was thechief ingredient and the blended flavors made it a most appetizing viand. 

We ate slowly, had just finished our fruit and Agathemer was playing theflageolet to the accompaniment of enthusiastic applause from both girlswhen Alopex returned. He reported that no ship could possibly be gottenfor us the next morning and vowed that it would likely take him all day tofind one for the morning after. 

"Then run off, like a good boy, " said Doris, "and get a good long sleep soas to be fresh tomorrow. Start before daylight and report to me beforenoon. Run along. "

"How about lodging for us?" Agathemer queried. 

Doris half chuckled, half snorted. 

"Run along, Alopex, " she commanded. 

When he was gone she faced Agathemer, arms akimbo. 

"Asper, " she said, "I'm going to save you two lads, no matter howidiotically you act or talk. I like you, in spite of your ridiculousascetic airs and your nonsensical assumption of austerity. You can't makeme angry nor lose my protection, no matter how rude and chilly you are. Ifyou two don't appreciate the kind of entertainment we are offering you andhaven't sense enough and manners enough to accept it and be thankful, youcan sleep here anyhow, where and how you prefer. But you don't go out ofthis house tonight, nor yet tomorrow, not if I know it. I'm going to saveyou two, in spite of your folly. "

Naturally, after that, we stayed where we were. 

Next morning, not much more than an hour after sunrise, as we were againenjoying flageolet music from Agathemer, Alopex returned and reported thathe had found a clean, roomy, seaworthy ship, captained by a man well andfavorably known to him and Doris, which would sail for Rome at dawn nextday. 

"That's your ship, " said Doris to us. 

"After what I told you, " Agathemer protested, "do you seriously advise usto set sail for Rome?"

"I do, " Doris declared. "Any place on earth is healthier for you two thanMarseilles. Were you in trouble in Rome before you got into trouble inPlacentia?"

"We were, " said Agathemer, "and trouble of the deepest dye. "

"Asper, my dear, " said Doris, "no matter what sort of trouble you were inat Rome, Rome can't be as dangerous for you as Marseilles. And by all Ihear, Tiber Wharf is a fine locality in which to hide and Ostia nearly asgood. Take my advice and sail. From Rome or Ostia you ought to find iteasy to ship for Antioch. "

"I believe you, " said Agathemer, "but I'd like to have more cash with methan I have and I'd like to give you two girls enough gold pieces to serveas a sort of indication of our gratitude. No gold either Felix or I shallever possess would be enough to repay you for what you have done for us. 

"Now I have an emerald of fair size and of the best water and flawless atthat, sewn into the hem of my tunic. Since you are so capable at findingsafe shops and baths and ships, perhaps Alopex could guide me to a gem-expert who would like to buy a fine emerald and who would pay a fair pricefor it and keep his mouth shut. "

"I had not meant you so much as to poke your nose out of doors tilltomorrow before sunrise, " said Doris, meditatively, "but Pescennius won'tbe suspicious yet unless a post with news of the robbery you profited byhas already reached here. I fancy it will be a safe risk for Alopex toescort you to our gem-expert. He'll pay you an honest three-quarters ofthe full value of your emerald. Alopex and I get a rake-off on hisprofits, as we do on the fare of the men we ship out of Marseilles. Gemsand fugitives are part of my regular line of trade, with efficient helpfrom Alopex. "

Actually Agathemer was gone about two hours and came back with a portlybag of gold pieces. He found us in the _triclinium_, Nebris lying on thesofa with me, and playing a dismal tune on her flageolet, Doris on theother sofa laughing at us. He lay down by Doris, spilled the gold on theinlaid dining table, divided it into four equal portions, pouched one, made me pouch another, and piled one in Doris's lap, while I similarlypiled the other in Nebris's lap. 

"Share and share alike, " said Agathemer, "and you are welcome to whateverpart of his rake-off Alopex turns over to you. "

"Asper, " said Doris, "you are a dear. Play us a decent tune. Nebris'smusic makes me doleful. "

We spent the day eating, drinking, chatting, napping and listening toAgathemer's very lively music. 

For dinner we had another Marseilles fish-stew, entirely different fromthe former, and entirely different from anything I had ever eatenelsewhere. 

Next morning Doris had us all up, bathed as well as we could in her tinybath, fed and ready to set out long before the first streak of dawnappeared in the east. Agathemer, on his gem-selling expedition, had boughtall we needed to line our wallets except food, and that Doris supplied inabundance and variety and of a sort calculated to be palatable two orthree days out at sea. 

Doris was a creature no man could forget. She was buxom and buoyant andcompletely content with her home, her way of life, her friends and herprospects; and as capable and competent a human being as I ever met. WhenAlopex gave his cautious tap on the door and slipped inside she bade usfarewell unaffectedly, kissed me like a mother, and gave Agathemer onesisterly hug and one smacking kiss. If there were tears in her eyes noneran down either cheek. 

Nebris, on the other hand, wept over me and clung to me, with many kisses. 

"There are not many like you, " she sobbed. "You are gentle and courteous. Our friends are generous enough, but they drink too much and areboisterous and rough and coarse. I wish you weren't going. But I'm gladI've had you even for so short a time. "

And she gave Agathemer her flageolet, holding it out to him with her lefthand, her right arm round my neck. 

"Come, come!" Doris bustled, "act sensible, child!"

We tore ourselves away and followed our unsavory guide through the dim, foggy streets. I distrusted Alopex and should not have been astonished hadhe turned us over to a batch of guards, waiting for us at any corner. Buthe led us to a fine stone quay by which was moored as trig a merchantmanas I ever saw, new and fresh painted. Her captain was a bluff, hearty, wind-tanned Maltese, Maganno by name, swarthy, hook-nosed and with a shockof black curls. He counted the gold pieces Alopex gave him and said, inLatin with a strong Punic accent:

"My ship is yours from here to Tiber wharf. "

We shook hands on it, went on board and she cast off at once and was outof the harbor before the sun had dispersed the fog. To our surprise we seta course not about southeast as we had expected, but along the coast untilwe passed Ulbia, and then almost due east. Maganno explained:

"Give me the open sea. You Italians are always for hugging the shore: weMaltese, like our Phoenician ancestors, are all for clear water. I'vesailed between Corsica and Sardinia, and once was enough for me. I've madethis cruise many times and I always prefer to weather the Holy Cape. "

North of Corsica, in fact, we sped, with a fair following wind and we hadan unsurpassably fortunate voyage; skies clear, wind always favorable, steady and neither too gentle nor too strong. Our time we spent on deckfrom before sunrise till long after sunset, dozing through the heat of theday; Agathemer, when awake, playing on his flageolet, more often than hewas silent, to the delight of all on board. The crew were mostly Maltese, like their master, using indifferently their own dialect, Greek of a sortand very poor Latin. Maganno's Latin was better than theirs, but all racywith his accent. 

When we were already in sight of the month of the Tiber he sat down by usand said:

"I was told that you lads were in trouble. But, certainly, you are luckyvoyagers. I have sailed from Ostia to Marseilles and from Marseilles toOstia forty-one times, and this forty-second is the easiest and quickestpassage ever I made. I like you lads. Anybody Doris recommends I alwayshelp, for her sake. I'll also help you for your own. Tell me your plansand I'll do my best for you. "

He agreed with us that both the Northern Harbor and Ostia were certain tobe swarming with spies and secret-service agents and informers: so, forthat matter, was the harbor-side of Rome along the Tiber: but Rome, beingmany times as large as Ostia, was likely to be proportionately easier tohide in. 

"That's where a small merchantman like mine, " said he, "beats any big one. That's why I sail always a small ship, never a big ship. A big merchantmanmust berth at Ostia or at the Northern Harbor. My ship can sail on up theTiber to Rome. And I shall. You come on up with me. "

His advice seemed good. We decided to stay on the ship all the way up toRome, and we did, lolling on deck to Agathemer's piping in the mellowsunshine. 

So idling we spoke more than once of the Aemilian Sibyl and of this secondfulfillment of her acrid prophecy. 

Maganno promised to find us a ship loading for Antioch; seaworthy, roomyand with a trustworthy captain. 

This could not be done quickly and, he found us, meantime, lodgings with afriend of his, a fat, bald, one-eyed cook-shopkeeper named Colgius, whorented us a tiny room over his eating-room, which was not far from theOstian Gate, between the public warehouses and the slope of the Aventine. 

At his table we fared pretty well, for his prices were low, his winedrinkable, and most of his food eatable, though we did not try a secondtime the viands for which he had the briskest demand: a very greasy porkstew of which he was inordinately proud, amazingly rank ham, andincredibly strong Campanian cheese; all three of which seemed to delighthis customers, who were an astonishing medley of slaves and freemen:porters, stevedores, inspectors' assistants, coopers, mariners, jar-markers, gig-drivers, teamsters, drivers of all sorts of hired vehicles, drovers who herded cattle from Ostia to the cattle-market, vendors ofsulphur-dipped kindling-splints, collectors of street filth and othersequally low in class, equally novel to me. 

Colgius took a fancy to us and undertook to show us Rome. It struck meoddly that, whereas Nona, in every fiber an Umbrian Gaul, and Maternus, who had spent all his life beyond the Alps, had both, at first glance, recognized us for what we were, Roman master and Greek servant, this Romanof the Romans, keen for personal profit, habituated to the sight of menfrom all ports, accepted us for Gallic provincials, and never suspectedthat we were anything else. 

CHAPTER XX

CHARIOTEERING

Sight-seeing in Rome, in the guise of Gallic wastrels, under the tutelageof a harborside slum host, was truly an experience for me after my formerstation as a nobleman of the Republic, and my ruin and disguise andflight. I positively enjoyed it. 

First of all Colgius was for showing us over the stables of the Reds, forhe was mad about racing and boasted that he had bet on the Reds since hewas six years old and his father gave him his first copper. But I demurredand pointed out that none of the racing-stables were fit places for us, since a steady stream of Spanish horses trickled through Marseilles and onthrough Vada Sabatia and Genoa to Rome, and there was too great aprobability that we might come face to face with some groom, hostler orhanger-on from Marseilles who would know us at sight. Colgius yielded tothis argument and agreed that we must avoid all the racing stables. Thisgreatly relieved us, since, while neither I nor Agathemer had beendevotees of the sport, both of us had been through all six establishmentsoften enough to be likely to be recognized in any one of them. 

Baffled in his first choice and, apparently, in his only choice, Colgiusasked us what we wanted to see. I said I wanted most to see a day ofracing in the circus, blurting out this rather foolish utterance withoutreflection, merely because I thought it would seem natural to him. Hereplied that that would be easy, but that the next racing day was dayafter tomorrow: what would we like to do today?

I said I wanted first of all to be shown the Temple of Mercury, for Iwanted to make an offering to the god. 

"Oh, yes, " he said, "Mercury is your chief god in Gaul, isn't he, and youput him ahead of Jupiter. What is it you call him?"

"You are thinking of the Belgians, " I said, "and of the Gauls in theValley of the Liger. They call Mercury Tiv or Tir and regard him as theirchief god. But we provincials never had any such ideas: we worship thesame gods as you, in the same way. But I, personally, while reveringJupiter as king of the gods, have always particularly sought the favor ofMercury. "

Off we went to the meat market and I bought there two white hens, as onthe day of my flight, more than a year before. With one under each arm Ithen followed Colgius to the Temple of Mercury and there made my prayersand offering. 

When we came out he, of course, began to display the outside of the GreatCircus and to tell me of its glories, which, he said, he would show mefrom the inside the day after tomorrow. The life there was much asMaternus and I had seen it twenty-three days before. 

We could not avoid following Colgius about Rome, round the Palatine, theColosseum and the Baths of Titus and through the Forums of Vespasian, Nerva, Augustus and Trajan. At Trajan's Temple he reiterated his regretsthat we dare not go on to the stables of the Reds, and turned back throughTrajan's Forum, the Forum of the Divine Julius and the Great Forum. Ofcourse, I was quaking with dread for fear some lifelong acquaintance wouldrecognize me, even in my coarse attire. But none did: in fact I set eyeson no one I knew, except Faltonius Bambilio, who was pompously lecturingten victims in the Ulpian Basilica. I was certain that his eyes were onlyon his auditors; the sight of him did not alarm me, he never paid anyattention to those he considered his inferiors. 

All along Agathemer and I were bursting with suppressed giggles: Colgiuspaid very little attention to the Palace, the Great Amphitheater, themagnificent public baths, the temples or to any of the glories about us;he was all for cook-shops and hauled us into cook-shops without number, sometimes presenting his Gallic friends, Asper and Felix, to his goodfriend, the proprietor, sometimes bursting into invectives against the badcookery, infinitesimal portions or absurd prices of his enemies'establishments. In cook-shops Agathemer and I felt safe, near a cook-shopwe felt almost safe, between cook-shops, companioned by Colgius and anycook-shop frequenters we met, we felt more than a little safe. To ourthinking no spy, informer or secret service agent would feel suspicioustowards Colgius and his friends, nor towards us in their company, and hepresented us to idlers, loafers, louts, betting agents, sellers of tips onthe races, friends of jockeys, cousins of hostlers and such like to anamazing number. 

We found all Rome, as we saw it in the company of Colgius, humming withtwo names and we made sure that, if they buzzed in such company as we werein they also formed the chief topics of conversation in all parts of thecity and at every level of society from the senators down. 

One name we had heard when in Rome with Maternus, but had barely heard it;now we heard it everywhere; the name of Palus, the charioteer; Palus, theincomparable jockey; Palus, the king of horsemasters; Palus the chum ofCommodus. Both of him, and about him, not only from the men who talked tous, but also from bystanders, diners and idlers, who never noticed us orknew that we overheard them, we heard the most amazing stories:

He could guide six horses galloping abreast between the test-pillars fortyros driving four-abreast and never jostle a pillar or throw a horse; hehad done it time after time; he had won three races, driving seven horsesabreast, his competitors driving four abreast; he had won a race, with ateam of four Cappodocian stallions, guiding them without reins, by hisvoice only; he was the most graceful charioteer, bar no one, ever seen inRome. 

As to his origin and personality the stories were not only fantastic, butdivergent, contradictory or incompatible. 

If we might believe what we heard he had been presented to Commodus by thesame nobleman who had presented Murmex Lucro, and on the very next day; hewas from Apulia; he was a Roman all his days; he was a Sabine; he was anobleman in disguise, he had been a foundling brought up in the Subura; hewas a half brother of Commodus, offspring of an amour between Faustina anda gladiator, reared in Samnium on a farm, lately recognized and acceptedby the Emperor; he was Commodus himself in disguise. 

All this, you may be sure, made us prick up our ears. Still more did we atthe sound of the other much-bandied name. Here again the tales werevaried, inconsistent, antagonistic. 

But the name!

That name was:

Marcia!

Marcia was in control of Commodus, of the Emperor, of the Republic, of theEmpire. She was domiciled in the Palace, she was treated as Empress, shehad all the honors ever accorded an Empress except that she neverparticipated in public sacrifices or other ceremonial rituals. Crispinahad been divorced and was no longer Empress, but had been relegated, underguard, to a distant island; Crispina was still Empress, but had withdrawnin disdain from the Palatine, occupied the Vectilian Palace on the CaelianHill, still received Commodus when he visited her, but would not set footon the Palatine nor take part in any ritual or ceremonial; Crispina hadbeen murdered by Marcia's orders, in her presence, with the Emperor'sconsent; Marcia got on well with the Empress, there was no jealousybetween them, Crispina was glad to have someone who could soothe Commodusin his periodic rages and humor him when he sulked; every possible varietyof story about Crispina was told, but every tale represented Marcia asundisputed and indisputable mistress of the Palace and of everybody in it. 

Of her origin we heard mostly versions of the true story; often we heardnamed Hyacinthus and Ummidius Quadratus, never my uncle nor MarcusMartius. We dared not seem to know anything about Marcia and so could notname Marcus Martius or ask after him. From all the talk we heard, addressed to us or about us, his name was as absent as if he had neverexisted. 

How Marcia came to the Emperor's attention, won his notice, acquired hermastery of him, as to all this we heard not one word: of her completecontrol of him and of all Rome everyone talked openly. 

The next day we escaped the unwelcome attention of Colgius because Magannocame after us to introduce us to the captain who was to take us toAntioch, to show us his ship, and to make sure we knew the wharf at whichshe lay and how to reach her. The ship was to sail two days later. Thecaptain's name was Orontides, which struck both me and Agathemer as beingthe same as that of the most fashionable jeweler in Rome, whosegrandfather had come from Antioch, where, I suppose, the name would be asnatural and frequent as Tiberius with us. 

He was a Syrian Greek, with curly brown hair and brown eyes, by no meansso wind-tanned and weather-beaten as Maganno, but manifestly a seaman. Hewas bow-legged and had very large flat feet. 

Orontides looked us over, approved us, required a deposit of twenty goldpieces, counted them, said we might pay the rest of his charges atAntioch, and we shook hands on the bargain. 

Yet, as the cost of the voyage would land us in Syria with but a fewcoins, it was well for us that, later in the day, Agathemer found a dealerin gems lately come to Rome and sold him another jewel. This filled ourpouches and left us certain of having gold to spare until he could manageto find a purchaser for yet another gem in Antioch or elsewhere. 

Colgius, when we returned to our lodgings, talked of nothing but the Gameswhich were to be celebrated next day. He first exhibited the togas whichhe had hired for us to wear; we, as fugitives, having, of course, no togasof our own. We found them clean and tried them on. Colgius approved andwent on with his enthusiasm. 

There were to be twenty-four faces, all of four-horse chariots only, twelve in the morning, of six chariots, one for each of the racingcompanies; twelve in the afternoon, of twelve chariots, two for each ofthe racing companies. Colgius discoursed at length as to his opinionsconcerning the six companies, inveighing against the Golds and theCrimsons, declaring that they were rich men's companies, in which onlysenators and nobles took any interest and the existence of which spoiledracing. 

"You never heard of a plain man like me betting on the Crimson or theGold, " he ranted, "all folks of moderate means, all the plain people, allthe populace, bet on the Reds, Whites, Greens or Blues. I agree that theGreens are the most popular company, most popular with all classes fromthe senators and nobles to the poorest, but I will never admit, as manyclaim, that the Blues have the second place in the affections of thepeople; the Blues, I maintain, come third and the Reds have second placewith all classes. The Whites are a strong fourth. But, as to the Golds andthe Crimsons, no one ever lays a wager on them except the enormously richnobles and senators whose ancestors organized them under Domitian ahundred years ago. But they, being so enormously rich, can buy the besthorses and have the best jockeys. Now they have Palus. The Reds haveScopas and the Greens Diocles, and both have been wonderful, but Palus canbeat anybody. 

"They say he has wagered an enormous sum that he will win all of thetwelve races in which he is to run, the first six odd numbers and the lastsix even numbers, and that he will do so in a previously specified way;that he will take and keep first place in the first race; that, in theothers he will, at the start, take second place, third place and so onprogressively further back in each, till he lets the whole of five getahead of him in the eleventh race and the whole field of eleven have thestart of him in the last race. "

Colgius was afraid Palus would succeed in doing precisely what hepurposed. The Reds, if they won any races, must win in those in whichPalus did not start. He judged they could not hope to win more than eightof those twelve. He was gloomy. 

Next day dawned fair, mild, and with a gentle breeze, perfect weather forspending a day in the Circus. To this Agathemer and I looked forward withsome trepidation, for service men, spies and informers were always in allparts of the Circus and one might recognize me. But we comforted ourselveswith the hope that they were no longer on the lookout for me. If I knewthe ways of secret-service men I conjectured that they would never havebeen willing to report the truth: that they could find no trace of me, that I had vanished utterly and completely. I would have been willing towager that, within a month of my disappearance, some corpse somewhere wasidentified as mine and my suicide reported as verified; which report hadprobably been accepted at the Palace; whereafter I would be off the mindsof all secret-service men everywhere. Therefore I felt reasonably surethat no agent would be on the lookout for me. Of course there was a chancethat one might recognize me by accident. But this was so unlikely that wedid not worry over it much. 

I was more concerned for fear of arousing suspicion in Colgius by notbehaving as he would expect a Gallic Provincial to behave at his firstsight of the great games in the Circus Maximus. I could not be sure atwhat he would expect me to exclaim, what I ought to wonder at and remarkon to seem natural in my assumed role of Marseilles scapegrace. 

We were a party of eight, Colgius, his wife Posilla, and two teamsters ordrovers named Ramnius and Uttius, who conveyed goods or convoyed cattlebetween Ostia and the markets of Rome. They had their wives with them, butI forget their names. The three women were arrayed in wonderful costumesof cheap fabrics dyed in gaudy hues and adorned with jewelry of gilt orsilvered bronze set with bits of colored glass. I had seen such at adistance, but never so close. 

Both Agathemer and I liked Ramnius and Uttius; we felt at ease with themat first sight. And they were evidently intimates of Colgius and high inhis favor. He and they wore their togas with all the awkwardness to beexpected from men who donned togas only for Circus games and Amphitheatreshows. To my amazement I found myself really delighted at again wearing atoga. Like all gentlemen I had always loathed the hot, heavy things. But Ifound myself positively thrill at being again garbed as befits a Roman ona holiday or at a ceremonial. Besides I found that a toga, over a poorman's tunic, was not nearly so uncomfortable as it was over the morecomplicated garb of a fashionable person of means and position. 

The interior of the Circus, from my novel location, appeared sufficientlystrange to lull my dread that I might seem too familiar with it. Of coursewe were very far back, only five rows in front of the arcade, whereas aslong as I was a nobleman of Rome in good standing, I had always sat in thesecond tier, far forward. 

But what made much more difference than sitting far back and high upinstead of well forward and low down was that we were on the other side ofthe Circus from my old seat and almost directly opposite it. I had alwayssat in section E, about the middle of the east side of the Circus and notfar from the Imperial Pavilion in section C. We were in section P, directly facing E, and not far from the judges' stand in section O. 

Now from where I had been used to sitting, facing a little south of west, I had viewed only the tiers of seats and of spectators, the upper arcade, and, above that the roofs of the not very lofty, large or magnificenttemples on the Aventine Hill. From where we sat with Colgius we faced thePalatine and I was overwhelmed by the vastness, beauty and grandeur of thegreat mass of buildings which make up the Imperial Palace. On a festivalday, of course, they were exceptionally gorgeous, for every window wasgarlanded at the top and most displayed tapestries or rugs hung over thesill, every balcony was decorated similarly and with greater care than thewindows, and every window, balcony and portico was a mass of eager faces. Especially my eye was caught by the crowd of Palace officials and servantson the bulging loggia built by Hadrian in order to be able to catchglimpses of games when he was too busy to occupy the Imperial Pavilion inthe Circus itself. That Pavilion, as yet occupied only by a few guards, Igazed at with mixed feelings. 

Colgius put Agathemer next him, then me; beyond me sat Ramnius and hiswife and then Uttius and his. But across Posilla we were introduced to twocattle inspectors named Clitellus and Summanus of whom we feltuncomfortably suspicious from the instant we laid eyes on them. Theylooked to me like secret-service agents and Agathemer nodded towards them, when they were not looking, raised his eyebrows and touched his lips. 

I for some time satiated myself with gazing at the Palace, with admiringthe wonderful charm of the outlook from this side of the Circus, withrevelling in the sense of delight at being again in it, with feasting myeyes on its gorgeousness, on the magnificence of its vastness, of itscolonnade, of its costly marbles, of its tiers of seats, of the obelisks, shrines, monuments and other decorations of the _spina_. 

Then, after the upper seats were well packed with commonality, the gentryand nobility began to dribble into the lower tiers and even a fewsenatorial parties entered their boxes in the front row. I began to peerat party after party, outwardly trying to keep my face blank, inwardlyexcited at the probability of recognizing many former friends andacquaintances. 

The first man I recognized was Faltonius Bambilio, unmistakably pompousand self-satisfied. Although a senator he came early. Later I saw VediusVedianus and, far from him, Satronius Satro. Didius Julianus, always themost ostentatious of the senators, was unmistakable even in section B, further from me than any part of the Circus except the left hand startingstalls and their neighborhood. 

I looked for Tanno in section D, and early made him out. 

But, even after the equestrian seats and senatorial boxes had all filled, nowhere could I descry any feminine shape at all suggestive of Vedia. Iwas still peering and sweeping the senatorial seats with my eyes, hopingto espy her, when the bugles announced the Emperor's approach and theaudience stood up. My eyes were on the Imperial Dais watching for theappearance of the Emperor. But when he came into sight, and I joined inthe cheers, I viewed without emotion this man, who had honored me with hisfavor, yet who had credited to the utmost, without investigation, myinclusion among the number of his dangerous enemies. I reflected that noman accused of participating in a conspiracy against any Prince of theRepublic had ever been given any sort of hearing or his friends allowed totry to clear him. 

I used all my powers of eyesight to con the Emperor, distinctive in hisofficial robes but too far off to be seen well. He appeared to me to havelost something of his elegance of carriage and grace of movement. Heseemed less elastic in bearing, less springy of gait. There was, even atthat distance, something familiar in his attitude and stride, but it didnot seem precisely the presence of Commodus as I had known him. I staredpuzzled and groping in my mind. But I felt no emotion as I stared andpeered at him. 

Oddly enough, from the moment when I received Vedia's letter of warninguntil I caught sight of the head of the procession about to enter theCircus through the Procession gate, I had had not one instant ofdespondency or of self-pity. But, at sight of the head of that magnificentprocession, a sort of wave of misery surged through me and inundated mewith a sudden sense of wistful regret for all that I had lost and alsowith an acute realization of the precarious hold I had on life, of theperil I was in from hour to hour. This unexpected and unwelcome dejectionpossessed me until the whole line of floats displaying the images of thegods had passed and the racing chariots came along. 

The very first of these drawn by a splendid team of four dapple grays, wasdriven by a charioteer wearing the colors of the Crimsons' Company. I didnot need to hear the exclamation of Colgius:

"There is Palus! That is Palus!" to recognize this Prince of Charioteers. The descriptions I had heard were enough to have told me who he was. Forat even a distant sight of him I did not wonder at the tales which gaveout that he was a half brother of Commodus, or Commodus in disguise. Hewas more like Commodus than any half brother would have been likely tohave been; like as a twin brother, like enough to be actually Commodushimself. He had all Commodus' comeliness of port and refinement of poise. Every attitude, every movement, was a joy to behold. I stared back andforth from this paragon in a charioteer's tunic to the stolid lump on theImperial throne, perplexed at the enigma, feeling just on the verge ofcomprehension, but baffled. I kept gazing from one to the other till Palusrounded the further goal and was largely hidden by the posts, the standfor the bronze tally-eggs, the obelisk and the other ornaments of the_spina_. [Footnote: See Note G. ]

There were about two hundred chariots, for very few teams were entered torace twice. More than a third were driven by charioteers, the rest bygrooms, or others, quite competent to control them at a walk, though someof the more fiery had also men on foot holding their bits. 

"Felix, " Agathemer queried, "did you notice anything peculiar about thefirst chariot?"

"Yes, Asper, " I replied, "I did. I never saw a chariot with its wheels soclose together, nor with such long spokes. Its axle is higher from theground than any I ever set eyes on. "

"I recall, " said Agathemer, "hearing you recount a lecture on chariot-design you once heard from a man of lofty station. "

"The design of that chariot, " I replied, "certainly tallies with thedesign advocated in that lecture. It would seem to indicate that Palus hasaccepted the views of that very distinguished lecturer. "

"Perhaps, " said Agathemer drily. "Perhaps it indicates something morenotable. "

"Perhaps, " I admitted. 

Most of the teams were white or dapple gray, those being the favoritecolors of all the racing companies except the Whites themselves, amongwhom it was a tradition that teams of their racing-colors were unlucky forthem. Next most frequent were bays, then sorrels, while roans andpiebalds, as usual, were distinctly scarce. In fact there were but threeteams of roans, all with the white colors, and two of piebalds, onebelonging to the Greens and one to the Blues. The Blue team caught my eye, even at so great a distance. When it came opposite us I nudged Agathemerand queried:

"Asper, did you ever see any of these horses before?"

"Yea, Felix, " he replied. "You are quite right in your judgment; the left-hand yoke-mate is the very stallion you are thinking of, which you and Ihave seen and handled before to-day. You and I know where you rode him andhow he passed out of your ken. "

It was, in fact, the trick stallion I had ridden at Reate fair and won asa prize of my riding him, which had been spirited away from my stables notmany nights after he came into my possession. At once I foresaw someattempt at altogether unusual trickery in the course of this racing-day. The team of four splendid piebald stallions, about five years old, was oneof the few entered for two races. I could not conjecture how a horse whichhad spent his youth as trick-horse in possession of an itinerant fakir, had acquired, since I knew him, reputation enough to be yoke-mate in ateam highly enough thought of to be entered for two races the same day inthe Circus Maximus. This was a puzzle almost as absorbing as the likenessand contrast between the Emperor and Palus. 

The racing had many remarkable features, but I am concerned to relate onlythose in which Palus took part. 

At once after the procession he drove in the first race, always a periloushonor. When we saw the chariots dart out of the starting-stalls, theCrimson emerged from the stall furthest to the left, just that which isthe worst possible position from which to start. Although thus handicappedthe Crimson seemed a horse-length ahead before the other chariots hadcleared the sills of their stalls and a full chariot-length ahead beforeit reached the near end of the _spina_ wall. We saw Palus take the walleasily and hold it throughout the race, after the first turn never lessthan two full chariot-lengths ahead of the Green, which came second. TheRed was third, which comforted Colgius a little. As Palus passed thejudges' stand he threw up an arm, with a gesture so boyish, so debonair, so graceful, so altogether characteristic of Commodus, that I felt a qualmall over me. And a second gesture of exultation as he vanished through theGate of Triumph was equally individual. 

The Red won the second race, which put Colgius, Uttius and Ramnius in highgood humor and seemed to make their fat, smiling wives even more smiling. 

Agathemer and I agreed that the rumors retailed by Colgius concerning thewager said to have been made by Palus were probably correct; for he didjust what that rumor specified and so singular and spectacular a series offeats could hardly have been fortuitous. It was quite plain that he pulledin his team in the third race, and let a Gold team get the lead of him andkeep it till five eggs and five dolphins had been taken down by the tally-keepers' menials and there were but two full laps to run. Then he took thelead easily in the middle of the straight and won by four full lengths. 

So of the other races in which he drove. He pulled in his team at thestart and each time allowed to get ahead of him one more team than in hislast race. Then he joyously and without apparent effort passed first one, in one straight, then another in another, varying his methods from race torace, watching for and seizing his opportunities, biding his time, dashinginto top speed as he chose, all smoothly and in perfect form. 

The Blue team of piebalds with my trick-stallion among them won the fourthrace in which Palus did not compete. 

The eleventh race, in which Palus let the whole field of five precede him, was most exciting, especially because of the length of lead he gave evento the fifth team, and the impression of inevitableness about his victoryafterwards. The thirteenth, in which he did not drive, was notable for anappalling smash-up of five chariots, in which three jockeys were killedand eight horses killed outright or so badly injured that the clearing-crew had to put them out of their agonies. 

The fourteenth race would have been spoiled by an even worse massacre hadit not been for the superlative skill of Palus and his amazing luck. Hehad passed five of the seven chariots which had the lead of him at thestart and was a close third to the two Blue teams, with the entire fieldwell up behind, three abreast, mostly, bunched up in a fashion whichseldom happens. The whole dozen had gathered way after the tenth turn, asthey came up the straight past the judges and us on the first lap, whiletwo eggs and two dolphins still remained on the tally stands. Two thirdsup the straight, just when all twelve teams were at their top speed, theBlue chariot furthest out from the _spina_ wall swerved to the right as ifthe jockey had lost control of his team. Palus lashed his four and theyincreased their speed as if they had been held in before and dartedbetween the two Blues. As the twelve horses were nose to nose the outerBlue pulled sharply inward in a way which appeared certain to pocket Palusand wreck his team and chariot, but even more certain to wreck theswerving Blue. What Palus did I was too far off to see, but the roar ofdelight from the front rows, which spread north, south and west till itsounded like surf in a tempest, advertised that he had done somethingsuperlatively adequate. Certainly he slipped between the two Blue teamsand won his race handily, as he did every other in succession, thougheight, nine, ten and eleven chariots led him at the start of each insuccession. 

"What do you think of that, Asper?" I asked Agathemer. 

"Felix, " he replied, "there has never been but one man on earth who couldmanage horses like that. I've seen him do it. I've been smuggled in towatch him, like many another servant supposed to be waiting for his masteroutside. I recognize the inimitable witchery of him. "

"No need to name him, " I said. "But if you are right, who is wearing hisrobes and occupying his usual seat to-day?"

"Don't ask me!" Agathemer replied. "But you yourself, Felix, who have seenhim drive so much oftener than I have must agree with me about Palus. "

I was mute. 

I never saw a better managed racing-day. The first twelve races of sixchariots each were over and done with more than an hour before noon and wehad plenty of time to eat the abundant lunch Posilla and her two friendshad put up for us, to drink all we wanted of the wine served in the tavernin the vault to the left of the entrance stair, underneath the seats ofour section, and to return to our seats, refreshed like the rest of thatfraction of the spectators which went out and came back, most of themsitting tight in their seats, unwilling to miss any of the tight-rope-walking, jugglers' tricks, fancy riding and rest of the diversions whichfilled up the noon interval. Also the twelve afternoon races of twelvechariots each were so promptly started, with so little interval between, that the last race was run a full two hours before sunset, while the lightwas still strong; stronger, in fact, than earlier in the day, for a sortof film of cloud had mitigated the glare of noon, while by the start ofthe last race the sky was the deepest, clearest blue and the sun'sradiance undimmed by any hindrance. 

That last race! Palus passed nine competitors in ten half laps, and, inthe first half of the sixth lap, was again third to two Blue teams one ofwhich was the piebald team with the Reate trick-stallion as left-handyoke-mate. Again, as in the fourteenth race, the field was close up, widespread, bunched, and thundering at top speed. Palus was driving thedapple grays with which he had won the first race. 

Now, what happened, happened much quicker than it can be told, happened inthe twinkling of an eye. The inner leading Blue team apparently hugged the_spina_ wall too close and jammed its left-hand hub-end against themarble, stopping the chariot, so that the axle and pole slewed and so thatthe horses, since the pole and the traces did not snap, were brought noseon against the wall and piled up horridly, just at the goal-line, oppositethe judges stand, and falling so that as they fell they straightened outthe pole and brought the chariot to a standstill with its axle neatlyacross the course. 

The other Blue, with the piebalds, was not close in to the leaders, butfairly well out and about a length behind. As the wall-team piled upsomething happened among the free-running piebalds. Of course, Iconjecture that the trick-stallion threw himself sideways at a signal. Butit seems incredible that a creature as timid as a horse, so compellinglycontrolled by the instinct to keep on its feet, should, in the frenzy ofthe crisis of a race, while in the mad rush of a full-speed gallop, obey asignal so out of variance with his natural impulse. Agathemer vows he sawthe trick-stallion throw himself against the chief horse while he and theother two were running strong and true. I did not see that; I only saw thefour piebalds go down in a heap in front of their chariot, saw the chariotstop dead, saw, even at that distance, that its axle was perfectly in linewith the axle of the other wrecked chariot, both chariots right side upand too close together for any chariot to pass between them. 

Palus, skimming the sand not three horse lengths behind the piebalds, wastrapped and certain to be piled up against the wrecked Blues, under threeor four more of the field thundering behind him. 

Actually, at that distance, I saw his pose, the very outline of his neckand shoulders, express not alarm but exultation. Although his right earand part of the back of his head was towards me, I could almost see himyell. I could descry how the lash of his whip flew over his team, howcraftily he managed his reins. 

Right at the narrow gap he drove. In it his horses did not jam or fall orstumble or jostle. The yoke-mates held on like skimming swallows, thetrace-mates seemed to rise into the air. I seemed to see the two wheels ofhis chariot interlock with the two wheels of the upright, stationarywrecked chariots, his left-hand wheel between the chariot-body and right-hand wheel of the chariot on his left, his right-hand wheel between thechariot-body and left-hand wheel of the chariot on his right. 

Certainly I saw his chariot, with him erect in it, rise in the air, saw itbump on the ground beyond the two stationary chariots, saw it leap upagain from its wheels' impact upon the sand, all four of his dapple grayson their feet and running smoothly, saw him speed on and round the uppergoal-posts. 

As Palus came round the next lap, well ahead of the diminished field, hecraftily avoided the heap of wreckage. As he won he dropped his reinsaltogether, threw up both, arms, and yelled like a lad. As he vanishedthrough the Triumphal Gateway, he again dropped his reins, left his teamto guide themselves, and turned half round to wave an exultant farewell tothe spectators. 

"What do you think, Asper?" I asked Agathemer. 

"Felix, " said he, "I wouldn't bet a copper that the occupant of the throneis not Commodus. But I'll wager my amulet-bag and all it contains thatPalus is not Ducconius Furfur. "

He said it under his breath, that I alone might hear. 

"My idea, precisely, Asper, " I replied. 

CHAPTER XXI

MISADVENTURES

As we left the Circus I heard in the crowd near us, along with fiercedenunciations of the Crimsons and Golds, execrated by all the commonalityas merely rich men's companies, the most enthusiastic laudations of Palusand expressions of hopes that the Blues, Greens, Reds or Whites, accordingto the preference of the speaker, might yet win him over and benefit byhis prowess. 

Colgius, although the Reds had won but five races, was in a high goodhumor and insisted on the whole party coming in to a family dinner. Thethree wives occupied the middle sofa, while Agathemer and I had the upperall to ourselves. The fare was abundant and good, with plenty of thecheaper relishes to begin with; roast sucking-pig, cold sliced roast pork, baked ham, and veal stew for the principal dishes, with cabbage, beans andlentils; the wine was passable, and there was plenty of olives, figs, apples, honey and quince marmalade. 

The women talked among themselves and the men, with us putting in a wordnow and then, of Palus. They argued a long time as to just what he did inthe fourteenth race and how he had saved himself at the critical moment. As to his victory in the last race, all three of them were loud in theirpraises. Colgius said:

"Nothing like that has ever happened before. The chariot which Palus drovehad the shortest axle I ever saw or anybody else. No other chariot butthat could have passed between the two wrecked chariots; any other wouldhave crashed its two wheels against the wrecked chariot-bodies and wouldhave smashed to bits. His chariot was so narrow that its wheels passedbetween the two chariot-bodies, clear. 

"Even so any other chariot would have stopped dead when its wheels hit theaxles of the stalled chariots, for it was plain that his wheelsinterlocked with the wheels of the stalled chariots and hit the axles. Buthis chariot had the longest spokes ever seen in Rome, or, I believe, anywhere else, and so had the tallest wheels ever seen and had its axlehigher above the sand than any other chariot; so its wheels engaged thestalled axles well below their hub-level and so the team pulled them rightover the axles and on. "

"Yes, " said Uttius, "but that never would have happened but for Palus'instantaneous grasp of the situation and lightning decision. Any othercharioteer would have reined in or tried to swing round to the right; helashed his team and guided them so perfectly that, with not a hand's-breadth to spare anywhere, the two wheels passed precisely where there wasthe only chance of their passing, and he guided his horses so perfectlythat the yoke-mates shot between the stalled wheels without jostling themor each other. No man has ever displayed such skill as Palus. "

"Nor had such luck, " Ramnius cut in. "No man could have guided the yoke-mates as he did and, at the same time, exerted any influence whatever onthe trace-mates. They showed their breed. Each saw the stalled wheel infront of him, neither tried to dodge. Each went straight at that wheel, reared at it, and leapt it clean. As they leapt they were not helping topull the chariot, the yoke-mates pulled it over the stalled axles. But themomentary check as the chariot hit the axles and leapt up gave the leapingtrace-mates just the instant of time they needed to find their feet andregain their stride. The whole thing was a miracle; of training, of skilland of luck. "

"But don't forget, " said Colgius, "that the skill and judgment Palusdisplayed counted for more than the breed of his team and his luck. Do notforget the perfect form he showed: not an awkward pose, not a sign ofeffort, not a hint of anxiety; self-possession, courage, self-confidenceall through and the most perfect grace of movement, ease, and suggestionof reserve strength. He is a prodigy. "

After Agathemer and I were alone in the dark on our cots we whispered toeach other a long time. 

"Do you really believe, " I said, "that Commodus is so insane about horse-racing as to be willing to put Furfur on his throne in his robes so thathe can degrade himself under the name of Palus?"

"I do, " said Agathemer. "No other conjecture fits what we saw. The man onthe throne was certainly the image of Commodus, but had not his eleganceof port and grace of movement. Palus has all the inimitable gracefulnesswhich Commodus displayed when driving teams in the Palace Stadium. "

"He is incredibly stupid in undervaluing and failing to prize hisprivileges as Emperor, " I said, "and amazingly reckless in allowing anyoneelse to occupy his throne, wearing his robes. "

"He is yet more reckless to race as he does, " Agathemer commented, "and Ishould not be astonished if we have seen his last public appearance as acharioteer. "

"Why?" I queried startled. 

"Because, " said Agathemer, "he must be incredibly stupid not to perceive, now, what opportunities the Circus offers for getting rid of an Emperorposing as a charioteer. 

"A stupider man than Commodus can possibly be should be able to comprehendthat there must have been a very carefully planned plot in the BlueCompany, a plot which must have cost a mountain of gold to carry so fartowards success, a plot which never would have been laid for a merejockey, however much his rivalry threatened the Company's winnings andprestige. Only a coterie of very wealthy men could have devised and pushedit. It cost money to induce charioteers to come so close to almost certaindeath in order to compass the destruction of another charioteer. It costmoney to sacrifice a company's teams in that fashion. Such a plot wasnever laid to get rid of Palus the jockey; it was aimed at ridding thenobility of an Emperor they fear and hate, however popular he may be withthe commonality. 

"I miss my guess if there is not a violent upheaval in the Blue Company, and if there is not an investigation scrutinizing the behavior and loyaltyof every man affiliated with them, from their board of managers down tothe stall-cleaners. I prophesy that the informers, spies and secret-service men will have fat pickings off the Blues for many a day to come. I'll bet the guilty men are putting their affairs in order now and huntingsafe hiding-places. Commodus may be insane about horse-racing and foolenough to put a dummy Emperor in his place, so he can be free to enjoyjockeying, but he is no fool when it comes to attempts at assassination. He'll run down the guilty or exterminate them among a shoal of innocents. "

I agreed. 

But I added:

"What is the world coming to when the Prince of the Republic prizes hisprivileges so little that he neglects state business for horse-jockeying, when he is so crazy over charioteering that he lets another man wear hisrobes and occupy his throne? It is a mad world. "

Next morning we were early on Orontides' ship and once more Agathemercharmed a crew with his flageolet. 

At Ostia Orontides found he must lay over for some valuable packagesconsigned to a jeweler at Antioch for the conveyance of which he washighly paid. He suggested that, as the day was hot for so late in theyear, we go ashore and see the sights which, indeed, we found well worthseeing, for Ostia has some buildings outmatching anything to be foundoutside of Rome. We took his hint, but he warned us:

"I have some sailors I don't trust. Don't leave anything aboard. Take yourwallets with you. "

We passed a pleasant, idle day, lunching and taking our siesta at an innoutside the Rome Gate. We had planned to dine at an inn near the harbor-front, on the west side of the town, not far from the Sea Gate: there wehad barely sat down and begun tasting the relishes, when in came Clitellusand Summanus. They seemed surprised and pleased to recognize us, greetedus as if we had been old friends and close intimates, appeared to assumethat we were as glad to see them as they were to see us, and, as a matterof course, joined us at dinner, telling the waiter-boy to bring themwhatever we had ordered, only doubling the quantity of every order. 

They talked of the races we had seen, of Palus, of his driving; of thesmash-ups, of Posilla, of Colgius and of everything and anything. Theyannounced that they would accompany us to our ship and see us safe aboard. Both Agathemer and I more than suspected that they had associates inwaiting to follow them and, at a signal, fall on us and seize us. I feltall that and Agathemer whispered to me a word or two in Greek whichadvised me of his suspicions. 

We prolonged our meal all we could, but there was no shaking them off. Agathemer ordered more wine, Falernian, and had it mixed with only onemeasure of water. Watching his opportunity he threw at me, in a whisper, two Greek words which advised me, since they were the first in a well-known quotation from Menander, that our only hope was to drink ourtormentors dead drunk. 

It turned out to be a question whether we would drink them drunk or theyus. Certainly they showed no hesitation about pouring down the wine asfast as it was mixed and served, nor did either of them appear to noticethat we drank less than they; they seemed able to hold any amount and staysober and keep on drinking. As dusk deepened and the waiter-boys lit theinn lamps, I found myself perilously near sliding off my chair to thefloor and very doubtful whether, if I did, I should be able to get upagain or to resist my tendency to go to sleep then and there. 

I was, in fact, just about to give up any attempt to resist my impulse tocollapse when Summanus collapsed, slid to the floor, rolled over, spreadout and snored. 

Clitellus thickly objurgated his comrade and all weak-heads, worthlessfellows who could not drink a few goblets without getting drunk. To provehis vast superiority and his prowess, he poured more wine down his throat, spilling some down into his tunic. 

Agathemer winked at me and fingered the strap of his wallet. I groped formine and fumbled at it. 

Clitellus, with a hiccough, slid to the floor beside Summanus. 

I was for trying to rise. 

"Let us be sure, " said Agathemer in Greek, "perhaps they are pretending tobe drunk, just to catch us. "

But, after a brief contemplation of the precious pair, we concluded thatno acting could be as perfect as this reality. They were drunk at last andsafely asleep. 

Agathemer paid the whole amount, for all four of us, adjured the waiter-boy to be good to Clitellus and Summanus, gave him an extra coin, andsignalled me to rise. I lurched to my feet, swaying, almost as drunk asour victims and beholding Agathemer swaying before me, not only because ofmy blurred eyesight, but also because of his unsteadiness on his feet. 

We almost fell, but not quite. Somehow we staggered to the door, where, once outside, the cool night air made us feel almost sobered, though stilltoo nearly drunk to be sure of our location or direction. 

More by luck than anything else we took the right turn and found theharbor front before the night was entirely black. In the half gloom wetried to find the pier from which we had come that morning. As we exploredwe heard a cheerful hail. 

"Is that you, Orontides?"

Agathemer called. 

"Aye, Aye!" came back the cheery answer. "Come aboard!"

And we were met and assisted up the gang-plank and down over the bulwarks. 

"I was afraid you boys were lost, " the shipmaster said, "and I am to sailat dawn, after all; everything is aboard. I'm glad to see you. You'vedined pretty liberally. Come over here and get to sleep. "

And he led us to where we found something soft to sleep on. 

I was asleep almost as soon as I lay down. 

I awoke with a terrific headache and an annoying buzzing in my ears, awokeonly partially, not knowing where I was or why and without any distinctrecollections of recent events. My first sensation was discomfort, notonly from the pain of my headache, but also from the heat of the sunraysbeating on me, and that despite the fact that I could feel a strong coolbreeze ruffling my hair and beard. 

I sat up and looked about me. Agathemer was snoring. The sun was not low;in fact, at that time of the year, it was near its highest. I had slepttill noon!

Then, all of a sudden I realized that the ship was wholly strange to meand that it was headed not southeast, but northwest. That realizationshocked me broad awake. At the same instant I saw the shipmasterapproaching. He was not Orontides, nor was he at all like him. He hadsmall feet, was knock-kneed, tall, lean, had a hatchet-face and red hair. 

"Awake at last!" he commented. "You lads must have dined gloriously lastnight. You don't look half yourselves, yet. "

He stared at me, and at Agathemer, who had waked, into much the same sortof daze in which I had been at first. 

"Neptune's trident!" the shipmaster exclaimed. "You two aren't the twolads I was to convoy! Who are you and how did you get here?"

"We were hunting for our ship after dark, " Agathemer said, "and somebodyhailed us. We asked whether it was Orontides and the answer that came backwas: 'Aye, Aye!' We were pretty thoroughly drunk and were glad to behelped aboard and shown our beds. That's all I know. "

"Kingdom of Pluto!" the shipmaster cried, "my name's Gerontides, notOrontides. I heard your question, but you were so drunk I never knew thedifference: probably I shouldn't have known the difference if you had beensober. I was on the lookout for two lads much like you two who had partpaid me to carry them to Genoa. They'll be in a fix. "

"'Bout ship, " said Agathemer, "and put back to Ostia. You can't be far onyour way yet. We'll pay you what you ask to set us ashore at Ostia. "

"I wouldn't 'bout ship, " said Gerontides, "for twenty gold pieces. "

"We'll pay you thirty, " said Agathemer. 

"Don't bid any higher, son, " Gerontides laughed. "If you were made ofgold, to Genoa you go. I've a bigger stake in a quick landing at Genoathan any sum you could name would overbalance. Best be content!"

And content we had to be, no arguments, no entreaties, nothing would movehim. 

"I'll be fair with you, " he said. "The lads I took you for had paid me allI had asked them except one gold piece each on landing at Genoa. That'sall you'll have to pay me. "

Nothing would budge him from his resolution. Agathemer in despair drownedhis misery in flageolet playing. It seemed to comfort him and certainlycomforted me. The crew were delighted. After a voyage as easy and pleasantas our cruise with Maganno, we landed on the eighth day before the Ides ofSeptember, at Genoa, paid our two gold pieces and set about getting out ofthat city as quickly as might be. We avoided, of course, the posting-station where we had changed horses while in couriers' trappings. Butthere was a posting-station at each gate of Genoa and we, having talkedover all possibilities in the intervals of flageolet playing, were forDertona. We had little trouble in buying a used travelling-carriage. Horses we did not have to wait long for, as hiring teams were luckilyplentiful that day and Imperial agents scarce. Off we set for Milan. 

We were in haste but there was no hurrying postillions on those mountainroads. We nooned at some nameless change-house and were glad to make thethirty-six miles to Libarium by dusk. The next day was consumed incovering the thirty-five miles to Dertona. From there on we travelled, ingeneral down hill, and so quicker, but not much quicker, so that a thirdday entire was needed for making the fifty-one miles to Placentia. 

Placentia, a second time, was unlucky for us. It might have been worse, for we did not again encounter Gratillus, or anyone else who might haverecognized me. But I made a fool of myself. I am not going to tell whathappened; Agathemer never reproached me for my folly, not even in ourbitterest misery; but I reproached myself daily for nearly three years; Iam still ashamed of myself and I do not want to set down my idioticbehavior. 

Let it suffice, that, through no fault of Agathemer's, but wholly throughmy fault, we were suspected, interrogated, arrested, stripped, our brand-marks and scourge-scars observed and ourselves haled before a magistrate. To him Agathemer told the same tale he had told to Tarrutenus Spinellus. It might have served had we been dealing with a man of like temper, fortravellers from Aneona for Aquileia regularly passed through Placentiaturning there from northwest along the road from Aneona to northeast alongthe road to Aquileia. 

But Stabilius Norbanus was a very different kind of man. 

"Your story may be true, " he said, "but it impresses me as an ingeniouslie. If I believed it I'd not send men like you, with their recordswritten in welts on their backs, with any convoy, no matter how strict, onthe long journey to Aquileia, on which you'd have countless opportunitiesof escape. I do not believe your tale. Yet I'll pay this much attention toit: I'll write to Vedius Aquileiensis and ask him if he owned two slavesanswering your descriptions and lost them through unexplaineddisappearance or known crimping by Dalmatian pirates at about the time youindicate. 

"Meantime I'll commit you to an _ergastulum_ [Footnote: See Note H. ] whereyou'll be herded with your kind, all safely chained, so that no escape ispossible, and all doing some good to the state by some sort of productivelabor. A winter at the flour-mills will do you two good. "

Our winter at the mills may have benefited us, but it was certainly, withits successor at similar mills, one of the two most wretched winters of mylife. And Agathemer, I think, suffered every bit as acutely as I. We werenot chained, except for a few days and about twice as many more nights; assoon as the manager of the _ergastulum_ felt that he knew us he let us gounchained like the rest of his charges. 

This was because of the structure of the _ergastulum_. It was located inthe cellars of one of the six or more granaries of Placentia, which has, near each city gate, an extensive public store-house. The granary underwhich we were immured was that near the Cremona gate. Above ground it wasa series of rectangles about courtyards each just big enough toaccommodate four carts, all unloading or loading at once. It waseverywhere of four stories of bin-rooms, all built of coarse hard-facedrubble concrete. The cellars were very extensive, and not all on onelevel, being cunningly planned to be everywhere about the same depthunderground. Where their floor-levels altered the two were joined by shortflights of three, four or five stone steps, under a vaulted doorway, inthe thick partition walls. 

Each cellar-floor was about four yards below the ground level so that atall man, standing on a tall man's shoulders, could barely reach with hisoutstretched fingers the tip of the sill of one of the low windows. Thesewindows, each about a yard high and two yards broad, were heavily barredwith gratings of round iron bars as thick as a man's wrist, set too closetogether for a boy's head to pass between them, and each two bars hot-welded at each intersection, so that each grating was practically onepiece of wrought iron, made before the granary was built and with the endsof each bar set deep in the flinty old rubble concrete. The inmates neednot be chained, as no escape was possible through the windows, though rawnight air, rain, snow at times and the icy winter blasts came in on usthrough them. 

Similarly no escape was possible up the one entrance to the cellars, whichwas through an inner courtyard, from which led down a stone stair withfour sets of heavy doors; one at the bottom, one at each end of a landinglighted by a heavily barred window, and one at the top. Between the innerand outer courtyard were two sets of heavier doors and two equally heavywere at the street entrance of the outer courtyard. On the stair-landingwas the chained-up porter-accountant seated under the window on a backlessstool by a small, heavy accountant's table on which stood a tall_clepsydra_ by his big account-book. Checking the hours by the_clepsydra_, he entered the name of every human being passing, up or downthat stair, even the name of the manager every time he came in or wentout. By him always stood a wild Scythian, armed with a spear, girt with asabre, and with a short bow and a quiver of short arrows hanging over hisback. Similar Scythians guarded the doorways, a pair of them to each door. The slide by which the grain was lowered into the _ergastulum_, the otherslide by which the flour, coarse siftings and bran were hauled up, weresimilarly guarded. Escape was made so difficult by these precautions that, while I was there, no one escaped out of the three hundred wretchesconfined in the _ergastulum_. 

There we suffered sleepless nights in our hard bunks, under worn andtattered quilts, tormented by every sort of vermin. Swarming with verminwe toiled through the days, from the first hint of light to its lastglimmer, shivering in our ragged tunics, our bare feet numb on the chillypavements. We were cold, hungry, underfed on horribly revolting food, reviled, abused, beaten and always smarting from old welts or new weals ofthe whip-lashes. 

It was all a nightmare: the toil, the lashings, if our monotonous walkaround our mill, eight men to a mill, two to each bar, did not suit thenotions of the room-overseer; the dampness, the cold, the vermin, the painof our unhealed bruises, the scanty food and its disgusting uneatableness. 

The food seemed the worst feature of our misery. So, in fact, it appearsto have seemed to our despicable companions. Certainly, of the food theycomplained more than of the toil, the cold, the vermin, the malignity ofthe overseers or even of the barbarity of the Scythian guards. Anyhowtheir fury at the quality of their food brought to me and Agathemer analleviation of our misery. For some hotheaded wretches, goaded beyondendurance, jerked the bars of their mill from their sockets and with themfelled, beat to death and even brained the cook and his two assistants. 

After their corpses had been removed, the floor swabbed up and themurderers turned over to the gloating Scythians to be done to death byimpalement, Scythian fashion, with all the tortures Scythian ferocitycould devise, the manager went from cellar to cellar, all through the_ergastulum_, enquiring if any prisoner could cook. No one volunteered, and, when he questioned more than a few, everyone denied any knowledge ofcookery. 

A second time he made the tour of his domain, promising any cook a warmtunic, a bunk with a thick mattress and two heavy quilts, all the food hecould eat and two helpers; the helpers to have similar indulgences. Onthis second round, in our cellar, a Lydian, nearer to being fat than anyprisoner in the _ergastulum_, admitted that he could make and bake bread, but vowed that he could not do anything else connected with cooking. Spurred on by his confession and tempted by the offers of better clothingand bedding and more food, also by the memories of Agathemer's cookery thewinter before, I blurted out that Agathemer could not make bread, butcould do everything else needed in cookery. Agathemer, after onereproachful glance at me, admitted that he was a cook of a sort, butdeclared that he was almost as bad a cook as the wretch just murdered. Theoverseer bade him go to the kitchen and told him he might select a helper;the baker would have been the other helper. As helper Agathemer, naturally, selected me. 

After that we suffered less. The slaves acclaimed Agathemer's cooking;for, if their rations were still scanty by order of the watchful manager, at least their food was edible. Far from being ultimately killed, like ourpredecessors, and continually threatened and reviled, we were blessed byour fellow-slaves. We slept better, in spite of the vermin, on our grass-stuffed mattresses, under our foul quilts, we shivered less in our thickertunics. We were not too tired to discuss, at times, the oddities of ourvicissitudes, to congratulate each other on being, at least, alive, on mynot being suspected of being what I actually was, and, above all, on thesafety of our old, blackened, greasy, worthless-looking, amulet-bags, withtheir precious contents. To be reduced to carrying food to three hundredof the vilest rascals alive was a horrible fate for a man who had, twoyears before, been a wealthy nobleman, but it was far better than death asa suspected conspirator. And Agathemer was hopeful of our future, ofsurvival, of escape, of comfort somewhere after he had sold anotheremerald, ruby, or opal. Nothing could, for any length of time, dim orcloud the light of Agathemer's buoyancy of disposition. 

BOOK III

DIVERSITIES

CHAPTER XXII

THE MUTINEERS

Our promotion from the mills to the kitchen took place early in March ofthe year when Manius Acilius Glabrio, after an interval of thirty-fouryears since his first consulship, was consul for the second time and hadas nominal associate Commodus, preening himself, for the fifth time, onthe highest office in the Republic, which he had done little to deserve, and while he held it, did less to justify himself in possessing, since heleft most of the duties of the consulship to Glabrio, as he left most ofthe Principate to Perennis, his Prefect of the Praetorium. All of this, ofcourse, we learnt later in the year; for, inside our prison, we knewnothing of what went on in Placentia, let alone of what went on in Italyand in Rome itself. 

We had been cooking for more than three months, when, about the middle ofJune, our attention in the cellars was distracted from doling out food, asthat of the wretches we served was distracted from eating their scantyrations, by an unusual uproar in the street outside of our windows. Wecould descry, in the morning sunlight, military trappings, tatteredcloaks, ragged tunics, dingy kilt-straps, sheenless helmets, unkemptbeards, and brawny arms in the crowds which packed the narrow streets. Themob seemed made up of rough frontier soldiery, and we marvelled at thepresence of such men in Italy. 

The uproar increased and we heard it not only from the streets but fromthe courtyards; we could not make out any words, but the tone of thetumultuous growls was menacing and imperative. After no long interval thedoors at the foot of the one stair burst open and there entered to usthree centurions, indubitably from distant frontier garrisons, accompaniedby six or seven _optiones_ [Footnote: See Note F. ] and a dozen or morelegionaries. The privates and corporals stood silent while one of thethree sergeants addressed us:

"No one shall be compelled to join us. Every man of you shall have hisunforced choice. All who join us shall be free. Such as prefer to remainwhere they are sit down! All who select to join us stand up!"

If any man sat down I did not see him. Through the door we flowed withoutjostling or crowding, for at the first appearance of a tendency to pushforward the sergeant's big voice bellowed a warning and order reigned. Upthe stair we poured, passing on the landing the mute, motionless porter-accountant and his Scythian guard, cowed immobile between two burlyfrontier centurions; out into the courtyard we streamed, more and morefollowing till the courtyard was packed. The whole movement was made insilence, without a cheer or yell, for, like the porter and the Scythians, the most unconscionable villains in our _ergastulum_ quailed before thetruculence of the frontier sergeants. 

In the outer court, at the suggestion of one of those same centurions, every man of us drank his fill at the well-curb, pairs of the legionariestaking turns at hauling up the buckets and watering us, much as if we hadbeen thirsty workhorses. After they had made sure that none had missed achance to quench his thirst, they roughly marshalled us into somesemblance of order and out into the street we trooped, where we foundourselves between two detachments of frontier soldiers, one filling thestreet ahead of us from house-wall to house-wall, the other similarlyblocking the street behind us. Between them we were marched to the market-square, where we had plenty of room, for we had it all to ourselves, thesoldiery having cleared it and a squad of them blocking the entrance ofeach street leading into it, so that the townsfolk were kept out and weherded among the frontier soldiery. 

Their centurions, to the number of eighteen, stood together on the stoneplatform from which orators were accustomed to address or harangue suchcrowds as might assemble in the market-square. Before it we packedourselves as closely as we could, eager to hear. About us idled thesoldiery not occupied in guarding the approach to the square. 

One of the sergeants made a speech to us, explaining our liberation andtheir presence in Placentia. He called us "comrades" and began hisharangue with a long and virulent denunciation of Perennis, the Prefect ofthe Palace. Perennis, he declared, had been a slave of the vilest originand had won his freedom and the favor of the Palace authorities and of theEmperor not by merit but by rank favoritism. He maintained that Perennis, as Prefect of the Palace, had gained such an ascendancy over Commodus thatbesides his proper duties as guardian of the Emperor's personal safety, surely a charge sufficiently heavy to burden any one man and sufficientlyhonorable to satisfy any reasonable man, his master had been enticed intoentrusting to Perennis the management of the entire Empire, so that healone controlled promotions in and appointments to the navy, army andtreasury services. In this capacity, as sole minister and representativeof the sovereign, Perennis had enriched himself by taking bribes from allfrom whom he could extort bribes. By his venality he had gone far towardsruining the navy and army, which were by now more than half officered byhopeless incompetents who had bought their appointments. As a result thelegionaries garrisoning the lines along the Euphrates, the Carpathians, the Danube, the Rhine and the Wall, since they were badly led, hadsuffered undeserved mishandling from the barbarians attacking them; andeven the garrisons of mountain districts like Armenia, Pisidia, andLusitania had been mauled by the bands of outlaws. He instanced therebellion of Maternus as a result of the incompetence and venality ofPerennis. 

Worse than this, he said, Perennis was plotting the Emperor'sassassination and the elevation to the Principate of one of his two sons. This project of his, which he was furthering by astute secretmachinations, had come to the knowledge of a loyal member of the Emperor'sretinue. He had written of it to a brother of his, Centurion [Footnote:See Note D. ] of the Thirteenth Legion, entitled "Victorious" and quarteredon the Wall, along the northern frontier of Britain, towards theCaledonian Highlands. This letter had reached the quarters of theThirteenth Legion late in September. Its recipient had at oncecommunicated to his fellow-sergeants the horrible intimation which itcontained. They had resolved to do all in their power to save their Princeby forestalling and foiling the treacherous Perennis. They had called ameeting of their garrison and disclosed their information to their men. The legionaries acclaimed their decision. Deputations set out east andwest along the Wall and roused the other cohorts of the Thirteenth Legionand those of the Twenty-Seventh. From the Wall messengers galloped southto the garrisons throughout Britain. In an incredibly short time, despitethe approach and onset of winter, they apprised every garrison in theisland. Messengers from every garrison reached every garrison. So rapidlywas mutual comprehension and unanimity established, so secretly did theyoperate, that on the Nones of January all the garrisons in Britainsimultaneously mutinied, overpowered their unsuspecting officers, disclosed to them the reasons for their sedition, and invited them to jointhem. Of all the officers on the island only two hesitated to agree withtheir men. These, after some expostulation, were killed. The rest resumedtheir duties, if competent, or were relegated to civilian life, ifadjudged incompetent. 

