REMOTE STOP LIBRARY OF THE U N I VERS ITY or ILLINOIS 834EC5 v.l WORKS BY ERNST ECKSTEIN. CYPARISSUS. From the German by Mary J. Safford. One vol., paper, 50 cts. ; cloth, 75 cts. HERTHA. From the German by Mrs. Edward Hamilton Bell. One vol., paper, sects.; cloth, 75 cts. QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. From the German by Clara Bell. Two vols., paper, $1.00 ; cloth, $1.75 per set. PRUSIAS. From the German by Clara Bell. Two vols., paper, $1.00 ; cloth, $1.75 per set. NERO. From the German by Clara Bell and Mary J. Safford. Two vols., paper, 80 cts.; cloth, $1.50 per set. THE WILL. From the German by Clara Bell. Two vols., paper, $1.00 ; cloth, $1.75 per set. APHRODITE. From the German by Mary J. Safford. One vol., paper, 50 cts.; cloth, 90 cts. THE CHALDEAN MAGICIAN. From the Ger- _man by Mary J. Safford. One vol., paper, 25 cts.; cloth, 50 cts. ECKSTEIN'S ROMANCES, 12 volumes, cloth binding, in box, - - $9.50 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS A ROMANCE OF IMPERIAL ROME BY ERNST ECKSTEIN FROM THE GERMAN BY CLARA BELL IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. I. REVISED AND CORRECTED IN THE UNITED STATES NEW YORK GEO. GOTTSBERGER PECK, PUBLISHER 117 CHAMBERS STREET Copyright, 1882, by WILLIAM S. GOTTSBERGER THIS TRANSLATION WAS MADE EXPRESSLY FOR THE PUBLISHER > ' PREFACE TO THE FIRST GERMAN EDITION. IT was in Rome itself, in the sublime solemnity of the Colosseum, among the ruins of the palaces of the Caesars and crumbling pillars of the temples of the gods, that the first dreamy outlines rose before my fancy of the figures here offered to the reader's contem- plation. Each visit added strength to the mysterious impulse, to conjure up from their tombs these shadows of a mighty past, and afterwards, at home, where the throng of impressions sorted and grouped themselves at ^ leisure, my impulse ripened to fulfilment. I will not pause here to dwell on the fact, that the period of Imperial rule in Rome bears, in its whole as- f- pect, a stronger resemblance to the XlXth century "7 than perhaps any other epoch before the Reformation ; for, without reference to this internal affinity, we should be justified in using it for the purpose of Romance simply by the fact, that hardly another period has ever been equally full of the stirring conflict of purely human in- (P terest, and of dramatic contrasts in thought, feeling and Q purpose. I must be permitted to add a word as to the notes.* * The publisher of this translation has, for the reader's con- venience, placed all the notes at the foot of the pages containing the corresponding text. 140942 II PREFACE. I purposely avoided disturbing the reader of the story by references in the text, and indeed the narrative is perfectly intelligible without any explanation. The notes, in short, nre not intended as explanatory, but merely to instruct the reader, and complete the picture; they also supply the sources, and give the evidence on which I have drawn. From this point of view they may have some interest for the general public, unfa- miliar with the authorities. LEIPZIG, June ir, 1881. ERNST ECKSTEIN. QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. CHAPTER I. IT was the morning of the i2th of September in the Year of Our Lord 95 ; the first cold gleam of dawn was shining on the steel-grey surface of the Tyrrhenian sea. To the east, over the gently undulating coast of Cam- pania, the sky was tinged with that tender dewy-green which follows on the paling of the stars ; to the west the waters still lay in impenetrable darkness. Their almost unruffled face was swiftly parted by a large trireme, 1 just now making its way from the south and opposite to Salernum, between the Posidium 2 promontory and the Island of Capreae. 3 The oars of the crew, who sat in rows on three ranks of benches, rose and fell in rhythm to a melancholy chant; the steersman yawned as he looked into the distance, hoping for the moment of re- lease. A small hatchway fitted with silver ornaments now opened on to the deck from the cabin between decks ; a fat round head with short hair showed itself in 1. TRIREME. "Three-oared;" a vessel with three ranks of rowers, one above another. The time was given by the beats of a hammer or by word of command ; not unfrequently by an air played on a flute or a sailor's chant (cantus nauticus). 2. POSIDIUM, now called the Punta della Licosa, south of th Gulf of Salerno. 3. CAPREAE, (isle of goats) now Capri. V* L | 2 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. the opening, and a pair of blinking eyes looked curiously round in every direction. Presently the head was fol- lowed by a body, of which the squat rotundity matched the odd head. "Well, Chrysostomus, is Puteoli 4 in sight yet ?" asked the stout man, stepping on to the deck and looking across to the blue-black rocks of Capreae. " Ask again in three hours time," replied the steers- man. " Unless you can succeed in looking round the corner, like the magician of Tyana, 5 you must need wait till we have the island yonder behind us." " What !" exclaimed the other, drawing a little ivory map 6 from his tunic. 7 " Are those rocks only Capreae ?" "Thou sayest, O Herodianus! Out there on the heights to the right, hardly visible yet, stands the palace of the glorified Caesar Tiberius. 8 Do you see that steep cliff, straight down to the sea ? That was where such useless fellows as you were dropped over into the water by Caesar's slaves." " Chrysostomus, do not be impudent ! How dare 4. PUTEOLI. An important port in Campania, now Pozzuoli. Concerning Puteoli's commerce, see Stat. Silv. Ill, 5, 75. 5. APOLLONIUS OF TYANA in Cappadocia. An ascetic and ecstatic philosopher and miracle-worker (A. D. 50) often compared with Christ by heathen writers. (Philostratus wrote his life.) 6. IVORY MAP. Sketch-maps of various routes were common in ancient times, and were often engraved on wine-jars, cups, etc. 7. TUNIC. The short-sleeved under-garment worn by both sexes, the house costume, over which men, when they went out, threw the toga, women the stola or palla. During the period of the empire a second garment, the tunica interior, corresponding to the shirt of modern times, was worn under the tunic. 8. THE PALACE OF TIBERIUS. For an account of the cruel and extravagant proceedings of Tiberius at Capri, see Tacitus Ann. I, 67, Suet. Tib. 40, Juv. Sat. X, 72 and 93. Insignificant remains of this palace are visible at the present day : Villa di Timberio ; the perpen- dicular cliff 700 feet high is called U salto (the leap.) QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. 3 you, a common ship's-mate, make so bold as to scoff at me, the companion and confidential friend of the illus- trious Caius Aurelius ? By the gods! 9 but it is beneath me to hold conversation with you, an ignorant seaman a man who carries no wax-tablets 10 about him, who only knows how to handle the tiller and not the stylus a common Gaul who is ignorant of all history of the gods such a man ought not even to jexist, so far as the friend of Aurelius is concerned." " Oho ! you are dreaming ! you are not his friend, but his freedman."" Herodianus bit his lip ; as he stood there, his face flushed with anger and turned to the growing day, he might have been taken for an ill-natured and vindictive man. But good temper and a genial nature soon reas- serted themselves. " You are an insolent fellow," he said laughing, " but I know you mean no harm. You sea-folks are a rough 9. CASTOR AND POLLUX. Leda's twins, the Dioscuri, were the patrons of sea-faring men. 10. WAX-TABLET (tabula cerata). A little tablet covered with wax, on which memoranda were written with the stylus. In the schools the wax-tablet supplied the place of the slate, and in daily life was a substitute for our note-book. n. FREEDMAN. The institution of slavery (servitium) which ex- isted from ancient times, was an extremely important factor in the or- ganization of Roman society. The slaves (servi) were the absolute property of their masters, who had unlimited control over their destinies and lives. (This right was not withdrawn until A. D. 61, when the law of Petronius prohibited the arbitrary condemnation of slaves to combats with wild beasts, etc.) The slave could then be released by the so-called manumissio, and was styled libertus or libertinus. His position depended upon the greater or less degree of formality with which the manumissio was granted. The most solemn manner bestowed all the rights of the free-born citizen, but even in this case he was soci- ally burdened with the same stigma that rests upon the emancipated slaves in the United States. If a freedman attained power and influ- ence which under the emperors was very common the haughty representatives of the ancient noble families paid him external respect, it is true, but the man's origin was never forgotten. 4 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. race. I will burn a thank-offering to all the gods when this accursed sea-saw on the waves is over at last. Was there ever such a voyage! from Trajectum" to Gades 13 without landing once! And at Gades hardly had we set foot on shore, when we were ordered on board again ! And if Aurelius, our noble master, had not had business to settle in Panormus 14 with his deceased father's host, I be- lieve we should have made the whole voyage from His- pania to Rome without a break. I will dance like the Corybantes, 15 when I am once more allowed to feel like a man among men ! How long will it be yet before we reach Ostia?" 16 " Two days, not more," replied Chrysostomus. " Aphrodite Euploia be most fervently thanked !" " What are you talking about ? Who is that you are blessing ?" " To be sure, my good Chrysostomus," replied the other with a triumphant smile, " I was forgetting that a seaman from the land of the Gauls is not likely to un- derstand Greek. Euploia, being interpreted, means the goddess who grants us a good voyage. Do not take my observation ill, but surely you might have picked up so much Greek as that in the course of your many voyages with the lamented father of our lord Aurelius." " Silly stuff!" retorted Chrysostomus. " Besides, I never sailed in the Greek seas. Ten times to Ostia, 12. TRAJECTUM. A Batavian city in the Roman province Ger- mania, now Utrecht. 13. GADES. A city in southern Spain, the modern Cadiz. 14. PANORMUS. A city on the north coast of Sicily, the modern Palermo. 15. CORYBAS. In the plural Corybantes ; priests of Cybele. Their worship was a wild orgy with war-dances and noisy music. (Horace, Od. I, 16, 8 : non acuta sigeminant Corybantes aera, etc.) 16. OSTIA. The port ot Rome, situated at the mouth of the Tiber. QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. 5 eight times to Massilia, 17 twelve times to Panormus and a score of times northwards to the seas of the Goths up by the land of the Rugii 18 that is the sum total of my annals. But Latin is spoken everywhere ; even the Frisii 19 can make themselves understood more or less in the language of Rome; among the Rugii, to be sure, we talked in Gothic." " A poor excuse !" said Herodianus pathetically. " However I have talked till I am thirsty ! I will be on the spot again when the master appears." He carefully replaced his little "ivory map in the bosom of his under-garment, and was about to withdraw, when a tall youth, followed by two or three slaves, ap- peared on the steps from below. The ship's crew hailed their master with a loud shout, and Caius Aurelius, thanking them for their greeting, went forward while the slaves prepared breakfast 30 under an awning over the cabin roof; only one of them followed him. It was by this time broad daylight; the whole eastern sky glowed with flame behind the blue Cam- panian hills, a light breeze curled the no less glowing sea into a thousand waves and ripples, and the prow of the galley, which was decorated with a colossal ram's- 17. MASSILIA. An important city founded by the Greeks on the southern coast of Gaul, now called Marseilles. 18. RUGII. A German race occupying a considerable part of the coast of the Baltic the present Pomerania and island of Riigen. 19. FRISII. A German race settled in the northern part of what is now Holland and farther east beyond Ems (Amisia). 20. BREAKFAST. The first meal after rising was called jentaculum. In the time of the republic (and still later among the poorer classes) it consisted principally of pulse. Among the wealthy luxury intruded even here ; but in comparison with the second breakfast (prandium) and especially with the principal repast (coena] the jentaculum always remained frugal. 6 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. head 91 in brass, threw up the water in sparks of liquid gold. The palace of Tiberius on the top of the rocky isle seemed caught in sudden fire, at every instant the glory spread lower, kindling fresh peaks and towers, and up rose the sun in all the majesty and splendor of his southern might from behind the heights of Salernum. Herodianus, who had taken his place officiously close to his master, appeared to promise himself immense satisfaction in interpreting the young man's mood of devout admiration by a long quotation of Greek poetry. He had already thrown himself into a pathetic attitude and laid his finger meditatively on his cheek, when Aurelius signed to him that he wished to be left undis- turbed. The freedman, somewhat offended, drew back a step or two while Aurelius, standing by the side of his favorite slave Magus, 82 who preserved a discreet silence, leaned over the bulwark for a long space lost in thought, letting his eye wander over the open sea and linger for a while on the fantastic shapes of the rocks and moun- tains, which constantly shifted in form and grouping as the swift galley flew onwards. Capreae was already on their right hand, and the broad bay of Parthenope,* 3 with its endless perspective of towns and villas, opened before them like a huge 21. RAM'S-HEAD AT THE PROW. These ornaments were usually carved in wood on the prow. They must not be confounded with the ship's beaks (rostra, ^oAa). These beaks two strong iron-cased beams were on the fore-part of the ships of war and also on vessels intended for long voyages, where they would be exposed to danger from pirates. They were beneath the surface of the water, and were destined to bore holes in the enemy's ships. See vol. 2, Chap TX. 22. MAGUS. A Gothic word (not the Latin Magus, Greek ttayo? magician, sorcerer,) means a boy, or knave in the old sense of servant. 