The Golden Age in Transylvania Part 13

CHAPTER IX

THE PRINCE AND HIS MINISTER

A few years had pa.s.sed since Apafi rose to his princely rank. We are in the period when, in consequence of the sudden death of Nicholas Zrinyi the party of Hungarian malcontents had lost their standing and most of them had gone to Transylvania, which country was rejoicing in Home rule, owing to the rivalry of the German and Turkish monarchs.

True, the country paid the Sublime Porte a tribute, but in its diets it could make what plans it would; and if the Tartars did burn the villages of the country to the ground, in that very act they gave proof that they did not consider the country their own. All the fortresses were in the hands of the Prince, who could maintain as many soldiers as he had means to pay, and carry on war whenever he found himself in a position to do so. Furthermore, if it gave him any satisfaction, he could even dupe the Turks.

The Turk did not find anything to object to in the const.i.tution of the country; in its privileges, its patriarchal aristocracy, its Latin language and Hungarian costume, nor in its many religions; all that did not concern him. He pitied from his soul the poor people who gave so bright an outlook to the affairs of the country. He did not exert himself in the least to procure them a more exact acquaintance with his own simple system; in this respect he was like the Turk in the story, who when he saw a Hungarian eating with his open knife in hand, sat down behind in confident expectation that the Hungarian would put out his eyes in carrying his knife to his mouth, and when he saw that this did not happen, went away in the pleasant belief that it certainly would happen a little later.

Great changes had taken place in Ebesfalva in this time; the princely residence was no longer the simple manor house. At some distance from that, on a height, the Prince had a castle built with a high square tower, and from each corner rose small pointed turrets; the entrance was guarded by two stone lions, and on the facade was this inscription in high relief:

"Fata viam invenient."

Beyond the carved columns along the front was a corridor connecting one wing of the castle with the other; the windows were all made with pointed arches and with antique decorations, and the inner court was reached through an arched pa.s.sage under the building. In this courtyard instead of plows and wagons we now see rampart guns and long culverins. Instead of farm boys, we see outside the gates guards in yellow cloaks and red hose. To reach the Prince's office you must pa.s.s through long pa.s.sage-ways and echoing apartments where pages announce your arrival from door to door, and when at last the reception-room is reached you stand not in the presence of the Prince but of Michael Teleki, his first counsellor. He is the same bald-headed man whom we met on that memorable day that saw the death of Nicholas Zrinyi.

In early days the good man had been only a captain fallen into disfavor with George Rakoczi. Since then his affairs had prospered and he was now chief captain of Kovar and all powerful in the name of the Prince. His mother was the sister of the Princess. Through the protection of his aunt he came into the protection of the Prince. Once there Teleki needed no further support; his comprehensive mind, his extended acquaintance, his statesmanlike training made him indispensable to the Prince, who preferred to bury himself in his books and antiquities and considered himself hindered by anything that took him from his family or his studies.

His reception-room to-day was crowded with men who wished to speak to his Excellency. They were the Hungarian fugitives whom the Prince seemed to hold in special horror. These restless, gloomy people, always in quest of war, did not suit the placid, meditative nature of the Prince. Now he shut them all out, and admitted only, of all his courtiers, a learned pastor, John Pa.s.sai who had a professorship in Nagy-Emged, and was dear to the Prince on account of his learning.

Apafi's office looked more like that of a student than a ruler. The walls were covered with bookcases, in the corners were maps, and on the narrow s.p.a.ces remaining were clocks, which the Prince wound up himself. The chairs and sofas were covered with books needed at once, so that often when the Prince received the visit of a friend he did not know where to seat him. Sometimes even the floor was covered with maps, dusty doc.u.ments and open books; if Teleki entered at such a moment he would have to pick his way with as much care as a man looking for a dry path through the mud.

At this moment Apafi and the pastor stood before a table on which lay some old coins. Apafi looked carefully at a gold piece, turned it in his fingers and held it to the light. Pa.s.sai stood in front of the Prince like a post, hat in hand, with knitted brows. Apafi twirled the coin and studied it on both sides.

"Those are not Roman letters," he growled, "neither are they Greek nor Arabic; and they certainly are not Hunnic. I have never seen such characters. Where were they found?" he asked, turning to Pa.s.sai.

"In Varhely, when the Wallachians were clearing away the old temple."

"Why did they clear it away?"

"It was an old ruin that they called a Roman temple."

"But it cannot have been a Roman temple, for it is not a Roman coin."

"I agree with you, but the Wallachians are in the habit of calling every ruin in Transylvania Roman."

"But why did they clear it away?"