The three most prominent legions in Britain, the Sixth, Thirteenth andTwentieth, each entitled, because of prowess displayed in past campaigns, to the appellation of "Victorious, " selected the equivalent of a cohortapiece to unite into a deputation representing the soldiery of Britaincollectively, to proceed to Rome, reveal to the Emperor his danger, savehim, foil Perennis, and see to it that he was put to death. In pursuanceof this plan the six centuries chosen by the Thirteenth Legion, about fivehundred men, had set out southward from the Wall on the day before theIdes of January. Accomplishing the march of a hundred and thirty-fivemiles to Eburacum, in spite of deep snow and heavy snow-storms, infourteen days, there they foregathered with the main body of the SixthLegion and were joined by their six selected centuries. The twelve, somethousand picked men, accomplished the march of eighty-five miles to Devain nine days, though hampered by terrible weather. There they were joinedby the delegates of the Twentieth Legion. Together the fifteen hundreddeputies made the march of two hundred and eighty miles to Ritupis by wayof Londinium, in twenty-eight days. At Ritupis they took part in thefestival of Isis, by which navigation was declared open for the year andnavigation blessed. Next day, on the day before the Nones of March, theyhad sailed for Gaul and made the crossing in ten hours, without anyhindrance from headwinds or bad weather. 

From Gessoriacum they had tramped across Gaul, inducing to join them suchkindred spirits as they encountered among the squads of recent leviesbeing drilled at each large town preparatory to being forwarded toreinforce the frontier garrisons. These inexperienced recruits they hadorganized into centuries under sergeants elected by the recruitsthemselves from among themselves, which elective centurions had handilylearnt their novel duties from instructions given by one or two veteransdetailed to aid in drilling each new century. Before they reached Vapincumthey had associated with them fresh comrades equalling themselves innumber, equipped from town arsenals. With these they had crossed intoItaly through the Cottian Alps. 

At Segusio they had been told that, under the misrule of Perennis, the_ergastula_ of Italy were filled, not half with runaway slaves, pettythieves, rascals, ruffians and outlaws, but mainly with honest fellows whohad committed no crime, but had been secretly arrested and consigned totheir prisons merely because they had incurred the displeasure of Perennisor of one of his henchmen, or had been suspected, however vaguely, ofactions, words or even of unspoken opinions distasteful to him or toanyone powerful through him. Acting on that information they had beensetting free the inmates of _ergastula_ in cities through which they hadpassed, such as Turin and Milan, and had formed from these victims twofresh centuries. They proposed that we join them and march with them toRome to inform and rescue our Emperor and foil and kill Perennis. 

Of course the liberated riffraff accepted this suggestion with enthusiasmand without a dissenting voice. We were divided into squads of convenientsize and marched off to the near-by bathing establishments. In that towhich Agathemer and I were led, we, with the rest of our squad, were toldby the sergeant superintending us to strip. Our worn, tattered and lousygarments were turned over to the bath-attendants to be steamed and thendisposed of as they might. We were thoroughly steamed and scrubbed, sothat every man of us was freed from every sort of vermin. During our baththe centurion, in charge of us unobtrusively inspected us individually andcollectively. In the dressing-room of the bathing establishments, after wehad been steamed, scrubbed, baked, and dried, we were clad in militarytunics fetched from the town arsenal or its store-houses. Also we wereprovided with military boots of the coarsest and cheapest materials, madeafter the pattern usual for frontier regiments. 

Outside the bath the watchful sergeant divided us into two squads, alarger and a smaller, the smaller made up of those who, like Agathemer andme, bore brands, and scourge-marks. In the market-square we were againherded together, surrounded by the British legionaries and now ourselvesdivided into those like me and Agathemer, who were marked as runawayslaves and the larger number who showed no marks of scourge or brand. Fromamong the unmarked the frontier centurions picked out thirty whom theyjudged likely material for sergeants like themselves. These thirty theybade select from among themselves three. Then they set the three, anUmbrian and a Ligurian outlaw, and a Dalmatian pirate, along the front ofthe stone platform and asked us whether we would accept those three as ourcenturions. Two speakers, one a Venetian and the other an Insubrian Gaul, objected to the pirate. In his place we were bidden to choose some otherfrom the twenty-seven already selected by the sergeants. A second Umbrianoutlaw was selected. 

Then the centurions bade the newly-elected three to choose each one man inrotation, until they had made up for each the nucleus of a century fromthe unmarked men. 

After the three new centuries were thus constituted, they asked them todecide whether they would accept as comrades and associates the residue ofthe inmates of our _ergastulum_ who were marked plainly as runaway slaves. They voted overwhelmingly to accept us. Then the three new sergeantsproceeded to choose us also into their centuries. The choosing wasinterrupted by a Ravenna Gaul, who called the attention of the assembly tothe fact that Agathemer had been cook to the _ergastulum_ and I hishelper; similarly to the baker and his assistant. After some discussion itwas unanimously voted that the baker and his helper be treated as anyothers of the liberated rascals, that the three new centurions draw lotswhich should have Agathemer for cook to his century and me for his helper, and that the other two centuries appoint cooks by lot unless cooks andhelpers volunteered. Four of the brand-marked rabble at once volunteered. 

After the last man had been selected and the British centurions hadmarshalled, inspected and approved the three new centuries thusconstituted, we were marched off to the town arsenal and there equippedwith corselets, strap-kilts, greaves; cloaks, helmets, shields, swords andspears; only Agathemer, I, and the four other cooks and helpers, weregiven no spears, shields, helmets or body-armour, only swords, jackets andcaps. 

Then, full-fledged tumultary legionaries, we were marshalled as well asgreenhorns could be ranked and we marched from the market-place the lengthof the street leading to the Fidentia Gate. Outside it we found thesemblance of a camping-ground and tents ready for us to set up. Up we setthem, we new recruits, clumsily, under the jeers of the old-timers, to thetune of taunts and curses from the disgusted veteran centurions. 

When the camp was set up a fire was made for each century and we cooks andhelpers fell to our duties, with a squad of privates to cut wood, feed thefires, fetch water and do any other rough preparatory work, such asbutchering a sheep or a goat, killing, picking and cleaning fowls, andwhat not. For this welcome, if clumsy, assistance we had to thank one ofthe British centurions, who admonished our newly-elected Umbrian sergeantthat camp-cookery called for any needed number of assistant helpers to thechief cook if the men were to be fed properly and promptly. 

The town officials had sent out to the camp a generous provision of wheat, barley, lentils, pulse, sheep, goats, fowls, cheese, oil, salt and wine. Idid not learn how the volunteer cooks fared, but the barley-stew, seasonedwith minced fowls, which Agathemer concocted, was acclaimed by ourcentury. 

That night, in our tent, Agathemer and I, talking Greek and whispering, discussed our situation. After two fulfillments, the prophesy of theAemilian Sibyl seemed in a fair way to be fulfilled a third time; we wereheaded for Rome. 

To Rome we went. We had, in that first consultation, in many similarconsultations later, planned to escape and hoped to escape. But we weretoo carefully watched. Whether we were suspected because of our scourge-marks and brand-marks, or were prized as cooks, or whether there was someother reason, we could not conjecture. Certainly we were sedulouslyguarded on all marches, and kept strictly within, each camp, though wewere free to wander about each camp as we pleased. 

We had planned to escape in or near Parma, Mutina, Bononia, or Faventia, any of which towns Agathemer judged a favorable locality for marketing agem from our amulet-bags. But in these, as everywhere else, our guardsgave us no chance of escape. 

When not busy cooking I found myself greatly interested in the amazingcompany among which I was cast. In my rambles about our camp, when allwere full-fed and groups sat or lay chatting about the slackening camp-fires, I became acquainted with most of the eighteen centurions fromthe legions quartered in Britain, and had talks, sometimes even longtalks, with more than half of them. These bluff, burly frontier sergeants, like their corporals and men, treated all their volunteer associates aswelcome comrades, even welted and branded runaway slaves acting as cooks. From them I heard again and again the story of discontent, conspiracy, mutiny, insurrection and attempt at protest about rectification of theevils they believed to exist, which tale we had all heard outlined by thesergeant-orator in the Forum of Placentia. 

Among the eighteen centurions there was no sergeant-major nor anycenturion of the upper rank. The highest in army rank was Sextius Baculusof Isca, a native of Britain and lineally descended, through an originalcolonist of Isca, from the celebrated sergeant-major of the Divine Julius. He had been twelfth in rank in the Sixth Legion, being second centurion ofits second cohort. Not one of his seventeen associates had ranked so high:the next highest being Publius Cordatus, of Lindum, who had been secondsergeant of the fourth cohort in the Twentieth Legion. 

The totality of my mental impressions of what I heard from these two andother members of this incredible deputation of insurgent mutineers and ofwhat I saw of the doings of the whole deputation, was vague and confused. From the confusion emerged a predominating sense of their manyinconsistencies and of the haphazard irresponsibility and inconsequence oftheir states of mind and actions. They were, indeed, entirely consistentin one respect. Unlike Maternus and his men, not one of them blamedCommodus for anything, not even for having appointed Perennis to his highoffice and then having permitted him to arrogate to himself all thefunctions of the government of the Republic and Empire. One and all theyexcused the Emperor and expressed for him enthusiastic loyalty: one andall they blamed not only the Prefect's mismanagement but also his ownappointment on Perennis. Consistent as they were in holding these opinionsor in having such feelings, the notions were inconsistent in themselves. 

So likewise was their often expressed and manifestly sincere intention toforestall the consummation of the alleged conspiracy and save the Emperorinconsistent with their slow progress from Britain towards Rome. Neverhaving been in Britain and knowing little of it from such reports as I hadheard, I could not controvert their assertion that the state of the roadsand weather there had made impossible greater speed than they had achievedfrom their quarters to their port, yet I suspected that men reallysystematically in earnest might have accomplished in twenty days marcheswhich had occupied them for fifty-one days. I was certain that it wasnothing short of ridiculous for legionaries in hard fighting condition andwell fed to consume one hundred and one days in marching from theirlanding-port on the coast of Gaul to Placentia: ten miles a day wasdespicable marching even for lazy and soft-muscled recruits; anylegionaries should make fifteen, miles at day under any conditions, earnest men keyed up to hurry should have made twenty and might oftenmarch twenty-five miles between camps. These blatherskites were on firewith high resolve, by their talk, yet had loafed along for a thousandmiles, camping early, sleeping long after sunrise, resting at midday andgorging themselves at leisurely meals. All this was amazing. 

Equally astonishing was the condition of supineness, of all governmentalofficials in Gaul, local and Imperial, as their tale revealed it. Neitherthe Prefect of the Rhine, nor any one of the Procurators of Gaul, had, asfar as their story indicated, made any effort to arrest them, turn themback, stop them, check them, hinder them or even have them expostulatedwith. As far as I could infer from all I heard neither had the governingbody of any city or town. For all they were interfered with by anyofficial they might have been full-time veterans, honorably discharged, marching homeward under accredited officers provided with diplomasproperly made out, signed, sealed and stamped. Everywhere they had beenfed at public expense, lodged free or provided with camping-grounds andtents; their pack-animals had been replaced if worn out, and everythingthey needed had been provided on their asking for it or even before theymade any request. I could only infer that they had inspired fear by theirnumbers and truculence and that each town or district had striven to keepthem in a good humor and to get rid of them as soon as possible byentertaining them lavishly and speeding them along their chosen way. 

As they told of their own behavior there had been no consistency or systemor method in their additions to their company. By their own account theyhad enticed men to join them or had ignored likely recruits in the mosthaphazard fashion, purely as the humor struck them. The like was true oftheir emptyings of _ergastula_ in Italy. At Turin, as well as I couldgather from my chats with this or that centurion or soldier or liberatedslave, they had set free the inmates of the _ergastulum_ by the SegusioGate and had then turned aside to that by the Vercellae Gate, but hadignored the larger _ergastulum_ by the Milan Gate; though they had marchedout of Turin, necessarily, by that gate. Similarly at Milan, they hademptied two _ergastula_ and ignored the rest; as at Placentia, where theyhad expended all their time and energy on the first _ergastulum_ theyhappened on inside the Milan Gate and on ours, and then had ignored orforgotten the four or five others, equally large and equally well filled. 

On our progress to Rome I saw similar inconsistencies in their behavior. They never so much as entered Fidentia, but marched round it, acquiescentto the gentle suggestion of a trembling and incoherent alderman, quakingwith fear and barely able to enunciate some disjointed sentences. At Parmathey emptied two _ergastula_ and never so much as approached the others, repeating this inconsistency at Mutina and Bononia. Outside of Faventiasomething, I never learned what, enraged a knot of the veterans, so thattheir fury communicated itself to all the soldiery from Britain andinflamed their associates, Gallic and Italian. Whereupon we burst theBononia Gate of Faventia, flocked into the town, sacked some of the shops, left a score of corpses in the market-place and some in the streets nearit, set fire to a block of buildings, and burst out of the Ariminum Gate, tumultuous and excited, but without so much as trying the outer doors ofany _ergastulum_. 

Yet, after this riotous performance, we did no damage at Ariminum, noteven entering the town, not even enquiring if it had an _ergastulum_, asit must have had. 

Similarly at Pisaurum, at Fanum Fortunae, at Forum Sempronii, though thesewere small towns and could not have resisted us, we camped outside, accepted gracefully the tents and food provided for us and made no move tomaltreat anyone or do any looting. But at Nuceria, at Spolitum and atNarnia we entered the towns and liberated the inmates of two of the_ergastula_, in each, though we never so much as threatened Interamnia. 

Looking back over these proceedings I explain them to myself approximatelyas follows: the eighteen centurions from Britain treated each other as ifthey all felt on terms of complete mutual equality, none ever assumed anyrights of superiority, seniority, precedence, or authority, none was everinvested with any right of permanent or temporary leadership. If some whimprompted any one of the eighteen to take the lead in emptying an_ergastulum_ or breaking in a town gate, or sacking a shop, not one of hisfellow-sergeants demurred or expostulated or opposed him; they allconcurred in any suggestion of any one of them. And the soldiers followedtheir centurions with, apparently, implicit confidence in them, or a blindinstinct of deference. So of submission to the request of any towndecurion, that they stay outside: mostly, they were acquiescent. But ifsomething irritated a sergeant, or even a soldier, the entire deputationflamed into fury and burst gates, sacked shops and even fired buildingsuntil their rage spent itself, after which they were civil and kindly toall townsmen, whether officials, citizens, slaves or women and children. Inever could detect any reason for any action or inaction of theirs. 

CHAPTER XXIII

THE EMPEROR

The liberations of public slaves from _ergastula_ in Turin, Milan, Placentia, Parma, Mutina, Bononia, Nuceria, Spolitum and Narnia resultedin the formation of eighteen tumultuary centuries, which, between Narniaand Ocriculum, during a long noon-halt, were formed into the semblance ofthree cohorts, thus we approached Rome as nine cohorts: three of thedeputies from Britain; three more of the recruits from Gaul, presumablylike the British legionaries, loyal patriots, bent on foiling Perennis, and saving their beloved Emperor; and three more composed of the contentsof a dozen or more _ergastula_, opened as the whim took the veteransergeants, and assumed to contain not pilferers, runaways or evil-doers, but innocent victims of the malignity of the understrappers of thatunspeakable Perennis. 

As we drew near Rome Agathemer and I discussed our situation and prospectswith increasing alarm. After we left Narnia the watch on us was not soclose and we might have escaped. But we had seen a score of attempts atescape, by various rascals, foiled and ending in the butchery of thewould-be fugitives. While escape was possible the risk was very great. Also, Agathemer argued, we were too near to Rome to be safe if we gotclear away. Between dread of death if caught and fear of we knew not whatif we escaped, we stuck to our cookery. Mixed with our projects forbettering our prospects we talked much of our amazement at the treatmentwhich the deputation and its associates had met in Italy. Manifestly thetownsfolk and their officials were not only overawed, but helpless. Ifthere had been no Rome, no Republic, no Praetorians, no Prefect of thePalace, no central authority whatever we could not have been morecompletely free from hindrance, coercion or question, Yet Agathemer and Icould not but conjecture that the Senate, Perennis and Commodus had beenpromptly and minutely informed of all our doings, of our progress, of ourapproach; and had taken measures to deal with us and our instigators. Wefelt panicky. 

Spouting long tirades about their loyalty to the Emperor, their hatred ofPerennis and their eagerness to foil one and save the other, ourirresponsible frontier centurions let their men and us loiter southwardthrough Cisalpine Gaul and Umbria as they had loitered on the other sideof the Alps, seldom marching more than ten miles a day. So that we leftOcriculum on the tenth day before the Kalends of August and stoppedovernight at each change-station. 

We had had fair weather all the way from Placentia, except a heavy rain atAriminum and showers in the mountains between Forum Sempronii and Nuceria. When day dawned on us at Rostrata Villa, on the eighth day before theKalends of August, it dawned cloudy, but not threatening. After the usualcamp breakfast of porridge and wine, we fell in, by now fairly decentmarchers, and set off for Rubrae. But before we had marched a mile, thelow clouds soaked us with such a downpour as I had seldom seen of a Julymorning near Rome. So heavy and so unrelenting was the rain that we wereglad to halt at the change-house at the twentieth mile-stone, where theroad from Capena to Veii crosses the Flaminian Highway and where there isa prosperous village as large as many a small town. There we foundquarters and food ready for us and were well entertained. Ad Vicesimum, asthe place is called, is only four miles nearer Rome than Villa Rostrata. 

It was about midway of that four-mile march in the pouring rain that I sawby the roadside three immobile horsemen, their forms swathed in horsemen'srain-cloaks, their faces hidden under broad-brimmed rain-hats, lined upwith their horses' noses barely a horse-length from the roadway, watchingfrom a little knoll our column as it passed. The middle horseman of thethree looked familiar. I glanced back at him and met his eyes, intenselywatching me from under his dripping hat brim, as I trudged on the edge ofthe trudging rabble. A hot qualm surged through me. It was, it certainlywas, the very same man I had seen in the very same guise on the roadbelow Villa Andivia as Tanno and I passed by on our way to our fatal brawlat Vediamnum; the very man who had peered in at me and Capito during hisfatal conference with me in Nemestronia's water-garden, the man whom Tannohad asserted that he knew for an Imperial spy. I felt recognition in hisgaze; felt that he knew me for my very self. And his nose was hooked. 

At our halting place, when Agathemer and I were alone, I asked him inGreek if he had noticed the three stationary horsemen. He at once, withoutmy mentioning my suspicions, declared that he also had recognized themiddle horseman precisely as I had. What his presence there might forbode, what his apparent recognition of me might portend, we could notconjecture. We agreed that, although both of us had been on the lookoutfor Imperial emissaries all the way from Placentia, and alertly watchingfrom Ariminum southwards, this was the first time we had set eyes on anyman whom we could take for a secret-service man. That so much time hadelapsed since the authorities must have been warned of our approach, thatwe should have advanced so near Rome and yet that this should be the firstvisible indication of espionage upon us, amazed both me and Agathemer. 

Next day, a cloudy but rainless day, we marched only to Rubrae, thechange-station nearest Rome. There, as at every previous halt, we foundthe authorities apprised of our approach and prepared to lodge and feedus. And, as always since we left Nuceria, we were comfortably sheltered ina camp all ready for our occupancy and lavishly provided with varied foodand passable wine. 

Next day, the sixth day before the Kalends of August, dawned exquisitelyfair and bright, with a soft steady breeze; a perfect July day, mild butnot too warm. Our elected sergeants, now quite habituated to their dutiesand authority as centurions, routed us up early and, after a leisurelycamp-breakfast, we fell in and set off on the last stage of this amazingunopposed march of fifteen hundred insurgent mutineers for nineteenhundred miles, in making which they had so loitered that they had consumedon the road more than half a year and along which they had added to theircompany casual associates twice as numerous as themselves. We left Rubraean excited horde, for the veterans were keyed up to a tense pitch ofexpectancy by their anticipation of they knew not what culmination totheir insane adventure and their accidental recruits were aquiver withuneasiness and apprehension. 

The Mulvian Bridge over the Tiber is not more than four miles from Rubraealong the winding Flaminian Highway and we were crossing it before thethird hour of the day was past. Marching with the first of the threecenturies formed at Placentia I had about five-sixths of our column aheadof me. So I did not see, did not even glimpse, did not, from far towardsthe rear, so much as guess what was happening. I knew only that, as I wasmore than half way across the Mulvian Bridge, a wave of cheers started farforward in our column and ran back to my century and all the way to therearmost men. What had occurred we did not know, but we broke ranks andflowed out of the road to left and right, as did the men ahead of us, becoming almost a mob, despite the remonstrances and orders of ourdisgusted sergeants. They restrained us to some extent, but we were keptback more by the fact that the foremost men blocked the highway, the menwho had been marching next them blocked the fields to right and left ofthe highway and the rest of us were checked behind them, like water abovea dam. 

As we stood there, packed together, with hardly a semblance of ranks keptanywhere, craning to see over the heads of the men in front of us and totry to see past and between the many big and tall tombs and mausoleumswhich flanked the road on either side, a period of tense silence orblurred murmurings was ended by a second great surge of cheers from frontto rear. We all cheered till we were hoarse. Again we peered and listenedand questioned each other, again came a roar of cheering like a seabillow. Again and again alternated the half silence and the uproar. Beforewe learned what was happening or had happened word came from mouth tomouth that we were going on. The press in front of us gradually meltedaway, we were able to sidle into the roadway, reform ranks and tramp onRomewards. 

After a very brief march we turned aside to our right into a meadow on thewest of the road and its flanking rows of tombs, between the Highway andthe Tiber, about half way from Mulvian Bridge to the Flaminian Gate ofRome; that is, about half a mile from each. There we found a meticulouslylaid-out and perfectly appointed camp, precisely suited to the forty-fivehundred of us and our requisitioned mules, wagons and what not. Itcontained some four hundred and fifty tents, set on clipped grass alongrolled and gravelled streets as straight as bricklayers' guide-boards; allabout a paved square of ample size, on the rear of which was set up agorgeous commander's tent of the whitest canvas, striped with red almostas deep, rich and glowing as the Imperial crimson, and manifestly meant toimitate it as closely as such a dyestuff could. On either side of thisPraetorium were a dozen tents, smaller indeed than the Praetorium, butmuch larger than tents set up for us, presumably for the commanders'aides. In front of the Praetorium, between it and the square, was a wide, broad and high platform of new brickwork, paved on top, railed with solid, low, carved railings set in short carved oak posts. The corner posts, andtwo others dividing the front and back of the platform equally, were talland supported an awning of striped canvas like that of the commander'stent. 

Goggling with curiosity we, as we deployed to our quarters, stared hard atthe magnificent tent and sumptuous platform with its gorgeous awning. Onceat our quarters, I and Agathemer, of course, must cook and serve food toour century. Only after all were fed did we, in common with all the middleand rear of our road-column, learn what had occurred. 

While we ate, our sergeants, while they also ate somehow, held acenturions' council, at which those of the fifty-four who had not been farenough forward on the Highway to see and hear were informed, by those whohad, of what had happened. When our sergeant returned from this council hetold us, in a jumbled and mumbled attempt at an address. 

From what he told me and from what I heard later I gather that, as thecolumn debouched from the bridge, its head was met and checked by a bodyof mounted Praetorian Guards. Their tribune, in the name of the Emperor, ordered the column to halt and bade its centurions deploy their men rightand left and mass them in a largish space free of big tombs. As theydeployed the Praetorians also deployed to left and right of the Highwayand the foremost mutineers descried on the roadway the splendid horses andgorgeous trappings of the Emperor's personal staff, among whom, from thestatues, busts and painted panel-portraits of him which they had seendaily in their own quarters and countless times on their road to Rome, themore alert of them recognized their liege. 

Then rose that unexpected wave of cheering which had first apprized us inthe rear that something unusual was toward. Commodus, as I heard fromPublius Cordatus himself, after our nap and before the Emperor's return, was mounted on a tall sorrel such as his father had always preferred onhis frontier campaigns. Also he was garbed not only as his father hadhabitually been when on frontier expeditions, but seemingly, in one of hisold outfits. For not only Cordatus, but a dozen more, declared that hishelmet, corselet and the plates of his kilt-straps, were of ungilded, unchased, plain steel, not even bright with polishing, but tarnished, allbut rusty, with exposure to rain, mist and sun; his plume and cloak rain-faded and sun-faded till their crimson showed almost brown; his scabbardplain, dingy leather; his saddle of similar cheap, durable leather, hissaddle-cloth of a crimson faded as brown as his cloak and plume. This wasprecisely the Spartan simplicity which Aurelius, as more than half aStoic, had always affected, partly from an innate tendency towards self-restraint and modesty, partly that his example might, at first, offset thesumptuosity of Verus and, after his death, might inculcate, by example, economy in his lavish and self-indulgent retinue. 

Whatever the motive, by this semi-histrionic effort at self-effacement theEmperor made himself tenfold conspicuous among his staff-officers, whoseplumes, cloaks, kilts, and saddle-cloths blazed with crimson, green andgold, blue and silver and even crimson and gold. 

Commodus, in any gear, was not only a tall, well-knit, impressive figureof a man, but, in his most negligent moods, he had something about himdominating, masterful, princely and Imperial. The sight of him cowed allwho could then see him. Steadily he eyed them as they finished theirtumultuary deployment and pressed forward to see and hear. When they werepacked as closely as possible till no more could get within earshot hespoke:

"Fellow soldiers, what does this mean?"

All were too awed at the sight of their venerated Caesar for any man tospeak up at once and the Emperor repeated:

"Fellow-soldiers, what does this mean? Tell me, I am your fellow-soldier. "

Then Sextius Baculus himself replied, choking and hesitating, quailingbefore his lord:

"We are your loyal soldiers from Britain; a deputation come afoot andafloat almost two thousand miles to warn you of what no man in Rome, forfear of you more than of your treacherous Prefect, dares to warn you. Perennis is no fit guardian of your safety; in fact he is of all men mostunfit. For more than two years now he has been laying his plans to haveyou assassinated, and to make Emperor in your place his eldest son, thedarling of the Illyrian legionaries. We have come to save you, foil himand see him and his dead. "

"Fellow-soldiers, " the Emperor spoke at once, loudly and clearly, "Iacclaim your purpose and welcome your good intentions. But I mean to proveto you that I am in fact as well as in title Tribune and Prince of theRepublic, Emperor of its armies, Augustus and Caesar. Your solicitude Iapplaud, but I feel better able to take care of myself than can any otherman save myself. I fear no man and appoint no man I distrust. I distrustfew men after appointment. You lodge a grave charge against a man I havetrusted, appointed and then trusted. I condemn few men unheard. As yourImperator I command you to camp where my legates indicate, to eat a heartynoon meal, to sleep, or at least rest in your tents, two full hours. Aboutthe tenth hour of the day I shall return, my trusty guards about me andPerennis himself in my retinue. From the platform of your camp, as a chiefcommander should, I will harangue you, and from that platform, after hehas heard from me your accusation, my Prefect of the Praetorium shall maketo you his defense. After he has spoken you shall hear me deliver just andimpartial judgment, a judgment no man of you can but accept as fair andrighteous. 

"And now farewell, until the tenth hour. "

At which word he had reined up, wheeled and spurred his mettlesome mountand thereupon vanished with his staff in a cloud of dust, at full gallop. 

According to the Emperor's behest we rested in our tents after thecenturions had each harangued his men. But if any slept, it was a marvel. All were too excited to sleep and every tent, as far as I could learn, talked without cessation. By the tenth hour, when the sun was visiblydeclining and the warmth of the midday abating, we were all assembled inthe camp-square, the men helmeted and with their swords at their sides, but without shields or spears. 

It was perfectly in keeping with the inconsistency of the mutineers thatthe crowd of men in the camp-square, instead of being marshalled bycenturies under their sergeants, was allowed to assemble mob-fashion aseach man came and pushed. Thus Agathemer and I, who should have beenpreparing to cook our company's evening meal, were not only in the throng, but well forward among the men and, in fact, pressed legs and chestsagainst the legs and backs of two veterans not far from the rearmostcenturions of the gathering of sergeants, not sixty feet from theplatform, and nearly opposite its middle, though a little to the left. Fewveteran privates heard and saw better than we. 

When the Imperial cortege arrived and the platform began to fill, we two, like the men around us and like, I feel sure, the entire gathering, wereamazed to see among the men four women, and Agathemer and I were doublyamazed to recognize one as Marcia. Agathemer, who knew the former slavesand present freedwomen of the Palace far better than I, whispered that theothers were the sister and wife of Perennis and the wife of Cleander, likehim a former slave and pampered freedman, and for long his rival. 

The platform, of course, was lined and partly filled with aides, lictors, equerries, pages, and other Imperial satellites before the Emperor rodeup, dismounted and appeared among his retinue. He strode springily to thefront and seated himself on the crimson cushion of the ivory curule seatwhich a lictor placed for him. Marcia, to my tenfold amazement, thenseated herself on a not dissimilar maple folding-seat, spread for her by apage. She was placed at the very front of the platform, next him on hisright. Next her was Cleander's wife, also, to my still greater amazement, similarly seated, as were the two almost as ornately clad ladies withPerennis, who sat on his left, he standing to the left of the Emperor, whowas set only a short yard in advance of the row of officials and intimateswho lined the front of the platform. 

Until all who had a right to places on the platform had mounted it andeach had stationed himself in his proper position, the Emperor sat quietlyregarding the mob of men facing him, eyeing us keenly and steadily. Anequerry leaned over and whispered to him and he stood up. I could feel themen thrill, even more positively than they had thrilled when he appearedfrom among his retinue. I conjectured, instantly, that he had felt, if notan actual dread of the mutineers, at least a doubt as to his ability toquell them and a need for all possible adventitious aids. Thus I explainedto myself his having donned, that morning, trappings such as his fatherhad worn on frontier campaigns, apparently with the purpose of elicitingthe sympathies of the men. 

He now wore a gilded helmet, elaborately chased, and its crest a carvedChimaera spouting golden flames, which golden spout of flames, with theChimaera's wings, formed the support from which waved his crimson plume, all of brilliantly dyed ostrich feathers. His corselet was similarlygilded or, perhaps, like the helmet, even of pure gold hammered andchased, adorned with depictions of the battles of the gods and giantsabove, and below with Trajan's victories over the Parthians. His kilt-straps were of crimson leather, plated with gilt or gold overlappingscales. His cloak was of the newest and most brilliant Imperial crimson. The platform was so high that I could clearly see his shapely calves andthe gold eagles embroidered on the sky-blue soft leather of his half-boots. In his hand, he held a short baton or truncheon, such as all field-commanders carry as an emblem of independent command, such as I had seenat Tegulata in the hand of Pescennius Niger. It was gilded or gold-platedand its ends were chased pine-cones. Manifestly every detail of hishabiting had been meticulously considered and the total effect carefullycalculated. Certainly he was not only handsome and winsome, but dignifiedand imposing, truly a princely and Imperial figure. Evidently he hadcalculatingly arrayed himself so as to appear at one and the same time asEmperor and as a field-commander. The effect on the men, if I could judge, was all he had wished, all he could have hoped for. He dominated the mobof men as he dominated the platform. 

There was no need of his wave of the arm enjoining silence. The silence, from his first movement as he rose, was as complete as possible. 

"Fellow-soldiers, " he said, and he spoke as well as the most practicedorator, audibly to all, smoothly and charmingly, "you have come fromBritain across the sea, across Gaul, across the Alps, and half the lengthof Italy, with the best intentions, with the sincerest hearts, to apprizeme of danger to me in my own Palace, danger unsuspected by me, as youbelieve. Your loyalty, your good intentions, your sincerity I realize andrejoice over. But I find it hard to believe that any soldiers in distantfrontier garrisons can be better informed than the Prince himself of whatgoes on in Italy, in Rome, in the very Palace. You have lodged the gravestaccusations against one of my most important and most trusted officials. Ishall now state your charges, that the accused man may hear them now forthe first time from my own lips and may here and now make his defence toyou and to me. "

He paused. My eyes had been on Commodus and now shifted to Perennis. Perennis was a handsome man, but in spite of, rather than because of, hisbuild and features. Even through the splendid trappings of Prefect of thePraetorium he appeared too tall and too thin, his neck was too long, hisface too long, his ears too big, his long nose overhung his upper lip. Hewas impressive and capable looking but appeared too crafty, too foxy. Ifelt sure that he had not the least suspicion of what was coming. Helooked all vanity, self-satisfaction and vainglorious self-sufficiency. 

"Fellow-soldiers, " the Emperor went on, "you charge that my Prefect of thePraetorium is not loyal, but is most treacherous; that he has been, formore than two years, plotting my death and the elevation to thePrincipiate of his eldest son, now Procurator of Illyricum. As he has nowheard the charge, so you shall now hear the defense of my Prefect of thePraetorium. "

I must say that Perennis, though manifestly thunderstruck, kept hissenses, kept his self-command and, after a brief instant in which hepaled, swayed and seemed utterly dazed, rose to the occasion. For thatbrief instant he appeared as overcome as his horrified wife and sister, who all but fainted on their seats; as his horrified sons, who stood, agape, dead-pale, one by his white-faced mother, and the other by hisincredulous aunt. 

Perennis, certainly, gathered himself together promptly, got himself underfull control, had all his wits about him and made a perfectly conceived, finely delivered, coherent, logical, telling speech in his own defence. Itwas long, but nowhere diffuse, and it held the attention manifestly, notonly of the mutineers, but of the Emperor himself, and of all his retinue, even the most vacuous of the mere courtiers. As he ended it, it was plainthat Perennis believed he had cleared himself completely and had not onlyvindicated himself before his master, but had convinced the mutineers ofhis guiltlessness and loyalty. His expression of face, as he wound up hiseloquent peroration, was that of a man who, unexpectedly to himself, transmounts insuperable difficulties and triumphs. 

Confidently he turned to Commodus; smiling and at ease, he awaited hisdecision. The Emperor stood up, more dominating, if possible, than before. 

"Fellow-soldiers, " he said, "watch me closely and listen carefully. What Ido shall be as significant as what I say. I have pondered your chargessince you made them this morning. In my mind I have run over all that Iknew of this man's doings and sayings since I made him the guardian of mypersonal safety. I have let him hear your charges from my own lips and, like you, I have listened patiently to his brilliant and able speech inhis own defence. I am Prince of the Republic and Emperor of its armies, tofavor no man, to do and speak impartial justice to all men alike. 

"You know what happens to the shirker who sleeps on his post when onsentry-duty about a camp at night in the face of the enemy. If guilty ofwhat you charge any Prefect of the Praetorium deserves not otherwise thansuch a traitor. I have heard all this man has to say. I did not believeyou this morning. I do not disbelieve you now. I do not believe this man, I believe he has been treacherous and that in his dexterous defence justnow he lied. Watch me! I turn him over to you. "

And, with a really magnificent gesture, he stepped half a pace away fromPerennis, stretched out his left arm, the golden baton in his hand, and, with that fatal truncheon, touched him on the shoulder. 

The roar that rose was the roar of wild beasts ravening for their prey. The men, packed as they were, somehow surged forward. On the shoulders oftheir fellow-centurions, a sort of billow of the foremost sergeants roselike surf against a rock; like surf breaking against a rock a sort of foamof them overflowed the front of the platform. For the twinkling of an eyeI beheld above this rising tide of executioners the imperious dignity ofthe Emperor, master of the scene, self-confident and certain that all menwould approve of his decision, magnificent in his military trappings; theincredulous amazement of Perennis, his pale, watery blue eyes bleared inhis lead-colored, bloodless face, as he stood dazed and numb; the horrorof his bedizened wife and sister, both fleshy women, dark-skinned andnormally red-cheeked, now gray with despair, like the two wretched ladsbeside them; the cruelly feminine relish, as upon the successful fruitionof long and tortuous intrigues, blazoned on the faces of Marcia and ofCleander's wife, a very showy woman with golden hair, violet eyes and adelicately pink and white complexion: a similar expression of relishedtriumph on the broad, fat, ruddy face of her big husband, who looked justwhat he had been; a man who had started life as a slave; whose master hadthought him likely to be most profitably employed as a street porter, inwhich capacity he had for years carried packs, crates, bales, chests, rafters and such like immensely heavy loads long distances and had thrivenon his exertions; who, whatever brains he had since displayed, howevermuch character and merit had contributed to his dazzling rise in life, hadretained and still possessed a hearty appetite, a perfect digestion, mighty muscles, hard and solid, all over his hulking frame, and the vaststrength of his early prime; all these chief actors framed against abackground of gaudily caparisoned officers and courtiers. 

In scarcely more than the twinkling of an eye Perennis. Was seized by fourbrawny frontier sergeants and hurled down among the men, among whom hevanished like a lynx under a pack of dogs. I caught no afterglimpse of himnor of his frayed corpse; I descried only a sort of whirlpool of activemen about the spot where he had, as it were, sunk into their vortex. 

When the flailing arms ceased flailing and the panting executioners stoodquiet, the Emperor stretched out his right hand for silence; the rumblingsnarls and growls of the mob abated till silence reigned. Into it hespoke:

"You know the custom of our fathers since Numa. The family of a traitor isabolished with him. "

There came a second roar of the ravening, ferocious men, a second surge ofthe foremost up the face of the platform, and, instantly, the sons, wifeand sister of Perennis were pushed from it, cast down among the mob, andnever reappeared. After the mob quieted a second time Commodus againraised his hand for silence. Quicker than before the men were still. Hespoke loud and clear: "You have saved me from a treacherous Prefect ofthe Praetorium. I have meditated whom to appoint to his vacant post. Ihave considered well. I now present him to you; my faithful henchman, Cleander of Mazaca, who, by his own deserts, has won citizenship in theRepublic, equestrian rank and my favor and gratitude. "

The mob cheered. 

CHAPTER XXIV

THE MASSACRE

Retrospectively, Cleander is talked of, if at all, chiefly as having beenbrutish, dull, stupid, venal, avaricious and cruel. Cruel and avaricioushe certainly became; venal and brutish he certainly seemed; but dull orstupid I cannot admit that he ever was. Indubitably, at the time of hisappointment to be Prefect of the Praetorium, he possessed some qualitiesfitting him, as he later was, to be entrusted by his self-indulgent masterwith the administration of the whole Empire. Certainly he was quick-thinking, prompt, ingenious, incredibly persuasive, resolute and ruthless, which qualities go far towards equipping a ruler. Without thesecharacteristics he could not have conceived or adopted the plan which hesuccessfully executed. 

Commodus caught Cleander's eye, nodded to him and sat down. Confident andsmiling, Oleander stepped forward to the platform's railing and addressedus. 

"As Prefect of the Praetorium, I am charged with the care of the personalsafety of our Prince in his Palace, in the City and wherever he may be. Among measures for his personal safety I rate high the maintenance ofdiscipline and loyalty among his frontier garrisons or theirreëstablishment if impaired. By his command you are to return speedilywhence you came and tell your fellows of the complete success of yourmission. I must be sure that your report will satisfy them, that you setout on your return fully satisfied yourselves. Are you satisfied? I askyour senior sergeant to act as spokesman. After he has spoken I shall giveall who desire it the opportunity to speak. "

Sextius Baculus at once replied that they were not satisfied while thepost of Procurator of Illyricum was held by the eldest son of Perennis, orwhile he held any office, or, in fact, while he was alive. 

Cleander, in a loud, far-carrying voice, apprized the entire assemblage ofwhat Baculus had said, and replied to him:

"From now on I am in charge of all matters pertaining to the personalsafety of Caesar, including the apprehension and execution of all traitorsand potential traitors. You may rely implicitly on me without suggestionsfrom anyone to take all measures which may be necessary in all such cases. In this case you may feel assured that I have already initiated measureswhich will infallibly lead to the traitor's return to Italy, without anyunsettlement of the loyalty of the Illyrian garrisons, to his beingquietly arrested and as quietly executed. Are you satisfied?"

The answer was a roar of cheers, roar after roar. When the cheeringsubsided Cleander, three separate times, urged anyone who wished to speakup. No man spoke. Then he said:

"I am commissioned by Caesar to repeat to you explicitly what he hashimself partly expressed to you twice today: his appreciation of yourfealty and good intentions, his thanks for your good order on your marchfrom Britain and for your having saved him from unsuspected peril, and hisgratitude. But please take note and remember that Caesar speciallycommissions me to say to you that no similar deputation from Britain orfrom anywhere else will ever be permitted to reach Rome, to enter Italy oreven to set out from the posts assigned to its members. Any attempt atsuch a deputation will be treated, not as well-meant effort to help ourSovereign, but as sacrilegious rebellion against him. 

"Also please note that, whereas he has accepted your advice and acted uponit, any further expression of advice from any of you or any future attemptof any legionaries to advise the Emperor will be regarded as an unbearableact of insolence and presumption and dealt with as such. Caesar commandsyou to be silent and obey. 

"Through me he notifies you that your stay at Rome is to be short, thatyou are, within a few days, under officers appointed by him, to set out onyour return march to your Gallic port, there to reëmbark for Britain, there to guard the frontier or keep order in the provinces. As apreparation, for your return march he bids you rest and feast; and, thatall may feast, he has lavishly provided food and wine, which you will findready at your quarters, and with that provision an ample force of cooksand servitors to prepare and distribute your banquet. Caesar now goes todine and bids you disperse to dine. I have spoken for Caesar. Obey!"

Less heartily, perhaps, but universally, this haughty speech was respondedto by loud, tumultuous and long-lasting cheers. More cheers saluted theEmperor when he stood up and followed him till he had vanished with hisretinue, at full gallop. The men even continued to cheer until Cleander'swife and Marcia had entered their gilded carriages and been driven off inthe wake of the Imperial cortege. 

Our evening meal was truly, as Cleander had called it, a feast and abanquet. When we reached our quarters the food was ready and just readyand our repast began at once. It was calculated, in every particular, toinduce gluttonous gorging and guzzling. Before our hunger was reallysatisfied, before we had more than barely begun to drink the temptinglyexcellent wine, Agathemer whispered in Greek:

"This banquet is an attempt to make all of us sleep far too soundly. Everyman of us will be surfeited with food and fuddled with wine. You and Imust be exceptions. Be sure to eat less than you want and to make a mereshow of drinking. We must keep awake. "

We did, and, in our tent, discussed in whispers our situation. 

"North of Nuceria, " Agathemer said, "I judged that we should be safer byourselves than with these fools and rabble, but they kept such close watchon us that the risks of escape were too great. South of Narnia I havejudged us better off where we were than if wandering alone. Now whateverthe risks of an attempt to escape, whatever the perils we may encounter ifwe escape, try to escape we must. I have an intuition that this camp is, tonight, the most dangerous spot in all Italy. "

We peered out of the tent at intervals; without hindrance or danger, forour tent-mates were utterly asleep. The night was windless and warm. Amoon, more than half full, rose about midnight and, as it climbed the sky, shed a pearly light through a veil of mist which deepened and thickened. Near the ground the mist was so thick that it made escape easy, thoughblundering likely. 

We tried to judge our time so as to start a full hour before the firststreak of dawn. We traversed unhindered a camp sunk in sleep, where weheard no sound but crapulous snorings. Northward, towards the MulvianBridge, we sneaked out into the tomb-lined meadows. Through or above thedense fog we could spy the pinnacles of several vast and ambitiousmausoleums glittering in the moon-rays. 

We were not a hundred yards from the camp when I dimly perceived ahead ofus through the fog something like a wall or stockade about two yards high. A step or two further, at the same moment at which I made out that it wasa serried rank of helmetted men, a challenge rang out, sharp andperemptory. 

Instantaneously we dropped on our hands and knees and crawled back tocamp. 

"I told you I had a suspicion that this was a dangerous locality, "Agathemer whispered when we had stood up and gotten our breath. "Thosewere regular infantry of some sort. We can only hope that they are on thatside only. Let's try towards Rome. "

There, at about the same distance we were similarly challenged. 

In camp again Agathemer said:

"Those were Praetorian infantrymen, and they were standing shoulder toshoulder. This looks bad. But I believe in taking every possible chance. Let's try towards the road. "

Eastwards also we encountered the like obstacle. 

Back we crawled unpursued. As we skurried through the snoring camp, unperceived by the sodden sleepers, Agathemer said, aloud:

"This looks increasingly bad. The Praetorians are standing withinterlocked elbows; they look unpleasantly like samples of a completecordon round the camp. The mounted Praetorians are behind them not twohorse-lengths and less than that apart. I divined some sort of troopsmassed behind the cavalrymen. I feel frightened. "

Out we raced towards the broad Tiber, towards it we crept through fogacross the meadow. Again we were challenged. The cordon was, apparently, complete. 

As we regained the camp Agathemer said:

"If we are to escape alive we need all our craft, and we must be quick. "

We sprinted, not to our quarters, but to those of the British veterans. Into each tent we peered. 

Every tent was empty!

Agathemer, plainly, felt in a desperate hurry, yet he took time to glanceinto the most of the hundred and fifty tents, tearing along past the linesof them. He also took time, after our brief inspection was finished, topause, get his breath and say:

"This looks worse than bad. I miss my guess if many of these slumbererswake alive. Strip!"

We stripped of everything except our amulet bags. 

Then, at full run, stark naked, our unsheathed sheath-knives in our hands, we raced through the fog, now glimmering with the first forehint of comingdawn, along the inner edge of the veterans' tents, till we were oppositethe quarters of the tumultuary century formed from the outpourings of the_ergastulum_, at Nuceria. 

Into one of the veterans' tents we went. 

"Knife in teeth!" said Agathemer. 

The tents were lavishly provided with unsoldierly comforts, a doubleallowance of blankets and mattresses stuffed with dried reeds or sedge. Motioning me to help, Agathemer doubled a mattress and pressed on it tillit lay so. Then he doubled another and set it so that the two were about ayard apart, with their folds towards each other. Another pair he setsimilarly so that the interval between the folds was over two yards long. Then we roofed the interval, so to speak, with two mattresses laid flat, and laid two more on each of these. Not yet satisfied Agathemer led me outfour times to drag in, from the near-by tents, mattresses, two of which welaid lengthwise over the triple mattress-roof, the others we heaped overthe end of the roofed tunnel furthest from the opening of the tent. 

Then we went outside yet again and cut the ropes of the two adjacent tentsand of the one above the pile of mattresses. We threw our knives far awayand bunched up the collapsed canvas of that tent so that it formed a sortof continuation of the mattress-roofed tunnel. Then we crawled, feetfirst, into the tunnel, taking with us two full water-bottles whichAgathemer had found in one of the tents and a quarter loaf of bread, leftover from the banquet. It smelt appetizing. 

We wriggled into the tunnel side by side, until our heads were well underthe mattress-roof. We could see out under the huddled, crumpled canvas. Full in our limited view lay, in the middle of the camp street, a fatNucerian, the outline of his big chest and prominent paunch dimly visiblein the increasing light. His gurgling snores were plainly audible. 

Agathemer broke off two fragments of the bread and we munchedruminatively. 

We had hardly swallowed three mouthfuls when Agathemer exclaimed:

"Just in time! I can hear the arrows already! Listen!"

We listened. I could hear a sound as of hail on roofs. And, just above us, I could hear the arrows plunge into our protecting mound with a swishing, rending thud. 

"We ought to be safe, " Agathemer whispered. "But we may get skewered evenas we are. Volleyed arrows drive deep. "

I heard many a volley and, after the first, since I was listening for it, I heard faintly before each volley the deep boom of thousands of powerfulbows, twanging all at the same instant. 

As the light increased I could see the drunken Nucerian with his hummockyoutline emphasized by five feathered arrows planted in his body. He musthave been killed by any of the five. 

When we saw living men pass across our outlook, their legs looked likethose of some sort of foreign auxiliaries. I made the conjecture, fromtheir movements, that they were killing the merely wounded. Certainly, oneof them drove his long sword through the prostrate, arrow-skeweredNucerian; and, sometime later, another, with quite a different type ofleg-coverings, did the like. 

After daylight we saw pass by the legs of many Praetorian infantrymen andof some cavalrymen. From the second hour we saw only legs of some novelsort of regular soldiery whose trappings neither of us could recognize. 

It grew hot in our hiding place. We talked in whispers; while talking weseemed more indifferent to the heat. 

Agathemer said:

"All this must have been planned beforehand and carefully and veryskillfully carried out. It took ingenuity, minutely detailed arrangementsand great skill to arrange that banquet so as to get all the tumultuaryadditions to the deputation surfeited and dead drunk and yet keep theveteran legionaries near enough to being sober to be waked up, marshalledand marched out. And it took amazing eloquence to wheedle their centurionsinto abandoning their invited associates. The whole thing is a miracle. Ican't see through it. "

I may interpolate here, what I learned more than four years later, afterCleander's downfall and death and after my return from Africa, thatAgathemer's conjectures, as we talked the matter over in our nook, werecorrect. Perennis had formulated the plan and had prepared for it andgiven the preliminary orders. His was the policy of allowing the mutineersto march all the way to Rome unhindered. He, without consulting theEmperor and with every care to prevent him from suspecting what was afoot, imported a thousand archers from Crete, and as many mounted bowmen fromNumidia, from Mauretania and from Gaetulia. He planned the banquet-feast, he made arrangements for the cordon of Praetorians. The massacre was hisidea. 

Cleander must have known of all this; he could not, like Commodus, be keptin ignorance. Either before he came to our camp, or, perhaps, in hiselation at his rival's ruin and his own success, he adopted the readyplan. Most likely the separation from their fellows of the veteranmutineers was all his own idea; Perennis was not the man to carry out sobold a stroke nor so much as to conceive of it. Indubitably, after dark, the eighteen veteran sergeants were secretly called to a meeting withCleander. The fellow must have possessed superhuman powers of persuasion. Certainly he made a long speech in which he convinced the leaders of themutineers that their having associated with themselves tumultuary recruitsin Gaul and the liberated inmates of _ergastula_ in Italy was inconsistentwith their expressed loyalty to Caesar and the Commonwealth; that by suchaction, they had gravely imperilled the very existence of the Republic andthe safety of their Emperor. He won them over so completely that theyacceded, without hesitation, to his dictum that they ought to do all intheir power to repair the ill effects of their error of judgment; that theonly way was to abandon their associates, to leave them for him to dealwith and to march with all speed back to Britain to reassure their fellow-insurgents and reclaim Britain to effective loyalty. 

So completely were they under his spell that they returned to their camp, roused their men without waking any of their tumultuary associates, andmarched the whole body of veterans, in the night, across the MulvianBridge and on all day to a prepared camp near Careiae, where they spentthe night. From there they marched in two days the forty-six miles toCosa; whence they followed the Aurelian road to Marseilles, as we hadridden it, and from there marched across Gaul to Gessoriacum and shippedfor Britain, all in half the time in which they had come. 

Agathemer and I spent the whole day in our hiding place, sufferingterribly from the heat, for the day was hot, muggy and breezeless, so thatthe still sultry air was stifling. We spared our water-bottles and madetheir contents last. Our bread we munched relishingly after noon. 

Before sunset we were discovered and unearthed by some of the infantrywhose trappings were unknown to us. We found out later that they belongedto the newly-enlisted Viarii, cohorts created from picked young men judgedagile, alert, intelligent and loyal, to act as a special road-constabularyto deal with robbers and especially with the bands obeying the King of theHighwaymen and with him. 

Our captors did not treat us roughly, though they bound our hands behindus effectually. They laughed over our device for escaping the arrows andcommented on our cleverness. Our amulet-bags they ignored, being moreinterested in our brand-marks and scourge-scars. Their sergeant asked uswhere we were from. 

"Do you think it likely, " Agathemer laughed, "that we would tell you;can't you read on our backs that, wherever we came from it is the lastplace on earth we want to go back to?"

The sergeant laughed genially. 

"Mark 'em 'unidentified', " he ordered. 

They clothed us in tunics innocent of any blood-stains, but which, we feltsure, had been taken from the corpses of our late associates. 

"Put 'em with the rest, " the sergeant ordered. 

With the rest, some three hundred survivors out of more than threethousand tumultuaries, we were herded inside a convoy of constabulary andmarched in the dusk and dark to our former camp at Rubrae. There we wereliberally fed on what was, apparently, the leavings from the entertainmentafforded the mutineers there on their down-march. 

Next morning we were lined up and inspected by a superior officer with twoorderlies and two secretaries. As he passed down the rank in whichAgathemer and I stood he eyed us keenly. After a time he returned andsaid:

"These two rascals are trying to keep together. Separate them!"

Thereafter I saw no more of Agathemer for over four years. 

I do not wish to dwell on my wretchedness, after we were parted. Aloneamong riffraff, I was very miserable. I mourned for the faithful fellowand knew he mourned for me. I longed for him as keenly as if he had beenmy twin-brother. 

I and my fellows were marched on under close convoy, up the FlaminianHighway and the batch among which I was, was cast into the _ergastulum_ atNuceria. 

There I passed a miserable winter. Our prison was not unlike the_ergastulum_ at Placentia; ill-designed, damp, cold, filthy, swarming withvermin and crowded with wretches like myself. I was despondent in myloneliness and found harder to bear my shiverings, my fitful half-sleep inmy foul infested bunk, the horrible food, the grinding labor, the stripesand blows and insults of the guards and overseers and the jeers of myinhuman fellow-sufferers. This time I had no chance of becoming cook's-helper or of easing my circumstances in any other manner. I spent theentire winter haggard for sleep, underclad, underfed, overworked, shivering, beaten and abused. 

Conditions in that _ergastulum_ were more than amazing. It was so utterlymismanaged that, in fact, very little effective work was done, though theinmates were roused early, set to their tasks before they could reallysee, lashed all day, given but a very brief rest at noon and released onlyafter dusk. Half the prisoners judiciously directed could have groundtwice as much grain. As it was, the superintendent and overseers had farless real authority than a sort of dictator elected or selected ortolerated by the rabble. He had a sort of senate of the six most ruffianlyof the prisoners. These seven ruled the _ergastulum_ and their power waseffective for overworking and underfeeding, even more than the generality, those whom they disliked, and for diminishing the labors and increasingthe rations of their favorites. The existence of this secret governmentamong the rabble was in itself astonishing, its methods yet more so. 

Unlike the _ergastulum_ at Placentia the watch at the _ergastulum_ atNuceria was very lax and haphazard. It was effective at keeping us in;there were but three escapes all winter. But communication with theoutside world was fairly easy and was kept up unceasingly. Many of theinmates had friends among the slaves of Nuceria. The gate-guards were soremiss that, daily, one or more outsiders entered our prison and left whenthey pleased. The henchmen of the dictator even managed to slip out andspend an hour or more where they pleased in the city. This, however, waspossible only if they returned soon, for the superintendent was keen oncalling us over three times a day. 

Through the activities of those inmates who arranged to get out andreturn, and of their friends who entered and left, since the weighers ofthe grain and flour were careless and their inspectors negligent, thedictator and his friends drove a regular and profitable trade in stolenflour, which they exchanged for wine, oil, dainties, stolen clothing andsuch other articles as they desired; they even sold much of it for cash, and not only the dictator but each of the six senators had a hoard ofcoins, not merely coppers, but broad silver pieces. 

In this traffic and its advantages I had no share. In fact, of all hisfellows, I think the dictator hated me most; certainly he bullied me, mademy lot harder in countless petty ways, and abused and insulted meconstantly. 

After mid-winter I became aware of a traffic not only in dainties andwine, but in implements and weapons. Many daggers and knives were smuggledinto the _ergastulum_, not a few files. The senators had a small arsenalof old swords, regular infantry swords, rusty but dangerous. Gradually Iheard whispers of a plot. The conspirators were to file through the barsof more than one window, plastering up the filed places with filth andearth to conceal the filing, leaving a thread of metal to hold the filedbars in place. Then, when all was ready, they planned to murder theguards, overseers and superintendent, break out, sack the town-arsenal, loot shops and mansions, and then, well-clad and fully armed, take to themountains and join the bands of the King of the Highwaymen. Two of thesenators claimed to have been men of his before their incarceration andpromised to lead the rest to the haunts of his brigands. 

The date set for their attempt was the fourteenth day before the Kalendsof April, a few days before the Vernal Equinox. My gorge rose at the ideaof the burning and sacking of Nuceria, even at the slaughter of our cruelguards, overseers and superintendent. The more I thought the matter overthe less I liked the prospect. I had every reason to hate the dictator andsenators. I saw no likelihood of betterment for myself if I were carriedoff with these riffraff as one of a band of looters, murderers andoutlaws, loose in the forests. 

I contrived to disclose the plot to the prison authorities. As a resultthe _ergastulum_ was entered by the town guards, rigorously searched bythe aldermen and their apparitors, under the aldermen's eyes, all the sawnbars, files, knives, daggers and swords discovered, the suspected mentortured till the ring-leaders were identified, the dictator and hissenators flogged and manacled, and the management of the _ergastulum_renovated. 

I was conducted from the prison, given a bath, clothed in a clean, warmtunic and cloak, provided with good shoes, abundantly fed and put to sleepin a clean bed in the house of a freedman who watched closely that I didnot escape, but did everything to make me comfortable. 

The next day the chief alderman of Nuceria interrogated me at the townhall, praised me, declared that I had saved the town many horrors and muchdamage and loss, and asked me what reward I craved. 

I answered, boldly, that what I craved was what all slaves craved:freedom. 

He replied that, in his opinion, I had merited manumission; but that I wasnot the property of the municipality of Nuceria, but of the _fiscus_;[Footnote: See Note B. ] I was, in short, part of the personal property ofthe Emperor and could be manumitted only by the Emperor, or by one of hislegal representatives. Such a manumission would be difficult to arrangeand its arrangement would take a long time. He would set to work to try toarrange for it. Meantime, could I not ask some reward within their powerto grant?

I at once replied that I desired above all things never to be returned tothat _ergastulum_. 

This he promised immediately, saying that recommitment there would beequivalent to a sentence of torture and death, since my late associates, infuriated at my treachery, as they named it, would certainly inflict onme all the torments their malignity could suggest and keep on till I died. He added that he and the other aldermen had never meant to recommit me;deliverance from that _ergastulum_. They considered part of my reward andthat the least part of it. What else did I desire?

"If, " said I, "I must remain a slave and, remaining the property ofCaesar, must be employed as the administration of the _fiscus_ direct, atleast try to arrange that I be employed out of doors far from any town, ona slave farm, or at herding or wood-cutting or charcoal-burning. I haveheard that many of Caesar's slave-gangs are busy afield, on farms, orpasture-lands or in the forests. "

"That, " said the alderman, "will be easy. Afield you shall go--even farafield. Do you like horses? Can you manage horses?"

"I love all animals, " I said, "and most particularly horses. "

"Then, " said the alderman, "I have already in mind the very place for you, where none of your rancorous late associates can ever find you, on anImperial stock-farm or breeding-ranch in the uplands, among the forestedmountains. Would you consider it a reward, would you consider it thefulfillment of your wish to be transferred from our town _ergastulum_, where you were as an Imperial slave rented out to our city, to such anImperial estate, where you will be directly under the employees of the_fiscus_?"

"I certainly should feel rewarded, " I said, "by such a transfer. "

"In addition, " he concluded, "we shall present you with a new tunic andcloak and new shoes, also an extra tunic, and with a purse containing tensilver pieces. "

CHAPTER XXV

THE OPEN COUNTRY

After some days of rest, abundant food and leisurely hot-baths in thefreedman's house, I left Nuceria under convoy of three genial road-constables and journeyed deliberately northward along the FlaminianHighway to the Imperial estate which was to be my abode. I am not going tolocate it precisely nor to name the villages nearest it nor theneighboring towns. It will be quite sufficient to set down that it wasnear the Flaminian Highway and approximately half way between Nuceria andForum Sempronii. 

My reasons for vagueness are mandatory, to my mind. Feuds in the Umbrianmountains differ greatly from feuds in the Sabine hills; but, likeSabinum, Umbria is afflicted with feuds. Now I anticipate that this bookwill not only be widely read among our nobility and gentry and muchdiscussed by them, but also that it will be talked of by more than halfRome and that copies of it and talk about it will spread all over Italyand even into the provinces. Talk of it may trickle into the Umbrianmountains. Umbrian mountaineers live long. Some of those who loved me andbefriended me or loved and befriended those who loved and befriended me, may still be alive and hearty and likely to live many years yet. So alsomay be some of those who hated me. I do not want anyone holding a grudge, or nursing the grudge of a dead kinsman or friend, to learn through me ofany secret kindness to me which he might regard as treachery to his kinand so feel impelled to avenge on those who befriended me or theirchildren or grandchildren. Umbrian enmities ramify incredibly and endurefrom generation to generation. I remember with gratitude many Umbrians whowere kind to me; I would not, however, indirectly cause any trouble tothem in their old age, or to their descendants. 

The Imperial estate was large and I learned its history. It was made up ofthree adjacent properties confiscated at different periods by differentEmperors. One had fallen to the _fiscus_ under Nero, a second underDomitian, and a third under Trajan, each as the result of its owner beingimplicated in a conspiracy against the Emperor. The administration of theresultant large estate was a perfect sample of the excellent management indetail and stupid misjudgment in general so common under the _fiscus_. Theestate was hilly, some of it mountainous, and quite unfitted for horse-breeding, which is best engaged in, as everybody knows, on estatescomposed chiefly of wide-spreading plains or gently rolling country withbroad, flat meadows. Good judgment would have put this estate chiefly inforest, with a few cattle, some sheep and more goats, but no horses. As Ifound it, it had, to be sure, many goats, but almost as many sheep andcattle, and horses almost as numerous as the cattle and far moreimportant, for to their breeding most of the efforts of the overseer weredirected. 

The overseer's house was the best of the three original villas. About itwere ample, commodious and scrupulously clean quarters for slaves like me. Also it had yards for fowls, ducks, geese, guinea-fowls, and peacocks, arranged before the confiscation and allowed since to run down, but stillproductive and fairly well-filled with birds, as were the big dovecotes. Besides, there were fish ponds and a rabbit-warren, left from the formervilla. There were extensive stables, cattle-sheds and pens, sheep-folds, goat-runs and pig-sties adjoining the house. In the quarters I found agoodly company of hearty, healthy, contented slaves, sty-wards, goatherds, shepherds, cowmen and horse-wranglers. These were friendly from my firstarrival among them, seemed to look me over deliberately and appraise me, and appeared to like me. 

I was first sent out as one of two assistants to an experienced herder incharge of a rather large herd of beef-steers. We drove them up themountains to a grassy glade and, when they had eaten down the grass there, to another. Our duties were light, as the steers were not very wild orfierce and were easy to keep together, to keep in motion by day and tokeep stationary by night. Each night two of us slept by a smouldering fireand the third circled about the herd as the steers lay sleeping or chewingtheir cuds. The circling was done at the horse's slowest walk. Our horseswere good, our food good, and my two companions genial, though reticent. 

Only once did any of our charges bolt. Then, when we missed three steers, our senior asked me:

"Do you think you could find them and fetch them back?"

On my affirming confidence that I could he smiled doubtfully, and shookhis head, but drawled:

"I'll give you the chance, just to try you out. "

I found the runaways with no trouble whatever, for their trail was nowherefaint, turned them easily and brought them back, manifestly, much soonerthan he had hoped. He appeared pleased, but merely grunted. 

