A Struggle for Rome, v. 1

  CHAPTER VII.

  Several weeks later we find the grave Prefect in a circle which seemedvery ill-suited to his lofty character, or even to his age.

  In the singular juxtaposition of heathenism and Christianity which,during the first century succeeding Constantine's conversion, filledthe life and manners of the Roman world with such harsh contrasts, thepeaceful mingling of the old and the new religious festivals played astriking part. Generally the merry feasts of the ancient gods stillexisted, together with the great holidays of the Christian Church,though usually robbed of their original significance, of theirreligious kernel. The people allowed themselves to be deprived of thebelief in Jupiter and Juno, of sacrifices and ceremonies, but not ofthe games, the festivities, the dances and banquets, by which thoseceremonies had been accompanied; and the Church was at all times wiseand tolerant enough to suffer what she could not prevent. Thus, eventhe truly heathen Lupercalia, which were distinguished by grosssuperstition and all kinds of rude excess, were only, and with greatdifficulty, abolished in the year 496.

  The days of the Floralia were come, which formerly were celebrated overthe whole continent with noisy games and dances, as being specially afeast of happy youth; and which, in the days we speak of, were at leastpassed in banqueting and drinking.

  And so the two Licinii, with their circle of young gallants andpatricians, had made an appointment to meet together for a symposiumupon the principal holiday of the Floralia, to which, as at ourpicnics, every one contributed his share of food and wine.

  The guests assembled at the house of young Kallistratos, an amiable andrich Greek from Corinth, who had settled in Rome to enjoy an artisticleisure, and had built, near the gardens of Sallust, a tasteful house,which became the focus of luxury and polite society.

  Besides the rich Roman aristocracy, this house was particularlyfrequented by artists and scholars; and also by that stratum of theRoman youth, which could spare little time and thought from its horses,chariots and dogs for the State, and which until now had therefore beeninaccessible to the influence of the Prefect.

  For this reason Cethegus was well-pleased when young Lucius Licinius,now his most devoted adherent, brought him an invitation from theCorinthian.

  "I know," said Licinius modestly, "that we can offer you no appropriateentertainment; and if the Falernian and Cyprian, with whichKallistratos regales his guests, do not entice you, you can decline tocome."

  "No, my son; I will come," said Cethegus; "and it is not the oldCyprian which tempts me, but the young Romans."

  Kallistratos, who loved to display his Grecian origin, had built hishouse in the midst of Rome in Grecian style; not in the style thenprevalent, but in that of the free Greece of Pericles, which, bycontrast with the tasteless overcharging usual in Rome in those days,made an impression of noble simplicity.

  Through a narrow passage one entered the peristyle, or open court,surrounded by a colonnade, in the centre of which a splashing fountainfell into a coloured marble basin. The colonnade, open to the north,contained, besides other rooms, the banqueting hall, in which thecompany was now assembled.

  Cethegus had stipulated that he should not be present at the c[oe]na,or actual banquet, but only at the compotatio, the drinking-bout whichfollowed.

  So he found the friends in the elegant drinking-room, where the bronzelamps upon the tortoise-shell slabs on the walls were already lighted,and the guests, crowned with roses and ivy, lay upon the cushions ofthe horse-shoe-shaped triclinium.

  A stupefying mixture of wine-odours and flower-scents, a glare oftorches and glow of colour, met him upon the threshold.

  "_Salve_, Cethegus!" cried the host, as he entered. "You find but asmall party."

  Cethegus ordered the slave who followed him, a beautiful and slenderyoung Moor, whose finely-shaped limbs were rather revealed than hiddenby the scarlet gauze of his light tunic, to unloose his sandals.Meanwhile he counted the guests.

  "Not less than the Graces, nor more than the Muses," he said with asmile.

  "Quick, choose a wreath," said Kallistratos, "and take your place upthere, upon the seat of honour on the couch. We have chosen youbeforehand for the king of the feast."

  The Prefect was determined to charm these young people. He knew howwell he could do so, and that day he wished to make a particularimpression. He chose a crown of roses, and took the ivory sceptre,which a Syrian slave handed to him upon his knees.

  Placing the rose-wreath on his head, he raised the sceptre withdignity.

  "Thus I put an end to your freedom!"

  "A born ruler!" cried Kallistratos, half in joke, half in earnest.

  "But I will be a gentle tyrant! My first law: one-thirdwater--two-thirds wine."

  "Oho!" cried Lucius Licinius, and drank to him, "_bene te!_ you governluxuriously. Equal parts is usually our strongest mixture."

  "Yes, friend," said Cethegus, smiling, and seating himself upon thecorner seat of the central triclinium, the "Consul's seat," "but I tooklessons in drinking amongst the Egyptians; they drink pure wine. Ho,cupbearer--what is he called?"

  "Ganymede--he is from Phrygia. Fine fellow--eh?"

  "So, Ganymede, obey thy Jupiter, and place near each guest; a patera ofMamertine wine--but near Balbus two, because he is a countryman."

  The young people laughed.

  Balbus was a rich Sicilian proprietor, still quite young, and alreadyvery stout.

  "Bah!" said he, laughing, "ivy round my head, and an amethyst on myfinger--I defy the power of Bacchus!"

  "Well, at which wine have you arrived?" asked Cethegus, at the sametime signing to the Moor who now stood behind him, and who at oncebrought a second wreath of roses, and, this time, wound it about hisneck.

  "Must of Setinum, with honey from Hymettus, was the last. There, tryit!" said Piso, the roguish poet, whose epigrams and anacreontics couldnot be copied quickly enough by the booksellers; and whose finances,notwithstanding, were always in poetical disorder. He handed to thePrefect what we should call a _vexing-cup_, a bronze serpent's-head,which, lifted carelessly to the lips, violently shot a stream of wineinto the drinker's throat.

  But Cethegus knew the trick, drank carefully, and returned the cup.

  "I like your _dry_ wit better, Piso," he said, laughing; and snatched awax tablet from a fold in the other's garment.

  "Oh, give it me back," said Piso; "it is no verses--just thecontrary--a list of my debts for wine and horses."

  "Well," observed Cethegus, "I have taken it--so it and they aremine. To-morrow you may fetch the quittance at my house; but not fornothing--for one of your most spiteful epigrams upon my pious friendSilverius."

  "Oh, Cethegus!" cried the poet, delighted and flattered, "how spitefulone can be for 40,000 solidi! Woe to the holy man of God!"