23. PARTHENOPE. The ancient name of Naples, from the area Parthenope, who is said to be buried there. QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. 7 pearly shell; the dark ashy cone of Vesuvius 94 stood up defiantly over the plain where, a short time since, it had engulfed the blooming towns of Herculaneum, Pompeii and Stabiae. Now there rose from its summit only a filmy cloud of smoke, ruddy in the light of the mounting sun. Farther on, the quays of Puteoli were discernible, the stately buildings of Baiae' 5 and the islands of Aenaria and Prochyta. 26 On the left hand the distance was un- limited; vessels laden with provisions from Alexandria 27 and merchant-ships from Massilia slowly crossed the horizon like visions; others, with every sail set, flew across the bay to disembark their precious freight in the emporium of Puteoli, whence it would be carried to lay at the feet of Rome, the all-absorbing and insatiable mistress of the world. Meanwhile the slaves had laid the table under the awning with fine cloths, had arranged couches and seats and strewn the spot with a few flowers, and were now standing ready to serve the morning meal at a sign from their young master. The weary night-rowers had half an hour ago been relieved by a fresh crew, and the fine boat flew on with double rapidity, for a fresh breeze had risen and filled the sails. In an instant the whole face of the waters had changed, and as far as the eye could reach danced crest on crest of foam. Aurelius wrapped himself more closely in his Taren- 24. VESUVIUS. The famous eruption, which buried the three cities mentioned, took place A. D. 79, that is, sixteen years before the commencement of this story, 25. BAIAE, now Baja, the most famous watering-place of ancient times. See Horace, Ep. I, i, 83. 26. AENARIA AND PROCHYTA, now Ischia and Procida. 27. ALEXANDRIA in Egypt was, in point of commerce, the London of ancient times. 8 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS, tine travelling-cloak 38 and involuntarily glanced at Magus, the Gothic slave who stood by his side; but Magus did not seem to see his master's look, he was gazing motionless and with knitted brows in the direc- tion of Baiae. Then he shaded his eyes from the glare with his right hand. " Hva gasaihvis .** What do you see ?" asked Aure- lius, who sometimes spoke in Gothic to the man. " Gasaihva leitil skip" answered the Goth. " A little boat out there not far from the point. If it is the same in your southern seas, as in our northern ones, these good folks would be wise to get their cockleshell to shore as fast as may be. When the sea is covered with eider- down in such a short time, it generally means mischief." "You have eyes like a northern sea-eagle. It is indeed, a small boat, hardly visible among the tossing waves, it cannot have more than eight oarsmen at most." " There are but four, my lord," said the Goth. " And with them three ladies." The wind was rising every instant; the trireme parted the water like an arrow, and the prow, now rising and now sinking on the billows, dipped in them far above the large metal ornaments. 28. TARENTINE TRAVELLING-CLOAK. The woollen stuffs from Tarentum, now called Taranto, were famous. 29. "HvA GASAIHVIS?" " GASAIHVA LEiTiL SKIP." Literally: What do you see? (I) see (a) little ship. The earliest existing specimens of Gothic date from several centuries later than the time of this story, namely the period when the Goths left their original settle- ments on the lower Vistula and settled farther to the southeast on the Black Sea. I thought it permissible, however, to make a Goth of the first century speak the language of Ulrilas, since there is nothing against it in the general analogies of language, and Gothic, in the form in which it remains to us, is so concrete and logical in its structure," that it is hardly credible that it should have varied to any great extent within a period of two or three centuries. QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. 9 " It may indeed be a serious matter," said Aurelius ; "not for us it must be something worse than this that puts the proud 'Batavia' 30 in peril but for the ladies in that little bark " He turned round. " Amsivarius," he cried to the head oarsman. " Tell your men to give way with a will; and you, Magus, go and desire Chrysostomus to alter our course." In a few seconds the vessel's head was turned round a quarter of a circle and was making her way straight into the bay. The accelerated thud of the time-keeper's hammer sounded a dull accompaniment to the piping wind; the sea surged and tossed, and the deep-blue sky, where there still was not a cloud to be seen, beamed incongruously bright over the stormy main. They were now within a hundred yards of the small boat, which was one of the elegant pleasure-barks used by the gay visitors to Baiae for short excursions in the bay. As the trireme came up with them, the rowers gave up their futile struggle with the raging elements and only tried to avoid being capsized. The ladies, it could be seen were much agitated; two of them, a richly-dressed woman of about forty and a young and blooming girl sat clinging to each other, while the third, tumbled into aheap at the bottom of the boat, held an amulet 31 in her hand, which she again and again pressed fervently to her lips. Aurelius gave a shout from the trireme, which the boatmen eagerly answered, and a sailor on board the Batavia flung a rope with a practised hand to the fore- 30. BATAVIA. It was the custom at a very early date to name vessels after towns, persons, or countries, etc. 31. AMULET. A faith in the protecting power of charms and amulets was universal among Roman women, and children were al- ways provided with amulets against the evil eye. 10 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. most of the men in the smaller vessel the slave hastily tied it fast and cried out "ready," the sailor pulled firmly and steadily, the rope stretched taut, the little boat came on and in a few minutes lay under the lee of the galley like a fish judiciously hooked and landed. In two minutes more it was fast to the side of the trireme, and the ladies and the crew were placed in safety. Aurelius, leaning against the stern -bulwark, had watched the proceedings with anxious interest and now, as the ladies, exhausted by the tossing they had had, sank on to the couches under the canopy, he politely went forward and invited his unexpected visitors to go down into the more sheltered cabin rooms of the trireme. The younger lady rose at once, and with a dignified eagerness expressed their thanks. Nor was it long before the elder had quite recovered herself; only the old woman who held the amulet hid her pale face in the pil- lows as if she were stunned, while she trembled and quaked in every limb. " Come, stand up, Baucis," said the young girl kindly. " The danger is over." " Merciful Isis 39 save and defend us !" groaned the old woman, turning the amulet in her fingers. " Preserve us from sudden death and deliver us in danger ! I will offer thee a waxen ship, ** and sacrifice lambs and fruits as much as thou canst desire !" 32. Isis. The Egyptian goddess Isis was originally a personifica- tion of the Nile country, and as such was the wife of Osiris, the god of the Nile, who is slain by Typhon and longingly sought by the de- serted goddess. She was afterwards -confounded with every conceiv- able form of Greek (See Appuleius. Met. XI, 5.) and Roman Mythol- ogy and thus in the first century after Christ became the principal goddess. Her worship was chiefly by women. 33. WAXEN SHIP. Such votive offerings are commonly men- tioned. They were generally painted pictures, but models in wax or metal were also given. QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. 11 " Oh, you superstitious simpleton !" said the girl in her ear. " How am I to bring you to your senses ? Pray rather to the almighty Jupiter, that he may enlighten your ignorance ! But come now the noble stranger who has taken us on board his ship is growing impatient." A shrill cry was the only answer, for the vessel had given a sudden lurch and the old woman, who was sit- ting with her legs under her on the couch, was thrown off somewhat roughly. " Oh, Isis of a thousand names !" she whimpered piteously. " That has cost me two or three ribs at least and a score of weeks on a sick-bed ! Barbillus you false priest is that all the good your amulet is ? Was it for this that I had my forehead sprinkled with water out of the sacred Nile, 34 and paid fifty sesterces 35 for each sprinkling ? Was it for this that I laid fresh bread on the altars ? Oh woe is me, what pain I am in !" While she was thus besieging heaven with complaints, Magus the Goth had with a strong hand picked up the little woman and set her on her feet. " There, leave off crying, mother," said he good- humoredly. " Roman bones are not so easily broken ! But make haste and get below ; the storm is increasing fast. See, my master is leading your ladies down now." And as Baucis gave no sign of acting on the slave's advice, she suddenly found herself lifted up like a feather in his strong and sinewy arms and carried to the hatch- way, to the great amusement of the bystanders. " Madam," said Aurelius to the elder lady, when his guests were snugly under shelter in the eating-room, " I 34. NILE-WATER. The worshippers of Isis ascribed a special power to the waters of the Nile. 35. SESTERCES. A Roman silver coin worth about 4 or 5 cents. 12 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. am a Roman knight 36 from the town of Trajectum in Batavia, far north of this, not far from the frontier of the Belgae. My name is Caius Aurelius Menapius, and I am on my way to Rome as being the centre of the inhabited world, in order to improve and extend my knowledge and perhaps to serve my mother-country. May I venture now to ask you and your fair companion, to tell me who you are that kind fortune has thus thrown in my way ?" 36. ROMAN KNIGHT. During the reign of the emperors the free population of Rome was divided into three orders : senators, knights, and people (third order*. The order of senators was limited to Rome, and in its hands lay the real political power, which in tho time of the republic had been exercised by the assembled populace. To the senate by allowing them- selves to be confirmed by the senate. In their relation to this body, the emperors were only first among their peers, the members of this order being really their equals ; a relation which, with the exception of Caligula, Nero, Domitian, and Commodus, the emperors during the first two centuries, more or less earnestly endeavored to maintain. (Friedlander. Rom. Sittengesch. I, 3.) The number of the old sena- torial families was comparatively small. The second order, the knights (equites), was scattered over the whole empire. A class specially designated for military service, it be- came in the time of the Gracchi, a body of rich men, each of whom possessed a fortune of 400,000 sesterces, and also fulfilled the conditions of being of free birth and descent, blameless reputation, and refraining from dishonorable or indecorous methods of making money. Loss of this fortune, whether by their own fault or otherwise, entailed loss of rank. In consequence of the confusion and dissolution of all legal regu- lations through the civil war, these conditions were largely abrogated. While many who had formerly been entitled to belong to the order of knights, lost their rank through loss of fortune, others, who though pos- sessing the needful property, had none of the other requisites, assumed without opposition the external distinctions of the knights, especially the gold ring and the seat of honor in the theatre. (Friedlander.) There were various degrees of rank in the order of knights, and also great diversity of fortune. Besides the poor titular knights, there were bankers, wholesale merchants, and the directors and members of great commercial companies and societies for mercantile enterprises of every The third order comprised mechanics, small tradesmen, tavern- keepers, learned men, artists, etc., etc., except in cases where those who followed these pursuits were slaves, and also the immense body of proletarians, who subsisted almost exclusively on public alms. QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. 13 " My lord," 37 said the matron, with a gravity that was almost solemn, " we can boast of senatorial rank. I am Octavia, the wife of Titus Claudius Mucianus, 38 the priest of Jupiter, and this is our daughter. We have been staying at Baiae since the end of April for the sake of my health. The sea-air, the aromatic breath of the woods and the delightful quiet of our country-house, which is somewhat secluded, soon restored my strength, and I take a particular pleasure in morning excursions on the bay. We started to-day in lovely weather to sail as far as Prochyta ; then the storm overtook us, as you know, at some distance from the shore, and we owe 37. MY LORD SAID THE MATRON. Concerning the address "lord" (domine), see the minute discussions in Friedlander's Sitten- peschichte, I, appendix. It was not so common as the modern "sir," but was used as an expression of special courtesy in the most varied relations of life. The emperors themselves used it in intercourse with persons to whom they wished to show attention. Thus Marcus Antoninus writes to Fronto : " Have, mi domine magister." According to Seneca (Ep. Ill, i.) it was already customary under Nero to greet persons, whose names could not be instantly remembered, by this title, in order not to appear uncourteous under any circumstances. The Fronto just mentioned calls a son-in-law " domine," and when Nero once played the cithara in public, he addressed the spectators as " mei domini.' Nay, the association of domine with the name, which to our ears has a very modern sound, is often found. Thus in Appuleius (Met. II,) we read : " Lucidomine," " Lord Lucius." In this story, however, this association is avoided, as it might have produced the semblance of an anachronism. In accosting women domino, (lady) corresponds with domine. The French, when referring to subjects connected with ancient Rome, reproduce the sound as well as the meaning of the word correctly by their madame (meam dominam) . 