Vergilius Part 6

"You are living, son of Varro, and I thank the G.o.d of my fathers,"

Antipater shouted, as he flung himself on a big divan, his breath coming fast. "I forgot the lights. I thought of them suddenly, and ran to save you. If I had been running in the games I should have won the laurel of Caesar."

"I was wrong--he could not have meant to slay me," thought Vergilius.

"Not by the paws of the leopard."

Cyran stood near the door, weeping. Antipater rose and led her to Vergilius.

"The girl is yours," said he. "I am glad to be done with her. Come, all."

They followed him to the palace, and Vergilius bade the girl dress and be ready to join his pedisequi in the outer hall. She knelt before him and kissed the border of his tunic.

"Oh, my young master!" said she, "I shall be of those who part the briers in your way." Then she hurried to obey him.

"I would speak with you, n.o.ble son of Varro," said Antipater, beckoning.

Vergilius followed to the deep atrium of the palace, where they stood alone.

"You have one thing I desire, and I will pay you five thousand aurei to relinquish it--five thousand aurei," the Jew whispered.

"And what is it you would buy of me, n.o.ble prince?"

"A mere plaything! A bouquet that will fade shortly and be flung aside. The thing happens to suit my fancy, and--and I can afford it."

In the moment of silence that followed this remark a stern look of inquiry came into the face of Vergilius.

"Man, do you not know? 'Tis the sister of Appius," Antipater added, lightly.

"Cur of Judea!" hissed the knight, his sword flashing out of its scabbard, "I shall cut you down and fling you out to the dogs. Fight here and now. I demand it!"

The young Roman spoke loudly and stood waiting. Those others had heard the challenge and were now coming near. Antipater stood silent, glaring, as had the leopard, with an evil leer at his foe, and thinking no doubt of the warning of Augustus. The stiff, straight hairs in his mustache quivered as he turned slowly, watchfully, towards the others, who were now standing near. Since his funeral should occur on the same day, how could he fight with Vergilius?

"You dare not," the latter added, fiercely; "and before these men I denounce you as a coward--a coward who fears to raise a hand."

His arm was extended, his finger at the face of the Jew, now white with pa.s.sion. Half a moment pa.s.sed in which there was no word.

"You living carrion!" said the young knight, turning and walking away.

"I am done with you."

He took the hand of the poor slave Cyran, and walked to the farther side of the atrium. He turned, still white with anger as if unsatisfied.

"Pet of harlots!" said he, fiercely. "It is time for some one to stand for the honor of good women. If you do but speak her name again before me I will run you through."

Receiving no answer, he departed with Cyran, while the others gathered about their host.

There was a heavy rumble in the throat of Antipater--a tiger-like, Herodian trait--and then a volley of oaths came out of it. He trembled with rage and flung his sword far across the dim atrium with a shout of anger. Like the great cats in his rage, he was like them also in his methods of attack--sly and terrible, but with a deep regard for the integrity of his own skin. Sure of his advantage, he could be as brave as when he faced the tiger.

He sat awhile muttering, his face between his hands. Soon, having calmed his pa.s.sion, he rose and snarled: "Good sirs, never quarrel with the pet of an emperor, for if one spares you the other will not."

CHAPTER 5

Arria and her mother sat with the emperor. He was at home and in a playful humor. The hour of his banquet was approaching. Soon he would be summoned to receive his guests.

"Nay, but I am sure he loves me," the girl was saying.

The cunning emperor smiled and spoke very gently. "Think you so, dear child? I will put him to the test. Soon we shall know if he be worthy of so great a prize. I will try both his wit and his devotion, but you--you cannot be here."

"And why, great father?"

"Think you it could be a test with your eye upon him?"

"Oh, but I must see it," said the girl. "Unless I see it I shall not know. Let me be your slave and stand behind you in gray cloth.

Beloved father, I implore you, let me see the test."

