The Unwilling Vestal

r Germanic tribes, Aurelius returned from the Rhine frontier to Rome. As soon as she was reasonably sure that the Emperor was rested from the fatig

as almost black. Arranged in the six braids traditional for Vestals and wound round her head like a coronet it became her notably. Her complexion was creamy, with a splendid brilliant color that came and went in her cheeks. Her expression of face was an indescribable blend of kindliness and haughtiness towards others, of austerity and c

self, would have been a swinging stride. She wore her clothes with an unanalyzable diff

been palpitating with conscientious scruples and childish dreads, now she was sure of herself and of her errand; then she had thought chiefly of her mother and of the traditions of her family and clan, now not only her mother was dead, but the whole family of the Epulones had perished except herself

ror, now sole ruler of their world since the death of his colleague, Lucius Verus. He greeted her

you to tell me whether you are satisfi

s half

of late years, you have behaved altogether as a Vestal should. Even earlier your conduct was creditable, since from the very day of your promise to me, your outbursts were le

ruminated, "you mean

rgivable. Had I been in Rome at the time I must hav

x of Vesta. It would have been incumbent upon you, as Pontifex Maximus, yourself to give me my ceremonial scourging. To y

iled more than

said, "that any ha

naria. "You excuse

se the causes of my disapprobation of what you did with my reasons for believing that no harm resulted. Nor, for that matter, must we confound with either of them thos

me!" cried Brinnari

ful minx," the Emperor laughed;

or the Athenians prescribed no penalty for the slayer of his father or mother, because, as he explained when the omission was pointed out to him, he had thought that no child would ever kill its parents; so no framer of rubrics ever foresaw the necessity of forbidding what no one con

itten down that you must not do it makes

nct and a blow inflicted on him is not to be rated as impious. Your act called for no expiat

ulous. But he is absurdly unfitted for his office in appearance and in manner. The self-importance he assumes, the pomposity with which he performs his duties, would be too great even for an Emperor. He irritates all of us. All of us have wished, secretly o

To hint them is perhaps too much; to particularize them would be unseem

the lady who rescued the retiarius; so at any festival or ceremonial in which the Vestal

alloped Bambilio!' You are n

with rage at being struck by any one, as any noble girl would be. Yet you would have controlled your fury but for the fa

cried Br

y admission from her; partly because the matter is best left as it is, without any further notice. But, with the exception of Meffia, it is quite certain that, from the Vestals themselves down to the

ng for months. Rome wants no sick Vestals nor dead Vestals. Causidi

pected, there would be an inquisition and testimony under oath and that i

ate. In fact the scourging of a delinquent Vestal is a mere disciplinary regulation, designed to assure the maintenance of the fire. It is not in the nature of a mandatory atonement.

eption, delighted that you take it as you have, more than delighted to find you so kindly disposed towards me. I need all the kindness you can feel towards me. I want to come t

lius, "you would

tly fair and entirely just. And a fair trial would be a no

itted?" the Emper

us, while the court was plainly genuinely amused at his greed for desirable real-estate and at his artifices to induce her to sell cheap. Fabia, in the same year, was justly treated. But most of the other acquittals were quite as bad as most of the convictions to my mind. I can discover almost no trial where both sid

at deal about the subject of tria

he case of all the trials before the capture and burning of the city by the Gauls, I have read what records remain. Where t

o," Aurelius meditated. "Your conclusions

accused received what she deserved, but generally by accident. The judges were swayed by

Popilia or Porphilia or Orbilia or Orbinia or whatever her real name was, it all happened so long ago. But Min

" the Emperor asked, "that th

body has been ever since. Domitian just murdered her without a trial, for political reasons and for moral effect. So likewise Marcia and the second Licinia were judicially murdered by that fierce old Cassius Longinus Ravilla. He was elected to convict them, not to try them, and he conducted the trial not to arrive at a fair verdict, but to force a conviction. He had some excuse, for their acquittal on their former trial had been brought about by idiotic bribing and family influence. On the face of the evidence at both trials they were clearly blameless. What ruined them was their trying to shield Aurelia, surely the worst Vestal on record, for she had everything in her f

occupied your mind a grea

ic history of Rome is half so dramatic or a tenth so tragic as the burial

e to end her life by sword or axe, by strangling or drowning. The most impious miscreant has too much fear of the gods to injure a consecrated priestess. The only way to dispose of a delinquent Vestal is to bury her alive. But

