A Struggle For Rome Volume I Part 25

"Concede everything," he whispered; "it is forced and null. And to-night Pomponius will arrive.

"Speak!" said Ca.s.siodorus; "but spare the woman, barbarians!"

"Ha! ha!" laughed Duke Pitza. "She will not be treated like a woman.

She is our _King_!"

"Peace, cousin!" said Duke Thulun reprovingly; "she is of n.o.ble blood.

First," he continued, "thou must dismiss the Prefect of Rome. He is said to be an enemy of the Goths; he may not advise the Gothic Queen.

Earl Witichis will take his place near thy throne."

"Agreed!" said Cethegus himself, instead of Amalaswintha.

"Secondly, thou wilt declare, in a proclamation, that for the future no order of thine can be executed which is not signed by Hildebrand or Witichis; and that no law is valid without the ratification of the National a.s.sembly."

The Queen started up angrily; but Cethegus held her arm.

"Pomponius comes to-night," he whispered. Then he said aloud, "This also is agreed to."

"The third condition," resumed Thulun, "is one which thou wilt as willingly grant as we ask it. We three Balthes have not learned to bow our heads in a prince's court. The roof here is too low for us. It is better that Amelungs and Balthes live as far apart as the eagle and the falcon. And the realm needs our weapons upon its boundaries. Our neighbours think that the land is orphaned since thy great father died, Avari, Gepidae, and Sclavonians fearlessly overstep the frontiers. In order to punish these three nations, thou wilt equip three armies, each of thirty thousand; and we three Balthes will lead them, as thy generals, to the east and to the north."

"The whole military force also in their hands--not bad!" thought Cethegus. "Accepted!" he cried aloud, smiling.

"And what remains to me," asked Amalaswintha, "when I have granted all this?"

"A golden crown upon a white forehead," said Duke Ibba.

"Thou canst write like a Greek," re-commenced Thulun. "Such arts are not learned in vain. This parchment should contain all that we demand; my slave has written it down." He gave it to Witichis to examine. "Is it so? 'Tis well. That thou wilt sign, Princess. Good. We have finished. Now, Hildebrand, speak with yonder Roman."

But Teja was beforehand. He advanced to the Prefect, trembling with hate, his sword in his hand.

"Prefect of Rome," said he, "blood has been shed--precious, n.o.ble, Gothic blood! It consecrates the furious strife which will soon be kindled. Blood, which thou shalt atone----"

His voice was suffocated with rage.

"Bah!" cried Hildebad--for he was the tall Goth--pushing him aside.

"Make not such a to-do about it! My dear brother can easily part with a little superfluous blood; and the others lost more than he could spare.

There, thou black devil!" he cried, turning to Cethegus, and holding a broad-sword close before his eyes, "knowest thou that?"

"Pomponius's sword!" cried Cethegus, turning pale and staggering back a step.

Amalaswintha and Ca.s.siodorus asked in alarm,

"Pomponius?"

"Aha!" laughed Hildebad. "That is shocking, is it not? Nothing will come of the water-party!"

"Where is Pomponius--my Navarchus?" asked Amalaswintha vehemently.

"With the sharks, Queen, in deep water."

"Ha! death and destruction!" exclaimed Cethegus, now carried away by his anger. "How happened that?"

"Merrily enough! My brother Totila--thou surely knowest him?--lay in the harbour of Ancona with two little ships. Thy friend Pomponius had had for some days such an insolent expression of countenance, and had let fall such bragging words, that it struck even my unsuspicious brother. One morning Pomponius suddenly disappeared from the harbour with his three triremes. Totila smelt a rat, spread all sail, pursued him, overtook him off Pisaurum, stopped him, went on board with me and a few others, and asked him whither he would be going."

"He had no right to do so. Pomponius will have given him no answer."

"He did so, for all that, most excellent Cethegus! When he saw that we were only ten upon his ship, he laughed, and cried, 'Whither sail I? To Ravenna, thou downy-beard, to save the Queen from your claws, and take her to. Rome!' And he therewith made a sign to his crew. But we, too, threw our shields before us, and--hurrah! how the swords flew from the sheaths! It was hard work--ten to forty! But happily it did not last long. Our comrades in the nearest ship heard the iron rattle, and were quickly alongside with their boats, and climbed the bulwarks like cats.

Now we had the upper hand; but the Navarchus--to give the devil his due!--would not yield; fought like to madman, and pierced my brother's arm through his shield, so that the blood spouted. But then my brother got into a rage too, and ran his spear through the other's body, so that he fell like an ox. 'Greet the Prefect,' he said, as he lay dying, 'give him my sword, his gift, back again, and tell him that no one can cheat Death, else I had kept my word!' I swore to him that I would confirm his words. He was a brave man. Here is the sword."

Cethegus took it in silence.

"The ships yielded, and my brother took them back to Ancona. But I sailed here with the swiftest, and met the three Balthes in the harbour, just at the right moment."

A pause ensued, during which Cethegus and Amalaswintha bitterly contemplated their desperate position. Cethegus had consented to everything in the sure hope of flight, which was now frustrated. His well-considered plan was balked; balked by Totila; and hatred of this name entered deeply into the Prefect's soul. His grim reflections were interrupted by the voice of Thulun, asking:

"Well, Amalaswintha, wilt thou sign? or shall we call upon the Goths to choose a King?"

At these words Cethegus quickly recovered himself. He took the tablets from the hand of the Duke and handed them to the Queen.

"It is necessary, O Queen," he said in a low voice; "you have no choice."

Ca.s.siodorus gave her the stylus, she wrote her name and Thulun received the tablets.

"'Tis well," said he; "we go to announce to the Goths that their kingdom is saved. Thou, Ca.s.siodorus, accompany us to bear witness that all has been done without violence."

At a sign from Amalaswintha the senator obeyed, and followed the Gothic leaders to the Forum before the palace.

When the Queen found herself alone with Cethegus, she started from her seat. She could no longer restrain her tears. She pa.s.sionately struck her forehead. Her pride was terribly humbled. She felt the shame of this hour more deeply than the loss of husband, father, or even of her son.

"Then this," she cried, weeping loudly, "this is man's superiority!

Brutal, clumsy force! O, Cethegus, all is lost!"

"Not all, Queen, only a plan. I beg you to keep me in kindly remembrance," he added coldly. "I go to Rome."

"What? you will leave me at this moment? You, you have made me give all these promises, which rob me of my throne, and now you forsake me! Oh!

it were better that I had resisted, I should then have remained indeed a Queen, even if they had set the crown upon the head of that rebel Duke!"

"Certainly," thought Cethegus, "better for you, worse for me. No, no hero shall ever again wear this Gothic crown." He had quickly seen that Amalaswintha could no longer serve him, and just as quickly he gave her up. He was already thinking of a new tool for his plans. Yet he decided to disclose to her a portion of his thoughts, in order that she might not act upon her own account, contradict her promises, and thereby cause the crown to obvert to Thulun. "I go, O Queen," he said; "but I do not therefore forsake you. Here I can no longer serve you. They have banished me from your side, and will guard you as jealously as a lover his mistress."

"But what shall I do with these promises? what with the three dukes?"

"Wait, and, at present, submit. And as to the three dukes," he added hesitatingly, "they go to the wars--perhaps they will never return."

"Perhaps!" sighed the Queen. "Of what use is a 'perhaps?'"

Cethegus came close to her.

"As soon as you wish it--they _shall_ never return."