A Struggle For Rome Volume Ii Part 4

She heard Theodahad hastily descend the staircase, and call for his litter.

"Fly, fly! thou miserable coward!" she cried, "I will remain here!"

CHAPTER XII.

Splendidly rose the sun out of the sea the next morning. Its beams glittered upon the shining weapons of many thousand Gothic warriors, who crowded the wide levels of Regeta.

From all the provinces of the kingdom they had hastened by groups, in families, often with wife and child, to be present at the great muster which took place every autumn.

Such an a.s.sembly was at once a splendid feast, and the highest national solemnity. Originally, in heathen times, its immediate intention had been the grand feast of sacrifice, which, twice a year, at the winter and the summer solstice, had united all branches of the nation in honour of their common G.o.ds; to this were added a market and exchange of goods, exercises of arms, and the review of the army. The a.s.sembly had the power of the highest jurisdiction, and the final decision as to peace, war, and political relations with other states.

And even now, in the Christian time, when the King had acquired many a right which once belonged to the people, the National a.s.sembly possessed a high solemnity, although its ancient heathen significance was forgotten.

The remains of the old liberties of the people, which even the powerful Theodoric had not contested, revived under his weak descendants.

A majority of free Goths had still to p.r.o.nounce sentence, and to award punishment, even though the King's Earl conducted the proceedings in his name, and fulfilled the sentence.

Often already had Germanic nations themselves accused, judged, and executed their kings, on account of treachery, murder, or other heavy crimes, before a Free a.s.sembly of the people.

In the proud consciousness that he was his own master, and served none, not even the King, beyond the limit of freedom, the German went in full armour to the "Ting," where he felt himself safe and strong in union with his fellows, and saw the liberties, strength, and honour of himself and his countrymen represented in living pictures before his eyes.

To the a.s.sembly of which we now speak, the Goths had been attracted by peculiarly strong reasons. When the summons to meet at Regeta was published, the war with Byzantium was expected or already declared; the nation rejoiced at the coming struggle with their hated enemy, and were glad to muster their forces beforehand. This time the a.s.sembly was to be, more than ever, a grand review.

Besides this, most of the Goths in the adjacent places knew that judgment was to be pa.s.sed on the murderers of the daughter of Theodoric, and the great excitement caused by this treacherous act had also contributed to draw the people to Regeta.

While a portion of those a.s.sembled had been received by friends and relatives in the nearest villages, great numbers had--already some days before the formal opening of the a.s.sembly--encamped in light tents and huts upon the wide plain, two hundred and eighty stadii distant from Rome.

At the earliest dawn of day these groups were already in noisy movement, and employed the time during which they were yet masters of the place, in various games and pastimes.

Some swam and bathed in the clear waters of the rapid river Ufen (or "Decemnovius," thus named because it flowed into the sea at Terracina, nineteen miles off), which crossed the plain. Others displayed their skill in leaping over whole rows of outstretched spears, or, almost naked, in dancing amid brandished swords, while others again--and these the fleetest-footed--clinging to the manes of their horses, kept step with their swiftest gallop, and when arrived at the goal, securely swung themselves upon their unsaddled backs.

"What a pity," cried young Gudila, who was the first to arrive at the goal in one of these races, and now stroked his yellow locks out of his eyes, "what a pity that Totila is not present! He is the best rider in the nation, and has always beaten me. But now, with this horse, I would try again with him."

"I am glad that he is not here," said Gunthamund, who had arrived second, "else I had scarcely won the first prize in hurling the lance yesterday."

"Yes," said Hilderich, a stately young warrior in a jingling suit of mail, "Totila is clever at the lance. But black Teja throws still better; he can tell you beforehand which rib he will hit."

"Pshaw!" grumbled Hunibad, an elderly man, who had looked critically at the performance of the youths, "all that is only play. In b.l.o.o.d.y earnest the sword is the only weapon that serves a man at the last, when death so presses on him from all sides that he has no s.p.a.ce for throwing. And for that I praise Earl Witichis, of Faesulae! He is _my_ man! What a breaking of skulls was there in the war with the Gepidae!

The man cleaved through steel and leather as if it were dry straw! He is still more valiant than my own duke, Guntharis the Wolfung, in Florentia. But what do you youngsters know about it?--Look! the first arrivals are coming down the hill. Up! let us go to meet them!"

And now people came streaming in on all the roads; on foot, on horseback, and in wagons. A noisy and turbulent crowd filled all the plain.

On the sh.o.r.es of the river, where stood most of the tents, the horses were unharnessed, and the wagons pushed together to form a barricade.

Through the lanes of the camp the ever-increasing crowd now streamed.

There friends and acquaintances, who had not met for years, sought and greeted each other.

It was a gay and chequered scene, for the old Germanic equality had long since disappeared from the kingdom.