Yet he must have spoken well of me to the superintendent, for after aday's rest in the slave-quarters I was assigned the sole care of a smallbunch of young cows with their first calves. It seemed to be assumed thatI would make no attempt to escape. As I had been given a good horse and aserviceable rain-cloak, I had thoroughly enjoyed my life from the start. 

The landscape was charming, the climate agreeable, spring was approaching, I was out in the open air, camping at night by a fire wherever my chargeslay down to sleep, eating what I chose of the ample supply of good foodwhich I carried in my saddle-bags. I was happy, thoroughly happy, and Ithrove from my arrival. I still mourned for Agathemer, but I did not misshim as acutely as I had in the _ergastulum_. 

After about ten days in the woodland glades I brought my charges back tothe villa for inspection, according to orders. The inspector was pleasedwith their condition and commended me. Some of the fellow-herdsmen, offduty, stood or sat about and they seemed to approve. 

One of them asked:

"Have much trouble, Greenhorn?"

"Not a bit, " I answered. 

"How'd you like to try to milk one of those cows?" another enquired. 

"I can milk any one of them, " I replied. "I have milked most of them. I'vebeen drinking all the milk I could hold all the while I was out withthem. "

"That's the silliest lie I ever heard, " they chorused. "Why, if you triedto handle any one of those cows she'd gore you to death. You couldn't getnear enough to the udder of any one of them to get your hand on her teats. Invent a lie we can swallow, or quit bragging. You can't fool us. "

I kept my temper, scaled the enclosure of the cow-pen, being careful notto make any sudden movement, strolled to the nearest cow, stroked hernose, pulled her ears, walked down her flank, patting her as I went andhandled her udder. 

"What have you to say now?" I called to the gaping yokels. 

"Try that on another, " they shouted back. 

I did the like with two more. 

They were dumb. 

"Hand me a crock, " I called, "and I'll get a quart or so of milk, if thecalves have left any. "

When, one handed me a small _olla_ I milked it more than half-full from adozen cows. I exhibited the milk, offered it to them, and, on theirlaughingly replying that they were no milk-sops, they preferred wine, Idrank most of it. Then I went to the nearest calf, gentled it, picked itup, lifted it onto my back, its legs sticking out in front of me across myshoulders, and paced back and forth along the inside of the fence, themother following me, licking the calf and lowing, but mild and with noshow of anger, let alone any threat of attack on me. 

Before I put the calf down the superintendent came along. 

"What's all this?" he queried. 

"Felix here, " he was answered, "is a sort of wizard. He can gentle thesecows, he can milk them, and he has been showing off how one will let himcarry her calf and yet not get excited. "

"Can you do as well with bulls, too?" the _Villicus_ enquired. 

"I think so, " I replied. I had put down the calf and climbed out of thecow-pen. 

"Come along!" the _Villicus_ commanded. 

We trooped off to a pen where there was a fine breeding-bull all alone. 

"Get inside, lad!" said the _Villicus_; "that is, if you dare. But be sureyou are ready to vault out again, and entirely able to clear the pen. "

I climbed into the pen and stood. The bull gazed at me, but made nothreatening movement and his demeanor was placid. I walked up to him, apace at a time, patted his nose, pulled his ears, walked round him, stroking him, took hold of the ring in his nose and led him over towardthe awestruck gapers:

When I climbed out of the pen one man said:

"Try him on old Scrofa. "

We trooped off to the hog-pens and there was a six or eight-year-old sowwith a young litter. She was a huge beast, as ugly a sow as ever I saw. Igot into her pen, miring half to my knees in its filth, but keeping myfeet. She made no move to attack me, but grunted enquiringly. I picked upone of her pigs, it hardly squealed and she grunted scarcely more than shehad already. I dangled the piglet before her, and she only smelt it andkept on grunting, with no sign of wrath. 

"Come out, Felix, " the _Villicus_ drawled, "you are sow-proof. But how doyou do it?"

"I don't know, " I replied, "but I have always been able to gentle fierceanimals of any kind. No animal ever attacks me. "

Thereupon he tried me with three rams famous for butting, two he-goats ofeven worse reputation and half a score of watch-dogs. I came unscathedfrom close companionship with the goats and rams, and the dogs behaved asif they had been my pets from their puppyhood. 

"Can you do as well with horses?" the _Villicus_ enquired. 

"I believe so, " I replied; "give me a chance. "

"I shall, " he asserted. "I'll round up all our colts fit for breaking andtry you on them. I'll get in most of the boys to watch the fun. It'll takeabout ten days to get ready. Meanwhile you can take out another bunch ofheifers with new calves. It seems to suit you and the calves and theheifers. "

When I returned from my third outing, hard and fit and happy, the_Villicus_ asked me how soon I would be ready for colt-breaking. 

"Tomorrow, " I said. 

The next day was made a sort of festival, with all the horse-herders atthe villa paddocks. 

First of all four experienced horse-wranglers roped a filly, threw her, bitted and bridled her while one sat on her head, let her get on her feet, hobbled her, held her so while two more saddled her and then held herwhile one mounted her. When they let her go she reared, bucked, dashedabout, bucked again and again, and continued till exhaustion forced her toquiet down and obey her rider, who had kept his seat from the first. 

"What do you think of that, Felix?" the _Villicus_ asked me. 

"As good horse-wrangling as can be seen anywhere, " I replied. "Up tostandard and even above normal. But I can do better. "

"Bold words, " said the _Villicus_; "we'll give you a chance to provethem. "

Another filly was roped, bitted, bridled, and saddled, and her captorsinvited me to mount. 

"Pooh!" said I. "Let some one else ride her. I don't need all thosepreliminaries. I can walk right out into that bunch of colts, catch anyyoung stallion you point out, hold him by the nose, gentle him without anyrope or thong on him, mount him by vaulting onto his back, and ride himabout unbitted, unbridled, bareback, and as I please, without his rearingor backing or kicking. "

"Son, " said the _Villicus_, "you are either a lunatic or a demigod. Go inand try what you boast you can do. Show us. "

"Point out your stallion, " I suggested. 

He indicated a beautiful bay with a white face. He let me approach him atmy first attempt, let me take him by the nose, let me lead him close to mydumbfounded audience, let me mount him. I rode him about, turning him toright or left as the _Villicus_ ordered, at my suggestion. When I got offI lifted each of his hoofs in succession, crawled under his belly, crawledbetween his fore-legs, and then between his hind-legs, while the onlookersheld their breath; finally I stood behind him, slapped his rump and pulledhis tail. 

"Is he broken?" I queried. 

"Apparently he is gentle as a lamb to you, " the _Villicus_ admitted, "buthow about the rest of us?"

"Bring in a saddle and bridle, " I suggested, "and I'll bit him and holdhim while two of you saddle him and until one of you mounts him. He shouldbe no more dangerous than a roped filly. "

They did as I suggested and I then rode him about until he appeared usedto the saddle and bit and already, at once, bridle-wise. Then one of thewranglers rode him. 

I gentled colt after colt all that day till sunset, with a very briefpause for food and rest. Also I kept it up next day until mid-afternoon, when the last colt had been tamed. 

Then, as we stood breathing, one of the horse-wranglers suggested:

"Try him on Selinus. "

"That would be plain murder, " one of the others cried. 

"I am not so sure, " the _Villicus_ ruminated. "I am almost ready to feelthat he might even tame Selinus. "

Off we trooped to the stable of the choice breeding-stallions. There, in adarkened box-stall, I was shown a beautiful demon of a horse, four yearsold, a sorrel, with a white face and white forefeet. He certainly lookedwicked enough. 

"Will you try him?" the _Villicus_ asked me. 

"Of course, " I said. "Let him out into the yard or the paddock. "

Into the paddock he was let out, by means of a door in his stall worked bywinches from above. In the afternoon sunlight he pranced and curvettedabout, a joy to see. 

"Let me show Felix what he is like, " one of the younger horse-wranglerssuggested. 

"You can, " the _Villicus_ agreed. "We all know how agile you are and howquick at vaulting a fence. "

The fellow vaulted into the paddock when Selinus was at its furthercorner. The moment the beast saw him he charged at full-run, screaminglike an angry gander, the picture of a man-killer, ears laid back, nostrils wide and red, mouth open, teeth bared, forehoofs lashing out highin front, an equine fury. The lad vaulted the fence handily when Selinuswas not three yards from him and the brute pawed angrily at the palingsand bit them viciously. 

"Want to try, Felix?" the _Villicus_ asked me again. 

Without a word I vaulted the enclosure within two yards of Selinus. Hestood, ears cocked forward, nostrils quiet, mouth shut, all four hoofs onthe ground, quivering all over. 

Inch by inch I neared him till my hand touched him. He trembled like anaspen-leaf, but did not attack me. 

"Hercules be good to us all!" exclaimed one of the men. 

After that I did with Selinus all I had done with the first stallion-colt, gentling him, leading him by the nose, mounting him, riding him, crawlingunder his belly, between his fore-legs and hind-legs, pulling his tail, slapping him liberally all over. Then, timidly, urged by their comrades'jeers, the two wranglers whom I invited brought me a saddle and bridle andI bitted him and held him while they saddled. Then I rode him. 

Afterwards, with much misgiving, but shamed into boldness, the chiefhorse-wrangler mounted him and rode him. 

Selinus was tamed!

"Felix, " said the _Villicus_, "you are too valuable to set to herdingcattle. You are henceforward chief horse-wrangler of this estate. I'llgive you a house all to yourself and a girl to keep house for you. Whennot horse taming here or wherever I lend you out, you can spend your timeas you please. "

The onlookers acclaimed his award and the displaced chief horse-wranglershook hands with me and declared that he was proud to be second to such awonder as "Felix the Wizard. "

After that I lived a life of ease. My dwelling was a neat cottage wellshaded with fine trees and bowered in climbing vines, with a tinycourtyard, a not too tiny atrium with a hearth, a kitchen, a store-roomand two bed-rooms. It was as clean as possible and well furnished for aslave's quarters. The girl and I liked each other at first sight. I am notgoing to tell her name, but a jest we had between us led me to call her bythe pet name of Septima. If she had been a free-woman, she would have beendescribed as a young widow. Her former mate, one of the horse-wranglers, had been killed by Selinus the previous autumn. Their child, not a yearold, had died before his father. Septima had recovered from her griefduring the winter and had become normally cheerful before she was assignedto me. I found her constitutionally merry, very good company, alwaysdiligent, a surpassing cook, magical with the garden, especially with herbeloved flowers, a capable needle-woman, always neat, and very good-looking. We got on famously together. 

With her beehives only, Septima had trouble. She understood beesperfectly, but was afraid of them, and with reason, for she was manifestlyobnoxious to bees and was far too often stung. Of course, bees, like allother living creatures, were mild to me. I tended her hives, under hersupervision, for I knew nothing of bees; according to her directions Icaptured several swarms for her. Also I, when the time came, removed combsfrom such hives as she designated. 

Spring was in its full glory and I felt the exhilaration of it. Each home-coming was a delight. And I was much away, for the _Villicus_ had meconvoyed about the countryside to every estate which possessed an unbrokencolt or an intractable horse. I gentled successfully every one Iencountered. 

After all the bad horses and raw colts for miles around had been tamed Ispent some days idling about my cottage and getting acquainted with it andwith Septima. But within not many days I grew restive. I told the_Villicus_ I wanted something to do. 

"Well, " he said, "five steers have eluded one of my herd-gangs and no onecan find them. Question the men (he named them) so as to get the rightstart, and try your luck. "

I was off, trailing those five steers, for three days and two nights. Bysunset of the third day I had them back at the villa. 

After that I was called on to hunt down and round up all stampeded cattleand all strays, whether cattle, horses, goats, sheep or swine. I enjoyedmy lone outings and between them basked contentedly in the comfort of mycottage and the amenity of Septima's cheeriness. During my stays at home Ithoroughly familiarized myself with the villa, its outbuildings and alltheir inhabitants. Also I put a good deal of time on Selinus, whom Itransformed from an insane man-killer into one of the gentlest stallions Iever heard of. I taught him all the niceties of obedience acclaimed inperfect parade horses till he would stand, sidle, back, sidle diagonally, curvet and execute all the show-steps promptly at the signalling touch orsound. I tamed him till he would let anybody gentle him, till it wasperfectly safe for anyone to ride him. I even trusted Septima on him andhe justified my confidence in my training of him and in him. In fact, frombeing a man-killer who had to be kept penned up in the dark, whom not eventhe boldest horse-master dare approach, he became so gentle and sotrustworthy that he could be let run at large, mild to all human beings, even to strangers. 

He grew to love me like a pet dog, followed me about when I was not ridinghim, and would come to me from far away to a call or gesticulation; and hecould see me and recognize me at such distances that I revised my notionsas to the powers of sight possessed by horses, for I had held the commonopinion that no horse can see clearly or definitely any object at all farfrom him. Selinus repeatedly saw and recognized me a full half-mile awayand galloped to me, approaching with every demonstration of joy. 

During my horse-wrangling expeditions and my excursions after wanderingstock I had grown well acquainted with the country-side and itsinhabitants. I was on terms of comradeship with all my fellow-slaves, ofeasy sociability with the yeomanry; while I was treated by the overseers, the _Villicus_, and inspectors with marked consideration. Thus I rapidlylearnt all there was to know of the idiosyncrasies of the locality, sinceeverybody seemed to trust me and no one held aloof or was reticent withme. 

I found conditions in the Umbrian mountains as amazing, as incredible asin the _ergastulum_ at Nuceria. There the two vital facts were thenegligence and impotence of the warders and the secret system for cheatingand thwarting them. Here all the thoughts of slaves, peasants and yeomenon the one hand, and of overseers, inspectors and landowners on the other, pivoted on the existence in the district of a post of road-constabulary onthe lookout for bandits and of a camp of brigands owing allegiance to theKing of the Highwaymen. 

The wealthy proprietors, the gentlemanly landowners, the inspectors of theEstate, its _Villicus_ and his overseers all suspected the presence of thebandits and were doing all they could to assist the road-constabulary tolocate them, pounce on them and capture them. Their efforts werecompletely futile. Neither any of the constabulary nor any of the well-to-do persons who sided with them, could ever get an inkling of the locationof the outlaws' various camps nor was any of them ever able to be reallysure that bandits were actually within a few miles. For the whole body ofyeomanry, peasants and slaves, even the slaves of those proprietorskeenest on the scent of the brigands and most eager to nab them, wereleagued to bamboozle, thwart and oppose their masters and betters, and toaid the outlaws, to keep them posted on everything said and proposed bythe loyal inhabitants, and to assist them in outwitting the authorities, the constabulary and all persons who sided with them. In this they werenotably successful. 

It is my keen recollection of this condition of things which determines meto omit from this part of my narrative all names of persons and places. The generality of the population made a sort of religion out of theircomplicity with the outlaws. They took an almost religious pride incooperating with them and in antagonizing their adversaries. They hatedall the adversaries of the outlaws, whether landowners, constabulary orinspectors. But, above all, they loathed, abhorred, abominated anddetested with a white-hot animosity any yeoman, peasant or slave whofailed to do all in his power to foster the interests of the outlaws;regarding such persons, male or female, as traitors to the cause of thepopulace. Especially did they cherish an envenomed and malignant grudgeagainst anyone who actually sided with the constabulary, gave theminformation or betrayed the outlaws: or even against anyone who helped orshielded any such informer. 

As I was the means of spoiling the long-prepared and much-hoped for coupon which the robbers had set their highest hopes, as not a few men andwomen assisted me with information, aided me in other ways and protectedme afterwards, I dare not name any names for fear that some survivor orsome son or grandson of some participant in these doings might learnthrough me of long suspected but never verified treason to the unwrittenlaw of the country-side and might bloodily avenge it on a surviving helperof mine or on any such helper's children or grandchildren. The Umbrianmountaineers are spleenful, tenacious of a grudge and ferociouslyacrimonious. 

I learnt all these amazing facts without difficulty, for slaves, peasantsand yeoman alike assumed that I was of their party and was heart and soulwith the outlaws. I was not subject to suspicion because I visited thepost of the constabulary, became acquainted with every man of them, theirsergeants and their officers and frequented their company. All theyeomen, peasants and slaves whose abodes were near the post, were, on thesurface, on the best of terms with the road-constables; pretended to helpthem with information, retailing to them as rumors all sorts of inventionscalculated to throw them off the scent of the outlaws, always with an airof the friendliest good-will; and loitered, idling about the post, chatting of local gossip. 

I was so entirely trusted that I was taken to the outlaws' camp and madeacquainted with the entire band. Paradoxically the members of the bandwere all hulking burly ruffians of twenty-five to thirty-five years, whereas their chief, while big and brawny enough, was inferior in size toany of his subordinates and younger by six full years than the youngest ofthem. To him I was boisterously presented as a brother, for his name alsowas Felix. In fact, he was the man since famous as Felix Bulla, for longthe most redoubtable outlaw in Italy. Then he was hardly more than a lad, for all his bulk and strength and ferocity. He had been appointed chief ofthe band by the King of the Highwaymen in person, who held him in thewarmest regard for his ruthlessness, courage, skill, and cunning, especially for his cunning, rating him, as I was told by all the band, andhaving proclaimed him to them, as the most subtle and crafty outlaw aliveafter himself. 

Bulla, like everybody else, appeared to take to me and treated me as anequal, after conversing with me for hours at a time. I was always awelcome guest at any of the bandits' camps and they often made me show offmy admired powers on fox-cubs, badgers, weasels and other such wildcreatures which they or their peasant friends had trapped alive. Myability to tame, handle, fondle and make tractable to anyone such animalsappeared a source of unflagging interest and unceasing entertainment tothese ruffians. 

As I was allowed to dispose of my time as I chose, whenever I was not busyrounding up strayed stock or taming raw colts, I had plenty of leisure toride about the country-side, make friends, get intimate with theconstabulary and the outlaws and idle many of my days as appeared mostpleasant. I took full advantage of my partial liberty. 

The weather, from my arrival at the Imperial estate, was mostly fine andoften glorious. Spring came early and merged beautifully into summer. Ienjoyed myself hugely. Besides local peculiarities and the humors of thetacit league to thwart the constabulary and foster the interests of theoutlaws, I derived much entertainment from the traffic on the FlaminianHighway. Of course, there were Imperial couriers, travellers of all sorts, and convoys of every kind of goods, long strings of wagons, carts or pack-mules laden with wheat, other grains, wine, oil, flax, charcoal, firewood, ingots of bronze, lead or iron, and countless other commodities on theirway to Rome; or convoys of clothing, hangings, furniture, utensils and thelike, going northwards from the City. 

CHAPTER XXVI

THE OUTLAWS

From early spring, however, all this normal traffic was interfered with, delayed, hindered and even totally blockaded by column after column ofwains and wagons passing southwards, huge wagons, drawn by six or eight oreven ten horses or mules or by as many big long-horned white oxen, everywagon laden with a cage or two or more cages containing beasts beingconveyed to the Colosseum in Rome. This amazing procession roused myinterest as soon as it began to pass; filling, clogging, blocking thehighway and continuing without intermission day after day, ceasing itsmovement, indeed, each night, but making the roadside almost a continuouscamp of teamsters and caretakers, barely half of them sleeping, the moietybusy about their draft-cattle or the cages of their charges. 

The endless stream of caravans amazed me. I had seen beast-fights withoutnumber in the Colosseum, but had never thought of the enormous labor andexpense incident on the preparations for even one morning's exhibition of, say, a hundred lions and other beasts in proportion. Now I meditated overthe thousands of trappers and other hunters who must scour the forests ofDacia, Moesia, Thrace, Illyricum, Pannonia, Noricum, Rhaetia and Germanyto gather such a supply of beasts for exhibition. I saw wolves, bears andboars by the thousand, and hundreds of lynxes, elk and wild bulls, boththe strange forest-bisons, unlike our cattle, with low rumps and highshoulders and their horns turned downwards and forwards, parallel to eachother, and the huger and even fiercer bulls, much like farm bulls, butlarger, taller and leaner and with horns incredibly long, so that theirtips were often two yards and more apart. I had no idea of the vastnumbers of such beasts which were yearly poured into Rome from all themountains and forests to the north and east of the Alps. I was amazed. 

Even more was I amazed to see hundreds upon hundreds of cages containingbeasts not from northern Europe, but from Africa, or even from Asia: lionswithout number, panthers and leopards by the hundred, many tigers, antelopes of all kinds by scores of each kind, rhinoceroses, andhippopotami in enormous cages on gigantic wains drawn by twelve yoke ofoxen; even a dozen huge gray elephants pacing sedately, their turbaned_mahouts_ rocking on their necks. 

I knew that the traffic in beasts from the northern forests concentratedat Aquileia and I had a hazy notion that they were customarily shippedfrom there by sea round Italy and through the straits to the Tiber. Mycuriosity was excited as to why they were now coming overland instead ofgoing by sea. Still more was I curious as to why these hordes of animalsfrom the south should be traversing Italy from the north. 

I asked questions and could get no satisfaction from the natives of thedistrict: slaves, peasants, yeomen, proprietors, overseers, _Villicus_ andall, they one and all knew nothing. If they claimed to know, what theyalleged merely emphasized their ignorance. 

The constabulary knew, but were inclined to be reticent and, when theyspoke, were laconic. Yet their briefest utterances contained hints whichconfirmed the only fact I had elicited from the natives: namely, that thistraffic was not only unusual along the Flaminian Highway, but had neverbeen seen on it before; was a complete novelty, even a portent. They alsoconfirmed my impression that few animals destined for beast-fights in theamphitheatres reached Rome overland; as I had thought, practically all hadhitherto come by sea and up the Tiber. 

Still curious, I made friends with the teamsters. Some were from Ravenna, and even these grumbled at the two hundred and fifty miles as ruinous totheir cattle. The animals they convoyed had come overland from Aquileia toAltinum and from there to Ravenna by sea. In this way had come thecrocodiles, hippopotami and rhinoceroses. 

More teamsters were from Aquileia itself. Some of these with the lighterwagons for the cages containing wolves, lynxes, small antelopes, hyenasor African apes, had been able to take the shorter though poorer road byway of Patavium and Ateste to Bononia, which made their total journeyunder five hundred and twenty miles. But most, including all thoseconveying bears, boars, panthers, leopards, lions or tigers, had come bythe more northerly road through Verona. Those with panthers, leopards orsmall stags had come from Verona, by way of Hostilia to Bononia and fromthere southward as did all, making their journey about five hundred andfifty miles; the men conveying cages of tigers, lions, bears, boars, elk, or wild bulls had mostly come from Verona through Cremona; from there somethrough Regio to Bononia, others through Placentia; and for these theirtotal teaming did not differ much, about six hundred and twenty miles forthe ones and ten miles more for the others. Teams tugging wains carryingthe heaviest cages containing unusually large elk, boars, bears or bulls, had had to go by way of Milan and had been put to it to keep their teamsfit for a journey of over seven hundred miles. 

Besides the difference in weight of the loads, chiefly depending on theneeded strength of the cages, I found that their divergence of routes wasdue, in part, to the efforts which the procurator of all this teaming hadmade to avoid choking the roads. The teamsters averred that they knewnothing as to why the beasts were being brought this way; and no more asto why animals brought all the way from Africa to Aquileia, a voyage farlonger than the voyage to Rome, should then be conveyed overland from, Aquileia to the Colosseum. 

I enjoyed idling about the teamsters' camps chatting with them and theattendants who cared for the beasts. One hot evening, just about sunset, when I was already thinking of riding off home to bathe and dine, while Iwas lingering to watch his keepers urging their little gang of slaves topour more and more water over a gasping hippopotamus, there was a yell ofalarm all along the line and a scampering, scattering rush of fleeing men;teamsters, attendants and keepers. A panther had broken out of its cage, when a wagon overset. 

He came down the middle of the highway, keeping to it, as everyone ran offit to right and left. I had strolled some distance from where I hadtethered my horse. Naturally, as I could not mount and dash off, I did notrun. I stepped into the middle of the road and faced the beast. Of course, he stopped, stood still and stared at me. I walked towards him, verydeliberately, even pausing between paces, till I was an arm's length fromhim. He cringed and cowered. I took him by the scruff of his neck, turnedhim round, led him back to his cage, which was not broken, only jarredopen, made him enter it, and closed the door on him. 

Thereupon the fugitives flocked back, acclaiming me as a sorcerer. Thesuperintendent of that caravan insisted on my giving him my name. I toldhim I was Felix, the horse-wrangler of the Imperial estate. He gave me abroad gold piece. 

Unable to elicit anything from the natives or the teamsters I resorted tothe outlaws. I had been admonished before I saw any of them that it wasnot according to the etiquette of the district for anyone to ride a horseinto the outlaws' camp. If anywhere near it one visited it on foot. If toofar one carefully avoided appearing to ride towards it or from it. Whenthe camp, for instance, happened to be south of my cottage I would rideoff north, east, or west, fetch a long compass about, tether my horse atleast half a mile from the camp, generally farther away, and strolltowards it. On leaving I invariably departed by a path different from thatby which I had come. When I reached my horse I was careful similarly tochoose a return route which would bring me home some direction other thanthat towards which I had gone off. Of course, I always observed theseprecautions, since any neglect of them, if known, would have not only mademe unwelcome to the brigands, but also gotten me into disfavor with thewhole countryside. 

When I reached the outlaws' camp I was careful to let them do most of thetalking and to wait for the talk to come round to the subject of thebeast-caravans. I had not long to wait, and, when I expressed my amazementand curiosity, they showed no reluctance about informing me. Bulla himselfexplained that Commodus had become so interested in beast-fighting, haddeveloped such transcendent skill at fighting beasts and had grown soinfatuated with the sport that he spent most of his time in the arena, displaying his dexterity to invited audiences composed of senators, nobles, notabilities and their wives and even children; in whichexhibitions he had killed so many creatures that he had not only depletedbut had almost exhausted the normal reserves constantly kept at Rome, Ostia and the other Tiber ports. When the procurators in charge of thesupplies of beasts for the arena realized that the Emperor was killing hisvictims faster than they normally were brought in, even lavishly as theyhad always been provided, they sent out orders urging greatly increasedefforts at hunting, capturing, caring for and rapidly transporting allsorts of creatures destined for the Colosseum. The Emperor's killingcapacity and love of enjoying and exhibiting his knack so outran theirmeasures that, by the time the increased supply began to come in, theroyal sportsman's unerrancy and swiftness outran their best results, sothat hasty messages had to be sent to Marseilles, Aquileia, Byzantium, Antioch and Alexandria ordering the instant despatch to Rome, with theutmost speed, regardless of expense, not only of all newly captured beastsas they came in, in contravention of the long-established regulations bywhich Rome and the provincial capitals shared each variety of animal, butalso the concurrent despatch of the local reserves, even the emptying ofthe beast despositories attached to each amphitheatre. As the voyage fromAquileia to Rome was of variable duration, owing to the uncertainty andshiftiness of the winds, orders had been given to forward all its reservesand supplies, at once, overland. Hence the spectacle which had so excitedthe countryside and so amazed me. As Commodus was still slaughtering allsorts of beasts daily not only with arrows and spears, to show off hisaccuracy as a marksman but, even with sword or club, to display hisincredible swiftness of movement and unerrancy in directing and timing ablow, he was taxing the capacities of his procurators and their giganticorganization of transports, teams, detention-pens, and hunters merely tostave off the apparently inevitable day when, whatever might run wild inthe deserts, forests and mountains, there would be, at Rome, far too fewbeasts to maintain the autocrat's daily sport. 

When I expressed my astonishment at the certainty with which theseexplanations were uttered and my wonder as to how they came to be so sure, Bulla said:

"Why, our King of the Highwaymen has reliable, capable and secret agents, entirely unsuspected, in every city of Italy. He has a brother and sisterin Rome and equally devoted and unfailing helpers in Capua, Aquileia, Milan, Brundisium and Naples. He maintains a road service of swiftcouriers who bring him promptly all the information collected for him inthe cities, where his backers catch every breeze of rumor and areforehanded in getting advance information on all important moves of theauthorities as well as in sifting truth from falsehood. Equally prompt arehis couriers in disseminating to subsidiary bands like mine whatever hejudges we should learn; thus we know more of goings-on in Rome and atCourt than do provincial nobles and highway-police. "

As I trudged from the camp to my horse, as I trotted homewards, I wasdespondent. I had no right to be so, for I was merely one of theinnumerable slaves held by the _fiscus_ as the property of Caesar. As suchI was notably well off. Even in my proper person I congratulated myself onmy amazing luck. I was alive, unsuspected, secure, well-housed, well-clad, well-cared for, freer than many a freeman, than many a nobleman, pleasantly busy at occasional tasks very congenial to me and blest withmuch leisure among a companionable population in a lovely region full ofdiversified and charming scenery set off by an exhilarating climate; Ishould have been gay. 

Yet my thoughts were those of a Roman nobleman. I was horrified at thestate of the Republic. I knew that Italy had never been entirely free fromoutlaws. Even under Tiberius highwaymen had perpetrated successfulrobberies and had captured and held for ransom wealthy persons or evennotabilities. But under most of the Emperors these outrages had been fewand had occurred only in the wilder districts. During the civil warsbetween Otho and Vitellius brigandage had become rife all over Italy, evenup to the gates of Rome, and Vespasian had had much ado to exterminate theoutlaws. Again, under Nerva, bandits had multiplied and prospered. Butnone had ventured into any populous district during the principates ofTrajan, Hadrian and their successors until after the death of Aurelius. Now, because of the negligence of his son, outlaws had so prospered thatthey had a sort of organization among themselves, like a commonwealthinside the Republic, as I had seen during my captivity with Maternus andnow glimpsed again in Bulla's revelations. It argued a horribledisintegration of the governmental mechanism of the Republic and of theRoman character that such things had become possible. 

Equally horrifying to me was the contemplation of Caesar's extravagance. Iknew that the Republic's income from all sources was insufficient to keepup the court establishment and ceremonials at their normal cost; to defraythe expenses of the state festivals with befitting magnificence of gamesin the circuses, amphitheatres and theatres; to maintain the Praetorianguards, city police, road constabulary and frontier garrisons. I knew thatall these branches of the necessary structure of the state were constantlyin want of more funds than could be supplied to them. I knew that thiswant of supplies crippled our commanders along the Euphrates, the Danube, the Rhine and the Wall, as well as far up the Nile and in the Euxine andmade possible the insolence of the Ethiopians and Caledonians as well asthe greater insolence of the Parthians, Goths and Germans. 

Yet, when conditions so urgently called for greater expenditures along ourfrontiers and for close economy at home, I beheld our Prince stinting hiscommanders and their heroic legions and lavishing upon his own pleasureand the gratification of his amazing vanity sums which would have enabledour eagles not only to defy all assailants of our frontiers but to humbleand subdue every threatening foe, even to penetrate and subjugate Nubia, Parthia and inner Germany. I sickened at the thought of our shame alongthe frontiers as at the thought of the energies of thousands uponthousands of hard-muscled, bold-hearted young men wasted on capturingbeasts and the like energies of thousands upon thousands of hardy peasantswho ought to have been busy at productive labor on farms or in forests ormines, wasted on caring for and transporting swarms of beasts for Commodusto kill. 

Those thoughts were depressing. I could not banish them. 

The next day the mood persisted. I had nothing to do, did not feel likedoing anything in particular and yet felt restless. The weather wasperfect. I set off afoot for a place not far from my cottage, not farenough to be called a long walk, where a big gray crag or small cliff likean inland promontory, a spur of a forested mountain, towered up from thesoutheastern side of the Flaminian Highway. At that point the road was theboundary of the Imperial estate; the crag lay outside it, and, at thatpart of its foot which projected farthest, was not a hundred yards fromthe highway. The mountain rose a thousand feet or more from the meadowsalong the road. The crag was full three hundred feet high. It wasperfectly possible to toil up the steep wooded slope of the mountain andwalk out on either of two bush-covered shelves which ran round the crag. From the lower of these, where it belted the front of the vertical cliff, there was a fine view down upon the highway and along it both ways; fromthe upper more of the highway could be seen; from the very top of thecrag, which was bare except for two clumps of gnarled trees and starvedbushes near its brow, the view included a full two miles of the highway ineach direction. 

I climbed the slope to the lower shelf and ensconced myself where I wasshaded from the sun and had a clear view of the road both ways. From mycoign I watched the traffic. I judged that the northern supply of arena-beasts was already overtaxed. The procession of wagons was no longercontinuous. They came now in trains of a hundred or so with some milesbetween the convoys. Just as I settled myself no beast-wagons were insight, the road-traffic was normal. An Imperial courier dashed into viewfrom the south, tore past at full gallop, and vanished northwards; threefamily travelling carriages, also bound north, pulling to the side of theroad to let him pass; as did a train of a score of mules laden withcharcoal. 

The first sign of arena-beasts which I saw after I settled myself to watchwas a string of eight elephants, each with a turbaned mahout rocking onhis back, and seven each with his trunk clasping the tail of the elephantbefore him. This was the second batch of elephants I had heard of; theformer, I had been told, came by way of Ateste, since the elephants couldswim the Po and all the other rivers had strong stone bridges. Theselooked well after their four hundred mile tramp and fit for the hundredand odd ahead of them. 

Before they were out of sight there came into view the head of a column ofwagons which turned out to be loaded with cages of bears, lynxes, bison, aurochs, elk, wolves and other northern animals. I watched them pass andmeditated. After they were gone the road was normal for a full two hours, during which I pondered the thoughts which obsessed me and gloomed withshame over the condition of the Empire. I had brought food and water withme and ate about noon, slept an hour or more and woke to watch the passageof two trains of cages full of lions, tigers, leopards and panthers. Thesecond train was overtaken and passed by two Imperial couriers from thenorth, racing each other, the former more than a half mile ahead of thelatter, and, apparently lengthening his lead. I spent the day on the crag. Also I spent other days there, sometimes on one shelf, sometimes on theother, sometimes on the top. 

Not many days elapsed before I again visited the outlaws' camp and hadanother chat with Bulla; not we two alone, for there was always an easysociability about the bandits and, if none took part in or broke intotheir chief's talk, usually two or more lay or sat about listening andsharing our interview. 

In the course of our talk Bulla discoursed of his importance, of theimportance of the band, of the warm regard in which he and they were heldby their head chief, the King of the Highwaymen. 

Some quirk inside my head made me venturesome. 

"What is his name?" I queried. "You never name him. "

"His orders!" Bulla snapped. "I know his name; not another man of our bandknows it. He never uses it and takes great pains to keep all outsiders whoknow his name from suspecting that he is King of the Highwaymen; andsimilarly to make sure that all outsiders who know him as King of theHighwaymen get no inkling of his name. If the knowledge got abroad theusefulness to him of his brother and sister in Rome would be destroyed. "

I apologized for my question. 

"No harm done, " Bulla smiled. "I don't have to answer any questions unlessI want to, and I don't mind questions from you. "

"If you don't, " I pursued, emboldened, "perhaps you'll be willing toexplain how it can be that your king holds you and your band in such highesteem, whereas, to all appearances, you have not acquired a sesterce-worth of loot since long before I reached this neighborhood; in fact, asfar as I can hear, have not succeeded in robbing anyone since you locatedyour camp here?"

"I am perfectly willing to explain, " laughed Bulla, looking moreformidable when he smiled or laughed than when expressionless. "We are nocheap bandits to rob market-women, poor farmers, ordinary travellers orsuch small fry. We angle for bigger fish. We bide our time. We are here tomake three big strokes and then a quick disappearance. Once we have ourhands on our chosen prisoners to be held for ransom we shall be off forthe mountain heights and the thickest forests; once we have the booty wehope for, those in charge of it will ride fast and far and get clear outof this part of Italy. Is that intelligible?"

"Entirely, " said I, and was mute. 

Bulla gazed at me almost genially. 

"I don't in the least mind telling you, " he said, "just what we arewaiting for. Half the countryside knows and are alert to help us all theyknow how. 

"In the first place we have word of a big consignment of gold on the wayto Rome; ingots from the mines in the mountains of Noricum, nuggets anddust washed from the rivers of Dacia and Pannonia and Moesia. Of course itis in charge of a wary official and has a strong guard, but we have goodhopes of getting it. If we do, it will be the biggest haul that any of ourbands ever made, and that he has put me here to try for it is proof of myKing's esteem for me. 

"In the second place a wealthy senator, just the right man to capture andhold for ransom, is coming up from Rome in charge of a big chest of goldcoin to be paid out by the administrators of Asia and Macedonia andAchaia. He himself is going out as propraetor of Asia. With him is awealthy widow, going north to be married at Aquileia, and taking with hera big jewel-chest full of the finest and largest gems in the mostmagnificent settings. So we have in prospect three prisoners for ransomand three rich treasures. 

"The difficulty is that it will be almost impossible to make bothcaptures. If we nab the propraetor and widow, with the coin and gems, therumor or report of it is almost certain to warn the procurator with theraw gold so that he will elude us. Similarly if we get him, news of ourpresence will most likely reach and alarm the propraetor and the widow. Ifone comes ten days or even five before the other we can scarcely hope forcomplete success. If fewer days intervene we might get both. I am here toget both. The King thinks me capable of the feat. His instructions arethat, in case I judge that I can get but one, I am to try for theprocurator and his gold, as it is estimated that his gold is worth atleast twice the coin and gems together, even adding the possible ransomsof the widow and the propraetor. 

"I am hoping they will come only a day apart or even the same day; all ourcouriers with letters about the progress of the gold convoy and thewidow's preparations indicate that they will reach this part of the roadat about the same time. They might meet each other right here where, wewant them together. I keep nursing that hope. 

"Now you know as much as you need to know about our plans. "

I thanked him and marvelled at his frankness. But, as I rode home, Ireflected that thinking me the Imperial slave I appeared, he thought mecertain to be secret and, if possible, helpful. 

I spent the next day and the next on my crag, watching the fascinatingspectacle afforded by the highway. 

On the third day the _Villicus_ chided me for having told my name to thesub-procurator after I had recaged the panther. 

"An Imperial courier has just passed, " he said. "He is a close friend of atrusty friend of mine in Rome. Like most couriers he is obliging and willcarry letters for his friends, even packets. He dropped here a note forme, warning me that I am likely to lose you. My friend is a crony of someof the upper slaves in the Palace and of others in the Beast Barracks. 

"Your manumission, which was urged by the aldermen of Nuceria, has beenfavorably reported and may be ordered. On the other hand, the procuratorin charge of the reserves of arena-beasts has heard of you and vows hemust have you for service in or for the Colosseum. I am likely to lose youeither way. I don't mind your manumission; I'll wager that I can induceyou to stay on as you are. But I am all worked up over the prospect of arequisition for you from the Beast Barracks. If one comes it will be yourfault. "

I told him I was more stirred up about it than he was; that I should hateto leave him and loathed the very idea of being cooped up in Rome amidfetid cages; caring for lions and such like. We thoroughly understood eachother, and he said:

"I'll have to manage to report you killed, if the requisition comes. I'mdetermined to keep you. I'll have to set my wits to work to arrange forit. "

I hoped he might, but I felt nervous. I dreaded being dragged to Rome andrecalled the prophecy of the Aemilian Sibyl. I had a feeling that to RomeI was going, my situation was too good to last. I thought of leavingSeptima with much regret. Not that I loved her or even cared for her; butshe was a girl no man could but respect and admire and wish well to. If Imust leave her I resolved to leave her as well off as I could. 

Making sure that I was far from any human being and unobserved I opened myamulet-bag, looked over the gems it contained, selected a medium-sizedemerald of perfect color, sewed it into the hem of my tunic and sewed upthe amulet-bag with the rest of the gems inside it. 

At the first opportunity, I revisited the outlaws' camp, with the usualprecautions, and found Bulla idle and genial. I told him I needed cash, all the cash I could get, and had an emerald I thought would be worth anoble store of gold and silver coin. 

"Show it to me!" he commanded. 

I took out my sheath-knife, ripped the emerald out of its hiding-place andpassed it to him. 

He conned it. 

"You are right, brother, " he said; "this is a fine gem. I tell you whatI'll do. I'll ride, myself, to Sentinum and exchange this for cash, partgold and part silver. Sentinum seems an unlikely place in which to find acash purchaser for a gem like this, but our King has a friend there whoacts as his agent in several respects; among others he keeps cash in handto exchange any time for precious loot; especially jewelry. He'll hand methe cash without hesitation. 

"But if I am to do it for you, you must agree in advance to accept hisvaluation of the jewel and to divide with me, share and share alike, whatever he pays me for your emerald. In a case like this I charge halfthe proceeds of the sale as my commission for making the deal and as myfee for my time, risk and trouble. Do you agree?"

"Certainly, " I said, "and I am amazed at your offer. How can you be awaythree days or more at this juncture? Might not your prizes: procurator, propraetor, widow, jewels, coin, and gold all slip through your handsduring your absence in my behalf?"

"No fear, lad!" he laughed; "our advices never deceive us. The procuratorwith his gold is far away and approaching slowly; neither the widow northe propraetor is ready to leave Rome; both are occupied with endlesspreparations. I have plenty of time. And it won't take me any three daysto reach Sentinum and return. I'll set off at sunset. About the third hourtomorrow I'll be at Sentinum, my mount lathered and blown, but far fromused up; about the ninth hour I'll pass out of one of the gates ofSentinum on my return, completely refreshed myself and with my mount fitfor the return journey: I'll be here in camp at dawn day after tomorrow, with the coin bags. You can come for your cash any time after the thirdhour day after tomorrow. Is it a bargain?"

"Done!" said I. 

"Then get home, " he said. "If I'm to go two nights without sleep I'll giveorders now, post my out-pickets and what not and snooze till dusk. "

I spent the next day on my crag. Several trains of wagons with arena-beasts passed, but they were farther apart than ten days before. The othertraffic on the road was normal. 

Next day, not long after the third hour, I was in the outlaws' camp. BullaI found awake and with no signs of drowsiness or fatigue. In full sight ofall of his men he spread a blanket, and, on it placed four coin-bags, twosmall and two full size. From the larger he spilt their contents on theblanket and, each of us taking a bag, we picked up the silver one piece ata time, both keeping count together. There was an odd piece. 

"It's yours, lad!" said Bulla. "I've enough here. "

The gold pieces similarly spilled and counted, came out even. 

"Are you satisfied?" Bulla queried. 

"Both with the amount and the division, " I replied, "and now I'll be off. You must need sleep. "

"Sit still!" Bulla commanded. 

He rose and went into his tent, for the outlaws had excellent hide tents. He returned with a fine new coin-belt of pigskin leather. 

"Here, " he said as he squatted down and handed it to me, "is a little giftfrom Bulla. Wear it next your skin. And remember to keep it flat andloose. Many a man has lost his life with his coin in a tight place becausea bulging belt betrayed him to greedy ruffians. My lads will respect you, but you may encounter bandits who have no inkling that you are under myprotection. Don't attempt to carry too much, of your coin about yourwaist. "

I thanked him and tramped off. 

CHAPTER XXVII

THE POINT OF VIEW

That evening, after our dinner, a perfect dinner eaten under a grape-arbor, lingering over the fruit and honey in the mingled light of waningdusk and a clear crescent moon, I showed Septima my belt and bags, put inthe belt what silver would fill it to a flaccid and comfortable flatness, and gave her all the gold and the rest of the silver. I had alreadyexplained to her what impended over us, and had emphasized my wish toremain with her and my anxiety to know that she was provided for, if wewere to be separated. 

I did not visit the post of the road-constabulary as often as the camp ofthe outlaws. Next day I rode over to their post and chatted with one ofthe sergeants and several of the men. They were in doubt between, twoopinions: most held that their presence in the district had frightened thebandits away and that they had left the neighborhood and transferred theirattention to a wholly different region; only a few maintained the viewthat the brigands had been lurking near from before their arrival and thatall their efforts had failed to locate their hiding place. I heard nothingwhich led me to believe that they had any inkling of the location of theoutlaws' camp, of their purposes, or of their intended coup. 

After a day of happy idling on my crag I visited Bulla. He was gay. 

"It promises well, " he volunteered. "The procurator and his gold are wellon this side of Ariminum and the propraetor and widow left Rome yesterday. They'll he here within two days of each other, if he holds the rate he haskept all the way from Bononia and they travel as such luxurious folksgenerally do. Come over as often as you like. No one will suspect you orfollow you. I'll keep you posted as to what our advices promise us. Youmay be able to help us. "

By this time I was so interested in Bulla and his plans that I oscillatedbetween my crag, the outlaws' camp and the constabulary post, with no moreother occupations than what I judged absolutely needful to forestall anyunwelcome interest in my doings and the possibility of too many personsknowing of my visits to the outlaws. 

When next I visited them Bulla told me that something had alarmed theprocurator. Either some rumor of their presence along the road had reachedhim or he knew of the bad reputation of the stretch of the FlaminianHighway through the Umbrian mountains between Forum Sempronii and Nuceria, which it had acquired some years before when the King of the Highwaymenhimself had made on it a succession of valuable captures which had yieldedhim princely booty and the reports of which had spread all over Italy. Anyhow their advices informed them that he had packed his bullion-chestswith stones and old-iron and had parcelled out his packets of dust andnuggets among the wagons of a long train of arena-beasts. 

"We'll fool him!" Bulla boasted. "We'll nab him and hold him for a bigransom. Also we'll not only make sure of his bullion chests in case ourinformation is false, or based on an intentional rumor he has given out asa blind; but we'll get that bullion, too, if it is not in the chests, buthidden in the wagons in the guise of dusty packets of provender for thedraft-cattle or of meat for the caged beasts. We'll get it!"

Prom his mention of the wagons we fell into talk of the increasingdifficulty of getting fresh meat for the lions and other beasts, of thedepletion of the flocks and herds along the roads from Aquileia, to Rome;and he told me that his advices reported that the whole country near thehighways was already swept clean of all goats, sheep and cattle, exceptbreeding stock, milch stock and their choicest young kept for breeding. The inhabitants could get no beef, mutton or goats' flesh for themselves;all had gone into the maws of hyenas, tigers, wolves and the rest; and theprocurators were insisting on the farmers selling their kids, lambs, calves, ewes and cows-in-milk, any stock, even mules and horses; anyanimals fit to butcher for lion-food. 

From this we came round to chatting of my talks with the teamsters and ofmy prospect from my crag. I had told Bulla of the crag long before, but hedid not seem to have taken in the idea. Now he was delighted. 

"If I'd paid attention to you soon enough, " he said, "I'd have put in aday or two with you watching the show. It's too late now. Our prayed forchances are coming soon, and not far apart. "

Next day he was gleeful. 

"It's all going to work out like the end of a theater-play, " he said. "Theprocurator and the propraetor and his charge are practically certain tocome along tomorrow afternoon. I calculate that they will meet not farsouth of your crag. I've planned to post one ambush near the foot of yourcrag, just south of it, another at a judicious interval down the roadnearer Rome. I'll have 'em between the two ambushes about the middle ofthe afternoon or between that and sunset. We'll nab all three ransomprizes at once and we'll lay our hands on the jewels, coin and gold almostat the same instant. I've arranged to lead the constables off on a falsescent about noon and they'll be miles away up a lonely crossroad when wepull off our coup. We'll make our getaway, with the swag, hours beforethey can get wind of the occurrence and follow on our trail. We'll have along start of them. 

"You can watch the whole thing from your crag. This ideal weather is goingto last many days yet. And the moon will be full two nights from now, soits light will help us two nights on our getaway. I envy you up on thatcrag watching the show, comfortable as a senator at a theater, aloft likeJupiter on Olympus in the Iliad. "

Next day I made sure that the _Villicus_ would not want me, had Septimaput up for me an abundant supply of her inviting food and set off aboutthe middle of the morning for my crag, on foot, of course. I climbed tothe very top and ensconced myself under and among sheltering bushes sothat I was certain that I could not be seen from the road in eitherdirection, yet could view it both ways as far as the horizon, except justat the foot of the crag and where, in the distance, hilltops hid thehollows behind them. Close by me I placed my precious kidskin of muchwatered wine, I might say of water flavored with wine, so that it wouldkeep cool in the thickest shade. The day was hot, clear and still and therays of the sun fierce. The occasional slight breezes were very welcome. 

The outlook was really magnificent; a broad prospect of rolling pasturage, hilly pasturage, and wooded mountains; the grass-lands and grassyhillsides diversified by scattered trees, clumps of trees and smallgroves; the lower levels of woodland broken by grassy glades; the brightergreen of the forests of chestnut, beech, and oak merging imperceptiblyinto the darker green of the pine-forests; the score of farms in sightbrilliant in the green landscapes like semi-jewels; all the wide prospectglowing under a deep blue sky, varied by a very few very white clouds, theintense sunlight beating down on everything. It was a perfect summer day. 

I conned the road, on which I saw only the rear of a column of wagonsconvoying arena-beasts receding over the hilltops to southwards, and thenormal traffic, horsemen or two-horse carriages or wagons far apart andfew. I dozed. 

I must have slept a full hour. I waked hot, but much refreshed, feelinglively and full of interest in what was to come. Just after I waked I sawthe constabulary, the officers and about a third of the men on horseback, the rest afoot, come up the road from the direction of their post, whichwas south of the crag. The infantrymen, tramped their fastest and themounted men kept pace with them. They were evidently off on their wild-goose chase. As they came into sight below me, after passing my perch, Iwatched them double-quick northwards and wheel to their right into thefirst crossroad. They were barely out of sight among the forested hillswhen I saw momentarily, on the Highway, fully four miles to northward, ona sunlit hilltop, what I took to be the first wagon of a train of teamsdrawing cages of arena-beasts. I watched the road in that direction. WhatI saw confirmed my conjecture. Soon the road to northward was filled fromits farthest visible hilltop to just below my crag with wagon-teams suchas I had many times watched transporting cages of lions, tigers, leopards, panthers and the like. I made out also some cages which I was certaincontained hyenas. 

Every little while I glanced the other way. Just as the first wagons ofthe long train vanished from my sight into that section of the roadimmediately below me where my crag hid it from my view, I saw appear on ahilltop to southwards what I made sure was the travelling carriage of awealthy noble. I conjectured that it had inside of it the ransomablepropraetor. I kept my eyes on the road in that direction, only glancingnorthward from time to time. One such glance caught a glimpse of atravelling carriage among the beast-wagons; probably the procurator incharge of the bullion. 

After I had caught glimpses of it on several successive hilltops thepropraetor's carriage was near enough, on one of them, for me to recognizeit. Of course, I had known from childhood the travelling carriages of oursenate and nobility. As everybody knows, each, has a certain unmistakableindividuality. Our makers of travelling carriages never make two preciselyalike, and, what is more, the tastes of different families are sodifferent that patterns are very unlike. I recognized the carriage forthat of Faltonius Bambilio. 

Why he was going out as propraetor of Asia so long after his term aspraetor was a puzzle to me. I accepted it as one of the countlesseccentricities of Imperial administration under Commodus. Theirregularities of the management of the provinces ruled in the name ofCaesar by prefects and procurators had notoriously extended to theprovinces ruled by proconsuls and propraetors in the name of the senate. Ihad always disliked, despised and even hated Bambilio for his pomposity, self-esteem and bad manners. I rejoiced at the opportunity to look on athis capture. 

It was by this time past the middle of the afternoon, the day stillsurpassingly fair and lovely, with few clouds in the sky, a steady lightbreeze, the mellow afternoon sunlight bathing the world and the sunalready visibly declining towards the western horizon. 

While I was grinning at my thoughts and watching the advance of Bambilio'scarriage, glancing back at intervals at the beast-train and theprocurator's coach, I caught sight, on the highway behind Bambilio'scarriage, of another travelling carriage of which I had descried noglimpse before, though I must have missed seeing it as it topped severalhills further south. When I caught sight of it, it was near enough for meto recognize it at first view. 

Vedia's travelling coach!

Between the first and second beat of my thumping heart, I went through anamazing variety of complex, shifting and lucid thinking. And my thinking, multifold and effective as it was, was but as a chip on the surface of afreshet in a mountain gorge amid the torrent of emotions which inundatedme. 

Since I had begun to mend as the result of the succour and medication ofold Chryseros Philargyrus I had resolutely refrained from, thinking ofVedia. I had argued with myself that it was impossible for me to forget orignore the daily and hourly contrasts between my former status as awealthy nobleman and my present condition as a fugitive always in dangerand generally in acute discomfort. Amid the inevitable resultantdepression I might keep alive, healthy and sane if I concentrated mythoughts on self-congratulation at my survival. If I dwelt on my downfallI should lose my wits. If, in addition to thoughts of my loss of rank, wealth, friends and ease I yielded to my inclination to brood over my lossof Vedia, I should infallibly go insane. I resolutely put thoughts of heraway. I succeeded in keeping them away. During my winter at the hut in themountains, during my succeeding adventures, I had not thought of Vedia;thoughts of her had crossed my mind but seldom and fleetingly. 

Now, all at once, I was overwhelmed by the realization of how ardently, how unalterably I loved her, how keenly I longed for her, how tenderly Ifelt towards her. Nothing, past, present or future, mattered to me exceptVedia and her welfare. I had been thinking with relished amusement of thedismay of some pampered beauty haled from, her luxurious coach and offthrough the wild mountains, immured in some lonely cave in the forests, guarded by coarse ruffians, reduced to the most primitive diet andbedding, forced to endure all sorts of discomforts, and threatened withdeath or worse if an enormous ransom were not forthcoming promptly. I hadbeen chuckling at the prospect of getting a far-off glimpse of the firstact of this comedy. 

My revulsion of feeling was dazing. I was hot and cold with horror at thethought of Vedia's agony, terror and misery and of her danger amongBulla's swarthy, brutal ruffians with their black curly hair and beardsintensifying the villainy of their lowering faces, with their mighty handsalways close to their daggers. Vedia I must save!

How?

Almost as I recognized her carriage, my eyes, instinctively sweeping myentire outlook, caught sight of Selinus feeding among a small herd ofyoung mares on a hillside midway of the extensive pasture on the otherside of the road just to north of my crag. I knew there was, a little tothe north of the crag, on the same side of the road, a knoll from whichthat bit of hillside was plainly visible at no great distance. I had myplan worked out in all its details. 

I drank all I could hold of my watered wine, left my cloak by the kidskin, tucked a small packet of food into my belt-wallet, and raced down, thesteep slope of the mountainside to the north of the crag, leaping fromrock to rock under the huge forest trees. I reached the gentler slopesnear the highway and gained the top of the knoll. Selinus was in plainview, grazing among his brides, and by good luck, all were headed towardsme. I stood on the summit of the knoll and waved my arms. Selinus caughtsight of me and galloped joyously down the slope of the pasture towardsme. When he was near I ran towards him down the slope of the knoll, beingcareful that he should not lose sight of me. My luck held and he and Iapproached the highway and each, other where there was a comfortableinterval between the lion's cage on the wagon which had been passing whenI topped the knoll and the leading yoke of the team tugging the wagon nextbehind. The wind, also, was towards me, so that Selinus did not smell thelions till he and I met in the highway and I had mounted him. Like ahunting dog bounding over a fallen tree Selinus had leapt the tall thornhedge which bordered the highway to keep stock off it and in the meadow. 

Once I was on his back we set off northward at full gallop, which almostat once quickened into a maddened run. He had shied violently as we passedthe first cage and he winded the lion in it, but I stuck on him. Also Istuck on at each, less violent sideways lurch as we passed cage aftercage: tiger, panther, leopard, hyenas or lion; all smelt equallyterrifying to him, but he only ran faster and his terror went into speedahead rather than into leaps aside. 

When we reached the crossroad, up which the constabulary had turned, theprocurator's carriage was still somewhere up the highway; I had not seenit since I left the top of the crag. The train of beast-wagons seemedendless. 

Into the crossroad we turned and up it Selinus tore. I chuckled. No road-police, no matter how young, nimble and long-winded, could maintain adouble-quick any distance on that up-slope. Selinus mounted the hills likea grayhound after a hare. We were sure to overtake the detachment soon. They could not have gone far. 

Overtake them we did and the maddened run at which Selinus scaled thosesteep hills caught their officer's attention. I had rehearsed what I meantto say and wasted no words. What I said conveyed the whole situation tohim. 

"We are too few horsemen to overcome them, " he said, "but we can scarethem from their booty and maybe from their captives. We'll ride ourfastest and we have time to reach them before they are thinking of flight. The complete surprise will save the jewels, coin and gold and most likelythe lady and the officials. 

"But you fellows must double-quick after us to support us in case theyrecover from their amazement, rally and round on us from some nearvantage-ground. You can retrace your steps in a tenth of the time it tookus to reach here. Race!

"And you, Felix, give me that racer of yours. Fall in with the men. HereCaius, give Felix your saddle and bridle. Your mare is giving out. Felix, saddle and bridle your horse for me. Caius, take my horse. "

In a moment I was afoot among the infantry constables, the officer was inthe saddle on Selinus, the reins in his hands, and the horsemen were offat a tearing gallop, with us footmen after them at a run which carried usalmost by leaps down the steep slope. 

When we reached the highway neither the mounted police nor any outlawswere anywhere in sight. But it was plain that more time than I hadrealized had elapsed since I vaulted on Selinus. Not only was the sun nearthe horizon, but the bandits had evidently been further up the road thanthis. For an instant I marvelled that they had come this far at all whenboth their ambushes were south of the crag. Then I realized that they hadbeen searching the wagons for the bullion. Every wagon was stalled, halfwere overset, the tongue-yoke of each was hamstrung, every cage was empty, not a lion, tiger or leopard, panther or hyena to be seen; all, apparently, let out that their cages might be ransacked. I conjecturedthat letting them out had taken less time than it would have taken to killthem. 

Panting, sweating, nearing exhaustion, we hastened along the highway at ajolting run not much faster than the quick walk of untired men, but ourbest speed. We passed scores of stalled wagons, every cage empty, twohamstrung oxen or mules or even horses lying in agony before each wagon, the rest of the cattle either loosed and gone or held fast by the stalledwagons behind them. We saw not one teamster, not one beast. The longseries of stalled wagons, with their hamstrung or stalled cattle and emptycages extended to the foot of the crag and beyond it. Beyond it we came onthe procurator's carriage, empty; no horse to it or by it. Still we hadseen no human being. 

A half-mile further, midway of a flat stretch of road, on one side ofwhich was an expanse of swampy ground, varied with pools bordered bysedge, reeds and bushes, with areas of tussocks and with clumps of willowsand alders, we came on Bambilio's and Vedia's carriages, their gildeddecorative carvings, coral-red panel-bars, pearl-shell panel-panes, gildedrosette-bosses, silver-plated hubs and gilded spokes and felliesglittering in the late sunshine. 

His coach was without any sign of a horse near it, hers with all fourhamstrung; their white leather harness, with its gold and silver bosses, horridly stained with the blood they had spattered all over them as theylay struggling and trying to kick. Both carriages were empty, theircushions and mattresses and other contents scattered about on the roadway. 

The sun was near setting. Our sergeants, blown as their men and as I, paused and mopped their faces. We scanned the outlook. Far away well upthe mountain side we caught sight of a group of burly men, and among thema slender figure clad in a garb of pale lavender hue with the sheen ofsilk. Below and close a similar group among which were two figuresconspicuous for crimson cloaks or the like. Far below and much nearer uswe glimpsed the pursuing horsemen. 

Off we set, and our fresh excitement seemed to put fresh vigor into all ofus. We ran a full mile straight across pastures and wooded hills towardsthe point where I had glimpsed Vedia. 

The sun set. 

The constables ran on, panting, but by no means failing. 

I gave out. 

The hopelessness of such pursuit took all the heart out of me. 

I stopped. 

I could not hope to keep up with the excited police. I could not believethat they would give any effective support to their mounted comrades oreven that they could overtake the outlaws after sunset in such broken andwooded country, or that any or all of them could rescue any of theprisoners I shuddered to think of Vedia in the clutches of such ruthlessvillains. But I could accomplish nothing towards helping her. I turned toslink homewards. 

Half way to the spot where we had left the highway I encountered a lion. He did not attack me or menace me and I was not afraid of him. But thesight of him brought to my attention that the light was waning and that Iwas, for a man afoot, a considerable distance from my cottage in brokencountry full of escaped beasts of prey. I had never understood my powerover all animals, but I had always conceived that it depended on the way Ilooked to them when they gazed at me. I was totally unafraid of the mostferocious beast by daylight, but by no means comfortable in twilight ordusk, while after dark I had no reason to think that a lion, or tigerwould prove more tractable to me than to any other man. I felt that I musthasten home, if I was ever to reach it alive. With what breath I had leftI ran the rest of the easy downhill path to the highway. 

When I reached it twilight had not yet deepened into dusk and I could seefairly well. The four hamstrung horses were struggling pitifully to riseand screaming at intervals. With my sheathknife I put them out of theirmisery; as also the four pack-mules which lay, similarly hamstrung, in theroadway, behind the carriage. 

In spite of my dread of carnivora after dark I examined the coach and whatlay about it on the road. There were two kidskins, bulging roundly, presumably with wine. Three covered food hampers, unopened; and, intact, abeautiful little inlaid chest, such as ladies have for their combs, brushes, ointment-pots and similar toilet articles. From their condition Iconjectured that the bandits had just commenced to rummage the coach whenthe unexpected approach of the mounted constables, whose small numbersthey most likely did not realize, had scared them away. 

Reluctant to be off and fearing to remain, I glanced about, irresolute. Ina clump of willows and alders in the midst of the swampy tract I caughtsight of a bit of color out of keeping with anything which naturallybelonged there and suggesting a woman's garment. There was a dryshod wayto that clump of trees and bushes. I threaded it towards what I hadglimpsed. When I was hardly more than half way from the road to the clumpI thought I heard a sob. I made haste. 

Hearing the place I saw a young and slender and graceful woman dressed asa slave girl. Somehow the sight of her brought to my mind's-eye vividrecollections of my convalescent outings in Nemestronia's water-garden. She looked terrified and yet hesitating to flee from me, as if she fearedthe swamp. A step nearer I realized that Vedia's maid, a woman not unlikeher in build, as faithful to her as Agathemer was to me and amazinglyastute, had had the shrewdness and also the time to fool the brigands byexchanging clothes with her mistress in the carriage. 

"Vedia!" I exclaimed. "Caia!"

"Castor!" she screamed. "You know me? You call me Caia? Are you a ghost?Are you alive? And that voice! Oh, are you real?"

"Real and alive, " I answered. "I am myself. I am Hedulio. "

To my amazement there, in the dusk under the willows, among the alders, she gave a half-smothered shriek and the next instant her arms were roundmy neck and mine round her, and she was sobbing on my shoulder, repeating:

"Call me Caia again. This is too good to be true. "

CHAPTER XXVIII

MOONLIGHT

When our transports had abated a little I was aware that the twilight wasdeepening into dusk and that I must somehow save Vedia from the roamingwild beasts. I guided her along the twisting track from her hiding-placeto the road. As we gained it I heard a loud snarl of a lion or tiger orpanther far off towards the crag. We must make haste. 

I reflected that it would be a very strong and enterprising beast, even ifa lion, which would break into Vedia's coach when its panels were slid andfastened. 

"We are too far from any habitation, " I said, "for us to reach any whilethe light holds. I dare not make the attempt with you among all thesefreed wild beasts. I should be afraid to try it alone in this deepeningdusk. The best thing we can do is to get inside your carriage, slide thepanels and trust to them to keep out any inquisitive leopard or lion. Withthe carcasses of four well-fed horses and as many mules laid ready to eat, no tiger ought to be hungry enough to be eager after us. "

"I had thought that, too, " she agreed. 