38. TITUS CLAUDIUS MUCIANUS. The Romans usually had three names. Titus is here the first name (praenomcn) which was given sons on the ninth day after their birth. Claudius is the name of the gens, the family in the wider sense of the word (nomengentilicium). Mucianus is the cognomen, the surname, the name of the immediate family (stirps or familia). Thus several stirpes belonged to a single gens. Daughters bore only the name of the gens ; for instance the daughter of Titus Claudius Mucianus was called Claudia. If there were two of them, they were distinguished by the words major (the elder) and minor (the younger) ; if there were several, by numbers. The Claudia Gens was a very ancient and famous one. The principal characters of the story, belonging to the stirps Muciana, are purely imaginary. 14 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. it to you and to your good ship, that we are so well out of the danger. Accept once more our warmest thanks, and pray give us the opportunity of returning in our villa at Baiae the hospitality you have shown us on board your galley." " With the greatest pleasure," said Aurelius eagerly, " and all the more so, as I purposed remaining to rest at Baiae " but he colored as he spoke, for this was 'not the truth he looked round in some embarrassment at Magus, who was standing humbly in a corner of the room and preparing to serve some refreshment. The eyes of the master and the slave met, and the master colored more deeply, while the slave laughed to himself with a certain satisfaction. Two other servants placed seats round the table in the old Roman fashion, for the custom of lying on a couch at meals was by no means universal in the provinces, and Aurelius knew that even in Rome women of high rank and strict conduct con- temned this luxurious habit. The rocking of the vessel had ceased, for it had been steered into a sheltered cove of the bay, and before long a tempting breakfast was spread on the embroidered cloth; fish, milk, honey, eggs, fruit and a dish of boiled cray-fish, of which the scarlet mail contrasted pictu- resquely with the artistically-embossed silver-platter on which they were served. Aurelius begged his guests to be seated and led Oc- tavia to the seat of honor at the upper end of the table. On her left hand her daughter, the fair Claudia, took her seat ; Aurelius sat on the other hand and at the side of the table. Herodianus and Baucis, who was still very much discomposed, took their places at the other end of the table and at a respectful distance. QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. 1$ " You must take what little I can offer you, ladies," said the Batavian. " We Northmen are plain folks . . . ." " You are joking !" interrupted Octavia. " Do you imagine, that all the inhabitants of the imperial city are gourmands after the fashion of Gavius Apicius P" 39 " Well," said Aurelius in some confusion, " we know at any rate that Rome is the acknowledged mistress of all the arts of refined enjoyment, and above all of the most extravagant luxury in food . . . ." " Not half so much so as you believe," said Octavia. " You gentlemen from the provinces fall, without excep- tion, into that strange mistake. A Roman lady in the same way is to you the type of all that is atrocious, be- cause a few reckless women have made themselves talked about. You forget that it is in the very nature of virtue to remain concealed and ignored. But tell me, my lord, whence do you procure this delicious honey ?" " It comes from Hymettus," 40 replied Aurelius, who was somewhat disconcerted by the lady's airs and man- ners. " My friend here, the worthy Herodianus, pro- cured it at Panormus." "Ah!" said Octavia, raising a polished emerald 41 mounted in gold to her eye, for she was short-sighted : " Your friend understands the subject, that I must con- fess do you not think so, Claudia my love ?" The young lady answered with vague abstraction, 39. GAVIUS APICIUS, the famous Roman gourmand (Tac. Ann. IV, i.) who finding that he had only two million and a half denari left in the world (about 400,000 dollars) killed himself, thinking it impossi- ble to live on so little. 40. HYMETTUS. A mountain in Attica, famed for its delicious honey. (Horace, Od. II, 6, 14). 41. POLISHED EMERALD. (Plin. Hist. Nat. XXXVII, 64) where it is stated that the emperor Nero used such an eye-glass at the pub- lic games. 1 6 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. for some minutes she had sat lost in thought. She had hardly touched the delicacies that had been set before her, and she now silently waved a refusal to the slave who offered the much-praised honey. Even the vigor- ous struggle in which Herodianus was engaged with an enormous lobster 42 failed to bring a smile to her lips, and yet her expression had never been brighter or more radiant. Once and again her eyes rested on the face of the young Batavian, who was engaged in such eager conversation with her mother, and then they returned to the loop-hole in the cabin roof, where the pane of crystal 43 shone like a diamond in the sunshine. Octavia was talking of Rome, while Herodianus entertained Baucis with an account of Menander's 44 comedies ; thus Claudia could pursue her day-dream at her pleasure. She was in fancy again living through the events of the last hour she pictured herself in the small open boat tossed on the angry waves ; far away across the seething waters she saw the tall trireme saw it tack to enter the bay. It was all vividly before her. And then the moment when the slave flung the rescuing rope ! who was the man who stood, calm and proud, leaning over the bulwarks, undisturbed by the wrath of Nature ? She remembered exactly how he had looked how at the sight of that noble figure, which 42. THE LOBSTER, (cammarus), was less highly esteemed by the Romans than among ourselves. See Plin. Ep. II, 17. "The sea, it is true, has no superabundance of delicious fish ; yet it gives us excellent soles and lobsters" a passage in which lobsters are con- trasted with delicious fish. 43. CUT CRYSTAL. Window panes of glass (vitrum) mica plates (lapis specularis] and similar materials were by no means rare in ancient times. 44. MENANDER, son of the general Diopeithes, B. C. 342. The most distinguished poet of the New Comedy; fragments of his come- dies have come down to us. QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. 17 seemed as though it could rule the storm, a sudden sense of safety had come over her, like a magical spell. Then, when she found herself on board ! At first she had felt ready to sob and cry like Baucis ; but the sound of his voice, the wonderful look of gentle strength that shone in his face, controlled her to composure. Only once in her life had she ever felt like this before ; it was two or three years since, when she was out on an excur- sion to Tibur 45 with her illustrious father. Their Cappa- docian horses 46 had shied, reared, and then galloped off like the whirlwind. The driver was flung from his seat the chariot was being torn along close to the edge of a towering cliff her father had seized the floating reins just in time, and quietly saying : " Do not be frightened, my child," in five seconds the horses were standing still as if rooted to the spot. The feeling she had had then, had to-day been vividly revived and yet, how dissimilar were the two men in age, appearance and position! It was strange. And once more she glanced at the face of their host, which was glowing with animation as he talked. Suddenly the head oarsman's time-marking hammer ceased ; the bright spot of light cast by the sun through the glass skylight on to the panelled wall, described a brief orbit and then vanished; the vessel had swung round and was at anchor. " Madam," said Aurelius to Octavia, " allow me to offer you my services. We Northmen rarely use litters, 47 45. TIBUR. A favorite summer resort of the Roman aristocracy, now Tivoli. 46. CAPPADOCIAN HORSES. The province of Cappadocia in Asia Minor was famed for its horses. 47. LITTERS (lectica). The usual conveyance, somewhat resem- bling the Oriental palanquin, were supplied with rich curtains (vela) and in other respects became the object of luxurious decorations. The Vol /. a l8 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. still on the principle that a wise man should be ready for all emergencies Herodianus has provided my galley with that convenience." "And the litters are already awaiting your com- mands on deck," added the freedman. " You have surpassed yourself, Herodianus ! Well, then, whenever it is your pleasure . . . ." " Then it is settled," said Octavia, going to the door. " For a few days you will be my guest." " For as long as you will allow," Aurelius would have said; but he thought better of it and only bowed in answer. CHAPTER II. THE squall had completely died away ; the waves were still tossing and tumbling in the bay, but the streamers of the crowd of barks, which lay under the shore, hardly fluttered in the breeze, and the fishing- boats were putting out to sea in little fleets. Gay and busy was the scene on the quays of Baiae ; distinguished visitors from every part of the vast empire were driving, riding or walking on the lava-paved 48 sea- wall, and the long roads round the harbor. Elegantly- dressed ladies in magnificent litters were borne by number of litter-bearers (lecticarii, calottes) varied from two to eight. la the city of Rome itself, where riding in carriages was not allowed during the day-time, the lecticae took the place of our carriages and hacks, for they could also be hired by the hour, and there were stands of them (castra lecticariorum) in several frequented quarters. 48. LAVA BLOCKS. The usual material for pavements in central and southern Italy. QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. ig Sicambri 49 in red livery, 5 * or by woolly-headed Ethio- pians. 51 Lower down a crowd of sailors shouted and struggled, and weather-beaten porters in Phrygian caps urgently offered their services, while vendors of cakes and fruit shrilly advertised the quality of their fragrant goods. Behind this bustling foreground of unresting and eager activity rose the amphitheatre of buildings that composed the town. Aurelius had been charmed with Panormus and Gades, but he now had to confess that they both must yield the palm in comparison with this, the finest pleasure-resort and bathing-place in the world. Palace was ranged above palace, villa beyond villa, temple above temple. Amid an ocean of greenery stood statues, halls, theatres and baths ; 58 as far round as the promontory of Misenum the shores of the bay were one long town of villas, gorgeous with the combined splendors of wealth, and of natural beauty. The two ladies and their cortege proceeded for some distance along the shore of the harbor, and then turned up-hill in the direction of Cumae. 53 In front walked 49. SICAMBRI. A powerful German tribe, occupying in the time of Caesar the eastern bank of the Rhine, and extending from the Sieg to the Lippe. 50. RED LIVERY. The usual costume of the litter-bearers in the time of the emperors. 51. WOOLLY-HEADED ETHIOPIANS. The name Ethiopian AidiWesin its more restricted sense, applies to the inhabitants of Upper Egypt ; in a more general meaning to the whole population of North- eastern Africa, and South-western Asia. According to Herodotus (VII, 70) the Ethiopians dwelling in the East had smooth, those in the West woolly hair. 52. BATHS (thermae, de^tou, that is "warm baths") were public bathing-establishments on the grandest scale, modelled after the Greek wrestling-schools. See Becker, Callus III, p. 68 and following. 53. CUMAE (KV/*TJ) now Cuma, the oldest of the Greek colonies in Italy, beyond the mountain range that bounds the bay of Baja on the west; it is only a few thousand paces from Baja. 20 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. eight or ten slaves 54 who cleared the way; then came Octavia, her litter borne by six bronze-hued Lusitanians. 55 Claudia shared her litter with Baucis, while Herodianus, Magus, Octavia's rowers, and a few servants with various bundles followed on foot. Atirelius had mounted his liispanian horse and rode by the side of the little cara- van, sometimes in front, sometimes behind, and enquir- ing the way, now of Octavia and now of Claudia and Baucis. " Our villa is quite at the top of the ridge," said Claudia. " There, where the holm oaks come down to the fig gardens." " What ?" cried Aurelius in surprise. " That great pillared building, half buried in the woods to the left ?" "No, no," said the girl laughing; "the gods have not housed us so magnificently. To the right that little villa in the knoll." " Ah !" cried the Batavian ; the disappointment was evidently a very pleasant one. " And whose is that vast palace?" " It belongs to Domitia, Caesar's wife. Since she has lived separate from her imperial lord, she always spends the summer here." The road grew steeper as they mounted. " Oh merciful power !" sighed the worthy Baucis, " to think that these fine young men should be made to toil thus for an old woman ! By Osiris t I am ashamed of myself. To carry you, sweet Claudia, is indeed a pleasure but me, wrinkled old Baucis ! If I had not 54. INFRONT WALKED EIGHT OR TEN SLAVES. Such a vanguard was customary among people of distinction, even when they went on foot. 55. LUSITANIANS. A people living in the region now known as Portugal, between the Tagus ( Tajo, Tejo) and Durius, (Duero, Douro.) QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. 