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New York 14609 USA jg (716) 482 - 0300 - Phone ^B (716) 288-5989 -Fa« W ^ l-^-^-M- /^-«»^vj- ^■l?-^r^?^p| 1. 3.^ > )>..'- i A FRIEND OF CESAR A FRIEND OF CJISAR A TALE OF THE FALL OF TEB ROMAN REPUBLIC Zim, 50-47 ».C. BT WILLIAM STEARNS DAVIS "Othen bettor may mould the Ufe-bresthln^ brMR of the ima««. And living features, I ween, draw from the marble, and better Ar^e their cause in the court ; may mete out the span of the hearens, Mark out the bounds of the poles, and name all the stars in IJeir turning. Thint 'tie the peoples to rule with dominion — this, Roman, remember 1 — These for thee are the i rts, to hand down the h. of the treaty. The weak in mercy to spare, to fling from their hig. seats the bau . . " — Veboi. , ^n. vl. ..-888. i*j TStca gark THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN dc CO., Ltd. 1903 All right! reierved Mas coptuobt, 1900, Bt the macmillan compakt. S« up and electrotyped May, 1900. Reprinted July, •"toe? Augiut, twice, September, October, November, Deo- ember, igoo; March, December, 1901 ; March, 1903. Vaitoooti 9r(t« A ■. CniUiit A Co. — Benriok * Norwood MiM. U.8.A. STo iffis iFatfjet WILLIAM VAIL WILSON DAVIS WHO HAS TAUGHT MB MOBB THAN ALL HT BOOKS PREFACE If this book set. .3 to show that ClapSsical Life presented many phases akin to our own, it will not have been written in vain. After the book was planned and in part written, it was discovered that Archdeacon Farrar had in his story of " Dark- ness and Dawn " a scene, " Onesimus and the Vestal," which corresponds very closely to the scene, " Agias and the Vestal," In this book ; but the latter incident was too characteristically Roman not to risk repetition. If it is asked why such a book as this is desirable after those noble fictions, " Darkness and Dawn " and *' Quo Vadis," the reply must be that these books necessarily take and interpret the Christian point of view. And they do well ; but the Pagan point of view still needs its interpretation, at least as a help to an easy appreLension of the life and literature of the great age of the Fall of the Koman Republic. This is the aim c * " A Friend of Caesar." The Age of Caesar pvepared the way for the Age of Nero, when Christianity could find a world in a state of such culture, unity, and social stability that it could win an adequate and abiding triumph. Great care has been taken to keep to strict historical proba- bility; but in one scene, the "Expulsion of the Tribunes," there is such a confusion of accounts in the authorities them- selves that I have taken some slight liberties. W. S. D. Haryabd Univbrsttt, January 16, 1900. CONTENTS I. Pranqste 1 n. The Upper Walks cf Society .... 21 ni. The Privilege of a Vestal 87 IV. L ICIU8 Ahenobarbjs airs his Grievance . . 50 V. A Teky Old Problem 73 VI. PoM.^Eius MAoyus 102 VTI. Agias's Adventure II7 Vin. "When Greek meets Greek" . . . .146 IX, How Gabinius met with a Rebuff . . .159 X. Mamercus guards the Door 172 XI. The Gkeat Proconsul 198 Xn. Pratinas meets Ill-fortune 217 XIJT. What befell at Bai/E 241 XIV. The New Consuls 262 XV. The Seventh of January 277 XVI. The Rubicon ........ 802 XVII. The Profitable Career of Gabinius . . .829 XVIII. How Pompeius stamped with hi Feet . . . 334 ix X CONTENTS rnAtTii* PASB XIX. The Hospitality of Demetrius .... 364 XX. Cleopatra , ogy XXL How Ulamhala'8 Words came Trub ... 409 XXrr. The End of the Magnus 433 XXin. Bitterness and Joy 44a XXIV. Battling for Life 454 XXV. Calm after Storm •...,,, 406 A FRIEND OF CESAR A FBIEND OP C^SAB CHAPTER I I PR^NESTB It was the Roman month of September, seven hundred and four years after Romulus — so tradition ran — founded the little village by the Tiber which was to become « Mother of Nations," « Centre of the World," " Imperial Rome." To state the time according to modern standards i*; was July, fifty years before the beginning of the Christian Era. The fierce Italian sun was pouring down over the tilled fields and stretches of woodland and grazing country that made up the landscape, and the atmosphere was almost aglow with the heat. The dust lay thick on the pavement of the highway, and rose in dense, stifling clouds, as a mule, laden with farm produce and driven by a burly countryman, trudged reluctantly along. Yet, though the scene suggested the heat of midsummer, it was far from being unrefreshing, especially to the eyes of one newly come. For this spot was near "cool Prseneste," one of the favourite resorts of Latium to the wealthy, invalid, or indolent of Rome, who shunned the excessive heat of the capi- tal. And they were wise in their choice; for Praeneste, with its citadel, which rose twelve hxmdred feet over the adjoining country, commanded in its ample sweep both the views and the ■ 1 * A FRIEND OF C^SAR W r 1 !^ T^f -^ide-spreadmg Campagna. Here, cluster ing round the hill on which stood the farfamed "Temple of Fortune," lay the old Latin town of the Pr^nestians; a little farther westward was the settlement founded some thirty odd years before by Sulla as a colony. Farther out, and stretehing off into the open country, lay the farmhouses and villas gardens and orchards, where splendid nuts and roses, and also wane, grew in abundant measure. A little stream ron close to the highway, and here an irrigat- mg machine > was raising water for the fields. Two men stood on the treadmill beside the large-bucketed wheel, and as thev continued their endless walk the water dashed up into the trough and went splashing down the ditches into the thirsty gardens. The workers were tall, bronze-skinned Libyans, who were stripped to the waist, showing their splendid chests and rippling muscles. Beside the trough had just come two women, by their coarse and unpretentious dress evidently slaves, bear- ing large earthen water-pots which they were about to fill One of the women was old, and bore on her face all the marks which a life of hard manual toil usually leaves behind it: the other young, with a clear, smooth complexion and a rather delicate Greek profile. The Libyans stopped their monotonous trudge, evidently glad to have some excuse for a respite from their exertions. "Ah ha! Chloe," cried one of them, "how would you like It, with your pretty little feet, to be plodding at this mill all the day? Thank the Gods, the sun will set before a great while. The day has been hot as the lap of an image of Moloch!"' "6 ^ * Water columbarium. buUt^a fl^^n°''''"* *°'l' "^ ^°""PP«» i^ North Africa, in whose idol wa. buUt a fire to consume human sacrifices. PRiENES E 3 "Well, Hasdrubal," said CI1I06, the younger woman, with a pert toss of her head, " if my feet were as large as yours, and my skin as black and thick, I should not care to complain if I had to work a little now and then." « Oh ! or course," retorted Hasdrubal, a little nettled. « Your ladyship is too refined, too handsome, to reflect that people with black skins as well as white may get heated and weary. Waxt five and twenty years, till your cheeks are a bit withered and see if Master Drusus doesn't give you enough to make you' tired from morning till night." "You rude fellow," cried ChloS, pouting with vexation, "I will not speak to you again. If Master Drusus were here I would complain of you to him. I have heard that he is not the kind of a master to let a poor maid of his be insulted." "Oh, be still, you hussy!" said the elder woman, who felt that a life of labour had spoiled what might have been quite the equal of Chloe's good looks. "What do you know of Master Drusus ? He has been in Athens ever since you were bought. I'll make Mamercus, the steward, believe you ought to be whipped." What tart answer Chlog might have had on the end of her tongue will never be known; for at this moment Mago, the other Libyan, glanced up the road, and cried: — "Well, mistress, perhaps you will see our master very soon He was due this fternoon or next day from Puteoli, and what 18 that great cloua of dust I see off there in the distance? Can't you make out carriages and horsemen in the midst of it. Hasdrubal ? " Certainly there was a little cavalcade coming up the high- way. New it was a mere blotch moving in the sun and dust; then clearer; and then out of the cloud of light, flying sand came the clatter of hoofs on the pavement, the whir of A FEIEND OF C^SAB wheels, and ahead of the rest of the party two dark Nuxnidi^ rSrs in bright red mantles appeared, prickxng along theu rl'Z^lU. Chlo.clap^dherlittlehan^,s^^^ her water-pol, and sprang up on the staging of the treadmiU "^tiirS" she cried. « ^^ must be M«ter Drusus co.vag back from Athens 1 » She was a bit excited, for an event 1 ke t^ ^val of a new master was a great occurrence m the monotonous life of a country slave. The cortisge was still a good way off. «What is Master Drusus like?" asked ChloS. 'Will he ago. But he was aiw*^ ch3it^e body-servant, worshipped him. I hope he will taice nf the farm out of the steward's hands. ""Hs^ecome.!" cried HasdruW. "I-'-^""*: r* P^riara " And then all four broke out with their / « „«/» Pnutainine two smart-looking siave-uujro. baggage, and ^^^'"^^"^^ ^^ ^^ fi^ed their eyes on the all four persons at the treaamui uau. to their American Buccessore. . .„.^ • Rheda. « Master, " Lord " of riavei and Ireedmen. PRiENESTE f other conveyance. Besides a sturdy driver, whose ponderous hands seemed too powerful to handle the fine leather reins there were sitting within an elderly, decently dressed man' and at his side another much younger. The former personage was Pausanias, the freedman and travelling companion > of his fnend and patron, Quintus Livius Drusus, the "Master Dru- sus" of whom the slaves had been speaking, -hlog's sharp eyes scanned her strange owner very keenly, and the impres sion he created was no', in the least unfavourable. Drusus was apparently of about two and twenty. As he was sitting, he appeared a trifle short in stature, with a thick frame, solid shoulders, long arms, and large hands. His face was dis- tinctively Roman. The features were a little irregular, though not to an unpleasant extent. The profile was aquiline His eyes were brown and piercing, turning perpetually this way and that, to grasp every detail of the scene around. His dark reddish hair was clipped close, and his chin was sn^ooth shaven a^d decidedly firm -stern, even, the face might have been calle.1, except for the relief afforded by a delicately curved mouth - - not weak, but affable and ingenuous. Drusus wore a rark travelling cloak,* and from underneath it peep a his linic, with ;^s stripe of narrow purple -the badge of the Roman equestn.u order." On his finger was another emblem of nobihty-a la.