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diff --git a/32222.txt b/32222.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ddb5d8 --- /dev/null +++ b/32222.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5145 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Felicitas, by Felix Dahn + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Felicitas + A Tale of the German Migrations: A.D. 476 + +Author: Felix Dahn + +Translator: Mary J. Safford + +Release Date: May 2, 2010 [EBook #32222] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FELICITAS *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books + + + + +Source: +http://books.google.com/books?pg=PA223&dq=editions:HARVARDHN1MDZ&id=8bc +YAAAAYAAJ#v=onepage&q&f=false + + + + + + + FELICITAS + + + + + + + FELICITAS + + + _A TALE OF THE GERMAN MIGRATIONS_ + A.D. 476 + + + + BY + FELIX DAHN + + + + TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN + BY + M. A. C. E. + + + + LONDON + MACMILLAN AND CO. + 1883 + [_All rights reserved_] + + + + + + + CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, + CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS. + + + + + + + FELICITAS. + + + + + INTRODUCTION. + + +Some years ago I was at work in Salzburg: in the library among the old +records, and in the Museum of Roman antiquities. + +My studies were principally concerned with the fifth century: the time +when the Germanic tribes invaded these regions, the Roman garrisons +retiring with or without resistance, while many settlers remained in +the land. Peasants, trades-people, mechanics, would not forsake their +homes, nor give up their lucrative occupations, would not quit their +valued, long-cherished plots of ground, but stayed under the rule of +the Barbarian; who, when the storm and battle of conquest were over, +and the division of the country completed, did not molest them. + +The work of the day over, I wandered in the beautiful, long-familiar +country of the Salzach valley; the warm June evenings permitted long +wanderings up to a late hour. Thought and fancy were filled with the +pictures of the life and the changing fate of the latest Romans in +these lands. My imagination was excited by the inscriptions, coins, and +utensils, by the Roman monuments of every kind which are found in such +rich abundance in and around Salzburg; for this town, with its +prominent fortress, the "Capitolium," on the rocky hill dominating +stream and valley, was for centuries, under the name of "Claudium +Juvavum," a chief bulwark of the Roman rule and the seat of a +flourishing and brilliant development of the Roman culture. The +inscriptions testify to the official rank of many of the citizens, such +as Duumvirs, Decurions, AEdiles of the markets and games; to the +importance of the town as a place of trade, and to the encouragement +given to the arts and manufactures. + +That which had occupied me during the labours of the day was pictured +by the play of fancy, when in the evening I wandered out through the +gate of the town: stream and road, hill and valley, were then peopled +for me with forms of the Roman life; and from the distant north-west, +like the driving clouds that often arose from the Bavarian plain, +approached menacingly the invading Germans. + +Most frequently, I preferred to saunter along the banks of the stream +in the direction of the great Roman road, which passed the Chiemsee, +and crossing its effluent, the Alz, at Siebruck (Bedaium), and the Inn +(Oenus) at Pfuenz (Pons Oeni), led towards the province of Vindelicia +and its splendid capital, Augsburg (Augusta Vindelicorum). Many coins, +fragments of pottery, urns, gravestones, and household utensils of +every kind have been found in the level country which stretches on each +side of the old highroad, and is now for the most part covered with +forest and brushwood, and in some parts overgrown with thick ivy. It is +evident that farms, and also stately villas of the rich citizens, were +thickly scattered beyond the outer wall of the fortified town, thus +filling and adorning the whole valley. I often wandered in the +neighbourhood of this Roman road, the traces of which were still +distinctly visible, watching the setting sun, and wondering what were +the feelings of the inhabitants of these villas, when, instead of the +proud Legions marching by on their way to the Roman town on the Lech, +it was the first weak bands of the Germans from the conquered +Vindelicia who galloped in, carefully reconnoitring; and soon to +be followed by larger masses, more daring, or rather having the +well-grounded confidence that they would find the country only weakly +defended, and would be able to establish themselves as masters over the +defenceless Romans who still remained. + +In such fancies, not without the silent wish that I might myself glean +some small memorial of Roman times from this land so rich in +remembrances, I penetrated one evening deeper into the brushwood on the +right of the Roman road, following upwards the course of a small +stream, through a hollow often strewn with broken stones and potsherds, +which moss and ivy had thickly overgrown, and which cracked not seldom, +under my footsteps. I picked up many tiles and bits of pottery. Were +they Roman? No certain evidence could be gathered from _these_. + +I determined to-day to follow the rivulet till I should reach its +source, which I imagined to be under the gentle slope of a moderately +high hill; for I knew that the Romans liked to build their quiet villas +as well as their military stations by running water. + +It was very hot on that summer day, I was tired in body and mind, and +it was only slowly, and with difficulty, that I could ascend the course +of the brook, forcing my way through the thick and often nearly +impassable bushes by the help of my alpenstock, which I carried with, +me, as I often climbed the mountains in my wanderings. + +I could willingly have stretched myself drowsily on the soft inviting +moss; but I resisted the inclination, and determined to press through +and up to the goal I had set myself: the source of the stream. + +In half an hour the slope was reached; the height is called by the +people, "the Pagan mound." Along the latter part of the way I had +noticed a striking increase in the number and size of the fragments of +stone; among them also were red and gray marble, like that which had +been quarried in the neighbourhood for unnumbered centuries; and it +was, as I had imagined, close under the crown of the hill the stream +trickled out of the ground. + +It appeared to have been once surrounded by masonry; this was in part +still perceptible, carefully polished clear gray marble enclosed it +here and there in a handsome setting, and round about lay scattered +numerous tiles. My heart beat quickly, not only in consequence of the +arduous climb, but also, I confess it, in hopeful expectation, I was +yet very young. Suppose if to-day and here, Mercury, the Roman, or +Wotan, the German god of wishes and discovery, should give into my hand +the long-desired memorial of the Romans of Juvavum; the name "Pagan +mound" gave undoubted evidence of the Roman occupation--for the Roman +road is here called the "Pagan road"--added to this, the source of the +spring, the traces of the marble setting, the many tiles--then the +sun's rays, just before setting, fell across the brushwood and shone +directly on the tile-slab lying before me. Cement! I picked it up and +tested it; it was without doubt that Roman cement which, becoming hard +as stone during the lapse of centuries, so marks out the buildings of +eternal Rome, I turned the piece over; there, O joy! was burnt in the +undoubted motto of the Twenty-second Legion: _Primigenia pia fidelis!_ +And as I bend down, highly pleased, to try the next brick, a yet +stronger sunbeam falls on a piece of peculiar light-gray stone. It is +marble, I see now, and on the surface there are three Roman letters +distinctly visible: "hic...." There the stone was broken; but close to +it, the broken edge of a similar piece of gray stone projected from the +moss and ivy. Does the continuation of the inscription lie here buried +under a covering of moss and turf? + +I pulled at the stone, but it was too heavy, either from the load of +earth or from its own size. + +After some useless efforts, I found that I must clear off the layers of +turf and moss before the marble would entrust me with its secret. + +Had it one to narrate? Certainly! I held the commencement in my hand: +"Hic," "here"--_what_ had here taken place, or was here attested? + +After I had with my pocket-knife cleared the first piece from earth and +root-fibres, I held its broken surface to that of the still covered +slab; they fitted very well together. Then I set to work; it was not +easy, not soon over; with hand, knife, and the point of my alpenstock, +I had to scrape and tear away fully two feet of turf, earth, moss, and, +toughest of all, the numerous little roots of the clasping ivy; +although the sun was setting and the breeze was cool, the labour made +me very hot; the perspiration fell from my brow on the old Roman stone, +which now showed itself as a tolerably long slab. After the first few +minutes my zeal was sharpened by perceiving more letters. It was at +last so far laid bare that I could take hold of the edges with both +hands, and with some little jerks bring it fully to view. I then held +the broken stone with the deciphered _hic_ against it; this gave me the +direction in which farther to search. + +I hastily scraped away earth, stones, and moss from the cutting of the +letters, for it was quickly getting darker, and I wished to make out at +once the long-buried secret. I succeeded; without question, though +certainly with difficulty, I read the inscription, in two lines under +each other: + + Hic habitat Felicit... + Nihil mali intret. + +The two last letters of the third word alone were missing; the stone +was here broken away, and its companion piece was not to be found; but +it was self-evident that the missing letters were--as--the inscription +meant: + + Here dwells happiness; + May nothing evil enter in. + +Clearly the gray marble slab had formed the threshold of the entrance +to the garden or porch of the villa; and the adage expressed the wish +that all evil might be kept far from the door. + +I sought in vain for yet farther traces, for remains of household +utensils. + +Pleased and satisfied with the discovery of the pretty proverb, I then +rested. + +Wiping my heated brow, I sat down on the soft moss by my work, thinking +again and again of the words; I supported my back against an old oak, +which had grown up out of the rubbish of the house, or, perhaps, out of +the good mould of the little garden. + +A wondrous quiet reigned over the hill, which was quite separated from +the world by trees and bushes. + +Only very, very faintly one heard the trickling of the small, scanty +vein of water which came out of the earth close by me, and only +sometimes, when it found a quicker fall, rippled more strongly. Once, +no doubt, when handsomely enclosed in the clear gray marble, it had +spoken loader. + +In the distance, on the summit of a high beech, the golden oriole sang +its flute-like evening song, which told of still deeper forest +loneliness, for the listener seldom hears the notes of the "Pirol," +except in such a solitude. Bees hummed here and there over the mossy +carpet, coming out of the dark thicket and seeking the warmer light, +sleepy themselves and lulling to sleep with their humming. + +I thought, whose "happiness" once dwelt here? And has the wish of the +inscription been fulfilled? Was the proverb powerful enough to keep off +all evil? The stone which bore it is broken--a bad sign. And what kind +of happiness was this? But stay! At that time Felicitas occurs as a +_woman's name_; perhaps the proverb, with a graceful double meaning, +would say: "Here dwells happiness; that is to say, my Felicitas; may +nothing evil come over her, over our threshold!" + +But "Felicitas"--who was she? and who was he, whose happiness she had +been, and what had become of them? And this villa, how----? + +This was my last waking thought, for with the last question I fell +asleep. + +And long did I slumber; for when the song of the nightingale, loudly +exultant, close to my ear, awoke me, it was dark night; a single star +shone through the branches of the oak. I sprang up: "Felicitas! +Fulvius!" I cried, "Liuthari! Felicitas! where are they?" + +"Felicitas!" softly repeated the echo from the hill. All else was still +and dark. + +So was it a dream? + +Now, _this_ dream I will retain. + +Felicitas, I hold thee! + +Thou shalt not escape me. + +Poetical fancy can immortalise thee. + +And I hastened home, and the same night noted down the history which I +had dreamt among the ruins of the old Roman villa. + + + + + CHAPTER I. + + +It was a beautiful evening in June, The sun threw its golden beams from +the west, from Vindelicia, on the Mercurius Hill, and the modest villa +which crowned it. + +Here and there on the great street a two-wheeled cart, drawn by a yoke +of Noric oxen, was returning home at the close of the market-day +through the west gate of Juvavum, the _Porta Vindelica_. The colonists +and peasants had been selling vegetables, fowls, and pigeons in the +Forum of Hercules; but the bustle of the street reached the hill only +as a murmur. Here it was still and quiet; one only heard outside the +low stone wall which surrounded the garden the lively rippling of a +little spring, which at its source was prettily enclosed in marble, and +after it had fed the fountain in the middle, and had wandered through +the garden in artificially winding rivulets, escaped through a gap in +the wall and hurried down the hill in a stone channel. Close by was the +gate entrance, surmounted by a statue of Mercury, but open, without +door or lattice. In the direction of the town, towards the south-east, +there lay at the foot of the hill carefully tended vegetable and fruit +gardens, meadows with the most succulent verdure, and corn-fields with +luxuriant grain, which products the Romans had brought into the land of +the barbarians. + +Behind the villa, towards the north, fine beech-woods towered and +rustled, ascending the mountain slopes; and out of their depths sounded +from afar the metallic note of the golden oriole. + +It was so beautiful, so peaceful; but from the west--and no less from +the south-east!--threatening storm-clouds were rising. + +From the entrance a straight path, strewn with white sand, led through +the wide-spreading garden, between tall ilices and yews, which +according to the long ruling fashion had been cut into all kinds of +geometrical figures--a taste, or rather want of taste, which the Rococo +did not invent, but only newly borrowed from the gardens of the +Imperators. + +Statues were placed at regular intervals in the space between the +garden gate and the entrance to the dwelling-house: nymphs, a Flora, a +satyr, a Mercury--bad work in plaster; the stout Crispus made them by +the dozen in his workshop on the Vulcan market-place in Juvavum; and he +sold them cheap: for the times were not good for _men_, and were bad +for gods and demi-gods; but these were all gifts, for Crispus was the +father's brother of the young householder. + +From the entrance of the garden, echoing from the stone wall of the +enclosure, there sounded several strokes of a hammer, only lightly, for +they were given carefully by an artist-hand; they seemed to be the last +improving, finishing efforts of a master. + +Now the hammerer sprang up; he had been kneeling just within the +entrance, near to which, standing upright against each other, were some +dozen yet unworked marble slabs, which pointed out the dwelling of a +stone-mason. He stuck the little hammer into the leather belt which +fastened the skin apron over his blue tunic, shook from a little +oil-flask a few drops on a woollen cloth, rubbed therewith the marble +till it was smooth as a mirror, turned his head aside, as a bird will +that wishes to look closely at anything, and then, nodding well +pleased, read from the slab at the entrance: + +"Yes, yes! here dwells happiness; _my_ happiness, _our_ happiness: so +long as my Felicitas dwells here--happy and making happy. May +misfortune never step over this threshold: banished by the adage, may +every bad spirit Halt! Now is the house beautifully finished by this +inscription. But where is she, then? She must see it and praise me. +Felicitas," cried he, turning towards the house, "come then!" + +He wiped the sweat from his brow, and stood upright--a supple, youthful +form, slender, not above the middle height, not unlike the Mercury of +the garden, whose proportions Crispus had formed according to old +tradition; dark-brown hair, in short curls, covered almost like a cap +his round head; under large eyebrows, two dark eyes laughed pleasantly +on the world; the naked feet and arms showed a fine shape, but little +strength; only in the right arm powerful muscles raised themselves; the +brown skin apron was sprinkled white with marble dust, he shook it off, +and cried again louder, "Felicitas!" + +Then appeared on the threshold of the house a white figure, who, +drawing back the dark-yellow curtain, which was fastened to rings +running on a bronze rod, was framed like a picture in the two pilasters +of the entrance--a quite young girl--or was it a young wife? Yes, she +must be already a wife, this child of hardly seventeen years, for she +is without doubt the mother of the infant which, with her left arm, she +nestles to her bosom: only the mother holds a child with such +expression in the movements and countenance. Two fingers of the right +hand, the inner surface turned outwards, the young mother laid on her +lips: "Be quiet!" said she, "our child sleeps." And now the hardly +full-ripe form glided down the four stone steps which led from the +house into the garden, with the left arm carefully raising the child +higher and pressing it closer, with the right gently lifting the hem of +her plaited robe as high as her well-formed ankles. It was a spectacle +of perfect grace: young and childlike, like Raphael's Madonna, but not +humble and at the same time mystically glorious, as the mother of the +Christ-child; there was nothing incomprehensible, nothing miraculous, +only a noble simplicity and yet royal loftiness in her unconscious +dignity and innocence. There floated, as it were, a sweet-sounding +music round the figure of this Hebe, every movement being in perfect +harmony; wife and yet maiden; entirely human, perfectly at rest and +contented in the love of her young husband and of the child at her +breast. Lovely, touching, and dignified at the same time, in all the +perfect beauty of her figure, her face and her complexion so modest, +that in her presence, as before a beautiful statue, every wish was +silent. + +She wore no ornament; her light-brown hair, shining with a golden +lustre when the sun kissed it, flowed back in natural waves from the +open, well-formed temples, leaving the rather low forehead free, and +was fastened at her neck in a loose knot. A milk-white robe of the +finest wool, fastened on the left shoulder with a beautifully shaped, +but simple silver brooch, hung in folds down to her ankles, showing the +pretty red leather sandals; leaving bare the neck and arms, which were +still childlike, but rather too long. The robe was fastened at the +waist with a wide bronze girdle. + +Thus she moved silently down the steps, and approached her husband. The +long narrow face had that wonderful, almost bluish-white, complexion +only possessed by the daughters of Ionia, and which no noon-tide sun of +the south can embrown; the eye-brows, in a half-circle, regular as if +drawn with compasses, might have given to the countenance a lifeless, +statuesque appearance, but under the long, slightly curved, black +eye-lashes, the dark-brown gazelle-like eyes, now directed towards her +beloved, shone with a life full of feeling. + +He flew towards her with an elastic step, lifted carefully, tenderly, +the sleeping child from her arm, and taking the flat straw lid from his +tool-basket, he placed the child on it, under the shade of a rose-bush. +The evening breeze threw the scented leaves of a full-blown rose on the +little one: he smiled in his sleep. + +Then the master, winding his arm round the waist of his young wife, led +her to the just completed entrance-slab, and said: + +"Now is the proverb ready, which I have kept hidden from thee till I +could finish it; now read, and know, and feel"--and he kissed her +tenderly on the mouth: "Thou--thou thyself art the happiness; _Thou_ +dwellest here." + +The young wife held her hand before her eyes to protect them from the +sun, which now shone in almost horizontal beams through the open +gateway; she read and blushed, the colour rose perceptibly in her +delicate white cheeks, her bosom heaved, her heart beat quickly: "O +Fulvius! thou art good. How thou dost love me! How happy we are!" And +she laid her two hands and arms on his right shoulder, on the other her +beautiful head. + +He heartily pressed her to himself. "Yes, overflowing, without shadow +is our happiness--without measure or end." + +Quickly, with a slight trembling, as if shivering, she raised herself, +and looked him anxiously in the face: "O, do not provoke the holy ones. +It is whispered," said she, herself whispering, "they are envious." And +she held her hand before his mouth. + +But he pressed a loud kiss upon the small fingers, and cried: "I am not +jealous, I, a _man_--why should the holy ones be envious? I do not +believe that. I do not believe it of the holy ones--nor of the heathen +gods, if indeed they still have life and power." + +"Speak not of them! They certainly live!--but they are bad spirits, and +he who names them, he calls them near; thus warns the Presbyter of the +Basilica." + +"I fear them not. They have protected our ancestors for many +generations." + +"Yes, but we have turned away from them! They defend us no longer. Only +the saints are our defenders against the barbarians. Alas! if they came +here, trampled down the flowers in the garden, and carried away our +child." + +And she knelt down and kissed the little sleeper. + +But the young father laughed. "The Germans, dost thou mean? they steal +no children! They have more than they can feed. But it is true----they +may perhaps one day sound out their war-cry before the gates of +Juvavum." + +"Yes, that they may, very soon!" broke in an anxious voice, and the fat +Crispus, breathing heavily after his hot walk, entered the garden. + +"Ave, Phidias in plaster," cried Fulvius to him. + +"Welcome, uncle," said Felicitas, giving him her hand. + +The broad-brimmed felt hat which he had drawn over his brow to protect +his red, fat, shining, good-humoured face, and his stump nose, from the +sun, Crispus threw on his neck, so that it hung by the leather strap on +his broad back. "May Hygeia never leave thee, my daughter; the Graces +never forsake thee, their fourth sister. Yes, the Germans! A horseman +came last night with secret information for the Tribune. But two hours +after we knew it all, we, early guests at the Baths of Amphitrite. The +rider is a Wascon; no Wascon keeps his mouth closed if you pour wine +therein. A battle has been fought at the ford of the Isar: our troops +have fled, the watch-tower of Vada is burnt. The barbarians have +crossed the river." + +"Bah!" laughed Fulvius, "that is yet far away. Go, darling, prepare a +cooling drink for our uncle--thou knowest what he likes: not too much +water! And _if_ they come, they will not eat us. They are fierce giants +in battle--children after the victory. Have I not lived months among +them as their prisoner? I fear nothing from them." + +"Nothing for thyself--but for this sweet wife?" + +Felicitas did not hear this question; she had taken up the child and +gone with it into the house. + +Fulvius shook his curly locks. "No! They would do nothing to her, that +is not their custom. Certainly, did I fall, she would not be long left +a widow. But there are people not in the bearskins of the barbarians, +who would willingly tear her from the arms of her husband." + +And he seized angrily the hammer in his belt. + +"She must not suspect anything of it, the pure heart!" continued he. + +"Certainly not. But thou must be on the watch. I met the Tribune lately +in the office of the old money-lender." + +"The usurer! the blood-sucker!" + +"I was able, fortunately, to pay him my little debt. The slave +announced me. I waited behind the curtain: I then heard a deep voice +mention thy name--and Felicitas. I entered. The Tribune stood with the +money-dealer. They were quickly silent when they perceived me. And just +now, on the way here, whom should I overtake on the highway? Leo the +Tribune, and Zeno the money-dealer! The latter pointed with his staff +to thy house, the flat roof of which, with its little statues, +projected above the trees. I guessed their conversation, and the object +of their journey. Unseen I sprang from the road into the ditch, and +hastened by the shorter way, the steep meadow path, to warn thee. Take +care--they will soon be here." + +"Let him only come, the miser! I have earned and carefully put away the +sum that I owe him for marble supplied from Aquileia, and for the town +taxes. My other creditors I have asked to wait, or rather promised them +higher interest, and have put all the money together for this +destroyer. But what does the Tribune want with me? I owe him nothing, +except a knife-thrust for the look with which he devoured my precious +one." + +"Be careful! _His_ knife is more powerful: it is the sword; and behind +him stand the wild Mauritanian cavalry, and the Isaurian hirelings, +whom we must pay with precious gold to protect us from the barbarians." + +"But who defends us from the defenders? The Emperor in distant Ravenna? +He rejoices if the Germans do not cross the Alps; he troubles himself +no more about this land, which has been so long Roman." + +"Except in extortionate taxes, to squeeze out our last blood-drops." + +"Bah! The State taxes! It is many years since they were collected. No +Imperial functionary ventures now over the mountains. I stand indeed +here on Imperial soil. But what is the name of the man who is now +Emperor, and to whom this bit of land belongs, of which he has never +heard? Every two years another Emperor is made known to us--but only +through the coinage." + +"And that becomes ever worse." + +"It _cannot_ get worse; that is a comfort." + +"A friend tells me that the taxes get more and more intolerable in +Mediolanum, where there are still bailiffs and soldiers to levy them by +force." + +"And it may be the same with us," laughed the young man. "Who knows how +much I am already in debt for these two acres of land?" + +"And the roads of the Legions are overgrown with grass and brushwood." + +"And the troops receive no wages." + +"But they pay themselves by plundering the burghers, whom they should +defend." + +"And the walls of Juvavum are falling, the moats are dry, the sluices +destroyed; the rich people go away, there only remain poor wretches +like ourselves, who cannot leave." + +"I wonder that the money-lender has not long ago moved with his great +gold-bag over the Alps." + +"I would not go, uncle, if I could; and why, indeed, could I not? My +art, my trade will be honoured everywhere, so long as the Romans dwell +in stone, not wooden houses, like the Germans. But I am firmly fixed to +this soil. Many, many generations have my fathers dwelt here; they say +since the founding of the colony by the Emperor Hadrian. They have +cleared the forests, drained the marshes, made roads, raised fords, +laid out house and garden, grafted the rich fruits on the wild apple +and pear-trees; the climate itself has become milder. I know Italy, I +have bought marble in Venetia, but I would rather live here on the old +inheritance of my fathers." + +"But if the barbarians come, wilt thou then also?"