CHAPTER IV
THE CONSUL.
Therefore let him be Consul; The Gods give Him joy, and make him good friend to the people. CORIOLANUS.
The morning was yet young, when Paullus Arvina, leaving his mansion on theCaelian hill by a postern door, so to avoid the crowd of clients who evenat that early hour awaited his forth-coming in the hall, descended thegentle hill toward the splendid street called Carinae, from some fancifulresemblance in its shape, lying in a curved hollow between the bases ofthe Esquiline, Caelian, and Palatine mounts, to the keel of a galley.
This quarter of the city was at that time unquestionably the mostbeautiful in Rome, although it still fell far short of the magnificence itafterward attained, when the favourite Mecaenas had built his splendidpalace, and laid out his unrivalled gardens, on the now woody Esquiline;and it would have been difficult indeed to conceive a view more sublime,than that which lay before the eyes of the young patrician, as he pausedfor a moment on the highest terrace of the hill, to inhale the breath ofthe pure autumnal morning.
The sun already risen, though not yet high in the east, was pouring aflood of mellow golden light, through the soft medium of the half mistyatmosphere, over the varied surface of the great city, broken anddiversified by many hills and hollows; and bringing out the innumerablecolumns, arches, and aqueducts, that adorned almost every street andsquare, in beautiful relief.
The point at which the young man stood, looking directly northward, wasone which could not be excelled, if it indeed could be equalled for theview it commanded, embracing nearly the whole of Rome, which from itscommanding height, inferior only to the capitol, and the Quirinal hill, itwas enabled to overlook.
Before him, in the hollow at his feet, on which the morning rays dweltlovingly, streaming in through the deep valley to the right over the citywalls, lay the long street of the Carinae, the noblest and most sumptuousof Rome, adorned with many residences of the patrician order, and amongothers, those of Pompey, Caesar, and the great Latin orator. This broad andnoble thoroughfare, from its great width, and the long rows of marblecolumns, which decked its palaces, all glittering in the misty sunbeams,shewed like a waving line of light among the crowded buildings of thenarrower ways, that ran parallel to it along the valley and up the easyslope of the Caelian mount, with the Minervium, in which Arvina stood,leading directly downward to its centre. Beyond this sparkling line, rosethe twin summits Oppius and Cispius, of the Esquiline hill, still deckedwith the dark foliage of the ancestral groves of oak and sweet-chesnut,said to derive their origin from Servius Tullius, the sixth king of Rome,and green with the long grass and towering cypresses of the plebeiancemetery, across which the young man had come home, from the villa of hislady-love, but a few hours before.
Beyond the double hill-tops, a heavy purple shadow indicated the deepbasin through which ran the ill-famed Suburra, and the "Wicked-Street", sonamed from the tradition, that therein Tullia compelled her tremblingcharioteer to lash his reluctant steeds over the yet warm body of hermurdered father. And beyond this again the lofty ridge of the Quirinalmount stood out in fair relief with all its gorgeous load of palaces andcolumns; and the great temple of the city's founder, the god RomulusQuirinus; and the stupendous range of walls and turrets, along itsnorthern verge, flashing out splendidly to the new-risen sun.
So lofty was the post from which Paullus gazed, as he overlooked themighty town, that his eye reached even beyond the city-walls on theQuirinal, and passing over the broad valley at its northern base, allglimmering with uncertain lights and misty shadows, rested upon the CollisHortulorum, or mount of gardens, now called Monte Pincio, which was atthat time covered, as its name indicates, with rich and fertileshrubberies. The glowing hues of these could be distinctly made out, evenat this great distance, by the naked eye. For it must be remembered thatthere was in those days no sea-coal to send up its murky smoke-wreaths,blurring the bright skies with its inky pall; no factories with tallchimnies, vomiting forth, like mimic Etnas, their pestilential breath,fatal to vegetable life. Not a cloud hung over the great city; and thecharcoal, sparingly used for cookery, sent forth no visible fumes toshroud the daylight. So that, as the thin purplish haze was dispersed bythe growing influence of the sunbeams, every line of the far architecture,even to the carved friezes of the thousand temples, and the rich foliageof the marble capitals could be observed, distinct and sharp as in apainted picture.