-ge, plain, gold ring, conspicuous among several other rings ^ith costly settii^rs. « Salve ! Salve, Domine I " cried the^laves a second time, as the carnage drew near. The young master pushed back the blue woollen curtains in order to gain a better view, then motioned to the diiver to stop. onlXr^li'dS^r '^ ''"'' " ""^"^ *""''• '^- ^"«- -" ote- « Pmnula. I The second order of the Roman nobility. 6 A FRIEND OF C^SAR "Are you slaves of mine?" was his question. The tone was interested and kindly, and Mago saluted profoundly and replied : — "We are the slaves of the most noble Quintus Livius Dru- sus, who owns this estate." "I am he," replied the young man, smiling. "The day is hot. It grows late. You have toiled enough. Go you all and rest. Here, Pausanias, give them each a philippus,^ with which to remember my home-coming ! " "Eu ! En ! lo P Domine /» cried the slaves, giving vent to their delight. And Chloe whispered to Lais: " You were right. The new master will be kind. There ^vill not be so many whippings." _ But while Pausanias was fumbling in the money-bags, a new instance of the generosity of Drusus was presented. Down a by-path in the field filed, a sorrowful company; a long row of slaves in fetters, bound together by a band and chain round the waist of each. They were a disreputable enough gang of unkempt, unshaven, half-clothed wretches: Gauls and Ger- mans with fair hair and giant physiques; dark-haired Syri- ans; bla.k-skinned Africans, - all panting and groaning, clanking their chains, and cursing softly at the two sullen overseers, who, with heavy-loaded whips, were literally driv- ing them down into the road. Again Drusua spoke. " Whose slaves are these ? Mine ? " "They are your lordship's," said the foremost overseer, who had just recognized his newly come employer. « Why are they in chains ? " asked Drusus. J A Greek gold piece worth about 83.tX) at the time of the story. At this time Rome coined little gold. ' * Good I Good ! Hurrah 1 PR^TNESTE f "Mamercus found them refractory," replied the guard, "and ordered them to be kept in the underground prison,' and to work in the chain gang." The young man made a motion of disgust. « Bah ! " he remarked, « the whole familia ' will be in fetters If Mamercus has his way much longer. Knock off those chains. Tell the wretches they are to remain unshackled only so long as they behave. Give them three skins to-night from which to drink their master's health. Drive on, Cappadox ' " And before the fettered slaves could comprehend their release from confinement, and break out into a chorus of bar- barous and uncouth thanksgivings and blessings, the carriage had vanished from sight down the turn of the road Who was Quintus Livius Drusus? Doubtless he would have felt highly insulted if his family history had not been fairly well known to every respectable person around Pr^neste and to a very large and select circle at Rome. When a man could take Livius 3 for his gentile name, and Drusus for his cognomen, he had a right to hold his head high, and regard himself as one of the noblest and best of the imperial city But of course the Drusian house had a number of branches' and the history of Quintus's direct family was this. He was the grandson of that Marcus Livius Drusus^ who, though an ^ErgasUchnn. « Slave iu.usehold. of th! r^ T "'^ ^ ^'•»'«''""'". "r " Christian name " ; also a gentile name o he Kens or clan to whi.-h be bel-.n^e.! : and e„n.,„..„lj. n addition a — ?h« ?.« n '"" "^" "'^ '•"""''JJate descendants of that ancestor 4 ™J^ , r"' ''•" "•"*"'« '^'^ °°"««» «' '»>« Koman houses. ' ulea in 91 b.c. 8 A FRIEND OF CiESAB aristocrat of the aristocrats, had dared to believe that the oligarchs were too strong, the Roman Commons without char- acter, and that the Italian freemen were suffering from wrongs inflicted by both of the parties at the capital. For his efforts to right the abuses, he had met with a reward very common to statesmen of his day, a dagger-thrust from the hand of an undiscovered assassin. He had left a son, Sextus, a man of culture and talent, who remembered his father's fate, and walked for a time warily in politics. Sextus had married twice. Once to a very noble lad;- of the Fabian gens, the mother of his son Quintus. Their some years after her death he took in marriage a reigning beauty, a certain Valeria, who soon developed such extravagance and frivolity, that, soon after she bore him a daughter, he was forced " to send her a messenger"; in other words, to divorce her. The daughter had been put under the guardianship of Sextus's sister-in-law Fabia, one of the Vestal virgins at Rome. Sextus himself had accepted an appointment to a tribuneship in a legion of Caesar in Gaul. When he departed for the wars he took with hi a as fellow officer a life-long friend, Caius Cornelius Lentulus ; and ere leaving for the campaign the two had formed a com- pact quite in keeping with the stern Roman spirit that made the child the slave of the father: Young Quintus Drusus should marry Cornelia, Lentulus's only child, as soon as the two came to a proper age. And so the friends went away to win glory in Gaul ; to perish side by side, when Sabinus's ill- fated legion was cut off by the Eburones.' The son and the daughter remained. Quintus Drusus had had kindly guardians ; he had been sent for four years to the *' University " at Athens ; had studied rhetoric and philosophy ; and now he was back with his career before him, — master of 1 In 54 B.C. PR.ENESTE himself, of a goodly fortune, of a noble inheritance of high- bom ancestry. And he was to marry Cornelia. No thought of thwarting his father's mandate crossed his mind ; he was bound by the decree of the dead. He had not seen his be- trothed for four years. He remembered her as a bright-eyed, merry little girl, who had an arch way of making all to mind her. But he remembered too, that her mother was a vapid lady of fashion, that her uncle and guardian was x^ucius Cor- nelius Lentulus Crus, Consul-elect,' a man of little refinement or character. And four years were long enough to mar a young giro's life. What would she be like? What had time made of ner? The curiosity — we will not call it passion — was overpowering. Pure "love" was seldom recognized as such by the age. When the carriage reached a spot where two roads forked, leading to adjacent estates, Drusus alighted. " Is her ladyship Cornelia at the villa of the Lentuli ? " was his demand of a gardener who was trimming a hedge along the way. "Ah! Master Drusus," cried the fellow, dropping his sickle in delight. " Joy to see you ! Yes, she is in the grove by the villa; by the great cypress you know so well. But how you have changed, sir — " But Drusus was off. The path was familiar. Through the trees he oauglit glimpses of the stately mazes of colonnades cf the Lentulan villa, surrounded by its artificially arranged gar- dens, and its wide stretches of lawn and orchard. The grove had been his playground. Here was the oak under which Cornelia and he had gathered acorns. The remnants of the little brush house they had built still survived. His step quickened. He heard the rush of the little stream that wound 1 The two Roman consuls were magistrates of the highest rank, and were chosen each year by the people. 10 A FRIEND OF CAESAR through the grove. Then he saw ahead of him a fem thicket, and the brook flashing its water beyond. In his recollec- tion a bridge had here crossed the streamlet. It had been removed. Just across, swayed the huge cypress. Drusus stepped forward. At last ! He pushed carefully through the thicket, making only a little noise, and glanced across the brook. There were ferns all around the cypress. Ivies twined about its trunk. On the bank the green turf looked dry, but ''ool. Just under the tree the brook broke into a miniature cascade, and went rippling down in a score of pygmy, spark- ling waterfalls. On a tiny promo, tory a marble nymph, a fine bit of Greek sculpture, was pouring, without respite, from a water-urn into the gurgling flood. But Drusus did not gaze at til 6 nymph. Close beside the image, half lying, half sitting, in an abandon only to be produced by a belief that she was quite alone, rested a young woman. It was Cornelia. Drusus had made no disturbance, and the object or. which he fastened his eyes had not been in the least stirred out of a rather deep reverie, j^ie stood for a while half bashful, half contemplative. Cornelia had taken off her shoes and let her little white feet trail down into the water. She wore only her white tunic, and had pushed it back so that her arms were almost bare. At the moment she was resting lazily on one elbow, and gazing abstractedly up at the moving ocean of green overhead. She was only sixteen; but in the warm Italian clime that age had brought her to maturity. No one would have said that she was beautiful, from the point of view of mere softly sensuous Greek beauty. Rather, she was handsome, as became the daughter of Cor- nelii and Claudii. She was tall ; her hair, which was bound in a plain knot on the back of her head, was dark — almost PRiENESTE 11 black; her eyes were large, grey, lustrous, and on occasion could be proud and angry. Yet with it all she was pretty — pretty, said Drusus to himself, as any girl he had seen in Athens. For there were coy dimples in her delicate little chin, her finely chiselled features were not angular, vv'hile her cheeks were aglow with a healthy colour that needed no rouge to heighten. In short, Cornelia, like Drusus, was a Roman; and Drusus saw that she was a Roman, and was glad. Presently something broke the reverie. Cornelia's eyes