The Roman Traitor (Vol. 1 of 2)

him be Consul;

e him good frien

iol

ven at that early hour awaited his forth-coming in the hall, descended the gentle hill toward the splendid street called Carin?, from some fanci

ite Mec?nas had built his splendid palace, and laid out his unrivalled gardens, on the now woody Esquiline; and it would have been difficult indeed to conceive a view more subl

f the half misty atmosphere, over the varied surface of the great city, broken and diversified by many hills and hollows; and

f it [pg 52]indeed could be equalled for the view it commanded, embracing nearly the whole of Rome, which

eat width, and the long rows of marble columns, which decked its palaces, all glittering in the misty sunbeams, shewed like a waving line of light among the crowded buildings of the narrower ways, that ran parallel to it along the valley and up the easy slope of the C?lian mount, with the Minervium, in which Arvina stood, leading directly downward to its centre. Beyond this sparkling line, ros

mbling charioteer to lash his reluctant steeds over the yet warm body of her murdered father. And beyond this again the lofty ridge of the Quirinal mount stood out in fair relief with all its gorgeous load of

ch and fertile shrubberies. The glowing hues of these could be distinctly made out, even at this great distance, by the naked eye. For it must be remembered that there was in those days no sea-coal to send up its murky smoke-wreaths, blurring the bright skies with its inky pall; no factories with tall chimnies, vomiting forth, like mimic Etnas, their pestilential breath, fatal to vegetable life. Not a clou

breeze, blent with the coolness which they caught from the hundreds of clear fountains, plashing and glittering in every public place, came to the brow of t

the Campus Martius, the green expanse of which, bedecked with many a marble monument and brazen column, and already studded with quick moving groups, hurling the disc and javel

that mighty son of Mars dwelt when he governed his wild robber-clan; and the bidental marking the spot where lightning from the monarch of Olympus, called on by

elabrum, but now filled by the grand basilic? and halls of Justice surrounding the great Roman forum, with all their pomp of golden shields, and

spoil of Carthage-the shrine of Jupiter Capitoline, and Juno, and Minerva, sent back the sun-beams in lines too dazzling to be borne by any human eye; a

ch Arvina paused for one moment with exulting gladness, before descending toward the mansion of the consul. No

wery garlands, a band of virgins passing in sacred pomp toward some favourite shrine; there in sad order swept along, with mourners and musicians, with women wildly shrieking and tearing their long hair, and players and buffoons, and liberated slaves wearing the cap of freedom, a funeral procession, bearing the body of some young victim, as in

langour of the distant trumpets ringing above the din, until the ears of the youth, as well as his eyes, were filled with present proofs of his native city's grandeur; and hi

and veneration, "long may the everliving gods watch over thee; long may they guard thy liberties intact, thy hosts unconquered! long may thy name throughout the world be synonymous with all that is great, a

ng accent, in his ear; and as he started in amazement, for he had

evil deeds as the man beside him, Arvina recoiled a pace or two, and thrust his hand into the bosom of his toga, disarranging its folds for a moment, and suffering the ey

erable in his dark paleness; but a grim smile played over his lips for a moment, as he noted, no

ill-omened face-"what aileth the bold [pg 56]Paullus, that he should star

ing himself, "Ha! Cataline, I was surprised, and scarce saw who it was. Thou art

r, "and for the rest, I am abroad no earlier than th

I fancy not,

y my vows to Jupiter upon the capitol! perchance," he added wit

as tampered with, and sounded only; yet he replied calmly and with dignity, "Thither indee

" answered the other. "I never said he was a friend

excitement, to learn something more of the singular being with whom chance h

around us, and beneath us, are but a herd

igated horror and astonishment. "The great, unconquered Roman people; the lords of earth and sea, from frosty Caucasus to t

ct and mos

h excited, "to whom am I, art thou, a sl

e slaves one and all; abject and base and spirit-fallen slaves, lacking the cour

ods! we a

us Flaccus? Were Publius Antonius, and Cornelius Sylla, the less ejected from their offices, that they were of the highest blood in Rome; the lawful consuls by the suffrage of the people? Was I, the heir of Sergius Silo's glory, the less forbidden even to canvass for the consulship, that my great grandsire's blood was poured out, like water, upon those fields that witnessed Rome's extremest peril, Trebia, and the Ticinus, and Thrasymene and Cann?? Was Lentulus, the noblest of the noble, patrician of the eldest houses, a consular himself, expelled the less and stricken from the rolls of the de

in the direction neither of the capitol nor of the consul's house; turn[pg 58]ing his head neither to the right hand nor to the left; and taking no more

rue likewise. Yea! true it is, that we, patricians, and free, as we style ourselves, may not speak any thing, or act, against our order; no! nor indulge our private pleasures, for fear of the proud censors! Is this, then, freedom? True, we are

man as it were in a written book, Cataline had long before remarked young Arvina. He had noted several points of his mental constitution, which he considered liable to receive such impressions as he would-his proneness to defer to the thoughts of others, his want of energetic resolution, and not least his generous in

m, and had listened probably to the damning rumors which were [pg 59]rife everywhere concerning him, a second motive was added, in his pride of seduction and sophistry, by which he was wont to boast, that he could bewilder the strongest minds, and work them to his will. When by the accidental disarrangement of Arvina's gown, and the discovery of his own dagger, he p

