CHAPTER 9.
THE TWO INTERVIEWS.
The time, is the evening of the first day of the Gothic blockade; theplace, is Vetranio's palace at Rome. In one of the private apartmentsof his mansion is seated its all-accomplished owner, released at lengthfrom the long sitting convened by the Senate on the occasion of theunexpected siege of the city. Although the same complete discipline,the same elegant regularity, and the same luxurious pomp, whichdistinguished the senator's abode in times of security, still prevailover it in the time of imminent danger which now threatens rich andpoor alike in Rome, Vetranio himself appears far from partaking thetranquility of his patrician household. His manner displays an unusualsternness, and his face an unwonted displeasure, as he sits, occupiedby his silent reflections and thoroughly unregardful of whatever occursaround him. Two ladies who are his companions in the apartment, exertall their blandishments to win him back to hilarity, but in vain. Theservices of his expectant musicians are not put into requisition, thedelicacies on his table remain untouched, and even 'the inestimablekitten of the breed most worshipped by the ancient Egyptians' gambolsunnoticed and unapplauded at his feet. All its wonted philosophicalequanimity has evidently departed, for the time at least, from thesenator's mind.
Silence--hitherto a stranger to the palace apartments--had reigneduninterruptedly over them for some time, when the freedman Carriodissipated Vetranio's meditations, and put the ladies who were with himto flight, by announcing in an important voice, that the PrefectPompeianus desired a private interview with the Senator Vetranio.
The next instant the chief magistrate of Rome entered the apartment.He was a short, fat, undignified man. Indolence and vacillation werelegibly impressed on his appearance and expression. You saw, in amoment, that his mind, like a shuttlecock, might be urged in anydirection by the efforts of others, but was utterly incapable ofvolition by itself. But once in his life had the Prefect Pompeianusbeen known to arrive unaided at a positive determination, and that wasin deciding a fierce argument between a bishop and a general, regardingthe relative merits of two rival rope-dancers of equal renown.
'I have come, my beloved friend,' said the Prefect in agitated tones,'to ask your opinion, at this period of awful responsibility for usall, on the plan of operations proposed by the Senate at the sitting ofto-day! But first,' he hastily continued, perceiving with the unerringinstinct of an old gastronome, that the inviting refreshments onVetranio's table had remained untouched, 'permit me to fortify myexhausted energies by a visit to your ever-luxurious board. Alas, myfriend, when I consider the present fearful scarcity of our provisionstores in the city, and the length of time that this accursed blockademay be expected to last, I am inclined to think that the gods aloneknow (I mean St. Peter) how much longer we may be enabled to giveoccupation to our digestions and employment to our cooks.
'I have observed,' pursued the Prefect, after an interval, speakingwith his mouth full of stewed peacock; 'I have observed, oh esteemedcolleague! the melancholy of your manner and your absolute silenceduring your attendance to-day at our deliberations. Have we, in youropinion, decided erroneously? It is not impossible! Our confusion atthis unexpected appearance of the barbarians may have blinded our usualpenetration! If by any chance you dissent from our plans, I beseechyou communicate your objections to me without reserve!'
'I dissent from nothing, because I have heard nothing,' repliedVetranio sullenly. 'I was so occupied by a private matter ofimportance during my attendance at the sitting of the Senate, that Iwas deaf to their deliberations. I know that we are besieged by theGoths--why are they not driven from before the walls?'
'Deaf to our deliberations! Drive the Goths from the walls!' repeatedthe Prefect faintly. 'Can you think of any private matter at such amoment as this? Do you know our danger? Do you know that our friendsare so astonished at this frightful calamity, that they move about likemen half awakened from a dream? Have you not seen the streets filledwith terrified and indignant crowds? Have you not mounted the rampartsand beheld the innumerable multitudes of pitiless Goths surrounding uson all sides, intercepting our supplies of provisions from the country,and menacing us with a speedy famine, unless our hoped-for auxiliariesarrive from Ravenna?'
'I have neither mounted the ramparts, nor viewed with any attention thecrowds in the streets,' replied Vetranio, carelessly.
