CHAPTER VII
THE AMBASSADORS.
Give first admittance to th’ ambassadors. HAMLET.
It wanted a short time of noon, on a fine bracing day in the latter end ofNovember.
Something more than a fortnight had elapsed since the flight of Catiline;and, as no further discoveries had been made, nor any tumults ordisturbances arisen in the city, men had returned to their formeravocations, and had for the most part forgotten already the circumstances,which had a little while before convulsed the public mind with fear orfavor.
No certain tidings had been received, or, if received, divulged to thepeople, of Catiline’s proceedings; it being only known that he had tarriedfor a few days at the country-house of Caius Flaminius Flamma, near toArretium, where he was believed to be amusing himself with boar-hunting.
On the other hand, the letters of justification, and complaint againstCicero, had been shewn to their friends by all those who had receivedthem, all men of character and weight; and their contents had thus gainedgreat publicity.
The consequence of this was, naturally enough, that the friends andfavorers of the conspiracy, acting with singular wisdom and foresight,studiously affected the utmost moderation and humility of bearing, whilecomplaining every where of the injustice done to Catiline, and of thefalse suspicions maliciously cast on many estimable individuals, by thelow-born and ambitious person who was temporarily at the head of thestate.
The friends of Cicero and the republic, on the contrary, lay on theiroars, in breathless expectation of some new occurrence, which shouldconfirm the public mind, and approve their own conduct; well aware thatmuch time could not elapse before Catiline would be heard of at the headof an army.
In the meantime, the city wore its wonted aspect; men bought and sold, andtoiled or sported; and women smiled and sighed, flaunted and wantoned inthe streets, as if, a few short days before, they had not been wringingtheir hands in terror, dissolved in tears, and speechless from dismay.
It was a market day, and the forum was crowded almost to overflowing. Thecountry people had flocked in, as usual, to sell the produce of theirfarms; and their wagons stood here and there laden with seasonable fruits,cheeses, and jars of wine, pigeons in wicker cages, fresh herbs, and suchlike articles of traffic. Many had brought their wives, sun-burned,black-haired and black-eyed, from their villas in the Latin or Sabinecountry, to purchase city luxuries. Many had come to have their lawsuitsdecided; many to crave justice against their superiors from the Tribunesof the people; many to get their wills registered, to pay or borrow money,and to transact that sort of business, for which the day was set aside.
Nor were the townsmen absent from the gay scene; for to them the_nundinæ_, or market days, were holydays, in which the courts of law wereshut, and the offices closed to them, at least, although open to the ruralcitizens, for the despatch of business.
The members of the city tribes crowded therefore to the forum many ofthese too accompanied by their women, to buy provisions, to ask for newsfrom the country, and to stare at the uncouth and sturdy forms of thefarmers, or admire the black eyes and merry faces of the country lasses.
It was a lively and gay scene; the bankers’ shops, distinguished by thegolden shields of the Samnites, suspended from the lintels of their doors,were thronged with money-changers, and alive with the hum of traffic.
Ever and anon some curule magistrate, in his fringed toga, with hislictors, in number proportioned to his rank, would come sweeping throughthe dense crowd; or some plebeian officer, with his ushers and beadles;or, before whom the ranks of the multitude would open of their own accordand bow reverentially, some white-stoled vestal virgin, with her fairfeatures closely veiled from profane eyes, the sacred fillets on her head,and her lictor following her dainty step with his shouldered fasces.Street musicians there were also, and shows of various kinds, about whichthe lower orders of the people collected eagerly; and, here and there,among the white stoles and gayly colored shawls of the matrons andmaidens, might be seen the flowered togas and showy head-dresses of thoseunfortunate girls, many of them rare specimens of female beauty, whosecharacter precluded them from wearing the attire of their own sex.
"Ha! Fabius Sanga, whither thou in such haste through the crowd?" cried afine manly voice, to a patrician of middle age who was forcing his wayhurriedly among the jostling mob, near to the steps of the Comitium, orbuilding appropriated to the reception of ambassadors.
The person thus addressed turned his head quickly, though withoutslackening his speed.
"Ah! is it thou, Arvina? Come with me, thou art young and strong; give methy arm, and help me through this concourse."