31 sprained my ribs as sure as I live....! But I will reward them for it ; each man shall have a little jar of Nile-water." " Do not be uneasy on their account," said Herod- ianus, wiping his brow. '"Our Northmen are used to heavier burdens!" Then, turning to Magus, he went on: "By all the gods, I entreat you a draught of Caecubum ! 5<5 I am bound to carry this weary load," and he slapped his round paunch, " this Erymanthian boar, 57 " like a second Hercules, to the top of the hill on my own unaided legs ! and I am dropping with exhaustion." The Goth smiled and signed to one of the slaves, who was carrying wine and other refreshments. " The wine of Caecubus," said Herodianus, " is especially good against fatigue. Dionysus, 58 gracious giver, I sacrifice to thee !" and as he spoke he shed a few drops as a libation 59 on the earth and then emptied the cup with the promptitude of a practised drinker. In about twenty minutes more they reached Octavia's house; in the vestibule 60 a young girl came running out to meet them. " Mother, dear, sweet mother !" she cried excitedly, " and Claudia, my darling ! Here you are at last. Oh I 56. CAECUBUM. A district on the shores of the bay of Gaeta, famous for its wine. See (Horace Od. I, 20, 9 and I, 37, 5) where it is said, that it would be positively sinful to bring Caecubian wine from the cellar with other kinds on ordinary occasions (antehac ntfas depro- mere Caecubum edits avitis, etc.). 57. ERYMANTHIAN BOAR. So called from Mt. Erymanthus in Arcadia, where the animal lived until slain by Hercules. 58. DIONYSUS. A surname of Bacchus. 59. LIBATION. Wine poured as an offering to the gods. 60. VESTIBULUM. The space in front of the house-door (fores) which in the time of the imperial government was frequently covered with a portico. 22 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. we have been so dreadfully frightened, Quintus and I ; that awful storm ! the whole bay was churned up, as white as milk. But oh ! I am glad to have you safe again ! Quintus ! Quintus !...." And she flew back into the house, where they heard her fresh, happy voice still calling : " Quintus !" " My adopted daughter," 61 said Octavia, in answer to an enquiring glance from Aurelius. " Lucilia," added Claudia, " whom I love as if she vere my own real sister." Aurelius, who had sprung from his horse, throwing the bridle to his faithful Magus, was on the point of con- ducting Octavia into the atrium, 63 when a youth of re- markable beauty appeared in the door-way and silently clasped this lady in his arms. Then he pressed a long and loving kiss on Claudia's lips, and it was not till after he had thus welcomed the mother and daughter, that he turned hesitatingly to Aurelius, who stood on one side blushing deeply ; a sign from Octavia postponed all ex- planation. The whole party entered the house, and it was not till they were standing in the pillared hall, where marble seats piled with cushions invited them to repose, 61. ADOPTED DAUGHTER. The adoption of a child in ancient Rome was regulated by very strict laws. Adoption in its narrower sense (adoptio] extended to persons who were still under paternal au- thority ; with self-dependent persons the so-called arrogatio took place. With women this last form was entirely excluded. 62. ATRIUM. From the door of the house a narrow passage (ostium) led to the first inner court, the atrium, so-called because this space, where the hearth originally was, was blackened by the smoke (ater). The atrium, which in the more ancient Roman houses possessed the character of a room with a comparatively small opening in the roof, and afterwards resembled a court-yard, was at first the central point of family life, the sitting-room, where the industrious house-keeper sat enthroned among her slaves. When republican simplicity gave way to luxury, the atrium became the hall devoted to the reception of guests, and domestic life was confined to the more retired apartments. QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. 23 that Octavia said to the astonished youth with a certain solemnity of mien : " Quintus, my son, it is to this stranger the noble and illustrious Caius Aurelius Menapius, of Trajectum, in the land of the Batavi that you owe it that you see us here now. He took us on board his trireme, for our boat was sinking. I declare myself his debtor henceforth forever. Do you, on your part, show him all the hos- pitality and regard that he deserves." Quintus came forward and embraced Aurelius. " I hope, my lord," he said with an engaging smile, " that you will for some time give us the honor of your company and so give us, your debtors, the opportunity we desire of becoming your friends." " He has already promised to do so," said Octavia. Lucilia now joined them, having put on a handsomer dress in honor of the stranger, and stuck a rose into her chestnut hair ; she sat down by Claudia and took her hand, leaning her head against her shoulder. " But tell us the whole story !" cried Quintus. " I am burning to hear a full and exact account of your adventure." Octavia told her tale ; one thing gave rie to another, and before they thought it possible, it was the hour for dinner the first serious meal of the day, at about noon and they adjourned to the triclinium. 63 Under no circumstances do people so soon wax inti- mate as at meals. Aurelius, who until now had listened more than he had spoken, soon became talkative under the cool and comfortable vaulted roof of the eating- 63. TRICLINIUM, (triple couch) really the sofa on which three, and sometimes even more persons reclined at table ; the name was also given to the dining-room itself, which comprised the second inner court-yard, the so-called peristyle or cavaedium. 24 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. room, and he grew quite eager and vivacious as he told of his long and dangerous voyage, of the towns he had visited, and particularly of his distant home in the north. He spoke of his distinguished father, who, as a mer- chant, had travelled eastwards to the remote lands east of the peninsula of the Cimbri 64 and to the fog-veiled shores of the Guttoni, 65 the Aestui 66 and the Scandii; 67 indeed Aurelius himself knew much of the wonders and pecu- liarities of these little-visited lands, for he had three times accompanied his father. Many a time on these expeditions had they passed the night in lonely settle- ments or hamlets, where not a soul among the natives understood the Roman tongue, where the bear and the aurochs fought in the neighboring woods, or eternal ter- rors brooded over the boundless plain. These pictures of inhospitable and desert regions, which Aurelius so vividly brought before their fancy, were those which best pleased his hearers. Here, close to the luxurious town, and surrounded by everything that could add comfort and enjoyment to life, the idea of perils so remote seemed to double their appreciation. 68 When they rose from table the ladies withdrew, to indulge in that private repose which was customary of an after- noon. Lucilia could not forbear whispering to her companion, that she would far rather have remained with the young men that Aurelius was a quite delight- 64. CIMBRIAN PENINSULA, now called Jutland. 65. GUTTONI. A German race on the lower Vistula. 66. AESTUI. A German race living on the coast of Revel. 67. SCANDII. Inhabitants of southern Sweden. 68. THE SENSE OF CONTRAST WHS a conspicuous trait in Roman character. They were wont to heighten their appreciation of the joys of life by images of death, and the dining-room was intentionally placed so as to afford a view of tombs. QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. " 25 ful creature, modest and frank, and at the same time upright and steady a rock in the sea on which the Pharos of a life's happiness might be securely founded. " You know," she added earnestly, while her eyes sparkled with excitement from under her thick curls, " Quintus is far handsomer he is exactly like the Apollo in the Golden House ** by the Esquiline. But he is also like the gods, in that he is apt to vanish suddenly behind a cloud, and is gone. Now Aurelius, or my soul deceives me, would be constant to those he loved. It is a pity that his rank is no higher than that of knight, and that he is so unlucky as to be a native of Trajectum." " Oh ! you thorough Roman !" laughed Claudia. " No one is good for anything in your eyes, that was not born within sight of the Seven Hills." 70 She put her arm round her gay companion, and car- ried her off half-resisting to their quiet sleeping-room. Neither Quintus nor Aurelius cared to follow the 69. THE GOLDEN HOUSE (domufaurea). The name given to the magnificent palace of Nero, which extended from the Palatine Hill across the valley and up again as far as the gardens of Macaenas on the Esquiline. It contained an enormous number of the choicest works in statuary. Vespasian had a large part of this building pulled down. 70. THE SEVEN HILLS. Contempt for all who lived in the provinces was peculiar to all Romans, even the lowest classes of the populace. Thus Cicero says : "Cum infimo cive romano quisquam amplissimus Galliae comparandus estf" (Can even the most distinguished Gaul be compared with the humblest Roman citizen ?) This prejudice extended to later centuries, though under the first emperors numerous inhabi- tants of the provinces attained the rank of senator and reached the highest offices. It is very comical, when Juvenal, a freedman's son, treats the "knights from Asia Minor," (Equites Asiani) condescend- ingly, as if they were intruders, unworthy to unfasten the straps of his sandals. Inhabitants of the other provinces were held in higher esteem than the Greeks and Orientals. But even Tacitus (Ann. IV, 3.) regards it as an aggravation of the crime committed by the wife of Drusus,- that Sejanus, for whom she broke her marriage-vow, was not a full-blooded Roman, but merely a knight from Volsinii. 26 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. example of the ladies not the Roman, for he had slepr on late into the day nor the stranger, for the excite- ment of this eventful morning had fevered his blood. Besides, there was the temptation of an atmosphere as of Paradise, uniting the glory and plenitude of summer with the fresh transparency of autumn. During dinner Aurelius had turned again and again to look through the wide door-way at the beautiful scene without, and now he crossed the threshold and rilled his spirit with the loveliness before him. Here was not as in the formal gardens of Rome 71 a parterre where everything was planned by line and square; here were no trained trees and hedges, circular beds or clipped shrubs. All was free and wholesome Nature, lavish and thriving vitality. The paths alone, leading from the villa in three directions into the wood, betrayed the care of man. The whole vegetation of the happy land of Campania seemed to have been brought together on the slope below. Huge plane-trees, on which vines hung their garlands, lifted their heads above the holm-oaks and gnarled quinces. The broad-leaved fig glistened by the 71. THE FORMAL GARDENS OF ROME. The taste of the Romans in regard to the art of gardening resembled that shown at Versailles. The eloquence with which individual authors urge a return to nature (Hor. Epist. I, lo, Prop. I, 2, Juv. Sat. Ill, etc., ) only proves that the opposite course was universal. Clipping bushes and trees into artificial forms was considered specially fashionable. Thus Pliny the younger, in his description of the Tuscan villa (Ep. V, 6.) writes : " Before the colonnade is an open terrace, surrounded with box, the trees clipped into various shapes ; below it a steep slope of lawn, at whose foot, on both sides of the path, stand bushes of box, shaped into the forms of various animals. On the level ground the acanthus grows delicately, I might almost say transparently. Around it is a hedge of thick closely^ clipped bushes, and around this hedge runs an avenue of circular form, adorned with box clipped into various shapes, and small trees artisti- cally trimmed. The whole is surrounded by a wall, concealed by box." Then towards the end of the letter : " The box is clipped into a thous- and shapes, sometimes into letters, that form the name of the owner or gardener." QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. 27 side of the grey-green olive; here stood a clump of stalwart pines, there wide-spreading walnuts and slender poplars. Below them was a wild confusion of brush- wood and creepers ; ivy, periwinkle and acanthus en- tangled the giants of the wood with an inextricable net- work. Maiden-hair hung in luxuriant tufts above the myrtles and bays, and sombre evergreens contrasted with the brilliant centifolia. In short the whole plant-world of southern Italy here held an intoxicating orgy. Quintus seemed to divine the thoughts of the young Northman, and put his hand confidingly through his guest's arm, and so they walked on, taking the middle path of the three before them, and gently mounting the hill. " I can see," said Quintus, " that you are a lover of Nature; I quite understand that a garden at Baiae must seem enchanting to you, who came hither from the region of Boreas himself, where the birch and the beech can scarcely thrive. But you can only form a complete idea of it from the top of the hill ; we have built a sort of temple there and the view is unequalled " ' You are greatly to be envied," said Aurelius, " And how is it that Titus Claudius, your illustrious father, does not enjoy himself on this lovely estate, instead of living in Rome as I hear he does ?" " As priest to the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus 78 he is tied to the capital. The rules forbid his ever quitting it for more than a night at a time. Dignity, you see, brings its own "burdens, and not even the greatest can have everything their own way. Many a time has my 72. JUPITER CAPITOLINUS. The priests of certain divinities were called Flamines and the chief of these was the Flamen Dialis or priest of Jupiter called Capitolinus from the hill on which the temple stood. Tacitus (Ann III, 71,) tells us of the prohibition here spoken of. 28 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. father longed to be away from the turbulent metropolis but no god has broken his chains. Unfulfilled desires are the lot of all men." He spoke with such emphasis, that the stranger glanced at him. " What desire of yours can be unfulfilled ?" A meaning smile parted the Roman's lips. " If you are thinking of things which gold and silver will purchase, certainly I lack little. Everything may be had in Rome for money; everything excepting one thing ; the stilling of our craving for happiness." " What do you understand by that ?" " Can you ask me ? I, here and as you see me, am a favorite of fortune, rich and independent by my grand- father's will, which left me possessed of several millions at an early age as free and healthy as a bird strong and well-grown and expert in all that is expected of a young fellow in my position. I had hardly to do more than put out my hand, to acquire the most influential position and the highest offices and honors to become Praetor or Consul. 