dropped from the treetops, and lighted up with attention. One glance across the brook into the fern thicket; then one irrepressible feminine scream ; and then : — "Cornelia!" "Quintus!" Drusus sprang forward, but almost fell into the brooklet. The bridge was gone. Cornelia had started up, and tried to cover her arms and shake h*^" tunic over her feet. Her cheeks were all smiles and blushes. But Drusus's situation was both pathetic and ludicrous. He had his fiancee almost in his arms, and yet the stream stopped him. Instantly Cornelia was in laughter. " Oh ! My second Leander," she cried, " will you he brave, and swim again from Abydos to Sestos to meet your Hero ? " "Better!" replied Drusus, now nettled; "see!" And though the leap was a long one he d ''d it, ni ^anded close by the marble nymph. Drusus had not exactly mapped out for iiimself the method of approaching the young woman who had been his child play- mate Cornelia, however, solved all his perplexity. Changing suddenly from laughter into what were almost tears, she fiung her arms around his neck, and kissed him again and again. " Oh, Quintus ! Quintus ! " she cried, nearly sobbing, " / am so glad you have come ! " 12 A FRIEND OF CJESAR "And I am glad," said the young man, perhaps with a tremor in his voice. " I never knew how I wanted you, until you are here," she continued; "I didn't look for you today. I supposed you would come from Puteoli to-morrow. Oh ! Quintus, yo must be very kind to me. Perhaps I am very stupid. Bat I am tired, tired." Drusus looked at her in a bit of astonishment "Tired! I can't see that you look fatigued." " Not in body," w ent on Cornelia, still holding on to him. « But here, sit down on the grass. Let me hold your hands. You do not mind. I want to talk with you. No, don't interrupt. I must tell you. I have been here in Prseneste only a week. I wanted to get away from Baise." I was afraid to stay there with my mother." "Afraid to stay at that lovely seashore house with your mother ! " exclaimed Drusus, by no means unwilling to sit as entreated, but rather bewildered in mind. "I was afraid of Lucius Ahenobarbus, the consular' Domi- tius's second son. / don't like him ! there !" and Cornelia's grey eyes lit up with menacing fire. " Afraid of Lucius Ahenobarbus ! " laughed Drusus. " Well I don't think I call him a very dear friend. But why should he trouble you ? " « It was ever since last spring, when I was in the new theatre" seeing the play, that he came around, thrust himself upon me, and tried to pay attentions. Then he has kept them up ever siuce; he followed us to Baiae; and the worst of it is, my mother and uncle rather favour him. So I had Stephanus, my 1 The famous watering-place on the Bay of Naples. 2 An ex-consul was known by this title. • Built by Pompeius the Great, in 55-64 b.c. PR^NESTE IS friend the physician, say that sea air was not good for me, and I was sent here. My mother and uncle will come i a few days, but not that fellow Lucius, I hope. I was so tirtjd try- ing to keep him off." " I will take care of the knave," said Drusus, smiling, " So this is the trouble ? I wonder that your mother should have anything to do with such a fellow. I hear in letters that he goes with a disreputable gang. He is a boon companion with Marcus Laeca, the old Catilinian,» who is a smooth-headed villain, and to use a phrase of my father's good friend Cicero — * has his head and eyebrows always shaved, that he may not be said to have one hair of an honest man about him.' But he will have to reckon with me now. Now it is my turn to talk. Your long story has been very short. Nor is mine long. My old uncle Publius Vibulanus is dead. I never knew him well enough to be able to mourn him bitterly. Enough, he died at ninety ; and just as I arrive at Puteoli comes a message that I am his sole heir. His freedmen knew I was coming, embalmed the body, and wait for me to go to Rome to-mor- row to give the funeral oration and light the pyre. He has left a fortune fit to compare with that of Crassus'^ real estate, investments, a lovely villa at Tusculum. And now I — no, we — are wealthy beyond avarice. Shall we not thank the Gods?" " I thank them for nothing," was her answer ; then more shyly, "except for your own coming; for, Quintus, you — you — will marry me before very long ? " " What hinders ? " cried the other, in the best of spirits. "To-morrow I go to Rome; then back again ! And then all * A member of the band who with Catiline conspired in R3 b.c. to ove^ throw the Roman jiovernment. ' The Roman millionaire wlio had just been slain in Parthia. 14 A FRIEND OF CiESAR ! Praeneste will flock to our marriage train. No, pout no more over Lucius Ahenobarbus. He shan't pay disagreeable atten- tions. And now over to the old villa : for Mamercus is eating his heart out to see me ! " And away they went arm in arm. Drusus's head was in the air. He had resolved to marry Cornelia, cost what it might to his desires. He knew now that he was affianced to the one maiden in the world quite after his own heart I III The paternal villa of Drusus lay on the lower part of the slope of the Praeneste citadel, facing the east. It was a genuine country and farming estate — not a mere refuge from the city heat and hubbub. The Drusi had dwelt on it for gen- erations, and Quintus had spent his boyhood upon it. The whole mass of farm land was in the very pink of cultivation. There were lines of stately old elms enclosing the estate ; and within, in regular sequence, lay vineyards producing the rather poor Praeneste wine, olive orchards, groves of walnut trees, and many other fruits. Returning to the point where he had left the carriage, Drusus led Cornelia up a broad avenue flanked by noble planes and cypresses. Before them soon stood, or rather stretched, the country house. It was a large grey stone building, added to, from time to time, by successive owners. Only in front did it show signs of modern taste and elegance. Here ran a colonnade of twelve red porphyry pillars, with Co- rinthian capitals. The part of the house reserved for the master lay behind this entrance way. Back of it rambled the structure used by the farm steward, and the slaves and cattle. The whole house was low — in fact practically one-storied j PR^NESTE 16 and the effect produced was perhaps substantial, but hardly imposing. Up the broad avenue went the two young people ; too busy with their own gay chatter to notice at a distance how figures were running in and out amid the colonnade, and how the pillars were festooned with flowers. But as they drew nearer a throng was evident The whole farm establishment — men, women, and children — had assembled, garlanded and gayly dressed, to greet the young master. Perhaps five hundred persons — nearly all slaves — had been employed on the huge estate, and they were all at hand. As Drusus came up the avenue, a general shout of welcome greeted him. " Ave I Ave ! Domine ! " and there were some shouts as Cornelia was seen of, "Ave! Domina!" "Domina^ here very soon," said Drusus, smiling to the young lady ; and disengaging himself from her, he advanced to greet personally a tall, ponderous figure, with white, flowing hair, a huge white beard, and a left arm that had been severed at the wrist, who came forward with a swinging military stride that seemed to belie his evident years. " All hail, dearest Mamercus ! " exclaimed the young man, running up to the burly object. "Here is the little boy you used to scold, fondle, and tell stories to, back safe and sound to hear the old tales and to listen to some more admonitions." The veteran made a hurritd motion with his remainintr hand, as if to brush something away from his eyes, and his deep voice seemed a trifle husky when he replied, speaking slowly : — "Mehercle !' All the Gods be praised! The noble Sextus living again in the form of his son! Ah! This makes my * Domina, mispress. > By Uercules. 16 A FRIEND OF CiESAB old heart glad;" and he held out his hand to Drusus. But the young man dashed it away, and flinging his arms around Mamercus's neck, kissed him on both cheeks. Then when this warm greeting was over, Drusus had to salute Titus Mamercus, a solid, stocky, honest-faced country lad of eigh- teen, the son of the veteran; and after Titus— since the Mamerci and Drusi were remotely related and the jua oscului' — less legally, the "right of kissing"— existed be- tween them, he felt called upon to press the cheek of .Emilia, Mamercus's pretty daughter, of about her brother's age. Cornelia seemed a little discomposed at this, and per- heps so gave her lover a trifling delight. But next he had to shake all the freedmen by the hand, also the older and better known slaves; and to say something in reply to their congratulations. The mass of the slaves he could not know personally ; but to the assembled company he spoke a few words, with that quiet dignity which belongs to those who are the heirs of generations of lordly ancestors. « This day I assume control of my estate. All past offences are forgiven. I remit any punishments, however justly im- posed. To those who are my faithful servants and clients I will prove a kind and reasonable master. Let none in the future be mischievous or idle ; for them I cannot spare. But since the season is hot, in honour of my home-coming, for the next ten days I order that no work, beyond that barely needed, be done in the fields. Let the farailia enjoy rest, and let them receive as much wine as they may take with- out being unduly drunken. Geta, Antiochus, and Kebes, who have been in this house many years, shall go with me before the prsetor, to be set free." ' The right of kissing kinsfolk within the sixth degree. PRiENESTB 17 And then, while the slaves still shouted their avea and tcdves, Mamercus led Drusus and Cornelia through the old villa, through the atrium where the fountain tinkled, and the smoky, waxen death-masks of Quintus's noble ancestors grinned from the presses on the wall; through the hand- somely furnished rooms for the master of the house; out to the bams and storehouses, that stretched away in the rear of the great far- building. Much pride had the veteran