Quintus Claudius: A Romance of Imperial Rome. Volume 2, Page 3

  CHAPTER III.

  Domitian had not been present at the meeting of the Senate. He had goneto sleep late, and, not waking till long after sunrise, he remained inbed to receive his chamberlain, Parthenius, who came to announce to himthat the plan of campaign against the proscribed sect was fully laidand ratified. This news entirely restored Caesar's lost composure, andhe came to breakfast in the best humor possible.

  His spirits rose still higher, when Parthenius reported the results ofhis overtures to Barbillus. The priest of Isis had expressed himselfready to meet the Emperor's wishes for a consideration of ninetythousand denarii. His co-operation was not to be had cheaper, sinceBarbillus had a tender conscience, and could not risk the wrath ofIsis, the all-powerful, for less.

  Domitian rubbed his hands, and a hideous, leering smile stole over hissallow face. His eyes sparkled scornfully under his lowering brow.

  "By Cypris! a sly fox is this Barbillus! And will he pledge his wordthat the shy nymph...?"

  "Do not be uneasy, my lord. Barbillus has planned such a piece ofbewildering magic to play, that she will lose her head. You are toappear before her, mysteriously illuminated and with lightning flashinground you, in the form of the hawk-headed god, Osiris.[34]--All sortsof mystical effects are to be introduced.--Rely upon it, my lord, sheis yours, if ever a mortal woman was conquered by an immortal god."

  "You have done well!" cried Caesar, enchanted. "How our noble Cinnawould writhe, if he could know.... These conjurors are inexhaustiblewith their ingenious tricks. The strange thing is, that so much truthcreeps in among so many lies. Who was it, that told you that Barbillusis a master of astrology?"

  "Sextus Furius, to whom he foretold his brothers' death."

  "I remember ... and the prophecy was verified?"

  "To the very hour. The two men were in Gaul at the time, and no onehere knew that they were ill. The elder died on the ides of February,and the younger two days later."

  Caesar's face clouded, and he cast a sinister glance at Parthenius.Could it, indeed, be that the chamberlain did not know he was speakingtreason?--could he so utterly have forgotten, what had happened tothe soothsayer Ascletario? Domitian had expected a denial from thecourtier, not a confirmation of the facts. Truly, even Parthenius, itwould seem, had ceased to care for his sovereign's favor! Even he wasgrowing audacious and reckless.

  Domitian involuntarily felt for the little wooden tablet which layunder his pillow; but Parthenius met his eye with a look of suchperfect innocence, that Domitian felt a qualm of remorse. He held outhis hand to the chamberlain and said, with an effort to be amiable:

  "Thank you, my friend; your information will be useful. I have not yetdecided whether I will appear at table, or indeed leave my rooms atall. But, in any case, do you be here in good time for the preciousdivine comedy in the evening."

  "As my sovereign commands."

  "Listen--stop!" cried Caesar, as Parthenius was going. "To-day, youknow, Julia, my late brother's daughter, is to be buried[35]...."

  "I know, my lord!"

  "Well ... I forgot to say ... her ashes are to be carried to the templeof the Flavia family;[36] the dignity of our race requires it. I begof you to omit nothing, that is due to the Manes of the illustriousdead--such as Julia. I would have the people know and tell each other,how Domitian honors the daughter of the divine Titus."

  "I understand."

  And Parthenius went.

  "I will watch him," said Domitian to himself. "If he too.... No torturewould be too severe for such a breach of faith.... Folly! His fate isso inseparably bound up with mine, that my fall must bring him downtoo."

  He slowly raised himself from the pillow, leaning on his right hand,and a slight shudder ran through him; he was cold. "The consequenceof yesterday's excitement," he said to himself, drawing the coverletcloser round him. "By Castor, but it is becoming absurd! Always the samefabric of the brain--that foolish, hideous figure, with its ghastlyface and gaping wound!" And he pressed his hand over his eyes.