73 I am well received at court, and look boldly in the face of Caesar, before whom so many tremble. I am betrothed to a maiden as fair as Aphro- dite herself, and a hundred others, no less fair, would give years of their lives to call me their lover for a week and yet have you ever felt what it is to loathe your existence ?" " No !" said Aurelius. " Then you are divine, among mortals. You see, weeks and months go by in the turmoil of enjoyment; 73. THE PRAETORSHIP AND CONSULSHIP were still, under the emperors, an object of ardent desire, in spite of the fact that these offices had been stripped of all power. QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. 29 the bewildered brain is incapable of following it all then life is endurable. My cup wreathed with roses, a fiery-eyed dancer from Gades 74 by my side, floating on the. giddy whirl of luxury, as mad and thoughtless as a thyrsus-bearer 75 at the feast of Dionysus under such conditions I can bear it for a while. But here, where my unoccupied mind is thrown back upon itself. ..." " But what you say," interrupted Anrelius, " proves not that you are satiated with the joys of life, so much as you will forgive my plainness that you are satiated with excess. You are betrothed, you say, and yet you can feel a flame for a fiery-eyed Gaditanian. In my country a man keeps away from all other girls, when he has chosen his bride." " Oh yes ! I know that morality has taken refuge in the provinces," said Quintus ironically. " But the youth of Rome go to work somewhat differently, and no one thinks the worse of us for it. Of course we avoid pub- lic comment, which otherwise is anxiously courted but we live nevertheless just as the humor takes us." Aurelius shook his head doubtfully. " Well, well," said Quintus. " You good folks in the north have a stricter code Tacitus describes the savage Germanic tribes as almost equally severe. But Rome is Roman. No prayers can alter that; and after all you get used to it ! I believe Cornelia herself would hardly scold if she heard .... Besides, it is in the air. Old Cato has long, long been forgotten, and the new Babylon by the Tiber wants pleasure will have pleasure, for in 74. GADES, now Cadiz, was famous for its dancers of easy mor- ality. (See Juv. Sat. XI, 162.) 75. THYRSUS, (#vlectrum(ir\^KT^ov) of wood, ivory, or metal. Music was as common an accomplishment among ladies of rank then as now, and they often composed both the words and airs of their songs. Statius tells us that his step-daughter did so, and Pliny the younger says the same of his third wife. 38 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. chair. She turned the pegs here and there to put the instrument in tune, struck a few chords and runs as a prelude, and began a Greek song the delightful Spring- greeting of Ibycus the Sicilian : M " Spring returns, and the gnarled quince 8 * Fed by purling and playful brooks Decks its boughs with its rosy flowers Where, beneath in the twilight gloom, Nymph-like circles of maidens dance; While the sprays of the budding grape Hide 'mid shadowy vine leaves. Ruthless Eros doth disregard Spring's sweet tokens and hints of peace. Down he rushes like winter blasts Thracian storms with their searing flash- Aphrodite's resistless son Falls on me in his fury and fire Racks my heart with his torments." Claudia ceased ; the accompaniment on the cithara died away in soft full chords. Caius Aurelius sat spell- bound. Never had he dreamed of the daughters of the fever-tossed metropolis as so simple, so natural, so genu- ine and genial. The strain almost resembled, in coy tenderness, those northern love-songs which he had been wont to hear from the lips of Gothic and Ampsivaric maidens. In those, to be sure, a vein of rebellion and melancholy ran through the melody and pierced through the charm, while in this all was perfect harmony, ex- quisite contentment an intoxicating concord of joy, 86. IBYCUS OF RHEGION in Lower Italy (B. C. 528). A distin- guished lyric poet, who is the hero of a well-known poem by Schiller. Few of his numerous lyric compositions remain to us. We here give a translation of Emanuel Geibel's admirable German version of his Spring-greeting. (Classisches Liederbuch, p. 44.) 87. QUINCE. Cydonia is the modern botanical name of the quince, called by the Greeks and Romans the Cydonian apple, after Cydonia, in the island of Crete. QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. 39 youth and love. In this he heard the echo of the smil- ing waves below, of the glistening leaves, and of heart- stirring spring airs. " A second Sappho !" exclaimed Herodianus, as his master sat speechless. " I can but compare the sweet- ness of that voice with the luscious Falernian we drank at dinner. That was a nectar worthy of the gods ! Besides, indeed the Hispanian wine out there, what do you call the place you know, my lord what is the name of it that was delicious too and seen against the light .... What was I saying ? I had an aunt, she sang too to the cithara yes she did, why not? She was free to do that, of course, quite free to do it and a very good woman too was old Pris Pris Priscilla. Only she could not endure, that any one should talk when she blew the cithara . . . . " Octavia was frowning ; Aurelius had turned crimson and nodded to his Gothic slave, who was standing aside under the arcade. Magus quietly came up to Herod- ianus and whispered a few words in his ear. " That shows a profound, a remarkably profound power of observation !" cried the freedman excitedly. " In fact, what does music prove after all ? I play the water-organ, 88 and hold me up, Magus. This floor is remarkably slippery for a respectable cavaedium. It might be paved with eels or polished mirrors !" " You are a very good /ellow," muttered the Goth as he led him slowly away, " but you carry it a little too far ____ " " What ? Ah ! you have no sense of the sublime ? 88. WATER-ORGAN (Hydraulus, vfyavAo?). A musical instrument mentioned by Cicero, Seneca and others. Ammianus observes: "Water-organs and lyres are made so large, that they might be mis- taken for coaches." 40 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. You are not a philosopher, but only a a a a man. But, by Pluto! you need not break my arm. I take care of that, that. . . . Will you let go, you misbegotten villain !" But the Goth was not to be got rid of; he held the drunken man like an iron vice and so guided him in a tolerably straight course. When they disappeared in the corridor leading to the atrium, Aurelius was anxious to apologize for him, but Octavia laughed it off. " We are at Baiae," 89 she said, " and Baiae is famous for its worship of Bacchus." " It is impossible to be vexed with him," added Lucilia ; " he is so exceedingly funny, and has such a confiding twinkle in his eyes." " I am only annoyed," said Aurelius, " that he should have disturbed us at so delicious a moment. Indeed madam, your voice is enchantment; and what a heavenly melody ! who is the musician who composed it?" " You make me blush," said Claudia : " I myself put the words to music, and I am delighted that you should like it. Quintus thought it detestable." " Nay, nay " murmured Quintus. " Yes indeed !" said the saucy Lucilia. " It was too soft and womanly for your taste." " You are misrepresenting me ; I only said, that the air did not suit the words.. It is a man who is here complaining of the torments of love, while what Clau- dia sings does not sound like a Thracian winter storm, but like the lamentations of a love-lorn maiden." " Nonsense !" laughed Lucilia. " Love is love, just as 89. BAIAE was considered from ancient times friendly to Bacchus. (Sen. Ep. 51). QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. 4! air is air! whether you breathe it or I, it is all the same." " But with this difference, that rather more of it is needed to fill my lungs than yours. However, for aught I care the song is perfect." " You are most kind, to be sure ! And you may thank the gods that you have nothing to do but to listen to it. , I have no doubt, that at the drinking-bouts of some of your boon companions the songs have a more Titanic ring and roar." "You little hypocrite! Do you want to play the part now of a female Cato ? Why, how often have you confessed to me, that * you would give your eyes to be one of such a party if only it were permissible !" " Mother," said Lucilia, " do not allow him to make a laughing stock of me in this heartless way. < If only I were a man,' you mean, not ' if it were permissible.' " f " Very good !" replied Quintus. Caius Aurelius now expressed a wish to hear Clau- dia sing a Latin song, and she selected one of which the words were by the much-admired poet Statius, 90 who at that time was, with Martial, 91 the reigning favorite in the taste of the highest circles. With this the stranger seemed equally delighted. When Claudia had ended, he himself seized the in- strument and plectrum, and with eager enthusiasm in a full, strong voice sang a battle-song. The powerful tones 90. STATIUS. P. Papinius Statius, born in Naples, A. D. 45, and died A. D. 96, was a lyric and epic poet, often artificial in style, but possessed of a brilliant imagination. His principal works are the epic poem "Thebais," in which he treats of the battle of the sons of Oedipus before Thebes, and the Silvae (woods), a collection of short poems. He also commenced an epic poem "Achilleis." 91. MARTIAL. (See ijote 100, vol \.\ 49 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. rang through the evening silence like the rush of a moun- tain torrent. His hearers saw in fancy the swaying struggle the captain of the legion is in the thick of the fray "Comrades," cries one of the combatants, "our chief is in danger! Help! help for our chief! One last furious onslaught, and the battle is won !" The two girls shrank closer to each other. As the notes slowly died away, a figure appeared high above them in the moonlight, leaning over the parapet of the upper story. " By the gods ! my lord !" cried Herodianus, " I am coming! If only I knew where Magus has hidden my sword ! Hold your own, stand" steady, and we will beat them yet!" The party burst out laughing. " Go to bed, Herodianus!" shouted his master. "You are talking in your dreams!" " Apollo be praised then !" stuttered the other, " but I heard you with my own ears, shouting desperately for help." And with these words he withdrew from the parapet, still muttering and fighting the air with his arms ; and Lucilia declared that she should positively die of laughing if this extraordinary sleep-walker went through any farther adventures. The moon was already high in the sky, when the party separated. Quintus led his visitor to the strangers* rooms, wished him good- night, and went to his own cubiculum 9 * where his slaves stood yawning as they waited for him. For a time, how- ever, he paced his room in meditation ; then pausing in his walk, he looked undecidedly through the open door- way and asked : " What is the hour ?" 92. CUBICULUM. A sleeping-room. The cubicula were located in the atrium, peristyle, and upper stories. QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. 43 " It wants half an hour of midnight," replied Blepyms, his body-servant. " Very good I do not want to sleep yet. Open the window ; the air here is suffocating. Blepyrus, give me my dagger." "The Syrian dagger?" "A useless question when do I ever use any other?" " Here, my lord," said Blepyrus, taking the dagger out of a closet in the wall." " It is only as a precaution. Lately all sorts of wild rabble have haunted Baiae and the neighborhood. I am going to take a walk for an hour or so," and he went to the door. " But mind," he added, " this late ex- pedition is a secret." The slaves bowed. " You know us, my lord !" they said with one ac- cord. Quintus went out again into the arcades. The colon- naded court lay white and dream-like in the moonshine, the shadows of the statues fell blackly sharp on the dewy grass-plot and the chequered outlines of the mosaic pavement. Quintus hastened noiselessly to the postem- gate, which led from the peristyle into the park; he pushed back the bolt and was out on the terrace. Com- plete silence reigned around ; only the very tops of the trees bent to the soft night-breeze. Quintus looked down upon Baiae. Here and there a light twinkled in the harbor; otherwise it was like a city of the dead. Then he looked down the black darkness of the shrubbery paths into the wilderness and seemed to waver, but he drew a little letter out of the belt of his tunic and studied it, meditating. 