I peered through the open door into the coach, which was roomy. Then Ireplaced in it its mattresses and cushions, Vedia showing me how theyfitted and, going round to the other door and opening it, helping me tolay smooth the unmanageable feather-stuffed upper-cushions. She alsoshowed me the receptacles for her toilet-box, the food hampers and thekidskins. While we were thus busied the almost full moon rose clear andbright over a distant mountain. I helped Vedia into the coach and shedisposed herself at full length on its cushions, sinking into thefeathers. I walked round the coach and slid all the panels except thefront panel through which the moonlight entered, then I climbed inside, shut and fastened the door, shut the panels, fastened each and stretchedout by Vedia, like her with plenty of cushions and pillows under my headand shoulders. 

As I fastened the last panels we heard the hunting-squall of a leopard atno great distance. Vedia clung to me, shuddering. 

"You have saved me, Caius, " she said. "As you did on the terrace atNemestronia's. "

Naturally, for a while, we exchanged kisses and caresses without anyintermingled words. 

When, she spoke she said:

"How do you come to be alive?"

"That, " I said, "is thanks to Agathemer and is a long tale. I am faintwith hunger and thirst, you yourself should be in need of nourishment andmight be the better for it. There should be food in those hampers and winein the kidskins. "

"There is, " she said, "and plenty. I am as hungry and thirsty as you, nowI am no longer terrified and am recovering from my panic. But I amintensely eager to hear your story. Do begin at the beginning just as soonas you can, and tell it while we eat. "

Then she showed me how to dispose the hampers as they were designed to bearranged while the occupants of the coach ate. They were very generouslyfilled with the most luxurious fare: hard-boiled eggs, ham, cold roastpork, sliced thin; breast of roast goose, breast of roast duck, youngguinea-fowls, broiled whole and cut up, broiled chickens, broiled squabs;half a. Dozen kinds of bread, a quarter loaf and different sorts of rolls;lettuce and radishes; bottles of oil, vinegar, garum sauce, and othersauces; salt smoked fish; figs, both big green figs and small purple figs;a jar of strained honey, several kinds of cakes, and plenty of salt, pepper, other relishes, and a lavish provision of knives and of silver, plates, spoons, cups and other utensils. 

"Why all this profusion?" I queried. "You have enough here for a party often. "

"I always have a variety like this, " she explained. "I generally have verylittle appetite on a journey so I tell Lydia to put in all the things shecan get which she knows I like. Then something is likely to tempt me. "

We feasted by moonlight, while I told my story from the moment when I hadreceived her warning letter. 

"I knew that you mounted the horse in front of Plosurnia's Tavern, " shesaid, "but I have never heard of you after that. Tanno and I did all wecould to find out what had become of you; all we could without risking thesecret service getting an inkling that we had a hope that you were notdead. 

"In fact it was not only advertised from the Palace in due course, butcircumstantially reported to us privately, that the secret service hadlearned that you had arranged for a fishing-vessel to take you to sea fromSipontum. They had then set three detachments of Praetorians to interceptyou, one on each road, with watchers to warn them if you were recognized. You were seen or betrayed somewhere between Hadria and Auximum, oneaccount said at Ortona, and the Praetorians killed you. 

"Tanno said that the secret service always gave out such an account ifthey failed to locate and capture any man they should have arrested. Butthe confirmation of the story by three different private agencies plainlydestroyed his hopes that you might still be alive. I tried to keep onhoping, but, after a whole year, I stopped lying awake and sobbing in thedark; while I felt more grief for you than I ever felt for SatroniusPatavinus and more truly widowed than when he died, I ceased to grieve andregained my interest in gaieties and suitors. Don't you think that wasnatural?"

"Very natural, " I admitted and went on with my story. 

The moon rose higher and its rays no longer struck on our faces, but, striking through the open panel, diffused from what part of the cushion orsides of the coach they fell on directly, lit up the whole interior with apearly glimmer. By this subdued light Vedia looked bewitchingly charmingand coquettish, all the more because of the contrast between her elaboratecoiffure and the simple costume her maid had worn. 

I ate liberally and with relish and she appeared to enjoy her food as Idid. 

"You don't seem a bit worried, " I remarked, "over the loss of yourjewels. "

"Loss!" she exclaimed. "I haven't lost them, they are all in the secretcompartment under us inside the coach body, just where Lydia put thembefore we left Rome. The bandits had barely begun to ransack the coachwhen we heard the yells of the constabulary and then the hoof-beats oftheir horses. They and their horses made so much noise that the brigandsthought they had to do with a hundred or more and fled, dragging offBambilio and Lydia and leaving me and the hampers, even the wine-skins. They never were near laying hands on those jewels. They had Bambilio'scoin-chests, to be sure; but not my jewelry nor so much as a nugget of thebullion they had expected. They were preparing to torture the procuratorto make him reveal the hiding place of his bullion, when the yelling andgalloping horsemen scared them away. "

I congratulated her and we ate with even more relish. Both of us, however, were sparing of the wine, though I gloated at the savor of the firstreally good wine I had tasted for more than two years. 

And garum sauce! I had not realized how I had craved such luxuries asgarum. 

I told my story to an accompaniment of Vedia's exclamations. She wasamazed at all of it; at our crawl through the drain, at the loyalty of oldChryseros, at my involvement with Maternus, at my encounter withPescennius Niger, at my involvement with the mutineers; but most of all, at my having been present in the great circus, an eyewitness of the mostspectacular day of racing Commodus ever exhibited under his transparentpseudonym of Palus and his last day of public jockeying; and, equally, atAgathemer's device by which we survived the massacre. 

We had finished our leisurely meal and I had finished my story, neitherour appetites nor the flow of my narrative marred by the distant squallsof leopards and roars of lions, nor by the uncanny sounds made by thehyenas, when, all of a sudden, a lion uttered a powerful and prolongedroar within a dozen yards of us. Vedia shrieked and clung to me, clutchingme so I had to remonstrate with her in order to be able to slide shut andfasten the open front panel. I had barely fastened it when another roar asloud, sudden, and long answered the first from the other side of us, somewhere in the swamp tract. This time Vedia did not shriek, she onlyclung closer to me. I held her as close as she held me and, so clinging toeach other, in the pale glimmer of the moonlight striking on the shellpanes in the panels, we listened to repetitions of the roars, each timenearer, till the two beasts were roaring at each other not much more thanits length from the carriage, apparently facing each other across the deadpole-horses. I expected a fight, but they ceased roaring, and, by thesounds they made, fell to gorging themselves on horse-meat. 

When we had become used to their proximity, since, after a lapse of timewhich seemed like half an hour or more, they kept on crunching and rendingwithout any roarings and without coming nearer the carriage, Vedia, herarms still about me, told me the story of her doings since my downfall. Most of it was taken up with social gaieties and with rejections oftolerated suitors. 

Then she, shyly, told me of her liking for Orensius Pacullus, of Aquileia, and her promise to marry him. She explained at length why she had beencalled imperatively to Aquileia, why he felt bound to remain there and howit was that she had agreed to travel to Aquileia to be married there, instead of his returning to Rome, which would have been the mostconventional arrangement. 

While she was telling me this we heard not only the noise of the feedingof the two lions which were eating the dead horses, but heard also a thirdanimal as noisily tearing at one of the dead mules behind the coach. 

"I cannot believe, " she said, "that I ever consented to marry anybodyelse, even when I was certain you were dead. But you know, Caius, it isnatural to be married; and to live alone, as maid or widow, is not onlylonesome and unnatural, but unfashionable and absurd. 

"But, now that I know you are alive, I shall not care who thinks meridiculous or who calls me silly; I shall feel lonely, but lonely merelybecause I cannot live with you. I shall jilt poor dear Pacullus, who is asgood a man and as good a fellow as ever lived, and I shall stick to mywidowhood until I die or Commodus joins the company of the gods and we canarrange for your full rehabilitation and the restoration of your estatesand rank. "

Just as she said this we distinctly heard clawing and snuffing against thepanels behind our heads, opposite where the lions were feasting. Vedia didnot shriek, she was too scared to make any sound: she merely clutched mecloser. 

Both lions roared in front of the coach; a tiger's rasping yarr answeredfrom behind it and almost instantly there were noises alongside the coachindicating that a lion and tiger were at grips; growls, snarls, moregrowls and more snarls, each choked off in the middle as it were, halfswallowed and left unfinished. For some reason the noise of the fightimmediately started a chorus of hyenas, emitting their strange cries, muchlike human laughter, but the laughter of maniacs. Our situation andenvironment was to the last degree uncanny. 

The fight lasted no long time. We could not conjecture which combatant wasvictorious, but they dashed off, one pursuing the other. The remaininglion roared twice; long, choking, snarling torrents of thunderous noise;then it also went away. Except for distant snarls, squalls and roars, wewere in a silent moonlit world, almost peaceful. I ventured to unfastenthe other front panel and slide it a little way open. The rays of the highmoon, poured in on our feet, we looked out on a magical prospect. 

Vedia put a relishing warm arm round my neck. 

"Call me Caia again, " she whispered. "Where you are Caius I am Caia!"[Footnote: From the Roman marriage-ritual. ] The implication thrilled me. It was as if we were married, had been man and wife for long past. 

It may have been midnight, was near midnight when she said:

"I don't want to go to sleep at all. We can do without one night's sleep. We can sleep tomorrow night, when we are not together. Let's try to keepawake every minute till daylight. "

In fact it was not easy to sleep, for a pack of hyenas, apparently asfriendly with each other as if they had hunted together since they wereweaned, came and picked the bones of the horses and mules, even ate thebones, which cracked loudly between their powerful jaws. The noise oftheir gluttony would have kept awake a pair sleepier than we. 

But, when the moon was almost half way down the sky, when the roars andsqualls and snarls of lions and leopards and tigers and the horridlaughter of hyenas had ceased to sound, when the night silence was socomplete that we could hear the cocks crowing near distant farmsteads andthe faint breezes rustling in the willows, we did sleep, she first, herarms round me and her head on my shoulder. 

When we woke, with the slanted moon rays on the back corner of the coachbehind me, she cuddled to me luxuriously, patted me and presentlywhispered, in a bantering, roguish tone which I detected even in hersoftest whisper:

"You remember that old sweetheart of yours?"

"I don't remember any sweetheart except you, " I retorted. "I never had anysweetheart except you. "

"I mean, " she said, "that minx who made eyes at you and all your countryneighbors and certainly tried to marry you and most of your Sabinefriends. "

"You mean Marcia?" said I. 

"Ah, " she said, playfully and teasingly, "I thought you would remember hername. If you remember her name you must remember her. "

"Of course I remember Marcia, " I said. "How could I forget her after theway she led my uncle by the nose, had half the countryside mad for her, set us all by the ears, rebuffed Ducconius Furfur, and married MarcusMartius?

"If I had never known her before I'd be bound to recall the creature whoembroiled me with you. My! You were in a wax!"

"I certainly was, " she whispered, "and I thought I had reason to beindignant. But now I believe your version of her relations with you andfeel no qualms at recollecting the slanders I then credited. But, thepoint is, you remember her. "

"My dear, " I said, "if I had never set eyes on Marcia except when Iencountered her in the Baths of Titus the day you rescued me from drowningwhen I fainted in the swimming pool, I'd remember her for life. She is toobeautiful to forget. "

"Am I so hideous?" she demanded. 

"You are the loveliest woman alive, " I vowed. "But Marcia is amazinglyspectacular and the pictures she makes impress themselves on one's memoryand eyesight. I could never forget her in that brilliant tableau on thecamp-platform facing the mutineers, even if I had never seen her before. "

"I was coming to that, " Vedia said. "Marcia, who was a foundling and aslave as the adopted child of a slave, has risen so high that she is trulyEmpress in all but the official title. She has all the honors Faustina orCrispina ever had, except that she keeps out of those religious rites, participation in which is confined to women married with the full old-timeceremonies and observances. "

I then told her what Agathemer and I had heard about Marcia whiledomiciled with Colgius, and of the absence from all talk about her of anymention of or allusion to Marcus Martius; I asked if she knew what hadbecome of him or, indeed, anything about him. 

 "Oh, yes, " she said, "all Roman society knew the main facts and dear oldTanno supplied me with many of the intimate details. Commodus made a pointof having Martius specially presented to him because he had heard that hehad been, with you and Tanno, one of the foremost fighters in your affraysin Vediamnum and near Villa Satronia. At his private audience hecongratulated and bepraised Martius and acclaimed his prowess. Martius, who seems to have been a very fine fellow, disclaimed any pretensions tosuch laudations and modestly stated that he had, at the beginning of eachfight, been far in the rear in your travelling-coach, with Marcia; thatshe had clung to him and so delayed his getting out; that each time he hadgotten out and picked up the staff of a disabled combatant, but that, ineach combat, he had arrived barely in time to land a few blows on some ofthe routed enemy; that in neither affray had he done any real fighting orbeen in any danger or performed any exploits. 

"Commodus, in his blunt way, had asked whether he was good for anything, anyhow. Martius had replied that he was considered more than a mediocrehorse-master. 

"Commodus had then invited him to demonstrate his prowess in the Stadiumof the Palace. There Martius had shown such skill, courage, agility, judgment, grace and ease that Commodus was delighted. He had Martius ridea number of wild, fierce and unmanageable horses and was more and morecharmed with him. 

"Next day he had another batch of intractable mounts for him. As Martiuswas manoeuvring one which he had almost subdued Commodus stepped too nearthe plunging brute and, in saving the Emperor from being run down andtrampled, Martius was somehow thrown and his neck broken. 

"Commodus was very penitent, felt that he had caused Martius' death, hadhim given a funeral of Imperial magnificence and, as soon as her grief hadquieted enough, paid Marcia a ceremonial visit of condolence, as if shehad been the widow of a full general killed in battle on the frontier. 

"One sight of Marcia was enough. Within a very short space of time herwiles had ensnared him and Crispina raged in vain. "

Then she told me all the story of the intrigues by which Marcia poisonedthe Emperor's mind against the Empress, until Crispina fell under allsorts of suspicion in the eyes of Commodus: of how at the same time Marciasubtly laid snares for Crispina and enticed her into injudicious behaviorwith several gallants, until finally the Emperor put her undersurveillance, later relegated her to Capri, then to some more distantisland, and finally had her brought back to Rome, publicly tried, convicted and executed. 

I told her my conjectures as to the queer outcome of the arrest ofDucconius Furfur and as to who Palus really was and who occupied thethrone while Palus exhibited himself as wrestler, boxer, charioteer andwhat not. 

"I know nothing to confirm your surmises, " she said, "but we about theCourt have often been puzzled at the way Commodus appeared to be in twoplaces at once. You set me thinking. "

After the second cockcrow, since dawn was not now far away, we fell totalking of the future. 

"I shan't marry anybody, ever, except you, dear!" she promised, without myasking it and again and again: "I'll remain a widow until I die unless weoutlive Commodus, and Tanno and I succeed in having you rehabilitated. Ihave many consolations in my wealth and social position and friends. "

"And suitors, " I put in, mimicking her tone when she bantered me aboutMarcia. 

"And suitors!" she replied. "Caius, I love you, and I'll never marryanyone else, but I do love attention. I love to keep a dozen good catchesdangling about me; their wooings and their gifts and their behaviorgenerally are no end of good fun. And it's good fun to have half themarriageable belles furious with me. I cannot help encouraging any man, oreven lad, who moons about after me. But you have never had any reason tobe jealous, you have none now, you never will have. "

I expressed my faith in her the best I could. 

"You are a dear, dear boy, " she said, "and it is good of you not to bejealous, even when you have so little reason to be jealous. I have muchmore. Suppose I raged about Nebris or Septima?"

I tried to change the subject and succeeded, when I suggested that we mustplan what we were to do at dawn and in the future. After a full discussionand the airing of her ideas and mine, we agreed that there was little orno likelihood of the road-constables returning or of anyone elseapproaching her carriage before full daylight. As soon as there wassufficient light for it to be safe, I would open the panels enough for usto keep watch up and down the highway and in the direction the constableshad taken. When we saw them returning I was to wait till they were nearenough to assure her safety and then, at the last moment, I was to slipout on the other side of the coach. That was next the swamp and I could beout of sight among the willows and alders when less than two score yardsfrom the road; also I knew the path across the swamp and could cross itand go off home through the meadows and pastures beyond it. This was ourplan. 

She said she would, whenever the road-constables returned, behave as ifshe had been alone in the coach all night. She had no doubt that thepolice would give her every assistance in their power. 

"Of course, " she said, "my intendant galloped off somewhere, somehow andthe coachman and outrider and mule-drivers ran away; you couldn't expectany or all of them to make a stand against all those armed brigands. Ifthe constables return, as they will, all my men will come back. Osdaruswill manage to get me horses from the nearest change-station or somewhereelse, somehow. Once at an inn I can get fresh horses. I can buy a team atNuceria. "

"Can you pay for a team?" I interrupted. "Have you the cash?"

"My gold and silver, " she laughed, "are in the other secret compartment. The outlaws did not get my coin any more than my jewelry. Why look!Lydia's earrings are in my ears now and her necklace round my neck and herbracelets on my wrists and her rings on my fingers. The rascals were sosure of not being interfered with and so much at ease that they werestartled frantic by the galloping horsemen and scuttled off withBambilio's coin-chest, dragging him and poor Lydia and totally forgettingme, thinking me the maid, not even noticing these little trinkets, whichare mostly silver and some of gold and so worth stealing. 

"I have the cash to pay for two teams or three: I brought plenty for thejourney to Aquileia, because we could learn little of the state of theroads beyond Bononia and I thought I might have to travel by Placentia oreven by Milan. I'll get back to Rome, as fast as I can. I don't want to bemarried now, so I don't want to go on to Bononia, let alone all the way toAquileia. If I did want to go on, the bandits have run off with my maid, and I could hardly get along without her, and they have also removed myescort, and I certainly could not keep on without a proper escort. I haveevery excuse for turning about at once and making haste to get out of thisdangerous neighborhood and getting back home. 

"Poor Lydia! I hate to think of her at the mercy of those brutal ruffians. They may maltreat her horribly if they discover that they have the maidinstead of the mistress, and by the maid's device. I'll tell everybody Isee that I'll pay any ransom in reason, even beyond reason, for poorLydia, if the brigands will restore her to me safe and sound. I fancytheir friends hereabouts, and almost every inhabitant of the district is afriend of theirs, by your account, will speedily have conveyed to them thenews that their capture is worth almost as much ransom as they hoped toextort for me. That news ought to protect Lydia while she is among theoutlaws and ought to help me to get her back without much delay. 

"As soon as I am in Rome I'll send a trusty agent up here to set on footnegotiations with the outlaws and to rescue Lydia by paying what they askfor her. 

"And, the moment I reach Rome I'll set in motion all the forces I cancontrol or enlist, and I can influence many men in high places, I'll haveall I can influence working quietly and most unobtrusively for thatofficial manumission, of yours. Once you are free you had best travelsecretly and without haste to Bruttium. No folk are more secretive or moreloyal than the herders and foresters of Bruttium. Not only your formerslaves on your uncle's estate there, but all their neighbors will do asmuch to keep secret your presence among them, and shield you and to makeyou comfortable and happy as the Umbrians hereabouts have been doing tohelp and protect Bulla and his band and to shield them from theconstabulary and authorities. In Bruttium you can lurk in safety as longas Commodus lives and it will even be safe for us two to exchange letters. In Bruttium it can be arranged that no secret-service agent or Imperialspy can ever get wind of your existence, let alone of your hiding-place. You can be free, in a way, housed comfortably, with no duties, able topass your time as you please, and well cared for. Tanno and I will seethat you are supplied with cash for the journey and for your needs afteryou reach your haven. "

The cocks crowed vociferously at all the neighboring farmsteads and wecould hear them plainly across the considerable distances from us to each. The moon hung low and the pale first light of day began to overcome themoonlight. 

Vedia petted me and I petted her and she repeated her vows of unalterablefidelity to her pledge to marry no one else and to hope to marry me. 

As dawn brightened the hyenas burst into a belated chorus and a lionroared far away. After that the beasts made no sounds which came to ourears. 

Vedia insisted on my eating more of her delicacies and, I confess, I ateliberally and with relish. A night with almost no sleep and muchexcitement causes an unnatural hunger at dawn and the delicious raritiestempted me. 

She explained, over and over, that I was to behave precisely as if we hadnot encountered each other and be sure not to mistake some secret-serviceagent for her emissary. The watchword was to be, in memory of that used atmy escape from Rome, that whoever came from her or Tanno to me would ask:

"Can you direct me to the leopard-tamer who rode the horse with the bluesaddle-cloth?"

I was to reply:

"The blue saddle-cloth was bordered with silver. "

He was then to respond:

"I have silver for the leopard-tamer. "

I was then to say:

"I am the leopard-tamer and I have a pouch for your silver. "

After we had rehearsed the passwords till both were sure neither couldforget or misplace a word, as the day was coming on, we kept a keenlookout through the partly opened panels. Before sunrise I saw the mountedconstables approaching down the mountain trail, for there were severalpoints on it where horsemen could be seen through the trees, even fromwhere we were. 

I unfastened the coach door next the swamp, we kissed each other again andagain, and, as the horsemen came in sight away across the meadows wherethey emerged from the woods, we exchanged a last farewell kiss and Islipped out and across the swamp. 

BOOK IV

DISSIMULATIONS

CHAPTER XXIX

FELIX

From the marsh my path homewards led me past the villa, for it wasdirectly between my cottage and the swamp. The very first human being Iencountered was the _Villicus_ himself. 

"Hullo, Felix, " he said. "I've been looking for you. We need you. Septimasays she hasn't seen you since early yesterday. Where have you been allnight?"

"Up a tree, " I replied. "Bulla told me day before yesterday that he andhis lads planned a spectacular capture and robbery on the highway south ofDiana's Crag for yesterday afternoon. Most of the days lately on which youhaven't wanted me I have spent on top of the crag, watching the traffic onthe road. I went up there about the third hour yesterday morning, to viewthe show Bulla had promised me. I expected to enjoy it, but, somehow, whenI saw the victims' coaches come in sight, the idea of a Roman lady in theclutches of Bulla's gang went against my gorge. I ran down alongside thecrag towards where Selinus was grazing in the roadside pasture. He came tome and I galloped up the highway and up the first crossroad to warn theconstabulary, who had gone up that road about noon, on some falseinformation given them by someone at Bulla's suggestion. Their officertook my horse and I had to run with the infantrymen. My breath gave outand my legs too and I dropped behind when they left the highway south ofthe crag and struck off across country after the bandits, who had beenscared off by the cavalrymen. It took me a long time to get my breath andrest my legs. When I felt able to walk it was after sunset. I can gentleany beast by daylight, but after dusk I'm no better off than any other manfacing a lion or tiger. The brigands had opened scores of cages and thefreed beasts began to roar and snarl soon after sunset. I climbed a mapleand spent the night in a fork about six yards from the ground, where Ifelt safe as long as I could keep awake. I dreaded to fall if I dozed, andI was frightfully drowsy after such a hot day and such a long run. Whenthe sun rose I started home. "

"Come along, prudent youth, " he said, "we need you. The sub-procurator incharge of the beast-train which the brigands interfered with is at thevilla: so are half his beast-tenders and teamsters. The animal-keepers vowthey dare not attempt to recapture their charges and the procurator isangry and worried and anxious about his responsibility and what will beexpected of him by his superiors. He does not want to lose one single lionor tiger or even hyena; wants them recaged at once. So do I. I've lostmore stock than I like to think of. The hyenas and panthers and leopardshave slaughtered a host of my sheep and goats, and the lions and tigershave banqueted on some of my most promising colts and on many of mycattle. 

"Can you duplicate your feat with the panther loose on the highway?"

"I can repeat it as often as I can get anywhere near any of those beastsby daylight, " I said. "Let us start at once. There is no hurry, for thebeasts will do little damage in daytime, as most of them will hide tilldark. But there seems to be a large number loose; I doubt if I can catchall of them before dusk. "

"It'll take you two days, Felix, or three, " the _Villicus_ laughed. "Theprocurator states that his train had in its cages twenty-five panthers, asmany leopards, fifty tigers, a hundred lions and two hundred hyenas. That's four hundred beasts for you to catch as fast as they can be locatedby their keepers, assisted by my whole force of horse-wranglers, herdsmen, shepherds, and the rest and all the farmers hereabouts, and all theirslaves. We'll have plenty of help. Three farmers are at the villa nowraving over the loss of sheep or cattle; every farmer will turn out withhis men to help us; anyhow, every bumpkin and yokel will want to enjoy thefun and they'll all flock to the scene. "

I do not know how many days I spent catching the escaped beasts for theprocurator. I enjoyed the first day, did not mind the second and was notpainfully weary on the third; but the rest passed in a daze of exhaustion;though I had good horses, a fresh horse whenever I asked for it, wine andgood wine as often as I was thirsty, plenty of good food and everyconsideration; and although the various farms at which I spent the nights(for we did not once return to the villa) did all they could for mycomfort, the repetition, for hundreds of times, of dismounting, approaching a lion or tiger in his daylight lair among reeds or tall grassor bushes, catching him by the mane or the scruff of his neck, leading himto his cage and caging him, was extremely, even unbelievably exhausting. 

Whenever any of our searchers located a beast in hiding the teamstersdrove their wagons with his cage as near as might be; in no case did Ilead a cowed captive half a mile; seldom two furlongs. But I walked agreat distance in the course of each of these days, rode many miles in thecourse of all the riding I did between recaptures, and was never calmedbetween my recurrent periods of tense excitement. I felt limp. 

My condition was not improved by the occurrence and recurrence ofperturbing excitement from a more disquieting cause. Early on my third dayof animal-catching, just as I stepped back from bolting the door of a cageon a lion, I felt rather than saw out of the tail of my eye someone rushtowards me from behind, trip when a few yards from me and fall flat. Iwhirled to look and beheld a mere lad, one of my fellow-slaves at thevilla, a stable cleaner, scrambling to his feet. When he was half up theman nearest him, another of my fellow-slaves, an assistant colt-wrangler, apparently the man who had tripped him, dealt him a smashing blow on theear with his clenched fist and felled him again. As he went down I sawthat he had a long-bladed, keen-edged, gleaming dagger in his right hand. It flew from his grasp as he plowed up the ground with his face. The colt-wrangler picked it up. 

We were on a crossroad, some distance from the highway, in the woods. Thewagon and cage were surrounded by almost a score of the slaves of theestate, with nearly as many more helpers; farm-slaves, farmers, teamsters, beast-warders, yokels and stragglers; the _Villicus_ was near. 

"Napsus, " he said to the colt-wrangler, "kill him with his own dagger!"

Instantly Napsus stabbed the fallen lad between the shoulders. The thrustwent home neatly, under the left shoulder-blade, deep and inclined alittle upward. It must have reached his heart, for he died after oneviolent convulsion which threw him into the air, and turned him completelyover, his corpse slapping the ground like a flopping fish on a stream-bank. 

"Hand me that rope!" the _Villicus_ ordered a teamster. 

He knotted a hangman's noose at one end of the rope, tried it to make sureit worked properly and ordered the estate slaves to hang the body to aconvenient limb of a near by tree. They did. 

I stood, gazing questioningly, first at the swinging corpse, then at the_Villicus_. 

"Felix, " said he, "I perceive that you do not understand. Tiro meant tokill you, and would most likely have succeeded had not Napsus firsttripped him and then killed him. Napsus shall be handsomely rewarded inevery fashion within my power. Tiro has been dealt with as he deserved, asany similar fool deserves. I propose to protect you to the extent of myabilities and authority, which includes peremptory execution of any estateslave whom I so much as suspect; I don't have to wait for any overt act, nor for any threat, uttered or whispered or hinted. You can rely on allthe protection I can give you and I fancy it will suffice. If there is anyother fool about let him take notice. "

He spoke loudly, so as to be audible to everyone of the gathering. 

I stared numb, puzzled, almost dazed. 

"But, " I blurted out, "why did he try to kill me? Why should anyone wantto kill me?"

"You don't know Umbria, lad, " spoke the _Villicus_, indulgently. "Manyeyes in addition to those of the teamsters and beast-wardens beheld you onSelinus, galloping your fastest northwards along the highroad. Many sawyou turn Selinus up the crossroad the _viarii_ had taken. Many saw theirofficer on Selinus when the cavalrymen charged down the highroad andscattered the bandits. Many saw you afoot among the infantrymen when theyturned from the crossroad into the highway and as they double-quicked downit. Every partisan of the outlaws blames you for their discomfiture, andregards you as a detestable traitor, many a one is looking for such achance at you as Tiro thought he saw. I'll give you a body-guard of men Ican trust, for the rest of this beast-catching job. But keep a brightlookout, yourself. You may need all your own strength and quickness tosave yourself. "

The strain of this surprise and anxiety was a hundredfold as trying as themost daunting beast-catching. I felt it. 

I felt it more after a second similar attempt that very afternoon. I hadthreaded a dense patch of undergrowth, approached a lurking leopard, caught her and led her out of the thicket, led her almost to her waitingcage. By this time our helpers were so used to seeing me cage lions, panthers, leopards and tigers that they no longer, as at first, hovered ata distance, gaping at me as I, completely alone with my catch, led ittowards its cage, set ready by its wagon, from which the team had beenloosed and removed: no longer drew off some yards beyond the cage andwagon and stood ready for instant flight if my capture escaped me; theynow merely drew aside as I approached and opened a lane for me and mycharge, no more afraid than if I had been leading a calf. 

As I drew near the cage, my mind intent on the leopard and my eyes on theopen cage door and its fastenings, a slave of one of the neighboringfarmers dashed at me, sheath-knife uplifted. He came from my left side, from a little behind me. I whirled round to face him, pulling the leopardround roughly, so that she snarled. I let her go. She was face to facewith my reckless assailant and they were close together. She gave onejoyful, gloating, triumphant squall and one mighty leap. Her claws sankinto his shoulders, her long white fangs met, horridly crunching, in histhroat, and she bore him to the earth where she crouched flat on him, greedily gulping his blood. 

The bystanders fairly fell over backwards in their panic as theyscattered. I stood by the leopard, and when she had exhausted the supplyof hot blood, succeeded in caging her; but dropped limp on the earth onceI had fastened her in her cage, for a beast of prey which had just tastedhuman blood was a ward with which I had felt very uncertain of being ableto cope. 

After that no one attempted to molest me while out catching the escapedbeasts. But the night before my last day of beast-catching, as I lay abedvery fast asleep at a villa fully ten miles from the Imperial villa whereI belonged, I became gradually aware of some noises, then slowly Iwakened. There was a fight going on at my door. Soon after I got out ofbed our host and my master, the _Villicus_, came with a light and three orfour slaves. The light revealed One of my fellow-slaves flat on his backand another throttling him. A dagger lay on the floor. Evidently the onehad saved me from the other. 

Late next afternoon, far up in the hills near Helvillum, I caught andcaged the last hyena. These, being smaller and more cowardly than thenobler animals, were harder to locate. It was after sunset when we reachedthe villa where we found the procurator in charge of the beast-train; andalong with, him and his men were welcomed and entertained. 

After our bath and a lavish dinner the _Villicus_ exchanged a fewwhispered words with our host and then he and I had a long conferencealone. He explained that my life was in danger, not only from localfriends of Bulla and partisans of the King of the Highwaymen who all notmerely regarded me with detestation and hatred as a traitor but suspectedme of being a government spy, but also from the King of the Highwaymenhimself, who was certain to be informed by Bulla of how they had beendiscomfited and who had a long arm and countless capable and intrepidagents. He was of the opinion that the three attempts at assassinationwhich I had escaped were a mere beginning. He was emphatic that I couldnot remain on the Imperial estate and survive many days. He advised mestrongly not to return to the villa. 

Then he told me that the procurator of the beast-train had sent to Rome byan Imperial courier, whom he had managed to intercept at a change-station, a letter setting forth my powers over fierce animals and asking that anorder be sent for my transfer from the horse-breeding estate to the BeastBarracks attached to the Colosseum, where the animals are housed fromtheir arrival in Rome, until their display in the arena; that this letterhad come into the hands of the same officials who already had underconsideration the requisition for me made by the procurator in charge ofthe Beast Barracks; that somehow these same officials appeared to knownothing of my identity with the slave who had foiled the conspirators whowere fomenting a mutiny in the _ergastulum_ at Nuceria, and for whosemanumission a request had been made by the aldermen of that town, andindeed appeared to know nothing of any such request for manumission; thata requisition for my transfer from the horse-breeding estate to the Beast-Barracks at Rome had been made out, approved by the higher officials, sealed, stamped and sent out by an Imperial courier and received that veryafternoon by the procurator of the beast-train, who consequently hadauthority to take me to Rome with him as one of the attendants on theanimals of his train, which was now again in order, I having recaged allthe four hundred escaped beasts, except five hyenas, one panther and onelion which had been killed by stock-owners and their slaves whileattacking stock. 

The _Villicus_ went on to say that this fell out very advantageously forme, in his opinion. He advised me not only to go with the procuratorwithout demur, but to arrange with him that I drop the name of Felix andadopt some other. He pointed out that, if it was known that Felix theHorse-wrangler of Umbria had gone to Rome as Felix the Beast-Tamer, thenthe King of the Highwaymen would be able without difficulty to trace meand set on me his ruthless agents until one of them assassinated me. 

I felt that he was right. The danger to my former self as AndiviusHedulio, implicated in a conspiracy against Caesar, appeared now far offand unimportant, in spite of the fact that the secret service might stillbe keen to catch me and the hue and cry out after me from the Alps toRhegium; the danger to my present self from the enmity of Bulla, of hisruffians, of their partisans in Umbria, of their Chief, the King of theHighwaymen, whoever he might be, appeared close and menacing. A change ofname would make it impossible for Tanno and Vedia to carry out her planfor my manumission by the _fiscus_, my clandestine journey to Bruttium andmy comfortable and unsuspected seclusion there until some other princesucceeded our present Emperor. I had grasped eagerly at the thought ofthis plan and had built much on it. But I realized that Bulla's admirersor the agents of the King of the Highwaymen would make an end of me longbefore Vedia's influence could obtain my manumission; and that, if she didaccomplish all she expected, I could never hope to escape the vigilance ofthe tenacious and expert pursuers who would inevitably dog my footsteps. 

I thought the advice of the _Villicus_ good. I regretted that I was not tosay farewell to Septima; she deserved a most fervent expression of myesteem, gratitude, regard and good wishes; but, after my encounter withVedia, Septima seemed of very little importance. I had my amulet-bag onits thong about my neck and my coin-belt about my waist. I agreed to gowith the procurator and thanked the _Villicus_ for his solicitude for me, for his good offices and for his advice. 

He said that it would be best that he should not know what name I meant toadopt. Also he said that, if I was to escape the vengeance of the King ofthe Highwaymen, it would be imperative that I be thought dead; he wouldgive out that I had been killed by one of my fellow-slaves and everybodywould assume that I had perished at the hands of some partisan of theoutlaws; Bulla and the King of the Highwaymen would feel their animositysatiated. 

I reflected that whereas news of my supposed assassination would fillVedia with grief and would probably, after her grief abated, leave herfeeling free to marry, yet, if a false report of my death was not spreadabroad, a genuine report of my actual death soon would be. It was a choicebetween a lesser and a greater evil. I acquiesced. 

I then ventured to ask him if he knew anything as to how far the brigandshad succeeded in spite of my intervention and how far they had failedbecause of it. He told me that they had effected their escape with thepropraetor's coin-chests, the propraetor, and the procurator and hadcarried off the widow's maid by mistake for the widow, on account of herclever device of changing clothes with her mistress. 

Also that Vedia had announced that she would pay a large ransom for hermaid. 

I then felt safe to ask what had become of Vedia, her name being knownfrom her advertisement. He said she had procured horses and mules and hadreturned to Rome, sending up agents from Nuceria to negotiate with thebandits, rescue Lydia and pay her ransom. 

The next day, at dawn, I set off with the beast-train, riding by theprocurator. He and I and the _Villicus_ had had a talk. After the_Villicus_ left my name was Festus. 

I asked the procurator what had become of the bullion on account of whichthe brigands had routed out the cages. He laughed and asked whether I hadnoted anything peculiar in the handling of the cages while I was returningtheir contents to them. I said I had noticed that the rollers lashed tothe wagons were never used, but fresh-cut rollers each time a cage wastaken off a wagon or put back on. 

He laughed again. 

"You can conjecture then, " he said, "why the outlaws got no grain of thedust, let alone any nugget: six hundred rollers, even with very moderateholes bored into half of them, would hold more bullion than the procuratorwas convoying. "

I laughed also. 

"I suppose, " I said, "it could not be told which rollers were bored outand might crush if used. "

"Just so!" said he. 

We journeyed to Rome with as much hurry as could be made by such a beast-train, which was very slowly for men on good horses. We made excursions upcrossroads, idled at inns, were entertained at villas and I decidedlyenjoyed the beginning of my life as Festus the Beast-Tamer. We werefourteen full days on the road. 

I had time to meditate on the fifth fulfillment of the prophecy of theAemilian Sibyl. Also I had time to offer two white hens to Mercury atNuceria, at Spolitum, at Interamnia, at Narnia and at Ocriculum. 

Towards sunset just before our last night's halt out of the city, from ahilltop on the highway, I had a glorious view of Rome bathed in mellowevening sunlight, much as I had viewed it when I came down the samehighroad with the mutineers from Britain. As always this unsurpassablesight filled me with intense emotions. 

We entered Rome, of course, by the Flaminian Gate and at dawn. Beforesunrise I was in the great mass of buildings variously known as theChoragium, the Therotheca, the Animal Mansions and the Beast-Barracks. These were mostly of many stories, the ground-level used for the beasts, the second floor for their keepers and attendants, the cage-cleaners, theoverseers, and the rest of the army of men who cared for the animals, andthe upper floors utilized as store-rooms for all sorts of weapons, armor, costumes, implements and apparatus used in and for the spectacles; swords, spears, arrows, shields, helmets, breast-plates, corselets, kilts, greaves, boots, cloaks, tunics, poles, rope, pulleys, winches, jack-screws, derricks, wagons, carts, and the like. 

The jumble of buildings was without any sort of general plan. Apparently acourtyard and the structures about it had been found necessary for housingthe beasts and their attendants and had been bought by the management ofthe Colosseum. When it was overtaxed, as the number of animals exhibitedincreased, an adjacent property had been acquired and annexed. So theChoragium had been created and extended till it now covered many acres andhad many courtyards, all arcaded on all sides. Under the arcades were setas many cages as they could accommodate; when the beasts were too numerousfor their cages to be all under the arcades some were stood out in thecourtyards. 

I was comfortably housed in light, airy, roomy, clean and well-furnishedquarters on one of the biggest courtyards. From dawn after my firstnight's sleep there I was busy quelling vicious beasts so their cagescould be cleaned; keeping others quiet while the beast-surgeons dressedwounds inflicted by their captors or keepers or sores caused by theirconfinement; inducing others to swallow the remedies the animal-doctorsthought good for them; leading beasts out of their cages into others; andso on. 

 * * * * *

Before I had been a full day at my duties the procurator of the Beast-Barracks complimented me, declared that I was his very ideal of just thekind of man he had always needed and wanted, averred that I was alreadyindispensable and vowed that he could not conceive how he or the Choragiumhad ever gotten on without me. Within a very few days he came to myquarters and said:

"I want you to be contented here. I won't listen to a word hinting at yourleaving. Otherwise I'll do all I can to gratify every wish of yours notinconsistent with your continuing here and keeping up as you have begun. Of course, within a few days now, you'll have no such rush of all-day toilas you have been having. You have been doing in the past few days all theleft-over jobs which should have been attended to since warm weatherbegan. Once you get clear of legacies from the past you'll find a day'swork can be done in much less than a day and will neither exhaust norweary you. Now what can I do to make you as comfortable as possible?"

He had sat down and had motioned me to be seated also. I ruminated. 

"In the first place, " I said, "I do not want to be made to show off in thearena before audiences. I am willing to tame animals and to keep on taminganimals, but I do not want to be forced to display my powers before thepopulace and the nobility, Senate and court. I have the most powerfulantipathy to being compelled to become a performer as part of a publicspectacle. "

"Set your mind at rest, " he said. "I give my pledge that, unless myauthority is overridden, you shall not take part in public spectaclesexcept that you may often have to enter the arena to lead out ferociousbeasts which are not to be killed or which the Emperor, or some of thecourtiers, senators, nobles or populace have taken a fancy to for somedisplay of courage or craft and have ordered spared. The driving into acage or out of a postern of such a beast is generally an irritatingmatter, delaying the spectacle and often calling for the use of as many asa hundred muscular, agile and bold attendants. I perceive that you can doalone, quickly and easily, what a large gang of eager men has often takena long time to accomplish. Often they have to kill a recalcitrant beast. Ifeel that I need you for this and I trust that you are willing. "

"Entirely, " I answered. 

"Good!" said he, and resumed:

"Now, what is your next point?"

"In the second place, " I said, "I do not want to be pestered withvisitors; nobles or wealthy idlers who take a fancy to me and think theyare conferring a favor on me by intruding on me and wasting my time withtheir inquisitive questions and patronizing remarks. In particular I havea horror of the kind of women who have a fad for molesting with theirattentions singers, actors, gladiators, beast-fighters, charioteers and soon; if one of them gets after me and the infection spreads to more I shallfind life here in Rome altogether unendurable. 

"I speak feelingly (I thought it proper to lie like a Greek, if necessary, in a situation like mine). Where I was before I suffered from theattentions of enthusiastic admirers and I have had all I want of it andfar more; enough to last half a dozen lifetimes. "

"Festus, " said the procurator, "where were you before?"

"If you had seen my back, " I said, "you wouldn't expect me to tell you. "

"I don't expect you to tell me, " he laughed, "but I could not help asking;you are such a wonder that I am tormented with the desire to know allabout you, not merely where you came from and how you got into the_ergastulum_ at Nuceria. But I shall not press you for any informationabout yourself. Keep your own secrets as long as you are willing to workmiracles for me. 

"I don't want to see your back; without seeing it I may say that if anyoneill-treated you he was an amazing fool. You shall not be flogged here, norill-used in any way. I'll take all the measures in my power to ensure thatno visitors bother you and that you are protected not only from genuinesporting nobles but still more from the silly loungers who think it addsto their importance to make the acquaintance of all persons of publicreputation. Especially I'll have you guarded from intrusive fine ladies. "

"What next?"

"I want plenty of the best fruit, " I said boldly. 

"You'll get all you can eat of whatever the markets afford, " he said, "andunderstand right here that I'll indulge you to any extent in anythingrelating to your food or wine, as long as you keep sober. Similarly youcan have anything you ask for in the way of extra clothing or bedding orfurnishings for your quarters. If you don't like the slave detailed towait on you I'll have another put in his place and keep on changing tillyou get one to suit you. 

"You are to be indulged and pampered in every way in my power, except thatI mean to keep you hard at work, long hours each day, at the cages, whenever it is necessary. "

I thanked him and agreed to do my best to please him. 

Not many days later, as he had foretold, my work became less continuousand less burdensome. Soon afterwards I settled into a sort of dailyroutine which occupied me, but did not wear me out and which often left menot a little free time. 

I found that I was entirely free to go and come as I pleased, when notoccupied. I did go to the Temple of Mercury and offer two white hensbought in the Forum Boarium, as I had done when in the City with Maternus. Otherwise I kept pretty close for more than a month. I feared to berecognized as myself by some secret-service agent; I feared almost as muchto be identified as Felix the Horse-Tamer by some henchman of the King ofthe Highwaymen. I wanted to try to communicate with Vedia, but the more Ipondered on how to do so the more I saw only betrayal, recognition anddeath as the probable results of every plan I devised. 

CHAPTER XXX

FESTUS

Domiciled in the Choragium and busy there and in the Colosseum I spentalmost a year. Until the approach of winter put a stop to spectacles inthe arena and after the outset of spring permitted their resumption, I wasnot only continuously busy, but entirely contented. Of the dreary andtedious winter between, which was intensely dispiriting and appearedinterminable, the less I say the better. I do not want to remind myself ofit. 

I was of course free from the bodily miseries which had made my winters atPlacentia and Nuceria so terrible: I did not suffer from cold, hunger, vermin, sleeplessness, overwork, exhaustion, weakness, blows and abuse. Iwas, on the contrary, comfortably lodged and clothed, well attended, lavishly and excellently fed and humored by the procurator. 

But at Placentia and Nuceria I had solaced myself amid the horror of mysituation by reminding myself that I was, at least, alive, and, as long asI was in an _ergastulum_, entirely safe from any danger of beingrecognized and executed. Here, in Rome, often in the arena, under the eyesof sixty thousand Romans, thousands of whom had known me in my prosperityand hundreds of whom had known me familiarly from my childhood, I was, every instant, in peril of recognition and of betrayal to the secretservice. While I was actually in the arena I was so busy or so exhilaratedby my participation in the most magnificent spectacle on earth that Inever worried a moment. I seldom worried while I was occupied with any ofmy duties in the Colosseum or Choragium, although I knew I was very liableto recognition, for the passages and vaults of the Colosseum and thecourtyards of the Choragium were habitually visited by men of sportingtastes; gentlemen, wealthy idlers, noblemen, senators, courtiers, even theEmperor himself. I was, in my intellect, conscious of my danger; but, while I was occupied, it did not perturb my feelings. 

During the idleness of the long winter my peril did rob me of sleep, ofappetite and of peace of mind. I had continually to devise excuses forremaining in my lodgings, for declining invitations to banquets, forkeeping to myself. I dreaded that the procurator himself was growingsuspicious of me. He had, in the kindness of his heart, thrown in my wayoffers of opportunities for outings, for diversions, for entertainments, which any man in my situation might have been expected to accept withalacrity. My refusals, I felt, might set him to thinking. He was entirelyloyal to the Emperor and the government. If the idea ever crossed his mindhe would, at once, have reported to the secret service that it would bewell to take a look at Festus the Beast-Tamer; he might be other than heappeared. The anxiety caused by these thoughts preyed upon my mind. 

Without reason, apparently. The procurator, as I look back on that deadlywinter, seems to have accepted all my peculiarities without question. If Iwould remain content and quell obstreperous beasts when spring opened as Ihad until autumn ushered in winter, I might do and be anything I pleased. If I pleased to mope in my quarters, pace under the arcades of thecourtyard, lie abed from early dusk till after sunrise, what mattered thatto him? Such, apparently, was his attitude of mind. He gave orders that Iwas to have my meals alone in my quarters, as I requested. He had broughtto me, from the libraries of the Basilica Ulpia, most of the books I askedfor. I had read all the books on catching, caring for, curing, managing, taming and fighting beasts which formed the library of the Choragium. After they were exhausted I asked the procurator for more. As he had acousin among the assistant curators at the Ulpian Library he was able togratify me. After I could learn of no more books on beasts I took tocomedies and read Naevius, all of Menander and Caecilius, and most of thebest plays of other writers of comedies; then. I turned to histories, which I thought safe, and spent my days for the remainder of the wintersleeping early, long and late, eating abundant meals of good food, walkingmiles round and round the big courtyard under the empty arcades, exercising in the gymnasium of the Choragium, steaming and parboiling andhalf-roasting myself in its small but very well-appointed and well-servedbaths, and, otherwise, reading every bit of my daylight. I kept well and Iremained safe, ignored and unnoticed. The procurator kept his word as toshielding me from visitors, and he said he had much ado to succeed, forthe ease and certitude with which, in the open arena, before all Rome, Iapproached a lion or tiger which had just slaughtered a criminal andlapped his blood, seized the beast by the mane or scruff of the neck, asif he had been a tame dog, and led him to a postern or into his cage, roused much interest, much curiosity, many enquiries and not a littledesire to see me closer, question me, talk with me, get acquainted with meand learn the secret of my power. 

I thanked the procurator for his resolution and success in rebuffingwould-be patrons eager to pamper me. Also, all winter, I dreaded that hewould he less lucky or less adamantine when spring came. 

Thus passed my fourth winter since my disaster. 

I might have been spared much of my anxiety during the winter if I hadlearned sooner that such aloofness as mine was no novelty to theprocurator, that he had, among his most valued subordinates, a man evenmore unsociable than I, and even more highly esteemed and more sedulouslypampered. This was the celebrated and regretted Spaniard, Mercablis, who, for more than thirty years, was accorded by the Choragium a home of his. Own, a retinue of servants and the fulfillment of every whim, of which thechief was his determination to have as little as possible to do with anyhuman being except his wife and their three children, for he was not aslave, but a freeman. In his way Mercablis was as celebrated as FelixBulla the brigand or Agyllius Septentrio the actor of mimes, and thememory of his fame yet lingers in the recollections of the aged and in thetalk of their children and grandchildren. For it was Mercablis who, forhalf a life-time, invented, rehearsed, and kept secret till the moment ofits display the noon-hour sensational surprise for each day of games inthe Colosseum. 

I have, in my later years, met many persons who congratulated me on myluck in having personally known and frequently talked with Mercablis, justas many have similarly envied me my encounters with Felix Bulla. Formyself I have never plumed myself on such features of my adventures, though they are not unpleasing to recall. 

When, in the spring of the next year, while Fuscianus and Silanus wereconsuls, I came to know Mercablis and to consider him, I arrived at theconclusion that his inclination for solitude and his aloofness were notthe result of any dread of strangers or of any need for seclusion, likemine, but the product of a disposition naturally churlish, crabbed, andunsocial. 

Habituated as the procurator had been to Mercablis and his loathing forstrangers, my desire for privacy had seemed to him as a matter of course. 

Resolute as Mercablis was to be let alone, he was enormously vain andself-conceited and puffed up with his conviction of his own importance. Henever smiled, but some subtle alteration in his countenance betrayed thatany flattery pleased him. 

He was a tall, spare, bony man, with a dry, brown, leathery skin, leanlegs and arms, a stringy neck, almost no chin, a hooked nose, deep setlittle greeny-gray eyes and intensely black, harsh, stiff, curly hair andvery bushy eyebrows. He wore old, worn, faded garments and stalked aboutas if the fate of the universe depended on him. 

Certainly he never failed to surprise all Rome when the time came for hisnovelty to be displayed. Every one which I saw, either earlier when I wasmyself or while in the Choragium as Festus the Beast-Wizard or later, justified the claim of Mercablis to being the most original-mindedsensation-deviser ever known in the Colosseum or elsewhere. 

One of his utterly unpredictable surprises recurs often to myrecollection. 

It was a hot July day and, during the noon pause, the vendors of coolingdrinks did a good business among the spectators of the upper tiers. To thering-rope round the opening in the awning, over the middle of the arena, had been fastened a big, strong, pulley block. One of the lightest andmost agile of the awning-boys hung by his hands from the radial ropestretched from nearest that pulley, worked out to it, sat on it, rovethrough it a light cord which he carried coiled at his waist, and workedback along the radial rope, leaving the cord trailing from the pulley-wheel to the sand of the arena. By means of the cord the arena-slaves rovethrough the pulley first a light rope, then a very strong one. 

The end of this rope they fastened to an iron ring, from which hung fourstout chains, three of them of equal length, each about thirty feet, whoselower ends, at points precisely equidistant from each other, were fastenedto a big iron hoop all of twenty-four feet across. From the hoop hung sixlighter chains, like the fourth chain which hung from the ring. As the sixwere fastened to the hoop either where one of the upper chains ended orexactly between two of them each of the six was precisely twelve feet fromthose on either side of it and from the center chain hanging from thering. The hoop hung perfectly level and each of the seven chains, aboutthirty feet below the level of the hoop, had hung to it an iron disk, ayard or more across, hanging by a ring-bolt in its center and perfectlylevel. From a second ring-bolt in the underside of each disk depended moreof the same light, strong chain, to a length of some thirty feet below thedisks. 

I, like all the arena-slaves and Choragium-slaves, like all thespectators, knew that this apparatus portended some unpredictablesurprise; but I, like the others, like the audience, gaped at it, incredulous and unable to conjecture what it could be for. 

Then arena-slaves carried in and set down on the sand a full hundred feetfrom the hoop and chains, a dozen or more wicker crates full of quackingwhite ducks with yellow bills. They and the noise they made recalledunpleasantly to me my sensations as I clung to the alder bush immersed inBran Brook, after Agathemer and I had crawled through the drain at VillaAndivia. 

Then there was a delay and I was called out to assist the mahout of theChoragium's best trick elephant, the smallest full-grown elephant I eversaw and the worst-dispositioned elephant of any age or size which ever Iencountered. When I and the _mahout_ had put him in a good humor heentered the arena and stationed himself by the crates of quacking ducks. 

Then there marched out into the arena a procession of arena-slaves, fourby four, each four carrying by two poles a strong cage housing a bigAfrican ape. These cages they set down each under one of the chainsdepending from the hoop. Then I was called to deal with the baboons. 

Now I fear no beast, but of all beasts I most dislike an African ape. These creatures, inhabiting the mountains of Mauretania, Gaetulia and theProvince of Africa, are big as a big dog and have teeth as long and cruelas any big dog. They are violent and treacherous. Whereas any wild bear orwolf I ever approached would permit me to handle him without snarling orgrowling, every baboon I ever had to handle made some sort of threateningnoise inside him. Although none ever bit me or attempted any attack on meyet the hideousness of such apes and their vile odor always made me timidin dealing with them. 

Each of these seven had around his middle an iron hoop-belt, with a strongring-bolt in the back. It was my task to affix the end of each pendantchain to the ring-bolt in the belt of one of the baboons. This was easy todo, as each cage, in addition to a door in one side, had a trap-door inits top; and each chain had a snap-hook ringed to its last link. Moredifficult was managing so that the apes should be hauled up out of theircages without any two swinging sideways enough to clutch each, other; for, while baboons in their native haunts hunt in packs, male baboons not ofthe same pack always fight venomously and members of the same pack, ifseparated for a time, are as hostile to each other as males of differentpacks. 

By care and caution, the slaves at the rope obeying my signals promptly, Iat last had all seven apes clear of their cages, and not swinging toomuch. Then the cages were removed and the hoop lowered somewhat. Then Isteadied each chain till none had any side-ways swing. Each ape finallyhung on a level with every other ape, and about two yards above the sandof the arena. 

I say finally, for it was at once manifest why the disks were hung to thechains; each baboon swarmed up his chain; each got no higher than thedisk, for it was too broad for his arm to reach the chain above it, sothat each failed to climb past it, and, after some chattering, andhesitation, each climbed down his chain again and hung by his belt, everyone mewing and chattering at his neighbors, frantic with hostility andeager for a fight. 

When all seven were quiet the herald proclaimed that wagers might now belaid on the apes, the survivor of the seven to be the winner. Each had adifferent color painted on his iron ring: blue, green, red, yellow and soon. The spectators appeared to make bets. 

Then when the arena was clear between the elephant and the baboons andbeyond them, the mahout spoke to his charge, the elephant inserted histrunk through the opened lid of a crate of ducks, grasped a duck by theneck, lifted it out, swung it, and hurled it at the hanging apes. Ithurtled through the air, napping its wings in vain, and passed between thebaboons, they grabbing for it as it shot by, it falling far beyond them onthe sand. 

A roar of appreciative yells rose from the spectators. 

The elephant threw another duck and another. The third came within reachof one ape. He seized it and bit it savagely, tearing it to pieces withvicious glee. Its impact set him swinging. 

Duck after duck was hurled till another baboon caught and rent another. This went on till two of the swinging apes came within grasping distanceof each other. At once they grappled, bit each other and fought till onewas killed. 

It made a queer spectacle; the crates of quacking ducks, the thin-legged, blackskinned, turbaned _mahout_, the wickedly comprehending littleelephant, the chattering baboons, the ducks hurtling through the air, andrunning about the sand all over the arena, for many of them fell andescaped alive, the yelling spectators of the upper tiers, the mildlyamused parties in the Imperial and senatorial boxes, the blaze of sun overeverything. 

The duck-throwing was continued till only one ape remained alive. 

It was all very exciting and so whimsically odd that it was acclaimed amost successful surprise. It is yet remembered by those who saw it orheard of it from them as the most spectacular and peculiar of all theinventions of the lamented Mercablis. 

Of my experiences while in the Choragium and about the amphitheater themost notable were my opportunities for observing Commodus as a beast-fighter, the passion for the sport which possessed him, his absorption init, even rage for it, his unflagging interest in it, his untiring pursuitof it, and his amazing strength and astounding skill in the use of arrows, spears, swords, and even clubs as weapons for killing beasts. 

Keen as was his enjoyment of his own dexterity and fond as he was ofdisplaying it to admiring and applauding onlookers, infatuated as he waswith the intoxication of butchery, proficiency and adulation, he retainedsufficient vestiges of decency and self-respect to restrain him fromexhibiting himself as a beast-fighter in public spectacles before allRome. Of late years I have heard not a few persons declare and maintainthat they had seen and recognized him in the arena during the mornings ofpublic festivals; that his outline, attitudes, movements and his manner ofhandling a sword, a club, a spear or a bow were unmistakable. I asseveratethat these persons were and are self-deceived, or talking idly orrepeating what they have heard from others or merely lying. Commodus neverso far debased himself as to take his stand in the arena of the Colosseumon the morning of a public spectacle with all Rome looking on; still lessdid he ever disgrace himself by actually killing beasts in full sight ofthe whole populace. I speak from full knowledge. I know. 

I may remark here that, taking the other extreme from these detractors orgossips, there exist persons who maintain that Commodus never drove achariot in public, let alone as a competing jockey in a succession ofraces in the Circus Maximus on a regular festival day in full view of allRome; likewise that he not only never, as a gladiator, killed an adversaryin public combat, but never so much as shed blood in any of his fights;asserting that he merely practised with lath foils inside the Palace. 

These latter persons are of the class who are horrified that a Prince ofthe Republic should have debased himself as did Commodus, who feel that itis discreditable to Imperial Majesty in general that such shamefuloccurrences took place and who are foolish enough to fancy that harm donemay be undone by forgetting what happened, by whispering about it, bykeeping silent, by hushing up as much as possible all reports of it, byexpunging all mention of it from the public records, by garbling historiesand annals so as to make it appear that Commodus merely longed to do andpracticed or played at doing what he actually did. 

These wiseacres are as far from the truth as his libellers and slanderers. 

If anything in addition to my solemn assertion is needful to convince anyreader of this chronicle that I am right, let me remind him that all Romeknew or knew of Palus the Gladiator, afterwards of Palus the Charioteer, later yet again of Palus the Gladiator; of Palus, the unsurpassable, theinimitable, the incomparable: incomparable in his ease, his grace, hislitheness, his agility, his quickness, his amazing capacity for seeing theone right thing to do, the one thing which no other man could have thoughtof, and for doing it without a sign of perturbation, haste or effort, yetswift as lightning, with the effectiveness of Jove's thunderbolts and withthe joyousness of a happy lad; always the same Palus and always in everydimension, attitude and movement the picture, the image, the double ofCommodus: whereas no one ever heard or saw Palus the Beast-Fighter. 

I think the chief reason why Commodus could not resist the temptation todegrade himself to the level of a public character and a public gladiator, yet, despite his infatuation for beast-killing, shrank from dishonoringhimself by appearing at a public festival as a beast-fighter, was thatbeast-fighters are not merely more despised than charioteers or gladiatorsbut the contempt felt for them has in it quite a different quality fromthat felt for gladiators and charioteers. Everybody sees criminals killedby beasts and there are all sorts of variations in the manner in whichcriminals are exposed to death by wild animals. Some are turned naked andweaponless into the arena to be mangled by lions or bears or other hugebeasts: others are left clad in their tunics; some of these are allowedthe semblance of a weapon; a club, knife, dagger or light javelin; so thattheir appearance of having some chance may make their destruction morediverting to the spectators: others, in order to prolong their agonies, are furnished with real weapons, as a sword, a pike, a trident, even ahunting spear with a full-sized triangular head, its edges honed sharp asrazors; others are left completely clad, with or without sham weapons oractual arms, yet others are protected by armor, corselets, kilts, greaves, or even hip-boots and helmets, and wear swords and carry shields as wellas pikes or spears: these last differ in appearance in no respect fromprofessional beast-fighters. 

This produces, in the minds of persons of all classes a sort of confusionbetween beast-fighters and criminals and brings it about that thereattaches to those persons of noble-birth or free-birth who, whether fromhope of gain, from poverty, or from infatuation with the sport or frommere bravado, abase themselves as beast-fighters, an obloquy far intenserthan that which attaches to freemen or nobles who dishonor themselves bybecoming gladiators or charioteers. Such self-abasements have been knownever since the reign of Nero, began to become more common under Domitianand have ceased to be regarded as anything unusual; in fact, so many menof good birth or even of high birth have become gladiators or charioteers, so many of these have acquired popularity, so many, even if actually few, have won wealth and fame, that professional charioteering or swordsmanshiphas almost ceased to be regarded as a degradation. Not so beast-fighting. No one can point to a record of any freeman or noble having appeared inthe arena as a beast-fighter and afterwards having regained by anyacquisition whether of reputation or fortune the position in society whichhe had forfeited by his dishonor. 

At any rate, Commodus gratified his enthusiasm, for beast-killing in twoentirely different ways. One was by regaling the people with spectacles ofunheard-of, even of incredible magnificence, at which not only the noon-hour was filled with ingenious and novel feats of trick-riding, tightrope-walking, jugglery, acrobatics and the like, and one of the surprisesinvented by Mercablis and the afternoons ennobled by hosts of gladiators, paired or fighting by fours, sixes or tens, twenties or in battalions, asif soldiers in actual battles; but the mornings were exciting with theslaughter of hordes of animals of all kinds; with fights of ferociousbeasts, and with, the fighting and killing of fierce animals by the mostexpert and venturesome beast-fighters. At these spectacles Commodusparticipated as a spectator, in the Imperial Pavilion, surrounded by hisofficials and the great officers of his household, clad in his princelyrobes, seated on his gold-mounted ivory throne. 

His other method of gratifying his infatuation was by himself killing allsorts of beasts, either from the coping of the arena, or from platformsconstructed out on the arena or from the level of the sand itself, forwhich feats he had as spectators the whole Senate and the entire body ofour nobility, summoned by special invitation and most of them by no meansreluctant to enjoy the spectacle of the superlative prowess possessed bytheir Prince. 

When any of the Vestals were present at these eccentric exhibitions theyoccupied their front-row box and Marcia usually sat with them, generallyaccompanied by as many of her intimates among the wives of senators as thebox would accommodate. The Vestals, as the only human beings in Rome whodid not fear Commodus, were often entirely independent in their behaviorand refused his invitations; but they did it politely, alleging that theregulations of their cult forbade any Vestal absenting herself from theTemple and Atrium on that particular day. When no Vestal was presentMarcia occupied their box, by their invitation, and filled it with hernoblest and wealthiest favorites among the senatorial matrons, often wivesof ex-consuls. 

On these occasions Commodus wore fulldress boots of a shape precisely aswith his official robes but not of the usual color: they had indeed theImperial eagles embroidered on them in gold thread, but, instead of beingof sky-blue dull-finished leather, they were of a shiny, glaze-surfacedleather as white as milk, their soles gilded along the edges. Goldembroidery set off his tunic, which was of the purest white silk, shimmering brilliantly. He always wore many gold rings, set with rubiesand emeralds; also an elaborate necklace matching his rings. His bright, soft, curly, yellow hair haloed his face as did his almost as bright andfully as yellow and curly beard. His eyes were very bright blue, hischeeks very red. He was very handsome. The expression of vacuousmiscomprehension like that on the face of a country bumpkin, which was sousual with Commodus when dealing with official business or social duties, never appeared on his countenance when revelling in his favorite sport:then his expression was intelligent, lively and even charming. 