when he showed th. sleek cattle, the cackling poultry-yard, and the tall stacks of hay; only he growled bitterly over what he termed the ill-timed lenirncy of his young patron in releasing the slaves in the chain-gang. " Oh, such times ! " he muttered in his beard ; " here's this young upstart coming home, and teaches me that such dogs as I put in fetters are better set at large! There'll be a slave revolt next, and some night all our throats will be cut. But i s none of my doing." "Well," said Drusus, smiling, "I've been interested at Athens in learning from philosophy that one owes some kind- ness even to a slave. But it's always your way, Mamercus, to tell how much better the old times were than the new." "And I am right," growled the other. " Hasn't a man who fought with Marius, and helped to beat those northern giants, the Cimbri and Teutones, a right to his opinion ? The times are evil — evil! No justice in the courts. No patriotism in the Senate. Rascality in every consul and praetor. And the ' Roman P ^ople ' orators declaim about are only a mob ! Vah ! We need an end to this game of fauns and satyrs I " " Come," said Drusus, " wo are not at such a direful strait yet. There is one man at least whom I am convinced is not altogether a knave; and I have determined to throw in my lot with him. Do you guess, Mamercus ? " 18 A FRIEND OF CAESAR Mamercus broke out into a shout of « Caesar ? » Drusus nodded, approval. "Euge! Unless my son Decimus, who is centurion with him, writes me false, he is a man ! " But Cornelia was distressed of face. "Quintus," she said very gravely, "do you know that I have t ten heard that Cajsar is a wicked libertine, who wishes to make himself tyrant ? What have you done ? " "Nothing rashly," said Drusus, also quite grave; "but I have counted the matter on both sides — the side of Pompeius and the Senate, and the side of Caesar -and I have written to Balbus, Caesar's manager at Rome, that I shall use my tiny influence for the proconsul of the Gauls." Cornelia seemed greatly affected ; she clasped and unclasped her hands, pressed th o her brows; then when she let them fall, she was again smiling. " Quintus," she said, putting her arm around him, "Quintus, I am only a silly little girl. I do not know anything z^iou- politics. You are wiser than I, and I can trust you. But please don't quarrel with my uncle Lentulus about your decision. He would be terribly angry." Quintus smiled in turn, and kissing her, said: "Can you trust me ? I hope so. And be assured I will do all I may, not to quarrel with your uncle. And now away with all this sUly serious talk ! What a pity for Mamercus to have been so gloomy as to introduce it! What a pity I must go to Rome to-morrow, and leave this dear old place ! But then, I have to see my aunt Fabia, and little Livia, the sister I haven't met smce she was a baby. And while I am in Rome I will do something else— can you guess ? " Cornelia shook her head. "Carpenters, painters, masons! I will send them out to PRiENESTE 19 make this old villa fresh and pretty for some one who, I hope, will come here to live in about a month. No, don't run away," for Cornelia was trying to hide her flushed face by flight; "I have something else to get — a present for your own dear self. What shall it be ? I am rich; cost does not matter." Cornelia pursed her lips in thought. "Well," she remarked, "if you could bring me out a pretty boy, not too old or too young, one tha' was honest and quick- witted, he would be very convenier to carry messages to you, and to do ary little business for me." Cornelia asked for a slave-boy just as she might have asked for a new pony, with that indifference to the question of humanity which indicated that the demarcation between a slave and an animal was very slight in her mind. "Oh! that is nothing," said Drusus; "you shall have the handsomest and cleverest in all Rome. And if Mamercus complains that I am extravagant in remodelling the house, let him remember that his wonderful Ctesar, when a young man, head over ears in debt, built au expensive villa at Aricia, and then, pulled it down to the foundations and rebuilt on an improved plan. Farewell, Sir Veteia.i, I will take Cornelia home, and then come back for that dinner which I know the cook has made ready with his best art." Arm in arm the young people went away down the avenue of shade trees, dim in the gathering twilight. Mamercus stood gazing after them. "What a pity! What a pity!" he repeated to himself, "that Sextus and Caius are not alive; how they would have rejoiced in their children ! Why do the fates order things ar they do ? Only let them be kind enough to let me live until I hold another little Drusus on my knee, and tell him of the 20 A FRIEND OF CESAR great battles! But the Gods forbid, Lentulus should find out speedily that his lordship has gone over to Caesar; or there will be trouble enough for both his lordship and my lady. The consul-elect is a stubborn, bitter man. He would be terribly offended to give his niece in marriage to a political enemy. But it may all turn out well. Who knows ? " And he went into the house. ♦ HAPTER II THB UPPER WALKS OP SOCIETY It was very early in the morning. From the streets, far b» low, a dull rumbling was drifting in at the small, dim windows. On the couch, behind some faded curtains, a man turned and yawned, grunted and rubbed his eyes. The noise of the heavy timber, stone, and merchandise wagons hastening out of the city before daybreak,^ jarred the room, and made sleep almost impossible. The person awakened swore quietly to himself in Greek. " Heracles ! Was ever one in such a city ! What malevolent spirit brought me here? Throat-cutting on the streets at night ; highwaymen in every foul alley ; unsafe to stir at even- ing without an armed band ! No police worth mentioning ; freshets every now and then ; fires every day or else a building tumbles down. And then they must wake me up at an un- earthly hour in the morning. Curses on me for ever coming near the place ! " And the speaker rolled over on the bed, and shook himself, preparatory to getting up. " Bah ! Can these Roman dogs never learn that power is to be used, not abused ? Why don't they spend some of their reve- nues to level these seven hills that shut off the light, and straighten and widen their abominable, ill-paved streets, and 1 No teaming was allowed in Rome by day. 81 22 A FRIEND OF C^SAR ! ( keep houses from piling up as if to storm Olympus ? Pshaw I .ad better stop croaking, and be up and about '' ' The speaker sat up in bed, and clapped his hands. Into the I-l.ghted and unpretentiously furnished room came a tall, bony ebon-skznned old Ethiopian, very scantily attired, who awaited the wishes of his master. "Come Sesostris," said the latter, "get out my best Mmauon^^tl^e one with the azure tint. Give me a clean chiton," and help me dress." And while the servant bustled briskly about his work, Pra- tmas, for such was his lord's name, continued his monologue ignonng the presence of his attendant. « Not so bad with m^ atter all. Six years ago to-day it was I came to Rome with barely an obol of ready money, to make my fortune by m; wits Zeus! But I can't but say I've succeeded. A thousand e" s Z r; r '" '""'"' ^^^^^^ ^^^ "«^^ -^ ^^en a better troke of fortune politics, intrigues, gambling ; all to the same end. Andnow?-oh, yes, my 'frin.ds' would say I am very respectable, but quite poor- but they don't know how I have econoauzed and how my account stands with Sosthenes the banker at Alexandria. My old acquaintance with Lucius Domi- tius was of some use. A few more months of this life and I am away^from this beastly Rome, to enjoy myself among civilized Pratinas went over to a large wooden chest with iron clasps faction^ "There are s:x good talents in there," he remarked to himself, " and then there is Artemisia." He had barely concluded this last, hardly intelligible asser- tion, when the curtain of the room was pushed asL, auTin came a short, plump, rosy-faced little maiden of twelve, with a 1 Greek outer mautle. aoreek uuder garment. L THE UPPER WALKS OF SOCIETY 23 clearly chiselled Greek profile and lips as red as a cherry. Her white chiton was mussed and a trifle soiled; and her thick black hair was tied back in a low knot, so as to cover what were two very shapely little ears. All in all, she presented a very pretty picture, as the sunlight streamed over her, when she drew back the hangings at the window. " Good morning, Uncle Pratinas," she said sweetly. "Good morning, Artemisia, my dear," replied the other, giv- ing her round neck a kiss, and a playful pinch. " You will practise on your lyre, and let Sesostris teach you to sing. You know we shall go back to Alexandria very soon ; and it is pleasant there to have .lome accomplishments." " And must you go out so early, uncle ? " said the girl. "Can't you stay with me any part of the day ? Sometimes I get very lonely." "Ah! my dear," said Pratinas, smoothly, "if I could do what I wished, I would never leave you. But business can- not wait. I must go ^^-d see the noble Lucius Calatinus on some very importai -cal matters, which you could not understand. Now rm , / like a good girl, and don't become doleful." Artemisia left the room, and Pratinas busied himself about the fine touches of his toilet. When he held the silver mirror up to his face, he remarked to himself that he was not an unhandsome man. " If I did not have to play the philosoplier, and wear this thick, hot beard,* I would not be ashamed to show my head anywhere." Then while he perfumed himself wi*' oil of saffron out of a little onyx bottle, he went on : — What dogs and gluttons these Romans are! They have no real taste for art, for beauty. They cannot even conduct a » At an age when respectable men were almost invariably smooth shaven, the philosophers wore Howing beards, as a sort of professional badge. 