---- + +"Stay! I have my own thoughts about that. For us unimportant people it +is better under the barbarians than"---- + +"Say not, than under the Emperor. Thou art a Roman!" + +The stout Crispus said this very gravely, but the other laughed; the +good uncle but little resembled a Roman hero. His neighbours declared +that he modelled his statues of Bacchus from his own figure. + +"Half-blood! My mother was a Noric Celt. Induciomara! That does not +sound much of the Quirinal." + +"And we do not stand under the Emperor, but under his hangman servants, +Exchequer officials, and under the murderous fist of the Moorish and +Isaurian troops. If I must serve barbarians, I prefer the Germans." + +"But they are heathen." + +"In part. A hundred and fifty years ago so were we all. My grandfather +sacrificed secretly to Jupiter. And there are also Christians among +them." + +"Arians! heretics! worse than heathen, says the Holy Church." + +"A few decades past our emperors were also heretics. And the Germans +ask no one what he believes; but how heavily did our fathers suffer, if +their faith did not exactly agree with that of the ruling emperor!" + +"You take too lenient a view of the coming of the barbarians. They have +set fire to many towns." + +"Yes; but stone does not burn. The Romans quickly fit new timbers in +the undestroyed walls. Then no German settles in a town. They pasture +their herds on the land; it is the peasant in his farm who suffers from +them. They take from him a third of his fields and pasturage. But the +land profits thereby. It is now sadly dispeopled; nowhere is there a +free peasant on a free soil. For the masters, whom they never see, who +carouse in Naples or Byzantium, _slaves_ cultivate the ground, or +rather they do _not_ cultivate it, they only work enough to keep them +from starving. If they gained more the slave-master would take it from +them. But it is different with plough and sickle, when hundreds of +Germans press into the country, each with innumerable white-headed +children. For so many children as _these_ people have, I could not have +imagined over the whole earth!--And in a few years the grown-up son +builds his own wooden house in the cleared forest or the drained swamp. +They swarm over the furrows like ants, and they soon throw away their +old wooden plough-shares and copy the iron shares of the colonists, and +in a few years the land bears so much more than formerly, that it +richly feeds both conquerors and conquered." + +"Yes, yes," nodded Crispus, "we have seen all that in the frontier +lands, where they have settled. If the sons become too numerous they +cast lots, and the third part, that draws the lot to migrate, wanders +on wherever hawk or wolf directs; but never back, never towards the +north!" sighed Crispus, "so they press ever nearer to us."---- + +"But they leave us our laws, our language, our God, our Basilica, and +demand much, much less in tribute than the slave-master of the landlord +or the tax-gatherer of the Emperor." + +"It is well that Severus does not hear you, the old _armaturarum +magister_ in Juvavum; he would"---- + +"Yes, he thinks we have yet the old times, and there are still living +the old Romans as in the days of that tamer of the Germans, the Emperor +Probus, of whose race he counts himself. But by the saints he is +mistaken. Why should I be over zealous for the Emperor? He, this +Emperor, certainly shows no zeal for me; in strong Ravenna he sits and +invents new taxes, and new punishments for those who pay no taxes, +because they have nothing." + +"The old Severus has long been drilling volunteers to lead against the +barbarians, in case they should roam this way. I have been there a few +days, painfully carrying spear and shield in this heat. I have never +seen thee, so much younger and stronger, on our '_Campus Martius_,' as +they call it." + +Fulvius laughed. "I have no need, uncle; I have learnt to use arms long +enough while a prisoner with the Germans, and if the town and one's own +hearth must be defended I shall not be wanting--for honour's sake! not +that I think we shall do much; for, believe me, if they seriously +intend to come, that is, if they _must_ because they _need_ our acres, +then Severus will not keep them back with his old-fashioned generalship +and his new-fashioned 'Legions of the Capitol of Juvavum,' under the +golden eagle which he has presented to them. Nor the Tribune either +with his cavalry from Africa and his mercenaries from Isauria. But +look! Philemon, the slave, is beckoning; I see the drinking-cup shining +on the seat in the little porch--the table is ready. Now drink of our +rough Raeter-wine; Augustus long ago knew how to value it, and it has +been already a year in the cellar since the pack-mule brought it here +from the Tyrol. Let us look at Felicitas and the child at her breast, +and forget emperors and barbarians." + + + + + CHAPTER II. + + +Meanwhile, slowly walking up the high-road, the two men whom Crispus +had announced were approaching the villa; they often stood still, +interrupting their progress with an animated conversation. + +"No, no," warned the money-dealer, shaking his bald head, which, in +spite of the sun, was uncovered, and striking with his staff on the +hard road, "such haste, such violence, such impetuosity, as thy +passionate longing craves, will not answer, O friend Tribune. Only +leave me alone! We are on the right, the safe way." + +"Thy way is a crooked, weary, roundabout way, a snail-pace," cried the +soldier impatiently, and he threw back his proud head so that the black +plume of his helmet rustled on the links of his armour. "To what +purpose are these ceremonies? They do not hasten the time when you +shall add the little property to your vast possessions. And I--I cannot +sleep since the sight of this young woman has inflamed my passions. My +heart beats to breaking. All night I toss on my hot couch. By the +ungirdled Astarte of Tripolis! I _will_ have this slender Felicitas! +And I _must_ have her, or my veins will burst." And his fiery black +eyes flashed. + +"Thou shalt have her, only patience." + +"No! no patience. A sword-thrust will make the milk-sop of a husband +cold; in these arms will I lift the struggling one on Pluto, my black +horse, and quick to the Capitol, even if all the market-women of +Juvavum raise an outcry behind me." + +"Murder and rape! Thou knowest the punishment." + +"Bah! Would an accuser come forward? And the Emperor? The Emperor of +_Juvavum_--is myself. Let us see who will climb the walls of my +Capitolium." + +"The Cross, my roaring Leo, the Cross and the Presbyter. No, no, it +must not be an open sin crying to heaven. True, the Judge and his +lictors are weak in this land, which is almost given up by Rome. But +the Church is so much the stronger. If the haggard, white-bearded +Johannes thrust thee out, thou art a lost man. No pound of meat, no cup +of wine, will the people of Juvavum again sell to thee." + +"I will take what I need with my lancers." + +"But thy lancers are Mauritanians: pious Christians, baptised by the +Presbyter. See if they will follow, if the old man have cursed thee." + +"I will strike him dead after, or rather, before the curse," cried the +officer, and he made a quick step forwards; his long dark-red mantle +floated in the wind. + +But the money-changer again stopped, adjusting with his bony fingers +his yellow tunic. + +"How useless! Dost thou not know that _they_ are immortal? If thou +strikest _one_ dead, the Bishop sends another. And they are all +alike--much more than thy soldiers resemble each other. And I--I would +not look at thee across the street if thou wert thrust out from the +Holy Church." + +But now the soldier stopped and laughed aloud: "Thou! Zeno of +Byzantium! Thou believest as little in the Holy Church as Leo himself. +And it is my opinion, that thy soul-destroying usury is not regarded +more favourably by the saints, than my trifle of pleasure in love and +murder. What hast thou to do with the Church?" + +"I will tell thee, thou rash son of Mars. I _fear_ her! She is the only +power now left in these lands. The Emperor is far away, his officers +are all venal; the barbarians are like the storm, they bluster around +us, we bend to them, and they again bluster away; but the Church is +everywhere, even if only a single priest says mass in a half-ruined +house of prayer. And the priest is not to be bought. The miserable +creature dares not live like a man, so he needs nothing; and all who +hope for heaven follow him, that is to say: all fools. But woe to the +man who has the fools against him--he is lost. No, no! we must not +rouse the Church against us." + +"I need him yet, the sneak!" grated Leo through his teeth, with an +angry look at his companion; and he impatiently pushed aside his short, +broad sword in the finely-worked scabbard. + +"For that reason truly, I have to serve you," continued the merchant. + +"For a good reward," interrupted Leo scornfully. + +"But which, alas! I have yet only received in half." + +"The other half when I have the gazelle-eyed beauty in my chamber." + +"For that reason I have taken all this trouble, woven all these meshes, +and gathered them in my hand; one jerk, and the net closes over the +head of the stone-mason; he and the sweet nymph struggle therein, +defenceless, powerless, and best of all, without a right. Emperor and +Church can look on whilst thou seizest the bird, and I the land. Not +that it is valuable; but it rounds off my fields here. I can then more +easily sell the whole to a great lord in Italy." + +"I also do not intend to keep the fragile creature long; only through +the autumn and winter. When the slave-dealers come here in summer from +Antioch, I shall sell her at a high price. This half-bluish white of +the eyes is much sought for. Whence has she it?" + +"From Hellas or Ionia. Her parents were slaves of a Greek trader in +purple, who died here on the return journey from Pannonia. They declare +that the old man set them free before his death; they then carried on a +little trade in salt. When they also died, the child became the wife of +their neighbour's son, the stone-mason, who had grown up with her. I am +eager to know if they have preserved the letter of emancipation. If +not, then good-night, Felicitas! We are now at our goal; the foot-path +here turns down, from the main road towards the Mercurius Hill. +Moderate, I beseech thee, the violence and the eagerness in thine eyes, +or thou wilt spoil all." + +"I have not been born or trained to wait." + +Thereupon the Tribune approached the open entrance of the garden. Zeno +followed slowly. The setting sun threw its beams fully on the +threshold-stone and the newly-cut inscription. + +"Hic habitat Felicitas!" read the Tribune. "For yet how long?" asked +he, laughing. + +"Nihil mali intret!" concluded the merchant. "It is well that wishes +are not bolts." + +"Or _we_ should not come in!" said the other; and he trod scornfully +with a quick step on the neat letters. These were rubbed smooth as a +mirror with fresh oil. Leo's foot slipped, he staggered, tried to +recover himself, stumbled again, and fell with a cry of pain on the +stone slab, helmet and armour loudly rattling. + + + + + CHAPTER III. + + +Immediately, before his companion could stretch forth a hand to help +him, the enraged man had tried to rise, but with a wild curse he sank +again to the ground, and repelled vehemently the attempt of the other +to assist him. + +"Let me lie; the foot is broken or the ankle is sprained. No, it is the +knee. I do not know. But I cannot stand--I must be carried." + +"I will call the people of the house. The stone-mason is coming +already." + +"I will strike him dead if he touches me. I will have no help from him. +On the other side of the road to the left I saw some of my people +spear-throwing on the drill-ground. Call them to me, they shall carry +me away." + +And this was done. + +While the money-changer had gone for the soldiers Fulvius came forward, +but the Tribune turned away from him and would not speak; silent, +suppressing any utterance of pain, he was carried by the strong Moors +into the town, where they soon obtained a litter and took him to the +Capitol. + +In the meanwhile Fulvius had stopped the merchant at the entrance. "Not +over the threshold, most excellent man!" said he, pushing him back. "I +am superstitious; thou hast an evil look. As soon as I caught sight of +thee and the Tribune I hastened to meet you, bringing the money which +lies in that bag ready counted for thee. Here"----and he began to count +out the silver money on the broad coping of the low wall. "Here, count +then! It is reckoned correctly: fifty solidi principal, and at thirty +per cent, interest, fifteen solidi more. And here--for I cannot +transact business with thee without a receipt--on this wax tablet I +have written the acquittance. Take the style, put thy name to it, and +go thy way, never to return." + +But with his lean hand Zeno pushed back disdainfully the silver pieces, +so that they fell rattling on the stone slab and rolled round about. + +"We do not separate so quickly, hospitable landlord and grateful +debtor." + +"Grateful! Thirty per cent, is, I think, thanks enough, and one is not +hospitable to harpies and vampires. Take what belongs to thee and go!" + +"When I have taken that which belongs to me," answered the Byzantiner +fiercely, "then, not I, but _thou_, wilt go out of this house--out of +this whole property." + +"What does that mean?" + +"That means, that my business is not merely with the fifty miserable +solidi with interest. Thou art my debtor for more than twenty times +that sum; mine is the house, mine the whole possession, most probably +thyself also, at this moment, with every bone in thy body; mine also +that slave daughter, who peeps anxiously there between the curtains, +with the child at her breast. Mother-sheep and lamb are my own." + +So maliciously were these words uttered, at first lightly whispered, +then in rising anger, ever louder and more threatening, that Fulvius, +alarmed, looked back to see if his young wife had perceived this +disaster. + +But Felicitas had again disappeared behind the curtain, satisfied that +the wild officer, whom she feared, she knew not why, was no longer +there. She knew well that the money was ready for the usurer. + +Smiling, she bade farewell to her guest, who had emptied his beaker and +now took his departure. Not a cloud overshadowed her white brow as she +now sat down on the couch, and with a sweet smile on her maiden-like +countenance raised the waking child, and proceeded to give it +nourishment. + +Zeno still delaying, Fulvius in fear and anger pushed him with his +elbow a step farther from the entrance; the muscles of his naked arms +tightened, his hands clenched; threatening but speechless, he stood +before the man who had spoken such fearful words. + +Crispus now came forward; he seized his young nephew firmly by the +wrist of his right arm, which he was slowly raising for a blow. + +"What means this?" cried the fat uncle, anxiously. + +Fulvius spoke not a word. + +But Zeno answered: "This means, that I have bought this property from +the Imperial Exchequer, with all the old claims for State taxes, and +seven times the rent due to the Emperor, for which, according to the +accounts, this tenant and his father are many decades in arrear; this +makes, together with the fines, a debt of seven thousand solidi." + +Crispus calculated in an instant that if even he gave his whole +possessions to save his nephew, they would not amount to a seventh part +of this sum. + +"That means," continued Zeno, "that as there is no doubt about the +inability of the debtor to pay, I claim him as my slave for debt, and +shall to-morrow be installed by the magistrate into the property." + +"Oh, Felicitas!" groaned Fulvius. + +"Be calm; I will take mother and child home with me till the suit is +decided," comforted the good-natured uncle. + +"Law-suit?" laughed Zeno. "A suit that begins with its accomplishment +is quickly decided. My claim is indubitably shown by the Imperial +tax-rolls; they give positive evidence, and that young creature"---- + +"Wilt thou also claim the wife for the debt of her husband? That is not +Roman justice," cried Crispus. + +"Stay with thy ridiculous statues, and do not teach me justice and its +ways. The young wife is a slave-child, the property of the master of +her parents. This man died without a will, without assignable heirs. +His property fell to the Exchequer; to the Exchequer belonged the +parents and belongs the child." + +"The old Krates set the parents and the child free before his death." + +"Where is the letter of emancipation?" + +And when both were silent the usurer continued in a triumphant tone: +"You are silent? It is, then, as I suspected: the papyrus was destroyed +when her parents' house was burnt in the rising of the people against +the tax-collectors. Her birth as a slave is undisputed, the letter of +emancipation is not forthcoming, therefore she and her slave-brood are +mine." + +The young husband was overcome with passion and anguish, and a blow +with his fist on the breast of the villain sent him staggering +backwards. "Hast thou, then, thou old sinner, purchased my wife in +advance from the Fiscus, as thou hast also me and my house?" + +"No," said he, exasperated, "the beautiful Greek belongs to a handsome +young lord, who suits her better. A lion will soon drag her to his den. +Thou knowest well what kind of suitor the lion is." + +"The Tribune!" cried Fulvius. "I will strangle him first with these +fists; and thou, panderer, take"---- + +But Crispus slung both arms around him, holding him fast. + +So Zeno gained time to make his escape. He quickly mounted the path +which led to the main road; when he had gained the height he turned and +looked through the bushes at the villa. He raised his fist menacingly, +and cried to the two men, "Woe to the vanquished!" + + + + + CHAPTER IV. + + +Crispus then turned to go towards the house. + +"What dost thou wish to do?? asked Fulvius. + +"To ask Felicitas if there is no writing, no evidence of +emancipation"----but the young husband stopped him. + +"No, no! She must know nothing about it. The poor, tender, helpless, +happy child! It would crush her--this horrid plot!" + +"How wilt thou prevent her knowing it, when it will to-morrow be +carried out? For I do not doubt it is all correct what the usurer says +of the tax-dues and of his purchase of the property. And that is not +the worst. Thou canst fly, as so many thousand debtors have already, to +the mountains, to the forests, to the barbarians, for aught I care. +Leave him here the heap of stones." + +"The house of my parents! the place where we have been so happy!" + +"You can be happy elsewhere, when you come together again. But +Felicitas with the infant--she cannot yet share thy flight. She must +stay, and _can_ stay with me. And that, I hope, can be arranged; for I +have no doubt about the emancipation. The old people did not fabricate +it. It is only the evidence that we want--the evidence!" + +"The letter of emancipation is burnt; that is certain; burnt with the +few ornaments and savings of the parents. They often told us about it. +They had put all their valuables in a little box of cedar-wood, under +the cushions of the bed, in their own room. In the night that the +despairing tax-debtors and the peasants, the beasts of burden of the +great landlords, had broken out in riot, the old people had, with the +child, hastened into the street to inquire the cause of the fearful +noise. They ran forward to the corner of the Vulcan market. Another +crowd of fighting peasants and soldiers then poured in from behind, +cutting off their return. The wooden storehouses of the small tradesmen +that lived there, were set on fire. It was two days before they could +return to their house, and then it was almost entirely burnt out; under +the half-carbonised cushions of the bed, they found two melted gold +pieces and the iron mounting of the cedar-box, yet glowing, and round +about ashes:--from the wood of the box and its contents." + +"The writing was not to be found?" + +"In the house of her parents, certainly not; we searched it thoroughly +before we sold it, after the death of the old people." + +"Among the records of the Curies?" + +"The freedom was given by letter, not by will. Krates intended to leave +a will, but was overtaken by death before he had carried out his +intention." + +"Witnesses?" + +"There were none. I tell you the freedom was given by letter." + +"There is, then, no evidence. It is fearful." + +"It makes one despair." + +"But what thoughtlessness to live long years without"---- + +"Long years? It is not yet one year that I have called her mine. +Before that it was the care of the parents; but these good old +people--strangers here--what could they do? They could not awake the +dead master, that he might repeat the emancipation." + +"Had no one else read the letter?" + +"Possibly! But these could only witness that they had read it, not that +it was genuine." + +"I see no escape but in flight--hasty flight." + +"Hasty flight with the infant, and the young mother hardly +convalescent, is impossible. And to fly! it is not my custom. Rather +resistance by force." + +"Thou, and I, and the lame Philemon, the force against the lancers of +the Tribune! For he stands behind." + +"I believe it! I saw his passionate look rest on her--on her neck--I +could throttle him!" + +"You are a dead man before you raise a hand against him." + +"It is dark, hopeless night around us. Oh, where shall we find counsel, +where a beam of hope, of light?" + +"In the Church," spoke softly, but decidedly, a sweet voice. Felicitas +put her arm round the neck of her beloved. + +"Thou!" + +"Thou here?" + +"Yes, as thou didst not come back, I sought for thee; it is always so +between us. The boy sleeps; I laid him in my bed. I found you both so +deep in conversation, that you did not hear my step on the soft garden +sand." + +"What hast thou heard?" cried Fulvius, full of fear. + +But the radiant, cheerful face, the smooth brow, the happy smile of his +young wife, soon quieted his anxiety. + +"I only heard that you wanted light in the darkness, and there came +into my mind, as always, the word 'Church,' the name 'Johannes.'" + +Fulvius was satisfied, almost joyful, because she had heard nothing of +the lurking misfortune. He stroked tenderly her beautifully arched +head, and said: + +"And yet thou art not one of those devotees whose piety, or rather +hypocrisy, peeps through the knees of their garments, worn threadbare +by the altar steps." + +"No; I am, alas, not pious enough. But it does not help me if I do go +often to confession. Johannes always smiles when I have finished, and +says: 'Thou hast only _one_ sin; that is, Falvius.' But when I hear of +darkness and light, I always think of the Church and Johannes. It is an +experience of my earliest childhood," said she slowly, reflectively. + +"What experience?" asked Crispus, becoming attentive. + +"I had been obliged for many weeks, on account of a disease in the +eyes, to wear a bandage, to remain in darkness, I know not how long. I +was hardly six years old. I then heard the voice of Krates, the master, +who was skilful in medicine, and had himself treated me. 