ust of crumbled bones on the stone floors, as they have been for hundreds of years, as they will be for thousands of years to come. The cot cannot yet have decayed from under what is left of poor Cornelia; her bones must still be entire and

ou came to me before the novel responsibilities of your office had worn on your nerves and you were quivering with dread for fear you might be an unworthy pri

of every conceivable and inconceivable variety and of fools with no grievance at all. You would be astonished if I merely reckoned the occasions on which I have just missed being killed. It gets on my nerves, more or less, of course. But I strive to bear up and remain calm and

o cry out that some Vestal is unclean and bringing down on the Empire the wrath of the gods. That nothing of the kind has occurred during our recent afflictions has been clearly due to the holiness of Dossonia and Causidiena and to their reputation for strict discipline. But the danger of popular outcry is always real. Then there is the fact t

ain and convincing evidence to make me believe anything against you. I shall put my opinion of you on record among my papers of instructions to my successor. I shall declare it to all the Chief Pontiffs. I shall verbally and in writing make it cl

us come to the special consideration that interests me chiefly. You have never come to me

d to you lately to fill your mind with thoughts o

r encounter with Calvaster and

roked his bear

hat the judges of the Vestals had ignored both the facts and the evidence. Let us weigh the evidence and stick to the facts. The only fact you present is that you caught Calvaster lurking in your house. You confess that you were completely puzzled as to what motive brought him there. Your friend surmises an explanation which disgusts, insults and alarms you. You instantly credit it completely, think and act as if it were unquestionably true. I am p

that you need

ined; "I do not feel safe wi

eror re

ed off practically all the adepts at interpretation of the sacred writings, the prophetic books, the rubrics and rituals of the various temples, the statutes of the brotherhoods and other orders of the hierarchy. Only Numerius Aproniarius remains of the older experts, and he is afflicted by an incurable and l

in her mutinous girlhood. She fe

aid, "but if you cannot banish Calvaster,

allant lad? Have you turned against him? I thought you were unsh

st my gorge. I see myself in my mind's eye climbing down that ladder, like poor Cornelia, I see myself stretched out on my cot, watching the ladder being pulled up by the executioner, watching the workmen fitting in the last stone of the vault. I imagine myself staring at the wick of the lamp and wondering how long the oil will last and de

B

al alive

e been good enough to tell me that if I were accused you'd be predisposed to favor me in all possible ways and that you'll give instructions as to your opinion of me. Any directions of yours would be respected by any heir of yours. But you yourself have just r

each other. That puts me in the most delicate position any Vestal ever was placed in. I have been extremely careful. I have never spoken to Almo since I was taken for a Vestal, have never met him except by acciden

erjected. "You surpris

ria fl

ool, but he parades his foolishness. Almo sent me messages by all sorts of mutual acquaintances, by his people and mine, by Flexinna, by Nemestronia, by Vocco, begging me to exchange letters with him. I wa

es are dead and he is his own master he has come to Rome. If he had any real consideration for me he'd go to Aquileia, at least he might be

far away as he could. It stands to reason that I could never be accused of misconduct w

fed with everything magnificent, he has bought curios and antiques and statuary and pictures and books. He spends most of his time in the barracks of his favorite gladiatorial company or at the stables of the Greens, and the rest of it at the afternoo

meditated. "I am surprised and far from pleased. I shall certa

the reverse. He haunts me, he waylays me. He prowls up and down the Via Sacra and the Via Nova, he stands in the moonlight and stares up at the outside windows of the Atrium; on festival days he waits outsid

lius exclaimed.

t go to make him look so striking, but I cannot. He is perfectly proportioned in every measurement, yet, somehow, he has a long-armed and long-legged appearance different from that of any young man in Rome, he gives almost the effect of reminding one of a spider or of a grasshopper or of a daddy-long-legs. It makes him the most conspicu

of that, but Almo is unforgettable, striking and a

ey saw me. Some one will start the talk and presently all Rome will buzz with the gossip that we are continually seen together. A charming state of affairs for me if some busybody or some enemy of mine raises the question of my fitness for my holy duties! I have protested. I've had Vocco go to Almo and urge all these considerations on him,

d charioteers and ostlers of the Greens, or brutalizing himself with the companionship of ruffianly prize-fighters, belonging to this or that speculator in the flesh of ferocious savages. He must find some outlet for his energi

n the frontiers. I'll not give him too hard or too unpleasant employment, not relegate him to Britain or Dacia or Syria. I'll send him to Africa to chase the desert nomads who are harrying the borders of Numidia and Mauretania. He can g