24 A FRIEND OF CESAR I li !il murder, save in a bungling way. They have to call in ua Hellenes to help them. Ha! ha! this is the vengeance for Hellas, for the sack and razing of Corinth and all the other atrocities ! Rome can conquer with the sword ; but we Greeks, though conquered, can, unarmed, conquer Rome. How these Italians can waste their money ! Villas, statues, pretty slaves, costly vases, and tables of mottled cypress,* oysters worth their weight in gold, and I know not what else ! And I, poor Pratinas, the Greek, who lives in an upper floor of a Subu»w house at only two thousand sesterces rer'%1, find in these noble Roman lords only so much plunder. '' * ha! Hellas, thou art avenged ! " And gathering his mantle about him, he went down the several flights of very rickety stairs, and found himself in the buzzing street. II The Romans hugged a fond belief that houses shut out from sunlight and air were extremely healthy. If such were the fact, there should have been no sickness in a great part of the capital. The street in which Pratinas found himself was so dark, that he was fain to wait till his eyes accommodated themselves to the change. The street was no wider than an alley, yet packed with booths and hucksters, — sellers of boiled peas and hot sausage, and fifty other wares. On the worthy Hellene pressed, while rough German slaves or swarthy Africans jostled against him ; the din of scholars declaiming in an adjoining school deafened him; a hundred unhappy odors made him wince. Then, as he fought his way, the streets grew a trifle wider ; as he approached the Forum the shops became more pretentious ; at last he reached his destinar 1 A « fad " of this time. Such Ubles often cost $20,000. THE UPPER WALKS OF SOCIETY 25 tion in the aristocratic quarter of the Palatine, and paused before a new and ostentatious mansion, in whose vestibule was swarming a great bevy of clients, all come in the official call- ing costume — a ponderous toga — to pay their respects to the great uan. But as the inner door was pushed asid'^ by the vigilant keeper, all the rest of the crowd were kept out till Pratinas could pass within. The atrium of the house \.as a splendid sight, with its veined marble pillars, mosaic floor, bubbling fountain, choice frescoes, and expensive furniture upholstered in Tyrian purple. A little in the rear of this gorgeous room was seated in a high armchair the individual who boasted himself the lord of ttiis establishment, Lucius Atilius Calatinus. He was a large, coarse man, with a rough, bull-dog face and straight red hair. He had been drinking heavily the night before, and his small bluish eyes had wide dark circles beneath them, and his breath showed strongly the garlic with which he had seasoned the bread and grapes of his early lunch. He was eviaently very glad to see his Greek visitor, and hove the six large, heavily gemmed rings which he wore on one of his fat fingers, almost into the other's hand when he shook it. " Well met, Pratinas I " was his salutation. " Tell me, is that little affair of yours settled ? Have you stopped the mouth of that beastly fellow, Postumus Pyrgensis, who said that I was a base upstart, with no claim to my gentile name, and a bad record as a tax farmer in Spain, and therefore should not be elected tribune ^ ? " "I have stopped him," said Pratinas, with a little cough. "But it was expensive. He stuck out for ten thousand ses- terces." ^The ten triounes had power to convene the people and Senate, propose la\ and " veto " tht actiona of other maiibtratea. 26 A FRIEND OF C^SAR « Oh, cheaply off," said Calatinus, laughing. « I will give you my cheque on Flaccus the banker. But I want to know about the other matter. Can you make sure of the votes of the Subu- rana tribe ? Have you seen Autronius ? " " I have seen him," said Pratinas, dryly. "And he said?" "Twenty thousand sesterces for him to deposit with trustees ' until the election is over. Then he as go-between * will make sure of a majority of the tribesmen, and distribute to them the money if all goes well at the comitia? It was the best bargain I could make ; for Autronius really controls the tribe, and some one might outbid us." "All right," broke out Calatinus with a laugh, "another cheque on Flaccus." " One thing else," said Pratinas ; " I must have a little money to shut up any complaints that those ridiculous anti-bribery Licinian and Pompeian Laws are being broken. Then there is my fee," « Oh, yes," replied the other, not to be daunted in his good humour, « I'll give you fifty thousand in all. Now I must see this rabble." And the mob of clients swept up to the armchair, grasping after the great man's hand, and raining on him their aves, while some daring mortals tried to thrust in a kiss. Pratinas drew back and watched the crowd with a smile half cynical, half amused. Some of the visitors were regular hangers- on, who perhaps expected an invitation to dine; some were seekers of patronage; some had an eye to political preferment, a few were real acquaintances of Calatinus or came on some legitimate business. Pratinas observed three friends waiting to speak with Calatinus, and was soon in conversation. »5cgue«vdth a vowel, and to change every c into a ch. "Well," sa.J Pratinas, laughing, for he was a dearly loved favourite of all these gilded youth, "I will see! And now Gabinius is inviting Calatinus also, and we are dispersing for the morning." "Alas," groaned Ahenobarbus, "I must go to the Forum to plead with that wretch Phormio, the broker, to arrange a new loan." "And I to the Forum, also," added Calatinus, coming up, "to continue this pest of a canvass for votes." The clients fell into line behind Calatinus like a file of soldiers, but before Pratinas could start away with the other friends, a slave-boy came running out from the inner house, to say that "the Lady Valeria would be glad of his company in her boudoir." The Greek bowed his farewells, then fol- lowed the boy back through the court of the peristylium.' i ! Ill The dressing room occupied by Valeria — once wife of Sextus Drusus and now living with Calatinus as her third husband in about four years — was fitted up with every lux- ury which money, and a taste which carried refinement to an extreme point, could accomplish. The walls were bright with splendid mythological scenes by really good artists; the furniture itself ^^^as plated with silver; the rugs were magnifi- cent. The mistress of this palatial abode was sitting in a » An inner private court back of the atrium. THE UPPER WALKS OF SOCIETY 29 low easy-chair, holding before her a fairly large silver mirror. She wore a loose gown of silken texture, edged to an ostenta- tious extent with purple. Around her hovered ArsinoS and Semiramis, two handsome Greek slave-girls, who were far better looking than their owner, inasmuch as their com- plexions had never been ruined by paints and ointments. They were expert hairdressers, and Valeria had paid twenty- five thousand sesterces for each of them, on the strength of their proficiency in that art, and because they were said to speak with a pure Attic Greek accent. At the moment they were busy stripping off from the lady's face a thick layer of dried enamel that had been put on the night before. Had Valeria been willing, she might have feared no com- parison with her maids ; for from a merely sensuous standpoint, she would have been reckoned very beautiful. She had by nature large brown eyes, luxuriant brown hair, and what had been a clear brimette skin, and well-rounded and regular features. But her lips were curled in hard, haughty lines, her long eyelashes drooped as though she took little interest in life ; and, worse than all, to satisfy the demands of fashion, she had bleached her hair to a German blonde, by a process ineffective and injurious. The lady was just fuming to her- self over a gray hair Aisinoe had discovered, and Arsino6 went around in evident fear lest Valeria should vent her vexation on her innocent ministers. Over in one comer of the room, on a low divan, wa sitting a strange-looking personage. A gaunt, elderly man clothed in a very dingy Greek himation, with shaggy grey hair, and an enormous beard that tumbled far down his breast. This personage was Pisander, Valeria's "house-philosopher," who was expected to be always at her elbow poixring into her ears a rain of learned lore. For this worthy lady (and two thou- 30 A FRIEND OF C^SAR i: I « cosmos. At th,s moment she was feasting her soul on carry about, now that we are imprisoned in the Iwdy Pratinas, to see her ladyship!" bawled a servantbov' "Your ladyship does me the honour" he hprr.„ vi, extremely deferential salutation. ' ^'"' ^"'^ "'^ "Oh, my dear Pratinas," cried Valeria in n lo called Greet, seizing his hand ar^tl" e n LTnT Jm' "how delighted I am to see yon! We haven't 2T ' ^ce yesterday morning. I ^a so w^t to ha eCdTl,: With a gladiator ? » ' ^^ ^^^ °^ THE UPPER WALKS OF SOCIETY 31 te 1 ir 1 )f n y y 5 3 1 ) '(^ ^% f .1! "So Gabinius, I believe," replied Pratinas, "just told me. And I heard something else. A great secret. You must not tell." " Oh ! I am dying to know," smirked Valeria. "Well," said the Greek, confidentially, "Publius Silanus has divorced his wife, Crispia. 