'But if you have seen nothing yourself, you must have heard what otherssaw,' persisted the Prefect; 'you must know at least that the legionswe have in the city are not sufficient to guard more than half thecircuit of the walls. Has no one informed you that if it should pleasethe leader of the barbarians to change his blockade into an assault, itis more than probable that we should be unable to repulse himsuccessfully? Are you still deaf to our deliberations, when your palacemay to-morrow be burnt over your head, when we may be staved to death,when we may be doomed to eternal dishonour by being driven to concludea peace? Deaf to our deliberations, when such an unimaginable calamityas this invasion has fallen like a thunderbolt under our very walls!You amaze me! You overwhelm me! You horrify me!'
And in the excess of his astonishment the bewildered Prefect actuallyabandoned his stewed peacock, and advanced, wine-cup in hand, to obtaina nearer view of the features of his imperturbable host.
'If we are not strong enough to drive the Goths out of Italy,' rejoinedVetranio coolly, 'you and the Senate know that we are rich enough tobribe them to depart to the remotest confines of the empire. If wehave not swords enough to fight, we have gold and silver enough to pay.'
'You are jesting! Remember our honour and the auxiliaries we stillhope for from Ravenna,' said the Prefect reprovingly.
'Honour has lost the signification now, that it had in the time of theCaesars,' retorted the Senator. 'Our fighting days are over. We havehad heroes enough for our reputation. As for the auxiliaries you stillhope for, you will have none! While the Emperor is safe in Ravenna, hewill care nothing for the worst extremities that can be suffered by thepeople of Rome.'
'But you forget your duties,' urged the astonished Pompeianus, turningfrom rebuke to expostulation. 'You forget that it is a time when allprivate interests must be abandoned! You forget that I have come hereto ask your advice, that I am bewildered by a thousand projects, forcedon me from all sides, for ruling the city successfully during theblockade; that I look to you, as a friend and a man of reputation, toaid me in deciding on a choice out of the varied counsels submitted tome in the Senate to-day.'
'Write down the advice of each senator on a separate strip of vellum;shake all the strips together in an urn; and then, let the first youtake out by chance, be your guide to govern by in the present conditionof the city!' said Vetranio with a sneer.
'Oh friend, friend! it is cruel to jest with me thus!' cried thePrefect, in tones of lament; 'Would you really persuade me that you areignorant that what sentinels we have, are doubled already on the walls?Would you attempt to declare seriously to me, that you never heard theproject of Saturninus for reducing imperceptibly the diurnal allowanceof provisions? Or the recommendation of Emilianus, that the peopleshould be kept from thinking on the dangers and extremities which nowthreaten them, by being provided incessantly with public amusements atthe theatres and hippodromes? Do you really mean that you areindifferent to the horrors of our present situation? By the souls ofthe Apostles, Vetranio, I begin to think that you do not believe in theGoths!'
'I have already told you that private affairs occupy me at present, tothe exclusion of public,' said Vetranio impatiently. 'Debate as youchoose--approve what projects you will--I withdraw myself frominterference in your deliberations!'
'This,' murmured the repulsed Prefect in soliloquy, as he mechanicallyresumed his place at the refreshment table, 'this is the very end andclimax of all calamities! Now, when advice and assistance are moreprecious than jewels in my estimation, I receive neither! I gain fromnone, the wise and saving counsels which, as chief magistrate of thisImperial City, it is my
right to demand from all; and the man on whom Imost depended is the man who fails me most! Yet hear me, oh Vetranio,once again,' he continued, addressing the Senator, 'if our perilsbeyond the walls affect you not, there is a weighty matter that hasbeen settled within them, which must move you. After you had quittedthe Senate, Serena, the widow of Stilicho, was accused, as her husbandwas accused before her, of secret and treasonable correspondence withthe Goths; and has been condemned, as her husband was condemned, tosuffer the penalty of death. I myself discerned no evidence to convicther; but the populace cried out, in universal frenzy, that she wasguilty, that she should die; and that the barbarians, when they heardof the punishment inflicted on their secret adherent, would retire indismay from Rome. This also was a moot point of argument, on which Ivainly endeavoured to decide; but the Senate and the people were wiserthan I; and Serena was condemned to be strangled to-morrow by thepublic executioner. She was a woman of good report before this time,and is the adopted mother of the Emperor. It is now doubted by manywhether Stilicho, her husband, was ever guilty of the correspondencewith the Goths, of which he was accused; and I, on my part, doubt muchthat Serena has deserved the punishment of death at our hands. Ibeseech you, Vetranio, let me be enlightened by your opinion on thisone point at least!'