'Take her with +you this evening into the Basilica,' said he, 'it will not hurt her +eyes; and she must be there, so says the law.'" + +"What sayest thou? For what purpose?" asked the two men in breathless +eagerness. + +"I know not. You forget I was a child. But this stands yet clear before +me: In the evening father and mother took me between them, each holding +one of my hands; the master was also there; and they led me with +bandaged eyes--for the raw evening air of the late autumn might have +hurt them--into the Basilica. Here they took off the bandage and"---- + +"And now?" + +"What didst thou see? What happened?" + +"For the first time for months without pain, did my eyes again see the +bright but gentle light. Before the altar, which was lighted with many +wax candles, stood Johannes in shining white garments; the master +placed us all three at the lowest step of the altar, and then spoke a +number of words that I did not understand: the priest blessed us; my +parents wept--but I noticed it was from emotion, not from pain--and +kissed their master's knees; they then again put the bandage on my +eyes, and we went from the light of the church out into the darkness. +Since then light and Church and Johannes are to me one." + +Felicitas could not quite understand what now happened to her. + +Her husband warmly kissed her brow and eyes, and her uncle almost +crushed her hand. + +"Go thou back to the house," cried at last her husband. "We must go +immediately to the church; thou art right--as always. Thou--thou hast +given to us the best, the saving counsel." + +And he led her eagerly, with a last kiss, back into the garden. + +"It is quite certain," said Crispus, when Fulvius again appeared, "that +it was not only by letter that they were set free; for greater safety +there was the ceremony in the church, before the priest, according to +all the forms of the law. And the child has all unsuspiciously revealed +it to us in our greatest need!" + +"And the priest"---- + +"Was Johannes himself!" + +"He yet lives. Thanks be to the holy ones! He can testify to it." + +"And he shall: before this night! Before witnesses, before the Curies +shall he verify it! To the church!" + +"To Johannes!" + +And the two men hastened as fast as feet could carry them, down the +high-road to the town, towards the Porta Vindelica. + +In the meanwhile Felicitas went slowly back to the house, often +stopping to look back at her husband until he had disappeared from +view. + +"What may they be doing?" said she quietly, bending her beautiful head. +"Well, they are good: the holy ones are with them. The sun is now set +behind Vindelicia. But in the forest the sweet bird still sings his +evening song: how peaceful! how quiet! I will go to the bed of my +little one. I can wait there most calmly; Fulvius will come back before +night. For he loves us--yes, he loves us much, my little son!" + +She then entered the house. + + + + + CHAPTER V. + + +But Fulvius did not come back that night. + +When he and Crispus had passed through the Porta Vindelica, and had +turned into the Via Augustana, in which stood the church of Saint Peter +and the little house of the priest, they noticed Zeno, who was knocking +at the door of a magnificent building at the other end of the street. +It was the house of the Judge. + +"He is using despatch," said Crispus. "It is well that we are already +here." And he touched the knocker, which in shape like a cross hung on +the small door of the priest's house. + +"He will manage all through the Judge, who is his son-in-law," said +Fulvius, anxiously. + +"And deeply indebted to the usurer. That holds everything together, +like sticky mud." + +The door was opened, and a slave led them through a long, narrow +passage, dimly lighted by an oil lamp in a little niche in the wall, to +the room of the priest; drew back the curtain, and ushered in the two +guests. + +The half-dark room was almost void of furniture: the lid of a large +chest served as a table, on it stood writing materials; on the walls +one saw a lamb, a fish, a dove, very roughly sketched and painted a red +colour. + +Johannes, although in conversation with two priests, immediately turned +towards them; a meagre form, upright, in spite of his seventy years, by +the force of a strong, enthusiastic will; a gray Capuchin dress, tied +round the loins with a cord, was all his attire; a silver ring of white +hair, which shone like a nimbus, encircled his head. A long white beard +fell low on his breast. + +"A moment's patience, dear friends," said he. "The business of my +brothers here is urgent; you see, they have the traveller's hat and +staff--but it will soon be concluded. Thou, Timotheus, wilt return +to-night to thy post. It is well that thou hast given the warning; but +only the hireling forsakes his flock, the good shepherd remains +constant to it." + +"I go," said the one addressed, a young subdeacon, blushing quite +abashed: "I certainly did not wish to run away from the barbarians--I +only wished"---- + +"To give a warning, certainly. And then, perhaps, the spirit of +cowardice suggested this to thee--that Johannes would keep thee here +within the safe walls of this fortress. But I say to thee: 'Except the +Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.' And if the +troubles of war come over the poor people out there, thy consolations +will be needed. Go with God, my son, back to thy cell at Isunisca." + +"Are the barbarians already so near?" cried Crispus, alarmed. + +"Apparently; at least, brother Timotheus heard, three nights ago, +horsemen ride by his cell with unshod steeds. Those were not Romans." + +"They were the night-riders, the gods of the heathen, led by Wotan, the +devil chief, whom our fathers named Teutates, but the Romans +Mercurius," said Bojorix, the deacon, an older man, and he trembled for +fear. + +"Hardly," said Johannes, with a quiet smile, "for afterwards in clear +day, one of these night-phantoms, with a long flowing gray beard, and +clad in a wolf's skin, dashed into a company of armed merchants at the +bridge across the Inn, seized the largest wine-skin from the waggon, +threw it on his horse, and rode away. Spectres do not drink this year's +Raeter wine. This news from the _west_ disturbs me less than the absence +of news from the _east_--from Ovilava and Lentia! There certainly came +from there, through the Porta Latina, a few peasants into the market; +but I did not know them: I was suspicious of them. Well, we stand in +the protection of the Lord, in the rising as in the setting of the sun! +But thou, Stephen"---- + +But he who was addressed heard not. + +Gently rebuking him, the Presbyter took hold of his garment: "Stephen, +Stephen, dost thou still understand only the barbarian name Bojorix? +Thou, my Stephen, say to the children of the widow at Foutes: I will +pledge the silver vessels of the church, keeping back only one for use, +and with the proceeds satisfy the money-lender, and save her from +slavery. I will bring the money to-morrow, or the day following." + +"O, sir, they are so anxious. Why not tonight?" + +"To-night I must bind afresh the wounds of the poor leprous Jew, whom +the doctors will no more touch, and watch by him. Go now, both of you, +my brethren: and may the Angel of the Lord who led Tobias hover around +your traveller's staff. Fear not, although it is night: you walk in +light." + +Reverently saluting, they departed; Johannes refused the kiss that they +wished to press on his hand. + +"And now to you, my friends," said he; "what can I do for you?" + +With haste and excitement, each supplementing the other, they laid +their anxieties before the priest; he listened gravely, attentively. + +"It is," said he then, "as my dear penitent has said. Krates, the +master, set free the parents and the child: before me, in this +Basilica." + +"Oh, then we are safe from that base man!" rejoiced Fulvius. + +"So long as I live: but I am an old man; this night the Lord may call +me. Haste is necessary against this profligate. Yon knew Galla, the +child of Gaudentius, who lives near to the tax-office. She was +eighteen years old. It was only a few days ago. The villain saw her at +mid-day:--before night she had disappeared:--next morning she lay +shattered at the foot of the rock of the Capitol;--it was said she had +met with an accident while gathering berries--but a fisherman, who was +drawing his nets at daybreak, confided to me that he saw her throw +herself from the tower-window." + +"The Tribune lives there!" cried Crispus. + +Fulvius, speechless, grasped at the hammer in his tunic. + +"Come! The Judge, the Curies will not take any declaration so late. +They are feasting and carousing. We will seek out the elders of the +congregation: I will swear before them my knowledge of the +emancipation. And I will to-night consider with thee if we cannot +protect thy wife's innocence, and also thyself and thy inheritance, +brave stone-mason, against this usurer. Follow me." + +They hastened all three into the street. It was still tolerably light; +the twilight of the long Jane evening only very gradually deepened. As +they reached the house of the Judge, the outer door opened: the master +came out escorting the money-dealer. + +"I will," said he, "send there early to-morrow. Thy right is undoubted; +and as the flight of the debtor is probable, I will issue the +warrant--but there he stands before us." + +Zeno turned towards the street and saw the three men approaching; it +displeased him to see his victim in company with the priest, whom the +burghers loved, whom he feared and hated. He greeted him coldly; there +were other people in the street, it would have injured himself to +refuse one so honoured a greeting, but he wished to pass by him +quickly. + +"Halt, Zeno of Byzantium!" cried the priest aloud--and one would not +have credited the old man with this strength of voice--"I have to warn +thee, thee and that voluptuous Tribune. I know too well of your sins: +the measure is full. If you do not repent, I cannot longer suffer you +in the fellowship of the saints." The merchant grew pale. "A usurer +thou art; and he--he is a murderer of body and soul. You will not carry +it out. Know that, if the letter is burnt, the pure wife shall not be +given up to you. She is free--set free before me in the church." + +"Thou canst easily say that," said Zeno, with a crafty look. + +"I go to swear it before witnesses." + +"Then no one knows it except the old man," thought the other. + +"But thou who takest thirty and more per cent., I will bring thee to +account before the congregation. And not for that alone. Think of thy +poor Syrian slave! I will also accuse thee, on her account, before the +secular tribunal." The Byzantian trembled. "And thou and that +commander-in-chief of lust and power, if you cannot clear yourselves +from the blood of Galla, I will expel you next Sunday from the Church." + +Before Zeno could answer there was a clang of weapons and the sound of +heavy steps, and a company of the Tribune's Isaurians turned the +corner. The centurion hastened to the merchant: + +"I seek thee! I was directed from thy house here, to the Judge. Read! +From the Tribune!" + +Zeno took the small wax tablet, "Open?" asked he suspiciously. + +"Sealed for us," laughed the soldier; "we do not read; we only fight." + +Zeno read: "It was only the knee. My Greek slave has by friction +reduced the swelling. I shall to-morrow again mount my horse. +Threefold, if thou gettest the woman to-morrow!" + +The Greek exchanged a quick look with the Judge; he then, with the +reverse end of the style, rubbed the tablet smooth, effacing the +writing, turned the style and wrote: + +"The priest alone knows that she was set free. On Sunday he denounces +thee publicly. Dead dogs do not bark." + +"Take that to thy Tribune," said he to the centurion. + +"I cannot. I go on guard at the Vindelician gate. But here, Arsakes, go +back to the Capitol." + +He gave the tablet to one of the soldiers, who saluted and disappeared. + +"At the Vindelician gate? Wait, then!" And Zeno whispered a word to the +Judge. + +"Halt, centurion!" cried the latter, "My Carcerarii are not within +call; in case of necessity I can exercise authority over you warriors, +according to the law of the Emperor Diocletian. Seize that debtor of +the state, whose escape is suspected, and take him to the prison for +tax-debtors; it stands by the Vindelician gate." + +Fulvius was in a moment surrounded; the centurion laid hold of his +shoulder, four men seized his arms. + +"Oh, Felicitas!" sighed he, utterly helpless. + +"I will save her! I will go to her immediately!" cried Crispus, and he +hastened away. + +He was about to turn the comer, when there sounded suddenly the +hoof-strokes of a horseman riding along in mad haste, followed by a +tumultuous crowd: soldiers, burghers, women, children--all pell-mell. + +"One of our Moorish horsemen!" cried the centurion, as he caught the +horse's bridle. "Jarbas! Comrade in arms! What is the matter?" + +The rider, who was dripping with water, raised himself high in the +saddle; he had lost helmet and shield, he held a broken spear in his +right hand, blood streamed over his naked left arm. + +"Tell the Tribune," cried he in a hoarse voice, as if making a last +effort. "I can do no more--the arrow in my neck--they are there--close +the gates--the Germans stand before the town!" And dropping the bridle, +he fell backwards from his horse. + +He was dead! + + + + + CHAPTER VI. + + +Was it actually so? Did the Germans stand indeed before the gates of +Juvavum? + +The burghers racked their brains in tormenting uncertainty. They could +learn nothing more at present of what had happened without the walls; +the mouth that might have given farther information was silent for +ever. + +The gates were kept carefully shut. When the news first reached the +Capitol, Leo, the Tribune, had sprung from his couch, "To horse!" cried +he; "out, before the walls!" But with a cry of pain he had sunk back in +the arms of his slave; and he did not wish to entrust to another the +dangerous enterprise of a nightly reconnaissance outside the gates, +against an enemy certainly far superior in numbers. Severus, the +commander of the volunteers in the town, had only infantry at his +disposal. With these alone, he could not and would not advance against +the barbarians in the night. He contented himself with occupying the +towers and gates. The strengthened guard on the ramparts watched and +listened attentively in the mild night air; but there was nothing +unusual to be observed, no light in the neighbourhood, no camp-fires in +the distance, which the advancing Germans, with wives and children, +men-servants and maidens, with herds, carts and waggons, certainly +could not dispense with, and which it was not their custom to +extinguish either from prudence or fear. No noise was heard, neither +the clang of arms, nor the hoof-strokes of horses; only the regular, +gentle murmuring of the stream, which hastened through the valley from +south to north, struck on the ears of the watchers. A burgher once +thought he heard a noise in the direction of the river, like the gentle +neighing of a horse, and a splash of the waves, as if a heavy body had +fallen or sprung into the stream; but he convinced himself that he had +been deceived, for everything remained still as before. + +The nightingales sang in the bushes around the villas; their +undisturbed song testified, as one rightly judged, that neither +waggons, horses, nor warriors were in movement there. + +So to gain information they turned again to the corpse of the horseman, +and to his steed, yet trembling in every limb. + +They saw that the horse had swum the stream, man and horse were running +with water. Why had not the fugitive made use of the bridge below the +town? Because he did not know if it were occupied? or because he did +not wish to do so? Because he had striven to bring his news the most +direct road? He had no other wound than that in the neck, caused by the +deadly arrow, from which the blood had flowed over his shoulder and +shieldless left arm. It was undoubtedly a missile like those the +Germans carried; the three-barbed point had entered very deeply, the +shot was given at a close range; the long shaft of alder-wood was +winged with the feathers of the gray heron; the blade of his long +cavalry sword was missing, the leather sheath hung empty at the right +side of his girth; the spear, which the closed right hand still +grasped, was broken at the first iron clasp by which the point was +attached, by a powerful blow from a battle-axe, not from a sword; so +that the rider had lost in close combat, helmet, shield, sword, and +spear, and in flight had received the arrow shot by his pursuer. The +dead man could be questioned no more. + +But what had become of his comrades in arms? + +Leo, the Tribune, had the day before sent out five of the Moorish +cavalry to take possession of a hill, two hours' journey north-west of +the town, which commanded a view of the country as far as the thick +forest to the north. A half-fallen watch-tower stood there, which had +last been repaired and occupied in the time of the Emperor Valentinian +I., now a hundred years ago. + +What had become of the other four Moors? + +Nobody knew. + + + +The citizens passed an anxious night. The watch went their rounds on +the ramparts with torches, and small fires burnt at the spots where +broad flagstones covered the surface of the earth and turf. + +The fires were extinguished at dawn of the early June morning; the +sentinels looked carefully out into the country in the full morning +light; there was nowhere a trace of the enemy. + +Peasants came as usual from all parts into the town to sell or to buy. +They were astonished to find the gates closed. They were allowed to +pass in singly, all being carefully examined to see if they were +trustworthy people or spies, perhaps even barbarians in disguise. + +But the inoffensive peasants were terrified at this unusual sharpness +of the gate-watch; to question them was without rhyme or reason. They +evidently knew nothing, and were much more zealous and anxious to +inquire in the town what had taken place. + +From the north-west, in the direction of Vindelicia, from which the +approach of the barbarians was expected, the country people had come +in, as usual, in numbers; they had observed nothing suspicious. But +from the south-east hardly anyone came. It excited no remark, few +villas and houses lay that way, and it was only seldom that a +frequenter of the market came from thence. One might have considered +the fright of the previous evening as a dream, only the dead horseman +was a silent witness to its actuality. + +The first hours of the day passed away without any threatening +indications; there was no enemy visible even in the far distance; the +bridge over the Ivarus below the town (a second joined the two banks +within the walls) was seen to be unoccupied. + +As the Tribune was still kept a prisoner in the Capitol by the accident +to his knee, Severus ordered the Vindelician gate to be opened; he went +with a company to the bridge, caused the end on the left, western bank +to be barricaded with pieces of rock and timber, left there thirty +spearmen and slingers, and then returned to the town quite satisfied +that there was no trace of the enemy. But the old soldier did not relax +his watchfulness; he ordered the gates to be kept closed and the towers +garrisoned, and any occurrence was to be notified immediately to him in +the Bath of Amphitrite, whither he now went, to wash away the cares of +the night and the heat and dust of the march. + +After having fully enjoyed the bath, he sat comfortably on the soft +woollen rug covering the marble seat, which formed a semicircle around +the porphyry bath, rubbing now arms, and now legs, from the hip to the +knee. + +This man of about fifty-five years was a model of healthy and vigorous +strength; his limbs showed that the practice of the hunt and gymnastics +had developed the power of his strongly-formed body. + +He now ceased his movements, and sank gradually into deep thought. His +head fell deeper and deeper on his breast; at last he extended his +right arm and began to draw figures in the clean white sand, which +covered the space between the marble seat and the edge of the bath. + +"Must rank our men still deeper against the German wedge," murmured he +to himself. "Ten men--twelve men deep. No, they don't waver yet. And +yet--it must be just a question of arithmetic to defeat these Germans. +It is only a problem of stroke and counter-stroke. Who may solve it? It +would be best"---- + +"It would be best," broke in gently a melancholy voice, "that we lay in +our last long sleep, where there is no longer either stroke or +counterstroke." + +Severus turned; the white woollen curtain of the inner bath was moved +aside; a handsome man in the strength of youth, and fully armed, stood +behind it. + +"Thou, Cornelius! What meanest thou?" + +"Thou knowest my meaning. The best for man is not to have been born." + +"Shame on thee! thirty years old, and already so tired of life." + +"Shame on _thee_! Nearly sixty years, and still so foolishly fond of +life." + +"What dost thou bring?" + +"Advice: evacuate the town, all the citizens to the Capitol. An express +messenger over the Alps for help." + +"Thou seest spectres!" + +"Ah! If I saw only _them_! But I see the Germans!" + +"There is no trace of them far and wide." + +"It is exactly that which is mysterious. They must be near, quite near; +and no one knows where they are." + +"_Why_ must they be quite near?" + +"Because the gray heron does not go southwards in the month of June; +and because he never flies so low." + +"What has that to say to it?" + +"I will tell you. I was making the midnight round to relieve the guard +at the Porta Latina. From the battlements of the tower I looked out +sharply into the night. Nothing was to be seen, and nothing to be +heard, except the song of the nightingale. Then suddenly I heard the +cry of the gray heron." + +"They are not numerous here," said Severus; "but they do appear in the +stagnant waters and in the marshes of the Ivarus." + +"Certainly; but the cry did not come from the river; it sounded on this +side of the stream, out of the mountain forest." + +"Making an eyrie there, perhaps." + +"It was the _migratory call_. And they migrate in August. And after the +first call there was a second, a third, a fourth answer, till the +sounds died away in the distance." + +"The echo from the hills!" + +"That is conceivable. But the cry did not come from high in the air; it +came from below, from the ground, up to me on the battlements of the +tower. The heron does not fish at night." + +The old man smiled pleasantly. "Do, my Cornelius, believe the old +huntsman. It fishes at night when it has a brood to feed. I have myself +caught one in the morning in the fishing-net which I had set the +evening before." + +"But that arrow was winged with the feathers of the--gray heron. And as +often as the heron called, there answered still deeper out of the +eastern forest the shrill cry of the black eagle." + +"Accident! And how could the Germans come here from the east? From the +west, from Vindelicia only, could the Alemanni come, who are the +nearest Germans to us. How could they have crossed the river unnoticed, +unless they have wings, like the gray heron himself? Foresight is very +praiseworthy, my young friend, and thou seest I am not wanting in +vigilance. But thou art too anxious; youth and age have exchanged their +_role_, I know," hastened Severus to add, as an angry look flashed +across the handsome face of the young man, "I know Cornelius Ambiorix +is only anxious for Rome, not for himself." + +"Why should I be anxious about a life that has no charm and no value?" +asked the other, again composed, and sitting down by the old man. "The +philosophy of the sceptics has destroyed the old gods for us; and I +cannot believe in the Jew of Nazareth. A blind fate guides the world. +Rome--my pride, my dream--sinks, sinks irretrievably." + +"Thou errest there," answered the other, quite composed. "I would +to-day throw myself on this sword"--he grasped the weapon which lay +near him on a cushion--"if I shared thy belief. But this sword--it is +inherited from my imperial ancestor, Probus--gives me always fresh +encouragement. Nine German kings knelt before that hero's tent, when he +drew this sword out of the scabbard, and commanded the trembling ones, +according to their own custom, to swear allegiance by the sword. And +they swore it." + +"That is long ago." + +"And with this sword is also bequeathed in our family the oracular +promise: 'This sword is conqueror in every battle.' It has been proved +in many generations of our house. I myself, while I was allowed to +serve, had defeated the Germans in twenty battles and fights, with this +sword." And the old man pressed the weapon tenderly to his breast. + +"Pardon, if I correct thee," said the young man, smiling sadly; "not +with this sword, but with Isaurians, Moors, Illyrians, and, most of +all, with Germans, hast thou other Germans conquered. Rome, Latium, +Italy has no more men. There are no more Romans. Celtic blood flows in +my veins, Dacian in thine. And why canst thou no longer serve? Because +thou hast often conquered, the mistrustful Emperor has taken the +general's staff from thy hand, and in gratitude for thy services sent +thee here in honourable banishment." + +"It was very--undeserved," said Severus, rising; "but no matter! I can +be of use to the Roman state here also." + +"Too late!" sighed the other. "_Fuimus Troes!_ It is over with us. Asia +to the Parthians, Europe to the Germans, and to us--destruction. It +seems to me that each people, as each man, lives out its life. Twelve +centuries have gone by since Romulus was suckled by the she-wolf. We +must allow that she had good milk--the venerable beast--and the wolf's +blood in our veins has lasted long. But now it is diseased, and the +baptismal water has utterly ruined it. How can the government of the +world be maintained, when hardly any Roman marries, and the few +children that are born are not suckled by the mothers, while these +broad-hipped German women are filling the land with their numerous +progeny. They literally eat us up, these forest people; they dispossess +us from the earth more through their chaste fruitfulness than by their +deadly courage. Three hundred and forty thousand Goths did the Emperor +Claudius destroy; in four years after there stood four hundred thousand +in the field. They grow like the heads of the Hydra. And we have no +Hercules. I have had enough of it. I shall bring it to an end in the +next battle. One does not suffer long after a blow from a German +battle-axe." + +Severus seized the hand of the young man who had spoken so bitterly. "I +honour thy sorrow, Cornelius, but thou shouldest act according to thy +own words: thy Thalamos stands empty; thou must again make Hymen sound +forth under the gray pillars." + +"Ha!" laughed the young man fiercely, "that a second Emperor may entice +away from me a second spouse, as a bishop the first bride, an Emperor +the first wife led astray? No! truly there are no more Romans; but +still fewer Roman women. Pleasure, love of ornament, and love of power, +are the three Graces whom they invoke. Have you ever heard that the +priests among these barbarians befool the young girls? or their kings +entice wives from the hearths of their free husbands? I have not. But a +people without gods, without native warriors, without true wives, +without children--such a people can no longer live. A people that has +every reason to tremble before its own slaves, ten times more numerous +than itself! If thou hadst only seen the murderous dark looks with +which the slaves of Zeno, the usurer, threatened their lord and the +slave-master, as they were just now driven in chains through the +street! But I myself? How stands it with me? I have been everywhere, +and held many different offices in Rome, in Ravenna, in Byzantium: +soldier, magistrate, writer--all with success; and yet I found it +all--vain, hollow. I have tried everything, it is all naught. Now, +returned home to the town of my fathers, I find it ruled by a usurer +from Byzantium and a sensualist and brawler from Mauritania; and the +only one who still makes any opposition to this alliance, is not +_thou_, and not _I_; we are only two honourable Romans! no: a Christian +priest, whose fatherland, as he boasts, is not the Roman Empire, but +heaven!--I have had enough of it!