The Roman Traitor, Vol. 1 Read online

  CHAPTER III.

  THE LOVERS.

  Fair lovers, ye are fortunately met. MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.

  On the same night, and almost at the same hour of the night, wherein thatdreadful conclave was assembled at the house of Laeca, a small domesticgroup, consisting indeed only of three individuals, was gathered in thetablinum, or saloon, of an elegant though modest villa, situate in theoutskirts of the city, fronting the street that led over the Mulvianbridge to the AEmilian way, and having a large garden communicating in therear with the plebeian cemetery on the Esquiline.

  It was a gay and beautiful apartment, of small dimensions, but repletewith all those graceful objects, those manifold appliances of refinedtaste and pleasure, for which the Romans, austere and poor no longer, had,since their late acquaintance with Athenian polish and Oriental luxury,acquired a predilection--ominous, as their sterner patriots fancied, ofpersonal degeneracy and national decay.

  Divided from the hall of reception by thick soft curtains, woven from thechoice wool of Calabria, and glowing with the richest hues of the Tyriancrimson; and curtained with hangings of the same costly fabric around thewindows, both of which with the doorway opened upon a peristyle; thatlittle chamber wore an air of comfort, that charmed the eye more even thanits decorations. Yet these were of no common order; for the floor wastesselated in rare patterns of mosaic work, showing its exquisite devicesand bright colors, where they were not concealed by a footstool ofembroidered tapestry. The walls were portioned out into compartments, eachframed by a broad border of gilded scroll-work on a crimson ground, andcontaining an elaborately finished fresco painting; which, could they havebeen seen by any critical eye of modern days, would have set at rest forever the question as to the state of this art among the ancients. Thesubject was a favorite one with all artists of all ages,--from theworld-famous Iliad: the story of the goddess-born Achilles. Here tutoredby the wise Centaur, Chiron, in horsemanship and archery, and all thatmakes a hero; here tearing off the virgin mitre, to don the glitteringcasque proffered, with sword and buckler, among effeminate wares, by thedisguised Ulysses; there wandering in the despondent gloom of injuredpride along the stormy sea, meet listener to his haughty sorrows, while inthe distance, turning her tearful eyes back to her lord, Briseis wentunwilling at the behest of the unwilling heralds. Again he was presented,mourning with frantic grief over the corpse of his beloved Patroclus--griefthat called up his Nereid mother from the blue depths of her nativeelement; and, in the last, chasing with unexampled speed the flyingHector, who, stunned and destined by the Gods to ruin, dared not await hisonset, while Priam veiled his face upon the ramparts, and Hecuba alreadytore her hair, presaging the destruction of Troy's invincible unshakencolumn.(2)

  A small wood fire blazed cheerfully upon the hearth, round which wereclustered, in uncouth attitudes of old Etruscan sculpture, the grim andgrotesque figures of the household Gods. Two lamps of bronze, each withfour burners, placed on tall candelabra exquisitely carved in the samemetal, diffused a soft calm radiance through the room, accompanied by anaromatic odor from the perfumed vegetable oil which fed their light. Upona circular table of dark-grained citrean wood, inlaid with ivory andsilver, were several rolls of parchment and papyrus, the books of the day,some of them splendidly emblazoned and illuminated; a lyre oftortoiseshell, and near to it the slender plectrum by which its cords werewakened to melody. Two or three little flasks of agate and of onyxcontaining some choice perfumes, a Tuscan vase full of fresh-gatheredflowers, and several articles yet more decidedly feminine, were scatteredon the board; needles, and thread of various hues, and twine of gold andsilver, and some embroidery, half finished, and as it would seem but thatinstant laid aside. Such was the aspect of the saloon wherein threepersons were sitting on that night; who, though they were unconscious,nay, even unsuspicious of the existence of conspiracy and treason, weredestined, ere many days should elapse, to be involved in its desperatemazes; to act conspicuous parts and undergo strange perils, in the dreaddrama of the times.