He was at this time in his twenty-sixth year and in the very prime of hislife. Before his death, instead of the rosiness of health on his face andthe glow of youth on his cheeks, his entire countenance was unbecominglyflushed and florid, like that of a drunkard. 

His weapons were as exquisitely designed and finished as his costume. Whenhe used a club it was of the wood of some Egyptian palm or of cornel-wood, heavily gilded; a heap of such clubs was always in readiness when heentered the arena. Similarly there was ready for him an arsenal of swords, of every style, shape and size, from short Oscan swords not much longerthan daggers to Gallic swords with blades a full yard long and thin askitchen spits. All were gold-hilted, sheathed in colored, tooled, embroidered, gilded or even bejewelled leather; many had their bladesgilded except the edges and points. There was piled up ready for hischoice a mountain of spears, of patterns as various as the swords. All hadtheir shafts whitened with some novel sort of paint which produced agleaming effect like the sheen of the white portions of the finer sorts ofdecorated Greek vases. This glaze effect was over all of each shaft exceptat the grip, where the natural wood always appeared, roughened like thesurface of a file with criss-cross lines to afford him a surer grasp. Hisbows were all gilded, his quivers gilded or of gem-studded, brightlytinted leather, in many colored patterns; his arrows gilded all over, points, shafts and feathers; or with feathers dyed red, blue, green orviolet. Every detail of his get-up and equipment was to the last degreeperfect, reliable, beautiful, unusual and costly. 

I pondered a great deal over his infatuation and its consequences. 

In the first place, as when contemplating the torrent of beast-wagonsflowing down the Flaminian Highroad, I was, being still inwardly a Romannoble, overwhelmed with shame that the enormous, but even so insufficient, revenues of the Republic should be diverted from their proper uses for themaintenance of our prosperity and the defence of the frontiers of theEmpire and squandered on the silly amusements of a great, hulking, empty-headed lad. 

Then I was almost equally ashamed that a man who could, on occasion, ifsufficiently roused, be, for a space, as completely Prince and Emperor asCommodus had repeatedly shown himself in my sight, could, on the otherhand, waste his time and energies on displaying his dexterity in feats ofarchery, javelin-throwing, swordsmanship, agility and mere strength. Itappeared to me not only shameful but incredible that a man who was capableof such complete adequacy in his proper station in life as Commodus hadshown himself to be, for instance, when berating Satronius and Vedius or, still more, when facing the mutineers and dooming Perennis, should bewilling to leave the management of the Republic and the ruling of theEmpire to an ex-slave and ex-street porter like Cleander, and occupy histime with spearing bears, shooting with arrows lions, tigers, or elephantsand what not, burying his sword-blade in bulls, even with clubbingostriches. 

I oscillated or vacillated between these two lines of thought. The sightof Commodus dodging the lightning rush of an infuriated ostrich and neatlydespatching him with a single blow on the head from a palm-wood club nolonger and no thicker than his own forearm not only stirred my wonder thatany man could possess such accuracy of eyesight, such power of judgingdistances and time, such perfect coördination of his faculties ofobservation, of his will and of his muscles; but also roused my disgustthat a man capable of ruling the world and with the opportunity to showhis capabilities should degrade himself to wasting time on tricks ofagility and feats of strength and skill. 

On the other hand the sight of Commodus using a full-grown male Indianelephant as a target for his arrows enraged me. Next to a man an Indianelephant is the most intelligent creature existing on this earth of ours, as far as we know. An elephant lives far longer than a man. His life ofuseful labor is longer than the total life of a long-lived man. And hislabor can be very useful to mankind. An elephant can travel, day afterday, as fast and far as a horse, he can accomplish easily tasks to whichno team of horses, not even of sixteen horses, is adequate, he can outdoany gang of men at loading or unloading a ship with massive timbers orwith many other kinds of cargo in heavy and bulky units. It can only be ashame to kill, for mere sport, so noble a creature. It is bad enough toexhibit in the arena fights of elephants, which kill each other for ourdiversion, when we might utilize their courage and prowess in battle, asthe Indians do. But to use an elephant as a mere target for arrows is farworse. 

Then again, while I watched Commodus killing an elephant with his arrows Icould not but think of the hundreds of men who had been employed intracking his herd, building a stockade, driving into it what elephantsthey could, fettering them, taming them, caring for this one after he hadbeen tamed, tending him on his journey of many thousand miles from India, across Gadrosia, Carmania, Susiana, Mesopotamia and Syria to Antioch andfrom there to Rome; on getting food for him on his journey and atdifferent cities; on the vast expense of all this; and for what? That asilly and vainglorious overgrown child should shoot him full of arrowstill he bled to death!

I raged inwardly. 

I quite agree that Commodus enjoyed killing for killing's sake; it gavehim a sort of sense of triumph to behold any animal succumb to hisweapons. But I think his sense of triumph was also far more for hisrepeated self-congratulation on his accuracy of aim for shot or blow, onthe perfection of his really amazing dexterity. 

When he shot at elephants the procedure was always the same; two elephantswere turned into the arena, and Commodus was matched against some archerof superlative reputation, whose prowess had been repeatedly demonstratedbefore the audiences of the Colosseum, a Parthian, Scythian, orMauretanian. A prize was offered to him if he won and wagers were laid, mostly of ten to one or more on Commodus; he, of course, betting onhimself with at least one senator at any odds his taker chose. Then thecontest began, Commodus shooting from the Imperial Pavilion, hiscompetitor from any part of the _podium_ which he might choose, so thatboth archers were on an equality, being placed on the coping of the arenaat spots they had chosen. The prize went to whichever killed his elephantwith the fewest arrows. Commodus always won. Not that his competitors didnot do their best. They did. But he was, in fact, the best archer alive. His accuracy of aim was uncanny and his strength really terrific. He couldhimself string a hundred and sixty pound bow and he shot a bow evenstiffer than that without apparent effort and with fascinating andindescribable grace. He never missed, not only not the animal, but noteven the vital part aimed at. I was told that, when he first practiced onan elephant, he killed it with arrows in the liver, of which eleven wererequired to finish the beast. He then had it cut open under Galen'ssupervision, he watching. He thereafter never failed to reach anelephant's heart with his third arrow, killed most with his second, andnot a few with his first, a feat never equaled or approached by any otherarcher, for the killing of an elephant with five arrows by Tilla the Gothremains the best record ever made in the Colosseum by any other bowman. The impact of his arrows was so weighty that I have beheld one go entirelythrough the paunch of a full-grown male elephant and protrude a foot onthe other side. 

With rhinoceroses and hippopotami the procedure was similar. Neither ofthese animals could be had as plentifully as elephants, of which I sawCommodus and his competitors kill more than thirty; mostly Mauretanianelephants, but some Indian and a few Nubian. I saw killed for hisamusements in similar contests in which he participated four rhinocerosesand six hippopotami. In these matches he killed one rhinoceros with twoarrows and the rest with one; so of the hippopotami. As with theelephants, after he had seen a rhinoceros and a hippopotamus cut openunder Galen's direction, he retained so vivid an impression of thelocation of its heart that, from any direction, whether the beast wasmoving or still, he sent his arrow so as to reach the heart. This soundsincredible, but it is exactly the truth. 

As I watched I kept imagining the baking deserts of Libya or the steamingswamps of Nubia, the shouting hordes of negroes, the many killed by thebeast, its capture, and the infinite and expensive care necessary to bringone alive to Rome. 

Besides these enormous animals he practiced archery on the huge long-horned bulls from the forests of Dacia and Germany; on the bisons from thesame regions, beasts with heavy shoulders, low rumps and small horns, parallel to each other, curving downwards over the brows; on the big stagsfrom these far-off forests, or any sort of stags! And on two varieties ofAfrican antelope not much inferior in size to stags or bulls. He veryseldom needed a third arrow to put an end to any beast of these kinds, notoften a second arrow, and, actually, killed hundreds, even thousands, neatly and infallibly with his first shot. All these animals he shot fromthe _podium_, often leaning on the coping, his right knee on it, generallystanding, his feet wide apart, the toes of his right foot against thecoping wall; for, as with sword or spear or club, he also shot left-handed. 

Prom the arena itself, standing on the sand on which they scampered about, he shot multitudes of smaller animals: wild ponies, wild asses, stripedAfrican zebras, gazelles, and at least a dozen varieties of small Africanantelopes, for which there are no special names in Latin or even in Greek. The antelopes and gazelles, although they ran quicker than hares, he nevermissed and seldom did he fail to kill with one arrow whatever animal heaimed at. He never, to my knowledge, missed even the incredibly speedywild asses. 

Nor did he ever miss an ostrich, though he shot both from the _podium_ andthe sand these birds, which are swifter than even the wild asses. He shotat them with arrows made specially after a pattern of his own, withcrescent-shaped heads set on the shaft with the two horns of the crescentpointing forward, the inner curve sharpened to a razor edge. Shooting atan ostrich racing at top speed he never failed to decapitate it with oneshot, invariably severing its neck about a hands-breadth below its head. 

He also killed with javelins or arrows wolves, hyenas, bears, lynxes, leopards, panthers, tigers and lions. But when killing such dangerous andferocious animals he took his stand on a platform, the floor of which wasabout three yards square and elevated about that distance above the sand, constructed well out in the arena so that he could shoot down in anydirection on beasts rushing towards or past the platform or driven past itor towards it. He slaughtered incredible multitudes of these creatures andcertainly displayed amazing strength and skill, habitually killing a lionwith one javelin, almost as often with one arrow, and the like for tigers;and oftener for panthers and leopards. He never needed a second arrow tofinish a wolf or hyena or even a lynx. The marvellous accuracy of his aim, the way he planted his arrow unerringly in the heart of a galloping wolfscudding across the sand far from him; the way he drove a broad-bladedhunting-spear clear through a huge shaggy bear, never failed to rouse mywonder, even my admiration. [Footnote: See Note J. ]

CHAPTER XXXI

RECOGNITION

I do not recall any special feat of the Imperial beast-killer during thesummer and autumn of the year in which I had fooled Bulla and beentransferred from the stud-farm to the Choragium, which was the year inwhich Crispinus and Aelian were consuls, the nine hundred and fortiethyear of the City, [Footnote: 187 A. D. ] and the eighth of the Principate ofCommodus. But, when the season for spectacles in the arena opened with thefirst warm, fair weather of the following spring, he returned to hisfavorite sport with redoubled zest, amounting to a craze. 

It was during the spring and early summer of this year that he began tomake huge wagers with wealthy senators, betting that he could kill aspecified number of a specified variety of animal with a specified numberof spears or arrows; always proposing so to limit himself as to number ofweapons that the exploit appeared impossible. The result was thatavaricious Midases were eager to wager, as they felt certain of winning. Yet he never lost, not once. 

And, after each wager made, or won, he made the next on a narrower marginat smaller odds, until he struck the whole nobility numb by offering towager even money that he could kill one hundred full-grown male bears fromhis usual platform with one hundred hunting spears, covenanting that hewas to lose if he needed one hundred and one spear-casts to lay out thosehundred bears limp, flabby and utterly dead. This appeared so utterly animpossibility that Aufidius Fronto offered to put up two million sestercesagainst him. The pompous sham philosopher, who feigned the profoundestcontempt for riches, could not resist what looked like enormous gains. Hemade the wager, and Commodus won. 

Now I cannot insist too positively on the amazing, the incredible strengthand skill and nerve required for this fatiguing and taxing feat. Any otherman I ever knew or heard of would have shown evidences of weariness longbefore he had despatched his hundredth bear; would certainly have betrayedthe terrific strain on his nerves. Commodus was, apparently, as fresh, asjaunty, as full of reserve strength, as far from being unsure of himselfwhen he finished the hundredth bear as when he drove his first spear intothe first. 

Now it requires altogether exceptional strength so to cast even the bestdesign of hunting-spear, as keen as possible, as to drive it through thematted pelt, thick hide and big bones of a bear; in so driving it, to aimit so that it will pierce his heart calls for superhuman skill. And toreiterate this feat ninety-nine times in succession argues a perfection ofeye, hand and nerve never possessed by any man save Commodus. Any otherman would have felt the strain, most men would have become so anxioustowards the end as to become agitated. He kept calm and cool. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the discomfiture of Aufidius Fronto and relished hisfutile efforts to appear indifferent to his money loss. 

Not many days later Commodus made a similar and still more hazardous wagerwith Didius Julianus, the most opulent and ostentatious of the senators, who was afterwards nominally Emperor for two months and five days. Thiswager covenanted that Commodus, from his platform in the arena, woulddespatch one hundred full-grown male lions, in their prime and vigorous, with one hundred javelins. On this arduous frivolity they wagered tenmillion sesterces and had the actual gold, fifty thousand big, broad, goldpieces, carried into the arena and piled up in a gleaming mound on amonster crimson rug for all to behold. This bit of ostentation was likeDidius Julianus and not unnatural for Commodus. I have never seen any manperform so easily so difficult a feat. Killing a lion with three javelinsrequires very unusual strength and skill. To kill ten lions with fortycasts would tax the muscles, dexterity and nerves of the best spearman theworld ever knew. To kill a hundred lions with, barely one javelin apiecewas bravado to propose and miraculous to accomplish. Accomplish it he didand without any visible effort or strain. Eighty-nine of the hundred heshot through the heart; the remaining eleven with difficult fancy shotswhich he was, against all reason, tempted to essay, and which, against allprobability, uniformly were fully successful. 

Didius Julianus paid his wager without any show of chagrin, as he couldwell afford to do. 

At once Commodus offered to bet that he could kill a hundred similar lionswith a bare hundred arrows. Didius at once wagered the same sum he hadjust lost and the bet was made. The exhibition was delayed more than amonth until it had been possible to accumulate at Rome a full hundredfull-grown male lions. Then Commodus again shot in sight of a pile of goldpieces on an expanse of crimson velvet spread on the sand of the arena. 

Commodus won as before, with exactly the same number of heart shots andfancy shots. If one miracle can be greater than another this featsurpassed its predecessor. For a lion takes a great deal of killing beforehe dies, and each of these hundred lions died as quickly as any lion everdoes. Instant killing of a lion with a javelin is a miracle, even moremiraculous is instant killing of a lion with one arrow. Commodus so killedthe full hundred. 

I know of no more astounding demonstration of his infallible andtremendous muscle power than the fact that, shooting at a lion fullytwenty yards away, and in the act of rearing rampantly at the beginning ofa bound, he sent his arrow into the roof of its mouth, through the brain, the entire length of the spinal cord and so far that its point protrudedfrom the dead beast's rump above the root of its tail. Galen, who, asoften, was in the amphitheater in case of injury to the Prince, and whowas in the habit of dissecting such dead beasts as interested him, cutalong the path followed by the missile, cleaving the dead lion in twolengthwise and laying the two halves hide downward on the sand, so as todemonstrate to a bevy of curious and awed spectators the incredible pathof that arrow. 

Commodus lived on miracles. Of all the thousands of darts, javelins andspears which I saw him throw, of all the countless arrows I saw him shoot, not one ever missed its mark, not one merely hit the beast aimed at, everyone, even if launched at an ostrich skimming the sand or a gazelle, struck deep and true precisely where he had aimed it. 

As I am about to narrate the occurrence which put an end to the insensateindulgence in beast-killing in which Commodus had revelled, I am remindedthat, besides his vilifiers, who assert that he publicly exhibited himselfas an ordinary beast-fighter, and his apologists, who maintain that he notonly did not do so, but never so much as drove a chariot in public orspilt human blood with an edged weapon, there are others who, while notretailing or inventing any fictions or attempting to blink or suppress anyfacts, yet inveigh against Commodus as absurdly assuming the attributes ofHercules while really a weakling and as pretending to powers which henever possessed, as having been largely or wholly a counterfeit spearman, a make-believe archer, a sham swordsman and a mock athlete. 

Among other alleged proofs of these baseless contentions they cite theecstatic joy with which, to the limit of the supply gathered from allparts of the African deserts, he day after day, on the sands of the arena, delightedly clubbed ostriches, alleging that killing an ostrich with asword or club is child's play and no feat of skill. As to this particularcitation of vaunted evidence, as in their contentions at large, they areegregiously mistaken and far from the facts and the truth. 

Actually, for a lone man, on level ground, far from any shelter, an angryfull-grown young male ostrich is a formidable assailant and a dangerousantagonist. No living creature that roves the surface of our earth movesfaster than a healthy ostrich. When running it skims the arena, whenattacking it darts. It kicks forward, raising its long and powerful leghigh in the air and bringing it down with a blow so swift that the eyecannot follow it and so forcible that I have seen one such stroke smashall together the collar-bone, shoulder-blade, upper arm-bone and half theribs on that side of its unfortunate victim, a big, agile, vigorousNubian, habituated to ostriches in their haunts. And, if the leg missesits mark, as it very seldom does, the bird, as it hurls past its enemy, pecks viciously at his face, its sturdy beak being capable of inflicting aserious wound wherever it strikes, and often destroying an eye, its usualtarget. 

To stand alone, far out in the arena, bare-headed, clad only in adiaphanous silken tunic, armed only with a club no longer or thicker thanhis forearm; so habited and armed to await the assault of an infuriatedbird so bulky, so swift, so agile and so powerful; to dodge jauntily, butinfallibly, both the stroke of the leg and the stab of the beak, andinvariably to bring his club down on the darting head and finish the birdneatly with that one blow; this was equally a feat of self-confidence, ofdexterity, of agility and of strength. I hold no man justified incondemning Commodus because he gloried in clubbing ostriches. 

The incident I recall occurred when spring had already waned and wasmerging into summer. The lower tiers of the Colosseum were well filledwith senators, nobles and other persons of sufficient importance to beinvited. None of the Vestals were present and their box was occupied byMarcia and her intimates. There were enough spectators seated to give theamphitheater an appearance of gaiety and vivacity almost as great as if ithad been filled by all classes of the populace. The weather was clear, warm and sunny, with a light, soft breeze. 

Commodus had exhibited his dexterity as an archer by shooting a greatnumber and great variety of small antelopes, each one of which he hadkilled with a single arrow. Next he began clubbing ostriches and disposedof a dozen or more. Altogether there were about fifty. It wascharacteristic of Commodus that he was impatient of any delay betweendifferent exhibitions when he was thus displaying his prowess. After theostriches he intended to mount his platform and shoot fifty or sixtylions. In order to have them handy to begin on as soon as the last ostrichwas despatched he had commanded that those which were to be let out ofposterns should be disposed behind the doors and that some of the cages ofthose which were to be liberated from cages should be hoisted from thecrypt and set ready in the arena. A full dozen of such cages had been setout. I was not with the gang hoisting these cages and marshalling otherlions behind posterns, but was at the opposite end of the arena with asmaller gang which was engaged in getting ready a score or more of tigerswhich were to be let out after the lions and which were giving a greatdeal of trouble. 

Commodus was facing my end of the arena and so had his back to the lionsin their cages, which were about thirty yards from him. The liberatedostriches did not seem to pay any attention to the caged lions and each, as he was driven back towards Commodus by men with long hayforks, withwhich they caught the birds' necks and held them off, turned furiously onCommodus and charged him viciously. Each bird Commodus dodged with oneslight instantaneous and effortless movement; each bird fell dead at once, neatly clubbed on the head. 

As he clubbed the last ostrich I saw a lion step dazedly and tentativelyout of one of the cages. Of course, it was not intended that any of thelions should be liberated until the Emperor had mounted his platform, approved the bow selected for him or chosen one for himself, and similarlyinspected and approved as many arrows as he expected to need. It washardly possible that any cage-door came open by accident. I conjectured aplot similar to that which I had seen fail when the piebald horse threwhimself and his fall and the wreck of the chariot he helped to draw failedto cause the death of Palus the Charioteer. 

The lion, once he was wholly out of his cage, sneaked forward his lengthor more, crouched, and bounded towards Commodus. A shout of dismay, horrorand warning went up from the audience. Marcia shrieked and leapt to herfeet. Most of the spectators also stood up, the audience rising in a sortof wave as it emitted its yell of consternation. 

Commodus whirled round, saw the lion, stood and eyed him precisely as ifhe had been a charging ostrich; appeared to measure the diminishingdistance, showed no sign of perturbation, crouched slightly, dodged as thelion sprang at him; dodged so slightly that I was sure the lion had him, but so effectively that no claw touched him; straightened up as the lion, wholly in the air, shot past him; swung his short club and brought it downon the lion's neck; and stood there, triumphant, by a lion stretched outmotionless on the sand, totally limp and unmistakably dead. 

Marcia fainted. 

So did half her guests. 

So did some of the older senators. 

Commodus, not so much as noticing the perturbation of his guests, not evenMarcia, called out to the overseer in charge of the cages:

"Not a man of you dare move. Stand where you are. "

The guards, a batch of whom were stationed at each postern by which theattendants entered and left the arena, ran towards the Emperor. He orderedthem to summon all their fellows from all through the Colosseum and whentheir chief officer approached him gave orders that they form a cordonbehind the cages and see to it that no man of those who had been gettingout the cages should escape. 

While this was being done the spectators had reseated themselves, theinanimate had been revived and even Marcia had recovered consciousness andcomposure and, with her guests was as before their fright. 

When all were in order Commodus ordered:

"Let out another lion!"

The overseer in charge of the cages and the officer of the guardsdemurred. 

"Do as I tell you!" Commodus browbeat the overseer. To the officer hesaid:

"If I, with only a tunic and club, am not afraid of a lion charging me, you and your men, in armor and with shields and swords ought not to beafraid. " "We are not, " the officer declared, "we are concerned for you, not for ourselves. "

"Pooh!" said Commodus. "If I could kill the first handily when I was notexpecting him, I can kill all the rest the same way when I know what iscoming. A lion, by that sample, is as easy to dodge and club dead as anostrich or easier. Send me another. "

Another was let out amid the dead silence of the dazed and astoundedspectators. Commodus killed the second as handily as the first. 

Now I must say that no exploit recorded of any human being or traditionalof any legendary hero, outclasses as a feat of strength, coolness, courageand perfect coordination of all the mental and physical faculties, thisact of Commodus' in killing two successive lions with a palm-wood club. Acharging lion is an object so terrifying as to chill the blood of adistant onlooker. Very unusually good nerves and very exceptional self-confidence are required to face with composure a portent which appears soirresistible. And when the lion emits his tremendous roar and rises, bodily, into the air in his mortal spring, mouth wide open, its crimsoncavern glaring, teeth gleaming, eyes blazing, mane erect, paws spread, claws wide, the stoutest heart might well quail. Yet, after barelyescaping one lion, this foolhardy coxcomb, this vainglorious madcap, joyously called for another and jauntily despatched him: whatever may besaid against Commodus as a man and an Emperor, as an athlete he believedin himself and justified his belief. 

He called for a third, in spite of Marcia's shrieks, gesturing to her tosit down and keep still, and laughing up at her. But by this time AemilusLaetus, who was afterwards the last Prefect of the Praetorium to Commodusand who was then an officer of the Guards, superior to the officer who hadprotested, approached, saluted and spoke to the Emperor. Their conferencewas conducted in tones too low to be overheard, but it was afterwardsreported, both by those who claimed to learn of it from Commodus and bythose who claimed to have been informed by Laetus, that he had urged uponthe Emperor that his personal importance to the Republic was too great forhim to risk himself so needlessly, and that Commodus had yielded to hisexpostulations. 

At any rate Commodus ordered arrested and bound the entire gang who hadbeen handling the lions' cages. He then walked up to them and enquired whohad let out that lion. When no one confessed to having been responsibleand several were accused by their fellows, the Emperor gave orders to leadoff all concerned, hale them not before the Palace court, nor thecommission in charge of prosecutions for offences against ImperialMajesty, but before the regular public magistrate in charge of trials formurder, assassination, poisoning, homicidal conspiracy and the like. 

"Let him put the entire gang to the torture, " the Emperor was reported asordering. "Let him prosecute his enquiry until he gets a confessionplainly naming the man who bribed the poor wretch who left that cage half-fastened, or the man who bribed the man who forced him to do it, or thewhole chain of scoundrels, from the noble millionaire conspirators whohatched the idea, through their rabble of go-betweens down to the fool whohocussed that door-snap. "

After the prisoners were marched off Commodus had the herald apologize forthe interruption of the entertainment, proclaim that it would now proceedand request everyone to remain to enjoy it. Then he mounted his platform. 

Yet this was his last exhibition of himself in the role of beast-slayer. Iconjecture that as the episode of the piebald horse enlightened him as tothe facilities for unobtrusive assassination afforded his enemies by hispublic appearances as a charioteer, so this episode of the accidentallyliberated lion awakened him to the ease with which it might be arranged, whenever he entered the arena as a beast-slayer, that some monster mightbe loosed at him rather than for him. At any rate he never again took hisstand in the arena for his long idolized sport. Beast-slaying hethenceforth eschewed. 

Of course it was not by any means at once that we in the Choragiumrealized that the Emperor had abandoned his vagary. We knew only that wewere suddenly unemployed and were merely glad of the respite and thenuneasy at the change. I had time to reflect how marvellous had been myluck. Commodus himself had three several times asked me questions about myability to control beasts; Galen had many times stood by me or passed nearme, often with his eyes apparently meeting mine. Satronius Satro had stoodand gazed at me, not three yards away. A score of other senators, all ofwhom had known me in the days of my prosperity, had been as near me, andnoblemen to the number of something like a hundred. Not one of these hadidentified me. 

If I escaped recognition it was, I conjectured, because of the deep-seatedhabit of mind of noblemen and more exalted personages and of men, likeGalen, who have risen to a station in life which places them on anequality with nobles; the habit of mind which makes them regard a slavenot as a human being, to be looked at as an individual, as they look at anequal or any freeman, but as a mere object like a door, or gate or pieceof statuary or of furniture or a sort of utensil. Such men look full at aslave, if unknown to them, without really perceiving him. From this cause, I conceive, I escaped recognition, detection, and annihilation. 

Much less than a month after the episode of Commodus and the two lions Iwas reading in my quarters, when the slave detailed as my personal servantentered and, cringing, said that there was a gentleman who wanted to seeme. I gazed at him severely and said:

"I think you are mistaken. Please remember what the procurator told youabout persons desiring to intrude on me. "

The fellow fairly cowered, visibly sweating and trembling, but insisted:

"I really think that you really will be glad to see this gentleman. "

I perceived that some unusual enticement must have been offered thepitiful wretch to induce him to brave the terrors of the punishments withwhich the procurator had threatened him if he allowed any would-bevisitors to reach me. It also appeared to me that the fellow was fond ofme and had the best of intentions. 

"Show the gentleman up, " I finally said. 

He had been gone but a very short time when the door opened and incame.... 

Tanno!

He shut the door fast and, without a word, we were clasped in a closeembrace. 

When our emotions quieted sufficiently I pressed Tanno into a chair andresumed mine. We gazed at each other some time before either masteredhimself enough for words. Tanno spoke first, veiling his feelings beneathhis habitual jocularity. He said:

"Caius, you are certainly unkillable or bear a charmed life. You have beenofficially certified as dead two several times. First you were butcheredby the Praetorians at Ortona, then you were assassinated by a disgruntledpublic-slave in the Umbrian Mountains: after two demises here you are, asalive as possible. Please explain. "

"I feel faint, " I said, "and, illogically, both thirsty and hungry. "

I signalled for my servitor and, almost at once, he brought plenty of theChoragium's more than passable wine, fresh bread and a variety of coldviands. A draught of wine and a mouthful of bread and ham made me feelmyself. Then I told about my close shaves when I three several timesbarely escaped assassination at the hands of partizans of Bulla, about thekindness of the _Villicus_ and procurator and why I had changed my name. 

"Why didn't you send at least a tiny note to Vedia and let her know youwere alive after all?" he queried. 

"I have lain awake night after night, " I replied, "composing letters toVedia and to you, letters which would tell you what I wanted if, by goodluck, they came into your hands, but which, if they fell into the hands ofsecret-service agents, would tell nothing and not so much as arouse enoughsuspicion to cause them to investigate me and take a look at me. I couldnot frame, to my satisfaction, even one such letter. I knew that anymessenger I employed would most likely post off to some Imperial spy andshow him my letter before he took it to its destination or instead ofdelivering it. I canvassed every possible messenger, from my personalservitor here in the Choragium, through all the slaves I knew here or inthe Colosseum who are free to run about the city, up to every sort ofstreet-gamin, idler, loafer, sycophant and what not. I could not think ofany kind of messenger who would be safe, nor of any letter which would notbe dangerous. Much as I wanted to apprise Vedia of my survival I could notbut feel that any attempt on my part to communicate with her or with youwould lead straight to betrayal, detection, recognition and the death fromwhich Agathemer saved me. "

"I believe you were right, " Tanno agreed. "It has all come out for thebest. You are alive and unsuspected and I have found you. "

"How did you find me?" I queried. 

"Galen, " he said, to my astonishment, "told me that you were sheltered inthe Choragium, cloaked under the style and title of Festus the Beast-Tamer. He said he recognized you last fall, but did not judge it wise togive me or Vedia so much as a hint as long as you were busy in the arenain full view of all Rome on festival days and under the eyes of our entirenobility during our Prince's exhibitions of himself as Hercules Delirans. When Commodus abruptly realized that beast-killing might not suit hishealth because of the opportunities it gave for accidentally letting lionsor tigers or what not out of their cages at unexpected moments, since hewas not likely to revert to his renounced sport and you were not likely tobe so much in demand and therefore less likely to be much underobservation, Galen thought it safe to tell me. He says he has alwaysbelieved that you had nothing to do with Egnatius Capito's conspiracy, hadmerely been seen by some secret-service agent while talking to Capito, never were a member of his conspiracy, never conspired against Commodus, never were disloyal, have never been and are not any danger to our Prince, and therefore are a man to be shielded rather than informed on. So he kepthis face when he recognized you in the arena masquerading as Festus andkept his counsel till he judged the time ripe to tell me. 

"I at once told Vedia, in person and privately. She is overjoyed, and, just as her encounter with you on the Flaminian Road not only stopped herproposed marriage to Orensius Pacullus, but made her feel she never wantedto hear of him again, so your resurrection and reappearance now hasspoiled an apparently prosperous wooing of her by Flavius Clemens, who isas good a fellow as lives; noble, rich, handsome, charming and just such asuitor as Vedia might and should have married if you were really dead, andone she could not, in any case, help flirting with. She must haveadmiration, attention and admirers. With all her love of gaiety she lovesyou unalterably. "

"I infer, " I said, "that she told you of our encounter on the FlaminianWay. "

"She did, " he answered, "and gave me a full report of your story of youradventures from Plosurnia's Tavern till she saw you. As soon as weconferred we both started to use all our influence and any amount of cashnecessary (we both have cash to spare, hoards of it) to arrange for yourlegal manumission by the _fiscus_, your disappearance, and your comfort insome secure shelter until it might be safe for you to reappear as yourselfin your proper station in society. 

"We found we should have no difficulty in arranging for your manumission. It has already been favorably reported on the recommendation of theauthorities of Nuceria. We had only to slip a small bribe or two toexpedite matters. But when we sent off a dependable agent, armed with allthe necessary papers, to set you free from your captivity on the Imperialestate, and provide you with plenty of cash to make everything smooth foryour disappearance, he was confronted with a most circumstantial story ofyour assassination and burial, with the official reports of both and theaffirmation of an upper inspector who had investigated the matter. 

"We could not but think you dead in fact and Vedia was as heartbroken asfive years ago, if not more so, for the glamour of that romantic encounterwith you was magical. I believed you dead and was astounded when Galengave me his information. Vedia is as amazed as I. "

After some mutual desultory chat he fell to questioning me about myadventures and, drinking and eating when the humor took us, we spent mostof the day together, I rehearsing for him all that I had told Vedia andmuch more in detail and also telling of all which had befallen me sincethen. 

When Tanno left, it was as late as he could possibly remain and yet reachthe Baths of Titus in time for the briefest bath there. 

Next day he came again. 

By this time both he and I had had time to think over the situation and toarrive at definite conclusions as to what was best to do. I was delightedto find that his ideas and mine agreed as to all essentials. 

When he first came in he said:

"I had mighty little sleep last night. I could hardly close my eyes forthinking over your marvellous adventures. The more I ponder over them themore wonderful they seem; especially your involvement with Maternus; yourencounter with Pescennius Niger; your presence in the Circus Maximus whenCommodus:--I mean Palus:--drove his car over the axles of the stalledchariots and escaped between them out of the smash and wreckage; yourinvolvement with the mutineers, and your safety in Rome all these months, even in the arena of the amphitheater. I congratulate you. "

Then he told me his plan which he had already talked over with Vedia andwhich she approved. There happened to be in Rome a distinguished andwealthy provincial of senatorial rank, about to leave for Africa, wherehis estates were situated and where he owned vast properties nearCarthage, Hippo Regius, Hadrumetum, Lambaesis and Thysdrus, in all ofwhich places he had residences of palatial proportions and luxury. He hadbeen making enquiries among his acquaintances for a slave much of the sortAgathemer had been to me. He had not found one to suit him. Tanno thoughtthat I would suit him and could easily pass myself off as the sort of manhe wanted. Then I would get out of Rome unsuspected and be comfortable andwell treated in the most Italian of all our out-provinces, in a delightfulclimate, amid abundance of all the good things of life. 

I agreed with him. 

Then he disclosed his plan for bringing this about. By influence orbribing or both he would arrange to have me sold out of the Choragium, ostensibly as now superfluous there, and to have me bought from the_fiscus_ by a dependable and close-mouthed go-between buyer, who wouldagree to hold me for quick resale to a purchaser designated by Tanno. ThusNonius Libo, the wealthy provincial who was to be induced to purchase me, would know nothing of my identity with Festus the Animal Tamer or of myconnection with the Choragium. 

I acclaimed this project, as far more promising than Vedia's plan toseclude me in the dreary wilds of Bruttium. 

Tanno gave me a letter and went off. I found the missive a long and lovingletter from Vedia: one to soothe and transport any lover. 

Tanno had said that he would not visit me again except as was absolutelyneedful, considering it reckless and venturesome to run the risk of someImperial spy noticing his visits to the Choragium and makinginvestigations. Though he remarked that no man in Rome seemed less likelythan he to be suspected of disloyalty, intrigue or of being a danger tothe Prince. 

Within a very few days he paid me one more visit to inform me thateverything had gone well, that all necessary arrangements had been madefor my sale by the _fiscus_ out of the Choragium, and all necessarypreparations made to take full advantage of it. 

A few days later I was formally sold for cash to a provincial slave-dealer, named Olynthides. In a slave-barrack which he had hired for themonth only I found myself with a motley crew, but kept apart from them andcomfortably lodged, well fed and considerately treated, as valuablemerchandise. 

The day after Olynthides had bought me Nonius Libo came to inspect me. Hetalked to me in Latin and in Greek, commended my fluency and polish in theuse of both, had me write out a letter in each at his dictation, read bothand commended my accuracy, script and speed; questioned me about thehistory of music, painting, and sculpture and as to my opinions on theworks of various sculptors, painters, architects and composers; askedabout my tastes along these lines and as to jewelry, fine furniture, tapestries, carpets and the like; also as to my personal tastes concerninglodging, bathing, hunting, food and clothing and was I a good sailor andfond of the sea; and stated that I suited him. 

I was not present at his chaffering with Olynthides but, after no longinterval I was summoned into the courtyard and Olynthides handed me overto Nonius Libo, along with a bill of sale. 

CHAPTER XXXII

PHORBAS

Olynthides had said to me:

"I make it a point always to forget the names of the slaves I buy for cashwithout any guarantees and resell the same way. I have as bad a memory fornames as any man alive and I help my bad memory to be as much worse as Ican. I'll forget your name in a few days. I am not sure I remember it now. What is it?"

I was ready for him, for I had made up my mind to change my name again andhad selected my new name. 

"Phorbas" I answered. 

"Oh, yes!" he ruminated, "Phorbas, to be sure. I should have said Florusor Foslius or something like that. Phorbas! I'll remember Phorbas tillafter you are sold and the cash in my hands and you and your new masterout of sight. Then I'll forget that too, like all the rest. "

As Phorbas, Phorbas the Art Connoisseur, I began my life with Nonius. Hewas domiciled in a palace of a residence on the Carinae, which he hadleased for the short term of his proposed stay in Rome. There I was lodgedin a really magnificent apartment, with a private bath, a luxuriousbedroom, a smaller bedroom for the slave detailed to wait on me, a tiny_triclinium_ and a jewel of a sitting-room, gorgeous with statuettes andpaintings, crammed with objects of art and walled with a virtuoso'sselection of the best books of the best possible materials andworkmanship. 

There I spent some happy days. Nonius had told me I might go out all Ipleased. I had replied that I preferred to remain indoors until we set outfor Carthage. He smiled, nodded and said:

"I understand: do as you like. "

I passed my time most agreeably, except for several intrusions by Libo'swife, Rufia Clatenna. She was a tall, raw-boned, lean woman, withunmanageable hair which would not stay crimped, a hatchet face, too muchnose and too little chin, a stringy neck, very large, red, knuckly handsand big flat feet. She had a mania for economy and close bargains, seemedto regard her husband as an easy mark for swindlers and to be certain thathe had been cheated when he bought me. She thought herself an art-expert, whereas she had no sound knowledge of any branch of art, no memory forwhat she had heard and seen, and no taste whatever. To demonstrate thather husband had made a bad bargain when he bought me she bored me withendless questions concerning the contents of her domicile, of which sheunderstood almost nothing, and concerning famous composers, painters, sculptors and architects, as to whom she confused the few names, dates andworks she thought she knew about. 

Nonius came on us in his atrium while she was putting me through aquestionnaire on every statue, painting and carving in it. The first timehe saw me alone he said, smiling:

"You mustn't mind her; I put up with her, you can, too. "

When he came into my apartment and told me he meant to set off from Romenext day, I ventured to express my puzzlement that he had bought me andnever mentioned to me, since I came into his possession, any of thesubjects on which he had questioned me and for knowledge of which he had, presumably, wanted me. 

"Oh, " he said, "I didn't buy you for myself. I know very little about artand music and am no connoisseur at all. I bought you for my cousinPomponius Falco. He is as much interested in such matters as any man inAfrica. He is richer than I and you'll find him the best possible master. He'll be at Carthage when we get there and I'll resell you to him soonafter we land. "

Nonius and Clatenna had no children, but doted on her sister's son, a ladof not much over twenty, lean as his aunt, but small boned and notunshapely. He was not, however, handsome, for he had a pasty, grayishcomplexion, thin lank hair, almost no beard, and a long nose suggesting aproboscis. His name was Rufius Libo, and he was Nonius Libo's heir. In hisfavor Nonius made a will a few days before we left Rome, leaving him hisentire estate except a jointure to Clatenna, endowments to some municipalinstitutions in his home towns, legacies to various friends andmanumission to faithful slaves. Of this will he had several duplicatesmade and properly witnessed and sealed. One of these he left on deposit inRome; another he despatched to Carthage by a special messenger by way ofRhegium, Messana, the length of Sicily to Lilybaeum and thence by sea toCarthage; and he gave one each to Clatenna and to Rufius. 

When he gave orders for the despatch of the copy of his will by thespecial messenger I was astonished, as I assumed that we were to travel bythe same route. But I found that he meant to sail all the way from theTiberside water-front of Rome to Carthage. This amazed me. And notunnaturally. For we Romans generally dislike or even abhor the sea andsail it as little as possible, making our journeys as much as we can byland and as little as may be by water, choosing any detour by land whichwill shorten what crossings of the sea cannot be avoided. 

Among the few Romans whom I have known who enjoy sea voyages I countmyself. Of all of them Nonius outclassed the rest. He worshiped the waterand was happiest when afloat and well out to sea. He told me that he hadspent more money on his private yacht than on any of his residences, and, when I saw her, I believed him. A larger, better designed, betterequipped, better manned, better supplied, better appointed private yacht Inever beheld. His rowers kept perfect time and made top speed all down theTiber, her crew set sail like man-of-warsmen, her officers were patternseamen and got the very most speed on their way from every condition ofwind and weather. Rufius and Clatenna, while not as good sailors as Noniusand I, were notably good sailors and we had a very pleasant voyage untilwe were almost in sight of Carthage. Then we encountered a really terrificstorm. 

Now I am not going into any details of our disaster. I do not know whetherall writers of memoirs get shipwrecked or all survivors of shipwreckswrite reminiscences, but I am certain that of all the countless memoirs Ihave read in the course of my life, ninety-nine out of every hundredcontained one or more accounts of shipwrecks, narrated with the minutestdetail and dwelling on the horrors, agonies, miseries, fears, discomfortsand uncertainties of the survivors and narrators with every circumstancecalculated to harrow up their readers' feelings. I could write a similarmeticulous narrative of my only shipwreck, and it was sufficientlyuncomfortable, terrifying, ghastly and hideous to glut a reader as greedyof horrors as could be, but I am going to pass over it as lightly aspossible and summarize it as briefly as I may. 

Suffice it to set down here that we were not driven on any rock or reef orshoal nor did we collide with any other ship. Laboring heavily in the opensea, straining on the crests and wallowing in the troughs of thestupendous billows, the yacht, even as carefully built a yacht as Libo's, began to leak appallingly, the inrush of the water surpassed the utmostcapacity of the pumps and the most frantic efforts of the men at them; thevessel settled lower and lower, labored more and more heavily and wasmanifestly about to founder. 

The officers were capable men, the small boats sturdy and their crews andsteersmen skillful and confident. Clatenna was brave and Libo magnificent. He kept his head, dominated his officers, and insisted that Rufius and Ishould embark in a different boat from that to which he and Clatennatrusted themselves. He personally saw to it that Clatenna and Rufius had, on their persons, each their copy of his will. 

Both boats were successfully launched, and, as we drew away from thedoomed ship, we saw a third and fourth put off with other valued membersof his household. While a fifth and sixth were being swung overboard wesaw, from the top of a huge swell, the yacht go under and vanish; saw, when we next rose on the chine of a billow, the water dotted with spars, wreckage and swimmers; saw, five or six times more, the three other boats:and then many times, high on a vast wave, beheld only the waste oflifeless waters, without boat or swimmer. 

All night we floated and, not long after sunrise, we were seen and rescuedby a trading ship from Carales in Sardinia, bound for Carthage. 

At Carthage we were soon in the palace formerly Libo's and now theproperty of Rufius. He, on succeeding to his uncle's estate, at oncerewarded with a huge donation the steersman of the boat in which we hadbeen saved, saying that the other steersmen did their best, but that, ifthe others had been as dexterous as he, his aunt and uncle would not haveperished by so deplorable and so untimely a death. 

Within a few days he, now my owner by inheritance, sold me to PomponiusFalco, as Nonius had intended to do himself. 

Falco liked me at first sight and I him. He was a man between thirty-fiveand forty years of age, a natural born bachelor and art connoisseur. Hewas of medium height, of stout build, with curly black hair and a curlyblack beard, a swarthy complexion, a bullet head, a bull neck, a hugechest and plump arms and legs. He was by no means unhandsome in appearanceand very jovial, good-humored, and good-natured; manifestly fond of allthe good things of life and able to discriminate and appreciate the best. 

For several days after I came into his possession I was his dearest toy. He spent most of his waking hours conversing with me about music andmusicians, poetry and poets, literature and authors, paintings andpainters, statuary and sculptors, architecture and architects, gems, ivories, embroideries, textiles, furniture, pottery and even autographsand autograph collecting. He seemed to appraise me an expert on all suchlines and to be well pleased with his purchase. 

Certainly I was as well clothed, fed, lodged and attended as if I had beenhis twin-brother. 

Before he had owned me many days Falco said to me:

"Phorbas, I've been puzzling about you. You are a slave and you were soldto poor Libo and by Rufius to me as a Greek. Yet you have none of theappearance nor behavior of a Greek nor yet of a slave. You look and actand talk like a freeman born and a full-blooded Roman, and a noble atthat. Please explain. "

Now, of course, in imagining all the forms in which I might be assaultedby the perils which beset me, I had foreseen just such a query as thisutterance of Falco's involved and I had pondered and rehearsed my answer. I realized that I must be ready with a reply wholly plausible becauseentirely consonant with the facts of our social life, as they existed, sothat no one could take any exception to it. I thought I had framed such areply. 

"You know how it is, " I answered easily. "A Roman master buys a young andcomely Greek handmaid. In due course she has a daughter, legally also aslave and nominally a Greek, yet half Roman. When she is grown, if shehappens to be comely and the property of a master like most masters, shehas a daughter, a slave and spoken of as a Greek, yet only a quarterGreek. If she has a similar daughter, that daughter, a slave and called aGreek, is only one-eighth Greek. I conceive, from all I know, that mygreat grandmother, grandmother and mother were such slave women. I, aslave and ostensibly a Greek, am fifteen-sixteenths Roman noble, byancestry, according to my reckoning. No wonder my descent shows in mybearing, manner and conversation. "

This answer was, actually, not so far from the facts, my mother, grandmother and great-grandmother had, certainly, been Roman noblewomen, daughters indeed, each of one of the oldest and longest-lineaged houses ofour nobility; and, like my father, grandfather and great-grandfather, mygreat-great-grandfather had been a Roman nobleman. But his father, mygreat-great-great-grandfather, had been a freed-man, manumitted in thedays of Nero, acquiring great wealth, attaining equestrian rank during thelast years of Nero's reign, and vastly enriched during the confusion ofthe civil wars, marrying a young and wealthy widow after Vespasian wasfirmly established at Rome by the crushing of the insurrection of ClaudiusCivilis. 

Probably the general consonance of my answer with the facts made myutterance of it more convincing. Certainly it appealed to Falco. 

"Just about what I conjectured, " he said, smiling. "And will you tell mein what part of Italy and on what estate you were born and how you came byyour air of aristocratic culture and by your marvellous dilettantism?"

"I know what I know and am what I am, " I replied, "because I was, fromchildhood, treated just as if a son instead of a slave; pampered, indulgedand made much of. That lasted till I was more than full-grown. 

"The misfortunes of the family to which I belonged came so suddenly that Iwas not manumitted, as I should have been had my master had so much as aday's warning of his downfall. I was sold to a fool and a brute, as youhave probably inferred from my back. The marks of his barbarity which Ibear, and my lasting grief for the calamity of the household in which Iwas born, make me unwilling to tell you anything of my past previous to mypurchase from Olynthides by Nonius Libo. "

"Well, " he said, "your feeling is natural and I shall not urge mycuriosity on you. I mean to indulge you and even pamper you; mean toendeavor to indulge you and pamper you so you will feel more indulged andpampered than ever in your life, I'll make a new will, at once, leavingyou your freedom and a handsome property. I expect to live out a longlife, all my kin have been healthy and long-lived. But one can never becertain of living and I mean to run no risks of your having any moretroubles. You deserve ease and comfort. And you shall have them if I canarrange it. I love you like a born brother and mean to treat you as wellas if you were my twin. "

The year in which Commodus killed the two lions, each with one blow of histrifling-looking little palm-wood club, in which year I was sold out ofthe Choragium, and purchased by Nonius, in which I crossed the sea, waswrecked and saved and resold to Falco, was the nine hundred and forty-first year of the City [Footnote: 188 A. D. ] and the ninth of the reign ofCommodus, the year in which the consuls were Allius Fuscianus and DuilliusSilanus, each for the second time. In Africa, with Falco, I spent that andthe following year very comfortably and happily, for I was as wellclothed, fed, lodged and tended as Falco himself. I liked him, even lovedhim, and I felt perfectly safe. 

The climate of Africa agreed with me, and I liked the fare, especially themany kinds of fruit which we seldom see in Rome and then not in their bestcondition, and some of which we never see in Italy at all. I admired thescenery, and I delighted in the cities, not only Carthage and Utica, butboth Hippo Regius and Hippo Diarrhytus, and also Hadrumetum, Tacape, Cirtaand Theveste, and even such mere towns as Lambaesis and Thysdrus, whichlast has an amphitheater second only to the Colosseum itself. They all hadfine amphitheaters, magnificent circuses, gorgeous theaters and sumptuouspublic hot baths. Not one but had a fine library, a creditable publicpicture-gallery, and many noble groups of statuary, with countless finestatues adorning the public buildings, streets and parks. The society ofall these places was delightfully cultured, easy and unaffected. Irevelled in it and could not have been happier except that I never heardfrom Vedia or Tanno, let alone had a letter from either. And I wrote toboth and sent off letter after letter to one or the other. For it seemedto me that a letter in this form could not excite any suspicion. 

 "Phorbas gives greeting to Opsitius, and informs him that after he had been sold by Olynthides to Nonius Libo, he survived the sinking of his owner's yacht and was sold by Libo's heir to Pomponius Falco, in whose retinue he now is. Farewell. "

I sent off, at least once a season, a letter like this to both Tanno andVedia. No word from either ever reached me. I could but conjecture thatall my letters had miscarried. 

Meanwhile, besides being reminded of it each time I wrote to Tanno orVedia, I did not forget that I was a proscribed fugitive, my life forfeitif I were detected. I conceived that my best disguise was to dress, actand talk as much as possible in the character of dilettante art expert andmusic-lover, which I had assumed. Falco treated me, as he had prophesied, almost as a brother. I had a luxurious apartment in each of his townresidences and country villas, and a retinue of servants: valet, bath-attendant, room-keeper, masseur, reader, messenger, runner and a litterwith three shifts of powerful bearers. Everything Falco could think of inthe way of clothing, furniture and art objects was showered on me and myslightest hint of a wish was quickly gratified. Also Falco supplied me alavish allowance of cash. Therefore I could gratify any whim. Besides, myamulet-bag was intact and had in it all the gems which Agathemer hadoriginally placed there, except only the emerald Bulla had sold for me. 

I thought up everything I could do to make myself look completely a Greekvirtuoso and as un-Roman-looking as possible. I patronized everycomplexion-specialist, friseur, perukier, manicurist and fashionablebarber in that part of the world. I bought every hair tonic for sale inthe colony. Between lotions and expert manipulation I succeeded in growinga thick curly beard, covering my chest as far as the lower end of mybreast-bone and a thick head of hair so long that, even when elaboratelyfrizzed and curled, my oiled and scented locks fell as far down my back asmy beard spread on my bosom. Nothing could have made me look moreCorinthian and less Roman. 

I wore the gaudiest clothing I could find; tunics and cloaks of pure silkand of the brightest or most effeminate hues; crimson, emerald-green, peacock-green, grass-green, apple-green, sea-green, sapphire-blue, sky-blue, turquoise-blue, saffron, orange, amethystine, violet and any andevery unusual tint; boots of glazed kidskin or of dull finish soft skin, of hues like my silk garments, always with the edges of the soles heavilygilded. And, for my shoes as well as for my garments, I chose particoloredmaterials with the most startling or languorous combinations of unusualdyes. All my boots and shoes were embroidered in silver thread or goldthread, all my outer garments embroidered in crimson, deep green, deepblue, gold or silver, in big, striking, conspicuous patterns. I hadelephants, lions, antelopes, horses, cattle, sheep, stags, goats, storks, cranes, even fish embroidered on my outer garments amid trees, vines, andflowers; roses, lilies, violets, poppies and others uncountable. I spenton such gewgaws a considerable part of my allowance, yet never exhaustedFalco's lavish provision for me. 

I also went in for jewelry, loading my fingers with flashy rings, wearingbracelets on both wrists, two or three on each, always two necklaces andeven earrings, for which I had my ears pierced, like a Lydian. 

When I conned myself in my dressing-room mirror, arrayed in such asuperfluity of decorations and fripperies, I felt sure that no one wouldtake me for a Roman. 

In these apparently natural vanities and vagaries Falco humored me, enquiring of his friends concerning friseurs of acclaimed reputation, buying me any gaudy fabrics he saw, also presenting me with caskets ofnecklaces, amulets, bracelets, finger-rings and earrings. He rallied me onmy oriental tastes, but aided me to gratify them. 

He even came to feel his interest in jewelry and gems enhanced by my fadfor them. He took to purchasing antiques in jewelry and rare and unusualgems and his hoard grew into a notable collection. 

By the end of my second winter with Falco I had come to know intimatelyall his town and country palaces and all his dilettanti friends and hadenjoyed to the full the many delights of the colony, not only its climateand fruits, its scenery and cities, its statuary and pictures, itslibraries and public-baths, but its excellent performances of tragediesand comedies, and its spectacles creditable, not only as to chariot-racingbut also as to beast-fights and exhibitions of gladiators. I found life inAfrica extremely agreeable and looked forward to any length of it withcontentment. 

I may remark that during this time Cleander came to the end of his periodof unlimited wealth, power and misrule. I was thus out of Rome at the timeof his downfall and death and while the Praetorium had a score of Prefectsin rapid succession. 

In the spring of the nine hundred and forty-third year of the city, [Footnote: A. D. 190. ] and the eleventh of the reign of Commodus, the yearin which he was nominally consul for the sixth time, along with PetroniusSeptimianus, Falco startled me, while we were dining alone together, asAgathemer and I had used to dine together, by saying:

"Phorbas, you talk of Rome differently from any other man I ever heardtalk of it. I have meditated over the quality of what you say of Rome, butI cannot analyze it or describe it accurately. Yet I may say that otherstalk of Rome as holy ground, but you alone make me feel that the soilinside the Pomoerium is holy ground: others talk of the grandeur of Rome;you make me realize its grandeur: others prate of their love for Rome:you, saying little, make me tingle with a subtly communicated sense of howyou love Rome: others babble of how life away from Rome is not life, butmerely existence; of how any dwelling out of Rome is exile, of how theylong for Rome; you, by some sorcery, make me not only feel how you longfor Rome, but have awakened in me a longing for Rome. I have never beenout of this colony of Africa, not even into Mauretania. A man as rich as Iand of equestrian rank can afford to travel, to visit all the interestingparts of the Empire, to live where he likes, anywhere in Italy or even inRome. 

"I have never wanted to leave this colony: I love every bit of it andespecially my residences and estates. I have been satisfied here. When myfriends argued with me and tried to persuade me to travel and especiallyto visit Rome, I never was convinced by their arguments. I have a dread ofsea-voyaging, a dread accentuated by the death of poor Libo. Who was anenthusiastic voyager and had a yacht as staunch and a crew as capable asskill could produce, money buy and judgment collect. Yet he perished. Idid not need the warning of his fate to keep me ashore. Then again, Iprefer to be a big frog in a small pond to being a small frog in a bigpond, I am one of the most important men in this colony and, here inAfrica, I am always somebody. In Rome I should be nobody. 

"Yet, without my realizing it and later against my will, yourconversation, in some subtle way, has so infected me with the desire tosee Rome that I am going to brave the terrors of the seas, am going tosink myself into insignificance among the scores of richer and moreinfluential men who cluster about Caesar. I am even going to put at themercy of the sea my precious collection of gems, which I now value morethan you and myself together and twice over. 

"I have made all my arrangements. I have put my affairs in order, madesure that my estates will be properly managed in my absence, bought thebest yacht to be had in the harbor of Carthage, and that is saying a greatdeal for its excellence, and I have ordered coffers in which to pack mybeloved gems. 

"Prepare to accompany me; within ten days we set off for Rome. "

I knew Falco. Easy-going as he was, when he had taken a notion to buy andindulge a connoisseur-slave, collect gems or visit Rome, opposition, arguments, artfulness or stratagems were alike useless. I resigned myselfto my fate. 

I meditated over this fifth fulfillment of the prophecy of the AemilianSibyl. 

Since I had been with Falco and practically a free and rich man, I hadmade handsome sacrifices at Mercury's Temples in all the cities we visitedwhich had temples to Mercury. The morning after Falco announced hisintentions to go to Rome I went out alone and unattended; myself, in themarket place of Carthage, bought two white hens; myself carried them tothe Temple of Mercury and myself had them offered to the god. 

CHAPTER XXXIII

IMPOSTURE

We had no bad weather on our voyage to Rome nor any adventure. The daybefore we sailed I had conned my image in the mirror in my dressing-roomand had comforted myself with the decision that no human creature couldconceivably suspect of being a Roman this full-bearded, longhaired, long-nailed, frizzed, curled, oiled, perfumed, gaudy, tawdry, bedizened, bejeweled, powdered, rouged, painted popinjay. 

I laid in an extra supply of nail-polish, nail-tint, rouge, face-paint, blackening for painting eyebrows and eyelashes, and of perfumery, cosmetics, unguents and such like. If I were sufficiently whitened, reddened, rouged, and painted I hoped I should be well enough disguised toface Gratillus or even Flavius Clemens without a qualm. Actually mybizarre and fantastic appearance was an almost complete protection to me. 

And I needed protection. For Falco was related to many prominent familiesand men in Rome; for instance, he was a cousin of Senator Sosius Falco, who was consul two years later. He was introduced widely and at once andinvited everywhere. I was constantly in attendance on him. 

My experiences during my long stay at Rome with Falco were, in truth, amazing. He bought a fine palace on the Esquiline, near the Baths ofTitus, furnished it lavishly, entertained magnificently and revelled inthe life of Rome. At first I was busy showing him the chief sights of theCity, then the minor sights, then coaching him in the niceties of socialusages, then convoying him on the round of all notable sculptures, picturegalleries, private collections of pictures or statuary, famous museums, repositories of all kinds of art objects and, especially, the gemcollections, both private and public, particularly the large exhibit inthe temple of Venus Genetrix, placed there by the Divine Julius, and thesmaller exhibit in the temple of Apollo on the Palatine, donated byOctavia's son, Marcellus. 

Later he divided his time between giving dinners and going out to dinnersand haunting the houses of gem collectors and the shops of jewelers. 

He began visiting jewelers' shops, to be sure, within a few days of ourarrival in Rome. We had not been there ten days, in fact, when he made meconduct him to the Porticus Margaritaria, on the Via Sacra, near the greatForum, which was and is the focus of pearl dealers and gem dealers ingeneral in Rome. 

There we entered several shops and, at last, I could not keep him out ofthat of Orontides, who had known me perfectly. His was unique among shopsin Rome and probably was the largest and most splendid jewelry shop in allthe world: more like a small temple of Hercules or a temple-treasury thana shop. It was not in the Pearl-Dealers' Arcade, where only small, square, usual shops were possible, but adjacent to it and entered from the ViaSacra. It was circular, with a door of cast bronze, beautifully ornamentedwith reliefs of pearl-divers, tritons, nereids and other marine subjects. Inside its dome-shaped roof was lined with an intricate mosaic of bits ofglass as brilliant as rubies, emeralds and sapphires, or as gold andsilver. The roof rested on a circular entablature with a very ornatecornice, under which was a frieze ornamented with reliefs, representingwinged cupids working as gem-cutters and polishers, as chasers of salversand goblets, and as goldsmiths and silversmiths. The architrave was asornate as the cornice. The entablature was supported by eight Ioniccolumns of the slenderest and most delicate type, of dark yellow Numidianmarble, while the lining of the wall-spaces was of the lighter yellowMauretanian marble. Of the eight wall-spaces one was occupied by thedoorway, over which was a bronze group representing a combat of twocentaurs. On either side of the door was a wall-space ennobled by a nichewith a life-size, bronze statue, one of Orontides' father, the other ofhis grandfather, both of whom had been distinguished gem-dealers atAntioch. Two more wall-spaces were occupied by ample windows, not of openlattices, but glazed with almost crystalline glass set in bronze, a formof window seldom seen except in great temples, the Imperial Palace, andthe residences of the most opulent senators and noblemen. 

The three wall-spaces behind the counter were filled from column to columnwith tiers of superposed recesses, in size like the urn niches of a burialcolumbarium, but each closed with a door of cornel-wood carved andpolished, behind which doors Orontides kept his precious merchandise. 

The counter divided the shop across from window to window. It had in themiddle a narrow wicket through which Orontides and his assistants couldcrawl in and out. Otherwise the outer face of the counter was of twoblocks of Numidian marble, carved in patterns of twining vines; its topwas of one long slab of the exquisitely delicate white marble from Luna. On it lay always squares of velvet, in color dark blue, black, dark green, and crimson, on which were admirably displayed his goldsmith work andjewelries. 

Below the panels about each statued niche was a curved seat of Numidianmarble amply large for four persons at once, so that eight prospectivecustomers could sit and wait while as many stood at the counter; and, according to my recollection of the shop in the days of my prosperity, ashop crowded with customers was the rule rather than the exception withOrontides. 

It was crowded when we entered. I, endeavoring to conserve a naturaldemeanor, felt my sight blur. I saw, as we entered, only a row of backs ofcustomers standing at the counter: three in noblemen's togas, one in thetoga of a senator, their fulldress boots conspicuously red beneath theirrobes; four in the silken garments of wealthy ladies, all in pale softhues of exquisite Coan dyes. 

Of these eight backs two, one of the lady midway of the counter, the otherof her escort, appeared terrifyingly familiar. 

In fact, when we entered I had three distinct shocks in quick succession. Flashy, painted and rouged as I was I dreaded Orontides' eyes. There hewas behind his counter, visible through a rift in the press of handsomelydressed customers of both sexes. 

Instinctively I glanced at the only other interval in the line of absorbedopulent backs. 

Through it I recognized Agathemer smiling at me!

I saw that _he_, at least, recognized me at once and my dread of Orontidesintensified tenfold. I knew Agathemer would be discreet, loyal and trusty. I dreaded to lose countenance if I kept my eyes on his face and I lookedelsewhere. 

I recognized the back of Flavius Clemens!

If he turned round I felt I was lost. Yet I could not flee. Falco wascertain to linger in the shop. I must keep my self-control and prepare tobrazen out anything. 

The next instant I recognized the back of the lady next Flavius Clemens. 

Vedia!

As I recognized her she turned, saw me, knew me through my disguise, flushed, and turned back. 

I should not have been surprised if she had fainted and crumpled up on thewhite and brown mosaic floor in front of the counter. She kept her feetand her outward self-possession. 

Clemens spoke to her in an undertone. 

"No, " she answered him, in a choked voice, "I have changed my mind. Iwon't take these. "

She was handling an unsurpassable necklace of big pearls. 

He whispered to her. 

"No, " she said, curtly. "I won't look at any others. I think I'll gohome. "

He was so amazed that he never saw me or, I think, anything or anybodyelse in that shop just then. He escorted her out. 

When I regained my self-possession enough to feel that I appeared at easeand could trust myself to glance at the other customers as I should havedone had I been in fact what I was trying to appear, I was relieved tofind that not one of them was more than distantly known to me. 

The idlers on the benches showed no inclination to rise and approach thecounter. Falco and I occupied the interval vacated by Clemens and Vedia. Agathemer, of all men on earth, asked what he could do for us. Falco stoodthere a long time, saw a goodly fraction of the finest jewels inOrontides' possession and, manifestly, made as favorable impression ofconnoisseurship on Agathemer as Agathemer made on him. They eyed eachother as fellow-adepts. Falco asked that he reserve an antique Babylonianseal cut in sardonyx and promised to send a messenger with its pricebefore dark. Agathemer, who was passing under the name of Eucleides, blandly replied that Orontides would prefer to send the seal to Falco'sresidence. Falco agreed, of course, and to my unutterable relief wefinally departed. 

