The Last of the Legions and Other Tales of Long Ago

ING OF GIA

manhood, eunuchs and women have overthrown armies and kingdoms. Surely there is no situation which the mind of man could invent which has not taken shape and been played out upon the world stage. But of all the strange careers and of all the wondrous happenings, stranger than Charles i

c cavalry led the van, whilst the rear was covered by a regiment of Batavian Horse Guards, the immediate attendants of the Emperor Septimius Severus, who had conducted the campaign in person. The peasants who lined the low hills which fringed the valley looked with indifference upon the long files of dusty, heavily-burdened infantry, but they broke into murmurs of delight at the gold-faced cuirasses and high brazen horse-hair helmets of the guardsmen, applauding their stalwart figures,

hful companion which had drawn the amazed observation of the bystanders. In stature he was such a giant as is seen but once or twice in each generation of mankind. Eight feet and two inches was his measure from his sandalled sole to the topmost curls of his tangled hair. Yet for all his mighty stature there was nothing heavy or clumsy in the man. His huge shoulders bore no redundant flesh, and his figure was straight and hard an

u at home," said the old man anxiously. "Tree-cutting and wood

und her neck," said the young giant. "And you, daddy; I will

rtled eyes. "You would not leave us, T

sell this manhood of mine in the best market. There is my market in the Emperor's own Guard. Say nothing, daddy

scipline of the Roman army required that under all circumstances certain duties should be performed, and foremost among them that the camp should be made secure. Laying down their arms in the order of their ranks, the soldiers seized their spades and axes, and worked rapidly and joyously until sloping vallum and gaping fossa girdled them round, and gave them safe refuge against a night attack. Then in noisy, laughing, gesticulating crowds they gathered in their thousand

Big Brebix the Gaul had out-thrown the long guardsman Serenus with the fifty pound stone. Now, as the sun sank towards the western ridge, and turned the Harpessus to a riband of gold, they had come to the final of the wrestling, w

ay from the arena, men stood up and peered and pointed, until finally, in a strange hush, the whole great assembly had forgotten the athletes, and were watching a single man walking swiftly towards them down the green curve of the hill. This huge solitary figure, with the oaken club in his hand, the shaggy fl

until he reached the fringe of the soldiers. Amid their open ranks he picked his way, sprang over the ropes which guarded the arena, and advanced towards th

cried the Emperor. "What says he? What is amiss wit

s of good blood, and sprung by a Gothic father from a woman of the Alani. He says

latine Palace," said he to one of the Prefects. "I would fain see him walk even as he is through the

sar says that you are to come with him, an

nd his fair cheeks fl

-servant to no man-not even to him. If C?sar would see what mann

llow!" cried the Emperor. "How say you,

are too rare in these days that we should let them slay each o

arian, and see which you would choose. What does he say? He would take them both? Nay then he is either the king of wrestlers or the

reek under one arm and the Roman under the other, holding them as in a vice. Then with a terrific effort he tore them both from the ground, carried them writhing and kicking round the arena, and finally walking up to the Emperor's throne,

company of Crassus, his favourite prefect, rode down the winding pathway which skirts the Harpessus, chatting over the future dispersal of the army. They

und among the Thracian mountains," said he with a smile. "L

argers. Then they turned and looked back; but there, some distance off, still running with a lightness and a spring which spoke of

follow me?

llow you." His flushed face as he spoke was

I could find such a servant!" cried the Emperor. "You s

and strength are yours," he said. "I as

this short dialogue. He

l to give the poor Barbarian some name which your lips can frame.

e naming of him," said he, "then surely I shall call h

a Roman name, since you have come into his service. Henceforth you

e Barbarian, trying to

Maximin, the body-guard of Severus. When we have reached Rome, we will soon see that your dress sh

brown leather, with a rude sheep-skin floating from his shoulders, marched beside the Imperial troop. But far away in the wooden farmhouse of a d

ISE OF GI

y York, after fighting all the winter with the Caledonian Highlanders-a race who have ever since worn the martial garb of the Romans. His son, known only by his slighting nickname of Caracalla, had reigned during six years of insane lust and cruelty, before the knife of an angry soldier avenged the dignity of the Roman name. The nonentity Macrinus had filled the dangerous throne for a single year before he also met a bloody end, and made room for the most grotesque

rthern village, and so cleared a path for the stormers. His strength had been the jest and the admiration of the soldiers. Legends about him had spread through the army, and were the common gossip round the camp fires-of his duel with the German axe-man on the Island of the Rhine, and of the blow with his fist that broke the leg of a Scythian's horse. Gradually h

stretched away to the dim horizon, lay the wild untamed German tribes. Down on the river bank the light gleamed upon the helmets of the Roman

f diminution of his strength. But he had aged none the less. The yellow tangle of hair was gone, worn down by the ever-pressing helmet. The fresh young face was drawn and hardened, with austere lines wrought by trouble and privation. The nose was more hawk-l