There stood near the aristocratic n.o.ble, who had settled in one of the rich Italian towns, who lived in the palaces of senatorial families, and had adopted the more luxuriant and polite customs of the Italians; near the duke or earl from Mediolanum or Ticinum, who wore a shoulder-belt of purple silk across his richly-gilt armour; near such a dainty lord towered some rough, gigantic Gothic peasant, who lived in the thick oak-forests on the Margus in M[oe]sia, or who had fought the wolf in the forests by the rushing [OE]nus for the ragged skin which he carried over his bear-like shoulders, and whose harsh-sounding speech struck strangely on the ear of his half-Romanised companion.

There came strong and war-hardened men from the distant Augusta Vindelicorum on the Licus, who day and night defended the rotten walls of that outermost northern fortress of the Gothic kingdom against the wild Su[=e]vi.

And here were peaceful shepherds from Dacia, who, possessing neither field nor house, wandered with their flocks from pasture to pasture, still living in the manner introduced into the West by their ancestors from Asia a thousand years ago.

There was a rich Goth, who, in Rome or Ravenna, had married the daughter of some Italian moneychanger, and had soon learned to do business like his father-in-law, and reckon his profits by thousands.

And here stood a poor Alpine shepherd, who drove his meagre goats on to the meagre pastures near the noisy Isarcus, and who erected his hut of planks close to the den of the bear.

So differently had the die been cast for the thousands who were here met together, since their fathers had followed the call of the great Theodoric to the West, away from the valleys of the Haemus.

But still they felt that they were brothers, the sons of one nation; they spoke the same proud language, they had the same golden locks, the same snowy skins, the same light and sparkling eyes, and--above all--the same feeling in their hearts: "We stand as victors on the ground that our fathers forced from the Roman Empire, and which we will defend to the death."

Like an immense swarm of bees the ma.s.ses hummed and buzzed, greeting each other, seeking old acquaintances and concluding new friendships; and the chaotic tumult seemed as if it would never end.

But suddenly the peculiar long-drawn tones of the Gothic horn were heard from the crown of the hill, and at once the storm of the thousand voices was laid.

All eyes were eagerly turned in the direction of the hill, from which a procession of venerable men now approached.

It was formed of half a hundred men in white and flowing mantles, their heads crowned with ivy, carrying white staffs and ancient stone axes.

They were the sajones or soldiers of the tribunal, whose office it was to carry out the ceremonial forms of opening, warding, and closing the "Ting."

Arrived on the plain, they greeted with a triple long-drawn flourish the a.s.sembly of free warriors; who, after a solemn silence, answered with the clash and clang of their arms.

The ban-officers shortly began their work.

They divided to the right and left, and enclosed the whole wide field with red woollen cords, which they wound round hazel staffs fixed into the earth at every twenty steps; accompanying this action with the repet.i.tion of ancient songs and sayings.

Exactly opposite the rising and setting of the sun, the woollen cords were raised over the shafts of tall lances, so that they formed the two gates of the now completely enclosed "Ting-place;" and these entrances were guarded by soldiers with drawn swords, in order to keep all strangers and women at a distance.

When all was arranged, the two oldest of the men stepped beneath the spear-gates and called in a loud voice:

"According to ancient Gothic custom Is the fence erected.

Now, with G.o.d's help, The judgment may begin."

After the pause which ensued, there arose a low murmur amongst the crowd, which gradually grew into a loud, and, at last, almost deafening uproar of questioning, disputing, and doubting voices.

It had been already remarked, as the procession advanced, that it was not, as usual, led by the Earl who was accustomed to hold and conduct the "Ting" in the name and ban of the King. But it had been expected that this representative of the King would make his appearance during the ceremony of enclosing the place. When, therefore, this work was accomplished, and the sentence of the old men called for the commencement of the tribunal, and still no earl or officer had appeared, who alone could p.r.o.nounce the opening speech, the attention of all present was directed to this deficiency, so difficult to be supplied.

While everywhere the people asked and sought for the Earl, or some representative of the King, it was remembered that the King himself had announced that he would appear in person before his people, to defend himself and his Queen against the heavy accusation brought against them.

But when the leaders of the people now sought for the friends and partisans of the King, to question them concerning him, they discovered the suspicious fact--which, till now, had been overlooked in the confusion of general greetings--that not one of the numerous relations, friends or servants of the royal family, whose duty, privilege, and interest it was to appear in support of the accused, were present at the meeting, although they had been seen in numbers, a few days ago, in the streets and neighbourhood of Rome.

This circ.u.mstance excited surprise and suspicion; and for some time it seemed as if, in consequence of the tumult caused by this singular fact and the absence of the Earl, the formal commencement of the whole proceedings would be rendered impossible.

Many speakers had already tried in vain to gain a hearing.

All at once, from the middle of the crowd, a sound was heard, similar to the battle-cry of some fearful monster, which drowned all other noises.