  They were of different years and sex--one, a magnificent and statelymatron, such as Rome's matrons were when Rome was at the proudest, alreadywell advanced in years, yet still possessing not merely the remains offormer charms, but much of real beauty, and that too of the noblest andmost exalted order. Her hair, which had been black in her youth as theraven's wing, was still, though mixed with many a line of silver,luxuriant and profuse as ever. Simply and closely braided over her broadand intellectual temples, and gathered into a thick knot behind, itdisplayed admirably the contour of her head, and suited the severe andclassic style of her strictly Roman features. The straight-cut eye-brows,the clear and piercing eye, the aquiline nose, and the firm thin lips,spoke worlds of character and decision; yet that which might haveotherwise seemed stern and even harsh, was softened by a smile of singularsweetness, and by a lighting up of the whole countenance, which at timesimparted to those high features an expression of benevolence, gentle andfeminine in the extreme.

  Her stature was well suited to the style of her lineaments; majesticallytall and stately, and though attenuated something by the near approach ofold age, preserving still the soft and flowing outlines of a form, whichhad in youth been noted for roundness and voluptuous symmetry.

  She wore the plain white robes, bordered and zoned with crimson, of apatrician lady, but save one massive signet on the third finger of herright hand she had no gem or ornament whatever; and as she sat a littleway aloof from her younger companions, drawing the slender threads withmany a graceful motion from the revolving distaff into the basket by herside, she might have passed for her, whose proud prayer, that she might beknown not as the daughter of the Scipios but as the mother of the Gracchi,was but too fatally fulfilled in the death-earned celebrity of those herboasted jewels.

  The other lady was smaller, slighter, fairer, and altogether so differentin mien, complexion, stature, and expression, that it was difficult evenfor those who knew them well to believe that they were a mother and heronly child. For even in her flush of beauty, the elder lady, while in thefull splendor of Italian womanhood, must ever have been calculated toinspire admiration, not all unmixed with awe, rather than tenderness orlove. The daughter, on the other hand, was one whose every gesture, smile,word, glance, bespoke that passion latent in itself, which it awakened inthe bosom of all beholders.

  Slightly above the middle stature, and with a waist of scarce a span'scircumference, her form was exquisitely full and rounded; the sweepingoutlines of her snow-white and dimpled arms, bare to the shoulders, andset off by many strings of pearl, which were themselves scarcely whiterthan the skin on which they rested; the swan-like curvature of thedazzling neck; the wavy and voluptuous development of her bust, shroudedbut not concealed by the plaits of her white linen _stola_, fastened oneither shoulder by a clasp of golden fillagree, and gathered just aboveher hips by a gilt zone of the Grecian fashion; the small and shapelyfoot, which peered out with its jewelled sandal under her gold-fringeddraperies; combined to present to the eye a very incarnation of that idealloveliness, which haunts enamored poets in their dreams, the girl justbursting out of girlhood, the glowing Hebe of the soft and sunny south.But if her form was lovely, how shall the pen of mortal describe the wildromantic beauty of her soul-speaking features. The rich redundancy of herdark auburn hair, black where the shadows rested on it as the sable locksof night, but glittering out wherever a wandering ray glanced on itsglossy surface like the bright tresses of Aurora. The broad and marbleforehead, the pencilled brows, and the large liquid eyes fraught with amild and lustrous languor; the cheeks, pale in their wonted mood asalabaster, yet eloquent at times with warm and passionate blushes. Thelips, redder than aught on earth which shares both hue and softness; and,more than all, the deep and indescribable expression which genius printson every lineament of those, who claim that rarest and most godlike ofendowments.

  She was a thing to dream of, not describe; to dream of in some faint andbreathles
s eve of early summer, beside the margin of some hauntedstreamlet, beneath the shade of twilight boughs in which the fitful breezeawakes that whispering melody, believed by the poetic ancients to be thechorus of the wood-nymph; to dream of and adore--even as she was adored byhim who sat beside her, and watched each varying expression, that sweptacross her speaking features; and hung upon each accent of the low silveryvoice, as if he feared it were the last to which his soul should thrillresponsive.

  He was a tall and powerful youth of twenty-four or five years; yet, thoughhis limbs were sinewy and lithe, and though his deep round chest, thinflanks, and muscular shoulders gave token of much growing strength, it wasstill evident that, his stature having been prematurely gained, he lackedmuch of that degree of power of which his frame gave promise. For thoughhis limbs were well formed they were scarcely set, or furnished, as weshould say in speaking of an animal; and the strength, which he in truthpossessed, was that of elasticity and youthful vigor, capable rather ofviolent though brief exertion, than that severe and trained robustness,which can for long continuous periods sustain the strongest and mosttrying labor.