--I say it again: a people without +gods, without wives, without mothers, without children--a people whose +battles are fought by levied barbarians--such a people can no longer +live! It must die; and that soon. Come, then, come, ye Alemanni! I +cannot swallow hemlock. I will fall with the clang of the tuba, and +imagine that I am falling under Camillus or Scipio." + +Cornelius was wildly excited. Severus seized him by both shoulders: + +"Promise me not to seek death until you see the next battle lost, and +that you will be willing to live if we conquer." + +Cornelius nodded, sadly smiling, "I think I can boldly promise that. +Thou and thy conquering sword--you will no longer keep back the quickly +approaching ruin." + +At this moment a shrill blast from the tuba struck on their ear. The +curtain of the inner bath was torn aside; an armed burgher rushed in +and cried: "Hasten, Severus; now they are coming. German horsemen are +galloping hither out of the western forest on the other side of the +river!" + + + + + CHAPTER VII. + + +With the help of the messenger and the bath attendants, Severus was +quickly armed. Accompanied by Cornelius he hastened to the Vindelician +gate, there to mount the high wall, which afforded a prospect far and +wide. The exertion made him very hot, for it was now mid-day; the +burning rays of the sun fell vertically on his heavy helmet. + +At the gate he was met by a centurion of the Tribune; Leo had already +seen from the Capitol the horsemen swarming out of the western forest. +He sent word there were only about a hundred Germans: he would himself +immediately lead his cavalry to the gates, for he was able again to +mount his horse. + +Severus ordered the soldier to follow him for the moment on to the +walls. With Cornelius he looked intently over the plain, which +stretched from the left farther bank of the river as far as the western +forest. + +After long observation he turned. He was about to speak to Cornelius; +but his eyes fell on two country people who were anxiously looking in +the same direction. + +"Now," said he, "Geta, how could you be so foolish? You swore by all +the saints that you had seen no trace of the enemy. Your cottages lie +on the other side of the western forest. And now the barbarians lie +hidden between you and the town! Were you blind and deaf?" + +"Or did you _wish_ to be so?" interposed Cornelius mistrustfully. +"Consider," warned he, "they have every reason to support the +barbarians; rough and passionate these may be, but they do not press +the last marrow out of the bones of their bondmen, like the imperial +fiscal." + +But the elder of the two peasants answered: "No, sir, I am no traitor. +I do not support the barbarians. Have I not served under the great +Aetius and received an honourable discharge and this little property? +Believe an old legionary; and if you do not believe me, keep me here as +a hostage till it is decided. Only yesterday I and my nephew were +boiling pitch in the west forest--the traders from Ravenna give a high +price for it. The whole forest is not five miles in breadth; if there +had been many barbarians hiding themselves there, we must have seen +them; it cannot be a migrating horde, an army of people; it can only be +adventurers, a few horsemen who are reconnoitring to see how the +country is protected." + +"We will show them how it is protected," cried Severus, and he raised +his right hand menacingly. "The veteran is right, Cornelius. I believe +him. It is only that handful of riders over by the river that is +capering towards us. We will drench them for their insolence. Himilco, +back to the Tribune. I decline the help of his Moors--hearest thou? I +decline it altogether; it is a case of honour, to show these robbers +that the burghers of Juvavum alone are men enough to chastise them." + +"I fully agree with you," said Cornelius. "It can only be a party of +scouts." + +"I shall, notwithstanding, be cautious, and make the attack with an +overpowering force; this time I _must_ conquer--on account of thy vow, +my Cornelius." + +He struck him on the shoulder with fatherly kindness, and descended the +narrow flight of steps from the walls. Having reached the gate, he +commanded the tuba-blower to hasten through all the quarters of the +town, and summon the burghers to the Vindelician gate: in a quarter of +an hour would the attack be made. Loud sounded the imperative tones in +all parts of the town, and from every street the armed volunteers +streamed forth to the north-western gate. One of the first was the fat +Crispus, who came panting from his workshop hard by. He toiled along +under an immense spear and shield. It was hot, and Crispus was old and +corpulent. On his head, instead of a helmet, he carried a cooking +utensil, in which, in peaceful times, the old Ancilla was accustomed to +bake the--only too greasy--festival cakes! It was certainly now scoured +quite bright, but it was somewhat too large, and at each step rattled +about his ears. He did not present a very warlike appearance. + +Severus observed him with a shake of the head. "Now the will is +good"---- + +"And the flesh is not weak!" mocked Cornelius. + +"But," continued Severus, "I would rather see thy slim nephew, the +stone-mason. Why does he deny his arm to the Fatherland? Always with +his young wife? Where is he?" + +"Here he is!" cried an entreating voice high above their heads. + +Crispus had not had time to answer--had only pointed towards the tower +at the gate; and behind the barred window of the second story, Fulvius +was to be seen eagerly stretching forth both hands. + +"Let me out, O general! Help me down, and with the spear I will thank +thee!" + +"Severus," said Crispus eagerly to the astonished general, "order the +gaoler--there he stands, in the doorway--to release him; Zeno the +usurer has caused him to be imprisoned." + +"Bring the man out, Carcerarius!" commanded Severus. "I need such a +strong youthful arm. Let him pay first his debt to the Fatherland. +Should he fall, he will be free from every debt; should he survive, he +will return to the tower." + +The gaoler hesitated; but a blow in the ribs which Cornelius +impatiently dealt him altered his opinion. + +"I yield to force!" cried he, rubbing the assaulted spot. + +"What an iron, strictly obedient Roman soul!" exclaimed Cornelius. + +Immediately afterwards Fulvius sprang over the threshold, seized the +shield and spear which were brought to him from the store of arms on +the ramparts, and cried: + +"Out! out before the gate!" + +Well pleased, the eye of the general rested on him. + +"I praise such zeal! Thou longest for the battle?" + +"Ah, no, sir," answered the young man ingenuously, "only for +Felicitas." + +While Severus turned away vexed, Crispus comforted his nephew. + +"I have been watching thy house from the wall. Compose thyself, no +barbarian has yet crossed the river." + +"And the Tribune?" whispered the young husband. + +"Has not yet left the Capitol" + +"And Zeno?" + +"Is fully occupied in bringing his treasures into the town and hiding +them." + +Then the tuba-blowers returned from their rounds the last citizens from +the most distant houses arrived. + +Severus and Cornelius drew them up in two companies, each of about +three hundred men. Then the old hero stood before them and said: + +"Romans! Men of Juvavum! Follow me! Out before the gate, and woe to the +barbarians!" + +He expected loud applause, but all were silent. + +One man alone stepped from the ranks, and said anxiously: + +"May I ask a question?" + +"Ask!" answered Severus, displeased. + +"How many barbarians may there be out there?" + +"Hardly one hundred." + +"And we are six hundred!" said this bold one, smiling comfortably and +turning to his fellow-citizens. "To the gate!" cried he suddenly, +striking his sword on the shield. "To the gate! And woe to the +barbarians!" + +"Woe to the barbarians!" cried now the whole troop. + +The gate was drawn up, and over the drawbridge, which at the same time +fell across the moat, the men hastened out of the town. + +Very few guards were left on the walls. Women and children now hurried +from their houses, mounted the ramparts, and looked after their dear +ones, who at a quick march were advancing towards the bridge below the +town, the west end of which, as we have seen, had been in the morning +barricaded and occupied by a small troop. + + + + + CHAPTER VIII. + + +At mid-day, when the Alemannian horsemen had first become visible, Leo +the Tribune was lying in his richly-furnished chamber in the high tower +of the Capitol, on a soft couch over which was spread a lion's skin. He +felt in his best mood. + +His knee pained and hindered him no longer. + +He comfortably stroked the rich black beard which encircled a +face--bronze-brown, small, originally nobly formed, but long since +become terrible by passions. + +Before him, on a table of citron-wood, there stood, half-emptied, a +large jug of fiery Siculer wine, and a silver drinking-cup. + +Two Greek slaves, father and son, were in attendance on him. + +The elder slave, raising his finger in warning, brought the mixing-cup. +But, laughing, his master put it aside. "North of the Alps," said he, +"nature herself mixes too much coldness in our blood; we do not need to +dilute the wine. Is it not so, my demure Antinoues? There, drink!" And +he offered the cup to a third servant, a handsome boy of some fifteen +years, who was crouching on the ground in the extreme corner of the +room, as far as possible from Leo, and turning his back to his master. +He wore only a purple petticoat round his loins. His other garments the +Tribune had stripped off, that he might gaze on his splendid limbs. +Without turning his beautiful, sad face, the prisoner shook his head, +round which flowed long golden hair. + +Defiantly, threateningly, he then spoke: "My name is not Antinoues; my +name is Hortari. Set me free! let me go back to my own people in the +rustling forests of the Danube! or else kill me! For know this, +shameful man, never will I comply with thy orders." + +Leo angrily threw at him the heavy fortress-key, which lay on an +ottoman near. "Depart hence, stubborn dog! Davus!" cried he to the +younger slave, who was engaged in putting ready the armour of the +Tribune, "drag him to the stable, and hang him there in chains! If the +brat will not be his master's plaything, away with him to the beasts!" + +The boy sprang up and threw his woollen mantle around him. + +Davus dragged him away. The look, full of deadly hate, which the young +German threw back, quickly turning as he passed out of the room, Leo +did not observe. He soon recovered his good-humour. + +"To-morrow I shall have better company here in the Thalamos," said he, +again stroking his dark beard, "than an untamable young bear. +Felicitas! I drink to our first embrace!" And he emptied the cup. + +Then he stood up. "I need a support no longer!" He thereupon motioned +away the elder slave, stepped to the window of the tower, and looked +out. + +"There is not a hundred of them, these daring barbarians! What +insolence! Only a few wear defensive armour; and their weapons of +attack are pitiable. How many of their arrows, spears, battle-axes have +already splintered harmlessly on my helmet and armour! They are coming +straight towards me. I long for battle and victory! There is life down +there in the streets of the town. Severus is gathering his cobblers and +tinkers. But they will not get the better of the impetuous enemy. When +the old man, who is playing the general, is in the greatest distress--I +will let him struggle a good while as a punishment--then will I ride +out with my cavalry like the storm of the desert, and sweep them before +me. But first to the priest. No one in the town is now thinking of +anything but the barbarians outside the gates. So I can accomplish it +unnoticed. The danger from that priest must be very threatening, when +the cowardly gold-sack himself counsels bloody means. He has ever +menaced me, the psalm-whiner. First security and revenge, then the +pleasure of victory, and for a reward--Felicitas. Let Pluto be +saddled," commanded he the old slave, "and help me to arm." + +The old man took the order to the court below, and then returned to the +tower. Leo had already put on the tall helmet with its flowing plume, +and the splendid greaves, and the slave now helped his master to clasp +and buckle over the dark-red tunic the magnificent breast-armour, which +was adorned with many orders and distinctions. When Leo had girded on +the sword, and was going to take the bronze shield, with the long, +sharp spike in the centre, the old man took carefully from a small +ivory box, which stood in the corner near the couch, a narrow leather +strap with two diminutive appendages, and with an entreating, silent, +impressively eloquent look, offered the charm to his master. It was a +small, ugly idol in amber, and a tiny silver case. + +"Take it, my lord!" entreated the Greek, as Leo contemptuously pushed +it away. + +"What shall I do with that? What sort of"---- + +"Do not revile them," implored the old man; "or they will be malicious +and protect no longer. Dost thou not know them, the guarding jewels? +The one is the Egyptian god, Phtha, and the capsule encloses a hair of +the beard of the Apostle Paul. If the first does not help, the second +will. Wear to-day both. I had last night a bad dream." + +"_Thou_ wear them, then!" + +"The dream did not concern me, but thee, my lord. I saw thee +celebrating a marriage!" + +"Oh, that thou seest often! This time with Felicitas?" + +"No, with Persephone, the queen of shades." + +"She is no doubt very beautiful," laughed the Tribune, spreading out +his powerful arms; "let her only approach, she is welcome!" + +"May the omen be far distant!" cried the slave. + +"Thou art very anxious about me! Does my life concern thee? Why? Say, +for what reason?" + +"Oh, sir, thou wast never so angry with Chrysos as"---- + +"With all the others, wilt thou say?" laughed the Moor. "Only +self-interest, old man; I need thee; that is, thy healing knowledge and +fingers." + +"If thou wouldst only pray! And some one creature on the earth, +love--some one name honour! It would be better for thee!" + +But the soldier gave a shrill laugh: "Love? Do I not every month love +another woman?" + +"Thou destroyest what thou lovest!" + +"And pray? To which god shall I pray? With the same fervour and with +the same results, have I seen prayer offered to Astarte and Artemis, to +Osiris and Jupiter, to Christ and Jehovah. But honour? What can be +sacred to me? Hardly so old as that German youth, I was stolen by +Vandal horsemen. Then lost I home, parents for ever! Sold as a +slave to the Romans, I suffered and enjoyed, even as a boy, things +unspeakable--pampered, kissed, fed, whipped. I slew my last master, +escaped into the forests of Calabria, became robber, robber-chief; was +taken, condemned to the sports in the circus, pardoned by the Emperor +when even my blood reddened the arena, placed among the mercenaries, +soon by wild courage centurion and Tribune. To which god shall I pray? +They all forsook me when I believed in them. But since I scorn them +all, Fortune serves me like a beloved maid. And what shall I love and +honour? My palm-rustling home? That is occupied by Vandalic barbarians! +Rome? Rome at first ill-treated me like a captive beast of prey, and +now hunts me like a tamed lion against her enemies. Very well; the +nature as well as the name of this my terrible countryman have I +chosen;" and he patted the proudly-maned head of the desert-king on his +couch. "Booty, enjoyment, battle! Wine, war, women! And at last--no +awakening--eternal night in the silent waste of death!" With that he +seized both amulets, threw them from the tower window, grasped his +spear, which was resting against the wall, and went clanging down the +steep tower staircase. + +The Greek followed sadly. + +Having reached the wide court-yard, the Tribune commanded his troops to +mount; he ordered the squadron to follow him into the town, and station +themselves in the Forum of Hercules, there to wait till, he should lead +them to the attack. The centurion Himilco, in command of the Isaurian +foot-soldiers, was placed at the look-out post at the entrance of the +Capitol, to watch the progress of the battle and any possible events in +the town; and if his presence was required in the town or outside the +walls, he must first close the strong gate of the citadel, and leave +two guards there. The Tribune quietly ordered his two slaves, the old +Greek and his son, to the foot of the Capitol with a closed litter: +"under any circumstances," added he. "To drag on horseback a struggling +woman up the steep path--that might oblige me seriously to hurt her--as +in Galla's case," said he to himself. And now, having given all his +commands, he placed his foot in the stirrup, to swing himself on Pluto, +his magnificent black Spanish steed, which had, with the front hoof, +been impatiently striking sparks from the granite pavement. He was +hardly in the saddle when, through the open stable-door, his eye fell +on the boy Hortari, who, with outstretched arms, was chained to the +wall between two iron horse-racks. In a corner of the stable lay a +round blue German shield, a spear, and a battle-axe, the weapons that +had been taken from the boy at his seizure. + +"Ha! the future Antinoues!" laughed he, fixing his spear at his side. +"Unchain him! He shall go on the walls, and see the destruction of his +German heroes. At night we will chain him with a whole pack of such +bears." + +And he gave his steed the spurs, so that he started loudly neighing. +"Beware of the bears of the forest," cried Hortari, now unchained, and +stepping to the door of the stable with flashing eyes; "their claws +will tear you in pieces." + +But the Tribune, with a laugh, shouted: "Up! to the gate! and woe to +the barbarians!" + +And, following their powerful leader, the glittering cavalcade galloped +off, rushing and clashing down the valley. + + + + + CHAPTER IX. + + +With less cheerfulness than the Tribune, had his confederate Zeno +received the news of the appearance of the Germans before the town. + +He owned many estates outside the gates, managed by slaves and +slave-women, who might take this opportunity, as the oppressed often do +in such cases, to run away to the barbarians, and with them make good +their escape. + +Although he was no patron of art, and was too prudent to leave +treasures outside the fortress, yet his villas contained much valuable +furniture and other household goods. There were also herds of cattle, +sheep, and swine, which he would very unwillingly have bestowed on the +robbers. + +Therefore, in the early hours of the morning, when Severus went out to +reconnoitre and to take possession of the bridge over the Ivarus, Zeno +sent out, under the protection of this troop, his slave-master, himself +an emancipated slave, with a gang of armed men, to bring in from the +houses which lay, at all events, on this side of the river, the most +valuable effects. The slaves especially belonging to those properties +were to be led into the town--if necessary by force. These peasants and +herdsmen, always rougher, wilder, more insubordinate than the town +servants, had only obeyed with reluctance; on two estates the unhappy +creatures had resisted, but were overpowered by superior numbers and +bound with chains to each other. The slave-master swung incessantly +over them the many-lashed leather scourge, urging them to haste, and to +burden themselves with still heavier loads, which they balanced on +their heads. + +In a long train, those that were chained in the centre, cattle and +sheep forward, armed slaves at each side, the overseers at the head and +end of the line, they now came back through the Vindelician gate, which +was immediately closed behind them. + +"Forward, Thrax, thou old dog!" cried Calvus, the overseer--he was +considered Zeno's son by a slave-woman--to a white-haired old man who +staggered under a load of bronze vessels; and as from feebleness he +could not hasten his steps, Calvus struck him a severe blow on the back +with the flat of his sword-blade. + +The old man cried aloud and stumbled to the ground. + +A gigantic neatherd, who was very heavily chained--he had resisted +furiously, and still bled from several wounds--then halted; he thereby +stopped the progress of all who were chained to him. + +"I pray thee, Calvus, spare my father! Give his basket to me." + +"Wait, Keix, thou cursed Thracian, I will give thee that which is thy +due," cried Calvus, and struck him with the edge of the sword over head +and shoulder, so that the blood spouted out. He was silent; not a cry +of pain escaped his tightly-pressed lips. But Calvus continued: "Thou +hast risen in open rebellion; we might have thee quartered for it. But +it would be losing too much capital to kill such a beast, that we have +fed for thirty years. Patience, my little son! I shall try on thee the +new torture instrument which the master has procured from Byzantium. +That shall be my refreshing evening's amusement." + +The strong Thracian grew pale; but with anger, not fear. He only cast a +look at his persecutor, and again strode forwards. + +While some of the servants distributed the herds in the town stabling, +the chained slaves were taken by Calvus to the court of the master's +house in the Via Augustana, to receive their punishment. + +"Do with them as thou wilt," said Zeno in his writing-chamber, reading +through the list of the rescued property, "only take care that the life +and value, that means the power to work of these wretches, does not +suffer thereby. Previous to mutilation, we must, according to the law +of the pious Constantine, obtain the sentence of the Judge. I will ask +my son-in-law. Mucius," and he smiled; "but, with a slight modification +of the law, _afterwards_. Now I shall go to the Bath of Amphitrite to +inquire the news." + +While he, accompanied by Calvus, was passing through the court, his +eyes fell on old Thrax, who lay in the comer on some straw; quite +exhausted, he had sunk into a deep sleep; by him, leaning against the +wall, was his giant son, heavily chained; blood still trickled from his +wounds. Zeno thrust at the sleeper with his staff; the old man opened +his tired eyes: + +"Ah, am I still alive? I dreamt that the Lord had called me! I walked +in Paradise! But on the earth also I belong to the Lord Christ!" + +"Then thy Lord Christ shall feed thee," mocked Zeno. "Calvus, that old +man is good for nothing. Withdraw from him the wine and bacon. It is +useless to feed him." His look then met the eye of the son, who grasped +his chains in rage. + +Zeno was alarmed. + +"Listen, Calvus," whispered he; "that one there, after he has been +tortured, let him be sold. He makes me uneasy. He has the look of our +black bull immediately before it went mad. Away with him to the mines +of the Fiscus! They need there such strong scoundrels, and the lead +soon poisons. Now to the bath!" + +With that he went out of the court. He had hardly crossed the threshold +of his house, when a lame slave hobbled in, who very much resembled the +powerful-limbed Keix; it was his elder brother. But he did not seem to +notice either the old father or the brother streaming with blood; he +limped towards Calvus, and said, deeply bending: + +"My master, Mucius the Judge, sends you this writing. Zeno and thou, +you are accused before him, by Johannes the priest, of having scourged +the Syrian woman, so that the unborn child died. He says he can this +time only with difficulty acquit you." + +The writing was long; while Calvus read it with a knitted brow, the +lame man glided silently to his brother and pressed a file into his +hand; it was wrapped in a strip of papyrus. Keix read: "After the +mid-day meal." With his chained hand he lifted the small strip to his +mouth and swallowed it. + +The lame man stood again behind Calvus. "What answer, sir?" + +Highly displeased, Calvus gave him back the indictment. "May Orkus +swallow up this priest! He knows everything that does not concern him. +I must myself speak with thy master. Go on! Thou limpest horribly, +Kottys," laughed he. "But the expedient has been successful. We sold +thee to the Judge as incorrigible. But since thy new master has cut thy +sinews for thee, thou hast not again attempted to escape, and art +become tame, quite tame." They then both left the court. + + + +In an hour Zeno returned from the bath. As he crossed the courtyard, +all the slaves, chained and unchained, were sitting at their scanty +meal, consisting of small pieces of coarse barley-bread, onions, and +bad wine, sour as vinegar. He went into his writing-room to his +accounts. + +There, as was well known, no one dared disturb him. + +This room--alone in the house--had instead of curtains a strong wooden +door, which could be locked. + +The low window looked on a narrow lane, not on the principal street. + +He soon noticed an unusual noise, as of the screaming and running of +many men in the distance. The door then opened gently. Astonished, +displeased at the intrusion, Zeno turned. + +He was still more astonished to see old Thrax standing upon the +threshold, who shut the door carefully, turned the key, and laid his +finger on his lips, warning silence, for his master had angrily given a +cry of displeasure. + +"Flee, master! Quick! Through the window! Thou art a dead man if they +seize thee." + +"Who? Are the barbarians in the town?" + +"Thy slaves; they are in revolt; all, in the whole town. They will be +here immediately." + +Horror seized the Byzantian. He was well aware what vengeance he had +heaped up against himself. From the courtyard the wild cry already rang +in his ears. He seized a large bag of gold pieces, and a little purse +full of precious stones which lay before him on the counter of slate; +he had been in the act of counting them. The old man pushed a stool to +the window to help him to mount. Zeno started; it was with astonishment +that he saw the old man actively engaged about his escape. "Why doest +thou this for me?" + +The slave answered solemnly: "I do it for the sake of the Saviour; +Johannes has taught me that my Lord Christ has said: 'Reward evil with +good.'" + +"But whither, whither shall I flee?" + +"To the church! There is safety. Johannes will protect thee." + +"Johannes!" + +Zeno wondered if the Tribune had already carried out his bloody +counsel. His knees shook. He was not able to climb the low breastwork +of the window. + +Nearer and nearer sounded the uproar. + +He heard the voice of Calvus. "Mercy! mercy!" he cried. + +Immediately afterwards was heard a heavy fall. + +"Alas!" groaned Zeno, now at last lifted up by the slave to the window. +"If they guess my hiding-place!" + +"Master, no one knows it but myself, and I"---- + +"Thou shalt never betray me!" cried the Byzantian, and he seized the +dagger in his tunic, thrust it to the haft in the neck of the old man, +and swung himself into the street. + + + + + CHAPTER X. + + +Meanwhile the straggle outside the gates was being decided. + +The barbarians some eighty horsemen, had several times approached the +river, but never within bow-shot; they had also trotted towards the +blockaded bridge, but had made no attack on that strong position. The +eyes of the people on the ramparts and of the attacking party were +directed intently towards this enemy in the _west_. + +When the bridge was reached Severus ordered a small opening to be made +in the barricade, through which only two men at a time could gain the +left bank, and now, as the two last of the long train of burghers +passed through--the bridge was still occupied by its original +garrison--there sounded from the hills of the eastern forest, from the +_right_ bank, the piercing cry of the black eagle. + +Cornelius quickly turned and looked towards the east. "Heardest thou +the cry of the eagle?" + +Severus nodded. "A good omen for Roman warriors! Seest thou how our +golden eagle on the standard seems to raise its wings?" + +But Cornelius did not look at the standard-bearer; he looked only +towards the eastern forest. "A column of smoke rises up from the +chamois rock." + +"A charcoal-burner! Turn thy face! In the _west_ stands the enemy. +Lower the spears! Forward!" + +In two extended lines near each other, each three men deep, they now +advanced towards the agile horsemen, who had quickly ridden back from +the river as this mass of footmen passed over; they had halted half-way +between the stream and the western forest, and had formed in two +parallel lines. Only a spear's throw separated the enemies. + +Then as Severus and Cornelius, slowly advancing their columns, were +just going to raise their spears, two Germans rode slowly towards them, +ceremoniously turning the points of their lances downwards. + +"Halt!" cried Severus to his troops. "They wish to parley. Let us +listen to them!" + +The two horsemen came now quite close to Severus and Cornelius. The +combatants on each side stood back in anxious expectation. + +One of the two Germans, a youthful, towering, splendid figure, on a +milk-white steed, was by the ornaments and splendour of his arms +characterised as a leader; he might be more than ten years younger than +Cornelius, who noticed with envy the muscular strength of the naked +right arm of the young barbarian, adorned and at the same time +strengthened by broad golden armlets; the left arm was covered by a +small round shield, painted red, embellished in the centre with a +spokeless wheel, a Rune or a picture of the sun. His breast was +protected by splendidly-worked armour--ah! with feelings of anger +Severus recognised, by the badges of honour appended thereto, that it +had been the panoply of a distinguished Roman officer, a legate or +_magister militum_;--he wore short leather breeches; from the ankle +upwards the calf of the leg was bound round with neat leather straps; +the left only of the two closely-fitting wooden shoes bore a spur; the +rider scorned saddle and stirrups; a short double axe was stuck in his +girdle, a white woollen mantle, fastened together so that it hindered +no movement, hung at his back; it was the hand of the mother--for this +youth was certainly yet unwedded--who had worked the handsome, broad, +bright red stripe on its border; splendid light golden hair floated on +his shoulders in natural curls, and surrounded the dazzlingly +beautiful, maidenlike white face; and on the proudly arched Roman +helmet, also obtained by plunder, towered, instead of the Latin black +horse-tail, the pinion of the gray heron. + +The second horseman, a gigantic, gray-haired man of about sixty years, +with a gray beard falling low on his breast and waving in the wind, +seemed to be the leader oL the retinue of his chief. He was simply +dressed and armed; the mane and tail of his powerful war-horse, a brown +stallion, were prettily interwoven with red and yellow ribbons; on his +shoulders he wore the skin of a wolf, whose open jaws yawned at the +enemy from the top of his helmet; his shield was painted in red and +yellow circles; at his unarmed breast he carried a mighty horn of the +bison of the primeval forest. + +The commander now raised his lowered spear, threw it into the +bridle-hand, and offered the right to Severus, who took it with +hesitation, and immediately let it fall. + +"First a grasp of the hand," cried the German, with a soft, +richly-toned voice, in very good Vulgate Latin--"first a grasp of the +hand, then, if you so wish it, a stroke with the sword. I know thee; +thou art the brave Severus, formerly the _Magister Militum_. Thou art +gallantly continuing the struggle at a lost post, for a lost cause. I +pride myself in being the son of the hero Liutbert, king of the +Alemanni. My name is Liuthari, and no man has yet conquered me." + +Severus frowned darkly. "I have heard of thy father's name, and of +thine, you have stormed Augusta Vindelicorum." + +"But not retained possession of it," cried the king's son; and his +clear gray eyes shone pleasantly. "Who would wish to live in walled +graves? Also in your Juvavum we shall not settle." + +"That is provided against," muttered Severus. + +But Liuthari threw back his locks, laughing. + +"Wait a little! But say first, for whom leadest thou these burghers +into the field? In whose name dost thou defend Juvavum?" + +"For the Imperator of Ravenna, who, as a good omen, unites the names of +the first king and the first emperor; for Romulus Augustulus, the lord +of the whole earth." + +Then the German drew a papyrus roll from his girdle, and threw it to +Cornelius. + +"I thought so," said he. "You know less than we barbarians what is +happening in your own Italy--in your own imperial chief city. Read what +is written to me by one who knows it well. There is no longer an +Emperor of the West! Romulus Augustulus--the boy's name is certainly a +good omen _for us_!