Agathemer--Eucleides--brought the seal; and timed his arrival neatly asFalco returned from the Baths of Titus just before dinner time. He wasgiving a big formal dinner and my dinner was to be served in my apartment, which had a tiny _triclinium_; being as lavishly appointed, and one inwhich I was as luxuriously lodged and served, as those I had had inCarthage and Utica. 

I asked Agathemer if he could stay and dine with me and he accepted. Wehad a wonderful dinner. The food, of course, was unsurpassable and ourappetites keyed up by our mutual emotions. When the dessert and wine werebrought in I dismissed the waiters, made sure that no man or boy of myretinue was in my apartment and bolted its door. 

Then we fell into each other's arms. 

After we had expressed our mutual affection I told him my story from themorning after the massacre and he told me his, which was commonplace. 

He had easily escaped from the slave-convoy between Narnia and Interamnia, had made his way to Ameria and found shelter there with slaves as anordinary runaway slave. After a discreet interval he had travelled toRome. There he had found old acquaintances to protect and shield him. Iwas presumed to be dead and any fellow-slave would help him in hissituation, he being presumed to be legally a slave of the _fiscus_. He hadno difficulty in disposing of a gem out of his amulet-bag and then rentedlodgings, passed as a freedman, by the name of Eucleides, and graduallymade himself known to various gem-experts who gave him as much protectionas had his fellow-slaves, his former acquaintances. Orontides perfectlyknew who he was, yet engaged him as an assistant by the name of Eucleidesand as being a freedman. Ever since then he had lived safe in hislodgings, and spent his days at Orontides' shop or about Rome at gem-dealers. He declared that he was, if possible, more of a gem-expert thanbefore our adventures began, which was saying a great deal. 

He laughed heartily and often at my disguise, acclaimed it a work of artin every detail and in its total effect and vowed that he believed that Icould spend years in Rome in Falco's retinue and encounter all my oldacquaintances and be in little danger from any and in no danger exceptfrom such professional physiognomists as Galen and Gratillus. 

I told him of what Galen had said to Tanno. Agathemer said he had had onlytwo interviews with Tanno, at which they had deplored my death, I havingbeen believed to have perished with Nonius Libo. They had also agreed toavoid each other, for fear of attracting the notice of some secret-serviceagent or volunteer spy. Tanno had not mentioned Galen. 

We agreed that we, also, must avoid each other and not meet oftener thansay four times a year, for fear of leading to my detection. 

He told me of Marcia's unlimited power over Commodus, the whole Palace andthe entire social and governmental world of Rome. He also said that he wasconvinced that Ducconius Furfur was domiciled in the Palace and thatCommodus used him as dummy ceremonial Emperor, when he himself wasmasquerading as Palus, the Gladiator, for he was now developing for publicexhibitions of his swordsmanship a mania as insensate as those he had hadfor charioteering and beast-fighting. 

Next day, naturally, I had a visit from Tanno, who even sacrificed hisafternoon bath and came to see me while Falco was at the Baths of Titus. 

He embraced me heartily, when we were alone, and talked with his habitualmask of jocularity. 

"Three times dead, Caius, " he said, "and still alive and fit. Dying seemsto agree with you, whether it is military execution, rural assassination, or drowning at sea. I am still incredulous that you are really alive; wehad the most circumstantial accounts of the loss of poor Libo's yacht withall on board. "

"That is odd, " I said, "Rufius Libo survived and succeeded to his uncle'sproperty. "

"I knew he inherited all Nonius left, " Tanno stated, "but I had no ideathat Nonius had Rufius with him here in Rome and that he was on the yacht;I thought he was in Carthage all the while. Certainly every account we hadspecified that no one was rescued from that yacht. "

I told him that Rufius had promised me to write him of my survival andthat I had despatched at least a score of letters to him and as many toVedia. He was as puzzled as I that not one had reached either of them. 

I gave him an account of my life since he had seen me and he approved ofmy disguise as much as had Agathemer and laughed at it even more heartily. 

He said:

"Poor Flavius Clemens is in a daze. He cannot conjecture what has gonewrong with his wooing again a second time. He behaved very tactfully afterhis first rebuff ensuing on Galen's tip to me and mine to Vedia. He was socautious about not thrusting himself on Vedia that their acquaintance, quite naturally, warmed again gradually into mutual interest and romanticaffection and was ripening into love when the sight of you yesterdayannihilated his excellent chances of marrying her. He was just about tobuy for her a two-million-sesterce pearl necklace. If she had accepted thegift it would have been tantamount to a public pledge to marry him. Poorfellow!"

When he left he gave me a letter from Vedia, a letter as loving as a lovercould wish for. She declared that she would not marry Flavius Clemens noranybody except me and would wait for me as long as might be necessary orstay unmarried until the end of her days, if, by any misfortune, the endcame to her before she and I were free to marry. 

She said that we must avoid each other as much as possible and that I mustnot spoil my chances of safety either by relying too recklessly on mydisguise or through risking arousing suspicion in Falco by any attempt atconfining myself to my apartment, which would have been altogetherincongruous with the character I had assumed. 

The rest of that year and all the winter I passed living the normal lifeof an indulged and pampered favorite of an opulent bachelor dilettantenoble. It was a life almost as enjoyable as the life of a wealthy noblemanto which I had been born and brought up. 

I had but one anxiety and that was not small and it steadily increased. Itwas caused by a progressive alteration and deterioration in the characterof my master. In all other respects he remained the man he had been whenhe first bought me, but as a gem-fancier his hobby became a passion whichdeepened into a mania and colored, or discolored, all he did. He had, ashe always had had, a very large surplus of income over and above what wasneedful to maintain his huge estates in Africa, his many luxurious villasand town-palaces there, his yacht and his palaces in Italy at Baiae and atRome. The normal accumulation of this surplus had taxed his sagacity as aninvestor, for it was always harder for him to find advantageousinvestments for his redundant cash than to find cash for temptinginvestments. Certainly his excess income more than sufficed for anyreasonable indulgence in gem-collecting. 

Yet his outlay for rare gems ran up to and outran and far outran hisresources. The strange result was that he, who had huge revenues fromestates and safe investments, desired a still greater income. He began toembark in risky ventures which promised large and quick returns. He wentinto partnership with two different nobles, who made a practice of biddingon the taxes of frontier provinces exposed to enemy raids. Bidders wereshy of investing their cash in the problematical returns of such regionsand those who had the hardihood to enter into contracts with thegovernment made huge profits if lucky. Falco was lucky each time. Heplunged again and again. 

He also embarked similarly in bidding for unpromising contracts and inbuying up estates thrown unexpectedly on the market. All his venturesturned out successfully, he gained great resources for indulging his fadfor gems and rare curios, his collection grew and became one of the mostfamous private collections in Rome. 

Also his mania for speculation grew as fast as his mania for collectinggems. 

This led to my exposure to the oddest and most alarming peril which I hadrun since Agathemer and I crawled through the drain-pipe at Villa Andivia;greater I think, than the risk I ran when I nearly encountered Gratillusat Placentia. This happened about eleven months after I came to Rome withFalco, in the spring of the year when Pedo Apronianus and Valerius Braduawere consuls. 

This occurrence and the circumstances which led up to it I cannot forbearnarrating, but I shall not go into details, for it involves at leastallusion to behavior not at all creditable to my owner and I am unwillingto disparage or seem to disparage one who was to me a dear friend and agenerous benefactor. The truth is that his passion for gem-collecting hadnot only undermined his character but had, in a way, sapped thefoundations of his native uprightness. If he had remained the man he waswhen he bought me he would not have been capable of entertaining, letalone of acting on, the considerations which actuated him. 

He thought he saw a chance to make vast profits quickly with no risks. Butto achieve this he needed the presence and the countenance of anotherwealthy nobleman of the African province, who, like him when he purchasedme, had never been in Rome or, indeed, out of the colony. The name of thisman, whom I had met while in Thysdrus, was Salsonius Salinator. Hiswealth, inherited by his father and grandfather from a long line ofwealthy ancestors, came from many vast salt works along the coast, which, by the custom of the province, remained private property and merely paidthe government a lease-tax or rent. The family had been, many generationsbefore, named from these works and was very proud of its names. 

Now Falco had so far progressed with his negotiations that the otherparties to the proposed bargain were unwilling to close the deal and signa contract with Falco and his associates unless Salsonius Salinator, inperson, appeared to make some necessary statements, and were willing andeager to sign and seal, the projected agreement if he did appear in personand did make those required statements. I am averse to smirching Falco'smemory by going more minutely into detail. 

Now Salinator had written Falco that he was coming to Rome and later, whenhe received a letter from Falco outlining the pending negotiations andtheir object, he had written promising to be in Rome by a specified date. He was most enthusiastic as to Falco's project and thought as well of itas did Falco. Falco told his associates of Salinator's letter and promiseand they adjusted their outstanding investments so as to be able to closethe contract as soon as Salinator appeared. 

He did not appear on the date specified. Naturally Falco was perturbed, his associates vexed and the men with whom they were dealing increasinglyrestive. They threatened to break off the negotiations and close acontract with other bidders. Falco begged for an extension of the time andthey grudgingly granted it. Still no signs of or word from Salinator. Thenegotiations appeared likely to fall through. 

In his distress Falco conceived and set about putting into practice ascheme such as he would never have thought of or entertained if he hadbeen the man he was when he bought me. When he was himself he had been thereverse of dishonorable. He came to me and said:

"We are at the end of our tether, Pullanius and his gang will break offnegotiations tomorrow if I can't get hold of Salinator. I have no hope ofhis arrival, he may have not yet sailed from Carthage; he may have changedhis mind about coming at all. I am not willing to lose so brilliant achance. I have thought of just what to do. 

"You would look like a Roman if you had your beard trimmed and your haircut and all that powder and paint and rouge washed off your face: I tookyou for a full-blooded Roman when I first set eyes on you. What is moreyou would look so utterly unlike what you look like in your fantasticfripperies that no one would even suspect you of being the same man. Anyhow, Pullanius and his crowd have never set eyes on you, not one ofthem. 

"All you have to do is to have your beard cut to about the fashionablelength and your hair trimmed to conform similarly with current fashionsfor Roman noblemen and get into full-dress shoes, a nobleman's tunic andtoga, and you'll pass anywhere for a genuine, free-born, full-bloodedRoman. 

"I'll take you to Pullanius tomorrow and introduce you as SalsoniusSalinator. I'll coach you carefully as to how to behave and what to say. You are clever enough to assume the natural Roman demeanor to a nicety:also to rise to any unexpected situations and act and talk precisely aswould Salinator himself. 

"It will be sharp practice, in a sense. But I know Salinator would say allI want him to say, all Pullanius requires him to say, and more, if he wereactually here. He is as keen on closing this contract as I am. So I am notasking you to be a party to an actual fraud. You will only be bringingabout what would come about without you if something unforeseen had notprevented Salinator from getting here in time. "

Now I had often differed with Falco, argued with him, opposed him, refusedrequests of his, and he had acquiesced and had acted as if I were not hisproperty, but a free man and his complete social equal. But this was asituation wholly different from any I had encountered before. When it cameto gem-collecting or to anything which gave him or would give him or wasexpected to yield him surplus cash for buying more gems for hiscollection, Falco was a monomaniac. I dared not refuse, or oppose him orargue or show any hesitation. A master can change in a twinkling from anindulgent friend to an infuriated despot. In spite of the laws passed byHadrian and his successors limiting the authority of masters over theirslaves and giving slaves certain rights before magistrates, in practice anangry master can go to any length to coerce a recalcitrant slave. I sawnot only privations, discomforts, hunger, confinement and chainsthreatening me, but scourging and torture. 

I acquiesced. 

Now I am not going into any details as to what I did and said to inducePullanius and his associates to execute the desired contract. I acted thepart of Salinator to perfection and my imposture succeeded completely. 

But the negotiations dragged, for all that, and I had to impersonateSalsonius Salinator not only before Pullanius and his partners butgenerally all over Rome: had to submit to being shown the sights in mycharacter of a provincial magnate in Rome for the first time; had to allowmyself to be dragged to morning receptions of senators and wealthynoblemen and introduced to them; had to accept invitations to dinnersgiven by noblemen and senators; even had to attend a public morningreception in the Audience Hall of the Palace. That I escaped undetectedwas more than miraculous; I could not believe it myself. But I did escape. 

I escaped unsuspected the ordeal of being haled to a morning reception ofVedius Vedianus and presented to him as Salsonius Salinator of Carthage, Nepte and Putea. I should have been lost had he had at his elbow to joghis memory if he forgot a visitor's name the slave he had had in thatcapacity seven years before, since that alert _nomenclator_ would haverecognized me at once. But he had died of the plague and his successor hadnever set eyes on me. Vedius himself would certainly have known me for mytrue self but for his inveterate selfishness, and self-absorption and hisincapacity for being diverted from whatever thought or idea happened to beuppermost in his narrow mind. He was, for some reason, eager to be donewith his reception and had no eyes for any visitors except those from whomhe expected immediate and positive advantage to himself. I escaped, but Iwent out sweating and limp with excitement. 

I was even more faint and weak after having to attend a Palace levee. Fortunately Commodus had wearied of his father's methods of holdingreceptions and had reverted to the regulations in vogue under Trajan andHadrian, according to which only such senators as were summoned approachedthe throne and were personally greeted by the Prince; the rest of thesenators and all the lesser noblemen merely passed before the Emperor ashe stood in front of the throne, passing four abreast along the mainpavement at the foot of the steps of the dais and saluting him as theypassed. Amid this crush of mediocrities I passed unnoticed, unremarked, unscathed. 

But I marvelled at my luck, for I knew many eyes of secret-service expertsscanned that slow-moving column of togaed noblemen and such adepts have amarvellous memory for the shape of an ear, a nose, a chin, or any suchfeature. After my hair and beard had been trimmed to suit Falco's notionsand my face was innocent of powder, rouge and paint and I was habited in atunic and toga with stripes of the width belonging to Salinator's rank anddress-boots of the cut and color proper for him I conned my reflection inthe mirror in my dressing-room and was certain that anyone who had knownme as myself must recognize me at first glance. 

My two worst ordeals came when I went out with Falco to my second andfourth formal dinner in Rome in my character of provincial magnate. I wentwith him, altogether, to eight different dinners at the houses ofcapitalists associated with or supposed to have influence with Pullanius. Not once, in any of these eight perilous expeditions, did it occur toFalco to inform me beforehand where I was to dine. And I thought it bestnot to ask him, since I reflected that his complete ignorance of my pastwas an important factor in my chances of continued concealment and safety;and since I felt that some word, tone or look of mine might put him on theroad to suspecting the truth about me. Therefore I set out to each ofthese eight dinners totally ignorant of our destination. 

The first time I knew I was to dine with Appellasius Clavviger, a Syriancapitalist who had been in Rome not much longer than Falco himself. Judgeof my feelings when, in the mellow light which bathes Rome just after thesun has set from a clear sky and before day has begun to fade, I perceivedthat my litter-bearers, following Falco's, were turning into the streetwhere I had lived before my ruin! Imagine my sensations when we haltedbefore the palatial dwelling which had been my uncle's abode and mine! Iwas even more perturbed and overwhelmed by my emotions when on enteringbehind Falco I found nothing changed, scarcely anything altered from whathad been there on the fatal morning on which, without any premonition ofdisaster, I had set off to the Palace levee and had, on my way, been savedby Vedia's intervention and letter. The appointments of the vestibule, ofthe porter's lodge, were as I had known them in my uncle's lifetime. Sowere the furnishings of the atrium and _tablinum_. Scarcely a statue hadbeen added or so much as moved, most of the pictures being where my unclehad had them hung. Appellasius, a fat, jovial, jolly man, did not see myconfusion. We were the last guests to arrive and he was hungry. We passedat once into the _triclinium_. There also the wall-decorations wereprecisely as I had last seen them; but the square table and three squaresofas had vanished and, in their place, was a new C-shaped sofa and acircular table covered with a magnificent embroidered cloth. In thecourse of the dinner, the company, as was natural with vulgarians newlyenriched, fell to talking of their residences, of their size, convenience, and cost. I took the opportunity to compliment Appellasius on his abodeand, as he warmed to the subject, I inquired whether he had inherited itor bought it. 

"Neither, " said he. "I have merely leased it, and leased it furnished. Itbelongs to the _fiscus_; it was confiscated some years ago when its ownerwas proscribed for joining in one of the conspiracies against, theEmperor. It is a pearl. I am told that the father of its last owner was anart connoisseur. Anyhow I could not improve on its decorations orfurnishings. I have made few changes, chiefly installing this up-to-datedining-outfit. The fittings of this room were all of one hundred yearsold, very fine in material and ornamentation, but unbearablyinconvenient. "

I had learned all I hoped for or dared attempt, and for the rest of theentertainment I kept to subjects as far as possible from anything likelyto compromise me. 

My second and far my severest ordeal was when a few evenings later I wasdazed to realize that my litter, behind Falco's, was halting before thewell-known residence of that booby, Faltonius Bambilio. But I was notafraid of him. I rated him such a dolt, such an ass, that even if heexclaimed that I was the image of Andivius Hedulio I had no doubt I couldconvince him that I was what I pretended to be and could even expunge fromhis mind any recollections of his having noticed such a strikingresemblance. In fact he did not make any remark on my appearance or seemto have any inkling that he had ever seen me before, but accepted me as aninteresting stranger. 

I dreaded what guests he might have and the actuality surpassed mycapacities to forecast possibilities. 

 I found the middle sofa at his table, for he adhered to the old-fashionedfurnishings for a _triclinium_, occupied by his wife, Nemestronia andVedia! Vedia, after one tense moment of incredulous numb staring, regained her composure. 

Evidently she had not confided in anyone the fact of my survival andexistence. For, if she had, she would have taken dear old Nemestronia intoher confidence, since she was as able to keep a secret as any woman whoever lived and had loved me as if I had been her own and only grandson. For Nemestronia manifestly had believed me dead. At sight of me she was asthunderstruck as if she had seen an indubitable specter. She was smittendumb and rigid and her discomposure was remarked by all present. But sherecovered herself in time, passed off her agitation as having been due toone of her sudden attacks of pain in the chest. After that she did as muchas Vedia to dispel any tendency to suspicions which she might havearoused. She was plainly, to my eyes, overjoyed at the sight of me in theflesh. 

I have branded on my memory for life the picture I saw as I entered the_triclinium_. Its wall decorations expressed old Bambilio's enthusiasm forAlexandrian art and literature. The ceiling was adorned with a copy ofApellides' Dance of the Loves; and the walls were decorated with copies ofequally celebrated paintings by masters of similar fame. The wall nicheswere filled with statues of the Alexandrian poets, the two opposite theentrance door with those of Euphorion and Philetas, the brilliant hues ofthe paint on them depicting garments as gaudy as I myself had been wearinga few days before. From the pink faces of the bedizened poets theirjeweled eyes sparkled as if they were chuckling at the situation. Underthe mellow light shed by the numerous hanging lamps, against the intricateparticolored patterns of the wall between the statue-niches, I saw thevacuous baby face of Asellia, Bambilio's pretty doll of a wife, betweenVedia's countenance cleverly assuming a normal social expression after herbrief glare at me, and Nemestronia's mask of horror, accentuated by theagony of the gripping spasm which throttled her, for the pain in her chestwas induced by anything which startled her, and was not assumed. 

Once we were composed on the sofas the dinner passed off almostcomfortably. For Nemestronia played her part in my behalf fully as well asdid Vedia, who conversed with me easily, her demeanor precisely as if Ihad been Salsonius Salinator, a stranger whom she had just met, our talkmostly about Carthage, salt-works, the lagoons of the edge of the desert, date palms, local fruits, gazelles and such like topics, Nemestroniaseconding her with questions about temple libraries, the cult of Isis inHippo, and such matters. I became almost gay, I was enjoying myself. 

The enjoyment, toward the close of the banquet, was marred by Bambilio, who, inevitably, had told Falco of his capture by brigands on theFlaminian Highway and, after his tale was told at great length, insistedon Vedia telling hers. 

Worst of all, when she came to her night in her travelling carriage, alone(as of course all supposed) and surrounded by escaped beasts, hyenas, leopards, panthers, tigers and lions, Bambilio must needs remark:

"I'll wager you wished that the ghost of your old lover, Hedulio, had cometo your assistance. He could wrestle with leopards; perhaps even his ghostmight be able to control wild beasts. "

"Perhaps, " Vedia rejoined, unruffled, "maybe he was there to help me andmaybe that was why I never felt really afraid that any beast would burstinto my coach and seize me, though several snuffed at its panels and Icould see them plain in the clear moonlight. Perhaps, in spirit, he wasclose to me to keep off the ravenous beasts and to strengthen my heart. "

After she also had ended her story Bambilio eyed me:

"Did you ever hear a story excel hers and mine, Salsonius?" he queried. 

"Never, " I admitted, my gaze full on his. 

The booby showed not a gleam of suspicion!

Inwardly I could not but remark that whereas I despised and loathedBambilio for his pomposity and self-esteem, he made and kept friends. Plainly both Nemestronia and Vedia liked him, esteemed him and respectedhim. 

After we left, I felt positively exhilarated at having had an evening inVedia's company and having talked with her. Her escort, fortunately forme, had not been Flavius Clemens but young Duillius Silanus, son of theconsul, who had never met me before. 

CHAPTER XXXIV

PALUS THE INCOMPARABLE

Within a very few days after my encounter with Vedia at Bambilio's dinnerFalco and I had just ascended the stair of his residence after returningfrom a conference with Pullanius and his partners at which both sides hadfinally agreed on terms to the last detail and the contracts had beendrawn up, executed, signed and sealed. He said:

"Phorbas, I am pleased with you. Such imposture as I have enticed you intocannot have been palatable to a man of your character. You have manifestlydisrelished it, but you have valiantly stomached it for my sake. Actuallyyou may be comforted, for it has not really been dishonest ordishonorable; you have only acted and spoken vicariously for Salinator: toa certainty he would have done and said just what you have, had he beenpresent in person. 

"You are a wonderful actor. No Greek or part Greek or half Greek orquarter Greek or thirty-second Greek I ever knew or heard of, clever asGreeks are at histrionics, could so perfectly act a Roman noble in everydetail of demeanor, manner and word: down to the most trifling expressionof every prejudice inherent in a Roman born. I admire you. Also I thankyou. 

"And I am as relieved as you will be to be able to tell you that yourmasquerade is at an end, successful and unsuspected. 

"Now the important thing is for Salsonius Salinator to vanish from Rome atonce. 

"I suppose you have the wigs and false-beards you said you would buy orhave made?"

"They are in my dressing-room, " I replied. 

"Then, " he continued, "have yourself waked early, have your valet paintyou and powder you and rouge you and fit you out with a wig like the headof hair you had before I made you impersonate Salinator, and with a falsebeard no one will suspect; have him rig you up in your favorite attire andload you with jewelry, then set off in my travelling-carriage for Baiae. Be out of Rome by sunrise. Travel straight to Baiae as rapidly as you findpracticable without fatiguing yourself. At Baiae you will have the Villaand servants all to yourself. Stay there until you have grown your hairand beard as it was before your masquerade. Then return to Rome asPhorbas. "

He paused, gazed at me and added:

"And I mean to make a new will. Besides leaving you your freedom and thelegacy specified in my last will I mean to leave you my gem-collection anda full fourth of all my other estate. You deserve a lavish reward and Ibelieve I love you better than any living human being. "

I thanked him with my best imitation of the manner of a Greek, but withgenuine feeling and from a full heart. 

Actually I was glad to get out of Rome, glad to linger at Baiae. I made mytime as long as I could and resisted several importunities from Falcobefore I finally returned to the city more than a year after I had leftit. Thus I was out of Rome during the great fire, which destroyed, alongwith the Temple and Altar of Peace, the Temples of the Divine Julius andthe Divine Augustus, the Temple of Vesta, the Atrium of Vesta and most ofthe other buildings about the great Forum, also the Porticus Margaritariaand the shop of Orontides. Strangely enough, when, at Baiae, I readletters from Falco, Tanno and Agathemer describing the devastation, mymind dwelt more on the annihilation of the shop where I had encounteredVedia than on the destruction of the Palace records and most of the publicrecords, or of the many revered temples which had vanished in the flames. 

When I returned to Rome the ruins were already largely cleared, andrebuilding, especially of the Temple of Vesta, was vigorously under way. 

In Falco's household and manner of life I found few changes, except thatFalco, really in excellent health, had become concerned about his triflingailments, and, after trying one and another physician, had enrolledhimself among the patients of the most distinguished exponent of thehealing arts. Galen therefore, was a frequent visitor at my home and I sawhim not infrequently. When I had some minor discomfort, Falco, alwayspampering me, called Galen in and enrolled me also among his charges. 

After my return to the City the chief topic of conversation among personsof all grades of society and the pivot, so to speak, on which thespectacles of the amphitheater revolved was Palus the Gladiator. 

I may set down here that I, personally, am now, as I was when I saw himappear as a charioteer for the last time, certain that Palus was Commodusin person. And I set this down as a fact. It will be seen later that I hadmore opportunity than any man in Rome, outside of the Palace, to know thefacts. 

Many people then believed and not a few still maintain that Palus wasmerely a crony of Commodus. Some whispered that he was a half-brother ofCommodus, a son of Faustina and a favorite gladiator, brought up by theconnivance of her too-indulgent husband; which wild tale suits neitherwith Faustina's actual deportment, as contrasted with the lies told of herby her detractors, nor with the character of Aurelius. Others even hintedthat Palus was a half-brother of Commodus on the other side, off-spring ofAurelius and a concubine. This invention consorts still worse with thenature of Aurelius, who was one of the most uxorious of men and by naturemonogamic and austere, almost ascetic. Some contented themselves withconjecturing that Palus accidentally resembled Commodus, which was not sofar from the truth. 

For I knew Ducconius Furfur from our boyhood and I solemnly assert thatPalus was Commodus and that, whenever Palus appeared in the circus and, later, in the amphitheater, while the Imperial Pavilion was filled by theImperial retinue, with the throne occupied apparently by the Emperor, thethrone was occupied by a dummy emperor, Ducconius Furfur, in the Imperialattire, and Commodus was in the arena as Palus. Anyone who chooses may, from this pronouncement, set me down as a credulous ninny, if it suits hisnotions. 

When Palus drove a chariot in the circus he never appeared with his facefully exposed, but invariably wore over its upper portion the half-mask ofgauze, which is designed to protect a charioteer's eyes from dust andflying grains of sand. Similarly, when Palus entered the arena as agladiator he never fought in any of those equipments in which gladiatorsappear bareheaded or with faces exposed: as a _retiarius_, for instance. He always fought as a _secutor_ or _murmillo_, or in the armor proper to aSamnite, Thracian, or heavy-armed Greek or Gaul; all of which equipmentsinclude a heavy helmet with a vizor. Palus always fought with his vizordown. 

It seems to me that the plain inference from these facts corroborates myopinions concerning Palus: certainly it strengthens my belief in my views. And these facts were and are known to be facts by all who, as spectatorsin the circus or in the amphitheater, beheld Palus as charioteer or asgladiator. 

As a gladiator he was more than marvellous, he was miraculous. I waspresent at all his public appearances from the time of my return fromBaiae. Also I had seen him closer, from the senatorial boxes in theamphitheater, three several times during my impersonation of SalsoniusSalinator. Moreover I had seen him as a gladiator not a few times beforethat, since Falco, soon after we came to Rome from Africa, because of hisaffection for me and his tendency to indulge me in every imaginable wayand to arrange for me every conceivable pleasure, had contrived to use theinfluence of some new-found friends to make possible my presence at showsin the Colosseum, and that in as good a seat as was accessible to anyfree-born Roman not a noble or senator. 

The very first time I saw Palus in the arena I felt sure he was Commodusin person, for he had to a marvel every one of his characteristics ofheight, build, outline, agility, grace, quickness and deftness and all histricks of attitude and movement. The two were too identical to be anythingexcept the very same man. 

It will occur to any reader of these memoirs that Palus was a left-handedfighter, and that Commodus not only fought left-handed, but wrote, bypreference, with his left hand and with it more easily, rapidly andlegibly than with his right. But I do not lay much stress on this forabout one gladiator in fifty fights left-handed, so that the fact thatPalus was left-handed, while it accords with my views, does not, in myopinion, help to prove them. 

What, to my mind, much more tends to confirm my views, is the well-knownfact that Palus was always equipped with armor and weapons moremagnificent and more expensive than any ever seen on other gladiators. Everything he used or wore was of gold or heavily gilt; even his spearheads and sword blades were brilliantly gilded; so were his helmets, shields, bucklers, corselets, breastplates, the scales of his kilt-strapswhen he fought as a Greek, and his greaves, whether of Greek pattern or ofsome other fashion. If he appeared in an armament calling for arm-rings, leg-rings, or leg-wrappings, these were always also heavily gilt. So washis footgear, whether he wore thigh-boots, full-boots, half-boots, soldiers' brogues, half-sandals or sandals. His shoulder-guards (called"wigs" in the slang of the prize-ring) were, apparently, of pure cloth ofgold, which also appeared to be the material of his aprons when hisaccoutrements did not include a kilt. 

Now it may be said that this merely indicates that his equipment was themost extravagant instance of the manner in which opulent enthusiastslavished their cash on the outfitting of their favorites in the arena. Tome it seems too prodigal for the profusion of any or all of suchspendthrifts: it appears to me more like the self-indulgence of thevainglorious master of the world. Palus often wore a helmet so bejeweledthat its cost would have overtaxed the wealth of Didius Julianus. 

I consider that my opinions are corroborated by the well-known fact thatwhenever Palus appeared as a gladiator in the amphitheater, Galen waspresent in the arena as chief of the surgeons always at hand to dress thewounds of victors or of vanquished men who had won the approbation orfavor of the spectators or of the Imperial party. True, Galen was oftenthere when Palus was not in the arena, for he was always on the watch foranatomical knowledge to be had from observation of dying men badlywounded. But, on the other hand, while he was often in the arena whenPalus was not there, he was never absent when Palus was fighting. 

Similarly, after Aemilius Laetus was appointed Prefect of the Palace, hewas always present in person in the arena whenever Palus appeared in it. This, too, makes for my contentions. 

The first fight in which I saw Palus revealed to me, and brought home tome with great force, the reason for his nickname, its origin and itsastonishing appropriateness. The word "_palus_" has a number of verydifferent meanings: manifestly its fitness as a pet name for the mostperfect swordsman ever seen in any arena came from its use to denote thepaling of a palisade, or any stake or post. Palus, in a fight, alwaysappeared to stand still: metaphorically he might be said to seem asimmobile as the post upon which beginners in the gladiatorial art practicetheir first attempts at strokes, cuts, thrusts and lunges. So little didhe impress beholders as mobile, so emphatically did he impress them asstationary, that he might almost as well have been an upright stake, planted permanently deep in the sand. 

I first saw him fight as a _secutor_, matched against a _retiarius_. Thiskind of combat is, surely, the most popular of all the many varieties ofgladiatorial fights; and justly, for such fights are by far the mostexciting to watch and their incidents perpetually varied, novel andunpredictable. It is exciting because the _retiarius_, nude except for onesmall shoulder-guard and a scanty apron, appears to have no chancewhatever against the _secutor_ with his big vizored helmet, his completebody-armor, his kilt of lapped leather straps plated with polished metalscales, his greaves or leg-rings or boots and his full-length, curvedshield and Spanish sword. The _secutor_, always the bigger man and fullyarmed and armored, appears invincible against the little manikin of a_retiarius_ skipping about bareheaded and almost naked and armed only withhis trident, a fisherman's three-tined spear, with a light handle andshort prongs, his little dagger and his cord net, which, when spread, isindeed large enough to entangle any man, but which he carries crumpled upto an inconspicuous bunch of rope no bigger than his head. 

Yet the fact is the reverse of the appearance. No one not reckless ordrunk ever bet even money on an ordinary _secutor_. The odds on the_retiarius_ are customarily between five to three and two to one. And most_secutors_ manifestly feel their disadvantage. As the two men face eachother and the _lanista_ gives the signal anyone can see, usually, that the_retiarius_ is confident of victory and the _secutor_ wary and cautious oreven afraid. Dreading the certain cast of the almost unescapable net, the_secutor_ keeps always on the move, and continually alters the directionand speed and manner of his movement, taking one short step and two long, then three short and one long, breaking into a dogtrot, slowing to asnail's-pace, leaping, twisting, curving, zigzagging, ducking and in everyway attempting to make it impossible for the _retiarius_ to foretell fromthe movement he watches what the next movement will be. 

Palus behaved unlike any other _secutor_ ever seen in the arena. Heavailed himself of none of the usual devices, which _lanistae_ taught withsuch care, in the invention of which they gloried and in which theydrilled their pupils unceasingly. He merely stood still and watched hisadversary. The cunning cast of the deadly net he avoided by a very slightmovement of his head or body or both. No _retiarius_ ever netted him, yetthe net seldom missed him more than half a hand's breadth. When thedisappointed _retiarius_ skipped back to the length of his net-cord andretrieved his net by means of it, Palus let him gather it up, never dashedat him, but merely stepped sedately towards him. If the _retiarius_ ranaway, Palus followed, but never in haste, always at a slow, even walk. Nomatter how often his adversary cast his net at him, Palus never alteredhis demeanor. The upshot was always the same. The spectators began to jeerat the baffled _retiarius_, he became flustered, he ventured a bit toonear his immobile opponent, Palus made an almost imperceptible movementand the _retiarius_ fell, mortally wounded. 

I was never close enough to Palus to see clearly the details of hislunges, thrusts and strokes. I saw him best when I was a spectator in theColosseum while impersonating Salsonius Salinator, for in my guise ascolonial magnate I sat well forward. Even then I was not close enough tohim to descry the finer points of his incomparable swordsmanship. Yet whatI saw makes me regard as fairly adequate the current praises of himemanating from those wealthy enthusiasts who were reckoned the best judgesof such matters. By the reports I heard they said that Palus never cut athroat, he merely nicked it, but the tiny nick invariably and accuratelysevered the carotid artery, jugular vein or windpipe. 

I can testify, from my own observation, to his having displayed comparableskill in an equally effective stab in a different part of his adversary'sbody. As is well known, a deep slash of the midthigh, inside, causes deathnearly as quickly as a cut throat; if the femoral artery is divided theblood pours out of the victim almost as from an inverted pail, a horriblecascade. Most of the acclaimed gladiators use often this deadly strokeagainst the inside midthigh, slashing it to the bone, leaving a long, deep, gaping wound. Palus never slashed an adversary's thigh; in killingby a thigh wound he always delivered a lunge which left a small puncture, but invariably also left the femoral artery completely severed, so thatthe life-blood gushed out in a jet astonishingly violent, the victimcollapsing and dying very quickly. Such a parade requires altogethertranscendant powers of accuracy from eye and hand. 

Besides fighting as a _secutor_ against a _retiarius_ Palus in the sameaccoutrements fought with men similarly equipped, or accoutred as Greeks, Gauls, Thracians, Samnites, or _murmillos;_ also he appeared in theequipment of each of these sorts of gladiators against antagonistsequipped like himself or in any of the other fashions. 

In all these countless fights he was never once wounded by any adversarynor did he ever deliver a second stroke, thrust or lunge against any: hisdefence was always impregnable, his attack always unerring; when he lungedhis lunge never missed and was always fatal, unless he purposely spared agallant foe. 

Besides the exhibitions of bravado and self-confidence traditional withgladiators, all of which he displayed again and again, Palus devised morethan one wholly original with himself. 

For instance, he would take his stand in the arena equipped as a_secutor_, the _lanista_ would have in charge not one _retiarius_, butten, or even a dozen. One would attack Palus and when, after a longer orshorter contest, he was killed, the _lanista_, would, without any respite, allow a second to rush at Palus; then a third; and so on till everyone hadperished by the _secutor's_ unerring sword. No other secutor ever killedmore than one _retiarius_ without a good rest between the first fight andthe second. Palus, as was and is well known, killed more than, a thousandadversaries, of whom more than three hundred wore the accoutrements of a_retiarius_. 

Palus was even more spectacular as a _dimachaerus_, so called from havingtwo sabers, for a _dimachaerus_ is a gladiator accoutred as a Thracian, but without any shield and carrying a naked saber in each hand. Such afighter is customarily matched against an adversary in ordinary Thracianequipment. He has to essay the unnatural feat of guarding himself with onesword while attacking with the other. Such a feat is akin to those ofjugglers and acrobats, for a sword is essentially an instrument of assaultand cannot, by its very nature, take the place of a shield as aprotection. Everybody, of course, knows that showy and startling ruse saidto have been invented by the Divine Julius, which consists in surprisingone's antagonist by parrying a stroke with the sword instead of with theshield and simultaneously using the shield as a weapon, striking its upperrim against the adversary's chin. But this can succeed only against anopponent dull-witted, unwary, clumsy and slow, and then as a surprise. A_dimachaerus_ has to depend on parrying and his antagonist knows what toexpect. 

Palus was the most perfect _dimachaerus_ ever seen in the Colosseum. Without a shield he fought and killed many Thracians, Greeks, Gauls, _murmillos_, Samnites and _secutors_. He even, many times, fought twoThracians at once, killing both and coming off unscathed. I saw two ofthese exhibitions of insane self-confidence and I must say that Palus madegood his reliance on his incredible skill. He pivoted about between hisadversaries, giving them, apparently, every chance to attacksimultaneously, distract him and kill him. Yet he so managed that, even iftheir thrusts appeared simultaneous, there was between them an interval, brief as a heart-beat, but long enough for him to dispose of one and turnon the other, or escape one and pierce the other. I could not credit myown eyes. With my belief as to the identity of Palus I marvelled that aman whose life was dominated by the dread of assassination, who fearedpoison in his wine and food, who hedged himself about with guards and thenfeared the guards themselves, who distrusted everybody, who dreaded everyouting, who was uneasy even inside his Palace, felt perfectly at ease andserenely safe in the arena with no defence but two sabers, and he betweentwo hulking ruffians, as fond of life as any men, and knowing that theymust kill him or be killed by him. In this deadly game he felt no qualms, only certitude of easy victory. 

The controversies over the identity of Palus have produced a wholeliterature of pamphlets, some maintaining that he was Commodus, othersprofessing to prove that he was not, of which some rehearse every possibletheory of his relationship to Aurelius or Faustina. Among these the mostamazing are those which set forth the view that Palus was Commodus, but noskillful swordsman, rather a brazen sham, killing ingloriously helplessadversaries who could oppose to his edged steel only swords of lath orlead. 

This absurdity is in conflict with all the facts. Manifestly theantagonists of Palus were as well armed as he, both for defence andattack. 

And, what is much more, the populace clamored for Palus, booed and cat-called if Palus did not appear in the arena; cheered him to the echo whenhe did appear; yelled with delight and appreciation at each exhibition ofhis prophetic intuition as to what his adversary was about to do, of hispreternaturally perfect judgment as to what to do himself, of theinstantaneous execution of whatever movement he purposed, of its completesuccess; and applauded him while he went off as no other gladiator everwas applauded. It was the popular demand for him which made possible andjustified the unexampled fee paid Palus for each of his appearances in thearena. The managers of the games were obliged to include Palus in eachexhibition or risk a riot of the indignant populace. 

Now no sham fighter could fool the Roman populace. A make-believeswordsman, such as the pamphlets which I have cited allege Commodus tohave been, might, if Emperor, have overawed the senators and nobles ofequestrian rank and compelled their unwilling applause of sham feats. Butno man, not even an Emperor, could coerce the Roman proletariat intoapplauding a fighter unworthy of applause. Our populace, once seated toview a show of any kind, cannot be controlled, cannot even be swayed. Nofame of any charioteer, beast-fighter or gladiator can win from themtolerance of the smallest error of judgment, defect of action, attempt atfoul play or hint of fear: they boo anything of which they disapprove andnot Jupiter himself could elicit from them applause of anything exceptexhibitions of courage, skill, artistry and quickness fine enough to rousetheir admiration. They admired Palus, they adored him. 

This is well known to all men and proves Palus a consummate artist as agladiator. Not only would the populace howl a bungler or coward off thesand, they know every shade of excellence; only a superlatively perfectswordsman could kindle their enthusiasm and keep it at white heat yearafter year as did Palus. 

Palus, I may remark, was always a gallant fighter, and a combination ofskill and gallantry in an adversary so won his goodwill that he neverkilled or seriously wounded such an opponent. If his antagonist had anunusually perfect guard and a notably dangerous attack, was handsome, moved gracefully, displayed courage and fought with impeccable fairnessPalus felt a liking for him, showed it by the way in which he stood on thedefensive and mitigated the deadliness of his attacks, played him longerthan usual to demonstrate to all the spectators the qualities he discernedin him, and, when he was convinced that the onlookers felt as he felt, disabled his admired match with some effective but trifling wound. 

Then, when his victim collapsed, Palus would leap back from him, sheathhis sword, and saw the air with his empty left hand, fingers extended andpressed together, thumb flat against the crack between the roots of theindex finger and big finger, twisting his hand about and varying the angleat which he sawed the air, so that all might see that he wished his fallenadversary spared and was suggesting that the spectators nearest himimitate his gesture and give the signal for mercy by extending their armsthumbs flat to fingers. 

Except Murmex Lucro I never saw any other gladiator presume to suggest tothe spectators which signal he would like them to display; and Murmex hadthe air of a man taking a liberty with his betters and not very surewhether they would condone his presumption or resent his insolence;whereas Palus waved his arm much as Commodus raised his from the Imperialthrone when, as Editor of the games, he decided the fate of a fallengladiator concerning whom the populace were so evenly divided betweendisfavorers and favorers that neither the victor nor his _lanista_ daredto interpret so doubtful a mandate. 

The most amazing fact concerning Palus was that his audiences neverwearied of watching him fence. It is notorious that the spectators in theColosseum always have been and are, in general, impatient of anynoticeable prolongation of a fight. Only a very small minority of thepopulace and a larger, but still small, minority of the gentry andnobility, take delight in the fine points of swordsmanship for themselves. Most spectators, while acclaiming skilled fence and expecting it, lookupon it merely as a means for adding interest to the preliminaries of whatthey desire to behold. Even senators and nobles admit that the pleasure ofviewing gladiatorial shows comes from seeing men killed. Contests arethrilling chiefly because of their suggestion of the approach of themoment which brings the supreme thrill. 

The populace, quite frankly, rate the fighting as a bore; they do not cometo watch skilled swordsmen fence; they want to see two men face each otherand one kill the other at once. It is the killing which they enjoy. Theupper tiers of spectators in the amphitheater seldom give the signal formercy when a defeated man is down and helpless, even though he be handsomeand graceful and has fought bravely, skillfully and gallantly. One seldomsees an outstretched arm, with the hand extended, fingers close togetherand thumb flat against them, raised anywhere from the back seats; theiroccupants habitually, in such cases, wave their upraised arms with thehands clenched and thumbs extended, waggling their thumbs by half rotatingtheir wrists, to make the thumb more conspicuous, yelling the while, sothat the amphitheater is full of their insistent roar and the upper tiersaflash with flickering thumbs. They weigh no fine points as to the worthof the vanquished man, they do not value a good fighter enough to want himsaved to fight again, they come to see men die and they want the defeatedman slaughtered at once. 

They are habituated to acquiescing if the Emperor--or the Editor, if thePrince is not present--or the nobility contravene their wishes and givethe signal for mercy when a gallant fighter is down by accident, misadventure or because he was outmatched. But there is often a burst ofhowls if the signal for mercy comes not from the Imperial Pavilion or thewhole _podium_, but merely from some part of the nobility or senators. Generally, if the Emperor has not given or participated in the signal formercy, scattered individuals among the proletariat proclaim theirdisappointment by booing, cat-calls, or strident whistlings. 

Now Palus was so popular, so beloved by the slum-dwellers, that wheneverhe showed a disposition to spare an opponent, the whole mass of thepopulace were quick with the mercy-signal: the moment they saw Palussheathe his blade their arms went up with his, almost before his, thumbsas flat as his, never a thumb out nor any fingers clenched. 

More than this, no spectator, while Palus played an adversary, ever yelledfor a prompt finish to the bout, as almost always happened at the firstsign of delay in the case of any other fighter. So comprehensible, sounmistakable, so manifest, so fascinating were the fine points of theswordsmanship displayed by Palus that even the rearmost spectator, eventhe most brutish lout could and did relish them and enjoy them and cravethe continuance of that pleasure. 

Most of all the Colosseum audiences not only insisted on Palus appearingin each exhibition, not only longed for his entrance, not merely came toregard all the previous fights of the day as unwelcome postponements ofthe pleasure of watching Palus fence, but were manifestly impatient forthe crowning delight of each day, the ecstacy of beholding a bout betweenPalus and Murmex Lucro, which contests were always bloodless. 

CHAPTER XXXV

MURMEX

Customarily, while Palus flourished, each day began with beast-fights, thenoon pause was filled in by exhibitions of athletes, acrobats, jugglers, trained animals and such like, and the surprise; then the gladiatorialshows lasted from early afternoon till an hour before sunset. Palus andMurmex appeared about mid-afternoon and were matched against the victorsin the earlier fights. Each located himself at one focus of the ellipse ofthe arena, at which points two simultaneous fights were best seen by theentire audience. There they began each fight, not simultaneously, butalternately, till all their antagonists were disposed of, most killed andsome spared. The spectators seldom hurried Murmex to end a fight; theynever hurried Palus. His longest delay in finishing with an adversary, even his manifest intention to exhaust an opponent rather than to woundhim, never elicited any protest from any onlooker. All, breathless, fascinated, craned to watch the perfection of his method, every movementof his body, all eyes intent on the point of his matchless blade. 

Last of the day's exhibitions, came the fencing match between Palus andMurmex, at the center of the arena, empty save for those two and their two_lanistae_. All others in the arena, including the surgeons, their helpersand the guards, drew off to positions close under the _podium_ wall. 

Murmex and Palus fenced in all sorts of outfits, except that neither everfought as a _retiarius_. Mostly both were equipped as _secutors_, but theyfought also as _murmillos_, Greeks, Gauls, Thracians, Samnites and_dimachaeri_, or one in any of these equipments against the other in anyother. 

Sometimes they delighted the populace by donning padded suits liberallywhitened with flour or white clay, their _murmillos'_ helmets similarlywhitened, and then attacking each other with quarter-staffs of ash, cornel-wood or holly. A hit, of course, showed plainly on the whitenedsuits. As neither could injure the other in this sort of fight, and asthey were willing to humor the populace, each was careless about his guardand reckless in his attack. Even so hits were infrequent, since each, evenwhen most lax, had an instinctive guard superior to that of the mostexpert and cautious fencer among all other contemporary fighters. Evenwhen, very occasionally, if Palus happened to be in a rollicking mood, each substituted a second quarter-staff for his shield and, as it were, travestied a _dimachaerus_, as what might be called a two-staff-man or adouble-staff-man, hits were still not frequent. Each had a marvellouslyimpregnable defence and they were very evenly matched in the use of thequarter-staff in place of a shield as they were in everything else. Palusfought better with his left hand attacking and his right defending, Murmexbetter the other way, but each was genuinely ambidextrous and used eitherhand at will, shifting at pleasure. When, amid the flash of their staffs, either scored, the hit brought a roar of delight from the upper tiers, even from the front rows, for the most dignified senators caught theinfection of the general enthusiasm and so far forgot themselves as toyell like street urchins in their ecstasy. 

Except in this farcical sort of burlesque fight neither ever scored a hiton the other, in all the years throughout which their combats finishedeach day of every gladiatorial exhibition. Yet the audience never tired oftheir bloodless bouts and, while the nobility and gentry never joined in, the populace invariably roared a protest if they saw the _lanistae_ make amove to separate them, and yelled for them to go on and fence longer. 

The interest of the populace was caused by the fact, manifest and plain toall, that, while Murmex and Palus loved each other and had no intention ofhurting each other, their matches had no appearance whatever of being shamfights. From the first parade until they separated every stroke, feint, lunge and thrust appeared to be in deadly, venomous earnest and eachunhurt merely because, mortal as was his adversary's attack, his guard wasperfect. 

It seemed, in fact, as if each man felt so completely safe, felt socertain that his guard would never fail him, and at the same time felt sosure that his crony's guard was equally faultless, that there was nodanger of his injuring his chum, that each attacked the other precisely ashe attacked any other adversary. It was commonly declared among expertswordsmen and connoisseurs of sword-play, as among recent spectators, when, talking over the features of an exhibition after it was over, thatpractically every thrust, lunge or stroke of either in these bouts wouldhave killed or disabled any other adversary; certainly it appeared so tome every time I saw them fence and especially while watching their boutsafter I returned from my year at Baiae, for after that I never missed agladiatorial exhibition in the Colosseum. To my mind Palus and Murmex weremanifestly playing with each other, like fox-cubs or Molossian puppies orwolf-cubs; yet the sport so much resembled actual attack and defence, aswith nearly grown wolf-cubs, that it gave less the impression of playbetween friends than that of deadly combat between envenomed foes. Many atime I have heard or overheard some expert or connoisseur or enthusiast orprovincial visitor, prophesy somewhat in this fashion:

"Some day one of those two is going to kill the other unexpectedly andunintentionally and by mistake. Each thinks the other will never land onhim; each thinks the other has a guard so impregnable that it will neverbe pierced; each uses on the other attacks so unexpected, so sudden, sosubtle, so swift, so powerful, so sustained, so varied that no third manalive could escape any one of them. It is almost a certainty that thatsort of thing cannot go on forever. One or the other of them may agesufficiently to retire from the arena, as did Murmex Frugi, safe andunscarred, as he was not. But it is far more likely, since both are fullof vitality and vigor, that neither will notice the very gradual approachof age, so that they will go on fighting with eyes undimmed, musclessupple and minds quick, yet not so quick, supple and keen as now: but thepreternatural powers of one will wane a bit sooner than those of theother. And sooner or later one will err in his guard and be wounded orkilled. "

Most spectators agreed with such forecasts. What is more, most of thespectators admitted that, as they watched, each attack seemed certain tosucceed; every time either man guarded it seemed as if he must fail toprotect himself. 

This, I think, explains the unflagging zest with which the entireaudience, senators, nobles and commonality, watched their bouts, revelledin them, gloated over the memory of them and longed for more and more. Consciously or unconsciously, every onlooker felt that sometime, some boutwould end in the wounding, disabling or death of one of the two. And soperfect was their sword-play, so unfeigned their unmitigated fury ofattack, so genuine the impeccable dexterity of their defence that everyspectator felt that the supreme thrill, even while so long postponed, wascertain to arrive. More, each felt, against his judgment, that it waslikely to arrive the next moment. It was this illogical but unescapablesensation which kept the interest of the whole audience, of the whole ofevery audience, at a white heat over the bouts of Murmex and Palus. Imyself experienced this condition of mind and became infected with thecommon ardor. I found myself rehearsing to myself the incidents of theirlast-seen bout, anticipating the next, longing for it: though I never hadrated myself as ardent over gladiatorial games, but rather as lukewarmtowards them, and considered myself much more interested in paintings, statuary, reliefs, ornaments, bric-a-brac, furniture, fine fabrics and allartistries and artisanries. Yet I confessed to myself that, from the timeI saw first a bout between them, anticipation of seeing them fence, orenjoyment of it, came very high among my interests and my pleasures. 

To some extent, I think, the long and unequaled vogue of their popularitywas due to the great variety of their methods and almost complete absenceof monotony in their bouts. 

Palus was left-handed, but for something like every third bout or a thirdof each bout he fought right-handed, merely for bravado, as if toadvertise that he could do almost as well with the hand less convenient. Murmex was right-handed, but he too fought often left-handed, perhaps one-fifth of the time. So, in whatever equipment, one saw each of them fightboth ways. Therefore as _murmillos_ they fought both right-handed, bothleft-handed, and each right-handed against the other fighting left-handed. This gave a perpetually shifting effect of novelty, surprise and interestto every bout between them. They similarly had four ways of appearing asGreeks, Gauls, Samnites, Thracians, _secutors_ or _dimachaeri_. 

Their bouts as _dimachaeri_ were breathlessly exciting, for it wasimpossible, from moment to moment, to forecast with which saber eitherwould attack, with which he would guard; and, not infrequently, oneattacked and the other guarded with both. When they fought in this fashionGalen, it always appeared to me, looked uneasy, keyed up and apprehensive. Yet neither ever so much as nicked, flicked or scratched the other intheir more than sixty bouts with two sabers apiece. 

More than a dozen times they appeared as Achilles and Hector, with theold-fashioned, full-length, man-protecting shield, the short Argive swordand the heavy lance, half-pike, half-javelin, of Trojan tradition. Murmexthrew a lance almost as far and true as Palus and the emotion of theaudience was unmistakably akin to horror when both, simultaneously, hurledtheir deadly spears so swiftly and so true that it seemed as if neithercould avoid the flying death. Palus, true to his nickname, never visiblydodged, though Murmex's aim was as accurate as his own; he escaped theglittering, needle-pointed, razor-edged spear-head by half a hand's-breathor less by an almost imperceptible inclination of his body, made at thelast possible instant, when it seemed as if the lance had already piercedhim. It was indescribably thrilling to behold this. 

Besides fencing equipped as Gauls, Samnites, Thracians and _secutors_ theyappeared in every combination of any of these and of Greeks and_murmillos_ with every other. Palus as a _dimachaerus_ against Murmex as a_murmillo_ made a particularly delectable kind of bout. Almost as much soMurmex as a Gaul against Palus as a Thracian. And so without end. 

After my return from Baiae Falco pampered me more than ever and, inparticular, arranged to take me with him to all amphitheater shows andhave me sit beside him in the front row of the nobles immediately behindthe boxes of the senators on the _podium_. This does not sound possible inour later days, when amphitheater regulations are strictly enforced, asthey had been under the Divine Aurelius and his predecessors. But, whileCommodus was Prince much laxity was rife in all branches of thegovernment. After the orgies of bribe-taking, favoritism and such like inthe heyday of Perennis and of Cleander, all classes of our society becamehabituated to ignoring contraventions of rules. Under Perennis and laterunder Cleander not a few senators took with them into their boxesfavorites who were not only not of senatorial rank, nor even nobles, butnot Romans at all: foreign visitors, alien residents of Rome, freedmen oreven slaves, and the other senators, as a class exquisitely sensitive toany invasion of their privileges by outsiders, winked at the practicepartly because some of them participated in it, much more because theyfeared to suffer out-and-out ruin, if, by word or look, they incurred thedisfavor of Perennis while he was all-powerful or, later, of the moreomnipotent Cleander. When a senator saw another so violate propriety, privilege and law, he assumed that the acting Prefect of the Palace hadbeen bribed and so dared not protest or whisper disapprobation. 

Much more than the senators the nobles obtained secret license to ignorethe rules, or ignored them without license, since, when so many violatedthe regulations, no one was conspicuous or likely to be brought to book. Falco, being vastly wealthy, probably bribed somebody, but I never knew:when I hinted a query he merely smiled and vowed that we were perfectlysafe. 

So I sat beside him through that unforgettable December day, at the end ofwhich came the culmination of what I have been describing. 

The day was perfect, clear, crisp, mild and windless. It was not coldenough to be chilling, but was cold enough to make completely comfortablea pipe-clayed ceremonial toga over the full daily garments of a noble orsenator, so that the entire audience enjoyed the temperature and basked inthe brilliant sunrays; for, so late in the year, as the warmth of the sunwas sure to be welcome, the awning had not been spread. I, in my bizarreoriental attire, wore my thickest garments and my fullest curled wig andfelt neither too cold nor too warm. 

I never saw the Colosseum so brilliant a spectacle. It was full to theupper colonnade under the awning-rope poles, not a seat vacant. Spectatorswere sitting on the steps all up and down every visible stair; two or eventhree rows on each side of each stair, leaving free only a narrow alley upthe middle of each for the passage in or out of attendants or others. Spectators filled the openings of the entrance-stairs, all but jammingeach. In each of the cross-aisles spectators stood or crouched against itsback-wall, ducking their heads to avoid protests from the luckierspectators in the seats behind them. The upper colonnade was packed to itsfull capacity with standees. 

The program was unusual, gladiatorial exhibitions from the beginning ofthe show; and nothing else. The morning was full of brisk fights betweenyoung men; provincials, foreigners and some Italians, volunteerenthusiasts. The noon pause was filled in by routine fights of old oraging gladiators nearly approaching the completion of their covenantedterm of service. It ended with a novelty, the encounter of two tight-ropewalkers on a taut rope stretched fully thirty feet in the air. It wasproclaimed that they were rivals for the favor of a pretty freedwoman andthat they had agreed on this contest as a settlement of their rivalry. Certainly the two, naked save for breech-clouts and each armed with alight lance in one hand and a thin-bladed Gallic sword in the other, neared each other with every sign of caution, enmity and courage. Theirsparring for an opening lasted some time, but was breathlesslyinteresting. The victor kept his feet on the rope and pierced his rival, who fell and died from the spear-wound or the fall or both. 

During the noon pause the Emperor had left his pavilion. When he returnedI, from my nearby location, was certain that Commodus himself had presidedall the morning, but that now Furfur was taking his place. Certainly Palusand Murmex entered the arena soon after the noon pause and gave anexhibition almost twice as long as usual, killing many adversaries. Beforethe sun was half way down the sky, as Palus finished an opponent with oneof his all but invisible punctures of the thigh-artery, the upper tiersfirst and then all ranks acclaimed this as the death of the twelve-hundredth antagonist who had perished by his unerring steel. 

The daylight had not begun to dim when Murmex and Palus faced each otherfor the fencing bout which was to end the day. Each was equipped as a_secutor_, Murmex in silvered armor, Palus all in gold or gilded arms. Their swords were not regulation army swords, such a _secutors_ normallycarried, but long-bladed Gallic swords, the longest-bladed swords everused by any gladiators. 

They made a wonderful picture as the _lanistae_ placed them and steppedback: Murmex, burly, stocky, heavy of build, thick-set, massive, with vastgirth of chest and bull-neck, his neatly-fitting plated gauntlet, huge onhis big right hand, his big plated boots planted solidly on the sand, hispolished helmet, the great expanse of his silvered shield, his silveredkilt-strap-scales and silvered greave-boots brilliant in the cool latelight; opposite him Palus, tall, lithe, graceful, slim, agile, all ingleaming gold, helmet, corselet, shield, kilt, greave-boots and all. Theyshone like a composite jewel set in the arena as a cameo in the bezel of aring. And the picture they made was framed in the hoop of spectatorscrowding the slopes of the amphitheater, all silent after the gusts ofcheers which had acclaimed the two as they took their places. 

If possible, their feints and assaults were more thrilling than ever, unexpected, sudden, swift, all but successful. As always neither caperedor pranced, Murmex not built for such antics, Palus by nature steady onhis feet. But, except that their feet moved cannily, every bit of the restof either's body was in constant motion and moved swiftly. The gleam andflicker of thrust and parry were inexpressibly rapid. Even the upper tierscraned, breathless and fascinated; and we, further forward, were numb andquivering with excitement. 

I have heard a hundred eye-witnesses describe what occurred. There wasclose agreement with what I seemed to see as I watched. 

Palus lunged just as Murmex made a brilliantly unpredictable shift of hisposition. The shift and lunge came so simultaneously that neither had, inhis calculated, predetermined movement, time to alter his intention;Murmex, you might say, threw his throat at the spot at which Palus hadaimed his lunge. The sword-point ripped his throat from beside the gulletto against the spine, all one side of it. He collapsed, the bloodspouting. 

Palus cast the dripping sword violently from him, the gleaming bladeflying up into the air and falling far off on the sand. The big shieldfell from his right arm. Both his hands caught his big helmet, lifted itand threw it behind him. On one knee he sank by Murmex and, with his lefthand, strove to staunch the gushing blood. 

Before Galen, before even the _lanistae_ could reach the two, Murmex died. 

Palus staggered to his feet and put up his gory hand to his yellow curls, with a convincingly agonized gesture of grief and horror. 

He uttered some words, I heard his voice, but not the words. Folk say hesaid:

"I have killed the only match I had on earth, the second-best fighterearth ever saw. "

The audience, I among them, stared, awe-struck and fascinated, at Commoduslaying a bloody hand on his own head; we shuddered: I saw many look backand forth from Palus in the arena to the figure on the Imperial throne. 

The guards ran, the surgeons' helpers ran, even Galen ran, but AemiliusLaetus reached Palus first, and, between the dazed and stunned _lanistae_, picked up the big golden helmet and replaced it on his head, hiding hisfeatures. The distance from the _podium_ wall to the center of the arenais so great, the distance from any other part of the audience so muchgreater, that, while many of the spectators were astounded, suspicious orcurious, not one could be certain that Palus was, beyond peradventure, thePrince of the Republic in person. Palus stood there, alternately staringat his dead crony and talking to Laetus and Galen. 

The heralds had run up with the guards. Laetus, without any pretense ofconsultation with the dummy Emperor on the throne, spoke to the heraldsand each stalked off to one focus of the ellipse of the arena. Thence eachbellowed for silence, their deep-toned, resonant, loud, practiced voicescarrying to the upper colonnade everywhere. Silence, deep already sinceMurmex received his death-wound and broken only by whispers, deepened. Theamphitheater became almost still. Into the stillness the heraldsproclaimed that next day the funeral games of Murmex Lucro would becelebrated in the Colosseum where he had died; that all persons entitledto seats in the Colosseum were thereby enjoined to attend, unless too illto leave their homes: that all should come without togas, but, in sign ofmourning for Murmex, wearing over their garments full-length, all-enveloping rain-cloaks of undyed black wool and similarly colored umbrellahats; that any person failing to attend so habited would be severelypunished; that the show would be worth seeing, for, in honor of the Manesof Murmex, to placate his ghost, no defeated fighter would be spared andall the victors of the morning would fight each other in the afternoon. 

Surely the tenth day before the Kalends of January, in December of thenine hundred and forty-fourth year of the City, [Footnote: 191 A. D. ] theyear in which Commodus was nominally consul for the seventh time, andPertinax consul for the second time, saw the strangest audience everassembled in the amphitheater of the Colosseum. I was there, seated, as onthe day before, next my master, my gaudy Asiatic garments, like his garbof a noble of equestrian rank, hidden under a great raincoat and my faceshaded by the broad brim of an umbrella hat. 

The universal material conventional for mourners' attire is certainlyappropriate and proper for mourning garb. For the undyed wool of blacksheep, when spun and woven, results in a cloth dingy in the extreme. Thewearing of garments made of it suits admirably with grief and gloom ofspirit, deepens sadness, accentuates woe, almost produces melancholy. Andthe sight of it, when one is surrounded by persons so habited, conduces todejection and depression. This equally was felt by the whole audience. Instead of being a space glaring in the sunlight shining on an expanse ofwhite togas, the hollow of the amphitheater was a dingy area of brownishblack under a lowering canopy of sullen cloud, for the sky was heavilyovercast and threatened rain all day, though not a drop fell. The windlessair was damp and penetratingly chilly, so that we almost shivered underour swathings. The discomfort of not being warm enough and the dispiritingeffect of the grim sky and gloomy interior of the amphitheater wasmanifest in a sort of general impression of melancholy and apprehension. 