  His hair was dark and curling--his eye bright, clear, and penetrating; yetwas its glance at times wavering and undetermined, such as would indicateperhaps a want of steadiness of purpose, not of corporeal resolution, forthat was disproved by one glance at the decided curve of his boldclean-cut mouth, and the square outlines of his massive jaw, which seemedalmost to betoken fierceness. There was a quick short flash at times, keenas the falcon's, in the unsteady eye, that told of energy enough withinand stirring spirit to prompt daring deeds, the momentary irresolutionconquered. There was a frank and cheery smile that oftentimes belied theauguries drawn from the other features; and, more than all, there was atranquil sweet expression, which now and then pervaded the wholecountenance, altering for the better its entire character, and betokeningmore mind and deeper feelings, than would at first have been suspectedfrom his aspect.

  His dress was the ordinary tunic of the day, of plain white woollen stuff,belted about the middle by a girdle, which contained his ivory tablets,and the metallic pencil used for writing on their waxed surface, togetherwith his handkerchief and purse; but nothing bearing the semblance of aweapon, not so much even as a common knife. His legs and arms were bare,his feet being protected merely by sandals of fine leather having theclasps or fibulae of gold; as was the buckle of his girdle, and one hugesignet ring, which was his only ornament.

  His toga, which had been laid aside on entering the saloon, as was thecustom of the Romans in their own families, or among private friends, hungon the back of an armed chair; of ample size and fine material, butundistinguished by the marks of senatorial or equestrian rank. Such wasthe aspect, such the bearing of the youth, who might be safely deemed thegirl's permitted suitor, from his whole air and manner, as he listened tothe soft voice of his beautiful mistress. For as they sat there side byside, perusing from an illuminated scroll the elegies of somelong-perished, long-forgotten poet, now reading audibly the smooth andhoneyed lines, now commenting with playful criticism on the style, orcarrying out with all the fervor and romance of young poetical temperamentthe half obscure allusions of the bard, no one could doubt that they werelovers; especially if he marked the calm and well-pleased smile that stolefrom time to time across the proud features of that patrician lady; who,sitting but a little way apart, watched--while she reeled off skein afterskein of the fine Byssine flax in silence--the quiet happiness of the youngpair.

  Thus had the evening passed, not long nor tediously to any of the party;and midnight was at hand; when there entered from the atrium a grey-headedslave bearing a tray covered with light refreshments--fresh herbs, endiveand mallows sprinkled with snow, ripe figs, eggs and anchovies, driedgrapes, and cakes of candied honey; while two boys of rare beautyfollowed, one carrying a flagon of Chian wine diluted with snow water, theother a platter richly chased in gold covered with cyathi, or drinkingcups, some of plain chrystal, some of that unknown myrrhine fabric,(3)which is believed by many scholars to have been highly vitrified andhalf-transparent porcelain.

  A second slave brought in a folded stand, like a camp stool in shape, onwhich the tray was speedily deposited, while on a slab of Parian marblenear which the two boys took their stand, the wine and goblets werearranged in glittering order.

  So silently, however, was all this done, that, their preparations made,the elder slaves had retired with a deep genuflexion, leaving the boysonly to administer at that unceremonious banquet, ere the young couple,whose backs were turned towards the table, perceived the interruption.

  The brilliant smile, which has been mentioned, beamed from the features ofthe elder lady, as she perceived how thoroughly engrossed, even to theunconsciousness of any passing sound, they were, whom, rising for thepurpose, and laying by her work, she now proceeded to recall to sublunarymatters.

  "Paullus," she said, "and you, my Julia, ye are unconscious how thefleeting hours have slipped away. The night hath far advanced into thethird watch. I would not part ye needlessly, nor over soon, especiallywhen you must so soon perforce be severed; but we must not forget how longa homeward walk awaits our dear Arvina. Come, then, and partake someslight refreshment, before you say farewell.

  "How thoughtless in me, to have detained you thus, and with a mile to walkthis murky and unpleasant night. They say, too, that the streets aredangerous of late, haunted by dissolute night-revellers--that villainClodius and his infamous co-mates. I tremble like a leaf if I but meetthem in broad day--and what if you should fall in with them, when flushedwith wine, and ripe for any outrage?"