"Willingly," replied the young man. "But why are you in such haste?" hecontinued, as he joined him; "you can have no business here to-day."
"Aye! but I have, my Paullus. I am the patron to these Gallic ambassadors,who have come hither to crave relief from the Senate for their people.They must receive their answer in the Comitium to-day; and I fear me much,I am late."
"Ah! by the Gods! I saw them on that day they entered the city. Rightstout and martial barbarians! What is their plea? will they succeed?"
"I fear not," answered Sanga, "They are too poor. Senatorial relief mustbe bought nowadays. The longest purse is the most righteous cause! Theircase is a hard one, too. Their nation is oppressed with debt, both privateand public; they have been faithful allies to the state, and served itwell in war, and now seek remission of some grievous tributes. But whatshall we say? They are poor—barbarians—their aid not needed now by therepublic—and, as you know, my Paullus, justice is sold now in Rome, likesilk, for its weight in gold!"
"The more shame!" answered Paullus. "It was not by such practices, thatour fathers built up this grand edifice of the republic."
"Riches have done it, Paullus! Riches and Commerce! While we had manytillers of the ground, and few merchants, we were brave in the field, andjust at home!"
"Think you, then, that the spirit of commerce is averse to justice, andbravery, and freedom?"
"No, I do not think it, Arvina, I know it!" answered Fabius Sanga, who,with the truth and candor of a patrician of Rome’s olden school,possessed, and that justly, much repute for wisdom and foresight. "Allmercantile communities are base communities. Look at Tyre, in old times!Look at Carthage, in our grandfathers’ days! at Corinth in our own!Merchants are never patriots! and rich men seldom; unless they belandholders! But see, see, there are my clients, descending the steps ofthe Comitium! By all the Gods! I am too late! their audience is ended!Now, by Themis, the goddess of justice! will they deem me also venal!"
As he spoke, they had come to the foot of the grand flight of marblesteps, leading up to the doors of the Græcostasis, or comitium; or ratherhad come as near to the foot, as the immense concourse, which had gatheredabout that spot to stare at the wild figures and foreign gait of theambassadors, would allow them to approach.
"It is in vain to press forward yet, my Sanga. A moment or two, and theseclowns will be satisfied with gazing; yet, by Hercules! I cannot blamethem. For these Highlanders are wondrous muscular and stout warriors tolook upon, and their garb, although somewhat savage, is very martial andstriking."
And, in truth, their Celtic bonnets, with their long single eaglefeathers, set somewhat obliquely on their abundant auburn hair; theirsaffron-colored shirts, tight-fitting trews of tartan plaid, andvariegated mantles floating over their brawny shoulders, their chains andbracelets of gold and silver, their long daggers in their girdles, andtheir tremendous broad-swords swinging at their thighs, did present astrange contrast to the simple tunics of white woollen, and plain togas ofthe same material, which constituted the attire of nine-tenths of thespectators.
"I must—must get nearer!" replied Sanga, anxiously; "I must speak withthem! I can see by the moody brows, and sullen looks of the elder nobles,and by the compressed lips and fiery glances of the young warriors, thatmatters have gone amiss with them. I shall be blam
ed, I know, for it—but Ihave failed in my duty as their patron, and must bear it. There will bemischief; I pray you let us pass, my friends," he continued, addressingthe people, "I am the patron of their nation; let us pass."
But it was in vain that they besought and strove; the pressure of the mobwas, if anything, augmented; and Paullus was compelled to remainmotionless with his companion, hoping that the Allobroges would move intheir direction.
But, while they were thus waiting, a thin keen-looking man pressed up tothe ambassadors, from the farther side, while they were yet upon thesteps, and saluting them cordially, pressed their hands, as if he were anold and familiar friend.
Nor did the Highlanders appear less glad to see him, for they shook hishand warmly, and spoke to him with vehement words, and sparkling eyes.
"Who is that man, who greets our Allobroges so warmly?" asked Arvina ofhis companion. "Know you the man?"