Nor was this all the charm of the delicious atmosphere; for so pure wasit, that the odours of that flowery hill, wafted upon the wings of thelight northern breeze, blent with the coolness which they caught from thehundreds of clear fountains, plashing and glittering in every publicplace, came to the brow of the young noble, more like the breath of someenchanted garden in the far-famed Hesperides, than the steam from theabodes of above a million of busy mortals.
Before him still, though inclining a little to the left hand, lay abroader hollow, presenting the long vista of the sacred way, leadingdirectly to the capitol, and thence to the Campus Martius, the greenexpanse of which, bedecked with many a marble monument and brazen column,and already studded with quick moving groups, hurling the disc andjavelin, or reining the fierce war-horse with strong Gaulish curbs, laysoft and level for half a league in length, till it was bounded far awayby a gleaming reach of the blue Tiber.
Still to the left of this, uprose the Palatine, the earliest settled ofthe hills of Rome, with the old walls of Romulus, and the low straw-builtshed, wherein that mighty son of Mars dwelt when he governed his wildrobber-clan; and the bidental marking the spot where lightning from themonarch of Olympus, called on by undue rites, consumed Hostilius and hishouse; were still preserved with reverential worship, and on its easternpeak, the time-honoured shrine of Stator Jove.
The ragged crest of this antique elevation concealed, it is true, fromsight the immortal space below, once occupied by the marsh of theVelabrum, but now filled by the grand basilicae and halls of Justicesurrounding the great Roman forum, with all their pomp of golden shields,and monuments of mighty deeds performed in the earliest ages; but it wasfar too low to intercept the view of the grand Capitol, and the TarpeianRock.
The gilded gates of bronze and the gold-plated roof of the vast nationaltemple--gold-plated at the enormous cost of twenty-one thousand talents,the rich spoil of Carthage--the shrine of Jupiter Capitoline, and Juno, andMinerva, sent back the sun-beams in lines too dazzling to be borne by anyhuman eye; and all the pomp of statues grouped on the marble terraces, andguarding the ascent of the celebrated hundred steps, glittered like formsof indurated snow.
Such was the wondrous spectacle, more like a fairy show than a real sceneof earthly splendour, to look on which Arvina paused for one moment withexulting gladness, before descending toward the mansion of the consul. Norwas that mighty panorama wanting in moving crowds, and figures suitable tothe romantic glory of its scenery.
Here, through the larger streets, vast herds of cattle were driven in bymounted herdsmen, lowing and trampling toward the forum; here a concourseof men, clad in the graceful toga, the clients of some noble house, werehastening along to salute their patron at his morning levee; there again,danced and sang, with saffron colored veils and flowery garlands, a bandof virgins passing in sacred pomp toward some favourite shrine; there insad order swept along, with mourners and musicians, with women wildlyshrieking and tearing their long hair, and players and buffoons, andliberated slaves wearing the cap of freedom, a funeral procession, bearingthe body of some _young_ victim, as indicated by the morning hour, to thefunereal pile beyond the city walls; and far off, filing in, with thespear heads and eagles of a cohort glittering above the dust wreaths, bythe Flaminian way, the train of some ambassador or envoy, sent bysubmissive monarchs or dependent states, to sue the favour and protectionof the great Roman people.
The blended sounds swept up, in a confused sonorous murmur, like the sea;the shrill cry of the water-carriers, and the wild chant of the choralsongs, and the
keen clangour of the distant trumpets ringing above thedin, until the ears of the youth, as well as his eyes, were filled withpresent proofs of his native city's grandeur; and his whole soul waslapped in the proud conscious joy, arising from the thought that he toowas entitled to that boastful name, higher than any monarch's style, ofRoman citizen.