"Ah, well," said the emperor, rising, with a smile. "I shall know nothing but that you have gone above-stairs to find Clia, mistress of the robes. Tell her to give you a box of tablets, and when I raise my finger--so--they are to be delivered. Away with you."

Arria left with a cry of joy, and presently Augustus went with the Lady Lucia to meet his guests.

The "commands" of the emperor had given the hour of the banquet and prescribed the dress to be worn. Vergilius had waited anxiously for the moment when he should again see the great G.o.d of Rome, who could give or take away as he would. Standing at the door of Caesar, he wondered whether he were nearing the end of all pleasure or the gate of paradise. A plate of polished bra.s.s hung on its lintel, bearing in large letters the word Salve. A slave opened the door and took his pallium. Julia, that wayward daughter of Augustus, now three times married but yet beautiful, met him in the inner hall, and together they walked to the banquet-room. There the emperor, limping slightly, came to meet Vergilius, and there, also, were the guests, seven in number: Appius and his mother, the Lady Lucia; Terentia, wife of the late Maecenas; Manius, an a.s.sessor in Judea; Hortensius, legate of Spain; Antipater, son of Herod the Great; and Aulus Valerius Maro, the senator.

"It enters my thought to say to you," said the emperor, aside, as he put his hand upon the shoulder of Vergilius, "keep the number one in your mind, so that by-and-by you can tell me what you make of it."

Slaves had covered the table with fish and fowl in dishes of unwrought silver. The guests reclined upon three great divans set around as many sides of the table. They ate resting on their elbows, and were so disposed that each could see the host without turning. The emperor asked only for coa.r.s.e bread, a morsel of fish, two figs, and a bit of cheese.

"My good friends," said he, in a low voice, when the wine was served, "we have with us an able officer in this young Manius, one of our a.s.sessors in Jerusalem. I ask you to drink his health. Though I can drink no wine, I can feel good sentiments."

One could not help remarking his fixed serenity of face and voice and manner as he went on:

"Some time ago it came to my ear that he thought me a tyrant wallowing in vulgar and ill-gotten luxury."

There was a little stir in those heads around the table, and in every hand and face one might have seen evidence of quickened pulses. The young officer was now staring through deathly pallor.

"My friends, it is not strange," said the great Augustus, mildly. "To Jerusalem is quite two thousand miles; and, then he was very young when he left the home of his fathers. Am I not right, Manius?"

"Your words are both true and kindly," said the young man.

"And you are discerning," said the emperor, with a smile. "Now, good people, observe that I have invited our young officer to Rome for two purposes: to show him, first, that I live no better than the poorest n.o.bleman; secondly, that I am only a servant of the people; for, since he is an able officer, I shall resist my own will and keep him in the public service."

"Bravo!" said they all, and clapped their hands.

A strange, inscrutable man was the emperor at that moment, the mildness of a lamb in his voice and manner, the gleam of a serpent's eye under his brows. And that right hand of his, clinched now and quivering a little, had it grasped a reaching, invisible serpent within him?

Kindly? Yes, but with the kindness of a deep and subtle character who saw in forbearance the best politics and the most effective discipline.

Lights were now aglow in a great candelabrum over the table and in many tall lampadaria.

A slave, who was a juggler, came near and began to fill the gloom above him with golden disks. From afar came the music of flutes and timbrels. Julia retired presently, and returned soon with her pet dwarf Cenopas. She stood him on a large, round table, and the guests greeted him with loud laughter as he looked down. He had a hard, unlovely face, that little dwarf. He suggested to Vergilius unwelcome thoughts of a new sort of Cupid--deformed, evil, and hideous--typifying the degenerate pa.s.sions of Rome. There were in the quiver of this Cupid arrows which carried the venom of the asp. Some at the table mocked his grinning face and made a jest of his deformity. When he could be heard he mimicked the speech and manners of public men.

"A Cupid with a knot in his back," said one.