--is deposed. He lives henceforth on an island, and +feeds peacocks; and on his throne sits my brother-in-law, the husband +of my beautiful sister--Odoacer the brave. He has himself written it to +us." + +Cornelius had glanced through the composition. He tamed pale and +silently gave it to Severus, who read it trembling. + +"There is no doubt!" said he, almost voiceless. "I know the man; he has +served under me. Odoacer does not lie." + +"And we do not lie!" cried the gray-bearded companion of Liuthari. He +urged on his horse and took the letter from the hand of Severus. "To +split shields, not to falsify Runes, have I taught King Liutbert's +son." + +One could well believe that of the old man. Before he put the roll into +his girdle he looked into it with an important air; it did not disturb +him that the letters were upside down. + +Severus supported himself on his spear. Cornelius looked darkly before +him. "I knew it," he then said. "I had almost wished for it when I saw +it was unavoidable; and now it is come it crushes me." + +"No longer an Imperator in Rome!" groaned Severus. + +"Italy in the hands of the barbarians!" sighed Cornelius. + +"You awake my deepest pity, gallant heroes," said the king's son, in a +grave tone. "But now you see well: the battle must come to an end +before it begins. For whom, for what will you yet fight?" + +"For the future!" cried Severus. + +"For the past--for honour!" cried Cornelius. + +"For immortal Rome!" said both. + +"Byzantium yet rules--soon will Byzantium send another Emperor," +threatened Severus. + +"Perhaps!" said Liuthari, shrugging his shoulders. "But in the meantime +we want a settling-place, fields, and pasturage, we Germans. And +therefore I bring you a message in my father's name: 'So speaks +Liutbert, the King of the Alemanni, in his own name and in that of his +allies'"---- + +"Who are these allies?" interrupted Cornelius. + +"You will find out quicker than you will like," answered gruffly +Liuthari's companion. + +Liuthari continued: "'Let him stay in the land who will do so +peaceably; he who will not stay let him peaceably retire. The +fortresses to be vacated; they must be destroyed. Two-thirds of the +land remain to you; one-third is for us.' That is a reasonable +division." + +But Severus started up angrily, raising his spear. "Bold barbarian! +Darest thou thus to speak, with eighty barbarians against the host of +Juvavum's burghers? Thou hast learnt to speak as a Latin, but not to +think as a Roman!" + +"I should think," interposed Cornelius, "that your country was large +enough for you, ye Alemanni, when you can only send eighty horsemen to +conquer Juvavum. Do you think I can yield to _you_?" + +A peculiar smile played around the young German's handsome mouth, about +which the first downy beard charmingly curled. "Take care, Roman! Are +we too few for thee? Soon may we seem too many. Out of a few the +wonder-working Wotan wakes many! For the last time--evacuate the +fortress; divide peaceably the country!" + +"Never! Back, barbarian!" cried the two Romans at once. + +Liuthari turned his horse suddenly round. "It is your wish. You are, +then, lost. Wotan has you all!" + +The two horsemen then galloped back to their men. + +"Haduwalt, sound the horn!" + +The old master-in-arms put the horn to his mouth, and a load roaring +tone struck on the ear of the Romans; and before they could obey the +command of their leaders and advance against the enemy, there sounded +behind them, _in the east_, from the river, from the town, now quite +near, the loud cry of the black eagle; and immediately afterwards such +a fearful noise of whoops, cries of anguish, and the clashing of +weapons, that all the six hundred men, and both commanders, turned in +dismay. Horror and despair seized them. Germans--Germans innumerable, +as it appeared to the alarmed Romans rushed forth from the eastern +forest, and from all the slopes of the mountains and brushwood of the +hills. A strong detachment hurried towards the bridge; others, on horse +and on foot, threw themselves into the river above and below the +bridge; but the greater part, laden with ladders and trunks of trees on +which the horizontal branches had been left, approached the town; and +with fierce rage the shut-out citizens saw how whole masses of the +stormers, crowding together like ants, helped to raise each other, +supported themselves on the ladders, beams, and trees, climbed up, and, +in many places almost without resistance from the few sentinels, at +once gained the crown of the ramparts. + +Juvavum, the town, was conquered before its defenders had been able to +strike a blow. + +The garrison had been enticed out, with the exception of the soldiers +of the Tribune. Were _they_ still in the Capitol? The leaders looked +anxiously towards the tower: the imperial _Vexillum_ was still +fluttering at its summit. + +But the cry of joy with which the Alemannian horsemen greeted the +success of their heroic confederates recalled the Romans to the +threatening danger from this near enemy. Severus ordered Cornelius, +with about a hundred men, to engage the Alemannian troopers, while he +himself, with the greater part of the deeply discouraged burghers, +turned back to the bridge, to assist its garrison, which was now being +attacked from the unprotected open east side. + +He again heard the sound of Haduwalt's horn. Severus turned. + +"Yield!" cried the king's son. "You are lost!" + +"Never!" cried Cornelius, and threw his spear as Liuthari was galloping +towards him. + +Liuthari turned the stroke aside with his shield arm: the next instant +Cornelius fell backwards, pierced to the heart through shield and +armour by the lance of the German hurled while at full speed. + +"I will avenge thee!" cried Severus, and was turning towards the king's +son; but at the same moment a cry of distress again called him +eastwards. + +The enemy had overpowered the garrison of the bridge; already many of +the swimmers, horsemen and footmen intermixed, had reached the troops +of Severus. Active youths, whose yellow hair floated in the wind from +their uncovered heads, ran, holding on to the manes of the horses; and +thus attacked at once by horse and foot, the citizens of Juvavum, +knowing their town, their relatives, were already in the power of the +conqueror, threw away their arms, and fled on all sides. At the same +time the Alemanni from the west rode down the hundred men of Cornelius. + +Severus stood alone: his spear fell from his hand. + +The leader of the enemy that had come so suddenly from the east then +approached him. He had galloped in advance of his followers on to the +bridge, where his horse was pierced and fell. He then advanced on foot, +a giant in stature. The mighty pinion of the black eagle bristled +menacingly on his helm; his red hair, combed towards the crown, and +drawn together behind, fell below his helmet; an enormous bear-skin +hung on his shoulders: he raised his stone battle-axe. + +"Throw down thy sword, old man, and live," cried this giant, in Latin. + +"Throw down this sword?" said Severus. "I will not live!" + +"Then die!" cried the other, and hurled his stone axe. + +Severus fell: his breast-plate was rent in twain, it fell in two pieces +from his body. + +He supported himself painfully on his left arm: the conquering sword he +had not yet let fall. + +The victor bent over him, picking up his axe. + +"Tell me, before I die," said Severus, with a weak voice, "in whose +hands is Juvavum fallen? Of what race are you? Are you Alemanni?" + +"No, Roman; we have been summoned by the Alemanni. We do not come from +the west. We come from the east, up the Danube. We have taken all the +Roman towns from Carnuntum hither; the last legion this side of the +Alps have we defeated at Vindobona. We share the land with our comrades +the Alemanni--the Licus is the boundary. Look here; already from the +mountains of the east our people stream down into the country--women +and children, waggons and herds--that is the advanced guard; tomorrow +will come the great horde." + +"And what is your name?" + +"We were called formerly Marcomanni; but now, 'the men of Bajuhemum,' +the Bajuvaren, all this land is ours for ever, as far as one can see to +the north from the Alpine ridge. Yield, then, gray-head! there yet +remains to thee"---- + +"This sword," said Severus, and he thrust into his heart the conquering +sword of the Emperor Probus. + +The giant drew it out and a stream of blood rushed forth. + +"Ah!" said the Bajuvaren. "The old man is dead. It would be a pity," +continued he slowly, looking at the sword, "if this good blade were +lost. Come, brave weapon; serve henceforth the new lord of the land. +But now must I thank Liuthari; everything hit together admirably. Yes; +these Alemanni! They are almost wiser than we! Hojo, Sigo, Heilo!" +cried he, holding his two hands hollowed before his mouth. "Liuthari! +beloved, where tarriest thou? Garibrand calls, the Bajuvaren duke. +Hojoho! Sigo! Heiloho! Now let us share the booty and the land!" + +Liuthari galloped forward and offered his hand to the duke. "Welcome in +our new home! Welcome in victory!" cried he, with a joyous voice. + +But then sounded from the town fresh noise of arms and tumult of +battle. + +"The victory is not yet complete," said Garibrand, pointing with his +axe to the Capitol. + +There was now heard, through the battle-cries of the Bajuvaren in the +town, the clear warlike call of the tuba. "That is the Roman general +and his host!" cried the duke. "He is coming from the fortress down +into the town on my men! Quick! bring me another horse! Into the town! +To the help of my heroes!" + + + + + CHAPTER XI. + + +With the exception of the two leaders, very few Romans had fallen in +the short hand-to-hand combat; for the Bajuvaren duke had before the +attack given the order: "To-day--prisoners! No slain! Consider, ye men; +every man slain is a loss, every prisoner a servant gained for the new +masters of the land!" + +Fulvius and Crispus had been among the troops turned by Severus against +the Bajuvaren. When their ranks were broken, the nephew cried to the +uncle: "To Felicitas! Through the ford!" and as they had stood +together, so they now ran together towards the river below the bridge, +for that was held by the enemy. + +But the stout Crispus, although he had quickly thrown away spear and +shield, was soon left far behind the agile stone-mason. + +An Alemannian horseman, with a youth running at his side, followed +both. + +Crispus was soon overtaken. + +His ridiculous appearance challenged the rider to give him a blow on +the casserole covering his head in the place of a helmet, it fell over +his eyes and nose, from which poured a stream of blood, he gave a loud +cry and fell to the ground; he thought he was dead. + +But he soon came back to the agreeable certainty of life, when the +foot-soldier, who had remained by him, roughly tore the casserole from +his head. Crispus sprang up, gasping for breath, the German laughed in +his big, fat, highly-astonished face. + +"Ha! this Roman hero has had good provender. And this nose is not red +with its own blood or with water either. Ho, friend, I will set thee +free, if thou wilt reveal to me where in Juvavum the best wine can be +got. It seems to me thou art the man to know it." + +Crispus, so pleasantly spoken to, recovered himself quickly, now that +he was quite convinced that he was not dead, and would not have to die +for the fatherland. + +He drew a deep breath and spoke, raising his hand as an oath: + +"I swear as a Roman burgher, Jaffa, the good Jew, near the Basilica, +has the sweetest. He is not baptized--but neither is his Falernian. + +"Excellent!" cried the Alemannian. "Come, ye friends!"--a whole crowd +of Alemanni and Bajuvaren were shaking hands close about him--"to Jaffa +the Jew, to drink our gratitude to the god Ziu for our pleasant +victory! Thou, fat fellow, lead on, and if, contrary to thine oath, it +is sour, this Jew's wine, we will drown thee therein." + +But Crispus was not alarmed; he rejoiced, on the contrary, that he +would now be able to drink gratis, as much as he wished, of the +choicest long-stored Cyprus wine, which hitherto had been quite beyond +his means. That it was to be drunk to the honour of the god Ziu did not +make the wine worse. "And," said he to himself, "it is at all events +better pleasing to God that we empty the Jew's wine-skins than those of +a good Christian." + +He did not trouble about his house. "They will not interfere with my +old Ancilla; her wrinkles will protect her better than many shields. +The bit of money is buried; they will not carry away the plaster +statues, they will only cut off their noses with great zeal and an +incomprehensible liking for the business: it does not matter, one can +stick them on again," But he was anxious about Fulvius, about +Felicitas. + +He looked about for the fugitive, but could not see him either lying +dead, or brought in a prisoner; he seemed to be swallowed up by the +earth: the rider who had pursued him had turned his horse in another +direction, and was pursuing other flying Romans. Crispus hoped that the +young husband had escaped. He (Crispus) was quite unable to help +Felicitas, for his conqueror held him firmly by the shoulder and pushed +him towards the bridge. + +"Forward! Thou canst not imagine, Roman, how Alemannian thirst burns. +And near the Basilica, sayest thou? That is right! There we shall find, +besides, gold and silver cups for the liquor." + +And in front of the whole noisy, laughing, shouting swarm, the fat +Crispus, an involuntary pot-companion, stumped along as fast as his +short legs could carry him, towards the gate through which he had +shortly before marched, a proud helmeted legionary. He had left the +casserole where it fell, but he was still reminded of it by the +smarting of his nose. + +In the meantime Fulvius had actually disappeared. He had not thrown +away shield and spear, like his corpulent companion; he was young, +strong, he had no fear, and he thought of the promise which he had +given at his release to the gallant Severus. He had now reached the +river and stood firmly on the marshy bank. He heard the hoof-strokes of +the galloping horse coming nearer and nearer, and he resolutely turned, +looked at the enemy fiercely, raised his spear, took good aim and threw +it with all the strength of his arm against the face of the German. + +"Well aimed!" cried he, as he dropped the reins, and with his left hand +caught the whizzing spear. + +The shield of Fulvius would now have availed him little, for the +galloping horseman aimed at the same time with both spears, his own and +the one he had caught, at the Roman's head and abdomen. But before the +deadly lances reached him, Fulvius had suddenly disappeared; in +stepping backwards from the snorting horse, that must the next instant +have prostrated him, he lost his balance, slipped on the smooth grass, +and fell backwards into the stream, the waters of which, dashing up, +closed over him. The Alemannian bent down from his steed and looked +after him laughing as he was carried away. + +"Greet the Danube for me" cried he, "when thou hast reached it;" then +turned his horse and galloped across the fields. + + + + + CHAPTER XII. + + +Zeno hastily pursuing his way, had reached the corner of the narrow +street. + +Loud cries sounded behind him; he looked round; the flames broke +crackling through the roof of a house close by; it was that of the +Judge, his son-in-law. Full of fresh anxiety he hurried forwards. + +After a few steps he came to the door of the priest's small house, +which stood open. + +He sprang across the threshold, flew along the narrow, +imperfectly-lighted passage. No Ostiarius, no sub-deacon showed +himself. He hurried into the priest's room, the same into which we have +already been. + +It was empty. + +The door which led into the adjoining church was ajar. + +The fugitive entered and hastened across the dimly-lighted space to the +altar, which, dividing apse and nave, furnished the most sacred asylum +in the church. Here on the steps lay Johannes, stretched out +motionless, with both arms clasping the relic-shrine on the altar. + +In his anguish new horror seized the hard Byzantian. + +Was he murdered?--He, who might perhaps have been able to protect him? + +"Woe is me!" groaned he. + +His horror increased when he, who lay as dead, slowly raised himself +and silently turned his pale, venerable face. + +"Ha! do the dead rise again?" cried Zeno, shrinking back. + +"Why dost thou think me dead?" asked Johannes, regarding his disturbed +countenance with a soul-piercing look. + +"Not I--not I--but the Tribune wished"---- + +"I imagined so! What seekest thou here?" + +"Safety! safety!" stammered the usurer; he again thought only of the +danger that was following his steps. "My slaves! All the slaves have +revolted. The Judge's house is in flames." + +Then a bright light as of fire shone through the open windows of the +church, and arms clashed in the distance. + +"Hearest thou? They are seeking me! They come! Save me! Cover me with +thy body. Here, all this gold"--he threw the heavy bag on the altar, it +burst and single gold pieces ran clinking over the steps on to the +marble pavement. "Alas! it escapes from me faithlessly! All this +gold--or the half--no--all, the whole will I give thee--no, not to +_thee_. I know thou wilt devote it to St. Peter, to thy church, to the +poor--only save me!" + +And he threw himself at the priest's feet, carefully concealing the +little purse of jewels in his bosom. + +Johannes raised him. + +"I _will_ save thee!--for Christ's sake, not for the sake of the gold." + +"Thou wilt stay with me," cried Zeno with rising hope. + +"That I cannot do. My place at this hour is on the battle-field, to +attend on the wounded. My brethren I have already sent out. I was only +deriving strength from a last prayer." + +"No, no, I will not let thee go!" cried Zeno, clinging to him. + +But, with unlooked-for strength, Johannes freed himself. + +"I must, I tell thee. The Lord calls me. Perhaps I may even check the +slaughter. But thou--thy cruelty has so enraged the unhappy creatures, +that some of them would not be restrained by the altar--by my +intercession"---- + +"Yes, yes!" agreed Zeno. + +He thought of Keix, the mad bull. + +"Thou shalt be hidden where no one but God the Lord can find thee. See +here!" + +With these words he stooped down and raised a slab of the marble +flooring near the altar; a short ladder was visible, which led into a +dark, tolerably spacious vault. + +"Go down there. No one but myself knows of this old cave. Wait till I +fetch thee out; I will come as soon as the danger is over." + +"But if--and if"---- + +"Thou meanest if I lose my life? See, thus can the roof-stone be lifted +from below. Hasten!" + +"It horrifies me--to be buried alive! Are the bones of the +dead--skeletons----Pardon; are there relics in the vault?" + +"Fear thou henceforth the living God, not dead men. Here, take the +oil-lamp; and now away! Hearest thou? The tumult presses nearer." + +Then Zeno sprang down, lamp in hand. Johannes seized the money-bag, and +threw it in after him; the miser noticed with agony that the priest had +first taken out a handful of solidi. He replaced the stone, and then +strewed the gold pieces from the principal door, of the church (which +he bolted on the inside) up to the altar, and from there as far as, and +over, the threshold of the door which led from the church into his own +house. He then hastened through this door, and out of his house into +the open air. + +After a few minutes, Zeno heard, with a despairing heart, furious +axe-blows thundering on the great door of the church. + +It burst open and a great crowd of men--to judge from the voices and +footsteps--crushed in. Zeno held his breath in an agony of fear; he +pressed his ear to the slab, in order to hear better. He perceived +first the voice of a woman. + +"Do not kill him in the church!