The Prefect waited anxiously for an answer, but Vetranio neither lookedat him nor replied. It was evident that the Senator had not listenedto a word that he had said!
This reception of his final appeal for assistance, produced the effecton the petitioner, which it was perhaps designed to convey--the PrefectPompeianus quitted the room in despair.
He had not long departed, when Carrio again entered the apartment, andaddressed his master thus:
'It is grievous for me, revered patron, to disclose it to you, but yourslaves have returned unsuccessful from the search!'
'Give the description of the girl to a fresh division of them, and letthem continue their efforts throughout the night, not only in thestreets, but in all the houses of public entertainment in the city.She must be in Rome, and she must be found!' said the senator gloomily.
Carrio bowed profoundly, and was about to depart, when he was arrestedat the door by his master's voice.
'If an old man, calling himself Numerian, should desire to see me,'said Vetranio, 'admit him instantly.'
'She had quitted the room but a short time when I attempted to reclaimher,' pursued the senator, speaking to himself; 'and yet when I gainedthe open air, she was nowhere to be seen! She must have mingledunintentionally with the crowds whom the Goths drove into the city, andthus have eluded my observation! So young and so innocent! She mustbe found! She must be found!'
He paused, once more engrossed in deep and melancholy thought. After along interval, he was roused from his abstraction by the sound offootsteps on the marble floor. He looked up. The door had been openedwithout his perceiving it, and an old man was advancing with slow andtrembling steps towards his silken couch. It was the bereaved andbroken-hearted Numerian.
'Where is she? Is she found?' asked the father, gazing anxiously roundthe room, as if he had expected to see his daughter there.
'My slaves still search for her,' said Vetranio, mournfully.
'Ah, woe--woe--woe! How I wronged her! How I wronged her!' cried theold man, turning to depart.
'Listen to me ere you go,' said Vetranio, gently detaining him. 'Ihave done you a great wrong, but I will yet atone for it by finding foryou your child! While there were women who would have triumphed in myadmiration, I should not have attempted to deprive you of yourdaughter! Remember when you recover her--and you shall recoverher--that from the time when I first decoyed her into listening to mylute, to the night when your traitorous servant led me to herbed-chamber, she has been innocent in this ill-considered matter. Ialone have been guilty! She was scarcely awakened when you discoveredher in my arms, and my entry into her chamber, was as little expectedby her, as it was by you. I was bewildered by the fumes of wine andthe astonishment of your sudden appearance, or I should have rescuedher from your anger, ere it was too late! The events which have passedthis morning, confused though they were, have yet convinced me that Ihad mistaken you both. I now know that your child was too pure to bean object fitted for my pursuit; and I believe that in secluding her asyou did, however ill-advised you might appear, you were honest in yourdesign! Never in my pursuit of pleasure did I commit so fatal anerror, as when I entered the doors of your house!'
In pronouncing these words, Vetranio but gave expression to thesentiments by which they were really inspired. As we have beforeobserved, profligate as he was by thoughtlessness of character andlicense of social position, he was neither heartless nor criminal bynature. Fathers had stormed, but his generosity had hithertoinvariably pacified them. Daughters had wept, but had foundconsolation on all previous occasions in the splendour of his palaceand the amiability of his disposition. In attempting, therefore, theabduction of Antonina, though he had prepared for unusual obstacles, hehad expected no worse results of his new conquest, than those that hadfollowed, as yet, his gallantries that were past. But, when--in thesolitude of his own home, and in the complete possession of hisfaculties--he recalled all the circumstances of his attempt, from thetime when he had stolen on the girl's slumbers, to the moment when shehad fled from the house; when he remembered the stern concentratedanger of Numerian, and the agony and despair of Antonina; when hethought on the spirit-broken repentance of the deceived father, and thefatal departure of the injured daughter, he felt as a man who had notmerely committed an indiscretion, but had been guilty of a crime; hebecame convinced that he had incurred the fearful responsibility ofdestroying the happiness of a parent who was really virtuous, and achild who was truly innocent. To a man, the business of whose wholelife was to procure for himself a heritage of unalloyed pleasure, whosesole occupation was to pamper that refined sensuality which the habitsof a life had made the very material of his heart, by diffusing luxuryand awakening smiles wherever he turned his steps, the mere mentaldisquietude attending the ill-success of his intrusion into Numerian'sdwelling, was as painful in its influence, as the bitterest remorsethat could have afflicted a more highly-principled mind. He now,therefore, instituted the search after Antonina, and expressed hiscontrition to her father, from a genuine persuasion that nothing butthe completest atonement for the error he had committed, could restoreto him that luxurious tranquility, the loss of which had, as he hadhimself expressed it, rendered him deaf to the deliberations of theSenate, and regardless of the invasion of the Goths.