"Fairest and noblest city of the universe," cried the enthusiastic boy,spreading his arms abroad over the glorious view, which, kindling all thepowers of his imaginative mind, had awakened something of awe andveneration, "long may the everliving gods watch over thee; long may theyguard thy liberties intact, thy hosts unconquered! long may thy namethroughout the world be synonymous with all that is great, and good, andglorious! Long may the Roman fortune and the Roman virtue tread, side byside, upon the neck of tyrants; and the whole universe stand mute anddaunted before the presence of the sovereign people."
"The sovereign slaves!" said a deep voice, with a strangely sneeringaccent, in his ear; and as he started in amazement, for he had notimagined that any one was near him, Cataline stood at his elbow.
Under the mingled influence of surprise, and bashfulness at beingoverheard, and something not very far removed from alarm at the unexpectedpresence of one so famed for evil deeds as the man beside him, Arvinarecoiled a pace or two, and thrust his hand into the bosom of his toga,disarranging its folds for a moment, and suffering the eye of theconspirator to dwell on the hilt of a weapon, which he recognizedinstantly as the stiletto he had lost in the struggle with the miserableslave on the Esquiline.
No gleam in the eye of the wily plotter betrayed his intelligence; no showof emotion was discoverable in his dark paleness; but a grim smile playedover his lips for a moment, as he noted, not altogether without a sort ofsecret satisfaction, the dismay caused by his unexpected presence.
"How now," he said jeeringly, before the smile had yet vanished from hisill-omened face--"what aileth the bold Paullus, that he should start, likean unruly colt scared by a shadow, from the approach of a friend?"
"A friend," answered the young man in a half doubtful tone, but instantlyrecovering himself, "Ha! Cataline, I was surprised, and scarce saw who itwas. Thou art abroad betimes this morning. Whither so early? but whatsaidst thou about slaves?"
"I thought thou didst not know me," replied the other, "and for the rest,I am abroad no earlier than thou, and am perhaps bound to the same placewith thee!"
"By Hercules! I fancy not," said Paullus.
"Wherefore, I pray thee, not? Who knoweth? Perchance I go to pay my vowsto Jupiter upon the capitol! perchance," he added with a deep sneer, "tosalute our most eloquent and noble consul!"
A crimson flush shot instantly across the face and temples of Arvina,perceiving that he was tampered with, and sounded only; yet he repliedcalmly and with dignity, "Thither indeed, go I; but I knew not that thouwert in so much a friend of Cicero, as to go visit him."
"Men sometimes visit those who be not their friends," answered the other."I never said he was a friend to me, or I to him. By the gods, no! I hadlied else."
"But what was that," asked the youth, moved, by an inexplicable curiosityand excitement, to learn something more of the singular being with whomchance had brought him into contact, "which thou didst say but nowconcerning slaves?"
"That all these whom we see before us, and around us, and beneath us, arebut a herd of slaves; gulled and vainglorious slaves!"
"The Roman people?" exclaimed Paullus, every tone of his voice, everyfeature of his fine countenance, expressing his unmitigated horror andastonishment. "The great, unconquered Roman people; the lords of earth andsea, from frosty Caucasus to the twin rocks of Hercules; the tramplers onthe necks of kings; the arbiters of the whole world! The Roman people,slaves?"
"Most abject and most wretched!"
"To whom then?" cried the young man, much excited, "to whom am I, artthou, a slave? For we are also of the Roman people?"
"The Roman people, and thou, as one of them, and I, Paullus Caecilius, areslaves one and all; abject and base and spirit-fallen slaves, lacking thecourage even to spurn against our fetters, to the proud tyrannous richaristocracy."
"By the Gods! we are of it."
