Unto Caesar
CHAPTER XXI
"But truly as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there isbut a step between me and death."--I SAMUEL XX. 3.
When the Caesar had finished speaking, and he fell swooning back in thearms of the praefect of Rome, the conspirators remained quite still,staring at one another, dumbfounded.
Could any man at that moment have divined the secrets of the heart andlooked into the thoughts of all these men, what a medley of terror andof lust, of rage and of jealousy, would have been unfolded before hiseyes.
The plotters were like men who, falling to with axe and pick to demolisha building, had seen that same building collapse beneath their feet.They had sat quietly by all the day watching the events, content thatthese would shape themselves in accordance with their will. YoungEscanes from time to time fingered the poniard which he had hidden underhis tunic, Hortensius Martius gave free rein to his ardent admiration ofDea Flavia, Ancyrus, the elder, kept watch over every phase of thetemper of the audience--its apathy, its excitement, its murmurs ofdissatisfaction and cries of enthusiasm.
Only Caius Nepos, white to the lips, sat in terror lest the courage ofthe conspirators whom he had betrayed should fail them at the eleventhhour, and he--branded as a false informer--be left to encounter the furyof an almighty Caesar, who had never been known to relent.
The speech of Caligula had of a truth struck strangely upon hishearers. The men who had been willing to wait upon chance for thesuccess of their plot, now found that Chance had waited upon them. Thethought of treachery did not at first enter their minds. The freaks ofthe crazy Emperor were as numerous and as varied as the grains of sandin the arena. That he should offer the hand of his kinswoman as a prizeto a victor in the arena, was not inconsistent with his perpetual desirefor new sensations, his lust of tyrannical power and his open contemptfor all his fellow-men.
His allusions to his probable successor had seemed futile and of noaccount, and they all felt that they had wallowed so deeply in the mireof conspiracy together, that it could not have served the purpose of anyone of them to betray the others.
The first moment of stupefaction had quickly passed away, and evenbefore the Caesar had recovered consciousness Hortensius Martius hadrisen to his feet. There had been no hesitation in him from the first.Whilst the others pondered--vaguely frightened at this turn given byChance to her wheel--he was ready to stake his life for the possessionof Dea Flavia and of the imperium. His passion for the beautiful womanwould have led him into far wilder extravagances and into far graverdangers than an encounter in a public arena with a wild beast, and themomentary degradation of offering his patrician person as a spectaclefor the plebs.
And because of this sudden decision, taken boldly whilst others wavered,he became tacitly the leader of the gang of plotters. When he jumped tohis feet, ready to descend into the arena, he seemed to challenge themto keep their oath of allegiance to him, who would succeed in winningDea Flavia for wife.
Hortensius Martius had proved himself to be a true opportunist, for hehad seized his opportunity just at the right moment when the othershesitated. Thus are leaders made--one bold movement whilst others sitstill, one step forward whilst the others wait.
"Thy chance, O Hortensius Martius," whispered Marcus Ancyrus, the elder,close to the young man's ear. "Escanes and the rest of us will be readywhen the time comes, mayhap before thou dost return to us from below."
Escanes' hand beneath his tunic closed upon the dagger. Stronger andtaller than Hortensius, he had not the sudden initiative of the brain.He was one of those men who would always be second to a bolder, a moreresourceful leader.
Forty pairs of eyes encouraged Hortensius Martius as he rose. In theirminds they had already crowned him with laurels. For the moment they hadaccepted him as their future Emperor and were prepared to acclaim him asCaesar when Escanes had done his work.
It was at this moment that Caligula recovered from his swoon. His lustof revenge and of hate brought him back to reality. He had planned tomake the arch-traitor betray himself, and now, when he caught sight ofHortensius Martius preparing to descend into the arena, a cry as of someprowling, savage beast rose and died in his throat.
He was sufficiently cunning to control himself, sufficiently of an actorto play his part without betraying his thoughts. Though he would gladlyhave strangled Hortensius then and there with his own hands, he calledthe young man to him with kindly benevolence and placed a fatherly handupon his shoulder.
"Thou, O Hortensius Martius?" he said, in well-feigned astonishment.
"Even I, O Caesar!" replied Hortensius calmly.
"For love of the Augusta thou wouldst risk thy life?"
"To prove my valour, gracious lord, since thou didst desire it."
"On thy knees then, O my son!" rejoined the mountebank solemnly, "andreceive the blessing of the gods."
The public watched this little scene with palpitating interest. TheCaesar looked magnificent in his fantastic robes, and beside him DeaFlavia--like a goddess in her white tunic--was beautiful to behold.
The Caesar laid three fingers on the young man's head, and turned hisbloodshot eyes up to the vault of heaven. Then Hortensius Martius rosefrom his knees and went up to the Augusta Dea Flavia, and knelt downbefore her. She took no heed of him whatever. She did not look upon hisbowed head as he stooped very low and kissed the hem of her gown; somewho watched the scene very closely declared afterwards that she snatchedher robe away from his hands.
And from the arena down below was heard again the snarl of the thwartedbeast.
From the Emperor's tribune, to right and left, wide marble steps leddown to the floor of the arena. At the bottom of these steps huge irongates, wrought with gold and studded with nails, guarded them againstaccess from below. Two legionaries were stationed at these gates.
When Hortensius Martius appeared at the top of the steps the audiencescreamed with delight and cheered him to the echoes.
He was indeed a figure like to please the most hardened spectator. Notover tall, and slight of build, he looked elegant and graceful in hisshort white tunic, with the deep purple bands that proclaimed hispatrician rank.
A young exquisite, with well-groomed hands and hair delicately perfumedand curled, the tense expression of his face gave him nevertheless anair of determination and of strength. He had taken off his cloak and waswinding it round his left arm, otherwise, of course, he was unarmed asthe Emperor had directed.
The women blew him kisses across the width of the arena, and some of themore enthusiastic--or the younger--ones pelted him with roses as he camedown the steps.
And down below the panther, as if scenting this new prey, sent a roar ofexpectation into the vibrating air.
Caligula smiled with hideous complacency as he looked down on thedescending figure of the young man, and when the people cheered, and theshower of roses fell in a blood-red mass at Hortensius' feet, the Caesarsnarled even as the panther had done, showing a row of yellow teeth,like fangs.
At last Hortensius Martius had reached the foot of the steps. Themassive iron gates stood alone between him and the black panther, whichcowered some twenty feet away behind a low monticule covered with tuftsof grass, its tiny eyes of topaz fixed upon the oncoming prey.
Hortensius gave the order for the opening of the gates. They swung upontheir hinges and he passed out through them. And they fell to behind himwith a mighty clang.
Thunderous applause greeted him when he set his foot upon the sands ofthe arena. The panther did not move. It had even ceased to snarl, butits sinewy tail beat a dull tattoo upon the ground.
Then over the whole arena there rose a curious sound, like the sighingof two hundred thousand souls, an indrawing of the breath in two hundredthousand throats. Hortensius Martius looked up, for the sigh hadsounded very strangely in his ear, and it had been followed by a stillstranger silence, as if two hundred thousand hearts had momentarilyceased to beat.
And as he looked he understood the sigh, and also the death-l
ike silencethat followed.
He saw that from the niches all round the arena the safety ladders ofcrimson silk had all been taken away.
And up in the imperial tribune the mighty Caesar laughed loudly andlong.