'She went too much,' he says, * with young Purpureo.' " "You do not say so!" exclaimed the lady. "I always knew that would happen ! Now tell me, don't you think this perfume of iris is delicate? It's in that little glass scent bottle ; break the neck.' I shall use it in a minute. I have just had some bottles sent up from Capua. Roman perfumes are so vulgar ! " "I fear," said Pratinas, doing as bidden, and testing the essence with evident satisfaction, "that I have interrupted your philosophical studies." And he glanced at Pisander, who was sitting lonesome and offended in his corner. "Oh! not in the least," ran on Valeria; "but though I know you are Epicurean, surely you enjoy Plato ? " "Certainly," said Pratinas, with dramatic dignity, "I suck the sweets from the flowers left us by all the wise and good. Epicurean though I am, your ladyship must permit me to lend you a copy of an essay I have with me, by that great philosopher, the Stoic Chrysippos,'' although I cannot agree with all his teachings; and this copy of Panaitios, the Eclectic's great Treatise on Duty, which cannot fail to edify your ladyship." And he held out the two rolls. "A thousand thanks," <5aid Valeria, languidly, "hand them to Pisander. I will ha.e him read them, A little more white lead, Arsinoe, I am too tanned ; make me paler. Just ^To let out the ointment, and like wares. Capua w-s a famed emporium for perfumes 3 Born 180 B.C. 32 A FRIEND OF C^SAB ran over the veins of my tnnples with a touch of blue paint Now a tint of antimony on my eyelids." "Your ladyship seems in wonderfully good spirits this morning," insinuated Pratinas. "Yes," said Valeria, with a sigh, «I endure the woes of life as should one who is consoled by philosophy " "Shall I continue the Plato?" edged in poor Pisander, who was raging inwardly to think that Pratinas should dare to assume the name of a "lover of learning." "When you are needed, I can teU you," snapped Valeria, sharply, at the feeble remonstrance. "Now, Semiramis, you may arrange my hair." The girl looked puzzled. To tell the truth, Valeria was speak- mg m a tongue that was a babel of Greek and Latin, although she fondly imagined it to be the former, and Semiramis could hardly imderstand her. " If your ladyship will speak in Latin," faltered the maid. " Speak m Latin ! Speak in Latin ! " flared up Valeria. " Am I deceived ? Are you not-Greeks ? Are you some ignorant Ital- ian wenches who can't speak anything but their native jargon ? Bah ! You've misplaced a curl. Take that ! " And she struck the girl across the palms, with the flat of her silver mirror Semiramis shivered and flushed, but said nothing. "Do I not have a perfect Greek pronunciation?" said the lady, turning to Pratinas. " It is impossible to carry on a polite conversation in Latin." "I can assure your ladyship," said the Hellene, with still another bland smile, "that your pronunciation is something exceedingly remarkable." Valeria, was pacified, and lay back submitting to her hairdressers S while Pratinas, who knew what kind of 1 Omatrices. m THE UPPER WALKS OF SOCIETY 33 " philosophy " appealed most to his fair patroness, read with a delicate yet altogether admirable voice, a number of scraps of erotic verse that he said friends had just sent on from Alexandria. " Oh ! the shame to call himself a philosopher," groaned the neglected Pisander to himself. " If I believed in the old gods, I would invoke the Furies upon him." But Valeria was now in the best of spirits. " By the two Goddesses,"' she swore, "what charming sentiments you Greeks can express. Now I think I look presentable, and can go around and see Papiria, and learn about that dreadful Silanus affair. Tell Agias to bring in the cinnamon ointment. I will try that for a change. It is in the murrhine ^ vase in the other room." lasus the serving-boy stepped into the next apartment, and gave the order to one of his fellow slaves. A minute later there was a crash. Arsinoe, who was without, screamed, and Semiramis, who thrust her head out thr door, drew it back with a look of dismay. " What has happened ? " cried Valeria, startled and angry. Into the room came Arsinoe, lasus, and a second slave-boy, a well-favoured, intelligent looking young Greek of about seven- teen. His ruddy cheeks had turned very pale, as had those of lasus. " What has happened ? " thundered Valeria, in a tone that showed that a sorry scene was impending. The slaves fell on their knees ; cowered, in fact, on the rugs at the lady's feet. " A ! A ! A ! Lady ! Mercy ! " they all began in a breath. " The murrhina vase ! It is broken ! " 1 Deiiietoi' ;i: yelled a lusty produce-vender. «' Lash him again ! Tan his hide for him! Don't you enjoy it? Not accustomed to such rough handling, eh ! my pretty sparrow ? " Fabia without the least hesitation thrust herself into the dirty-robed, foul-mouthed crowd. At sight of the Vestal's white dress and fillets the pack gave way before her, as a swarm of gnats at the wave of a hand. Drusus strode at her heels. It was a sorry enough sight that met them — though not uncommon in the age and place. Some wretched slave-boy, a slight, delicate fellow, had been bound to the bars of a furca, and was being driven by two brutal executioners to the place of doom outside the gates. At the street-crossing he had sunk down, and all the blows of the driver's scourge could not com- pel him to arise. He lay in the dust, writhing and moaning, with the great welts showing on his bare back, where the brass knots of the lash had stripped away the cloth. « Release this boy ! Cease to beat him ! " cried Fabia, with a commanding mien, that made the crowd shrink further back ; while the two executioners looked stupid and sheepish, but did nothing. "Release this boy!" commanded the Vestal. "Dare you hesitate ? Do you wish to undo yourselves by defyin r me ? " "Mercy, august lady," cried Alfidius, — for the chief execu- tioner was he, — with a supplicatory gesture. "If our mis- tress knows that her commands are unexecuted, it is we, who are but slaves, that must suffer ! " ^ A coarse epithat. 44 A FRIEND OF C^SAR I I I i; " Who is your mistress ? » demanded Fabia. "Valeria, wife of Lucius Calatinus." "Livia's precious mother!" whispered Drusus. "I ean imagine her doing a thing like this." Then aloud, « What has the boy done ? " " He dropped a murrhine vase," was the answer. "And so he must be beaten to death ! " exclaimed the young man, who, despite the general theory that most slaves were on a par with cattle, had much of the milk of human kindness in his nature. "Phut! What brutality ! You must insist on your rights, aunt. Make them let him go." Sulkily enough the executioners unbound the heavy furca. Agias staggered to his feet, too dazed really to know what deliverance had befallen him. "Why don't you thank the Vestal?" said Alfidius. "She has made us release you — you ungrateful dog!" "Released? Saved?" gasped Agias, and he reeled as though his head were in a whirl. Then, as if recollecting his faculties, he fell down at Fabia's feet, and kissed the hem of her robe. " The gods save us all now," muttered Alfidius. « Vale i"! will swear that we schemed to have the boy released. - e shall never dare to face her again ! " " Oh ! do not send me back to that cruel woman ! " moaned Agias. " Better die now, than go back to her and incur her anger again ! Kill me, but do not send me back ! " And he broke down again in inward agony. Drusus had been surveying the boy, and saw that though he was now in a pitiabl. nough state, he had been good-look- ing ; and that though his back had been cruelly marred, his fa 3 had not been cut with the lashes. Perhaps the very fact that Agias had been the victim of Valeria, and the high con- N if THE "rtlVILEGE OF A VESTAL 45 tempt in which the yoiing Drusian held his divorced step- mother, made him instinctively take the outraged boy's part. "See here," began Drusus, "were you to be whipped by orders of Calatinus ? " "No," moaned Agias ; "Valeria gave the orders. My mas- ter was out," " Ha ! " remarked Drusus to his aunt, "won't the good man be pleased to know how his wife has killed a valuable slave in one of her tantrums ? " Then aloud. " If I can buy you of Calatinus, and give you to the Lady Cornelia, niece of Lentu- lus, the consul-elect, will you serve her faithfully, will you make her wish the law of your life?" " I will die for her ! " cried Agias, his despair mingled with a ray of hope. " Where is your master ? " " At the Forum, I think, soliciting votes," replied the boy. "Well then, follow me," said Drusus, "our road leads back to the Forum. We may meet him. H I can arrange with him, your executioners have nothing to fear from Valeria. Come along." Agias followed, with his head again in a whirl. Ill The little company worked its way back to the Forum, not, as now, a half-excavated ruin, the gazing-stock for excursion- ists, a commonplace whereby to sum up departed greatness: the splendid buildings of the Empire had not yet arisen, but the structures of the age were not unimposing. Here, in plain view, was the Capitoline HiU, crowned by the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus and the Arx. Here was the site of the Senate House, the Curia (then burned), in which the men who had made Rome mistrcs3 of the world had taken counsel I 1 ! i 4» A FRIEND OF CESAR Every stone, every basili • ^ uad its history for Drusus— though, be it said, at the niomem thr ',oble past was little in his mind. IS all swarming, beyond other w-^.. g crowd, shoppers, hucksters, ■[) Ti ' searched for Calatinus along I, i vst the Rostra, the Comitium,' ''ht\i they were almost caught in into the olaza from the busy And the historic enclosure places, with the dirty, idlers. Drusus and h'l ■■ the upper side of the 1 1 r and the Temple of Sat,, i 21 the dense throng that v ac "iV," commercial thoroughfa-'-s f i..t; \ 1 Tuscus. But just as t; c ' -:.*-v lu ■■ cuit of the square, and i rusus w u his benevolent intentioi!.