  "It is ridiculous. Must everything on earth repeat itself? Nero, goryshade, I laugh you to scorn! Have I waded in blood? Have I set theimmortal city in flames, and struck my lyre while the people howled inanguish? Have I murdered my own mother? Nay--I am a mild and mercifulsovereign. Compared with Nero--a child, a lamb, a dove! Away! Whystand grinning at me there, horrid vision? You have long been dust andashes.--Vanish, go, or I will strangle you!..."

  He groaned and sank back on his cushions. His eyes were closed, but hishands were stretched out, stark, as if convulsed; his breath came hardand quickly, and his livid lips never ceased moving.

  "It is he, it is he...." he stammered, sitting up again. "I see him,barefoot, his mantle torn, riding towards Phaon's house.[37]--I hearthe shouts of the soldiers in the camp close by.--They are cursinghim.--His horse has shied--he is looking round--the Praetorians knowhis pale face.--Now he has leaped from his saddle, and is hiding inthe bushes.--How he gasps! How thirsty he is--he is stooping over apuddle to drink!--They have reached the villa; there--he is trembling,his knees give way.--Here is a messenger from Rome bringing Phaon thenews--the decision of the Senate. Traitors! Treason! Death by the handof the executioner.--Hark! Horses!--the soldiers are coming out to takehim.--Come, more merciful steel, and pierce this throbbing heart. Killhim, murder him, tear him limb from limb!--It is over, there he lies,stiff on his cloak, his eyes starting out of their sockets. His faceis as pale as ashes.--Thus dies Nero!--Alas! and woe is me! Thus diesDomitian!"

  A loud and piercing shriek; then the silence of the grave.

  "Help, help!" cried the boy, who was on guard in the cubiculum."Help--quick!"

  It was Phaeton, Caesar's favorite slave; he rushed forward to lift upthe Emperor, who lay like one dead. His left arm hung helplessly overthe edge of the bed; he had pushed aside his pillows, and with them,his wooden tablet which, as Phaeton pulled the cushions into place,fell with a clatter on to the floor. The lad stooped and picked it up,only just in time to save it from being trodden on by the other slaves,who came rushing in from all sides. He instinctively hid the piece ofwood in his tunic. A moment later and the physician came in, who atonce dismissed all unnecessary attendants, among them Phaeton, who wasstill trembling from the shock. Caesar, he said, must have absoluterest.

  Phaeton, however, lingered; he wanted to know whether Caesar's lifewas in danger, and it was not till the leech had reassured him onthat point, that he was persuaded to quit the room and remain in thecavaedium close at hand. There he went to the south-western entrance,where two of the praetorian guard were keeping watch in shining armor.He sat down, squatting on the mosaic pavement, near a door whichcommanded a view over the Aventine. For a time he stared vacantly atthe tall, stiff figures with their dazzling helmets and their calm,stern, weather-beaten faces. Then, with a yawn, he idly drew forth thewooden tablet. He could not read, and his eye wandered curiously downthe close rows of curling or angular letters, which to him were signsfar more mystical than the old Hebrew rolls of manuscripts, which hehad seen his mother read. Then he fell to balancing the little boardon his fingers, trying to support it on one corner, as he had seenMasthlion, the famous juggler do, out on the Field of Mars.

  At this moment the heavy tread of Clodianus was heard approaching.[38]He had been requested by the chamberlain to visit the room where Juliawas lying dead. The boy, with a dim sense of wrong-doing in thusplaying tricks with the property of his imperial master, hastily hidthe tablet in his tunic again. But the very promptness with which hedid so attracted the adjutant's attention.

  "What are you hiding there?" he asked, beckoning the lad to him.

  "Nothing, my lord--a little board...." stammered Phaeton. "Our lord andgod is ill--he fainted; the bit of wood fell on the ground...."

  "Show it to me." The boy obeyed, trembling, for the adjutant's voicehad a growl in it of distant thunder. At the court of the Roman Emperorany one might, at any moment, happen to offend the majesty of Caesarbeyond all
forgiveness. The quaking youngster fully expected that thenext words he should hear would be:

  "Go, and be soundly flogged!" or even worse. What then was his surprisewhen Clodianus, who on first glancing at the tablet had frowned darkly,suddenly lost his expression of angry defiance, and looked anxiouslyround at the sentinels.