44 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. " In fact," said he to himself, " the whole affair wears the aspect of a mad adventure ; it would not be the first time that malice had assumed such a disguise ! But no ! Such a scheme would be too clumsy; what warranty would the traitor have, that I should come alone ? Be- sides, if I have any knowledge of love-intrigue, these lines were undoubtedly written by a woman's hand." He opened the note, 93 which was written on pale yel- low Alexandrian paper with the finest ink. The red silk that tied it was sealed with yellow wax, and bore the im- pression of a finely-cut intaglio. The handwriting be- trayed practice, and the whole thing looked as if it had come from the hands of a cultivated and distinguished fine lady. The contents answered to this supposition ; the style was marked by aristocratic affectations and rhetorical grace, while it revealed that vein of eager, jealous passion, which stamps the Roman woman to this day. "There is no doubt about it," muttered Quintus, when he had once more carefully examined every detail. " This is in hot earnest, and she commands me to meet her with the assurance of a goddess. And with all her domineering confidence, what sweet coaxing what in- viting tenderness ! It would be treason to the divine influences of Venus to hesitate. Nay, fair unknown 1 for you must surely be fair beautiful as the goddess whose inspiration fires your blood ! Nothing but beauty can give a woman courage to write such words as these 1" 93. T^OTE. The Romans wrote their letters either on wax-tablets, (See note 10. vol. I.) or on paper (tapyrus, car/a), using in the former case the stylus, in the latter a reed-pen and Indian ink. When the letter was finished, the wax-tablets were laid one above the other, and the papyrus folded several times. A string was then wound around the whole and the ends sealed. QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. 45 He replaced the note in his bosom and took the same path that he had trodden a few hours since with Aurelius ; listening sharply on each side as he got farther into the thicket, and keeping his hand on his dagger, he slowly mounted the hill. All nature seemed to be sleeping, and the distant cry of a night-bird sounded as if in a dream. Before long he had reached the spot where the path turned off to the pavilion. The little temple stood out in the moonlight as sharply as by day against the dark- blue sky, like an erection of gleaming silver and snow ; the light seemed to ripple on the marble like living, trans- lucent dew and, in the middle, the goddess sat en- throned! a tall form robed in white, her face veiled, motionless as though indeed a statue. Quintus paused for an instant ; then he mounted to the top and said bowing low : " Unknown one, I greet thee !" " And I thee, Quintus Claudius !" answered a voice that was tremulous with agitation. "You, madam, have commanded, and I, Quintus Claudius, have obeyed. Now, will you not reveal the secret I am burning to discover ?" The veiled lady took the young man gently by the hand and drew him tenderly to a seat. " My secret !" she repeated with a sigh. " Can you not guess it ? Quintus, divinest, most adorable Quintus I love you!" "Your favors confound me!" said Quintus in the tone of a man to whom such phrases were familiar. His unknown companion threw her arms round him, leaned her head on his shoulder, and burst into tears. " Oh, happy, intoxicating hour !" she breathed in a rapturous undertone. " You, the noblest of men, my 46 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. idol, whom I have thought of so long, watched with such eager eyes you, Quintus, mine mine at last) It is" too much happiness !" Quintus, under the stormy fervor of this declaration, felt an uneasy mistrust which he tried in vain to repress. This despotic " mine mine" gave him a sensation as of the grip of a siren. He involuntarily rose. " My good fortune takes my breath away!" he said in flattering accents; doubly flattering to atone for the hasty impulse by which he had stood up. " But now grant my bold desire, and let me see your face. Let me know who it is, that vouchsafes me such unparalleled favors." " You cannot guess ?" she whispered reproachfully. " And yet it is said, that the eyes of love are keen. Quintus, my beloved, Fate denies us all open and un- checked happiness; it is in secret only that your lips may ever meet mine. But you know that true love mocks at obstacles nay more, the flowers that blossom in the very valley of death are those that smell sweetest." Quintus drew back a step. " Once more," he insisted, " tell me who you are ?" The tall figure raised a beautiful arm, that shone like Parian marble in the moonlight, and slowly lifted her veil. "The Empress!" 94 cried Quintus dismayed " Not ' the Empress ' to you, my Quintus to you Domitia, hapless, devoted Domitia, who could die of love at your feet." Quintus stood immovable. 94. THE EMPRESS DOMITIA. The emperor's wife was Domitia Ix>ngina, the daughter of Corbulo, and formerly the wife of Aelius La nia, (Suet Dom. i). QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. 47 " Fear nothing," she said smiling. " No listener is near to desecrate the perfect bliss of this moonlit night." " Fear?" retorted Quintus. " I am not a girl, to go into fits in a thunder-storm. What I resolve on I carry out to the end, though the end be death ! Besides, I know full well, that your favors bloom in secret places as silent and as harmless as the roses in a private garden." Domitia turned pale. " And what do you mean by that ?" she asked shud- dering. " You live far away from Caesar, your husband ; you are served by spies ; your palace is a labyrinth with a hundred impenetrable chambers. . . ." " Indeed !" said Domitia, controlling her excitement. " But still, I saw you start. What dismayed you so much, if it was not the suspicion of danger ?" " You know," answered the young man hesitating, " that I am one of those who are ranked as Caesar's friends. 95 A friend though merely an official friend cannot betray the man he is bound to defend." Domitia laughed loudly. " Fine speeches, on my word !" she exclaimed scorn- 95. CAESAR'S FRIENDS. Among the "friends (amict) of the em- peror," were included those persons, who not only regularly shared the social pleasures of the sovereign, but were invitea to consult with him on all important government business. Within this group of friends there were of course inner, outer, and outermost circles. Quintus, who had little intercourse with the court, can only be included in the outermost circle of all, and even there more on account of his father, who was one of the emperor's most intimate " friends," than by virtue of his own relations with the palace. He of course had a right to appear at court, like all persons of his rank, even without a special 'relation of friendship" to the emperor. When inner and outer circles of friends are mentioned, this must not be confounded with the different classes of friends. Belonging to the first or second class im- plied a distinction of rank. Of course, in this sense, Quintus could only be numbered among the first class (primi amici). 40 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. fully. " Friendship, for the executioner who cuts your head off! Fidelity to a bloodthirsty ruffian ! No, Quin- tus I know better. You are staunch, but not from fidelity from prudence!" Quintus struck his breast proudly with his hand. " You force me," he said, " to speak the truth, in spite of my desire to spare you. You must know then, that Quintus Claudius thinks better of himself than to stoop to be the successor of an actor !" " Mad fool ! what are you saying . . . . " "What I was bound to say. You thought I was afraid; I am only proud. No, and if you were Cypris 96 in person I should disdain you no less, in spite of every charm. Never will 1 touch the lips, that have been kissed by a buffoon a slave."* Domitia did not stir ; she seemed paralyzed by the fury of this attack. At last, however, she rose. " You are very right, Quintus," she said. " It was too much to expect. Go and sleep, and dream of your wed- ding. But the gods, you know, are envious. They often grant us joys in our dreams and deny the reality. But now, before you go, kneel to the Empress !" and as she spoke a stiletto flashed ominously in her hand. Quintus, however, had with equal swiftness drawn his dagger. " Fair and gently !" he said drawing back. " The honor of being stabbed by the fair hand of Domitia is 96. CYPRIS. A name given to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, from the island of Cyprus, the principal seat of her worship. 97. A SLAVE. Domitia had been the mistress of Paris, a slave and actor. When Domitian discovered it, he wished to sentence the empress to death, but at the intercession of Ursus. changed the decree to exile. Paris was massacred in the open street. (See Dio Cass. LXVII \; Suet. Dom. 3.) Quintus calls Paris a buffoon out of con- tempt, for the profession of "player" was regarded by the^ ancient Romans as degrading. QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. 49 a temptation no doubt . . . . " She colored and dropped the weapon. " Leave me !" she said, going to lean against the balus- trade. " I do not know what I am doing; my brain is reeling. Forgive me forgive me !" Quintus made no reply, and casting a glance of furious hatred at him she hurried down the steps, glided through the gap in the brushwood into the deserted park, and vanished among the shrubs. Quintus stood looking after her. " One foe the more!" said he to himself. "Well, what does it matter ? Either to be made an end of by the knife of an assassin or to live on, my very soul sickened with it all. . . . Pah !" And he made his way homewards, singing a Greek drinking-song as he went. CHAPTER IV. NEXT morning Quintus was up long before the sun, while in the atrium the slaves were still busy cleaning the walls and the mosaic pavement, so he lingered for a while in the peristyle. His eye dreamily watched the soft swaying of the trees in melancholy relief against the blue-green sky ; light fleecy clouds floated in the trans- parent air, and here and there above his head a star still twinkled fitfully. Quintus sat on a bench with his head thrown back, for he was tired and over-excited ; an un- wonted restlessness had brought him out of bed. How calm and pure was this early gloaming ! In Rome, so thought Quintus, there was something uncanny and Vol. l. $0 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. dreary in the early morning the grey of dawn came as the closing effect of a wild night of revelry. Here, on the hills of Baiae, the stars winked like kindly eyes and the twilight soothed the spirit! And yet, no; for here too was the great capital ; here too were storms and unrest. Rome, that monstrous polypus, stretched its greedy arms out to the uttermost ends of the world, and even into the calmest and most peaceful solitudes. Even here, by the sea, wantonness had spread its glittering snares ; here too duty and truth were forsworn, and in- trigue and inhumanity held their orgies. Quintus thought of the tortured slave .... That pale and pain- stricken face had sunk deep into his soul ; strangely enough ! for his eye had long been accustomed to such sights of anguish and horror. The bloody contests of gladiators had never roused him to any other interest than that in a public entertainment. But this particular picture forced itself on his memory, though from the point of view of any Roman of distinction it had no interesting features whatever, for of what account in the Roman Empire was a slave ? And especially in the sight of Quintus, rich, handsome and brilliant ? It was in short most strange but that white, bearded face, with its lofty, unflinching expression never faded from his memory, and his inward eye found it impossible not to gaze upon it. Then, suddenly another figure stood side by side with it : The white-armed Cypris Domitia, trte passion-stirred Empress. Here were pain, misery, silent abnegation there were feverish desires and passions, reckless, greedy, all-absorbing selfishness. . . . By the gods there they stood before him the slave and the imperial woman both so distinct that he could have touched them as it seemed. The slave had broken QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. 51 his bonds and put out his hand with a smile of beatitude, while the woman shrank away and her white arms writhed like snakes of marble. She threw herself on the earth, and her fair gold hair fell loose over the bleeding feet of the slave .... Quintus started up, the murmur of the fountain had lulled him to sleep, and now, as he rubbed his hand across his eyes, a woman's figure was in fact before him, not so stately and tall as the moonlighted Domitia, but as fresh and sweet as a rose. " Lucilia ! Up so early ?" " I could not sleep and stole away softly from Claudia's side. She is still asleep, for she came to bed very late. But you, my respected friend what has brought you out before daybreak? You, the latest sleeper of all the sons of Rome ?" " I was just like you. I think the strong liquor we drank at supper last night . . . . " " A vain excuse," said Lucilia. " When ever did good wine rob you of a night's rest ? Sooner could I believe that you were thinking of Cornelia !" ' What should make you think that ?" " Well, it is a natural inference. For what else are you her betrothed? To be sure you do not play the part with much zeal." " How so ?" " Well, do you not go to see Lycoris just as much now as ever you did ?" " Pah !" " ' Pah ! ' What need have you to say * Pah ! ' in that way ? Is that right ? Is that horrid, shameless crea- ture, who seems to turn all the men's heads, a fit com- panion for a man who is betrothed ? I know you love 4 * U 52 QUINH :rs. Cornelia but this is a spiteful world, and supposing Cornelia were to learn . . . . " " Well, and if she did ?" said Quintus smiling. " Is it a crime to frequent gay society, to see a few leaps and turns of Gades dancers and to eat stewed muraenae? 9 " Is there anything atrocious in fireworks or flute-play- ing?" " How eloquent you can be ! You might almost make black seem white. But I abide by my words ; it is most unbecoming, and if you would but hear reason you would give this woman up." " But pray believe me, there never was a pretty girl for whom I cared less than for Lycoris." " Indeed ! and that is why you are as constantly in her house as a client in that of his patron." 