--in the sanctuary of the saints! He +scourged me almost to death, and killed my child. But do not kill him +in the church. Honour the house of the eternal God!" + +"Rather in the house of God than in the house of the good Johannes!" +said another voice. + +"It is sanctuary only on the altar, not in the whole church!" cried a +third. But then Zeno heard the terrible Keix scream out: + +"At the feet of the Father in heaven would I strangle him! He has at +the last murdered my old father, who had entreated me to spare the +monster. When I would not yield, he stole from my side. I found him +again when we had broken open the villain's door, and his dagger was in +my father's neck. I could murder him seven times." + +"Once is enough," said Kottys, "if we murder him as slowly as we have +killed my master. Mucius the Judge we have burnt alive in the flames of +his own house." + +"Halt! Look here, brother Kottys; this is the track of the fugitive. +The wounded hyena sweats blood; the fleeing miser sweats gold. See +here! at the portal it begins: then he is inside--has drawn the bolt +behind him--here, past the altar has he run; and there--through that +door into the priest's house! There he must be hidden. After him!" + +"After him! Down with him!" roared the whole mob, and ran with rambling +steps across the slab over Zeno's head, away into the adjoining house. + +The miser, senseless with fright, had crept back into the farthest +corner; long cowered he there; cold sweat ran from his brow. + +But all remained quiet, the last sound died away; the pursuers had, +after searching the priest's house, poured out into the street. + +He said to himself: "The Tribune will soon observe the conflagration, +and the uproar in the town. He has already repeatedly subdued such +riots. With his lancers he will in a few hours re-establish order." +Thus presence of mind and a certain courage slowly returned to him. + +By the light of the oil-lamp, he now looked around him in the +cellar-like vault. + +He stumbled against a chest. A strange curiosity, mixed with dread, +impelled him irresistibly to open it; perhaps here the sly old fellow +hid the treasures of his church! He lifted up the lid; the chest +contained nothing but papyrus rolls and parchments; spread over them +was a white, priestly garment with a hood, exactly like that which +Johannes had worn. + +An idea struck the fugitive. He hastily drew the wide robe over his own +garments. + +"I shall not stay long in this place, and I am now safely +disguised--better than in armour." + +After a time, as all remained still, he became uncomfortable in the +damp air of the vault; he carefully half-raised the slab, mounted the +ladder and looked into the empty church. + +His eye fell on the glittering gold pieces, which shone in the light of +the altar-lamp. + +A few had been picked up by his pursuers, but they thirsted more for +blood than gold. Already the miser repented having promised the priest +so much. + +"He, moreover, rejected the gold; so I am no longer bound to give it. +And these scattered pieces--they shall not fall to the scoundrels." + +He now lifted the slab quite up, and listened again anxiously. All was +silent. + +Then he deliberately placed money-bag and purse of jewels in the chest, +closed the lid, climbed quickly out and picked up the solidi--at first +those that lay nearest, then those by the altar; he then saw to the +right of the altar a whole heap lying together, as they had fallen out +of the burst bag. + +He went now from the left of the altar towards the right, stooped +down--oh, horror! he heard steps approaching from the priest's house! +Only one man, certainly, but that was not Johannes--there was the clang +of metal! + +He quickly attempted to regain his hiding-place, but before he could +pass the altar, a black shadow fell across his path. Zeno could not, +unnoticed, spring into the vault. + +His knees failed him; so, drawing the hood quickly over his head, he +threw himself into the position in which he had found Johannes, with +his arms encircling the relic shrine on the altar. At the same moment +cold steel penetrated his neck. He was dead before he had heard the +words, "Die, priest!" + + + + + CHAPTER XIII. + + +But the murderer now thought it was not the high-towering form of the +Presbyter. He bent down so that the black horse-tail of his high helmet +fell forwards, and drew back the hood, and with it the head of the +murdered man. + +With a short scream he let it again fall. + +"Irony of fate! The usurer! How comes he here? How in this disguise? +Where is the priest?" + +But before the Tribune could think about these questions, his whole +attention was drawn towards the chief entrance of the church, by a +noise of the most startling kind. + +Leo had stationed his troops in the Forum of Hercules; had left them +with the command there to await his return. He had dismounted, and put +his horse in charge of one of the troopers. He wished to reach the +priest's house on foot, by a circuitous route through narrow streets, +where he would be less observed. + +He had been startled when half-way by seeing the flames rise, and +hearing in the distance the tumult of the revolted slaves. He stood +still. + +A fleeing woman then hurried towards him, with covered head, he stopped +her. + +"It is thou, Tribune!" cried the fugitive. + +"What? Thou, Zoe! The Judge's wife! What has happened?" + +"The slaves! Our house is burning! Save! help!" + +"My troops are standing in the Forum of Hercules. I will return myself +immediately. Then will I help." + +He had then hurried into the empty house of the priest, rushing through +it with sword drawn, he reached the Basilica, and instead of him he +sought, had struck dead his own confederate. He had hardly discovered +this, when there sounded in the direction of the portal the bugles and +trumpets of his horsemen, calling to the attack. + +"They are in conflict with the rioters," thought the Tribune, and he +was going out through the doorway. "Rascals of slaves! while the +barbarians stand before the gates!" + +But on the threshold he suddenly stopped: for quite a different sound +struck on his terrified ear--not the raging howl of frantic slaves; no, +a cry well known to him--the watch-cry, the war-cry, the cry of victory +of the Germans, and--it was close at hand. + +"Germans in the town? Impossible!" + +But, stepping carefully out from the door of the Basilica, he saw at +the corner of the great square whole swarms, yes, hundreds of Germans, +on foot--not the few horsemen whom they had so long observed--and they +were advancing straight towards the church. + +"To fight one's way through! Impossible! Back! through the priest's +house!" + +He fled through the nave of the church, past the still raised stone +slab into the house of Johannes. But the noise came towards him in that +direction also, loud laughing and shouting, and he saw approaching a +crowd of Germans with a stout Roman at their head, whom they had +heavily laden with wine-skins. + +As quickly as his heavy armour would allow him, he turned back into the +Basilica, sprang--this seemed the only possible place of safety--into +the open vault, pulled down the stone slab, and immediately heard the +Germans pouring into the church through both entrances. Shouting and +exulting the conquerors greeted each other over the head of the +imprisoned commandant of Juvavum. + + + + + CHAPTER XIV. + + +We will join the drinking Germans above, rather than the Tribune raging +in impotent wrath below the marble floor. + +"Welcome in victory, ye brave Bajuvaren!" + +"For that we thank you, ye clever Alemanni!" + +"Did we not entice them out well?" said another comrade in arms. "First +of all we--that is, Liuthari, our famous king's famous son, and two of +his followers--surprised a post of five Moorish horsemen, whom the +Tribune of the Capitol had sent out against us as spies. But we know +the forests better than those brown Africans. Four were dead, or +prisoners, before they were aware of it. One escaped--alas! But it +seems he was not able to tell much. Then a little company of us slipped +across the river--an Alemannian horse can swim like a swan--and +galloped to you Bajuvaren in the eastern mountains, in order that at +the right time the call of the heron should be answered by the cry of +the eagle." + +"And this time you also, ye heavy-stepping Bajuvaren, contrary to your +manner and custom, actually came at the right time," teased Suomar, +another Alemannian. + +Fiercely the Bajuvaren put his hand to the battle-axe in his girdle. +"What does that mean, thou Suevian blockhead? It is my opinion we have +come early enough to cut you down--you as well as all others who wait +long enough! Although you are so quick in thought and hasty in words, +many times already you have not had limbs quick enough for flight, to +escape from us, if we are slow." + +Provoked thus, the other was going to answer angrily, but Vestralp, the +first Alemannian, interposed soothingly: "Never mind, both of you; +thou, my Suomar! and thou, brave Marcoman! Once there, the Bajuvaren +fight so splendidly that they make up for lost time." + +"They have often shown that!" cried Rando, a third Alemannian. + +"The last time," continued Suomar, "just now, in the market-place, and +on the steep path up to the citadel, against the cavalry of the +Tribune." + +"Listen! What was that?" + +"Yes! did not a groan come out of the ground?" + +"There!--at the left by the altar." + +"Look! behind the altar! Perhaps some one wounded." + +Two warriors hastened to the spot and looked behind the altar, but they +found nothing. + +"But what lies there in front--on the steps?" + +"A dead man." + +"A Roman?" + +"A priest, as it seems." + +"The slaves must have done that; the rioters who joined themselves to +us when we had climbed the walls," said Helmbert, an aged leader of the +Bajuvaren. "They are now the guides to the richest booty." + +"Take the corpse away! On the stone steps is the best place to sit and +drink," said Helmdag, his son. + +"Dare to do it, thou blasphemer! That is the table of the most exalted +Lord of Heaven," threatened Rando. + +"It is not true," cried Helmdag. "Thou art a Catholic. This is a +heretic church, more harmful than any abominations of heathenism. So my +Gothic godfather, the Bishop of Novi, teaches me." + +"Thou stinking Arian!" answered Rando. "Thou denier of Christ! I will +teach thee to give to the Lord Christ equal honour with the Father. I +will fill thy mouth with my fist, and with thine own teeth as well!" + +"With us the son always stands behind the father," growled Helmdag. + +"Peace! both of you," commanded Vestralp, "fill your mouths with Roman +wine. Bring the skin, Crispus, thou Roman hero! Do not untie it! A +stroke with the sword. So! It spouts like red blood out of wounds! Now +the helmets and hollow shields, until the noble Roman in the buck's +skin is exhausted. And as concerns the strife about the two stone +steps, I think that a good man honours everything that is sacred to +another. Therefore, brothers, we will all draw back from those steps." + +"But the gold and silver on the walls, on the pillars and stone +coffers?" said Helmdag, the Arian. + +"Perhaps that is to stay for the plundering slaves?" said Rando the +Catholic. + +"No!" cried the enlightened pagan, who had spoken for peace--it was +Vestralp, the vanquisher of the helmeted Crispus--"that would be a +pity. We will divide it amongst us all: for the God Ziu, for the Romish +Bishops, and for the followers of Arius." + +And they immediately set to work with the bronze helmet, or deer-skin +cap, full of red wine in the left hand, the battle-axe in the right. +Drinking heartily during their work, they broke away from the +sarcophagi, holy shrines, and even from the columns, all that was +valuable of the metal ornaments and jewels, and also the stones that +pleased the eye by their variegated colours. + +Garizo, a young, slim, tall Bajuvaren, lifted from the neck of a Saint +Anne her necklace of heavy gold and sapphires, giving at the same time +a deep bow, and saying: + +"With thy permission, holy goddess, or whatever else thou mayest be; +but thou art horribly ugly, and of dead stone. What one sees of thy +bosom is yellow; but my bride Albrun is alive and young, and +wonderfully beautiful; and very pretty will these stones look on her +white neck." + +"Yes, but where are they then, your women and children, and unarmed +folk?" asked Vestralp of the busy bridegroom. + +"They will come to-morrow down the eastern mountains," answered Garizo. +"For this we have at last found out, 'slow-moving' as we are, as thy +hasty-tongued comrade just now said--this we have now learnt: to send +the men forwards into the battle, and let the unarmed come afterwards +when the victory and land is won." + +"There must be something in it," laughed Vestralp, "in this name +'slow-moving,' because it vexes you so. If one called you a coward, you +would only laugh and strike him down. You are a strange people! No +other race so calm, and at the same time so terrible in anger." + +"I will tell thee," spoke thoughtfully Helmbert, the white-bearded. "We +are like the mountains; they stand quiet, whatever goes on round about +them. But if the tumult within gets too vexatious, they overturn in +rocks and fire." + +"You have shown this time that you also can be cunning and crafty," +cried Suomar. "With what artful care did you prevent the enemy getting +scent of your approach! So sharply did you watch all the roads, and +even the mule-tracks and the paths of the chamois-hunters, that no +intelligence from the east could reach Juvavum." + +"And not to make the Romans suspicious at the absence of all news," +added Helmbert, "we sent our own Roman settlers disguised like peasants +and workmen, as if they were the people from Ovilava and Laureacum, +into the town, there to buy and sell." + +"And if these had revealed all?" asked Suomar. + +"Their relatives left behind would have been put to death. That was +said plainly enough to them. But besides this, the poor people would +rather support us than their Roman tormentors." + +"The burghers of the town soon gave up the contest; they find +themselves under a new rule; as they see, we do not eat them," said +Helmdag, laughing. + +"Yes; _only_ the cavalry and foot-soldiers of the Tribune fought +bravely, and with exasperation," said Rando. + +"Tell us about it," urged Vestralp. "We, who fought on the other side +of the river, do not know yet exactly what happened within the walls, +or how the citadel fell so quickly." + +"By the sword of Ziu, it was wonderful!" began Rando. "There, on the +great square, where the Christian saint stands with lion's skin and +club"---- + +"_That_ a saint! That is a heathen god!" + +"No; a demi-god." + +"All the same to me," continued Rando; "he did not help the Romans, +whether saint, or god, or demi-god. But we were surprised on that +market-place. After we, some twenty Alemanni, with the Bajuvaren--they +can climb like cats, these mountain huntsmen of Bajuhemum--had +clambered over the walls, we thought all was over. But when we came to +the open market, there came galloping towards us, in close order, with +the crashing sounds of the tuba, the cavalry of the Tribune. He himself +was not to be seen; it was said, he lay ill in the citadel; but he was +not taken prisoner there. We were at first very few, and it was only +with difficulty that we could stand against them. But we gradually +pressed them back; step by step they were forced upwards towards the +Capitol. But then came the Isaurian infantry to their help, and it was +now a fearful struggle--man against man. Ah! I have again seen them +fight with their Wotan's fury, these Bajuvaren." + +"Say, rather, lion's courage," interposed proud Helmdag the Bajuvaren, +"for we carry the lion on our standard, and lion's courage in our +hearts." + +"How come you with the southern beast? I think the bear stands nearer, +and more resembles you." + +"Thou thinkest that, forsooth, thou sharp-witted Suevian!" said old +Helmbert, coming to his son's help, "because you know so much more than +we; but you do not know everything. Three hundred years ago one had not +heard the name of the Alemanni; but our ancestors, the Marcomanni, had +already long fiercely fought with the Romans. And at that time victory +cradled itself on the wings of the golden eagle. There was, in the +golden house of Nero on the Tiber, a great, wise Emperor skilled in +magic. He had found out, by his magical arts, that if he made two lions +swim across the Danube, the bravest people on the earth would conquer +in the impending battle. But our fathers, the Marcomanni, said: 'What +yellow dogs are these?'--killed the lions with clubs, and afterwards +slew the army of the Emperor and his general: twenty thousand Romans +lay dead on their shields. The clever Emperor in Rome knew then which +was the bravest people on the earth. And since then we carry two lions +on our colours. So sing and tell our bards. Now, continue, Suevian." + +"That I will, to your glory! Like cats--or if thou, Helmdag, wouldst +rather hear it, like lions--sprang the Bajuvaren on to the necks of the +Moorish horses, and allowed themselves to be dragged along rather than +let go. 'Give to Loge his due,' says a proverb that I have heard among +the Anglo-Saxons: the Moors and Isaurians fought desperately, man by +man covering the narrow, steep path which only offered space for two +horses. At last the Duke came to our help; he brought fresh troops, and +now in a sudden attack with levelled spears, pushing our way between +the horses, we scattered the whole entangled mass. The Bajuvaren now +used their short knives in a hand-to-hand conflict. They ran under the +long lances of the Isaurians, sprang on to the saddle of the fully +armed Moorish horsemen, and in face and throat--the only vulnerable +part--thrust the blade of their daggers; on both sides, now right, now +left, fell the enemy, horse and man, over the low breastwork of the +Roman wall on to the jagged rocks in the depths below. Nevertheless the +battle might have lasted long around the citadel; indeed, hunger alone +would have subdued those rock walls if the rest of the enemy, who now +at last fled, had gained the gate. But they did _not_ succeed in +getting within it. A great deed was done by the hand of a Bajuvarian +boy; I saw it plainly: having been overtaken by the Bajuvaren, I was, +at last, no longer fighting, but was watching the gate of the fortress, +which, high above me, was distinctly visible. I then saw that one of +the two Isaurians who there stood on guard, ran towards his fleeing +comrades; his movements plainly indicated that he was urging them to +still hastier flight into the fortress, before the barbarians should +press in with them. The other Isaurian stood on the threshold, holding +the iron bolt in his hand, ready to close the half-door from the inside +and draw the bolt as soon as the fugitives had poured in. Then, +suddenly, as if struck by lightning, the man fell forward on his face: +he stood up no more. Immediately afterwards appeared a boy with fair +hair on the tower above the gateway; he cut down with a battle-axe the +imperial purple standard, and in place of the fallen banner planted, on +a tall spear, which shone afar, a blue shield. + +"'My Hortari,' then cried Garibrand, the Duke, 'my brother's son, +stolen many weeks ago, and thought dead! _His_ shield, the victorious +blue shield of our house, of our family. Forward, ye Bajuvaren! Now to +cut our way to Hortari!' + +"But there was nothing more through which to cut our way; the Tribune +was not there; the slaves of the Tribune were also not to be found in +the fortress: the brave child was the only human being inside the +Capitol. The fight before the gate was over immediately; the enemy shut +out, powerless, one man springing on the back of another trying to +climb the high walls, pressed still harder by us, soon threw down their +arms and yielded. A few certainly, despairing of grace, or despising +it, spurred their horses from the steep path into the abyss below. The +gate of the citadel of Juvavum flew open from the inside, and young +Hortari sprang into his uncle's arms; this youth of the Bajuvaren had +won for his people the Capitol of Juvavum." + +"Hail to the youth Hortari! The minstrels will have him in +remembrance!" + +"Hail to the youth Hortari!" sounded loud through the wide halls of the +Basilica. + +When the joyous cry had died away, quarrelling words were heard at the +farther end of the building. + +In the apse behind the altar, two, flushed with wine, were in loud +strife. + +In a chest containing Roman memorials, which the zealous Johannes had +taken away from his flock, in order to wean them from their pagan +superstitions, the two men had found a small, beautifully-carved marble +relief, representing the three Graces tenderly clasping each other. +They had seized the piece of sculpture; and screaming and shouting, now +dragged and pulled each other through the church till they stood before +Vestralp and Helmbert. + +Then one of the disputants let fall the marble and flashed his short +knife against his opponent, who immediately dropped the plunder and +seized the hand-axe in his girdle. + +"Halt, Agilo!" cried Vestralp, seizing the arm of his fellow tribesman. + +"Stab _Romans_, if thou wilt, not Alemanni," shouted Helmbert, and +struck down the knife of his countryman. + +"Well! You shall decide," cried both disputants with one breath. + +"I saw it first," cried the Alemannian. "I wished to hang it on my +favourite horse as a breast-plate." + +"But I took it first," retorted the other. "They are the three +fate-spinning sisters. I should hang it up over my child's cradle." + +"The strife is easily settled," said Vestralp, picked up the three +Graces from the floor, took the axe from the hand of the Alemannian, +aimed well, and cut the relief exactly through the middle. + +Helmbert seized the two pieces and said: + +"Forasitzo, Wotan's son, who is the judge in Heligoland, could not have +divided it more evenly; there, each of you has a goddess and a half. +Now go and drink reconciliation." + +"We thank you very much," said the combatants, again unanimous and +highly satisfied. + +"But there is no more wine," complained the Alemannian. + +"Or I should have drunk it long ago," sighed the Bajuvaren. + +"Heigh, Crispe, son of Mars and Bellona," cried Vestralp, "where is +there wine--more wine?" + +Crispus came panting. "Oh, sir, it is incredible! But they have +actually drunk it all! The prudent Jaffa," whispered he, "has still a +very small skin of the very best; but that is for thee alone, because +thou hast saved my life." He continued aloud: "There is a large stone +jug full of water; if we mix that with the last dregs in the wine-skins +there will still be abundance of drink." + +But Vestralp raised his spear-shaft and shattered the great jug so that +the water ran in a stream. "Let the man be cut off from the race of the +Alemanni," cried he, "who at any time mixes water with his wine! That +special wine," continued he quietly to Crispus, "the poor Jew himself +shall keep. Let him drink it himself, after all his fright." + +Then there sounded from outside the call of the great ox-horn. And +immediately afterwards the door of the church was thrown open. A +gigantic Bajuvaren stood on the threshold, and cried with a loud voice: +"You are sitting there and drinking in blissful indolence, as if all +was over; and yet the battle is again raging in the streets. The slaves +of the Romans! They are burning and destroying, while the town is +_ours_! Protect your Juvavum, men of Bajuhemum! So commands Garibrand, +the Duke." + +In an instant all the Germans had seized their arms, and with the loud +cry, "Defend the Juvavum of the Bajuvaren!" they rushed out of the +church. + + + +When the last footstep had long died away, the marble slab was +carefully raised; the Tribune climbed out. The man so brave, so fond of +war, had suffered the bitterest torments of humiliation during this +long time. Was he not a Roman, and did he not know his duty? It stung +his honour as a soldier that he, blindly following his own passions, +pursuing only his _own_ object, had made the victory so easy for the +barbarians. His looks were sullen; he bit his lips. "My cavalry! the +Capitol! Juvavum! vengeance on the priest! victory! all is lost--except +Felicitas! I will fetch her; and away, away with her over the +Alps!--Where may my Pluto be?" + +Leo crept through the priest's house into the narrow street, and +carefully sought the shadow of the houses. It was beginning to get +dark, so long had the drinking bout above his head detained him a +prisoner. Like a slinking beast of prey, stooping at every corner, and +with a spring quickly gaining the side of the opposite street, he +avoided the large open squares and crowded streets. He then heard, in +the distance, the roaring noise of confused voices. He looked back; +flames were rising into the heavens, already darkened with smoke. + +The Tribune hastened to gain the north side of the ramparts; to find +the Porta Vindelica unoccupied he could not hope, even from German +recklessness; but he knew the secret mechanism by which, without key, a +small sortie-gate could be opened which led into the high road to +Vindelicia. This doorway he now endeavoured to reach. Unchallenged, +unseen, he mounted the wall, avoiding the steps; opened the door; +closed it again carefully; slid down the steep slope, and gained the +moat, which, formerly filled with water, had now--the sluices were all +destroyed--lain dry for tens of years. Weeds and bushes above a man's +height grew therein. + +He had hardly reached the bottom of the moat when a loud neighing +greeted him out of a willow-plot; his faithful horse trotted towards +him, nodding its head. + +Two other horses answered out of the bushes. + +Immediately afterwards two men crept out of the thicket, crawling along +the ground on all-fours. It was Himilco the centurion, and another +Moor. + +They beckoned to him silently to follow them into the hiding-place. +They had escaped into the moat after the dispersion of their troops by +the Bajuvaren. The black steed had followed the two other horses, the +man in charge of him having fallen. + +Since then they had remained hidden among the thick bushes of the moat. + +"The first gleam of light on this black day," said the Tribune. "We +three will fly! Come! There to the left the river approaches the moat. +The horses can easily reach it with a leap, and then swim across. I +must go to the Mercurius hill, down the Vindelician road; then--over +the mountains!" + +"Sir," implored Himilco, "wait till night. Twice already have we tried +to escape by that way. Each time we were observed by the Alemannian +horsemen, who incessantly march before the gates to seize fugitives; +each time it was only with the greatest difficulty that we regained our +shelter. Only in the darkness of the night can we venture." + +The Tribune was reluctantly obliged to acknowledge this counsel as +well-grounded. "At night," said he to himself, "I shall be better able +to carry off Felicitas." So, impatient enough, he determined to await +the darkness in this hiding-place. + + + + + CHAPTER XV. + + +Far away from the hidden fugitives, in the south-east side of the town, +strife and tumult were meanwhile raging. + +Many of the revolted slaves, after revenging themselves on their +masters, had thrown down their arms; but the _wildest_ spirits, +restrained by the Germans from further incendiarism, murder, and +robbery, and driven by them from street to street, had now crowded +together for a last resistance. + +Here lay the large imperial magazines for the building of boats and +rafts for the traffic of the Ivarus, especially the salt-trade: also +immense stores of well-dried wood, sail-cloth, pitch, and tar. These +favourites of the fire-god the mad creatures wished to set on fire. +They hoped, in their blind destructive fury, that the conflagration +would from there spread its red and black wings over the whole city. + +But the magazines were covered with slates on the flat roofs, were +protected by high stone walls, and shut in with strong oak doors; the +few guards round about had, certainly, long since fled, but, even +undefended, stone and iron-bound wood would for some time resist the +fury of the assailants. + +But now came Keix, the leader of the host, from the bath of Amphitrite, +close by, which was in flames, swinging in one hand a blue and in the +other a green pitch torch, such as were used in the illumination of the +ornamental gardens. + +"Ha!" cried he; "now see! We will have to-day the richest fire-works! +The Christian emperors have indeed forbidden the Saturnalia, but we +will introduce them again, but this time to the honour of Vulcan and +Chaos!" + +And he propped both torches against the oak panels of the door, which +immediately began to smoulder. But now the pursuing Bajuvaren had +reached the spot. + +The barricades in the streets they had, after a short, wild conflict +with their defenders, thrown down; and they now rushed forward in a +close wedge with Duke Garibrand at their head. + +"We have you, incendiaries! Down with your arms! Extinguish those +flames instantly; or, by the spear of Wotan, no man among you shall +remain alive." + +Instead of answering, Kottys lifted up the heavy iron rod--the long +bolt which he had torn from his own slave prison--and screamed: + +"Dost thou think we wish to change our masters? We will be free, and +masters ourselves. And all shall be destroyed on this whole earthly +ball that reminds us of the time of our slavery. Come on, ye +barbarians, if you want to fight with desperate men." + +And now a furious rage threatened to break forth. + +Suddenly a loud, powerful voice cried: "Stop. Peace be with you all!" +Between the combatants stepped the venerable form of Johannes; behind +him appeared his ecclesiastical brethren; they, assisted by some of the +burghers of Juvavum, were carrying on barrows and litters, wounded +slaves, Moors, Isaurians, and also some Germans. + +"Make way for us! Let us take these wounded--they belong to you all who +are here fighting--to my church." + +The words, the look, had immediately a silencing, an appeasing effect. +At the sign of their