"But not the less, for that, slaves to it!" answered Cataline! "See! fromthe lowest to the highest, each petty pelting officer lords it above thenext below him; and if the tribunes for a while, at rare and singularmoments, uplift a warning cry against the corrupt insolence of thepatrician houses, gold buys them back into vile treasonable silence!Patricians be we, and not slaves, sayest thou? Come tell me then, did thepatrician blood of the grand Gracchi preserve them from a shameful doom,because they dared to speak, as free-born men, aloud and freely? Did hispatrician blood save Fulvius Flaccus? Were Publius Antonius, and CorneliusSylla, the less ejected from their offices, that they were of the highestblood in Rome; the lawful consuls by the suffrage of the people? Was I,the heir of Sergius Silo's glory, the less forbidden even to canvass forthe consulship, that my great grandsire's blood was poured out, likewater, upon those fields that witnessed Rome's extremest peril, Trebia,and the Ticinus, and Thrasymene and Cannae? Was Lentulus, the noblest ofthe noble, patrician of the eldest houses, a consular himself, expelledthe less and stricken from the rolls of the degenerate senate, for themere whining of a mawkish wench, because his name is Cornelius? Tush,Tush! these be but dreams of poets, or imaginings of children!--the commonsbe but slaves to the nobles; the nobles to the senate; the senate to theircreditors, their purchasers, their consuls; the last at once their tools,and their tyrants! Go, young man, go. Salute, cringe, fawn upon yourconsul! Nathless, for thou hast mind enough to mark and note the truth ofwhat I tell thee; thou wilt think upon this, and perchance one day, whenthe time shall have come, wilt speak, act, strike, for freedom!"
And as he finished speaking, he turned aside with a haughty gesture offarewell; and wrapping his toga closely about his tall person, stalkedaway slowly in the direction neither of the capitol nor of the consul'shouse; turning his head neither to the right hand nor to the left; andtaking no more notice of the person to whom he had been speaking, than ifhe had not known him to be there, and gazing toward him half-bewildered inanxiety and wonder!
"Wonderful! by the Gods!" he said at last. "Truly he is a wonderful man,and wise withal! I fain would know if all that be true, which they say ofhim--his bitterness, his impiety, his blood-thirstiness! By Hercules! hespeaks well! and it is _true_ likewise. Yea! true it is, that we,patricians, and free, as we style ourselves, may not speak any thing, oract, against our order; no! nor indulge our private pleasures, for fear ofthe proud censors! Is this, then, freedom? True, we are lords abroad; ourfleets, our hosts, everywhere victorious; and not one land, wherein theeagle has unfurled her pinion, but bows before the majesty of Rome--butyet--is it, is it, indeed, true, that we are but slaves, sovereign slaves,at home?"
The whole tenor of the young man's thoughts was altered by the few words,let fall for that very purpose by the arch traitor. Ever espying whom hemight attach to his party by operating on his passions, his prejudices,his weakness, or his pride; a most sagacious judge of human nature,reading the character of every man as it were in a written book, Catalinehad long before remarked young Arvina. He had noted several points of hismental constitution, which he considered liable to receive suchimpressions as he would--his proneness to defer to the thoughts of others,his want of energetic resolution, and not least his generous indignationagainst every thing that savored of cruelty or oppression. He had resolvedto operate on these, whenever he might find occasion; and should he meetsuccess in his first efforts, to stimulate his passions, minister to hisvoluptuous pleasures, corrupt his heart, and make him in the end, body andsoul, his own.
Such were the intentions of the conspirator, when he first addressedPaullus. His desire to increase the strength of his party, to whom theaccession of any member however humble of the great house of Caecilii couldnot fail to be useful, alone prompting him in the first instance. But,when he saw by the yo
ung man's startled aspect that he was prepossessedagainst him, and had listened probably to the damning rumors which wererife everywhere concerning him, a second motive was added, in his pride ofseduction and sophistry, by which he was wont to boast, that he couldbewilder the strongest minds, and work them to his will. When by theaccidental disarrangement of Arvina's gown, and the discovery of his owndagger, he perceived that the intended victim of his specious arts wasprobably cognizant in some degree of his last night's crime, a third andstronger cause was added, in the instinct of self-preservation. And assoon as he found out that Paullus was bound for the house of Cicero, heconsidered his life, in some sort, staked upon the issue of his attempt onArvina's principles.