  "Fie! dear one, fie!" answered the young man with a smile--"a sorry soldierwouldst thou make of me, who am within so short a space to meet thesavages of Pontus, under our mighty Pompey! There is no danger, Julia,here in the heart of Rome; and my stout freedman Thrasea awaits me withhis torch. Nor is it so far either to my house, for those who cross, as Ishall do, the cemetery on the Esquiline. 'Tis but a step across thesumptuous Carinae to the Caelian."

  "But surely, surely, Paul," exclaimed the lovely girl, laying her handupon his arm, "thou wouldst not cross that fearful burying-ground, hauntedby all things awful and obscene, thus at the dead of night. Oh! do not,dearest," she continued, "thou knowest not what wild terrible tales arerife, of sounds and sights unnatural and superhuman, encountered in thoseloathsome precincts. 'Tis a mere tempting of the Dark Ones, to brave thehorrors of that place!"

  "The Gods, my Julia," replied the youth unmoved by her alarm, "the Godsare never absent from their votaries, so they be innocent and pure ofspirit. For me! I am unconscious of a wilful fault, and fear notanything."

  "Well said, Paullus Arvina," exclaimed the elder lady, "and worthily ofyour descent from the Caecilii"--for from that noble house his family indeedderived its origin. "But, although I," she added, "counsel you not to heedour Julia's girlish terrors, I love you not to walk by night so slenderlyaccompanied. Ho! boy, go summon me the steward, and bid him straightwayarm four of the Thracian slaves."

  "No! by the Gods, Hortensia!" the young man interrupted her, his wholeface flushing with excitement, "you do shame to my manhood, by yourcaution. There is in truth no shadow of danger. Besides," he added,laughing at his own impetuosity, "I shall be far beyond the Esquiline ereexcellent old Davus could rouse those sturdy knaves of yours, or find thearmory key; for lo! I will but tarry to taste one cup of your choice ofChian to my Julia's health, and then straight homeward. Have a care, myfair boy, that flagon is too heavy to be lifted safely by such small handsas thine, and its contents too precious to be wasted. Soh! that's welldone; thou'lt prove a second Ganymede! Health, Julia, and good dreams--mayall fair things attend thee, until we meet again."

  "And when shall that be, Paul," whispered his mistress, a momentary flushshooting across brow, neck, and bosom, as she spoke, and leaving her, asecond afterward, even paler than her wont, between anxiety and fear, andthe pain even of this temporary parting--"when shall that be?
to-morrow?"

  "Surely, to-morrow! fairest," he replied, clasping her little hand with afond pressure, "unless, which may the Gods avert! anything unforeseenprevent me. Give me my toga, boy," he added, "and see if Thrasea waits,and if his torch be lighted."

  "Bid him come hither, Geta," Hortensia interposed, addressing the boy ashe left the room, "and tell old Davus to accompany him, bringing the keysof the peristyle and of the garden gate. So shalt thou gain the Esquilinemore easily."

  Her orders were obeyed as soon as they were spoken, and but few momentsintervened before the aged steward, and the freedman with his staff andtorch, the latter so prepared by an art common to the ancients as to setalmost any violence of wind or rain at defiance, stood waiting theircommands.

  Familiar and kind words were interchanged between those high-born ladiesand the trustworthy follower of young Arvina. For those were days, when nocold etiquette fettered the freedom of the tongue, and when no rank, howstately or how proud soever, induced austerity of bearing or haughtinesstoward inferiors; and these concluded, greetings, briefer but far morewarm, followed between the master and his intended bride.

  "Sweet slumbers, Julia, and a happy wakening attend you! Farewell,Hortensia; both of ye farewell!" and passing into the colonnade throughthe door which Davus had unlocked, he drew the lappet of his toga over hishead after the fashion of a hood to shield it from the drizzling rain--for,except on a journey, the hardy Romans never wore any hat or headgear--andhastened with a firm and regular step along the marble peristyle. Thisportico, or rather piazza, enclosed, by a double row of Tuscan columns, afew small flower beds, and a fountain springing high in the air from theconch of a Triton, and falling back into a large shell of white marble,which it was so contrived as to keep ever full without at any timeoverflowing.