Duke, the Bajuvaren lowered their lifted weapons; +most of the slaves did the same. Fearlessly Johannes walked into the +thickest part of the crowd; all reverently shrunk back. The women--for +there were many women amongst the mob--knelt down and kissed the hem of +his garment. He stepped straight towards the door which had now caught +fire. + +Kottys alone tried to turn him away. + +"Back, priest!" he cried, and threw the iron bar; and as Johannes +quietly walked on, the iron struck him on the shoulder. He sank--his +blood flowed on the ground. + +"Woe to thee, brother!" cried Keix. "Thou hast murdered the only +protector of the poor and miserable--our father's best friend!" + +And the wild man knelt by the priest, holding him in his arms. + +To do this he was obliged to throw away his weapon, an iron trident, +which he had torn from the hand of a Neptune at the fountain. Nearly +all his comrades followed this example. Kottys threw the rod on the +ground, and entreated: + +"Pardon me, Father Johannes!" + +The priest raised himself. "Thou hast repented, therefore God has +forgiven thee. Who am I--a sinner--that _I_ should forgive?" + +He now stepped unhindered to the door, threw down the torches, picked +up one of the broad shields, pressed it with the right hand against the +burning door, raised imploringly the left towards heaven, and said: + +"Fire! thou also art a creature and a servant of God the Lord! I +command thee--I adjure thee, thou hellish demon of flame, retire hence +into hell." + +The fire was then extinguished. Johannes let the shield fall, and +turned again to the crowd; his face was radiant with the glory of the +deepest conviction. + +"A wonder! A miracle of the Lord by the hand of the devout Johannes!" +sounded out from the whole host of slaves. The most defiant now threw +away their weapons and sank on their knees, crossing themselves. Among +the Germans many also made the sign of the cross and bent the knee; but +Keix and Kottys raised their hands towards Johannes as if in worship. +Duke Gariband then advanced to the Presbyter, and spoke slowly: + +"Thou hast well done, old man. Here, my hand. But say," continued he, +and a sly smile flashed across his lips, "if thou hadst full confidence +in the magic of the Runic words that thou didst utter to the fire, why +didst thou also use the shield?" + +The priest so addressed stood erect and said: "Because we should not +tempt God. Not that the Lord needed my arm or the shield to extinguish +the fire." + +"It has never yet happened," said the Duke, thoughtfully nodding his +head, "that one of you Christian priests was at a loss for an answer. +You have--and thou especially hast--power over souls, more than my +sword over the conquered, use it ever as at this time. I know well how +powerful you are, ye men of the cross, on the Danube there rules one, +Severinus by name; he has more authority by his word than Rome and the +barbarians. We shall be good friends; I shall respect thee. But hear +this. I shall allow you to worship Christ as you will; take thou care +not to hinder my people from sacrificing as they will. No, no, old man, +do not shake thy head; I suffer no contradiction!" And he lifted his +finger threateningly. + +But undaunted, Johannes said: + +"If the Lord will call the wanderers to Himself through my mouth, fear +of thee will not close it. Thy duchess is already won to the Lord. +Verily, I tell thee--thou, and thy people--you will not escape Him. But +you, rise," said he, turning to the slaves. "I will entreat for you +with the victors, who are now the rulers of this land. I will teach +them, that ye also, created in the image of God, are also their +brethren, and that your immortal souls are redeemed by the death of +Christ. I will teach them, that he who sets his slaves free wins the +warmest place in the heart of the Father of heaven." + +"But he who has still to remain in servitude," interrupted the Duke, +"let him know, that we Germans are noble-minded masters; we do not +burden and punish the slave according to the caprice and temper of the +master; as our free people are judged by the free, so the bond people +are judged by their fellows--in the court of justice, according to the +law. You stand henceforth under the protection of the strongest +judicial fortress--the law, and the tribunal of your own comrades! So +be comforted: you serve noble masters." + + + + + CHAPTER XVI. + + +Soon after the slave insurrection had been quelled in the manner above +described, two Germans walked through the Porta Vindelica on to the +great military road, in the direction of the Mercurius Hill. + +"See, the evening twilight is fading and the stars are already +appearing," said the one, and, balancing his spear on his shoulder, he +raised both hands to heaven. "I greet you, ye watchers of Asgard, ye +all-seeing eyes. Send me happiness! I divine that _you_ know," added he +in low tones, "what happiness my heart desires. It aches, this heart--I +think because it is empty." + +He then again seized his spear and stepped forwards, his eyes directed +into the mist-veiled distance, as if searching and longing: his white +mantle floating in the wind. He was very handsome, the young son of the +king; and this dreaming manner gave to his noble, serious features a +heart-winning charm. + +"If the stars wish to show _me_ what is most pleasing," grumbled his +companion, throwing back his wolfs skin, "let them show me quickly a +wine-shop. It is long, long since I had what I wanted. My throat +smarts, because it is empty, I think. Vestralp and his men, they hit it +off well. Some Christians were in their troop, and, I suppose as a +reward for their faith, the brave Christian Baldur took them into his +church; there, or close by, they found and drank a whole flood of wine, +as if they had been in the halls of Thor. But I have only swallowed a +few drops in a deserted house, where the meal had just been served as +the Bajuvaren forced their way into the town. Listen, their Duke is +right: it is too strict, the way thou dost carry out thy vow." + +"Can one interpret a vow, a duty, too strictly, old man? Thou thyself +hast taught me better." + +"Truly, thy father made thee swear never to sleep a night in a Roman +town, snaring-pits spread over with nets for noble game the king calls +them--but Juvavum, as Garibrand justly said, is now a town of the +Bajuvaren." + +"King Liutbert himself can alone permit me so to interpret the vow. But +be comforted: thou shalt soon drink wine, as much as thou wilt." + +"Where?" + +"In the house where we will now seek hospitality." + +"But in which?" + +"For my sake in the nearest, in order to quench thy thirst. Look there, +on the right of the road stands a hill with a house upon it; one can +see the white statues of the gods on the roof, gleaming through the +bushes." + +"But down there, to the left of the road, lies another; it seems +larger, more stately, more promising." + +"It is all one to me." + +"Then we will choose the larger--that on the left." + +"But look, there shot a star from heaven! and it fell immediately on +the roof of the house to the right, on the hill. That is a hint from +the gods. I will gladly follow the star. We will go to the house on the +right." + +He thereupon sprang from the high road on to the little foot-path that +led to the stonemason's house. + +"We shall also come short at the division of the booty, because of thy +foolish strictness," grumbled the old man, following him. + +"No," cried Liuthari, "Duke Garibrand will summon me thereto early in +the morning; he promised me that, when he bade us farewell at the +Vindelician gate. Besides, the chief gain of this victory to us is not +a few gold vessels or a tract of land, but that henceforth we have for +our trusty frontier neighbours on the east, instead of the Romans, the +faithful Bajuvaren. It has become too narrow and shut in for them in +Bajuhemum and along the Danube, since the East-Goths increased so +powerfully, so they have spread out towards the north and west. +Agilolf, another of their dukes, related to Garibrand, set out, when +the latter started for Juvavum, through the Bojer forest against Regina +Castra, the strong Roman fortress on the Danube, where it reaches the +most northern point of its course. I wonder if he has yet taken it?" + +"The news of victory cannot be delayed much longer; and with this +message comes also another, which closely concerns thee, Liuthari." The +young man blushed, and silently drooped his head. "Duke Agilolf's +daughter Adalagardis is the most beautiful young woman I have ever +seen," continued the old man eagerly. "Her father and King Liutbert +have long thought to unite you; but it seems that the proud Bajuvaren +will not ally himself by marriage with a king's house till he can do so +as an equal. Therefore he sent me home from my wooing journey with the +words: 'From the conquered Roman fortress I will send an answer.' And I +think it is time for thee, my boy! Thou standest in the fulness of thy +youth, and thou hast blood, not water, in thy veins." + +"I often think fire burns therein," said the young man quietly, as if +ashamed. + +"Dost thou think that I did not see, in the conquered Juvavum, with +what eyes thou didst gaze at every Roman maiden who looked at thee? +Many of them, I think, would not have struggled much in thy arms." + +"What, Haduwalt! Force! Force towards a woman!" + +"Eh! by Berahta and Holda! it would not need _much_ force. But these +black-haired, yellow-skinned, lean cats are nothing to my king's son; +they would ruin the whole race. But, Adalagardis! prosperity to thee +and to us if she becomes thy wife. I should imagine the shield-maidens +of Wotan to be like her! Hardly a finger's breadth shorter than thou, +fair hair floating around her to the ankles, like a king's golden +mantle, arms round, full and white as Alpine snow, joyful, sparkling +eyes, clear as the sky in spring, and a proudly-arched, heaving bosom. +By Fulla, the exuberantly strong and beautiful! that is the right +king's wife for the Alemanni! Why didst thou not go long ere this and +woo her?" + +"Thou forgettest; I have never seen her. Her father said: 'I will +invite thee when I hold my court at Regina Castra.' Yet she may be the +happiness, uncertain and yet ardently longed for, the Saelde that I +seek. Stop! Here we are at our goal. This is the entrance.--But what is +this? This house seems inhospitable. The entrance is barricaded with +slabs of stone." + +"Ha, now," laughed the old man. "I cannot blame them, the house-folk, +for shutting out such guests as Haduwalt and his thirst. But they are +not to be kept back so easily. Not Haduwalt, Hadumar's son--and still +less his thirst. Down with the stones!" + +And he had already seized with a strong hand one of the piled-up marble +slabs, to throw them inwards. + +"Stay!" cried Liuthari, "look!--on the topmost slab of the barricade +there is something written; perhaps the name of the house. I think I +can yet see to read it." + +"I could not read it," laughed the other, "even if the sun stood high +at noon. What do the Runes say?" + +And Liuthari read--slowly, laboriously, deciphering letter by letter: + +"Hic--habitat--felicitas--nihil--mali intret." + +Struck with surprise, motionless, the young man was silent for a while. +His heart beat--the blood rose throbbing in his temples. + +"How strange!" said he then to himself. "Here dwells happiness--the +happiness that I am seeking? And the shooting star--did it on that +account guide here my steps?" + +"Now, by the wondering Wotan," said Haduwalt, "have the Runes enchanted +thee?" + +"Why, yes; this may indeed have been engraved to direct me to a +blessing, protecting enchantment." + +The old man hastily seized the king's son by the shoulder and wished to +draw him away. + +"Then let us retire," whispered he anxiously. "I would rather force my +way through two lines of Romans than through a magic spell. See, +already thou seemest spell-bound before the entrance. What is the +meaning of the Runes?" + +"How can I explain it to thee? Now, something like this: 'The +wishing-god and Saelde herself live here. May malicious beings never +approach!' This Lady Saelde who lives here, I will see," said Liuthari +with decision; and, with the help of shield and knee, he pushed the +middle slabs inwards, so that the whole erection of stone fell with a +loud crash into the garden. + +The young man stepped quickly across the threshold. + +"This is no spell that scares away; it invites and entices in. Here +dwells happiness. The god of wishes himself has led me here. And _we +dare_ to approach--for we certainly are not malicious creatures." + +"Who knows whether the master of the house may not think us so?" said +the old man thoughtfully, shouldering his spear, and following his +young friend, who impetuously, as if driven by a god, stepped towards +the inner door of the house, behind which--it was only closed by a dark +yellow curtain which fluttered in the wind--a faint glimmer of red +light seemed to beckon one in. Yet, in spite of all his haste, Liuthari +noticed a rose-bush, which, loosened from its support, lay helpless on +the sanded path. He carefully put it back in its place, remarking, "it +would be a pity if it were trodden down." + + + + + CHAPTER XVII. + + +Liuthari sprang up the four steps in one bound and pushed back the +curtain. But farther went he not: he stood as if spell-bound, as if +rooted to the ground at the sight which presented itself to him. + +He indeed drew back a step as if alarmed; in his astonishment, his +spear struck the ground and threatened to escape from his right hand. +For towards the king's son, with a noble step, as an alabaster Hebe +might have stepped down from her marble pedestal, advanced Felicitas. + +She carried her slumbering child tenderly on the left arm, pressing it +to her bosom; her wondrously beautiful face was yet paler in the +agitation of the moment; in the right hand she carried a flat silver +vessel, filled with red wine. + +"I bid you welcome, O strangers, as our guests, at the hearth of my +husband. He is absent. I am quite alone in the house. Protect me and my +child." + +Liuthari found no words; with wide-opened eyes and a beating heart he +looked at the beautiful woman before him. + +But old Haduwalt, stepping to his side, saw with anxiety this look of +his young master. He spoke with great seriousness: + +"Be of good cheer and rest assured, Roman matron. I swear to thee by +the renown of the honour of King Liutbert and of his son Liuthari, who +stands here and is strangely silent, I will protect thee as if thou +wert my own daughter, and he shall honour thee as if thou wert his +sister. Now drink, Liuthari, what is so hospitably offered thee," cried +he, turning and taking the spear from Liuthari's hand, who still stood +as if entranced. + +The young man took the bowl, put it to his mouth, sipped the wine and +gave it back, without moving his eyes from her face. + +"What is thy name?" asked he with a faint, trembling voice. + +"Felicitas." + +He quickly stepped forward. + +"Happiness! Saelde! that is thy _name_: that _art_ thou." + +"I do not understand thee." + +"It is not necessary," muttered Haduwalt. "Give me also something to +drink." + +He took the bowl from her and emptied it at a draught. + +"Truly," continued he, "the wonderful wishing-god seems to live here; +how else couldst thou have come directly towards us, towards my thirst, +with a bowl of wine?" + +"I saw you coming, startled by the crashing of the stone slabs; +Philemon, our old gray-headed slave, built them up. How could he +protect me, the lame, half-blind old man?" + +"And didst thou imagine thyself protected by a heap of stones, without +defenders?" + +"No, indeed! I know that I am protected by the good God in heaven, and +by my protecting angel. But, when I sent out the old man (the second +time) to look for my husband,--he did not wish to leave me alone, and I +was obliged repeatedly to bid him go:--he thought I should be in some +measure hidden if he blocked up the entrance." + +Following the example of the hostess, Liuthari sat down. "Thy husband!" +said he, with knitted brows. "He has forsaken thee?--in this danger?" + +"Oh, no," answered the young wife, "Yesterday evening, before, there +was any appearance of danger, he went into the town, since then he has +not returned, a few hours ago he was still living and active. Philemon +saw him in the street as he was going with spear and shield towards the +bridge across the Ivarus." + +"Comfort thyself," interposed the old soldier cheerfully; "very few on +thy side fell in the battle down there." + +"I know certainly that he is alive. If otherwise, do you think you +would see me so calm? The gracious God in heaven cannot allow that the +best, the most excellent man on this earth, should meet, with +undeserved suffering. I trust firmly in God and am comforted." + +Haduwalt thought to himself: "I have already seen many an innocent +brave man fall;" but he reserved this wisdom of experience and +answered: "Certainly! he is at most taken prisoner. And, if so, be of +good cheer. The powerful son of our king here," continued he, with a +significant look at Liuthari, "will beg for this prisoner and release +him as a reward for thy hospitality." + +Liuthari drew a deep breath. + +"How long have you been married?" + +"It is now eleven months." + +"Eleven months--of perfect happiness!" said Liuthari slowly. + +"Yes: of unspeakable happiness! Since thou understandest it--art thou +also married?" + +"I! No! But I--I can imagine it." + +Frankly and peacefully Felicitas returned the wondering look that +rested reverentially upon her. She felt that he marvelled at her +beauty; but it did not disturb her--his look was pure. The contrast +made her involuntarily think of the disquieting flame in the black +eyes of the Tribune, which had so often alarmed her. But she could +look with pleasure on this noble, serious countenance, into these +deeply-penetrating gray eyes. + +She now rose slowly. + +"I have always," said she, with a smile which made her look still more +charming, "been very much alarmed at--at--at you, whom we call +'Barbarians.' And how terrified I was at hearing the stones falling one +over the other! I anxiously looked out. But when I saw how carefully +you came up the narrow way, did not trample down the flowers, when even +he in the white mantle carefully raised a rose-bush that had fallen on +the gravel path, then I said to my little son on my arm: 'Fear not, +thou apple of mine eye, _they_ will do us no harm.' And I fearlessly +filled the wine-cup. And now that I have looked into your kind eyes, +now I feel myself perfectly safe just because you are both here. And I +know certainly you will bring me my husband to-morrow morning. I will +go and place the child there in our sleeping-room." + +She pointed with the finger to a small doorway in the centre, before +which hung a red woollen curtain. "Then I will bring the provisions I +have in the house." + +"Do not forget the wine," called out Haduwalt. + +As she glided away like a softly rustling wave, Liuthari sprang up +impetuously. + +"Stay, oh, stay!" cried he hastily, following her a step or two. + +But Haduwalt held him firmly by the mantle. + +"She did not hear it; thanks be to the gods." + +Liuthari violently set himself free. + +"She _must_ hear that I"----Then he calmed himself, and pressed his +right hand to his brow. + +"Now--now--now--_now!_" said the old man slowly, with long pauses. "Has +young Liuthari now for the first time seen the thing called woman, who, +instead of a man's breastplate, carries a child at her breast? I truly +feared that the Runic spell had quite bewitched thee; for in the wine +there was no magic. _I_ feel nothing peculiar in _me_. The witchcraft +began as soon as thou didst see that white face. What? thou wilt follow +her? Halt there! How vexed I am that I have forgotten all the furious, +loud-sounding, bad names with which Hadumar, my father, scolded me when +he caught me as I was climbing into the neighbour's garden to steal the +sweet pears that the Romans had grafted on to the wild pears of the +Illara forest. He thrashed me soundly; but the caressing words have +escaped me--it is so long ago. 'Thou pilferer! thou pear-stealer! thou +sluggard! thou sneak!' These were some of the most tender. And now I +could use them all admirably. Why starest thou thus speechless, +senseless, after another man's wife? Is it such behaviour that the Lady +Lindgardis, thy glorious mother, has taught thee? Dost thou not +remember Adalagardis, thy bride?" + +"Old giant! blustering, growling bear! that is enough of thine abuse; I +have had quite enough of it. Adalagardis my bride? She is but a name--a +wish of my father. Can I embrace, and clasp, and kiss a name? But this +woman is living flesh and blood. I felt the sweet warmth of her arm as +I touched it. Heat flashed through me. She is so beautiful--so +wonderfully, enchantingly beautiful! It is an elfin beauty. No, no; +words cannot express it. The goddesses of Walhalla are not so beautiful +as she. Where have I seen her equal?" continued he dreamily. "It was, I +think, under a warmer, fairer sky! Ah, yes; now I see it clearly. In +the service of the Emperor, I was sailing from Byzantium through the +blue Grecian seas. There, on an island covered with myrtle and laurel, +stood the white form of a Grecian goddess. I was affected then almost +as much as now by this woman." He was silent and laid his hand on his +beating heart. + +"I have nothing to say against it, Liuthari, if thou admirest her as +thou wouldst a stone statue; even if thy taste does go so far astray. +Mine seeks something different. Commend me to Adala--yes, I will be +silent! But this small-waisted little one, straight as an arrow, and +not much taller, with her thin child's arms, she looks so fragile that +she would certainly be crushed the first time thou didst heartily touch +her." + +"What can the bear know about touching the harp-strings?" said Liuthari +roughly. + +"It may well be, O son of my king, that I do not understand much about +dolls made in white Grecian stone-work, for the amusement of boys. But +this I know, it is much more like the son of the lady Lindgardis, to +put other men's wives out of his burning thoughts. If thou hadst known +each other _before_, and thou now didst find her in the power of +another, and she still cared for thee secretly in her heart, then I +might say, Use the superior strength with which Wotan has gifted thee. +But thus----Here she comes again, innocent, unsuspecting, trustful! She +builds on _thy_ protection, the dear child. I cannot feel vexed with +her, because she is so harmless and innocent. I say to thee, if thou, +either by look or word, dost disturb her peace, I shall take care that +father and mother give thee a very bad reception when thou dost return +home after this expedition, and dost wish to sit at the honourable +hearth of the lady thy mother." + +But Liuthari was now quite angry. + +"Very much I shall fear thy chattering! And the lady Lindgardis's rod +does not any longer reach to _my_ back. What art thou chattering about +there, thou senseless being? As a conqueror I stand in this house; it +is all mine; all that I wish for; the house and the mistress. Her +husband is dead, or an imprisoned thrall; she herself widow, or my +servant as soon as I call her so." + +"Thy thoughts are very nicely occupied with thy Grecian goddess! Wert +thou now _my_ boy, instead of my king's, very quickly, but not quietly, +wouldst thou flee from this house. But I will watch--I, Haduwalt, heir +of Hadamar--that a son of the king of the Alemanni does not trespass +like a honey-stealing boy." + +The hostess then appeared, placed on the table a prettily-woven basket, +full of white, fragrant bread, then butter, fresh goat's cheese, and a +ham. + +"Directly, directly!" answered she to the silent question of Haduwalt's +thirsty eyes, and appeared again immediately, bearing on her head an +immense amphora full of wine. + +Demeanour and movements were full of grace: the left arm resting on her +hip, the right raised to the handle of the pitcher, perfectly upright, +advancing slowly because of the heavy burden, thus she stepped across +the threshold. + +Liuthari sprang up hastily to take the burden from her. But Haduwalt +held his arm. "Let her alone, my son! _Alone_ she certainly will not +spill the wine; what might happen if thou didst help, I should not like +to see." + +Liuthari drew a deep breath; he unbuckled the heavy armour and laid it +aside, as also the large Roman helmet from his burning head. He +mechanically took the food; but he ate very little, and did not take +his eyes from her beautiful face. + +But soon Felicitas rose from the repast. "I am very tired," said she. +"Since Fulvius left I have not slept, I must now go to our child; if I +hear his gentle breathing I am quite composed. I will bring you pillows +and coverlets; you must be contented here; we have no other room worthy +of such guests." + +"Never mind, as far as I am concerned," cried Liuthari, springing up. +"I cannot sleep; or I can sleep in the garden, on the soft turf, my +head resting on my shield. Come with me, old man." + +"No, I should rather sleep _here_, exactly here," replied he, slily +smiling to himself. "But my wolf's skin is sufficient, friendly +hostess. Thou hast shut the back-door, which, as thou saidst, led from +the garden into thy sleeping-room?" + +"Yes; Philemon will not return from the town before morning." + +"Certainly not earlier. The gates will be shut at night-fall. I shall +lie here quite comfortably, seest thou, here on the threshold, before +the curtain which closes thy room. Sleep well and be quite at rest," +cried he to her through the curtain, as she was putting away the +provisions. "Not even a little mouse could reach thee without waking +me. Seest thou, I fill the whole width of the entrance, thus! Now the +wine-pitcher near me. Hurrah! it is again quite full! And very +excellent the old wine tastes. Thy husband is a connoisseur therein. I +shall drink it all. I shall not sleep. Oh no!" + +"Rest well, ye guests," said she, and disappeared. + +Liuthari threw a peculiar, scornful look on the old soldier cowering in +the doorway, and on the immense pitcher of wine at his side. Then he +sprang laughing down the steps into the garden. + +"What?" said he to himself, half-pleased and half-defiant, "the +growling bear thinks to keep me back if I am determined to step across +that threshold? _He_ keep guard! Before he has drunk half the heavy +wine he will snore like Thor in the hall of the giants. I might, +perhaps, have given it up; but now that he presumes to coerce me--well! +what I will do when I stand before the glorious sleeper--I know not +yet; but to her couch I will go, in spite of his upbraidings." + +The ardent emotion of the youth relieved itself in his defiant anger +against his old friend, who looked after him with blinking eyes. + +When the quick steps sounded in the far distance, he called gently: + +"Young woman!" + +"What wilt thou, then?" + +"Hast thou not a ball of thread in the house?" + +"Certainly; here is one." + +"Very well. Give