"I know him!" answered Sanga, watching the gestures which accompaniedtheir conversation with an eager eye, although too far off to hearanything that was passing. "It is one of these traders, of whom we spokebut now; and as pestilent a knave and rogue as ever sold goods by shortmeasure, and paid his purchases in light coin! Publius Umbrenus is theman. A Gallic trader. He hath become rich by the business he hath carriedon with this same tribe, bartering Roman wares, goldsmith’s work,trinkets, cutlery, wines, and the like, against their furs and hides, andabove all against their amber. He gains three hundred fold by everybarter, and yet, by the God of Faith! he brings them in his debt afterall; and yet the simple-minded, credulous Barbarians, believe him theirbest friend. I would buy it at no small price, to know what he saith tothem. See! he points to the Comitium. By your head, Paullus! he ispoisoning their minds against the Senate!"
"See!" said Arvina. "They descend the steps in the other direction. He isleading them away with him some-whither."
"To no good end!" said Sanga emphatically; and then smiting his breastwith his hand, he continued, evidently much afflicted, "My poor clients!my poor simple Highlanders! He will mislead them to their ruin?"
"They are going toward Vesta’s temple," said Arvina. "If we should turnback through the arch of Fabius, and so enter into the western branch ofthe Sacred Way, we might overtake them near the Ruminal Fig-tree."
"_You_ might, for you are young and active. But I am growing old, Paullus,and the gout afflicts my feet, and makes me slower than my years. Will youdo so, and mark whither he leads them; and come back, and tell me? Youshall find me in Natta’s, the bookseller’s shop, at the corner of thestreet Argiletum."
"Willingly, Sanga," answered the young man. "The rather, if it may profitthese poor Gauls anything."
"Thou art a good youth, Paullus. The Gods reward it to thee. RememberNatta’s book-shop."
"Doubt me not," said Arvina; and he set off at a pace so rapid, as broughthim up with those, whom he was pursuing, within ten minutes.
The ambassadors, six or eight in number, among whom the old white-headedchief he had observed—when he went with Hortensia and his betrothed, tosee their ingress into Rome—together with the young warrior whose haughtybearing he had noticed on that occasion, were most eminent, had beenjoined by another Roman beside Umbrenus.
Him, Paullus recognised at once, for Titus Volturcius, a native andnobleman of Crotona, a Greek city, on the Gulf of Tarentum, although acitizen of Rome.
He was a man of evil repute, as a wild debauchee, a gambler, and seducer;and Arvina had observed him more than once in company with CorneliusLentulus.
This led him to suspect, that Sanga was perhaps more accurate in hissuspicions, than he himself imagined; and that something might be inprogress here, against the republic.
He watched them warily, therefore; and soon found an ample confirmation ofthe worst he imagined, in seeing them enter the house of Decius Brutus,the husband of the beautiful, but infamous Sempronia.
It must not be supposed, that the privity of these various individuals tothe conspiracy, was accurately known to young Arvina; but he was wellaware, that Lentulus and Catiline were sworn friends; and that Semproniawas the very queen of those abandoned and licentious ladies, who were theinstigators and rewarders of the young nobles, in their profligacy andtheir crimes; it did not require, therefore, any wondrous degree offoresight, to see that something dangerous was probably brewing, in thisamalgamation of ingredients so incongruous, as Roman nobles and patricianharlots, with wild barbarians from the Gallic highlands.
Without tarrying, therefore, longer than to ascertain that he was notmistaken in the house, he hurried back to meet Sanga, at the appointedplace, promising himself that not Sanga only, but Cicero himself, shouldbe made acquainted with that which he had discovered so opportunely.
The Argiletum was a street leading down from the vegetable mart, which layjust beyond the _Porta Fluminiana_, or river gate, to the banks of theTiber, at the quays called _pulchrum littus_, or the beautiful shore; itwas therefore a convenient place of meeting for persons who had partedcompany in the forum, particularly when going in that direction, which hadbeen taken by Umbrenus and the Ambassadors.
Hastening onward to the street appointed—which was for the most partinhabited by booksellers, copyists, and embellishers of illuminatedmanuscripts, beside a few tailors—he was hailed, just as he reached theriver gate, by a well-known voice, from a cross street; and turning roundhe felt his hand warmly grasped, by an old friend, Aristius Fuscus, one ofthe noble youths, with whom he had striven, in the Campus Martius, on thateventful day, when he first visited the house of Catiline.