  Beyond this was a summer triclinium or dining room facing the north, andprovided with the three-sided couch, from which it took its name,embracing a circular table. Through this they passed into a smaller courtadorned like the other by a jet d'eau, surrounded by several smallboudoirs and bed chambers luxuriously decorated, which were set apart tothe use of the females of the family, and guarded night and day by themost trusty of the slaves.

  Hence a strong door gave access to a walled space, throughout the lengthof which on either hand ran a long range of offices, and above them thedormitories of the slaves, with a small porter's lodge or guard room bythe gate, opening on the orchard in the rear.

  Therein were stationed the four Thracians, mentioned by Hortensia, whoseduty it was to keep watch alternately over the safety of the postern,although the key was not entrusted to their charge; and he, whose watch itwas, started up from a bench on which he had been stretched, and lookedforth torch in hand at the sound of approaching footsteps. Seeing,however, who it was, and that the steward attended him, he lent his aid inopening the postern, and reverently bowed the knee to Arvina, as hedeparted from the hospitable villa.

  The orchard through which lay his onward progress, occupied a considerableextent of ground, laid out in terraces adorned with marble urns andstatues, long bowery walks sheltered by vine-clad trellices, and rows offruit trees interspersed with many a shadowy clump of the rich evergreenholm-oak, the tufted stone-pine, the clustering arbutus, and smooth-leavedlaurestinus. This lovely spot was separated from the plebeian cemeteryonly--as has been said already--by a low wall; and therefore in those daysof universal superstition of the lower orders and the slaves, and many tooof their employers, would have eschewed it as a place ominous of evil, ifnot unsafe and perilous.

  The mind of Paul, however, if not entirely free from any touch ofsuperstitious awe, which at that period of the world would have been athing altogether unnatural and impossible, was at least of too firm amould to shake at mere imaginary terrors; and he strode on, lighted by historch-bearer, through the dark mazes of the orchard, with all his thoughtsengrossed by the pleasant reminiscences of the past evening. Thoughtless,however, as he was, and bold, he yet recoiled a step, and the blood rushedtumultuously to his heart, as a loud yelling cry, protracted strangely,and ending in a sound midway between a groan and a burst of horridlaughter, rose awfully upon the silent night; and it required an effort toman his heart against a feeling, which crept through him, nearly akin tofear.

  But with the freedman Thrasea it was a very different matter, for he shookso much with absolute terror, that he had well nigh dropped the torch;while, drawing nearer to his master's side, with teeth that chattered asif in an ague fit, and a face deserted by every particle of color, hebesought him in faltering accents, "by all the Gods! to turn backinstantly, lest evil might come of it!"

  His entreaties were, however, of no avail with the brave youth, who in amoment had shaken off his transitory terror, and was now resolute, notonly to proceed on his homeward route, but to investigate the cause andmeaning of the outcry.

  "Silence!" he said, somewhat sternly, in answer to the reiterated prayersof the trembling servitor, "Silence! and follow, idiot! That was nosuperhuman voice--no yell of nightly lemures, but the death-cry, if I errnot more widely, of some frail mortal like ourselves. There may be time,however, yet to save him, and I so truly marked the quarter whence itrose, that I doubt not we may discover him. Advance the light; lo! we areat the wall. Lower thy torch now, that I may undo the wicket. Give me thyclub and keep close at my heels bearing the flambeau high!"

  And with the words he strode out rapidly into the wide desolate expanse ofthe plebeian grave yard. It was a broad bleak space, comprising the wholetable land and southern slope of the Esquiline hill, broken with many deepravines and gulleys, worn by the wintry rains, covered with deep rankgrass and stunted bushes, with here and there a grove of toweringcypresses, or dark funereal yews, casting a deeper shadow over the gloomysolitude. So rough and broken was the surface of the ground, so numerousthe low mounds which alone covered the ashes of the humbler dead, thatthey were long in reaching the vicinity of the spot where that fell deedhad been done so recently. When they had come, however, to the foot of thedescent, where it swept gently downward to the boundary wall, the youngman took the torch from his attendant, and waving it with a slow movementto and fro, surveyed the ground with close and narrow scrutiny. He had notmoved in this manner above a dozen paces, before a bright quick flashseemed to shoot up from the long thick herbage as the glare of the torchpassed over it. Another step revealed the nature and the cause of thatbrief gleam; a ray had fallen full on the polished blade of Cataline'sstiletto, which lay, where it had been cast by the expiring effort of thevictim, hilt downward in the tangled weeds.