thinking, and to give a bias and a colour to his thoughts, without giving him reason to suspect that he had any interest in the matter; and h

in wondering why Cataline had left so much unsaid, departing so abruptly; and in debating

oon-as the winter solstice was now passed-when Arvina reached the magnificent dwelling of the

ows, at that period an unusual and expensive luxury. The doors stood wide open; and on either hand the vestibule were arranged the lictors leaning upon their fasces, while the whole space of the great Corinthian hall within, lighted from above, and

ughters' looms; for whom perchance they were seeking dowers at the munificence of their noble patron; artizans of the city, with toys or pieces of furniture, lamps, writing cases, cups or vases of rich workmanship; courtiers with manuscr

rious slaves, or freedmen, who stood round their master, and borne away according to their nature, to the storerooms and offices, or to the library and gallery of the consul; while kind words and a courteous gr

anner toward each of his visitors, perhaps not altogether without reference to the conversation he had recently held with Catiline; and certainly not without a desire to obs

lue of the gifts offered, nor by the rank of the visitors; and that his [pg 61]personal predilectio

approbation, to the hand of a freedman; while, the next moment, as an old white-headed countryman, plainly and almost meanly clad, although with scrupulous cleanliness, approached his presence, the consul rose to meet him; and advancing a step or two took him affectionately by the hand

tood behind the curule chair, was required before he was addressed by name, he was received with the utmost attention; the noble ho

at his levee that morning was to communicate momentous information. The thoughtful eye of the great orator brightened, an

all his mind was bent on discovering the plots, which h

urself, Consul,"

[pg 62]be very long, for I have seen nearly all the known faces. If you are, in the mean time, addicted to the humane arts, Davus here will conduct you to my library,

dman to the library, which was indeed the favourite apartment of the studious magistrate. And, if he half repented, as he went by the chamber wherein several youths of patrician birth, one or two of whom nodded to him as he pass

steam power. But although inconsiderable in size, not being above sixteen feet square, the decorations of the apartment were not to be surpassed or indeed equalled by anything of modern splendor; for the walls,4 divided into compartments by mouldings, exquisitely carved and overlaid with burnished gilding, were set with panels of thick plate glass glowing in all the richest hues of purple

od, inlaid with ivory and brass, so that its value could not have fallen far short of ten thousand sesterces5, stood in the centre of the floor-cloth; with a bisellium, or double settle, wrought in bronze, and two beautiful chairs of the same material not much dissimilar in form to

estal facing the bookcase; and on the table, beside writing materials, leaves of parchment, an ornamental letter-case, a double inkstand and several reed pens, were scattered many gems and trinkets; signets and rings engraved in a style fa

miration on the richness and taste displayed in all the details of this the scholar's sanctum. The very atmosphere of the chamber, filled with the perfume of the [pg 64]cedar wood employed as a specific against the ravages of the moth and bookworm, seemed to the young man redolent of midnight

hen Cicero came not, he crossed the room quietly to the bookshelves, and selecting a volume of Homer, drew it forth from its richly embossed case, and seating himself on the br

the lower margin of the parchment as he read, while with the left he rolled up the top; so that nearly the same spa

t foot, shod in the light slippers which the Romans alw

his neck was unusually long and slender, though not so much so as to constitute any drawback to his personal appearance, which, without being what would exactly be termed handsome, was both elegant and graceful. [pg 65]His features were not, indeed, very bold or striking; but intellect was strongly and singularly marked in every line of the face; and the

rm and springy, nor any of that cunning in his manner which is so often coupled to a prowling footstep, he yet advanced so noiselessly over the s

ing with a soft pleasant smile the abstraction of his v

ly to his feet, with the ingenuous blood rushing to his brow at t

all signs. But in this instance, the light in your eye, the curl of your expanded nostril, the half frown on your brow, and the flush on your cheek, told me beyond a doubt that you a

onsumes not the soul; a grand simplicity, that never strains for effect; a sweet pathos, that elicits tears without evoking them; a melody that flows on, like the harmony of the eternal sea, [pg 66]or, if we may call fancy to our aid, the music of the spheres, te

his followers as much in the knowledge of the human heart with its ten thousands of conflicting passions, as in the structure of the kingly verse, wherein he delineated character as never man did, saving only he. But hold, Arvina. Though I could willingly spend hou

ed, simply and briefly, the events of the past night, the discovery of the murdered slave, and the accident by which he had learned that he was the consul's property; and

g approaching nearly to remorse. He started up from the chair, which he had taken when the youth bega

o wretchedly! And wo is me, that I listened not to my own apprehensions, rather than to thy trusty boldness. Alas! that I suffered thee

the traces left by the mortal struggle, the hour at which the discovery was made, and many other minute points of the same nature; the answers to which he noted carefully on his waxed tablets

ld do much myself to find out the murderers and bring them to justice, we

ast thou done well, and very wisely: go on as thou hast commenced, and, hap what hap, count Cicero thy friend. But above all, doubt not-I say, doubt not one moment,-that as there is One eye that seeth all things in all places, that slumbereth not by day nor sleepeth in the watches of night, that never waxeth weak at any time or weary-as there is One h

at man had ceased from speaking, he made a silent gesture of salutation and withdrew, thus gravely [pg 68]warned, scarce conscious if the statesman noted his departure; for

g