Apprehension, or, certainly, uneasiness, pervaded the audience and, as itwere, seemed to diffuse itself from the Imperial Pavilion, crowded, not, as usual, with jaunty figures in gaudy apparel, all crimson, blue, andgreen, picked out and set off by edgings of silver and gold, but with asolemn retinue, all hidden under dingy umbrella hats and swathed in rain-cloaks. To see the throne occupied by a human shape so obscured by itshabiliments gave all beholders an uncanny feeling in which forebodingdeepened into alarm. The appearance of the whole audience, still more ofthe Imperial retinue, was one to cause all beholders to interpret the garbof the spectators as ill-omened, almost as inviting disaster. 

In the center of the arena was built up the pyre which was to consume allthat was left of Murmex. It was constructed of thirty-foot logs, each tierlaid across the one below it, the lower tiers of linden, willow, elm andother quick-burning woods, their interstices filled with fat pine-knots;the upper tiers of oak and maple, at which last I heard not a fewwhispered protests, for old-fashioned folk felt it almost a sacrilege thatholy wood should be used to burn a gladiator, a man of blood. The pyre wasthus a square structure thirty feet on a side and fully twenty feet high;each side showing silvered log-butts or log-ends, with gilded pine-knotsall between; its top covered with laurel boughs, over which was laid acrimson rug with golden fringe, setting off the corpse of Murmex, whichlay in the silver armor he had worn in his last fight, high on the moundof laurel boughs. 

At each focus of the arena was placed a round marble altar, one to VenusLibitina, one to Pluto. By these the heralds took their stands andproclaimed that no offerings would be made at the altars except one blacklamb at each, that every man slain in the day's fighting would be anoffering to the Manes of Murmex, since the day would be occupied solelywith the celebration of funeral games for the solace of his ghost. 

The games began with a set-to of sixteen pairs of gladiators fightingsimultaneously. After this was over the sixteen victors drew off towardsone end of the arena and sixteen other pairs fought simultaneously. Afterthem the victors of the first set paired off as the _lanistae_ arrangedand the eight pairs fought. The eight victors again rested while thesurvivors of the second set simultaneously fought as eight pairs. So theyalternated till only two men survived. A third batch of thirty-twogladiators then fought in sixteen pairs: then the two survivors of thefirst and second batches fought. The heralds proclaimed that the solesurvivor of the first sixty-four would fight again in the afternoon. Sowith the sole survivor of the third and fourth batches. This grim butcherygave a savage tone to the whole day. All the morning many pairs fought, till one of each pair was killed. But, after the fourth batch, everyvictor in any fight was reserved to fight again in the afternoon. 

To my eyesight the figure on the throne, even under that broad hat-brimand enveloped in that thick rain-cloak, was manifestly Commodus in person. Unmistakably his was every Imperial gesture as he presided as Editor ofthe games. 

During the noon interval, as usual, the Emperor retired to his robing-roomunder the upper tiers of the amphitheater. When again, after the nooninterval, the throne was reoccupied, I felt certain that its occupant wasDucconius Furfur. 

At any rate Palus appeared at once after the noon interval and the firstfight was between him and the survivor of the sixty-four wretches, who hadbegun the day's butchery. Palus, of course, killed his man, but with moreappearance of effort and less easily than any adversary he had ever facedunder my observation. The people cheered his victory, but not soenthusiastically as usual. He did not appear again till the last event ofthe day, which was a series of duels between champions in two-horsechariots, driven by expert charioteers, they and the fighters equippedwith arms and armor such as was used by both sides at the siege of Troy. Horses are seldom seen in the Colosseum and these pairs, frantic at thesmell of blood, taxed to the utmost the skill and strength of theirdrivers, particularly as they were controlled by the old-fashioned reinsof the Heroic period, the manipulation of which calls for methodsdifferent from those effective with our improved modern reins. 

The charioteers were capable and their dexterous maneuvering for everyadvantage of approach and relative position won many cheers. Eight pairsfought, then the eight victors paired off, then the four victors, then thetwo. The sole survivor then retired and while he was out of the arenathere entered a superb pair of bay horses, drawing a chariot of Greekpattern, in which, to the amazement of all beholders, was Narcissus, thewrestler, himself, habited as Automedon and acting as charioteer; whilebeside him, magnificent in a triple crested crimson-plumed helmet of theThessalian type, in a gilded corselet of the style of the Heroic age, withgilded scales on its kilt-straps, with gilded greaves, with a big gildedArgive shield embossed with reliefs, and holding two spears, manifestlyhabited as Achilles, stood Palus. 

When his refreshed antagonist reëntered in a Trojan chariot and armoredand armed as Hector of Troy, Palus handed his two spears to his Automedon, leapt from his chariot, walked over to Hector's, and spoke to him. I heardit reported afterwards that he said:

"It would spoil the program for Hector to slay Achilles, but you have asmuch chance of killing me as I of killing you. I am so shaken by Murmex'sdeath that I am not the man I was yesterday morning and up till then. Inever felt so nearly matched as by you, not even by Murmex. Attack andspare not. I have given orders that, if you kill me, you shall not sufferfor it in any way. I don't want to live, anyhow, now Murmex is dead. "

Whether he said this or something else, he spoke earnestly and walked backto his chariot nearby, without any elasticity in his tread. 

Narcissus, the wrestler, to the astonishment of the spectators, provedhimself a paragon horse jockey. Everyone knew him as a wrestler, asreported the strongest man alive, as claimed by his admirers to have amore powerful hand-grasp than any rival, as the favorite wrestling-mate ofthe Emperor; all the notabilities had seen him and Commodus wrestle in theStadium of the Palace; all Rome knew him for a crony of the Prince; yet noone had ever heard him praised or even mentioned as a charioteer. Yet heshowed himself a matchless horseman. Hector's charioteer was a master, yetNarcissus outmaneuvered him, gained the advantage of angle of approachand, after many turns, gave Palus his chance. The two great lances flewalmost simultaneously; but, as Achilles dodged, Hector fell dying of amortal wound in the throat. 

What followed was, apparently, according to the prearranged program andwas indubitably in keeping with the equipment of the two champions andtheir charioteers; yet it horrified me, and I think all the senators andnobles as well as most of the audience. As Hector sprawled horridly on thesand Narcissus veered his pair and, as they passed the fallen man, Achilles leapt from his chariot. Drawing his Argive sword he slashed thedying man across his abdomen; then, sheathing his blade, he stood, onefoot on his adversary's neck and, raising his lance and shield, shouted:"Enalie! Enalie! Enalie!" the old Greek invocation to the war-god. Then hethrew aside his lance and shield and stripped off the armor from the dead. Arena-slaves carried it to the pyre and placed it upon it, by Murmex. 

Narcissus had wheeled the chariot in a short circle and halted it as nearPalus as he could keep it and control the frantic horse. Palus took fromone of the hand-holds at the back of the chariot-rail a long leathernthong. With his dirk he slit each foot of the corpse between the leg-boneand the heel-tendon; through the slit he passed the thong, knotting it tohis liking. The doubled thong he tied securely to the rear rim of thechariot-bed. Retrieving his lance and shield he posed an instant, everyinch Achilles, stepped over Hector's naked corpse and mounted the chariot. From Automedon he took the reins and the whip, passing him his lance, yetretaining his great circular shield, nowise hampered by which he drove thechariot round and round the pyre, the picture, as all could see, he felt, of Achilles placating the ghost of Patroclus. 

This exhibition shocked the whole audience, upper tiers and all. The ghostof a hiss breathed under the tense hush of the silent beholders. A shudderran over the hollow of the amphitheater, as the dragged corpse, mauled bythe sand and turning over, became a mere lump of pounded meat. The chillof the onlookers appeared to reach Palus. He halted his team near thepyre, arena-slaves dragged away Hector's corpse, one brought a lightedtorch and Palus himself kindled the pyre at each of its four corners, walking twice round it. When it was enveloped in crackling flames, hemounted the chariot and Narcissus drove him out; drove him out, to thehorror of all beholders by the Gate of Ill-omen. 

After he vanished through that gate no amphitheater ever again beheldPalus the Gladiator. 

When he was gone all eyes were fixed on the kindling pyre. The flamesblazed up all round it and above it, the smoke mounted skyward in a thickcolumn, the crackle and roar of the flames was audible all over theamphitheater; so deep was the solemn stillness. I shall carry to my lastliving hour the vivid recollection of that picture: under the grim graysky, framed in by the sable hangings which draped the upper colonnade, andby the clingy audience, against the yellow sand, that column of sootysmoke and below it the red glare of the blazing pyre. 

CHAPTER XXXVI

ANXIETY

After my seclusion at Baiae, up to the terrible events which I am about tonarrate, by far the most important of my experiences had been my personalobservations of the fights of Palus the Gladiator and what I had heard andthought about him. Therefore I have narrated those at length and first. Now I approach the story of my most dreadful miseries. 

From my return to Rome my life had gone on much as it had before my masterhad compelled me to impersonate Salsonius Salinator and, in so doing, toresume my natural appearance as I had looked while my genuine self, andthus, undisguised, to mingle with the associates of my normal early life. After my hair and beard had regained their previous luxuriance and I wasagain painted, rouged, frizzed, bejeweled, and bedizened, I felt safe and, was in fact, almost entirely safe. In this guise I enjoyed life. Falco wasindulgent to me and I had every luxury at my command. 

Falco's mania for gem-collecting did not wane, but, if possible, grew onhim. His ventures all prospered, his profits from risky speculationspoured in, his normal income from his heritage increased; and, of all thisopulence, every surplus denarius was paid out for gems and curios. Yet henever was so much a faddist as to lose a day from the games of the circusand the amphitheater. He viewed every show of gladiators, every day ofracing, almost every combat and every race. 

The day after the spectacular games for Murmex and his more spectacularcremation, the eighth day before the Kalends of January, was nominally thelast racing day of the year. The weather was fair and mild. The CircusMaximus was crowded, the Imperial Pavilion blazed with the retinue aboutthe Emperor, he and all of us enjoyed the thirty races of four four-horsedchariots to each. I mention this because it was his last publicappearance. 

The festivities of the Saturnalia, which I had prepared for according toFalco's orders with lavish prodigality, left me more than a little weary. I spent some days mostly in resting and dozing, being drowsy all day, evenwith long nights of sound sleep. 

On the fatal last day of the year I did not go out, but read or dozed andwent early to bed. I slept heavily, knowing nothing from composing myselfin bed until I wakened suddenly in the almost complete darkness of thefirst hint of light at the dawn of a cloudy, windless winter day, I wokewith a sense of having been roused, of something unusual; and, vaguelydescrying a human figure by my bed asked, sleepily:

"Is that you, Dromo?"

"No, " said Agathemer's voice, "it is I. "

I raised myself on one elbow, shot through with foreboding. But myapprehensions were mastered by an idle curiosity. I knew he had someimperative reason for coming to me, yet I did not ask his errand, butqueried:

"How on earth did you get in?"

"The house-door was open, " he said simply. 

"But, " I marvelled, "I am surprised that the janitor was awake so early. "

"He was not, " said Agathemer with deliberate emphasis, "he was as fastasleep in his cell on the right of the vestibule as was the watch-dog inhis on the left. "

"And you walked past both unnoticed?" I hazarded. 

"I did, " said he, "and you had best warn Falco somehow or induce him tosell his janitor and buy one he can trust or to put in his place sometrusty home-slave. That is no sort of a janitor for the house containingthe second-largest private gem-collection in all Rome. Nor any sort ofwatch-dog. "

"How came the door unbarred?" I wondered, "who showed you up here?"

"I came up alone, " said Agathemer, significantly. "I have not seen a humanbeing except the snoring janitor. This house is at the mercy of any sneak-thief. But you can return to that later. I have come to tell you goodnews. Commodus is dead!"

"Really?" I quavered. 

Oddly enough I felt no sense of relief. Before my eyes arose the pictureof Commodus as I had seen him facing the mutineers from Britain before hecondemned Perennis: I recalled how often I had heard said of him that hewas the noblest born of all our Emperors from the Divine Julius down; thathe was the handsomest and the strongest man in any assembly about him, however large; that in his Imperial Regalia he looked more imperial thanany man ever had: I contrasted his possession of these qualities with hispitiful squandering of his boundless opportunities, with his fritteringaway his life on horse-racing, sword-play and such like frivolities. Icould not think of myself, only of what Commodus might have been and hadnot been. I mourned for him and Rome. 

Agathemer sat down on the edge of my bed and told his story. 

"You know, " he said, "that, as gem-expert and as salesman for Orontides, Ihave many friends in the Palace. I have carefully kept out of it myselfand Orontides has acquiesced, for I told him I had good reason to avoidgoing in there, as you well know I have. If Marcia had seen me she wouldhave recognized me and I should not have lived many hours, for she, believing you dead, would regard me as, of all men, the most likely to seethrough the utilization of Ducconius Furfur as a dummy Emperor to freeCommodus for masquerading as Palus. She would want me out of the way asthe only man in Rome who had known Furfur in Sabinum. Therefore I keptaway from the Palace. 

"But my good friends among the valets and chamberlains and secretaries, and even higher officials have not only kept me posted as to the mostinteresting happenings, intrigues and rumors, but one or two close to theEmperor have regularly communicated to me many details of Palace gossip. "

Daily, since the death of Murmex, Agathemer had been informed of long, heated and ever longer and more violent discussions between Commodus andMarcia, often, with Eclectus also present and participating, for he hadbeen acting towards Commodus more as an equal toward a crony than as HeadChamberlain of the Palace towards his master. Laetus, too had alsoparticipated, sometimes in place of Eclectus, sometimes along with him, for he also had been comporting himself more as a chum of Commodus than asPrefect of the Praetorium towards his Emperor. 

The substance of the discussions had been always the same. Commodus, atonce after the death of Murmex, announced his intention of turning hisImperial duties and dignities over to Ducconius Furfur and of going to theChoragium, there and thenceforward to live and to die as Palus theGladiator. He declared that as Emperor he never had an hour free fromanxiety, always in dread of assassination by poison or otherwise, whereas, as a gladiator among gladiators, he felt perfectly safe and carefree, beloved and watched over by all his companions and certain to win all hisfights. 

"As Emperor, " he said, "I'll not live a year; as Palus I'll most likelydie of old age, forty years or more from now. Furfur and I are so alikethat no one can tell us apart, so no one will ever suspect that the manacting as Emperor is not the same man who has filled that place ever sinceFather died. "

Marcia had talked to him of his duty and he had rejoined that he hadalways known that he was unfit to be the Emperor, had feared hisresponsibilities, had undertaken them unwillingly, had mostly bungledthem, and the world would be far better off with anybody else as Emperor, that everybody knew it and that he was despised by the whole Senate andnobility and for that reason more unhappy although he was unhappy enoughso anyhow, without the covert jeers of the magistrates; whereas he was thebest gladiator ever and all gladiators and experts acknowledged andacclaimed him peerless; as a gladiator he would be happy and enjoy life upto whatever end came to him, preferably an unexpected accidental suddendeath such as had befallen Murmex. Ducconius Furfur had not only sat inhis throne at shows, but had received embassies, read better than he theaddresses composed for him by his Prefects of the Praetorium andSecretaries, knew all the tricks of the office and could and would be abetter Emperor than ever he had been. 

When Eclectus and Laetus argued with him the results were similar. 

Then Marcia admonished him that while Furfur had escaped detection in mereroutine matters he was certain to be detected within a few days if heessayed all the Imperial duties before all sorts of people. In that casesome sort of revolt would abolish him and put a new Emperor in place ofhim and any such chosen autocrat would quickly order the death of Palusthe Gladiator to assure himself the throne. To this line of argumentCommodus had been as deaf as to all other lines. 

"Why, " he had said, "if I change clothes with Furfur you wouldn't know thedifference yourself. If we both were garbed as Emperor, Laetus wouldn'tknow which to obey. And if my wife and most loyal servant cannot tellwhich is which when we are side by side and habited alike, who will eversuspect that Furfur is not I when I am out of the way, far off, living asPalus the Swordsman, never alongside the Emperor or in sight at the sametime? The plan cannot miscarry. "

He had announced that he meant on the Kalends of January to take up hisabode in the Choragium and leave the Palace and its adjuncts and all hisprerogatives to Ducconius Furfur. He had Furfur in and the five had aheated wrangle. Furfur, after the discussion, had another with Marcia, Eclectus and Laetus, declaring that he thought the scheme as insane asthey thought it, but dared not show reluctance for fear of being put todeath at once: as an impostor Emperor he would, at least, have a chance, if a faint chance, of success and survival. 

Then they all had a long altercation on the last day of the year, duringwhich Commodus cursed Marcia and Eclectus and Laetus and vowed he wouldhave them all executed if they mentioned the subject again. He imperiouslybade them acquiesce and so silenced them. 

Then he made Furfur, who pretended to him that he was delighted, remain todrink with him. They drank till both were dead drunk and snoring. 

Marcia, finding them so, held a consultation with Eclectus and Laetus andproposed to have Narcissus strangle Furfur, saying that with Furfur out ofthe way Commodus might come to his senses: she would risk his wrath and beresigned to death if she failed to placate him; for, with Furfur dead, hecould not carry out his crazy intentions. She said she loved Commodus somuch that she was willing to save him even at the cost of her own life. 

Eclectus and Laetus acclaimed her plan and were overjoyed at theiropportunity, for all three hated Furfur. Yet, all three shrank from goinginto the room with Narcissus. He, entering alone, mistook the twosleepers, who had changed clothes, and by mistake for Furfur, strangledCommodus. After his victim was indubitably dead and past any possibilityof reviving he summoned his accomplices and, when Marcia shrieked andfainted, for the first time realized his blunder. 

Then, frantic, he seized Furfur and strangled him to death long beforeEclectus had revived Marcia from her swoon. 

As Agathemer told it to me all this came out in a haphazard tangle ofunfinished sentences, interruptions, fresh starts, questions, answers, repetitions and explanations. 

Meanwhile the day had dawned gray and lowering. Of all my strangeexperiences none were more eery than that talk with Agathemer, beginningin the dark and, with his form and features and expressions effaced, gradually becoming more and more visible. And towards the end of hisdisclosures he checked himself in the middle of a word and, raising hishand, whispered:

"Hark!"

Silent and tense, we listened. Even in my bedroom, opening on the sidegallery of the peristyle, we heard, from over the roofs, cries of:

"The tyrant is dead! The despot is dead! The prize-fighter is dead! Themurderer is dead!"

"The news is out!" Agathemer ejaculated, and he breathed a prayer toMercury, in which I joined. When finally he had told all he had to tell Imarvelled:

"Can it be possible that the most intimate and secret conversations of thePrince of the Republic, of the most sedulously guarded man on earth, arethus overheard by underlings and so promptly communicated even tooutsiders presumably to be reckoned among his enemies?"

"I conjecture, " Agathemer rejoined, "that I am not the only outsider inreceipt of information of this kind. "

"If you have been, all along, " I asked, "in receipt of such information, why have you always talked of Furfur's presence in the Palace and hisutilization as a dummy Emperor while Commodus masqueraded as Palus, as aconjecture of yours which you believed, but of which you could not becertain? Why have you not frankly spoken of it as a fact, which many knewof and of which some in a position to know, repeatedly informed you?"

"Because no one ever did so inform me, " Agathemer answered, "they merelydropped hints, mostly hints, unnoticed by themselves, unintentionallydropped by them, and uncertainly pieced together by me. While Commodus wasalive each of my informants, however fond of me, however under obligationsto me, however anticipative of profit from me, however eager to curryfavor with me, yet had vividly before him the dread of death, of deathwith torture, if any disloyalty of his, any dereliction in deed, word orthought, came to the notice of Commodus or Laetus or Eclectus, or if anyone of them came to harbor any suspicion of him. All were vague, guarded, indefinite, cautious. 

"Since midnight all that has changed. None fears any retribution forblabbing; all feel an overmastering urge towards confiding in some one. The three who, each unknown to the others, have resorted to me, told meunreckonably more than I previously conjectured. I comprehend the entiresituation, now. "

"If so, " I said, "make me comprehend it. I do not. How could Furfur becoerced or persuaded to such an imposture? How could he be domiciled inthe Palace along with Marcia and Commodus and the deception maintained?How could the three personally endure or even sustain the difficulties ofthe situation?"

"It all hinged, " Agathemer explained, "on the fact that Furfur wasinsanely in love with Marcia, that Marcia hated and loathed him and thatCommodus realized how each felt to the other. He was so sure of Marcia'sdetestation of Furfur that he was never jealous of him, so sure ofFurfur's complete subserviency to Marcia that he never feared betrayal byhim. Actually, from what I hear, Furfur complied as he did partly fromloyalty to Commodus, partly from fear of him, partly, perhaps, from a sortof relish for his risky impersonation, but chiefly because he was wax inMarcia's hands; as, indeed, was every man who came within reach of herfascinations. Does that explain it?"

"Enough, " I agreed. "Perhaps as far as it can or could be explained. "

"The main thing, " said Agathemer, "is that Commodus is dead. "

"I should be pleased to hear that, " I said, "and I am and I thank you. But, somehow, I am unable to think of myself. Uppermost in my mind is thethought of the dead autocrat, of his unlimited power, of his inability tosurround himself with trustworthy dependents, and of all you have hadhinted to you and, even to-night, told you. In such a world, who canconsider himself safe?"

Agathemer looked piqued. 

"I reckoned, " he said, "that you would feel, if not safe, at least lessunsafe upon hearing my announcement. "

"I do, " said I, "for, under any other Prince, I should be less in danger, and, when we learn who is chosen Emperor, it may turn out that I have somechance of rehabilitation. "

"Laetus and Eclectus, " said Agathemer, "have decided to make PertinaxEmperor. When my informer left the Palace they had already set off to findPertinax, presumably at his home, and offer him the Principate. "

"That, " I gloried, "is truly good news. I knew him as a young noble knowsmany an older senator: he may remember me. He should have nothing againstme. You raise my hopes high!"

"By all means be hopeful and cheerful, " said Agathemer, "but stick to yourpresent disguise and continue your present way of life until we are sure. Do not be rash. "

We consulted further and he said:

"I'll keep away from you except when it seems imperative to talk with you. I shall not send any more letters than I must. Do not write to me. If youmust see me, it will be safe to come to Orontides' shop, as Falco iscontinually sending you there about gems. You can nod to me without anyuttered word and I'll then come here as soon as may be. "

He left just as dawn brightened into full day. 

Among the first proclamations of our new Emperor was one expresslyabolishing the court for prosecuting accusations for infringement of theImperial Majesty by incautious words or inadvertent acts and at the sametime decreeing the recall of every living exile banished for suchtransgressions; also specifically rehabilitating the memory of all personswho had been under Commodus, put to death on the pretext of this sort ofguilt. Before the end of the day on which this decree was promulgated Ireceived a letter from Agathemer in which he wrote:

 "Beware! Keep close. Already it is rumored that exceptions to this decree have been made. Marcia is still alive, is married to Eclectus, and Eclectus is confirmed as Palace Chamberlain. With Marcia close to the Emperor you are not safe, no matter who is Emperor. Keep close!"

I followed his advice, which was easy for me to do, as I was verycomfortable and well habituated to my life. Moreover I was buoyed up withhope of early rehabilitation and of then marrying Vedia, who sent me onecautiously worded note, congratulating me on the disappearance of my mostdangerous foeman, warning me that I still had formidable enemies alive andin high places, and begging me to be prudent. She reiterated herexpressions of love, devotion and fidelity. 

From Tanno also I received a letter warning me to be on guard and toefface myself as much as possible. 

Falco, who had loathed Commodus, but had been careful to keep a stilltongue on all matters except horse-racing, sword-play, social pleasuresand gem-collecting, was much relieved at his death, and heartily delightedwith his successor. He took pains to be present among the auditors ofPertinax whenever nobles were admitted along with the senators to listento his addresses, which was almost always. He took to heart the newEmperor's adjurations as to economy and his invectives against the evilsof speculative enterprises of all kinds. Over our wine after dinner, whenwe two dined alone together, much as Agathemer and I had when I was myformer self, he unbosomed himself to me. 

"Pertinax is right, " he averred, "there is a real difference betweenenterprises which enrich only the participants and those which, whileprofiting their promoters, also add to the wealth of the Republic. Iapplaud his distinction between the two. I agree with him that wealthy menlike me should invest their capital in nothing which does not benefitmankind as well as themselves. I have realized with a shock of shame thatmy greed for cash to spend on jewels has led me to embark in ventureswhich merely divert into my coffers the proceeds of other men's efforts, without adding anything to the sum-total of usable wealth. I mean towithdraw from all such monetary acrobatics and utilize my surplus inextending my estates, in buying others, in cattle-breeding, sheep-raising, goat-herding, and in the cultivation of olives, vines, and other suchremunerative growths, along with wheat-farming. Thus I will add to theresources of the Republic, while increasing my own cash income. 

"Our conscientious Prince is equally correct in exhorting us to eschew allfrivolities. I'll buy no more gems. Nay, I'll auction my collection, assoon as Rome recovers its calm and purchasers are as eager as last year. I'll invest the proceeds in productive enterprise. Thus, as Pertinax says, I shall be a more useful citizen and an even happier man. "

Actually he at once initiated his arrangements for closing out thespeculative ventures which he controlled and for withdrawing from those inwhich he participated. And he bought no more gems, though he talked gemsas much as previously, or even more, and took great pride in showingvisitors over his collection or in conning his treasures in company withme or even entirely alone by himself. 

His enthusiasm for Pertinax grew warmer day by day and he talked of him, praising him, lauded him, prophesied for him great things and from himgreat benefits to the Republic and the Empire. 

The alleged conspiracy against Pertinax of Consul Sosius Falco and hisdisgrace and relegation to his estates was a great shock to my master. That his cousin should plot against the Prince of our Republic, or layhimself open to accusation of such plotting, appeared to him hideous andshameful. He felt disgraced himself, as bearing the same family name. Hegloomed and mourned over the matter. 

The murder of Pertinax, by his own guards, on the fifth day before theKalends of April, when he had been less than three months Emperor, waseven a more violent shock to Falco, who was crushed with horror at such acrime. He was even more horrified at the arrogance of the guiltyPraetorians and at their shameless effrontery in offering the ImperialPurple to the highest bidder and in, practically, selling the Principiateto so bestial a Midas as Didius Julianus, who, of all the senators, seemedmost to misbecome the Imperial Dignity and who had nothing to recommendhim except his opulence. 

During the days of rioting which followed the murder of Pertinax we, naturally, kept indoors. When the disorders abated and the streets of Romeresumed their normal activities, Falco continued to remain at home. Iexpostulated with him, but he appeared, suddenly, a changed man, as ifdazed and stunned by recent events. He, who had been continually on thego, living in a round of social pleasures, became averse to much of whathe had before revelled in. My most ingenious pleadings were required toinduce him to go to the Public Baths, which fashionable clubhouses he hadfrequented every afternoon from his first arrival at Rome. Until the deathof Pertinax he had only very occasionally dined alone with me: nearlyevery day he went out to a formal dinner or entertained a large batch ofguests at a lavish banquet. After Pertinax's murder he began to refuseinvitations to dine and he gave fewer dinners. He spent a great deal ofhis time with his lawyers and accountants and went over the affairs of hisAfrican estates, minutely, one by one and all of them. He made a new willand told me of it. 

"Phorbas, " he said, "I am troubled with forebodings. I have never thoughtof death until recently, except as of something far off and to beconsidered much later: since the murder of our good Emperor I think of itcontinually. If I live long enough to see normal conditions restored Ishall follow the suggestions given to me by the addresses of Pertinax andshall auction my gems. Meanwhile I dread that I may not live to do so. Therefore I have made a will leaving my entire collection to you. I herebyenjoin you, should you come into possession of them, to sell the gems atauction, as soon as you see fit, and to invest the proceeds in enterpriseswhich shall add to the wealth of the Republic. This bequest is a trust. Besides I have, as in former wills, bequeathed to you your freedom, and alegacy sufficient to make you comfortable for life. Moreover I have madeyou the heir of one-fourth of my estate, what remains of it after the gemcollections is yours and all specific legacies are paid. I do not love mynephews and cousins and have bequeathed to them more than they deserve; asto the toadies who have hung about me and fawned on me in the hope oflegacies, I despise them all. You are my best friend and chief heir. "

I thanked him effusively and was so much affected that I myself began tohave uncomfortable, vague forebodings. Agathemer happened to visit me andI confided to him the contents of my old leather amulet-bag. Of course Ihad not worn it since I began life with Falco, as a greasy old amulet-bagof the meanest material and pattern was wholly out of keeping with thecharacter I had assumed. I wore instead a flat locket of pure gold, containing a talisman from the Pontic fastnesses. I had kept my share ofour mountain trove of stolen jewels, not needing to part with any afterFalco bought me and unconcerned for the gems, as I now needed no suchstore of savings. Now, suddenly, I felt uneasy about myself, my future andmy possessions. These jewels I therefore placed in Agathemer's keeping, sure that they would be safer with him than with me and certain that hecould realize on them quickly and transmit to me promptly whatever sums Imight need. 

I did all I could to rouse Falco from his lethargy and succeeded to someextent. But, all through April and May, he went out little, accepted fewinvitations and gave few dinners. Much of his time he spent among hisjewels, conning them, handling them, taking curios from their cases and, as it were, caressing them. The rooms which held them were on the lefthand side of the peristyle on the upper floor, across the court from myapartment and not precisely opposite it. There were three rooms; thelarger with a door on the gallery, and a smaller on either side of it, opening from it and lit by windows towards the gallery. Each room had amarble table in the middle, small and round in both side cabinets, rectangular and large in the main room. Each of the three rooms was walledwith cases and shelves; on the shelves were displayed his larger curios, vases, cameos, intaglios, plaques, murrhine bowls and such like; in thecases were necklaces, bracelets, rings, seals and trays of unset gems ofall sorts and sizes. Here Falco spent hours each day, gloating over histreasures. 

"Phorbas, " he said, "I am resolute never to buy another gem, equallyresolute to auction all I have whenever conditions make a profitable saleprobable. Yet, although I feel that I shall never live to see themauctioned, the very thought of parting with them cuts me to the quick. Iam almost in tears to think of it. I love every piece I own. I hate tothink I must either live to see them sold or die and leave them. I cannotbe with them enough of my time. I could spend all my waking hours enjoyingtheir loveliness and my luck in owning them. "

I thought this condition of mind positively unhealthy and consulted Galen. 

"You are right, " he said, "and you are wrong too. Your master is badlyshaken by the horrors of this appalling year, but he is not deranged nor, at this present time, in any more danger of derangement than most of thesenators and nobles with whom he associates. Yet you are correct in beinguneasy. Don't antagonize him, but do all you can, tactfully andunobtrusively, to keep him away from those jewels and to get him out tothe Baths of Titus or to dinners. Do your utmost to induce him toentertain. A jolly dinner with a bevy of jovial guests will be the verymedicine for him. "

Had I been a Greek I could not have been, more wily or more successful. Hespent less time with his gems, went out to the Baths oftener, acceptedsome dinner invitations and gave a few dinners. He even took some interestin preparing for these and in giving orders about them. He had fivecomplete sets of silverware for his _triclinium_ and had a fancy for usingthis or that set, according to the characters of his prospective guests. 

Early in May he had invited a carefully selected company of concordantguests, three senators and the rest nobles like himself, and wasanticipating a delightful evening. He had bidden me to see to theselection of the flowers for decorating the _triclinium_, for thegarlands, and for sprinkling on the floor; to choose the wines I thoughtwould be most appropriate and to have brought out and used his most prizedset of silver, the work of Corinnos of Rhodes, embossed with scenes fromOvid's Metamorphoses and acclaimed one of the finest services in Rome. Besides the two tall mixing-bowls for tempering the wine before servingit, the set had four smaller ones, about the size of well-buckets, andmuch like them, for each was provided with two hinged handles, just like awater-pail. I saw to the polishing of every piece in this magnificentservice, to their proper disposal, to the decoration of the _triclinium_with flowers, verified the wines I had chosen, inspected every detail ofthe preparations for the feast, and, just before the first guest might beexpected to arrive, went out and back into the kitchen to make sure thatevery dish of each course was being properly prepared and that nothingwould be lacking. 

When I returned to the _triclinium_ I found it swept clean of silver, except the two big wine mixers. The four two-handled pails were gone andwith them the salt-cellars, the wine strainers, every soup-spoon, everyoyster-spoon, in fact every small piece, to the last. The thieves musthave been deft, agile and keen, for nothing was overset or disturbed and Ihad heard no noise. 

I rushed to the house-door, found it ajar and, each sleeping in his cell, on the one side the snoring janitor, on the other our fat, pursy, overfedwatchdog. 

I omit my hasty measures for pursuing the thieves and attempting theircapture or at least the recovery of their booty; and my urgent andimportant efforts to arrange that our guests should be properly receivedand the dinner should not be spoiled. Towards this last I did what couldbe done and with fair success, Falco playing up to my suggestions anddissimulating his chagrin. 

More important to record was his amazing indifference to his loss. Notthat he did not feel it acutely, but that he seemed to feel no properindignation against those at fault. 

He questioned the janitor and all the slaves concerned, but instead ofordering scourged the two servitors whom I had left in the _triclinium_when I went out of it to visit the kitchen and who should have remainedthere until my return, he merely reprimanded them mildly. He did not somuch as have the undutiful janitor flogged, let alone sent away for sale. He even laughed at the luck, alertness, dexterity and swiftness of thethieves; picturing their glance into the unshut door, their glances up anddown the street, their eyeings of the watchdog and janitor, theirnoiseless dash into the atrium, their invasion of the _triclinium_, theirgathering of the smaller pieces into the four handled wine-mixers, andtheir escape, each with two silver pails stuffed with goblets, salt-cellars, and bowls and, brimming with strainers, spoons and other smallpieces. 

He commented on their luck in not encountering any of his approachingguests. 

"Mercury, " he said, "to whom you chiefly pray, must have been good tothem, as his votaries. "

I was horrified at the levity of his attitude of mind. When we were aloneI remonstrated with him, saying that such leniency was certain todemoralize his household; would ruin any set of slaves. I told him thathis retention of the janitor after Agathemer's unnoticed entrance on thefirst day of the year was bad enough, far worse was it to condone a secondlapse, and that having had consequences so serious. I expostulated that itwas madness to entrust his housedoor to a watchman already twice caughtasleep at his post. I reminded him of the cash value of his gem-collectionand of its value in his eyes, not to be reckoned in cash. He listenedindulgently and said:

"I thank you, Phorbas. All you say is true. And, any time last year, Ishould have sold that janitor without a thought, after your informationagainst him last January. But, somehow, since the murder of Commodus, yetmore since the murder of Pertinax, I seem less prone to severity and moreinclined to mercy. The waiter-boys deserve flogging, but I cannot hardenmy heart and order it. The janitor merits being sold without a character, after a severe scourging; yet I feel for him, too. I'll give him anotherchance. "

I could not move him. 

I again consulted Galen:

"You are right!" he exclaimed. "A Roman nobleman who hesitates to have hisslaves flogged or sold and merely reprimands them, is certainly deranged. Any natural Roman would insist on scourgings and even severer punishments, But his eccentricity is not dangerous to him or anybody as yet. Humor him, do not oppose his worship of his treasures, but entice him away from themall you can by devices he does not suspect. 

"And let me add, keep away from me, for your own sake. Keep away fromVedia and Tanno and Agathemer. Do not write letters. True, Julianus hasput Marcia to death and you are rid of a pertinacious and alert enemy. Buthe has recalled into favor most of the professional informers whoflourished under Commodus and they are on the watch for victims to winthem praise and rewards. Several of the exiles recalled by Pertinax havebeen rearrested and re-banished or even executed since Julianus came intopower. Keep close and beware!"

CHAPTER XXXVII

ACCUSATION

The murder or assassination or execution of Julianus on the Kalends ofJune shocked Falco even more than the deaths of Commodus and Pertinax. Asthe June days passed I had to exercise my greatest adroitness to keep himfrom spending all his waking hours indoors, chiefly in moping about hiscollection of gems. I did pretty well with him, for I wheedled him intogoing to the Baths of Titus three afternoons out of four, into going outto dine one evening in three, and I even induced him to give severalformal dinners, each of which was a great success. 

But, if I left him to himself, I invariably found him glooming over thegems which no longer gave him any real pleasure. And I could not blamehim. Indoors one felt reasonably safe in Rome that June, for no residenceshad been broken into anywhere in the city, though many shops had beenlooted and some burnt. But, in the streets, the insolence of thePraetorians was unendurable and their unbridled license and arroganceterrorized the entire population, especially the upper classes. Goinganywhere in broad daylight was dangerous, even going to the Baths of Titusfrom the Esquiline was risky. Anyone like Falco was certain to feel saferindoors. And the tense uncertainty of those twenty-four days madeeverybody restless, feverish, fidgety and morose: civil war betweenSeverus and Pescennius Niger, lord of the East, was inevitable. HowClodius Albinus, in control of Gaul, Spain and Britain, would act, wasproblematical. We were all keyed-up, apprehensive and wretched. 

Our suspense was shorter since it turned out that Severus had made up hismind and begun to make his rapid and effective arrangements as soon as heheard of the murder of Pertinax. Pertinax was murdered on the fifth daybefore the Kalends of April and so swiftly travelled the imperial courierswho were his friends and who arranged to set out at once and carry Severusthe news, that the first of them rode more than eight hundred miles ineight days and reached him at Caruntum in Pannonia on the Nones of April. Severus was cautious, kept secret what he had heard and moved seventy-twomiles nearer Rome to Sabaria in Pannonia, where, after the news wasconfirmed beyond question, he harangued the soldiers and was by themsaluted Emperor on the Ides of April. At once he assured himself of thesupport or acquiescence of his officers and won over the local authoritiesand garrisons all over Illyricum, Noricum and Rhaetia. Bands of his mosttrusted soldiers set off towards Rome by every road. He gathered hisforces, made sure of their loyalty and began his march. He was already atAquileia when the news of the death of Julianus reached him there on theNones of June. He marched straight to Rome and on the tenth day before theKalends of July, the day of the summer solstice, was outside the city, accompanied by the delegation of senators who had met him at Interamniaand surrounded by the six hundred picked men who acted as his personalguards, who, it was rumored, had not taken off their corselets day nornight since they left Sabaria. 

The next day, the ninth day before the Kalends of July, we heard withamazement that the Praetorians had been cowed, had surrendered theirstandards to Severus and had been disarmed. Certainly knots of them hungabout the streets and squares, all in ordinary tunics and rain hats, shornof their uniforms as well as of their weapons, and looking not onlyhumbled but frightened. It was rumored that all of those directlyconcerned with the murder of Pertinax had been not only disarmed andstripped of their uniforms, but actually stripped naked and scourged outof the camp by the Illyrian legionaries who had surrounded and cowed them, and ordered to flee the neighborhood of Rome and never again to approachwithin a hundred miles of the capitol. 

From noon of that day the whole city was in a ferment, preparing for theentry on the morrow of our new Emperor. This was acclaimed the mostmagnificent spectacle ever beheld in Rome; certainly I was never spectatorof anything so impressive. The day was fair, almost cloudless, mild andwarm, but pleasant with a gentle breeze. From where Falco and I viewed theprocession, nearer the Forum, we gazed about on a wondrous picture: theblue sky above, under it a frame of roofs, mostly of red tiles, some ofgreen weathered bronze among them giving variety, and here and there atemple roof of silver gleaming in the sun, not a few gilded and flashing. 

As far as we could see about us every balcony was hung with tapestries gaywith particolored patterns, every doorway and window was wreathed inflowers, countless braziers sent up columns of scented smoke. The streetswere lined with throngs habited in togas newly whitened; spectators ofboth sexes, the men in white togas, their women in the brightest silks, crowded every window, loggia, balcony, roof, and other viewpoint. Thechattering of the crowds ceased when the head of the procession appeared, and, in a breathless hush, we saw leading it on horseback, with twomounted aides, Flavius Juvenalis, who had been third and last Prefect ofthe Praetorium to Julianus and who, as an honorable gentleman and loyalofficial, had been confirmed and continued in this post by Severus. Behindhim tramped, in serried ranks, an entire legion of the Pannonian troops, in full armor with their great shields gleaming and the sun sparkling ontheir gilded helmets and their spear-points. 

Behind them came ten of the elephants with which Julianus, in his futile, bungling attempts at preparations for resistance, had had some of his mendrill. Each now carried in his tower eight Danubians, four tall Dacianspearmen and four Scythian archers, bow in hand, leaning over the edge ofthe howdah. 

Behind the elephants came Norican legionaries carrying the surrenderedstandards of the disbanded Praetorian Guard; not held aloft, but trailed, half inverted. 

Then, amid roars of cheers, came Severus himself, habited not in hisgeneral's regalia, but in the gorgeous Imperial robes, as if already inthe Palace and about to give a public levee. Though thus clad as in timeof peace and walking all the way on foot, he was hedged about by hisfaithful six hundred, every man stepping alertly, helmet-plumes waving, helmets glittering, shields gleaming, spear-points asparkle, kilt-strapsflapping, scabbards clanking, a grim advertisement of irresistible power. 

After this guard walked our entire Senate, and, as the Emperor and Senateacknowledged the acclamations of the onlookers, passing amid thunders ofcheering, behind we saw a long serpent ribbon of Illyrian legionaries, every man fully armed and armored as for instant battle, their even trampsounding grim and monotonous when the cheerers paused for breath, theirresistless might manifest. Indubitably Rome belonged to Severus, he wasour master. 

Falco, hopeful, yet awed, said little. Once inside his housewalls he fledto his beloved gems and solaced himself with them till it was time for hisbath, which he took in his private bathrooms. He and I dined alone andtalked chiefly of our hopes of the new Emperor. Falco particularlyremarked his appearance of hard commonsense, ruthless decision and flintyresolve. 

Next day, soon after dawn, we heard many rumors of disorders by theIllyrian troops, of their having used temples for barracks that night, ofcook-shops forced to feed them without payment, of shops plundered andpedestrians robbed. Naturally the entire household kept indoors, exceptsuch slaves as went out for fresh vegetables, fruits and fish. I solacedmyself by reading the Tragedies of Ennius. I read parts of his Hector, Achilles, Neoptolemus, Ajax and Andromache, with much emotion, andespecially the Bellerophon, forgetting everything else. Then I slept untillate in the afternoon. 

Waking I bathed unhurriedly and then went to call Falco, who liked tobathe at the last possible moment before dinner. I walked round the reargallery of the peristyle, sure of finding him among his jewels. The doorof the middle room was not shut, and barely ajar. Against the sill of thedoor, on the brown and white mosaic pavement of the gallery, a glint ofcolor caught my eye. I stooped and picked up a fine uncut emerald, one ofFalco's chief treasures. 

A qualm of apprehension shot through me. I pushed the door, entered andswept the room with a glance. A confusion of jewel-trays cluttered thefloor, no sign of Falco. Nor was he in the left-hand room, which had beensimilarly rifled. 

But, when I turned and peered through the right-hand inner door I saw, across the marble center-table, horridly sprawled, what I instantly knewfor his corpse, so unmistakably did the head hang loose, the arms dangle, the legs trail: he was manifestly a corpse, even without sight of thedagger-hilt projecting from his back. 

I rushed to him and touched him. 

He was yet warm, the blood still trickled from about the dagger, drivendeep under the left shoulder blade, slanting upwards, the very strokeAgathemer had drilled me in early in our flight, the stroke with which Ihad slaughtered two of the five bullies at Nona's hut!

I plucked out the dagger, gazing at it in horror. 

As I did so I heard footsteps behind me and turned to face CasperiusAsellio, and Vespronius Lustralis, two of the most persistent of thetoadies who hung about Falco, both of whom hated me consumedly. 

In a flash I realized my situation. Had I been a freeman I should havebeen commiserated by all as a gentleman who had had the misfortune to findhis best friend foully murdered; as a slave I would be assumed by all Rometo have been caught in the act of assassinating my kind and indulgentmaster; and, recalling Tanno's invectives against me at my last dinner atVilla Andivia, I knew I was liable to be tortured until I confessed myguilt!

Asellio and Lustralis flung themselves on me with execrations and theiryells brought the entire household. My protestations were unheeded. No onewould listen to my valet's assertion that he had found the janitor asleepin his cell and roused him just before Lustralis and Asellio reached theentrance, that he had but just finished dressing me when he went down tothe vestibule. No one heeded my denials or my urgings that I could nothave rifled the collection, that the looters and the murderers must be thesame individuals, that I was clearly innocent. Asellio and Lustralis notmerely seized me, but rained blows on me. I knew I could knock bothsenseless without half trying, but, in my character of effeminate orientalexquisite, I must not advertise my real strength. I struggled, but half-heartedly. 

The house-boys and any of Falco's retinue who could reach me, thumped meand mauled me. I was horrified to realize all of a sudden that those whohad made most of me had always envied me in secret; that, to a man, theyhated me; that each and all would use every effort to ensure my ruin; thatI had to face perjury, unanimous perjury, gushing from an abundant well-head of malignity, spite, and enmity. My valet alone seemed on my side, and he could assist me not at all. 

I was bound with ropes knotted till my hands and feet swelled, till thecords cut into my flesh. I was abused, my clothing torn till I was halfnaked. I was whacked and clawed till I was bleeding in a dozen places; Iwas reviled, jeered at and threatened. Trussed like a fowl to be roasted, I was half hustled half dragged, almost carried, down into the courtyard. From there, after no long wait, I was haled off to the slaves' prison inthe Slave-Dealers' Exchange next the Slave-Market. There I was releasedfrom my bonds, heavy shackles were riveted on my ankles and I was castinto the lower dungeon. 

I had had time to tell Dromo, my faithful valet, to inform Agathemer. Iknew he, in turn, would inform Tanno and Vedia. I was certain that theywould do all that they could. But I dreaded that they could do nothing. Iwas despondent, despairing. Actually, Dromo must have been clever, promptand judicious, and Agathemer equally quick and resourceful, with thefullest possible help from Tanno and Vedia, and they must have taxed tothe utmost their influence and their means. 

After a night almost sleepless I was visited at dawn by no less a personthan Galen himself. 

"My boy, " he said, "you, are in a terrible situation and we were in aquandary how to advise you. But, after much discussion, we are agreed thatyou have some chance of life as Phorbas the slave, accused of murderinghis master, whereas you have no chance at all as Andivius Hedulio, proscribed along with Egnatius Capito. Our new Emperor seems to feel thatall enemies of former Princes are foes of his; he seems to have orderedhis agents to be on the lookout for all living persons accused, relegated, or banished under Julianus, Pertinax and Commodus. Those taken in Romehave been promptly executed. By all means, whatever happens to you, whatever threatens you, give no hint that you are Andivius Hedulio. Endurewhat befalls and hope for life and safety and ultimate rehabilitation. 

"Of course I can see you as often as I please without exciting anysuspicion. You were, while yourself and prosperous, only one of mycountless patients, never among those I made much of. You, as Phorbas, have been under my special care, as the darling of poor Falco, who was oneof my best friends, though I had known him so short a time. My visits herecannot prejudice your welfare and may help you, even save you. 

"Cheer up! Agathemer says that the real murderers are certain to betraythemselves by attempting to dispose of some of the stolen gems. He isright. And he had taken measures to ensnare them. He has warned or iswarning every gem-dealer in Rome, from Orontides himself down to the mostdisreputable scoundrel who makes a living by exchanging his cash forstolen gems. He has sent off despatches already along many postroads, bythe couriers who set out at dawn, notifying all gem-dealers in the townsalong these roads to be on the watch for the miscreants. He will continuethis until the warning is all over Italy from Rhegium and Brundisium tothe Alps, and that within a few days. Those precious gentry are certain tobe nabbed either in Rome or elsewhere. Whenever they are identified and indurance it will be easy to clear you. 

"Meanwhile you will be tried as a slave accused of murdering his masterand the investigation will include the questioning of every slave in thehouse at the time of the murder. I know you are aquiver with dread oftorture; there will be torture, but I assure you you will not be tortured. As much can be done today by influence and bribery as could be done underPerennis or Cleander, only it cannot be done so crudely and openly, andmuch else can be done openly. 

"We have endeavored to arrange to have you tried by a bunch of jurymenpresided over by a praetor, just as if you were a freeman, according toHadrian's law. But Commodus had repealed all such laws mitigating therigors of procedure in the case of slaves and Severus has not had themreenacted. So you will be tried by a magistrate, a deputy of the Prefectof the City, as slaves were tried before Hadrian's time. 

"We shall have, at the trial, to cheer you up, to counsel you, and, ifnecessary, to intervene in your behalf, as clever an advocate as any inRome. Keep up a good heart, and read these letters. "

And he went off. 

I had a proof of the truth of what he said of bribery within half an hour, for I was bathed, my hurts dressed, and I was clothed in new, clean andcomfortable garments and served with abundant eatable food and good wine. 

I had promptly read the letters. 

Agathemer's Galen had anticipated, mostly. Besides briefly telling me ofhis measures for detecting the murderers, and prophesying their success, he assured me of his devotion and alertness to take advantage of anychance to help me. 

Tanno pledged me his utmost efforts to assist me, and emphasized his hopethat the influences which he and Vedia could enlist in my behalf and thecash at their disposal would protect me from the worst horrors of trial asa slave and would ultimately clear me and free me from danger. 

Vedia wrote:

"The Leopard-Tamer's bride gives greeting to the Leopard-Tamer. Keep upyour courage! Do not be despondent, but have a hopeful heart. All thatgold, all that influence can do for you, shall be done. Cheer up! You willlive to see yourself a free man, unsmirched by any accusation, you and Iwill be married and live many years of happiness afterwards: Farewell. "

Investigations of murders are prompt in Rome and trials of accused slavesquickly disposed of. Before the next morning was half way to noon, on thefifth day before the Ides of July, I found myself, still shackled, butwell fed and well clad, in the Basilica Sempronia, before the magistratecharged with deciding such cases. He turned out to be young LolliusCorbulo, whom I had not set eyes on until he came to know me as Phorbas, for he was an art amateur of high standing, considering his youth. 

I never have discovered how much he was influenced by his naturalkindliness of disposition, how much by personal regard for me, how much byTanno, acting for himself and Vedia, whether he had been bribed or not. He, when I questioned him in after years, passed it off with a smilesaying that anyone would accept a gift on condition of doing what he meantto do uninfluenced, that no one needed a gift to make him do the rightthing. From Agathemer, Tanno and Vedia I have never been able to extractany admissions as to their activities in my behalf. Anyhow Corbulo gave ademonstration of the great latitude which is permitted both by law andcustom to such a magistrate in such a case. He ordered my shacklesremoved, and, while they were being filed through, sent off three of hisapparitors in charge of Dromo to fetch some of my own garments from myapartments in Falco's house. 

He went about his investigation like a fair-minded man who meant to favorno one and to ferret out the exact truth. 

Corbulo in his full senatorial attire, the broad crimson stripe moreconspicuous than the white of his toga, sat in his chair at the center ofthe apse of the basilica, his apparitors behind him. In the nave of thebasilica, surrounded by guards, were herded those members of Falco'sretinue who had been in his house at the time of his murder. Further downthe nave were many outsiders, come to listen to the trial. In the aisleswere gathered hangers-on of the court. In the apse, to the left and rightof the tribunal, stood many of Falco's friends, among whom I recognizedCasperius Asellio and Vespronius Lustralis. Among those on the other sideof the magistrate were Tanno and Galen. 

The bare, bleak interior of the ancient, old-fashioned basilica, with itsblackened roof-beams, unadorned walls, Travertine columns of the severestTuscan pattern, and plain window-lattices, made an austere setting for thetrial. I saw nowhere any rack, winches, horse, or any other engine ortorture; but, while Dromo was gone, four muscular court-slaves cametramping In, each supporting a pole end. The two long poles were passedthrough the four ear-handles of a bronze brazier all of five feet square, level full of glowing charcoal, the brilliant bed of coals radiating anintense heat perceptible as they passed near me. When they had set it downin full view of all and near the tribunal one of them shook out and foldedfour-thick a thin Spanish blanket of harsh wiry wool and spread the squareof it by the brazier, squatting on it to tend the coals with a long-handled five pronged altar-hook. 

When Dromo returned with my garments and I was clad as Phorbas, Corbuloquestioned me as to when Falco had bought me, where and from whom. To myrelief he did not ask me how Rufius Libo had acquired me. He did ask myage, but nothing else concerning my past. As to my life with Falco inAfrica and at Rome, he questioned me closely. I told him all about Falco'scharacter, his gem-collecting, the effect on him of the murders ofCommodus and Pertinax, his forebodings and his utterances to me about hiswill. When he felt that he knew all I had to tell along these lines, hesaid:

"Now tell me your version of your master's death. "

He heard me out and said:

"I believe you. You speak like a truth-teller. "

He then questioned the janitor, who babbled and cringed, halfunintelligibly, but stoutly denying that he had slept at his post on theseventh day before the Kalends of July. 

"I am of the opinion, " said Corbulo, drily, "that you are lying. "

Then to his apparitors he said:

"Strip him. "

The court-slave, the charcoal-tender, stood up off his folded blanket andshook it out. The janitor, stripped and bound, ankles lashed, handstrussed behind him, was haled towards the brazier. The blanket was flunground him and four apparitors lifted him as if he had been a log and heldhim near the brazier, the enveloping blanket drawn tight over his leftthigh and its outer underside nearest the coals, tilting him sideways tobring the soft thickness of the thigh closest to the heat. They watchedthe tight blanket over his thigh and moved him a little away from thebrazier when the wool began to smoke. 

I had never seen nor heard of this kind of torture, but it seemedeffectual. The fellow writhed, groaned, squalled and protested. AfterCorbulo had him brought back before him he confessed that he had beenasleep in his cell from some time before Falco's murder until he wasaroused by Dromo, just before the arrival of Casperius and Vespronius. 

One by one the other slaves were questioned. Three declared that they hadseen the janitor asleep not long before they heard the alarm. 

Several more testified that the janitor had often been asleep. More thanhalf of them confirmed my story of the theft of the silver on the Nones ofMay. Except the janitor not one was tortured, though Corbulo threatenedwith torture several who hesitated in their testimony. 

After the slaves Corbulo questioned Asellio and Lustralis. 

Then, when they had stood aside, he gazed about at the spectators in thenave, at the crowd behind them, interested in the next case or in othersto come up later, at the hangers-on in the side aisles; for a time, mute, he stared at the glowing charcoal fire in the big brazier. 

When he spoke he said:

"It is my opinion that Phorbas is innocent. I have inspected the housewhere the murder took place. From the condition of the looted rooms it isplain that more jewelry was stolen than any one man could carry off. Manifestly two men participated in the robbery and murder and escapedwith their booty, very likely the same pair who robbed Falco's_triclinium_ on the Nones of May. The janitor's confessed delinquencyexplains how they entered and got away unhindered and unseen. The deadman's heirs should punish the janitor. I hold no other slave at fault. Hasany man anything which he wishes to say before I pass formal judgment forofficial record?' Lustralis asked permission to speak and amazed me by hisfluency, his ingratiating delivery, his vehemence, his ingenuity and thefantastic malignity of his contentions. Corbulo heard him out to the end, unmoving as a statue. 

"You do not look like a lunatic nor act like one, Lustralis, " he said, "but you talk like one. Phorbas has impressed me by every feature of histale. He appears to have told the truth. He seems to have been a sincerefriend to his late master. I cannot credit the wild suggestion that a manof his character would plot his master's death, or that a man of hisintelligence, with a full knowledge of the terms of his master's will, would expose himself to suspicion by so plotting; far less that such a manas he would ignore the perils of such a crime and so desire his freedomand the legacies promised him as to league himself with two criminals, assist them to enter the house and to escape from it, and hope to come offunscathed and unsuspected and forever unbetrayed. 

"But, suppose all you imagine and insinuate is true in fact. Prove it!Produce the two robbers. Prove them the robbers by recovering their booty. If they, so convicted of the robbery, are brought before me, if theyaccuse Phorbas of being their accomplice, if they tell a consistent andconvincing tale, if any colorable motive for such association and such acrime can be alleged against Phorbas, then I'll believe him guilty, andnot till then. "

He eyed Lustralis, who spoke further. 

"Torture Phorbas!" Corbulo cried. "Absurd! In my court I never torture menlike him, any more than if they were freemen. And though it might beimperative to torture him for a confession if all the testimony pointed tohis guilt, it is ridiculous to suggest torturing him merely to corroborateevidence demonstrating his innocence. 

"I, hereby, officially as the representative of the Commonwealth, pronounce Phorbas cleared of all charges connected with this case. Ihereby enjoin all men to assist the Republic to detect and apprehend themurderers who robbed Falco and killed him. "

Lustralis and Asellio looked baffled and sour. A murmur of approval ranthrough the bystanders. My fellow-slaves congratulated each other andrejoiced, save only the janitor. 

Galen approached me. 

"Phorbas, " he said, "as you are now a freeman by your late master's will, which will soon be read and its provisions put into effect, at whichreading I shall be present as one of the legatees, you may now go whereyou like. I invite you to come with me. "

I thanked Corbulo, who said:

"Don't thank me. I did just what any sane, clear-headed, fair-mindedmagistrate must do, affirmed the manifest truth. "

Galen led me off to a modest apartment near the Carinae. I foundeverything prepared for my comfort, slaves to wait on me and nothingomitted. I thanked him. 

"Tanno, " he said, "deputed me to hire this lodging for you. He has kept inthe background. These are my slaves, put at your disposal and enjoined toobey you as they would obey me in person. Keep quiet here till I canarrange for you to take possession of your legacies from Falco. I think heleft you all your personal belongings and the slaves who waited on you. Assoon as the necessary formalities are completed I'll send them to you. 

"Do not attempt to communicate with Vedia or Tanno. Do nothing which mightbetray you as your actual self. Our new Emperor seems resolute toexterminate, to the last individual, all persons implicated in anyconspiracy not only against Julianus or Pertinax, but against Commodus, from the date of his accession. All such persons apprehended are promptlyexecuted. Keep quiet. Efface yourself till I give you the word. I cancommunicate with you freely, can see you daily, if need be, since I am oneof poor Falco's heirs and was your physician during his life here in Rome. I'll do all I can for you. "

He left and I bathed, ate, and slept the rest of that day and slept soundall night. 

Next day passed similarly. But, early on the following day, the third daybefore the Kalends of July, not long after sunrise, my new valet came tome his face ashen. He babbled some unintelligible syllables and before Icould comprehend him, my bedroom was entered by a Pannonian sergeant, grimas the centurions from Britain who had liberated Agathemer and me from the_ergastulum_ at Placentia. Behind him were four legionary soldiers. I wasrearrested!

CHAPTER XXXVIII

TORTURE

I was promptly haled off to the same prison where Galen had visited methree days before. There I was again deprived of my garments and clad inothers, new, but of cheap material, coarse and uncomfortable. Alsoshackles, heavier shackles, were at once riveted on my ankles, and I wasagain consigned to the lower dungeon. I was, to be sure, given good andabundant food and wine not too unpalatable. Otherwise I had no indulgencesand there I spent the night. 

Next day, the last day of June, Galen again visited me. 

"My lad, " he said, "the first rule of medicine is to cheer up the patient, but I must say that your case looks grave and I have little cheer for you. I shall do my best and so will Tanno, Vedia and Agathemer. But we are alldazed. We cannot understand what has happened, nor who has brought it topass, nor what influences are working against us. 

"But someone has gotten the ear of Juvenalis or of Severus himself. It hasbeen represented plausibly to the Prefect of the Praetorium, or perhapseven to the Emperor in person, that the courts here in Rome have falleninto a shocking state of disrepute on account of decisions in scandalouscontravention of the evidence, brought about by favoritism and bribery. Ithas also been plausibly represented that the slave-population has littlerespect for the lives or property of their masters, less loyalty towardsthem and very little dread of punishment. Your alleged murder of poorFalco is held up as a flagrant example of the latter condition, youracquittal as an even more flagrant instance of the degradation of thecourts. 

"Believing that a shocking miscarriage of justice has taken placeconcerning an atrocious crime, the Prefect or the Prince has ordered yourearrested and retried, tomorrow, this time before Cassius Ravillanus. "

I shuddered, not metaphorically, but actually. I felt cold all over, as ifplunged into an icy mountain stream. Ravillanus claimed as his ancestorCassius Ravilla and aimed at emulating him. Certainly, as a magistrate, hequite frankly talked and acted as if acquittal were a disgrace to thecourt, and the object of each trial not impartial justice but theconviction of the accused. He was perfectly sincere, upright in everyintention, incorruptible, fanatical, self-opinionated, austere, ascetic, stern and harsh. I shuddered again and again at the thought of him. 

"Ravillanus has the reputation of being unbribable, " Galen went on, 'andit is a question whether an attempt at bribery might not prejudice yourcase more than letting matters be. Yet I have employed an agent far tooclever to bungle any approach, and something may be done for you. Vedia isdespondent, but resolute to keep her head and help you all she can, andshe has cash to spare and much influence. Tanno has even more of both. Agathemer is hopeful of running down the real murderers, as they areloaded with their booty. If they are caught we can clear you. 

"Keep up a brave heart. "

I tried to, but it was impossible. I ate little and slept hardly at all. 

The next day, the Kalends of July, saw me haled again to the BasilicaSempronia. 

There I beheld a scene almost a duplicate of my first trial; a similarthrong of spectators, very similar bevies of expectant witnesses, advocates and prosecutors; the same batch of my former fellow-slaves, surrounded by the same guards; the very same charcoal-brazier tended bythe same slave squatting on the same folded blanket; similar knots ofnotables in the apse, about and behind the magistrate's tribunal; the samecarved arm-chair; in it not Corbulo, but Cassius Ravillanus, lean, dry, tanned, leathery, smooth-shaven, bald and stern. 

He glared at me when my guards halted me four yards or so in front of him;then he beckoned to one of his apparitors and spoke to him in anundertone. The fellow went off as if on an errand. 

Ravillanus then gave, even more positively than Corbulo, a demonstrationof the great latitude permitted such a magistrate in procedure, of howcompletely it lies within his discretion what to do and how to do it. 

"Fellow!" he ranted, "you have plotted to rob and murder your master, youhave done both and you have, by favor and influence and perhaps even bybribery, arranged for your easy acquittal. I am charged by the Prince ofthe Republic to see to it, that the majesty of the law, the sacredness ofthe lives of Roman noblemen, and the security of their property bepublicly vindicated: I am here to undo all that Lollius Corbulo supinelyallowed to be done. You shall perceive that I am wholly unlike any suchtrifler. Of one feature only of his procedure do I approve. I highlyacclaim his notions as to the right kind of torture. Slaves like you, however pampered, are property, like horses or cattle. Their value lies intheir usefulness. Any slave, after torture, should be as useful to hisowners as before. If a slave is placed upon the horse and weights hung tohis feet, his legs are often made helpless, he cannot ever walk again, heis a cripple. Still oftener does the rack leave a slave utterly useless. Our courts have always desired some form of torture by which therecalcitrant could be made to suffer acute pain, but not in any wayinjured. Lollius has introduced a torture which never injures anyonesubjected to it, but which causes extreme agony while in use. Only stretcha hard-yarn Spanish blanket over a thigh, draw it tight and hold the thighat just the right distance from just the right size of brazier with itscoals properly tended, and the subject can be made to tell the truth; butnot broiled alive, for the blanket will singe before the flesh under itcooks. You had best tell the truth, not such an ingenious string of liesas you told before Lollius. "

Then he had all my fellow-slaves brought up and ranged before him. 