99 " The comparison is not flattering." " But exact. Why should you frequent her house so constantly, if you are so indifferent to her ?" " Child, you do not understand such matters. Her house is the centre of all the wit and talent in Rome. Everything that is interesting or remarkable meets there ; it is in her rooms that Martial I0 utters his most 98. MURAENAE (pv^a*"*)- Lampreys were esteemed a delicacy (Cic., Plin., Hist. Nat. etc.) The best came from the Lucrine lake, near Cumae. 99. A CLIENT IN HIS PATRON'S HOUSE. The clients were originally prote"ges, faithful followers of their lords (tatrvni) who on their part were obliged to aid them by word and deed. They represented in a certain degree an enlargement of the family circle. Afterwards this relation degenerated into a mercenary connection of the most pitiful kind. Under the emperors the clients usually became only poor parasites, in comparison with their rich masters. They formed their court, paid them the usual morning-visit at a very early hour, accompanied them wherever they went in public, and received in return a ridiculously small compensation in money or- goods. ico. MARTIAL. M. Valerius Martialis, born at Bilbilis in Spain, about 42 A. D. was famous for his witty and clever epigrams. The QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. 53 pregnant jests, and Statius reads his finest verses. Everyone who lays any claim to talent or wit, whether statesmen or courtiers, knights or senators, uses the atrium of Lycoris as a rendezvous. Last autumn I ven met Asprenas 101 the consul there. Where such men as these are to be seen, Quintus Claudius, at three and twenty, may certainly be allowed to go." " Quite the contrary," cried Lucilia. " If you had grey hair, like Nonius Asprenas, I would not waste words on the matter. But as it is, the Gaulish Circe will end by falling in love with you, and then you will be past praying for." Quintus looked gaily at the girl's smiling, mocking face. " You mean just the reverse," he said. " For I know you regard me as far from dangerous. Well ! I can bear even that blow." "That is your new mood! There is no touching you in any way. If you had only half as much con- stancy of mind as Aurelius !" " Ah ! you like him then ?" " Particularly. Do you know it would be delightful if he could remain here a little longer I mean for six or eight days. Then he could travel with us to Rome." " Indeed ?" said Quintus significantly. " Now, what are you thinking of?" "I? of nothing at all." " Go, there is no doing anything with you. Do not you see that I only meant, the long days of travelling 1,200 which have been preserved are the principal source of the his- tory of manners and customs of the period in which the scene of this story is laid. He died about the year 102. 101. L. NONIUS ASPRENAS held the office of consul with M. Arricinius Clemens in the I4th year of Domitian's reign, (94 A. D.) and therefore was still in office "last autumn." 54 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. all by ourselves Claudia turns over a book, and you, you old lazy-bones, lie on a couch like an invalid I find it desperately dull. A travelling companion seems to me to be the most desirable thing in the world or "do you dislike Caius Aurelius?" " Oh no. If only his trireme had wheels and could travel over land." " His ship will take care of itself. He can come with us in the travelling chariot, and then he will be able to see part of the Appian way. loa It is a thousand times more interesting than a sea-voyage. Now, do it to please me and turn the conversation on the subject at dinner to-day." " If you like," said Quintus. A slave now appeared on the threshold of the pas- sage, which led from the peristyle to the atrium. " My lord," he said : " Letters have arrived from Rome and for you too, Madam. ..." " Then bring them out here." They were three very dissimilar letters, that Ble- pyrus handed to the two young people. Lucilia's was from the high-priest of Jupiter; Titus Claudius Mucianus wrote as follows to his adopted daughter : " Health and Blessings ! I03 I promised you lately, through Octavia, your excellent mother, that my next letter should be addressed to you, my dear daughter. I 102. APPIAN WAY. The Via Appia, built by one of the Clau- dia gens (the Censor Appius Claudius Caecus, 312 B. C.) led from Rome across Capua to Brundisium (the modern Brindisi). Statius (Stlv. II, 12), calls it the queen of roads (regina viarum). A large portion of its admirable pavement, as well as the ruins of the tombs on its sides, exist at the present day. 103. HEALTH AND BLESSINGS! The Romans always began their letters by mentioning the writer's name, who wishes health and blessings to the person addressed. Thus the commencement of the xrrs CLAUDIUS. 55 know that you value such proofs of my fatherly remem- brance, and I am glad that it should be so. However, what I have to write does not concern you alone, my sweet Lucilia, but all of you. The preparations for the magnificent Centennial Festival, 104 which the Emperor Domitian as you know proposes to hold in the course of next year, have so completely taken up my time during the last few weeks, that I am sorely in need of the rest and comfort of regular family life. In addition to this, political disturbances of all kinds have oc- curred. Caesar has sent for me six times to Albanum, 103 and I assure you it has been incessant travelling to and fro. The matter is an open secret ; all Rome is discuss- ing the decrees from the Palatine 106 against the Naza- renes. I07 You may remember that superstitious sect of whom Baucis spoke to you a revolutionary faction, who, a score or so of years since, stirred up the whole letter given here, literally interpreted, should have run as follows: Trrus CLAUDIUS MUCIANUS WISHES HIS LUCILIA, Health and Blessings. T. Claudius Mucianus Luciliae suae, S. P.D. 104. CENTENNIAL FESTIVAL. A brilliant spectacle in the arena, the amphitheatre, etc., which, as its name implies, was celebrated every hundred years. Uomitian, however, disregarded the necessity of an interval of a hundred years, by reckoning, as Suetonius (Dom. 4) relates, from the one before the last, which took place under Augustus, instead of from the very last, that was celebrated in the reign of Claudius. In this romance the time of the Domitian centennial fes- tivities is placed somewhat later than they really occurred. 105. ALBANUM. Domitian (Suet. Dom. 4) had an estate at the foot of the Albanian Hills, and many rich Romans had summer villas near, forming at last the town now called Albano. 106. PALATINE. Palatium, the imperial palace on the Palatine Hill. The word "palace" is derived from " Palatium," as " Kaiser" comes from " Caesar." 107. NAZARENES. The name usually given to Christians, who, for a long time were regarded by the Romans as a Jewish sect. See the words of Dio Cassius (LXVII, 16): "who inclined to Judaism," where he refers to the Christians, who were persecuted under Domi- tian. 56 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. city and gave occasion for the stern enactments of the divine Nero ? Now again they are stirring up revolt as if they were mad ; they are shaking the very foundations of society, and threaten to overturn all that we have till now held most sacred. I must be silent as to personal affairs ; enough to say that I am weary and overwrought, and that my heart longs to see you all again. I beg you therefore to make ready to start and return as soon as possible to the City of the Seven Hills. Your mother is now tolerably well again thanks to all-merciful Jupiter and Quintus will not be vexed to learn that Cornelia is now staying in Rome again. People are quitting their country homes somewhat early this year; it is long since I have passed the month of September so endurably. I shall expect you then, at latest, by Tuesday in next week. Allowing three days for the journey, I thus give you two days to prepare for it. " Pray greet your mother and your sister lovingly from me. This letter will, I hope, find you all in perfect health. I, for my part, am quite well. "Written at Rome, on the nth September, in the year 848 after the building of the city." The second letter was from Cornelia, Quintus' be- trothed, and ran as follows : " Cornelia embraces her dear Quintus a thousand times. Here I am in Rome again, my beloved ! My term of banishment to that odious desert at Tibur is ended. But, woe is me ! Rome is dead and deserted too since you, my treasure, my idol, linger still far from the Seven Hills ! Oh ! how glad I am to hear from your father, that he is recalling you from Baiae sooner QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. 57 than was intended. Oh ! Quintus, if you felt only one thousandth part of what I feel, you would fly on the wings of the storm to the arms of your love-sick Cor- nelia. The days at Tibur were more dreary than ever. My uncle seemed to me so depressed and tormented by gloomy thoughts. To crown my misery, old Cocceius Nerva 108 must come and pay us a visit of eight mortal days. I shall never forget that week as long as I live ! You know that when those two old men sit together, the house is as silent as a tomb ; every one goes about on tiptoe. This Cocceius Nerva has the worst effect on my uncle. Only fancy what happened on the day when he left. My uncle had accompanied him to his chariot, and when he came back into the house he happened to pass my room, where Chloe was just putting some fresh roses into my hair. When he saw this, he fell into an indescribable fit of rage. ' You old fool !' he exclaimed pushing my good Chloe aside : * Have you women nothing to think of but finery ? Do you deck yourselves out like beasts for sacrifice ? Away with your rubbish ! the house of Cornelius Cinna is no place for roses!' And then he turned upon me in a tone which expressed volumes 'Wait a while!' he said. 'You will soon be able to do whatever pleases your fancy !' You under- stand Quintus, he meant to refer to you. His words cut me to the heart, for I have known a long time that my uncle is not pleased at our connection. If my blessed mother had not made him swear, on her death- bed, that he would leave my choice perfectly free, who knows what might not have happened. Nevertheless, it is always a fresh pang to me when I see how he 108. M. COCCEIUS NERVA from Narnia in Umbna, born 33 A. D., a senator. 58 QflNTfS CLAfl': cherishes a bitter feeling against you for, in spite of everything, I respect and love him. " Take good care of yourself, dearest Quintus, till we meet again, soon, on the shores of the Tiber. Greet your circle from me, and particularly lively Lucilia. I remember her fresh, frank nature with special affection." The third letter, also addressed to Quintus, was from Lucius Norbanus, 109 the captain of the praetorian guard." " Have you taken root in your horrid country villa " so wrote the officer in his rough fun " or have you drowned, in Vesuvian wine, all remembrance that there is such a place as the Roman Forum ? How I envy you your unbridled wild-horse-like liberty ! You live like the swallows, while I it is pitiable ! Day after day at my post, and for the last few weeks leading a perfect dog's life ! Almost a third of the legion are new recruits, for again every hole and corner seems haunted. To- day, I breathe again for the first time, but alas ! my best friends are still absent. Above allClodianus, 1 " who lately has never been allowed to leave Caesar's side. I am 109. Lucius NORBANUS. See Dio Cass., LXVII, 15. no. PRAETORIAN GUARD. The commander-in-chief's tent in the Roman camp, was called the praetoriurr. ; and from this the general's body-guard received the name of cohors fraetoria. Augus- tus transferred this title to the imperial guard, and established nine Praetorian cohorts, (each consisting of a thousand men) which were stationed, some in Rome and some in the rest of Italy. The cohorts in Rome were at first quartered among the citizens ; after- wards they had barracks of their own (castra praetoria) on the op- posite side of the Quirinal Hill. They, with the Praetorian cavalry, formed the imperial guard and body-guard. Compared with the other soldiers, they had many privileges, for instance a shorter time of service, higher pay. higher rank, etc. in. CLODIANUS. See Suet. Dom. 17. QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. 59 commissioned by our charmer Lycoris, to inform you that Martial's recitation II2 on the sixteenth of October is proceeding to admiration. A hundred epigrams, and half Rome lashed by them ! The banquet, which is to close the recitation, is to be magnificent. I can take her word for it ; we know our fair Gaul. Farewell !" "That is capital!" said Quintus, folding up the letter. Lucilia retired with her adopted father's letter to the sleeping-rooms, where Claudia and Octavia must by this time be up. Quintus went into the atrium and sat down by the fountain, to wait till Caius Aurelius should appear. CHAPTER V. THE day of their departure came. Aurelius had hailed the idea of travelling with his new friends with an eagerness, that had brought a saucy smile to the lips of the shrewd Lucilia. But he had nevertheless preferred the more comfortable sea-voyage to a journey by land, and he had urged it so pressingly and yet so modestly that Octavia, after some hesitation, had yielded. The second hour after sunrise" 3 had been fixed for 112. RECITATION. The custom universally prevailed of poets reciting their verses to a select circle, before they were published. 