No part could have been played with more skill, or with greater knowledgeof his character whom he addressed. He said just enough to set himthinking, and to give a bias and a colour to his thoughts, without givinghim reason to suspect that he had any interest in the matter; and he hadwithdrawn himself in that careless and half contemptuous manner, whichnaturally led the young man to wish for a renewal of the subject.
And in fact Paul, while walking down the hill, toward the house of theConsul, was busied in wondering why Cataline had left so much unsaid,departing so abruptly; and in debating with himself upon the strangedoctrines which he had then for the first time heard broached.
It was about the second hour of the Roman day, corresponding nearly toeight o'clock before noon--as the winter solstice was now passed--whenArvina reached the magnificent dwelling of the Consul in the Carinae at theangle of the Caerolian place, hard by the foot of the Sacred Way.
This splendid building occupied a whole _insula_, as it was called, orspace between four streets, intersecting each other at right angles; andwas three stories in height, the two upper supported by columns of marble,with a long range of glass windows, at that period an unusual andexpensive luxury. The doors stood wide open; and on either hand thevestibule were arranged the lictors leaning upon their fasces, while thewhole space of the great Corinthian hall within, lighted from above, andadorned with vast black pillars of Lucullean marble, was crowded with thewhite robes of the consul's plebeian clients tendering their morningsalutations; not unmixed with the crimson fringes and broad crimsonfacings of senatorial visitors.
Many were there with gifts of all kinds; countrymen from his Sabine farmand his Tusculan retreat, some bringing lambs; some cages full of doves;cheeses, and bowls of fragrant honey; and robes of fine white linen theproduce of their daughters' looms; for whom perchance they were seekingdowers at the munificence of their noble patron; artizans of the city,with toys or pieces of furniture, lamps, writing cases, cups or vases ofrich workmanship; courtiers with manuscripts rarely illuminated, the workof their most valuable slaves; travellers with gems, and bronzes,offerings known to be esteemed beyond all others by the high-minded loverof the arts, and unrivalled scholar, to whom they were presented.
These presents, after being duly exhibited to the patron himself, who wasseated at the farther end of the hall, concealed from the eyes of Paullusby the intervening crowd, were consigned to the care of the variousslaves, or freedmen, who stood round their master, and borne awayaccording to their nature, to the storerooms and offices, or to thelibrary and gallery of the consul; while kind words and a courteousgreeting, and a consideration most ample and attentive even of thesmallest matters brought before him, awaited all who approached theorator; whether he came empty handed, or full of gifts, to require anaudience.
After a little while, Arvina penetrated far enough through the crowd tocommand a view of the consul's seat; and for a time he amused himself bywatching his movements and manner toward each of his visitors, perhaps notaltogether without reference to the conversation he had recently held withCatiline; and certainly not without a desire to observe if the tales hehad heard of shameless bribery and corruption, as practiced by many of thegreat officers of the republic, had any confirmation in the conduct ofCicero.
But he soon saw that the courtesies of that great and virtuous man wereregulated neither by the value of the gifts offered, nor by the rank ofthe visitors; and that his personal predilections even were not allowed tointerfere with the division of his time among all worthy of his notice.
Thus he remarked that a young noble, famed for his dissoluteness and evilcourses, although he brought an exquisite sculpture of Praxiteles, wasreceived with the most marked and formal coldness, and his gift, whichcould not be declined, consigned almost without eliciting a glance ofapprobation, to the hand of a freedman; while, the next moment, as an oldwhite-headed countryman, plainly and almost meanly clad, although withscrupulous cleanliness, approached his presence, the consul rose to meethim; and advancing a step or two took him affectionately by the hand, andasked after his family by name, and listened with profound considerationto the garrulous narrative of the good farmer, who, involved in some pettylitigation, had come to seek the advice of his patron; until he sent himaway happy and satisfied with the promise of his protection.
By and by his own turn arrived; and, although he was personally unknown tothe orator, and the assistance of the nomenclator, who stood behind thecurule chair, was required before he was addressed by name, he wasreceived with the utmost attention; the noble house to which the young manbelonged being as famous for its devotion to the common weal, as for theability and virtue of its sons.