me the end through the curtain. So! Dost thou see? I +will fasten the thread here at my sword-belt. And thou--thou take the +ball in thy hand and hold it firmly during sleep. Dost thou understand? +And if thou shouldst have any bad dreams, pull quickly." + +"Why so? I can call thee." + +"You had better not trust to that," said the old man, rubbing his tired +eyes. "They say if I once get into a wine sleep, the battle-cry of all +the Alemanni would not wake me; but if pulled by the girdle I notice it +directly. Then I shall awake, if by chance I might have gone to sleep, +and will spring to thy help." + +"As thou wilt, but it is unnecessary; thy companion keeps watch there +in the garden." + +"Oh, do not believe that! he is as sleepy as a marmot, on him there is +no reliance, therefore, hold the ball fast, and now goodnight, sweet +creature. I am pleased with her myself," muttered he. "Very much she +pleases me. But I must speak against her to the boy. He has never yet +caressed the cheek of any woman but his mother, and he is overflowing +with passion and strength, like a noble young stag; and now he meets +this tender white doe! Shame! if her unsuspecting soul suffered even a +little fright. I must protect _her_--and _him_. One more draught, and +then: Haduwalt, fasting and watchful." + +Dimly shone the little lamp in the sleeping-room, only a faint gleam +penetrated the red curtain. + +In the front room the lamp went out. + +Stillness reigned over the whole house, one heard only from the garden +the lulling murmur of the spring. + +From the inner room the old man soon heard the deep, regular +respirations of the sleeping young wife. Haduwalt counted them. He +counted bravely up to a hundred. He then laid his hand, groping +uncertainly, on the thread at his girdle. "All right," thought he; "and +I shall not sleep. Certainly not! Hundred and one!" + +Then he counted no more. + + + + + CHAPTER XVIII. + + +Over the silent garden lay the enchantment of a warm, glorious summer +night. + +The innumerable stars shone magnificently in the cloudless heavens. And +now in the east, above the walls of Juvavum, which had till now hidden +her from view, rose the full moon, pouring forth a flood of glory, +showing in her fantastic light, so bright and yet so different from +day, the white house, the dark bushes, and the tall trees. + +Numerous night-loving flowers in the gardens of the villas, and in the +meadows around, whose cups were closed by day, now opened and exhaled +their scent into the soft air. + +The young German traversed the garden with agitated steps. + +In the rose-bushes of the neighbouring gardens sang the nightingale, so +loud, so quavering, so ardent, so impassioned, Liuthari would rather +not have heard it; and yet he could not help listening to the fervid +tones. + +The night wind played in his flowing locks, for, besides the +breast-plate, he had also left his helmet in the room, only taking with +him his spear, which served as a staff, and the round shield, on which +to lay his head, if he wished to rest. + +But he found no rest. + +With strong determination he went away from the house, which so +powerfully attracted him, towards the entrance where the stone slabs +lay about in confusion. As the store of stones had not been sufficient +to fill up the entrance, the old slave had with the pick-axe taken up +two slabs from the threshold, one of which bore the inscription. On +this heap of stones Liuthari now sat in a deep reverie, just within the +entrance, and looked at the stars and the soft light of the moon. He +forced himself to think of his parents at home, of the past day and its +victory, of the daughter of Agilolf with the fine-sounding name--what +might she be like? + +All! it was of no use; he only deceived himself: through all the +pictures of his thoughts, pushing them aside, so that they melted away +as mist, appeared that noble, pale face, the rhythmic symmetry of that +figure. + +"Felicitas!" breathed he lightly to himself. + +Long, long sat he thus. + +Suddenly the nightingale was silent. + +Liuthari was quickly awakened out of his thoughts and dreams: in hot +haste, their iron hoofs resounding on the hard pavement of the road, +several horses came galloping from Juvavum; the practised ear of the +German clearly distinguished two, perhaps three horses. + +The young man sprang up, and seized the spear which was lying near him. + +"Those are not Alemannian horsemen," said he. "Who else can it +be?--Fugitive Romans? or even--her husband?" + +He stepped behind the pier of the entrance to the right, where his form +and also his shadow was hidden, while the moonlight revealed clearly to +him the road and the footpath which led to the villa. + +The hoof-strokes were now silent. + +The watcher plainly saw how, at the turn oL the footpath, three riders +sprang from their horses, and fastened them to a milestone. + +The one, the tallest, wore a Roman helm, with a dark flowing plume, the +two others the close-fitting headgear of the Moorish cavalry; their +white mantles floated in the night wind. + +"That is scarcely her husband, and those are not slaves of this villa. +And yet they are coming here. What may they be seeking? Shall I call +Haduwalt? Bah! King Liutbert's son has often already stood against +three enemies at once." + +At this moment the one in the helmet reached the entrance. + +"Wait here," he commanded, raising his short spear, "I alone will fetch +the woman; if I need you, I will call. But I think"---- + +"Halt! stand, Roman!" cried Liuthari, with levelled spear, springing +into the gateway in the full moonlight. "What seek you here?" + +"A German! Down with him!" cried the three voices at once. But at the +same moment the leader stumbled two steps backwards, struck on the +breast by the spear of Liuthari. + +If the armour-factory of Lorch had not supplied such excellent work, +the point would have gone through and through the man. But it rebounded +and--broke. + +The German angrily dropped the now useless shaft. + +"By Tartarus, that was a murderous blow!" cried Leo fiercely. "Prudence +is necessary. Raise the spears; we will throw together." + +The three lances flew at once--all three the Alemannian stopped with +his shield. One, hurled with especial momentum and fury, penetrated the +threefold ox-hide and ash-wood of the shield, and wounded his arm near +the shoulder. + +The young man, full of strength, hardly felt the slight wound; but the +shield, encumbered with three spear-shafts, he could no longer +dexterously use. + +"Haduwalt!" cried he now with a loud voice, "Waffena! Feindo! Help!" + +At the same time he seized one of the lances in his shield, tore it +out, and threw. The Moor at the right of the Tribune cried out and fell +dead to the ground. + +"I will throw him down; thou, sir, stab him!" cried the other. It was +Himilco, the centurion. + +"With the leap of the panther of his native deserts, he now sprang at +the throat of the German; but, quick as lightning, Liuthari had drawn +the short knife from his shoulder-belt. He thrust it into the brow +between the eyes of his assailant. The brown, muscular arms which had +seized the German's two shoulders as with the claws oL a beast of prey, +loosened; without a sound the African fell backwards. But Liuthari had +not time to draw out the deeply imbedded dagger-blade. + +"Haduwalt! Help!" cried he loudly. + +For already the third enemy, a most formidable opponent, had rushed +upon him. + +With a powerful sword-stroke he cleaved Liuthari's shield so that it +split into two halves, and, with the clinging spears, fell right and +left from his arm. + +And the Roman had, at the same time, stuck the sharp iron spike in the +centre of his convex shield, deep into the naked right arm of the +king's son: the blood spurted out. He recoiled several steps from the +weight of the blow, nearly stumbling over the stone slabs. + +The furious enemy, well armed both for defence and offence, now stepped +victoriously into the entrance, pushing aside with his foot the two +halves of the shield, that his adversary should not draw out the +spears. + +With a keen look the Roman measured his adversary, who now drew his +last weapon, the short-handled battle-axe, from his girdle, and raised +it to strike. The towering stature of the young German must have seemed +fearful to the Roman, in spite of the superiority of his arms. + +"Why should we tear each other to pieces, barbarian? Why dost thou +protect this house so grimly? I will not contest it with thee; I will +leave it to thee as soon as I have taken out one single thing." + +"What thing? something belonging to thee? Thou art not the master of +the house." + +"I will leave thee the house. I come only for--a woman." + +"_Thy_ wife? Felicitas? No! she is not thine" + +Furiously the other cried: "What? Thou art already so intimate in the +house! But neither is Felicitas _thy_ wife; and shall not become so. +Felicitas shall be _mine_!" + +"Never!" cried Liuthari, and he sprang forward and dashed his stone +battle-axe against the magnificent bronze helmet, so that it split +asunder where the plume was attached, and fell in pieces from the head +of the wearer. + +But alas! that head remained uninjured, while the axe, descending with +such force on the metal, broke off at the handle. For a moment the +Tribune stood as if stupefied by the blow. But he saw immediately how +his opponent, now quite defenceless, did not turn his face for flight, +but still stood before him. + +With a wild, yelling, tiger-like shriek, in which thirst for blood and +joy of revenge sounded harshly together, he let his shield slip down, +raised the short, broad Roman sword for a blow, and with the cry, +"Felicitas is mine!" sprang on the German. + +At that first outcry, Liuthari quickly bent forward, slightly raising +the heel of his left foot, and seized one of the marble slabs lying +before him; and now, first swinging it high above his head, with the +cry "Felicitas!" he hurled it with a good aim against the helmetless +forehead of the Tribune, as he sprang towards him. + +Hoarsely groaning, clashing in his armour, the assailant fell +backwards; the sword escaped from his hand. + +Already Liuthari knelt on his breast, seized the blade, and raised it +to force it into his throat. + +But he breathed no more--he was dead. Liuthari rising, threw the sword +aside, and looked proudly on the three slain enemies. + +"For Felicitas!" said he. "Now to her. I think--I have deserved it." + +He knelt down by the running stream, washed the smarting, still +bleeding wound of his right arm, tore some broad strips from the linen +mantle of the dead centurion, bound them firmly around the wound, and +then trod with a light, elastic step the long path through the garden, +back to the house. + + + + + CHAPTER XIX. + + +Having reached it he pushed carefully aside the yellow curtain of the +outer door, letting the moonlight fall into the dark room. + +At the entrance to the sleeping-room, before its red curtain, lay +Haduwalt, snoring; by him, lying on its side, empty, was the amphora. +Lightly, on tip-toe and with a beating heart, the young man advanced +and cautiously divided the two halves of the red curtain. He then +perceived, with a smile, the cunning arrangement of the thread; it was +still fastened to the leathern belt of the guard; but the hand of the +sleeper had opened; the ball lay on a stool by her couch. With a wide +stride Liuthari stepped across the old man into the sleeping-room. + +Above the head of the bed, in a niche in the wall, stood the little +earthen lamp; it threw its mild light over the pillow. By its red +glimmer, he perceived the infant near the bed of the mother in a wicker +cradle. + +The beautiful sleeper had loosened her abundant light-brown hair; it +flowed over her naked shoulders and splendidly curved, though delicate +bosom, from which the woollen covering had half slipped. + +The dazzlingly white left arm she had placed behind her head and neck; +the right hand covered, as if protecting, the left breast. The intruder +stepped quite close. So ravishingly beautiful he had not seen her, when +awake; and the serious eyes now closed no longer maintained a strict +watch. + +The full lips were half opened; he inhaled the sweet breath of her +mouth. The young man trembled from head to foot. + +"Only one kiss," thought he, "and it shall not awake her." + +He was already bending softly over her face. The beautiful lips then +moved, and in her sleep she said tenderly: + +"Come, O my Fulvius; kiss me!" + +With the speed of lightning, Liuthari turned, sprang lightly across +Haduwalt on the threshold, then down the steps into the garden, clasped +his two hands before his eyes, and murmured: + +"Oh, what wickedness might I not have done!" + +He fell on his knees, and hid his feverish head in the dewy grass. +Repentance, pain, unstilled longing, surged together within him, and +were at length dissolved in a salutary stream of tears. Long lay he +thus. At last the youth of the exhausted, wounded man asserted itself +beneficially; he sank into a deep, dreamless sleep. + + + + + CHAPTER XX. + + +When the next morning the summer sun rose magnificently over Juvavum, +and the golden oriole began its flute-like song, young Liuthari sprang +up, a healed and a wiser man. + +The wound in his arm no longer pained, and his imagination, which had +been much more excited than his heart, was stilled. + +No longer dissatisfied with himself, joyful and composed, he first +cooled his face in the spring, and then, carefully hiding the wounded +arm under his mantle, he walked up the steps into the outer room. +Haduwalt, yawning and stretching up both his arms, received him with +the words: + +"But thou hast long slept. And I--I think I have not closed my eyes the +whole night." + +"But perhaps the ears!" laughed Liuthari. "Where is the mistress? I am +hungry." + +"Here am I," cried Felicitas. "I will bring you directly fresh-laid +eggs, and milk, and honey. Philemon is now milking the cow in the +meadow behind the house." + +"Only think," said she, now stepping from behind the curtain and +offering a hand to each guest: "very early, as soon as the gates were +again opened, the old slave came back from the town by the meadow-path, +and awoke me knocking at the outer door. I had slept so firmly." + +"And very sweetly dreamt?" said Liuthari, smiling. + +"Yes--as always, _if_ I dream: of Fulvius. Certainly Philemon has not +found his master; but still I am of good cheer. The good Johannes had +caused the dead and the wounded to be brought together--the former in +front of, and the latter into the church. Philemon carefully inspected +them. Thanks to the God of heaven, the saints and the good Genii, my +Fulvius is not among them." And she sat down with her guests. + +Philemon brought an immense jug fall of foaming warm milk. He threw a +wondering look on the two Germans, whom his mistress had represented to +him as protectors, not enemies, and he went again to the back of the +house. Felicitas followed him to fetch the child, which seemed to be +waking. + +"Tell me now, grim teacher and armour-master," began Liuthari, "wilt +thou in thine old age learn woman's handiwork, and the art of using +thread? What hast thou there trailing at thy girdle?" + +Quite taken aback the old giant looked down at his portly person, and +at the long, long thread which was entangled about his clumsy feet. + +"That? Oh, that is only something between the mistress and myself. She +has become so fond of me--much more so than of thee--and that I should +not escape her, she bound me fast to her couch." + +"Thou wouldest complain of me to my mother----!" + +"Yes; if I had not kept watch, who knows----!" + +"Now I will accuse _thee_ to thy wife, the strict Grimmtrud, that thou +didst bind thyself to the couch of a young beauty." + +The young man stooped down, picked up the ball, and put it in his vest. + +"I shall keep the thread," continued he gravely, "as a remembrance of +the hour when Haduwalt slept, the thread lay loose on the ground, but +Liuthari watched--for three." + +Felicitas after a while again came in, the child on her arm. + +"The day advances," sighed she, "and I begin to be very anxious. My +Fulvius, where mayest thou be?" + +"Here I am," cried a joyous, clear voice, and the longed-for husband +rushed in through the open doorway. + +With a cry of happiness Felicitas sprang up. He folded mother and child +tenderly in his arms. + +Liuthari rose. He looked at them without pain, and regarded the husband +with a frank, happy look, who, however, astonished, drew back a step, +and measured the handsome young man with his eyes. Hot fear flashed +through him in an instant; but the alarm disappeared, fleeing like a +cloud-shadow, when he looked into His wife's face, so peaceful, so +radiantly happy. + +"What has happened to me, my darling? The day before yesterday shut up +in the debtor's tower, early yesterday set free by Severus, taken by +him to the battle--we were defeated--I fled, was pursued, fell into the +river, was carried away by the stream--half stupefied I at last reached +the bank--was taken prisoner by other horsemen, led into the town, and +this morning--saved by a miracle of the Lord or the holy Saint Peter, I +know not which." + +"A miracle! Oh, thank the mercy of the God of heaven! He heard my +prayer! But what miracle?" + +"Johannes, who never wearies in the care of his people, had already +yesterday evening besought the barbarian Duke to release all the +citizens of Juvavum who were prisoners of war. The powerful prince +answered that he would willingly set free all that fell to his share of +the booty, but those that fell to his warriors he had not the power to +release, only to redeem--quite a different law prevails with the +Germans than with us--and he could not exhaust his treasure to do that. +So last night many of us were set at liberty, but the larger +proportion, and amongst them myself, remained in bondage. Then in the +early morning Johannes appeared again in the Capitol, where the Duke +had fixed his abode, and--redeemed us all! Thou art astonished. Thou +mayest well ask whence the man, who possesses nothing but his robe and +staff, procured so much money! Yes, that is the miracle! When, sad at +the fate of the prisoners, he returned to his Basilica, he found, in an +old vault under the church-floor, a bag full of gold pieces, and also a +little purse of precious stones, abundantly sufficient to ransom us +all. But whence came this treasure? Nobody knows. The angel of the Lord +manifestly heard the prayer of Johannes, and brought the treasure. The +whole of Juvavum is amazed at the miracle. And I vow to thee, thou +godly one, I will henceforth listen more devoutly to the words of +Johannes. But thee, my beloved! what alarm has threatened thee!" + +"But has not reached me, thanks be to God, and also to our guests; and +perhaps," added she smiling, "to the inscription on the entrance-slab, +that kept back misfortune." + +"Dost thou know _who_ wished to step across it?" + +"How should I? I have not left the house." + +"Then thou hast no idea how truly thou didst speak! Listen and breathe +again. As I just now was hastening here from the town, on approaching +the hill, I saw fastened to the milestone three horses, and among +them--I know him too well--the black steed of the Tribune! Full of +alarm, I sprang to our gate; there lay--oh, horrible!--two slain Moors, +and, directly across the threshold, stretched on his back, the terrible +Tribune, with a shattered skull! His face was half covered with the +inscription-slab, and the corner-piece, broken off, was deeply embedded +in his skull. _This_ stone has felled him who was never conquered. But +what arm hurled it?" + +The old Haduwalt, who at the first mention of conflict had +instinctively looked into the averted face of his young master, now +drew the white mantle from his shoulder, showed the bloody bandage, and +said: "This arm--And I!--Oh, Liuthari, my darling!--I meanwhile lay and +slept!" + +"Tolerably firmly," said the young man smiling, and continued, turning +to the master of the house: "Yes, I slew him, that very bold man; he +wished to force his way in, and"---- + +"Steal Felicitas!" cried the husband, pressing his wife, now terribly +alarmed, to his breast. "Oh, sir, how can we thank thee?" he exclaimed. + +But Felicitas could not utter a word; she could only direct her eyes, +swimming in tears, towards her preserver. She had not appeared so +beautiful even in the night. + +"Thanks!" laughed Liuthari, "I fought for my life. But listen! who +comes here?" + +The steps of armed men were heard in the garden, and there entered, +accompanied by five followers, Garibrand the Duke. + +"A good piece of work have you two done out there before the entrance. +The Tribune, whom we have sought everywhere, he fell certainly by thy +hand. I have found thee at last, young hero! Welcome news I bring thee. +A messenger from thy father is seeking thee. The Roman fortress on the +Regan stream has fallen. My cousin, Duke Agilolf, and thy father, have +settled the betrothal: Agilolf invites thee to his halls. Adalagardis, +the most beautiful princely daughter of the Germans, is awaiting thee." + +"Hail to thee, thou son of my king! this is thy reward for this night," +cried Haduwalt. + +"Betrothal! I have never seen her!" cried Liuthari, hesitating. + +"Betrothal! yes, if you please each other," said the Duke. + +"_He_ will certainly please _her_." said Haduwalt, clapping the +blushing youth on the shoulder; "and I hope," whispered he quietly in +his ear, "that _she_, the beauty whom thou _mayest_ love, will right +well please _thee_." + +"Choose now," continued the Duke, "what thou wilt of the booty. To you +Alemanni, to thee above all, do we owe the victory." + +"I will follow thee," said Liuthari, rising hastily. "Help me, old +friend!" + +The armour-master helped him to buckle on his breastplate; the young +man raised the beautifully-shaped Roman helmet with the towering +heron's plume to his head. Magnificent stood the king's son, his joyful +countenance radiant with the noblest sentiments. + +"Oh, now all is well," rejoiced Fulvius. "The Tribune is slain; Zeno +the usurer is dead, murdered by an unknown hand, without doubt by his +slaves, so Johannes tells me. There is no longer an Emperor in Ravenna; +we were assured of this yesterday morning by this young hero. Now am I +free from all debts to the Fiscus." + +"And no less do I assure thee," laughed Liuthari, "that this powerful +Duke here has stepped into the Emperor's place--_his_ debtor art thou +now." + +Fulvius anxiously put his hand to his right ear, and looked dismayed at +the mighty man. + +"Fear not," continued Liuthari. "I ask, Duke Garibrand, as a part of my +share of the booty, this villa and the land belonging to it. And free +from all debt." + +"It shall be as thou hast said," answered the Bajuvaren. + +"And to you both, Fulvius and Felicitas, I give this free property, +before these seven free men as witnesses. Their oath will be of service +to you if anyone should contest your right and warrant." + +"Thanks, sir; thanks." + +"Thou art, then, Fulvius the stone-mason?" interposed the Duke. "The +priest Johannes commended thee to me as faithful and brave; if thou +dost prove thyself so, I will place thee as steward over my lands +outside this gate." + +Felicitas, after a short whispering with her husband, now stepped +towards Liuthari, with the child on her arm. She blushed faintly, and +said: + +"Sir, he who gives so much as thou--must give still more. Our little +son has not yet a name. Next Sunday I shall take him to Johannes, to +the font. How shall the boy be named?" + +"Felix Fulvius," said the king's son, deeply moved, laying his hand +on the tiny head, "and--_Liuthari_, in order that my name may yet +strike many times on your ear. But he who gives a name, gives also a +present--that is German custom. Here, young housewife, take this ring. +I stripped it from the finger of a patrician some years ago, whom I +slew in battle. In Augusta Vindelicorum the dealers say it is worth as +much as half their town. That is a bit of treasure in case of need. And +now, both of you, farewell!" + +"Stop!" here cried Haduwalt; "we do not thus bid farewell--farewell for +life! Thou didst ask, stone-mason, how thou couldst thank the hero. Let +thy young wife give him one kiss; believe me, he has deserved it--he is +a gallant youth!" + +Fulvius led his blushing wife towards him. + +Liuthari pressed a kiss on the white brow, and cried: "Farewell, thou +lovely one, for ever!" + +And already he was gone: the curtain rustled behind him. The other +Germans followed; at the garden entrance they mounted their horses and +galloped quickly back towards the Porta Vindelica. + +The first thing that Fulvius did, after he had with Philemon removed +the dead bodies, was carefully to reset the stone with the inscription, +into the pavement of the entrance; the broken-off corner he left unset. + +"It shall," said he, "for ever be to us a proof how effectual the adage +has been." + +And the adage, it proved itself true to the wedded pair through their +whole life. + +No misfortune crossed that threshold while they dwelt there. Blooming +sons and daughters grew up after Felix Fulvius Liuthari. Sickness never +befell them, parents or children, although the pestilence might be +raging in Juvavum and in the villas round about. + +The Ivarus often overflowed, spreading its waves and destruction over +men, animals, horses, and grain. Before this gate, before the Mercurius +Hill, it each time stopped. + +A landslip overwhelmed the neighbours' gardens right and left. An +immense piece of rock rebounded from the inscription stone, and was +shattered into a thousand fragments. Fulvius became "Villicus" of all +the ducal property in Juvavum, and stood, on account of his prudence +and fidelity, high in the favour of Duke Garibrand. + +When he and Felicitas had become quite old people, fully eighty years +of age, but active and vigorous, they were sitting one June evening +hand in hand in the garden. They had had a seat made just within the +entrance, so that their feet rested on the adage-stone. + +Thus they sat, and thought of past times. Sweetly sang the golden +oriole in the neighbouring beech forest. But it gradually became +silent, for the air had become very sultry; a storm was approaching. + +There was a vivid flash of lightning, and a tremendous peal of thunder. +The children hastened to bring their old parents into the house. + +But when Felix Fulvius Liuthari, hurrying in advance of the others, +reached them, he found them both dead. + +A flash of lightning had killed them both. + +They still held each other hand in hand, and smiled, as if to say: +"Death, which comes thus, is no misfortune, but a blessing." + + + + + THE END. + + + + + CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Felicitas, by Felix Dahn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FELICITAS *** + +***** This file should be named 32222.txt or 32222.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/2/2/32222/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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