  "Have they seen this?" he asked, drawing the lad aside.

  "No, my lord."

  "Where did you find this tablet?"

  "It was lying under the great sovereign's pillow."

  "And you stole it?"

  "Nay, my lord. It fell out, when Caesar lost consciousness."

  "Caesar is sick, then?"

  "I said so before. He screamed as if an asp had stung him; then hefainted. The leech says there is no danger...."

  "Let us hope so, let us hope so.--Did any one see you pick up thislittle tablet?"

  "No, my lord."

  "Listen, then, to what I tell you. Replace it as soon as possible, andsecretly.--Mark me well, very secretly--exactly where it was. If anyone finds out that you brought it out here, you are a dead man--I meanwell by you, Phaeton."

  "Oh! my lord, if I could have dreamed that I was committing a crime...."

  "Be silent, and do as I bid you. By our conquering eagle! I am not oneof those, who make an outcry about every little stupid thing. An oldsoldier is not prone to tale-telling--only do not betray yourself."

  "How have I deserved so much kindness?" said the poor boy, kissing thewily courtier's hand. "Perhaps I could slip into the room again now...."

  "You can but try, my boy; and for the future take care what you do.Things that Caesar thinks fit to hide under his pillow, are not meantfor the eyes of others, you may be sure. Do not forget that."

  The lad went; Clodianus looked after him, nodding his head as he saidto himself: "A most fortunate chance! You write a plain hand, Caesar!I have seen this coming for some time. You insist on having none butfoes, great potentate! No confederates! Well--I can but try to play thepart."

  Meanwhile Domitian had recovered from his swoon. An overwrought mind,the physician said, and anxiety for the weal of his beloved Romanshad reduced the Father of his country to this condition; escape fromall business, amusement, and enjoyment of every kind, were the onlymeans of avoiding a recurrence of the attack. Domitian accepted thisdiagnosis with favor. The external application of Vesuvian wine, and afew mouthfuls of the strongest Samian, which he swallowed eagerly, hadentirely restored his vigor; he did not even feel so languid as usual.He spent another hour in bed, by the leech's advice, and then heallowed himself to be dressed, and ordered his litter. Just as he wasquitting the room he remembered the tablet; he hastened back and raisedthe pillow. There it lay--the register of death. He put it in his bosom.

  "What are you doing here?" he said, turning sharply on Phaeton, who wasstanding by, pale and frightened.

  "Whatever my lord and god may command."

  "Then order Narcissus to wait in the cubiculum,[39] and do you comewith me."

  Phaeton breathed once more. He obeyed with the swiftness of the wind.

  The Emperor passed the hours till supper-time in one of the vastpleasaunces on the top of Mons Janiculus, and to Phaeton was vouchsafedthe coveted honor of entertaining the ruler of the world, while therest of the suite stood aside in reverent silence. Domitian wasremarkably gracious to-day. He condescended to pinch the boy's rosycheeks, and invited him to share the breakfast, which was servedin a garden-house with every conceivable luxury. Then Phaeton mustsing to him, and tell him once more about his mother, the beautiful,heart-broken Judith, who had been brought to Rome as a young girl fromher home in Palestine, and had never ceased weeping till her large,flashing eyes were dim and blind. The boy knew how to talk, sometimesgaily, sometimes sadly--of the holy citadel of Jerusalem[40] which,to him, included all that was sacred on earth--of the horrors of thesiege--the Temple of Solomon--the hoary cedars of Lebanon. Then hewould relate some reminiscence of his own experience--of the first timehe threw the discus on the Field of Mars, and attracted the notice ofParthenius--of the pride and awe with which he had, for the first time,entered the imperial apartments--his delight at Caesar's approbation,when he returned from an excursion to Albanum.

  As he listened to this simple childlike prattle, Domitian was moved toa guileless feeling of affection, which he had long forgotten.

  "Tell me, Phaeton," he said, stroking the boy's long curls, "if basevillains were to attempt your master's life, or try to hurt him, youwould stand by him?"

  "So far as I was able, my lord," said the boy heartily. "But who woulddare to commit so monstrous a crime?"