After a few words of ordinary compliment, Paullus proceeded to intimate tohis attentive hearer that his object in waiting at his levee that morningwas to communicate momentous information. The thoughtful eye of the greatorator brightened, and a keen animated expression came over the features,which had before worn an air almost of lassitude; and he asked eagerly--
"Momentous to the Republic--to Rome, my good friend?"--for all his mind wasbent on discovering the plots, which he suspected even now to be inprocess against the state.
"Momentous to yourself, Consul," answered Arvina.
"Then will it wait," returned the other, with a slight look ofdisappointment, "and I will pray you to remain, until I have spoken withall my friends here. It will not be very long, for I have seen nearly allthe known faces. If you are, in the mean time, addicted to the humanearts, Davus here will conduct you to my library, where you shall find foodfor the mind; or if you have not breakfasted, my Syrian will shew youwhere some of my youthful friends are even now partaking a slight meal."
Accepting the first offer, partly perhaps from a sort of pardonablehypocrisy, desiring to make a favourable impression on the great man, withwhom he had for the first time spoken, Arvina followed the intelligent andcivil freedman to the library, which was indeed the favourite apartment ofthe studious magistrate. And, if he half repented, as he went by thechamber wherein several youths of patrician birth, one or two of whomnodded to him as he passed, were assembled, conversing merrily and jestingaround a well spread board, he ceased immediately to regret the choice hehad made, when the door was thrown open, and he was ushered into theshrine of Cicero's literary leisure.
The library was a small square apartment; for it must be remembered thatbooks at this time being multiplied by manual labor only, and the artbeing comparatively rare and very costly, the vast collections of moderntimes were utterly beyond the reach of individuals; and a few scores ofvolumes were more esteemed than would be as many thousands now, in thesedays of multiplying presses and steam power. But although inconsiderablein size, not being above sixteen feet square, the decorations of theapartment were not to be surpassed or indeed equalled by anything ofmodern splendor; for the walls,(4) divided into compartments by mouldings,exquisitely carved and overlaid with burnished gilding, were set withpanels of thick plate glass glowing in all the richest hues of purple,ruby, emerald, and azure, through several squares of which the light stolein, gorgeously tinted, from the peristyle, there being no distinctionexcept in this between the windows and the other compartments of thewainscot, if it may be so styled; and of the ceiling, which was finishedin like manner with slabs o
f stained glass, between the intersecting beamsof gilded scroll work.
The floor was of beautiful mosaic, partially covered by a foot-cloth wovenfrom the finest wool, and dyed purple with the juice of the cuttle-fish;and all the furniture corresponded, both in taste and magnificence, to theother decorations of the room. A circular table of cedar wood, inlaid withivory and brass, so that its value could not have fallen far short of tenthousand sesterces(5), stood in the centre of the floor-cloth; with a_bisellium_, or double settle, wrought in bronze, and two beautiful chairsof the same material not much dissimilar in form to those now used. And,to conclude, a bookcase of polished maple wood, one of the doors of whichstood open, displayed a rare collection of about three hundred volumes,each in its circular case of purple parchment, having the name inscribedin letters of gold, silver, or vermilion.
A noble bust in bronze of the Phidian Jupiter, with the sublime expanse ofbrow, the ambrosian curls and the beard loosely waving, as when he shookOlympus by his nod, and the earth trembled and the depth of Tartarus,stood on a marble pedestal facing the bookcase; and on the table, besidewriting materials, leaves of parchment, an ornamental letter-case, adouble inkstand and several reed pens, were scattered many gems andtrinkets; signets and rings engraved in a style far surpassing any effortof the modern graver, vases of onyx and cut glass, and above all, thestatue of a beautiful boy, holding a lamp of bronze suspended by a chainfrom his left hand, and in his right the needle used to refresh the wick.