"Your master, " he said, "has been foully done to death. If the guilt ofthis hideous crime can be indubitably fastened upon one of you or two orany few, the rest of you shall be held innocent and shall suffer nopenalties. If no facts can be ascertained limiting the guilt to some ofyou, all of you, according to the ancient law concerning such cases, shallbe put to death by crucifixion or exposure to the beasts in the arena, asour Prince may prefer. I have no desire to send to death any guiltlessman. I enjoin you all to tell the truth and to assist the law. The truth-tellers will suffer less of the torture. "

He then, beginning with the scullions, had every boy and man tortured overthe brazier, asking no question of any till he had felt the heat of thefire and had begun to yell for mercy. Then he would interrupt the torture, question the victim, bid the torturers again hold their subject close tothe fire; and again suspend the torture and ask questions. Naturally thevictims, frantic with pain and terror, said whatever they thought wouldget them off. 

Also, to my horror, I realized for the first time, what I had only vaguelysuspected before, how venomously they had envied me, how violentlyembittered most of them were against me, how they had hated their master'sfavorite. They were glad to slander me, they enjoyed assisting at my ruin, they relished the prospect of my being tortured and executed. Moreover itappeared that they had been carefully coached in what they were to say orhad agreed among themselves, without any outside hints, or after suchhints. 

The whole household made it appear that they had always suspected me ofdesiring Falco's death in order that I might gain my freedom and enjoy hispromised legacies; that I had enticed and wheedled him into leaving me inhis will an absurdly large share of his property. 

They were also unanimous in declaring that they had been unable to bringhome to me the devising of the robbery of the _triclinium_, but they hadall felt certain from the first that I had arranged to have confederatesof mine steal the table silver. They were equally consistent in assertingthat they all believed that I had murdered Falco, after arranging for thelooting of the gem-collection as a blind. 

Hour after hour I had to stand and watch wretch after wretch held to theglowing coals, had to listen to the shrieks of the victims, could not butrealize that Ravillanus was bent on my conviction, that nothing wouldswerve him from his purpose. 

Dromo, alone of all the household, alone of my obsequious, indulgedpersonal servants, held out against the torture and though he writhed, yelled, sobbed and even endured the pain until he fainted more than once, refused to say anything against me. 

After Dromo my turn came. When I was stripped Ravillanus rubbed his handsand remarked:

"You have your character written on your back! How could Falco trust afellow so branded and scarred! Easy-going masters like Falco not onlybring on their own deaths, but sap the foundations of safety for allslave-owners. Your back, in advance, advertises you guilty. Better ownup. "

I pass over the details. But I must confess that I was far from heroic. Perhaps it is true, and not an invention, that Marcus Scaevola voluntarilythrust his hand into the altar-fire and stood mute and smiling, andwatched it burn and char. If any man ever did that he had more self-control than I ever had. I could repress every indication of my agonies. Ifainted so many times that I lost count. The afternoon was drawing ontowards evening before Ravillanus began to lose patience. 

Tanno and Galen had been from the first among those about the tribunal. Now, in a pause, while I was being brought back to consciousness to beagain tortured, Galen succeeded in gaining the attention of Ravillanusenough to induce him, though grudgingly, to permit the celebratedadvocate, Memmius Tuditanus, whom they had brought with them, to speak inmy behalf. I had regained consciousness before he began to speak and heardmost of what he said. He spoke well. 

His chief point was that a gem-expert and art-amateur like me, knowingthat he was to inherit one of the finest and most carefully chosencollections of gems and art objects in all the world, would be the lastman on earth to allow it to be disturbed, let alone to plot itsransacking, the pillage of its cases and the dispersal of their preciouscontents. No man could better have exposed the absurdity of the wholeflimsy and preposterous fabrication that I had had two confederates, whohad, in my interest and at my suggestion, robbed first the _triclinium_and then the gem-collection, after which last I had myself murdered Falco. 

But his logic, his lucidity and his eloquence fell on deaf ears. Ravillanus was unmoved. He permitted Lustralis to make a rambling andincoherent harangue, setting forth his ridiculous contentions. 

Then he passed judgment:

"I hold you all innocent save Phorbas alone. Dromo is manifestly devotedto Phorbas and has lied in his behalf. But Dromo, apparently, was noaccomplice in the plot or in the murder. I acquit him with the rest. Phorbas, who vilely plotted against his master, who foully murdered him, Iadjudge guilty of his death and I hereby condemn him to be kept chained inthe slaves' prison until the next day of beast-fighting in the Colosseum, then, in the arena, to be exposed to the ferocity of the famished wildbeasts of the desert, wilderness and forest, by them to be lacerated andtorn to pieces, as he richly deserves. "

Tanno and Galen could indicate their grief and sympathy only by looks andgestures, for they dared not attempt to approach me. 

Then Ravillanus called:

"Where is that barber?"

The apparitor who had gone off before the trial began produced a barber. 

"Trim his hair and beard!" Ravillanus ordered. And I had to submit tohaving my long locks shorn and my beard clipped close, leaving me far toolike my true former self for my comfort, since I still had hopes ofAgathemer catching the real murderers in time to save me from the doomimpending over me because of the fanaticism of Ravillanus, while Ianticipated nothing but inescapable death should I be recognized as notPhorbas, but as Andivius Hedulio. 

I was then, late in the afternoon of the Kalends of July, haled off to theColosseum and immured in one of the cells of the lowermost crypt, farbelow the street level. To my amazement I found myself sharing the cellwith Narcissus, who had been similarly condemned to exposure to thebeasts, as the murderer of Commodus. 

Together we spent five dreadful days in the darkness, dampness, chill andfoulness of that tiny cell. I found that influence such as Tanno and Vediapossessed and cash such as they had at their disposal, could do much evenfor the occupant of such a cell, destined to such a doom. I was visited byGalen, more than once, and he emphasized the still hopeful possibility, nay probability, that Agathemer might, in time, save me, run down andbring before a magistrate the real murderers. I was gloomy, I admit. Buthis presence in that horrible hole and his words cheered me, bybrightening the hope I had never wholly lost. 

Also I was tended, massaged, rubbed, chafed, washed each day in warm waterbrought in big pails and poured into a big, shallow pan; I was anointed;clothed in a comfortable tunic, strengthened with plenty of good food andstrong wine and provided with a cot and bedding and blankets. I was ableto have Narcissus indulged also, in order that he might be a lessunpleasant cell-mate. 

He talked to me freely of life in the Palace, of Commodus, of Marcia, ofDucconius Furfur, of his own fatal mistake, of the amazing likeness, evenapparent identity, between Furfur and Commodus, of the naturalness of hisinability to tell them apart. 

I drank and ate all the food and wine I could swallow, slept all I could, and tried to be hopeful. 

Thus passed five horrible days and six hideous nights. 

After no more than twelve days, as I learned later, Severus felt himselfsecurely established as Prince of the Republic. By spending almost everymoment of daylight on official business, denying himself more than themerest minimum of sleep and food, he had put every department of thegovernment sufficiently in order to feel assured of their smooth andeffective operation. His troops were now all outside the City, comfortablycamped, well supplied and content; the City was orderly and its life hadresumed its normal aspect and activities. He felt free to win the regardof the populace by magnificent exhibitions in the amphitheater, on theoccasion of the eight days of the Games of Apollo, beginning the daybefore the Nones of July. 

Early next day Narcissus and I were haled from our cell and led, bypassages only too well known to me since my service in the Choragium, tothe iron-gated doorway from which condemned criminals were thrust out intothe arena for the lions or other beasts to tear. From inside that doorwayI could look across the sand of the arena and could see not only theherald on his tiny platform, elevated above the leap of the most agilepanther, not only the arena-wall opposite me, but also the faces of thesenators in their private boxes on the _podium_, even a portion of thenobility behind them and of the populace higher up and further back. 

The day was hot, still and clear, and the July sunshine, still slant inthe early morning, struck under the awning and long shafts of the mellowradiance brightened the sand. 

From that doorway, craning over the heads of the wretches in front of me, I caught glimpses of the fury of several beasts as they vented theirferocity upon some ordinary criminals and assuaged their ravenous hungeron their blood and flesh. 

My time was not far off, yet I still hoped against hope that Agathemermight, even yet, have caught the thieving murderers and would intervenebefore it was too late. I did not at all fear the beasts; I knew that nobear, panther, leopard, tiger or lion would hurt me, but I felt certainthat, when the beasts left me unharmed, I should be recognized as Festusthe Beast-Wizard: and then, as the scrutiny of the whole audience would beriveted on me, identified as Andivius Hedulio. 

Narcissus was led out, stepping jauntily between his guards, treadingspringily, with no sign of panic or dejection, a pattern Hercules, nakedsave for a loin-cloth, his skin pink and fresh, in spite of his days in adungeon, his mighty muscles rippling all over his huge form. The heraldproclaimed to all that this was Narcissus, professional wrestler, for longthe crony of Commodus, who had strangled his master and was to be punishedfor his treachery and crime by being torn to pieces in sight of all Rome. 

They let out on him a full-grown, young Mauretanian lion, starved andravenous. Narcissus was naked and empty-handed, his close-clipped hair, standing like the bristles of a brush, yellow as gold wire, shining in thesun. He stood almost as immobile as had Palus and faced the lion, which, after a bound or two towards him, flattened down on the sand and began tocrawl nearer, preparing for a spring. 

When it sprang Narcissus performed one of the most miraculous feats everbeheld in the amphitheater. He did not dodge but ducked slightly, thewide-spread, taloned paws missing his head on each side. His arms shot outas the lion sprang, and, though the brute came at him through the air likea log-arrow from a catapult, his hands gripped each side of the wide-openmouth and his thumbs pushed the inner corners of the lips between theparted upper and lower cheek-teeth. Therefore to close his jaws on hisvictim the lion had to crush a roll or fold of his own lips. Thisincredibly difficult feat prolonged his life a few breaths. The wholepopulace howled in ecstasy at the wretch's coolness, courage, strength, swiftness and adroitness. 

The lion's momentum and weight bore Narcissus to the ground, but histhumbs did not slip nor his hold loosen. On the sand lion and man rolledand wrestled, for a brief time. Then the lion, lashing out with his hindlegs, caught with the claws of one the wrestler's belly and halfdisemboweled him. Narcissus collapsed and the great fangs met in histhroat. 

The populace redoubled their yells. 

When silence fell, after the lion had been chased back into his cage andthe cage lowered down the lift-shaft, after the mangled corpse ofNarcissus had been dragged away and sand sprinkled to hide the red patcheswhere his blood had soaked it, I was haled forth and stood in the verycenter of the arena. From his perch the herald proclaimed that I wasPhorbas, the slave of Pompeianus Falco of Carthage and Rome, who hadplotted his master's death in order sooner to gain freedom from histestament, and had himself dealt Falco his deathblow. The populace jeeredand booed at me. 

I had, as Festus the Animal-Tender, often viewed the interior of theColosseum from the arena. But never when I was myself the cynosure of alleyes. There I stood, naked except for a loin-cloth, empty-handed, myshoulder-brand and scarred back visible to half the spectators, glared atand reviled. From my viewpoint the spectacle was singularly magnificent:the dark blue sky overhead, varied by some large, solid-looking, whiteclouds; the fluttering banners waving from the awning poles; theparticolored, sagging awning, shading half the audience; the beauty of theupper colonnade under the awning; the solidly packed throng of spectatorswhich crowded the colonnade, the aisles, the steps and every seat in thehollow of the amphitheater; the dignified ease of the nobility in theirspaced chairs, of the senators in their ample armchairs; the gorgeousnessof the Imperial Pavilion, filled with a retinue brilliant in blue andsilver, in green and gold, in white and crimson, about the hard, spare, soldierly figure on the throne. 

I was the only human being on the sand, eyed by all onlookers. 

From a door in the _podium_-wall a famished lion was loosed at me. Hebounded towards me, roaring; but, three or four lengths from me he paused, stood still regarding me, circled about me and then turned his back on meand loped off to the arena-wall, along which he rounded the arena, apparently searching for a way out. The populace, at first mute withastonishment, voiced their amazement in yells of a notably differentquality from those they had uttered while watching Narcissus. 

Another lion behaved similarly, except that he, after inspecting me, merely walked in circles far out in the arena, ignoring me as if I werenot there at all. 

They loosed on me five more lions, four tigers, four leopards, fourpanthers and four bears, of the fierce Alpine breed. Some of these animalsdelighted the populace by attacking each other and affording entertainmentby savage and ferocious fighting. But not one showed any disposition toattack me. 

As beast after beast approached me, conned me and spared me, the uppertiers began to call:

"He is innocent. "

"He is guiltless. "

"The beasts know. "

"He is not guilty. "

"The gods declare him clean of guilt!" and other such cries. 

Also they began to show signs of being restless and bored. Some yelled foranother criminal. 

A seventh lion was loosed at me. He paused like the others and eyed me;then he strolled up to me, snuffed at me, and rubbed his mane against myhip, emitting a rambling purr. I laid my hand on his mane. 

Instantly, from all sides at once, rang out cries of, "Festus!"

"Festus the Beast-Wizard!"

"He's no Phorbas, he's Festus come back!"

I was not far from the Imperial Pavilion and one of the retinue leanedover the _podium_-coping and called to me. I walked towards him. When Iwas within earshot he called in Greek:

"The King commands that you lead the beasts back to their cages. "

Elated and hoping for a reprieve, for vindication, for life, forrehabilitation, for Imperial favor, I led beast after beast back to itscage on a shaft-lift, or to a door in the wall. When the last one wascaged an officer of the Imperial retinue, a frontiersman only lately cometo Rome, stepped out of one of the postern doors, two arena-slaves withhim. They led me to the center of the arena, trussed my hands behind me, bound my ankles and wrapped round my head an evil-smelling old quilt, probably taken from the cot of some arena-slave housed in some cell underthe hollow of the amphitheater. Half suffocated by it, unable to shake itoff, for they tied it fast, I stood there, blind, realizing that theEmperor still believed me guilty, was inexorable and meant me to be tornto pieces then and there; believing, as I did, that my immunity fromattack was due to the effect of my gaze on the beasts I made mild. 

Now you, who read, know that I was not devoured. But I had no shred ofhope left. I thought that my end had come. I anticipated only the agony ofgreat fangs rending my flesh. 

I felt only the hot breath of a beast snuffing at my legs. Perhaps Ifainted. Certainly my next sensation was of lying on the sand, withseveral unseen animals growling near me and one or more snuffing at myfeet and legs. 

The amphitheater was quiet, even hushed. 

Then, suddenly, a lion uttered a full-throated, coughing roar, jagged andrumbling. When it died away a universal yell arose from the populace. Iheard cries of:

"He is innocent!"

"Set him free!"

"We behold the justice of the gods!"

"This proves him guiltless!"

"Festus or Phorbas, he is not guilty!"

And other such exclamations. 

Ridiculously, what passed through my mind, besides disgust at the foulodor of the quilt about my head, was the thought that, if I had known thatferocious beasts would avoid me even when they could not see my gaze, Ishould, on that unforgettable moonlit evening in Sabinum, have gone offhome to my cottage, to Septima, and have missed my encounter with Vedia, and our night in her traveling coach. 

Then I heard the voices of the animal-tenders essaying, with their long-handled tridents, to chase back into their cages the beasts loose aboutme. 

Soon someone cut my ankle-thongs and the cords about the quilt, also myarm-thongs. The quilt was twitched from my face and I was assisted to myfeet. The amphitheater was full of the yells of the populace, affirming myinnocence and the manifest intervention of the gods in my behalf. I rolledmy gaze around the audience and sought to interpret the demeanor of theImperial retinue. 

Then, as I gazed at the Emperor, too far off for me to make out hisexpression, the yells altered their quality. 

I turned round. 

I saw, running towards me across the sand, Agathemer!

Behind him was an official in the robes of a magistrate!

Behind him six more human shapes, four lictors convoying two boundprisoners. 

Agathemer embraced me and I him. 

"Saved, " he breathed, "we've got 'em and most of the loot. Enough toconvict 'em and clear you!"

As we loosed our embrace I looked at the approaching magistrate. 

He was Flavius Clemens!

Before the shock of recognizing him had passed I forgot him entirely. 

For I had recognized the two prisoners. 

Though I had seen them but once and that by moonlight, and that eightyears before, I recognized the two drunken robbers who had helped us toour couriers' equipment and sent us off galloping to Marseilles. 

Indubitably they were Carex and Junco!

While still numb with amazement I felt upon me the cold gaze of FlaviusClemens. I looked him full in the face. He was no less astonished than Iand I could read in his expression both amazement and suspicion. I wasacutely aware that Ravillanus, by having my hair and beard clipped, hadmade me readily recognizable to anyone and everyone who had known me inthe days of my prosperity. I was even more acutely aware of the keenintuition which every lover feels toward any actual or potential rival. Idreaded that Clemens not only recognized me for myself, but had aglimmering inkling as to why his suit of Vedia had twice failed. But hesaid nothing except:

"You are cleared of every imputation in connection with the murder ofPompeianus Falco. You are free to go where you please. "

Agathemer took off his robe, and threw it around me and led me to apostern. In the vaulted corridor we were met by Tanno, who embraced me andcongratulated me, and Galen, who also embraced me and felicitated me. Tanno said:

"Vedia kept up till Agathemer nabbed the criminals, then she fainted; butshe declares the faint relieved her and that she is entirely herself. "

In one of the cells under the hollow of the amphitheater I was givenstrong wine, all I wanted, and then washed with warm water alreadyprepared for me, and afterwards thoroughly massaged. Then I was clad ingarments of my own. 

"I feel like myself, " I remarked. 

Just then Flavius Clemens entered, his expression entirely toointelligible for me. Looking me full in the eyes he said:

"You have been passing as an art-amateur of Greek ancestry, under the nameof Phorbas, with the status of a slave. Before that you were among thehelpers at the Choragium, held as a slave belonging to the _fiscus_, bythe name of Festus. It seems to me that you are no Greek, nor of Greekblood, even to the smallest degree, I take you for a full-blooded Roman. Ithink I recognize you. Are you not Andivius Hedulio?"

"I am, " I acknowledged. 

He saluted me courteously and bade me a polite farewell, without any otherword. 

Tanno and Galen made no comment, nor did Agathemer. They assisted me outto Tanno's waiting litter. In it I was borne off to the lodgings which Ihad occupied eight days before, between my two trials. There I found atempting meal ready for me and ate liberally. Then I was put to bed and atonce fell into the deep sleep of utter exhaustion and slept through tilllong after daylight next day. 

When I woke I found that Dromo himself was by my bedside, as well asAgathemer. They tended me, washed me, plied me with wine and fed me withdainties, asserting that Galen had given orders that I was on no accountto stir from my bed or sit up in it. 

I slept again and, when I woke early in the afternoon, insisted on gettingup and being dressed. I was no sooner clad than there entered theapartment a big, florid, youthful Pannonian sergeant and four legionaries. 

I was yet again rearrested!

They led me away, forbidding Agathemer to exchange a word with me, or tofollow us. Through the brilliant July sunlight they led me, along itsnortheast flank, up the Steps of Groaning, and to the Mamertine Prison!

There I was handed over to four of the assistants to the PublicExecutioner. They stripped me of my outer garments, leaving me nakedexcept for my tunic. Then they haled me to the trap-door, lifted the trap, passed ropes under my armpits and lowered me into the dreaded lowerdungeon, the horrible Tullianum!

CHAPTER XXXIX

THE TULLIANUM

Gloomy as is the upper cell of the Mamertine Prison there is light enoughthere for my eyes to have been utterly blinded by it as I was lowered intothe black pit beneath. I saw nothing in the brief period while I was beinglet down, while the ropes were being drawn up, while the trap-door wasshut down and fitted into place. Then I was in the pitchest darkness, intowhich no ray, no glimmer of light could penetrate. I saw nothing whatever, yet I seemed to feel a presence, seemed to hear a faint footfall, seemedto be aware of another human being standing close to me. Then I heard adeep, resonant, healthy, pleasant-sounding voice ask:

"Brother in misfortune, who are you?"

I was past any impulse towards dissimulation or any belief in its utility. 

"I am Andivius Hedulio. "

"You are?" the big, cheerful male voice exclaimed. "You really are? Youamaze me! I am Galvius Crispinillus, lately and for many a year King ofthe Highwaymen! Give me your hand!"

Now, whatever distaste I felt for giving my hand to such a criminal, however great was my repugnance, however utterly I felt myself lost, however certain I was of the inevitable doom hanging over me, howevershort a respite I anticipated before my inescapable death, I was not foolenough to antagonize my companion in misery, presumably a powerful andferocious brute. I held out my hand. His grasped it. Mine returned thegrip. 

"Come this way!" he said. "This pit is damp and chilly, but even here abed of stale straw is better than the rock floor or the patches of mud onit or the heaps of filth. I know every inch of this hole and I know theleast uncomfortable place to sit. Come along!"

He guided me in the utter blackness to a pile of damp straw. On it we satdown, half reclining. 

"If you are thirsty, " he said, "I can guide you to the well. There is aspring in here and plenty of good water. "

"I thank you, " I said. "I shall be thirsty enough before long. Just now Iam far more interested to hear how you came here. Nobody believed that youwould ever be caught. "

"No more did I!" he ejaculated. "I had so easily defied the utmost effortsof the government and officials under Aurelius, of the incompetents underCommodus, of his vaunted Highway Constabulary; had so prospered, had socome and gone as I pleased and robbed whom I pleased from the Po to theStraits, that I thought no man could lay for me any snare I could notforesee, thought myself impeccably wary and prescient, though I had alwaystaken and would always take all necessary precautions. 

"But I was a fool. I comprehended Aurelius and Commodus and theirmagistrates and officials and constabulary; I was right in fearing nothingfrom Pertinax and Julianus; but I was an ass to think I could cope withSeptimius Severus. That man is deeper than the deepest abyss of mid-ocean!

"I thought I was certain of months of disorder, confusion and laxity inwhich I could go where I pleased, act as I pleased, garner a rich harvestand escape unscathed. Do you know, before he had left Aquileia, perhapsbefore he had passed the Alps, possibly before he had set out fromSabaria, that man had despatched not one but a dozen detachments toascertain my whereabouts, consider how best to take me unawares, lie inwait for me, nab me and hunt down my bands. I believe he had thought out, far back in that head of his, long before Pertinax was murdered, perhapseven long before Commodus died, every measure he would initiate if hebecame Emperor, down to the smallest detail. He had all his plans framedand thought out, I'll wager!

"His emissaries were no fools! They, first among those despatched againstme, knew their business. I was trapped near Sentinum, on the Kalends ofthis month. Never mind how; even in this plight I'm ashamed of it. Theyjust missed nabbing Felix Bulla along with me. But he got away that time. And I prophesy that now he is warned of his danger and knows thecleverness of the men on his trail, he'll show himself yet cleverer. He isa marvel, is Felix Bulla, and promises to outdo even my record. "

He broke off, breathing audibly. 

"By the way, " he went on, "are you hungry? I have part of a loaf of breadin here, not yet stale and no damper than it must get in this foul air. Ithasn't fallen on the floor. It's eatable. "

"I'll be hungry enough before long, " I replied, "but I am not hungry now. I had eaten all I wanted and of the best just before I was haled here. "

"Speak when you want any, " he said. "It will be share and share alike herefor us till they come to finish us. 

"And now, tell me about yourself. I have always been curious about you. Iheard all about you when you first got into trouble and I was told thatthe official report of your death was fictitious, invented by underlingstoo clumsy to capture you and fearful of the consequences of theirincompetence. Also I heard unimpeachable testimony that you were alivelater and had been seen in Rome with Maternus and outside Rome, the nextsummer, with the mutineers from Britain. I have often wondered how you gotinto such company. Tell me how you came to be with Maternus. "

I saw no utility in any further dissimulation of anything or in anyreticence; I began with our springtime stay at the farm in the mountains, and told my story in detail, from that hour. 

When I came to my visit, along with Maternus, to the Temple of Mercury andmentioned how Maternus had warned me that we were being watched, and how Ihad shot one glance towards the watchers and had recognized one of them, he interrupted me and, without enquiring where I had seen him before, asked for a description of the watcher I had recognized. I gave it as wellas I could and he said:

"That was my brother, Marcus Galvius Crispinillus, now dead. It was he whotold me that he had seen you with Maternus. Go on. "

Again, when I spoke of recognizing Crispinillus by the wayside as I passedwith the mutineers he interjected:

"Yes, he told me he saw you there. "

And later, when I spoke of being found with Agathemer after the massacre, separated from him and led off to the _ergastulum_ at Nuceria he remarked:

"I can't conceive how my brother missed you. Nor could he. He looked foryou among the corpses and went over the survivors twice in search of you. "

"I did not see him after the massacre, " I declared. 

"Mercury protected you, " was his comment. 

When I finished the story of my giving warning of the plot in the_ergastulum_ at Nuceria I paused. 

"Go on, lad!" he urged. "You have had adventures and you narrate themtellingly. "

I hesitated and then, utterly reckless, I blurted out:

"If I am to go on with my story you might as well know right now, that Iam not only Andivius Hedulio, but also Felix the Horse-Wrangler. "

He swore a great oath. 

"Boy!" he cried, "I love you! I have admired you since I listened toBulla's account of his one failure. At first I was furious at your havingspoiled the best plan I ever laid and the most brilliant chance I everhad, at your preventing me from making the biggest haul of booty I everhad hopes of. But, as years passed, my resentment has abated and myadmiration has warmed. I bear you no grudge. I have often thought I shouldlike to meet you and find out why on earth you desired to thwart me andhow you managed to do it. Go on! Tell me the rest. "

I resumed my tale. 

When I came to my outlook from the crag and explained my formeracquaintance with Vedia he interrupted. 

"Of course, if you knew the lady and she was an old flame of yours, Idon't wonder that you intervened to save her. My lads were so rough andfierce-looking that they had a worse reputation than they deserved. Whenthey captured prisoners rich enough to pay any profitable ransom theytreated them with the most scrupulous deference. Business is business andwe were not brigands for fun, but for profit. Also they all dreaded me andmy orders were explicit and emphatic. Your sweetheart would have been asrespected with them as in her own home. But, of course, you couldn't feelthat way. Go on with your story. "

I demurred, asserting that I felt sleepy. He assented and we composedourselves on the straw. How long I slept or when I wakened I do not know:I was roused by the opening of the trap-door and by the light whichentered from above. Food was lowered to us; pork-stew, still warm, in atwo-handled, wide-mouthed jug; bread; olives, not wholly spoiled; and asmall kidskin of thin, sour wine. Galvius received the dole andsafeguarded the containers: the ropes were drawn up, the trap-door resetand we were again in utter darkness. 

To my astonishment I felt entirely myself and very hungry. We drank andate deliberately and again drank. Galvius was a careful husbander of thewine, and we drank mostly water from the spring. 

Afterwards, nestled in the not unendurably damp straw, chilly, but notshivering, we sat or lay side by side and he urged me to continue mystory. I began where I had left off, and, going into the smallest details, brought my history down to the hour of my consignment to our dungeon. 

When I paused he sighed, but not gloomily. 

"You have had marvellous adventures, " he said, "and marvellous luck, bothgood and bad. I knew that Marcia had belonged to your uncle. I wasinformed of the existence of Ducconius Furfur, of his likeness toCommodus, of his presence in the Palace, of his utilization as a dummyEmperor, to set Commodus free to masquerade as Palus, and I heard that hehad been your neighbor. 

"Now go back, begin your tale at the beginning. Tell me of your gettinginto trouble at the first, of how you escaped in the first place. I haveoften wondered how you managed it. "

"Give me a respite, " I demurred, "my voice is tired. It is your turn totalk. Tell me how you learned about Ducconius Furfur and about Commodusmasquerading as Palus and about Marcia. "

"Why, " he said, "I had friends in one or more towns when I first took tothe woods. They gave me tips that helped me to make fine hauls on thehighways. As I prospered I made more friends; they helped me and mygrowing success gained more, till I had friends in every town in Italy andin Rome itself and an organized service of road-messengers. Why, Imperialcouriers often carried letters and packets, destined for me, from one townto another, or even carried onward letters from me to distant friends orparcels of my booty. 

"In Rome itself I had many agents and chiefly my sister, GalviaCrispinilla, a professional procuress and poisoner, who knew the worstsecrets of the lives of all Rome's wealthy and noble debauchees, and ourbrother, Marcus Galvius Crispinillus, a professional informer and a valuedmember of the Imperial Secret Service. I never knew why he had a spiteagainst you, but he had and it was false information given by him thatcaused your proscription and ruin and thrust you into your years ofmisery. I always felt that you did not deserve what you have suffered, buthis grudges were none of my business. 

"He is dead, as is Galvia, for she kept poison about her and gave a supplyto him and to me to use in case of capture. I was caught without mine, forI was certain that no danger threatened me. He and she took the poisonwhen they saw capture inevitable, as it will be for most evil-doers allover the Empire under the sway of such a man as Septimius Severus. "

He paused and I meditated awhile, puzzling as to how I could have incurredthe vindictive rancor of any secret-service agent. 

Presently I said:

"Tell me how you came to be King of the Highwaymen. "

"My boy, " he said, "my case is far different from yours. You had anhonorable origin and an honorable past. Nor were any of your adventuresdiscreditable to you, even if some situations you have been in weredistressing then and are humiliating to remember. You have nothing to beashamed of unless it be such a trifling peccadillo as impersonatingSalsonius Salinator. 

"My origin I shall never disclose, not even to a brother in misfortune. Mylife has been one long series of perjuries, murders, robberies, debaucheries and ruthless cruelties. I have been deaf to allconsiderations of decency, pity and mercy; as unmoved by such feelings aswill be the savage beasts which spared you but will rend me to shreds. Iam at the end of my crimes; let me hide them. My doom is at hand. Whyshould I defile your ears with the tale of my atrocities? Let them remainuntold. "

"You slander yourself, " I demurred. "You cannot make me believe that a mancapable of condoning my balking of your great coup on the FlaminianHighway, capable of guiding me to this bed of straw and of offering me ashare of his bit of stale bread can be all bad. There must be much in yourpast life less dark than you indicate. "

He ruminated. 

"Frankly, " he said, "I cannot recall anything I ever did at which a manlike you would not shudder. I have been a good sport, that is why I couldnot but chuckle, after my first wrath cooled, at your spoiling my greatcoup, as you call it. But, all my life, I have gloried in my treacheriesand cruelties. I have hated all mankind and been merciless to foes, ifthey came into my power, and have pretended friendliness I did not feel soas to make use of those who thought me friendly. 

"I can well recall only one human being I really loved: my wife. She hadher weak points, for she was a despiser of the gods, mocking all religionand addicted to some contemptible Syrian cult of superstition andpuerilities. But I loved her in spite of that failing, for, in every otherway, she was a paragon. She is dead now and spared the agonies she wouldhave suffered at my capture and fate. Our two daughters are safe; bothhealthy, both with the full status of citizens of the Republic, both wellprovided with possessions, each married to a good, reliable husband, though the younger is almost too young to be a wife. I feel at peace aboutthem. 

"I really loved my wife and in a way, her two girls. But, except for them, I have cheated, ensnared, robbed and killed without pity or remorse. "

"You have no regrets?" I queried. 

"No remorse, " he corrected me. "I should do it all over again if I wereback as I was when I took to brigandage. 

"Of course, while my wife was alive and I hoped for an old age with her, Ihad a dream of investing my savings in a house in some out-of-the-way townand in an estate near it and living at ease on the proceeds of myrobberies. But that was always far off in the future; I laid up a hoard tomake it possible, but I was never anywhere near ready to make use of thathoard. Now it has been divided between my daughters, for, after theirmother's death, I realized that no life but brigandage was possible forme. If I had not been captured I should have gone on as I was, I should goon now, could I escape and resume my old life. I feel no remorse. 

"But I confess to one regret. I have, all my life, requited every helperand paid off every grudge. But one benefactor, my greatest benefactor, Ihave not repaid, although, when I learned of his inestimable service tome, I swore a great oath to requite him, if it ever was in my power. Ihave never been able to learn who he was, or even whether he is yetliving. If he is, I hate to die without requiting him as he deserves, inso far as I might. 

"And I own that I was and am keenly curious to learn who he was. The merecuriosity gnaws at me. Perhaps you understand. "

"I do, " I said. "I also am extremely curious about a mystery I encounteredin the earlier part of my adventures. That memory urges me to comply withyour request for the former half of my story. "

And, beginning with my uncle's death, I narrated all my earlieradventures. When I told of the cloaked and hatted horseman by the roadsidein the rain, the day of the brawl in Vediamnum and the affray near VillaSatronia, he cut in with:

"That was my brother, Marcus. He was detailed to report on your localfeud. Whether he knew of you before that, whether his queer spite againstyou originated then or earlier, I don't know. He took dislikes and likeswithout any traceable reasons. "

Similarly, when I told of seeing Marcus Crispinillus peer through thepostern door of Nemestronia's water-garden he interjected some remarks. 

He uttered admiring ejaculations as I told of wrestling with the leopardon the terrace at Nemestronia's and of how Agathemer and I crawled throughthe drain at Villa Andivia, also at my tale of my branding and scourgingand of the loyalty of Chryseros Philargyrus. 

But, when I came to our discovery of the hut in the mountains, he stirreduneasily in the rustling straw and muttered in his throat. As I describedour winter at the hut he became more and more excited, utteringejaculations, half suppressed at first, as if not to interrupt mynarrative, later louder and louder. 

When I told of our killing the five ruffians he sprang up. 

"Say no more!" he cried. "Come to my arms. Let me embrace you! Let meclasp you close! You are he! You are my benefactor! The man who tells thatstory in such detail cannot have heard it from another, he must have livedit! To think that you are Felix the Horse-Master and also Andivius Hedulioand that you saved my Nona! My gratitude cannot be expressed, any morethan your service to me can be requited. But I shall do all I can. Thegems you took were but a trifle and you were welcome to them. In fact, Inever missed them. In any case they were but an installment on what youdeserved and now deserve. It is not yet too late for me to save you. I cancause your speedy release and probably your complete rehabilitation. Theyhave been keeping me here in the hope of extorting from me informationwhich would enable them to ferret out my confederates in the towns andcities. They have wheedled and threatened, but have hesitated to tortureme, since no one doubts that I was, by origin, a freeman. I have held outand should have held out, even if tortured. Now I'll make a voluntaryconfession, enough to delight the magistrates. Chiefly I'll emphasize yourcomplete innocence and my brother's malignity. I'll have to save someothers along with you and I shall. But, to a certainty, I'll save you!

"It seems to me there is a poplar-pole somewhere in this dungeon. "

He felt about and presently I heard a dull thumping, on the trap-door, ina sort of rhythm, like the foot-beating of spectators at Oscan dances. After no long interval the trapdoor was lifted; Crispinillus called up:

"Tell them I have changed my mind. I'll confess. I'll make a fullconfession. I'll tell the whole story!"

The trap-door was replaced and we were again in complete darkness. 

He settled himself beside me in the straw. 

"No need to husband our provisions now, " he said. "Neither of us will beleft long in this hole. Let's comfort ourselves with food and wine. "

I felt inclined the same way and we munched and passed the kidskin backand forth. 

"Tell me, " I said, "how it was that your thumping brought such a quickresponse. "

"I signalled in the code of knocking known to all jailers, " he said. 

I expressed my amazement and incredulity. 

"Don't you fool yourself, " he said. "There is a certain sort of mutualunderstanding between executioners and jailers on the one hand andcriminals on the other. There must be a give and take in all trades, evenbetween man-hunters and hunted men. They were on the watch for any signalI might give, if it really meant anything. They were pleased to hear. You'll see the results promptly. "

In fact, after no long interval, the trap-door was lifted again and a ropelowered, up which Crispinillus was bidden to climb. 

He embraced me time after time, saying that we should never set eyes oneach other again and that, confession or no confession, he knew his doomwas not far off; but he wanted me, as long as I lived, to remember thegratitude of Nona's husband, his thankfulness for my treatment of hisfamily and his efforts to requite the service. 

"Keep up a good heart, lad, " he said. "You won't be long here alone in thedark, and you'll soon be as coddled and pampered as a man can be. Longlife to you and good luck and may you be soon married and raise a finefamily. Peace of mind and prosperity to you and yours and a green old ageto you!"

And he climbed the rope, hand over hand, like the best sailor on Libo'syacht. 

CHAPTER XL

SEVERUS

Not many hours later, I, sleeping soundly in the straw, was wakened by theraising of the trap-door. Again a rope was let down. This time two of theExecutioner's helpers slid down the dangling rope. They addressed me mostdeferentially and asked permission to prepare me to be hauled up, thereupon adjusting the ropes about me. 

In the upper chamber of the prison I was rubbed down and clothed in thebest sort of tunic, shod with the ceremonial boots of a nobleman andwrapped in a nobleman's outer garments. Then I was led off to the nearestpoint to which a litter may approach the Mamertine Prison. The brilliantsunrays blinded me and the sight of Rome in the glory of a mellow Julyafternoon brought the tears to my eyes and made me gulp and swallow. Butthe tears did not blind me too much to recognize Imperial liveries on thelitter-bearers and runners and intendant. I was obsequiously invited toenter the litter, the panels were slid, the curtains drawn, and thebearers set off. They carried me to the Palace!

There I was received by the new Chamberlain in person, to be sure withfour armed guardsmen accompanying him, but himself as deferential aspossible. By him I was conducted to a luxurious apartment, consisting of alarge anteroom, a private library, a private _triclinium_, a privatebathroom, and two bedrooms, all furnished with the most lavish abundanceand in perfect taste. 

I found a small regiment of servants to minister to my wants: a valet, amasseur, a cook, waiters, errand-pages, a reader and yet others. I couldhave anything I asked for in that apartment, but a guard at its outer doorsaw to it that I remained in it. 

There I was bathed, massaged, obsequiously asked what dainties and wines Ipreferred, supplied with all I suggested and clothed in garments to myliking; huge heaps of togas, mantles, wraps, tunics and shoes beingbrought in for me to choose from. There I spent some comfortable days, sleeping much, having myself read to, mostly from the private letters ofthe Emperors, and from the Anticatones of the Divine Julius; and, from thebalcony of the ante-room enjoying the splendid view southwestwards, overthe Circus Maximus, the lower reaches of the Tiber and the Campagna, formy apartment was on that side of the Palace and high up. 

When I asked if I might despatch letters to my friends I was told that theEmperor had given orders that I was to communicate with no one and no onewith me. I worried over Vedia's anxiety and almost as much over theprobable disquiet of Agathemer, Tanno and even of Galen. But I washelpless and endeavored to be calm. I was certainly comfortable andhopeful, though impatient. 

At last, after six days of this luxurious imprisonment, on the day beforethe Ides of July, sometime before noon, my apartment was entered byJuvenalis himself in the full regalia of Prefect of the Palace. He greetedme deferentially and was most respectful. He informed me that the Emperordesired an interview with me and through him conveyed to me his regretsthat it had had to be postponed so long and that I had been so long keptin confinement and seclusion. He had now come to conduct me to theEmperor, who was at last free to spend with me an hour or more. When myvalet had made me comfortable and had prepared me for my private audience, Juvenalis escorted me to the upper private audience-hall, a chamberspacious and magnificent, though somewhat smaller than the lower privateaudience-hall and far smaller than the great hall for public audiences orthe vast throne-room. 

I followed Juvenalis along the corridors, elated by my nobleman's attire, but nervous at the prospect of coming face to face with the master of Romeand Italy, with the prospective (as he turned out to be in fact) master ofthe world. 

I was ushered in and Juvenalis withdrew, shutting the door and leaving mealone with the great man. He rose from his chair, for it could not becalled a throne, took a step or two towards me and greeted me affably, asone nobleman another. He bade me be seated, did not sit down himself untilI had taken the chair he indicated; then he settled himself deliberately. 

We eyed each other, in silence. I cannot conjecture what he thought of me, but I can never forget the impression made on me by him. 

He wore the Imperial robes consciously. I had often noted how Commoduswore his without thought, as any fisherman wears his rags. Severus wasaware of his regalia, and especially of the sky-blue shoes with theImperial Eagles embroidered on them in gold thread. He looked a man in thebest of health, completely fit for a frontier command, for opencampaigning, full of surplus energy, hard-muscled, spare and enduring. Also he looked as competent, discerning, clear-headed and ruthless as aman could be. Most of all I diagnosed him as economical of himself, of hismen and of his possessions, especially of cash; as swayed by self-interestalone, as flinty-hearted; yet as capable of kindliness when it did notinterfere with his plans and was not too expensive. 

I waited in silence for him to speak. He said:

"I am a very busy man, even far too busy. Commodus left the treasury emptyand every department of the government inefficient. Pertinax refilled thetreasury, but his attempts at reorganization merely disorganizedeverything and prepared for the general confusion which came about underJulianus. With insufficient funds I must fill the Treasury, reorganize thewhole governmental machinery, get it to working dependably and smoothly, and at the same time prepare for a civil war which I hope to win, but ofwhich I can foretell the outcome no better than could the Divine Julius besure of the outcome of his when he crossed the Rubicon. Amid all thesecares and occupations I must keep fit and must do all I can to win theconfidence and respect of all classes by rectifying, as far as I may, theconsequences of the inattention of my predecessors and of the knavery andvenality of their subordinates. And I must hurry off to deal withPescennius Niger, who is no mean antagonist. Altogether I have no time fortrifles. 

"But I do not reckon your case as a trifle, though the safety of theRepublic by no means hinges on it. And I am more interested in you than inany one individual outside of my family and connections. I have neverheard of a man brought so near death, so ruined, but for the singularfavor of the gods so utterly and so hopelessly ruined, subjected to suchdangers and miseries, so baselessly, by such malevolent misrepresentationsand fabrications. You deserve to be recompensed. You shall be. And besidesthe merits of your case I am curious about you. 

"You must be curious yourself. 

"When I foresaw that I was likely to be acclaimed Emperor by my soldiersand welcomed by the Senate as Prince of the Republic, I set on footvarious measures certain to benefit the Commonwealth and the Empire. Especially I made an effort to abolish or at least curb the banditry, brigandage and outlawry which corrupts the entire rural population ofItaly and is a national disgrace. I was successful in so far as that myemissaries broke up most of the bands of outlaws and captured many ofthem, particularly the most famous of all, known as the King of theHighwaymen. 

"I had made sure to have secret agents watching all my emissaries, onwhatever errand I had sent them. These secret agents reported thatpowerful influences were at work to bring about the escape of this arch-criminal. I set reliable men to find out what those influences were. Theirinvestigations led straight to Marcus Galvius Crispinillus, a life-longmember of the Imperial secret service, universally known as a professionalinformer, yet considered second to no man in the secret service as tousefulness and reliability, the only man among the spies of Commodus whohad been trusted and retained by Pertinax and Julianus, the very man whommy relations in Rome, who had kept me posted as to conditions here, hadrepresented as most likely to be dependable and serviceable. I ordered himapprehended but he and his despicable sister, Galvia Crispinilla, escapedarrest by taking some of her poison. Their papers were seized, but so hugewas the mass of them and so great their confusion that they could not beput in order and their secrets utilized at once. So sluggishly did theirunravelling proceed that, although it was manifest at once that theprecious pair had been agents in Rome for the King of the Highwaymen, hadmarketed for him his booty, had kept up an almost daily correspondencewith him, had warned him of all facts and rumors likely to affect him, hadmaintained a highly organized and cleverly concealed system of secretagents and road-messengers for his benefit and theirs; yet, until hisvoluntary confession, neither I nor anyone else concerned had theslightest inkling that the King of the Highwaymen was named Caius GalviusCrispinillus and was a full brother to the procuress and poisoner and theprofessional spy, who had committed suicide to escape retribution fortheir villainies. Until his confession was brought to my attention I hadequally no inkling that all relevant aspersions upon you had originatedwith or been transmitted by Marcus Galvius Crispinillus. 

"The case against you, on the basis of the papers filed at Secret ServiceHeadquarters, was most damnatory. You were represented to have been theman who had suggested to Egnatius Capito the formation of his conspiracyagainst Commodus; and to have planned for him the inclusion in it of allundetected survivors of the members of Lucilla's abortive conspiracy ofthe year before; to have offered yourself as the most likely man tosucceed in assassinating Commodus, as he held you in high regard for someexploit in some roadside affray in Sabinum; to have pretended illness as acloak for your machinations. Then it was represented, circumstantially, that, after the detection and foiling of Capito's conspiracy, you hadtaken ship for Spain, made your way to the camp of the rebel, Maternus, won his confidence, suggested to him the idea of a secret march on Rome, of the assassination of Commodus during the Festival of Cybele, plannedfor him the details of that secret march, managed it for him and come allthe way from Spain to Rome with him. 

"When his attempt failed, you, alone among his henchmen, escaped. Youthen, according to the reports, went straight to Britain, visited everyimportant camp, infused into the garrisons the spirit of discontent, engineered their mutiny, suggested to them the sending of a dangerouslylarge deputation to Rome, led that deputation and were its controllingspirit all the way to Rome, vanishing successfully when the mutineers wereinduced by Oleander to return to Britain and their associates, by hisdevice, were massacred or consigned to _ergastula_. 

"With such reports in my hands, with additions declaring that whileneither your presence nor your influence could be proved, you wereprobably the guiding spirit in the assassination of Pertinax, it is nowonder that I, crediting these apparently sincere and trustworthystatements, considered you the most dangerous among all the survivors ofconspiracies against my predecessors, which conspirators, on principle, Imeant to exterminate as an obvious measure of mere sensible precaution. 

"No one seems to have recognized you as Andivius Hedulio while you were inthe service of Pompeianus Falco under the name of Phorbas, except onlyGalen, who has explained and justified to me his reasons for protectingyou, of which I entirely approve. He did well. As Phorbas I heard of youfirst, when it was represented to me that you had murdered your latemaster and been cleared by that indulgent humanitarian, Lollius Corbulo;that the case was a most flagrant miscarriage of justice and that suchslackness would breed a crop of such murders unless temptation wascounteracted by severity. I then directed Cassius Ravillanus to deal withyou, for I trusted him. 

"When, in the arena of the Colosseum, I saw the savage, ravening beastsnot only spare you but fawn on you, I felt sure that you had been falselyconvicted, that you were innocent and that the gods had intervened to saveyou. Later, when I heard the cries of 'Festus' and they were explained tome, I was doubly incensed against you. That no beast would touch you, evenwhen bound and your face covered, convinced me of your complete innocence. 

"Thereupon, after I had ordered you released, I had turned my attentionagain to the spectacle of the games in the arena, promising myself aninterview with you later, for I was intensely curious about you. But, thatvery day, before dark, Flavius Clemens craved a brief private audiencewith me and informed me that he had recognized you as Andivius Hedulio andthat you had confessed your identity. I ordered you at once into theTullianum, pending my decision as to how to wring from you a completedisclosure of your villainies and accomplices before putting you to death. 

"Then, to my amazement, the confession of the King of the Highwaymenrepresented you as a wholly innocent man, incredibly slandered andcalumniated, and all by Marcus Galvius Crispinillus, why and for what endwas unknown. 

"I at once ordered you released and brought to the Palace. Here I havekept you in unmerited confinement until the papers of your traducer couldbe sifted and I could go over those relevant to your case. Manifestly younever had anything to do with inciting any conspiracy or any march onRome. All aspersions on you were invented by Crispinillus. I aminexpressibly curious about you. I want you to tell me your story in yourown way, in detail, taking your time. In particular I want to learn howyou came to be with Maternus and later with the mutineers from Britain. Iam at leisure to harken. "

He had put me entirely at my ease. Manifestly he wanted to hear my story, was in the mood to listen, and rather enjoyed the respite from care whichthis carefully arranged interval of leisure gave him. I felt emboldenedand began with an explanation of the feud between the Satronians and theVedians, of the lawsuit between Ducconius Furfur and my uncle, and of hispurchase of Marcia from Ummidius Quadratus and his manumission of her. 

After these preliminaries I launched into my story. He listenedattentively and with every indication of lively interest, with fewinterruptions. Once he clapped for his pages and had in snow-cooled wineto refresh me and soothe my throat. Upon my account of my wrestle withNemestronia's leopard he cut in with a series of questions as to my powerover animals. When I came to my encounter with Pescennius Niger he waskeenly interested, as in my report of his reputation in Marseilles, according to Doris, and uttered one or two remarks. Otherwise he wasapparently absorbed in my narrative. 

When it was over he said:

"I believe you, your story sounds true; all of it. You have had amazingadventures and have escaped alive manifestly by the special favor of theimmortal gods, particularly of Mercury. Like you, I pay special attentionto winning and keeping the favor of Mercury, though, of course, for me, asfor all soldiers, Mithras is the most important god. 

"You may be very sure that I shall, as far as may be, provide that noinformer or secret-service agent can ever again succeed in gainingcredence for baseless fabrications, such as those from which you havesuffered. I shall endeavor to have it arranged that reports of any oneagent be checked up by reports of another, the two being wholly unknown toeach other. Thus no man shall, if I can prevent it, again be persecuted asyou have been. I am shocked at such laxity and I shudder at the powerwielded by Marcus Galvius Crispinillus, and at his misuse of it. I canfind no trace of any reasonable motive; he seems to have slandered youfrom mere whim or the mere love of causing misery, or some spite orperhaps to increase the impression of his own importance. 

"Now there looms before me the duty of seeing you restored to your rights, as to both rank and property. 

"In respect to your standing as a Roman nobleman there has been, is andwill be no difficulty. I have had everything attended to and all necessaryformalities have been gone through, all official, public records made. Youare a Roman nobleman in good standing with every right which your birthassured you. 

"As to your property matters are not so simple. I find that you will bevery wealthy, anyhow, as the heir of one-fourth of the estate of your latemaster, Pompeianus Falco, and also as inheritor of his marvellouscollection of gems and curios, therefore, even without anything of yourconfiscated property, you will be affluent. 

"But that does not absolve me from the duty of seeing justice done you; ofputting you in possession of your house here in Rome and of your estatesin Sabinum, and in Bruttium. I find that all these were held by the_fiscus_ until after the death of Cleander. Owing to the destruction of alarge part of the Palace records in the great fire I cannot make surewhether what I am told is true. I am told that your town house and countryestates were granted by the _fiscus_, under proper seal, ostensibly by thecommand of Commodus, to the present owner. That present owner is inpossession of the official transfer deeds and they are properly made out. Yet neither from the present owner nor from the deeds can it beascertained which Prefect of the Palace authorized the transfer. BetweenCleander and Aemilius Laetus, Commodus had thirty different Prefects ofthe Palace, most of them for very brief terms, one for less than a fullday, for he was appointed after noon one day and put to death before noonof the day following. To a certainty, I cannot ever get legal proof thatthe grant was gotten by bribery or was in any way illegal. 

"Therefore I cannot command the present holder to return your formerproperty to the _fiscus_, in order that the _fiscus_ may turn it over toyou. Nor is there any precedent for one Prince revoking a grant made undera predecessor. Nor is there anything in our law or customs enabling me tobid the present holder to sell back to the _fiscus_ your entire formerproperty, even at a high valuation. 

"Moreover I do not feel that I ought, unless I must, take from thetreasury the cash necessary to repurchase your house and estates, so as tobe able to restore you to full possession of them; or to hand you a sum incash sufficient to recompense you for the confiscation of your heritage. 

"Yet, whatever straits the treasury may be in, I pledge you my word that, if you cannot recover full possession of your estates in any other way, Ishall compel the present holder to release them to the _fiscus_ and shallorder the _fiscus_ to restore them to you, I, out of our depletedtreasury, paying the present holder, but I do not want to resort to thisunless all other means fail. 

"Hoping that the matter may be adjusted in another way, easier for allthree of us, I have arranged to have the present holder of your formerestates here in the Palace. 

"When this interview between you and me terminates, I shall have youescorted to a room where you will find awaiting you the present holder ofyour former estates. If you two cannot come to some agreement by which, with full satisfaction to both of you, you become again possessed of yourpatrimony, I shall then take the measures to which I have pledged myself. 

"To that end I have given orders that, if you formally make request for asecond private audience with me, you shall have it, although I must leaveRome for the East within eight days and cannot despatch the imperativebusiness awaiting me, even if I could go without food, rest or sleep. Imean what I say, you are to ask for a second audience if you really wantone and if you ask for one you shall have it. But do not ask for it unlessyou must. 

"And now, is there anything else you desire to say, or to request or anyquery you wish to put to me? If so, I authorize and command you to speak. "

Choking, I muttered that I had nothing further to say. 

"In that case, " said the Emperor, standing up, "this interview is at anend. You shall be conducted to your conference with the present owner ofyour former estates, which I hope may turn out to your full satisfaction. "

And he clapped his hands for a page. 

The page conducted me through endless corridors, twisting and turning. During that brief interval I did a great deal of very confused thinking. Iwas dazed and puzzled. I had realized as he ended his harangue that itwould have been ridiculous to ask that man to change his mind or evenmodify a decision. He was not that sort of Emperor. Yet he had pledgedhimself to restore to me my estates or recompense me in cash. I felt thathe meant it; yet I knew that he would never have uttered that pledge if hehad felt that there was the remotest chance of his ever being called on tofulfill it. He was too parsimonious to promise such generosity unlessabsolutely certain that the occasion for it would never confront him. Yethow could he escape it and why did he feel so sure? How could anybeneficiary from such a grant of confiscated property be induced todisgorge except by Imperial order and that with full compensation? Why hadSeverus so sedulously, yet so obviously, avoided naming the present holderof my former property? The Emperor was an austere man, stern by habit, almost grim by nature, certainly serious. He had spoken seriously. Yet Isensed a jest somewhere in the background of his thoughts. I almostbelieved I had caught the glint of a twinkle in his hard, gray eyes. CouldI be wrong? Could I be right?

It seemed like a jest to send me to an interview with a beneficiary of agrant of confiscated property, enriched thereby, and to imply, even tosuggest, that he might be induced to restore to me his acquisitions, without pressure, merely by amicable converse. I conjured up before me theprobable appearance of the man I was to meet; perhaps gross and greedylike Satronius Satro, perhaps dwarfish and mean like Vedius Vedianus, probably like anyone of the avaricious magnates, associated withPullanius, whom I had met while impersonating Salsonius Salinator. 

I resented the possibility of an Imperial jest. I was more and more dazedand puzzled the nearer I approached the inevitable interview and thenearer I approached it the more futile and hopeless it seemed and the moredespondent I grew. 

The page paused at a door, opened it, waved me in and shut it. 

I was in a small parlor, and there was no other man in it; I saw only oneseated human figure, a woman, a lady, a graceful young woman, a charmingyoung woman. 

Then, suddenly, I saw through it all. 

My troubles were indeed at an end. 

I recognized Vedia!

EPILOGUE

I do not think it necessary to describe in detail my marriage to Vedia, nor our dinners at Nemestronia's, at Tanno's, at Segontius Almo's; nor thedinners we gave at my old home, after it had been fitted up to our liking, all trace of its occupancy by tenants effaced and we had settled there. 

Why tell at length of my manumission of Agathemer, of my endowment of himwith a goodly share of my heritage from poor Falco, or of his dispositionof Falco's gems and his rapid acquisition of vast wealth and of hiscontinued prosperity?

When my misfortunes began Nemestronia was past her eighty-fourth birthday. After my rehabilitation Vedia and I helped at the celebration of herninety-fifth, and of three more. 

Nemestronia lived almost to her hundredth birthday, in full possession ofher faculties and, until near the end, in marvellously good health. She isstill remembered as having been the oldest noble matron ever known inRome. 

Like her, Chryseros Philargyrus, though long past the usual term of humanlife when my disasters overtook us, survived my nine winters of adventuresand lived to greet me as a son rearisen from the dead, in the tenth summerafter he had sped me on my way in the midnight woods from DucconiusFurfur's land. 

Enough to say that Vedia and I, from a second-floor balcony, watched passthe triumphal procession of our great Prince of the Republic, SeptimiusSeverus, when he returned victorious over both his rivals and reënteredRome, indubitably master of the world. 

As to my later life I cannot forbear remarking that I am the only man withpierced ears who ever mingled as an equal with the bathers in the Baths ofTitus, the only man, certainly, with a brand mark on his shoulder andscourge-scars on his back who ever habitually frequented that mostmagnificent of our fashionable pleasure-resorts. My brand-marks andscourge-scars have not diminished my enjoyment of life except that theyfrequently give bores a pretext for insisting on my narrating myadventures. 

Of course, as in my city mansion, so also at Villa Andivia, I have hadconstructed and consecrated a handsome private chapel to Mercury. 

NOTES TO ANDIVIUS HEDULIO

A. THE ROMAN ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM

From the expulsion of the Kings, the people of Rome, assembled in theirvoting-field outside their city, each year elected the magistrates for theyear: others, and especially quaestors, answering to our army-paymasterand custom-house collectors; praetors (judges, generals and governors ofprovinces), and two consuls, acting as chief-magistrates and generals-in-chief. A man was generally first quaestor, later praetor and finallyconsul, often holding other intermediary offices. 

Ex-officials, who had held the more important offices of the Republic, became by immemorial custom life-members of the Senate, which was never anelective, always a selective body, without legal authority but with greatinfluence. As the Republic's Empire spread the Senate was less and lessable to control provincial governors, until such self-confident geniusesas Sulla, Caesar and Augustus became able to control it. The RomanRepublic was never abolished, and did not die till the Turks capturedConstantinople in 1453. It conquered a great Empire and when its Senatecould no longer control the magistrates who managed that Empire, itssolders who, by conquering and holding provinces to pay taxes maintainedthe Empire and the Republic, wearied of the incompetence of the Senate'sappointees, of the squabbles and strife of their leaders, chose byacclamation one commander whom they loved and trusted. The Senate, at hismercy, legalized his sovereignty by conferring on him for life the powersof a Tribune, an official who could initiate nothing, but had the legalpower to forbid anything and everything. 

The Senate continued to administer those provinces reckoned safe frominvasion or insurrection; always two governed by ex-consuls and about tengoverned each by an ex-praetor. It continued to dispose of the fundsderived from their taxes and to recruit itself from ex-magistrates and toretain much of its influence, dignity and importance. 

The outer provinces and those prone to turbulence were governed not by ex-consuls and ex-praetors acting in the name of the Senate, but each by adeputy of the Emperor, styled propraetor, praeses, or procurator. Thesewere called imperial provinces. The magistrates of the senatorialprovinces were, under the Empire, no longer elected by the people, butappointed by the Senate, with or without an indication of the Emperor'swishes. 

The Romans never devised any method of choosing a chief magistrate otherthan acclamation by an army and confirmation by the Senate, creating anEmperor. If two commanders at about the same time were separately saluted"Imperator, " as were Septimius Severus and Pescennius Niger, there was nomethod of adjudicating their conflicting claims except by Civil War andthe survival of one Imperator only. 

B. THE FISCUS

From this word comes our "confiscate, " "to turn totally into the Fiscus. "A fiscus was a large basket, such is were used by all Roman financialconcerns to contain live vouchers. The fiscus was the organizationmanaging the pubic property, income and expenditures of the Roman Emperor. It controlled the proceeds of the taxes of all the imperial provinces andof the domains, mines, quarries, fisheries, factories, town property andwhatever else the fiscus held for the Emperors, impersonally. It gatheredin all moneys and possessions forfeited for suicide, crime or treason. 

C. THE ROMAN CALENDAR

All primitive calendars went by the moon. Moon and month are the same wordin English. No more than Hengist and Horsa could the early Romans haveconceived of a month not beginning with the day of the new moon, as allmonths begin yet in the Jewish and Mohammedan calendars. 

The first day of each month the Romans called its Kalends (announcementday). After that day they called each day so many before the Nones (halfmoon), then so many before the Ides (full moon), then so many to theKalends of the next month. Julius Caesar, impatient with the difficultiesof fitting together the solar and lunar calendars, bade his experts ignorethe moon and divide the solar year into twelve months. They did, and hiscalendar, with trifling improvements, has lasted till our days. The Romanscontinued to reckon days before the Nones, Ides and Kalends. The Nonesfell on the seventh of March, May, July and October, on the fifth of theother months; the Ides on the fifteenth of March, May, July and Octoberand on the thirteenth of the rest. 

D. THE LEGION

The legion, always the largest fighting unit of the Roman armies, corresponded most nearly to our regiment, but had also features of ourbrigade. It was always rostered as of 6, 000 men, all told. But the causeswhich operate in all armies brought it about that a legion in the fieldhad usually about 5, 000 men. It was divided into sixty bodies resemblingour companies, called centuries, because nominally of 100 men, eachcommanded by a centurion. The Roman army never, like ours, had tieringgrades of officers; it always, theoretically, consisted of soldiers, centurions and the commander: other officers were additional and special. Each centurion chose from among his men an _optio_, to assist him and totake his place if killed. These _optiones_ corresponded most nearly to ourcorporals, but their duties and authority were always very vague. Thecenturions corresponded to our sergeants, in that they were picked menfrom the ranks, but they had all the duties and powers of our lieutenantsand, some of them, of much higher officers. Three centuries made up amaniple, more or less like one of our battalions, each commanded by itssenior centurion. Two maniples made up a cohort, also commanded by itssenior centurion, and the ten centurions commanding cohorts were theactual officers of the legion, its head centurion an officer of greatimportance. 

True, a _tribunus militum_ (tribune of the soldiers) was attached to eachcohort; but he did more advising than commanding, though, in theory, herepresented the general. The tribunes answered to our captains. Under theEmpire each legion was commanded by a _legatus_, who also represented thegeneral in his absence. Such an officer corresponded most nearly to ourcolonel, but had many of the characteristics of a brigadier-general. 

E. "_Ubi tu Caius, ego Caia. _"

These words, never varied whatever the names of the bride and groom, werethe kernel of the Roman wedding ritual and after their utterance the bridewas a wife. They correspond to the "I do" and "love, honor and obey" ofour customary marriage formulas. As Caius and Caia were far and away themost frequent names among the Romans the phrase might be rendered: "Whereyou are Jack, I'm Jill. "

No English words convey precisely the mingling of banter, and earnestness, of archness, devotion, shyness and fervor implied in the Latin words asuttered by Vedia. 

F. OPTIONES

Private soldiers chosen by their centurions as informal assistant-centurions; to take their superior's place if he fell in battle, or wasdisabled or ill, and to assist him with his routine duties. Theycorrespond more or less to the corporals of modern armies. (See also NOTED. )

G. SPINA

The stone wall, platform, or long narrow structure down the middle of thearena of a Roman circus, dividing its race-course into half laps. Along itthe teams tore at top speed, for the short turns about its rounded endstheir drivers reined them in. The spina was about 660 feet long. It variedfrom a low wall to a gorgeous and complicated series of structures. 

H. ERGASTULUM

A hard-labor prison, whether belonging to a private person, company ormunicipality, usually below ground-level, for criminal, dangerous, unmanageable or runaway slaves. 

J. COMMODUS AS AN ATHLETE

Even more than Babe Ruth at baseball Commodus was a wonder at beast-killing in the amphitheater. Dio Cassius, who, being a senator, looked onfrom a front seat, says (LXXII, 18. ) that he killed a hundred bears in oneday. Herodian, who grew up with men who had known Commodus and had beenspectators of his prowess, says (I; 15; 3, 4, 5, 6. ) that when he spearedlions and leopards no one saw a second javelin cast nor any wound notfatal, that he sent his dart at will through the forehead or the heart ofan animal rushing at top speed and that his missile never struck any partof a beast except so as both to wound and kill. Hurling his javelins froma distance he killed a hundred lions let out of the crypts of theColosseum with precisely the same number of spear-casts, no dart missingits mark.