113. THE SECOND HOUR AFTER SUNRISE. The Romans di- vided the day, from sunrise to sunset, into twelve hours. These were of course shorter in winter than in summer. The events spoken of in this chapter are supposed to have taken place about the time of the equinox, so ' the second hour' would be between seven and eight. The night, between sunset and sunrise, was likewise divided into four vigils or watches of three hours each. 60 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. their start, and before daybreak the slaves were already busied in packing the baggage mules and preparing the litters in the forecourt. The noise and bustle aroused Quintus, and being unable to get to sleep again he rose, dressed for the journey, and went out to the pillared court, where Lucilia was overlooking the slaves at their work and urging the dilatory to haste in cheerful tones. " Restless being !" said Quintus in Greek : " Are you pursued by the gadfly of Juno," 4 that you set all the house in an uproar in the darkness of dawn ? You must be afraid lest Aurelius* vessel should row off without us." " And do you complain of my carefulness ?" retorted Lucilia. " Punctuality is the first virtue of a house mistress." "Aha! and since Lucilia's ambitions aim at that high dignity . . . . " " Laugh away ! A well-ordered home is very desir- able for you ; and it will be a real mercy when you get married. Since you have lived alone, you have got into all sorts of mischief. But what is it that you want here, you ugly Satyr ? Do you not see that you are dreadfully in the way ? There, now you are treading on the trav- elling-cloaks ! I entreat you leave the room to the household gods!" " What ! I am in your way ? That is your view of the matter; but it is you who are really the spoil-peace, the eternally restless storm who have so often come sweeping down on our idyllic calm. Of all the things, which remind us here of Rome, you are the most Roman. 114. THE GADFLY OP JUNO. The jealous queen of heaven, Hera, (called by the Romans Tuno) transformed the beautiful daughter of Inachus, lo. who was beloved by Jupiter, into a cow, and ordered her to be persecuted by a gadfly. :NTUS CLAUDIUS. 61 You have nothing but your little snub-nose to redeem you a little. But, by Hercules ! when I see you bustling around here, I can picture to myself all the fevered tur- moil of the great city" 5 with its two million inhabitants. Well, I will taste the sea-breezes once more once more, for a brief space, enjoy peace and quietness." " How ?" " I will wait for sunrise at the top of the hill, where the road turns down to Cumae. In Rome it rises through smoke and mist ; while here oh ! how grandly and gloriously it mounts from behind the cone of Vesu- vius. ..." " And rises there through smoke and mist !" laughed Lucilia. " Well, make haste and come back again, or we shall set off without you." She turned once more to the slaves. Quintus wrapped himself in his ample lacerna," 6 waved his hand to her, and went out. The high-road was absolutely deserted ; he drew a deep breath. It was a delicious morning. His wish to bid farewell, as it were, to the sun and air of Baiae was 115. THE GREAT CITY. The population of Rome, under the emperors, was a little less than two millions, but largely exceeded one million. There are no exact statements ; but calculations have been made from different standpoints, which give about the same result. The most important points to be considered here, are first the extent of surface occupied by imperial Rome, and secondly the estimates of ancient writers concerning the consumption of grain, which in the time of Josephus amounted to 60.000,000 bushels yearly. Here too, may be mentioned the somewhat hyperbolical passage, Arist. Encom. Rom. p. 199, where it is asserted that Jiome would fill the whole width of Italy to the Adriatic Sea, if the stories of the houses, instead of being piled one above another, had been built on the ground. 116. LACERNA. A light woollen cloak, worn either in place of the toga or tunic, or, which was more customary, as an outside wrap over the toga. White lacernae were the most elegant. 62 QUINTtTS CLAUDIUS. not affected ; like all Romans he raved about the sea." 7 Its shore was to him the one real Museion as Pliny the younger" 8 had once expressed it the true abode of the Muses, where the celestial powers seemed nearest to him ; here, if anywhere, while watching the waves, he found time and opportunity for self-study and reflection. He had now been living with his family in their quiet villa ever since the end of April, and had spent many hours in serious meditation, in congenial literary pleas- ures and diligent study. He had once more learned the real value of retirement, which in Rome was so unat- tainable. A long winter of dissipation had left him satiated, and Baiae's aromatic air, a simple existence in the bosom of his family, and the spirit of Greek poetry had combined to restore his palled senses and over- excited nerves. And now, as the moment of return ap- proached, he was seized more and more with the old spirit of unrest. He felt that the omnipotent sway of that demon called Rome would drag him back again into the vortex of aimless tragi-comedy, and now a last glance at the smiling and slumbering sea was a positive craving of his heart. 117. HE RAVED ABOUT THE SEA. The Romans' love for the sea is proved by manv passages in their literature, but still more by the ruins of their villas and palaces, which bordered its most beau- tiful shores, and were praised by contemporaries for their views, (iriedlander, Sittcngesch., II, p. 129). 118. PLINY THE YOUNGER. C. Plinius Caecilius Secundus, a nephew and adopted son of the older Pliny, was born A. D. 62, at Novum Comum, now Como, on the Lake Larius, Lake of Como, on the banks of which he had several villas. (Ep. IX. 7.) He died about the year 114. A clever writer, a skilful statesman, an enthusiast for everything good and beautiful, he possessed an amiable character, but cannot be wholly absolved from the reproach of self-sufficiency. His writings, especially his letters, are an important source of infor- mation concerning the social conditions of that period. The passage in Plinv to which allusion is here made, runs: "Oh, sea! Oh, strand 1 Thou beloved Museion ! How much ye compose and create for me 1" QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. 63 He slowly climbed the hill. At about a hundred paces up, there was a spot whence he could see over the roofs of the tallest villas and down into the valley. His eye, though his purpose was to look far away and across the sea, was irresistibly riveted by an object that was quite close at hand. To his right a by-path led down towards the palace of the Empress, and the huge portico, with its Corinthian columns, gleamed pale and visionary in the doubtful light. But what attracted the young man's attention was a little side-door, which slowly turned on its pivot " 9 with a slight noise, letting a female figure in Greek dress pass out into the road. Quintus recognized Euterpe, the flute-player. Limp and weary she climbed the steep slope, her eyes fixed on the ground, and as she came closer, Quintus could see that she had been weep- ing bitterly. " Good morning, all hail !" he cried, when the young woman was within a few steps of him. Euterpe gave a little cry.. " It is you, my lord !" she said with a faint smile. " Returning so late from Cumae ?" " No, my good Euterpe. I am up not late, but early. But what in the world have you been doing at this hour in Domitia's palace ? Has she been giving a feast? You do not look as if you had gathered a har- vest of gold or flowers." " Indeed, my lord, no !" replied Euterpe, again melt- ing into tears. " I have been to visit a friend, who is suffering terribly. Down in Baiae, where I was playing 119. ON ITS PIVOT. Doors were not usually hung on hinges, as with us, but had on their upper and lower edges wedge-shaped pivots (cardines) which fitted into corresponding depressions in the threshold and upper part of the frame. 64 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. at night in the house of the wealthy Timotheus, Agathon the seer gave me herbs and salves they cost me a heavy sum and since then I have been in there. . . . Oh ! his wounds are horrible. . . . But what am I talking about ! He is only a slave, my lord; what can Quintus Claudius care ....?" " Do you think so ?" said Quintus, interrupting the agitated speaker. " But I am not made of stone ; I know full well, that though among slaves there is many a scamp, there are also worthy and excellent men. And if, to crown all, he is the friend iao of so charming a creature. ..." " Nay, my lord, you will have your jest but if you could only see him, poor Eurymachus! If you could know how faithful he is, and how noble !" " Well, I call that being desperately in love !" Euterpe colored. " No," she said modestly. " I can accuse myself of many sins, but Eurymachus no evil thought ever entered his mind." " Is love a sin then ?" " I am married." " Here you were not wont to be so strict !" " And the greater pity ! If I had always known Eurymachus, as I know him now. . . ." " Indeed ! and how do you know him now ?" " He has opened my eyes ; I know now how deeply I have sinned. . . ." " He is a philosopher then, who converts fair sinners from their evil ways ?" 120. FRIEND. Quintus would speak of Eurymachus as the 4 friend' of Euterpe with intentional double meaning, half in the usual honest sense, but partly too in the sense which the feminine form, arnica, had acquired in" the course of time; a signification so am- biguous, that the bluntest frankness was better. QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. $5 "He is a hero!" exclaimed Euterpe with enthu- siasm. " You do not stint your praise. Does he belong to the Empress ?" " To her steward, Stephanus. Ah I my lord, he is a tyrant " " So they say." " How he treated the poor fellow ! It beats all des- cription. For one single word he had him flogged till he was raw, and then tied him up in the park in the noontide sun. The gnats and flies. . . ." But at the woman's last words Quintus had gone nearer to her. " Listen," he said hurriedly: " I believe I know your Eurymachus a pale face with a dark beard quiet, contemning pain standing by the stake like a martyr. . . ." " You saw him ?" cried Euterpe, smiling through her tears. " Yes, it was he indeed. No one else has that ex- traordinary power of defying every torment. Now he is lying half-dead on his bed; his whole back is one dreadful wound, and yet not a complaint, not a word of reproach ! Fortunately the gate-keeper is my very good friend. He sent me a message ; otherwise very likely Eurymachus might have died in his misery, without my knowing it. But I hope, I hope the charm may save him." " Listen, child," said Quintus after a pause : " You shall see, that I know how to value courage, even in the person of a slave. Here, take this gold and spend it for the benefit of the sufferer, and by and bye, when he is well again, write to me in Rome; then we "will see what can be done next," " Oh, my lord !" cried the flute-player vehemently, Vol. I. c 66 QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. " you are like the gods for graciousness and kindness. Do I understand rightly, that we may hope from your goodness. . . ." " Understand all you please," interrupted the youth kindly. " The chief point is, that you should remind me of it at the right moment. In Rome a man forgets his nearest relations." " I will remind you," said Euterpe, radiant. " Sooner should I forget to eat and drink. About the middle of next month I am going to the capital with Diphilus, my husband. He is a master-carpenter, and will have work to do on the grand erections for the Centenary Festival. If you will allow me, I will myself remind you in person." " Do so, Euterpe." " Oh, my lord ! I thank you from the bottom of my heart. The man who is protected by Quintus Claudius, is as safe as a child in its cradle." Joy lent so sweet an expression to the young crea- ture's face, that Quintus was irresistibly moved to stroke her cheek, and in the excess of her delight she submitted to the caress, though, as we know, she had vowed hence- forth to give Diphilus no cause for complaint. At this moment a magnificent litter, borne by eight gigantic negroes, appeared on the highest level of the road. It was escorted by four men-at-arms, and in it, leaning on the purple cushions and only half-veiled, re- clined Domitia. The seething fever of her passion and anger had driven her to seek the air soon after midnight, and for hours the slaves had to carry her about the wooded ravines of the landward side of the hills, or along the deserted roads, until, wearied out at last, she was fain to turn homewards. Quintus, somewhat abashed, with- drew to one side ; not so quickly, however, but that Do- QUINTUS CLAUDIUS. 67 mitia had observed his light caress of Euterpe. She turned pale and looked away. The young man, who made ready to bow to the Empress, remained unnoticed, and Euterpe stood as if turned to stone. Quintus looked coolly after her as she was borne away, and shrugged his shoulders; then he took Euterpe by the hand. " It is a bargain then," he said in distinct tones. " You will find me in Rome ! Now, farewell till we meet again." He turned towards home ; sea and sunrise were alike forgotten. Euterpe hurried down to Cumae, and disap- peared behind the ridge at the same instant as the Em- press within the Corinthian portico of the palace. In a few minutes the Claudia family were sitting in the triclinium to take a slight breakfast before starting. Octavia was thoughtful ; her husband's letter had made her anxious. She knew how stern a view Titus Claudius took of his duties, and how much would devolve upon him in these agitated times. Claudia too was graver than usual. Only Aurelius and Lucilia looked bright and contented. Lucilia, warm and rosy from her busy exer- tions in the court-yard and atrium and in her excite- ment she would not give herself time to do more than drink a cup of milk and swallow a morsel of sesame- cake. ** The respectable Herodianus too, against his custom, was silent. What could be so absorbing to that simple and garrulous nature ? From time to time he frowned and stared at the ceiling, moving his lips in silent speech like a priest of the Pythian oracle. The honey, gener- 121. SESAME CAKE. Sesamum (