"The villagers thought they might burn the statues for lime."

"O G.o.dless people!" cried Apafi, "to make lime out of rare works of art. Did you not try to save at least part from destruction?"

"I bought a cover of a sarcophagus adorned with sculpture, and a well preserved sphinx; but it was not convenient for the Wallachian who was moving them to lift them whole, so he broke the statues in five or six pieces that he might carry them in his cart more easily."

"He deserves to be impaled! I will have a law pa.s.sed that n.o.body hereafter shall dare lay hands on any antique."

"I am afraid your Excellency will be too late, for when the people learned that I was paying for their stones, the story went abroad that I was hunting for diamonds and carbuncles in the stones, and they broke them all up in such small pieces that now they might be used for writing sand."

"Have you spoken with the Lord of Deva about the mosaic?"

"He will not let it go at any price. He said that none of his ancestors had ever sold any of their possessions. If he would only allow it to be moved from the spot where it was found,--but he will not even consent to that. As it is the corn-stall stands over it and the oxen lie on the figures of Venus and Cupid."

"I have a great mind to confiscate the property and so get possession of the priceless treasures," said Apafi, with the zeal of a student, and again turned to examine the puzzling coin.

At this moment Teleki entered the Prince's apartment with an important air, took some writing from a silk envelope, opened it and placed it in Apafi's hand. The Prince appeared to read it with care and knit his brow as he did so. Suddenly he called out, "They certainly are Dacian letters!"

"What!" said Teleki, astounded, with wide open eyes. He could not comprehend how the Prince had found Dacian writing in the letter handed him.

"Yes, I am positive. I remember reading, perhaps in Dio Ca.s.sius, that the Romans had medals struck with a Dacian inscription and on the obverse the picture of a headless man. Here it is."

"But your Highness," said Teleki with annoyance, "the writing that I handed you"--

Now for the first time Apafi noticed that there was a parchment in his hand waiting to be read, and sullenly gave it back to Teleki.

"I have told you already that I did not wish to see anybody to-day. In a month's time the Diet will be convened and then the Hungarians may talk about their affairs as much as they will."

"But, I beseech your Highness," replied Teleki, satirically, "this writing has nothing to do with the Hungarians, but with his grace the Tartar Khan."

"What does he want?" said Apafi, and glanced at the parchment, but when he saw its length he laid it aside. "I will make short work of him. Who brought the letter?"

"An Emir."

Apafi girded on his sword and went into the reception-room.

"Good-day, good-day," he said, hastily, to those a.s.sembled. In this way he made an end of their long greetings, and gave a searching glance through the throng.

"Where is the Emir?"

At this the Tartar deputy came forward. He stood boldly before the Prince with an air of consequence.

"Salem Alech."

"What is it?" said Apafi, curtly.

The Emir measured the Prince keenly with his piercing eyes, threw his head back and said:

"My lord, the gracious Kuba Khan sends word to you, Prince of the Giaours, that you are a false, faithless, G.o.dless man. You gave your word of honor that we should live as neighbors and how do you conduct yourself now? A year ago it happened that in pa.s.sing through Saxony we visited cities the names of which a true-believer may not utter, and there took our usual plunder in due form. They were always profitable, but as some of them were not quite quick enough in the payment of the tribute, at the command of his Grace, Kuba Khan, they were burned to ashes as punishment, that they might improve. Then did they improve?

Not at all. For when we visited there again this year we found only the bare walls that we had left before. The unbelieving dogs fled before us and left us only a search. So then, my lord the mighty Kuba Khan sends word to you to know what kind of a Prince you are that you allow these unbelieving dogs to leave their towns and make fools of us. Formerly when we came the hay had been put in barns, the grain threshed and the cattle fatted; now we find nothing but weeds, with hares and other unclean creatures that you unbelievers are accustomed to eat. And that we may not take our revenge, the towns are not built up again. Now if you do not wish to bring down upon your head the wrath of the mighty Khan, see to it that you order those fugitives back to their towns, and send word to the rest of the Saxon towns that have surrounded themselves with inaccessible walls, to open their gates to us. Otherwise we will visit you in Klausenburg with fire and sword and leave not one stone above another."

During this speech Apafi had several times grasped his sword. Then he reconsidered and said calmly:

"Go back, give greetings to your lord, and tell him that we will give him satisfaction at once."

Then he turned his back on the messenger and would have left the room at once, but Teleki placed himself in his way.

"That is not enough, your Highness. Once for all there must be an end made of this dog-headed Tartar's coming into the presence of the Prince of Transylvania with such a speech."

"Then speak to him yourself."