Nurtured as he had been from his youth upward among the magnates of theland, accustomed to magnificence and luxury till he had almost fanciedthat the world had nothing left of beautiful or new that he had notwitnessed, Paul stood awhile, after the freedman had departed, gazing withmute admiration on the richness and taste displayed in all the details ofthis the scholar's sanctum. The very atmosphere of the chamber, filledwith the perfume of the cedar wood employed as a specific against theravages of the moth and bookworm, seemed to the young man redolent ofmidnight learning; and the superb front of the presiding god, calm in thegrandeur of its ineffable benignity, who appeared to his excited fancy tosmile serene protection on the pursuits of the blameless consul, inspiredhim with a sense of awful veneration, that did not easily or quickly passaway.
For some moments, as he gradually recovered the elasticity of his spirits,he amused himself by examining the exquisitely wrought gems on the table;but after a little while, when Cicero came not, he crossed the roomquietly to the bookshelves, and selecting a volume of Homer, drew it forthfrom its richly embossed case, and seating himself on the bronze settlewith his back toward the door, had soon forgotten where he was, and thegrave business which brought him thither, in the sublime simplicity of theblind rhapsodist.
An hour or more elapsed thus; yet Paul took no note of time, nor moved atall except to unroll with his right hand the lower margin of the parchmentas he read, while with the left he rolled up the top; so that nearly thesame space of the manuscript remained constantly before his eyes, althoughthe reader was continually advancing in the poem.
At length the door opened noiselessly, and with a silent foot, shod in thelight slippers which the Romans always wore when in the house, Ciceroentered the apartment.
The consul was at this time in the very prime of intellectual manhood, ithaving been decreed(6) about a century before, that no person should beelected to that highest office of the state, who should not have attainedhis forty-third year. He was a tall and elegantly formed man, with nothingespecially worthy of remark in his figure, if it were not that his neckwas unusually long and slender, though not so much so as to constitute anydrawback to his personal appearance, which, without being what wouldexactly be termed handsome, was both elegant and graceful. His featureswere not, indeed, very bold or striking; but intellect was strongly andsingularly marked in every line of the face; and the expression,--calm,thoughtful, and serene,--though it had not the quick and restless play ofever-varying lights and shadows which belongs to the quicker and moreimaginative temperaments among men of the highest genius,--could not failto impress any one with the conviction, that the mind which informed itmust be of eminent capacity, and depth, and power.
He entered, as I have said, silently; and although there was nothing ofstealthiness in his gait, which being very light and slow was yet bothfirm and springy, nor any of that cunning in his manner which is so oftencoupled to a prowling footstep, he yet advanced so noiselessly over thesoft floor-cloth, that he stood at Arvina's elbow, and overlooked the pagein which he was reading, before the young man was aware of his vicinity.
"Ha!" he exclaimed, after standing a moment, and observing with a softpleasant smile the abstraction of his visitor, "so thou readest Greek, andart thyself a poet."
"A little of the first, my consul," replied Arvina, arising quickly to hisfeet, with the ingenuous blood rushing to his brow at the detection. "Butwherefore shouldst thou believe me the second?"
"We statesmen," answered the consul, "are wont to study other men'scharacters, as other men are wont to study books; and I have learned bypractice to draw quick conclusions from small signs. But in this instance,the light in your eye, the curl of your expanded nostril, the half frownon your brow, and the flush on your cheek, told me beyond a doubt that youare a poet. And you are so, young man. I care not whether you have pennedas yet an elegy, or no--nevertheless, you are in soul, in temperament, infantasy, a poet. Do you love Homer?"
"Beyond all other writers I have ever met, in my small course of reading.There is a majesty, a truth, an ever-burning fire, lustrous, yet naturaland most beneficent, like the sun's glory on a summer day, in his immortalwords, that kindles and irradiates, yet consumes not the soul; a grandsimplicity, that never strains for effect; a sweet pathos, that elicitstears without evoking them; a melody that flows on, like the harmony ofthe eternal sea, or, if we may call fancy to our aid, the music of thespheres, telling us that like these the blind bard sang, because song washis nature--was within, and must out--not bound by laws, or measured bypedantic rules, but free, unfettered, and spontaneous as the billows,which in its wild and many-cadenced sweep it most resembles."