  "No one, Phaeton, by the gods! I only asked you to try your love forme."

  When he was weary of Phaeton's chatter, Caesar had his bearers tocarry him about in the gardens for a while, and at last back to thepalace--almost exactly at the hour when the assembled Fathers werecoming down from the Capitoline, after passing the decree against theChristians. He remained in his room till he went to table, and at themeal he was lively, almost excited, though he eat but little, while, onthe other hand, he drank full draughts of Falernian unmixed with water.

  When the _coena_ was over, he retired to his private business-room.There he rushed up and down the room in loud and vehement soliloquy,fighting the air like a gladiator and exclaiming wildly: "Comeon--only come on, you villains! my good sword shall cleave yourskulls." Then he took to catching flies, as he had been wont to do as aboy,[41] impaling them on his writing-stylus.

  "Through and through!" he exclaimed in a tone of triumph. "Have I gotyou now, traitors? Aye, writhe and wriggle--like mad things! you shallnot escape me now, till Tartarus yawns to receive your souls."

  By degrees his excitement calmed down; still, when the chamberlain madehis appearance, he was so vigorous and eager, that Parthenius allowedhimself to make a somewhat broad allusion to the evening's adventure.

  "You are a precious witty fellow!" laughed the Emperor. "But I feelmyself that you have, in jest, hit the truth. Up then to deeds ofglory! I only hope that Isis, the celestial Egyptian, may be contentwith her new brother."

  FOOTNOTES:

  [34] IN THE FORM OF THE HAWK-HEADED GOD, OSIRIS. Nothing is said by the ancient authors concerning such a farce enacted by Domitian; but from all we know of the man's character, there is no doubt that my imagination does him no injustice. With respect to the incident itself, similar ones actually happened, and in A. D. 19 Flavius Josephus relates that a Roman knight, Decius Mundus, pursued an aristocratic lady called Paulina a long time with offers of love, without obtaining a hearing. As she was eagerly devoted to the worship of the goddess Isis, Decius Mundus, by the offer of 5,000 denarii, induced the priest to tell her that the god Anubis (son of Isis and Osiris) desired a nocturnal meeting. Paulina believed this, and Decius Mundus appeared in the jackal-headed mask of the god. The cheat was successful, but when the emperor Tiberius heard of it, he sent the knight into exile, ordered the priests to be crucified, the temple levelled to the ground, and the statue of the goddess flung into the water.--By the way, it may be remarked that Domitian, before he was emperor, escaped from the besieged Capitol, whither he had fled in the war with Vitellius, _in the costume of a priest of Isis_, and remained concealed until his enemy's defeat.

  [35] IS TO BE BURIED. Usually a longer interval elapsed between the date of death and the funeral--about a week.

  [36] TEMPLE OF THE FLAVIA FAMILY. See Suet, _Dom._ 15 and 17. The ashes of Vespasian and Titus lay there.

  [37] I SEE HIM, BAREFOOT, HIS MANTLE TORN, RIDING TOWARDS PHAON'S HOUSE. For Nero's terrible end, see Suet. _Ner._ 48 and following pages. Dio Cass. LXIII, 27, etc. Phaon was a freedman of the emperor, one of the few who were faithful to him to the last. See also what Dio Cassius (LXXVII, 15.) relates of the visions of Caracalla.

  [38
] AT THIS MOMENT THE HEAVY TREAD OF CLODIANUS WAS HEARD APPROACHING. In Dio Cassius (LXVII, 15), it is Domitia, the empress, who surprises the boy playing with the little wooden tablet.

  [39] SERVICE IN THE CUBICULUM. Service at the altar of the Lares. See Suet. _Dom._ 17.

  [40] THE HOLY CITADEL OF JERUSALEM. The destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, son of Vespasian, the reigning emperor at that time, occurred on the 10th of August, A. D. 70.

  [41] CATCHING FLIES, AS HE HAD BEEN WONT TO DO AS A BOY. See Suet. _Dom._ 3: "In the commencement of his reign he spent several hours alone every day, doing nothing but catching flies and impaling them on a sharp stylus."