, had been to the main camp at Mainz, only four miles away, and had seen the Emperor Alexander arrive that very day f

ran from the south of Gaul. "I'll wager a month's pay that he w

lbus. "Ten or twelve cohorts of the

," cried Sulpicius, a hot-headed youth from

was scarce a shout as

pire upon our spears, while the lazy citizens at Rome reap all of our sowing. Why cannot a soldier have wh

the Barbarians are held off, and they are left in peace to their feastings and their circus? Free bread,

for all the world he would not change his steel plate for a citizen's gown. You've ea

yet I had rather die in serving a soldier master than a long-gowned Syr

ere rife in the camp, and even the old centurion's outbreak could not dr

ths of the soldiers?" he

g the pines and the low lapping of the river swelled out l

to rank," said he. "One was Ascenius

g to his feet waving a gl

lled. "Imperator M

ents, from the watch-fires, from the sentries, the answer came pealing back: "Ave Maximinus! Ave Maximinus Augustus!" From all sides men came rushing, half-clad, wild-eyed, their eyes staring, their mouths agape, flaming wisp

us Probus, the Captain of the Guard. They were talking gravely of the gloomy faces and seditious bearing of the soldiers. A grea

sel, C?sar, that with the first light of

my back upon the danger. What have they against me? How have I h

de along the ranks. Nay, C?sar, fly to-morrow, and your Pr?torians will see that you are

y stood there twinkled many moving lights, tossing and sinking as they rapidly advanced, whilst the hoarse tumultuous bellowing broke into articulat

ife be still!" he whispered.

hes waxed or waned. They heard the rush of many feet, the clamour of hoarse voices, the clang of metal upon metal. And then suddenly, above them all, they saw a vision of a monstrous man, a h

ror, clutching at his guardsman

nt." In the darkness the Pr?torian offic

sar. Let us fly tog

oncoming wave, the other was the full turmoil of the tempest. Twenty thousand voices from the camp had broken into one

voices. "Ave Ma

d his hand to the shouting soldiers as the huntsman waves to the leaping pack. They passed him up a coronet of oak leaves, and clashed their swords in homage as he placed it on his head. And then there came a swirl i

d his head before the giant. "I come from

ALL OF GIA

that he never deigned to set foot within her walls. There were cabals and conspiracies against the absent C?sar. Then his heavy hand fell upon them, and they were cuffed, even as the young soldiers had been who passed under his discipline. He knew nothing, and cared as much for consuls, senates, and civil laws. His own will and the power of the sword were the only forces which he could understand. Of commerce and the arts he was as ign

ross the Empire from Britain to Syria. A strange subtle vindictiveness became also apparent in him. Omnipotence ripened every fault and swelled it into crime. In the old days he had been rebuked for his roughness. Now a sullen, dangerous anger rose against those who had rebuked him. He sat by the hour with his craggy chin between his hands, and his elbows resting on his k

, he was faced with every sign of a national resistance. The country-side was deserted, the farms abandoned, the fields cleared of crops and cattle. Before him lay the walled town of Aquileia. He flung himself fiercely upon it, but was met by as fierce a resistance. The walls could not be forced, and yet there was no food in the

He had spoken thus in old days with Paullina, the boy's mother; but she had been dead these many years, and all that was soft an

summer morning. Against you they have no quarrel. Why should they mishandle you? Keep far from Rome and the Romans. Old Eudoxus has money, and to spare. He awaits you with two horses outside the camp. Make for the valley of the

Rhine. His fellow soldiers had loved him then. And now he had read death in their eyes. How had he failed them? Others he might have wronged, but they at least had no complaint against him. If he had his time again, he would think less of them and more of his people, he would try to win love instead of fear,

camp fire. You are tired of me, and by the gods I am tired of you, and glad to be at the end of i

ng to be the first to close with that laughing, mocking giant. But something was pushed for

. "He would not have hurt you. Have done w

ed and thrust, until his knees gave way b

ll the camp beneath them and from the walls of the beleaguered cit

tor Maximinus, Pontifex Maximus, Tribunitia potestate, and the rest. In the centre is the impress of a great craggy head, a massive jaw, a rude fighting face, a contracted forehead. For all the pompous roll of