"Ah! said I not," replied Cicero, "that you were a poet? And you have beendiscoursing me most eloquent poetry; though not attuned to metre,rythmical withal, and full of fancy. Ay! and you judge aright. He is thegreatest, as the first of poets; and surpassed all his followers as muchin the knowledge of the human heart with its ten thousands of conflictingpassions, as in the structure of the kingly verse, wherein he delineatedcharacter as never man did, saving only he. But hold, Arvina. Though Icould willingly spend hours with thee in converse on this topic, the statehas calls on me, which must be obeyed. Tell me, therefore, I pray you, asshortly as may be, what is the matter you would have me know. Shortly, Ipray you, for my time is short, and my duties onerous and manifold."
Laying aside the roll, which he had still held open during that briefconversation, and laying aside with it his enthusiastic and passionatemanner, the young man now stated, simply and briefly, the events of thepast night, the discovery of the murdered slave, and the accident by whichhe had learned that he was the consul's property; and in conclusion, laidthe magnificently ornamented dagger which he had found, on the boardbefore Cicero; observing, that the weapon might give a clue to poorMedon's death.
Cicero was moved deeply--moved, not simply, as Arvina fancied, by sorrowfor the dead, but by something approaching nearly to remorse. He startedup from the chair, which he had taken when the youth began his tale, andclasping his hands together violently, strode rapidly to and fro the smallapartment.
"Alas, and wo is me, poor Medon! Faithful wert thou, and true, and verypleasant to mine eyes! Alas! that thou art gone, and gone too sowretchedly! And wo is me, that I listened not to my own apprehensions,rather than to thy trusty boldness. Alas! that I suffered thee to go, forthey have murdered thee! ay, thine own zeal betrayed thee; but by the Godsthat govern in Olympus, they shall rue it!"
After this b
urst of passion he became more cool, and, resuming his seat,asked Paullus a few shrewd and pertinent questions concerning the natureof the ground whereon he had found the corpse, the traces left by themortal struggle, the hour at which the discovery was made, and many otherminute points of the same nature; the answers to which he noted carefullyon his waxed tablets. When he had made all the inquiries that occurred tohim, he read aloud the answers as he had set them down, and asked if hewould be willing at any moment to attest the truth of those things.
"At any moment, and most willingly, my consul," the youth replied. "Iwould do much myself to find out the murderers and bring them to justice,were it only for my poor freedman Thrasea's sake, who is hiscousin-german."
"Fear not, young man, they _shall_ be brought to justice," answeredCicero. "In the meantime do thou keep silence, nor say one word touchingthis to any one that lives. Carry the dagger with thee; wear it asostentatiously as may be--perchance it shall turn out that some one mayclaim or recognise it. Whatever happeneth, let me know privately. Thus farhast thou done well, and very wisely: go on as thou hast commenced, and,hap what hap, count Cicero thy friend. But above all, doubt not--I say,doubt not one moment,--that as there is One eye that seeth all things inall places, that slumbereth not by day nor sleepeth in the watches ofnight, that never waxeth weak at any time or weary--as there is One handagainst which no panoply can arm the guilty, from which no distance canprotect, nor space of time secure him, so surely shall they perishmiserable who did this miserable murder, and their souls rue iteverlastingly beyond the portals of the grave, which are but the portalsof eternal life, and admit all men to wo or bliss, for ever and for ever!"
He spoke solemnly and sadly; and on his earnest face there was a deep andalmost awful expression, that held Arvina mute and abashed, he knew notwherefore; and when the great man had ceased from speaking, he made asilent gesture of salutation and withdrew, thus gravely warned, scarceconscious if the statesman noted his departure; for he had fallen into adeep reverie, and was perhaps musing on the mysteries yet unrevealed ofthe immortal soul, so totally careless did he now appear of all sublunarymatters.