A Struggle for Rome, v. 1

  CHAPTER XI.

  "Well, one might put up with the barbarian women," cried MarcusLicinius, "but may Orcus devour their brothers!" and he tore the fadedrose-wreath from his head--the flowers could ill bear the close air ofthe room--and replaced it by a fresh one. "Not only have they deprivedus of liberty--they even beat us upon the field of love, with thedaughters of Hesperia. Only lately, the beautiful Lavinia shut the doorupon my brother, and received the foxy-haired Aligern."

  "Barbaric taste!" observed Lucius, shrugging his shoulders, and takingto his Isis-wine, as if to comfort himself. "You know the Goths too,Furius; is it not an error of taste?"

  "I do not know your rival," answered the Corsican; "but there areyouths enough among the Goths who might well be dangerous to a woman.And an adventure occurs to me, which I lately discovered, but of which,certainly, the point is still wanting."

  "That does not matter; tell it to us," said Kallistratos, putting hishands into the luke-warm water, which was now handed round inCorinthian bronze vessels; "perhaps we can find the point."

  "The hero of my story," began Furius, "is the handsomest of all theGoths."

  "Ah, the young Totila," interrupted Piso, and gave his cameo-decoratedcup to be filled with iced wine.

  "The same. I have known him for years, and like him exceedingly, as allmust who have ever looked into his sunny face; not to speak of thefact"--and here the shadow of some grave remembrance flitted across theCorsican's face, as he hesitated--"that I am under an obligation tohim."

  "It seems that you are in love with the fair-haired youth," saidMassurius sarcastically, and throwing to the slave he had brought withhim a kerchief full of Picentinian biscuits, to take home with him.

  "No; but he has been very friendly to me, as he is to every one withwhom he comes into contact; and very often he had the harbour-watch inthe Italian ports where I landed."

  "Yes, he has rendered great services to the Gothic navy," said LuciusLicinius.

  "As well as to their cavalry," concurred Marcus. "The slender youth isthe best rider in his nation."

  "Well, I met him last in Neapolis. We were well-pleased to meet, but itwas in vain that I pressed him to share our merry suppers on board myship."

  "Oh, those suppers are both celebrated and ill-famed," observed Balbus;"you have always the most fiery wines."

  "And the most fiery girls," added Massurius.

  "However that may be, Totila always pleaded business, and was not to bepersuaded. Imagine that! business after the eighth hour in Neapolis,when the most industrious are lazy! Naturally, it was only an excuse. Ipromised myself to find out his pranks, and, at evening, loitered nearhis house in the Via Lata. And truly, the very first evening he cameout, looking carefully about him, and, to my surprise, in disguise. Hewas dressed like a gardener, with a travelling-cap well drawn down overhis face, and a cloak folded closely about him. I dogged his footsteps.He went straight through the town to the Porta Capuana. Close to thegate stands a large tower, inhabited by the gate-keeper, an oldpatriarchal Jew, whom King Theodoric, on account of his great fidelity,entrusted with the office of warder. My Goth stood still before thehouse, and gently clapped his hands. A little side-door, which I hadnot remarked before, opened noiselessly, and Totila slipped in like aneel."

  "Ho, ho!" interrupted Piso eagerly, "I know both the Jew and his childMiriam--a splendid large-eyed girl! The most beautiful daughter ofIsrael, the pearl of the East! Her lips are red as pomegranates, hereyes are deep sea-blue, her cheeks have the rosy bloom of the peach."

  "Well done, Piso," said Cethegus, smiling; "your poem is verybeautiful."

  "No," he answered, "Miriam herself is living poetry."

  "The Jewess is proud," grumbled Massurius, "she scorned my gold with alook as if no one had ever bought a woman before."

  "So the haughty Goth," said Lucius Licinius, "who walks with an air asif he earned all heaven's stars upon his curly head, has condescendedto a Jewess."

  "So I thought, and I determined, at the next opportunity, to laugh atthe youth for his predilection for musk. But nothing of the sort! A fewdays later, I was obliged to go to Capua. I started before daybreak toavoid the heat. I drove out of the town through the Porta Capuana, justas it was dawning, and as I rattled over the hard stones before theJews' tower, I thought with envy of Totila, and said to myself that hewas then lying in the embrace of two white arms. But at the secondmilestone from the gate, walking towards the town, with two emptyflower-baskets hanging over his breast and back, dressed in agardener's costume, just as before, whom should I meet but Totila!Therefore he was not lying in Miriam's arms; the Jewess was not hissweetheart, but perhaps his confidante; and who knows where the flowerthat this gardener cherishes blooms? The lucky fellow! Only considerthat on the Via Capuana stand all the villas and pleasure-houses of thefirst families of Neapolis, and that in these gardens flourish andbloom the loveliest of women."