'Tell me,' he continued, after a pause, 'whither has Ulpius betakenhimself? It is necessary that he should be discovered. He mayenlighten us upon the place of Antonina's retreat. He shall be securedand questioned.'
'He left me suddenly; I saw him as I stood at the window, mix with themultitude in the street, but I know not whither he is gone,' repliedNumerian; and a tremor passed over his whole frame as he spoke of theremorseless Pagan.
Again there was a short silence. The grief of the broken-spiritedfather, possessed in its humility and despair, a voice of rebuke,before which the senator, careless and profligate as he was,instinctively quailed. For some time he endeavoured in vain to combatthe silencing and reproving influence, exerted over him by the verypresence of the sorrowing man whom he had so fatally wronged. Atlength, after an interval, he recovered self-possession enough toaddress to Numerian some further expressions of consolation and hope;but he spoke to ears that listened not. The father had relapsed intohis mournful abstraction; and when the senator paused, he merelymuttered to himself--'She is lost! Alas, she is lost for ever!'
'No, she is not lost for ever,' cried Vetranio, warmly. 'I have wealthand power enough to cause her to be sought for to the ends of theearth! Ulpius shall be secured and questioned--imprisoned, tortured, ifit is necessary. Your daughter shall be recovered. Nothing isimpossible to a senator of Rome!'
'I knew not that I loved her, until t
he morning when I wronged andbanished her!' continued the old man, still speaking to himself. 'Ihave lost all traces of my parents and my brother--my wife is partedfrom me for ever--I have nothing left but Antonina; and now too she isgone! Even my ambition, that I once thought my all in all, is nocomfort to my soul; for I loved it--alas! unconsciously lovedit--through the being of my child! I destroyed her lute--I thought hershameless--I drove her from my doors! Oh, how I wronged her!--how Iwronged her!'
'Remain here, and repose yourself in one of the sleeping apartments,until my slaves return in the morning. You will then hear withoutdelay of the result of their search to-night,' said Vetranio, in kindlyand compassionate tones.
'It grows dark--dark!' groaned the father, tottering towards the door;'but that is nothing; daylight itself now looks darkness to me! I mustgo: I have duties at the chapel to perform. Night is repose foryou--for me, it is tribulation and prayer!'
He departed as he spoke. Slowly he paced along the streets that led tohis chapel, glancing with penetrating eye at each inhabitant of thebesieged city who passed him on his way. With some difficulty hearrived at his destination; for Rome was still thronged with armed menhurrying backwards and forwards, and with crowds of disorderly citizenspouring forth, wherever there was space enough for them to assemble.The report of the affliction that had befallen him had already goneabroad among his hearers, and they whispered anxiously to each other ashe entered the plain, dimly-lighted chapel, and slowly mounted thepulpit to open the service, by reading the chapter in the Bible whichhad been appointed for perusal that night, and which happened to be thefifth of the Gospel of St. Mark. His voice trembled, his face wasghastly pale, and his hands shook perceptibly as he began; but he readon, in low, broken tones, and with evident pain and difficulty, untilhe came to the verse containing these words: 'My little daughter liethat the point of death.' Here he stopped suddenly, endeavoured vainlyfor a few minutes to proceed, and then, covering his face with hishands, sank down in the pulpit and sobbed aloud. His sorrowing andstartled audience immediately gathered round him, raised him in theirarms, and prepared to conduct him to his own abode. When, however,they had gained the door of the chapel, he desired them gently, toleave him and return to the performance of the service amongthemselves. Ever implicitly obedient to his slightest wishes, thepersons of his little assembly, moved to tears by the sight of theirteacher's suffering, obeyed him, by retiring silently to their formerplaces. As soon as he found that he was alone, he passed the door; andwhispering to himself, 'I must join those who seek her! I must aidthem myself in the search!'--he mingled once more with the disorderlycitizens who thronged the darkened streets.