"Hail! Paullus," exclaimed the new comer, "I have not seen you in manydays. Where have you been, since you beat us all in the quinquertium?"
"Absent from town, on business of the state, part of the time, my Fuscus,"answered Arvina, shaking his friend’s hand gayly. "I was sent to Præneste,with my troop of horse, before the calends of November; and returned notuntil the Ides."
"And since that, I fancy"—replied the other laughing, "You have beensunning yourself in the bright smiles of the fair Julia. I thought youwere to have led her home, as your bride, ere this time."
"You are wrong for once, good friend," said Paullus, with a well-pleasedsmile. "Julia is absent from the city also. She and Hortensia are on avisit to their farm, at the foot of Mount Algidus. I have not seen them,since my return from Præneste."
"Your slaves, I trow, know every mile-stone by this time, on the viaLabicana! Do you write to her daily?"
"Not so, indeed, Aristius;" he replied. "We are too long betrothed, andtoo confident, each in the good faith of the other, to think it needful tokill my poor slaves in bearing amatory billets."
"You are wise, Paullus, as you are true, and will, I hope, be happylovers!"
"The Gods grant it!" replied Paullus.
"Do they return shortly? It is long since I have visited Hortensia. Shewould do justly to refuse me admittance when next I go to salute her."
"Not until after the next market day. But here I must leave you; I amgoing to Natta’s shop, in the Argiletum."
"To purchase books? Ha! or to the tailor’s? the last, I presume, gaybridegroom—there are, you know, two Nattas."
"Natta, the bookseller, is my man. But I go thither, not as a buyer, butto meet a friend, Fabius Sanga."
"A very wise and virtuous Roman," replied the other, stopping at thecorner of the street Argiletum, "but tarry a moment; when shall we meetagain? I am going down to the hippodrome, can you not join me there, whenyou have finished your business with Sanga?"
"I can; gladly." answered Arvina.
As they stopped, previous to separating, a young man, who had been walkingfor some distance close at their heels, passed them, nodding as he did so,to Arvina, who returned his salutation, very distantly.
"Aulus Fulvius!" said Aristius, as Paullus bowed to him, "as bad aspecimen of a young patrician, as one might see for many days, even if hesearched for rascals, as the philosopher did for an honest man, bylanthorn’s li
ght at noon. He has been following our steps, by my head!—topick up our stray words, and weave them into calumnies, and villainy."
"I care not," answered Arvina, lightly. "He may make all he can of what heheard, we were talking no treason!"
"No, truly; not even lover’s treason," said his friend. "Well, do nottarry long, Arvina."
"I will not; be assured. Not the fourth part of an hour. See! there isFabius Sanga awaiting me even now. Walk slowly, and I will overtake you,before you reach the Campus."
And with the word, he turned down the Argiletum, and joined the patron ofthe Allobroges, at the bookseller’s door.
In the meantime Aulus Fulvius, who had heard all that he desired, wheeledabout, and walked back toward the Carmental gate. But, as he passed thehead of the Argiletum, he cast a lurid glance of singular malignity uponArvina, who was standing in full view, conversing with his friend; andmuttered between his teeth,
"The fool! the hypocrite! the pedant! well said, wise Catiline, ’that itmatters not much whether one listen to his friends, so he listen well tohis enemies!’ The fool—so he thinks he shall have Julia. But he nevershall, by Hades! never!"
A slenderly made boy, dressed in a succinct huntsman’s tunic, with_subligacula_, or drawers, reaching to within a hand’s breadth of hisknee, was loitering near the corner, gazing wistfully on Arvina; and, asAulus muttered those words half aloud, he jerked his head sharply around,and looked very keenly at the speaker.
"Never shall have Julia!" he repeated to himself, "he must have spokenthat concerning Arvina. I wonder who he is. I never saw him before. I mustknow—I must know, forthwith! For he _shall_ have her, by heaven and Him,who dwells in it! he _shall_ have her!"
And, turning a lingering and languid look toward Paullus, the slight boydarted away in pursuit of Aulus.
A moment afterward Arvina, his conference with Sanga ended, and ignorantof all that by-play, took the road leading to the Campus, eager toovertake his friend Aristius.