  "By my genius!" cried Lucius Licinius, lifting his wreathed goblet, "inthat region live the most beautiful women of Italia--cursed be theGoths!"

  "No," shouted Massurius, glowing with wine, "cursed be Kallistratos andthe Corsican! who offer us strange love-stories, as the stork offeredthe fox food from narrow-necked flasks. Now, O mine host, let yourgirls in, if you have ordered any. You need not excite our expectationany further."

  "Yes, yes! the girls! the dancers! the players!" cried the young guestsall together.

  "Hold!" said the host. "When Aphrodite comes, she must tread uponflowers. This glass I dedicate to thee, Flora!"

  He sprang up, and dashed a costly crystal cup against the tabledceiling, so that it broke with a loud ring. As soon as the glass struckthe ceiling, the whole of it opened like a trap-door, and a thick rainof flowers of all kinds fell upon the heads of the astonished guests;roses from Paestum, violets from Thurii, myrtles from Tarentum; coveringwith scented bunches the tesselated floor, the tables, the cushions,and the heads of the drinkers.

  "Never," cried Cethegus, "did Venus descend more beautifully uponPaphos!"

  Kallistratos clapped his hands.

  To the sound of lyre and flute the centre wall of the room, directlyopposite the triclinium, parted; four short-robed female dancers,chosen for their beauty, in Persian costume, that is, dressed intransparent rose-coloured gauze, sprang, clashing their cymbals, frombehind a bush of blooming oleander.

  Behind them came a large carriage in the form of a fan-shaped shell,with golden wheels, pushed by eight young female slaves. Four girls,playing on the flute, and dressed in Lydian garments--purple and whitewith gold-embroidered mantles--walked before, and upon the seat of thecarriage rested, in a half-lying position, and covered with roses,Aphrodite herself; a blooming girl of enchanting, voluptuous beauty,whose almost only garment was an imitation of Aphrodite's girdle of theGraces.

  "Ha, by Eros and Anteros!" cried Massurius, and sprang down from thetriclinium with an unsteady step amidst the group.

  "Let us draw lots for the girls," said Piso; "I have new dice made fromthe bones of the gazelle. Let us inaugurate them."

  "Let our festal King decide," proposed Marcus.

  "No, freedom! freedom at least in love!" cried Massurius, and roughlycaught the goddess by the arm; "and music. Hey there! Music!"

  "Music!" ordered Kallistratos.

  But before the cymbal-players could begin, the entrance-doors werehastily thrown open, and pushing the slaves who tried to stop himaside, Scaevola rushed in. He was deadly pale.

  "You here! I really find you here, Cethegus! at this moment!" he cried.

  "What's the matter?" asked the Prefect, quietly taking the wreath ofroses off his head.

  "What's the matter!" repeated Scaevola. "The fatherland trembles betweenScylla and Charybdis! The Gothic Dukes, Thulun, Ibba, and Pitza----"

  "Well?" asked Lucius Licinius.

  "Are murdered!"

  "Triumph!" shouted the young Roman, and let loose the dancer whom heheld in his arms.

&
nbsp; "A fine triumph!" said the jurist angrily. "When the news reachedRavenna, the mob accused the Queen; they stormed the palace--butAmalaswintha had escaped."

  "Whither?" asked Cethegus, starting up.

  "Whither! Upon a Grecian ship--to Byzantium."

  Cethegus frowned and silently set down his cup.

  "But the worst is that the Goths mean to dethrone her, and choose aKing."

  "A King?" said Cethegus. "Well, I will call the Senate together. TheRomans, too, shall choose."

  "Whom? what shall we choose?" asked Scaevola.

  But Cethegus was not obliged to answer.

  Before he could speak Lucius shouted:

  "A Dictator! Away, away to the Senate!"

  "To the Senate!" repeated Cethegus majestically. "Syphax, my mantle!"

  "Here, master, and the sword as well," whispered the Moor. "I alwaysbring it with me, in case of need."

  And host and guests, staggering, followed Cethegus, who, the onlycompletely sober man amongst them, was the first out of the house andinto the street.