-, were - " .o-arius, or the Vicus imost completed their cir- beginning to believe that »v'ling him on a bootless errand, a man iu a conspicuously wliire toga rushed out upon him from the steps of the Temple of Castor, embraced him violently, and imprinte-l a firm, garlic-flavoured kiss on both cheeks ; crying at the same time heartily : — "Oh, my dear Publius Dorso, I am so glad to meet you! How are all your affairs up in Fidense ? " Drusus recoiled in some disgust, and began rubbing his out raged cheeks. "Dorso? Dorso? There is surely some mistake, my good man. I am known as Quintus Drusus of Prseneste." Before he had gotten further, his assailant was pounding and shaking a frightened-looking slave-lad who had stood at his elbow. "The gods blast you, you worthless nomendator I ' You have forgotten the worthy gentleman's name, and have made me play the fool ! You may have lost me votes ! All Rome 1 Comitium, assembly-place round the Rostra. a Great men, and candidates for office who wished to " know " everybody kept smart slaves at their elbow to whisper strangers' names in their eai» Bomeumea the slaves themselves were at fault. ml THE PRIVILEGE OF A VESTAL 4f will hear of this ! I shall be a common laughing-stock ! Heil vah! But I'lJ teach you to behave!" And he shook the wretched boy until the latter's teeth rattled. At tbis instant a young man of faultless toilet, whom we have already recognized as Lucius Ahenobarbus, pushed into the little knot as a peacemaker. " Most excellent Calatinus," said he, half suppressing his laughter at the candidate's fury, the nomenclator's anguish, and Drusu.s's vexed confusion, "allow me to introduce to you a son of Sextus Drusus, who was an old friend of my father's. This is Quintus Drusus, if in a few years I have not forgotten his face ; and this, my dear Quintus. is my good friend Lucius Calatinus, wlio would be glad of your vot-i and irifluence to help on his candidiwy as tribune." The atm. .sphere was cleared instantly. Calatinus forgot his anger, in order to apo! gize in the most obsequious manner for his headlong salutation. Drusus, pleased to find the man he had been seeking, forgave the vile scent of the garlic, and gra- ciously accepted the exi>lanation. Then the way was oi)en to ask Calatinus vhether he was willing to dispose of A gias. The crestfallen candidate was only too happy to do something to put himself right with the person he had offended. Loudi v he i'ursed his wife's temper, that would have wasted a siav< worth a "hundred thousand s» .terces " to gratify a m-re burst of passion. " Yes, he was willing to sell the boy to accommodate his excellency, Quintus Drusus," said Calatinus, "a ho ^h ho was a valuable slave. Still, in aonesty he had to id iit that Airias . j,d some mischievous points. Calatin'j lafi l-oxed his ears only the day before for licking the pastry. Mut. ime his wife disliked the fellow, he would be constrained to sell him if a purchaser would take him." 18 A FRIEND OF C^SAR The result of the conference was that Drusus, who had inherited that keen eye for business which went with most of his race, purchased Agias for thirty thousand sesterces, con- siderably less than the boy would have brought in the market. While Drusus was handing over a money order payable with Flaccus, Lucius Ahenobarbus again came forward, with all seeming friendliness. "My dear Quintus," said he, "Marcus LaBca has commis- sioned me to find a ninth guest to fill his triclinium * this even- ing. We should be delighted if you would join us. I don't know what the good Marcus will offer us to-night, but you can be sure of a slice of peacock * and a few other nice bits." " I am very grateful," replied Drusus, who felt all the while that Lucius Ahenobarbus was the last man in the world with whom he cared to spend an jvening's carousing ; " but," and here he concocted a white lie, "an old friend I met in Athens has already invited me to spend the night, and I cannot well refuse him. I thank you for your invitation." Lucius muttered some polite and conventional terms of regret, and fell back to join Servius Flaccus and Gabinius, who were near him. "I invited him and he refused," he said half scornfully, half bitterly. "That little minx, Cornelia, has been com- plaining of me to him, I am sure. The gods ruin him ! If he wishes to become my enemy, he'll have good cause to fear my bite." " You say he's from Prteneste," said Gabinius, " and yet can he sjieak decent Latin ? Doesn't he say ' conia ' for ' cico- nia,' and Uammodo' for 'tantummoflo'? i wonder you invite such a boor." i Dining room with conch seats for nine, the refi^nlar sice. • The n« plus ultra of Roman gastrtuomy at the time. THE PRIVILEGE OF A VESTAL 49 "Oh! he can speak good enough Latin," said Lucius. " But I invited him because he is rich ; and it might be worth our while to make him gamble." " Rich ! " lisped Servius Flaccus. " Rich (h)as my (h)unclc the broker? That silly straightlac(h)ed fellow, who's (h)a C(h)ato, (h)or worse ? For shame ! " " Well," said Lucius. " old Crassus used to say that no one who covddn't pay out of his own purse for an army was rich. But though Drusus cannot do quite that, he has enough sesterces to make happy men of most of us, if his fortune were mine or yours." " (H)its (h)an (h)outrage for him to have (h)it," cried Ser- vius Flaccus. "It's worse than an outrage," replied Ahenobarbus; "it's a sheer blunder of the Fates. Remind nie to tell you about Drusus and his fortune, before I have drunk too much to-night." Agias went away rejoicing with his new master. Drusus owned an apartment house on the Vicus Longus, and there had a furnished suite of rooms. He gave Agias into the charge of the porter,* and ordered him to dress the boy's wounds. Cap- padox waited on his master when he lunched. " Master Quintus," said he, with the familiar air of a privi- leged servant, "did you see that knavish-looking Gabinias following Madame Fabia all the way back to the Temple of Vesta?" " No," said Drusus ; " what do you mean, you silly fellow ? " " Oh, nothing," said Cappadox, humbly. " I only thought it a little queer." ^ Perhaps so," said his master, carelessly. 1 Purtar — Intulortut. CHAPTER IV LUCIUS AHBNOBARBU8 AIKS HIS GSIE.'ANCB ::\ The pomp and gluttony of Roman banquets have been too often described to need repetition here ; neither would we be edified by learning all the orgies that Marcus Lseca (an old Catilinian conspirator) and his eight guests indulged in that night : only after the dinner had been cleared, and before the Gadesian » dancing girls were called in, the dice began to rat- tle, and speedily all were engrossed in drink and play. Lucius Ahenobarbus soon lost so heavily that he was curs- ing every god that presided over the noble game. «* I a: ruined next I(^es," he groaned. " Phormio the broker has only continued my loan at four per cent a month. All my villas and furniture are mortgaged, and will be sold at auction. Meherde, destruction stares me in the face ! " « Well, well, my dear fellow," said Pratinas, who, having won the stakes, was in a mood to be syr pathetic, " we must really see what can be done to remedy matters." " I can see nothing I " was his answer. "Won't your father come to the rescue ?" put in Gabinius, between deep pulls on a beaker. "My father!" snapped Ahenobarbus. "Never a sesterce will I get out of him I He's as good as turned me adrift, and 1 /rom Cadiz, Spain. M AHENOBARBUS AIRS HIS GRIEVANCE 61 Cato my uncle is always giving him bad reports of me, like the hypocritical Stoic that Cato is." "By the bye," began Gabinius again, putting down the wine-cup, "you hinted to-day that you had been cheated out of a fortune, after a manner. Something about that Drusus of Praeneste, if I recollect. What's the story ? " Lucius settled down on his elbow, readjusted the cushions on the banqueting couch, and then began, interrupted by many a hiccough because of his potations. " It is quite a story, but I won't bore you with details. It has quite as much to do with Cornelia, Lentulus Crus's pretty niece, as with Drusus himself. Here it is in short. Sextus Drusus and Caius Lentulus were such good friends that, as you know, they betrothed their son and daughter when the lat- ter were mere children. To make the compact doubly strong, Sextus Drusus inserted in his will a clause like this : ' Let my son Quintus enjoy the use of my estate and its income, until he become twenty-five and cease to be under the care of Flac- cus his tHtor,^ If he die before that time, let his property go to Cornelia, the daughter of Caius Lentulus, except ; ' and here Sextus left a small legacy for his own young daughter, Livia. You see Drusus can make no will until he is five-and-twenty. But then comes another provision. ' If Cornelia shall marry any person save my son, my son shall at once be free to dis- pose of my estates.' So Cornelia is laid under a sort of obli- gation also to marry Quintus. The whole aim of the will is to make it very hard for the young people to fail to wed as their fathers wished." "True," said Gabinius; "but how such an arrangement can affect you and your affairs, I really cannot understand." "That is 80," continued Ahenobarbus, "but here is the * Commercial advlcer required tor young men under five-and-twenty. S2 A FRIEND OF CAESAR other side of t ue matter. Caius Lentiilus was a firm friend of Sextus Drusut ; he also was very close and dear to my father. Caius desired that Cornelia wed young Drusu8,and so enjoined her in his will; but out of compliment to my father, put in a clause which was something like this : ' If Quintus Drusus die before he marry Cornelia, or refuse to marry Cornelia at the proper time, then let Cornelia and all her property be given to Lucius, the second son of my dearly loved friend, Lucius Do- mitius Ahenobarbus.' Now I think you will begin to see why Quintus Drusus's affairs interest me a little. If he refuse to marry Cornelia before he be five-and-twenty, she falls to me. But I understand that Lentulus, her uncle, is badly in debt, and her dowry won't be much. But if Di-usus is not married to her, and die before he is twenty-five, his property is hers and she is mine. Do you understand why I have a little grudge against hiir ? " " For what ? " cried Laeca, with bi(>athless interest. " For living ! " sighed Ahenobarbus," hopelessly. The handsome face of Pratinas was a study. His nostrils dilated; his lips quivered; his eyes were bright and keen with what evidently passed in his mind for a great discovery. " Eureka ! " cried the Greek, clapping his hands. " My dear Lucius, let me congratulate you ! You are saved ! " " What ? " exclaimed the young man, starting up. " You are saved ! " repeated Pratinas, all animation. " Drusus's sesterces shall be yours ! Every one of them ! " Lucius Ahenobarbus was a debauchee, a mere creature of pleasure, without principle or character; but even he had a revulsion of spirit at the hardly masked proposal of the enthu- siastic Greek. He flushed in spite of the wine, then turned pale, then stamiuered, " Don't mention such a thing, Pratinas. I was never Drusus's enemy. I dare not dream of such a move. The Godi forefend 1 " AHENOBARBUS AIRS HIS GRIEVANCE 63 " The Gods ? " repeated Pratinas, with a cynical intonation. " Do you believe there are any ? " " Do you ? " retorted Lucius, feeling all the time that a deadly temptation had hold of him, which he could by no means resist. " Why ? " said the Greek. " Your Latin Ennius states my view, in