  He seized it eagerly, but shuddered, as he beheld the fresh dark gorecurdling on the broad steel, and clotted round the golden guard of therich weapon.

  "Ha!" he exclaimed, "I am right, Thrasea. Foul murder hath been done here!Let us look farther."

  Several minutes now were spent in searching every foot of ground, andprying even into the open vaults of several broken graves; for at firstthey had taken a wrong direction in the gloom. Quickly, however, seeingthat he was in error, Arvina turned upon his traces, and was almostimmediately successful; for there, scarce twenty feet from the spot wherehe had found the dagger, with his grim gory face turned upward as ifreproachfully to the dark quiet skies, the black death-sweat still beadedon his frowning brow, and a sardonic grin distorting his pale lips, laythe dead slave. Flat on his back, with his arms stretched out right andleft, his legs extended close together to their full length, he lay evenas he had fallen; for not a struggle had convulsed his limbs after hestruck the earth; life having actually fled while he yet stood erect,battling with all the energies of soul and body against man's latestenemy. The bosom of his gray tunic, rent asunder, displayed the deep gashwhich had let out the spirit, whence the last drops of the thick crimsonlife-blood were ebbing with a slow half-stagnant motion.

  On this dread sight Paul was still gazing in that motionless and painfulsilence, with which the boldest cannot fail to look upon the body of afellow creature f
rom which the immortal soul has been reluctantly andforcefully expelled, when a loud cry from Thrasea, who, having lagged astep or two behind, was later in discovering the corpse, aroused him fromhis melancholy stupor.

  "Alas! alas! ah me!" cried the half-sobbing freedman, "my friend, my morethan friend, my countryman, my kinsman, Medon!"

  "Ha! dost thou recognize the features? didst thou know him who lies socoldly and inanimately here before us?" cried the excited youth, "whoseslave was he? speak, Thrasea, on thy life! this shall be looked tostraightway; and, by the Gods! avenged."

  "As I would recognize mine own in the polished brass, as I do know myfather's sister's son! for such was he, who lies thus foully slaughtered.Alas! alas! my countryman! wo! wo! for thee, my Medon! Many a day, alas!many a happy day have we two chased the elk and urus by the dark-woodedDanube; the same roof covered us; the same board fed; the same fire warmedus; nay! the same fatal battle-field robbed both of liberty and country.Yet were the great Gods merciful to the poor captives. Thy father did buyme, Arvina, and a few years of light and pleasant servitude restored theslave to freedom. Medon was purchased by the wise consul, Cicero, and wasto have received his freedom at the next Saturnalia. Alas! and wo is me,he is now free forever from any toils on earth, from any mortal master."

  "Nay! weep not so, my Thrasea," exclaimed the generous youth, laying hisleft hand with a friendly pressure on the freedman's shoulder, "thou shalthave all means to do all honor to his name; all that can now be done bymortals for the revered and sacred dead. Aid me now to remove the body,lest those who slew him may return, and carry off the evidences of theircrime."

  Thus speaking, he thrust the unlighted end of the torch into the ground,and lifting up the shoulders of the carcase, while Thrasea raised thefeet, bore it away a hundred yards or better, and laying it within theopen arch-way of an old tomb, covered the mouth with several boughs tornfrom a neighboring cypress.

  Then satisfied that it would thus escape a nearer search than it waslikely would be made by the murderers, when they should find that it hadbeen removed, he walked away very rapidly toward his home.

  Before he left the burial ground, however, he wiped the dagger carefullyin the long grass, and hid it in the bosom of his tunic.

  No more words were exchanged--the master buried in deep thought, theservant stupified with grief and terror--until they reached the house ofPaullus, in a fair quarter of the town, near to the street of Carinae, thenoblest and most sumptuous in Rome.

  A dozen slaves appeared within the hall, awaiting the return of theiryoung lord, but he dismissed them all; and when they had departed, takinga small night lamp, and ordering Thrasea to waken him betimes to-morrow,that he might see the consul, he bade him be of good cheer, for thatMedon's death should surely be avenged, since the gay dagger would prove aclue to the detection of his slayer. Then, passing into his own chamber,he soon lost all recollection of his hopes, joys, cares, in the soundsleep of innocence and youth.