some of your rather rough and blundering native tetrameters. He says : — " ' There's a race of gods in heaven ; so I've said and still will say. But I deem that we poor mortals do not come beneath their sway. Otherwise the good would triumph, whereas evil reigns to-day,' " " And you advise ? " said Ahenobarbus, leaning forward with pent-up excitement. " I advise ? " replied Pratinas ; " I am only a poor ignorant Hellene, and who am I, to give advice to Lucius Domitius Aheno- barbus, a. most noble member of the most noble of nations ! " If Pratinas had said: "My dear Lucius, you are a thick- headed, old-fashioned, superstitious Roman, whom I, in my superior wisdom, utterly despise," he would have produced about the same effect upon young Ahenobarbus. But Lucius still fluttered vainly, — a very weak conscience whispering that Drusus had never done him any harm ; that murder was a dangerous game, and that altho igh his past life had been bad enough, he had never made any t)ne — unless it were a luckless slave or two — the victim of bloodthirsty passion or rascality. " Don't propose it," he groaned. " I don't dare to think of such a thing! What disgrace and trouble, if it should all come out ! " " Come, come, Ahenobarbus," thrust in Marcus Laeca, who had been educated in Catilina's school fur polite villains and Hi A FRIEND OF C^SAR i! ,at-throat8. " Pratinas is only proposing what, if you were a man of spirit, would have been done long ago. You can't com- plain of Fortune, when she's put a handsome estate in your hands for the asking." "My admirable fellow," said Pratinas, benevolently, "I highly applaud your scruples. But, permit me to say it, I must ask you to defer to me as being a philosopher. Let us look at the matter in a rational way. We have gotten over any bogies which our ancesters had about Hades, or the pun- ishments of the wicked. In fact, what we know — as good Epicureans — is that, as Democritus of Abdera* early taught, this world of ours is composed of a vast number of infinitely small and indivisible atoms, which have by some strange hap come to take the forms we see in the world of life and matter. Now the soul of man is also of atoms, only they are finer and more subtile. At death these atoms are dissolved, and so far as that man is concerned, all is over with him. The atoms may recombine, or join with others, but never form anew that same man. Hence we may fairly conclude that this life is everything and death ends all. Do you follow, and see to what I am leading ? " " I think so," said the wretched Lucius, feeling himself like a bird caught in a snare, yet not exactly grasping the direct bearing of all this learned exposition. « My application is this," went on Pratinas, glibly. " Life is all — all either for pleasure or pain. Therefore every man has a right to extract all the sweetness he can out of it. But suppose a man deliberately makes himself gloomy, extracts no joy from life ; lets himself be overborne by care and sorrow, — is not such a man better dead than living ? Is not a dream- less sleep preferable to misery or even cold asceticism ? And 1 Boru about 470 B.C. AHENOBARBUS AIRS HIS GRIEVANCE 66 how much more does this all apply when we see a man who makes himself unhappy, preventing by his very act of exist- ence the happiness of another more equably tempered mortal I Now I believe this is the present case. Drusus, I understand, is leading a spare, joyless, workaday sort of existence, which is, or by every human law should be, to him a burden. So long as he lives, he prevents you from enjoying the means of acquiring pleasure. Now I have Socrates of imperishable memory on my side, when I assert that death under any cir- cumstances is either no loss or a very great gain. Considering then the facts of the case in its philosophic and rational bear- ings, I may say this : Not merely would it be no wrong to remove Drusus from a world in which he is evidently out of place, but I even conceive such an act to rise to the rank of a truly meritorious deed." Lucius Ahenobarbus was conquered. He could not resist the inexorable logic of this train of reasoning, all the premises of which he fully accepted. Perhaps, we should add, he was not very unwilling to have his wine-befuddled intellect satisfied, and his conscience stilled. He turned down a huge beaker of liquor, and coughed forth : — " Right as usual, Pratinas ! By all the gods, but I believe you can save me ! " "Yes; as soon as Drusus is dead," insinuated the Greek who was already computing his bill for brokerage in this little aifair, "you can raise plenty of loans, on the strength of your coming marriage with Cornelia." " But how will you manage it ? " put in the alert Gabinius. 'There mustn't be any clumsy bungling." " Rest assured," said Pratinas, with a grave dignity, perhaps the result of his drinking, " that in my affairs I leave no room for bungling." w M A FRIEND OF C^SSAB " And your plan is — " asked Lucius. " Till to-morrow, friend," said the Greek ; " meet me at the Temple of Saturn, just before dusk. Then I'll be ready." n Lucius Ahenobarbtts's servants escorted their tipsy master home to his lodgings in a fashionable apartment hou»e on the Esquiline. When he awoke, it was late the next day, and head and wits were both sadly the worse for the recent enter- tainment. Finally a bath and a luncheon cleared his brain, and he realized his position. He was on the brink of concoct- ing a deliberate murder. Drusus had never wronged him ; the crime would be unprovoked ; avarice would be its only justifica- tion. Ahenobarbus had done many things which a far laxer code of ethics than that of to-day would frown upon ; but, as said, he had never committed murder — at least had only had cruci- fied those luckless slaves, who did not count. He roused with a start, as from a dream. What if Pratinas were wrong? What if there were really gods, and furies, and punishments for the wicked after death ? And then came the other side of the shield : a great fortune his ; all his debts paid off ; unlim- ited chances for self-enjoyment; last, but not least, Cornelia his. She had slighted him, and turned her back upon all his advances ; and now what perfect revenge ! Lucius was more in love with Cornelia than he admitted even tv himself. He would even give up Clyte, if he could possess her. And so the mental battle went on all day ; and the prick of conscience, the fears of superstition, and the lingerings of religion ever grew fainter. Near nightfall h- was at his post, at the Temple of Saturn. Pratinas was awaiting him. The Greek had only a few words of greeting, and the curt injunction : — AIIENOBAEBUS AIBS HIS GRIEVANCE 67 "Draw your cloak up to shield your face, and follow me." Then they passed out from the Forum, forced their way through the crowded streets, and soon were through the Porta E(Uumena, outside the walls, and struck out across the Campus Martius, upon the Via Flaminia. It was rapidly darkening. The houses grew fewer and fewer. At a little distance the dim structures of the Portico and Theatre of Pompeius could be seen, looming up to an exaggerated size in the evening haze. A grey fog was drifting up from the Tiber, and out of a rift in a heavy cloud-bank a beam of the imprisoned moon was struggling. Along the road were peasants with their carts and asses hastening home. Over on the Pincian Mount the dark green masset of the splendid gardens of Pompeius and of Lucullus were just visible. The air was filled with the croak of frogs and the chirp of crickets, and from the river came the creak of the sculls and paddles of a cumbrous barge that was working its way down the Tiber. Ahenobarbus felt awed and uncomfortable. Pratinas, with his mantle wrapped tightly around his head, continued at a rapid pace. Lucius had left his attendants at home, and now began to recall gruesome tales of highwaymen and bandits frequenting this region after dark. His fears were not al- layed by noticing that underneath his himation Pratinas occasionally let the hilt of a short sword peep forth. Still the Greek kept on, never turning to glance at a filthy, half- clad beggar, who whined after them for an alms, and who did not so much as throw a kiss after the young Roman when the latter tossed forth a denarius,^ but snatched up the coin, muttered at its being no more, and vanished into the gathering gloom. " Where are you leading me ? " asked Ahenobarbus, a second ^ Four M8terc«8, 16 cents. 58 A FRIEND OF CESAR time, after all his efforts to communicate with the xisually fluent Greek met with only monosyllables. "To the lanista^ Dumnorix," replied Pratinas, quickening an already rapid pace. " And his barracks are — ? " " By the river, near the Mulvian bridge." At length a pile of low square buildings was barely visible in the haze. It was olose to the Tiber, and the rush of the water against the piling of the bridge was distinctly audible. As the two drew near to a closed gateway, a number of mongrel dogs began to snap and bark around them. From within the build- ing came the roar of coarse hilarity and coarser jests. As Pra- tinas approached the solidly barred doorway, a grating was pushed aside and a rude voice demanded : — " Your business ? What are you doing here ? " " Is Dumnorix sober ? " replied Pratinas, nothing daunted. " If so, tell him to come and speak with me. I have something for his advantage." Either Pratinas was well known at the gladiators' school, or something in his speech procured favour. There was a rattling of chains and bolts, and the door swung open. A man of un- usual height and ponderous proportions appeared in the open- ing. That was all which could be seen in the serai-darkness. « You are Pratinas ? " he asked, speaking Latin witli a north- ern accent. The Hellene nodded, and replied softly : " Yes. No noise. Tell Diunnorix to come quietly." The two stepped in on to the flags of a courtyard, and the doorkeeper, after rebolting, vanished into the building. Aheno- barbuK could only see that he was standing in a large stone- paved ourt, perhaps one hundred and forty feet wide and considerably I )ugt r. A colonnade of low whitewashed pil- lK«#p€r